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10 pounds down 32 pounds to go!

Monday, August 31, 2009

Little Long Pond




We had a really beautiful day on the island. He really enjoyed being off leash but we didn't meet any dogs to play with at the park, which was too bad. We did meet dogs in town, which is always fun but today it was also weird. Knox was happily sniffing the butt of a golden doodle when his owners started chatting with another couple and described their dog as a "nazi dog". I was not the only one who was confused. The owners tried to explain themselves but it was still a little weird. Or a lot weird. Apparently they were trying to describe the intensive breeding involved in creating their dog (who didn't even sit on command, not that that matters). Can you call a dog a purebred if it's a mix of breeds? Does a purebred golden retriever mixed with a purebred poodle equal a purebred golden doodle? I'm just curious. Anyway, it was very strange that anyone would choose to connect their fluffy cuddly half poodle with the nazis so we slinked quietly away. Knox did sort of miss sniffing his butt though.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

"don't make me get the hose!"

Puppy will not go outside. It's been raining all day and he really has to pee but he just stands at the door and looks sad. It's impressive in a way because I'm sure he has to go but he's holding out for a weather miracle. Brave. Matt and I had a fancy day making waffles and doing errands in town. There were no boy things he could do with the weather so he was forced to hang out with me at the pet store and target and help me choose new glasses to replace the ones I keep breaking. I break a lot of things. It's ironic because we were searching for glasses that he can hold on to and yet he's never broken any of our house things. It's always me. I am a magnet of disaster and shattered glass. And have you read Colin Bateman? Because he's hilarious. I haven't actually focused on anything inside my house because I can't stop reading Belfast Confidential. I thought I was going to herniate something reading Driving Big Davey. It was the best ab work out ever.

Fortunately for my ass I was stepping all the while I was reading. I haven't used my stepper since dinosaurs roamed the internet and it just occurred to me that duh, I should. So I pulled it out and it makes me feel a bit lame but also smug because I'm doing something more than I was last week and probably I'll be a supermodel by tuesday. Stay tuned. In all seriousness I can't remember why I stopped using the stepper when it was really important in getting me off my couch and down two jeans sizes. I'm sure it had something to do with my knees but since I gave over running I'm not so worried about them. Better to keep the weight off them in this relatively low impact way than to uhh, err, not. I'm way out of analogies, that has to be a first.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Last time I talked to Big foot it was like "Hey B" "gurghaghurghhha"

I don't like Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I really wanted to like it. I'm sure I'm supposed to like it. I think it's a fitness blogger requirement to like it. There isn't really anything wrong with the flavor, it's the texture I can't stand. It's like those packing peanuts, which I'm sure are low in calories but otherwise urgh! I'm going to have to be patient for a few more bowls because it was so expensive I can't bear to throw it away. I think I'm going to stick with SmartStart for my overpriced healthy cereal fix.

I had to get that off my chest. I always feel left out when I don't like something everyone else likes, as though there is anything I can do about it but suffer. Secretly I suspect most people have noticed that Kashi cereal resembles packing peanuts but no one wants to complain about popular or expensive things. Anyway, the kashi is one of many new things I've tried recently that haven't worked out. I bought some yoplait yogurt parfait things which I had high hopes of but all you can taste is the chemical sweetener. Very disappointing. I have however fallen in love with the Kelloggs meal replacement bars, which I know are full of horrible fake things but I can't taste it and they help out a lot when I work weird hours. I hate the idea of "meal replacement", you have to go to the diet foods section to buy them and it's full of fake this and fake that, but they really do make a difference in keeping up the blood sugar.

I know I haven't mentioned it in a hundred years but I still have a stepper. The stepper that changed the way I lived in my apartment and helped me come down two dress sizes. I started using it again last week and my legs are killing me but I have high hopes. At the least it's better than reading or watching tv on the couch, which is what made all the difference in the beginning.

Monday, August 24, 2009

"look for something bludgeony"

Yesterday when I was with my client we heard a lot of sirens. I think I made kind of a big deal about hearing sirens all the time in Chicago. I guess sirens mean more when you live somewhere small because when you hear them you know the accident is near you or involves someone you know. The sirens we heard yesterday ended when the helicopter went by, lifeflight is never a good sign. Matt was just telling me about a game of chicken that happened on the darkside over the weekend, a sixteen year old kid dead. That kind of thing happens a lot but this accident was different. A wave from the hurricane Bill storm surge washed three people into the ocean at Thunder Hole, killing a seven year old girl.

I can't stand to go to the park today so I'm doing errands instead. It's all for the best because my shoulder is acting up. I know it's my own fault, I'm doing my best to stretch through the pain. I'm using Icy Hot this time, which is new. It smells like pepto and is starting to get Icy and the anticipation for Hot is building. I want numbness in a tube actually, that would be awesome. No, I'm whining but I have a lot to do today after my visit home and I need my arm to do it but it's 11 and all I've done so far is watch my netflix. I'm calling it therapeutic.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"Isn't there an elsewhere you need to be?"



Rebecca asked for pictures and so here is Cobscook Bay. It was really a beautiful day but my camera was dying so I only have a few pictures. I don't take nearly enough pictures, I really have to start taking my camera with me all the time every where I go. Today was a really crappy day and it was so hot and it was hiking day and my head is killing me and my client was a whiny mcwhinerpants. More like the complainernater. Today she was upset about her air conditioner. It works perfectly for a person with realistic goals, like not trying to cool down the open air porch. She was also upset about the trucks at the quarry reversing with their safety beeps, she's going to complain to the quarry owner. I know that she's not actually going to complain to the quarry owner any more than she's going to throw a bucket of water on the poor bastards mowing the lawns but it still sets me on edge.

You know, now that the painkillers have started to become effective I can see the shiny newness of these complaints compared to the old ones. We can probably get a few weeks out of the air conditioner trials. I wonder how well it works with all the windows, doors AND the porch open to the heat. That would be a test for consumer reports right there, I'm gonna write a letter.

Monday, August 17, 2009

I like watching lord of the rings when I clean, it makes me feel like cleaning my one bedroom apartment isn't as epically tragic as it feels. And actually between the slacking off on the computer and the non-stop snacking I'm getting a lot done. The chicks create this super fine white dust that covers EVERYTHING and it's awful. The books all said it will drive you crazy but when the chicks are little it doesn't seem like a big deal and then they grow and you can write wash me on the bathroom wall and you want to cry a lot. It took most of the day to de-dust the bathroom and every bottle on every shelf but it's done now and the next time we have chicks they will totally be in the garage if we have to get seventy two heat lamps to keep them warm.

The chickens spent their first day outside yesterday and are happily pecking around their run as I type. Knox thinks it's christmas and has spent every minute outside running circles around the run. Yet another reason they aren't free range. I hope I can find him a chicken costume for halloween, that would be awesome. SO, obviously I've spent the whole day searching my kitchen for chocolate and I have this ridiculous sugar high. I should stash emergency pms candy bars in the cupboards, I swear. Chocolate milk is too much work with too little gratification for the current level of my needs. There's something about the dog barking at the door ALL DAY because the chickens are on the other side of it that make you so angry inside that only a snicker's bar will do. Right now I'm telling him to wait for daddy to come home and take him out so I can make more chocolate milk and maybe use vodka instead of milk. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

"Question. What kind of bear is best?"

I googled "getting organized" and the drop menu gave me all these choices about getting organized at home and at work and it was all too much. I just want google to fix me, is that too much to ask? Maybe I need a life coach. That would be a whole other blog. Actually I think you need to have goals to use a life coach so I'm starting there. My goal for this weekend is to get some (more) giant tote boxes for clothes. It sounds like a solid baby step but it's been on my list of things to do for the last three weeks. I also have yet another grocery list to shop for, this has been the most expensive grocery week ever. That happens every once in a while, it's like a kitchen cupboard blackhole and you need everything from baking soda to ketchup to teriyaki marinade. It is costly and it's burns us, but also it seems to be taking up more space than the empties they are replacing which makes NO SENSE AT ALL. My kitchen is a physics free zone, laws of nature do not exist there. Weird.

"Customers! Please bring your money back"

So I realized earlier this week that I haven't cooked myself a dinner in a really long time. I cook dinner every night for Matt but I usually just eat his side dishes. This week I'm making a special effort to cook for myself. I made a few really great salads and a couscous bean dish last night and this morning I'm cooking a spaghetti sauce that technically is for both of us. I also made sugar cookies and blueberry muffins but they aren't strictly for me. I bought wild blueberries for my family only I forgot to bring them with me so I threw together some muffins. They'll last a while in the freezer and Matt will eat up the cookies so it's all good.

I spent a small fortune at the grocery store, 50% more than I was "supposed" to. I hate that but I just felt like something had to give. I bought a ton of fresh fruit and really there's no better time to do that being that everything is in season. I'm trying to push the fruits and veggies like I did once upon a time and I have to admit that the salads I've made have been unbelievably good.

There's something so silly about being lazy with things that benefit you, actually annoying. I'm really annoyed with myself. I don't even have kids so what am I putting myself in the back seat for? Matt, the dog? it's just stupid. The phrase "renewed commitment" just popped into my head and I almost burst out laughing, maybe slap in the face would be more appropriate.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

"fighting the power and eating whatever we wanted"

I'm watching fashion runway and dusting off my sewing machine because apparently I'm pavlov's dog. I actually have sewing to do on a skirt I bought that totally doesn't fit. It's big and it's jersey so now it's really big. Which is awesome compared to too small but it's no one's dream to lose their skirt on the street so I have to give it a cord. I want to get the most out of the skirt this summer so I have to git'r'done to use the local expression. I'm so not allowed to go shopping for the rest of the summer so that skirt needs to rock my summer to fall wardrobe. (this is what happens to me on project runway days, rock and wardrobe get used in the same sentence.)

My friend Holly came to visit and yesterday we hit the town with Knox. She experienced first hand what it's like to walk with a supermodel because people throw themselves at Knox as we walk. She was about thirty feet ahead of me at all times as I fought off the pupparazzi. I love my dog like the big dork that I am and I love that the all the attention is socializing him so well but it takes SO long to walk down the street. I have to remember to take side streets when I'm in a hurry. On the super exciting front Holly wants to come up Cadillac with us in the fall so that's going to be awesome. We're going to have to practice our hiking so we don't pass out halfway up the mountain.

I've been thinking about a lot of huge posts I'm sure I'll never get to writing but in a practical way I really need to start cooking for myself and making myself a priority. I always told myself I'd take time for myself when I was not working or working part time and I'm just not making me a priority and it sucks that I'm so lazy that I don't take care of myself better. More on that later.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

"I recognize a military formation when I see one"

Ever since it rained for two months the bugs have been insane. The pup and I take two walks a day and I spend each one hitting myself in the head over and over again. At least there aren't any witnesses, if you don't count all the hidden bears and squirrels wondering how successful human evolution really is. I hate to say I can't wait for winter but this summer needs a reset button, it's been really unpleasant all the way around.

Today I feel pretty great though. I have gotten so much done since I got home. I feel so empowered when I get things done. I need to spray paint that on my wall or something. Matt would love that! I've done three pilates sessions this week and my body is so happy with me. I had been really sore and pushing the pilates takes the muscle strain right away. If I finish up the dishes and take in the laundry from the line I could spend the rest of the night in the bath tub like one of those old school calgon commercials. Even working with my client went well. We had a particularly good time in Cadillac Mountain Sports where she bought some sporty capris and requested a size fourteen. She is both itty and bitty and the clerk thought she was insane. The largest size they had was a ten and I demonstrated how she could get two of her in the one leg. I tried to explain how sizing has changed over the years and eventually talked her into an eight, which will be very roomy but she has a collection of belts. She said she was amazed to fit into an eight and it reminded me how very much we all judge ourselves by those arbitrary numbers and letters. I recently bought a skirt online and went right for the XL instantly worrying it would be too small when in fact the large I eventually bought is a bit too big. My client is 84 years old and will always see herself as a 14, I can only hope I don't see myself as an XL for the rest of my years.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

"I was supposed to be that goat!"

Last night at Matt's birthday dinner his parents asked me if I learned anything in Chicago. It was actually a really good question and I did tell them a few of the things I learned. They seemed both confused and bored by what I told them, I felt kind of bad that I didn't have more interesting things to say. My client asks me questions like that a lot, questions she doesn't really want the answers to but insists on asking every few days. My favorite is when she asks where the internet is, where do they keep it? If only it were that simple. I find myself wondering how bad it would be to just make up a simple story even if it's not accurate. The internet is in New York City, but it's a big secret so don't tell ANYBODY.

There's a group of women we sometimes sit and chat with and the conversations are a riot. They really hate the management and I can't blame them. Most of the people living there were highly successful business people or educators or scientists and it's run by regular joe type folks just happy to have a job. They are essentially kind with good intentions but are also petty and self important in a lot of areas, not that I've had any personal dealings...I would never be so petty....ahem. Anyway, they're getting a Wii for the games room and I can't wait to hear what they have to say about that. They don't have a large screen tv for the vision impaired but they think a Wii is going to be a wild success. My client keeps saying she understands how people can be driven to the edge like postal workers and I'm starting to see her point.