(Maintaining Me) RE-Creating Me

It’s Sunday morning and I feel like I need to set the tone for the week - a better tone than this past week.  I made it through a few planned events, lol, and this week is a little more toned down (but not much).  The sky is blue though, which is a wonderful sight, even if it is cold.

Sometimes I am too ambitious for my own good.  I have two toilets in my house that were running nonstop, causing me to receive a water bill that is $60 more than usual.  I’ve been tinkering with them and fixing them, but as my mom pointed out, the house is now 10 years old and these being the original valves, etc., they probably need to be fully replaced.  I had replaced the one in my master bath last year (all by myself, woo hoo!) so I figured I can do these too.  Well, halfway through I ran into a snag in the downstairs bath when I didn’t have the right type of wrench for the mounting nut and it is different than the one I did last year, so I just couldn’t get it off.  So I moved to the upstairs kids bath.  Got to the SAME point, toilet in peices, and it is the same mounting nut.  Can’t get that one off either.  So, I need to get (or preferrably borrow) the correct tool.  Until then, both toilets are dissembled.  Yikes.

I had a really nice visit with my family this weekend.  It also involved lots of food, as always.  I made mostly healthy stuff, with the exception of the corned beef yesterday.  But we always have corned beef each March, and it’s only once per year.  I have been running nonstop lately, literally.  I don’t even want to rehash how bad last week was.  I didn’t even sit down to eat dinner Tues - Thurs.  I eat at the counter while trying to multi-task because we had somewhere else to be right after each dinner.

House is fairly clean right now, with the exception of toilet parts.  My family always helps out to get things back to normal before they leave.  I have a ton of school work to do today, DD has a birthday party 4:30 - 6:30, and it is half hour away.  You have NO IDEA how inconvenient this is for me.  Sundays are my cleaning/food shopping/school work/prepare for the week day.  Usually done in PJs.  I want to, no, I NEED TO, exercise today too.  My school work has to come first today though … last Sunday MBFF and family were here and I rushed through, had no time to myself whastoever, and I got my first B to show for it.  Extremely disappointing.  (And it was something so stupid -  a journal assignment!  Arghghgh!  All because I didn’t cite the management theory I was talking about to our text book … in a frigging JOURNAL)

• Sunday:   Firm DVD, finish (well, start AND finish and submit) Psych paper, all discussions, finalize Mgmt paper and submit, start both Psych and Mgmt chapters
• Monday:  DS13’s ortho appt., NEW DVD, Psych/Mgmt reading
• Tuesday: Max’s vet appt for blood test, Workout, Psych Disc 8.1-8.2
• Wednesday: Girl Scouts Cookie Booth, Firm DVD, Psych Disc 8.3, Mgmt assignments
• Thursday: No appointments or meetings! YAY!  New training DVD, Psych paper/Mgmt assign.
• Friday:  Unsure - May be bringing kids into the city, exercise day off, Psych/Mgmt. discussion responses
• Saturday: Possible GS cookie booth volunteering, Firm or other workout, more of whatever school work I have left to have done for Sunday

Thanks for the well wishes and thoughts, ladies.  You guys are the best! I feel bad that I am not here enough to comment back often.

I have about three minutes.  Boss is still going to “new headquarters” next week as he is staying to transition, and has decided to wait until Friday afternoon to make a presentation for the new company Monday.  Nice, right?

Food has been okay, not the best though.  No exercise since Tuesday, and there won’t be until Sunday.  Tom is here also and I am just blah.  Every night this week has been a late one, and I am tired.  I just want one day OFF.  A day off from cleaning, school, work.  Maybe even parenting, lol.  Considering kids haven’t even been to XH’s in over a month and won’t be for another three weeks … sigh.

Enough complaining.  Everything will be fine.  HUGS!

Time here will be limited for a while.  Many changes going on.  I probably should make an effort continue to be here, for my own sanity’s sake, but when I have ten minutes to spare typing, it probably should be doing school work.

Boss of 10+ years is retiring.  This was a tough decision for him as he feels loyal to us all.  I can’t say I blame him - if I had the means and the opportunity, I wouldn’t be putting up with the stress of this merger myself.  I am actively looking around now.  When he leaves, I will be working at home 100% of the time, but who knows how long this will last.

That said, this is a busy week.  Work, School.  GS meeting tonight, chorus concert tomorrow night.  Mom, Aunt, Cousin coming up Friday - Saturday.  I haven’t even cleaned or done food shopping for them yet, and I am still trying to fit in exercise in all this and would like to get ahead of school work so that I may have a peaceful 24 hours with my family, being that they only visit (aunt and cousin) once, twice maximum, per year.

Will try to be back soon. 

Woo Hoo!  Power restored for the guests and they are relocated back to their home.  A deep sigh of relief! 

Kids also FINALLY back to school today.  Came into the office expecting to have two more days until boss returns from his month long trip.  I am here in jeans, hair in a bun, office a disaster … and of course, guess who decided to stroll in early? lol.  Of course!  I am still trying to clear my desk.

Since he’s been here, I have been working on little things for him here and there with no real time to do “my” work.  Is it vacation time yet?

Breakfast today was lean pocket, lunch was LC (new chicken spinach artichoke panini which I didn’t like as much as I thought I would), snack was an apple.  Dinner is TBD.  Exercise will be Firm Kickboxing DVD.  Oh, I did manage to get on the treadmill last night, guests or no guests.  So I am on the treadmill, wearing ipod, and MBFF and her hubby come in and sit on the bed.  She watches me and goes, “See, it is just like you are at the gym with people watching you!”  So, needless to say, I cut short my treadmill and did about 25 minutes.

I have an interesting psych assignment this week - writing down a dream I have an analyzing it (what I think, what Freud would have thought, what another guy would have thought).  What is interesting is that I went to bed with the pen and paper on my nightstand to record my dream and figured I rarely dream and wouldn’t remember any, but I think that because I conciously went to bed thinking about dreams, I had dreams all night!  However, NONE of them are anything I want to share in a paper, lmao!

Good to be back ladies!  Oh and by the way, somehow I gained over a pound in the 3 days I had houseguests.  Can’t be entirely fat - I actually ate well the entire time minus one (incredibly lousy) red lobster lunch.

This is really not fun.  My house is a disaster area.  I cannot get two minutes of peace and quiet to get any school work done.  I am not able to sleep in my own bed.  I have not been able to exercise.  I was in tears last night, I am really not good with having my life so disrupted.  I know she would do the same for me though, and it is not her fault - I am sure it is just as hard on them.  Would be nice if they did some laundry or something though … I am doing everything.  Just needed to vent.  Please, Please God - give them power back today!

Well, the intense storm last night has left 49% of us without power, and fortunately I am not one of them.  MBFF is though, so she is temporarily relocating her family of 5, her brother, and her dog to my house for the day(s) until her power is restored.  I still have to work though, so I hope the kids can remain quiet.  I don’t expect them to be silent, but I absolutely cannot have screaming and all hell break loose - which is what it usually sounds like at her home.  Will be fun though, having a giant sleepover.  I think.  (I’m being optimistic)

Forgot to WI again this morning.  Food is good, exercise is good.  Not sure about today’s food.  See, kids were supposed to be going to XH’s and I have no dinner planned, and now that 6 extra people are coming I REALLY have no dinner planned, lol.  So she is bringing bags of food too (that will just go bad anyway) and we will concoct something.  She is eating healthy now and is doing so great.  She is 3 pounds away from her first goal of losing 20 pounds!

I haven’t been out of the house in days … and who knows when I will be getting out.  We are going to go attempt some shoveling soon.  It’s not just that there is a lot of snow, it’s that it is layers of snow/sleet/ice and it is so heavy. 

Will still try and workout tonight, we will see how this goes. 

Forgot to WI today.  Snow day, again! and I literally rolled out of bed, powered up my laptop and went straight for coffee and started working.  Always tomorrow.  Accomplished everything on my list yesterday, with the exception of the school work.  I did a little, but everything with work is really clouding my head and I spent 10 pm to midnight researching the other company.  I need to focus today.

Just booked our little surprise overnight in March and our Hershey trip in July.  At least something to look forward to.  I cannot believe this SNOW.  It is just getting ridiculous.

• B: Thomas light multigrain english, smear or peanut butter, smear of cherry preserves, coffee
• L: 1 pc. bread with ham, pretzels, banana
• D: Burgers and baked fries

Exercise: Firm DVD

Other:

• School - MUST work on Mgmt. assignments
• More Laundry
• Shopping list for weekend

Time to get back to work.

Food

• B: 3 lemon poppy muffins (small, fat free), coffee
• S: Tea
• L: Tuna on wheat
• D: Changed - Turkey on wheat, broccoli
• DONE- 1303 Calories

Exercise: Firm DVD

Other:

• Laundry
• Psych Discussion 6.3
• Management SWOT and Reflective Journal - after kids are in bed
• Snow Shoveling
• CLEAN HOUSE In Progress
• Return phone calls (which would first require actually checking voice mail!)

Not feeling very motivated lately.  Craving a lot of carbs: crackers, chips, sweets.  Trying not to cave in, but still managed to go over my calories.  I don’t feel like I have much energy.  I am just sort of dragging.  Super sick of the snow!!!!!!!!!!!  Upset about work.  Just overall, blah.  Had a 100 calorie pack snack while cooking, decided not to eat what the kids were having and half a turkey sandwich along with a few bites of mac and cheese, broccoli & cheese, then a TCHO chocolate after.  I need to drink more water.  I have a LOT left to do around the house.  It is after 6:30 PM and I am still working … I need to disconnect for a bit.

Going to throw in a load of laundry right now, do a workout, then breeze through a house cleaning.  After kids are in bed, I need to work on my Management class stuff.

Blah.

Except there’s no snow … not exactly sure what is falling outside - sleet, light flurries mixed with rain? But whatever it is, it isn’t sticking.

That means I will get to the office 10:45 - 15 minutes to get my stuff together before the big webinar I need to attend regarding our recent acquisition and the upcoming changes.  (that I may or may not already know, lol)  Sigh.  And I have a LOT of catching up to do, being away yesterday.

I am sick.  Coughing coughing coughing.  I managed to get through my interviewing yesterday without hacking up a lung, which is great, but it got much worse last night.  Anyway, day went smoothly and I even got to stop at another site that I haven’t been to in 10 years, lol, so that was nice.  I got home and the friend who watched the kids for me had taken them all out to dinner, so I had a few minutes to stop at the grocery store and relax.  It was 6 pm and I had only had a half a bowl of oatmeal and a couple bites of DS7’s breakfast lean pocket for breakfast and nothing since, so to say I was hungry is an understatement.  I ended up eating probably half a box of reduced fat cheez-its and a 3 musketeers bar for dinner, sigh.  I would have prob done better going through the McD’s drive thru and getting a small burger.  I did have a plan - was going to ‘lunch ‘ at Starbucks if I ran out of time and didn’t have lunch at the site cafeteria, but neither of those panned out.

Anyway, only a few more phone interviews for the off shift employees, then I write up my report and give my recommendations and we will see how this will be handled. 

So, 7 pm I was hemming and hawing about getting on my workout clothes.  I was wiped out, sick, and had (have!) a ton of schoolwork to do.  Then boss called and started yapping, so that sealed the deal for me.  Will workout Tues-Thurs, and Sat-Sun.  See, the problem I have when I am “good” and working out is that I am too hard on myself.  Worked a long day, tired, sick, school work - but I still felt like a POS for missing a workout.  I am either too hard or too lenient, no in between.

Okay, better publish and get started.  I will check my voicemails from home so that is one less thing to worry about when I get in late.

Hugs!

8:19 PM

I really, really didn’t want to exercise.  Every muscle in my body is screaming (but a pathetic, lazy scream) noooooooo … don’t ………. move ………. us!  Today was bad.  Not food, just life.  This merger thing is really getting worse and worse.  Tearful day for many.  Closing our corporate office … all these people that I have worked ‘with’ for ten years will be gone.  I am safe, again, for now.  I am really, really sad about this.  I am looking.  Boss keeps telling me were good, but I just don’t know and can’t afford to sit and do nothing, just in case.  I just want to be prepared.  I am making a trip there (corp) this spring to bid my goodbyes.  Sigh.

Oh, but I worked out.  45 min cardio and weights, and it killed me, but I did it.

Off to school.