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More Shaking, More Settling
Feb. 28th, 2012 04:11 pmThere have been a couple of unexpected developments this month that have made it a bit more challenging than it would be otherwise to stick to my guns on certain things. I am in no way complaining about this; the curveballs we get thrown are a part of life, after all, and the ones that have come my way are actually really good. While it'll take a little time to settle down after this, I'm really happy to see what my life is like once we establish a new routine.
The biggest and most exciting news? We have a pet! On Valentine's Day as part of his gift, Ryan took me to Andy's Pet Shop in downtown San Jose to take a look at their rabbits. He'd been agonizing over the decision for quite some time, but that evening he decided to pull the trigger. He even had a 'best candidate for adoption' picked out, and after spending just a little bit of time with him I agreed. We applied to adopt him, spoke to the woman running the pet rescue operation, and by the end of the week we were able to welcome him a small brown rabbit we've named Puck.
Puck is pretty amazing in just about every way you would expect rabbits to be amazing. He's unbearably cute, but he's got a pretty defined personality. He prefers soft surfaces to hop around on, he rather likes the wicker ball I got him over every other toy we purchased at first, and for the most part he's aloof. I think this might be because we're still in the 'getting to know you' phase, but it does seem like he's fairly accepting of people without really wanting to snuggle up to you.
I've obviously learned a lot about rabbit behavior and communication since getting him, though we've only had him for ten days. And I expect that I'll still be learning quite a bit through the entire time I know him. I'm already in love with him, and I want him to love me just as much. It'll be slow going, but I think we'll come to have a fine relationship.
There are a few hitches, of course. The biggest is that I'm either allergic to him or his hay, neither of which is good. I've already gotten serious about making sure I'm taking my maintenance inhaler every day, and I've invested in a big bottle of 24-hour Claritin. He's shedding like a fiend, so the next steps are buying a pet brush for grooming (which will also help us to bond) and maybe getting a Dirt Devil or similar handheld vac to clean up loose fur more easily. And after less than two weeks, it's becoming increasingly clear that I'll need a HEPA filter.
If all that doesn't work and I'm still waking up incredibly gunked after three months, I'll have to talk to the allergist at Keiser about desensitization therapy or something like that. It'd be expensive and kind of a hassle (lots of needles several times a month for a while), but if it works it means that we could also look into getting a cat. And I won't just about die whenever I visit friends who have them.
Cleaning his cage is also an experiment in procedure. I'm getting quicker at it as time goes on, but we're still learning how Puck likes to keep his house. Hopefully he'll get used to being taken out of his cage every couple of days and returning to find it a bit more orderly than before. A few sprigs of willowgrass or a new toy should lessen the shock, right?
The other big change is a dietary one that I'm trying on for Lent. I've got an enormous sweet tooth, as I'm sure you all know, and after giving up candy for a year I got dangerously close to falling right back into all of my old habits. I fell in love with Jelly Belly jelly beans all over again, started picking up movie concession-sized boxes of Hot Tamales, that whole thing. I wasn't quite off the wagon yet, but I was getting a bit too close for comfort.
Over the year I abstained from candy, I took to other release valves for my sugar cravings. I'd often take a cookie from Specialty's, or maybe a fruit and cheese danish if I was feeling really awful. I'd load up on sugary cereals, get coffees and lattes loaded with it, all sorts of things. Sugar really isn't hard to find if you want to get it -- it's just a matter of going for the breads, really.
So I thought I would co-op the annual Lent tradition of sacrificing something that means a lot to you for about forty days, using it as an opportunity for a more extreme fast. Since last Wednesday I've given up refined sugar, which means no candies, baked goods, cereals or other things that are loaded with the stuff. Once you try to cut it out of your diet, unfortunately, you notice that sugar is in just about everything! That TV dinner you like? Sugar's in it. Just about any baked good, including sandwich bread? There's sugar in that too. Even "healthy" choices like pre-packaged salads or Cracklin' Oat Bran or Raisin Bran cereal is loaded with sugar. I didn't research too much before committing, and found myself cutting out a lot of the stuff I'd relied on for my diet.
This has turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. I'm stretching myself towards even more healthier options now, and I'm refocusing and refining my diet on stuff that does the most good for the 'least' amount of Calories. I've discovered that I love Kashi GoLean Crunch, and that hey, nuts are a pretty good way to get rid of hunger cravings. Eating fruit has become a pretty awesome experience, and I've discovered that coffee isn't so bad without sugar, or with just a teaspoon of honey. It feels like I'm re-training my palate in a lot of ways, and that's kind of exciting. I still have these moments where I would kill for some jammy, fruity sweet thing, but that's subsiding as time goes on. I'm learning to deal with the cravings that arise, acknowledge them, and then put them to bed. It's humbling to know how much I crave these things, but very empowering to divorce my response to the craving from the craving itself. Now, wanting a cookie does not automatically mean that I will get a cookie. It just means I want one.
Anyway, so a lot of my willpower and focus is going to the rabbit and the diet. I've been exercising through the week, though not as much as I should have been perhaps. I did run four miles last week, so that's great! Writing remains as slow as ever, but I'm picking up steam on that once again. Reading and meditation are...still very much works in progress.
So that's where I am this week. How are all of you doing?
The biggest and most exciting news? We have a pet! On Valentine's Day as part of his gift, Ryan took me to Andy's Pet Shop in downtown San Jose to take a look at their rabbits. He'd been agonizing over the decision for quite some time, but that evening he decided to pull the trigger. He even had a 'best candidate for adoption' picked out, and after spending just a little bit of time with him I agreed. We applied to adopt him, spoke to the woman running the pet rescue operation, and by the end of the week we were able to welcome him a small brown rabbit we've named Puck.
Puck is pretty amazing in just about every way you would expect rabbits to be amazing. He's unbearably cute, but he's got a pretty defined personality. He prefers soft surfaces to hop around on, he rather likes the wicker ball I got him over every other toy we purchased at first, and for the most part he's aloof. I think this might be because we're still in the 'getting to know you' phase, but it does seem like he's fairly accepting of people without really wanting to snuggle up to you.
I've obviously learned a lot about rabbit behavior and communication since getting him, though we've only had him for ten days. And I expect that I'll still be learning quite a bit through the entire time I know him. I'm already in love with him, and I want him to love me just as much. It'll be slow going, but I think we'll come to have a fine relationship.
There are a few hitches, of course. The biggest is that I'm either allergic to him or his hay, neither of which is good. I've already gotten serious about making sure I'm taking my maintenance inhaler every day, and I've invested in a big bottle of 24-hour Claritin. He's shedding like a fiend, so the next steps are buying a pet brush for grooming (which will also help us to bond) and maybe getting a Dirt Devil or similar handheld vac to clean up loose fur more easily. And after less than two weeks, it's becoming increasingly clear that I'll need a HEPA filter.
If all that doesn't work and I'm still waking up incredibly gunked after three months, I'll have to talk to the allergist at Keiser about desensitization therapy or something like that. It'd be expensive and kind of a hassle (lots of needles several times a month for a while), but if it works it means that we could also look into getting a cat. And I won't just about die whenever I visit friends who have them.
Cleaning his cage is also an experiment in procedure. I'm getting quicker at it as time goes on, but we're still learning how Puck likes to keep his house. Hopefully he'll get used to being taken out of his cage every couple of days and returning to find it a bit more orderly than before. A few sprigs of willowgrass or a new toy should lessen the shock, right?
The other big change is a dietary one that I'm trying on for Lent. I've got an enormous sweet tooth, as I'm sure you all know, and after giving up candy for a year I got dangerously close to falling right back into all of my old habits. I fell in love with Jelly Belly jelly beans all over again, started picking up movie concession-sized boxes of Hot Tamales, that whole thing. I wasn't quite off the wagon yet, but I was getting a bit too close for comfort.
Over the year I abstained from candy, I took to other release valves for my sugar cravings. I'd often take a cookie from Specialty's, or maybe a fruit and cheese danish if I was feeling really awful. I'd load up on sugary cereals, get coffees and lattes loaded with it, all sorts of things. Sugar really isn't hard to find if you want to get it -- it's just a matter of going for the breads, really.
So I thought I would co-op the annual Lent tradition of sacrificing something that means a lot to you for about forty days, using it as an opportunity for a more extreme fast. Since last Wednesday I've given up refined sugar, which means no candies, baked goods, cereals or other things that are loaded with the stuff. Once you try to cut it out of your diet, unfortunately, you notice that sugar is in just about everything! That TV dinner you like? Sugar's in it. Just about any baked good, including sandwich bread? There's sugar in that too. Even "healthy" choices like pre-packaged salads or Cracklin' Oat Bran or Raisin Bran cereal is loaded with sugar. I didn't research too much before committing, and found myself cutting out a lot of the stuff I'd relied on for my diet.
This has turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. I'm stretching myself towards even more healthier options now, and I'm refocusing and refining my diet on stuff that does the most good for the 'least' amount of Calories. I've discovered that I love Kashi GoLean Crunch, and that hey, nuts are a pretty good way to get rid of hunger cravings. Eating fruit has become a pretty awesome experience, and I've discovered that coffee isn't so bad without sugar, or with just a teaspoon of honey. It feels like I'm re-training my palate in a lot of ways, and that's kind of exciting. I still have these moments where I would kill for some jammy, fruity sweet thing, but that's subsiding as time goes on. I'm learning to deal with the cravings that arise, acknowledge them, and then put them to bed. It's humbling to know how much I crave these things, but very empowering to divorce my response to the craving from the craving itself. Now, wanting a cookie does not automatically mean that I will get a cookie. It just means I want one.
Anyway, so a lot of my willpower and focus is going to the rabbit and the diet. I've been exercising through the week, though not as much as I should have been perhaps. I did run four miles last week, so that's great! Writing remains as slow as ever, but I'm picking up steam on that once again. Reading and meditation are...still very much works in progress.
So that's where I am this week. How are all of you doing?
