29 Gifts in 29 Days

While on vacation last week, I took along a book called 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving can Change Your Life by Cami Walker. The premise of the book is to spend twenty-nine days consciously giving gifts. They can be big, they can be small, but give away one thing every day. The author's life is changed by her intentional giving of gifts each day for a month. Her gifts included things as small as a cup of hot chocolate or advice to a friend to a massage or $100 to a good cause. At least one of the gifts was supposed to be something you feel like you can't give up.
In honor of the finer meanings of the holiday seasons, I am beginning my own gift-giving cycle on Sunday, December 5th. As the gift-giving challenge suggests, I will be journaling about each gift. Occasionally, I will blog about the gifts and the changes that take place as a result of the process.
Anyone interested in participating can sign up on the website: www.29gifts.org.

Poetry the Weight Watchers Way

If you bite it, write it.
If you snack it, track it.
If you nibble it, scribble it.
If you drink it, ink it.
If you steal it, reveal it.
If you sneak it, leak it.
If you grab it, blab it.
If you indulge it, divulge it.
If you lick it, bic it.
If you hog it, log it.
Grab your pencil before your utensil!
Only journal on the days you want to lose weight!

I went and tracked down the above "poem" of which the most famous line is "If you bite it, write it." It has inspired many a combination of eating and writing utensil. One of the earliest combinations included a plastic fork rubber-banded to a pencil. The most recent is the pen and fork melded together by WeightWatchers' SmartOnes brand.
Of course, with the way technology moves these days, I wouldn't be surprised if someday our taste buds automatically register the food we eat and transfer it to a computer food tracker. Similar to the way the Body Bug registers the calories you burn and logs it in for you. This does seem to be counter-intuitive to the weight loss process. But maybe by making these things easier, it does make the process easier.

WW Acountability: Day 4

One word: "Ouch!" I did the whole "this doesn't sound too bad points wise at TGI Fridays and found out later it was terrible" thing. 4 of the loaded potato skins were 21 points! Almost my entire day's worth. And I hadn't done all that great the rest of the day.
Today is another day!

WW Accountability: Day 3

So, another good day foodwise. Stayed within a reasonable number of points and didn't feel unsatisfied. Yes, I still got some chocolate in. :) Did not get any exercise in and overslept my new yoga class this morning. A little disappointing.

WW Accountablity: Day 2

Just a quick note with yesterday's tracker. Wasn't great, but I tracked everything and I still have room to stay on track for the week. Worked past midnight and did hit the candy drawer. I run my WW "day" from midnight to midnight, so the points will show up on today's morning. That allows me some flexibility for accounting for the extra points in today's meals.

Total of 35 points consumed. Swapped out 11 weekly flex points to make it even. Need to get in some exercise today.

WW Accountability: Day 1

Here it is. Yesterday's food tracker. Compared to how I have been doing, this is exceptional! I think the fact that I was going to have to post this definitely helped curb some potential overeating. I didn't touch the office candy drawer once even though I worked until 2 AM. Yippee!

I used 31 points total. 25 daily points, swapped 5 activity points and used 1 weekly flex point. All in all, a very successful day.

WW Accountability Challenge

Time for a little confession. Okay, maybe a big confession. I joined WeightWatchers on May 29, 2005, when my doctor said I needed to do something about my weight. At 5'-8" tall, I weighed in at 234 lbs. Not healthy.

I had great success over the course of the first year and a half and lost almost 60 lbs to reach 174.4 lbs. My lowest weight in my adult life. For the next two and a half years, I gained back 25 pounds, spending a lot of time between 190 and 200 lbs. In July of 2009, I was diagnosed with a hypothyroid which probably caused a lot of the weight problems. Feeling utterly exhausted is not conducive to working out or planning and cooking meals. I will probably always struggle with my weight, even with medication. The full extent of hypothyroidism on my life is a subject for another blog.

That said, I do know that over the past few months, I have not been making the best choices food wise. I've watched the 15 lbs that I struggled to lose since my diagnosis slowly creep back. So for this week, I'm creating my own little challenge. Every day, I'm going to post my food tracker from the day before. Depending on available time and my mood, it may just be the page or could be accompanied by notes and thoughts on what happened that day.

To the left is a blank tracker for reference. The main portion is an area to list the foods you eat and their points values. At the bottom is a location to track your hunger level. The righthand side of the page is a place to keep track of the 8 healthy guidelines. More on that another time.

For those not familiar with the WeightWatchers system. I get a certain number of daily points allowance (24 in my case) and 35 flex points to use each week as needed. You can also earn activity points and apply them to your food balance. Yeah, the accounting analogy is kinda fun for me. :)

Tomorrow morning I'll post today's tracker for the world to see!

Three Finished Bowls

Well, pottery class is finished for now. Here are the first three bowls I finished. I did a total of five. I'll post the other ones later.
Pot #1 in its final form. The shape was an accident, the glazing was an accident. Pretty cool-cooking for an accident. The glaze crackled (apparently, I left the bowl dipped too long.) Hmmmm…

Pot #2 completed. It collapsed while I was throwing it. But in this case, I left it as it was. I glazed it white with the brown rim, since it reminded me of a Grecian urn. Unfortunately, the brown didn't adhere to the white very well. I'm generally happy with this one.

Pot #3. For this one I returned to the basic bowl form and kept it simple. I like the straight sides, but would have preferred a more flat top rim. My instructor recommended rounded edge to prevent breaking, so I'll survive. I again did not put enough of the brown glaze on the bowl and I didn't overlap the colors sufficiently. I do love the blue glaze though.

First Co-op Purchase

Last week, I discovered that Orlando has a food co-op. Apparently, it's been in existence for almost two years, but I had given up looking several years ago. I placed my order online Tuesday from this week's selection. To make it easy, they have three basket sizes that you can order as a "Season's Selection." Small will feed a household of 1-2, Medium 2-4 and Large 4-6. You can also manually select your food from the available items. I picked the small basket for $20 as a test. In addition, I bought a one pound bag of French green lentils, since I've seen several recipes I wanted to try and Publix didn't seem to carry them.
Picking up this afternoon was very simple. I chose to pick up from their downtown location. They also have two other locations. Needless to say, I am extremely pleased with the quantity and variety of produce I picked up. A bundle of multi-colored kale, lettuce, two small cucumbers, five tangerines, an onion, two apples, a grapefruit, two oranges and a carton of cherry tomatoes. The produce should last at least a week and I'll post more later and the quality of the food.
You can order from their website at homegrowncoop.org. Also, for an additonal charge, they will do home delivery.

Pottery Class 2

Pots two and three. I decided to return to basics with the flat sided actual bowl and it turned out pretty decent. Still a little lopsided, but definitely looking better. Unfortunately, with the other one, I had made it really cool looking, but it had too much clay on the sides. In order to reduce the width, the instructor changed the bowl completely. When I tried to recreate the bowl as I liked it, the sides collapsed. Noticing a trend here? I'll post a sketch of what I want a bowl to look like in a few days.

Pottery Class 1

Here's my first bowl attempt, after drying for a week. I tried to do too much, too early. In other words, my vision outmatched my skill. I tried to make the walls to thin and too tall so it collapsed in one spot. After that, I intentionally collapsed a couple other places and voila! A flower shape! Anyway, I think it will make a nice decorative piece, perhaps to put colorful flower buds or rocks in it.

Gluten-Free Brownies

Today I made my first batch of gluten-free (and dairy-free) brownies. Yes, it was from a Betty Crocker mix, but I modified it. The box called for a 1/4 cup of butter and two eggs. I replaced the butter with an 1/8th cup mild olive oil and an 1/8 cup apple sauce. Then I replaced the one egg with two egg whites. The resulting 16 servings are 4 points each for anyone that keeps track of those things.
The final product was chewy and dense, just the way I like my brownies. I wouldn't recommend cooking them in anything larger than the 8"x8" pan, since they are rather thin. I ate two just to make sure they were acceptable. Now, to avoid eating them all. :)

Arguments for Recurring Driver's Tests

So lately as I've been wandering around Orlando, I've seen some rather disturbing driving habits that really make me wish we were required to pass a driver's test every 5 years or so. And not 75% or better pass, but 100% know all the answers kind of pass.
- Parallel parking against the flow of traffic. I still remember the one time I did this when I first got my permit. My mom practically yelled at me. It made an impression.
- And this one really scares me. At a traffic light at two 8 lane road intersections. On a red light. Making a U-turn. Could someone please tell me where this creative bit of driving has come from? I don't know where it's written that red means go.
- And then, of course, there's the drivers who refuse to share the road with bicyclists. As an avid cyclist, I strongly believe in the "Same Road, Same Rules" guidelines. This does require cooperation between motorist and cyclist. I admit to getting frustrated by bicyclists who don't follow the rules of the road, but I remind myself not to get too upset about it. Even the worst bicyclist does not deserve to have an angry motorist clip them with their car.
A friend of my sister's came up with an interesting idea, that I have expanded upon here. People should be required to first get lessons and a license to ride a bicycle on the road. Once that is accomplished (with a time frame of experience following), the next step would be a motorcycle. After each of these steps, you can finally learn to drive an automobile. The theory is that people would learn respect for everyone on the road--pedestrian, cyclist, biker or motorist. Because in the end, whoever is at fault for an accident between any of the above, the car wins.

Reading Quotes and Related Thoughts

“Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.”

- Charles Scribner Jr

I've been looking up quotes on reading for a project at work and came across the above through a Google search. After reading the quote, I did some further research on Charles Scribner, Jr and discovered there are no fewer than five! Digging deeper, I found that this Junior is technically the fourth, born in 1921 to the Scribner family of publishing fame. Apparently, each son used the name Charles Scribner, Jr. Sort of brings to mind those sci-fi stories where dynastic families find a way to live forever but "create" each successive generation as a camouflage. But I digress...

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Language is the soul of intellect, and reading is the essential process by which that intellect is cultivated beyond the commonplace experiences of everyday life.

- Charles Scribner Jr

To me, the above quote speaks of the journey you take when reading. Not only does reading cause the mind to expand in basic ways--vocabulary, grammar, etc--but you are exposed to ideas and thoughts outside of your own experience. A child can imagine a fantasy world with magic and mythological creatures. A twentieth century woman can fall in love with an eighteenth century aristocrat. A middle class businessman can learn of the struggles of a starving family living in squalid conditions on the opposite side of the globe. Each new reading expands the reader's horizons.

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Always do sober what you said you'd do when you were drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut!

- Charles Scribner Jr

I added the above quote simply for the humor in it. People like to talk big while under the influence, but many times won't follow through with their big plans. In some cases, things said could be dangerous, embarrassing or just plan stupid. By holding oneself to the comments made, it may cause extra thought before speaking. Or even a lessening of drinking.

On a related note, I've always felt that no one should ever use alcohol as an excuse for behavior. It seems to me that most people would do the things they do drunk while sober, if they only had the courage.

Storm Goddess

She is a storm goddess
with control over water and air
Her tears bring the rain
her breath the blowing wind

She is a storm goddess
connected to the earth and sky
Commune in her cathedral
respecting her power and strength

She is a storm goddess
thundering with a thousand voices
Have care when angering her
you may not survive the encounter

A Breath of Scandal

"Love is always a choice, hour by hour, day by day. You either choose love, or you don't." The above quote came from Maurice Chevalier's character Prince Phillip in the movie A Breath of Scandal. Chevalier plays the father of Sophia Loren, a princess in early 20th century Vienna, where every marriage is a contract and love affairs are expected.
Loren's character made every effort throughout the course of the movie to meet society's expectations and unit two countries in an arranged marriage. Unfortunately, she falls in love with an American who will not settle for being her occasional lover.
The quote concludes a conversation between Chevalier and Loren when Chevalier confides in his daughter that he and her mother have been faithful to each other for 36 years. All of their extramarital affairs were contrived to maintain the family status. Loren, rather bitterly, states, "But you were a prince and she was a princess, you didn't have to make a choice."
While she had a point that they didn't have to make a decision about love versus status, it would have been easy in that day and age to fall into the patterns of society's expectations. It is all too easy for something that starts as a game to become reality. Instead, Chevalier and his wife did choose love "hour by hour" and "day by day."
The movie is light and entertaining. The romantic in me enjoyed the show immensely. Chevalier performs one song, which is a nice treat.