divine angst

This is only half of the mess that is the apartment, about 120° around. I couldn’t make the images from the other side line up right.

We found out yesterday that Mr. Angst’s cholesterol is higher than optimal (though his blood pressure is fine) so we’re going to try and retool our diet* so as to help get that number down.

Is anyone in a similar situation? How have you adjusted what you eat? Do you have any favorite meals made without much additional fat or cholesterol that don’t also taste like cardboard? I’m looking for recommendations and recipes and any other advice you’ve got to give.

*I should note that my cholesterol is beyond fine. Which is odd, since we eat the same meals at home. I can’t imagine that the foods Mr. Angst eats at lunch are all that different from the foods I eat at lunch, or different enough to account for significant discrepancy in our cholesterol levels. I also deeply believe some people are just predisposed to have higher cholesterol and that those people aren’t necessarily at higher risk for heart disease just because of that higher number. BUT, we do want to see if adjusting our diet will bring that number down at all.

The runaway bride story has dominated what has otherwise been a slow news week. That’s unfortunate, I think, because there are other things the media could be focusing on—continued violence in Iraq, the interesting things going on with the Fed and the economy, yadda yadda yadda. Instead, they’ve sunk to a new low: itemizing the runaway bride’s registry, and using it to demonize her.

Look, there are many things one could hold against this poor woman—her apparent self-absorption in thinking no one would look for her, her lying to the police about being abducted when she finally called in—but her registry is really not that extravagant.

Think about it this way—600 people were expected at this wedding. With that many guests, you run out of $15 OXO kitchen gadgets pretty quickly. A $250 KitchenAid stand mixer is standard registry fare. A $55 place setting is pretty inexpensive, as these things go.

I think CNN is trying to make a story where there isn’t one. Yes, the gifts will have to be sent back. If the wedding happens in the future, maybe they’ll get some of these things again, maybe they won’t—hey, that’s what happens when weddings are called off or postponed (two of my cousins had to send gifts back for cancelled weddings). CNN could have reported on just that aspect—the emotional and logistical aspect. Instead, they’re using the reigstry list to insinuate that the runaway bride was a materialistic bitch, and that’s unfair. She may, in fact, be a materialistic bitch, but this registry list certainly doesn’t prove it. (For instance, I don’t see a $310 place setting, as I have on other registries.)

Leave the woman alone, move on to more newsworthy stories, and stop creating controversy where there isn’t any.

…into the future, that is.

Suddenly, having moved out of the house, this whole law school adventure seems so much more real.

I knew this would happen but I didn’t know when and I didn’t know exactly how much of a rush it would be.

I am now officially completely and totally excited about my future school. I have butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it. Eek! Yay! Let’s move up there already!

1) We close on our house today. Bye-bye, home. A little sad, but also a little exciting, to be moving forward. Obviously, I’ve been majorly ambivalent about this whole moving thing, but at least part of that is because of the sheer mess that is our new apartment. I think doing some unpacking—and getting a storage space for some of the things that we don’t really have room for—will certainly help my outlook.

Closing is over. Keys have changed hands. We are now officially several thousand fewer dollars in debt. Yay! I want also to add a huge THANK YOU to everyone who left encouraging comments over the last four days of my whining about moving. They really helped. I’ll try not to be so single-minded in my posting when we move in August. This last week’s moving posts are about the boringest things I’ve ever read.

2) We ordered a sweet 20-inch flat-panel monitor from Dell this week. It was on sale—BIG sale. Like, 25% off. It shipped today and should arrive sometime this week. I think getting rid of the big, hulking CRT monitor will help my outlook in our new home, too. More space! More space! [Ed’s note: We planned to buy a new monitor so we could get rid of the hulking CRT; I think we just got lucky that Dell had this one on sale right now. It’s a beautiful thing, coincidence.]

3) I was able to accomplish cooking on and in an electric range and oven last night. I was worried about that, since I learned to cook on a gas range. (The oven isn’t such a big deal, but I am glad I brought my oven thermometer, since the thing runs about 50° hot. Yikes!) I think I’ll need to keep practicing, but I’m feeling pretty good about it all. We will also be using our outdoor George Forman a lot, I think.

4) My Fair City is getting a lovely blast of late-spring cool air. Northern parts of my state are getting snow, even! It’s delightful, really. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts because, soon enough, the heat will descend and suck all the energy out of my bones.

That’s all I can think of right now. I may add to to this list as the day goes on.