Cat Earns Keep! News at 11!

Can you believe it, can you? For those of you I have not notified, Lilliana, our 2-year-old cat who is the size of a 6-month-old kitten, just won the Better Homes and Gardens Halloween Pet Costume Contest.

Yes, she earned us nearly $700 in cash and prices. Well, actually it was my sarcasm which won. I hate pets in clothing (a sweater in the winter is okay for dog walks), so I posted the photo at left with the caption:

Contrary to what my mother may tell you, I am NOT Happy Little Pumpkin Girl.

Irony (the opposite of wrinkly) is alive and well.

BTW, I purchased lovely bright purple yarn for Allie's sweater I plan to make her to walk in the park. She obviously approves because she had it strewn about the house when Tim got home last night.

Dinder to waiting time

Allie, our dog, calls dinner "dinder". Okay, we say that for her, but still! She responds very positively.

My food and exercise log:

Dinder: Salad - 2 c of mixed OG* baby greens, 1 c shredded coleslaw, 1/2 can tuna, 4 cherry tomatoes, and 1/4 c of coleslaw dressing made from dijon, olive oil, and white wine vinegar. Topped with 2 t of an OG concoction of ground cashews, hemp seeds, and sunflower seeds I made. Two cubes of bbq marinaded tofu - not very good!

*(OG = trade slang for organically grown)

Breakfast: 2 segments orange, 2 small corn tortillas, 1 oz OG rice cheddar, 2 poached eggs, chili powder (CP)
Snack: small OG granny smith, 1/4 c OG sunflower seeds
Lunch: 2 corn tortillas, 3 St. Ives vegan turkey, OG romaine, 1 T Miracle Whip (I know, I know)

Exercise:
Oh, did I have fun exercising today! One of the major reasons I take the bus is that I am still not over being so sick last month. Exhausted ALL the time. Today, the #4 was on time, but the 41 was not due for 30 minutes since it was a different time than usual. To stay warm in the snow, I figured I would walk down the main street toward home as it is riddled with bus stops. (Literally every 5 - 7 houses)

Famous last words.

The bus driver did not pull over when I waved. I ended up having to walk the 1.25 miles home. Nice. At least it was thermodynamics mixed with hills! The bad part was I had on my dress boots with no gloves. Brilliant!

I called and complained. About both drivers. Back to sighing. sigh

Day one begins . . .

So, all the clothes in my closet are a single digit size. sigh.

This is me at a size four, in 2003. I was healthier, happier, and had a whole lot better self-esteem. It felt so awesome to be so small. I loved walking into clothing stores, picking the small, and having room to spare!

I want to recapture that again. I am motivated, and I have many friends behind me. (Thanks to those who wrote to me, both on and off the site!!!) Hopefully I will soon be able to wear my suits again! This requires time, I know. This also requires no dairy, no wheat, and no meat whatsoever. Fish, yes. In other words, a pesco vegetarian again. I am loosely following Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat.

The word of the day is thermodynamics. Did you know you burn more calories when you are cold than when hot? When you are hot, you sweat and lose water. When you are cold, your body burns fat reserves to heat up and maintain an equilibrium. Thermodynamics. One of my previous consulting clients, a former national bodybuilding competitor, told me that.

I mention this because our lousy glassy-eyed busdriver on the #4 (yes, I prefer to take the bus) once again missed the 1:12 Crosstown connection (#41). It was crossing the road just as we were about 3 blocks away. sigh

Early this morning, the temperature wes 51 and it was raining. I wore my slicker. At 1:13 PM, it was 22 and snowing. I resigned myself to the fact that the #41 drivers are ALWAYS on time, and the #4 is always late - which means I stand in the cold for 46 minutes. Yep, thermodynamics.

I froze, literally, my ass off, but kept telling myself that at least I was burning calories.

Food log time!

So far today:

1/2 c raspberries

2 large strawberries

4 dates

1/3 c unsalted sunflower seeds

2 hunks (3" wedges) of gluten-free squash bread (NOT my favorite recipe) with 3 slices St. Ives meatless turkey, 2 t Miracle Whip, and 2 shots of hot sauce.

Unlike Bridget Jones, I do not smoke, so # of cigarettes will not be included. Also, I swear I will never wear a Playboy Bunny costume in public, no matter the theme of the party.

Thought for the day

Incidentally, I have never been a big fan of salt, however, I have also cut out all processed food containing it, as much as possible. My sincere recommendation:

Never a wise plan to increase the amount of water you are drinking while simultaneously DECREASING the amount of salt you intake. It's a recipe for incontinence!

(Not that I would know. sigh)

So it begins . . .

I never thought I would be one of THOSE people - the ones who blog online. I always thought posting arbitrary thoughts for the entire world to access was a bit lame. I have been told it's cathartic, but I also was told so was keeping a journal, so I used to keep a journal.

While "journaling" (pet peeve #1 - arbitrary nouns made into verbs by adding -ing JUST BECAUSE, like antiquing) I found myself, instead of cleansing, to be re-hashing FAR too much, over and over. I felt like a Holstein, constantly ruminating the same obssessive thoughts. Seriously, I found myself so stuck on one thought, it was more like constipation than catharsis, so I quit.

Incidentally, I have a feeling you will learn much about my pet peeves in the coming blogs.

Most of you who will be reading this know me fairly well. For those who may not, I am married to a marvelous surgeon and am an assistant professor at a (moderately) well-known university. I am a huge animal lover, I don't eat red meat or pork (and very little of any other animal), nor do I wear leather. Our current tribe of beasties includes 2 Red-Eared Sliders (turtles), 5 black cats, one black dog (a rescue baby, FCR and Brittaney most likely), a pot of snails, and take care of 6 - 8 outside moderately feral cats. That's the tribe.

I love reading, photography, yoga (when I can breathe - more on that later), and yarnworking.

One of the main reasons I have decided to start this blog today is that I need to get this weight off. You see, I moved to Cincinnati 3 years ago as a size 6-8, somewhere in there. I am not able to breathe here - asthma being a rampant ailment here due to very poor air quality - hence no yoga. It's difficult to even move some days, let alone try to exercise. I have gained A LOT of weight, and since we will be moving in the next few months when my chief surgical resident husband finishes his surigical residency, I am hoping to do something now to be more proactive.

I have seen doctors. I was on 11 different pills, tabs, or sprays daily. I HATED the way I felt. I have almost weaned myself off of everything, and I am returning to what I know best - organics, vegetarianism, and alternative forms of medicine. I am hoping for some support and ideas from those I know and love best, and from all of you arbitrary people worldwide who may find this blog.

I am not posting my weight. I am keeping a foodlog on here starting tomorrow, as well as an exercise journal.

So it begins . . . help?