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.:the mind of AllieKat:.

…filthy quips from dirty lips…

Homemade Body Scrub

Posted on May 17, 2012 by AllieKat

Recently when we went to Florida, in the bathroom of a restaurant in Pensacola I had the opportunity try a extremely yummy smelling body scrub.  They had it in a bowl next to the sink with instructions to rub it on your hands and rinse off.  It smelled very coconut-y and tropical; perfect for a beach setting.  My first thought was (after, oh my god this smells yummy) was “Hey, I bet I could make this!)

Armed with a determination to make a body scrub of my very own and the motivation to get it done for Mother’s Day so I could present some to my mother, I turned to the world’s most valuable crafting resource: Google.

Eventually I found my way to a couple of scrubs that I decided I would try for myself.

First, we went shopping for jars or glass containers.  After being unsuccessful at JoAnne’s, we wound up at Michael’s where I settled on some 8 oz candle jars, a small hot-glue gun and some pretty ribbons.  Later that evening, after further Googling, I thought 8 ounces might be too big; since these scrubs are made out of kitchen ingredients, I was concerned they might have a fairly limited shelf and/or refrigerator life.  So instead of using the candle jars, I got a box of twelve 4 oz canning jars from Kroger.  They seem like a very good size!

The first one I wanted to try was the simplest:  peppermint foot scrub from theidearoom. It is simply white granulated sugar, coconut or olive oil and scent.  I chose to use a refreshing peppermint eucalyptus scent that I found in the soap-making section at Michael’s. I wound up using a ratio of 1:2 of sugar to oil: 1 cup sugar, 1/2 a cup oil.  I used an extra light olive oil.  I would have preferred to use coconut oil, but it was more expensive.  On a side note, I love coconut oil.  I use it in my hair and I understand it’s good for your skin and is excellent for cooking. Anyway, I added about 20 drops of scent because it was fairly mild and I love the smell of peppermint.  Then I poked a hole in the ends of 5 capsules of Vitamin E and squeezed that into the mix.  I finished up by added ONE drop of red food coloring because the olive oil turned it slightly yellowing and I thought pink would be a good color for peppermint.  Only one drop though, I didn’t want to turn mine or my mother’s skin pink.

After mixing it all up, I scooped it into the canning jars and hot glued pretty pink ribbon with dangling ‘crystals’ all around the jar underneath the lid.  I tried it myself in the shower and was pretty pleased with it.  I wanted it thick enough that it wouldn’t run off and could actually be used to scrub, but not so thick that it was too rough.  Go with personal preference.  I would make this again, definitely.

The other scrub I tried didn’t quite turn out as well: coconut milk body scrub from Priya Beauty recipes.  This one calls for a 1:1 ratio of brown sugar to coconut milk (1 cup) and a little coconut oil (1 tablespoon).  I warmed the coconut milk in the microwave and added the brown sugar and coconut oil.  It seemed runny, but I chalked it up to the warm milk melting the sugar.  I figured when it cooled it would thicken up.  I added Vitamin E to this one as well, but I passed on the scent, because I love the smell of coconut and felt that between the coconut milk and the coconut oil it was yummy enough.  I poured it into my jars, added my ribbon and refrigerated.  I didn’t want the coconut milk to go bad.  I imagine this would have a very low shelf life and refrigeration is surely a must.

I just tried this concoction in the shower today and it was extremely runny.  It ran right off and there was no ‘scrub’ to it at all.  However, it smelled really yummy and my skin feels nice and soft.  I would make this again, too, but next time I’m going for a 2:1 ratio of brown sugar at least.

All in all, I liked them.  It was an easy to make but (I think) decent present for my mum.  I would caution if you use one of these in the shower to beware of the floor getting slippery from the oil, especially if you don’t have any textured no-slip strips in your tub or shower.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Posted on November 1, 2011 by AllieKat

When I started this diet, I don’t know exactly what I was expecting.  To lose weight, sure.  But I think I also expected to actually notice some changes.  Especially when I threw regular exercise into the mix.

More energy, for one.  I don’t know how many times I’ve read or heard if you lose weight, you’ll have more energy.  Your body functions more efficiently due to the regular exercise or having to carry less weight around or what have you, so you start to get more energy.

Better moods.  Who hasn’t heard that exercise puts you in a good mood.  It releases endorphines,  you feel better, you can work out stress, you have more energy so… better mood, right?

You’ll sleep better!  For, you know… some reason.

I seriously cannot tell a difference with any of those things.  Maybe it’s subtle; it’s happening so slowly I… just didn’t notice I was happier, had more energy and am sleeping better? I don’t think so.  I will be optimistic and say, maybe it will come with time.

The number one thing I think I absolutely cannot stand to hear is: exercise can be fun!

…  :-|

Seriously? What kind of weirdo thinks exercise is fun? (No offense to said weirdos.  We all have our little quirks.  I’m sure you’ll find someone to love you in spite of your strange exercise fetish!)

I hate exercise.  I mean, I hate exercise.

I hate it with a passion usually reserved for pedophiles, people that hurt small animals, and people who use Comic Sans.  Or worse; puppy murdering pedophiles that use Comic Sans in their blog about the best way to torment kittens.  Oh, and people who talk to me in the bathroom (Seriously.  Do you enjoy it so much in there you have to prolong the experience?).  But I have bitten the  bullet and have been actually using that stationary bike for something besides a clothes rack.

I still hate it.  What’s that feeling of dread? Oh, just my bike staring at me menacingly… But I just grab my Nook, bite the figurative bullet (I mean, we do have real ones around, so… you know, I could have meant it literally)  and ride my little heart out (also figuratively) until it beeps the end of my 30 minutes of misery.  Another small change I’ve noticed there: I had to up the resistance.  It was getting too easy and my legs didn’t feel exactly like they were made of jello or cooked spaghetti at the end.

I think the most major thing I’ve noticed, which is a pretty big change for me is that my knees don’t hurt as bad.  The tendon behind my right knee doesn’t pop and send knives of pain through my knee at random times.  I can make it through the grocery store without hobbling because my knee feels like it doesn’t want to bend anymore.  No, now I’m just hobbling because my feet hurt so bad and since I’m not distracted by my knee hurting anymore it’s way more noticeable!

I haven’t had to buy new clothes or anything.  My shirts may fit me slightly looser, but my pants have been so-far, so-good.

Other than that, the only change I’ve really noticed is on the scale.  22 pounds.  I didn’t check this Sunday because I felt like (read: absolutely knew) that I didn’t do very well.  It’s not like I went on an eating spree of sugary, fatty foods, but I didn’t stick to the plan.  And the week before that I didn’t lose any weight at all; it stayed exactly the same.  I know I need to crack down again or I’ll never get anywhere.  If you’ve ever been on a low/no carb diet, you know how hard it is to avoid most, if not all carbs.  But I’m not giving up.

I’m never gonna give you up.  Never gonna let you down.

Posted in diet | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

My MMO Lost it’s RPG

Posted on September 5, 2011 by AllieKat

Okay, so I stole the title from this article.  It’s a really good article.  If you’ve ever played EQ or even MMORPGs, you should read it.  But it was reading that article combined with my recent pre-ordering of SW:TOR that got me thinking.

I miss EQ.  For those not in the know, that would be EverQuest.  Now, I didn’t start this blog entry to be a “I miss EQ” post; I started it thinking about the difference between what a MMORPG was to me in the beginning compared to what an MMORPG is today.  My MMO gaming arsenal is relatively small.  I went from being a loyal EQ player from 1999 to 2006, to playing SWG (Star Wars Galaxies) for maybe a year to playing WoW.  Then I stopped playing WoW in a comparatively short time frame, a year or two.  Since 1999 I’ve played EQ, EQII, SWG, WoW and STO (Star Trek Online) for any length of time and going back to each off and on, and trial periods of Lineage II, Horizons, City of Heroes, Vanguard and LOTR:O.  Absolutely nothing has held my interest and my heart for as long as EQ.  Yeah, it had it’s faults and yeah, I probably wouldn’t play it the way it was then, now.  But at that time, it was awesome.

Let me think back to my first day playing EQ.  I started out as a wood elf.  Wood elves, as one might reasonably surmise, live in trees.  Tall trees.  So here I am, happy little nooblette, never played an MMORPG in my life.  I didn’t even take the time to come up with a “real” name for myself; random name generator FTW! And I have no clue what to do.  There were no handy little pop ups or tutorials telling you what you should do or where you should go.  Basically you got the equivalent of a shirt with a target painted on it (red shirt in Star Trek, anyone?)  and a pointed stick and were told to go poke monsters with it. Now where those monsters actually were and how the hell I was supposed to get out of this confusing-as-hell tree top town of Kelethin was anyone’s guess.  So I did what any reasonable nooblette would do.  I jumped off.

Aaaaand there was my first death.  WTF? Now what? Where’s my body? How do I find it? Short answer: I didn’t.

The hell with this! I decided a wood elf wasn’t for me and decided to try something else.

Oh, did I mention there’s no maps? Yeah, no GPS for you.  You had to figure that shit out on your own.  Just like real life… before Google Maps and GPS.  You seriously had to learn your way around or hope you had a knowledgeable friend.  Before the site EQAtlas, you were pretty much on your own.  Trying to figure out how to run across continents and take boats to other continents was a huge part of the game.  No mounts, very few teleports even if you had a friend that could port you or pay someone to do it… it was hard to get anywhere in the beginning.

That was EQ for you… no tutorials, no maps; you will get lost, you will die, and you will love it!

And don’t think humans had it easy, with their huge walled town of Qeynos and hoards of low level monsters clicking around for you to poke in the eye.  (Literally clicking…klicniks!) The safety of the guards at the gate were a comforting presence behind you, just enough to lull you into complacency.  After running for your life to the gate umpteen times, suddenly out of nowhere Fippy Darkpaw shouts “Bark! You humans will pay for ruining our homelands! Grrr! etc. etc.” and storms the gates of Qeynos and kills every nooblette in his path.  Good times.

And it wasn’t just there that there were unexpected hazards.  There were high level “kick your ass before you even see it coming” mobs all over the place.  I spent more time running for my life than anything else sometimes.  Ambassador D’Vinn, Gorenaire, General D’Veers, you name it.  Hell, you couldn’t even run across some zones without following a certain path, or high up on the walls, or at a certain time (Kithicor forest, ftw!), or without a run speed buff (SoW, plz?)… and sometimes not even then.  It was… exciting.  There was danger around every corner.  There were some things you just couldn’t hope to beat in every area.  There was one boss in particular that you had one chance to kill.  And I don’t mean that you personally get one chance to kill it.  I mean the whole entire server had one chance to kill this boss and that was it.  It was called Kerafyrm and it was known as the Sleeper. It was intended to be unkillable, and it was very rare for a server to kill the Sleeper once awakened.  And once it was awake, it went on a murderous rampage killing every man, woman and child in its path across multiple zones.  Once it was over, that event would never happen again.

And why were these hazards so exciting? Couldn’t you just die, run for your body, and keep going? Death had consequences back then, my friend.   You couldn’t just mindlessly run at something until you were dead, drift back to your body safely and quickly in ghost form, having popped up not too far from where you died, and continue on your way.  You were alive, but completely naked, all your spells unmemorized and possibly unusable if you lost enough experience to lose a level, back in whatever city on the other side of the planet you were running from and no where near where you were running to or fighting in at the time.  You’d probably die a few more times just trying to get back to your body.  If you could get back to your body at all.    If you didn’t find your body, which as I noted earlier is not handily pointed out to you on a map, or just couldn’t get back to it you were SOL.  In one nooblette town, if you fell off a certain ledge, you landed in a high level dungeon and unless you had some high level friends, then you’d better kiss your ass goodbye and enjoy still being intact, however naked.   And the experience you lost dying? Kiss that goodbye, too.  Even if you can get someone to resurrect you, there was no 100% restore of experience.  You could get back anywhere from 10% to 90% (which wasn’t so bad) but if there was no one around to do it… c’est la vie.  In WoW, I didn’t really have the excitement and thrill of the risk I got when there were consequences.  Corpse runs in EQ could literally take hours.  Especially if your guild wiped on a particularly hard raid.  Yeah, it was a time sink.  But you learned your lesson.  Don’t die! Or… if you have to die, do it somewhere more convenient.  (Seriously… there were times you had to take one for the team and run as far away from your group as you could, to try and die near a landmark or zoneline where someone could find you later and drag your poor, abused body back to safety.)

Quests… ah, quests.  Forget the glaring yellow exclamation point above the head.  (How did that get there, anyway? What strange magic is this!) You actually had to run around “hailing” everyone in sight and actually reading what they said! And type(!) a reply and carry on a conversation with them to get anywhere!  (And don’t accidentally attack them while trying to talk to them.  They hate that.)  Then, you spend hours upon hours, days upon days killing the same thing over and over again just for that one, rare, elusive drop to complete a quest to get a crappy reward you’re going to sell anyway… and you’ll like it!  Okay, so maybe that part wasn’t so fun…  :roll: But still, quests where you actually had to read and reply? Surely not!

Then, there was the danger of other players! No, I don’t mean PvP.  I mean… “train!!!” Because there was no open world, there were zone lines and there were times where a mob would follow you all the way across the zone just to kick your ass.  And it would pick up it’s buddies along the way.  If someone shouted “Train to zone” you’d better make sure you are not near the zone line or you were next on the list.  I don’t know how many times I was run over by oncoming trains.  Not to mention the poor unfortunate souls that just happened to be zoning in as you were zoning out with a mile long train screaming bloody murder at your heels.  I won’t even try to address intentional training… I’m sure you can imagine the devastation someone could wreck by rounding up a huge train of angry mobs and running straight toward you and then stopping, throwing themselves literally under the train, to die at your feet just so the mobs will turn on you in their fury.

So what’s my point? I don’t know.  There was just something about EQ.   It sucked you in.  I could go hours without even realizing it.  It was totally immersive.  And the people…  I joined a guild at random and they became my family.  We spent hours and years talking and playing and laughing and getting to know each other, sharing our online lives.  I’d laugh; I’d cry.  Some of us are still online friends.  I considered some of them to be incredibly close, and we never even met.  But they were as real to me as “real” friends.  It makes me sad to realize that it will never be like that again.  We had an amazing group of people and we were close knit.  They mattered to me.  They still do.

My character really mattered to me as well.  She was an extension of me.  It was truly a role-playing game.

I just never got the same thrill with any other RPG.  Never the same feel of community or the rush of making it through an encounter by the skin of my teeth.  When I started WoW and learned about death there I thought, “Wow.  This is easy.”  In the article I linked at the top, he makes the statement “Gaming has gone stupid.” And I agree with that, to an extent.  I’m not saying WoW and the other games I played weren’t fun.  I’m not saying they don’t have their place.  This isn’t about bashing WoW or any other game.  Hell, WoW basically main-streamed playing MMORPGS.  Gamers aren’t just pasty geeks in their moms basements anymore! (Not that I live in my mom’s basement… I will own up to being a pasty geek though.)  Blizzard made a good product.  Apparently, it’s a product people want.  They made a lot of improvements to the MMORPG genre.  I love their little funny pop culture references they stick in there, too.  But sometimes, that takes away from the immersion.  It has it’s bad points, in my opinion, as well.  I never really felt like I was role-playing in WoW like did with EQ.

A lot of what made me quit WoW was the idiots.  By dumbing down the game so that anyone can play, they’ve taken away the challenge.  So you wind up grouped with some idiot that rushes in and hacks and slashes his way through everything, mindlessly.  Wee.  If it’s easy enough that any idiot can pick it up and play, where’s the challenge and skill involved? Don’t say end-game raids.  I shouldn’t have to join a raiding guild and do mandatory anything to find challenge in a game.  Oh, but if they made it more challenging, then less people would pay to play.  And that’s the heart of it.  They’re a business; they’re in it for the money.  Making it easy to hack your way to the level cap makes money.  I won’t even start on some of the other things I don’t like about WoW.  As I said, this wasn’t a “Let’s bash WoW!” post.  But they really made a product that anyone can pick up and play with little to no skill or time investment.  Yes, you do much better if you do invest time and have a modicum of skill, but you can play without it.  And that’s great… everyone needs a game to play to burn off some steam.  It still makes me miss the days of EQ though.  I had skills; I was good at what I did!

Apparently, I don’t miss it enough though.  It’s still there, available to play and on it’s 18th expansion.  I have gone back a couple of times, but it’s just not the same.  Partly because my friends are no longer in it.  Partly because things have changed so much.  Partly because the “world” is now so huge and all my old familiar zones have tumbleweeds.  I’ve gone back to WoW a few times as well.  For all it’s faults, it has a lot of good qualities as well or it wouldn’t be so successful still.

So where am I going with this? Again, I don’t know.  It’s kind of been random musings I guess.  I’m anticipating the launch of SW:TOR and wondering how it will measure up.  I like BioWare; I like BioWare games.  I like Star Wars; I liked Star Wars Galaxies (Pre-CU!), especially the player housing and cities.  I’m looking forward to SW:TOR and I’m really hoping they don’t mess up.  I don’t think they will.  The makers realize that it’s impossible not to compare it to WOW, but I’m really hoping that it’s different in a good way.

I think a lot of people are anticipating it’s launch.  They’re expecting 1 million subscribers within the first year.  Sure, that doesn’t measure up to the 12 million subscribers to WoW, but that’s still a lot of people.  EQ is estimated to have only had half a million subscribers at it’s peak and only 100k at last count in 2010.   If you take WoW out of the equation (they really fucked up the curve!), 1 million subscribers is really good in the MMO industry.  For example, other games that I tried, at their peak subscriptions: LOTR:O had 550k, EQII had 325k, City of Heroes had 200k, Lineage II had 2 million, SWG had 300k, Vanguard had 120k, STO had 105k, and Horizons had only 36k.  So a million subscriptions in the first year is looking pretty good.

Game on.

Posted in fantasy, online games | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In Antici…… pation

Posted on August 25, 2011 by AllieKat

I’ve successfully avoided my OCD-ish compulsion of stepping on the scale every time I’m in the bathroom this week.  I think part of that is that I’m gritting my teeth in anticipation of not having lost anything… or worst, gained back some.

I admit, I’ve not been strict this week.  I’ve gone over on my carb and sugar goals on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Not by a lot, but I’m thinking it’s probably just enough to set me back.  I have a carb goal of less than 40 a meal/120 a day and a sugar goal of less than 5 a meal/15 a day.  As an example of my cheating, yesterday at lunch I had about 67 carbs, going 27 over my goal of 40, and I had a total of about 169 for the day, all things considered, well over my 120 a day goal.  The day before that I had 149 for the day, which isn’t that bad, but my sugars was at 21 instead of 15.

It may not sound like much, but I think every little bit matters when I’m trying for the concept of not spiking my sugar/glucose/insulin levels by overindulging in carbs and sugar.  And not getting cravings by giving in to excess carbs.  Eat too many carbs, crave more carbs, eat more carbs, crave more… it’s an endless cycle.  So I’m really trying to avoid triggering carb cravings, and I’m really trying to avoid those sugar spikes, because let’s face it: that can’t be good when you have insulin resistance/pre-diabetes.

I really need to get more strict in my counting.  Know what I’m eating before I eat it; not waiting until after I’ve eaten and going “Well damn, that was too many carbs.”

Today, so far, I’m on track; 31 carbs and 1 sugar for breakfast (Weetabix and unsweetened almond milk), 30 carbs and 5 sugar for lunch ( Cajun blackened fish and creamed spinach, and munching on goldfishes while making lunch. Damn you, creamed spinach! Why must I love you so much?), and 20 carbs and 1 sugar for snacks (Sobe Lifewater and a handful of mixed nuts).

I can do this.  I can do this.

Can’t I?

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Wait, That’s HOW Much?

Posted on August 24, 2011 by AllieKat

Do you ever try to think about how much total weight you have to loose and think, “wait, what?” Like, I can’t even visualize how much that is.  If I actually try to think of the total amount of weight I have to loose I just… freeze up.  I start thinking “Wow, that’s impossible; I can never do that.” Or I think, “Oh, 11 pounds out of ___, that’s not even a dent; why am I bothering?”

So to avoid that “Meh, never going to happen” mindset, I’ve had to set myself mini-goals.  My first mini-goal is 50 pounds.  That sounds so much more… accomplishable.  (Yes, I make up words; deal with it! This is MY world after all…)  So now I can focus on the more attainable sounding goal of 50 pounds and think, “Okay, 11 pounds out of 50.  Hey, I’m 1/5th there!”

Speaking of goals, I’m wondering how other people “reward” themselves.  I know that loosing weight is in and of itself, it’s own reward  but that’s not really a motivator for me or I would have done it already.  What gets you motivated to loose weight and how often do you do it? 10 pounds? 20? 50? I’m thinking if I wait for 20 or 50 the possibility of “reward” is so far in the future as to be un-motivating.  I’m thinking 10 pounds, which hopefully would work out to be once every four to six weeks.  As far as what is the reward… right now I’m thinking Pandora beads.  They’re not expensive, starting at $25 a bead, and my bracelet needs expanding.  Plus, I can wear it and think “___ more pounds and I can add to this!” or I can look at a bead and reflect on the reasons I bought it.

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Weighing In on Weighing In

Posted on August 22, 2011 by AllieKat

Weighing in: that dreaded time of week when one must face the possibility of elation or bitter disappointment.

I’ve decided (and keep deciding, since I haven’t stuck to it) after weeks of going up and down on the scales with the weight seemingly dependant on what time of day or day of the week it is, that it’s just not worth it.  But my OCD-ish nature kicks in and I see the scales and I so want to step on them because what if it’s gone down? I know how much I love it when it’s gone down! But then… what if it’s gone up? I know how crap I feel when it’s gone up.

My “official” weigh in day is Sunday mornings (afternoons, who am I kidding).  But then I see that shiny scale sitting in judgment upon me on the bathroom floor and I think, okay well, real quick… I just can’t stop myself.

I know I should be content.  Hey, I’ve lost about 11 pounds in about 5 weeks.  That’s like, 11 boxes of butter; that’s a lot! But I look in the mirror and I don’t feel like I look any different; I don’t feel any different.  I don’t have all the “extra energy” that I’m told being on a healthy diet gives you.  My clothes don’t fit any better.  The scale goes up and down so much, some days I’m not even sure if I’ve lost 11 pounds because some days that number shoots right back up into the heights, then other days it’s back down where it “should” be.

I know I can’t rush it.  I didn’t gain it all overnight; I won’t loose it overnight.  I’ve condescendingly been told by a (former) doctor that there isn’t a “magic wand” to make it go away.  With my health problems (PCOS, insulin resisance) it’s going to be hard to lose it so I should be happy with the progress I’ve made.  But some days, when I look in the mirror and see the same fat girl in the same fat clothes I feel like I’m not making any progress and why am I “starving” myself anyway?!

Then my logical brain takes over and says, you’re not starving yourself.  You can eat all you want of this or that.  But then the childish part of me throws a temper tantrum and says “But I don’t want THAT; I want ICE CREAM!” (or cookies or cupcakes or muffins or  SODA… some days I’d kill for a cherry limeade…)

I think I’m going to turn into a salad.  You are what you eat, right? I should be leafy and green any day now.

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The Belly Fat Cure: The Start of a Diet

Posted on August 2, 2011 by AllieKat

My husband and I just started a diet.

Technically, we started last Monday.  But at first it was just us flubbing around with no specifics, no goal except “low carbs”.  We looked at some different diets… Atkins, South Beach, LCHF.  But it was really hard to focus without a specific guideline other than “low carbs”.  And it’s really hard to totally go without carbs.  Yes, you can eat loads of cheese, and spreads, and hummus, and peanut butter… but what do you put it on? How does one convey the yumminess to one’s mouth in a pleasing manner? I’m sorry, but there’s only so much celery I can stomach.

We went to the bookstore on Friday, and after perusing various diet of the month books, we settled on Jorge Cruise’s Belly Fat Cure.  It seemed relatively simple, gave lots of options for food, and seemed like a sustainable guideline for life rather than a brief on-again, off-again diet.  The concept is fairly simple.  Stay under 15 grams of sugar, 6 servings of carbs (5-20 grams is a serving) in a day, and stay under 5g sugar, 2 servings carbs per meal.  The goal is to stop insulin spikes which promote fat storage.  Another key part of it, which seems a little under-emphasized in the book to me, is to make the carbs count.  Sure you can use all your carbs up on mashed potatoes or a bag of chips, but you should instead focus on fiber-rich carbs.  The goal is 25 grams of fiber per day as well.  The third key point is NO artificial sweetener.  No pink, blue or yellow.  You can have stevia/truvia/purevia type sweetener, and if your system can tolerate it, you can have sugar alcohols: maltitol/xylitol/erithritol.

He doesn’t restrict you on calories, protein, etc.  But he does use a caution that I have found myself telling people many times throughout the years.  Just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.  Just because he doesn’t tell you to watch how much cheese you eat, and encourages eating cheese, doesn’t mean you should eat a whole block.  He encourages you to start small, and if you’re still physically hungry, then eat a little more.  Don’t just pig out because you can.

So we’ve stocked up on fiber-filled bread, tortillas, english muffins and cereal.  Lots of eggs, cheese, meat.  We want things that are simple.  If it’s hard to make, we won’t do it; we know we’re lazy.  That’s probably why I’m in this position to begin with.  Also we tossed the milk (full of sugar) and bought almond milk and coconut milk.  We went to Trader Joe’s and got a few things as well.  Flax seeds (high in fiber), almond butter (with added flax seed, unsweetened; half the price of Kroger’s), a couple of cereals.

One of my favorites so far is a candy(!) that we got at Kroger in the regular candy aisle.  DeMet’s sugar free Turtles.  Made with maltitol and erythritol, they really satisfied my sweet craving with 0g of sugar and 7g of carbs in 3 turtles.  Yum!

So here’s hoping this is a sustainable, life-altering way of eating.  It makes sense to me, avoiding insulin spikes and eating low carb; since my husband is diabetic and I have PCOS and am pre-diabetic/insulin resistant this is a change we really needed to make.  I have a long way to go to get to a healthy weight, but I hope this is as step in the right direction.

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Well at Least the Problems Happened Today…

Posted on December 2, 2007 by AllieKat

So hopefully they won’t happen tomorrow!

 

First we went to get the flowers. No problem. We get home and my mother suddenly realizes, oh your father isn’t going to be wearing his robe, he’s going to wear a suit, so we need another boutonniere. So I had to call and see if the lady would be able to get another one together for us to pick up today. Then we went to get our rings cleaned. We left them there and went to get our nails done. The nail place was closed for remodeling. So we had to find another nail place. Get that done and head back to get our rings. Nice and shiny, yay. Take dad’s home to him, and start toward Springfield.

 

So we’re on the road to Springfield and I glance down at my ring where the sun’s hitting it on the steering wheel. I don’t know how much attention you have paid to my ring, or if you’ve even seen it, but it has 70 small diamonds on it and 1 large one. So I glance down at my ring, and there’s two holes where diamonds used to be! I let out this horrified gasp and my heart stops in my chest. I do a U-turn right in the middle of Highway 76, a pretty busy 5 lane road I might add, and haul ass back to the jeweler. I march in and state how two of the diamonds fell out of my ring in their care. She said, oh I checked them all before we cleaned them, so they’re probably in the cleaner. The jeweler says he’ll fix it. I was like, um, how long, I need it back asap, I’m getting married tomorrow. So he says he’ll have it down in 30 minutes.

 

Lordy.

 

Fortunately, that seemed to be the end of the misfortune. We headed on to Springfield, where my mother bought us dining room chairs to match our legless table. (Yes, I said legless. It came from the Ashley Outlet for like 25 dollars.) Then I ordered pub height legs to go with the chairs. Then we had some lunch and went and got my mother a new dress, because she decided she wanted one to go along with the color theme. Then we headed to Rivergate because when I picked my dress up Thursday night, one of the two removable straps was missing! So they gave me two straps to make up for it and we headed home.

 

I’m beat.

 

Now I’m working on compiling a CD to play during the food portion of our entertainment tomorrow. Packing for the trip to Gatlinburg. Running through last minute details in my mind.

 

I won’t get a wink of sleep tonight.

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Wedding Date

Posted on November 19, 2007 by AllieKat

Okay, let’s get the part that if anyone cares about it will be this part out of the way…

December 2nd, 12 noon, my father’s church. My father will be officiating.

There you have it. The ceaseless “When are you getting married?” questions can now… well, cease.

Okay now back to the semi-beginning. As most of you know from previous postings or word of mouth, we were looking at a place in Madison. That deal did not work out. It mostly comes back to the fact that the people we were dealing with did not listen to our concerns, and then came back a few days before we were supposed to be closing and tell us that we were right in our concerns from four months ago.

Anyway… long story short. They worked with us, found us another option, and today we went to sign a contract on a house in Antioch. Before anyone freaks out and says (as I’ve already heard), “But there’s gangs in Antioch!” I’d like to point out that this is on the “good” side of Antioch. We’ll be a hop, skip, and a jump away from Percy Priest Lake. We’re real close to Jerry’s parents in Nolensville, and not too far (think 10-15 minutes) from Mount Juliet. Yes, I meant to take pictures of it, but we were so preoccupied I didn’t even think about it til well after we left.

Okay, now you’re up to speed on this, you’re probably wondering, why set a date barely two weeks from today. I can think of a few reasons.

In order to get the mortgage that we agreed on originally, with the good interest rate, blah blah, from the only place we could find to give us money (and trust me, we’ve looked!) we have to close within 90 days of their agreeing to give us the money. That was over two months ago. We have to close before December 10th I believe they said. On the contract we signed we agreed to close on or before December 7th. Due to certain circumstances that most of you can probably figure out on your own, we need to be married before we can live together. Let’s just say it’s a bad influence on the children and leave it at that.

So, since we need to get married around the 7th, we figured the weekend before or the weekend after. Well the weekend before is Jerry’s weekend with the kids. So why the 2nd, and not the 1st you may wonder, if you’ve actually read this far and put any thought into it at all. Just so happens, my parents anniversary is on the 2nd, and it’s just way too damn cutesy to get married on the same day my parents did at my parents church with my dad doing the service.

And, well, I figure maybe getting married is like pulling off a band-aid. Just pull it off in one quick stroke instead of dragging the whole process out. Hell, last time I got married in under a month. Let’s do it in under two weeks!

Hey, it’s less time to worry about the whole thing. (And believe me, I am!) Granted, it IS going to be a small service with family and close personal friends. We’re not even sending out invitations. But I still need a dress or skirt and a flower bouquet, and I’d like to get my hair done if I can find somewhere that will come in on a Sunday morning to do it and only one, count em one, weekend to get everything together. On top of that, I have this new house payment and other bills neither one of us has had to pay (think electric, water, internet) to worry about, how the hell we’re going to get furniture to worry about, and how the hell we’re going to buy a washer and dryer to worry about…

What, me, worry?

Of course neither one of us even have the time to take off work to stay home together for one day, let alone DO anything, so we’re not even going to have a honeymoon. Sad panda…

Then, the next weekend we’ll be moving. And that’s always a fun, stress-free thing to do! :-P

Anyway…

While I don’t honestly expect to get a lot of gifts, being as it’s not the first wedding for either one of us, we did register at Target.  And yes, we scanned everything we thought we needed, and a few things we didn’t. We scanned things we don’t expect to get because hey, maybe some one’s feeling generous. You never know. But most of the stuff on there is really things we need. We’re both starting fresh. We have nothing but what’s in our bedrooms, really. Our respective ex-spouses kept practically everything of use. And that’s fine, I like a fresh start as much as the next guy, but that leaves us with nothing for our brand new shiny never-lived-in house. That being said, our registry is here. There’s plenty of kitchen stuff (which we have next to nothing of), bedroom stuff (ditto), and some electronic stuff (if you’re feeling giving… hey, Christmas is coming up too!). And of course, there’s the always welcome Target gift card/cash.

As for post-wedding celebrations… at this point, there is none planned. However, it would not shock either of us should Jerry’s mother take it upon herself to plan a small cake and punch type reception at her house, his grandmother’s house, or something. As of right now, it’s up in the air.

So there you have it. It’s late. I’ve probably put way more information that I needed to, but oh well.

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New Car

Posted on November 13, 2007 by AllieKat

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That’s my new car!

It’s a 2007 Kia Optima, and I’m liking it quite a bit at the moment. The main things I’m really liking is that it doesn’t require me to hold down the emergency blinker button to get the turn signal to work, I don’t have to smack the dome light several times to get it to come on, the lights in the panel don’t flicker, the check engine light doesn’t come on every so often just to keep my wondering, it doesn’t have over 100,000 miles on it, it isn’t five years old, and the left tail-light doesn’t fill with water, causing all the connections to the light bulbs to rust away every time there’s a big rain.

Okay well, I’m also liking that’s it’s new. Who doesn’t love new car smell? I’m also quite liking the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. I like that I was able to pay off my little piece of shit I traded to them, and still have 350 dollars left for a down payment. They gave me well over Kelly Blue Book value for my car, by about 2400 dollars. And they took a couple thousand off the sticker price because it was a 2007 and they have 2008s in now.

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