Snow, snow go away. Come again never.

More snow. And even more expected. I'm not enjoying the fact that all of my vacation time is being wasted on inclement weather and risky travel conditions. If the office wasn't so far from my house and if I-95 wasn't the only route, I'd definitely be in today. This really has been a pretty terrible winter for New England, at least in my opinion.

Jesse Lacey knows me too well.

The big controversy flooding social media sites today seems to be the Biggest Loser Finale. Apparently the winner lost a whopping 60% of her body weight, down to 105lbs from 260lbs. That is insane. It's painful how thin she looks. I'm sure I don't need to provide a picture or article link because it's everywhere, you all know what I'm referencing. If not, you obviously have internet access if you're reading blog posts and can just as easily tap into the handy-dandy google machine.

I also happened across this not-so-little piece on orthorexia, which I think it's relevant to this whole ordeal. It's worth reading in its entirety, despite its length. Orthorexia is becoming an epidemic in this country, and it just isn't recognized as a problem. Not all sufferers appear physically unhealthy, but the mental struggle is on par with a DSM-recognized, diagnosable eating disorder. I love that Amanda describes orthorexia as the "sneakiest food disorder." It's almost encouraged in our culture with all of these ridiculous restrictive diets and obsession with thinness. I think a lot of people could also learn a lot from the non-rule rules she provides at the end of the post. Overall, a well-written, thoughtful, and educational article that aims to bring awareness to a serious problem that's too often overlooked.

In my laziness after shoveling snow and then food into my face for a combined 3 hours--yes, that's 90 minutes dedicated to each activity. The snow was wet, heavy, and made me RAVENOUS--I found this hilarious list of The 17 Reasons I'm an Undateable Girl.

TGFI: Thank God for Internet - Making single life acceptable

What I'm reading on a Wednesday

No work for me today. The office is closed, but I was (again) expected to drive to one of the group homes to work for the day or take a forced vacation day. Considering it takes 30 minutes to get to the nearest house on a normal day, I didn't feel like finding out how long it would have taken today. When precipitation falls, New Englanders forget how to operate a vehicle. Clearly, I took today off. It's not even the end of January, and I've already wasted two vacation days to snow. And I just found out they are predicting more snow for next week. Not to mention it feels like -9°F with the windchill today in RI. Come on, winter! Enough already!

Since I didn't have to get up for any particular reason today, I actually slept in until 9:15am, which is unheard of for me. I'm such an insomniac, but my body and mind apparently needed a rest. It felt awesome.

My day today has really consisted of playing Candy Crush on my iPad, an hour of shoveling, a makeshift kettlebell workout at home, and marathoning episodes of Portlandia and Best Ink. Nothing exciting, so I thought I'd share some articles that caught my attention over the last week.

How to Make Sweet Potato Caramel via Bon Appetit

Who knew that healthy, refined sugar-free caramel was awaiting me right on my countertop at almost all times? I definitely need to give this a shot. Worst case scenario, I've cooked some sweet potatoes.

4 Natural Sweeteners That Are Actually Healthy via eatlocalgrown

I sometimes engage in an internal battle about my daily use of stevia in my coffee, tea, or food. Realistically, I use at least two servings of stevia a day, some days more than that. I know it's not as bad as Splenda, but I really feel like I should try to cut it out completely. It's nice to read some positive potential side effects of stevia. I still want to cut back, but maybe there are definitely worse things I could be putting into my body. Like heroin.

10 Benefits of Yoga via yoganonymous

Just more justification for my yoga obsession. I seriously cannot say enough about how much my body and mind has changed for the better since I traded in running and kickboxing for yoga. Miracle exercise, I tell you.

A Horrifying Picture of What Sleep Loss Will Do To You via Huffington Post

Okay, this article freaks me out. I need to start getting more sleep ASAP.

It's a snow day!

Winter storm Hercules left me working from home. Woo hoo! I was so happy to not have to drive 20 miles to the office, plus driving around to the houses and another 20 miles back home.

The major downside to a snow day is shoveling...especially when it's single digit temperatures with a wind chill of -10. 

As you can tell, I didn't want to venture outside...

It wasn't so terrible when I was actually outside because I was powering through shoveling, but once the cold hit me, it was bad. Like really bad. 

After an hour of nonstop shoveling, I gave up and went inside. That's when the torture started. You know when you lose feeling in your hands and all you want is for the sensation to come back because the awkward numb fumbling is just too much to handle? Yeah, we'll this time I would have preferred to remain in that state than endure the aftermath. The pain of the feeling returning to my hands and fingers was unbearable.

The agony eventually subsided, thankfully. But wait, dear readers, that is not the end of my painful saga. After working up an appetite from hauling snow, I decided to cut up some red cabbage to sauté with leftover pulled pork. Bad idea. I sliced the very tip of my index finger off. Talk about a bloody mess. Why weren't my fingers numb when I actually needed them to be?! 

To make myself feel better, I baked some corn muffins from a box. 

Baking is therapeutic. 

Then, I got a phone call from one of the guys on my caseload at 3:30 saying he was in a rotten mood because he was bored and wasn't getting picked up until 4pm and wanted to go out for coffee. Believe it or not, these are real daily problems in my position that can lead to a more serious issue. What is my life?

I'm posting a picture of cats doing yoga because it makes me laugh and I need that.

I had plans more a more detailed post today, but as you can tell, today's happenings weren't exactly in my favor. Not a bad day by any means, just a day where I'm clearly off my A-game.