Happy Halloween…want some candy?

Have you seen the little ghosts, goblins and assorted monsters running around the neighborhood tonight?  I’ve seen lots of those,  but I also saw some teenagers dressed up as, well, I don’t know what…maybe ladies of the evening would be the way to describe it.  Yikes.  My mom would never have allowed me out of the house looking like that, even if it was only a costume.  Come to think of it, I wonder if it was a costume…could it have been her every day attire?  I’m kidding, I’m kidding…I’m pretty sure it was a costume.

Spooky decided to get dressed up one last time this holiday season.

What a little trickster…looks like she’s had one too many Killians, doesn’t it?

We had dress up day again at work.  I work with some imaginative people…

Well okay, Brenda doesn’t look all that thrilled to have her picture taken, but she’s a hoot!

one good thing about a fake moustache…you can take it off when you eat lunch…

Is that Princess Leia?  No, it’s Princess Aleah.

I ate a few Tootsie rolls today, but kept it under control.  How about you?

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 131

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Whew…thank goodness this day is over.  I only worked twelve hours today…still didn’t get everything done that I wanted to get done.  But someone once said that tomorrow’s another day and I guess they were right.  Another early, 5 am, day.  But I have Tuesday off work, so that’s going to keep me going tomorrow.

I did do strength training and range of motion exercises this morning and walked for 35 minutes.  But I’m feeling the pain tonight.  I did a lot of lifting at work today and my poor shoulder is telling me about it.

My eating wasn’t filled with the highest quality nutrition, but I did come in under my goal as far as calories are concerned, so that’s something.

My eyes are just about to close and who knows what kind of writing that might lead to.  So I’m going to wish everyone sweet dreams and I’ll talk to you in the near future.

Can you say “party”?

Well, that’s pretty much what we had at work today.  We worked like crazy, but we had a good time too.  A lot of folks dressed up in costumes…

Poor little Raggedy Ann…

“Pow”  Holy monsters, Batman…

“Ahoy, matey”

What’s new, pussycat…woo oo oo…

Jack’o’lantern…

Statue of Liberty…in pink

Minnie…

Nerdy girl…

…and nerdy girl’s equally nerdy brother…

What’s that pirate doing at your birthday party?

And I’ll end this for today with this close up of nerdy boy…fun times at the old store today.

The long and winding road to fitness, day 129

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Funny start to my day today.  I got to work  a few minutes before 5 this morning.  Waiting in the parking lot for my boss to show up (we can’t go in the building by ourselves), about 5:08 my phone rings.  He said he just woke up and would be there as soon as he could.  I told him I’d go across the street to Kroger to pick up some things for lunch and breakfast for myself for the next few days (I was planning to do that tomorrow morning anyhow, so it wasn’t that big a deal).  I talked with the lady working there for a few minutes (hmm…maybe about our bosses…I’m not saying that’s what the conversation was about, but could be) and still made it back about ten minutes before he showed up.  But it all turned out okay, now I don’t have to stop at the store on my way in to work in the morning and can sleep for a few minutes longer.

You know, I made a mistake when I went to Kroger this morning, I didn’t buy any produce.  How crazy is that?  I only bought frozen things to keep in the freezer at work.  Okay, I know, those things aren’t absolutely the healthiest choices (really, I did not intentionally write that as a play on words), but they are convenient and they keep me from going out to a fast food place on the days I don’t bring my lunch.

I ended the day with four fruits and veggies.  Not that great.  I did have a good idea though for the next time I go to the store.  I’m going to buy some cottage cheese and fruit and have that for dinner for a few days.  It’s light and generally healthy…maybe a little more sodium than I need (who knew cottage cheese had so much sodium?), but it’s quick and easy and good for me.

I did core exercises and stretching before I left the house this morning.  Then I walked for 20 minutes, plus up and down a ladder with heavy boxes quite a few times before we opened.  So an okay amount of exercise. 

Now to tackle the sleep issue.  I need sleep, desperately.  When do we change time anyhow?  Next weekend?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 128

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Wow!!  What a wild day.  Nasty weather, temps dropping, rain and mist all day, windy…brr…definitely not a good hair day…ha!!  And believe me, I sprayed on extra hair spray this morning before I left the house…all to no avail…when you’re outside in this stuff unloading a truck (really, there has to be a better way to do these trucks, if only I could get those bigwigs to listen to me)  there’s no point in worrying about how your hair looks.  And now there’s a frost advisory for tonight…there go my little volunteer grape tomatoes…

Oh my gosh, I just read a blog about one of the healthiest sounding chili recipes…Nikkianne posted this blog and I’m determined to make this recipe for chili…just the way she made it.  I’ve been wanting to make a pot of chili for a while and keep putting it off.  No more…this will be the one.

http://nikkianne.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/cocoa-corn-chili/

My eating was pretty good today.  I was tempted to go out to eat lunch even tho I’d brought my healthy lunch from home.  I think, more than anything, I just wanted to get out of the building and away from people for a while.  But I went back to the break room and nuked my lunch and was satisfied.  Ended the day with five fruits and veggies, so that’s decent.

Other than working the truck and doing some range of motion exercises for my shoulder, I didn’t do any exercise.  Of course, working that truck is constant motion for over eight hours.  And I’ll be right back at it at five tomorrow morning…trying to get some extra work done…ho ho ho, I love Christmas so much!

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I don’t have to buy a lot, but I have already purchased a few things.  Should probably get with that so I’m not doing it any closer to Christmas, you know, going into stores and stuff…I shudder at the thought!

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 127

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So are you ready for Halloween?  I finally did something about some Halloween costumes for my three-day work weekend…we’re dressing up each day and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on costumes…because, well, really, how often do you wear them? So I found a cute little feathery witch hat on a headband, figured I’d wear that with black pants and a black shirt, some black nail polish, some dark eye make up (I never wear dark eye make up, it doesn’t look good on me) and red lipstick…ooh…scary!!  I figure that costume will be good for Saturday and Monday.  Then I bought a scrub top at Goodwill today that I can wear Sunday with a white lab coat from my college days…hmm…Dr Patti…now that’s really scary!!  At least I finally did something about the whole Halloween costume thing without spending a lot of money.

Wish I could say I did a good job with my eating today, but I didn’t.  Only 1 fruit and 1 veggie for the day.  See, that’s what happens when I don’t plan my menu for the day.  I’ve got tomorrow’s lunch and snacks prepared, so I know tomorrow will be better.

I did walk for 30 minutes and did some range of motion exercises.  That’s about it.  Well, I did take a nap this afternoon for about an hour.  That was nice, really nice.  I have to get up around 3:30 in the morning as we have another early morning truck…unfortunately I think it’ll be raining in the morning…and much colder than this morning.  Oh well, we’ll get through it, might have soggy socks for part of the day, but we’ll make it.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? 

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 126

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Today was a pretty good day.  I had a lot of work to keep me busy (now that’s funny, when don’t I have a lot of work to keep my busy?) and was able to accomplish a few things on my list…you know, that list that just keeps growing and growing.  As soon as I cross one task off, I end up adding three more.  But we’ll get there, yes we will…

I ended the day with five servings of fruits and veggies, so at least I hit my minimum goal for the day.  I also did core exercises and walked for 20 minutes before work…and then, at work, oh my…up and down that ladder a million times…okay, maybe not quite a million, but quite a few trips up and down the ladder.  It’s kind of sad really, that I’m so short I have to climb at least two steps on the ladder to do things that most people can do from the floor.  It’s not fair, I tell ya!  But really, who told me life would be fair, certainly not my mom.  How about yours?  Did your mom kind of sugarcoat everything or was she more of a realist?

The long and winding road to fitness, day 125

One hundred twenty-five days…and still standing.  Who would have thought that would happen?  And my 125th day was a pretty good day…ended up eating 8 fruits and veggies for the day, so that’s a vast improvement.  I stopped to pick up lunch for my boss and thought about getting something for myself…then realized I’d brought a good healthy home cooked meal for my lunch, no need to buy fast food when I had good food sitting in the fridge just waiting to be warmed up in the microwave.  That’s a step in the right direction.  And I’ve already got tomorrow’s lunch and snacks prepared and ready to go.

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Exercise?  Well, I did walk for 20 minutes and did range of motion exercises for that crazy shoulder of mine.  And we did have a truck that it took us about 3 hours to unload and stage, so a lot of walking and lifting involved in that.  So not a bad day for exercise, not the best I’ve had, but not bad.

 

I was kind of not in a good mood when I first got to work.  I guess I get a little discouraged when I see how much work there is to do and start wondering how in the world we’re ever going to be able to get it all done.  I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s just that time of year when it seems overwhelming, but that we’ll get through it…somehow…

 

Halloween..it’s coming…what in the world am I going to do for a costume for work?  And why do I always wait until a few days before Halloween to think about it?  Any quick and easy suggestions?

 

 

 

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 124

I hate to be a downer, but I’m afraid that’s what I’m going to be tonight.  I had the weekend off work and didn’t really accomplish a lot.  I had lots of things planned, but only managed to get a few of them done.  I’ve got to snap out of this funk I’ve been in lately.  Okay, I know what I need to do is simply do the things I know I need to do…no matter whether or not I want to do them, whether or not I feel like doing them, whether or not I’m in the mood to do them.  It’s like exercise, you may not be in the mood to do it, but if you just start you’ll usually find yourself feeling better and better as you go along (not always, believe me, I know that). 

I didn’t bake the kale chips I intended to bake today.  I did kind of clean the kitchen though.  And I have my lunch and snacks prepared for tomorrow.  Unfortunately tomorrow starts super early…5 am again, blah!  So I really need to try to get to bad early tonight…try being the operative word…it’s not easy to go to sleep on demand, well, unless you’re a teenager, then you can usually sleep for 16 out of 24 hours every day.  Ahh…those were the days and we were too young to realize it!

And Halloween is coming…do you buy the candy early?  Aren’t you afraid you’ll eat it and then just have to go out and buy more?  Or do you buy candy that you don’t really like?  Hmm…now there’s a thought…oh…now if only I could come across a candy I didn’t like…

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 123

Oops…I skipped blogging about my journey for a few days…the truth is I haven’t been doing all I could over the past few days (weeks) to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  I’ve been eating too much, exercising too little, not getting enough sleep, not dealing well with stress.  But I’m not giving up…no siree, not me.

On that note, I did do quite a bit of walking today and I pulled out my crock pot and cooked an inexpensive cut of beef with sweet potatoes, carrots, red potatoes and onion.  Oh my, the house still smells wonderful and the meal was delish!  I think that’ll be my lunch at work for the first part of the work week.  I also bought some kale to bake up a batch of kale chips.  I think those things just might be addictive.

I guess the title is quite descriptive of this journey…the road is long, winding, lots of hills, sometimes there’s rain or snow to battle.  But through it all, I’m going to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving forward, slow as the pace may be.

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