u/thatwhinypeasant

My PMDD has been getting worse and worse the last few months. I’m not sure if it’s just that I’ve been struggling with life and kids and responsibilities recently after having knee surgery in April or if I’m in perimenopause? Not sure if that’s too early as I’m just turning 37 but things have been different lately. It used to just be the week before my period was awful but now for the last three months, 3-4 days post ovulation I’ve had a horrible day where I just cannot regulate no matter what. The next day I’m back to ‘normal’.

I’ve tried a few birth controls, aleese was the first one, then I had a Skyla IUD. Had to stop the aleese after a couple months because it made me extremely depressed, had the Skyla removed after 5 months for the same reason. I tried Yaz and I don’t think I had as severe side effects but i stopped it pretty quickly because I was so anxious about the risk of blood clot. When I got pregnant with my kids (plus one miscarriage) I knew all three times that I was pregnant before testing because I felt so great and mentally stable. I sometimes wish I could have another baby so I could experience that again (but not really lol). But there must be a pharmacological way to mimic the hormone levels in early pregnancy!

Anyone in the same boat with feeling amazing during pregnancy and found a birth control that could replicate it???

Does anyone know if the spray parks/wading pools are going to open by Monday? Usually they open on Father’s Day weekend but I’ve been checking the city of Calgary website and it just says ‘closed for the season’ (and it hasn’t been updated in 2 months).

We’re going camping in July for a week and a half and I’m trying to figure out whether it’s feasible to prep and freeze meat beforehand to bring with us. I’ve seen a few posts on here about freezing meat ahead of time, but most of them were shorter durations (I did see one with tips for making it last the week but I can’t find it anymore!). The campground is in a very small town and there is a grocery store but it’s very expensive and has a pretty limited selection. We can drive to another town 30 minutes away but we’re kind of hoping to just be able to hang out at the campsite until it’s time to leave.

Our cooler is just a basic igloo/coleman hard cooler and the plan was the pre-cool the night before with ice, then the day we leave put in a layer of ice blocks, then a layer of already frozen meat, maybe even have those wrapped in newspaper, another layer of ice blocks or frozen water bottles, any other meat and then a final layer of ice blocks. We have one of those thermal reflective tarps that we will wrap around the cooler while it’s in the car. If we only opened this once per day to get whatever meat we needed that day, approximately how many days could it last? Any tips or suggestions for making it last longer? We saw a ‘hack’ to make a cheap cooler even more insulated with expanding foam insulation but then I also read it’s not food safe?

I think the biggest problem with the plan is that we are taking a bit of extra time to get to the campsite - leaving on Friday and camping Friday and Saturday night before getting to our actual destination on Sunday and staying there for a week. We could change it so it’s only Saturday night but just thought it might be easier than doing an 8hr drive with a 3 year old and a 5 year old… We could also not open the meat cooler those days since I’d be okay putting two days worth of meat in a less insulated cooler. We will also have a tent trailer that has a fridge but it’s very small and we were going to try and save it for milk, eggs, etc.

I’m looking for suggestions for books to help me get out of a book slump. I’ve been in a slump for a while and it’s gotten worse after a knee surgery in April that has spun me into a depressive episode. I’m spending all my time doom scrolling on instagram. Looking for books to read during an upcoming camping trip but also just sitting outside with my kids so I’m not setting a bad example being on my phone so much.

Some books I’ve been thinking about recently where I could see myself being interested in reading something similar are:

- Tender is the Flesh (dystopian books were always a favourite)
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Eileen (the characters are terrible but I found it enjoyable in a different way)
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (same as above, she wasn’t the nicest although sort of understandable by the end)
- Gods of Jade and Shadow (I think I’ve read all of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books but most of them I feel fall short by the end, this one is one of my favourites though)
- Everyone in this Room Will One Day Be Dead

I’d also be interested in ‘cozy’ books, that would fit perfectly with a camping vibe. And prefer no books with little kids as central characters or where the main character is a mom. Already feeling like a shitty mother 24/7 so I think some separation from that role would be good.

I have tried reading or listening to a lot of popular recommendations but I just haven’t been able to get into anything, there’s always something that makes me not want to finish it or makes me disappointed by the ending (ie God of the Woods, felt disappointed by the ending). Might just be part of the slump where I’m looking for reasons to mindlessly scroll instead of doing something productive! But at least if it’s a shorter book it won’t bother me as much to not like the ending or whatever.