(More than) Twice the Price

When we got back from our breakfast on base, there was a note from the post office. They’d tried to deliver Wee Laddie’s missing sandal, but there was postage due. 12 euro. (imagine the noise of a record scratching… like they use on TV) Whaaat? That’s nearly $16! “Good going, Mom,” Guitarman said. We paid $12.99 for the pair, so I’ve now just increased the price of them to almost $30. How can it possibly cost 12 euro to send a little tiny shoe 100 miles? And it’s not like they sent it overnight… thing took a friggin’ WEEK to get here. Meanwhile, you can send a regular letter from LA to NYC (almost 2800 miles) for .41. Madness.

Guitarman mowed the lawn today. I debated having him wait an hour so I could pull weeds like mad, but I am so glad I didn’t. I learned that our neighbors’ key to a beautiful yard is simple: keep it mowed.

Before:


After:


A commenter on the blog asked if I’d post some weight loss tips since I’ve lost some weight in the last several months. Short of buying that ultrametabolism book yourself, here’s what I’d suggest (sorry for the delay in posting this):
1) Don’t cut calories. Don’t even count them. (I cut calories and my weight started going UP.)
2) Toss everything with trans fat. And don’t just toss anything that doesn’t say “0 transfat,” read the labels. Everything with hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils gets the heave-ho. (I had to break my son of his peanut butter-cracker habit for that one.)
3)Add as much fiber as you can. I supplemented for a while with some cracker-cookie things that Metamucil makes… they’re not bad, so I’d just have one of those if I had a particularly low-fiber meal. In addition to being good for your digestion and all that, the fiber keeps you feeling full longer. That’d be why wholegrain breads are better than white ones.
4) Oh yeah, bread. Don’t eat it. Well, okay, sometimes… but very much in moderation. (The detox part of that diet has you cut out wheat entirely for a couple of weeks. And dairy.) I’m not a big bread eater, so this one’s not hard for me. I started eating pretty much only corn tortillas for my Mex food, although I do like flour tortillas.
5) Olive oil. As I said before… Yum. I tossed all my other oils (although I’ve since bought Pam spray for the grill) and use olive oil for everything. And I use it generously.
6) Skip the high fructose corn syrup. I’m not as picky about this one, as we tend to shop pretty low-sugar anyway… and I still can’t read much of the German labels, though they still seem to use mostly regular sugar.
7) As for sweets, I just opt for things like ice cream or chocolate (even that book says you can have the really high cacao chocolate while you’re detoxing!) rather than cookies or cake. I think the good chocolate is satisfying in pretty small amounts, so it’s worth the splurge. You get to indulge (what diet?) and not sabotage yourself.
Ok, so I’m no dietician and my weight loss has stalled (still), but those are the things that have worked for me so far.