Just Stuff

First, I've been tagged to do a meme by Babs. Topic? TANSTAAFL, or in other words, There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

I must cogitate.

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And trying to think about how I'm to do justice to that particular topic is a bit difficult at this point, because I took my first Chantix today and it appears to have fried my brain. The good news is that I'm not wanting to smoke as much even now, which I'm sure isn't due to the Chantix because a) I felt like this before I popped my little pill (yay!), and b) the stuff really hasn't had enough time to build up in my body anyway.

But still, it's definitely a good thing.

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In the realm of "not such a good thing," or perhaps, "too much of a good thing," I ate too much for lunch. That wasn't bright. I've spent almost a year scraping these forty pounds off my formerly-ever-widening-ass, and the last thing I need to do is pile them back on again. Yeah, yeah, one meal won't kill me, I know. It's the cumulative effect of overeating that'll do me in.

Since I'm quitting smoking, though, and am on Chantix, I have this lively horror that I'm going to pack the pounds right back on. I like how I look now, and am working on dropping a few more pounds (5'-7", 160 lbs, small bone structure... yep, still need to lose a few). I know how to make it work. I just need to continue obsessively calorie-counting and diary-ing my food, and make sure to stay within certain limits.

But it's really got me freaked out a bit.

5 Things Meme

Mauigirl of Mauigirl's Meanderings has tagged me for this meme, in which I answer a list of questions, then (supposedly) tag 5 other people to do the same.

The Instructions: Remove the blog from the top, move all blogs up one, and then add yourself to the bottom. So here goes: What Floats My Boat, Homespun Honolulu, Who's Yo Mama?, Mauigirl's Meanderings, and It's All About the Walls.

What were you doing 10 years ago (5 Things)
1. Teaching.
2. Finally realizing my first marriage was a bust.
3. Herding three dogs and two cats.
4. Living in an actual real southern state, as opposed to Florida (which we all know is Michigan, just warmer).
5. Contemplating a career change to IT (which amused/appalled my IT classmates endlessly a few years later when I'd refer to various cables and such as "doohickies" and "whosiewhatsits")

What were you doing 5 years ago (5 Things ) [Note: This one wasn't on the original, but I added a midpoint because I'm just that way.]
1. Moving into this house.
2. Finally getting over morning sickness with #2 son (I got about 12 days off, then the sciatica kicked in).
3. Taking #1 son to his ESE Pre-K because he steadfastly refused to speak for his first 3.5 years of life (but once he decided to start talking he went for complete sentences and hasn't stopped since).
4. I was unaware of it at the time, but I was about to head back to work during my pregnancy due to the MCI/Worldcom bust, which cost my husband his job.
5. Tossing around the idea of a homebirth (ended up having one).

What were you doing 1 year ago (5 Things)
1. Finally realizing I was more than just a bit overweight -- I had crossed the line into fat.
2. Edging near becoming one of my former boss's clients rather than her secretary, as I was feeling rather homicidal about some of the clients.
3. Watching my Little Guy descend into canine dementia and severe incontinence (my rug is almost better, but he is still missed).
4. Trying not to think about my weight (kind of goes with #1, but more in a "still trying to be in denial" sort of way).
5. Another "I didn't know it then" one, but I was really near starting my blog (my one year blogoversary is coming up -- wow!).

Five Snacks You Enjoy:
1. Doritos
2. Cheddar cheese
3. Blue cheese
4. Mozzarella cheese (are we seeing a theme here, and perhaps *why* #1 of the preceding item occurred?)
5. Baked Lays Sour Cream and Cheddar chips (hey, at least they're baked!)

Five Songs That You Know The Lyrics To:
1. "Daylight Again" CSN
2. "Southern Cross" CSN
3. "Memory" from Cats
4. The entire libretto to Phantom of the Opera
5. "Goodnight Saigon" Billy Joel

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire (Someone changed this one to Billionaire - a million is nothing nowadays!):
1. Donate more than time to the SPCA.
2. Adopt more cats. And perhaps a dog or four.
3. Hire a dog walker and a litter-box scooper.
4. Hire a housekeeping service -- preferably daily (with laundry and dishwashing service).
5. Uhm... I might cut back a bit on my hours at work. Perhaps.

Five Bad Habits:
1. I can only be neat when no one else lives with me. When someone else starts piling their garbage up around my neatness, I cave and my Inner Slug emerges.
2. I don't exercise enough. I move, yes, but my times of deliberate "this is Amanda, exercising on purpose" are few and far between.
3. Along the lines of #1, I see only surfaces that are above knee level.
4. I procrastinate. On the plus side, I work extremely well under pressure.
5. I will miss sleep to finish reading a new book (that might not be a bad habit, but as I've noted previously, Amanda - Sleep = bad).

Five Things You Like To Do:
1. Read (sometimes to my detriment - see immediately above)
2. Sleep (my holy grail)
3. Listen to my kids (they make me laugh)
4. Eat (wreaks havoc on the diet)
5. Watch the small furry felines as they chase invisible prey. Hee.

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:
1. My black F-me pumps with the 5" heel. They look great, but they make my feet very sad along with the rest of my body as I tend to face-plant if I wear anything higher heeled than a Birkenstock.
2. My size 18 jeans. They were originally purchased as "immediately post-partum jeans," and became "the only pants I own that fit me" jeans. ACK!
3. Cropped shirts, because the stretch marks from pregnancy are not attractive.
4. A large scrunchy. How old am I? And what decade is this? Thank you. I have to remind myself sometimes.
5. My wedding dress. It was from my first marriage. 'Nuff said.

Five Favorite Toys:
1. My PDA-style phone with the QWERTY slide-out keyboard and Internet access. Danged thing's a lifesaver in airports, bank lines, etc.
2. My new digital camera. Who knew that taking pictures could be fun?
3. My new wireless laptop (thank you bosses for my bonus).
4. My books. Yes, they are toys. Anything that takes up this much room has to qualify as a toy.
5. My husband's new MP3 player, because it makes my house quiet so I can more thoroughly enjoy #4. Silence... bliss!

Five Things You Hate To Do:
1. Fold laundry. Yick.
2. Clean up after other folks (should have thought of this before I reproduced... duh!).
3. My morning and afternoon stop-at-two-kid-drops commute. I envy those who only have to get their own bodies to work in the morning!
4. Scoop the litter boxes. Yeah, ours are self-cleaning... I clean 'em myself (cymbal crash) (crickets).
5. Come up with the next set of meme victims.

And in honor of number 5, please volunteer if you feel like meme-ing! Let me know and I'll link to you in edits.

LALOLKFATYK

Learn a Lot of Little Known Facts About Those You Know -- heck of an acronym in the title there.

Acknowledgement goes to Babs. And to today's meme addiction.

Okay, and we're off!

1. Were you named after anyone? Yes, my maternal great-great grandmother.There weren't too many Amanda's back in the 1800's. Heck, there weren't too many back in the early 1970's. Now? They're everywhere. I was the only Amanda in the school most of my student life, but flash-forward into my teaching years and I was one out of five.

2. When was the last time you cried? I got a bit misty-eyed this past week on vacation when my cousin and I were discussing our mutual grandmother who passed away in November of 2005.

3. Do you like your handwriting? Depends on if it's legible. It's a weird mix of my mother's and father's handwriting styles. Half printed, half cursive. Legible, it's cool looking. Illegible, it's scary chicken-scratch.

On the plus side, I don't cross every letter that crosses the center line of my writing, unlike some fathers I could mention...

4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Greasy, drippy burger meat. Preferably smothered in cheese.

5. Do you have kids? Yes, two. Boys. Ages 8 and 4. I'm hopelessly besotted, except when I look at their bedrooms. Then I just cringe.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? I figure I'd either love me or hate me. Dry sense of humor, sarcasm, occasional flashes of wit, more frequent bouts of extreme density... it's either engaging or highly annoying.

7. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Me? Sarcastic? Nah. (Please see #6)

8. Do you still have your tonsils? Nope. Had 'em out back in 1974, when they weren't doing tonsillectomies on a regular basis anymore. I had tonsillitis so much they deemed it better to put a four-year-old under general anesthetic than for me to retain possession of 'em.

Don't miss them, either.

9. Would you bungee jump? Uh, no. At this point, I wouldn't even make it up to the platform. Me + vertigo = bad.

10. What is your favorite cereal? Froot Loops. This is a surprise?

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? One word: Birkenstocks.

12. Do you think you are strong? I hoist forty to fifty pound deadweights (my sons) regularly. And the cats, one of whom appears to be in a race with the human children for highest weight.

He's losing, but he's a determined little cuss.

13. What is your favorite ice cream? Eggnog. Bastards only make it around the winter holidays, for which my waistline is eternally grateful.

14. What is the first thing you notice about people? Their eyes. My husband has the most beautiful brown-gold-green heavily-lashed eyes. Stoopid sigh.

15. Red or pink? Depends on the shade. Orangey-reds and I don't mix. Blood-reds and bluish-reds kick ass. Pinks also need to be more bluish.

16. What is the least favorite thing about yourself? This smoking shit. It has got to stop. That and the charming saddlebags I have that remain no matter how little I weigh. I had pneumonia when I was 16 and dropped to 108 pounds. I was hollow cheeked, flat chested, and STILL these buggers hung on.

Unbelievable.

17. Who do you miss the most? My grandmother, referenced in Item #2. She was the sheltered daughter of a physician and my great-grandmother. Then my great-grandfather died when she was just eight years old (Bright's Disease). My grandmother was the original latchkey kid. She grew up, got married, had two wonderful kids (my uncle and my mom), then left the abusive bastard she'd married. Tossed his ass in jail when he wouldn't pay the child support, too.

Remember, this was the 1940's. Divorce simply wasn't done. Nor was throwing one's children's father in jail. But the man never forgot the child support again, nor did he forget the $1.00 per month alimony payment.

She went back to college, finished her degree and student teaching in one year, then proceeded to teach first grade for thirty years and put her kids through college, with the help of her mother.

When her grandchildren arrived, she was in her element. We got ditto sheets mailed to us, which we'd mail back and she'd then return to us, graded. And when we visited, she had a wonderful make-believe land called Lizardsville set up off her back patio, where Lenny, Rodney, and assorted other rubber lizards relaxed on Moss Rock and gathered around the little margarine tub she'd sink into the ground, filled with water colored blue with a drop of food coloring.

After she retired, she became The Cruise Queen. She sailed across the Atlantic on the QE II, cruised the Mediterranean, the Pacific coasts of the U.S. and Canada, the Caribbean... she used to joke that she'd fallen in every major European city.

Never broke her hip, either. Good bones, that woman.

She was amazing.

When she died, she left behind a son, a daughter, their spouses, six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. That number has since swelled to eleven. Not a bad legacy for an only child.

18. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Pink jammie pants, no shoes.

19. What was the last thing you ate? Baked Lays Sour Cream and Onion potato chips.

20. What are you listening to right now? Men in Black. Hee.

21. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Is fluorescent white a color?

22. Favorite smells? Pot roast cooking in the pressure cooker and apple cider simmering on the stove.

23. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My husband, asking him why a simple trip to the store was taking three hours (he'd run into a friend... and some men think girls talk too much!)

24. Favorite sport to watch? Sumo wrestling. No, I'm not kidding.

25. Hair color[s]? Brown with gold streaks, courtesy of my stylist. It's either that or muddy brownish-grey. I'll take the chemical colors anytime.

26. Eye color? Blue-green-grey. Depends on my mood and/or what I'm wearing.

27. Do you wear contacts? I tried, once, about twenty years ago. Gas permeable lenses, due to my severe astigmatism. I've checked since then, and it's still the best they can do given my need for good visual acuity.

Felt like I had tin can lids in my eyes. No thanks.

28. Favorite food? Cheese, in all its many glorious forms.

29. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings. Real life is realistic enough. I'll take my fantasy where I can get it.

30. Last movie you watched? At home, Men in Black (viewing currently). In the theater, it would be the latest Pirates movie.

31. What color shirt are you wearing? Pink. Matches the jammy bottoms.

32. Summer or winter? Winter. I live in Florida. I get enough of summer.

33. Hugs or kisses? Both, from all three men in my life. The rest of the world? Hugs are okay, depending on who you are. Side-arm is most likely safest, if you value your limbs.

34. Favorite dessert? I'm really not big on sweets. But if I need something sweet, it better be gooey and chocolaty.

35. Most likely to respond? I have no clue. I generally don't tag folks. Angel might cave, though. Heh.

36. Least likely to respond? Again, I have no clue.

37. What book are you reading now? When I Fall in Love, by Lynn Kurland. It's a time travel romance. I like the paranormal stuff.

38. What is on your mouse pad? Stonehenge.

39. What did you watch on T.V. last night? Alton Brown, Good Eats. The milk episode. Cooking for nerds... love it!

40. Favorite sound[s]? My sons' laughter.

41. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Billy Joel or Jimmy Buffet.

42. What is the farthest you have been from home? Japan. Yes, you can blame the answer to #24 on that.

43. Do you have a special talent? I type over 100 words per minute. I'm popular at deadline time, what can I say?

44. Where were you born? At a USAFB hospital in Marin County, California.

45. Whose answers are you looking forward to getting back? Anyone who manages to get this far in the answering!

Eight Things I Know - Pass it On

I found this over at Angel's blog, and followed it around to a couple other places. It's interesting, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

(That and the fact that my new digital camera is not cooperating in the "letting my pics go to the computer" department, so I'm holding off on more vacation blogging just for a bit to see if I can pry them loose. If not, I'll be doing picture-less vacation blogging.)

Note: Some of the eight things I've linked to are light, some are serious. Mine have some rantish items and some non-rantish ones, because... well, I'm like that.

1. Life is too short to stay pissed off. Sure, I rant and get annoyed in here, but that's one of the points of my blog for me: it's a venting device. I blog about things that annoy, then I let them go. It's either that or get an ulcer.

2. You just can't please everyone. I like to make people happy, but some folks are flatly impossible. They thrive on being stressed, on seeing the negative (mentally glaring at specific not-to-be-named family member), on how everything in their life is always going to shit. Then they need to spread that vile manure around. You know what? Bad stuff happens. And sometimes it's overwhelming, but you have to find a way to move past it or you risk giving yourself and everyone around you a freaking damned migraine.

[Remember Number 1, Amanda... remember Number 1...]

3. Quitting smoking is hard. Yes, it is hard. And yes, it is worth it and I'm working on it; I'm just not there yet. No, you cannot sit there and tell me that you quit drinking sodas, and if you can do that, anyone can quit smoking. The two addictions are the same only in that they're addictions. That's where any similarity ends. I am not you and you are not me.

Talk to me when you've taken up smoking then quit, your-holier-than-thou-ness*. That's when I'll listen to you.

4. There is nothing like a child's laughter. Absolutely nothing. It can bring me from feeling a bit melancholy to a more even keel in zero seconds flat.

5. Anyone who says you should have to keep a plant alive first to either have children or pets is suffering from a serious lack of perspective. I couldn't keep plants alive until I'd already had both pets and children. Plants don't let you know when they're hungry. They're easily overlooked. Kids and animals are not subtle about their displeasure. They forcibly take your focus off yourself. Once I had to pay attention to things outside of myself and what book I was reading next, I learned that yes, I too, could keep plants alive.

Speaking of which, I hope the office plants have survived my vacation.

6. Doctors are not gods. They are highly educated medical professionals. They're also humans. As with every profession, there are good ones and bad ones in the bunch, so it behooves us as medical consumers to look clearly at our healthcare providers and determine if we're dealing with a case of "just had a totally craptastic day" -itis or if we're dealing with true apathy or incompetence.

Craptastic days are forgiveable. The other states are not.

7. Expecting to live in a spotless house when the children are young is to set yourself up for disappointment. I'm not saying that I live in a pit; I don't. But I am saying that my neatness standards have had a bit of an adjustment. Freaking out due to a toy left on the family room floor? Is not worth my sanity, or my kids' for that matter.

8. The kids will grow up. The sleep-deprived nights of newborn parenthood will cease. The shrieking toddler will clam up. The bouncy little boys will settle down (someday, I'm told!). Enjoy every stage as much as you can, because once it's gone, there's no getting it back.

There you have it. All my wisdom at the moment in a nutshell. I'll spare y'all a tag, but if anyone feels like taking up this meme please let me know and I'll edit this post to link to you.

* This particular rant was courtesy of a real-life encounter I had at a former workplace, not from anyone related to me or anyone anywhere on the blogosphere. I just needed to get that out. Freaking sanctimonious bitch.

Tagged

I've been officially tagged, by Medblog Addict. As I said I'd do it if officially tagged and I am not a weasel, here goes.

Here are the rules: Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. Write a post about your own random things. Post these rules. At the end of your blog, tag 8 people and post their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged.

1. I actually like working on Saturdays. Even though my current field is much less stressful than the legal secretary gig there are times when we're on deadline, or multiple deadlines. As there are only forty hours in a week, sometimes I end up going in on a Saturday to make sure specifications, addenda, etc., are out in time. And it's so relaxing. It's peaceful, the phones don't ring much, and I can pull up the most recent episode of Heroes on my monitor and have it playing in the background while I type away.

Shoot, some weeks it's the only "break" I get, what with the offspring and all. In fact, just a little later this morning, I'm heading in because one of the principals is about to go away for vacation and needs to get some stuff finished off. It'll likely be a fairly full house as most of the people who work there end up showing their faces at some time on the weekend. Since I missed Monday and Tuesday at work (nasty head/chest cold) I can count this time against my sick hours, which is awesome because with two kids who catch every bug that passes through, I can use every sick hour I can muster.

2. I don't know what my natural hair color is anymore. Back before I started going grey, I had dark brown hair that went reddish-to-gold in the sun. It was nice hair. But after #2 son was born, the greys started coming in hard and heavy. I dyed it for awhile, then thought I'd like to get in touch with my natural hair color. Mistake! I'm more than 50% grey in some spots, notably over my ears, and salt-and-pepper over the rest of my head.

Plus I don't go grey in a nice, dignified manner. I'm one of those lucky folks with the mutant grey hairs that grow in all coarse and kinky, which makes them stand out like a beacon against the dark brown background. They make my hair look like I combed it with an egg beater even when I've just styled it. No thanks. It's chemical haircolor all the way for me, now. I've got an appointment for a touch-up today, after I finish off at the office. Work and next a hair appointment. Bliss!

3. I wear glasses; I haven't been free of them since I was five years old. I have amblyopia (lazy eye), and I was patched for several years when I was a little kid. My left eye covers only 30% of my field of vision on its own, and drifts out when I'm tired. I've heard this is disconcerting from people, because it's hard to tell where I'm looking. The easiest solution is just to look at my right eye, since it actually points where it's supposed to.

Family pictures are fun because of this. I try to make sure I'm in semi-profile so I don't look deranged.

4. I'm allergic to my cats. This means I spend most of my evenings and weekends in a Benadryl-induced haze. Hmmm... wonder if that's another reason why I like working on Saturdays?

5. I own more than 1,000 books. No, this is not too many. Yes, I've read all of them and no, I'm not giving any of them up.

My husband and I are currently negotiating wall space in the bedroom. He says he needs a new dresser (just because he can't fit all his clothes in the old one); I say I need another book shelf (much more reasonable, as I've run out of shelf space even with double-rows of books on every shelf I own).

I think we're going to need another shed. For his clothes.

6. Since August of last year, I've lost 37 1/2 pounds. Trust me, this was a good thing. I was in Publix with my elder son and foolishly got on the scale. The charming child announced (at full volume, of course), "Mommy, you weigh 200!"

Uh, thanks sweetie.

But seriously, that's the most I've ever weighed, including at more than 9 months pregnant. ACK. I started with NutriSystem and stuck with it for two months, in which I lost 18 pounds. Then the food started to get to me. One parmesean pasta with broccoli thing tasted, I swear, like fish food. Oh yuck.

So now I'm counting my calories, and I try to keep myself between 1200 and 1500 a day. I am also a very firm believer in "free" days, where I just toss caution to the winds and eat what I want. I know it makes the weight come off more slowly than faithfully eating fish food, but I can live with it. Plus it makes it more likely that the weight will stay off. We have Type II diabetes in our bloodline (my paternal grandmother is an amputee thanks to that disease), and I will not risk my health when I know I'm capable of doing something about it. Dieting works for me; ergo, I diet.

Exercise bugs, but I'm making sure I move more, too. I also have an on-again-off-again relationship with my treadmill.

Interlude, in which our blogger leaves her home and accomplishes the tasks listed in items 1 & 2...

Okay, back, and ready with numbers 7 and 8!

7. I hate cleaning bathrooms, but as much as I hate it, I hate folding laundry more. Now why is that? Clean laundry is, well, clean. Dirty bathrooms are just flat disgusting, especially considering that I live with three males, two of whom have questionable aim.

Huh.

8. I used to be one of those people who kept a pristine house. Now that I'm married with two kids and working full time, my standards are more "is it a health hazard? No? Then it's fine." It drives me batty sometimes, but considering the kids mess it up as quickly as I clean it (and also considering that my husband in nine years has yet to figure out that leaving mail on my cutting board is not acceptable... grrrrr), it's vital to my sanity that I leave my dreams of "House Beautiful" in the past. If I cleaned the way I'd need to for Martha Stewartesque perfection, I'd not only never have time to read, I'd never sleep.

A sleep deprived Amanda is not a pretty sight.

Anyway, there we go! I'm supposed to tag eight other people now. Problem is, I don't know if eight people even read this damn thing. I'm going to take a page out of Medblog Addict's book and ask, "Are there any volunteers?"

Let me know!