Summer Fun

Summer Fun

1.  What is your favorite summer fruit? Cherries, strawberries, blueberries. I've read that tropical fruits are no-nos (too much sugar), and my food intolerance test came back that I should stay away from pineapples, bananas, etc. So I'll stick with berries.
2.  Do you know how to swim?  Yeah, doesn't everyone???
3.  Do you prefer sun or snow?  Snow
4.  What temperature do you like most inside your home? My ideal temp is 65, and I walk around in shorts and a t-shirt at that temp. I run warmer than most girls.
5.  Is it humid where you live?  Sometimes
6. What is your favorite food to put on the grill?  Salmon, chicken, corn, but honestly I'm too lazy to grill. If someone wants to grill for me, please do. 
7. Do you prefer to wear a one-piece  or two-piece swim suit?  two-piece except that I'm at high risk for a wardrobe malfunction
8.  What is your favorite summer drink?  Smoothies! Cherries, strawberries, blueberries & almond milk
9.  Do you prefer the pool or the ocean?  Either, pluses and minuses to both
10.  What are you looking forward to most over the summer?  Getting some time off work! This school year has kicked my butt.

Quick Check-in

Just a quick check-in. I've felt anxious lately. Work is overwhelming, I have a fuller home schedule than I'd like, I haven't been sleeping well, my mother is driving me nuts, national tragedies make me more melancholy than usual, blah blah blah.

I accidentally lit my hair on fire last week. I think that means I need to cut it, especially since I had to carve out the seared section. Please be glad that my job doesn't have me work with fire; I would have burned the whole place down by now.

Up to 6 clean-eating days this month. Not ideal since 21 thus far would be ideal. But 6 is better than 0, right?

As my good friend John would say, "Sometimes you just need a cheeseburger." I would insert "chocolate" instead of "cheeseburger," but the sentiment is indeed true.

Have a good one! 

Wednesday Food

Food at work: 1/2 lb carrots, 8 oz of spring mix (no dressing), shredded cinnamon lime chicken, and an orange

Dinner: the same shredded chicken but this time with black beans

Mexican rice

Cup of unsweetened almond milk & strawberries, which made strawberry milk when all was said and blended

I think I did pretty decent - healthy and gluten/dairy free. I thought rice was clean, but I looked it up afterward and found that only brown rice is clean. I'm still counting the day as a success.

The minority and the majority

Eating clean this month isn't going so well. It went well for 3 days, and then ... one day there was a party, and then my friend wanted me to sample her new baked goods the next, and then I had a lollipop, and then there was a sale on mini tacos at Costco (which aren't too bad since it's a corn tortilla, chicken, but then there's cheese...), and then my husband made my favorite foods on Mothers' Day. And then, and then. There's always some excuse. There will always be an excuse. I need to make the right decisions despite the obstacles.

I commit to recording all the food I eat on Wednesday. Albeit all that has gone on, I think my eating has slightly improved over what it was even a few months ago.

Over the past week and a half, which coincides with when I started derailing, I've felt a bit rattled. For the past few years, especially since being a mother, I realized just how non-mainstream I am. If there's a national tragedy (e.g., Newtown), most of the mothers I know get up in arms and outraged. I calmly calculate the odds and realize that it was a statistical anomaly. I realize how much stupid crap is done for the benefit of parents instead of the benefit of students. For instance, those dance recitals that feature 3-year olds. It's all for the parents. I don't want my daughter to participate so that she can have a photo op or so I can brag to family and friends. In fact, I don't want my daughter to be involved in it at all. There's also the stupidity of p r e s c h o o l graduation. That is some stupid shidizzle. What 4-5 year old WON'T go on to kindergarten? Why must we put on a freaking graduation from circle time? Do they do a graduation ceremony every year nowadays? This is akin to the trophy for just participating. What entitled little kids society is raising!

I am mean. I don't think you should get a trophy for just participating. I don't think you should have a stupid graduation ceremony for 4-5 year olds. I don't think toddlers should have to perform in a recital.

But you know what? I am in the very slim minority of those I know with kids who think this way. Fortunately, my husband's reaction is very similar to mine. And fortunately he likes how I view these things. With everyone else, though, I find it isolating. I am the sole "it's stupid to do this to feed our own egos" in the room with other people who are advocating for everyone to get a trophy for just existing. I fear. I'm not sure what I fear more: 1) that I will always feel this isolated or 2) that I will think like the majority at some point. Reframing would probably help. I'm looking at the downside of being a minority and a majority. On the other hand, there are advantages to being in either group. Reframe, I need to reframe.

The differences between here and there

From several people, I've heard a certain saying. It's kind of like a Mad Lib:

"People from ___________ are ______________ and ____________." (insert deplorable adjectives)


After spending a week on the east coast, which is where I'm originally from (so perhaps I'm reticent to insert deplorable adjectives), I did notice two slight differences between here and there.

The first, mainly learned from driving there and a few other experiences within the city: people on the east coast don't seem to be as patient as west coasters. I don't consider myself that patient, but - goodness - east coasters seemed like an impatient group. Like....everyone we encountered. 

The second learning, which I already knew from visiting there over the years, is that people tend to dress/be more "put together" than the west coast. It's not unusual to see people walk around in their pajamas here. There wasn't even one instance while I was on the east coast where I thought, "You're wearing THAT?" They dress more appropriately. Even on the Jersey Shore, I wasn't appalled at all by anyone's attire.

My husband and I did feel outnumbered politically. His family are all NRA, Fox News Republicans. My friends from there lean Republican. I know we encountered a small size of people from that area, b. ut it felt like everyone is Republican and we're the only Obama voters. Which I know is ridiculous because he won the freaking election.

Vacation Rundown

I finally have some time and energy to write about the trip--you know, the one to the east coast that I have been all angsty about for the past 3 months.

Short Rundown: We survived. Would have preferred to stay in a hotel. It was exhausting. We got a little time to ourselves on the beach, which we should have extended. J did pretty good on the trip.  I'm glad I'm an only child.

Long Rundown:

We got up at 2am on a Tuesday to start our vacation because our flight departed at 5am. Weirdly enough, all three of us woke up naturally by 1:45am (I have told you that I'm an insomniac and my daughter is a poor sleeper, right?). I thought this was a good omen for the trip because J is a beast if you wake her up. J who wakes up naturally is much more pleasant, and she was.

The plane trip to the east coast had a layover in Denver. All went okay except that J started to get really tired an hour before we got to Philly and fell asleep and we had to wake her up when we landed. (I've told you about her being a beast when woken, right?) So she was cranky, S's luggage got lost, getting the rental car turned out to be a bizarre ordeal even though I had already reserved and paid for it - I think we were all tired and fried. Then we had to navigate our way to the aunt's house in 5pm traffic.

The aunt we stayed with is nice. She's in her 70s. More importantly, she's low-key except for her penchant for Fox News (what is up with all of S's family being obsessed with that stupid channel?!).

Wednesday we went to the natural science museum in Philly; the aunt didn't want to go. Navigated the roads semi-successfully, was outraged at the cost of parking ($26 for a few hours!!!), J had a blast. Came back to the house, ate dinner with S's aunt, tried to unsuccessfully sleep.

As a side note, I didn't sleep more than 3 hours a night while we were on the east coast. S didn't sleep well either. J slept just fine.

Thursday S's aunt took us to her condo at the shore. We took 2 cars there because she was coming back the same day while we were staying the night. On Friday we went to the beach and walked the boardwalk. We were debating spending Friday night at the condo, but for some reason we thought we should go back to his aunt's house.

(BAD DECISION!) And that's when Pleasant Part I of the vacation turns into OMG! Let's Go Home! Part II of the vacation.

Disclaimer: I am an only child, and I've never really minded that fact. I've never lamented for a big family. I know that if I had siblings, the chances that I'd like them are 50/50. Even if I did like them most of the time, we'd probably still squabble - over property, attention, different ways of doing things, etc. If my sibling(s) had been younger, I probably would have been a caretaker, at least in some respects.

Second Disclaimer: I don't have the need for a lot of family togetherness and neither does the family I was raised in. We were the type to see each other once a year for a few hours. "Hi, let's eat a meal together and chit chat for a while, and then I'll go to my house and you go to your house, and see you again next year - or, if that doesn't work out, see ya next decade." I don't really get everyone coming from far and wide (i.e., the middle of the Pacific Ocean) for a birthday party near Philly that lasts for a few hours AND all sleeping together in the same house. There were 8 of us in a 2 bedroom house.

Remember I had wanted to avoid S's parents joining us on this trip? SURPRISE - his mom and sister made a surprise appearance on that Friday night. 3 aunts, his mom, his sister plus J and me - S must have LOVED being bossed around by so many women.

Saturday, the day of the aunt's birthday party, was hell. The birthday party itself was at an Italian restaurant, 6 courses, I have never eaten so much in my life. The party was nice. But the party was only 2 hours. The rest of the time was preparing for the party with all of these women and fussing over stuff and generally doing things I'm not good at or don't like to do. After the party was another party at the aunt's house with 12 more people. More fussing. S's sister was irritating the heck out of me with all her competitiveness. She can make anything competitive, even when you're not doing or saying ANYthing.

His mom and sister left Sunday morning. One additional aunt hung around. Sunday afternoon was my scheduled date with friends. That went great, but I was tired after - the past two days had exceeded my socialization allotment.

Monday we basically hung around with the two aunts. I did some work. We packed. We had a 6pm flight, which is very late to travel east --> west.  The flight back was so much longer, but it went okay. It was hard for J to wind down to go to sleep. We arrived home at 2am west coast time (5am east coast).

I got up at 7:30am to go to work on Tuesday.

And there you have it. NotAVacation is over. Operation Real Vacation is being planned for 2014.

April By The Numbers

What I don't understand: I only exercised for 2/3 of the month, splurged on food quite a bit while on the east coast, and LOST 1.2 pounds. My theory is that I was dehydrated from the trip and it's not a real weight loss. Otherwise, I'm completely confused.

Overall, decent month and fairly balanced. I got in exercise before the trip, read, and wrote.

In May, I am going to try to eat completely clean. I did a big grocery shop with lots of produce and have some recipes for smoothies and soups, plus lots of veggies and fruit. Nuts and seeds and beans mainly for protein, but I'm allowing myself to eat lean protein (fish, chicken & turkey) in moderation.

I'll be back to talk about the vacation. I'm still too tired to make much sense for more than a paragraph.