Thursday, November 30, 2017

What Makes Me Happy? I Don't Know.

I have been pondering some serious personal questions lately: Who am I?  What makes me happy?  What would I really like to be doing?

Those may seem simple to some of you, but when you are/have been a wife, mother, teacher, for so long, those things consume your life.  Your decisions are always made through those filters and you lose yourself.  You put your wants on the back burner in light of what is best for the family, relationship, children, future, security, etc.

I heard recently that to find your bliss you should remember back to your childhood dream.  That doesn't help me.  I didn't have a childhood dream.  My life was just about surviving.  Crazy childhood aside, I knew I would go to college as I always felt school was my safe/happy place.  I succeeded there and was recognized for my effort.  Things were predictable.  Effort equaled success.

Now, in mid-life, I have the ability to choose and go after a dream.  Only problem is, I don't know what the dream is.  I know that somehow it involves using my creativity and problem solving.  I love both of these things.  I find I get to do these things when I garden, craft, make art, and when I cook.

Teaching used to be more creative than it is now.  Testing and data are main drivers of education now.  Creativity will get you the data you need but this idea seems lost in the current throes of educational policy.  Things that are fun and creative have to be justified and reduced to meet a one sentence objective or standard.

My favorite job when I was going to college was working at a frame shop.  I help clients pick out molding or ready-made frames for their paintings, needlework, and photographs.  I professioanlly framed their objects.  I helped with choosing matting and asked about their style and decor.  I sold art supplies.  I worked with creative people and creative clients.  Everything about the job/the people wasn't perfect, but I did like my job.

I know that whatever job/business I do, it has to have a major creative aspect to it.  As of now, that is all I know.  I've just begun to ponder the questions above and beyond this, I don't have any answers.





Key Question to Ask When Purging Clothes Closets

As previously mentioned, I have been working on the 30-day declutter challenge.  Day 1, 1 item is either given away, thrown away, or sold.  Day 2, you up that to two items.  Day 15, fifteen items are chosen, etc.  In reality, this challenge is harder than it sounds after day twelve or so.

It didn't help that the Thanksgiving holiday was in this month, which meant my focus was elsewhere.  However, I did do it for many of the days and now have enough to fill another large black trash bag to donate and a smaller one to let my sister go through.  Just in the last two days, I have decluttered 35 things from my closet.  Barely makes a dent but I am glad to get these things donated and free up some space.

I am not one to keep an array of sizes in my closet.  Almost everything is the same size with just a few outliers.  This means that choosing items that no longer fit is not an effective way to purge.  I have found the question that helps me the most:  Would I buy this today if I saw it in the store?  That seems simple, and yet it is very effective.

I find that I am more apt to say yes to solid colors and no to prints.  I find it easier to get rid of the few pink shades of clothing rather then my favorite blues and turquoises.  Can I really own too many black slacks?  Okay, perhaps I should pick a number, such as eight, and stick with it.

Several years ago, I heard/read some advice to organize by color.  This seemed very intuitive to me as I often choose what I'm wearing by color or mood.  This has allowed me to be a bit more organized in knowing when my wardrobe is becoming monochromatic and needs something different.  Often that tropical orange skirt, that I bought because of this need to spice things up, winds up being one of the first things purged a year or two down the road.  I don't mind as I usually get enough wear out of it to make the purchase worth it.

Organizing by color also makes putting clean laundry away a much easier task.  It also makes it possible for me to rearrange a bit for the seasons.  I do not pack away winter/summer clothes seasonally.  Rather, as the seasons start to change, I put things away to the edges of the color sections rather than the easily accessible middle and to group long sleeve and short sleeve items.  Where I live, the weather can be unpredictable and one may need a long sleeved tee or cardigan in the late spring and early summer.  Also, in winter, sleeveless blouses are great for wearing with suits on those balmier winter days.

I have worked between 1-2 hours each day for the last three days.  Last night was a bit random as my daughter needed something professional for an mock-interview and wanted to try on several blouses.  She found one but caused my 'system' to get off track.  My plan was to work around the closet clockwise but now I find myself dealing with clothes instead of shoes.   Tonight she asked about shoes!  We wear the same size but her foot is very narrow so many regular width shoes just will not stay on her feet.  So, to the other side of the closet we went.  Guess it doesn't really matter as long as it gets done.

As in all things regarding individual lifestyles, you have to find what works for you.  I have taken some before pictures but here is one to start.  The closet is awkward.  It is narrow with two doors in the middle, one to the BR and one to the Bath.  One side is for hanging and the other has shelves.  Right not I hang things everywhere: off hooks on both doors and a shoe rack in the mddle.  Right now it just looks like a huge mess with access to the tub in the joining bathroom blocked by piles of clothes that I've taken out to sort through.  Thank goodness I have two other bathrooms to bathe in as this is a big undertaking and could take a while.


Thursday, November 16, 2017

A Bit of Success and Dairy Equals Misery

Truth: Effort equals success. I started back on the Rice Diet last Monday to get myself back on track with my weight loss.  The next day, Tuesday, I found out we were going on a three day trip to another state.  Nooooo! I was so psyched to have a plan and get back on track.  Well, I stuck with the RD through Thursday then did the best that I could to stay WFPB non processed during the trip.  Payoff: down 2.5 pounds.  Okay, not bad.  So I continue this week with WFPB eating with the RD in mind to control portions.

Warning to those eating WFPB diet: if you go off of it, be prepared for misery.  I purchased some yogurt which I thought was non-dairy.  It said coconut but ended up being coconut flavored, not coconut milk based.  I didn't notice until I had consumed almost the whole four ounces and then saw it was whole milk based.  The packaging and colors of the label was very close to Soy Delicious.  Well, yesterday was spent with a severe sinus-type headache, nausea, and diarrhea.  Lasted all day.  I didn't take anything for it as I knew my system needed to get that dairy out of my system.  It was a long miserable, pain-filled day.  Today, I'm all better.

I am working on decluttering some more and began the 30 day decluttering challenge on the fourth and worked backward to catch up. Now the trip and being ill has set me back on that but I will just start from today, the 16th and work on my 16 things for today.  This is not as easy as it sounds when you get to large numbers unless you tackle a big project like a clothes closet.  I need to do that but it is not in the schedule for today.

Enjoying Alexa for playing music.  I'm listening to Top Christian radio now.  'She' frustrates me, however, as it seems she cannot answer anything but the simplest of questions.  She doesn't know: When will the next asteroid belt pass through our solar system?  When was the last earthquake in Oklahoma?  How do I clean a laminate counter top?    Ugh!  They just added a feature to make your own lists, however.  Enjoying that as I can now add to my Around the House list.

Autumn is my favorite season and today is certainly a beautiful day to enjoy the colors and leaves.  If you haven't gotten out for a fall drive to be a leaf peeper, you better hurry; winter is around the corner.



Sunday, November 5, 2017

Getting Back on Track Using the Rice Diet

Sometimes my train just jumps the track.  It may be my household train, my finance train, or in this case my healthy eating train.  My train derailed in late July and I haven't got it completely on the track since.  In previous posts, I wrote about high school sports and the challenges that brought.  I've tried to get back on track after that but have not been completely successful....yet.

When I first began a WFPB diet with no meat, eggs, or dairy, I began on April 1, 2017 after a little over a year being vegetarian again.  My catalyst was a high blood pressure reading at my annual physical.  I researched and chose the Rice Diet, as practice by Dr. Kempner, due to the success it had shown with reducing blood pressure.  It was very successful with that and my blood pressure was normalized within two weeks.

I did not follow it to 100% perfection but I had great success with it for BP and for weight loss. I was pretty strict with it for two weeks and then transitioned to The Starch Solution.  I was able to lose about 12 pounds from April 1- May 30th.  Another 3 came off during the month of June.  Then vacations stalled the weight loss part as my diet varied even more.  Evening travel and time away from cooking, including junk food, brought back a few pounds, eight to be exact during eight weeks of  high school tennis season.  Water accounts for a chunk of that as I have not watched my salt intake as closely either. So now it's time for a big kick in the butt.

I love The Starch Solution, by Dr. McDougall, and that is sort of how I've been eating since mid-April.  Certainly rice was a part of that but it wasn't as restrictive as the Rice Diet.  Of course after July I added way too many processed foods/snacks which did not help me get back on track.  I realize that this is real life and this scenario is likely to happen again.  There will probably be times in the future where I dip too often into processed foods and veer away from a WFPB diet.

Therefore, November 6, 2017, tomorrow, I will go back to the strict Rice Diet again.  Simple starch and some fruit, no salt, and lots of water.  I was satisfied eating that way and I feel it really cleansed my palate and jump started my body to detox and helped me focused on making healthy food choices.  That is what I want again and why I am choosing something that had only positive outcomes for me. 

 I made a no-fat, vegan supper with lentil loaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.  Lots of fiber, lots of starch, and plenty of vitamins.  It was very good and the lentil loaf was a recipe from High-Carb Hannah.  Leftovers for the family are pictured below.  None for me, tomorrow, of course. Thought I would try out a recipe for Thanksgiving dinner.  I have a couple more to try before my final decision.


If anyone else is following, or would like to follow The Rice Diet, comment below.  Maybe we can buddy-up on this journey and help each other along.  I am thinking about doing a combination with Intermittent Fasting (IF), as I think there are big advantages to that also.