A bunch of different things

My grandma

Yesterday my mom called. She was halfway to the beach and my grandma's nursing home called her. My grandma had a slight bruise on her face and her lip was bleeding, so they sent her to the emergency room. (The result of living in a lawsuit happy society.) The only problem was that no one was with her and she has Alzheimer's. She could’ve been sitting there quietly or she could’ve been screaming and trying to escape the emergency room. Given that she has escaped once from a locked Alzheimer's unit, the emergency room should be a piece of cake. Mom's friend went to check on her, but if things got bad I would have spent my day sitting in the emergency room. I wouldn't mind a bit if it were necessary, but this is a regular occurrence and not only is the woman healthy as a horse, but she is also apparently made of rubber. I'm glad she's healthy - I just wish they'd quit sending her to the emergency room at the drop of a hat. When I called to check on her, the nurse said she didn’t know why they’d sent her there since it seemed obvious that my grandma had scratched her face and not fallen.

A blast from the past

Last week I got an email from a boy I went to school with for a couple of years – 9th and 10th grades. We stayed friends after school and kept in touch for a while even after he joined the Navy and I joined the Army, but gradually lost touch. No idea how he got my email, but we’ve emailed back & forth a couple of times. He is retired from the Navy and living up in Virginia. He was (and presumably still is) a nice guy, so this was a pleasant surprise and not “ohmygod, I can’t believe he tracked me down” kind of a thing.

Food

Not sure who the pod person is who seems to have taken over around here, but I’m not complaining! :-) Food has been excellent! I made the tastiest chick pea burgers to date for breakfasts this week – the only trouble is that they fall apart, so I have to adjust the binders. I used homemade bread crumbs instead of the kind in a can, and they didn’t work as well. Of course, they are much healthier.

Eating the same thing 2 (or even 3) nights in a row has made my life so much easier. The amount of cooking I am doing seems manageable! Also, on nights I go to the gym, I break my dinner up into 2 parts: I have a small serving of something before I leave and then have another small serving plus veggies when I get home. Because I am eating dinner so late, snacking after dinner isn’t happening.

Exercise

I have upped my morning walk to 3 miles and moved the alarm clock back 15 minutes. So far, so good on this. The big surprise is that I’m going to the gym! Monday I went to spin and yesterday I got up and walked and then went to a class called 30/30 last night. It was half an hour of cardio (spin, funnily enough) and then 30 minutes of body sculpting. We did lower body and it put a hurtin’ on me – I mean that in a good way. It was hard! I guess that’s the next best thing to lifting weights, which I’m still not doing. I slept in this morning – I’m not sore or anything but I needed the extra rest.

I am feeling fabulous! The only downer is that I am always the fattest chick in the class, which is tough. And my face gets all red & sweaty and I look like a big fat red sweaty blob and I want to cry but I remind myself that I don’t know these people so I don’t care what they think and at least I’m making progress so I need to just get over it. I’m just one of those girls who looks crappy when she works out no matter what my size. I used to think the same thing when I got home from PT in the Army and I was a size 6, so whatever.

My new crack

I finally broke down and tried the Altoids dark chocolate covered peppermints. They sounded weird to me, but boy were they a pleasant surprise! They are like a mini York peppermint patty, but with a hard inside instead of soft. And 2 only have 15 calories, so it’s the perfect thing when I want a taste of chocolate after lunch. My next door neighbor has the office candy bowl in his cube (which I can see from my desk!), and since I discovered the Altoids, the chocolate siren song has all but stopped. Sweet!

Overall, things are most excellent. I wish I didn’t feel so self conscious, but I doubt that will ever change so I’m just sucking it up.