Class, Cooking, and Coconut

Back to class today! I missed my somewhat odd human bio class :). My back held up pretty well, it's feeling a bit sore now but i'm heading to bed soon. I'm trying to get back into the groove of things, I was able to do a few chores around the house and bring Milo for a little walk before class. I'll try and keep up the tempo tomorrow, though I do feel like i'm catching a cold or something.

Bran made a really yummy stuffed chicken breast for dinner :) he's becoming quite the cook! I like trading off cooking dinner and dishes (one cooks, the other does dishes), I think it's working out well. I don't need to worry about having to make dinner late at night, Bran is learning to cook new things, and we are trading off doing one of our least favorite jobs (dishes) it's a win-win!

On the other hand, I think i'm sensitive to coconut. I've used coconut oil once before as a hair mask, but it ended up smelling really bad. 'Ok, the oil must have gone off' I though, so I had no worries about putting some relatively new, definitely clean smelling coconut oil on my face last night. After maybe an hour it started to smell. Ok, maybe it's releasing toxins? Or maybe my body chemistry just doesn't work with it? So I rinsed off as much as I could. This morning I woke up to slightly inflamed skin, new break outs and blotchy cheeks. Yeah, not liking it so much. I've also gotten a sore throat from eating raw deserts made with a lot of coconut oil. Apparently I don't learn very quickly >.>.

Shopping, Sick, and Sciatica

It's been a busy few days. Saturday I went grocery shopping, changed the tap handles (i'm so handy!) had a lovely meet-up with some pagan folk, and then was horribly sick around 10 pm. As in, projectile vomit sick. I'm not really sure why...

Feeling better today, though i'm having a lot of pain between my back and knee on the right side. After speaking with my counsellor on friday (who used to me a massage therapist) i'm thinking it may be nerve pain. Which is concerning, as I haven't done anything to cause any disc problems...

I've also had a meeting with most of the other owners in regards to some things that need to be done around our apartments.

First day of classes tomorrow :) i'm looking forward to it.

Elimination Diet Day 1

So today was fine. As i've mentioned, i'm not cutting out a whole lot of stuff yet. I did have a little bit of cheese, which tends not to bother me, but I think i'll really need to cut out all dairy. I'm not going to be too hard on myself though because I know i'll just want to stop. I have stayed gluten free though, and found some interesting recipes using coconut flour that i'm going to try after I get the chance to get some coconut oil.

We also got our couch cushions replaced today. O.M.Gs! What a difference that has made! We previously had cushions that had springs under a bit of foam. The springs ended up going every which way within 3 years >.< and this isn't a cheapy little couch either. So finally we had the cushions replaced by a local re-upholstery man. He did a great job and used good quality foam which is guaranteed for 7 years. He was late, which I don't like, but he was polite and gave Milo a pat. Plus he said if the foam was too hard then he would be happy to replace it with softer foam. It's that kind of thing I appreciate :). Plus he got it done all in one day! I've already noticed that my hip doesn't hurt as much :) very nice.

Room Spray...of DOOM!

Hm. My day was not very interesting i'm afraid. I'm a bit concerned about nerve pain i'm getting down my R leg. Other than that I had some blood drawn for a few tests (darn vampires!) and hung out with my MiL Sarah :).

Oh! I did make an experimental room spray using a few tablespoons of vinegar, about a cup of water and some lavender and clove essential oils. It sure smells nice but we'll see if it actually gets rid of dog smell ;).

Goodnight.

R elbow is sore, both wrists and hands, R knee was especially sore, and R foot is being weird.

Sunday Scramble

Sunday, sunday.

It's a bittersweet day.

I'm alone tomorrow.

But today I have Bran.

It's been an alright day. My hands and back have been a bit angry. I'm concerned about the pain in my right foot. I can't tell if it's tendon or nerve o.O.

We made pizza for the first time in a while :).

We also ran some sums and I think we should be alright even with the new searches added on to our lawyer fees. Better safe I suppose...even if it's all ended up being about twice as expensive as it was supposed to be :/.

I made a new stew for Milo :) chicken based instead of fish. It certainly smelled less!

I've also turned in my final project for my counselling class and the workbook for my microbiology class. The article study for my counselling class is worth half my grade, so I hope I did well!

We spent $118 at the store, and should be good for the week. Thats not too bad for food for Bran, Milo and myself including $25 worth of free range/organic meat o.o....

I also actually got all of our laundry folded! Usually we have a basket left that I just can't be bothered with >.> but must get back into the habit for when we move!

Still waiting to hear about Milo.

Thats it :) goodnight.

Happy Mum's day

Happy Mother's day to those who are Mums out there :).

Quiet day at home. We showed Fay (Bran's paternal grandmother) the building of our apartment and met one of our neighbours. She was lovely and had a little fluffy dog.

Made burritos and tacos for Sarah W for mother's day dinner. It was yummy.

I've just upped my mtx to 20 mg, so i'm already spacing out. Sleep soon. R hand and R foot are sore. Had no pain meds or nsaids today.

Holiday Blues

Tired today. Slept for 10 hours and had an hour and a half nap. Now i'm tired again at 9. Blah, not a fan of flares. Hands, wrists, and feet still acting up. I did have a nice day at home with the family though :). Ate lots of chocolate, had yummy pizza, and watched movies with Bran. I finally saw the movie 300. It was alright, not really my cup of tea but I can appreciate the nice scenery and lighting effects.

I'm still struggling a bit with missing my family. It's worse around the holidays. My family do big holiday get togethers with lots of food and laughter. Bran's family isn't really into that. Sometimes people will get together to have lunch on Christmas, but other than that it's pretty much just the main family unit and chocolate. Not that it's bad of course :) who am I to say no to chocolate? But I do miss my big family celebrations. It's difficult to make the celebration important when my husband grew up in a family that wasn't terribly celebratory. Well, i'll just have to start our own traditions :D!

Stuff and Things

Ah dear. It was a long day today, and will be a longer one tomorrow. Today was new student orientation (which a total of 5 out of 110 new students went to >.>) and class.  I was also able to get some housework done so that is good :). Tomorrow I have a GP appointment to check out the bump on my knuckle, grocery shopping, class, a meeting with the student assistance head and swimming if i'm not exhausted. I'm tired just thinking about it! Or maybe because I was up at 5:30 am today >.>. Been a while since i've seen sunrise.

My foot has mostly been alright, it's starting to flare up a bit now. I've had to ration my prednisone to 4 mg for the last two days, 5 mg today. But i'll get it filled tomorrow :). My poor doctor, I have a bit of a laundry list for her...

On a lighter note, we had home made pizza for dinner :D I have to say...my wheat crust is much better than my not wheat crust...but thats mostly because I make awesome pizza to begin with (with the help of my happy hubby <3 he kneads and cuts things up :D ).

I also found out that I won't have to sit a test to get my Aussie driver's license! That was super exciting. So i'll be legal to drive (despite not having a car) this weekend or so :) it will be useful on the other hand to have a legal form of ID other than my passport. That also means i'll FINALLY be able to start the name changing process (much to Bran's joy, poor guy has had to wait nearly two years for his wife to have the same name! [not that partners need to have the same name, but it was something we decided on before we got married and he has been very patient :) ] ).

Pain: R FOOT, wrists, hands, elbows, SHOULDERS, R knee, ankles, toes, getting some nerve pain down my R leg which is a bit concerning...

New Mattress!

So,  our most expensive purchase to date four our home is our mattress. Of course, a good mattress usually costs a pretty penny. Ours is a futon. As in a proper futon, not the couch-to-bed type thing. The reason it is so expensive was because it is made of organic cotton. Yes, we are crazy enough to buy a organic cotton futon. It's even on the floor right now (though, on top of an older quilt so it's not directly on the icky floor).

We decided to get a futon, oddly, even before my surgery. Both of us slept really well in Japan. While this may have been from exhaustion, as we were walking all day, we like to think it was the lovely hard futon and the interestingly hard Japanese pillows. So upon looking into it more, futons are really great for spinal alignment. Then my back went crazy and I had to get surgery. So now that I can get up and down easily enough, we have our futon! And of course, it is made of organic cotton. Why, do you ask? Because it is crazy how many chemicals are stuffed into mattress'. I wont get into it right now, but if people are worried about what is in their food, maybe they should also think about what they spend 8 hours a day laying on :) but this is just my opinion.

My only worry is that Milo will also decide to sleep on it, as it's on the floor >.>. We may just end up getting a bed frame from the same people (untreated wood, FTW!)

Until tomorrow, byebye!

Simple things

I think recovery is going alright. I was able to do a bit more today, so other than the pain in my leg i'm pretty happy. I am still concerned that the nerve damage wont heal, but if that is the worst case then I think I can deal :). I did a bit of laundry today (just some sheets) and while I can't carry the actual laundry basket, I was alright walking back and forth to hang them outside in the sun.

It's such a simple thing to hang sheets in the sun, but I felt so accomplished. I also made a pie crust that is soon to be an apple galette. I think i've mentioned it before, but I use the pie crust from the Angry Chicken cheat sheet, although I do a different filling :). We like our apple pie to be a bit on the spicy side. It's the baking and the basic homemaking skills that I think are hurting me not to do. For instance, there is no way I could knead bread with the way my back is right now, and making bread is one of my favourite things to do. The motion just would not be good. I also can't sweep the floor because that motion isn't good. I am able to do light cooking, as long as i'm not lifting anything heavy. Which leads me to chilli :D, yesterday I made my best chilli to date.

Homemade chilli

I added a bit of cocoa powder and a bit of dark chocolate (though next time i'll probably just use one or the other) and it really added to the flavour. Mostly my chilli is whatever veggies I have in the house along with kidney beans, an onion, garlic, bell pepper, and tomatoes in the form of tomato paste and diced tomatoes. And spices ;) yummy spices. I don't really follow a recipe, just kind of what i'm feeling like. For instance, usually I only add a tablespoon of tomato paste but this time I wanted it more tomato-y to balance the cocoa (which you can't really taste, it's more of a 'hm, I ponder what that is!' sort of thing) so I added the whole little can. I also boil my chilli down for a few hours so it's nice and thick. Perfect over rice or potatoes or just on it's own (or on a tofu dog, mmmm....). I made a whole lot, so I have some in the freezer too :).

I also had a great conversation with my sister Sarah today. I really miss my family right now. I'm thankful to have a wonderful husband, but I miss the support and the humor of my siblings especially. I'm reminded of the summer right before my Mum passed away when we were all living together. The siblings, my niece and I would stay up late in the kitchen laughing and chatting about many different things. It's a precious memory to me, especially because it's a bit difficult to have a good talk with anyone in my family from way over here. Quite often I feel like no one quite understands like my siblings. Maybe because we all came from the same childhood, or because we are all such good friends, or because we are all just a bit crazy :). I kind of wish I could get them all to move down here, but alas! I think the only two things that are calling me back to America are my family and the seasons being the way i'm used to (seasons are revered in the southern hemisphere. Christmas in summer and Halloween in spring don't really work for me :( ).

I'm off to see the neurosurgeon tomorrow for a check up, lets hope everything is healing well. I'll report tomorrow how everything goes. Until then, bye bye <3.