Sistah Pat

5:30 a.m. - The scales say 171. What’s that about??? I only dipped down into the 160s for about 15 minutes and I want to go back. Where is this weight coming from? Why do I always have to exercise like crazy to lose anything??

This has not put me in a good mood and is not a good way to start the day. On the other hand, DH asked why I had a half dozen jackets, blouses, etc. thrown on the bed when he got home from work yesterday and I explained about the mad scramble to find something to wear when my top and jacket didn’t fit yesterday morning. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he suggested we drive up to Edinburgh, Indiana tomorrow afternoon to a big outlet mall up there so I could do some shopping. I really like that mall they have up there but it’s an hour and a half away from us and I haven’t been up there for a while. He said we could drive up in the RV, spend the night in a campground, and come back Saturday afternoon. He’s probably doing this as an act of self-preservation because he can feel a big shopping spree coming on!

6:30 - Okay, I’m ready for work and waiting for the boys to finish getting ready. It occured to me that I’ve been eating processed foods again. Maybe that’s part of the problem. Of course, when I went to fix my lunch, all I seem to have are Lean Cuisines. I’m going to have to pick up some other stuff for lunch. It also occured to me that I might feel better if I made a graph of my weight loss to date to see if there’s a pattern. I’m going to work on that while I wait for the boys to finish.

11:45 - Lunchtime!  Yes, I’m having another lean cuisine.  Promise to go to the store and address that issue this afternoon.  I threw out the yogurt I brought because it looked and tasted gross.  Had a Luna protein bar instead.  Man, I hate to spend that many calories on something so small.  Made the graph and put it in here.  I don’t guess I have any reason to complain.  It actually looks pretty consistent.  It just takes so long…

7:45 - I still didn’t make it to the store but I’m going to thaw and grill a chicken breast and make some summer rolls for lunch tomorrow.  The boys are at Civil Air Patrol and I’ll have DS stop by the store for me before he picks them up and brings them home to pick up some real food.  Dinner was a disaster.  DH threw some sirloin in the crock pot with cream of mushroom soup, made green beans and mashed potatoes to go with it.  I really didn’t feel like fixing anything for myself so I decided to eat what he’d prepared but found it to be rather gross.  He didn’t trim the beef like I would have.  On meat, I remove every teeny bit of fat or gristle.  I don’t care if I have to throw out half of it.  He didn’t and my first bite was gristly.  Yuck!  I ate some green beans but he added butter to them and they weren’t that great so I only ate about a cup of them.  I ate about a half cup of mashed potatoes but decided they weren’t worth the calories either.  I took another bite of beef and it had fat on it.  Ewwwww!!  That was enough for me.  It hit the trash along with the rest of the stuff on my plate.  Of course, this is just between us, girls!  DH doesn’t know anything about it.  He took his plate into the family room to watch TV and thinks I ate dinner.  As I said a couple of months ago, my new code is “If it has a lot of calories and I don’t particularly like it, I’m not eating it.”  Notice that I didn’t put these restrictions on items that may have a lot of calories but taste fantastic!  That’s a decision that takes a little more thought. 

Better get off here and make a grocery list.

Breakfast:
Luna Lemon Zest Protein Bar (180)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (240)

Dinner:
Green beans (100)
Mashed potatoes (100)
Roast beef (50)

I want today to be a really good day! Really, really good! I didn’t feel so hot yesterday and I’m still having some stomach problems but I really want to watch the calories today and get in some exercise. Having said that, here’s my list of goals for the day:

Eat nutritious breakfast
Eat nutritious lunch
Eat nutritious dinner
Work out on treadmill at least one hour

Sound easy enough. Don’t you think? Oh yeah, one more goal…drag my sorry butt out of this chair and into the shower……

6:30 - Ack! One of the good things about losing weight is “Oh! My clothes don’t fit!” and one of the bad things about losing weight is “Ack! My clothes don’t fit!” Laid out one of my favorite fall jackets to wear today and a black top. Went to get dressed and the neckline was too big on the top so I had to rummage to find another one that would go with the jacket. Got it on, put on the jacket and it looked like crap! I finally pulled an outfit together but I have to wear little “Barbie” shoes with it so my feet will probably be killing me by the time I get off!

3:30 - Ate healthy for breakfast, ate healthy for lunch, planning a healthy dinner…now, about that treadmill…I DO NOT want to do this! But I will…

4:50 - Ugh! It’s 94 degrees outside and I think it’s about 90 upstairs in the treadmill room. Didn’t put a lot of enthusiasm into the workout because I wasn’t feeling any enthusiasm. Anyway, it’s done. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to summon some kind of energy. I felt like I was dragging the entire time. After 20 minutes, it seemed like it had been an hour. After an hour, I was left feeling like, “Okay, there! Now leave me alone.” Instead of the usual “Did my treadmill, happy, happy!!!”

Guess I should clarify the meaning of “Barbie shoes”. You all have them. They’re the kind of shoes you’d put on a Barbie. Little things with no support and a two or three inch heel and jazzy little straps. Common example shown here!

Dinner is going to be broiled Tilapia filets, sauteed yellow squash, onions, and zucchini with Asiago and Parm and sliced tomatoes. Better get to it!

6:40 - Yum! Dinner was so good. The exercise must have boosted my appetite. I ate 3 pieces of broiled tilapia rubbed in Creole seasoning and sprinkled with lime juice. Also had a buttload of yellow squash, zucchini, and onions sauteed in a little olive oil and sprinkled with fresh asiago. I’m stuffed!

10:15 - I’m going to bed!  Up till midnight last night but now I’m finished, had a very good day, and I’m ready for a very good sleep!  Surprise, surprise, DH suggested that we drive up to Edinburgh, Indiana, Friday evening and find a campground for the RV.  Why Edinburgh?  Because there’s an outlet mall there with a Coldwater Creek outlet, Chico’s outlet, and Coach outlet.  Whoo Hooo!

Breakfast:
Activia Light Yogurt (70)
Mandarin Orange (30)

Lunch
Lean Cuisine (260)

Dinner
Broiled Tilapia (300)
Sauteed squash with asigo (300)

Snack
Mini rice cakes (90
Bowl of Kashi Go Lean (200)

Total (1,250)

5:30 - Alarm worked fine this morning. I don’t know why it didn’t work yesterday. Got up about 30 minutes ago and went out to the spa. The house was a bit chilly and I wanted to warm up. The cat went out with me and perched on the corner of the spa cover and was enthralled with the bubbles. Weird cat. I was more enthralled with the quiet and the moonlight.

Scales are showing 171 this morning. Bah, humbug! I’m not really worried about it. I have seen the 160s, girls, and they are in my future. Course it might help encourage them to stick around if I did a little exercise. Supposed to meet Pam at the gym for water aerobics this afternoon. That ought to help. I sure wish I could get back to my treadmill routine but my entire schedule is out of whack and I’m in an adjustment period. I could find the time but it just doesn’t feel right. Gotta work on that.  I don’t do much of anything for the first 30 or 40 minutes after I get out of bed but drink coffee and try to wake up.  DH says I should try to workout then.  HA!  At that time of the morning, lifting my coffeecup is a workout.  I get home in the afternoon and the sun is hitting the side of the house with my treadmill and that room is too hot for a serious workout.  Then I get caught up in fixing dinner and running errands and the next thing you know, it’s bedtime.  Cooler weather is just around the corner and I can see myself coming home from work and going upstairs to my workout room but I just don’t see it right now.  Maybe I should get my bike out of the shed.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments yesterday ladies!  We’ve given those 60s a warm welcome so I know they’ll be coming right back.  In the meantime, it’s off to work!  Wanted to figure out how to upload pictures in this new format so I had Andrew take a pic of me as I head out the door.  Think he snapped it about the time I was ready to give up.  I had a nice smile for a few minutes there.

Yo, ho!  Yo Ho!  It’s off to work we go!

4:30 - Okay, added the other picture that Andrew took this morning.  I look a little bit friendlier but notice how much nicer I look after work!  By the way, I only did this because Little Sister is nagging me to death to post some pictures and I want to shut her up.  I don’t like to have pictures taken!  So, Donna, will you shut-up now?

5:45 - Didn’t go to the gym.  Pam has dinner plans and my tummy is messed up.  In fact, my tummy’s been upset for two days now.  I’m having chicken noodle soup and crackers for dinner.  Not diet by any means but it’s my “fix all, cure all, for anything that ails ya” dinner for upset tummies and, yes, Jamie Lee Curtis, I’ve been having Activia for breakfast for two weeks and it hasn’t helped.  Liar!

Breakfast:
Activia yogurt (70)

Lunch
Lean Cuisine (240)
mandarin orange (30)

Dinner:
Chicken noodle soup with extra noodles (600)

Snacks
2 packages mini rice cakes (180)

Total 1,120

5:30 - The scales rolled over to 169.5 this morning! Whooo Hoooo! Dancing around the kitchen doing the chicken arms dance! Haven’t seen this baby for a long time! Going to celebrate by wearing a pair of skinny, white jeans today. Granted, they’re size 16 but skinny jeans in 16 is like a real 14. Right?

My alarm didn’t go off this morning. Don’t know why. It usually goes off at 4:45 and I hit the snooze button a couple of times. Woke up at 5:10 this morning and it hadn’t gone off. I double checked it and everything is set correctly but it just didn’t go off. Good thing I’m starting to get back into the school year schedule or I’d still be snoozing.

DH started a new schedule at the beginning of the summer and works a four-day work week. It really gripes me to have to roll out of bed while he gets to sleep in every Monday. Maybe I should rattle some pots and pans in here to celebrate

3:30 - Home from work! I didn’t waste any time getting out of the building today. DH has been busy. He fixed a couple of odds and ends and made a curry pasta salad with turkey for dinner. One of our faves but it’s a pain to fix because you’ve got to blanch green beans, carrots, cauliflower, pea pods, and broccoli and then chop and dice a lot of other goodies. He fixed it with fat-free mayo and fat-free yogurt so the flavor is a little lacking but it’s still pretty good. Personally, I appreciate the deference to my calorie counting. He doesn’t usually take that into consideration and it’s nice to have something good for dinner and not have to fix it myself.

Work went pretty well today. I’m getting used to my 7th and 8th graders and they’re getting used to me. The main problem I have with them is the noise. They’re so damn LOUD. I’m used to working with high school kids and they’re pretty good about controlling their voices. We’ve been working on putting together carts full of laptops, checking the laptops, recording the serial numbers and distributing them to classrooms. It seems like I have to tell them to quiet down every five minutes. Sometimes, I just feel like screaming, “Shut the F8CK UP!” That would probably get their attention. We haven’t had much of the more traditional classroom type setting and they may do better in a more controlled environment but the priority right now is setting up 50 carts full of laptops and chargers and getting them out to the classrooms. Once that’s done, we can do some more interesting stuff. They’re only managing to get about 5 carts done per day. (sigh) I’ve been rewarding good behavior with stickers. Seems like middle school kids love stickers. Ran out of them today and had to use address labels. Believe it or not, the kids loved them because they could “customize” them and write their own messages. (hmmmm…”Hey! You! What’s that profanity you’ve got written on that label?” — “I didn’t do it! Mrs. R. gave it to me!”)

I wonder how many days till Christmas break?

Breakfast:
Activia Yogurt (70)

Midmorning
Slimfast protein bar (120)

Lunch;
Lean Cuisine (240)

Dinner
Turkey Pasta salad (400)
Breadsticks (120)

Snack
Mini rice cakes (90)

Total 1,040

170 pounds. That’s what the scales say. Right there on the edge. Tried leaning to the left, leaning to the right, it’s 170. Going for a perfect day today. Hoping that will tip me over to the 160s. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the 60s. I’m going to eat right, exercise, and cross my fingers for tomorrow.

I finally found some peace yesterday evening. Worked in the back yard with the gate closed (Where’s Miss Pat? Is she planting more flowers? Huh? Huh?). Made some kinda scallops, sauteed yellow squash, zucchini, onions, red peppers, a touch of angel hair pasta and asiago/parmesan dish that turned out decent. We ate dinner and watched the two DVDs I rented, Bucket List and Fool’s Gold. I wandered out in the backyard around 10:00 and sat in the spa. I don’t know if it was a full moon. I couldn’t see it through the leaves but the sky was bright and the clouds were beautiful. I did a partial water change on the spa yesterday evening and the water was fresh and didn’t smell like chlorine. All I could smell were moonflowers and they were lovely.

It’s starting off to be a perfect day.

6:00 - Running a perfect day so far. Ate breakfast. Had some Black Bean and Rice Tortilla chips with some hummus around lunch but it wasn’t much. I have chicken marinating to make a grilled chicken asian salad for dinner. Did 45 minutes of aerobics in the pool.

Let’s see…what else did I do today? Planted some more flowers. Mulched and weeded the front flower bed. That was a job! Cleaned out the spa, cleaned and vacuumed the pool. The pool was COLD! 72 degrees. I didn’t want to get in but it had to be cleaned. After I finished vacuuming, I had gotten used to it so I went ahead and worked out. I noticed that one of the trees in the backyard provides shade on it from about noon to 4:00 this time of year. Made the decision to take that one down some time in the next year (there goes a thousand bucks!) That ought to extend the pool season for another month or so.

Went to the produce stand for watermelon and tomatoes. Went to K-mart and looked at the clearance racks but everything was UGLY! Got a new finch feeder and another hummingbird feeder. Fertilized and watered all the gardens and now I’m going to fix dinner, do some laundry and try to relax a little bit.

9:00 - And so ends a perfect day.  Ate dinner and did my nails.  Laid out my clothes for tomorrow and I’m ready to hit the bed.  Can you believe I’m heading to bed before 10:00?  Wow!  Finally beginning to get back on schedule.

g’night Chicklets!

Breakfast:
Activia Lite Yogurt (70)
10 grapes (30)

Lunch (kinda)
Hummus (50)
Black Bean and Rice Tortilla Chips (100)

Dinner:
Asian salad with grilled chicken breast (300)

Snacks:

2 pkgs mini rice cakes (180)

Total 730

DH is reading the paper. Tells me teachers in a district in Texas now have permission to carry guns in school. In Houston, a three year old died of heat stroke after his mother left him in her car and worked her 9 hour shift. I think I’ll skip reading the paper this morning.

Holly came over a few minutes after 8:00 last night and was down in the dumps because DS and DIL were argueing. She was whiney and clingy and I finally decided to take her out to spend the night in the RV. That cheered her up and we snuggled up in the bedroom and watched Narnia for the kazillionth time.

I get so effing angry with Mom and Dad and their refusal to put the kids first. DIL decided on the spur of the moment that she wanted to go out with boyfriend last night so she pops in on DS without any advance notice and tells him he has to watch Holly. DS gets his back up and tells her she needs to let him know in advance when she wants him to watch her. DIL gets mad and grabs Holly’s hand and says, “Come on, you’ll have to go with me because your father doesn’t want you here.” DS is saying, “I don’t mind watching her, I just don’t like the games you’re playing. You can’t just drop her off without asking whenever you feel like it.” DIL marches out the door screaming “eff yous” in front of the kids. DS calls her and she brings Holly back a few minutes later but Holly’s a basket case and doesn’t want to stay. Her reaction is to cry and whine and call DIL on the phone and beg her to pick her up with sobbing and tears and all the drama she can muster. She doesn’t want to be with DS and he’s chatting on his phone and preoccupied and just shutting her out. I finally took her out to the RV where she tells me she doesn’t want to stay with Daddy because Mommy said Daddy doesn’t love her or want her and Daddy thinks she’s a brat and she gets on his nerves.

Solutions:

DIL should recognize that she can’t just make plans without making arrangements for Holly.

DS should realize that DIL may just need a little spontaneity every once in a while and not make a big deal of it.

DS should welcome Holly with open arms and take up the issue with DIL at a later time when the kids aren’t around.

DIL should keep her big mouth shut and not say anything that pops into her head when she’s angry.

DIL should NEVER shoot off her mouth and make her children think DS doesn’t want them or love them just because it makes her look better.

Under the circumstances, DS should get off the phone and spend some quality time with Holly doing damage control.

Long story short…Holly and I went to the RV and “partied”. She ate the Mickey D’s chicken nuggets, french fries, and cookies, a whole bag of potato chips, more cookies, and drank most of a 2-liter Coke that Mom packed for her. Note: this was between 9:00 and 10:00. I watched her stuff her face non-stop for a while and then took all her “goodies” away from her when she calmed down. She wasn’t real happy about that because mommy said she could have the whole bag for herself. What else did Mom bring? There were still 3 candy bars, a package of Cheetos, and a box of Little Debbie cakes. WTF???? She’s lying on the bed in a prone position cramming stuff in her mouth and making little sighs of pleasure punctuated with occasional, “Nana, this is soooo yummy! Want some?” comments. A blind man could see what they’re doing to this child.

Came in this morning to see that the kitchen is spotless. Courtesy of DS who obviously knows he’s in the sh8thouse with me. Mr. Scale says I’m at 171 but I think I have at least two pounds of tension on my shoulders.

DH traded my phone in for a Blackberry. He’s all excited about my new “phone” capabilities of internet access, digital camera, text messaging, games, voice command, etc. and wants me to “figure it out”. Sounds like a lot of work to me. I just want to be able to make a phone call when I need to.

2:15 - In keeping with the crappy mood I’m in, I’ve decided to have a totally “off” day. I went to see Habitat Guy and he cheered me up with a car full of flowers for $9.00. Most of them are annuals and I probably won’t see much action from them but I picked up quite a few perennials that are past bloom for this year but will keep me happy for years to come. He had some huge Bradford Pear trees (about 12 to 15 feet high) that he was asking $10 for but he said he’d let me have them for $5 each. I kicked the idea around. I can’t use them here but I’d love to have them for Florida. Still…how would I get them down there? I guess I should have bought them and kept them here until DS had a trip down toward Florida and could take them to the property for me. Next time, I’ll be ready and have a plan. I need to set up a “holding area” in the back of the yard to keep things until I head to Florida.

I feel like doo-doo! I’ve never had any particular problems with allergies until the last year or so but either I’m getting a cold or having an allergy encounter. Either way, I feel like crap. Stopped by Red Box and rented two DVDs and I’m going to take my poor bod out to the RV and just relax and watch movies. Don’t want any phone calls, no visitors, no demands made on me for the rest of the day. How’s that for a crappy attitude?

4:15 - Miss Pat is a cranky ass old bitch! I’m trying to chill out by working in my garden out front and every daggone kid in the neighborhood is in my face. God knows, I’m a big time kid advocate and would cut off my right arm before I’d hurt any of them but there are days when Miss Pat just does not feel like being around kids.

“Miss Pat, I like your flowers.”

“Thank you.”

Why don’t you plant some more yellow ones? I like them. My favorite color is yellow. I think you should plant some more of those yellow ones. Okay? Okay, Miss Pat. Okay??? Miss Pat, I think you should plant some more yellow ones, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll put some more yellow ones in. Go and play now and let Miss Pat work in the garden, okay?”

“Okay, I like the yellow ones. Yellow is my favorite color. What’s your favorite color, Miss Pat? Huh? What’s your favorite color? Do you like yellow? That’s my favorite. What’s your favorite color, Miss Pat? Huh???”

“Black. Go ride your bike now and let Miss Pat work, okay?”

“Black????!! Your favorite color is black, Miss Pat? That’s funny! You’re funny, Miss Pat! Is that your favorite color? My favorite color is yellow. I think you should plant some more yellow flowers, Miss Pat. I’ll go get them for you. Do you want me to get some of the yellow flowers, Miss Pat? I’ll get them for you. Yellow is my favorite color. What’s your favorite color, Miss Pat? Huh? Huh????”

I think I’m going to work out back.

Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday!

Did I mention that it’s Friday? First Friday after a full week’s work! I’ll be doing a little happy dance all day. Mr. Scale even made me happy! 170 this morning. I KNOW that’s a number I haven’t seen in at least 7 years! I like it! A lot of teachers wear jeans on Friday and it kind of sets the mood for a more relaxed day. God knows, I could use a more relaxed day! Guess I’ll be sporting jeans today.

Made a blueberry, cherry clafoutis to take to school today along with Shwann’s Fat-free, No sugar added ice cream. As for lunch itself, I’ll take some 7 grain salad and, following everyone’s suggestion, something to snack on around 10:30. I fully intend to get some kind of protein bar next time I’m at the store but I forgot to do it last night. Maybe I’ll take a little Kashi.

Gotta run! I need to find a jacket to go with my jeans.

8:00 p.m. - I caved on dinner.  DH put a pot roast on for dinner with a packet of onion soup mix, made mashed potatoes, green beans, and sliced tomatoes.  Not my kind of food but it was there so I chose to eat it other than fix something for myself.  Don’t want to think about all those calories and I really don’t even like that kind of food but it’s Friday and I’m tired.  Funny…just a couple of weeks ago Friday’s were nothing special.  Now!  OMG!  I’m so grateful for them!

Okay, I folded on the damn cat.  I bought IAMs cat food and he’s been staying in the back yard for a couple of weeks.  He thinks this is his home and he never leaves.  There’s been no more cat poo or vomiting since I started feeding him IAMs and Andrew and Steven have been asking if they could bring him in.  I finally relented and let them bring him in about three days ago and he hasn’t been outside since.  He’s using the litter box and behaving himself but he’s still on probation.  If he continues to do okay, I guess I’m going to have to take him to a vet and have him all checked out, get his shots, and get him fixed.  (sigh)  Just what I need, another guy around here.

It’s only a few minutes after 8:00 and I’m so tired I can’t keep my eyes open.  DH is telling me to quit fighting it and go to bed.  I’m staring at a kitchen full of dirty dishes and I’m actually thinking about going to bed and letting them sit till morning.  That’s another reason I don’t like for him to cook.  He creates a disaster in the kitchen!  Hmmm…maybe I’ll tell him I’ll go to bed if he’ll clean up his mess.

Breakfast
Activia Lite Yogurt (70)

Snack:
Slimfast protein bar (120)

Lunch:
7 grain salad (250)
Clafoutis (150)
Sugar-free, fat free frozen yogurt (100)

Dinner: (don’t want to even think about the calories!)
Roast beef with gravy
Mashed potatoes
green beans
sliced tomatoes

4:30 - Busy day but it’s getting better. Managed to get to bed by 11:00 last night and was snoozing by 11:30. I’m meeting Pam at the gym in 45 minutes for water aerobics so I don’t have a lot of time but I want to try to get back in the habit of keeping track of my menu and blogging as much as I can.

Scales showed 171 again today. I’m finding that I get hungry every day around 10:30 in the morning and it’s driving me crazy because I’m eating breakfast and I usually don’t do that so I don’t know why I’m getting hungry so early. I made some popcorn at work today and had a diet Coke with it. That held me off till lunch. I’m going to drop by Kroger after my workout and pick up some of that wonderful 7 grain salad for dinner. A co-worker gave me a HUGE tomato so I’ll have salad and a ‘mator for dinner.

Gotta run! I want to check in with some of you guys!

7:30 - Nice workout at the gym. Pam didn’t make it. Got sick right before she was leaving. She’s seeing all kinds of physicians but they never seem to figure out what’s going on with her. Latest idea is perhaps gall bladder? I went by Kroger after my workout and it hit me hard again. Can’t go in there when I’m hungry! It’s so unbecoming to salivate as I walk down the aisles. What if I see someone I know? “Saw Pat at Kroger last night. She looked awful. Bloodshot eyes, drool running down her chin, and a glazed look in her eyes. Has she been ill?”

Sitting here munching on my 7 grains. This is soooo good! Hope I burn out on it pretty soon. It’s got 250 calories per cup! Still, it’s really filling with all those lentils, couscous, green mung beans, and other high fiber goodies so I don’t eat more than a cup or so. I wanted to slice that humongous tomato to go with it but DH has already eaten and I’m not going to slice it just so half of it can go bad.

One of my friends is transferring to another school tomorrow so I’m making one of Sarah’s Clafoutis with cherries and blueberries and taking it in for everyone. We’re all going to have a final lunch together. Better get to it!

Oh!  I almost forgot!  I put lotion on my hands before we left for school this morning and couldn’t get my slippery hands to clasp the metal belt I was wearing.  Asked DGS, Andrew to fasten the clasp.  He fastened it but said my belt was too tight.

“No, it’s not too tight, Andrew, it’s fine.”

“It’s too tight.  You’re sucking in your stomach.”

“No, I’m not!  There’s plenty of room.”  Ran my hand under the belt so show him how much room there was.  “See, I’m not holding my breath.  Why do you think it’s too tight?”

“Because it looks like you’re thinner in the middle part of you.  It kind of goes in on both sides.”

“That’s called a waist, Andrew.  It’s supposed to curve in on both sides.”

“Oh, well it looks funny.”

Point One:  I don’t think I have to worry about Andrew and girls anytime soon.

Point Two:  That’s a compliment, isn’t it????

Breakfast:
Activia Lite Yogurt (70)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (210)

Snack:
Popcorn (250)
Mini Rice Cakes (90)
Schwann fudgesicle (45)

Dinner:
7 grain salad (300)

Total (965)

5:15 p.m. - I’m done. I’m taking the rest of the day off. I’m still adapting to getting up early and I’ve been working hard and I’m tired. I just got back from a doctor’s appointment and I’m taking the rest of the evening to do NOTHING.

Weighed in at 171 this morning. I’m not sure but I think that’s the lowest I’ve been. I know I hit 172 a couple of times but I think 171 is new. I’ve been eating pretty well and exercising as much as I can but it’s hard to fit everything in. I went to the gym with Pam yesterday and we had a great workout. We’re going again tomorrow so I don’t feel bad about not exercising tonight. I need a break.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago (maybe 6 or 7 years?) when I would go see the doctor once a year whether I needed to or not to get my annual pap and a refill on my hormones. Now it seems like I got to the doctor’s office at least once a month for one thing or another. Whoever said Life begins at 50 must have been 30.

Work went well today. Getting to know my kids. I’m the world’s worst at learning and remembering names so I had them write their names on a piece of paper along with one thing that they told me about themselves yesterday. One of them kept score as I went through the slips, read the name and the facto and tried to match it up with the right student. We had a little math lesson and they calculated my score. I only got 43% correct. The pressure is on. I have to do better tomorrow.

Thanks for the chocolate suggestions. Sometimes you just need a good hit of cocoa. Know what I mean? I’m going to get off here and do some maintenance. Manicure and hair color.

Later, girls!

Ughhh…I’m working too much! Found out yesterday that I’m going to have a bunch of 8th grade techies. Can’t remember the name of the classes I’m supposed to be teaching (Technology Enrichment or something) but there’s no standard curriculum so I’m on my own with figuring out what to do with them. I was up till midnight last night putting together a presentation for them and I couldn’t get the music to run with the PowerPoint. Don’t know why. It just wouldn’t work. Finally gave up and decided I’d just run it in the background as the presentation shows.

Thanks to Travelgal, I know how to edit posts now and I’ll try to find a few minutes to get back on here today. It’s only 6:10 and I’m already running behind. I didn’t even have to wake up the twins. They were already up at 5:30 when I came in the kitchen. They were too excited to sleep. I’ve looked over their schedules and they have some great teachers so it ought to be a good year for them. I’m already meeting my new students today with bloodshot eyes and my butt dragging the ground, guess I’d better get off here and try to dress nice for them. Does that mean I have to wear a bra? Man! I hate those things.

4:00 - Man, I am sooo tired! If I were independently wealthy, I wouldn’t have to work like this. Just got home and I’m beat. I have to meet Sistah Pam at the gym for water aerobics at 6:00. It’s a good thing we’re meeting. Otherwise, I’d just crash in front of the TV for the rest of the evening. Got to work at 7:00 this morning and haven’t stopped running since. Haven’t had time to catch up with my blog buddies for a couple of days (forgive me!) and I only have a minute before I have to make a doctor’s appointment and start dinner.

Kids were fun today. It’s always fun to have them wandering around the second floor looking for room 110. “Well, sweetie, you have to go downstairs. Any number that starts with a one means it’s on the first floor.”

I planned on doing my presentation but we wound up keeping kids in homeroom for 1 1/2 hours! Don’t know what the holdup was. I think it was due to a lot of kids showing up who hadn’t preregistered and they were scrambling. I don’t have a homeroom class but it made us run completely off schedule and I didn’t have time to do what I wanted so I decided to wing it and talk to them about technology and have a “get acquainted session. I asked my students to introduce themselves and asked them questions about their hobbies and summer break and then told them they could ask me a question if they wanted. One girl said, “I just want to know where you get your clothes cause I’ve seen you around here a lot and your clothes are really cute.” Well, now, aren’t you just the sweetest thing? Looks like a teacher’s pet to me. Either that or she’s laughing behind my back and telling her friends, “Can you believe she fell for that?? Haw! Haw!”

Besides that, what’s cute mean? I’m a mature woman. My clothes are not cute! I dress professionally, thank you very much! Except for the flip flops I have in assorted colors and styles! Got home and there’s a new Coldwater Creek catalog. Must be karma. OOOOHHH, a $25.00 coupon!

Enough for now. Gotta cook, gotta fix dinner, gotta go to aerobics, gotta go online and SHOP!

8:30 - Wow!  Just finished stuffing my face.  I hit the door and started shoveling food down my throat as fast as I could.  Don’t know what made that happen.  I guess I just got too hungry.  Finished water aerobics and went by the grocery.  As soon as I got home, I ripped open the sliced turkey breast from the deli and wolfed down about three slices.  I bought some 7 grain salad and grabbed a fork and started eating it from the carton and after about a half cup of that, I ate two more slices of turkey breast.  I made myself stop to give the brain a few minutes to figure out that there was food in the belly and now I feel better.  In fact, now I think I’m too full for dinner.  Don’t know what that was about.  It may have had something to do with chocolate.

I’ve been wanting some chocolate and don’t want all the calories that come with it.  I remembered some hard candy that I used to get that was made by Hershey called Tastetations.  It was really chocolatey and each piece only had like 15 calories.  They were so hard, they took forever to melt and really satisfied a chocolate craving.  I spent ten minutes looking for them and finally went to the service desk and they told me that Hershey discontinued them a couple of years ago.  I got it in my head that I wanted some hard chocolates and they didn’t have anything that would do the trick.  So, anyone know anything that will fill the bill?  Rich chocolately flavor, takes a long time to melt, and doesn’t have a kazillion calories?

Now it’s 9:00 and I’m determined to get some sleep tonight so I’m signing off, relaxing for no more than an hour and hitting the bed.

G’night Chicklets!

Good morning, Chicklets,

I’ve been out in the spa.  Woke up at 6:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep although I probably could have slept for another 30 minutes or so.  Took my coffee out to the spa and watched the sunrise.  Noticed that a couple of little yellow finches are already gobbling down breakfast from one of the feeders.  Nice way to start the morning.

Well I’m just not happy at all with these blog changes!  I guess I’ll figure it out (or not) but my username/password still doesn’t show up till I enter the URL of wp-admin.  I had to go back in my history to find the link and I keep typing it in.  Also, it looks like we’re not going to be able to edit posts once we publish them.  That’s going to be hard to get used to because I tend to minimize my blog and keep it running all the time, updating periodically throughout the day.

As for this morning, Mr. Scale greets with with “You’re 172 this morning, you pig!”  So much for being in the 160s on the first official day of returning to work.  Today is pretty much full of meetings and then the kids come back tomorrow.  Right now, it’s off to the shower!

1:40 - Thank you, thank you, Travelgal!  I hate when they change stuff and leave us poking around in the dark trying to figure out the changes!  Just wanted to see if this works, chickies, and it does!  More after work!

Anybody else got the same kind of mess that I have?  I don’t have a username or password view.  I have to go back in my history to find where I was on a login and click on it to be able to log on.  (How smart, Patty!  You’re such a good thinker!) 

After I get logged in, I can’t figure out how to edit and add to posts.  Do we have to create a new post each time?  How annoying!  You just don’t get much for free, do ya?

I guess this will be another day of clean out.  As soon as DH gets the Christmas tree out of the way, I can start putting boxes in the attic.  He really got into building and fixing computers for a few years and a lot of the stuff up there is boxes of computer junk.  He hasn’t done much with it for a couple of years and I wonder if I can get him to go through it and part with some of it.  If not, I’ll toss it.  Either way, I want it out of my workout room.

The scales are showing me 171 this morning.  I think it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll be in the 160s by tomorrow but one can still hope.  I didn’t eat much yesterday.  That wasn’t intentional.  It was just that I was busy all day and didn’t realize how little I’d eaten.  I’ll try to get a few more calories in today.  On the exercise front, I don’t know what’s going to happen with that.  My ankle really hurts this morning.  In fact, it was hurting most of the day yesterday because of doing the treadmill in different shoes.  I did look at my new DVDs last night.  Oops!  I did it again.  The Body Ball workout looks good but it’s basically body toning.  The Denise Austin Yoga seemed okay when it began but after it got going, I kept thinking, “My ankle doesn’t bend that way, or that way, or that way.”  I’ll give it a try but I’m not optimistic which is a shame because I’d love to see if I can get my ankle to have more mobility.  We’ll see.  The Cardio Dance Fusion looks pretty tough.  On the one hand, it looks like the kind of workout I used to love.  On the other hand, it’s very high impact and high intensity and I don’t think I can jump around like that.  The young, healthy, highly fit group on the DVD were drenched with sweat and breathing hard so what’s it going to do to me???  So, yeah, I did it again.  Bought some workout DVDs that will probably sit on the shelf more than anything.  At least they were cheap.