Over the next however many years, you are going to get things. You know, just ... things: doodles on scraps of paper from cute boys, thoughtful words, cards, a book of poetry from someone's class project, trinkets, whatever. You will write sappy, cheesy poetry. Boys will give you love letters. Friends will make things for you. Save this shit! Please. Go get yourself a big box and decorate it. Carry it with you each time you move. No matter how much a break up sucks, save the letters. I promise you that someday when you are nearly 40 (I know. *gasp*), you will really, really want to read this stuff.
Lovingly,
37 year old Missy
P.S. stop bitching when your Mom plays the Clash in the car. It's not that bad.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Planning my Meals
I have been a thick girl pretty much all of my life but I don't have one of those sob stories that you hear all too often. I've had lots of boyfriends and too many husbands for a girl my age. I wasn't teased and tormented. I was never afraid to be in front of a crowd - in fact, that is probably where I've always felt most comfortable. I dunno... I've always been pretty fierce, even if just in my own head. With all of this fabulocity, I still struggle with food. And I hate it.
Yes, I am a gastric bypass patient. I had surgery two years ago in December of 2008. I lost a total of about 160 pounds depending on when you start counting. I worked harder for those first 40 pounds than any of the others so I count them too. I am trying really hard though to not let that define me. Now, this is a judgement-free zone (at least for this post). To each his own, right.... but I have never been the girl who subscribed to the protein shakes or bars or any of that stuff. I had this surgery so that I could learn to have a healthy relationship with the very thing that was trying to kill me. Alcoholics can stay out of the bar. Food addicts, well, you still need that to survive. It is a vicious cycle. I want to love my food and I want it to love me back.
I don't know how many times I have stood in front of the fridge with the door open - going back and forth on what to eat. "Well, I could make this... or THIS.... or, OOOO! This sounds great!" Unfortunately, "this" is almost always something fried, fatty or sugary. The guilt would get to me or I would just get tired of trying to decide and eventually just say screw it and end up at a Chinese buffet or with a pizza and that, my friends NEVER ends well. To combat this, I started making a menu. I sit down once a week with my cookbooks, or the innertoobz or old menus and craft out what I want to eat this week. I always throw in an extra meal and I don't assign days. I just pick one until there are no more to pick. I would love to say that I do this each and every Sunday but with a schedule like mine, uhm, yeah... that's not gonna happen. I do it when I get a day off and make the grocery list from that menu.
I'm not saying that this is fool-proof but it definitely makes my life simpler. Anything to cut down on the "What do you wanna eat?" fight with the significant other is a plus in my book.
Yes, I am a gastric bypass patient. I had surgery two years ago in December of 2008. I lost a total of about 160 pounds depending on when you start counting. I worked harder for those first 40 pounds than any of the others so I count them too. I am trying really hard though to not let that define me. Now, this is a judgement-free zone (at least for this post). To each his own, right.... but I have never been the girl who subscribed to the protein shakes or bars or any of that stuff. I had this surgery so that I could learn to have a healthy relationship with the very thing that was trying to kill me. Alcoholics can stay out of the bar. Food addicts, well, you still need that to survive. It is a vicious cycle. I want to love my food and I want it to love me back.
I don't know how many times I have stood in front of the fridge with the door open - going back and forth on what to eat. "Well, I could make this... or THIS.... or, OOOO! This sounds great!" Unfortunately, "this" is almost always something fried, fatty or sugary. The guilt would get to me or I would just get tired of trying to decide and eventually just say screw it and end up at a Chinese buffet or with a pizza and that, my friends NEVER ends well. To combat this, I started making a menu. I sit down once a week with my cookbooks, or the innertoobz or old menus and craft out what I want to eat this week. I always throw in an extra meal and I don't assign days. I just pick one until there are no more to pick. I would love to say that I do this each and every Sunday but with a schedule like mine, uhm, yeah... that's not gonna happen. I do it when I get a day off and make the grocery list from that menu.
I'm not saying that this is fool-proof but it definitely makes my life simpler. Anything to cut down on the "What do you wanna eat?" fight with the significant other is a plus in my book.
Monday, February 21, 2011
I read an article today about a woman who said that all of her home's waste last year would fit into a small metal box....
Now, I am realistic. I know I will never be that fierce, but I know my heart is in the right place. After our few days of 60 degree weather last week and now our stupid snow on the ground, I got the urge to play in the dirt. My super awesome compost pile was one of the things I lost in the divorce so I had to start over.
Composting may sound like a daunting task or only something that the super earthy people do but really, it's not that hard and it's kinda fun. Besides, it will come in handy when we plant stuff later on (but more on that later).
There are about a million websites on how to compost and unfortunately most of them get way too friggin' technical. There are just a few things that you need to remember.
With that being said, here's what I did. I just went and bought a regular old 35 gallon garbage can with a lid from Lowes. I drilled the sides and bottom with little holes so that air can get into it and so that excess water can get out of it. I also like quick results so I purchased two bags of mushroom compost for two bucks a piece. No need to start from scratch if ya don't need to.
Composting needs two different components. Green Stuff and Brown Stuff. Green stuff includes things like kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, fresh leaves and things like that. Brown stuff includes old dry leaves, newspaper (not the slick advertisements, though) straw... you know, dead things. You need to make a layer cake of sorts. If you throw some kitchen scraps in there, you need to toss in a handful of newspaper. It also needs a bit of water. I usually give it a quick shot when I go out to water my plants. I also give it a stir then too.
Too much brown stuff = it never breaks down
Too much green stuff = it rots and smells horrible.
It should smell pretty pleasant, truth be told and if you do it right, you will end up with some beautifully black kick-ass dirt to grow your tomatoes in.
I used to save all of my kitchen scraps in my freezer and take them out at one time but I have this bajankity old freezer with very little space. I had to come up with some other plan. I went to the paint aisle and found a really cool metal bucket with a handle. I painted it and stuck it in my kitchen. I will just put the food in there and then dump it when I go to the car or when the boy goes out to have a smoke. Keep 'em useful, I always say.
Composting may sound like a daunting task or only something that the super earthy people do but really, it's not that hard and it's kinda fun. Besides, it will come in handy when we plant stuff later on (but more on that later).
There are about a million websites on how to compost and unfortunately most of them get way too friggin' technical. There are just a few things that you need to remember.
- Composting at home is for fruits, vegetables, paper/cardboard and that's about it.
- Play it safe and don't add cooked food
- dog poop and manure are not the same thing. Keep the animal waste out of your compost pile
- You want absolutely no meat, no dairy, nothing with any kind of fat. That stuff will go rancid and ruin it for you.
Composting needs two different components. Green Stuff and Brown Stuff. Green stuff includes things like kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, fresh leaves and things like that. Brown stuff includes old dry leaves, newspaper (not the slick advertisements, though) straw... you know, dead things. You need to make a layer cake of sorts. If you throw some kitchen scraps in there, you need to toss in a handful of newspaper. It also needs a bit of water. I usually give it a quick shot when I go out to water my plants. I also give it a stir then too.
Too much brown stuff = it never breaks down
Too much green stuff = it rots and smells horrible.
It should smell pretty pleasant, truth be told and if you do it right, you will end up with some beautifully black kick-ass dirt to grow your tomatoes in.
I used to save all of my kitchen scraps in my freezer and take them out at one time but I have this bajankity old freezer with very little space. I had to come up with some other plan. I went to the paint aisle and found a really cool metal bucket with a handle. I painted it and stuck it in my kitchen. I will just put the food in there and then dump it when I go to the car or when the boy goes out to have a smoke. Keep 'em useful, I always say.
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