Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I'm a Plumber, Woo!

Although, a plumber may mock me for the problem in the first place.  I put a bucket under that "U" shaped pipe under the sink and pull it off.  It looked like a cap.  It took me a second to realize that it was hardened grease.  Mmhmm.  Thank you, "experts", for saying to wash down grease with cold water so it hardens early in the event that it clogs the drain.  It made it easy to clean, and now it works great again!  At the same time, and "expert" would never tell you  to pour grease down the drain as it is ;)

Another thing, and maybe I'm just falling off my rocker here, but I miss courtship.  You know, new love...flirting, eyeing, asking yourself "does he really like me."  I hate to be cliche, but there's no mystery!  Yes, I know he likes me.  He married me, for crying out loud, but there *could* be more mystery than that... spontaneity, I mean!  I know we don't have money to go out for a night on the town.  Even when we do go out, there's no holding hands or "I love yous".  We drive to the park, walk around, then go home.

I still get butterflies, but I just don't know if he does anymore.  I still try to be attentive and affectionate, and all I get home after I've been working since 7am on Saturday is, "can I use your phone?  My phone won't work."  I try to bat my eyes and I get, "what are you staring at?"  I try to be silly and poke fun, and he gets all offended or acts like I'm bothering him.

Sometimes he'll walk up behind me while I'm doing dishes and give me a kiss, a moment, but not nearly as often as I'd like.  And then he wonders why I'm grouchy, etc.  I don't care about sex (to an extent, of course).  I care about the little things.  I like when he just holds me and kisses me on the forehead.  I like when he rubs my back, but I have to beg for hugs, quiet kisses, and as we're falling asleep he rolls over so I can rub his back.

I know there's a point where you get comfortable and the excitement goes away, but I'm not even talking about the excitement...like I said, I want the little things!  It sounds so stereotypical woman of me to be saying all of this, but these are the things he used to do and was very passionate about doing.  We don't just sit and stare into each other's eyes.  I stare when he's sleeping.  I notice how he's changed over the years, both physically, and mentally.

I can't help but feel that my weight has affected the way he thinks of me, because I know it's certainly affected the way I think about myself.  I know he said he loved me before I lost all of the weight the first time, but coming back to TN and seeing me thinner, I know it's been hard on both of us to see me heavy again.  It's so much harder to lose the weight this time.

Maybe I'm just crazy, and maybe marriage really is a boring and awful as people make it sound.  I try to work at it and show him that I love him.  Everything I do is devoted to him and us.  It's the only thing that keeps everything else around me okay and tolerable.  I really think that love is all that matters.  Yes, you need money to function in this world, but focusing on your relationship and love for one another keeps you mentally prepared to work through the short comings.  When you devote your time to making another person happy, it spreads and you can't help but be happy, too.  As for him, he's more worried about being able to buy this action figure or that action figure.  He's so materialistic!  Maybe that isn't a thought process, but a personality difference?

Maybe I'm being selfish because he buys all of these material things and I feel I can't because of my debts I'm paying off.  But, he has debts, too.  Maybe money really is the problem here.

Is that the Mad Hatter, I see?!

And, of course, as I start crying and feeling down about the whole thing, he comes home and kisses me hello.  WHY does he only ever do that when I'm ready to crash and burn?!  He doesn't even know about these issues because they feel petty and ridiculous so I don't want him to worry about it.  Yet, here I am ranting to the public.  I did state in my first post that this is my place to rant and sort through my thoughts, though.  Welcome to my mind!

*sigh*  I think I've been stuck inside too much today.  I'm going to finish laundry and put together my recipe binder.

Sorry for the rant.

NOT How I Wanted My Day Off

I  came home yesterday to a slow draining kitchen sink.  When both sides have water in them, they always drain slowly so I figured I would let it do it's thing.  Ryan woke me up this morning to tell me there was water in the floor.  The slow draining water was draining into the dishwasher and the dishwasher ran out of room so it ran into the floor!  I suppose this is better than it running out of the pipes under the sink and soaking everything.  Now I have to figure out where the clog is and WHY it suddenly decided to do this to me!  I have a feeling this will be a job bigger than a baking soda/vinegar fix >.<

All of you online bankers, this is for you!  When you swipe your card as credit at a gas station, it soft posts as $1.00 until it goes through.  Our budget is TIGHT.  It drives me crazy when that $1.00 sits there and I don't know how much money to subtract in place of that dollar because Ryan can't remember how much gas he put in the car.  Also, the dates get screwed up depending on when the card was swiped and when it goes through.  It's been almost a WEEK and the soft post is just sitting there.  What's taking so long?!?!?!

I guess that's all I have for now.  I'm off to fix the sink/dishwasher, and out to get stuff to make macaroni and cheese for work tomorrow!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Quiet Sunday at Home

I woke up at 8, had breakfast, and got caught up on blogs that I follow that I forgot about during this week's adjustment period.  After waking Ryan and making a light lunch, I began working on small projects I've been wanting to tackle.

I keep finding earrings and jewelry that I forget I have.  I don't have anywhere to hang them so they are often pushed to the side, even some of my favorite pieces.  Diane got me an earring tree for Christmas last year, and while it's awesome, and I love it, it's just too small to accommodate all of it.  I sewed a wall hanging with a meshy fabric, very antique looking, for my hook earrings.  I will be using the tree for earrings with backs.  I am going to work on necklace and bracelet storage/display next.  I know what I want to do...I just have to do it.

I had apples sitting on the counter from forever ago that are still good.  Apples are amazing like that.  As long as they haven't been bruised, they last a damned long time!  I didn't feel like making pie, partly because I'm too lazy to make and roll the dough...not even that...cleaning the counter, again, after rolling the dough and trying to get the stuck flour off!  Bowls are easy and I wanted apple something, then I thought "Muffins!!"  I've been craving muffins, but didn't know what kind so I googled and found this recipe:  http://bakingbites.com/2009/02/apple-cinnamon-muffins/

I added 2 tsp cinnamon instead of 1 1/2.  Truth be told, I'm a cinnamon fiend so I would add even more next time...and less sugar.  I might play with whole wheat vs all purpose.  They were still delicious and had plenty of soft apple pieces per bite.  They could even pass for caramel apple muffins thanks to the brown sugar and vanilla.  They're awesome.

Ryan found a coffee pot on Amazon for $10 so Thursday morning (pay day), I'm ordering one!!!  I guess I'll be making lattes for now...after work.  I don't have time for all of that first thing in the morning.

Ryan is raving on and on about how good dinner was, so I guess I'll share what I made.  It's stupid easy...no joke.  I prefer to use all natural/organic/yada yada products, but typical commercial brands will work.  It's not the healthiest, so I had smaller portions...we've talked about this before.

I don't know what to call it:

Ingredients:

Chicken cut of choice.  I had tenderloins on hand, but I've used breast before, slicing it as needed...if needed...I suppose it depends on how much crust to chicken ratio you want ;)

A container (tupperware, ftw) with ranch dressing in it for dipping

Container with crushed croutons (typically bread crumbs, but I was out), parmesan cheese (2:1.5 ratio ish crumbs to cheese), and a small bit of flour (this I made up tonight...maybe this was the secret ingredient for hubby's raving??).

Method:
Heat oven to 425ish degrees (ish because my oven is stupid)
Dip chicken in ranch dressing.
Dip ranched dipped chicken into crouton mixture.
Place coated chicken on a baking sheet that you've greased with your product of choice (I rubbed olive oil on foil since it always sticks....it didn't stick tonight, though!!!!)
Bake about 20 minutes.  I use a meat thermometer to check the temperature...because my oven is stupid.

That's it, but it's apparently amazing.  I'm not gonna lie...the dressing makes the chicken ridiculously tender, and I feel better baking than frying it.  I've also made it using barbecue sauce instead of ranch.  It was interesting, but still delicious.

I am looking forward to roasted brussels sprouts tomorrow!  We had carrots tonight...boo.  I only eat them for variety and because they're good for me.  I wouldn't touch them if it weren't for that...although, they're pretty good after running them through my juicer :)

Oh, I also FINALLY hemmed the curtain in the bathroom.  It was a floor length curtain that my mother in law gave us and it fit the colors in the bathroom, but the window is a half window above the toilet.  For months (since January????) I've had it held up with hair clips to keep it off the toilet paper and out of the way.  Now I have my hair clips back :)

My father in law dropped by today, too.  It's always nice to see him <3

Right now, Micah is over and the guys are watching Forward Unto Dawn.  I guess I'm off to work on my jewelry organization project and to wash dinner dishes...if I can get this cat off my lap.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

What A Week!

I have really enjoyed Bristol so far...well, for the most part.  I like my coworkers.  I don't like the pain in my feet!  They hurt...bad.  They burn and feel bruised.  It still hurts to walk and I haven't worked today and I've barely been up and about!  It's awful, and I can't afford the shoes I need.  I don't know if we'll be able to afford to stay in the house we're renting, for that matter, and the holidays are fast approaching.  I'm trying to stay up beat about it all, but it really is getting me down.

I bought tennis shoes a while back, and they felt so comfortable in the store.  I was able to workout no problem.  They are apparently horrible for standing 8-10 hours a day.  I bought some insoles and they did a little better...not much at all, though.  I wore Ryan's converse which are normally horrible on my feet, but they did better than my tennis shoes!  I've been coming home every night, soaking and massaging my feet, but it doesn't do any good.  They just hurt.  It probably doesn't help that I'm overweight.

I've had some difficulty adjusting to the random schedule and find myself waking at the same time anyway.  I did take advantage of not having to be in until 10:30 on Thursday and slept until 8:45.  That was nice.  We had a mandatory staff meeting at 7:45 wednesday night so I didn't get home until after 9.  I got off at 5 so I explored and made myself familiar with the surrounding areas of the city until I got bored and went back to work.  I sat in the car until it was time for the meeting to start.  There is even less to do in Bristol than in Johnson City.

The perks of the new schedule is working Saturdays.  This wouldn't normally be a good thing, but we close at 12 so it's not like I've wasted much of my day.  I have Monday off since I'm working next Saturday so I'll finally get some me time AND girl time in the same day :D  I am impatiently looking forward to both.

I have managed to stay on top of house cleaning even with the odd schedule.  I didn't clean Thursday night since we went to the grocery store and didn't get back until midnight, but it didn't take long to straighten back up.  I cleaned old stuff out of the fridge as I put new stuff in, but was too tired to toss the food in the garbage and clean the containers so I left them sitting out.  The milk formed a leak and I found it this morning...all over the counter.  I am shocked that it didn't smell, but I was thoroughly disgusted when I picked it up to toss it and there was a puddle under it.  I had to remove everything from the counter and wipe it clean.  This turned out to be a good thing, though, as it gave me the idea to rearrange the kitchen.  I also realized that I don't use the slow cooker as much as I'd like so I put it and the extra blender in the cabinet which freed up some counter space.

Yesterday morning proved to be a gorgeous drive.  There was a thick fog over the lack and river with the sun shining through.  I also have time to drink my coffee on the way to work.  Or at least, it *did*.  I broke my coffee pot this morning when I was cleaning it.  I accidentally dropped a pot in the sink on a glass.  The glass didn't break, but the coffee pot that took the indirect hit broke.  The glasses we got as a wedding gift break super easy, except this morning when it most definitely should have broken.  So upset!  I've had that coffee pot for YEARS.  My dad got me a coffee pot/espresso machine combo for Christmas the first year Ryan and I were together...partly with selfish intentions as he had recently grown to love coffee.  But the fact remains, the machine still works great!  I don't know what I'd do if the machine itself broke.  I can replace the pot relatively cheaply.

Tonight's dinner was fun.  We made enchiladas and wet burritos.  I threw together some rice.  I sauteed uncooked rice in some butter, and when it browned a bit, I put it in the rice cooker with some salsa and taco seasoning.  It taste just like the boxed stuff, but much better for you without all of the preservatives!  It even had that semi dry texture like you find in restaurants.  I guess the precooking did that.  No complaints here!

We were going to make fajitas, but didn't think about it until last minute so I'm off to put some steak, onions, and peppers in a marinade for tomorrow's dinner!  Mexican weekend, woo!

I hope you guys have had an awesome week!  I hope to be more regular in posting now that I'm over my scheduling issues.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Productivity, FTW!

I've had a wonderful weekend!  It's been productive and busy, but fun and relaxing at the same time.  I haven't thoroughly enjoyed a weekend in a VERY long time.  It's been a lovely way to prepare for tomorrow.

Friday night we spent the evening putting the finishing touches on cleaning the living room and putting things where they go, or finding things homes.  My sister in law gave us her old desk so she could free up room in their apartment, and since our old desk was beyond needing replacement, we happily took it, and are very thankful for her generosity.  Really, we're near broke with all of our bills, and she buys me coffee.  I owe her big time <3

Saturday I slept in, ran errands (breakfast, then grocery) in preparation for our mini Halloween party.  It was an excuse for us to hang out in costumes.  It wasn't really a party party or anything.  I didn't have a costume so I took my friend's lead and put on a corset, skirt, and did my hair and makeup all crazy.  Some people left around 10 to head to New Beginnings, others stayed later.  We bought simple foods so I didn't have to slave over the stove, which was awesome.  Ryan helped to clean up food, and I cleaned up the dishes this morning.  We combined our efforts to take down our Halloween decorations.  I kind of want to make silly little November crafts...things like you make in elementary school because the only decorations we have are little gourds.  2" diameter little.  

Today was spent cleaning, napping, hanging out with Diane and Nathaniel, finishing the desk repairs (it was poorly assembled), setting up our new computer space, and making dinner.  We are absolutely loving the new desk space.  It's much more sturdy and has more room so it looks well organized and put together.  I will also have legitimate desk space for studying when I go back to school.  The most uncomfortable room in the house suddenly became quite comfy.  The cat even likes it better.

Ryan wanted chicken pot pie so that is in the oven right now.  I am going to try my hardest to clean as I go as I know it will prove to be most efficient when my time will be consumed with studying.  In efforts to start on the right foot, I filled the sink with hot soapy water and dropped my used dishes in as I finished with them during dinner prep.  At the end of cooking, I washed, rinsed, put them in the drainer, and wiped down the counters while dinner was (and still is) cooking.  Now all I'll have to do is wash the plates/bowls we use for eating, woo!

Kitten has been over the top adorable today.  It's ridiculous.  She has been following us around the house and sleeping close by, whether it's on the couch, the kitchen floor, the back of the computer chair, in the floor by the desk.  It doesn't matter.  When she isn't sleeping, she's begging for attention.  So cute!

Diane had a dream that Ryan bought me four puppies.  I'd be happy with just one!  In fact, I think that's all I could handle.  But, it was a dream.  No puppies here :(

I've been having weird dreams this weekend.  They combine Dr. Who style directing and character profiles (not the exact characters), coworkers, and unfamiliar buildings.  It's all very weird and disturbing.  I'll be glad to get tomorrow over with.  

As far as eating goes, it seems that when I follow my calories to a T, I won't lose much if anything, but in splurging during Halloween and loosely logging my food, I've suddenly dropped a pound or so.  I triple and quadruple checked the scale, putting in different positions, on different surfaces, and it reads the exact same, within .2 lbs, two days in a row.  Strange, but I'm not complaining :)  

I hope you guys had a good weekend!  Here's to an awesome week!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

May the Force Be With You!

Or, me, rather.  I spoke to the Dean of Admissions today.  He was so nice and made me feel super welcome.  I've never felt that at ETSU.  He said that the fun of his job is getting to evaluate peoples' situations.  I'm apparently not the only person in the situation I'm in.  That's truly comforting.  I have to pay off my things at ETSU to get my transcripts transferred.  Depending on how many grades transfer, I could start out as a sophomore instead of a freshman.  This means less money spent toward a private school tuition, and less time spent getting my degree from them.  

As soon as I arrived to the campus, I loved it.  Everything is so small and cozy.  I asked how many students there were.  Roughly 500.  LOVE IT.  The campus is small so there will be no more of this 20 minute walk to class nonsense.  No more fighting for parking.  All of the staff were super friendly and helpful.  I also never experienced that at ETSU with exception of a select few professors, but never someone in administration.  

He said that even if my grades aren't that great at ETSU (depression and lack of knowing where your heading really kills your momentum and motivation), he looks at a person's situation and gets to know the students better.  I may or may not have starting tearing up talking about wanting to work with horses.  I'm such a pansy :P  He said I would be one of those cases where he would pass me through even if my grades were sub par since I had an obvious passion, drive, and goal for being a student there.  He also stated that my writing seemed very eloquent in our email correspondence so writing skills and critical thinking shouldn't be a problem as far as their standards go.  I didn't realize they were a selective, tiny, private school six and a half years ago when I applied.  I just applied because they had a program I was looking at during the time frame, but I've told you about all of that.

There are very few buildings, and they are very close together.  The architecture is absolutely gorgeous.  I love old buildings.  So awesome.  The campus itself is pretty.  I hate being part of a school with such a large student population like at ETSU.  It was part of what made it miserable for me.  I look forward to getting to know the professors and students who will be with me during my journey there.  There is a 10:1 student/professor ratio.  The Dean's psychology class only has 3 people in it!  Talk about one on one discussion and learning :D  I used to think I liked being passed over in the larger lecture type classes, but I really do learn better when I'm more involved.

I get to go to the barn on Saturday to watch people audition for scholarships.  I didn't realize you could get scholarships based on horseback riding.  So cool!  

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I just want to get everything situated so I can start going!!!!!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

I apologize for not being quite as chatty.  I've just been comfortable and chill the past few days.  Well, not really, but I've fallen into that "whatever" mood that hits every once in a while.  One of those moods where things are going to happen and I'm choosing to not stress over it because it essentially doesn't matter, especially when I compare my current happenings to those around me.

Monday was lovely...mostly.  The Nova was acting strange...the idle was too fast and wouldn't drop, even when putting the car into gear.  Ryan thought it was overheating so I went home to get him, he dropped me off at work, and he took the Camry to work.  He picked me up at 5:30 and I suggested we go to the store "now, since we're already out and about" because I hate having to go back out to the store after I get home and relaxed, and we usually end up being out too late.  When we got home, I put away groceries and started on dinner.  I got jalapeno juice in the cut on my finger (chef's knife got me while doing dishes Sunday) so he offered to take over chopping.  While dinner cooked we dismantled the old computer desk and I cleaned the carpet.  We then ate dinner and Ryan asked if he could help with dinner, dishes, or something.  I'm not sure where this sudden need to spoil me came from, but I wasn't complaining.  The kitchen was already 95% clean thanks to trying to clean as we used dishes, and we had clean clothes for work so I told him not to bother with the laundry.  I just wanted to spend some time with him and watch Dr. Who.  It was sweet of him to ask, though.

I try to keep in mind that he puts in his share of chores.  Household tasks often feel one sided, so I try to remind myself that he participates in ways he knows how.  He feeds the cats, puts up dinner for next day leftovers, takes out the trash, and rolls it out to the road, etc.  He helps to pick up dishes around the house, and if I feel overwhelmed with dishes, laundry, cooking, etc, he's always willing to help.

Yesterday, we thought we were going to have another Nova issue, but we decided that the cold was to blame for Monday's episode so Ryan went ahead and took the Nova without any further problems.  He was napping when I got home so I tried to take advantage of napping time also, but couldn't sleep so I got back up and took a shower while he slept.  I woke him so we could figure out what we wanted for dinner and so we could put up our Halloween decorations.  Yea, we're running late this year.  We were going to put up the new desk in the office, but decided against it after eating dinner as we were both fatigued.  I haven't been sleeping well, as usual, and we've both just worn ourselves out running all over the place.

Last night, as I began to work on dinner, I grabbed our chef's knife to chop some broccoli.  I said something like, "I should sharpen this real quick.  It felt pretty jagged when it got me the other day", referring to cutting my finger while doing dishes.  I realized after he walked away, nauseous, that I should have better chosen my words.  Now I sound like a serial killer.  Awesome.

I have two and a half days until the weekend.  It will drag anxiously as I prepare to go to Bristol on Monday.  I will miss my coworkers, but change is upon us and I must embrace it!

I hope you guys have a happy and safe Halloween!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

I Think I'm Feeling Better

Thankfully my throat isn't sore anymore.  I'm just a bit fatigued and stuffy, but that seems to be the worst of it so far.  I am trying to steer clear of dairy (hahahahahaha, oh wow, unintentional pun, sorry) since it thickens mucous and makes it harder to breathe...harder to get rid of once it thickens up, might I add.  I think I'm doing fairly well for keeping it away, though :)

I wish I could consider this good news, but I'm finally getting a desk at work.  For the past six months (has it been that long already?!) I've been working from a counter top, crowded, and unorganized.  Today, I get a desk!  I can't consider it good news, though, because of the situations that lead me here.  One of my coworkers is no longer with the us.  I just realized that this makes it sound like a tragic accident happened or something.  He's perfectly alive and well.  He just isn't working at this company any more.  Things will be different, but, unfortunately, that's just how things go.

I also have a fun surprise coming for tomorrow's post.  *I* think it's exciting anyway.  You guys might not care :P

Can't wait!

Enjoy your Thursday!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Badger, Badger, Badger

THIS :D ------>    http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/120321

Also, Badger peppermint and lavender oil is my saving grace today.  I've been battling a sore throat this week (now turning into thick sinus drainage...gross).  I hope I didn't catch it from my friend.  I'm hoping to fight it off quickly, though :)

Anyhoo, it isn't just my throat that's sore.  My neck muscles are horribly sore and tight as well, causing tension headaches, so I'm generously massaging the oil into my neck which helps the muscle problem.  I should have brought some tea bags for hot tea at work.  Perhaps when I get home I'll make some tea.

I had originally planned to try jogging again this morning, but told myself not to jump into it too quickly and burn out.  Rest days are important, too!  Well, I'm glad I took my own advice because my legs are pretty sore today.  I think the large amount of protein for breakfast yesterday helped, though.  I probably would have been more sore.

My weight is up, but I certainly didn't eat enough to gain 1.8 lb overnight so I'm betting on the high sodium from last night's delicious stir fry (I cooked the broccoli perfectly...so good!) and the inflamed muscled from the attempted jog.  I'm going to focus on hydrating and taking care of this illness before it gets the best of me!

I ended up crashing after work until 9:30 last night due to exhaustion from my workout right before work and (what I'm guessing is) this oncoming illness.  I wasn't as upset with myself as I normally would be after napping that long.  Instead of feeling groggy, I felt energized.  I guess I really needed it!

This morning, I woke up thinking it was Wednesday.  You can imagine my disappointment in realizing it's only Tuesday.  I was really hoping it was Wednesday.  We have a bunch of apples that are way too soft for me to enjoy raw and the guys love apple pie so for Micah Wednesday I'm making pie for dessert :D

Also, I managed to get my dishes done BEFORE work instead of having to do it afterward.  Maybe I can use that time that I would normally use to clean house to work on the painting?  Yea...the same one I wrote about a while ago :/

I hope you guys are having a good week so far!

Monday, October 22, 2012

So Far Today

I woke up this morning instead of hitting snooze.  This is monumental.  I rid myself of all my fears and went walking.  It was 40 degrees out.  I did a test run yesterday in regards to pain management.  After walking the outlets in Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, the muscles below my calves were sore.  I tried some Icy Hot and it worked wonderfully.  Chronic sore muscles scare me.  I haven't been walking yet because I don't know how to dress.  I'm terrified of getting outside and being too cold or too warm.  Everyone states that when you warm up you feel 20ish degrees warmer than when you start.  To judge this I've paying more attention to the weather and how I feel at various degrees.  I've been afraid of getting sick due to not eating before a run, but I also didn't want to cramp from eating too much.  I was afraid my shoes wouldn't be good enough.  I was afraid I hadn't timed my route or alarm correctly and that I might be late for work.

This morning I just did it.  I got up when I set my alarm to get up and got dressed based on the temperature (and advice from various articles).  I grabbed a small granola bar before hand so I wouldn't get sick and planned for a high protein breakfast when I got back.  I started off cold and scared because I had my capri workout pants and a short sleeve tee on.  The cold left a little bite in my hands, but after 10 or so minutes, I was really comfortable.  I was afraid to jog, but I did that, too.  I paid attention to my posture and did quite well, considering I don't currently run OR jog.  I would take a break from jogging when my muscles felt too tight to continue, but kept a brisk walking pace.  About a mile in I started panicking because the muscles below my calves started hurting pretty bad.  I stopped and used the curb to stretch it out and found more capability and energy by doing this.  Stretching really helped!...even if I did look like a moron.

I've often told myself that it's easier for me to workout when it's cold because I don't overheat as much.  This morning, I proved this to myself.  My pulse was flying, but I didn't really notice because I was focusing on my breathing and because it was cold enough that if I didn't have to get ready for work, I could have kept going!  It felt great!  In warmer weather I start to feel like I'm dying because of all the sweat and fatigue.  The cold really helped with this greater than I could have imagined.  Also, my mom was right...bending at your elbows really does help to propel yourself forward into a quicker pace.

I'm really bad about not properly cooling off, but I took into account that I would feel pretty crummy going back into a 72 degree house after exerting myself, with my heart pumping like crazy, in the cold weather.  I would have likely felt quite sick to the stomach if I went straight into getting ready for work.  I made sure to take the time to cool off today, though, and it helped tremendously in transitioning to post workout composure.  As I approached my street, I let my arms fall to naturally slow my pace.  As I turned onto my street, I slowed to a turtle pace to let my heart rate drop.  When I got to the house my pulse had dropped low enough that going inside after being outside wasn't bad at all.  I also took the time to stretch and included a protein shake with the rest of my breakfast.

I got to work and felt nice and relaxed.  I was still tired (not enough sleep), but it was a good, deep relaxation kind of tired.  I am mostly looking forward to next time!

Friday, October 19, 2012

A Thought

I know I post about the cats a lot.  Most people can be categorized as either "cat" people or "dog" people.  A great deal can be part of both, but most of my immediate friends are one or the other.  I love both, but cats are practical for us.  Although I'm always begging for a dog, I probably shouldn't have one right now.  Sad.

Before I get started on the topic at hand, for those of you interested in food progress, but not necessarily about the cats and how we live (the rest of this post), I did buy a dry food (Evo) to replace the current dry food (Blue Wilderness) and we're going to keep a 1/2 dry 1/2 wet ratio still.  However, Evo is 11% carbs max (10% is the recommended highest) so that's much better than the 30 something percent from Blue.  It's also cheaper per pound, and still grain free!  Yay!  We are keeping the same brand of wet food, but we are looking at the ingredient list and trying to keep grains to a minimum there as well.  Also, when I got home and fed the cats, Kurumi jumped right in without questions (aka she loves it)!  This wasn't the case with the Blue Wilderness.  She ate the Blue because she can't starve herself, but she didn't really enjoy it so it seems to be a good choice all around.

Anyway, a comment on my "Feline Matters" post hit me pretty close to home.  Trevor (thanks again for your comment...very kind!) was stating that people often do things for their pets that they would never have thought they would do...but it was more elegantly stated.  It's so true.  When you talk to people who don't have pets, or people who have never had pets, they look at you like your crazy.  I've had people hear stories and later ask about my kids.  They look incredibly surprised when I say I don't have children, only to find out I was talking about my cats.  I must admit that I do tell stories as if they are my children because it's more fun, and also because other pet people understand because they do the same thing.  It can't be helped.  I'm still trying to figure out whether that makes us crazy or just...different ;)

On another note, our house will never be extremely tidy because we have toys everywhere (back to kid references, hahaha).  Kurumi drags out my Beanie Babies.  I have to clean out from under my bed every few months when I notice there aren't as many stuffed animals as there used to be on the shelf (her only "bad" habit, but it's really not that bad...just silly).  I come home everyday to the same house shoe in the same place by the entrance.  I still can't get her to bring the other one for me.

Animals have SO MUCH personality when they are allowed to be themselves.  Some people might say our cats are spoiled, but that's not true.  They have better manners than some people I know.  They just act like cats should act!  I've stated before that our cats are 6 and 7 years old, but they still act like they're just a year or two old.  They sleep a little more, but when they're awake, they play, and they play hard.  But, they also know their boundaries...except Tango.  He still plays in the cabinets and makes racket with the pots and pans.  It sounds cute and funny, but it isn't so fun at 3 in the morning.

One morning I noticed an open cabinet (some mornings there are as many as three or four) so I closed the it.  As I was  making breakfast something hit my leg.  I didn't think much about it, then but it hit me again.  I looked down and noticed the cabinet door moving.  Tango had gone in the cabinet I closed, two doors down, made his way to the cabinet I was standing in front of, and was then trying to get out...scaring me in my half sleepy state of mind.  It's even more terrifying when all of the doors are closed (meaning I wasn't aware of his playing in the cabinets) and he just bolts out through a random cabinet door, barreling out of the kitchen into the rest of the house, out of seemingly nowhere.  He has a thing for dark places.  His favorite spot to sleep has always been the closet no matter where we live.  Maybe cause he's black?

This brings me to another point.  We don't "own" our pets.  We allow them to live with us.  I'm going to copy and paste again.
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My dad thinks I'm crazy because I "become attached".  They're just "pets", but really, we don't own our pets.  We coexist with them and are allowed to share our lives with them and them with us.  We deal with their illnesses (Tango currently vomits whole food pieces everyday...see my "Feline Matters" post), bad/odd habits, quirks, and all.  You don't deal with something like that just because.  You deal with it because you love them and the joy they provide through their company and character.  They are essentially helpless in their domestic state and it is up to us to deliver the best care possible.  They rely on us for their needs.  

It's no different than having a small child in the house.  Some say cats are easier because they're independent, quiet, and self involved.  They've never met my cats who are just as whiny, messy, mischievous, and vocal as my youngest sister. 
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 That behavior is not a kitten thing at 6 and 7 years old.  It's just who they are and we allow them to be that way.  They're not misbehaved.  They're simply having fun!  They don't get on our shelves and play with Ryan's action figures.  They know better than to do that, but they do play tag and jump out to scare each other.  Kurumi likes to play with hands, but she keeps her claws pulled in so she won't scratch anyone.  She's quite courteous when she plays with people.  She has our friends (and ourselves) wrapped around her paw.  It's pathetic.  She's just too damn cute.

If we pick her up she immediately looks at the ceiling.  Most cats don't like to be held (Tango is just now getting to this point after 7 years of work), but she thinks it's a game.  She knows that if we pick her up she gets to play with bugs that fly in the house or those sticky hand things.  She grabs them, they freak her out, she drops it, we throw it against the ceiling, and it starts over.  We don't force them to be something they're not.  Many animals act sad and old because they weren't allowed to develop in a way that lets their personality shine through...just like people. 

Obviously, we don't train them like people, though, because they're not people.  Too many dogs are misbehaved because they're treated like people.  We train our cats like cats.  We use water in a spray bottle as "punishment" and reinforcement.  We give treats for good behavior.  They're not allowed at the table or around us as we eat.  They know it.  

That's another thing!  They're so smart!  A friend of my mom's kind of insulted me.  He was talking about how dumb animals are and how they can't think beyond instinct, etc.  She stood up for me and informed him that my cat is trained to sit.  He didn't believe her because you "can't train cats".  Absolute nonsense.  Training her to sit certainly makes going to the vet easier.  No carrier.  No leash.  Sit.  Stay.  We're good.  The fact that I provide comfort probably helps.  She knows I'll protect her from those big scary beasts in the waiting room ;)

Another silly quirk (also related to intelligence):  Kurumi will sleep straight through the night.  In fact, if Tango gets too loud with his 3am crying she will cover her ears, act annoyed, or go beat him down.  Sometimes we shut the bedroom door to enjoy some quiet while he's wailing away.  The only time Kurumi doesn't sleep through the night is if she really really has to pee.  When this happens she jumps on the dresser and knocks a pin or something off, stares at me, waiting to see if I'll stir after hearing something drop.  If I don't move or get up, she will knock something else off, and wait.  She never does this outside of needing out of the room.  And it is never anything breakable.  I sometimes think this is coincidence, but I'm pretty convinced now that she knows what she can and can't mess with.  As soon as I get up and let her out, she uses the litter box, maybe a drink of water, and comes back to bed for warmth and cuddles.  I used to get upset by her knocking things off the dresser until I realized she was trying to communicate, because what better way to get mommy's attention than messing with stuff you shouldn't!  The first few times (after realizing the reason) I let her out and closed the door behind her.  Now I wait for her to do her business (I might as well have a dog) because she'll scratch at the door, wanting back in.

Tango's most endearing quality is that he sits next to me while I play piano.  He's even figured out that pressing keys makes sound.  There is one key in particular that he likes.  And he's so thoughtful about it.  Absolutely adorable.  This makes me sound like I don't know how to play to listeners outside of the room, though.  Other times he sits next to me on the bench and sleeps or watches, just listening.  

It breaks my heart to think that there are people out there who don't get that and think of animals as disposable or able to be neglected without consequence as if they're all the same.  If we were able (financially and room available), I would adopt more pets, especially those who have never been loved or allowed to live life as intended.  My sister adopted a dog...just a few months old, that was afraid of stairs and looked really confused when we tried to initiate play time.  She moped and sat all day because she was punished for playing and "making a scene".  It took us months to get her play and enjoy herself.  It was so so sad, but extremely thrilling to see her develop with us into an incredible dog.

This is not to say that everyone can be animal people simply by reading this post or about animals, or that everyone *should* be animal people because that's never going to happen, nor is it practical.  It's an interest that varies with each person.  In Trevor's situation it took sharing his life with a dog to understand and overcome previous perceptions.  Some people don't have a passion for animals, and that's fine.  If you managed to get through this post without a passion for pets, I commend you!  You deserve a sticker or something.

Always Tempting

But I wouldn't be able to live with myself.  Do you remember that "Friday" song by Rebecca Black.  Well...it IS Friday.  But, like I said, I would have to have one of you shoot me for posting it so I'm just going to say "It's Friday! Woo!".

I can't say I'm entirely thrilled about it being Friday, though, because tomorrow is Saturday, and I am ready for Saturday to be over with.  I only say that because I don't want to wake up at 6am on a Saturday if I don't really really have to, but, unfortunately, I do.  We're going to Gatlinburg tomorrow.  We are "supposed" to be there by 9am to jump in line for an autograph or something.  This means I have to get up at 6 so we can get ready, eat breakfast, and take off.  I'm sure it will be fun and exciting, but right now it is sounding super unappealing.  I need to do some Christmas shopping, too.

Ryan and I spent most of yesterday talking after work...well, after our naps.  Around 11 we went to the store (Walmart because Kroger is too expensive and our usual store was closed...supersadface).  It was surprisingly tolerable thanks to constant commentary provided by yours truly.  We forgot to eat before we left so when we got home at 12:30am I had some grapes for dinner because I still wasn't all that hungry.  I highly considered ice cream with homemade peanut butter sauce, but decided against it for allergy and digestive reasons.  I was happily under my calories for yesterday.  Also, still sane :)

Combining bed time at 2am and today being my early day at work, I'm struggling for energy.  I've been keeping shelf stable creamer at work for my coffee, but pumpkin spice is out and requires refrigeration so I made 2 cups of coffee at home, put it in a thermos, and drove to work.  I grew sad when I realized I drank all of my coffee during the 11 minute drive to work.  I should bring water next time.  It's apparently really easy to mindlessly drink a beverage while driving to work.  This would certainly help get my hydration levels up!  Unfortunately, it has left me in an interesting funk today...mentally wired, but so physically tired my eyes hurt.  Lame.

I hope you guys have a good weekend!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Feline Matters

Or felines matter?

Warning:  This is  LENGTHY post.  If you do not have a passion for animals and their health and well being (specifically cats) you will probably grow insanely bored...or possibly think I'm more insane than you already perceived.

As some of you know, I am in a quest to find a better cat food.  I was going to mention it in my last post, but this will be long enough to be it's own post.  We used to feed out cats Friskies dry food.  That's all they got, aside from the random table scrap here and there.  Our older cat, Tango, has feline allergies.  At the time of his appointment ('07) the vet never said WHAT he was allergic to or how we could find out...just that he has chronic allergies that cause his lip to swell.  She told us that the only treatment was a steroid shot that could alleviate symptoms, but this could also cause heart failure in young male cats.  We decided that since he still ate and drank without problem that we wouldn't take the risk unless he got so uncomfortable that he couldn't maintain quality of life.  She mentioned that we could give him children's Benedryl, but have you ever tried giving a cat Benedryl?  I had to tackle him like a football player to keep from getting my face scratched off.  So not worth it.  He functions fine so we have no reason to mini sedate him just because of some swelling.

Some seasons his lip is fine, others it gets swollen and slightly infected, during which I make sure to vacuum and change the central a/c air filter more often.  We usually have allergy flare ups at the same time.  It's pathetic.  He's usually less active and sleeps more during these flare ups.  It's just something we've always dealt with.  His fur used to get greasy because his lip causes him to drool a little more and though he still cleans quite often, it doesn't get healthy looking.

I started thinking about their health last year.  I've spent so much time and energy (still am) into making myself the healthiest I can be, starting with my diet.  While thinking about it, the cats ran by...Tango with his swollen lip and greasy fur...something we always thought normal for him.  Then it occurred to me (because my parents are uneducated in *actual* animal care and health) that the cats deserve the best care and diet we can afford them also.  Food is the best medicine.

I Googled something like "best brand of food for cats" which brought up pages and pages of information, none of which I expected to find.  The first website I came across had stated within the first paragraph that cats should NEVER have dry food.  She was obviously very passionate about it so I took her as an extremist and searched other sources.  Everywhere you look in regards to a close to natural diet for cats states the same.  Cats are not to eat dry food.  This is completely contrary to what I grew up knowing.  It makes sense.  They haven't evolved so much that we can disregard their heritage and primal diet.  They are obligate carnivores.  Even though they thrive on our poison, they don't really LIVE as such.  Then food allergies started popping up.  Apparently a great number of felines have grain allergies...mostly corn.  They do okay at first, but their bodies start to revolt and develop allergies...just like people with peanuts, etc., then they end up with skin conditions and health problems.

I looked at our Friskies that we've been feeding them for years.  Corn is the FIRST ingredient.  I immediately felt horrible for not thinking about them sooner.  I almost cried...in fact, I may have done just that.  It never once occurred to me that we could be poisoning the two creatures we loved so unconditionally.  Unfortunately, that's what commercialism does.  It promotes products that are profit to them, no matter who it negatively affects.  The pet food industry is also self regulated.  Absolutely ridiculous. I'm not going to go into too much more detail about that.  Research it yourself.  Information is everywhere.

It all boiled down to choices.  Most sites say that the worst quality canned food is better than the best quality wet food.  This is because canned food does not require grain fillers, making their carb percentage already much much lower than dry food counterparts.  It's also better because in nature, cats eat moisture with their food, not drink water separately.  Canned food tackles both.  Some canned foods do have some wheat and grain, but for the most part, they are still lower in the essential percentage.

I still wasn't convinced so we started switching their dry food to an all natural, grain free brand.  We also introduced canned food as part of their daily food in the evenings.  The dry food had chicken and whole foods in the ingredient list, far superior to the corn based Friskies.  We began noticing differences in the cats.  They eat less, and their fur is looking much better!  Tango's lip doesn't stay swollen near as much, but mostly importantly, if it IS swollen, it isn't gross and infected looking.  It was a great turning point.

However, it's been a slow process.  Now I'm looking at the fact that grain free doesn't mean much in terms of allergies (if food is even the problem) because the canned food we can afford right now has wheat in it.  The dry food also has a pretty high carbohydrate percentage, though not near as much as other brands.  Also, just because a food is "grain free" doesn't mean it's low carb.  They still include hypoallergenic starches like potatoes to hold the food together.

This goes into last night's task.  I'm just going to copy and paste what I was originally going to put in my earlier post :)
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I weighed the cats last night.  This involved stepping on the scale, finding a cat, getting back on the scale, and taking the difference.  My scale is really consistent, meaning I can step on the scale 10 times and it will read the same thing it did the first 9 times, so I feel the cat weights are accurate.  Kurumi, the most practical of the two cats, had a complete fit.  I don't think she liked what she saw on the scale ;)  In preparation for Tango's flailing refusal, I scruffed him and supported him underneath with my other hand (Rumi is hard to efficiently scruff...Tango is apparently used to it).  He walked away calm as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.  No attempts to flail.  Kurumi refused treats and Tango devoured them.  It was weird and completely opposite of what I expected.  Kurumi began to suck up an hour or so later.  She loves me too much to stay away.  So cute.  

Anyway, I weighed the cats because I'm hoping to put them on an all wet food/raw diet.  They're supposed to eat 3/4 to 1oz of food per pound of body weight so I'm trying to figure out how much damage this decision will make financially.  I may be stuck feeding them how we are currently feeding them with 1/2 wet, 1/2 dry.  While I was initially happy with the profile of our current dry food, I no longer think it's a good decision.  Upon further inspection of the nutrient profile, the carbohydrate percentage is way too high.  Tango has started throwing up whole food.  I don't think it's because he eats too quickly because dry food is openly available at all times.  I think it's because the food isn't digesting properly so he's throwing it up.  Cats aren't made to digest carbs.  
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The second paragraph is what made me realize that it would need a whole other post :P  Results of the weigh in are as follows.  Kurumi is 9.2 lbs and Tango is 11.4 lbs.  This means I will need 15.5-20 (roughly) ounces of wet food a day.  Right now we are spending about $40 on cat food between the all natural dry and the canned.  They will need 4-5 cans of middle sized cans between the two of them each day.  If I go with the can vs dry sentiment and drop the dry food altogether, but use the same brand of can food it will go to $60-$75.  If we convert to all natural, grain free canned food it will go up to $180 give or take.  That's  a HUGE difference, and honestly not affordable for us.  If I go with larger cans of the cheaper of naturals it will be about $94.  Still double.  If I feed exclusively dry (7% carbs) it will only be a little more than our current bill.  So it's a toss up.  

Oh, another option is frozen raw food, but the closest place that carries it is 40+ minutes from where I live.  This is ultimately the best option and would cost about what they're getting now...I think   I'm still looking into it.  But, do I want to drive out of town two weekends a month to get it.  Also, do I want to risk bacteria around the house.  Food to mouth, mouth to paw, paw to couch/bed, bed to hand, hand to face/mouth while sleeping, bacteria enters system and makes me ill.  

I'm trying not to make myself crazy over it all, but geez.  It's more complicated than feeding myself and I want them around and healthy as long as they possibly can be.  I also understand that these increased monthly investments into their health can prevent all sorts of illness and disease that accompanies dry fed cats as they age such as diabetes and urine crystals, etc.  

I think typing this all out helped me answer my questions.  I want the best that we can afford...that's all we can do...the best foods in our budget.  Blarg.  $40 was already a big jump from the $12 bag of Friskies and we adjusted to that okay.  I'm going to go call the store with the frozen raw food for a price check.

Have a good Wednesday!

Weeks, Not Weekends

This week is flying by as quickly as the weekend!  I'm glad, though.  It keeps me preoccupied and mostly productive.  Woot!

Last night we had an almost vegan dinner..it was at least vegetarian.  The corn bread had milk in it.  I didn't have eggs so I relied on my Ener G egg replacer.  I forget I have it, but remembering it's there makes me want to try making vegan cakes/desserts.  You obviously can't scramble it but check this out.  If you bake a lot it's the equivalent of 113 eggs for 3 or 4 dollars vs buying 113 *good* eggs at minimum $3 a dozen for $28 total.  Vegan is cheap...or can be!  I also have a stock pile of dry beans so I cooked a bunch to have with lunch during the week as protein.  Side note:  I'm not turning vegan or anything.  I still enjoy my meat choices, but I'm craving them less and playing with other foods options is fun for me.  Also, as I stated, it's cheaper :)

Anyway, dinner was scratch made corn bread, potatoes, and beans.  Classic.  We were going to have spinach, but I apparently neglected the spinach I had and it was beyond usable so no greens :(   I'm not sure why I was craving comfort food, but calories were decent, and it was quite nutrient appropriate...roughly 10g each of fiber and a little more than 10g protein.  It was sufficient for my current mood and lack of substantial hunger.  That is seriously the best corn bread recipe I've used.  I hate dry corn bread.  Interestingly enough, I used to hate pinto beans and, especially, cornbread growing up.  This recipe made a really moist bread and now I'm growing fond of the beans.  It took loving other types of beans to learn appreciation for the pintos.  I think it helps that I cook them at home instead of from a can.  I didn't eat them for years after not liking them while growing up, but now we're best friends!  Also, in regards to the corn bread, I had legitimate ground corn meal and not that premixed corn meal + flour stuff made for corn bread recipes so it had a wonderful crunchy, grainy-ness to it.  Marvelous!

AND I made a level headed food decision.  I served small portions of food, went into the kitchen when I was finished with that, bypassed the food in the pans, and put my plate in the sink.  There was no picking, no seconds, AND I didn't have a panic attack over it.  It happened, it was done.  I put the food up and didn't think about it.  Progress.  I'm making it.

Corn meal note: I have yet to try to make my own corn tortillas from scratch.  If it weren't so time consuming, I would even grind the corn from scratch :D  I still want to make my own cheese, too...ok, I'm rambling.  Have a good day!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

My Brakes Brake and Stuff

I went to my dad's yesterday to finish up immediate repairs on the Nova.  He replaced the brake line (the rubber part that splits to the back two brakes) and he adjusted the brakes because they had too much "give".  Upon inspecting the brakes to adjust them (drum brakes, gross) he discovered a loose part.  Not good.  He also discovered that someone had installed the brakes wrong.  They didn't seem to affect performance (I'm not sure how the brake shoe works), but my dad was insistent on arranging them properly.  He also attached a metal bar where the interior handle used to be (the foam dry rotted and the handle tore off...oops), but as I was rolling up my window to leave, the window only rolled up half way all of a sudden.  I yelled for my dad and he signaled to gas the car because he thought I was yelling about the idle.  I've been driving the car almost two years.  I know how to deal with it's quirks so I kept yelling for him (I was already buckled in the car and didn't want to get back out since I was trying my hardest to leave) and showed him the window.  So he adjusted the screws and the window rolled up again.

I finally got home around 7:15, took a shower, and plopped down in bed to read my magazine (free trials, woo).  They had interviews from the first lady candidates.  I'm kind of ashamed with how Good Housekeeping arranged their interviews.  They had questions that made Michelle look intelligent and practical...which she notably is, but they had the questions set up to make Romney's wife look ditzy and childish.  At first I negatively thought, "the country expects HER to be a first lady?!" because of my personal political preference, but suddenly felt bad after taking a more objective view on the article.  She is probably perfectly capable and intelligent, but the questions were framed in a way that accentuated her short comings.  Not cool, GH.  Not cool.  So much for keeping a non biased view for the public (as if anyone does).

After ranting to Ryan about the article, we decided we should probably have some sort of dinner before it became too late for a proper "meal time".  Neither Ryan or myself were really all that hungry so we had a spread of left overs from various nights.  I had a few ounces of ham and a rather small portion of mashed potatoes and a larger portion of green beans, while he had a bit of everything.  I *wanted* a bit of everything, but wasn't all that hungry and my calories were running out for the day so I made a mindful decision to take what I did.  It ended up being almost too much so I was quite glad and didn't feel deprived or anything.  So proud of myself :)

I hope you guys have had a good week so far!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Stuff I Forgot to Tell You!

I forgot the most eventful part of this weekend!  But, first, I need to go back to Friday night which wasn't as uneventful as I remembered.  We tried Buffalo Wild Wings.  In efforts to broaden my...palate, and in trying to be more open to Ryan's "needs", we shared something I normally cringe at.  We ordered wings (bone in) and when the waiter asked what dressing, I said blue cheese.  Ryan wouldn't stop staring at me.  Here's the thing.  I don't eat wings.  They weird me out.  I do, however, love buffalo sauce.  I mostly don't like wings because of the cartilage, dark meat, and other "gross" things.  I don't like blue cheese, but after finding my love for feta, I figure other pungent cheese shouldn't be that bad.  I didn't love the wings, but they weren't so bad after I stopped thinking about the gross things I don't like about them.  I kept reminding myself that bones and things are normal.  I mean, I eat beef, etc, why should wings be different?  Also, like I said, I'm trying to keep Ryan's "needs" in mind.  He shouldn't have to be denied his favorites because I'm being a pansy, and we split the meal for finances sake.  It's okay, though, he made up for it Saturday night.

The thing I forgot to tell you!!  I took my veggie scraps for compost out and noticed three police cars camped out in front of my neighbor's house.  I didn't think much about it, except that they came from both directions on our street.  I went inside and stopped being nosy.  Then I heard a tap on my kitchen window.  I dismissed it as me being paranoid.  It wouldn't freak me out so bad if the massive expanse of our back yard wasn't pitch black at night.  I heard a noticeable tap again.  I try not to be that "honey, kill the spider" type of wife, but considering it was dark out, I called for Ryan to check it out.  First he pulls up the blinds.  Why?  I don't know!  It's not like you can actually see outside while it's dark outside and bright inside.  He left the blinds open for the creeper to see into my kitchen and goes outside to stand in the lighted up driveway to peek into the backyard.  I rush into the kitchen, close the blinds, and went outside with him.  He says, "there's someone back there", and sure enough when I peek around the corner there is a man crouched down in the dark closer to the other side of the house.  I freaked out and ran back inside, but realized I left my husband out there by himself with a dangerous man so I yelled for Micah to join him.

The police were still there and while I didn't want to turn in a man on the run for my own safety sake (I'm pretty sure my neighbors are involved with drugs, etc)  I liked the idea of a creeper in my backyard even less so I approached the officer and told him, to which he responds ever so calmly, "oh, must be the one that ran out the back door when we got here.  He probably got the wrong house."  No kidding...wait...what?  Wrong house?  I went inside to check on dinner (cooking on the stove), but became nervous because that man was still in the backyard and I wasn't absolutely positive whether or not he was going to try to break in, and if so, whether or not ALL of my windows were locked.  I was also checking the curtains to make sure they were all closed, but I wasn't convinced so I went outside with everyone else where I was "safe".

So, we're (5 of us) in my driveway watching the officer go behind my garage with a flashlight and some guy jumps out from behind our house and stumbles across the driveway, staring at us, confused, like an animal that's been tranquilized.  This scared me more than the tapping on the window because I was just a few feet from where he walked out.  As it turns out he has a gash across his head, and he may or may not have be drunk, but we think the open hole in his head was affecting his ability to move and communicate (this means he wasn't dangerous, just frightening in the dark).  As far as I know, it wasn't anything actually scary.  Some of the neighbors were even laughing.  The officers were just trying to find him to get him medical attention.

I don't know how the whole thing got started or why there were three police cars.  I don't know how this man received a gash like he did.  In two years, that has been the only exciting event to happen around our house, so I'm not TOO put off when I really think about the situation.  Even the quietest neighborhoods have excitement every once in a while.  We used to live in the bad part of town, so this was mild, but after being away from it for so long, this kind of stuff really freaks me out.  I don't see how we lived around it for the three years prior, but I'm very happy to be away from it now...except for Saturday night, of course.

Weekends Flying By

Early on yesterday, I felt the weekend was going by too quickly, but approaching last night I felt better prepared for the week to start.  This post shall be a recap of this weekend, starting with Saturday.  We went to my Dad's to give the Nova a mini makeover.

The following is a list of tasks that were performed:

The water pump was exchanged for a new one.  Apparently the old one was factory, meaning it's been on there 34 years.  Wtf.  It was fairly simple to change out, thank goodness, and the water was replaced with 50/50 antifreeze in preparation for the oncoming winter.

The doors are fixed.  I used to have to slam the doors to get them to close...or lift and slam.  Now you just drop it and it's done.  The holes where the pins go were oblong instead of circular so my dad welded washers on them and now they're perfect.

While they (Ryan and my dad) were at it, they replaced the thermostat.

They greased EVERYTHING.  The hood opens super easy now.  The doors don't creak.  Amazing.

My dad adjusted the gas and air intake on the carburetor which had also not been touched since the car left the factory (they still had the plastic coverings on the screws) so the car starts right up with no problems, and most importantly, STAYS running.  That has to be the worst part about driving a '78...carburetor success is determined by the current weather.  Oh, the wonders of fuel injection!

Today we are replacing the rubber hose part of the brake line so I won't have to keep adding brake fluid every week.

I feel like I've left out something else they tweaked.  The Nova feels like a different car now...or, rather, it feels like it did years ago.  Every morning, on my way to work, I go over some railroad tracks.  Every morning, I have to slow down or it sounds like the car is going to fall apart.  I guess that was due to the loose doors (and partly the uneven tires that were fixed the weekend prior) because now it glides over the tracks with barely any noise compared to before.  The engine sounds even better, also.

We haven't had insurance for the Nova, so we called to get a quote.  It will only be $20 a month to insure so as soon as payday gets here, we will be insured and I can feel better about driving around, especially on the interstate.  I will also feel better being insured when winter gets here...just in case rear wheel drive proves stubborn and I slide into someone.  I did fine last winter considering we don't get all that much snow, and I had worse tires then than I do now.  It would be my luck that as soon as the car sounds good and I get good tires that I suddenly can't drive and crash.  At least I'll have insurance :P

While Ryan and my dad were working on the car I took my little sister for a walk.  I let her climb trees so she came home much more filthy than when she left, but I figured they were used to that.  She also picked up a piece of plastic that turned out to be glass (*I* even thought it was plastic).  She's six.  Brilliant.  They'll never let me watch her after that.  I did, however, catch the rusty metal she almost picked up.  There's a win!  I think rust is more scary than glass.  I mean...pouring blood helps to push out grossness (glass in this case) and clean wounds, whereas tetanus gets in your system and your done for, right?  I don't actually know, but she felt better when she thought the bleeding (very little) was a good thing.

I also told her it would probably burn quite a bit.  Such a trooper.  I did have a hard time convincing her that she wasn't going to bleed to death and promised her that *I* know what a lot a of blood looks like because of my job, and that she was, in fact, only bleeding a tiny bit.  She didn't believe me, even after me telling her the truth about the burning.  This is why I'm not going to school to be a nurse.  Parents would hate me.  I wouldn't be able to calm their kids and I would be telling them that procedures WILL hurt.  I won't let my mom live it down...lying to me like that.  I also have an irrational fear of doctors because of this.  I'd rather know it's going to hurt and prepare myself for it than be lied to.  Unfortunately that doesn't go so well with most people.  I just don't understand.  I mean, why make a bad situation worse, yea?

Anyway, yesterday was a stay home and clean day.  I managed to get all of the laundry washed and put away, and the dishes done until dinner, but that only made a few more to clean.  The weather was lovely so I even enjoyed a nap with the blinds open, and the fan on.  I also started the painting part of my painting, and I played some piano.  Yay!  Last night, Ryan came home after taking our friend home and announced that the weather was "perfect for walking" so I immediately felt obligated to change into some not pajama pants and go walking...after also putting on my shoes, of course.  He said he was shocked and didn't actually plan on walking but since I was dressed we went walking at 11:15 pm.  It WAS nice out!.  Today is back to being a rainy mess.  Blah.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Today, in the Office

You might find:

A man with a bag of ice strapped to his head with rubber bands.

The four of us randomly holding up "goalie" hands or suddenly grabbing at the air then returning to normal behavior as if nothing happened.

People talking about having things "jiggled and livened right up".



The outward onlooker might think we need to be admitted to a mental ward, but in reality:

Migraines suck.

These gnats are driving us crazy (I don't see the fly anymore).

And sometimes you just have to jiggle something to liven it up...computer cords, that is.

There's a Bug in My Coffee :(

And a fly buzzing around.  Wtf.  I don't even know how a fly got up here or survives in this office.  I mean, we're upstairs with a tiny screened in window, and we don't have food sitting around.  Thankfully they have a short life span so I shouldn't see it in a few hours :D

My eyebrows are looking wonky today.  Experts say they don't have to look the same.  "They're sisters, not twins".  Mine don't even look like they come from the same gene pool right now.  My left brow has this weird horizontal gap (very thin line, at least), which I suppose is better that a vertical gap, but really, I'm too young for gaps.  (That's what she said *cough cough*).  I should have gone nude in the face today, but I woke up pretty red and splotchy and we have corporate guests, so makeup was much needed...except for my eyebrows, apparently.

I was talking to Ryan about the lights on the nova.  Even after replacing the bulb the middle two lights don't work.  Let's say these are my headlights   [+][+]...[+][+]  where "+" means they're dark, not lit up.  The middle two don't light up in any situation.  Not in reverse.  Not with head lights.  Not with the brakes on.  I'm starting to sound like a poorly written Dr. Seuss book.  Anyway, with lights that work, it looks like this [ ][+]...[+][ ]  I was trying to explain this to Ryan, but was not very clear so in his explanation of what "should" be happening he starts with, "there are four lights".  I should have said,"there are five lights", but got too excited and said "THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS" in the most Patrick Stewart voice I could gather.

Man, I love Patrick Stewart.  I would love to sit and have a cup of "earl grey, hot" with Captain Picard.  Yum.  Er...the tea...of course O.o

In efforts to redeem myself of my leftovers I had for lunch, we had a really simple, but still delicious dinner.  We made burgers made with 90% lean beef.  I almost hit my head on the refrigerator after I jumped from excitement when I opened the crisper drawer to check for sides and found GRAPES.  So exciting.  I FINALLY caught them on sale.  Our crisper drawer is opaque white instead of clear so I often forget what's in there.  Everyday is a little party because of this....until I find a half eaten cucumber that was forgotten and is now slimy mush :/  However, imagine my excitement when I found kale also.  I think kale chips are on the menu tonight.  I also used lettuce instead of a bread bun because bread was just unappealing after all the carbs at lunch.  The color in the image is really bad so I'm not going to post it, but 1/3 of my small plate was my little burger wrap, and the other 2/3 was a bunch of red grapes (an actual bunch, not just a randomized term to describe a large number).  Phone image + fluorescent lighting.  I'm not sure why the green on the lettuce is more off than the other colors.  Perhaps someone could enlighten me on photography in fluorescent lighting.

This is awful, but on the way to work this morning I saw a bunch of white bags on the side of the road with vehicles and flashing lights.  I immediately thought there had been a horrific accident.  As it turns out it was a bunch of city workers with bags of dirt working on the landscaping.  Then I heard sirens and thought I had somehow jinxed someone with my misinformed thoughts.  Then I realized that was a silly thought, parked the car, and clocked in.

!!! That fly is after my purse!!!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Industries Betray Us

Last night's dinner was simple.  It put me over my calories, but I was still under maintenance.  We had ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, corn bread stuffing, shells and cheese, and dinner rolls.  Yep.  Horrible.  What makes it worse is that ALL of it was prepackages.  Every last bit of it.  Well, except the potatoes that I hand peeled and boiled.  I used a shrink wrapped ham, canned green beans, Campbell's cream of mushroom, those french's fried onions, powder gravy mix, Velveeta mac, Merita dinner rolls.  I don't think I've had a meal that prepackaged since...well, since last holidays because we make most things ourselves.  I normally make my own cornbread for stuff.  We've even gotten into make our own mac and cheese.  I buy frozen "fresh" green beans.  None of that last night.  At the time it was delicious and comforting after yesterday's mental roller coaster and chilly weather.  I had the same (except shells and cheese) for leftovers in smaller portions.  The thing I noticed the most?  I can taste so much salt!!  It's giving me a headache, actually, as I type.  It's insane.  Dry storage like stuffing and gravy powder doesn't need that much salt!  Ridiculous.  It doesn't taste as good as homemade stuff either.  I guess the key thing is that we hardly ever do that, "that" being cooking prepackaged food and also having that many carbohydrate rich foods in one sitting.

Per habit, I must include something positive.  I have slept really well the past two nights.  I have successfully and quite happily not taken a nap AND have gotten to sleep at a decent hour.  Wonderful!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Random

I just realized that a few posts ago I was talking about how coffee holding off hunger helps me rationalize my food choices instead of just grabbing what I want without thinking about it.  Then I said I had pie for dinner, which totally sounded irrational, but I promise.  It was well thought out.

Remember my tornado of a kitchen?  I totally went home and tackled that.  It's not amazing yet, but it looks much better than it did.  I got two loads of laundry done, and two loads of dishes.  I also got the sketch of my painting done so I can start the actual painting part.  I forgot that the pants I wanted to wear were supposed to be included in the third load of laundry that never got washed so I'm wearing the same pants again today.  Clean, but the same.  Sad.

Has anyone else noticed the calories printed directly on McDonald's menu?  Back story.  I left the house early so I could get in a quick walk before work.  On the way to work (where I planned on walking) I realized that I was STARVING...like I would have gotten sick if I had tried walking on an empty stomach type of starving so I went through McDonald's for a dollar menu hit up.  I was going to get the sausage mcmuffin (hate those silly names) which I knew was 370 calories and thought that to be the lower calorie option compared to the rest of the dollar food items.  I saw 300 posted next to the sausage burrito AND it came with "hot picante" sauce.  So exciting!  Melty cheesy goodness in a tortilla tastes better than the dry mcmuffin anyday AND it had 70 less calories.  I didn't really look at anything else so now I'm wondering if there's an even lower calorie option.  Whatever, 300, minus calories for my walk, is definitely a good breakfast balance.  I am pleased.  It's all about living in the real world, right?  Well, ideally I would avoid McDonald's, but in my rush and desperation to get some sort of walk in before my shift, I'm okay with it.

I should also mention, that I've gotten to work a few minutes early 3 of the past 4 days and on time once.  4 days in a row?  That's almost a whole work week.  I don't think I've ever not been late for a whole work week.  Turning over a new leaf ;)

Hoping your Wednesday is awesome!  Make good choices.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Reset

I got home yesterday and realized the my kitchen looked like a tornado hit it.  I wasn't home pretty much at all Sunday, and I didn't think we had used that many dishes on Saturday, but the proof is there.  It was clean Friday night, even perhaps Saturday morning, but the extent of dirty dishes was harshly revealed yesterday.  I didn't touch them.  Nor did I do laundry, but we thankfully had clothes for today.  I was just so heart broken that it killed my cleaning mood so I sat on the couch and read my book, made dinner, watched Doctor Who, and read my book further until I fell asleep...on the couch, to not be woken up apparently.

When I talked to Ryan this morning, he said he tried to wake me.  He asked me if I had an alarm set and I said yes, but he knew I didn't so he sat my ipod next to me in case I actually did have an alarm set.  I woke up at 5 something and THEN I set my alarm.  I slept until almost 8 and it was glorious.  I have forgone excessive makeup and breakfast in favor of sleep and my morning are much less stressful because of this.  I do wish, however, that I had woken up around the 7 mark instead of 5 because I feel like I could have actually worked out this morning, but didn't because it was still too early and I knew I wouldn't dare wake up just an hour or two after going back to sleep.  Either way, I'm super happy for a restful night's sleep :)

Monday, October 8, 2012

Weekend? What weekend?

Don't get me wrong.  This weekend was LOADS of fun.  Ridiculously awesome, in fact.  It just flew by!  I don't know where it went!

I honestly don't remember much from Friday.  I apparently forgot to log dinner so I don't even have a reference for where to begin.  Is it sad that I more easily remember events of the day based on what I ate???  That's a little obsessive and sad that food is my time line reference.

Anyway, Saturday, I went to put front tires on the Nova!  Most of my tires are balding so my mom bought me front tires.  She bought black letter tires because white letter tires are much more expensive so we got 205 black letter tires.  Well..."she", not "we".  When I got there, the man said he had forgotten about two white letter tires that someone had ordered, but never came to get, and they were 215s.  He gave me the white letter tires for the same price that my mom paid for the black letter tires so he wouldn't have to send them back.  He also brought up that the bigger tire will be safer for me when winter gets here.  So nice of him!  The Nova feels SO MUCH better on the road now...probably only because the tires are actually the same size...probably also because I know the car is safer with good tires on it so I'm not totally terrified to drive it.  Either way, it's amazing.

I was supposed to go to Walmart to pick up my prescription, but didn't actually need it until Sunday so I opted out of going because I despise Walmart, even though I knew I would have to eventually go because no other pharmacy in town carries my prescription :(  Our friends came over...the ones that bribe us with food to use our washer and dryer.  Yea, those grilled cheese sandwiches were AMAZING.  I think they came over around 2pm, but ended up staying through dinner so we all (three more joined us later in the day) had burgers and stuff for dinner.  I can't remember what sides...oh, rice pilaf, beans, and something else I can't remember.  I had a burger and the thing I can't remember and opted out of the rice and beans.  Oh!!!  Duh.  Coconut shrimp! How could I forget something as awesome as coconut shrimp?!  Oh, probably because I didn't log it.  Nur.

Before our latter friends joined us, I got to play Donkey Kong while drinking half a bottle of wine.  So. Much. Fun.  I was apparently quite entertaining.  I ended up narrating the game while playing to help me focus and stop wasting 10+ lives on each level.  Love Donkey Kong, and the fact that I have friends who will play it with me :D

Our all day guests stayed until about midnight and our others guests stayed later.  I'm not sure what time because I totally went to sleep.

Sunday I woke up, got ready, tackled Walmart for my prescription, went home, chopped fruits and veggies for dinner, then went to our friend's house to celebrate his birthday!  Yay!  We were there from 2 until about 10.  They played Halo while I watched because I suck at Halo.  The one time I played, they put me in charge of the Warthog because there's "nothing to it".  I drove us off a cliff.  I can't even remember where the cliff came from.  Side note:  I definitely just tried to spell warthog with another "h".  Wharthog.  What?

We also watched lots of the Big Bang Theory.  One of the most clever shows ever created.  If I could afford it, I would have cable just so I could watch it.  I love it that much.  That's about it outside of dinner.  Oh, we watched the Avengers again.  I forgot how great that movie was.  So good!

And that was my weekend.  It was filled with fun and productive things, but all that fun caused time to fly way too quickly and now it's Monday.  A rainy Monday, no doubt.  But, that's okay.  I'm loving this rainy autumn day :)

Friday, October 5, 2012

I Am Shocked

I thought for sure I had ruined my calories for the day.  Note: I said "calories" not "nutrition".  My nutrition is shot.  Multivitamin, remember?

Breakfast was pie.  Oh, I forgot to tell you about that in this morning's post?  Yea, pie for dinner and, 12 hours later, pie for breakfast.  Living on the edge!  Whoa!  Anyhoo, my coworker shared some crack with me from Pal's.  Something about cheddar rounds that is absolutely delicious, and her not realizing there were that many in a large allowed me to have a few (sharing is caring don't you know?).  180 calories isn't so bad right?  Not until you add it to the pie calories from breakfast.  Oops.

So, I've been gorging on coffee.  She (same coworker) gets some Cheez-Its and realizes she doesn't like the flavor (smoked cheddar, omg) and gives them to me (sharing is becoming death).  I successfully stopped myself from eating the whole bag and only had a handful.  Go, me!  From here, I was just going to skip lunch since it was creeping up on 2pm and I leave work at 4:30 today, but my mom (who works for the same company) can't leave because she's the only member in her department here for the rest of the day, and she didn't bring lunch.  Brilliant.  

Being the loving daughter I am, and seeing as I somewhat owe her for the whole birthing and bringing me her leftovers (leftover food...not leftovers relating to birth...gross), etc, I figured I'd grab her something. I decided I could kill two birds with one stone (although I would never purposely kill a bird) and hit up Walgreens on the way to get food so I could get band aids.  Well, I didn't know it was ridiculously hot out today so I went straight for the drive through so I could get it done and over with.  I have no A/C in that '78 Nova that I drive.  It's miserable.  Vinyl interior, windows rolled up, in direct sunlight, no A/C.  Yep.  

Anyway, I decided that I should probably eat something besides pie and crackers today, but really didn't want anything from Burger King because everything there is RIDICULOUS....price, taste, calories.  All. Of. It.  I opted for a small "fruit smoothie", and they had raspberry (Yay!...sort of) so I thought I'd try it.  It's solid syrup at the bottom.  I hope I didn't cringe when they handed it to me.  If I did, I didn't realize it and they probably think horribly of me right now.  But, that's fine, because I kind of think horribly of Burger King in general, but whatever.

I get back to work, all pink from driving in that car, and look up the calories for that smoothie.  300 freaking calories!  I knew it was a sugary option when I realized it was all syrup and probably didn't have any actual fruit in it, but 300 calories?!?!  Turns out I was looking at the nutrition info for medium :D  My smaller, still overly sweet, "fruit smoothie" is 200 calories.  Not MUCH better, but that's 585 calories that I can potentially have for dinner instead of 485, cause once I get down in the 4's I start to feel caloric pressure.  That kind of sounds...scientific...  Is there such a thing as caloric pressure?  Google says there isn't.  I should write a thesis!

Anyway, I definitely didn't totally kill my calories.  I don't think I've had any healthy calories today, but I don't really care right now.  I should care, I know, but I'm tired of thinking about everything.  Weight loss is calories in vs calories out and as long as I'm not hungry (because hunger is the hardest part of this whole process), I'm happy...generally speaking.  It's just too stressful trying to think about portion sizes, calories, nutrition, being judged by what your eating, etc.  I just gotta remind myself...calories in vs calories out.  

I hope you guys have a good weekend!

Wondering Who Follows me on Twitter

I really hope none the my higher authority member from work do.  Or anyone important from a potential future employers.  Or, if they do, I hope they have a sense of humor.  Or, maybe they should follow me and not hire me so I don't end up working for some snot faced jerk.  These are the kinds of conversations I have over social media.  I don't think she'll mind me sharing.  If so, I'm sorry, Shannon!  It's not bad.  But, like I said, corporate members of "highly respected" companies may not approve :)


Shannon: I’m pretty certain that I’ve never heard the word “orgasm” uttered with such frequency in class before.
Me: Which class?
Shannon: science in the modern world.
Me: Ah.  I was kind of hoping for a class totally unrelated to orgasms.  Just for irony sake :P
Shannon: Yeah. It’s still kind of awkward, because he asked “what’s the function of the female orgasm?”
Shannon: I immediately thought f(orgasm) all math like, first guy said “there is no function, it’s a gift from god”
Me:  Hahah. How oldish is the professor?
Shannon: 30s?
Me:  Hahahahah That’s awesome
Shannon: and now he’s talking about the frequency of female orgasma.  Its awkwaaaard in here…
Me: frequency?  Starting to sound like math to me!
Shannon: and now…he’s talking about how penguins are “short-sighted”. I love having a British professor!
Me: Omg, he’s British?! :D
Me: Excuse me while I saw that a man with an accent like that can talk about orgasms all he wants ;)
Shannon: yes! It would only be more awesome if every 3rd word wasn’t “uh”
Shannon: that’s partially why I was feeling awkward…  *blush*
Me: Ugh, “uh” every third word definitely kills the excitements :(
Shannon: and now we’ve gone from female orgasms, to penguins, and now male nipples… :/
Me: Very…diverse

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

What a Morning!

Ryan woke me up, after I had fallen asleep on the couch, to come to bed last night (early this morning?...not sure what time) so I got up, brushed my teeth, crawled in bed, and feel asleep.  Or so I thought.  I woke up still on the couch, because I never actually woke up!  I REALLY thought I had, but I guess not.  I was apparently tired enough that not having a blanket and freezing wouldn't wake me up.  While Ryan DID try to wake me (I remembered that correctly...still don't know what time it was), I just never...got up.  Thanks to my awesome biological clock, I woke up on time without an alarm.  Nice.

I got up, did something with my hair (something I never do), did my makeup (which I always try to do), got dressed and left for work (after telling Ryan about me being convinced that I had gotten up and went to bed).  I opted out of breakfast this morning.  Partly because I didn't have time to make anything, didn't want to spend the money on fast food, and I just didn't want to eat.

I was SO excited because I was in the work parking lot at 8:54am, even with a construction detour.  My shift starts at 9.  I'm ALWAYS at least two, if not 8 minutes late.  It was a miracle!  Or so I thought.  I heard my phone ringing...it was Ryan.  He has locked himself out of the house.  We only live 11 minutes away.  So instead of being early I was going to be 20 minutes late.  Anway, I leave immediately to head back home and there's a train where I need to cross.  Then the train STOPPED MOVING.  Really?!?!?!  I text my coworker the hilariousness and a picture to go with it.  I get home, keys are retrieved, I take off, and I hear my phone again.  It's Ryan "Yes, really".  My left brake light is out.  And I had to stop for three squirrels on the way back to work because they all tried to commit suicide at the same time.  I kid you not.  That was my morning, before I even got to work.

I know I said I opted out of breakfast, but that was a small lie.  My mom brought me lunch (planned and excited), but she offered me some peanut butter crackers and a Special K Bar when she got here.  I've eaten the crackers, but not the bar or lunch yet.  I'm really wanting to make coffee just so I can enjoy my creamer because I would look silly drinking them straight from their little cups...and it would be way too potent and sweet.  But, I'm partly too lazy to drag the coffee pot all the way downstairs, and risk spilling it on a computer while pouring it into the coffee machine, to actually make some.  I'll probably give in soon.  I really wanted coffee last night, but it was 9pm and that's just never a good idea.

Oh, I got batteries for our old Canon so I can get better pictures than my phone pictures so I had a picture of dinner (which was delicious), but I forgot the cable to transfer the images to the computer.  Figures.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Hope your day is as exciting as mine has been :D

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

I Need to Keep Notes

Because I always forget what I'm going to say!

Do you ever email yourself website links or information?  I do.  Most of my inbox is probably from myself because I'm too lazy to write stuff down and emails follow me a lot easier than paper does.

Anyway, I'm supposed to add details about the topics in my previous post.

Push ups:  I totally forgot about doing the 100 push up, 200 squats, 200 sit ups programs last week because I was exhausted most of the week and spent my time napping instead of working out.  It was also just a busy week in general.  I still haven't picked up where I left off, but I did take a minute to do as many of each as I could do.  I haven't lost any strength!  I haven't added anymore, but at least I *should* be able to pick up where I left off on the programs.

Tuberculosis: Me "What does taking antibiotics have to do with not eating spicy foods?"
Him "Didn't you hear her coughing?  She has tuberculosis!"
Me "Er...bronchitis?"
Him "...yea...that one"

Love him.

I can't remember what I was going to say about ants except that we have them in the office and I know they're not harmful, but they're quite pesty, and they've been here since before I started this position so I don't even know how they started...or why they're upstairs and not down?  I have some guesses, but I shouldn't have to guess.  They shouldn't even be here.  (I guess I had more to say than I thought)

My friend joined the Navy so we tolerated extended family at a going away party for her to show our support and how much we love her (because dealing with the family for her definitely shows our love).

I'm hoping to start Turbo Fire up again and be consistent with it.  Which reminds me.  I need to workout when I get home :(

I also want to start Couch to 5k because running is of great interest and I want to prove to myself that I can do it because I've always been a sucky runner and I envy people when they say they run.  It doesn't seem like it should be hard, but it effing is.

I've been researching cat food again and there is SO MUCH mixed information about what to feed them.  I understand that raw is best, canned next, and never dry food, but I have problems with this.  The sites all say "your cat's digestive system handles raw food bacteria than ours does".  Ok, that's great, but that's the problem.  *I* don't want to get sick because I'm feeding my cat raw food.  Cat eats raw food so e. coli, salmonella, whatever other bacteria get in their mouth, then they lick their paws and bacteria is now on the paws.  Then they walk all over the house, climb in bed, on the couches, transferring the bacteria to those places that I touch.  Then I touch my face, blow my nose, eat with my hands instead of utensils, and now I'm carrying the bacteria, end up sick, and die.  So, I'm sorry, but until I have a strictly outdoor cat (which isn't going to happen), I'm not going raw for my kitties.  Canned is next.  I cannot afford to buy quality canned food for my cats.  One site went on to say that the lowest quality canned food is better than the highest quality dry food.  I somehow don't believe that even though the reasoning seems sound.  Maybe I just don't want to deal with the stinky litter box.

Right now our cats get a grain free dry food with a canned evening meal.  Originally I bought grain free in efforts to help the oldest cat in determining his allergy sources, but the canned food has grains so there's really no point.  My cats go crazy over canned food and I really don't want to deal with that reaction with every meal time.  I also really don't want them eating such crappy canned food for every meal, even given the canned vs dry statement because, well, it's crappy, but we can't afford quality canned food.

Which brings us back to dry.  You can't find a dry food that doesn't contain corn or grains.  I'm assuming whole grain is better than other grain (brown vs white rice) so I would probably let up on the rice thing, but it's silly that all of these "high end" foods are claiming to be good for cats, charging and arm and leg for the product, but you look and they're filled with corn and white rice.  It shouldn't be so hard to find a "better than decent" cat food for your cat.  I say better than decent since no dry food is ideal for cats.

I'm stressing more about their eating than mine this week, which I think has kind of helped.  I've not been having panic attacks after work so far this week.  Although, I did kind of nap after work to avoid it >.<