The glorious sun is back today and you don’t even know how glad I am that it is Friday!

My boss is out until after lunch today and then he has a meeting as soon as he comes in so I should have a pretty peaceful day. Yay. Last night I did the winter workout routine for about 50 minutes. I guess it will get me through the winter as long as I switch up the dvds. It still can’t compare to my glorious outside walking. Oh well…

Nothing to report today so I’m gonna’ go check out everyone’s blogs. Have a beautiful, sunny weekend!

 Too busy to post yesterday - not much to tell anyway. SOS.

TOM arrived this morning complete with backache, cramps, bloating and a 1½ pound gain. UGH! Plus it is rainy, gloomy and chilly here so I really don’t feel like being at work. No women to talk to either - only stuffy men.  Speaking of stuffy men I was just emailed to attend a holiday luncheon next month with about 10 VPs / AVPs. The only women/assistants will be me and my supervisor. OH JOY. That is going to be one boring, long lunch. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful that they are doing something for us, but it is going to be one looonng ackward lunch. That’s the way it is when you work at a large university - no dressing up for holiday dinners or bonuses. We get a gift basket and a stuffy lunch. BUT we do get 11 gloriously long days off over Christmas break! YEAH!

I don’t think I’m going shopping on Black Friday this year. I say that every year and then I always go anyway b/c I like the holiday atmosphere and it is kind of a tradition. I never really find any good deals that couldn’t be had at a regular hour and idiot people get on my nerves so I don’t think I’m going. I might put up my Christmas tree instead. I think alot of people are cutting back this year.

My DD is interested in going to college in DC!!!!!!!!!!! SCARY!!!! It is only like 2 hours away from us so it would be close enough for her to drive home on weekends and hoildays but it is DC! A HUGE city with probably a huge crime rate. Luckily I have connections here at work - I contacted the Chief of Police here at the university and asked him to check the crime rate for me at the school and surrounding - so we’ll see. *sigh*

Thats all I’ve got. I hope cramps/backache go away so that I can exercise good tonight. Make it a great day!

I didn’t have time to exercise last evening because DD and I went Christmas shopping. I guess all that walking counts for something. I put a pretty big dent in my shopping list so I am glad about that. I guess this evening I will head to the grocery store and stock up. I will return to my winter workout routine this evening also. DD is still hanging with the kickboxing class. I’m still considering it but I’ll wait until she goes a few more times to get her opinion of it before I decide.

Thats all I’ve got today. Boring.

Make it a wonderful day!

This mornings weight - 199.8. How many times is this that I’ve entered Onderland? I think 3. LOL. I will not give up. I was hoping to see more of a loss this morning since I had alot of exercise over the weekend. I exercised in the house and walked 3 miles yesterday plus did a ton of housecleaning and yardwork. It will show eventually. I’m getting the tell-tale signs of TOM too. UGH! Is it time already?!

Today starts me covering 2 offices until December since my supervisor is out with surgery. AGAIN. Oh well, the more I know the better off I am right? At least next week is a short week. I’ma do some Christmas shopping tonight. I need to get some things scratched off my list.

We had a beautiful weekend in the 70s. Today it is supposed to be 65. Make it a great sunny day, ladies!

Did I say how glad I am to be back in this site? YAY!

Another brisk day again here. Gloomy, windy, chilly and rainy. Starting today I am covering two offices for 3 weeks! My supervisor is out for surgery and that leaves me with no women to talk to either the whole time - only stuffy men. There are women upstairs and down that hall that I see but nobody that I work with. Its going to be a long 3 weeks. Luckily, Thanksgiving is coming soon and we will get some time off. We get out at noon Wednedsday before Thanksgiving. Yeah! That is nice for cooking and running to the store and so on.

Last night I did the “winter workout” routine again and decided to add deep knee bends to it. LOL! (Those always remind me of the old movies, you’d see people doing them beside their bed before they went to sleep.) Anyway, I figured they can help strengthen my quads. Since I’ve added them and calf pumps it brings my workout to right around an hour. Nice. My eating has been OP too and it showed on the scale again this morning. I’m on a mission to enter the new year at my lowest weight in years!

Only 3 more pays until Christmas! I need to get my butt in gear and buy a few more things. I did get my daughter a really nice digital camera (at least I hope its nice - it got good reviews online). It is a Nikon Coolpix S630. She has been wanting a new one for a while now, one that has a better zoom. This one has 12x zoom and supposedly can recognize when you smile and blink for better pics. I hope it is good. I bought it through this computer loan program that they have here at work. You can get computers, printers, digital cameras ect. on an interest free loan and they take the payments out of your paycheck, plus the bookstore orders it for you. I didn’t have to do anything but tell them what I want. The camera was $260 and they take $10 out per pay period. Not bad at all - especially interest free.

I don’t know if any of you subscribe to the Hungry Girl daily newsletters but they are awesome! Here is link to a Devil’s Food cake that is made only with a Devils Food cake mix and pumpkin! Only 181 calories / 4 Points per serving. I am so excited to try this - a cake made with only 2 ingredients - my 2 fav ingredients - pumpkin and chocolate!
http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/askhgdetails.php?isid=1915

Thats all for me. Make it a great day, ladies.

Alot of people are off today for Veteran’s Day. It is one of our paid holidays but we still have to work it and then we get the actual day off at Christmas break. That is nice. We get 11 glorious days off at Christmas. Alot of time to relax and take down our decorations and so on without rushing. LOVE. IT.

My daughter started a kick boxing class last night right down the street from our house. When she came home her little cheeks were all pink from the exercise. Cute. She was so tired but she really likes it and is going to go 2 times a week. What a workout that must be - she said that you are punching and kicking non-stop for the entire hour. She kills me b/c she has such a cute little body now but she wants to get nice and toned up. It sure will be good for her heart too. I thought about going but I think it may be too hard for me.

Last night I did my “winter workout” again of 30 minutes of cardio, resistance bands, crunches and stretching. The whole routine takes about 50 minutes so I think that will be a nice little workout for me 5-6 times a week. The scale showed a loss this morning. YAY!

Well, I’m off to do a little work and then check out blogs this afternoon. Make it a great day!

Heres the new plan - a minimum of 5 days a week:

Minimum 30 minutes cardio (dvd)
15 minutes with resistance bands
5 minutes stretching
50 crunches

Will crunches do me any good since I still have weight to lose or is it only for toning up?

I made my self daily checklists in my food journal so I’m sure to do them every day. ALSO - I’m on a mission to firm up these arms! My lower left back has been hurting for the past week; not all the time but a certain way I’d move it would “grab” me - I don’t know why, I think I twisted it or something or slept weird, IDK. But since I’ve been stretching and exercising more it is feeling better. YAY!

My co-worker just came in and plopped down about 6 Panera cookies on my desk. I didn’t even think about it. I got up right away and gave them to my boss. He’s like Mikey - he’ll eat anything.

Thats all I have for now. The IT guy is due in soon. We are switching email providers. Joy.

(Sunny - if you see this - IDK whats up but I can’t comment on your blog now. WTH am I doing different? I tried and tried yesterday and this morning but it looks different now and it won’t accept my comment. BOO! Please tell me how to work it. Big fat congrats and hug on your 60 pound loss!)

I needa get moving more. I was so glad to get out in the nice fresh air this past weekend. I guess we are having a little Indian summer here. It was 70° over the weekend and it is supposed to be 70 again today. Love it - even though I know it won’t last. I walked 2 miles yesterday and then did an exercise video in the evening. It was hard to get going since I’ve slacked off the exercise a little when the time changed. I sure felt better after though.

Saturday I ate 2 slices of pizza and a little ice cream. It tasted good while I was eating it but afterward I felt so yucky - just like all of the energy was sucked out of me. I know its because of the carbs. Not worth it.

I finally found a cute black purse so I treated myself. I also found 2 cheap exercise dvds at TJ Maxx. One was The Firm cardio blaster $4.99 and the other was a Leslie Sansone Walk-Diet $3.99. Can’t beat those prices! That will enable me to switch it up now with the indoor exercising.

I read on someone’s blog the other day (sorry, can’t remember who) about wanting to enter the new year at your lowest weight in years. I LOVE this idea and I’m going to give it one hell of a try. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful way to begin the new year - slim and healthy with your best foot forward? LOVE. IT.

No boss today so I’ll have plenty of time to read blogs this afternoon.

Make it a wonderful day!

 …except Friday night. That Friday night feeling is AWESOME! That glorious feeling with the whole weekend stretched out ahead of us.

Not much to report today. SOS. This afternoon I have a workshop on Risk Management. How exciting will that be? Hopefully it will make the day go fast. Tonight I may do a little shopping if I feel like it, or I may save it for tomorrow. I can’t wait to get out in the cool, crisp air tomorrow and get my glorious walking in! Oh walking - how I have missed you! LOL. Missed the fresh air, the outside sounds, the breeze, the fresh air, the smell of the leaves, the clearing-my-head-time, the exercise!

Make it a wonderful weekend ladies!

My back is killing me today - not constant but a certain way I move it grabs me. I think I slept twisted the other night, thats what started it, then last night when I was helping that lady clean she decided she wanted to rearrange her bedroom furniture so we did that and it didn’t help my back any. I took 2 Advil, hopefully they will kick in soon. I ended up cleaning for 3 hours last night, not bad and easy money. I think I’m going to take the money and try to buy myself a black purse this weekend. I’ve been looking for one for a while now and haven’t been able to find any that I like. Even though I didn’t “officially” exercise last night, I got some in with the cleaning and it showed up as a 1.4 pound loss on the scale this morning. Yay! Gotta’ keep it moving in the right direction.

Some of the clothes that I had altered like a month ago are almost too loose to wear again. Now that I look back I wish I’d have just both new clothes instead of paying $200 to have them altered. Live and learn. One thing is that she didn’t take a couple of the things in far enough and another couple pounds lost on top of that and they aren’t fitting right again. Its too expensive to buy dressy clothes for work plus casual clothes for outside of work. Now that I went down a little in size it is a little bit easier to find stuff that will fit me in second hand stores to get me by until I can afford other good stuff. 40 pounds ago I couldn’t find anything to fit me in the thrift stores. Wonder why there are so many fat people walking around but no plus sized clothes in the thrift stores. Hmm… Hopefully soon I will be out of plus size. What is the cut off for plus? 14?

Yesterday I was kinda thinking about if I will ever find another man. LOL. I’ve been single for over 2 1/2 years (after being with the same man for 18 years) and haven’t been on one date since. I’m not that bad, I have a good job, I’m independant, which should hopefully be attractive to a guy, I’m a good housekeeper and a good cook, I don’t drink (only socially) or smoke, I’m 41 years old, not that old. (Who am I trying to convince here? LOL) I don’t want to be by myself for the rest of my life. I’d just like to find someone to date and not live with. Someone to just go do something with and then go back to my own house at the end of the night or if they get on my nerves. LOL. But then again, once you start dating someone then they are going to start expecting sex and all that business, which I’m not up for right now, so IDK. I’m kinda torn between being okay by myself and wanting a little companionship.

I need to get myself in gear with losing more weight so I can get someone half decent when the time comes. LOL. I mean, I don’t want someone that is fat and gross so why would someone want me fat and gross, you know? I’d like to find someone that is kinda into fitness and healthy eating so we can do this together, someone that I can learn from. Not someone who parks it on the couch with a remote, chips and ice cream. So, to attract the kind of man I’d like to have, I need to become the kind of woman that a man like that would want, right? I have my work cut out for me. LOL. I also need to get out of the house to meet people. I’m not going to meet anyone if I stay home all the time. I’m not a very social, outgoing person so that is a little weird for me.

Oh well, I guess I’ll just keep working on myself and hopefully, when the time is right, I will attract the right person. I’ve been feeling old lately, I guess thats what got me thinking about all of this stuff.

Looks like it will be a slow, easy day at work today and only one glorious day until FRIDAY! Yee haw!