Chewymom

I have to make a confession. I told a whopper.

I didn’t intend to.

Ya know how little boys grown up men are when they go fishing? Me neither, because we don’t fish. But I’ve heard stories. Men come home from a fishing trip and say, “It was thiiiis big!” as they stretch their arms out wider and wider.

Or they say, “It was two feet long,” when in fact it was really only, say, one-and-a-half.

Okay, remember how I said I ran two miles the other day? Well, I did it again yesterday, only this time I had the correct watch on, and I ran it in 21 minutes. Which for me is not possible. At all. The last time I ran a 5k, and I’ll grant you it was several years ago, I think I was doing about a 14 minute mile. Or worse. No way I just up and ran a 10.5 minute mile.

So I emailed the cross country coach again to verify the distance. He replied back that it was about two miles. Hmmmm….

So today the gates that are normally shut to traffic on the golf-course road I ran, happened to be open. And I happened to drive the course.

One-and-one-half miles, almost exactly.

So I didn’t mean to exaggerate–to tell a fish-tale–but I did. I ran 1.5 miles two days ago. And again yesterday.

I’m still pleased as punch, even if my fish was a little smaller than previously stated!

I hope the alien stays.

Yesterday, I was my usual self. I nagged my husband, I fussed at my kids, I had a couple of semi-frozen margaritas at a Cinco de Mayo party, along with a big slice of lemon pie. All typical. Except that I normally don’t have access to margaritas, semi-frozen or otherwise. I did a little cleaning, which is not normal. And I was generally grumpy. More normal than I would care to admit.

Today I woke up and had my coffee and studied for my final a little bit. And then I set out for the walk I had put in my calendar to force myself to do it. I have been doing a Couch-to-5-K program. Well, technically I’m on week two, so I’ve done it for one week. I walked 1-1/2 miles around to where I usually start my run-walk. Today I was supposed to run 90 seconds, then walk 90 seconds. I reached down to set my watch to beep every 90 seconds, and dang it! I had put on the wrong watch. This one doesn’t beep, nor is it easy to see.

Plan B was to run for 100 paces, then see how long it had taken me. So I counted out 100 paces, and realized I was only at 40 seconds. So I decided to run 100 more paces for a total of pretty close to 90 seconds, then I would walk 200 paces. Only, when I got through my second 100 paces of running, I felt good, so I thought–and I think this is the place where the alien actually invaded my body–that I would just keep running 100 paces, and then 100 more, until I wanted to stop.

Only I kept feeling good.

And I kept running.

All the way to the other gate, which is precisely two miles, or so I’m told by the high school cross country coach.

Y’all, I ran two miles! Out of nowhere! And it wasn’t that hard!

Tomorrow, I’ll be riding in an electric scooter at the grocery store, because my legs, they will rebel. And the alien will likely have left my body once it figures out that it has mistaken me for a person who can, well, run.

But for today, I rather enjoyed the alien.

And for the record, I think my nagging may have been at an all-time low today, too.

I love green. My dining room walls and ceiling are the most relaxing shade of green. My laundry room is a cheerful apple green. Two of my favorite coffee mugs (one of which was made by DS16) are green. My coat, one of my favorite sweaters, and even the inside rim of my black glasses are all green. In my new house, I want to paint the den and kitchen green, and even the “taupe-ish” shade I’m considering for the siding has a greenish hue. Green calms and relaxes. And more and more, I find that I am drawn to the colors of nature. Browns and greens. In spite of my bright red sofa and mustard yellow den walls, which I also love.

Green is also the symbol for environmentalism. And more and more I find that I fit into that camp. Frankly, it seems to me that all Christians should. That doesn’t mean all Christians should align themselves with the “radical left” politically, or that Christians should never use paper plates and all need to drive hybrid vehicles. The fact is, we live in America, and we are not likely to start living as though we were in the third world. But it would be wise and good for us to consider our impact upon this earth and to strive to be responsible in our stewardship. The world is a gift from our loving Father! We want to lovingly care for it.

Over Easter, our weather was just freezing. We didn’t get snow–we are in Alabama, after all–but over our sleeveless dresses and strappy shoes, we sported heavy winter coats. Someone scoffed to me, “Do you really believe in global warming?” I felt sad at the remark, because yes, I do. And thinking that an unusual cold snaps proves once and for all that global warming doesn’t exist is an ignorant, Rush Limbaugh type of statement. If you read even a little bit about global warming, you will see that extreme weather is a symptom of global warming.

But hey, let’s pretend for a minute that there is no global warming. Does that mean we go back to living as we please with no thought for the environment? There are other things that are affected by the typical American lifestyle, including people. God’s ultimate creation, being in his very image. Let’s take asthma for example. Cigarette smoke, smog, pollution, pesticides–they all contribute to the problem. And this hits close to home, as I along with two of my children have asthma. In fact, it was one of the reasons we desperately wanted to get out of Atlanta when we lived there. We were suspicious that our son’s asthma was made significantly worse by the pollution. Whether we were correct, I don’t know. His asthma is significantly better now, in our small Alabama town, but it is possibly because he has outgrown it. Either way, I am happy to not be inhaling the constant fumes and smog that are Atlanta.

And there’s not just that. Did you know that factory farming (which I have addressed here and here) uses a significant amount of land, not just for the animals, but also for the grains they are fed to fatten them up? If that grain were instead shipped to third world countries, it could make a huge dent in the lack of food. I realize there are corrupt governments involved in many of the feeding problems. Still, if we as individual Christians would cut back our meat consumption (or better, go vegetarian! ;)) it would make a difference at the least in terms of the cruel treatment of animals and employees at the factory farms, and in the pesticides used for the grains.

And what about our appliances? Not many of us are willing to go without our refrigerators–in fact, I could safely say not ANY of us. Or washing machines, ovens, and even dishwashers. But when it comes time to replace them, if we took the time to do a little research into the most energy efficient ones, and if we looked for Energy Star appliances, we would save on energy consumption. Not only that, we would save money, too, on our power bills. Do you know how much money it costs to run a clothes dryer? Me either, but I’ve heard it is a TON! Think what we’d save if we dried our clothes on a line, rather than in a dryer. (And I’m saying this as a VERY sporadic line-dryer, so don’t think I’m going all “holier-than-thou” on you!)

I don’t think it is realistic for any of us in our busy American lives to go completely “green.” But I think we would be wise to research the ways we can be more careful in our consumption. We need to lose the “I have the right to…” mentality. For one family, it may mean not using paper plates. For another, they may downsize a vehicle. Another may replace old appliances with energy efficient ones and switch to fluorescent bulbs. Someone else may choose to walk the one mile to the store or cycle the five miles to work.

What are some ways that YOU show your love for the color green?

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions. I’m not opposed to them, I just never have time to sit down and actually make them in the busy Christmas season, and then BAM! it’s New Year’s, and I am left resolution-less. One thing I have been working on for a while now, although I’ll admit I took a big 6-week break over the holidays, is eating healthier. My diet in general has become better and better over the past few years. The thing I am really trying to cut out now is artificial sweeteners.

I grew up NEVER using artificial sweeteners. My parents used honey in most things that needed sweetening, sugar in a few others. We ate very healthy, and nobody was overweight in my family. In college I started consuming soft drinks for the first time ever. Although they were Pepsi products (blech), they were available in a little fountain in the dining. Out with the milk-at-every-meal, in with the soft drinks! Sometime in the ’90’s, I got “into” drinking Diet Coke. I blame my sister-in-law. I believed it was a healthier option than the sugary sodas I had learned to consume. I bought DC in 12-packs as often as the budget allowed.

Although I do not generally keep soft drinks in the home any more, I do occasionally buy one at a restaurant. I’m back to regular Coke though. Not that high fructose corn syrup is good for you by any means, but the more I have read about various artificial sweeteners, the more I am concerned about putting them in my body.

So what to do about my coffee? I have discovered the PERFECT blend of coffee, half-and-half, and Splenda to make a delicious cup of coffee. If I use exactly two packets of Splenda, it is right every time. I am bothered by how Splenda is made, though. (News flash! It is NOT just like sugar!) I discovered that I actually have a few sugar packets lying around, so I decided to put two packets of sugar in my coffee. After all, Splenda is supposed to be substituted in equal quantities, right? Okay, ick! Two packets was not enough. I added a third. And a fourth. Now it should be perfect–I have twice as much sugar as my usual amount of Splenda. Still gross. I gave up and dumped a packet of Splenda in. Perfect. Four sugars, one Splenda. (Oh, and might I add that this is a very large travel mug, hence the enormous amounts of sweetner.)

I can’t decide if I need to just dump as much sugar as necessary to make my coffee taste right, or if I just let this be my little “artificial sweetner vice.” I am trying to quit using them…but a girl has to have her yummy coffee.

before she gets Mono??? That is a question I am asking myself right now, because I have just been diagnosed with mononucleosis. The kissing disease. Yes, I’m in college (again), but I’m FORTY!!! And MARRIED!!!! And the only people I kiss are basically my DH and DD4. So could someone please explain to me how I got infected saliva in my mouth? Because I’m really scratching my head here (as I’m sure my DH is doing as well!).

I’ve been told to rest a lot (um, I have five kids), take Advil as needed, and not to play contact sports lest I rupture my spleen. I think I can avoid the contact sports, I have a large bottle of Advil…but rest? Oh sure. Like I said, I have five kids. I’m in college again. And, OH YEAH! THERE ARE ONLY FORTY-SOMETHING SHOPPING DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS!!!! We’ll see how this goes. It should be an interesting next few months, that’s for sure.

At least now I can say to my kids, “I am sick and tired…” and really mean it.

And seriously, if anyone has a clue how you get this–BESIDES from kissing people–please clue me in.

We live inside the city limits, so our garbage service is provided by the city. In many ways, this is a very good thing! When we rake our leaves in the fall, we can put them along the curb, and street sweepers will come along and remove them. When branches and twigs accumulate in the yard, we stack them in the alley, and they are removed. We have even had large objects like a broken double oven and a bookshelf removed from our alley, but they were taken by people in old pick-up trucks.

One problem with city garbage service is that there is no competition. The same problem you run into at the DMV. No competition means that they can make the rules and it really doesn’t matter what everone thinks.

Today I happened to be in my kitchen when the trash truck rolled down the alley. I watched in surprise as the truck lifted my yard waste can and dumped the contents into the truck, and then lifted my garbage can and did the same. My understanding was that we had two cans because the things in the cans were picked up by two different trucks. Lawn clippings, leaves, and twigs do not need to be in a landfill along with dirty diapers and pizza boxes. They can be composted, and that was what I had been lead to believe our city was doing. Apparently not.

Which reminds me of a story from when we lived in Atlanta. We used Peach State garbage ( a[private company), and we paid them an extra $1 per month for the privilege of having a little recycle container. I was in my front den one morning when the garbage truck came by. A man hopped out, dumped my recycle bin into my garbage can, and then hoisted the can onto the truck and dumped it. I thought it had to be a one-time thing, but just in case, I was ready with my camera the next week. The same thing happened, and I took pictures. Our whole, very large neighborhood had a contract with Peach State, and finally enough people complained that they stopped charging us money to dump our recycling in with our garbage. I suspect that although they began sending a separate truck, they still combined the things–they just did it out of our sight instead of right in front of our house.

Which makes me wonder–if I am able to complain and make a ruckus about my current garbage issue, will anything be done in this monopoly? And if it is, will it be a real change? Or will they just combine my yard waste with my garbage once they are out of my sight? I think I need to get one of these and just composte my yard waste myself!

So, we finally sat down to look over our Newsweek magazine that arrived almost a week ago in the mail. In the tradition of my mother, nobody opens a magazine in my family without first flipping through and tearing out all of the inserts. One of them in this Newsweek was especially large.

This large flyer was advertising organic cigarettes. Now, let me ask you…if someone is intentionally putting a carcinogen into his body on a regular basis, is it likely that he wants that carcinogen to be organic?? Apparently so, or there wouldn’t be a market, right?

Although these cigarettes claim to be made with 100% certified organic tobacco and additive-free tobacco, there, plastered in large letters is the statement, “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.”

I guess it goes to show that organic is trendy, even with the not-so-health-conscious crowd.

A few days ago, I posted an interactive map that shows how obese we are becoming as a nation. Truly, it is alarming. If you didn’t see it the other day, click on this link and watch.

I will tell you that growing up, I was thin. I didn’t think I was thin, because I had hips instead of that trendy, boyish figure. But I was. I normally wore a size 8, and for a while in college I wore an unhealthy-for-me size 6. And then I got married.

I don’t know what exactly happens when people move to a different environment–for some it is the college “freshman 15,” for others it is getting married, or any other number of life changes, but weight gain seems to often accompany that. For me, I suspect it was the combination of walking less (Furman was definitely a “walking” campus) and cooking for myself. My meals weren’t really that fattening, and we were too poor to eat out much, but I added in things like canned juice from Price Club. Plus, I was cooking for two, but recipes are typically made for four, and DH and I often just finished off the dish, rather than putting some away as leftovers. Whatever the reason, I gained some weight.

And then I got pregnant with my first son. Interestingly, I gained very little during my pregnancy–only about 20 pounds. Most of that came right back off, but then slowly I started gaining it back. I didn’t really notice, because my clothing size had already gone up a bit before the pregnancy, and then again after between the no-longer-flat tummy and the nursing-sized chest. I was ravenous while I nursed, and I paid very little attention to how much I ate or what was happening to my figure. After I weaned DS15, I continued to eat larger portions than necessary. And then I got pregnant again.

The same thing repeated itself several times. I never did fall into the “obese” category, but I still to this day am in the “overweight” group of people. The interesting thing to me is that I know I look at thin people and admire their figures. I try to visualize myself wearing their clothing size or having their body shape. And yet, I am thinner than a large portion of the population. And folks, I know how I look naked, and it ain’t pretty. And if there really are that many people in my state (Alabama, where it is more than 25%) who are obese, then I guess I do look thin in comparison.

So on the one hand, I have the utmost sympathy for those who struggle with weight. I know what it does to your self image. And I know how hard it is to make it come back off. And yet on the other hand, I am grossed out. How is it that we as a nation are so heavy? Why? Is it the high fructose corn syrup that is in almost everything on the store shelves, including “whole wheat” bread? Is it the fact that we drive one mile to the store, rather than walk? Is it that we sit at our computers (ahem) and blog the day away? Is it our reliance upon fast food because we are so busy? Are we all eating because we are sad/depressed/angry/stressed? I don’t have the answer, and apparently neither does anybody else, or surely we’d see the rates of obesity dropping in at least one state.

I am on a quest to learn the most healthful way I can eat and feed my family. I do have teenagers, however, and I am aware that if I restrict their food too much, it could backfire. I am blessed to have thin children. Take DS14 for example. He is very skinny. He is a runner and very active. And yet, when we order pizza, he can put away a whole one by himself. DS11, who is growing by the second, has always been skinny. So much so, that to this day he needs adjustable waist pants, just to keep them from falling down. I often have observed him running around with his friends, with one hand on the back waist of his pants, holding them up. He sneaks into my pantry and eats cupfuls of dry cereal when he thinks I am not looking. DS15, who is especially skinny compared to most young men with Down syndrome constantly complains that he is hungry. These guys eat a ton of food, and I know that they are growing, active, and hungry. But I do wonder if they will know how to slow down their eating to match their slowing growth when that time comes. Or will they see their own weight start to climb when they hit their twenties, partially because they, like me before them, have never had to give food or amounts a thought?

Again, I don’t have the answer. But this is one American problem I would really like to solve before we all die of diseases specific to being overweight and in poor health.