My computer was in the shop. It's back, and so is lots of homework. I have the day off, and will try to catch up. But I always have time for you. I have to get back in the swing of things, eating and excercise "wise".
Update on school... Our professor changed our research questions for a 3rd time. We have to hurry and submit our work or we won't graduate. Nice, huh?
Update on guys...I'm working on it.
Update on job...My employer essentially broke the law by telling me that even though I'm full time HR, the company cuts back retail staffing hours to an all time low after the holiday season, and he won't be able to pay me to do my office work outside of the hours I am scheduled to assist in other areas of the store. The way I look at it is this...I'm getting paid to learn, will hopefully get a new job title, and move on. My company's name carries a lot of weight on a resume'. It's like working for Disney. I'm looking to commit for 1 year. I can't afford my salary, but I think better things will come out of it. They have accommmodated my scheduling needs very generously. Right now, that is important.
So good to hear from you again! I want very much to answer your post but I don't have time to write tonight but I want you to know I am here, and I got your message and I will respond very soon. Deb
Hi, I'm back. YOur school sounds very frustrating, and as for your job, well the money may not be there right now, but if you can survive the year, someday you may look back and see it as a stepping stone to something much more lucrative. In the meantime, learn all that you can. You may not get monetary compensation, but the intangible things like exposure, contacts, networking,wide experience, etc can still be milked.
As for me, I need to get on the diet track too. Since Christmas it has been very hard and often unsuccessful. Funny how when I find the inner strength and am able to change my eating habits, it feels like my ability to do so will last forever. But a few weeks later, I fall off the wagon, and then it is hard to remember how I was ever able to eat right. It is like there are two people inside me at the same time, a hopeful striving one, and a weak one that gives up easily. I am still trying to puzzle it out.
The most hopeful thing in the works is that a job has come open that is identical to a job I performed for 5 years back at UC Davis. I think I have an excellent chance of getting an interview and a good chance of landing the job. I will know in March.
The only other thing is that planting time will be soon, I am sending away for the seeds tonight, and we are getting soil samples done in the next week or two. We will be breaking ground in the next month. It is all hard work but a lot of fun too. Until next time. Debbie
I had some blood work a couple of weeks ago to check previous "borderline" thyroid results last year. Guess what. The reading was off the charts. Normal range is 3.5-5.5. Mine was 62.5. Just a little over active, wouldn't you say? The bottom line is that thyroid problems create serious cholesterol issues. I was in the doctor's office to pick up some medication when I was given the news. She's very nice. I have an ear infection. When I told her I didn't have a prescription plan right now, she told me to go to the office for free anti biotics.
Anyhoo0000, I was given a prescription for thyroid meds. I said that I really needed to see a specialist for something like this, but they said to use the medicine, have another blood test. If that didn't work, then, go see a specialist. I told them that I thought my thyroid was actually going back and forth from one extreme to another.
I told the receptionist that I was really sensitive to meds other than anti biotics, and I wanted the lowest dosage possible. I called the pharmacist to price out the meds and get some feedback about side effects. He said this stuff was to make the thyroid work harder. I'll tell you, I'm about to shop around for another doctor, but I think they're all about the same. Now, I'm waiting for the office to call me.
Yikes! What next? Well, that makes two of us. You are the bunny, I am the sloth. My thyroid gave up the ghost 5 years ago. I started having to sleep every couple of hours, couldn't think straight. Now I am also on medication to speed me up as you are on meds to slow you down (you hope). I hope you get a straight explanation from your doctor. I know that when they test my blood to see how my thyroid is doing, they don't test the thyroid directly. Instead, they test for another hormone - TSH. If my thyroid is not releasing enough hormone, my TSH level will keep getting higher and higher to try to stimulate the thyroid into action. Could that be what they were testing for?
I hate to give you something else to worry about, but recently I got my thyroid meds increased and my doctor said that when the thyroid is too high calcium gets removed from the bones more than usual, so osteoporosis may eventually become a risk. But he said it ws okay just as long as I made sure I took my calcium supplements. If I keep alot of calcium circulating around in my blood from what I eat, my body will lay off the bones.
I hope you are able to get your prescriptions without too much sacrifice. I have found that thyroid medication is not very expensive, (although I do have a prescription plan).
Hope everything else is going well by you. Here is quiet. Waiting for the application deadline for that job I applied for to see if I get an interview. We spent Sunday tearing the siding off a small shed on the property to turn into a greenhouse. A lot of whacking things with a big hammer. What fun! Great exercise! Great way to relieve stress and work out frustrations. Sort of like Tae Bo for construction workers.
Girls I am BACK. Oh boy did I miss you guys. My puter was down, and having a hard time with ISP then phone lines, as well as crazy hours for work. I had to fire my office manager in jan and have trained a great new one and am very happy. Thing are moving.
Silky I feel for you having to keep changing your work like thatfor school, and the job well like you said a stepping stone. Then 7 lbs great going.
I have managed to gain I am getting back OP and have started to go down from the holidays.
Deb leave it to you to keep us going thanks I was hoping that we did not get lost in the shuffel. It sounds like you have been busy.all the planting and stuff. good luck on the job and for now take advantage of your time.
any body hear from linda??
well got to go and pick the kids up from the Y
Thanks again for all of you and for your support. Sue
Thank you all for your well wishes. I've been working out health issues forever, it seems. I really appreciate the business about the calcium loss. I have to take calcium supplements because I'm lactose intolerant anyway. I have degenerative bone disease that is already evident in my MRI taken this past September. Some of the bone disorder is just part of the aging process. The other is a result of having Rhumatic Fever a few years ago. If it's not one thing, it's another.
I have to sit down with my director at work on a continual basis and clarify my job. The fact of the matter is my boss doesn't really understand what some of his legal responsibilities are. He actually asked me to do my HR work unpaid. I'm an hourly employee. That's illegal. So, I wasn't doing my work. Instead, I was supporting another department, and doing their work because that's what my employer thinks needs to be done. That presented more HR problems. Then, yesterday, by some miracle, we had enough people to handle the store traffic for me to spend the majority of my time in HR, getting my work done. But it's not enough. So I'm back to the drawing board. By the way, do you remember when I first took this job, I recruited and retained enough employees through the holiday season for the store to meet it's yearly fiscal goals 37 days early? Well, we went from the 2nd worst store to the 2nd best store in the region. Voila! Corporate changed us back to our previous region, new distric manager, etc. I met the new district manager on Friday. My boss told him about my accomplishments. The DM remarked that he was very pleased and interested in hearing about successful holiday season recruitment and was glad to have me on board.
What did I expect him to say? Maybe he would allow me to expand my role? The more I do, the better it looks on my resume.
Hi everyone, my back is better. Sorry about your injury, Silky. Chronic injuries are so frustrating. Having to live with it and work arund it and maybe be limited by it year after year. That is one thing about growing older that I was not prepared for. A lot of small to medium conditions / injuries build up over the years. Some come and go; others come and stay. So they just build up in number as years go by. For me it has been frustrating, as it often involves inflammation and my joints or tendons. When I was young, I was very active, but as I have aged, I have had to drop one after another of the things I used to enjoy. Now it's down to walking, when my heel clears up. (The pain came back after the shot; now it is physical therapy.)
You had to educate your boss about labor law! You should be the boss. In the business section of our local paper they run a column where employers can submit questions about HR issues and have the columnist answer them. Some of the ignorance out there about the most basic labor laws like wagers / hours, etc., makes my jaw drop! I think "However have these employers managed to survive without being sued out of business in the first year?"
I am glad that you are assertive about telling management about your accomplishments. I have often made the mistake of not doing so. Even the hardest working, most productive employee can become invisible. I hope it ultimately leads to a promotion (if you want to stay in the organization).
Out here, there are good things and bad things. The good thing - I submitted a complicated job application for that job that was a carbon copy of a former job I had performed for 5 years. I am crossing every finger, and toe I own. I am almost certain to get an interview, and then?
The bad thing is that I am having real problems getting my eating under control. I have gained back 5 lbs and am now at 160. So depressing. I want very much to be as thin as possible for that interview. I think being thinner will make me look younger, and looking younger has become an issue for me lately. I have not gotten a number of jobs I interviewed for lately. Granted I wasn't the best candidate for every job, but it makes me nervous that the people who did finally get the jobs were all much younger than myself. I never thought much about age discrimination until this year. In fact, although I don't dye the gray out of my hair and I wanted to gracefully go gray when my time came, I am going to get rid of the gray if I get an interview for this job.
Yesterday I was able to accomplish one goal - I didn't eat even one of the cookies that we keep in the house for my husband to snack on. I ate other junk, but no cookie. That shows you how bad it has gotten when abstaining from a cookie is a big victory. Well, I will take my successes where I can find them. Today's goal is to write down everything I eat. Let's hope I can turn this around in time to have some effect on the interview.
Got to go now and get ready for teaching. Good luck to everybody. Debbie
Help. I'm not used to this new format. Thankfully, I kept my user name and password.
Let's not worry about our weight this week. Let's not worry about ANYTHING this week.
I read an article that addressed the need to rethink diet and health. Instead of looking at dieting as a food issue or exercise as a fitness issue...think of ourselves like athletes in training. The article said to rethink ourselves. Now that the orthopedist said there's little to be done except get lots of exercise, I'm getting myself in shape to be a dancer. I love dance, but I can just move to music until my body gets stronger. I'll use the aqua therapy and strength building exercise as a way of "getting in training".
I know I need all the support our group gives me. Weight loss is complicated. It's not a goal, it's a process.
