It’s all up to me

Just checking in during my nomadic journey.  I’m currently at my parents’ house but this afternoon we’re moving into our hotel.  It hasn’t been too bad and amazingly my weight is pretty steady (224).  We are all moved out of our old house and it’s looking like we’ll move into the new one on Halloween.  We meet w/our builder this afternoon to approve the layout for the driveway (I didn’t realize we had to decide on anything other than have it come out of the garage) so I’ll triple check w/him that it’s going to work.

I think the H1N1 has hit our family but amazingly it’s not Kyle.  My hubby got it first and then yesterday Justin spiked a temp and slept all but about 2 hours.  He refused to eat, even when we told him he could have pudding and licorice (he needed something in his tummy for the Tylenol).  He still has a temp this morning but he’s awake so I think by tomorrow he’ll be a new man.  My mom isn’t feeling well now, so I think we brought it to her house.  But knock on wood, Kyle and I are healthy as horses.

I don’t know how regularly I’ll be checking in throughout the week but thanks for thinking of me and for the great tips!

Current weight: 226 (+ .5)

I called home today to pass along a message to our nurse and there was no answer. No big deal, she’s probably changing Kyle’s diaper and couldn’t get to the phone. I called back 2 minutes later and still no answer. I got busy for a while and about 2 hours later called again; still no answer. I figured the phone had been disconnected (our phone was disconnected last Friday b/c of an error) but a tiny part of me wondered if something had happened. Luckily I live less than 2 minutes from school and ran home. As I suspected the phone had been disconnected. I left my cellphone w/our nurse in case she needed to call me or 911 and went back to school. Several phone calls later I convinced someone @ the phone company that we didn’t ask to have our phone disconnected 2 days before we moved out and that tomorrow was not soon enough to get it reconnected. I shudder to think what will go wrong tomorrow!

Wasn’t happy w/the scale this morning but at this point what does it matter? I’ll do the best I can and then November is going to be my month to kick some butt and shrink mine.

Got up early and did pilates for my workout. I might as well get up early and workout b/c I have woken up at least 4 times a night for the last week or so. I have always thought that I handled stress pretty well but this is getting the best of me.

Thanks for all of your tips for hotel eating. I think we’re going to have some extra nursing in the evening hours so I should have more time to hit the treadmill which will help.

Progress toward workout goal: 131/300

The jerk buying our house won’t let us rent his apartment for another month so I’m moving on Thursday. It was a crazy last 24 hours but we finally have everything in place. My mom and dad are taking Kyle home w/them on Thursday after we move out the last of our things. My hubby, Justin and I are going to my MIL’s Thursday night. After school on Friday we’re going to my parents’ house for the weekend and starting Sunday night we’re going to the hotel for about a week. The mover came over tonight to see how much stuff we actually have and he said he should be able to move out our stuff this Thursday and store it until we move into our new house, which should be Halloween. This whole process is probably going to add an extra grand to the moving total but what can you do? It’s only money

My dilemma is living in chaos for the next 10 days or so. If any of you travel a lot for work have any suggestions for eating healthy while living in a hotel please let me know. There is a good sized dorm fridge and microwave in the hotel room so I’ll stock up on cheese sticks, yogurt, hb eggs, etc. I think every night for supper I’ll run to the grocery store (it’s a block away) and get something healthy so we don’t have to eat out every night. I know it’s possible, I just worry that I’m going to get overwhelmed and throw in the towel. It’s good, though, that we have our masquerade ball the night of the 30th b/c it will keep me from completely balooning up like a hippo. There is a fitness center in the hotel (aka treadmill and stationary bike) but it’s better than nothing. Justin thinks it’s so exciting to be living in a hotel, especially since there is a pool and hot tub. I just have to dig through our things to find bathing suits b/c I packed them awhile ago.

Today I got up early and worked out and food has been good. I’m vowing to workout every morning, even if it’s only for 20 minutes. While I’m punching and kicking I’m imagining the face of the guy who’s buying our house…definite therapy.

Minor drama today. Our builder emailed me b/c “someone” told him that I’m telling everyone all these bad things about him. If it was true what I said he should be upset but of course it’s not. We worked it out, and I’m glad that he brought it up instead of just being mad, but it’s not something I needed to deal with today. Plus, the guy who told him is a complete idiot, and the worst thing is he’s probably going to buy the lot 3 houses down from us and build so he’ll be in our lives for years to come. Oh yeah, he’s a teacher at my school, too, so I get to see him there. Egads.

Progress toward workout goal: 130/300

Current weight: 225.5 (+3, nice!)

Yesterday was not fun. Several of the people we were counting on to help us move didn’t show so it was me and my hubby, my 65 year-old dad, my younger brother who was sick and my hubby’s friend. That was it! We loaded up the boxes and stuff from the garage and it ended up filling up the entire rental truck, all 26 feet! The fun part of my day was bringing up 18 boxes of ceramic tile from the basement, carrying them down our steep driveway into the rental truck and then out of the truck and into our new basement. My arms are a bit tender today, but at least it was a workout! And yes, I’m counting yesterday’s activities as a day toward my workout goal.

When we got to the house there were guys working on the drywall which was fine. I was sent back to our house to get a push broom and when I got back my hubby was extremely angry and told me I needed to call Chad (our builder) “immediately”. We’re supposed to move into the new house on Thursday and the drywall guy said they won’t be done until Thursday which means there can be no painting, flooring installed, trim installed, etc. He said we’re looking at 2 weeks before things are done.

I called Chad and he said that the drywallers are there to do their job and that he’d take care of the contracting stuff. “That’s fine,” I said, “but you know our situation w/Kyle and I can’t be told on Tuesday that we’re not going to have a home to move into on Thursday.” The main issue w/the drywall is that it takes time for the mud to dry so they can paint over it and there’s no way to make it dry faster than nature allows. He can make guys work around the clock but I doubt he’s going to pay them to sit and blow on the mudded areas. I finally got him to admit that there’s a 60% chance that he’s going to go over “by a few days” and that we should have a backup plan in place but that he’s still going to try to have it done by Thursday.

So we figured out best bet would be to talk to the guy who is buying our house and pay his November rent. It might be $600 but by the time we pay movers to move our stuff twice, rent another storage garage and find a hotel it would actually be cheaper to pay his rent. That was the reason he gave last week as to why he couldn’t let us stay an extra couple of days so we figured if we paid the rent then he’d be ok. His realtor said she’d check w/him but she didn’t think he’d go for it. If he says no I am going to go apesh*t.

On the good side we did pick up my elliptical yesterday and I can’t wait to try it out. I have gained so much weight in this last week or 2 and the craziness is going to keep coming. Since we still thought we’d be in the new house yesterday morning I packed up my weights and sent them to the new house. I did keep out my TJ DVD so that I could do that since it doesn’t need equipment but I’m getting to where my pants are getting tight. And this is not the time to be feeling fat b/c I just found out we’re going to a semi-formal costume party on the 30th and I have no clue what to wear. I don’t even really know what “semi-formal costume” means so I asked our friend who is organizing it and it sounds kind of like a masquerade ball.

Is it Christmas yet?

Progress toward workout goal: 129/300

Current weight: 222.5 (holding steady)

Today is the first phase of our move so this will have to be brief. We are so not ready and I know it’s b/c we’re finishing our move on Thursday so we know that we can move the rest of the stuff then. What we need to remember is that it will just be my hubby and me, my 65-year old dad and my mom who has a broken ankle. We did hire movers for the furniture so that will be a big help but any boxes will be up to us to move. We can’t really pack up the kitchen and most bathroom stuff until the day we move so it is what it is.

Have I said how much I can’t wait until this is over????

Current weight: 222.5 (+1, I think)

I have reached my limit and I’m calling “uncle”. Isn’t that how it works when you’re little? You say “uncle” and all of the stuff goes away? I’ll try to spare the details but I’m still not certain if I’m going to have a home after 4 pm next Thursday, our district has to cut 10% from the budget for next year and I’m the newest member of the counseling dept so I could be out of a job that I LOVE, Justin got in trouble @ school today…and I have no desire to workout or eat healthy. I am going to get up early and workout tomorrow come hell or highwater and I would say I’m 90% on track w/food so it could be worse. I just want to get back to my regular routine and have a normal life. Sorry to complain, talk to you later.

Current weight: 222

My legs hurt. They felt pretty good this morning and for the most of the day, but by tonight I can definitely tell that I did a crapload of squats. I did pilates before school and 20 minutes of TJ after school, but now that I’m sitting down I’m stiffening up. It feels good, though, and reminds me that I’m back in the game.

I need to quit watching tv b/c I’m a bawling mess. I saw about 15 minutes of Oprah today and it was all about missing kids. We were considering allowing our 6 year-old to walk 2 blocks from school to grandma’s tomorrow but I took the show as fate telling me he’s not old enough yet. I wasn’t 100% comfortable w/it to begin with and after seeing that show I know I would be a nervous wreck.

Now I’m watching TBL and am all emotional, too. I do tend to cry easily but this feels different. I think the stress of finishing the house and the worry over H1N1 and Kyle is getting to me. We definitely have it in our community and my school and he started running a fever last night. Fortunately it went away and our school nurse said that he’d develop a cough w/i 12 hours (so far, so good and it has been 24 hours) but it’s not an exaggeration to say that I will be nervous every day until summer that he could get sick. Several neurologists have said that it could be seriously dangerous if a kid w/Canavan’s disease contracted H1N1. Let’s just say my hands are chapped from all of the hand washing

Progress toward workout goal: 127/300

I did the kettlenetics workout today and I’m guessing my thighs are going to be screaming tomorrow. At first I thought it was going to be a wimpy workout b/c the kettlebell is only 4 pounds. I am still skeptical that it’s going to do anything for my arms, but in a 20 minute workout I think I did a million squats. For about 5 minutes I thought I was going to die. I’m going to do the longer workout later this week…if I can walk.

Food has been ok and I’m ok w/that. I made some apple-rasberry strudel bars yesterday to take into work and had 2 very small pieces today. We grilled out yesterday and I’m having a leftover grilled porkchop w/cottage cheese and tomatoes for supper. I know it’s healthy but the porkchop is big and will have more calories than I normally eat for supper. Granted, I could eat only 1/2 of it but I’m not willing to sacrifice the yumminess for a couple hundred calories. I worked out twice today (TJ 20 minute workout this morning) so I’m going to enjoy my chop!

Progress toward workout goal: 126/300

Current weight: 221.5 (+2)

One thing that’s looking up is my weight but I deserve it so I’m not going to let it get me down. Life is crazy right now and I have accepted it.

In other areas, though, the upward trend is positive. Our house is supposed to be ready by the 22nd which is when we have to be out of this one. We’re going to move boxes on Saturday and just store them in the basement and garage of the new house, and then we’re having the movers come Thursday morning to move furniture. Fortunately we were already planning to pay movers for the big items. I never thought it was something that normal people did b/c I figured it would be way too expensive, but it’s only going to cost us about $300 to have all of the big furniture, exercise equipment and humongo cast-iron grill loaded up, moved and unloaded into our new house. Sold!

Speaking of exercise equipment, I finally found my elliptical!!!! I was getting discouraged b/c everwhere I went I’d hop on an elliptical and feel like it was going to tip over. At first I set my budget at $500 and realized that wasn’t going to happen, so then I was looking in the $800 range and still not happy. I even, out of frustration, got on a model that was on sale for $1199 and wasn’t pleased. For some reason I went to a specialty sporting goods store and ran into the deal of a lifetime. This store is typically VERY expensive (which is why I hadn’t been there before) but they had a commercial-grade elliptical clearanced out at $799 from $2299!!!!! It was the only one left and it felt just like the one I used to use @ the gym. Silent as a mouse and completely sturdy. I asked if they could store it until we moved b/c I didn’t want to move it twice and he said no, they have inventory coming up and he needs to get rid of it. I went home, did some research on it and realized that it’s truly a piece of equipment worth $2299 and that I’d be kicking myself if I let it get by. When I went back to pay for it he agreed to let us keep it there until Saturday when we’ll have a moving truck and a bunch of men to load it up and move it to our new house. At least this way we’ll only have to move it one time, and if it’s super duper heavy we can have the moving guys move it to my workout room on the 22nd. I’m so excited to get on it and get rid of this muffin top/spare tire that I’m hauling around.

I also bought Kettlenetics today, the infomercial w/the kettlebell. I’ll let you know how I like it in a few days. No workout today, just powershopping!

Progress toward workout goal: 125/300

Current weight: 219.5 (no change)

The guy who is buying our house refuses to let us rent our house for a few days so unless our builder can kick it in the butt we’re going to be homeless for a while. I still haven’t heard from the builder so until he tells me that there’s no way to get it done in time I’m going to be hopeful but we’re still looking into hotels and seeing if there are rooms that will be big enough for me, my hubby, 2 kids, medical equipment and a nurse. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets it done by the 22nd.

Did the TJ weighted workout after school today and I’m guessing I’m going to be sore tomorrow b/c I had to stop before I stretched. But I like being sore so it’s ok.

Progress toward workout goal: 125/300