Technologically Inclined

I've unlocked my iPhone.

All by myself.

Feel free to be dazzled by my technological prowess.

Or you can just feel free to be dazzled by how actually reading several articles on the internet and referring to them every 2 minutes can let anyone perform basic technological feats.  I also thought that unlocking your phone was somehow wrong and you'd get in trouble for doing it.  WRONG.  If you're not under contract AT&T actually does it for you and all you have to do is back up and reboot your phone.  It's totally legit. (Be warned that I have not yet changed carriers {which I plan on doing this afternoon} so we are in no way out of the woods on this operation.)  Hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll be paying $30 less per month on my phone bill).

The reason I am switching carriers is entirely economic and is pretty much summed up by this article from the NYT.

Coming Back to Me

I am in love with this song.




And not in the ironic kind of way that you can declare love for Phil Collins and still have your hipster and music aficionado friends think you're cool.

In that other way.

And you can consider that mullet just a little gift from me.

Let's call the whole thing off

Last night I had such a horrific kitchen disaster that I had to go buy new drip pans for the stove.  True story.

And, while I was yelling obscenities and pulling the pan off the stove Claire peed all over the living room carpet.

On the upside, I texted the hubbs to let him know what was happening (he was out with a friend visiting a new family in the neighborhood).  His friend sent him home with a bar of homemade man soap which I have been coveting for weeks (did you know that it takes 7+ weeks to make your own soap).

So I guess we're going to call the evening a wash.

My name is Sallee and I.....

I don't know what it is but every time I see any kind of article that talks about health and diet I have to read it.  I'm the reason that yahoo headlines are littered with stories of people who lost lots of weight and why there is an article about the 10 best "insert food here" every time you turn you head.  Sorry. 

So last week at the dentist office when I saw the TIME magazine from Sept 12 with a cover of Dr Oz saying "What you should eat now" I latched onto it.  I started reading it as I was waiting for the receptionist and I carried it with me through the appointment and only finished while I was waiting for them to print up my bill. I did consider taking it with me but decided that would be dishonest.

TIME doesn't publish full articles online so here is a contraband link and here's a link to a good summary (do not read the comments--it turns into a vegetarian and vegan free for all).  The article didn't tell me anything new (they never do).

The main points are as follows.

• It’s not necessary to restrict ourselves to low-fat foods.
• It’s OK to eat eggs, whole milk, salt, fat, nuts, wine, chocolate and coffee — as long as we don’t overindulge.
• The only fat accepted as “bad” is trans-fat, and that has been stripped out of most foods.
• Dietary cholesterol is less important than we used to think and is irrelevant to some people who have good genes.
• Excess salt is dangerous mainly for the minority of people with salt-sensitive high blood pressure.
• Foods labeled “fat free” don’t taste as good, so manufacturers add more salt, sugar, and thickeners, and people tend to eat more calories.
• Fad diets work by restricting food choices: they result in fluid loss and decreased calorie intake, and the weight lost comes right back when people stop the diet.
• The low carb diets change nutritional balance in ways that may not be desirable (and they give you stinky breath)
• The paleo diet?  Maybe not ideal as it is tailored to people who only lived to 40.  But they did look good.
• Weight loss is hard. To maintain a healthy weight, calories consumed must equal calories burned.
• High fiber foods augment satiety.
• One study showed that the foods most associated with weight gain are French fries, potato chips, sugary drinks, meat, sweets and refined grains and the foods most associated with successful weight loss are yogurt, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
• There are no elusive “superfoods.”
• Exercise is important but it doesn't give make it so you can eat anything you want.

Wait.  Let me see if I've got this right. You're trying to tell me that people who eat French fries, potato chips, sugary drinks, meat, sweets and refined grains tend to gain weight and those that eat yogurt, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables lose it?

Incredible.

I never would have guessed.

TIME magazine, you dedicated a cover story and 8 pages to that?  Didn't Michael Pollen sum it up a little more concisely when he said, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants?"

But here's the kicker.  I ate it up.  I hoarded that magazine and read the whole dang 8 pages.Why do I keep searching and scouring the internet for articles about what to eat and the caloric content of things? I already know the answer:

Eat food (not food like substances.  Pollen says that if your great-grandmother wouldn't reconginze what you're eating you shouldn't be eating it--twinkies I'm looking at you), not too much, mostly plants.

So what are your internet pitfalls?  What articles can you just not pass up?

And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin'

The other day while sitting at the window at McDonalds and digging in the change bin of the hubbs car (my change bin is, of course, totally wiped out) trying to scrounge up 85 cents for an extra large diet coke (I know I shouldn't but at 85 cents I find myself at McDonalds at least 3 times a week) I had a memory of the 4th grade.

I spent every recess from 4-6 grade where there was enough sunshine playing jump rope with the girls in my grade.  I am still sort of a freakishly good jump roper.  Last year I walked into a church activity and there were several teenage girls trying to teach the little girls how to jump rope.  They were trying to figure out how to double dutch.  It was like I had been called by a higher power to be there.

In the 4th grade the people from Jump Rope For Life came to my school.  Their arrival was preceded by a flier that went home with us telling us that plastic neon jump ropes would be on sale for $3.50 the next day.  My heart soared.  I went home that night and spent hours counting the coins from my piggy bank (there was plenty in there. I've always been a penny pincher), making piles of twenty-five-cents; 1 quarter or 2 nickels and a dime (those of you math majors will realize that my calculations were a little off) and then counting the 14 little piles over and over and over again. I've also always been very cautious so I packed an extra dollar just in case (which was a lucky thing as my knowledge of how many nickles and dimes are in a quarter was amiss). The next day I went home with a neon purple jump rope just as pleased as punch.

And, in the McDonalds' parking lot that memory came so clear to me...22 years later and I still remember counting and counting change and just loving that jump rope.

Yet, last night as the hubbs and I were walking into the grocery store we said, "let's not forget to get windshield wiper fluid."  And we still left the store without it.

How is it that I have room in my memory for every jump rope song I've ever heard but windshield wiper fluid just doesn't fit?

Who knew?

If, when I were 21, you would have told me that at some later date when I walked into my own house not only would I know immediately how long it had been since we vacuumed but that I would care, I would have looked at you like you were crazy (any of you who lived with me would have also looked at the person who would say those kinds of things as if they were crazy).  You would have gotten a similar look if you would have told me that my favorite smell would be the lingering cleaning-supply-smell of a house that has just been cleaned.

Happy Cleaning Day.


And if you like having a clean house too you should check out this post from my friend Maren.  I'm thinking of having a cleaning party where I invite ladies to my house and we eat snacks and everyone shares their favorite cleaning product or trick (my house would, of course, be ready to be the tester for any and all cleaning demonstrations).

Man, just writing that down makes me seem like an even bigger nerd.


What are your favorite cleaning tips?