Month: April 2013

Did I mention that my weekend was awful?

Streeter Seidell, ComedianI had to work Saturday, which isn’t that bad. But it means that I got caught in the deluge Saturday late afternoon. I had to abandon the freeway into a neighborhood I didn’t know, and kept having to take detours due to high water. On more than one occasion I pulled over into a parking lot and thought seriously about waiting out the storm, even if it meant spending the night in my car. After careful consideration I decided to take a risk and drive the last half of the way home… and I made it. Hours of travel in water-hazard roads, but I made it in one piece.

Sunday, when we were having an impromptu family meeting about buying a block of tickets to the Blue Man Group performances in June, I found out that my business account was overdrawn. I was checking my bank accounts to make sure I had enough in my “spending account” to cover the cost of the tickets when I saw that the business account was literally in the red. Some research showed that a recent “sponsored” conference trip ended up with the hotel charged to my account. I’d given them my card for incidentals (of which there weren’t any). This was a few weeks ago. Apparently the sponsor didn’t include my room in the block they paid for when settling up. So, weeks later, I got charged for a week’s stay. Yikes! It’s been resolved and the hotel is supposed to be refunding me my money within 3-5 business days, but the overdrafts have happened.

Late Sunday I found out that the cooling system at the house needs repairs. Looks like my half of the bill is going to come to $350.

Things could have been worse. I could have been stuck somewhere overnight, or flooded out my truck. The sponsor or hotel could have refused to resolve the issue. The cooling system repairs could have been more…

But the cumulative effect was that I started the week feeling wrung out and exhausted. How was your weekend?

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Photo by Zach Klein at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachklein/54389823/.

This week’s updates

My brother and his fiancee are on the paleo-diet. From what I know of it, it sounds like a modified version of Atkins. I will probably look into it more, so I have info on what it’s actually about.

Because they’ve moved back into his house, where I’ve been living/housesitting for them, their diet is only one of the things I’m going to have to learn to deal with until I decide on my next step. The first thing they did was clean out the pantry and the refrigerator for items that they can’t eat. In their (weak) defense, they did check with me first. I told them to go ahead.

I’m hoping that everyone in the house being on a diet will make it easier for me. We shall see. I know that he’s already started to make noises about getting me to work out. Again, we shall see. 

Monday, April 22

9:00 am
I drove by McDonald’s for my morning coffee, as I do most mornings, and I added a sausage burrito. That’s my typical breakfast. I’ve figured out that that’s 10 Weight Watchers points for me, it’s fast and filling.

2:00 pm
Lunch was a roasted chicken salad with blue cheese dressing. Yes, I know that the choice of dressing adds to my daily intake by quite a bit, but I wanted the taste. For some reason, the salad just wasn’t as appetizing to me as it usually is. I think I just wasn’t in the mood for a salad today.

The rest of the Week

I forgot to update this blog post the rest of the week.

Home Buying rules

houses for sale signMint has a good post with some guidelines on things to do and to avoid when buying a house. “The Ten Commandments of Home Buying” covers a few things that are important to note. The things that resonated with me:

  • Don’t bite off more mortgage than you can chew.
  • Carry few or no other debts.
  • Keep a big buffer.
  • Have an emergency fund.
  • Have good life, disability, and health insurance.
  • Bring a 20% down payment.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that buying a house is in my long-term plans. Articles like this make my radar. And they make me sad, because I know, really know, that my house isn’t going to become reality this year… or any time soon.

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NOTES:

Who is the fat girl in the photo?

I went to an event over the weekend and was feeling good about myself — I wore a nice dress, heels (without incurring injury), and had a nice time. All in all, it was great.

Until I saw the photos.

Why is it always such a shock to see myself, the real “outside” self, in photos? I’m always taken by surprise by my size, the shape of my face, the fact that I’m bigger than almost everyone else in the photos.

Who is the fat girl in the photo?

The ironic thing is that almost as soon as I step away from the photo, the dismay disappears. It only reappears at odd moments like when I have to weigh in at the doctor’s office, sit in an airline seat, try on new clothes and look at the size of what actually fits (instead of what I think is going to fit).

I know that I could not live with that level of self… disapproval, with the constant feeling of disappointment in myself. But I do wonder: if I did feel like that all the time, would I be more motivated to lose weight?

{{Sigh}}

Even if I did lose the weight, the photos are forever.

***** Written on my ipad. I promise to proof and edit it later (maybe). ******

Are Miami women more stylish?

Miami SunsetI knew I was in Miami the moment I got off the plane. Yes, there was an announcement welcoming me to the city. Yes, I knew where I was going,so actually getting there wasn’t a surprise. But that’s not what I mean. I knew I was in Miami because the women (even in the airport) were dressed different than in Houston. Very different. 

I was expecting the holiday-wear, the shorts and the flip-flops and the casual gear. I was expecting the hats and the sunglasses and the other very obvious signs of people on vacation. What I wasn’t expecting was the others, the normal people. Specifically, the women going about their normal days. 

They were dressed in bold colors, dynamic shapes, clothes with movement and flair. The clothes were more fitted, the heels were higher, and the necklines were lower (though not tacky). Their gaits had attitude. 

I looked and thought, “That’s what I want to be when I grow up.”

Surely, I told myself, as I went around admiring the “native” outfits, surely I must just be misremembering. It can’t be that women in Miami dress with more style than in Houston. I was probably under some sort of vacation-induced amnesia that was causing me to forget the very stylish women in Houston. I must have seen these outfits, these clothes, out in the wild in my own environment.

Yes, I told myself, that had to be it.

And then I came home.

Where are the clothes I saw just hours before? Where were the bold colors and the flowing skirts? And the heels? What happened to the clothes? Surely they don’t just sell these styles in Miami. Surely women in Houston have access to them too.

And I paused.

It’s not that women in Miami dress with more style, I’ve realized. It’s that they dress with a sense of fun. I look around Houston and see women who are dressed with function in mind. Conservative. Pretty but practical. Stylish, but in a different way.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 

NOTE: there aren’t any photos of the women because I thought it was rude to photograph strangers.