My sister loves to digress. In fact without digression in conversations with her, there would be no conversation (it’s so her though so I sorta love it).

Brother #1 is a sap underneath it all (ok, I already knew this).

Brother #2 has no idea what to get his girlfriend for Christmas, and is hoping I’ll find it for him.

If I don’t stop writing right now I’m going to be serenaded by a beeping horn (well, by a telephone call).

Here’s how I’ve done so far:

Sunday night: 3 hours of sleep
Monday night: 8 hours of sleep
Tuesday night: 5.5 hours of sleep

When you add a recent development of a runny nose and watery eyes to the mix, I feel very sleep deprived.

So tonight has to be catch up night (even though apparently you can’t catch up on sleep). After work I’m going to drop the car off at my parents’ place then head home. I intend to be snoring by 11pm, so that I’ll be fresh as a daisy when I wake up at 7:30am.

While I’m here, I need to update you on Sunday’s date. The plan was for us to go to a movie on Sunday afternoon. My job was to find out movie times, and he would call on the weekend to confirm the time we’d be meeting. It was nearly noon on Sunday and I hadn’t heard from him (and I had received a dinner invitation), so I sent him a text message letting him know which show I’d like to go to. His reply was “Sorry am not feeling well maybe next week?” If we ignore the obvious lack of punctuation and my personal dislike of using “am” when “I’m” or “I am” would do (hehe, I’m joking! I don’t judge men on the quality of their text messages), I was insulted that he didn’t let me know he was sick ahead of time. Since we had agreed on an afternoon movie, when was he planning on letting me know?

I don’t mind that he canceled; my problem is that I’m not sure that he would have let me know had I not contacted him. The reason I say that is if he was planning to let me know, when I contacted him a few hours before our meeting time, he could have said something along the lines of “I was just about to call/text you”. My reply to him was to not reply. It felt like the right thing to do.

• the Hope necklace — see it here [Bella Wish]
• a book (but I was away in Nigeria at the time so another winner was drawn) [Superhero Designs]
• hair milk and a soap bar that I unfortunately can’t link to because the blog hates me right now [Amina]
• a sweet pair of earrings as a consolation prize for not winning the main prize [Stitchify]
• a clutch (well, my alter ego won it) [Gidan Nodza]
• (again, through my alter ego) a Burt’s Bees beauty set [Onada]

What this tells me is that I need to have more giveaways myself, and share the love! I had one on my other blog but I don’t think I’ve had one here. Oh yeah, I used to, a long time ago!

I love the idea of giving away something handmade (although my friend who bought my marble magnets had an issue with the glue quality — mortifying!). I have been trying to muster up my creative juices because Oh My Gosh, Christmas is almost here and I still have not designed a single card. I could make them completely by hand but I really wanted to use my snazzy new printer but the free design programs I’ve gotten my hands on are very intimidating and (insert more grumbling). Anyway, I need to spend less time reading blogs/facebook/twitter updates and spend more time with a pen and paper and the aforementioned design programs. I know I can do it if I just put my mind to it…so it’s about time I do it already!

It’s bedtime.

Anyway, I’m feeling better now, and I’m actually awaiting a dinner guest…actually I think I’m the guest because she will be cooking for me or maybe I’ll be her assistant. I’m not sure how I managed to get my own in-house cook for the night, but I’m thinking the bible verse “Ask and you shall receive” has something to do with it. Actually I didn’t hear from her today so perhaps she came to her senses and realized that leaving her own beautifully set up condo to come to my junky place, cooking me dinner, listening to me whine about body issues and my general dissatisfaction, then driving home in the rain didn’t have much in the way of benefits to her. My fingers are crossed, and I’m setting up the ingredients for chicken parmigiana anyway. Cross your fingers for me!

Today’s outfit would be the perfect picture to accompany this entry but I can’t do that to myself (talk less, to you). Suffice to say, I’m wearing navy pants that are a smidgen short with a red turtleneck that is at least six inches too short everywhere, including the sleeves. It covers my stomach but a sharp gasp or reaching to scratch my ear exposes a lovely expanse of brown jiggly belly. It’s going into the wash and onto my shelf of clothing for giveaway ASAP. The good news is a not-too-stylish, plus-sized petite person will get a lot of use out of it.

I also think this particular style of bra that has served me well for the past five plus years is no longer doing it for me, though to be fair I think gravity is also playing a large role in why I’m displeased. I am seriously seeking a permanent, non-surgical breast lift so if you have any leads in that direction, please let me know. The thought that I may lose some weight in the chest area should be reason enough to have me hopping on the treadmill but well, I have a reputation around these parts where exercise is concerned.

But enough of that: all these things I envy in others — body, hair, makeup, skin, wardrobe — come with hard work. Sure, some are blessed and come by their clear skin naturally, or they may have wash and go hair, but they usually do their part by eating food that is good for their skin, or spending extra money to get a cut that will fall just so. And crafting the perfect wardrobe is time consuming and often requires stops at many stores over many months or even years to find all the pieces required for a stellar wardrobe. And then there’s the whole eating healthy and exercising consistently to get a body that looks good in said clothing.

I have to stop hoping for a magic (and quick) pill to fix it all. Nothing I want to improve in my life has a quick fix attached to it. Annoying, sure, but that’s what real life is like.

He had called after our June date but didn’t leave a message, so I didn’t feel obliged to call him back. When he called tonight he asked why I hadn’t called him back and I told him that I don’t call back people who don’t leave messages. I think he got the message. I also told him about how distracted he appeared during our date and he apologized and told me that he is easily distracted and he’s aware of that. To be fair, he said the same thing during our date, after I gave him a pointed look or two.

He’d like to go on a second date. I’m amused because it’s been five months since our first meeting and I guess boredom led him to go through his list of contacts, see my name and decide to call me. We will be going to see 2012 on the weekend. I think best case scenario he wants a girlfriend, but he would also be happy to have someone to do things like go to the movies with. He was a nice enough guy and I have no fear that he will chop me up into tiny pieces so I said yes to the movie. He knows where I stand with regard to the importance of chemistry before I embark on a relationship and he’s ok with being friends, but we’ll see about that: he seems to feel that the best relationships develop from a friendship so he may be trying to try that tack with me. I plan to pay for my movie ticket and popcorn though.

I remember when I talked about this date with my single colleagues (more than half of whom are now in relationships!), the consensus was that he wasn’t worth going on a second date with, at least from the point of view of possibly getting a boyfriend out of the process. Back then I felt like I owed him a second date just to make sure that some of the things that raised my eyebrow (at least inwardly) weren’t due to first date jitters brought on by being faced by the beauty that is Jummy. Now I’m just looking at movies with him as a change from my usual weekend routine.

I’ve also eaten out a lot in the past week. In the past six months I’ve been eating out less, and I was actually enjoying the routine of coming home and using the meagre contents of my kitchen to whip up something and experiment a bit. Because I’ve been getting home later, and I still haven’t gotten used to taking the meat that I want to use for a meal out the night or morning before I need to cook it, I turned to mini egg rolls, potstickers and breaded chicken for dinner instead of rice with a healthy side of broccoli, or my new veggie, steamed spinach. The good news is that I’m nearly out of unhealthy frozen food so I’ll be keeping it out of the house, just like I need to do with candy.

I’m not pleased with the sharp increase in the cost of veggies but this is a case where I’ll have to “suck it up” and pay premium prices for food that will be good for my insides, even if it means paying $2 for a head of broccoli that I paid 79 cents for a month and a half ago.

Of the unhealthy decisions I have made regarding what I put into my mouth, sugar is probably the one having the greatest negative effect on my body (and if I’m not careful, eventually my health). I feel like I’m ruining my skin, especially my face. Subconsciously I’ve let that knowledge be balanced by the “fact” that darker skin seems to hold up better than fairer complexions against aging elements, and I sort of used that as an excuse to eat whatever crap I wanted. Now that I’m nearly 30.5, I can see my face losing its youthful look. I’m a dermatologist’s dream due to all the wonderful eruptions going on on my face: whiteheads, blackheads, random stray hairs, oiliness, pain pimples, enlarged pores, often going on at the same time. I pick the aforementioned, which results in scarring. I touch my face too much which only encourages new breakouts. And I haven’t used the products my dermatologist recommended to me with any regularity so it’s no surprise my face is upsetting me.

But the best thing about life is that you can almost always have a do-over. I know that I am addicted to sugar and until I can find a way to release myself from that dependency, I will face this struggle regularly. Nothing wrong with a little struggling; I just have to make sure I don’t let sugar win.

The area of town I live in is teeming with young families and many children, and I guess it’s both a big and small enough area that they were able to have this parade. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a parade so it was pretty neat to see floats(!!) and bag pipers and santas and decorated cars and trucks making their way down my long street, turning the corner and marching on through the main streets of the city. I actually thought I was dreaming when I was woken from my pre-dinner nap by Christmas music and flashing lights that were reflected on the walls of my bedroom (since I still don’t have curtains up).

I took a few pictures but it was dark out and I still don’t know how to use my camera in those sort of settings, so the pictures are pretty blurry. I’ll add a few to this entry if I get my act together.

Despite all the people in the area, you don’t really get to see them, especially as the weather cools. Thanks to tonight’s mild weather, there were HUNDREDS of people out, with strollers, blankets and folding chairs. I’m sure some next-door neighbours met each other for the first time too. I didn’t stick around long, just enough to snap some pictures, but next year I may sit on my stoop for a bit and talk to my neighbour as we watch the floats pass by.

- – - -
Thanks for the comments on the last entry. I know I can do the 5km run/walk, but I don’t want to do it unless I destroy my time for last year’s run/walk (50 minutes, 4 seconds). That will definitely not happen unless I commit to a fairly rigorous schedule, one that should involve joining a program like the Running Room’s learn to run program, I’m thinking. So, this isn’t an actual dilemma so much as a decision waiting to be made by me. There’s also the part of me that didn’t enjoy asking for sponsors last year and is reluctant to ask again, but it’s not like the money’s for me, right? It’s for the cause!

Bath and Body Works has been open in our corner of the world for about two weeks now, and my sister and I went to check it out. It was full of people, as popular places often are, and I got some great smelling candles. I refrained from buying their excellent antibacterial soaps because I’m heading to the States in two weeks and I want to see if there are better deals there.

Today is also World Diabetes Day, a day I remembered because of twitter (which can be a great way to keep abreast of what’s going on in the world, by the way). Two years ago, I made the commitment to do the 5km run/walk. I want to commit to this again because the cause remains close to my heart and I need some motivation to get more physical activity (nothing new there!), but the lazy part of me is tempted to just volunteer at the water station on race day.