Words Unspoken|Today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten.

I’m a fan of trying new things. I like adventure and the thrill of finding something new that I enjoy. New movies, new television shows, new games… But most of all, new foods and recipes. I love to cook, which is no surprise, but when I discover a new recipe to make that passes not only my taste-testing, but Matt’s as well, I love it even more.

The past two nights have been a huge hit. Tonight and two nights ago (yes, leftover ingredients so we had it twice this week!) we had penne pasta with marinara sauce, Mediterranean salad, a grilled chicken thigh with the marinara on top and some cheese and baked crusty bread with homemade (Matt-made!) garlic butter. What a fantastic meal it was! Filling (especially with all the salad), not too unhealthy (yes, it could be better, but it’s better than a pizza or a burger!) and delicious. Last night was what I keep referring to as Lazy Fajitas. I sautéed some peppers and onions in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and some Tex-Mex seasoning, grilled a couple chicken thighs with cumin and chili powder on top and we put them on top of warmed tortillas with a bit of sour cream, some cheese and some mild salsa. One fajita kept me full for hours!

For me, individual food finds are just as good as a whole meal. I went to Matt’s sister Jane’s house a few weeks ago to watch UFC (yes, you can stop laughing now) and just hang out, and she decided to put a little tray of snacks out - fresh crusty bread, honey garlic pepperoni, pickles, and two things that I hadn’t ever tried before: Havarti and Pâté. I didn’t mind the pâté at all, but I knew Matt wouldn’t go for it. However, I decided to try the Havarti thing here and it stuck! I’ve stuffed chicken with it, or when I feel like snacking I toss it on a plate with some pickles, pepperoni, Kalamata olives and fresh bread and snack away.

Not all of my food adventures turn out well. I tried replacing the pasta in my mock pierogi (recipe to come sometime later, probably) with wheat pasta and it was the most foul tasting cardboard I’d ever had! I tried sundried tomatoes about a week ago for the first time, and I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of those, either. But I guess if you never try something, you’ll never find new things to love, right?

What are your favourite foods? Especially the strange ones that not everyone would have in their home or usual routine!

I am so sore today that even my feet are begging me to lay off. However, that means I did good on my workout yesterday! I took the trainer’s advice and pushed myself. I keep feeling guilt, though. I did more than I’ve been doing, so I should be proud, but I feel like I should still have done more. I don’t know what it is about myself that I can’t just be proud of the little things. But, it’s me, I guess. I could lose all the weight in two days and still not be happy that it wasn’t only one! (Yes, I know that’s far-fetched. Deal with it!) Yesterday’s workout consisted of:

• Warmup: 5 minutes, bike, level 1.
• Lower back: 12 reps, 130 lbs.
• Leg extension: 12 reps, 90 lbs.
• Leg curl: 12 reps, 90 lbs.
• Seated row: 12 reps, 50 lbs.
• Chest press: 12 reps, 50 lbs.
• Shoulder lateral raise: 12 reps, 20 lbs.
• Bicep: 4 reps, 35 lbs.
• Tricep: 6 reps, 35 lbs.
• Abdominal: 12 reps, 45 lbs.
• Treadmill: 2.5 minutes, level 3.
• Lower back: 12 reps, 130 lbs.
• Leg extension: 12 reps, 90 lbs.
• Leg curl: 6 reps, 90 lbs.
• Chest press: 8 reps, 50 lbs.
• Elliptical: 2 minutes, level 1.
• Bike: 3 minutes, level 3.

It’s a lot, even listed out, so that makes me feel much better, to be honest. I wish I’d been able to make it through two full circuits but if I could, then what would need to be improved? I’m going to go in tonight and do a 30 minute cardio circuit, trying to mix in all the machines. It should be fun!

As for my food, I’ve been doing good so far, I think. I’ve traded in my chips (oh, lovely chips) for brown rice crisps. They are actually a good alternative, so I’m satisfied. Last night’s meal was awesome. Even Matt enjoyed it! I made Havarti- and asparagus-stuffed chicken thighs, roasted red potatoes and asparagus, and served it with a large side salad. So yummy! I’m trying to experiment with healthier foods and get myself on a regular eating schedule so I stop forgetting to eat, then binging when I get really really hungry. Matt and I were talking last night and if I stick with the gym, I might be signing up at some point to take a healthy living class at Superstore (which is where the gym is). We’re waiting, though, because it’s $120, and I don’t want to spend that when I’m already paying for the gym and have slacked off a few times on that. No sense wasting money! It’d be a good thing for me, though, because it’s got menus and recipes, as well as a support system. Almost like a mini Weight Watchers!

I really really failed. After so many days of doing 365 shots, I forgot yesterday. But I have a reason, and wonder if I can’t just pick up from today and keep going since technically this year has an extra day anyway. What do you think? I think I’ll do it, why not, right? Ugh. Still makes me feel like a bit of a failure though. On to the reason…

I intended to take the shot after I had my blood work done - a photo of my little band-aid on my arm saying that I finally had my immigration medical and there weren’t many steps left for me to do. Except I didn’t have all of it. As it turns out, the physical is done one place, and the place where they’re going to do the other tests (blood test, urine test, chest x-ray) is the hospital, and they’re only open from 8:30 - 2. Matt’s going to have to take a morning off to take me in for those. I suppose he could take me in early in the morning, have some lunch with me if it takes too long, and then drop me off at the bus station and go over the bridge to work. I just feel bad that I have to inconvenience him for it. There’s no way I’m going alone, though. No way at all.

The physical went well, though. It was good to have a doctor NOT mention my weight. Usually they do, and say “Oh, well you know you’re obese” and give you a hard time while you try to tell them that you have tried to lose weight and that it’s just going slower than you’d like. Not this guy, he didn’t say a thing! He was really friendly and we were cracking jokes back and forth. Like when he listened to my heart, he said “Sounds good!” and I looked at Matt and said “Hey, I have a heart!” The doctor responded with “Oh, and here I’d thought you’d given it to this young man!” Cracked me up, I tell you.

Oh, and I fasted yesterday, because I thought I had to, and nope. Even if the blood test had to be done, it’s a non-fasting blood test. They’re apparently testing for TB and… er… something else that I can’t think of. Oh, well. I know I don’t have any infectious diseases and since they don’t care about things that aren’t going to put the Canadian public at risk, I’m good to go. Plus he said he’d get ahold of me if anything was seriously wrong. It’s very weird that they don’t send the results TO me, though. They courier them over to the physical doctor guy, and he couriers them over to immigration in Ottawa,

I’m very hungry right now, so I think I’m going to have some toast and if I can find the stuff, maybe a cup of tea. Watching shows where they drink a lot of tea has gotten to me! Maybe some orange juice instead though, who knows. And I might boil an egg - a boiled egg sounds good! I’m craving such weird things lately. And no, before you wonder, I’m not pregnant. Though just about everyone else is!

I was so excited for dinner tonight. I cooked spaghetti noodles and had some more of my mother’s wonderful spaghetti sauce ready and heated up. I put it in the bowl, top it with some parmesan cheese, and start walking back to my bedroom, as I was supposed to go to ZA tonight and had to be at my computer. I timed it perfectly. Except…

As I was about to walk into my door, I burned my finger on the bottom of the bowl. Instant reaction? “It’s hot! Let go!” Before I could tell my brain to shut up and hold on to it, the bowl had flown out of my hands and landed on the floor… face down. Spaghetti sauce, all over our light grey carpet.

Thank goodness that when I logged in to World of Warcraft I found out that half the raid (okay, three people) had decided not to come that night, because I spent the next two hours scrubbing the carpet. Thank goodness for Shout Ultra Gel because otherwise I’d probably be scrubbing it out with my tears around now. I’d tried everything before that worked. Club soda. Cold water. Shout vacuum stuff. A tiny bit of Peroxide. I read online and tried to do every single thing I could find, and only as a last resort did I grab the Ultra Gel, and it worked wonders. It’s almost completely gone now, and tomorrow once the carpet dries from my torture and my fingers return to their non-raw state (not chemical burns, just really really dry from the cleaning products and soap), I’ll be using the vacuum stuff again to get the last bit of stain off of the carpet.

Needless to say, I didn’t have any spaghetti. There’s some left, but am I really to trust myself with it? There’s only so much carpet in the apartment to ruin, what’s next, my clothes?

I’m so hungry. I don’t even know why, as I’ve eaten two meals today and probably more than my share of snacks. I could go boil some noodles to go with my spaghetti sauce, but I’m not feeling wonderful and don’t want to be on my feet for even that long. Maybe a bit later tonight.