I talked to my regular doc about sterilization and she gave me the old “but what if you change your mind and want BABIEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!” speech.

That doc is not my favorite anyway, she’s never particularly curious about my state of being and doesn’t inquire much beyond… “how are you”?

So I took my search for birth control that doesn’t suck all the emotion out of my life a little father afield and went to see an honest-to-goodness OBGYN for the first time in my life.

I think this guy asked me more questions about myself in the hour I talked to him than my regular doc did in all the years I’ve been seeing her.

Options… He gave me options and talked about pros and cons and… Bonus… Never once suggested that my decision to not want babies was something I would REGRET FOREVER AND DIE MOURNING!!!!!

So in the end, with the various options and pros and cons, I decided to go with the Mirena IUD.

Seemed like a simple enough procedure… In office… A few minutes… Kinda like a pap smear, but “you might feel a pinch”.

Now, that might even be true in many circumstances.

I, it appears, have a “combative cervix”.

Yes… My cervix, it seems, does not think that “in” is an appropriate directions for things to go.

But was my doctor going to lose a fight with some stubborn stupid cervix? Oh no, he was not!

THRICE! He called out to his valiant nurse sidekick… “I need a larger dilater!”

Yeah, so that sucked.

But I am now the proud owner of a uterus full of IUD and am (barring any statistical anomalies) protected from teh bebbies for 5 whole years with only the tiniest locally applied hormone trickle and not the crazy flood that I have now.

But… Ow.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

I had forgotten what cramps felt like, but hello! That, and the few hours after… I stand reminded!!

But, all in all, I think it’s a Very. Good. Thing.

I can’t live with the side effects of the Depo anymore… Change must be made.

Now, I just have to wait another 4 to 6 weeks to see if I am one of those lucky folks who go bat-shit crazy when hey come off the Depo… Yeah, that’s something I wasn’t told when I started takin it oh so many years ago.

So anyways… That was my Friday Night… Ibuprofen and heating pads all around! Whee!

Some things just need to be cooked for you and brought to you by a nice waitress.

I reserve the right to update this list if I decide to try any more stupid experiments.

I’m a slacker.. leave it at that.

Anyway… My niece was taking some pictures of me, and this one turned out really good, but I’m not vain enough to print it out and hang it on my wall, so I’ll just post it on my blog instead

I would like to point out that I am totally clothed under that blanket!  I have artfully concealed my shorts and shirt using that fuzzy blanket.

There is at least one bright spot… http://www.hardeightbbq.com/

Oh… The Hard Eight BBQ! Seriously must be the best Q in the country and since the “Dallas” office is in Coppel and practically NEXT DOOR to this joint… Well at least if I have jet lag and interminable meetings, I also get smoked turkey nuggets wrapped in bacon and corn bread salad!

Healthy Cooking for the Unhealthy Eater

My quest to de-mystify healthy cooking, adopt a balanced, nutritious diet, and still make my taste buds happy. And help you do the same.

http://healthy4unhealthy.blogspot.com/

Megan is a big fan of meat, cheese, bacon… all things burger, fries, beer…  you get the picture.

Also?  A trained professional chef (not currently working as one, but you don’t lose the skills).

So when she puts something together… you KNOW it’s going to taste good.

Now she is putting her had at trying to eat more healthily while still keeping her taste buds happy.  I know some of you folks are trying to get a bit healthier and still figure out how to maintain your relationship with cheeseburgers….  here’s an awesome site that might help!

Her Intro: http://healthy4unhealthy.blogspot.com/2011/06/healthy-eating-for-unhealthy-eater.html

But!!

It’s still “this week” – so I didn’t miss my chance to post the soup I made on Saturday.

I am inherently lazy, so a lot of my soups start with ground meat.  I’m not a big fan of the chopping.  I buy my vegetables frozen and have even started buying frozen chopped onions for soup too (hey… they are only about 50 cents more, and they save me at least 10 minutes of prep time… Worth it!

This could easily also be made with chopped up chicken or turkey and fresh-type veggies.

Turkey and Barley Stew

• 4 second spray  canola oil
• 20 oz ground turkey breast (99% fat free)
• 12 oz  chopped onion (Frozen if you like)
• 16 oz   package frozen mixed vegetables
• 165 grams  barley
• 32 ounce  low sodium chicken broth
• 16 oz  mushrooms
• 1/4 teaspoon  salt
• 1/4 teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon  dried sage
• 1/4 teaspoon  poultry seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon  black pepper
• 2 cups water with one packet no sodium chicken bouillon
•  corn starch to thicken

Serves 6

Directions

1. Add onion and turkey to spray of oil; sauté 3 minutes.
2. Add mixed vegetables; sauté 2 minutes.
3. Add broth, water, bouillon, and barley and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.
4. Add salt, thyme, sage, poultry seasoning and pepper to barley mixture; simmer 10 minutes. (I’m pretty generous in my definition of 1/4 teaspoon)  Also, if you feel like it, toss in some rosemary.
5. Thicken with corn starch.  (Here I’m just assuming you know how to do that)

Voila!  A Thick and Hearty stew of yumminess.  It could be more of a soup if you leave off the corn starch part, but I like my soup thicker.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size – 1 serving (525 g)

• Calories – 286
• Calories from Fat – 25
• Total Fat – 2.8g
• Saturated Fat – 0.2g
• Trans Fat – 0.0g
• Cholesterol – 58mg
• Sodium – 378mg
• Total Carbohydrates – 35.2g
• Dietary Fiber – 5.7g
• Sugars – 4.9g
• Protein – 30.0g
• Vitamin A 79%
• Vitamin C 15%
• Calcium 3%
• Iron 14%

I am always envious of people who are just plain physically strong. I want to be able to pick up heavy things without needing help.

I admit… I also like the look of strong muscles. I’ve had a lot of strength in my legs for quite some time now from the playing derby. But having strength in only one are of the body doesn’t really help with overall ability. I mean, sure, I could probably lift something really heavy if I lifted it with my legs… But if my arms can’t hold on to the thing… What’s the point?

So… Learn to lift heavy things by lifting heavy things, I suppose.

As with anything that we who live in the land of offices and cars do, the decision to start lifting heavy things involved a requirement to buy things.

It’s not like I can just go outside and cut down trees or haul rocks to get strong… I needed weights.

I had some lighter ones… 3, 5, 8, 12… But those are not really weights for building muscle. With light weights you can increase endurance… The ability to keep on lifting a lighter weigh for a while… But I really need 15, 20, 25 to build some muscle and allow me to lift even heavier things.

And you know? Weights are PRICEY!!!

I even thought I would just use the company fitness center to save having to buy some weights… But one trip there and having to actually WAIT for other people to get done using the weight I wanted to use was plenty to convince me that I am a person who needs to work out at home like I always have before.

Lucky for me… Facebook came to the rescue and a whiny post about how expensive weights are brought me lots of links to less expensive options!

Of course… There’s another issue with lifting weights as well. Yeah… It’s boring. B.O.R.I.N.G!

So I had to do something about that too.

Enter the iPod.

Over the years I’ve thought about getting one of those quite a few times… But I don’t listen to a ton of music, and I never really felt like I would use one enough to bother with.

But a little music goes a looooooooong way win making a boring exercise more tolerable.

So iPod it was.

So NOW I’m all set up and have started the program! I’m kinda digging it, actually… It’s only been a out 2 weeks, but I am already seeing results in my arms and shoulders. It’s pretty cool!

The only downside, I suppose, is that I ended up spending all the tattoo money I’d been saving . So I guess it’s back to saving up for that again.

Oh well… At least the new tattoo I eventually get will go over some badass muscles!

So… this week…  soup of the week was Italian Sausage Soup.

Ingredients (Makes 7 servings)

• 4 links  Al Fresco Chicken Sausage – Sweet Italian Style – chopped up.
• 10 ounces minced  Garlic
• 12 ounces chopped onion
• 32 fl oz  Pacific Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 14 1/2 oz  (one can) Diced Tomatoes, No Salt Added
• 250 gram shredded  Carrots (I buy shreds or matchstick in the store)
• 14 1/2 oz (one can) Eden Organic Cannellini Beans
• 170 grams Torn  Spinach Leaves
• 311 grams Cubed Zucchini  Squash
• 1 tsp  Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 tsp  Pepper, Black (or to taste)
• 56 grams  orzo
• 1 to 2 cups  water (depends on how brothy you want it)

Directions

1. In a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic and onion in a spray of olive oil.

2. Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes, orzo and carrots, and season with italian seasoning and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 5 minutes.

3. Stir in beans with liquid and zucchini. Cover, and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.

4. Remove from heat, and add spinach. Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to
cook the spinach leaves. Soup is ready to serve after 5 minutes.

This is a light and yummy soup.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size   -   1 serving (503.7 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories – 224
Calories from Fat – 44
Total Fat -  4.9g
Saturated Fat  – 1.2g
Cholesterol – 37mg
Sodium – 413mg
Total Carbohydrates – 29.4g
Dietary Fiber – 6.7g
Sugars – 7.3g
Protein – 16.3g
Vitamin A 190%     •     Vitamin C 42%
Calcium 9%     •     Iron 17%

I have been trying to think about what I want to do with my blog.

When I sit down and think about it…  what is my life?

- Roller Derby

- Healthy Eating

- Working Out

Oh yeah, I have a job too that takes up quite a bit of my time.

But the three points are the things I think about and talk about and focus on in my life.

So is that a blog?

The healthy eating working out roller derby blog with no celery please?

Hmmm… maybe it is.

I miss the blogging, but I sometimes feel like maybe these topics would get boring after a while.

But… what the heck… it’s MY blog, so I guess if I find what I am talking about interesting then that’s ok.

So I guess that answers my question, no?

Apple Cinnamon…

MORE apple cinnamon…

Maple bacon… yes, BACON!

Brownie mix… ANYTHING can go in here!

Did I mention ANYTHING?!  Cut up canned cinnamon rolls are heavenly!

I am a full fledged member of the Church of Tiny Donuts!