Posts (page 2)

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. 

It's a brand new year and I hadn't made any resolutions till last night. Where to start? Do I commit to going to the gym at least three times a week or to eating healthy? What about building my vocabulary and or going a week without losing something? What about doing all the things I’ve dreamt about, do they even make a Cinderella Princess costume in my size or finally making a dessert whose recipe I’ve lovingly glued into a recipe book that gets paged through more than my family photo album? How many friends who’ve moved away did I say I would devotedly stay in touch with? Shall I save money for the next 3 months and go on holiday to Italy or shall I buy enough novels and chocolate to keep me reading and pruney in the bathtub for the next 3 months?

How can you make a decision on the year to come without reviewing the one that just past?

2007 was a big year for me: I bought my first property, my first car, my first pet and I had my first brush with death. As I lay in there in the midst of excruciating chest pain…I reached the point where I thought I should start letting go of this life. Having had such a profound experience which lasted all of 3 minutes...I know, I know you can not even paint your toe nails with such little time. But believe me 3 minutes is all you need to give you a proper scare and some good perspective. So while I was nobly 'letting go of this life’ I kept being interrupted by thoughts of all the things I didn’t get to do. Would I be remembered as that girl who slouched, or seemed to only wear green ( I don’t know how it happened but Iast year I bought a green handbag but had no clothes to match it with…things kinda spun out of control- I had emerald shoes, moss-hued t-shirts, lime hairpins and…well you get the picture). Who was going to say she was kind? Was I kind enough? Why didn’t I read James Joyce’s Ulysses? Why did I never wear a bikini when I had the chance? When did I stop learning new things? Why didn’t I dream bigger? Be less afraid?

This year I’m going to give ‘living my best life’ a go and cross off some of those regrets.

Kindness – hmmmm, this one is a bit tricky, as being kind and being polite are a fuzzy pair. I don’t want to mistake one for the other. So I’ve begun a Kindness diary…where I will write down my kind deeds and then proceed to give myself a round of applause. Just kidding, but at least I’ll know I’m making progress.

I’m going to mesh it with an ‘I am so happy and grateful that…’ diary. Why add the grateful diary to it? So I remember that I am blessed. My day is filled with pockets of happiness and wonder. Why is it then that I can never remember these and I let my body’s tiredness dictate whether I had a good or bad day.

First resolution: Everyday I will write down 3 kind things I did and 3 things that I am happy and grateful for…

Second: While doing homework with the kids I learned that if you don’t practice you forget. No I’m not about to do a crash course in algebra. This year I’m go

ing to learn one new thing everyday.

Third: I am going to put in place ‘the trusted system’. What?! I’m going to be taken over by a cult? Nope this is a system thought up by David Allen, where everything you need to do is mapped out. Freeing up space in your brain that will no longer need to remember chores like having to buy milk everyday. Instead I will trust my planner system and free my brain so that I may concentrate on achieving the ‘big’ dreams instead of worrying over the little things.

Fourth? Ha ha ha - I'm sticking to three. That is quite enough for now.

When did getting my hair done become a chore?  Somewhere along the line I got a job, kids to take care of , a move to organize and bills to pay.  And hair...I forgot I even had any until yesterday. 

Concerned friend: "Leanne - is your hair beginning to mat?"
Leanne: "Er...no, I just forgot to comb it, although I did brush my teeth twice this morning" 

Yes, that was a rather pitiful response.  Could I really say that I had debated taking a pair of scissors to it just last week - when it became clear that there were a few bits struggling to free themselves from the confines of a hairstyle I'd like to call - "7 Head Bands for 7 Days of the Week?".

While checking out a website on moving tips (hey! I'll take all the help I can get).  I noticed an ad for a hair makeover site. In under 3 minutes I was looking at a picture of myself with Angelina's locks.  The result was horrific, but I persevered and Eve's tresses looked rather fetching. I changed the face shape, hair color ( blond would just not do), and was able to e-mail myself a copy of the final result. So now if I ever do go to the hairdressers I won't be spending 10 minutes rambling like I did the last time...

Leanne: "My last haircut? I did it myself. I want to look modern but not too modern. I want to look like I go to work and not lounge around can you do that?"
Hairdresser: "Sure, do you want it  kept long or shall we cut?"
Leanne: "Cut?! Why do we need to cut?"

Now I'm armed with a picture of me in exactly the hairstyle I want - with the right color, too.  I've even practiced what I'm going to say,

Setting: Trendy salon with James Bond music playing in the background (the one which he aways makes his dapper entrance to).

Leanne: (hands over print of hairstyle) "Make it happen Dominique"
Hairdresser: (Takes picture and is visibly impressed), " Yes ma'am , would you like a coffee while we transform you into a goddess?"
Leanne: (giggle and maybe some eyelash flapping) "Sure, that'll be great".

It could happen...