Day 3 of Eating Healthy

I was in the bathroom at work and flushed the toilet and the WHOOSH was like standing at the bottom of Niagara falls.  I clutched my ear and started screaming "aaaaaah, what the heeeellllll??!!" It must be what superheroes go through when they first learn of their superpowers.  

Ever since I woke up this morning, my right ear feels like when you get out of the pool and you have water in your ear.  Weird because it was fine when I went to bed.  I'm hoping it goes away tonight.  I put vinegar in it and steamed it and nothing has worked so far.  

Chest and Triceps today at the gym.  It was rough and we were both tired.  I don't know how in the hell Aldrian drove to the gym.  I only know that's where I woke up. I benched 85 lbs which is good but I've done a lot more.  Back on track, back on track.

I was tired of eggs for breakfast so I had yogurt with cinnamon and nuts.  It was really yummy so I think I'll stick with that. 

For dinner, I ate leftover fish, a tiny bit of pasta and the rest of the sauce. It was more than I expected and I'm really full.  Might have to do my hour of walking regardless of the humidity.  

Day 2 of Eating Healthy

I noticed that today I didn't get hungry for lunch until 2:30.  This never happens to me.  Normally, I start getting hungry at 11:30 and am about to pass out by 12:30.  I think this is a good sign.  

We had buckwheat spaghetti for dinner.  You're not supposed to have pasta or sugar on SB but it was what we had and it's good protein so I had it anyway.  We loaded it up with veggie meatballs, peppers and mushrooms so it was high in nutrients which is the most important thing. 

Day 1 of Eating Healthy and Not Drinking

Since I haven't had a crafternoon in, like, 3 years I decided to blog about getting started on my healthy eating habits in hopes it will help me stick to it.  I did South Beach a year or so ago and it was very effective.  Probably because I drink like an old fisherman and during the first 2 weeks you don't have alcohol.  So, I'm trying to eat healthy (relatively South Beachy) and to give up the drink. Also, we are exercising at the gym. So…

5:30am the alarm goes off.  Since Aldrian's alarm has not been set to the correct time since 2003 we rely on my alarm.  It is hard to fake that you don't hear the alarm when it is on your side of the bed.  I turn it off, yell at the dogs to "Lay Down!" "Lay Down Lay Down LaaaaayDooooown LayDownLayDownLayDown".  Aldrian gets up.  Why at any other time will he pretend to sleep like the dead but for the gym and skateboarding he jumps up like someone offered up cake for breakfast?  Mmmmm, caaaaake.  How am I going to survive this day?

Shoulders and Chest today.  My shoulders have been sore for 6 months.  I thought this was supposed to get easier.  I wake up when there are only 10 minutes left in the workout "Why am I so sweaty?  Oh, yeah, we're at the gym!" 

Breakfast is not bad.  An egg with spinach, onion and some garlic.  So tired.  Must remember to brush my teeth again because now my breath smells like a morgue.

Mondays in my company are useless for working, most especially after the holiday.  The workday begins with doing my manager's expenses which is always frustrating because you get to see how much your company is willing to spend on other people.  The website we are now forced to use is looping repeatedly and then kicking me out without saving my entries.  Normally this would annoy me to the point of mumbling creatively streamed curses and sending seething emails but I'm too damned tired and hungry.

String cheese is not a quesadilla.

Go for a walk with my coworker.  It is 85 degrees outside and I'm wearing jeans.  We are both sweating by the time we get back and I'm about to pass out from hunger.

Make a salad for lunch.  Try to top it with a Publix brand veggie burger which I (as usual) cook in the toaster.  Publix brand veggie burgers suck ass.  The burger gets stuck in the toaster.  When I try to get it out with tongs, two forks, a knife….and yes, I did unplug it first…the thing crumbles into the toaster.  Now I am starving but I have to clean out the toaster because everyone uses it to make toasted sandwiches.  I'm swearing under my breath now because the veggie burger is stuck everywhere and I'm about to eat the god damned toaster I'm so hungry.  I go over and eat a few bites of my salad hoping to appease The Savage Beast but it's not working.  I think the toaster is finally clean enough.  I get another annoying veggie burger and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds to thaw it out before I put it in the toaster over.  When I go to pull it out of the microwave it falls apart.  I put it in the toaster oven anyway.  Let's see….3 dials…I see "toast" let's go with that.  10 minutes!  Holy jesus I will die before this veggie burger is done.  I put the burger in and go to eat my salad.  Other people come in to the lunch room.  "What is burning?"  "Coworker, is that your bread burning?"  "I don't think so I put it on the lowest setting!"  It's my leftover veggie burger about to catch fire in the toaster where she unknowingly is trying to toast her bread.  I say nothing.  Finally the toaster oven is done and I eat my salad.

A salad is not a hamburger.

I never complete the expense reports because the system keeps going down.  Email IT and they say "I noticed mine's been going down too all day and it still is.  I'll tell someone".  Awesome. You do that.  HOW do these people still have a job??!!

Dinner is tilapia and Stephanie's blackbean/corn salad which I added buckwheat noodles to.  We love buckwheat noodles these days.  They are thin and cook very quickly.  Aldrian likes to cook which is great for me.  He has one piece of tilapia and I have two because I am feeling like my blood sugar is getting low.  Now he has tilapia for tomorrow and I have nothing.

At 7:30pm I'm starving and I want chocolate cake.  I forgot you could have yogurt on South Beach and didn't buy it at the grocery store on the way home.  Motherfucker.  I did buy almonds though.

Almonds are not chocolate cake.

BELT BUCKLES

PROJECT: BELT BUCKLES

NECESSARY SUPPLIES: Belt buckle blanks; Envirotex Lite, clear pour on resin; scissors/x-acto; measuring cup, plasticspoon; cardboard; wide, clear tape

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES: 3 bottles of wine, rack with slits, magazines, books, cards, small beads, rhinestones, colored pencils, photos, jewelry trinkets, scrapbooking paper

REFERENCES: http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-Belt-Buckle/ ; www.etsy.com (blanks) ; amazon.com (Environmental Tech EnviroTex Pour-On High Gloss Finish quart kit)

ATTENDEES: Courtney, Jessie, Melissa & Charlie, Aldrian

PROCESS:

The instructables instructions for this are great. We were lucky enough to have Melissa's boyfriend, Charlie, on hand and he used to make belt buckles for a living so there are a couple of small things here that I've highlighted that are good tips he gave us.

I had a bunch of blanks I'd purchased off etsy.com and the resin which I purchased from Amazon.com. At Michael's I bought some scrapbooking paper that I thought was fun (sparkles, robots, owls etc), some rhinestones and some puffy stickers. Before everyone arrived, I made the templates from a greeting card. I think the easiest way to do this (lesson learned) would be to cut it close to size, press it into the blank, and then use an x-acto knife to trim.

Courtney brought some cards. Jessie brought chocolate chip cookies. Melissa had the motherload with cards, books, small beads, the kitchen sink and, of course, Charlie! I ran through the house and found some punk rock history books, a tattoo book, children's books, and a magazine.

Once everyone arrived and had some snacks we headed downstairs with our drinks to start designing our buckles. This is our first crafternoon and I was remiss in taking photos in the excitement so I apologize for that and will try to do better next time. Charlie played Atari while we ladies figured out what we wanted to put on our belt buckles. We were cracking up. The funnest ones were the totally inappropriate pixs from the tattoo book. A tattooed butt with a prehensile tail was the best.

We used the template to place over our photo and trace around it. Then we cut along the line. Some cool things that we did was to use colored pencils to color in line drawings or color in certain parts of a black and white photo. Beads around the outer edge of the buckle made a cool effect. You can also create a collage effect.

As indicated in the indestructable, any paper that we used as a base we first laminated with clear shipping tape. We put two pieces down on the table and then placed the photo down on it. Two more pieces of tape over the top and it was laminated! You have to do this because otherwise it can change the shade of your paper. It creates a light line when the tape overlaps so try to make the overlap as small as possible on the top. That way, it's not very visible once the resin is on. We trimmed up the laminate to match the shape of the photo. Then we super glued the photo to the blank. Charlie said to do this so that when the resin dries the photo doesn't curl up. MAKE SURE THE LOOP IS ON THE LEFT SO THE BELT GOES ON PROPERLY! I made one of mine upside down. Next we added beads, rhinestones or other items.

The next steps are very important. You need to put something down so that you don't get resin all over your floor. We used a couple of pieces of cardboard. Next, you need your buckles to be level as it dries. I used a shelf from one of those wire shelving units. It was helpful to have the horizontal slats so that the buckle loop and little dingleberry could hang through. We let Charlie mix and pour the resin since he was experienced so this was much less eventful than it probably would have been had I tried to do it myself. Mix the resin very, very well. There will be small bubbles created when you stir the resin and these will remain when you pour it onto the buckle. Charlie only poured about 1/2 - 1 tsp of resin on the buckle. Then he tilted the buckle slowly so that the resin evened out. You don't want the resin to fall over the edges but if it does you can just wipe it off. Beading on the edge of the buckle makes it difficult to level out the resin although it can be done. Most crafters recommend using a blow drier to get the bubbles out and from all accounts this works well. Charlie used a lighter and just lightly ran it over the top of the buckle. He waited about 5 minutes and then did it again to get out any bubbles that popped up later. You might want to keep an eye on the bubble situation because they can crop up over time. The room temperature as the buckles dry should be around 70 degrees. After about 3 days they should be done. The colder the room, the longer they will take to harden completely.