What will be Next?

I've noticed that lately I don't see as much about "counting carbs" on TV. Is that fad finally over? I hope so. I hope it is over for the mere fact I hate health fads. In the mid-80s, cholesterol was big and bad. Eggs were especially awful. In the late 80s, I counted calories as a junior high girl. That was the thing. 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. A hot pocket had 300 calories. That was good.

In the 90s, "fat grams" was next. One gram, two grams, three grams. Subway had X number of sandwiches with six grams of fat or less. Those were healthy.

In the early 2000s, "low carbs" was the craze. Everything from yogurt to yams were coming out with low-carb versions. If it was low in carbs, it was probably higher in fat.
Now there seems to be a kick on the "trans fats." Boxes of crackers are plastered with "O trans fats," whatever that means.

What will be next? Sodium? Protein? Calcium? Zinc? Iron?
Is anything good for us?

Don't ring me

It was reiterated again today why I don't buy expensive rings. I lose them. Most of the time it is my own stupidity. If (heaven forbid) I ever were to get engaged, I would probably tell my fiance to purchase me a sucker ring from a candy machine or make one for me out of twine, because chances are, I would lose that one, too.

Here are some examples of rings I have lost over the years:

Summer 2001: I'm on my way back from three weeks in Europe, standing in the Detroit airport, washing my hands at the restroom sink. I took off my blue ring I bought in Munich and discovered I no longer have my blue ring from Munich when I arrived in....Green Bay.

May 2005: I am picking up my sister and bro-in-law at the Green Bay airport (maybe there is a theme here?), and as I am putting a piece of luggage in the trunk, my fat silver ring slips off my ring finger and goes somewhere in the bottom of never land of my trunk. Haven't really attempted to look for that.

July 2006: I decide to "shake out" my Eddie Bauer bag after countless trips to the beach, and I decide to do this on my balcony, which overlooks some holed grid in the ground. I'm shaking and shaking and I hear a CLLLINNNGGGGG! Oops. It's my cool twirly ring in one of the side pockets I had been looking for for weeks. It's gone.

Today: I was at a meeting in Appleton, playing with my $5 ring I bought in Texas. I notice at some point during the meeting, I no longer have my $5 ring from Texas. Hmmm, I must've stuck it in my purse. When I get back from the meeting and use the restroom, I hear that familiar "cling" in, you guessed it, the bottom of the porcelain bowl. I must've stuck it in my short pocket during the meeting, and now it fell out. As much as I love the $5 ring I bought in Texas, as many compliments as I get on it, I don't love it enough to fish it out. Bye bye $5 ring from Texas.

I know there are more I have lost, but I can't remember exactly how those happened. I should learn my lesson and stop buying rings altogether, but I don't. And if I ever do get married, I might have to keep it permanently attached.

Empathy-Schmempathy

It is true that we really don't know how people feel until we walk around in their shoes. I learned two big things in the last 1.5 weeks, relating to volleyball. It seems trivial to be mentioning this, but if I am going to learn anything out at a bar, it might as well be something useful.

I was a substitute referee last week, and after that experience, I will never complain to a ref again. Not that I ever did, but now I really won't! It takes a lot of concentration, and it is hard to see everything going on on the court. I withstood hate stares on certain calls, inpatient players when I would forget to flip the score and eyes rolling from some younger players used to WIAA high school rules. I never would've got in a ref's face before, and now I certainly won't.

Last night I subbed for a team in the league I formerly played in, and I had to pass and hit middle. I haven't done this in a LONG time, and I'm not a hitter. I'm not sure if I was sluggish, if they were serving really tough or if my skills had weakened that much, but I struggled. I was shanking passes left and right, passing short, toward the net. I wanted to bury my head in the sand and not come back out. I am a setter, and I did that on my old team. Setters often get frustrated when the passing is bad, but I learned that the passers/hitters get equally as frustrated. It's not an easy thing to do, and passing in quads (four people on the court) is much more difficult than in sixes (six people on the court). There is a lot more court to cover. I'm hoping I might have been sluggish, because when I have passed in other games, it hasn't been as bad as last night.

So....I got to stand in a ref's shoes and in a passer's shoes. I learned that both roles need empathy. Some of those refs might be doing that after a long day at work (as I did), so their minds not be as sharp by the time the 10 pm game comes around. Some middles passers in quads need encouragement and support if they are not doing as great as they want. We all need empathy. Hopefully I can continue to be more empathetic in other aspects of life as well.

Those People

I was never one of those people. Those people that watch every cent they spend, wear layers in their home, and suggest to friends they go out to a certain restaurant because they found a coupon for $1 off two entrees. Those people who won't turn their furnace past 64 or start buying the $.34 yogurt as opposed to the $.50 Yoplait, or who requests separate checks at restaurants to ensure they aren't paying a cent more than they owe. Those people who get angry at themselves when they spent $12 on a pizza when they could've spent $8, or put less money in their godchild's birthday card than in years past, or who think about money constantly. Those people who won't rent a locker at the Y for $5 a month, or will immediately say "no" when friends mention doing anything revolving spending a little money, or are more conscious about "running around town" in order to conserve gas.

I was never one of those people. Not that those people are bad, but I was just never one of them. I didn't watch what I spent, wore shorts in the dead of winter, went to any restaurant I wanted. I jacked the heat up to 70, bought the yogurt I liked and didn't care about separate checks. I ordered the $12 pizza when a friend was coming over, threw an extra $10 in birthday cards and thought about money when I had to. I used to rent a locker at the gym, did things with friends no matter what the cost and drove wherever and whenever I wanted.

I was never one of those people, but I'm becoming one, and it scares me a little. I have to be more frugal than before, not that I ever spent money foolishly, either. But there needs to be a happy medium so I can still live a life. We all need to come up for air, and lately I haven't been.

With that said, I still need to watch what I spend, I don't mind layering my clothes, and I can go to a restaurant even if I don't have a coupon - it's ok. The heat could go to 67 when I am home, I don't mind the $.34 yogurt, and separate checks do make things easier. I have pizza leftover for other meals, and I shouldn't feel bad about the birthday card (p.s. I did buy him an early bday gift this summer). I really don't need to rent a gym locker, I can decide what to do with friends based on cost and if it's something I want to do, and it's ok to not drive all over the place.
I can be one of those people to an extent, but I still need to be me.

Shelves!

These are the insides of the shelves I left open. We painted the insides "blue flower" to bring out the slightly darker color used the dining room.

Kitchen Transformation

It has been really rewarding the last few weeks to see some rooms transform. The first night I slept in the house, my hands were throbbing so bad from all the painting, I couldn't sleep! But it was well worth the time and effort. Enjoy the pics, and please come over soon to see it!

10/23/06: Here is the kitchen on the day I closed. The walls were yellow, burgundy, and with a border in between. The cabinets were black, and the trim on the windows and doors was tan.

My friend Terri (bless her heart) and I spent HOURS scraping off the border and removed the doors later this evening. The insides were multi-colored and had probably not been painted for awhile.









10/26/06: The room is already starting to change! The cabinets needed two coats of primer and paint (swiss coffee). This is one coat. All the trim and baseboard was painted the same color. We used "light blue" on the walls and ceiling.










11/4/06: Almost there! The drawers are in, the final coat of paint is on, the insides scrubbed, repainted and relined with new contact paper, and the dishes are finally unpacked!









11/7/06: Done! My dad and his buddy Joe Kind added the doors last night (when I wasn't even home!). The two end cabinets I'm leaving open to display cookbooks, wine, wine glasses and pictures (Missy's idea).

I LOVE how the kitchen looks. It's so bright and fun! I couldn't have done it without the following people who helped paint or move all my stuff:
Terri, Steph, Kim F, Kevin, Michelle, Dad, Missy, Matuella, Joe, Tera, Kim M, Bobby, Charlie, Jeff.
(PS. Mom was babysitting and did send a kettle of chicken soup for moving day).
THANK YOU!!!!! :)

The house

Home

Shopping Blunders

It's not surprising that I'm paying closer attention to where my money is going these days. I'm especially trying to be better about "shopping traps." Here are four things that are my (and might be your) biggest shopping mistakes.

The Coupon
I love coupons, I really do. I wouldn't recommend them or promote valpak.com as one of my favorite sites if I didn't. But I can't allow myself to clip coupons for the sake of clipping coupons. Sometimes we save one or clip one because the deal looks good. I'm all about reserving products and having some extras on hand, but I shouldn't use it if I'll never use the product in the first place. Now when I get a 20% coupon at Kohl's in the mail, I think twice.


Sales Racks
I love a good sale. I love rummaging through those "70% off" clearance racks at my favorite stores. I love finding a bargain. I love getting something that was originally $70 for only $10. But more often than not, when I purchase one of these shirts for $2, or a pair of pants for $5, do I wear them? Not all the time. We're believed to think it's a great deal because we're ONLY paying $5, and we say to ourselves, well, even if I don't wear it or don't fit into it, I ONLY paid $5. You know what? That $5 could've been used toward something more useful. A donation, charity, a birthday present, the collection basket at church, etc. I've also read that a lot of these sales items only crowd our closets, so it's harder for us to find the quality items. Again, sales racks are great, but don't purchase that $10 zebra-printed jacket only to let it sit in your closet! :)


Creative Marketing
It's all about presentation. It's all about catching our eyes. I fell for this at a department store over the summer. I was on my way out after just purchasing a not-so-inexpensive but much-needed tankini. And it caught my eye. The light blue and green-colored bottle placed so nicely in the white picket beach chair, the sexy scent, the name. Calvin Klein suckered me in with their newest perfume, ck One "Summer," like a kid in a candy store. The presentation was so adorable. It reminded me of being on the beach in the Bahamas. When the saleslady told me it was their seasonal "summer" scent, that was it! I HAD TO HAVE IT! They got me. In my defense, it is a great scent, I get lots of compliments on it, and compared to other perfumes, it isn't terribly expensive. But still...they conquered, they won.


Free Gift
We all like free stuff, too. Who doesn't?? But, did you really ever use that football phone you got for free with the Sports Illustrated subscription? Did you use the free make up bag that came with the $60 perfume? OK, maybe you did. I almost fell into one of these traps at a department store. I was completely out of toner that I use and swear by, and usually lasts for months. The toner cost $12. The lady said, "If you spend $25, you get a free lipstick, free moisturizer, free lip liner, free this, free that....it's a $50 value." I said, "I really don't need anything else." She said, "you could purchase a mascara - that's ONLY $15." I almost fell for it, but luckily I remembered that I had an extra mascara at home. I stayed strong and stuck with the toner! It was all I really wanted, and I didn't need more lipsticks I would never use clogging my make-up bag. The free gifts are nice, and if you actually use it, the more power to you, but don't let it entice you too much.