Pink Bunny Foo Foo

Thank you...

I can't thank you guys enough for the feedback through comments and email. Right now I've decided to sort of park this blog. I've paid hosting through August. The idea is to just phase out of this one.

In talking with Jess (Jessiferseabs) she mentioned doing what she's done. She still has her private blog Weight of my World, but she also has her public blog See Jess Run...it is there that she writes things she can share with everyone in her real life - she links to it through Twitter and Facebook.

Hilly felt a great deal of relief after deleting Snackie's World and I'm looking forward to the same feeling. She said goodbye to her archives so she could start the next chapter of her life, I want to do the same.

I've found a new home in the blogosphere. I started a new blog 10 days ago and just started sharing it with my real life friends. The people I see everyday...the girlfriends I workout with, the friends I spend my weekends with and family. It already feels more comfortable.

This blog always felt like I had this huge secret. Everyone knew that I blogged, they all asked for the URL...I just never shared it. Sure, some of them could have found it, but for the most part - people respected the fact that it was my place to work through the thoughts that swirled around in my head.

I forget that some of you have been reading the entire time I've been blogging. That is crazy. I may not be the queen of many comments, but I sure have some very loyal readers and I appreciate all of you. 

I really hope you make the jump over to the new blog. Please visit and come out of lurkerville to let me know that you are going to continue to read...I promise to keep it interesting.

The new blog is Foodiddy.com - hope to see you there!

Blogging? What is this whole thing you speak of?

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been. Here's the thing...when I used to sit down and think about all of the things that blogging did for me, the list was rather long.

Awesome feedback from friends and strangers
The ability to showcase and share my struggles and triumphs
Connecting with others
Being part of a community
Building strong friendships
Stepping outside of my comfort zone
Collaborating
...etc.

The world of weight loss and Weight Watchers is what paved the way for me to create this blog. I think I accomplished a lot through blogging about fitness and weight loss. I met some amazing people and have ended up engaging in many friendships that I know will remain strong no matter what I decide to do. All of these friendships have transitioned into real life friendships either through visits, emails, phone calls, snail mail, text messages, etc.

I've grown so much since my first post. I feel like a different person.

Last time I felt like this, I switched gears and started blogging about other stuff. I left the weight loss talk behind and met some really great people through Hilly's extended circle of friends. It was fairly easy for me to tell that my style was different. People have told Hilly that my blog was boring and they didn't understand how we could be friends because we seem so different...LOL. This blog is only a very small fraction of what I'm like in real life...so yah, there's that and the people that thought we shouldn't be friends are fucking pathetic in the first place, so uh yah...there's that too.

So I went back to weight loss blogging and funny...haven't lost much weight. Actually that's not true, I've lost the same 10 lbs. about 100 times.

The majority of blogs that I used to read are no longer online...the people that I really connected with are on Facebook and reachable through email or by phone...I'm torn.

I'm not exactly sure what to do here in Pink Bunny Foo Foo land. If I post something, the people that used to read and comment are most likely already emailing me daily, Facebook friends or picking up the phone to call me - so I'm just repeating myself to them.

This has been a soft place to land whenever I felt the need to share things. I'm not ready to say goodbye, I'm just ready to try something new. I've been thinking of going the free route with getting a WordPress blog instead of paying for this one with Typepad.

I've been really enjoying some of my favorite foodie blogs and would love to post more about recipes, experimenting in the kitchen, eating out with friends, etc. I'm considering taking some culinary classes with a girlfriend and would love to maybe post about those if it actually happens.

My web stats show me that people still come here daily to see if I have written something...or to use my links - guess not everyone has jumped on the feed reader bandwagon...

So here I sit...I stare at my blog wondering what the heck I'm going to do here. I still have weight to lose, I am experimenting a lot with cooking new things and trying new recipes...just really struggling with what to do.

I love Facebook. - There. I. said. it.

I love that there is no pressure, just a really quick update and people know what I'm up to, where I've been and what I've created in my kitchen - I post a lot of photos...not sure why I shifted to that over blogging, but I have an idea. My work blocking blogs had a lot to do with it...but I think I just used that as an excuse. I think what I like about Facebook is that the majority of the people that I follow - all but maybe 10 are people that I see or talk to on a regular basis. I get the face to face connection and instant feedback. When they talk about things on their Facebook status updates, I know exactly what they are talking about...where they've been, etc. I feel a stronger connection - even though it's a brief update. I follow less than 100 people for this very reason. I don't want it to become a place where I don't interact with everyone.

I don't link to this blog on Facebook or Twitter because I don't want people going back through 5 plus years of blog archives to learn about everything from my disordered eating to over exercising to compensate to years and years of therapy. It's a lot of really emotional stuff that I threw out onto the Internet for basically the world to see, hah! ...yet I don't want co-workers, family, extended family members, and some of my real life friends to read about. Yes, I know that too is messed up. I guess I just don't want people tearing through each post and questioning me about stuff that happened or that I said years ago. (Trust me...I know some that would)

I'm the first to admit that at one point in my weight loss journey, I was an obsessed mess. I've since found balance and I don't need people bringing up crazy land. It took me a long time to get to this place.

I have several close girlfriends that have recently started blogging. I absolutely love their blogs...but have never told them the address to this blog. That's messed up too.

So do I back up my blog...delete it, start over and talk about stuff that I can share with everyone? Do I go the more foodie route? I could never be a blogger that documented every meal...I don't have the time and I don't think anyone would care. Meals for full time cubicle workers tend to be less than exciting during the week, the weekends is where I have fun in the kitchen.

Maybe I just go with the flow. For now, nothing drastic...just continued introspection to try and figure things out.

Thoughts?

The Easter post...finally...

I finally took photos from before Thanksgiving to present off the digital camera. I would like to think it's because I've been super busy, but it's more like I've been super lazy.

Rather than recap Thanksgiving and Christmas...LOL, I'll start with Easter. We decided to host Easter dinner at our place this year. Higgy is still very limited in his mobility and my Mom and Dad have tile floors, a two story house and the dog door opens up to stairs and about a 50 foot elevation drop...definitely not conducive to Hig's new disability.

I had caught a show on the Food Network back when my friend Paul came to visit last month. We wanted to make braised short ribs for dinner, but A.) I don't own a dutch oven and B.) it was 5:30 PM when we decided we wanted to cook...our dinner guests didn't want to eat at 10:00 PM...so we made chicken and braised cabbage instead...totally delicious BTW.

Back to Easter....I have been dreaming of the perfect Le Creuset Dutch Oven for years...but yah, didn't have a spare 3 hundy to throw down for the size I wanted. Everyone I know that has Le Creuset loves the stuff...some day, some day. I will still keep looking at Homegoods, TJ Maxx and other discount and outlet stores.

Until then...I happened upon a Macy's ad right before Easter. They were having a huge sale with an added 1 day super sale. I drove 3 cities away to pick up 2 Martha Stewart Dutch Ovens...I got 2 of the 7 QT size ovens in the color sand. Normally $139.99 each...on sale for $64.99...freakin' sweet! They are still on sale for $68.99 if you are interested.

I was set and ready to cook my braised short ribs for Easter dinner. All was not smooth. I did have a small meat fiasco. I bought $40 worth of meat from the butcher on Tues...the only day I had free to grocery shop. Instead of putting them in Ziploc bags in the freezer...I set the butcher wrapped trays in the fridge. I honestly thought they would be fine. The sell by date was March 31st. They weren't fine. I opened the packages and wow...had to toss all of the meat. I scrambled back to the butcher and he cut them right then and there. $45 more dollars for the meat - see where I'm going with this? - $140 for the dutch ovens...$85 worth of English cut short ribs...all I could think, these fuckers better taste 4 star or better.

We put the ribs in the dutch ovens with 4 cloves of smashed garlic and EVOO. I got to braise one pot and Dan got the other. Once browned on all sides, you remove the meat and add wine to the fat.

I was once told...don't cheap out on the wine. Cook with what you like to drink...thank you BevMo for your 1 cent sale. We added the Cabernet and cooked each bottle down until there was just a cup in each dutch oven. Then we added the meat back in. See Dan's sexy hand below:

My pretty ovens are purple...ahhhhh! :o) The next step was to add low sodium veggie stock.

Into the oven they went....325 degrees for 3.5 hours.

The house smelled awesome and at the 3.5 hour mark...the meat just fell off the bone. I absolutely loved them! My family was very impressed. Dan felt they had too much of a wine taste...um yah...2 bottles of Cabernet will do that...he's not a wine drinker, so I could understand where he was coming from. Next time I will try a sweeter BBQ like sauce for him.

We teamed the braised short ribs with red mashed potatoes - skins on...and maple and dill coined carrots. I freakin' forgot to take a picture of the table and finished ribs...but you can check out Claire Robinson's recipe from the Food Network here. Note: We did not add extra butter to the sauce after we used the fine meshed sieve. We also added additional garlic and a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

The dinner and night was a huge success...my picky niece actually liked the ribs and she had fun playing with Higgy and the new iPad...

Speaking of iPad....it's awesome. I love to have something to surf with while Dan and Hilly are on their laptops in front of the TV.

This weekend I made pizza using the dough from Trader Joe's and I roasted brussels sprouts for the first time. I hope to get the photos and post up soon.

As for working out...I've been walking outdoors. I actually went for my first run of the season Saturday morning. I hope to build up my endurance, because...wow, my lack of stamina was eye opening for sure.

The only reason I decided to run was because a boot camp was going on in the park I walk through and I was trying to be "bad ass" as I passed all of those women while they jumped rope and lifted their sandbags....hah! you think I'm kidding?

Hangin' out...

This pretty much sums up what I've been up to the last couple of weeks. The couch, Higgy and I have become BFF's.

I thought recovering from surgery was bad enough...add a major cold, Nyquil/Dayquil for 6 days straight and yes, my body pretty much shut down. I slept a lot, watched a lot of TV, hung out with Hilly and Higgy and that's about it. I did manage to only miss 1 day of work, but I split my days and hours up so I had some down time during the middle of the day.

This has not been a great month health wise. I haven't had the energy or willpower to do much of anything besides get through the work day. Hilly and I did manage to go walking yesterday and she was up bright and early in her workout gear this morning - too bad I was up bright and early for a different reason. Apparently our shower head decided to blast off the end of the pipe this morning...while Dan was using it. Nice. So I rummaged through cabinets and the garage at 5:15 this morning trying to find the old head we had replaced. Victory was had...after 20 minutes of searching through every cabinet in the house and garage, I found it! The piece of shit, construction grade, low flow, corroded metal...saved the day. I found the proper wrench and we were back to showering by 6:00 a.m. - Now it's off to Lowe's after work to find another shower head. The old one busted right off and the housing is now cracked.

Anyway...wish I could have got a morning walk in with Hilly, but I will probably end up having to brave the rain later today to get some mileage in. Still no treadmill...Nordic Track is still saying the 2nd week of April...I'll believe it when I see it.

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I actually logged my food in Lose It. While I haven't gained any weight, I just feel sluggish and bloated due to the heavy amount of carbs I've been eating, all of the meals out and the medication I'm on.

I spent the majority of yesterday watching the Food Network. I am addicted to the Best Thing I Ever Ate. I probably watched a good 6 hours of food shows yesterday. I looked through cookbooks while watching my shows. I then made a monster grocery list and never even got in the shower to go to the store. Hmmm...guess the early AM shower incident could have been avoided had I used it yesterday. One will never know...

Because I decided to 86 the grocery shopping trip, I was left with having to create a meal out of what was in the pantry, fridge and freezer - which wasn't a lot. Right now the only fresh veggies I have is 1 avocado. Nice. The produce and fruit drawers are empty. On the freezer side, my only protein option was shrimp. I'm out of everything else. I did have some Trader Joe's frozen brown rice and some bagged frozen veggies that I normally add to soups. I found a recipe for shrimp in the Best of Weight Watcher's Cookbook. I doctored it up a little and I have to say...it will be going into the monthly rotation.

18 frozen jumbo prawns (thawed)
1 small red onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons EVOO
2 teaspoons Paprika
2 teaspoons Cumin
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 cup fresh parsley - I had to sub out for dried

Brown onions and garlic in EVOO without seasonings. 3-4 minutes. Add shrimp and spices - cook until opaque - about 4 minutes.

I then added 3 tablespoons of Miscela wine and a tablespoon of lemon juice - let cook for 1 more minute.

I used my ring mold for the brown rice and Dan and Hilly selected mixed frozen veggies. I wish I would have had some fresh spinach or some other alternative, but that would have required me to get off my ass during the day to shower and grocery shop.

 

Sorry for the crappy iPhone photo...Hilly took some better ones with her camera, but they block Flickr at work, so I can't link to it. So, this is what you get. One of the shrimp took a dive off the rice tower...but at one point it was propped up all pretty-fied.

The plan is to eat through the rest of the freezer and fridge stuff...then I think I'm going to go back on South Beach Phase 1. It will take my body some time to get used to the low carb life again...but I really need to jump start things if I have any chance of losing 10-15 more lbs. before my birthday in June. 

In Higgy News - He's still improving as the weeks sail by. Yesterday was the first day that he was able to put his front paws on the edge of the couch - like he wanted to jump up. He hadn't had the hind end strength to do that until then. He also has been positioning his back legs differently when he lays down. He has lost a lot of weight and muscle, but he sure is learning how to use what he has.

Dan and I are hosting Easter at our place this year - My Mom and Dad's house is 2 story and they have tile throughout - and huge elevation changes in their backyard and dog run...not an option for Higgy anymore. It will be the first time he's seen Monty (My parent's dog) since all of this went down. They are going to bring him on Sunday, we'll see how it goes. I'm kind of nervous, but they are also bringing his crate so they can have lots of rest time too.  

Now to figure out what to make for Easter dinner. I don't want ham, so I'm leaning towards braised short ribs. Off to find a good recipe. I've missed my blog and hope to be back on a more regular basis.

Hope everyone is well.

Erin Go Bragh...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

 

I am still recovering from my surgery. Not doing great, not doing horrible, just leaning more towards UGH!

I'm sore. I have a HUGE bruise on my arm from the IV. I have small welt aftermath on my neck and chest... because they couldn't read my chart or my wrist bracelet (THAT THEY PRINTED OUT!) They also apparently didn't hear me when I mentioned 50 times that I'm ALLERGIC to surgical tape. Sigh....found that out during my spinal fusion 15 years ago. They taped my eyes shut with it and wow, 8 hours later...couldn't see for days.

I left the surgery center under Hilly's care. I was flying high on demerol, don't even remember getting to the car. I know we walked arm in arm, and I don't think there was skipping involved, but I'm not sure. According to Hilly,  I repeated myself like I was 90..."My blood pressure was really low" and "my surgeon has shitty bed side manner" ...hah!

This time around I didn't allow my body enough time to recover before heading back to work. I tried it for a day and couldn't make it.

I am currently working from home - thanks to VPN, a very understanding boss and some seriously graphic heavy projects that will keep my brain busy.

I have given up on all forms of exercise right now. I was hoping to get back to doing something by the end of the week...but it's looking more like next week for sure. My email group is doing a challenge where we pretend walk across the United States - logging miles for any form of exercise based on calorie burn, etc. with prizes at the 500 or 1000 mile markers. I'm super sucking at the challenge. No worries, I'll be back in the game soon.

Casa de Foo will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day this evening with a non traditional celebratory meal - No corned beef and cabbage here. We are having Yaki Tacos. Apparently Dan and Hilly love Island's Yaki Tacos...but the closest Islands Restaurant is 45 minutes to an hour away in traffic and meh...I knew I could find some foodie on the Interwebs with the same hard on for the little teriyaki taco delights.

Bingo...found the recipe online and whipped up my own teriyaki sauce last night. The chicken has been marinating ever since. I'm a ginger noob...so that was fun. Turns out, teriyaki sauce is pretty simple...doubt I will ever buy it again.

1 3/4 cups  water
1 tablespoon cornstarch (whisked into the water) - Turn on burner heat to medium
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Pinch of dehydrated onions
2 teaspoons of minced fresh ginger
Bring to boil for 8-10 minutes.

I will grill up the chicken and heat up the sauce I set aside before dumping the rest into a bowl with the chicken for the marinade.

The mini flour tortillas will include the chicken, shredded jack cheese, shredded lettuce, pineapple chunks, tomatoes and green onion.

The extra sauce will also be drizzled on top of everything...

I will hold the hula, surf TV footage, tiki torches and straw hut decor and I will break out the St. Patrick's T-shirt that I wear once a year.

I've been trying to eat super mellow since the surgery, makes recovery a little easier...this will be my first attempt at something more than bread, cheese, chicken soup, rice and rice noodles. Should be interesting.

I also seem to be developing a small addiction to Hansen's Ginger Ale...I think my stomach has been in a constant state of "ugh" since this whole thing went down and I honestly think it's helping.

In Higgy news...He is still getting around with his little boot. We stopped using the leg harness after his last vet appointment. He's having some difficulty, especially in the evenings - he gets tired out. We are all noticing improvement in his bad leg. I really think he knows what the word "amputation" means...he's started to lift his bad leg off the ground. This means that his thigh muscles are getting stronger. This is excellent news!

On that note...my self induced break is over, gotta get back to work.

and I wait...

A lot has gone down in the past week. I've been avoiding this blog because I've been avoiding everything. No exercise, no tracking calories, I'm pretty much just taking each day as it comes. My health and mood are definitely dictating things.

I went back to the surgeon for an emergency appointment (I'm having issues) and the procedure I had done last year needs to be repeated. I go in on Thursday. Nothing major (not my back - I'll be fine) but any surgery is stressful.

It's crazy at work right now and being out for 2-3 days has me cranking out less than perfect work and that bugs me. I don't mind rushing to get things prepped before I go out, but wow, I feel craptastic. I have a raging headache and there isn't much I can do about it. I can't take my migraine medication or any motrin for 5 days prior to the surgery. I'm also skipping my period this month because of the surgery and I think the extra hormones are raging through my body right now.

All I want to do is eat bread, thai rice noodle soup and pasta. Last night we did make pot roast - both Hilly and I were craving comfort food. Harris Ranch pot roast, fingerling potatoes, carrots and onion. Dan was in heaven.

I figure I won't be eating past noon tomorrow. Then it's Jello, soup and light foods throughout the weekend and into early next week. That should get me back on track.

I also got news this morning - my treadmill is on BACK ORDER for another month! Ugh! I ordered it in December - they are now saying it should ship April 5th.  Nordic Track gave me an additional 10% off and offered to swap it for another model - I really want the Reflex 8500, so I'm going to wait it out. I also won't be able to exercise for a bit and when I can again, I'll be back at my hip hop and Zumba classes.

In Higgy news...

Hilly and I took him to the vet hospital for his neurology check up. The doctor was pleased with his progress. He said to keep doing everything we are doing. We go back in 4 weeks. In 16 weeks we will evaluate again and discuss options. One option would be to amputate the leg that drags. I can't even go there right now. I have enough things on my plate. For now, he will continue to wear his boot...in the hopes that he gets stronger with each day and better at balancing himself when he walks. The neurologist thinks there was too much damage to his spinal cord for him to regain mobility and muscle in his left leg...but he hasn't given up hope. That is why we are going to check in with him for 4 more appointments over the next 4 months.

Dan and I took him to the groomer this past Saturday for his special appointment. We gave him a bath the night before. It took 35 minutes while we held him for the groomer and he looked so handsome when he was done. They shaved his legs, so it's kind of weird looking, but he had poodle puffs on his legs from them shaving him for IV's when he was in the ICU.

 

The groomer was really sweet. I went to pay for my little guy and she told me to put my wallet away - it was their treat. They knew we were faced with huge vet bills and more to come, so she wanted to help by giving us a free grooming. I cried. I seriously cried.

This year has been filled with huge amounts of change. Have I mentioned that I don't do well with change? 

I know everything has a magical way of working itself out. I just always seem to be in a rush to know the outcome. So for now...I wait. I wait to see what is thrown at me next and I do the best I can to handle it without completely going bat shit crazy.

Hope you are all doing well.

XOXO,