a Real Food topic

i am hoping to win this:

GIVEAWAY: $85 US Wellness Meats Gift Certificate

i really love their products and if i won, well - i'd spend the whole thing on their natural dog food!
We got the news last night that LiLu will need to start chemo since they found some mast cells in her lymph node. Sigh... So, i need to nourish her with as much good food as possible. We already eat their pemmican. Well, i eat it and the dogs eat it. Master just looks perturbed and says "I am not eating a pelican!" i think it's delicious. i eat it before working out for an energy boost.
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On a things are good note, the bruising on LiLu's leg is about 75% lighter and the swelling is about 60% gone. We all went for a walk around the neighborhood. (During which she somehow cut her other back foot! good lord!) Other than the cut, i think the walk did her good as far as getting her circulation going and decreasing the swelling and getting that bruising to move out. This morning when we headed out for our morning pee, she bounced around the living room , on and off the furniture like a crazy skateboarding kid, like she always does. So, i guess she's feeling better. :-)

She's home!

What a looooooooong weekend. Master deliver LiLu to the surgeon on Friday afternoon. He was thrilled that the tumor responded so well to the drugs they'd prescribed and had shrunk over 50%. Surgery was a big GO for Saturday morning.
 Friday evening we were going to drop off my car for some maintenance work at the dealer, this is after i'd had to have the ignition repaired last week. LO and Behold, the same ignition problem occurred so, now i am driving a rental car that they provided.
Master & i had to attend a work function on Saturday that was a lot of fun. But by the time we got home, Master was chanting in a sing-song-little-kid-voice "feet like pancakes and skin like a lobster!" Yup, we both had some sore flat feet from standing on concrete all day and we were both pretty sunburned. :-)
Sunday we get the call to come pick the girl up at the vet. Actually, they gave us the option to leave her there one more day since she was a mess of bruises and swelling. She'd require ice packs and massage and they didn't know if we'd be able to do that for her. What? Of course we would!!!
However, both of us were pretty shocked and horrified by how bad she looked. my poor girl looks like she'd been hit by a car. Her leg is literally black from the bruising. She's so swollen that even her toes are puffy. There are 2 huge incisions, one for the tumor and one for a lymph node that they took from the back of her leg for testing. There's a 3 x 3 square shaved in the side of her body which has a pain relieving drug patch taped on it. (it has writing on it, so to me she looks like a demented NASCAR) Add to all of this the cone collar that she has to wear and the overall effect is that she looks like a version of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.
Since she isn't supposed to leap up on the the bed we both slept on the couch last night. Well, she slept. i lay there worrying. Then this morning, she busted in to the bedroom and hopped up on the bed, looking very proud of herself. my dog-daughter, the Tank. We'll find out in a week or so what the deal is... chemo? no chemo? Lymph node ok? More waiting games. Overall, i am feeling pretty positive about the outcome for her, but  i just feel so bad for the girl that she's in such discomfort. (though, she's either taking or has taken every pain killing drug in the past 4 days, up to and including Valium AND Propofol!!!!!)

That's the update for today. i'm not sure if it makes sense since i'm a bit looped from lack of sleep.
Thank you to everyone for your support! Love ya!

This is what it looks like....

This is what it looks like when i leg press 753 lbs:
 

RIP Dio.

It's really been a tough year in Rock n Roll. Good bye Dio. Great singer! Without you, there'd be no Maloik... and all us Legions of Metal fans would have nothing to do with our hands during concerts. :-)

my own tiny personal connection to Dio was that he was once in my car, being ferried from the hotel to the concert at Birch Hill. Very cool.

LiLu update

Well, my Little One had an appointment with the oncologist last night. Things are looking very good for her, expensive but good.
We started her on a 10 day course of prenesone to try to shrink the tumor as much as possible (and also lessen any histamine release post surgery) and then she'll see the surgeon on Friday 5/21. If all goes well, we'll leave her there at that time and they'll operate the next day. After that, she'll most likely have weekly chemo for about 6 weeks. Because of the location of the tumor and her condition (muscular, no fat!) they won't be able to take out as much surrounding tissue as they'd like to. The Dr called her a tank! :-) He actually said if she was fat they'd have an easier time removing it. LOL.... so if my dog was unhealthy, she'd have a better shot at life? Ironic....

The overall outcome looks positive. She has the "garden variety stage II" tumor. Not the super aggressive grade II. They offered us the choice between radiation afterwards (daily treatments, for many weeks, thousands of $$$ and a 95% cure rate) or chemo (weekly treatment for weeks, fewer thousands of $$$ and an 85% cure rate). We have no real choice but to go with the chemo. Not only is the radiation totally not in the budget (not that the chemo is either!) but to take her daily would cut in to our own money making capabilities and then we'd never be able to pay for this. i hate to put money in to the mix but realistically, there is no other choice.

With all that being said, i wish that any doctor that i have ever dealt with for my illnesses made me feel as confident as this guy. Dr. C was amazing. He gave us a written report of all the details that we spoke about, because we all know how you get home from one of these appointments and your mind is just blank. "What did he say?" plus, you just gotta love a Dr who will sit on the floor for 45 minutes going over the treatment options, while stroking and patting the patient (and calling her "monkey") {though, if MY doctors had done that to me it might have been a bit weird.....}
The hospital itself is beautiful, really state of the art. It's open 24 hours, 7 days. It has valet parking. Really, i'm not kidding! So, as stressful as this is, at least we'll be in beautiful surroundings during treatment.

i know we have a lot of people across the country who are keeping us in their thoughts and prayers. i want you guys to know that makes a huge difference to Master & i. Therefore, you all are not allowed to uncross your fingers, toes and paws just yet. i'll keep the updates coming as i am able.

If....

If you are doing yard work in front of the house and you do sets of one handed overhead shoulder press with this:

Your neighbors will run away in fright. *grin*

If you have trouble doing math while working out and you accidentally put too much weight on the leg press machine, and you lift the weight successfully anyway - enjoy it. However, do not not be ashamed to realize that the ominous creaking in your knees means that you moved the weight up too fast and should back it down again for a few weeks.
With that said, you can still gloat that you did 2 sets at 768 lbs.
Even if you only did it because you can't add. (45+45+45+45.....and so on....)

the problem with needing reading glasses

OK, the problem with needing reading glasses as i get older is not that i have trouble reading at night, in dim light or even that i have more trouble threading a needle when i want to sew. The problem is that as i am halfway through eating a delicious bowl of fresh blackberries (which i washed very well, i might add) is that i notice that i think i see something moving. So i grab my glasses and take a close look.
They... Are....Swarming with teeny tiny bugs. Thousands of them. Which can only mean that i have eaten plenty of them. When i said that i wanted to eat primal, this is not what i had in mind. At all. Blargh! 

Fight Back Fridays

The name behind the recipe: Master loves Rock & Roll - which means he loves Ted Nugent. The Nuge, while being a phenomenal musician, is a little too conservative for my tastes so i tease Master about listening to him so much. Whenever He listens to Ted's song "Great White Buffalo", i sing "Free Tiny Buffalo"....Which is a joke from the book "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman. Abby is/was about as far to the Left of Ted as possible. (while i never got to meet Abbie, i did spend a lot of time hanging out with Yippies during the early 80's.)


So, what does this have to do with food? i'm getting to that! i've been trying to eat better and one of the ways to do that is to eat grass fed/grass finished meats. Cows (and buffalos!) are grass eaters, not grain eaters. The way we raise cattle in feed lots, eating grain, produces unhealthy animals. Eating grass, the way they were intended to, produces healthier meat with a fatty acid balance that is much better for us. So, i made a curry with my first foray in to buffalo.
Free Tiny Buffalo Curry
1 TBS COCONUT OIL
16 OZ GROUND BUFFALO
2 YELLOW ONIONS, DICED
2 CLOVES GARLIC, SMASHED
FRESH GINGER, PEELED, DICED FINE (i used about 2 TBS.)
1 heaping tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Fish Sauce, to taste (If you don't have this, you could probably use Tamari or soy sauce or just salt. But it's really best with the fish sauce)
2 Red or Yellow bell peppers, diced
2 zucchini, diced
A big handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk (not low fat, get the real kind, not sweetened.)

Melt coconut oil to pan, over medium-high heat saute the buffalo, breaking it up as it cooks. When it's about halfway cooked, add in diced onions, ginger, garlic. Keep it moving so you don't burn the garlic....After the onions become translucent, add the garam masala and the turmeric and black pepper. Stir that around and mix it in well. (Note - turmeric will stain your wooden spoons bright yellow. You are warned.) Add in the diced peppers & zucchini & tomatoes - sauté for a few more minutes then add in the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes. Give it a taste and add fish sauce. i used about a tablespoon. Simmer for a few more minutes and get ready to feast.
Serve over rice, if you're eating grains or if you're being all "primal/paleo" you could serve this over "riced cauliflower". (i'm not putting a link for that, you can google it yourself. And for all you cauliflower haters out there - Even Master eats this and He was not a fan of the cauliflower. Give it a try!)

i made this again last night using bone-in chicken thighs, it came out great. i'm also pretty sure if you added a squeeze of lime and a handful of cilantro and chopped scallions you'd be in for an even bigger blast of deliciousness.
So, that's my grass fed, healthy fat, lots of veggies included recipe for today.
Fight back and reclaim real food!

753 lbs

Short post today. Master & i both did 753 lb leg presses yesterday. :-)
i did a set of 20 reps, i have no idea what He did.... i nearly lost my mind laughing because there was a guy riding a stationary bike a few feet away from me and he was hooting and hollering as i was lifting. *grin* It's nice to have fans!

We also added these "floor wipers" to our routine. Let's just say that i am very aware of every muscle in my core today. Very aware.

LiLu continued....

The good news is she's recovering from the surgery like the champion that she is.
The bad news is that due to the size of the tumor, they didn't take it all out. Instead they did a really big biopsy and sent to out for grading. If it's a stage 3....not good. If it's a 1 or 2, then we can take it from there. To be honest, since it's so large....the prognosis isn't very good at all. Which is really hard to believe since she's so darn feisty. No sign of illness, no slowing down, no sluggishness.

In the mean time, she wears her E-collar when i'm not home, she can't hang out with Taybor when i'm not around to stop all of her shenanagans. (even all stitched up as she is, she's still being provocative and humping Taybor all the time.) (that's my girl!) We'll find out the biopsy results sometime next week. Here's a picture of a cheese and peanut butter and amoxicillin bomb that she gets to eat 4x a day.

Fight Back Fridays

This was the original post i had planned for today, before we got the not-so-good news about Miss Lilu.

So, in the continuing saga of seeking good health and just generally being a foodie nerd, i've been doing a bunch of stuff that i haven't written about here. After all, this isn't a food blog, right? Well, no. However, after sitting in on Bootpig's class at South Plains on "Service Upgrades", i've come to realize that there is so much more to service & Mastery/slavery than just the daily "drama" of submission. Of course, i always knew that but never felt it was appropriate to write about. Who wants to hear about how my baking homemade sourdough dropped my Master's triglyceride levels? Oh...wait. You do want to hear about that? So, maybe this is a food blog after all?

Anyway, i've decided to participate in Fight Back Fridays with Food Renegade. i'll be sharing more of my food adventures and....experiments. (yes, some do  go awry. Yes, i am talking about the cauliflower kimchee.) (Not to mention the kombucha tea. Blargh.)

So, Master has had issues with crazy high triglyceride counts. His diet is fairly good, but definitely heavy on commercial breads. After His last crazy blood test, He threw out all the bread in the house. i was sad... after all, i like bread. i started doing some research in to what could be driving up the triglycerides. We all know commercial white bread isn't all that good for you. We've come to learn that there are certain chemicals in grains that are not so good for you, unless the grain is soaked beforehand. So...how do i soak flour before i make bread? That sounded like a huge "Little house on the Prairie" sort of challenge. i'm all for food adventure but i wasn't really willing to take on the task of milling all my own flour. Back to the research.... Ah Ha! Sourdough! The flour is soaked and fermented (which brings out even more benefits, nutritionally speaking) i've got a system down that enables me to make 2 loaves of sourdough bread with less than 10 minutes of work. Yes, there's the fermenting time, but that hardly counts, as i am not doing anything. i get it started on Thursday night, i mix it Friday morning, bake it in the evening and we have bread to last for the week. After doing this for a year, Master has had nothing but amazing blood tests. Yup, He eats the bread and it's not wreaking havoc with the triglycerides. Even if i make it with white flour. Really.

Is that worth 10 minutes of work on my part? Yup.
Is that SERVICE that a slave can provide for  Master? Yup.
(it's not just the good tasting bread, it's the fact that just maybe i am extending His life in a delicious way.)
i was intending on doing photos to show the process but i honestly got derailed with the news about LiLu. Perhaps next week......

LiLu....Oy....

So.... it turns out that that "don't worry, it's just a cyst" thing on my LiLu's leg is actually a Mast cell tumor. Yeah. Not good at all. i feel like a terrible dog mother for not insisting that the vet test it back when it was smaller. She's headed in for surgery on Tuesday morning. i'm really not happy about this at all. With this type of tumor, they really need to take a wide area of flesh around it to make sure they got it all. However, it's on her leg so they can't do that. (Unless they take off her leg, but let's not go there yet.....)
i'll be spending a good portion of the weekend trying to dig out her crate since she's going to be confined for at least a week after the surgery. *sigh*

RIP Pete Steele....

Pete was a good guy, whenever i had the chance to interact with him he was nothing but a gentleman to me. When his band, Type-O Negative, was starting to take off, he'd still take time to talk to "the little people" (and, yes, i mean that literally, since he was a mighty 6'7" hunk of man) i enjoyed talking about music and tattoos with him. He will be missed. A lot.

silly fan-girl & heavy lifts

So, in my silly fan girl news... my favorite body builder came through for me and sent both Master and me an autographed photo each. Super cool!
In my weight lifting news - i *did* move my weights up on my leg press, so i ended up doing 728 last week and then this past Sunday, Master plopped on some more weight so i am now up to a 738 leg press, 2 sets of 20 reps each. i've always had strong legs but this is making me super proud of my strength! whoo hooo!
Also, my weight is still dropping. It's slow, less than a pound per week. However, considering that i've been beating my head against a wall for the last couple of years to lose anything at all, despite going to the gym regularly - it's a blessed relief. So, drum roll please...here's what i've started taking as a supplement. Creatine monohydrate. Yup, the same creatine that bodybuilders take to get bigger. i'm not telling anyone to take it. All i am saying is that i am seeing some results from it. A little more energy, a little less exhaustion, a moderate amount of weight loss. Coupled with hard workouts, walking, a clean diet... it's so easy! (not) But i will not be dissuaded, discouraged, or disheartened.

Times flies.... what's new? Still leg pressing 708 lbs. This Sunday (Easter) will be the day that i move up the weight, if all goes well. Master & i will take inventory on my knees, etc and then see if it's really time to move up the weight. :-) Wheeee!
i sent a fan-girl email to my favorite body builder and got a reply. i am such a dork.
i started taking some minerals, herbs and other supplements this month and Lo & Behold, after well over 2 years of struggle, got rid of a pound. No kidding! i'm afraid to say it out loud..... if i keep progressing, however slow, then i'll post what i'm taking but until then, i'm keeping it under my hat. i'm not pushing anyones products until it's proven itself to me.
What else is new? Someone near and dear to me finally "came out" 2 weeks ago. (no, not Ricky Martin!)  i'm not saying who, because i don't think they want to make this in to general knowledge... but i'm super proud of them!
That's my update for now. i gotta wrap up my work here and then head out for my 3 day weekend!
Happy Happy Happy!

busy busy bee

What a busy week. Trying to settle back in from SPLF. A lot of processing of information and ideas and feelings. "Event drop" this time wasn't too bad, but still bad enough. Plus it's March and those who know me know that March is always a really rough month for me emotionally. Some years it's worse than others. Sometimes it starts off ok but ends up completely slamming me by the 15th. i take it as it comes.
Saturday as we headed out for the gym , i noticed a beautiful young husky running loose. Of course, we had to drop everything and hunt her down. She was wearing a harness and tags so we knew she was a well loved pup. She also had some super speedy legs. She lead us on a merry romp thru the mud & fields in the neighborhood. i was pleased with how many people tried to help us but equally shocked how many people just turned their backs and walked away. Sad. Eventually we got her cornered and managed to tackle her. Just as Master was wrestling her down and cars went whizzing by, her completely distraught dog-father came running up sobbing. i think he thought she got hit by a car, since we kind of had her pinned down to the ground at that point. It wa a happy and gratifying reunion! Our good deed for the day!
Sunday we kicked serious butt at the gym - we both did (drum roll please) 708 lb leg presses! Whoo Hoo! If only i could get my arms to catch up to my leg strength. :-)
Looking forward to a good week. Peace!

adoption day & toxic overload

Today is Lilu's adoption day! I can't believe she's been with us since 2004. i sang to her this morning ("Li li li li li lu"-to the tune of happy birthday) and she howled and barked and spun around in a circle. Fun!
Last night was not so fun. From 3:30 in the afternoon i couldn't stop yawning and i get really cold. by the time i got home at 5, i was completely wiped out, chills, fever. Master put me to bed and i slept for 5 hours, got up and drank a half gallon of water and went back to bed until this morning. i feel much better. What the heck was *that* all about? Maybe toxic overload from all that Jack in the Box food this past weekend? Either way, feeling better. i'll try to lay low for the rest of the day and see if i've beaten this bug.
Also -i'm crossing my paws for a good friend and i hope she gets the good news today and gets to "pick up" what she's been waiting for! :-)

Recharged and refreshed and full of ponderings.

So, in the 6 weeks leading up to SPLF, i was beginning to feel more and more apprehensive. i just did not want to go. i tried analyzing it myself and finally, later rather than sooner, came clean with ML that i really just didn't want to go. i just wasn't sure if it was the money, which is still in short supply, or if i was afraid of finishing up the new classes (new classes which, of course, push every one of my own buttons and issues) or what. Master didn't have a good answer for what was bothering me.... but the night before we were going to leave, as it looked like we might get snowed in, i blurted out "i'm ok with not going, i'm tired of all these fake people anyway."
Master looked at me like i had 2 heads. 'What fake people? You don't mean in Dallas, do you?"
"well, no.... but...."

Yeah, so it turns out that because i'm just not happy with my interaction with people on the internets and on certain email groups that i'm on, i was lashing out at the Leather Community as a whole. We ended up being able to fly out on time and once we got there, i spent a lot of time talking to MW, who helped me to be able to put a lot of stuff in perspective. He's going thru many similar things, and in having conversations with other people on the same topic, i think all of our local communities are going through a flux right now. This is purely my opinion, a goodly portion of it is a sense of entitlement that is absolutely rampant. Also people (of both the M and the s persuasion) trying to grab power from outside rather seeking power within themselves. It's funny how when i complained about what i was seeing and feeling, that people from all over the country would laugh and say "But are you sure you're not from MY town? Because it's the same there too!" Which made me laugh but at the same time made me really quite sad. Because that means i can't get away from this!

But, such is life. It's never static, it's almost always wildly entertaining in a "oh-shoot-what's-happening-*now*-kind of way. i ended up having a great time, both our classes went really, really well. i absolutely adored the individuals and families that shared with the group all of their own trials and tribulations. i ended up completely melting down after the last class because i was so moved by the people who showed up (and i mean *showed up*!) to participate. From E. and her new Master, to the Triad who added so much to the conversation, to "Mr. Nickelback t-shirt" (He's always in our classes but i never remember His name....lol... but He adds so much!) (and His girl is so darn CUTE!) (and strong!)

i'm glad we made it there, i remember now why i love doing what i do. i remember why i love this community. i remember now that the first time i walking in the door at South Plains, i knew that i was finally home. my heart is full again!

In the past few weeks, I found this lovely website and entered a contest /give away for these loverly cuff links. Lucky me, I won them. Even more luckily, I had recently picked up a French cuffed men’s shirt for a dollar at the local thrift store. Delightful! Now I can wear it properly instead of rolling up the sleeves. They look even better in real life, no funky crystal eyes but they do have crossed bones behind them. Please do check out the website. It’s a lot of fun.

We had something “returned” to us that I wasn’t even aware was lost…. So, that just made me laugh, out loud and otherwise. I could be annoyed but really, why bother? It’s much more funny and sad than anything to be angry over.

I received an email from an old and very Dear friend of mine, asking the spelling of my maiden name as he wants to use some promotional photos that I took for him about a million years ago. Of course he had the spelling correct and of course I wholeheartedly embrace the project. It’s nice to get the credit since I had so many of my photos used with out permission back in the day. (Yes, Doug Carrion, I am talking about you and the cover of Dag Nasty’s Field Day album!) Respect of intellectual property and art is a very important thing, don’t you think? I should have copies of the project in my hot little hands around the holidays. It’ll be a 20 year anniversary re-issue of something that was so close to my heart at the time. I don’t want to say more than that right now…..i am just still so stunned that it’s been twenty years. Time flies.

On the weight lifting front, I had the brilliant idea to add hack squats to the set. Oy, my aching thighs! It’ll be worth it in the long run – my back doesn’t hurt as much as it did and I know it’ll strengthen my knees (which are a screwed up mass of cartilage stew) enough so that I will be able to do “real” squats eventually. In the mean time, I press on with my leg press progress and did 548 lbs yesterday. Without puking, I might add. Although, I really wanted to, especially after the second set of 15 reps.

All the other weights are also progressing. Upper body work where I was stuck in the same weight ranges forever have finally begun to be increased. Part of the slowness in the increase was the fact that I started with so little upper body strength, that I lose some range of motion from the IV Port surgery and have some shrunken tendons as a result of some of the medications that I took. The other part of the slowness is the fact that I was just being lazy, stubborn and feeling sorry for myself. I’ve been working hard to keep in mind that when I work out I am achy and sore and feel like crap and when I DON’T work out, i am still achy and sore and feel like crap. (this is residue from the illness that will most likely never go away) So, my options are work out or don’t work out and either way – I will still have random body aches and exhaustion. At least if I am working at getting stronger, then it’s moving in a positive direction. Even if I don’t see or feel the gain. It’s there. I heard someone say this week “I’m being proactive in my negativity” and that made me laugh but then I realized that is sort of what I have to do right now.

Getting ready to dig in to the next book on the list that Master wants me to tackle. It’s nice to read things that he’s suggested. I think it’s been pretty obvious in the way my attitude has changed that I am getting something out of it. I can’t wait to get started and so… off I go!

Lucky me!

This is taking place right down the street from where i work! i guess i'll be charging up my camera and taking some pictures.... i've never seen real live maniacs before.
Estimates from the police are that they're expecting a few hundred counter protesters at the High School and several thousand on the Rutgers University campus.

This is a press release from New Jersey: Smash the Westboro Baptist Church.

On October 28th, the Westboro Baptist Church (aka God Hates Fags) will be showing their faces in New Brunswick, NJ to picket the local high school then the Jewish Center at Rutgers. The W.B.C. is notorious for harassing gays and lesbians, as well as promoting a racist, sexist and homophobic agenda against anyone who doesn't share their crazed and insane ideology. The W.B.C. will NOT be ignored and allowed to pass through our city without a confrontation. The Westboro Baptist Church IS NOT WELCOME in our community. We intend to stop them.

Here is a link to their whole schedule of events in the NJ area:
http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html

10/28/09
7:30-8:00am
New Brunswick High School
1125 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ

10/28
8:45-9:15am
Rutgers Hillel
93 College Ave, New Brunswick, NJ