Heel pain

I woke up this morning at around 4:30 pm and had heel pain. Whenever I walk a lot, I end up overusing my right foot in some way. I ended up with heel pain.

It took several hours for the pain to subside. I was supposed to go to a work bowling events, but ended up not going because I was tired. I needed a nap.

I'm doing a lot better now. Luckily, it doesn't happen all the time. However, when the pain arrives, it does take a while for it to subside.

Ankle pain and refresher training

I woke up before 7 am on Sunday with ankle pain. I walked a lot of Saturday, so it was not surprising.

I have an odd workweek this week. My former intern has returned to the workplace as a contractor. Training will be different. I am doing a refresher part, which really depends on him.

I also start my workday at 8 am. I am looking forward to not doing daily chats with my team at 4:45 pm.

Recovering from food poisoning

It has been a while. Here's the scoop.

I got food poisoning on Wednesday. I was working from home and wasn't feeling great. I ended up vomiting on four separate occasions. It wasn't fun.

On Thursday, I was starting to get better. I had a couple of crackers with water for a couple of meals. I was happy that I could hold food down.

I graduated to soup on Friday. Chicken noodle soup tasted so good from a can. I had to go to the supermarket. I felt weak walking to my car from my home. Luckily, I did much better walking around the supermarket.

Saturday left me exhausted. I went to run a few errands and took breaks, My stamina and energy are not fully there.

I took it easy on Sunday. I also have a cough. Raw honey helps soothe a sore throat.

I go back into the office on Monday. We'll see if I survive. I am thankful that I am on the mend.

Here's hoping that you're doing much better!

Foot pain, freezing drizzle, snow, and mending

I had excruciating foot pain at around 3 am. It was likely from all the walking that I had done yesterday. I couldn't go back to sleep after consuming some Ibuprofen.

On top of that, there was freezing drizzle, followed by snow. I decided to reschedule my lunch meeting with my friend for Tuesday. It worked out well for her, as she had to clean up her laptop before returning it, and she needed more time. She welcomed the extra day.

I have spent my day getting rid of my foot pain in my hotel room. The pain finally subsided a few hours ago. I managed to nap a couple of times, so I am feeling much better.

It's a good thing that I am a planner. I had bought groceries last night, so I heated up food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I even have dessert! More importantly, my foot pain generally gets better when I have foods rich in potassium. I brought supplements. However, I also bought a carton of soy beverage, which has potassium. Two glasses later, my foot pain went away.

It has been quite the day. I look forward to heading out later on today. I hope that the road conditions are much better. The snow is supposed to stop soon.

Walking and winter storm advisory

I walked a lot on Sunday. It has been ages since I spent almost four hours at a mall. I did.

There is a winter storm advisory for tomorrow. Naturally, it's the day that I am meeting a friend whom I haven't seen in almost a decade. I told her that I'd let her know how things unfold. The worst case would be to reschedule for Tuesday.

It's never a dull day, even on vacation!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am a few hours away from flying home. It has been a great weekend in the Twin Cities. I walked too much, though. My legs are feeling it. They were pretty achy yesterday, but some rest has helped.

It hasn't been the best year for me. However, I am thankful for being healthy, and having you with me as I mend a broken heart and get through life. Thanks for all your support. It means the world to me.

Lots of walking and thoughts about pillows

On Saturday, I walked a lot. I walked an entire mall. I had a late lunch by driving over to that restaurant, and then came back and shopped some more at a plaza.

I felt good, although my feet are tired right now. It has been a good long weekend so far.

I head back home later on today. The only damper is the pillows in my hotel room. They don't support my head and neck as well as my own pillows at home do. Otherwise, I feel rested. It's a quiet hotel.

Birthday highlights and pedal boating coming up

My birthday was wonderful. I got to meet a friend in person after establishing an online friendship for a few years.

We had lunch together at a Vietnamese restaurant. She got me a birthday gift, which was so thoughtful of her. We walked around Chinatown. She gave me tons of suggestions and recommendations on places to go and restaurants to try out. She's great.

I took in a movie. Yesterday was great. I cried at the end. I haven't cried in a while. It felt good.

I had dinner at a Thai restaurant. The green curry that I had was fantastic.

Through my friend, I signed up for pedal boating later on today. At least I'm getting a decent workout during my vacation!

Sharp pain from walking fast

On Friday night, I was walking around in a mall and had a sharp pain happen in my left buttock and hip that I haven't felt in a while. The last time I had this pain was the start of sciatic pain decades ago.

I have decided to take it easy all weekend. On Saturday, I felt good until I walked faster while at the drug store and the pain came back. Taking ibuprofen helped. I also slowed down my walking pace. I have been good all weekend ever since.

Here's hoping that it was a fluke and that the issue has gone away. Getting full-blown sciatica isn't fun. It is extremely painful and takes months for the pain to subside.

Quick thoughts before hitting the sack

I had a wonderful time catching up with my friend on Saturday. We walked so much. My legs are achy!

I'll write more in my next post. I just wanted to check in and say that it was great sampling craft beer, eating various yummy goodies, and shopping with her.

I'm off to turn in with a smile on my face.

Boat cruise, achy legs, and my guy

On Thursday, my entire team went out for an departmental outing. We did a boat cruise along Lake Ontario. It was relaxing and great.

I spent the rest of the day by the waterfront before I met up with a former student, who is now a friend, for dinner. It was wonderful catching up and chatting for over three hours.

I did overdo the walking part. Right now, my legs are tired and a bit achy.

I get to see my guy on Saturday. I can't wait!

Exercising, cutting down on carbs, and missing me

My guy is exercising a lot more these days. He is cutting down on carbs, which is an area that I am familiar with. Both changing my diet and exercising more caused me to lose 60 pounds, which I have managed to maintain for nearly five years now.

After we had bumped into each other at the liquidation centre and spent some time chatting on Friday, I could tell that my guy still missed me. He was with a bunch of friends there, so he had to go. I was good with that, as I wasn't expecting to hang out with him.

He called me that evening while taking a walk after dinner and we chatted some more.

"I hope that your friends didn't think I was strange for caressing your head in the store, but I got excited seeing you with a cleanly shaved head," I explained.
"It's okay. They didn't say anything, so I don't think that they saw," he told me.
"That's good. It's just me," I reasoned.
"I know. I'm glad that you did. It felt good. I wish that we could have spent more time together. Had I known, I would have shown up by myself."

He's sweet.

D is for dialogue, distance, and dares

My guy and I had a nice chat over Skype this afternoon. We talked about our day. I had to let out some steam about some annoying work issues. My guy is always supportive. I always appreciate that he's there to listen to me.

He talked about how he went to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner the other evening and how much he appreciates the quality of the food at the restaurants that we go to near our workplace.

"So, the food wasn't great at the restaurant you went to?" I asked him.
"It was okay, but it was more expensive than it should have been," he replied.
"Ah, it's Cheap Bastard complaining about how overpriced the food was and wanting to save an extra two bucks," I teased him.
"No, the quantity and quality weren't there," he insisted.
"Cheap Bastard is cheap," I teased him. "Did you whine?"

He laughed. He knows that I like teasing him. It is usually my way of setting up a future spanking. It's even more daring when I tease him while I am over his knee, with my bottom bared. It makes him spank me harder, which is the entire point.

My guy let me know that he got a new iron. He loves to iron. This one is rather fancy. You can actually set the iron down on the board and it won't burn the board's surface. I must check it out one of these days. After all, I am a girl who likes geeky products.

He also told me that he downloaded an app on his phone that counts the number of steps that he takes each day. He advises that the count is pretty accurate. He was more impressed when I had walked over 16,000 steps while we were both in Istanbul one day. I have a Fitbit One tracker, which has been working well for me for over a year now. He told me that he isn't even close to that count when he travels. He's sweet that way.

My guy doesn't come back to the office for a while. However, he may have to attend some course in a couple of weeks.

I asked him whether we could do lunch when he is in the office. Since his depression, he hasn't been inclined to go out for lunch as often as we used to. He knows that I am not at my cheeriness these days, so he didn't hesitate to say yes. In fact, I could tell that he wanted to apologize, but he did it his own way, saying that he wasn't abandoning me.

Things are looking up. I can't complain.

M is for malls

I tend not to walk an entire mall these days. The malls near me are huge in the sense that you can spend countless hours there. Knowing me, I'd end up cleaning out all the money in my bank account.

In Montreal, I went to outlets and box stores. For some reason, going to several of these stores is enough for me. 

When I had returned to Toronto, I noticed that my iPhone screen had lifted at the top. I couldn't push the screen back down and be flush. I decided to book a Genius Bar appointment at my local Apple store (the nearest one is fairly new, but parking can be a challenge on the weekend). So, I had no choice but to visit the mall.

First, I was told that the entire screen needed to be replaced. I was fine with that. I signed the work order and was told that it would take an hour. So, I walked around the mall.

It's a pretty big mall. To avoid spending, I sat down on a comfortable leather bench and relaxed. Over an hour later, I went back to the Apple store.

It turns out that my iPhone's battery was "swollen," meaning that the screen could not be upgraded. Instead, I got a new replacement phone for free! It is a good thing that I had backed up all my data.

The downside? All my apps appeared on my new phone, but the apps weren't downloaded properly. So, I had to manually do that. Luckily, I had the entire weekend to do this task. It wasn't bad, though. I got rid of many apps that I no longer use and all is well.