Bento Box...

During one of my routine mindless social media feed scrollings, I came across a video very similar to this one. This lady, Jessica, makes TikTok videos of preparing the most adorable bento style lunches for her daughters. I mean, LOOK!! She makes teddy bears out of rice!

I watched the entire 4 minute video in awe...and then almost immediately looked up more bento box videos...and before the evening was over, I'd declared to my husband and kiddo that I'm going to start making bento box lunches! (Want to get me very quickly interested/obsessed with something? Make it tiny, kawaii, and edible! lol)

I did some looking around online and found a few different bento boxes that I thought would be good for beginners...though, maybe there isn't as much challenge with the boxes themselves, and all of the difficulty will come from food prep. 

This is the box I ended up selecting. Turns out, it's the same box that Jessica uses in her videos for her daughters...I wanna say that it's a happy coincidence that I chose the same box, but I'll admit that I started
off my bento box search looking for something similar to what I saw in her videos.

I wanted my box to have at least two compartments for food. I wanted the food compartments to be stackable, rather than side-by-side...I like the look of the more "slim" box, rather than one that is more wide and tray-like. I also liked that this one appeared to have a separate compartment for utensils...but, in pictures, it looks like people can put food in the top, clear compartment...and then, like, lay the utensils on top. I don't know if I'll do that, though...I feel like it would just make the utensils dirty, which would then get food on your hands, which....I just absolutely hate, to be honest!

I'm not positive that I'll love it, but I'll be sure to let y'all know if I like it or not!

Re-Boot...

 

This picture was posted by one of my social media friends this morning. I saw it, grinned wryly, gave it a like, and continued to scroll through my feed. A couple of hours later, I found myself randomly thinking about this picture...for some reason, it really seemed to resonate with me. (I mean, I guess it must have if I was still thinking about it, hours later!)

So, that's how you end up writing a new post on a long abandoned blog!

I checked, it looks like it's been nearly two years since my last post. TWO YEARS. Wow...

There's been a good deal of change in two years, that's for sure! What kind of change? Mostly good, I think...

 

-     We became home owners!! This is definitely one of the most notable events in the last two years, in my opinion. A couple of months after my previous post, my husband decided to reach out to the realtor that his father used when he sold his house...He told me he reached out to her "just in case" and wanted to kind of get a feel for what houses were available at the time. Well. I don't know if you're familiar with realtors...but, from my experience, they don't typically leave things at "just in case." Before we knew it, we had put in an offer on a house. But it must not have been meant to be, because our offer wasn't accepted.....so, the realtor talked us into putting another offer on a different house! Which! Also wasn't selected. (If you haven't heard, the housing market had been, and still is, absolutely nuts!) After our two offers were passed over, my husband and I were ready to pump the breaks on the buying process. But there was one house that I kept feeling drawn to for some reason, even though it wasn't either of our first choices...we went and toured it for a third time and finally decided to place an offer on the house. It was a really solid offer (I'm a real estate appraiser, just in case you've forgotten ^_^), and before we knew it, we were signing a sales contract and talking to our apartment leasing office about terminating our lease early. Crazy, right? So, yeah. August 2019, we signed our lives away, and now belong to an HOA. Exciting stuff...

-     We became a family with a middle schooler! The kiddo is now in the 6th grade and is doing pretty great at crushing the beast known as middle school...I can't believe he's going to be an official teenager this fall. I get all sorts of melancholy and existential when I think about that, so, let's move on!

-     We added a critter companion to our party! My husband finally relented to our pleas for a pet. The kiddo and I were angling for a small, hypoallergenic breed dog...so, naturally, we got a cat. (Of course!) I've always loved cats, but was never able to have one due to being allergic...but my allergies are weird, apparently, and there are some cats that I have no reaction to, at all! I remembered this, and crossed my fingers that this would be the case when we picked out our little furball. (I was prepared to take allergy medicines and even get shots, if I needed to!) At the time, the kiddo was HUGE into Fortnite...especially the toon Meowscles (giant, muscly cat/man). Meowscles happens to have calico coloration, so the kiddo insisted that we find a calico kitty. We found the perfect little cat at a local cat cafe and brought her home the next day. We named her Marshmello (after the DJ, not the food, per the kiddo), but she pretty much only responds to Kitty. She's pretty great...it turns out I'm definitely a cat person!

-     I finally got my full-fledged appraiser's license! And we, my husband and I, started our own appraisal business! Well, we own an LLC that says we do, anyway. I'm still working with my family for their appraisal business full-time, but now, I can do some additional work for myself in my "off time." Eventually, I plan to transition fully to my own business, but I'll have to wait until my parents decide to mostly retire before that happens. So, within the next 5 years or so. But hey, I think it still sounds pretty darn nice to be able to say that I'm an official business owner, and I'm under 40! (Shut up, YouTubers and influencers...nobody asked you!)

I think those might be the biggest updates...a lot of things are still relatively the same. Some aspects of our daily lives have changed, as have everyone else's due to the stupid 'rona. But I suppose there's no getting around that...

It's odd...I actually started this post with a specific, singular, topic to write about...but now I'm several paragraphs in, and haven't even come close to touching said subject! I guess maybe I've missed blogging more than I realized...it's a lot like being reunited with a friend that I haven't spoken to in ages. I think this is good...I think I needed to re-discover writing this blog...hopefully it'll become a habitual thing, and there'll be posts fairly often.

So, anyway...the topic I'd initially picked to write about: bento box lunches!

That's the topic up for the next post. There'll be lots of tales of Pinterest fails soon, I promise!

Stalemate...

Ah, well, decided to write another post!

Not exactly sure why, though. Especially now that Google+ is gone, there's virtually no way for anyone to stumble across this blog...not unless I start spamming my posts on my personal social media. Which, I could! But that would mean bringing several posts about my struggles with weight and HS to 'real life' people that I know...as brave as I consider myself to be, I don't really want that. Not right now, anyway. [Probably not ever, if I'm being honest]

No real changes in the day-to-day life we've got going on.

I'm getting ready to take a 'big' step in my job, and quite nervous about it. Been dragging my feet for far too long, though. And, being frank, my family needs me to do this so that I can potentially increase my income. It's probably the only way we'll ever make real strides towards 'doing better.' At least to the degree that I'd like!

I'm still waiting on Monday to start my diet [haha]. It needs to happen though. I'm delusional enough to think I can maintain my crappy eating habits and lifestyle and just magically lose weight. But let's face it: eating is just so much better than exercising. Well, it's easier.

I think that being much thinner would have so many positive effects in my life...most of them revolving around self-esteem, which I could use almost desperately.

So then, what am I waiting for?

I dunno.

Ha. And I wonder why I haven't done anything with my adult life.

Setbacks and Baby Steps...

So...what's been going on these past few months?

Well.

Somewhere around the beginning of February, I fell off of the AIP wagon pretty hard....and have made no real attempts to get back on. Shameful, I know.

I've got the willpower of a wet noodle...

I was/am frustrated with seeing no real, consistent results with my HS and decided that it didn't seem worth the trouble to maintain an AIP diet. Now, truthfully, I did lose some weight on the diet...somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-18 lbs, which is fantastic for a month. Since stopping the diet, I can tell that I've gained some of it back [going off of how my jeans feel, tbh], but I don't think I've gained it all back....maybe. I dunno. I got fed up with my horrible bathroom scale [it never gave a consistent reading...it would vary as much as 5 lbs within minutes!] and the one I got to replace it was even worse. I'm currently on the lookout for a reliable, affordable bathroom scale...any recommendations?

Sad thing is, since Februrary, I've been making weak-hearted declarative statements of getting back on a modified AIP diet, but always 'starting on Monday.' Aaaand several Mondays have come and gone, and here I sit, still considering starting a 'serious' diet again. On Monday.

A smidge of good news, though! This week, the kiddo and I have made a great effort to become more active! I've started going on evening walks with him...we're starting slow, walking about 15-20 minutes around our apartment complex. Might seem like virtually nothing to most people, but it's a good first step for us! [We've been shamefully sedentary for way too long, so I feel like easing into an exercise routine is probably the safest bet...I think if we immediately stepped into something too grueling, we'd both be put off by it and would probably quit!]

What else...*ponders*

I'm making progress at work. I'm thiiiiiiis close to wrapping up some personal goals! I'll consider writing about it once it's all said and done.

Oh! In the last month or so, my husband and I decided to do some 'financial restructuring.' Even though we've been married for almost a year and a half, we never made the transition, financially. We finally went and created a joint checking account for 'family finances' and came up with a concrete savings plan, and I'm so glad! If I'm being honest, it was getting more than tedious to constantly be sending each other money for bills and such....or to be standing at the cash register and have to tell the cashier that we're splitting the grocery total...it was fine for while we were dating, but I thought that it was probably odd for a married couple. So yeah, that's changed! It's our first month fully joining accounts. I figure it will probably take a good 3-4 months for everything to 'normalize' and for joint finances not to feel so foreign...but I think its' a good change, right?

Aside from that, I don't think there's really been much going on.

My hidradenitis is still terrible and persistent, but I don't think it's getting much worse. [Definitely not any better, though]

Yeah. I guess that's about it!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I will try not to be such a stranger anymore ^_^

Still Here (Somewhere)...

Good morning! 

It's been ages since I've posted, but I'm still around ^_^ 

In the next couple of days, I'll come up with the motivation to write an update post, but I'm currently at work and don't have the time right now.

Instead, I'll leave you with the newest Taylor Swift music video, with which I am currently quasi-obsessed. [My husband and I don't really have a song, but I think this one is a pretty strong contender!]

Will write again soon!

Progress - Week 3...

Apologies, I'm a little bit late writing the update for this week. I've had a rather busy day and am just now finding time to sit down and write!

I've been a baaaaad dieter...

Just being honest, this week was not the best for me and my AIP diet. The weekdays were fine, I stuck with the 'approved foods' list really well! The weekend, however, was not quite the same. My husband and I were out running errands Saturday and ended up still being out and about at lunch time...and, of course, I didn't have salad or sweet potatoes with me. We debated a few different food options and ended up going to Panera. I got a half salad and soup combo...not terrible, but definitely not AIP approved. The rest of Saturday, I tried to make up for my lunch transgressions...I did a good job! Well, up until the evening....then my husband revealed that he'd brought home some banana pudding from work on Friday. Sooo, I had to have some. I mean, it's inhumane to subject a person to banana pudding temptations!

Sunday, I had a totally non-AIP breakfast. I didn't even try to stay compliant. And I felt pretty lousy about it for the rest of the day. The rest of the day was 100% AIP though!

Now, today was another 100% AIP day. Perhaps even more than before! I finally bit the bullet and cut out all diet sodas! [I practically thrive on Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi...I'm not constantly guzzling them, but I do typically have at least one a day, mostly for the caffeine] So! Now I'm back to eating 'clean' and drinking only water....hooray.

I'm hoping that a renewed gusto for sticking to the AIP plan will help with HS symptoms. My flares this week definitely reflect that I've been haphazard with my diet.

I totally felt like Lurch, I couldn't
turn my head!

- HS symptoms: This week started off pretty 'okay' but quickly spiraled into 'much worse' as I started deviating from the diet plan. I had a super painful knot pop up at the base of my skull and stay there for several days. You never realize just how much you move your head around until it's excruciating to do so! Virtually all of my flares that appeared to be healing got worse this week, most of them started bleeding and draining. And I think I counted 2 or 3 new ones. Oh, it was a super fun week. [sarcasm]

- Mood: I feel like my mood had improved this week. I would say that I feel like I'm craving certain foods less, but I guess that's hard to gauge, seeing as I didn't exactly have a strict week. It's still frustrating to not be able to eat 'normally' and to have to plan and eat at home all of the time. I miss the convenience of 'quick' foods probably more than anything else! It doesn't make it any easier that my husband and kiddo aren't doing AIP with me...I guess they're trying to make things easy for me...?? I don't know. I've just about given up even thinking of ways to say how I'm feeling about it to them. It's not worth the conflict.

- Weight: This week was a total bust when it comes to weight. The scale is not my friend! This week resulted in 1 lb gained back. However! I'd like to attribute that partly to my wonderful, monthly female cycle. I know that it being 'that time of the month' can cause us ladies to hold a bit more water weight....so that could be part of the problem, right? Right?! **sigh** I'm going to be super good about my diet this week and I'll do my best to come back with better numbers next week.

- Overall thoughts: I feel really lousy for not having the willpower to stick with this diet. I feel 10000% confident that it's a tough diet. It's so strict and has almost no room for error, whatsoever! However, I fancy myself to be a strong-willed, fierce gal....and yet, I can't seem to stick with it for more than 2 weeks. I feel as if this past week more or less undoes all of my progress so far and I'm back starting at square one. It's a horrible feeling, and I know that I've brought it upon myself. I will get my butt in gear and get better about it though!

Anticipate some sort of mid-week updates in a few days. Hopefully I'll find some motivation to write a few posts about non-AIP topics soon, too!

So Maybe It's Working...

Okay, so I feel like I need to be completely honest about how the whole AIP diet is going...including if and when I mess up...so here goes!

Totally me right now...

Over the long weekend, I decided to give myself an 'allowance day.' On Monday, I was feeling particularly frustrated with the diet, it's restrictions, and my lack of perceived progress. The day started with sneaking a bit of biscuit with my breakfast and ended up with me allowing myself to have a 'cheat' dinner. [Pretty sure I stuck to the AIP books for lunch that day, though!] And then I had a small portion of rice with Tuesday night's dinner.

Now, if this were an ordinary, calorie reduction diet, a cheat day is not a horrible idea! In fact, I remember having them more or less built into certain diet plans that I've done before...I think it was the grapefruit diet, maybe?

So, what effects, if any, did straying from the AIP diet at this point have?

Well, coincidence or not, my HS symptoms actually got worse. Not, like, tragically worse [thank goodness], but it's definitely noticeable. One of my trouble spots that has been dormant for a good while [4-6 weeks] has decided to give me some problems as of yesterday. Kind of a bummer, but I can't say that it wasn't expected. In a weird way, though, it kind of gives me a bit of affirmation that the AIP diet is probably helping me more than I realized.

Now, because I did cheat with more than one food and at a couple different times, it's nearly impossible for me to pinpoint which food is the cause of the trouble....or if the food is really the cause at all!

But! For the time being, I've decided to go back to being strictly on the AIP diet and I hope that my HS symptoms will continue to improve!

Full updates on this week's AIP progress on Monday, check back then!