Health Update: Starting Change One

This week I haven't done anything special to lose weight. I've pretty much abandoned eDiets, but I still enter my weigh-ins on their site because I've already paid through June. My water intake is still between 24 - 48 oz. a day. My lunch choices, which are a big problem, have been a bit better. I hit the salad bar once, and avoided the french fries three times. Unfortunately the cafe is really trying to get people to stick to their set menu: either you get the sandwich and fries OR the meat and two veg OR the salad bar. Having the burger and a small side salad, for instance, is healthier but it is not allowed.

Next week, one of my coworkers and I will be starting the Change One diet. We won't be doing the online option; we're both a little tired of paying for diet services (she used to do Weight Watchers). Change One is a 12-week program designed by Reader's Digest to jump-start you on a healthy, rational lifestyle. It has no crazy gimmicks, no revolutionary plan, and no magic bullet. Each week you change something different. For instance, the first week you work on eating a healthy breakfast then the second week you add in a healthy lunch. There is also an eight-week exercise plan that works on the same principle of slowly integrating more variety into your workout. It is so basic that you almost feel stupid buying the book, but I am hoping that it will work for me.

I've never dieted with a buddy before, other than ABM. That was not a good pairing at all. He tends to pick extreme eating plans. I remember when I was doing eDiets the first time and I pointed out to him how well I was sticking to it. His response: "Well, you aren't doing anything really different." Even though I lost 20 pounds, I got the feeling that to him it wasn't a real diet because I wasn't doing something crazy and I wasn't suffering for my weight loss. If you are living on nothing but egg whites, tuna, and chocolate-flavored breath mints, then that's a real diet to him. The funny thing is that he will always deny that he is suffering on these diets ("I'm not hungry at all") yet he never sticks to them for more than a week. I can't stick to these crazy things for more than 12 hours!

Exercising with ABM is also out of the question. This week I walked twice, for 10 minutes each time. ABM would spit on that; perhaps it hurts his male pride to take such a short walk. Despite the fact that he hasn't exercised regularly since high school (excluding a month-long stint two years' ago), ABM thinks that he can go out on his first day and exercise for 45 minutes. All that does is make him so sore that he doesn't attempt it again for months.

I understand now why it is more difficult to get back into the healthy-lifestyle groove once you have been out of it for a while. When I started eDiets the first time, I had never really done a diet so it was all shiny and new to me. I had all the commitment and enthusiasm of a new convert. I can't summon up that same enthusiasm the second time around. All the routines and meal plans are too familiar to excite me. As for exercise, I feel like I should be able to jump back in at the 30-minutes-a-day level but I am getting winded after 10 minutes. Perhaps this is why women try diet after diet. The new gimmick lights that spark. Unfortunately, a gimmick isn't enough to carry you through a lifetime of healthy eating.

Money Changes Everything

Do you remember payday on your first job? My first job was working at a bookstore in the local mall. I didn't have a checking account yet, but back in those days the credit department in the mall's largest store would cash your paycheck for you. After counting my money, I would hide it deep in my purse and make careful plans for how it would be spent. Once I started making more money, I opened a checking account. This meant that I didn't get my full two weeks' pay in my hand, but I still kept some spending cash and my cautious attitude toward money.

Gradually, my attitude toward money began to change. I think it started when I switched from cashing my checks to using direct deposit. Money almost stopped being real to me. I went through a long period where I never felt like I got paid. Back when ABM handled the bills, my money would go straight into the bank for him to pay bills. At least when I had to cash my check, I would have money in my hands for a few minutes before I handed it over for my share of the rent or some other bill.

My money mindset shifted a little more when we got a debit card. I didn't even notice it happening at first because it took a while for places around here to really accept the debit card. With my checkbook and my debit card in hand, I have enjoyed a sense of freedom in the past year (those of you who know my spending phobia, just remember -- it's all relative). I can get something to eat at a restaurant or buy something on a shopping trip with friends without 48 hours' notice to ABM so that he can get some cash out of the bank for me.

This week, however, I ran right into my former self lurking in the bottom of my purse. During the morning meeting at the ministry, it was announced that the cafe would only be taking cash or food vouchers for payment and it started immediately. I had been paying for my lunch with a check. The vouchers can only be purchased in a book of ten and I wasn't prepared to pay $32.50 on such short notice. Luckily, I happened to have a little cash that I had been stashing in my purse for something special so I was still able to eat. I noticed, though, that I was much more reluctant to buy a dessert or an extra side dish when I was paying for my lunch with actual money. When I was paying by check, I thought nothing of buying dessert and an extra vegetable side, even if I was just going eat a couple bites of each. I also had to make a yarn purchase and it made me sick to my stomach to see the roll of money getting smaller in my change purse. I thought that I was getting over my hangup with money, but I realize now that using plastic and checks has just lessened the pain of spending it.

Podcast Talk: Podcast Pickle

There are several podcast directories out there that can't really hold a candle to Podcast Alley, but I found one that is trying. It is called Podcast Pickle, and I heard it advertised on Coverville. What makes this one different is that you aren't stuck voting for just one favorite podcast a month for the rankings; you can rate as many shows as you want. Another thing I like is that they use star ratings similar to Netflix. They also grade the podcast for content, using the familiar movie rating system (G, PG, R, etc.). Add all this to the 60-second preview you get with each podcast listing, and it becomes much easier to pick a show that is safe for work.

Life has been busy. I have things I want to write about on the blog, but I feel guilty taking time away from everything else to sit down and compose my thoughts. As usual, my most productive hours are wasted at work. I've been getting up earlier to walk before work, but I am so tired when I come home that I have been going to bed early. Perhaps I can sneak in a longer post tomorrow during my lunch break. Ciao!

I'm so ashamed!

My language arts skills are slipping!

Your English Skills:

Punctuation: 100%

Grammar: 80%

Spelling: 80%

Vocabulary: 60%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

My musical taste

Your Taste in Music:

90's Pop: High Influence

Adult Alternative: Medium Influence

Classic Rock: Medium Influence

Old School Hip Hop: Medium Influence

R&B: Medium Influence

80's Pop: Low Influence

80's R&B: Low Influence

80's Rock: Low Influence

90's Alternative: Low Influence

90's Hip Hop: Low Influence

90's R&B: Low Influence

Hair Bands: Low Influence

Ska: Low Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

This quiz was difficult for me because there were very few artists on the list that I loved. I checked off several artists because I like one or two of their songs. For instance, I doubt that you would ever see me buying an Eminem CD but I love his song "Lose Yourself". The only two artists listed that I could say I love were No Doubt and Alicia Keys.

Podcast Talk: Colmination, Podcast Alley

I finally took Colmination off of my podcast list. This was one of the first podcasts that I found, so I guess I was listening for nostalgic purposes :-). It really is not very good. It is one guy, Colm, who spends all of his time wondering why he isn't listed higher in the rankings at Podcast Alley and reading e-mails that say how wonderful his show is. Huh? Oh, I almost forgot -- he also gives lists of what alcoholic beverages he drank while he was out the night before and who he was with while he drank them. I thought that the show was beginning to improve when he started having his friend Quinn act as co-host. Quinn knew how to make a good story out of mundane tasks like getting his tag renewed at the DMV. Unfortunately, Quinn has moved away so the show is just Colm again. The only people this show could possibly appeal to is immature frat-boy types.

Speaking of Podcast Alley, I do not like their voting system. This site is the recognized source of podcast rankings and gauge of show popularity, yet they only let you vote for one show a month. I admit that I don't know how complicated it is to set up this sort of thing, but I do wish that they would let each person vote for her top five podcasts of the month. That would be a more realistic representation of people's listening habits. I haven't voted at all for April because I can't pick just one.
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After visiting Timotab's blog and viewing the progress he has made on his afghan, I had to face my procrastinating ways once again. I think I have known for a while that if I am going to meet my goal, I need to start a new afghan rather than finishing the GRR or the Zinnia. They don't inspire me, and if I am going to make something big I need a lot of inspiration to push me through the boring patches. I don't want to buy more yarn right now, though, so I guess I will have to suck it up and frog the GRR. I like the construction of the GRR but it has gotten to an unmanageable size. Afghan squares worked separately are more practical for an on-the-go needleworker like myself.

I am SO not the Company Man

This week is important for the ministry where I work. There is going to be an official dedication for the new building that we moved into several months ago. Everyone is all a-twitter over the proceedings, but I must say that I am not the least bit interested. The big buzz in the dining hall today was that the staff is having a dedication ceremony on Friday, but they aren't invited to the big ceremony on Saturday. Big whoop! Notice how I said "they"? I just don't feel connected to this stuff in any way. My feelings are not hurt at all that I didn't get an invitation for Saturday's event, and I don't understand why others are making such a big deal about it.

Perhaps my attitude has something to do with my belief that my life starts after I get off work. My job is just something I do to get a paycheck. It is a bonus that I work in a place that honors my faith in God, but it is still just a job to me. I do the best work that I can because that is the honorable thing, but I don't buy into the whole "building a sense of community" mantra. ABM is being fed that same company line, but all it means in his case is that they will be downsizing (smaller staff means everyone will be able to get to know each other better -- ha!). At my job I do believe they are a bit more sincere about it, but I don't think you can mandate a family atmosphere.

Some silly quizzes from Blogthings

This is the 3rd Sunday; I taught women's Sunday school and youth worship today. I barely have two brain cells to rub together so I am going to share a few quizzes from Blogthings (thanks to Ro for indirectly introducing me to this site).

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

You May Be a Bit Histrionic ...

Dramatic and over the top, you crave attention. And you'll do anything it takes to get noticed. You love to be seductive, even when it's inappropriate. If you're ignored, you're easily hurt ... and act out even more!

What Personality Disorder Are You?

Your Linguistic Profile:

40% General American English

30% Yankee

25% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Your True Birth Month Is January

Loyal Social Logical Easily jealous Loves children Rather reserved Highly attentive Likes to criticize Needs close friends Ambitious and serious Smart, neat and organized Hardworking and productive Loves to teach and be taught Quiet unless excited or tensed Sensitive and has deep thoughts Knows how to make others happy Searches for the greatest romance Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds Romantic but has difficulties expressing love Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses

What's Your True Birth Month?

This one is funny because January is also my actual birth month. I'm not sure that I agree with some of the traits listed, like "organized" and "productive".

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

This doesn't surprise me much because I've always believed that I have a strong masculine side. If anything, I thought that my brain might be slightly more male. If there had been a few more questions about sex, my results might have been different :-).

Health Update and other stuff

Starting weight: 260 lbs
Last week: 255 lbs.
This week: 258 lbs. (3 lb gain)

Yes, I have gained three pounds this week. I knew it was going to happen. Although I have increased my water to 48 oz. a day and have been eating smaller portions at lunch, I only exercised for 30 minutes this week. Five people in my small den doing a '50s sock hop is a funny sight! I wish I had a bigger space because the kids really seemed to enjoy it. That is a big problem with the dance videos. There is just enough room for me to dance, so I have to try to find a time when the kids aren't around to jump in.

I got a Lotte Berk Method DVD from NetFlix, but I didn't like it. It wasn't as dance-oriented as I thought. It looked like every other boring exercise routine. The Molly and Roni sock hop DVD was fun but they did too many cut scenes during the part where you are supposed to be learning the routine. They did a better job with the first volume. Still, I hope that they do more because they are fun and simple for the kids.
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Last night, one of my coworkers got stood up by a guy and wanted to blow off steam so we went out. You're probably thinking that since it was Friday night we went to a bar or a club and danced our frustrations away. I hate to disappoint you, but we went to Wal-Mart. How lame are we that browsing Wal-Mart constitutes a good time? We went to a hoppin' Chinese restaurant (the place where all the Asian people in town go after they are done feeding us the Americanized version of Asian food) so I didn't feel totally uncool.

While I was at Wal-Mart I picked up several pairs of flip-flops as part of my plan to make a little extra money for that Denise set that I want. Remember last year when flip-flops covered with fun fur were the style for about five minutes? Well, I never got around to making any before so last weekend I picked up a pair of flip-flops and a ball of Bernat Baby Lash to make a pair for M. I took them to work to show one of my friends. She immediately called several of my coworkers over to ooh and aah. Now these women have seen me working on SpongeBob as well as several scarves and hats, but they went gaga over this simple project. So, for once I am going to strike while the iron is hot and see if I can sell a few pairs. They work up very quickly, so even if I don't sell them I won't feel like I have wasted too much time.

My yarn is still decent

In a post on Tuesday that I am not sure any of you saw (Blogger shows it one time and then not the next), I mentioned that I would be participating in Flash Your Stash a little late. Alas, there will be no stash flashing tonight, I'm afraid. I gathered up the energy to spread the lot on my bed to be photographed, only to find that I forgot to recharge the batteries in my camera. I have them plugged into the wall now, so perhaps you will get a chance to see some of my stuff tomorrow. Unfortunately, it isn't as carefully organized as this stash, but at least you will get an idea of what it is like to be a knitter who has only made two purchases from a real yarn store in the last eight years.

Podcast Review: Pop Goes the Culture!

Exercise: 30 min. (dance)
Water: 48 oz.

This week I gave Pop Goes the Culture! another listen. This weekly podcast would be a nice fit for NPR. The two presenters are obviously articulate and well-read. Barbara Luhring is a political cartoonist and her podcast partner Susie Watson is a trend analyst who has worked in advertising. The topics are varied but always viewed through the lens of pop culture.

I mentioned that last week's show suffered from sound problems, but that was an aberration. The duo has only been podcasting since January, so I was able to listen to all of the archives in one sitting. The sound quality on the other shows was very good, even when they have someone else sit in on the discussion with them. There were only two instances where I heard a phone ring in the background but they barely acknowledged it, unlike some podcasts where the presenter would veer off topic and center the rest of the show around the ringing phone.

Despite all the positive aspects I've mentioned, I don't think that this is a show that I would listen to every week. In two separate shows, Barb and Susie have commented on how society is divided into people who care about hard news/real issues and people who care about celebrity gossip. I think that I fall into a third group: people who are so busy juggling all the balls in their own lives that they don't have time to care about either one. My favorite PGtC! shows were ones about TV, libraries, and Americans' eating habits. These are topics to which I can relate, while the fantasy press conference with President Bush went completely over my head. I guess I will be keeping PGtC! on my Bloglines list and give them a listen when they are talking about something I can understand. Now I am off to their blog to comment on that library episode :-).

Bollywood/Hollywood

Exercise: none

Last Saturday, I browsed through my TiVo stash and settled on Bollywood/Hollywood. The plot centers around a young man whose fiancee dies in an accident and his traditonal Indian mother insists that he find a new girl to marry quickly or his younger sister's impending wedding will be called off. It wasn't spectacular but it made a pleasant background for laundry folding. I've never watched a real Bollywood flick before so I don't know if this stayed true to the genre. While watching the dance sequences I kept thinking, "This kind of stuff would make a great exercise video."

Five minutes later . . .

I went onto Netflix to see if I could find a link for Bollywood/Hollywood and the search found a Bollywood-style exercise DVD! That's going to the top of my queue. I also added a movie called Bollywood Queen. If anyone can recommend some other Bollywood-style movies for a beginner, let me know.

Yesterday was a test for the wife and mommy in me. ABM was suffering from allergy problems so he didn't go to work, and DJ had been promised the use of the computer in our bedroom. I was confronted with the extent of my attachment to my routine. It practically made me itch to have DJ on my computer and ABM watching my TV. I stood beside my bed for 20 minutes not knowing what to do with myself before I finally gave up my "vigil" and started cleaning the bathroom.

Giving up the computer was more difficult than giving up the TV. We have three computers in our house (we're not rich; we just happen to catch very good deals). The computer in our room always seems to be the favored one, even though M's computer is faster. I spend a lot of time on my computer and it is difficult for me to give up my seat to anyone else. This is definitely something I need to work on.

Health Update; Blogger is Buggin'

Starting weight: 260 lbs.
Last week: 255 lbs.
This week: 255 lbs.

Yes, I am holding steady once again. Is this beginning to sound like a broken record? Well, I am going to take steps to rectify the situation.

First off, the exercise. I know that I will walk outside in the mornings before work once I get my mp3 player, but that is several weeks away. In the meantime, I think I will stick with Molly and Roni dance routines and look for more DVDs in that genre. The other things I tried bored me after one go, but that silly disco routine to "I've Got the Music in Me" has been stuck in my head for two weeks! I just got the DVD for Molly and Roni's 1950s sock hop and I can't wait to try it.

As for my eating plan, I need to change it. The Slim-Fast plan just doesn't work for me past breakfast and morning snack. Eating a Lean Cuisine entree and a small salad for dinner is much more satisfying, so I am going to start doing that to see if it makes a difference.

After a few good weeks, I've given up drinking water again. It is a difficult habit for me to cultivate because I dislike the taste of it and none of the little tricks like putting a lemon in it seem to help. When I get up to about 48 oz. a day, it makes me feel so bloated; I can't imagine drinking 64 oz. I also hate going to the bathroom 12 times a day. I've heard that the frequent urination stabilizes itself but I can't ever seem to get to that point. Despite all of this whining, however, I am going to give water another shot but not without a little help. I plan to buy some of those Crystal Light To Go packets because I really like the taste of those. We used to buy them individually at the gas station but I just saw a commercial for buying them by the box at the supermarket.
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In other news, has anyone else notice that Blogger has been difficult to access this week? If you see three days' worth of posts show up on my blog all at once, that's why. I missed posting my knitting-in-progress update yesterday because I couldn't get to the Blogger page at all. Hopefully, I can get back on schedule next week.

Exercise: none

I was once a big fan of TechTV. It was a great station that gave me lots of tech info and made me look like a computer guru to my less wired friends. It held a special place in my geek wannabe heart. Then G4, a gaming network, bought out TechTV. Unlike many TechTV fans who responded with ire on message boards all over the net, I thought it might be kinda cool. I had never seen G4 but I like computer and video games and I looked forward to having a bit more of that content mixed in with my tech news. Little did I know that all my favorite presenters would be replaced and that practically all the tech news would be removed from the station. Still, a few of the new gaming-related shows were interesting and informative so I stuck around. Now, however, I think that I have reached my limit.

Starting next week, G4 will be debuting a show called The Whip Set. It features fast cars and and the kind of women who only pay attention to men who drive those sorts of cars. They'll be doing features on the clubs and hot parties that all the underground racers attend. Their tag line is "This is the show with the cars you want and the women you can't have." Huh? What does any of this have to do with computers or video games? If this was on MTV, I wouldn't even bat an eye; it would be a much better fit there. Of course, G4 has already changed the format of their current shows so that they are less about giving useful information and more about looking cool and appealing to a 14-year-old boy's sense of humor. Perhaps The Whip Set is in the right place, after all.

Why do I torture myself so?

Exercise: none

This week's podcast slate was a hodgepodge. I finally figured out that I could monitor podcasts using Bloglines, so I added my favorites plus a bunch of new ones to make it easier to try them out while I was at work.

--Geeks On had a girl on the panel this week and discussed the merits of the Nintendo DS vs. the PSP. They also mentioned one of my favorite gaming websites, Home of the Underdogs. It is perfect for the broke and/or nostalgic PC gamers. BTW, they agreed with me that Halle Berry was the worst choice to play Storm in the X-Men movies so I will love them forever.
--If you are interested in video games, here are a few more of my podcast recommendations: Orange Lounge Radio To Go, Game On The Street, VideoGameNews Radio, and Video Games Show.
--I tried out Pop Goes the Culture!, but their current podcast has some terrible sound issues. I'll have to check out their archives before I decide whether it will go on my list of favorites.
--Still not sick of Coverville? Check out show #53, the acapella extravaganza. I can't believe the full, rich sound that can be achieved with just voices!

After zipping through a few other boring podcasts , I found Homeschool Habitat. Listening to this husband-and-wife team discuss their plans made me so jealous. For those of you who don't know, I homeschooled M for several years and gave it up reluctantly to go back to work. Despite all the challenges, I loved homeschooling and lately I have been missing it a lot. Why on earth would I torture myself by listening to a talk show about the subject? I am so ready to pull my kids out of school now. I'm not a touchy-feely-lovey mommy and there are only so many rounds of tea party that I can stomach, so teaching my kid was a bonding experience for me. Trying to carve out some quality time on the weekend just isn't the same.

This is what I look like right now -- too tired to put a relaxer in that scary mop of hair on top of my head. Graphic created with South Park Studio 2. 

This is so me!

Now I need to read the book :-).

You're Stranger in a Strange Land!

by Robert Heinlein

Most people look at you and think of you as a Martian, even though you
were born on Earth. Silly Earthlings, er, people. Anyway, you've been telling people
about free love and relaxing like it's some radical idea. Most of them want you to go
back to the '60's (or Mars), but others are in your groove. Grok on!


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Does it bother you that much?

Exercise: 15 min. (Carmen Electra workout)

As I've mentioned before, I work in the mail processing department of a well-known Christian ministry. Most of my day is spent in front of the computer with batches of mail, reading each piece and enter the requests. The mail is sorted into similar requests to make the data entry go more quickly. Because I am a temp, I get a lot of the simple batches that where people are asking to be taken off the mailing list. Some people simply write "Please take me off your mailing list". The majority of people feel the need to write an explanation of why they want to be taken off the list. Some of these explanations are polite ("Please don't waste paper sending me your mailings") but many, many more of them are filled with hate. I never knew that people put so much energy into responding to hate mail. I realize that there is a good chance that some of the ministry's mail may end up in the mail box of a non-Christian, but why would they spend even two minutes crafting a hateful response AND spend the money on a stamp to send it back to us? They must know that this mail never gets anywhere near the head of the organization. If they were hoping to offend someone, they missed their chance when the mail hit my desk because I am pretty laid back as Christians go. Getting a letter that says "Stop sending me your f***ing mail!" (like I did today) is not going to get my panties in a wad. I just shake my head and take the person off the mailing list. It ain't nothin' but a thing.

The other kind of letter that has me shaking my head at work is from the people who feel the need to apologize because they can't donate. The organization has a featured book or CD that they offer for free each month. You can get the free offer every month and never donate. The organization does not badger people for donations, yet there are people who feel harrassed by having the piece of paper in their mailbox. If I get something from any group asking for funds and I'm not interested, I just toss it in the trash. If I've given once and I can't give again, I toss it in the trash. I don't feel obligated or harrassed by requests in my mailbox.

Exercise: 15 min. (walk around the block)

Would you eat this?

Have any of you seen the new Enormous breakfast sandwiches from Burger King? I don't normally have time to stop by a drive-thru for breakfast and TiVo has rescued me from commercials, so I just heard about them today on the internet. The thought of eating that much food in the morning makes me ill. I am strictly a coffee-and-yogurt gal. If the size of the sandwich doesn't turn you away, then perhaps the calorie count will. At 730 calories, the Enormous Omelet sandwich uses up half of my calories for the whole day. Yikes!

Food or Hardware?

I just saw an advert for Barilla pasta that read,

"Every strand of Barilla Spaghetti Rigati has sauce-gripping ridges, unlike ordinary brands of spaghetti."

Doesn't this make Barilla sound like a jar opener instead of a tasty pasta?

A little quiz fun

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

I wish I were a geek sheep! Whenever I take a quiz like this, I skew toward the geeky side but I don't know as much about computers as real geeks. I guess I am a geek wannabe :-).




Which Incredibles Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I'm A 1950s Geek

You're smart... and also slightly maniacal. There's just no hiding plots for world domination, sorry.

find your geek decade at spacefem.com

56% Of The Internet Loves Me!

I am loved by 56% of the population, including: 29314 people who love fat people 21591 people who love people talking on cellular phones 28862 people who love women In return, I love 26% of the population, including: 21195 people who drink lots and lots of coffee 34814 people who wear sweaters 26846 people talking on cellular phones

show the love at spacefem.com

Health Update

Starting weight: 260 lbs.
Last week: 255 lbs.
This week: 255 lbs.

It looks like I am holding steady, but that won't last for long if I don't get back to exercising. I only exercised once this week. The DVDs are fun but I don't do them when ABM is home, and he was off three days this week. Walking in the morning before work was what worked for me last time. I stopped two years' ago because my portable radio died and I never got around to replacing it. Now I don't want to buy a cheap radio because what I really want is an mp3 player. I know -- excuses, excuses! I just hate walking in silence. Without music it is much too easy for me to cut my walk short. I need something to distract me from how much I hate exercise.

My food choices haven't be the greatest, either. I've been sticking to my Slim-Fast plan for breakfast and snacks but lunch and dinner have been a trial. I chose to make lunch my big meal because we have a cafeteria at work. Unfortunately, I haven't been making the healthiest choices. There is always a salad bar available but I can't bear to have cold food for lunch, so I gravitate toward the meat-and-two-veg option. Since this is the south, the vegetables are rarely steamed. This week we have had fried okra, fried cauliflower, vegetable and cheese casserole, etc. To make matters worse, I end up eating junk when I get home instead of having my Slim-Fast meal bar and a cup of soup. If I eat at my desk, it would be easier to stick to the original plan and have a meal bar for lunch. I have a feeling that my lunch buddy would try to talk me out of it, though. On my last job we didn't have a cafeteria and I couldn't get out for lunch, so bedtime snacking was my only big temptation.

I thought I was ready to change my eating and exercise habits, but I seem to be doing nothing but making excuses. Although I tend to roll my eyes when people connect overeating with emotional problems, I must admit that I eat for pleasure more than hunger. Don't any of you go all Dr. Phil on me in the comments :-). I'm just saying that food tends to be my drug of choice, after caffeine. In my mind, if I have to work at a boring job then I should at least be able to get a little pleasure from what I eat. Losing weight will enable me to stay alive longer for my kids and I'll be a little happier with what I see in the mirror, but it won't change the fact that I have to work for a living when I would rather be a housewife. Right now, eating healthy and exercising seems like just another obligation that I have to work into my schedule with very little payoff.

Touching base with knitting goals

Welcome to the Friday night knitting roundup! Although my original plan as soon as I got home was to get in bed with my plate of pulled pork barbecue and a magazine, I remembered that no one is going to stick with this blog if I don't post something :-).

First up is the reknitting stuff. The huge bucket hat has been successfully frogged, but I didn't want to reknit that yarn with the same pattern. So I hit my magazine collection and found this:

This is a baby hat pattern from the Spring/Summer 2001 issue of Family Circle Easy Knitting. I am knitting the largest size, which happens to be the same as the smallest size of the bucket hat. The pattern says that 18" is for an 18-month-old child, but I have a feeling that it might fit a child older than that. Anyway, this hat will go into the stash. Here's my progress so far:




As you can see, I haven't gotten very far. You may have also noticed that I am not doing the stripes that are in the original pattern. I just wanted the texture in a solid color. Surprisingly, the cotton isn't hurting my hands. Perhaps knitting it flat is making a difference.

These misshapen socks




will be frogged so that I may harvest the Wool Ease Blue Sprinkles yarn for use in knitting this:




This is C1's second purse and she isn't even using a pattern. Whose child is this? I can't create anything without a pattern. She is also a big fan of Knitty Gritty . I've got to teach her how to read a pattern before she loses her enthusiasm.

Let's move on to this year's big goal -- afghans. I dug out my two partially-completed afghans and photographed them, hoping to rekindle my interest in them. The first one is what I call the Gaudy Rambling Rows afghan:




Can you see why I call it gaudy? I started this one almost five years ago and abandoned it a couple months later. I couldn't fit the entire width of it in the camera frame, even though I was standing on the bed above it. The yarns in this afghan and the next one are all Red Heart Super Saver and Caron Perfect Match. Say what you will about cheap acrylics, but they keep their color forever and can stand up to the abuse of my children.




This is the beginning of a crocheted zinnia afghan. I got this pattern from a Vanna White crochet continuity. This project is a perfect example of how much I hate to frog stuff. It isn't mindless enough for me to continue, but whenever I look at those squares I feel like I can't rip them out. If I knit or crochet more than two inches on any project, I have trouble frogging it even if I find a glaring error. I hate to see all that work go to waste.

Tonight's roundup has brought several things to light.
--I am almost ready to continue working on the Gaudy RR.
--I really want more of that Wool Ease Blue Sprinkles yarn.
--I need to find a cool beginner pattern for C1.
--I'm still can't make up my mind about the zinnia afghan.

See you guys tomorrow when we will discuss how far I have strayed from my healthy eating and exercise plan :-P. Off to eat my barbecue!