Thursday, September 30, 2010

#30daysofme - #16

Day 16- Another picture of yourself:


Right before going out
for our 3rd anniversary (I threw on a sweater after this photo)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

#30daysofme - #15

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play.

Man, I suck at the posting suggestions this week. Would you believe me if I said I've never had an iPod?

Scratch that, I've never actually owned any Apple products. I'm kind of proud of that fact - I want to see how long I can go without buying one. Steve Jobs is rich enough, I don't need to pad his pockets any.

I do have a voice recorder (I use it for my lectures) that can also hold audio files. The music can't be put on 'shuffle', and all the music currently on it is - at minimum - 2 years old.

So again. A massive fail. Woops-a-daisy. Maybe tomorrow will be better?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

#30daysofme - #14

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

My mother would kill me if I ever posted a picture of her on here. She even forbids me to tag her in photos on facebook.

I also feel uncomfortable putting a picture out there of people whom I know aren't exactly kosher about the whole deal.

So I fail at this challenge. Sorry folks.

Monday, September 27, 2010

#30daysofme - #13

Day 13- A letter to someonething who has hurt you recently.

Dear thighs:

Please stop being whiny bitches and help me out a little here. I'm trying to be active. Your constant complaining isn't helping.

Peace out,
Me.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

#30daysofme - #9, #10, #11, #12

Woops, posting everyday kind of got away from me. Here's the days I missed, and regular posting will (hopefully) resume on Monday.

Day 9- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

I went to the gym three times last week. And yet, only Sunday could be called an actual workout. Monday I went to yoga, and yep, I was the girl who sat on the floor for a good 20 minutes because there was absolutely no way in hell my body was bending that way. Oh well. Try again next Monday I guess. (what I did Tuesday doesn't even deserve a mention).

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

This is sooo hard. Basically right now I'm listening to I love Cee-Lo Green's "F**k You", Katy Perry's "Teenaged Dream", Eason Corbin's "A Little More Country than That", Sugarland's "Stuck like Glue" and Darius Rucker's "Come Back Song". I don't have any music on this computer, so I rely on youtube or I stream the radio, which means I don't listen to old favourites, like Michael Buble or George Strait. And I definitely don't listen to certain songs for certain moods.

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

Arrgh. You're kidding. We are not picture taking friends. I reserve the right to post an updated picture later. My blog, my rules!

Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

Would you believe me if I said I don't remember? I do remember my first blog was called Sockjuice, and I blogged from November 2002 to the following July with my then-boyfriend at the time (seriously, check out the very first post, it's all kinds of awesome). It was a way to keep in touch when we lived 45 minutes away from each other and neither of us drove. Ha. I'm just re-reading my 15 year old self. My god I was a lame kid.

Monday, September 20, 2010

#30daysofme - #8

Day #8 is something about short term goals for the month & since September is nearly over, I'm going to say these goals are for October, okay?


- go to every class. I tried last week and ended up missing 2. I was just so tired.
- to not provoke/be provoked into a fight with my mother when I go home for Thanksgiving.
- buy Tat flowers when she graduates.
- go to the gym 3 times a week, every week. (excluding Thanksgiving).
- to not stress if I don't see a certain number on the scale at my 3-month appointment.
- burn my new fall candles every day, just because they make me happy.

Friday, September 17, 2010

#30daysofme - #7

Day 7 is a picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on me, which would be my RnY (2nd picture) without question:
I just want to preface this by saying I am far from a model patient, but please refrain from any judgements - if you want to do that, go have the surgery & then we'll talk. I'm just telling it like it is.

Take yesterday, for example. I woke up and immediately hopped on the scale to see what I weighed. Then comes the vitamins and medication - I take one chewable multivitamin with 18mg of iron now and one right before bed - in total I get 36mg of iron a day. In the mornings I also take 40mg of omeprazole and a B12 with at least 500 mcg.

I go out for a venti skinny cinnamon dolce latte, 160 calories & 15 grams of protein. I add 6 splenda's. I come home, do a load of laundry and a load of dishes, and take my calcium - 2 tablespoons of liquid calcium citrate with vitamin D. I have to make sure it's citrate and not carbonate since I don't absorb the latter, and I take a total of 1,000 mcg (of calcium) and 400IU (of vitamin D) per day.

I head out again to pick Keith up from work, stopping on the way to grab another latte. Then we deviate from the norm; we go to the mall to grab a few things, like a new gym bag for me (soooo pretty). We order two snack wraps (chicken caesar) from Tim Hortons. I take 2 bites of the actual bread itself and immediately feel pain in my upper chest. I then proceed to pick out the lettuce and chicken and leave the bread for Keith - but not before struggling to breathe in Sears and having to run back to the bathroom in case it comes up. It doesn't, but it's just another lesson learned; my body absolutely cannot handle bread products. I don't know the actual caloric value of the wrap since I didn't eat the bread, but it does have 13 grams of protein.

For sake of brevity - and the night really doesn't bear repeating - we order KFC for dinner. It's the first time since before surgery; the difference between couldn't have been more vast. Before I could have easily put away five or six pieces of chicken, half an extra large fry (both doused in gravy) and healthy dollop of potato salad, all washed down by a Diet Pepsi.

Tonight? I barely managed 1 and a half pieces of breast. I didn't eat the skin. I had a forkful of fries, with a little gravy, and I didn't even touch the salads, or the drink. And then I lay down on the couch and felt like complete and utter shit for close to an hour after, all the while wondering why I even bother eating at all. Total protein was 43.5 grams though, which is huge.

I track my food consumption daily on livestrong.com. Total calories for the day was 740 - and this was a really high day. (I included the entire wrap but not the fries, to balance it out).

But I don't just deal with calories. I also track other things - for example, today's totals were: 87 grams of protein, 67 grams of carbs, 13 grams of fat, 44 grams of sugar (really high, from the milk in the lattes), and 3 grams of fiber.

I never used to do any of this. I just used to eat. I didn't avoid carbs, or sugar, or consume protein first. I just ate. It impacts every single waking second of my day because I am constantly thinking about the logistics of eating. It's exhausting.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

#30daysofme - #6

Day 6 was hard for me; I don't have a favourite superhero in the traditional sense, so at first I was really stumped to come up with an answer.



Then it hit me: Do mythological gods count as superheros? I vote yes.


When I was a little kid, we had this amazing illustrated book on Norse mythology. Odin. Loki. Freya. Thor. I learned about them before I learned about their Roman & Greek counterparts - and it's just so much more interesting then the same old Jupiter/Zeus/Hera/Juno dynamic found in the Mediterranean.


Nordic culture believed that the world was made up of nine worlds, all connected by an immense ash tree called the Yggdrasil. They built a bridge between Asgard and the Earth called Bifrost, and they ride it daily. It appears in our world as a rainbow. There are dragons, a giant wolf, and a female Hel.


Simply put, they are awesome bedtime stories.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

#30daysofme - #5

A picture of somewhere you’ve been to:


The Globe Theatre in London, England.

First time travelling overseas solo. Got the money for the trip from an unexpected source before Reading Week in 2007 and within 2 days I was on a plane to London.

I'd never done anything like that before & I doubt I will ever be able to do it again. Literally, a once in a lifetime opportunity to just book a plane ticket and go.

I can't wait to go back with Keith and experience it with him.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

#30daysofme - #4

A habit that you wish you didn’t have

Hands down, that would be smoking.

Blech.

Monday, September 13, 2010

#30daysofme - #3

You thought I abandoned this challenge 2 days in, didn't you?

Fear not. I only took the weekend off. Fooled ya!

Day 3 is a picture of you and your friends.

My computer is currently dead - and of course I don't have an external harddrive. So I just lost all my pictures, files, etc, from the last 2 and a half years. It's heartbreaking, in a first world problem kind of way. Truly.

I had to steal this from Shawn's facebook - taken in 2006. I'm 19, Tat is 20, and Shawn is 21.

Mostly I'm struck by how young we look. We're BABIES!

There are absolutely no words how much these two people mean to me. When I think of how long we've been friends - of how much we've gone through - both collectively and as individuals, it's just mind boggling.

Statistics would tell you that we probably shouldn't still be friends. I know I'm not friends with 98% of the people I met while being a homeless crackhead. And that's probably for the best, ya know?

But these two are unshakeable. We've overcome the odds - you know that once you're addicted to drugs, you have 3 options? Clean, jail, and dead. Life is kind of bleak until you're clean.

But we did it. We were high-school drop-outs, homeless, addicted to drugs, you name it, we were it. And now? Tat is currently finishing her practical nursing diploma with plans to continue next fall for her Bachelor of Nursing. She's also looking into joining the Armed Forces under their ROTP. She has an 8 year old daughter, with whom she shares custody with her father.

Shawn just finished his diploma in social service worker last spring, and has plans to continue with his Bachelor of Social Work at Carleton next fall.

We all left home prematurely - Tat because she was placed in a group home at the age of 15, Shawn because his mom rejected the fact that he's gay, and of course you know my story.

It's been a really long road with its share of potholes on our respective journeys to where we are today, but so far we're making it. I couldn't be prouder to call them my friends. So much love.

Friday, September 10, 2010

#30daysofme - #2

Day 2 is apparently imploring me to share the meaning behind my blog name.

I really wish I could say my blog name means something particularly witty.

It doesn't, by the way.

I suck at coming up with names and titles. I see all these cleverly worded blog titles and feel intense jealousy that they have such a cool name. Especially the infertility blogs? My god, those are some very nicely named blogs. Me = jealous.

Think of this way - those blogs are dressed in clothes that are designed by Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani.

Mine gets Sally Ann cast-offs, and if it's been really good, it might get the odd Old Navy piece. On sale.

Basically, it goes like this. I love the look of the word Simplicity. And I strive to live my life as drama free as possible, especially after the last few years, where drama was a daily occurrence.

It used to be "Her Simplicity" but when I started getting serious with Keith, I found myself blogging about both of our lives; it wasn't just about me anymore. It really was about Our Simplicity as a couple - plus, to be frank, his ex was reading. I got squicked out, so I had to facilitate a name change.

So that's the story. Doesn't mean the name still doesn't suck though.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

#30daysofme - #1

I've decided to take part in #30daysofme, so for the next 30 days you'll learn more than you ever really wanted to know about yours truly. If you're wondering who you need to go wag a finger at, you totally have Kelly to blame for this.
Day one is a recent picture of yourself, followed by the statement of 15 "interesting" (I can only hope interesting is a subjective term) facts about yourself. Let the nazel-gazing begin, shall we?
1. Recent Picture:

me, taken 3 weeks ago @ 1 month out.

2. Fifteen "interesting" (or not so interesting) facts about myself:

1. Country is the only commercial genre of music I can listen to without wanting to rip my ears off after twenty minutes.

2. I can type up to over 80 wpm at 98% accuracy. I sporadically practice this skill.

3. I feel really sick right now & it's making it hard to concentrate.

4. I start school tomorrow! It seems kind of silly because I only have one class on Thursdays & then I'm off Fridays, so really, I start on Monday.

5. Fall is my favourite season. I wish it lasted longer.

6. I've been living in Ontario for 10 years. I've never lived anywhere longer.

7. I don't have many close friends but the ones I do have are like my family.

8. I'm pretty self-absorbed. NO REALLY?

9. A lot of the time I don't talk about subjects on my blog because I realize my views might be unpopular and/or everyone is entitled to their own opinion so what does it matter?

10. I will say this, though: people who bash the meat industry & the farmers involved - with no actual knowledge (thinking they know everything there is to know because they read a fucking book, for example) - well, those people piss me off. A LOT.

11. I get angry when I think about how (some) Americans are completely ignorant of our culture/holidays/whatever. And NO, we are NOT "a laid-back version of the US". We are something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

12. That Terry Jones guy is nuts. Can we arrange for him to be shipped off to Iraq? Please? Like, tomorrow? Just grab him, fly him over there, then drop him off and walk away. Please please please.

13. Apparently I'm also pretty angry and vindictive. Wow.

14. I'm a traditionalist in the sense that I need a wedding band on my finger before having kids. I don't know why this is.

15. Since losing 55 pounds I can now fold my belly in half. It's cool and gross at the same time.