All in all, a good day

Day started off like many BAU days: alarm going off at 5 am. Up, used bathroom, dressed, off for a 1.5 mile brisk walk. Home, showered, weighed. Still up 1.8 pounds from trip. Then off to the kitchen. I am trying to kick the diet pepsi habit (let’s face it, a glass full off chemicals isn’t good for you, even if it doesn’t have calories). I would have liked a cup of coffee (this is a new habit to replace the soda). Sadly, I don’t actually know how to make coffee, and my mom didn’t wake up before time for me to leave. Oh well. I had a little bit of leftover iced tea (unsweetened of course, I’m sweet enough already. Ha ha!)

(How sad did that last bit sound?  No, my mom doesn't live with me and I don't live with my mom!  Well, just for a few months while she flees winter...).


I drank the tea while I made the morning carrot ginger apple cucumber juice for me, hub, & mom. Next up green smoothie with 1 frozen banana, 1 mango, about 1 cup frozen mixed fruit, chia seeds, flax seeds, green powder, and then filled blender to top with baby spinach, then added water. Remember, that’s for 3 adults, I’m not downing 3 servings of fruit first thing in the morning!

I drank that while I worked on breakfast: I chopped a red bell pepper and a red onion. Placed them in a zip-loc and scooped out a couple of spoons to sauté. I added a diced tomato, some cilantro, and ½ cup egg beaters. These are okay but my god they have like 100 million ingredients! Plain egg or egg whites going forward.

I packed lunch: 3 cups chopped veggies (mainly cabbage), a diced roasted chicken thigh (no skin), and some curry dressing I made based on Fage greek yogurt. I also packed my portion of the juice for afternoon snack.

Do you see a problem? Breakfast was quite big but had no fat – I ended up really hungry! I had 12 almonds for a snack, then 12 more before yoga. Since I had yoga at lunch I knew I would be eating lunch late.

Yoga was good and the trainer here at work gave me a couple of basic upper body routines for the boy to do at the new gym. The trainer (J) is a really nice guy who is passionate about his work. I thought that was super thoughtful!

Dinner is build your own nachos, but mine will be on baked corn tortillas (build your own tostadas I guess for me), and extra homemade guacamole but no cheese. I love guacamole and would much rather have that for my fat than cheese!

Food is all plugged in and tallied up.

Hub had a busy day seeing about termite prevention, getting A/C checked (needs some minor repairs), and a few chores. He & my stepbrother leave tomorrow morning for my mom’s house for a few days to finish up a couple of things for her and a quick visit with his mom before he going back to work for the temp agency.

My low back is slightly sore and my legs are definitely feeling the kettlebell workout I did yesterday. Ouch! But mostly in a good way. The low back reminds me to keep good form!

Back and back at it

So, the trip was pretty good.  A lot of time in the car and not a lot of down time, but it was good.  My grandmother's memorial was very nice.  I was in a bit of a daze - it's hard to believe she's gone.

Things have been very busy since I got back - both at work and at home, not to mention trying to get back into my exercise routine, which had slipped a little between travel and getting ready to go out of town.

We joined a gym today!  It's $10 per month per person, so I felt like that was a reasonable price.  There's not a minimum time you have to belong, so if it turns out some people aren't using their membership, we can drop it. I'm a little skeptical about both hub and son, but I'm willing to give it a shot for a couple of months.

We have a great fitness center at work (as I've mentioned before), but no cardio equipment.  This new gym (YouFit) has LOADS of cardio equipment, as well as free weights.  And good hours, so I'm hopeful this will allow me to get in some killer cardio sessions on the elliptical.

Also, I ordered Tracy Reifkind's swing video (the one that's a workout), and did 2/3 of it for the first time today.  It's tough!  In a good way.  I also ordered her book and read it in the car.  Very good.  I made an awesome "Tracy style" salad for lunch today  - loads of veggies, a piece of grilled chicken, and a yummy curry dressing.  It's portioned out and ready to go for lunches for the week.

Tonight's dinner was a really good meal that used the eggplant, bok choy, and mushrooms from the CSA box.  It was a korean stir fry with chicken.  Again yum, but I will admit I'm a little hungry and will probably eat something light in a few minutes.  I hate waking up in the middle of the night hungry.  It's hard to not overeat at 2 am.  Having a little something a couple hours prior to bed works better for me.  I had an appointment at 6 with the counselor so we had to eat ealy.

The appt was good - it's really helped me with adjusting to the move.

Hub actually finally got an old laptop set up for me.  (I had the desktop but it died).  So I have my own computer again.

Hopefully my own computer will mean more posting.  I've been doing pretty good - I've lost 20 pounds!  But I've been stalled the past couple of weeks and it's time to kick it up a notch.  So, ratcheting up the eating (more junk getting the boot) - diet Pepsi, I'll miss you! Ratcheting up the exercise (hello elliptical, my old friend).

Good things happening, taking steps to deal with stressors.  Some not so good stuff too (the boy is back with an old girlfriend - luckily she's still 800 miles away, but he wants her to come down for the summer. Uhh.....), but all in all, things are going along.

Headed to NC

We are headed to NC at the end of the week for my grandmother's memorial.  Thankfully, my dad won't be in attendance.

I am looking forward to a couple days off work and the trip.  I think I am also a little nervous, I've been overeating a bit this weekend.

In spite of that, Weight Watchers is going well and I am losing weight.  Fitness is progressing, and overall I'm feeling good.

This morning I took a couple hours vacation and went to a fabulous estate sale with my mom.  We both came away with some wonderful things, didn't pay too much, and had a grand time.

Hub is working long days, 7 days a week, trying to get a job finished on a tight deadline.  The money certainly helps out, but it also means things like taking the big dogs to the park aren't happening.

Work is pretty stressful right now, and I'm not sure what to do about it.  Right now I'm just trying to keep a positive outlook.  There are things I can do, I just need to think about things.

Overall I'd say things are improving,  money is a little better, hub is working (even if its temp) so that helps his attitude.  Things got pretty rough for a while.  He doesn't like Florida (it has to do with some bad family stuff that happened when he was in his early 20s), and he was pretty bitter about moving down here.  We've come awfully close to splitting up a couple of times, and with the work and money pressure .. well, it's been rough.  But I think we've gotten over the worst.  At least I hope so.  But I know in my heart that the boy and I will always be okay.

Mom and I are headed to the Everglades tomorrow, so I am taking a break from sewing curtains!  Only 1 more and I'm done!!! :-)

Poor, neglected blog

I am busy living life, losing weight, working out, doing some sight seeing, working on my house, helping my son wiht schoolwork.  In the evenings I rarely seem to find both time & energy to sit at the computer to do more than a quick check on my personal email.

Hub is working a temp job so that's great news - it has really helped his spirits.  The boy is getting good grades.  He & his uncle had a nice time in NC - my step brother is staying with us for a while working with hub and visiting. 

I still have a lot of mixed emotions about my grandmother's celebration of life service at the end of the month - about who else will be there family-wise that I don't really want to see, and about my relationship with her in the last couple of years of her life.  But I am going - for me & my mom, for my grandma, and hopefully to begin to build a relationship with my aunt.  I don't have high hopes, but I have hopes.

Weight is doing good, as is exercise.  I'm helping the boy get a week ahead on schoolwork so he can go up to NC, so it's been a crazy week.  I will update soon.

Today

Last year I gained 18 pounds due to stress eating.  I'm not proud of that fact, but it happened.  Today when I got on the scale,I had lost all that weight and then some.  That felt awfully good.

I have more to lose, but I am beginning to feel a lot better.

Weight Watcher report

2 more pounds gone.  Can I get a woot!?

Many things are going well - exercise & eating, planning & shopping, making good choices.  Work is kinda tough right now, I'm suffering from "What is the point?", which I guess is a kinda normal reaction, but I'll check with my counselor when I see her next week.

In the meantime, I keep making good choices and largely going along, feeling pretty grateful and happy.

Not good news on the co-worker front.  Stage 4 cancer.  Only 2 places in the country treat what she has.  Hopefully she'll be able to go to the one only 1.5 hours from where we used to live.

I so wanted a snack this afternoon - I went down to the cafe fully prepared to indulge.  I came back with a diet pepsi - nothing looked good.  Thank god.

A friend and co-worker has brain cancer.  I don't know what to say, but it is a very tough situation.  I feel rotten.

Other than that, life goes on.  I'm walking, lifting weights, doing yoga, watching what I eat. Ya ya ya.

The boy is doing pretty well with the virtual school - he's having a tough time with Spanish, but other than that it's much better and he's a lot happier.  Hub has a couple more weeks of unemployment - he still hasn't found a full time job, so he'll be going back to the temp agency.  Money is going to be even tighter than it is now.  I hope we don't have to borrow from our retirement, but if we have to then that is what we do.

Like I said, there is still plenty of stress.  Hub remains depressed and it is difficult for both of us.  But you know that's life and we're managing and we'll be okay.

Tomorrow I'm meeting a work buddy for an early morningn workout.  Yay! 

Still here

I was out of town for a long weekend - we went to Georgia to visit my great aunt.  We had a lovely time as usual - the weather was cold & windy but sunny.  I scored a lovely ring and a necklace for a total of $19 at the antique store.  Woot!

I took it easy on exercise last week - I was feeling very sore and run down.  Nevertheless, the scale moved well - since I was less active I was more restrictive with food.

Anyway, blah blah but the scale continues it's downward move, which is a good thing.  I feel better, am coping better with stress, had a good review, and life moves forward.

I am looking forward to a quiet weekend here with my mom & th eboy out of town.

Plodding along

Things here are ... okay.  Exercise, yoga, healthy eating choices help deal with the stress, but there's still plenty of that.  Some days are better than others.  Today the boy is angry & tired of school, the husband is being lazy, and I would really like a beer.

Balance

I've been busy, but things are going well.  The valences in the kitchen are done, the curtains are hung in the guest room and the sheers are hemmed and hung, the curtains for the project room are hung.  Turns out I had to hem them as well, that's done.  I have made 1 of 2 curtains for the dining room.

We went to the Fairchild Tropcical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables - it was AMAZING.  If you are ever in Miami, make time to go.  It was impressive.  It's the 2nd highest rated botanic garden in the world.

Food has been good - I went to WW this morning and I was down 2.2 pounds.  I feel like I've got a good handle on food.  I know regular yoga is helping so much in dealing with stress (and there is still quite a bit!), as is the exercise.  Exercise is also going well.  I want to add in kettlebells, but I am at least doing some weight training. 

I think the jogging is too much - I'm not at a weight where it feels ok.  I am getting a lot of exercise - yoga, weights, walking, step aerobics.  By the end of last week I just felt exhausted and ragged out and decided to throttle back to a level that is sustainable before I end up hurting myself.

I just really feel that I've found a good balance of physical activity that keep me feeling better emotionally, which helps with the diet because I'm turning to food less often to meet those needs.

That right there feels amazing.

Lovely day

I took today off and we went to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables - the 2nd best botanic garden in the world.  Check out the web site and it's way more awesome than that!

I got up and did my couch to 5K run this morning - I won't lie, it's tough, but it feels good, especially when I stop. *lol*

Diet is going well - I'm within 2 pounds of my 2011 starting weight, which is high, but it's good to know I've nearly undone all the 2011 stress. We'll see what Monday brings (official WW weigh in day), but as of this morning I've lost 3 pounds this week.

Life is good, moving my body feels good, and being outside in that amazing beauty was a real treat.

Is it Friday yet?

Stressful day at work.  Ugh.

Good things: I made it through 30 minutes of step aerobics.  I thankfully had much needed yoga at lunch today. I got to work early so I got to leave early.  It was a sunny, lovely day and we took the dogs to the park when I got home.

I am taking Friday off, so only 2 more days! :-)

Posting from home - fail so far

I haven't been very good about posting from home I'm afraid.  It's not that anything is bad, just busy.

Weight Watchers is going well - I've lost 5 pounds and so far it's going fine.  I'm very active thanks to the fitenss center at work and I've been walking every afternoon with my mom and Jordan.

This weekend I worked on curtains for the house.  I have a lot of vintage curtains as well as fabric, and with help from my mom I've figured out what I want to use where.  I made the boy new lined tab top curtains for his windows this weekend and bought some decorative curtain rods.  I have temporary curtains up (or sheers) so there's no huge rush (obviously, since we've been in the house 5 months!).

The weather is amazing - mid 70s, sunshine, mild nights.  I'm still not used to living here yet, but I sure am enjoying the weather!

We thought my MIL was going to have to have back surgery - luckily she doesn't - they are going to do physical therapy.  Thank goodness.  She needs both knees replaced, but that isn't as urgent.  I hate that she's in so much pain & her health is so bad, but she could certainly take some actions to make things better for herself.  Oh well, some things never change.

In any case, I'm plugging along!

Another day

So it was a good day.  I went in a bit late since I was staying later than usual for a meeting.  I made myself breakfast and then headed in.  It was a super busy day - loads of meetings.  I did have yoga today - the class was huge!  But it was very good and it's nice to be back into the routine.  I did a bit of my Gilad cardio this afternoon.

Anyway, things are going pretty well - work is going well, the boy is starting virtual school on the 23rd, and the hub is getting some chores done around the house.  I love having my mom here - she is so much help.

Anyway, plugging along!

Checking in

Not being able to post during lunch is a drag.  I don't generally get on the computer every night at home.  But WW is going ok - I went to my first meeting Monday.  Classes started at the work fitness center this week - I am taking a class called "AMP" (athletic movement performance).  It's mostly guys - it's a kind of cardio sculpt class.  Anyway, I liked it!

The boy is all signed up for virtual school which starts the 23rd.  He is excited - I am grateful that my mom is here to help him get used to setting his own schedule.

Hub continues to stuff down his stress with garbage food.  He says he isn't ready to do anything about his weight.  I hope he chooses to do something before his weight does something to him, ya know?

In any case, I am trying to let go of things I can't control, enjoy the things I have, and challenge myself to want more for me, from me.

Living as if...

I think I may have a tough time articulating this, but here I go:

One thing I am working on is "living as if" - living my life as if I were a healthy, active person who doesn't succumb to disordered eating.  Making those choices - going to the gym, eating reasonable portions of meals.  At the same time, shutting down my internal critic when he tries to put so many restrictions and rules around things that I've created a situation where Ghandi would fail.  Do you know what I mean?  Do you set unrealistic expectations for yourself?  That's the ONLY kind I set for myself!

Another thing:  shutting that bit^& up when she starts up.  In the gym "Look at yourself!  You look like a tea pot with arms working out!  You are so fat!"  I quickly derail that line with "Yes, but I am in here working on improving my fitness."

I'm just tired of 1) constantly criticizing myself and 2) creating so many rules and restrictions that I am guaranteed failure.

In other words, my goal is good choices, not perfect choices.

I joined Weight Watchers today.  Woot!  Again, good choices within parameters (points) - but not overly complicating the process.

Le sigh

Today I was working out in the fitness center - doing Gilad's "express workout" dvd - the first disc to be specific.  It was a long & tough workout and I was working really hard.  I looked like the teapot from "Beauty and the Beast" in the mirror.  Pretty depressing.

It's quite cold here - mid 50s today, the cafeteria at work ran out of coccoa packets!

I can no longer post at work - my browser is too old and the new version of blogger (which I find a tad confusing) doesn't speak to it.  It's just as well I guess, but still kind of a hassle.

I am working on making good choices - not perfect, maybe not even the best, but "good", ya know?  So far so good.

Raising awareness

I've mentioned that they are offering WW for free at work this year. I'm not quite sure when the session will start, but I plan to attend!

In the meantime, I am working on making good choices, and tracking food and exercise. I have my purse calendar with pictures from my vision board, a couple of quotes, and a tab on the current page for quickly updating food & exercise as it happens.

I thought work would be busy today, but no - most people are still out. Sweet! Actually, my boss doesn't get back until Wednesday. I thought I was "running late" but I made time to make a green smoothie AND juice for the 3 of us - hub has requested some as well. Nice! And since no one was here, "running late" wasn't the case.

I looked back over the year's weigh ins - I am up 6.6 pounds from the end of last year, but still down 10 pounds from this year's high weight. Not great, but overall I feel like I'm starting the year in a good place.

I wish I hadn't let stress take me over the way it did this year, but I've come out the other end largely okay, so I'm grateful. No "calendar regret" this year over what I might have done.

Happy new year!

Back to work tomorrow. It's been a nice weekend - very relaxed, but it's back to the basics tomorrow. I'm mostly ready!

New year's resolutions?

I recently read a post on resolutions (or intentions, I think the lady called them). The funny thing was, her list was very like mine.

My 3 resolutions, with detail!

1. Plan food & exercise - I already do this pretty well, but it will become more important since a subgoal here is to complete the couch to 5K and do an actual 5K. I must not just plan, but follow through.

2. Log Food & exercise. Not good at this one, but since I plan to join WW at work, it becomes important!

3. Interrupt negative self talk. A couple of things I've read recently: "What has happened in our past does not have to dictate our future. We can choose if we want to move forward. We can choose if we are worth it. We can choose if we want to be stuck." In other words, the only thing holding me back is me.

I have been working on this one a while, and I still struggle, but I continue to strive to understand why.

Not blogger savvy!

I tried changing my template, but wasn't happy with the way it moved all the stuff on the left to the right and didn't give it enough space, so I left it. i tried to figure out who my followers are, but couldn't figure out how to look & see! Grrr. Blogger is easy, but apprently not simplistic enough for me!

Procrastinating. Le sigh.

Had good workouts this week so far. Did a Gilad video with my new workout buddy Tuesday, yesterday we worked out with the personal trainer at work for a total body sculpt class, today we are doing cardio kickboxing - the trainer is going to help us get started. And do some stretching. So that's going well. New session of classes should be starting soon, although it sounds like he won't be having the lunchtime bodysculpt (grrr) - lunch classes aren't as popular here, but I'd rather not stay super late. I'll figure it out.

It's beginning to feel a lot like christmas, er, not so much!

It is a very weird thing to be driving home from work, listening to Christmas music and blasting the AC cause it's 85 degrees! However, last night a "cold snap" came in - it was 58 when I woke up! I had to turn the AC off!!! :-)

Weird as it may be, I understand why folks move here for the weather. You know those mornings you get mid-spring or early fall - the ones where the sky is just this preternatural blue, the air is a mix of gentle warmth with a touch of crisp breeze, and the smell is so clean that you have an overwhelming desire to lace up your sneakers and go for a long walk - oh, to Montana maybe? Do you know what I mean? Well, pretty much every morning here is like that!

I've also tried to cultivate the mindset of going to the carnival freak show every time I leave my house. It helps. (Ive never been to a carnival freak show in real life, but go with it). The other day (in the same drive home from the grocery), mom and I watched "dueling cars" - the guy in the straight lane wanted to go left and the guy in the left turn lane wanted to go straight - then as a double feature we watched someone slow down in the right turn lane, and then execute a U turn across 3 lanes of road. Mom said "I know some of them are old, but do you think that some come from countries that don't really have traffic rules???" Telling you: carnival freak show, with fabulous weather.

My stepbrother is headed out tomorrow - mom and the boy are going to visit my step sister and drop him at a friend's house (he's doing some tile work for them). It's been a nice visit, but we need to get back to our normal chaos.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the 2 weeks of quiet at the office (I've worked 3 days each week) - not sure I'm ready for that to get hectic again!

It's been a good holiday.

Happy holidays!

Just a quick note to wish anyone still reading happy holidays. Lots of stuff is going on around here - including healthwise, so I have a lot of catching up to do!

Highlights:

I am starting the couch to 5 k program as soon as my gift from hub arrives - a Timex Ironman watch with intervals you can set - perfect to doing walk/jog alternates of varying lengths! :-)

With the new year, work is offering Weight Watchers at work for free! I am willing to give it another shot since I've heard good stuff about the new program. In the past I tended to save points for junk food, but I understand the program has been redesigned to promote more balanced eating.

I gave up on my Omega juicer - there were fruits & veggies it didn't do well and the opening was so small that it took forever to chop everything! I bought a Jack Lalane at a very reasonable price and I am back to juicing pretty much every day! I find my hunger and cravings are much lower when I drink at least a pint of fresh juice every day.

Hub is home from NC - he is finally done working up there. Hurray! We have a weekend getaway planned (just the 2 of us) for the weekend of the 7th. :-)

Not sure what the new session of fitness classes at work will bring - right now I'm doing 1 stretch, 2 yogas, and 2 weight sessions in addition to my neighborhood walking. Hub and I agreed now isn't a good time to join a gym ($$) so walking will be our main cardio and I'll continue to use the fitness center at work.

I am trying to make healthier foods in more reasonable portions at home. Hub needs so badly to do something about his weight and I know I can't force him to, but I can at least offer healthy meals - well, healthy being relative. There are foods he & the boy refuse to give up, so I'm doing my best in those parameters. It's frustrating.

Mom is on board and she is walking with me some which is great. She is also drinking fresh juice, which is helping with her acid reflux, so that's good.

I've lost 12 pounds from my high weight. I have a way to go, but going in the right direction!

I'm excited that some good changes are coming - not just weight, but in other areas as well!

Ugh

Tuesday I received a portion of my grandmother's ashes in the mail, along with a note from my aunt. She had asked if we would scatter a portion of grandma's ashes on her parents' graves here in Ft. Lauderdale, which of course we will. She also let us know the date for my grandmother's memorial service in Arden and asked if I wanted to say a few words.

I doubt any of my half siblings will be there, but I'm pretty sure my dad will be. But I didn't get to say good-bye, I didn't go to the funeral, and dangit I want to be at the memorial service. My aunt said she felt like an outsider at the funeral - she isn't close to my dad and doesn't know any of my half siblings really. So it would be nice to be there for her as well. And I would like to see my aunt - grandma asked her not to speak to me or mom when grandma quit speaking to us (I don't know why and that's a whole other story). Good lord that side of the family is chock full o' disfunction.

Anyway, my aunt feels badly about that. I think she also realizes that my mom, son, and me are her best shot at family. My dad is a selfish person and they aren't close. His other kids are pretty self absorbed (my aunt asked my half sister for a ride from the bus stop to the train station in High Point - myabe 15 miles. My half sister (an episcopalian priest) refused because it wasn't convenient.)

Anyway, there isn't really anyone else. My grandma wasn't speaking to her oldest sister, who took all their mother's stuff when Nana died - included what was intended for everyone else. So, my aunt has us and 2 cousins she doesn't really know and that's about it.

I'd like to go - it would be a nice chance to see soem friends up in Asheville and re-connect with my aunt. But dealing with my dad is the stuff of nightmares. Well, the service is end of March so I have a while to think about it.

Stuff

I gained 3.6 pounds over the holiday/step brother visit. Glad to have things back to normal!

The holiday was good, but it breaks my hear severy time I have to leave my great aunt. It isn't that the place is so terrible (although it isn't that great) - it's just that no one checks on her and I'm not confident she has what she needs. I find it so upsetting and heartbreaking. I know we do what we can, but it doesn't seem like enough. I wish we were closer.

Hub still has no job, money is tight. Enough said.

I asked for one kinda big thing for Christmas - a new juicer. My old one is dying. It is supposed to get here Monday. Yay!

My mom is coming Sunday for the winter. Hurray!!!

Waiting for the "whoosh"

So, I've been weighing myself every day, but I record my weight on Friday, so I think of that as the "official" weigh day. Anyway, I've lost 1 pound this week. I feel like I deserve more! I've been good with my juicing, even though it's reached a point where i am bored. I ate a fair bit on Sunday, gained a pound, lost a pound, and that put me back to where I was saturday and I've stayed there all week. Grrr.

I want to lose 6.6 more pounds before Thanksgiving.

This morning I did part of my walk with Maya, then came back and did a bit more with Jordan. jordan has been tired lately, and she has short legs so I don't want to work her too hard, but she looked sad and I felt guilty. She had a fun time on the part she went with me, so hopefully she is recovering.

My stepbrother is down for a visit, which is nice because he encourages hub to be more productive. Hub gets very down when he is unemployed and ends up getting very little done until he has a job, and then he has no time! I understand, but it is frustrating to work all day and come home to a house that needs cleaning.

Hopefully I will have good news on the weight front tomorrow!

Update

The weather here is amazing. I mean, like the greatest spring day. We’ve been sleeping with the windows open at night, and closing the house up in the late morning (well, on the weekends). The dog and I have had some great walk, but this morning she declared herself tired. I was dragging her along and she wouldn’t keep up. When I asked her if she wanted to go home, she turned around and led the way the whole time. I think she’s pooped!

We got the Florida license plate for the Nissan – only $458.55. But the car has a legal license plate now, so that’s a good thing.

Not too much is new. It’s nice having Hub home – he’s here until we all go to Georgia for Thanksgiving – then he’s headed back to NC for a while. The boy is happier now that he feels he has a solution to his unhappiness with the school situation.

I’m doing okay. I’m still worried about money – I mean, no job is sight for Hub, but he’s doing all he can so I’m trying not to get too freaked out since there isn’t more we can do about it, you know?

Juice-wise, things continue along. I am bored with it, but food isn’t supposed to be entertainment. I’m getting plenty of nutrients. I do get hungry sometimes, but that’s on me – not the juice – I just should’ve planned more/better. I’ve lost 7 pounds, and I can see and feel a difference. It’s not enough for people to really start noticing, but I can tell. And I’m feeling better. The acid reflux is gone and my attitude and energy are improving.

TGIF - as usual

I lost 6 pounds this week. Woot!

Day 6

Today is day 6 of my juice fast. Have I been 100% compliant? Oh heck no! There were 2 nights when I suffered mini-meltdowns (related to the boy, not to the diet) - I ended up gaining a half pound and it hung around a day due to the melt-down's encore presentation the following night.

But overll, I've been very close. Example: yesterday am I made a green smoothie: frozen fruit, spinach, green powder, and water. For the day I made 2 quarts of fresh juice - one had fruits & veggies & other other was a "savory" style veggie juice with onion, peppers, tomato, cuke, celery, etc. Sorta like a homemade V8. I also had a small bowl of the juice off the red beans the family had for supper. Later when I wanted a little something I had a 10 oz Naked brand juice.

Today I've been pretty hungry. It's funny - a friend who is also doing a fairly restrictive diet said she was starving on day 6. I won't say "starving" but I am certainly hungry today! But if I need it I'll have extra juice.

It amazes me how much produce you consume. My veggie juice contained: 2 carrots, 1/2 a bunch of celery, a large cucumber, a yellow bell pepper, a bunch of kale, a jalepeno, 1/4 of a huge red onion, and 4 large roma tomatoes (I think that's it). Can you imagine sitting down & eating all that??? I think one of the reasons I haven't been hungrier is because I'm sure my body is pretty well flooded with micronutrients.

I am buying a good variety of both fruits and veggies. My fruit juices contains a good portion of veggies as well - today's fruit juice contained carrot, celery, cucumber, and 1/4 head of cabbage. With my lack of success thus far in finding a good farmer's market, the bulk of my produce has been coming from Costco.

I am still using my cheap centrifugal juices from Aldi. I would love to upgrade - maybe for Christmas.

As of this morning, I was down 4.6 pounds in 5 days.

I think we have a solution

The county we live in offers a “virtual school.” It offers full-time enrollment to students in grades K-12. Virtual learning provides flexibility of time and location and offers the opportunity to earn a standard high school diploma entirely online. BVS teachers and guidance counselors live locally. As a public school, it does not charge tuition fees. Also, it offers traditional face to face extracurricular activities to provide students with opportunities to collaborate with their teachers and classmates.

This should give the boy the flexibility to travel and work from here or NC when he wants to visit. He can work his schedule around times when he isn’t feeling well. (Although I hope that will disappear once he is happier). And he can have some peer interaction without the things he doesn’t like about his current school.

Application for the next semester opens December 1, he meets all the criteria, and they have no cap on the number of students they can accept. I really hope this solution works, because I can’t think of anything else that will be (relatively) quick, not expensive, and keep our family intact.

Day 4

Not doing too bad. I've lost 3 pounds in 3 days. My gums are a little sore, but I'm feeling less run down today. My energy levels are normal, no headache, and the stuffy nose is gone as well. I'm not super hungry. Hub's lunch smelled wonderful, but my desire to eat has been out of want rather than need. I'll peek in the fridge wanting something - not out of hunger, but habit.

Anyway, I seem to have made it past the dreaded day 3 that a lot of folks complain about. My next challenge is day 6/7 - one of those seems to trip folks up as well. Hopefully it will be manageable.

I have a meeting with the guidance counselor, so hopefully tomorrow I will have an update on the boy situation.

Happy Halloween!

Day 2

I slept A LOT last night - 10 or so hours. This morning my gums are swollen and my teeth hurt a bit (this is a sign my body's under stress - generally it means I'm getting sick but I think this is a sign of detox). No headache yet.

I won't lie - I'm hungry. I went to bed hungry but not wanting any more juice and woke up with some left so I drank that then went back to bed.

Overall I don't feel bad. The longest juice fast I've done is 4 days, so I know I can do this.

When I got up this morning I was down 1.4 pounds. I plan to have my fasting blood work redone at the beginning of December to see if the diet has made any improvements in my bloodwork.

Day 1 mostly done

Nearly finished day 1 of my juice fast. I haven't been terribly hungry. When I do one of these, I tend to sip my juice and have a little every couple of hours. The most I've every done in the past is 4 days.

Breakfast juice tasted a little like dirt, but it wasn't foul - just a bit too earthy. Dinner is a takeoff on gazpacho: 3 stalks of celery, 1/2 an english cucumber, a red bell pepper, a carrot, 1/2 lime, 4 roma tomatoes, and a couple of shakes of hot sauce. Pretty good, but it could use some salt! *lol*

Be your own guinea pig

Day 1. I went to the nurses office this morning to check my blood pressure and have my fasting bloodwork done.

It was a mixed bag.

My overall cholesterol is good, but my "good guy" cholesterol is low.
My triglycerides are high
My blood pressure, while not considered "high", is higher than it should be - pre-hypertensive
My blood sugar is good.

Can you say wake up call?????

I am now happier than ever that I decided to do this juice fast. Clearly I HAVE to get serious about 1) cleaning up my diet 2) losing weight and 3) exercising more.

I've already started on 3 - now it's time to take care of 1 and 2.

Have a great weekend!

And back down

Back down again. The boy and I had a long talk yesterday. He is miserable here and wants to go back to NC for sure. As a parent, it is so painful to see your child unhappy. Even though this move isn't my "fault" (or anyone elses), I still feel incredibly guilty for his unhappiness.

There are times in your life when all you can do is just put your head down and focus on putting one foot in front of the other and trudging down the path. It's not a very positive way to feel, but sometimes that's all you can do. That's where I am right now. It's like the antithesis of buddhist mindfulness.

I know it will be okay, but it isn't okay right now.

Good news/bad news

I have a former co-worker who relocated to Phoenix. Her FIL works for the NC Employment Commission. He looked into hub's case, explained what happened, and told us what to include with the appeal. He spoke with the appeals department and they are confident his claim will be approved on appeal. The bad news is that they are (as you can imagine) seriously backlogged and it will likely be "several weeks" before he begins collecting unemployment. Sigh.

Thank goodness we knew someone to ask who could help us.

The dog ate my sofa, and other not too funny tales

The puppy has lived up to her nickname "PMD" (puppyof mass destruction). In the past week she has eaten 4 remote controls, a cookbook, and the futon sofa. We have purchased a crate and I am sad to say we are going to resort to crating her during the day until she is over teething. It will also help if the boy is more consistent with taking her to the dog park etc. - he's been slacking lately.

Hub's unemployment claim was denied. He is appealing, and who knows what will happen. But hey, it's not like we need the money for food or gas or anything. Let's just say things are going to start getting pretty tight.

I am working from home today. The boy was throwing up this morning. But last week when he didn't feel good he never went in once he got up, so today I intend to be here to help encourage him to go in late rather than missing the whole day.

I was awake from 2 until 5. Not good.

Call me crazy

I know I posted the other day about watching those documentaries. One that really struck a nerve with me was "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead". It has prompted me to try a 10 day juice fast - not only to lose weight (although that is a big part), but to help me regain some energy. I am not making healthy choices and I think a radical overhaul can only help. I plan to start Friday. I've been (with little success) been trying to find a farmer's market near the house). I may have to settle for the flea market, supplemented with Costco and W-M.

I know it sounds crazy, but I need to do something. Today I dragged out my juicer and directions to re-learn how to use it. I juiced today. I drank it quickly and felt a bit oogie. Probably too much at once. I'll keep you posted!

Life

Hub is coming home for a few days! Things are going better with the boy. Yesterday we checked out the flea market (a weird mixture of crap and yard sale crap) plus a decent produce stand. We also went to a farmers market in Ft. L. A long way to go for expensive organic produce that I can get for the same price at Whole Payckeck. We were going to eat lunch at a pita place down that way a co-worker told me about. Oddly enough, the only day they are closed is Saturday, so that was a no go. There was a British Pub in the same stripmall, so we ate there. Awesome! We shared fried (fresh) mushrooms - the boy had a chicken sandwich and I had curry. Everything was great. We had a nice day.

This morning I woke up at 5. I fed the dogs and started laundry. Jordan and I took a long 45 minute walk, then I finished laundry and cleaned the kitchem. I found a sleeveless top reduced at W-M yesterday for $3 - I bought 2 and they fit, so I went back and bought 3 more. I'm low in the sleeveless shirt for exercise & walking department, so that was a nice find.

I've done some cooking and finished loading the dishwasher (I love a quiet dishwasher). The boy is out with N riding his dirtbike. He's given up trying to register it and make it street legal (thank God). He used google earth to find some trails down near alligator alley, not far from the house.

N's dad just got a new job as the head chef at a local country club and may be able to get the boy's jobs. That would be good. I know boy's grades aren't the best, but I think a dose of reality might be a good thing.

I am getting really burned out of life as a single parent. truly. I don't know how my mom did it - or any other single parent.

Work is going pretty good. Overall I'm less stressed out and on the edge, although I can't say things are a lot better. I think I'm just adjusting.

Documentaries

Things are going along about as usual. I have watched several documentaries in the past week I thought I'd mention:

"Forks over Knives" A dcoumentary focused on the work of Drs Esselysten and Campbell about nutrition and the effect of the American diet on health.

"Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" Focusing on two men who have serious health issues, this documentary chronicles the rigorous healing path -- including a two-month diet of fruits and vegetables -- that both attempt in a bid to rescue their health.

"Ashtanga NY" A documentary about the visit from India of the Ashtanga guru to NY during the 9/11 attacks.

"Running the Sahara" America's Charlie Engle (from Greensboro NC), Canada's Ray Zahab and Taiwan's Kevin Lin embark on an unprecedented quest to traverse the entire Sahara desert -- on foot. Along the way, the runners encounter the beauties and hardships that accompany modern African life.

I enjoyed them all.

Brief Update

Things here are ... okay. I swear stuff keeps popping up - I realized Friday my NC license plates have expired, but I can't get one in Florida until 1. They receive the title from the bank so they can create a Florida title (requested today) and 2. I pay them around $400. So now I wait for the title to get here and hope I don't get pulled over. I swear, I've never had this happen in my life. How embaressing! Also, I'm not sure whether I can register the car or if I have to wait for hub to get back since I still don't have a Florida license (still waiting on my marriage certificate from Hawaii).

I was very emotional Saturday night. I don't know why, I just was. I was planning to go to a hockey game with the boy, but I told him to take his friend N and I stayed home and watched Puppetmaster 1 and 2 (so many unanswered questions).

Anyway, some good, some tired, some blah. But overall gradually getting better IMO.

So Proud

I was having a pretty good Thursday morning, until hub called me. We've been expecting his unemployment to kick in for about a month - he got the letter saying (we thought) he'd been approved a month ago and asking for our banking information.

After 5 days of trying to get a human on the phone at the unemployment office, he finally did. What they said basically came out as "Since you quit your job you aren't approved - let us kno where you've applied for work and maybe we'll review your case and give you money." Never mind that several folks who transferred haven't had any issue since they qualiy under the "trailing spouse" provision. He was So upset, and I totally lost it. At work. As in cried off all my make-up and proved to anyone within earshot like I could curse better than any sailor or reality tv star. Yeah. One of my finer moments.

He called back a couple more times and got a better explanation of what he needs to do and it does sound like he will start getting benefits, but probably not back to the point he beagn applying for jobs.

I have pizza and beer for dinner last night.

Oh, and My NC license plates have expired but to get new ones in Florida I have to get the bank i have the car loan with to transfer the title to Florida before they'll give me plates. Between vehicle tax and registration, total cost around $400. I have NO IDEA how long that will take, but I'm driving with an expired plate until then.

Does it ever get easier???

Workout and etc.


The boy is home from school today. He called me on the way to work and asked me to call him in absent because he was sick at his stomach. I have another dr. appointment for him tomorrow - I hope they can do something, this is crazy.


This morning I did the lower body workout on Kathy Smith's "Lift Weights to Lose Weight" - I have to say I like the lower body workout even better. It was tough and all you really needed was a chair! I had a weight bench, so I modified and used that. It was hard! I was sweating (more than I would have liked!) and there was some points when I had to stop it was so tough. I felt like I had a good (thought brief) lower body workout. I can totally see these working.

I do have a Joyce Vedral dvd coming soon from netflix. I have a couple of her books - she was one of the very early proponents of women lifting weights like men (just lighter), but I've never seen any of her videos. So I'm curious.

Anyway, not too much else to report. Jordan and I took a short walk last evening. I watched the first half of "My Name is Bruce" which is a horror spoof starring bruce Campbell, spoofing his own career and movies. I made a yummy meal of baked salmon, scampi noodles, and a big salad. The boys picked at a salad - with my boy eating a little salmon later in the evening. So glad I cooked a good meal for them. Grr. (His friend N eats at our house more than he eats at home).

I got a good night of sleep and I'm taking tomorrow off work to take care of a bunch of errands. A mom's work is never done!

Have a good one!

Workout video

I'm doing great with walking - the dog and I actually walked twice yesterday! We did around 25-30 minutes in the morning, and then a long 40 minute walk in the afternoon. So this morning I decided we needed to sleep in. :-) We'll walk again this evening.

My stretch and yoga classes are going good - yoga is very difficult, but I am glad I signed up for these classes.

Weights - not so much. I haven't been very motivated to do my kettlebells - it's a major production since I have to shut myself away from the dogs. Since it wasn't gettign done, I decided to try a different tactic.

This morning I brought in a weight training video and came in to the office extra early so I could go downstairs and do it in the gym. I checked out a video from the library: "Lift Weights to Lose Wight" with Kathy Smith. It's 2 discs and each has 2 20 minute sessions - 1 for upper body and 1 for lower. Disc 1 is supposed to be the more basic of the 2 so that's what I did this morning.

Overall it's a good workout. I'll need to do it a couple of times to figure out the correct weight to use for the exercises given how many reps we do. Her queuing was a bit off (or I was) a couple of times, but generally it was easy to follow. She IS a little chipper for o dark thirty, but oh well. Like I said, overall a good workout.

I have a couple of other videos in my netflix queue I want to try. The guy who works down there says that when he gets caught up (they are down to 2 folks from 3 so responsibilities are being juggled) that if I come in that early he'll be happy to work one on one with me some. That would be great! I told him that right now I need all the motivation and help I can get!

The more things change, the more they change

The boy is waffling. Mom called and there aren't any tuition slots at his old high school. Since mom lives in a different county, he would have to go to the high school where she is. So he is really torn. I am meeting with a lawyer Friday to discuss giving my mom custody so she can enroll him and what that looks like down here and timeline etc. So, once we have those facts he can better make a decision.

We had a very good, genuine adult conversation last night. He asked if I felt I'd made the right decision going away to high school and he talked about how hard school is here and how he's feeling. He cried a little. I told him I knew he could be successful whatever he chose to do and that I would support him whatever he chose to do.

Have I ever mentioned that being a parent is the hardest job on the planet? At least if you give a rats butt.

Anyway, I ate exactly one meal yesterday which isn't great but ugh I was so stressed and felt like poo. Today I was sure to pack all my healthy food and eat it. Poor boy is liteally sick nearly every morning. The medicine the doctor gave him for gastritis doesn't seem to be helping, so I think we'll be headed back to the doctor. I feel sure it's stress, poor kid.

Being high strung can suck.

Anyway, I got a fair bit accomplished at work today. I certainly could have been more productive, but not much. Honestly, I did much better in that department. That felt good.

I walked the dog this morning and I think we'll go again tonight. I checked out a couple of weight lifting videos to try out at the office gym. No dogs "helping."

Some days better, some days not

I was up from 1 am to 5 am, just feeling really overwhelmed and stressed. I met with the counselor tonight, but even before I was feeling better. I took a nap, I ate some dinner. It's like I used up a lot of my emotions, and I'm feeling a little calmer.

With the counselor I was able to formulate some strategies for focusing better at work - that's feeling a little out of control so having that more in control will help. I just go and can't seem to get focused and organized. I am going to schedule my time so that I have appointments set for myself on all my different projects. At any given time I'm working on 4-5 different things, and I am responsible for managing my time. Needless to say, right now that's hard!!

The boy can't go back to his old high school, he would have to go to the school in my mom's district, so he's back to not knowing what he wants to do. I have an appt with the attorney on Friday to find out what we would need to do to give my mom custody - which is what we'd have to do for her to enroll him in school up there. I know this is the biggest decision he's ever had to make, but at his age I know it's one he's going to have to make for himself. He's too old for me to force him into staying he against his will - that would backfire bigtime.

Anyway, I totally pigged out last night & in the middle of the night to the point I felt ill. Not good. I didn't eat at all until supper - I just felt too dreadful. So that's not good, but I'm hoping that will subside. Hub and I are communicating better - really talking, making decisions, and that feels good.

So, better I think.

Frustration

As I've written before, financially it's very difficult down here. Hub is up in NC doing some work for my mom and then doing some work for an old neighbor. The issue is that he isn't exactly doing the work at my mom's with any sense of urgency. She's had him do a fair bit of work (or he was supposed to) while we were at her house and he treated it more like a vacation than a job. He's hoping I'll hate it here enough to move to the reservation. Let's just say I'd have to be pretty damn desperate. So he's banking on not staying. Leaving any time soon = financial disaster. So let's just say I don't think we are communicating very well.

One thing that will improve our financial situation is the fact that the boy has decided he wants to go back to NC. He is very unhappy here. I am very conflicted about this. On the one hand, he's my son and of course I want him with me. OTOH, I know he isn't happy and I'm not sure how well things will go here, so it's probably for the best. I was being flippant about the finances - it will help not to have him on the car insurance, but that has nothing to do with any decisions.

In short, I feel like my whole family is falling apart.

Hello cheese dip, my old friend

Once again I have turned to food to help cope with stress. Right now the major source of stress is two-fold:

1. Financial. I can't support us on just my paycheck. South Florida is crazy expensive, but I didn't get a raise when we came down. Example: car insurance more than double, property tax triple, home owners insurance 8 times what we paid in NC. That amount to thousnads of extra dollars a year and not paying income tax to the state doesn't even begin to offset the extra expense. In addition, we are faced with somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000 of work that needs to be done on this house, in varying degrees of soon. Foundation - next year or so, roof and sprinkler system asap, plumbing not as important. Short term, we could mostly get by on my income plus hub's unemployment. He was approved a month ago and hasn't gotten any money yet. It should kick in soon, the back money will need to go to helping pay for car insurance ($2800 for 6 months) and car registration (about $500 per car). One option (although unattractive) is to become a one car family. I can take the bus to work and that would save us over $500 per month. but it makes it difficult (once hub gets a job) to go to dr appts, meetings, anything like that.

2. The boy. I don't even know what to say here. He is unhappy. Add that to his temperment of wanting what he wants when he wants it and a bad temper, and it's just awful. He stayed up till 1 working on his car the other day, and when I woke him up and told him he'd be grounded if he didn't go to school, he got up in my face screaming obscenities. Frankly, I sincerely hopes he takes some time off after high school (assuming he finishes) and does something else - preferably he'll go in the coast guard. He needs a dose of real life in a bad way. He doesn't do drugs or break the law, he just does not accept that he can't do what he wants when he wants. I know I'll miss him once he's grown, but right now I honestly don't enjoy having him around very much - especially with hub out of town for the nex tmonth.

Yeah. hub is up in NC doing work on my mom's house. She is not going to put it on the market before she comes down - frankly, right now I have no idea how long we'll be here. I love this house very much and I love having the pool, but I have no idea how people survive down here with the cost of living being what it is. We miss home. I hope hub finds a job as that will make things easier. Also, I should be getting a little money from my grandmother (I have no idea how much), but I'm hoping it's enough to get done on the house what we need to and get caught up.

Some good things: I am walking regularly, doing stretch and yoga at the fitness center at work (we can't afford a gym), and I am going to look for a decent weight lifting dvd so I can take that in and do it at work as well.

Work itself is okay - I'm just having a tough time focusing on it. I have a list of "to do" and I can do the easy stuff, but the more difficult analysis stuff just keeps getting postponed. Le sigh.

Today we are supposed to go to the Coral Castle. It's been raining since last night, so that may not happen today.

"Some things never change, some things do"

A lot has changed since I started this blog. People I read faithfully have stopped blogging, others have locked their blogs. I wonder what happened to them. I miss them.

I certainly haven't blogged faithfully. A lot has changed and I've struggled to figure out how this blog fits in.

A lot has changed this year. There are things in your life that you assume are unchanging constants: your relationship with your spouse, your family, your work, your habits. This year has taught me that the things that never change are awfully few in number.

This year has changed and challenged pretty much everything in my life. My family has faced, and continues to face, some pretty serious adversity. I've made the decision to go to counselling in an effort to cope with some of these events.

I'm not quite sure how this blog fits, only that I need it to. For a time this was about weight, then it was about fitness, now it's about health - mental, physical, spiritual.

Brain dump

Overall, I’d say things are going pretty well. I think I’m feeling less stressed & frustrated than I was at the end of last year. Whether that’s because I’m just totally wrung out and too tired to feel much or this past year has given me some perspective, or something else entirely I’m not sure.

There are things I like very much about living here:

I like taking the bus too work. It is a little time consuming, but it’s easy and the bus stop isn’t a bad walk from the house at all.

I love the new house – although I am feeling stressed by the slowness of getting things organized. The whole “building storage in the garage” is holding things up. I know it’s getting done, but progress in the garage seems slow, and is holding up progress in the house.

I am more active. I walk Jordan – sometimes morning and evening. We have a good neighborhood for walking. We get in the pool a lot on the weekends. We take the dogs to the dog park.

I worked for my old boss for 5.5 years. So a new boss is a change, which also has it’s good points. I like Sonia and the new team so far.

I am taking a yoga class at lunch 1 day a week. I really like the instructor - it’s power yoga so it’s TOUGH, but I’m hanging in there.

I signed up for 2 stretching classes, I have my first one this afternoon.

We are going to the beach this weekend – just to take a walk, so that’ll be nice.

I still have times of feeling angry or stressed, and there are times I still overeat due to stress, but overall it’s much better, and best of all I feel better. It’s hard to explain better than that – just overall my stress feels lower than it’s been in quite a while, in spite of obstacles and stressors that still exist.

2011 - the year of "new cheese"

I think I may have mentioned hub and I reading "Who Moved my Cheese?" earlier this year. "New cheese" has become a catch phrase in our family that means trying new stuff.

My big new cheese today was taking the bus home from work. I've never used public transit regularly in this country - it's simply never been cheap or convenient enough. But hub's truck get 13-15 miles per gallon, and we're tallking diesel. We simply can't afford to have him running all over the place in that thing - and there's no reason. My car gets 30 mpg and uses plain old basic gas. He has been taking me to work and keeping the car, but that adds up - both in expense, wear and tear, and in time. The bus stop is less than a mile from my house and there is one right in front of my office. If there weather is bad, hub can always pick me up in the afternoon and drop me in the morning at the stop. I was pleasantly surprised - it wasn't crowded, it was very clean, and it was a quick trip straight up Pine Island Road. Easy!

Hub may have a temp job starting Monday if his doctor's office gets the form back to the temp company which clears him for work post surgery. He has a form, but the agency needs it on their form. Fingers crossed!

The boy cleaned the pool filter yesterday and offered to wash the dishes today!!!! Maybe he's getting over his funk! That would be lovely.

What else? The puppy weighs 46 pounds, work still seems to be pretty good. I'm trying to be positive, motivated, showing my new boss I'm a go getter, etc. I really do enjoy my job, but being extroverted is tiring for me cause really I'm just a math geek in disguise. Ha ha ha.

The neighborhood is awesome for walks - morning or evening. I hopped in the pool when I got home from work today - very nice. I priced a pool heater ($3000!), which is crazy considering we can use the pool most of the year anyway and don't have to winterize it at all. It would be lovely, but it goes without saying I don't have that kind of extra cash!

Overall, I'm not feeling that great. Sunday night we watched "Talladega Nights" (don't judge me). Anyway, it's set in NC and seeing the scenery etc. just made me really homesick - for the geography, for my mom, for a lot of things. I sat up till nearly midnight, just kinda crying. It's a shame because the night was frog free and I could've gotten a great night's sleep.

Anyway, I felt like poop Monday and called in sick. I spent the morning sitting by the pool reading "Harriet the Spy" (why yes, it IS a children's book). My mom will likely end up needing gall bladder surgery - the logical thing is for hub to go up & be with her since he isn't working. He could paint the inside of her house while he's there as well. We'll see.

We have the guest room set up and largely finished putting stuff away in our bedroom & hanging pictures, so it's really starting to look like our house. We did A LOT over the weekend - my back was killing me!

One thing I didn't like about the old house was that the kitchen sink faced a wall, and the windows in the kitchen had an exciting view of my clothes line and the side of the neighbor's house. My kitchen sink looks out over the pool, which makes kitchen work a lot more bearable, except it makes me want to be outisde!!!

There are good things and I do appreciate them, it's just that I've been trying to stay positive in the face of hub abd the boy's ... lack of enthusiasm for the move, and I'm just wrung out. I swear, if you drop a bomb in front of me my reaction would be to say "well, huh."

Anyway, things are getting back to the new normal, whatever that turns out to be.

Work

So, I went to work for 4 whole days these week - that's the most days in a row since mid July!!! I like my desk (not as private as my old one, but newer stuff). My team are nice and our new boss started last Monday, so in that regard we are on a level playing field. I am slowly getting bck into the swing of picking up projects I had passed off and offering time on new ones. I have also jumped into taking advantage of the fitness center and am signing up for a couple of classes when the next session starts in 2 weeks.

The boy is being a lazy, ungrateful ass. I keep reminding myself that he is only 16 and this is hard on him, but there are days I'd like to throttle him. He refuses to do anything to help out around here AT ALL. UGH!!!!! He has met a couple of friends (twins his age) - their mom is very strict, so I like that. Maybe his attitude will improve.

I am setting up a schedule of getting things done around the house, but new (little) things keep cropping up. Not much progress is happening during the week - just your basic "manage to get dinner on the table and dishes washed."

I am walking in the mornings and starting fitness classes soon. I am cooking regular meals and getting my house (literally) in order. But I know there is a lot of stuff - the recent death of my grandmother up in Asheville and all the stuff that dredged up, the worry over hub finding a job, my frustration with the boy's attitude. There's a lot of stress and emotion just below the surface that I am going to have to deal with in a manner that doesn't include beer or cheese dip.

More updates

The house is coming along and we've done a lot of unpacking. The garage is still a disaster, but the guys are building some storage.

One the inside: we painted every room but the master bath (just ran out of steam I guess but we have the paint). We have a new dish washer (after hub re-wired the electrical so it would run without turing on the disposal), a new fridge, and a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. New ceiling fan in the family room. New ceiling fan in all bedrooms. Curtains in all rooms but the kitchen (if you saw my view of the pool you wouldn't want to block it either). Hub fixed the hot water heater (it didn't work when we moved in).

The pool is my baby.

More later!

A short summary:

1. My loan processor from Wells-F was either incompetent or negligent and her managers were a bunch of liars, While driving down I-95 22 hours prior to closing she was calling asking for documents she'd received weeks prior. On the day of our closing, we were repeatedly asked for more documents while being assued the loan money had been wired, which was a LIE. We didn't close, and both our interest rate lock and our contract expired. We were assured we'd be 'compenstaed' for the $1000 plus the delay cost us. Another LIE. The only good thing was that the seller agreed to close even though we didn't have a contract since our lawyer assured us we'd have to sue for our deposit (which was A LOT) and that we'd probably lose.

2. My grandmother died (dad's mom obviously). Hub and the boy were up in NC at the time, but I was stuck here alone with the dogs. My mom had a voicemaiil from my aunt when they got back to NC on a Wednesday, she called me on Thursday, she & the boy went up to Asheville on Friday, and grandma died on Saturday.

3. This house had loads of potential and a wonderful layout, but it's been making us kinda nuts. It sat empty. then was purchased as an investment by a bunch of crazy people (another time I'll write about how at the closing the representative for the seller was thrown out of the office screaming obscenities). The crazies hired Cheech & Chong to do the remodelling post being trashed by a renter. Let me tell you this one thing: The dishwasher ran (but didn't actually do its function) but the inspector thought it did not in fact run because the way it was wired it only got power when the disposal was turned on. That's all you need to know about everything in this house. Except the frogs were keeping us up ALL NIGHT. Thank you baby jesus for amphibian repellant and pest control people that show up same day.

Also, all the iguanas here have died due to severe cold 2 years ago and have been replaced by a new kind of lizard with a curly tail which, when they get large enough, get a bit aggresive and eat geckos etc.

Also, having a pool in the back yard does not suck.

It is the rainy season, whcih reminds me a lot of Hawaii.

I start work Tuesday. I feel fat and tired.

Still no house, still no closing date, but the realtor says we're close. Hopefully next week.

Seller agreed to make the needed changes to the title. They must be filed with the court, thus our closing is delayed a week or two. New date tbd.

As the stomach churns

The latest:

There is an "issue" with the title to the new house. Nothing major - it's the way the name of the trustee that owns the house is written (some legal technicality type thing.) No big deal, except that the owner has been slow to repsond and has kept inssting it's fine. Well, since the title company won't insure the title as is, and no insurance means no mortgage, no, it's not okay. Which is what I lawyer called and told them. They seem to be moving, but very slowly. Will I have a house next Monday? Who knows????

The crazies

My mortgage loan officer said to me the other day “If you haven’t bought a house in the past 2 years, you haven’t bought a house.” Meaning that the entire experience has changed dramatically – and it’s really not all about the bank! It’s more about what sellers are expecting, what banks are requiring, disclosures due to changes in laws, etc. The end result is a lot more paperwork going back and forth, and a lot more leg work for the buyer (at least in my experience). It’s been crazy. My to do list is insane – it’s color coded and I force myself to do 5 things per day off the moving list and 3 per day off the work list. And then I go to my mom’s. Hoo boy!

Also, I don’t think this is particular to my family, trying to organize anything is akin to launching the D-Day invasion. We’re juggling getting 5 dogs, 3 people, and 3 vehicles to Florida, getting my step brother to come down and help us paint the new house, hopefully come up and help my mom with a few things on her house, and squeeze in the fact that at some as-yet-to-be-determined time in the very near future, my ex stepdad is buying a new houseboat (he has a buyer for his who wants to take possession in 2 weeks). The wrinkle to my plans is the fact that he will need both the boy and my step brother to crew the boat from Florida to Wilmington. Last time they did this (when he bought the boat he has now) it took a week to get to Wilmington from Coccoa Beach. Schools starts pretty soon and the boy needs to be back home for that!

So things are pretty hectic. Also, I promised to paint an entire wall of aboriginal dot art on one wall in the boy’s bedroom – he was seriously in love with the tiki bar I made a couple of years back. But that won’t be done immediately.

I’ve picked colors for the 2 bathrooms, and I know I want a pale grey in the main living areas – when we get down there I am going to buy a few samples and paint swatches to see how they look.

I have to get our stuff re-packed and ready for the move down.

Gah.

In southern, savory oats = grits

Several folks I know have been talking up the savory oats - adding vegetables, cheese, etc. Now, I'm not a big oats fan. I never ate them as a child. Steel cut oats are okay, and I can stomach regular oats from time to time, but they'll never be a favorite meal or anything.

But this thing of savory oats is kinda funny to me because southerners have been adding things like cheese, shrimp, tomaotes, red eye gravy - you name it, to grits for breakfast forever.

Things are okay - kind of a busy and stressful week. I'm hanging in there.

Stuff is moving along with our house purchase and getting my mom's ready to put up for sale. We had a wonderful visit in Georgia with my great aunt, but I really have to stop buying vintage lamps!

Change of subject but what I really wanted to tell you about. One of my all time favorite albums is "Ho'oluana" by the Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau - mom and I were listening to it on the way home from Georgia this past weekend. It's one of those albums that makes you weep with the sheer beauty of some of the songs.

What I didn't realize for many years was that the (former) lead singer Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (Bruddah Iz) released several solo albums after leaving the group. At the beginning of this year he was topping the European charts with his version of "Over the rainbow/What a Wonderful World", which has been used in many movies and tv shows and commericials. There is a very funny clip on his web site that shows several Belgian djs trying to pronounce his name which segues into a video of the song: https://www.izhawaii.com/belgium-radio-djs-make-attempt-at-saying-izs-name/#

It's a truly amazing song, but if I had to pick one favorite song from his solo career it would be "Hawai'i 78" from the album "Facing Future" - get over to grooveshark or youtube and listen to it sometime. It's not nearly as upbeat - it's beautiful, but it's really (IMO) a lament for the erosion of the Hawaiian culture and loss of country.

Anyway, I realize this isn't everyone's cup of musical tea, but his voice is just so amazing that I wanted to share it with you.

Did a stretching video and yoga at lunch.

Day 3 - random thoughts

I've been doing Allan's Phase 6 diet for 3 days now. I went to check his blog today and it looks like he may quit blogging. That makes me sad, but I understand that most people don't blog for more than a couple of years. Whatever he does, I will continue to do this on my own, although I will certainly miss the support of doing it as part of a group.

The purpose of the first part is to get you accustomed to smaller portions. If you've been eating too often and frequently too much when you eat, this is HARD. My stomach is singing Ave Maria and I am couting down the minutes until lunch time (22 to go). All I can say is that this sucks, but I've reached a point where I'm 50 pounds overweight, and that sucks more.

Lots of folks who blog about weight loss talk about how they've been overweight all (or most) of their lives. I wasn't. I was never overweight until I needed to lose the baby weight after my son was born, and I haven't been overweight all those years since. But the seeds were sown in my childhood I think.

For one, food was very much equated with love. I can remember my great grandmother weighing me every day when I went to visit. She was literally trying to "fatten me up". Given the hardships she endured, raising 3 children between the world wars in Germany, fear of lack of food remained very real for her her whole life. Feeding her family was the single most important thing she could do. And on my mom's side you have all these awesome southern cooks who grow food and are proud to prepare and serve it.

In my teen years food became a form of rebellion. I was a hearty eater and my dad and his wife used to criticize my portions, telling me I'd gain weight if I kept eating like that. I was maybe 12 or 13 and maybe weighed 100 pounds. I ate because it pissed them off.

In the Army food became even more of a comfort - it was one of the few pleasures you could enjoy in basic training or while out in the field for extended periods of time. You're cold, hot, wet, tired, dirty - living in a tent, doing physically difficult things. Food becomes a real "treat".

I've gotten overweight 3 times since the boy was born - all were a result of my using food as a comfort or to stuff down emotions. I've lost the weight twice - now it's time to do it again.

There's no point in beating myself up for re-gaining weight. I can't change the past. I can control my choices in the here and now while trying to modify the underlying causes of turning to food - looking for substitutes if not solutions.

Down 0.6 pounds this morning. Work has been very hectic the past few days and I haven't had a lot of time to post. But I would like to write something a bit more meaningful than scale results and exercise. :-)

20 minutes plus cooldown, 200 calories, on the elliptical.

Thoughts I've read today I want to hold on to:

"We don't help cocaine addicts by teaching them about the metabolism of serotonin-norepinephrine-dopamine re-uptake inhibitors or the hormonal implications of cocaine use, yet we try and help people lose weight by teaching them about hormones, metabolic pathways and glucose chemistry." - Brad Pilon

'Here are some ridiculous questions someone asked me the other day when I told her that I had lost 50lbs in the first three months of my weightloss diet. She asked "Was that safe?" Are you kidding me? I told her, "Do you think weighing 250lbs was safe? Which do you think is worse?"' - Tracy Reifkind

Did yoga and stretching at lunch. Pina colada yogurt is yum-o. I wasn't sure since I tend to be very picky about stuff that has coconut, but I was desperate for flavors!

Down 1.4 pounds this morning. Boring and restrictive, but effective.

Did 20 minutes (plus 3 min cool down) on the treadmill - elevation at 3, speed 3 mph, 150 cal burned.

Still hungry.

Note to self: reading food blogs while hungry is a bad idea.

Went down at lunch and did stretching and yoga with LB. Meeting her in a few minutes to work out. I am going to do the treadmill today and she's doing th eelliptical (there's only 1 elliptical).

The 13th Warrior (okay, not really!)

I just thought of that because there are 13 people in Allan's challenge. The others have been doing it for 6 weeks and today is my Day 1, so it isn't really a comparison.

I stopped by the grocery last night on my way back to the hotel and picked up everything I needed. Days 1-3 are the same and are only liquids. I am hungry! But this part is 3 days. Heck, I was in basic training to 8 weeks, I can do anything for 3 days!

Right now, with so many things in my life beyond my control, it feels nice to take control of this one very important aspect of my life: my physical well being.

Updates, I got em


I was down 0.4 pounds this morning.


The room above ours in the hotel has apparently been rented to a herd of nocturnal elephants. They woke us up the night before, and they were re-arranging furniture and banging on the floor for over an hour in the middle of the night last night. I'm so thankful we won't be moving to an apartment.

Butch picked a fight with Jordan last night. Hub went and got the 2 little ones and brought them over to the hotel, but I don't know what we're going to do long term.

Monday afternoon elliptical

20 minutes (plus cooldown) at level 6 - burned 200 calories.

So, I got the plan from Allan. I'm not going to post my food since it's his "diet" - it's not my place to share it, if that makes sense.

Tough but doable. I'm going to start as soon as I hit the grocery, but I'll do day one tomorrow.

After lunch I met LB (lunch buddy) downstairs in the gym for stretching and yoga. Going back after work to either walk on the treadmill or the elliptical.

Hope you had a nice weekend. Ours was good. I wanted to go see "X-Men" with hub last night, but I found myself just really tired. Unfortunately I didn't sleep great and woke up with a sinus headache. Took a Zyrtec and I'm feeling better.

Waiting to hear the particulars from Allan on Phase 6. Given all the craziness going on right now, having a set plan which requires no thinking is right up my alley!

Nop word yet on the appraisal - just some bs note from the loan processor about how long it takes. Well, it would've taken 1 week less if you had returned my phone calls is all I can say. grr.

Hub's knee continues to improve. The big dogs are feeling left out b/c some nights we take the little dogs to the hotel, but they can't go b/c the hotel doesn't allow pets over 50 pounds.

It's going to be hot as heck here this week. We are headed to Georgia this weekend to visit my great aunt. I've also booked us a cabin there over Thanksgiving.

Have a good day!

Hub's knee is still swollen, which isn't surprising since he hasn't been icing it. He has been doing a good job of keeping it elevated and taking it easy, but he needs to ice it too.

I am going to jump on Allan's bandwagon and join his Phase 6 diet. I need it, and I need the support.

We are really loving the hotel - 2 bed, 2 bath, small kitchen and living area, breakfast downstairs - which is actually good!

This weekend I'm organizing some of my stuff I "packed" from the house one day, and the other helping my mom with some of her decluttering efforts.

I made a really good pot of red beans for red beans and rice last night and mom forgot to put them in the fridge. Oops! Tood bad b/c they were really good.

No more news on the house front - just waiting to hear regarding the appraisal. Fingers crossed!

Hub's knee surgery went well. The reality is that he needs to lose weight and doing so would certainly help his knee recovery. I am trying to focus on making better choices to support him. We've both been a little catch-as-catch-can about food with everything that's been going on.

It's weird - we've been waiting for new temp housing (we're moving in today to a Residence Inn). In the interim, I've been at the apartment alone, it's just been not a lot of fun. It's like I go over to my mom's, have dinner & visit, and then heard off to the apartment once I start getting sleepy (about 8:30). It's hard to explain - my life just feels like it's in this weird disconnected state - no home, just a place I sleep without my family, just weird.

The house purchase is moving along. The house feels like a bit of a money pit, which isn't a great feeling, but that's what $200K gets you in south Florida. It's a nice house, it just needs some work. I know it'll all work out, I guess I'm just feel tired and overwhelmed and a bit burned out.

I feel like I complain a lot when I post, which is probably one reason I haven't been posting much. But better here than to my co-workers all the time I guess.

Seriously, things are moving along.

The house here closed Friday. THANK GOD!

The apartment we were given for temp housing is on the 3rd floor, which wouldn't be a big deal except hub's knee surgery was re-scheduled for today, and there is no way he's getting up 4 flights of stairs.

The guys drove to PA this weekend to put some of our camping stuff in the storage trailer there. While up there, the boy bought a dirt bike. Hopefully it will keep him occupied this summer.

We seem to still be moving forward on the house in Fl. No idea when the appraisal will be scheduled - that's the next big hurdle.

Real estate - it's not just for sane people.

Our house closing was scheduled for 8 am today (the house we're selling). Except our agent called last night - the buyer decided that her final walk through was really her pre final walk through and she wanted to come through the house again at 7:30 the morning. We said no. Then our realtor called back and said the buyer was pushing closing back and refused to sign anything until she came through the house to make sure the movers hadn't damaged anything. We said the buyer could come through at 8:30, so I spent 2 hours this morning cleaning like a woman possessed because 1) the guys really didn't do much yesterday and 2) I was terrified this crazy woman would refuse to sign for some crazy reason.

Thank god it closed.

On the house we're buying: The home inspection came back with pretty much what we expected for a house built in 1974 that's been sitting empty a while. In other words: roof repair, some electrical work, and a lot of maintenance stuff - to the tune of probably $3000 with the hub doing everything he can. EXCEPT. The inspector also recommended we call a structural engineer to check the foundation - turns out it needs concrete footings under 2 corners. Estimated cost $4500. We asked for the seller to pay for that and she refused, so we withdrew our offer. Then she blinked and agreed to give a $4500 credit at closing. We'd asked if the "Liberace house" was still available (it is) and were ready to make an offer on it.

I'd rather have this house because the yard is already fenced and it needs less work up front, even though I feel like the other house has loads of long term potential. But hub is having knee surgery on Monday so I'd like to keep the work to a minimum for his sake. Also, I like the fact it already has a pool which will be great for his knee rehab.

But we're out of the house here, moving to temp housing tonight, and hopefully the appraisal will go through okay on the new house.

Lordie.

Things are (finally) falling into place

Our house in NC is set to close Friday. There was an issue with the title from when I bought it that just got resolved yesterday.


We flew down to Florida the weekend after we drove down and looked at more houses. There was one we'd liked a lot that was pending sale on our first trip. That fell through and we made an offer on it the day before we flew down. We saw another one and we were really torn, skip a bunch of angst and that 1st house is under contract and the inspector went through with our realtor this morning. Haven't heard back yet, hopefully it went well.


The movers are here today packing up our stuff. My husband has been out of work for some time (3 weeks?) due to needing knee surgery, so this is a sucky time to be operating on one income. Not that any time would be good. Hopefully his short term disability will start soon - that will certainly help.


I am getting a new boss at work - I would have continued to report to the same one (the Florida team reports to him) but he accepted a job in a different department. :-(


I can't even describe how much stress I've been under - honestly it's been one of the roughest times in my life, but I'm getting to the fun and exciting part, which feels really nice.

We have a house!!!

Yeah, not so much

I thought we had a house, but the deal fell through. So now we are going back to Florida this weekend to try to find a house... again.

We bought a house!!!

house

Who moved my cheese?

This morning (it's very short) I read the book "Who moved my cheese?". Although the process of selling a house and buying a new one is frustrating, I've gotten to the point where I'm okay with finding some new cheese. My husband got to that place as well Wednesday. Things have been pretty stressful partly because he has been so opposed to this move. he's now on board with it. He told our sone he's ready to give Florida a '150% effort' and that he hopes the boy will do the same.

Leaving tomorrow. Sunday we are looking at 7 houses. Monday we'll review and make an offer.

Must love dogs

All the house stuff (inspections, movers evaluation) went fine. Trip is still on for Saturday. Our list currently stands (I think) at 11 houses.

The boy and his girlfriend were riding up near Belews Creek (which used to be a creek but is now a big lake where we water ski) and came across a dead husky in the road, with a puppy sitting next to the body crying. So yeah, we now have a 12 week old husky/pit bull/who knows what else little girl puppy named "Belews" (as opposed to Blues as in "Blues Clues').

She's had her first round of shots and de-worming and is in good health, although a little underweight. The boy is doing a pretty decent job being responsible for her. He's still dead set against moving to Florida, so I think right now he needs that puppy as much as she needs him.

Life, it just keeps happening

My grandmother's funeral was nice. We had a lovely visit with my great aunt. We took her out to eat and shopping for some slacks. We also made time to shop by the antique store in Pine Mountain. I am happy to report I left with 3 84" panels of mid 50s barkcloth drapes in grey with aqua and pink floral design. It's a bold, tropical pattern with vibrant colors. Because they were priced at $30 for all 3, I left in haste before anyone realized I was stealing them.

Our house appraisal was yesterday, tomorrow is the home inspection, and Monday is the HVAC and chimney inspections. So, the house needs to be tidy and dog free. Also on Monday the movers are coming to survey our household goods.

We are headed to Florida on the 21st to find a house. I sent my realtor a list of houses we wanted to look at - there were 31 houses, with 18 being "priority". She said probably a third would be unavailable by the time we get down there. That still leaves a lot of houses to look at.

Anyway, I am slowly decompressing. Lots of stress remains, but I am excited about looking at houses! Who doesn't love a trip to Florida! (Except my husband!)

Wow

I try to subscribe to the adage "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything", which is why I haven't been posting much. The most neutral thing I could say would have been something like "Day 28 of my clean house captivity. I love my new Shark steam mop." I really do btw - I know it's going to be THE BOMB on our tile floors in Florida, and it's done a good job keeping the bamboo looking like our house is a dog free zone.

But life lately has kinda sucked to be honest. Selling a house is one of the most stressful things I've done. In retrospect, being threatened with assasination by the Red Army Faction probably didn't impact my life this much. Of course I was young and stupid then too. (It wasn't personal - they decided they didn't like anyone working at the NSA field station). ANYWAY. I think you get the idea. And we've never sold a house before. Also, the economy kinda stinks so we were fairly worried about the whole thing. But we got what we wanted for a sale price - that's pretty amazing.

So there's that. And losing my boss, who decided not to move. And losing my grandmother (her funeral is Monday - mom and I are headed to Georgia Saturday). And helping my mom sort through stuff for her move.

Oh, and the boy announced yesterday that he doesn't want to go to Florida after all. Yeah.

For those of you with older kinds you realize that if you want to make something highly desirable to a teen, tell them they can't. So we're having to approach this one very carefully.

I doubt I've been good company. Honestly I haven't enjoyed my company very much! I do feel like this was the biggest hurdle and I am so glad it's behind us. So why have I been up since 2 AM, unable to sleep and worrying about the whole move logistics? I guess there's just a lot of stress about the future and worrying about how to get the power turned on from 2 states away is a concrete issue I can focus on fretting about. And maybe the whole sale thing hasn't quite sunk in.

I need to chill out.

We sold our house today. I for one intend to go home and throw my dirty laundry everywhere! *lol*

Happy Friday!

It's now 2 weeks since my grandma died. Last night at 8:30 my mom called my cousing (who was supposed to be arranging the funeral) and he said he was going to call the church this morning to see about arranging it for Monday. Please understand we're tlaking about 2 states away - spur of the moment would be a big hassle for us. We talked & she called him back & said just to shoot for the 9th. The last weekend of April/1st weekend of May is booked because his wife's grandfather died a week after our grandmother. You can bet someone managed to schedule HIS funeral. Anyway, his whole mishandling of things has created a lot of extra upset and stress.

I had a birthday. I went for my annual check-up. My house has been shown 7 times and we've had an open house.. I just want my house to sell. I need it to sell pretty quickly. I've done everything in my power to make that happen, now we just have to wait (ugh).

Birthday was okay. Doctor gave me a clean bill of health. Right now there is just so much that I feel pretty overwhelmed a lot of the time. I try to break it down into little bits and deal with the part right in front of my face.

Right now is a difficult time, but I know it's only temporary, that the pain of losing my grandmother will ease, that life will move forward, and is right now even if it doesn't feel that way.

Hope you have a good weekend and nice Easter if you celebrate that.

My grandmother passed last Friday - hence my lack of posting.

Love this house!

While perusing listings for houses in Coral Springs, I found a house I'm totally in love with. But like internet dating, the real thing may or may not turn out to be what I think it is on the internet. But still, it's love - for now. If I show you a picture on the interior (which is more "interior desecration" than "interior decoration") you'll think I've taken leave of my senses. So I'll show you why I love the house - the tiki bar. Love it! Who needs to go to a fancy resort in Mexico when you can walk out your back door to this? As for the interior, I present the kitchen.

Nothing 5 gallons of Kilz and some paint won't cure!

Waiting for the galactic bus Everything feels like it’s in a hold pattern right now. The house is on the market. My grandmother quit drinking liquids on Friday, so we’re waiting for the end. Sadly, waiting isn’t my strong suit. Sorry – I just don’t have a lot fight now.

Stuff House goes on the market Monday. So glad this is nearly done. Now to keep it perfect looking! Our trip to Florida was heinous. The first bit was fine – we looked at houses (found one we liked), looked at schools (they were all good), and then the plan was to drive to St. Pete & have dinner with my stepbrother, then on to Tampa where I’d be dropped off at the airport Tuesday morning to come back to work and mom & boy would continue their vacation. Except they got horrible food poisoning and there was no way I could leave them and no way they could travel Tuesday. So I skipped the flight, cancelled 2 hotel reservations and booked us into a place in St. Pete for 2 nights. It was awful – my mom especially was just miserably sick. So that totally sucked. My grandma has quit eating, so she’s going downhill pretty quickly now. I bought a BlendTec blender at Costco while I was in Florida. My precious.