Sometimes I count calories. Not for days or weeks at a time. Just every once in a while for a single day, but not all day. At one particular moment in the day I'll think through all of the food I've eaten and tally up the calories in my mind. It isn't particularly accurate (looking up calorie counts for food online is also not very accurate unless you eat a lot of processed, packaged foods, which I don't) and so I pad the calorie count for each item, just to make sure.
There's one significant difference between when I count calories and when other people count calories.
It is common in our society to count calories for the purpose of food restriction.
I count calories so I know how many I've got coming.
For example:
It's been a long day, I've been frazzled and stressed and haven't managed to accomplish anything at work despite being so focused that I don't get in much eating. Let's say on this day I also happen to have dinner plans with a friend. The work day ends. I close my computer and run upstairs to change. (Since I work from home, anytime I step out of the house I need to dress up a little; snowflake pj pants aren't appropriate for dinner outings). As I'm changing I tally up my calories for the day. Half a yogurt, a small apple, some carrot sticks, a piece of bread, a peanut butter spoon, a small salad, a chocolate chip cookie dough ball: 45, 80, 50, 100, 100, 100, 100 = 575 calories for the day. If we're assuming I eat a diet of 1600–1800 calories a day, I've got over a thousand to consume before the day's over. And then I get really excited about dinner.
Don't worry. I've got this.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Perfect Road Trip Snacks
I've been practicing the art of road trip snacks for as long as I can remember.
I packed pretty much perfectly for Phoenix.
This is what I took:
It should be noted that these are just snacks. I haven't yet conquered the art of meal eating in the car, particularly for a two or three day drive. With such great success in snack packing, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I succeed in the art of meal packing.
A note about the cookies. They were delicious and didn't need frosting, as the recipe suggests, and the dough was yummy. Also, sprinkles. I love me some sprinkles. I used red sanding sugar sprinkles that have been in my mother's pantry for about as long as I can remember. Not my first choice but I got a point for using them up (see no. 9 on this list).
I'm deliriously happy to have a sugar cookie recipe that is easy and delicious, doesn't require copious amounts of time in either the refrigerator or the freezer, and is intended to be shaped as drop cookies. No rolling out for me followed by endless frosting of cookies. Bleh.
I packed pretty much perfectly for Phoenix.
This is what I took:
- carrot sticks
- celery sticks
- cherry tomatoes
- cheese sticks
- boiled eggs
- yogurt
- triscuits
- several pieces of homemade bread
- peanut butter
- apples
- almonds
- these cookies
It should be noted that these are just snacks. I haven't yet conquered the art of meal eating in the car, particularly for a two or three day drive. With such great success in snack packing, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I succeed in the art of meal packing.
A note about the cookies. They were delicious and didn't need frosting, as the recipe suggests, and the dough was yummy. Also, sprinkles. I love me some sprinkles. I used red sanding sugar sprinkles that have been in my mother's pantry for about as long as I can remember. Not my first choice but I got a point for using them up (see no. 9 on this list).
I'm deliriously happy to have a sugar cookie recipe that is easy and delicious, doesn't require copious amounts of time in either the refrigerator or the freezer, and is intended to be shaped as drop cookies. No rolling out for me followed by endless frosting of cookies. Bleh.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Eye Exams
I went to the eye doctor today. I rewarded myself with a chocolate chocolate doughnut. Yum.
I don't exactly mind the eye doctor so the reward wasn't entirely necessary, except that I should have gone in half a year ago, but as you may remember, July was official breakdown month of 2013. The reminder postcard came in the mail. I looked at it despairingly before putting it in a pile of papers labeled mentally as 'to deal with sometime other than now.' Once something makes it into that pile, it takes large amounts of can-do to get it back out again.
More than deserving a doughnut for finally going, I deserved a doughnut for surviving my eye exam.
I like my eye doctor. I've been visiting him for years. I've worn glasses since I was eight and contacts since I was thirteen. I'm familiar and comfortable with the routine of the exam.
But what if I do it wrong? The doctor has me take out my contacts. He then puts his funky bug eye thing up to my forehead and starts asking me which is better: 1 or 2, 3 or 4, 5 or 6. I want to answer exactly as I did the year before because that means my eyes haven't changed at all. When you're as blind as I am there's nothing better than hearing your eyesight is stable. But I can't remember how I answered last year, and it's not that I want to lie about which one is better, I just want to know that I'm answering the same so I can feel good about having stable eyes. I start feeling stressed and anxious when I think I might be giving different answers, and since I can't remember what my answers were a year ago there's a high, as in above 50%, chance my answers are different, which gives me reason to stress.
Or maybe I won't answer like I did last year but instead I'll answer them all wrong and I'll end up with the wrong prescription and I won't be able to see anything for a whole year until I go back again and I get the right prescription unless I answer them all wrong again and get another bad prescription.
It's the stuff of nightmares, I tell you.
And so I gave myself a doughnut.
I don't exactly mind the eye doctor so the reward wasn't entirely necessary, except that I should have gone in half a year ago, but as you may remember, July was official breakdown month of 2013. The reminder postcard came in the mail. I looked at it despairingly before putting it in a pile of papers labeled mentally as 'to deal with sometime other than now.' Once something makes it into that pile, it takes large amounts of can-do to get it back out again.
More than deserving a doughnut for finally going, I deserved a doughnut for surviving my eye exam.
I like my eye doctor. I've been visiting him for years. I've worn glasses since I was eight and contacts since I was thirteen. I'm familiar and comfortable with the routine of the exam.
But what if I do it wrong? The doctor has me take out my contacts. He then puts his funky bug eye thing up to my forehead and starts asking me which is better: 1 or 2, 3 or 4, 5 or 6. I want to answer exactly as I did the year before because that means my eyes haven't changed at all. When you're as blind as I am there's nothing better than hearing your eyesight is stable. But I can't remember how I answered last year, and it's not that I want to lie about which one is better, I just want to know that I'm answering the same so I can feel good about having stable eyes. I start feeling stressed and anxious when I think I might be giving different answers, and since I can't remember what my answers were a year ago there's a high, as in above 50%, chance my answers are different, which gives me reason to stress.
Or maybe I won't answer like I did last year but instead I'll answer them all wrong and I'll end up with the wrong prescription and I won't be able to see anything for a whole year until I go back again and I get the right prescription unless I answer them all wrong again and get another bad prescription.
It's the stuff of nightmares, I tell you.
And so I gave myself a doughnut.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Phoenix
I didn't work yesterday. That meant a three-day weekend.
The Ma had a rental car because someone ran into her and her car needed fixing.
Rental car paid for by someone else? Three-day weekend? There's only one possible outcome when two such factors are put into the same equation. Road trip!
We thought about the Sequoia National Park. I've never seen the giant redwoods and I've wanted to pretty much forever. Winter is not the perfect time for visiting the giant redwoods. Too much snow.
We settled on Phoenix instead. I was so super excited to go down there. This is why: temperature right now: 27 degrees; temperature over the weekend in Phoenix: 70s.
It might seem crazy to drive down to Phoenix when you only have three days. It's a ten-hour drive after all and to get there and back you'll need two days for driving. That leaves one day for vacationing. That didn't bother me or the Ma. I've done such three-day weekends before. You can read about one of those weekends here. As you can see, I'm well-versed in three-day weekend, ridiculous drive, road trips.
Phoenix was also a good choice because I've been meaning to visit here for some time now. Also, on the road down you end up pretty close to the south rim of the grand canyon. Only the smallest of detours would get you there. I also love the idea of this restaurant and put it on my list of to-dos in Phoenix some time ago.
I didn't do any of those things. Ma and I laughed and played and made ourselves sick on the swings at the park. We lay in our beds and read our books. We sat on the couch with a bag of popcorn and a box of junior mints between us and watched old movies.
It was a perfect sort of weekend.
The Ma had a rental car because someone ran into her and her car needed fixing.
Rental car paid for by someone else? Three-day weekend? There's only one possible outcome when two such factors are put into the same equation. Road trip!
We thought about the Sequoia National Park. I've never seen the giant redwoods and I've wanted to pretty much forever. Winter is not the perfect time for visiting the giant redwoods. Too much snow.
We settled on Phoenix instead. I was so super excited to go down there. This is why: temperature right now: 27 degrees; temperature over the weekend in Phoenix: 70s.
It might seem crazy to drive down to Phoenix when you only have three days. It's a ten-hour drive after all and to get there and back you'll need two days for driving. That leaves one day for vacationing. That didn't bother me or the Ma. I've done such three-day weekends before. You can read about one of those weekends here. As you can see, I'm well-versed in three-day weekend, ridiculous drive, road trips.
Phoenix was also a good choice because I've been meaning to visit here for some time now. Also, on the road down you end up pretty close to the south rim of the grand canyon. Only the smallest of detours would get you there. I also love the idea of this restaurant and put it on my list of to-dos in Phoenix some time ago.
I didn't do any of those things. Ma and I laughed and played and made ourselves sick on the swings at the park. We lay in our beds and read our books. We sat on the couch with a bag of popcorn and a box of junior mints between us and watched old movies.
It was a perfect sort of weekend.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Skeptical Ventures
I recently pulled out my trusty nanowrimo novel. It's a mess. Like a big mess. I've been working on fixing it. I'm on chapter four now. What that means is that I put a couple of spaces between what I had written and the top of the page, and then I fill that space with new words. Once I've finished filling up the space with new words, I take all the old words out and copy them into my discards folder.
Yes, I am completely rewriting my nanowrimo novel.
But it's going so much better! And the only reason I can make it better is because I typed it all out in a month long writing binge and it was awful. Now I can fix it. Also, it will be shorter. Probably with only half as many words but a more complete plot line. Win and win.
I've taken to putting down Writing in my planner every day. I look at the list I have for the day and written to the side in big, bold letters is Writing and it mentally becomes a part of my day. Oh yeah,when can I fit that in? I don't do much writing in any single day, but I'm doing it.
I'm really good at making messes. Going back and cleaning them up is a new thing. I'm skeptical about the merit of such a venture. But I'm skeptical about many of the ways I spend my time recently. I mean, running? Who thought that was a good idea?
Yes, I am completely rewriting my nanowrimo novel.
But it's going so much better! And the only reason I can make it better is because I typed it all out in a month long writing binge and it was awful. Now I can fix it. Also, it will be shorter. Probably with only half as many words but a more complete plot line. Win and win.
I've taken to putting down Writing in my planner every day. I look at the list I have for the day and written to the side in big, bold letters is Writing and it mentally becomes a part of my day. Oh yeah,when can I fit that in? I don't do much writing in any single day, but I'm doing it.
I'm really good at making messes. Going back and cleaning them up is a new thing. I'm skeptical about the merit of such a venture. But I'm skeptical about many of the ways I spend my time recently. I mean, running? Who thought that was a good idea?
Monday, January 6, 2014
A List of Resolutions
If you spend anytime on pinterest, chances are good you've seen an image or two of this cake hanging around. I like the cake but it's the list of resolutions I love. That's a list I could get behind.
My own resolution is coming along nicely. I've run on the treadmill three times, tried two new bread recipes, read two books and started two more, wished my niece a happy birthday, and taken a nap. Six days of me being awesome.
One of the bread recipes I tried was a loaf of no-knead bread. I used my purple pot. It was amazing. I need to make another recipe this weekend just to see it happen again. I marvel at the science of bread baking. Also, I loved my little loaf of bread. He was adorable.
Photographic evidence brought to you by the Ma: "You have to take a picture!" She also deserves credit for the composition of the photo. I just hit the button.
My own resolution is coming along nicely. I've run on the treadmill three times, tried two new bread recipes, read two books and started two more, wished my niece a happy birthday, and taken a nap. Six days of me being awesome.
One of the bread recipes I tried was a loaf of no-knead bread. I used my purple pot. It was amazing. I need to make another recipe this weekend just to see it happen again. I marvel at the science of bread baking. Also, I loved my little loaf of bread. He was adorable.
Photographic evidence brought to you by the Ma: "You have to take a picture!" She also deserves credit for the composition of the photo. I just hit the button.
Friday, January 3, 2014
10 Ways to be Happier in 2014
You've probably seen several lists circulating about how to be happier in 2014. Ma and I came up with our own version.
From us to you, how to be happier in 2014.
1. Spend more time outside. About two months ago I told the Ma that she and I were going to take a mid-morning walk every day. She thought it was an excellent idea as it would contribute to our happiness and emotional stability. We haven't taken a single mid-morning walk but still believe firmly we would both be happier if we did.
2. Try something new. Ma has decided that 2014 will be a year of new things. On the first new day of the year, she tried sitting in a different place in the movie theater rather than her usual favorite spot. When visiting the library, she parked on the side of the parking lot opposite to where she usually parks. Be brave. There's a world of possibilities before you.
3. Spend time with your local stamp dealer. Ma loves stamps. We visited our stamp dealer yesterday. Ma, having spent quite some time away from her dealer, was positively giddy and came away with several sheets of stamps.
4. Use a four or five star word at least once a day. For example, Ma used the word treacherous. I congratulated her and she threw me a gleeful smile. She knew how awesome the word was and it made her happy. It made her even happier that I recognized her four star word for what it was. Another time Ma used the word rigamarole, a high flying, five star word. She then had to say the word two more times because she enjoyed using it so much. It should be noted that while using the word correctly is encouraged, it is certainly not required.
5. Do more baking. Baking = happiness.
6. Dance. We're big dancers at our house. And by that I mean I'm a big dancer. I dance in the shower, I dance while I'm eating a snack in the kitchen, I dance during my lunch break. Doesn't matter if there's music. Just dance.
7. Visit your local library. It smells amazing and the colors are pretty. If you don't know where to start, ask the children's librarians about their favorite picture books. You may want to throw in a comment about how much your nephew likes books so it appears you are doing research. Then read. Unless the idea of reading is too intimidating this early in the year; in that case, feel free to begin with simply looking at the pictures. If you're up to it, try checking a book out. One with chapters would be ideal. Reading the checked out book is not necessary.
8. Think about meditating but instead watch the part in Eat, Pray, Love where Julia Roberts is trying to meditate and then laugh.
9. Give out points for finishing things. In our house we give out points for finishing items of food. You finish the gallon of milk? You get a point. You finish the last baked potato from three nights ago? You get a point. You eat the last cookie? You get a point. The points are meaningless. They also rest from day to day. Yesterday I had two points. Today I have zero. My point value for all time is lots and lots.
10. And finally, choose to be happy. Ma is a big believer in choosing to be happy. It's difficult to think of how you can just choose to be happy. As children, if we ever had something negative to say about the day or an experience we had, Ma would tell us that we had to say at least three good things about what we much preferred to say negative things about. She was teaching us to choose to see the good things about our experiences, rather than the bad. I suggest it as a good place to start.
From us to you, how to be happier in 2014.
1. Spend more time outside. About two months ago I told the Ma that she and I were going to take a mid-morning walk every day. She thought it was an excellent idea as it would contribute to our happiness and emotional stability. We haven't taken a single mid-morning walk but still believe firmly we would both be happier if we did.
2. Try something new. Ma has decided that 2014 will be a year of new things. On the first new day of the year, she tried sitting in a different place in the movie theater rather than her usual favorite spot. When visiting the library, she parked on the side of the parking lot opposite to where she usually parks. Be brave. There's a world of possibilities before you.
3. Spend time with your local stamp dealer. Ma loves stamps. We visited our stamp dealer yesterday. Ma, having spent quite some time away from her dealer, was positively giddy and came away with several sheets of stamps.
4. Use a four or five star word at least once a day. For example, Ma used the word treacherous. I congratulated her and she threw me a gleeful smile. She knew how awesome the word was and it made her happy. It made her even happier that I recognized her four star word for what it was. Another time Ma used the word rigamarole, a high flying, five star word. She then had to say the word two more times because she enjoyed using it so much. It should be noted that while using the word correctly is encouraged, it is certainly not required.
5. Do more baking. Baking = happiness.
6. Dance. We're big dancers at our house. And by that I mean I'm a big dancer. I dance in the shower, I dance while I'm eating a snack in the kitchen, I dance during my lunch break. Doesn't matter if there's music. Just dance.
7. Visit your local library. It smells amazing and the colors are pretty. If you don't know where to start, ask the children's librarians about their favorite picture books. You may want to throw in a comment about how much your nephew likes books so it appears you are doing research. Then read. Unless the idea of reading is too intimidating this early in the year; in that case, feel free to begin with simply looking at the pictures. If you're up to it, try checking a book out. One with chapters would be ideal. Reading the checked out book is not necessary.
8. Think about meditating but instead watch the part in Eat, Pray, Love where Julia Roberts is trying to meditate and then laugh.
9. Give out points for finishing things. In our house we give out points for finishing items of food. You finish the gallon of milk? You get a point. You finish the last baked potato from three nights ago? You get a point. You eat the last cookie? You get a point. The points are meaningless. They also rest from day to day. Yesterday I had two points. Today I have zero. My point value for all time is lots and lots.
10. And finally, choose to be happy. Ma is a big believer in choosing to be happy. It's difficult to think of how you can just choose to be happy. As children, if we ever had something negative to say about the day or an experience we had, Ma would tell us that we had to say at least three good things about what we much preferred to say negative things about. She was teaching us to choose to see the good things about our experiences, rather than the bad. I suggest it as a good place to start.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
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