Well I wouldn't have thought this would be on the list but I am going to speak at the Town Meeting on Tuesday night. We have a government run by selectmen (i.e., no mayor) and something so ridiculous happened a few weeks ago I just have to get to the bottom of it. Our town has odd/even year parking. Meaning, this is an odd-numbered year, but because I live in an even-numbered house, I cannot park in front of my house. This is a year-round policy, but I truly thought it was a November-May (or some other similar 6-month policy that ran the winter months) issue. Imagine my surprise when there was a ticket on the car - AND a second charge for parking in the wrong direction (mind you, we have a narrow residential street, but because it is not one-way, there is technically a right side and a left side). I have been living here for 25 years - and I know FOR A FACT - that it was because the trash guy was having a bad day and called the cops just to make himself heard. He probably wanted to pull the truck down one side and up the other, and although he would encounter cars on the "odd" side he didn't want to deal with cars on the "even" side. Why should I pay for someone's bad mood? I paid the ticket just to get it out of my hair, but I'm not dropping the issue. Now that I think of it I should have appealed the ticket, not complain about it after the fact. Oh well, better late than never... So I spoke to my neighbor across the street and she was absolutely appalled. I am sure if I need signatures to change the law I will have no trouble getting them!
I'm getting used to my glasses. I stopped on the way home to have the nose pieces changed to something shorter and softer. It helped a bit, but then it made the bridge a little too heavy. I rode home with a wad of tissue under the bridge - but I am getting used to the weight (these glasses are heavier than what I had previously). Every time I think about the comfort factor I think about breaking in a new pair of shoes - especially if you've been wearing sandals or going barefoot all summer! It's the same thing. I know that the glasses are a good fit - I just have to get used to them. The prescription is much stronger and that is giving me some problems at the computer, but the optician said just to outright rest my eyes if I need to, not switch to the old glasses. He said that the brain needs time to acclimate to the new prescription and if I switch between the two I'll never get used to the new one. Makes sense.
I am taking Friday off so that it will increase my chances of doing nothing between this afternoon and going back to work Monday morning. Besides, it's going to be 90 degrees from today clear through to Monday so it's best not to knock myself out.
OH! LOL! Just got a notice from the boss that the BIG boss has okay'd staff to leave at 2PM today. Good to know since it is now 2:20. LOLOL I'll take it!
So with that I wish you all a wonderful 4th of July and "see" you next week if not a couple of times over the weekend.
Miriam
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Just a quickie
Just a quickie today. I picked up new glasses on my way home yesterday. I am still getting used to them - they are a stronger prescription and, under the best of circumstances it takes a while to adjust to a new progressive prescription, but I get horribly car sick and have a vertigo condition - so my getting used to them might really stretch the envelope. I don't want to take breaks with my old glasses and instead am just closing and resting my eyes periodically. I opted for new frames and they are similar enough to the old ones that not one single person even noticed I had new glasses (but different enough so I don't feel I wasted my money)! (Sandy - I had to take a second look at your new profile picture - they are sort of like yours but with different ornamentation on the corners.)
I looked at the temps ahead for this week - just lovely if you are spending the week at the beach (90 degrees and sunny through the weekend) but a little too hot to live in a house with no air conditioning (I swear it's more difficult after spending the day in an ac'd office and car). However, miracle of miracles, the pool is clean and ready to go. It's freezing cold though, so the most I will do is dip my toes - and mostly to shoo the ducks away. Their stays are shorter and shorter as their little duck brains process the fact that they shouldn't be swimming in a chlorinated pond - even though it is their own private resort. Vinnie also chases them off in the morning although I notice that he ignores them more and more, and is probably seeing the wisdom in Tiki's habit of pretending they are not there.
Anyway, I've hit my limit of staring at this computer screen.
Stay cool!
Miriam
I looked at the temps ahead for this week - just lovely if you are spending the week at the beach (90 degrees and sunny through the weekend) but a little too hot to live in a house with no air conditioning (I swear it's more difficult after spending the day in an ac'd office and car). However, miracle of miracles, the pool is clean and ready to go. It's freezing cold though, so the most I will do is dip my toes - and mostly to shoo the ducks away. Their stays are shorter and shorter as their little duck brains process the fact that they shouldn't be swimming in a chlorinated pond - even though it is their own private resort. Vinnie also chases them off in the morning although I notice that he ignores them more and more, and is probably seeing the wisdom in Tiki's habit of pretending they are not there.
Anyway, I've hit my limit of staring at this computer screen.
Stay cool!
Miriam
Monday, July 1, 2013
The first of a new month on a Monday - how lovely
Boy, the weekend got away from me! I did my grocery shopping, laundry, my last class for the season, tons of cleaning, and company yesterday afternoon. So what else is new? I am thinking of taking Friday off (tacking it on to having Thursday off), just to have a day of doing nothing - which, I am sure, is a futile plan...
I was telling my daughter how my bucket list is horseback-riding lessons, kayacking, and rock climbing (safely at the gym). Just once for each, mind you, but doing them all this summer. She looked at me with tears in her eyes (honest!) and said, you aren't dying are you? I had to clarify that it was my bucket list before summer dies away! lol
I'm trying a few new recipes this week to start the month off. I have a split chicken marinating in a tahini-based dressing - my husband promised to grill for me before he leaves for work so that it is ready for dinner. Then, from my Italian Slow Cooker cookbook I made a tomato sauce with red wine yesterday, and tomorrow will make (from the same cookbook) a "Big Italian Meatball" with the sauce. Then from my GI diet book (which was headed for Goodwill but I fished it out to see if there were any good recipes) I am making a chili recipe (crock pot also). These should be plenty to get through the week.
I went through a (short) period of just cooking on the fly but found that didn't work for me at all. I came home hungry, nothing prepared, and making poor choices all through the evening. Even if I had something ready to cook, if it wasn't done and ready to go on the plate, it didn't get cooked or eaten. I found that even with not dieting, being prepared is still the best way for me to go.
Karly Randolph Pitman calls it "grounding" and I am so grateful to her for showing me that no apology is necessary to acknowledge that planning and cooking ahead is what I need to stay healthy and less crazed in the food department. I had a friend who made fun of all the planning, grocery shopping and cooking that I did on a weekend to get through the upcoming week. She intimated that something was really wrong with me to be so obsessed with this planning (she, on the other hand, picked up a pizza on the way home from work). I felt bad about my "style" for a while and really did think something was wrong with me. But, when I read Karly's take on it, I realize that no apology or explanation is necessary. It is what makes my life run smoothly and contributes to my well being - both mentally and physically.
So anyway - chicken is on the grill (hopefully), sauce is made, two slow cooker recipes ready in the wings, and my bucket list at my side. The new month is off to a good start!
Miriam
I was telling my daughter how my bucket list is horseback-riding lessons, kayacking, and rock climbing (safely at the gym). Just once for each, mind you, but doing them all this summer. She looked at me with tears in her eyes (honest!) and said, you aren't dying are you? I had to clarify that it was my bucket list before summer dies away! lol
I'm trying a few new recipes this week to start the month off. I have a split chicken marinating in a tahini-based dressing - my husband promised to grill for me before he leaves for work so that it is ready for dinner. Then, from my Italian Slow Cooker cookbook I made a tomato sauce with red wine yesterday, and tomorrow will make (from the same cookbook) a "Big Italian Meatball" with the sauce. Then from my GI diet book (which was headed for Goodwill but I fished it out to see if there were any good recipes) I am making a chili recipe (crock pot also). These should be plenty to get through the week.
I went through a (short) period of just cooking on the fly but found that didn't work for me at all. I came home hungry, nothing prepared, and making poor choices all through the evening. Even if I had something ready to cook, if it wasn't done and ready to go on the plate, it didn't get cooked or eaten. I found that even with not dieting, being prepared is still the best way for me to go.
Karly Randolph Pitman calls it "grounding" and I am so grateful to her for showing me that no apology is necessary to acknowledge that planning and cooking ahead is what I need to stay healthy and less crazed in the food department. I had a friend who made fun of all the planning, grocery shopping and cooking that I did on a weekend to get through the upcoming week. She intimated that something was really wrong with me to be so obsessed with this planning (she, on the other hand, picked up a pizza on the way home from work). I felt bad about my "style" for a while and really did think something was wrong with me. But, when I read Karly's take on it, I realize that no apology or explanation is necessary. It is what makes my life run smoothly and contributes to my well being - both mentally and physically.
So anyway - chicken is on the grill (hopefully), sauce is made, two slow cooker recipes ready in the wings, and my bucket list at my side. The new month is off to a good start!
Miriam
Thursday, June 27, 2013
A small kind gesture can set the day
It's funny how some small kindness can make you smile the rest of the day. I am an award-winning parallel parker. Unless you live in the city you don't know what it is to park in a space 2 inches smaller than your car, with tons of traffic being held up while you make the maneuver. My mother taught me well and I can sometimes get into a tiny space with one move back and one move forward. And I do it without touching the car in either front or back. But I do get nervous when there is a person sitting in the car in front or back. So this morning I started my parking maneuver and the guy who was in the space behind me, and who had already gotten out of his car, came back and moved to the empty space behind him so that I would have plenty of room to park. I thought that was so kind of him and told him so. I wore a smile the rest of the morning. I even noticed a dumpster in my parking lot and thought "how pretty" - it was brand new - not a scratch or a dent, and a shiny beautiful teal. I had never seen such a beautiful dumpster - lol.
This followed my morning doctor's appointment. He said just a 25-pound loss will probably bring my sugar to normal numbers as well as bring my cholesterol down. He said to stay away from anything made from white flour. This is already something I know and do. Most of what he said was of the "been there done that" variety of advice, but this time around I am really scared. So that will make a difference.
My special thing today is that I am stopping at Bed Bath and Beyond and getting a Yonanas machine. I saw this last summer and I think even before that it was the rage at WW meetings. I'm just in the mood for something new. I was going to get a crock pot but decided the two I have work just fine, even though they don't have the neat warming stage at the end of cooking time to use if I'm not home. But, with a little planning (like leaving instructions for my husband) I can have it finished just at the right time and not over- or under-cooked. The real reason I decided against getting one is that I looked on Amazon and they have so many to choose from I got dizzy looking at them and reading reviews. There is only one Yonanas so I'm goin' for it.
Speaking of special things I was telling my doctor about my summer plans (to do at least one enjoyable thing each day, even if it's being a little late in the morning because I decided to enjoy a cup of coffee at home instead of from a to-go cup on the road) and he said that is probably more important for my health than any medication. He was quite impressed :).
Okay - I am going to purchase blueberries and strawberries and maybe a cantaloupe to throw into the freezer when I get home. I figured as long as I am making my frozen fruits with mostly low-calorie highly anti-oxidant berries that I will glean health as well as pleasure! Apparently if you add yogurt it comes out more like flavored frozen yogurt, so that's good to know - but I will be happy with a nice bowl of fruit sorbet!
M
This followed my morning doctor's appointment. He said just a 25-pound loss will probably bring my sugar to normal numbers as well as bring my cholesterol down. He said to stay away from anything made from white flour. This is already something I know and do. Most of what he said was of the "been there done that" variety of advice, but this time around I am really scared. So that will make a difference.
My special thing today is that I am stopping at Bed Bath and Beyond and getting a Yonanas machine. I saw this last summer and I think even before that it was the rage at WW meetings. I'm just in the mood for something new. I was going to get a crock pot but decided the two I have work just fine, even though they don't have the neat warming stage at the end of cooking time to use if I'm not home. But, with a little planning (like leaving instructions for my husband) I can have it finished just at the right time and not over- or under-cooked. The real reason I decided against getting one is that I looked on Amazon and they have so many to choose from I got dizzy looking at them and reading reviews. There is only one Yonanas so I'm goin' for it.
Speaking of special things I was telling my doctor about my summer plans (to do at least one enjoyable thing each day, even if it's being a little late in the morning because I decided to enjoy a cup of coffee at home instead of from a to-go cup on the road) and he said that is probably more important for my health than any medication. He was quite impressed :).
Okay - I am going to purchase blueberries and strawberries and maybe a cantaloupe to throw into the freezer when I get home. I figured as long as I am making my frozen fruits with mostly low-calorie highly anti-oxidant berries that I will glean health as well as pleasure! Apparently if you add yogurt it comes out more like flavored frozen yogurt, so that's good to know - but I will be happy with a nice bowl of fruit sorbet!
M
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Found the best website ever!
As if I don't have enough recipes and enough websites to keep me occupied ... but... I have to share that I found the best website ever! It is called The Yummy Life. I never ever have any cereal products for breakfast because I am always hungry before I've even finished my morning commute. However, she had a steel-cut oatmeal slow cooker recipe that intrigued me and sent me straightaway to Trader Joe's to pick up steel-cut oatmeal. I had my husband start the crock pot at around midnight and the most delightful breakfast was awaiting me this morning. I was not even hungry for lunch at lunchtime! Anyway - I started looking around her site and the recipes are fantastic. I have been inspired to stop at Bed Bath and Beyond this afternoon to pick up a programmable crock pot that she recommends. I have been shopping for a new crock pot for ages, but there are so many to choose from that I just never knew where to plunk down my money. Actually I have a small one in which I made the oatmeal, but I am getting a new larger one anyway. The oatmeal I made was apple-cinnamon but she has a cranberry eggnog one that I can't wait to try as soon as the eggnog starts appearing on grocery shelves!
So anyway - why was I searching for oatmeal in the first place? As I wrote yesterday, I got my blood test results back and they are less than stellar. On the Mayo Clinic website (that I posted yesterday) they indicated that eating oatmeal is a good place to start, hence the search for oatmeal recipes. My daughter is also trying to get me to understand how to use Pinterest so I have been pinning recipes and websites. Another summer project....I don't have enough to do to waste my time....but I'm feeling a renewed interest in new healthy recipes, so it's all good.
Hubby got the pool cover off - and the water isn't nearly as bad as it was last year. We can at least see the steps, which is a good sign. I told him to keep up with the chlorine and to make sure to put in stabilizer, otherwise the water can "turn" in a heartbeat. The ducks haven't come since the cover has been off - which is odd, since they usually don't give up the ghost until at least 2 weeks into chlorinating and running the pool. My new cat Vinnie I think is doing a pretty decent job of patrolling the pool, but even he sometimes ignores the ducks - it's a losing battle... The pool was filled with hundreds (if not thousands) of tadpoles and toads but last night things were much quieter so I think the toads have started to fly the coop, so to speak. Poor tadpoles, though.
Anyway - if you have time browse around that website - it really is wonderful!
Miriam
So anyway - why was I searching for oatmeal in the first place? As I wrote yesterday, I got my blood test results back and they are less than stellar. On the Mayo Clinic website (that I posted yesterday) they indicated that eating oatmeal is a good place to start, hence the search for oatmeal recipes. My daughter is also trying to get me to understand how to use Pinterest so I have been pinning recipes and websites. Another summer project....I don't have enough to do to waste my time....but I'm feeling a renewed interest in new healthy recipes, so it's all good.
Hubby got the pool cover off - and the water isn't nearly as bad as it was last year. We can at least see the steps, which is a good sign. I told him to keep up with the chlorine and to make sure to put in stabilizer, otherwise the water can "turn" in a heartbeat. The ducks haven't come since the cover has been off - which is odd, since they usually don't give up the ghost until at least 2 weeks into chlorinating and running the pool. My new cat Vinnie I think is doing a pretty decent job of patrolling the pool, but even he sometimes ignores the ducks - it's a losing battle... The pool was filled with hundreds (if not thousands) of tadpoles and toads but last night things were much quieter so I think the toads have started to fly the coop, so to speak. Poor tadpoles, though.
Anyway - if you have time browse around that website - it really is wonderful!
Miriam
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Summer Continued
I am beginning to think that I should stop the count (Day 4, Day 5, etc.) - it already has me stressed! Why, I do not know, but I always get tense counting things. I play a game with my daughter - it's like Boggle but on-line it's called Scramble. It's a timed game and I actually hyperventilate when I'm counted down by one minute. When I started my sugar-free program and was about three weeks into it (keeping a calendar that each day I would mark "SF" as proof that I had been sugar-free) I was listening to the accompanying CD and she said, "Please do not mark on a calendar every day you have been sugar free." LOL - was she speaking to me? I stopped immediately. The premise was to guard against black&white, all-or-nothing, thinking. Boy was she right, but I'm just that sort of person. So anyway, I need to acknowledge every glorious day of summer but as of today I'm not counting. All it will do is get me anxious about how summer is moving along and how I may (or may not) be moving along with it.
Okay, so as long as we are talking about numbers, the results of yesterday's blood test are starting to come in (some take more than a day to be calculated). What has come in so far is that my cholesterol and LDL have both significantly gone up since my tests 6 months ago. I took myself off my statin drug after reading so many negative studies (my bad - I didn't even bother to discuss it with my doctor). I have horrible horrible leg cramps - and not just the calf - I get them in my shin, in my quad, hamstring - and they are so bad, my leg still aches the next day. Since going off my statin I haven't gotten a single leg cramp. I have to find a way to naturally lower my cholesterol so that I don't have to go back to that drug. On the other hand my HDL went up and my triglycerides plummeted, so I know that my dietary changes have made some dent in what I am trying to accomplish. My daughter, the expert on these things, said that in addition to dietary changes, increased exercise will also affect cholesterol counts (I know it helps with insulin resistance as well). My glucose, already a bit high, is exactly the same as it was 6 months ago.
She has given me two sites to explore - based on research and not gimmicks - that I will share here with you:
Okay, so as long as we are talking about numbers, the results of yesterday's blood test are starting to come in (some take more than a day to be calculated). What has come in so far is that my cholesterol and LDL have both significantly gone up since my tests 6 months ago. I took myself off my statin drug after reading so many negative studies (my bad - I didn't even bother to discuss it with my doctor). I have horrible horrible leg cramps - and not just the calf - I get them in my shin, in my quad, hamstring - and they are so bad, my leg still aches the next day. Since going off my statin I haven't gotten a single leg cramp. I have to find a way to naturally lower my cholesterol so that I don't have to go back to that drug. On the other hand my HDL went up and my triglycerides plummeted, so I know that my dietary changes have made some dent in what I am trying to accomplish. My daughter, the expert on these things, said that in addition to dietary changes, increased exercise will also affect cholesterol counts (I know it helps with insulin resistance as well). My glucose, already a bit high, is exactly the same as it was 6 months ago.
She has given me two sites to explore - based on research and not gimmicks - that I will share here with you:
The mayo clinic website.
And
also the HSPH nutrition source.
I am sure there is no information on either website that I haven't already come across and read, but with my daughter's email to me:
"i
love you too! so be healthy so you live forever and i never have to be
without you!", I will take a fresh look.
Add reading those websites to my summer projects list... but no counting how long it takes me!
Miriam
Monday, June 24, 2013
4th day of summer
OMG - we are breaking records here. I'm not much one for heat, so I already have a headache brewing... Not gonna talk myself into it, though. Started my morning with lab work. They changed up the system so that even though the lab opens at 8 and I was there around 8:10 I did not get seen until almost 9. Maybe someone didn't come in on time... I don't know. But add that to roads being paved, and I got in at 10:30 even though I had left my house before 8. Sigh... However, the upside is that, because I didn't have my full breakfast/beverages before leaving I made it in without wetting my pants... too much. LOL
I have my bag packed for a swim at the gym but the pool doesn't open until 5, and I think I want to head home immediately. I didn't want to go at lunch since I got in so late. I know... I know... already with the excuses and it's only Day 4. But no, seriously - I'm dying to get home to my unairconditioned house so that I can slap wet towels on my arms and sit in front of the fan and bitch and moan how the night is so long and so hot. Hmm... maybe I will rethink the gym. Actually I would have gone this morning since I was up so early, but I had to hang around for the lab to open. I might just go for a walk on the track - I don't even have to change for that and my iPod is all fired up!
Speaking of the iPod I want to do a commercial announcement for something I just bought: It's by URGE BASICS and it's called a Flash Tube Charger. You charge it on your computer and it holds a charge so you can plug your dead devices into it. It immediately zapped a charge into my iPod this morning (which was dead when I got to the lab, but fully charged by the time I got out). I bought four of them to give as gifts this year, but I think I am keeping a second one for myself so I will always have one charged and handy.
I have just a feeling of overwhelm lately, which is what started me on my summer projects - so much to do, so little time. But it's more than that. I have a yearning for a simpler time. I was thinking back to my apartment in Brooklyn when my children were just babies. Of course at THAT time I was overwhelmed with being a new mother, living on one income, hoping to move, etc., but as I look back now I see how simple those days were. If I had known then what I know now about how delicious being a stay-at-home mom could be, I would have appreciated and enjoyed it even more than I did. Of course, when I'm 80, and overwhelmed with whatever overwhelms 80-year olds I will look back to now and wish for the simpler times of today! LOL I don't know... I'm not exactly in a funk, but I feel like I am free-floating with no idea where to land.
I think this is, in part, what motivated me to do summer projects... I want the simple times of summer... Again with the doing instead of being. Oh I've got it ... maybe on the way home I will swing by Walden Pond and just hang out there for a while -maybe being there will help me contemplate more than my belly button. I just called and they are at capacity for the day but will reopen at 4PM.
I have my bag packed for a swim at the gym but the pool doesn't open until 5, and I think I want to head home immediately. I didn't want to go at lunch since I got in so late. I know... I know... already with the excuses and it's only Day 4. But no, seriously - I'm dying to get home to my unairconditioned house so that I can slap wet towels on my arms and sit in front of the fan and bitch and moan how the night is so long and so hot. Hmm... maybe I will rethink the gym. Actually I would have gone this morning since I was up so early, but I had to hang around for the lab to open. I might just go for a walk on the track - I don't even have to change for that and my iPod is all fired up!
Speaking of the iPod I want to do a commercial announcement for something I just bought: It's by URGE BASICS and it's called a Flash Tube Charger. You charge it on your computer and it holds a charge so you can plug your dead devices into it. It immediately zapped a charge into my iPod this morning (which was dead when I got to the lab, but fully charged by the time I got out). I bought four of them to give as gifts this year, but I think I am keeping a second one for myself so I will always have one charged and handy.
I have just a feeling of overwhelm lately, which is what started me on my summer projects - so much to do, so little time. But it's more than that. I have a yearning for a simpler time. I was thinking back to my apartment in Brooklyn when my children were just babies. Of course at THAT time I was overwhelmed with being a new mother, living on one income, hoping to move, etc., but as I look back now I see how simple those days were. If I had known then what I know now about how delicious being a stay-at-home mom could be, I would have appreciated and enjoyed it even more than I did. Of course, when I'm 80, and overwhelmed with whatever overwhelms 80-year olds I will look back to now and wish for the simpler times of today! LOL I don't know... I'm not exactly in a funk, but I feel like I am free-floating with no idea where to land.
I think this is, in part, what motivated me to do summer projects... I want the simple times of summer... Again with the doing instead of being. Oh I've got it ... maybe on the way home I will swing by Walden Pond and just hang out there for a while -maybe being there will help me contemplate more than my belly button. I just called and they are at capacity for the day but will reopen at 4PM.
I have my bathing suit, flip flops and towel with me anyway ... I've got a plan!!!!
Miriam
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