House of Pearlman

Well, Oscar is clearly developing at an accelerated rate. Yesterday he revealed that he loves Steely Dan…or, at least, he loves Babylon Sisters from Gaucho. On the way back from Fort Collins yesterday, it came on on the iPod and he kept wanting to repeat it. We listened to it 12 times. :)

Was 198 when I measured myself last Saturday. Tomorrow morning I’ll be under 190. Have been on 100% raw with no exceptions the whole way. Allison made brownies and lasagna this afternoon and managed to avoid eating them, though I made her take them down to the car when she ran out with Oscar for a birthday party. :)

The other day, Oscar was looking at a page of a maze book, illustrated with flying saucers. Then he turns to me and says: “I like Space.”

When I told him that I liked Space, too, he got really ticked off, implying, I think, that there wasn’t enough Space for the both of us. I tried to explain why that probably wasn’t the case, but he would have none of it.

Now, a few days later, every time I say “I like Space,” he says “No you’re not!” and then goes right into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Allison’s gone back to work, so I’m now Mr. Mom.

I’ve been really looking forward to it, actually. Nobody seems to think that I’m going to be able to cope, but we had a really fun time today. After Oscar’s preschool, we drove by the building that Allison’s working in, then went to wash the car (and took pictures and video), and then went to Home Depot to pick out some bins for Oscar’s Lego.

At home, we ate, worked the Lego, talked, and played air guitar to some of Oscar’s favorite Buddy Holly and Bill Haley tunes. But intermixed with those activities were respites where Oscar insisted on watching the Wiggles. It ended up being good for me, because I got some work done.

I’ve had back and forth thoughts on the value/evil of TV for years now. I LOVE TV. Was totally addicted as a kid. But we got rid of ours about a year ago. TV bothers me not because it’s universally bad for you, but because it’s addictive and it’s hard to turn it off.

Nobody can convince me that Northern Exposure, Smiley’s People, or the Carol Burnett Show are unhealthy. The problem is, once you turn that damn box on, the good stuff gets mixed in with local news, sports that you really don’t care about, reality TV and everything else.

It sucks the life force out of you.

Tomorrow’s the first full day solo with Oscar. Should be fun. Extended time in pajamas will be on the docket, I’m sure.

Been back from the annual family cruise now since Saturday evening. Started on raw, Saturday morning in the airport, where we had to wait 5 hours for the plane. Ouch.

No deviations, so far, and no major cravings. There’s something pretty powerful about restricting yourself to food which is almost entirely without any addictive quality. It highlights for me how much my eating has been driven by something other than real hunger. With the really yummy stuff off the menu, I’m finding that I’m a lot less interested in eating altogether.

I think I’ve probably lost 2.5 to 3 pounds in the first 48 hours. Feel perfectly fine. Heartburn already gone.

The things I’ve eaten so far (that I can recall):

• Bananas
• Dehydrated apples
• Salad greens and fresh mushrooms with a balsamic vinaigrette (made from balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and raw tahini)
• Fruit salad (grapes, pineapple, honeydew melon, strawberries)
• Cucumbers dipped in raw almond butter
• Carrots
• Raw almonds
• Raw pecans
• Raw pistachios
• Avocados with balsamic vinegar
• Orange juice
• Apple juice
• Water

I think I may need to give up orange juice, apple juice, and balsamic vinegar as I think the acidity is exacerbating my psoriasis. A good replacement would be pineapple, which I’m 95% sure has no effect on my skin.

I ate all raw food for about a week, about 12 weeks ago. My skin was in much better shape and I didn’t have any GI issues. Been feeling kind of cruddy lately. I had bronchitis for over a month and have been having a ton of heartburn.

So, giving it another go.

This is a decent interview with someone who’s written about the raw diet and is not a nutball.

Do not show this to any male over age 3 or you will be forced to buy it for him.

There aren’t too many stories that make me laugh out loud.

I’ve wrestled with sleep my whole life.  When I was 9 or 10 years old, it wasn’t unusual for me to go to sleep around midnight and sleep until 1 or 2pm the next day. In college, I’m not sure if I ever went to sleep before 2am. John Pinto and I would have a tradition of brushing our teeth after everyone else in the dorm was asleep. Several years back, I tried out (with some short-term success), Polyphasic Sleep, which “allows’ you to get as little as 2.5 hours of sleep per 24 hours. And, now, with Oscar in the fold, I can’t seem to sleep past 6 or 6:30 (not because he wakes me; I’m usually up first). I then take a nap sometime during the day. If I get up super early (it’s 3:40am) right now, I tend to take a nap in the morning, around 9, which is fine Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, when Oscar is in Preschool and Allison’s out of the house.  The time I go to bed varies widely.

I think the reason for all of this – or the excuse, depending on how you look at it – is that I’m constantly thinking of ideas. Things to do with my business; music thoughts; thoughts about family. And it’s very hard for me to shut off my thinking and go to sleep. So, when I am asleep is usually when I’m too exhausted to think.

The net result is that my availability, physically, mentally, and spiritually, for Oscar and Allison, is uneven. I’ve let my brain run the asylum, as it were. That’s really not fair to them and it’s cause for much upset.

Another thing that I’ve noticed recently, is that I like to work (think) when I get up from sleeping. This goes for nighttime sleep and for naps. Sleep usually has generated ideas of some sort, that I need to work through. Well, as you can imagine, that becomes a problem if I wake up when other people are awake. Disappearing (mentally or physically) doesn’t go over well. It seems, it’s the days I wake up amazingly early and get a good amount of work done before everyone else is up – those are the best days. When Oscar and Allison gets up – if I got enough sleep the night before and if the work I’ve just completed has been productive – I’m mentally available.

I’m planning on unschooling Oscar, especially if Allison ends up getting a job. This is pretty likely, since she’s been away from something for herself for a long time. So, I’m going to, at least, address the issue of sleep. I’m notoriously bad at keeping anything resembling a regular schedule, so success seems unlikely. Nevertheless, the freedom of my time is going to quickly evaporate. As Allison likes to say, I need to think more efficiently.

I’m considering getting up really early every day (I’m guessing around 4am). If I can force myself to get up that early for a few days, I may be able to settle into a rhythm. This would force me to go to sleep earlier.