My first Veg box, recipe suggestions welcome!

Squeee I'm so excited! I got my first veg box about ten mins ago and I don't recognize or know what to do with half the stuff in it! Going to be soooo much fun! So here's what I got, recipes welcome! 

One of the bags is mixed salad with mustard (yum) and another is amazing smelling basil, but the third is summer greens? What are they? Sounds like a catch all term and I have no idea if I can eat raw or cook them. 

Once I took out the bags I could see all the lovely courgettes and carrots and tomatoes, all of which will get eaten in no time. And a small bag of potatoes which I think us Irish will have no problem getting rid of :) 

 But also in there were Ramiro Peppers, can I just eat them like normal peppers? And broad beans which I've of course seen before but I don't think I've ever cooked with them.

I'm going to go back to work now and then google everything and look for new recipes at lunchtime! Kinda just want to start eating my way through it now, but that might be a little unfair on the poor boy in work.

Also the bunnies are going to be delighted about the carrot tops! And to be honest the box too. 

 

No regrets

Well it’s been almost a year since I handed in my notice with my last teaching job. I worked until the end of November while they replaced me, but I made the decision about a year ago and that was the big deal as far as I’m concerned. Walking in and telling the principal was terrifying, but the relief once I had was AMAZING!

I quit because my neck pain had gotten worse and my lower back was giving me some mobility issues, in particular with lots of stairs, and I quit with a dream of getting my business completely off the ground and nothing else really. I just had to get out of there, it was scary as hell, my other half was unemployed at the time and we had practically no savings, but I was coming home crying from the pain every evening and the stress of knowing I was failing the kids was killing me! So doctors note in hand I handed in my notice.
A year on, I’m still broke and I’m still sore, but importantly I’m nowhere near as sore, my business is on the up (fingers crossed),I have a part time job essentially playing with power tools and I’m  enjoying getting back into Geology. I really am a million times happier. I changed not just my job, but pretty much every aspect of my life, I’m now a veggie that doesn’t eat dairy, and yoga is a major part of my life. I’m way more mellow and my back makes me cry way less, although now I’m more likely to cry over a cute picture or a sappy movie!

Schools started back in the last few weeks and got me thinking about teaching again, wondering if a little bit of me misses it, a part of me definitely misses the kids and the really good lessons but it honestly must be one of the most stressful jobs in the world. Just after I quit a guy I didn’t know very well, an older man in his 60’s or so, told me that life was about to get much more stressful and that s no one worked harder than the self employed and teaching essentially was a sweet gig,. He was convinced that was what I’d think in a years time. He was wrong, being self employed is stressful you do work hard and you don’t have time off, but on the rare occasion I do take a break, I know it’s just my dreams that I’m “abandoning” for the day, not the dreams, hopes and possibilities of a class full of students. There is nothing like the guilt I used to feel when I gave a not great lesson, or when I couldn’t get a kid involved. Seriously teaching is high stress! So fair dues to you guys that stuck it out and that love it, but I’m much happier and healthier out of it and it was 100% the right choice for me! No regrets!

Now time to get to yoga class...

Womb Yoga and Yoga Nidra weekend

So diet is not the only change I’ve been making to try get on top of my health I’ve also been focusing a fair bit on yoga Recently I’ve mostly been practicing at home, as I let myself get a little too stiff and out of shape after the Nuclear plasty. So about 2 weeks ago I started going back to classes and had a lovely Yin Yoga class at yoga fever before I dived in last weekend with a day of Womb yoga on Sat and a morning of Yoga Nidra on Sunday and wow it was good!

The womb yoga was very interesting it made me realise a few things I hadn’t thought about and got me thinking in a less negative way about periods. She said some very interesting things about societies view of menstruation and how we’re expected to always act how we act when we’re in the ovulating part of our cycle and maybe that drains us and is part of the reason periods hurt so much. Somewhat along the line of when you’re go go go in work and you get a holiday and instead of being able to enjoy it you end up sick and in bed for a week. She also talked about the fact that it’s still seen as a dirty thing we don’t talk about and how ridiculous that is, and there was an interesting discussion about the tampax mother nature adds. As soon as I got home I downloaded a period tracker app for my phone which actually let me choose between dog cat or bunny for my front screen I presume you can guess which I went with :) and I’m planning on downloading and printing this womans quest workbook once I get ink for the printer. Also planning on going next week to another well woman yoga class and sussing it out.

The yoga nidra class was even more interesting, I’m not really sure how it worked to be honest but it got rid of my neck pain for the guts of the rest of the day! Which no drugs have ever done! Essentially we lay down with our knees up on cushions and under a blanket so we were uber comfy and cosy, then listened to what the teacher said. What was strange is I didn’t really hear the words that were said, I zoned out but I was completely relaxed and when he told us to wake up I did, its almost like I’m missing that ten mins or so but I felt great afterwards and my neck didn’t hurt! We did three different sessions which all felt a little different and talked about the whole thing in between and they gave us a CD to try it at home which I intend to do this evening. Really something everyone should experience because I can’t explain it to be honest but it was wonderful!

Butter binges!

Well it’s been a while and I'm still veggie and I’m mostly dairy free, no cheese in weeks now! Doing los of yoga and overall taking a lot less painkillers then I was.

The veggie thing to be honest has been pretty easy, with the exception of a few restaurants that have really lousy veggie options, and I have no inclination to go back to meat, and I like not feeling guilty about whats on my plate. I’ve discovered foods I didn’t know and I feel like I have more energy.

The dairy thing has been a little harder, I changed to Almond milk back at New Years and that’s made my tummy sooooo much happier over all but I was never really a big milk drinker anyway, it was just something to put on my cereal. I was starting however to find I was eating more and more cheese since I turned veggie which I didn’t want to do either health or ethics wise. So I decided to cut it out, and I’ll be honest I did dream about toasted cheese sandwiches a fair bit at first but after about a week and a half I stopped caring, and realised that a lot of the food I was covering in cheese was nicer without.

So now I make my own pizza minus cheese and I get the actual flavours of the tomato the courgette the mushrooms whatever I’ve put on it and wow its soooo much better! Before all I could taste was cheese so it was only the strong meats like pepperoni or the flavours like pineapple that I could taste, not a problem anymore! I have yet to try get a cheese less pizza eating out or at a restaurant though! I have a feeling that will be entertaining! I thought ice cream was going to be the other big problem but then as I’m sure most people have noticed it’s not been a summer that makes you want ice cream, and anyway there is sorbet.

Surprisingly the main stumbling block has been butter. The vegan substitute I got is sweet and I don’t mean sweet as in great I mean sweet as in tastes sugary :(  which I’m not loving, some of the soy based ones might be better but I’m trying not to eat too much soy cause it’s not exactly the best thing for your hormone system and it doesn’t agree with my tummy anyway. I’m considering getting I can’t believe it’s not butter, there is some dairy in it (it’s made from buttermilk) but in fairness I don’t use a lot so I think it will prob be better then depriving myself and everytime I’m drunk binging on butter! ...I wish I was joking!

Why should we or shouldn't we eat meat? Opinions please.

Ok this post is going to be a little bit different, it’s not all about narcissistic me it’s about you and your opinions, and for the record that’s what I’m after, opinions not a fight.

I’ve made no secret of my recent sway to vegetarian and attempts at veganism, I did it for health reasons, I didn’t go oh the poor animals I don’t want to eat them, and interestingly once you say that people generally back off and don’t try to tell you to eat meat! But now I find myself asking why, why for me and not for the animals? I’m an animal lover I’ve had pets all my life, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, budgies, fish and even Henrietta the hen. But up until new years I ate pork, beef, lamb, fish, turkey, venison, rabbit and buckets of chicken! I have even eaten rabbit since I have had my two little bunny girls. To the logical part of my brain this no longer makes sense! I used to tell myself that it’s natural to eat animals we’re top of the food chain and thats that. And the rabbit I ate was a wild rabbit which had a good life and anyway it was delicious. But most of the meat we eat nowadays has had an awful life, especially the chickens and pigs, but we eat them anyway. Honestly I think I just choose to bury my head in the sand, I knew about the battery chickens but I cleared my conscience by saying I couldn’t afford the free range meat, but honestly it’s not been hard giving it up and I wish I’d done it earlier.

I have a friend who’s family have a deer farm and I’ve been there and I’ve seen the animals and if I go there again I’ll eat deer, because those animals have a pretty good life. So there are exceptions, but for the food most of us buy every week in Tesco or whatever those animals have had a pretty rubbish life!

So anyway, my question to people is, why do YOU eat (or not eat) meat? Do you have a reason that you think makes it ok? ......Again I’m not trying to start a fight, I honestly want to know, I can’t resolve it in my head and I would like other peoples input.

.....Also on a side note to anyone in Ireland or the UK who has knowledge of the dairy industry, up until recently I’d never thought about it, but do cows need to be kept pregnant or have recently calved to produce milk? Do the calves get taken away from them straight away so we can have the milk instead? All the stuff I’ve read on the topic is US based and they seem to make torturing animals a sport over there (by they I mean factory farmers) so I want to know what it’s like here.  

Discogram and Nuclear Plasty Oh my!

Well quick catch up!

I had my discogram and nuclear plasty about 3 weeks ago now, and fortunately I remember very little of it. I was awake, it’s one of those things you need to be awake for, but the anaesthesiologist was fab! And funny! So he gave me some drugs; Michael Jackson juice according to the doc, and I don’t remember anything. I was home 2 hours later. Just tired and battered, however the next day I got worse and the following week was pretty much me sitting in a chair not moving. Unfortunately it’s a it gets worse before it gets better treatment, so for the guts of a week Conan had to do everything for me, very, very frustrating! Everyone should be able to put their own socks on! I have gotten better since, but I’m not sure yet if I’m better then I was before, but it’s still relatively early days. Essentially they burnt away the centre or nucleus of a disc in my back and the idea is that it will shrink in on itself and stop bulging out and pressing on nerves and stuff. Fingers crossed. Follow up appointment is in June.

I’ve been trying to get back into my yoga, took a few weeks off on account of not really being able to walk  :) and it’s nice to be back, taking it easy and just doing gentle stuff at home with the bunnies. Everyone should have a chance to do yoga with bunnies climbing all over you! I have just broken down and sat there laughing a few times, the girls never fail to cheer me up!

The pain from the cyst has popped up a few times but not too bad and not much I can do about it anyway so C’est la vie! I’m reading up on vegan diets and various superfoods and at the mo I’m mostly vegan. I have been eating a little meat, but more and more I really can’t be bothered when I do, there is so much yummy food out there anyway!

Tough weekend

Well I spent this weekend in the hospital, it's the first time in my life I have ever spent a night in hospital and the food was worse then I expected! I'm fine now just got to take things easy for a few days which given that doing half a sink of dishes tired me out I think I should be able to manage!

What happened was I had pretty bad stomach pain on Thurs night so took a few pills for wind etc and hoped it would go away but the next morning it was still bad so I went to the GP who suspected appendicitis and sent me straight to hospital. I got an ultrasound pretty quickly (about 5 hours after I arrived I'm told that I was lucky to get it same day) and then the scans got lost! So the doctors decided to be cautious and kept me in planning on doing a keyhole surgery the next day to see what was going on.

Next morning I wasn't as sore, I was hungry and the pain wasn't on my right side anymore so the docs decided not appendix and everyone stopped moving fast on stuff, gynecology came to see me and said I wasn't theirs (still my scans were lost) and surgery decided to keep me in a little longer just to keep an eye on me.

Sunday morning I felt much better, not so much pain as a bit bruised and worn out and woohoo my scans had been found and it was a gynecology problem. I had an ovarian cyst which bled into itself, its not serious, it just hurts like hell, so they sent me home with panadol and said take it easy for a few days! Would have been home Friday if they hadn't lost my bloody scans!

All in all though it wasn't too bad, very boring and I will be getting a smart phone before I go in for my back surgery! The nurses were lovely and the other patients were really really nice! The food was amazingly bad! Pizza and chips! Bad pizza and bad chips for dinner, and tiny portions! Thank you Conan for bringing me in decent food!

Really nice to be home now! Best nights sleep ever last night! And great lie in!

.....As for the veggie stuff, well I've gone back to eating beef, and had a lovely casserole last Sunday also had Chinese beef satay on wed night and a few bites of left overs about 5 mins before I doubled over in pain on Thurs! I'm not sure if that means anything but it has got me wondering, I think I'll stay veggie for the next week or so and then when I try it again if I get sick thats that for meat!

Hard but fun week.

Well it’s been a long week, lots of dinosaurs and fun was had but I’m wrecked and need time to recover, no time since I’m working tomorrow so an early night tonight and then hopefully that will get me through to Thursday which I so far have blissfully free!

The pain levels are getting pretty bad and I have been relying a lot on my meds, I know its life style that makes it worse but there doesn’t seem to be an option. I don’t qualify for any benefits cause Conan makes too much (he sooo doesn’t) and a business takes a while to get off the ground, I’m happy with how it’s going and growing but it’s still early days. So I’m taking what work I can, and mid term meant lots of work.

Orla is reading up to see if she can help me at all

So far I’m still veggie but I think I will be reintroducing beef shortly, I have discovered lots of new veg and new types of food so I’m going to remain primarily veggie but beef is going back on the menu as is lamb/mutton; but I was never a big fan of that anyway. Human beings are omnivores and I personally have come to the conclusion that meat supplies us with stuff we need but we don’t need anywhere near as much as most of us eat and we don’t need it from animals which have been tortured and or had no life. The animals are not healthy, so why would we be healthy eating them. I don’t think Chicken and pork provide me with any nutrients that I can’t get from veg or beef so they’re off the menu!

I foresee the biggest problem being Chinese buffets, I know they’re bad for me, and I don’t go often but will be hard to resist all the chicken dishes when I do and I need to find out about the treatment of ducks, cause yum! I’m also not sure where I stand on fish. That requires more thought!

For now I’m going to curl up in bed with a book and hopefully everything will hurt less in the morning!

Help and opinions wanted on this whole vegetarian thing...please!

So I’ve been vegetarian about a month and a half now, and I’m confused!

I’m not finding it that hard at home, cooking is easy, eating out is not! I have had to think outside the box but it’s fine and we’ve had some lovely interesting meals! Discovered leeks and artichokes which I quite like and some nice pastry dishes 
But now I’m wondering if I’m doing the right thing? I’ve not noticed a health difference, of course I know that it’s still early days, but I have been trying to do my homework and some of the anti meat information out there is too off the wall and or the science is just wrong!

I think the biggest difference I have found is using almond milk in my cereal rather than cows milk, my tummy hurts a lot less, there is waaaay less incidents of I need the toilet NOW! So I will be keeping that up!

Aside from that I have managed to come to some conclusions
• Yes if you have the time, the energy and the will you can have a healthy vegetarian diet.
• I could probably never give up eggs! I am also very suspicious of egg replacements which seem to be used in lots of vegan recipes, I like my food to be something I could gather or harvest or kill myself if I needed to!
• I have decided that ethically I can’t deal with eating commercially farmed Chickens, or Pork, ethics wasn’t why I got into this but we really do treat them awfully! Beef in the UK and Ireland I am ethically ok with (not in the US) and I never really liked lamb anyway. Other meats I would deal with on a case by case basis, for example venison I am fine with shot wild or from my friends farm cause I’ve seen they treat their animals well. Wild Rabbit also fine with and I want to look up whats the deal with commercially available duck.
• I have also decided that as a society we are eating too much meat, nevermind if it’s good or bad to be veggie, I think it’s bad to eat sooo much meat and for it to just be the thing you thoughtlessly throw into a dinner to bulk it up.
• I have also decided that there are a lot of people on both sides of the debate that wont listen to the other side. Which makes actually finding out the facts difficult! The vegetarians are considered crazy tree hugging hippies and the meat/dairy industry and the government are considered liars that are just in it for the money. The problem is I can see both sides being right and wrong!

So I’m trying to decide do I stay vegetarian or do I consider having some beef every now and then, is there actually a good reason that health wise I should stay off meat? Or am I in fact robbing my body of essential vitamins and proteins?

Help and opinions please! Has anyone any personal experience? Does anyone know any good science that leans either way?

The cooking continues.

Well I’m keeping up so far with this veggie thing! I can do it! And poor Conan has to just go along with a lot of it! I found this video though and its this idea that’s got me going veggie. I’m not this badly off at all, but as far as my neck pain goes the doctors just seem to have handed me a huge bag of pills and said bye bye. If something as basic as changing my diet can help get off the pills and have a quality of life then I’m going for it!

So I made the lentil sprout burgers, I added some bean sprouts too! And I had my camera out : 

The sprouts growing in my little sprouter

Picked them and stuck them in a bowl of water to get the husks off.

Lazy way to dry them :) 

Close up 

I loooove playing with the food processor, the sprouts didn't stand a chance! 

Very gooey batter

Fried them up, they were definitely more fritter then burger

Cooked "burger"

 Of course served with a salad full of other types of sprouts, mostly sunflower, broccoli and mustard.

Yummy salad full of other sprouts and peppers and seeds. 

They were interesting, I’m definitely going to try them again but definitely with more herbs and spices and veg. They were really more fritters then burgers and the initial batter was far too liquid so I added mushrooms to bulk and it worked quite well. Tried them cold the next day, nasty! And one of the few things that adding melted cheese to doesn’t help! Definitely only good for one meal don’t make extra for leftovers!

I’ve another bunch of sprouts growing, so might give the burgers another go next week!

Then on Wednesday night I cooked my first ever nut roast, it turned out quite well although it’s going to need tinkering with the recipe too, I’ll post it here when I get it right. But it was a pretty good first attempt and Conan even had it for lunch cold the next day with no complaints.

Last night I Mousakaed it up! And it was goooooooood! I just replaced the mince with mushrooms and it;s just as good as with the meat, and best of all we have plenty left this evening so I don’t need to bother to cook, just reheat it J ...maybe with a bit of garlic bread!

So ye I think with a bit of effort and thought I can definitely do veggie, vegan however is a long ways off!

Oh wow! I better get going if I’m going to yoga, very tempted to just do it at home instead, after I did yesterday and the bunnies decided to join in and climb all over me! Was fantastic fun! 

up and down

Well my pain levels have been up and down lately, I did get through a fair few days (3) with no pills aside from my one I have to take everyday. I felt great! So proud of myself, it was mostly a result of resting, yoga and not being stressed, but then that all went down the loo when I was manic busy towards the end of last week and I was back to popping pills like crazy yay!

So today I have allowed myself a little break to do what I feel like doing, of course that has involved lots of etsy browsing and business stuff, but it has also involved an hour or so on the sofa with a book and I’m going to go do some yoga now and then attempt to make a nice dinner or sprout burgers! Fingers crossed they taste as good as this picture looks!

I have been growing lots of sprouts so I’m looking for new ways to eat them. It’s just sooo much fun eating something I grew myself and since we don’t have a garden this is really the best we can do. I have been veggie almost two weeks now! Go me! Not missing meat at all, although I think Conan might be J I’m not forcing him to join me but I’m not bothered to put chicken in stuff if I don’t have to so he’s been having a lot less. Although he’s making up for it with fry ups, we came back at Christmas with lots of sausages and white pudding from Ireland which it’s now down to him to eat! I’m really really hoping the veggie thing will help! And I know I should be giving up dairy too but one thing at a time!

In other news the bunnies are well, their ears look much better and hopefully tomorrow will be the last day of us torturing them with ear drops. They will be very very relieved! Right lets try make these burgers.....I have back up enchiladas for Conan just in case!   

In case anyone is interested here and here is lots of sprouting info :) 

Nice and chilled out

I’ve just had the nicest half hour! I went to say hello to the bunnies and give them a rub and they decided to come out and play with me, they ran around me and climbed up on me and I scrambled at an old towel with them and then just sat reading my book; The Kind Diet with them for a while. It was really really good for the soul J I’d be lost without those little girls, although I do wish Gráinne wouldn’t keep trying to bite her sisters bum!

This has actually been a pretty nice day, one of the first in a while that I’ve had alone in the apt, I got back to my workbench for the first time since before Christmas, and it was great! I didn’t get a huge amount done cause my neck is a little sore but I’m chilled and relaxed and not going to beat myself up about that! I’m going to plant some more seeds now, I want a basil plant! And cook a yummy dinner to eat cuddled up on the sofa with my boy!

Hope everyone else is as chilled as me! 

Ps: Just want to share this picture; while I was back in Ireland over the Christmas I got to go to the house of some good friends; Paul and Jen who have the cutest cuddly dogs J and they seemed to think I was pretty cuddly too.

It was great to see everyone I got to see while I was home and if I didn’t manage to see you I’m sorry! Hopefully next time! 

Good riddance to 2011, come one over 2012

Well 2011 is over, or will be in an hour and a half and good riddance, it’s been a smelly ol year! 2012 is going to be sooooo much better! Whether it likes it or not!

I’m getting the business off the ground and I’ll have my surgery later in the year which should give me back proper mobility. I’m really getting into my yoga and I’ve just signed up for unlimited classes in Jan at yogafever, and I’m about to email them about the new years workshop series. I’m getting into my herbal medicine and got big plans for that. And of course I have my wonderful boy and two little buns. This year will be a good one......touch wood!

As for resolutions, I don’t do the whole giving stuff up thing, instead I will be doing at least one new thing every week this year. Some weeks it will be big stuff others I might just cook a new recipe, but it’ll be fun! And fun is what the world needs more of!

Anyone else want to join me? Anyone else got any new year’s resolutions? 

I wish

Realised haven’t posted in a while, been busy with the jewellery making and for the most part its been going well. Got started on enamelling which is amazing fun.  Spent Thurs and Fri at the kiln and Sat then at a craft fair and I think I just pushed myself too far, have to manage to pace myself better. Best of intentions and all! Should have gone to Yoga today but wow it’s miserable out!

Thinking a lot about the long term future and really not sure whats going to happen and I’m a planner so thats driving me nuts, I wish I had even a round about date for the surgery on my back, it’s gonna put me out of action for a while and I want to know when. I wish I knew why I’ve got all this and could therefore avoid getting any worse! I wish a lot of things and that doubled with the extra pain today really does not make for a happy cheery person. I feel sorry for the boy! I’m gonna try find something funny to read online!

Busy bee! Herbs, Cooking, Bench time :)

Well I’ve been at my bench pretty much all day, quite proud of myself that I had the discipline to stay there with no real deadline hanging over my head. I had been worried that once I stopped teaching and I had “lots of” time, I would end up being really slow in what I got done. But I did good today, when I stopped for a rest it was because my back needed it, I did my stretches and I’m feeling pretty sore now but I think I’ll go have a bath to make the ache go away.

I finished teaching last week, but a million other things happened and I did have to go in Monday and tues last week so this is my first real week unemployed. I’ve planned out some exercise for Tues wed and thurs so we can see if I can start to make things really better, and I have a doctor’s appointment on Thursday with my GP. See if she can give me some answers about the surgery and that as well get my blood pressure etc checked. I have a feeling the amitriptiline has lowered my blood pressure and I just want it checked.

I had my herbal medicine class on sat which was fab and I now plan this week on trying to make a chilli ointment to see if that helps with my neck, heat generally helps and it’s very awkward to keep a hot water bottle up on my neck all the time, so going to give ointment a go. Really really enjoying the class, and actually enjoyed doing the homework so going to try spend some time over the next few weeks reading up on herbs in some of the million books I picked up over the years. Just from doing my homework I have decided I should eat more Coriander and Tumeric and that my aloe vera plant is amazing, and I really want to attempt to sauté nettles! I’m also hooked on nettle tea at the mo, maybe my body is trying to cleanse itself.

We had lots of people over on sat night, was really good to see people and be social, but a lot of work! Too many people with too many allergies/preferences etc at one time, but I think everyone got fed in the end and we’ve been eating the leftovers since. I had sushi for breakfast yesterday and apple crumble for brunch today! Still doing the dishes too! Our sink is blocked a bit I think and it takes ages for the water to go down, so we have to wash a sink full and leave it for an hour or so to go down before the next one, of course once you’ve gone off to do something you tend to forget to come back, so I think probably about 3 sinks left to go!

My neck was in serious pain by the end of sat, so I took it very easy yesterday and both of us had a day of nothing! I spent ages online talking to people in etsy forums and reading and we played age of the empires cause we’re big kids and we watched some true blood, which I just can’t get fast enough! Got another one to watch tonight J

Hope everyone is well!

I'm a teacher no more!

Well I’m finished, I’m no longer a teacher, I have one last role to fill with a parents evening tomorrow but otherwise I’m done. Part of me is just relieved, I wasn’t able and it was sucking the life out of me, I can now recoup, do the exercise I’m meant to and build up my business. But there is another huge chunk of me that is sad, I spent a long time training to be a teacher, I put in a lot of work last year prepping notes thinking ah well they’ll stand to me afterwards and now that’s gone. On the other hand I don’t need to worry about appearances so much anymore, my hair has been died uber red again now and my hippy skirt and big snow boots were worn all weekend, I can be me again.

I do of course still need to live, so I need to get my ass in gear with the business, I have myself a giant to do list and I’m trying to tick off stuff, but no one seems  to be answering their bloody phone and folksy is being very very slow to upload listings! But we’ll get there!

I’m on the mail list for this company yoga fever and very interested in some of their offers, thinking I’ll go for the £25 for unlimited yoga in December and if I manage to use it I may try scrounge the money together for January, also thinking about the course of workshops in the new year. The fitter I can get the better! But for now back to my phone calls.

The new drugs don't work, they don't make it worse, but I know I'll see the doc again.

Well these new drugs are not cutting it at all! Had really bad neck pain the last two days and I’m not impressed! Did push myself a little too hard at my work bench but I had a deadline to get hallmarking sent off! It looks like I may be finishing in school next week. So I will no longer be a teacher does that mean I can tell people I’m a jeweller? Cause that would be pretty fab.

I’ve done a little research into this disc replacement surgery and it’s a pretty new thing, although given my age it does look like the other option of spinal fusion (which my doc didn’t suggest this is just what I read online) would be a very very stupid idea.

It’s a long ol recovery time though! A full week in hospital and then about 6 weeks recovery after that, so pretty much 2 months of my life I’m looking at loosing and that’s if everything goes ok! My brain has been plotting what could I do other then watch TV in that time, and I’m thinking writing is really the only productive thing. I can have lots of stock of jewellery ready to go as well so that I can keep the shop open, but anyway it’s ages away yet and I have to have tests to find out if it’s a goer. The idea that at least my mobility issues can be fixed though is very exciting!

 I’m going to give these new drugs a week and if they don’t work talk to my doc about going back on the old ones, what was I thinking saying that the sleepiness was worse than the pain! Rubbish!  

Spinal Surgery eeek!

Well the doctors appointment lived up to my expectations and crushed me!

He wants to operate and replace the disc that’s giving me hassle in my lower back. Currently it’s the biggest problem, my neck pain is mostly controllable (says she lying down with a hot water bottle propped behind her neck after popping a load of painkillers) and I get the impression nothing he can really do about that. But when he saw the MRI scan (which is at this stage 6 months old) and given that recently I’ve been having trouble with stairs and things like putting on my socks so it seems to be getting worse, he suggested this disc replacement surgery, he said there is no amount of drugs or exercise which can make it better. So I think I have to go for it! It’s a while off anyway, all these things take time, waiting lists etc, it’s not life threatening so doesn’t count as urgent which is fair enough, I’m scared enough of the whole thing to not really be in a rush!  A few tests and stuff to be done beforehand as well.

The thing that has me really freaked out is the idea that he’s going in through my tummy! I have a mental image of some movie I saw where I think it was a Vampire that pushed his hand through someone’s stomach grabbed their spine and snapped! I know that’s not what’s going to happen the boy even spent a while last night poking my stomach to illustrate how that’s not even possible, but the mental image won’t go away.

I also started this new tablet pregabalin on Sunday night which has been throwing my sense of balance out of whack, I went to bed Monday night with the spinnys and woke up with them still, yay! If it lasts the week I’m gonna go talk to the doc, I was only a little dizzy last night! Fingers crossed!

Bailed on Yoga and will be bailing on Tai Chi I think, I was too tired and wanted a day in with no people and just the boy and bunnies. Really stressed at the mo, and I never classed myself as someone who gets stressed! Need a break and some happy time!

Consultant tomorrow, gulp!

Well I have an appointment with the consultant in the morning, only met him once before and that was in March I think so I have lots of questions and I don't know if he will have any of the answers. I'm a happy smiley person today, my back is sore but I feel like the yoga is helping, realised I can now staighten my leg out up in the air while I'm lying on my back, a few weeks ago I couldn't because my hamstrings were so tight so yay my body is adjusting!

I'm hoping I'm still feeling happy after I see him, I have to go into work straight after so I best not be in bits!

Tai Chi and Yoga crazy Sarah.

Having myself a fab night! The boy is away and I’m treating myself, had a lovely chat to my mam, and later to my dad, drank yummy hot chocolate, soaked in the bath and gave myself a facial and scrubbed with a nice salt, oil, and honey mixture. It was so what I needed and I feel great! Gotten to do a little bit of work this evening but just what I felt like J

I was at the doc again yesterday, I had a strange pain in my side I was worried about, it turned out to be a pulled muscle, just a muscle I didn’t know I could pull! One of my intercostals ie between my ribs! How did I manage that! Doc said nothing to worry about just do stretches etc and he gave me a new pain tablet so I’m hoping that will help with the zombie Sarah that I’ve been lately, can’t remember what it’s called haven’t looked it up properly yet; I’m really very chilled this evening J

Got some books today which I’m really happy about, the first The Chinese Art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan is about Tai Chi and how to do it, has pictures and is very detailed, I’m really liking the class so I thought I’d swat up. The other The Tao of Long Life is all about being healthy in terms of nutrition etc as far as Taoism is concerned, haven’t started that one yet but looking forward to it.

Also munching on my graze box, loving them! You should check it out, get your first one for free with this code LKVLM5Z http://www.graze.com/

I’m really finding the Tai Chi helpful for the pain and for my mental health to be honest, the yoga too. Hoping to go to more of the hot yoga classes in yogafever, maybe some workshops too, I think I’ll aim to go to one a week or fortnight for Nov/Dec and then get the months pass in January and really go for it, I want to ease myself in, but not take too long! I am still doing my current yoga class on Wednesdays anyway and some at home. I’m optimistic tonight that I can get on top of this! Got to hold on to this feeling!