Fasting or Starving?

I've discovered an interesting phenomenon. If I go more than 4 hours without eating, my stomach growls and I can only think about what and when I can eat next. But if I am fasting, and I am prayerful about it, I can go all day without thinking of food or feeling hungry at all.
I know this is just a side benefit but it helps to reinforce in my mind that there is a difference between fasting with a purpose and just going without food for a period of time.

Say, what??

Maybe he thought it was April 1st...I got a strange email from our facilities guy today. I had asked for Tall Kitchen Garbage bags, as the ones the custodians have been using in our kitchen are the HUGE heavy-duty "lawn & leaf" ones and it is wasteful. The bags fill up the container such that there is no room for the trash! I told him we also have the small bags, for the containers in the public area of the library, but we really could use an in-between/medium size for the kitchen.

He wrote back, "No problem, I will take care of it. I will bring you a bigger trash can, or can cut the current trash can down a size to fit the little bags..." umm..let's try this again...

Mathematical law of reverse weights and measures

So, I've already admitted that math/numbers is not my forte, but this just baffles me: I fought the battle of the bulge since last September when I got serious about nutrition in an effort to lower my cholesterol. The Formula goes like this: there are 3,500 calories in a pound. My goal was to have a negative Energy Balance of 500 calories a day, resulting in a weight loss of 1 pound/week. (energy Balance is the number of calories consumed minus the number of calories expended.)  I managed, through cutting out (and I mean really cutting out) desserts/sugar, ramping up the fruits/veggies, and burning over 500 calories/day in rigorous exercise, to lose 14 pounds in 7 months (more math: that's 2 pounds/month or a reasonable, if less spectacular 1/2 pound a week). Then yesterday, I decided to eat a cookie....(ok, maybe 5 cookies...but I'd been deprived for so long and these were sooo good!) And...you guessed it! Gained almost 2 pounds in one day!! And the Universe laughed. By the way, if anyone is interested in that cookie recipe, I'll share the love.

Not So Lost

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old.
The contest was titled "u @ 50", by the AARP
This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the
room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.
So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

Pondering the Mysteries

I have some questions:

1. If I'm on my way to a follow-up Dr. appointment (read, I've been there before...) and suddenly I can't remember where the doctor's office is located...am I having a Senior Moment, or can I blame it on the fact that I was on the cell phone with Vanessa and was distracted?

2. I ran into Walmart to pick up a black slip on my lunch break (I was having serious static cling) and grabbed the first (and only) black slip I saw and ran out (after paying, of course...). It was labeled an XL and it fit, very snugly in fact. My question is, are they not sizing things the way they used to, or was I in the children's department by mistake? (I refuse to consider the 3rd option...)

3. The guy (ahem: "geezer") next to me on the treadmill the other day got on before the stats for the previous person were reset. He "worked out" at 2 mph for about 15 minutes, continually checking the readouts with a puzzled look on his face. When he finished, he stared at the "workout summary" for a bit before shaking his head and stepping down. Question: should I have explained the phenomenon to him or is it better to remain in blissful ignorance of one's ignorance? Is that what I have to look forward to when my Senior Moments are more like Senior Way of Life?

Conspiracy Theory

Sometimes there are two things that you think might be related but you're not sure...There's several (8) piles of what looks like rolled oats dumped about 3 feet apart at the wooded edge of our parking lot. There's also a bunch of squirrels that are behaving very oddly on the nearby grass...

Are the oats poisoned? Did the squirrels eat it? Or do the squirrels just have "spring fever" on this unusually sunny day in Washington? And what, then, is the purpose of the oat piles?

I checked with the City and they have no knowledge of it. Checked with the group of teens that were busy videoing the squirrels with their cell phones and they didn't know anything about the oats. Hmmm. Quite the mystery. But I do know this: anytime squirrels are involved, you have got to be suspicious.

3-3-09

 Happy Square Root Day! Happens only nine times each century, the next one being 4-4-2016. Celebrations are happening all over the world. A teacher in California is offering a prize (you guessed it: $339) to the biggest celebration. Today should be especially lucky for Rich, who has a special relationship with the number 3. What is our fascination with numbers? There's pi day coming up (3:14), and many weddings are held on special number days like 8-8-08; and then there is the phenomenon that happened to us in 2004: I (born in 1955) turned 49 and my husband (born in 1949) turned 55. Once in a lifetime! And what a year it was: we had a family reunion on the beach in California (no small feat, being as we all came from NY, ID, CO), became empty-nesters pre-maturely when Vanessa left us to spend her senior year in Rexburg, I finished my graduate degree and we decided to sell our home and move West. Anyway, do something fun today to honor square roots--like have a SQUARE meal of just ROOT vegetables...(hmmm. I just noticed that this is my 39th post...)