Tag: Life

Elimination Diet

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Sooo, remember that time I did a cleanse and it was intense and not really that fun and and I pretty much hated it?? Well, I’ve discovered a different way to torture myself  cleanse my body and reset for the summer. It’s called a 21 day elimination diet and it’s main function is to determine potential food allergies that may cause a myriad of symptoms that really make life kind of a pain. When my doctor suggested that my complaints might be food related, I wasn’t surprised due to a family history of that sort of thing. Not to mention that summer is coming. Call me vain but I want to be in prime form!

It took me awhile to wrap my head around the idea of eliminating gluten, dairy, soy, alcohol and various other fun foods from my diet for an eternity three weeks. My logical side reasoned that it would no doubt help my daily headaches and other random ailments, but my indulgent side screamed for mercy. As a wise thirty year old, reason won out. I am happy to report that we are on day 7 of our elimination diet. Oh yeah, Garett graciously agreed to join me on this food adventure. I like to think of it that way. We are exploring other food types and options in lieu of our normal fare.

While it takes a lot of planning, prep, patience and dedication to follow this program, it’s been quite a learning experience and eye opener. A tasty dressing can be whipped together in a jiffy. Almond butter is a great alternative to peanut butter. I can make soup that rivals the box soup that’s my go to quick meal. I don’t really miss bread. I really miss sushi. My headaches probably are food related. I have been headache free since embarking on this diet which is pretty flippin awesome.

As we settle into a groove it definitely gets easier. Could this be habit forming?? Yes, please! I can actually say that I am not dreading the rest of this experience. I’m looking forward to continued health improvements and discovering what foods are hot buttons in the reintroduction phase. In the meantime, I’ll be tantalizing your taste buds with tales of our delicious and nutritious meals!

I Blame Improv Class

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Lately I have not felt funny. Or maybe funny things aren’t happening to me. This translates to WTH am I supposed to blog about. I’m not sure what is going on, but I need to get my funny back. It’s not like I think I’m hysterically funny, or witty, or sharp; but I normally at least think of myself as a kinda funny, goofy, slapstick person.

So naturally I decided to take an Improv Class. It seemed like a fun, creative outlet that I would enjoy. And that I might actually have a tiny bit of natural aptitude for it. I figured it would be hard work, but did not anticipate how bad I would be at it. I’m talking stage fright, freezing-up and completely overwhelmed by all the funny in the room. Still I  kept it up, figuring at some point it’d click and I’d have an ah-ha moment.

It didn’t. And it stole my funny. Desperate times call for desperate measures. What to do?? Well, I guess I might have to take the course again. What a racket!!!

Pet Peeve Monday

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In honor of Mondays being the absolute pits, I thought I’d post a pet peeve. I know I should probably try to be inspirational and uplifting on today of all days, but it’s Monday and I don’t feel like it.

I have to park in a parking deck for work. Since I’m one of those people that is always running late for work, I’ve historically peeled into the parking lot, jetted out of the car and sprinted into work. Not possible when you are dealing with a parking deck. I can’t seem to get the hang of adding 10 minutes to my commute to deal with navigating the parking deck and getting to the 4th floor where the not very special people without reserved spots are relegated.

My general demeanor upon arriving in the parking deck in the morning is typically pretty dark. I’m not super thrilled about spending my day cooped-up in an office. Sorry people, I am not one of those lucky individuals who can’t wait to get to work and dispense sunshine and rainbows.

My demeanor gets much darker when I see the amount of SUV’s parked in the compact section of the deck taking up more than one space! These spaces are teeny-tiny. I have had to use my passenger side door three times over the past few months to enter my car, because someone was parked so close to my car that I couldn’t access the driver side door.

So parking deck designers who made the spots too small in an effort to squeeze every bit of space outta that towering cement hellhole and SUV owners who insist on parking in the compact spots, thank you for being even more obnoxious than returning to work on a Monday. I wasn’t sure that was possible….

WTH? Wednesday

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WTH? This always happens to me at the grocery store in the check-out line.

Harris Teeter Employee: Whoa, is that a spaghetti squash? It’s huge! I’ve been meaning to try that. How do you make it?
Me: I roast it and put spaghetti sauce on it.
In My Mind: It really is a great substitute for pasta. Look at me passing on the healthy tips.

HT Employee: Tofu….Hmmmm. Not sure about that one.
Me: Yes, it’s an interesting ingredient.
Okkkkkkk….

HT Employee: Blueberries? I love blueberries.
Me: Yep, they are pretty great.
And here we go…

HT Employee: Wow, there must have been a sale on cheese.
Me: Yes, I’m stocking-up.
Is she judging my cheese consumption? Do I care? I just want to get out of here. And that cheese is looking pretty tasty…

HT Employee: I didn’t know we sold that soap here!
Me: Yep.
Make it stop. Why is the man behind me glaring at me? It’s not my fault my purchases are so entertaining!

HT Employee: Wine. Yum! I’m gonna need to see your id for that.
Me: Sure thing.
Finally! Something I can get on-board with. Flattery will get you everywhere.

But still, although it ended on a good note, was that exchange really necessary??

 

Oh, Right….

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Last night we were streaming an old episode of Jeopardy from YouTube–because what else would we be doing on a Friday night–when a weather alert scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

Me: Ahhhh! A winter weather advisory. Dangit, I was hoping it’d wait till Monday. Hmmm, those counties don’t look familiar….

Radio Silence.

Where Does the Time Go?

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Well hello February! Fancy seeing you here. I mean for the love of pete we just took down our Christmas decorations this weekend. Once I realized the stockings weren’t going to replenish themselves it seemed like a good idea to move on.

Time is zooming these days. And I’m struggling to make blog posts happen. It’s not that I don’t want to blog, I want to blog all the time. The problem is timing. I have flashes of blog inspiration throughout the day when I can’t blog. Like when I’m driving to work, when I’m working, oh yeah still working, goodness gracious is it time to go home yet, and finally time to go home. Yippee!!

Finally. Now I can do the things I want to spend my time doing like blogging, and I’m exhausted. My brain is mush, my head is pounding, my back is throbbing and my main desire is to get home ASAP so I can relax. Maybe do some light chores, watch some tv, eat some dinner, hang out, paint my nails…I mean I’m not completely worthless. Basically anything goes except spending more time staring at a computer screen.

I spend 8 hours a day Monday-Friday at a desk working on a computer. Well probably more like 7.5 if you count bathroom breaks. Still. That’s a lotta screen time. And I realize that I am not alone. I’m sure there are legions of people pining away in an office all day who manage to come home and put on their blogging hat.

So there it is. I think I just wrote my way to a solution. Clearly, I need a blogging hat.

I am still wondering  though where the heck does the time go??!

 

 

Cautionary Tales-Adventures in Cleaning

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Since sharing is caring, I thought I’d share a cautionary tale. I know it might seem strange taking advice from me, but I’m usually pretty spot on when it comes to what NOT to do in life. I’ve gained a lot of experience by routinely doing the wrong thing.

I wanted to try cleaning with vinegar and water, but I didn’t have an empty spray bottle. I did, however; have a spray bottle on hand that was halfway filled with J.R. Watkins Natural All-Purpose Cleaner. I didn’t want to waste my bought on clearance at Target natural cleaner, so I poured it into a glass and sat it by the sink. Garett commented that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Well, what if cleaning with vinegar and water wasn’t such a good idea and I needed a back-up cleaner? Plus it’d be wasteful to throw it out.

Fast forward to early the next morning. Blurry-eyed and parched I stumbled into the kitchen for some water. Ah-Ha! Perched next to the sink was a glass of water. Yessssssss, score. I grabbed the glass like it was a lifeline (there may have been some adult beverages consumed at our house the night before), and threw it back. And then immediately spit it out. I’d been punked. By myself. The “water” was the J.R. Watkins cleaner that I’d strategically placed there yesterday. And it was awful. There was nothing natural tasting about that nightmare in my mouth.

Thoughts flew through my head. Ahhhhh, my throat is on fire. I could be dying. Oh shut-up you didn’t even drink that much and it’s natural. Natural products should be safe for consumption. Right??!! Oh crap. I don’t know. This is the worst taste ever. I should brush my teeth. Accckkkk that didn’t help. I’ll eat something. Ugh is it possible it’s getting worse??!! What now?? Why didn’t I listen to Garett?? Ok, think. What to do when one drinks cleaning solution? 

A few minutes later, I was on the phone with poison control. And it wasn’t embarrassing at all explaining that I was a 30 year old woman, nope not a kid, that accidentally drank all purpose cleaner. I was told that I should be fine, to take it easy, the after taste would probably fade at some point and given a lecture on the safe storage of cleaning products. I’m pretty sure that was a one and done kinda situation, but I guess you never know. Just to be safe the J.R. Watkins bottle now holds a mix of water and vinegar. Safety first!

 

Dream Reader

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My Blogging 101 course asked us participants to publish a post meant for our “dream reader”. So of course I can’t get the song Dream Weaver out of my head now. You see how that could happen, right?

But I digress. Sure it’d be nice to have a dream reader that could read this blog and magically make all my bloggy dreams come true. Yes, I have a few. But really, I’m happy if someone reads my blog and it resonates with him or her. I love it when I come across a blog that feels like a long lost friend.

So, if you are reading thank you for being my dream reader. If you want more, make sure to follow me so you’ll always get my latest and greatest posts. I promise not to make you cry too much. In case you didn’t notice, I really, really, really just wanna make you laugh. Or smile. I know some of you aren’t as easily amused as others.

Blogging 101

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Sooo, I signed-up for a blogging course/challenge/primer through WordPress. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but from the first assignment it seems to be the massive kick in the bum I need to incorporate more writing into my life. Right off the bat, our first assignment is to introduce our blog and the purpose behind it.

I wrote a welcome back post for the new year that touched on my goal to write more this year. The assignment got me thinking about why I’m choosing to do it via this blog. Because honestly it’s pretty flippin scary to think about any one but you guys (you know who you are) perusing through here.

Well, let’s see…

I am pretty attached to this project and ready to take it to the next level….I’ve come this far….I still kinda, sorta, maybe, really want this blog to take off and help me achieve my writing goals….For your enjoyment and entertainment….Biographical purposes to preserve my life’s little adventures…..It’s complicated.

For more clarification check out these posts–(I took the liberty of updating the titles to better reflect what you are getting into here)

Welcome to the Awesomeness

What the Heck is L-Bonics?

This is Why I Did It

And Why I’m Still Doing It