Today we had our Thanksgiving potluck at school and I’m pretty proud of how I did. I focused on turkey breast and then had a scoop of 3 side dishes; they were literally about 2 tablespoons each. Unfortunately the turkey was dried out by the time I got there but instead of eating it anyway I threw it away. For me that’s a huge accomplishment. Granted, I had 2 pieces of pie but for I stepped away from the table feeling full, not stuffed.

Tonight at home has been stressful. Our older son is being a challenge lately and he’s resisting the plan that we all developed for his behavior. Of course I expected him to resist it once he had to face a consequence but it’s still exhausting. I need to remind myself that most of the time he’s a fun kid to be around and that he’s not always rolling his eyes and being a brat. I swear, my 6-year old boy has turned into at 14-year old girl overnight. Egads.

I don’t remember who asked it but my workout goal that I keep track of is how many days I workout in a calendar year. Last year I set a goal of working out 250 days in a year and I started it July 4th. I’m happy to say I reached that goal in early May. So then I upped the ante to working out 300 days this year, starting it on Mother’s Day. I was clicking along at a great pace and then the move/hotel/hospital hit so I fell behind, but I will get back on track and reach this goal.

Speaking of getting back on track, the flooring for my home gym arrived today so I plan to have it ready to go by Monday at the latest. I have enjoyed working out after school w/ladies from work but I don’t workout long enough or hard enough with them. Plus, working out @ home I can use weights which I have missed dearly.

On a totally unrelated note, I ran into our pediatrician at our school today. He was a guest speaker for a health class. I was asking him some stuff about how to keep Kyle healthy when he’s around people for Thanksgiving and he told me that the medical community is now thinking that once you have gotten H1N1 that you will be immune for life, kind of like the chicken pox. Since Kyle, Justin and my hubby all had it that’s great news!

Progress toward workout goal: 141/300

Wow, thanks for all of the supportive comments about my job situation. I know that a lot of people are in worse situations than we are and it may not even become an issue so for now I’m not going to worry about it.

I got sick of the elliptical so I rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes after school. Blew it w/food (found my hubby’s Halloween candy stash and indulged on 2 mini-Hershey bars) as well as 2 Little Debbie cupcakes. The first cupcake wasn’t all that great and I had to eat the 2nd one to convince myself that it wasn’t very good. Nope, second one wasn’t good either.

Tomorrow we’re having our Thanksgiving potluck at school. I’m going to focus on turkey and veggies and not go crazy on the pie.

Progress toward workout goal: 141/300

Today was a frustrating day. Issues w/the bank and post office, but the worst news is that our state and district are still in severe financial trouble so there’s a real chance I could lose my job next year. When I switched from a classroom teacher to a counselor I lost all of my seniority, which makes no sense b/c we’re on a teacher contract. It was a gamble and I knew it, but it was not known at the time how bad things were at the state level. Our governor announced a statewide 10% budget cut about a month ago, and about half of the cuts will come from the Department of Education. Things are already cut to the bone and they aren’t going to improve for probably a couple of years.

For now I’m going to have my pity party today and then move on tomorrow. I can’t control it so what I need to do now is make myself indespensible to our school and the district. I do believe that I’ll land somewhere, it just may not be exactly what I want to do. But at this point of my life I realize that even though I love what I’m doing now, I can muddle through to pay the bills if I need to. I guess that’s part of being a grown-up.

I am proud, though, that I ate healthy and worked out after school. I was out of my office in the afternoon and didn’t get back to workout right away so I considered skipping it b/c I had to leave early to go to the post office. But instead I changed, got in a 30 minute workout at higher intensity and stuck to it. I can do this.

Progress toward workout goal: 140

What feels good, you ask? Well let me tell you.

My knee feels good. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not 100%, but it didn’t bother me to do the elliptical today so I’m going to avoid heavy lifting and it will most likely be a week before I can start w/my weights again but I think the injury was minor.

It feels good to feel mostly in control of my eating. I purged the house last night of my temptations. I wish I had the ability to just eat a bite and be satisfied but that’s not my style. I will keep working on it to make it my style but for now I need to recognize my way and go w/it.

It feels good to be moving again. Today was a crazy day and it’s amazing how it washed away w/every stride of the elliptical.

It feels good to spend time together as a family. Right now the tv is shut off and even though we’re all doing our own thing in the living room we’re doing it together. Nice and quiet.

Progress toward workout goal: 139/300

She’s baaa-ack! We finally have our internet up and running and life is beginning to get back to normal. We still have a million boxes but at least all of the downstairs furniture is out of our living room and the main floor kind of looks like someone lives here. Of course there is nothing on the walls and I might honestly wait until after Christmas to do it b/c I want to know where everything is going before we put a single hole in the wall, but it’s looking good. I swear I’ll keep trying to figure out how to post pictures so I can show off my new house.

Since things are a bit less-chaotic on the home front I’m finally feeling ready to tackle eating well. Last week I started exercising again and ate well 75% of the time. Now I’m ready to be hard core and go back to my regular eating habits. I’m happy to say that even though I gained some weight my overall size didn’t change too much…still in the same pants but they’re a bit tighter than before. I even bought 2 new pair today and they were 16W. I don’t know how, but they’re still 16W!

The new workout room isn’t ready to use yet b/c we’re still waiting on the flooring so for now I’ll keep working out in the fitness room after school. I actually hurt my knee carrying furniture downstairs yesterday so I’m going to baby it, only using the bike if it hurts. I don’t want to do anything that does permanent damage and takes me out for the long haul.

I also commit to make time to post and read on this website. You ladies are so much a part of what has made me quasi-successful on this journey and I have missed you. I hope you all have lost tons of weight while I have been AWOL.

Progress toward workout goal: 138/300

Life is still chaotic but things are starting to fall together.  I have unpacked as much as I can w/o the house being fully completed and I have accepted the fact that it will be this way until I can move furniture into the basement (hopefully by the weekend).  My workout room isn’t ready but we were blessed w/such beautiful weather over the weekend that I was able to get outside and take some walks, and today after school we started a workout group so I put in 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I still can’t wait until my own elliptical is sitting in my new workout room but this is better than nothing.

For whatever reason our internet isn’t working @ the new house which is why I haven’t been posting comments.  I take about 5 minutes after school to update my status, mostly to keep me somewhat on the straight and narrow.  I know the scale has crept up and my pants are a bit tighter but at least they’re the same size pants.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new house and neighborhood.  It isn’t an exaggeration to say I already know more people in 2 weeks than I did in 7 years at our old place.  Justin has a ton of kids to play with and they play OUTSIDE!!!!!!!  I was feeling guilty b/c we were letting him turn into a video-game kid and although he still likes them he’s running around playing football, basketball, riding bikes…all the things little boys should be doing :)  He has said several times already how happy he is living in our new house.

Got to go so I’m there when he gets off the bus

Progress toward workout goal:  134/300

I can’t check in very often b/c since our basement isn’t finished our computer can’t be hooked up (long story).  Hope all is well w/all of you.

Our nurse talked to the woman in charge who took full responsibility and said she would be reimbursed for her mileage and the time she was wandering out town.  Our nurse also mentioned that I was expecting a phone call (we were in the pool by that time) and that I wasn’t happy.  When I finally spoke to her she told me that the scheduler finally checked her email and saw that there was an email from me but that she hadn’t read it in time.  I lost it.  Before she could even complete her sentence I told her that this was bull b/c I personally spoke w/the scheduler on Tuesday when Kyle was admitted to the hospital and on Thursday when he was released.  I told her where we would be day by day and where she should send the nurses.  The head lady asked what they could do to make this better and I told her that she could “work w/her company to learn how to communicate effectively so this doesn’t happen again.”  I also remembered to tell her that one of the nurses showed up to work on Wednesday b/c she hadn’t been notified that Kyle was in the hospital.

I don’t want to be cynical but the more I’m around people the more I realize that common courtesy and common sense are increasingly rare commodities.

OK, I’m done griping.  Tomorrow I get a new house

It’s probably a good thing we were in the hospital b/c I think our builder has called me 10 times in the last 2 days w/last minute questions.  The good news is the house will be done and we’re moving on Saturday

I just hopped on the scale after my healthy lunch of McDonalds and it said 224.  If that’s true I’m thrilled b/c it’s 3:00 in the afternoon, I ate an entire bag of Chex Mix yesterday (sodium, anyone??) and have lived off of animal crackers and peanut butter.  I’ll see what the scale gods say tomorrow.

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!