Green Leafies and Kidney Stones

Today was my first non-Cinch meal in just over two weeks. I made whole wheat and oat pancakes for breakfast. The pancakes were delicious, but it didn't take long to get hungry again. It helps me realize how satisfying the way I'm eating now has been. Though sometimes I feel like I'm constantly cutting vegetables, including produce (the biggest puzzle piece), lean protein, whole grain, plant-based fat and spices in every meal is really working well for me!

What's not working quite as well - studying for the big exit exam I take on Wednesday. The exam is called the HESI, and it's designed to be just like the NCLEX nursing board exam we take after graduation. We have to get a certain score on the HESI to pass and continue in the program, and our score also gives us a percentage that tells how likely we are to pass the NCLEX. Scary times...

I've heard the best way to study is to drill practice questions, which is what I've been doing. Sometimes they're fine, sometimes they're things I've never heard of before, sometimes I just don't remember the content, and then other times the answer is something that just seems surprising.. for example, I didn't realize that green, leafy vegetables; strawberries; chocolate; wheat bran; nuts and tea were potential kidney stone culprits? That's sort of problematic for my current diet! I'd better keep drinking lots of water...



And so the studying continues.

Winterizing

Biscuit helps winterize our drafty windows with plastic.



Not.

Door Project Day 4

Alright, all the bluish/grey spots are gone.. it seems like they were areas where the varnish had been sanded off but was still somewhat there. There were more of these areas then I had thought (hoped).



So this is it, folks! I have moved from sandpaper #60 to #80! Now I just need to run over it with a few more gradients (but NOTHING like before) and we're on to conditioning, staining and sealing. It shouldn't be long now!

Babysitting!

Tonight my hubs and I babysat my classmate's 4 week old baby. He was precious, and we had a lot of fun. He alternated sleeping and fussing; mostly he just wanted to be bounced on this giant ball.



Doing it 24/7 seems pretty exhausting and scary! I salute you, parents of the internet!

Cinch Diet Day 3

I'm not sure what to say about this diet except that for a person who doesn't like tart flavors (ME), I find it difficult. Raspberries are probably my least favorite fruit due to their lip-puckering qualities... throw in some plain yogurt and you've got me grimacing my way through meals. I don't find that I'm hungry or feeling deprived, but that's mostly because I don't have an interest in what's on the menu for my next meal (more raspberries, yogurt, spinach, almonds and egg.. repeat).

The author of the diet mentions feeling more energized.. I can't say I've felt that. In fact, in the evening I feel more sleepy than usual. I've been skipping the evening smoothie (ie, raspberries and plain yogurt!) because I'm not hungry or in the mood for it.

I'm not sure what all this means, but it does mean weight loss. I'm down 5 lbs as my body is flushing out excess water and sodium stores. I'm hoping for a dramatic improvement in attitude by day 5!

Cinch Diet 5 Day Fast forward, Morning Scramble

This morning I'm starting the Cinch Diet 5 Day Fast Forward. The 5 day fast forward is supposed to help stop cravings and reset your metabolism. It's a little restrictive, but it aims to give results fast (5 days) that will then motivate you to continue eating healthfully (the rest of the Cinch plan).

After the first 5 days, it emphasizes Mediterranean-style eating using produce, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats. There's no calorie counting, just portion control and balance. There's a big emphasis on whole, unprocessed foods.



I liked the idea of it because the way we eat now is so far removed from what our bodies actually need for energy. I even like the idea of a restrictive first 5 days, because it minimizes confusion and seems to be a sort of processed food detox. Of course I also appreciate that results will come quickly at first, which I think will keep my eyes on the prize. Lastly, the lady who wrote the diet has a BS in nutrition and dietetics, is a registered dietician and has an MPH. I'm not saying she's all-knowing, but at least she should know what she's talking about.

I've never tried a diet before, but I have done Weight Watchers (which worked until I got too fed up tracking "points" all the time). Maybe sensible diets like these are actually good for our culture because we need something a little restrictive at first to snap us out of our eating for fun, boredom, and other emotional eating patterns.

That said, we'll see how I feel later in the week when I just want some carbs and Diet Pepsi...

Door Project Day 3

Two good friends came up to visit yesterday, one of whom really knows wood. He told me to stop spazzing about using a circular electric sander because I'll be working my way up the sandpaper gradients anyway, so I'll be hand-sanding everything after the initial varnish/stain removal stage is over (in other words, there won't be any circular marks in the wood if I do my job right).

That made good sense to me, so today I cranked up the electric sander and made light work of something that had previously been arm-paralyzing work.

Remember my somewhat frustrating attempts with chemical remover? I only used it on that one part. About 45 minutes to an hour of messing with chemical remover yielded okay results. About 5 minutes with the electric sander yielded this:

Before

After


Yeah, that's the same end piece.

So I used the electric sander mostly just on the ends, since most of the major sanding work is done.



All the heavy areas of varnish/stain are off the door. All that's left are some odd grayish/bluish areas, which seem to be areas where I just need to hand sand a little harder. In the next week I'll be carefully sanding these spots off so that I'm just left with fresh, blonde wood. Then I can finally start moving up the sand paper gradients and getting a beautifully smooth finish.



Sanding is definitely the most difficult and time-consuming part, but I know it's also the part that will make all the difference. If I don't do a thorough, meticulous job sanding, then no matter what stain color I use it's just not going to look good... at all! So I'm putting in some serious time now, but I know the rest will go much easier, smoother and faster.

Knitting?

I have only a few hours to reteach myself how to knit before a knitting group meeting tonight (yes, socializing!). Let it be known that my previous knitting experiences took place several years ago and resulted only in one scarf.. which, after inadvertently adding on several stitches and then running out of yarn, turned into a cat blanket.

Door Project Day 2

So I was starting to run into some road blocks with my door/table. You'll notice that there is basically a frame that runs around the perimeter of the door - it might be a different kind of wood, or maybe it was refinished more recently, but the varnish was proving much more difficult to sand off.



I decided to deploy some chemical paint remover. I didn't really want to do this for my project from the beginning because a) it seemed like things were coming along fine without it and b) chemicals are sort of scary. So after several questioning calls to my dad, I trotted over to Lowe's.

My dad suggested that I NOT use a water-based stripper, but my chemical skittishness won out, and I picked up a bottle of Mötsenböcker's Lift-Off: Paint & Varnish Remover. It's a water-based remover that is "green cross certified, low-VOC, biodegradable" and apparently "safe for the environment and the user." I wasn't sure it would do the trick, but the big letters on the front of the bottle say "Removes wood stains!" Off we go.



After letting the product sit on one edge of my door frame for about 10 minutes, I saw zero results. The hot-headed part of my brain started firing off a million thoughts like, "I knew this wouldn't work" and "Now I've ruined everything!" I looked at the back of the bottle again for some nuggets of wisdom, and I decided to reapply and give it some more time.



In about another 10 minutes I came back to find that there was still nothing peeling away - the back of the bottle seemed to imply that the paint would basically slough off on its own and I'd just have to brush it away. I decided to pick up my trusty sandpaper and see if, at least, the remover made sanding any easier; luckily, it did.

It wasn't a cakewalk, but the remover did make it a little easier for me to sand. Tomorrow I'll try the other sides, but I'll be sure to leave it on for a long, long time first.

Ratatouille

Smitten Kitchen took it upon herself to recreate Ratatouille's (from the movie!) Ratatouille.



I made it last night for dinner (minus the red bell peppers and goat cheese) and it is going to enter my regular rotation - easy, healthy, delicious.

Door Project Day 1

I had to stop sanding because a) my arms stopped working eventually and b) I ran out of daylight. All in all I think it was a good first day.



I decided to manually sand; maybe I'll regret this tomorrow when I wake up and can't move my arms.



I'm not exactly sure how far to take things, but I have a feeling I still have a very long way to go - including the perimeter, sides, top part and bottom part. The middle portions also need detail work, but I'm trying to just do a sweeping job before getting bogged down in the details. I also have several grains of sandpaper to move through, going from coarse to fine.



But for right now I'll just be happy with what I've done so far!

Sanding

Today I've started the long, hard process of sanding my door (soon to be table). Actually it's coming along a lot better than I feared; the door is distressed enough that the stain/paint is coming right off.