Happy Hump Day
 

ARgh! Today was busy! In the nursing home industry, we have an annual survey by the state surveyors. They can walk into our building anytime, any day (within a given window of time) and today was the day! They will be there for a few day and haunt us all the whole time they are there. At least they are friendlier than what I remember when I first started working in nursing homes! But it's a stress we can all live without.

Here's a fact for you...Nursing Homes are the 2nd most regulated industry in the world (2nd to Nuclear Plants). We are regulated in just about everything we do from washing our hands to how and where they can give residents meds to what rights residents have...the list is endless. And it's not just State, but Federal regs. It's such a racket! And then...they just keep taking money away from the old people and make it harder for us to care for them! Something has GOT to change! Maybe TBJ...you could be an attorney representing the geriatric population in Nursing Homes! Anyway...I'll be glad when they are gone and our survey is done (of course, if we get some "bad" grades, they will be back sooner to check on us!)

OK...and back to my day...:dizzy:

Food was decent. I'm not keeping track of calories, but I know I am getting my fruits and veggies, which is what I really need to focus on.

Water...must have not been enough because I am sitting here parched, but I know I drank more than yesterday! <Sigh>!!!

Exercise...I did 20 minute walk tonight to DD soccer practice. The field is just a bit down the street, so I opted to walk after eating out tonight. I did have a grilled chicken salad and only a half roll at Logans! Yea me! Not even a Margarita! :(

Elisha...On nutrition in schools. I could write a novel on the lunchroom chaos in public schools, but I will just comment on the nutrition part. DD's school offers a veggie with every meal and then they have a "fruit bar" or they can get juice or milk. The meals are acutally pretty "kid friendly" but they do try to keep them nutritionally sound. They also offer turkey or ham salad or submarines. DD gets them quite often because she's so darned picky about "chese"! She hates it...and won't touch antyhing with it on it! That's fine by me, but geesh...take the cheese off!!! LOL!!! I've been trying to get her to eat a fruit or veggie at school every day. She rushes through lunch to get outside to recess, so it's important that she eat something!

TBJ...you were cracking me up with the drug name analogies! Too funny! And thanks for the compliment on being a "rad mom"! :o I try! DD is obsessive about a few other things with food, but NOT junk food! She loves that! She hasn't vomitted lately, and I'm hoping that was a passing phase, but that was one of her control issues with food. She also is turning into a vegetarian, not that there is anything wrong with that, but she used to LOVE meat! Of course, I remember not liking even hamburger as a kid! I drove my Mom nuts!!! Glad you are eating your fruits and veggies, chickie!

Jennifer...Husbands! They can be so irrational!~!!! I hope you get moved safely and expediently! Yea you for sticking to your guns! HUGS! We'll catch up soon!

Gotta go...my eyelids are closing as I write this!

Morning ladies!

Another beautiful day here, if still a bit chilly. It is supposed to warm up though—highs in the 80’s. I’ll take it! Of course, a give me a month or so and I’ll be complaining about the heat! :lol:

Well, yesterday was ok for me. Calories came in at 1914, water was about 96 oz., and exercise was a 24-minute walk with Ella in the morning, then 20 minutes on the bike, a full set of weights, and a full set of stretches after work. I wasn’t planning to do the weights, but then I just felt like getting it done so I wouldn’t have to do it today. I lowered the weight on my dumbbells though. It was still a challenging session, but more manageable than last time. Today my muscles are actually less sore than they were yesterday.

This morning I got up at 5:30, but I didn’t feel like walking today. I just didn’t want to be cold. So I got on the bike instead and pedaled for 22 minutes. I’ll do more when I get home, possibly WATP. Hard to tell with me. But there will be some form of cardio, and stretching.

Steve did buy a lawnmower yesterday, and a trimmer, but he didn’t use either of them. I was going to mow, but there was no gas for the mower. I did weed one of our flower beds a little. I will probably do more of that tonight. Also, I will tell Steve that if he will get some gas I will mow when I get home. I actually like to mow the lawn.

I didn’t sleep well yet again. At one point I woke up and sat up, and I actually thought it was time to get up and started to do just that, but then I looked at the clock and it was only 2:00am. Today I have a major headache, and I’m wondering if it’s not because of the lack of sleep.

I’m doing well with cutting back on my coffee. I’ve been drinking less every morning, and using less creamer. This morning I accidentally put a little too much creamer in and when I took a drink I almost spit it back out because it was so sweet. And the mug of coffee I have right now is too sweet too. I think I’ll just switch to water and not finish it.

I brought most of the leftover cheesecake to the guys in my office (I left a piece at home for Steve). I’m just glad to have it out of my house. Perhaps tomorrow I will bring them the rest of the cake. Depends on if I have any Tupperware or not! :lol:

When I go home I drive right by a McDonald’s, a Wendy’s, a KFC, a Subway, a Quizno’s, and a Dominos (all within a block of each other and my house). I’m proud to say that I have stuck to my guns this month and not eaten a smidge of fast food. Each day I drive by these places and I am invariably stopped in traffic waiting for someone to pull into or out of one of them. I look at the people in the vehicles, stuffing their faces and slurping their super-sized soft drinks, and I’m a bit disgusted. Mostly at myself, I think. I don’t want to do that to my body anymore. The people I see are generally overweight, and I see the kids in the back seat stuffing their faces and slurping their soft drinks, and I want to tell them what they are doing to their bodies. I want them to stop.

But alas, that’s not my decision. But now that I have stopped, I don’t want to go back. I am sure that I will eat fast food again at some point in my life, but certainly never again on a daily or even weekly basis. The thought makes me cringe. *shudder*

So last night Steve and I sat down and worked out a very sketchy budget. When we were done writing down all of our income, expenses, due dates, and interest rates, plus discussing what we wanted to do with our “extra” income, I asked him how he wanted to handle it. He said that we wanted to sit down with our bills this weekend and figure out a budget. :?: I said, “Isn’t that what we just did?” Apparently not. It’s weird, dealing with him. He’s never had to worry about money, never had to handle it particularly well, and certainly never had to budget. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum, so I’ve always had to budget and not spend money on random stuff (which I do anyway, hence the debt). I added up my bills and everything I could possibly think to subtract from my check—groceries, gas, prescription, everything—and I had about $150 left. He said “so you can’t really afford to contribute anything.” I told him I would pay the water bill (around $90) and he looked at me incredulously and asked how I was going to live on $60 for two whole weeks. Umm… that $60 is what’s left after I pay everything I need to pay. That’s the idea. At any rate, now I’m somewhat determined to show him it can be done. Besides, I’m used to having about $2.37 in my bank account. ;)

So anyway, now I need to go look for another job, and perhaps do some stuff at my current job. What fun. Have a lovely day, chicks!
~Elisha

My, how our group has dwindled... :?: Hope everyone who's missing is doing well. Come back and give us a holler, even if you aren't doing well! Maybe the end-of-the-month slump is encroaching. Don't give up!

***
Elisha -- You're really on track these last few days. :D I remember an old post of yours, in which you said you have trouble with the weekends. Sending you good vibes so you can keep up your good work in the days ahead:

:hug: --> Elisha


Julie -- Aw, that survey must be stressful. Hmm, elder care law. There are so many awful stories about elderly people who live in nursing homes and don't receive good care. I feel bad for those people. At the same time, there are people like you who clearly care about the residents. :cool: Too bad a few lousy caretakers cause nursing homes a bad reputation. Yes, helping elderly people would be a noble career. I'm really hoping for criminal law, though. Who knows. :^:

Sorry to hear about your six-year-old vomiting! :hug: That news is sad. I was reading a vegetarian website the day before yesterday, and the site said to watch out for people who might use vegetarianism, and especially veganism, as a way to hide food restriction. I had a friend who probably did exactly that thing. :( Tell your daughter that you know a lady on the internet who is vegetarian, but who is overweight, anyway. ;) See how she reacts. You're doing a good thing by encouraging her to eat fruits and veggies. Maybe she'll see that eating more of the right foods will keep her in better shape than just eating less. You're a good mom; you don't need my advice. :)
***

First day on Adderall is going well. I took the pill an hour and a half ago. No side effects! The dose is low, though. We'll see whether it works.

I managed to eat five servings of fruits and veggies yesterday. But I had too much pop. Last week, I was successful in my new goal of only five pops per week. :wizard: (My old goal was limiting myself to one pop a day.) I know I can improve. I usually start challenges on Saturday. After then, I should be recovered enough so that I can't use surgery as an excuse to indulge. So I'll make next week's goal a repeat of the five pops per week. I did it before... I can do it again. :drill:

One annoyance in my life right now is that I'm depending on Hubby to cook, and he doesn't cook healthy food. He seems to forget that in order to cook at home rather than go to restaurants, he has to buy the food and prepare it! :lol: When I got out of surgery, Hubby bought comfort food, which I appreciated. He said he bought "junk food" to cook for meals. Well, when I asked him what we had at home to cook for his vegetarian wife, all he had bought was frozen deep-fried onion peels and mozzerella sticks. :tantrum:

He hasn't done any grocery shopping since I had my surgery. And then every time mealtime approaches, he asks me what I'd like to eat. I ask him what he has available to cook. He gets this confused look on his face, almost as if he expected food to appear in the refrigerator. And I look at him with my eyebrows raised. I'm being a little immature and passive-aggressive. :o Hubby has doted on me like I'm a princess. :sumo:

Normally our relationship is great because we communicate and tell each other if we want something. But now I want him to figure out for himself that he has to put forth effort in order to cook at home. :snooty: Maybe I want him to figure that out because it's normally me who does the cooking, and I want him to know that I really do work in this household. (Yeah, I'm a little insecure about being unemployed right now. :( )

I see other women suffer in relationships because they won't ask for what they want; they just assume their partners will read their minds and provide for their needs. And when their partners don't do that, the women get upset. I've always avoided that behavior. I should correct myself now. :yes:

I did some internet research on Adderall, and one thing I noticed was that people on the drug write really long posts... guess the drug must be working. :lol: If you've read this far, thanks! :hug: Guess I just needed to vent. :blah:

Thursday
 

Evening chickies (Elisha & TBJ)...and...wherever the rest of you are! ;)

Today was another VERY stressful day! State surveyors still in our building. They will leave tomorrow by noon, hopefully! I spent almost 2 hours today cleaning our popcorn machine because they pretty much said it was disgusting. They didn't use those words, but I'm sure they were thinking it! It was disgusting and even all the scrubbing I did for an hour on the kettle itslef, didn't get it spotless, but it's not covered with grease and salt anymore! Yea! I just hope it still works. Ikind of got it more wet than it should have gotten. Anyway...I'm just hoping they won't give us a citation on that! Grrr!


Sooooo...needless tosay, I turned to food as a comfort today as I was scrubbing this stupid kettle! I had icecream and ate some chillin and cornbread in a HUGE hurry (so I could get back to the scrubbing...whatever!) I was so thirsty when I got home, I guzzled 2 huge glasses of water. I'm sure I didn't get enough in, but I tried. Too busy!

I'm really tired tonight, so I think I'm going to go to bed early.

TBJ...That was the LONGEST post I think you have ever written. I love to read your posts! :) And thanks once again for the compliments. You are so sweet! Husbands! They drive us crazy for a reason sometimes! I don't know why, but they do! I think that's what God made them for??? LOL! Glad you are feeling better. I sure hope your knee feels good enough soon so you can make a trip to the grocery store, at leasT! :hug:

Elisha...Budgets...just the word makes me cringe! Not so much the budget part, just the part about "discussing" it with the spouse! Eh! Keep standing up for yourself and your abilities! You will show him! And you will have all and any debt paid off in no time! Way to go on the Fast Food "fast"! I'm proud of you!!!! :hug:

Night chickies! Have a great Friday!

Morning chicks.

My head is pounding this morning. I took some Excedrin Migraine (usually the only thing that even phases my headaches), and that brought it down to a dull roar. As soon as I came into the office this morning I had 3 different people tell me to go home. I might in a bit. I have a couple little things that need to be taken care of today, and I have to reschedule a meeting, but if I can manage that I think I will go home and go back to bed for a while.

I didn’t exercise this morning. I’m taking today off. I like taking Fridays as my day off from exercise, mostly because it’s the last day of the work week too and I get to just go home an veg all evening. Plus it was raining when I got up.

I got in a bunch of exercise yesterday though. Yesterday morning was 22 minutes on the bike, then 33 minutes of WATP Walk & Jog and a full set of stretches after work. Then I had some dinner, then I mowed the lawn, then washed all the dishes.

Water was good yesterday, 112 oz. or so, but calories were high. I do ok during the day, but then I go home and pig out at dinner. I’m just so hungry. As a result, the scale is at 218.2 this morning. I’ve been working my butt off all week, and no progress whatsoever. But, at least I am getting into the exercise habit, and if I plan my menus my eating will fall in line. One thing at a time.

Steve and I were planning to go to Applebee’s for lunch today, but obviously that won’t happen if I go home. That’s ok. I don’t feel much like eating at the moment. I brought a mug of coffee with me, and just thinking about taking a drink is making me a little nauseas.

So what’s going on with me this weekend? Hopefully Mom and Dad are coming over either tomorrow or Sunday to help us figure out some house stuff. Dad can help us estimate the cost and importance of remodeling projects, and Mom can tell me which of the green things in my flower beds are weeds and which are not—and she wants to talk about wedding stuff. Also, I suppose Steve and I will work out a more precise budget at some point. I plan to go through my cabinets and frig to see what we have and make some meal plans and a grocery list.

OK, chicks, that’s all I have the concentration to write this morning. Have a good day.
~Elisha

Hellooo --

Yay, the Adderall has no bad side effects. :) Happy happy, joy joy. I did notice a slight decrease in appetite. Not in a bad way, though.

So food was good yesterday. And today I haven't been using crutches at all. I go to the doctor on Tuesday and he'll take out my stitches. I bet by the time my parents are done visiting, I can go back to jujitsu and at least do Yawara (the standing up stuff).

Happy Friday.

Saturday check in from the "moving in progress...

Townhouse was all packed yesterday. Last night we came up to the new house to drop of the last of the things we didn't want the movers to mess with. Got back to the townhouse about 10:30, we were out cold by 11pm. Hubby got up before me and was working on the last of the laundry. I got up at 6:30, fought to stay in bed until 7am, then got things moving. Movers got there at 8:15. By 9am I had kitties in their travel carriers, their food, 1 litter box (didn't clean it, just dumped out the old & put new litter to keep some of their smell on it & not freak them out too much) and headed out with the crew to get them used to the house a little before people started showing up, making noise, and scaring them poopless.

Movers got to the new house here at 3:01, and pulled out at 5:15. Needless to say, I am surrounded by a world of cardboard and chaos. :) It's a good thing- really. The one complaint that I have about the company/movers- they didn't disclose that after 8 hours on the job, the rate increased to time and a half. With as much time as they took to pack, and then get here, we freaked a little over that part, and told them not to worry about assembling the beds & the dressers/mirrors to save time/money. Then, after the fact, they *****ed about the travel time, and charged for an hour and a half, not an hour, like was discussed on the phone. Hello- I gave you my damn address from, and to, when we arranged this. Your failure to check mapquest should not be MY problem. Grr. I'll debate that with the powers that be on Monday. In the meantime, I'm taking a 5 minute break to check in. Working in the master bedroom, getting the dresser, mirror, 2 5-drawer chests, and 2 nighttables scrubbed down, drawers squirted w/ clean cotton fabric refresher spray (I loves me some Yankee Candle goodies!) so that all the clean clothes going in will smell nice, but not all feminine/flowery.

Hubby was here briefly during the hoopla, but thanks in part to the lovely timing on several people's part, he's back at the old house, finishing up some work that absolutely has to be completed before he can head up to help. I really want to have our room totally set up as a thank you to him for all the time he lost yesterday & today babysitting these guys, and all he's done to manhandle the things I just can't do myself. He works so hard...and then he still doesn't get any peace. So, if I can get the master bedroom done, and have all his clothes put away, and then maybe do the little guest room next to his office, he'll be able to really see a big difference in a short time.

Having a diet mt. dew for the caffeine- this is going to be a long, dirty, sweaty night. I had better lose a few pounds when I check this #&%!@ scale when it comes out of a box!

Will check in later/tomorrow with an update, and a sore part checklist.

Elisha- how long did it take for your cats to get adjusted & come out from their hiding place? I have 3 cats hiding in 1 small bathroom- 2 behind the toilet & 1 behind the door. They won't eat, drink, or do more than lay in the stupid litterbox- not actually *go* in it. Double Grr!

Night for now, chickies- hope everyone is having a lower-key weekend than I am!

Hi,

Life's OK here. Still no side effects from the Adderall. :cheer: Kind of a funny story... Hubby drank a can of some kind of cappuccino drink. He said it consisted of 80% sugar and 20% caffeine. He was so boingy and talkative afterwards. :dizzy: I told him it was funny that he was all boingy, while his wife, who is taking an amphetamine, is acting perfectly normal. :p Of course, people who need this kind of drug are supposed to act normal while taking it, not boingy. So I guess the fact that I'm less boingy when I'm taking speed than my husband is after drinking cappuccino is a good thing. :D

Speaking of caffeine, I'm going to have to cut it out of my diet! Yep yep, caffeine combined with Adderall is not a good thing. Maybe I will drink less soda as a result. :o

Food was good yesterday. And I walked around without crutches, all of yesterday and so far all of today. :D The doctor will remove my stitches on Tuesday.

Jennifer -- Good to hear from you. :hug: How thoughtful of you to appreciate your hubby. :love: He sounds like he works hard. And having moved my cat four times, my experience is that it takes two days for them to feel comfortable in a new home. Don't forget that kitties like to prowl at nighttime. They're probably raising **** when you're asleep. :)

Well, leftovers for dinner tonight. Then we might go out for a movie. I want popcorn and a pop. Don't know whether I'll get them. I haven't eaten that many calories today. On the other hand, I don't need junk food... Maybe I'll see when I get there. :)

Morning chicks!

Well, this weekend is going well for me so far. I'm actually doing better this weekend than I did during the week! :lol:

I've stayed on track with my exercise. Yesterday was 40 minutes on the bike, a 40 minute walk with Ella and Steve, weights, and stretches. Water was decent, but less than usual (I really need to get a bigger glass for the house--it makes it so much easier!), probably around 80 oz. Calories came in around 1435. We had lunch at Applebee's--I had fajitas--but I was still full by the time dinner rolled around, so I didn't eat anything after that.

I did end up coming home on Friday. I watched a movie and laid on the couch, sleeping most of the day. I kept my calories in check, but pretty much everything I ate was junk food. And I took Friday off from exercise. It felt good just to veg for a while. I still have a headache, though not as bad as Friday. I don't know what's up with that. Usually when I get headaches like this it's because I'm not drinking enough water, or I haven't had any caffeine. But neither of those is the case right now, and this headache just won't go away.

So anyway, I also managed to make up some meal plans and a grocery list for the next couple of weeks. I went through my frig and pantry to see what we've got, and it turns out that I don't even have to buy a lot of groceries or do a lot of cooking. But some of the things I will make are lasagna, peanut chicken, chicken with lime sauce, cumin roasted potatoes, peppered steak with horseradish chive cream, and parmesan crusted chicken. I'm trying some new recipes, and all of them are healthy. :D Most of them came from my new issue of Cooking Light (love that magazine!). I'll let you know how they turn out.

Also, Steve and I talked about it yesterday, and I'm finally going to get to start working on my nutrition degree. I've been wanting to for a while, but it's gotten pushed aside because I didn't have enough money, enough time, etc. But if I don't just do it, it'll never get done, and it's something I really want to do. So I'm going for it.

Jennifer: It took our cats a few days to come out of the basement. Then we got a dog and they went back in the basement, and are still there. That's partially our fault, because we have a barrier up so the dog doesn't go after them, but they're getting acclimated and the barrier will be removed soon. That'll be a fun day. But TBJ is right--2 or 3 days, they'll prowl around at night, then all will be well.

OK, enough chatter from me for the moment. Time to find something for breakfast, then perhaps a movie. Have a good day, chicks!
~Elisha

Hello!

So, last night... I just kind of picked at my dinner. Got popcorn and pop at the movie, but just kind of picked at that, too. Went to a bookstore, bought some science fiction, and had a really yummy de-caffeinated coffee drink. :love: That drink was the only food/beverage that I've really slurped down since starting the Adderall. Today, I went out to lunch after church, and again, I ate , but I didn't eat as much as I used to. I had ice cream afterwards, so it wasn't like I was depriving myself -- just a little less hungry.

Well, enough about amphetamines. :) I have been working on good habits, not just eating less. Yesterday I ate fruits and veggies. Today I've only had two as of lunch. I used to eat fruit for breakfast, but apparently citric acid makes the new med less effective. So I've been eating cereal instead. Cereal is perfectly healthy for breakfast, but I had a lot easier time getting in my five fruits and veggies when I could eat fruit for breakfast.

Yes, I have been drinking fewer sweet beverages as a result of the caffeine ban. Today I wanted a Thai iced coffee with lunch... couldn't have it. And I don't seem to drink as much non-caffeinated soda as I used to drink the stuff with caffeine.

Anyway, food has improved a lot over the past few days. Here's hoping I can keep up the good habit. I really would like to reach that goal of 149 one of these years. :^:

Happy Sunday. :)

Morning chicks!

I may have to go take notes at a meeting in just a few minutes, so this may jump around a bit. Can I just say that I’m really starting to hate my job? Isn’t this why people have secretaries?

Anyway…

So I went home on Friday and laid around all day. The headache got a little better, but it remained for the rest of the weekend. It’s gone for the moment, but I’m not counting on it staying gone.

I did good this weekend. Calories were good… Friday: 1665, Saturday: 1435, Sunday: 1535 (I think). Water was good. Exercise was a lot.

This morning I got up at 5:25 to exercise. It was drizzly and wet out this morning, so I didn’t go for a walk. I got on the bike, but my body just did not want to move. I’m exhausted this morning, just completely drained. My body feels heavy and worn out.

I thought weekends were supposed to leave you feeling refreshed.

Ah, and the headache returns. I knew it wouldn’t last long. I have a headache more often than not.

So I’m going to take this nutrition course, right. Steve and I discussed it, and we think we can work it out. It’s something I really want to do. The problem is, the down payment is $800 (it’s a whole degree program, not just one class). Yeah, we can manage the $100 per month payment plan, but where in the world are we going to come up with $800? We can save some each month, and I guess that’s what we’ll have to do, but it just feels like it’s getting put off even more. And knowing how bad the two of us are at saving money, it feels like it’s never going to happen. There’s always something more important.

I really wish I could quit my job and go back to school. But if I quit my job, I can’t afford to go to school. Sometimes money really sucks.

Moving on…

So I’ve been doing the Total Body Makeover for a week now. I’ve been following the rules, doing the exercises, everything I’m supposed to. I’m having a couple problems though. Problem #1: It appears I have to keep my calories low AND do all the extra exercise to lose anything. Now, now, I know that it takes diet and exercise to lose weight. But he says you shouldn’t really have to monitor your calories too closely if you follow the rest of the program, which I have been doing. My calories haven’t been too far out of whack, but I’m hungry a lot more now (and that’s saying something, because I’m always hungry anyway). I’ve got to find some foods that last longer in my system and give me more energy. Which leads me to Problem #2: I’m worn out. I know that exercise is good for me and will eventually lead me to having more energy. But how can I force myself to do all of this extra exercise when it’s hard to lift my feet to go up the stairs? Is this one of those “fake it till you make it” situations? Problem #3: I have no time. I didn’t have any time before, and now I’m spending the vast majority of my free time exercising. I don’t have time to do anything else. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, socializing, all falling by the wayside so I can exercise. Problem #4: The program is built around increasing your exercise time each week. There are actually 2 problems with this, 1 being the aforementioned lack of time that is Problem #3—if I don’t have enough time now how am I possibly going to have enough time in a couple weeks when I have to devote even more time to exercise—the second being that I haven’t really been doing an exact amount of exercise (which, I realize, may contribute to said lack of time). How do I increase my time 2 minutes per day if my regular amount of time is random, 32 minutes one day, 43 the next, 37 the next, etc.?

I don’t know. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. But I’ve already decided that I’m going to stick with it until my birthday, May 29. That day will mark 6 weeks following the program. If at that point I am not seeing a reasonable amount of progress, I’m giving myself permission to find something better. I should be able to see some improvement in 6 weeks.

OK, today’s menu:
Breakfast:
2 c. coffee w/FF vanilla creamer
1 sv. breakfast casserole (I made it healthy—around 300 calories for a huge chunk)

Lunch:
2 small Salmon-Dill Cakes
Sweet and Sour Carrots
1 sv. Potato Chips (yeah, I know)

Snack:
Dried Apricots

Dinner:
Dunno. Leftovers or something super quick.

I did go through the pantry and frig this weekend to figure out what we have. And I planned some meals for the upcoming couple of weeks. As it turns out, I don’t really have to buy that much stuff. I made out a grocery list around my menu, and since I didn’t have to buy that much I included some other handy things to have on hand that I don’t necessarily need right now. But, as I’m trying to save money, I might not get them this time. My main goal right now is to spend as little money as possible.

Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got to say at the moment. Time to go scan the classifieds and possibly do some work. Have a good day, chicks.
~Elisha

Monday
 

OK...so I haven't posted in a few days! Ahem! Been a little busy...actually, that's just an excuse! I have just been doing so poorly with exercise and eating that I'm ashamed of myself! Tonight I had 2 glasses of wine and a huge candy bar...that was AFTER I had about ahandful (or two) of these yummy chocolate orange truffles while shopping for an anniversary present tonight! It's DH & my 13th anniversary. I guess I felt entitled to a little treat! But that's just the icing on the cake....it's been like that all weekend...and quite frankly since last week! I've got to get this under control! Ahhhhhhh!

OK...now that I have that out of my system...

Our survey went ok. We ended up with 6 citations which were minor compared to what it could have been. And...we did get cited on the dang popcorn popper! That won't happen again! Of course, it will be the joke with our staff for a long time to come! HA! It is now completely cleaned and I did a "test" batch today to make sure it was ok! Seemed to be working fine!

Anyone watch Oprah? I watched her show last week about women who have let themselves "go"! It was interesting. She has a bunch of stuff on her website on how to self improve, if you are interested at Oprah.com I think I am going to try to check it out! My menu planning isn't working so well...

Jennifer...Glad you are all moved in. Hope you got your bedroom done before hubby came home! That would have been cool for him! I take my DH for granted lots too. He's always doing something around here to make it easier for me! :) Gotta love that! I have been hoping to catch you on line sometime, but you must be a busy girl! And when you get done putting all that stuff into place, I'm sure all you want to do is crash! I would for sure! Hopefully sometime soon!

TBJ...Glad the Adderal is working for you. Maybe the lack of appetite is a good side effect for you? Enjoy the tropical weather, though ok? Spring has sprung here in the Midwest, but nothing beats those tropical breezes!!!

Elisha...Keep on hangin on girl! Sometimes we have to do the things we don't like to do to make our jobs go smoothly. Sorry about the secretarial stuff for you! It could be worse! You could be scrubbing cast iron with a wire scrubby til you have no fingernails left! ;) The exercise doesn't sound too awfully bad. Maybe you can figure out how you can get in more without compromising your duties at home. For me, it's pure laziness when it comes to exercise. I just don't WANT to...and then when I finally do it, I feel so much better! What about getting that blood work done? Did you ever do that with your Dr. appt.? I still say maybe you are anemic or have mono?! This fatigue has gone on long enough for you! :hug:

Morning chickies!

I smashed my finger in a drawer while putting away dished here at work this morning, so my typing is a little slow today! You’ll have to forgive any typos! :lol:

Let’s see… yesterday was a good day. I did 30 minutes of Yourself!Fitness after work, plus the fitness evaluation at the beginning (I reset it). Lots of crunches, jumping jacks, squats, lunges, push-ups. Ergh. But I got a good workout, and I sweated buckets, so it’s all good. I drank over 100 oz of water yesterday, and calories came in around 1630. I did so well at dinner last night I had room in my calorie budget for a chocolate chip cookie and half a glass of skim milk. Yummy!

You would have been so proud of me at dinner last night. I ended up having 1 cup of whole wheat pasta (I measured!) with 3 oz. of turkey breast and 1.5 cups of mixed veggies in herbed tomato sauce. And it was a big plate of food! I almost thought I wouldn’t be able to finish it. But… yeah right, me, not finish something? It is to laugh. But anyway, it was very tasty, and healthy. I will have to buy more of those veggies.

The scale is down to 215.6 this morning. Yay! Moving in the right direction.

Ella and I went for a short walk this morning, only about half a mile. Oh, and I got a new pedometer, so now I can keep track of how far I’m going. I’ll do more exercising tonight.

I have to stop at the grocery store after work though. I’ve got my list made out, though I will probably adjust it during the day today to make it a bit healthier and more budget-conscious. I really want to save as much money as I can so that I can start my nutrition class. That, and I just want to prove that I am capable of saving money. :D

I found out this morning that I have to go to Salt Lake City for 3 days next month for work. I’m excited. I’ve never been there, but from what I’ve seen on tv it looks very pretty. I have to reschedule a few appointments, and I leave on Mothers Day, but that’s ok.

So I tried to call my doctor’s office this morning to #1, pay my bill, #2, refill my prescription (the one I called to get refilled 2 weeks ago that still hasn’t been taken care of), and #3, reschedule my appointment. I was on hold for…way too long. Granted, I didn’t have anything life-threatening going on, but how did they know that? No one should *ever* be on hold for that long at a medical facility. It was within normal business hours and everything.

Anyway…
My menu for today looks like this:
Breakfast:
1 c. coffee w/FF vanilla creamer
Breakfast burrito w/1 tortilla, ¼ c. LF shredded cheese, ½ c. egg beaters, green peppers, and onions
Cappuccino w/1/2 c. skim milk, 2 teas. chocolate coffee syrup, and coffee

Lunch:
Turkey sandwich: 2 sl. ww bread, 1 sl. Muenster, 3 oz. turkey breast
½ c. LF cottage cheese
1 c. fruit salad
1 sv. BBQ soy crisps (Have you tried those? They’re yummy!)

Snack:
Dried apricots

Dinner:
Dunno. Probably leftover whole wheat pasta and more turkey breast and some sort of veggie.

Julie: I'm planning to talk to my dr. about the fatigue next time I go in. I did have some blood work done in September, but they didn't test everything, just the basic stuff I guess. I'm borderline anemic, but I knew that, and I already supplement with iron. I'm also writing down my food intake, exercise, and water so I can show it to her and prove that I'm not just whining. ;)

Anyway, I need to get moving. Have a good day, chicks!
~Elisha

Calling ALL Chickies!!!!
 

Alright you chick-a-dees!!!! It's time to come out of hiding and report in! A new month is going to be here in just a few days, so it will be time for a MAY Challenge! Spring is here and I know that means busy times for many of us, but we need to help one another out and be supportive. I know I need it and I'm sure most of us do!

So....here's the challenge for the remainder of the month (that's through Sunday!)...Post once a day...let us all know you are comitted to this challenge board...and I want to hear one POSITIVE thing about your day!!! :)

OK...and for me...well I'm plugging along and NOT losing weight OR inches! I am tired of it and really, really, really want to make that change. Foot is still bothering me...arch supports or not! My back aches all the time! I'm not eating healthy and certainly not exercising to speak of (other than the exercise I get in my daily routine, which is more than some, but not as much as others!) So...I'm ready to start AGAIN and I would love to have all of you here to help me with this journey! PLEEEEEASE??!!!!

Chickies! Hellllooooooo? Anyone out there?

Well, yesterday was… eh. Water was good, as usual. Calories were around 1620. I didn’t exercise again after work, so all I had was my quick 12-minute walk with Ella before work. :(

I went grocery shopping after work and managed to buy ALL healthy stuff. And I only had to talk myself out of buying a few unhealthy things. I did buy some healthy stuff I don’t really need, but less than I wanted to buy, so it’s ok. I’ve got to make a trip to the other grocery store tonight, but it should be quick and I don’t have to get too much. Last night I didn’t get home until after 7:30 and by the time I had the groceries put away it was 7:45. I am out of my dried apricots I planned on eating for my afternoon snack yesterday (I usually keep some at work), so by the time I got home I was starving. I made myself ½ a LF cheese and tomato quesadilla and some cottage cheese salad for a quick dinner. Then I had a chocolate chip cookie just because I was stressed out and feeling crappy. Yes, I immediately solved my stress dilemma by turning to food. I know that is not the best idea and I need to come up with a better solution. At least I stayed within a reasonable calorie range and I limited myself to one cookie and did not let it turn into a binge. I cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned the cat box, got ready for bed, then laid there and read for a while.

I’m really trying to stop procrastinating so much. Like last night I was stressing about because the kitchen was a mess (it really wasn’t that bad, I was just feeling stressed in general, and that blew everything out of proportion). Anyway, I stopped and took a deep breath and washed the dishes, and I felt so much better. I did the same thing this morning. I just washed the dishes as soon as I was done with them, and now I know they won’t be there to stress me out when I get home.

So this morning I got up at 5:25. Not enough sleep. Steve sets the alarm on his cell phone for 10:00pm. Then he lays there and hits snooze for an entire hour. I’m trying to get him to stop doing that. Not only do you not get any quality sleep in those 9 minutes between alarms, but it makes it harder for your body to wake up and get moving even when you do eventually roll out of bed. Besides that, I usually go to bed at 10, and his alarm keeps me awake for an extra hour. Not fair! Maybe I should start calling him every few minutes when he goes to bed just so he can see how it feels! (I’m not going to do that, but it is amusing to think about.)

Anyway, I got up a 5:25 this morning. It rained all day yesterday and most of the night, so everything is wet, and it was downright cold when I took Ella out. So I didn’t go for a walk this morning. I got on the bike for 15 minutes instead. I admit that I did a rather half-hearted job of it though. I’m not too upset about that though, as #1 I fully intend to exercise when I get home, and #2 the whole point of getting on the bike was so that I make morning exercise a habit and it gets easier to do. And I figured some was better than none, which is what I really wanted to do.

So one of the things I bought at the store last night was LF vanilla soy milk. I made myself a cappuccino this morning with it. I thought it would be nice and healthy. Everyone’s toting the benefits of soy these days, you know.
Umm… can anyone say “disgusting?” It tasted like a big coffee-flavored fiber pill, and was almost as gritty. At first I thought perhaps it was because of the steam, or maybe it was just the foam on the top, or maybe I didn’t have it stirred up enough. So I kept stirring it up and taking another drink. It never got any better. In the end I dumped it out and poured myself a cup of regular coffee with a smidge of half and half (no FF vanilla creamer here at the office). As far as I’m concerned, the vegans can keep it! Maybe I will let Ella try a little bit on her food this evening.

Menu for today:

Breakfast:
2 c. coffee, 1 w/FF vanilla creamer, 1 w/ ½ and ½
2 frozen waffles
2 T. light syrup

Snack:
Banana

Lunch:
Turkey sandwich: 2 sl. WW bread, 3 oz. turkey breast, 1 sl. Muenster
1 c. cottage cheese salad: ½ c. LF cottage cheese w/cucumbers and tomato
1 mini Snickers to quell the chocolate-craving monster we refer to as ToM

Snack:
LF yogurt

Dinner:
Dunno. Lots of healthy food available though, so I’m sure I’ll find something.

Anyway, I’ve got a meeting to go to. Have a good day, chicks.
~Elisha