back to the supplements

ok i have fallen far off the wagon, but am determined to get back on track.

the past few days have been an orgy of crunchiness and chewiness, some healthy (apples! celery! carrots!) some not so healthy (bagels, almond roca, nachos). i think that's allowed though, considering i've gone without so many things for a year and a half.

but what's just silly is that i haven't been taking my supplements. and that, combined with not getting to do yoga last week had led to a return of back pain and limited mobility in my neck.

so as of this morning, i am back on the fish oil.

today for lunch, we feature crunchy and chewy and sticky and stringy

they're off! i am officially debraced, for reals this time! i can scarcely believe it, but it's true. i sort of wish i had read up on debracing a bit (i read nothing) because it seemd to involve hours of threading floss through my wires, applying gross tasting stuff (solvent?), the weird light-gun thingy, and bleeding gums. also, i now get why they only did one impression last time - it was for the retainer wire. yesterday they took two impressions, top and bottom, for the essix retainers. i should be able to pick up the lower on monday; the upper might be later in the week because there is tweaking to be done to nudge my 12 back into position.

but the main point is they're gone!

after i left the office i went off to buy poppycock but couldn't find it. instead, i got smartfood and almond roca. feel a bit ill today. also got whitestrips, but haven't used them yet as my gums were bleeding last night and i didn't think it would be a good idea.

(the bleeding gums are also why i have no "after" pics yet.)

right now i'm on my lunch break, enjoying some crunchy and chewy takeout from the annex hodgepodge:

Thin slices of oven roasted smoked turkey with seasoned tomato slices and Swiss cheese drizzled with avocado aioli, all grilled in a Swiss rectangle panini

Baby spinach leaves mixed with tangy dried cranberries, candied pecans, sliced almonds and a triple creme Brie tossed in a sweet vinaigrette

tomorrow morning, i'm heading to the bagel house for the montrealiest bagels in toronto.

then for sunday's breakfast i'm baking some kouign amann.

i'm still having trouble making myself bite down with my incisors after so many months of being unable, but i figure i'll get a lot of practice this weekend!

is today the day?

it's hard to get particularly excited about it, but today i'm supposed to be getting my brackets off. of course, i said that six weeks ago too. so it's hard to get particularly excited about anything. also, i only got an impression done of the bottom done last time, so i don't know how he plans to make the essix to nudge my upper incisor back into place - guessing it will mean yet another appointment.

if i do get them off though, the first thing i'm going to do is buy a tin of poppycock and scarf it back in about five minutes!

the agony and the ecstasy

it's been a rough week or so here breathing-wise. after being sick easter weekend (but still having to drive for hours and root through a dusty basement) and for about a week following that, i had a good week or so before a cough set in - it';s a lung thing not a throat thing (although my throat does get sore after a big coughing fit). i've started taking a daily cetirizine in the hopes it will help - the otc version i got is only 10 mg while the prescription one was 15 mg, so i might start taking 2 every second day or something to see if that makes a difference.

i am proud to say though that i have managed to ride my bicycle every day, and i think that helped with today's event!

i signed up for a fundraiser here at work, which is taking place in may. it's called chs quest, and it's a smartphone scavenger hunt and race - i was thinking more scavenger hunt, until today when we had a "mini quest" event at work. definitely a race! i ran just over a mile, with 3 breaks to do "challenges" (sawing a log, identifying herbs by smell) and it took me half an hour afterwards to catch my breath, but i did it!

and our team won!

blood is definitely pumping now. hope i have enough energy for the ride home in the sleet...

they're coming off, sort of.

not too happy with my visit to the orthodontist yesterday. the ortho & the assistant were all cheery, "getting ready for debanding, excited?" and all i oculd say was, didn't you pay any attention the three times i called over the last three weeks or so saying that the elastics messed me up? sigh.

after a fair amount of hemming and hawing and toying the idea of adding more braces to my uppers for an additional 3 or 4 months (!!!) he suggested he could nudge that tooth back into position with essix retainers. which i would have to wear 24 hours a day. not really the freedom i was hoping for.

it didn't really occur to me until i was leaving that we only did impressions of the bottom row, not the top. how do you make a retainer without an impression? what do i know...

the whole thing just makes me feel tired and sad.

boo.

an hour later, still miserable. guess it's a cold.

cetirizine!

that was the name of the allergy med i took before. just bought a pack to try (along with a box of tissues) to see if it helps. according to the box it should start working in as little as 20 minutes; it's been about that long now, hope it kicks in soon! my sinuses are killing me.

whoo!

i feel almost lightheaded. just had our weekly lunchtime yoga session. we do a lot of breathing, which i hope is good for my poor lungs!

i've been fighting a cold for a week, which feels like it's landed in my lungs now after a hectic weekend of 5-hour drives and dusty-basement delving. also trying to remember the name of the allergy med i took before - i had a prescription version, but there is an over the counter version available as well in a slightly lower dose. i just have to remember which one it was... the main thing i remember is the otc one made me verrry sleepy, which the prescription one did not. maybe there are different otc versions, with different additional ingredients which might be better or worse for me? will have to do some research. but i think i'm in for a rough spring with an extended pollen season, and i need help!

i will pat myself on the back though for cycling this morning, despite not feeling great.