Southeast Leather Fest....

Hot, sexy, fun, hard work, laughter, tears, draining, recharging, empowering, learning, getting pinned, getting laid, new friends, reconnecting with old friends, a cigar-ash-covered-delicious boy.....Yup, another amazing time at SELF.

It's hard to even begin writing my adventures down. What an amazing weekend. i *so* needed to recharge my "leather batteries" and this was exactly what i needed. An amazing judging panel that i was lucky enough to be a part of. i'll write more once i have a chance to process it all.

Back at the home front, the dogs were absolutely wild while we were away. One side effect of the meds the queen is on is that she has to pee a lot. When i say a lot, i mean..... holy mother of pee! So, there was a lot of accidents that the sitter had to clean up. i think some of the flooring is going to have to be replaced in the living room, but i would like to wait and see if we can get her settled down in to a non-pee-fountain before i go pulling up pergo and putting down new. So, not only was there a lot of cleaning to do but they even busted down the baby gate and had the run of the house. grrrrrr! (i don't trust dogs in the kitchen unattended since the late great Mr Basil turned on the stove once when we weren't at home and nearly burned the house down. Ugh!) But nothing bad happened this time.

i managed to carry on the 80-90% paelo/primal eating while away and felt WAY better at an event than i have in years. Good on me! It was a bit of work lugging all my supplies on the plane but totally worth it. :-)
More later... 

A BEAR!!!!! Plus Pride....

What a lovely Leather/Pride weekend. HOT! Saturday i got to spend some time with Jake, and Alex (and Alex's lovely friends...) and the Daddies...and everyone! Fun! Foreplay rocked as usual. We even had a Bootblack Jim sighting! :-)
Sunday, we marched in the Asbury Park Pride Parade. i got to carry the Girl Pride Flag. Again it was hot, but i had such a great time. i have to say that i feel the best that i have in a long time. Between all the hard work in the gym, the stretching, the change to my diet (90% paleo/primal) and all the suppliments i'm taking - my joints didn't ache and my hips didn't hurt after standing on concrete all day Saturday nor marching on asphalt on Sunday. Usually after a Pride weekend i'm crippled for a few days. :-) i am a happy gal, let me tell ya!

After spending the weekend with assorted Leather folk and quite a few Bears...Monday's ride home was a shocker. Why are there so many helicopters flying over my job? Why is traffic backed up? What's going on? Hmmmmm... a BEAR!!!!! In the trees!!!!!!! Here he is all drugged up and ready to be moved back to the woods. Poor guy!

LiLu is doing great. Her incision is finally healed up. Chemo starts on the 19th.

Lilu update

Her Royal Highness, Queen LiLu, is feeling MUCH better. After taking the stitches out, her leg was pretty much back to a normal size within 24 hours. (well, that plus ice and massage helps too)
She's back to sassin' Taybor all the time. She's back to begging for as much food as possible. She's figured out when the pill bottles rattle that it's time for peanut butter or cheese (with a pill inside it!)

Interesting factiod: When we got her, her tail was straight. As she got acclimated to the house, it got a bit of a curl to it. After she had her knee surgery, it was straight again. Until she was healed up and healthy. Then it got super curly, like a donut. Since the last surgery her tails been sort of flat and droopy. This morning we achieved full on curly again! So, now we know the Barometer Of Canine Good Health & General Good Feeling is working just fine.

Chemo starts on June 19th. 

For my local peeps:

This one is near and dear to me. i love my library. You should love your library too. If you live in NJ, please get involved in this. It's important. Our collective brains are at stake!

NJ Libraries Eliminated From State Budget

Gov. Christie's budget calls for a 74% decrease in funding for
statewide library services. This cut includes the elimination of all
statewide library programs and services. This will affect all types of
libraries in New Jersey. Once state funding is eliminated, NJ will lose
$4.5 million in federal funding. What does this mean to NJ residents?
Once state and federal funding are lost the impact will be felt by all
residents:

Access to electronic databases such as RefUSA and EBSCO will cease Statewide interlibrary loan and delivery of library materials will cease Libraries will lose 50% of state aid at a time when demand for services is increasing dramatically More than half of public libraries will lose access to the Internet Many libraries will lose email service Many libraries will lose their websites or access to them The Talking Book and Braille Center (known as the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped) will close Group contracts which bring down the cost of other electronic resources purchased by libraries will cease At the same time the state is eliminating funding for library programs. Assemblyman John DiMaio has introduced A2555 which eliminates the minimum local funding requirement for municipal public libraries. This assault on libraries must be stopped! Here is what you need to know: 160,242 people enter a NJ library every day The $10 million in library programs cut from the Governor's budget represent little more than $1 per capita in state funds. Library programs have been flat funded for 20 years so it is hard to believe these small programs have caused the state's current fiscal crisis. Local library funding targeted in A2555 typically represents less than 3% of local property taxes. What can you do? Become a Library Champion. Join the Facebook group Save NJ Libraries and check for updates on our efforts. Call or send a message to the Governor (609) 292-6000, your State Senator and Assembly representatives opposing the elimination of funding for library programs and A2555. http://capwiz.com/ala/nj/home/ Why Become a Library Champion? Library Champions are people who love their libraries and want to be in the know about issues that may affect them.  Being a Library Champion means:  Giving us your email address so that we can contact you when needed.  Taking appropriate action such as phone calls, emails to legislators or simply talking to your neighbors about the value of library services. When you become a Library Champion we promise that we will only use your email address to contact you on issues affecting library service.  We will never share, or sell, your contact information.  Please join us in preserving library service in New Jersey.  Click on the red icon to the left to become a Library Champion. New Jersey Libraries - Busier Than Ever According to the latest data your public library is a very busy place. 51,169,912 annual visits to public library 63,935,203 items checked out- up 4 million from last year 8,020,846 questions asked 3,677,575 programs attended 169,958 NJ children read 3,467,161 books during summer reading last year. 68% of the American Public have a library card 83% of New Jersey residents say funding public libraries is a good investment  (source: 2007 Potomac Public Opinion Survey) 71% of New Jersey residents believe a public library is an essential service for the community- not a cultural amenity. (source: 2007 Potomac Public Opinion survey) Tell Us Your Story Libraries transform lives everyday.  Click here to see how! Do you have a story about how libraries (or the people that work there) have helped you?  Please tell us!  Did You Know That In Just One Day 160,242 people walked through our doors 126,626 books, movies and more were borrowed 24,153 people used computers 15,053 questions were answered 1,015 people got employment help 1,121 programs were offered 892 people learned computer skills

Lessons in Lymphedema.....

After a fantastic 3 day weekend, we had a bit of a scare with Queen LiLu.
First the good: 3 days off! Bliss! We cooked every meal except one outside on the grill. Even our pre-workout breakfast toast! We pretty much lived on the patio all weekend. Our dinners were great - spatchcocked chicken, dry rubbed and grilled to perfection, country pork ribs, also dry rubbed and finished with magic sauce (recipe to follow soon.), steaks-grilled with just salt & pepper to perfection. Plus some hot dogs and a few burgers here and there. (Though Taybor almost ruined Monday's dinner by stealing 3/4 of a pound of raw burgers!!!! i ended up finishing up the leftover chicken instead of having a burger. my dog is a thief!)
We made time to explore 2 really old local cemeteries, dating back to the early 1700's. Very cool. While there we saw assorted wildlife: chipmunks, a box turtle what was probably as old as some of the tombstones and a whole mess of wild turkeys! They're huge!
Sunday was spent at the gym. i pushed my own personal best and did 2 sets of 778 on the leg press. (also, realized that i am approaching, albeit slowly, a 100 lb bench press. No kidding. i've been kind of whining and scuffing my toe that "i only press 35 lbs." Master helpfully pointed out that the bar, with no weight on it is 45 lbs! Hah!) The rest of the day was spent lolling around and eating. :-)
Monday we checked local beach. Yup, who knew our town has a tiny beach on the Raritan Bay. Is it nice? Well, not exactly. i mean it's cool cause it's local but it's kind of funky. But still a nice day bird watching and enjoying the sunshine with my Master.
Monday night.... Hmmm, what's wrong with LiLu's leg? It looks... puffy. We iced it and gave her some pain meds but it was a rough night for us all. i thought the worst - Infection. i hustled her off to the vet this morning (and on the way the wound drained all over the back seat of my car!) and they took us right in. It turns out that the girl has Lymphedema from having the Lymph node taken out. That upsets the whole natural flow of lymph around the body and can cause it to pool and swell. Not good, but not infection, yet. So, preventative antibiotics, restricted activity, massage and ice are her prescription. Dr. F also experimentally took out one stitch that seemed to be really giving her grief and wow, the relief in LiLu's whole body was amazing. She just relaxed in my arms with a huge sigh. The swelling was making the stitches put pressure on her leg like a tourniquet! So, we popped out all of the stitches, which were due to come out in a few days anyway. i left her resting comfortable at home and got my butt in to work.
And that was how i spent my 3 day weekend!

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.
***********************
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!