Over the Christmas holidays, when Jimmy and I were eating anything that wasn't nailed down which included a lot of gifted and delicious chocolates and things of that evil nature, we gained a little weight. Jimmy borrowed the South Beach Diet book from a coworker and was thinking about doing the diet to drop the weight quickly. I jumped on the bandwagon (the cover says you can lose 8-13 pounds of belly fat in 2 weeks!) and said we'd both do it and we'd do it whole-hog. That meant no cheating, no substitutions, etc for the 2 weeks we agreed to stay on the diet.
So today is Day 1 and I am a carbohydrate junkie who has not had her fix today. This means I am very tired and very cranky. Yesterday I would've bet you a million dollars I wouldn't be tempted by anything I couldn't have today, but can I tell you that if I weren't so upstanding and honest, I would've cheated so big-time today on Jimmy with everything in our snack cabinet. Jimmy would've never known.
This diet is ruthless and doesn't allow for anything I love like Coca-Cola and peanut M&Ms. How can you survive without those things? You can only drink water and decaffeinated tea and coffee. One of the snacks today was a celery stalk with a piece of low-fat cheese stuck in it. Celery is only meant to be eaten with spicy chicken wings and blue cheese dressing. For dessert, we had vanilla ricotta creme. They add the "creme" part to make you think "creme brulee" but this is nothing but ricotta cheese mixed with vanilla flavoring with some fake sugar and it's as awful as it sounds. I thought ricotta cheese was only used in lasagna?!?! As hungry as I was, I had to give part of mine to Jimmy because I could not stomach another bite.
This diet is unnatural and I'm not sure I can last 2 weeks on it. We're now going to reevaluate after 1 week and see if we're happy with our progress. Maybe the scale will make me happy tomorrow. I'm going to bed now before the distant grumblings of my stomach become so loud that they keep me awake.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
a weekend at the beach
Since Jimmy had Monday off for Martin Luther King Day and Mac returns to school next Monday, we decided to go to the beach for the weekend. The only glitch in this plan was that the entire Brazilian population is at the beach (vacation is ongoing since Christmas) and we could not find a reservation anywhere. Then Jimmy got an email from a coworker who had a reservation at a really nice pousada (Brazilian bed and breakfast-type place) but who couldn't go because a friend was unexpectedly coming into town.
We jumped on it because we really wanted to go to the beach and we were hopeful that the extra money we were paying (it was double what we normally pay at our usual beach place) was going to result in a fantastic place that exceeded our wildest imagination.
The pousada enjoys a million-dollar view over Toque Toque Grande Beach that is simply incredible. Exhibit A:
Unfortunately the pousada is located on a beach that is reminiscent of Lions Beach of my childhood. If you're not from Moncks Corner, this reference will mean nothing to you, so allow me to explain. There are some really nice folks on the beach, but you've got one choice of a food vendor and they don't even have really great food. The sand is really coarse and there are little no-see-ums out there that tear your feet and legs up. Exhibit B:
But aside from bug bites and no food, the main problem at this beach for us was that the waves weren't good for Mac. The beach was steep and the waves broke right on the sand, which resulted in Mac getting dumped repeatedly. Learning the power of the ocean was a great lesson (that came with a lot of sand in his hair).
On Sunday, we decided to spend the day at Maresias, a beach about 15 minutes from our pousada. Maresias has a reputation as a beach for young people with lots of nightclubs and noise and general commotion. But it also has food and good waves, so we braved the flesh-baring adolescents and had a fabulous day. Mac made friends with a 10 year-old Brazilian child named Patrick. Patrick proved to be a great playmate for Mac and when we were leaving, Patrick asked if Mac had Orkut (Brazilian Facebook) so they could keep in touch. Um, no. He's 6. He barely knows how to turn the computer on. Exhibit C of a nice day in Maresias:
On Monday, we went to our favorite beach on the Sao Paulo coast: Juquehy. The weather was so spectacular with blue skies, hot sun, and cool, clear water. We couldn't help but have a perfect day. Mac took his first surfing lesson and he seems to be a natural. With a low center of gravity, he maintained great balance and just totally rocked. He said he was an A+ student. Exhibit D and E:
It has been a secret dream of mine for 20 years to take surfing lessons. Jimmy is the only person who's been privy to this dream and he's encouraged me without fail to realize the dream. The problem for me is that a good book on the beach trumps physical activity like surfing any day. Well Mac had his lesson and it went so well that Jimmy asked the school if they had availability for later in the day for me. Shocker- they could take me right then. So I had no time to beg off, make excuses, throw up, etc. Before I knew it, I had the anti-rash shirt on that really screams "I am a student in no control of a very long surfboard that could kill you, me, your young innocent children playing in the shallow water and/or all of us".
So I went out with my instructor and realized that I was older than all of the ages combined of the other students. I also shrieked more than all of them combined. And I did make the embarrassing mistake of getting on the surfboard backwards one time. But that was an honest mistake because the instructor was rushing me to get on before I was ready and I didn't pay attention because we were getting ready to be pummeled by a wave. The good news is that with that flashy shirt on, everybody got out of my way and I didn't kill or injure anybody. AND I RODE WAVES IN. I know, it's shocking. I actually laid down on the board, jumped up when the instructor yelled at me to get up and rode waves in to the shore. So I am pleased to tell you that surfer chicks totally rock, but they can't move the next morning because they engage muscles that they never use. Exhibits F and G:
We jumped on it because we really wanted to go to the beach and we were hopeful that the extra money we were paying (it was double what we normally pay at our usual beach place) was going to result in a fantastic place that exceeded our wildest imagination.
The pousada enjoys a million-dollar view over Toque Toque Grande Beach that is simply incredible. Exhibit A:
Unfortunately the pousada is located on a beach that is reminiscent of Lions Beach of my childhood. If you're not from Moncks Corner, this reference will mean nothing to you, so allow me to explain. There are some really nice folks on the beach, but you've got one choice of a food vendor and they don't even have really great food. The sand is really coarse and there are little no-see-ums out there that tear your feet and legs up. Exhibit B:
But aside from bug bites and no food, the main problem at this beach for us was that the waves weren't good for Mac. The beach was steep and the waves broke right on the sand, which resulted in Mac getting dumped repeatedly. Learning the power of the ocean was a great lesson (that came with a lot of sand in his hair).
On Sunday, we decided to spend the day at Maresias, a beach about 15 minutes from our pousada. Maresias has a reputation as a beach for young people with lots of nightclubs and noise and general commotion. But it also has food and good waves, so we braved the flesh-baring adolescents and had a fabulous day. Mac made friends with a 10 year-old Brazilian child named Patrick. Patrick proved to be a great playmate for Mac and when we were leaving, Patrick asked if Mac had Orkut (Brazilian Facebook) so they could keep in touch. Um, no. He's 6. He barely knows how to turn the computer on. Exhibit C of a nice day in Maresias:
On Monday, we went to our favorite beach on the Sao Paulo coast: Juquehy. The weather was so spectacular with blue skies, hot sun, and cool, clear water. We couldn't help but have a perfect day. Mac took his first surfing lesson and he seems to be a natural. With a low center of gravity, he maintained great balance and just totally rocked. He said he was an A+ student. Exhibit D and E:
It has been a secret dream of mine for 20 years to take surfing lessons. Jimmy is the only person who's been privy to this dream and he's encouraged me without fail to realize the dream. The problem for me is that a good book on the beach trumps physical activity like surfing any day. Well Mac had his lesson and it went so well that Jimmy asked the school if they had availability for later in the day for me. Shocker- they could take me right then. So I had no time to beg off, make excuses, throw up, etc. Before I knew it, I had the anti-rash shirt on that really screams "I am a student in no control of a very long surfboard that could kill you, me, your young innocent children playing in the shallow water and/or all of us".
So I went out with my instructor and realized that I was older than all of the ages combined of the other students. I also shrieked more than all of them combined. And I did make the embarrassing mistake of getting on the surfboard backwards one time. But that was an honest mistake because the instructor was rushing me to get on before I was ready and I didn't pay attention because we were getting ready to be pummeled by a wave. The good news is that with that flashy shirt on, everybody got out of my way and I didn't kill or injure anybody. AND I RODE WAVES IN. I know, it's shocking. I actually laid down on the board, jumped up when the instructor yelled at me to get up and rode waves in to the shore. So I am pleased to tell you that surfer chicks totally rock, but they can't move the next morning because they engage muscles that they never use. Exhibits F and G:
Brazilian proof of that universal truth: Two Wrongs Do NOT Make a Right (especially in a bikini)!
+ 
(But do notice the very safe and protective use of hats to block against the sun!)
Friday, January 16, 2009
time to go back to school
Mac is watching a Tom and Jerry video right now and one of the cartoons shows a bunch of different famous locations. I am in the process of trying to save all the data on my hard drive which crashed last night so was only halfway listening to him name the locations as they showed them. I was starting to think he was the most geographically gifted 6 year-old in the world as he rattled off Mt. Everest, the Great Wall, the Eiffel Tower, Death Valley, etc. as they showed each location on Tom and Jerry's adventure. The thoughts of geographic giftedness ended when I heard him call the Leaning Tower of Pisa the Leaning Tower of Pizza and Spaghetti!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
and the hits keep coming...
After nearly a month of not hearing anything from the American agency we were hoping to adopt through, I decided to be a pest and contact them today. Turns out they sent us a note on December 31 but we haven't received it yet. Beyond the pleasantries, the letter says they regret to inform us that at this time they are not able to work with families living outside the United States.
Will we ever win for losing?
I am so disappointed and frustrated and I am now attempting to eat an entire can of Brazilian Pringle substitutes and drink 2 liters of Coca Cola. I hope I don't get any bad news next week after we start the South Beach Diet - there is no room for comfort food on that plan.
Will we ever win for losing?
I am so disappointed and frustrated and I am now attempting to eat an entire can of Brazilian Pringle substitutes and drink 2 liters of Coca Cola. I hope I don't get any bad news next week after we start the South Beach Diet - there is no room for comfort food on that plan.
Will this school vacation ever end?
As you know, Mac attends an American school here in Sao Paulo. Although the Brazilian school system runs from February to December (to correlate to their southern hemispheric summer), Mac's school follows an American calendar, running from August to June.
Except for this interminable Christmas holiday. School ended for the Christmas holidays on December 12 and doesn't start back until January 26. In case you're counting, which we are and have been since December 15, that's 30 - yes 30 - weekdays (although in all fairness, three of those were holidays for Jimmy and so shouldn't count). We don't count weekends because the reinforcement, aka Jimmy, is home.
So we're down to 6 work days nows until school starts back (but one of those is the MLK holiday on Monday so it doesn't really count since Jimmy will be with us). There's a lot that has to happen in 6 days.
1. We're off to get a haircut today as Mac has not had one since the end of October and he's looking pretty furry. Jimmy offered to cut it (remember the beard trimming/clipping set?) and pay Mac what the professional haircut would cost because Jimmy wanted to test his skills, but Mac (remembering the beard trimming/clipping episode) said no.
2. Buy new school pants as Mac has grown and high-waters are still not in style.
3. Get back on the school schedule. For the first time in his life, Mac has been sleeping in! It used to be that no matter how late he went to bed, he was still up by 7am. This Christmas break has provided us with a wonderful and unexpected gift - when he stays up later than his normal bedtime, he sleeps in later than his normal wake-up time. Last night he went to bed about 9pm and slept until 8:45 this morning. It's such a marvelous thing and we didn't even have to wait until he's a teenager!!
We're off to work on that haircut now!
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