Week 3 - Drugs and Produce

Wondering about that title? Don’t worry. It’s all good.

This was the week I decided to put my anti-inflammatory drug to the test. Since I’ve been on it for ages, I wanted to see if I could do without it because after losing 65 pounds my knees have been much less problematic. And since it raises my blood pressure, which I also take meds for, I was hoping I could stop taking it. With Monday morning being my first time back at Power Pump, I took it then but that was my last for a bit. Well, it must have taken a few days to get it all out of my system because by Thursday I was aware of my knee with every step – not pain but I could feel my knees. When I realized I was beginning to walk differently, I knew my experiment had failed and I’d need to start taking it again. Too bad I didn’t take one right then because I woke up in the wee hours Friday morning and could not get comfortable because everything was hurting, not just my knee. I never fell back asleep so had to face Friday on only 4 hours of sleep. At least it was Friday and within a couple of hours of taking the pill, I was feeling better again. Better living through chemistry.

I was back to rotating so produce was pretty important in my week. But Saturday took it to a whole other level. Cindy, my cubie mate, had joined Bountiful Baskets before Christmas, which is a food buying co-op that focuses on produce. I had waited to participate until I was rotating again so had placed an order for a basket o’ produce for $15, which I needed to pick up in Lincoln early Saturday afternoon. To make a Lincoln trip on the weekend worth it (I drive there 5 days/week so rarely go on a weekend), I’d scheduled breakfast with Darla followed by some shopping. We met at Cook’s Café (best sausage in Lincoln) then hit Joann’s and Big Lots. By the time we were done there, we were beat so went to Starbuck’s in Target for a pick me up. We had intended to shop but never got around to it before I had to leave to get my produce.

Ridiculous! Here’s a pic of all the produce I got for $15. Since there are a few things that need to ripen, I figure this will last me weeks. And since I love finding just the right recipe to use up what I have, it all works. But I still had a bunch of produce in my fridge so when I got home mid-afternoon Saturday, at which point it was snowing, I happily stayed inside and got busy cooking. I roasted beets, leeks and kale, which cleared out the veggies and then I pulled out fruit to eat over the rest of the weekend so only new fruit would be in my crisper. With all that roasted veg, I had fun concocting things. Here’s a gratuitous foo pic of a yummy yet healthy dinner I made. It had a base of quinoa with mushrooms (a stocking stuffer from Carolyn) covered with roasted leeks/kale and leftover steak topped with cold sliced beets and crumbled goat cheese. Delish!

What else of note? Hmmm….. I went out to dinner on Tuesday night with Anne and Rene to celebrate Rene’s birthday. We also booked our next trip, taking advantage of a Southwest sale. We’ll be in DC in mid-April for cherry blossoms. Yay! Courtesy of Cindy’s Lincoln library card, I got season 4 of Boardwalk Empire so enjoyed that all week. We all met at the Engine House Café for breakfast on Thursday for Cindy’s birthday, which was a lot of fun. And I got a haircut after work that night. It’s weird being free Tuesday and Thursday evenings because those used to be my swimming nights. Time to readjust my after work schedule. I did love the Friday night water aerobics, which started my weekend exercised and showered. Nice.

Lastly, I ended the week with cozy knitting by Lori’s woodstove. It was bitter cold outside (high in the single digits) so I was the only one who braved the cold so we spent time online and have a plan, although not tickets yet pending John’s travel wisdom, for Scotland. And despite eating out several times, doing the best I could calorie wise each time, I had lost all the weight I’d gained over the holidays so was at -68 and will surely break 70 this rotation and hopefully a bit more. But the best part of the week was having Monday off. : )