Goal update

1.)  Today, I am 1XX+4, so I am happy.

Separate from my desired to shed these last 4 pounds, my husband and I have started a hippy, so-mid-to-late-20’s-thing-to-do, “lifestyle” change…or a diet, but not in the sense that everyone thinks of diet.  It came about from a book that was lent to my husband about eating and fasting for health.  We just want to eat healthier, and maybe feel better than we already feel…and I think this will really help speed the last 4 pounds along.  I have really been struggling with food (and other) allergies for the last few years, and this book claims that fasting can help alleviate allergies, I remain skeptical, but may try it because I am sick of avoiding food I love and having to take medicine everyday.

Starting Saturday, we have been basically eating vegan without actually being vegan (I love eating juicy rare steak)…just very little dairy or meat products, only about once a week.  Today is day 3 of this and I am actually feeling pretty good.  I don’t feel hungry and if I do, I am free to eat whatever I want, as long as it comes from aisle 1, the produce aisle.  Yesterday, we had oatmeal and tea for breakfast.  A big, delicious salad with romaine, spring mix, radishes, sprouts, lemon, almonds and olive oil and vinegar for lunch.  For dinner we had a big plate of lentils (which were surprisingly delicious for as gross as they looked), and green beans, and another big salad, this time with romaine, spring mix, celery, avocado, walnuts, red pepper, grapes and vinegar and oil.  Spread out through the day, I ate 6 servings of fruit – 2 bananas, way too many strawberries (which is one of the foods I am allergic too, but I love…hello claritin), orange, and pineapple – and some peanuts.

There are some things that I can’t quite kick yet.  This book says no caffeine, but I just can’t do that, maybe some day, but not yet.  I still use splenda in my tea, because the only time I ever used real sugar in my tea was the only time I ever had cavities filled.  Having a mouth full of rotting teeth is not something I am willing to have.  Maybe in the near future, I can appreciate the taste of tea without sugar, but not right now.  I will still drink, but limit it to the weekends, preferably only once a week.

For my husband, his weakness will be cereal.  He is addicted to cereal…usually about 2-3 bowls per day.  Cereal is not really considered a whole food, plus, you usually put milk on it.  Currently, he is allowed to have cereal every other day for breakfast, but he hasn’t yet.

According to this book, after a few weeks of eating like this, fasting for a few days is not difficult at all.  We’ll see though.

2.)  I am just over 1/3 done with my area rug.  It’s looking good, but I am behind schedule.  I need some children I can exploit.

3.)  I basically have a first draft of my thesis done already.  I sent the main chapter to my advisor, and he tore it apart.  Apparently, my writing sounds pessimistic (duh, I hate this).  So now I am pretty much going rewrite the chapters from scratch.  Now my goal is to have this new draft which I will call, Draft one-point-five-oh, the “oh” standing for optimistic, done by Thanksgiving.

4.)  As far as furnishing our house, we already had 4 dining chairs that came with our table.  We got 2 extra folding chairs already from when we had guests last Thanksgiving.  Last weekend, we had dinner guests and bought 2 more folding chairs.  Now we should have enough for this Thanksgiving.  I love these foldable chairs from Cost Plus.  They are dark wood, and nearly match the color of our dining room table.  For $20 each, they look awesome, and they fold away, so we don’t have 8 huge chairs taking up space.  The funny thing about them though is that they have a 160 lbs weight limit, which can be awkward.

We also bought some papasan rocker/swivel chairs off of craigslist.  We got 2 chairs plus a footstool for $35.  I looked online and these bitches retail for at least $150 each.  Now, they were extremely dirty and dust covered, but a good hose-down and they looked like new.  I washed the cushions and spent $15 on fabric to reupholster them so they matched our existing furniture.  Now our TV room is much for comfortable and can fit more people.

Now we just need to fill that corner…why is IKEA so far away?