so ends another year of kablpomo. i didn’t do half the things i wanted to do for it, but i did write every day, and that is the main point of kablpomo. on top of that, i didn’t forget any days, and i actually looked forward to blogging every day. i think that is a first in the 3 (4?) years i’ve been doing this.
you might not see a lot of me in december, as i will be compiling content for kablpoye (kate’s blog posting year) to celebrate 10 years of blogging (2004-2014, baby!), but i will pop in from time to time and let you know how houseblog and christmas are doing. i’m excited to get my tree this year and decorate. (last year was a bust as far as decorating for christmas.)
for the rest of today’s post: a reflection on houseblog.
my walls are as painted as i want them to be right now, i’ve got pictures up in the main parts of the house, and the garage is clear of stuff so that nate and i can both park in there (good thing, too, with snow coming this week). my living room isn’t quite as big as i’d hoped it’d be, but it’s certainly cozy enough and is set up for some good christmas movie viewing. with the blue grey walls and dark cabinets, my kitchen is as close to my favorite ikea kitchen as it’s going to get, i think. 🙂
the office is kind of boring right now and the bedroom needs some work, but for now it’ll be good enough.
this summer i need gutters for sure, and maybe we’ll start on the basement or deck. either one will work for me. for now, though, i think it’s time for a break and to sit down and enjoy the house.
this graph is really interesting. a couple of observations:
1. april fool’s day is probably a spoof – note how it goes right back down. i’d bet most of the “breakups” are april fools’ jokes.
2. apparently people don’t want to spend money on their significant others. breaking up 2 weeks before christmas? before valentine’s day? seems like a cheap way to get out of buying a present.
3. SPRING BREAK! who wants to be weighed down with a bf/gf during the trip that could get you the most tail evah! same with beginning of summer vacay – you want to keep your options open!
4. thank goodness christmas day is the least breakup day. at least humanity has a little sense of decency left.
i’m cutting it close tonight! i wanted to get some shots of my pecan pie in this post, so that’s why the late post.
after i stopped eating devil’s syrup, i wanted to make a pecan pie. surprise surprise, pecan pie contains corn syrup. in fact, it was created specifically to help SELL corn syrup. (so sayeth the corn syrup people.) wow.
but i did some digging and found this recipe for DS-free pecan pie. i’ve been making it for a few years now. i also have made my crusts with butter and lard now for a few years as well. crisco is all trans fat, and now that the government might ban trans fats, well! let’s say i was ahead of the curve.
this sucker is still in the oven, baking as i type. should turn out just peachy. or pecany.
one thing i love about kablpomo being in november is that i can get away with a lot of photo posts toward the end of the month.
while i am not hosting t-day this year (sad face), i am in charge of the turkey. tonight he’s in the sink thawing, and i made a brine for it to go into tomorrow morning. i did this brine two years ago and it turned out EXCELLENT. it’s the pioneer woman’s brine, and while you would think it would turn the turkey sweet from the ingredients (apple juice, brown sugar, oranges?), it did not, in fact, do that. then i roast it according to this food network recipe, and it turns out spectacularly.
yum yum! looking forward to yummy thanksgiving food.
scale victory, y’all. yes, the led is hard to read. it says 199.4.
height: 5’9″
bone structure: large
weight: 199.4!
i have lost enough weight where i feel a little comfortable talking about my weight. at this point, i am merely “overweight” and only about 30 lbs. so. that’s reasonable enough.
fall 2010 nate bought a scale. i’d never been a believer in scales, except when i went to the doctor’s office. he was on a health kick, though, and wanted a fancy one. ok. i avoided it for a while, then got on and started weighing myself occasionally. one day in spring 2011, i got on and weighed 268. it was like a moment of clarity – at this point, i realized that 268 was way too close to 275, and 275 was way too close to 300. and 300 was too much. i had to do something. i didn’t really know what.
i’d  been corn syrup-free for a year, but that really hadn’t changed my eating habits – just what i ate. i still ate sugar, just not as much and only things made with actual sugar. i grazed after supper all the time. and no real activity.
at the same time, liz had mentioned doing couch-2-5k, and i read through the program. i had never considered myself a runner, even the summer after my first year at csb when liz and i ran every night. but this looked intriguing and relatively easy. so i decided to give it a try. in addition, i did my best to stop eating after supper.
over the summer, i sort of did the third week of c2-5k over and over, until mid-september when my knees started to hurt. but i had lost 15 lbs, just from not eating after supper and doing the piddly third week of c2-5k. but i needed to wait until i saw the doc.
once the doc gave me the ok, i went forward and even took out a monthly membership to the csb fieldhouse. and that’s when i really got going with c-2-5k. the fieldhouse had a track where i could measure exactly how far i ran. i went full tilt starting the beginning of november.
by christmas i’d lost almost 30 lbs. and was able to run a mile non-stop. in march, i finally ran a 5k non-stop. in july, i was down 50 lbs. summer was a little weird with events and stuff, and my weight was a little stagnant until september when i was down 55.
i didn’t count calories. i tried to eat a little less, ate more veggies and fruits, tried to eat less carbs. but stuff happens – i ate my seafood lasagna at ciatti’s over my bday and thoroughly enjoyed it. someone brought cake to work? i had a piece. there’s a brownie at my grandma’s house she offers? yes, please.
but i was pretty much only drinking water and iced tea. still no hfcs. trying to eat a little healthier. and i ran.
and now here i am, below 200 lbs for the first time in probably 14 years. i graduated from high school at 180, yo-yoed through college and left st. ben’s at about 220. when i started hanging out with the gays, i gained 10-15, then another 10 or so when i met nate (date nights…fancy supper). when i got married, i was about 245. somewhere in there, i gained another 20.
when i got bloodwork done at my high weight, my triglycerides were getting close to the warning level. a year after i’d started running, they were so low they couldn’t get a count on them. how awesome is that?
and the nice thing is that as i’m losing weight, i’m also gaining muscle, which means that the last time i weighed what i do, i wore a size or so bigger, so i look like i’ve lost more weight than i have. my legs have muscles! i can see my arm muscles! look at my somewhat visible collarbones! holy cow i can actually SEE my rib bones on my chest! (above the boobies, people.) people mistake me for liz all the time now and vice versa.
but here’s the thing that you have to know: i never had any self-image issues. i never hated my body or myself when i weighed 268. being that size was more of a nuisance than anything else. clothes didn’t fit me the way i wanted them to. some seats got clausterphobic. i actually had my hip fall asleep in a theater seat once. my boobs were ginormous and spendy (large-cup bras cost a pretty penny) and got and in the way ALL THE TIME (well, the boob stuff all still kind of applies…).
and i actually wonder if my weight was a detriment when i was looking for jobs in 2006 – 20 interviews and before getting a job? then in 2012 (after losing 50 lbs) i have ONE interview and get it?
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE. onward and upward, i say! i don’t FEEL different on the inside, but when i see pictures of when i was my heaviest, i say, holy cow. i look like a different person.
everyone always asks what a goal is, right? (although i haven’t had anyone ask me that personally, the loseit subreddit always asks.) BMI tells me the high end should be 168 or so. that sounds reasonable – that’s what i weighed in 11th grade. even if i don’t get to that, i’ll be happy. i’m happy NOW. i was happy at 268! but now i’m happy, healthy, and definitely more comfortable. (ps – here’s a PSA for c-2-5k. if you are wanting to get in shape and have a penchant for beating self-goals [i was never a team-player, myself], couch-2-5k could be the way to go. check out my post on how to do it.)
i’m not making up a new season. i’m giving a name to something that already exists: sprummer.
it’s the last two weeks of may and first couple weeks of june, when spring’s already sprung but summer’s not yet summed. everything’s green and chlorophylly, but the weather’s still in the 70s and perfect. the sun stays up late and gets up early, plants are breaking free of the soil, and the last remnants of cold in the earth are gone.
a haiku:
green, warm sprummertime
winter: distant memory
hold tight; it’s fleeting.
i think everyone’s an iceberg. how many people know the REAL you, the true you with all your private thoughts and wonderings in your mind? maybe parts of you are scattered among different people, with some friends knowing thoughts on your marriage, your siblings knowing how you like to sing at the top of your lungs in the car, your husband knowing how you really feel about your friend’s boyfriend. put all those people in a room, and you STILL wouldn’t have the real you.
now imagine all your jumbled thoughts and personal feelings, fears, happy moments, pet peeves, and doubts about yourself, and imagine that EACH PERSON on the planet has as much going on inside his or her head as you do.
if we could harness that power, holy cow. the entire world would be and iceberg with a tip the size of alaska.
i’m in the middle of painting, so this will be short. and with not much substance.
kitchen is painted blue/green slate. currently painting the entryway peachy, and i will probably paint the hallway a green color. and tonight i put up the surround speakers! woo! nate wants to put up the 7.1 speakers, but for now 5.1 will have to do. (we need more speaker wire for the 7.)
hmmm…other than that, i’m hoping to get to austin in the next couple weeks. i bought a wreath for kathleen and george again this year. bought one for myself and for mom and dad while i was at it.
hmmm….maybe tomorrow i will get to sleep in! that’ll be glorious.
this month marks the 2nd year – SECOND YEAR- that i’ve been running. omg! that is nuts to me. in november 2011, i got my $20/month membership to the st. ben’s fieldhouse and used the track 3 times a week doing couch to 5k. two years later, here i am. i still run slow. i still plod along. but i am doing it! here are some tips. homer again because i always feel like this when i run.
1. make it a personal game with yourself. sure, you can get running buddies who force you to get out there and hit the pavement, but no one is going to make you do it but you. if you don’t have that mindset, you aren’t going to feel any sort of reward. i love it when i get a personal best.
2. get good gear. when i started out, i was wearing two bras (an underwire with a $10 sports bra over it) and a pair of crappy tennis shoes. an awesome bra and a pair of CORRECT running shoes will do wonders; they will help your joints and save the sag.
3. even if you go slow, still go. i can’t run a 10 minute mile. i can barely break a 12 minute mile. that doesn’t matter; at least i’m still out there running and breaking a sweat.
4. get pumped up. if listening to podcasts is your thing, then listen to them while you run. if listening to christmas music is it, then so be it. personally, my playlist is full of britney spears, prince, kesha, and flogging molly (quite the eclectic array, i know).
5. just do it. nike’s right. no excuses. what else were you going to do tonight? try to figure out what to watch on netflix for an hour? stare at cats on reddit for an hour? read crappy literature for an hour? (fyi – i never read crappy literature.) you can carve an hour or less out of your day to do this. what else were you going to do?
