A pleasant nothingness

Well, my cold is doing quite well. I am feeling crappy. I had kim chi ji gae (a Korean stew) for lunch, which is better than chicken soup. I had chicken soup for dinner. My head is so stuffed up – ugh. I have done very little this weekend, which has been very nice. I had to drive up to Raleigh Saturday for a class – I have taken over as the NC regional treasurer for our medieval group. Then I drove home and a friend came over and stayed until this afternoon. We did some sewing – I didn’t get a whole lot done, but the weather was very nice and we had the back door open. Unfortunately, I have to go to work tomorrow since I have no sick time. Blech.

It wasn’t a bad weekend, I just hope I feel better soon.

Revenge of the creeping crud

I have a cold. Gah. At least it is a great weekend to laze about the house - plenty of scary movies to choose from!

Have a great weekend.

Kerflooey

Here is a recipe I made last night, which I found on a blog (but I don’t remember which – scale & perspective maybe?)

Smoked Sausage with Cabbage & Sweet Potatoes

1 can (13 3/4 oz) fat free chicken broth
6 oz dark beer
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp mustard seed
1 lb sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, diced
6 cups (firmly packed) cabbage, shredded (1 10 oz package of the pre-shredded stuff was perfect)
8 ounces turkey kielbasa (or other precooked smoked sausage), sliced and quartered
1 large apple, cored and diced

Add chicken broth and beer to a deep 12" covered skillet (I just used my dutch oven...) Stir in Dijon mustard
Add mustard seed and bring to a boil.
Add sweet potato and onion, reduce heat to medium
Cover and cook until potatoes are almost done (~5-7 minutes), stir occasionally
Add cabbage, cover and cook until potatoes are done and cabbage is tender-crisp (~10-15 minutes,) stir occasionally
Add sausage and apple, cook another 3 minutes.

I didn’t have a large apple, so I used 2 small ones – I thought that was a bit much. Actually, I might substitute carrots for the apple – the apple was a bit too sweet for my taste. But it was fast and very good.

I got up and walked this morning – it was 34. It is unseasonably cold here. I had a difficult time convincing myself to get out of bed!

Do you enjoy your evenings? I think part of the reason I go so nuts on the weekend is that my evenings aren’t very relaxing during the week. Cook, clean. Laundry, homework detail (which takes up loads of time) – maybe I get a bath & a few minutes to read. I can barely get out of bed now, so I don’t want to stay up later. I just think I’m not really winding down. Unfortunately, the hub can’t help with homework. Hmm. Must think about this one.

Work is busy – that’s mostly good but I am starting to get a bit frustrated. I am looking forward to my trip next month.

No shocking revelations today

My computer was DOA all day Friday, I was busy all weekend, and I was home with a sick child yesterday. Excuses, excuses.

I’m okay – I had a nice loss last week – all that weird blip up plus half a pound, so headed in the right direction. We had a lovely weekend and I used yesterday as an opportunity to give my house a thorough cleaning. A clean house makes me a happy woman.

Food is planned, exercise is planned, and this week promises to be far less hectic than last. Fall is just gorgeous around here right now – Saturday was sunny and comfortable – the kind of fall day when you want to spend the whole day outside. While we have several projects we want to accomplish this winter, I don’t feel frantic. While finances are tighter than I’d like (as if that’s new!), I’m not frantic about that either. I am using my Hilton rewards points to get one night (of 2) free next month up in DC. I’m looking forward to that.

Nothing earth shattering, just a relatively happy woman, trying to fit back into her old pants. :-)

What day is it????

I gotta say, this week is flying by! I've been working on pulling some info together in a sort of ad hoc way at the office, and it has been fun. I really enjoy "discovering" an issue, and digging around to find out about it. Maybe I'm nosy??? :-)

Food is going fine, but exercise has been lacking this week. Rain plus a bunch of stuff to do in the evenings has meant that I haven't been doing what I should. :-( Not so good. But I did exercise on Monday, so I've only skipped one day. Still, I need to combat the fluff from both avenues!

I'm going to keep this short - I need my afternoon snakc, then its off to the fabric store for fabric to make both my guys fighting tabards for this weekend. Fun! I plan to at least make it out for a walk this evening.

Have a good one!

Full of myself

I am wearing new jeans. I’m glad I got mad at my husband a couple of weeks ago and decided to go shopping and bought a pair of jeans. I hate these jeans because they are the not-so-new-now style where the waist is actually halfway down to my hips, which makes my flubber pooch out the top. I am glad to be wearing these pants because they are now officially the only pair of jeans I have that fit. This cannot go on, says the woman who sat around drinking beer and eating mini egg rolls with her hub while watching Star Trek last night.

I am a dork. A dork who is going to the gym this afternoon. A dork who ran this weekend. A dork who at least didn’t have dinner AND beer and egg rolls last night. They were lowfat baked egg rolls from my freezer and not deep fried. So maybe it wasn’t a huge disaster – just a regular sized disaster. Time for her royal dorkiness to eat her berries and cottage cheese. Caio!

Everybody's working for the weekend

Another busy week at the office - which isn't bad IMO because it makes the time go quickly and even though what I've been working on is a bit tedious, once I get it set up I get to pass maintenance off to someone else. :-)

I don't think I mentioned it, but the boy is grounded for a good chunk of the weekend. We're trying not to be too strict, but set a firm example now. It's easier to discipline an almost 12 year old than a 16 year old - at least that's my thought. So, we're trying to establish the boundaries now. Puberty is grand!

We were looking at cancelling our date night, but we agreed to let the boy spend last night over at my mom's (his school is closed a couple of days) so he could do some yard work for her. SO, we had date night last night! We made homemade pizza (much healthier than store bought and very yummy!) and watched some sci-fi shoes we had tivo-ed. I did get on the scale, but given that my rings weren't fitting this morning (gee, do anchovies make you retain water????), I think the number isn't a 'real' one. Not trying to make excuses - I did record it, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt. Maybe I should pass on the salt... ha!

I am taking a calligraphy and illumination class tomorrow - I'm excited about that. It's something I've wanted to learn for a while, and I'm finally finding the time. Other than that, just a little sewing and the usual triumvirate of cooking, cleaning, & shopping. The boy and I are getting new costume pants for a medieval thing next weekend, and I am going to try my hand at an apron. I have a beautiful piece of fabric - it's a leaf pattern. Its fairly large and I have no idea what to do with it. But I have an apron that belonged to my great grandmother which I also love. So I'm going to try & make a fabric pattern using the apron, and then make a copy out of my leaf fabric.

I don't have a load of house projects on the books for the winter - I am considering painting a border under the crown moulding in my living room. Maybe I'll post pics and get your opinions. But no rush on that.

The weather looks to be very pleasant this weekend, so I'll be sure to hit the road! :-) Have a great weekend!

Still yet another quick post

Well hello!!!! Are you still here???? This week has been busy everywhere, so my posting has not been as regular as I would like. I have had a startling revelation this week: life never stops happening. I mean, I know this. I’ve said it a bunch of times, but somehow this week that felt true for me. There is always a celebration, or a need to stay late at the office, or to go by W-M, or rain… life is always happening. I have to adapt my plans to those occurrences if I want to be successful.

I’m feeling deprived, but doing okay - I hate the mind games my mind can come up with! Well, back to it!

Back to reality

I’m back at work today after my long weekend. It’s a busy day but I wanted to put out a quick post to let everyone know that the boy did a great job at his black belt test Saturday. We were so proud!

The weather Sunday was cloudy & a bit cool, so it was perfect for walking around an amusement park! We thoroughly enjoyed Busch Gardens, and go home safely.

I spent yesterday shopping, cooking, cleaning, & doing laundry. A productive day – and it was nice being home alone. So peaceful. ;-)

Tonight we are taking the boy out for a surprise celebration dinner. He’s asked a couple of time to go to the MeltingPot – a local fondue restaurant. How many 11 year olds ask for fondue??? My son is weird… So, that’s where we’re going for dinner tonight. Somehow I doubt I’ll post a loss this week…..

Here

Just a quick note to say I am alive & doing pretty well. I’ve been busy at work and busy at home getting ready to go out of town. Tomorrow the weather is going to be yucky, but hopefully Sunday will be nice for us.

I posted a 1.5 pound loss this week. I’m not sure why, but it has encouraged me! I haven’t made exercise a high priority given the trip this weekend and the hub’s birthday.

I am taking Monday off so I have time to get the food situation in order for the week. We cleaned the house some last night, so I won’t be coming home to a mess, thank goodness!

This week feels like it has been very long and I feel very tired. I hope this is a relaxing weekend. For tomorrow I am taking a couple of books – I am reading a history of the TdF “Le Tour” and I just got “A world lit only by fire” in the mail. It’s a book about the medieval period. I used to have it but apparently lost it/lent it/who knows. So I scored a used copy off amazon. So I’ve got a couple of good books for traveling, waiting in the hotel room, at the test, etc.

I have to go home & pack. I have supper in the crockpot, so all I have to do is load the dirty dishes and leave the neighbor a note about Carmen’s medicine schedule. I’d love to soak in a tub, but alas, I don’t think I’ll have time. Maybe I’ll make the time!

The boy has a short school week next week, so his grandpa is picking him up Wednesday after tae kwon do. Practically no cooking! Woo hoo! I’ll make a pot of chili & the hub and I can eat that a couple of nights.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Teeming with Life

I went out to the car a few minutes ago and it sounded like a rainforest outside!!! Birds everywhere, each trying to chirp over the others. The day today is incredibly bright – the air is comfortable, and the leaves have barely begun to change. The air feels like fall but the look tells you that every living thing is wide awake. Its odd how in just a few days that will all begin to change as fall begins to seriously set in.

This morning was funny – I woke up with a headache, the boy had a sore throat, and the hub is plagued by allergies. Sitting around the breakfast table this morning, we probably looked like a scene from “Leave it to Beaver”, if the Cleavers had spent the prior night partying at Graceland! :-O

Today is the hub’s birthday. I have to confess that both my mom and I forgot! Luckily, she has an AmEx gift card in her purse, so she just had to buy a card. She dropped it off at the house this morning as she dropped her dogs on the way to Georgia. I skipped kickboxing last night to do a little last minute shopping. I was in luck! I found season 6 of “Star Trek: Deep Space 9” (we only have 1 episode left to watch in season 5) AND a boxed set of fans’ favorite top “Klingon” episodes (the hub loves Klingons). It has 2 or 3 shows from each of the 4 Star Treks (nothing from Enterprise). I got 5 cards, one from me, one from the boy, and one from each of the dogs. Each card is perfect for each dog. I made season 6 from people and the K collection from the dogs! We are going out to Sagebru$h for dinner – I checked out their menu online and have a game plan.

I’ve also bought single servings things of flavored salmon & tuna for the weekend, I have some string cheese, mom is getting grapes & bananas, and we’re taking sandwich fixings for Saturday. Sunday will be dicey, but I think Saturday will be fine.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it here, but I work in a call center (not on the phone). Its kind of interesting as there is a sort of “chicken or the egg” principle at work here: the phone staff is disproportionately overweight. I mean, really overweight. I know that NC is a “fatter” than average state, but this is even more so. I wonder if the job is the cause, or it’s a job overweight people gravitate to because it is so sedentary? Maybe both.

I bring this up because the truth is, my work environment is part of what keeps me on the fitness path. I’ve seen co-workers have WLS and lose weight, but I’ve also seen co-workers become more overweight with time. One lady I used to work with now comes into the building pushing her oxygen tank. That’s an extreme example, but it’s an “in your face” reminder that being overweight has medical consequences. Yeah, we all know that, but seeing it up close brings it home. She’s a nice lady, but she’s killing herself with food. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I realize that I must sound like a broken recode here at time – struggle, get up, fall, struggle, get up…. and on and on. But really, what options do we have? I don’t know that I’ll ever have it all figured out, but I can’t stop working on it. I guess I am my own ultimate “do it yourself project! ha ha ha

Have a good one!

This day, every day

Yesterday I didn’t want to go to the gym. It’s not that I didn’t know that I’d have a good time once I got there (which I did) or that I didn’t realize that I’d feel great driving home (which I did), it was knowing that as often as I go to the gym, as often as I get up and walk, I still feel like a cow. Mooo.

You know how people sometimes talk about how other folks sabotage their efforts to lose weight? Well, I sabotage my own efforts. (Like that’s news!) I didn’t want to go because I felt like I’d put the effort in, and then I’d undo it at some point in the week by overeating. In short, I felt defeated by flab.

But I wasn’t defeated yesterday. I got up and did my 2 miles, I had an awesome session at the gym, and I didn’t put too much food into my mouth. And I felt very good. And I won’t be defeated today either. I guess I’m nervous because we are going to be out of town all weekend, which means 6 meals eaten on the road, in restaurants. Scary. I am trying to plan ahead. I know there will be one “free” meal, eaten at our favorite Italian restaurant - which just happens to be located in Williamsburg, across the road from Busch Gardens. I also know lunch Sunday will be tough because it will be eaten in the park, and it’s all but impossible to find healthy, reasonably portioned fare inside the amusement park. I can pack a lunch for Saturday, breakfast isn’t too difficult – that just leaves dinner Sunday (maybe we can hit a Cracker Barrel) and the dreaded ”S” word – snacks. Send me strength!

My great aunt & mom came over for dinner last night. It was her last visit before heading back to Georgia tomorrow. It’s a bit like having my grandma back – I’ll miss her.

Because the boy was on restriction all weekend he didn’t get to watch any tv unless it was something we just happened to be watching, which is how he got hooked on season 5 of “Star Trek: Deep Space 9”. Something our whole family can agree on – amazing!

Well, I have nothing profound to say – my husband got down my fall decorations yesterday, but I was too lazy to put them up. But today is another day. :-)