Bellini-induced Brain Freeze

 During the weekend my ankle was getting sore again so I figured I was pushing too hard too soon with trying to get back into the treadmill swing of things. By Monday it was in serious pain, which quickly developed into excruciating as the day went on. I was able to drive and get mom and baby sis to the hospital for surgery by 7:38am (oops, since when do we do things earlier than expected?!) but I already knew I did not have the stamina or threshold for pain to wander around anywhere. So I went home to rest for a bit -- it was too early to get my other errands done.  Actually...let's see if my doctor could fit me in for a checkup. 3:30pm? Perfect. While I sat on the chaise willing the ankle to stop throbbing I decided to order a case for my iPad. Looking back I should have made it a curbside pickup. When I went to Best Buy to pick up the order I decided to go in and look for a new phone case...there were none of interest. This also meant I had to walk the loop to the back to p...

 And just like that another pandemic Lent is done. About half past midnight I asked Butch to grab my tres leches cake from the fridge (Thanks, Costa Vida!) and gobbled it down with gusto. It was good but I guess I did not really have a craving for it. This morning my stomach was a little upset as Butch warned but I wasn't violently ill or anything.  After watching mass from the National Shrine in Washington DC online with the family I headed out to Southcentre to see if I would be lucky enough to get an iPad. Victory! I still have not opened it yet because if I win the one from Willow Park Wine and Spirits (the draw is in 3 days) then what am I going to do with 2 iPads? I guess there are worse problems to have and I already earmarked this money for the iPad. After my shopping win I was going to pick up some Arby's for our lunch but they were closed for Easter...so then the backup plan was McDonald's. Hopefully this will not be excruciating shortly. After my FaceTime with gr...

 This evening Butch and I went to Best Buy to try and get an iPad. They had none of the gold one and I refused to get any other color so we left. Tried Walmart, no dice either. So after two fails we sat in my car and searched around. London Drugs did not seem to have any, neither did Staples...The Source says they have limited availability nearby but there is no curbside pickup so I'll have to try my luck tomorrow. We then went to Willow Park Wine and Spirits as I tried to find Mavam. Still no luck. Nothing I want is available! At least I got to enjoy a steak and lobster special from Austin's. Nothing bugs me more than being unable to buy something all of a sudden.

 So I walked an hour on the treadmill today, at a slow pace still but my ankle was already sore before I started so I'm not sure if it was the brightest idea but I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I also slept in and feel well rested so I guess that's a win. Two more days till Easter! I can't wait to have a glass of strawberry Quik and some yummy eats.

 We went on a little date to Blaze Pizza all the way up by Sunridge like the good old times so I could try their keto crust and my beloved white top pizza. It was charred pretty nicely and crispier than the keto crust at Paul's Pizza but it's still nowhere near as good as a traditional thin crust. And I know that there is a Blaze Pizza in Mission -- so much closer to home -- but parking on 4th street is always a nightmare. I would rather make the trek up to Sunridge. Then I had the "need" to "finally" buy an iPad. I had had enough of watching TV off of my phone on the treadmill. But joke was on me...the stores were closed by the time I got this desire. My wallet lives fatter another day.

 Tonight was "throw anything you've got 'pending' in the fridge into a pan" for dinner. I browned a pound of ground beef, chopped up half a head of garlic, threw in what was left of my clamshells of spinach and cherry tomatoes, and a carton of sliced mushrooms. I cooked up the spaghetti squash in the Instant Pot and then threw in the "noodles" with the mix. Finished off the pan with grating the leftover asiago from my "shark-coochie" board and a little bit of remaining marble cheddar. Boom. It was pretty good! I might dabble with adding more spices and seasonings next time. My ankle is a little sore after my treadmill walk today -- total of one hour in 3 sessions. I had my ankle support on also. It's kind of frustrating. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. Apparently walking too  slow is also bad for a healing ankle because it needs to work more to stabilize.  Go figure.

 I was craving a burger so Butch was a sweetie and ordered us dinner from Triple O's. I got the monty mushroom burger with bacon in a lettuce wrap and sweet potato fries. He tried their feature pizza burger. Fantastic stuff and I feel well fed. I'm making my egg bites for the week right now. I grated the remaining reggiano, sliced up the remaining olives, and tossed in the leftover bruschetta from my birthday "shark-coochie" board as well as some spinach. It should be done soon. I'm having a hard time getting up early like I used to so that I can fit in more walking. I did not get to walk at all before my shift and so today I only walked an additional 15 minutes from my deficit. I'm still walking at a slower pace because I don't want to push things. I was at a loss for what to add to my April habit tracker so I threw in "jump rope." I'm not sure what kind of target frequency/duration I'm going to put on that just yet. Wow, my keto sacrifi...

 Today was my first day in weeks (other than my overtime Saturdays) where I was on the phones for my full shift rather than helping out the new hires in chat room support. They're starting to wean them off of our chat assistance -- how quickly they leave the nest! It was also my late shift -- got to sleep in a little bit and take a relaxed morning before work. I walked for 90 minutes on the treadmill but at a slow pace to not freak my ankle out too bad. But it was almost too slow of a pace so I kept punching the speed up one press at a time every once in a while. I did wear my ankle support to be safe. So far so good, knock on wood. My best friend from elementary school wished me a "happy birthday" out of the blue. I haven't heard from her in forever and she did not reply when I texted her last summer. I have not told her about dad. The siblings and I are now hooked on playing Yahtzee against one another. Thanks a lot baby sis!

 Woohoo, Butch got me a pink keyboard with rainbow underglow...I'm sure you more tech-savvy folk are rolling your eyes at my description of my new keyboard but I call it as I see it. It's so pretty. :) I think my finger is feeling less tingly today whenever it touches anything, but I have been faked out before. I know I should be letting the finger "breathe" by now but I'm so nervous for it to come into contact with anything. I will have to buck up and do that soon. For dinner last night my brother surprised me by getting me both options I gave to him -- wowza! Paul's keto crust, well I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was decent though I had hoped it would be crispier. That's probably not an option with this crust. But the cheese and toppings Paul's lays on their pizza make it more than good enough. But my steak!  Holy smokes that was delicious. I ate that one with gusto. I didn't have enough room for my caesar salad or to finish my side veg...

 I lounged in bed a lot longer than I intended but there were no concrete plans so it wasn't upsetting. We scrambled up some eggs and enjoyed the rest of the charcuterie board. My brother asked if I had planned dinner yet and offered to pick up or deliver something. I thought of steak and caesar or the keto pizza at Paul's in Shawnessy. I watered my plants with the plant-food infused bottle Butch put together. The poor things have little hopes for survival in my care. I also watered the orchid plant, as I do. The stem and bloom are dried out and have had it but the leaves are still very green and firm and the little vines growing along the base seem to be healthy. I would love to see it regain its strength - I think it would make dad proud.

 It has been pretty mellow day. I took mom and my sister to the hospital for her pre-surgery assessment -- they were supposed to budget 3 hours for the appointment. I dropped them off, picked up my birthday Starbuck and then came home for a bit because Daisy and our other friend were having a delivery sent to my house. I missed the delivery but there waiting for me on the porch was a lovely charcuterie arrangement. They clearly had my keto Lent in mind. Unfortunately, this year my birthday also landed on a Friday. I enjoyed the caprese skewers and a container of olives, one of the mascarpone figs and a fungi tartlet. My birthday cheat was the cup of tiramisu. Mom and sis were done an hour earlier than scheduled so we then grabbed some poke bowls from Banzai and had lunch in my car. Then since it was my birthday and I was enjoying the company I decided (with their permission) to risk it and have a shopping jaunt to Winners and HomeSense. It actually wasn't all that busy and I found...

 There is still snow happening in Calgary. I shouldn't be surprised but we had some great weather in the middle of the month. At least it isn't cold, but it's chilly for sure. No icy roads, but it's wise not to swap out the tires quite yet. An hour and a half until my birthday -- I have already had numerous greetings from my relatives in the Philippines. Still not all that excited about it. I will be a full pandemic year old. The finger still bleeds a little and still tingles way too much. Since my sister has to be at the hospital tomorrow I considered having my finger looked at in emergency if it's not too busy there. Not a fun birthday activity but possibly worth the peace of mind.

 The tingling I get every time my finger touches something by accident is so unsettling I refuse to type with it anymore until things get more under control. When Butch changed the bandage last night I let out a tiny yelp, we think he pulled off some of the scab by accident and the new bandaid held more blood...it must have stopped at some point but I can't tell how long it took. We'll have to use more polysporin to avoid any more sticking to the bandage. 2 more days until my birthday and I'm in too much of a funk to get excited about it. It's a Friday so I can't have meat, I'm doing the keto and committed to sticking to it for the homestretch, can't celebrate with my family and friends and I miss my dad fiercely. I don't even feel safe enjoying my birthday Starbucks at the shop...I'll have to drink it in my car unless I want to sit at the park by myself. Have to take my sister to the hospital for some pre-surgery procedures so at least I'll get ...

 My boyfriend helped change the dressing on my finger last night...mostly because I can't bear to look at it. Off came the bandaid the nurse gingerly  put on my finger and then all the gauze he tightly wound around the bandage...oh and then all the medical tape. In it's place he put one of the bandaids the nurse handed to me and I slapped on a latex glove because now the finger isn't all chubbed up and too big for the gloves. Onward and upward. It made typing easier, much easier -- still did not type at all with the finger but now the other surrounding fingers could hit their mark a teensy bit easier. But I'm not a fan of the sensation of the fingertip touching anything yet. So Butch thought of another solution to try and make things easier: a box of rubber fingertips in 5 different sizes. Here I am typing this blog out now. The second largest rubber fingertip (really they're like thimbles) fits best over the bandaid at the moment. It doesn't squeeze on the fing...

 Sigh, my finger was tingling pretty much all day and I couldn't figure out if it was due to how it was bandaged up or if it was damaged nerves from my finger tip. As predicted, my typing at work was slow. That kind of worked with the students though because it gave them more time to research for themselves. A few times they would tag me and say they found the answer before I finished getting my response all done up for them. We also got our extension letters today...full time up until May 2022! Dad is really looking out for me. At that point I only need another 6.5 months extension and I will reach permanent status! I'm totally intimidated by knives or anything that cuts now. I boiled eggs for my future breakfasts instead of making my egg bites. I haven't even opened a can of tuna for my lunches.  I have not tried going for a treadmill walk yet. Maybe I'll try a bit tomorrow morning.

 I don't know what's wrong with me. I was making eggplant lasagna noodles when I sliced my ring finger on the mandolin. Butch was taking a shower. I couldn't get the bleeding to stop and my head was starting to spin from panic or anxiety. By the time he was done his shower I had my head on the dining table with my finger in the air and I was breathing deeply to try and keep from swooning. I had to break keto and had a pineapple soda and a couple of shortbread cookies to get my blood sugar up. The medicentre (did you know you need an appointment now?! What are you supposed to do if it's not quite an emergency but Urgent Care is closed?! Luckily they took me in.) had me putting pressure on it for almost an hour and a half and then they would apply a pressure bandage. The backup plan was cauterizing the wound.  The bleeding was slowing down but not stopping so cauterizing was in order. They weren't joking when they warned it would likely hurt. I had to have them give m...

 This morning I had a dentist appointment and I did not want to get mom's aircast dirty outside so I decided to try my luck with just my ankle support in my shearling boot. I did not have to walk far from the car to the dental office and I even took a couple of side trips to Torrid, Hot Topic and the food court. It was pretty much a success! I feel like I was barely walking with any limp at this point. The only time I feel any discomfort is when I test my ankle's range by flexing it in different directions. I think tomorrow I will try doing some walking on the treadmill but at a slower pace than my usual, maybe I'll try 3km/h...it's slower than a leisurely pace but I don't want to jinx anything right now. We'll keep Zumba on hiatus. Then when Butch was done his work in the garage we went wandering around Walmart to grab our groceries for the week and just spend some time together out of the house. More walking! I guess if I'm really honest the ankle was a li...

What a frustrating dinner! We already decided last night what we were going to order for dinner tonight since I'm all keto and it's a Lenten Friday. So I ordered it from Globefish (yum!) and it was going to be taking longer than usual but that was fine. The big problem was that they gave us the completely wrong order! The driver was long gone and SkipTheDishes just refunded our money but that left us with no food. I was annoyed and hangry so Butch ordered McDonalds while I browsed where we could possibly get more food that I could eat. I got two filet o fish patties with lettuce and no bun.  I ended up getting more food from Kiro Sushi -- it was good and thank goodness they were still open, but it's not my Globefish order. What was more frustrating was that it looks like drivers are allowed to take more stops in between picking up your order and dropping it off. I'm not sure if they have factored that into the estimated wait time or what. Not to mention it's not fai...

 I need to get better at meal planning. This week we have ordered so much delivery for dinner because either I have finished work too late or dawdled too long and it would take too much time for me to prepare dinner or when I find a recipe that I could make (that also works with my current keto-ness) I'm missing ingredient X or Y. It has been an expensive week for food and probably not great for me salt-wise. Today I had a great steak but now my stomach is rumbling pretty bad -- not sure if it was due to dinner or from my lunch (I made a falafel salad). Mom's aircast is fantastic! I can move so much faster, with less discomfort, and my ankle is well protected. Win win win. To the point I sometimes become too comfortable and forget that my ankle is still healing, especially during my first steps in the morning before I put the aircast back on. Hopefully I will be able to walk on the treadmill again - even if it is slower - by next week.

 Today was not as painful as I worried it would be. Maybe it's because the family was together for at least a couple of hours. I know mom gets comfort from being at mass but seeing the altar where dad's coffin was facing during his final hours on Earth still choked me up. Being at mass hurts me. We were able to get my sister's x-ray and lab work down within the morning.  J.Lo got a fill-up and a much-needed wash. And then we reunited with my brother and his girlfriend at Brokin' Yolk for lunch before visiting dad. It was the first meal all four of us have had together since well before Christmas. I think that helped a lot. Social media kind of hurt but I still checked in a few times to see comments left by family and friends...good friends also texted me and my great-uncle even called this morning but I missed his call. He sent his prayers and birthday wishes and lit a candle for dad and all of those who have left before us. Regarding a more physical pain; I was lucky e...