Time for something new.

It's January, and it's too warm in here. A whole weekend in the 60's, how gorgeous, although admittedly, I am hoping for at least one more good winter storm. Not this week.

I haven't been back to boot camp all week - Monday I went to the doctor, and I had bronchitis, so I spent the week resting (from boot camp, I did work most of the week) and taking the 'roids to clear up these here pesky lungs. I'm much better - still gloopy and coughing some, but not sick, and better enough that I got to go snuggle a beautiful little princess baby this morning, which started this Sunday off on the right foot.  Three of my friends and one of my sisters have had babies over the past 2 months - there is much snuggling to be done.

I started Whole 30 today. I was going to start tomorrow, but my husband was all, "why start Monday, you could start Sunday," and I said, "well, maybe I will." And I did, which works well, since February is 29 days, so March 1 will be my first day off Whole 30. Please give me strength, my friends. I spent hours prepping food today. Hours. I made bone broth, cauliflower rice, baked chicken, Whole 30 mayo, planned out dinners for the week, and packed breakfasts and lunches for the next two days. I'm plumb worn out, let me tell you. Luckily, the husband made dinner, and he has been super supportive (in his way) by going through recipes we all like and picking out the compliant ones. Tonight he made pork tinga, and there was a ton of leftover, so I'll have plenty for lunches or breakfasts, if I choose.

It's not pretty, but oh so good. Usually you eat it in a tortilla, but grains are verboten, so I put it over leftover home fries (Husband made up a mess of those, as well) and a pile of spinach. I am really drawn to the whole "pile a mess of food together" way of eating, so hopefully my concoctions will work. I'm stressing a bit about this, but I really need to relax - I think it will be helpful. I'm interested to see what my body does with this particular experiment. I will try to post more often while I am doing this, as I think it will help me stay accountable, and I have had some requests. I don't know how often I will photograph the food - do you really want to see what I'm eating? I can't be tied down people, I will just go with the vibe...

This weekend was also rather lovely in that we had no tournaments, so my Girl and I had lunch with my sweet baby sister yesterday, went shopping, and then my husband and I watched "Straight Outta Compton" last night, which was quite good - and wow, does Ice Cube's son look like him! Tonight we watched "Amy" which was just sad. Such a talent, and you feel like, if she just had the right kind of support...I was actually not a fan when she was alive, as I hated Rehab, which was her biggest song here; my lovely friend A with fantastic taste loved her and introduced me to her music, which grabs your heart and plucks and pulls at it like a harp. Rather messy metaphor, I know, but it's how it feels. So, it was a decent movie, and very sad, but lots of lovely Amy.

I am getting up for boot camp, and I promised to paint my Girl's nails tonight, so I'm off to bed. Sleep well, lovelies.

So, this is what I did this week...

Hello, my friends, hello.
It started out such a good, productive week, what with my going to boot camp, and eating well, and putting away laundry, and doing my job without whining, and I really was feeling pretty good. Wednesday evening I went to Classics Book Club. It was a movie night, and I have now added "On The Waterfront" to my classic movie repertoire.

It was a decent movie, although I wasn't in much of a movie-watching mood, to which my friends can attest, as I spent the whole time chattering. In my defense, my friend is pregnant, and she wanted to talk to me, too. And I'm pretty sure the rest could hear...

Thursday morning, I woke up wheezing, terribly. That went on most of the day, and around 10, I started running a fever. That continued off and on until Saturday morning. I was achy and lethargic, and I felt awful. One of my coworkers was sweet enough to be concerned, which is lovely. Everyone likes to feel taken care of.

Anyway, because I was feeling so awful, I did not end up going to my daughter's volleyball tournament this weekend. She and her dad were gone for the weekend, and I spent Friday evening until Saturday afternoon watching Criminal Minds with my brother and sleeping and drinking endless cups of Yogi Respiratory Care tea. I felt much better Saturday afternoon, although I still am not breathing well, and went to visit my mom, and then hang out with another group of superhero women friends. We were supposed to have a girl's weekend away this weekend, but with the threat of snowmageddon, which apparently skipped us and doubled its efforts before hitting east, and invalid status, we postponed the trip (Ladies, Weekend of Debauchery 2016 will happen, and it will be spectacular!) So one of them shipped her people out for the night, and we went over there. I only stayed a few hours to nosh and have one margarita, and make my newest best friend, a dog named Spike, who has decided I am a princess, and who am I to dissuade him? We had a great time, but what with my wheezing, and my rather severe asthmatic reaction to dogs, I needed to leave and hopefully learn to breathe again. I am still working on it - this is rather uncomfortable.

Today I spent the day going to the grocery, meeting with some boot camp friends to discuss health stuff, and food prep. I roasted veggies, made a big pot of my tortilla soup, and roasted 2 chickens with other veggies, and froze the carcasses so I can make broth next weekend. My house smells like heaven.

Next Monday I am starting Whole 30. I promised my friends from last night that I would blog about it. There are 1000 people who blog about this, but, well, you know me, and you know I have a little problem with commitment, so it might be a little more fun to read about my particular adventures with this eating plan. I will give all the details next Sunday, as well as do some serious food prep. Thank goodness we don't have a tournament next weekend.

Alrighty, so, have a good day. Wish me luck that I get my lungs cleared out without any medical participation. I am going to boot camp tomorrow, but I'll have to take it easy for a few days or so until I can breathe hard without hacking up a lung. I'm going to drink tea and read another chapter - I am finally reading Fried Green Tomatoes (I love Fannie Flagg), and listening to Nick Offerman's Gumption. What are your reading? Inquiring minds want to know...

Missy...In...Space!

One unproductive and seriously uncomfortable way to prove you desperately need to change your eating habits? Skip your antidepressants one night (accidentally), and spend the next day fuzzy and eating all the junk food you can get your hands on. Including, for crap's sake, McDonalds. Lots of McDonalds. I haven't eaten McDonalds in months and months. Almost a year. And it was awful. And then I got home and spent the rest of tonight feeling really sick. I still feel really sick.

On a positive note, I went on vacation last week! I spent a week in Florida with my girl, and some of my favorite people.

I love the ocean. and the Space Center. Ooh, and we spent New Year's Eve and Day at "Nana's Condo" (my niece's name for it), overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. It was lovely. 

The worst day ever? The day you go back to work after being on vacation for a week.

Fun way to embarrass your daughter and your best friend? Respond with an excited giggle and a loud "me" when the bus driver at the Cape Kennedy Space Center asks who has been there before. Nothing brings out the nerd more readily than the opportunity to walk under Atlantis. 

Trips to the moon were cool, don't get me wrong, but I grew up during the Shuttle years, and that is what gets me excited. I was going to be Lea Thompson, go to the Air Force Academy, and be an astronaut (I wasn't all "I want to be the first female shuttle commander," I didn't care, as long as I got to go.) This, obviously, did not happen - I found boys much more interesting than physics, and math never came easily to me - but I still got all misty-eyed the first time I saw the VAB this visit. And every subsequent time. (I also get misty-eyed every time I see a dolphin show; just a little tidbit you didn't know about me, just in case you want to make me cry for some reason.) I did find out, however, that most astronauts have been over 35, so I still have a chance!

Anyway - something I added to the list of things I have to do - I would say before I die, but I would really like this to be sooner rather than later - I want to see a launch. A real launch, preferably a manned launch, and I want to be there on purpose, actually on the property. Which means I am going to need to form a relationship with someone who has ties to NASA or whatever space organization running the launch. Seeing as I am married to an engineer, this should not, in theory, be an issue. Speaking of said engineer, when we were in the Orlando area for our honeymoon, we inadvertently witnessed the launch of the Mars Global Surveyor from Cape Canaveral on 11/7/1996 whilst driving to Cocoa Beach. That was terribly cool, but I need to be there, amidst the excitement. I want to actually feel the rumbling of the earth as engines ignite. 

Anyway, so it was a great trip, and I am back home, back at work, back to boot camp, and planning to do a Whole 30 session starting February 1. We'll see how it helps my sugar issues, my eczema, my allergies. People at boot camp keep talking about how good they feel, so I am interested to see how it goes. I am not much of a cook, so I am a little nervous about prep bit, but I just need to suck it up - I think I proved to myself that McDonalds is not going to make me feel better.

Gotta go, have a good night.