Hi there, party people!

Getting back into this blogging thing is a little slow. The past few days I’ve been more than a little obsessed with my virtual minions pets, the Dubois family: yet another wacky, fun-filled time on Sims 3.

It’s been a long time since I played a video game with any sort of actual care. I came close with FarmVille because it mattered to other people if I clicked their squares… but what’s been helpful about Sims 3 for me right now is really appreciating a few things about the game: first that it is really good at showing how there are only so many hours in a day, and that any 1 person can only do so many things in one lifetime without cheating by eating life fruit or being a vampire.

Family 1: The Creepingtons – all monsters. No one ate life fruit but Momma. Nobody minded the flourescent green hottie staying young perpetually. (And by nobody, I mean me and Adam!)

Family 2: Vampir Haus – All vampires, except Mom! Chances of a vampire/human hybrid baby coming out vampire or human is 50/50. 5 kids. ALL VAMPIRES. You tell me. *shrug* Not my fault they’re so pretty. Oh wait… yes it is.

Family 3: Dubois – CEO Janet steals life fruit and flame fruit from both the Creepingtons and the MacRuth Clan (VampirHaus) and has a torrid love affair with the Skeezy Paparazzo who is constantly taking her picture while she is farming, thinking that will get him to shut up. It doesn’t work, and instead gives her a daughter – an upclass farm girl if there ever was one – Una Dubois. So she marries Hank, the Fireman, with whom she creates Dolce. However the dastardly computer is eating Sims 3 and wants her out. When Sims 3 Pets came out, the patch ate her! And today the game is frequently crashing – like every 10 minutes.

SAD FACE! I got to play the game just enough to realize that happiness points are accumulated when you have goals and achieve them. Not just by randomly upping your skill levels in things, that is, unless your goal is to be a renaissance person, and that even someone with the Computer Whiz skill will be a miserable sack of crap if you don’t get them out of the house at least every 3 days… and that even validectorian prom queens have a hard time getting laid when they’re too busy getting paid. *lol* I am a dork. But that’s ok.

Anyway, I figured the fact that the game crashed so much was a sign that I ought to use the time more productively and actually put forth something that might help others as well as myself! So, here’s some big news from me.

After a month of following the Paleo Diet (though admittedly having some skip days) and adding 2mg of Abilify, I have been able to remove Baclofen from my daily medicines without ill effect.

I made sure to add the fact that I added Abilify because I do not want to credit the Paleo Diet 100% for the reduction in pain (the added energy from the Abilify I think has something to do with my perceiving feeling better), but I can tell you this: There was a huge increase in pain when I started the paleo diet for 2 weeks. After the first month, I am waking up without significant pain in the mornings, and that is an amazing difference for me.

I am able to see this on my Patientslikeme.com chart of my Instant Me that I keep up with in the mornings, so I know I’m not fooling myself.

My body composition is still changing. My weight at the moment is steadily declining. So far, in the first month, just by changing diet, not by starving myself or anything – I eat till full – I’ve lost 12 pounds.

And I’ve had fun looking up recipes and making new things, and so has Adam. I’m happy to add anyone who would like to be added to my cookbook that I keep on Google Docs. I just don’t make it public because I don’t want anyone else to be able to add to it until I’ve looked at it and approved it.

I never thought I’d be able to handle having dietary habits that meant that I was eating dairy-free, gluten-free, legume-free, grain-free — but all the food we eat is really fuckin tasty because I did my searches starting with epicurious.com. I’m a foodie for goodness sake!

Anyway, I think I’m gonna cogitate on some goal-setting. I also think I’m gonna look for some more recipes and add a section to the Cookbook called “Menus” where I suggest some of the meals that we’ve prepared. They don’t all jump right out at you, especially if you are just starting and don’t know how to put it all together.

I hope everyone’s having a happy Saturday!