Monday Ramblings

I'm so tired today! It was one of those weird drives to work where I felt like I was going to nod off. I just kept drinking my coffee but still feel like I'm in a haze. I thought some blog writing and reading would ease me into the week.

I did okay this weekend. Not great but not horrible either. I didn't drink too much but there was an incident with a chocolate croissant and some ice cream. Luckily the ice cream wasn't much and it was the Edy's low-fat variety. Any over-eating was purely out of boredom.

I came to a huge standstill on my paint scraping when I realized that so many of the clapboards are going to need to be replaced that we might as well get someone to replace them all. That left me really bummed and without a project for the weekend. I tried to just sit around and relax but that's something I have a seriously hard time doing. At one point my husband found me sitting on the deck reading Real Simple and said he was happy to see me doing nothing. I laughed and told him I was reading an article titled "10 ways to do nothing". At least I was doing something while doing nothing ;)

Tomorrow I'm traveling to Marco Island for work and unfortunately it's a packed schedule and it's all work. I hope to at least get 5 minutes to put my toes in the sand or jump in a pool. We're staying at a gorgeous beach resort so it's a shame I won't have more time to enjoy it. I'm bringing my workout clothes in hopes of getting some time to get some exercise. It's going to be a challenge!

In other news, I've applied for some more jobs. Fingers crossed everyone...mama needs some new siding!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I will be back on Thursday!

Friday!

I'm really looking forward to getting away from my desk at the end of this day. The weather is so gorgeous and cool this morning all I wanted to do was go out for a big walk with the dogs. On my way to work I passed lots of people doing just that. Some day I will have a flexible schedule. I just have to keep telling myself that.

My average mile on the treadmill last night was 18:45! Down from my 19.8. :) I did 2.6 miles in about 50 minutes with warm-up and cool down. I burned 400 calories too! It was tough to go faster and run more but it felt great and I probably wouldn't have stopped if my shins weren't screaming out for some relief. Midway through this gazelle like Paris Hilton thing got on the treadmill next to me. I kept focus on what I was doing and kept my little legs flying. I was drenched in sweat and sung out loud all the way home on a virtually empty highway. Love those kinds of workouts.

I have the house to myself tonight so I'm thinking HGTV and some sushi AFTER my 5th night in a row at the gym. I caught myself thinking I'd done enough working out this week and had to snap myself back into "losing 100 pounds mode". Back then I did cardio 5-6 days a week and not 3-4. There's a big difference for me and I'm trying to get back to THAT being the norm. Lord help me :)

Hope everyone has a lovely, relaxing weekend and thanks as always for such awesome support!

A New Low

I really wish I would have gone to weigh in today because those 2 pounds disappeared yesterday and I'm on "new pounds" again!

The oh so wise Mr. Sh*t said yesterday in a comment

"When I'm exercising, I don't overdo it on food because I equate that 300 calorie piece of crap to a half hour on the elliptical. Totally not worth it."

That is EXACTLY how my mind worked back when I lost 100 pounds and I THANK YOU for that reminder. It instantly came back to me! That's how I did it! That's how I was successful! I find it strange that I have forgotten what I accomplished back then and can't remember exactly what I did or how it felt. I'm sure I didn't do everything right because the second I hit my goal, I relaxed my exercise and eating habits and gained it all back. And then some!

I made it 45 minutes on the elliptical last night and burned 350 calories according to my heart rate monitor. I thought the extra 15 minutes would be really hard but it wasn't too bad.

I also did something very MizFit yesterday. When I was leaving the grocery store, I had a 12 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper and a gallon of milk. I had parked my car far away (on purpose) and walked all the way back to the car doing bicep curls and shoulder raises with my purchases.

Tonight I'm back on the treadmill and trying to beat my sad little 19.8 minute mile...my legs are seriously 2 feet long so it's going to be interesting to see how much faster I can get :)

Tomorrow=Friday. Hurrah!

Back at Weight Watchers

+2 pounds. I can't say I'm too upset after not having been for a month. Next week will be a loss although I'm going to have to do some creative scheduling since I'll be out of town for work the middle of next week. I'll have to decide whether to weigh in before I go or when I get back. Luckily I'm traveling with my 90 pound co-worker who is the healthiest eater I know and also one of my strongest supporters!

Thank you all for your suggestions yesterday on my schedule. I suppose I should have clarified how much my husband does because he deserves some serious props. Not only does he run the dogs twice a day for 30 minutes, he feeds them, empties the dishwasher, does the laundry, starts dinner, mows the grass, waters the garden and so on. I don't want anyone to get the idea that I married someone who doesn't do anything because I would rather be single if that were the case! :) I'm going to start getting up 30 minutes earlier to do some abs and resistance training in the morning and focus on getting my cardio after work.

Speaking of cardio, I did 45 minutes on the treadmill last night for the first time in a very long time. About 15 minutes of that was running and I burned 340 calories. I'm trying at least 300 every workout and alternating treadmill and elliptical each night. So far so good!

This week is going by fast thankfully! Hope you are all doing great!

A day in the life

I've been thinking a lot about time management lately and wanted to lay out my daily schedule and see if there's any room for improvement.

5:45am - alarm goes off
6:05am - husband gets up
6:30am - I get up and take a shower
6:50am - husband has my coffee ready (love him!)
7:00am - watch first 20 minutes of Today with my coffee
7:20am - assemble both of our lunches and snacks
7:40am - finish getting ready. Pack gym bag.
7:50am - out the door
8:30am - arrive at work
12:30pm - eat lunch at my desk
1:00pm- go out to run errands or sit in my car and read for a while.
2:00pm- back to work
5:30pm- leave work
6:00pm- arrive at gym
7:00pm- leave gym
7.30pm- arrive home - finish making dinner
8:00pm- unpack gym bag - eat dinner
8:30pm- clean up kitchen and maybe catch some HGTV
9:00pm- watch something on TV with husband
10:00pm- bed

Now that I see how my day is scheduled I can see why I feel like I do the same thing everyday and most of it revolves around trying to be healthy! I used to have the opportunity to work out at lunch back when I lost 100 pounds but there is really no way I can in my current situation. I've gone over that a million times in my head and it's not doable with only an hour. I did Curves for a while at lunch but it's a waste of time because it's not enough hard work for me. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be right now - it just sometimes feels like a really long day without a lot of time for myself. I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling!

I woke up with very sore legs this morning and that was my punishment for skipping the gym for 2 weeks straight. It felt great to go back last night and my goal is to go every night this week. 1 day down, 4 to go! I like a small challenge like that. It somehow feels manageable if I take it a week at a time.

Bring it on

I finally feel a little refreshed and revived after a 3 day weekend and tons of fun with my family and friends.

This is the garden we built in honor of my mom's 60th birthday. My sister and I bought the pig and the sunflower from a local couple who do gorgeous scrap metal art. My mom is a big folk art fan and we thought it would be fun for her to have some for her yard to remind her of all of us :). All 7 of us kids made stepping stones with messages on them to lead up the hill to the garden. It turned out SO nice and she was so happy with it. It was a lot of work but I think seeing us all working together on it was the best part of it for my mom. That is my sister in law and my little nephew in the picture.


I was depressed when I woke up yesterday and realized it was already Sunday but then told myself that It's up to me to face the week ahead with a good attitude. It's a challenging time right now but I can't let that continue to control my life. I started out by preparing a ton of good food for the week so at least I know what's for dinner every night. I have a ton of vegetables that I bought on the way home from the mountains. For $3.59 I got a huge cabbage, 2 sweet potatoes, and 2 meals worth of zucchini and yellow squash. Everything is washed and ready to go. The cooking instructions are on the fridge and HIGHLIGHTED so my husband can put things in the oven. No excuses to skip the gym which hasn't seen my fat ass in 2 weeks!

As I was finishing the above paragraph, I just got word that my friends dog died this morning of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Apparently it's going around so for all dog owners out there, please be extra vigilant. They think she may have eaten some discarded food on a walk. Bless her little heart. Positive attitude just took a little blow.

I did bring my copy of The Secret with me to work to read on my lunch break. I half-heartedly read it once but I think I really need to look at it more because I really believe in the laws of attraction. I guess it can't hurt and maybe it will help me get a fabulous job.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that your weeks are off to a good start!

Would it kill you?

Thanks so much for all of your uplifting comments yesterday. I feel a million times better today even though I just had to take money out of savings to pay bills. At least there was some there.

"Would it kill you" was a phrase that was used often in our house growing up even though it's not a very Catholic thing to say ; ) It was always "would it kill you to pick that up off the floor?" or "would it kill you be nicer to your sisters?" I was thinking about this a lot on my way home last night and decided I should really ask myself that question more often.

Would it kill me to go to the gym? No
Would it kill me to NOT go to the gym? Probably, eventually
Would it kill me to enjoy friends without alcohol? No
Would it kill me to be nicer? No
Would it kill me to get up earlier? No
Would it kill me to feel hungry now and again? No
Would it kill me to be a little more frugal? No
Would it kill me to go to work every day? No
Would it kill me to turn off the TV? No
Would it kill me to eat more vegetables? No

The list could go on and on but the bottom line is I need to quit whining and face the hard facts that the stuff I have to face everyday is really not going to kill me.

Moving on, I'm celebrating the 4th by scraping paint all day tomorrow and then piling the husband and the dogs in the car to go to my moms in NC on Saturday morning. It's going to be 10 degrees cooler there and I'm REALLY looking forward to that. Lots of family is coming to celebrate my moms 60th which was actually a couple weeks ago but she was out of town.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

Long week!

This week is just dragging by and it's a short one since I'm off Friday. It can't come soon enough.

I've been really down in the dumps again due to the usual crap. Each week I keep thinking something is going to happen to restore my optimism about my future but there's nothing happening. I continue to struggle to pay every bill but seem to work harder than ever. I know that so many people have it so much worse and I should be grateful to have a job etc. etc. but some days it really eats away at me. It doesn't help that I'm hungover from 4 beers I shouldn't have had last night but was necessary to get me through a really uncomfortable situation.

I had to go to a friends house for a get together since it's his little girls birthday and I missed the party over the weekend. The uncomfortable part? The way this little girl is taken care of breaks my heart. Her parents split up a couple of years ago and neither one of them want her. They take her a week at a time. I no longer speak to the mother so I'm not sure the situation over at her house but at her dad's it's not so pleasant. She was absolutely filthy from school and living out of a suitcase on the floor of her also filthy room. She turned 6 yesterday and I know 3 year olds that are more advanced and better behaved. She has obviously had developmental problems since she was a baby but no-one seems to give a crap. It's just hard for me to see and there is absolutely NOTHING I can do about it. It's not my problem nor my right to step in unless she was really in danger.

I'm really not sitting on my ass waiting for some breakthrough on the career/financial front. I'm working on a few side projects that I've always wanted to do and hopefully one of those will be a "way out". I also think not having had a true vacation in over a year has taken it's toll on my spirits. I thought about switching up my anxiety meds but right now I owe the doctor $500 that I don't have for my last physical which insurance didn't cover. (our "director of administration" failed to note that part when she switched our insurance plan)

Sorry to be such a downer folks but it's all part of the roller coaster ride that is my life. Things I'm grateful for today? The best husband in the world, 2 sweet rescue mutts, great neighbors and my blog friends. Oh and the 3 day weekend coming up. Now if it would just hurry up and get here!

*Edited to say that I'm not weighing in this week. That's the last thing I need because I know I've gained this week. My gym bag has sat unused in the car since Monday. If this headache will go away, I'll go tonight. I think I need it to get out of this funk.

The V8 on the ceiling

was caused by me dropping a can on the Spanish tile in the kitchen. There is not a corner that was spared. I'm still finding it today. Thanks again to my friend the Magic Eraser. I know you all were dying of curiosity. I suppose I could have made up a REALLY good story ; )

I'm so busy today and not in an altogether great mood so I'm going to read some blogs and get back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Monday Mix Tape

Another weekend gone in the blink of an eye. It was a good mix of hard work and relaxing as always. We've made it through the experimental stage of scraping off 60+ years of paint on our house and are at the "doing it" stage now. We have about a 4 hour window in the morning where we can work on the worst side before the sun is directly above us. It it is hellish work but we manage to have some fun.

husband: Shouldn't you be wearing eye protection?
me: yes but I'm not going to wear my Kate Spade sunglasses with all this dust.
husband: We should buy some safety goggles.
me: Yes I know but I haven't found any I liked.
husband: What, are you looking for Hello Kitty ones or something?

It's funny because it's true. Well, I wasn't thinking Hello Kitty exactly but something for girls at least!

Even though I sweat through my clothes all weekend, I haven't been to the gym in a week! I have my bag packed for tonight and even though I usually take Mondays off, Jack Sh*t made a comment last week that has stuck with me. He said he doesn't schedule an off day from working out since life usually takes care of that for him. SO TRUE. Something usually comes up in my busy life so no more scheduled "off" day.

Speaking of things coming up, I've got to get out of bed earlier than I do. We've already covered why I don't work out in the morning but I need to not be cutting it so close. There was V8 on the ceiling this morning and a neighbors dog was loose and I was so distracted our dog grabbed one of the sandwich thins I had out for our lunch. Complete chaos. I also went out last night and failed to do much preparation for the week so now I have to go to the gym, stop at Trader Joes then go home and make dinner while assembling the meatloaf muffins I planned on making yesterday. I'm leaving a half hour early today to try and make up some time. Thank God it rained Saturday night so I don't have to add watering to the chore list. There just never seems to be enough time. I don't know how you people with kids do it!!

I guess this post was as chaotic as my morning and this week is not going to be much better. I'm going to try to fit it all in and keep my sanity. Luckily I have Friday off or I would really be stressed out right now! Is it crazy that I look forward to a day off so I have time to scrape paint?