Popcorn Elbow

My chiropractor says I have tennis elbow but I know that's not possible since I never play tennis. My best guess is that it's from the copious amounts of popcorn our little village of families here at camp have been making and consuming over recent weeks. We have had a Whirly-Pop for many years and have put it to regular use. We made a batch or 10 for dessert a few weeks back at our camp family dinner ... and the rest is history. Sharon asked to borrow ours and after less than a week I realized how often we made popcorn, so it became necessary for them to get one of their own. Family Dinner dessert called for popcorn again last week, so we were happy to oblige. This time it was Andy who requested to borrow our popper, "just overnight" was his plea. I generously offered for them to keep it for the whole weekend, but by Saturday evening I was feeling lost without my Whirly-Pop. JL told me I'd have to fight her for it, I said "tough luck, get your own Whirly-Pop!" They just might do that on their next trip down to Victoria. One of my favourite ways to make it is by adding a few teaspoons of sugar during the popping stage. It makes it so crisp and yummy, very similar to Kettle Corn. Another trick I found during my days as a spice dealer was to sprinkle Garam Masala mixed with sugar over hot buttered popcorn. I tried that a few times but found it to be too messy. Today's brain wave was to add the garam masala to the sugar as it was popping. Success! So tasty. I might have to give that a try with some of my other spices. BBQ Popcorn, anyone?

A snapshot of the newest game fad in our house.

Max is doing really well, and eager to start using the expansion sets.

Paul told him he has to beat him in a game first, but that's a long way off

as Paul is outscoring him by the hundreds.

But back to my elbow. It really has been hurting. Even the strain of lifting a jug of milk or getting the peanut butter out of the cupboard has been causing quite a bit of discomfort. I've been icing, stretching and massaging it as often as I can. It seems to have eased up in the past few days, just in time for my lower back to start acting up. I don't remember anything tweaking or straining my back, but yesterday afternoon it just started to hurt. I hobbled through my day today and got in to see my chiropractor this evening. She did some noticeable adjustments and said I should see improvement in the next 24-48 hours. This is nuts! I'm too young to be so creaky. Now that the sun is out more often and I have so much opportunity to get outside and exercise, I can't wait for these aches and pains to subside so I can get out there!

Speaking of nuts - we tried the snack maker pictured with the Whirly-Pop in the link above ... not worth it. We like our original much better.

Signing off now to refresh my ice pack and find some Advil.

Update: Paul took the Whirly-Pop to work today to sustain the staff through a morning meeting.