I’m baaaaack!!! Miss me yet? Doesn’t absence make the heart grow fonder?
Well, I've been meaning to write but I haven't gotten around to it until now (I have no excuses!). So I started typing this post last night but I’m only now getting around to posting it so please note that the “tonight” references are actually Friday night references. Actually, after re-reading my blog post and correcting some errors (I may not have corrected all of them!), I'm only posting this at 1am on Sunday morning so when I say "last night", I actually mean two nights ago so you're going to have to compute that in your mind while reading my blog post. Isn’t that a great way to challenge your brain? I might just turn this blog into a Mensa site eventually. I’m almost there, aren’t I? :)
Tonight, in the spirit of trying something new, or better yet, doing something that scares me, I attempted to make a quinoa loaf and a cream of roasted vegetable soup with tofu and coconut milk as substitutes for cream. I bombed on the soup (just being honest!) but the loaf can be saved with a little extra marinara sauce added to individual pieces (I'd rather not have my food be as dry as my humour!). It was my ridiculous attempt at preparing a meal without recipes. So much for stepping outside of my comfort zone! Didn’t I once note that there’s comfort in discomfort in a previous blog post (check out "She shoots, she scores")? What was I thinking? I guess it’s a good thing that Sarah informed me that she wouldn’t be home for dinner today (after I prepared both dishes!). I guess today wasn’t a good day for thinking! A teenager coming home for dinner on a beautiful, sunny Friday? Duh!
P.S. It should be noted that on Saturday (the actual today!), both Sarah and my Bro tried the quinoa loaf and they both enjoyed it (at least that's what they told me!).
You’re probably afraid to keep reading knowing the type of mood that I’m in, right? Don’t worry...failure doesn't put me in a bitchy mood; perimenopause does! I’m sitting at the laptop with a cup of warm water with pieces of lemon floating in my water (and a few seed too!) as recommended by my acupuncturist (keep reading for more on my attempt at trying something new or rather doing something that scares me every day) while both of Adele’s albums are on continuous play on the iPhone dock (serenity!).
Now that I’m sitting here, I’m starting to feel less bitchy disappointed about my failure and more excited about catching you up on what’s been happening in my life since my last blog post.
So what has been happening, you ask? Well, I’ve been trying to figure who the “this is me” person really is, but what that really means is that I just celebrated another birthday (mid-life crisis anyone?). I must admit that I actually love celebrating my birthday because every year, I slowly begin to lose my mind, I get a little wiser, I gain an extra 10 lbs, I become more aware, I get more wrinkles, I care less about what other people think, I slowly begin to lose my mind, and I truly enjoy my life so much more everyday (even on the days when dinner doesn’t turn out as planned!). When I hear the song “happy birthday”, I feel uplifted and blessed with a wonderful life. I know many people don’t enjoy getting old(er) but really, just suck it up and be happy that you're alive! I’m also not one of those people who lies about my age (I’m 29!) or refuses to reveal my age (okay, I’m actually 33 years old!). Okay, okay, I'm seriously 3-9 (I know, I know, it's hard to believe because I look so young)!
So what have I been doing since turning the big 3-9 or as my brother and I always tease each other about, what have I been doing since beginning my 40th year? I know that always confuses people but think about it (this really could be a Mensa site!)...when you were born, you were 0 years old but you were starting your 1st year on this earth so when you celebrated your 1st birthday, you were actually starting your 2nd year then when you celebrated your 2nd birthday, you were actually starting your 3rd year on this earth. Get it? So basically, I’m into my 40th year…ugh! What is it about the number 40 that makes me feel old(er)? Well, it doesn't take a Mensa genius to figure it out...I'm already perimenopausal and I have tendonitis in my shoulders! My body has started falling apart. I have been extremely blessed living a life with very few ailments (knock on wood!). Sure I’ve had colds, the flu, Bell’s palsy and mono, I've needed a root canal, I've had a few cervical issues, I’ve walked into a branch which needed to be removed surgically from my foot (don’t ask!), I’ve had a “lump” removed from my back (we called it my “third boob” which makes me wonder if that’s similar to “third eye”!), I broke my baby finger playing soccer (don’t ask!), and I was born with my feet turned in or out (can’t remember, it was so long ago!) so I had casts on my legs as a baby to straighten out my feet (I wonder if that is why I ended up with size 11snowboards feet!). So yes, I’ve been pretty lucky with minor ailments! Now at the age of 3-9 (sorry but it still sounds weird saying I’m 39!), I’m trying to find a way to get rid of this fucking pain in my shoulders, and the symptoms from perimenopause (potty mouth included!). Before I tell you about my attempts at remediating the problems, I just realized that my age not only has my favourite number in it (the number 3!) but a factor of 39 is the second smallest prime number (aka my favourite number...3!) so that must mean this year will be a good year! I digress.
So what have I been doing since turning the big 3-9 or as my brother and I always tease each other about, what have I been doing since beginning my 40th year? I know that always confuses people but think about it (this really could be a Mensa site!)...when you were born, you were 0 years old but you were starting your 1st year on this earth so when you celebrated your 1st birthday, you were actually starting your 2nd year then when you celebrated your 2nd birthday, you were actually starting your 3rd year on this earth. Get it? So basically, I’m into my 40th year…ugh! What is it about the number 40 that makes me feel old(er)? Well, it doesn't take a Mensa genius to figure it out...I'm already perimenopausal and I have tendonitis in my shoulders! My body has started falling apart. I have been extremely blessed living a life with very few ailments (knock on wood!). Sure I’ve had colds, the flu, Bell’s palsy and mono, I've needed a root canal, I've had a few cervical issues, I’ve walked into a branch which needed to be removed surgically from my foot (don’t ask!), I’ve had a “lump” removed from my back (we called it my “third boob” which makes me wonder if that’s similar to “third eye”!), I broke my baby finger playing soccer (don’t ask!), and I was born with my feet turned in or out (can’t remember, it was so long ago!) so I had casts on my legs as a baby to straighten out my feet (I wonder if that is why I ended up with size 11
Okay, my remedies, so far, have included:
- Seeing my family physician who referred me to a physiotherapist.
- I only had one visit to the physiotherapist because she wanted to see me 3 times per week and it just wasn’t possible. At the time, the pain was bearable so I decided to stop seeing her after my first visit (sadly, that sounds like my dating life...I decide after meeting someone for the first time that I’m not interested in him. Hmmm...maybe there’s a lesson here?). In all fairness, I should mention that my Mom had tendonitis in her shoulders (genetically modified shoulders?) and the physiotherapy healed her. I guess she had more patience than me (three times per week?). But of course she has more patience than me! She raised my brother, right? Sorry Bro…just a little
drysibling humour :) - My Dad suggested acupuncture but that was out of the question. Needles in my body…no thanks! I learned long ago that acupuncture wasn't for me. My Dad took me to see an acupuncturist when I was a teenager to help me get rid of
my zit faceacne on my face. After one session (I’m seeing a pattern here!), I quit. No more needles for me! - Even though I’m anti-pills (okay, okay, relax pill
pusherspoppers…what I mean is that I don’t take anything that hasn’t been prescribed by a medical doctor so I don’t take pills like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, decongestants or anti-inflammatories), BFF suggested that I take Advil (ibuprofen) every 4 hours for 3 days to reduce the inflammation so I tried it. Didn’t work! - My Dad also recommended using Vicks VapoRub so off to the pharmacy I go with a positive attitude that this was going to work! Once I found the VapoRub and read that it was a topical cough medicine, I started second guessing myself and decided that I must have texted myself the wrong information (that’s right, I need to send myself texts because I’m
oldmemory-challenged!). I ended up buying Extra Strength A-535 which I believe is a muscle relaxant kind of product. BFF uses it sometimes so I figured I’d give it a try. Didn’t work! FYI - Vicks VapoRub is what my Dad recommended but I didn't go back to the pharmacy to try it (yet!). The moral of the story - don't second guess the texts that you send to yourself....unless you're drunk texting yourself! :)
What to do? The tendonitis had gotten so bad that I could no longer tie my bra in the back (sorry if that’s too much information!) but on a positive note, this challenge provided a great opportunity to purchase a new bra that ties in the front. When I was in Toronto on my birthday weekend, I bought my very first Victoria’s Secret bra (P.S. Victoria’s Secret bras rule!). Okay, so the new bra means that I can actually go out in public wearing a bra but let’s face it, the bra is just a band-aid (figuratively-speaking, of course! If I was being literal, I would need something much bigger than a band-aid! I'm just sayin').
So what`s left for me to try? Have my Mensa-genii guessed it yet? The answer is....wait for it...acupuncture! As part of my "do something that scares you every day" promise (more like once a month!), I decided to go for it! Who knew that acupuncture would end up being more powerful than psychotherapy (not that I would know anything about that...ahem!)? The first time Dr. Acupuncture saw me, she said that I was too young to be perimenopausal (the form I had to fill out asked me about my ailments so I noted perimenopause since I consider it to be many ailments in one…hot flashes, crankiness, loss of memory, crankiness, fatigue, slower metabolism, crankiness) and that my tendonitis was caused by years of suppressed emotions. How could that be possible? I’m now 3-9 so that puts me in the range for women to go through perimenopause and as for my emotions, well, I wear those on my sleeves…both sleeves actually! When I’m happy, I exude happiness; when I’m sad, I cry; and I’m not afraid to exhibit anger when I’m driving behind an idiot driver (road rage!). There must be more to this emotions stuff, right? Well, according to Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, there are 8 basic emotions (joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation) and 8 advanced emotions (optimism, love, submission, awe, disappointment, remorse, contempt and aggressiveness). Okay, so there is definitely more to this emotions business so I’ll get right on that which means…wait for it…a blog post for another day :)
So back to acupuncture…I’ve only had 3 sessions (only one per week!) and have had some surprising results! Remember, I had originally made an appointment to heal the tendonitis in my shoulders but Dr. Acupuncture is a healer so rather than focus on my shoulders, she decided that she needed to work on my entire body. I’ll admit that I didn’t do my research before going into the session (I know, I know, that's shocking!) so I hadn’t considered acupuncture as way of unblocking the flow of qi (energy). If qi (energy) isn’t flowing throughout your body, the blockages will have an impact on your physical well-being. My tendonitis is caused by blockages which are caused by suppressed emotions so in order to heal my shoulders, I need to heal my body by improving the flow of qi which means dealing with my emotions (that's definitely not going to be a blog post for another day!). SHOCKINGLY, the morning after my first session, I started menstruating (my apologies to my male readers!). That’s right, after 7 months without a period, I started to flow…literally!!! At that moment, I became a believer in Chinese Medicine.
That night, I found a book I had purchased 5 or 6 years ago called The Way of Qigong – The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing. I had purchased the book after participating, at work, in a Qigong exercise class (I work for an amazing organization that organizes a “wellness” day every year to introduce us to different practices, exercises and information that improve our health and well-being such as yoga, reiki, meditation, massages, laughter yoga, tai chi, reflexology, nutrition, osteopathy) but I never read it until now. It’s an amazing book full of useful information. I especially enjoy the Qigong facial and body massages. I have since bought a Qigong video and have been doing the 40-minute practice every morning. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Qigong, it’s a philosophy and practice of aligning breath, physical activity and awareness for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. It’s essentially a series of movements, some of which have animal names such as horse, hawk and elephant. I feel really good after I finish the practice and I must say that my shoulders feel better too!
Back to acupuncture and my shoulders! So far, acupuncture hasn't healed my shoulders but I understand it’s a process (patience is a virtue!). Once the qi starts flowing in my body, my shoulders will be healed. During my last session, she performed both acupuncture with needles and cupping. I won’t get into too much detail about it but it’s basically acupuncture but using suction instead of pricking (I'm sure that's not how Dr. Acupuncture would refer to it!). The results are nasty purple circles on my back but if it provides relief and improves my health, why not? I’ll keep you up to date on my progress. Whether you like it or not :)
That night, I found a book I had purchased 5 or 6 years ago called The Way of Qigong – The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing. I had purchased the book after participating, at work, in a Qigong exercise class (I work for an amazing organization that organizes a “wellness” day every year to introduce us to different practices, exercises and information that improve our health and well-being such as yoga, reiki, meditation, massages, laughter yoga, tai chi, reflexology, nutrition, osteopathy) but I never read it until now. It’s an amazing book full of useful information. I especially enjoy the Qigong facial and body massages. I have since bought a Qigong video and have been doing the 40-minute practice every morning. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Qigong, it’s a philosophy and practice of aligning breath, physical activity and awareness for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. It’s essentially a series of movements, some of which have animal names such as horse, hawk and elephant. I feel really good after I finish the practice and I must say that my shoulders feel better too!
Back to acupuncture and my shoulders! So far, acupuncture hasn't healed my shoulders but I understand it’s a process (patience is a virtue!). Once the qi starts flowing in my body, my shoulders will be healed. During my last session, she performed both acupuncture with needles and cupping. I won’t get into too much detail about it but it’s basically acupuncture but using suction instead of pricking (I'm sure that's not how Dr. Acupuncture would refer to it!). The results are nasty purple circles on my back but if it provides relief and improves my health, why not? I’ll keep you up to date on my progress. Whether you like it or not :)
So besides getting pricked by needles and sucked by cups, what else has been happening in my life? Sadly, I haven't been pricked or sucked by anything other than needles and cups! I believe that I’ve only watched one movie since my last blog post and that’s The girl with the dragon tattoo. I read the book and have been wanting to see the movie (the Swedish movie but dubbed in English…congrats on a great dub!) so I could start reading the second book, The girl who played with fire, but after watching the movie, I was reminded of the gruesomeness of the novel (gruesomeness is all relative, people!) so I've decided to wait (I'm such a whimp!).
P.S. My brother and I watched Snow Cakes tonight…the real tonight…Saturday night. Well, actually I didn’t get to watch the last 20 minutes of the movie. Not because the movie isn’t worthy of my time (it’s really, really good!) but because I was falling asleep. Hey, I’m getting old(er), remember?
I'm thrilled to report that my brother and I established a new book club. Yes, it's strictly a two-person book club but it's going to be a kick-ass book club with a kick-ass book club name (note to Bro: we really need to come up with a name for our book club!). Our first book: Stephen King’s Under the Dome (we decided to start with a short 1072 page novel!). I’m not a big fan of Stephen King because I’m a whimp when it comes to all things scary so I’ve only ever read Misery which was a long time ago but I remember really enjoying Mr. King’s writing style. Until now, that was the only Stephen King book I could handle reading but Under the Dome is already proving to be exactly the kind of novel I enjoy reading…dystopian-type literature, writing that provides you with a visual image (not to be confused with a picture book!), and a book that allows you to escape into another realm (not to be confused with Narnia!). I think I might ask Bro to write a book review for my blog :)
P.S. My brother and I watched Snow Cakes tonight…the real tonight…Saturday night. Well, actually I didn’t get to watch the last 20 minutes of the movie. Not because the movie isn’t worthy of my time (it’s really, really good!) but because I was falling asleep. Hey, I’m getting old(er), remember?
I'm thrilled to report that my brother and I established a new book club. Yes, it's strictly a two-person book club but it's going to be a kick-ass book club with a kick-ass book club name (note to Bro: we really need to come up with a name for our book club!). Our first book: Stephen King’s Under the Dome (we decided to start with a short 1072 page novel!). I’m not a big fan of Stephen King because I’m a whimp when it comes to all things scary so I’ve only ever read Misery which was a long time ago but I remember really enjoying Mr. King’s writing style. Until now, that was the only Stephen King book I could handle reading but Under the Dome is already proving to be exactly the kind of novel I enjoy reading…dystopian-type literature, writing that provides you with a visual image (not to be confused with a picture book!), and a book that allows you to escape into another realm (not to be confused with Narnia!). I think I might ask Bro to write a book review for my blog :)
Oh yeah, I finally finished watching…wait for it….How I Met Your Mother! So I’m all caught up which means I can only watch one episode per week (or longer when there isn’t a new episode airing!) which means I'm going through Barney withdrawal so I've started recording old episodes on my PVR. The last episode I watched was "LegenDaddy" when Barney finally meets his Dad played brilliantly by John Lithgow. I couldn't help picturing John Lithgow saluting The Big Giant Head and saying “that was legen (pause) dary!”. You know the salute, right? When he hits the palm of his right hand onto his forehead and rotates the hand. I think I just figured out the next tv series I should watch…3rd Rock from the Sun! But only after I finish watching my current obsession series, Private Practice. That’s right, I’m hooked! I mostly wanted to start watching this show because of Taye Diggs (Oh yum, yum, yum!!! I hope he returns to Broadway in Rent) but it turns out that the entire cast is quite stellar. I’m only on the second season so it will take a while before I’m caught up and ready to watch the newest episode but until then, I’m enjoying every moment of this show. What’s great is that I can laugh (Addison getting caught dancing in the nude…note to self: people do get caught!), drool (oh Taye Diggs!), cry (almost every episode…I’m emotional, okay?), and get grossed out the point where I have to close my eyes (pass me the scalpel!). There have been some interesting guest appearances, so far, by Sarah Gilbert and David Sutcliffe (Christopher from Gilmore Girls!) and I’m pleasantly surprised by the music in the show (Adele!) so I think I’m going to keep a running list of the songs I like (there’s usually one per episode!) and make myself a Private Practice playlist.
After telling you about Private Practice, I decided to take a break from typing (my shoulders hurt, okay?) and watched today’s episode of Ellen. OMG...Duran Duran performed!!! Right now, I’m feeling both old and young. I feel like a teenager watching my favourite band from the 80's perform but I also feel old knowing that I became a huge fan when I was in grade 5 (so long ago!). Simon was always my favourite and he, unbelievably, still looks hot (okay, Nick and John look good too)! How old could he possibly be? Well, I just looked it up and he’s…wait for it…53!!! Yikes…that’s old! I don’t think I could date a man that old, yet when I was practically a baby, I wanted to marry him! Am I wrong in thinking that a man who is 53 is too old for a woman who is 3-9? My friends and family have debated my self-imposed age limitations regarding men that I date. Right now, my age limitations are 9 years older or younger. What do you think? Too picky? Again, my apologies for the digression (P.S. John Cusack is 44...perfect!). Regardless of Simon's age, Duran Duran has still got "it" going on and I might even consider buying their new album “All You Need Is Now” which might just become my anthem for this year because ALL. I. NEED. IS. NOW. (Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post detailing my attemps at meditation and mindfulness!) Watching Duran Duran perform tonight has made me feel more youthful than elderly so thank you Duran Duran! Maybe the performance will make you feel young(er) too so I’m sharing the video along with two of my favourite Duran Duran songs (I'm feeling nostalgic, okay?)
So what do you think? Am I having a mid-life crisis? Nah!!! It couldn’t be a mid-life crisis because I plan on living until I’m 100+ years so 3-9 is way too young for a mid-life crisis. Be sure to check out my blog when I’m 50 and I’ll let you know if the mid-life crisis has hit yet :)
Happy birthday to my great-aunt who celebrates her 90th birthday today!!! Bonne fête Tante Laure xo
I have, I believe it to be the name of our book club......"After Words"...but we shall discuss.
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