Is it vacation yet?

Trying to pull additional data to meet all requirements on 2 projects I am trying to wrap up. Got hit with a big new project that must be done by end of day Friday (I'm leading 3/4s of my boss' team on it. It's pulling together data for my boss' boss to report to her boss and his boss). Got all that? But no pressure...

And of course packing, cleaning, washing laundry, etc etc etc. Oh, and my MP3 player died, and that had to be replaced so I have driving tunes.....

I have gone insane. Luckily the emergency autopilot kicked in so all is not lost. :-)

Ants in my pants

Is it vacation yet???

We got loads of stuff done this weekend. But work was very stressful for the hub Friday, which led to him being a jerk sporadically throughout the weekend. Work is stressful for me today, but nothing taking a spork to someone’s eye wouldn’t cure *smirk*. I better get out of here quick! ;-)

Packing for Pensic – the hilarity commences this weekend!

Every year we go to Pennsic. Every year we leave later than we intend to because my husband cannot leave on time. For anything. In general, we leave roughly 2 - 3 hours later than planned. And really, what is more fun than spending 9 hours in a car? Spending 9 hours in a car wondering if you will have time to set up your medieval pavilion before the sun goes down! Setting one of these suckers up requires a minimum of 2 people (4 is better), tools, rebar or very sturdy iron pegs, 20 poles and associated ropes…. You get the idea. This is an undertaking. And not one you want to start 20 minutes before sunset. But does this ever motivate my husband to do better the next year? Right…

One of the cool things about having the trailer is that even if we can’t totally pack the car this weekend, we can get the trailer loaded. People, there is a real chance we might leave on time next Saturday. Talk about winning the jackpot!

I’ve spent the past couple of days trying to clean the house up so it doesn’t look like the frat house in “Animal House”. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but the yard was looking scary and so were the dishes. We’ve both done a lot of work to get things under control. This weekend is all about last minute shopping, food prep for next week, and of course, the packing of the trailer.

Never has one woman been so ready for a vacation. Oh, MIL left a voice mail yesterday asking for money. If I did write a novel about this Jack, it would be along the lines of that movie “Army of Darkness.” It’s a horror! It’s a comedy! It’s both! It’ll be funnier when she has moved to the other side of the continental divide! (I wish)

Have a good one – cause it’s Friday!!!! Woo hoo!!! ;-)

The nerve!

Last night my MIL stops by my mom's house. She tells my mom that a neighbor suggested that she could pawn her tv & stereo as a way to get some money (yes, things are that bad). So she asks my mom if she will take the tv and stereo to a pawn shop for her! That woman's nerve knows no bounds!!!!

Gee, I dunno why, but mom said no.....

Oops

I’ve been meaning to post, but life just keeps intervening. Here is a random jumble of thoughts & stuff. Let’s just call it a post, shall we?

I am soooo disappointed that T-Mobile decided to sack Jan. Hot pink finger and toe nails will no longer hold the same meaning for me. But, Landis was a much more human, gracious, generous winner than we’ve seen in years past. Watching him win was a pleasure. Sorry Lance. Also, I loved watching the Tour, but watching that much television is hard work!

Being an all or nothing person means that I’ve been running on 110% with all these crafts projects and I am burned out. So I’m glad they are done! The only thing left is last minute shopping, packing, and some food prep. Preparation is winding down and soon the vacation will commence. Woot!

I left the house super early this morning. It was gorgeous – foggy & quiet. I saw a deer run across Main Street in downtown. How cool is that? It made me happy.

Working on projects like a maniac hasn’t left a lot of time for exercise. I really miss running. I need to set up a running plan when I get home. Until then, exercise is very much a catch as catch can proposition. You know what? I haven’t had time in years (well, ever really) to do the stuff I’ve wanted to do to make my camp not only comfortable, but a place where, when you come & sit down, it feels more like the 12th than the 21st century. With a touch of Conan. ;-) I’ve been able to do that this year. And I am close to having enough clothes! I made myself 3 pairs of pants and 2 new tops this Saturday.

MIL wanted to know if we were going to continue helping her for a couple more months. Isn’t that a hoot???? Uh, no. She needed to come up with $400 or get evicted. Urban Ministries gave her $200 and she’ll be getting a paycheck soon. What a mess. Like watching a head-on collision in slow motion, knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop it. But I don’t have any more money to give her, even if I wanted to, which I don’t. She is out of my mom’s thank goodness.

“Bloodrayne” is actually a pretty decent grade B vampire flick. Not enough Billy Zane though. And what was up with that hairpiece? He looked like he had an opossum on his head. He is a man that looks better with less hair.

That’s about all I know. Take care!

The fabric obsession continues, unabated

First: good news on the MIL front! As suspected, she had no intention of moving out of my mom’s place despite having both a job and an apartment. My mom told her how she felt used & told her that she had until Sunday evening to move out, or hub & I would be coming over Sunday afternoon to move her out. Apparently, that lit the much-needed fire under her butt and she is packing up her stuff. Woo hoo!!!!

In addition to watching the saga of Floyd the past couple of evenings, I have also been busy working on a Mongol-esque jacket for a friend for Pensic next month. It is coming along nicely and should be finished up tonight. I’ll take pics.

Saturday is a crazy sewing day, with several projects in the hopper. Sunday is accessories. I am having so much fun! I love doing stuff like this!

All in all, I have to say I am heading into this weekend feeling awesome. And the roadblock on my project at work was removed, so life at the office is happy too. Yay for me!

On how I let my MIL shove me into a vat of cheese dip

Read at your own peril!

Excuse #572 for not getting out of my mom’s house: Her license got revoked. She had let her car insurance lapse and the state revoked her license. She went to court yesterday, and had to pay a $110 fine to get the license back. She hasn’t been able to start her new (part-time) job until she got the license. She hasn’t been able to move anything to the apartment b/c she couldn’t drive. Naturally she didn’t have the money. So the hub and I forked it over, basically so she could get out of my mom’s house. The only reason I agreed to pay that money was so she could get out. Now she is whining that she has to work every day & doesn’t have time to move. So, Sunday morning I will be going over to my mom’s, dragging her fat butt out of bed, telling her what a worthless excuse for a sack of molecules she is, and throwing her stuff onto my mom’s from lawn. Do you think that will make things awkward for Thanksgiving???

I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I have a feeling it very well may. I went home with my blood pressure somewhere in the red zone and my pulse higher than that of a sprinter climbing the Alpe d’Huez. (Did you see my (new) boy Kloden yesterday??? Looking good!!!) So yes, I had nachos (homemade at least), anchovy spaghetti, and a milkshake for dinner. Dessert was a couple of slices of pizza and beer. And some chocolate I found in the cupboard. The only good news was that none of this was in huge portions and it was spread over the course of 4 or 5 hours, so at least I didn’t wake up feeling ill from weird food combos this morning.

I am in such a weird place right now. Some things are going so well. I am getting a lot done to get us ready for our trip and we are very excited. OTOH, exercise has been non-existent this week: I’ve been coming in to the office too early to do any in the morning (well, unless I woke up at 5 but I’ve been sleeping in until 6), and in the evening I am busy, tired, whatever. Name an excuse and I’ve used it. I have this stress and I am not working it off in a healthy way, which I know is making it worse but I’m not doing anything to change my habits!!!! So I feel disappointed with myself, which makes me feel bad, which makes me want to eat.

Sometimes I look back to last summer, or the summer before, and I wonder who that girl was. I seemed more active, more in the groove – and yet objectively I know that a) things were far from perfect then and b) I’ve been in this place for less than 2 weeks. I haven’t gained any (more) weight, but I do need to get a handle on my stress as well as my weight.

All or nothing mentality aside (where it has to be if I want to stop wallowing), here is my plan: after work I will go to the gym and ride the exercise bike for 30 minutes. I can read a book while I do it, which will make it is less boring. Tomorrow I’m not going in to the office until 8, so I can get up and walk. I make no food promises, but I can start with that.

What if this were okay?

Since I wrote that post yesterday, I’ve been thinking and asking myself “What isn’t working about my eating plan?” One thing that isn’t working is my all or nothing mentality. I get trapped into thinking something like “I’ll count tonight as a free night”, which is okay. But then I eat more than I want because I can’t have it tomorrow. Yesterday as I walked into the grocery I caught myself thinking “What if I weren’t on a diet? How would I eat?” Would I still choose the healthy foods I enjoy? Would I live on chocolate chip cookies and beer? I realized that I don’t trust myself to feed myself without self-imposed restrictions. That’s pretty bad.

I eat healthy foods most of the time without really thinking about it – Monday through Friday my daytime eating is on auto-pilot. I have no problems with being tempted by the vending machine because I bring adequate quantities of healthy foods to eat. I have a good breakfast, and then consume lunch and 2 snacks before I leave the office. I go home and eat a healthy dinner. That’s when the entitlement mentality kicks in. I know why I think that food is love, I just don’t know how to not think that way any more. That sets up a bad situation where I need to “rebel” or maybe “reward myself” and my tool of choice is food – always food. Goals are good, but not when they are the cudgel you use to hit yourself over the head. So what if I didn’t beat myself up when I ate a handful of taco chips? If they weren’t forbidden fruit, would they lose their appeal? And even saying “It’s okay to have 5” (or whatever) just turns that 6th chip into the forbidden fruit.

I have no answers. Some days I feel like I’m no farther down this path than I was the day I first started writing in this blog. Other days I think I have come a long way. I am a lot more active than I used to be, and I feel like I eat more nutritious foods. But the weight situation hasn’t improved in quite a while. I think maybe part of the reason for that is I am putting too much pressure on myself in that area.

Things to think about.

Goals: Help or hindrance? And – easily distracted by fabric!

A comment regarding a comment got me to thinking about goals. I think goals are good things. I think my thinking about goals is counterproductive. When I set a goal for myself, there seems to be a lot of negative stuff underneath it. If I set a goal to lose weight, the implied reason I am setting this goal is because I have “let myself go.” I have 8 or so pounds over my lowest weight to lose to get back there. I felt a heck of a lot better 8 pounds ago, but the fact that I keep criticizing myself for gaining means I am stubbornly refusing to lose it! Arguing with myself is a tiring process, and the end result is that I am headed for vacation feeling a lot like a beached whale. Which is a lousy feeling. And it sets up a lot of guilt and general all around feeling lousy about myself kind of emotions. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I focused on healthy eating and fitness without weighing myself. I am terrified that I would blow up without the scale to act as a sort of “governor” keeping my weight from getting too far out of control. I dunno.

Okay – despite the previous paragraph, I had a nice weekend and got a lot of cool stuff done! And I even took pictures! I’ll post a link in the next week or so. I finished the day shade cover – so my square “ez-up” day shade from Northern Tool now looks a lot like a medieval pavilion. I got my painted wall hangings lined and tabs put on them for hanging.

I went shopping for stuff for the trip (of course), and one of the things I bought was one of those cubby-hole kinda things that you hang from the bar in your closet. The one I bought is for shoes. One of the things about living in a tent for two weeks is having places to store your stuff – I mean, yes we have a bed, but we don’t pack chests of drawers or anything. But yes, I do have a clothes rack. So I can hang this from the clothes bar, and we can then store stuff live underwear, socks, etc that you’d keep in a drawer at home. But of course I don’t want just anyone seeing my underwear, so I needed a way to cover the front. Simple enough – all you need is a piece of fabric the size of the front, pinned at the top to attach it. The thing itself folds up accordion style (which makes it perfect for packing), and the fabric can just be folded up. Cut rectangle of fabric – a 5 minute project, right? Sure! Except it has to be nice fabric, and of course I need to hem the edges. And I have all those small pieces of Asian fabric left from that time 6 years ago when I thought I’d try my hand at quilting…. Yeah, 2 hours later I have a hanging which involves something like 20 pieces of fabric – 10 squares with fabric rectangles acting as borders in between and down the sides. A lot like a quilt! And of course it needed to be reversible… and maybe some fringe at the end!! All it takes is a little bit of fabric, and I am off and running!

And of course garb for the event itself (you gotta wear something…) – old stuff needed mending, and new stuff must be made! Last year I spent all my time making new stuff for my son (who had outgrown all his old stuff). This year I get new stuff! Plus I am making a gift for a friend. I started on that yesterday – I made a mend pile, ironed the other stuff, and stacked and prioritized fabric. Fun times!

He!! yes I want some cheesiepoops! – Cartman

Yesterday during the TdF, Lance was recounting his (first?) practice ride up the Tourmalet. He said he was really suffering, and saw graffiti that read “Anger is a gift.” Johann Bruyneel tried to convince him it was a sign!

I’ve been working on a big project at work and the end is in sight. A last minute roadblock happened, and while I dealt with it, it looks like I may not be able to wrap up this month. So I have been feeling frustrated and a bit angry with that, even though I am still very happy in my new job. Unfortunately, while at work I am able to turn that anger into a constructive pushiness, outside the office I’m not quite as skilled. I left work yesterday at the peak of my frustration/anger. I hit the Dollar Tree for some retail therapy. Shopping doesn’t normally do it for me, but 1) everything at the Dollar Tree is a dollar, so I can’t do too much damage to my wallet in there and 2) I was shopping for stuff for vacation, and when isn’t that fun? So, I wandered up and down the aisles, picking up baggies, tin foil, matches, kitchen utensils (I don’t like to take my good stuff from home), that sort of stuff.

After I left, I wanted a milkshake. Recognizing that for what it was, I headed for the grocery. I had to pick up fixings for dinner, and deal with that craving. I picked up a light yogurt smoothie in the hopes that would satisfy. I also had to get something for dinner, which wound up being gourmet ravioli with pesto. While delicious, this dinner had roughly double my normal limit. And did I mention that the smoothie was nasty, so I stopped and picked up beer??? God I am so predictable!

There is a silver lining: I didn’t binge, I counted last night as one of my free meals, and I got up and walked this morning, instead of feeling guilty and sleeping in. Tonight I have a healthy and easy to prepare dinner planned. I am so busy working on projects that I just don’t want to do anything too difficult. I need to bust out the crock pot this weekend!

I made the mistake of discussing the MIL with hub this morning on our walk, which got him all worked up. I don’t know what I was thinking! I could kick myself for bringing it up.

I finished painting my last hanging last night! Tonight I am going to experiment with tea dyeing the fabric to give the whole thing a more “aged” appearance. I want to do a test piece before doing the hangings. After that, I need to put some backing fabric on them, tabs to hang them and I’m done! Having fabric to do costuming is like the first day of summer – the possibilities stretch out before you and seem endless! The end is always a bit sad – yes, you have a big stack of cool stuff you’ve made, but it’s a bit like reading the last page of a beloved book. But you know what? You can always buy more fabric! Bwah ha ha!!!!

Have a good weekend!

“Never mistake motion for action” - Hemingway

I made an awesome dinner last night, which made great leftovers for lunch. Chicken parmesan – baked people! - and I made a great “salad”: chopped one small cuke and 1 small tomato, then mixed together a tablespoon of low fat ranch dressing with some of the juice from a jar of pepper rings (stretches the dressing and adds a great zip!). I had a huge and satisfying lunch! If you want the recipe, let me know. It’s super easy!

Food is fine – the only cold beer in the house is Guinness (blech!), so I wasn’t tempted to have one with the hub last night. I did troll the kitchen after dinner, but all I scored was a piece of toast with a low fat cheese slice. After dinner is generally when I am pissed/grateful that I keep no crap “food” (I use the term loosely) in the house. I am feeling better (thanks to y’alls well wishes! :-), so we walked this morning. I stuck to walking, but we did pick up the pace, so that was good.

If you haven’t, go read fat cyclist’s post regarding stage 9 of the TdF – after watching the stage, I heartily agree with the sentiment – what a snooze fest! I watched the first 2 hours in fast forward! But the mountains start today. I only hope that doesn’t mean they show more of Michael Rasmussen (winner of last year’s mountain jersey) – he gives me the willies.

I worked on my last wall hanging for the pavilion last night – this one is a very complex design, but I am hoping to finish painting it tonight. Due to my cold, I worked on stuff but didn’t really get anything completely finished this past weekend - I haven’t forgotten I said I would take pictures. I have done some really great stuff for the camp this year. We are camping with a group of friends from Australia – I will probably spend the entire 2 weeks asking Bruce to say “Crikey! He’s got me arm!” Hee hee hee. They’re good peeps.

So, food is okay, exercise is coming back. I’d like to really tighten up on food until vacation, but not so much I wind up binging.

Things are not going well on the MIL front. She didn't get the one job she was counting on (which came with an apartment), so now she's pretty much up sh!* creek with no paddle. She didn't sell her car b/c she "didn't see the point", and she got her last unemployment check this week. She hasn't paid her rent and is 2 months behind on her car payment. She is STILL at my mom's (my mom hasn't pushed the issue b/c she's traveling this week & next and needs a pet sitter), but she's getting the boot when mom's back home. She says she can't sleep at the apartment b/c she "can't sleep alone." I guess we'll get her to take care of our house while we're gone, but that's still 3.5 weeks away. Sigh.

We are working on trying to distance ourselves from the situation and not let it cause us so much stress. I don't know if I mentioned it, but hub was beginning to get shingles from the stress! Not good. He had gotten shingles a couple of years ago, so I am trying to make sure he gets plenty of rest, exercise, good food, and MIL-free time.

Blech

I woke up Saturday with a miserable summer cold, and it was all downhill from there until this morning. Needless to say, not a heck of a lot got accomplished this weekend, unless you count watching TdeF and a bazillion episodes from season 4 of Star Trek: DS9 as accomplishments.

I do enjoy working out with my hub. We don't lift weights together, and I sometimes run ahead on our morning outings, but doing it together is fun. And that's not something we are able to do during the school year, so its a summertime treat. :-)

I feel like a huge fat blob, which really isn’t such a hot feeling. I got up and walked a mile this morning – I figured I needed to do something since the only exercise I’d had since Friday was nose blowing. I credit the fact that I feel human today to the hot as hades Korean soup I had for lunch yesterday. Chicken soup is good, but chi ghae is the bomb when it comes to curing the common cold. Any soup that the broth is red cause it has so much hot pepper in it – yeah, that’s gotta kill any nasty germies that might be lurking about!

Anyhow, catching up on blogs, catching up at work, and trying to figure out how to drop 15 pounds before I go on vacation in 3 and a half weeks. Just kidding – kinda. But I would like to at least get back down to my former low – I think I’d feel a lot better. And living outside for two weeks while on vacation, feeling like a fat blob sounds even more uncomfortable than ever.

Run, ride, or lift?

That was the question I posed to my husband last night, as we sat watching the TdF. He opted for lifting, so we hit the gym this morning for a fast-paced upper body workout. Tonight I plan to walk. Tomorrow morning we are riding our bikes 20 miles. I have gobs of sewing planned for the weekend, you’ll get pictures. My celtic knotwork wall hangings are turning out great! They look really spiffy.

I’m off to plan my meals for the weekend so I don’t spaz out – luckily I have some chicken soup I made in the crock pot, so that’ll help.

Have a good one!

Mixed bag

Went to the gym this morning as our walk/run was rained out. Lordie but we’ve been getting the rain. I tried the new Treadmaster. Now I know how the sprinters feel riding up the Alp d’Huez. Five minutes on that thing and my calves were screaming for vengeance, shin splints were setting in, and I was praying lightening would strike the thing so I could stop. I finished my workout on the dreadmill, which felt petty wonderful after the 21st century torture device.

Food is okay, the house is devoid of all but fake beer, and I had a good workout this morning. My newest project is painting decorative wall hangings for our pavilion. I plan to take pictures of all my most recent projects this weekend and get the pics loaded up onto my yahoo photo site. Who knew I was so artsy/craftsy?

I set up a table in my living room so I could paint while sitting with the hub and watching the Tour. I am a happy camper. It feels like years since I’ve really put a lot of time into working on sewing & decorating projects – I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it.

It was funny listening to our friends from Ohio – people from the north are always shocked at how green it is here. It is amazingly green – soft focus and it looks a bit like a jungle. I love that about living here. This really is a pretty part of the country.

Unfortunately, this rainy weather makes me want to putter about the house. I’d love to be outside – running, riding my bike, but the weather has been too crazy the past week or so. BJJ isn’t really a workout per se, although the cardio kickboxing class is very good. BJJ is very frustrating for me – I can’t tell yet if its b/c I’m new and not very good, or if I genuinely don’t like it. I feel like I’m not exercising enough. I’ve set a goal for myself: 20 miles per week walking and/or running. I have a very good 2 mile loop, and 4 miles 5 times per week sounds easy enough. I’m only lifting twice per week (if I’m lucky) – I’m not sure that’s enough. Like I said, I feel like I’m not doing enough. I feel tweaks coming on.

It was a dark and stormy night

Please feel sorry for the residents of my little town, who had their fireworks ruined last night due to some seriously scary storms that came through. The first one was around 8:30 – right before the fireworks were supposed to start. The sky looked like we had a spotlight in the backyard – at least when lightening bolts weren’t hitting. And hail of course. We just managed to get the boat, grill, and doggie door covered before all “hail” (ha ha) broke loose. Several came through during the night as well. There were limbs all over the back yard and the roads. I love storms, but those were some doozies! About 4,000 houses are without power this morning. Happy 4th indeed.

We did grill out some turkey burgers with my mom and we made more polymer clay. I will be taking photos this weekend – promise!

I’d fill you in on my exercise & eating, but I’m too embarrassed. No binging which is good, but not very good choices either. :-( Daytime eating has been fine, but too much evening snacking – and beer! Luckily THAT is out of the house!! Weather permitting (we may have some more bad storms today), I will get in some exercise tonight. I won’t be driving around if its like yesterday though.

The hub and I never had a honeymoon, and over the years we have discussed doing something fabulous for our 5th anniversary (next May). For a number of reasons, money has been much tighter this year than hoped, so spending a bunch of money on a trip next year seems foolish. I think I’d stress over the expenditure more than I’d enjoy the trip. I asked hub yesterday what he’d think about taking our trip a bit early and heading down to Helen Ga. for the mountain stage of the Tour de Georgia. Helen is this really cool German themed town, with a beautiful wooded river running through it, German restaurants & beer halls, and some nice B&Bs. A nice long weekend plus watching some cycling in person sounds like a blast. Not to mention much less expensive. And he agreed! Woot!

I know I’ve written before about my love affair with CostCo. I found some great “margherita” thin crust pizzas, where half the pizza is less than 400 calories, and its 3 for $10. And I found some awesome teriyaki turkey burgers (which we had last night) – yummy! That’s my idea of summer cooking. Pair that with some corn on the cob & tomatoes from the farmer’s market, and I’m in heaven!

The Tour. Yeah, I’ve been watching. I was so proud of Kessler yesterday. It’s great to see Robbie doing so well, and to see Tom in yellow on his home turf. And boy did George deserve to wear yellow. I bet Floyd is still skeeved about those seconds he lost day one due to a flat! In short, there’s plenty of excitement right now. These are the sprinters’ stages, and they are all there. I think it’ll be a little bittersweet during the mountains. I don’t know whether those cyclists are guilty are not – but the whole thing makes me a bit sad.

July is one of my favorite months of the year – it’s summer, full of great veggies from the market, lots of time with my husband, and the Tour. I watch every day, carefully avoiding all news outlets so the outcome is a surprise. It’s special for me because it’s the only sports event I watch faithfully. And I love it for so many reasons. It makes me sad because this scandal has diminished it in my eyes a bit, and that’s unfortunate because the Tour is probably one of the most spectacular physical feats a human can accomplish and the guys that do it deserve our respect for that accomplishment.

I read a quote the other day “the difference between a rut and a grave is depth”. I chuckled, but you know? I find ruts useful. They keep me plugging along, taking care of myself and my family. Does this mean I’m turning into an old fart?

Happy holiday everyone

Hmmm. Not a lot to say today. I’m hungry. I feel fat. I love the smell of gardenias and fresh peaches – limes smell good too. I love the smells of summer. I think I’ll go eat my peach. I’d planned to eat out with a friend, but she backed out on me. The cafeteria is closed, so do I get by on the snacks I packed plus emergency popcorn in my desk, or do I go out? I feel panicky about not having enough food – hence my hunger. With a bizarre mindset like this, its no wonder I remain overweight.

Hub and I are going to ride our bikes tomorrow morning rather than walk/run. I don’t have a T-Mobile jersey – maybe I can dig up a hot pink t-shirt at least. I was planning to wear my lime green Piggly-Wiggly t-shirt to match the hub, who always wears his bright yellow t-shirt that says “I’m big on the Pig”. You gotta love a grocery store with that name. Our friends from Ohio took a picture of the Piggly at the beach because they thought that it had been made up for a movie – they had no idea that’s an actual grocery chain down here. Too bad they didn’t catch sight of a Winn Dixie. Ha!

Weirdness abounds

This was a very odd weekend. On the one hand, I drank too much beer, did no exercise, and was extremely unhappy about this whole bs “doping” scandal. It’s a scandal alright – a scandal that a person’s career can be ended without producing any evidence. Officials refused to share their evidence with Ullrich’s lawyer. Excuse me? I have no idea whether he is innocent or not, but by treating athletes the way they are, the cycling organization is doing more to tarnish the reputation of the sport that any group of athletes possibly could. (Turn the rant off girl.)

However, I made new valences for my bathroom, got my house all squared away, took the boat out, and just generally relaxed. That felt good.

The dojo is closed until Wednesday, so my mom is coming over after dinner and we are doing polymer clay. Yeah, I need to get back into my “weekday” mode of eating, and not let the weekends get so out of control. That is always so tough for me. But I feel great knowing I am going into July with no house projects! Just stuff for Pennsic. Sweet!

I’m trying not to freak out about the weight – just plugging away one choice at a time. Yeah, I didn’t do so hot this weekend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t eat a healthy lunch today.

In MIL news, she is a psycho. I bet you didn’t now that. She has an apartment, but she’s still at my mom’s. She called the hub to say she feels “excluded”, but then hangs up on him. When he calls to tell her he feels very stressed out & needs space, she hangs up on him again. Then she tells my mom that he hung up on her! Does she think we never talk to each other or what???? She is a loon.

Fitness stuff: Still trying to eat BFL style – several small, balanced meals a day. Hub and I are alternating our morning workouts – lift weights Tue, Thu, & Sun. Walk/run Mon, Wed, & Fri. Dojo for kickboxing Sat am. Dojo in the evenings for as many nights as I can stand – 4 is the ideal, but 3 is cool. 2 isn’t enough. This is 80% food, 19% exercise, and 1% supplementation. Exercise is pretty decent, despite this past weekend. But food needs tightening up.

The fat lady sang, but I missed it.

Confused by the references made by the commentators, I paused the opening prologue to check out cyclingnews.com. I am shocked. I was horrified to discover my hero's career effectively over. Whether he is innocent or not, this was likely Jan's last year. Nearly every major name is cycling has been implicated (GC contenders anyway). It makes me wonder, is Discovery that much better, or that much more clever?

I guess I'll watch, but its with very jaded eyes.

5 weeks until vacation

156.5. I haven't lost the weight from my April vacation, and I still have half a pound to lose from this last one. At least I'm down.

Eating is fine, exercise is still going, although the dojo is closed until Wednesday! Luckily they haven't rolled up the streets yet! :-)

Have a nice holiday and/or weekend!

Progress continues

This morning I climbed up on that damndable ladder for the final time and finished the celtic knotwork in the kitchen (pictures to follow)! It feels awesome to have that project put to bed.

I remain beer free! Although I was sorely tempted last night. We’d turned around to rescue a huge snapping turtle out of the road, and got there just in time to watch another car kill it. We were all very upset, especially the boy. He loves animal so much, and to see something that large get killed up close was very disturbing – for all of us.

Martial arts was good last night – we worked on getting out from under a side mount. I have a bruised knee, a raw elbow, and a bloody toe. But it felt so darn good to be back there. I have no idea why I enjoy this stuff, but I do.

I was whipped this morning! And sore. But I got up and did a very quick run – something is better than nothing, right? I felt too lazy to make my oatmeal for my morning snack, so I grabbed 2 protein bars for my 2 snacks. Even though I don’t like it, I need to go back to the cottage cheese (blech!). It’s a cheap, convenient, lowcal source of nearly pure protein. And I need to be eating “real food” – not bars or shakes. I have a hard time with protein in my snacks – meals are no problem. But who wants to heat up a snack? I’m not that wild about canned chicken (cold chicken breast is okay but it gets old quick), canned tuna gets old, I can only eat so many eggs… Maybe I’ll alternate weeks between the cottage cheese and the protein bars.

Food is going fine. I know because I am hungry. Not starving ever, but when I left the dinner table last night I knew I could eat that same portion of food again. I had plenty, but I was nowhere near full. I wake up hungry. My tummy is rumbling by lunch. I take that as a good sign. I’m not letting myself remain hungry – I’m eating every 2-3 hours. But if you never feel hunger, then you’re probably eating too much IMO.

Unfortunately, the dojo is closed Friday through Tuesday for the holiday. I never even think about this stuff since I work pretty much every holiday except Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was peeved! Luckily I have 24 hour access to my gym, so I can always go there. Ha!

Have a groovy day!