Laptop Shopping ... oy vey

My Toshiba laptop is seven years old and is starting to do weird things. Like, shutting down when it wants to, or freezing up at random moments.

We've been on CRASH WATCH since November, and I've been backing up my files on a regular basis in case the inevitable happens.

The plan was to wait until my birthday in February and ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY a new laptop for me!

But then I started training to become a CASA (court appointed special advocate), and because the class has an online component we realized I couldn't wait.

So last weekend Joe and I went laptop shopping. We went here, there, and everywhere, but we couldn't find what we wanted. If a laptop had that, it didn't have this; if it had this, it didn't have that; if it had this and that, I hated the keyboard.

This was us when we returned home late that afternoon ...

In the end, we ordered a custom laptop from Hewlett Packard; Joe entered in all the specs we wanted and I handled the color (Fog Blue). The HP elves are building it as I type.

My new laptop will be here in two weeks and so far the Tobisha is holding steady, still doing weird thing but hanging in there.

Fingers crossed.

Eating and Brushing and Brushing ... Oh My!

 Here’s the routine of my days: eat, brush, eat, brush, eat, brush, brush, floss.

That’s life with Invisalign.

Just to be clear, after every meal not only do I brush my teeth, but I also brush my tray (or retainer, or whatever it’s called).

And yes, before bedtime I have to brush TWICE...once with toothpaste, and once with Gel-Kam.

When I realized that my dental hygiene was more involved (all that brushing, brushing, brushing) I went to Target and bought a cute ceramic mug to hold two toothbrushes, two different kinds of toothpaste, floss, and my tray case. 

I’ve also decided there will be NO MORE SNACKING between meals because I’m not taking out a tray (or retainer) unless I absolutely have to. Otherwise I have to brush my teeth. Again.

But I’m not complaining. My teeth are straightening and I’m losing weight. 

That’s called a win-win situation.

You know it's going to be a good day ...

when your Nespresso pods arrive in the mail. 

Today's Goals:

something creative
something kind
something decisive
  something quirky

When NOT to count carbs

Yesterday my mom hosted a luncheon in honor of Sister Lorraine, a Polish nun visiting from Chicago. Seated around the table were five Italian women (Silveria, Rosanna, Gemma, Carla, and my mom, Massimilla), one British woman (Shirley), and me.

I love it when I get to hang out with these women because, let me tell you, they know how to live life to the fullest. Case in point: almost every one of them showed up to my mom's house carrying a bottle of wine.

Oh, yeah.


And they are funny!


They tell funny stories and tell funny jokes and are incredibly self-deprecating. They speak English one minute, Italian the next, and sometimes they combine the two and make up words which somehow make perfect sense.


At one point I realized there were a gazillion conversations going on at the same time, and when you consider there were only eight of us seated at the table ... well, it's mind boggling. And crazy. And all kinds of wonderful.


When I took out my iPhone to take a photo, they obligingly posed; afterwards, it was funny to see all these Italian women (and one British one) whip out their phones to take photos, too. Then they texted the photos to each other. And tried to send them via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. It got a tad confusing, and before I realized what was happening I was holding three phones with instructions to do this and do that.


And then there was the food, which is always phenomenal. The problem was that I am currently practicing carb cycling and Mondays are always low carb days and my mom made pizza. Homemade pizza, with dough she kneaded that morning. Pizza with prosciutto and arugula, my absolute favorite. It was going to be hard to stick to my program.


Earlier that morning I looked in the mirror and gave myself a pep talk about the importance of steely resolve and resisting temptation and how I was only allowed two small slices of pizza. I mean it, I told myself in the mirror.


But seated with these wonderful women my steely resolve slipped just a little; HOWEVER, in my defense I dare anyone to sit at that table and NOT get caught up in the moment and just enjoy life.


So I had THREE slices of pizza with prosciutto and arugula. Oh, and apricot crostata for dessert.


La dolce vita ... what can I say?

In which I survive my first 5K

Earlier this week a good friend of mine called and asked if I wanted to go to Aiken, SC and participate in a 5K Fun Run in honor of Earth Day.


Now, I am not a runner, but sometimes I like to do interval training by alternating speed walking and jogging (although, if I'm being honest, the speed walking intervals are longer than the jogging ones).


Since I've always wanted to do a 5K (but never had the courage to do so), and since this was billed as a Fun Run, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and face my insecurities. My friend registered us online and we came up with a game plan: we would concentrate on the FUN part and do what we wanted to with the RUN part.


Except, when we signed in this morning and received our Earth Day t-shirts the organizers mentioned obstacles, balance beams, hills , and forest trails.


Whoa.


Except, there were some people - a LOT of people - who missed the memo on the FUN part and were clearly there for the RUN part.


Party poopers, the lot of them.


When we lined up at the starting line, several people around us started stretching and running in place and I began to feel intimidated. Like, really intimidated as in ... what in the heck did I get myself into?


Evidently we needed another game plan. In order to save face, we decided to run at the start of the race, and once we got beyond (way beyond!) the cameras we would then set our own pace.


And that's what we did. We ran the first three blocks in downtown Aiken, turned a corner, and resorted to speed walking which - and let me be perfectly clear - was not a leisurely stroll. We were hoofing it through the woods, over logs, across muddy paths, up hills and down.


And because my boys will inevitably ask, let me be clear about something else: we were NOT at the back of the pack; in fact, we even passed TWO people.


Then, with two blocks to go we started running again, mainly because we could see the flashing police lights and hear the cheering cheerleaders and we got excited. We crossed that finish line and, I'm not going to lie, boy did it feel good.


We also got medals.


I know, I know. EVERYONE got a medal. It was a PARTICIPATION medal.


But you know what? I'm kind of proud of that medal.

Yes, I'm sweaty.
Yes, I'm a mess.
But I just did a 5K.
And that's something.

Mrs. Paproth

For a long time I knew her simply as Mrs. Paproth.

Her blog, Mrs. Paproth's Barn, is about her family's real life adventure of leaving the city for the country life in the mountains of Vermont; there are stories about raising chickens, shoveling snow, wading through mud, restoring a farmhouse, and living life with a purpose.

Mostly, though, she writes about the seasons of New England, taking lessons from nature and applying them to life.

Visiting her blog makes me want to curl up in front of a roaring fire, with cappuccino in hand, and stay a while.

From time to time she visits my little blog and her comments (which she always signs E) are  insightful and thoughtful. I remember one in particular. I had written this post about finding the freedom in Lent and how Wisdom teaches us that unless we are free to say no to something, we are not really free to say yes to it. She left two comments; here was one of them ...

My big kids were home this weekend and I read your blog to them

one night while we were in front of the fire drinking spicy hot chocolate.

We talked about the question of freedom in our choices
and how saying no makes yes so much sweeter.
This was a wonderful discussion. Thanks Bia

Of course, sometimes I've read some of her posts to my family. The one which inspired the most disbelief and laughter was her post about fish falling from the sky. Go read it; it's a true phenomenon.

Eventually I learned that Mrs. Paproth is really Ellen Stimson and she has book coming out next fall entitled, Mud Season ... A Waking Dream in Vermont.

Just wanted to share the good news.

I, for one, can't wait to read it.

What is Not in My Shopping Cart ... in 7 quick takes

1. Canned anything. With the exception of canned tomatoes and canned beans (cannellini, etc.), I do not buy anything canned. No canned corn, peas, green beans. Not even soup. Too much sodium (even if its reduced).

2. Bagged lettuce. While there have been times in which I have resorted to purchasing lettuce that has been triple washed (really?) and bagged, for the most part I buy a whole head of lettuce and wash it myself. Besides, bagged lettuce doesn't even smell like lettuce.

3.  Fruit and veggies that have already been cut, sliced, diced, or handled in any way. Too many variables (hands, cutting surfaces, knives) for contamination, and who knows how well they have been washed?

4. Frozen dinners. No chicken nuggets, TGIF meals, Lunchables, or Lean Cuisines. What about pizza? you ask. Sometimes, but mostly I make my own.

5. Soda. Truthfully,  occasionally I do buy  soda, but mostly when we are having company or we are hosting a dinner party. If it's in the house the boys drink it, and since they don't need it I try not to get it.

6. Snacks that are packaged into individual portions. Let's face it, the portion sizes are ridiculous for my boys. A small bag of potato chips containing 10 chips is just not enough for my growing boys (they would need 2-3 bags!), so I purchase the large bags and then use Ziploc bags to make more appropriate portion sizes.

7. Sugar substitutes. Ever. There are too many unknowns about sugar substitutes; I'd rather use 1/2 tsp. of the real stuff than a packet of Sweet n' Low or Splenda.

Finally, I am a big fan of the deli and the bakery. I prefer to buy lunch meat from the deli, where meat is sliced on the spot and is fresher than the pre-packaged kind; I also prefer to buy a loaf of bread from the bakery and have them slice it. Believe me, sandwiches taste much better with freshly baked bread than with Wonder Bread which has a shelf life of two weeks.

P.S. If you want to know what does make it into my shopping cart, check out this post.

lunch
 

For more quick takes fun, go visit Jen at Conversion Diary!