Showing posts with label Cupcakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cupcakes. Show all posts

Friday, 28 March 2014

Disappearing Doctor and a Sugarless Surprise

Since I just cleared a world in Candy Crush and I'm currently waiting for 3 friends to send me passes to the next level, I decided I'd kill some time by blogging.

It was an interesting week at work. It was very busy. And not just for me. For a lot of people. Ah, the joy of year end (the fiscal or financial year that is). The ending of this year and getting stuff done for the start of the next one kept me equally busy I'd say. Part of it was my own fault. I requested today off since I had one "use it or lose it" vacation day left and I'm not the type of person to let a perfectly good vacation day go to waste.

My day off was a long and rather interesting one. I've been having problems with my knee for several months now. I very much dislike going to the doctor so I'm a big proponent of "walk it off'". I think it stems from the time when I was 6 and I feel and severely sprained my ankle and broke 2 tiny bones in it and I limped around the house for a day and a half before my mom decided I wasn't faking it and took me to the doctor. So I've been "waking it off" for the last few months, only problem is that it's becoming increasingly more painful to do so. Sigh. Time to see the doctor. Knowing that I had today off, I decided that it would be best to go on my day off so that I didn't miss any additional work. I called the doctor's office on Tuesday and made an appointment for Friday. I asked for the earliest appointment they had. She said "10am". And I said "that's the earliest?" and she said "Yes, the doctor's usually in by then". Sigh. I took it. We had a little bit of freezing rain earlier so I wasn't sure what I was going to encounter on my way to the bus this morning. Thankfully, we didn't get much and it had warmed up already and all the snow we got overnight was starting to melt as well as any of the frozen stuff that feel earlier. I make it to the corner in time to see my bus go by on the other side of the street. Damn thing was 3 minutes early. Sigh. So I wait for the next one and arrive at the doctor's office 5 minutes late (not too bad). I go up to the receptionist, tell her who I am and that I have an appointment with my doctor at 10am and apologize for being late. She just looks at me. And then says "You have an appointment?" Me - Yes. Her - hmmm. Then - the doctor isn't here. And I can't see your appointment in the computer. It looks like it's all blocked off. Me - I called on Tuesday and made an appointment for today. I called at 10:30am. Whoever I spoke to (btw - I know it was her that I spoke to) told me the doctor would be in a 10 and gave me that appointment time. She just looks at me. Then the computer. Then me. Then she says "I don't know where the doctor is. We're expecting him today.". WTF. What kind of doctor just goes MIA?? Beauty part? This isn't the first time this has happened. I told her ask much. She just shrugged at me and gave me a helpless animal type face. Thankfully I don't fall for that kind of BS easily so I just sighed and said "Can I see the other doctor?" And she said "Of Course!" and merrily starts typing away at the computer, gives me back my health card and tells me to take a seat. My doctor is based out of a Walk in clinic so there's always another doctor there except on weekends. Thankfully, the place wasn't busy. I only had to wait about 20 minutes. The walk in doctor was an old dude with a really thick accent that I could hardly understand. He wiggled and twisted my knee all over the place (which hurt) and asked me twice if I had a drug plan (which I do have, thank goodness). He wrote me 3 prescriptions. One is a powerful anti-inflammatory that I have to take twice a day. 2nd one is for a medication to protect my tummy from the anti-inflammatory (it appears to be a drug who's main purpose is to treat ulcers and really bad heartburn). Ok then. The 3rd was the one I asked for, which was just a repeat on my regular meds. Bugger only gave me 3 months worth of that one so I have to go back to see my doctor.  Trying to be good and giving the guy one more chance, I made an appointment for a physical in May. Have to wait and see what happens there.

So after the doctor's office, I went to Curves. It was monthly weigh-in day. I've never been there that early in the day and I'd only eaten breakfast at this point so I'm sure that helped with the weigh in a little bit. Anyhow, it went very well. I'm down 3 inches. I lost a little or stayed the same for every part of my body except my biceps. They increased thanks to the muscle I've built. The best part was what the scale had to say. Down 8.5lbs in the last month. YEEHAW! That's roughly 2lbs a week. The only thing I've changed in my diet is sugar. I've removed it. And apparently that's having some very positive results. I even managed to say no to my biggest temptations yet: The crazy awesome looking and very amazing smelling Ferro Rocher cupcakes that a very awesome co-worked baked for KayD's bday. I was tempted. Boy was I ever. But I held out and the result on the scale today made me very happy about that decision. I know damn well that 1 cupcake wouldn't have an impact on the results I saw today, but it's the principle of my quest that matters. The wonderful photo that appears on tonight's blog are the delightful cupcakes. You'll understand the temptation once you see them. Honestly, they were pretty epic or so I was told by those who ate them :)

After Curves, I celebrated my weight loss by sharing a deep fried snack platter appetizer at lunch with a buddy of mine. It was good. I eventually paid for it (some indigestion this evening...prior to taking the new meds) but it was yummy. This was followed up by a tour of the Canadian History Museum (aka Museum of Civilizations). It used to be my favourite museum in Ottawa but they're currently renovating it and changing a bunch of stuff so a lot of it was closed off to the public which puts a bit of a damper on it. I'm sure it will be awesome once it's done but that's not for another few years. It was still cool to see the Canadian Hall, which is may favourite section. They have re-creations of buildings and homes, schools and churches and they have real artifacts in each area. And some very life-like mannequins that are rather creepy.

By the time we were done at the museum, the fog had really rolled in. That's what happens when warm air hits cold snow and a cold river. And it was pouring rain too. Traffic wasn't too bad and I got dropped off at the mall so that I cold get my prescriptions filled. I remembered to by lottery tickets yet forgot to buy milk. D'oh! Now I don't have milk for my morning tea/coffee. Dammit. Guess I know what I'm doing first thing tomorrow. Either that or I'll be drinking green tea.

All in all, it was a very interesting day and enjoyable for the most part. It would have been nicer if I could have walked the museum rather than limped it, but hopefully these meds help and I can get back to normal. If not, I'll be seeing my doctor (if he shows up) sooner than my planned visit in May.

I should toddle off to bed (aka curl up in bed and read for another half hour or so) as I need to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Another busy week ahead!

Good Night!

Sarah

Amazing, right??!!



Thursday, 14 February 2013

Happy Red Day

Work was crazy. We made over 200 bags of candy to sell for our candy grams. Thankfully I had some help. I'm sick of seeing those damn bags though. LOL. Everyone loved them though. It was great seeing the smiles  on everyone's faces when we delivered the candy grams. In addition to this, we had a bake sale. It wasn't as successful as others we've done but we still sold almost everything.

Somewhere in between all of those things, work was done. And there was a lot of it. We're very busy bees :)

My Valentine's Day was pretty good. I got a very sweet card from my parents, candy from my co-workers and I bought myself a dozen yellow roses. They're beautiful. And my slice of cheesecake was great!!

I got to have lunch with a friend from high school today too. It was fun seeing him again. It's funny how people can pop up in your life again. Usually I don't appreciate it when people re-appear. In this case, I think I'm good with it. I like helping people out when I can.

After a late night of baking cupcakes, I'm very sleepy so this blog is going to be a short one. My bed is calling to me and I can't wait to climb in. I'm uber happy that tomorrow is Friday.

I wish all of you a world of love.

Good Night!

Sarah




Wednesday, 13 February 2013

St. Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. A day dedicated to love and romance all thanks to a Christian who was martyred way back when. There are numerous stories but the most popular one is said that this particular man, who later became a saint, performed marriages for soldiers who happened to be forbidden to marry and he healed the daughter of one of his captures. The whole notion of romance being linked to St. Valentine's Day doesn't really crop up until the somewhere around the middle ages / 15th Century.

Anyhow, I happen to be single. This means that I'm socially obligated to hate Valentine's Day. But I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I don't hate it. In face, I love it!!

I have tried to hate it before. Gotten all sad and lonely, but that had more to do with depression than anything. Truthfully, I think it's a fun day. Yes, I agree that you should tell the people that you love that you love them every day but this is the one day for OVER THE TOP kind of love and romance and just plain cheezy silliness. I love cinnamon hearts (got a funny story about a friend who sent her bf a bunch of cinnamon hearts one year..only to discover he hated them...LOL) and I love the goofy, cheezy stuffed bears and my god, do I love the flowers. I mean it. I love flowers. Real ones of course. People at work try to bribe me all the time for supplies or info and they never succeed. Now if they showed up with a bunch of beautiful gerber daisies...that might get them somewhere. I'm a sucker for flowers. I buy them for myself all the time just because I love having them around, and if I were to wait for a man to buy me some.... LOL. I'm pretty sure that a man has given me flowers only 3-4 times in my life and that includes my dad giving me 16 pink roses on my 16th birthday. I love the little kids Valentine's Day cards that they fill out and make paper bag envelopes for. I all just makes me smile.

So every year, I treat myself to something for Valentine's Day. This year, I got my hair cut. It's only been 10 months since the last time I had it cut! Oops. I had nearly 4 inches taken off and it feels amazing. I feel amazing. Hell, I even shaved my legs tonight!! Still need to do my nails though.... And I baked cupcakes. But those are for work. We're having a bake sale tomorrow and we're selling Candy Grams too. I spent an hour along with 2 co-workers stuffing bags full of candy. I'm sick of looking at the candy already.

I do have a Valentine's Day tradition. I rent/watch a movie where lots of stuff get blown up (so usually a Die Hard or Lethal Weapon movie), order Chinese Food and have a slice of cheesecake for dessert. This year, the violent movie will be replaced with a new episode of The Big Bang Theory, the Chinese food will be replaced with pasta (watching my wallet and waistline) but I'm still having the cheesecake... if I remember to take it out of the freezer.

I do admit that Valentine's Day is one of those days when it does kind of suck to be single. And don't give me that old line about not really celebrating it or it not mattering much. I've never got to celebrate Valentine's Day with someone special. Murphy's Law I guess. I tend to break up with guys before it and not meet new ones until after it. Even if you've been married for 50 years, chances are you've had a least one special Valentine's Day. I haven't. So don't feed me lines until I've had my chance to experience one with someone special first. There are some things in this world that I'd like to find out for myself. This is one of those things. And I'll get there, eventually.  But until then, I shall treat myself and keep laughing at the cheezy, romantic gestures.

After all, All We Need Is Love :)

Good Night!

Sarah


Friday, 18 January 2013

Cupcakes

I currently have a rather wicked craving for cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes, but ones from a very aptly named store: Crave Cupcakes. The first problem in obtaining said cupcakes is that it's 10:41pm. The store is closed. The next problem is that the store is located in Calgary, AB and I'm located in Ottawa, ON. And Cameron refuses to ship me any. This is also a problem. Cam and Xtina both know how good they are. But I'm also convinced you have to be a female with our unique combo of hormones to fully appreciate these cupcakes.

These cupcakes are seriously so good that I once flew home with a 6 pack of them in my carry on. I think they might put drugs in them or something. They're really just that damn good. Try as I might, I haven't found anyplace in Ottawa that is as good as Crave. Just ask Stephanee. We spent one summer trying to hunt down the best cupcake place in Ottawa. I've found one place that close, the Cupcake Lounge in the market, but it's still not as good as Crave. My favourite one is called The Princess Chocolate. It's a chocolate cupcake with strawberry infused butter cream frosting and clear sprinkles. Amazing. I'll admit it. I'm kind of drooling right now. LOL.

Work was good and went by quickly. I tried to send my boss to Brazil for a month, which she was totally on board with, but we figured that there was a downside in there somewhere. We had a pizza lunch and everyone was fighting off the urge to have an after lunch nap. We should have known better. Oh well!

I'm off for an afternoon of debauchery with Steph tomorrow. It's going to involve psychics and Ikea so this should be good :)

I need to rest up for our adventure so I'm off to bed.

Good Night and try not to think about cupcakes :)

Sarah

These are cupcakes I made for the office last year.