kvetchforsuccess

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Stamp Seal with a Toadstool Base. Manufactured in the 2nd half of the 19th century, presumed Russian origin. Materials are vermeil (silver gilded with gold), enamel paint and shell. From the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, inventory number: 018080.

(Source: mahmah.ch)

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note to self: if you print a t-shirt with a speech bubble saying "ask me about my OCs" in 2014, you will inevitably accidentally wear it on a work teams call a decade later

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The way you can put Odysseus in so many situations like Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/No Comfort, Soulbond, Presumed Dead, Modern AU, Angst, Fluff, etc., literally proves him to be the one living up to his epithet, Odysseus polytropos, aka, the man of many tropes

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Workplace has B&BW's Wildberry French Toast soap in the ladies' room, and it is tantalizing.

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This is the exact sort of passive-aggressive Rich Old Man Grumpiness I can get behind

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I’m fine

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Love how I started this blog *checks notes* in June 2017, posted once in September '22, and once in April '23, then never used it again.

The idea was to have a spot where I could complain into the ether, publicly, hypothetically audibly, without necessarily making anyone listen to it.

It is also yet another place where I look at my life and my choices and go "Hmm. Those need to be different." I'm up to 170ish again and figure I should (a) keep keto, long enough that I can fast without dying and (b) get moving again. If I walk, run, lift weights, or do bodyweight exercises, it should help my legs and arms and torso get a bit trimmer.

Fasting, if I can get back into it, could be a game-changer: an amount of fat loss + saving money on groceries + saving time on cooking/cleanup + saving half an hour of lunch break + possible autophagy benefits.

Currently, my fridge has the necessary for roasted cauliflower, chicken fajitas (with low-carb tortillas), BLT wraps (in lettuce or low-carb tortillas), scrambled eggs, halloumi, pickles, cucumber-and-guacamole, and possibly other cheese. The freezer has Emergency Soup (probably should be thrown out by now), Emergency Dumplings (not low-carb, temporary stopgap), Emergency butter chicken (which I can separate from its basmati and serve on cauliflower rice), and spinach. Pantry has canned tomatoes, cashews, artichoke hearts, kalamatas, Lite Salt, several Mio flavors, and a few other things.

Maybe I'll take my measurements later for a starting point.

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Posted here last September and not since.  I’m in the 160s but hope to drop some fat in two months; to that end, I made myself a super-simple little grid. Each day will get colored in (or checked off in a color, or have text written) to indicate what kind of workout I did.   “Workout” will mean “any effort longer than 15 minutes total” but I’ll aim for 30-45 minutes; walking workouts tend to be longer but lifting weights/ab workouts tend to be shorter, and I don’t want to put myself out of commission with injury.  I just want a 10-week chunk that has more color than not.

I have an idea that I’ll take my measurements every 3-4 weeks, and am toying with the idea of testing myself: how fast can I run one mile?  How many sit-ups/push-ups can I do in 2 minutes?  How long can I plank or wall-sit?   Tests probably make sense as an end-of-month thing.  They say to do the thing that you find fun, but they also say to work out consistently, and working toward a test might be the most fun I can come up with.

I told my brother that if I have a full week with color each day (which shouldn’t strain me to the point of injury/overwork - walking is fine for recovery days), that week might become a sticker chart.  We’ll see how this goes.

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Huh.  So I mostly forgot I had this sideblog, and thus haven’t posted here in over 5 years.

Let the record show that in five years, it is possible to lose 30+ pounds (in fact: to lose 60 and then regain a bunch); meet a fellow and date him for 3 years; get a tiny bit of a promotion; and pick up quilting.

Because I’ve been less cautious about the food I eat and drink I drink, I’m back up near 170.  Trousers are getting tight and sleeves are getting less comfortable, ergo I am doing a water/coffee/tea/chicken broth/ketoade fast.  The scale was not at all dramatic this morning, but I have hopes for tomorrow.

Given the relative ease of going without food so long as I have liquid and salt, I’m thinking that I’ll get into a pattern of fasting a bunch and eating one meal a day (OMAD) sometimes.  It might not be enough to get me to goal weight, but it can probably keep me further from 200.

There are still plenty of things to kvetch about, still lots of things I’m vexed by or anxious about.  But the tenor of the troubles has shifted since 2017, and for that, I suppose I am grateful.

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So it happened.

Yesterday, my friend’s not-quite-3-year-old ask me if I was going to have a baby. ... ... ...yeah, so, I really need to weigh less than 200 pounds O_O

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merrrrrrrrrrghhhh i know it sucks 

when your friends forget 

what you wanted to celebrate

i’m sorry

but also: i don’t have anything useful to say besides that...

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Saw some video on FB that was like “The more you complain, the more your brain forms neural networks of complaint; try to take a second and feel some gratitude, in an effort to make your neural networks more positive and happy!” On one hand, this is a little bit like them going “Hey, stop feeling anxious” and expecting the viewer to go “HOT DAMN, MY ANXIETY IS CURED.” Buuuuuut it’s not a bad plan.  So here’s a non-exhaustive list of Shit I’m Grateful For At Present: I am grateful that traffic on the way to work was light this morning.  I am grateful that I slept.  I’m grateful for last night’s walk and yesterday’s call to Katherine.  I am pleased I had time for Kroger, and glad I’ve had food.  I’m glad I have money to pay for the food.  I’m pleased that I could pay both my insurance and rent without much stress.  I’m grateful for my Lexapro even if I don’t always take it on time like I should.  I’m glad I got my laundry done last week.  I’m pleased that listening to Drout on audiobook while driving seems to work.  I’m grateful that weird blob in my vision yesterday afternoon went away.  I’m grateful for Dorothy Sayers and my job.  

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Alrighty.  You had a weekend that involved eating out on Friday AND Saturday AND Sunday.  But!  After that kind of ridiculous and expensive habit, Monday was a sane day of stone ground cereal and milk/lasagna/leftovers/sauteed cauliflower with an egg...and somehow you woke up 5 pounds lighter this morning.  It may just be a trick of the light (or scale), but it feels good nonetheless.   And today has been an even saner day of stone ground cereal, roasted chicken and cauliflower, lots of strawberries, and salmon/broccoli/asparagus just waiting at home to be cooked.   Keep this up!  It’s not a Whole30, but it just might be sustainable.   :D

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You know how it goes: you want to vent about your singleness to the world (or commiserate about the numbness of depression, or drink over America’s political landscape).  Or you want to exclaim over how, as part of your ongoing intention to get in better shape, you had the tiny victory of not buying mango kulfi or whatnot. Your parents have already listened to this.  Your friends hear it at home, over Gchat, occasionally on Facebook, often enough on Tumblr. The thing must be said (or, at any rate, feels like it must be said.  Wants to be said), but you’re leery of making the same handful of people listen to you all the time.  

Enter this sideblog.  I have no idea why y’all would follow it, but hey.  You’re welcome here.  Feel free to kvetch as well.