Adventures in Dieting

I recently started on the Jenny Craig program. Not because I feel I'm fat or anything, I just feel that I need to be a little healthier in my eating habits. And with my bad knee, I figured it couldn't hurt to lose a few pounds and take some pressure off the injury. (Never fall down the stairs and land on your knees on concrete, trust me on this one.)

So I've been on the program two weeks now and many more months of this are ahead of me. To really lose weight that will stay off, you must lose it slowly. (Too bad it doesn't work that way for gaining weight, huh?) I will say this for paid diet programs, during those moments when my body is screaming for something more than carrots and cauliflower--I think about the obscene amounts of money I paid for the privilege of starving myself in style and my appetite is gone in no time. Not to mention the fact I have to report every bad choice I make to a diet councilor every week. They have this paper where you have write down every mistake as well as the reason WHY you decided to cheat. Somehow, "I just wanted to" doesn't feel like quite as good of an answer as it used to before I had to report it to a complete stranger.

My favorite part is the weighing in each week to see how much (or how little) you've lost that week. I almost died laughing when I saw the big piece of poster board propped up in front of the scale with different kinds of Halloween candy taped to it. Next to each one is listed the unbelievable amount of calories each one has. Very effective, I can tell you. Believe it or not they also have an emergency hot line you can call 24 hours a day and talk to someone who will talk you out of any horrendous splurges you might be contemplating. So far I have not had a midnight crisis so I can't tell you if the diet 911 center is effective or not. But it's nice to know they are there if I need them.

I also have to keep track of how many steps I take each day. Seriously. I have this pedometer that I strap on each morning and have to record my findings each day. My main dieting goal this week was to take more steps than last week. Aim high I always say.

They say I can eat as much as I want as long as the foods I choose are on the free food list. (Spinach, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower are a few examples at the top of the list.) There is no reason I should be hungry at all, my councilor says. Yeah, right! I came home to eat with my parents one night and I was so hungry I ate the entire bowl of cooked chard. My parents just sat there staring on in horrified fascination as I dished out my fourth helping and emptied the bowl.

I was still hungry.

So how are my adventures in the world of dieting panning out so far? Here is the report.

1) I'm starving. (How is it possible for me to be so hungry and not be thin as a rail already?)
2) I'm sick of vegetables. If I never saw another vegetable again in my life, it would be too soon.
3) Jenny Craig food tastes much better than I thought it would. Too bad there is so little of it.
4) Did I mention how much I hate vegetables?
5) I've lost five pounds in two weeks!

Number five is the one that makes all the rest worth while. And it better, because the membership I paid for lasts a full year. Now excuse me while I go cook up another batch of chard--I'm starving.

Spooky Books to Creep You Out

Need something good and creepy to read this Halloween? Look no further. Here is a list of great spooky (and not so spooky) children's stories to haunt you this holiday. I’ve started with the least scary books at the top of the list. As you move down the page, the stories get much scarier. The books at the bottom of the list can cause thrills, chills, and sleepless nights so read at your own risk.

Not-So-Scary Picture Books:
Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara
Hush, Baby Ghostling by Andrea Beaty
Skeleton Bones and Goblin Groans by Amy Sklansky
Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates

Just a Little Bit Scary Books:
Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Schlitz
Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Secret of the Seven Crows by Wylly Folk St. John
Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn
Midnight Magic by Avi

Really Scary Books:
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
Seer of Shadows by Avi
House on Hackman’s Hill by Joan Lowery Nixon
Watcher in the Mist by Norma Johnston
House of Shadows by Andre Norton
Ghost Cat by Beverly Buttler
Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw

Scary as All Get-Out!
Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
Stone Child by Dan Poblocki
Witch’s Sister by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Now get out there and scare yourself senseless!

Great Chemistry Experiments

Truth can be stranger than fiction, especially when it comes to science and nature. Recently the library was putting on a chemistry program and the librarians in charge of it found some really fascinating videos of some experiments being performed on YouTube. I had to share.

Instant Ice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDqIE3ba0GQ

Dry Ice Bubble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CNkxizQuc&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Dry Ice in a bottle (Don't try this at home)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJEF_rOP1U&feature=related

Out of Control Mashmallows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_W3MD6TMto&NR=1

Liquid Nitrogen and a Swimming Pool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCtdW_BDuVI&feature=related

I’ll never look at Gummy Bears in the same light again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUensqImzXM&feature=related


Ice Bulb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7u0axpnhs&feature=related

Glowing Water (I am SO doing this for Halloween this year)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1bA8NUp2vM

Glowing Tomato
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWVmp3eN-Vg&feature=related

Science is awesome!

Halloween Past and Present

I have to work at the library on Halloween this year. Anyone who knows me and my love of all things Halloween, will understand how depressed I am over this. Halloween is a bigger holiday than Christmas in my family. We used to be known as "The Scary House" in our neighborhood growing up. I have more Halloween decorations than Walmart does. Seriously.

One Halloween my sister talked me and some of our friends into being in one of those haunted houses that people pay to go through and get scared to death. Let me tell you, people who are scared are dangerous. We were supposed to hide behind this wall and grab people's feet as they walked by these hidden openings. We learned pretty quickly to grab and move back because people's first reaction when their foot is grabbed is to kick back. HARD.

The other thing we were supposed to do was lay down in this hidden loft just above people's heads and pop out, pretending to grab at them from above. One of the girls who was helping us bent over to frighten a large group of teenage girls and accidentally fell out of the loft right into the middle of them with the loudest thump you've ever heard. Talk about screaming--all ten of those girls hauled it out of there so fast they never did realize that it wasn't something that had been planned. You could still hear their screams in the distance as they ran the rest of the way through the haunted house. I don't think they stopped until they were all the way back outside. My friend got up and dusted herself off and got right back up into the loft as if nothing had happened.

Got any great Halloween memories to share? I'd love to hear them in comments.

Don't be Afraid: Halloween Scares

Okay, maybe it is a little mean to scare the pants off of your loved ones and video tape it, but then we wouldn't have such great viral videos to send around to one another. Click the links below to see some hilarious videos of people getting the snot scared out of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYcmsTedS_Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9IdVrUyaR8

The one I love best is where the kid smacks the monster in the face with his trick or treat bag. I guest kids just don't scare as easily these days.

Absolutely Facinating (Part Three)

I love a good mystery which would probably explain why I love learning about the strange but true things that often go on in this universe. As a librarian, I find myself stumbling onto some of the most curious facts and bizarre occurrences. Kids love this stuff, and their enthusiasm has rubbed off on me.

The Mystery Hum - Did you know there are certain places in the world where residents hear a strange humming noise from time to time? The only problem is, the sound can not be recorded on any audio equipment and there doesn't seem to be any reason for the sound. Click the link below to read more about this strange phenomenon.

http://www.qsl.net/w5www/taoshum.html


The Palenque Mask - You'll have to click on the link below if you want to learn about this one, it's too bizarre to explain in five sentences or less.

http://www.stateoftheart.nl/phenomenon/frames/subjects/civi/mayan/palmask/palmaskmain.htm

The Winchester Mystery House - I've actually visited this strange aberration of architecture when I was young. They used to hold charity drives where people would pay to play hide and seek in the house on Halloween. I really wish I could have been a part of that. I did not see any ghosts while there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dy0TnZ_vpk



Bizarre Meteorological Phenomena - There is some pretty wild stuff going on in nature. Click the link below to see some of the most unbelievably fascinating weather phenomena of the natural world.

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/most-bizarre-meteorological-phenomena/6091

Panama Creature - A wierd creature was found and killed in Panama. (Warning: the photos of the dead creature's body are a little freaky looking. The squeemish might want to skip this one.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1214182/Remember-Monster-washed-ashore-Terrified-teens-claim-beat-new-mysterious-beast-death-Panama.html

It looks like a hairless sloth to me. Poor thing.

Monsters of the Deep - These fish look like something created by hollywood for a horror movie but they are 100% real. *Shudder*

http://www.who-sucks.com/animals/real-life-sea-monsters-24-bizarre-creatures-of-the-deep

All in a Day's Work

The library I work at has a section of large rooms available for people in the community to rent. We have all sorts of interesting activities going on at any given time. Weddings, company parties, graduations, etc. So this morning when I walked into the building I was presented with a large sign that said:

Due to a death in the family, our chainsaw carver will not be here today.



Uh, okay.

You know what--I don't even want to know.