Sacked! or, what I've got that Bob Cratchit didn't

Well, last week I lost 1.4 pounds - and my job!

Yes indeed, I was called into my company's office at around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon and told that my department was being "phased out".

Translation: "You're fired!"


Actually, it wasn't that cold, or that bad. Unlike Dickens' poor Bob Cratchit, I'm getting a pretty decent severance package, as well as AT LEAST three months' notice. So all things considered, I'm reasonably unflustered.

And also unlike Bob Cratchit, I've already got a job offer - helping my pal June Taylor sell doggie lingerie to local pet stores!

Now, I've sold stuff online before, but have never actually gone into a store and tried to convince a real, live person to give me money. So it'll be a learning curve. But I figure, hey, what have I got to lose? The worst that can happen is I'll suck, in which case I'll go back to my list of sure-fire moneymaking ideas, like, for example:

1. Wine taster for alcoholics - slogan: I drink it so you don't have to!

2. Food taster for the morbidly obese - (see #1).

3. Reality show participant for a new program, "Who Wants to Be Downsized?"

etc.

Hey, folks, I got a million of 'em, nyuk nyuk, rimshot!

But seriously, folks ... I'm kinda sad, and annoyed by the inconvenience. But look at it this way - yeah, I got fired - but so did my boss! (nyuk nyuk!)

(P.S. need I even add that last week's dilemma - which fitness club to join - is now resolved, in that I'm not going to join either one? I'll just work out at home, thanks. And who knows? Maybe I'll even tell you how I'm gonna do that, in a future blog post!)

It Figures or 24 Hour Fitness? A moral dilemma for your Monday

Up @ a pound - I'm at 185 now. And I attribute this gain to the change in my exercise program.

As you may recall, my beloved Curves of Downtown Los Angeles closed a couple of weeks ago, and at the time, I thought, "Oh well, at least I can now join It Figures of Sherman Oaks, which has a similar circuit training setup, as well as treadmills, stationary bikes and other types of fitness equipment available."

Well, my initial enthusiasm for the opportunity to join It Figures has waned a bit. (And at this point, my husband will chime in, "Hmm … IT FIGURES!"

Here's the problem – and I had a feeling when I joined that it might be a problem, which is why I got the month-to-month membership rather than signing a long-term contract (always a good idea, by the way, with any sort of commitment like this).

It's the schedule. It just doesn't work well for me.

See, when I had the Curves available, right next to my office, I could go there first thing in the morning, or during my lunch hour, or even (when they had longer hours, up till a couple of months ago), on my coffee break when I was super-stressed and needed a quick break. It was great!

I can't really do that with the It Figures of Sherman Oaks. It's located in Sherman Oaks (hence the name, duh!), so really the only time I can go there during the week is in the evening, after work and on my way home.

But wait, there's more (problems, that is)!

See, one of the cool things about It Figures is that they offer regular exercise classes. And they have one every afternoon – right in the middle of the circuit training area – from 5:30 to 6:30. Which means, for all intents and purposes, that if you want to do circuit training, you pretty much have to wait till the class is over, at 6:30.

Which I kind of have to do, since I simply can't get off work early enough to make the class.

Last week I faithfully went in at @ 6:15/6:20, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and puttered around on the treadmill or the stationary bike for the @10/15 minutes it took for the class to finish up. Then I was able to start the circuit training.

But even then, due to having to chat up the class participants as they were exiting, check phone messages, etc. (she's the only one there, so obviously very busy), Danielle wasn't able to get everything back in place (like the exercise balls & the step) till @ 6:45.

Now since I'm the one that wanted to use them, I suppose I should have just gone and gotten them out for myself. But I didn't know if I was supposed to, and also, being horizontally impaired (I'm only 5'2"!), I couldn't reach the shelf that the balls were stored on (it's wayyy high!).

So I just did the basic Curves-type workout, and that was, well, meh, it was okay. But not really as exciting as it was the last time I was there.

Maybe because last time I was disillusioned enough with Curves that I was getting the "grass is greener" effect. Hmmm ...

Well, anyway ... this morning, I took advantage of a 7-day guest pass membership at the 24 Hour Fitness in downtown Los Angeles. Which isn't exactly next door to my office, but at least is within a reasonable walking distance.

And actually, since I started getting off the subway at the 7th and Metro station and walking up to Bunker Hill, it's literally right on my way to work and only about 5 minutes from my office, at my walking speed.

So I went there this morning, and after a couple of false starts with the coin-operated lockers*, I spent about half an hour wandering from one strength training machine to another, lifting various weights with various parts of my body and actually feeling like I got a pretty good workout.

So … bottom line … I may drop It Figures and pick up 24 Hours. Which is too bad, because It Figures is actually a great IDEA for a women's gym. And it undoubtedly works wayyyy better for women who actually live and work in that area, as they can probably get there at non-class times and do whatever they need to do. But for me … it's just not working out.

Oh well … IT FIGURES!!!

*Guess what I learned? If you put your stuff in one of those coin-operated lockers, and put in your 50 cents, and then take the key out, and then realize you forgot your towel, and then put the key in and open it up again, and get your towel out, and close the locker door – you can't open it again unless you put in another 50 cents!

Which is kind of difficult when your purse is INSIDE the locker!

Which is why I had to borrow 50 cents from the nice lady at the front desk, who was happy to help me, but only had dimes.

Which is why I had to go to Famima! and get the dimes changed to quarters.

All of which helped me to get my heartrate up nicely, thankyouverymuch.

Perhaps that's a good motivation for me to actually buy my own lock!

... hello, It Figures!

All right, friends and neighbors! Dry your tears and wipe your eyes. Just because my Curves closed, and just because I gained 0.2 pounds last week (current weight: 183.2), does NOT mean that all is lost!

Remember a few months ago, when I told you about my visit to It Figures in Sherman Oaks? Well, as they say, when God closes a door, He opens a window.

So with the unfortunate demise of my flawed-but-oh-so-convenient Curves (waah!), I now have the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is, and see if It Figures will really provide me with better results.

I think it will, if I can overcome the inconvenience factor. See, it not only has better equipment, but also has a variety of equipment. If I don't feel like going round and round (circuit training), I can use the treadmill or the stationary bike.

And even when I do feel like going round and round, I'll warm up on the treadmill or the bike before and after each workout - and working out for a full hour, instead of the 30 minutes I was doing at Curves. (Since I'll be going there after work, instead of during, I don't have to worry about rushing through to get back to work on time.)

So there are very definite advantages to this change. I am in high hopes that this will break the weight loss plateau I've been in for about six months now. Not that that's a problem - some experts think it's better to lose for a while and then maintain for a while. So as long as I'm staying about the same weight, that's fine!

But I do think I still have more to lose, so here I go!

* * *

In other news, sweet hubby Steve P. and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary this past weekend (yay!). We went to the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach. There were a few glitches, but overall, we had a very nice time. However, if you're thinking of staying there, be advised: Even if you make a reservation for a room with a harbor view, as we did, you may not GET that room with the harbor view. I understand Seinfeld had a similar problem with a car rental company:

Goodbye, Curves ...

An open letter to the staff of Curves for Women, in downtown Los Angeles (on Bunker Hill)

Dear Mickey, Lu, and Vicky (pictured):

I just went downstairs for my workout, and got the sad news that your location is closing as of this week!

I am really sorry to hear this. As you may remember, I have been an "on again off again" member since you first opened, but during the past year I have stuck to it, and really benefited.

As of last week's weigh-in at Weight Watchers, I've lost 42 pounds!

And it's not just the weight loss - I also feel much stronger and healthier overall - mentally as well as physically. I often tell my friends that your Curves is a "stressbuster" for me - whenever things are going badly at work, or I'm bored or upset, I take a break - and do a workout! And I ALWAYS feel better afterwards!

I have decided not to join another Curves location after you close. Some friends of mine own a club in Van Nuys called "It Figures". I've visited there as a guest, but told them I wouldn't join as long as my Curves was still available.

Well, now that you're closing, they'll be getting a new member at last!

But I will miss seeing you and Lu and Vicky, and having my workout so easy to get to - right downstairs from my office!

Thank you all for everything! I have really enjoyed and benefited from my membership at Curves in Downtown Los Angeles!

Christine Lehman - aka "The Curvy Catholic" :-)

(P.S. - last week I gained 0.6 pounds - but since I was expecting to gain at least two pounds from all the kielbasa, I consider that a win!)

Christ is Risen - Let's Eat!

Christos Voskrese, y'all!

Yes, it's Easter again and what a wonderful celebration we had! That's me and my beloved hubby Steve, up top there, on the patio outside our beloved St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks, California.

And ... during the last week of Lent (aka "Great and Holy Week" in the Eastern tradition), I lost a whopping 4.2 pounds - yay for me! (I'm quite vainly pleased to report that the pretty flowered dress I'm wearing in the photo above is size "L" - no "x's" anywhere on my bod!)

Which is good, because in another Eastern Christian tradition, we're commanded to FEAST this week. So what with the kielbasa, the Pascha bread, various cheeses, Ukrainian eggs*, etc., I'll probably be gaining most of it back.

Not that there's anything wrong with that! After all, there's more to life than watching your weight, counting POINTS, curving, etc. - all of which I have every intention of going back to, next week.

But for today, I'm celebrating the fact that "Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!" in style - with a jalepeno hot dog from Famima! Mmmmmm!!!

* We didn't actually paint them ourselves - unfortunately, neither of us had the time. But thanks to modern technology:

--- we didn't have to! (nyuk nyuk!)

Great and Holy Week Begins!

Well, I was up 1.2 pounds last week - not so good.

But I should be able to make up for it this week.

It's Great and Holy Week - the days leading up to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the great Easter Vigil of Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday - Pascha.

And now that the solemnity of that week is upon us - including a liturgical service of some kind EVERY SINGLE NIGHT between now and Saturday, which means no time for dinner - perhaps I'll manage to drop that 1.2 pounds again.

Just in time for -- the Pascha Kielbasa!!!

On Purgatory and swimming pools

Down half a pound, now at 185.4 - yay!

In my alternate Web persona as "theistgal", I have come across threads on two separate forums asking what Eastern Christians/Catholics believe about Purgatory. One thread is at Orthodox Christianity.net and the other at
Catholic Answers.

This is one of those arguments that will never end till we get there and find out for ourselves. Frankly, I am suspicious of anyone who says they know, for a fact, what happens to us after we die. I think we just have to make the best guess we can, based on the best information we can find, and hope God is merciful. (And that He has a really, really good sense of humor!)

But when I think of Purgatory, I think of ... Sunnyside Park, in what's now called the "Waldo" area of Kansas City, Missouri. Sunnyside is a really nice, big park, with walking trails, tennis courts, a playground ...



and it USED to have two small but wonderful swimming pools, which have been replaced now by "spraygrounds".

They weren't your standard rectangular pools. They were round. There were two of them. Both were concrete, painted sky blue. One was the "baby" pool - wading pool, no more than about 6 inches deep at the most. The other was the BIG pool - 3 feet deep and intended for us BIG kids (well ... bigger than the babies, anyway!).

But you couldn't get into EITHER pool till you walked through -

The Antiseptic Foot Bath!!!

Yes, that's right - you had to wash your filthy dirty feet before going into that clean, chorine-filled water.

To me, that's what Purgatory is - the place to wash off all the dirt you've accumulated before you enter Heaven. After all, it does say, somewhere in the Bible, that "nothing unclean may enter Heaven" - but it doesn't say there's no way to GET clean, before you get there.

And I'm relieved to find I'm not alone in this opinion. C.S. Lewis, an Anglican, also believed in Purgatory as a place to get clean. In his "Letters to Malcolm", he wrote:

Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'? Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleaned first.' 'It may hurt, you know' - 'Even so, sir.'

Hence ... the Purgatorial Foot Bath! Enter into the joy, my friends - just wash your feet first!

(P.S. I'm sad to say that the pools at Sunnyside Park were dismantled a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to be in town, shortly after they'd been torn up, and found a few small pieces of concrete scattered around the area, still spattered with that sky-blue paint ... and still smelling of chlorine.