Cooking again

...and not just in the kitchen. I am cooking up a surprise for my hubby. I'm not too worried he'll see this here so I can toss it out there. I was told that getting a passport would require many hoops as I was born overseas and much of my citizenship paperwork had been destroyed during a move to the states. Today, I found that since I have my original passport...issued when I was 3... it is 100% acceptable as proof of citizenship. All I had to do was print out a copy of DS-11 (though not sign it yet) and grab said passport. A current photo ID, a passport photo and a check made out to the State Dept and I am getting my passport. We can FINALLY take some of the trips we've talked about for years. I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

The other side of the excitement is that I am continuing to better my health and by the time our BIG anniversary rolls around, I plan on being able to go somewhere and enjoy my time with him and not just sit around and watch the world go by. Today is day 13 of absolutely no pain meds of any kind and no muscle relaxants. God is faithful and good and I believe the healing I have asked for is taking place. I am still being very careful to not overstress my back and am still baby-ing it but am not thinking that starting off slowly on my treadmill is possible. It might only be 5 minutes at a time to start...but 5 will turn to 6 and 6 to 7 and so on. I am still using heat on it nightly to help keep me moving and that is also a help.

In regards to cooking in the kitchen, I present a photo of tonight's Meatless Meal. Cuban Black Beans with brown rice and salad. We're now eating salad daily without second thought. We also no longer are using iceburg lettuce. Just dark, green and purple lettuces, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers and sometimes carrots. The beans tonight contain an entire onion, 2 green bell peppers and an orange bell pepper. They were filling and very, very tasty! I'll happily have more for lunch tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow...I better go look up a chicken recipe. Scott is demanding meat for the menu. Poor kid....stuck eating this semi vegetarian food his Momma is insisting on.