Last Hurrah

In a couple of ways this weekend is my last hurrah. I have been really bad about my eating habits this month. I have, I think, gained weight. I have been consuming salt in large amounts. Of course not just spoonfuls of salt--oh no--salt on lots of chips, nuts, in cheese, and other foods. I decided this is the end of the line. On Monday I am starting the no C diet.

We are visiting the fam this weekend. I'm not sure when we will be able to do that again. Not Thanksgiving. I already made an agreement with my parents that Thanksgiving is at my place this year. So maybe Christmas time or next year. Our nieces have grown so much since Thanksgiving, and I can't imagine not seeing them for almost a whole year!

Also, when we get back we have so many things to do and so many things to plan. This weekend is my last hurrah. No worries. No plans, no diet, no work outs, no packing (oops, I am going to have to do some packing), no phone calls, no work. I have a couple of days off. Hurrah.

Texas Weather

January in Texas means ice.  Not snow, ice.  Our yearly ice storm hit yesterday.  It was an adventure driving to work last night.  Texans have no clue how to drive in inclement weather.  People were doing 10 miles per hour on the freeway, or even worse--completely stopped in the left hand lane!  It was a funny thing to watch the news this am.  They were showing the mix master in Fort Worth, with the cars completely stopped on the ramp.  It was really funny (the newscasters were giving a play by play).  Some people got impatient and went around the stopped cars.  It was a real hoot.  My class was cancelled this am, so I'm going to stay home and try to be productive.  I took some photos this am.  I like the ice between the rocks, and my favorite is the frozen dandelion puff.

Not So Good

I have been a mess lately. When I feel stress I do three things: ignore it, sleep, and eat. I have been working out a few days a week, but when it comes to my diet, well, it has been atrocious. I eat constantly, and I'm not stuffing my face with fruits or veggies. I need to get back on track.

I have also been slacking on other things. My to do list is very long. That is nothing new, but now I feel a deadline, so I'm feeling the pressure. Hence, I'm trying to ignore it, sleeping at least 12 hours a night, and eating everything in sight. I am trying to be organized about my to do list. I've made lots of to do lists, with different deadlines, and then I am breaking those down even further. Today I managed to do everything on my to do list--except exercise.

I haven't been soaking my piercing. I haven't been wearing my retainer. I haven't been putting things away. I haven't been losing weight (duh, see first paragraph). I need to get with the program, but I have no energy or motivation.

At least I can say that there IS half a gallon of milk left in the fridge. It took a lot of restraint, but I managed not to drink the whole jug.

Eye Poster

Tiffany gave me a huge stack of Japanese and Taiwanese magazines a while back. This week I went through the magazines and ripped out all the cosmetic ads with big, made-up eyes. Last night I clipped out a bunch of the eyes and glued up a bunch of them too. The eyes in the Japanese magazines are a lot larger than the ones in the American magazines. A couple of them are so large I don't have room for them. I still have a huge stack of magazine ads and a ziploc bag full of eyes that I have already cut out. For some older photos check out my other eye poster post.

Pet Peeves

I've been thinking about this post for a long, long time. The bottom line is that inconsiderate, clueless people really annoy me. I'm sure I'm leaving out some things that really bug me, but here is a list of the things that commonly get me riled up.

1. Subject-verb agreement. I've written a post on this one before. Things are not getting better. I still read and hear subject-verb disagreement all the time.

2. Hoverers. Really, don't get me started on hoverers. If you feel that you must hover above the toilet, then either aim or clean up after yourself. I love how women hover "like a proper lady", piss all over the toilet seat, then haughtily walk out of the stall with a look that says "That didn't come from me!" Well, you may or may not avoid germs, but you will get the evil eye from me.

3. When people park between our driveway and Ottos. Again, I've already written a post about this. People are just inconsiderate.

4. Smokers. They stand in front of buildings creating a cloud that I must walk through to get in. The worst is the litter. I see smokers toss butts all the time. I see butts and empty packs all over. Gross.

5. Itch and addicting. Itch is that feeling you get when you got crabs from sitting on the toilet. Scratch is what you do to relieve that feeling. It makes me cringe a little when I hear "He's been itching that spot so much he made it bleed." The other word I commonly hear is addicting. Piercings are addicting. Tattoos are addicting. Chips are addicting. Video games are addicting. No! They are addictive.

6. Bad dog owners. Some are clueless. Some, are just jerks. I could go on and on about this one, but I think you know what I mean: shitting, barking, wandering, scratching, jumping, bowling over dogs with owners who just don't care.

7. Whiners. Please don't complain to me about money. Really, ever. If it is such a problem, then stop spending. If you are buying crap and eating out, then I have no sympathy for you. Point. Please don't complain to me about your weight if you aren't doing anything about it. Yeah, like I'm going to sympathize with you when you say you are fat as you stuff donuts in your mouth. Yeah, right.

Man, this post makes me sound like a bitch. Well, I am. A judgemental bitch.

Oh, and just to add another thing in. Please don't tell me everything happens for a reason (and it will all work out for the better). Please don't tell anyone that. That is a crappy line that never makes anyone feel better.

Cousin Bette

I finished reading Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac last week. Yeah! That is the first grown up book I have read in two years. It was an 1800s Parisian soap opera. I really enjoyed it. Let me tell you, It made me grateful to be living in Texas in 2009. It also made me glad not to be leading a soap-opera life.
The book has been made into a movie more than once. At some point we will get Netflix, and I'll make sure and put Bette in the cue. We watched Tess of the d'Urbervilles on Masterpiece Theater--it was an old school English soap opera (which again made me happy not to be a woman in the 1800s) . I'll have to come up with another classic novel to read, but I might give my brain (and my eyes) a little break.

Good (and Good for you) Pancake: Step 1

As a kid, I never really liked pancakes. Strange, cause my mother loves them, and my dad makes great pancakes (apparently). I think syrup was the root of the problem. I just don't like syrup. I would eat my pancakes with butter and jam. Still, I preferred Swedish pancakes--flat and rubbery, to regular fluffy pancakes.

At some point I had some tasty pancakes on a visit to Austin (I tried Ross's, I would never order pancakes!). I started to rethink my ideas about pancakes. Pancakes became my post-call treat when I was in Maryland. The hospital food was disgusting, but I loved the fluffy, buttery pancakes with jam on them.

I don't make fluffy, buttery pancakes. Instead I make apple-oat-flax pancakes. Healthy, yet not as fluffy and yummy as those cafeteria pancakes I'd come to know and love. My quest is to come up with a good for you pancake that isn't hard, flat, and rubbery.

Step 1: Make a good pancake that might not be so good for you. For this, I called my dad. Seems I take after him--he doesn't measure either. He gave me his pancake recipe and I tried it (with modifications of course) out tonight. Fluffy, yummy. Not as buttery as those ones in the caf--but I know they were just adding water to a mix, so they probably had some kind of imitation butter flavor in them.


The Fluffy Pancake

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder

1 egg
3 Tbl. melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c milk
vanilla

1. Warm griddle over medium heat.
2. Whisk together flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Stir in melted butter, salt, milk, and vanilla.
4. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Do not over mix the ingredients--leave a few lumps.
5. Pour/spoon batter onto griddle. Flip pancake when you see a bunch of bubbles forming.
6. Cook other side for a minute or so.
7. Smear on butter, jam, or syrup if you have to.
8. Eat. Eat. Eat!

Oh--I had oj with my pancakes in an effort to conserve milk.

Milkaholic

Let us start at the beginning. I have always loved milk. By the time I was 12, I was drinking at least half a gallon a day. I think I was the only kid in my class that knew the price of milk. If I had continued on this path I would probably be drinking 2 gallons a day and weigh 300 pounds. Luckily, a doctor intervened and said I should cut back on the amount I was drinking and start drinking two percent milk. The phrase "addicted to the hormones in the milk" has always stuck in my head. The doctor must have said that to my mom. She had taken me to the doctor because of my growth spurt induced knee pain, not my milkaholism (I think he had some speculation that the hormones in the milk were contributing to my growth spurt).

I immediately started drinking two percent milk and slowly cut back on the amount I was drinking. I have pretty much managed to keep my milk consumption under control since then. I know I am still an addict, I can't go a week without milk. On my trip to Las Vegas I packed the little Horizon milk boxes in my luggage so that I could have milk every morning.

Three years ago I completely switched to organic milk. Wow. Quality stuff. I did something I said I'd never do--I started drinking skim milk! I was down to half a gallon (or less!) of skim milk a week for a long time. Recently, things got a little out of control. I got back on the two percent, and was up to a gallon and a half a week. I made all sorts of excuses--the holidays, cookies, cappuccinos, hot chocolate, and hot egg nog. Last week Ross bought a gallon of skim milk, and I finished it off this morning. Oops. That was supposed to last us two weeks. Us--that's my other excuse--I'm not the only one drinking it (but in reality I am the one drinking most of it).

I seriously need to cut back. My goal for next week is to only go through half a gallon.

Austin Indulgences

We went to Austin on Thursday and drove back late last night. On Thursday night I made yellow cake cupcakes and (dark) chocolate frosting. The cupcakes turned out all right, but I was a little disappointed in the frosting. I used 70% cacao chocolate instead of semisweet chocolate and didn't even think about adding extra sugar. Anyway, the frosting wasn't great, but it didn't keep any of us from eating the cupcakes.

On Friday morning Ross went mountain biking with Joey and I went to the gym for a weights class and some cardio. My abs were (still are) very sore from the medicine ball work out I did on Thursday before yoga.

Of course we had Amy's ice cream yesterday. I'm not sure how we managed to eat it after stuffing ourselves full of Indian food. I had Frangelico, Ross had sweet cream with cookie dough on top, and Joey had dark chocolate. We ate so much for lunch that we only had boba and popcorn chicken for dinner. Well, actually, we only had milk tea, no boba.

Joey was nice enough to drive me back to Atomic after we had our milk tea. Justin said the piercing looks good and took a few photos. He said that he will post them on the website soon. I'll check periodically and post a link if I see them. He showed me some bling that I can buy. I was tempted to buy it right away, but I just need to concentrate more on taking care of what I have. I haven't soaked the piercing in a couple of days.

Sweet Tamales

Last week Robert, Tiffany, and Ethan came over for chili. After dinner Ethan and Ross made yellow cake cookies. They all came over again this past Sunday (for Indian food), and Ethan helped me make sweet tamales. I made the plain masa ahead of time and Ethan added and stirred in the rest of the ingredients. Ethan liked the raw masa, but once cooked, he said he didn't like it. I think he was just really tired and would rather play MarioKart than sit down to eat dessert.

When I was little my mom would make these for me with sugar and raisins. She made these tropical sweet tamales a few weeks ago, and I had been wanting to try and make some myself.

Sweet Tamales

masa--this can be bought pre-mixed or as a powder that you mix with water, baking soda, salt, and fat. I have the powder and used pineapple juice from the canned pineapple in place of some of the water, and butter instead of vegetable shortening.
one large can crushed pineapple
shredded coconut
brown sugar
sugar (or snow, as Ethan called it)
cinnamon
nutmeg
allspice
vanilla

corn husks (ojas)
pot
steam rack

You know me, I don't measure. I let Ethan dump/shake/pour in the ingredients and stir the mixture until it tasted good. I added the pineapple in last. I don't think the order matters that much though. Well, here are some more detailed instructions.

1. Drain pineapple. Juice can be used to make masa.

2. If using powder, prepare masa according to directions on package (using 2 c of corn). The masa can be made ahead of time. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Soak ojas in hot or warm water for a few minutes. Separate and clean the husks, leaving them to soak in the water to soften.

4. Add sugar (I think Ethan added about half a cup of brown sugar and one cup of regular), vanilla (2 tsp.) and spices to masa and mix thoroughly.

5. Add shredded coconut and drained pineapple and mix again.

6. Taste the mix and make sure it is yummy--if not add more sugar, and/or spices.

7. Place steam rack into the pot and add some water. My dad says it is best if the boiling water doesn't actually touch the tamales.

7. Stuff, roll, and fold the tamales and pack them into the pot. The last batch of tamales I made with my mom really oozed out the top, so this time I tried to leave some room at the top of each tamale for expansion. This step works best if one person rolls the tamales while a second person alternates between separating the ojas and packing the tamales into the pot. Tiffany was nice enough to help me with this step while Ethan played LEGOs with Uncle Ross.

8. Cover the pot and steam the tamales for about an hour. Check the water periodically and add more when it gets low.

For some more photos check out my other tamales post. Hmmm. I think I'll have a tamale now.

Updates

1. My piercing--it seems to be doing very well. I've been faithfully soaking it every night for 15-20 minutes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

2. Ebay--I sold two items: the soap and a video game. Now we have like 27 dollars more than we had before. I'm not going to call it profit, but it is money that I wouldn't have if I hadn't gotten up off my butt.

3. Waking up in the morning--I got up at least half an hour earlier than I had been getting up, so that is a start.

4. Productivity--I'm doing laundry and have managed to do several things on my to do list today, including clean out the dresser. Now I just need to keep working on the list.

Bingeeee

I have been eating like a mad woman since Christmas eve. The holidays (which were not a legitimate excuse) are over and I need to get back with the program. I have had a lot of late nights, and that has led to a lot of sleeping in and some skipped work outs. I desperately need to get into a routine. Well, a good routine. Currently the routine is to get up late, go to the gym, work out, come home, eat too much, do nothing productive, then stay up late (reading, visiting friends, or playing mariokart). I haven't been drinking my teas or taking my vitamins. I have just been all out lazy for the last two weeks. I am considering going to the No C diet for a week or two to help me get back on track. We'll see.

Third Time's the Charm?

On Wednesday I drove to Dallas to get a new piece of jewelry for my Madison piercing. Eric at Obscurties was a lot nicer (and more professional) than the last guys I dealt with. We decided on an 11/16" flat bar with internal threading. The easiest way to describe it is a flat piece of metal with a 3/32" long internally threaded post on either end. I really wish I had gotten this type of jewelry in the very beginning.

The bar seems to fit okay. The top is perfect of course. The bottom doesn't slip out the bottom hole, but it does seem to stick up. The flat disc doesn't sit right against the skin. I keep trying to push it in. The bar is flat, so I figure if the puncture wound heals around the round post it will be a lot harder for the bar to slip out.

I have been pretty good about cleaning it and soaking it. I want this to work out. I even went to Ulta and bought the pointed Q-tips that Eric suggested. They work better than regular ones at cleaning up under the discs. I have also been sleeping with the ends taped down--now that they are flat it is a lot easier to tape them down.

I'm hoping that the third time will be the charm and I'll be able to keep this piece of jewelry and this piercing forever.

More Numbers

I just want to say, I drank over 128 ounces of water today. 128 ounces equals one gallon!

My First Ebay Listing

I bought a lot of soap at Lush (and I'm going to buy more--cause it is a different scent, duh). To help cover some of my costs I am going to sell some of the soap. I listed my first chunk of porridge soap on ebay today. If the soap sells for the buy it now price it will cover about 66 percent of the cost of the three pieces of soap I bought. Not bad. Now I'm holding my breath. There are so many things that I could sell on ebay. I need to get off my butt and sell, sell, sell!

BTW--I'm including one of the bath bombs free with purchase. Come on, you know you want it.

Pose of the Week: Downward Facing Dog

This week I'm getting back to the basics. I made up a whole new routine for those who might be starting yoga as part of a new year--new you program. My music theme this week is starting/beginning. I figure I'll do this basics routine for a couple of weeks and then go back to my theme-based routines.

Here is my downward facing dog. I don't look like the girl in my Iyengar book (totally curved in back) or the girl on the Yoga Journal web site (straight back). I feel like my low back needs to be pushed back a little more. Ross says I look like a rollercoaster ride. Gosh, my hands are huge.

When I went to the one Iyengar class the teacher pointed out that I keep my feet really close together and turn my heels in, so I've been trying to work on that.

I made a half-attempt at peacock pose before I did downward dog. Maybe I'll try it one more time today. It seems like it takes a lot of leg strength. I have trouble keeping my legs straight in a lot of poses. Tight hamstrings I suppose.

Big Snag

So far I haven't been doing so well on my big goal of getting into a routine. The biggest snag is getting up in the morning. I haven't gotten up at a decent hour in a long time. I keep staying up late, and the cold makes in even harder to get up. The plan is to get up early, do some yoga, and then head to the gym to get some cardio in before class. I dragged myself out of bed this am and went to weights class. I didn't do the yoga or cardio. I'll try again tomorrow.

On a better note, I have been doing well putting things away. I like the idea of putting 3 things away. So when I go to put something away I look around to see if there are a couple of other things that I can also put away. The house is pretty clean right now, but I know I'll always be able to find three things to put away.

My piercing is sticking out--again. I think it is because I got a REALLY bad cyst--so it got really inflamed and rejected a little. I'm going to try and downsize the jewelry-again.

So here's to trying again...

Dundee Ginger

I have always been attracted to Dundee ginger preserves. I think part of it is the white jar, and part of it is just the idea of pure ginger preserves. I eyed it for years and finally gave in and bought it last week.
Our New Year's Eve dinner included a cheese plate. I served the 4 cheeses (manchego, smoked mozzarella, piave, and port salut) with pear slices, honey, apricot preserves, and the ginger preserves. Man, I really like that ginger. I had some on a pbj--heavenly. This morning I had some on a bagel with some shaved manchego--tasty. I have a feeling that from now on I will always have a jar of Dundee ginger in the house.

Celebrity Sightings

The other night Ross had a rather interesting dream about Stan Lee, David Duchovny, and Tea Leoni. It involved a strip club! I had a celebrity visit last week also, but I forget who it was.

Last night I dreamt I was going to yoga with Madonna. Her two kids (who were both boys) were being total brats. They were telling Madonna that her teeth were ugly (yellow and grey), and everyone was gossipping about her. Madonna was upset, and I decided to head to yoga without her.

On another note. I didn't get up early today, but I did make it to the gym for my lift class.

Resolutions

I just looked back at the mid-year resolutions I made last year. I still need to work on those things. I guess my biggest goal...which encompasses pretty much everything, is to get into a routine and stick with it. So to break it down a little:



1. Work out regularly.
2. Eat a balanced diet.
3. Not eat past 7:30 pm.
4. Keep track of my eating and spending.
5. Reach 140 lbs (this is a number, so this is the one I am really obsessed with).
6. Take better care of my teeth.
7. Take better care of my skin.
8. Put things away/back where they belong.
9. Stick with the plan.


I did really well last month with the food diary and spending diary. I came up with a new schedule, but I haven't followed through with it. Tomorrow I'm going to get up and follow the plan.