I didn't exactly intend to skip dinner last night, it just kinda happened. Normally I eat dinner within an hour or so after I get off of work but last night I had kind of an interesting day at work that I couldn't get out of my head so I kinda just lazed around for a couple of hours after work musing on it. Finally I suggested to Snackers that we go out to eat because we'd forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for supper and all we had available was junk food. He agreed but also wanted to take the dogs to the dog park so we took them with us with the intent of picking something up to eat on the way home.
Well we spent about an hour and a half at the dog park and by then it was almost 9 o'clock. I hate eating that late so we just came home and after a long look in both the fridge and pantry I just couldn't wrap my head around anything that looked good so I gave up and went to bed instead. Woops? Bah, I'm sure skipping supper every once in a while can't hurt too bad.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fish burrito
3 chicken tostadas
1 glass of red wine
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1321
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
1.5 - 2 hours of rearranging furniture, cleaning, and moving heavy objects around.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
The Grocery Store Conspiracy
 |
| These 2 steaks were originally 1 giant steak |
I have always dismissed this theory on the basis that it seemed like too much of a "long shot" for the grocery stores. With some experience in balancing a pricing matrix of my own, both at work and with my books, I know that it's often beneficial to do a BOGO (buy-one, get-one) deal, and other similar deals, if the retail value of one object is more than double the wholesale cost of both objects together. Then you think you're getting a deal but the store is still, in fact, making a profit and selling more product than they might otherwise. I also know from multiple previous experiences in retail that many retailers mark their products up by at least 2.5 times what they pay for it. Example: A necklace that I buy wholesale for $3 I can sell at retail for $7.50 or more (I don't have this luxury with my books because that would price them over $25 a pop and no one would pay that much for them). So in order for grocery stores to sell "bad" food so cheap they have to still be making money off of it or it wouldn't be worth it for them in the hope that you'll spend more on pharmaceuticals than they've lost on the bad food you might have purchased over the last 10 years or so. Sure, maybe they're overpricing their meat and produce but it does seem like those things would cost more to provide in stores than a box of Roni right? I mean produce and meat has to be refrigerated, it has a shorter shelf life which means profit loss on spoiled food, a problem you don't have with boxed noodles and canned ravioli.
But then we went to our local ceviche market for, what else, ceviche and decided that we should check out the other items on our shopping list while we were there to see if we could save some money. First of all, the ceviche market is owned, operated, and caters to Mexican Americans and the latino community in general so even though it's a big, clean, beautiful grocery store many of the items on the shelves are things I've never seen before. I don't mind that though, I love browsing ethnic grocery stores and I remember how much Snackers and I loved the one that we found in Korea town. But explain to me how WalMart, Smith's, Albertson's, and Fresh & Easy all sell our favorite steaks for around $7 per lb but this latino grocery store can sell it for $3? And, this is the real kicker, it looks soooo much better at the latino store! In WalMart, especially, you have to be really picky when picking out fresh meat because a lot of their meats are left out long enough that they start to turn brown inside their packaging and yet the entire meat counter at the latino market was a beautiful bright red color and looked as though it had been cut fresh off the cow just hours before. And that's not the only thing, the produce section at the latino market is bigger, fresher, more affordable, and a much much larger selection. Milk, dairy, and bread products, however, were at least $1 more than what we get them for in our usual haunts. One thing to be learned is that if you can do it without spending more on gas driving from place to place than what you save on groceries, it can be really beneficial to shop your list from multiple stores. It might seem like $1 here and $2 there but we bought 5 LBS of lovely red steak for $15 and in the past we've paid $14 for 2 lbs of the exact same cut at other stores. Food for thought ... literally.
Food:
130 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 fish burrito
1 weight watchers ice cream
--------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1051
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Playing @ the dog park: 1 hr
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Weekend
A lot happened this weekend. I wrote a nice long post up for Friday then forgot to log back in and post it (I didn't even touch a computer all weekend which, for me, is both rare and a very good thing). Friday's post was all about chasing this little Rottie around who had a broken frisby stuck around her neck at the dog park on Thursday (which I eventually managed to rescue her from after tiring her out) but I think a weekend summary might be more interesting.
Friday's intake came in 1272 and activity included 30 minutes of yoga and an 1.5 hours browsing stores like Pier One and Michael's for unity bottles for the sand ceremony we'll be having at our wedding.
Saturday's intake was 1239 and activity included 2 more hours of browsing stores like Joannes and Hobby Lobby for bottles as well as cords for the handfasting, and grocery shopping. We took a mid-afternoon nap for about 2 hours (ooooh it was so nice, it's been such a long time since we snuggled up together and took a nap at the same time), did laundry and otherwise prepped for Sunday.
Sunday's intake was 1386 and we were up bright and early to get dressed and head out for a special event. We had planned on grabbing 6" subs at Subway but it wasn't open yet so we were forced to settle for a breakfast burrito from Carl's Jr. because we were running short on time and I knew we were going to need some kind of breakfast before we got to where we were going. Sign-in for the event was at 8 a.m. but the event itself didn't start until 10:30 so once I got us signed in we had 2.5 hours to kill walking around looking at booths, went across the street for coffee, and walked 1/3 of the event to visit our friends that were setting up their entertainment at the second stage.
The big event you ask? A 5k walk for AIDS. It was a charity walk so it was free to register but the idea is that you register and then raise money for the cause. Unfortunately we didn't find out about it until Friday night so we didn't have time to raise funds but we made some donations of our own and one of the gals at the event told me that Walgreens donated $5 for every registered "walker" at the event, so that's cool! Because it was a charity walk there were no numbers to pin on our shirts or "winners" etc. but I did the walk in 40 minutes, passed close to 50 people and counted 12 people between me and the golf-cart that was leading the procession when we came down the home-stretch. It felt awesome and was a whole lot of motivational fun!
Snackers registered to walk with me but when we first got there he ended up walking all over the place because our friend's kid was there with his band to provide entertainment for the walkers as they passed one of the way-stations that were set up here and there throughout the route. So Snackers went to find them while I signed us in, he got lost and did half of the 5k trying to find the right spot, then headed back to the stage to see me, then went back to where his friends were at etc. and by the time it was time for the actual walk he was pooped and bowed out. Oh well, I had fun and got some SERIOUS sun. Damn ... I'm going to have to figure out how to avoid tan-lines between now and the wedding without actually avoiding the sun. I love the sun too much to avoid it.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 FiberOne bar
1 Healthy Choice lunch
1/4 cup mixed nuts
10 oz grilled steak
12 asparagus spears
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1306
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Friday's intake came in 1272 and activity included 30 minutes of yoga and an 1.5 hours browsing stores like Pier One and Michael's for unity bottles for the sand ceremony we'll be having at our wedding.
Saturday's intake was 1239 and activity included 2 more hours of browsing stores like Joannes and Hobby Lobby for bottles as well as cords for the handfasting, and grocery shopping. We took a mid-afternoon nap for about 2 hours (ooooh it was so nice, it's been such a long time since we snuggled up together and took a nap at the same time), did laundry and otherwise prepped for Sunday.
Sunday's intake was 1386 and we were up bright and early to get dressed and head out for a special event. We had planned on grabbing 6" subs at Subway but it wasn't open yet so we were forced to settle for a breakfast burrito from Carl's Jr. because we were running short on time and I knew we were going to need some kind of breakfast before we got to where we were going. Sign-in for the event was at 8 a.m. but the event itself didn't start until 10:30 so once I got us signed in we had 2.5 hours to kill walking around looking at booths, went across the street for coffee, and walked 1/3 of the event to visit our friends that were setting up their entertainment at the second stage.
 |
| Crossing the finish line! |
Snackers registered to walk with me but when we first got there he ended up walking all over the place because our friend's kid was there with his band to provide entertainment for the walkers as they passed one of the way-stations that were set up here and there throughout the route. So Snackers went to find them while I signed us in, he got lost and did half of the 5k trying to find the right spot, then headed back to the stage to see me, then went back to where his friends were at etc. and by the time it was time for the actual walk he was pooped and bowed out. Oh well, I had fun and got some SERIOUS sun. Damn ... I'm going to have to figure out how to avoid tan-lines between now and the wedding without actually avoiding the sun. I love the sun too much to avoid it.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 FiberOne bar
1 Healthy Choice lunch
1/4 cup mixed nuts
10 oz grilled steak
12 asparagus spears
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1306
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Friday, April 13, 2012
Schedule
Here's the very rough schedule that I've been living since school ended - occasionally I've traded in the 1hr of exercise in the evening for either an additional hour of writing or an additional hour of relaxation with Snackers. My schedule when I was in school was basically the same except that my evening hours often included a lot more than 3 hours of study. I would typically exercise as soon as I got off work at 4, then eat dinner at 5,and then sometimes I'd only have to study for 2-3 hours and could spend the evening relaxing with Snackers or writing and sometimes I'd study all the way from 6 p.m. until bed time ... which usually led to me laying in bed for an hour or so trying to work through some problematic code in my head and not being able to fall asleep until well after midnight.
Monday - Friday:
A.M.
6:30 - Wake up, pour coffee/water, let the dogs out, boot computer, go potty, get dressed, log calories, blog.
7:00 - Work
9:00 - 10 minute break (let dogs out, refill water, grab a granola bar, feed dogs, go potty)
11:00 - 10 minute break (same as above but feed cats instead of dogs)
P.M.
1:00 - Lunch break (refill water, eat, do yoga)
2:00 - Back to work
4:00 -Cook/eat dinner, clean up
5:00 - Study PHP (3hrs)
8:00 - Write (1hr)
9:00 - Exercise (1hr)
10:00 - Write (1hr)
11:00 - Relax/spend time w/Snackers, shower (30min - 1hr)
11:30/12:00 ish - Go to bed
Saturday - Sunday:
These are the days when Snackers and I usually spend a lot of time together, I get to sleep in if I can, we take care of grocery shopping, chores around the house, etc. I almost always am up doing something whether it's something fun with Snackers, running errands, or taking a leisurely evening walk but he considers weekends "our time" because my week days or so full (actually I think he's starting to resent the fact that I am so busy all of the time) so I let these days flex around him.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1/4 cup raw nuts
1 healthy choice lunch
10 baby dill pickles
2 tbsps natural peanut butter
1 serving seafood and veg stir fry
---------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1289
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
On my feet @ dog park playing, chasing dogs, and otherwise doing anything BUT sitting down: 2 hrs
Monday - Friday:
A.M.
6:30 - Wake up, pour coffee/water, let the dogs out, boot computer, go potty, get dressed, log calories, blog.
7:00 - Work
9:00 - 10 minute break (let dogs out, refill water, grab a granola bar, feed dogs, go potty)
11:00 - 10 minute break (same as above but feed cats instead of dogs)
P.M.
1:00 - Lunch break (refill water, eat, do yoga)
2:00 - Back to work
4:00 -Cook/eat dinner, clean up
5:00 - Study PHP (3hrs)
8:00 - Write (1hr)
9:00 - Exercise (1hr)
10:00 - Write (1hr)
11:00 - Relax/spend time w/Snackers, shower (30min - 1hr)
11:30/12:00 ish - Go to bed
Saturday - Sunday:
These are the days when Snackers and I usually spend a lot of time together, I get to sleep in if I can, we take care of grocery shopping, chores around the house, etc. I almost always am up doing something whether it's something fun with Snackers, running errands, or taking a leisurely evening walk but he considers weekends "our time" because my week days or so full (actually I think he's starting to resent the fact that I am so busy all of the time) so I let these days flex around him.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1/4 cup raw nuts
1 healthy choice lunch
10 baby dill pickles
2 tbsps natural peanut butter
1 serving seafood and veg stir fry
---------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1289
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
On my feet @ dog park playing, chasing dogs, and otherwise doing anything BUT sitting down: 2 hrs
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Uninspired
I'm just not feeling in a writing mood this morning. Sorry.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 cup leftover soup
1 serving chicken and mushrooms
1/2 serving chow mein
1 serving beef broccoli
2 spring rolls
1/2 cup mixed nuts
------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1444
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 cup leftover soup
1 serving chicken and mushrooms
1/2 serving chow mein
1 serving beef broccoli
2 spring rolls
1/2 cup mixed nuts
------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1444
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Self-Destruction
How does one get through a period of low motivation and self-control ... this is the thought that has been on my mind for months. Every day I still count but the drive that I had when I started this journey just isn't there. Sure, I'll find it a little bit here and there for a moment or two. I'll give myself these grand pep-talks in my head about how I can do it I just need to DO it. I'll even force myself to walk the right path for a day or two but it just isn't the same. When I started this blog I woke up every morning eager to write my next post, every Monday morning eager to weigh-in, every 14th of the month eager for pictures. Now I can barely remind myself to do these things and they feel like a chore. I exercised after work and during lunch breaks with certainty and nothing was going to stop me. I remember putting my shoes on, waving to Snackers and heading outside with exuberance and any protests from him fell on determinedly deaf ears. I was going to do it and nothing was going to stop me.
I have more reasons to be motivated now than ever. I've made so much progress. I'm getting married in less than a year. I'm graduating in two months. I have a big doggy that looooves to go for walks. I have a treadmill. I have literally everything that I need or could ever want for success except the most important thing ... motivation. I've been trying to find it now for the last 8 months and I just don't know how. Like I said, I've found snippets of it here and there, brief moments of excitement that wear off quickly and are gone by the next day. I re-watched 266's 1-year Anniversary video a dozen times trying to get that "I can do it" attitude from it that it gave me the first time but it's just not there. It's all in my head, I know that, but I can't figure out how to overcome it. I can force myself to get up and do things, most of the time, but I can't seem to force myself to like it the way that I used to. I'm past being frustrated with myself now and I'm in a place where I just don't give a damn anymore. It sucks - and it's going to drag me right down the path of failure if I don't figure out a way to shake it.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 fish burrito
1/2 leftover veggie calzone
1 cup fat free frozen yogurt
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1441
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: (w/Snackers and dogs) 1 hr
I have more reasons to be motivated now than ever. I've made so much progress. I'm getting married in less than a year. I'm graduating in two months. I have a big doggy that looooves to go for walks. I have a treadmill. I have literally everything that I need or could ever want for success except the most important thing ... motivation. I've been trying to find it now for the last 8 months and I just don't know how. Like I said, I've found snippets of it here and there, brief moments of excitement that wear off quickly and are gone by the next day. I re-watched 266's 1-year Anniversary video a dozen times trying to get that "I can do it" attitude from it that it gave me the first time but it's just not there. It's all in my head, I know that, but I can't figure out how to overcome it. I can force myself to get up and do things, most of the time, but I can't seem to force myself to like it the way that I used to. I'm past being frustrated with myself now and I'm in a place where I just don't give a damn anymore. It sucks - and it's going to drag me right down the path of failure if I don't figure out a way to shake it.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 fish burrito
1/2 leftover veggie calzone
1 cup fat free frozen yogurt
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1441
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: (w/Snackers and dogs) 1 hr
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Weekend
Well we had a very productive weekend. We spent Friday night at the dog park, mostly, and then watched Marmaduke together before bed. I knew I wasn't going to like that movie but Snackers is a sucker for animals so we grabbed it out of a $5 bargain bin at WalMart on a whim. Ten minutes into it even he was making fun of how cheesy it was but we finished watching it anyway and I'm sure we'll pass it on to one of our nieces or nephews. Saturday morning I had an appointment to get my measurements taken for the dress, from there we ran some errands and I got a call reminding me that we'd scheduled an appointment to look at some wedding locations on Sunday. In the evening Snackers watched some baseball and I worked on The Prototypes (the sequel to The Citizens), then we put in The Butterfly Effect and watched that.
Sunday we woke up bright and early and headed to our first of three appointments to check out six different wedding venues. Lots and lots of walking! All six locations were way far on the northwest side of the valley though! They were beautiful and the pricing was reasonable on a couple of them but they were just so damn far away!!! We hit the dog park again but Vladdy got to playing with a little Akita puppy and she got rolled and hurt her front leg so we left after making sure with her owner that she was going to be ok and there were no hard feelings ... after all it was an accident during play, not like he did it on purpose. It reminded me of when Vladdy was just a clumsy little pup and he used to get rolled and hurt a lot ... now he's on the opposite side of the fence.
We dropped the dogs off and headed out to pimp out my books. I made a 5 chapter sample of The Citizens that includes ordering information in the back so we handed out a few of those at book stores, dropped off a full copy of The Citizens for the employees at Barnes & Noble to read (if they read it and like it then they can recommend it right?), and I filled out a job application. The manager remembered me so when I asked her about a job ap she asked me to make sure that I put something on the ap about being the author of my two books so that it would stand out to her when she reviews the applications later (they won't be hiring till mid May). From there we went to Big Lots because we were out of EVOO and we've found that we can get much bigger bottles at Big Lots and Ross than we can get at grocery stores for about half-the-price. We browsed around for fun while we were there, Big Lots is kind of a fun store because they always have unique stuff to look at. Then we headed home and played with the dogs in the back yard, scrubbed down and refilled Vladdy's pool, did some laundry, and went to bed. Busy, busy weekend.
OH p.s. I got my final grade for my final class and it's an A so my graduating GPA will be 3.98. YAY!
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit crisp
1 healthy choice lunch
1/2 veggie calzone
16 oz pomegranate green tea
1 skinny cow ice cream
-------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1337
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 1.5 miles (around the neighborhood w/Snackers)
Sprints: 2 @ 1 min. each
-------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 153
Sunday we woke up bright and early and headed to our first of three appointments to check out six different wedding venues. Lots and lots of walking! All six locations were way far on the northwest side of the valley though! They were beautiful and the pricing was reasonable on a couple of them but they were just so damn far away!!! We hit the dog park again but Vladdy got to playing with a little Akita puppy and she got rolled and hurt her front leg so we left after making sure with her owner that she was going to be ok and there were no hard feelings ... after all it was an accident during play, not like he did it on purpose. It reminded me of when Vladdy was just a clumsy little pup and he used to get rolled and hurt a lot ... now he's on the opposite side of the fence.
We dropped the dogs off and headed out to pimp out my books. I made a 5 chapter sample of The Citizens that includes ordering information in the back so we handed out a few of those at book stores, dropped off a full copy of The Citizens for the employees at Barnes & Noble to read (if they read it and like it then they can recommend it right?), and I filled out a job application. The manager remembered me so when I asked her about a job ap she asked me to make sure that I put something on the ap about being the author of my two books so that it would stand out to her when she reviews the applications later (they won't be hiring till mid May). From there we went to Big Lots because we were out of EVOO and we've found that we can get much bigger bottles at Big Lots and Ross than we can get at grocery stores for about half-the-price. We browsed around for fun while we were there, Big Lots is kind of a fun store because they always have unique stuff to look at. Then we headed home and played with the dogs in the back yard, scrubbed down and refilled Vladdy's pool, did some laundry, and went to bed. Busy, busy weekend.
OH p.s. I got my final grade for my final class and it's an A so my graduating GPA will be 3.98. YAY!
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit crisp
1 healthy choice lunch
1/2 veggie calzone
16 oz pomegranate green tea
1 skinny cow ice cream
-------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1337
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 1.5 miles (around the neighborhood w/Snackers)
Sprints: 2 @ 1 min. each
-------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 153
Friday, April 6, 2012
Available By Order
Today I am going with a shameless plug for The Citizens, my latest book, because it is now finally available by order through Barnes & Noble and other fine retailers.
Imagine a town where you can stay out as late as you want, wake up when it suits you, you never have to go to work, and everything is free for the taking. Sounds perfect right? But what if you can't remember where you are or how you got there? What if you can't ever leave? And what if the only other people around are hostages, just like you? Would you still want to stay?
Jasmine Marshall certainly didn't think so until she met Justin Beck; a dashing active-duty member of the United States Army and fellow hostage. With him around life in Kolob might not be so bad after all...or so she thought. There are vampires and psychics at the breakfast table! Disturbing acts of torture and senseless violence are commonplace. Biochemical warfare is a very real threat, and the town's mayor is an elusive mad-scientist obsessed with his own theories about December 21, 2012!
In a place where one has everything to gain and nothing to lose, one thing reigns true: nothing in Kolob is ever as it seems.
Order through your local store: ISBN: 9781470101589
Food:
130 oz of water
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 bowl leftover soup
1 turkey and avocado sandwich
--------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1313
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Snackers and I picked up a few $5 movies from the bargain bins at WalMart and had movie night.
1 turkey and avocado sandwich
--------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1313
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Snackers and I picked up a few $5 movies from the bargain bins at WalMart and had movie night.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Job Shopping
Well, school is done, my final grade should be revealed for my last class any day and it's time for me to go shopping for a second job. I'm thinking part-time, obviously, nights and weekends. Preferably nothing in the food industry because I tried that once at Chili's and had a very bad experience that made me not want to eat at another Chili's restaurant ever again. I'd like to get into something physical like stocking shelves or something though and I was very happy working at the liquor store before I got my job in computers. Fortunately all of the liquor stores here are 24 hour so a nights and weekends job shouldn't be too hard to get - if not there are always the casinos as well.
I had hoped to take one or two weeks between school and job shopping to just kind of wind down but I'm already starting to feel restless and guilty like I could/should be doing more. See, I know that I do this to myself. My parents are the exact same way, especially my mom. Always have to be doing something, running running running, inventing things to do if we have to and then we wonder why we're always so stressed out with so much on our plates.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 ceviche tostadas
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 824 (not intentional, I just wasn't very hungry yesterday)
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Playing w/Vladdy at the dog park: 1 hr
I had hoped to take one or two weeks between school and job shopping to just kind of wind down but I'm already starting to feel restless and guilty like I could/should be doing more. See, I know that I do this to myself. My parents are the exact same way, especially my mom. Always have to be doing something, running running running, inventing things to do if we have to and then we wonder why we're always so stressed out with so much on our plates.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 ceviche tostadas
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 824 (not intentional, I just wasn't very hungry yesterday)
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Playing w/Vladdy at the dog park: 1 hr
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Catching Up ... Again
I mentioned in yesterday's post that I spent two hours on Sunday working in the front yard cutting down a shrub, raking leaves and debri, moving the landscaping rock around etc. Well I don't normally have problems with allergies but I think, with enough exposure, anyone can have a flare up now and then and that's what happened to me Sunday night. I pretty much knew it was coming too because the shrub that I cut down was throwing off a TON of pollen, as was the one next to it. The old decaying leaves and trash under the shrub disintegrated into a fine crunchy compost when I started raking it out which made it really hard to pick up and put in the trash cans, and by the time I was finished I could feel the grit sticking to my eyelashes.
I slept for maybe 30 minutes all total Sunday night, something Snackers can attest to since, unfortunately my sneezing and sniffing kept him awake for the first part of the night and then when I went into the guest room so that I wouldn't disturb him he kept getting up in the middle of the night to come in and check on me. Poor dude. I had an old box of benadryl that's been in the cupboard for who knows how long so I took one of those but it was just pointless. My eyes were burning, my nose wouldn't stop running no matter how much I blew it, and my voice was just non-existent for several hours.
Needless to say that by the time 6 a.m. rolled around and I rolled out of bed (45 minutes before the alarm even went off) because I realized it was pointless to continue trying, I was exhausted yesterday! I dragged myself through work and afterward I shoveled up a bucket of dirt and rocks out of the back yard for a friend. We have an excess of both in our yard that, someday when we finally pay someone to level it out, will probably cost us about $2,000 to get it hauled away so if I can get rid of it one 5-gallon bucket at a time, even better! Snackers had his follow up doc's appointment yesterday to get his stitches taken out but he is going to need physical therapy and at least another month to heal ... so imagine my reaction when I saw him walking around the back yard with a shovel in his good hand.
Me: "What are you doing?"
Him: "I'm gonna get some rock for *insert friend's name*"
Me: "You're going to shovel rock?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "Give me the shovel."
On the one hand, he's such a SCORPIO, and I am too so I get it. We HATE being down against our will. We hate being out of commission or feeling like we're "broken". I get it, I am the exact same way. BUT, I also know that we are probably the most likely sign of the zodiac to re-injure or make-worse a wound or illness because you can't keep us down without tying us up. My mom went through HELL with me when I would get sick or hurt as a kid and she was a nurse for crying out loud! Fortunately, he thinks it's kinda sexy when I go all strong woman and work hard at something (which is great because too many men would get all insecure and pissy about it instead) but he brought me water and then stared at my ass while I worked. Fine with me. I call that a win-win. lol
After the dirt was loaded into the car I ate dinner and crashed for the rest of the night. I probably slept for something like 10 hours which, for me, is a lot in one night but I slept deep and it felt really good.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 can hearts of palm
1 healthy choice lunch
1 bowl taco soup
1 weight watchers ice cream bar
---------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1467
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, did laundry and then crashed.
I slept for maybe 30 minutes all total Sunday night, something Snackers can attest to since, unfortunately my sneezing and sniffing kept him awake for the first part of the night and then when I went into the guest room so that I wouldn't disturb him he kept getting up in the middle of the night to come in and check on me. Poor dude. I had an old box of benadryl that's been in the cupboard for who knows how long so I took one of those but it was just pointless. My eyes were burning, my nose wouldn't stop running no matter how much I blew it, and my voice was just non-existent for several hours.
Needless to say that by the time 6 a.m. rolled around and I rolled out of bed (45 minutes before the alarm even went off) because I realized it was pointless to continue trying, I was exhausted yesterday! I dragged myself through work and afterward I shoveled up a bucket of dirt and rocks out of the back yard for a friend. We have an excess of both in our yard that, someday when we finally pay someone to level it out, will probably cost us about $2,000 to get it hauled away so if I can get rid of it one 5-gallon bucket at a time, even better! Snackers had his follow up doc's appointment yesterday to get his stitches taken out but he is going to need physical therapy and at least another month to heal ... so imagine my reaction when I saw him walking around the back yard with a shovel in his good hand.
Me: "What are you doing?"
Him: "I'm gonna get some rock for *insert friend's name*"
Me: "You're going to shovel rock?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "Give me the shovel."
On the one hand, he's such a SCORPIO, and I am too so I get it. We HATE being down against our will. We hate being out of commission or feeling like we're "broken". I get it, I am the exact same way. BUT, I also know that we are probably the most likely sign of the zodiac to re-injure or make-worse a wound or illness because you can't keep us down without tying us up. My mom went through HELL with me when I would get sick or hurt as a kid and she was a nurse for crying out loud! Fortunately, he thinks it's kinda sexy when I go all strong woman and work hard at something (which is great because too many men would get all insecure and pissy about it instead) but he brought me water and then stared at my ass while I worked. Fine with me. I call that a win-win. lol
After the dirt was loaded into the car I ate dinner and crashed for the rest of the night. I probably slept for something like 10 hours which, for me, is a lot in one night but I slept deep and it felt really good.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 can hearts of palm
1 healthy choice lunch
1 bowl taco soup
1 weight watchers ice cream bar
---------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1467
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, did laundry and then crashed.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
A Triumph & A Shrubbery!
 |
| Dhampiri on the shelf @ B&N |
She said that they absolutely would but wanted to check to make sure it was available by order first. Well I knew that it was but I let her check anyway just for kicks and ... lo and behold, she said "We have it in stock" !!!! HUH?! On March 3rd I could see through my printer that a book store had ordered 2 copies but I couldn't see who the book store was or where they were located and since the manager at B&N told me outright that the book would have to sell a certain number of copies before she'd put it on her shelves, that was the last place that I would have expected to find it so soon but there they were! Two copies ON THE SHELF AT BARNES AND NOBLE!!! So then she said, "If you want to sign them I'll move them to a feature easel on the counter" ... SOMEONE GET ME A PEN QUICK! lol
 | |
| Dhampiri featured on the counter! |
So I signed both copies and they put stickers on them that say "Autographed" and placed them front-and-center on the information counter! Squeeeeeee!
Oh yes, and the shrubbery. Yesterday I went out to trim the shrubs in the front yard and realized that two of them are out of control - I've known that they were since I bought the house but I trimmed them last year and they're SO HUGE, that the outside is bushy and leafy but the center is dead so when I tried to trim them down I ended up with a half-dead looking shrub. I had intended to cut them down to stumps last fall but didn't get it done before it got too cold so yesterday I sucked it up and handled it. I only did one of the two because I didn't want my yard to be completely barren but I used manual hedge clippers to hack down everything that I could cut with my own strength, then used an electric hedge cutter to take down the larger stems and branches. Then I raked out 10 years worth of dead decaying leaves and trash that has been stuck way down in where no one could ever get to it before, filling two trash cans with it all, pulled weeds, and watered the trees. In addition to that, my front yard is on a slope and the gravel has all pooled at the bottom of the slope leaving the top bald in some areas so I raked the rocks back up the hill to cover up the bald spots and get them off the sidewalk. AND, I found a $20 bill in the decaying trash and leaves that was under the shrub as I was raking it all out. Almost two full hours of solid manual labor but I got a tan and ... BONUS! My arms and back are KILLING ME today but it was a very nice workout!
Food:
130 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
2 mini veg pizzas
1 fish burrito
1 weight watchers ice cream
------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1287
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Shoveled a bucket of rocks and dirt out of the back yard, carried it to the car and hoisted it into the back for Snackers.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Random Thoughts
Today, after work, I get to drop by the grad fair at the local UofP campus to pick up my gown, cap, and tassel for graduation. Today I'll post two comments in the classroom and that should be it for school for a little while. I have to admit that I am looking forward to the break! I've started working on the sequel to The Citizens (I was going to write the sequel for Dhampiri first but the feedback I'm getting on The Citizens has changed my mind) and it's been making it really hard for me to focus on much of anything else.
It's funny because when I'm in "writing mode" Snackers has noticed that my eyes kind of glaze over and I stare blankly out into nothing and sometimes, if I'm working on dialogue between my characters, my lips will even move slightly like I'm talking to myself when, really, I'm just writing in my head. And when a story starts to develop to the point that the smallest experience can inspire ideas for it, I can go into writing mode anywhere: laying in bed at night, sitting at my computer, taking a bath, even while I'm standing outside smoking or doing chores around the house. The first few times that Snackers caught me writing dialogue he called me out on it - "What are you saying?" he would ask. And then I would get embarrassed and say "Nothing, I was scratching my lip with my teeth" or some other silly cover excuse.
Recently, however, I read a blog post from my favorite author of all-time, Kim Harrison, in which she talked about going into writing mode herself. As it turns out, I'm not alone and that is a comforting thought. (If you want to read her post you can find it here). I think it was Kim who also said that stories exist on their own and writers are just the vessel through which they manifest themselves (paraphrasing). In other words, The Citizens sequel(s) have the ability to take over as they develop and that's exactly what they've been doing to me lately. There are still fragments and pieces of concept throwing a rave inside of my head but the story is somehow writing itself and I will be helpless to hold it at bay. It's frustrating sometimes but I felt that way a lot as a teen which led me to write poetry and I realized that sometimes it's harder to keep it in than it is to just let it out so that I can move on with my life. Whether successful or not, I think that all writers feel this way. Sure, some people just try too hard to force a story but the majority of us, whether we ever make the NYT list or not, can't help but write just like cats with claws can't help but scratch and dogs with tails can't help but wag them.
Food:
140 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 tuna hand rolls
2 pieces tuna sashimi
------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1477
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 117
We left immediately after work for the grad fair to pick up my cap, gown, and tassel. The line went out the door and down the hall so we were there for over two hours (bleh). After that we dropped by the 24-hour post office inside a Shell gas station because I had a package that I needed to send out, and then headed to dinner. When we got home it was almost 9 and I sat down for a bit to let dinner settle, intending to get on the treadmill around 9:30 but ended up waking up at 11:30 and going to bed. lol
It's funny because when I'm in "writing mode" Snackers has noticed that my eyes kind of glaze over and I stare blankly out into nothing and sometimes, if I'm working on dialogue between my characters, my lips will even move slightly like I'm talking to myself when, really, I'm just writing in my head. And when a story starts to develop to the point that the smallest experience can inspire ideas for it, I can go into writing mode anywhere: laying in bed at night, sitting at my computer, taking a bath, even while I'm standing outside smoking or doing chores around the house. The first few times that Snackers caught me writing dialogue he called me out on it - "What are you saying?" he would ask. And then I would get embarrassed and say "Nothing, I was scratching my lip with my teeth" or some other silly cover excuse.
Recently, however, I read a blog post from my favorite author of all-time, Kim Harrison, in which she talked about going into writing mode herself. As it turns out, I'm not alone and that is a comforting thought. (If you want to read her post you can find it here). I think it was Kim who also said that stories exist on their own and writers are just the vessel through which they manifest themselves (paraphrasing). In other words, The Citizens sequel(s) have the ability to take over as they develop and that's exactly what they've been doing to me lately. There are still fragments and pieces of concept throwing a rave inside of my head but the story is somehow writing itself and I will be helpless to hold it at bay. It's frustrating sometimes but I felt that way a lot as a teen which led me to write poetry and I realized that sometimes it's harder to keep it in than it is to just let it out so that I can move on with my life. Whether successful or not, I think that all writers feel this way. Sure, some people just try too hard to force a story but the majority of us, whether we ever make the NYT list or not, can't help but write just like cats with claws can't help but scratch and dogs with tails can't help but wag them.
Food:
140 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 tuna hand rolls
2 pieces tuna sashimi
------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1477
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 117
We left immediately after work for the grad fair to pick up my cap, gown, and tassel. The line went out the door and down the hall so we were there for over two hours (bleh). After that we dropped by the 24-hour post office inside a Shell gas station because I had a package that I needed to send out, and then headed to dinner. When we got home it was almost 9 and I sat down for a bit to let dinner settle, intending to get on the treadmill around 9:30 but ended up waking up at 11:30 and going to bed. lol
Friday, March 30, 2012
Food Reviews
Let's talk about a few of the foods that have been on my menu lately.
Cevice: About a month or so ago I mentioned that Snackers discovered a little market that sells shrimp cevice, white fish cevice, and crab cevice. For those of you who've never had it before, cevice is basically pico de gallo with some kind of (usually cooked) seafood in it served cold. It contains tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, and then the seafood. It's YUMMEH! But it does have some pro's and cons. One the one hand it's mostly veg so it's pretty healthy and very low in calories (except the crab cevice because crab is a high calorie seafood but I get the fish and/or shrimp). You get these little crunchy, flat tostada shells - spread a little cevice on one, sprinkle on some Frank's Red Hot, add a squirt of lime juice and some cracked pepper and enjoy. It's INSANELY easy to prep since you can just put everything on the table, grab a fork and build them as you go and it's absurdly inexpensive. We can get a bag of shells and 2 lbs of cevice for under $5. No kidding! So what's the downside you ask? Well for 3 of the tostada shells you're looking at 160 calories, a full cup (which is plenty for 3 tostadas) of shrimp cevice is 80 calories (the white fish is 70 per cup) and the Franks/lime is 0. The meal is light and refreshing and 3 tostadas is satisfying and feels like plenty of food but, in reality, you're only eating about 240 calories so an hour or so later you're hungry again. My intake for the entire day after dinner last night was 830 AND I'd completed a full workout on the treadmill where I burned an estimated 460 so I knew I needed to find something to snack on that wasn't crap.
Segway:
Trail Mix: The world is full of trail mix and you can buy it already mixed or mix your own. My favorite (flavor wise) is the Indulgent Trail by Great Value (WalMart) but it's also chocked full of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and butterscotch chips which makes it a big giant no-no (I used to be able to devour a half-bag in a single sitting of that stuff which is probably close to 1,000 calories or more). So I've been experimenting with other trail mixes and most recently decided to try one that has chunks of dried fruit in it. If you've known me for awhile, or even have been following this blog for awhile, you know that fruit is a problem for me. I love fresh fruit but it's expensive, a lot of work, messy, and the shelf-life sucks. I like making fruit shakes with fresh fruit but still ... it can be a lot of work to cut everything up so it's not something that I like to do often. I dislike canned fruit because it's mushy and overly sweet so when I saw this trail mix with dried fruit in it I thought "perfect!". Well kinda. Turns out it's not all just dried fruit, some of it is candied so I've been picking out the giant chunks of candied pineapple and papaya and giving them to Snackers. As-is the trail mix sits at around 140 calories for a 1/4 cup. WHOA! Now I do know that nuts, pretty much all of them, are high in calories but also high in proteins and other good things so last night when my intake was low I figured some trail mix was the perfect win-win. It's filling, good protein to help me recover from the workout, tasty, and a way to bring my intake up to where it should be and satisfy the hunger that I had an hour-or-so after the cevice dinner. But that makes me wonder - I'm sure that the health benefits of dried fruit aren't quite as good as those of fresh fruit but if I were to simply get a fruit dryer and dry my own and stock up on it ... is this at least a decent way to eat fruit. I know drying my own is going to be a LOT of work but I figure if I get some containers (I have over a dozen Folgers containers saved up) I could do a whole bunch of it at once on a Saturday or something and then stock up on it. It would be cheaper than buying it from the store and I could ensure that it's just dried and not candied. Do any of you have any prior knowledge re: dried fruit nutritional facts that you could share with me?
Food:
116 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1/2 serving green bean fries
1 serving chicken marinara
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1387
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 45 minutes (Snackers is getting restless sitting around the house so he asked me to go for a walk with him instead of getting on the treadmill last night).
Sprints: 10 sprints @ 60 ft. each (On our walk we stopped by the softball field and took turns timing ourselves sprinting the bases with the stopwatch on my phone just for kicks)
----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 143
Cevice: About a month or so ago I mentioned that Snackers discovered a little market that sells shrimp cevice, white fish cevice, and crab cevice. For those of you who've never had it before, cevice is basically pico de gallo with some kind of (usually cooked) seafood in it served cold. It contains tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, and then the seafood. It's YUMMEH! But it does have some pro's and cons. One the one hand it's mostly veg so it's pretty healthy and very low in calories (except the crab cevice because crab is a high calorie seafood but I get the fish and/or shrimp). You get these little crunchy, flat tostada shells - spread a little cevice on one, sprinkle on some Frank's Red Hot, add a squirt of lime juice and some cracked pepper and enjoy. It's INSANELY easy to prep since you can just put everything on the table, grab a fork and build them as you go and it's absurdly inexpensive. We can get a bag of shells and 2 lbs of cevice for under $5. No kidding! So what's the downside you ask? Well for 3 of the tostada shells you're looking at 160 calories, a full cup (which is plenty for 3 tostadas) of shrimp cevice is 80 calories (the white fish is 70 per cup) and the Franks/lime is 0. The meal is light and refreshing and 3 tostadas is satisfying and feels like plenty of food but, in reality, you're only eating about 240 calories so an hour or so later you're hungry again. My intake for the entire day after dinner last night was 830 AND I'd completed a full workout on the treadmill where I burned an estimated 460 so I knew I needed to find something to snack on that wasn't crap.
Segway:
Trail Mix: The world is full of trail mix and you can buy it already mixed or mix your own. My favorite (flavor wise) is the Indulgent Trail by Great Value (WalMart) but it's also chocked full of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and butterscotch chips which makes it a big giant no-no (I used to be able to devour a half-bag in a single sitting of that stuff which is probably close to 1,000 calories or more). So I've been experimenting with other trail mixes and most recently decided to try one that has chunks of dried fruit in it. If you've known me for awhile, or even have been following this blog for awhile, you know that fruit is a problem for me. I love fresh fruit but it's expensive, a lot of work, messy, and the shelf-life sucks. I like making fruit shakes with fresh fruit but still ... it can be a lot of work to cut everything up so it's not something that I like to do often. I dislike canned fruit because it's mushy and overly sweet so when I saw this trail mix with dried fruit in it I thought "perfect!". Well kinda. Turns out it's not all just dried fruit, some of it is candied so I've been picking out the giant chunks of candied pineapple and papaya and giving them to Snackers. As-is the trail mix sits at around 140 calories for a 1/4 cup. WHOA! Now I do know that nuts, pretty much all of them, are high in calories but also high in proteins and other good things so last night when my intake was low I figured some trail mix was the perfect win-win. It's filling, good protein to help me recover from the workout, tasty, and a way to bring my intake up to where it should be and satisfy the hunger that I had an hour-or-so after the cevice dinner. But that makes me wonder - I'm sure that the health benefits of dried fruit aren't quite as good as those of fresh fruit but if I were to simply get a fruit dryer and dry my own and stock up on it ... is this at least a decent way to eat fruit. I know drying my own is going to be a LOT of work but I figure if I get some containers (I have over a dozen Folgers containers saved up) I could do a whole bunch of it at once on a Saturday or something and then stock up on it. It would be cheaper than buying it from the store and I could ensure that it's just dried and not candied. Do any of you have any prior knowledge re: dried fruit nutritional facts that you could share with me?
Food:
116 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1/2 serving green bean fries
1 serving chicken marinara
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1387
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 45 minutes (Snackers is getting restless sitting around the house so he asked me to go for a walk with him instead of getting on the treadmill last night).
Sprints: 10 sprints @ 60 ft. each (On our walk we stopped by the softball field and took turns timing ourselves sprinting the bases with the stopwatch on my phone just for kicks)
----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 143
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Building A Routine
Yay for yesterday being the second night in-a-row that I did my treadmill routine! I have a wedding coming up and even though I know that Snackers thinks I look hotter-than-ever, I know I can do better. I remember college: angel flights, hipster jeans, bikinis, and shorts. *sigh* My favorite outfit in those days (yes, I went to a lot of raves back then and I drank a lot but, believe it or not, I never did or even saw anyone else doing drugs back then) was black leather pants, a black halter top, black high-heeled combat boots, a black leather trench coat with faux fox fur around the neck and cuffs (I cut the fur off of a thrift store pea coat and added it to the trench myself), leopard print gloves and a high-and-tight Gwen Stefani style long blond pony tail.
I probably wouldn't start dressing like that again even if I got to that size (let's face it ... The Matrix isn't the trend-setting box office hit that it was then) but I was never afraid to march to my own drum and dress outside the box either. I don't know what it's called but lately I've been fascinated by style that is gradually increasing popularity though still very unique. Most of the time I see women with shiny black hair that have it up in freedom rolls or do-rags wearing bright red lipstick with corsets or cotton polka dot halter style dresses that feel reminiscent of the 1930's but carry a modern twist on them. I have neither the hair, not the figure for this style but every time I see someone flaunting it I wish I could join them. It's very ... strong and feminine at the same time and I really like it.
Mostly, when I've lost the weight that I want to lose, I will probably continue to shop at Walmart because I'm too much of a money miser to justify paying the prices asked by most other retailers but ... I might just splurge on a few fun items for my closet - who knows. Right now ... it's all about the dress and March 2013.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 cevice tostadas
1 cup trail mix
1 weight watchers ice cream bar
--------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1387
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps for 9 min @ 3 mph
Running: 6 reps for 1 min @ 5 mph
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
I probably wouldn't start dressing like that again even if I got to that size (let's face it ... The Matrix isn't the trend-setting box office hit that it was then) but I was never afraid to march to my own drum and dress outside the box either. I don't know what it's called but lately I've been fascinated by style that is gradually increasing popularity though still very unique. Most of the time I see women with shiny black hair that have it up in freedom rolls or do-rags wearing bright red lipstick with corsets or cotton polka dot halter style dresses that feel reminiscent of the 1930's but carry a modern twist on them. I have neither the hair, not the figure for this style but every time I see someone flaunting it I wish I could join them. It's very ... strong and feminine at the same time and I really like it.
Mostly, when I've lost the weight that I want to lose, I will probably continue to shop at Walmart because I'm too much of a money miser to justify paying the prices asked by most other retailers but ... I might just splurge on a few fun items for my closet - who knows. Right now ... it's all about the dress and March 2013.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 cevice tostadas
1 cup trail mix
1 weight watchers ice cream bar
--------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1387
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps for 9 min @ 3 mph
Running: 6 reps for 1 min @ 5 mph
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Good Night's Sleep
Wow did I sleep good last night. Snackers was tossing and turning and full of energy because he slept all day so he finally decided to sleep in the guest room because he was keeping me up and he took Vladdy with him. I haven't slept that good in such a long time! No nightmares, no Vladdy to worry about, no ceiling fan freezing me out, no waking up to steal back my covers, no zonked-out cast covered arm accidentally smacking me in the middle of the night as he rolled over. Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping in the same bed with Snackers but I guess, every once in a while, it doesn't hurt to have the bed to myself. Even the cats were more obsessed with the fact that Snackers was in the guest room (they hate closed doors, especially if there is someone on the other side) so they didn't bother me even once! I'm not sure if they spent the night bugging Snackers or not because he's still in bed but I slept like a baby and woke up feeling more refreshed than I have in a long time.
Weeeeee.
Food:
144 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1/2 cup trail mix
1 healthy choice lunch
12 asparagus spears
2 cups pasta w/marinara sauce
2 servings raw baby carrots
------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1472
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps of 9 min @ 3 mph
Running: 6 reps of 1 min @ 5 mph
-----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
Weeeeee.
Food:
144 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1/2 cup trail mix
1 healthy choice lunch
12 asparagus spears
2 cups pasta w/marinara sauce
2 servings raw baby carrots
------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1472
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps of 9 min @ 3 mph
Running: 6 reps of 1 min @ 5 mph
-----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I Found It!
 |
| Snackers' Favorite |
So, that said. I'm a tom-boy. The last time that I shopped for/wore a formal dress was in college in 2001 when I was 150 lbs of blond adorable-ness and wore a size 6 so the prospect of dress shopping has been haunting the back of my mind since the moment Snackers proposed. I would honestly be perfectly happy wearing a nice floor-length sun dress but this is one area in which Snackers is a bit more traditional because he's always wanted to see me in a nice gown. He's seen my pictures from college and he wants to see it in person I guess so we knew we needed a happy medium. A white wedding dress with a train and taffeta is out of the question - but I knew that if we could find a nice pretty formal dress that was affordable I'd get all girly and enjoy the experience so we went looking.
 |
| Too much white |
As far as I was concerned that was it. I was going to get married in capri's and a tank-top if I had to but I was never going to set foot in another dress-shop again and the whole idea of having a wedding took on a very sour note and I wanted to just elope to one of the bazillion little white chapels that we have here (because I DO want to marry Snackers but I didn't want to even think about the hell of planning a wedding).
That night Snackers was rolling through channels and came across "Say Yes to the Dress" where women will clip you into a dress if they have to and they dote on you and they make you feel wonderful and special and beautiful until you find the dress that you love and he said "This is the wedding capital of the world! There has to be places like that here in Vegas, we just have to find them." Of course I argued that we'd never be able to afford a dress from a place like that but he argued so what. At least it would help me figure out size/style and have some fun with dress shopping so that I could look online or something to find the right dress in the right size.
Well Saturday morning dawned and I realized that I was being an over-emotional cow and that I needed to suck it up and stop being such a negative nancy so we took my size 8 prom dress out of the back of my closet and headed for a dress swap that we'd read about in the paper but when we got there we found out that it had been canceled. I won't lie - I was relieved. A dress swap isn't likely to be the best place to find a size 18-20 wedding dress but it was worth a shot. As it turns out we passed a dress shop on the way home and decided to swing in just to see what it was all about and, in my mind, I promised myself that I would try on at least 3 dresses to face my fears. Well the dress shop (Alfred Angelo) is one of those places where you make an appointment and they clip you into a dress if they have to and dote on you and work on commission. YAY! I didn't have an appointment of course but the woman didn't have anyone else in the shop and no appointments for the next hour-plus so she took me in on the spot anyway. She was a sweet older lady that reminded me of my mom so I kind of opened up and told her the truth about how I was feeling insecure and afraid and she is GREAT at her job because she changed all of that. I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman as she asked me a few basic questions about what I was looking for (none of which included "my size") and then started pulling dresses off the rack for me to try on.
 |
| WINNER WINNER! |
This works out great because I can have them take my measurements and make the dress now and then hang it in my closet as motivation. She said I can bring it back 8 - 10 weeks before the wedding for the final tailoring so it's perfectly ok if I lose as much weight as possible between now and the wedding because they'll account for that in the final tailoring. YAY! And ... drum roll please, it was only $215!!! I can't even believe it! So I have an appointment for April 7th to go back and have my measurements taken to order and pay for the dress. I'm so excited!!!! Now if only finding a corset to go under it could be so easy.
Food:
108 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
12 oz gatorade
2 oatmeal bars
1 healthy choice lunch
1 weight watchers ice cream bar
8 oz skirt steak
12 asparagus spears
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1307
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 sets @ 3 mph for 9 min each
Running: 6 sets @ 5 mph for 1 min each
------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
Monday, March 26, 2012
Busy Day
I wrote a one-line post on Friday morning on account of the fact that it wasn't even work hours yet and my work phone was ringing like crazy so I had a feeling that it would be a busy day and it was ... in fact it was a busy weekend so here are the cliff-notes for the weekend.
Friday we got answers re: Snackers' surgery. His tendon was 98% cut so they had to do some serious surgery on him. The surgery took longer than planned due to the unexpected extent of the damage and the Dr. was already late getting into another pre-op so he didn't come talk to me because he was in a rush. The nurses were jerks to me because, and they actually admitted this, they lost his HIPPA form that gave them permission to talk to me and couldn't remember if I was on it or not so they took the side of caution. As it turns out the Dr. also switched Snackers' pain meds after the surgery because he knew that with the amount of work he had to do, the pain was going to be pretty bad and the new meds make him hyper (I'm like that with penacillin) so that's why he was bouncing off the walls. They also had to give him a muscle relaxer because his middle finger started having muscle spasms that were not only painful, but could have slowed his healing time.
When I got off work on Friday we had to run to the pharmacy to get the muscle relaxers and David's Bridal is in the same parking lot so we headed over there but it was a horrible, overwhelming, daunting experience for me and I ended up doing a once-through of the store without really looking at anything and then left, and broke into tears in the parking lot, then came home and ate a Klondike bar (yeah, I know ... totally counter productive and stupid but emotional moments lose all sense of rationalism).
Saturday there was supposed to be a dress-swap at the local rec center so we got up and headed over there with my old prom dress from 2001 only to discover that it had been canceled. On the way home, however, we passed another dress shop called Alfred Angelo and I decided that, at the very least, I needed to get over my fear of trying on dresses so we headed in and I vowed that I would try on at least 3 dresses, even if I didn't like them, just to face my fear. I'll post more details about this experience in today's post later but, suffice it to say, we found the dress!! YAY! From there we had breakfast, took the dogs to the dog park and then Snackers needed to rest so we came home and I weeded the back yard, took out the trash, watered the trees, and then browsed for a wedding corset for under the dress while he relaxed.
Sunday we got up and headed straight over to my long overdue visit with an eye doc, got a prescription and then went to Wal-Mart to look for frames. The op-shop wasn't open yet though so we browsed bottles for the sand ceremony and other wedding related stuff and made our grocery list while we waited. I found some frames and got my new glasses ordered (YAY! No more headaches!) and then we did our grocery shopping. Came home - put everything away and sat down to relax for a minute and ended up falling asleep for two hours. Woke up, made supper, took the dogs to the park, and then Snackers had me read to him until bed.
Friday Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fish burrito
2 california rolls
4 pieces shrimp nigiri
1 klondike bar
--------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1402
Friday Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking/Browsing: 30 minutes
--------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 124
Saturday Food:
150 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 bagel, dry
1 serving corned beef hash
1 serving pico de gallo
1 chopped salad
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1375
Saturday Activity:
Walking/Shopping: 1hr 45 minutes
Walking/Sprints @ the dog park: 45 minutes
Yard/house work: 1 hr 30 minutes
---------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 61
Sunday Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
skipped breakfast entirely (oops, not intentional)
2 chicken tacos (the ol' CTNT recipe)
3 shrimp ceviche flats
2 weight watchers ice cream bars (bad I know)
-------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 872 (and yet still waaaaaay low due to skipping breakfast)
Sunday Activity:
Walking/Shopping: Costco - 30 minutes
Walking/Browsing: Wal-Mart 1 hr
Walking/Shopping: Groceries - 1 hr
Walking/Sprints: Dog park - 1 hr
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 53
Friday we got answers re: Snackers' surgery. His tendon was 98% cut so they had to do some serious surgery on him. The surgery took longer than planned due to the unexpected extent of the damage and the Dr. was already late getting into another pre-op so he didn't come talk to me because he was in a rush. The nurses were jerks to me because, and they actually admitted this, they lost his HIPPA form that gave them permission to talk to me and couldn't remember if I was on it or not so they took the side of caution. As it turns out the Dr. also switched Snackers' pain meds after the surgery because he knew that with the amount of work he had to do, the pain was going to be pretty bad and the new meds make him hyper (I'm like that with penacillin) so that's why he was bouncing off the walls. They also had to give him a muscle relaxer because his middle finger started having muscle spasms that were not only painful, but could have slowed his healing time.
When I got off work on Friday we had to run to the pharmacy to get the muscle relaxers and David's Bridal is in the same parking lot so we headed over there but it was a horrible, overwhelming, daunting experience for me and I ended up doing a once-through of the store without really looking at anything and then left, and broke into tears in the parking lot, then came home and ate a Klondike bar (yeah, I know ... totally counter productive and stupid but emotional moments lose all sense of rationalism).
Saturday there was supposed to be a dress-swap at the local rec center so we got up and headed over there with my old prom dress from 2001 only to discover that it had been canceled. On the way home, however, we passed another dress shop called Alfred Angelo and I decided that, at the very least, I needed to get over my fear of trying on dresses so we headed in and I vowed that I would try on at least 3 dresses, even if I didn't like them, just to face my fear. I'll post more details about this experience in today's post later but, suffice it to say, we found the dress!! YAY! From there we had breakfast, took the dogs to the dog park and then Snackers needed to rest so we came home and I weeded the back yard, took out the trash, watered the trees, and then browsed for a wedding corset for under the dress while he relaxed.
Sunday we got up and headed straight over to my long overdue visit with an eye doc, got a prescription and then went to Wal-Mart to look for frames. The op-shop wasn't open yet though so we browsed bottles for the sand ceremony and other wedding related stuff and made our grocery list while we waited. I found some frames and got my new glasses ordered (YAY! No more headaches!) and then we did our grocery shopping. Came home - put everything away and sat down to relax for a minute and ended up falling asleep for two hours. Woke up, made supper, took the dogs to the park, and then Snackers had me read to him until bed.
Friday Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fish burrito
2 california rolls
4 pieces shrimp nigiri
1 klondike bar
--------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1402
Friday Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking/Browsing: 30 minutes
--------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 124
Saturday Food:
150 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 bagel, dry
1 serving corned beef hash
1 serving pico de gallo
1 chopped salad
----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1375
Saturday Activity:
Walking/Shopping: 1hr 45 minutes
Walking/Sprints @ the dog park: 45 minutes
Yard/house work: 1 hr 30 minutes
---------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 61
Sunday Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
skipped breakfast entirely (oops, not intentional)
2 chicken tacos (the ol' CTNT recipe)
3 shrimp ceviche flats
2 weight watchers ice cream bars (bad I know)
-------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 872 (and yet still waaaaaay low due to skipping breakfast)
Sunday Activity:
Walking/Shopping: Costco - 30 minutes
Walking/Browsing: Wal-Mart 1 hr
Walking/Shopping: Groceries - 1 hr
Walking/Sprints: Dog park - 1 hr
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 53
Friday, March 23, 2012
Catching Up
Yesterday after surgery didn't go as I'd planned it but I didn't totally flake out either. Shortly after I got off work Snackers announced that our friends were coming over to visit him and, although the house really wasn't a mess at all (a little clutter here and there but not bad at all) he felt the need to start cleaning. Strange, I would have thought that after surgery he'd have wanted to come home, climb in bed, and rest all day but nope! He started by picking up the living room and my paperwork on the dining room table, then headed outside to sweep the back patio, clean the patio chairs, pick up the bits of trash the blew into the yard over the windy weekend, sweep out the track on the slider etc. etc.
I tried to convince him that he should be laying down but he wouldn't listen so I joined him in the hopes that it would get done faster and then he'd rest. After an hour or so of cleaning our friends arrived and we hung out and chatted with them but I still couldn't get Snackers to sit down and relax, he insisted on visiting with them while standing. So is it normal for surgery to make someone act like they're on speed afterward or what? Even after they left he stood next to the bed and was shifting back-and-forth from one foot to the other, wanted to groom the cats, and kept running back and forth between the bedroom and the kitchen to get snack after snack after snack. It was ODD! Then the sweating started.
He felt cold to touch but was sweating profusely and all of the color drained from his face but I had to literally take him by the good hand, walk him into the bathroom and make him look at his own reflection to see what I was seeing before he would finally lay down and relax. That lasted for about an hour, then he wanted to play games on the PS3 Move that he borrowed from his boss so we spent an hour doing that (sword fighting mostly) and I broke up a helluva good sweat before he finally decided that he was ready for bed. Surprise, surprise, when he finally laid down to rest he was in a world of hurt from his hand. DUH! *sigh* I wonder if they gave him some kind of stimulant to help him wake up from the anesthesia - if it took him 45 minutes to wake up after surgery I would imagine that's not normal and they would have done something to try to counter-act it right? He was DEFINITELY acting strange last night, that's for sure!
Yesterday Food:
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 chicken pita
1 medium fry
2 English muffins toasted w/provolone
1 skinny cow ice cream
-----------------------------
Intake: 1423
Yesterday Activity:
Cleaning
Motion Gaming: 1 hr
---------------------
Fitocracy points: 149
Today's Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
2 latkes w/roast beef (lean)
1 skinny cow ice cream
------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1460
Today's Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 1 hour (around town with Shawn, he was restless)
----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 154
I tried to convince him that he should be laying down but he wouldn't listen so I joined him in the hopes that it would get done faster and then he'd rest. After an hour or so of cleaning our friends arrived and we hung out and chatted with them but I still couldn't get Snackers to sit down and relax, he insisted on visiting with them while standing. So is it normal for surgery to make someone act like they're on speed afterward or what? Even after they left he stood next to the bed and was shifting back-and-forth from one foot to the other, wanted to groom the cats, and kept running back and forth between the bedroom and the kitchen to get snack after snack after snack. It was ODD! Then the sweating started.
He felt cold to touch but was sweating profusely and all of the color drained from his face but I had to literally take him by the good hand, walk him into the bathroom and make him look at his own reflection to see what I was seeing before he would finally lay down and relax. That lasted for about an hour, then he wanted to play games on the PS3 Move that he borrowed from his boss so we spent an hour doing that (sword fighting mostly) and I broke up a helluva good sweat before he finally decided that he was ready for bed. Surprise, surprise, when he finally laid down to rest he was in a world of hurt from his hand. DUH! *sigh* I wonder if they gave him some kind of stimulant to help him wake up from the anesthesia - if it took him 45 minutes to wake up after surgery I would imagine that's not normal and they would have done something to try to counter-act it right? He was DEFINITELY acting strange last night, that's for sure!
Yesterday Food:
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 chicken pita
1 medium fry
2 English muffins toasted w/provolone
1 skinny cow ice cream
-----------------------------
Intake: 1423
Yesterday Activity:
Cleaning
Motion Gaming: 1 hr
---------------------
Fitocracy points: 149
Today's Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
2 latkes w/roast beef (lean)
1 skinny cow ice cream
------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1460
Today's Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 1 hour (around town with Shawn, he was restless)
----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 154
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Surgery Update
Snackers' surgery was this morning. I wrote my participation posts for school last night and then saved them in a Word doc so that I could just copy and paste them into the classroom this morning before we left. I chugged my coffee and we were out the door.
We got home at 2 and I had a chicken pita and a water (first food of the day) and got right to work so this is just a quick update for the surgery. Plans for this evening include my new "usual" workout on the treadmill plus yoga sometime between work and dinner but we'll see how that goes. I'm going to cancel my Dr. appointment tonight because there's just too much other stuff going on (see below).
So we arrived at 8:30 a.m. and were one of the first patients to sign in for the day. They took him back for pre-op and had me sit with him hoping it would help him to calm down but when that didn't work they gave him a happy juice injection that made him Stoogy (as in "The three stooges"). They finally took him into the OR at 10:30, the surgery lasted an hour (probably not a good sign but since the Dr. didn't come out to talk to me at all after the surgery and he didn't stick around to talk to Snackers after either ... we don't really know how it went or what the final prognosis was ... nice huh? total bullshit if you ask me). I ambushed the anesthesiologist on her way to lunch around 11:30 and she told me that he was done and that someone would be out to talk to me in 10-20 minutes.
30 minutes later when no one had come I inquired at the front desk and she told me that they would come get me in 10-20 minutes to go back and sit with him. Another 20 minutes later I was literally the LAST PERSON still sitting in the waiting room when the door finally opened and they were wheeling him out in a wheelchair. I was PISSED! I mean I was happy to see him, glad he was ok and all but really mad that they didn't let me back there to help him put his clothes back on or sit with him or that they hadn't told me anything and then just "here he is, all done". He wasn't too happy about it either because he had a hell of a time trying to put his sweats back on one-handed and did NOT want the strange nurses helping him. Well duh! I was 10 feet away, why wouldn't they have just come and gotten me? They were calling everyone else from the waiting room back to sit with the respective patients but not me ... and for some reason I think that means something was wrong and they didn't want me to know.
He was so pale when they brought him out that he was almost green, it took him over 30 minutes to wake up from the anesthesia, and he started shaking uncontrollably in the car on the way home despite the fact that it's a lovely, sunny day outside (not bad but shivering and he couldn't stop it) but it must have been lunch time for the nursing staff because they put him in a wheelchair and sent him home anyway.
We stopped to get his new prescriptions filled and I got some food and apple juice in him while we were waiting which brought some color back to his cheeks and stopped the shaking but I am sooooo pissed at how that office handled his surgery. Oooooh pissed, you have no idea.
We got home at 2 and I had a chicken pita and a water (first food of the day) and got right to work so this is just a quick update for the surgery. Plans for this evening include my new "usual" workout on the treadmill plus yoga sometime between work and dinner but we'll see how that goes. I'm going to cancel my Dr. appointment tonight because there's just too much other stuff going on (see below).
So we arrived at 8:30 a.m. and were one of the first patients to sign in for the day. They took him back for pre-op and had me sit with him hoping it would help him to calm down but when that didn't work they gave him a happy juice injection that made him Stoogy (as in "The three stooges"). They finally took him into the OR at 10:30, the surgery lasted an hour (probably not a good sign but since the Dr. didn't come out to talk to me at all after the surgery and he didn't stick around to talk to Snackers after either ... we don't really know how it went or what the final prognosis was ... nice huh? total bullshit if you ask me). I ambushed the anesthesiologist on her way to lunch around 11:30 and she told me that he was done and that someone would be out to talk to me in 10-20 minutes.
30 minutes later when no one had come I inquired at the front desk and she told me that they would come get me in 10-20 minutes to go back and sit with him. Another 20 minutes later I was literally the LAST PERSON still sitting in the waiting room when the door finally opened and they were wheeling him out in a wheelchair. I was PISSED! I mean I was happy to see him, glad he was ok and all but really mad that they didn't let me back there to help him put his clothes back on or sit with him or that they hadn't told me anything and then just "here he is, all done". He wasn't too happy about it either because he had a hell of a time trying to put his sweats back on one-handed and did NOT want the strange nurses helping him. Well duh! I was 10 feet away, why wouldn't they have just come and gotten me? They were calling everyone else from the waiting room back to sit with the respective patients but not me ... and for some reason I think that means something was wrong and they didn't want me to know.
He was so pale when they brought him out that he was almost green, it took him over 30 minutes to wake up from the anesthesia, and he started shaking uncontrollably in the car on the way home despite the fact that it's a lovely, sunny day outside (not bad but shivering and he couldn't stop it) but it must have been lunch time for the nursing staff because they put him in a wheelchair and sent him home anyway.
We stopped to get his new prescriptions filled and I got some food and apple juice in him while we were waiting which brought some color back to his cheeks and stopped the shaking but I am sooooo pissed at how that office handled his surgery. Oooooh pissed, you have no idea.
Another Evaluation
I spent some time in contemplation yesterday about the best way to get my ass on the treadmill every single night without failure. I've realized that when I do get on the damn thing I'm over-doing it. When I climb off of it gasping for air and barely able to stand, sure it's a great workout but it's also a fast track to a burn-out. Lately I've been getting on the treadmill, working out for 20 minutes or so (which isn't nearly long enough to boost my metabolism) and then I'm wiped out and lazy for the next 24-hours or more. Not only that but when I did have a gym membership there was a chart hanging on the wall by the treadmills that showed various heart-rate brackets and the effects that each created. I remember that there was a "sweet spot" for weight loss and that it said if you get your heart-rate too high you're burning fuel too fast for the body to process fat so it starts eating muscle instead. I don't yet have a heart-rate monitor on my treadmill but I know that if I'm gasping for air and feeling weak and dizzy, my heart rate is too high.
So yesterday I scaled back a little bit on the intensity but increased the time. I broke a healthy sweat and was breathing heavy but not dying when I got done. I walked for 9 minutes at 3 mph and then ran for 1 minute at 5 mph. I did that 6 times for a total 60 minute work-out and, interestingly enough, my thigh muscles were burning more last night from that work-out than they have been after other work-outs. I've been exhausting myself before I can even really get a good burn going which seems kinda pointless. I liked last night's routine and I'm still planning on increasing intensity and working on my stamina but I have to do it a lot more gradually.
I have to remind myself that when I started this blog, walking 3 miles in an hour was EXHAUSTING in-and-of itself for me. The first time that I tried to walk 5 miles in one day I had to text my mom for the motivation and support to keep going long enough to get home. Just a few months ago I did 10 miles in a single day ... I wanted to die when it was over but I did it. I want to progress so much that I try too hard and it's really counter productive. A steady, healthy, daily routine is, I think, better than massive death-runs. Like the tortoise and the hare. I'll get there but I had to remind myself that my plan was to go back to what was working and that was never killing myself - it was pushing myself yes. Breaking a sweat and breathing heavy - yes. But not to the point where I had to collapse on the floor for 20 minutes just to keep from passing out. I'm sticking with the 9x1 routine for awhile. I think I'll re-evaluate it in a month or so when I've had a chance to rebuild the muscle I lost sitting on my ass all winter and, hopefully, lose the weight that I gained back.
p.s. Weighed this morning and am at 226.5. I will not let that get me down. It will become more motivation to be consistent in my routine and to get Snackers to understand that we need to go back to cooking more meals at home - injured hand or not.
Food:
120 oz of water
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
8 oz grilled skirt steak
4 oz garlic angel hair pasta
2 cups of popcorn
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1392
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps @ 3 mph for 9 min. each
Running: 6 reps @ 5 mph for 1 min each
-----------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
So yesterday I scaled back a little bit on the intensity but increased the time. I broke a healthy sweat and was breathing heavy but not dying when I got done. I walked for 9 minutes at 3 mph and then ran for 1 minute at 5 mph. I did that 6 times for a total 60 minute work-out and, interestingly enough, my thigh muscles were burning more last night from that work-out than they have been after other work-outs. I've been exhausting myself before I can even really get a good burn going which seems kinda pointless. I liked last night's routine and I'm still planning on increasing intensity and working on my stamina but I have to do it a lot more gradually.
I have to remind myself that when I started this blog, walking 3 miles in an hour was EXHAUSTING in-and-of itself for me. The first time that I tried to walk 5 miles in one day I had to text my mom for the motivation and support to keep going long enough to get home. Just a few months ago I did 10 miles in a single day ... I wanted to die when it was over but I did it. I want to progress so much that I try too hard and it's really counter productive. A steady, healthy, daily routine is, I think, better than massive death-runs. Like the tortoise and the hare. I'll get there but I had to remind myself that my plan was to go back to what was working and that was never killing myself - it was pushing myself yes. Breaking a sweat and breathing heavy - yes. But not to the point where I had to collapse on the floor for 20 minutes just to keep from passing out. I'm sticking with the 9x1 routine for awhile. I think I'll re-evaluate it in a month or so when I've had a chance to rebuild the muscle I lost sitting on my ass all winter and, hopefully, lose the weight that I gained back.
p.s. Weighed this morning and am at 226.5. I will not let that get me down. It will become more motivation to be consistent in my routine and to get Snackers to understand that we need to go back to cooking more meals at home - injured hand or not.
Food:
120 oz of water
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
8 oz grilled skirt steak
4 oz garlic angel hair pasta
2 cups of popcorn
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1392
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps @ 3 mph for 9 min. each
Running: 6 reps @ 5 mph for 1 min each
-----------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 207
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Wedding Planning
The wedding is almost still a full year away but Snackers can't stop talking about it and we spent most of our weekend planning it, from choosing our colors and browsing dresses/tuxs online to scheduling tours of local venues where we might want to have the ceremony. We've already made our lists of who we want to invite and have decided to keep it extremely small, topping out at around 25 people including ourselves and the officiator. We want to keep the entire thing as small and inexpensive as possible because we'll be footing the bill on our own and with having just bought a house last year and graduating this year, money is going to be very tight.
This week is finals week in CSS but I'm all but done since I've already turned in and received a grade on my final assignment, all I have to worry about this week is participation in the class discussion. That's good because Snackers has surgery on Wednesday and I have to go to planned parenthood for my follow-up on my IUD later that same night. Sunday I have a long over-due appointment with the optometrist and I guess I'm going to have to find a new family practice Dr. for my "complete" check-up since no one at the discount doc will return my calls to schedule an appointment.
Next week is finals in JavaScript and I'm thinking about possibly staying in school for another two years instead of getting a second job to pay off the loans as I had originally planned. I just don't know how I can swing paying student loans and saving up for a wedding but ... on the other hand, I really don't want to dig an even deeper debt hole for school than I'm already in. I just don't know what to do at this point. I'm kind of thinking that I can save more with the income from a second job, even while paying off student loans, than I could if I went for my BS in school instead. I just don't know.
Snackers wants to have the wedding by the water and we were originally looking at renting a houseboat on Lake Mead but it's just way too expensive and that early in the year the weather can still be very unpredictable etc. so we're looking at other options instead. We've found some nice venues in town that have lake-side options so we're going to try to schedule some appointments to go look at them. We spent yesterday at the resorts in Lake Las Vegas to see what they had to offer but they are just waaaaaaay out of our price range (something we realized pretty much the instant we drove into the community) so we're kinda back to square one.
Food:
116 oz of water
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 leftover chicken sandwich w/marinara
1 cup matzo ball soup
1 serving chicken dacha (boneless, skinless, cooked in chunks of tomato and capers)
1 skinny cow ice cream
--------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1424
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps of 9 min. @ 3.0 mph
Running: 6 reps of 1 min. @ 5.0 mph
--------------------------------------
Fitocracy Points:207
This week is finals week in CSS but I'm all but done since I've already turned in and received a grade on my final assignment, all I have to worry about this week is participation in the class discussion. That's good because Snackers has surgery on Wednesday and I have to go to planned parenthood for my follow-up on my IUD later that same night. Sunday I have a long over-due appointment with the optometrist and I guess I'm going to have to find a new family practice Dr. for my "complete" check-up since no one at the discount doc will return my calls to schedule an appointment.
Next week is finals in JavaScript and I'm thinking about possibly staying in school for another two years instead of getting a second job to pay off the loans as I had originally planned. I just don't know how I can swing paying student loans and saving up for a wedding but ... on the other hand, I really don't want to dig an even deeper debt hole for school than I'm already in. I just don't know what to do at this point. I'm kind of thinking that I can save more with the income from a second job, even while paying off student loans, than I could if I went for my BS in school instead. I just don't know.
Snackers wants to have the wedding by the water and we were originally looking at renting a houseboat on Lake Mead but it's just way too expensive and that early in the year the weather can still be very unpredictable etc. so we're looking at other options instead. We've found some nice venues in town that have lake-side options so we're going to try to schedule some appointments to go look at them. We spent yesterday at the resorts in Lake Las Vegas to see what they had to offer but they are just waaaaaaay out of our price range (something we realized pretty much the instant we drove into the community) so we're kinda back to square one.
Food:
116 oz of water
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 leftover chicken sandwich w/marinara
1 cup matzo ball soup
1 serving chicken dacha (boneless, skinless, cooked in chunks of tomato and capers)
1 skinny cow ice cream
--------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1424
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 6 reps of 9 min. @ 3.0 mph
Running: 6 reps of 1 min. @ 5.0 mph
--------------------------------------
Fitocracy Points:207
Monday, March 19, 2012
SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT
 |
| The far-away view |
When I pulled back the curtain to get out of the shower, however ... there was Snackers with a ring in his hand asking me to marry him. It's funny because we've been talking about getting married for a couple of years now. In fact he even had plans to propose two years ago at a family function but a little bird (named my sister) told me he was planning it and then he found out that she ruined the surprise so he decided not to go through with it and I've been waiting, wondering this whole time, if that was my one and only shot with him. I guess he had originally planned on asking on our anniversary (which was Wednesday the 14th, just three days ago) but then cut his hand at work and then had to go back to the Dr. on Monday and was on Keflex and pain killers and just wasn't feeling it. So last night he decided it would be fun to ambush me climbing out of the shower ... pretty damn cute actually. Definitely something I'll never forget.
 |
| The close-up |
In the pics the top ring is the "promise" ring I've been wearing since I moved to Vegas just to let everyone know "I'm not single" (though I still get the occasional block head who either doesn't notice the ring or just doesn't care) and the bottom ring is the engagement ring. I actually picked this ring out at the Renaissance fair two years ago and didn't know it but he bought it and has been holding onto it this whole time. It's a Claddagh - an Irish wedding ring. We've set the date for March 14, 2013, our five-year anniversary. That way we don't have to memorize a new anniversary date. :)
Saturday Food:
140 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
2 slices leftover pizza (breakfast)
1 serving chicken and green beans (lunch)
1 serving beef w/broccoli (lunch)
1/2 serving veggie chow mein (lunch)
1 home made chicken sandwich (no cheese, light mayo w/evoo: dinner)
-------------------------------------
Intake: 1455
Saturday Activity:
Walking: 2 hours around town trying to entertain ourselves and back at the street fair
-------------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 86
Sunday Food:
100 oz of water
2 cups of coffee w/creamer
1 cranberry muffin
1 serving corned beef (dry)
1 cup tomato salad
1 chicken sandwich (w/marinara)
1 small fry
-------------------------------------
Intake: 1347
Sunday Activity:
Walking: 1 hour (looking at ceremony locations for the wedding
Walking: 1hr 20 min (weekly shopping)
Sprints (@ the dog park w/vladdy) x 3
---------------------------------------
Fitocracy Points:105
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Doing It Again
I'm doing it again, just when the scale starts moving I either fill myself up with things to do that take away my work-out time or I find ways to justify sitting on my ass. I didn't feel good yesterday, at all ... but that's no excuse. With Snacker's Dr. rescheduling his surgery for the middle of next week, which also happens to be the start of finals for me in my last classes before graduation, I realized I needed to get my ass in gear and get ahead of the game on my assignments so I'm not rushing them last minute next week amidst the other chaos. I also have a Dr.'s appointment next week on the same day as Snackers except mine is in the evening. It's going to be a week from hell, I'm sure.
So I got off work last night and jumped right into my final project for my CSS class. Snackers made dinner (he's getting better) so I stopped long enough to eat it and then I was right back in here working on my assignments for my JavaScript class for next week. He came in and started complaining that he wanted to do something because he'd been sitting around the house all day doing nothing and he was bored (now he knows how I usually feel when he gets home from work on Saturday and wants to just kick it on the sofa after I've been here alone all day). So I explained to him that I HAVE to make sure these last two weeks of school go well in spite of everything else that is going on in our lives and the only way that I can do that is to get ahead before things get crazy. He got it ... but an hour later he was in here asking me to go to the dog park with him.
Well he can drive now but only if I shift for him and I had finished and submitted all of my assignments for this week, and next week in both classes and laid the foundation for my JavaScript final that's due on April 1st so I figured I was far enough ahead that I could afford to take a break. I still have to go over my JavaScript final with a fine-toothed comb to make sure everything is perfect and pretty before I submit it but it's all but done. Thank goodness.
So we hit the dog park, rolled in around 9 p.m. and he wanted me to read to him again. He borrowed a Playstation Move from his friend so hopefully he'll be able to spend some time on that today and won't be so bored tonight because, dammit, I need to exercise! I like watching the scale go down this week and I wanna keep it moving!!!
p.s. Well snap my buttons! I submitted my final, which isn't due until next week, for CSS last night. I just logged in to my student website after writing this post and my instructor has already given it 100%. That sure takes a big giant load off of my shoulders for next week. Whew!
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1 serving corned beef & cabbage (meticulously trimmed all of the fat off)
5 boiled baby carrots
3 boiled new potatoes
------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1469
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 3 sets @ 3 mph for 5 min
Running: 3 sets @ 5 mph for 2 min (alternated w/walking)
Walking: 2 hrs at the St. Patties Day street fair in old-town
-----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 233
So I got off work last night and jumped right into my final project for my CSS class. Snackers made dinner (he's getting better) so I stopped long enough to eat it and then I was right back in here working on my assignments for my JavaScript class for next week. He came in and started complaining that he wanted to do something because he'd been sitting around the house all day doing nothing and he was bored (now he knows how I usually feel when he gets home from work on Saturday and wants to just kick it on the sofa after I've been here alone all day). So I explained to him that I HAVE to make sure these last two weeks of school go well in spite of everything else that is going on in our lives and the only way that I can do that is to get ahead before things get crazy. He got it ... but an hour later he was in here asking me to go to the dog park with him.
Well he can drive now but only if I shift for him and I had finished and submitted all of my assignments for this week, and next week in both classes and laid the foundation for my JavaScript final that's due on April 1st so I figured I was far enough ahead that I could afford to take a break. I still have to go over my JavaScript final with a fine-toothed comb to make sure everything is perfect and pretty before I submit it but it's all but done. Thank goodness.
So we hit the dog park, rolled in around 9 p.m. and he wanted me to read to him again. He borrowed a Playstation Move from his friend so hopefully he'll be able to spend some time on that today and won't be so bored tonight because, dammit, I need to exercise! I like watching the scale go down this week and I wanna keep it moving!!!
p.s. Well snap my buttons! I submitted my final, which isn't due until next week, for CSS last night. I just logged in to my student website after writing this post and my instructor has already given it 100%. That sure takes a big giant load off of my shoulders for next week. Whew!
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1 serving corned beef & cabbage (meticulously trimmed all of the fat off)
5 boiled baby carrots
3 boiled new potatoes
------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1469
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Walking: 3 sets @ 3 mph for 5 min
Running: 3 sets @ 5 mph for 2 min (alternated w/walking)
Walking: 2 hrs at the St. Patties Day street fair in old-town
-----------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 233
Friday, March 16, 2012
Happy Anniversary
Yesterday was mine and Snackers' four-year anniversary so we went for sushi because that's what we had for dinner on our first date and it's become kind of a tradition for us. After dinner we couldn't think of anything to do. Our original plan had been to paint pottery but with Snackers being one-handed we realized that wasn't going to work and there weren't any movies out that we wanted to see so we ended up heading for the nearest pet store. Snackers has been bummed about being hurt and playing with young, bumbling puppies always cheers him up. We had absolutely NO intention of buying anything, but we just picked one out and let them think we were interested so that they'd let us spend some time in one of the rooms with it. Snackers picked out a little female black lab ... she was sweet but I'm not a lab person generally so I just let him snuggle and play with her so that he'd feel a little bit better for the rest of the evening.
After that we headed over to the casino because he wanted to put $5 on the championship games for today so they'd be a little bit more interesting to sit around and watch all day and then we went to the book store to browse. It is soooo strange that a guy who doesn't like to read, at all, actually ENJOYS browsing the book store with me. I LOVE to browse book stores. Call me psycho but I could probably go to a book store two or three times a month just to look around, check out the covers and the titles, see which names are getting their own little displays, and which genres are being placed at the front of the store etc. I didn't ever think anyone in the world would find that fun but me but Snackers does. It's awesome!
So after an hour of that we came home and I jumped on the treadmill for 20 minutes because I was feeling guilty about the sushi (little did I know I'd actually come in UNDER calories for the day) and then Snackers asked me to read some more chapters from my book to him so we did that until we got tired and went to bed. All-in-all not a bad anniversary. Not exciting but we both kinda feel like we've had enough excitement for the month and needed some "chill time" plus we saved a ton of money by being indecisive. It's funny - I never liked to window shop (ok, Bookstores obviously) before I met Snackers but it seems like that's something that we do a lot together and we both enjoy. My brother and I went window shopping once when I was 15-16 and staying with him for a couple of weeks. We walked the entire mall finding odd trinkets and trying to take them apart and figure out how they work without getting kicked out of the stores and it was a blast. That's kind of what Snackers and I do. We find unusual things to look at, crack jokes about, and be just a little bit silly. It's good, inexpensive fun.
p.s. The Dr. called yesterday and rescheduled Snackers' surgery for next Wednesday. He's not happy.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 Healthy Choice lunch
1 serving chicken raviolli
8 grilled asparagus spears
1 skinny cow ice cream
---------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1363
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Nothin. :(
After that we headed over to the casino because he wanted to put $5 on the championship games for today so they'd be a little bit more interesting to sit around and watch all day and then we went to the book store to browse. It is soooo strange that a guy who doesn't like to read, at all, actually ENJOYS browsing the book store with me. I LOVE to browse book stores. Call me psycho but I could probably go to a book store two or three times a month just to look around, check out the covers and the titles, see which names are getting their own little displays, and which genres are being placed at the front of the store etc. I didn't ever think anyone in the world would find that fun but me but Snackers does. It's awesome!
So after an hour of that we came home and I jumped on the treadmill for 20 minutes because I was feeling guilty about the sushi (little did I know I'd actually come in UNDER calories for the day) and then Snackers asked me to read some more chapters from my book to him so we did that until we got tired and went to bed. All-in-all not a bad anniversary. Not exciting but we both kinda feel like we've had enough excitement for the month and needed some "chill time" plus we saved a ton of money by being indecisive. It's funny - I never liked to window shop (ok, Bookstores obviously) before I met Snackers but it seems like that's something that we do a lot together and we both enjoy. My brother and I went window shopping once when I was 15-16 and staying with him for a couple of weeks. We walked the entire mall finding odd trinkets and trying to take them apart and figure out how they work without getting kicked out of the stores and it was a blast. That's kind of what Snackers and I do. We find unusual things to look at, crack jokes about, and be just a little bit silly. It's good, inexpensive fun.
p.s. The Dr. called yesterday and rescheduled Snackers' surgery for next Wednesday. He's not happy.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 Healthy Choice lunch
1 serving chicken raviolli
8 grilled asparagus spears
1 skinny cow ice cream
---------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1363
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Nothin. :(
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Restless and Bored
Snackers can't drive, he can't play video games, he can't go to work ... hell he can't even make a sandwich. He's getting restless, bored, and angry with life. He came into my office while I was working yesterday about a dozen times looking for me to entertain him and then hovered around my door after work while I was trying to finish school. He tried to cook dinner and I heard crashing noises and cursing from the kitchen as he realized what a handicap having one hand can really be and it was pissing him off.
I helped him cook dinner instead of just doing it on my own because he needed to feel like he could accomplish something, then I cleaned up and he wanted to "snuggle". I said I'd give him 30 minutes and then I had to exercise but when the time came he held onto me and said "just 30 more minutes, read your book to me". Now I know he's bored. Snackers HATES reading. So I read to him and although we usually do 1-2 chapters at a time, he had me read 10 last night before I finally insisted that I was going to lose my damn voice if we didn't take a break.
I finally went out to get on the treadmill and Snackers followed me to the garage wanting to put Vladdy on the treadmill. He freaked out a little and we had to continually encourage him to keep walking but he got into a groove when we figured out the speed that was most comfortable for him. After five minutes we put Piper on it because she'd been watching him like she wanted a turn and I swear she thinks it's fun. I didn't even have to put a leash on her she just jumped on and went for a walk. When she jumped off we put Vladdy back on for another five, then I jumped on for a three minute run and Snackers stood there, trying to talk to me about college basketball while I was running ... which so doesn't work. Then he asked me to help him wrap his splint so that he could take a bath ... right in the middle of my work out. So I turned the treadmill off and came inside with him and then he changed his mind about taking a bath and wanted to snuggle some more. I thought I was going to have to handcuff him to the bedpost just to get away long enough to take a shower.
*sigh* I know it must be hard for him to not be able to do anything but stare at the TV all day and I'm sure he's bored and restless but with finals coming up next week and the week after he's going to have to learn to give me some "me-time" to handle my own responsibilities. And today is our anniversary so I don't know what to expect from him tonight.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I forgot to weigh on Monday because of the impromptu rush to the Dr.'s office so I weighed yesterday and was at 235.5. YAY! That's down another half-pound from Saturday and a 1.5 lb loss from my last "official" weigh-in so I'm posting it baby!
Food:
140 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 fish burrito (breakfast)
1 healthy choice lunch
3 tuna rolls
1 mochi ball
-------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1281
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Running: 5 sets for 3 min @ 5 mph
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 152
I helped him cook dinner instead of just doing it on my own because he needed to feel like he could accomplish something, then I cleaned up and he wanted to "snuggle". I said I'd give him 30 minutes and then I had to exercise but when the time came he held onto me and said "just 30 more minutes, read your book to me". Now I know he's bored. Snackers HATES reading. So I read to him and although we usually do 1-2 chapters at a time, he had me read 10 last night before I finally insisted that I was going to lose my damn voice if we didn't take a break.
I finally went out to get on the treadmill and Snackers followed me to the garage wanting to put Vladdy on the treadmill. He freaked out a little and we had to continually encourage him to keep walking but he got into a groove when we figured out the speed that was most comfortable for him. After five minutes we put Piper on it because she'd been watching him like she wanted a turn and I swear she thinks it's fun. I didn't even have to put a leash on her she just jumped on and went for a walk. When she jumped off we put Vladdy back on for another five, then I jumped on for a three minute run and Snackers stood there, trying to talk to me about college basketball while I was running ... which so doesn't work. Then he asked me to help him wrap his splint so that he could take a bath ... right in the middle of my work out. So I turned the treadmill off and came inside with him and then he changed his mind about taking a bath and wanted to snuggle some more. I thought I was going to have to handcuff him to the bedpost just to get away long enough to take a shower.
*sigh* I know it must be hard for him to not be able to do anything but stare at the TV all day and I'm sure he's bored and restless but with finals coming up next week and the week after he's going to have to learn to give me some "me-time" to handle my own responsibilities. And today is our anniversary so I don't know what to expect from him tonight.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I forgot to weigh on Monday because of the impromptu rush to the Dr.'s office so I weighed yesterday and was at 235.5. YAY! That's down another half-pound from Saturday and a 1.5 lb loss from my last "official" weigh-in so I'm posting it baby!
Food:
140 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 fish burrito (breakfast)
1 healthy choice lunch
3 tuna rolls
1 mochi ball
-------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1281
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Running: 5 sets for 3 min @ 5 mph
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 152
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Hijacked Again
So I called the hand specialist for Snackers first thing yesterday morning as soon as they opened expecting to make an appointment and what I got from them instead was "The Dr. wants you to come in right now, if you can". I talked to my boss and he told me to go without hesitation so we dropped everything, got dressed and headed out. We had to swing by the E.R. first to pick up his X-rays which turned out to be a completely pointless 45 minutes out of our way because we both forgot to grab Snackers' wallet with his ID in it. *growl*. He's still all foggy from Keflex and I'm having a hard time remembering everything for two people. So we got all the way to the E.R. and realized he didn't have his ID, turned around and came all the way back home to get it, then drove all the way back to the E.R. again to pick up his X-rays.
Then the hand Dr. was as far west as you can get in Las Vegas and we're about as far east as you can get so we drove across the whole damned valley to get there. They jumped us right into a room rather quickly, they took the splint off and the Dr. had Snackers do a tendon test, which he failed miserably. I could even tell he failed it before the Dr. said anything because as they were doing the test Snackers was watching his hand but the Dr. was watching Snackers' expression ... you can't bullshit a bullshitter - that test hurt like hell and the Doc knew it. Snackers REALLY didn't want surgery but he's getting it this Friday. *sigh*
They're going to put him under, cut his stitches out and "have a look inside". If the cut to the tendon is less than 50% they'll just stitch him back up and send him home. If it's more than 50% they'll operate right there to sew the tendon back together, then stitch his hand back up and put him in a cast and send him home. Prognosis is 4-8 weeks depending on the results of Friday's surgery. He's mui unhappy about it.
Up-side workman's comp is handling the medical bills since it happened at work and Snackers has Aflac so that's going to help out a lot too but it still sucks. He can't play video games or do much of anything so he's going to become very restless and bored very quickly. The Dr. gave Snackers a new prescription so we had to go back to the damn pharmacy at Coscto as soon as I got off work and spent an hour walking around there waiting for the little pager they gave us to go off. Then we took the dogs to the dog park and I ran around with Vladdy and chased him to get some exercise of my own but again, no yoga, no treadmill. By the time we got home it was 10:00 and I went straight to bed and I'm STILL exhausted and feeling under-rested this morning. I hope today is more normal. I thrive on routine.
I didn't weigh yesterday amidst the chaos and I'm feeling very bloated and constipated today so I'm kind of afraid to weigh today too but we'll see how the day goes. I think it's about that time of month for me...for the first time in 10 years.
p.s. I'm not counting it as exercise but it's been a long time since I've driven a stick for more than just a short trip here and there I guess because my left thigh is SORE from pushing the clutch over the last three days. lol I'm such a wimp.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 healthy choice lunch
8 oz grilled steak (home prepared)
8 grilled asparagus spears
2 cups popcorn
1 skinny cow ice cream
--------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1162
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Treadmill: 3 min at 5 mph (one set, details in today's post)
----------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 126
Then the hand Dr. was as far west as you can get in Las Vegas and we're about as far east as you can get so we drove across the whole damned valley to get there. They jumped us right into a room rather quickly, they took the splint off and the Dr. had Snackers do a tendon test, which he failed miserably. I could even tell he failed it before the Dr. said anything because as they were doing the test Snackers was watching his hand but the Dr. was watching Snackers' expression ... you can't bullshit a bullshitter - that test hurt like hell and the Doc knew it. Snackers REALLY didn't want surgery but he's getting it this Friday. *sigh*
They're going to put him under, cut his stitches out and "have a look inside". If the cut to the tendon is less than 50% they'll just stitch him back up and send him home. If it's more than 50% they'll operate right there to sew the tendon back together, then stitch his hand back up and put him in a cast and send him home. Prognosis is 4-8 weeks depending on the results of Friday's surgery. He's mui unhappy about it.
Up-side workman's comp is handling the medical bills since it happened at work and Snackers has Aflac so that's going to help out a lot too but it still sucks. He can't play video games or do much of anything so he's going to become very restless and bored very quickly. The Dr. gave Snackers a new prescription so we had to go back to the damn pharmacy at Coscto as soon as I got off work and spent an hour walking around there waiting for the little pager they gave us to go off. Then we took the dogs to the dog park and I ran around with Vladdy and chased him to get some exercise of my own but again, no yoga, no treadmill. By the time we got home it was 10:00 and I went straight to bed and I'm STILL exhausted and feeling under-rested this morning. I hope today is more normal. I thrive on routine.
I didn't weigh yesterday amidst the chaos and I'm feeling very bloated and constipated today so I'm kind of afraid to weigh today too but we'll see how the day goes. I think it's about that time of month for me...for the first time in 10 years.
p.s. I'm not counting it as exercise but it's been a long time since I've driven a stick for more than just a short trip here and there I guess because my left thigh is SORE from pushing the clutch over the last three days. lol I'm such a wimp.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 healthy choice lunch
8 oz grilled steak (home prepared)
8 grilled asparagus spears
2 cups popcorn
1 skinny cow ice cream
--------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1162
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
Treadmill: 3 min at 5 mph (one set, details in today's post)
----------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 126
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Affordable TREES
I made a $10 donation to the Arbor Day Foundation a few months ago and they sent me 12 baby trees! They'd promised to send 10 but for whatever reason I got 2 bonus trees so YAY! The trees arrived last week in a plastic bag full of hydrating gelatin and the planting instructions said we could leave them that way for up-to five days so we put them in the garage and waited for the weekend.
If you want/need to buy trees and you're in the Vegas area, I'm only keeping 3 of the 12 trees and my dad wants 1 of them so that leaves me with 8 more to give away ... just let me know you want some. If you're not in the Vegas area and need/want trees, I HIGHLY recommend the arbor day foundation - they sent me a catalog and after browsing through it I can promise you that they have the absolute best prices you'll find anywhere ... we're talking $6 for a peach tree vs. $250 at Star Nursery. Yes, they're younger trees but they are also guaranteed to grow. If they don't survive the foundation will replace them no charge, no questions asked.
Yesterday we picked up some cheap planter pots and potting soil from the local nursery (8 cents a pot, $20 for the soil). With Snackers being one-handed I loaded everything into the car and he hated it. He's such an old-fashioned guy and I think it's cute and all but seriously, even if he weren't injured I would have wanted to load everything just like I always want to carry the dog food for the extra exercise ... hey, every little bit helps. Well the doc has him on Keflex (antibiotic) to prevent infection and it makes him tired (the one time I had to take it I zonked out too) so when we got home he laid down to take a nap. I got the baby trees soaking in water as directed and then tried to lay down to nap with him but I'd fall asleep for about 5 minutes and then wake up for no reason. My body was saying "get up lazy ass and do something productive!". I was exhausted from the stress of the previous day and with his owy Snackers didn't sleep well Saturday night so I was up with him helping him take the lid off his pain killers so he could take one and then waiting for it to kick in so we could go back to bed etc.
Well I got up anyway, took the trash out to the street, emptied all of the trash cans in the house re-organized the garage a little bit and then got to work planting the trees. I'm so proud of me!!! I'll be even more proud of me if I can keep them alive since I tend to kill everything that I try to grow but, for the time being, they look really good and I think that I did a great job all by myself! It took me almost 2 hours to plant them all in the buckets, move the buckets to the front porch, and clean up the mess but by the time I was done Snackers was awake and had to go back to work to fill out some paperwork on his accident so it worked out perfectly.
I have the following trees (Google pics of them, they're all beautiful!):
3 White Flowering Dogwood trees (I'm keeping one of these for my front yard)
3 Eastern Redbud trees (I'm either keeping 2 of these, or the Crapemyrtles)
4 Golden Raintrees (These are beautiful but I'm not keeping any of them)
2 Crapemyrtles (might be keeping these, not sure).
Food:
40 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 veggie sub
2 chicken soft tacos
1/2 serving leftover shepherd's pie
2 cups popcorn
-----------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1390
Activity:
Walking: Costco (while waiting for pharmacy), dog park
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 86
If you want/need to buy trees and you're in the Vegas area, I'm only keeping 3 of the 12 trees and my dad wants 1 of them so that leaves me with 8 more to give away ... just let me know you want some. If you're not in the Vegas area and need/want trees, I HIGHLY recommend the arbor day foundation - they sent me a catalog and after browsing through it I can promise you that they have the absolute best prices you'll find anywhere ... we're talking $6 for a peach tree vs. $250 at Star Nursery. Yes, they're younger trees but they are also guaranteed to grow. If they don't survive the foundation will replace them no charge, no questions asked.
Yesterday we picked up some cheap planter pots and potting soil from the local nursery (8 cents a pot, $20 for the soil). With Snackers being one-handed I loaded everything into the car and he hated it. He's such an old-fashioned guy and I think it's cute and all but seriously, even if he weren't injured I would have wanted to load everything just like I always want to carry the dog food for the extra exercise ... hey, every little bit helps. Well the doc has him on Keflex (antibiotic) to prevent infection and it makes him tired (the one time I had to take it I zonked out too) so when we got home he laid down to take a nap. I got the baby trees soaking in water as directed and then tried to lay down to nap with him but I'd fall asleep for about 5 minutes and then wake up for no reason. My body was saying "get up lazy ass and do something productive!". I was exhausted from the stress of the previous day and with his owy Snackers didn't sleep well Saturday night so I was up with him helping him take the lid off his pain killers so he could take one and then waiting for it to kick in so we could go back to bed etc.
Well I got up anyway, took the trash out to the street, emptied all of the trash cans in the house re-organized the garage a little bit and then got to work planting the trees. I'm so proud of me!!! I'll be even more proud of me if I can keep them alive since I tend to kill everything that I try to grow but, for the time being, they look really good and I think that I did a great job all by myself! It took me almost 2 hours to plant them all in the buckets, move the buckets to the front porch, and clean up the mess but by the time I was done Snackers was awake and had to go back to work to fill out some paperwork on his accident so it worked out perfectly.
I have the following trees (Google pics of them, they're all beautiful!):
3 White Flowering Dogwood trees (I'm keeping one of these for my front yard)
3 Eastern Redbud trees (I'm either keeping 2 of these, or the Crapemyrtles)
4 Golden Raintrees (These are beautiful but I'm not keeping any of them)
2 Crapemyrtles (might be keeping these, not sure).
Food:
40 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 veggie sub
2 chicken soft tacos
1/2 serving leftover shepherd's pie
2 cups popcorn
-----------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1390
Activity:
Walking: Costco (while waiting for pharmacy), dog park
--------------------------------
Fitocracy Points: 86
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