Primal Journal - Siobhan page 74

[Sabine]

Does that mean you get five days off from boxes?

[Siobhan]

It does! AND I emptied another one, and a paper bag full of stuff, so I have earned a week's grace. But I think I will stay with the rhythm. I really want to get another boxful of stuff to take to the thrift shop.

My kitchen is all set now. I received the induction burner and it is nicer than pictured, and it was pictured very nicely! It is streamlined and modern looking and it fits in the spot like it was designed for it. Those propane burners are not very attractive, let me tell you, and it looks so much nicer and less cluttered with the new burner and the cutting board. And there is the added bonus of less heat released in the kitchen, no open flames. Very welcome right now.

My nephew sent me a novel he has written so that I can edit it. I am really interested in doing this and I like what I have read so far. Not bad for a first effort. He is very serious about writing, which is something I admire more than just about anything else.

[artyscat]

go Siobhan ! am so impressed with your exercise , all that you are doing and for your cats too, only hope I can emulate your progress

....love reading your thread it really makes me smile you write so well and its v inspiring .. fab

[Siobhan]

This morning I made turkey soup, which tasted pretty darn good after a 16 hour fast. Didn't really mean to do this much IF this week, but it is just happening and I feel great so I'm going with it. It is a bit cooler although still very humid (I know you people in other parts of the country are laughing at me, but oh well). I am in love with my new induction burner. It works perfectly, is very safe, does not heat up the kitchen nearly as much as the propane burner, so easy to use - if I ever have the opportunity, I would go with an induction stove. One reason I made the turkey soup was to have an excuse to use it. Money well spent! I was going to make more cabbage and sausage, but after cooking the sausage I discovered the cabbage was bad. So I just ate the sausage! It was just one Al Fresco chicken link. Upped my protein for the day, that's for sure.

The cats wouldn't touch the new food this morning. I broke down and gave them straight Fancy Feast. I did, however, read some labels and discovered that all FF is not alike, thanks to research done by artyscat. The pate version has much more protein; in fact the first 6 ingredients are all meat, fish, liver, etc. So I bought that and hope they will eat it. They are very fond of the grilled version, which is mostly water (all canned food is, but this is REALLY water) and has wheat gluten as a prominent ingredient. Hopefully they will make the switch to the pate version. I will keep on with the quality food, but in smaller bits.

Lecture tonight at the Opera House from the local marine lab - looking forward to it very, very much. The presenter is a very popular and entertaining speaker, Scotland native with the silver tongue, charming burr, sense of humor, and boyish good looks one might look for in a lecturer. Also my friends will be there. The Opera House has stopped serving bottled water out of environmental concerns and instead makes available an urn of ice water with cups for free. This has cut into their bar take considerably, so what's a girl to do but buy a glass of wine for herself and her BFFs?

Many chores today, am repairing the floor near the stairway before it gets out of hand (now that I am a big expert on fixing floors), cat-proofing the windows, moving some furniture around, putting pads under the file cabinet to avoid damage, and of course preparation of primal food.

I just looked out the window and saw a big flock of wild turkey - two adults and many youngsters.

[Coll]

Like the sound of the lecture and hope it was really interesting! I have looked at the induction burners too and have ummed and ahhed about getting one. Nice to hear your experience with it ... Sounds like you are just the busy little bee! Have fun!

[Siobhan]

I am very busy but it is all fun, all just a game right now as it is all so new. So I'm going with it and working really hard before it becomes ho-hum and more like chores. This is the first time in quite a few years that I have viewed my home as something relatively permanent and I am really motivated to make it as nice as possible, customizing it for my own self, and I have the additional motivation now of wanting to unclutter and divest myself of possessions. I keep remembering what a friend said to me not long ago - I think I already mentioned it here - "Siobhan, you have lots of really nice things, but they are covered up by all the junk. Just get rid of the junk." At the time I was drinking wine out of an old chipped airline glass. He opened my cabinet, took out a gold-rimmed crystal flute and poured my wine into that. He was absolutely spot on - why not use my nice things? What am I waiting for? Why shouldn't I eat my breakfast off my colorful handmade pottery? Why is it hanging on the wall getting dusty?

Something very strange just happened. I was preparing a BAS for lunch and Slim jumped up on the table and started to eat my turkey. He has NEVER, EVER showed any interest in people food. He ate and ate and ate. I am talking maybe 4 oz. of turkey. I hope he doesn't get sick! Do you think the whole food I am trying to feed him triggered something?

Must go, lots of errands to run before the post office and library close.

[Siobhan]

Just got back from the lecture, it was excellent. Excellent speaker! You can hear him on Radiolab - http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiol...5/war-we-need/

Also got an invite for Saturday night at the Playhouse. Should be fun. Before you think I have a romance going, it's a girlfriend. Luckily there are lots of single women here. This friend is quite a bit older than I am, she's been widowed for a couple of years.

[Siobhan]

This evening I was looking through my clothes and realized that virtually all of my slacks are too big. The only thing that remotely fits my bottom half is the white jeans I bought at the thrift shop a few weeks ago. They are quite loose now but still fit. I have a pair of khakis and a pair of black cargos that still fit but just barely. All my other pants are too big to wear - they will fall down. When did this happen? Am I a size 8 now? Must go to thrift shop tomorrow and try on some stuff. Is it too soon to get rid of all my fat clothes? Seriously time to start working out - I feel I can really improve my body and my health now, really change the way I look. To be honest, this is kind of scary. Actually really scary. The old fat me was safe and familiar and frumpy dumpy. This new me with lots of energy and stamina who looks good in clothes is a stranger.

I'm glad I have this journal to record these thoughts because I don't have anyone in my real life to talk about this with. Not only that, it's kind of an unmentionable subject. Telling someone you have turned into Groka is sort of like admitting you are an illegal immigrant or something.

Also bought some pate - looks great, no grains, no sugar, no corn, all ingredients I can pronounce. Maybe for breakfast. What should I eat with it? I have some strawberries. Cheese?

[Siobhan]

The hackers love me!

Made an interesting discovery. Yesterday I ate no fruit, not intentionally, but I just didn't. I was not hungry and didn't eat dinner despite having a glass of wine at the lecture (a criminally small glass - honestly about 3 oz. for $6. It's a good cause, but sheesh.) Less than 1000 calories for the day, but rather higher in protein - 84g protein, 40g fat, 54g carb. In fact in the evening I had a borderline kinda-sorta upset tummy but I chalked that up to a little anxiety over a minor thing that happened. Anyway, this morning, no hunger. Down another half pound. So the unintentional n=1 experiment here - does fruit make me hungrier? Am I eating too much of it? I know the answer - probably. Should be eating more veg over fruit.

Interesting situation with the cats also. Got the FF that is less water, less carb. I am feeding it side by side with the whole food stuff. They both go right for the whole food and eat all of it, then some of the FF. But they won't eat the whole food when I serve it solo.

They were playing and running all over this morning about 3 AM! Is the new feeding regimen responsible for that activity? Must admit I am not too pleased about this! Sometimes I am not here at 3 AM, but sometimes I am, and generally prefer to be sleeping.

This time of year here in Maine, the period of true darkness is very short - as little as 2 hours. Of course that changes rapidly. Even when the sun sets, if there are any clouds there is a reflection that really lights up the sky, and also a couple of hours before dawn the same effect occurs. Last night, a cloudy one, the sky was not really dark until almost midnight and then started to lighten again at 2:30 AM. It was hard to go to sleep because the wind was howling, howling ferociously, and then I woke up a few times and got a bit disoriented because it appeared to be getting light and I thought it was much later than it actually was. This is new for me because my other homes here in Maine were much darker, surrounded by towering pines with tiny windows that were easy to block up. Mind you, I am not complaining about the 8 wondrous skylights and seven large windows in my rather small cozy studio home. But it is quite an adjustment.

[Siobhan]

Had a little bit of liver pate, a little cream cheese with smoked salmon, 4 olives, cucumber, tea with goat milk. Really not hungry. The pate is good, but I probably won't buy it again because I can't imagine that I will be able to eat it before it goes bad. Just not the kind of thing you eat a lot of. But I thought it was a good way to eat some liver as it is very tasty and I don't have to cook it. It was a good experiment, though. Also, I started out hungry but when I started to eat I just lost motivation to do so. Maybe the heat? Although the heat is lessened. Or possibly because earlier this week I ate a lot - I had a couple of days back there over 2000 cals.

Little bit of soreness in the legs from the squats and lunges. Really wish I had a pull-up bar.

Finally sending pic of myself to my mom for her birthday, almost a month late! Had a pic taken for the church directory, they took forever to send it, then sent me the wrong pic, then forgot the frame...very poor performance by Lifetouch. Big rip-off IMHO. I expect to pay for services, I don't expect things for free, but it was not a good value. But I am glad I have a decent pic of myself. My hair is so curly! I don't know where that came from. As my hair gets grayer, it gets curlier. Can't decide if it look good or looks like a bad perm.

Work tonight so had better get going on errands. No boxes today!

Right before I started this new lifestyle, I gave away some scrubs that were too small for me - sure wish I had kept them...