The Klutterpillar's blog

If you could do anything you want tomorrow, what would it be?
Submitted by Becca-Pink.

I would start it off with a drive in silence or maybe reading out loud for an hour or two. I like the steady ebb and flow of words. It disregards the need for conversation yet you are both involved just like a conversation, one of you is talking while the other listens. Only with reading- both of you are listening at the same time and sharing nothing.

Then I would like to walk around a town I've never been to aimlessly. I went to Whole Foods yesterday. I had 10 minutes before my dance class to waste. I ended up in the coffee aisle smelling the newly roasted bins of coffee. Oh it was heavenly. When the purpose of shopping is removed: the lists, the desires, the tallying up of the cost of price tags. All that goes and I was able to just relax and enjoy the atmosphere. I discovered they carried a whole lot of things I hadn't previously known they sold. Walking aimlessly with $2 in my pocket would be AWESOME. The $2 helps the aimlessness cause along. Give me $20 and I'll be thinking of ways to spend it rather than just enjoying the moment.

 

Fireworks. I'm a hopeless romantic. I love fireworks from a distance. Up close it's all smoke, fumes and burnt hair. We can't forget the noise of screeching children that doesn't abate until the last flame has died and the last popper lit or  until the last fuse of the parent in charge has burnt. I remember being a kid and thinking it was hilarious to 'bust' (does anyone still use that word to mean light a firecracker?) a Tomthumb in my mouth. Burnt fingers, scratchy throats, singed hair and stinging backsides from parents we scared witless by the stunts we pulled. My rascal youth is far behind me and this year there are no children to look after. So I would like to watch the 4th of July fireworks from a distance in silence.

 

To end the night? I guess I would like to look through the pictures I took of the day. Because knowing me, I never record the best days in words. Words are never enough. I like to leave it to my memory where in 50 year's time I will extract the story and torture some unsuspecting grandchild with it's retelling.

PS. I just thought thought of this, it's not quite sensible. But if James McAvoy would take a small break from promoting his new movie Wanted, I would very much like to sing Yankee Doodle Dandy with him while watching the fireworks. Or maybe we could do some finger painting. I'd settle for a phone call actually. Or we could share a donut on a chilly street corner with only a cup of coffee to warm us- then maybe we could sing Yankee Doodle Dandy afterwards (0oooh around a garbage bin fire, in harmony!).

 

How have you changed in the past year?
Submitted by littleduckling.

Somehow I think this is meant to be answered in a positive fashion. Well no darn it! I have not changed for the good. In my aged-ness I have become cranky, set in my ways, and that smell you smell > that's me. I ain't ashamed. But seriously,  I learned a lesson. And I try to carry it with me at all times.

 

Live in the moment now.

 

Sounds simple enough. Not quite. I retell stories all the time. In fact if you've known me long enough you've heard the following "I probably told you this story before, but let me tell you again...". They're probably self deprecating, or how I was done wrong way back when.

 

1. In order to practice 'living in the moment' catch yourself re-telling the same-old-same stories that show you as a victim. Just stop. Whether it happened 10 years ago or 10 minutes ago.  It's over now. It's how you live right now that counts. You can't live in the future either. This is the only moment (right this second) you have influence over. I can't plan to be happy in 10 years once I've retired, lost a few extra pounds and the loser boyfriend. Or for that matter in 10 minutes.

 

Today I got so angry I could have spit. I clanked around in my heels, sat down huffily and squinted at my computer screen with my 'mean eyes'. Then I thought the person I wished to funnel all this agitation towards wasn't even in the same building and quite frankly wouldn't be bothered. And right then I couldn't have been bothered either. I chose to be happy. Get on with my life and do a little blog entry. (If you happen to be reading this- er... it's not about you...er...really!)

 

2. The grass is always greener on the other side. No hunny bunny, it ain't.  

"Wishing and hoping and
thinking and praying,
planning and dreaming"*

 

Yes plan, but also plan to be happy right now. I can't imagine being happy on Saturday. I used to work this city job, maybe I've told you the story before but... lol. See what I did there! Hilarious!

 

-   Sorry I need a moment, may have just wet myself a little bit from all the laughter.  

 

Where was I, oh yeah, I had me a laborious job and a 4 hour commute which I spent reading. On my day off I used my time most productively by vegetating on the couch eating Chinese takeout while reading or sitting at the laundromat -reading. And I used to think - my life is so bland, so boring and so blurgh. I just wished I was out and about.

Now that I am out and about, I can't remember when the last time I finished a book was. I've read plenty half way. But I get so carried away living (er... with meh social life). That a couple weeks later when I  do have time to get back to it, I've lost the narrative emotional wave I had been riding along with the author and I have to start again. And well, I just start a new book instead. That long winded story was just to illustrate that I've lost one of the things I loved most - hours and hours to read. 

 

 
You know how many times I've told that story? 1, 2, 3, 4? Hmmmm, maybe 5. Wait now would be 6.

 

3. The more things change the more they stay the same. Like my stories. So, be vigilant. I'll have to remember that one too.

 

 *Dusty Springfield - Wishing and hoping Lyrics

What's your best quality?

Yeah that's it, my best quality :)

                                        
                                        No, really it is.

                                                                             
                                                                  Really, it is.

                                                                                                          
                                                                                      It Is Darn-It!

During the last few days I have been compiling a hurricane preparedness kit list that will be going up on LifeOrganizers.com. On a personal note I've been struggling to figure out a way to store enough water for 2 weeks in case of a disaster. A way that is most efficient, cost-effective and sanitary. An adult requires at least 1 gallon per day for drinking, bathing and other necessities.

*The RED CROSS and FEMA recommend that you make arrangements to store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day to last a minimum of 3 days.

Problem: An economical way to store 2 weeks worth of water for 2 adults and a cat living in a small apartment. That's 3 x 14 = 42 gallons.

Here is my quest and some of the solutions I found, I hope they help...

Commercially bottled water.
This is what FEMA.org recommends you use. It's the safest and most convenient.

That's would be 335 x 1 pint bottles. A case holds 24 bottles. That's about 14 cases. Our company workplace has 40 employees and orders around 14 cases. And that picture on the left is how much room you need to keep them.

Buying commercially bottled water in bulk is a great idea, sure in a perfect world but my roommate and I seem to go through them rather quickly. A case hardly lasts us a week. And storing more than 3 cases at once is just not feasible for my back, my storage space or my wallet. If I were to go ahead and buy at $6.99 per case x14 = $97.86.
This seemed like a really bad idea until I asked how much it costs to get it delivered to us. Staples delivers free!!!! And she (our office Angel) says I could store them under my bed. I wouldn't need a separate room. Well, not my bed, but my roommates bed could be an option.

Storing my own water.
This would be a great option if $100.00 for bottled water was out of my price range. You can't just use any old bottles. 2 liter soft soda bottles or food grade bottles are recommended. Never use bottles that were previously used for milk or fruit juices. Neither the milk proteins nor fruit sugars can be removed completely and thus provide a breeding ground for bacteria. But the smell 3 weeks later is yucky. YUCKY. That's reason enough for me not to use old milk bottles and fruit juice jugs.

You can store water that you bottle yourself upto 6 months. This is a pretty good idea. Only I'm faced with the same space issues. If I got a little advance warning I could prepare them a day or two earlier.

Stormprepare has 5 gallon collapsible water bottles. Puuurfect!!! 7 x $8.95 + 12.98 (shipping and tax) = $75.63.

But maybe here's another option: from the RED CROSS!!!!

WaterBOB WaterBoB™ --Water Bathtub Oblong Bladder
"Part #321370
The WaterBOB™ is a fresh water containment system used to store up to 100 gallons of potable drinking water in the event supplies become scarce during times of natural or man-made disasters. Water can be stored up to 2 weeks in a controlled environment. Please note: the WaterBOB™ is intended for a one-time use only."

                                                                                                                               
This looks like the cheapest $29.95 and best space saving option yet!  It's hardly the most provocative.  This is not a portable option though. What will I do if I were to travel? Oh, well it just so turns out I looked at some portable options too.
 

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light prevents microbes that's germs in non-nerd speak from reproducing by destroying their DNA and as a result are left far less harmful. 

Water can be made drinkable within minutes.  Portable lightweight, hand held solar or battery powered purifiers are available for consumers to purchase. The one that seems to be getting the most attention is SteriPEN. Their products range from $79.95 - $149.99.  Battery life depending on whether you use disposable vs. rechargeable batteries range from 35- 50 x 1 liter treatments. The lamp light life of each pen is 8,000 cycles. The only drawback is that the solar powered charger case takes 3-5 days to charge (20 hours of Sunlight).

Chemicals

FEMA does not recommend iodine or other water treatments sold in camping stores as they don't contain enough bleach in them 5.25 - 6.0 (sodium hypochlorite). So I'm not even going to touch on those.

Portable filtration Pump

You can purchase a portable filtration pumps that can be used for home use. These pumps can filter anywhere from 5000 to 50,000 liters a day.   More than enough for the average family.  The only drawback I've read is that these pumps can remove pathogens present in water but  they can also become a home for the colonization of pathogens. 

The Katadyn vario 300 looks pretty neat, and puts you out of pocket about $93.00.

It has an output of 2 liters per minute with a capacity of filtering 20 000 liters depending on water quality. It does not rely on batteries and it's lightweight at only 15oz/425 g.

If you had to go on a two-week vacation with any celebrity, who would you pick as your traveling companion and where would you go?

Cameron Diaz and we would hit Hawaii. I have always wanted to go there. Actually retire there, but since I'm still only 26 I'll settle for a holiday. I've seen her climb tree's, fart like a trooper and best of all she can't dance- but she still does it anyway. So I gather I wont have to hold myself back when I'm at a restaurant and I order 2 mains + 3 desserts+ a plate of fries just in case I don't like the food, wobble in my heels and snort when I laugh.

Yes, we'll climb trees, get lost on a hill top only to discover it's a volcano and run screaming in any which direction. We'll make dresses out of banana leaves and get a rash as a result and look like two lobsters on the beach the next day. We'll wear heels with our bikini's and paint smiley faces on our bellies.

Sounds good...

As I sit here researching and writing up guidelines for hurricane preparedness articles that I will post up shortly, I am slowly but most definitely sinking into apprehension quicksand.

There are loads of things that one needs to do 'just in case'. I think because living in South Africa events like hurricanes and tropical storms didn't affect me directly I never really did much research into it. Instead I knew all about self defense, crime prevention and what to do in case of a high jacking.  

I currently reside in Florida. Love-Er-Ly, sunny and let me tell you a Saturday morning spent at the beach-boot camp is a great way to kick off the weekend. Yeah, but did you know that Florida has the highest incidence of hurricanes in the United States?

I live right on the inter-coastal and every morning I wake up to a view of the sunrise on the water.  Yes, I live in an evacuation zone. What this means is that I am highly susceptible to flooding. I need to have all my documents stored in a water-proof crush-proof box. All electrical equipment needs to be elevated off the floor. There goes my computer. I wish I knew this before I bought a tower desktop. A laptop can be stored in a pelican case and kept relatively safe and dry.

Not only do I need to make my apartment storm ready I also need to prepare 3 kits full of all the emergency supplies I may need. I need a kit for the house, the car (in case I am stranded) and one that I may need just in case worst comes to worst and I evacuate to a shelter. All the reading I’ve done so far take careful pains to stress that shelters are not hotels- go prepared.

Prepare, prepare, prepare.

I am frantically writing lists, shopping online and learning storm lingo in an effort to 'be prepared'.

The Anatomy of Fat...

Ok, so how long can you appreciate yourself in the mirror before it becomes inappropriate and uncomfortable to the people around you?  What does this have to do with the anatomy of Fat? Well, hopefully at the end of this blog note we'll know.

(ok, on a side note, who goes home on their lunch break? A girl who has forgotten her wallet.  But there's a story behind it, I originally left the house this morning with my wallet but had to go back in because I forgot ...er... I forget what I forgot actually. But anyway, I had to go back in and I was holding my wallet in my hands, and had to put it down to riffle through a few drawers.  See, perfectly reasonable... it could happen to anyone.  Why does it suddenly seem as if it would have been more prudent not to have begun this side note?).

First, the light turned red. I call this light the 'blunder of Broward county'. It's literally a 3 minute wait at this light.
So I settled in, shifted gears into park and turned the radio up.  I looked to my left and I literally *gasped*. There was a sight I won't soon forget.Thighs... thighs wide and dimpled... lots of thigh in a very short pair of shorts and topped off with a horizontally patterned t-shirt. She was overweight. That's being kind. She was obese. She proceeded to sit down on the Bus stop bench. Then I got angry at myself for the fact that I even had the thought 'what on earth is such a fat person doing wearing a tiny pair of shorts?' For goodness sakes, I haven't worn horizontal stripes in 10 years.  As far as I was concerned she was a freedom fighter for fat girls. Heck I even felt empowered a little bit at the sight of her. Until she reached under her shirt and adjusted one of her folds of fat. er...

Second, I very quickly turned to the right... and the man in the car next to me had his head on his steering wheel. He leaned back. Seized the steering wheel with apparent frustration. Then he covered his face with his hands, shook himself and put his hands back on the wheel.  Well...er...

Third, I turned and looked straight ahead. My local CVS pharmacy seemed to be having some kind of carnival give-away day. No no, those lights were actually police sirens with flashing lights. Crickey! I counted at least 6 squad cars. Whatever it was that was happening there, I didn't want to know.

Forth, maybe I'll just look up at that red light and wait for it to change.  And right about then I realized that the song playing on the radio was Mary.J. Blige's  'Just Fine'.

Feels so good,
when you’re doing all the things that you want to do
Get the best out of life, treat yourself to something new
Keep your head up high
In yourself, believe in you, believe in me
Having a really good time, I’m not complaining
And I’m a still wear a smile if it raining
I got to enjoy myself regardless
I appreciate life, I’m so glad I got mine
So I like what I see when I’m looking at me
When I’m walking past the mirror

        

Maybe there is something to be said, for having 3 minutes to ponder life.  Right then in that moment I was grateful for being me. With a little hard work I am no longer in the obese BMI range. At my worst I could count my tummy folds on more than 1 hand.  Being forgetful and losing my phone for the day is nothing compared to losing my job or a loved one.  Lastly I've never been in a situation so unsafe it warranted multiple police cars. Imagine, just 3 minutes earlier I felt awful silly about leaving my wallet at home and a little vain for staring at myself at my local gym mirror- for ten minutes because I couldn't believe that I looked something other than 'pudding-ness'.  Yes I'm slightly vain, a little forgetful and by golly that's 'just fine'.

 

I'm finally wearing those jeans I rocked back in college. They are a little snug but they zip up just fine and they pass the sitting down without tearing test.

I'm skinny.  Well no I'm not really skinny. But from now on I'm not going to allow myself to be the judge of that. Because back in 2000 when these jeans fit, I thought I was too fat then too.

Now even with 46 pounds shed altogether... that girl who always thought she was fat is still living inside me. So from now on I'm going to trust the jeans. There'll always be clothes that don't fit, girls that are thinner and another piece of cake that can be squeezed onto my plate at the buffet table.  But as long as these jeans zip up I'll call myself skinny...

Yes, I do unfortunately tell everyone I've lost weight.  Especially, when I'm trying on clothes at the store, there's always an excited exclamation that brings the attendant running in and I need to explain politely 'No ma’am, I'm not having a heart attack, I just can't believe that the dress I'm trying on actually fits'.

How did you do it?

That's the question I get asked most often. No, I'm not starving myself.  In fact my first 10 pounds lost were accompanied by the munching of many, many packets of Oreo's.  

Then there was the Bee3 video.  Yes, I did a ‘how to’ video for the Bee3 label printer (one of the best label printers I've tested by the way). And did I not look like I swallowed the house Kimora built?  Watching myself in that Bee3 video, I finally saw what everyone else did when they looked at me.

That my friend is called an Aha! moment. The moment where the great light from the sky shines down upon you and enlightenment begins... only in my case it was more of a horrified choking gurgle noise in my throat. Once the shock of my fatty-ness wore off, I then also realized that I sounded pretty British too. This is disturbing because I'm not British. Yes, the day the Bee3 video was unveiled was a day of reckoning I won’t soon forget.

My motivator, the reason I'm even in these Jeans is a young lady called Mildred Munjanganja... maybe you've seen her blog.  She's brutally honest about what she eats and where her weight-loss is going...  Anyhooo, this remarkable woman eats healthy and goes to the gym regularly.  This year I only made one commitment to myself - SAY YES!   I say yes to the healthy food, the fruit and the avoidance of fast food outlets. Yes, to the idea that an eating out Friday night treat is sushi and not a cheese burger.

So whenever Milly calls me up at 5am and says: "Let's go to the gym Leanne",

    My response has to be 'yes'.

Yes so the move is finally complete...almost. There are still 2 boxes to be unpacked and an extra television in the lounge that no-one seems to be in a hurry to move, including me.  My roommate came with a cat.  Which is great.  What's not so great is that I am allergic to cats. 

 

Some allergy background: In September last year I got myself a kitten from our local SPCA and ended up with the most awful everywhere-all over body-itchiness.  My doctor confirmed that the cause was most definitely the introduction of a new cat into my home.

 

Back to the story: Here's the bit that confuzzles me. I am not allergic to my roommate's cat.  There were a few moments when I thought the onslaught of the itchiness was upon me... but it's been almost 10 days and I'm fine.  And so I did the smart thing and took my quest to Google.

 

What I found out: Cat hair is what folk are allergic to, more specifically the saliva on the cat's hair.  And wait for it... more specifically the protein in the saliva. Got it?  People tend to be less allergic to female cats than male ones. Why? for a really complex scientificy reason.

Aha! Guess what: My roommate's cat is female and the cat I got last year was male. So the scientists were correct.  People are more likely to be allergic to male cats than female one's as my survey of 1:1 confirms.

This book was meant to keep me on a path to being a more compassionate human being. Now ultimately I have a little book where I record my progression and growth too. 

 

At first I would only write down what I was grateful for and what I thought qualified as kindness.  But I found that the double pages I dedicated to a day could be used for a whole lot more.

 

I use it to write down a new word or bit of history I learnt about that day.  I’ve even added lists of books I want to read and movies that I’d love to find the time to watch.  Idea’s, goals and wants have their own little sections.  Did I mention that I signed up for a 12 week online Italian course too? I keep those notes in the back.

 

Perhaps my brain has not turned into marshmallow after all. 

 

I did a quick diagram to show how I divvy up the pages.  This system works for me. When I want to review the words I learnt for the week I can just look at the same place on the page throughout the book, the same goes for new idea’s and thoughts.