Be Prepared

Last week, I ordered five pounds of powdered whole eggs. For the curious among you, that's the equivalent of 340 whole fresh eggs. That should last us a year or two.

Be Prepared. Growing up in a good Scouting family, I heard that a lot. But to my young mind, that meant things like taking an extra pair of socks on a hiking trip, and making sure the first aid kit always had bandaids in it.

Now I'm a grownup, and being prepared has taken on a whole new meaning. As an adult, I have to wonder about things like terrorist attacks. Earthquakes. Bird Flu. Not worry, because I can't worry about things I can't control or I'll drive myself batty, but wonder. Will it come? When? What will my world look like if it does?

I read a lot of forums. Some just for fun, some for tips, some for serious discussions about saving money and getting out of debt. A couple have whole sections about being prepared for emergencies. And these people are PREPARED. They have their stockpiles. They have food, water, cash (because in an emergency plastic will be hard to use), some have gasoline, they have car kits, backpack kits, stay-at-home-without-leaving-for-a-month kits, all kinds of kits. Me, I'll have my powdered eggs. And I'll bow to their level of preparedness, because I'm not sure I can do it.

I've read some articles about Bird Flu. Some say that the reports are overblown and there's nothing to worry about. Some say that every chicken in the world will need to be destroyed (this explains my five pounds of powdered eggs). Some say that when it hits, no one should leave their house for a while. But, it'll take two years for it to run its course. Our own goverment says that water, electricity, and other services could all be disrupted for an unknown period of time. So we all have to be prepared. Put together our 72 hour kits and then some.

But how much is enough? How much is too much? At what point have we slid down that slippery slope from rational precautions to end of the world, Chicken Little, mass hysteria?

Being a compulsive grocery shopper, and a sometimes bargain hunter, we always have about a month's worth of food on hand. We have no water saved up, however. Sometimes this bothers me and I wonder if I should start stocking up on 10 gallon bottles or something. But where would I put them? Space is already at a premium in our 1200 square foot house. It would take some creativity to figure out where to put 10 days worth of water for the two of us plus our three animals, which is the number I've read on some websites. If disaster happens and we can get to the inlaws', we can get water from their well, so maybe that's why I'm not overly concerned on this point. Of course, I should be thinking "what if we CAN'T get to the inlaws'???"

Another area I'm not ready is pet food. They eat it all, we buy more. Unless a disaster happens when I've just made a Petco run, Hershey and Ringo are going to have to send Puck out hunting for them.

So I guess I can say I'm halfway ready for a disaster. I still feel like a good Scout. I'm prepared. Maybe not completely, but at a level I'm comfortable with. I'm cautious, but not panicking.

How prepared are you?

13 pounds

13 pounds. That's how much I've lost since December 27. And, to steal a line from a certain fast food restaurant (how ironic is that?), I'm loving it! Granted, I still have a ways to go - I need to lose 70 total, but I'm taking every pound I can get!

I've done this before. In the late 1990s I lost 43 pounds with Weight Watchers, which is a fabulous program. This time, I'm doing it with the assistance of a wonderful free weight loss website, www.sparkpeople.com. I also have wonderful support from a fabulous private weight loss forum I've joined. Awesome people, all walking the same path.

My clothes fit better. My jeans are looser. One of these days I'll drop a size. This is the first time I've incorporated regular exercise into my plan, and I feel great!

There's no magic pill. Just counting calories (which the website makes SOOOOO easy!), exercising, and holding myself accountable, with the help of a lot of people, including my forum buddy, Lynn, who I'm convinced will someday come through the computer and kick my ass for eating chocolate instead of hopping on my Nordictrak. :-)

I'm almost a quarter of the way there. It's a long road, but I know I'll get there! Unless, of course, I get pregnant first, which is what I'm really hoping for. Then I'll just start over when the time comes!

What am I, a grownup or something?

DH woke me up at 2:00 this morning with a kiss.

"Sweetie! It's snowing!"

Someone (I'm sure it couldn't have been me, lol) suddenly said with a wail "NO! NO SNOW!!!" Then I realized, it WAS me!

How did that happen? I love snow. Look forward to it all year. Get excited when it comes, and sad when it leaves. Because we simply don't get enough of it around here.

So where did it come from? Maybe it was the fact that it was 2 in the morning and I wasn't supposed to be awake yet. Maybe it was because I have to be downtown at 7 and that means I have to leave that much earlier. Because if there's snow in my town, you can bet there will be a back up on the freeway going over the Sylvan Hill (and looking at the news, you can't even see the road on the ODOT camera, because it's snowing that hard). And because something in the back of my head tells me that I'll get down there, and none of our breakfast guests will have shown up, because it's snowing. Maybe it's because our four-wheel drive vehicle has been down for the last month and I can't drive it, instead driving my regular car, a Saturn that can't accomodate chains.

Who is this adult? It certainly can't be me! But, upon further reflection now that it's 5 am and I have a cup of coffee, maybe it was surprise, not worry. At 2 am, anything's possible! It doesn't snow in Portland in March! Well, it does, because the first year I was at my job it snowed this very week. I was downtown early on a Sunday morning, handing out brochures at a race for an upcoming event. Something I'll be doing this coming Sunday. It snowed then, we'll see if it snows now.

I'd better get a move on. I normally have to give myself an hour to get downtown this time of the morning. It's snowing in the West Hills. I better give myself at least an hour and 20 minutes. And I'll bring my book, because with my luck I'll be there at 6:30!

A computer-free life?

I've long thought that I'm an internet addict. Forums, blogs, Google, email - I could read for days on end and not get bored. Well, now my eyes are a little messed up and I need glasses for computer work. So, while I wait for the glasses to come in, I decided to try a little experiment. Could I go a whole weekend without the computer?

Short answer...NO! Well, but I did significantly cut back. Probably spent only an hour or so actually ON the computer. And I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself the rest of the time. So I read a lot. And I watched a lot of movies. Yes, I could have cleaned the house. But hey, this is *me* we're talking about here... :-)

I've realized that the internet is my primary link to the outside world. Not just the web, but email too. It's how I keep in touch with friends and family (I don't even have a long distance plan), meet new people who share my interests, find support on various issues (like my weight loss journey), and keep tabs on what's happening in the world. At this point, I'm not ready for a computer free life. I

So glasses, please be ready soon, ok?

My poor neglected blog

Wow. Has it really been since October? Gosh, it doesn't seem like that long ago. Sorry Blog! I'll do better.

As you know, I was all fired up to write a novel in November. Well, four pages does not a novel make. But I'm dusting it off and getting it going again. My friend and I are meeting for a forced writing session tomorrow. DH wants me to hurry up and finish it, so I can make a million dollars and we can buy him a new truck. If only it was that easy!

I think what I need is a mind reader/text translator. The story's up there, in my head, it's just so much trouble to actually put it down on paper! But, if I'm going to share it with the world, it has to leave the confines of my skull, I suppose...

Wish me luck!

Oh my aching gums!

Funny thing about blogs - you tell people they're there and all of a sudden you have to keep up the darn thing... :-)

Just kidding. If you want to read about my boring life, I don't mind typing!

I had to go to the dentist today. Routine 6-month checkup. My dentist has been my dentist since before I had teeth, so we have a good repoire. His office is an hour from home and a half hour from work, so if we didn't, you can bet I wouldn't go there anymore! All the hygienists are great, doesn't matter which one I get.

I'm not a flosser. I just admit this the second I walk in the door. Hi, I'm Karen and I don't floss my teeth. I figure, they're going to notice the second they look in my mouth so I may as well be honest about it!

Well, today my hygienist really gave me a work over. She decided to measure my gums. So I'm laying there as she stabs my gums all over and then sits back to see where they bleed. I was sitting there, joking and laughing with her about it being my "punishment" for not flossing. Seriously, I was doing ok. Then we went on with the usual routine stuff, I saw the dentist, and left.

Got out to my car and proceeded to try to eat my peanut butter sandwich. Oh.my.goodness. That hurt! I thought my teeth were going to fall out of my head! Then I got back to the office and tried to eat my waldorf salad. Apples, nuts, raisins, celery. Yeah. Good choice for dentist day, Karen!

So guess who's flossing from now on? But not tonight! And maybe not tomorrow either - my teeth might fall out!

We'll see how I do after my filling in three weeks...

Confessions of a Forum Junkie

I love forums. I freely admit it. I think I'm up to eight that I visit nearly every day. Some have a frugal living focus. Some have a simple living focus (no, they're not quite the same thing). Some are quite conservative. Some are quite liberal. Some are decidedly Christian in focus, others definitely are not. When forced to go a day without forums, I miss them horribly - these lovely people have become my friends, and it feels foreign to me to be out of contact with them.

I've learned so much from my forums. Some of it has greatly helped my budget (homemade laundry soap, energy and water saving ideas, where to find cheap books), some of it has created greater expenses (Penzey's spices, Intelligentsia coffee, where to find cheap books). But oh my I have fun!

I've made so many new friends, and gotten so many great tips and recipes (oh, the recipes!).

So...to all my forum friends...thank you, you are awesome!

Cranky Days

Ever had one of those days where you want to crawl in a hole and make the world go away? That's me today. So to everyone who asked me to do something today, here's what I have to say:

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go away and leave me alone.

That is all.

Ask me again tomorrow - I'm sure I'll be back to my usual, pleasant self! :-)

All the pretty colors

Larry and I are undertaking a major house project. Well, he's doing most of the work and I'm admiring it when I get home every night. We're painting the walls and putting new flooring in the living room, hallway, and dining area (which is this totally ambiguous space that's open to the kitchen, but not really a part of it, but not a separate room). It's going to look fabulous when it's finished. I'm taking pictures on my film camera (Gasp! Shock! Yes, I still use a film camera. Larry has a digital but I haven't brought myself into the digital age yet). When they're developed I'll try to upload them here...

Anyway, we're having some adventures. We picked a great shade of yellow for the hallway. Under the compact fluorescent light bulb, it turned a sickly shade of green. So now we have a REAL light bulb in the hallway fixture, because, well, it's SO much easier than having Larry repaint the hall!

We picked a really light, almost ice blue for the living room. We also picked a darker blue to put on some paneling on the lower part of the wall, then discovered that the paneling is just a bit out of our budget at the moment...so that's on hold.

The dining area will be light green. We're getting done with the living room and hall first, then will move all the furniture back to the living room, and do the dining area.

Larry's also going to make new cupboard doors for the kitchen cupboards. Those will be painted dark green and antique white (to pull in the ugly 1980s countertops we're not quite ready to replace yet).

My house is going to look SO GOOD when it's done! Now, if we could only fast forward to finishing day... :-)

Nanowrimo

I'm going to write a novel. In 30 days. Call me crazy! I've signed up with www.nanowrimo.org. Write a novel in 30 days, just to say you've done it. 50,000 words. 175 pages. How hard can it be? ha, ha, ha, ha!

It's going to be about a woman. A young widow, who sells just about everything she owns, leaves city life behind, and goes to be a cook on a ranch somewhere remote. Should be utterly fascinating, I'm sure. :-)

I'll be kicking off bright and early on November 1, wish me luck!

I'm not sure why I feel compelled to do this. Am I bored with no Master's Thesis to procrastinate about? There's nothing hanging over my head at home, no big mental projects to work on. It's almost like school withdrawal. It's a little scary. I write some at work, but not anything big or fulfilling. I almost always have some kind of story floating around in my head. If I write it down, will it leave me? When I'm done, will I share it? Or will it be a private journey, a piece of myself too precious to part with?

Who will be my characters? I know someone who wrote a book, and based the characters on people she knew. Are people flattered by that, or do they look at the flaws in the character and wonder if the author sees those flaws in themselves?

Will my story have a plot? Will I screw it up? Long, long ago, I wrote a short story about a guy in a wheelchair. Halfway through the story he got up to answer the door. I forgot he was in a wheelchair. Oops! It's the careless mistakes that will get you every time, I suppose...

Well. It'll be a project, that's for sure. We'll see how I do!