Rant, Recipe, Pictures

Ah!  I can't believe it has already been over a week since I've last blogged.  I seem to always get on a blogging roll, and then life happens.  Any-who... last week I came down with some very unpleasant stomach bug that caused me to be home stick from work for a day and a half.  I just felt super nauseous for a few days (ginger in club soda helped that a bit), then the second day I had horrible body aches and a mild migraine.  Not fun at all, BUT, compared to the flu that everyone else has been getting that has major symptoms coming out of both ends along with a fever and chills, I consider myself lucky.

To top off the end of being sick, my "lovely" lady time of the month came.  Perfect...  (***Girl rant coming, boys skip to the "Safe Zone" below.  You have been warned!***)  For those of you who have followed my blog for some time, you may remember almost a year ago when I was having major issues with my birth control pills.  I started getting TMJ migraines, I felt constantly tired, and I felt the need to panic about everything, even to the point of causing a panic attack or two.  For anyone who has never had a panic attack before, it feels like you have tunnel vision, you can't breathe but oddly breathe too much, and you sometimes lose feeling to your extremities, including your face.  It's terrifying!  I finally figured out that the hormones in my birth control pill were causing all of these weird symptoms, along with a mild case of anemia.

In the end, I completely went off of the birth control pill to try to get my hormones back to normal and I started taking some iron supplements.  I felt like I was slowly getting better over the summer, and then fall hit.  All of a sudden, my once very regular like-clockwork period was late... or rather, skipped an entire month.  What the french toast!?  After some mild panic crying and several pregnancy tests later, I knew for certain that I wasn't pregnant, but I had to wait an entire month for it to finally come.  Since then my periods have been getting slowly closer together (1 month and 3 weeks, 1 month and 2 week, then this time was 1 month and 1 week).  At this point, I am hoping I will be fully back to normal within a cycle or two.

Why am I telling you this?  Because I think it is important to remember where we have come from and where we are going.  Looking back nearly a year ago, I felt like my health wasn't in my control and that everything that was happening to my body could not be helped.  Now, I feel calm and energized and in control, compared to the sense of panic, perpetual tiredness, and helplessness I felt through much of last year.   Last year made me realize that health is not just a number on a scale, but how you feel during all 24 hours of the day.  I can say that I live my 24 hours a day in 2014 much more fully than I did during most of 2013, and I'm truly excited for what this year will bring.

(***Safe Zone, Rant Over***) 

Anyways, I haven't had too much time to cook over the last week or two, so no new recipes to report.  Tonight I will be trying a new recipe that I discovered on Whole Foods Market's website.  My husband, Kevin, often likes spicy sausages with hotdog buns for dinner because they are easy enough for him to make and very filling.  Obviously, NOT healthful food, but this last time he ate them, he told me that they gave him an awful gut ache and bathroom consequences later (hmm, wonder why? ;)).  Lately he has been enjoying more meals with beans that I have been making, like teriaki chickpeas and lentil soup, so I thought I might give this recipe a try to replace the spicy sausage in his hotdog buns: Lentil Sloppy Joes.

What has everyone else been making lately?

And here are some fun random pictures:

I feel like all Nutritarians or those who eat a
Plant-Based diet could qualify to wear one of these ;)

My first knitted item for myself in over 6 months!  I got the yarn
 from my mom for Christmas and a pair of beautiful custom made
bamboo knitting needles from my brother and sister-in-law.

I found this at a fancy kitchen gadget store downtown about
a month ago.  It instantly went on my wish list!

Kevin and I got around to hanging up some pictures from our wedding
now that we have some wall space to do it.  This is one of both of our
 favorites when we surprised everyone on our first dance by doing a dance
compilation of Thriller, the Charleston swing, the dance song from
Napolean Dynomite, and Summer Lovin' from Grease.

One of my best girlfriends and I sharing a moment while we were out
for our annual Lady's Holiday Evening Out.  This year we called it
"The Night of Sparkles" and dressed up in shimmery cocktail dresses.

I found this killer ab workout that Kevin and I are going to do
tonight at the gym we just joined.  Wish us and our poor abs luck!

Check out this hilarious dinosaur tray.  Love it!

Here is an interesting convo I had with Siri the other day.