There’s a wookie in my house.

And every day after dinner, he demands cookies. :)

click here to listen as napoleon discusses his dietary cravings with ty

Get Swag, Feed a Shelter Animal

this http://tinyurl.com/2wu86ge and this http://tinyurl.com/32vzeeq arrived today. $15 total & benefited animal rescue. w00t!

also?  the ring = awesome. :) it’s all urban chic and cool.  i love it. :)

Some Observations

1. Having your knee shot full of lidocaine is not an enjoyable experience. In point of fact, it is almost exactly like getting one very long, exceedingly painful bee sting. One that also makes your knee feel like it has tripled in size.

2. Having your knee drained is the suck and hurts like the bejeezus.

3. Pretty much the dregs of humanity will, at some point, make their way through a county trauma emergency room, most likely while you are spending 13 hours sitting in one (orthopedic clinics be damned) waiting to have your knee drained of the 43 cubic centimeters of blood and other fluid which has accumulated in it and stayed since your dog took you for a Beethovenesque spill ride which was nowhere near as harmless as Charles Grodin may have made such an event appear to be.

4. Depending on your aversion to being chatted up by strangers who are a) high, b) crazy, or c) absolutely as far removed from your reality as they can possibly be and still live on the same planet, the chances said strangers will insist on sitting next to you and chatting you up for 5 or 6 of the 13 hours you spend in the ER are a) 95%, b) 99.3%, and c) absofreakinglutelyfucking-A 100%. The fact that you have armed yourself with a book will not in any way serve as a deterrent. Nor will blank stares or the attempt to disengage through non-reaction.

5. No matter how many times you may be firmly informed that the wait for the test results on the fluid extracted from your knee is 45 minutes, it will actually be 3 hours. During this time, at least one of the persons from categories a, b, or c above will materialize next to you again and pick up the “conversation” exactly where he or she left off when last you saw them.

6. When they offer you more lidocaine after the fluid extraction, SAY YES.

I think that pretty much sums my day up. (barring my car dying in the middle of the 101 at 1:00 in the afternoon on the way. let me just say, the Metro Freeway Service Patrol are heaven-sent angels when you need them and they come swooping up in their huge white tow truck to save the day. i have never been so happy/relieved to see a tow truck in all my life. thank you, 7C!!!)

Les Popotames Terribles

I can not tell you how much I love this. I wish I knew this little girl and her mother.

yea or nay?

Trying to figure out what to offer prints of. Self-doubt’s a beyotch. I will be adding to this post. It’s not an either-or sort of thing. It’s more I don’t trust my own judgment as to what makes a photo other people will like and want to purchase. I appreciate the comments/help. As well, new photos will be added to the top of the post, so saying “the top one” will not help once this page changes. :)

Paris Noir

Wild Mustard

Secret Places

Lotus Fresco

Feel Good Fast – Days 13, 14 & 15

Oh. My. GAWD.

Day 15′s dinner?

AWESOME.

It was Wild Rice & Pinto Bean Soup, and if I could hold any more without being in sure danger of exploding, I would have another bowl of it. And the crazy thing is, the ingredients sound like they’re just not going to go together at all. I mean, chili powder and pesto with fennel? Srsly? And yet, it’s freaking incredible. I actually licked my bowl clean, people. It’s just that insanely delicious. I’m only sad because it has zucchini and broccoli in it, neither of which I like too well-cooked, so tomorrow when I reheat it, they’ll be soft and no longer crisp-cooked. Even though it has carrots in it, which I really hate well-cooked, it’s crazy good. And thick and chunky and so savory and fresh. It’s my favorite thing so far, and I can’t recommend it enough. And it’s perfect for today, because I had to go off the cleanse the 12th and 13th days, due to eating at other people’s houses, and I was feeling really crummy after all that unhealthy food*, and yesterday’s wild rice & pesto wasn’t as hearty as I craved, which is kind of ironic, since I had it in place of the soup that was on the menu. Tonight’s dinner really hit the spot. I feel better already. :)

*Jennifer’s food was not unhealthy, it just had meat and dairy, which I am not supposed to have while cleansing.

Feel Good Fast – Day 12

I completely blew the whole thing today. I went to dinner at Simon & Jennifer’s and had cheese & crackers and then chicken curry. Doh!

Feel Good Fast – Day 11

Went off-menu tonight and made vegetarian chili with tofu. I should have made my own chili sauce, but I used our usual package, which I’m really not that fond of, but Ty loves. It was okay, but Moira’s menu is better. I also cheated and had some cheese and sour cream. I tried to do it without, but I really do not like that chili seasoning, so I needed something to cut the oregano taste. As far as I’m concerned, a tiny bit of oregano goes way far enough.

I’ve decided to extend this cleanse through Lent. I usually go sugar-free during Lent, so I think it’s a good idea to extend this into it, because I’ve cheated a few times, so I think I’ll benefit from the extension, and also, it will help me to continue developing healthier eating habits and effecting a lifestyle change if it’s something I’ve committed to for spiritual reasons.

Man though, I am craving sugar. Big time.

You guys, I discovered chocolate almond milk! Unsweetened, even!! I can’t tell you how awesome that is. I was hypoglycemic most of my life (up until about 8 or 9 years ago), so I haven’t had chocolate milk since Borden stopped making sugar-free chocolate milk in the mid-90s. Chocolate almond milk is almost as awesome as chocolate milk. :) The only way it could be better is if it were creamier. I really like almond milk, but it has the same level of creaminess as a mix of non-fat and low-fat milk, and while low-fat milk is creamy enough to still be pretty satisfying, non-fat milk is about as unsatisfying as you can get. Non-fat milk is like essence o’ milk. I really don’t see the point of it. Almond milk is a lot better than that, but not quite as satisfying as low-fat. And I believe it’s lower in fat than non-fat milk, so all you non-fat milk drinkers should give serious thought to switching to almond milk. It’s way more yummy. And all you diabetic, hypoglycemic peeps should check it out too, because seriously: chocolate milk! I really like the unsweetened vanilla, too. It doesn’t really taste like vanilla, but it does taste a pretty good amount like almond-y milk. I want to try it in tea, but I’m on a green tea kick right now, and I drink that without anything in it. Next cup of darjeeling I have though, I am definitely putting almond milk in it. :)

Anyway, that’s it. I have no idea what tomorrow’s menu is. Ty may be playing music, though, and if that’s the case, I’ll be having wild rice with pesto, because that’s really easy to make, and I still have some pesto in the fridge, so all I’ll have to make is the wild rice, which I already bought. :)

later!

Feel Good Fast – Day 10

Today’s dinner entry was Beet Green Burritos, so called because the filling was wrapped in beet greens rather than flour tortillas. I was fairly hesitant about that, because frankly, beet greens don’t look all that edible, and a lot of greens have to be cooked first in order to eat them, but they were quite yummy. :) I changed up the filling, though. It was supposed to have ginger and cinnamon in it, but I left them out and just went with cumin and chili powder in the red quinoa and pinto beans. It was warm and spicy and filling, and even though he was grumping about it at first, by meal’s end, Ty firmly felt that it was a good substitute for turkey chili. :)

Last night after I blogged, I totally macked out on rice crackers & hummus with carrot sticks. Even though I know better, because hummus is an awesome snack, but you really can not and should not make a meal out of it. But it was the only thing I had that I could eat at that hour, as it did not have to be prepared, which would have woken up Ty, an act I did not think would be appreciated at 3am. So hummus it was. And it was yummy. :) …Unfortunately, I have been completely unable to shake the sugar craving, so tonight I sorta said screw it and had some Hostess orange cupcakes. I have no excuse. I am sugar’s b****.

Actually my main problem with this cleanse is how often you’re supposed to eat. I used to eat all the time – like constantly – and it was awesome. But the last 10 years or so, I only eat once or twice a day. I just don’t get hungry more than that. Which may be why my metabolism has gone into hibernation and I weigh 40 pounds more than I used to. I don’t know. Next step is to work an actual workout into my routine.

My only other problem is that it’s cold here right now, and some days it’s really hard to face a cold smoothie in the morning. But I hate breakfast cereals except for the ones I’m not allowed on the cleanse. (grape nuts and cinnamon & brown sugar oatmeal…i really don’t like breaksfast foods)

Anyway, that’s today. See you guys tomorrow, when I think I’m veering off the cleanse menu to have vegetarian chili, because Ty really wants chili. :)

Feel Good Fast – Day 9

Tonight was red quinoa with red kale, cabbage, onions, beets, and a few other things. I would have liked it more if the miso tahini sauce had been thicker – I really liked the sauce. Also, I don’t care so much for cabbage, so when I make it again, I’ll use half as much water in the sauce and leave the cabbage out. The sauce had great flavor; very savory. Actually, the kale was my favorite part. That was kinda surprising, because I don’t generally like cooked greens. But the kale was really savory, and Moira has a crunchy baked kale recipe I can’t wait to try when I have a working oven again.

I had to have chocolate today, so after dinner, I ate the remainder of chocolate shake in the freezer. I shouldn’t have, but I’m PMS-ing big time and had to have some freaking chocolate. In fact, later, I may go down to the store and get some cupcakes. This is not because I’m weak, but because I don’t want to go to jail for killing anyone, which I am definitely going to do if I don’t get some chocolate. Right. Freaking. NOW. Seriously. I am on thin ice, people. I don’t PMS that much any more, since my body betrayed me by deciding to go all early perimenopausal on my butt, but when I do, it’s ugly, big time. In addition to the PMS, today is the year anniversary of my dad’s’ death. So yeah. It’s ugly. I really want chocolate. Lots of it. Right now.