I fought the man and the man won

What is it with utility companies? Could they possibly care any less about people?

I have no gas service at the moment and I told my ghetto gas company to f* off. Sure, I paid my bill but apparently I paid it the day before it was scheduled to be disconnected and there is a 24 window where they can still cut you off. Glad they let the customer know that! The reason it was scheduled to be disconnected? Because I had a carry over balance from last month of $3.95 because of the $4.95 fee they charge you to make a freaking payment. My entire bill was only $50 and they still shut it off. Then they tell me they can't reconnect it because I've had a disconnection. That is when swore at the woman and hung up.

I open up a Corona Light and call another gas marketer to set up new service. When can they come to turn it on? Monday. As in 6 days from now. Okay fine so when can they be there? Between 8 and 4 of course. Now I have to deal with my boss to work that out which he just this moment emailed me and said I could work from home. Thank goodness for that. Must have caught him in a good mood!

Not only is my husband out of the country for all of this but my best friend is coming to stay for 4 days and I have no hot water.

There is a little light at the end of this story. I called my mom and told her we are coming up there for the weekend and if I could please use her shower. Obviously she's more than happy to have us and I don't know why I didn't think of that even before this happened! I was worried about what we were going to do all weekend that didn't involve over eating and over drinking. At least in the mountains we can get tons of exercise and eat some good healthy mom food. Also, I only had half a beer, a salad with rotisserie chicken and a chocolate chip cookie in my fit of rage. That could have been a whole lot worse! The best news of all? They gym has nice hot showers and I will be going to take advantage of that after a sweat flying workout for the rest of the week.

I can't thank all of my blog friends enough for your comments yesterday. I will happily rely on your help during my time without my husband and I so appreciate all of your suggestions. I'm working on my plan for the week which I will post tomorrow to keep myself accountable. It seems like if I enter everything on the ww site ahead of time, it's easier for me to stick to it. I don't like to add any food or delete any exercise :)

Another successful weekend

Happy to report that I managed another successful weekend and still had fun. I think I'm getting the hang of this although I was much more hungry this weekend than I have been. I blame that on pms and in a perfect world, that will all be over by weigh in Wednesday! I did over do it on the drinking but so far that hasn't shown up on the scale so maybe all the exercise has once again allowed me to splurge a little in the alcohol department.

Saturday we got up and walked a mile each way to our coffee place with the dogs instead of my usual sitting in front of the TV drinking coffee. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning and not a struggle at all to do the walk. I'm no longer afraid of exercise and that's a huge accomplishment for me! We did quite a bit of sweaty yard work and gardening too.

This week is going to be a bit of a challenge. Starting Wednesday I'm husband-less for a week. He's going to Scotland which was supposed to be a trip for both of us until the pay cut happened. When I booked the ticket I felt okay about it but I'm getting really sad as the time draws closer. He needs to go see his mom after losing his dad this past October so I guess I need to be happy that at least one of us can go. I would just love a vacation with my husband and I try to keep sane by telling myself this is a temporary situation.

I HAVE to keep control while he is away. I really enjoy my alone time but in the past have used it as an opportunity to eat disgusting amounts of food. I'm not going to be able to go to the gym at all since I have to get home to walk the dogs but I can make that a good workout if I really try! Writing this just now has made me realize I need to have a plan. I will work on that today!

I'm looking forward to a run tonight and the last few nights of my sweet husbands company. I hope everyone has a happy, successful week ahead!

Pavolv's Fat Girl

Last night after dinner we were sitting on the couch catching up on some shows and the oven timer went off. I immediately jumped up and thought "COOKIES!" until I realized I had just accidentally left it on. I guess that goes to show me how often I made cookies during dinner which would result in eating the entire pan in one night. I found it extremely funny how a simple sound could trigger a reflex like that. Maybe that will be the case forever or maybe I will eventually think "BRUSSELS SPROUTS" when I hear the beep.

I took the night off from exercise last night and it felt good to have a rest after 3 days in a row. We took the dogs for a nice walk and it's amazing how much my endurance has improved. I barely broke a sweat on our usual route which almost killed me a few months ago. I'll be pounding away on the treadmill again tonight. I hope I have more energy than I did on Wednesday night. I think sometimes we are just "off".

This weekend is supposed to be sunny for the first time in forever and I plan on making the most of it! We don't have too many social obligations aside from a baby shower so I plan on getting a ton of exercise and some good sunshine.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

How much did she lose this week?

This really creepy Stewie costume

-2.8 pounds!

but wait, there's more!

Because I didn't go to my regular meeting last week, I got this when I stepped on the scale just to weigh in on Friday....


we celebrated that at the meeting today and I got another gold 5.

I have lost 15.4 pounds now on Weight Watchers and I still don't feel deprived. Sure I've given up some portions, some snacks and some drive-thrus but nothing is really off limits and that is obviously the key to my long-term success.

This big loss just proves to me that I was right about it being time to push myself harder on the exercise front. I think I can safely say I've moved from wogging to jogging and maybe even running at times. Last night I did 14 minutes out of 35. Tonight I will try to do 15 out of 40 and my plan is to slowly work my way up to a solid hour with most of that being running.

I feel like a million bucks right now. I could go on and on today but I'm simply going to say thanks to all my blog friends who have been so helpful and supportive on this journey. It's getting better every day!!!

Weekend recap - Success!

Hang on to your hats kids. This may be my first ever successful 3 day weekend...and I had fun too!

On Friday morning I decided that I would go to a meeting at Weight Watchers to make me strong for the weekend. Even though I weighed in, I wasn't able to get to my usual meeting on Wednesdays. I got a nice surprise on the scale too. I will go into that on Wednesday so stay tuned!

Since it was the start of the holiday weekend, my husband and I both got out of work early and were able to go to the gym together! It was so nice for a change and I was so proud of myself for sticking to my wogging plan even though it was Friday night. I wogged 13 minutes out of 30. 5 minutes continuous. I hope to improve on this everytime. Hooray for the wogging and I'm so glad there are so many others doing it too! Maybe one day we'll be able to actually call it running!

There's a new Fresh Market that is right by the gym so we went there to pick up some dinner. My husband got rotisserie wings and I got some sushi. That place is incredible and will probably make me go to the gym even more!

The rest of the weekend was full of social obligations and I enjoyed some great things like margaritas, lasagna, beer, pizza and even some dessert. Just A LOT less of it. I didn't snack much aside from some microwave popcorn on Friday.

Exercise over the weekend was not purposeful but we had so many projects planned that involved sweat dripping work, I knew I could get away with not going to the gym. Let me tell you that Biggest Loser Yoga has nothing on replacing a garbage disposal. I was more sore from doing that than any workout I've ever done! We also made a new shade garden in the front yard which involved lots of shoveling and hauling and lifting. Again I was literally soaked through with sweat.

Things are definitely changing. I'm learning more about myself than ever and I owe so much of it to this blog. It helps me notice patterns in my successes and failures and both give me knowledge to keep going. I will dive into some of these things throughout the week.

In the meantime, this post is ridiculous long and I want to go catch up on y'alls weekends. Hope everyone had a good one!!

And I ran, I ran (not) so far away...

Remember that song from the 80's? Flock of Seagulls have not aged well.

I ran last night for about 5 minutes out of 30. Well it was really a wog (which is a MizFit word I love!) It was SO hard. I was sweating like a fool. Luckily there weren't many people around me! I'm always afraid that when I have my Ipod on I'm breathing too loudly. I know I already look like a fool with fat and sweat flying everywhere but I don't want to draw attention to myself gasping for air.

At first I didn't think my ankles were going to cooperate with this new idea of running. My first attempt scared me a little so I slowed back down to a walk but then I tried it again at a slower pace and I was fine. It's going to take some work to make them strong again. They still feel a little wobbly at times.

My husband and I are going to go to the gym tonight together if we both get out of work around the same time. I'm looking forward to that! By July I would like to be ready to do a spin class which is another fun thing we could do together. By then it will be too hot to be outside for exercise!

The weekend will be pretty low key and I'm planning on staying in control of my eating and getting plenty of exercise. I've dipped into some extra points already this week and I'm going to have to be careful. It's really too bad it's supposed to be cloudy again! Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

How much did she lose this week?

A men's Asics Shoe.
-.8 pounds!

I was happy to have lost anything this week. It's been so hectic and lots of social obligations. I had wine and some appetizers with my girlfriends on my street last night and wasn't out of control. I guess it helped that there was constant talking and laughing. My husband said the dogs were going nuts because I was across the street but they could still hear me. Needless to say, whenever I drink I tend to gain a ton but obviously my exercise this week has paid off.

Tomorrow night after work I have an appointment with the treadmill to start this running thing. I don't usually go to the gym on Thursday nights but it's time to start. Also Thursday is the worst traffic day so I might as well wait some to sit in the worst of it.

I THINK I've almost outgrown my water aerobics class. I may go some this summer just to cool off but it will have to be in addition to a more strenuous workout. It's starting to feel easy. Once again getting comfortable!

So this (not as) fat girl has dove in and is now crawling back up on land. Sounds like I'm evolving :)

Digging Deep

As I've probably mentioned, I've been listening to the all the archives of Jillian Michael's podcasts and she talks a lot about digging deep. Someone elses blog mentioned that recently too and if I had a memory left, I'd link to you. Whoever you are, I get it now.

I've given this a lot of thought and I'm realizing that's what's missing right now and what needs to the next step for me. Physically, mentally, and professionally. I've gotten too comfortable since I got married (oh and gained 60 lbs.) I have pushed myself in the past (lost 100 pounds, graduated from an expensive art school on my own dime etc.) and I don't have any idea why I stopped doing that. I guess settling into marriage is a lot like settling down on the couch at the end of a long day. Once you get comfortable, there's no getting up to work out :)

I'm going to really work on this. Today I applied for an executive level job which I know I can do but it's going to be hard work. Professionally and mentally, that's a really big step and I would LOVE to get an interview.

The physical part is going to be harder. I'm doing my workouts, I just need to dig deeper and find the strength within myself to make the sweat fly. I know that's what it takes because I've done it before. I never worked out less than an hour when I lost 100 pounds but now that's become acceptable to me and I kick and scream about why I can't even lose a pound a week.

It's time I work towards what I want to be. I've been moving backwards on the pay scale and the bathroom scale. Since I'm not having any kids, I might as well break out of my comfort zone and shoot for the moon as far as my career goes. I might have to dress up and be all corporate again but at least then I could afford a some new clothes and a trainer to go with them :)

A good karma story

People are always telling me I'm way too nice and while sometimes that bites me in ass, it sometimes results in great things happening to me in return :)

I went to a neighborhood garden fair with my sister and a friend. Walter Reeves, the Southern Gardener, was giving a talk and was really interesting! Our friend really wanted to go but didn't want to spend the money for a $10 ticket so I paid for her ticket and gave my sister the remaining $5 I had to buy us 6 raffle tickets. She gave us each 2 and I almost forgot about it until the end when they were doing the drawing.

BOTH my tickets won prizes! They had some gorgeous things donated by local businesses to support the Garden Club. Here's what I won:

This gorgeous planter with a 'Flapjack' succulent (Kalanchoe thyrisflora) This stands about 2 feet high.


And Kate Spade sunglasses! Totally awesome. I've never had expensive sunglasses before and these were FREE! :) Even though it was a horrible rainy day, this little surprise cheered me up a little.

I was really down again on Sunday. So much so that I didn't want to go to the movies and sit in a dark theater. Even though it was raining (again), I felt like I needed to get some things done around the house. That turned out to be a good idea because I took my frustrations out on the linen closet. Nothing makes me feel better than some serious organization :)

My husband and I had a good long talk about why I felt so sad recently. Like I've mentioned in posts before, the pay cut has really gotten me down and I'm really starting to feel the affects of it. He's going to Scotland in 2 weeks and I knew it was going to be hard to stay behind but I wasn't expecting it to be this hard. We love to go over there to visit his family together but it just couldn't be done now that 20 grand has been taken away from my income. I am thankful we were able to send him though. He hasn't been over since his dads funeral in October and I think his sweet mum needs another visit from her youngest boy. I'm also thankful to have the most awesome husband and best friend that I can talk to about anything at anytime. This week I will try to remember what we talked about which was how great our life together is and how truly blessed we are. Nothing else really matters.

I have a really busy week this week. Lots of work. Lots of social obligations. Somehow I'm going to try to fit it all in! I hope everyone has a great week!

Crybaby

Thank you all so much for all of your sweet comments. It helps me SO much and I find it funny how I want to do well for you all as much as I want to for myself. I like to have good news to report in my blog but I promised myself in the beginning that I would be totally honest about what's going on in my life. Even the bad days!

So I decided to survey the damage from the chocolate chip cookie disaster by getting on the scale this morning. I weigh 4 pounds more than I did last Friday. Cue the tears again. I was actually trying to convince myself I worked really hard this week but if I was to be really honest with myself, I didn't. Sure, I made a few good decisions but I made some bad ones too. I'm the queen of denial. Must be the 13 years of Catholic school.

Can I just say that if my coworker mentions the fact that she has a half day and is going to her husbands company picnic one more time I'm going to slap her? It's the only sunny day we've had in a million years and I'm stuck here at my desk with the promise of another rainy weekend.

After another morning in tears, I'm listening to BBC World on the way into work and hearing this horrible story about a family fleeing Pakistan that had to leave their son behind because he had polio and couldn't make the journey. They left him with some bread and water and are just hoping that he lives. Kinda puts things into perspective and it gave me the slap in the face I deserved for being a big fat whiner.

I have to keep going and I have to keep up! My husband hit normal BMI the other day and has been running a LOT. I'm so happy for him but I don't want to be left behind. I'm packed and ready for butt kicking night at the gym which will be 30-40 minutes on the treadmill and then my water aerobics class. I'm making a promise to myself to do 6-7 days of gym workouts instead of the 2-3 I've been doing. I was counting my 20 minute dog walk in the morning as a workout and that is mostly spent letting the dogs sniff around and pee on everything. So, it's either work out more or develop a cocaine habit which is probably way more expensive than a trainer, not to mention dangerous and illegal :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend and that it's sunny where you live! I will be going to our new farmers market, a garden festival, and to see Star Trek. I heart Simon Pegg!!!