I Don't Want To Be Frail

What a not great day, and come to think of it, what a not great month for my health that is. I'm just so frustrated with myself. I've got several issues that keep holding me back, causing me pain and wrecking my rhythmn. Today, I had a fun day planned for the girls since they're on Spring Break. We went to The Lorax and then as a reward for Bugs bringing home another stellar report card, I took them to the Discovery Kids' Museum.  I let them play there for about an hour and a half and I would have stayed longer except that my back was killing me! All I could think of was laying down on a heating pad - like an old lady!

This back pain has been getting worse and worse ever since I got pregnant with Tink. I thought that having her would also deliver me of the pain and it did for awhile but progressively it has been getting worse and worse again to the point that I'm practically back to where I was when I was pregnant - only having a limited stance tolerance.  I'm an active person! What am I supposed to do with this?

I had an x-ray and an MRI a couple of years ago with unsignificant results (a little arthritis was all they reported) which left me basically at square one.

I wouldn't be complaining lol, probably if it was just one stupid thing I was dealing with but I also have this very painful and very annoying knee pain on both sides! I have no idea what I did but it is killing me! I feel like I walk like an old lady - I have had to modify all of my routines and even getting on my elliptical exacerbates my pain.

These are not the only things I'm dealing with but I'd only bore you with the details of arthritis, and other infirmities.  I just don't feel healthy right now mainly because exercising is difficult and being so busy doesn't help my motivation to find extra time to do things that will only make me hurt worse.  I need to figure this out.

Carrot Cake Expert

The Marshmallow is addicted to the carrot cake at, of all places, Chuck-a-Rama. And before you ask...yes, it's our favorite restaurant (for the family) for a variety of reasons and anyone with children will understand why. We all eat for less than $30, anything we want in any quantity. The kids can eat noodles, fries, baby corn, hard boiled eggs, and pieces of ham and mom and dad can have grown up food or at least comfort food. And it's remarkably good for a buffet.  So we go there frequently.

I've decided to become a carrot cake expert and surely I can do better than Chuck-a-Rama, right?  Surely.  So I started tonight.

My sister gave me a cookbook for Christmas...


So far I haven't used it but I found their carrot cake recipe and decided it was a good place to start.  It calls for butter flavored crisco! Who uses that?  I guess I do...but the dough was very smooth and fluffy. Sort of like zucchini bread. In fact it tasted like zucchini bread. Is this all there is to it? I have a great zucchini bread recipe. Do I just cover it with cream cheese frosting?  Hmmm, put this away in my file cabinet in my head (wait, I might never find it again...).

I just took the cake out of the oven and lo...the middle fell a tiny bit. 's Ok.  I'm sure it'll taste the same but who wants a cake to fall?  Now I just have to wait for it to cool and then put on the frosting.  I'll report on the results - how will The Marshmallow grade my cake against Chuck-a-Rama?  I'll probably want to try other recipes. If anyone out there has a good one, shoot it my way!  Maybe I can get Chuck-a-Rama's recipe.

I Shouldn't Be Allowed To Be A Grown-up

Can I tell you a secret?  If you want free electronics, like brand new iPhones and new iPads within 2 days of them being released, then go hang out at Smith's Marketplace in Bountiful in the entrance where people leave their carts.  Surely, it won't be long before you find one or both in an empty cart just waiting for you!

How, do you ask, would I know this?  Because not two weeks ago, I left my iPhone in a cart there one night when I was grocery shopping.  I realized it several hours later.  I panicked because it didn't even have a password on it and every shred of personal information about me and my entire family is on there.  I returned at 11pm. Someone had turned it in, God bless their sweet little soul. 

You'd have thought I had learned my lesson.

No. I. Did. Not.

Yesterday, I was there again with my iPad doing a little shopping for the candy decor we made yesterday and I grabbed all the bags and my Priorities...MY CHILDREN...and we got in the car and headed home looking forward to excitement and crafting all the day long.  Until I got home and instantaneously realized I had left my iPad IN THE FREAKING CART. O My Gosh.  My heart exploded in my chest as I hurtled back to the grocery store.  I did not even STOP to buckle up my Priorities in the backseat but drove at breakneck speed the 2 1/2 miles to that store where I found that no one had turned it in.  I nearly started to scream at the service attendant or CRY or both when I realized that there was a infinitesimal chance that it hadn't even left the cart yet. I walked in slow motion back over to the carts and someone had actually shoved the cart back into its cart row and never even noticed the black leather case in the cart. It was right there...so easy for anyone to steal. But no one had even noticed it.  Except me...and I snatched it up again feeling like I was going to cry.  What the...I'm really speechless.  I mean how lucky can one person be?  I'm not kidding. I think a train is going to hit me next just for karma's sake!!

My Priorities are expressly forbidden to divulge this tale to The Marshmallow. And I will tell him at a later date...after I have buttered him up with whatever I can think of.  He will probably not ever let me buy another toy again...and I do not blame him at all.

Am I lucky? Yes. Am I stupid? Yes.

Should I be allowed to purchase expensive gadgets? The answer is clearly no.