What's on your Sunday menu RNYers?

Thanks, Liz!

Wow, Karen, I'm sorry to read that you are still suffering. I have thrown my back out a couple of times over the past 15 years or so. I never knew exactly what I'd done, either, to cause such pain. In both cases, the pain was quite disabling, and lasted for a few days. I took an over-the-counter back and body type of medicine, which helped, along with warmth on my back (warm shower, heating pad). Getting on my hands and knees and doing some slow, gentle pelvic rocking also brought some relief. I know how disruptive being in pain like that can be, and I hope that you feel better very soon!

Thank you for your empathy, Cara. I'm taking Tramadol (which makes me dizzy) and Tylenol and using a heating pad and trying to do gentle stretches. Last time it lasted about a week or two. You're right, it really is very disabling!

Karen, so sorry that you are in pain! Take great care and be gentle with yourself!

Thank you, Janet!

I did the back thing about 5 weeks ago.. get a back support to help thru the first 3 weeks...so you don't re hurt it...I re hurt mine at 2nd and third week, then i got a support. after a week i was able to remove it most of the time unless doing something i should not have been doing anyway... Take care.

Thank you, Sweetpotato. I do have a back brace. I need to remember to use it. Thanks for reminding me!

feeling like a tub o' lard this morning. Ugh. Not surprised to discover I was up above my "oh crap" level again. Might be a delayed reaction from Thanksgiving (and the day before) since I've done pretty well the last couple of days - although we had lunch & dinner in restaurants yesterday (we were in Chicago), so there might have been a lot of sodium or something. Ugh. I hate this!!!

QOTD: I can't really walk very far on my crappy hip joint, and running is totally out, so I do most/all of my exercising indoors *anyway*, so it's not really affected by the seasons - other than it's harder to push myself out the door to go to the gym when it's 20 below zero outside...

meditation class this morning, then I need to skim the fat off my turkey stock and freeze it, figure out meals for this week, and putz around. Either yoga or Aqua Zumba tonight.

2 years 5 months out:

B: homemade plain Greek yogurt, 2 T "sugar free" (they must mean *added* sugar free) red raspberry preserves, 2 T Kashi crunch granola

S: coffee with half & half, protein/Miralax vanilla latte shake

L: leftover 1/2 chicken quesadilla

D: turkey

What'd you check out in Chicago? Any recommendations? We'll be there this Friday-Monday.

we go down there several times a year since it's only a couple hours away, and my father's from there so we still have a lot of relatives in the area. Yesterday I was actually out in the 'burbs with a couple of cousins working on family history stuff (well, they were - I was kind of out of it and hadn't done anything on it since our last meet-up. Felt like a real slacker...).

BUT - as far as the city goes, it depends on what you're interested in. Like other big cities, they have pretty much everything. I used to enjoy going to the Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Ave, but I haven't been there in ages. There's also the Museum of Contemporary Art further north just off Michigan. If you're into architecture, Chicago is world reknown for early 20th century architecture. The Chicago Architecture Foundation is kitty-corner from the Art Institute (other side of Michigan Ave and about a block further north). They (the architecture foundation) have tons of guided tours - walking, bus, and boat - and the docents are all excellent (or all those I've had - which is a lot!).

I used to love the Museum of Science and Industry when I was a kid - not as enamoured with it as an adult, but it can be an interesting place to spend time. Chicago Historical Society was also interesting - at least to me. A lot of tourists like Navy Pier, although that's really not my thing. There are lots of restaurants everywhere - some very well-known like Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill (kind of pricey but great Mexican food)

Lincoln Park is a tony neighborhood but very nice to walk around - and Lincoln Park Zoo is up there, which is free (although it might be too cold to do much walking around and going to the zoo).

We also love just getting on the El trains and riding them around the city. They're underground in some places, but most of the tracks are above ground, so you can see quite a bit. Like most cities, you pay a couple of bucks to enter the station and as long as you don't exit it, you could ride the trains around all day.

Field Museum is pretty well-known - it's a natural history museum (not really my thing - but as natural history museums go, it's a great one).

I'll try to think of some more things - there's a lot to do around there!