It looks like I'm burning about 2300 calories per day now, on the days I work. I expect that to go up in a week or so, when we really get going with the season.
Today, I went out and started clearing the next area of the garden I want to develop. I removed a bush. The area has gotten quite cluttered, and I need to relocate the gate that goes to the backyard. Today was the start of that. I'm not sure how I will afford the building materials for the new gate. I supposed I need to start just buying things as I can. Maybe I'll go to get the fence posts I will need tomorrow, and a bag of concrete, so I can at least get that part done. I'll probably just get a pre-made fence section to make the gate out of. Since it will be a big gate, I'll have to price out the hardware to support the gate—probably wheels, too, to make sure it has enough support to keep from loosening the posts.
Lots of work, but the old gate is nearly falling over, and really badly needs replacing.
I lost one of my hearing aids at work last weekend, and it was not found. At a garden center, there is lots of sweeping and watering, so I'm sure that if it hasn't been ground into the earth by now, it is probably ruined by moisture.
I went to the audiologist today and set up an appointment for a hearing test and to talk to them about replacing it. I can only afford to buy one, unfortunately, and even that will stretch my budget to the breaking point.
They really have some nice ones, though. There are even some that you can use with Bluetooth phones like my iPhone, and with my computer and iPad, and even with some TVs. They would be really nice to have, since you can watch TV, for instance, at a volume level that's comfortable for everyone else, but that you can use a little remote control to adjust the volume so you can hear, too.
Hopefully, I will be able to get one now, and another later, so I can begin to upgrade to the new technology. The one I have now, as it turns out, is too easy to lose. And too expensive.
And of course, hearing aids are yet another thing that health insurance companies refuse to pay for, or help pay for. I guess hearing is optional.
I think it's time for all of us to start complaining to the webmaster about all the spammers. They are ruining this site. I don't feel like I can recommend it to anyone any more. I've complained about it before, but I don't think they did anything about blocking them.
I have to run an errand I was hoping I wouldn't need to. Alas, I lost one of my hearing aids at work this weekend, and it has not been found. With all the watering we do, even if we were to find it at this point, I fear it will be DOA anyway.
So I'm off to the audiologist to find out how much money I will need to save up to replace it. This is not an expense that will be easy to make after having to replace the furnace, in January!
I was going to read everybody's blogs, but I'm so tired right now, I think I'd better go to bed. Tomorrow it's supposed to be cooler and overcast, so I might be able to sleep in. So apologies for only commenting on a few blogs tomight. I just don't have it in me tonight!
I'm glad I have tomorrow off. I have some errands to run, and I'm really tired.
We unloaded more racks of flowers today, and moved all kinds of things around. The place looks pretty good.
I had to throw away another large batch of pots that didn't make it through the winter. It meant tossing many, many gallon pots full of wet soil eight feet in the air to get them into the giant dumpster. Whew! I burned in excess of 2300 calories again today!
I had lunch today with the supervisors of the labor crew today, and discovered that my friend Cutberto was a chef when he lived in Mexico. He had made the thinnest little flour tortillas I've ever seen, and filled them with Spanish rice and some really yummy-looking chicken molé.
Our labor crew just astound me. They work so hard! I've never seen a semi trailer unloaded faster than they can do it. And they are unfailingly cheerful, even though they must be very tired. They tend to work from 7 am to 9 pm, and I don't know how they do it. Amazing guys. We've hired strapping teenagers who can't keep up with them!
Sorry I haven't een around. I started back to work Friday, and have been on the go ever since. I've been burning about 2600 calories a day, and exceeding my daily step goals as well. We literally have little or no time to even have lunch sitting down, so it's been physically challenging!Over the last three days, I've uncrated six 4' x 4' x 8" racks of gallon pots and shelved them.
On the upside, I can literally feel and see the fatback melting!
It's been fun seeing my old customers coming back, and getting caught up with them. I work again today, and I hope that I will be getting a day off tomorrow or the next day.
Wow. Has it really been seven months since I last worked this hard?
This was my first day back at the garden center. I'm tired and achey. In addition to helping customers, I unloaded four 4' x 4' 8' racks of gallon pots and put them on the sales benches. I'm glad I only worked five hours today. All that walking all over the lot and pot-slinging burned nearly 800 calories, so that was really good. I also did 9000 steps.
My back was achey when I got home, but the ice pack took care of that.
I go back tomorrow morning, but I'm afraid I may be sent home early, because the weather looks like it's not going to be as nice as it was supposed to be. It really feels good to be working again, though.
Take the "I can'ts out of your vocabulary. It's self-limiting, and keeps you from achieving all you can be. Point of view can make all the difference in the world.
If you say you can't exercise, can't limit your eating, can't manage stress except by eating, can't limit alcohol in social situations, can't pass on the desserts, can't lose weight—you are limiting your possibilities by boxing yourself into the same lifestyle and habits that led to the weight problem in the first place.
The truth is, you have a choice to make. You can choose to handle stress differently. You can choose to have just one or two drinks at a social event. You can choose to pass on dessert. And you can lose weight. You have to realize that saying "I can't" means you are choosing not to do something, or are choosing to do something negative, but aren't being honest enough with yourself to admit it.
Embrace the choice. Acknowledge the option you are choosing. And talk to yourself positively about it. Instead, say, "I'm proud of myself for choosing to forego the birthday cake," or "I'm so happy that I chose to go for a walk instead of going to the fridge.
Just a few little words can make such a difference!
I'm so stressed.
This admission implies that we can't handle it. It makes us feel incompetent to handle life as it comes. Feeling incompetent is overwhelming, and if it also drives us to the fridge, it only reinforces our impression of ourselves as incompetent and unable to cope, and intensifies feelings of unworthiness.
Next time, take a look at what you are demanding of yourself. Is everyone else around you taking on the same amount of responsibility? Do you clear the table, make all the beds in the house, clean up after the kids, do all of the laundry, all of the housecleaning, and maybe even work, too?
If so, it's no wonder that the slightest extra that comes your way throws you for a loop. The sick relative, the unexpected bill, the flooded basement—when we have already taken on more than our share of the load, it doesn't take much to put us over the top.
Teach the kids to take their own plate, rinse it, and put it in the dishwasher. If they're too young for that now, at least have them take their plates, and the rest of the items on the table, to the kitchen for you. Have them set the table, too. If they are walking, the kids are old enough to pick up after themselves. If they have started school, they are old enough to make their own beds. Make general house cleaning a once a week family affair. Teach the kids how to fold their own laundry and put it away.
