Almost Honest

Are you ready for another edition of me telling you about how absolutely boring exciting my life is?


Thank heavens because I'm going to WOW you with excitement. Ready?


Listening:
Def Leppard if you can believe it. Shuffle is an evil bitch sometimes. It'll drop a song that takes you back to a time of better and with the first beat of a song your transported to those days.  Oh, and I'm also listening to thunder. Which sucks because it's 80F outside and the rain is going to make it humid!


Reading:
Two things actually - well actually three but one's almost over and I plan to write about that at a later date. So for the purposes of this...two things.


The first is Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little. I have no idea where or how this book ended up on the Nook of Goodness, but it's there. I'm determined to read through all the books on my Nook before buying any new ones. So far, with the exception of book club books, I've bought no new books at random. Ahem...anyhow, Dear Daughter is a murder mystery. It was slow to start and 100 pages in it's finally getting interesting. Which is a good thing, because 100 pages or 3 chapters is my limit before I toss the book aside if I'm not interested.


The other thing I'm "reading" is - wait for it - Foundations of Information Privacy and Data Protection: A Survey of Global Concepts, Laws and Practices. Phew. That's a mouth full. "Why am I reading that?" you ask. Well it's simple, the best job in the world and the best boss in the world offered to pay for me to be certified as a CIPP (Certified Information Privacy Professional). I've thought about being certified before, but it's expensive and I just wasn't willing to shell out $600 for the test, plus whatever for training. It's a slow going reading book and one I won't give up by page 100 if it's boring.


Eating:
Well, nothing right now. I have done all my grocery shopping for the week and have a relatively healthy plan for next week. Not that it's going to matter one bit (see Contemplating).


I did think about boiling up a cat named Lucy last week when she escaped from the house and gave me a small heart attack. Yes, oh yes, she's grounded...for life.


Loving:
My job. I worked probably 55 hours last week and I loved every minute of it. Its busy, sometimes chaotic, in constant flux and on the brink of change, but I love everything about it.  It's been a long, LONG time since I actually look forward to working long hard hours. They feeling of appreciation is everywhere so I don't feel like I'm working for no reason. Everyone's busy and everyone appreciates you working hard.


That being said, I'm no fan of 55 hour work weeks. Work/life balance and all.


And it's probably not a good idea to say that I'm loving these no bake cookies from QFC...but OH MY GOD they're good and way too convenient.


Contemplating:
Things with my weight loss haven't been going great. I went three week of eating well and exercising a lot and didn't lose an ounce. A chance conversation with a friend made me realize I might have a thyroid problem. Turns out the MomUnit does too. And it turns out it's VERY common for women in their 40's to have thyroid problems. So at least I'm part of the cool kids finally.


The contemplation part comes in with whether to see a western doctor or a naturopath. The naturopath is going to win because I can get in to see her quicker. But the truth is, I don't want to take a pill for the rest of my life and worry that this the breeze the blows down my house of cards - also known as my denial that I'm getting older.


At any rate, I hate the way I feel these days and if that one little pill can make a difference, then I guess I should be happy it's something as "minor" as thyroid.


So there you have it. That exciting, thrilling ride that's called my life.

Secrets! Secrets! I won't tell.

Secrets. We all have them. We all keep them. We all share them.

Our book club this month was The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty.  At book club Princess Lori asked if we all had secrets we didn't share. Truth is we all do.

Then she asked if you would share a secret if it meant protecting a loved one.  I answered yes right away.

I do truly believe there are times when secrets can and should be shared. Sometimes the person telling you the secret doesn't really realize how bad things are, or how much help they need/want.

Though, admittedly, sharing a secret can back fire.

Let's say for example, if you knew your best friend was being cheated on by her boyfriend. Would you tell her? Or any friend for that matter? Would you tell them?

I did. In college. And it cost me a friendship. Would I do again? In a heartbeat. Would I want to know? Absolutely.

Then there are those secrets that aren't really secrets. They are, rather, something that happened and for whatever reason or other the person doesn't want people to know. If you knew and you also knew that said person is being ridiculous about sharing this "secret". And you knew that by sharing it with someone else, the said person would have more support. Would you share the secret?


Do you think not telling someone you love a secret you are keeping is lying to that person?

See, there's so many levels to "secrete". I try not to keep too many to myself - meaning I'm an open book so just about anything about me, I'll tell you. If something went wrong in my life, I wouldn't keep it in...I mean hello, I write a blog.

I've shared secrets I probably shouldn't have. And I've kept secrets for years...decades. To this day I have secrets I've never shared.

What about you? Do you think sharing secrets is sometimes ok? Or do you think they should never be shared? Do you have secrets?

Measuring it all

Last Sunday I talked about my constant attempt to eat healthy and lose a few pounds.  And last Sunday I set myself up for success.  I wasn't 100% successful, I still made not such great choices, but I made them knowing that it was OK. In fact, I stuck to my plan in the face of being asked to go get something for lunch that I LOVE...I still stuck to my plan. So that felt good.

I only got 1 work out in last week even though I had plenty of time and opportunity. The lazy won last week. In fact, the ONE work out I got was a 30 minute walk that I almost cancelled because I didn't bring my shoes with me. The gal I was walking with said, let's just walk in our flip flops and see how far we get. So we did. Knowing my feet hurt on a good day I thought for sure they'd hurt after that...turns out they did not.

So why was last week so easy for me? Because I planned. I swear the best way to make myself even remotely close to being successful is to plan.

Last Sunday I went grocery shopping with a very specific list. I had a very specific meal plan for the week and I took the time to do all the prep work.  Instead of letting myself when hungry determining the serving size, I pre-packaged all my meals into serving sizes. For example, hummus. I love hummus. I'm sure I assume I only eat 2 T in a sitting but can bet I eat more. So I put 2 T of hummus in containers and had that with my carrots. I also measured out all my ham for my sandwiches - 2 oz of ham is quite a bit it turns out.

By the end of the week I was happy with my decisions. Found areas to improve and felt motivated enough to move forward. I lost no weight last week, but at the end of the day, that's a number. And I think that the real success comes from sticking "mostly" to a plan AND even having the plan.

I did a lot of thinking about failure last week to. Failure on all levels, not just weight loss. And wondered how we can set up future generations of girls to not feel failure around every corner. I think there's a future blog in my thoughts so I'll just leave it there.

This week is going to be much of the same. I've got my grocery list ready, my work out clothes on, my menu printed, my recipes printed...and I'm good to go. It's a sunny, beautiful (and hot) day today and there's promise in the air.