Back in the Game

a week later, I go for another run.

And again, it feels great to get out in the morning and accomplish something. I was going to go last night, but I had a meeting at work that lasted, it seemed, forever, and by the time it was done, all I wanted to do was eat some dinner and get some studying done.

Yep. Studying. I haven't said a lot about it, but I am taking a certification exam on Friday. So I can officially put some letters behind my name. Cross your fingers and wish me luck, will you?

The weekend was fun. My sister was really suprised, and a little freaked out by me showing up - I walked in the front door, and found her on the patio out back with my parents. When she saw me she jumped up and gave me a big hug, and asked me what I was doing there... it was fun.

So we helped her get all ready for the party, and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, making sure there were drinks available for all of the people. I did break down, and have a little bit of wine, even though it's not June yet, but I just had one glass. And lots and lots of water.

On the way home, sitting in the airport waiting for the flight to be called, I looked around... and saw someone I knew. It's so weird when that happens. Sitting there, wating to get on the same flight was Lucas, someone I know through the blogger network. She has family that lives in the Tulsa area too... not something that we knew about each other, so it was kind of a shock.

Anyway, I need to hop in the shower and get off to work. More meetings....
~a

Blek

I'm getting sick.

and it sucks. Coughing and congestion. Fun and excitement.

I talked to my boss today about career planning. And the direction that I want to go in - and he seemed amenable, and he would look into how I could go in that direction.

I know, it seems cryptic. But I don't know what will happen. I'm still leaving my options open, because it would still mean travel, but it would be less driving.

And eating today kind of sucked. Not that I ate lots of crap, I just ate too much food in general. And I didn't go running, because of this damn cough.

Boy aren't I the cheerful one today?

~a

A wild hair

I somehow got one...

Reading my e-mails, I got one for last minute travel deals, so I thought - hmmmm wonder what it would be to go to my sister's for the weekend.

So $402 later, and a flight and a rental car all paid for, I am going for the weekend. My sister is having a party for the family celebrating "99 years of life". My sister was planning a suprise birthday party for my BIL's 40th birthday, which was in September of last year, but with his horrific accident and recovery, he was lucky to get out of the inpatient rehab to have dinner out with his family on his 40th. So after my sister's 40th, and to celebrate that John is recovering (he's back at work and everything) and my two nieces are 8 and 11, they are celebrating a total of 99 years.

But she doesn't know I'm coming. My parents, who will be there, know I am coming, but I am just going to show up on her dorstep on Friday evening.

We're that kind of family. For my mom's retirement, I suprised her with my sister. For my bridal shower I was suprised by my sister being there. So I will suprise her in Oklahoma.

And on the exercise eating front. It's actually been a pretty good week. I am feeling a lot better about myself. My mother is calling it "mindful eating" and making healthy choices and being happy about it. Like today - I met my co-worker for breakfast at his hotel. And I had oatmeal. At the meeting where they had decadent pastries, I had mixed fruit. For lunch, I had a turkey sandwich, and avoided the potato chips and the cookie, and for dinner, when we went out, I had a salad with grilled chicken, and stopped when I was full. And I am feeling strong and in control.

And I like it.

May it continue. Tomorrow, I shall run again. And it will be GREAT!

~a

0530

Yes, that was the time I went out my front door to run.

3 easy miles. And I ran the whole way. Not fast. I am not working on fast right now - I just want to get in some milage, and work on my target heart range.

It was a beautiful morning, I had great music in my ears, and it was nice to get out and clear my head. I couln't sleep last night with all of the stuff running through my head, so that makes it doubly good that I got my rear out of bed and out the door to run.

I believe I am going to sign up to do a duathalon in September. 2 mi run/22 mi bike/2 mi run. At some point I think I would like to try a triathalon, but right now I don't have a good place to swim on a regular basis. Yes, I have a friend with a pool, but it's kind of short for laps, and it's a good 20 minute drive to get there.

This week has all sorts of meetings, so eating will be a challenge. Not that it's never a challenge, but you know - it's harder when you have no say in the food selection. Add into it the donuts and rolls they seem to always put out. Note to self: bring own fiber bars and fruit.

that will be all.
~a

Green?

My mother and I went to the Green Expo at the State Fair grounds on Saturday, and sat through a talk on freezing and canning vegetables. It was interesting, but geared towards the folks that had never done anything of the sort before. My mother who has had a garden and has canned food since before I even remember doing it, was having a small conversation with the lady sitting next to her - answering the questions she was asking about canning.

But, we both learned at least one thing, so it was worth it.

After the workshop, we did a little walking around the exhibits, but there were way too many people there, so we left.

It was a good thing there was another day, because I wanted to see some more of the booths. I had looked through the program and there were some things that I wanted to look at yet. So I talked Eric into going the next morning, getting there earlier (before there was too many people there).

And I got it. One thing that will make my life easier/better: the BagEwash

I took it for a test run in the dishwasher, and it worked like a charm. Now I can get rid of the pile of bags on my kitchen counter, waiting for me to handwash them.

Yeah. I'm weird. I get excited over odd things.

Now I just need to green up my diet.

~a

shiny new toy

Last night, after making lemon cookies and coconut bars for my husband*, I put the cadence/speed monitor on my bicycle... but it was late at that point, so I didn't try it out with the Garmin.

But tonight, after my outing to get Mother's day cards, and a plant for my grandmother, and some items at Target (brought my own bags again! I am trying to see how long I can go without getting another bag at a store) I got on my cycling clothes, and headed to the basement to watch Grey's anatomy and ride my bike with the new toy. I couldn't get it to read on the watch, so I had to find the Garmin user's manual to see how to set the darn thing.

And then it started working! Yay me! I biked 46 minutes, burned 799 calories, and went over 12 miles. Not bad.

Tomorrow, after work, I am going to St. Cloud to pick up my mother, and she will be staying here so we can go to the Green Expo on Saturday morning. My dad has a meeting Saturday morning, then he will be coming to the 'Cities, and we are having a family-type get together in the afernoon at my aunt's house. My other aunt, who lives in Ohio will be in town for work, and we are going to visit and catch up. I'm bringing a caesar salad. I have the romaine and the parmesan, and I am going to try my hand at caesar dressing made from scratch. Should be interesting.

I seem to be getting into the whole unprocessed, prepare from scratch food lately. I REALLY want to get myself a yogurt maker. Part of it is because I am cheap. Part of it is because it's healthier. And part of it is because you can't recycle the yogurt containers you get from the store. I think I'm going a little nutty with the "green" thing, but hey, what can I say. We read the book The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman for book club in April, and even if some of it is exaggerated, there's got to be some truth in in it. And every little bit helps, right?

Anyhoo, Eric wants the computer, so I'm off.

~a

*So when I was putting away the leftover stroganoff last night, I asked Erid if he would be eating it for lunch the next day. His answer - no, because we are having a cookout and a potluck, and I need to bring something to share... To be fair, I did volunteer to make him something because I knew I would be home, and I like baking, but still - some warning would have been nice. And it was better than the typical male offering of a bag of chips

so many things

running through my head.

and I don't know how I want to organize them all...

Hmmm, let's see - weightloss. Nada. I guess that is what happens when you just quit trying, and decide that you just need to eat whatever whenever. I keep cruizing through the kitchen, opening the door of the fridge, and seeing what I can eat. Do I take the apple or the mandarin oranges? No. I take the white cheddar cranberry cheese and a handful of TJ's everything crackers. A bit later - some Ice cream. And a bit later, some cookies...

I started writing things down on Monday at work, but I forgot my little notebook on my desk. I had a fabulous day on Monday anyway. But since I was out of the office on Tuesday, without my accountability notebook... I decided to get the Rachel sandwich with fries for lunch.

Feast or famine. That seems to be my thing. Not sure how to get over it.

Exercise. Well, now that you asked, I did get up this morning, and did a easy 30 minutes on the NordicTrack, without the arms. And a little ab work. So when was the last time I did actual exercise? Well that would be a week and a half ago. My back has been hurting me, and I have been icing and seeing the chiropractor, but geez, I really need to get off my arse. I guess the CRAPTASTIC weather (Snow? Seriously, on April 26th???) has been getting me down too.

But, on a positive note, I have been trying to do my part in saving the environment. The last two times I have gone to the grocery store, I have brought my canvas reusable bags, and some of the plastic bags we already have, and have not gotten any new bags at all. And I went shopping at Dick's Sporting goods, and brought my own bag for my purchases. The clerk thought I was a bit odd, but I felt good about it.

There is also a Green Expo this weekend, that I am hoping that I can convince my husband to take me to - I would like to go to a couple of seminars, on vegetable gardeining, and home freezing and canning. And I want to wander through the exibits.

Oooh, I got a couple of new incentive toys... a foot pod and a cadence/distance (bicycle) for my Garmin 305... I got them off of Amazon with some gift certificates I earned, and ended up paying just $17 for both, including the shipping! I need to get them all set up so I can start logging my indoor workouts on the computer. I think I need to start working on keeping my heart rate in a better zone. I tend to exercise too hard, and that is probably something that is holding me back... well, from losing weight that is.

And, at a meeting today, there was some discussion on doing a Weight Watchers at Work program. Not sure how I feel about that.

I'm also considering joinin a gym again. I kind of liked going in this winter when I had the free trial to do weigtlifting, and if I join a certan local chain, I could potentially meet up with some of my friends to exercise. We'll see - the whole reason I quit last time was that I didn't go in the summertime. Too many other options out there, and it's a bit of a hassle to go early, when I could just as easily do cardio at home in the morning when I like working out.

I have also been sending out my resume for jobs in the metro area. I want to do somehing different, that doesn't have all of the travel. I have not gone anywhere overnight for the past two weeks, and it is so nice to be able to go home, relax, cook some dinner, and be in my house with my husband. We actually sat down and ate dinner together on Monday.

I told you things were rambling around in my brain...

Cat - she seems like she is doing okay, but after many unsuccessful attempts of jumping onto the bed in the bedroom, she has stopped doing it. Which means she has not been cuddling with me at night or in the morning. I can't decide if I should take her back to the vet for him to tell me to give her more drugs that she will hate me for... maybe if we put up the cheater step again she will deign to use it again.

Alcohol - haven't had a drink since Easter when I thought it would be a good idea to drink the equivalent of about two bottles of wine. I'm holding out for June, at the earliest... but I have been thinking about having a nice glass of wine quite a bit lately. I kind of feel like I should apologize to my SIL for the Easter debacle (she's a recovering alcoholic, and I was drinking my face off in front of her) or to just let it lie. I also have a friend who recently admitted herself to an in-patient treatment program for alcohol addiction, so I have been thinking about her a lot lately too, with my self imposed "dry-out" period.

I suppose that's enough for now. Eric is home now, and I am going to put together some dinner. Beef Stroganoff in the crock pot that has been simmering all day. MMMMMMM.

~a

Reflections

I think I need to institute a no eating rule in my car.

I drive. And I eat.

I have been reading some things, and I think that the reason I do it is because I hate driving so much. Okay, I'll clarify. I hate all of the driving I do for work. It really hit home today, with hitting the crappy weather here in Minnesota on the way home. And I think I am eating because I want to make myself feel different. So I snack on things while I drive to distract myself from the driving.

And I seem to be in a really good mood on most Fridays, knowing I don't have to go anywhere for a couple of days.

I really hate when people ask me if I like traveling for work, thinking it is glamorous, and that you get to go to all of these interesting places. You might get to go to interesting places, but you rarely get to do anything other than go to meetings, try to find somewhere to get something decent to eat, and spend way too much time on a computer trying to get caught up after being out of touch for most of the day.

How do I really feel?

I like what I do, but I hate the driving. Something has to give.

~a

Hi, My name is Anneke

And I seem to have no self control.

So, packing up to go to Green Bay for the weekend, I felt a twinge in my back. The 5 hours in the car did not help any. When we would stop (dinner, fuel, bathroom...) Eric and I would get out of the car and hobble around for a bit until we started walking like normal Homo Sapiens.

Yeah. Shooting pain in my back did not make me happy. Did not allow me to exercise like I had planned. (They had an endless pool at the hotel I REALLY wanted to try.) Didn't find a nice park/green area in Green Bay in which to go for a run. Ate way too much food, and watched too much TV.

I think I have a pinched nerve. The back of my left heel is numb. And on and off, a couple of toes on my left foot.

And I don't seem to be able to regulate my food intake. I seem to NEED to munch on something while driving. Not sure why.

What does this add up to? Okay... Weight gain.

Life sucks sometimes.

And even though my back is not hurting, the heel is still numb, and I'm scared to exercise.

Did I mention that life sucks sometimes?

Oh yeah, and I'm in Fargo. The hits just keep on coming.

~a

My cat hates me

I think it's the pills I have been stuffing down her throat.

She appears to feel better after I do it, but it does not make the task any more pleasant. She has taken to hiding from me in the morning and the evening, when she knows it is time for the deed.

Mashing the pills and mixing them in wet food and tuna only worked for so long. When you get it every day, it's no longer a treat. Which is why I started doing the whole pills.

Yeah. And that does not work so well. She's on a heart medication, a thyroid medication, and half a baby asprin every other day. The latest manover has been to crush the pills, mix them with a little water, and squirt them in her mouth. I'm sure it tastes horrible, but it's done and over with pretty quickly.

I was a little worried this morning when I could not find her. But she came out from hiding before I had to leave to meet my running group. I'm scared that someday, she's just going to crawl into a corner and give up the ghost. So Eric and I have spent quite a bit of time this evening being nice to her, and giving her love and attention.

I'm wondering if it's worth it to continue with the pills, if all they do is make her hate me, and not want to be "my cat" any more. The eternal question: Quantity of life vs. Quality of life. I would say I want to go for the quality of life. But it's hard.

That's all
~a

Welcome, Friday

As I got into bed last night, I told Eric that he had to kick me out of bed in the morning when the alarm went off.

So at about 5:30 this morning, I was on the NordicTrack. 45 minutes of pretty medium intensity workout. I went about 4.1 miles. At least, that's what my electronic doohickey told me.

This week started out very poorly.

I was so hungover on Monday, that it leaked into Tuesday. And it made my workout on Wednesday just suck the big one.

I don't know why I drank all of the wine on Easter at my MIL's house, other than the fact that it was there. And we were playing Mexican Train, and I kind of lost track of what I was doing. I kind of feel like I need to call my MIL and apologize for my stupiditiy, but I just want to move on.

Yeah, so I have decided there will be no drinking of alcohol until at least June. Why June? Because it is over two months away. And I have zero desire to have any alcohol for at least two months, if it takes me three days to recover. I must be getting old.

On another note - today was pretty nice. After the 45 minutes of working out this morning, I got into work early, and got a lot accomplished. Eric took the day off, so he showed up to take me out to lunch - half a veggie hoagie at Davanni's, then we drove over to Mounds Park where we went for a short walk. He called a little later to inform me that we have reservations at 6:30 tonight. Where, I don't know - but it will be part 2 of the "date". (The first part being lunch).

I have a full weekend coming up, and I am looking forward to it, especially to meet my running group tomorrow morning to shake off the bad week. Nothing like getting outside and going for a run!

~a

Jogging in place

Well, maybe forwards and backwards.... but the end result is the same.

I had a couple of crappy eating weeks. Like, I know I shouldn't, but I just don't care at this time. Like two forays to the "Pizza Ranch" in just as many weeks. I love pizza, and should just know better. I leave hurting.

Food, not so good.
Exercise, not much better. I'm sure it's because of the crap I have been shoving through my system.

Today, it was better. Got up and worked out on my bicycle in the basement. Drank water. Ate healthy food. And I still have points left, and I'm not that hungry. Perhaps some fruit later.

And work today was just interesting. Trying to get folks to do what is their job, having someone tell me that they don't have the time, so I spent about 4 hours this afternoon doing someone else's job.

And fielding about 1800 phone calls, it seems like. Cell phone ringing when I'm on the house phone, after the 3rd cell call from the same number I get off the house phone, to have it ring again...

So the cell phone call this time: Some employee complaining he has to pay the tax on an eye exam. So many things wrong with this picture... 1. I am in the Safety department. Not the benefits/HR department. Eye exam is part of your health care benefits. How many times do I need to explain this to people (and the HR department who hears "safety glasses" and sends people my direction without listening to the whole story...). 2. The tax was $1.53. Seriously..... SERIOUSLY? Pay the stinking $1.53. Would you like me to give you the $2 so you don't waste any more of my time?

And the second call on my home phone? Yeah. That would be my sister. They are stranded in Dallas. They were on the way to Florida for Spring break, and flew to Dallas from Tulsa. Only to get delayed because of weather. And since they were not in their departing city, they couldn't re-book for some odd mysterious reason. Then the airline was nice and relented. So they are going to fly out of Dallas on Thursday, to continue their trip. Yes. Today is Tuesday. Their flight has basically been delayed for two days. I know the airline cannot control the weather. But seriously - two days????? At least I found them a hotel room, with a free shuttle to/from the airport, with an indoor pool, for $60 a night. Last I heard they were trying to have someone find their luggage, since, of course, it was checked through to Florida, and was in the secured area.

At least it's not me.

I'm just fielding all of the phone calls.

~a

Gallup along

I finally answered the phone when the Gallup pollID showed up.

Some kind of interesing questions... but when they asked how many times I had exercised in the past week for 30 minutes or more, I was able to say: 4 times. And how many days in the last week, how many have I eaten 5 or more fruits or vegetables? That would be 5, thank you. I know it should probably be more... but it is most likely more than most people.

Although I wasn't that thrilled about the height and weight questions. I know I am overweight, and I don't really have a problem telling folks how much I weigh, but they are usually looking at me - and I weigh a lot more than I look like.

That, and a lot of health and "are you content with your lifestyle" questions.

Yep, pretty stinkin' healthy, and happy with my life.

On another topic, I went for a run after work today. It went pretty well, and I'm pretty excited about that. I started out doing about 12 minute miles (the first mile is always tough) and the last mile I was doing about 10 minute miles. Gettin into my grove, and feeling strong and healthy.

And after a nice bubble bath, I have been a mad woman in the kitchen. Stuff needed to get used up that was in the refrigerator, so I made my husband some lovely food which is now neatly labeled and in the freezer: Wild rice soup, and meatloaf.

Tomorrow I am gone out west for work, and Eric will have to fend for himself. I am thankful we figured out a way to give the cat her midictions with a minimum of fuss, because I don't know that my lovely husband would have been able to do it.

And otherwise, it's a quiet evening.

~a

1 week

I have gone a week. Journaling. I went over in points, but at least I accounted for everything. That counts, right?

I'm not as hungry this week as I was last week. I really think cutting out a lot of the refined sugar has something to do with it too.

I'm considering going to see a nutritionist. We had a guest speaker at our running club group, who talked about some research that has been done on women athletes. One of the things you need tobe careful of is not to go into a "negative energy balance" by not providing your body the building blocks it needs to support the exercise. It's kind of a catch 22 when you are trying to lose weight - you need to walk a fine balance.

On another news front, my cat seems to be doing better. The lady I ran with on Saturday said that when she had to give her cat pills, she crushed them and mixed them with tuna. So we got a can of wet cat food and have been mixing the pills with about half a teaspoon of cat food, and she eats it all up with no fuss. So we won't have to torture the cat by stuffing pills down it's throat.

She is, however, stubborn, and not willing to admit she has limitations... she is still trying to jump up on things, and missing and falling. Not much I can do about that.

~a

A large loser

Holy cats (okay, not in reference to the previous post), another post? In the same day?

I have taken the challenge.

One of the Jaycee chapters is having a weightloss challenge. And I joined in. I thought I might need the push to get things in gear, because other things just don't seem to be working.

I started on Sunday. I have been journaling, and drinking water, and staying within my points (okay, so I used up all of my flex points on Tuesday at book club, after Kitty trauma on Monday), and I am still going.

Yeah. I weighed in at 195 pounds. Two days post-vacation, but still...

I will take the bull by the horns, and try and win the contest. If nothing else, I will win by virtue of losing the weight.

~a

Kitty woes

Alex is getting old.

Well, she is almost 15 years old. And I have had her as a pet for about that long. My roommate (at the time) and I picked her up through a newspaper ad that was "free to a good home" in 1993.

So Monday night, I got home from work and she looked like she was in a pretty good funk, head hanging, that sort of thing. I was thinking it might be because she needed some food... I think she might be slowing down on the hard food somewhat, because it is getting more difficult to eat... just my thoughts. So she ate some, then laid down in the living room. I went for a run then, and when I came back, she was in the same spot.

She was walking funny, kind of uncoordinated, falling over, and he back all hunched up. We have not gotten a new vet since we moved (I know, bad kitty mom - but they don't really go outside...) so I called a place that is close. They were closing in 1/2 an hour and would not have time, so they told us to go to the emergency vet.

$600 some dollars later (x-rays, blood work, ultrasound, medication...) we went home. She has some small kidney stones, a bladder stone, racing heartbeat, perhaps something odd with her spine (hazy spot on the x-ray) that the vet there thought might be a tumor. And the start of a bladder infection. So we get pain medication and antibiotics.

Yeah. The cat hates the medications.

So I follow up as told with the "regular" vet who does not seem to think that there is anything wrong with her spine. But, she still has a really fast heartrate. Thinks that might be an overactive thyroid, and perhaps it caused her to throw a small clot which is affecting her legs. He did say that if she was a person, the equivalent heart rate would cause a medical provider to call an ambulance, and they would be admitted into the hospital until it was under control

More bloodwork, and she does have a slightly elevated thyroid level. But, there are no indications of cancer.

Yay. MORE medications.

But, she does seem to be moving around better now. She did miss and fall off of the bed on Sunday night, and that might be what is going on, to some extent.

But for now, she has been extra cuddly, even if I am "torturing" her twice a day to squirt medications down her throat, and now to stuff pills down her throat. I just wonder what is going to happen when I have to travel for work, and Eric has to take care of it...

She's my cat though, and when she was limping around on Tuesday, with me thinking she might have a tumor, I cried. I know things happens, but it is just so sad.

It's kind of taken up my whole week...

~a

Fuzz head

No, not because of a hangover, but I somehow managed to avoid that last week, somehow...

I took out the braids in my hair. And I am a big fuzz ball. I know, tourist thing to do, but I like getting my hair braided when I am on vacation in warmer climates.

And really, it had a purpose, because it kept my hair tamed when I was snorkling in the ocean.

It kind of sucks being back from vacation, but in other ways it is really nice. My own bed, which is queen sized rather than double. Seeing the cats. Not having to slather on sunscreen lest I burn my hide off (yes, very white girl here!)

But it was great to get away.

So the scoop:

Got up Friday the 15th - at 3am. It was -12 according to bank in downtown St. Paul. Get to the airport, on the plane. Slept some, read, etc. My friend (the one that arranged the trip for our group) cried when we landed because she was so happy to be on vacation. Customs, ride to hotel... rooms are not going to be ready for a couple of hours. So we went to the bar and had some beverages - because, of course, it was an all-inclusive resort! Met some people at the bar that we ended up hanging out with and doing stuff with all week...

So the seven of us got rooms all next to each other, which was great, even if they were on the 2nd floor. Dinner that evening in the Mexican restaurant, then off to bed.

Saturday - a day by the pool/ocean. It was funny watching one of the staff trying to recruit folks to go "stretch by the pool." My friend Kathy told him - "There is absolutely nothing that you can say or do to get me out of this lounge chair.... I am on vacation, and you might as well just walk away now." We had dinner at the Cuban resturant that night

Sunday - we decided to rent a Jeep, and explore some of the island when there were no cruize ships there. Looked at the San Gervais ruins. Tasted some Tequilla. Looked at the ocean on the Carribean side of the island. Had a couple of drinks at bars along the way. Got back 6-ish and then got ready to have dinner in town.

Monday - out again in the Jeep, since it was a 24-hour rental. A bit more traffic, and I'm glad that I got some practice driving the day before, since it was a little scarier. After we turned in the Jeep, we did some shopping in town. This is the day I got my hair braided. I got a really cool calla lilly vase. We got my dad a belt buckle as a present, but Eric really annoyed me because he would not let me bargain for it.... No kidding - he slapped me in the rear when I tried to make a counter offer. I was so relieved to have the Jeep dropped off, and a little irked because of the shopping, so when we got back I had a few too many beverages. I guess I poured myself into bed at about 7. I guess the phone rang to see if we wanted to go to dinner, but I don't remember it... I woke up around 3am, brushed my teeth, drank a bottle of water, and crawled back into bed. Suprisingly, I was not hung over in the morning.

Tuesday - three of us went to Chakkunab, which is a national park. A day of relaxing on the beach and snorkeling along the reefs there. Some really cool fish there. We had dinner in the Italian restaurant that night.

Wednesday - I went horseback riding in the morning with Betsy. Eric, Betsy and I caught the ferry to Playa del Carmen in the afternoon, where we did some more shopping. And when the same thing started to happen with the barganing, I took Eric aside and told him to quit it. Okay, so I yelled at him in front of the salesperson.... then we stepped aside to talk. When I told him that he was supposed to bargain, he said "Well, then I don't want to shop". Betsy had a bit of a chat with him, told him it was a game for the salespeople, and that if he liked something, he was supposed to hand it to me, and walk away. It worked! We got back around 8pm, had some dinner in the buffet, and watched the lunar eclipse.

Thursday - One of the folks we had met on Friday, had won a boat ride so we all piled onto this fabulous boat for a cruise up the coast up the island with a stop for snorkeling at an off-shore reef. REALLY cool fish there! Relaxing by the pool in the afternoon, and dinner again in the Mexican restaurant. Complaining about how we had to leave the next day.

Friday - *sniff* packing, and meeting in the lobby at 9:30 am to take a taxi to the airport. We upgraded to first class, so it was a little more bearable to go home, but still kind of sad.

It was fun, and relaxing, and gluttonous.... I bit the bullet and stepped on the scale this morning and was up about 10 pounds.

So, *thud* welcome back to reality.

Exercize and diet will commence...... tomorrow.

~a

The never ending week

I swear today was supposed to be Friday.

Spent the day in the office with a co-worker. It was kind of painful. He's trying to master pivot tables. Or something like that.

We have to run reports with huge batches of data, and do interpretation, etc. I started playing with the excel program probably a year ago, and now am trying to tell him how to sort things. He is not computer literate. He was having problems with cutting and pasting from one document to another. And with worksheets. Argh. I don't know how many times I have told him the same thing. And it does not seem to sink in.

Therefore, I didn't get a whole lot done today, after being out of the office for a couple of days. I suppose that's how the cookie crumbles, right?

That, and the exercise is just sucking this week. I was thinking I would go for a run yesterday after I got home.... When I stopped for gas in Alexandria, the weather was about perfect. But of course, it was another 2.5 hours before I got home, and by then the mood had left.

I set out clothes to work out this morning, but then I just could not drag my arse out of bed. So I packed clothes to go to the gym after work. And after all of the frustrations of the day, when it would have been perfect to go hit the treadmill, I just came home.

In one week, I will be on vacation, doing some last-minute packing for the trip to Mexico. I don't think it will ever get here.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
~a

Is is wrong?

Yeah, we leave for Mexico on the 15th.

I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to lose some weight so I would look "better" in my swimsuits. Notice I didn't say "good"?

So anyway, I have been doing a crappy job of not eating all sorts of crap. I guess my heart is just not in it, and I have been taking the path of least resistance. Traveling, snackig, eating the "eh" food they provide at meetings (I work for a railroad. Men ordering food = meat, fat, starch and beer)

I thought to myself the other day that it wouldn't be that bad, since I will still be the smallest girl in the group. Lovely thought. I think any photos taken might be mistaken for diet incentives. Not to say that the folks I am traveling with are not lovely people, but we all struggle with our weight. Well, the women anyway. Is it wrong to think this way?

I know when we get there, we will have a blast, and I will not let anything keep me from going out and enjoying myself, but I am a little stressed/obsessed with it right now.

It didn't help that I overslept on Tuesday, so I didn't exercise, and this morning the treadmill in the hotel was out of order - but I still got on the stairstepper for 30 minutes. And then destroyed my good intentions by eating a large carmel roll.

I gotta give up this "screw it" attitude I have about food.

That will be all.
~a

An interesting turn of events...

Today has been weird.

Got up early this morning, because my work truck was at the office, and Eric had to drop me off this morning. It was there, because it would not start on Thursday when I got home from the mother of all road trips. (yeah, we were in Minot, ND when it was -24. Without the windchill. Seriously.) So I had to have a new battery put in it on Friday - but I had already driven to work, so I had a vehicle there.

So in the office, I'm about the first one there. Getting geared up for my three Monday conference calls, coffee, e-mail, etc. Someone walks by my cube and says "I see you won some money!" My reply: "Really?!?!" We had a pool at the office - put your name on a spot, pay $5, then they draw numbers. The guy that was running the pool told me on Friday that the numbers were up. I said okay. He wondered if I wanted to look at what I had. I told him why bother - it's not like I could do anything about them.... okay, so he thought I was weird. But - I had the correct numbers for the half and the third quarter, so I won $60.

After my calls, I got on my bank website, to see that I have a pending charge from Zappos"dot"com. For $241 and change. Um, I didn't order anything.... so I call them up to ask about it. They were actually really nice about it - great customer service for a person who was not purchasing anything. They cancelled the order (it was placed late at night on Sunday) and told me to call my bank to tell them my card number had been compromised.

So I called my bank to get a new check card number. And there's paperwork I will need to fill out - but I just checked and the charge has been removed. I'm wondering if they had just entered in the card number wrong, but better safe than sorry, right?

Then it was home to grab my suitcase, and head out again to North Dakota. I seem to be here way too much lately.

I stopped on the way to pick up something to munch on, because the soy nuts and carrots were not quite doing it for me. I did pretty well though - I avoided the cheddar puffcorn I like so much, and got sugar snap peas, some flat earth chips, Diet green tea, some 80% cacao dark chocolate squares, light string cheese, and gum. No I didn't eat/drink all of it, but I was content, had the salt and sweet and crunch I wanted, and was pretty healthy about it.

And the best part of the evening: I didn't slide into the ditch. Between Fargo and Valley City, it was kind of scary - I fishtailed across both lanes of the freeway for about 150 feet, where I could see the tow truck and the other car in the ditch.... but I kept turning the steering wheel, and I didn't hit the brakes, and kept trying to steer in the right direction.

Yikes.

Nothing like sliding on the freeway to get the blood pumping.

So I drove 45 - 50 mph the rest of the way. And I got here in one piece.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful.

~a