Gratitude

I have so many thank yous to give today!

First, thank you all for your support and advice regarding yesterday’s injury. I feel much better after reading about your advice and experiences with similar situations!

Second, a huuuuuge thank you to Mara who very generously offered her time and serious photoshop skills to help me come up with a new header! After lots of emailing back and forth between Mara and my dad (who will forever be my ultimate artistic director :P), we came up with something I really like (for now). Hope you like it, too!

Onto breakfast:

I was still thinking I might be able to go to brunch with Gina and Kate, so I made a light breakfast when I got hungry around 9:30 in case I was going to need to be eating two hours later. This is a cup of fruit salad topped with 2 tbsp PB2 (mixed with 2 tbsp healthy cream cheese icing) and trail mix/granola:

I soon realized, however, that I was not going to be able to go anywhere. I woke up this morning in no less agony than when I went to bed last night!

I considered going to the ER, but I also figured that I would probably end up waiting for hours and paying an arm and a leg to be sent somewhere else (not to mention that I might get stuck for good going down my apartment steps). I decided to keep sitting on my ice pack for the rest of the day and call my regular doctor tomorrow to see what she recommends. I think this was a good idea, as the occasional journey from room to room has gotten slightly less excruciating than it was earlier today. I feel like a giant slug, though — I had so many plans for the weekend that involved actually leaving my apartment.

I stayed in bed and felt sorry for myself a little bit longer … but things soon turned around. I felt a lot better after Kate emailed and offered her escort services if I needed assistance with anything. And then I read this super helpful comment from reader Alexa:

I’m recovering from this injury. Hurts more than anything to start putting weight on and taking weight off that foot, right? I had to stop running completely for a week and a half, and I’ve been slowly adding it back (it’s been 2 weeks now). Definitely see a doctor if you can, but otherwise:

stop running for 8-10 days. (And seriously stop. I tried to do a little too early and made it a lot worse.) Do other kinds or exercise and consider it cross-training. I’ve been fine with walking, elliptical, biking/spinning, yoga and pilates.

stretch…down dog and a butterfly stretch pushing down on my knees with my elbows has worked.

ice packs will remain your best friend.

And smack anyone who laughs at you for pulling your groin. Such an unattractive sounding injury name, right?

Thanks, Alexa! The symptoms she described sounded just like mine, and I sent her a follow-up email for some more info. She was so helpful! I’m going to take her advice and stop running completely for at least two weeks. I really don’t want to take any more risks, especially with the half marathon coming at the end of May.

I’m going to stay away from the gym for at least the first few days of this week and, depending on how I feel, I may do some Gentle Hatha Yoga the next couple of mornings. In the meantime, like I said, I will call my doctor tomorrow to see if she has any extra recommendations for me or if she thinks I should come in for a visit.

With all of that taken care of, it was time to move on to lunch:

I haven’t been able to get to the grocery store, so I’m running low on fresh veggies and had to get creative! I had the rest of the delicious chicken lasagna that Myrna gave me at work on Friday:

How lucky, right? Who knew I’d be chair-bound and unable to get out or really even make new food?! This lasagna came in so handy. Thanks, Myrna!

On the side, I made a Mexican-ish layer sort of deal: thawed frozen corn on the bottom, homemade guac in the middle (about 1/3 an avocado’s worth), and salsa from Friday’s work meeting on the top.

I covered the whole thing in a sprinkling of freshly grated homemade parmesan 😀

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to be productive within the confines of my limitations! I had about three cups of whey from Greek yogurt-making that needed to get used, so I put that in the crockpot with two eggs, 1 cup dry chickpeas, 1/2 cup millet, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup lentils, and 1/2 cup raw wheat germ (that I toasted first, making it no longer raw). I’m low on oats, so I figured that I would make a giant batch of wholesome protein-filled whole grain deliciousness that could be converted to sweet or savory this week for the purpose of breakfasts, snacky dips, and who knows what else. I’m pretty sure I’m going to blend it all once the chickpeas finally finish cooking, so we’ll see what it turns into.

I used one avocado to make guacamole (obviously). The other, I used to make more chocolate mousse (1 avocado + 1.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder + 2 tsp molasses), my favorite thing in the world. I roasted the rest of my cashews and a few almonds a little bit too long and made some very dark roasted cashew-almond butter. I added a teeny drizzle of molasses to that, too, to try to offset the burnt flavor, and it worked quite well!

I organized some textbooks and paper avalanches in my bedroom and hand-swept the dust off my shelves. I took care of blog tasks. I checked in with both mom and dad. I tried to log in to the discussion board for my class. I got hungry again and scavenged some dinner:

The last Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patty with a smear of goat cheese, two sliced radishes (from work), and freshly ground black pepper:

Grape tomatoes:

And the last 1/3 toasted blueberry bagel spread with lemon curd + ricotta and topped with sliced strawberries:

For dessert, I heated up the last 1/2 cup of Sylvia’s banana bread pudding from work and arranged it with more sliced strawberries, a dollop of the above-mentioned chocolate mousse, and a sprinkling of unsweetened coconut:

Potentially the best dessert ever.

And because I wanted more comfort, I whipped up some fancy hot cocoa: 2 cups boiling water, sugar cookie sleigh ride tea bag, splash unsweetened soymilk, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne, 1/2 tsp honey, 1/2 tsp cashew-almond butter. I may have also dropped in a couple Hershey’s kisses 😀

As of now, I’m planning on going to work tomorrow, but I’ll have to see how my mobility is when I wake up in the morning. I’ll probably have to cancel my visit because I’m pretty sure I can’t handle crawling on the floor and holding babies (unfortunate since that’s the best part of my job)!

So, in conclusion, thank you to everyone — and especially to mom, dad, Mara, Alexa, Kate, and Myrna — because I would have spent the entire day buried under a mountain of self-pity if not for your help!

What are you thankful for today?

24 thoughts on “Gratitude”

cleanveggiex3 says:

March 29, 2009 at 8:56 pm

FABULOUS eats girl! seriously, lasagna for lunch!? awesome.

i am thankful for my family because they do so much for me 🙂

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