Food is going to break me

I gotta say, that I am damn glad that I live in North America where food is readily available. Every now and then I think about the areas of the world where staple foods (like rice) are coveted because they are scarce. So really, I have no right to bitch about this. It isn't going to stop me, but I don't really have the right.

For the last few months, I have been radically overhauling the way I eat. It's *not* a diet. (Did anyone else hear ARNOLD in their heads when they read that?) I am really changing my attitude towards food and they way I eat. But let me say that this whole eating healthy thing is really freakin' expensive!! I just got a relatively small package of brown rice lingune noodles for about $2.40. A package of plain old spaghetti or linguine would have cost about half that, and you get more than twice as much in the package. I changed the syrup that I use in the mornings for my Red River cereal from plain old Aunt Jemima, to a locally produced, organic 100% maple syrup. The price difference knocks me off my feet, but I have to admit that the taste is totatlly worth it.

I am also totally loving the cookies by Sweets from the Earth. They are vegan and full of goodness, but for 8 (albeit large) cookies, expect to shell out almost $7. Yowzas!

Fruit and veg? Don't even get me started. I am really aiming for that mythic 5-10 servings a day (I am consistently above 5, and getting better at 10), but man oh man that is a LOT of food! Not only to purchase, but to eat .... my plate overfloweth.

Good thing is that I am starting to feel healthier. My walks with the dog are getting longer (which may also have something to do with the warmer weather and sunlight - yay!) and my whole system just feels ... better.

It better be working, cause one of these days, my grocery bill is gonna give me a heart attack.

Pop culture addiction? Possibly ...

A while ago (btw ... have I mentioned that my ability to gauge when things happened has gone to hell in a handbasket?  I think it has something to do with working from home ... days just sorta start to ... fade together) I was talking with a friend (who reads this - Hi M!! ... and who I am sure will tease me mercilessly in the comments) who had a People magazine donated to her that day.  Which in itself is not a blog-worthy thing.  The funny part was when she was glancing at it and realised that she had very little clue as to who the hell this mag was talking about, and was very out of date on the "news" surrounding celebs.  Heidi and Spencer?  Megan Fox?  Pink is separated?  That chick from Black Eyed Peas is married????   

I should mention, that Ms. M watches TV, and, as we all know, I eschew TV.  However!  That apparently does not stop me from knowing all the gory details about the lives and happenings of celebs.  She randomly went thru the mag (which was a few weeks out of date) and I was shocked at my stupid ability to name not only the relevant pop culture reference (TV, music, movies - you get the idea) but also why that person was newsworthy at the moment.  For reals.  It was so freakin strange.  And scary!  I have never really been a celeb gossip follower.  Lately, tho, my browsing history seems to contain a lot of sites dedicated to that sort of thing ... sites like PerezHilton (who I have given up cause he is just too nasty for my taste now), TMZ, People, MamaPop and others.  I seriously think that I have given up a good percentage of my memory to random celeb facts. Memory that I could be using to retain things like math and how to do my job properly!   I was going to give it all up, but I just can't seem to.  Every time I open a browser to read something worthwhile (like the news or the weather or information on how to get my dog to stop trying to eat the cat food when I am not looking), I just automatically navigate to something trashy.  It is like my mouse hand has a mind of her own ...  

Ah well - everybody has to have a vice, I guess.  And I would so much rather mine be this than something worse.  Like cheese. 

Sleeeeepy animals ... content Momma

I walked Phoebe three times today for a total of just about 2 hours.  The evening walk was actually a "power" walk (I hate that term ... makes me sound like a crazed mall walker or something), so she is good and tired now.  I just glanced over to see the Pixelator snoozing in my chair, and Pheebes on the floor beside her.  Both are konked out in a big way.  Shortly I will head to bed to read, and Phoebe will head to the crate beside my bed.  And, of course, Pixelcat will come up on the bed for head rubs and a snuggle at my feet.  

Times like this I start to feel almost normal again.  It has been a long time since I felt contentment. Finally my medication seems to be mostly sorted out (although it will likely be another week or two before I am sure of that), and life is returning to the way it was before I was taken over by naps and fatigue.  

I totally just jinxed myself, didn't I ..... 

One of my aunts emailed me today.  It has been over a year I think since I spoke to anybody in my family.  I guess the time has come that I will actually have to think of what I want and how much I want to let them in (and who, for that matter).  I have been putting it off cause there was no interest or contact from them .... sigh.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Changes.  Lots.  Starting with the layout (again). Seems like the other one wasn't so popular, so I made another change.  In case you are wondering, I got bored with the green theme.  It was just too dark - I wanted to lighten it up a little.  How's the new look for ya?  You will also notice that my Twitter feed is working again.  Not sure what happened there .... 

I also changed from vegetarian to vegan just over a month ago (during Earth Hour, actually).  Why?  Just cause I can, I guess.  The decision was made much the same way I decided to go vegetarian:  many moons saying that there would be no way in hell I could give up steak or ham or bacon or cheese or yogurt or whatever, and then suddenly realizing that giving up said gastronomical pleasures is exactly what I was about to do.  Heading in to the Earth Hour event that I attended with my only other vegetarian friend, I had no real intention of becoming vegan, other than a passing interest.  But one very interesting talk by a vegetarian-turned-vegan and ex-cheese-a-holic made a light bulb over my head go on. At that point I understood that really it was up to me to decide if it was what I *wanted* to do.  Sounds simplistic, but it was an epiphany for me at the time .... By the next morning, I was making a plan to phase out the dairy and eggs in my fridge and go whole hog into veganism.  This is not to say that I am going to be a fanatic about it.  If I eat something that has some dairy or eggs in it I won't be offended.  But I will do my best to avoid it.  The major reason behind doing it (for me) is as simple as I have just managed to cut out most of the problematic foods in my world.  It is suddenly much harder to eat emotionally, because the foods that I used to turn to are no longer on the menu.  There are always versions of things like cheese and yogurt, but I don't think of them as being the same.  There is never every going to be a substitute for a fantastic brie.  Ever.  But I know already that my arteries are thanking me, so it is worth it.  

Another change is that I started new depression meds a few months ago (I know - I am behind on all the news). They, well ... they didn't go so well.  I experienced a fatigue so all-encompassing that it made working very difficult.  So difficult that I had to take the day off yesterday because I was ready to go back to bed by 8:30AM.  Seriously.  By 9:00AM I was asleep on the couch, and I didn't rise until 2:00PM.  That is just not right!!  So today I got a new medication prescription.  Let's hope that it is better, cause otherwise it is going to make training for the 5K race I want to do very hard. 

Hmm.  Yes.   5K race.  I have apparently lost my mind and decided to try taking up running.  A few friends and I are going to try to do the 5K portion of the Toronto Marathon in October.  I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to it, other than it fits in with certain health goals I have for myself.  Goals like not following in the footsteps of my parents and getting sick or dying young (sorry for the downer moment, but it is true). 

I think that is the big changes of late.  I am sure I have missed something, but part of the problem with the brain meds is it feels like my brain is cloudy sometimes.  

I hope that I will be updating more often.  Apparently people start to wonder where I am when I go on radio silence for more than a few hours. :)

Long time no ... anything

The massive project at work is so close to being done that I can almost taste the freedom.  And the time off that I am so very much looking forward too.  I am hoping that I will have more time for things like this once it is done.  

In the meantime, check out the video in the sidebar (I really liked it ... not an upbeat topic, but a cool video nonetheless.  Sorry it is cut off tho - hard to find a blogger template that will accomodate it). 

Oh - and let me know what you think of the new look.  It will likely change over the next little while as I play with the settings a bit.  I *heart* free time to do things like that. 

L. 

Um

Ya.  What she said. Except with less knitting and no firearms.  And instead of "week", substitute "2 months".  And with special attention to the part about friends :) 

Love you lads and lassies, but my brain is mushy and that is all I gots in me right now.