More on Addictions

Hi.  My name is Cheri and I am a sugar addict. I have only discovered this in the last month. I never really thought I had much of a sweet tooth, but apparently I do.  How did I learn that I'm an addict? Well....

At the beginning of this year, I set a goal to lose one pound per month. Just one teeny little pound.  Simple, right?  No! HELL, NO!  In fact, every time I seriously diet I seem to gain weight, so what gives?  In February I started a "Fitness Journal" with photos/stats each month, similar to what Cathy Zielski is doing.

On February 7, I took my first photo and measurements.  Not pretty!  In my journey to be my authentic self, I am trying hard to strike a balance between loving and accepting myself just as I am (double chins included) and yet trying to improve myself and be healthier.  It isn't really about a specific number on the scale, just about being as fit as I am capable of being.  I have made healthy meal choices throughout the month (for the most part) and I definitely increased my participation at the gym.  Today I redid the measurements.  The results?  Not great.  But not terrible either.  While my weight is up a half pound, most of my measurements are down.  Turning flab to muscle?  Maybe.  I was out of the gym for over 2 months with the herniated disc episode so I probably did start to go soft in that time frame.

What I've discovered is that I'm far too willing to reward good choices with dessert.  Which is sabotaging all my efforts.  Sugar is poison.  And now I'm in a quandry.  I don't want to suck ALL the fun out of life and take away everything that tastes good and that I love so much.  At the same time, I know there is very little nutritional value to any of my favorite things and if I could cut out sugar, maybe, just maybe, I would actually drop some of the excess poundage I'm carting around.  Sugar is poison.

So, gentle blog readers, what do you do to curb the sugar monster yet not feel deprived?  I need pointers!  Sugar is poison.  If I say it enough do you think I'll start to believe it?

Addictions

Hi.  My name is Cheri and I am an online class addict.  There, I've admitted it.  And that is the first step right?

Currently I'm enrolled in Design Your Life (Cathy Zielski) and Library of Memories (Stacy Julian) both at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Both of these classes are huge time commitments.  I also won a seat in "Get It Together, Keep it Together" over at Renee Pearson which starts on March 17.  This class will teach me how to organize my ever-growing digi stash in ACDSee.  And I have every intention of signing up for the "Picture Spring" workshop at BPS that starts on April 1st, because honestly it just looks too good to pass up.  And Design Your Life will be over by then.

That's more than enough and I told myself that was going to be it. I don't have time for another class. But who am I kidding? I have tried and tried to resist... but resistance is futile. 

Honestly, who can resist this?  Apparently none of my bloggy friends!  I love Shimelle's classes and I DO still have a significant paper/ribbon/brad/flower/ink stash that needs attention.  And I would be green with envy if I watched you all taking the class and didn't participate.  And if I don't have time, I have forever access, so I can always come back later, right? 

Yes, as an online class addict I can rationalize just about anything.

So as soon as LOST is over, I'll be back online to officially sign up.  Now where is the 12 step support group that I need to join?

Set it Sunday - better late than never

Last week's goals...

1) Gym three times. Well, I made it twice.  I spent the time for my third visit cleaning my kitchen for 2.5 hours.  It was a workout - I know because my back hurt afterward.  I'm calling it good.


2) Eat REAL food - at least 2 meals/day.  CHECK!  I seem to have this one down.  My downfall is that I'm rewarding myself for eating real food at meals by having desserts.  That has GOT. TO. STOP. 

3) 15 minutes per day sorting/purging image folders for Tues, Weds, & Fri (the days I am not in the office).  yeah, not so much

4) 1 each Gratitude and Art Journal layouts. CHECK!

5) Keep up with Design Your Life Assignments - this one is a matter of interpretation.  I have kept up with viewing all the videos, printing out the handouts, and learning the concepts, but have not done all the layouts.  I'm calling it good for now.

6) Make that dreaded phone call - Tuesday morning - CHECK!

7) Tackle one nagging task- check! I did all the piled up filing of paid bills today (3 months worth). My kitchen desk is clean!!! I also input all of last year's goodwill donations into "It's Deductible" for the taxes. It is a small thing, but a huge step forward in being able to do our taxes and feels great to have it done.
 
Goals for this week:
1) Gym three times.
2) Continue eating REAL food.  Limit dessert to twice per week.
3) 1 each Gratitude and Art Journal layouts.
4) Sew curtains for living room  (huge long-term nagging task).
5) Keep plugging away at online classes as time allows.

Musings on Pain & Weekly Gratitude

My mother and I both suffer from herniated discs.  Right now she is the midst of an episode and we've been trading emails about pain levels, treatments, procedures.  The discussion got me to thinking about pain in general and the way people describe pain.  In therapy, you are asked to rate your pain level on a scale of 1 to 10.  And I wonder how differently people might respond to this request.

To me, a “1” is an annoying pain that I take no medication for and doesn’t prevent me from doing any daily activity – like a paper cut. It’s there, I can feel it, it hurts, it’s bothersome, but I continue on. A “3” is where the pain level begins to interfere with daily activities. It hurts enough that it is distracting and I am unable to concentrate as well. There are some things I can’t do, but most things I still can. I’ve had a 2/3 going on for about a week now with a muscle I pulled in my shoulder.

I used to get debilitating migraine headaches - those constituted about a “7” in my book. Interfered with daily life to the point where I couldn't do anything but stay in a cold dark room and try to sleep it off. Giving birth to my first daughter ranged in the 6/7 category with a few moments of searing 9 or 9.5. But at least that was over quickly.  The next two were C-Section which was largely pain-free.  I figured I deserved that little perk for being brave enough to have two at once.

A “10” for me is the most excruciating debilitating pain you can imagine. It hurts so bad that you can’t think about anything but the pain and you’d honestly rather die than continue to live with it. I’ve only been at a “10” once in my life – my first time with kidney stones. I was a classic textbook case - and was literally writhing and moaning it hurt so bad. The flank pain was so bad, there was no position I could put my body in that eased the pain. I was nauseated and miserable. Even morphine only took the edge off enough to allow me to lay still and answer the doctors questions. It didn’t take away the pain. Have you ever had pain at what you consider a level "10"?  How did you deal with it?

And all that pondering about pain, got me to realizing that it is difficult to appreciate being pain-free if you haven't experienced pain.  But once you have, being pain-free is something to really be thankful for. 

Unwelcome Visitor

I'm all for live and let live.  We've had unwanted critters in the house a few times before.  Check out this post for a funny story about when we had a mouse in the house.  Before that, we once had a bat.  I actually caught it (work gloves and a shoe box) and released it back outside.  Like I said, I believe in live and let live.

We've known for just over a week now that we had a mouse in the house. Because for a brief moment one of the cats caught it... but it got away. The cats were stalking the fridge, so we pulled it out, and sure enough, there was plenty of trace evidence left behind. But no mouse. We thought possibly it had left the way it came.  We set out a catch and release trap just in case it was still around.  Nothing.  Fast forward a week.  I am prepping meat and veggies for a crock pot stew.  I wash the cutting board and reach to place it in the dish drainer when I see this:

And all I can think about at this point is Stacey's stove incident.  This is SOOO beyond GROSS!  So I set the cutting board down, toss the sponge in the trash, and start scrubbing the dish drainer.  When I pick it up, I spot more evidence ... here:

This is the corner of the countertop behind the cookbook shelf.  At this point I am simultaneously freaking out and feeling sick to my stomach.  The mouse has defiled my beautiful kitchen!

And here:

Opposite corner of the countertop where the knife holder sits.  That white chunk is a piece of bread.  Upon further inspection I find that the mouse has climbed into the bread basket, chewed a hole into the bread that I eat (which I guess I don't eat often enough since it took me a week to discover) and has been doing quite a bit of snacking.  I also found forensic evidence inside the flour canister.  I honestly couldn't see how a mouse could get up on the countertops, let alone inside a ceramic canister - but this one is obviously quite crafty.  And very messy.

Well little mouse - when you decided to defile my kitchen - YOU DECLARED WAR!  No more Mr. Nice Guy at this house.  Nosiree.  I spent two and a half hours yesterday scouring my kitchen.  I threw out three packages of bread, a box of rice, a bag of flour - basically anything that sat on the countertop that was open.  I tossed the remains of a cake even though it was covered with cellophane.  Hey, that rodent ate through my bread bag, remember?  I removed every appliance and scrubbed the countertop and all the appliances - especially the toaster.  I checked all the cabinets just to be sure - thankfully the only evidence was on the countertops.  I emptied and scrubbed out the canisters.  We have Pfaltzgraf canisters that are actually labelled "Flour" "Sugar" "Coffee" "Tea" - but apparently the lids are loose enough to permit a mouse to enter.  I threw away the bread basket.  Eeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww.  I sent DH numerous emails detailing the process and demanding that he do something to eliminate said mouse from my kitchen.

Not quite satisfied with having scrubbed the canisters, I went to Target and bought myself a set of new mouse-proof canisters:

The color is a little off in this photo - the walls are a mustardy yellow, the canisters are red.  But aren't they pretty?  No mouse getting in there!

DH came home with some less rodent-friendly traps (I'm sorry, but the mouse started it) which were set out last night.  I'm happy to say that as of this morning my home has one less resident.  Traps remain in place just in case the little creep wasn't alone.

On the bright side, my kitchen is really really CLEAN. And I have a new canister set!

Art Journal Layout

Finally some time to create!

You already know from this post how much I love K.D. Lang's version of Hallelujah.  So here's my love expressed in an Art Journal layout.  Just happens that music was the Itinerary for this past week! :)

Calling all Digi and wanna-be Digi Scrappers

Interested in getting some nice digi templates and supporting a worthy cause at the same time?
Introducing...

All proceeds from the sale of these templates go to charity.  Go here to check it out!

Updated to add:  Even though Liberty Elements is in the U.K. and they are asking for a donation in British pounds, it is still SO EASY to do!  Check out using PayPal, it will automatically do the conversion for you.  As of today, 2 pounds British equalled $3.08.  So that was my charitable donation and I get 3 templates for that!