Yawp!

     I had a super busy week! My first distance driving adventure was a success. I stopped in Salina on Wednesday night to stay with my friend and then drove to mom's house in Mulvane on Thursday. Friday morning I went into Wichita for my last visit with the specialist. She officially released me from her clinic and said that she couldn't have hoped for a better recovery. Other than the obvious issues associated with recovery, all of my pre-surgery symptoms are gone! I'm allowed to get back in the pool which makes me deliriously happy. I still have to be careful and ease back into normal activities. It will take a good long while for my abdominal muscles to fully heal and, in the mean time, I have to take it slowly so that I don't bust a hernia.  
     I surpassed my step goal for the week by leaps and bounds clocking in at 15,695 (my goal was just 11,550). Since I took a road trip, chased Pokemon, celebrated my brother's birthday, and went to several different stores, you could definitely say I'm pooped and that I'm not sure I'll be able to maintain that pace this week. I decided that 13,650 would be a healthy increase and we'll just see what happens.
     We're officially starting the Whole30 again on Monday. Ian did us the favor of eating all the junk food in the house while I was away so that we wouldn't be tempted (way to take one for the team). I've never been a huge fan of buffalo sauce, but I'm going out of my comfort zone and kicking things off Monday night with buffalo chicken stuffed spaghetti squash (assuming the grocery store has all the ingredients). We're also continuing our fruit foray by exploring the produce section. Last time we tried this back in April, we started with apples and bought one each of 4 different kinds. It was an apple sampling extravaganza. I think that's probably the best way to go about this - just try everything and see what happens. We're actually looking forward to it. If we hadn't stepped up and braved Thug Kitchen, we would have never known that rutabaga is delicious.
     Also, randomly, Ulta was having a huge clearance sale. I got a lot of random things like bronzer, which I've never tried before. Turns out makeup is fun and a lot less permanent than a tattoo. I shall boldly go into the deepest recesses of Pinterest for the amusement/horror of all brave enough to follow me through my experiments. I'm a manatee finally cut lose from the net and man does it feel good.