Thoughts for the Ether...

Green Eggs & No Ham

2012-02-13T08:36:00.002-05:00

This sounds ridiculous, but I've been in search of an egg plate for close to 10 years and finally found one, so I got obsessed with making deviled eggs this weekend. I ran into a snag that turned into genius (if I do say so myself).... I don't have mayo. I also don't like store-bought mayo (because of the crap oils they use). I ALSO don't have any eggs that I can trust to use raw to make my own right now. So what to do?! I experimented and came up with this:

Green Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

12 eggs (preferably organic & pastured)
1 ripe avocado

Also start with:

~1/8-1/4 c. Extra Virgin Kalamata Olive Oil
~2-3 Tbsp. Yellow Mustard
~1.5-2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
~2-3 Tbsp. White Vinegar (be conservative on this one)
~1/4 tsp. Salt
~1/4 tsp Garlic Powder (optional)
~Tumeric (optional)
~Cayenne Pepper (optional & to taste)
~ dash of Paprika per egg (optional)

Directions:
Prepare, peel and halve the dozen hard boiled eggs and reserve the cooked yolks in a mixing bowl. Remove the avocado from the shell and the pit and add it to the eggs in the mixing bowl. Add in the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, and a little bit of white vinegar and salt. Blend until smooth with a hand mixer or blender. Now here's the kicker: every person has a different idea of how deviled eggs should taste. Luckily, you always have leftovers of the filling. I'd look at the spices in a recipe you already like, start there and adjust accordingly. So if you like it more mustardy, add mustard, blend and taste until you get the flavor you want. The same goes for the rest of the ingredients. Be very cautious with the vinegar. They don't seem to taste right without some, but it would be hard to bring it back to flavor if you put in too much. Once you have the filling right, put it in a piping bag or a plastic baggie with the corner cut out & squirt into the empty egg halves. Top with Paprika if desired... Et Voila!

I hope you enjoy these too! (they'd be sooo great for a Seuss Themed party.... hehe)

Faux Beef Burgundy

2012-01-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

So, I've been on a rampage to use up food before I go visit my parents for the weekend. This is especially difficult since we have about a 2 week back-up on our crop share produce. In order to use up some mushrooms & onions, I thought of a Beef with mushrooms & onions in a red wine base. Here goes:

Faux Beef Burgundy

~1.5 lb. Stew Beef
1 medium to large red onion
1 pkg white mushrooms
1/2-1 large sweet potato, peeled & cubed
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Bottle Cocobon Red Wine
3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1-1.5 Tbsp Herb de Province, dried
1 tsp. Oregano, dried
1.5 tsp. French Thyme, dried
dash or two Paprika

In a 4 qt. slow cooker, make a nest (don't know if this is entirely necessary) of sliced onion and nestle cubed beef in it. Place cubed Sweet potato and mushrooms on top. Add spices and pour vinegar and wine all over. Pour yourself a glass of wine too? Cover crockpot & either cook on low for ~7 hours or cook on high for an hour and a half, then switch to low for 2.5 hours. Mine wasn't "pretty" because I took no care or artistry in how I cut the bits, but the taste was to die for! Serves 4.

Musings on Style

2011-12-15T11:40:00.000-05:00

So this has been a dichotomy day... I woke up this morning and stumbled upon this blog post from Advanced Style...

Playing Dress Up

I love it! I feel a certain affinity for these ladies eventhough I don't share their fashion taste. Great for them. I wouldn't wear some of it myself, though I am intrigued by the black lace and bead string shirt in the third photo & would be tempted to try the black and grey outfit in the second (it wouldn't work. I'm kinda abysmal at layering even if I try). I approach everyday as a dress up session. This is why I love working somewhere with semi-lax dress code. That's why I'm a little bummed about working at home - no runway & nobody to discuss choices with (yes, one of my male coworkers would comment on my outfits, give opinions, etc, & no he wasn't gay or metro). This is also a reason I'm looking forward to getting older. I figure the older I get, the more comfortable being flamboyant I'll be (already happening as I define my own concept of adulthood...). I'd even like to go off the deep end sometime when I have brilliant grey hair & run around in full Victorian dress for a week randomly - just to entertain myself & other people.

But then later today I ran across this:

Clothing that will make your daughter the most popular girl in school

And I feel really bad for the girl raised by people who buy into this. I feel really bad for people propogating this. Girls who are raised by that *may * break out of that mindset, but more likely, I doubt they will become a Lady of Advanced Style. : (

Just my 2 cents.

Needless to say, I got inspired by the first, and reacted to the second, and determined to wear flaming red leggings under a black cowl neck tunic sweater with my hair braided & coiffed up, with black & red stone Victorian inspired dangle earrings, with a three strand "pearl" choker - and all that will be paired with a vintage black velvet swing coat and asymmetrical black velvet hat from the early 50s when I venture out today. : )

Food for thought

2011-12-05T08:25:00.000-05:00

This week, I've run across these two articles...

Now, I have to be honest. I read the last blog post & skimmed the first article. I need to do further reading into the Rat Park study & read the paper listed in the first one. On the surface, though, assuming both authors are correct with their summaries... it's really making me think about the mismatch in nature of humans vs. our constructed environments which we believe to be "ideal".

Just food for thought.

The spectre in the corner...

2011-10-28T09:42:00.006-04:00

It's there. In the shadows in the corner. I know it's there. I'm just constantly waiting for the time that it's going to do something... change something, wreak havoc, attack, or just loom behind you casting a shadow and making your freak out because you know it's there looming... I don't know.

In case people have wondered... Gee, she used to post funny stuff all the time on Facebook or silly status messages on G-chat! She used to organize stuff more. Ooh. Why haven't we heard any progress about a really cool costume this year?

This is what my life has been like for 2+ years now.
This is what I need to/am doing... or at least trying to do.

I have very limited creative juice left these days. I'm spending 40 hours a week working a job that "sucks", but that I realize may only really "suck" because everything else is highly stressful, so I decompress at work & then don't do my work sometimes & then have to work when I don't want to because I still need to get the shit done. When I'm not at work, I'm trying to make sure I get enough exercise & eat well enough so that I can keep my mood stable enough to keep myself together (what I eat drastically affects my mood). I'm also trying to make sure that I get out & see friends and hang with people because doing fun things with people who like me is extremely beneficial.... at all times & especially now. I'm finding it hard & difficult when I see all my friends "progressing" with their lives - having children, getting new jobs, talking about how wonderful life & marriage and relationships are - while I feel like I'm stuck in a tar pit, not able to move, and knowing that there should be a rescue team on the way at some point, but having no idea when the hell they'll show up & pull us out and we can start moving again. Waiting... kills... me. * head to wall *

Don't get me wrong. I know we're doing what we should be doing. I know things are moving, but it's slow. Baby steps. Waiting... augh!

I go through phases where things seem "normal" again. When we really got the ball rolling on treatments and for the two months after J started taking meds, I saw a noticeable improvement. He's being more rational, more even keeled.... but it's not 100%. I know it's supposed to help over time and that it's a slow process, but I guess I got my hopes up and convinced myself that there's an end in sight. I had fingernails for 2 months. I got inspired to create. I laughed, smiled & talked. It felt good.

Recently I came to the realization that while there's an end somewhere (hopefully), it's not in sight. There's a rope leading into a dark tunnel and there's an end somewhere, we think, but right now we just have to keep following the rope into the unknown and hope that it leads us out. I hate waiting. I hate living in a world of unknown. I hate living in a situation that I have no control over. But I have to focus myself away from the hate and as the British say "Keep Calm & Carry On." Sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I want to reenact a Sophie Kinsella novel (which I've never really respected, by the way) - heroine gets in really deep trouble, runs away from all her problems, has fantastic adventures, and then the problems go away and life ends up happy & more fabulous than it was before she ran away from her problems. Not practical. ("F#ck practical!," says the little voice in my head).

This got posted yesterday. It seems... appropriate? Everybody around me seems to be in some sort of stress, depression or crisis. I'll blame it all on Fox News.

In the end, I feel like I'm emanating bad vibes to the point where I'm unpleasant to be around right now. I really feel like I'm not me unless absolutely nothing's stressing me out. I feel like the currently every-day-stressball that is me is someone I wouldn't want to introduce to new people. I need to run or swim more (gets the angst-energy out & centers me). I get frustrated because I know the fixes, but can't always follow through on them.

On the up-side, things aren't all bad. At least we ARE doing what we're supposed to be doing to take care of all this shit. I've been fortunate to get some time to explore and work on other ideas. Things suck & I might be teetering on the edge, but I'm so far managing to keep myself from going over the edge (I think?). I've managed to learn buckets about myself, my brain & my body (since that's the only thing I have some modicum of control over right now & I'm really putting it through the paces). Some of my friends have been really supportive and I've also had some really amazing people come into my life this year and I can't even begin to say how much any of you all mean to me. I love you guys.

In the end, I'm looking forward to making some self-preservation Samhain Resolutions soon (no, not a religious thing, I just like samhain & figure resolutions help more if you make them BEFORE the glutton period instead of trying to make up for it after! Haha!) and might consider changing my motto from 'keep calm & carry on' to:

Get Angry and Charge Forth!

That is all.

Two-week update: 2011 PBC

2011-09-26T13:40:00.001-04:00

Yup, so I've been bad about cataloguing this. First, I got SICK on days 4-7. I wasn't doing anything, blogging, tracking, or otherwise. I also cheated on my sickest day & broke down & got a DQ Reese's Cup Blizzard (with PB sauce added in) because I had no will-power (it was, however, the mini size Blizzard). Then, the rest of the week I ate pretty well, but it was a crazy week, so I didn't track either. The one thing I CAN say is that while I'm eating well, I have NOT been doing any of the very simple exercise plan other than maybe "moving slowly". This will change tonight! After a week and a half of comeplete & utter sedentary living, I am going CRAAAzzzzYY! I need to climb on stuff & run around, stat!

This weekend I also cheated a little bit & had a starbucks (sugar) and a margarita (sugar & crap), but I had negative experiences with both, so that'll teach me.

One thing that I did find interesting was that I thought "I've beenn eating well, but I still got sick." : ( I ended up giving J my cold... his has lasted about a week now instead of 3-4 days. I blame the faster recovery on better nutrition. Anyway, more updates will come eventually.

Also, on the sleep front, I decided to try keeping the display for my bedside clock turned off durng the night now. I never thought it would,but it's made a world of difference in the quality of my sleep!

Day 3: 30 Day PBC

2011-09-15T21:34:00.001-04:00

Food:

Breakfast:

Hard-boiled Egg
London Broil Steak Beef
Squash Butternut
Coffee with splash of whole milk

Lunch:

Baby Carrots, Raw
Collard Greens
Grape Tomatoes
Just Mango Slices
Beef Jerky (homemade)
Turkey Breast Shaved

Snack:

Beef Jerky (homemade)
New Zealand Sweet Apple Rings
Pure Coconut Water
Raw Almonds
Raw Pepitas

Dinner:

Honey Dijon Dressing
Sliced Swiss Cheese
Spinach, Raw
Turkey Breast (Skinless, Roasted)

Snack:

Lime Juice, Raw
Tequila
Unsweetened Baking Chocolate - Easy Melting

Activities:
I think this counts as both my "move slowly" and "Lift Heavy things".... I went and did a KaBOOM! playground build today and basically spent from 10 AM until 3 PM moving a mountain of mulch. I thought it would never end. So after a zillion squat lifts, and walking who knows how far in circles (I felt like ants... a stream of people constantly moving in a line from one place to another & back carrying stuff.). I figured I deserved a tequila tonight! : )

Other than Having to pack food for myself today (knowing that the breakfast was going to be bagels & muffins, the snacks were granola bars & the lunch would be sandwiches...) this whole thing has been going pretty well. I need to plan a little bit more, but not by much. It's hard to resist the siren call of French Fries, but I think it'll be worth it. I'm feeling pretty damn good. I think my taste buds are recalibrating too because my dried apple rings today tasted as sweet as candy. it was weird. (For the record, tequila & lungs don't mix.)

Gonna go pass out now.

Day 2: 30 Day PBC

2011-09-14T22:21:00.001-04:00

Breakfast:

Fried Egg
New Zealand Sweet Apple Rings
Vegetable Kabob
Whole Carrots
Coffee with a splash of whole milk

Snack:

Raw Almonds
Raw Pistachios

Lunch:

Asparagus
Baby Spinach
Mixed Berries
Olive Oil
Oven Roasted Beef
Red Wine Vinegar
Squash Butternut
kale, raw

Snack:

New Zealand Sweet Apple Rings
Unsweetened Baking Chocolate - Easy Melting

Dinner:

Asparagus
Generic Butternut Squash
London Broil Steak Beef
New Zealand Sweet Apple Rings
Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Pineapple

Exercise:

J & I went to check out the Holmes Run fitness trail. We jogged a bit, walked some, sprinted a little, and climbed all over things. We racked up about 2 miles over the course of 48 minutes (the last 14 were a stroll around a pond). During my little sprint, I felt like I was flying & I must have been - my watch says my max speed 5:14/mi. Whew! Never knew I had that in me. I wouldn't be able to do that for longer than a few seconds though. I don't know how people would do a marathon like that!

Also, I'll be having a bit of a challenge tomorrow... I get to go to a playground Build for the day. They "provide" breakfast, lunch & snacks, but the breakfast is bagels & pastries & the snacks are granola bars, so I'm making Beef jerky right now & bought a veggie pack for a supplement throughout the day. I'll also be bringing my leftover steak & squash for breakfast. I should be able to forage well enough for lunch. Yay!

30 Day Primal Blueprint Challenge

2011-09-13T20:12:00.000-04:00

OK, that's it. I need something to keep myself honest right now. I'm irritated by the 15 lbs that I've packed on this year, by the fact that if I don't get this under control, I'll have to go buy new pants again, and by the fact that I'm in a cycle of: eat bread - get irritated by symptoms - say "I shouldn't be eating this" - continue to eat bread... that I'm currently stuck in.

Just yesterday, Mark posted the 2011 30 Day Challenge & I'll do it just to keep myself on track. Here's the info graphic. It's very simple. If I can't do it, then I should just wander off into the woods & let bears eat me.

The Livestrong website is down tonight. Boo! (not related, but...)

So Far:
Breakfast:

1 hard-boiled egg
2 carrots
1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks
10 oz. black coffee

Lunch:

1/2 order Steamed Chicken & Mixed Veg (snow peas, celery, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, etc) from the Chinese place

Afternoon:

10 oz. brewed blueberry black tea (unsweetened)
~ 5 Raw Almonds (because I felt snack-ish)
a serving of New Zealand Dried Apple Rings from TJ's
a circle of Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

Dinner:

Bacon & Cheddar laced Hamburger Patty
Grilled Vegetable kabob
tequila w/ Lime Juice
Another Baking Chocolate disk for dessert

Exercise:

none. : (

Ice Cream Escapades

2011-07-08T08:03:00.001-04:00

So this year I started seeing a mini ice cream maker in stores. It seemed like a grand idea since it would essentially be single serving (I don't need a whole gallon of ice cream at a time). I waffled. Then I went to an Irish restaurant in April and had homemade Bailey's Irish Cream Ice Cream. Needless to say, I went and ordered the Ice Cream Maker almost immediately - that awesomeness sealed the deal! True to typical fashion, I decided to throw out the recipes that came with the machine & just wing it. The first batch failed. I tried making it with only Heavy Cream & Pureed blackberries & a little bit of vanilla extract. Fail. It wasn't bad, but it was like slurping down solid cream & just barely sweet. Batch 2 was decent and the most recent batch (last night) was almost perfect! In case anyon'e interested, here's what I made:

Kiwi Ice Cream
3 ripe kiwi - peeled and pureed (ended up being 1.5 cups)
1/2 cup Half & Half
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
vanilla extract (probably 1/2-1 Tbsp)

Blend all together & chill. Pour half in Ice Cream Maker & follow directions. Slightly sweet & slightly tart. (should make a full pint)

Strawberries & Cream!!!
1.25 cups pureed ripe strawberries
1/2 cup Half & Half
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/8-1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Blend all together & chill. Pour half in Ice Cream Maker & follow directions. (will be softer because the Baileys will partially prevent the freezing/setting.) Should make a little more than a half pint.

Friday Article Wrap-Up

2011-06-24T06:48:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I've done one of these so....

Scientists warn of chemical-autism link - it's about time news talks about this instead of the vaccine thing.
EWG on Sunscreen & Skin Cancer
Sunscreen Guide: Ingredients to Avoid and Natural Brands to Love
DIY Sea Salt Spray for You Boho Beach Goddesses
DIY: Homemade Shampoo & Conditioner for Naturally Beautiful Hair - tempted to try this, but I'm a bit hesitant about putting honey in my hair... as a cleanser??
Napoleon's brother in New Jersey?
Natural my A#%$
Talking trash or taking it out
Children and nature: Who let the kids out?

I also found a lot of old article Wrap-up posts that never got posted, so here are some from that:

Everything's Perfect, All the Time... (Not)

2011-03-18T08:43:00.000-04:00

It's time to be honest here. I'm not looking for sympathy, or consoling. I'm just being honest & telling it like it is. Everybody has bad days. Either bad days for a reason, (you break you foot, get rear-ended, and then mugged on top of all of it - that's a legitimate bad day!) or sometimes not for a reason... you just feel like it. There was an internet/newsmedia discussion about a month back about how FB is "making people less happy" by making everyone think everyone else is perfect & happy. I also found this posting on Psychology Today that I think is more to the point, or at least more to the reality...

Facebook has turned into one of my ways to communicate with my friends, since there's too freaking many of you! (No complaints here...)

I, for one, accidentally fall into the trap of "ideal life posting" most of the time just because I don't like a lot of molly-coddling. If you post on FB "having a really shitty day", people respond & try to comfort & etc. It's an emotional trap either way... if I'm actually having a shitty day, I don't really want to be touched, or comforted... (I only want that from either my husband or my mom) I just want to be allowed to grumble & get over it. That's it. However, if people post "comforting" things, I frequently get irritated (don't poke the bear) or if nobody responds, I fall into the trap of "nobody cares!" It's a real catch 22. (actually, if people posted "yeah, that sucks." I think that would work.)

As a result, I frequently opt for not posting. So if you don't see any updates for a while, It's usually A) I'm ridicu-freakin' busy or B) I'm having a not-happy day (doesn't necessarily mean unhappy).

So back to being honest: today... I'm having a day. One of those days when you know your head's not in the right place. One of those days when you know that what you're thinking is probably not the case (or at least hoping that you're wrong). I spontaneously feel 20 lbs. heavier & fluffy overnight. I feel like a failure. I can't get any projects started or finished & have no direction. Or, if I do have direction, I feel like I keep spinning my wheels & can't move forward (I like action). I feel like I'm letting everyone down all the time and am a horrible person more than I like to be. I can't keep my house clean, I can't find time to make my own food half the time. I feel like I'm being unnecessarily a party pooper because I don't like doing things that I don't like doing. I'm sorry if I avoid it because I know I won't like doing it. I have 30 years of experience now and know what I do and do not like dammit! And there's no point wasting time on things I don't like anymore. I feel like I should be more agreeable. I feel like I should be more happy because other people feel like I never am (although I feel like I'm actually happy 85% of any given day and that seems pretty darn good to me). I feel like I'm a failure because I need to plan things & can't "just go with it". I feel like a grinch. I feel like a hippocrite. I'm pissed that I have too much stuff & I hate having this much stuff , yet I can't get rid of any of it & I keep trying and failing. AND my banana that I just bought for my breakfast is half rotten inside.

And... I'll get over it.

Can't wait until I get to go play on the playground in the 70 degree sunniness this afternoon.

Pondering Movement

2011-01-14T08:39:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I have a breakthrough discovering how to get my body to do a particular movement or hold a particular position. At those times I get shocked as to how much of a disconnect there is between what I think I should do, what I actually should do and what I actually end up doing. Sometimes the first two are in line with each other, but getting the third part to agree seems to be a major challenge. I frequently think I need Physical Special Ed. Maybe that's why I've never been able to hit the volleyball. Who knows.

Last night was a classic example of my disconnect & that's what got me thinking about it again. I use gymnastics rings sometimes and ever since I was a little kid, I have flipped myself upside down, hung from the rings & put my legs straight up in the air. More or less, it's a handstand without the hands. I have NEVER been able to do a handstand. Theoretically, they should be the same as long as you have the strength in your arms. I take that back, the center of mass relative to the pivot point is different, so you have slightly different torques and control issues. Anyway, I tried to do a handstand in an Acro class last night & I could support myself upside down. The arm strength was not, apparently, the problem, but I couldn't stay upright without people holding my legs. Then someone came by & said "tighten up your stomach & squeeze your glutes." That piece added up to being a heck of a lot more stable. Apparently, I was letting my mid-section be all loosey goosey. No wonder I couldn't balance. You'd have just as much luck balancing two things that were connected by jello. I must be used to keeping that form because otherwise I'd have the same problem with the rings. I think the mitigating factor is that with the rings you hang and my arms do that pretty well, so I can kinda ignore them. Here, pushing, supporting myself, that's "new", so I subconsciously focus on my arms & forget about everything else. fail.

Also, I have problems if I have to move one bit at the same time as the other... hands and feet, or even right-hand, left-hand. When learning piano I preferred syncopated rhythms which are "harder" because it was easier for me - at any given moment, you're usually only using one or the other. Ballroom dance (social, not competitive) works well because you kinda "lock in" your arms (bad way to describe it) and focus on moving your feet in particular ways. With Rock Climbing, you typically only move one foot or one hand at a time. (I avoid dynamic moves). In parkour, most of the vaults are hard for me to process because it requires both hands and feet in synchronicity. Ponder, ponder....

Sorry. Might not be interesting to anyone else, but it's just something I'm pondering. Hope the disconnect starts to go away the more different things I do.

Graceful like a Rhinoceros

2011-01-04T23:16:00.001-05:00

I have to tell you. I'm back to doing Parkour & Loving it, but it's a very humbling experience... Anyone who's seen me dance or who's seen me in Exuberant Animal... you won't believe me, but I'm a Klutz, lack all semblance of grace, and moving is very hard for me. It takes me considerably longer than most, it seems, to figure out how to get my body to move the way I want it to. Hence, 70% of the parkour lessons involve me standing there and staring into space with a sour expression on my face while the other 30% is me actually moving. Seriously. The staring off into space bit is me trying to figure out A) what I'm doing wrong and B) how to fix it, but mostly I just look frustrated. At least it's a very humbling experience and I've only managed to come away with one shin gash & a knee bruise (correction: massive knee bruise) so far, so I think I'm ahead of the game. I need practice. Lots & lots of practice. I'm essentially in "special ed" when you give me something new to do. Just to learn to dance I needed to repeat everything over and over and over again. Once it's in muscle memory, I am golden. This is what I hope to get from Parkour is that when I'm older I will go to stumble & fall and instead catch myself &; prevent catastrophe. Or maybe if I'm ever being chased, I will know instinctively how to get over, around or up something to save my butt. These are my hopes. Now to practice. : ) Someday I will not be moving like a rhinoceros. Just not today. Or tomorrow.... Or probably not next week either. Ah well.

Why I'm not really eating grains anymore, sorry for the inconvenience

2011-01-02T10:31:00.003-05:00

I apologize in advance to anyone who's used to ordering pizza or feeding me spaghetti when I come around. : )

So on and off over the past year, I've been experimenting with going grain free. This year I'm planning to ramp up my effort even more. I don't know if people are wondering why, but here I'll put it out there anyway in case you're interested.

The whole thing started with trying to lose weight in '08 to '09... I started using The Daily Plate and calorie counting. It worked for me for quite a while. It had a handy graph that showed weight v. calorie intake. I first noticed that if I ate veggies, I could get a lot more food for my calorie expenditure than if I ate breads, so I made a substitution. Then I noticed that after the initial weight loss, I'd go through plateaus and the periods where I'd drop weight again. I also could track that the plateaus would be when I was eating grains and the drop periods with veg instead of grains (both were the same number of calories consumed & expended). I love data!

OK, fast forward to July/August of 2009 and I go to the MovNat seminar, they feed me "paleo" all week, I come home, get pizza & a beer & have fish & chips the next day for lunch. Subsequently, I broke out in a rash around my torso and forearms. I went to the doctor & the doctor wrote it off as being woods related eventhough it was a breakout pattern that is related to Celiac stuff. At some point I requested the full test for both markers of Celiac & came back negative.

Starting with that MovNat experience, I experimented over the next year with on again/off again paleo/primal, and have done a lot of reading and personal research into human body metabolism and health and nutrition and all that jazz. If you know me well, I've probably irritated the shit out of you this year with all of this.

There's been a lot of press this past year about Gluten Free diets & products and there's been some info about it and a bunch of articles about it being a fad and people are just jumping on the bandwagon. "All these people are claiming to be 'gluten intolerant' and they're not celiacs so they're just making a fuss to be special & it's stupid" etc...

Here are two things:
1) Article on Celiac Diagnosis - summary: you're only celiac and get a celiac diagnosis once the villi in your intestine gets destroyed. THEN you get the immuno response markers in your blood stream that they test for. The destroying happens over time. Some people will get to this point, some people won't but that doesn't mean there's not damage going on because you can find the same markers in the stool of people who have a problem with it and who don't show up on the blood tests. End result: lots of people can have issues and body responses without knowing this is the cause.
2) Article on digesstion of grains, comparing Europeans and Africans - summary: european children couldn't break down proteins in grains well while african children could because the african children have bacteria in their guts (coincidentally also found in the stomachs of termites) which breaks down the grain constituents for them.

After a while of experimenting on my own, here are a few of my own personal findings which are leading me to give up the grains for real (I don't mean to be a pain for meal planning, but it's a quality of life issue at this point):

When I go grain free:

my winter eczema (which has been getting progressively worse every year) is non-existent
my seasonal allergies are almost non-existent (used to be non-stop from March to November)
a lot of my low-grade aches & pains go away**
I don't get PMS bitchiness or cramps
my intestines normalize & I don't fart as much and become more "regular"
my mood swings disappear
when I don't get fed on time, I just get hungry, instead of turning into a raging psychotic bitch
I feel like I have more energy & my ability to move is improved.
I also *seem * to get sick a lot less

** I starred this one because to be honest, I didn't realize I was achy until I STOPPED eating grains & felt different. You don't realize how shitty you feel until you feel good?

Anyway, I've at this point been so many time through the cycle of grains/no grains that I can see definite patterns at this point and reasonably make these conclusions. During allergy season, if I go on a weekend grain bender (this may be just eating like a normal person), my nose immediately starts running & clears up in a day or two when I go back to no grains. Same with the eczema. I currently have a little red crusty patch on my right calf and I've been partaking in the holiday splendor. I went semi-clean again yesterday (today back to full clean) and it's a little better than it was. I expect it to be gone by tomorrow or the next day.

Anyway, to sum up: once again, I'm not choosing this lifestyle to be difficult on other people; while the physical ailments are motiv, it's more the psychological effects that motivate me. I don't like feeling like a raving lunatic - especially now that I can no longer blame it on being female or having PMS. Now that I know I can control it by what I eat (or don't), I feel like anything else is being unfair to myself and my friends and family.

Also, not to get preachy, but seriously... if you are reading this & have any sort of chronic pains, moodiness, really bad PMS, skin problems, allergies, or anything that classifies as an "inflammatory condition", try 30 days no grains. Just try it. If nothing changes, then so be it. If something does change, then it may be helpful!

p.s. some may be tempted to argue "how can so many people have issues with grains? we've been eating them for thousands of years & some cultures still live almost exclusively on them!" Well, true. people have been eating them for a long time, but we've also stopped eating dirt and termites. that could, ultimately, be what's making the difference. I don't know. All i know is that since I can't take a termite supplement, I'll just stick to not eating grains as much as possible.

Evidence of why restaurants should label their calorie contents...

2010-12-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

The other night we decided to go to Panera for dinner. It's convenient because it's quick, not ridiculously expensive compared to other things around here & generally healthy depending on what you get. My go-to is a soup & salad combo. While waiting for J, I got to stare at warm, cozy, delicious looking posters promoted their NEW Peppermint Hot Chocolate. YUM! Looked divine. Seasonal, warming, yummy.... So I checked the board to see how much it would break the bank. If you haven't been in the past year, Panera started posting the calorie content on the board next to the prices... Oh, holy, frickin______!!! 610 calories? Almost twice as much as a regular hot chocolate there?? More than my entire main meal?!?!?!

Needless to say, I decided against it.

sings: These are a few of my favor-rite things!

2010-12-26T13:27:00.000-05:00

So, I don't know if it's the season (I think they play the Sound of Music song as a holiday song), or what, but this song has been running through my head for days and I really want to do a blogpost about my favorite things (in a kind of inspirational essoteric way):

Buckminster Fuller

I love this from the wiki page: "...this caused him to drink frequently and to contemplate suicide for a while. He finally chose to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity.""
Dymaxion Car: article & NYTimes piece about a new replica
Dymaxion House

Wallace Neff & his Airform houses

Interior
Don't forget to check out the link in this article to the archive photos
Short article about Airforms
Trivia: There was one at one point in Falls Church, VA, but it was torn down to make way for I-66. Boo! : (

Nikolai Tesla
Historical fashion anything - this site is my new favorite!

We need a better look at Autism

2010-10-08T11:28:00.002-04:00

I just ran across the following article, Siblings of autistic children may share some symptoms, and it reminded me (again) about something I had heard a while back about a scientist proposing an little-talked-about theory linking Autism to prenatal androgen exposure (example of research on the androgen link). I will be really interested to see where future research in this field leads. If the Androgen hypothesis is correct, it could also account for the findings in the science article that I found today. If we could some day get something solid that will lead people away from the oft-refuted, but still accused immunization link, that would be a good thing. Trying not to harp on another subject, it's also making me wonder once again if this is at least partially influenced by the shitty state of the Standard American diet... I've heard a lot about how PCOS, which is also characterized with abnormal androgen levels, is influenced by diet and insulin resistance. Just something I'm pondering right now.

For the record, this is just the pondering of a layman with a general science background. I'm not a medical professional, nor do I play one on TV. But I still wonder about these things.
_________________________
UPDATED: Link to the guy from whom I first heard about the hypothesis

Friday Article Wrap-Up

2010-09-24T09:17:00.001-04:00

Eating Berries May Activate the Brain's Natural Housekeeper for Healthy Aging
Lectins - a Little Known Trouble Maker
Muscle Retains Memory of Past Glory
Chicken poses significant drug-resistant Salmonella threat - it may be too little too late, but this is all the more reason to support meat producers who go non-hormone, non-antibiotic... that and, arguably, if they're a small producer, they know if animals are sick and don't redistribute them.
Gut Bacteria Reflect Dietary Differences
Dance Your Way Into her Heart... With Science!
Repeated Antibiotic Use Alters Gut Bacteria
How do you get Inflammation and Where does inflammation come from?
Everything really is relative

Friday Article Wrap-up

2010-08-20T10:07:00.008-04:00

Friday Article Wrap-up

2010-08-13T13:08:00.002-04:00

Guided By Parasites: Toxoplasma Modified Humans (- with a video by my favorite guy ever!)
How to Beat Depression
Study Finds Fructose Can Cause Cancer Cells to Grow Faster
Cholesterol Myth
Real Names of 23 Fictional Characters
Chimps Kill Chimps... for their land
Monkeys Hate Flying Squirrels, Report Monkey-Annoyance Experts - how do I get THAT job??
Not an Article, but EVERYONE should listen to this... gives a very good overview of metabolic stuff within the body.
Cat Fashion Show
Why Barefoot is Best for Children

Will I?

2010-07-14T09:36:00.004-04:00

There are lots of other things for me to talk about sometime soon, but just wanted to make a quick note of this article and correlations...

Click it. Read it. Will I?

Hehe. Anyway, it was quite cool for me to read because it puts into words something that I suspected for a long time... I think I succeeded at running because I approached it this way. I started out "can I be one of those people who likes running?" We all know the answer at this point. Now, after reading that blog post, I'm also seeing a connection with most of the other things that I've learned to do and succeeded at. Can I learn the Piano? Can I sew? Can I Crochet? (the last one, I can affirm that I can and I can do it well, but I choose not to because it makes me very angry. go figure.) Just as a teaser: the next one I have lined up is "Will I be able to make a business out of my creative skills?" We'll see how it goes. : )

Friday Article Wrap-up

2010-06-11T15:00:00.001-04:00

As always, here are the things I've been reading this week in no particular order:

The Best Thing I've Read All Year
7 Ways to Get Fit on the Playground - guess I'm not the only crazy. THis lady goes too conventional for my taste though. Try climbing UP the fireman's pole instead of sliding down it! : )
Children Educate Themselves III: The Wisdom of Hunter-Gatherers - dangerous link-reading grounds coming off this article... : )
Gladiator graveyard found in U.K., experts say
A dad's lessons for his daughters
Etruscan house reveals ancient domestic life
Bad medical writing and public health
Most cans of food contain controversial BPA - it's interesting to see the lag time between non-conventional sources and normal "news"... I picked this up here back in December.
Everything You Know About Muscle is Wrong
http://www.fasciaresearch.de/
LARD

Mindfulness

2010-06-11T08:09:00.007-04:00

Mindfulness... such a simple word. So little meaning if you look at it and so much meaning if you think about it.

More and more I am drawn to a quote attributed to Buddha: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and our own common sense."

Mindfulness is changing my life.

Though I can maybe argue that I've been practicing mindfulness all my life (and that brings to question some nature v. nurture questions), I was never really "mindful" of mindfulness until last summer.

I was first introduced (or rather, first noticed the word and its usage) to mindfulness last summer at the MovNat Seminar with Erwan LeCorre. He introduced me to the idea of mindfulness in movement - the difference between long jumping and long jumping with a purpose... don't just jump. think about why you're jumping (give it a purpose) and how it feels and if you failed, why you failed - was it lack of ability or mental interference? Also, don't just jump, and don't just move, but be mindful of your environment and your senses... what works for a dry area or a man-made area may not work for an unprdictable environment of change. Really, it all relates to awareness.

Next I ran into it through my work with Exuberant Animal. First, I interacted with Kwame M. Brown and then at the East Coast Jam, I met Frank Forencich, the founder. I can't remember specific quotes, but I remember recognizing the term 'mindfulness' and that is really the basis behind Exuberant Animal. It is play-based fitness, but it also specifically to combine the mind and body and community by performing purposeful,mindful movements that are fun because you interact with other people.

About a month ago, I ran across a post by Greg Carver, who I met at MovNat. He's posted once before on mindfulness of movement but this post was referring to introducing mindfulness in eating as well. It makes sense to me.

Greg Carver:
Mindful Movement, Mindful Eating - "it seems logical to me that we can also be mindful about food and eating."

Two nights ago I attended a lecture on Barefoot Running by the authors of a book by the same name, Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee. At some point, I think when discussing the issue of glass on the road (people always ask, well, what about glass?!? you're going to hurt yourself), he said you end up being more mindful about where you're putting your feet.

Today, I ran across this video, which is cool in and of itself, but here again mindfulness pops up.

Mad Viking:
http://vimeo.com/12459183 - "I take kids up here and get them to turn off their cell phones, which is step one of mindfulness training, and just sit for ten minutes and listen to the birds that are around here..."

So, noticing "mindfulness" in the Mad Viking video was the key that clicked the lightbulb on. I don't know why, but the repetition and connection hit today and I started pondering... I think I've always practiced some degree or another of mindfulness - whether it's from my mother asking me to think about why I did this or that, or if it's something as simple as being hypervigilant with being aware of my surroundings, which has kept me safe several times.

As a teen/adult, I've always tried to be mindful of how I interact with other people and the things around me. I realized I was unhappy in shoes where I couldn't feel the bumps on the ground. I discovered that I enjoy running, but only barefoot and only when I can "go inside" my body and feel the ground and feel how my muscles and joints are reacting. I also have found that I LIKE "working out" if I have a purpose. I've started to find that being Mindful of what I'm eating , as Greg suggested, is wonderful. I'm having more luck optimizing my health by being mindful of how my body feels after eating various things and that being mindful about my eating habits can really change what and how I eat... I relly enjoy cooking most of the time now because I've changed it froma chore into a creative process. I had a problem with preparing a whole chicken for grilling until I stopped tossing it around on the counter and started treating it with respect and being gentle with my preparation. Small changes are becoming big changes and it's really interesting to sit back and look at.

Maybe I live by mindfulness. Maybe it's the essence of my being and happiness and I just never had a word for it. The more I'm realizing that isolating myself from my environment and nature makes me unhappy, the more I am finding ways to make myself happy. I think being mindful about things help one be more open minded. When you can separate yourself, even temporarily, from your feelings and view things with a clear mind... a blank slate... interesting things happen. I like stepping back and watching people as if I were not a person... like Jane Goodall watching chimps. I don't think it's harsh, I just think it's being mindful of the fact that I'm an animal too - that we all are - and that some things people do make as little sense when you take yourself out of context as watching some of the things animals do that we don't understand.

I've also been finding that it's not a natural reaction for most people. It seems hard to convey to my Exuberant Animal classes how to be mindful of their movements or even that they should. I think it's something that can be learned. Maybe most people don't understand any importance of it or might understand why some people would find it important, but see no personal value in it.

Ah well, I've rambled into some other realm here.

All I know is that I really believe the overall concept of mindfulness is important to me, though I may avoid using the word, and I really hope it isn't a word or concept that gets picked up as a "thing" that people get behind and strip of all it's importance or meaning by overuse. I worry when people corporatize good concepts.

Here: I'll leave you with something to be mindful over... : )

Friday Article Wrap-up

2010-06-04T13:53:00.000-04:00

Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'? - should I be offended that the picture of a "spiritual" person looks like a dirty beach bum?

Fisherman's Wife Breaks Silence - there's something sick if people are saying "oh, not related, sorry..."

Are we joyless working machines?

Jet Lag

Living in denial: Why sensible people reject the truth

Out of the shadows: our unknown immune system

Dietary Observations

2010-06-03T09:06:00.002-04:00

So, I came away from this past weekend with an interesting observation.... as of Tuesday I had developed a rash along my stomach, back & chest. Not itchy, just bumply.

Observations: it was similar to a rash that I came away with from MovNat (recap at bottom of original post)... During MovNat, I ate whole, fresh foods that were cooked, but not processed. I also had no grains or dairy. When I came back, I treated myself to a pizza & beer Saturday night, Sunday we were stuck at an amusement park, so I ended up with Fish & chips & mexican food. Monday I had the rash.

For the past three weeks I've been eating 80% whole, fresh, minimally processed, and grain-free. Tuesday, due to schedule conflicts, I had to eat & run and ended up with Filet-O-Fish ^ fries for lunch & a breaded buffalo chicken wrap and battered fries for dinner. Wednesday I had a rash.

This is twice now that I've had a similar sequence of events and come away with a torso rash. From this, I conclude that I was more likely right than my doctor (I figured it was diet affected and Dr. said it was from crawling around in the woods). This lets me form several hypotheses... A) grains are doing it, B) processed fried crap is doing it, or C) potatoes are doing it, listed in order of likelihood (in my opinion). As of lunch time today, I will start back on a whole/fresh diet again, keep at it for a week & then see about reintroducing bread products in quantity. See what happens. If that doesn't do it, I'll try fried foods. Then potatoes, etc....

I want to figure my body out.

Oops and thoughts about the future...

2010-05-28T12:56:00.006-04:00

Yeah, so I just realized that I posted the Friday article Wrap-up on Thursday and my sense of time is all off. I thought last night was Friday, but then I thought today was Thursday or Wednesday while I was driving to work. Oh well.

So the post yesterday had something to do with a hint that I'm contemplating teaching again. I am. It'll probably be years down the road. I'm looking into programs. I should get my degree in it this time at some point. There's a fast track program which would be more my speed, but it looks like I'll have the same problem as last time because I won't get classroom management or grade assessment skills until after I'm already in the classroom... but I've found some good resources on my own this time and may look into that down the road. I do need to figure out what prereqs I need though because while I could be fully competent going into the fast track program in Physics and maybe Math, That's not all I want. I'd also like to have the necessary reqs. for health and Phys. Ed.

Why?!? Why would someone who HATED Phys ed want to teach it? How could I teach phys ed if I still have an innate loathing of volleyball? Well, I don't know the answer to the third question, but to the first and second I put this: through my work with MovNat & Exuberant Animal this past year and by being exposed to SPARK (the book) and stuff like this, I think I can best apply my knowledge and positively impact people by applying my science at an early age... It's so empowering when someone tells you WHY you should move and move a lot, rather than when someone tells you that you SHOULD move a lot. It's also better getting the education in WHY and the experimenting and learning it for yourself. I think I can do the most here. That is why. : )

This is why: Physically Active Play and Cognition

Friday Article Wrap-up & Teaching Commentary

2010-05-27T10:56:00.008-04:00

OK, I normally refrain from adding commentary on the Friday Article Wrap-up, but this one is near and dear to me since I'd wanted to teach since 7th grade, taught for a year (hellish) and am considering going back to it someday. It's especially near to me because I had an opportunity to be one of those people who gets left behind in school at an early age and I also (thanks to a wonderful teacher who pulled me back from the abyss) went on to excel in school.

Long story short: the more I hear about education cuts, the more I feel ill. I hear people complain about jobs going overseas and worries about the US staying competitive in the marketplace, etc, etc. Then people go on and complain about bipartisanship & spending and we're spending too much, so let's cut education. OK, I admit that's a very simplistic view of what people are expressing, but those sentiments exist. I really WANT people to start thinking about teaching and education the same way they think about doctors and engineers. They are critical. They get paid alot because they are critical. But you don't get doctors or engineers without the teachers teaching them first. Teachers and kids are the building blocks of all other industries. How much they succeed dictates how much our country and industry succeeds later. You can't have an educated voter participating in the democratic process without an initially educated student. And engineering jobs and innovation jobs will continue to go overseas if the better educated people are overseas. Just think about it. END of rant.

Friday Article Wrap-up

2010-05-21T09:27:00.001-04:00

But I Like My.... - whether or not about nutrition, I think this principle applies to a lot of life.
The War on Children's Playgrounds
How to Store Fresh Produce

New Swamp-Water Smoothie

2010-05-19T08:32:00.003-04:00

Ingredients:

~ 2 cups washed & loosely loaded spinach
~2/3 c. shredded carrots (or the equivalent whole carrots)
~1/2 standard pkg blueberries
1 medium red apple
~2 Tbsp. Almond Butter

Directions:

Put in blender. Blend until ready, put in glass & enjoy.

Nutrition for the whole thing.

Mango Chicken

2010-05-17T09:31:00.003-04:00

Made a yummy dish yesterday and thought I'd write it down & post it before I forgot... : )

Ingredients:

1 small super ripe mango
1 small onion or 1/4 medium/large onion
1 Orange pepper (red or yellow would work too)
1-1.5 Tbsp. Coconut oil
0.5 - 0.75 lb. Chicken
2/3 pkg. frozen artichoke hearts
~1/4 c. unsweetened, shredded coconut
~1-1.5 tsp. cinnamon
~.5 tsp. Tummeric
~ 1 pinch ground ginger

Directions:

Using a large skillet... Slice onion and pepper into strips & sautee in Coconut Oil with cinnamon, tummeric, and ginger over medium heat until soft. Add frozen artichoke in about half-way through. Cut Mango into small strips. Cut chicken into bite sized bits, & toss into pan to cook. Make sure to mix it around so as to coat chicken in oil & spices. When chicken looks within 5 minutes of being done, add in mango & shredded coconut.

Serves 2. This dish paired well with steamed Asparagus drizzled in lemon juice & seasame seeds.

Friday article Wrap-up

2010-05-14T10:36:00.003-04:00

It's been a while, but I want to bookmark this for myself, so here goes...

Kids, Paleo and Nutrient Density - the name says it all. Read only if it interests you.
Study Finds that Low-quality child care has lasting effects into adolescence - I'd like to actually look up the study later, but I've long said that I want to stay home with my kid at least until it goes to school because I don't feel comfortable trusting someone else to form them as a person. I'm sure there are good providers out there, but I want to laythe groundwork myself.
New "Roadrunner" Dinosaur Found in China - cool!
Free Portal - also cool
Virgin Mobile $25 for unlimited text, email & internet - SWEET!
Nutrition and health in agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers - bookmarking this again so I can find it later.... one day I did find a writeup of the study and that was far more interesting to read, but oh well
Postpartum depression: When moms feel out of control - I really want to find out more about this "brain protein called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A)" so I can see if anyone knows by which pathways it occurs & works. That could be helpful someday...
For once I agree with Dr. Phil...

Project Reminder

2010-05-07T09:03:00.002-04:00

I want to put this out there so I can remember to make it and to hold myself accountable, but in addition to making the pieces listed at the end, I hope to make a suit like this:

This will come sometime after:

the pseudo regency maxi dress made out of a printed red & white mesh
retro butterick bolero, halter, skirt & shorts set made out of white Pique & a peach beach print pique
red lace skirt from Amelie
Black liquid satin infinity gown
orange & brown crushed stretch velvet fan-tailed victorian skirt
a victorian suit made out of a blue-teal sharkskin fabric made from these patterns: 1 and 2
another walk-away dress
remake my 1950s cocktail dress that's self-destructing
make a 50s 2-piece wrap dress

So many things to make, so little time. *sigh *

Copyright updates...

2010-05-05T11:18:00.006-04:00

Some of you may remember a post that I had in November of 2008 discussing my exploits with trying to control the use of a Binghamton at Night photo that had gotten used by various sources.

And if anyone is interested, here's a link to the wikipage that discloses the license.

I spoke with Broadway Binghamton and they were totally cool and if you watch the banner ad, when my picture comes up (third frame) it says Photo by Laura Roth in the lower right (YAY!).

Nyseg Solutions originally took the picture down, so I dropped my complaint and left it at that. The picture is now, however, back up and I've contacted them again. [UPDATE: as of 4:27 PM, they've taken it down again...?] This time I will be following up with their photo supplier to see where he got it and why he believed it to be free to use in any manner at all.

This update comes after discovering JUST how viral the use of my photo has gone. *sigh * If I had only known, I could have... I dunno... made $5 or something? eh. Here's a listing of other places that are currently using it:

Greater Binghamton Airport: contacted & not heard back yet [UPDATE:5/6/10 - they contacted & offered to name me! Yay!]
Live Music in Binghamton FB page: I contacted them and supposedly they'll work with me on it. The Admin was really nice.
Binghamton Nightlife FB Page: Contacted, but no response yet
Binghamton Nightlife, RMC: (beware, has a zillion graphics to download) contacted, not heard back yet, and am completely concerned since it states that it's a FreeArt license which is wrong.
Scranton Alumni Association of Greater Binghamton: contacted & not heard back yet
Binghamton, NY FB Page: has the photo in the "around town" album... trying to contact

Well, we'll see what happens.... it's coming out of the woodwork now. : )

Just a Thought....

2010-04-30T08:09:00.007-04:00

Just a thought...

What IF:

by making play safe for kids, we're actually setting them up to get hurt more...
by making sure our children have most of what they need and want, they are developing less ingenuity and fewer abilities...
by giving children more opportunities, we're actually narrowing their horizons...
by keeping things clean and sanitary for kids, we're actually compromising their health...

These are literally just thoughts that are popping into my head, but if I am ever considering procreating and/or going back to teaching, these are thoughts that must be considered and addressed so as to form my own opinion. I hope you all, whoever you are, will think about them and go out and form your own educated opinions as well. I know others have discussed these things further, but let me delve into why I started thinking about this. I'm going to ramble, but I'll highlight what I see to be the key points in case you want the abridged version.

I sat down at a pre-interview at a martial arts studio... it was a free "self defense" session and they wanted to get a picture of my movement background first. I got to the part about how I started going back to playgrounds last year and the guy said, "Oh, you mean like with Monkey Bars & Merry-Go-Rounds?" Me: "Yeah, but you can't really find Merry-Go-Rounds anymore at all." "Really?" "Yeah, it's generally a liability thing. They're 'too dangerous' to keep around." Guy's co-worker pipes in: "Yeah, actually, just a month or so ago a kid in my neighborhood fell off the Monkey Bars & is now paralysed!"

I don't know if any of you have been to playgrounds recently, but if you haven't, I suggest you go out and take a look around. More and more of the playgrounds are becoming less and less challenging. The vast majority appear to be formatted like castles and tree houses with elevated platforms, stairs, ladders, and slides. That's fun. But you'll be hard pressed to find slides that are more than 4 ft. high and made of anything other than than stupid plastic that gives you ridiculous static cling and lets the speed top out at, oh... the pace of a caterpillar. Here is what you WILL NOT see, unless you've found a relict from the dinosaur era: 6-8 ft high metal slides, a merry-go-round, and teeter-totters. While I am sad those are largely gone, this is where I have a real issue... these things are HARD to find: Monkey bars, rings, fireman's poles, balance beams, parallel bars and pull-up type bars.

Stairs, small ladders, small slides and platforms are great for make believe and safe play, but it's the hard-to-find items that are really responsible for helping kids build strength (through PLAY) and helping them learn more about how their body moves (subconsciously through PLAY).

When I jumped into movement & fitness with gusto two years ago, it was just to help find myself, help center myself emotionally, and "get in better shape." After trying more conventional approaches, (i.e. gyms, running, etc...) I wanted to get stronger and have more fun. I thought about how I got strongish as a kid and remembered climbing on things a lot, playing on the swing set (I still love swings), using the monkey bars, etc.... so I got a friend and went to the playground. The next day, my arms and thighs hurt from using the swings for 40 minutes. Long story short, I went back & kept playing on the playground, found MovNat, found Exuberant Animal, and started really going beyond fitness and just decided to explore movement and see what my body is capable of doing. I'm now trying to find my limits and push them instead of going for set goals like strength. Strength is a side product of what I can do - it's actually circular. The more I try, the stronger I get, the stronger I get, the more I can try.

Along the way I discovered this: I don't know how to move. I'm learning. I'm 30 and I'm learning how to move. I understand momentum and weight transference to some extent. But you tell me to do a pull-up & I try to contract my biceps & expect that will do it. I tried to push myself up & hold myself up on a pair of gymnastics rings and I fell right off because I was trying to use my triceps. I stopped. I tried again. I listened to what parts of my body were affected when my attempt failed. I felt it in my laterals, my pectorals, my shoulders and back. I was ignoring the function of a whole slew of things that needed to work together. Next time, I tried to push up & used those shoulder/chest/back muscles and guess what.... it worked! It makes me feel really stupid. It makes me realize how much I don't know and how much more I need to learn.

So back to the topic at hand.... From my own experience, I understand some basic movements and got some building of strength from playing on this "dangerous" equipment as a kid. If, as an adult, I still don't feel like I know enough about how to move and use my body (can be helpful if you need to save yourself or get out of physical trouble), how are younger generations going to learn & how will they turn out? Yes, there's more prevalence of organized sports, but those result in specialized movements and skills, not general awareness. And what about kids in underprivileged areas where they might not have access to leagues and only have access to "safe," unchallenging playspace. Will this relegate them to a weaker body and lifestyle in the end? I don't know. It's something I'm thinking about. Maybe others should too?

P.S. I've been very lax about the Veg of the Week, but this week I tried Carrot Tops (the greens). Interesting... like a combo of parsley & arugula. It had quite a strong flavor.

More failure. Mood deteriorating.

2010-02-04T12:55:00.002-05:00

I've had this incessant whatever-it-is for a week now. Sinus pressure. Tired. Those are the major symptoms. Today I was extra tired (though I had broken sleep, so...) and found a newly swollen, sore lymph node in my throat. Decided: "hell, I'll go to the health clinic downstairs & see if there's anything they can find." Checked my nose & ears & apparently didn't see anything that would scream "sinus/ear infection" to them. Checked out my throat & saw some discoloration & did a rapid strep test. Negative, but they seemed skeptical. Apparently the tests are very inaccurate. The Dr. sat down and filled a scrip for penicillin and said, get this: "You've had it for a week now, there's a possibility that it's strep. Here's a scrip, but it's up to you. You can wait a day or two and see if it clears up before you take anything or you can start taking it right now. Your choice." your choice. They don't normally say that. I liked him. He looked about retirement age, had a very good personality, was super forth coming with the info. I LIKED him. Then I noticed he's a D.O. Google stalking ensued and he's not covered by my insurance and is barely mentioned, so I figured he does not have a private practice.

On the off-chance, I decided to go back & see if he knew of anyone. I talked to the nurse about my medical care philosophy & she understood what I'm talking about but has not found anyone in the area here. Then we asked him. SOOOOO frustrating. He'd be my perfect doctor. He didn't discount what I was saying, he agreed with my approach to care, he understood what I was looking for and then told me that he couldn't recommend anyone. BUGGER!!! What I got from both of them is "Things are different now and you can't make any money as a doctor that takes a holistic approach to care so even though some still come out of med school, they don't stay in it long." CRAP.

Back to the drawing board. It sounds like the best I can hope for is maybe someday finding a doctor who talks to me at least like they think I'm a semi-intelligent person (or pretends at least).

*sigh *

The fallacy of "big is beautiful"

2010-01-09T01:45:00.003-05:00

There has been an emphasis in the media lately of being anti-stick-thin-models and pro "normal" models. Just today I found a slideshow from TODAY that screamed "Big is Beautiful!" On the surface, I agree. I think we all need to get more realistic about body image and realize that not everyone is the same, not everyone is a size 00 and not everyone will wear a dress exactly like it is in the hanger. Somehow, as an average woman who's been big and who's been little and who struggles with body image regardless.... somehow I see this all as a farce . Like a three-ring circus act (with the exception of that one model who posed nude a few weeks/months ago - she and the spread were classy and real). I feel like someone in the media is playing around with the concept to try and appease us to make us feel as if we're being catered to... for now. Here's one generic problem I have: the reaction generally is to counter too-thin by using plus-sized models. I don't have an issue with that, other than it seems like going from one extreme to the other. How about we display a wide range of body type? Secondly, and this is a gripe that I find particularly related to the slideshow (go see it now if you haven't), I don't like the fact that they've taken plus sized models and made them do exactly the same thing as the too-thin ones. Study the pictures... Most of them has been put into an outfit that is clearly too tight/small for them, making them look bulgy when they really aren't. Muffin top is not natural. It is only a product of clothing that is poorly fitted. It makes me sad. I comment on this particularly because I just spent this past weekend at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and walked into one room and was stopped dead by the beauty of a painting... the beauty of this painting by Frederick Carl Frieseke:

It may not look like much on your computer screen (something seems to be lost to me here...), but I highly recommend that you stop by to visit her the next time you're in town. She's beautiful. The painting is beautiful. Something takes you about the human form. She's not a tiny woman.

While searching for this one, I also found a collection of nudes by Kenyon Cox, my favorite being titled Indian Summer. I am in love with his portrayal of the female body because each of his works is quite obviously a real woman. They are put in pastoral settings and given a mythical air, but they are far from being air brushed.

Just my thoughts... take from it what you will. These are good examples of how to show real women.

Eczema Experiment

2009-12-08T13:49:00.002-05:00

Start of a new, crazy guinea pig experiment on myself... I'm wondering if there's a correlation between diet and my seasonal eczema which appeared to be held in check, if not cured, by the liberal use of knee socks last year. As a result, I've resolved to go bare (non-sock-clad) legged this year and see what happens. Unfortunately, up until the past few days, the weather has been too mild and uncooperative (development of the condition usually coincides with the arrival of cold, dry air). Now! It has finally gone cold and dry for a spell, so we shall see what happens. : ) *crosses fingers *

Pittsburgh Steak Salad

2009-12-08T11:35:00.004-05:00

SO I needed something QUICK and easy and really good last night for dinner. Here you go:

Pittsburgh Steak Salad

3 thin cut NY Strip Steaks

Ore-Ida Crinkle Cut Fries

Cherry Tomatoes

1 small onion (sliced)

2 medium/small carrots shredded

1 Pkg Baby Spinach

1 pkg mixed spring greens or Spinach/Red Lettuce Combo

shredded Provolone Cheese

Minced Garlic ~3 or 4 cloves

Garlic Powder

Onion Salt

Northwoods Seasoning

Chili Power

Sauteing oil of choice (coconut or olive or butter) (~ 1 Tbs)

Ranch Dressing

Serves: 4

I threw half the bag of Fries in a baking pan, and sprinkled liberally with Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and Chili Powder & set it to bake according to directions. Next, I sliced the steaks into thin strips and tossed the pieces in Northwoods Seasoning, Garlic powder and Onion Salt. Meanwhile, I had the minced garlic sauteeing in the oil. Then I tossed the steak bits into the sauteing garlic & oil and browned all sides, careful not to overcook. The salad was assembled by mixing the spinach and mixed greens on 4 plates, adding onions, shredded carrot, and cherry tomatoes. Lastly, top with steak bits, fries, and shredded cheese. Add Ranch dressing to taste. You can probably just prepare the fries and steak without all the extra spices, but what fun would that be? Total time was probably about 30 mins. Enjoy!

Going Gaga

2009-12-04T08:12:00.002-05:00

Dang! You know, I don't know if I like her music, and I don't care if someone loves her music or hates her music, or thinks she's crazy, or what.... but one has to admit that Lady Gaga has spunk and guts. I'm betting, if you met her, that she's an incredibly intelligent woman who knows how to "work the system" and has a flawless marketing campaign. I hadn't really paid much attention until recently when I read an article about her beginnings and then just today when I saw this MSNBC SlideShow "Fashion gone Gaga". Regardless of how you feel about her or her music, you really just have to respect how well she knows the system and the effort she puts in for a full production at every moment. Wow! Hope she doesn't burn out. I probably would.

Lemons = Lemonade

2009-12-03T15:05:00.003-05:00

Maybe I'm just rationalizing and sugar coating things to make myself feel better, but we've just recently had a life reorganization and one instantaneous impact is that it's forcing me to fulfill my Samhain resolution of "drastically reducing my soda intake". That being that I've gone straight to no soda at ALL. Cool. Not as hard as I had imagined. I've also gone back to drinking tea as a healthful flavored alternative to water. My head is less fuzzy & I'm concentrating better, so.... : ) Yeah, it's all good.

This sums some of it up well...

2009-11-24T10:13:00.003-05:00

So I discovered a podcast called "Livin' La Vida Low Carb" the other day during one of my various nutritional forays on the internet and he gets some interesting speakers on the show about health and nutrition. During the 300th episode edition Jimmy Moore is talking with Dr. Jonny Bowden and this one passage struck me as sooo true, so I wanted to share:

Jonny Bowden: "How did you become kind of a crusader for this [i.e. low carb/healthy nutrition]?"
Jimmy Moore: "You know, Jonny, when you change your life and I've met a lot of people since I started doing this who said 'You know what? I changed my life just like you did' and there's just something that happens within you, Jonny, when you make such a dramatic change in your lifestyle? I mean, the Jimmy Moore of 2009 heading into 2010 now, is nothing like the Jimmy Moore of 2003 and before... I don't even think the same way, I have kinda of a... a passion built up within me... it's like 'Hey! I've discovered something that worked for me and it's hard not to be passionate about it, Jonny, when you find out something that has helped you, the biggest thing you want to do is get out there and help other people."

Amen, Brother.

P.S. One of the other things that he goes on to say is that while lo-carb works for him, proper diet & nutrition is not a one-size fits all kind of thing and he's just on about trying to disseminate info about healthy living and nutrition in general to get people information and to get them to start thinking about the choices they make. Amen, again.

Well, that might have gone OKish...

2009-11-24T09:40:00.005-05:00

In case you didn't know, I've been working with Kwame Brown in a kinda of apprenticeship to work toward becoming a certified animal trainer (Exuberant Animal, that is). It's been off to a bit of a rocky start, but I think things are progressing. Having taught dance for so many year, I have my stride with that down so that I barely have to think about it. I know well the safety points to hit, the kind of humor that I like to incorporate, the methods that I find effective, have ways to work with different abilities to get the desired results, and have a good feeling for class flow. I started teaching in '99, so it's now a LONG time ago and I don't at all remember what it was like when I started. This has made this learning to lead hard because the methods and skills and MO that I had developed for dance DOES NOT translate 1 to 1 into Exuberant Animal. It's unsettling, because I feel lost, but also fascinating because I am learning a whole bunch of new stuff, new ways to work with people, etc. It's a very good process to be going through. I'm also taking over someone else's class, rather than starting something essentially on my own (with dance, there were several teachers, but we were ALL new at it so there was no established class feel in the beginning). So I've an added challenge (probably mostly in my head) of trying to figure out how I should lead it since the participants are used to Kwame's style and sense of humor and let's face it... I am not him. He is not me. That's just the way things are, so I need to figure out how to get my own stride.

So, on and off, Kwame's been settling me small portions of the class to lead some warm ups or exercises to get my feet wet. It's been a bit awkward because of the issues mentioned above. Last week, he set me up to start the class: "pick 5 things that you want to do and we'll go with that" and then just never really took over again, so last week was my first whole class. It was awkward as hell, especially since I had not enough material picked out, was kinda winging it, trying to figure out how to challenge people but keep them comfortable and safe, and ADDITIONALLY try to come up with what we could do next. Egads! Let's just say that I'm pretty sure the awkwardness that I felt inside carried over. Oh well. This week, yesterday in fact, was my second full class. This time, I was fortunate enough to have a vague heads up about the fact that I'd get the whole class again and so I got some time to prepare, come up with a conceptual theme, and make a list. I felt much better, I think it went much better for the people playing, I know I still have a lot of work to do. I'm not nearly there yet, but it definitely seems like something I can work on, get better at, and actually be able to lead effectively. Yeah, that's the other weird thing about this certification - it seems like one must tread a very thin line between just leading by giving ideas, and teaching. You don't want to 'teach' too much because you want the participants to explore their full range of motion - as far as they're comfortable with, and explore their own creativity. Also, you don't want to leave it too loose because there are certain safety considerations to take into account. It's fascinating. Well, let's hope I keep growing and figuring it out! : )

Wish I had that problem. : )

2009-11-22T14:24:00.003-05:00

I've gotten my body (and brain) so used to being active that it's now kinda the norm for me. (So much so that I used Apples to Apples as an excuse to do sit ups last night.... laid on the floor and did "sit ups" to submit my card and to get replacement cards.) So this week has been really hard for me - I'm kinda underwater at work, so it's been stressful, other things have been going on that are stressful this week, I'm working a lot to try and not be underwater anymore, and then there are social obligations.... this left me with about 5 minutes a day to move or get exercise, which is not enough. Thereby, I got MORE stressed because I couldn't move. Vicious cycle. That brings me to today...

I wasn't going to be happy until I went for a good run, so I went out at 11:45 to go get lost (which I succeeded in). I've been borrowing a Garmin GPS watch from my friend, Adi, and it's AWESOME! No only does it let me feel more comfortable heading into the woods alone (because I get tell it to get me back to point A), but I can also just go out with a distance in mind and just go & explore without trying to "map a route" beforehand. So yeah, it was fun. I was aiming for something over 4 miles, I got to 4.3 and said "well why not keep going?" and did. In the end I got in a 4.91 mi. run and then called it quits because my knee was muttering at me. For anyone who doesn't know. I've got a weird left knee. I am guessing it goes back to being in a cast when I was 12 - I know I ended up with some muscle atrophy and many of the problems I have now can be traced to muscle imbalances... anyway, that's why I like Pseudo-barefooting in my VFFs - it forces me to pay attention to my body, there's no alternative. So when I run, I'm always aware of that knee. If it twinges, I change my stride ever so slightly until I am moving in a way that keeps it in a neutral state of awareness. I start to zone out, my form goes away, and then my knee usually brings me back to the task at hand. We're partners. : ) So anyway, I got to this point where my knee was not hurting, but it wouldn't stop making it's presence known no matter what I changed, so now it and I are back home and both happy. That's why it came out to 4.91 mi.

So anyway, back to the subject.... I wish I had that problem. At noon it was 55 degrees. I was in capris that are a super-light cotton, like light summer Pajama pants weight. I also started out in a cotton "wife-beater" tank top & a short sleeved shirt over it. After the first 1/2 mile, I was stripped down to my tank. then later, I was hot even in that. Meanwhile I passed people running in warm-up pants and sweatshirts... * sigh * I wish I had that 'problem' - i.e. still being cold while running - only for the reason that it would enable me to keep running over the summers. Oh well. I won't. I will always overheat. That's just the way my body is. Just like my thighs will always touch, no matter how small I am, without getting liposuction (don't worry, it's NOT on my to do list) and I'm OK with that. It just means I'll never ever be able to run in shorts (as evidenced by the mine-field of scabs due to abrasion that my inner thighs looked like after the Run Like Hell, when I WAS wearing shorts (and also ended up overheating).)

Oh, two last things:
1) is that I find the GPS watch cool because I can go back and check my times... I just find it interesting. Today came out, mile# & time: 1 - 9:03, 2 - 9:59, 3 - 13:23, 4 - 12:05, 5ish - 10:51. I find it interesting that after the third mile, I got faster again. Hmmm...
2) I came across a van parked on a side street that looked exactly like the A-Team van!!! Joy!

Have a good one all!

Random Thoughts

2009-11-18T06:37:00.002-05:00

Someday I'll get a post up about my experiences with the Exuberant Animal East Coast Jam... someday when I can get it all to come out of my head as something other than the deranged babbleing of a hyperactive pre-teen... ("OMG, OMG, OMG!!! It was like_! and then he was like_!.... and then, like, it was like the coolest thing EVER!)

File under the category of "kids say the darnedest things"...
I was at the pool this weekend with my sister's family and my 5 (almost 6) year old niece commented: "You belly button's a triangle!" Me: "Oh, I guess so." Her: "Why is that?" Me: "... uh 'cause that's the way it is, I dunno..."

Try on the fly explaining to a 5-6 year old that your bellybutton's a triangle because your skins a little lose still after losing weight and gravity's acting on it, while trying not to exacerbate the media body image hoopla about we all must be a super model, or should be, or can be...

I was also driving on the way to hang with my sister when I FINALLY paid attention to the Lyrics of "Vogue" by Madonna and it stuck me that they have an amazing message. Take a look and ponder for a sec. : )

All you need is your own imagination
So use it that's what it's for
Go inside, for your finest inspiration
Your dreams will open the door
It makes no difference if you're black or white
If you're a boy or a girl
If the music's pumping, it will give you new life
You're a superstar, yes, that's what you are, you know it
.....
Beauty's where you find it
Not just where you bump and grind it
Soul is in the musical
That's where I feel so beautiful
Magical, life's a ball
So get up on the dance floor

Fruit of the week

2009-11-16T15:55:00.003-05:00

Last week's "new" fruit/Veg of the week was cranberries. Not Craisins, not Cranberry sauce, not cranberry juice cocktail. Tart was an understatement, so I wasn't sure if maybe they just weren't ripe enough... Today I got a bottle of unsweetened Cranberry Juice from Whole Foods to compare. Nope, the berries I have are fine - that's just what real cranberry is all about, I guess. : ) I did find that cranberries did very well in salad and will probably be good for cooking, but I can't handle more than 4 or 5 at a time by themselves. : ) I wonder if they'll explode when heated?

Next week (aka this week): Sugar (pie) pumpkin. Can't wait!

Friday Article Wrap-up

2009-11-13T08:18:00.002-05:00

Headlines & Links that intrigued me this week...

HOW THE MAYA LIVED
After letdown, solar-sail project rises again
Vanished Persian army said found in desert
Dear Mark: Your Brain on Junk Food
New Ideas for Winter Squash
Gordon Pirie's 'Running Fast and Injury Free' - actually didn't read the whole thing, but I intend to
Is Pain Relief Medicine Good for Runners?
Break It Down Again
Sugar: The Bitter Truth - can't vouch for it, I only watched the first 30 mins, but it was intriguing.
The Many Uses of Junk Food - useful DIY natural cleaning tips... also, though not stated in the post, you can put flour on a grease or oil stain in clothing before you wash it. The flour will soak up the oil & then wash right out. : )

Run Like Hell & Samhain Resolutions

2009-11-12T20:19:00.003-05:00

After much craziness with preparing for a party, cooking, cleaning, and making my fairy costume, and then other festivities like the Dupont High Heel race in the mix, on Friday, Oct. 30 J & I boarded a plane for Cincinnati. : )

The Cincinnati trip was planned about 6 months ago as a great excuse to see my friend Alex and to commemorate the event that set my running interest in motion exactly two years ago... The Cincinnati Run Like Hell!

We arrived at Cincinnati almost on time, everything went surprisingly smoothly. Got into town, managed not to get lost on the way to our stay-place for the weekend, met up with Alex, got dinner at a super cute cafe called What's for Dinner? and managed to hit the race packet pick up. J & I dropped Alex off to take care of his rental property that he owns in Cincinnati and while he was busy, J & I occupied ourselves with the Cincinnati Art Museum, which was fantastic. The Damascus Room was quite possibly our favorite part, but I always like that sort of thing. J, on the other hand, really liked the intricate victorian "tourist" table. We went back to our stay-place and got ready for the race, with Alex joining us at the last minute.

Off to the Run Like Hell. The traffic stunk, but once we got parked and situated, the atmosphere was very festive and excited. I wore my costume that I specifically designed to be pretty, runable, and going along with the theme of running "barefoot" - I was an autumn fairy, complete with fully boned 18th century stays and gorgeous (IMHO) wings. The wind that night caused a small problem with my wings since the support system was not very robust, so they caught the wind & got blown every which way including into other people and over my head. Anyway, we joined thr group of runners lining up, with me trying to minimize the incidence of my wings hitting other crowd-members, and at about 7:30 PM, we were off. The course was fun, and it started off downhill. During this stretch, I saw a crazy group of 3 guys, two of whom were screaming and running wildy from a third dressed as Jason (who I later found out was truly named Jason). The next stretch was uphill.... a looooong uphill. I mapped it and I think there was a 180ft elevation gain over the course of a mile, so it was long. Please be aware that all the races I've done (all in DC) have had a max elevation change of 40 ft. and most have been completely flat. I was NOT prepared. I made a honorable go of it though since I made it the whole way up the hill, and only walked a little bit once I got back down to the bottom. Half of the hill was into and through a graveyard and that was totally awesome. Did I forget to mention it was a nighttime run partly through a graveyard??? : ) Anyway, the graveyard bit was pretty fun. Nice atmosphere. Well, as I was going back down the hill, I started getting a stitch in my side - result of breathing rhythm thrown off by constricted breathing and trying to figure out how to deal with a hill in progress. I went on, ignoring it until it refused to be ignored any longer. Egads! It let me know it's displeasure with a vengeance and there was nothing to do but walk/run for about 0.25-0.5 mile or so. Grrr. Very frustrating. Anyway, I made it to the end, making good time for the last 0.2 mi. and had a grand time at the post party. It was fun, as always, to mingle and discuss each other's costumes and Alex & I got a lot of questions (as usual) about our Vibran FiveFingers. There was music and free food & drinks, so J & I got to try a Cincinnati delicacy called Goetta which Alex described as "the parts of the pig you wouldn't normally eat, ground up with oats and made into a patty." Absolutely winning description, but as with Haggis, I ended up being pleasantly surprised - it was good! Also, it tasted disturbingly like a Gardenburger Original Patty - a substitution mistake you do NOT want to make when feeding vegetarians! : ) Anyway, a good time seemed to be had by all and then we stumbled home & passed out. Thankfully it didn't rain on us for more than 5 minutes and it was a balmy 64 degrees.

The best part of the weekend, of course, was getting to hang out with Alex and meeting Emily & Tom and their two dogs. It's always the most fun to see a new place with a deignated tour guide, especially if that person has lived there. It's like getting a rosey colored glimpse into their "everyday" lives - seeing their favorite places and local haunts.

Saturday morning, Alex took us for breakfast at Findlay Market - Cincinnati's old farmer's market - and we got AMAZING waffles and crepes from Taste of Belgium. I have to admit that I think Belgian accents are even more fun to listen to than french ones.... *swoons * Next, we dropped him off for an appointment and were going to make our way to the observatory, but got sidetracked at a Blockbuster Going out of Business Sale and at Walgreens. By the time Alex called to get picked up from his appointment, I had acquired several Miziyaki Films, Some Like it Hot, and a 8 in. diameter, orange squishy ball with an interior LED flasher - the latter provided much entertainment throughout the day. : ) After retrieving Alex, we did make our way to the Observatory and found: that they had not removed Pluto from their display of the distance between planets, that the human-powered sun dial really does work (when the sun's out) and came across a deer grazing in the meadow. Next we went up to Ault Park and took in the view. Lastly, we headed up to the Fox & Hound in Mason, OH to watch the PSU game. During half-time, Alex & I ducked out, with squishy ball in tow, to check out the surrounding sights. We hit up the local Walmart, checked out the current movie listings at the Regal, hit Borders to look for the Marge Simpson issue of Playboy and came out sans magazine, but with the addition of half-priced, flashing, fuzzy bat deeley-boppers (and I had thought we made that term up.... nope, it's legit according to wikipedia). Life is good. Unfortunately, all the activity from the weeks leading up to this resulted in me being tired & worn out & really not in the mood to don my costume and mingle with hundreds of people that I didn't know. Weird! Huh?

The trip finished off with a morning Brunch at another neighborhood waffle shop (which I can't remember the name of) with Alex's friend Amanda and a peak at a very unique house right across the street. Finally, we were off to the airport and on our way home.

Samhain Resolutions (my goals for this year):

eat 1 new vegetable every week or every other week
run a 10K comfortably
be able to do a pull-up
drastically reduce my soda intake (I only drink diet, so it's more a matter of weaning off caffiene & chemicals)
become a certified Exuberant Animal trainer
Continue to maintain my current weight-loss.

Repercussions beyond me or you....

2009-11-05T15:10:00.004-05:00

Just something I've been pondering. On doing lotsa, lotsa research on "Paleo/Primal" eating theory, one thing that's a constant is total and Rampant anti-grain sentiment. Some of the arguments are interesting and may be legit, but at times it's hard to pick through the all out anti-grain rage and really determine what I think for myself on the subject... Also, I'm in a bit of a funk today, so it's hard to go much of anywhere mentally... I'm still about at: "my guts grump at me when I eat breads, so we'll try to keep it to a minimum."

Now I was pondering today: IF there's really something to Paleo and it should be applied to everyone, and IF there was a massive paradigm shift and everyone stopped eating them,.... holy _(fill in the blank)_, a large sector of commerce across the globe would collapse and where would we all be and what would happen to all those people who made their livelihood through grain farming and ..... keep going - there's a lot of 'what will everyone do' that feeds off that. Like the environmental impact of having a major crop shift and population impact because the vast majority of the world's population subsists on grain products because they are very calorically dense and cheap. Would we have more problems with starving people around the world because we would not have enough food for everyone if we switched all grain fields to pastures and green leafy veggies? i.e. Could that kind of agriculture support the current world population?

Sorry, I'm feeling a bit catastrpohic-dooms-dayish, so I'll go away now. : )

Beets Can't Be Beat!

2009-11-04T08:24:00.004-05:00

Yup, so I'm not going to share the recipe I need to work on it some more because all the flavors blended together and turned into a very flat taste. (Actually, that's probably good for some people...) Anyway, I'll post the full list of my Samhain resolutions later, as well as a recap of Cincinnati and the Run Like Hell. I need pictures to do it justice though and I keep leaving my cable at work. argh. So one of my Samhain resolutions will be to try a new vegetable every week or every other week. It's partly spurred by how limited I feel in what I eat and partly by things like this... Either way, I need to get around to 26-52 new vegetables this year. This week was beets. Not just the beet, as I've had that before, but the WHOLE beet including beet greens and t he stalks. AWESOME!!! Do NOT throw those stalks away! They are super yummy! So last night I made spaghetti squash as a base and then sauteed the beet greens and stalks in olive oil & white Wine vinegar and garlic and dried mint and chili powder and Galena st. Seasoning and sauteed some Pork tenderloin in it at the end. I scooped all that onto the spaghetti squash. It was good, though the flavor was not as complex as I had been hoping. The three things I loved about it was that I got at least 3 servings of vegetables in one dish, it was colorful, and by using the beets, stalks, and greens, I got 3 veggies for the price of one. : )) the pics don't really do it justice, but ah well...

Friday Article Wrap-up

2009-11-04T08:09:00.008-05:00

Alrighty!

So I read a lot of articles and come across stuff that I find fascinating all the time. Lately, it's been within a very narrow genre and since I've been sharing those articles regularly, some people are getting irritated or taking it the wrong way. As a result, I've figured out a way to present the articles that I've found intriguing this week without constantly spamming people. Also, if you aren't interested, don't read them or pick and choose.

Without further ado, here's this week's list in no particular order:

Fun stuff:

The 25 Best Costumes At The 2009 NYC Marathon

SEASONAL: Zombie Attack Preparedness (ZAP) Workout

Informative stuff:

Omega-3 deficiency may be hurting our hearts

Feeling grumpy 'is good for you' - finally, after untold stories about how J's gonna live 12-14 years longer than me because he doesn't stress.... ; )

Collins: Letter to young American women

Animals make the perfect humans - an OpEd that scathing, yet amusing

Depression link to processed food - I'd like to see the controls on the study, but I've heard enough anecdotal evidence to buy that it's a contributing factor

Chris Rock on the billion dollar black 'good hair' industry

'The myth of the chemical cure' - also something I've heard a couple of different places and worth noting perhaps

To Meet Your Nutrient Goals, You May Need to Expand Your Food Variety - I want to look up this study too.
Not So Happily Ever After

Random Pet-Peeve

2009-10-27T14:50:00.003-04:00

So.... you know how you go to a store & check out at the register and they all have these little card swipe screen boxes now? Right. It really irritates me when the screen says "Amount OK?" with options of 'yes' or 'no'. I hate that. I always want to hit "NO". No, the amount is not OK, I think all your stuff is overpriced. Do NOT ask me if it's "OK"... The machines that say "Is the total correct?" are much better. That's not an opinion question & I can honestly give a yes or no answer.

That's my random for the day.

No, wait... I lied. Another random thing... I did an experiment in advertising this weekend. Two years ago I made Lychee Punch for our Halloween Party and nobody touched it:

This year I made "Lychee Sangria". It actually tasted worse (the Pinot Grigio I got ended up being way too dry), but people drank more of it. I am convinced that it's because I called it Sangria, which seems to be trendy right now. Ah well. *sigh *

Unexpected (or rather, un-thought-about) effects of going Pseudo-Paleo/Primal

2009-10-21T10:33:00.005-04:00

When I signed up for the MovNat Seminar in August, I was a bit wary because they said we'd be on a "Paleo Diet" and I was thinking: ?!?! "Are they going to try to feed me raw meat slabs or something?" No, not really and the food was all exquisite. I'm not going to go about trying to explain Paleo/Primal here, you can go follow links if you'd like some surface explanation or some more in-depth "science" explanations...

Long story short, I heard a first-hand account of Paleo from a fellow attendee, Greg, who's been following it for a while now. His story was intriguing. Next, I came home, went back to eating my normal crap, and suddenly was ravenous all the time felt sluggish and my guts were hating me. After 48 hours of eating "normally," I whipped together a fresh spinach & basil salad with nuts & olive oil & tomatoes, had some steak, maybe another Veg & finished up with a coconut milk, banana, blueberry, almond dessert and half way through the meal I felt a whole lot more real. Let's combine this with my observations from doing calorie restriction with the Daily Plate all last year - I could eat 1600 calories... if I ate a LOT of Veg, I'd lose weight, if I ate 1600 cals worth of sandwiches & potatoes, I'd stay put. Hmmm... not all calories seem to be the same. Additionally, it's a well known fact that my body does not like digesting grain products (i.e. bread-like things). Put all this together and I decided to start researching and attempting pseudo-paleo.

I'm currently reading the book The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain an plan to eventually move on to The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson The problem with both of these books is that they LOOK like and are formatted as "Diet" books because that's what sells. Eventhough Cordain has a ridiculous number of references in the back of the book - journals, papers, and other science publications to support his findings, I get irritated because he'll make statements about fact X or Y and not reference it. I'd like to know more. Oh well. And for the record, I get a lot of good info out of Mark's Daily Apple.

Anyway, so I'm trying it in bits & pieces and in addition to generally feeling better and learning about myself (like, I didn't know I didn't feel particularly well until I noticed I felt better. weird.), I've been forced out of my normal comfort zone. Let's face it, the Binkle cannot live on just Broccoli, Lima beans, Peas and chicken alone. I've been expanding my visions from Spinach salads to Spring Mix and Romaine & this has led me to start looking at the produce section differently... For instance: endives and Leeks... What are they, how can I use them & cook them? Beets - what should I do with those? After finding just beets and then bunches of beets (complete with leaves), should I buy the bunches and then eat the greens too? I've also been pushed to try more meats too. J's always wanted to eat more fish, but I avoid it since it stinks up the house & I dislike white fish generally. Well, I've been trying for more fish... found that my Shoppers carries bags of individually wrapped fish fillets that are flash frozen at sea and some of it is wild caught. This is great for me since then I don't have to worry about going out to buy fresh fish everytime, I can grab it out of the freezer for a quick meal instead of the frozen ravioli or other freezer "food product" and if baked in a sealed tinfoil pouch, the fish smell doesn't permeate the house totally. It's like rediscovering food. I found that I love raw red pepper as a snack, raw almonds taste amazing if your body needs them, and grapes are fantastic after a run. This is awesome.

Nature Girl and 2009 Recap

2009-10-14T13:14:00.004-04:00

I just found this article on MSNBC today: Looking at Nature Makes you Nicer. Cool. I've known for a while that I'm at my happiest when I'm around trees & rocks & water. In fact, when we first moved to the DC area, I started suffering from a Nature deficit - I found that I had to go run out and find a small naturey park and spend some time out there. It's like a reset button. I need it. This year has been wonderful because I've been pushing to be outside more. Getting more sunlight is good, sure, but also explore outdoor exercising opportunities, since I've always been prone to thinking exercise sucks. Sailing was wonderful because it really centered me and felt really primal, just shutting my mind off, listening to the water and paying very close attention to the wind on my skin (I was using that more than visual cues to tell wind direction). There was something very basic about being totally dependent on the weather, wind & water to get where you need to be. I've also been busy exploring all the parks I can find in the area as I figured out my need for trees to keep me interested in running. I'd like to become one of the Running People, but I don't think I'll ever free up enough time in my schedule for that. Now here's the rub. I live near a city, in a pretty densely suburban area, and I think I might currently have more actual access to nature than in rural Pennsylvania. Huh? That's right. This past weekend I went to visit my parents who live about 30 miles +/- southwest of Pittsburgh. The whole area is either farms or suburban developments that used to be farms. I figured I'd find a place to go for a run since there's so much more nature around there. Boy, was I ever wrong. There weren't really any parks within a 20 minute driving radius, other than recreation parks that are open fields and baseball diamonds. Though there were hills and trees and forests all around, they are all owned by someone, and not available for common use. (DON'T get me started on my rant about how Scotland was awesome because of their Land Access Rights... you have rights to go onto, use, pass through, and play on any land even if you don't own it as long as you leave it in the same condition you entered and the owners have a responsibility to maintain access to their land by providing gates or steps over fences.) It disturbed me to realize that in a rural area, full of natural beauty, one does not easily have access to it and that we only seem to regularly get access to it if you live in an area where it seems to be hard to come by and thereby requiring setting aside "nature reserves" and etc. Seems kind of wonky and messed up to me. That's just my thought for the day.

Also, for the record, I now have David Bowie's Version of "Nature Boy" running through my head on repeat.

So I figured it was time to evaluate my Samhain resolutions from last year. All in all, I think I did OK on the stuff that really mattered. I sucked at wearing more hats. I decided not to do the Boo!10K, but am training up for the Jingle All the Way 10K in the beginning of December, so that one kinda worked out. I JUST got a dentist appointment (next Tuesday argh!) because I realized I was running out of time. I ditched those last 10 lbs and toned relatively well. I got better at balancing work, play, relaxation and social, but it was at the expense of housekeeping, so I think I still have a bit to work on there, and I've been much better about the eating better and cooking more part in the past few months. An upward trend is what we're looking for. I kinda let the clothing business slide, but that's because I've kinda let the sewing slide, did a cost benefit analysis on the stress levels that would ensue and started going another direction with trying to figure out how to work on a health and mobility career. Now I'm pursuing certification for Exuberant Animal and things seem to be working out, so we'll see how it goes. : ) I'm pretty pleased. Now to just figure out what to resolve to do this coming year....

"damn having a scientific mind & a compulsion to experiment on myself!"

2009-10-09T10:26:00.001-04:00

Just got my blood panels back from my physical - from Jan 08, my Cholesterol is down, the LDL is SIGNIFICANTLY down and I find myself wishing I had another panel from July or August '09... that would indicate whether it was strictly due to weight loss or due to healthier eating (have kinda gone half-paleo the past 5-6 weeks and wonder if/how much effect that might have).

Also, tested negative for Celiacs = yay, cake won't kill me! (if had in moderation)

Also, started training on the Couch to 5K program with my friend for Cherry Blossom. Since 30 sec jog to 90 sec walk is, well... kinda a cake-walk for me, I'm using it as an opportunity to start out slowly with running TRULY barefoot.... not too bad, though it's truly evident that I don't have a callus base yet. I really want to see if barefoot vs. psuedo barefoot has more of an effect on foot arch strength... Though you can feel rocks & etc through the Virbam Five Fingers, I can say with complete certainty now that it is WAY different without shoes - after doing a 30 second jog on a sea of shale-like gravel and acorns, going "OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OWWWIE!!!" That was a bad trip plan on my part and will wait to attempt that again until I have some calluses built up. : ) Onward with the experiments!

Cat-a-tonic

2009-09-29T08:15:00.003-04:00

I've not been sleeping 100% well lately. I find myself stretching in my sleep - a friend came up with a good analogy: like a cat does. That's it. Just like a cat or dog.... I'm sleeping and then I fully extend everything as far away from my body as possible, get a good stretch, roll over & go back to sleep. I wouldn't much mind since it feels good, but I keep waking myself up by doing this several times a night. I wonder why. Am I turning into a cat? If so, will I be allergic to myself? Is that why I've been sniffling? Or is that because my Autumn Allergies are starting up?...

Oh, and I really can't wait for the Run Like Hell 5K in Cincinnati (Oct.30)!!! Should be fun! and tomorrow I will be starting to make headway on my fairy costume. Goodie. I've decided to be a woodland fairy because A) it'll be fun & artistic to make in a manner that it looks beautiful & dramatic as I run, B) I can use it for the MD Renaissance Faire, C) since I've taken to the trees & woods with my running, it seems very fitting - plus, it'll be a hoot to do my RLH dress rehearsal practice runs through the woods with the other joggers/walkers thinking I'm nuts. : ) Yay!

Barefoot & hopeless... let's go back to the drawing board.

2009-09-24T11:34:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, after figuring that I'd better get a biomechanical check-up (aka chiropractic visit to see if everything's in the right place) before I continue to embark upon a total movement regimen, I went to my Chiro. In addition to the normal re-evaluation, I had them do another foot scan. I know my toes are stronger and I'm able to support myself climbing in VFFs where I wasn't able to two years ago. I also know my ankles are stronger because it took 4.25 miles on semi-rough terrain to get the same old ankle soreness that I got when I started running. As a result, I was hoping I'd see some sort of empirically significant change in my foot structure. Judging from the scans, I'd like to think I see some slight, slight improvement, but I'd have to say it appears to be a wash. There was a pretty colored pressure depiction too, and if you go by that, I've totally slid backward and become completely flat footed, but there is not enough difference between the two scans to validate that, so I'm prone to thinking something in the calibration is off.

This got me to thinking though... the arguments for barefoot training being pro-foot-muscle frequently have to do with the nerves and touch receptors (or whatever you want to call them) in the bottom of the foot reacting to the things you are stepping on and then triggering a muscle response to pull that portion of your tender little footsie away from the sharp rock. I wonder if, while running in my VFFs, I've strengthened my toes and ankles, but not gotten as much benefit in the foot because the sole of the VFFs dampen a lot of the sharp pointy things that I step on. Walking on gravel in VFFs is DEFINITELY more pleasant than in true bare feet. I think I see another experiment in which to use myself as a guinea pig!

Part of this all is that I am a scientist. The concepts and theories behind the arguments pro-bare feet make sense to me in physical and biomechanical sense. I really want some solid evidence to back it up though. I'd like to have a before and after to support my statements of "I believe this to be better for my body." Guess I'm off to go play in some gravel without shoes.... tomorrow... or the next day. Today I just want to run through the woods with abandon again. : )

Trails, Trials and a new Recipe

2009-09-20T15:53:00.004-04:00

Right, so on September 5, I ran in the Arlington Pentagon 9/11 Memorial 5K. I signed up for it with my friend Adi - I told him I would last year. It sounded fun because you finish the early evening race and get a medal, beer & pizza. For two weeks before the race, I went out 2 or 3 times a week to get "back in shape." Two days before the race, I ran a full 3.1 mi. route in a reasonable time and was very happy. It was easy. I showed up at the race, I had a light lunch/ afternoon snack of almonds and carrots and tomato and red peppers and cucumbers and yellow squash... all the good stuff. Lined up, feeling good.... after the first 1.5 mi, I was feeling lousey.... not physically, but mentally. I hated the fool who was standing 60 feet past the starting line telling me we were "almost there, almost done" - I don't care that he was doing it as a joke. I hated the people around me, I hated the route, it was hot (80 degrees, 54% humidity) and sticky... ugh. Then we turned into the last 1.25 mi. It was through a parking lot. With no moving air. Facing into the setting sun. My brain gave out. I walked for 20 feet. jogged some more, walked for 20 feet, jogged, walked & stripped down to my running bra, jogged and finished it out with a ginormous grimace and the feeling that I wanted to throttle someone. I lumbered off grumbling for some pizza and leftover veggies.

Not a triumphant moment. Then I started thinking about it. whether I keep going or not is all mental. I know at this point that I prefer woods running to urban running. After that race, I decided to set my sights on distance running and working my way up to trails. The following Friday I went and decided to try running the Loop around Lake Accotink. It's 3.8 mi round trip, mostly through trees, with a smooth, clean, gravel/dirt trail. This plan was inherently a bad idea. I had spent the day running around in platform knee boots with a 3.25 inch heel. If you've worn heels, you can do the math... if you haven't... well, by the end of the day your foot muscles have partially atrophied and frozen into the shape of the shoe, it's hard to put your heel down flat because your Achilles is all tight, and probably you've partially bruised the ball of your foot from the abuse of the shoes. So I get home from work, kick my boots off, change, hop into my Fivefingers and drive to the lake. Anyone not familiar with barefooting should be told that to do it properly, you need to have your whole foot relaxed to flex with the terrain and absorb the rocks & bumps properly. Uh... yeah... I take off... the trail's rougher than the normal asphalt, about 1.25 mi in, I'm feeling good, except the balls of my feet are tender. I step wrong on a large stone on my left foot and add a good beating to my already tender left foot. Ow. I keep going, but now I'm favoring that foot. after the turn around at 1.5 (the sun's going down so I nix the idea of doing a full loop), the favoring of the left foot has been throwing off my mechanics, so a stabilizing tendon in my left knee is starting to get angry with me. Also, my stomach is cramping for some odd reason, and I'm getting overheated - argh! In a race this would make me stop. In the woods, I was still smiling and having a helluva lotta fun and kept going, albeit being more careful how I planted my left foot. I finished a full 3 miles back to the car, it felt like I had only been out for 15 minutes, and I was singing with the radio on the way home. That's it. I'm only going to do trail running from now on.

Today I went out to Accotink again and did the whole 3.8... finished it in 39:15. It certainly didn't feel like 40 minutes. I didn't feel done when I stopped. J was doing the south-west half of the lake only, so I passed him on my way around. He hadn't come out of the woods yet, so I ran back to find him, then ran back with him & did a cool down walk. totalled out at 4.25 miles and felt like I probably could have gone farther if I didn't have other things to do. : ) I'm pretty happy. I need to find a bigger loop to work on and soon I need to start making little forays off the groomed trail onto some of the hiking trails that shoot off to the sides... I need to get some of my ankle muscles stronger - the ones that control lateral stability. They're just a little sore at the moment. I recognize this from when I first started running.... they're not used to being used quite that much. They're a lot stronger than they were two years ago, though, that's for sure! So yeah, apparently trails and woods make me happy & I'll just have to stick to that. I always come out of there feeling like I could take on the world. Accotink also looked like it had good opportunities to practice some of my MovNat stuff if I get off the beaten path, so I can't wait to try it. Whee!

Also, yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day! I hope you all participated... I spent most of the day running around trying to find a good pirate hat.
AAAAaaaarrrrrr! to ye!

As promised, here's a new recipe for a side dish that I made up while trying to finish most of the leftover veggies in the fridge:

Eggplant Side

3 mini-eggplant thinly sliced (~1/4 thick, tops), or equivalent large EP
1 stalk heart of palm sliced like EP
~2 Tbsp. minced garlic
~2 Tbsp coconut oil
Copious amounts of cinnamon reasonable dusting across whole pan twice
~1 Tbsp lemongrass herb paste (may be able to sub lemon juice)
~ sauteing eggplant, heart of palm, garlic, cinnamon & lemon grass paste in coconut oil ( in lieu of CO, maybe just butter and then add a bit of shredded coconut for flavor), after a few minutes, added a bit of water & covered the frying pan to add some steaming... cooked until eggplant melted in your mouth (15-20 mins). Taste. Add more cinnamon if necessary, add in maple syrup, stir, & add a bit of spinach at the very end - cooked just long enough to wilt. This served two.

By mini-eggplant, I used these:

Causal Fridays and Barefoot v. Minimal Shoes

2009-09-04T09:27:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I just had a total geek-out on my way up the elevator this morning... Today is Friday - for many, Casual Friday. How easy it is to switch letters and change the meanings of words.... Then I thought: "If you just shift the U, Casual turns into Causal. What would 'Causal Friday' be like?" I hope J doesn't read this otherwise he might be ashamed to know me. ; )

Also, I gave some thought this morning to barefooting some more... I mean, I'm sure you all know that I run pseudo-barefoot in my Vibram FiveFingers, but I've eschewed shoes for as long as I can remember. Indoors? barefoot. Running around outside playing as a kid? barefoot as much as I could get away with. Heck, I've always preferred to buy shoes such that I can at least slightly feel the cracks in the sidewalk when I'm walking. It feels weird to me otherwise. So since I've started running around in the FiveFingers more & more, I've been feeling it in my joints when I go back to 'regular' shoes. I feel the shift in my joints and alignment. Or rather, I'm aware of them... Odd. as a result I am now trying to buy my shoes with as flat and thin a sole as possible and as flexible or roomy as possible (It totally goes against all financial sense to pay for as little as possible...) The thing that is intriguing me right now is that even in minimalist shoes, I do not ambulate in the same manner. Barefoot or in my VFFs, I walk lightly and lead with my toes, touching down the forefoot or midfoot first and then compress into my heel. With my minimalist flats, I still find myself landing on my heel and it feels very awkward to try and walk in a different manner in them. I need to ponder if it's because my brain has been "programmed" for so long to walk in a particular manner with shoes on (then one would think it'd translate to the VFFs also) or is it more that the construction of the shoes does not lend itself well to having a natural gait while keeping the shoes on my feet? I need to go contemplate.

Another random thought for the day: I passed a car on the highway yesterday that had 3 wheels - one in front, two in back. Sorry, I did not have my camera for once. It looked brand new. It had a curved windshield, sides, looked like a 2 seater, was TINY, had a normal steering wheel, and a roll bar. It appeared to be a convertible with the top down. Anyone know what that was? I tried to check out the make & model while driving by, but the words were all long, in tiny print, and a script-ish font. What kind of marketing sense does that make????

MovNat Seminar Recap

2009-09-02T15:35:00.011-04:00

So, I've been getting a lot of questions (and rightly so) about what is this "Mov- NAT" thingie that I went to. If you'd like the official stuff about it, feel free to go visit the MovNat website. Make sure to watch the Erwan Le Corre video on YouTube also. It's cool.

So, if you want the really short, bare-bones answer, here's what I learned: barefoot movement & conditioning, running, jumping, landing, crawling, rolling, balancing, accuracy, agility, breathing, hanging, climbing, swimming, holding of breath, throwing sticks, throwing rocks, lifting, carrying, using gravity to one's advantage and overall efficiency of movement, some morsels of diet - paleo in specific, sparring, punching, self defense and that I'm a scary, scary woman if threatened. Really if I break most of those down into the subcategories of movement that I haven't named specifically, it's mind-boggling that the seminar was only over 5 days, more like 4 days when two of those were half-days... Really, I'm not quite sure how it all happened because it felt like we only did 2 or 3 things a day (this, said through rose colored glasses, since I can remember spending some days where I was just wishing for it to end).

For more of a detailed description of the experience, read on... and on... and on... (I don't see how it can end up short & concise).

Background

I have to admit that I don't fully follow all the "zoo human" philosophy on the website, or maybe I do, but phrased in a different manner. What I do know is that I feel people in general are dealing with a nature defficiency (myself especially - I go nuts if I don't get enough exposure to rocks & trees & water & stuff), and I feel like our modern western lifestyle is not conducive to health, wellness & mobility over our ever-increasing lifetimes. By talking biomechanics with my chiropractor & others and by reading & researching, I've been becoming fascinated with how our body works and have begun developing a theory, that I'd love to work with some day, that our life-long mobility and ability is determined by the movements we use in our everyday lives. The western world is suffering from some chronic pain issues and mobility issues that are not seen in some other cultures at later stages in life. Keep in mind that I'm not discounting the lack of elasticity in tendons and ligaments that come with age as well as breakdown of cartilage, wear of joints, etc.... BUT a number of mobility problems appear to be preventable either due to avoiding misalignments caused by imbalances caused by lack of use of muscles or by avoiding injury by using proper techniques and keeping critical joints strong and flexible. This is merely a quickie aside...

How it came about

Anyway, so let's start at the beginning of how I impulsively signed up for this thing. Please see the statement above about the mobility mind-set that I'm in at the moment. So for the past two years I've been mildly intrigued by Methode Naturelle and Parkour. Additionally, I've been trying to broaden my exercise regimen to strengthen and expand my abilities (both because I'm all dooms-day-ish and believe that I could get stuck in some catastrophic situation sometime, and because I'd like to still be able to get up off the floor when I'm 80 - "help, I've fallen and I can't get up" should not enter my vocabulary unless to make a joke or in an instance where both legs are broken). In June or July, I try to find something to use my HTO gift-card on and come out of the store with a FREE copy of Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine and read this article about the Natural Fitness with an "annoyingly fit" man. It's a great article. So I googled MovNat. I watched the YouTube Video. Then I watched it again. And again. And AGAIN. It turned into one of those obsessive things I do such that I was researching or going to the MovNat page everytime I needed an ADHD break at work (i.e. every 10 minutes). Lastly I saw that they were going to be offering seminars in West Virginia in August & September. Then I got more & more distracted. At some point, the irrational part of my brain went AWOL & said "if you don't sign up for this & try it, you'll always be wondering & regret it." This led to an "are there still any available spaces left?" email, with the expectation of the answer "no". I got the answer: "there's one spot left and we've pencilled your name in if you want it." EGADS! What have I gotten myself into. It's one of those weird things that seemed to be 'fate.' We discussed it at home, I paid, it was all set, I was very excited. Then the "you're crazy" part of my brain kicked in & I started fretting about the cost & what a Paleo Diet was (raw meat?) and vacation time and holding the rest of the class back and killing myself and.... If there's one thing I'm an expert at, it's fretting - especially about the various possible ways for me to meet my demise. Well, anyway, that's how I got signed up for it and there was no turning back after hitting the "pay" button. * sigh *

And so it begins...

Tuesday, August 18, sees me departing a little after 7 AM on my drive to West Virginia. After a 5.5 hour car ride in which I stock up on doritos & a rootbeer (I will be eating Paleo for the next five days! augh!), I arrive at the campsite and find a collection of tents and one or two other people there. Tents -> Ozark Trail, first thought -> "egads, I wish I brought my own tent, this sucker's gonna leak". I spend some time talking to my first co-conspirator, James, a "kid" who's in college and is studying Physics - suddenly I don't feel like I'll be totally out of my element. After a bit of chatting, we decide to go see if Jeff, the assistant, needs any help with lunch. This is when I meet co-conspirator #2, Chris, the first of two Canadians and who drove down from Montreal the night before. I'm betting that was longer than 5.5 hours. Part way through chopping red peppers, we were joined by the other Canadian, Greg, an ex-air force instructor, Jason, and the man himself, Erwan Le Corre. In response to me saying "Oh, you're THE man!", he replied: "What were you expecting, a Zeus?" My reaction was not because he was very average looking, but because I had not been able to ascertain via the website, really what he looked like. A little bit later, we were joined by the last participant, a woman named Liz. It was a cozy little group. I had been expecting something different. The listing had said there would be 12 participants and we ended up with only 6. I had been expecting most everyone else to be fitness professionals and we numbered as a physics student, a patent examiner, a freelance journalist, a mediator, a finance guy, and a program manger. Hmm.... we each had a different level of fitness and abilities too, as was determined over the next couple of days. The first meal was a phenomenal salad of greens, peppers, nuts, oils & vinegar and I think some meat & fruit. Our first lesson was conditioning for barefoot movement - i.e. finding the sharpest gravel on the campsite road and purposely standing on it... "It's like a Chinese massage," says Erwan. Hmmm... Then we went to a local park with playgrounds & pavilions to see that MovNat can be practiced anywhere. I'd say we spend about 4 hours learning some basics, like balancing, jumping off picnic tables, walking on all fours, barefoot running and some warm-up moves. Part of it, I suspect, was for evaluating each of our ability levels. I successfully demonstrated that my Klutz Factor is abysmally high as I was 'balancing' across the wooden backstop to a horseshoe pit and managed to simultaneously fall off of AND onto the 'balance beam', leaving a gash in my leg that will be my souvenir! : )

I should have gotten a prize for "first blood." That night finished with a leisure swim in Summersville Lake, an amazing Paleo Dinner of more salad, veggies, steaks, and a dessert of coconut milk-banana-blueberry-bliss - I could get used to that. Did I mention that Erwan is originally French and oversaw all the meal prep? You can do the math on that one... Mmmm...

Day two involved a warm-up on a steep grassy slope of the campground, just below a couple of RV pads. We spent a significant amount of time learning about stretching and warming up by using practical movements that exercise full range of motion instead of just one piece at a time. Emphasis was put on the difference between motion in context (actually going over or under something), and without context (just going through a motion) and how each action without context can be given context in your mind to give it more meaning. We did a good bit of rolling around in the grass and crawling and then some stretches that were motions one would use if one were trying to hide in grass from predators or prey. The people staying in the RVs seemed to be highly amused by all this. I like to think that when we were practicing looking around furtively and hiding that the RV campers got nervous about an impending attack, because they left shortly thereafter. They also left us a large watermelon as a peace offering. After warming up, we went off into the forest and carried some long logs to our workout site. It was at this time that I re-discovered my 'true nature' of being completely distracted by the things around me... "look! a red mushroom! Look at that flower! Look! That part of the tree looks like a face! We just squashed a blue fungus of some sort..." Either way, I followed along balancing on logs, doing standing long-jumps, jumping off of logs, learning how to properly dead-lift stones above our heads and throw them. About mid-day, the assistant, Jeff, showed up with lunch - a bag of walnuts, a bag of almonds, some bananas and grapes, and a 9x13 Tupperware of chopped zucchini, carrots, peppers, and tomatoes. That was it. I was skeptical, but I followed the suggestion of "just eat what you want, your body will tell you what it needs." I've never tasted almonds so good. The rest of the day, was some more practice of skills and combining skills into a "combo circuit" that was repeated over and over for 15 minutes. Things I learned from combo: I need to have a goal or purpose and then I can enjoy repetitive things. My goal was throwing a rock, chasing it, picking it up, throwing it, and chasing it again. I wonder why I'm so "play" based... the 15 minutes felt like 5.

Day three was spent on the Gauley River and it was, by far, the most fantastic day of the seminar. It was the only truly sunny day we had all week for one thing. Thankfully I started the morning by explaining to Erwan that if I look like I'm not paying any attention whatsoever, I really am and don't mind me - I used to drive my teachers nuts with that. Secondly, though a river setting, there was a variety of terrains, from beach to dirty, to boulders to large flatrocks to rocky flat terrain. I was in heaven. It's a landscape that I've kind of grown up with and love dearly. The first lesson of the day was to walk barefoot across rocky terrain without really looking where you're going. Quite hard, really. I'm apparently way too stiff & have to relax my shoulders. We stopped for a swim, swam onto some rocks in the middle of the river, practiced breathing and holding of breath. Then we played cooperative 'games' of toss the rock & toss the stick and toss the stick while running around obstacles and toss the stick while balancing on a log. Next we stopped for lunch on a large flatrock complex and then practiced jumping up ledges and down ledges and across gaping chasms. We found a funky tree to balance on and that was fun, then we found a rather good Bouldering problem and scaled it. I scaled it 4 or 5 times just because. It was my first real, outdoor climbing!!! Yay! We finished with another swim and practice pushing a log across the river while swimming. I dripped dry while doing another climb. It was a great day.

Day three is also the only day I have pictures of essentially.

Day four is when I finally fell apart. I was not having the issues that some other people had - some of the guys were light sleepers and/or not used to being in the woods and hadn't been sleeping much at all. I come from a breed that A) grew up camping and B) have a family history of being able to sleep through train derailments. Sleep was NOT an issue for me. Except that night it rained a goodly bit and 1/3 of my air mattress and bedding got wet. Additionally, they started the day off by saying "OK, now today is going to be pretty intense!" That is the LAST thing I ever want to hear. We went back to the playground/park and warmed up with some out of context stretching and brief bursts of high intensity motion. Then we started learning self-defense and sparring techniques. This is where I discovered that I could cause damage if threatened. We were to practice protecting our heads. With the technique we learned, one could not only parry blows, but also fight back a bit with one's elbows. So we paired up and Chris was put in a position of 'attacking' while I was to defend myself. well, after a a few minutes i had to call a time out because my mind was getting into it and all of a sudden he was not my friend anymore, but a real attacker and I was about to leap & try to rip his head off... I kinda knew I had this in me, I felt it coming on, so I called a time-out. This combined with the 'rage' I exhibited when I was instructed to "hate the target" while Greg was holding it, resulted in me being labelled both 'scary' and 'dangerous' by the guys later. The latter half of the day, as promised, was filled with a smattering of intensity workouts.... series of intense bursts of conditioning, some fast combos and etc. In the midst of all this, it poured buckets on us on and off and when it wasn't raining on us, we were rolling around in soaked, muddy grass. The best part was when we were walking back from the restrooms to the playground. We passed a ginormous puddle on the sidewalk that was 2-3 inches deep. We stopped, we stomped, we kicked water on each other as if none of us were over the age of 15. It was great!!! Then there was another combo set up... theoretically it was nothing to be worried about... balance on a railroad tie for about 30-40 feet, go up a ladder, slide down a slide, run across the playground, duck under a bar, do 5 jump-pull-ups, jump off the steps 3 times and repeat. For some reason, before we started, I started feeling ill. I recognized the feeling from the one and only swim meet that I ever participated in. I hated the pressure & competition. I don't know why I felt that way on the combo, but whatever. The last thing we did was a longer combo... run to a tree, run to the bathrooms, do a small combo from earlier, run to the swings, run back to the bathroom, run to the playground, do the big combo, and then run back to the tree. The end. I started, I did half of it, between the swings & the bathroom I started having trouble breathing... It got worse! A freakin' anxiety/asthma attack! I got soooooo mad! It made it worse. I had to stop, I calmed down by the time I got to the top of the slide. By the bottom of the slide, I was OK, but I ended up being the last one to finish the route. I was sooo mad and pissed. There was no reason for it except a mental breakdown or will. ugh.

Day Five was the final day and it was a half-day only. We lost one of the participants in the morning at breakfast because she had a plane to catch. This is the last picture of us all before we parted:

We took a whitewater style raft across Summersville Lake to an island or peninsula which had a good collection of rocks. On the way, we worked on swimming and swimming under things while holding breath. We worked on accuracy of rock tossing. We also worked on various high-intensity series of lifting & pushups & etc. It was hard, but I knew it wasn't going to last long. The last thing before paddling back was a series of balancing along a wet log, jumping into the water, swimming under it, running back to the other end & repeat. One thing I liked very much about Erwan's instruction was that he got a good sense of each person and knew when to push you... literally. My first circuit, I got onto the log & froze.... Erwan pushed me off into the water. The next time around I went across the wet log with no problem. I don't know if I needed the push as a challenge or to show me that no harm would come by falling off... or maybe both, but I needed to be pushed off. Lastly, we rowed back while Jason & Jeff swam across the lake and finished up with lunch & said goodbye.

The Aftermath...

There were a couple of surprising results after all was said & done. For one thing, by being "Paleo" for a week has given me a particular aversion to "food products" (i.e. processed foods) - this I can only see as being a good thing. I've been doing some research on Coconut oil because, at least at first glance, it appears to potentially be a miracle food. I've also paid more attention to the things I buy.... the fewer ingredients the better.... whole raw nuts, sun dried raisins, no sugar or sulfates or salt added. I'm seeking more fruits & vegetables (again) and less grain products. The grains - breads, & etc - I'm noticing making me feel even more sluggish and uncomfortable than ever before. Actually, right after getting back and going back to a "normal" diet, I got a weird rash on my lower back and both my elbows. A lot of other weird things were going on too, like my leg swelling due to the wound getting infected, but the rash is making me think perchance I should look into Celiacs.... I'm not really sure I'd want to know though. Can you really enjoy a piece of cake with the knowledge that it could kill you?

In addition to diet changes, I was shocked to find that I DIDN'T come away from the experience sore & immobile. Just goes to show you that your body can adapt rather quickly. Also, I found I was able to do a goodly bit more than I had expected. I got kudos points for at least trying stuff even if I couldn't do it. I was known as having a "fighting spirit" by the end and that made me feel good. I also learned a lot about myself - how I work mentally. Competition, big surprise, is my downfall. I am best motivated when I want to do it for myself. I found that I had to fight an urge the first day to "prove myself" to the guys. They never said anything other than encouraging things. There were no disparaging remarks, no talking down, nothing but brotherly encouragement, yet I still felt like I had to prove-down the stereotype of "weak woman" and I found that this was mostly in my head, not theirs. I ended up coming up with a new personal motto, "I can't right now, but I can certainly try"... Huh? Meaning that I know my limits, but that won't stop me from trying until I can, whether it takes me hours, days or months, because I know that I can do most anything if I work on it. I also learned that when threatened or pushed, something else kicks in. I'm by no means going to throw caution to the wind and subject myself to danger, but I got reassurance that if I ever had to protect myself, I could either do a good job of it, or take someone else down with me.

Well, I guess that's all for right now... I think I'm on the verge of having bleeding stumps for fingers from typing so much. I'll write more later if I think of more.

Odd aside for the day: Spellcheck on here doesn't like 'egads'.... Tee-Hee!

Amazing Pizza

2009-08-27T07:57:00.003-04:00

So yesterday I tried to continue with my eating healthy & fully with a salad bar lunch at Whole Foods (hot squash medley in tomato & onion sauce and a salad of spinach & field greens with Broccoli, Quinoa, shredded carrot & grilled chicken breast topped with Balsamic vinegar). Then I made a salad & pizza for dinner. It's one of my famous Trader Joe's Pizza Concoctions... I "hunt & gather my way through the store. It was amazing. Try it sometime. : )

Trader Joe's Pizza #5

1 ball of Garlic & Herb Pizza Crust Dough
2 hunks of Hearts of Palm=, sliced into circles
10 Pitted Kalamata Olives, sliced into quarters
~ 5 Marinated Artichoke Hearts, juice squeezed out & separated into different leaves
~10-12 large leaves of fresh Basil
~ 5 baby portabella mushrooms
1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
~1/4 cup of Quattro Formaggio Shredded Cheese Mix
2/3 jar of TJ's Vodka Sauce

Preheat oven to 425 according to crust package directions. Put 2/3 of the jar of Vodka Sauce into a sauce pan and boil over Med/Hi heat until turns into a wet paste consistency (~15-20 minutes). Either slice mushrooms or chop coarsely with a chopper. Saute mushroom pieces in Coconut Oil for ~ 5-10 minutes. Roll out crust to size of pizza pan or stone (mine's about 14-16 inch). Top Crust with Vodka Sauce Paste, basil leaves, sauteed mushroom, chopped olives, Heart of Palm & artichoke. Finish topping lightly with cheese. Bake for ~7 minutes or so. This crust never seems to get "golden", so just poke it. Cut, serve & enjoy!

If sliced into 8 pieces, this ends up being about 230 +/- calories per slice. : )

In addition to the pizza, I made a small entree salad of baby spring greens, fresh garden tomatoes, pine nuts, a medley I got at Whole Foods comprising coconut shavings, raisins & Cacao Nibs, and some sweet chicken I made by coating chicken breast pieces in a mixture of honey, agave, & Cassia Cinnamon. This was topped with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I made the mistake of putting in the Kalamata Olives. Bad idea. Don't do that with a sweet salad. Lastly, there were Champagne grapes for dessert.

Hope you get a chance to try the Pizza & enjoy!

Another Diet Shift

2009-08-25T16:18:00.003-04:00

I just got back from a 5 day MovNat (Natural Movement) Seminar with Erwan Le Corre and will discuss more of that at some later date... I've had a minor epiphany though concerning what I eat.

They had us on a Paleo Diet and the switch was not bad, especially since the food was prepared by a Frenchman, but I noticed no major effects. When I returned to normal everyday life, I went for a gourmet Mushroom puree pizza, some buffalo chicken croquettes & a pint or two of beer. The next day, I went on to an amusement park, got the Mahi Mahi Fish & Chips, ate only half, added an afternoon snack of fries, and topped it off with a Margarita, chips & salsa, and a half of an enchilada dish. he next day started with my normal breakfast Luna Bar, and a quickie lunch at McD's of Fillet o' Fish & apples. By mid-afternoon, I was feeling lethargic & irritated. I immediately ran off to Trader Joe's to stock up on natural Raw Almonds, unsweetened natural sun dried raisins, a couple of packages of grapes, some fresh spinach, fresh mozzarella, Bananas, blueberries, more almonds, and some coconut milk, coconut oil & agave. Last night I ate about 4 oz. of steak, seasoned & grilled, a salad of fresh spinach with some basil from the deck, copious tomatoes from the deck, raisins, almond slices, olive oil, & balsamic vinegar, then a side of grilled veggies, an ear of sweet corn, and a dessert of bananas, blueberries, almonds in coconut milk, honey, agave & coconut oil (the last 3 in small amounts). half way through the meal I started feeling alive again & was more than full, but not unpleasantly so... Further, I was not hungry this morning and only ate my breakfast bar because I needed something with my antibiotics (will explain later). Today I brought the Almonds & raisins and some dried apples with me in case I wanted a snack (didn't really) and then ate a gyro salad for lunch. I'm staying full & not feeling nearly so lethargic today. Hmmm... idea: more raw, more fresh, more veggies, add some healthy fats, avoid processed foods altogether. We'll see how this goes. : )

Public Service Announcement

2009-08-12T08:47:00.003-04:00

Oh my holy __(fill in expletive of choice)__! It's been a longtime since I posted anything. Honestly, I've been crushed under the guilt of not being able to write up a description of our trip to Alaska since I was unable to post the photos for a long time. Ah well...

I found this CNN story today... Why? Really WHY must people demonize playing and having fun? Is fun something that is only allowed for kids? If so, then I might as well just kill myself now or revel in being a self-centered, perpetually adolescent generation Y-er. I mean, seriously... what's the purpose of posing and being staid & reserved? There's this whole social stigma about "This is what you wear at this age, this is how you act, this is what you look like and this is the way you move, this is what you like..." etc, etc, ad nauseum.... What a load of bunk.

Anyway, done with my rant and on to playing a bit of catch-up with you, my dear readers (all one of you...). : ) The alaska trip was fabulous and I'll hopefully devote an entire post to that at some point. The summer's been hell-a busy, so I've been going quite crazy, getting behind, and falling quite short on a lot of my resolutions.

At some point, I've gone crazy and decided I needed to be getting a more well-rounded exercise regimen. I found a theory called MovNat, an updated version of Methode Naturelle, which has been on my radar for about 2 years now, but I've never done anything about it. I also found an exercise concept called Exuberant Animal, which is all about full body & mental wellbeing through play-activities. Conveniently, the local Rec Center has classes by one of the only EA instructors on teh East Coast. Yay! Basically, it's a minimally structured exercise class based on being silly and whatever the Kwame decides seems fun at the moment. So far we've used such recognizable childhood favorites as Tug-of-War, Follow the Leader, Crabwalks & Wheelbarrow races among other thing. There's a lot of partnering and cooperative aspects too. It's a good silly time. I hope tonight's class is still on! At some point with all of this, I went crazy, decided to be "spontaneous" and signed up for the MovNat seminar in Summersville Lake, WV. I embark on that adventure tomorrow. Bright & early. Let's hope I come back in one piece.

This past weekend we went to the Jane Austen Ball at Gadsby's Tavern & hit a pool party downtown that ended up being a filming location for MTV's "The Real World". Interesting.

I think that's about it for now. I'll get more pics up someday and see about taking photos of the seminar. Fun.

Roadkill I am not! (at least for now...)

2009-05-15T07:06:00.002-04:00

So as I said last time, I decided to try this Bike to Work Day thing, although I didn't officially register because there were no "Pit Stops" on my way to work at all & I don't want the cheesey T-shirt & I was going to do it or not based ont he weather forecast. So for the past two days I cleaned my bike, oiled my bike, inflated the tires & attempted to attach the headlamp & tail light. I still need to replace my front tire & probably my back brakes, but it was ready to go. The weather cleared, at least for this morning... if it's too miserable come time to go home, I'll probably just take Metro & bus and come back for my bike later.

Riding to work was a relative success... I got out the door & discovered that my shifter wouldn't work, so I oiled it and fiddled with it and then I only had one of the three gears, so I fiddled with it some more... got it to the point where I had all 3 gears, most of the time, and got going. The headlamp and taillight were useless - the taillight because I dropped it and then it refused to light, and the headlamp because I had to McGuyver it to my bike basket and it kept sliding so that it pointed straight down or straight up. Will figure out a more permanent solution someday. It was a nice ride, pretty relaxing until I got into the parts of G--D--- Alexandria, where they don't allow you to ride on sidewalks & don't provide any bike lanes. Fortunately, that was only a small part of the trip & most of it was spent in neighborhoods and riding with a good view of Cameron Run (a stream). I think it seemed like a good way to start my day, except I'm already getting hungry. DOH! Maybe I'll try to do this more often on nice days. I have to admit, though, that I am a wuss and would not choose to bike commute on cold days, snowy days, humid days, rainy days, etc.... so I think it'll only be an occasional thing unless it ever becomes a necessity. It'll be interesting to see how much my bottom hurts later.... I have a cushy old-school cruising saddle seat with the springs at the back and then have put a gel padded seat cover on top of that, but I still remember hurting after the last time I rode it for any distance. We shall see.

Sailing update: We did get to go out for class last night, and my lessons are now done with... I didn't get failed, I feel pretty comfortable with the boat now, so Yay! I get one free week of sailing to practice with and then I'm going to have to start paying (boo!) Maybe I should just get a boat.... ; )

Step 1 in Quest to Become a Real Pirate

2009-05-14T07:31:00.004-04:00

Last year, Jonah & I discovered a number of sailing clubs and marinas that rent sail boats in our area. This is great! We love sailing (he loves sailing, I loved clinging to the side of the boat in fear - going from 125 ft of solid wood around me with high gunwales, i.e the Niagara, to an 11 ft. fiberglass boat is a bit of a change). So with all of this excitement about our new-found resources, we promptly didn't go sailing at all last year.

This year, I decided that I should learn to sail. There was at one point a possibility that we might get a boat, but I think that's on hold. Also, I'll feel more comfortable going out with J for an afternoon if I a) get comfortable and realize that a small boat is NOT out to get me, and b) know what to do in case, heaven forbid, anything were to happen to Jonah while we were out & I'd have to get us back safely.

So here I go, I've signed up for a 10 hour sailing class at the Belle Haven Sailing Marina and it's 4 nights after work of 2.5 hours of instruction per night. It's cheaper to take a weeknight class, and, upon taking it, I think it's better since it *feels* like I get to go out more since I go out four nights instead of two days.

Anyway, so here's how it's been:

Day 1: Not so sure I like the instructor, though I like everyone else at the Marina. My fellow student & I can hold all of about 2 words worth of a conversation and then end up staring at each other. The 19 ft. Flying Scot feels a heck of a lot more stable than I expected. This is a good thing. We learn rigging and where the sandbar is, and that the Orange Buoy is named "Bob." We switch turns controlling the tiller and the jib sheets while Bill, the instructor, controls the main sheet. Eventually the one on the tiller is put in control of the main sheet two and I quickly discover that my gut instinct, when the boat starts to heel, or lean too far, is to do exactly the right thing to make it capsize. This does not bode well. Lastly, we're called in early because there are large ominous black clouds moving in quickly & I have a minor internal freak out since I don't trust the boat or myself or anyone else in a storm.
Day 2: I start filled with great trepidation, but I am entertained by the resident dock dog, Hunter. He's a Chow or part Chow and OWNS the dock. He supervises the comings and goings. We get out to the moored boat & rig it & get ready to sail. I don't take out the boom crutch in time, the tiller gets stuck (because the crutch is in the way) and the boat spins around, promptly getting the mooring line tangled around the centerboard. eek. Laura strikes again. We can't raise the centerboard, the rope is stuck on it, we can't push the rope off since it's wrapped too tightly. Eventually dear fellow student determines which in which direction the line is anchored & I figure that if we rotate the boat ( using it like a canoe), we can unwind it. Goodie! It worked. Off we go. I get more comfortable, I'm not trying to capsize us anymore. We get lots of good quality time in, we make it out onto the river channel, learn right of way rules, & channel markers and have a generally successful day.
Day 3: Beautiful, sunny day. I find myself wishing that my office window did NOT overlook the waters that I sail on. I want to play hookie. We have a new guy on our boat who is joining us since his class before had to be rescheduled due to weather. we practice tacking & jibing and man overboard drills. Bill goes to throw a life vest in the water as man overboard, but knocks his hat in as well. We practice 4 or 5 man overboards until we can successfully retrieve his hat, which seems to be camouflaged with the water (sentimental value?). It goes well enough, I'm feeling pretty darn comfortable, but I'm irritated by the new guy who'd rather talk than pay attention to the sail trim... he's letting the main sail, the one that provides the power, luff, i.e. not hold wind. It's not like you can't tell. The sail makes noise when it luffs. You hear that noise, you look, you take in the sail. It's easy. I got to see an Osprey fly off with a fish too. Yay!
Day 4: sitting at my computer desk feeling like I'm rolling with a boat. I think it's lack of sleep. Most likely class will have to be rescheduled because of forecasted scattered thunderstorms. Wish the darn thing wasn't so weather-dependent. Will keep you all updated.

Maybe if I pass the class I'll get myself a pirate hat & become the fearful "Bloody Binkle of the Potomac"!

Speaking of weather, I am working frantically on getting my bike (I think mine is a 1971 model, same shape & colors though... different seat) in shape for summer with the hope of participating in Bike to Work day on Friday, just to see how that is. However, I don't think I'll do it if it's too miserable. Boo!

I don't think it's enough

2009-05-06T10:45:00.002-04:00

$3825.00

So I totally don't think it'd be worth that to sell my dead body to science.... I mean, it wouldn't even cover funeral costs, I bet, and well I guess you'd save money on burial... but daggnabbit, I want to be buried in a grave easily forgotten so I can potentially be rediscovered by archaeologists in a couple of thousand years. So please don't sell me.

Forming a new religion around the internet...

2009-05-03T17:06:00.003-04:00

Why would I do this? Because the internet is my SAVIOR!!! I've had rusty looking gunge leaking out of my fridge periodically for close to2 months. I figured it was the drip pan overflowing or something? This morning I found 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the fridge under the veggie drawer.... Issues! So I googled "water leaking into bottom of refridgerator" and foudn a lot of answers to that question stating that there's a drain from the freezer to the drip pan & that it gets clogged & probably needs to be cleaned out. YAY! I disconnected a bunch of sh!# and lo-and-behold, after getting brown/greyfridge splooge all over my arm, I found that my drain part was clogged. I've since openned it up, cleaned it out & confrimed that water is now flowing just fine through the drain. let's hope that does it. : ) I'm also builing a religion around headlamps because I cannot think of a more useful device invented by man.

Unfortunately, I started fixing my fridge be taking apart the freezer compartment (which turned out to be completely unnecessary). On the upside, I got to see what the cooling mechanism of a freezer looks like & it's pretty darn cool...

So that happened.

Well, on to more happy things... Last night was the Glen Echo Evening with Strauss (Viennese Ball). As always, it was fabulous! We got dressed to the nines & had a nice evening, though we were constantly mistaken for Prom-goers over dinner.

I had so much fun & even got to get someone on my dance card for the Polka!!! Even better, he bore a striking resemblance to Steve Martin. Too bad I didn't get a picture... The best pic of the night though, was one I got of J on the carousel...

I don't know about anyone else, but with that profile and the tux and the hair the way it is, he totally looks like a romantic lead from a Jane Austin movie, don't you think??? : ) Maybe it's the side-burns...

Better Health Through Better Eating?

2009-04-23T16:26:00.002-04:00

It's no secret now that I have noticed a difference in my overall health when I change my diet & eat better. It's led me to pay more attention when news articles talk about "eat this and not that". Totally fascinating. I don't buy into it 100% because for every article you find saying 'red wine is good for you', there's a corresponding one that says 'red wine is not good for you, especially women' or some such. I ran across this article the other week that continues to fascinate me: Better Together. I like all those food combinations, and I don't thinkit'll hurt any to try & eat those things together a little more often, though good luck remembering it all.... but what really fascinates me is the proposition on the first page that we may have evolved to like those combinations because it it more beneficial. I'd like to know more about studies that test that hypothesis.

Going Green?

2009-04-22T09:42:00.004-04:00

This weekend we were up at Syracuse for J's grandfather's memorial service. We'll miss you Papa.

While we were up there visiting, I got to spend some time talking with J's aunt, dreamer. I've always enjoyed being with her and this time was no exception. She makes very nice jewelry out of natural gemstones and was talking about how she's had to learn about the different meanings or 'powers' of the stones since she does a lot of her selling at psychic fairs and such. One stone I've been drawn to a lot is Serpentine. It's just pretty, but for a lark, I looked up the meaning on Emily Gems via a google search. Here's some of the interesting things the site said... "Serpentine makes an exceptional meditation stone. It helps you to find inner peace. Some of the uses of serpentine include: Protection against poisonous creatures such as snakes, insects, etc; Balances mood swings; Encourages the ability to solve conflicts by peaceful means." Interesting coincidence considering I've been feeling under a considerable amount of turmoil until recently and have been finding a great desire to wear the serpentine bracelets that I have. Also, I've noticed that I've been drawn to a ridiculous amount of green items lately - a green purse, a green hat, several green shirts & sweaters, green jewelry etc.... Is it that there is a lot of nice green available this year or is there more to it? So I figured I'd look up symbolism of green too. "Green contains the powerful energies of nature, growth, desire to expand or increase. Balance and a sense of order are found in the color green. Change and transformation is necessary for growth, and so this ability to sustain changes is also a part of the energy of green.
Put some green in your life when you want: a new state of balance; feel a need for change or growth; freedom to pursue new ideas; protection from fears and anxieties connected with the demands of others"

Coincidence? Who knows. Maybe it all goes along with some people's theories that horoscopes and astrology are generic and seem accurate because you read what you want to into them. Maybe not. Maybe there's something to "all of it" - the ancient theories and arts. But regardless, none of that negates the fact that green is apparently making me feel good right now and there seems to be no harm in wearing it. : )

Barefooting

2009-04-17T14:19:00.005-04:00

I find myself frequently facing questions about my crazy running shoes and Barefoot Running in general. The long & short of it all is that I think biomechanics is cool and I totally buy the theory that "supportive" shoes do more harm than good if worn your whole life. Regardless of how I feel, you can make up your own minds on the subject if it even interests you at all. I'll even make it easy for you and share my links that I've found either useful or fascinating.

This guy's site has a lot of reading.... http://runningbarefoot.org/
This has some opposing viewpoints... http://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=5810 and http://www.runwashington.com/features/barefootrunning.html
Blog of a barefoot runner... Has an interesting running technique video.... http://runbarefoot.blogspot.com/2007/10/form-video.html (the most fascinating part is at about 4:50 if the narration irritates you)
Has some interesting stuff... http://completerunning.com/running-blog-mark/index.php/archives/category/barefoot-running/
Also kind of interesting... POSE is frequently paired up with Barefooting since they use the same posture principles and POSE frequently makes use of running flats which are the next best thing to barefoot, mechanically... http://www.posetech.com/training/archives/000198.html
Here's something from a marathon site... http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/clift.htm
a phys site... http://www.physorg.com/news84737938.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06157/696125-114.stm
South African Medical Research council: http://www.mrc.co.za/mrcnews/july2005/running.htm
NY Times articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/fashion/thursdaystyles/23Barefoot.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/sports/othersports/08barefoot.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=barefoot%20running&st=cse
These are interesting, but I am skeptical of anyone who refers only to excerpt and not the text as a whole, who knows what else was found... http://www.barefooters.org/medicine/
From National Geographic: Oldest Footprints with modern anatomy found and Humans were born to run

That all being said/shared, I'll let you know how my "strengthen your foot for greater mobility later in life" experiment goes.... I don't think that one will be solved for at least 30 years though. : )

UPDATED: Thanks to Karina for posting this in the Comments: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-painful-truth-trainers-Are-expensive-running-shoes-waste-money.html

Figuring Stuff Out

2009-04-15T13:09:00.003-04:00

I've been figuring some stuff out and it's feeling really good. I had a "mental" week last week... I got some info early in the week that shed a lot of light on a problem that I've had for going on 2 years now, and it led to a lot of emotional ups & downs while I processed & figured stuff out. In the end, I'm feeling soooo much better, but it led me to figure some other things out as well. For instance, my shoulders started knotting up about 2 weeks ago. I know it was stress related. No matter what, I could not get them to relax out. Then I went mental, and that exacerbated it. Finally, I gave up & went for my first real massage yesterday - it's worth the money to me to get it worked out & relaxed now before I have a 7 hour drive and a maybe stressful/maybe not weekend. Anyway, that worked out he kinks & loosened up my neck and it was wonderful, but today I am noticing that my shoulders are so used to being knotted up that they are trying to revert to that. I'm having to fight my own body today and it's very weird. I keep noticing my shoulders wanting to hunch up near my ears and etc.... Secondly, I discovered, or made the connection rather, that my worst "Mental" days the past month have been days where I am excruciatingly tired. I KNOW I don't handle lack of sleep well... If I stay up too late I get psycho & depressed. Cast parties in Highschool, while theoretically fun, were when I usually scared myself the most by getting into unreasonable paranoias and depression. Needless to say that when I put 2 and 2 together, it made a whole BUNCH of sense that my "depressed" feeling days were when I had gone too long without good sleep. The result of this realization is that I've set myself a goal of trying to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night. It's a mid-year resolution? Well, anyway, out of the past 3 days, I've succeeded twice in 3 nights. Not too bad to start.... AND I've been feeling GREAT!!! (even though the weather's sucked & been rainy & I think I'm starting to get mouldy...) If all I need to do to be happier & healthier is to eat better and sleep enough, well DAMN!

Ah, lastly, Joy-of-joys! I can finally have that Peanut Butter Milkshake!!!!!!!!!! I made & have maintained my goal weight for at least a week! Woot! I will officially stop dieting now. I will still track what I eat to manage and maintain what I've done. I will be doing more Rock Climbing soon and keeping up with my running hopefully, so if you see me getting any skinnier from this point (doubtful), it'll only be due to toning. Well, Cheers, everyone!

What now?

2009-04-08T10:17:00.000-04:00

I am bothered by this... more later.

Cherry Blossom 5K

2009-04-06T08:15:00.004-04:00

Well, it was that time of year again. The Cherry Blossom 5K has come and gone. Three of us ran it this year: myself, J & Lori. (see pic). Yes, those are the infamous Run Fatboy Run Shorts again. A special thanks again to Jason (AKA PunkJr) for the kindly gifting of the shorts last-minute last year. He will forever have a special place in my heart. Our times were posted yesterday. You can either look for yourself, or I can tell you that I came in at 29:55 total with an avg pace of 9:38 per mile. I was #168 out of 1056 women. Not too shabby. I am happy with the overall improvement... A year ago: 11:44 pace, 196 lbs., 34 inch waist. Today: 9:38 pace, 136 lbs., 26 inch waist. I'd say this has been a productive year. So as far as running goes, I'm hoping to form a running group to keep me to it this summer. I'm setting a goal to continue to work up to a 10K by this fall & see how I feel. I'd also like to improve my pace a little bit. I can do one 8 min mile if I really want to and I'd like to see if I can work up to that for next year. That would be cool. Do I think I'll get to a 10-miler at some point? Who knows. The only thing I DO know for sure is that I won't have the same breakfast next year. I might go back to my Kraft Mac & Cheese at 5 AM breakfast.... This year, well I figured eating at 6 AM when my race would start at 8:40 would be fine since that's nearly 3 hr digestion time. I had 1 Luna Bar, a 1/2 cup 1% fat Vanilla yogurt, & about 3-4 tbsp. Hummos to get some extra protein. My stomach cramped up during the race. I hate my digestive system.

In other news, I had an awesome Hanami weekend with Luke and perfected my banana-PB-Nutella crepes. More to come later.

Are we married?

2009-04-03T15:06:00.003-04:00

Today in the news is an article about a bill that passed in Vermont Legalizing gay marriage that will probably be shot down by the Governor and an Iowa supreme court ruling that overturned the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman as unconstitutional.

That got me to thinking once again if Virginia technically consideres J & I married. Here's the letter of the Virginia State Constitution (it's Article I, section 15-A if the link isn't cooperating). I remember when this law was on the ballot a couple of years back. It made me mad on a number of levels and I voted against it. Let's not even get into a discussion about gay Marriage and whether or not gays should be allowed to marry or if it should be called marriage or something else. There are a zillions ways you can argue and discuss the topic. I don't feel like going there. I'll be blunt and say that in my own humble opinion I believe in equal rights and equal treatment for all and leave it at that. As such, regardless of whether you think it's right or wrong, isn't marriage part of the "pursuit of happiness" for some people? How can you exclude that from some when the constitution if the state garauntees the pursuit of happiness? Here's the main thing... if you ARE going to write a law that's designed to exclude a particular group, OR if you're going to vote for a law that excludes a particular group. You sure as hell better write the language properly.

The intention of the amendment was to define marriage as between one man & one woman and then also prohibit recognition of a gay marriage legal status from another state. According to the wording of the section, the VA constitution now fails to recognize any status from another state that is not "marriage" but "intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage". Where does that leave heterosexual couples who get a civil union in another state?

It will probably never effect J & I since I don't think anyone will give two shakes about our legal status since we're still "one man, one woman", but they could. We did not get married by a religious official. I don't know if our union, by Pennsylvania definition, was legally a "marriage" or a "civil union" since it was performed by a Justice of the peace. If it's a Civil Union, we should not get the same rights as married people? And people voted for this thing without taking off their gay-blinders and considering how the language COULD effect others not intended as the target. This just illustrates how this whole thing is a load of bull shit and ignorance seems to overpower reason at every turn. I hope it all turns around soon.

Pretending like I'm going to Scotland.

2009-04-03T09:40:00.004-04:00

I finally made the excursion to the Royal Mile Pub last night to try out their special scotch tasting night. Thank you to everyone who braved the trek with me. Sorry I got stuck in the middle of the table so I couldn't mingle - I was thinking we weren't gonna push all the tables together. : ( I was pleasantly surprised to find that the food was excellent and remarkably fresh tasting (not like processed US pub food at all). I TRIED THE HAGGIS!!!! And even more exciting: I liked it! *shhh... don't tell!* Now that I've spilled my tea on myself 3 times, I find I must swear that I am neither still drunk nor hung over. Lastly, and sadly, the Beef & Guinness pie was not a replacement for those that I loved across the ocean. It was good. try it, but it was more beefy-oniony-gravy than I was looking for. Maybe I should stop trying Guinness pies and just give up & make my steak & ale pie recipe I found online. Anyway, the wait-staff was lovely and efficient and I had a nice evening. I've also determined that when my friend Dave comes down, I MUST take him here & camp out for the night.

The other main reason I went was for the scotch tasting. They have an extensive list and a special pairing on Thursdays.
And this is how it went:

Starter: 16 yr old non-chill filtered pairing of Glenlivet & Longmorn - I wish they had been paired with the regular equivalent... it's hard to tell the difference between regular & non-chill filtered otherwise.
Inchmurrin - was OK, not my favorite, but drinkable
Caol Ila 12 yr. - tasted more like a campfire than Laphroaig, and had no other body to redeem itself with
Glenrothes Special - by far, one of the nicest of the night.. full bodied, yet sweet almost to the point of being like a sherry - it paired up extremely well with the Trifle that we had for dessert.

Experiment Update

2009-04-02T14:01:00.004-04:00

Day 1: started with 2 qt. tea, worked 6 hrs., finished off 1-1.5 qt.
Day 2: Started with 2 qt. tea, worked 9 hrs., the 2 qt. was GONE by 11:30 am.
Day 3: started with a little under 2 qt. tea (spillage on way to work), regulated better, worked 8.5 hr. ended with 1/2 qt. left
Day 4: fell off bandwagon due to lack of sleep and went straight for soda. Started with 1.75 qt. tea, at 2:05 PM, I have 1.75 qt. minus 1 mug left.

The adding in veggies thing has definitely worked. Apparently my body loves veggies and hates everything else I put in it. Today I weighed in at 134.5.... the first time under 135. I'll see if i can hold under 135 for a week and if so, PB shake for me!!!! Yahoo! Today I made sure to get green beans with my bison cheeseburger and tonight will be nothing but meat & carbs (i.e. steak pie & scotch, and more scotch). But back to "being good" tomorrow! They had better serve the steak pie with Peas. Every steak pie we got in Scotland came with a side of peas (granted, that was the worst steak pie we had)...

Who knew?

2009-03-31T10:39:00.004-04:00

I guess I'm in style, according to this... 17 Ways to Style Your Hair (or something like that).

Who knew? I do this almost every other day because it is super fast & easy. I agree with them that it's good to use bobby pins because they break your hair less, but I do NOT agree that it needs to be done on Day-old dirty hair. I always do it when my hair is wet. And actually, if you have any sort of natural wave to begin with, you can usually work a nice wave into the sections that you're putting up before you pin them... just gently push the wet hair back toward the roots and see where the waves form. Leave them there and arrange the hair in a pin behind that. Maybe spray with a little bit of hairspray if you want the wave to stay super defined & you're done. You may notice, if you increase the pics, that I wave it on one side and not the other. That's because one half of my head doesn't do it. I'm a minimalist and don't force my hair to do anything it doesn't want to most of the time.

Experiment on self #221

2009-03-30T09:14:00.003-04:00

In great quantities, over long periods of time, soda is bad for you. Who knows what the artificial stuff in Diet soda will do really? You know that. I know that. The fact still remains that I am addicted to soda. At work, I drink for one of these reasons: A) I'm thirsty, B) I need caffeine, C) I want something flavored in my mouth, D) because I suck on any consumable liquid put in front of me. With the exception of maybe, MAYBE reason B, There is no reason why I need to drink soda specifically. So why do I? Because I'm lazy and forgetful. Some days I just don't feel like walking down the hall, cleaning and filling my teapot and waiting for the water to boil (lazy). On days that I DO go get water & put it on to boil, I start doing work while it boils and realize 2 hours later that I've never made my tea. I turn the hot-pot back on and then promptly forget about it again, ad nauseum... Really, it's much quicker and yeilds more predictable results if I go pop money in the vending machine and grab a diet Coke. Finally I've hit a breaking point and realized that I MUST stop because the amount of soda I'm consuming disgusts me and the waste from all those bottles disgusts me and the waste of money that is my habit is disgusting.

I've come up witha solution and I will be seeing if I can stick to it.... A big vat o' iced tea. This satisfies both my need to drink and ease on environmental and financial impact while appeasing my lazy, forgetful self. I went out and bought a Thermos Pump Carafe in a 2 qt. size. and made 3 qt of iced tea in my tea maker last night. This morning, pour tea in carafe & off to work with me. I have my stainless steeel travel mug and plan to refil it all day. I dunno if 2 qt. will last all day, but we'll see. If this works, and I strongly suspect that it will once I make it a routine, please don't harass me about bringing my tea with me when I come to visit on long road trips.... It's really hard to find good unsweetened bottled tea in gas stations and 7-11s.

In other health and experiment related news...
I'm always impressed at how well minor home surgery seems to work. I took a spill in a parking lot over a week ago (literally tripped over my own feet, quite embarassing) and scraped up my hand. I must not have cleaned it & dressed it well enough the first time around because after 5 days it was still hurting, a bit red, and raised in one spot. Seemed like beginning infection to me.... So I reopenned it, applied alcohol, HO, and more antibiotic cream and it cleared up by the next day and was completely fine in another 2. Love it when that works.

Also, allergy season is starting up full swing again and I am once again going to try to subject myself to as much fresh air as possible to acclimate to the allergens. Yay! So far, so good.

Lastly, after realizing that I was no longer on a "plateau" for weight loss, but rather the La Brea Tar Pit (yeah, that's me...), I started looking at what I was eating and I've once again dropped all green vegetables, if not all vegetables period, out of my diet. AGAIN. So I've been trying to get 2-3 servings of veggies in per day again. I think it's helping already and that's only been 4 days ago. Wheee.... veggies are so critical.

Birthday Suit... uh, I mean dress....

2009-03-25T10:31:00.002-04:00

P3250099
Originally uploaded by binkle52

Yup, well, it's a tradition started by my mum when I was little. She made me Birthday dresses as a kid. I think, maybe, it stemmed from the idea of Easter dresses since my birthday is generally close to Easter... eventhough we don't really celebrate Easter... hmmm... Well anyway, at some point I got "too old" for birthday dresses. Then, Freshman year in college, I found an awesome dress in the local vintage store... $22 - way too rich for a college student... so I bought myself a birthday present. : ) That restarted the tradition. I still have that dress. It was a stretchy Hawaiian number from the 600s so it stuck with me through all my weight shifts. I think the Elastic is FINALLY starting to go though, so I'll probably have to get around to replacing that. Anyway, so I stick with the idea of the birthday dress. Here's this year's birthday dress. Yay! This is, however, regardless of the fact that it's 40 degrees out. not cute dress weather at all. Oh well!

Do Neutral Colors have to be "Neutral" to be Neutral?

2009-03-20T09:18:00.004-04:00

Neutral colors... you think tan, creme, brown, navy, black, and maybe white depending on how it's used. Supposedly these colors can go with anything. I don't like them. Black is good for shoes, clothes and dresses and that's about it. I do not like my coats to be black or any other "accessory" that is typically mass marketed in black. For the past couple of years I've had an awesome purse that was an olive faux-suede, well structured thing with a copper buckle. The olive color went with EVERYTHING. It is awesome; however, I've had that thing for close to 5 years and I'm not sure how much more life it has left. You see, I'm a practical purse person... I don't like to switch it out. I want it to look clean, be small and functional to fit my essentials in a well-organized manner. (The "small" is a must because I am a packer and can get an amazing amount of stuff into ANY given space and the more space = the more stuff, and quite frankly, I value a healthy back.) I want it to look neat and not like something a middle-aged business woman would carry (i.e. not shiny black or brown). It must be easy to get into so I can access my money quickly and not make everybody in line wait as I fiddle with my purse. It must close well to be relatively Klutz-proof, because I am one. Most importantly, it must go with everything I own so I don't have to change it out. Actually, I did see these awesome bags one time... Miche Bags. They'd be a great solution for me, but don't fit my final must: it MUST be cheap. I destroy things. The likelihood of me accidentally destroying something (re: Klutz discussion) is directly proportional to how expensive it is. Given my needs, I've been in hall trying to find a purse this season. Almost everything is big, looks like a bag and has no structure, is made out of that obnoxious "designer initial" fabric, looks like a middle-aged business woman purse, or is too expensive. Finally, in a fit of desperation, I found one that was small, had at least 3 pockets to appease my organizational sense, and closed reasonably well, although it is still bag-like. I will deal. Here it is, my new baby:

So now the question must be asked - can I make Lime green be a neutral? I have been pondering it and I think I can do it. It doesn't make any sense. It'll be an accent piece when I wear black, true, and maybe with white too, but i don't frequently wear white. But for most other things... I wear a goodly amount of green, but not shades that will clash. It'll go with browns, oranges, purples, blues, yellows... I think it'll work. Just don't expect to see my running around in matching pumps. It seems there is only a certain type of woman who can pull off lime-green pumps (hint: not me - I also don't feel like I can pull off those gigantic bead necklaces either).

Wish me luck! : )

What must people think of me?

2009-03-19T16:02:00.003-04:00

OK... I just realized that I can't figure out how two parts of my personality coexist... I don't know if I should bother thinking about this, but here's what I was pondering:

Part A: I'm paranoid about what people think of me.
Part B: I could care less what people think of me.

Huh?

Examples of part A: I constantly think other co-workers must think I have IBS because I literally RUN to the bathroom every time I have to go. I constantly worry that if we're out at dinner with a group, if I get up to go to the bathroom at the end of the meal, I'm concerned that people will think I'm Bulimic (especially since I've lost so much weight this past year).

Regarding part B, even though I have concerns as demonstrated by the examples of A, I don't let it stop me from running to the bathroom, or going after a meal out. Also, I don't seem to care what anyone else thinks of me in general. I do what I like regardless of whether it's "normal." I wear costumes to work, I run randomly (through shopping plazas, through the halls at work, etc), I put my hair in pigtails even though I'm nearly 30, and have no qualms to rocking out to Bubble-gum J-Pop at odd times.

I don't know how to reconcile the two.

Ah, and the running through the halls at work set me to thinking that school is what was probably responsible for me not running at all until recently. You are told so often when you are little, especially at school, not to run. "Don't run in the Halls!!" etc. Daggnabbit. We'd all be in better shape if they'd stop yelling at us not to run. Thoughts....

wondering...

2009-03-18T22:19:00.003-04:00

well, after working a long day today, I went out for a run. I'm running out of time (pun not intended) as I've mentioned before, so at this point, I've thrown the Couch to 5K out the window... My last run was 20 mins straight through, ended up being 2.12 miles and I felt OK at the end, so I decided to go for 25 mins this time and see how far I ended up going. I essentially ended up hating my life for the last 10 mins because my stomach was upset that I had consumed an energy bar 30 mins prior and I felt like I was really slowing up for the last 7 mins or so, but all in all I made it 2.6 miles in 25 mins and that works out somehow to 9.5 min per mile, so I guess I'm still doing OK.

Also, I thought I'd see what my resting heart rate is just cause... I can't find out from those stupid blood pressure machines because I have an irrational fear that they're going to go haywire, never deflate and chop my arm off, so my heart is always racing. So just sitting here, the resting heart rate is 48 bpm... I think that rates as "healthy", but I suspect that it just means my heart is as lazy as the rest of me.

Also fate dictated that I would stop working tonight after the internet glitched 3 times and then I couldn't get my login to register any more. Guess that means I should go to bed! :) G'night all.

screwwed, yet still going...

2009-03-16T20:38:00.003-04:00

so, I am facing impossible odds towards finishing, with decent "marks," the quarter at work... so I'll be working mostly every waking moment. I'm taking a break tonight, tomorrow night (St. Paddy's) & wed (climbing, yay!)... and will go to a party Sat night. Otherwise, I will be working. Working, working, working, working, working....

Well anyway, as part of the working push, I stayed up until 1:30 AM last night & ended up getting 4 hours of sleep. My big problem is that I haven't really done well with the whole training thing and the Cherry Blossom 5K is on April 5... that's 3 weeks away. EEK! So I figured I could give running a try today. Due to lack of sleep, I was highly skeptical that this would even work since my scheduled run was 20 mins straight through (first time I've done this since September). Doom! The first half-mile I was pacing at 8 mins/mile. Then for the second half-mile, I developed a stitch in my side I started pacing out to average 9:30 mins/mile. Things were not looking good. Traditionally I have mental issues at this point... I don't wanna do it, I'm not gonna make it, I won't be able to keep it up.... etc, etc. But I had set myself to go as far as the mile point, turn around, and then see how far past the start I could go in 20 mins. As it turned out, my normal breaking point never came. I just kept plodding along. After a while I felt like I was plodding, but in the 20 mins, I went 2.129 Miles and it averages out to about 9:30 min/mile. This is pretty darn good in my book - especially since last year I paced out at 11:44. That's marked improvement and it feels good. Guess I won't be running an 8 min mile for the race! : ) If I do the same as last year and pace out a little faster than my normal (i.e. faster than 9:30), I might have a hope of being in the top 100 of women. That would be cool. The absolute best part was that eventhough, by all intents and purposes, I should have been grumping at myself by the end... I wasn't. I was a little slower, but I was warmed up and the stitch had gone away and I really stopped because my watch said to. I felt like I could have kept going. I'm sure that if I had to run it today, I could complete the 5K with no worries. This makes me happy. I did learn one lesson though... I can't spend the day drinking tea & soda before I run. Most of the last mile I spent with my fingers crossed that I wouldn't wet my pants... If I need caffeine for race day, I might look into a pair of Depends. Also, I need to stop losing my form (i.e. losing my concentration) in the middle, otherwise I'll crap my knee out.

Prepares to be stoned... (with rocks, not that other type)

2009-03-06T07:52:00.003-05:00

So recently there have been a number of things flying around, like Holder calling us a "nation of cowards", etc, etc... which were well summed up in this article by Jeff Adair. After several weeks of pondering and secretly thinking, "gee, they're right, and I've thought that all along," I feel that we currently live in a nation of people afraid to speak what they truly feel... perhaps for fear of "offending someone else." Should we blame the Political correctness movement of the 90s? Dunno. All I know is that I had thoughts this morning, thoughts that I will share in just a moment, and feared that if I voiced them I would be either flamed online or publicly stoned... Am I really scared of what others think of me? No - if you know me well, you know I have very little regard for that. There's still something about the atmosphere of our country that makes me feel like I shouldn't say certain things. So here're my thoughts of this morning...

Last night I was talking to my mother in law about how parents don't give kids much outside time anymore (she was suggesting creating a fenced "secure" area that was just purely nature with a place off away where parents could sit & still watch, but childrens could run free without fear - kinda reminds me of a dogpark) and this led to a discussion about whether kids are really less safe today than when I was growing up in the early 80s, or is it all a reaction due to media fear-mongering that if you let your kid out of your sight for 1 second they will be scooped up & stolen and or you'll get the rotten-parent of the year award. This got me to thinking... Maybe kids are somewhat less safe these days if left to their own devices to play in neighborhoods because not many people are home anymore. It seems like a double-income household is more the norm these days, and so not many people are ever home. If fewer people are home, there are fewer eyes in any given neighborhood to watch out & make sure everything is ok. I've felt for a while that double income families are what have led to the decline of a "neighborhood" as it was stereotypically defined in the 20th century.

This led me to think this morning that maybe, inadvertently (and this is the part that will get me stoned), part of this economic meltdown can be linked to and blamed on the feminist movement. Don't get me wrong.... I am glad that I can drive a car & not be arrested, unlike in Saudi Arabia.... but ok, so women used to predominantly stay home, take care of the house, raise the kids. I've spent some time staying home between jobs. It sucks. You know why it sucks? Nobody else is home. None of my friends or neighbors are around during the day & I feel isolated. I can easily imagine that if one person of every household was home during the day, we'd all go stir crazy, talk to neighbors, go over to "borrow a cup of sugar" and end up staying for an hour chatting over a cup of coffee or keeping each other company while doing the laundry. I know that not everyone in a neighborhood would get along or be friends, but there might be more cohesion and more of a community interest in knowing what's going on outside your four walls. OK, so feminist movement gets into full swing... big push for women in the workplace. The push gets so big that eventually, socially, you feel like you're a martyr if you're female & don't have a job. So it starts slowly, double income families start popping up more and more. Double income means more money free to spend. More money leads to some people upgrading the American dream from a house & a car to a nice house and an expensive car. Americans have been ill-disposed to the "keeping up with the Jones'" demon, I think since this country began... so now more normal people have more stuff, and more normal people feel like they need more stuff because other people have that other stuff. So we turn into a consumer economy. Then, it's not enough to have a job as a woman, but now the new status thing is the power-jobs in the 80s & 90s. MORE MONEY! But since we make more money, we need to look like we have more money to impress other people or because at this point we feel like we're entitled to it. So then people start pushing to get more stuff or bigger stuff or better stuff and the credit companies feel like it's not risky anymore, credit cards begin getting more prevalent and we're now able to EASILY buy stuff we can't afford. YippEE!!!! MORE stuff! And then we're not happy with the nice simple house when we can buy a big mansion-looking thing, that has dropped into our price range because builders figured out where they could cheap out on materials. And so it got to be a thing for normal middle-class people to go in for the faux luxury stuff that's out of their price range because we got too far away from the reality of hardship and too used to the money of double income, so people were more willing to stretch to get that better thing and more companies were willing to stretch and extend risky credit because they're also too used to the money.... Then Boom. So I'd really like to see a socio-economic study done to see how much, if at all, any of this really stemmed from the feminist movement and the huge push for women in the workplace. OK, begin the rock throwing now.

In other news, I strongly believes that Teavana's tea called Matevana, should be renamed to Crack-vana.

Peace out. If you don't hear from me again, you'll know the raging feminist mobs have gotten to me. It's not that I don't like being able to work or think that women should stay home.... but if one person from every household worked and the other would stay home, then it would be interesting to see how much companies might scream that "there aren't enough workers available".... hmmm...

Culinary Crepe-riffic Masterpiece

2009-03-02T20:31:00.005-05:00

So tonight I decided I wanted to cook since we'd both be home and I hadn't thought about it enough to get something ready in the slow-cooker. So I thought about it and got inspired on my way to the grocery. IF I could find pre-cooked shredded chicken or something of the sort, I'd try concocting crepes. I didn't find shredded chicken, but I found Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Cuts (perhaps the longest product name known to man...). Game on. I collected the ingredients listed below (those not already in my kitchen - aka anything perishable), and set to work mincing to my little heart's content using my electric mini chopper (LOVE IT!). All in all, it didn't take too long since the chicken was already cooked and etc. Let me say "yum". Also surprisingly moist enough that it didn't need a sauce or gravy over top. Just a little sweet and then rich with the brie & herbs and garlic & spinach & chicken. If you try it, let me know what you think. (note: normally I make 5 lbs of pulled chicken & stockpile it, but I haven't done that in a while).

Light Savory Crepes #123

* Binkle's Crepe Recipe

*6.5 oz. Brie
*1.5 C sliced mushrooms (minced)
*3 cloves worth of minced garlic
*2 cups baby spinach
*1 package (6 oz.) Oscar Meyer Deli-Fresh Chicken Breast Cuts (or 6 oz. of precooked chicken) [also minced]
*2 Tbsp Herb de Province
*1-2 Tbsp olive oil
*2+ Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
*1 C red grapes quartered

Mince Mushrooms and Cooked Chicken. In large skillet, saute garlic and spinach and Herb de Province in olive oil until spinach is 2/3 way cooked. Add minced mushrooms, chicken, and red wine vinegar & continue to cook ~5 mins. Add grape quarters. Warm through. If you only have one skillet, transfer mixture to another pan to keep warm on low heat. In large skillet, make a crepe covering the bottom of the pan (should get 4-5 crepes out of Binkle's Crepe recipe). Cut up brie into small bits. Once crepe is ready, place a quarter of the brie on the crepe while still in pan to partially melt. Add crepe filling into center of crepe over top of brie. Roll up, serve, and prepare second crepe in same manner.

This should serve 4 to 5 people. If serving 4 and get 5 crepes, then divide 5th crepe into 4 pieces, and roll with filling of fruit preserves for after dinner munchie.

If you want nutritional info for the filling, click here.

Running Update

2009-02-25T15:14:00.003-05:00

It'll be interesting to see how this idea of "using the Couch to 5K interval training to increase my speed" works out.... Currently I'm training on week 5... Brisk 5 min. walk, 3 min. run, 90 sec walk, 5 min run, 2.5 min walk, 3 min run, 90 sec walk, 5 min run.... Saturday's run was a tad bit disappointing, I wasn't feeling 100%, I didn't want to get my butt in gear and I kept choking on my own spittle (iiieeeeewwwww....). Saturday I was slow. This was irritating since I'd been doing short runs at 7-8 min mile paces.... Today was much better and I was able to clock myself better. It went as follows:

3 Minute: clocked at a 7 min. mile or 8.44 mph
5 Minute: clocked at a 9 min mile or 6.5 mph
3 Minute: clocked at 8.25 min mile or 7.25 mph
5 Minute: clocked at 10 min mile or 6 mph

Granted, it is not horribly surprising that I can maintain a faster pace over a shorter distance and that my pace will slow as I get tired. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next month or so. It seems like I almost get more tired when I take the walking breaks, though I have to admit that I'm doing a quick, speed-walking, shuffle thing in between each. I wonder what would happen with the speed overtime if I just kept oging to the whole 16 minutes.... I am hoping that I can average less that 10 min per mile for the duration come race time. That would be cool. I doubt It'll be like the dream I had last night where I completed a 5K in 20:34.... that's a little less than 7 minutes per mile. While that would be AWESOME, it would also be highly unlikely. I'm hoping I didn't kick J in my sleep because I had a sore part in my thigh this morning that's normally sore from running. : )

Basically, here's my theory... I like running, but I have a short attention span. So I'm thinking that i'll be able to do longer races if I get faster because I can go farther in the same amount of time.

* crosses fingers *

The New Experiment....

2009-02-24T16:15:00.002-05:00

So after seeing what I have deemed to be proven results by improving my diet and increasing my vitamin and vegetable intake (well, duh...), I am now on a kind of naturally improving my well-being kick and have run across this article about Omega-3 Fatty Acids. And once again "well, duh..." I mean, people have talked about Omega-3s for quite a while and I had noticed, but it seemed like such a side note... and honestly, I wasn't sure it was anything more than another hype thing. I'm still not sure it's anything other than hype. It does seem like a giant ad for that one company, but there are also a lot of facts and scenarios presented that have made sense to me. I'm thinking it's worth a try. J has been saying he wants to eat more fish. So we'll try to work more fish in per week and I'll see about finding fish oil supplements (know I have some cod liver oil up in the closet somewhere...). The plan is to try this for a couple of months and see if I notice any difference in how I feel, in the Fuzzy-head syndrome I've been experiencing of late, and in my overall anxiety and mood swing levels. Eeeeee!!! *claps and dances * It's always fun to have a new experiment to try on myself.

Shhhh... Don't tell....

2009-02-24T10:28:00.003-05:00

Funny story: As you may or may not know by now, I'm a bit paranoid that people will think I'm up to something. Dunno why. I get freaked out if a cop car passes me going the other way with lights flashing because OBVIOUSLY he is going to make a U-turn and come after me even if I'm driving like a granny.

So today I brought in a Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffee-Mate and some Bigelow White Chocolate Kisses Tea. The coffee mate actually makes the tea taste respectable & pleasant. I realized that I had nothing for portion control - no measuring spoon. So I figured an old Coca-Cola cap looks about 1/2 Tbsp.... I'll use that. So now I have a bottle cap that's crusted in fine white powder, a desk that's semi-covered in fine white powder (the stuff gets EVERYWHERE!!!) and it looks like I've been cutting a line at work. Great. : \

Thanks, Mom

2009-02-23T19:07:00.004-05:00

I'm becoming strongly convinced that my mum & dad raised me too well. At least, I figure most of my critical skills that I cherish have come from them. I think about myself a lot... I like to call it introspection. I figure out what's bothering me, why it's bothering me, where it comes from, and then figure out a way to either fix it or work around it. I've learned over the years that this is a skill that is not common. The other thing I've gotten from my upbringing (I presume) is, to borrow Obama's phrase "Yes I can!" This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's let me be able to do most anything that I set my mind to, because I don't really believe "I can't"... Any instance of "I can't" that crops up in my life, I recognize as "I don't want to take the steps necessary to do it". Right now I can't do the uneven parallel bars, but I have no doubt that if I worked on it, took classes, and trained, that I could. "I can't understand economics and finance" is really: "the stuff irritates me and I just don't want to bother with learning about it." Really, I can't honestly think of something that I believe I couldn't do (with the exception of that just stated - is that a paradox?). As such, since I believe everything I can do is a learned skill, I have two big issues: A) stupid people irritate me to no end and B) I lack empathy when people have certain shortcomings.
Regarding A), I'm not talking about stupid as in low IQ. People who aren't smart don't bother me at all. It's people who say "I can't...." and therefore remain stupid that irritate me. I ran into that a LOT when I was teaching and I still run into it when dealing with dancing. There's not a lot of "Learning" that can't be achieved by just working on it.
Regarding B), I have a hard time when people are consistently late or insensitive or always "having issues" or etc, because, at least to me, time management, dealing with other people, and coping skills are all LEARNED skills. I have a really hard time feeling for people in certain situations because they really do have the power to "fix" their situation and just choose not to because they say they "can't".

So, thanks Mom & Dad... I'm really glad that "I can"... I don't know how you got it into me, but I'm glad you did. Now I just have to figure out how "I can" have more empathy... or maybe I should just say "f- it" and let everyone else drown in their own "I can't"-ness. hmmm....

Another Beginning

2009-02-23T18:17:00.003-05:00

So I got back from New Years' with this grand scheme of blogging my little heart out and talking about all sorts of cool random stuff. as that continued to happen, the cool stuff kept piling up & then I'd put off writing until I could sit down and do that justice. That has not happened either and at this point it's time to just sit down, say "F- it!", sweep all that stuff under the carpet and pretend there isn't an unsightly lump in the middle. Let's try this again. Today's topic is "My favorite downfalls."

So here it is, in no particular order, My Favorite Downfalls:

Peanut butter - yes, this whole recall has been a nightmare from hell for me.
Cheese - I've been finding myself craving all sorts of cheese products, particularly cheese & tomato, aka ravioli, pasta dishes, pizza, etc...
Good bread (well, really, any bread) - it makes me fart & I should avoid it, but I just can't say no. The best: I had some 'Popovers' the other night (a-MAZ-ing... aka Yorkshire pudding)
Garlic - no description necessary
Pad Thai - the cheesy food that cheesy Americans always order at Thai places... It's my comfort food. What can I say?

More to come later, I'm sure. By my downfall of this exact moment would be Doritos.. classic, nacho cheese Doritos (classified as a cheese downfall). This being said, I've still been doing reasonably well... I'm waffling right around 135. Not steady enough to feel like I'm allowed to indulge in my PB Milkshake that I promised myself, but I'm almost there. I'm down from the line between a size 16/18 to teetering on the line of 6 to 4... This makes me happy. Please keep in mind that I'm not intending to brag. Peek into my brain: I mention this stuff because I can't comprehend it. I feel like I need to get some sort of grip on reality. I remember looking at size 6/4 jeans and thinking "what kind of stick insects can fit INTO those???" Then I'd pick up my pants and they'd look normal. Now I pick up my size 6 or 4 and they look the same size as the 16s that I used to have. I guess I don't quite look the same in the mirror, but I look the same as I THOUGHT I looked. Also, I sit down on the toilet and I SWEAR my thighs squish the same distance over the sides of the seat. I know there must be a difference, but I can't get it into my head and I'm honestly quite worried that if I don't keep trying to convince myself of what size I really am, I could maybe turn into one of those skinny girls who're always saying "I'm fat" and trying to do something unhealthy. I've also found that I'm very self-conscious about going to the bathroom right after dinner. I'm worried that people will think I'm bulimic. Really, all people should be worried about is that I'm psychotic and have a massive disconnect between my head and reality! : )

American Auto Industry v. American Porn

2009-01-08T17:55:00.002-05:00

This week the American Porn industry asked congress for a bailout. I'm just about fed up. I was against the bailout of the auto industry because it's their own fault that they designed cars that they THOUGHT americans wanted and didn't design cars that americans actually wanted. I feel the same way about the porn industry. Until they start producing stuff like this again, I will NOT support a bailout for them either. (Note: safe for all ages, one of my favorites, works well if you have ragtime playing in the background... ; ) )

My Teeth Will Be Happy.

2009-01-07T09:48:00.003-05:00

Woot! I just succeeded in signing up for a dental plan and it comes with a free vision thingie too. Goodie. I'll just wait until I get a dental card in the mail & then go about setting up appointments. It really is time.

Also, I gorged like nobody's business for about to weeks and held steady, weight wise. Yay. I'm back to being good though... does anyone know what those Indian Sweet Lentil Balls are called? Ah well.

So Inauguration is coming up and I feel a war brewing... I think Jonah really wants to go to an official Inaugural Ball type thing to be a part of history. I really just want to be at a real ball, so I'd prefer to go to the Glen Echo Inaugural Ball - it's only $20 and there'll actually be dancing. Here is a good example of why I don't want to go to one of the "real" balls. It's not just the article... I checked out most of the balls and there are almost no details, when there are details, it looks like for the $150 you spend to get in, you get 2 cocktail weenies and there is no mention whatsoever of any sort of dancing. Heck, they don't even tell you what kind of music will be played if any. Which really leads one to believe you stand around to see and be seen and probably get packed into the room like sardines. Ugh. Why? We shall see what happens.

Natural Wonders

2008-12-31T07:23:00.002-05:00

Christmas was good. Got a Wii from my amazing husband. Yay! More about that some other time.

I think it's a really good thing that I have an East-facing window at work. At least it's nice for that short time right before sunrise until right after. Then from just after until about 9:30 or 10, it's hellish since the sun is right in my eyes even though I've rigged up a visor-headphones system. I digress. I don't know if it's normal, or if it's just the way that I am, but no matter how down I'm feeling, it really helps to see the sunrise. It's peaceful, it's gorgeous, and it's astounding. It just makes me stop and reevaluate everything.... I mean, it makes me realize that there's a lot more to everything at minor people problems, like money, or bills, or time or have-tos or any of that shit. I really need nature, be it sunrises, or rocks & trees and streams to realize that I get way too caught up in the little stuff, the people stuff, the things we create to make ourselves miserable because it seems like we're not happy unless we're miserable if that makes any sense. I'm so glad that we live where we live now. Our old apartment was kinda scrubby-urbans sprawlish. You had to seriously go a ways to find much that was natuaral. Now we live in an area that's more suburban by just a little bit. Sure, we can't exactly walk to the metro anymore (actually, we can, but it would take 45 mins), but I can walk two streets behind me and get a heavily wooded glen to stare at. After a 5 minute drive, I can be lost in a marshy nature preserve (great for bird watching - and it's where I mainly go running). Another 15 minutes and I have a choice between a park trail with another marsh on the potomac and a lake with a nature trail. God, I love rocks, trees, & water... and wind.... I love to go out and let the wind buffet me on a day that's a reasonable temperature. Mmmmm....

Binkle's Patented Shopping Workout

2008-12-23T17:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, in a panic that I wouldn't get everything done before I leave tonight (not happening by the way - dang ice-storms-in-mountains, but now I just get to relax...), I took part of the afternoon and went shopping and ran errands. It seems normal and mundane, except that I literally ran errands. There were two or three different instances where I needed to hit 3 stores in a shopping center, so I parked in the middle of all three and then ran from my car to the first, ran back, ran to the second, ran back, ran to the third, ran back, etc.... They seemed like short little bits compared with what I normally run, but maybe I was running faster than normal? I don't know. All I know is that my legs and a$$ hurt today. Sore. Wow! Then to top off the workout, I found a case of duralogs, 6 pieces at 5 lbs each = 30 lbs. So I picked that up, carried it around with me and then carried it out to the car. Oh, and yeah, there was the large bottle of laundry detergent too. It was a good workout.

There are two things at play here:
1) I hate carts - I hate getting stuck behind them, I hate making people stuck behind me, I hate them - so for years I've made it a point to not buy anything that I can't carry (except rare occasions where it's unavoidable, i.e. bathtubs, couches, etc.). I use a hand basket if they are available, or I bring my own bag and hope the stores don't think I'm trying to steal stuff as I shove items into my bag, or I balance things precariously as I rush to the register.
2) I believe in "if you don't use it, you lose it." and have a theory that if I get used to a sedentary lifestyle without lifting, moving, bending, etc... then I will lose the ability to do those things. I don't want to be one of those people who can't get up off the floor. It may happen some day, but I'll try to prolong the inevitable. For a while I was seeing a chiropractor who specialized in Biomechanics and he said the muscles used for supporting the knee as it bends past a 90 degree angle and responsible for keeping it in line tend to be very weak in westerners because we don't do movements that require it very much. It was really very fascinating to learn about all the physics in musculature while talking with him. If I ever have a mid-life crisis, I'll probably go back to school for Biomechanics.

Random rant of the day: Frickin'! I've been waiting for about two weeks for my Donut Panic Woot shirt to arrive and the Fed Ex tracking estimated that it comes today. Goodie! Just in time for our trip! Well, no, I checked the tracking and it was delivered to the local post office today and will probably come in tomorrow's mail. Looks like I'll have to wait until next Monday for my precious shirt. Dagnabbit! My preeeccioooouuuusssss.... *hissing while stroking hands together*

Many Apologies & Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T08:43:00.002-05:00

I think it's safe to say that none of you are getting Christmas/Hanukkah/generic-holiday cards this year from us. New Years cards - maybe. Random, January Happy-the-holidays-are-over kind of cards? Most likely. : ) Yeah, we're running behind, but I think I got everything else done. Not much has been going on here except holiday prep-work. We did go and freeze our tuckases off for the lighting of the national Menorah on the Ellipse in from of the White House. That was fun. Got free Latkes, Sufganiyots (jelly donuts), and apple sauce though. Then we headed up to get bar-eats at the Old Ebbitt Grill. They have really good food and I was surprised that the prices were comparable to somewhere like a TGI Fridays or some such. My drink cost more than my sandwich and I'm not sure how I feel about that. At least I got to try a good Hot Toddy. Yum!

Here's some holiday cheer for you all... a Winter Wonderland courtesy of Cake Wrecks Blog, and some Latke art!!!

uh....

2008-12-17T21:22:00.002-05:00

So I just found out that my happy little morning clerk at the 7-11 also works the registers at Target in the afternoons or evenings. I find this out as I'm in the check-out line... HIS check-out line... with two new packs of underwear. Not only does the man have my morning drink-habits memorized, but now he also has an intimate knowledge of my underwear. Hmmm....

Help, HELP! I'm trapped!

2008-12-15T08:54:00.004-05:00

So it was an eventful weekend. I still have not started holiday cards, so don't get worried. They will most likely end up being New Years cards. I also have not started wrapping (which will consist of throwing things in gift bags or boxes to minimize paper waste) or the making of Rum Balls (consequently they will be strong again this year).

We did start the weekend off with a viewing of Washington Revels, which does a Holiday show every year that follows a different holiday tradition of a particular location and time period. This year's show was based in a 19th century French Canadian frontier town. It was nice and reminded me of Dave & my trip to Canada when they mentioned Poutine! : )

Saturday my friend, Adi, took us trap shootingat Bull Run Regional Park. We took the 40 minute gun safety class which turned out to be a two hour class. Then we signed up for some of the Wobble Trap games. That part was fun. I'll have to go back when it's warm out. The only thing that wasn't fun was waiting the hour for the games and taking the 2 hour class because it was quite cold out. Ah well. I found it something more than mildly amusing, but then again I feel the same way about shooting galleries (the ones with the bar scene and targets that make things happen like the piano player plays or the vulture ruffles its feathers) in amusement parks. I'd do it again for a hoot. I definitely have to beat down my recurring thoughts of "there are a million and one different ways this gun can kill me", but eh...

Saturday night was our Vintage formal dance for which I got to wear my slinky black dress... I still hold that the dress was only labelled four, but I don't care.

It was a good time with fantastic people as always. I was sad to find out that my favorite old guy, Roger, is planning to move away to Cincinnati within 6 months... Boo! I also must admit that there was more food than you could shake a stick at & I nibbled so much that I nearly got sick during a Waltz. I think that's the sign of a good party!

AH-Ha~! Hahahahahahaha.... I just now, while writing, uncovered the solution to a mystery that has been plaguing me for weeks now.... I feel quite a bit like Nancy Drew (or I feel quite dumb, I'm not sure which). So my iPod has been randomly turning on before I touch it for the morning and it keeps going to a particular playlist (Calm International). My purely scientific brain (that has a degree in Physics), had one of two thoughts.... something in my purse is hitting the "ON" button or it's haunted. Most likely option is "it's haunted" - obviously by some benign spirit since it keeps choosing the Calm International playlist. Just now I put together the fact that I keep finding it on in the mornings and that it's ALWAYS the same playlist - I decided to check the alarm settings. Yes, indeedy, the alarm clock feature is still turned on and set to go off at 8AM on that playlist. I am brilliant. It must have been doing this since Thanksgiving. *grumble* : )

Sunday night ended the weekend with joining my sister & her family for the walk-through light show at Brookside Gardens. It was fantastic to drive into the site and listen to my little nephew pipe up "lights!" He doesn't have many words, but that was loud and clear! I love the holiday season, I love lights. I always have. I'd wear lights if I could. Actually, I have worn lights, now that I think about it...

Oh well anyway, it's been so unbelievably and uncharacteristically dreary here this year that I really, REALLY need the lights this year. I went out & bought 400 more lights to put on out back deck (400 lights do not go as far as you'd think). Darn! The rain's back. I'm going to bed & pretend like I don't see it. : ) For the record, I'm going to try to cook my meatloaf in a crockpot tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Sizable Update (or update concerning size)

2008-12-12T09:33:00.004-05:00

Three nights ago I was cleaning and pulled a few pieces out of my "skinny clothes from freshman year swing dancing" box... The two ultimate skinny dresses that I had both fit! Yahoo! So I pulled those out of the box to put in my closet. Yesterday I tried on my senior prom dress. THAT FITS TOO! Here's a pic of my senior Prom:

I will probably end up seeing if I can wear it to the annual Strauss Ball at Glen Echo this Spring. I am right on the border of a 6 and 8 in pants, depending on the brand and cut.... I just went and bought myself a size 4 dress for the formal on Saturday. That makes me happy. I don't think I've ever owned anything that's a size 4.... Also, I really wanted to lose the extra 7 lbs until my goal weight (135), but I'm really not sure I should. I'm looking good and feeling good and I'm the same size I was 10 years ago when I was 127 - meaning more muscle. It really confirms to me though, that I can probably never go by conventional weight charts and BMI indexes and such. I'm not quite in the "normal" weight range for my weight, or maybe I'm just on the line... it seems to depend on which chart you look at, but I'm right at the line between normal and overweight... and I'm a size 6-ish? Doesn't make sense. All I know is that major support bras are fast becoming my best friend since I've lost a lot of mass in that area and now, wellllll.... let's not go there. Age + weight loss and you can do the math. : )

Oh, and FYI.... I'm having to get rid of almost everything in my closet, so if you're ~ size 12, let me know. I can probably pass along some good stuff!

Can I get a USB port installed in my head?

2008-12-11T08:34:00.003-05:00

Right, so i just had a totally random day full of those moments when you just WISH you had a little spycam attached to your glasses so that you could take a split second photo of that thing you're seeing that will be gone before you can blink.... This is the reason that I carry my point & shoot camera with me at ALL times... so I can whip it out and take pictures of those totally random or fascinating or "you wouldn't believe me if I told" you moments... Like this picture.... it was taken on the Washington Beltway.... yes, that's right, I-495.

or this one of my window buddy the other day:

Yesterday was full of those. Unfortunately, the instances yesterday were so fleeting that it was impossible to get a picture even if I whipped the camera out because they were already gone. I generally have a photographic memory and wish there were some way to download all the little snippits of images in my head. So I was walking past a Starbucks and this man and woman were seated at a table in the front window. They were having an animated conversation and the woman just makes this face (the type of face that would be a good black mail photo), gesticulates wildly and laughs. A) can't whip a camera out because the people would freak out B) can't whip a camera out because it's already passed. Later, I was driving home and a burgundy 1960s VW Beetle is driving behind me. I'm enjoying watching it in my rear view mirror. It makes the same few turns that I do. I come to a relatively isolated intersection that has little traffic and there's a white 1960s VW beetle sitting at the stop sign. I don't have a stop, turn the corner and watch in my rear view as the Burgundy Beetle turns past the White Beetle and form a perfect picture. Too dangerous to whip my camera out. I find myself wondering if they smiled and waved at each other in camaraderie as they passed.

T-giving in 2 sentences and Skinny Pants hell

2008-12-05T19:12:00.003-05:00

It was nice to go home over Thanksgiving and see family and I got some excellent thrift-storage in which resulted in two vintage winter coats for a grand total of $16. It was also very stressful due to various family situations on both sides and ridiculously irritating driving conditions on both the way up and the trip back. (I lied... 3 sentences)

So yesterday was a weird day... Don't know how well anyone reading this knows me (some very well, I'm sure), but I'm occasionally prone to psychotic irrational anxiety attacks - my brain turns into my enemy and I can't shake a thought or a feeling even if I know logically it doesn't make sense. Grrr... hate those... and yesterday was one of those days. Since we got back from T-giving, J has been a goodly bit down because he was stressed about the past week and family matters and stressed because he doesn't know the outcomes AND stuff was going down at work because it's just one of those times. So he was unseasonably quiet & "down" for a couple of days. Randomly, because I'm brilliant like that, I get this idea in my head yesterday morning that he's been quiet & withdrawn because he's mad at me. This pops into my head at, like, 7:30 AM... then it grows and persists and grows and persists and spirals out of control into a panic. (I'm suspecting that these happen when I'm under other stress and just can't get a productive outlet...) Perfectly timed, J was working his A$$ off yesterday in a different lab where he has no contact with the outside world and took no breaks until about 5:30 PM.... so of course I took the lack of communication as evidence that he was mad at me. The whole while I KNOW that it's not the case. I know it and I can't convince myself out of those attacks. Grrrr.... hate my brain. Fortunately, when I did get to talk to him last night, I was confirmed that he was not mad at me and all was well.

On a happier note, I am currently in skinny pants hell. The pants that I bought about 2-3 months ago are getting embarrassingly big on me again (grrr...), so I'm in the market for new pants. The easiest solution (accomplished tonight) was to go to Kohl's and get smaller sizes of the ones that I got before (they were on sale!). While there, I figured I'd try to find some others since two pair is just not quite enough diversity - and then I decided I hate pants. See, here's the problem: almost anything designed for people my age is very plain and stuffy and BORING; anything not boring is usually to be found in the Juniors dept; Once you find not-boring, you need to weed out the stuff that looks like something a 12 year old should wear (pink sequined butterfly applique) from stuff that's acceptable for a nearly-30 (maybe braided leather accents on the butt-pockets); then you try the pants on and it's probably cut so low that your goods will hang out or pop out if you attempt to move; next if all goes well and the pants fit, then the pocket placement is probably half-way down the thigh (pockets should be placed on the butt to accentuate, otherwise you look deformed); lastly, once the pants fit and pocket placement is right, you've probably stumbled across a pair of pants that are "skinny" aka designed for people with toothpicks for calves or peg-legs. No normal human should wear "skinny" pants, especially not men. That's my rant for the day. : )

Thoughts for the Ether...

Green Eggs & No Ham

Faux Beef Burgundy

Musings on Style

Food for thought

The spectre in the corner...

Two-week update: 2011 PBC

Day 3: 30 Day PBC

Day 2: 30 Day PBC

30 Day Primal Blueprint Challenge

Ice Cream Escapades

Friday Article Wrap-Up

Everything's Perfect, All the Time... (Not)

Pondering Movement

Graceful like a Rhinoceros

Why I'm not really eating grains anymore, sorry for the inconvenience

Evidence of why restaurants should label their calorie contents...

*sings*: These are a few of my favor-rite things!

We need a better look at Autism

Friday Article Wrap-Up

Friday Article Wrap-up

Friday Article Wrap-up

Will I?

Friday Article Wrap-up

Mindfulness

Friday Article Wrap-up

Dietary Observations

Oops and thoughts about the future...

Friday Article Wrap-up & Teaching Commentary

Friday Article Wrap-up

New Swamp-Water Smoothie

Mango Chicken

Friday article Wrap-up

Project Reminder

Copyright updates...

Just a Thought....

More failure. Mood deteriorating.

The fallacy of "big is beautiful"

Eczema Experiment

Pittsburgh Steak Salad

Going Gaga

Lemons = Lemonade

This sums some of it up well...

Well, that might have gone OKish...

Wish I had that problem. : )

Random Thoughts

Fruit of the week

Friday Article Wrap-up

Run Like Hell & Samhain Resolutions

Repercussions beyond me or you....

Beets Can't Be Beat!

Friday Article Wrap-up

Random Pet-Peeve

Unexpected (or rather, un-thought-about) effects of going Pseudo-Paleo/Primal

Nature Girl and 2009 Recap

"damn having a scientific mind & a compulsion to experiment on myself!"

Cat-a-tonic

Barefoot & hopeless... let's go back to the drawing board.

Trails, Trials and a new Recipe

Causal Fridays and Barefoot v. Minimal Shoes

MovNat Seminar Recap

Amazing Pizza

Another Diet Shift

Public Service Announcement

Roadkill I am not! (at least for now...)

Step 1 in Quest to Become a Real Pirate

I don't think it's enough

Forming a new religion around the internet...

Better Health Through Better Eating?

Going Green?

Barefooting

Figuring Stuff Out

What now?

Cherry Blossom 5K

Are we married?

Pretending like I'm going to Scotland.

Experiment Update

Who knew?

Experiment on self #221

Birthday Suit... uh, I mean dress....

sings: These are a few of my favor-rite things!

Shhhh... Don't tell....