The beat goes on

I'm still a bit on the run down side. That plus the rainy weather has me in a very laid back, couch potato kind of mood. That's not necessarily a bad thing - my batteries still need a bit of re-charging, but I haven't abandoned healthy eating or exercise.

The capris I bought 2 weeks ago are too big. Luckily I kept the receipt and they are hanging in the closet, waiting to be returned. The capris I bought 3 years ago are 1) worn out and 2) too big. Luckily I bought duplicates of all 3 pairs one size smaller - which is what I'm wearing now.

I don't have any jeans right now - I've "undergrown" 2 pair now, but the next pair is still about 4 pounds too tight. Soon. :-)

I've been researching mid century interior design and doll house stuff. I am setting my doll house up in the guest room this weekend. The outside needs some repair - once that's done I will begin the decorating i.e. the fun part! I'm very excited!

My husband has also agreed to help me do some painting in our house this fall. Yay!

Good things:

The weather: It was lovely coming in to work this morning. And the next few days it isn’t supposed to be the surface temperature of the sun, so that’s nice. A few thunderstorms are okay by me. Also, it beats down the pollen!

10 minute hair color: If you don’t typically color your hair, you many not understand. But 20 minutes is too much time to waste in the morning before work. But 10 minutes? Put it on your roots, brush teeth, put on rest of hair, wash face, then rinse! Barely adds any time onto your morning routine! And who has time to do that sort of thing in the evening? Not me!

The scale: Last week was one of those weird scale weeks. Friday saw me up 0.8 pounds from the prior Friday. This morning I weigh 2 pounds less than I did on Friday. See? Weird.

Rest: Too many weekends of too much to do lest me so ragged by Friday it was pathetic. Loads of sleep, not doing much of anything beyond the basics (I didn’t even have the energy to sew or do anything fun like that!), and I’m beginning to feel like myself again.

Here’s to having a sane week!

A week full of fail

This week never got off the ground. It was a series of random events, allergies, feeling worn out, and general malaise. This weekend I am doing nothing – well, as little as possible.

In NC, March showers bring April flowers

April is my favorite time of year (not because of my birthday). The weather is fabulous if unpredictable – 2 weeks ago we had a couple of nights near freezing, tomorrow is supposed to be ninety.

As good as the weather is how everything looks. When I was in the Army I dated a boy from Michigan. He came home with me one spring and spent the week with his mouth hanging open – he couldn’t get over how green everything was. Not to mention that every yard turns into a riot of color – filled with dogwoods and azaleas. It’s beautiful.

Work is very crazy right now – I’m working on this high profile project and it’s been gobs of work with lots of quick turnaround times, so I go home fried. Hub is no better – actually I think he’s more tired!

Last night for the first time in a long while I just felt … defeated. I wanted to throw up my hands at everything – work, losing weight, cooking dinner, this wedding I have to go to tomorrow….. everything.

Can I digress a moment and talk about this wedding? I’m gonna be outside in a field – her wedding is taking place at a “primitive” site we use for s.c.a. events – no AC anywhere – just a field basically, with an old farmhouse so we do have some access to water and electric (but not much access). And it’s going to be 90. And at 5 PM I have to put on a long sleeved long dress. (see picture to get an idea) A velvet dress. With an underdress. Yesterday I asked my boss to please push me down some stairs so I’d have an excuse not to go. I know it’s partly because I am tired but I am dreading it. I hate to admit that, but it’s true.

Last night I forgot to take my melatonin – I was up in the middle of the night, reading a book at 3 AM. Gah. That made getting up this morning difficult.

I lost 1.2 pounds this week. Clearly I’m not giving up or anything – I just need some down time. I’m taking Monday off work – I’ll need it to get caught up on my trifecta of shopping/ cooking/ cleaning. Next weekend I am doing nothing!

Have a good one!

Grrrr.

For the first week in a very long time I am feeling frustrated with the darn scale. I was up 0.6 pounds from the weekend - I was careful but we went out Sunday so I wasn't surprised. When it hung around I wasn't worried - I know it takes a day or two for it to drift down - that's just how my body works. When it was still there Wednesday.... This morning the scale was down 0.8 pounds. That's a loss of 0.2 pounds from last week. Given how diligent I've been with the diet and exercise that's a bit frustrating. I don't usually see 2 consecutive days of downward movement - I hope that changes this week. I'm not freaking out - I know I'm doing the right things and will continue to do so.

I'm tired. I'm working on a HUGE presentation at work - VERY high profile, plus hub is workign 60 hours per week so I have a lot of extra responsibility at home these days. I'm just feeling frazzled. And I'm helping with my friend's wedding this Saturday. I'm toast. I've am taking next Monday off - I'll need it to get caught up on my stuff at home.

Musings on food and exercise

In my “real life” I don’t discuss diet and exercise in any detail except for a couple of close friends. While I find what people eat really interesting (to me it’s a little window into who a person is), that’s why I don’t discuss it much. It’s a personal thing, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m judging them by what they eat or how they exercise. Conversely, I am very well-read on the subjects of nutrition and exercise – probably more so than most of the people I know. I have strongly held, informed opinions, so going on and on about what I’m doing “wrong” is just going to tick me off and waste your breath.

But, I’ve set this place up precisely to discuss those things, and I enjoy talking about it and reading about other people’s experiences.

My diet (at least on weekdays) is predominantly vegan. It’s easy for me since I prep my food on the weekend and eat the same things Monday through Friday up until dinner time. Even our dinners aren’t “meat-centric” often. Last night we made our own pizzas – the only animal product was the 1 cup of mozzarella cheese we all shared. I bought vegan “pepperoni” – and no one noticed. Tonight’s dinner has 2 ounces of locally raised, grass fed, free range been and 1/8 cup of sour cream per serving.

Other reasons it’s easy for me to eat this way: I fee like it’s better for the environment, both inside and outside of my body. I have a lot more energy when I eat vegan. I think it boosts my weight loss. I feel better.

Exercise has been great – I’m still swinging my kettlebell – I could work harder, but I try to push myself at least a little. I am loving walking outside – one day this weekend I walked 5 miles in the neighborhood. I feel like I’m really making improvements, despite the stress & angst associated with a shopping trip for pants yesterday. Sigh.

I stack my jeans by size, with what I’m wearing now on top. Number 1 pair has been retired because they were too big. Number 2 pair is also too big, but number 3 pair is about 4 pounds snug. Progress is occurring.

Catching up

Sunday was my birthday, so I took yesterday off work! It was a nice weekend – the weather was good so I walked a lot, I did a lot of chores, I went out for a very nice dinner at “The Melting Pot” for my birthday, and yesterday I did some errands and shopping.

I made very good choices over the weekend and Monday AM the scale was 0.6 pounds higher than Friday – not too shabby at all considering the meal I’d eaten the night before! I was MUCH happier with my food choices, and felt better physically to boot.

Today I am feeling refreshed. I have a post formulating in my head – about what I eat, how that’s evolved, and what the results have been: not just weight, but also how I feel. But I’m in a bit of a rush today – so let me leave you with “have a nice day!”

Unstick-ified

As I suspected, the scale showed a large 1.6 pound overnight drop. Week over week I lost 1 pound - since Monday I've lost 2.8 pounds. Curiously enough, I lost 2.8 pounds last week. For someone my size I don't think that sort of weekly weight loss is realistic - I spent a good chunk of the week tired and hungry, and that's not good.

I'm still searching for the happy medium between losing weight and weekend eating, but at least the scale is moving downward. And a pound a week (which is what my weight loss for the year averages out to be) isn't shabby at all.

I've been tired in the afternoons - when I got home yesterday I made myself a green drink for a snack and that helped a lot. I've missed my green drink, but it's just not something I want when it's cold.

Have a great weekend!

Sticky Numbers

Economists talk about some prices being “sticky.” That is, when the costs of inputs go up, the price goes up. When costs go down, the price follows much more slowly, and may not go all the way back down at all (even if costs do).

I mention this because my weight behaves in the same way. I may stay a weight 2 or 3 days, then suddenly see a drop of 1.5 pounds or so seemingly overnight. That’s the hard thing about seeing the scale pop up 1.8 pounds by the end of the weekend – it takes days to see that number go down. This morning I was STILL 0.6 higher than I was last Friday. This could be the first week since the first of the year I’ve posted a gain. Yikes!

I didn’t think I was doing too badly over the weekend. Apparently I thought wrong. Le sigh. Lesson reinforced.

Update

How's that for a catchy title? :-)

Weekend was too busy. Saturday we wnt to our friend's house to paint and replace the subflooring in their hall bathroom. Luckily, hub only had to work a half day on Saturday and the boy had a friend over for most of the weekend (cheap labor!). It was a long day, but we got it done. Sunday we were both fried. My cooking didn't get done. Oh well. I've been making do and I'll get it finished up this afternoon.

The kettlebell continues to go well - I'm having a lot of fun with it and I'm consistently getting in 2-3 sessions per week. The 2 mile loop in the 'hood has become my normal route these days. I remember when the half mile had gotten to be a challenge! It's wonderful to see my fitness returning!

Post-weekend weight was up 1.8 pounds - gah! Oh well, move on. :-)

Weather here is crummy today - I'd love a nap.

Interior (re-)decorating, and weigh in results

I've been feeling tired this week - since Tuesday afternoon to be specific. So yesterday when I had no afternoon commitments prior to my husband getting home at 6:15, I decided that a little retail therapy was in order. When I shop, it isn't at any clothing store. My drug of choice is Lowe's (which is one key to my successful marriage). I wanted inspiration - I wanted paint. And fabrics. And new rooms.

Stop one was the quilt shop I hadn't visited since they moved (and stopped carrying fabric, curse them). Next up: Wal-Rip. Stop laughing - they have some reasonably priced curtains. I saw 2 possibles. I wasn't sure whether I was looking for the bathroom or the kitchen, but what I found would tell me where it belonged. Next stop Lowe's. The curtain selection was disappointing. Everything was in the 1990s "trying to look upscale" jewel tone theme. Gah. No point in looking at paint chips (oh, how you excite me) until I had the inspiration pieces.

Next up: Target. (And how convenient is it that all these stores sit in a row in my town and I can go from one to the other without even getting on the main road!).

Target, I love you. There on an end in the kitchen section it happened: I found my inspiration. Oh yes, 1950s kitchen, you are nearly mine. The fabric is retro, but in an up to date kinda way. It has blue and brown (with some other colors). I bought pretty much everything they had, leaving only 1 tablecloth behind.

I went back to W-M to visit the curtains one more time, but left with only a new shower curtain for the guys' bathroom.

I took my bounty home and lo and behold if they don't PERFECTLY match the blue paint I'd selected for my bathroom. And yet they still said "kitchen" to me. I guess my kitchen needs to be blue.

I considered going back for more goodies and using the same fabrics in both the bathroom and kitchen, but I think that would be too much. I'm torn. Also, I saw 2 curtains at Target that I deemed too formal for the bathroom but I realized last night would look fantastic in my bedroom .. if I painted it! I'm thinking the same color as the boy's room. (I haven't told hub about that part yet....)

I'm still digging the striped curtains at W-M, although the circles were nice too. Not sure if there was enough overlapping color to use both though.... I guess I'll just have to buy both and bring them home and see what works (I believe in overbuying and then returning). The only problem is that they are very casual and whimsical and the bedroom would remain somewhat formal, although the light blue and brown would tie the 2 rooms together....

Mercy, I love these kind of dilemmas!

I weighed this morning – score! I lost 2.8 pounds this week for a total loss of 15 pounds! My effort is finally paying off!!!!

I really thought it was Friday

Last night was not so great. For one, I got home to an angry child – angry because he’d gotten yelled at by his math teacher for not following directions. He was trying to do his math homework instead of listening. He was doing the homework in class because when he asked for help at 9:30 the night before while hub and I were both getting ready for bed, we told him he should’ve checked on his assignments earlier.

Since he got yelled at, he didn’t want to finish the homework or go to school today and when I told him he had to do both he threatened to turn the minivan in to a pile of rubble while I slept. (Teenagers have temper tantrums as badly as any 3 year old I’ve ever seen). So of course he got in trouble.

I went for a walk and started working on the grocery list & menu plan. I was very beaten down – I’d been feeling tired since Tuesday afternoon. Hub came home and we walked the dogs (my pedometer logged over 27,000 steps for yesterday). We had supper, meted out punishment, and I asked hub to please go and get a movie, a 6 pack, and some cheese dip.

While I was in the tub he came in and said he was tired & could we just watch the movice we had at home? I said okay and gave them some money to just run to the stop & rob around the corner from the house. He came back with beer and snacks for them, but didn’t even offer to get me anything. The movie was dumb and I wound up headed for bed at 8:45 in tears. I was hurt that he didn’t offer to get me anything, hurt that the kitchen was still a mess even though I’d gotten up that morning and cleaned it since he hadn’t the night before, and I was just generally feeling like no one ever did anything for me.

I’m losing weight and exercising and in general feeling much better. And sometimes I feel really good. But there are also a fair number of times when I am hungry and tired and I know the tired is from the hunger. But I’m losing weight so I don’t want to change too much up. Sigh. I brought a bigger afternoon snack today – I hope that will help.

While I was planning the meals, I listed last night’s dinner as Thursday. So I have nothing planned for dinner tonight because I thought today was Friday. It’s been a long week. Last week was very hectic and this one is going to be busy as well. I need some quiet time.

The return of Helga

When I was going to the gym pretty hardcore, my husband’s nickname for me was “Helga”. My family is from Germany and when I’m working out, I tend to have the build of a member of an East German swim team. I can pack on muscle almost as quickly as fat. Hence the nickname.

Helga’s been hibernating for a while, with occasional appearances. But I’m pretty confident she’s back on a regular basis now. For example, this morning the alarm went off at 5 – I hit the snooze once, then got out of bed. I did my kettlebell workout and then went for a walk. I felt fantastic afterward – and I still do. My eating has been pretty good – even the weekends are improving. And since we are eating supper later since hub is getting home later, I no longer snack after dinner. Go ahead and read that last bit again. If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you know that after dinner snacks are my kryptonite. They’ve been banished.

According to the scale, I’ve lost 1.4 pounds this week – and that’s 3 days before I “officially” weigh myself. Dude. The exercise feels good, I’m eating super healthy food, and the scale is cooperating!

Woo hoo for me!

It may not sound like a big thing, but it's huge for me: this morning (Monday) I weighed the same thing I did on Friday - no weekend weight "gain"! Woo hoo!!! :-)

Weekly weigh in

Down 1.4 pounds this week - woot!! Further evidence that watching what I eat on the weekends is important too. :-)

Have a good one!

Miserable Me

Given that I managed to show only a small “gain” on the scale as a result of the weekend, I wanted to capitalize on that and make some good progress. To that end, I have been VERY careful with my eating this week. And of course I have been walking like a demon because of the Fit N’ Fun competition here at work – walking over 20,000 steps per day. So, walking like a demon coupled with eating like a rabbit equals??? Yeah, it took me 3 days to figure out the answer: misery. I have been starving, tired, and cranky.

Yesterday at lunchtime I found out my MIL was coming for dinner and I took work from the office home, plus I was taking the boy to the gym for an orientation session with a trainer. After I gave up on the work and everyone was out of my house, I sat down with my husband and had 3 beers, 2 slices of cheese, and 6 crackers.

This morning the scale showed a pound and a half decrease. I don’t know if I needed some extra calories to convince it to let go of the extra whatever or if it would have happened anyway. Who knows? I hope I see the decrease again tomorrow when I “officially” weigh. This morning I slept in – oh luxury! I added a half cup of garbanzo beans to my lunch, so hopefully I won’t be starved and cranky tonight.

Workout Buddy

Several months ago, hub told the boy that he’d start taking him to the gym. That didn’t happen, then hub started working longer hours, making it even less possible. And then when the doctor had a little “come to Jesus” with hub, he began going at 4 AM. There is no way a teenager is getting up at that hour!

So I told the boy that I would take him 2 afternoons per week. I don’t plan to lift weights (I’m happy doing my kettlebells in the mornings) – I figured I could either do a cardio machine or (if we go later in the evening) I could do a spin class. I think it would be good for me to add some other form of cardio besides walking.

This week’s lunches are yum-o! I bought some hummus and baba ghanoush at a local Greek deli and I added a pita and a big homemade Greek salad. Very satisfying and very different!

The Fit n Fun thing at work is going well – between my competitive nature and the nice weather, it’s been easy to get in a lot of steps. It’s about 3 o’clock and I’ve logged 21,555 steps so far today. I’m rocking it!

This morning the scale was back to the number I saw Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So I made progress in reigning in the eating over the weekend. That’s good – not I can start making more forward progress.

Why didn’t I think of that?

The other day I ran into a colleague on her way back from the cafeteria and commented on her yummy looking sandwich. She told me she had gotten a veggie sandwich – why didn’t I think of that?! So today when I didn’t have my lunch prepped (I didn’t get my food prep done yesterday!) I followed her lead: I brought in some leftover soup and went to the caf and bought a veggie sandwich on whole wheat with a slice of provolone. It was really good and was just the right amount of good – for $1.50! The right amount of food AND a very good price!

The weekend was good – I did much better with keeping my eating under control (it helped that we ate out less than we’d gotten in the habit of doing) and got in a great amount of exercise – go me! Last week I lost 0.2 pounds, and I’m working too hard to just blow it on the weekend! This morning I was up a pound, which I consider fairly normal since I eat things on the weekend that I don’t during the week. So hopefully this week will be better.

Hope you have a good day!

Spring is in the air

It may be chilly this morning, but spring is definitely arrived: the stench of blossoming Bradford pear trees is in the air (worse than rotting vegetables but better than rotting meat) and the goose attacks have begun in the parking lot – the goose nesting warning signs and cordoned off areas are going up as nests are identified.

After a stressful day at work, it was nice to go home to a clean house (the cleaning lady came – yay!) and dinner in the crock pot. I plopped myself down to have an afternoon snack (5 pieces of California roll and a beer) and watch “Russian Ark” – a film about the Hermitage. I told you it was a stressful day.

It was raining all day yesterday – I did get in a walk at lunch but no afternoon walk. So I made sure I had a light dinner (I wasn’t terribly hungry after my snack) and no after dinner snack.

Whatever I do this weekend it won’t involve housework – I need a break!

A whole lotta rambling going on….

There are weeks where I feel like an indentured servant. I wake up and pick up the house, I go to work and spend the day going 100 mph with my hair on fire, then I run errands, then I cook dinner, then I do chores. Then I sit down and my husband cheerfully asks, “What would you like to watch?” I glance at my watch and say, “Dude, I’m going to bed in 10 minutes.” Then I fall into bed only to get up at 5 AM and do it all again, and again, and again….. This is one of those weeks. The plus side is a seriously can’t believe it’s already Wednesday. The down side is I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday cause I’m SO tired!!!!!

Our county re-evaluated tax values and I thought mine was freaking highway robbery. Then I spent 15-20 minutes on the phone with a real estate agent who lives in the neighborhood and not only do I think it’s not too far out of line, but I also have confirmation that we are on the right track with our planned renovations prior to selling the house. We’re doing hardwoods in the front of the house this summer. And maybe replacing our 2 french doors as well. I can’t wait!

Weight wise… I still weigh 1.6 pounds more than I did last Friday. Grrrr. This weekend will not be an eating out free for all! Exercise and food are on track for the week (well, I forgot to do weights yesterday but I will do that this afternoon!), and it’s going down, but it’s just been jacking up too much on the weekend. Hopefully this will be lesson learned (well, for now anyway).

I had planned to get the hub to help me clean the guest room this weekend, but I think I’m just gonna relax.

Wake me up when it's Friday! :-)

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Yes, I am alive.

I took Thursday and Friday off work to do some spring cleaning. I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to, but I got a lot done: I cleaned all the closets in my house, cleaned out and vacuumed under my bed, totally emptied one fridge and got it scrubbed out, and of course the usual cleaning/shopping/cooking trifecta. I also took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill.

After all that hard work, I got my reward: going to a friend’s house to hang out & sew on Sunday.

The last 3 weekends my food has gradually gotten worse & worse: first it was the trip out of town, then it was a weekend guest, then it was stress this past weekend (working until I was too tired to cook plus teenage angst from the boy). I’ve managed to lose weight every week, but I’ve found it taking more & more time to get off the water & weight from the weekend.

It’s got to stop!

I dragged my butt out of bed this morning and took a walk. The weather has really been waffling between spring and yuck. I’ve been doing great with my food during the week – I’m hoping upping my exercise will help motivate me to not slack off as much on the weekend. Unfortunately it’s supposed to rain for the next 5-6 days. Gah.

An added incentive

Our department at work is having a “Fit n Fun” competition. You get points for walking, weight loss, and taking classes (taught by peers) on different forms of exercise (I’m teaching one on kettlebells). It started yesterday and runs through May 22. There are team as well as individual prizes. Anyway – just a little extra incentive to stay on track!

Things are going pretty well – I overdid it (again) this weekend so I’ve cut out evening snacks. Since we’re eating dinner around 6:30 it hasn’t been a problem. The weather is warming back up, so it’s great weather to get outside for walking.

I’m taking the next 2 days off work to do some spring cleaning at home – I’m tackling closets, cupboards, and the dreaded guest room! My plan is to get up and exercise first thing.

Have a good day!

Huh.

Despite the beer and steak diet I enjoyed (thoroughly!) last weekend, I lost a pound and a half this week! Yay! This was also despite exercise falling to the bare minimum – mainly due to 1) having very busy afternoons and 2) the time change making getting up in the morning a challenge! This puts me 0.2 pounds away from a 10 pound loss year to date.

Work is very busy, my son is behaving like your average 14 year old (making me nuts!), and overall I am very grateful I put myself down for some vacation next week! It will be a day shorter than planned (I was out sick Tuesday this week), but a 4 day weekend still looks mighty nice.

Still alive

I’m still here – work is VERY busy, and home has been busy too. Went on a last minute trip to DC last weekend, so I’ve been playing catch up all week (with work and the scale – too much steak and beer!).

More when I have a minute to breathe!

Checking in

I am continuing to write down what I eat. My little brightly colored notebook is my new traveling companion. When you eat repetitively (breakfast & lunch are virtually identical all week) it is a bit easier. I’ve even been figuring out the calories for the meals I make at home for dinners instead of guessing!

Exercise is pretty good – I had grand plans to hit the gym while the boy is out of town, but honestly that sounds about as fun as root canal. I am swinging my kettlebell and walking though.

I was down a pound last week and look to be about the same this week. I’m not winning any speed contests, but things continue to head in the right direction.

In no particular order

1. It was my son's birthday this past weekend. It was a very busy weekend, but he seemed to have a good time.

2. We got 5 inches of snow here Sunday night. Don't laugh - we don't have many snow plows down here. School was cancelled yesterday and today. I worked from home yesterday and a half day today. The boy had to be dropped at school at 1:15 - they are leaving for the 8th grade field trip to DC.

3. It was 10 degrees this morning. You know how I feal about that.

4. It's supposed to be 70 Saturday. Welcome to NC. Don't like the weather - no problem, just wait for tomorrow.

5. I walked 2 miles today - it was sunny and 32 and I needed to get outside!

6. I'm writing down what I eat. Bleh. When will this stuff ever become habit?

How about a real post?

I haven’t weighed for the past 2 weeks – first things got stressful and hectic, and then I caught a cold. I’m feeling better now and thankfully the weather is warming up enough that I can get outside to walk in the morning (well, tomorrow morning!). Afternoons so far this week have been way too busy to get in a walk. I have been walking at lunch at least.

But I’m not going to get derailed for an extended period of time. I got on the scale this morning weighing just a bit less than when I weighed 2 ½ weeks ago. So while I haven’t made a lot of progress, I haven’t gone backward at least!

I had my annual physical Monday and I got a clean bill of health – my good cholesterol is a bit borderline and my good guys had gone down, but still okay. She (the doctor) told me to up my fish oil supplements. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I have been skipping my vitamins for months!

High school orientation last night took way too long but wasn’t a total waste of time. Kids are registering for classes for next year next week, so we do at least have a better idea about that at least.

I am taking a half day Friday – the boy’s birthday is Saturday and he’s having a couple of friends spend Friday night. I want to have more time for food prep (and cleaning out the fridge) and hopefully I can do some sewing this weekend. We are going out for a family dinner Saturday. His birthday card is bought – all he really wants is money, so I guess that’s what we’ll do.

Next week he is going on a school field trip – leaving immediately after school Tuesday and not getting back until 9:30 or so Friday night. So it’ll be a quiet week around our house.

Next month I have scheduled 3 days off work to just work on stuff - I want to clean out some closets & that sort of thing. I know that doesn’t sound very exciting, but we aren’t doing a spring break trip this year and I just felt like I needed a very long weekend to recharge my batteries.

Brrr

It's very windy here - mornings are in the teens and afternoons in the 30s (but a 10 degree wind chill factor!).

Between the cold, being busy, and having a cold, I haven't been able to do much walking except at lunch time here at work. It's supposed to warm up a bit in the next day or so, so hopefully that will change!

Tonight is rising freshmen orientation at the high school. I'm too young to have a high schooler!!

Maybe 2 weeks ago, my willpower started to flag. Maybe I was already getting sick? Anyway, now that I'm feeling better it's easier to have the energy to cook!

Still fighting this cold

Just wanted to check in quickly. Luckily I had no plans for this weekend - I've had a cold since Wednesday. I think I'm getting over it (slowly), but now hub is getting it. Ugh. So we're just doing the necessary chores and chilling out watching movies. I feel lazy! But I know it's what I need.

I've just been trying to get plenty of rest and I haven't worried about exercise - I feel too lousy. Hopefully in the next day or so things will get back to normal.

Is it the weekend yet?

I worked a half day today - that's all I could manage. Exercise and "diet" are so not priorities until I start to feel human again. I should be able to have a relaxing weekend - no plans to go anywhere or do much of anything.

The boy's birthday is next weekend - I have no idea what he wants to do other than go out for mexican for our family dinner. I guess we'll figure it out next week when he get home from his weekend with grandpa.

I am so looking forward to a quiet weekend - especially now that hub is back to working Mon- Thur instead of Wed-Sat. We get the weekend together again! :-)

Blech

I’m still here. I had a very busy weekend, a busy week at work, and now I have a miserable cold – gah! I hope I can rest & recover this weekend. Luckily, the cleaning lady is coming today, so that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about!

Bitter

Don't you hate it when you bust your butt for week and lose 4 pounds, and a friend does BFL for one week and loses the same amount of weight?

Why bother.

I took a pass on my 15 minutes of fame

As a result of filing a small claims suit, my mom and I received offers from Judge Mathis, Judge Joe Brown, AND Judge Judy to go on their shows. While LA in the winter sounded appealing, we decided to take a pass.

It’s not all sunshine & roses

Just when I think the scale has agreed to play by a neat & orderly cause & effect system… it doesn’t. Up half a pound. Why? Stupid scale. At least weighing daily I’m becoming inoculated against these random movements. If I weighed weekly and saw one of these odd days, I’d be way more upset.

I cook all the food that gets cooked in our house (ramen doesn’t count because that isn’t food.) Six dinners per week (on average), plus home made breakfasts and lunches. I even plan the meals and buy the food! All I ask is that someone else do the dishes. There are 2 male types in my house, both of whom are in possession of 2 workings arms (each). Why then must I clean the counters and wash the pots I need so I can stand in squalor to fix dinner? They can pool their allowance and hire Dobby the house elf! I don’t care who cleans the kitchen, as long as it isn’t me. Last night was the last time I cook dinner in a dirty kitchen.

Our third court date is today to try & get the irresponsible git (who “secured” his boat with tiny, old ropes next to ours and it then broke loose and smashed into our boat at the marina) to pay for the damage to our boat. We may have a legal system, but it sure doesn’t feel much like a justice system. And at the risk of sounding just a little more like that character “Maxine” on the Hallmark cards, I think half of what is wrong with this country today is that people think they can act like irresponsible a$$hats with no consequences.

Hey you kids – get off my grass!!!

This rant brought to you by the letter “g” for “Grrrrr.”

Deep (or not) thoughts

This morning as I was driving into work, the sky in front of me was lightening up, with streaks of orange. When I glanced in the rear view mirror, the shy behind me was dark with the moon still glowing brightly. This pressed home a point I’ve thus far failed to notice – it is getting light earlier. Spring is on the way!

Is there a better feeling in the whole world than laying down to go to sleep in a room with an open window and on sheets that have been dried out on the line? Only if you have a clean, cuddly Chihuahua as an added bonus.

We watched the movie “Bullitt” with Steve McQueen this weekend. Worth watching just for the car chase through San Francisco. My husband turned to me and asked “Are the streets really like that?” Yes, they are. Which is why driving a stick shift in SF would be my idea of hell. Actually, I don’t like driving in parts of SF very much at all!

The car chase is between a Mustang (Mach 1 I think) fast back and a Dodge Charger. I think I’d forgotten what a real V8 engine sounded like. Those were 2 sweet cars.

I got a little happy in the produce section at Earth fare this weekend. Unplanned purchases included raspberries to put in my oatmeal, kale, and beets. I love beets, but what really had me excited were the beautiful stalks and huge leaves still attached. I couldn’t wait to get home and chop those babies up and put them in my soup for lunches this week! Be advised that beet stalks and the veins in the leaves are RED. They look very unattractive in pea soup, but okay if you use black beans. (One man’s trash is another man’s soup – ha ha ha).

I have no plans for the kale, although I may attempt to replicate the sesame kale salad I buy in their deli. Otherwise, I guess I’ll have to make more soup!

Eating dinner on the deck is awesome. My husband has perfected the art of grilling.

I exercised regularly, watched what I ate (but enjoyed my food), and managed to lose a pound over the weekend. Sweet! The whole cause and effect thing seems to be working, which is a good thing!

I love my kettlebells.

Monday came way too quickly this week!

Nice weekend

The weather here has been gorgeous! Upper 60s both days. Yesterday I walked 2.5 miles - it was just so nice! We took the dogs for walks both days. Today we grilled out and had supper out on the deck. I'm so lucky - it's little things like eating out on the deck or going to sleep on sheets that have been hung out to dry in the sun - those things are just so nice.

I swung my kettlebell yesterday. Today we walked the dogs but I otherwise rested - my feet were sore! I watched what I ate more carefully this weekend and I was down a pound this morning. Tonight was grilled chicken and creamed spinach and half a twice baked potato and a couple of bites of steak - yum-o!

I'm figuring out this whole balance thing - eat stuff I enjoy, but do so in a way that still alows me to lose weight. I'm enjoying my exercise, my food, and this great weather!

Life is good.

Post Number 1,000

I wish I had something momentous to say. I feel like this blog started out strong, then lost it's way for a while, before moving back on track.

Yoga still isn't doing it for me - maybe I'm trying to do too many new things at once. Kettlebells are going strong. Walking is going, but it's been horribly cold lately (14 is a pants size, not a temperature!). So, lunchtime has been my limit. But this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous and I am looking forward to taking a longer walk!

Life is good.

Auto-pilot

I've been on a sort of auto-pilot the past couple of days. The weekend was VERY hectic (I did taxes and went out of town for a day, so that sucked most of my time up). The daya away was fun, but I've felt sort of behind ever since.

Anyway.... My attitude is sorta "meh". Nothing seems terribly exciting - exercise, healthy food, the scale going down... meh.

Times like these are when it is critical that you have habits. The scale continues to drift down because at minimum: I will eat healthy food in reasonable portions because they are planend & packed. The wings & beer with the Superbowl were great, but that was then and this is now. And "then" will come again, just not every day.

Also, I have a lunch buddy that I walk with every day, Monday through Friday. If the weather is good we get outside, if it isn't we walk inside. But unless there is some major issue at work, this is considered non-negotiable. So, I am getting in a minimum of 30 minutes of brisk walking.

I'm still excited, I think I just need to re-charge my batteries. That's what auto-pilot is for. :-)

Doing a happy dance

A few thoughts, in no particular order:

Yesterday I decided I couldn’t face the lunch I’d brought. Sadly, my curry did not freeze very well and the veggies were mush. So I threw it out and bought lunch in the cafeteria. I picked a bad day – very little looked good. I ended up with a slice of pizza. After eating said pizza, I remembered we were having home made lasagna for dinner! That’s a bit much on the Italian for one day IMO.

Once I got home, I had to run an errand, meaning I wasn’t able to get outside and enjoy the lovely weather – much to my disappointment. I ran my errand, popped the lasagna in the over (I’d made it last Sunday), and went to the guest room to do yoga and swing my kettlebell.

While doing yoga, I had an epiphany. See, I was doing yoga but thinking about walking. That’s the way my yoga practice has been since I started. Originally, I wanted to do yoga every day. Now, my yoga is only like 20 minutes long, but every day still felt like a tall order. I found myself not enjoying it. Part of yoga is practicing being present in your body and in the moment – and I wasn’t accomplishing that. So I decided to try to do yoga 3 days per week, alternating with my kettlebells. That seems more reasonable. I think I will be able to focus better and hopefully it will feel like less of a chore. Having come to that decision, I happily kicked butt on my kettlebell workout!

I didn’t have my after dinner snack yesterday (I was still full from the lasagna and salad), but I did decide to have a real beer. So I did!

When I got up this morning (and I slept in because I was tired from my sleepless night the night before), I was down 1.2 pounds. Sometimes I need to just stay the course and not get tense about the scale. I am exercising regularly and eating much better – I’m feeling better and the weight will follow.

My goal for January was to lose 5 pounds (1 pound per week). I lost 4.8. Given that this was my first full month of planning and tracking in quite a while, I consider it a success even if I did technically “miss” my goal by a tad. So what?

In January I was able to re-establish my habit of neighborhood walking. I established a kettlebell routine. I revamped my after dinner snack habits. Through trial and error, I have figured out what I can eat on a weekend to go up a little or maintain my weight loss. Because there are foods that I don’t want to be a regular part of my daily eating, but I like them and don’t want to eliminate them from my life. And we do enjoy going out to eat some on the weekend.

That feels like a success to me!

Have a great weekend!

The tiredest mommy in the whole USA

A sushi haiku:

Made sushi one time.
Now, I make reservations.
Because….well….I can.

Most nights I will briefly wake up. I generally fall back asleep quickly, but once in a while I have a hard time. Last night was one of those nights. I woke up at 3 AM having some odd dreams:

I was a cat. Me & a group of other kitty cats were taking a rescue diver course. We had to swim to a small island from Tahiti (where we were). When we surfaced, we realized that the navigator had totally messed up and we were back where we started – a sandy beach in Tahiti. So we decided to call it a day and lay on the beach with frozen libations. Mmmmm.

I woke up wanting to go back to Mexico! And then I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was hungry, so I had a slice of cheese and a little bit of orange juice. Didn’t help. I didn’t have my snack last night (I wanted to lose that 0.4 pounds – which I didn’t).

So, I got up a 4:30 and cleaned my kitchen and then took a walk. I sincerely hope no one finds me face down, drooling on my desk at some point today.

Hungry and tired – that’s me.

I am having a hard time with yoga. I know there is a payoff, but right now I really want to see progress on the scale, so I’d rather spend my time walking than doing yoga. But if I wait until I feel ready to do yoga, I will always have an excuse available. Gah.

Have a good day!

An fyi, and a message from the big cry baby wanna-be

Our company has completed their announced layoffs, and I wasn’t impacted. Yay!

I’m afraid I’m going to have to trim back my evening snack. For the first time, I’m up a bit on the scale during the week. Now, I don’t lose every day, but that increase makes me wonder whether I need to trim back on my evening snack. I’ll try to make something lower in calories next week. Ugh. I will trim it back, but I’m NOT giving up my evening snack!!!

I got a yoga DVD from Netflix yesterday – “Yoga at any size” or some such. I was going to do it this morning. I previewed it yesterday – it was nice to see the poses done by someone 1) larger and 2) not as flexible as the lady in the current DVD I’m using. It gave me a better idea of what I should like while doing the poses. I didn’t like the voice over (why wasn’t the instructor talking us through it?) and the music was the equivalent of new age elevator music, but I do want to try it. After seeing the scale, I went out for a walk instead. I’ll do yoga this afternoon. No, really. Really.

I increased my kettlebell workout yesterday. Oh. My. God. I was doing two sets of work 2 minutes/rest 2 minutes. Yesterday I added a third set, for a total workout time on 12 minutes. I thought I was gonna die. I barely made it through the third set. My back hurt. I sounded like I’d been running from Freddy Krueger. It was HARD! But I love the fact that I can get a super intense workout in a short time, in my own home.

The boy is so heart broken over the Jeep – mom was saving it for him. He really wants to get it fixed. It’s not (probably) the most practical thing to do. He’s had a lot of changes in his life, and he’s always been terribly sentimental, I don’t know. Practical versus what the heart wants. Not sure what my mom is going to decide. He just sat at the table last night and cried. It broke my heart. This is the first time in his life he’s helping make an “adult” decision – and he and my mom are both having a tough time.

Hope you have a good day!

Eating isn't the answer

Item the first: My cell phone bill is set up on recurring billing, charging to my Amex. The card expired, but did they contact me to say “Hey. Your card expired.”? Of course not. Instead they called to say my account was past due. Gee, thanks. They also wanted me to pay the next bill 2 weeks in advance (uh, no). Saunooke called and they said we didn’t have to pay in advance. I got the card info updated online, but hello??? Be a little proactive and you would’ve gotten my money on time.

Item the second: Last Wednesday an 18 year old girl (talking on her cell phone) ran a stop sign and slammed into my mom’s Jeep. The Jeep is totaled. The insurance company has offered her $900 below blue book. If she wants to keep the Jeep and have it repaired, she has to pay 25% of that back to keep it because the insurance company has (in effect) already sold the car to a salvage company – she has to buy it back.

Isn’t America great? Someone hits you, so let’s set up the system to make sure the innocent victim gets extra shaft with that.

God I get pissed when people upset my mother. Good thing none of you are going to see me today. I’m in one of those moods where yoga doesn’t cut it – I need to put a couple thousand rounds through a machine gun. Or get somebody in a triangle and squeeze their throat. Or kick someone in the head. It’s a good thing I’ve given up martial arts because today I would have zero restraint. These are the days I truly miss my machine gun. *sob*

I went online to look at the cafeteria menu - they have cheese tortellini with garlic cream sauce for lunch today. That sounds better than the lentil soup I brought. But it won't change anything. But it would sure taste good.

Ugh.

Results may vary

This week I lost 0.6 pounds. In general, I've been losing about a pound and a half per week. My target is to lose (on average) 1 pound per week - not too fast, just an easy pace. Since my weight post weekend was up less than it has been, I've wondered what I did differently. One thing different this week is that I ate meat for lunch - I had the greek chicken thighs (which are yummy). I normally eat vegan until dinner time. So I'm wondering if that made a difference. In any case, I have lunches in the freezer for next week (leftovers from stuff I've made at home). They are mostly vegan and the ones with meat have just a little (they are soups), so I'm curious to see if that makes a difference.

I won't say this is a "bad" result - it's a result, and I can tweak it based on what I observe. I'd like to lose a bit more quickly, so back to the vegan lunches. (Which I like perfectly well anyway!). We are leaving this afternoon - this morning I got up and did kettlebells. I didn't do yoga - I simply ran out of time. The weather is nice (40) and I am headed out to take a walk. I won't post again until Monday, so have a great weekend!

Too much of a good thing

This morning, I brought in a 2.5 cup Tupperware full of steel cut oatmeal and fruit. I would guess 1 cup fruit and 1.5 cups oatmeal. Too much! I ate maybe 2/3 of the oatmeal over a period of time and I am done! The rest will go in trash. A shame, but it makes no sense to overeat it either.

I am using this yoga dvd at home currently: http://www.askyogimarlon.com/dvd-beginner.html

I have done the 2 beginner and the strength segments. The strength segment is hard! After reading her web site, I get the impression that you are supposed to do them in order, and do one until it becomes not too difficult, then move on to the next. Oops! I want to mix these up with my stretch video: Tamilee Webb’s “Beginners Stretch for Flexibility”. So, maybe I will do Beginner 1 of yoga 4 times, then do the stretch. Hmmm. This yoga is not coming easily!

Progress on the yoga and kettlebell fronts feels slow – maybe because I am starting out at such a novice level. Walking is progressing more quickly – the 1 mile loop is becoming much easier and I have begun to pick up the pace. I did walk yesterday afternoon – it was quite cold, but the roads were dry. This morning it was 17, so I just stuck to yoga!

The scale this morning showed the weekend pound “weight gain” gone, plus 0.6 additional pounds along with it. Yay! I guess tomorrow will be my “official” weigh day since I won’t be here Friday.

I made this last night for dinner:

Stuffed Eggplant

2 large eggplants
1 pound Italian turkey sausage without cases (I used breakfast sausage cause that’s what I had – I think ground beef or turkey would also work)
1 pkg of baby bella mushrooms, chopped (or white, whatever)
Shredded cheese (I used cheddar/Colby)
2 large onions, diced or chopped
1 cup chicken stock, heated
3 cups herb-seasoned dressing cubes (I used Peppridge Farms cornbread)
garlic powder and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Slice in half and cook the 2 large eggplants. (I did this over the weekend and then stuck them in the fridge until last night.)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Saute mushrooms, onions, and sausage with in a skillet. Add garlic powder and some pepper. Once the sausage is cooked, add the chopped innards of the eggplant.

Now stir in the dressing cubes and the hot chicken stock. Stir very gently. Pam a casserole dish (rectangle works best) and place the eggplant “shells” on the bottom. Cover with the mixture (mine seriously overflowed the eggplant, so I just filled the casserole) and top with grated cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until hot & cheese is melted.

I served this with just a salad and it fed me, the hub, and 2 teenage boys (with leftovers!) If you’re doing low carb, you could leave out the stuffing and broth and you’d still have a lot of food. The boy claimed he “hates” eggplant, so he left the purple shell, never wondering what happened to all the insides! Heh heh heh

This was really good and the guys asked me to make it again – and I will!

Hub is on the mend – he stayed home from work yesterday, but he went in today. School was running on the regular schedule today, so things around here are back to normal. Tonight I’ve got to get ready for my trip!

Snow

I walked 3 times yesterday because I figured the odds of me being able to do so today were small. We got snow overnight. Our roads don’t get cleared, so they’ll be treacherous until the wet stuff is gone.

This morning I got up, did yoga, swung my kettlebell, then fixed breakfast and got dressed at a leisurely pace. I got hub to drive me in today (I hate driving in bad weather), so there was no need to rush. He was staying home from work (he has my cold), and the boy and a friend were hanging out at the house. I hope I have enough to feed 2 teenagers, just in case.

Normally I would walk at lunch but 1) my walking partner is out of town and 2) I used my lunch break to watch the inauguration in the auditorium. More 2 than 1 – I can walk by myself!

Still haven’t lost the pound the scale went up after the weekend – gah! I will try to be very careful with food while out of town since exercise won’t happen on Friday or Saturday. Hopefully that darn pound will be gone tomorrow.

I made some vegetable soup over the weekend to go with my lunch. Every once in a while I make something that is just plain lousy. This was one of those times. When I get home, that stuff is going in the trash! It was foul. Ick. I guess that happens, even to the best of us! *lol*

Saturday I am having lunch with a lady I “know” from a yahoo group we both joined about 7 years ago. It will be the first time I’ve ever met an “internet friend” in real life! My mom was shocked I knew anyone in Toccoa – I didn’t mention that I only know her online. I wonder if my mom will think that’s weird? Probably!

Driving in tomorrow will likely be worse since it’s supposed to be in the teens overnight, so I’ll plan to drive (carefully) and come in a little late tomorrow.

Have a good one!

Loving my lunch

I made this recipe for lunches this week:

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/01/greek-chicken-thighs.html

I did a few things different: I used an onion instead of shallots (cause that’s what I had) and I just put a lid on it and finished cooking it on the stove. I added the feta after I’d portioned it out into my containers, and I put in some whole wheat pasta. Delicious! I will definitely try more recipes from this web site!

Weekend

I had a really nice weekend. Hub got off work 2 hours early on Saturday. Breaking things up (shopping over 2 days, cooking over 2 days) meant that the pace seemed much more relaxed. Yesterday we sat down and had pancakes together. We went out to Panera Bread for lunch. We took time to talk. We rented a couple of movies to watch. The pace was really nice. Last night we sat & had popcorn & beer while watching “Trailer park of Terror”. It was just very nice.

This morning I got up and decided to walk. It was 33, and since we may get snow flurries today and tomorrow, I wanted to take advantage and walk while I could. It was very foggy, giving the world that soft, hushed feeling. I’ll do my yoga this afternoon.

Yoga is going to be a challenge. With walking, I’ve been able to see rapid improvement. With yoga, I’m very much at the baby food stage – I am amazingly inflexible! I’m struggling, which makes it hard to focus during the practice. I clearly have a ways to go. A long ways. I’m glad I have dvds to do at home – at least it will be a bit of a start before I start taking classes. That may sound backwards, but Bikram yoga is challenging! I’d like to get a little progress going before I begin. I am determined to stick with it. I think doing yoga yesterday morning helped to set a nice pace for the day, and I’d like to keep that going.

Have a good one!

The story so far

Overall, a very nice weekend thus far. Friday I was able to get to a couple of grocery stores, which made Saturday easier. Saturday after shopping I did a little bit of my cooking and my mom came over - she gave me a hand with dishes and I gave her a hand with making a jacket for her dog (he's a rat terrier and needs a jacket, but he's a weird size so she has a tough time finding anything for him). We had a good visit.

Having some of the cooking already done has made Sunday much more relaxed. This morning I got up, did yoga with my new Rodney Yee dvd, and then went for a walk outside. It may rain later, so I wanted to make sure I got that in. Yesterday I swung my kettlebell. I tried to do yoga, but I made the mistake of attempting to do it AFTER my kettlebell workout - which didn't work!

It's not quite lunch time and my cooking is mostly done. I'm going to sit down and work on my dresses while hub and I watch a movie. We may get snow in the next couple of days! At least it's warmer - this moring it was 33, which was higher than it ever got yesterday.

Discretion is the better part of valor (or something)

I had planned to get up and walk this morning. Given that the temperature this morning was 30 and tomorrow same time it will be 12, it seemed like I should take advantage of the weather.

Yesterday when I got home from work I took a nap for a half hour, and still managed go to bed at 9, so clearly I’m still battling this cold. I walked (indoors) yesterday at lunch, and plan to do the same today. But this morning I decided to just sleep in.

Not a lot to say – things are plugging along. Made a good dinner last night. Had a snack afterward – the store had my beloved “Faux Milwaukee” (the no alcohol beer) again, they’d been out for a couple of weeks and I was having to drink O’Douls. Gah.

The boy is going out of town with his grandpa and hub will be working on Saturday. I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend.

I’m a little concerned because the next weekend mom and I are going out of town. We’re headed to Georgia to visit my great aunt. We’ll be spending one night in Toccoa with a friend of my mom’s and the next night we’ll be staying in a hotel in LaGrange. I’m less worried about eating on the road that I am the evenings. I’m trying to think of something easy but satisfying I can pack for myself in case I want a snack in the evenings.

And I’m concerned because I have my nice little routine going and I’m afraid an out of town trip will knock me off kilter.

No answers, but I need a plan!

Testing my resolve

Sorry for not posting yesterday – I was home sick with a cold. I had a splitting headache, luckily by this morning that symptom had gone away. I still feel tired, but am generally on the mend.

I broke through the Sunday 2 pound gain and sent a half a pound along with it. Hurray!

It’s getting cold here in the next day or so – lows in the teens and highs in the low 30s. That means it’s time to put the new workout room (aka “guest bedroom”) to the test. Not sure if I’m up to the kettlebell yet – I’ll walk this afternoon and wait and see how I feel in the morning. Tomorrow may be warm enough to walk – it just depends on when this cold front moves in. I have cardio options that don’t involve going outside, but I haven’t bothered with any of them yet since the weather has (thus far) been bearable. That’s about to change!

I finished my book on “The Structure House Weight Loss Plan” – I highly recommend it. It’s not really a diet book – it’s more about changing your life to reduce your need to use food for non-nutritive reasons. Good stuff. In some ways it reminded me of the Happiness book I’m reading now – several overlaps. Which kinda makes sense if you think about it…..

Sing it with me, “Progress, Not Perfection”

This was one of those weekends where it feels like fate is conspiring against you. I was so looking forward to sewing Saturday afternoon. Friday night, hub was too tired to go with me to the grocery (I don’t like to go alone after dark). I woke up early Saturday and did the Friday night stuff before the usual Saturday stuff. This meant that 1) I would need to exercise later in the day and 2) I was running late. If I thought I was running late then, well, it was nothing compared with how late I was running after I locked the keys in the car!!! Yeah, one of those weekends.

Despite many (minor) annoyances, and not getting to spend my time as I wanted, I declare this weekend a success on a number of fronts.

1. I weighed myself every day, rather than being afraid of the scale.
2. I ate mindfully. I ate some things I consider ‘treats” (homemade pizza!), but ate healthy portions and used good quality ingredients.
3. I exercised every day.
4. When I found myself getting upset Sunday afternoon, I talked to my husband, told him what I needed/wanted, then went to the guest room to swing my kettlebell! When he came back to check on me, I had a huge smile on my face.
5. I spent quality time with my family, and I told them how much I enjoyed that time.

Did I overeat? Yes, after dinner Sunday. Does the scale show a gain? Yes, it was up 2 pounds this morning. Am I freaking out? No, I did many things well. Sunday could have easily been a disaster when I found myself getting upset. While I did overeat some, I also used exercise to deal with my frustration.

So, progress!

S.H.I.F. (So Happy It’s Friday)

When I got home yesterday, I just collapsed across my bed. I didn’t take a nap (I should have). I was that tired. Luckily, I went to bed early and slept really well. But I am very much looking forward to some down time this weekend.

My weight had drifted down a bit today. The irony is I weigh what I did last Friday. Lesson learned: It takes a week to undo a weekend’s poor choices. With that fresh in my memory, I’ll do better this weekend than I did last!

I’m walking at lunch (inside, it’s freezing!). Tonight I am doing part of my grocery shopping and maybe some yoga, but I’m not freaking out if I just go to bed.

Have a good weekend!

Progress of the invisible sort

Since I’ve gotten back into a regular exercise routine and gotten back to healthier eating, I’ve seen a number of improvements: the bloat I had constantly over the holidays is gone, I am sleeping better, my sinuses are clear, my heartburn is gone, my clothes are looser, I have more energy in the evenings. Sadly, the scale isn’t moving. That is what gets me so frustrated – when you do everything “right”, yet the scale won’t budge. And all these great things are going on, but I’m mad that I still get so peeved about the scale – like it’s so much more important than all those other improvements.

Gah! What a mind game weight loss is……

There is HUGE progress on the exercise front: just a couple of weeks ago I started out walking the “short” loop. One day I missed a morning walk, so I “doubled up” in the afternoon and walked the medium loop (which is roughly twice the distance of the small loop). It was tough, but I did it! I was so excited I called my husband. :-) I am now walking the medium loop regularly, sometimes more than once per day. And I am back to walking at lunch time with my walking partner here at work. So, I’ve gone from “zero” to “significant” on the exercise front!

This morning I did an abridged version of my already abbreviated kettlebell routine. I was still pretty stiff from the other day – I did enough to get those muscles firing and warmed up. I didn’t hurt myself, but if I’m still sore after 2 days, then I did a little too much. I just get so excited about weights – I’d forgotten how much I love the feeling of lifting weights. I also walked the medium loop – it was 35 degrees, so not too bad!

There’s been a lot of improvement on the food front as well. I am almost always consistent about preparing a healthy breakfast and lunch to bring to the office. That had slipped a bit over the holidays, but that is generally quite consistent. But I’d let the evening snacking and weekday beer creep back in – not good. Both affect my sleep. I now have a planned snack and a non-alcoholic beer. I feel much better in the evenings – and in the morning when I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep!

I just need to stay focused on all the positive improvements and how much better I’m feeling and have faith that the scale will follow.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

Today the cafeteria offered a “build your own soup” bar. Given that it’s January, a hot bowl of soup sounded yummy. So I planned to buy lunch today. I chose the tofu & veggie broth & all the veggies. The only problem was that I was starving less than 2 hours later! So that didn’t pan out so well. I went back after my dental appointment and got half a chicken salad sandwich on whole wheat. It’ll be just enough to tide me over to my afternoon snack.

Speaking of dentist, I was afraid I was going to have to have a root canal, but no! Turns out my gum had receded a teeny bit, but everything looks good – I just need to treat the area with some stuff to de-sensitize the area! Woot! Yay for not blowing all my dental benefits in January!

I slept in this morning. For one, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. Why does this happen??? For two, it was pouring. I took an extra long walk after lunch – outside even, which was nice. I really needed it because I was sore form that darn kettlebell! This afternoon I will either walk again, or at least do my stretch tape.

Hub is back to work after 5 days off – he is working 10 hour days, Wednesday through Saturday.

Well, I guess that’s about it for today. Back to work!

Rain, rain, thanks!

This morning, the alarm went off at 5. I hit snooze, turned over, hit it again for another 5 minutes, and then got out of bed at 5:15. It was raining really hard when I woke up this morning – and I’m glad! It was 45 degrees, and if it hadn’t been raining, I would definitely have taken advantage of the warm weather to get outside and walk. But since I couldn’t I had to work out inside!

See, when I got the kettlebell workout dvd for Christmas, I sat down and previewed it, so I would know what to expect. But I hadn’t done it yet. Since I had no other option, I did it this morning. (Hey, use whatever works!)

The dvd has an intro section which shows the various exercises, a warm-up, 3 circuits, and a short cool down. I walked through the intro (which I won’t need to do again), the warm-up, and did most of circuit 1. After today, I should be able to do the warm-up and the entire circuit 1. It doesn’t sound very hard, but kettlebells are an extremely intense workout. Add to that 1) I’m out of shape and 2) last time I overdid it with the kettlebells and really hurt my back – and I don’t want a repeat of that.

After the kettlebell dvd, I put in a stretch vcr tape and did most of that (until it was time for me to get ready for work). I need to go ahead & get out of bed at 5 in order to finish the stretch tape. Or next time I might do one of the 20 minute workouts on my yoga dvd.

My muscles feel like they got in a good workout, hopefully I won’t be too sore.

A little bit of gratitude

Yesterday morning, hub and I got up and walked the dogs together (except the chihuahua, who indicated that she preferred to stay home). We hadn't done that in a long time, and I really enjoyed it.

My husband made a delicious dinner on the grill last night - steak, chicken, shrimp, and scallops. That man can sure grill. And all I had to do was make a salad & bake potatoes! :-)

This morning it was 51 degrees! Hey, it's not lasting, but I'll take it! I got up and walked, and enjoyed it. And I walked at lunch with my friend - I missed her over the holidays!

I'm excited about yoga, but also a little scared. I have a stretch tape, and a basic yoga dvd. I think I'll do the stretch for a couple of weeks, then do the yoga for a couple of weeks - hopefully that will help me prepare.

Hey, if I learned to like cottage cheese and oatmeal, I can learn to like yoga! And honestly, I'm gettign to an age where I realize how important this kind of stuff is - I sit on my butt all day. Use it or lose it!

Hope you have a good day!

A very nice day

First, thanks for the kinds comments. I knew if I didn't write it down, I'd "hit the fridge" (Which I didn't!)

It ended up being a very nice weekend. We got a lot of things done - the Christmas is down, the house is cleaned, the cars are serviced. I have to say, the best thing that got accomplished was that I made time to sit & talk with my husband.

I mentioned I've been reading a book on happiness. I've realized a couple of things: in 2006, I put on some weight due to stress (that was the last time MIL got fired & she moved in with my mom, I started a new job, hub's business was uneven). Then in 2007 I gained even more weight. That was the year he began working those crazy hours.

The weight isn't the point - it's just a physical symptom. I realized that at some point I fell off my own list of priorities. Forget about doing things that made me happy - things I felt passionate about. I wasn't even taking care of myself! My well was dry and I never filled it. I just became more miserable, but kept doing the same thing, over & over.

No wonder I had a bad attitutde - I spent 2008 being punished - by me! I feel like I'm beginning to get a bit of perspective- like I haven't been noticing and I've finally popped my head up for a look around!

Anyway, when we talked today, hub was totally supportive. He wants to help me make more time for me, and spend more time doing things I enjoy. It felt so good to say those things out loud and have him be positive about what I felt I needed to do.

I wish I'd realized earlier what was going on, but better late than never.

Frustration

I hate it when a plan goes awry. I had 2 goals for today: take down the Christmas decorations and get the grocery shopping done. I sit at home with no car (it's getting an oil change) and the boxes for the decorations weren't taken down before hub took off to pick up the boy - he wanted to go to the Alltel store TODAY because his phone was messed up, and hub said okay before consulting with me.

Anyway, I'm feeling frustrated. I've taken a walk, taken a bath, and generally tried to stay out of the fridge. I took a day off work go get stuff done and now I feel it was a total waste.

Resolutions

Happy New Year! I think resolutions get a bad rap - yeah, a lot of folks set unrealistic goals without taking any time to think about how they intend to achieve them, then get frustrated, quit, claim resolutions don't work, and cease making any.

A goal without a plan isn't a goal - it's a wish. As in "I wish I had a million dollars". When you start thinking about how you are going to get/accomplish something, then you begin to understand what resources it's gonna take to achieve it. Then you can set priorities. Then you're getting somewhere! Your wish/fantasy/dream is becoming a goal.

My initial thought on the close of 2008 was "thank goodness." Honestly, it felt like a crappy year. But when I look back, it wasn't crappy. What was crappy was my attitude. My husband and I remain employed, our family is healthy and intact, we've made strides on some goals 1: being greener 2: being debt free. We have an emergency fund. Our marriage is closer because we are communicating about money and making plans together far more effectively than we ever have. My son has adjusted wonderfully to public school.

Sure, some things haven't been optimal: my fitness level has declined, the economy stinks, my MIL lost her job, the boy's grandpa moved away and he won't be able to see him weekly any longer. Some of those I can control, some I can't. What I can do is control my reactions. I feel better about the economy knowing we end the year with less debt, fewer bills, and more money in the bank. I have a plan to improve my physical fitness, which I acted on immediately, rather than waiting for some artificial start line. Why wait for the new year when this is for the rest of my life?

Let's face it: I borrow trouble. I'm not a negative "oh no, my glass is half empty" person. I'm a "Yeah, my glass is half full but something is gonna come along and shatter that glass any minute" kind of person. I worry, I fret, I create scenarios. Being prepared is good, borrowing trouble is bad.

If I could only list 1 resolution for 2009, it would be this: "I resolve to improve my attitude." Think about the benefits - better relationships, more happiness and enjoyment at work and home, less stress, better emotional AND PHYSICAL well being.

This isn't some abstract dream - I've already begun to take action. In 2008 I signed up for an online course called "Awakening Joy" (which I never did - of course!). Well, I went and downloaded the materials and I began to read a book that was recommended reading. (Which I had ordered way back when and never opened!). I am walking. I switched back to the no-alcohol beer - fewer calories and better sleep!

Let me tell you a story. As you know, we scaled back for Christmas this year. I got one gift from hub, and several small things from my mom. One was a necklace she had, which she gave to me because she thought I could wear it with work clothes and she didn't wear it often. I didn't take my stuff out of the living room, and when the guys cleaned up, they threw it away. The trash was picked up yesterday.

I looked, I called my mom in case she'd taken it home in some of her stuff by mistake. I even called the hub (in tears) while he was at work. When he got home I'm sure he expected to find an angry, emotional, upset wife. Instead, he came home to dinner almost ready and some hot miso soup (he'd been working outside and was frozen). He asked a couple of questions about whether I'd looked certian places and if I had found it.

I decided there was no point in getting angry or upset with or at him. What would it accomplish? The necklace is gone. Yes it was very nice, but it wasn't expensive, it wasn't a family heirloom, and we can't get it back. Let it go.

I know I won't become like the Dalai Lama overnight. But I can do a better job of thinking and consciously choosing my reactions.

Instead of that negative feedback loop I mentioned a few posts ago, I want to create a positive feedback loop where thinking and choosing what is good for me leads to feeling better emotionally and physically.

Happy New Year.

What I'm thinking about

I like blogs - and blogging. I have blogs I've read for years - these people feel like part of my community. I appreciate the way blogging allows us to share our thoughts and ideas without anyone interjecting a "me too" or funny story, derailing our train of thought. My blog hasn't had a lot of that for a while, but maybe that will change. :-)

For Valentine's Day, hub and I are getting back to an idea we had a few years ago. Remember the year I gave him a Bikram yoga pass and he gave me a slot for a running clinic with Jeff Galloway? We're saving up and for this upcoming Valentine's day I'm getting a Bikram pass and he is getting a tune-up for his road bike.

It may seem odd that we're spending more on Valentine's gifts than we did at Christmas! But this is a gift from the heart - a gift that says "I love you and I want you to be healthy." It's an investment in ourselves. I can't think of anything more romantic than that.

It was 45 degrees this morning (the cold is moving in today, sadly). I wanted to sleep in, but "mean dog" (aka "the jack russell terrorist", aka "Jordan") decided otherwise. She crawled up from her position as my foot warmer and began licking my neck until I got up in self defense. I also walked yesterday afternoon. Everything looks so different in the daylight. ;-)

As I said, when I got home from work yesterday I took a walk. After that I previewed the kettlebell workout dvd I got from my mom. The instructor has a section where she reviews the main exercises - most I did in the kettlebell class I took that time, but there were a couple of new ones. The workout itself consists of a warm-up, followed by 3 different circuits of 10 or so minutes each. I know that doesn't sound like much, but kettlebells are intense!

The nice thing about it being in chunks like that is that I can start with just a little bit. Last time I overdid it on the first workout and wound up really hurting my back. I don't want a repeat! I think this is going to work very well. I'll have enough time in the AM to do kettlebells and take a short walk if I want to get outside (when the weather is warmer).

Hub is going back to the gym this weekend, and the boy will join him when he gets back in town (he went back to Wilmington with his grandpa for a few more days. I don't think he'll get back down there until spring break, which is gonna get hard for him).

I'm still feeling kinda ambivalent about the gym - sometimes I am excited about it, but not right now. I'll get my weights with the kettlebells and while I like using the elliptical, right now driving to use the "hamster wheel" doesn't appeal.

Around here we probably have another 10-12 weeks of cold weather, so I may change my mind.

I made a really good dinner last night - soem baked chicken (I pounded until then, then lightly breaded with homemade seasoned bread crumbs and baked), pasta with vodka sauce, and salad. We ate by candlelight, and I had some nice relaxing music. And no one fell asleep at the table!!!

Tonight is a chicken spagetti recipe and salad. No one is staying up until midnight.

Happy New Year!

Nom nom nom

Prepping my breakfasts and lunches on Sunday is paying off handsomely. For one, since very few people are working the choices in the cafeteria stink. And for two, it's been yummy, satisfying food. After all the rich foods over the holidays, it feels great to be eating some lighter, more veggie-laden stuff.

It wasn't as warm this morning, but I still got up and walked around the neighborhood. It felt really good!

Things that make you go "Hmmmm".

If you'll recall, I was recently contacted by an old friend from junior high. It went something like this:

1. I receive email. We exchange pleasantries.
2. We establish that his marriage recently blew up and that mine is great.
3. He stops emailing me.

So this morning when I check my email, I notice that I received an invite to "link" to someone on LinkedIn (it's sorta like facebook for professionals). Now, I set up the account months ago when a friend invited me, and a few other friends have offered to "link" to me, but I pretty much haven't bothered with it.

So this morning I get a notice that my ex-fiancee wants to "link" to me. Hmmm. Now, this is someone I knew for over a decade. Someone who, in the end, ended our friendship because it was too painful. I can understand and respect that. Sometimes there is just too much water under the bridge, you know? But, why is he contacting me now? He has no other "links" - did he join just to link to me? Where has he been looking for me? Has he (or anyone else) found this blog?

The whole thing is ... weird.

In other news, we had a nice holiday here and I hope you did as well. The weekend seemed awfully short. :-( It was unseasonably warm here, I got up this morning and walked. It was nice. I prepped my breakfast and lunch foods yesterday, so packing my lunch & breakfast was a pretty painless process today. It feels good to be eating more normal foods - I've been acting like gravy is a beverage for a couple of days. *lol*

Take care!

A little bit of venting

Yeah, yesterday’s post was a bit emotional. Hub and I did talk a bit this morning. I know it sounds odd, but sometimes difficult conversations are easier for us to have via phone. The good news is that we are both frustrated, together.

If you were to make a budget, it would probably look something like this:

1. Necessities (housing, food, heat, medicine)
2. Other bills (credit cards & other unsecured debt)
3. Other stuff

If my MIL had a budget (which will never happen), it would look like this:

1. Buy unnecessary crap from Fingerhut/Wal-Rip.
2. Bills
3. Food & medicine
4. Taking the dog to the vet, heart worm medicine

You get the general idea. MIL has always had her priorities completely screwed up. Add to that the fact that she is stuck in low paying jobs and that she is a compulsive shopper/hoarder (so was her mother), and the result is disaster. Hub doesn’t want her to lose the storage unit because it contains family heirlooms – nothing of monetary value, mostly letters and pictures and stuff that she has been hoarding from the rest of the family. Obviously he doesn’t want those things lost, and there’s no guarantee she’ll stay current on the rent.

Here she is, giving my mom a sob story about how she has to choose between food and medicine, but there’s loads of stuff that she’s bought since the last time we moved her! Add to that the fact that my mom is paying for her dog to go to the vet, and when my mom offered to take everyone out to dinner at the cafeteria last night, MIL wanted to know if they could go to Mimi’s instead (uh, yeah, at 3 times the cost!). And do you think she has ever said thank you to anyone for taking her out for a meal – ever? Of course not, because she is owed these things. We’re stuck cleaning up her mess, while she continues to make more mess, oblivious. She is the most self centered, self absorbed person I have ever met. She's never spent money on her kids (she didn't bother to raise them), but she believes that she is owed whatever she wants.

It’s very frustrating, but at least hub and I are frustrated together.

Sorta sucky update

My weekend was fine. I stayed home and did stuff around the house, hub worked. Today he went up to Durham to help out his mom. Not only did she get fired, but her boss is keeping her $500 security deposit (even though the apartment is spotless) just to fuck her over. So now she has no money, including no money for medicine. Which means we're giving her money. So, it was us he screwed over. Hub is calling his brother to see if he can help out.

It will always be something with her. She gets these shitty jobs with the crappy employers and ends up getting screwed pretty much every time. (Get me to tell you about the time she was robbed and the security equipment was broken only they were too cheap to fix it and they tried to force her to not file a report with the police). Nice, huh?

She has been a victim her whole life and that will never change. She will never save a dime or do anything to lift a finger to take care of herself and that will never change. She didn't raise her own children (she left that to her parents), but she expects them to take care of her. And that will never change. This is what I married into and I don't know how to deal with it.

Feelings (whoa whoa whoa)

Yesterday was a very emotional day. I reacted as a mature, responsible adult: I had cheese dip and beer for dinner. :-(

I didn't get the job I applied for in the other department. That is for the best. I'd heard some things from a friend that reports to the guy that made me realize I'd be miserable working for him. Of course, my feelings are hurt a little bit, but I'm okay with it. What got me was how I found out: our department was called together to announce one of my collegues got the job. In other words, he never even bothered to contact the people that didn't get the job. Nice huh? Our general procedure is that you let the rejects know first, then announce who got it. But this guy is clearly not one to bother with such niceities.

This does help me though - our 2 teams do the same work - we're just 2 teams due to the number of people. So, opening up that job means that between our two teams, we have 3 open positions now. That really will help us going into the next round of layoffs. I have heard they are doing them the first week of January. Ugh. Stress again.

The other (worse news) is that my MIL got fired from her job. NC is a "will to work" state - meaning, you can get fired with no notice for no reason. She was given a week to get out of her apartment (she lives on the property, she manages a storage rental facility). Apparently, the boss wants to give the job (and apartment) to the out of town girlfriend. He told Jan that a couple of customers had complained about her, but wouldn't say who or about what.

She is moving back up to DC (which she'd planned to do anyway) to be closer to the grandkids. She'll be staying with a friend for a while and my mom will be taking care of her dog. I'm sure she'll qualify for unemployment, but that takes a while to kick in. Hub asked if we could pay for her storage space (the boss is giving her a good deal on a space to store her stuff until she has a place of her own up north).

Here's my issue with that: my MIL is terrible with money. Remember when she was living with my mom? Instead of saving her income tax return ($500) for a down payment on a apartment, she spent it on clothes at Wal-Mart and we had to pay her down payment to get her out of my mom's house? Uh, yeah. Once she gets her unemployment, she'll use it to go buy crap. So why are we using our hard earned money to support her bad behaviour? If she really needed it, yes, I would help. But I'm not convinced she'll need it. But this is very hard to discuss with my husband, because how do you say those things? Well, I just said them.

I'm not sure how we come up with a compromise that doesn't leave either of us feeling resentful, but we've got to try. His mother is never going to be able to live on her social security, so this is going to be a problem for a long time to come. Her health isn't all that great, so I don't know how long she'll be able to work. Not trying to borrow worry, but I know that the decisions we make now are precedents for how we deal with her in the future.

Anyway, it was a very emotional day and I didn't handle it well. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. I just feel like I've been losing a lot lately I guess.

I still have many things to be grateful for, so I'm trying to keep perspective.

Some things concerning me today

Have you heard about the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act which goes into effect in a couple of months? What does it do? In short, makes homemade toys, clothing & other products illegal. If you want to sell them anyway. Read more here.
http://thebabygardner.com/blog/2008/12/11/love-handmade-a-call-to-action-for-all-of-us/

Wow. Look what happens when folks aren't looking. It's enough to make you paranoid.

In other news, my MIL got fired from her job. Apparently, the boss wants to give the job to his girlfriend. But that's a post for another day.......

Pretty good

I had a pretty good weekend. Hub had to work, and we didn’t get to go out on a date. I got loads done – shopping, cleaning, cooking, decorating. Today is supposed to be the last of the long hours for him. Exercise remains a memory. Food-wise, some days are better than others. I’m okay with that for now. With the boy out of school (and going with his grandpa for a few days), I may try going by the gym on the way home from work next week. OTOH, I am embarrassed by how I would look in shorts on the elliptical. Yes, I feel too fat to be seen at the gym. How sad is that?

Anyway, there is a lot of work & introspection needed, but right now I can’t focus on it. I’m just trying to enjoy the holiday, appreciate the blessings we have, and take care of the things I need to get done. I don’t mean to sound depressed or anything (I’m not), I just mean I’m okay with the fact that things have been crazy and that now isn’t the time to try to change my routine.

I’ve always been crazy, but it’s kept me from going insane

This week has been nutso. Monday and Tuesday, hub worked until 11 pm. For the record, he starts work at 7 AM. Wednesday he had the day off (to catch up on sleep and avoid a psychotic episode). That afternoon we were thankfully able to get the shopping done for the boy. He ONLY worked until 8 last night. He does have to work this weekend. He is going to try to get of work early enough on Saturday so we can go out to eat. At a restaurant. Wearing clean clothes. Hopefully he won’t fall asleep at the table.

I’m very glad he was able to shop for the boy with me as our main gift to him this year was tools. Specifically deep well sockets and a bunch of other stuff that I don’t know what it does so that he can work on his 4 motorcycles. What? You mean all 13 year olds don’t have 4 motorcycles????

In fairness, he really only works on and rides 2 of them. One is a full size bike that belongs to his uncle, but he’s moving to Florida and can’t take it with him. I have no idea whether it works. Another is a full size motorcycle that he & his uncle converted so it is electric. Bikes 3 and 4 are dirt bikes – the Honda is pretty reliable, but he is forever working on the Suzuki.

Every day since he has brought the bikes down from his grandpa’s house I come home to the sight of a filthy boy working on a motorcycle in the garage where my car should be, blasting Guns n Roses. My house smells like gasoline. All the time. I’m afraid the smell will poison the cat who shares his bedroom. At least he’s home.

Anyway, shopping is mostly done. This weekend I have to wrap and hopefully get my cards done. On top of the usual cooking, cleaning, & shopping. The boy will be gone and hub will be working – woo hoo! Party at my place!!!! Just joking (maybe).

Have a good weekend.

Profound thought of the day

"Never to underestimate the destructive power of negative feedback loops." I read this in an article today. It’s a quote by an expert on the current economic crisis, but if you think about it, this is really a universal truth. Negative feedback loops are insidious things, they can start so small and can be so difficult to get out of. Like trying to launch yourself into orbit – the force required to leave the gravity of the earth is tremendous – so is the gravity of the loop.

That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do lately. Doing so while dealing with hub’s crazy work schedule and everything else has been difficult. Maybe what I need to do is stop feeding the loop by getting so down on myself when things don’t work out like I want or plan.

Just a thought.

Kinda crazy on the home front

My poor husband got home at 11 o’clock last night!!! They are doing some big walk through inspection today. Gah. I got up and packed his lunch and dinner (just in case) and cooked him a nice breakfast sandwich on a homemade biscuit. Poor guy. To say that he is burnt toast is a pretty massive understatement.

I expect to get home a bit late tonight myself. I have no idea what to make for dinner – I was going to do lentil soup in the crock pot, but I didn’t have time to put it on this morning. Hello Cici’s Pizza!

My plans for the weekend after Christmas are to either paint the boy’s room (he picked out grey with black curtains – barf) or to make a mock-up of a Viking apron dress. I’ve never made one before so I want to make a mock-up first because I am totally intimidated by the expensive fabric I bought at Pennsic!

I’d like to make a green table runner for the dining room table to go with the Christmas table cloth – I haven’t been able to find one I like. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with the decorations (well, once we get the decorations on the tree).

After Christmas, I’d really like to paint either my bathroom or my kitchen. I’m bored and would like a change.

I can’t wait to get back to a more normal schedule.

June Cleaver didn’t have a day job

Today is the day that hub’s building was supposed to be completed and turned over to the school. As if! The school has said they are moving in Saturday. However, this does not mean that they are necessarily done – it just means they have to do all the little pesky finishing up things while working around furniture deliveries etc. In other words, will the 12 hour days/7 days per week end next weekend? Who knows? All I know is that my poor husband fell asleep at the dinner table last night.

In the meantime, my stint as June Cleaver continues. Get up, feed animals, pack lunches, cook breakfast, then get myself ready for work. Come home, fix supper, convince son that he is neither Cinderella nor being abused because I ask him to do the dishes 2 days in a row!!! (Oh, the plight of these poor put upon teens….) Do laundry, run errands, help with homework. Weekend is spent doing household chores – cleaning, shopping, cooking. And of course this weekend it also involved putting up the Christmas decorations. I had the tree set up with lights on, as well as the rest of the decorating. We were going to put the ornaments on after dinner, but what with the falling asleep at the table and all, we decided it would be best to try again for next weekend.

I can hardly wait for Christmas just because I know I’ll get to sleep in!

Whiny post

My drippy nose had become “the world’s largest snot factory” ™ Tuesday night, which led to “annoying cough that keeps you awake” last night. Ugh. I have too much to do to be sick!

I was running late yesterday morning and didn't pack my breeakfast. So, I had to buy at work and my choice was a bit iffy. This was followed by a soft pretzel as my afternoon snack, and a beer while I soaked in the tub.

Comfort eat much?

Oh well, for now I am weighing myself every day and have set a goal for the end of December. Exercise continues to not happen. :-( Hopefully after I am feeling better!

I’m here, just busy

Once we got back from the beach (which was very nice), hub began working 12 hour days. So things at home are a bit hectic. Work is semi-hectic. Eating is much improved, exercise is being put off for housework. Not good, I know. I have a full blown cold.

I have plenty to be grateful for: our health, good jobs, out home & pets. We’ve decided to donate a good chunk of our Christmas budget to charity – given our blessings, it seems only right.

I’m trying to get more regular about posting, but I can’t promise anything until after Christmas! Just know I’m hanging in there, hope you are too! :-)