Irma

Happy to be back in the land of ELECTRICITY!!

We went two hours shy of 8 days without power after Irma plowed through Florida. Thankful that we did not have massive damage. I was really worried about my chicken coop. I had the chickens inside in a dog kennel so they were safe.

Just some branches down after lots of scary noises through all that wind. It started to break up when it hit land down south so we did not get the full brunt of it with how far north we are. My brother got power back after only 3 days so we were able to go there for the remaining days.

We have had power back for almost a week now. We lost everything from our fridge and deep freezer of course. After cleaning out a nasty fridge and freezer we went to Sams Club and restocked.

I gained a good 8 lbs during this time frame. Back on track to get rid of that 8 lbs. I could feel a  difference after several days of junk eating. My pants fit comfortably at my before hurricane weight. I was starting to feel uncomfortable in them and shirts by about day five. Didn't help that mother nature was visiting as well.

I got back on track for real on Saturday and I am happy to report in that I am already down 2 of those pounds. :)

I used my power pressure cooker XL to hard boil 25 eggs the other night. I have been snacking on those. I forgot mayo as part of my re-stock fridge trip so I still need that. I had egg salad that night for dinner but subbed ranch for the mayo. I just finished baking 2 pounds of bacon today. I then took the grease and cooked a sliced head of cabbage in it.

Happy to be back on track and have life back to normal finally.

I have issues.

Just as the title says. I have issues.
I am on this stupid yo-yo kick right now. There, I am admitting it. I need to figure out what my issue is then for the love of all things holy FIX IT!! 

I follow my plan Sun through Thurs. I have every intention of doing so on Friday but I jump off. Saturday is usually spent off plan also with a strict tighten up on Sunday. I have been doing this for weeks despite knowing it is an issue. It started last month but then I told myself I would stop. I lept in feet first beginning of this month as I was dealing with an IRS audit at work. Well the audit has passed and all went well. But I am still being stupid on Friday/Sat.

Money is getting really tight really fast however so maybe that will help me too. Can't be stupid if there is no money to be stupid. 😒

My chickens have just started to lay eggs. We are so excited. 🥚🍳 It has been 7 days and we have gotten 6 eggs. One gal is early because we were not expecting them till next month. We have 8 girls outside total so we should have quite a few eggs soon.

Have you caught yourself being stupid? How did you stop yourself from being stupid?

I see so many ideas that I could utilize but I just don't.

I performed a wedding 2 yrs ago (notary republic). June was the anniversary and they put up pictures. I look at my  face in the pictures and I just don't even recognise myself. I was 252 ish and was only 6 wks pregnant with baby girl so I cannot even blame that. Several people I have shown the picture to say it doesn't even look like me. But I guarantee that it was me. I never want to go back up there. But I also don't want to be stuck in this yo-yo. 

Time to ponder when I can

40

They say 40 is the new 20.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. According to my age I'm kind of old, however, according to my brain I feel like I'm somewhere in my twenties but with a lot more knowledge of life.

I hit the big *four oh* on the 14th of this month. I just spent the last week off of work on vacation. My oldest hit 12 on the 14th as well.

Must get to sleep but I wanted to update since it had been awhile.

Shocked and amazed

How is that for a title?

I am truly feeling that way though.

 Just as I suspected from the large number of postings in 2013 that is the year I was really into weight loss. I scrolled through all of my past posts as I mentioned yesterday. Not really paying attention to them however. You see, I was looking for the unpublished posts. (Yeah duh I finally realized how to show them all easily LOL)

 I found my weight chart from 2013. I found the weeks of the year and how much and gained/lost. I even went back into old blogs that I haven't touched in years and have nothing public on. I found a post where I listed my weight in 2009.  2009-  I weighed 5 pounds more in 2009 than I do now. However between 2009 and earlier this year I have been anywhere between 208 and 255. The lowest I recall was in 2003 before my wedding when I was doing weight watchers. I know I hit in the low 200 because I recall trying to get under 200 and it being so close. After baby girl C I recall going down to 208 then once I went back to work I went up to 238.

I must get a handle on this. This is absurd that I have put my body through this for so many years!!

I am doing lots of blog reading to try and find some active bloggers.  I do miss my blogging family from 2013. Time to start a 2017 family. :)

.

Baby girl C says "HELLO"

Random update

So....

Looks like I am blogging so infrequently that it is just turning into one big update here on thee ol' blogitty blog. :)

I have been half ass watching my intake therefore I have been half ass losing. Key word there is losing -thankfully. Hard to put a number on it only because I am not sure what to call my start. Call my start weight the highest I have ever been? Or the highest I got to after having my little pudding pop a year ago? I want to do the highest evarrrr just because a larger number lost makes me feel better inside. However that was a time ago. So long that I cannot even remember exactly when I "started" at that weight. I could probably go surf my old blog posts and figure it out though. I was just looking at my totals for the year and I am going to guess 2013 as that is when I was most active.

Duuude, 2013   That was a long, long time ago. Why am I still fighting this same fight?  It would be one thing if I was in onederland fighting to not go over 200. Instead I am still fighting the fight to onederland. Off to go timehop random blog posts.  Me thinks I need to go re-visit the younger me for a spell.

Backyard Chickens

That would be what I have been into lately. :)  Alive and all is well here. This week has been so so as I have been on vacay. Tomorrow is my last day though.😭

I have spent a fair amount of time outdoors with trying to get our property in shape for my baby chickies. I have also spent lots of quality time with my best girl. Much relaxing and some snoozing as well.

I just finished rearranging the kitchen counters so now I feel like I accomplished something inside the house as well.

Swimming along (update)

I am happy to say that I am just a swimming along.

I am eating like I should, Every once and a while I may have something I shouldn't. I have that one thing (not a "oh crap my day is screwed") and then I am right back to eating properly the next meal.

The first time I did this it was a little bit sucky. But I realized it gets easier to do once I accepted that it was my plan. No, it isn't super often. Maybe once every 3-4 weeks if that. I need to continue to eat this way my entire life if I want to keep my blood sugars in check. I am pre-diabetic and I would rather not develop full blown diabetes if I don't have to.

I was keeping track of my blood sugars just to see how other stuff effects me but I am rather annoyed with my glucose meter currently. I have been using the one from my pregnancy and logging everything. I had ordered some off brand strips like 6 months ago when I toyed with keeping up with my blood sugar. I tried one of the off brand and the sugar was over 300 or didn't read on several. Meanwhile the name brand strips were fine. I researched and found a meter that has some of the most inexpensive test strips and ordered it. I had one original kit strip left and used it at the same time as my new kit. They were over 20 points different!!!  I used the control solution and the meter tests within those guidelines. I haven't touched it much since because I don't know what to think. I have read they can have up to a 20% variance. However, if one tells me 79 and the other 99 I just don't know what to believe.

I have started intermittent fasting as well. Not for days on end or anything. More like not eating till I am really truly FEELING hungry. It might be 17 hours from my last meal rather than at noon because it is lunch "time"  It also works well because I am on a financial diet too. We splurged on year passes to Busch Gardens/Adventure Island this year after taxes. No more eating out for me! I must bring my own food or not eat as far as I am concerned. (I would buy something if I was starving of course)

The deal with the kids and the passes was that we really should not buy them. That it was not responsible to buy them. But that if they were willing, we would cut back in other ways to help make up for it. We discussed with the kids that we would go but we would not be buying food there or souvenirs. That these passes would be their birthday presents as well. They agreed and have been really good about it all. I did buy the reusable cups so we can get refills on drinks for .89 (yr pass discount) so that makes them happy. I bring in snacky food for C and it doubles as snacks for them as well.  They are at a prime age for making memories so we took the plunge.

So far I am doing well with the financial diet as well. :)

About that rough water...

I didn't just fall in.  I knowingly jumped.

I'm good with that though.  I didn't gulp to much water.  :)

I've climbed back up the ladder though and landed on the boat.

Figured you all might like an update.

My precious little pumpkin is now officially ONE!



Rough weekend.

I'm really not sure why I am bothering to blog. Blogging isn't fun anymore. Once upon a time it was a magical world to me. Where a bunch of us kept up with each other and commented on each other's posts. Now it is a big Ole empty world of random click bys.

I am frustrated. Frustrated that many others doing the "same thing" as me and losing fast while I am not. But then I sit back and realize that 8 lbs in 6 weeks really isn't bad. It just isn't the 20 lbs that Sally Jo took off in 4 weeks.

Of course I know damn well I am not eating and drinking as efficiently as I can. So I try any remind myself that. I had a really rough weekend this week. I busted my ass at work and adding that with these feelings made me want to let go.

I'm trying to keep my nose above water and not give up. I think I am over the super rough waters and am leveling back out again. Time will tell.

Movement

I keep meaning to post about a fitness app that I have been using lately. You can walk or run. Whatever you are comfortable doing. It is free for the first 4 episodes then it is either $2.99 for the month or $19.99 for the year. I did the first few missions and decided to pay for one month before I committed for a year. I didn't want to pay for the year to save money and then never open the app again.

For some reason my GPS like to go wacky when I am trying to use it for the app. So my distance is only accurate on the first two and the last one. I am enjoying using this app. It is called Zombies, Run.  You can find it in google play. I am sure that by the title you have an inkling of what it is about. 😎

You guessed it!  I don't want to give out to much of the story line so I will be brief. You find yourself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and you become a valuable member of the team. As you use the app you collect items. You can use those items to build yourself a town in the app. I am enjoying it and it gets me out moving.  I recommend it if you are someone that likes video games.

You can still play your normal playlists as far as music goes and it will just interrupt it to play the story line.  I went last night and kinda wanted to go tonight but I am delaying. I am exhausted! I have been staying up to late lately. The hours that I am sleeping are not quality though. SOMEONE has been snoring and waking me up multiple times a night. Zzzzzzzzz

Day- I dunno

I am to lazy to go try and figure out what day it is honestly. This happens to me every time I try and be on a plan. I forget what day I am on. But really, as long as I am following my plan (I am) it really doesn't matter what day I am on. I had a few days where I wanted to reach for stuff off plan but honestly there was nothing in the house that would satisfy the want. I tried to ask myself WHY I was feeling so much like straying but honestly no answers came. I did hold out though. Then I realized it was probably lingering stress. (See below)

Heck, I even planned on having a carby meal last Tuesday after a long and stressful day.
Auto pilot steered me away. Monday (1/23) my MIL had a partial hysterectomy. Tuesday morning I got a phone call from aunt that my FIL was taken to (different) hospital by ambulance for possible heart attack. She was going to see MIL as she was excepting FIL at 8am. I was supposed to work but I wasn't locked in a store so I hauled butt to the hospital. Sat with him and they took him for a 2nd CAT scan where they confirmed blood clots in his lungs. He was admitted and given blood thinners to break up the clots. Meanwhile my husband was home with baby girl. His brother and wife arrived at the hospital and we decided both the boys would go to hospital to visit mom and tell her about blood clots. I came home and took over baby duty while the boys went. After a few hours my husband calls and says that his brother and wife went back to dad but he is still with his mom. (The hospitals are 25 miles apart) Turns out blood results came back and he did in fact have a heart attack. Three arteries clogged. One at 90% so they immediately put a stent in that one. He was moved to ICU while they tried to find cause of blood clots. A cousin took baby girl so hubby and I could go up to hospital that night. I totally planned on hitting Chick-fil-a on way home. Auto pilot kicked in and I turned to go the way home. CFA was in opposite direction and I just didn't care enough to turn around.

We picked up MIL on Wednesday and took her to FIL's hospital. Hubby went with her to visit and I couldn't due to baby. I didn't even want to take her into the hospital. So her and I wasted time at Target. I got her birthday presents on clearance and cartwheel. (3 wks away Whaaaaaa!)  She scared the shit out of me. I had travel formula packs but a different kind then normal for her. I only made 4 oz because I didn't know if she would drink it being as water was ice cold from water fountain and different flavor. She guzzled it down and was PISSED that I didn't have more ready. She did that baby scream where they suck in breath and hold it. She held if for so long she was limp. I was ready to start screaming myself but she finally inhaled. Then held it again for a few more seconds then quick breaths. She was dazed for a few seconds, then fine. I was crying in the isle she scared me so much. Once I collected myself I went and made her more formula and all she wanted to do was chew on the nipple. Went to go pick up hubby from hospital and started googling. Turns out it is fairly common. Her lips did not turn blue so that is a good thing. Then I remembered that my husband had a thing as a kid.  My husband was one of those children that if he got mad at you he would hold his breath till he passed out. I wonder if this child will follow in his footsteps.

FIL is now out of hospital and home. He has to go back in three weeks for two more stents.  MIL and FIL are both on limitations though so his sister is moving in to help them.

Day 36- I did the math.  I am down just over 7 pounds.

28 day

I am happy to report that all is well. I missed weigh in on Sunday. I worked and all my focus was on getting to work on time. 😅 I may have hit snooze to many times.

I am off Wed so I hope to report in with a more detailed post. I hope your trucking along as well.

Day 18 over here.

Here I am half way through day 18. My weight isn't dropping like crazy BUT I am OK with that. Down is good no matter how fast.

My mental clarity is amazing though! 

My mental status paired with the beginning of the year organization I am working on for work feel so good! I am just really pleased with myself and how I am finally stepping more firmly into my role after 3 years. 😅
I have had the title but not much authority. I felt the title was more of something to keep me happy.

 In late October I was finally given a certain password within the company that gives me the feeling of authority. I felt like a fraud before. 

Once again, I get caught in the weekday cycle of wanting to blog but not having the mental capacity to write a long post. I did take pictures this week with intentions of sharing.

This is fathead pizza made with fathead pizza dough. I used colby jack so my crust is orange. It was good. I did not follow directions all the way I realized but it was to late to turn back. Initial recipe has you cook 8 min then pop any bubbles and put back in for 10 to 12 I want to say. I only cooked it 8 min because it looked plenty done to me. Although to be honest I had already put on toppings on before I realized it was supposed to go longer anyway.   Attaching a screenshot of the recipe for you. 

Day 12

Here I am half way into day 12. So far so good as far as staying on plan. ☺ I am a daily scale peeker and my weight seems up. That is OK though. This isn't a race.

I have wanted to blog several times this week. Having nothing to say but -Day x went well yeah- stopped me. I wouldn't want to see a new post alert on a blog and go there eager to read and just see that. I doubt you want to as well. I guess I have things to say but not the time/mental capacity to after 10 hrs at work. Words are flowing today but it is my day off.

I feel good though. I am on track for success. I do need to add in movement to help me travel the path more efficiently. Boy do I have a list of excuses for that though. Hah!

I hope that this clear thinking on the ball path will help me on the financial path. It's uphill right now.

Our mortgage got sold which makes me sad. Not that I loved our old one or anything but this new one pretty much has  negative star reviews they are so bad. I made the first payment to them Thursday. I had a little cushion then car issues happened. I have a great inexpensive mobile mechanic thankfully. The things still added up though. First my battery went out. Do you know where a battery is on a Dodge Avenger?   Picture below until I can move on laptop.

It is behind the drivers side front bumper in front of the wheel. Bizarre. I knew it was somewhere in there though so I wasn't completely unaware but it isn't like the auto parts place is going to change that out.

It actually started with a ER visit the night I found I had a car issue. Dec 12th My family and I attended the yearly Christmas parade of the town my job is located in. We walked down the street handing out candy canes and flyers for my job as I was on the clock.

Picture below till I get on laptop to move.

 After the parade my husband bought the kids cotton candy on paper cones.  Later that evening after they ate the candy they were being boys and playing with the cones. My oldest son (11) took off his glasses and was looking through the tube like a periscope. My youngest son (8) decided that would be a good time to smack the end of the cone.  Of course that ended in a ER visit.

I thought I saw a scratch on his eye but I don't normally peer in his eyes looking for scratches. I felt it was best to take him in just in case. Good thing I did. He actually had 2 scratches. The one I saw and a second one.

Picture below till I can move on laptop.

Antibiotic drops were prescribed. I had to go across town to the only open pharmacy on Sunday night and got there 10 min before close. The pharmacist was a peach and had no problem filling it. We went to leave and my car wouldn't start. Everything black. Shit! Called my brother since he is mechanically inclined and my husband is not. Not to mention he was home with the other two kids sleeping. My brother jumped us and car started right up. Yeah! Within 30 seconds of him removing cables the car died. Shit again! He didn't being his voltmeter to check the alternator but we assumed it must be that. He brought us home and I left my car there overnight. Met the mechanic there Monday morning and he had his voltmeter. Alternator was working just fine. Went and got a new battery and he installed it an all was well. 

Within the next two weeks I realized my car was getting louder and louder on the road. Finally googled and saw information on wheel bearings going bad. Crap. I can drive over 500 miles in one week with my job and traveling. I switched a travel day with boss lady so I could get my car worked on. Mechanic is actually boss lady's oldest son. Bad rear drivers side wheel bearing. I also had him do a simple tune up while he was here. Between both those things with labor and parts (I always pad his fee because he is so cheap) it was almost $380.00. 

I haven't even touched Nov 23rd yet. That will be another blog post. 😑😧

PS. Oldest son is fine. Apparently superficial eye injuries heal in like 24 hours. I took them for new glasses exam 2 days later and Dr saw nothing.

Let's talk scale numbers

I said I had gained weight. I did not clarify how much though.

When I got pregnant in June of 2015 I was 252.2. I went down some just because that is how I gestate. I ended up dropping more with gestational diabetes. After having her I actually ended up dropping over 40 pounds. I have pictures of 208 on the scale. I feel like I lost the entire time I was at home.

Once I went back to work the scale slowly went up. I felt better because I knew I had lost but I wasn't ready to commit to "being good" again. (We call it being good at work when we are dieting/watching our food) I knew I wanted to not get back up to where I was though.

Those 16's I was wearing while on maternity leave are hanging in the closet.

I ended up finding 2 pairs of 18s hanging out that I have been cycling through. I refuse to open the plastic bin with all my other 18s and 20s that I packed away. REFUSE. I also am feeling very uncomfortable in my shirts. After I lost so much I stocked up on semi form fitting shirts from Target. You know how sometimes slight form fitting looks a heck of a lot better than baggy? Well now the baggy shirts are back out because the form fitting shirts are way to form fitting.

Hence I knew I needed to get my ass in gear. I am a weird one and never start on the normal days everyone else does. I am on day 6 while many others are on day 1.

I feel great about my eating and my choices. 

Highest June 2014.  252.2 (6w pregnant)
Start.     Dec. 2016    238.0
                                   
                      
You can see I did finally halt it from going up. After 5 full days and day 2 of period I am already down 3.1 pounds. Of course I am a big believer on first 5 or so being water weight but I will still take it.

Yesterday my older brother and I went to visit our mom. She lives about 2 hours away in Tampa. We took baby oink with us. Here are two pictures of her sweetness sleeping in grandma's arms.