PCV Dreams

CNN today featured an article saying women’s purses are lethal, carrying ungodly amounts of lead.

Having lived through countless aching shoulders, all I could think at the headline was, “So tell me something I didn’t already know!”

Of course there was more to it than that. Apparently plastic-based purses are formed of PVC, aka polyvinyl chloride. The same stuff they use for home water lines, you know? No big deal, right?

That’s what you think. Tests of women’s purses contained huge amounts of lead. Like, up to 100 times the limit permitted for kids’ products. So tell me – did your kids ever chew on your purse when they were babies? Have your pets ever decided to snack on your stylish but cheap new handbag?

I thought the catchphrase from Jaws was just a movie: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…”  Paraphrase that for today: “Just when you thought it was safe to do – well, pretty much anything!”

It’s Day One of back-to-low-carb dieting.  I’m not going as gung-ho as I should, probably because to be perfectly honest, I am too flipping stressed and exhausted to put myself through the two-week induction period.  But I’ve stocked up on low-carb, high-fiber options which are undeniably more healthy than the junk food I’ve been stuffing down my throat for entirely too long anyway. And that includes sugar-free sweets to assuage my moments of “What the HELL was I thinking by denying myself chocolate???”

Tonight was fish, asparagus and cottage cheese, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  G ate sparingly of the fish but shared my enthusiasm for the asparagus and traded in his cottage cheese for a baked potato.  Which, I might add, I had no problem declining long as I had the cottage cheese for my white side dish.  Maybe that’s the secret: it’s not only a case of choosing carb control and portion control and counting calories: it’s deceiving the brain to think it’s getting the same food – at least in terms of color – as your non-dieting spouse.

It wouldn’t break my heart to snack a bit, but I’m not actually hungry so I’m ignoring the temptation.  I have a cup of hot unsweetened tea (I have always preferred the unsweetened variety) and my computer, though at the moment my partly-read book is calling my name even more loudly than any snackalicious options. It’s wearing me down, too – think I’ll cave and go curl up with it.

Oh – one quick note before I go.

I didn’t have to transport my erstwhile carpool buddy to go get her vehicle after all; however, I have a follow up story about my other friend, the one who I schlepped across the planet and with whom I spent approximately five hours at a car dealership.

Yesterday morning G announced that the television had gone tits-up in the living room.  The picture itself still existed, as did sound; however, the only colors involved formed a red and green bullseye on the screen.  It was the degaussing element and while theoretically it might’ve righted itself over a bit of time, we weren’t counting on it.  After all, this was a freebie three years ago and we more than got our money’s worth, hehe.

While we do have a second television in the bedroom, it’s a bit shaky too, so we decided to hit Craigslist and thrift stores and try to find a replacement.

My friend Linda texted me out of the blue while we’d made a stop.  She was asking how G and I were doing, just wanted to say hi.  I replied that we were fine and mentioned we were trying to find a television to replace the one on its way to the electronics morgue.

Maybe fifteen seconds later my phone rang telling me not to track any further than her house: she had a TV she couldn’t use and wanted to get rid of it.  So we got a TV for free, right around the proverbial corner!  So we had yet another example of why I believe everything happens for a reason.