The long and winding road to fitness, day 162

What a wacky day at work today.    Did I get anything at all done that I needed to do?  Well, maybe a couple of things, but then it got crazy busy and now I can’t even remember what I did this morning.  I know I spent most of the afternoon running register…you have to know that’s my absolute favorite thing to do…cough, cough…it’s just about on par with seeing my ob/gyn for an exam!  “Nough said…

I finally forced myself to leave the store (it was quite the battle, let me tell you) and was talking to myself while I was driving through the parking lot.  “I really want to stop and get something to eat.”  “No you don’t.  That’s just the exhaustion and stress talking.  You know you have perfectly good homemade soup at home waiting for you.”  “Yeah, but a burger sounds better and easier.”  “It won’t really be easier.  You’ll have to drive to a restaurant, sit in the drive thru waiting for your order, pay for it.  All of that takes time.  Just go home and eat what you’d planned.”  “Okay, okay…sheesh…all I wanted was a quick burger.  But I’ll go home and eat vegetable soup.  Are you happy now?”  Honestly?  I didn’t actually have that entire dialog with myself, but I could have.  I wanted to stop and get a burger, but I didn’t because I had soup at home.  See, that’s not anywhere near as interesting as talking to yourself.

Speaking of talking to yourself…do you do that?  I do at times and feel somewhat silly about it.  But after opening the back door for the UPS guy this morning and hearing him talking to himself, I don’t feel quite as silly for doing it myself.  I thought he was talking to me, but he just straight up admitted that he was talking to himself and does it all the time.  Hey, if it’s good enough for the UPS guy…the really good-looking, really nice UPS guy.  Oh yeah, and the really married and with the two real children UPS guy…wouldn’t you know?

Despite my burger conversation, I had a good day with my eating today.  Had six servings of fruits and veggies and stayed within my calorie range.  No exercise other than running around like a mad woman all day…now to get enough sleep. Oh wait, it’s already too late for that since I need to get up at 3 tomorrow morning.  “Are you going to go to bed soon?”  “Come on, leave me alone.  I’m old enough that I don’t need a bedtime.”  “Well, you’re definitely old enough…”

The long and winding road to fitness, day 161

Image by clickclique via Flickr

Words can’t possibly do justice to the beauty of having a day off of work.  I slept in (if you consider getting out of bed at 5:30 sleeping in).  Fed the hungry kitties, prepared a healthy breakfast and a cup of hot tea with pumpkin spice creamer…yum…ate breakfast while going through my email.  It felt so good to just take my time, not to feel rushed…gotta go, gotta go, gotta go!!!  I then got ready to go out and run a few errands.

Can you think of a really fast way to drop $30?  Go to the gas station.  I really shouldn’t complain, the $15 a week that I’m spending on gas is the equivalent of one cab ride from home to work.  So see, I’m actually saving money…

I stopped at Aldi to pick up some produce and eggs.  Bought lettuce (some kind of gourmet blend…looks good, I’ll let you know), carrots, and tomatoes for salads for lunch at work.  Also bought some frozen corn and peas.  I was in and out in about 10 minutes, no long lines, not a lot of people there.  I suppose the pouring rain may have had a little to do with that.

I came home and got some vegetable beef soup started in the crock pot (slow cooker?  what do you call it?)…the house smells soooo good.  I’m looking forward to dinner in a few minutes.

And then, what to my wondering eye should appear?  Why, it was snow, falling from the sky, my dear.  Really heavy snow for a little while this afternoon.  Not a lot of accumulation, nothing at all on the roads, just a little in the yard and on the trees.  We might get more tonight.  I’m always excited at the first snowfall and, yes, tired of it by February.  Have you ever noticed that there seems to be a hush all around when it snows?  I love going outside early in the morning after an overnight snowfall…no one is around, everything is so quiet and peaceful.  I  was watching a bright red cardinal at the bird feeder outside my kitchen window…he was sharing the feeder with a little finch…and the snow was falling all around them…beautiful…I wish I could have taken a picture, but I haven’t quite figured out how to get a good picture through the window and I didn’t want to disturb the birds’ dinner.

I hopped on the exercise bike this afternoon…woohoo!  First time in quite a while.  I could tell that my fitness level has decreased just by how my legs felt with the tension I’d been used to.  I kind of dialed it down after the first few minutes and finished my workout.  Looks like I’m going to have a lot of ground to make up once the holiday season is over.  But I’ll do it.  I’m determined to do it.

Well, the aroma of that soup is causing my stomach to growl.  I think it just may be time to eat~

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Christmas decorations…what were they thinking?

When I got home from a long, exhausting day at work yesterday, my neighbor greeted me out on the sidewalk.  She wanted to know if I cared if she decorated the porch and the bushes…we share a covered porch with bushes on both sides.  Maybe I was just too tired to be making such momentous decisions, but I told her to go ahead and decorate, it would be fine with me.

My decorating style is more woodland, with berries, birds, rusted ornaments…all of that kind of decor.  I just find it to be visually appealing and restful. Well, imagine my surprise when I walked out my door early this morning to go to work and saw this…

Luckily, I was half asleep and it was still dark, but I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures when I got home this afternoon.  Isn’t that something?

When I was telling one of my friends about this, she told me she drove by a house that had pink flamingoes lining their driveway, some standing, some toppled…wow…I want to see a picture of that one.

How about you?  Is your decorating style more traditional, whimsical, woodsy, or trendy?

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On the downhill side…

Okay, before some of you young whippersnappers get the wrong idea, I’m not talking about the downhill side of life…I’m talking about the downhill side of the Christmas season as it pertains to the world of retail.  Once we make it through the Thanksgiving weekend it’s all about customer service and keeping the merchandise downstocked (you know, so people can buy it?). 

Finally the Thanksgiving weekend is over.  I know a lot of you were able to spend the weekend with family and friends.  There wasn’t much of that for me this year, just a lot of working…long hours…long, exhausting hours.  But we’re getting there, the end is in sight, the six day work weeks will end (eventually…not as soon as I thought they would, but still…), and I’m looking forward to a long winter’s nap…or at least an afternoon’s nap.

And I think there’s snow in the forecast for Tuesday…seems about right, it is almost December, isn’t it?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 158

Whew…I’m so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.  We went to work this morning at 4…that’s right, 4 am!  Who does that?  Oh…I guess today that would be Chris and myself as well as Karen and Donna Mc.  We got a lot done before we opened, we kind of have to do all of this stuff before we open because, once we open, it’s a mad house.  If there really is trouble with the economy, you sure can’t tell it by how much people are spending at our store.

No exercise today, other than ladder climbing and a ton of walking.  And working for almost 12 hours, on my feet for most of that time.  It seems strange, but I’m looking forward to being able to actually work out again.  How pleasant it will be to be able to go outside and take a walk (yes, I realize there will likely be snow on the ground by the time all the madness is over, but still…), or climb on the exercise bike or turn on some music and dance.

My eating?  Oh gee, I did okay, but still ate some junk.  I did have a little bit of turkey and a little bit of ham, some veggies, no fruit, and no vitamins.  I need to at least take them to work with me and take them when I stop for a break.  I sure don’t want to get sick after all of this is over.  When I finish here, I’m going to grab a packet of the vitamins I take (it’s an assortment of vitamins and supplements, very convenient) and pour a mug of oj to take with me in the morning.

I’m just really, really tired…need sleep…lots of sleep…

The long and winding road to fitness, day 157

Image via Wikipedia

I hope you’re having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Mine has been crazy so far.  When I went in to work yesterday afternoon there were already people out on the sidewalk waiting to get in…seriously…I was kidding around with them as I was unloading the turkey, ham and cauliflower salad.  They were all interested in the Cricut machine and cartridges…I’m happy to report that the people who waited for all that time got what they wanted.

We didn’t get out of there last night until 11:30 or so.  That meant I didn’t get to bed until after 1 and I had the alarm set for 4 so I could be at work at 5 for the wild and crazy black Friday shopping day.  I’ve only gone shopping on black Friday one time…working it is enough for me to realize I don’t want anything bad enough to warrant fighting those crowds.  It was busy, busy, busy all day.  Maybe, if I didn’t work in retail, I might decide to shop on black Friday…or maybe not…I end up doing most of my shopping online these days…in my jammies…

I guess I don’t need to tell you that I didn’t do any structured exercise today…just a lot of running around the store.  My eating was less than stellar altho I did have a few fruits and veggies to go along with some turkey and some ham, some whole wheat bread, a few Doritos…and a little Debbie snack cake.  Calorie wise probably okay, nutritionally?  Not as good as it could have been.  But nowhere near as bad as it could have been either.

I took a 2 hour nap when I got home this afternoon.  We’re going in at 4 in the morning to try to get some major downstocking done before we open.  So I know tomorrow will be a morning of ladder and stair climbing, lots of lifting and walking…guess I’ll skip the exercise bike again…The good thing is, once we make it through this weekend, it’s all downhill…the end is in sight…I’m catching a glimpse of vacation time on the horizon…ahh…gotta love that comp time!

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Giving thanks

Image via Wikipedia

That’s really what Thanksgiving is all about.  And I spent a little time this morning (before I head out to work) thinking about just what I’m thankful for in my life.  And what came to mind is my family.  My family is spread out all over the country…from Maryland to California, Florida to St Louis, and of course, southern Indiana.  I wasn’t able to spend time with any of them this Thanksgiving because of my job, but I am still thankful that they are all healthy and safe.  Even though we are all apart this Thanksgiving, they are all near and dear to my heart.

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 155

Oh my gosh, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven…slept in until 7 this morning…stop laughing…when you get used to that blasted alarm going off at 3:30 every morning, 7 seems like sleeping in.  It was so nice to be able to get up and prepare a leisurely breakfast, sit in front of the computer reading emails…ahh…

Then I decided I’d better get ready and go finish up the shopping for our buffet at work.  I was really dreading facing the crowds today, but I think I made it early enough to avoid the worst of it.  I’ve purchased 16 12-packs of soft drinks, 4 cases of bottled water, 1 12-pack of bottled tea, 6 giant bags of chips, 3 or 4 bags of candy, mixed nuts, cashews, trail mix, a barrel of cheese balls (the people I work with love those things), a couple of boxes of Ritz crackers, a box of Cheez Its, an assortment of snack cakes and snack crackers, a couple of big boxes of PopTarts, a huge jar of giant dill pickles (kind of a Thanksgiving tradition at our store), a jar of hamburger sliced dill pickles, cheese sauce, dip for chips, lots and lots of disposable plates and silverware as well as a big package of napkins, hot cocoa mix, some Christmas cookies…oh yeah, and a ham and a turkey.  I’ve got the ham baked, sliced and in the fridge ready to go.  The turkey is in the oven for another hour or so.  Then I still need to prepare my world-famous cauliflower salad (hmm…could be a blog in that one…)  and maybe some pumpkin fluff…need to find the recipe for that one though.  I think we’ll be okay with the food and I still have money left over…that’s why they send me shopping, well…that and the fact that no one else wants to do it.

Image by acnatta via Flickr

After reading that list, it kind of reminded me to be thankful for all that we have.  There are so many people who struggle to put food on the table and I’m trying to figure out how to spend all of the money they gave us.  We’re very fortunate.  I guess it’s time for me to pull myself up out of my anger and sadness about having to work on what I consider to be a holiday to spend with family and friends…time to focus on all of the blessings in my life and put that negativity behind me.  I genuinely like the people I work with, so spending a holiday with them isn’t all bad.  Would I rather be with my family and friends?  You bet.  But being with the people I work with is good too.  And, since there isn’t a lot I can do about it short of quitting my job (and I’ve gotten kind of dependent on that pay check), just go with the flow, make the best of the situation and know that I will get Christmas Eve and Christmas off because I’m working on Thanksgiving.  Not a bad deal…

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Feeling kind of guilty this morning.

I haven’t been the best of kitty moms lately.  Oh, don’t get me wrong…Spooky still gets good food, fresh water, treats, and clean litter, but she’s not getting the attention she’s become accustomed to.  She’s used to spending quality time cuddling with me, playing fetch with her little toy mice, and getting her hair brushed.  I’ve been so busy with work lately that I haven’t had the time to love on her.

As I was getting ready to open the front door this morning (at about 4:15 am…boo), Spook jumped up on the couch and kept butting her head against my hand, obviously wanting a little attention.  I gave her a couple of pats and then told her I had to go or I was going to be late (oh come on, don’t pretend you don’t talk to your pets).  So I turned out the light, walked out the door and locked it.  I glanced up at the living room window from inside my car and what do you think I saw?  Little Spooky looking out, watching me leave her again.  I could just hear her little Spooky voice saying, “Don’t leave me, you just got home.” 

Maybe I’m a goof ball, but all day long,  I thought about her looking out the window watching me drive away.  Poor little lonely kitty.  At least we sat down and cuddled for a while this evening.  I’m hoping I have a little time to sit down with her on my lap tomorrow since I don’t have to go to work.  I’ve got to do some cooking for the banquet at work, do a little more shopping and maybe a little house cleaning, but I think I can carve out some time for Spook.  I’m sure she’ll be appreciative.

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 153

Image via Wikipedia

I almost wimped out on blogging tonight.  I’m plumb tuckered out (as my grandma used to say)….worked 11 1/2 hours today…going in at 4:30 tomorrow morning.    But I was checking out Facebook and noticed that IU was playing tonight, so turned on the game and figured I might as well write during half time.  Go Hoosiers!!

Today was not a good eating day at all.  Oj and vitamins for breakfast at home, heated up a Lean Pocket a few hours later at work.  Lunch was a burger and fries (I know, I know…I could have just gone with the burger…that wouldn’t have been too bad) from Steak and Shake….I had a couple of small sugar cookies at work and 3 cashews, dinner was a roast beef sandwich on grilled french bread…as you can see, not a lot of veggies today…oh wait…I meant to say no veggies today.  Sheesh…what’s up with that?

Exercise?  Some range of motion exercises for my extremely sore shoulder then a ton of ladder climbing and walking around at work.  I’m exhausted.  Am seriously planning to go to bed very, very soon.  I think the Hoosiers can win without me…

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