Diet Tips

Lately I've been...well, not dieting exactly. More like watching what I eat. This is because the last time I went to the doctor I found out that I'm about an inch shorter than I thought I was. Therefore my weight, which I thought was okay, turns out to be on the heavy side. So I'm trying to lose a few pounds.

Now, last winter I went on a full-fledged diet. I had a dieting blog, I kept track of my daily caloric and fat intake, I severely limited candy and fast foods. And it worked. I lost like 25 or 30 pounds. But now...enh. I'm far too lazy for that. Instead I'm doing little things like cutting out soda and eating healthier snacks. I'm doing other things too that I'm going to share here, so those of you who are lazy like me can do them too if you want.

1. You've heard about the eat-with-a-smaller-plate trick. You know, so it looks like your plate is full? I go even farther. I use a salad plate, which means that eventually I'll have to get up for seconds, a dessert fork so that I have to cut things into pieces to eat them, and sometimes even a highball glass instead of a big tumbler. I already have a small dining room table, so the illusion is complete. It's kind of like those illusion houses where everything is slightly smaller than normal to make you feel like a giant.

2. Processed foods are bad. Yes, I know. But I also know that after a long day at work I'm sure as hell not going to cook anything just for myself. It's too much trouble. Someday I'm going to write a cookbook filled entirely with one-person recipes, and market a line of single-serving sized cookware. Anyway, I wind up eating a lot of frozen dinners, and sometimes the lean versions are not that bad. Like Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets, for example. The Lean Pockets have less cheese and less grease than Hot Pockets, but other than that they're similar. So the Lean Pockets aren't as good for you as a salad and grilled chicken, but it won't kill you either.

Other things are not like that - for example, Lite Tostitos and regular Tostitos. The lite ones have an extra chemical that my friend Meghan pointed out to me. I forget what the chemical is, but I like the lite Totitos better than the regular ones, so whatever chemical is in there is really tasty. I try to eat them sparingly.

3. I persist in buying jeans that are a size too large for me. I suppose I could just change my habits, but I enjoy being able to say, "Whee, look how loose they are! I'm skinny!" This makes me happier and more willing to give up something yummy, because I feel like whatever I'm doing is working.

4. Yoplait Whips yogurt is really delicious. I like yogurt anyway, but this is different. They're a different consistency, and not as tart. If you don't like yogurt you should try these instead. The chocolate ones are especially good.

5. Don't drink soda! Your teeth will rot out. Seriously, I've seen pictures. I like Crystal Light and water instead. They sell Crystal Light in bottles now!

6. Determine your frame size. You can figure it out by comparing your height with your elbow measurements. I looked it up on the internet, and I have a medium-to-large frame. This is nice because then you can figure out what your weight is supposed to be based on your height and frame, and it's a little forgiving for those of us with bigger bones or wider hips. It also makes me happy that I'm not supposed to get down to a weight of 125 pounds like some little waif. I suppose you could also use Body Mass Index, but I've never really understood BMI and I'm not that good at math.

So that's what I'm doing. Hopefully it'll work out for me.

Ooh, new blog!

I've begun a new blog, which can be found here, to catalog my crafts projects. I'm calling it Crafty like a Fox.

That name is so damn clever.

Anyway, we'll see how much I use it. I may delete it and wind up back here, or I may use it a ton. I'm also thinking about making it a multi-member blog and letting other people post on it because that might be fun.

I already have pictures posted of my first beading project. Go ahead and look!

Tunak Tunak Tun!

Today was a long day. Not bad, per se, just long. I think it was because I woke up this morning convinced that it was actually Saturday, and that I could go back to sleep. That illusion was shattered when my alarm went off fifteen minutes later. Anywa, after work I required liberal doses of Tunak Tunak Tun to help me recover.

I so want a crushed-velvet duster.

Enh

Lately I've been feeling...well, "lonely" isn't the right word. Mike calls just about every night, and not a day goes by where I don't talk to at least one of my friends via phone or IM. Plus I get an earful daily at work from both teachers and students.

I guess I'm just bored. I mean, every day I go to work, spend eight hours there, come home exhausted, and then sit here. All of my college friends are scattered around Wisconsin, my boyfriend lives 40 minutes away, and my work friends all live in Illinois. I don't even go to church here - I attend church all the way in Milwaukee. I never bothered to set down roots here or get involved in the community since I knew I wouldn't be staying more than a year or two when I moved in. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, although I have wonderful friends who are ready to listen or help any time, and although my weekends are typically filled with social activity, I still miss having someone to go on impromptu dinners with, or get drinks with, or just come over to watch TV on a weeknight.

Although I am getting sick of sitting around my apartment all night, every night, I'm not very motivated to drag my shy self out to the bookstore or bar or parish in hopes of meeting people my age. I mean, I'm going to be moving in five months. Also, Cider's recent bout of health trouble has made me realize how attached I am to the cats, and since I'm away all day and usually all weekend (sometimes from Friday night to Sunday afternoon) I feel kind of honor-bound to spend some quality time with the cats on the weeknights. Once I move I plan to take some classes and get involved with some volunteer opportunities, but it's not worth it to do it here.

So that brings me to beading.

Yeah, I know, abrupt transition. I had bought some equipment last summer when I was bored back home but much of it got lost when I moved here. I found it again last night. It strikes me as a good thing to keep me busy on weeknights until the warm weather comes and I can start doing stuff outside again. I knit for this purpose as well, but I've found that I don't like to knit unless I'm watching TV or listening to the radio, and it's so rare that there's anything good on basic cable or the radio anymore. Beading takes more concentration.

So tomorrow I'm going to go to a hippie store at the mall and get some cat's eye beads and semiprecious stones so I can put my idle hands to good use. Maybe if I make enough stuff I can sell it at a rummage sale this summer.

I can't wait for spring.

Shirts and stuff

For Christmas my brother got me a gift certificate to the store for the online comic
Dinosaur Comics. I just got it yesterday.

Yeah, Rob's not the most punctual guy in the world.

Anyway, I ordered the awesomest shirt, which can be seen here. It's the third one from the top, the one with the astronaut. I'm going to wear it on Career Day!

I also ordered one of each of the stickers. I have big plans for them. Big, big plans.

Christmas in March is actually pretty cool.

Advice please!

Whenever I asked for advice in my Diary-X blog, I was never disappointed. I hope the same happens here!

At the end of second period as my kids were getting ready to go, one of them stood up from the table and I noticed a cell phone in her pocket. Now, I know this girl well and I know about her family, and I know that they're too poor to afford a land line, let alone a cell phone for their daughter. So I asked her where she got it.

"It's a nice cell phone," she said, taking it out of her pocket and looking at it admiringly.

"I'm sure it is," I said, "But where did you get it?"

"The store," she said brightly. I raised an eyebrow. We looked at each other for a few seconds before she burst out, "There were no cameras miss!"

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping for the best.

"I looked, there were no cameras. And I waited until the lady was looking away from me, and my mom was looking away from me, and I took it out of the lady's pocket and I put it into my pocket and I walked away."

I groaned. "That's stealing, you can't do that!"

"Finders keepers," she said huffily.

"Look, the police can find you," I said, and I began explaining about satellites and tracking, but she didn't understand it. The bell rang and she left.

Somehow it felt wrong to take the phone from her. I guess because it wasn't stolen on school property I felt like I didn't have the authority to take it.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I'm going to talk to her tomorrow morning and make her see that she can't keep it. But what should I tell her to do? If this was a suburb I'd make her march down to the police station and confess because the officer would probably let her off with a lecture. But here, well, they aren't big on lectures. I hate to make her take her punishment since she does have impaired judgement and probably doesn't realize how wrong her actions were. She can't go to the police station and say she found it, or took it from someone else who stole it because the police station is in a bad part of town. I don't particularly want to go there either, or get involved with handling stolen items. I don't want her to lie, so turning it over to me would be the most honest thing so that I can just say, "Hey, I think a kid stole this, will you return it?", but who would I give it to?

I never knew the black-and-white of right and wrong would get so damn grey.

To sleep, perchance to dream

I love sleep. Sleeping is my favorite hobby. I think I'm probably the lamest girlfriend in the world because a few weeks ago when Mike said, "So, what do you want to do?" I said, "How about a nap?"

I take birth control for medicinal purposes and, as anyone on birth control knows, you should take it at roughly the same time every day. My time is 10 PM. They say you should take it within an hour of your target time, but I was always a little stricter and tried to take it between 9:30 and 10:30. Recently I noticed that I was having trouble staying up until 9:30, so I switched the target time to 9 PM so I could take it and go to sleep at 8:30.

For three glorious days I was able to trick my body into getting nine hours of sleep a night...I'd go to sleep at 8:30 but wouldn't wake up until my normal 5:30 AM. I was so rested and refreshed, and I wished that I'd thought of this sooner.

Unfortunately, today my body caught up to me, and I woke up at 4:30.

4:30.

That is TOO DAMN EARLY to be awake. It's not even technically daytime...it's still dark outside. And for me, nothing hurts worse than a pre-dawn awakening.

So I guess it's back to staying up until 9:30 or 10. I know that at the age of 26 that shouldn't be such a crushing blow, but...it is, man. It is.

Strength

First off, inquiring minds wanted to know...I did get a can opener! No more opening cans with that triangular metal punch. I'm high-class now!

I used to tell people that I was a strong girl. It was true...I put myself through college and grad school by working as a nurses' aide and personal care worker. Never let anyone tell you that isn't hard, physical labor. Because I was the tallest aide and therefore had the best leverage I was given the male clients. My heaviest client weighed over 200 pounds...I know that's not much as far as a person's weight goes, but it is a lot to be lifting.

One morning I came in to find that my client had fallen out of bed, his body spastic and stiff as a board from spending the night on his belly on the hard dorm room floor. After checking to make sure he was okay I turned him over onto his back and lifted him slowly onto his feet. Once he was upright I let him bear his own weight for a moment before I lifted him higher and carried him over to his wheelchair. After I settled him in there he looked at me admiringly and said, "Man, you're strong."

I was so strong.

I'm not anymore. I realized that this afternoon. Mike and I were talking about bikes and biking. He's very enthusiastic about biking...he owns three bikes, has fancy shoes and shirts, and even bought a special mount so he could hang his bike artistically on the wall. I like to bike too, but my devotion to the sport only goes as far as to tell my parents, "No, don't throw my bike away! Keep it in the shed! I'm going to use it someday!"

Mike and I were talking about how we were going to go on bike rides this summer and he mentioned the idea of touring...taking long rides, a couple hundred miles over the course of two or three days. "It's something I've been wanting to do, and it would be cool if you were into it too, like if you think you would like it, because it's boring to do it alone."

I hesitated. "Well, I like the idea of it, of riding around and camping out and stuff. But really, I can't ride a hundred miles on my bike. My body just can't handle it." I'm not sure I could even ride ten miles on my bike. I could probably do five, if we traveled at speeds that qualify as glacial.

"Well, a lot of it is pyschological," he said. "Once you're pretty in-shape it's just determination to ride that far."

"Yeah, but I'm not at all in shape," I said glumly. And it's true. Although I'm not overweight, I'm not fit either.

So I need to exercise, more than Dance Dance Revolution or rolling around with my exercise ball. Come spring, I'm going to do more walking and biking. If I don't get a job doing summer school speech therapy I'd like to hunt for a job within biking distance of my apartment.

I want to be so strong I'll be able to arm-wrestle the burly Harley riders that frequent Wisconsin's bars in the summertime.

Oh who am I kidding? I'll be content if I can carry all my own boxes the next time I move.