Old friends…

Gus Grissom Boyhood Home (Photo credit: cindy47452)

While working today, a guy came up to me and started talking.  I kept thinking he looked awfully familiar, but I couldn’t place him.  Of course, once he told me his name, I knew exactly who he was.  Then we stood there talking for several minutes and caught up on what had been happening in our respective lives over the past few years.

Years ago, when I owned my little pizza place, he would come in and sit and talk.  I tell you, I sure did meet a lot of people back then.  And it’s such a pleasure when I run into someone from the good old days.  I have so many good memories of the time spent in that little restaurant watching Indiana basketball games with good friends.

Of course, everyone kind of moves to various points across the country and very rarely do they manage to make it back home…until they retire, that is.  I’m giving retirement some serious thought these days.  And I do believe I hear the sweet voice of home and friendship calling my name.

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And now it’s time for the weekend

2008 Calendars (Photo credit: Scott Ingram Photography)

Okay, I know it’s not really the weekend…really, I do.  But since we’ve changed over to a new 4 week rotation of our work schedule, I have a difficult time figuring out what day of the week it is.  I worked all weekend…will have to work 3 out of 4 weekends a month…had to work today too.  And now I have 2 days off.  Thank you, Chris for giving me two days off together…that makes all the difference.  But it sure does play mind games with me.  It just seems like tomorrow is Saturday since I have 2 days off…

Hey, you don’t have to tell me…I know I’m lucky to have a job when so many folks don’t.  And I do appreciate it…but you better believe I’m still in the market for a promotion to store manager…keep your fingers crossed for me, would you?

I’m planning to get outside early and do some work in my “garden”…how in the world can the weeds grow so fast?  (Hmm…blog idea, with pictures)  And I need to do a little housework (okay, really I need to do a lot of housework), and I want to run over to Sahara Mart to pick up a few things…I’ve simply got to get back to eating healthier and exercising…no time like the present for that, is there?

I also want to take a little time to relax, maybe read a bit on my Kindle…which I’m loving, by the way.  It’s probably about time to plan another vacation.  I’ve been thinking about going down to Nashville, TN…do a little research for my book maybe? We’ll see!

So I hope you have a peaceful, productive, pain-free day tomorrow…that’s my hope for all of us!

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Oh no, I’ve been Pinterested

Pinterest (Photo credit: stevegarfield)

How could I have allowed this to happen?  I kept hearing all of the chatter surrounding Pinterest, but I resisted…until just a few days ago…and now I find myself pinning everything…creating my own boards…looking thru all of the latest pins, then getting sidetracked into viewing other people’s boards…and then repinning some of their pins…does it ever end?

Did I really need something else to occupy my time?  No, no, no…but there’s so much inspiration out there…motivating quotes (you know, for that fitness journey I’m still on), style and decorating ideas, gardening and birds, funny kitty antics, healthy eating, crockpot recipes, and on and on and on…

Are you pinning on Pinterest?  Care to share?

The long and winding road to fitness, day 157

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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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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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The long and winding road to fitness, day 141

Ahh…a day off work…far and few between now…makes them much more special.  I really didn’t accomplish a lot today.  I did take several boxes of school supplies to the Boys and Girls Club here in town…I guess that’s kind of work related, but it was a very pleasant experience.

I pulled into the parking lot at Kroger, turned the car off, sat there for a few minutes, then started the car and drove home.  What’s up with that?  Well, honestly, I think I was about to buy some unhealthy food choices so I decided not to put myself in temptation’s way.  I don’t know if that’s good or not, but that’s what I did.

I did a little walking this morning while the weather was still nice.  Since then, the temps have been dropping, the wind has been whipping around, clouds rolled in…I guess fall is back.  I just heard the weather guy on tv say tomorrow’s temps will  only be in the 40s…brr…I think I’ve been spoiled by the nice weather we’ve been having.

But it could always be worse (and probably will be soon)…

My eating wasn’t spectacular today.  I ate only 4 servings of fruits and veggies, 1 shy of my minimum goal…maybe I’ll eat a small salad as I’m preparing my food to take to work tomorrow.  Nope, not maybe…I’m going to do it.

And I finally called my hair stylist this afternoon (sounds like I’m some kind of celebrity, doesn’t it?  My stylist.) and made an appointment to get my hair cut tomorrow.  It needs it…desparately.  Hopefully that’ll make me feel better after a long day at work that’s going to start much too early (like 5 am early).

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I’m so confused…

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Well, we started our six-day work week yesterday.  So I’ve only been at it for two days, but for some reason, I’m already confused about what day of the week it is.  I guess it’s because I would normally have had Saturday and Sunday off, then work Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday off…but I had Saturday off, then worked on Sunday, so it seemed like today should be Tuesday and that I would have tomorrow off, but it’s not and I don’t.  Imagine the state of my confusion two weeks from now.  I’ll be lucky to remember my own name.  The good thing about this time of the year, though, is that it flies by.  I guess it probably doesn’t seem like it to the little kiddos waiting for Santa to flop down through that chimney, but their day will come.

We had a seasonal truck today, but no truck observers.  What a shame.  We can only hope that they’ll show up on Thursday to tell us what we’re doing wrong help us.  Oh we got in some of those cute little stuffed animals that open up into pillows…I’m thinking Spooky might enjoy sleeping on one.  Of course, she’d probably look at it and walk the other way and then I’d end up giving it away in a few months (or years).  So probably should just save my money, huh?

Another good day of eating today.  I actually ate a piece of toast with peanut butter before going in to work today along with my oj and vitamins.  Lunch was a Healthy Choice dinner (fish, wild rice and broccoli) along with a salad from home.  I’m really enjoying these salads.  How weird is that?  Don’t you usually think of eating salads during the summer and heartier fare in the cooler weather?

Other than working the truck and doing some range of motion exercises, I didn’t get much exercise today.  But working that truck was quite a bit of walking and lifting, a little ladder climbing…seemed the areas I was working in didn’t require a lot of ladder climbing today…not that I’m complaining about that.

I am pretty tired, but I don’t want to go to bed yet.  You know what day this is.  It’s Monday (see, I finally figured it out) and that means it’s time for Dancing With the Stars…gotta watch it!!  At  least I don’t have to be at work until 7:30 tomorrow!!  Woohoo…sleep in time!!

The long and winding road to fitness, day 137

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My last Saturday off…sob…sniffle…but at least it was a good one.  A gorgeous fall day, lots of sunshine, warm temps, lovely blue sky.  Saw some hot air balloons when I was out and about this morning…I’ve never been up in one, but that’s on my bucket list.

 

I ran a few errands this morning…Aldi, CVS, Kroger…bought a fair amount of produce…actually ate a big salad for dinner tonight…the entire time I was eating it I was thinking about how really tasty it was…  Hard boiled some eggs to put on salads, washed the Romaine lettuce, shredded some carrots (with a little hand grater…sounds like I’m energetic, but it’s really laziness…too lazy to dig out the food processor and then way too lazy to have to clean it after I’m finished)…so salad fixin’s are ready for a few days.  Being the sweet, kind person (or brown noser, depending upon how you look at it) I even made a small salad to take to work for my boss tomorrow.  He’s one of those unusual guys (haha…this has me rolling on the floor…he’s unusual, all right) who actually likes salads…and for some reason (like, because he’s a guy?), he never makes them for himself.  Won’t he be surprised?

I also froze some over ripe bananas, then made banana pops with them…I bypassed ice cream at the store today because I had decided to make these instead…yum, yum…

The only exercise I did today was some core work and range of motion exercises…and then I cleaned house…a lot…I knew I wouldn’t have the time for the next couple of months to do a lot of housework so I wanted to at least start my six-day work week with a clean house…then I saw a Facebook status from one of my friends, who is a manager at a store in Indy, saying she’d done the same thing…so do you think the guy managers who had today off did the same thing?  Uhh…what am I saying?  Of course they didn’t…they probably went out to the golf course or something silly like that. 

And then the time changes tonight…don’t want to forget that…don’t want to show up to work early…that’s right, isn’t it?  It would be early, right?  6:30 would normally be 7:30, so if I showed up at 7:30, I’d really be there at 6:30…oh never mind…just remember to change your clocks…fall back…like you’re falling backwards into a big pile of fall leaves…

 

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 134

Image by scaredy_kat via Flickr

Have you ever had one of those days where you know you’ve been busy all day and have nothing to show for it?  That was my day today.  Go, go, go…and get absolutely nothing done.  But, such is life in the retail industry at times.  Maybe tomorrow will be a bit more productive…

I did upper body strength training and walked for 20 minutes this morning.  One of these days I’ll get back to working out for an hour or so a day, but that day probably won’t be here until after the holiday season.  We start our six-day work weeks in another week, so this is my last weekend off…boo!!  I do well to keep the house clean during that time of the year.

I did a good job with my eating today.  Twice avoided fast food and stuck with my plan.  I ate six fruits and veggies over the course of the day.  I feel pretty darn good about that.  Aiming to repeat tomorrow.  Had a V8 at lunch (low sodium) along with this chicken broccoli thing and half of a roasted squash.  That’s the most veggies I’ve had at lunch in quite some time. 

I need to do some cooking this weekend, haven’t sat down and planned anything yet, but I want something that is healthy, has loads of veggies and is easy to take to work.  I’ve been thinking about a pot of veggie soup and salad for lunch next week (I’ve noticed I tend to try to make healthier versions of some of my favorite restaurant meals…you know, Olive Garden soup and salad).

Definitely early to bed for me tonight.  3:30 will be here much too soon…sweet dreams to all!!

 

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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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