Posted on May 28, 2010 - by Ashley Jackson

Catching Up is Hard to Do

I’ve been largely staying away from the internet this week, and you know what? It’s been kind of nice! I’ve been off work since Wednesday afternoon and don’t go back until next Tuesday–burning some time I earned a couple of weeks ago + my regular day off from working 9-hour days + the Memorial Day holiday. It’s been nice to not have to worry about getting up with the alarm or going to sleep at 9PM. And I’ve gotten some major cleaning done! Plus last Saturday I took all the items that I’d put into my car the week before to the Goodwill, which might not seem like a big deal, but it was for me.

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Today’s Daily Special on Foodbuzz is an induction cooktop. If I had the counterspace (or the money, come to that) I’d buy one. The rangetop (and the oven) at my apartment tend to get hotter than they should and I like the idea of something with more contained heat (so I don’t lean against the stove and burn myself. ahem.). Also, I love countertop gadgets. And I hate having to store them in cabinets because I have no room.

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I mentioned in my last post that my foot has been bothering me for a couple of weeks. It ended up hurting pretty much all day last Saturday and on Monday night it hurt badly enough that I was limping around Whole Foods and Harris Teeter. And no one likes a gimpy yuppie. Tuesday morning I was wavering between calling my doctor’s office and not calling them, but I went ahead and did it when I realized I could barely walk down the stairs. My doctor was out, but I got a same-day appointment in the afternoon with the PA (the same PA who did the trigger point injections that made me nearly pass out back in January). Many people don’t like to take appointments with physician’s assistants because they feel they’re not capable, but I am not one of those people. (Maybe I’m overly sensitive, as I also have the word “assistant” in my title currently, but this particular PA is more capable than several doctors I’ve been to, so there.)

So I went to the doctor’s office Tuesday afternoon and saw Jude Carr the PA and got “Hey Jude” stuck in my head for like two days (and subsequently, “Michelle,” that being my middle name, replaced it…thanks for the catchy gah-get-it-out-of-my-head songs, Paul McCartney), and also got these orthotic thingies to put in my shoes under the part of my foot that hurts in an attempt to support the part of my foot that does not get supported because I walk funny. (Which, judging by this picture of me running my first 5K, should come as no surprise. It’s only a matter of time before I break something.) If it’s not much better in three weeks I have to go back.

Have I mentioned I hate wearing shoes? Like a big teletubby, I went for a walk on Tuesday night and then when I took my shoes off that night and walked around for a bit my foot hurt. a. lot. Wednesday morning at work was much the same. I rode my recumbent bike while watching The Four Feathers that afternoon, and cleaned a lot, and was only mildly gimpy in the evening. Yesterday I watched 2012 while riding my bike and then took another walk in the evening and by the end I was gimpy again. Today I rode my recumbent bike for over 2 hours while watching the end of Fight Club and 10 Things I Hate About You and skipped the walk. I see a lot of riding-my-bike-while-watching-a-movie-and-skipping-my-walk in my future…and wearing of shoes…grr…

[I feel I must give a shout-out to my doctor's office: if you live in the Raleigh-Cary, NC, area and are looking for a new doctor, check out Carolina Family Practice and Sports Medicine. I've spent more time than I'd liked to have in their Raleigh office this year and while the wait has occasionally been a little long, the staff is great and all the doctors and the PAs have sports medicine training, which I'm sure will be beneficial later this year when I undoubtedly injure myself training for my half-marathon. So if you happen to be googling them looking for information: they are awesome; go there!]

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I’m going to do another post later with pictures from my trip last weekend, but for now, here’s some eats and pics from this past week or so…

A brown-rice-pasta-garlic-basil-onion-and-shrimp concoction I made last week. Oddly tasty.

Five wee little veggie lasagnas, sans the pasta…well, actually, there’s only four, ’cause I ate the other one…

…and then I had another one for lunch the next day, and froze the rest for lunches later on.

I was happy to find these sitting on my doorstep last Wednesday, courtesy of Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program (slightly cheaper than buying either of them at the store!)…

…especially on a day where I took some ribbing at work for eating vegan gluten-free raw fruit and nut bars. Typically, I don’t really care what people say about me (or what I eat), but I was in a mood last week and it was getting to me. But now I realize that others’ unwillingness to try new things means more for me…

Here’s a picture of Heathcliff looking  all old and Benjamin-Buttony this weekend…

One of my co-workers went to Spain on vacation recently and brought me back this box of chocolate…

It was not only sealed with wax, it was nailed shut. I had to pry the top off with a knife. No joke.

But before I broke into it, I had some brown rice and cauliflower…

…because my salmon didn’t cook all the way for some reason and I had to cook it more and I was hungry. The salmon’s punishment is not being included in the picture.  That’ll teach it a lesson.

Inside the chocolate’s wooden fortress, there were many, many interior wrappings, and then finally…

…a slab of chocolate. I had one piece then and have managed not to touch it since. Expensive Spanish chocolate? Taaasty.

Monday evening I hit up Whole Foods for some Liberte, because I’m like that guy in Memento. Habit and routine make my life possible, ergo I will buy expensive Mediterranean yogurt and Larabars to eat for breakfast, because that’s what I know I will eat routinely.

I finally found the Larabar section of the Raleigh Whole Foods…and they had the peanut butter and jelly flavor!

…and it was awesome! Also, see that Diet Coke? I haven’t had a soda since Wednesday morning. I’m jonesing like crazy for one…

Tuesday’s pretty, pretty packed lunch…carrots, peppers, and hummus, grapes, and the other half of the previous night’s salmon.

Tuesday’s dinner…

…delicious fajitas.

Wednesday’s dinner…

…Dijon marinated grilled chicken, a baked potato, and grapes.

A late night snack of Nova smoked salmon trimmings from Whole Foods…

…because if you want to eat fancy on a budget, you will eat repackaged scraps of smoked salmon. (And enjoy it…mmm.)

Thursday’s lunch (and also Friday’s lunch!)…

…nachos!

Heath likes to wiggle his way under my recumbent bike while I’m riding it. No matter how many times I kick him (accidentally).

Thursday night’s dinner…

…Swiss steak , potatoes, and onions. And Brummel and Brown. Mm.

Before I headed off to get my driver’s license renewed this morning (because it expires on my birthday, which is tomorrow!), I ate part of this Jocalat bar, even though I said I’d never eat one again because the first time I had a Jocalat bar it tasted weird. This one tasted weird, too, but it was edible because of the mint.

(By the way, I passed the road sign test and got my license renewed, despite my inability to recognize what the yellow circular sign means. What is this, kindergarten? Put some letters on the signs, y’all, I can read…)

And tonight’s fancy lookin’ dinner…

…steamed brown rice, steamed salmon, and microwave-steamed broccoli.

And now I am getting off the computer because there’s a huge storm coming this way. Goodnight, world…