Latch

Thank God it's Friday. It's been so hard to wake up in the mornings here lately. The weekends are what keep me going.. haha! I can't wait to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday, even though usually my husband wakes me up on "accident" because his body is crazy and wakes up early. Last weekend he woke me up simply because he was bored. He's lucky to still be alive is all I am going to say about that. You do not wake the dragon.

In case anyone is wondering; I am happy to report that I am feeling much better today as far as the debbie downer mood goes. I feel more hopeful, more like myself. However, I am on day 20 of my period and today it's picking up. I called my Dr on Wednesday to find out if my feelings of despair and prolonged period were a normal thing for noobs on birth control. Turns out, it's not okay for either to be happening. I was advised to stop my current pill, which I happily agreed to do, and go in for an appointment on Monday. Hopefully I get some answers and relief. Being a woman sucks sometimes. Men are just living the dream, childbirth, blood and hormonal free. Douchebags.

Today marks day 12 of Whole 30. I feel like my taste buds are definitely changing and that I am enjoying whole foods much more than before. I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss homemade brownies, blueberry muffins, and lemon poppy seed muffins. That's what I really would like in my life right now. Before I started Whole 30, I bought Brittany Angell's cookbook - Every Last Crumb. There are so many baking recipes that I want to try, so I am patiently waiting until the Whole 30 is over so that I can try some. My outlook so far is that I think the program is great for resetting your mind and body, but for some of us who enjoy baking, much too restrictive. I saw a recipe for sugar free grainless brownies and thought - oh I can have those on Whole 30 - then realized that I couldn't, as the rules are clear on no baking. Le sigh.

Tuesday night I made some delicious salmon cakes, homemade tartar, and homemade mayo! I was so excited because I have failed on two previous attempts at making mayo. The salmon cakes were delicious!! I will post the recipes below for the salmon cakes and 30 second mayo.

Last night I made Chiptole style salad bowls - pork shoulder that I had let cook in the crockpot all day with an array of spices, over romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and fresh guacamole. It was really good, but I did miss cilantro lime rice. There was a recipe for cauliflower rice that I had originally planned to try, but I didn't have cauliflower and on my last two attempts at that kind of "rice", everyone hated it. LOL. We will see if the third time is a charm or not at some point in this Whole 30.

Here are the above stated recipes;
http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2014/11/10/oven-fried-salmon-cakes/

http://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2013/06/minimal-monday-30-second-mayonnaise.html

~ RGB

Debbie Downer

The weather has sucked ass the last few days. It's been dreary, cold, and wet. I'm trying not to let that effect my mood, but I think that it is. I need a good load of vitamin D.

That being said, I may be suffering a bout of the blues. I am 85% sure that the cause may be my new birth control - Her Quartette. I've never been on hormonal birth control until now and I am almost two months deep into this pack and I feel that it may be affecting my moods.
        I feel extremely irritable, vulnerable, inadequate, and just plain down. My face is broken out with a quite a few painful pimples - my husband assures me that I am beautiful still, which is cool since I've irrationally convinced myself that he no longer wants me. Also - did I mention that I am on day 18 of my period? Because yeah, I am. I know that I can not be alone in being the only woman to suffer from mood swings due to birth control. OR, is it my period and just my hormones overall being off balance currently?
          I've been doing a lot of research on birth control and have read that it is very common for women to feel emotional/sad, depending on how their body reacts/adjusts to the hormone levels. Some take time to level out. I'm not really sure how long I will allow myself to feel crazy over the sake of birth control. Hopefully this slump passes quickly or I'll be calling my Dr to switch birth controls. Crazy that a little pill can make you feel so much, eh?

At first I assumed that my blues were contributed from the lack of all forms of sugar - honey, palm sugar, maple syrup, etc, but I am now on day 10 of my whole30 and should be past the withdrawal part. I do however wish that I could make a pan of chocolate brownies. They'd make me feel better for sure. Which is a reason why I decided to do whole30 - my mental connection to food. Will brownies honest to God make me feel better? No, but my mental connection to food makes me think they will.

My life is a black abyss currently. My sinus drainage has been on a terrorist level as of this past Friday, causing a cough and me choking often. I finally gave in today and bought some allergy & sinus decongestant medicine. Allegedly it's non drowsy, we shall see. The good news is - my sinus surgery that I had in November seems to have worked, as usually my nose is completely congested, it's not at all - Just draining freely like a waterfall down my throat. *face palm*

So, now that I've semi bared my heart on the internet, and expressed things that are difficult to talk about - have any of you guys had issues with birth control?

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” 
~ Albus Dumbledore