When the Old Is New Again, It's Just Like Christmas

This would be a 365 project update if I was still doing that, but I was so excited about fitting into these clothes (that I haven't been able to wear for the last 3 years, at least) that I had to share a picture.

I think it's finally time to go "shopping" in the donation pile out in the garage where I put all my "skinny" clothes the last time I cleaned out my closet.

Lackadaisy

First, some book news for those who missed it (and care): Restless Spirits is 50% off at Smashwords with coupon code SSW50 throughout the month of July. Also at Smashwords, last week I released my flash fiction collection, Fragments & Fancies: Ficlets, Flash Fiction & Shorts as a FREE download. So go check it out. Oh, and also, I added a Books page to this blog, so you can keep tabs on my current and upcoming publications there. Or you could always just follow my writing blog.

Other than that, the big news is that there is no news. Except that it's hot. It's so, so very hot that I have no energy and I never want to leave my air-conditioned house and I'm suffering from a serious case of ennui. Hello, First World Whine.

But that's pretty much where I'm at right now. I haven't been posting because there's nothing new to say. I'm still writing, I'm still working, I'm still working out, and every day is just like the one before, and did I mention that it's OH EM GEE HOT?

I did finally start taking NAC (I think I actually mentioned that already -- see? There's nothing new to say), and I don't know whether it's a direct result of that that I finally broke the 170 barrier. The last time I weighed, the needle on the scale hovered between 168 and 169. I'm wearing the heck out of my size 12 shorts, even though they're still a skoch tight, but they look better than my baggy-butt size 14s. And I only have 18 or 19 more pounds to go until I'll feel safe to TTC -- presuming that 150 will be low enough to get my insulin resistance under control.

I also recently came to a fairly monumental (for me) decision, but I haven't decided whether I should blog about that yet, so I'll just go ahead and be obnoxious and tease y'all about it instead.

Oh, and we're still -- STILL! -- waiting to see the specialist about scheduling Matt's gallbladder surgery. That appointment's been rescheduled twice already, the second time after we waited in the doctor's office for two and a half hours before they told us that the doctor got called into surgery and sent us home. So maybe we'll know something by Friday. It's sure a good thing he's not actually suffering any symptoms.

Of course this means that we still can't plan our camping trip, and with his classes starting in less than a month, it's starting to look like we might not get our summer vacation this year. Which I don't even want to think about right now, because I need this vacation so badly. We both do. Even if it's just for a weekend.

Oh, and again -- my 20 year high school reunion is happening this weekend. I'm not going. Originally I declined mainly because Matt's surgery was (and is) still up in the air and we're trying to keep our schedules open; but when I saw that they actually felt the need to write "No Fighting!" at the bottom of the invitation... I can't say I felt too heartbroken about missing it, and also, that pretty much sums up my entire high school experience right there.

How about you guys? Are you managing to beat the heat, or do you live in some magical wonderland where the weather is pleasant and mild?

A Non-Taxing Potpourri of Updates and Such

I keep wanting to turn this into more of an essay blog, with posts that are more carefully thought out and crafted, albeit less frequent. But I rarely have the time for that sort of post, and when I do, I don't have the energy to put that much thought into it. So instead here's a random list of what I've been up to lately:

• Writing. Business has slowed down over at The Web Wrangler, so in addition to working on my novel I've also been busting my hinder cranking out articles for Demand Studios. Specifically, I've been writing for their new property White Fence, a consumer info & comparison site for utilities. So I've been comparing a lot of phone companies and satellite TV providers and Internet providers and whatnot, and if I never have to try to find pricing info on a service that doesn't let you see their pricing unless you live in their service area again, it will be too soon. But I'll probably have to do it again starting Monday, which is too soonest.
  
  I might be a little burned out on article writing right now. Can you tell?
  
  
• Learning crochet. I made an attempt at this last fall, but I absolutely couldn't understand the diagrams I found online, and watching how-to videos didn't do anything to clear things up for me. But since "Learn a new yarn craft" is on my list of goals for 2011, and since I didn't get the yarn spinning kit I wanted either for Christmas OR my birthday (clearly, I need to be less subtle about dropping gift hints), I decided to give it another go.
  
  As luck would have it, last weekend we made a trek to the used book store, where I picked this up:
  
  
  
  
  The book, that is, not the granny squares. Those, I made, thanks to the VERY clear and easy to understand diagrams in the book. The top square was my first, and I had to unravel and start over three times before I got it right, but I don't think it turned out too badly for my first time crocheting EVER*. The bottom one was my second attempt, and it turned out even better.
  
  I still need a lot of practice before this comes easily for me. For one thing, it's really hard to get used to holding the yarn in my left hand -- I keep automatically picking it up and holding it in my right hand as if to knit. And I don't think crochet is going to supplant knitting any time soon as my favorite yarn-related pastime. But I've always wanted to be able to make granny squares, and now I can. Now if I can just figure out amigurumi, I'll be happy with the extent of my crochet skills.
  
  Oh, and now I can make this! Isn't that awesome? That whole blanket is just one giant granny square. I think I know a certain grand-niece or -nephew-to-be who might be destined to get one of these after they join us out here in the world.
  
  *My big sister taught me how to chain stitch when I was a little kid, and she might have even taught me single crochet stitch, but I never actually made anything, and I didn't retain any of it. So I might as well have been a crochet virgin.
  
  
• Watching Doctor Who and crushing hard on Rory. And fearing for him. And being totally won over by River, and by Matt Smith's Doctor, and ready to jump on board that ship. I think this latest season just might be my favorite season ever.
  
  
•  Not losing weight. It seems I've gotten stuck on that dreaded plateau I was worried about. It's frustrating, because I've been doing great on my diet and working out almost religiously. But for the last month or so the scales have been stuck bouncing around between 175 and 173, and won't budge a single pound lower. It's possible that I've still been experiencing "hidden weight loss", building muscle faster than I'm losing fat, since I've been doing a lot of toning exercises.
  
  Even so, today I adjusted my diet according to advice on the Zone web site for getting off of a plateau--namely, reducing my carbs by one block at each meal and adding an extra block of monounsaturated fat. It seems counter-intuitive, but apparently eating healthy fats helps regulate insulin, which in turn causes you to burn fat. So here's hoping this un-sticks me, and I can get back to making progress toward getting ready to TTC.

And that's pretty much been my life lately. How's things at your end?

See, this right here is why the ASPCA gets all my support.

This week the Infertility Community has been up in arms, and rightly so, about PETA's latest campaign in which they're having a contest to give away a free vasectomy to a man who has his pets spayed or neutered. What everybody is finding so offensive about it is that they're claiming that this is in honor of the upcoming National Infertility Awareness Week.

Because obviously infertile people want a free vasectomy.

I think I'm way too jaded by PETA's media-hogging shock tactics over the years to be shocked by this. Mostly I'm just flummoxed. How does a vasectomy giveaway support the infertility cause again? The who with the what now?

PETA's response to the backlash is to basically say that human overpopulation is just as bad as animal overpopulation and so nobody should be having babies anyway, but so sorry if that upsets you.

But wait. A couple of years ago they ran that whole Save the Whales campaign -- because if there's anybody more okay to make fun of than the infertile, it's the overweight -- that urged fat people to go vegetarian so they would live longer. So which is it, PETA? Do you want to save the world from overpopulation, or do you just want to save it from unsightly fat? And whatever happened to the days when you were all about saving animals?

So apparently PETA wants us all to be thin and live longer AND stop reproducing.

Well, PETA, I hate to break it to you, but I'm a fattie who's losing weight just so I can have a baby. I'm going to live longer AND reproduce (hopefully x2). I guess I'm just throwing off the whole balance of civilization, aren't I?

Tearballs

Tomorrow will mark a full week of Project Oven Repair, a full week during which I've had no sweets and 95% of my meals have consisted mainly of vegetables and lean protein, I've been taking prenatal vitamins and tons of fish oil, and I've been working out consistently; and I have to say that, physically, I'm already feeling about a million times better. I have more energy, I'm sleeping better, and I'm pretty sure I've lost a couple of pounds.

And of course this is having a positive impact on my emotional state. I'm still weepy, but I'm feeling more hopeful about everything, and better able to cope. With everything that's happened lately, I expect that it will take more than a new diet to get past the sad days. There's just so much to be sad about, and it hits us both in waves. Like yesterday, when out of the blue I started crying over Bobo, which led to more crying over Rob, which led to still more crying over Mom. It was a crying snowball. A tearball. Or maybe more like a snot ball. Anyway, I cried. A lot.

And then somebody compliments my song, or tells me that they're praying about the baby situation, and that makes me weepy, too. And next week, of course, is the anniversary that I'm struggling with. I'd make plans to do something nice for myself on that day, but I'm not sure which day to do it on, since it was drawn out over 4 days. On the 29th I started spotting, on the 31st I got the ultrasound that confirmed the miscarriage, and on April 1st I had the D&C. Talk about April Fool's.

So which of those days actually counts as the anniversary? I guess if I have to pick one it would be anniversary of the D&C, since that finalized it. So I'm going to try to do something nice for myself that day, although I don't know what yet, since our funds are still pretty limited. Maybe I'll give myself a home pedicure. Lord knows my feet could use it.

You know, when this post started it was going to be all about my diet and what I'm doing to get healthy, but then it turned left at Albuquerque and headed straight for the sad place. Sigh.