Saturday, March 29, 2008

Stuff I Love


I have the hands of a little old woman, always have. Add to that the super dry climate of Colorado and life at nearly 8,000 feet, plus the near-constant hand washing that goes with having a little one, and you can probably imagine the skin of my hands. No? Think lizard with a touch of sandpaper thrown in.

I've spent years on a quest for the perfect hand lotion - a container small enough for my bag, a pleasant scent, moisturizing enough but still able to soak into the skin and not cause me to leave an oil slick on every surface I touch. There have been some good ones over the years. Vaseline used to make a FANTASTIC hand lotion, and then they "rebranded" or "reformulated" or some such shit, and it's now not the same. Dr. Hauschka's hand creme is amazing, but at $23 for 1.7 oz, it's a little pricey. A few years ago, I bought a tube of Glysomed and fell in love. It's made in Germany and not easy to find in my local stores, although these days you can find just about anything on the internet (here or here, for example). The tubes come in regular or unscented, but I love the smell and so always buy the regular. Best of all, there is a heavier cream version available in a tub, and I keep that beside my bed and slather it on my hands and feet each night before I go to sleep. I just got a shipment yesterday from Amazon - 3 of the 5 oz tubs for $18. Sweeeeet!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Long Time, No Nothin'

So....where to start?

The baby grows by leaps and bounds. In fact, I think that soon I will no longer be able to refer to him as a baby, he is most definitely moving into toddlerhood (especially if the size of this clothes is any indication - hello, 12-18 mo. toddler pants!). He babbles and he laughs almost constantly. He eats well, sleeps well, and is content to play with a wooden spoon, as long as there is a dog nearby. I fear that we will always have to have a dog from now on, he is so crazy for them. The bigger and slobberrier the better.

I am working again, although not full time. An old colleague reached out to me through a networking site (I should be a poster child for LinkedIn), and now I am working for him about 30 hours a week. I am finding that I quite like part time work, leaves me plenty of time for errands and the occasional breakfast with a friend. However, it's not going to get me out of debt, and that is my 2nd priority right now. I have another friend who has just ventured out on his own, and he will probably be needing my help in the very near future. That should be good for 10 or so billable hours a week. All in all, I think I can start to get back on solid financial footing in the near future. That thrills me.

I'm also taking advantage of having some extra time to swim. My office is just a couple of blocks from a rec center, so I've been going over there every few days when my schedule allows, and I spend 20-30 minutes swimming laps. I've always been a swimmer, both casually and competitively; it's like breathing for me. I feel so peaceful as I move through the water, and it helps to settle my mind while I'm working on slimming my waist. I have been inspired lately by Alison and her Bikram yoga challenge (lord, I am afraid of hot yoga - me+heat=hospital). I've slowly seen weight creeping up for the last few years, and I'm determined to stop that little march in its tracks. I'm not going to be too terribly hard on myself - I gained 38 pounds in pregnancy, I've since lost all of that plus another 14 pounds, but I most definitely have a few more to go to qualify as "hott" again (a designation most important to my darling husband). I always hear the word "challenge" as a shout in my mind, followed by lots of exclamation marks.