laura705

I went to the circuit class last night and then came home and ate some of the navy bean soup bf made using the ham bone his SIL gave him on Thanksgiving. Yum.

I was walking down the narrow hallway last night and must have been stretching or something as I went because my elbow went right into the corner of one of the prints we have hanging on the wall there. Ouch! It really hurt and still hurts today. I also must have wrenched my shoulder blade in class, because that was hurting too, especially if I breathed deeply. Sigh. I’d like to be at home today snuggled in with some heating pads, but I’m here at work and looking forward to quitting time.

Oh, forgot to pay the water/sewer/refuse bill again.  It’s late, so now I need to pay the “late amount”.  Grrr.

This weekend will be an exercise class, cleaning, dog walking, and decorating.  Oh, and need to pick up the cast iron dutch oven we ordered.  Maybe make some stew or a roast. 

Eating went off course yesterday when bf and I went out to eat before going to the movies.  We ate at Meathead, which is a burger place.  In addition to a burger, I also had some of the cajun fries.  To make matters worse, I ate some Junior Mints during the movie.  Oh well, it’s all been tracked, and today is another day!

The movie we saw was “The Decendants” with George Clooney.  Everyone really enjoyed it, and the cast was really good, especially the two girls who played the daughters.  It was done by the same director who did “Sideways”, which I also enjoyed.  It wasn’t a lighthearted story (wife in a coma), but there was a lot of humor in it. 

I just phoned the medical insurance company to get the claim for my mammogram corrected.  For whatever reason, every year it’s billed as two separate line items, and every year the insurance company allows only one of them because that’s what the employer’s plan allows - one mammo every calendar year.  So I have to call and get it corrected.  The good news is that I started off this call by having the CSR look at last year’s claim so she would know what the issue was.  It was the quickest call ever!

We still have a balance on our flexible spending account, so I have to make sure we use it by the end of the year.  I was looking at a list of health care expenses eligible to be reimbursed out of the account and I noticed that bp monitors are eligible.  I’m going to dig up the paperwork for the one we bought in February so I can submit a claim and see if it flies. 

The boss is now on vacation and the admin is at her Wed. afternoon class and so it’s quiet around here.  I’m feeling sort of blah today. 

No plans for tonight.  Not in the mood to go to an exercise class.  I might, however, do a BE workout in the basement.  I also might get to the library for a book.  I just finished one of the latest by an author I usually enjoy, but he really “phoned it in” on this one.  For all I know his dog could have written it, lol.  I also want to pick out a few exercise dvds - cardio and yoga. 

Let’s see. My weekend. Friday night I made the cookie dough. Saturday morning I went to a Zumba class, then rolled, cut and baked the sugar cookies for book club. Eh. Not my favorite cookies, and let’s just say there are many things I’m better at baking, lol. But they were edible, and I sprinkled them w/ red and green sugar.

I walked doggy, then ran some errands (including buying the ornament for the exchange). Book club and the ornament exchange was fun. I bought my ornament at Hobby Lobby and they were 50% off. Selection was alright - they already showed a lot of empty space in the ornament aisle, and it was only December 3rd! Anyway, I spent a while choosing, but I ended up getting a cute toad on a toadstool and that went over well with the group. He kind of grew on me and I wished they had two of them so I could buy one for myself, but they only had the one… I also bought a little gingerbread man ornament for myself. Anyways, the exchange went well and we’ve decided to do it again next year.

Sunday was lazy, though I got in another longish dog walk. I read the newspaper, drank tea, did some sewing, and I watched most of one Hallmark movie (or was it on LIfetime?), followed by most of “The Hangover” on TBS. Of course, there was a lot of dubbing of the f word, but it was rather entertaining (and quite a contrast to the Hallmark/Lifetime movie, LOL).

Eating got a bit off the rails Saturday night and Sunday, but the scale stayed the same when I stepped in it this morning, so that was nice. Back to faithful tracking today.

Speaking of food, I need to do some grocery & other shopping tonight, so no exercise class. I have six classes to take and four weeks left to take them, so no biggie. 

Watched the movie “Sarah’s Key” on dvd yesterday - it was the last book club book. It was good, but not as good as the book, as usual. I also finished my next book club book.

Yesterday late afternoon was a retirement party for a member of a department we work closely with. I saw my old boss, who has been retired for about 8 years now.  That was nice - I liked working for him.   The retiree’s boss and the retiree made nice speeches, and I’m happy for her - going off to travel and enjoy a retirement after 30 years with the company.  I limited myself to two little cubes of cheese and that was it - no drinks either.  Glad there wasn’t any cake at this party - I would’ve had some. 

I pulled out my shoe box of cookie cutters this morning and confirmed I indeed have an angel-shaped cookie cutter - two actually. I think I will bake sugar cookies for book club tomorrow night. The book’s title is “The Stupidest Angel” and so angel cookies will be a good fit.   I also have to buy an ornament for the ornament exchange.  Maybe I should do that at lunchtime today. 

No exercise yesterday, as I watched the movie last night and didn’t do an exercise class.  I did, however,  walk both to and from the train station.  I believe that with the walking involved in my work commute, I get about two miles of walking from that alone, and a bit extra from walking around at lunch time and around the office.  Not too bad. 

Eating was okay up until I got home from work.  In lieu of dinner, I decided to have popcorn with my movie and bf made it for me - popped in oil and butter.  Yum. 

Wow, December already. 

Boring week.  Still logging my eating on My Fitness Pal.  Food has been okay - no detours into junky fast food or purchases of sweets.  So far, no exercise classes this week, and I did only one cardio workout so far.  I’ve been walking to the train station in the mornings, but I’ve mostly been picked up in the evenings.  I will probably not exercise tonight (when I would usually try to get to a circuit class) because   I have a dvd from the library that I want to watch tonight because it’s due tonight.  It’s the movie “Sarah’s Key” which is based on our last book club book. 

I’m almost done reading the next book club book.  It’s been a silly, funny book and the end is almost too silly for me, but that’s okay.  Book club is this Saturday, and I have to decide what to make/buy for a snack.  I might try to go with something related to the book - like cookies in the shape of an angel (the title is “The Stupidest Angel”).  We’ll see.  Might be fun to do some baking on Saturday…but dangerous as far as eating goes.  Someone also brought up just yesterday the idea of doing an ornament exchange, which would be okay with me.  It’s very last minute, so it might not be a go - is the idea to pick a really special ornament - pretty, cute, funny?  Not a lot of time to shop for the “perfect one”.    Haven’t done one of these, so I don’t know if this is one of these game things where people take turns picking one and then can pass it off or trade, steal, etc.  If so, I can tell we won’t be discussing the book much, lol. 

Okay, I’m rambling.  Posting this, and then back to work.

Wow, end of Nov. coming up fast! 

Back to work today.  Started off w/ a train delay - one stop after I boarded, the train stopped due to a power line on the tracks.  (It’s extremely windy today.)  I also lost my mittens.  I think I had them in my lap on the train and didn’t see them fall when I was leaving the train.  I’ll have to stop at the lost and found on the way home tonight. 

Yesterday my day off was sort of ho-hum.  I did a cardio dvd and got a good sweaty workout.  Yay me.  I went to the laundromat and did a load of old bed pillows and another of throw rugs (I rebelliously included one rubber-backed rug in my load, a real no-no, according to the sign posted in the laundromat, but my rug is still intact and didn’t leave any bits of rubber behind).  It took forever - I think the one machine I used took twice as long as it should have.  I kept staring at the machine wondering why each “remaining minute” was lasting 2 or 3 minutes - and that made the owner also come look at the machine.  But the pillows are sure clean now, haha.  Too bad most of them will be torn open and used for their filling - I’m replacing the stuffing in the dog’s bed (whose stuffing was tossed after the skunking incident).  And of course the dog doesn’t care about how clean it is - the more good smells the better, lol.  But I do.  Anyway, I hope I have enough filling to stuff the bolsters and the cushion.  Buying stuffing is actually kind of expensive.  I’ve decided it’s likely cheaper to look for a good sale on cheapo bed pillows than buy the fiberfill from a fabric store.

Then there was lunch, then a dog walk.  It’s not all that cold yet, but I’m feeling the cold more this year, so I was miserable on the walk.  Ugh.    Never did get to the thrift shop to drop off the box of books for donation.

I did some internet browsing of shopping sites, but didn’t buy anything except Margaret Richard’s new dvd (for myself!), which is on pre-order.  About 95% of my gift giving is gift cards, so it’s no biggie that I didn’t get any holiday shopping done at all this weekend. 

Rest of the day was reading and tv. 

Scale was up a pound this morning, but today is the start of TOM.  I have to be diligent w/ my eating and tracking.  And I think I’m going to have to step up my efforts to get further movement on the scale.  The loss I’ve seen is just because I’m not being completely out of control like I was.  I will need to cut calories some more.  Boo.

I’m skipping the movie tonight.  No desire really to see J Edgar, or that movie Like Crazy about the couple where the girl gets deported back to the UK.  I really want to see The Descendents (George Clooney), but the movie times were sucky.  So I’m skipping and the two other girls will go see the latest Twilight, which they know I have no interest in. 

Not sure what I’ll do tonight.  I’m almost halfway through my book club book.  It’s short and a quick read, and I’m enjoying it, so finishing by Saturday’s book club won’t be a problem.  That’s about it for me today.  Time to post. 

My Thanksgiving was good. My brownies turned out well. My eating has been good this long weekend- up til today that is. I’ll see if I can save it with a salad for dinner. I’m still tracking my eating and my weight is down 4-5 pounds from where it’s been hovering for most of the year. Have to keep at it.

I did 3 exercise classes this week. I’m taking a vacation day tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll do a cardio DVD at home in the AM or an evening class. No other plans, except maybe lunch out w/ bf & his mom.

I enjoyed the movie “Tower Heist” last night. I hadn’t seen Eddie Murphy in anything for ages (nothing I wanted to see him in - really - Dr Doolittle??), so that was nice. It wasn’t the best movie I ever saw (I’m not a huge fan of Ben Stiller), but it was an entertaining mix of a comedy and a heist movie.

I readjusted the bed last night and it was really mushy, but I didn’t wake up during the night with any numbness, so that was good. Or maybe I was just tired from the previous night’s sleep deficit and slept through it. Not that having the bed that soft is going to be agreeable to my back… I might increase the firmness a smidge tonight and see what happens. If I still have issues, my next solution might be to buy one of those egg crate foam thingies for my side of the bed. I also think getting more regular exercise would be a good thing for me as far as sleep goes.  Lately I’ve just been doing one or sometimes two classes a week and it’s not enough for me. Oh, btw, I read the rx insert for my bp med and nothing mentioned numbness. Might do some more reading about it on the internet.

Beautiful sunny day today - I did a quick lunch across the street, but I wished I could have taken a walk instead. Oh well, today the office closes early and so I’ll get to enjoy my bike ride home from the train in daylight today!!   (I’d left it there on Monday morning.)

I’ve decided to do a PIYO class today at 5 pm - Pilates/Yoga. It’s not cardio, but too bad. That way I will have the rest of the evening to myself.   I might even make the brownies tonight so I don’t have to do it tomorrow morning.   Oh, I need to get to the store for some cocoa for my brownies. I bought a different brand last time and it isn’t as dark as my usual brand and I remember thinking I didn’t like that as far as color went. Goofy, but that’s me, LOL.

Tomorrow we are going to bf’s brother’s house, and when we were asked what we could bring the response was brownies, so that’s what we’re bringing.  One batch w/ nuts, one without. 

I’m taking a vacation day on Monday so I have five glorious days off from work starting in about 30 minutes!!  Nothing special planned though.  A friend and I were going to get together on Sat. but she’s driving out of state to be w/ her father, who had surgery last weekend and is having some post-surgery issues (her 2nd trip since the surgery). 

Went to the step 101 class yesterday. I used one set of risers, but I ended up removing them about halfway through. For some reason the beat of the music just seemed faster than I recall. The instructor went to turn it down, but it didn’t seem different to me at all. Someone else commented on it too… This isn’t nice of me, but I’ve always thought that instructor is a real nitwit.   Whatever, I got my workout and chatted w/ my cousin, who was in class. The last part of the class is 50 pushups on the ballet barre and then several sets of ab work on a mat, and I know I’m going to be sore a bit later.

And I’ll also be very tired later too because I woke up around 3:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I’m so confused because our sleep number bed has been so comfortable all these years until recently – say past two months. Now I wake up a lot because my arms and shoulders go numb. I keep playing w/ the setting, but it’s where it usually was most comfy for me and it still isn’t right. I might be crazy, but I wonder if this blood pressure med is part of it. I dunno, that just sounds dumb. Maybe I’ll read through the paper that came w/ the rx and see what it says.

Tonight the movie is “Tower Heist” w/ Eddy Murphy and Ben Stiller and I plan on seeing it. I want to laugh!

Breakfast Saturday morning was nice. I had an egg white omelet w/ veggies and cheese served w/ fresh fruit, and I skipped the pankcakes and had a slice of rye toast w/ whipped butter. It was tasty, but the omelet seemed to have been cooked in a bit more oil than seemed necessary, and that had a minor digestive repercussion shortly after breakfast… and I only ate half of it, thank goodness. I took the other half home, but wasn’t sure I was going to eat it.  (I actually did eat it on Sunday and had the same reaction.  Have to remember to request they use as little oil as possible when they cook it. ) Otherwise I didn’t feel deprived at all with my healthier choice.

After the breakfast I bagged leaves. Very little raking because the wind had blown all the leaves to the north and south fences of the yard and piled them for me!! Ended up w/ four bags filled. Rest of the day was lunch, picking up my rx for the bp med, a dog walk, and some tv. Funny how I complain about retailers starting their holiday push so early, yet I don’t mind watching those holiday movies on the Hallmark channel, LOL. Oh, and now that I’m walking more during my commute, I replaced the battery on my pedometer and reset it. Ready to go! I also submitted the receipts for one of my flex spending reimbursements.

Sunday morning I made a batch of oatmeal to eat this week, and I steeped my chai spices in some milk and had a mug of chai. I have enough milk for more tea…but I’m wondering how it would taste added to the oatmeal… It always needs a bit of moisture when I reheat it.

No exercise classes this past weekend, so my yardwork and dog walking was it for the weekend. Watched my eating and logging it. Scale is being nice. Maybe I’ll try for three classes this week, have to check my schedule.

I decided to use some old bed pillows we have hanging around the house to replace the filling we tossed from doggy’s bed (after the skunk incident). Still might not be enough - it takes a lot to fill up those bolsters!I   So I gathered all of those pillows and put a couple in the washer, but this doesn’t seem like an ideal project for home. Just two bed pillows seem to overfill the washer (front loader), and when that cycle was done, they were still sopping wet. Both went back in individually for a repeat spin cycle, and then into the dryer. The rest may have to go to the laundromat unless I want to make this my life’s work.

Out for lunch yesterday (Wendy’s salad and baked potato) and then grocery shopping at two stores. Home to walk doggy and watch the football game, which bf had recorded. Good game, our team won, but turns out our qb broke his thumb on one of the last plays of the game and will be out for pretty much the rest of the season. Aaaargh! 

Short workweek this week - yay!  I was running behind this morning and rode my bike to the train instead of walking.  It’ll be too dark tonight for me to want to ride it home.  I can (1)  take my chances and ride in the dark, or (2)  just walk it home, or (3) leave it there until Wed., when the office closes early for the holiday and I should be able to ride it home in daylight.  I’m leaning towards option #3.