Metabolism

I love weetbix. Just like any good Australian. I love them with a little bit of brown sugar, and enough milk that the outside softens just a touch, but the inside is still crunchy. This necessitates eating them rather quickly.

The fact that I love weetbix so much, is actually one of the reasons I haven't eaten them for a few years. I love them TOO much.

Something that is often asked on ads is how many weetbix you can eat. The serving suggestion is 2, but many sportsmen claim to eat 6, or 8. Football players mostly, big burly guys that you expect to eat half a cow for dinner and still have room for dessert. Or swimmers, who burn so much energy they are constantly eating just to stay in shape.

When I was 18, I would eat 10.

10 weetbix for breakfast. With sugar and milk. A cup of milk with each set of weetbix. Eaten by 2, that makes over a litre. A good tablespoon of sugar spread over the two weetbix, 5 times over, makes half a cup. and then I would have a glass of orange juice.

This didn't stop me eating during the rest of the day, either. When I was at school, I would eat two sandwiches for lunch - thats 4 slices of bread, 2-4 slices of cheese, and 2-4 slices of ham. Plus an apple, plus a muesli bar. And a glass of juice with lunch.

When I was working for my father, at 19, I didn't often have sandwiches for lunch. Instead I'd go to the local bakery and get a loaf of their cheese and bacon bread. And a sweet bun. And a 600ml carton of chocolate milk. And eat it all.

Dinner wasn't any better. If we had pizza, I would eat a pizza. By myself. Thin crust, yes, but not home-made, and I'd eat 1/3 of the loaf of garlic bread too. Milk with dinner as well.

Sometimes I made myself pasta - from a packet. You know the kind - add milk, water and butter, microwave for 10 minutes. Serves four. I'd eat the whole packet, plus a couple slices of bread to mop up the sauce.

What did I look like when I used to eat so much?


I looked like that. That is a 17 year old Sarah. Who hadn't started eating 10 weetbix at a time yet, but would regularly eat 6 (with all the accompanying sugar and milk) and one time ate 4 cheeseburgers, 20 chicken nuggets, 3 large fries and a thickshake within half an hour, then went to the movies and had a large popcorn and three packets of sweets (snakes, maltesers and violet crumbles for anyone wondering). I looked approximately the same until I had my son when I was 22.

HOW COULD I LOOK LIKE THAT????? On a day when I ate 10 weetbix for breakfast (with milk, sugar, and orange juice), pullapart for lunch (with finger bun and chocolate milk), and pizza for dinner (with garlic bread and milk) I would easily consume 5000 calories. Thats nearly 3 times what my current suggested intake is.

I HATE my metabolism.

Adressing the Skirt Issue

**Bible quotes taken from NIV unless stated otherwise**

I have a comment on the post about dressing the baby:

Anonymous said...

request lodged for clarification of reasoning: not wearing pants.

expressions of gratitude for same tendered.

Since I only know one person who talks like that, I know who posted it, but since she's chosen to remain anonymous, I'll not out her. I will give the clarification requested however.

The bible clearly tells us that we are to dress modestly:

1 Timothy 2(9-10)

9I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

Lets have a look at modesty.

From Wikipedia:

Modesty is most often rendered as humility, shyness, or simplicity. The general principles of modesty include:

• Avoiding attracting attention to oneself by moderating one's actions or appearance;
• Downplaying one's accomplishments (see humility);
• Avoiding insincere self-abasement through false or sham modesty, which is a form of boasting.

and:

Standards of modesty usually discourage the non-essential exposure of the human body. This applies to the bare skin, hair and undergarments, and especially to intimate parts. The standards not only call for the covering of parts of the body, but also obscuring their shape, by means of suitable clothing. There are also standards covering the changing of clothes (such as on a beach), the closing or locking of the door when changing or taking a shower, etc..

For me, dressing modestly means keeping myself covered, to a certain degree. Not "showing off the goods" as it were.

• I aim to dress neatly, to look nice - not to have people (men especially) staring at me because my bust is about to fall out the top of my shirt, or the entire world can see what colour underwear I have on.
  
• I do not wear sleeveless tops, because I feel uncomfortable with everyone seeing my arms like that. I also rarely wear short-sleeved tops, reserving them for very hot days.
  
• If I feel the neckline on a top is too low, I wear a singlet underneath. Too low means my bra is showing, my cleavage is showing, or I would simply feel uncomfortable if someone was staring there (then again I would feel uncomfortable if someone was staring anywhere for extended periods of time, wondering what was wrong with me.. but you get the point). I have a few tops that fit this criteria, but are otherwise fine, so I just toss a singlet underneath.
  
• I avoid button-up shirts, because I cannot find any that fit me well. If they fit properly over the bust, the waist is far too big and I look frumpy. If they fit at the waist, the buttons pop over the bust and I look like a tart. Neither fits my aim of "neat and nice".
• I do wear fitted tops. Loose and baggy makes me look and feel frumpy, and does not fit in with "neat". Note there is a difference between "fitted" and "tight". If everyone can see whether my bra is embroidered or not, precisely where my belly button is, and all the flab from having 2 children, thats tight. If people can see where my waist is, and I do not look like I've lost weight but never bothered to buy smaller clothes, thats fitted.
• I do not wear pants. Every pair of pants I've ever tried on is too tight in the front and too loose in the back. There may be some out there that fit me properly, but I probably can't afford them. I've also never found a top that looks nice when standing, but is long enough to cover any waistband-falling-down in the back when sitting. Other people can pull of the long top look, I just look like an idiot. If that wasn't enough, baggy pants look stupid on me, and fitted ones just scream at the world to stare at my butt. Not want I want.
  
• Skirts are A-line. Not only does a tight skirt still scream at the world to stare at my butt, I just look plain stupid. Everyone can see what kind of underwear I have on, and the not-so-slimness of my legs, also I have broad hips and end up looking a very peculiar shape. An A-line skirt is flattering on almost everyone, can easily be dressed up or down depending on what you wear with it, and they seem to be in fashion at the moment, so they're easy enough to find.
  
• Skirts come to below the knee. The longer the skirt, the less chance of it blowing up and showing things you didn't want shown. The knee also provides a handy reference point. If you don't have a set length, its a lot easier to say "Well, I don't think thats as long as what I usually wear, but its probably OK," and before you know it, you're wearing a glorified belt.
• A slip is worn under un-lined skirts. I have a few skirts that are unlined. One is a nice chocolate linen, that just happens to let the light shine through. A skirt is not very modest if everyone can see everything through it when I walk past a light. I have another, thicker, skirt, that is unfortunately pale enough that everyone can see the colour of my underwear. A slip comes in handy here. A slip is also handy for very windy days. my slips are all tighter fitting that my skirts, and no matter how much my skirt blows up, the slip will not. I do not always wear a slip because of modesty however. I have a lovely, thick, dark brown corduroy skirt that certainly doesn't need a slip to be modest - but the seams make my legs itch.
  

Its not just about the clothes though. Remember, modesty is also "Avoiding attracting attention to oneself by moderating one's actions or appearance". To this end, I do not wear a lot of jewellery. I wear my wedding and engagement rings, a necklace my husband gave me when he proposed, and earrings to match my clothes. Occasionally, I wear a necklace to match the earrings. This is not because of the "gold or pearls" bit. I do not believe this instructions bars us from jewellery. I do believe that too much or too flashy jewellery can draw attention to us, undoing any modesty our clothes may display. If I'm wearing 17 gold chains and fluro-pink earrings the size of dinner plates, I am not dressed modestly, even if I'm wearing a burqa. (I also do not wear a lot of bright colours. This is not so much about modesty as it is about comfort. I do not feel comfortable, or look good, in bright colours. I look good in brown, so you'll find a lot of it in my wardrobe.)

Back to skirts. A lot of people reference Deuteronomy 22 (5) as a reason not to wear pants.

5 A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.

I don't. For a start, there is too much difference between clothing in different cultures to simply say "Pants are boys clothes. Skirts are girls clothes." Fijian men wear a garment that is, to all intents and purposes, a skirt. (So do some Scots.) Even in european culture, trousers are a relatively recent innovation. Yes, in recent times, men have worn pants while women wear skirts, but prior to that, everyone wore dress-like garments. Can we therefor say women shouldn't wear dresses because men used to? Of course not. Its silly. Women now wear pants. Pants that are made specifically for women. They are women's clothing, like it or not. That doesn't make them modest, or feminine, but it does negate the "girls clothes/boys clothes" argument. Clothing is always changing, and I do not think "pants are boy's clothes" is a reasonable argument. "Pants reveal more of a woman's body-shape than is modest" however, is a reasonable argument, and its my reason.

Sometimes I Disturb Myself

Yesterday, my fever-stricken Critterbug was watching TV while I did the washing (oh the joys of cloth nappies). One of the odder shows was on, one called "Sitting Ducks". Ducks who are friends with an alligator who get teased by the other alligators because he doesn't eat the ducks - he is vegetarian.

This led to one of my peculiar-almost-instantaneous-though-processes. I went through the following in the time it took to lean over and put one item in the washing machine:

• Vegetarian alligator.. Fully vegetarian, or would he eat fish?
• Things that eat fish usually taste kinda fishy.
  
• Hey remember that giant guinea-pig type thing that is classified as a fish?
  
• Probably looks kinda funny swimming around.
• Hippos certainly do.
  
• Hippos are cute.
• I wonder what a hippopotamus tastes like?

even more you never needed to know about me

well its taken me over a year to get another 100 posts, so i figure its time to bore everyone with useless information about myself again.

that and i was going to go to bed early but my hips are hurting and the baby is being uncomfortable so i figure i might as well stay in relative comfort (compared to the pain of lying in bed) on the reclining chair for as long as possible.

1. i learned german at school for 5 years.
   
2. ive forgotten most of it.
3. and yet i still occasionally use german words instead of english.
4. i always wanted to learn spanish, because my mother speaks it.
5. i also learned french, indonesian, latin, and mandarin for 8 weeks each - we took each of the 5 languages for 8 weeks, then picked which we wanted to continue with.
6. i have rather large feet.
7. my second toe is longer than my big toe.
8. i have very high arches.
9. i HATE wearing shoes. my feet are perpetually filthy because i only wear shoes if im 'out'. not outside the house, out as in somewhere else. i dont wear shoes outside unless its high bindii season, and i only wear shoes inside if im too tired to take them off.
   
10. i find it incredibly difficult to put on a pair of socks that ive already worn. i can wear worn clothes if necessary, but worn socks make me want to gag.
    
11. even if i only wore them for 5 minutes before taking them off, and didnt put shoes on.
12. i used to learn piano.
13. i never practiced.
14. the teacher said i played very well.
15. i wince when i hear people hit off notes while singing.
16. except my husband, because im used to it.
17. i sing very quietly, partly because i CANT sing loud, partly because i dont want to hear myself hitting off notes
18. i cant stand hearing recordings of my voice - talking or singing. i hate my accent, and dont think it sounds anything like me.
19. my voice is deeper than it sounds to me.
20. i am very, very pale. i mentioned this in the last list, but its worth mentioning again.
21. i can, in fact, get sunburned in the time it takes to hang out one load of wash.
22. i had a tan once. a recognisable tan that is. i was about 10, and we spent a month on the gold coast. i do actually have a tan at the moment, but you wouldnt believe me unless you saw how dark my arm is compared to my stomach, and you aint seeing my stomach.
23. speaking of stomachs, ive only developed ONE new stretch mark this time round. WOOOOOOOOO!! possibly this is because ive only gained about 12kg, instead of the 25 i gained last time - lots of which was swelling might i add. but still, WOOOOOOOOOOO!! (even though i started out a lot heavier than i did last time too.. shhhh.)
    
24. my skin heals so slowly however that the old ones are still very visible so it doesnt really matter.
25. at age 13, my hips were bigger than my mother's were in her 30s.
26. and i was skinny when i was 13.
27. i am built to carry children - strong legs, strong back, broad hips.
    
28. judging from the pain, my body forgot this after critter was born. i didnt have anywhere near this much pain last time round.
29. i have naturally very loose joints, so the joint-loosening-pregnancy-hormones wreak havoc on me.
30. after critter was born i couldnt lift anything without my wrists strapped for over a year.
31. i cant do pushups because my wrists are too weak to support me.
    
32. im working on strengthening them.
33. i did ballet for 11 years.
34. i had to have 6 months of half hour one-on-one lessons consisting of nothing but ankle strengthening exercises before they would let me go en pointe because my ankles were so weak.
35. if i sit on the floor with my legs stretched in front of me and straighten them as far as they will go - ie. backs of knees on the floor - my heels are about 3 inches in the air.
36. my arms bend in a similar way.
37. i can touch my thumb to my arm.
38. i can tuck my thumb behind my fingers.
39. i dont really think its that big a deal, but everyone else thinks its amazing.
40. i find it difficult to type when my nails are short because i can feel the keys too much.
41. i hate sensation on my fingertips, so i keep my nails long to protect them from feel.
42. i had my ear pierced at about 8. i think. id have to get my school photos out to be sure, and i cant be bothered.
    
43. i had my other ear pierced at 24.
44. i think the first one must have hit a nerve, because it made me throw up, and i dont remember it hurting that much.
45. my husband just sent me a text and made me near jump out of my skin.
46. i think i dont have the footrest on this chair up high enough.
    
47. because i can feel my ankles and toes beginning to swell.
48. but oddly, not my feet.
49. good golly my phone is loud!!!!!!
50. i have never broken a bone.
51. wait.. i have. my nose.
52. possibly more than once.
53. its a little crooked, very sensitive to touch, and sometimes a little hard to breathe through.
54. if i ever had plastic surgery, it would be to straighten my nose so i didnt have to breathe through my mouth.
55. my ears are at different heights.
56. very noticeable when i put glasses on and can see over the rim on the right lens, but not the left.
57. my eyelashes are long enough that i have to wear glasses far enough down my nose to be uncomfortable because otherwise my eyelashes brush the lenses and it feels creepy.
58. actually, if i look up, my eyelashes just about touch my eyebrows.
59. but then my eyebrows are pretty thick, so...
60. there is a lot of food i wont eat.
61. some of it is because of flavour, some is texture.
62. eg. i love the flavour of oranges, and drink orange juice everyday, but cannot eat oranges. the feeling in my mouth makes me gag. also if the juice is pulpy. only in the last year or two have i got to the point where i could eat mashed potatoes.. the feel put me off.
    
63. when i was 2, i reached onto the table and pulled my mother's bowl of soup off and spilled all down my front.
64. the skin bubbled and the hospital put me in gauze wrappings.
65. i have no visible scarring, but the skin where i was burned is a little less sensitive than elsewhere, and doesnt tan (although as previously mentioned, you'd hardly notice anyway).
66. i also cant eat soup.
67. i have had 4 stitches, not related to childbirth. (i dont know how many i had when i tore having the kid. i thought i counted about 30, hubby insists it was only 15. probably somewhere between. i needed three shots of anaesthetic to get them all, i know that.)
    
68. one just above my hairline, when i smashed my head on the corner of a windowsill after jumping on my parents bed and falling off at about 18 months old.
69. 3 on the back of my knee, where a removed mole turned into a HUGE horrible purple scar and was removed, when i was about 6.
    
70. i dont go under very easily with general anaesthetic. when i had the scar on my leg removed, i didnt fall asleep until the operation was over, though i didnt feel it.
71. i get this from my father, who also doesnt zonk. my mother on the other hand doesnt wake up easily. first one in, last one out, and still groggy.
72. i have tea-stain birthmarks on my legs.
73. i have freckles on one shin, but not the other.
74. also my shoulders.
75. there is a tiny piece of oyster shell or gravel or something in my right foot.
76. the only pants i wear are pyjamas, and they all have eeyore on them.
77. i love eeyore. (the spellcheck wants to correct this to eyesore. that makes me giggle.)
    
78. i didnt have a boyfriend until i was 16 (rather unusual amongst my friends).
79. i regret him.
80. and the next two.
    
81. i met my husband a month or so before his 23rd birthday, and we started going out within a couple weeks.
    
82. that was nearly 6 years ago.
83. we moved in together when we'd been going out for 9 months.
84. a month later i got pregnant.
85. but we didnt realise (or were too scared to confirm it, take your pick) for 2 months.
86. positive pregnancy test 5 days before our 1 year anniversary, after a couple weeks of denial.
    
87. 4 months later we got married and moved to australia. (BACK to australia for me, since im from here anyway.)
    
88. i do not recommend having a wedding (4+ hours drive away from home, with your mother- and brother-in-law in the SMALL CAR as well as yourself and husband, and hence no room to stretch), packing up a home, and moving halfway across the world at 6 months pregnant. the car ride was particularly not fun. MIL is a worrywort, BIL was a surly teenager, i was dead tired and had a baby playing soccer with my bladder, hubby was concentrating on driving and ignoring his mother at the same time, and we were in a ford focus. at least on the plane i could get up and go to the loo whenever i needed. there arent many places to stop and pee on the road from las vegas to lancaster CA.
    
89. i also do not recommend high blood pressure during pregnancy. not fun.
90. i do recommend chocolate.
91. and glace cherries.
92. and cheese.
93. not just while pregnant. these are good foods ALWAYS.
94. when i was 19 and tired of everything, i grabbed a pair of scissors, and cut my hair till it was about 2 inches long all over.
95. this is much recommended over other things i could have done with those scissors.
96. i much prefer having long hair, although it is currently refusing to get much longer than my shoulder blades.
97. when i was 10 i could nearly sit on my hair.
98. i cheat with the colour. its naturally a sort of goldish-light-brown-blond colour... every couple months i go to the hairdresser and make it more blond, though for a while there i was making it darker. or trying to.
    
99. i dyed it black once. needed 2 packets of dye, left in for an hour before the colour would stick, and it washed out in about 2 weeks. it was supposed to last for ages, but my hair doesnt accept dark very well. even done professionally at the hairdresser it fades to half strength in about 3 washes.
    
100. i will never dye my hair black again, because apart from not being worth the trouble, my husband prefers my hair light, and i would do anything to make him happy.