76 Classic - Groovy!

Retro Clippers!

Mark loves his #2 buzz cut and has worn that style for years.  As in MANY years.  In the beginning, he would have his hair done at the barber or salon.  Then he got a wild hair and said "honey, you can cut my hair and we'll save money!"  Um. Ok, I said I would give it a go.

MANY years later and I'm still cutting his hair. Every once in a while he would go have it done either because my wrists were acting up, no time or because he wanted that real close #2 cut. All the clippers we've gone through (a variety of them) had plastic #2 blades, which do not cut as close as a metal blade. So, Mark started researching metal blades and clippers.

Groovy baby, groovy!

Let me say here that Mark is the KING of research.  There isn't anything that he purchases, etc. without checking it out from top to bottom and inside out.  I actually don't mind this because I know he's trying to find the best deal - whether it is cost, functionality or whatever.  The only thing is when he says "hey hon, I want to show you something" and then plops a folder full of papers down, I know somethings up.

So last week he came home from work and said "hey hon, you know how I've been researching..." and then said he got something for me, well actually us.  I opened it up and it was the Oster 76 Classic Clippers, with a metal #2!  He was happy because of the metal #2 and knew that I would just LOVE the retro look of it - my style. Right on honey!

The clippers rock big time!  It has a bit more weight than our other clippers, but oh so smooth, quick and cuts a beautiful #2 without hassle.  Mark the Research King rocks!

Peace,
Rocki

Fill up your cart!

Rainbow of fruits and vegetables

Every week I do the bulk of the grocery shopping and about mid-week pick up more produce.  I don't know what I like the most - buying it, looking at the rainbow of beautiful colors or eating every morsel of it!

red grapes, baby cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, squash, avocados, apples & more!

We eat a large variety of greens, fruits and vegetables daily, along with beans, legumes and a few nuts. 

rainbow chard, brussels sprouts, kale, radishes, beets and bananas...and more!

After shopping, I wash and dry all the produce (there's more in the garage fridge in line to be washed).  Once good and dry I put some into green produce saver bags and the rest into produce containers, then rotate what might be left in the fridge. 

We always have a variety of berries, which I usually split in half.  Meaning I put some in the freezer and the rest in the fridge.  I typically wait until berries go on sale and then stock up.  Freezing them is much more economical than buying the little frozen bags of fruit at the store - and much tastier.  Mangos are great that way too.  Mmmmm...love mangos!

hanging produce basket

What doesn't go in the fridge I put in my hanging basket and on my handy dandy movable island cabinet.  Once the bananas are ripe, I peel and put them into a freezer ziplock bag for our green smoothies, "ice cream" or other yumminess .  We go through a LOT of bananas.  And yes, there is some in the freezer besides what you see here.

Raw Food - oh so good!

I actually stood on a step stool to take this pic.  If I had everything washed at once, I would need to take a panographic view!  Actually, I would need a longer counter!

Hope I tempted you to raid your fridge or counter for some delicious produce.  If you don't have any on hand, well just hop in the car (or bike, or skate or walk...), go directly to your nearest market and fill up your cart.

Peace,
Rocki

Rocki's Raw Vegan Lasagna

Raw Vegan Lasagna
 

I made this yummylicious raw vegan lasagna the other night entirely from scratch and it was SO good we almost licked the dish clean!  I should have written down the recipe as I went, but most of the time I just roll with wherever my mind takes me. Which can be interesting at times.
 


Beautiful raw vegan lasagna layers
 

I didn't layer it like a traditional lasagna as I wanted different ingredients for each layer, except for my delicious homemade sauce and zucchini "noodles".  I created the zucchini noodles with my mandolin - love that thing! 

Fresh spinach, baby portobellos, olives, garlic... just look all the beautiful colors in this dish!  That is one thing that I just love about the way we eat... not only is it tasty and good for you, but is pleasing to your eyes too.

Simple "cheesy" topping
 

The "cheesy" topping is a mix of pine nuts, garlic and nutritional yeast.  It has a Parmesan flavor to it.

I need to write this down now while it is still fresh in my mind. 

Peace,
Rocki

Bilateral Total Mastectomy Photos - 6 Month Post-Op

Bilateral Total Mastectomy Photos - Post Op

 

This is another update for my online open journal in hopes of helping others that have to, unfortunately, go through the same thing and looking for information - as I did. 

 

Below are three photos of my bare chest showing the healing process to date.  There is really nothing to it, no blood or gore, just my bare empty chest with scars.  Like last time, I just want to give a brief little warning for those who may be a little squeamish, etc.  The photos are of just my bare chest, but for my 12 month post-op, or before, it will be entirely of me as I'm comfortable in my own skin.  You can find more photos and/or info in the top tab: Breast Cancer Survivor 

 

Photo's start below:

 

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Bilateral Total Mastectomy - post-op 6 months

Let me start by saying everybody heals differently and I heal slow.  Most of the scaring is still an ugly mean red and wider, while the rest is a light to pale pink and thinner.  The 61 staple scars are barely visible now.  In fact, some are gone.  My left side is more caved in while the right is flat.  The right armpit area still has a poofy lump (not cancer lump, just a lump area) but has gone down some.  It gets sore if over used, but nothing like a few months ago.  I'll find out Monday at my appointment the status on this.

Right side

My right side is where the nodes were removed and that area is healing quite nicely.  I'm not having any problems with that area, other than the lumpy part.  The drainage tube scars on both sides are a pale pink and barely noticeable now. 

Left side

Up until over a week ago, it had been a couple months without any pain issues.  But in my left chest wall area I'm having odd pain that goes into my back and left shoulder blade area.  The shoulder part feels more like bone pain while the other pain is, well, pain.  I do have mild degenerative arthritis in my hands and wrists, so not sure if that affects the shoulder area too (?).  I tried to research this, but all I came up with was heart issues and I seriously doubt that's what it is.  As funny as this may sound, I'm healthy otherwise, plus I eat a vegan diet (raw vegan as 4 months ago).  As with the right lumpy area, I will find out if this is related to post-op issues or another issue.

For all my wonderful online pals, customers, friends and fellow Survivors that have contacted me and asked how I'm doing and when am I going to post more pics - thank you!  I've been back to my "normal" (whatever that is) self and activities for a while now.  The only limitations really is I can't have blood drawn or blood pressure taken from my right arm - ever.  To sum it up, I'm doing AWESOME!  Well, other than the issues mentioned above AND finally over the acute upper respiratory infection, but hey... I've been through worse. 

And yes, I'll have more pictures than the ones posted here as I'm going to have professional pictures taken in a few months.  I'm hoping sometime this summer - and some will include Mark.   I can hardly wait!

Thank you all for your continued love & support for not only me, but for everyone that has to deal with this horrid disease.

Peace & Love,
Rocki

Brave, Bold & Buzzed!

Buzzed Hairstyle

It's February.  My 6 month post-bilateral mastectomy, without reconstruction mark - and all is well.  I was going to have another new tattoo done this month, but due to being nasty sick I have to wait until next month.  Oh and this coming weekend Mark is going to take more photos of my healing process for my mastectomy section of the blog, which I'll post later next week.

"Why the buzz cut Rocki?" As you can tell from my blog my hair has been short for quite some time.   Years ago it it used to be super long, down to my waist. In fact, when I was a kid it was so long that I literally sat on it.  My mom would put it in a bun each morning before school and I would take it down by recess time.  A tom-boy just doesn't look right with a big ol'bun!

My hair is thick and wavy in spots - and unruly because of cowlicks.  When it was long I basically just wore it as is - mainly because I never had the knack of fixing it up.  I'm simple in that respect and love low maintenance hairstyles.  I actually used to dream of having very short hair, but wouldn't dare do it!  Obviously, over the years that started happening as I was cutting it shorter and shorter.

Love my buzz cut!

My long hair was my safety net.  It hid me, so I thought.  I felt vulnerable if I pulled it back into a ponytail. It exposed far too much of me.  I didn't want people to see me so vividly.  I was a very timid person with low self-esteem and lacking confidence.

Then life started to throw stuff at me.  Actually, it started when I was young.  Over the years with all the crap that has been thrown at me left and right, I just couldn't understand why.  I'm a good person and felt I didn't deserve what all I was receiving.  Funny, but since following the Buddhist path for several years now, I understand it as karma.  Then I start thinking...what kind of crappy person was I in my previous lives?! LOL! 

Rocki's Brave Bold Buzz!

With each punch and kick that knocked me down, it toughened me up, I fought back and got right back up for the next round (which is why one of my docs years ago tagged me with "Rocky Balboa") - and I continue to do so!  I honestly believe all that crappy bad stuff was meant to happen to make me strong enough to handle what I just went through.  Even with Mark's unconditional love and support, if the breast cancer crap happened years ago, I would be handling this a lot differently - as in hiding in a corner somewhere. 

I've wanted to do a buzz cut for years and would joke with Mark about it, but deep down inside I really wanted to do it.  Just didn't have the guts and was afraid what others might think.  So now I did it and absolutely LOVE how it makes me feel!  Without sounding cocky, others can think what they want as that is their right, but it doesn't matter to me.

Here I am today.  Braver than I've EVER been in my life.  More bold than I ever could have imagined.  Still strong enought to deal with life's punches.  Confident with the person I am, as is.  With or without hair - or boobs.

So you still want to know why I buzzed my hair?

Peace & Love,
Rocki

Valentine's Day in the Raw

Raw Valentine's Day

Yep.  Despite being sick with an acute upper respiratory infection (doc said up to 14 days to get over it, now on day 14 and feeling better every day), we celebrated Valentine's Day in the raw.  WAIT!  Before you hit the brakes, click the back button and go bleach your eyes, its not what you think - lol!  *Raw* as in a raw vegan dinner. 

There, now you can relax.

Compressed Wild Mushrooms & Avocados with Red Pepper Coulis

I came across this recipe via Pinterest and just had to try it.  Oh and let me just say here that Pinterest is awesome!  I love that not only you can find pictures like cute & funny animals, humor, tattoo's, Breast Cancer Awareness, hair styles, clothes, travel ideas, etc., but food too.  LOTS of food!  A variety of food for every taste.  Let's just say recipes out the wazoo.

Raw Vegan Dish with Carrot Hearts and Steamed Brussels Sprouts

I pretty much followed the recipe by Raw Food Rehab, but did alter it just a tad.  In a word about the taste: awesome!  Preparation, etc. was easy, so I really liked that part too.

Since it was Valentine's Day and me being sick, I wanted to at least make it a little more Valentine's'ish.  Yep, that's a word.  So I *tried* making little hearts out of carrots (yep, Pinterest).  I'm glad the kids (our 3 little dogs) love carrots because between the 4 of us, we ate 2 of them while I tried to make those darn little hearts.  While some of them looked like they were shot by a drunk cupid, I did manage to create a few good ones.



Simple Salad with Hearts

We usually have a large salad along with the rest of our raw vegan meal, but I figured that the mushroom dish was going to be rather filling, so I made small salad and tossed the best of the drunk cupid hearts and also some lightly steamed fresh brussels sprouts (not raw, but not *cooked* either).



Raw Chocolate Banana with Raspberries

You can't have a Valentine's Day meal without a dessert - especially a chocolate one.  So I whipped up a little dessert with frozen bananas, raw cacao, vanilla and fresh raspberries.  It was DEEEEELISH!  I really need to get some better serving dishes.  That plastic one has been around the block several times.  It's a wine glass, but we don't drink.  I use them for this type of thing.  We're just not real fancy here.

See?  Being in the raw on Valentine's Day wasn't that scary, now was it!

Peace and ♥
Rocki