Well, I have given up relaxing when I have a lull in my life because there's always something waiting around the corner to come and take it's place, hence the reason I haven't been on in a while and I'm just now getting into the "getting up and dusting myself off" phase of the drama.
The Cliff's notes version is this: Spring Quarter started and we finally got around to doing our taxes after Dad had started to show that he was improving and becoming more independent...enter next drama. We owe $7500 in taxes to the IRS and State ($5g to IRS, $2.5 g to State). SO, I that pretty much means that I had to drop out of school Spring Quarter to work OT in order to pay the IRS what they feel that they are owed. UGH! That was April 8th, April 9th was my dad's birthday and per my usual, I was at my dad's helping him out and getting ready for my dad's b-day that evening. While I was gone, my DH comes home in the middle of the day unannounced while I was gone, packed his bags, and left. He waits until my dad's birthday party to call me and tell me that he doesn't love me anymore and when I get home, I'll find him gone. Coward couldn't even tell me to my face and I was pretty much blind-sided. While we have had our issues, we were, at least I thought, happy in general and I really didn't see him packing his bags in the middle of the day and sneaking out behind my back! SO...he was gone a full week, we talked on the phone a couple of times, mostly arguments. I couldn't hold it together at work and got sent home twice and wound up in counseling, back on anti-depressants, and xanax for panic attacks, a phenomenon that I experienced for the first time in my life after he left. The week sucked, needless to say. Just when you need your husband the most b/c your dad's sick, you owe the IRS a ton of money and you have to drop out of school because of money issues and what does he do? Wait until I'm down and kick me in the teeth!
Fast-forward to Thurs of last week, the first day I felt like I could function w/out being heavily medicated and he calls me that morning out of the blue and wants to meet to "talk." So contrary to my gut reaction to say "no." I met him for dinner that night. We fought, then talked, and agreed that he would move back in, but to the guest room until we got things sorted out. Well....let me say that when he left, I would have done anything to get him back b/c I loved him so much. Now that he's back, I'm not so sure that's what i want b/c pretty much any trust that I had in him was completely destroyed in one day when he walked out that door behind my back and then called to say he didn't love me anymore and wanted a divorce. I'm really just feeling stupid and used now. Also, add to that we are supposed to be "working things out," but we don't talk to each other, are rarely in the same room together and when we are, it's ice cold and when I suggested marriage counseling, I might as well have asked him to cut out his spleen. So we are currently tip-toeing around the proverbial big dead elephant and spinning our wheels for over a week now. Our house is NOT a pleasant place to be. I've been working and going out with friends in order to avoid it and true to his form, he's just working, which is what he always does anyway. He works 16 hours, 7 days a week, and the little bit of time he is home, he's on the computer, watching tv, or talking on the phone. Even when we have gone out to dinner, he talks on his phone or watches the tv in the restaurant and acts as if I'm not even there. I'm beginning to think that his main purpose for moving back in had nothing to do with working things out, but more so to ease his conscience about leaving the way he did and so he could say "I tried and it failed." Furthermore, he's been throwing little verbal barbs at me here and there and I'm wondering if he's just trying to throw me over the edge so that it will be me that pronounces the marriage dead instead of him. It just may be working, too.
So what am I doing? Well, since I haven't been eating d/t stress, I've lost 15 pounds. I'm coping, I haven't been panicking, so I'm not taking the Xanax, I'm still on the Wellbutrin and I'm seeing a counselor so that I can at least figure out things for myself. The good thing is that I have tons of friends and family for support and I've just been keeping myself busy to take my mind off of the things that are driving me crazy. I'm going to try to go back to school this summer b/c I need my Pharm class of I will be set back an entire year for graduation, at least the class I dropped is not a pre-req for my clinicals. I'm also teaching clinicals and I'm loving it, I have a great group of students and it makes for a fun work day. As far as the marriage goes, unless I see significant improvement, or at least some move to make things right again from his side as well as mine, I don't see it lasting, to tell the truth. He drove a stake through the heart of it when he did what he did and now he's showing no effort to try to resolve the matter, whatever the matter may be, with me. I am determined that this is not gonig to be 100% me and Zero on his part. I wasted 6 years of my life on marriage 1 doing that, I won't do it again. He won't say "I love you" or "I'm sorry for what I did." He thinks it's all me, all my fault and whatever he did, it's because I'm a bad wife that he did it. He even went so far to say that it was my fault that my first husband "left me." Well, I left him, first off, and he was abusive. That was another blow to my initiative to try to resolve things. I'm just worn out w/him and the marriage right now. If he had been a BF, I would have never let him back in, I only did it b/c he's my husband and it's my marriage. Perhaps doing it was a good thing b/c I can see things for what they are much more clearly now and see things as they are. It's not what I'd like, the story-book ending w/my handsome prince, but maybe what he did is doing a favor for me. Better to find out now than when I'm old and washed up, I suppose.
So, for now I'm concentrating on paying the IRS, losing this weight and getting back into shape, getting back into school, and making it through one-day-at-a-time. Whatever happens, I just want it to be the best decision and have no regrets. I don't hate him, I still love him, but I have little trust in him. He still won't tell me where he was that week, which makes me wonder about that, too. We'll see. I'm laying low until the dust settles and taking it from there. I hope to be able to get back on here more often, too, because this blog is my support group therapy. :-) You all are great and thanks for taking the time to listen to me go on about my crazy life!
Have a healthy and happy week, all! I'll try to catch up as soon as things settle down!
The cell dried out and works now...(I have a drier center at home for drying hang dry stuff and I put it on "extra low heat" for an hour and the cell turned back on! YEAH!)...the battery was fried, though, and I had to buy another one. I was glad that the phone worked, I didn't want to lose my contacts and pics I hadn't had a chance to back up yet. Thank God! What a day!!!!!
My first WW WI was today, I'm down 2.4 pounds! YEAH! Not too bad for someone who didn't workout and just did the plan. I'm still finding the mojo. Baby stepping it all the way! LOL I celebrated by having half a reuben sandwich (made w/fat free turkey instead of corned beef) from my fave German restaurant, Schmidts, and 2 toblerone minis. I haven't used any of my 35 extra points and the sammie was lunch and I substituted applesauce for the fries, so I'm not even certain that I went too far out of my points range to begin with. But it was yummy! :-) I'm definitely feeling better, the bloated slug feeling is starting to subside as I get the crappy stuff out of my system. Maybe I can start getting the energy to workout soon?
Right now, my first goal is to get my 5# sticker next WI. And then onto my 10% goal (22 pounds). I'm segmenting out my goals...5 pounds, 10 %, etc, etc....and trying my best to keep my eyes off of the big prize until I'm closer to it. I have too much on my plate to worry about the big goal, plain and simple.
SOOOOO....with that being said, my first goal is to get to bed at a decent time. Now sounds decent! G'nite all!
The story you are about to read is based on ACTUAL events, it is NOT a work of fiction...I only wish it was. If it HAD been, I would be laughing. Not even the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
SOOO....
I had a meeting this morning at work. I have to be back to work for 4 hours at 3pm, I'm home in the meantime, but before going home, I had to stop by the restroom after the meeting because I have been a good little girl at hitting my water goals! Well, I DROPPED MY CELL PHONE IN THE TOILET!!!!! Auto reflex, I reached in and grabbed said cell phone, AKA my lifeline, AKA my brain...out of the toilet! (Did I mention I hadn't flushed yet? At least it was just **#1** ) Well, JOY! My phone, my EXPENSIVE phone, was still **ON**! JOY!!!!!!!!!! (Angels sing! ) I immediately dry off my pee-pee phone and pray that it still works and start looking for sanitizer. But wait! I have to take out the battery and dry it too to prevent damage! Guess what? When said battery was replaced, my phone would NOT turn back on! ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I don't have to be back to work until 3, so I run by the Verizon store and I'm standing at the helpless desk (I say that for a reason) only to be told that they no longer have technicians to work on my phone, they "can't" open my phone up and dry it inside, and I just have to "wait" for it to dry and "maybe" it will turn on. By the way, if it DOES turn on, it may not work right, but they can only get my data off of my phone (my numbers that are not written anyplace else, pics I haven't had a chance to back up, etc) IF it turns back on. Meantime, I'm probably stuck paying the $50 deductible on my insurance and having to wait to have a new phone mailed to me. Why can't they replace the phone at the store I just bought it from? Honestly! SO, while I'm standing at the FRONT of the store, ONLY person at the "help" desk, ONLY woman in the small store, about a dozen men in the store, MY FRIGGIN' SCRUB PANTS DECIDE TO SPONTANEOUSLY FALL OFF AND LAND AROUND MY KNEES!!!!!!!!!!! WTF?!?! IS THIS HONESTLY HAPPENING?!?! I FELT THEM START TO FALL, I TRIED TO CATCH THEM, I WASN'T QUICK ENOUGH...THEN I BANGED MY HEAD ON THE COUNTER TRYING TO CATCH THEM AND I HAVE A HUGE GOOSE EGG ON MY CHIN...AND DID I MENTION THAT I WAS WEARING MY STUPID GRANNY PANTIES BECAUSE IT'S TOM? ME AND MY BIG HOT PINK VERY OBVIOUS PANTIES! WHO HAS THE VOO-DOO DOLL OUT ON ME?!?! JEEZ!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I grabbed my phone, said "thank you, I'll try to dry it out" to the stunned customer service guy, and marched out, head held high as if nothing had happened and tried not to make eye contact with the eyes that were watching me leave! I will no doubt be returning to that store in say, NEVER!!!!!!
So there you go. My April Fool's Day. Welcome to the sitcom that is my life. If I were reading this on someone else's blog, I'd probably be LMAO right about now. But it's me and I think I'm going to go change my scrub pants before I go back to work. On the upside, better to have pants that won't stay up than pants that won't go on! Right? Please tell me yes! Humor me!
Well, today was a SUNNY saturday in Central Ohio! I had to spend part of it indoors because I had to go to a faculty meeting that was 4 hours long. I don't do well sitting on my bum for that long. My attention has NEVER lasted that long no matter how interested I am in something with rare exception. I had every intention of getting a "real" workout in today. I did stroll around campus for a little bit and if walking at the grocery store counts...but I got home, DH got off early, I got lazy, my body remembered that it hadn't slept in weeks and a 20 minute nap turned into 3 hours. Now it's 10 pm, and honestly, I'm ready to go back to sleep. So much for my Saturday, but it was nice to be lazy for a day. Tomorrow, however, is going to be BUSY. It's my last free day before the quarter starts, I still haven't done my taxes, the house is a mess, and the dog is desperate for a bath. SO, I really am going to bed early because I want to be up at the crack of dawn in the am to get started on everything I've gotta get done.
For grad school, I'm taking Research, and it's with the same prof that I couldn't stand last qtr. At least I got an "A" in the class. Which is more than I can say for most people, so that's an accomplishment. I just dread having to repeat that nightmare. She made me a nervous wreck. Also, on Wed, I get to meet MY students for the first time! I'm SOOOO nervous! I don't know why, I really DON'T want to be the instructor everyone dreads and makes fun of behind her back, though! I'll just die! lol (I don't want to be MY instructor! hee hee!)
Thursday, it's back to work. I've been off for 2 weeks, they gave me extra time off to take care of Dad after he had his stroke post-op. Dad and I have both agreed that if we were going to take 2 weeks off, we'd both rather be at Disney World. Oh well! Better luck next time! On the other hand, it's the first time I've had 2 weeks off work since my honeymoon. Dad must be feeling better, though, he's giving every therapist and nurse, myself included, absolute hell just for the fun of it...and he wonders why I'm so stubborn! He developed a cough and was wheezing, I needed to call his doctor. He had the TV BLARING and I couldn't hear on the phone, so I say, "Dad! I'm on the phone with your doctor! I need to talk to him and I can't hear him over the TV! Can you turn it down?" He says, "You don't need to talk to him! I'm FINE!" And then he turned the TV up LOUDER! OMG! ROFLMAO!
As far as WW goes, I'm on day 2 of being OP and doing well, except for the activity thing. The way I see it, I'm gonna take this thing one day at a time. Get the eating thing, add the activity, and try not to let my "All or nothing" attitude get to me if I do happen to slip up. My next WI is going to be on Wed. I would have liked to have gone on Thurs, but I have to work Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun. (I know, yuck!) I hope I see some movement DOWNWARD on the scale! My tummy is not too happy about the high fiber diet yet, but it'll adjust. The rest of me, especially my attitude and mental clarity, are already thanking me for eating better, though! My biggest thing now is to get the sleep-wake schedule back on track. I've been off wack for over a month now and my body doesn't know what a "bedtime"and a "wake time" are anymore. Considering my history of sleep disorders, getting back on track is usually a harder process than diet and exercise for me. I'll get there, though. It just takes me forcing myself to go to bed and wake up at set times.
SO, here's to a busy tomorrow and an even busier week!
Hope everyone's doing well! I'm going to be with Dad all day Monday, so I'll try to check in on everyone then.
So I can't help but notice that my weight tracker is going in the wrong freaking direction! It's nobody's fault but my own. I had choices, I chose the wrong ones. I've been stressed and reverted to the old comfort zone of food to deal with my stressors. Nonproductive, but tasty! lol Unfortunately, my jeans are too tight and I'm feeling the effects of the excess weight. So I stepped on the scale for the first time in a month yesterday and realized that if I didn't reign it in and take control, I would be back at my start weight. NOT a good thing. So when my mom came home yesterday, I left my parents early and popped over to the WW center by me. It is conveniently located smack dab between a Dairy Queen and a pizza place. What spawn of Satan planned that?
Anyhoo, I bit the bullet and joined. Again. I've done WW in the past. A long time ago when they first introduced Core. I'm doing Flex, the Core plan would not work for me. If I had the control to stop at "enough" I wouldn't be in this situation to being with. I need more structure. Plus, I know Points. I've been there and done that, so it's easier for me to fall back into it. I was considering doing WWOL, but opted for the meetings mainly because my insurance will pay for it if I attend 10 weeks in a row w/perfect attendance. Considering that miss the meeting or not, WW charges you, I might as well go! I'm hoping that considering there are so many centers around town, I'll get to go to one somewhere, sometime each week, even if I can't stay the full hour. DH is liking the plan already because I don't have to eat what he calls "airplane food" and we can eat together without me freaking out about cheating. I just got finished checking out the e-tools and I'm really digging the Recipe converter! how cool is that?
Of course, my mother doesn't think that I need to invest the money in the WW program considering that with my background I know what to do. (I used to design diet and exercise programs for other people in my past thin and healthy life) She's right to an extent, but I really need the accountability and structure. It's like learning to walk again after an accident. Sure, walking may have been second nature at one point, but now I'm back at the start and need help getting back on track. So here I am, again and again and again. Oof! JC worked, but the food was limited and got boring after a while. Plus, the cost was outrageous. Even with my rewards discount, I was shelling out $85-100/week, not counting the extras you buy at the store and food for DH as well. It lead to an outrageous grocery bill, that's for sure. Plus, I could start the plan without having to read a book or buy new groceries. I'm good to go.
The meeting did help me to get a little bit of my enthusiasm back. I've been in such a rut lately that I really haven't cared about much. I've just felt blah. I'm not admitting to feeling full-steam ahead yet, but I'm going. My fave quote is still Winston Churchill, "If you're going through hell, keep on going." So if I'm not ready to fly yet, I'm going to at least keep moving until I get out of my rut. This rut sucks and I have NO desire to stay in it. It's sucking the life out of me.
So today is day one as a prodigal WW member. I've done well so far, of course, I had no hunger because after I joined, I ate the proverbial "last supper" and woke up feeling full and bloated, so it made staying on track easy today! lol My biggest thing is that I'm hoping once I get all of the yuck stuff out of my system and get back to moving again that my attitude will follow suit and perk up, too.
Baby steps...One day at a time...Keep chugging along even when I don't think I can. I'm tired of starting goals and not finishing them. I have to see this through. My health is at stake. It's not just about looks anymore. I just have to do it and find the motivation along the way. If I wait for the motivation, I may never change.
SOOOOO....here I go! I am trying as best I can to keep up with my blog. I love it on here. I'm not ignoring everyone and I appreciate all of the support everyone has been sending my way. Please understand that between school, work, and now my dad having a stroke after his 2nd knee replacement surgery, I have a lot on my plate and little free time. I am making it a goal to go visiting as much as possible, though. Just give me some time and don't give up on me!
Time sure flies when you're having no fun at all...
Okay, all. I'm still alive. It's been a rough month ever since dad's first surgery. He had a rougher recovery, as I mentioned before, than he expected, so I've been spending all of my free time at my parent's and trying to keep up with school and work. WELL, his right knee replacement was on March 19th. He came out feeling wonderful and ready to go home (as far as he was concerned) that night! We were so excited that he did so much better! Then he took a turn for the worse the day after surgery and became nonresponsive. He had what is termed an "embolic shower" which in plain english means that a blood clot went sailing from somewhere in his body up into his brain and then broke into several pieces in his brain and scattered like buck shot, causing him to have several strokes at once. He spent 4 days in Neuro Critical Care. It was rough. We thought there for a couple of days that he was going to die. He's home finally now. He woke up quicker than anyone expected and the only major issue now is that his speech sounds like he's drunk and his grasp is definitely weaker, so he keeps dropping things. As far as the surgery goes, that went well. Now we have to get him over the surgery AND the strokes. Talk about stress. Now he's developing a cough and I'm praying that it's not the beginnings of pneumonia. I'm just keeping an eye on him and checking his lungs frequently and temperature. Pray it's just a cough due to the weather change.
In other news...At least this all happened during Spring Break and I could focus on dad. I got an "A" in my class! YEAH! Unfortunately, I found out that the prof that I couldn't wait to get away from is lead instructor on my next 2 classes as well. Diet and exercise has gone by the way side. I've been living off of hospital food and comfort food. They call it comfort food for a reason. When you're so busy hugging everyone else, it's nice to come home to a big fluffy warm hug from the Pillsbury Dough Boy! lol I'm sure I've gained wait. I haven't joined WW yet. No time for the meetings and the pay checks have been short for all of the time I've had to take off. Work pays 100% less a $20 co-pay, but only if you have perfect attendance at the meetings for 10 weeks straight. Yeah right. I was supposed to switch to eve shift in April, but now they're holding me on days until May. At least I'll have the extra money from teaching part-time coming in. No energy or time for workouts, either. I feel like a slug. A big, lazy, bloated slug. All I want to do is sleep.
I need to get myself back in a groove. I need to have time to evaluate my new situation that I totally didn't plan for and see how I can re-group and re-organize based on what I now know. If all had gone according to plan, I would have had no issue, but going according to plan would not be my life, that's for certain. My sleep schedule is all off and I'm just off in general. It's amazing how a big bump in the road can throw your whole MO off for more than a month. Oy! Maybe I'll get back on track after taxes, another thing that I have to do and haven't had time to concentrate on. Yuck!
SO, here's to attempting to re-assess and re-do a plan that has crashed head-on with life and lost! lol I hope everyone else is having a wonderful start to their spring! Here's to having fresher fruits and veggies at the store and better weather to play outside in!
I did, and it occurred to me that this election is not about the best candidate or who will run the country best, it is about the lesser of the evils and who won't screw us up any worse than we are. Depressing. So, while my dad took his afternoon nap, I snuck out of the house and went down to my polling station to cast my vote less because I am passionate about any of the candidates on the ballot this year, none of them are my dream candidates (Where are the Ikes, JFKs and Lincolns these days?), but so whenever whomever gets in office, I have the right to complain about the job they're doing. lol The way I see it is if you don't participate and excercise your right to vote, then keep your opinions of the leaders to yourself. I vote, therefore, I can criticize. lol I know, cynical, but that's what modern day politics have boiled down to.
SO, besides that, here's what I've been up to...
Dad had his first total knee replacement on Feb 20th, he had a rough recovery the first couple of days and still isn't feeling 100%, the pain is wearing him out and he feels really drawn and weak, but he is, in fact, doing much better. Yesterday was a rare sunny and warm day, so i was able to get him out in the sunshine and since it was his first day off the walker and on a cane, I had issues getting him to not run ahead of me! lol His second surgery is on March 19th, so it's going to be a busy Spring!
Between that, work and school, there has been precious little time for working out and I've been living on hospital food and fast food. I feel like a big bloated slug. My instructor is ruthless when it comes to grading and I'm getting an "A" but it's been a struggle. I haven't had time to work out at all. By the time I've gotten home, finished homework and things I need to do at my own house like laundry, etc, there's just no energy left. In addition, after looking at the meager bank account, I've made the painful decision to move off of day shift and switch to 3p-3a. On the up side of that, I'll be making significantly more money (about $10 grand more a year), plus I'll get to see the day light and not have to work overtime to make ends meet. Working day shift, it's dark when I go to work, dark when I get off, I have to battle traffic and park off campus and ride a shuttle to the hospital. Working 3-3, I'll be able to go to bed at 4, get up by 10 or 11 and still have a little bit of a life, plus I'll be able to park by the ER and make more money. Not all bad.
AND, I have been offered a position at the local community college teaching clinicals in their nursing school starting spring quarter 1 day a week, which is a blessing because it will mean overtime without breaking my back and enough mad money to be able to pay off Christmas bills that have been looming over us still.
On the diet front, I'm giving up Jenny Craig. It's such a burden on our finances and honestly, it's not like it's the only way. I'm going to join weight watchers with my friend since they have free enrollment and our insurance will pay 100% of our membership fees for every 10 weeks we have perfect attendance to meetings. I'm also seeing that Jenny is affecting dinner w/the hubby and family when I am eating differently from everyone else. On WW, I'll be able to cook and eat w/everyone and save some money, too.
On the exercise front, I dropped my gym membership. I'm pretty much donating $38/mo to a club that I never have a chance to go to right now, plush I have all of the equipment in my basement, I can train w/my trainer at the hospital, and I have free access to the gym on campus at school. I'm also going to have to give up the belly dancing classes, which I'm not happy about, but it seems like no matter what day that I switch to, that will magically become the day when all things happen. When I was doing the Thurs class, all of a sudden, my school classes were Thurs, switch to Tues b/c I had Tues off at work, then I start getting scheduled for Tues, so then I switch to Wed 8pm and now Wed are the popular day, both of dad's surgeries are Wed, my parent's anniversary, dad's birthday, and now that I'm going to 3-3, gotta work wed too. I give up. It's not meant to be. I have several belly dance DVDs at home and tons of music, thanks to DH, so I'm going to keep it up, but between a schedule that just won't permit me to make it to a class that is only offered one day a week and the fee ($95 every 8 weeks), it's just not in the time or financial budget. I just have to realize that there are cheaper ways to get health and fitness in, I just have to put more effort in to getting myself to do them because there will be no one there but me to push myself to do them. I shouldn't say that, I have several friends that are willing to meet me and go walking, hiking and do DVDs together, just no one that I'm paying to yell at me. Sucks being a poor working grad student, but when you have to fill up twice a week at $45 a fill up when gas is through the roof, if it's formal dance classes or paying to get to work, well, there's always the home DVD workouts.
I just need to get back on track. This winter weather and lack of sunshine has got me in the dumps and I'm burned out at work. I need a major vacay and I new job (neither of which are in the near future), but at least I need something to adjust my attitude because it sucks right now. Combination of stress, lack of exercise, suck weather and a suck diet for the past 2 weeks. I'm going to try to get to WW tomorrow after my mom gets off work and I just have to survive until 3/19 and I'll have a week off of school so that I don't have to worry about school and dad's recovery for the 1st week of dad's post-op recovery and I have that week covered for work, too. Now I just need an all-expense paid trip to somewhere sunny. I'm so desperate for sun that I've set the wall paper and screen savers on my lap top to beach seens, I have a tropical scented 3D beach scene air freshener in my car, fake yellow sunflowers all over the house...it's sad. I want summer, sun, pina coladas, sand and to hear ocean waves outside my window while I"m sleeping. Oh to dream of beaches and a life of luxury!
OK, so enough of my belly aching. I just need to stop whining about the weather and get my bum back on track. Maybe that WW thing tomorrow will give me the kick in the seat I'm in need of. I'm just aggravated that I did the thing that I didn't want to do and that was to lose my organization skills to keep up with exercise and eating right over these past two weeks. I've been focused on other things, dad's been sick and it's been easier to let rest go to the way-side.
The one thing I can be certain of is there is no such thing as a "time to focus." Life is going to always throw me curve balls and I'm going to always be battling my internal "all or nothing" attitude. I've done better about banishing it, but it takes over when it's most inconvenient. Like now. I'm a work in progress and I think that's the way I'll always be. Close to the mark, maybe even catch it sometimes, but I'll never be able to lose track of my goal for long or I'll drop it again. So here's to picking up and moving on. I just need to find my footing again among all of the chaos.
I'm here and still alive! Sorry it's been a while since my last post, I've been busy trying to get things together at home before my dad has his 1st knee replacement on the 20th and this week has been midterm week. So far I'm getting an "A" and I'm hoping midterms don't screw that up! :-)
As far as the BL competition at work, we have 35 participants at $20/person, so we've raised $700! YEAH! This week I was down 10.5 #s! YEAH! I missed a couple days of working out because the cat tried to kill me by leaving her toy on the steps and I tripped and fell down the steps and did a face-plant and twisted the crap out of my ankle, but fortunately it wasn't serious. I skipped belly dancing and stayed off of it for 2 days, but then I was back in the gym w/my trainer doing upper body and abs. Needless to say, my arms HURT and my abs feel like I've been gut-punched, but I suppose it's a "good" pain, whatever the heck that's supposed to mean! lol I even managed to get my bum out of bed this am and workout BEFORE work this am! WOW! I'm super impressed with myself about that!
So that's what's up with me. School, work, Biggest Loser, cleaning house! lol Not much of a life, but at least I'm keeping up!
I'm off tomorrow, I miss blog-hopping. I've been so busy and I'm having on-going Wi-Fi issues, so my internet has been un-reliable at best. Hope everyone is doing well and I'm going to try to get caught up with everyone this week! Sorry for not keeping up with everyone or even posting updates. I may be scarce these next couple of months because of school and taking care of Dad, but know you're all in my hearts!
So, I PERSONALLY lost 6.1 pounds! YEAH!!!!! I was a little shocked because I only worked out 3 times last week, AND I had a cheat day when DH cooked one of my fave Egyptian dishes (couldn't resist!), which of course was a lot of rice, bread and butter ghee in the dish. LOL Oh well. I was "good" with my diet the rest of the week, and I am still convinced that my job has to count for some form of activity. I called the trainer that I used to work out with and I have an appointment with him to start back on Wednesday morning. Did 20 minutes on the elliptical yeseterday, too. That, combined with the gym, my DVDs and belly dancing, I've got the activity thing planned out. Tomorrow will be another challenge, though, because it's my parent's anniversary party. I'm hoping I don't give in to temptation!
As far as participants, the gal that is doing the weigh-ins said that she hadn't sat down to count totals yet, but she thought we had about 35 participants. At $20/person, that's a $700 pot! WOW! This thing has really taken off! I'm so excited and this was just the kick in the rear that I needed to get myself going again! I'm still a little concerned about how I'm going to balance school, work, caring for my dad, and workouts, but I'm gonna try my best to figure something out. Dad's first surgery is Feb 19th. SOON! OMG! I'm so nervous for him!
Well, I'd better close this. I have an essay due to be posted by 5 pm and I'm doing anything I can to avoid the stupid thing, but I've gotta do it. Sorry I haven't been very good about visiting everyone and responding to your comments lately! I really do appreciate and enjoy reading all of your words of encouragement. I am continuing to have internet connection issues on top of having to spend so much time between school and coordinating this competition. I promise I'll try to check in on everyone as soon as I get a free moment. I just wanted to drop in and let you know I was alive and well!
Have a great day! I've gotta get back to my homework now!
So Monday was the first day of the BL competition. People seem to like my stuff I put together and I got my Nursing Supervisor to chip in gas cards to give to the BL of the week for a weekly prize! YEAH! HR is donating pedometers, too. We seem to have a decent turn out. I'm still waiting for the final #s since weigh-ins are on-going this week. As far as my personal goals for the competition, I posted the ugly first weight. Uggh. I've done well yesterday and today. I worked out yesterday. I haven't drummed up the initiative to do anything today. I got home late and we got our butts kicked all day. I'm exhausted. I know, excuse. I'm working on the initiative. It's 10:15 pm and I'm trying to tell myself to just move. I am. Long day. There are strong arguments on my lazy and my go-getter side. For someone who doesn't work out, the lazy side sure is strong! lol On the upside, I've stuck to the eating plan. No choice today. I barely had time to pee let alone cheat!
So here's to the next 12 weeks of my life! Wish me well because there's lots of stress and juggling ahead!
G'nite all!
Well, 
) Well, JOY! My phone, my EXPENSIVE phone, was still **ON**! JOY!!!!!!!!!! (Angels sing! 
) I immediately dry off my pee-pee phone and pray that it still works and start looking for sanitizer. But wait! I have to take out the battery and dry it too to prevent damage! Guess what? When said battery was replaced, my phone would NOT turn back on! ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Well, I don't have to be back to work until 3, so I run by the Verizon store and I'm standing at the helpless desk (I say that for a reason) only to be told that they no longer have technicians to work on my phone, they "can't" open my phone up and dry it inside, and I just have to "wait" for it to dry and "maybe" it will turn on. By the way, if it DOES turn on, it may not work right, but they can only get my data off of my phone (my numbers that are not written anyplace else, pics I haven't had a chance to back up, etc) IF it turns back on. Meantime, I'm probably stuck paying the $50 deductible on my insurance and having to wait to have a new phone mailed to me. Why can't they replace the phone at the store I just bought it from? Honestly! SO, while I'm standing at the FRONT of the store, ONLY person at the "help" desk, ONLY woman in the small store, about a dozen men in the store, MY FRIGGIN' SCRUB PANTS DECIDE TO SPONTANEOUSLY FALL OFF AND LAND AROUND MY KNEES!!!!!!!!!!! WTF?!?! IS THIS HONESTLY HAPPENING?!?! I FELT THEM START TO FALL, I TRIED TO CATCH THEM, I WASN'T QUICK ENOUGH...THEN I BANGED MY HEAD ON THE COUNTER TRYING TO CATCH THEM AND I HAVE A HUGE GOOSE EGG ON MY CHIN...AND DID I MENTION THAT I WAS WEARING MY STUPID GRANNY PANTIES BECAUSE IT'S TOM? ME AND MY BIG HOT PINK VERY OBVIOUS PANTIES! WHO HAS THE VOO-DOO DOLL OUT ON ME?!?! JEEZ!!!!!!!! 
