2009 in review

2009 was a year fraught with a lot of changes. Changes aren't always bad, though. I have been home since March and cannot figure out how SAHMs manage to do everything. I mean, when I was working I just used that as my excuse - now I have none.

We enjoyed my brother living here for almost 3 months. Some people complained that it rained almost every day; however, they have selective memories. It was also sunny and beautiful on most days. And if there was a cool breeze on the back deck we just moved to the front deck.

I did some sanding, painting and a lot of trips to the pool. We didn't get away this year as my husband lost his job mid-summer; although he began another one a couple of weeks later, it was a wrench in the finances. The second, seasonal, position ended mid-November, but he began another job after a couple of weeks which, unfortunately turned into part-time after 2 weeks. They laid him off due to shortage of work last week. Arghhh!

Anyway, I am still leading and recepting Weight Watcher meetings and enjoying that. I suffer periodically from insomnia - I believe both that and the lichen planus that persists in my mouth are stress-related. I've thought that going back to work would be a good distraction from the issues of dirty dishes and disastrous rooms. It's amazing how quickly they can make a clean, tidy room look like I haven't touched it in weeks.

Christmas was very nice. Very nice indeed. We celebrated at home - no dragging gifts around the province or fogetting their favourite toy. My mother-in-law was up for 2 nights and my brother came up for Christmas and again for New Years. My oldest brother was at his in-laws, up from Houston, and came for a visit on New Years Eve with his wife. I haven't seen them in over 4 years since my grandmother's funeral.

We're just taking the tree down today now that the kids are back in school. Unfortunately I think my husband snuck away for a nap. Gotta go. Lots to do and so little time to do it.

Cheers, Candace

And Then Life throws you a Curve

Hey, so life is actually looking up this week. I have a short post then it's off to the races - or at least the shower. You know they say the only day that is important is today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow will never come. So, on Tuesday (vs. tomorrow) I am going to re-join the gym. Fact is, I'm far too busy today. It's already 10:30 and I've had a busy morning. Got the kids off to school and set up the dishwasher and threw a load of laundry on. Then I got on the 'ole internet to apply for a job I've been eyeing for a couple of days now. I played with my resume and shot that puppy into virtual, give me a call sometime land. Then I chatted with the boss-lady at Weight Watchers about picking up some daytime meetings over the next little while. Turns out, lots of the ladies (and gentlemen) are taking vacay over the next few weeks, so subbing for them will keep me busy.

So you're asking 'what are you talking about? donchu work full time?'. Well, I've alluded to career changes in the past and it looks like it's happening. I took a semi-generous severence package - look, I'm in no way complaining since some people just get shown the door, but others are more generous - and am taking some time to pull things together.

The rest of today involves a shower, walking the dog, getting supper together and prepping for tonights WW meeting. If time allows I'll be doing the grocery list - if not I'll do it first thing tomorrow.

What else is cool about this? Next week is March Break and, since hubby is evenings, I can still do some daytime WW meetings, but also plan some great quality March Break time with the kids - something I've only been able to do one day in the previous 5 years. How awesome is that? I'll have to research where the 'free' times are - you know, like $2 movie day and free admission skating and free admission swimming and such. Oh, and the Wildlife park craft mornings with admission to the park - craft, a walk and wildlife sounds fun to me.

Tomorrow morning...I mean Tuesday morning...I will join the gym. Cranky, I better do something. My pants are getting snug and I r.e.f.u.s.e to buy a larger size.

The Goings On

This week is kind of crazy with planning a combo birthday party on Saturday. So, I have my supper meals planned out and posted by the stove top. Mark usually prepares the suppers, so I've included the meat, carb choice and veggies. Tonight is steak and I've put the meat in the fridge for him. I have my general lay-out for the days:

Meals:
Breakfasts: 5 pts oatmeal/egg mixes (berries, pb, pp, or cheese)
Morning snack: 3 pts dairy/fruit mix (cottage cheese or lf plain yogurt)
Lunches: 5 pts Meat source and green veggies (left-overs or chicken/beef stir-fry cuts, asparagus, green beans, lettuce and spinach, or snap peas)
Afternoon snack: 2 pts snack of rice cake and tuna
Way home snack: 2 pts almonds
Supper: 5 pts meat, carb and veggies (list is made for family for week)
Evening: 2 pts soy drink (or combo with pts of milk in coffee's for day)
Post-cardio/st: grapefruit/pro shake (no value assigned to activity or associated foods - it's a wash)
24 pt days. My daily points allowance is 19 + 4 for maintenance + weekly (I still have 10 left). On Thursday, the meals won't change substantially, except that I may switch out the rice cake for a Core option - especially since I've moved my carb to dinner with the family.

For my breakfast, I boil the water, add the oatmeal and egg together and stir. I later add the extra. Yesterday was blueberries and today was strawberries. Add a bit of splenda and a splash of soy drink (or not) and voila. I use 1/2C egg whites or 1 egg, depending on the day. With the egg white, it's less points (more for coffee milk and that splash of soy drink) and is a smoother texture. Hubby says he still tastes the egg, but I don't - or maybe I'm just getting used to it. I've been doing it this way almost every day for a couple of months now.

A few other things on my to do list:
Today: Get paper and do up invitations for hand out tonight and tomorrow.
Shop for party favours and prizes
Order cakes
Call Visa to get more low interest cheques
Pay off my student loan, Sears, my MasterCard and Mark's MasterCard

'Tis true, we came into a bit of funds with which I put on my Visa and will use low interest (3.99%) cheques to pay off my higher interest debts in full. The student loan is almost paid off (only a couple of months left), but has the largest cash flow effect. This will only leave the Visa - which will be a substantial amount - but over half will be at the low interest rate, so I can't complain. Kudos to planning - funny how things happen.

Thoughtful Thursday:

Be warned, this post is a bit lengthy, so I’ve included a summary.

1. Did the virtual post-it note work? You asked, I answer.
2. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Eating Clean. What happens when you don’t have your cooler?
3. Weigh-In Results Show.
4. Would you consider working for Weight Watchers?
5. What’s a BLT? The act or the food? A musing.
   

1. The virtual post-it note. Did it work? Yes – and No. Or maybe No – and Yes. No, I did not get in my ST session on Tuesday night, but thanks to all my great blogging buddies I felt extremely guilty and put in a session this morning. Superman, Chest press, Overhead press, toe taps, lunges, squats, bicep curls, lat raises and some others. 3 sets of mostly 10 reps using mostly 10 lb weights - 12 activities in total. Check that one off. Next scheduled workout is Saturday.

2. My meals for any given day consist of breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, late afternoon snack – all before going home to supper and evening snack. Well, that’s a full 4 meals I take in my cooler every day. Yesterday I asked my 9yo to take my lunch to the car. I looked around on my way out the door and saw that my cooler was gone and proceeded with the morning kiddie drop-off. When I got to work I looked in the back seat. Hmmm, maybe she put it in the trunk. No – look back in the car, again in the trunk. I’m very confused and really not sure how I am going to get through the day. My yogurt and berries; My chicken, broccoli and asparagus; My tuna, egg and rice cake; My cottage cheese and almonds. All gone. Well, I survived. The 4yo hadn’t wanted her oatmeal, to I ate that late morning, then went around 2pm to Tim Horton’s for chili, ham and cheese roll, coffee and a donut. The donut should have been a don’t, but I’m moving forward. Meanwhile, the 9yo felt extremely guilty for having stuffed my lunch in her backpack so she asked her teacher to keep it in the teachers’ fridge. The teacher asked if it was OK for her to look to see what I packed. Well, I’ve told you what was in there. Her comment was that this was the healthiest lunch she’s ever seen. That comment made me feel very good indeed.

3. I went to weigh-in last night and am in new territory, with a 0.8 lb loss. I am now 143 lbs. Ooooooh, so close to 140, but I am aware these last few pounds are painfully slow to take off.

4. After the WW meeting I was asked to hang back a bit. Would I ever consider working for Weight Watchers? Yes, I would. My leader will put my name forward and I am not to be surprised if I get a call. I have thought about this, but really didn’t ‘think’ about it in reality terms for just yet, you know. It made me feel very good, though.

5. Finally, a musing. The definition of BLT: Bite, Lick, Taste. I kind of laugh, because my musing isn’t really about not BLTing, but the definition of a BLT. It's not about how you shouldn't like the knife after spooning out ice cream for the kids or 'steal' a fry from someone else's plate. For instance, if I am making my snacks in the morning and lick the spoon after filling my container, is this a BLT? The food was measured and is on my eating plan for later today, but is that the point? Or even weekly food prep – if it is my food for the week, does it matter if I taste-test on Sunday? Now, part of me says no it's not a BLT – it’s your food, destined to land in your stomach (I would otherwise scrape the spoon into the container, see). Another part of me says, the ACT is BLT and there is a treacherous path between going from licking the spoon of yogurt in the morning to licking the spoon of ice cream for the kids in the evening. The act is a lick – and the act is mindless and often goes unnoticed. The act is a bad habit that I, for one, need to focus on.

That’s it for today. I had a lot to get out, so I hope you enjoyed some or all of my daily ramblings. Cheers for today.

Lent and Weigh-In

Anyone else doing lent? I see some have posted about it and given it some thought. I have too.

My favourite 'give up' was a few years ago. I worked in this office that had a Tim Hortons coffee maker machine (industrial) and would buy boxes of Tim's coffee packets from a local Tim's shop. We also stocked blend - a weakness for me. For a small office we went through a lot of coffee. The only rule was if there was less than a cup left in the pot you put on a new pot. Oh, lent also falls smack in the middle of tax season and this was a public accounting office where OT is required from the end of Jan to the end of April.
Year 1: Drink lots of coffee Mon-Fri. Maybe 2-3 cups at home on Sat. Get headache during church service EVERY Sun.
Year 2: Give up coffee for lent. Struggle through week 1. Breeze though weeks 2-5. Dream about the end of lent for week 6. Go back to drinking coffee the day after lent is over, but be sure to keep servings to 3 or so a day. No churchy headaches that year.

I've never really gone back to drinking coffee through an IV, and I still love having 1-2 cups per day. But, at 1pt each (sorry, I still need my whole milk in it) I can't justify any more than that. So, I guess the lent thing worked by quitting a bad habit cold turkey and it gave me perspective to control this addiction. It has been about 6 years since this one.

For this year I have made so many, many healthy changes in my life already. Can you believe it's been 8.5 months? But in becoming more 'selfish' about making sure I have the right foods for me and 'selfish' about making sure I have the right tools and time for exercise I have missed out on some family time. I do tell my kids that I love them everyday, but I've noticed that Daddy gets more cuddles than I do from the 4yo (granted he's been home for the past 2 months) and sometimes the only kiss the 9yo gets is when I tuck her in (a nightly request on her part). Last night I made sure to give everyone a hug and kiss and to tell them that I loved them. It felt a bit like a checklist, which is not good, but checklists become habits after a while. Don't get me wrong - I often spend time with my kids and do give them love and affection - it's just that sometimes we do forget to do those little things that mean the most when we are wrapped up in our day-to-day lives. I also want to spend more one-on-one time with each of them because quality time is hard to slot in - it most often comes from quantity time.

As for Weigh-In, I didn't go last night. You may recall that the Fire hall has torne out the bathrooms, so I went potty before leaving work last night. Then I ran to my car and my pants slipped a bit since I must have released 2lbs or more of liquid I swear. When I sat down they were a little uncomfortable because of them slipping to that pudgy area below the belly button. Anyhoo, I had to adjust and the whole experience left me feeling skinny. Some of the thoughts that went through my head as I debated whether to go to meeting or home:

• My pants slipped and are so much loser. I don't need WW scale to tell me I lost. I KNOW I did.
• (Warning: some Fat Girl Thinking coming out) Even if I did gain weight, that would just bring me down. I feel good right now and skinny. I don't need WW scale to change that feeling.
• I have 3 missed meeting passes in my purse. We're still waiting for some money to come in and I'm out of coupons. I really don't feel like paying WW since I've eaten on plan this week and have my plan for the next week all laid out. I'll use one of my passes for this week while I'm still a paying member. Use it or lose it.

SO, Did I lose? My analogue at home is still hovering the 70kg mark and I can't determine decimals of losses/gains, which seems to be where I am lately. Basically, a bit of a stall it looks like, but obviously I am losing inches still. I'm thinking about trying to cut back my menu another point on average each day to see what happens, but will wait and see what WW scale has to say next week first. I am going to give myself to mid-March to meet my 150 goal, then may consider changing my goal and just continue losing on my own.

Wednesday stress day?

OK, usually my Wednesday post is filled with all the bad stuff I have done during the week and stressing out about the scale tonight at weigh-in. Sorry to disappoint you this week, but instead I'm gonna tell you about the awesome workout I had last night.

Hubby took Ci down to dance class and then visited a friend. He arrived home much later just in time to catch a snack before going to pick Ci up again. J and I made good use of our time.

First I hauled out the weights, my ST schedule and my yoga matt. At the yoga matt J got very excited and required me to also get the broom ( I use the broom to hold behind the neck for some squats for form and she likes to hold it and jump up and down ). J decided to put 'her' yoga matt in the kitchen, so I made her promise that I could use it for push-ups.

We decided to put some music on and I chose Van Morrison. Well, she cried and cried 'till I put on some pylo hard rock crap of Mark's. Dang! So, she rocked out then crawled up on the couch and fell asleep while I worked out. I've never seen anything like that - being able to sleep to that - I turned it off as soon as she was good and asleep.

I pushed the weights, going with 10 punders, but needed to switch down to the 8's for a couple of arm-only moves. I feel that I could go for 12s or more on a couple of the moves, but don't have them yet. It was a good sweat. Then I did some jumping jacks and hiked the stairs before the monkey woke up crying and crying. Don't know what I did, but she was m-a-d at me. Luckily the man came home and took her with him to get Ci. Me? - I fell asleep.