Friday, April 27, 2012

Retrenching

Heya gang -- I'm still here, still alive. The weight is holding steady at 138 - 142, depending on day of the month, salt intake, etc. Not all who wander off the blogosphere are lost or diving headfirst into a bag of potato chips.

Well, at least not most days.

My posting has dropped primarily because I've been a bit out of sorts since this reflux issue reared its ugly head. I mean, I'm supposed to be the girl with the cast-iron stomach! I ate public school food throughout my formative years and then for another six years after that when I was teaching. I have taken great pride in the fact that I can eat almost* anything and suffer no repercussions from a digestive standpoint.

Now I've turned 40 (okay, 42) and that's all down the tubes, along with my stupid knee and all the other parts of my body that are hollering, "Yo, Amanda! Aging here! Hah!" And it's annoying as hell. I know I'm aging. I can look in the mirror and see the signs. I don't need my body snickering back to me about it in new and interesting ways. Seriously, I get it. The Mortality Clock, she is ticking. Yippie. So could a girl catch a break on this? Please?

Outside of that delightful area of thought, all is well. The boys survived their FCATs. Choreboy is a marvel (and he brought me flowers!!), the cats haven't killed us, and Teddy remains abominably cute.

Belly dancing is rather fun, and I'm developing a bit of proficiency with some of the moves which is tickling me pink. I spent an hour last Saturday practicing, and I get in a bit of other practice wherever I can fit it in. Yes, still in the bathroom at work, even. I am also now the proud owner of four hip scarves, which jingle rather nicely.

Oh, and I have this shirt:


I figure it'll be inspirational ;)


*That said, I absolutely cannot drink 6 mini-cans of spicy V8 in one sitting. That way lies madness... and a dreadful gut-pain.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Randomness

One of my favorite songs:


Mishaela, by Noa (Achinoam Nini).  It's been years since I heard it -- over 20, actually -- but one of my friends tracked it down for me.  If I had a brain I'd have checked YouTube my own damned self. I'm blaming old age for that one.

Oh, because it's in Hebrew perhaps a little translation* would help:


Who knows what is in her eyes?
Grey clouds disperse in the four winds
A dry riverbed overflows
And the horizon opens wide

Up to the heaven she turns her eyes
Searching, diving in to the chilly blue
Floating in the air
Touching the pure golden light
That glimmers in her hair

Mishaela, what do you see?
What is it in your heart
That greets the desolate silence with such
Laughter?

It is one rainbow in the east, she says
It is all I need

What more could I want?
It is all that I need.



*All credit goes to the various folks on YouTube who posted this version of the lyrics.


Sunday, April 15, 2012

Out of my Cold, Dead Fingers

There it is: my lone remaining vice.  I've always sworn that you'd be prying it out of my cold, dead fingers.  I quit smoking years ago, I rarely drink, I track every calorie that goes into my mouth, and I figure we're all permitted one excess, right?

Wrong -- or at least my body didn't get that memo.  Because I've developed a marvelous case of reflux (thanks, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs!) and one of the things that seems to trigger mine the most is carbonation.

This sucks.

I've gone from an-amount-that-shall-not-be-confessed, to 4 per day, to 2 per day, and yesterday I had only one.  I'm toying with allowing myself to stay at that number but I'll admit that there's now part of me that says to just dump it entirely.

On the plus side, my water intake (already in excess of 64 oz./ day) has skyrocketed.  At this point I'm so well-hydrated I could survive a drought.

Oh well.  I'll figure it out.  Probably over a nice, steaming hot cup of coffee.  Because you will pry my caffeine out of my cold...

Nevermind.  I don't want to jinx myself.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Coming Up for Air

My brain is now officially mush.  What with my birthday, Easter, work exploding all over me -- not that this is a bad thing, as actual productivity in the office rocks -- and the pending FCAT exams (Florida's wretched achievement tests that are directly correlated to scholastic advancement and graduation), I barely know what end is up. 

The Elder's middle school does all FCAT prep during school hours, which is fine by me.  The Gum Zombie's school, however, sends home packet after packet after bloody freaking packet of FCAT practice nightly leading up to the test (which, blessedly, is next week).  I'm absolutely in favor of my child doing well, I'm just exhausted and I'm sure everyone else, administrators, teachers, parents, and children, is likewise fatigued.  I also wonder how in the world parents who have children in various after school activities and what-not are managing to get this stuff done.  It's a squeeze for us, and the boys don't even have consistent extra-curricular obligations at this time.  Seriously, my kids' advancing ages really makes me think that parents who are doing their children's homework aren't necessarily doing it because they're trying to protect Widdle Pweshus from straining his ginormous-yet-oddly-feeble brain.  I'm starting to think maybe some are doing it because there just aren't enough hours in a day.

Ah well, it is what it is, and we'll do what we must.  But I draw the line at doing my kid's homework.  I'll sit there and suffer right along with him if need be, but he's going to have to be the one to strain his brain and develop writer's cramp.  I've done my time.

-----------------------

As for the rest of life that that isn't utterly, completely insane, all is well.  I survived both my birthday and Easter without any impact to the scale.  In fact, my stupid pants were loose when I put them on this morning; I nearly had to wear a belt.  So I'd have to count that as a win.  Exercise is hit-and-miss (see FCAT, and see earlier posts re: exhaustion), but I'm keeping moving and not rooting myself to the couch.  Next week matters should improve on that front -- the FCAT will be ongoing which will, in fact, make life easier since there will be no homework!

Bliss.

Anyway, my second belly dancing class is tonight.  I've been practicing here and there (you should see me hiding in the bathroom stall at the office to work on my hip thrust -- it's a sight), so we'll see how it goes.  I managed to do "snake arms" effectively at home, but I have a history of freezing while in large groups which makes me unsure I'll be able to reproduce the move in class.  Eh, it'll work out.  Eventually.

Hang in there and have a good one!

Friday, April 06, 2012

It's Alive!

Y'all, I am so not into this new interface Blogger's got going on.  I'm sure I'll adapt (hey, it's free, I guess I shouldn't gripe), but good grief it's annoying.  If it ain't broke... *grumblemuttercurse*

Anyway, here's the annual birthday picture:


It's a bit dark (I don't know what's up with the photo quality -- grainy!) and Hound (aka Teddy) refused to look at the camera, but it'll do.  It's better than last year's which, although it was sharper, also shows that I wasn't doing my resistance exercises.  It shows in my face.  Well, to me at least.  There's only about a 7 pound difference between me then and me now, but I'll take now any day!

In other news, I got the results of my bloodwork in.  My cholesterol (both HDL and LDL) is outstanding, my blood sugar couldn't be better if I'd studied for the test, my thyroid is normal, all is well on that front.  However, my B12 is on the lower end of normal which, my doctor says, can cause one to become symptomatic for Vitamin B12 deficiency, and my Vitamin D levels are abyssmal -- 12.2 ng/ml, when the lower threshold is 30... which is still considered insufficient.  Optimal levels are from 50 - 70 ng/ml.  And one of the big symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency is (drumroll please) fatigue.

At least I have an explanation.  My doctor and I went over my diet and food-wise I'm taking in what I should for good health, so it appears we're dealing with an absorption issue.  I'm now supplementing with 5000 IU Vitamin D and 1000 IU Vitamin B12 daily.  We'll be rechecking in 3 months and go from there.

I'm not noticing any improvement in my stamina yet, but I have hope.

Regarding the belly dancing class, it was fun!  I'm also just as uncoordinated as I remember.  I can do the foot movements, or the hand movements, but putting them together just ain't happening yet.  And when you add "traveling" to the entire shebang, holy crap.  It's all done.  Remember, I trip over carpet lint people -- this is no joke.  I walk into doorways I know darned good and well are there.  So "grace" is not my middle name.  But I'll never improve unless I try so I figure I'll keep on and give it a whirl.

Have a great Easter weekend!

Monday, April 02, 2012

I am the Answer!


Sidebar now updated to reflect current age.  Geek points to those who get the reference*.

Have a happy day, all!

*And major hattip to my friend Angel, from whom I totally and shamelessly hijacked this pic ;)