Or not....

Hello friends!! I hope you are all doing well. I have had a great weekend of hanging out with friends, watching Emily run in a Cross Country meet, and working.

Maybe that last part wasn't "great" but I am always glad to help out when I can.

I am tired so I am going to make this blog brief. I read a couple of things this week that have literally changed my life.

The first being, I am reading a book called "The Paleo Coach" by Jason Seib. I following him on Facebook and am always willing to learn more about nutrition and exercise. But just a few days after I committed to running the Jingle Bell Run in Dec, I read this passage:

"Traditional running, like distance running, as opposed to walking or sprinting, tends to be perceived by the body as stress, which increases cortisol, thus breaking down more muscle and storing more fat. In other words, fat loss gets really tough unless most of your muscle mass is emaciated first".

Go ahead, look up emaciated, I will wait...

So a couple bells went off in my brain when I read this:

1) I have never lost weight by running. Even when I ran 7 or 8 miles each weekend day and some during the week, I never lost any weight (I know this is true for ME , you may have a different story and I respect that).

2)I hate running.

Yay!! I have a reason to not run anymore. I will gladly walk the Jingle Bell Run with my friend and just enjoy it. For me, my greatest weight loss comes from aerobics, squats, push ups and healthy eating.

Not running. Ever. Unless being chased.

The second thing I saw was a movie called "Fat, sick and nearly dead". It is about an Australian man who was over weight and decided to come to America and do a SIXTY day juice fast. You can watch it online for free and I really recommend you do. It is about an hour, forty in length, so pick a rainy day. Well worth it. The second half of the movie is about a man he met along the way and how he changed his life. Can't get thru it without Kleenex. Warning you now.

As a cook, drinking my meals is totally foreign to me, but once you see all the science behind it, you get roped it. My lovely neighbor offered up her juicer for me to try and I got the kids involved. They loved watching the fruits and veggies go in and come out juice. I know I could do a breakfast juice every day of fruits because I do not like to eat fruits but seem to have no problem with them in liquid form.

It is the veggies I have an issue with. I eat plenty of veggies and feel like I could skip this aspect.  I am going to try for a week and see how breakfast goes before I totally commit to a juicer.

I warned Griff not to go to school and tell everyone we are "juicing". I don't need Social Services at my door!

We took Jack off all medications, hoping to clean out his system and start over. I don't feel like he has improved at all this year so there must be another component I need to look at. He is my little guinea pig and I feel for him though I love his ability to try anything!

That's it from here. Lots of Paleo cooking going on and juicing, too. Hope you all are well and I would love to get one more follower for an even 16.

I am a little OC that way!!

Best wishes to you. 

Cat 

It's Jacktober!!!

Hey Friends! October is here, or as we call it in our family, Jacktober!! Yes,the baby of the family is the only one who gets a whole month named after him, but the names of the other kids month's would not be so fluid:

Emuly

Grarch

You can see why Jacktober has prevailed!!

Our Fall weather has been nicer than our entire summer but it still causing the leaves to fall. This is my favorite time of year as I see Fall as a chance to reset and make things right.

In that vain: Tom and I have taken on what we call our "October Smackdown". Our youngest will be 10 on the 20th and we really feel like there should have been a cut off on keeping the "baby weight". Ten years is a bit much, yes??

So I have been running again. My neighbor and I are signing up for the Jingle Bell Run which is 4 days after my 44th birthday. I needed a kick in the pants and this is it. Two days of running remind me that I am not 30, let alone 40 anymore, but I know I can do a 5k. RIGHT???

Chaos reigns supreme most of the time in this house since school started. Em is learning how to drive. Griff has more homework than all 5 years of Elem combined and Jack is just trying to deal with what life throws his way.

Tom and I are in a good place, thankfully. Summer seemed hard on us and I think it was bcz we didn't go to the pool as much and everyone had a lot of extra energy. We are working as a team more and talking a lot more about the kids stuff and what each of us need.. If you can't talk to your main squeeze, who can you talk to?

He did say something that made me laugh for a really long time today. We were talking about something and he told me that he was the "Total Package".

I feel for those of you who don't know my husband. His lot in life is to make me laugh and he hit BIG on this one. Tom is a wonderful man and I love him to death but to put that statement out there, was pretty bold. Even for him. But thinking about it, for me, he IS the Total Package.

And yes, I know I used all of our real names in this post and I will continue to. I am fairly sure all 15 of my followers are peaceful!!

Run like the wind and enjoy Jacktober!!

Cat

The Great Wave of Organization

Happy Labor Day, Friends! I hope you are all enjoying this long weekend, I know I am. I spent the last day and a half organizing some critical parts of our house. The reason for the bee in my bonnet? Snacks. Well, not the snacks themselves, the need to HIDE the snacks so the kids don't eat them all at one time. The threat of "You will have nothing to pack in your lunch this week" is not working, so I need a place to hide them so I can ration them.

Yep, this is what it has come to!

My organizing started with the back closet

I moved all my larger kitchen appliances in there, added the old tv stand as some shelving and have a place to hang bags of snacks, as well as freeing up space in my pantry. See that rice cooker on the top shelf? That made some valuable room in my hutch...

I put a lot of wine and beer glasses we rarely use down there. Easy enough to get to if I need them. I moved them out of my cabinet so I could do this...

I put our bigger coffee cups on the top shelf so I could move the more kid friendly (read plastic) onto the bottom shelf so they could reach them easier. I am nice like that.

Then I decided to tackle my cook book cabinet. This is the before...

Kind of wonky and not at all easy to get to anything. This is the after..

Much better!!!

Two more projects to go. The fridge and the front book case... here are the before and afters...

Finally, the book case!!

No more little kids books allowed, only chapter books. I am putting some of the classics in a tote that will go in the basement. Maybe someday my grand kids will read them. Or not.

For those of you who don't know, I broke my thumb on Monday night and have been in a splint since then. Has made my cooking life a challenge to say the least and I have a huge blister on my thumb so I am going without the splint for a couple hours. May try bandaging it without the splint, just to keep it still.

I have also kicked butt on the weight loss front this week. I was at 153 at the beginning of the week and this morning I am 148.5. Lots of eating well, no alcohol, and getting about 14k steps in a day. No hard core exercise bcz of my thumb but am making sure I exceed my step goal.

I have to get the upstairs cleaned today and the downstairs done tomorrow and I will feel like I made the most of my time off. Not to worry, there has been plenty of kite flying, cooking and napping going on.

Have a great rest of your long weekend!!

Cat

The Summer of Self Knowledge

Happy Saturday, friends!! I hope this blog finds you all doing well and for those of you who had kids start back to school this past week: Hallelujah!!! I started back to work and my kids start back this coming week. I am so glad to be back to work and off the couch. 

I spent a lot of time on that couch this summer and over the course of the 10 or so weeks I was off, I learned a few things about myself. Thought I would share.

1.Though I tell myself at the start of every summer that THIS is the summer I am going to work out and get the last couple pounds off, it's not going to happen. I have learned and accepted that being on my feet for 6-8 hours a day for 9 1/2 months warrants me laying on the couch for a couple weeks. And any weight I may gain (this summer it was 3 lbs) I will burn off the first week of work. And I did.

2. I have become a master at the art of what I like to call "conversation redirection". Having a child who is ADHD and Autistic has really honed this skill and he put me to task all summer. Question to parents out there: is it normal for 9 year old's to want a new toy EVERY SINGLE DAY??? Or is this an obsessive thing he has going on? And when he does get new things, it is never good enough, he always wants something else. Here is where I have become the master of redirection. He wants everything NOW and I have learned that if I tell him no local stores carry the item and it will take 7-10 days to ship, he drops wanting it. So if he asks you why local stores don't carry any toys......go along with it....please.

3.If I am going to ask someone for advice, I best be prepared to hear things I may not want to. This is a hard one to swallow but I am working on it.

4.Punching a punching bag is really good therapy. You can picture anyone on there and pound away.

5. I have some really wonderful friends. I mean, I knew this anyway, but was reminded quite often over the summer. My bestie, Beenie Weenie, gave me the best advice ever about relationships: In a marriage, though you are going thru the same things, you will both react differently. This really has made me look at how my hubby and I react to things, and there really is no wrong way to go thru a difficult time. And a shout out to Mighty Mouth for being there for me for the past 14 years. You are a keeper. And to my neighbors, nothing but love and summer nights on the porch. 

6. Sometimes, medication is the best way to go. After three years of trying to deal with youngest's ADHD thru diet and herbal medications, we have decided to try medication. So far it is going well and if it helps him be successful in school and friendships, then it is the right thing to do for us.

And lastly....

7. I have my hands full with my three kids, work and starting my new business. Most of the time I feel like none of these gets enough of my attention, but at the end of the day, I feel like I did my best. And I am thankful to have a husband that loves and supports me to a ridiculous degree. Again, I knew this but was reminded over the summer.

As far as the FitCat part of my life, I am running again on the weekends. I don't wear my watch, I don't time it and I go as far (or not) as I feel up to. Week days I am doing a program that my hubby put together that goes like this:
3-5 minutes on the elliptical, full speed
a few minutes on the punching bag
a few minutes high knees on the mini tramp with arms over my head
back to the punching bag
back to the elliptical and do another round.
Takes about 13-15 minutes and kicks my butt!!!

I manage to get over 10k steps in every day between work and after work activities, so all is good in that dept.

Are there things about yourself that you are surprised to learn? I think the best thing about life is learning new things. I am always asking people, sometimes strangers, questions. You would be surprised by what people know.

Have a great weekend. I hope to post more since I feel more in a groove with being back to work. 

Cat

No more laying down

Hi Friends!

Last time I posted, we were back from our vacation and I am happy to say we are back from a mini vacation!! We were fortunate for our whole family to be invited on a friend's trip to Kalahari Water park for an over night and then a day at Cedar Point on Sat. Kalahari was a lot of fun but no joke, I think it was SNOWING at Cedar Point. The wind was blowing so hard and the rain was freezing, the kids waited in the down pour to ride one ride and then we went back to Kalahari for the afternoon. Despite that, we had a great time and are grateful for the chance to go.

There have been some heavy things going on in my life but instead of laying down and dwelling on them, I am choosing to lift myself up and enjoy the good, silly, fun things. Here are a few:

My new business, Great Gatherings, LLC is up and running. For those of you who don't know, I provide assistance when you are having a cookout, graduation party, baby shower, etc. I can help you plan your event and I help set up, maintain food and beverage service, and clean up. It is a great way for you to enjoy the event you are hosting. I am doing Holiday's too. We could all use a stress free Holiday in our lives.

Enough tooting my own horn.

I entered a contest on Diet Bet a month ago. You put in $25 and have 4 weeks to lose 5 or 10% (this is how much I am in the contest, I don't even know the rules!) of your weight and whoever does this and exceeds their goal, wins the pot. I thought this would be good motivation for the miser in me (I hate throwing away $25!) but alas, I do not think I will be the Biggest Loser or the Diet Bet Winner tomorrow come weigh in time. The good news is, despite wearing nothing but elastic shorts all summer, my weight has remained the same. Roughly. Meh.

My only daughter turns 16 on Weds. I hope when I grow up I am like her at 16. She is the best person I know and I love her too much to put into words. If you know her, consider yourself fortunate. She is a true beauty.

I still fill in at the Assisted Living Facility. I truly enjoy my time there as they remind me of what is important. I start back to work in THREE weeks. Looking forward to it but need to get my butt in gear and find a week for child care for the boys. Hoping Daughter can do some of the days but she is so busy (again, BIG LOVE to her). It will all work out, it always does.

Here is my latest challenge that I will be posting on FB: In an effort to clean out my freezers and pantry, I am not going big food shopping for as long as I can. I am challenging myself to come up with all meals from what we have on hand. I want to get it all cleared out before I go  back to work so I can stock up, cook what I need and get things ready for another school year. Each day, I will post a pic on FB of what creative thing I made for a meal (or two) with what I have on hand. I may have to make a milk run but that would be it, until I can't make anything else.

I feel like I need something to focus on that takes my focus away from the not so pleasant stuff. I feel like this summer has been a big waste and a lot of that has been my attitude about everything. There were days when I wouldn't get out of bed till after 10am bcz I just didn't want to deal with life. Depressed much? Yep.

Something in me snapped this past weekend and I am not going to take life laying down anymore. I have a renewed, albeit exhausted spirit and I am going to give my best to all I do.

I will post this and then post a pic of our dinner. Have a great week!!

Cat

Vacation

The Webster definition of Vacation is:

A scheduled period during which activity is suspended

Webster has never been on vacation with my family.

Despite a rocky first day, our 5 days at Lake Norris, TN were really nice. We had the added joy of Daughter's bestie (who is moving soon. can't think about it or I will cry. again) with us and the boys loved to torture them endlessly.

I learned a few things on this trip that I want to share, to help you have a successful "vacation" this summer.

1. Less really is more when it comes to all things vacation. Pack your bag and then take half out. Pack your lake toys and then toss them all bcz the best time the kids had was the afternoon, into evening, when they did jumping off the dock contests. No floaties needed.

2. Go with people you can stand in close quarters. I was lucky to go with my folks and my brother and his wife and son. I don't think too much about this combination, but over drinks one night, my dad pointed out how lucky we are that our family gets along. Too many people we know are estranged from their family. I can't imagine not liking my family, they have gotten me thru so much.

3. Meal planning is key. Talk with the people you are traveling with and make sure the main meals are covered. Oh, and bring a griddle. Made lots of grilled cheese on it for lunch!!

4. Take lots of pictures and be sure to have them printed. I plan on doing an album for Daughter and her friend for her when she moves. Though her brother's bugged them endlessly, they will never forget how fun it was to push them off the dock.

This summer is going too fast, as usual, but I am happy we had a good vacation. Sets the tone for the summer. Hoping the rain lets up soon so we can go to the pool more. Ok, I don't really wish this, but if I can get to the library and get a good book, I may look forward to it more.

Lots of new things coming my way and I am excited to share them with you. I am back to eating a lot less processed food and actually scheduling my workouts on my calendar. Have lost 5 lbs in 5 days since I have been home from TN. 

Tomorrow is Middle child's championship baseball game. Please note, they were in 11th place out of 13 teams, so this is a BIG DEAL!! I am really excited for him. Rec league has been good for him. I work Sunday morning at the Assisted Living Facility and I am really looking forward to it. I miss them and can't wait to see them again. I am fortunate to be able to work when they need me.

I hope Summer is treating you all well. This can be a tough time of year with boredom  and the kids driving us nuts. I find myself in time out a lot. Seems to work.

One last shot of vacation, love everyone in this pic. Dad took it but I love him, too!!

Texting/Facetime and your kids

I was trying to think of a witty way to bring this up, but honestly, there isn't really anything funny about it and I am just going to put it out there:

If you have kids that text or use Facetime, please let them know you will be checking their texts and restricting Facetime.

We have always checked Daughters texts and made sure we know all her contacts. So far so good, have not had a problem yet.

My concern stems from texts that my Middle child is getting from girls and stories from friends about texts and/or Facetime incidents.

It's not even the content so much that concerns me, it is 1)the time he receives these texts and 2) how if he doesn't respond immediately, these girls get pissed.

It had gotten so bad that I sent an "all recipients" text to his address book clearly spelling out his rules with the cell phone. 

Want to know them? Here they are: 

His phone is turned off and handed to me at 10pm.

We check each and every text he sends and receives.

He cannot access links to anything, so don't even bother.

If I find anything inappropriate, the senders parents WILL be notified .

I don't think this is excessive and of course some of his lady friend recipients had some choice names for me but you know what? I don't give a crap. There is NO reason 11 year old girls need to be texting my son after midnight, then demanding to know why he isn't responding.

I wish these girls would realize that their daily happiness is not dependent on some boy, their worth is not based on how quickly a boy texts them back, and that they don't have to be so damn demanding to get a boy's attention.

Girls, that turns the boys off. 

I never would have thought having boys would be harder than having a girl, but man oh man, this is way harder than I would have thought.

The morale of my rant is this: Parents, please set clear rules on the phones/itouches and make sure you follow thru. They may be annoyed but we are the rule makers here, not them.

Cat

Garage Sales and a Successful Sunday

Hi friends! I hope you are all doing well and are finally enjoying some nice weather. Boy it seemed like winter was 6 months long. Glad to see the sun and have some warm temps.

Husband left early Sat morning (when I say early I mean like almost in the middle of the night!) for a business trip which leaves me with my angels for 6 whole days. Just me and the kids. The kids and me.

This causes me great stress. If you can't tell.

It's not being with the kids that stresses me out, it is trying to be in three different places with the kids that is causing some anxiety.

But I am happy to report that we had a great weekend with some very successful events.

After I dropped Middle child at his baseball game Sat morning at 8am (too early and too rainy for me!!), I hit a 

of a friend I have not seen in almost a year. We had a great time catching up and as I was getting in my car, I spied one of these for sale

It literally almost looks exactly like this. It is a circa 1980 digital keyboard with all kinds (I mean hundreds) of pre-programmed music and sounds and it reminded me of the organ my folks had growing up. I asked her how much it was and loaded it into my van.

Best. Purchase. Ever.

Daughter labeled all the keys and spent the afternoon teaching herself how to play some song (you can do this via internet if you didn't all ready know this). Middle and Youngest spent the afternoon today playing on it and that is the most time they  have spent in the same room without getting in trouble! I took it off the stand so they can plug it in anywhere and play. Love it and hope to teach myself how to play something.

Hey dad, do you still have those organ song books?? I would take them if you still do.

Since Husband is out of town, I feel like I have free reign on what I do and what the kids do. He is not a tyrant in any sense of the word but we have very different views of what we like to do on the weekends. And he would DIE if he knew the A/C is NOT ON and it is over 80 in here. But no one is complaining and I love it. I will turn it on tomorrow since it will be close to 90, but man it is nice having the windows open all the time.

Daughter had her best friend over last night and we made sushi rolls and spring rolls. So much fun and they were pretty good. If you do this at home, you do NOT need to get a bamboo mat to roll them, we used wax paper and they were fine.

And today I took the kids downtown to

This may not have been a great idea but I wanted to get them out of the house, made them turn off all electronics and just take in the city. The parking lot for the market is really small and Daughter was quick to point out that the parking lot was not made for mini vans bcz you are not supposed to take your kids there!! It is a bustling market with fish, cheese, meat, flowers, tea, pizza vendors. I loved it (been over two decades since I have been) and we managed to eat our way thru the market. Soft pretzels, mine was jalapeno and cheddar, yum! Kids had regular pretzels, ice cream, and youngest had a slice of pizza that was HUGE and he proclaimed as the best pizza ever. I tried to explain to them that this is how people used to and still do in other cultures buy their food. Busy markets with elbows flying and crying babies. Great fun.

The best part came as we were leaving and they all thanked me for taking them and that it was fun.

Who are these kids??

I went for a walk Sat that turned into a tun. Felt good till this morning, my feet were in pain! But with not working Sat's anymore, I want to get back into walking and running. Especially over the summer.

Hope you are winding down the school year the best you can and are gearing up for some summer fun. Thanks for reading and have a great day!!
Cat

Update Follow up

Hey friends!

How is everyone? Anyone else FINALLY enjoying a nice spring day like we are here in Central OH???

The sunshine has greatly improved my otherwise crappy mood.

So here is an update on what's been going on since last update in March:

Daughter went thru a couple weeks of Physical Therapy, did not fix the back pain. Did a MRI, did not reveal any fractures. She is now on a prescribed anti-inflammatory to help with the pain. If this works, we will go the rheumatoid route to see what is causing the inflammation. To say this is frustrating, scary and overwhelming for all of us, is a gross understatement. It is scary when the Doc (who totally reminds me of the doc Chris Parnell plays on SNL and 30 Rock.) tells you that at least the MRI didn't reveal a tumor or cancer.

No word on Youngest's Autism diagnosis. Seems his Psychologist works at her own pace.

Middle child's behavior is still frustrating the heck out of me. I know I have to accept who he is but who he is  is frustrating!!! I love him and I worry about him and though I really want to tell him to MAN UP most of the time, I just try to keep my mouth shut. We have standardize testing here this coming week and he is so anxious about it, so I am trying to reign in my angry mommy vibe. We have been loosing the grip on where he can ride his bike with his friends and we let them ride over to Dollar General today (for those who know where we are, it was a big deal for us to let him go past Tinapple park!!). He did fine and came home in one piece.

On the food front:

Out of desperation for new recipes, I paid $6 to join www.allrecipes.com menu planning option for 6 months. You can get all kinds of great recipes on this site, but becoming a high level member, you get the menu planning. You put recipes you like in your recipe box and then you can drag them to the day you want to make them and it also puts them in a printable shopping list. You can browse recipes but hundreds of categories (slow cooker, diabetic, low fat) (you can do this with the regular site as well) and then add them to your menu. So far I have made:
*7 layer meatless tortilla pie: in the oven now, will let you know the consensus

*Slow cooker pepper steak: really good

*Zesty Tilapia with mushrooms: really good

*Christmas brunch casserole: outstanding!!

*Easy Olive Martini chicken: good but a little salty

The best part of all of this is that the kids have eaten it ALL. Totally worth the money if I am only making one meal.

I also checked out a FANTASTIC cookbook from David Rocco called "Made in Italy". The next weeks meals will be all out of this book. It is Italian cooking and it's simplest and most delicious. I thank my friend for turning me onto it. I plan on buying several copies and giving it to friends. It is beautiful and wonderful, all in book form!!

After quite a bit of soul searching, discussions with the family, and sleep-less nights, I have decided to take a hiatus from my Sat morning job. I love the job, love the money but a couple things have helped me reach this decision:

When I signed Middle up for baseball, games were supposed to be on Sunday's, but they are on Sat mornings. Though I do not plan on staying thru all the games, I want the option to do so.

But here was the big kicker:

Locally, a mom was at the end stage of her cancer and she wanted to see her son graduate High School before she passed. The community rallied around them, had a graduation for her son early and even had his baseball Senior night early so she could go. The opposing team all brought her flowers (if you aren't crying yet, you are a robot). She passed away the week after he graduated.

Time with our young kids is short. I will not miss a ball game or anything else to make a couple bucks. I am taking some time off with the option to work some hours over the summer if I want. I am blessed to have a Boss who understand me. My last day is May 11. It was heartbreaking to have Youngest ask me every Sunday morning if I was going to work.

Husband is traveling more with work and though he says he doesn't like it, I think he likes getting away for a bit. I know I would!!

I think that is everything. My High School job is going well. Spent 20 hours this week in Food Safety training and learned all kinds of gross stuff I didn't know. Hoping I passed the test, should know in a couple days.

Think Spring, friends!!

Cat

My life: an update

Hi Friends!

Sorry it has been soo long since I blogged last. I know you are all sitting, waiting anxiously to hear the blather I have to spew.

Wait no longer! I am ready to spew.

Ewwww.....

The last 7 days have been brutal. Just down right mean and brutal. But despite how crappy things have been, I have been wearing this face all week 

I am reluctant to let the people I work with know what it is going on in my personal life. It is a weird thing I have that comes with working with mostly women. I have two people who I really trust and confide in at work, the rest just think I must be on drugs because I am so happy all the time.

And I still won't friend my Boss on Facebook.

I feel like I am in a good place at the Assisted Living Facility. I am hitting my stride and getting a better grasp on the timing. And no one yelled at me last week. Bonus.

I have really felt like this all week

What is ironic about this picture is she is leaning against her microwave. Our handle ripped right off the microwave last week, thus starting the landslide of crap. Do you know how often I use that radiation machine?? A lot more than I realized. Hence why the handle is now duct taped to the door.

Add that to the list of things to buy.

When we hit the lottery.

Kids update

Youngest went for Autism testing last Friday and Monday, two hours each time. To say he hasn't been the same since, is a gross understatement. His Psychologist had him do really difficult things but couldn't offer help as that was part of the testing. Nothing like hearing your child sob and moan your name thru three sets of doors knowing this was for his own good.

Really. Nothing like it.

I believe Middle child may be close to puberty. He will be 11 Monday (Had a small meltdown at Giant Eagle the other night when he was with me. A dad was pushing his 18 month old in the cart and they were so cute and all I could think about was how I used to take Middle to Meijer at 5am and push him around just for something to do. Eleven. I don't know how we got here.) and has been an emotional mess (this isn't new, just a little more severe). I have been in contact with my friend/his teacher and she assures me all is ok at school.

Daughter is getting Physical Therapy for her back pain and is out of Track season. And I am still waiting for her to get her driving permit. It is time for her to drive!!

I am losing my mind.

Husband is tired of me losing my mind.

But he continues to love me. Thank heavens.

Health and Wellness

You know I like a good diet study. Well, a gal I work with is doing a study where she gets an appetite suppressant or placebo and has to track her food and exercise and turn it into the study every week. She has lost 19lbs in two months and has cut her medical meds in half. This has inspired me to get back to logging my food but I am doing it in a journal first and then will add it to sparkpeople. I like the actual act of writing what I ate, makes me think twice about eating it if I have to write it down (side note, last week, I ate whatever the heck I wanted and didn't gain any weight. Felt pretty icky though from all the bread). I am going to do this for awhile and see how it shakes out.

Final note  

To put in the "Life is Short" file: A woman I work with is 32 school days from retiring from the district I work in. She started as a two hour lunch help and over the decades moved to the Secretary to the Superintendent. She is currently in the ICU for beginning stage Kidney Failure, has contracted E Coli while in the hospital and is not expected to be OK anytime soon.

32 days until freedom and not working.

ICU.

Enjoy every darn day, even the crappier than usual ones. 

Be well, Friends!!

Cat

Academy Awards, Sports Illustrated and other qwips

I don't watch the Academy Awards. My life, for the last umpteem years has revolved around Pixar. If they are not in it, I am not watching. Even if they are in it, I am not watching. It's an awful long time to spend celebrating other people's success. And if they aren't dressed in Hane's t-shirts and Yoga pants, the fashion aspect is not for me.

Ok, people, help me out here: I have passed the SI Swimsuit edition many times in the last couple weeks. Is the model pregnant? I love the fact that she isn't stick thin but I can't tell if she is pregnant or not. The belly and the boobs scream "I have a baby in here!!!" but I have not picked up an issue to read anything about the young lady. And why does she have a bikini bottom on and a parka? Again, fashion ain't my thing. And I don't know why I care if she is pregnant or not. I guess it would be cool if she was, maybe SI is trying to be progressive?

Speaking of: I have been surrounded by pregnant women lately. This is new and fun since it has been awhile since most of my posse has cranked out any youngin's. A friend at work is almost due. It is fun to talk about what she thinks labor will be like as I have no idea since I had all c-sections. Fun to think she will be off the rest of the school year. Maybe she needs a nanny...or a cook....

When I went in for my interview at the ALF (Assisted Living Facility) I met the Marketing Director who happens to live right across the road from me. Our meeting was so brief that I didn't remember her name at all. She was in this past Saturday showing some families the facility and we started talking. She is also expecting, talked about cravings, birthing methods and birth control. And that we have the same last name. In the matter of about 34 seconds, we were instant friends. Amazing how open people can be when they feel comfortable. That's a big deal to me: for people to be comfortable with me that they will talk about anything. I consider that a personal victory.

My boss is mad that I won't friend her on Facebook. She has not so subtly brought it up A LOT in the last week. Call me old fashioned but I do not think my boss needs to be my friend on FB. I won't friend my co-workers either. We see each other every day and show each other our Iphone pics. I don't feel the need to be FB friends with them, too. We all text each other endlessly, for me, that is enough.

I cannot run anymore. My right knee will have none of it and I am not willing to risk having surgery for something that I never enjoyed doing anyway. I will continue to walk and do weights and workout dvds, but my running days are over. I am so envious of my friends who look forward to it, I hated it. I never lost weight doing it and it is getting me back two fold with knee pain now.

I am this close (imagine me making the inch sign with my fingers) to trying Sensa. But then I question my ability to shake stuff on my food at every meal and if it really works. And then I go back to thinking that if I can continue to maintain my current weight, I will be happy. I am not willing to cut anything else out and I know I need to do more aerobic activity (even though I nail about 12-13000 steps a day. most of it is not heart pounding). I don't feel like I have gotten into a groove since I started my new HS position.

I am lacking a groove.

I think I am grooveless.

Is this worthy of calling a doctor??

There is a good chance you will not see me in a bikini this year. Or any year. Sorry, I know you are crushed.

I hope everyone is doing well. I know illness and other issues have been plaguing close friends lately and I wish the best for all of you. I have been fortunate to make some really good friends lately. Not sure if they will be long term but they are friends right now.

And that's good enough for me.

Cat

Three weeks of changes

Hi friends!
This won't be a weigh in blog for several reasons: Went out two night's ago to celebrate Husband's birthday. There may have been all kinds of yummy food and drinks involved and it didn't seem fair to me to weigh in this morning.

And in general, I have been doing a lot more of this

Than I have of this

I will say that I am still within my normal weight range thanks to being on my feet 6 days a week. Though, this presents another problem for me: I am hitting and exceeding my 10,000 step goal every day (with the exception of Sunday's, but I am going over a good 2-3000 a day, so it makes up for being a bum on Sunday). I feel like I don't need/want to work out during the week. But if I want to lose another 5-7 lbs, I am going to have to.

But I am tired.

And my knees hurt.

And I am tired.

I have been doing some strength training but it has been minimal at best. But at least I am doing it. Right?

I had my first breakfast and lunch service alone this past Saturday. I nailed breakfast but lunch I completely underestimated! I had to griddle fry 50 chicken breasts and then get them in the oven. It took me a lot longer than I thought to flour them all before the griddle! My first batch was soggy, so we served those last. Batch two and three were ok. Not stellar, but ok.

I got a text this morning from my Boss, LunchLadySteve, and he told me that Residents were very complimentary about my meals and so were the staff. I am sure there were complaints as I got one before I left, but it was nice to know most of them liked my work.

Husband asked me early Sat morning why I am working this job: my first response was money. It will be nice to get ahead and do some updates on the house and not worry about sports fees, etc etc. But once I get to work, my answer is: Because I love to cook and make people happy thru food. Sure, when my alarm goes off at 5am on Saturday's, that is NOT my first thought, but when I am in that kitchen alone, doing my thing, THAT is the reason I do it. 6 days a week I get to do what I love and get paid for it. I am a lucky girl.

It has been a big change for all of us to get used to me not being around as much, but they are all doing well. Husband will be out of town for a couple days so I am curious to see how I pull it all together. Hard to be in 5 different places at one time but I am going to try.

I have joined an online weight management program with Aetna thru Husband's work. It is a free service and I think I need some extra support at this point. Plus we earn money towards our account. I am hopeful they have some good ideas to get me back on track with working out. It's can't hurt, right?

Hope you are all doing well and everyone is staying relatively healthy! 

Good health to you all!

Cat

A gentler me

Hi gang,
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this little break in the bitterly cold weather! I weighed in at 148.5 this morning. If you recall, my starting weight a couple weeks ago was 150.6, so at least the scale is going in the right direction. I am in a really good mind set this week with eating what I need and making it high quality foods. I have been hitting over 10,000 steps daily, except on the weekends, though now that I am working Sat mornings, I may come closer to hitting it at least 6 out of 7 days. I have also been trying to eat 25% less than I normally was. It is a pretty easy strategy to employ: look at the portion you would normally dish out and cut out a quarter of it. There is no shortage of people in my house that will eat that extra quarter so at least nothing is going to waste!!

I have been thinking a lot about that horrible chest pain/heartburn attack I had on Christmas Day. Ok, I am going to get a little weird here so feel free to skip down to how the rest of the family is doing. I was really in a lot of pain and seriously thought we were going to have to call the squad.  The next day, my Grandma passed and I usually look for a sign from family and friends that have passed. It could be a song, or something someone says or even a smell, but there is always something I find that make me know they are ok where they are. The more I think about it, the more I think, or want to think, that the terrible chest pain I was feeling was the pain leaving Grandma, into me, so she could pass. Because I know I felt like I was going to die, that's for sure!

Since then, I have become a much more mellow person, a lot less snappy with the kids, much more patient, in a nutshell, a lot lighter in attitude and stress. And when I find myself getting all riled up at Middle's basketball games (this is easy to do!!), the chest pains come right back. It is a quick reminder for me to calm down and just enjoy the moment. Clearly this is my sign.

But if I text you that I am having a heart attack, I may be, so please call the squad. At least you know my medical history!

Kids and Husband are doing well. Everyone is adjusting to me working Sat mornings. Though I had a big pang of mommy guilt on Sunday morning when Youngest climbed into bed and asked if I had to go to work. Felt like he punched me in the stomach, but he was thrilled I was home and promptly ignored me the rest of the day to do his own thing!

There is a chance Daughter's best friend will move at the end of the summer. Speaking of being punched in the stomach, this is a hard thing to digest on two levels for me. 1) I think of her as my other Daughter and I love her and 2) I remember how much is sucked when we moved from CA when I was in 8th grade. I can remember exactly what the weather was like, calling my friends to say one final good bye the morning we left. I can clearly remember how empty I felt. I am lucky to have kept in touch when them over the years, the old fashion way via letters and now Facebook. I will not belittle Daughter's feelings and tell her that it will all be ok, because for awhile it will not be ok. It will suck for both of them. I am hoping they change their plans and don't move but the upside of this generation is Face Time, Skype and all the other ways they can stay in instant contact. And I hope it makes Daughter a little more at ease to know I still keep in touch with Rob and Zip. Once a best friend, always a life long friend!!

Youngest is having a MUCH better week at school this week. We have an agreement that if he has two good days, I will pick him up after school on the second day instead of the 30 minute bus ride home. So far so good! Middle is just about done with basketball. I have really mixed feelings about this whole travel basketball experience. It was way more intense that I think it should have been but I think for him, it has been a really good experience overall. He may not think so now but he will. Next up is baseball for him and track for Daughter.

Any good Valentines Day plans? I have requested a card from my beloved but nothing else. His birthday is two days after VDay so I will make a nice dinner for us to celebrate both next weekend.

For now, I am going to crank up my Island Jam on Iheart radio and get some dishes, homework and hair cutting done. Tomorrow is all ready Thursday, this week is flying!

Have a great rest of your week, friends!!

Cat

Fortune Cookie

I am veering off my weigh in posts because I haven't had much time to focus on working out. I am at 149 lbs right now and am really confident I will get to my goal by the end of Feb.

We had a busy night last night of picking kids up and basketball. Though we rarely eat out as a family, I felt it was warranted and frankly necessary to eat out last night. We opted for Chinese and it was mighty tasty! The kids favorite part of the meal, of course, is the Fortune Cookies. We all go around the table and read our fortune. Most of the time, they don't apply to our lives, or are silly, or just don't make sense. But mine made me catch my breath:

From now on, your kindness will lead you to success.

Wow, that could not have come at a more appropriate time. Next Saturday I start my new part time job at the Assisted Living facility. The path that led me to this exciting time looks like this:

A couple years ago I found Lunch Lady Steve a job at the High School

He repaid the favor by getting me my two hour position

He left to be Food service Director at the facility

I got promoted to his job

He was able to shuffle people around so I could work Sat mornings

It has been a crazy couple of years of he and I getting each other jobs, but it is our friendship and kindness of   the people involved that was able to make it all possible.

I am so thankful for my Husband and family for adapting so well to me being gone. They didn't really have a choice but everyone has stepped up and makes our crazy schedule work. I have no doubt they will get thru Saturday mornings without me just fine.

I have made some really great new friends recently and feel really blessed to have these people in my life. They all bring a new level of happiness and motivation to my life.

Youngest continues to have stomach issues so we are gradually adjusting his diet. Lots more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. We are applying this strategy to everyone so it will be a good change for our family. Hard to swallow (literally!) but good.

I hope you all  are doing well. I am looking forward to these upcoming changes, a little worried about staying on top of it all, but thankful for the chance to do what I love.

Have a great rest of your weekend!! More basketball for us tomorrow.

Cat

Weigh in #5

Weigh in 1: 150.6 lbs, Body fat 31.6%, Muscle 36.5%
Weigh in 2: 148.2 lbs, BF 30.9%, Muscle 36.8%
Weigh in 3 (this am): 150.4 lbs, BF 31.6%, Muscle 36.2%
Weigh in 4: 150.6 lbs, BF 31.6%, Muscle 35.9%

Weigh in 5: 149 lbs and I don't have the other numbers because my cheap scale sucks and I don't have the receipt to return it!

I will just be posting my weight. I am excited because two women I work with are either doing Weight Watcher's or are trying to lose weight on their own. It is fantastic to have that support system where I work and we have been doing a lot of recipe trading and morale boosting. It is encouraging to see a 60 year old dropping 2 lbs a week on Weight Watcher's. Very proud of her!

It has been a somewhat stressful week. Started with me being sick Sunday night into Monday. Stayed home and slept all day long. My step count on my Fitbit was like 38!! Youngest was sick Thursday night into Friday and he stayed home with Husband on Friday. I believe his stomach issues are tied to dairy so we will be doing some experimenting with lactose free foods. He now just sounds stuffed up, which can be either a cold or food related.

I have been pursing some part time jobs. I interviewed with Rooster's on Weds and though they had no food prep positions open, they did offer me the cook position. I am not comfortable in that role as I have no restaurant experience (sorry Sandy V!!)! I also interviewed at a nursing home and they offered me a 12-4 Sat and Sun position.  This is a tough one: the money would be stellar but the time away from the kids is just too much. Daughter doesn't even get up until noon on the weekends so I would never see her and there is no way we can get Middle to all his sports stuff with dragging Youngest along, too. I have asked if they could put me in a 6am-10am position instead. Waiting on an answer.

I called Former Lunch Lady Steve to pick his brain before I went to the nursing home interview as he is Food Service Director at a nursing home one town over. He called last night to see how it went and we were talking about what a huge time commitment that position would be and he mentioned that he could possibly get me a 6:30am-12:30pm job on Saturday's only. It would pay a little less but it is a smaller facility and it would only be one day on the weekend instead of both. I am hopeful he can pull this off.

I have been overwhelmed this week by the amount of people who support me and my family. We have had to make some schedule changes coming up which means not watching our little Daisy Trooper in the mornings after spring break and having our friend watch Youngest a little more in the mornings. Everyone took the changes in stride and I am so thankful to have these friends in my life.

I have also been talking with my Cousin more (thank you unlimited texting!!) and I am so glad to be in touch with her more. Our extended family is so small, I feel like I need to gather everyone close and hold on tight to them all.

It is not always in times of crisis when you find who your true friends are. You can find them in every day experiences. Be thankful for those good friends you have and be gone with the ones who don't make your heart happy.

Typical Saturday for us today: basketball, grocery shopping, laundry. Our temps are going to start dropping after today so we will get the kids outside and air them out.

If you need some food and fitness motivation, check out the Foodnetwork site: Bobby Flay has some webisodes that are short and chock full of motivation and yummy food.

Have a great weekend, friends. Enjoy the three days off and do something good for your self, and maybe surprise a friend by doing something nice for them, too.

Cat

Weigh in 4. Not so pretty

Weigh in 1: 150.6 lbs, Body fat 31.6%, Muscle 36.5%
Weigh in 2: 148.2 lbs, BF 30.9%, Muscle 36.8%
Weigh in 3 (this am): 150.4 lbs, BF 31.6%, Muscle 36.2%

Weigh in 4: 150.6 lbs, BF 31.6%, Muscle 35.9%

Just a few words:

Bread Lady provided many bags of Bob Evans Biscuits

and

several containers of pasta salad.

I am a weak woman.

Back to my eggs.

Cluck.

Have a great weekend!!

Cat

Weigh in three and 30 foods you should be eating

Hi gang,
Happy Hump Day!! I hope this Wednesday finds everyone doing well. Here's how my weigh in has looked, including this morning:

Weigh in 1: 150.6 lbs, Body fat 31.6%, Muscle 36.5%

Weigh in 2: 148.2 lbs, BF 30.9%, Muscle 36.8%

Weigh in 3 (this am): 150.4 lbs, BF 31.6%, Muscle 36.2%

I had a pluthora of protein yesterday but didn't factor that the 45 minute walk I went on after work would leave me ravenous on the way to pick up Daughter from school. I stopped and got a McD hamburger and even after logging it, was well within my range for the day. Though my sodium, not surprise was thru the roof! I need to start packing a small box of snacks for the car rides. I have been walking a lot and doing my weights and when I got home today, my jeans were falling off me. I am working on putting a big dent in those numbers by Sat.

Speaking of snacks, I am reading "The Drop 10 Diet" by Lucy Danzinger, Editor in Chief of Self Magazine. These are the 30 foods we should be adding to our diet to help with weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight:

Almond butter, Apples, Artichokes, Avocado, Blueberries

Broccoli, Cherries, Coffee, Dark Chocolate, Edamame

Eggs, Goji berries, Kale, Kiwifruit, Lentils

Mushrooms, oats, olive oil, Parmesan, Peanuts

Pomegranates, popcorn, pumpkin seeds, Quinoa, Sardines

Steak, sweet potatoes, whole grain pasta, wild salmon, yogurt

Each of these foods has fat burning properties, mainly because of their balance of fat and protein. You don't have to eat them all every day, but it is good to incorporate them into your diet several times a week. Not sure I can do a sardine though, but peanuts and a lot of the other items are no brainers. Portion control must be in play when noshing on peanuts, dark chocolate, steak and a few others. I have a few on my next grocery list to see how adding them to my diet affects my hunger.

A good friend of mine invited me to be on their team for the Dirty Girl Mud Run on June 1st. I am excited to say I signed up and am really looking forward to it. It is an 11 obstacle course designed by an Ex Army Ranger. It is not really a race, more for fun, and there will be lots of mud involved. 100% of the registration proceeds go to The National Breast Cancer Foundation. Should be hilarious and it's for a great cause. If anyone local wants to join our team, let me know and I will get you the team name.

Hopefully you are all working towards your New Year's goals and/or resolutions. Give yourself two months to get in the groove. You can do it, I know you can!

As for me, it is time to wash some dishes, get dinner ready and boil some more eggs. I do believe I may turn into a chicken...or an egg....whichever came first!

Cluck cluck,

Cat

Surprising turn of events

A few years ago, Middle child played in the local coach pitch baseball league. He was pretty good and some what of a rarity as he plays all sports left handed. Husband was self appointed third base coach and I am fairly sure he had more fun than Middle child,  as Middle child did not want to sign up again. Ever. Husband was really bummed as he really enjoyed watching him play and being able to participate as well. Husband is also convinced that Middle being a Lefty makes him a better ball player. I don't follow his logic but as with most sport things, I just go along with his theories. Easier that way.

Fast forward thru weeks of hockey lessons, a season in rec basketball and now his current season of travel basketball. Middle would really, and I can't stress really  wants to play in a tackle football league. I put my foot down on this with a resounding NO ( I have a lot of reasons, but mostly it is a safety issue. And yes I know he could get hurt in any sport. Don't try to change my mind because you can't.), but agreed that he could play flag football and try out for middle school football in two years. I have heard about flag football non stop for the last several months. NONSTOP.

I happened to get an email from the local baseball association that it is time to sign up for spring ball. That email reminded me to look up the flag football thing and get Middle child signed up. I had Middle child look at the website, see if he knew any kids on previous teams, etc. He spent quite awhile looking at the pics and the video of the kids playing. Then he looked at me and said "I don't want to play flag football."

I was stunned. He had a couple various reasons and I didn't press him on his decision. I mentioned that baseball sign ups are now, too. He asked if it is coach pitch again and I told him no, it is kid pitch at his age. "Ok, I will play baseball".

Can you hear the silence?? I pressed him on this and am making him wait and think about it before I sign him up for it. But the best part was when he told his Dad that he wanted to play baseball again. Husband hasn't stopped smiling since. I may even see if I can sign Husband up as coach. He will appoint himself one anyway, it may as well be official!!

I didn't go as crazy today with food prep for the week as I did last week. I still have a couple hard boiled eggs left as well as some turkey burgers. I did get some of the kids lunches made and I have a decent arsenal of fruits and veggies ready to go. I made a pork roast for dinner and 5 turkey sausages that will be my lunch at work thru out the week. I feel like I am ready for the week.

Tomorrow is my last day off. I plan on a good workout and maybe a little browsing at some local stores. Nothing I need but it is fun to look.

Have a good week! Will post my weight on Weds.
Cat

Weigh in #2

I tried to weigh in on Wednesday like I usually do, but had a glitch with my new, cheap scale. So I bagged it and weighed in today. And the numbers look like this:

Weight 148.2lbs, down from 150.6

Body fat 30.9 down from 31.6

Muscle mass 36.8 up from 36.5

I am happy with those numbers and will be really ecstatic when that body fat number gets in the 20's. All of my food prep last Sunday really made eating well easy this week. Anytime I was tempted to nosh on something because I was bored, I ate a hard boiled egg (just the white) or a 2 oz turkey burger. I bought some really fantastic hot sauce and have been putting it on everything. It has a little heat right off the bat but then it mellows and is almost a little sweet. It is called Frontera Jalapeno Hot Sauce. It costs about $3.69 at stores and though that seems a little pricey for 5 oz of hot sauce but I promise you, you don't need much to get the heat.

I have been either walking every day or doing a workout dvd. This has been easy since I have been home, the trick will be to incorporate it when I go back to work. I am going to have to do it right when I get home, or even walk around where I work. I have been doing weights as well.

Tomorrow's food prep will be boiling more eggs, making an egg and asparagus frittata, cooking some turkey sausage. Aldi was out of ground turkey so I went for the sausage links. Have never had them but at 150 calories and 10 grams of fat per link, they seemed like a good alternative. I also cut up a cantaloupe. I am more of a veggie than fruit girl, but I am trying to get more fruit in me. 

I have been reading a lot about sticking with a workout/eating well routine. With it being the New Year, everyone is on the band wagon to do better. I read that if you make a two month plan, you are more likely to stick with it. It becomes overwhelming when you try to change your entire lifestyle for the rest of your life. It is much more manageable when you break it down into smaller segments. You know what works best for you, make a plan you can stick with.

I am off to find some more recipes online. Mexican food sounds good right now so I am off to find some healthy recipes! I will let you know what I find.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!! I am up to 14 followers now. Thanks!!!

Cat