"Counter Productive" Dieting Behavior

My husband and I recently joined Weight Watchers. He because he is overweight and pre-diabetic—and me: I'm a lifetime member. As long as I don't gain even one ounce the meetings are free because I am within "normal" top of the range weight for my height. So we have been trying to adapt our lives around eating healthy food, and not too much of it. He mentioned today that at night he can't help but eat some cheese when he sees it on the kitchen counter, where I've left it, knowing I will return for some more a few times. So I came up with the catch phrase "counter productive." If you are dieting or living with a dieter, remember that food left out in plain sight, and especially unwrapped is like a neon buffet sign. And back to the Weight Watchers model, you need to count your points, and we all know when you are scarfing cheese that's on the counter because someone else left it there, you don't count those points. So the phrase covers it all. Leave it on the counter and the count will tip the scale up. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.

Small Orbit

About 3 weeks ago, my usual life took a back seat to my current life of dealing with sciatica, which is very painful and makes it hard to walk. At first I pretty much freaked out, and over not that long a period I adapted my lifestyle to be in harmony with my environment, which as it turns out—is a small orbit. I can think of way worse things, such as commuting in traffic, attending events I wish I'd rather not be at, on and on. The small orbit is a great excuse to just 'be. And be I am. I finally ran the "washer magic" cleaner of washing machine stuff through the washer....twice. And I am almost finished with a big review of old photos, ready to send them off to Scan Cafe to be digitalized. These are projects that could have still been on my list when I died. Well, I aint going noplace except right here, making sure all the hums of the household sound about right, the sheets are clean—again—and I'm purging and having a good old time doing house things. As for the pain, I am using every pain management trick in the book, and some of them are pret-t-y pret-t-y good.

I like it how I like it.

I'm the one in the restaurant who asks for things on the side. I plead my cause to get them to leave off this and substitute that. Pleaaaaaase don't plop my fried chicken on top of my mashed potatoes, thank you very much. My husband sometimes shakes his head and blinks his eyes wildly like a nervous tic when I do that, to make a point. Other of my friends revere my boldness in getting things how I like them. I realize that this gives the server more to think about; however fortunately in upscale restaurants in Marin County, where I live, it seems to be easier and easier to do this without repercussions. And I tip well. Generally speaking, servers have been very accommodating. I rarely am disappointed in my food when I eat out, as I research in advance what to order where. Yelp.com is my holy grail. Stand up for yourself. It'll feel good. If you hate cumin, shout it from the rooftops. Oh, and in case you are interested the egg photo is they way my mister eats. He likes it how he likes it too.

Anther Day ~ A Happy Dollar

She is a happy happy dollar.

To Buy or Not to Buy?

Okay, so you have it in your hand, you walk up to the cash register; the moment of paying for it approaches. This is the time to have a dialog with yourself. Do you love it? Do you need it? Do you have one or more at home like it? Will this replace one of those? Is it more about the sexy design, or worse yet, the enticing packaging? Once you get it home, you have to find a place for it, get rid of the packaging, do something with the receipt, pay for it on the credit card later (maybe with interest,) on and on. It is a time consuming proposition to add a new possession to the mix. So—if you have a successful conversation with yourself on the way to the cash register, you may just realize you don't want, need, or "have to have" it. Sometimes just knowing you you can have it is enough to fulfill shopper's lust. Do you ever buy something, only to get home and wonder what you were thinking? You can always take it back. In this scenario, you get to have owned it briefly (acquisition) and then get rid of it (relief). But you do have the added annoyance of having to run that return errand, and risk buying yet another thing. Whatever your process, try and begin to have a dialog with yourself before you buy things. If there is any little shred of resistance, then you probably don't need it. The best part, when you put something back on the shelf, is the blissful moment when you walk out of the store unscathed. You don't have to do anything. It was just a moment of shopper lust. And you're home free.

Arts & Crafts

Some friends came over tonight and we sat around the table, decorating the dollar, making collages, drawing. What fun. With all the choices out there, what a dream that we got to sit around the table and groove on our own and each others creations while chatting up a storm. Like an old fashioned quilting bee. We only got the computer out once, just to look something up. I think the fancy name for it is art therapy. And what a deal. It's free.

Closet too Small? Too Small for the Closet?

The most obvious fix I know for too many clothes and not enough closet space is to purge heavily. But what if you just can't let go of enough? Here is the cheapest, fastest fix for most situations. Dedicate a portion of the closet for blouses / shirts. Raise the bar, enabling you to create a lower bar. In this way you get double decker shirt storage. When you measure for this, make sure the lower bar is high enough that (a) the longest ones don't drape on the floor, and (b) the longest upper ones don't drape on the bar where the lower ones hang. The supplies to do this are quite inexpensive and often someone with just minor handy skill can install it. Sometimes a vertical narrow wall needs to be installed so that you still have room elsewhere in the closet for long hanging things. This situation will require someone with carpentry skills; a good handyman should be able to do the trick. Another of my favorites is to lower the bar for kids, so they can learn about hanging things up from an early age; they can also get dressed without getting a grown-up to get their clothing down for them. This is a beneficial skill for children to learn.

Filmmaking on a Digital Still - Well Kept Secret

You don't need a camcorder to take likeable movies. I was all set to get a camcorder, when I had a chance meeting with someone who asked to see my digital still camera. He knew the camera well (Canon SD750 Digital Elph). He said I would be able to take really good movies with it and that he didn't think buying a camcorder was necessary for the level I was at. I took his advice, and sure enough, it performs really well. I have learned iphoto 9 and have spent a lot of time editing and sound editing footage from my still camera on my 13-inch macbook. The header of this post is a link to my youtube channel which has a couple of my short films. The only downside to doing this is: my camera has no line-in for an eternal mic, and when I import movies to my apple laptop, I have to bring them into iphoto and then bring them from there into imovie. So it is an extra step, and takes up extra room on my hard drive. Also, you can only film with 14:3 aspect ratio. I like the format, but don't like that you can't later mix a 14:3 with a 16.9 aspect ratio into the same movie. That said, it has been a practically no cost (other than flash memory cards) way to learn moviemaking. Now that I know I'm totally into it, the next step is to get Final Cut Express and a good camcorder and sign on for the learning curve. I think if I had jumped in initially to final cut and a camcorder, it would have been way overkill. Now that I've done this for 2 years, prices and camera quality are getting better and better. I have definitely benefitted financially from the process. But I think the best part was that I have felt no internal pressure to make movies. Add to this the benefit of people not having full perception that there is a movie being taken of them with the digital still camera provides excellent reality footage.

Internet Shopping

I recently discovered that if you want a deal on something you're buying, or travel you're booking on the internet, you can do a search for coupons for that item at that website. Often you'll find them. Then, when you're ringing out your purchase just fill in the coupon code!

Bed, Bath & Beyond Discount Coupons

The coupon mailers that Bed, Bath & Beyond routinely sends are usable even if they're expired! Plus, you can use as many as you want at a time. I consider this to be one of the best stores in the Bay Area for organizing supplies, kitchen items, draperies, bedding, cosmetics, and a wealth of other household items. Yesterday I used 5 coupons. My purchase would have been $145 before tax, and ended up at $110 before tax.

Yoga - Baby Steps

Back to when I wrote about New Year's resolutions. It took me 8 years of making a resolution to do yoga to actually do it. Now I do yoga with two friends once a week. We would always remark that we never do it on our own. So we decided to hold ourselves accountable to doing at least 3 poses a day. These baby steps have worked. Now we email each other daily to say we've done it. We sometimes slip, but the main thing is we're all feeling better from the added stretches. This can apply to any goal. Begin with baby steps.

An Under the Radar Dessert

Put a couple of tablespoons of Fage Greek Yogurt in a bowl. Sprinkle Sharffenberger cacao nibs on it, along with some Scharffenberger unsweetened cocoa powder, and drizzle agave syrup on it to taste. If you don't mix it it, your taste buds will get a fuller experience of the separate components. This combo can turn almost anything into a dessert. A bagel, a slice of toast (with cream cheese), crackers with butter or cream cheese, leftover rice...anything relatively bland can turn into a dessert with this magic combo. Yum! Enjoy!