Thursday, June 20, 2013

Weight, Weight...Don't Tell Me...

Everybody has their demons…some people just hide them better than others. To the casual passerby, you may appear utterly carefree and well adjusted, while on the inside, an epic battle is waging on, that sometimes threatens to tear your heart, your soul, your sanity…or maybe just your afternoon…asunder. Society tells us to chin up and mosey along…don’t let it get you down…mind over matter…but what do you do when your mind is exactly what is the matter?

I like to joke. I’m snarky and ironic and oh-so tongue-in-cheek. I’m a proud mother and will gladly bore you with endless stories about my kids. I’m a happy wife, and can regale you with tales, both good and not so good about my spouse. I’m a runner, and will drone on and on about this race or that, until you have snuck out of the room, and I may not even notice. I can prattle on endlessly about my job, Doctor Who, the weather and the newest trends in hair care. All the while, a silent battle is waging on in my head.

I don’t suspect that this is all that different from anyone else. It’s not like I believe that you are sitting there, listening the whole time, without thoughts of something else running through your head. I know you are thinking about what you need from the grocery store. And that’s just fine. Or maybe you are fighting your own demon.

I have been wanting to talk about my demon here for some time…but I just couldn’t quite figure out how to introduce it. Maybe because I am afraid it would seem trivial…or self-serving. Or maybe because I am afraid that you will think it is something brought on by vanity. Maybe because by owning up to it, I would somehow seem…”less”. But then, I got to thinking, this is my space. This is my voice. If anyone is allowed to sing the blues here, and sing them off-key, it’s me. I’ve already relinquished the space in my head to this little monster for too many years, why let it win here too? So instead, today, I am calling it out…ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to today’s sponsor, Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Body Dysmorphic Disorder, this is everyone. Now, play nice.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a mental illness wherein the sufferer obsesses over a perceived defect, or collection of defects, to the point that it causes a great deal of distress and can inhibit occupational and social function. It doesn’t matter what the sufferer does to change or improve the perceived defect, to their perception, it never goes away. It’s like there is a tiny chorus of voices in your head, telling you lies, all of the time…sometimes they are relatively soft, and you can drown them out with common sense and logic. Others they bellow loudly, drowning out any other thought. On days when they are screaming, they may even spread out and tell you horrible, malicious things about other aspects of yourself…and it is next to impossible to not hear them. You find yourself looking around, wondering if everyone else knows what they are telling you…and if not, how long until they do.

In my particular case, it is weight. No matter what the numbers on the scale – which I don’t have…it’s much too dangerous and tempting to have one…I’d hang out by it, weighing myself nearly hourly if you let me… - say, no matter what the size on my clothing label reads, no matter what my husband, my friends, complete and utter strangers on the street may say to me…I always look the same to myself in the mirror. And the reflection? Is not a pretty one.

Everybody has “fat days.” I occasionally have “not fat days.” Every once in a blue moon, I will catch a glimpse of myself, from just the right angle, and think “hey, wait…that’s not so bad…” It’s fleeting though. The actual, honest truth of the matter is that I have no idea whatsoever what I look like to you. I cast about constantly, looking at other women, constantly wondering “Am I as big as her?” In some of my weaker moments, I drag my long suffering husband into my crazy and point out other people, asking him, “Am I that size?” I can only imagine that, on some primal level, this feels like a trap…”wait, you are *asking* me to check out other women and compare you? Duuude, no way am I falling for *that*!” Really though, I just want a sense of reality. I am trying to calibrate.

Not that attempting to level set against anyone else really works for long. Friends and acquaintances that I have mentally associated as being “thin” don’t remain so in my eyes, as I approach their size. Instead, I start asking the poor hubster…"Is it me, or has so and so gained A LOT of weight?” Maybe they have…but more often, they have not. It is just my voices telling me that, if I am smaller than they are, they must be practically pre-diabetic.

At my largest, about a year and a half ago, I was a size 12. From what I read, that is about the national average. Completely and utterly normal. Far from obese.

I knew I was bigger than I had ever been…and the labels on the clothing I was buying agreed with that assessment. The scale, not safely hidden away at that time, boldly confirmed my suspicions, proclaiming a number that made me want to cry.

At current, depending upon the brand, I wear anywhere from a 0 to a 4…and sometimes girl’s sizes…where I can wear as small as a 12 in some articles of clothing. I have no idea what I actually weigh. I won’t know until my annual physical, which is still several months off. I have my estimates, but I know that *knowing* would only lead to me needing to constantly monitor whether or not I was maintaining that number.

In the mirror, I am just…heavy. Lumpy. Kind of a big girl. Exactly as I have been for as long as I can remember. My stomach is too “squishy”. My thighs are too thick. My butt is too rounded and jiggly, and my hips too wide. You would think that, being an at least marginally intelligent human being, I would be capable of looking at the change in size and be able to intellectually make the distinction. But I can’t. You would guess that, putting on articles of clothing that were once snug, and having them literally fall off of me would trigger some sense of recognition. But it doesn’t. Instead, this is what the demon tells me:

Those pants stretched out.
They never fit as well as you remembered.
You’re not really a 4, this brand just runs big.
You’re not really a 2, this is just vanity sizing at its worst.
You’re not really a 0, this item must be irregular.
Yeah, it came from the girl’s department, but my how sad that there are girls *this* big...Childhood obesity really is an epidemic.

They have a field day, doing everything that they can, using my own imagination against me, to convince me that I am super-sized. On days that they manage to chisel away my outer layer of confidence, they then start in on a whole host of other traits, both physical and otherwise, and leave me wanting to hide in the back of my closet.

…it all just sounds so…terribly, terribly vain. A first world problem.

“Awwww…poor skinny bitch is afraid her size 4’s are too big…here, let me get you a sandwich.”

Or…”stop fishing for compliments.”

The fact is, I don’t want anyone to say anything about my size. Or theirs. It makes me horribly, terribly, wildly uncomfortable. My perception is so skewed that I haven’t the slightest idea what is real and what is not. And I hate that. It is exhausting. I try to take all of the wonderful things that friends, family and more than anyone else, the hubster say to me and internalize them. More often than not, I let him be the judge of what looks good and what does not, because I know that my own eyes just cannot be trusted. I force myself to look at myself in the mirror and try to find something positive to “say” about what I see. Sometimes, I am there for a very long time. ..but eventually, I find something. And I use that as my talisman for the day…and remind myself that the demon lies. I cling to that, all day long, and try to see what you see…tell myself over and over again that I’m not as bad as they would have me believe.

Maybe someday, I will even believe it.

Friday, April 12, 2013

TBC 1, Mom 0

Scene: Grocery Store
The Boy Child begins meowing.

Mom: "Can you please stop meowing, and just be an 11 year old boy?"

TBC: "What do you mean?"

Mom: "Well, so far this shopping trip, you have been a trusty steed, a ninja, Cthulhu and a cat...can you *please* just be an 11 year old boy until we leave the store?"

TBC, looking at me gravely: "But mom, this *is* what 11 year old boys do."

O_o

Friday, January 25, 2013

Overheard...

We were watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix, and the episode synopsis mentioned that someone *might* be a call girl...

The Boy Child (11) asked me, "what's a call girl?"

I deftly answered "Someone that gets paid to go on dates." He was satisfied with this answer.

The hubster and The Girl Child (9) walked in and said "Oh yeah, your son wants to know what a call girl is..."

I said, "Yeah, I already told him, 'Its someone that gets paid to go on dates.'"

...to which The Girl Child quipped, "Oh, like a hooker."

Send wine. Lots and lots of wine.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

What Doesn't Kale You...

And now...for something completely different and unexpected...a food tutorial type thingy.

Over the last year, the Pandora household has taken to expanding our dietary horizons and eating things we have never tried before. Specifically in the vegetable arena. Out of all of the new veggies that we added to our repertoire, kale is, hands down, the favorite.

Now, it has come to our attention that kale can be gross, if prepared the wrong way. So far, we have been lucky, and seem to have stumbled across a fairly fool-proof kale cooking method. (I hesitate to call it a recipe, as I am way too vague for that shit.)

I am nothing if not candid about the fact that, whenever possible, I'm lazy. For this reason? Unless I have no other option, I will always get the bagged kale, that is pre shredded or whatever. Go ahead, judge me. Heaven knows it won't be the first time.

Great, now that we have properly demonized me, let's dive in.

Large pan, olive oil, Minnie Mouse timer.
Start with a nice, big, deep pan that has a nice snug lid. 

Uncooked kale is fluffy. Cooked kale is not. It shrinks ALOT. 

And if it turns out really well? The last thing you want is to have half a bag of uncooked kale mocking you, while your plate and pan are empty. 

So you want a nice deep pan. Trust me on this. 

Add approximately 2-3 tbsp of olive oil, and heat it for about 2 minutes. 

Add 4-5 (or more, if you either fear vampires or want to repel any errant and unwelcome requests for a kiss) cloves of garlic, minced, or freshly pressed. 

Heat on low, until the garlic starts to get really fragrant...about 1 minute.

Note, this is *not* a heaping quantity.
This is about 1/3 the final heap
Add the kale. Heaping amounts of it. 

Turn it and flip it in the oil/garlic mixture, until it is well coated, then salt it.

Nice, secure lid...
Add about 1/3-1/2 cup of water, and cover the kale. 

Make sure the heat is on LOW, then walk away from it for about 3-5 minutes. Turn on a song, and dance your butt off. I highly recommend Jimmy Eat World, "In the Middle". It's about 3 minutes long.

Open the pan, stir and flip the kale, and sprinkle with rosemary and any other spice of your liking. 

Nom, nom, nom
Stir it, until the kale is evenly coated then re-cover. Ignore it for another 2 minutes or so. I find The Beatles, Blackbird, a great way to pass that time...and I attempt to sing along. This usually clears the room.

Add about 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, then cover again. Let cook for about 2 more minutes, shimmy around to The Kinks, You Really Got Me, remove from the heat and enjoy.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I tend to pick small pieces out, throughout the process and taste them, to determine if I want more salt or rosemary or whatever. I figure every batch is a little different, so go with it. That or I am hungry and have impulse issues. 

Its sure to be one of those.

Jingle This...

Seems December has come and gone, and I was pretty slack about posting...::shrug::. I'm sure you'll get over it, right?
Such a good sport!

So, we kicked off the month in grand form, by running the Jingle Bell Dash for Cash...which was a new race this year...a 10K. Up and at 'em, bright and early, on a frosty December morning, we donned festive running clothes...an elfish get up for me, and a penguin hat for the hubster.

Though you can't see it in the picture, that elf hat has a big ole jingle bell on the end of it. A bell that drove the poor hubster to the verge of insanity. It would jingle-jingle-jingle as I ran, to the point he was just about to grab it and rip it off...when, inexplicably? It'd stop...for just long enough that he would shake the urge to go Hulk-Smash on my hat...at which point it would start up again. (Of course it would, lol)

We stayed together for the whole course, and chatted on and off...when we weren't dying from the seemingly endless uphill. At one point, we had been climbing for what felt like days, and we got to what looked to be the top and a turn. One of the volunteers was standing there, cheering folks on and directing them to the next part of the course. She gleefully shouted "Just take the first right at the top!"

If you're dorky and you know it... ;)
We looked at one another and I said "Did she say top?? You mean we have to keep going up?!?!?" Lol...

We finished the race at a respectable 52:50. Not lighting the world on fire, but certainly not a bad time...at least for us.

After the race, was the awards ceremony. There were cash prizes for top finishers, for costumes and just random drawings. We got lucky, and my named was called for one of the $50 prizes.

All in all, an overall good time.

A fun event, a hilly course and cash prices made this a run that we will definitely look to do again next year.