I didn't manage to avoid the snow yesterday, but all worked out well anyway.  
The weather was fine for most of my drive over to Petoskey, just a wee bit of
snow at the end.  Enough to let me know I wouldn't be dawddling much on the
way home.

First visit with new RD was promising.  He couldn't believe my stories about
the last one!  When we parted, with the second gentle handshake ofthe visit,
I told him about the last guy's *firm* handshake.  He just couldn't believe
an RD doing that.

I got thumb injections, finally (!), after he assured me he'd use lidocaine
so I could still drive home  :)  The bozo had backed off from doing them
after he got back my high normal sedrate.  New guy questioned the mtx/arava
combo with the combined side effects, but understood when I explained we were
dealing with insurance issues at the time. Now that we have good insurance he
wants to start me on Enbrel and hopefully we can drop one or both of the
others.  No argument here!  Told him I want to drop the arava first so I can
stop worrying about eating too much fiber!  He wants TB tests before any
biologic, so he gave me an order to have that done over here and a starter
pack for the Enbrel.  I'll see him again in February, in Rogers City now
(only 40 miles away!), and we expect to start Enbrel then.  The big downside
with the visit was learning I've gained even more weight htis fall than I
realized.  At least I could tell him I'd already put myself on a diet this
past weekend.  I WILL weigh less when he sees me in Feb!

The drive home was a little too interesting. The snow was coming down pretty
good much of the way, epecially when I was west of I-75, in the real snow
belt.  Fortuantely, the roads weren't too bad yet, though I did have to be
really careful in some areas.  I truly couldn't use the cruise control in
those conditions!

I stopped at a WalMart along the way and bought some home scales to replaced
our deceased ones.  Apparently we need to have some at home!  Also picked up
some food fixings, including chili necessities as we're into real chili
weather here.  By the time I got home though, the lidocaine in the shots was
starting to wear off and I wasn't looking forward to chopping up stuff.  Oh!  
what's this box that arrived today?  Lo and behold, it's the Good Grips
knives Mike told me to go ahead and get myself as his Christmas gift to me.  
I got a chef's knife and a vegetable knife to make meal prep a lot easier.  
Opened them off, washed the knives and got to work.  I do recommend the
knives!  They were much easier to use for me. (they're probably sharper than
our 14 years old knives, too!)

Got the chili on the stove and settled back to hope that Mike would get home
from his meeting in one piece.  Luckily he did, though he had to drive 40
mph, rather than 55+, most of the way.  He tried to go to the Bible study, 15
miles away, last night, but the roads were too icy.   He said he probably
couldn't have even made it up the hill going out of town.  So we stayed home
and enjoyed the chili, safe and sound and warm and looking forward to Enbrel
days for me!

(LOL  I said "Enbrel" to Mike, he queried, "that's the Charles Lindbergh's
grandson medicine, right?")