laura705

Wow, Sept is ending already.  It really flew by. 

Hungry right now.  I ate cereal at home, and some cottage cheese and cherry tomatoes here at work.  Good thing it’s almost lunch time.  I have a sandwich today.  I’d like something to go with it - soup or something.  We’ll see.  Also have a boiled egg and an apple for snacks.  The cupboard is bare as far as snacks go (except for boiled eggs and apples), so I need to shop for some more food.  Wait, I also have more cottage cheese, vanilla yogurt, and some strawberries.  Okay, I have snacks.  I think I just want different snacks.   I’ll have to get over that.  Maybe next time I go to Trader Joe’s, I’ll buy some of those chocolate meringues.  Might help me with my chocolate craving.

Last night I sorted laundry, threw in a load, took doggy for a walk, started a 2nd load of laundry, got some chicken breasts seasoned and in the oven, and did one Body Electric workout.  The chicken was pretty good.  It had the bone and skin, and I don’t think boneless skinless breasts would work with this recipe.  Maybe next time I can lift up the skin and put the seasonings underneath the skin and then won’t lose the flavor when I pull the skin off to eat it.   

Not much else to report.  Oh, steps were at about 10,600 yesterday, and that was without the dog walk because I forgot to put the pedometer back on after changing out of my work clothes.  And I forgot to wear the pedometer today.  And I almost forgot that bf and I are going to see Jersey Boys tonight!  (Note to self:  Start doing memory exercises.)  Bf is meeting me at the office.  Not sure I like that - he’ll see what a mess my cube is.  I have to find a place to eat dinner beforehand.

Okay, better get back to work. 

Another cool day.  BF turned on the furnace last night.  Bah.  I rode my bike to the train this morning and it was chilly!  Still windy, so pedaling was tough, even in the easiest gear.  I need a coat or jacket that’s not too casual and that’s more warm than my lightweight London Fog (no lining) and less warm than down or wool.  I’ll have to shop. 

Yesterday went okay at work.  Plenty to do, and now I have my quarterly work to do this week.  After work, I decided to get to the gym (finally).  I went to the yoga class.  I did alright - I was more flexible than I thought I’d be after not exercising regularly for a while.  I’ll probably be sore tonight.  My shoulders felt it right away - from doing the downward dog position - and they are sore already.  I’m wearing my pedometer today and steps are up to 8,785.  I didn’t turn it off during my bike ride or my train ride - not sure how those movements affect the steps it registers.  The rattling sound my pedometer makes is starting to annoy me.  I wonder if the newer ones you can carry in your pocket also rattle?  I suppose keeping it in my pocket would muffle it.  Too bad my dress slacks don’t have pockets. 

Not much else to report.  I brought my lunch and snacks today.  Ate my sandwich at my desk.  Getting to be the time when there won’t be anymore eating outdoors, so I’ll be at my desk or smuggling my food into the building caf (they have signs prohibiting outdoor food). 

I’m skipping the movies tonight, so I might get back to the gym again. 

Back to Monday.  Very windy, cool, and gloomy today.  I left the bike at home and had bf drop me at the train.  I will see how I feel about walking home from the train, which depends on the weather!!

Weekend was alright.  Dropped off bf for a work thing, then off to the mammo appt. first thing Sat. morning.  Ugh.  Glad that’s over.  Now they tell me I should get a baseline bone density test.  Sigh.  I’ll do some internet research and discuss it with my gyn at my appt. next month. 

After the mammo, went to Trader Joe’s for a few things, then to Target for a couple things.  Met bf and we went to lunch.  After that was Bed Bath & Beyond for the new bath ensemble - soap dispenser, tumber, etc, towels, rugs  - the works.  Used some coupons, used up several gift cards and still owed $16.  Yup. 

Went home to take a breather.  I walked doggie.  The day had started out sort of gloomy, but ended nicely.  After feeding doggy, we went back out to Hobby Lobby to see about an idea for artwork for our long, bare hallway wall.  They didn’t have frameless poster kits - i.e, glass and clips, but they can make poster size mattes (mats?) for us, cutting out the size we want (not that we have figured out what we want). 

Back home, just watched some tv.  Food was tracked and okay. 

Sunday I puttered with the newspapers and then got out and swept the patio and raked the back lawn.  Squirrels had covered everything with clumps of still-green leaves that they’d chewed off the tree to get at the acorns.   Lots of acorn debris too.  Last mowing, bf just mowed over the leaves, but there was so much more by yesterday I figured it couldn’t be mowed over and I don’t want bf to try it.  If the mower conked out, he’d just love to use that as an excuse to buy a bigger, better one.   The raking was good exercise.  Of course the squirrels and wind have made it almost look like I did nothing out there yesterday.  More exercise opportunities I guess.

Went to lunch and then for stuff at Walmart.  Their produce and deli prices are still higher than a couple of our local markets, so we ended up at the market too.  Also stopped for milk, and to bring home my bike.  It was raining Friday evening, so I’d left it at the train station.  

Finally made my tomato basil soup.  Yummy, but rather rich.  I’ll make some more because it was rather easy, but I’ll modify the recipe.

Food was okay.  Need to eat out less.  Snacking was minimal, so that was good.  Still trying to remain mellow about this and not obsessive, but I’m going to try and continue to track my food.  I figure if I keep tracking in The Daily Plate, eventually it has to get easier because the foods I eat frequently will be in my database.  I need to get formal exercise back in the equation. 

Okay, time to publish. 

Yay for Friday.  I have less than an hour left to this workweek, but I don’t feel like working anymore.  I was pretty busy today, so I can take a break.

Yesterday went okay.  I didn’t get to take a dog walk because as I was cycling home from the train station, I came upon bf walking doggy.  So much for that. 

We went out to eat and ate Polish food at a restaurant near the house.  I ordered something called Hunter’s stew and was expecting a typical stew - meat, potatoes, veggies, and gravy, but was disappointed when it arrived and was basically small chunks of pork smothered with sauerkraut, accompanied by two scoops of mashed potatoes.  Nope, no gravy.  The very smell of kraut puts me off it, so I never even tried to eat it in the past.  But yesterday I was pleasantly surprised because it didn’t have as strong a flavor as the smell implied.  But it’s still not going to be a favorite of mine, although I guess it’s a low calorie food, huh?  I ate less than half of that entrée, a little taste of bf’s entrée, and some tasty mushroom “broth” (it was thin, but it wasn’t clear – did it have sour cream in it??).  Bf ordered Hungarian goulash, and it was tasty because it had that gravy I was expecting, but it also was served wrapped in a potato pancake with a large dollop of sour cream, so I’m glad I didn’t order it because it would have been really fattening.

I got my pedometer set with a fresh battery, and I’m wearing it today.  So far I have 4370 steps.  I’m not sure how accurate this one is, but it seemed more accurate than the other one I have, which was a freebie.  Maybe I’ll spring for one that I can just carry in my pocket. 

Not much more to report.  Tomorrow morning I have my boob squish.  Oh joy.  Nothing else planned.  Supposed to rain tomorrow, so I’ll either shop or stay home and do some chores.  Bf mentioned getting back to the gym, so maybe I’ll get him to go with me.  BTW, I received another renewal offer from the gym and it’s for only $18/mo, so I think I’ll probably stick with it for another year.  I still want to try some of the classes. 

Okay, time to post and go home. 

Wow, day went by quickly. 

Last night I took doggy for a walk.  Before I left, I pulled 3 pedometers off the top of my dresser.  It looked like my old McD’s one (freebie, only counts steps) still worked, but after a 25 min. walk, it registered only 27 steps, so that one will be tossed, lol.  I didn’t see any screw or other spot where I could change the battery.  I have two others to work with, and these are higher quality (one I bought from the sporting goods store years ago), so I should be able to get one to work.  The bonus is that in picking up those pedometers from my dresser, I also found an earring that I’d lost months ago!  :) 

Food was alright yesterday and so far today.  I’m done with my tizzy about eating.  I felt calmer today.  I can and will improve my eating.  It won’t be perfect, and it won’t happen overnight, but I will consciously work on it.  I will try not to get to a point where I feel like this needs to take over my life to be successful and/or become resentful about what I can’t or shouldn’t eat and in what quantity.  Those feelings lead to resistance and hold me back.

Today I left the house early to get to a CPR training session and arrived on time, only to have the class start 15-20 min. late.  I could’ve gotten a train that left 15 min. later!  That’s a lot of time in the morning!!  At least it didn’t go the whole scheduled 4 hours. 

Nothing going on tonight.  I’d like to get my pedometer going and take a dog walk.  Looking forward to Friday!  Well, Friday around 5 ish, LOL.   

Didn’t make it here for a post yesterday.  I just didn’t feel like it. 

I’m really struggling with the eating and exercise.   Re the exercise, I haven’t even gotten out for dog walks the past 2 days. And the eating… Most of the time with eating, it’s just me being stubborn about changing my habits.  But these past few days, it feels like I’m out of control.  And that’s not really true.  No one’s cramming the food down my throat (but me). 

I think part of the eating thing has to do with anxiety or self-doubt.  I have a work task I’ve put off for a couple days because I don’t feel confident in my abilities to do it well.  I know I can ask for help on it, but I still feel like I should be able to handle this mostly on my own.   I was even considering staying home today - started thinking about that last night actually.  Not just because of this task, but a general “I need a break” feeling.  But I didn’t stay home.  I have things to do - that icky thing, this morning, for sure, and also lunch w/ a friend.   I’m here and I’ll work. 

Last night we saw the movie “Extract”.  I liked it.  I had water and Mike n Ikes for my snack. 

Tonight I will exercise. 

Gloomy Monday.  It rained starting late afternoon yesterday and all evening.  I think it’s supposed to clear out today.   But I’m okay with the rain.  We really needed it.

The boss is back today.  The first e-mail I saw was from her, announcing the dates of the usual long vacation that she and her hubby take at or near the beginning of the new year.  This time it’s starting just before Christmas, a little earlier than usual.  Something for me to look forward to, LOL!

Weekend was alright.  Friday bf and I tried a new Thai restaurant near us.  It’s pretty good, so we’ll probably go back.  It’s close enough to home that I could see myself just ordering a large Tom Yum soup to go.  I could live on good soup!

Saturday I got out in the yard and cut back a bunch of the foliage we have in a flower bed near our veggie garden.  This bed is a mishmash of annuals that I just leave alone - peonies, daylilies, sedum, and phlox.  It also has a lone columbine, sometimes two.  The past couple years, I’ve also let some milkweed grow there because it attracts butterflies.  And new this year, I let a weed grow that I believe is goldenrod.  It was very pretty when it bloomed.  I cut everything down to the ground except the daylilies, whose foliage was still green, and the sedum, which were in full bloom.  Everything else was “done” for the season and the foliage was turning brown.  What I need to remember next year is to cut the milkweed last.  The bees seemed to like the milky stuff that’s in the stems, and soon they were buzzing around the ground at the cut part of the stems .  The milkweed and the goldenrod are very tall, so I might not let those grow in next year because I think that may have blocked the sun from the other plants, and possibly my veggie garden.  I’m not positive about that.  I just read in the newspaper that this wasn’t a great year for tomatoes in our area due to the rainy June and the cool weather throughout the summer.  That might have been the cause of the really slow ripening and low yield of my plum and better boy tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes did just fine, as usual. 

Also on Saturday I did some grocery shopping, a load of laundry, and took doggy for a walk.  Bf met a family friend earlier in the day for a classic car show not far from where that night’s party was being held, so I picked up another friend (who doesn’t drive) and drove with him to the party.  The party was nice.  Not hot, and no bugs!  Later, when it cooled off, we sat around the fire pit.  Made me wish we used our fire pit more often. 

It was a very late night and so Sunday I woke up a bit after 10 am.  I read the paper for a bit, boiled a dozen eggs (I’d bought a dozen on Sat. not realizing we had 1.5 dozen at home already!), did two more loads of laundry, and took doggy for a walk.  Lunch was a chicken and avocado wrap.  Dinner was ultra thin crust Margherita pizza.  Watched some of the football game.  I didn’t make the tomato basil soup, but I have the recipe printed and all the ingredients at the ready. 

I’m glad we got a lot of rain yesterday – everything in the yard was so dry and I hadn’t been watering.  I suppose that also contributed to lack of tomato production… 

Not much more to report.  Except for the dog walks, I didn’t exercise.  I didn’t do any more pushups because my shoulder was bugging me.  What a cop out.  I’m just not trying hard enough to get back into the exercise groove.  Food is also not on track.  I didn’t bring lunch today, but I brought snacks:  1 oz. almonds, cherry tomatoes, LF vanilla yogurt w/ blueberries to toss into it. 

Okay, better get this published.  Have a good day everyone.  Enjoy the last day of summer!!!

It’s Friday, it’s lovely weather, I’m still boss-less, and the new admin is out of the office as well.  Very nice. 

Warning - long ramble about nothing much follows.

Yesterday was alright at work.  I was still struggling with that one spreadsheet, but I think I’ve finally gotten it to what I was trying to accomplish.  I’ll work on that some more today.  I’ve also started trying to clear my desk of excess files.  Is it a bad idea to deliberately keep stuff until you’re certain you don’t need it anymore, and then dump it?  That’s my thought.  Just put the files into the empty drawer and leave them there until, having not needed to touch them again, I can finally feel comfortable tossing them.  Because these files are like my desk files (aka CYA files), not official department files, so they really only help me, for the most part. 

I left on a slightly earlier train yesterday because bf was out of the house all day and realized he wasn’t going to be home before me and I needed to let the dog out. 

I got home and let the dog out and fed him.  Then I changed clothes and worked on repairing my new khaki pants.  The first time I wore them, I squatted down or bent over or something before I left for work and I heard the sound of stitches giving.  Strange, because I thought the  fabric had a slight stretch to them.  Oops.  Anyway, it was just a few stitches, not exposing anything, so I went ahead and wore them that day (really, it wasn’t noticeable).  Then I got some grease on the bottom hem, surely from my bike.  These poor pants!  Anyhow, I got the grease out in the laundry and then the pants sat on the hanger for a couple weeks waiting for me to reinforce the back seam.  So I ran a couple lines of stitching – smaller stitches – and they are fine.  We’ll see how the 2^nd wearing goes, though I’m not thrilled with the amount of wrinkling they had after washing them.  And that’s why it’s easier to wear dress slacks than cotton khakis. 

After that I relaxed for a bit, waiting for doggy’s dinner to settle before we went for a walk.  Ha, so much for that – I let him out in the yard and he immediately went after a squirrel and got into a rundown with it along the fence.  He and the squirrel went back and forth at least 6-8 times, the squirrel scrambling on top of the fence, doggy alongside.  The squirrel finally smartened up and ran to the very end of the fence in back and ran up the telephone pole.  Very entertaining, and I was sort of rooting for doggy, but glad he didn’t get a hold on that squirrel.  I’ve seen that before and it isn’t pretty!  Anyway, I decided to wait a bit longer for the walk because all that activity isn’t good for large dogs right after eating and I didn’t want him to end up with bloat - very deadly for dogs.  We finally got our walk, about 30 minutes worth. 

Afterwards I tried to sync my iPod.  I’ve learned a couple things now, but I’m still hopeless.  I now know not to use iTunes on two different computers because it screws everything up royally.  I still seem to wipe out other podcasts when I try to only sync one particular podcast.  Doh!  And I now know that the reason I couldn’t re-download music that I’d previously wiped out by using the aforementioned 2^nd computer was the exclamation point.  The ! means that the music file I want isn’t available.  Why?  Because bf didn’t keep it on our computer hard drive – not enough room.  Grrr.  So I have to get if off the cd’s he has all these mp3 files stored on.  Sigh. 

Bf came home during my iTunes frustration session, and still wanted the tacos for dinner.  I thought I was going to be dining alone and really didn’t want to bother at that point, but ultimately we made the tacos.  And even though I get sick of always being the one to chop the tomatoes and prepare the shredded lettuce, I still do it because I’m quicker at that.  Bf browns the meat.  He also makes the taco spice mix.  We now make it ourselves and it’s very tasty.  Except yesterday, it was a bit off and I made a comment.  That’s when bf admitted he backed off the salt in the recipe.  Live and learn.  Even with the salt the recipe calls for, I’m sure the stuff we make at home has much less sodium than the store-bought stuff. 

So we ate tacos and watched tv.  I didn’t do any pushups last night because I was rather sore from last night’s sets.  I almost finished my Stephanie Plum novel, and then I went to sleep. 

Nothing going on today.  No meetings.  Nothing planned tonight.  The only thing this weekend is a party tomorrow evening.  Have a good weekend everyone. 

Not much to report today, but that didn’t keep me from rambling, lol.

It’s cool today, and a few clouds in the sky.  High forecast in the low 70’s.  I’m fine with that.  Except I didn’t want to wear a jacket, so I wore a long sleeve cotton sweater.  It’s sort of stuffy in the office (not unusual), so maybe long sleeves wasn’t the way to go.  Oh well. 

Work was okay yesterday, except that later in the afternoon I got back into a convoluted spreadsheet I last worked on a couple months ago and it took a while to recall what I was doing with it and how.  And I’d just gotten back into updating it when a work buddy came over at the end of the day and we got into a discussion about books, particularly The Time Traveler’s Wife (she’s into sci-fi, so she was interested in the time travel aspect of it, but it’s more of a love story, and I’m sure it broke the sci-fi genre’s time travel “rules”, lol).  Anyway, before I knew it, it was too late to catch my usual train and I ended up on the next one.  The pokey local.  I had a bunch of online payments to record in my checkbook, so that kept me busy for half the ride.  The woman sitting next to me commented that it was a good way to use my time on the train.  I guess.  (I have a feeling I’m the only person who still even uses a checkbook register and records each transaction and then reconciles the paper bank statement to the register - to the penny, of course.)  The rest of the ride I spent reading my book. 

I finally got home, puttered a bit and then took a short dog walk before it got dark.  Bf made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, which I had w/ some canned baked beans.  I caught the end of the show Style by Jury (yuck) and then spent the rest of the evening reading my book.  I’m reading Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, the latest Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich.  It’s fluffy and silly as usual and I’m enjoying it.

I did take time out of my evening to do three sets of girly pushups.  I started off with one man pushup.  More like half of a man pushup, lol.  I find them very difficult.  I’ll keep at it though because even though I find pushups difficult, when I work up to a few sets, they make me feel very powerful.  And they do work multiple body parts, so they’re a great exercise.

Quiet again here today.  I’m just looking at my calendar trying to determine when to schedule the rest of my vacation days.  Horrible as it may sound, I’m not planning to visit my mother this year – I’ve visited the past few years, I can skip a year.  I should probably plan a day or two in early to mid-December to shop so I can pack and ship gifts out of town in time for Christmas.  I might take the Monday after Thanksgiving, just in case I want to shop on-line on whatever they call that day because it’s a big internet shopping day – is it called Super Monday?  Whatever.  And maybe I’ll take a Monday or Friday here and there.  During my vacation time in October, bf and I are driving down to see his niece and her baby for a weekend, and on the way back we’ll visit friends who live not far from the niece, and also take in the fall color and a couple wineries in the area. 

No meetings today.  I didn’t bring my lunch today.  Bf bought some lunchmeat yesterday, but after the grilled cheese sandwich dinner, we were out of cheese, except muenster cheese, which I hate – way too salty tasting.  Snacks I brought are yogurt and cherry tomatoes, and I just ate the nectarine I didn’t eat yesterday. 

Nothing going on tonight.  We’re having tacos for dinner, so I’ll skip the gym and take doggy for a longer walk instead. 

Yesterday went quickly at work.  After work I went home and ate my leftover half burrito from Monday’s lunch.  I went to the movies w/ my water and Milk Duds. 

The movie “The Time Traveler’s Wife” was pretty good, or shall I say better than I thought it would be, given that comparisons of a movie vs. the book are almost never favorable towards the movie.  I think I would have been confused if I hadn’t read the book though.  The ending was sad, of course, and from within our group of 10 (!) came the sounds of sniffling and nose-blowing.  I teared up a bit, but I actually though they could have made it even more heartwrenching, lol. 

At work, I had exchanged voicemails w/ my health insurance company last week, but they finally reached me yesterday.  I was asked if I was interested in a lifestyle management program – smoking cessation or weight loss.  I’m not a smoker, but weight loss is right up my alley, so I said yes.  I provided some information about me and my habits and my health, and we discussed goals.  I will now have a coach of sorts phoning me at regular intervals for I think maybe nine months.  My initial goals are to exercise 3 times a week for 30 min. each time and to schedule my annual gyne exam (which I usually do around this time of year and just never made an appointment).  So this will be good for me. 

It’s another nice day today.  I cleared my October vacation days w/ my boss yesterday, and now I’m wondering when the nice days will be running out – just in time for my vacation days?  Given I had sucky weather during my time off last month, it’s natural I’m concerned about this.  But at least I’ve got the days on my calendar – it’s official.

It’s quiet here today.  The boss is gone, the other manager is out today and the new admin is at her morning class.  I just went to help out a colleague with the features on the software package we use and I was silently marveling at how spacious his workstation looks.  The same size cubicle as mine.  Only his isn’t packed to the gills with files all over the place.  What a difference.  Hopefully it’ll motivate me to purge what I don’t need and actually utilize my two empty file drawers instead of the desktop. 

Nothing going on today.  I think our departmental meeting is cancelled since the boss & manager aren’t here today.  Nothing planned for tonight.  I will do a dog walk or the gym.  Oh, by the way, I can’t do “serious” (man) pushups.  I do the modified (aka girly) pushups on my knees, not my toes. I figure if I work up to being able to easily do three sets of those, then I’ll start doing some of the man pushups.  And maybe someday I’d actually work up to the ones w/ the weight that LindaT does!