Good luck today Michele

Dagmar

Morning all,

I'm a bit stressed out today. Last night my dad called to tell me he's having troubles w/ his new boss. Dad's worked there for 20 years, new boss came in and let several long-term people go immediately, forced a few others out, and my dad has been told he'll be demoted if he stays and feels he must leave now. My mom works there, too, and new duties have been loaded on her and she's already stressed to the max. There's nothing I can do about it, esp. w them so far away, but it's very frustrating to see one's parents put in this position - they've given their lives to this place and are now being forced out. Financially it's especially bad with them retiring within the next 10 years, which I know worries them. On top of that it makes me worry about their health even more. Both parents are yo-yo dieters and mom in particular responds to stress and lack of sleep by eating. Dad is already on high BP & cholesterol meds. I don't know what I can do other than try to support them the best I can when they need an ear to listen, etc. Thanks for listening to me go on about it.

I'm stressed out about it but I'm not wanting to dive into the Christmas cookies that have shown up here at the office or anything.

One Christmas party and one birthday party to attend this weekend. I will eat a small meal with a big salad before I go to both, as I know food and alcohol will be prominent at both of them. I'm actually not looking forward to the Xmas party, not looking forward to the people or the food, sadly, but am obligated to make an appearance. May tell BF we might leave quickly. My choral concert's Christmas program is this weekend as well, so I'll stay pretty busy.

Michele, I'm sure you'll be fine today. Check in with us and let us know how it goes.

Pat, I hope you got some better rest last night. I tend to sleep more "with the sun" - definitely go to bed much earlier in the dark winter nights.

Dagmar, I hope DH is receptive to this conversation. Our relationships - with SOs, with our families, with our friends - often play a big part in how we're feeling about or dealing with food & exercise.

Who else has holiday parties to attend this weekend? Have a good Friday everyone.

Good morning all. I am seriously more tired today than I was yesterday - I think I hit Pat's wall. I felt pretty perky yesterday even after being at the hospital late Wed night - exercised in the morning before work, ran 5.2 miles at the park after work, buzzed around while DH was dozing last night cleaning the counters in the kitchen, watched a movie. Then this morning the alarm went off and wham. The wall. It took everything I had to get out of bed and I am barely staying focused right now. Whew.

Megan - that is a frustrating situation for your parents to be in, I'm sorry it is happening to them. I hate it when companies bring in new people who make sweeping changes. I know sometimes it improves efficiency, etc, but a lot of times it just makes people more stressed and less efficient.

Michele - good luck today.

Pat - my ex-uncle still makes the homemade nog. I miss it - when he and my aunt got divorced everyone in the family said "sorry about the divorce, will he still bring the egg nog to our Christmas party?" I think my aunt felt a little unloved for a minute. And I love the egg nog flavor, too, but hate that texture. Southern Comfort vanilla flavored was my favorite of the commercial ones, but I think I like this silk nog better overall.

Good day everyone!

Megan-- sorry to hear about your dad and their job situation. That is hard. I hope it gets resolved without too much hardship. My dh always stresses me out about his job as he is the primary breadwinner. He always talks about cutbacks and layoffs and I just keep praying!!

I went to bed okay but woke up at 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I am less nervous than I was last night. I'll check in once it is over.

Shannon-- how is your dh now?

Megan~so sorry to hear about your parents' jobs. I hope everything works out for them

Michele~good luck with the surgery. My FIL and one employee have had several cancerous lesions removed from their arms/legs/faces lately and all have been minor benign tumors that have healed up quickly.

Shannon~I hope you make it through the day. Sleepy when you wake up is the worst!

Last night DH and I went to a small party. It was a thank you to all the subcontractors that did a remodel close to our home. It was outside (mostly) and it was so cold! I didn't think it would be outside and I didn't wear a coat--just a light sweater. I was okay due to a few gas heaters, but they served frozen margaritas! Seriously, I had one and actually had to ask for additional tequila to melt it! Finally someone broke out a bottle of wine so I switched! It was a short party and they had some good food but I didn't eat much. One item was a vegetable burrito from a restaurant we go to often. It's not on their menu so we'll have to ask if they'll make it for us. It was sooooo good!

I got up early this morning and did a 2 mile walk/run which felt quite good. Now a day of work followed by a quick trip to a couple of stores so I can finish getting Christmas/Birthday presents in the mail this weekend.

Last Sunday my ex husband passed away, Yesterday I attended his funeral. From the time I heard that he probably wouldn't survive I wanted to eat anything that didn't move.I pretty much did, too. I didn't have any junk food in the house but spent a lot of time staring in the refrigerator and pantry. Lots of bread and butter and many glasses of milk. At the reception after the service I ate a medium size portion of pasta, no bread and no salad. Wouldn't want to ruin my diet by eating salad !!! LOL. I think I am ready to get back on plan, but this just shows me how important food becomes in stressful times.

Dagmar - good luck with the script. DH and I have opposing communication styles too -- I have to keep arguing until we reach some kind of resolution, but he prefers to walk away and clear his head. He starts to walk away, and I feel like, don't walk away from me! I'm talking to you! Don't give me the silent treatment! So it's really hard for me even though I know that he just works in a different way.

Michele, good luck!

Shannon, how is DH doing today? My aunt makes homemade egg nog too. To be honest, I prefer the "lite" egg nog that comes in the quart containers in the grocery store. I'm going to try to go without eggnog this year.

Megan, sorry to hear about your parents' job situation. I hope everything works out okay for them. I'm trying to remember what they do, I think you said they were teachers? Don't let your stress affect your plans for being OP at the holiday parties this weekend!

Allison, LOL about the margarita!

I can tell by the atmosphere at work today that people are starting to mentally check out for the holidays. We're trying to get a bunch of things done this week because basically next week people start going on vacations, so nobody will be thinking clearly again until about January 15! I've got one more week of work plus a couple days before my vacation starts.

BTW, I don't remember if I said so already or not, but the job shadowing program was pretty awesome! Even though I had to go in at 4:30am yesterday, it was good to talk to the night shift people since they have a different perspective. I think the biggest take-home I got from the visit was that if I ever have a baby, and I get discharged from the hospital in less than 48 hours, I need to absolutely make sure that they do the newborn screening before I leave! The tech had a sad story about a hospital that didn't do the screening because of an early release, and had the mom bring in the baby a couple days later for screening, and by the time the lab had gotten the card and processed it enough to discover that the baby had a major problem (which was fully treatable by switching to soy-based formula) the baby had already died. So ladies having babies, get them screened immediately!

Bargoo, we posted at the same time. I'm so sorry to hear about your ex-husband.

I worked at Apple Computer years ago, and my coworker Connie once pointed out something to me about computers and male mentality.

You know how the keyboard is essentially like a typewriter keyboard--letters and numbers, plus the Shift key and Return (Enter) key. Well, when computers came along, the developers (who were primarily men) needed more keys with names to reflect different functions. The first two keys with names that got added to the computer keyboard were Control and Escape. "And that sums up male psychology," Connie said, "If they can't control, then they escape."



Jay

Bargoo, I'm so sorry for your loss. We always seem to turn to simple carbs for comfort, don't we? We all know what a strong and determined person you are and know you'll be back on plan when the time is right.

Thinking of you today, Michele!

Jessica, I'm going to pass your message along to my pregnant DD. Great advice and something I wouldn't have thought of. Thank you!

Bargoo, sorry for your loss.

Jess, I wonder if the timing of the metabolic screen is regional. We do the initial one here in nm at 24 hrs and the follow up as an outpatient.

Hello everyone else! I'm reading along on my iPhone but it's too hard to do a lengthy post. Hope dh feels better soon Shannon.

LOL Jay!

Midwife, I think the requirements are different by state. According to the pamphlet they gave me, your baby should be tested before you go home from the hospital, but if they release you in the first 48 hours the baby has to come back for a second test within the first 5 days. I guess when they are less than 48 hours old some hormone and enzyme levels are funny and may show false positives. I looked up the law about it and it doesn't have a time limit, it just says "in a timely fashion" and "as early as detection is possible." The law doesn't actually say that they have to test before the baby leaves the hospital the first time, just that they have to test "in a timely fashion."

Bargoo-- I'm very sorry for your loss. I understand your wanting to turn to food. Last night when the doctor's office called and said I could come in for the surgery today, I immediately got nervous and wanted to eat!

I just got back from the surgery. Allison-- the spot was cancerous which is why I had to go back for the surgery. The surgery itself didn't hurt as they numbed the area, but the aftercare sounds terrible. I can't bathe for a couple of days (yuck!), I have stitches and the worst part is I CAN'T DO LEG EXERCISES FOR TWO WEEKS!! I had no idea. They said I can work out but the more I do, the worse the scarring will be. He suggested only upper body workouts. Any suggestions? I workout 6 days a week!! I am so bummed. I'm thinking that after a few days I can probably walk on the treadmill and just do upper body workouts? Dh does a crosstrainer that I think I might be able to do next week? I have to avoid stretching-- the surgery was on my thigh. I know I should be smart and just not exercise but I want to do what I can so I don't gain weight through December!!

Morning! It's another cold morning (-4F) and foggy as well (the river is open water so we often have fog). The frozen fog on the trees is really pretty though.

Bargoo - so sorry to hear of your loss. Made me realize that since we didn't have kids to keep us in touch whether I'd hear of my ex-DH's passing. I'd hope some people who are still in touch with both of us would let me know. We were divorced in 1971 however, so maybe not.....

I was supposed to be off work all of next week. Well, first there was our regular Monday morning meeting that I need to be at. And then I have a haircut at 12:30, and now someone wants to have a meeting at the ice arena at 3. Grrr. Then Tuesday is the regular monthly meeting of all the local librarians and it's the Christmas potluck/gift exchange so I'll come for that (but it's not at my building, so I will not be sucked into work things). THen on Wed I'm going to a rescheduled lunch with two of my fellow directors (we call ourselves the Community Divas - directors of Community Services (me), Community Development and the Special Asst to the City Manager who is the community liasion person) So my week off will essentially more free time with a little work, as opposed to my normal work with a little free time. My swimming classes start Tues night, so I'll be busy with that as well.

That's most men I know! My DH is much like Jessica's - given to the silent treatment. Sometimes I don't know if he's upset with me or something else in his life. That's less so since he's been retired.

Megan - DH and I worked for the same place for about 4 years, and it did worry me that if something happened with one of us what the other would do. As it was, I had real issues with a new supervisor and once she started, I looked for another job. TOok me almost a year, but I ended up leaving and DH stayed (she was not his supervisor). Don't know that there is much you can do for your folks except listen.

Well, I'm behind on the thread again! Maybe next week I'll keep on top of it!

Michele, I hope you heal quickly! I'd stick w/ your doc's advice not to work your legs - keep the scars to a minimum - two weeks isn't SOO long if you're doing upper body stuff. Can you do swimming? It's really low impact.

Bargoo, sorry to hear about your loss.

Dagmar, good luck on talking to your DH. I haven't been married, but my most recent boyfriend (who I finally broke things off with) and I also had some major issues with communication so I know a little bit where you're coming from.

Megan, sounds like a pretty awful situation for your parents at work. My father ended up retiring early when a new company took over the one he worked for and basically demoted him (well, wanted to slash his salary).

Jessica, your job shadowing experience sounds really neat! Also - good info for some day in the future (hopefully a number of years into the future) about newborn screening!

I'm off for a quick jog - I am running in a half marathon on Sunday and I am NOT ready. I haven't been running in almost 2 weeks because I've been sick. Luckily I'm doing it with a group to raise money for the AZ cancer center, and I think I'll be able to keep up with their intervals, I'm certainly not trying to be competitive here - if not, there's also a group of walkers I can always fall back and finish with.

Then tonight I'm going out to dinner and to see Handel's Messiah performed by the Tucson symphony orchestra... very excited, as much because of the great guy who is taking me as for the music! (I need a blushing smiley).