Break's over.

My friend, Lynn, sent me an unexpected surprise gift in the mail this week.  This very cute shirt showed up on Thursday, and I love the mix of the adorable lamb with the offensive text.  I wore it right away on Friday.  It's so nice to get that rare item in the mail that isn't a bill or "spam".  

I wonder how many pounds of marketing material AT&T Uverse sends out to each household per year.  I get several big packets and mailings from them each week and have for years, though you couldn't pay me to get on their crappy Uverse package.  I'm sure it would cost their customers a lot less if they stopped sending the slick, glossy, expensive marketing materials.  It's so irresponsible to waste so many resources. They are phenomenally environmentally destructive--one of many reasons I greatly dislike the company.

I did not end up getting sick over break, despite feeling unwell as of my previous post.  I felt a little icky for a couple of days, but it was nothing more than a very minor head cold. It never turned into anything significant, so I'm feeling pretty lucky about that.

I go back to school Monday morning.  I'm ready for school but not ready for getting up early and going out in the cold.  I miss the students and am excited to get back to classes. I have all my my materials loaded onto D2L (the online interface for our classes) and feel pretty prepared for all of my classes for the semester.  

This semester I have a female student in my Java class, and that was a totally unexpected surprise.  It's a non-traditional student who I've had in a few classes already, and she's smart, together, and she will be real asset to the class.  I have some other repeat students in there, and it's going to be a fun group! It's much smaller than my last Java class, which was overwhelmingly large, and this class size is optimal for a programming class.

One of my classes has a wait list, and I'm glad it's only one this semester.  I stress out over my waitlists, because I hate to have to tell anybody I can't get them in.  All of my classes require computers, so I am limited by the number of computers in the lab.  I can squeeze another one or two in if they have a laptop.  I have my fingers crossed that I will be able to work in at least a couple from the waitlist.

I'm returning to school with a little frustration that, yet again, I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned.  I had several house projects that I wanted done before returning to school but they are not done, and my house is still in chaos.  

We had planned to rip out the carpet in our bedroom (the last carpeted room in the house) and refinish the floor, but M's long bout with the flu derailed that project.  We may get it done over my spring break, but doubtful, as M's workload is pretty unrelenting that time of year.

Some of my minor projects didn't go so well and ended up taking much more time than I had anticipated.  I had what should have been a ten-minute task on my list--retouching paint in our side-entry way.  I took the numbers in from the original paint color, and had Menards mix a pint of the same for touchups.  I spent 15 minutes or so touching up any chips/scratches (most of them courtesy of the dogs' claws) and realized when the paint dried that it was not at all the original green.  It was significantly darker and more saturated.  I had to repaint the entire area with the new color, as there was no way to blend in the new color.  I'm a messy, slow painter, so it took me several hours and then a couple more touchups when the bright sunny days arrived and revealed the imperfections.  We all found that we like the new green better than the previous green, so it turned out well in the end.

Another small, minor project that didn't go so was my effort at dyeing my white jeans.  I LOVE those jeans, and they are one of about three pairs that actually fits well, but I ended up with some mystery stains (bright yellow) that would not launder out.  Even multiple bleachings did nothing to help with the stains.  I figured by dyeing, I could still keep a pair of jeans that fit, though I had to give up on them being white.  I tried to dye them navy blue.  They were beautiful--I loved the color, except that the color of the blue was several shades lighter on the areas where the original stains were.  WTF?!?  So, I then tried to bleach out the color and start over, but it turned out exactly the same.  My husband pointed out that had I just replaced the jeans when I found the miserable stain, I would have a nice pair of jeans and the whole Saturday afternoon I spent wrestling with the dye process (Rit dye STINKS, by the way!)  As much as I loved having the white jeans for the few months they lasted, I guess I've learned my lesson (again).  I do not have the ability to wear white.

The big mess is focused in our dining room.  I started removing wallpaper, and the plan was to use our steamer instead of Dif.  I feel better about using steam than chemicals.  It's slow work, though, and my damn hands don't work very well, so I can only work in limited time blocks rather than knocking it out in a weekend as I would like.  We've picked out the paint for the room (the darkest of the two colors on the wall), and I've already painted the trim, so I'm anxious to get the paint on the walls.  I'll have to keep plugging away at that, but I have less time for projects now that I'm back to work.

My baby is now a TEEN

Last Sunday, I went with my friend Julie to pick up some rabbits for the sanctuary she had built.  She's wanted to have a rabbit colony for quite some time, and now that she's retired, she was ready for the rabbits.  Introducing rabbits is dicey--they can be quite violent with one another, despite their cute, innocent bunny appearance.  The hope was that introducing them in the back of a car (a neutral environment) while returning from Oshkosh (a shared slightly traumatic experience) would help bond them without the fights.

We were planning to pick up two groups of rabbits from two different locations, for a total of eight rabbits.  We picked up four from the first stop and three from the second.  The car trip was surprisingly successful.  They happily split into two groups--timid and not timid--and munched hay and were generally adorable.

The next step was to get them all in their new living space (inside with outdoor access) and hope the peace continued.  We hung out with them for quite a while, watching them get settled in and making sure they were getting along.  Things seemed pretty stable when I left to come back to my babies and chores at home.  It didn't remain that way, though, and by the next day, she had to pull two of the girls out of the colony area, and upstairs into their own private room, as they were instigating some violent battles with the others.

We had some additions to our crew this week also.  I've been watching for parakeets for a while, as poor Simran has been sad and lonely since our Sagan didn't pull through his respiratory illness.  I don't go to pet stores, and I wouldn't buy an animal any more than I would buy a human, so I have been watching rescues/humane societies and feeling horrible that I couldn't find a friend for Simi.  This week, we found four parakeets at DCHS.  One was an adult female who was seized from a violent home.  She was depressed and lethargic there, but healthy.  I would estimate that she is over five years old.  There were also three boys--bonded, about 2-3 years old (my estimate), whose human had died.

Fortunately, parakeets are much easier to introduce than rabbits.  They love to have friends of their own kind and are generally thrilled to meet new friends and share their space.  We named the little girl (very light blue/white) Sajni, and the boys are Dawkins & Hitchens (the blue, though I'm working on learning to tell them apart) and PZ (green).  All five of them are the best of friends now, and the bird room sounds so much happier than it did before they came.  They settled right in and seem perfectly at home and happy, and I am so relieved Simran has friends.  Birds absolutely hate being alone, and though she had cockatiels, doves, and the lovebird from hell, it's just not the same as other parakeets.  I feel very strongly that keeping a bird as a singleton (on a long term basis) is cruel and abusive to the bird.

L turned 13 this week, so when she campaigned to adopt a lonely little rat, we couldn't say no (because she has the space and does a really good job with the rats she has).  She's been watching a group of three baby sister rats who came into DCHS a couple of months ago.  They were dumbo rats and were very precious.  She was very sad to see then that two of the three sisters (the "cuter", non-white girls) had been adopted out, leaving the less desirable (to shallow assholes) girl alone.  Rats also bond deeply, mourn the loss of friends/family, and are miserable without others of their kind.  This little remaining girl was faring particularly poorly.  She wasn't eating, was lethargic, and just not thriving.

She came home with us, and we put her in a large cage (temporarily) alone, because she's very tiny and very timid, and it would not be a good idea to throw her in with the other rats unsupervised at this point.  She was still not eating well and was quite lethargic.  Then we introduced her to each of the girls, one at a time.  The boys are currently 3 times her size and love her, but they are a little intimidating to her at this point.  She immediately perked up when we put her with Flower.  She started eating, running around, playing, and acting like a normal young rat.  That poor baby was just heartbroken and lonely.  She is so happy to have sisters again!  She came with the name, Star, and L has decided to keep that name.

I'm unhappy to say I am unwell today.  I have a cold and am feeling pretty nasty right now.  I'm hoping it's just a few-day cold, and not the two-week flu (?) that Mark has had.  I was really thinking I would miss this one, too, but no luck.  So far the worst of it is that I'm not breathing well enough to get through a workout.  I worked out last night and knew I was coming down with it, and I couldn't breath well, felt light-headed, and got ridiculously hot, so I'm not going to try it today.  It makes me very unhappy to miss it, and I'm going to have to find a way to get through it tomorrow, because I'm not missing another day for this rotten virus!

Kids at the rotunda

L had a dance performance (two actually) Saturday at the Overture Center.  Kalaanjali performs every year.  They do three shows (9:30, 11, & 1), so it's a long day for all of us, but especially for the dancers.  The shows are always packed, which makes the girls a bit nervous.  They all did a good job!

I was backstage mom for the last show of the day, and it really makes me appreciate what those kids go through.  It's hot back there and very tight quarters.  All of the girls who are not dancing on stage have to be backstage throughout the show.  They either stand or sit on the floor, with nothing to do but wait.  And giggle, and run up and down the ramp, and bump into the stage curtains.  It's a little like herding cats--adorable, giggly cats.  :)   Many of them are quite nervous about the performances, especially considering the very large audience.

Both sets of grandparents, Uncle Dan & Beth, as well as D & Russ came to the show.  We went out for dinner to celebrate her birthday (which is actually this week) with M's side of the family.

2013!

Last year at this time, I had just finished reading The Reality of Weight Loss by Theresa Bondora—an e-book that really gave me the motivation I needed to get myself on the path back to health.  In 2012, I changed my eating habits drastically as well as modifying the meals I make for the family to be more focused on real food, eschewing processed food and any food without good nutritional value.  We all had improved health from that, and M even lost a little weight.  I also made workouts a part of my daily life (six days per week) and can’t imagine how or why I even functioned without them.  Working out is usually the best part of my day, and I feel sanest and happiest right after a good workout.  


For this picture, I busted out the skinny jeans I was wearing before my 2012 health initiative.

I was not sick in 2012 at all, and I don’t think I’ve ever been able to say that of another year.  That’s a major accomplishment for me.  I still have the migraines but got nothing worse than a minor head cold, which M & L also had but theirs was much worse.  I am certain that my improved health is due to the diet and exercise changes.  Poor Mark has had the flu for a week now and is still feeling crappy.  So far, I'm still healthy, and fingers are crossed that I'll stay that way!

I definitely don’t want to lose any more weight this year and will be more focused on gaining muscle mass.  I have some definite fitness goals for the year, though, and it’s going to take a fair amount of effort:  15 (unassisted) pull ups; 15 toes-to-bar; 10 hand-stand pushups; and a six minute plank.

My friend gave me a nice, large mirror that she didn't need anymore, and I was really excited to put it up in my workout room.  I had wanted a mirror in there to help me work on my form.  I hung it in the perfect spot only to realize once it was up that I am most definitely not yet able to look at myself while I work out.  I try to avoid looking unless I'm really trying to see and adjust my form in a particular move or lift, and then I usually recoil in horror.  I apparently still struggle with some degree of dysmorphia, because within any one given day, I can look in the mirror and think I'm too skinny and at another point in the day, look in the same mirror and think I'm too fat.  In all cases, the mirror reflects the body of the forty-something I am rather than the twenty-something I would like to look like (but not be).  What I would like to see when I look in the mirror is a body like Serena Williams', but as long as we're still bound by the laws of physics, that's not an option that's available to me.  :-)

I also read the book, “Wheat Belly”, which was incredibly informative and disturbing.  I am still quite unsettled after reading it.  Because of the disgusting health implications of modern wheat, I am also trying to reduce/eliminate wheat from our diet as much as possible.  That is a lot of restriction for vegans, but I will do my best.  I highly recommend this book and would be happy to loan it.  It is information that everyone should have!

That book also activated a slight obsessive fear of (Type 2) diabetes that I’ve been trying to suppress for years.  It’s all over in my family and has been all my life. The diabetics in my family handle it like 6-yr olds, however, and just refuse to make any dietary or lifestyle changes.  They just eat as much crap as they think they can get away with (as if they can sneak it in without their bodies 'noticing') and then take their very expensive pharmaceuticals to counteract the damage they can’t seem to stop inflicting.  I fully believe everyone with Type 2 diabetes has earned it and worked very hard to get it.  I see the disease as a badge of weakness and irresponsibility, and it is something I fear greatly.  I would be horrified and repulsed if I got it, which makes me spend way too much time thinking about it and worrying about it and keeping track of what I eat and how it affects my blood sugar. I would also NOT take insulin or any other drug for it, because I am morally opposed to taking drugs (the easy way out of personal responsibility) for something I’ve brought on with bad choices.  It would have to be cured with lifestyle or I would die.  I would actually like to get a tester, so I can monitor my blood sugar and really track how various foods affect it, but my “team of advisors” (friends & relatives who I trust to let me know when I’m going off the deep end) assure me that that is going too far.  I am trying to not think about it.

This year, in addition to continuing to improve my health and fitness, I am focusing on being as plastic-free as possible.  I am currently reading Plastic-Free, by Beth Terry, and this is my inspiration and guidebook for my efforts.  I’ve been having major guilt problems about plastic/plastic waste and our environmental footprint (which, though smaller than most Americans, is still larger than I am comfortable with), as well as the consumerist culture.  When I do spend money, I my goals are to keep all money possible out of the hands of the 1%, consume as little as possible, and eliminate as much plastic as possible from our lives.

Once I finish reading the book, I will come up with an action plan to get started on the plastic elimination/reduction.  Then I will see how much buy in I can get from the rest of the family.  That may be the most challenging part.  At this point in the book, I'm feeling pretty discouraged and hopeless, so I'm anxious to get to the portion that gives me information on how to minimize my plastic dependency.