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