Sistah Pat

5:30 a.m. - Morning, Chickies!  The cat’s going nuts.  Running from one end of the house to the other like he’s deranged.  Looks like he’s having fun.  Maybe I should try it.  Running, I mean, not being deranged.

Nothing much going on this morning.  Gotta get ready and head to work.  Pitiful, Arrogant, Upchuck Lowlife and I have monthly training sessions but we can’t both go to them because we have classes this year.  I told him he could go to this one and I’ll teach his classes all day.  Next month, he gets to babysit my kiddies so I can go.  Not a bad deal considering I don’t have to deal with him today!

After work, I’m meeting Pam at the gym to workout.  She can’t make water aerobics today so we’re just going to do some cardio.

Pretty routine day shaping up.  Might as well get to it.

6:10 - Well, helllloooo 168!  Pleasant way to start the day.

12:55 - I have 15 minutes for lunch before the kiddos come in.  I’m getting very annoyed with things at work today.  Because I’m in a resource position, I’m not supposed to be teaching classes.  I’m supposed to work full-time with teachers.  However, we all do what we’ve gotta do to make it work for the kids.  Because I’m not supposed to have kids, I don’t have a classroom.  I have a little cubby hole in a corner of the library.  Now that I have classes, I have to take them to the back of the library and try to teach them without a proper room.

Our librarian doesn’t feel that kids are utilizing the library like they should so she’s begun this “Oh, Boy!  Come to the Library!” campaign.  Kids are running down the aisles, laughing and cutting up, and it’s so noisy I can’t hear myself think!  It was so bad yesterday that I asked the AP to make an announcement at the next faculty meeting for teachers to discuss proper behavior with their students when they’re in the library.  The librarian surprised (shocked?) me when she called out, “Don’t you DARE do anything that would keep classes from coming to the library!  I don’t care how much noise they make.  As long as they’re coming I don’t want anything done that would make teachers feel uncomfortable with bringing their classes here.” 

Well, Hell!  Why don’t we just let em order pizza, turn on the stereo and dance in the stacks?  Honestly, I think she’s angry that Paul and I have to hold classes in the library and she’s trying to make a point by making sure the library is NOT conductive to learning.  Having said that…it doesn’t help me with the situation.

5:40 - What an awful day!  By the time it was over, I was ready to scream!  Things got worse and worse until I was ready to just give up by the last period and say, “Hey!  You guys don’t have to do anything.  Just run around, throw paperwads, and make all kinds of noise like the rest of the people in here!”  I couldn’t wait until 2:20 and then the principal comes on the intercom to remind us all that we have a faculty meeting in the library after school.  Crap!  Faculty meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month but I forgot that she scheduled one for this afternoon because next Tuesday is Open House and we’re all expected to be at the school from 5:30 to 8:00 after having already worked all day.  This is one of those days when retirement looks REAL good.  The faculty meeting ran from 2:30 to 4:00 and I just got home about an hour ago.  I emailed the principal and told her we would have to find another location for my classes because the library is “not an appropriate environment and not conductive to learning”. 

One of my students was admiring my new phone this morning before school started (”Oooohhh!  One of the new Blackberries!, Cool!”) and I told her I didn’t know how to do anything with it.  She asked what I wanted to do and I told her I’d like to take a picture.  She said, “Smile!” and a bunch of my kids ran up to get in the picture.  I’ll tell you what…she takes a better picture than any of the guys around here!  She showed me how to take pictures and e-mail them to my AOL account. Maybe I can be in her class next semester!  By the way…how come little Dominick is taller than me and I’m wearing Barbie shoes? 

Pam cancelled out on the workout this evening so I’m in for the night.  Maybe I should just have a glass of wine!

8:45 - Oops!  Who drank the whole bottle and how did I forget to eat dinner?  I’m going to sit in the spa and then hit the bed early.

Breakfast
Light Yogurt (80)

Snack
Popcorn (100)

Lunch
Frozen Marie Callendar’s Turkey dinner (350)

Don’t you hate that?  Lying in bed all warm and snuggly and that nagging need to get up and go pee?  Of course, once you get up, it’s all over.  Could have slept another few minutes but now I’m wide awake.  Guess I’ll take my coffee out to the spa…

5:40 - That was kinda nice…a warm breeze stirring the trees and the wind chimes, the sun just starting to lighten the sky.  Not a bad way to start the day and the day ahead of me is going to be busy!  I’ve got lots of things to do at work so I’m keeping it easy today.  Cute new white crops with silver embroidery around the cuffs and that little $2.99 silk blouse I got.  I’m having so much fun wearing all my new clothes!  I know, I’m such a girl!  Still, I’m stuck with all these men around here and it isn’t easy.

6:15 - Oops!  Think I made a boo boo.  Little sister and DS encouraged me to set up a site on Tagged to stay in touch because several members of the family are on there.  I’m not very savvy at this kind of stuff but I’m learning.  Mostly, I’m learning that there are a lot of weirdos out there.  My page says I’m happily married and NOT interested in anyone else, I’m a grandmother, I like to travel, and I like to garden.  All these people keep asking to be “friends”.  I’m learning rather quickly that they don’t read the bio.  Or…they ignore it.  Last night a guy from across the river wanted to be my friend.  I clicked okay.  I thought he was interested in gardening and stuff.  I mean, I can always delete him if he’s a creep but this morning I clicked on my site and there’s all these gifts!  Innocent little things like happy faces, daisies, friendship bracelets, etc.  I accepted them and then I went to send a happy face to little sister and found out they cost real money!  My new “friend” from across the river actually paid for these things.  Crap!  What do I do?  Say “Thanks!  I didn’t know these things actually cost money.  Sorry I wasted yours!  Gonna delete you now.  Bye, Bye!”  Probably should just delete the entire site.

By the way…scales show 169 this morning.  Slowly getting there.  I’m beginning to think 150 by Christmas break may be pushing it. Gotta think about that.

2:15 - Yeah, I’m home early.  DS is sick.  I MADE him go to the doctor this morning and the doctor told him to go to the hospital.  I came home early so he wouldn’t have to drive his truck and he’s sacked out and won’t get up.  Says he’s tired and he’ll go in a little while.  Damn!  Let me tell you a few things about my men:

My men won’t go to the doctor.

My men don’t have a problem with blood like women do.  “EWWWW!!! You’re bleeding!  Get a bandaid before you get it on something.  That’s gross!!”

My men won’t turn on their turn signals and mouth the words, “Can I get over?”  They try to push their way in and then curse because no one wants to let them in.

My men won’t put a new roll of toilet paper on the holder.  Even after I bought a jazzy new one where they only have to slide it on.

My men don’t see a problem with leaving gobs of shaving creme with nasty chin stubble imbedded in it all over the sink.

My men won’t use coasters.

My men can spend five minutes staring into the camera and then take the worst pictures imaginable. No head, no feet, no head or feet…you get the idea.

There are days when I love them because of something and there are days when I love them in spite of something.  Today, I’m giving them a lot of “in spite ofs”.

5:30 - It’s not hubby who’s sick, Susan.  It’s my son.  He finally headed to the emergency room a little while ago.  Stubborn!  Jaker and Scout came over.  Obviously, as you can see from Jake’s expression, Mom is still acting up. 

I’m going to take one more picture of my outfit tomorrow and then I’m quitting.  None of the cute stuff shows up!  You can’t see the beautiful silver embroidery around the cuffs of the pants or the cute little cutouts and sequins, and baubles, and beads!  That’s no fun!

DH killed a ham today.  Put it on to bake at 300 degrees and baked it for 12 hours.  It’s all dried up and black and salty and he’s saying, “Now that’s the way I like a ham!”  You can have it, baby.  All week…I’m not eating it.  Hack off a big ole chunk and choke it down!   I’m going to bake some tilapia.

Breakfast
Special K Protein Bar (180)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (210)

Dinner:
2 Tilapia Sandwiches (500)
sliced tomatoes (50)

Snack;
3 cups popcorn (100)
fudgesicle (45)

Total 1,095

Weighed 168.5 this morning! That’s 16EIGHT.5. That’s a nice start for what’s otherwise looking like a pretty lame day. Don’t know why I’m feeling so blah. Let’s see..let’s just do “stream of conciousness” here for a couple of minutes…

don’t know what to wear…gonna get dirty…
my neck and face look old..
gotta meet Pam at the gym this afternoon for water aerobics…
slight headache…
DS is going to need to pick up the boys after school…
don’t have the lesson ready for my students yet…
gotta gas up the car on the way to work…
I look like my Mom…(sigh)

I don’t know why I’m in a funk. Phyllisanne and I are cutting school this afternoon. The new principal wants to spruce up the flower beds around the school and Phyllisanne is supposed to find some cheap plants. I told her about Habitat so we’re cutting last period and driving over there. New plants come in on Tuesday afternoons so they ought to have something decent. I know I might get dirty dealing with the plants so I don’t get to wear one of the nice outfits today. Let me see what I can find…

6:30 a.m. - Okay, I figured it out. I’m going to wear a nice outfit but the pants are orange so they shouldn’t really get dirty and I’m taking an orange tee shirt so I can throw it on before we head to Habitat. Phyllisanne is so damn cute! Hope she doesn’t steal Habitat Guy from me.

5:30 - Finally got home.  Didn’t get to cut school today.  Phyllisanne couldn’t get away so we had to go after school was out.  I drove home, dropped the boys off and then we headed over to Habitat.  Got some great plants for a good price.  Not a great price (the old lady was there) but a good price.

Pam cancelled the gym for this evening.  The doctors may have finally figured out what’s going on with her.  It’s beginning to look like her gall bladder is the culprit.  She still has to have a few more appointments to try to figure out the best approach for dealing with it.  I was actually glad that she cancelled.  DS called and it looks like DIL is getting ready to go off the deep end again.  That’s got me upset at the moment and I really didn’t feel like going to the gym when she’s acting up again.  She’s definitely manic and has been for several days.  I told him he’d better line up a babysitter and find a car because she’s probably getting ready to take off again.  He wanted me to call and try to talk to her.  I’ve had pretty good results when I’ve done that in the past but I’m so tired of it.  After she took off and left him and the kids for two years and he finally got full custody and then let her come back, I told him I wouldn’t get caught in the middle anymore.  I’m trying really hard to keep that committment.  It’s too emotionally draining to deal with her when she’s like this and I really don’t want to get dragged into it.  It’s sad, really, but he needs to accept that this is the way she is and he either has to deal with it himself, or take the kids and walk away.

On a brighter note, here’s today’s outfit.  I love these orange pants!  Actually, I love the jacket, too.  The other picture (without the jacket) is there because DH took it when I wasn’t ready and I was cutting up and it actually looks like me.  I can’t figure out the pictures I’ve taken lately.  They don’t look like me.  This one does and that’s why it’s there. 

Breakfast
Special K Protein Bar (180)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (260)
sliced tomato (50)

5:15 - The last five minutes I’ve been taking off the nail polish I put on last night.  The more I look at it, the more I hate it.  It’s one of those dark red/purple/brownish colors.  I never would have bought this shade but a friend gave it to me with the remark, “This color is way too dark for me but it would look great on you.”  Not!

169.5 is visiting this morning.  “Nice to see ya, Buddy, but could ya clear out and make room for some of the other 60s?” Okay, off to the showers.

8:00 - Things are not looking good.  The air conditioning is out in our building and we have very few windows in the building.  (Of course, this is our new look for schools these days.  If there aren’t any windows, the kids can’t throw bricks through em.)  They’re saying it’s because the electric went out during last night’s storm.  What storm????  There wasn’t any storm at my house and everything in my refrigerator is spoiled.  It would not have spoiled and gotten warm in a few hours.  This power must have gone out Friday or Saturday.  I’m tossing an unopened half gallon of soy milk, 5 Lean Cuisines, 5 cartons of yogurt, and a sloppy mess of melted fudgesicles.  Our on-line grading and attendance program is down and e-mail is down.  My pain-in-the-ass co-worker, PAUL (Pitiful, Arrogant, Upchuck, Lowlife), is on my nerves BIG TIME.  Jerk!  Doesn’t look good, cookies!

3:45 - Couldn’t wait to get out of the building and away from Pitiful, Arrogant, Upchuck Lowlife!  He was driving me crazy today.  Some of you may remember him from last year.  Yeah, he’s still there.  Me?  I just try to do my job.  I don’t run to the administration every time I do something good and say, “Look!  It’s Me, ME, ME!”  He’s truly perfecting the art of avoiding any kind of work that doesn’t have any glory attached to it and then grabbing every bit of the credit for the glamourous stuff.  I like to think that everyone knows he’s not a team player but it still irritates the Hell out of me.  I try to word things with “We did this” or “We decided to do this” or “We’re thinking this might be the solution to the problem.”  Pitiful, Arrogant, Upchuck Lowlife is good at taking all the credit for things that many of us worked on.  I suppose I could run around behind him and say, “You know, he didn’t really do that.  I did!”  but it goes against the grain.  Today, he took the credit for something I’ve been working on for two weeks and ran to the new principal to tell her that “I got this finished!  It’s all taken care of.  If you need anything else from me, just let me know!”  I think Toby Keith wrote a song for this guy.

Okay, enough bitching.  I’m home now.  Andrew still can’t take a decent picture.  Maybe it’s the subject.  He spent a good twenty minutes trying to take a picture of my outfit.  He got my feet, he got my head, he got my torso without a head or feet, he got me leaning sideways, etc.  By the time he got this picture, I was getting pretty cranky.  Maybe tomorrow, I’ll just take a picture of the clothes on the hanger!

Breakfast:
Special K Protein Bar (180)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (250)
Pretzels (100)

2 fish sandwiches on whole wheat buns (540
watermelon (50)

Total 1,210

1 pkg mini rice cakes (90)

I really need to take care of some boring, mundane stuff today. Need to clean the house, do the laundry, fertilize the flowers, blah, blah, blah…

DIL called last night and asked me to watch Jake and Scout for a couple of hours today so she could attend a funeral. I checked the pool yesterday and the temp was up to 80 degrees. Maybe they’ll want to take an end of the season swim. Pam said she wants to meet at the gym today but she didn’t say what time. I’ll call her in a little bit and see what she wants to do. No sense in writing anymore at the moment because there’s nothing exciting to write about…(unless you’d call marinating a pork loin exciting and I don’t think that qualifies)

6:30 - Yep! It’s been a pretty boring day. The most exciting thing was watching the pork loin marinate. You’re right, Susan, it’s pretty hot stuff! Let’s see, aside from that…I met Pam at the gym for an hour of water aerobics and then a few minutes in the sauna. Stopped by K-Mart on the way home to pick up a prescription and a new shower curtain liner. Oh, I also picked up Reynolds Wrap. Came home and fertilized the flowers in the front yard, washed dishes, washed clothes, set the oven to clean, folder clothes, wiped out the oven. Put the pork loin on to roast and here we are. (yawn) I’d say today has been pretty uneventful.

10:30 - I’ve gotta stop working in the flower beds every weekend.  Every Sunday night I have to do my nails because they’re all gross and broken and dirty.  I don’t like wearing colored nail polish either.  I have pretty nice nails and can usually get away with clear polish because it looks pretty good.  With the weekend gardening, I can never get them completely clean and I have to wear colored polish and then sit here and look at the walls while I’m waiting for it to dry.  I think it’s dry enough for me to hit the bed now.

Have a good Monday, chickadees!

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (240)

Dinner:
roasted pork loin (300)
green beans (100)
baked apples (100)
sliced tomatoes (30)

Snack:
1 package mini chocolate mint rice cakes (90)

Total 860

Slept well last night. Still haven’t decided if I’m going to keep everything I bought yesterday evening but I probably will. I spent a lot of bucks but I love everything. Everytime I look at my goodies with an eye toward taking something back, I can’t find a single thing that I’m not crazy about except two pairs of pants and they were on clearance for $8.99 so it’s not even worth it. Yesterday was all about me, me me! Today, I’m going to see if I can find anything fabulous for little sister, DIL, or a friend from work who asked me to look for her. Don’t know if I can do that very well. I’m a very flamboyant dresser and she’s very conservative. (sigh) What fun is that? Still, she always loves the stuff I wear and comments on it. She just doesn’t wear it herself. I wonder if she’d even wear something really bright and colorful if I got it for her? If I get her anything, it better be off the clearance rack so she’s not out a bunch of money in case she doesn’t like it. The mall opens at 10:00 and it’s 9:30 so I guess I’d better get my shower and get ready. Don’t know how long DH will be able to stand shopping but I assume we’ll be heading home before noon. I did mention that there was some kind of tool outlet here and that sparked his interest.

3:00 - Got home about thirty minutes ago. What a nice outing! It feels like I’ve had a little mini-vacation and yet I still have most of today and all day tomorrow off. We shopped from 10:00 to around noon and then left Edinburgh. Didn’t find anything for anyone else although I tried. Found some more goodies for ME! Got a pastel pink blouse for $2.99, another pair of pants for $9.99, and a purse. The blouse is not really my style but it’s 100% silk, fits and feels great and was $2.99 for Heaven’s Sakes! Went in Coach and found lots of $400.00 purses for the low, low price of $250.00. No, thank you. There was a woman in there who picked up an $800.00 purse, walked over to an area with some greenery, and had her friend take a picture of her. What’s that all about??? Guess she’s going to tell all her friends it’s a picture of her on vacation at a garden and wait to see if they all say, “OMG! Is that a Coach purse you’re carrying???” Did find some cute “picnic” dishes in Le Gourmet however and bought a big platter that looks like a hot dog, a lazy susan with three bowls and a hot dog base, and salt and pepper shakers that look like hotdogs for the low, low price of $8.00 for the entire set. They’re really cute! Now, if I could just eat hotdogs, I’d have the perfect table setting. I also picked up a set of 4 different combinations of flavoring spices for dipping oil. They had samples. You just add a couple teaspoons of the spices to some olive oil and it makes a great dipping oil for Italian bread. They had little cubes of bread so I could sample it. There aren’t any calories in samples, are there? I know there weren’t any calories in the pretzel sticks and assorted salsas and spreads they had available for dipping them into. Everybody knows a pretzel sample doesn’t have any calories.

On the way home, we stopped at a produce stand and I got a bunch of homegrown tomatoes, green tomatoes, peaches, and red peppers. Got them all cheap! Red peppers are $1.50 each at Kroger right now and I got some nice ones at 2 for $1.00.

Final stop was a Russell Stovers Outlet to look for hard chocolate. STILL didn’t find any. Guess I’m going to have to order it and pay shipping. I am congratulating myself on passing up all those samples and not even buying the chocolates that were fantastic bargains!

9:30 - I’ve been eating all day and yet, I haven’t eaten. Weird! I had about 4 little bread cubes dipped in assorted olive oil dipping sauces at Le Gourmet. Also had about a half dozen pretzels dipped in honey mustard, habanero mango salsa, etc. Got home and I had a homegrown tomato that we picked up at the produce stand. I bought some green tomatoes and did my “fake” fried green tomatoes in the oven with some shredded asiago cheese over them. Snacked on them and then looked up and it’s 9:30! How did that happen? I was just sitting here happily glueing beads and sequins and crap on cheap flip flops and the time got away from me. I ate a package of mini rice cakes earlier while I was working in the yard. No sense in fixing dinner. DH went out and got Mickey D’s for himself and the boys. Wish I’d known he was going. I would have liked to have a yogurt parfait.

Okay…so what do you do with 8 pair of cheap but really cute flip flops?

Weird morning…it’s really quiet and feels kind of spooky.  Must have had a nightmare or something last night and don’t remember it.  I’m sitting at the kitchen table and it feels like something’s not right.  Ever get that feeling?  I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way in my own kitchen while slurping down my morning coffee.  Guess I’d better get my shower and get moving but I’ve got a picture of “Psycho” in my mind. 

6:00 a.m. - Whoo Hooo!  All the spookiness is gone.  Hopped on the scales and they showed 169.5.  Norman Bates walked in and I gave him a big hug and said, “Look, Norman, look what the scales say!  Whadda ya think of that!”  He just shook his head and walked out the door.  Poor guy, he’s got issues.

9:45 - I love Coldwater Creek!  I love being back in petite sizes!  I do have to admit, however, that I’d love to find that skinny, anorexic little bitch that wears all the petite xs.  She’s ruining it for the rest of us!  The woman has tons of stuff to choose from while those of us wearing the larger sizes have to do all kinds of digging to find what we want!  It’s really not fair.  The reason they have all those petite extra smalls is because she doesn’t even shop in the women’s department.  She won’t spend that kind of money when she can buy outfits for $8.99 in the Toddler’s department.

Nevertheless, I managed to find some gorgeous outfits!  I’ll take pictures of what I wear the next few days.  I really think we all ought to meet up here in Edinburgh, Indiana and have a shopping party!  We can rent a hotel room or stay in the RV.  There’s a nice little winery up here and a food court at the mall.  We can all get makeovers at the mall and try on clothes!    RSVP to Sistah Pat c/o Coldwater Creek Outlet, Edinburgh, Indiana.

Breakfast
Special K protein bar (180)

Lunch
4 summer rolls (200)

Dinner:
Large Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich (550)

Total 930

5:30 a.m. - The scales say 171. What’s that about??? I only dipped down into the 160s for about 15 minutes and I want to go back. Where is this weight coming from? Why do I always have to exercise like crazy to lose anything??

This has not put me in a good mood and is not a good way to start the day. On the other hand, DH asked why I had a half dozen jackets, blouses, etc. thrown on the bed when he got home from work yesterday and I explained about the mad scramble to find something to wear when my top and jacket didn’t fit yesterday morning. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he suggested we drive up to Edinburgh, Indiana tomorrow afternoon to a big outlet mall up there so I could do some shopping. I really like that mall they have up there but it’s an hour and a half away from us and I haven’t been up there for a while. He said we could drive up in the RV, spend the night in a campground, and come back Saturday afternoon. He’s probably doing this as an act of self-preservation because he can feel a big shopping spree coming on!

6:30 - Okay, I’m ready for work and waiting for the boys to finish getting ready. It occured to me that I’ve been eating processed foods again. Maybe that’s part of the problem. Of course, when I went to fix my lunch, all I seem to have are Lean Cuisines. I’m going to have to pick up some other stuff for lunch. It also occured to me that I might feel better if I made a graph of my weight loss to date to see if there’s a pattern. I’m going to work on that while I wait for the boys to finish.

11:45 - Lunchtime!  Yes, I’m having another lean cuisine.  Promise to go to the store and address that issue this afternoon.  I threw out the yogurt I brought because it looked and tasted gross.  Had a Luna protein bar instead.  Man, I hate to spend that many calories on something so small.  Made the graph and put it in here.  I don’t guess I have any reason to complain.  It actually looks pretty consistent.  It just takes so long…

7:45 - I still didn’t make it to the store but I’m going to thaw and grill a chicken breast and make some summer rolls for lunch tomorrow.  The boys are at Civil Air Patrol and I’ll have DS stop by the store for me before he picks them up and brings them home to pick up some real food.  Dinner was a disaster.  DH threw some sirloin in the crock pot with cream of mushroom soup, made green beans and mashed potatoes to go with it.  I really didn’t feel like fixing anything for myself so I decided to eat what he’d prepared but found it to be rather gross.  He didn’t trim the beef like I would have.  On meat, I remove every teeny bit of fat or gristle.  I don’t care if I have to throw out half of it.  He didn’t and my first bite was gristly.  Yuck!  I ate some green beans but he added butter to them and they weren’t that great so I only ate about a cup of them.  I ate about a half cup of mashed potatoes but decided they weren’t worth the calories either.  I took another bite of beef and it had fat on it.  Ewwwww!!  That was enough for me.  It hit the trash along with the rest of the stuff on my plate.  Of course, this is just between us, girls!  DH doesn’t know anything about it.  He took his plate into the family room to watch TV and thinks I ate dinner.  As I said a couple of months ago, my new code is “If it has a lot of calories and I don’t particularly like it, I’m not eating it.”  Notice that I didn’t put these restrictions on items that may have a lot of calories but taste fantastic!  That’s a decision that takes a little more thought. 

Better get off here and make a grocery list.

Breakfast:
Luna Lemon Zest Protein Bar (180)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine (240)

Dinner:
Green beans (100)
Mashed potatoes (100)
Roast beef (50)

I want today to be a really good day! Really, really good! I didn’t feel so hot yesterday and I’m still having some stomach problems but I really want to watch the calories today and get in some exercise. Having said that, here’s my list of goals for the day:

Eat nutritious breakfast
Eat nutritious lunch
Eat nutritious dinner
Work out on treadmill at least one hour

Sound easy enough. Don’t you think? Oh yeah, one more goal…drag my sorry butt out of this chair and into the shower……

6:30 - Ack! One of the good things about losing weight is “Oh! My clothes don’t fit!” and one of the bad things about losing weight is “Ack! My clothes don’t fit!” Laid out one of my favorite fall jackets to wear today and a black top. Went to get dressed and the neckline was too big on the top so I had to rummage to find another one that would go with the jacket. Got it on, put on the jacket and it looked like crap! I finally pulled an outfit together but I have to wear little “Barbie” shoes with it so my feet will probably be killing me by the time I get off!

3:30 - Ate healthy for breakfast, ate healthy for lunch, planning a healthy dinner…now, about that treadmill…I DO NOT want to do this! But I will…

4:50 - Ugh! It’s 94 degrees outside and I think it’s about 90 upstairs in the treadmill room. Didn’t put a lot of enthusiasm into the workout because I wasn’t feeling any enthusiasm. Anyway, it’s done. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to summon some kind of energy. I felt like I was dragging the entire time. After 20 minutes, it seemed like it had been an hour. After an hour, I was left feeling like, “Okay, there! Now leave me alone.” Instead of the usual “Did my treadmill, happy, happy!!!”

Guess I should clarify the meaning of “Barbie shoes”. You all have them. They’re the kind of shoes you’d put on a Barbie. Little things with no support and a two or three inch heel and jazzy little straps. Common example shown here!

Dinner is going to be broiled Tilapia filets, sauteed yellow squash, onions, and zucchini with Asiago and Parm and sliced tomatoes. Better get to it!

6:40 - Yum! Dinner was so good. The exercise must have boosted my appetite. I ate 3 pieces of broiled tilapia rubbed in Creole seasoning and sprinkled with lime juice. Also had a buttload of yellow squash, zucchini, and onions sauteed in a little olive oil and sprinkled with fresh asiago. I’m stuffed!

10:15 - I’m going to bed!  Up till midnight last night but now I’m finished, had a very good day, and I’m ready for a very good sleep!  Surprise, surprise, DH suggested that we drive up to Edinburgh, Indiana, Friday evening and find a campground for the RV.  Why Edinburgh?  Because there’s an outlet mall there with a Coldwater Creek outlet, Chico’s outlet, and Coach outlet.  Whoo Hooo!

Breakfast:
Activia Light Yogurt (70)
Mandarin Orange (30)

Lunch
Lean Cuisine (260)

Dinner
Broiled Tilapia (300)
Sauteed squash with asigo (300)

Snack
Mini rice cakes (90
Bowl of Kashi Go Lean (200)

Total (1,250)

5:30 - Alarm worked fine this morning. I don’t know why it didn’t work yesterday. Got up about 30 minutes ago and went out to the spa. The house was a bit chilly and I wanted to warm up. The cat went out with me and perched on the corner of the spa cover and was enthralled with the bubbles. Weird cat. I was more enthralled with the quiet and the moonlight.

Scales are showing 171 this morning. Bah, humbug! I’m not really worried about it. I have seen the 160s, girls, and they are in my future. Course it might help encourage them to stick around if I did a little exercise. Supposed to meet Pam at the gym for water aerobics this afternoon. That ought to help. I sure wish I could get back to my treadmill routine but my entire schedule is out of whack and I’m in an adjustment period. I could find the time but it just doesn’t feel right. Gotta work on that.  I don’t do much of anything for the first 30 or 40 minutes after I get out of bed but drink coffee and try to wake up.  DH says I should try to workout then.  HA!  At that time of the morning, lifting my coffeecup is a workout.  I get home in the afternoon and the sun is hitting the side of the house with my treadmill and that room is too hot for a serious workout.  Then I get caught up in fixing dinner and running errands and the next thing you know, it’s bedtime.  Cooler weather is just around the corner and I can see myself coming home from work and going upstairs to my workout room but I just don’t see it right now.  Maybe I should get my bike out of the shed.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments yesterday ladies!  We’ve given those 60s a warm welcome so I know they’ll be coming right back.  In the meantime, it’s off to work!  Wanted to figure out how to upload pictures in this new format so I had Andrew take a pic of me as I head out the door.  Think he snapped it about the time I was ready to give up.  I had a nice smile for a few minutes there.

Yo, ho!  Yo Ho!  It’s off to work we go!

4:30 - Okay, added the other picture that Andrew took this morning.  I look a little bit friendlier but notice how much nicer I look after work!  By the way, I only did this because Little Sister is nagging me to death to post some pictures and I want to shut her up.  I don’t like to have pictures taken!  So, Donna, will you shut-up now?

5:45 - Didn’t go to the gym.  Pam has dinner plans and my tummy is messed up.  In fact, my tummy’s been upset for two days now.  I’m having chicken noodle soup and crackers for dinner.  Not diet by any means but it’s my “fix all, cure all, for anything that ails ya” dinner for upset tummies and, yes, Jamie Lee Curtis, I’ve been having Activia for breakfast for two weeks and it hasn’t helped.  Liar!

Breakfast:
Activia yogurt (70)

Lunch
Lean Cuisine (240)
mandarin orange (30)

Dinner:
Chicken noodle soup with extra noodles (600)

Snacks
2 packages mini rice cakes (180)

Total 1,120