Stupid toes...

The worst problem I've ever had with my feet have been the odd mild in-grown toenail, which was never painful enough to require surgical intervention.  In the past several months I've suddenly had 1) a really bad, deep callous, which made it very painful to walk normally, and 2) yesterday I was startled when I noticed that the toenail on my left big toe is suddenly starting to lift off!  WTF?!  This is freaking me out a little - what happens if it falls off??

A few weeks ago I did notice that the older half of the nail was a bit yellowed, so I applied a drop of grape seed oil a few times (also in hopes of softening the nail to ease the in-grown problem that has resurfaced as well).  Now that it's lifting off I'm applying a drop of tea tree oil in hopes of killing this fungus.

The best part is that my doctor's office never bothered to phone me back when I left a message, asking them to arrange a podiatrist appointment.  A-holes.

Sheeeeeeeewes!!!

So the shoes I proxy-ordered through my ex, who happens now to live in OK, have finally arrived!  He had mistakenly taken a box of my stuff with him when he moved, so as part of the return shipment of that box, he stuffed these in there too.  It's really nice when you can remain friends with your ex-things, yanno?? :)

I *lof* my new black suedey 'roo Vibrams.  The ex refers to them as "froggy feet". lol

Well I'll be damned...

I forgot to mention what ELSE I purchased yesterday!  I popped over to Medium Rare at lunchtime to see if I could snag some of their pork lard and yep, they had some.  I bought one container for now, but I later wondered "isn't this pretty much the same pork fat that I have in a mug in the fridge from cooking bacon??"

Anyway, it was $8 so I didn't mind trying it out.  I asked (again) if they had any beef fat available AND THEY DID!!  They had a few scraps to throw in a bag for me, NO CHARGE.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!  Happy me drove back to work and put the stuff in the fridge.

On another note, I've been somewhat upset lately that our grocery store had run out of my plantain chip-crack fix (spicy flavour) and SURPRISE, hunnybun sneakily grabbed three bags that he happened to notice while there yesterday.  The only three bags they had of the spicy.  One bag was already demolished this morning.  He's so sweet.  :)

Thu-mpday

My friend and I usually get together one night a week after work, and we usually go to the local mall to walk around, grab something to eat, and shoot the breeze.  Tonight we did just that.

She always arrives at the mall earlier than I, and today she was starving so while she was waiting for me she went downstairs to the dollar store to buy a chocolate bar.  *face palm*  See, this is my friend that grew up as an overweight girl, who later had lap band surgery and lost a whack of weight.  She has kept most of it off over the years, partly because she can't eat a lot of things that make it through the screening at the entrance to her stomach (!!), and thus most things come back up/out.  She was starving today because her lunch didn't stay down.  She also goes to the gym almost every morning before work, to work out for 2 HOURS.  Crazy shit.

Anyway, so she ate a "turtle" (you know, "Mmmm, I love Turtles!") and we made our way to the food court.  I hit up Bourbon St. Grill and got mixed veggies (99.6% broccoli) and something they called "coconut shrimp", and my buddy got a small sub from Mr. Sub.  After eating, we walked around the mall, chit-chatting about various crap and browsing in some stores.  At one point she wasn't sure if her dinner was going to stay down (the reek of the Crocs store nauseated both of us, actually), but it stayed put, thankfully.  After some more walking and shopping we headed for Dairy Queen and each got a blizzard (mini for me, and small for her).  Not a wise food day for either of us!

Earlier today I was having a hard time at work and my buddy, Gary, handed me half of his Coffee Crisp chocolate bar to cheer me up.  I told him straight out that it was like crack and he was being a pusher (not taking no for an answer), but I took it anyway.  I tried to ignore it for awhile, but eventually gave in.  Crack, indeed.

So, I renamed Thursday to Thu-mpday because of today's antics.

My bowel movements have been absent for much of this week, and I think it's because of last Saturday's antics; steak with Diane's sugary BBQ sauce, sweet mixed drinks (holy moly were they strong!), and desserts to top it off.  I had my regular bowel movement the next day but since then everything ground to a halt.  Until today, where it was not the usual easy-going event.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  I miss my daily deposit!

So there you go.  Until next time...

Stupid neck!!!

It's been an interesting week...the back of my neck is absolutely killing me on a daily basis, and I wonder if it's because of the new height-adjustable desk I have at home.  Perhaps I'm not using it at the right height, or, maybe I need to go to the chiropractor for an interim adjustment since I'm now doing a LOT more standing at work and home.  Not sure, but this is really annoying me.  It hurts like fuck.

Nothing much interesting is going on in the foodiness of my being...I haven't had the desire to cook very much, what with being occupied with Sons of Anarchy (DROOOOOL) and schoolwork.  I don't feel the urge to be creative in the kitchen and thus we've been eating pretty much the same meals each week, cooked exactly the same way.  A little boring, yes, but at least the stuff tastes good!

I've laid off the alcohol and sweet cheats since my last update and didn't even order a slice of to-die-for coconut cream pie as part of our Swiss Chalet delivery last night.  I came close, but I didn't.

My latest rash is starting to clear up, thankfully. Damn that sugar crack.  DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!

It's amazing...

...how clean the kitchen gets when the MIL is over for a visit.  The chocolate martinis flow very well, also. :)

Here's what we had for side dishes!  (Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of the pork roast before it was scarfed down.)

Crispy bacon-wrapped asparagus:

Roasted bell peppers:

That's alright...I'm okay...

I guess I'll be lost again for one more day...

Not really - it's just lyrics to a song that's in my head right now:

Love Big Wreck...anyhow, just thought I'd check in with a few random tidbits for those who want to know.

- My weight today is 145.2.  I'm happy about that, and a bit surprised since I have been inhaling a whole bag of these every day this week!  (Can you say WEAKNESSSSSSS?)

- Last night I cooked up a couple of strip loin steaks using the method that previously set off the smoke alarm and threw me into a migraine headache.  This time I was better prepared and also had the assistance of hubby.  The steaks were a little over-cooked but were still quite good.  I love how flavourful the fat turns out using this method.  Next time I'll just take them out of the oven sooner and we should be good.

- I'm finding that I really don't like the taste of coffee lately, especially with the chocolate-flavoured almond milk in it.  When I use cream (preferably 18%) it's at least a little bit more drinkable, but if it weren't a caffeine addiction I wouldn't bother with the stuff.  I do like having something warm to drink, though, which helps my stupid mouse voice become audible.

- My new desk at work is working out great - I love it to bits!  I found that I actually had it a bit too high when standing and it was causing some tingling/numbness/cold feeling in my right elbow.  Things are better now, but I really have to do something about my home computer desk, sooo...

- I ordered a GeekDesk electric height-adjustable desk base for home and it's on it's way!!  It should arrive this week (YAY!), so I really need to get my butt to Ikea to grab a table top to complete it.  My current computer chair creaks with almost every movement so that will likely be my next purchase.

- We've recently gotten into watching Sons of Anarchy (a friend gave it to us on DVD) and I can't believe how addicted I am to this show.  It's absolutely fantastic and the acting is top-notch.  We've come very close to tears on a couple of occasions already and last night I was caught off-guard with a stunner of an ending.  Christ, I hate it when major characters you like a lot are suddenly killed off.  I was traumatized!!  Ugh...  Anyway, this is just testament to how good the whole series is so far.  Next up is the second episode of the third season.  Thank GROK Monday is a holiday!!  :)

- My dad is recovering from a really bad cold and is still eating crap food.  Can't say anything about diet because my step-mom is a nutritionist.  *sigh*

It's Saturday...here's what the scale says!

145.8 is the reading today after a small bowel movement, wearing only my socks (damn scale is glass and it's winter, so...).  I'm happy with that.

I've cut down to using cream in only one of my coffees per day, with almond milk in the others.  I kind of feel like a recovering alcoholic, wherein even the sight of a picture of cakes or cookies makes me very afraid.  Afraid I'll cave and be back to my old ways.  Sugarholic.  That's what I am.

There has been some discussion regarding exactly this; how evil sugar really is, though the general public still refuses to accept it.  Whatever - they can have it.  It amazes me how people plug their ears and go "LALALALALALALA" when they hear how bad their daily indulgences are.  Then they complain that they're fat and sick and want stomach surgery so they can't eat so much.  Ridiculous!!

It's about time.

The headaches have finally subsided and life is back to normal.  I haven't been much in the mood for prepping or cooking anything, so thankfully my sweet hunnybun is stepping in whenever he can.  The last dinner I cooked consisted of sausages in a crushed tomato sauce with crunchy celery and fresh asparagus pieces.  It was pretty refreshing and tasty, if I do say so myself.  :)

In other news, I'm in the process of snagging a second pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes, since Backwoods.com has a sale on right now (and I have a contact in OK to order them for me).  Here's what I'm getting!!

I'm hoping that I might be able to sneak them by people at work since they're black, but only on Fridays.

Since finishing the Yeast Buster program I have indulged in a treat or two here and there (NOT everyday) and have resumed using cream for my coffees.  I've noticed that my weight has inched upward so I'm going to have to cut back on that stuff.  Today I'm back to using almond milk (unsweetened) in my coffee.  Of course the coffee doesn't taste as good, but that will also mean that I may not want 3 a day!

We'll see what the scale says on Saturday...

Okay, enough already. Let's move on...

Every. Single. Day. For the past week I've had either a full-blown migraine or the feeling of one threatening to blossom.  I'd like to move on now, thank you.

Last Friday I at least had an excuse, what with the effing smoke alarm blaring in my ear (and btw, my ears rang for several days after that), but since then, there isn't an obvious trigger that I can think of.  Let's see...it could be the weather...it's February, I'm in Toronto, and there's NO SNOW on the ground.  Bizarro!

Otherwise, I thought maybe I'd upset some neck muscles while attempting my various bodyweight lifting exercises on the bar...or else it could be stress from my idiot clients...not sure.

This weekend we're taking my mom out to shop for a small kitchen table for two (for her new bachelor apartment) and we're also moving her into said apartment on Sunday.  Truck rental, the whole she-bang. Who's betting whether the headaches continue for those days?  Oi.

On to other news...this week I found myself at the Shoe Company shoe store (weakness! lol) and snagged myself a couple pairs of water shoes, which I am now using as slippers at home (blue pair) and at work (black pair):

They are incredibly comfy, light, and flexible, but I wish they came with steel toes built in!!  On both of my big toes my nails are slightly ingrown (ugh!) and today I managed to keep the toe-stubbing to one time only.  Is there a pain worse than this??!?  I'm sure there is, but man oh man, I could have screamed, it hurt so bad.

A couple days ago I stubbed my toe (and this means a gentle contact with a table leg, when you have an ingrown nail) TWICE.  Mama help me and my stupid feet.

I left a message with my doctor's office for a podiatrist referral but haven't heard back yet.  I also have a deep callus on the pad of my foot just south of my baby toe on the left side.  It's getting difficult to walk with all this going on.  :S