Hey!

So, I'm irritated and worried.

Probably for absolutely nothing which is what I am hoping for.

I'm not looking for sympathy, empathy, or pity (at least not yet, :p).

But things suck when it does not go according to plan.

I made a doctors appointment the other day for a physical. I am going to be 25 this year and never have had a physical so I thought it would be wise to have one.

Things went great, she looked at my skin, talked about diet and exercise, told me I probably need a new prescription for my glasses soon but that I was still well within the limits of seeing good. Then they drew some blood and said they'd call me.

They called yesterday and told me to come back in for ANOTHER blood test. I'm all, "what?" Reason being is that my white blood cells are low (wtf?) and my kidney function was not as good as it should have been (huh??). This was not the plan. The plan was for me to get a phone call with the words: "thumbs up Sara, everything is uber fine!" not "another blood test and doctors appointment to discuss everything with the doctor" >_<

Not cool.

And of course, the internet is really not the best thing to look at when you potentially have something wrong with you. There are several different types of white blood cells and whatever one you are low on is what is wrong with you. For me it could absolutely nothing or I could be anemic (which admittedly, would make sense) or it could be very very bad.

Please nothing. Please?

So I'm going today to get my blood drawn again for the white blood cell test. Then making an appointment probably for Friday to get with the doctor and chat.

I'm really not thrilled by any of this.

Salad!

So not lately but for the month of May basically (monday-friday) Evan and I decided to eat salad every night. We wanted something healthy and easy because quite frankly by the end of school we were both just absolutely sick of cooking. So we decided on uber salads, because we started going to Sweet Tomotoes and we were basically paying 20 bucks for salad.

So, our salads are so delicious I thought I would share the how-to process of making them. Mind you there is no dairy, soy, or tree nuts because of Evan's allergies.




First we have the basic salad mix. Get actual lettuce and spinach. They have actual vitamins. No iceberg lettuce allowed.




Then I add sliced baby sweet peppers, found at Walmart.



Then open up a can of beets and chop 'em up.



Then a little bit of broccoli. I try to chop near the head because the stalk is just gross.



Then we have super yummy hard-boiled eggs.



Then let us not forget the fungus among us with some mushrooms.



CUCUMBER.



Then I dice up some pickles too. I think dill relish would work fine too, or the pickle chips.



Then some kidney beans or chick peas, either one is suitable.



Then some canned chicken.



Toppings! Salt, Pepper, and some olive oil and vinegar (balsamic, raspberry, red wine, whatever) No ranch dressing here!



Then we have our finished delicious product.

Now, you probably have some toppings that you are wondering where they are at. It's fine to add or substitute ingredients. I personally hate tomatoes, so poor Evan never gets them on his stuff cause I just don't buy them.

If you hate chopping things, a lot of stuff you can buy pre-chopped or take a day like Sunday and chop everything and put it in some tupperware, then you can just quite literally throw it all into a bowl!

Enjoy!

Weight Loss and Exercise

So I don't believe I've made it a secret that I've been on the quest to build myself a better body. I'm still doing that, it's been about a year since I started and I spent most of this school year maintaining what I lost over the summer.

Maintaining is just as hard as losing if not harder. I'm not even down all the way yet! I can't imagine what it will be like when I do lose everything.

So I've decided to step it up a notch this month, the last month of school, and try to kick-start the weight loss again. I lost about 2 lbs last month and I figured if I can lose even just 3 more I'll be rocking it out.

It's not even the weight I'm concerned about with anymore, but when lbs melt they show off the smexy muscles I've been building.

And they are there, oh yes, they are. I was putting on the pjs last night when I caught a glance at my stomach. My eyes bulged out of my head. I HAVE HIPBONES. There is not any padding whatsoever between my hip bones and skin except the normal things. From what I've read this is a precurser to ABS. I never even dreamed.

It's with good cause I never dreamed. I was on my way to sever obesity. Especially when I moved down to AZ. I was in a not good living situation having a very rough first teaching year. My solace was coldstone creamery and cheese. Plus whatever else I could scrounge up at school and there was always something.

I ballooned. I got a wii fit for christmas (not a hint, I wanted one) and I nearly choked when I got on it the first time. I worked with it and lost 10 lbs but I was still way over weight. Then I moved which actually caused me to lose more weight accidentally because I was carrying heavy boxes up 4 flights of stairs for a week making six or seven trips up and down them each day.

Then I met Evan and I make his allergies no secret that my new diet sped up my weight loss. That and he was a gym rat and part of our courtship involved going to the gym after work.

So fast forward to now. I did some math the other day because I have weight and measurments I have kept track of for years. From my heaviest I'm 28.6 lbs lighter. Then from when I lost my 10 lbs (I wouldn't even measure myself at my heaviest waaaay too depressing) If you take all my measurements (bust, waist, hips, glutes, thighs, arms) I have lost 21 inches off of my body. I am quite literally a smaller person. I take up 21 inches less of space!

But my quest is far from over. Slowly my weight is changing and my measurements are slightly moving around. In good ways. Things are reapportioning themselves around my body and I got about 10 more lbs to go until I hit my goal or 15 if I want to hit my uber goal. But I'm not too concerned with the uber goal because if I feel as happy as now in 10 lbs I think I'll just stay there.

Weight wise now though I am back to being a junior in high school. In 10 more lbs I'll be a freshman again. Which that's fun to think about in that way too.

I feel like I'm rambling now. I'm just way excited and I am going to lose my weight and I will be the best that I can be.

Are you proud of your cart?

I must admit something.

I am a bit of a voyeur. Not the pervy kind but the kind that likes to people watch in public. The kind that likes to look at what you eat and what you buy and how your clothing looks.

It's how I learn. How I have always learned really. Do what the seemingly successful people are doing and don't do what the rest are doing.

Well, I am sad to admit that I have become a bit of a Walmart shopper on a regular basis. It's out of budgeting and necessity! I swear. I didn't use to shop there because they didn't have anything Evan could eat but as the world becomes more health conscious the more food Evan can actually eat.

So we shop very carefully and buy things we actually have on the list. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies (I'm amazed at Walmart's veggies, honestly, super cheap super fresh and it's not all pre-packaged you can buy it by the pound) and non-processed foods. We like to cook and shopping helps that...we don't shop to not cook.

By the end of our shopping experience we have a cart full of veggies, fruits, 100% juices, water, and a bevy of other ingredients that are healthful. I love our cart. Evan and I always look at are cart and say what a good job we did and how awesome our cart is (we truly do this and congratulate each other on such a nice cart...I never said I wasn't an absolute dork). Then if we found something we wanted that we couldn't get at Walmart we head to Whole Foods.

So now we get to the other carts in the store. Now I know Walmart on the whole is not the best example of where you can buy the best food. But I swear to you looking at the other carts out there. These people have NO CLUE. Frozen pizzas, two liters of pop, gallons of ice cream, and boxes upon boxes of macaroni and cheese.

It's enough to make one a bit sick, really.

So it makes me ask these couple questions.

Are you proud of your cart?

and...

Would you show your mother your cart?

Parental Issues

The one big thing about moving across the country that really really sucks is being this far from my parents. I am 3,000 miles away from them and probably will stay at least that for the rest of my life.

So when my parents are having health issues it kills me that I can't instantaneously teleport there and take care of them.

A few weeks ago my dad had to go to the doctor because he just couldn't walk, he was hobbling like an old man and had to hold on to things just to get around. Well, he had gout and plantar facitis so he had to start taking even more meds (he has had a kidney transplant years ago and eats a million pills a day it seems) and get this boot thing to wear to bed to keep his foot stationary.

My mom has had knee problems for forever now it seems. A while back she ended up tripping on a curb and into a store door (not as comical as one would think) and then she had tore a few things in one knee from that. Now her other knee was hurting so bad that she was just about in tears on a daily basis, so they finally did a stupid MRI and they found that my mom has no cushioning left in her knee. None. It is just bone on bone. She also has a heel spur and plantar facitis in her other leg because she has been walking weird since her knee hurts. She has another doctors appointment soon to discuss her "options" for her knee.

I have no idea what they will option her to do but I have come to this conclusion for my parents...

THEY ARE FALLING APART AT THE SEAMS.

My mom keeps lamenting about not enjoying her retirement now and keeps telling me that I better take care of myself. Which I am now. I could see myself going down that path and I am definitely not going to now.

I feel really bad for my parents. They also had to cancel their trip down here during my fall break. Not that my mom could have walked up the stairs to my apartment. There is no way.

So it will probably be December before they meet Evan and for that I am really sad. Who knows, they might not meet my "boyfriend" they could eventually meet my "fiance" I have no idea, but December is a really long ways away.

Le sigh.