Well, things here at Dragons' Roost are moving along!
The little chest freezer and the gas stove have made me a MUCH happier cook!!
Also, over the past few weeks, we've been buying extras of this and that, so it no longer feels like we are living on the edge of being out of everything all the time.
I'm actually USED to that, having had it that way out of necessity for all of my years in the condo...but Dave finds it uncomfortable, and now we have eliminated it.
During the past year, we have paid off the heart attack hospital bills, and the subsequent hospital bills, and have been working hard at doing other things to improve cash flow.
This has helped a LOT with getting rid of that uneasy feeling.
Unfortunately, Jack the cat had an unexpected four day stay at the vet hospital for an oral infection this past week....so $600 dollars later...ugh.
We had no choice but to use a credit card.
Hopefully, the increase in payment amount will just fold in with our other mass of debts, and not be too difficult to incorporate into the monthly out flow.
Maybe it will just fit right in, along with PLANNED recent credit purchases of the freezer and stove. Oh well!! The best laid plans....etc. etc.
Anyway, Jack's doing fine, now....though he lost is right front upper fang. Now, when he smiles, he will be lop sided.
*giggle*
I didn't feel like putting out any Halloween decorations this year. I have no idea why.
This is the first time in my life I haven't been interested, yet only the second time that I've had a real front porch to decorate. You'd think I'd be all over it....but I opened up the box of the same old stuff, and just didn't "feel it" this year. Maybe I need some new Halloweenie stuff.
There are a few things up on the inside of the house, but the porch is just going to be the mums and the pumpkins, which we will carve after my dance class Tuesday night.
Anyway... maybe when we're out and about this weekend, if I see some
affordable Halloween tchazki on sale, I will pick up a couple of new
items for the porch.
Maybe I'll be inspired yet.....
I'm very proud of my husband for deciding to become a registered voter again for the first time in decades.
We are hoping to take advantage of the early voting opportunity in this state, which is next weekend.
Tuesdays are REALLY inconvenient for most working people...and I also have dance class at 6 on Tuesdays, and it ends after the polls close.
It would be difficult at best to have to try to get there between the polls opening at 7 am, and get in and out by 7:25 am, when I'd have to be on my way to work.
Our local polling place is in the wrong direction from my workplace, and it would take an extra few minutes to get to work.
My company, which has such a horrible time off policy for full time employees to begin with, does not allow time for voting. As mentioned in previous posts, my company does not really allow for anything having to do with real life!
So, I'd have to stay late and make up the time if I got there late, and I don't WANT to have to do that on dance class night, because that means having less time to eat and get ready for class, etc. etc!!
SO---the plan is to go next Saturday.
Oh, and as has become my pattern of late, I COMPLETELY forgot to buy and mail a birthday card to my brother....I would had to have mailed it yesterday for it to get to Wheaton by Tuesday. SORRY!
Happy Birthday, big brudder!!! It's your turn for the next milestone! Don't let it weigh you down!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Cookin' with gas!
We finally got some appreciable rain yesterday. Haven't heard yet how much, but it rained on and off all day, heavily at times.
It's only 5 months late!
We have started to re-introduce alcohol and grain into our diet the past few days. I am pretty sure I don't like how flour makes me feel.
I had some crackers with my soup for lunch the other day, and felt queasy after. Then, on Friday, we went all out and had pizza and beer.
Saturday, I felt tired and bloated and out of sorts. Kind of like I had been feeling for months prior to the elimination diet.
Good information!
So far, no notable reaction to red wine or a shot of whiskey.
My biggest news right now, though, is THE NEW STOVE!!!
It arrived Friday. Dave took that day off from work, and did the installation himself. I cooked on it last night for the first time.
In three years of not being able to cook with gas, there were some adaptations to make! I will remember how to do it in short order, though!
It's only 5 months late!
We have started to re-introduce alcohol and grain into our diet the past few days. I am pretty sure I don't like how flour makes me feel.
I had some crackers with my soup for lunch the other day, and felt queasy after. Then, on Friday, we went all out and had pizza and beer.
Saturday, I felt tired and bloated and out of sorts. Kind of like I had been feeling for months prior to the elimination diet.
Good information!
So far, no notable reaction to red wine or a shot of whiskey.
My biggest news right now, though, is THE NEW STOVE!!!
It arrived Friday. Dave took that day off from work, and did the installation himself. I cooked on it last night for the first time.
In three years of not being able to cook with gas, there were some adaptations to make! I will remember how to do it in short order, though!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
change in the weather...change in the weather....something's happening here....
Good Sunday, gentle reader...if anyone's out there!
We're having another cold snap like we did last October....the cold snap last year was when we discovered that our furnace had stopped working, and it happened in the midst of my 25 year old cockateil's fall molt.
He died from the stress. I was heart broken. We were together for half my life. I still miss him.
Fortunately, this year, the furnace works. It got down into the mid 30's last night. I hope it was cold enough to kill off some plant based allergens in the air, but I'm not so sure.
I am 31 days into the 90 day dance challenge. I've found it difficult to dance on a couple of occasions....like Fridays, because they are SUCH long days (i get up at 5:45 on weekdays and workout, then go to work, then on Fridays, we do all of our grocery and other shopping--so Friday's obligations don't end until 8 or 9 at night), and there was one day last week when I had NO inclination what so ever to even try....so I took that day off....but then, I made it up the next day and danced twice as long.
I am doing this for many reasons, a couple of which are making dance practice a daily habit that I no longer have to think about MAKING time for...I have the time, I just need the focus; and trying to break through the deep anxiety that I have about doing improvisational dance.
It's been interesting so far.
Then, there's the diet. We are now at day 28 of our 30 day cleansing diet. It's gone by pretty quickly, and with a lot less angst and crankiness, on Dave's part especially, than predicted.
I am confident that I will stay at my normal size now, so I have cleaned out my clothing stores and donated the larger sizes!
I was, after all, the same size for 20 something years. The weight gain was the un-natural part. Being back to my normal size is the natural part.
I now know, without question, what my body thrives on at this age: the right balance of protein, fat, and "slow carbs" from lots of variety of veggies.
And, I now also know what my body gets fat and unhealthy on: mostly glutenous grain foods, processed convenience foods, and sugars.
I could eat those processed, grain filled, sweet foods before without consequence...but I can't anymore...and, from what I've learned about chronic inflammation and malnourishment of the body's cells....I don't WANT to anymore!
If everyone out there knew that grains cause inflammation, and inflammation causes almost all of our lifestyle related illnesses in this country, I think Americans would eat a LOT differently. If they cared, that is.
Most people don't care.
Anyway, the cravings I was having for cakes and cookies and bread have completely stopped, and now I'm not in the least interested in adding those foods back into my diet. I will probably have something in that group once in a while, as a treat...but really? Do not want.
This past week at work was customer service week, and each day, they handed out treats to everyone...cookies, cake, ice cream, chips.....and it was extremely easy to say no, even when the goodies were brought to me at my desk!
My cravings for alcohol have taught me a LOT about why and when I drink. I will have a MUCH different consciousness about it from now on. The past several years of almost non-stop stress had a very bad impact on my drinking habit, and Dave and I had become FAR more interested in daily drinking than either of us ever was before. Now that I've not had a drop in a month, I am no longer desperately wanting a drink.
From here on out, one or two will be MORE than enough, and only on the weekends and holidays.
If for no other reason, I don't have any "fat" clothes anymore! :)
We're having another cold snap like we did last October....the cold snap last year was when we discovered that our furnace had stopped working, and it happened in the midst of my 25 year old cockateil's fall molt.
He died from the stress. I was heart broken. We were together for half my life. I still miss him.
Fortunately, this year, the furnace works. It got down into the mid 30's last night. I hope it was cold enough to kill off some plant based allergens in the air, but I'm not so sure.
I am 31 days into the 90 day dance challenge. I've found it difficult to dance on a couple of occasions....like Fridays, because they are SUCH long days (i get up at 5:45 on weekdays and workout, then go to work, then on Fridays, we do all of our grocery and other shopping--so Friday's obligations don't end until 8 or 9 at night), and there was one day last week when I had NO inclination what so ever to even try....so I took that day off....but then, I made it up the next day and danced twice as long.
I am doing this for many reasons, a couple of which are making dance practice a daily habit that I no longer have to think about MAKING time for...I have the time, I just need the focus; and trying to break through the deep anxiety that I have about doing improvisational dance.
It's been interesting so far.
Then, there's the diet. We are now at day 28 of our 30 day cleansing diet. It's gone by pretty quickly, and with a lot less angst and crankiness, on Dave's part especially, than predicted.
I am confident that I will stay at my normal size now, so I have cleaned out my clothing stores and donated the larger sizes!
I was, after all, the same size for 20 something years. The weight gain was the un-natural part. Being back to my normal size is the natural part.
I now know, without question, what my body thrives on at this age: the right balance of protein, fat, and "slow carbs" from lots of variety of veggies.
And, I now also know what my body gets fat and unhealthy on: mostly glutenous grain foods, processed convenience foods, and sugars.
I could eat those processed, grain filled, sweet foods before without consequence...but I can't anymore...and, from what I've learned about chronic inflammation and malnourishment of the body's cells....I don't WANT to anymore!
If everyone out there knew that grains cause inflammation, and inflammation causes almost all of our lifestyle related illnesses in this country, I think Americans would eat a LOT differently. If they cared, that is.
Most people don't care.
Anyway, the cravings I was having for cakes and cookies and bread have completely stopped, and now I'm not in the least interested in adding those foods back into my diet. I will probably have something in that group once in a while, as a treat...but really? Do not want.
This past week at work was customer service week, and each day, they handed out treats to everyone...cookies, cake, ice cream, chips.....and it was extremely easy to say no, even when the goodies were brought to me at my desk!
My cravings for alcohol have taught me a LOT about why and when I drink. I will have a MUCH different consciousness about it from now on. The past several years of almost non-stop stress had a very bad impact on my drinking habit, and Dave and I had become FAR more interested in daily drinking than either of us ever was before. Now that I've not had a drop in a month, I am no longer desperately wanting a drink.
From here on out, one or two will be MORE than enough, and only on the weekends and holidays.
If for no other reason, I don't have any "fat" clothes anymore! :)
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