Happy Monday, everyone. I took a "catch up on rest" day today. I was up late for the game last night (grrrr...) and never really had a chance to catch up from the bone-weary tired feeling of last week. Between that and the fact that Tony and I decided to cancel plans of going to AC for Halloween (and taking one day off from work to do so), I decided to give myself a sick day. I got caught up on some reading, got in some exercise, scoped out the site at which I'm taking the test on Saturday and got to (grad) school early enough to get a good parking spot! At least the Yankee game is on early tonight (actually I'll miss the first 2 hours) so I should be able to get a good night's sleep tonight. I had a very good sneak peek this morning and am determined to "core it" well this week so I see a nice weigh in on Saturday.
Karen - Congrats on that pound lost and on hitting your lowest point this year. That's fantastic. And way to go getting up at 5:00 to walk with the dogs and for pulling out your weights. Your determination is shining through.
Judy - Sounds like you had a good field trip and a nice dinner out on Saturday. What test are you taking on Saturday? Thanks for looking into the DIBLES test. I appreciate it. It hit me the other day that we have this thing called the internet and this other thing called a search engine and that I could probably find some info on-line. (Duh.) So I did find some info. It was developed at the University of Oregon and they have a website for it where you can actually download the tests. I haven't read it in depth yet, but will over the next day or two since Ana is taking the test Thursday after school. I can predict how she'll do, but it will give the school district hard evidence that she's struggling and will give us a foundation from which to proceed.
This week has gone to heck as far as eating. Working on Wed. and Thurs. threw me out of my routine and that just snowballed. Plus I've been feeling pretty stressed out, although I really don't know why. So on Wednesday I'm just going to have to take the hit and move on. I was hoping to get in a walk today but ended up having Ana home sick with a cold. Monday's she meets with her reading tutor first thing and then they had their pictures taken today, so I sent her to school for that (she really wasn't that bad this morning). But the elementary kids were taking a field trip today to a nature preserve and it was chilly with the possibility of rain, so I went back to school to bring her home. She really had wanted to go on the field trip, but she was very happy to see me when I went to get her. She was feeling worse than she had been and really just needed to spend the day on the couch resting. And then she insisted on making John and I dinner. It was so cute - she had everything on the table for when John got home. We dined on a spinach salad drenched in dressing, some radishes, carrots and celery, a cut-up banana, and a couple of slices of American cheese torn to bits. Once she fell asleep, I made John and me some baby pizzas from Trader Joes.
Carla - what a lovely meal Ana prepared! How sweet. Sounds like she's feeling better. Sorry to hear that you're feeling stressed out and struggling a bit. Funny how we react when we get out of our routines - actually I find I have very little routine in my life and could definitely benefit from a bit more structure.
Judy - good idea to take a mental health day and do some catch up. I'm due for one very soon, I think. I've been working a nine-day fortnight for the pst few months, but am starting to find that working the extra 50 minutes a day is leading to really needing the extra day off to rest, rather than being a productive day off. Haven't had a sick day since January, so I feel a mental health day coming on any time now.
I had an okay weekend. We went to friends' for dinner Saturday, and I ate far too much between nibblies, a drawn out dinner, dessert, drinkies etc. We got home very late and I woke at 5 a.m. on Sunday with a sore throat, and spent the day in slug mode. Yesterday I grocery shopped, went to Costco, got a facial, took the dogs to the beach, and generally had a pretty good day. Did a thai shrimp stir-fry type thing last night for dinner, and have veggie lasagne (whole wheat noodles) ready to go for tonight with a mixed baby greens salad. I so hate going home and not having a clue what to do for dinner, so have been pretty good about preplanning with Mike at the beginning of the week.
Karen - Mmmm - veggie lasagna. Sounds good. Part of my problem is that one of the routines I've fallen out of is meal planning. My last trip to the grocery store was without a list and was a bit of a free for all.
Judy - I suspect you're watching T.V. and erasing any benefits your mental health day brought you. I hope your Yankees haven't driven you to snacks.
I worked two more hours than I planned to today and I am wiped. I was on my feet pretty much all day. I don't know how I managed when I worked full-time. I think I've just turned into a wuss. At least I wasn't at home eating. Tomorrow I work 3:30 to 8:30, which makes dinner rather hard. Ah well, I'm stocked up on core soups, so I'm sure Progresso will save the day for me. And Thursday I'm making a menu plan for the week, writing out my grocery list, and going to the store.
Carla - I'm sunk if I don't plan the week's dinners and shop accordingly. I find it makes all the difference in the world to staying on track. It also avoids me throwing out a ton of rotting veggies in the fridge that I didn't find a use for. The veggie lasagne is doing us for three meals this week; Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Portobellos with goat cheese in tomato sauce tonight. Roast pork tenderloin on Friday. After work is a huge danger time for me; and if there's no plan in place it sends me grazing big time.
Down 2 lbs this week; looking at a new decade for next week. Must get on with the day. To the shower!
Carla – What a sweet thing for Ana to do! I hope she is feeling better. I hope things go well with the test for Ana and that it gives you the ammunition you need. Oy, the Yankees. I am sleep deprived and I swear, my stomach is doing flip flops. So far, it has not driven me to snacks other than those allowed on core. I think I may have to have a glass of wine tonight though. Funny thing, I have a number of little Yankee fans in my class and even I got a kick out of speaking to them, in teacher mode. You know, “well of course I hope they win and I will be disappointed if they don’t BUT the sun will still come up tomorrow. Remember, it’s baseball – it’s just a game……”
Karen – Congratulations on those 2 lbs gone! I hope to see a new decade by (US) Thanksgiving. I hope the fact that you were able to take the dogs to the beach means that your sore throat is better. Yikes, what a schedule! I know what you mean – I hate not knowing what we’re going to have for dinner. It doesn’t happen often because I usually plan meals the day before we go grocery shopping but when things get crazy…. We’ve been making a number of recipes from the new (and very good) WW cookbook I got recently. We’ve also been making more dinner with planned leftovers.
OK, the game is starting – so it’s time for me to go into “adgita” (sp??) mode. I just might get a glass of wine if it gets too bad! I was so tired when I got home (I had a two hour staff development class to go to today) that I told Tony I was thinking of going to bed at 11:00 no matter what – he laughed at me. I might just open up a bottle of wine and have a glass…..
Judy - I took a page out of your book and took a mental health day today! Hope you have some fingernails left in the morning after sitting through the game.
Karen - Congrats on your terrific loss and here's to heading into a new decade. Love your graph! I agree with you on planning out meals. It makes all the difference. My routine, when I stick to it, is to sit down with the sale insert from Wedensday's paper and do my menu plan and my grocery list. I'm going to try to add the additional step of picking out one new recipe as well, if not every week then every other week. Hope you enjoyed your mental health day yesterday.
Judy, Judy, Judy - Did you stop at a glass of wine last night? Is NY in a collective funk this morning? We feel your pain. Please don't hate me, but I think I'm going to have to forgo league loyalty (not that I really have it) and cheer on the Red Sox in the series, especially if they're playing the Cards. We here in Chicago just have too much empathy for the Red Sox fans. I hope you didn't have agita too badly. Loved the thought of you being in teacher mode and counseling the little ones not to get too upset.
Yesterday's trip to the scale was not made any easier by the fact that I started my period. It showed me up 8.6 pounds from my weigh-in two weeks ago. However, three of those pounds were off by this morning, so who knows what's real weight gain and what isn't. Any way, I had a good, core day yesterday and my grocery list and meal plan is done and tomorrow will find me at the grocery store bright and early. (I have some meat sauce in the freezer and will make whole wheat pasta for tonight.) So far, so good for today as well. And now off to read more about the DIBLES test. Ana takes it this afternoon.
Carla - 8.6 lbs? is your scale alright? glad to hear that 3 of them were gone today. Would you believe that until today, I didn't realize that the grocery store sale flyers come out on Wednesday? What a revelation! I like the little ticker thing too. I'll take any motivational tool I can get. Now to keep the damn thing moving!! It's a good thing that they're using the DIBLES tool for Ana's assessment; it will give a good objective baseline for the team to work from. I've been using the Cooking Light website to source out recipes; I subscribe, so am able to access everything. It's great.
Judy - hope you've gotten over tragic loss.
Having a nibbly day today. I should go and tape my mouth shut or something. Or maybe I'll go and sit in the tub until bedtime (only 4 hours to go!).
Karen - Hmmm, what a good idea to use the CL website - I subscribe and I haven't been to the site in ages. I guess I just don't get that much time to go online these days. I had to laugh about sitting in the tub for 4 hours! I hope you managed to overcome the nibbly day. Yup, the sun came out yesterday. I'm bummed and so is Tony but we'll survive! I asked my dad (who is a Mets fan), "what do you say, wait 'till next year?" and both he and my mom chimed in that that is what Brooklyn Dodgers fans used to say. My dad then added, "it's wait for eternity for the Mets - it made me chuckle". I did have a few too many almonds on Wed night but otherwise I didn't do too badly.
Carla - I'm sure most of that gain was a combination of TOM and water. It sounds like you are not letting it derail you so kudos to you for that. I hope Ana's test went well. Our circulars come out on Saturday so I usually do my menu planning on Sat morning. Good idea on trying a new recipe each week. Yes, we are definitely in a funk but it had to happen sometime. As Tony said, if they always won, they wouldn't have to play, would they? I figured you would be rooting for the Red Sox but we've known each other too long for me to hold that against you ;-) I haven't decided if I'm going to totally ignore baseball or root for the Cards. No way can I root for Bean Town.
I dozed most of the evening yesterday (I was so tired) and got to bed around 11 so I feel a bit more rested today. The test (Assessment of Teaching Skills - Written) is tomorrow so I plan on being in bed early tonight. I haven't exercised enough this week but I'm going to try to do something when I get home this afternoon. My sneak peak was good this morning and I hope to keep it that way for tomorrow morning's weigh in (the test isn't until 1:00 - I wish it was in the morning!)
Karen - Thanks for mentioning Cooking Light. I bought the latest issue when I was in the city a few weeks ago for the job interview and haven't finished it. I think I'm going to ask for a subscription for Christmas. I hope you were able to conquer the nibbles last night!
Judy - Tell your dad we know all about that eternity thing in Chicago! Since the Cards are our archrival, there's no way I can cheer them on. Truth be told, though, I probably won't watch much of the series. I'm just not that into it. Sounds like you made it through the trauma just fine. And if you're going to snack, almonds are a good way to go. I'll be sending you "good luck" vibes for your test this afternoon. I'm sure you'll do fine.
A couple more pounds were gone this morning, so it looks like a large part of that gain was water and other hormonal related insanity. I had a good day, food-wise, yesterday, so I'm feeling more firmly back on track. This weekend will be the test. We'll be going to my mom's on Saturday and most likely out to eat on Sunday with my MIL. I'll just have to do the best I can and remember to not stress about it. Ana's test went about how I expected yesterday. When she found out she was taking the test alone with the teacher, she got scared, so I got to stay in the room. I just turned my chair to the side and read my book. Once she found out the teacher who gave her the test was her friend's teacher, she calmed down. We'll get the results soon, but I know she did poorly and it wasn't a surprise. The test is an indicator of risk for a child having difficulty in learning to read and we already know that's the case with her. The teacher didn't get into what she saw too much with me since Ana was in the room, but she did say that Ana is at a beginning kindergarten level for reading and that she is having problems with sound sequences, which generally is a developmental issue. So now the district will have hard and fast data on where Ana stands and we can take it from there. And now I'm off to do some housecleaning and grocery shopping. I'm doing chicken and salsa in the crockpot tonight with brown rice, black beans, and guacamole.
Have a terrific day and, in case I don't get back on, a great weekend.
Weigh in at home 10/18 - 10/24
