I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Sam, the cat, has a food allergy. His owner can't eat wheat, he can't eat whatever they put in normal cat food that doesn't cost me a ridiculous amount of money. I'm not sure which is the most ridiculous about Sam's special cat food:
It is prescription food. In order to get the dry, canned and the treats I had to get THREE separate prescriptions. For hypoallergenic cat food. This is still cat food, not cat food laced with percocet. I don't have to hae a prescription for my gluten-free food but the cat does for his hypoallergenic cat food. Said prescription apparently ran out because when I went to pick him up I had to ask at the clinic for a new prescription as well. Depending on which Petsmart I go to, I can't always get the different varieties. There are 3 different hypoallergenic types: rabbit, venison and duck. His prescription is for the duck. Some Petsmarts let me get any variety with the prescription I have in hand. Others have given me crap because I'm getting the rabbit flavor instead of duck. Seriously?
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Success and failures
So I've been working on exercising more and spending less. I've been doing quite well on the exercise front. According to foursquare I've been to the gym for the past 7 weeks. With the exception of last week I've done at least three days. Last week I had to work late three times and so no gym for those days. I think that's pretty darn good. I do 20 swimming laps on lap swim day or 45 minutes of water aerobics on water aerobics days. Swimming days are usually longer workouts than water aerobics days. Then I do push-ups against the pool wall and crunches in the water. But my very favorite part of the work out is the very last five minutes of my workout. Even on water aerobics days I do this. I lay back and float on my back and let everything just relax into the water. I usually float for somewhere around five minutes. I love it. If I could wear a snorkle or perhaps a scuba tank I think I could sleep like that. (Although I'm sure I'd get pretty damn cold eventually). Some spas offer a "float" as a relaxation activity (kind of like isolation tanks or sensory deprivation tanks). You float (naked) in warm extremely salty (epsom salt not regular I think) water and just let everything go. I don't seem to need that. I can just do it in the chlorine. :)
The spending money ONLY on necessities is not doing so great. I go to the gym in the evening after work. I tried going in the AM but it just was not happening. Plus it is better on traffic if I go after work. The problem is I get home after 7 pm. Sometimes I'm too tired to cook too so I end up eating take out. So much for my take out only once a week thought. (That doesn't mean I'm abandoning it, next week is a new week and an opportunity to try again.) I've also bought things that were not necessities like trashy magazines and a new shirt that I loved and well I'm sure there've been other things. Oh and before my high school reunion this weekend I want a pedicure. I tried a DIY pedicure. I do not have mad nail painting skills. A pedicure is not a necessity though so I will have to seriously think on this. Luckily my favorite pedicure place closes at 7:30 and I am not done at the gym and back in my neighborhood until after 7 so the temptation is and isn't strong.
The spending money ONLY on necessities is not doing so great. I go to the gym in the evening after work. I tried going in the AM but it just was not happening. Plus it is better on traffic if I go after work. The problem is I get home after 7 pm. Sometimes I'm too tired to cook too so I end up eating take out. So much for my take out only once a week thought. (That doesn't mean I'm abandoning it, next week is a new week and an opportunity to try again.) I've also bought things that were not necessities like trashy magazines and a new shirt that I loved and well I'm sure there've been other things. Oh and before my high school reunion this weekend I want a pedicure. I tried a DIY pedicure. I do not have mad nail painting skills. A pedicure is not a necessity though so I will have to seriously think on this. Luckily my favorite pedicure place closes at 7:30 and I am not done at the gym and back in my neighborhood until after 7 so the temptation is and isn't strong.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Gymtastic!
(Have I ever mentioned how much I hate it when real suffixes are added to a word where it doesn't belong to make a random stupidass word? See jersylicious, yummylicious and I'll go with gymtastic).
According to Foursquare, I've gone to the gym the past 5 weeks and most of those weeks it has been 4 or more days. I'm pleased with that. I even unlocked the "Gym rat" badge. Mondays at the gym I do not love. They seem extra crowded for some reason. Tonight, especially, I wasn't interested in going but I forced myself. Since I really wanted to keep reading my book (Katie Fforde's Love Letters in case you care), I decided instead of swimming laps I would hit the elliptical trainer. Oh how optimistic am I. Of course there were no ellipticals open. My options were bike or go back out to the car and grab my bathing suit and lap swim. So I hit the bike. I don't like the bike. I feel like it is a waste of my exercise time. According to the calorie burning thingie on the bicycle, I burned very little calories for what I feel like is my effort. Plus since this is motherfucking Texas, it is a million degrees and after 5 minutes on the bike I was drenched in sweat. (Even with the little "fan" blowing on me).
According to a nutrisystem chart I found, stationary cycling is not THAT bad however compared to my beloved breast stroke, it burns about 1/2 the calories the breast stroke does for the same amount of time. Hence my beloved breast stroke. So even though I only worked out for 35 minutes and burned like 12 calories in that time (ok maybe 100 calories) I'm glad I went. I may even join a class one day.
Related to this - I joined the gym in April and did the form to do payroll deductions beginning in June. I followed the instructions given - give the person at the gym the form and they mail it to payroll. Or apparently they don't. No deduction has started yet and according to the computer system I am late with my payment. So I go back in with another form and hand it over to the guys explaining that I already did this once in April when I joined and I followed instructions and are you trying to annoy me? They took the form. We'll see if this manages to make the payments begin correctly. I don't want to suddenly get a hugeass bill from the gym that I don't want to pay.
According to Foursquare, I've gone to the gym the past 5 weeks and most of those weeks it has been 4 or more days. I'm pleased with that. I even unlocked the "Gym rat" badge. Mondays at the gym I do not love. They seem extra crowded for some reason. Tonight, especially, I wasn't interested in going but I forced myself. Since I really wanted to keep reading my book (Katie Fforde's Love Letters in case you care), I decided instead of swimming laps I would hit the elliptical trainer. Oh how optimistic am I. Of course there were no ellipticals open. My options were bike or go back out to the car and grab my bathing suit and lap swim. So I hit the bike. I don't like the bike. I feel like it is a waste of my exercise time. According to the calorie burning thingie on the bicycle, I burned very little calories for what I feel like is my effort. Plus since this is motherfucking Texas, it is a million degrees and after 5 minutes on the bike I was drenched in sweat. (Even with the little "fan" blowing on me).
According to a nutrisystem chart I found, stationary cycling is not THAT bad however compared to my beloved breast stroke, it burns about 1/2 the calories the breast stroke does for the same amount of time. Hence my beloved breast stroke. So even though I only worked out for 35 minutes and burned like 12 calories in that time (ok maybe 100 calories) I'm glad I went. I may even join a class one day.
Related to this - I joined the gym in April and did the form to do payroll deductions beginning in June. I followed the instructions given - give the person at the gym the form and they mail it to payroll. Or apparently they don't. No deduction has started yet and according to the computer system I am late with my payment. So I go back in with another form and hand it over to the guys explaining that I already did this once in April when I joined and I followed instructions and are you trying to annoy me? They took the form. We'll see if this manages to make the payments begin correctly. I don't want to suddenly get a hugeass bill from the gym that I don't want to pay.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Girl toys vs Boy toys
One of my favorite little girls has a birthday this month. Usually I just go to her Amazon wishlist and pick out something her mom has already decided she needs/wants. Since I was in Target this morning I decided to just shop for her myself. The children's section of Target could not be more divided between pink and blue. In fact, all toys, except the baby toys, are pretty much separated into a blue aisle or a pink aisle. Was it like this when I was a kid? I don't remember. I know we didn't have zwinkies or littlest pet shop or the ubiquitous Disney princesses and faeries everywhere. Even the "gender neutral" toys like duplo blocks are now color coded so we know what to buy for the kids. Duplo blocks used to be red, yellow, blue and green. You can still get that, but you can also get pink, lavender, white with castle pieces. Do boys not like to build castles? My youngest niece is 13 years older than the littlest chick I'm buying presents for. Has so much changed in 13 years? Is my house of worship to blame for the princessification of the world? It's puzzling and disturbing.
So I bought her something I liked the look of. At 3 she may be too old for it? I don't know. I like it and if she hates it (which she's 3 they aren't really THAT opinionated on toys are they at that age?) her mom can return it to Target. :)
So I bought her something I liked the look of. At 3 she may be too old for it? I don't know. I like it and if she hates it (which she's 3 they aren't really THAT opinionated on toys are they at that age?) her mom can return it to Target. :)
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Goals for the Summer
I usually do goals somewhere around the new year, but I’m pretty sure I was so despondent over my situation, I didn’t make any so these will be my summer goals.
1. I’ve been going to the gym 5 days a week. I would like to get to a place where I can actually swim the crawl stroke my 20 laps instead of my current 50% swim 50% water aerobics moves with a break between some of the laps. Oh and the 50% swim is mostly the breast stroke which I find easier to do. Although reading an article about swimming, the breast stroke may actually be a better stroke to do for a variety of reasons. I didn’t know that. I always presumed the crawl was better. I can usually do at least 4 laps breast stroke without needing a break, but I don’t have that with the crawl. (And by laps I mean to the other end and back)
2. I was reading about money challenges (and not being broke but can you do this challenge) and one I am going to try this summer is to not spend any money on things that aren’t necessities. (Soda is a necessity, shoes, books and new video games are not). From now until the end of July, spending less money on luxuries. Two things that will stay 1 – breakfast on Sunday mornings. 2 – One other meal out a week. Strangely, since I’ve been exercising in the evening I am more likely to cook at home. It is odd since I usually don’t get home until almost 7, but I seem much more willing to cook. I’m debating giving up fancy cable. I almost never watch HBO or Cinemax but True Blood is starting up again this summer and I do like that. I’ll table that decision until I see the season premiere. I may also join the ranks of those who have given up their landline. I’ll have to see how doing so affects my bundle with Charter. I rarely, if ever, use it and mostly all I get are solicitation calls or bill collectors from people who had the line at least 2 years ago.
3. I would like to work on and hopefully finish at least one of the arts & crap projects I’ve begun but have not gotten very far in. I have a lot of art & crap supplies and once I’m done with a couple of these projects I can get rid of the extraneous supplies. Since I am imagining it will be super hot again, I don’t know if I’ll get out as much as I usually like to. Maybe I’ll try some of the free museums and other activities in the metroplex. (Free because see item 2)
4. I need to get back to volunteering. When I have too much time on my hands I tend to a – nap and b – navel gaze. Neither one is really that good for me. Napping screws up my sleep schedule and I have a hard time sleeping correctly. I already live way too much in my head so when I have too much time on my hands to over think about things it just drives me to obsession and that isn’t good.
1. I’ve been going to the gym 5 days a week. I would like to get to a place where I can actually swim the crawl stroke my 20 laps instead of my current 50% swim 50% water aerobics moves with a break between some of the laps. Oh and the 50% swim is mostly the breast stroke which I find easier to do. Although reading an article about swimming, the breast stroke may actually be a better stroke to do for a variety of reasons. I didn’t know that. I always presumed the crawl was better. I can usually do at least 4 laps breast stroke without needing a break, but I don’t have that with the crawl. (And by laps I mean to the other end and back)
2. I was reading about money challenges (and not being broke but can you do this challenge) and one I am going to try this summer is to not spend any money on things that aren’t necessities. (Soda is a necessity, shoes, books and new video games are not). From now until the end of July, spending less money on luxuries. Two things that will stay 1 – breakfast on Sunday mornings. 2 – One other meal out a week. Strangely, since I’ve been exercising in the evening I am more likely to cook at home. It is odd since I usually don’t get home until almost 7, but I seem much more willing to cook. I’m debating giving up fancy cable. I almost never watch HBO or Cinemax but True Blood is starting up again this summer and I do like that. I’ll table that decision until I see the season premiere. I may also join the ranks of those who have given up their landline. I’ll have to see how doing so affects my bundle with Charter. I rarely, if ever, use it and mostly all I get are solicitation calls or bill collectors from people who had the line at least 2 years ago.
3. I would like to work on and hopefully finish at least one of the arts & crap projects I’ve begun but have not gotten very far in. I have a lot of art & crap supplies and once I’m done with a couple of these projects I can get rid of the extraneous supplies. Since I am imagining it will be super hot again, I don’t know if I’ll get out as much as I usually like to. Maybe I’ll try some of the free museums and other activities in the metroplex. (Free because see item 2)
4. I need to get back to volunteering. When I have too much time on my hands I tend to a – nap and b – navel gaze. Neither one is really that good for me. Napping screws up my sleep schedule and I have a hard time sleeping correctly. I already live way too much in my head so when I have too much time on my hands to over think about things it just drives me to obsession and that isn’t good.
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