Carla - I hope your stomach is better. Good luck on the interview today. That's funny about John starting to have second thoughts. You are so right though - it's not indentured service and if it doesn't work out you can leave.
I had a nice loss this week - I lost 1.2 pounds. I had a pretty good weekend - Tony and I had a great dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant for our anniversary and while I had more wine than I planned, I didn't do badly. Earlier that day, we finally put my spinning bike together. I did about 20 minutes on it and boy, was it a good workout. Yesterday, we were at my parents for brunch. Some of my mom's cousins were there including one cousin from Israel who I haven't seen in about 20 years. She had "appetizing" - bagels, lox, whitefish salad, etc. - all yummy and not too, too bad but very salty.
I decided that I am taking Wed - Fri off this week. I'm using vacation that I would have taken off around Christmas week but I have no intention of being at this job by then. Originally, I was going to just take Friday off so Tony and I could catch up in the garden but this morning I decided to make it a very, very long weekend. I plan on churning out more resumes and cover letters to school districts on Wednesday. I was planning on sending out a bunch yesterday but we didn't get home from my parent's house until almost dinner time.
Carla - good luck with your interview! Hope your tum is okay.
Judy - Congratulations on a great loss! That's really terrific. I use a spinning bike at the gym once in a while, definitely a good workout. I think it's great that you're taking some "you" time later this week. You're taking some important steps in determining your future!
It's a holiday here today - Victoria Day, after Queen Victoria from way back when. The weather is beautiful today after a huge thunderstorm last evening. Mike and I have been working in the garden all weekend, digging out the terrible soil in a front flower bed and replacing it with good topsoil. Whoever built the house buried all their construction waste under a three inch coating of topsoil.
Carla, I too will add my best wishes on the interview today. You are right if you two decide it is not worth it for you to work, it is just a job. Mike and I are some how making it work with me being at home, but our list of things to do and buy once I go back to work is always growing.
Judy, congratulations on your loss!!! I see you are almost at your 10, way to go. And Happy Anniversary.
Karen, Enjoy your holiday! What is a spinning bike? I am jealous of you working in the yard. Our snow is finally gone ( in fact I a sitting here in a too tight pair of shorts) but I won't be doing much yard work this year, since most of my "yard" is going to be part of our building site.
I am waitting for the building department guy to come out today and give us the okay to start taking down the trees. My friends and I are planning a big picnic for our little boys the day the trees come down and the crane man comes and lifts the trees onto the truck. Lots of large machines are planned for that day and our Tonka loving boys are really excited.
Talk to all of you soon, Anne
PS my sneak peek isn't looking to good. Lots of water needs to go in today.
Judy - Congrats on a great loss and Happy Anniversary. Sounds like you had a nice weekend. And good for you for taking a nice long weekend. It will be good to get some more resumes out and then to have some time to do what you want. Have fun on the spinning bike.
Karen - Enjoy your day off! How icky that all that construction waste is buried in your yard. Appparently whoever built the house wasn't really into gardening.
Anne - Little boys and big machines - what a great day that will be for them. Refresh my memory - what are you having done? I'll be joining you in drinking that water.
I had a so-so weekend. My tummy is still off, but unfortunately that didn't help the salty/sweet cravings - major PMS. I need to remember that soul searching session I had a couple of weeks ago. I also need to hop back on the bike. Big challenge coming up this weekend - we decided to get away and we're going to Seattle. Why Seattle? Because it was the one place that interested us for which we were able to get decent last-minute fares. We fly out Saturday morning and come back in the very early a.m. on Wednesday. So it will be meals out. Luckily, those will be counteracted with a lot of walking. And our hotel has a fitness center, so I'll bring my workout clothes. And now for a couple of errands and then I have to get ready for my interview. Thanks for all your well wishes.
Karen B - Happy (belated) Victoria Day. I envy you the work you and Mike have been doing in the garden. It sounds like you have been getting quite a strength workout! Tony and I have yet to start - it's been so cold and rainy. We have plans to go to the garden center on Friday though.
Anne - I hope you guzzled a bunch of water yesterday. What's going on with the trees - did I miss something? Are you clearing more of a backyard? A picnic sounds like a lot of fun.
Carla - wow - that's great that you are getting away. Seattle is lovely although I was there quite a long time ago. Good for you for packing some workout clothes. I think it would be a great idea to try to remember that soul searching session, especially with all the meals out coming up. Do you think you can bank some points between now and the weekend? Maybe you can pick one dinner over the weekend that is you "special" meal - try to count points and stay OP for all the others and then have whatever you want for that one. I haven't been *totally* successful using that strategy in the past but have done better than if I didn't have a strategy at all! I hope the interview went well.
I had a pretty good day yesterday. I managed to bank a couple of points - I think I've hit on something that really helps me in the evening. I do better if my snacks consist of fruit, popcorn and a protein - last night I had some watermelon (first of the season) and then some lite popcorn. I wanted something else so I decided to have a little bit of lite ricotta. The protein seemed to have really held me - I didn't crave anything else. I think the low-fat, but sweet junky foods really just make me crave more so I am going to try to stick to "whole foods" - real stuff and try to make it heavy on the protein.
Half a day left and then I am free for 6 days! Of course, tomorrow and Thursday won't be that leisurely - pumping out the resumes and checking into the enrollment dates for spring!
We are adding on a garage this summer. In Tahoe you are only allowed to cover a percentage of the land on your property. It has taken us over 2 years to finally work it out with all of the agencies that we do have enough coverage for a garage. (I am so tired of shoveling snow off of my car, and since it is a van I never do get it off of the top). Today they are taking down 9 big pine trees. Some will be harvested for the lumber mill and the rest we will burn to help cut down our winter heatting costs. They have to bring in a crane for the trees that are being harvested. It finally feels like this project is getting moving.
Carla, enjoy Seattle. We went a few summers ago, it is beautiful. They have a great zoo, you might want to look into that for Anna. We also took the ferry over to one of the islands and had a nice hike, though I was hoping to bike ride it. Good luck with the food and let me know what succeeds, since we have a few weekend trips planned for summer.
Judy, I like your suggestion for a protein snack, I will have to try it tonight. Enjoy your super long weekend.
I drank a ton of water yesterday, but woke up with a horrible headache today. So I am not to sure how things will go today. Water will be my top priority again today.
The power company should be here any moment to move my lines for the big chop down today. Take care, Anne
Judy - I will definitely keep that strategy in mind. What usually helps me when we go away like that is that we typically eat a decent breakfast mid-morning and end up not needing lunch and then having an early dinner. One less meal to be tempted by. Good job hitting on your snacking strategy. I find protein helps stop the cravings so much.
Anne - It will be good to have a garage. I remember how happy we were when bought the house to not have to scrape snow and ice off the car in the winter. Of course, now we have two cars and only a one car garage, so we're back to scraping. What a lot of hoops you had to jump through to get the garage up! I hope your headace goes away soon.
I had an ok day yesterday. The cravings seem to be subsiding as they usually do just before TOM, so I should do better with snacking today. Now I'll just have to contend with birthday cake tomorrow, but it will be a small one and I should do fine.
Carla - glad to hear that the snacking is on the wane. I alway find midcycle awful for that too. Something about ovulating makes me lose any form of portion control or perspective about eating healthy. You'll love Seattle - it's almost as great as Vancouver.
Anne - sounds like you get lots of snow! The garage will be a godsend to you. Good for you for getting all that water in, and hope your headache is history! I'll bet the boys loved seeing the trees come down.
Judy - I was going to go to the garden centre yesterday afternoon...I actually drove there, saw that there were 13 million people there, and turned around and went home. I like long leisurely garden centre visits with no one around. I'll have to try your protein snack idea and see if it works. I think I'll implement it mid afternoon, as I'm not an evening muncher. By 3 pm I could eat my desk at work, even if I have a good lunch.
I didn't have the best day today...no exercise, not enough water, and I just felt like a slug...must be from all the energy I exerted on the weekend. I vow to do better tomorrow!
Karen - I'm looking forward to Seattle. I've only been there once and it was on business, so I didn't see much more than the inside of a bank. We actually were hoping to get to Canda, but since we decided to go at the last minute, the fares were way too expensive. But soon.
I didn't weigh in today. I'm retaining water - again - and my boobs feel like watermelons. I think I'll weigh on Saturday morning and then next Thursday ( I don't want to weigh right off the plane) and take it from there. And now off to buy some b-day presents for Ana. We were going to get her a bike, but her uncle wants to do that, so I'll have to go to Target and figure out Plan B.
Anne - I hope the trees came down OK. I'll bet the boys loved it. Yes, I'm close to my 10 - it seems a hurdle I can never quite get over but I hope this week is the week I do it.
Carla - Happy Belated Birthday to Ana. I'm sorry I didn't get on to wish her one yesterday. Glad to hear that the craving are subsiding. Can you freeze any left over cake?
Karen - I think a protein snack around 3 would do wonders. We're scheduled to go to the garden center tomorrow although with the darn rain I'm wondering when we will get to plan anything! It should be less of a zoo than on the weekend but I think it will still be pretty crowded.
I got off about 20 resumes yesterday which felt good. I have some more I want to send today although I also want to relax a bit too. The good news is that I have an interview tomorrow - not for a school - I wish it was for that - it's at a place I applied to for what they call a marketing coordinator - it sounds more like an administrative/clerical kind of job supporting the marketing department. It's for a good company though - they make heart rate monitors - I have one of theirs. They are on Long Island - about 20 minutes away I think. The salary cut would be enormous but probably not as bad as if I took a teaching assistant position. Anyway, my interview is in the morning. We'll see what happens. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I'm planning on having a talk with my boss and his boss to see if I can wangle a severance package out of them - I figure in the position I'm in there isn't much of a downside.
I didn't do so well last night - major sweet/salty cravings - I went over my max and used some banked points. I'm not in a deficit but my rings are tight today - so I'm planning on tons of water, getting on the bike and taking my own advice about protein snacks for later tonight!
Judy - You may be at your interview right now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Good work getting out all those resumes. I'll also keep my fingers crossed that you get a severance package. The b-day cake we had for Ana was small, so leftovers aren't a problem.
We were delighted to discover that there is a Bolivian restaurant in Seattle, in Pike's Place market. So we know where we'll be eating at least a couple of times. We plan on doing a lot of walking, but I'll still pack my workout clothes in case the weather doesn't cooperate.
Weigh in at home 5/19 - 5/25
, or a reasonable facsimile.
