Happy new year, folks! I too am back at work today (in the office, as opposed to at home like I was Monday), and feeling like it ought to be Monday. OTOH I'm glad there are only a couple more days before the weekend!
We got a camcorder for Christmas (intended use: baby videos) and immediately took a video of Carter running around in the snow at the park. Here it is for those who are interested. He loves to run when the snow is really deep, and while he's running he'll take a big mouthful of snow and toss it in the air!
Get well soon to all the sick folks. DH is still coughing up a lung, and I'm still pretty much fine. We have no idea how he managed to get sick and not me. The only difference between us is that I had a Tdap booster shot this year and he didn't, so maybe it's some kind of very mild adult variety of pertussis? (He was vaccinated as a child but no boosters.) Either that or just a very long-lived common cold which consists entirely of coughing and nothing else. He's been coughing for about 10 days now -- usually colds only last 3-4 days for him.
Saef, yes, if you do the same thing on New Year's every year, it is a tradition! (I hesitate to call it a tradition for my family to fight about food safety and when to take the roast out of the fridge on Christmas every year, but it kind of is.)
Megan, yes, exercise definitely can have an effect on your mood. Maybe some more time running with your dog is called for?
Dagmar, I bet that it just slipped their mind with all of the other things they had to remember about moving!
Jessica, be super careful about you catching whatever bug is going around. Has DH seen a doctor, seems like a long time for a cough to last ?
I well remember going with my mother to get our flu shots, I also got the pneumonia shot, she refused the pneumonia shot. Guess who ended up in the hospital with pneumonia ? She got the shot the following year !
Bargoo, thanks, we are being careful but at this point it's been long enough that if I haven't caught his cold by now I'm not going to. We have both been washing our hands a lot, etc. I had a flu shot this year in addition to the Tdap booster, and have had boosters for a bunch of other vaccines the past few years so I feel like I'm relatively safe from all of the serious things that may go around. If he's not better by the end of the week we'll schedule him to go to the doctor in case it's some kind of bronchitis or something.
Megan, I'll offer additional testimony to the efficacy of exercise as a mood booster. When I head off to spin class at 5:45 AM on Mondays & Wednesdays, I am usually tired, irritable and anxious, often overwhelmed by the day ahead of me. At some point about halfway through the class, the endorphins kick in. I can actually feel my mood clear. It's like I finally poked my head out of some kind of hole that I'd drawn into, and I smell the clean fresh air. Everything ahead of me seems manageable. And this lasts for a while afterward. I usually walk home amazed at the difference in my attitude. And it goes well beyond just checking off something on the day's to-do list.
I'm back in our Connecticut office today, and glad to get an email apology from the analyst who put me through so much grief on the day after Christmas. A public apology, as it were, because he copied his manager and another analyst on the email.
My annoyance for today is running a meeting that my boss told me to call today, though I wanted to wait until next week, when the holidays will most definitely be over. Of six people who could have attended, only two will be there. The others are still out of the office. Since the meeting was called to brainstorm and get buy-in, this is not going to be an effective meeting. Oh, well ...
Oh, and today I had the awkwardness of being part of a group of people discussing "Django Unchained" with great fervor and hilarity within earshot of a coworker who lives in Newtown and who finally, after nearly three weeks away, has come back to the office to work. I think I'm the only person in the group who realized what was happening and I finally managed to edge everyone away, down the hall to get coffee, rather than standing near that person's desk. I do feel a little guilty. Yes, I liked the movie, with all its theatrical vengeance-taking. But no, of course, I don't condone gun violence and I certainly don't think my coworker should have to listen to people enthusing about all the bloodstains. Tarantino is Tarantino, what can I say? Art is amoral, that's how it works.
Good plan, Jessica. When I was pregnant with DS1 I developed a cough, couldn't shake it, somebody said I wouldn't get rid of that cough until the baby was born, I had that darn cough quite awhile. He was born back in the prehistoric era when newborns were kept in the nursery and only brought into new mamas room for nursing, I had to wear a mask every time he was brought in. The cough did go away soon after, though.This was my experience , don't know if other pregnant moms have had the same .
DH showed me the coolest thing last night. Instead of sitting down in front of yet another reality or cop show we hooked the computer up to the TV and watched music videos on the big screen. We rambled all over the place on Utube and I am now a fan of Townes Van Zandt and Ceelo Greene, etc. We spent about 2 hours doing this together and it was interesting and much more dynamic than slumping in front of the TV.
DH made us each a bowl of fresh pomegranate seeds and frozen blueberries so our snacking was healthy too! I think DH might finally be fed up with being fat and this is his start to losing weight.
He did mention "Slimband" surgery but I know we can't afford that. I keep telling him it is possible to develop impulse control and willpower - you just have to consciously exercise it every day. Like going for a walk.
I figure if I keep repeating the word walk to him he might get out there 2-3 times a week and do that.
Morning all,
I felt very virtuous yesterday for ignoring the homemade cookies someone brought into the office and eating my planned healthy food & snacks. Unfortunately, they didn't all get eaten, and we have a staff meeting with food in a few minutes. I'll have to be even more virtuous today. It is rainy, chilly, and blech here. I'm armed with a new box of decaf tea, healthy snacks, and the intention to suit up and jog with the dog after work barring total downpours. Or work out inside in the case of the downpours.
There has got to be an app for this. I want to keep track of a) yoga workouts and b) all workout days over the year, and be able to pull out monthly "reports" if I want to. At least # of days of yoga, and # of days of exercise logged. I've started using the free myfitnesspal app over the last six months or so and while I can log exercise, I don't think (?) I can pull out a "report", only scroll back day by day to see what I've done. I could make a paper log, or an excel spreadsheet, but I'd like to minimize the # of times I enter my exercise, y'know? Anyone have any app ideas for the ipad that might be more helpful? I've also started using the ipad calendar to log my events, but again, short of logging exercise as an "event", I don't think I can pull it out to get a final report, just scroll back through.
Dagmar, I did inform my BF that I am trying to tighten up, I partied too much last year, and he shouldn't be surprised if I don't want to just go to the bar every weekend. He hears, but does he listen? We'll see. He is truly supportive most of the time, but we will keep trying with our less healthier halves. Frozen pomegranate & blueberry sounds delicious.
Saef, one coworker apologizes, another makes silly demands... I still think the voodoo dolls are a good idea. Good for you for realizing the awkwardness/inappropriateness of the movie conversation and moving it down the hall.
Jessica, hope DH recovers soon. I forgot to comment the other day when you mentioned Carter follows you into the bathroom. Emma does the same thing. BF calls her "my little stalker". Perhaps. But she's so cute about it.
Megan~my DD uses Endomondo for tracking her exercise. I believe it has GPS built into it, so if you're out for a wog, it will track your distance as well as time. Google it. It is a free app. And if you're on FB, it'll post your exercise there (if you should desire).
Yesterday's work was crazy busy! I felt that I crammed three day's worth of work into the morning and the afternoon was just as busy! Today will be much slower and more normal. But we did get the whole check list of items to do for the building done (or at least started--some things are now dependent on others).
Megan, I have logged my workouts with MapMyRun/MapMyRide/MapMyFitness (they're all really one site with different access points). They have an app that's pretty straightforward to use. I've only used the app for logging walks/runs (it ties to your GPS and gives you time, distance, map, pace, etc.) but I believe you can log anything into it.
I'm also part of the general movement toward virtuous behavior. Last night after dinner, even though the trash TV looked intriguing -- a reality show about ministers and "first ladies," the term used for their wives -- I went to bed with a book and read for an hour before turning the lights off and trying to get more sleep. I still woke unwillingly on a chilly morning after the coldest night of the year since last January. Did I mention that my mother & I successfully shut off the radiators in my apartment, and now it's gone from overheated to cold? I've gone from sweating in a t-shirt to wearing fleece indoors and drinking lots of hot tea and decaf coffee on my work-from-home days to stay warm. On the whole, though, I'd rather be cold than too warm.
Megan, I don't do any logging other than here in the thread devoted to movement. That's my accountability. (Accountability is not actually my problem.) Perhaps because I work in a firm obsessed with statistics and charts and spreadsheets and prognostication, I just flat-out refuse to do that stuff in my home life. I have used MapMyRun out of curiosity, to see what the distance is, since I'm more accustomed to going by time spent in classes & on machines than on distance.
Dagmar, you've reminded me that I've got two pomegranates in my fridge that have gotten a bit shriveled. They keep very well so I tend to overkeep them. I really ought to put them in a bowl of water & cut them up tonight. I love the arils but hate the mess & stained fingernails.
saef My DH is a good man with a chef's knife - he worked a couple of summers through university as a short order cook and still retains good knife skills. He is Mr. Pomegranate and Mr. Mango preparer. I haven't the patience to deal with the pom's arils and any mango I try to pit and skin turns into a big puddle of goo.
I can peel and core a pineapple. Ditto avocado but there my skills end. DH shudders whenever he sees me doing anything with the big knife (I'm left-handed and apparently that looks "all wrong" to him).
If you dunk the pomegranate in water in the sink or a bowl and extract the arils that way, you don't stain your fingers. I don't know who told me to watch YouTube to learn how to do that, but it really works. Otherwise, I'd wear disposable gloves that I keep on hand for messy things like rolling meatballs.
I reminded myself yesterday how much I like coffee at work with my Nutrisystem protein powder added to it. It really staved off the hunger yesterday, so I'm repeating today.
I don't know if DD will be home tonight for dinner and if she is, I have no idea what to fix. I suppose we could finish the leftover lasagna, but I don't know if it is enough for five. I have a dentist appointment this afternoon, so I'll check with her before that and if need be, I'll stop at the store. Grilled chicken actually sounds the best to me right now.
Yesterday was the first day in WEEKS where I didn't eat candy, though I did eat like 600 calories worth of cocoa dusted almonds - which I probably "needed" fat/protein-wise, as all I ate the rest of the day was salad, more salad, cooked greens, a Fage 2% Greek yogurt and about 3 oz of steak. And an orange before bed, because at the end of the day I can't not eat carbs.
MapMyRun is a pretty neat app, but there's no point since there's no running to be done anywhere but on the hamster wheel until at least March. ;___; I hate living in the Northeast in winter.
"cocoa dusted almonds" are evil. I fell into a can of those once and didn't stop til the can was empty. Ought to be against the law.
I schlepped to the gym bundled to the hilt this morning - to serve time on the stationary bike. At times I quit reading and watched the soundless TV's on the wall with the little signs that say what FM frequency to tune to. But even the ads are better without sound. I make up my own dialog as the TV flashes pictures of serious congressmen walking down some stairs - my dialog couldn't be broadcast under FCC rules, LOL. But it keeps me spinning.
Hi all,
back to normal eating! I actually enjoy feeling healthy more than I enjoy the flavor of the candies. Best wishes to you all for a brilliantly maintained 2013.
Good for you for realizing the awkwardness/inappropriateness of the movie conversation and moving it down the hall. 
