Archive for September, 2007
Blogging with a Head Cold
September 27th, 2007. Published under General. No Comments.
At least that’s what my head feels like. Everyone at the office has seemingly had a cold with this hacking cough for over a week now. I fear I’m catching it because I woke this morning with a sore throat and a stuffy head.
Although, I don’t think skipping the gym and instead having Papa Murphy’s (veggie delite) and 4 beers (Schell’s Oktoberfest…mmm) didn’t do me any favors either.
Tonight: the gym and some healthy living.
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Speaking of healthy living, I’ve given up drinking diet soda. More specifically, I’ve given up drinking anything that has an artificial sweetener in it. My mom had problems with joint pain and ever since she got off the artificial sweeteners, her pain has gone away for the most part.
I have problems with my left hip and my right foot - and if either one (or both) are bothering me, I’m not able to run. Since running is my main form of exercise, I need to be able to run. So back at the end of July, I cut out all diet soda and beverages with artificial sweeteners in it. I really hadn’t paid attention to how my body was adjusting to it - but I didn’t have problems with my hip or foot. Then I got salmonella poisoning in the beginning of August, was laid up with that for about 2 weeks, then when I could start eating real food again, I went back to the diet soda. Slowly, my hip started to bug me again and it got to the point recently that I had to stop my run because of the pain.
It was then that I put two and two together and thought “hmm…maybe it was the soda”. I’ve not had any for a week and a half now…and my hip is starting to feel better.
I think we, as consumers, really don’t know what all these chemicals are that we put into our bodies every day. The first thing I ever “took out” of my diet was margarine years and years ago and have used butter ever since. “But Carolyn…it’s so full of fat!” Yeah, but with butter, at least I know where it came from and I can pronounce all the ingredients on the side of the package. I use it moderately, along with olive oil, to provide the main fats for cooking and such.
Lately, I’ve been trying to not use as much processed foods in favor of making it myself. Granted, I’m not perfect in that respect as I still like those instant butter and herb mashed potatoes and my new favorite, instant sweet potatoes. I still use cream of mushroom soup (the less sodium/reduced fat version) and I don’t think that I’ll get coffee creamer out of my diet (unless I start making my own coffee instead of drinking the swill at work - that’s why I need the creamer) either. But I can make a choice as to the other things I eat. I’ll try to eat more vegetables and more unprocessed foods. I’ve always bought wheat bread, but now I buy natural peanut butter and locally made jams for my PB&J.
It’s little changes that will eventually make the difference. So now I drink sparkling mineral water, home brewed ice tea (plain, no sweetener) and water instead of soda. So far, it’s done me a world of good.
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Pownce is down. This makes me sad.
Going to be a LONG day…
September 25th, 2007. Published under General. 1 Comment.
I have many meetings to set up and coordinate today. I also have a huge event that’s on Monday that I need to help finalize details on.
My energy levels are dragging right now. Could be the weather. Could be the cold that’s wafting its way through my office. Could be that I should’ve stayed in bed and slept through to Wednesday. Although that wouldn’t solve anything anyway.
But, being busy makes the day go faster! Right?
Out of Touch
September 14th, 2007. Published under General. 1 Comment.
I love articles like this one: How to invest your next $1,000.
Apparently I’m supposed to be privy to some “windfall” of a thousand dollars and DEAR GOD WHAT WILL I DO WITH ALL THE MONEY?!
I think MSN must cater to rich Republicans or something. If I had an extra grand, I would do the following:
- Dance around in celebration because HOW IN THE HELL DID I GET SO LUCKY?
- Finally fix the hail damage on my car because I wasn’t able to cover my deductible before.
- Pay off the rest of my medical bills rather than paying them monthly.
- Finished!
Because that’s all I could really do with a grand: fix stuff and pay stuff off. Like I have the luxury of investing some random thousand dollars. They have another article with where you should invest with that $10,000 that’s just sitting in the pocket of your favorite jacket.
I have a good job that pays me enough to get by. I’m not living like a rock star and I’m not spending money like an idiot. What’s scary is when those unexpected things pop up (repairs, medical expenses, etc.) and you can’t afford to pay for those things without going further into debt.
So I’m sorry MSN, I would love for you to show me an article where I can find that extra $1,000 without working a second job. Oh wait…I already do that. Silly me.
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Sorry I’m all angsty today. Been a long week. TGIF, baby.
How to Wash a Cat
September 13th, 2007. Published under General. 3 Comments.
You’ve all heard the joke about the proper way to wash a cat. (Stick the cat in the toilet and flush.) But have you ever washed a cat in real life?
It’s interesting.
We had to wash Pixel because she was getting some of those “kitty blackheads” on other parts of her body other than her face, so I bought a bottle of kitty shampoo earlier in the day and Tim and I got suited up to wash her.
I ran lukewarm water in the bathtub prior to catching her and we put her in the water. She really doesn’t like the water, but lucky for us, she’s not Roxy. We would’ve been eviscerated from head to toe. But Pixel’s not so flexible so we were able to get her wet with no real issues. Well, other than the fact she has the type of hair that sheds water really well and she squirmed around like she was possessed.
Once we started lathering her up, the yowling started. Since she has such a sweet face, it was pretty cute. I’m sure Roxy and Chester were wondering WTF was going on in there.
Eventually we got her washed and rinsed off thoroughly, but then came the part where we have to dry her off.
Pulling her out of the tub, she looked a lot like this:
She did not enjoy getting toweled off either. We even tried to use a hair dryer on a low, warm setting to help, but she wanted nothing to do with that either so we let her loose.
The girl was filthy, if the bathwater was any indication. Once she dried off, she’s as soft as a baby bunny rabbit.
We both came out of it unscathed. We both expected to be clawed up or something…but she was good despite the wriggling.
Proof that you can wash a cat without too much trouble…but it does depend on the cat.
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Big things afoot at the network. Can’t say anything about it yet…but if everything goes the way we want it to, it’s going to be huge. Pretty stoked about it. :-)
I’m like a Sage
September 10th, 2007. Published under General. No Comments.
OBSERVATION: Soon people will be talking about Britney Spears like they talk about Elvis now: Young, Hot Elvis and Drugged-Out, Bloated Elvis. (Then dead on a toilet Elvis.)
Although Brit’s not dead on a toilet…but she’s one sequined jumpsuit away from a date with that damn toilet.
Or a bad “comeback special”.
Oh wait….she already did that one.
[/satire]
KITTEH!
September 7th, 2007. Published under General. 2 Comments.
Chris took this picture of Chester last week:
(click to go to Chris’ photography site)
I think that’s the only clear photo he got of the little man because once he laid on the carpet to get a better angle at him, he got really curious with Chris’ camera and really gave it the business.
I love this picture! Chester’s such a good boy. :-)
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