Vacation, writing, chores

pinterest nwf (Photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg)

I’m on a little bitty vacation right now.  I go back to work on Friday (weird, I know, but with the work schedule I keep, that’s the best way to do it), so I’ve got a few days to get a bit done, caught up on, started…

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve allowed myself to become quite the slacker with my writing…I think I can use this week to redevelop the daily writing habit.  I have to, it’s one of the things in my life that keeps me sane (or at least what passes for sane in my crazy life).

I’ve also been going through a lot of my “stuff”…funny, I’m pretty careful with what I buy any more, but still end up with several boxes/bags of items to pitch or donate.  How in the world does that happen?  Seriously, I go through things at least twice a year.  You wouldn’t think I would have much to get rid of after several years of doing this, would you?  But you’d be wrong with that assumption.  Right now, I have a bag of magazines  to donate (bingo ladies in my complex?), a couple of bags of books to take to the Friends of the Library tomorrow, and some clothes to take to Goodwill.  At least I’m pretty much past the stage of having knick knacks to get rid of.

Today’s focus is going to be the kitchen.  I did clean the oven yesterday.  It really didn’t need a lot of cleaning, just wiping out, so that was fairly easy.  But I want to pull everything out of the fridge and freezer, clean it completely, then reorganize it when I put it back…and I may just have to make up a big pot of veggie soup using frozen leftovers just to get rid of some of the little containers filling my freezer.  Then I want to pull all of the furniture out and do a good mopping.  I admit, I’m not the world’s best at that, only do a complete job of it a few times a year.  Usually leave the plant stands in front of the window and just reach under them.  But not today.  Today I’ll move everything and use the little steam cleaner and get it done right!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel so much better when my house is totally clean and organized.  Oh, I did clean off my desk yesterday…found $3 in expired ECBs from CVS.  Don’t think that didn’t make me mad!  Note to self, that’s why you immediately cut them from the receipt and put them in wallet in purse.  {Head slap}

So, I can’t promise I won’t spend any time at all on Pinterest (or Facebook) today, but I can promise that it won’t be the entire day!  What about you?   Got any plans for your Monday?

spring comes early this year

And what kind of crazy winter has this been?  Daffodils trying to bloom in early February?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 98

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My last day off work, darn it!  It didn’t seem like I had much of a vacation this time, between doctor’s visits and going to the bmv, working one of the days I scheduled off so I could be there for that wonderful corporate visit, then yesterday’s headache..well, I didn’t have time to do much around the house.  Oh well, why should my vacation time be any different from any other time, right?

I did walk for about 30 minutes this morning…thank goodness for my treadmill since it rained all day here.  We needed the rain, so I’m not complaining about that.   And my eating was okay today, not great, but not terrible either.  I’ve got my meals and snacks planned for tomorrow.  Guess I should go into the kitchen and get everything prepared so I don’t have lack of time as an excuse for not taking healthy food to work with me, huh?

I used my new carpet cleaner today.  When I put it together, I was a little concerned with how small the clean water tank is.  But I was able to use it today and clean up all the spots I wanted to clean and still have some cleaning fluid left in the tank.  It worked really well and was easy to clean.  I’d say I’m a satisfied customer.  Now if I can just keep Goldi from puking on the carpet…why do they always do it on the carpet anyhow?  I mean, my kitchen, bathrooms, and entry are all tile and would be much easier to clean.  But does she ever throw up in one of those rooms?  Heck no!  She’s got to do it where I have to get out the carpet cleaner.  Oh well…it can’t be deliberate, can it?  Do you think she’s mad about something?  Nah…not Goldi.  Spooky I could see doing something out of meanness…or, well, make that mischieviousness…that’s it.

I had a great day of writing on my book.  It really flowed well and rereading what I’d written made me smile.  I wish every day could be like that, but I know they won’t all be that good.  Such is life…

Well, I hope everyone had a good weekend and is ready for another fun-filled week!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 86

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Same song, different day…worked 12 hours today…went in at 5 am, left at 5 pm…and still didn’t manage to get all the things done that I wanted/needed to get done.  Thank goodness I have tomorrow off.  I’m going to sleep in…at least until 6 am!   Hey, after the past couple of weeks of going in to work at 5 am, getting up every morning at 3:30…being able to stay in bed until 6 will be heavenly…ahh…

This working such long days is messing with my exercise routine.  I just can’t make myself get up any earlier so I’m not doing a lot of exercise before work, usually a little strength training or range of motion exercises for my shoulder followed by some general stretching.  Doing a little walking but not enough.  I know I’m getting a lot of exercise at work, but it’s not really cardio.   And cardio is what I need to burn some calories.  When I get home, after working eleven or twelve hours, I’m just too tired to do much other than the basic household chores that I try to do every day.  I don’t know what the answer is.  I know I have to make time to write at least a little on a daily basis.  I don’t know if I should just accept that I won’t be getting as much exercise in for the next two or three months or give up something else (like sleep) in order to exercise a little more.

One thing I do know, I just want to stay healthy through our busy season.  I usually get sick in January or February.  I’m going to the doctor next Tuesday and am going to talk to her about whether or not I should get a flu shot and a pneumonia vaccine…we’ll see what she says.  I usually don’t like getting shots or taking medicine if I don’t think I really need it, but I also don’t want to get that sick again this winter.

My eating was not the best today.  I had a glass of oj and a handful of vitamins and supplements before I left for work.  Then ate a lite granola bar about mid-morning.  I also had some Chex mix…I really like that, but the kind you buy is so salty.  I usually make my own where I can control the fat and sodium in it.  Hmm…there’s a thought of something to make tomorrow to take to work…glad I thought of it.  One of the girls went out to Arbys for lunch and she brought me a mushroom and swiss roast beef sandwich and a small order of curly fries and a plain iced tea.  I probably could have skipped the curly fries and been perfectly satisfied.  Dinner tonight was a small bowl of turkey chili and some crackers.  I had a nectarine at work, but it was awful…I ended up throwing most of it away.

I want to make some time tomorrow to work on some blog posts.  That’s another thing that’s suffering from my long work hours, my blogging.  I’m still writing my three pages every day, but my posts here are kind of scimpy…starting to bore myself, can’t imagine what you’re thinking…Anyhow, I want to work on some of my more interesting ideas.

Does anyone here know how I can find the info on scheduling my posts to publish at a certain time?  I know that would be so convenient and I’d get a lot of use out of that.  In the meantime, happy blogging and have a lovely Tuesday!!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 85

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Whew!!  Another exhausting day at work.  We went in at 5 am and I left at 4:30 this afternoon.  Going back in at 5 tomorrow.  I’m hoping to be out of there a little earlier tomorrow.  Maybe do a little grocery shopping so I don’t have to go out and do it on my day off… Tuesday.

I really didn’t do much exercise today.  I did do some stretching and range of motion exercises for my shoulder before work. Other than that, all of the exercise I got was at work, running around trying to get an ad set, climbing up and down a ladder, rushing from one end of the store to the other, then turning around to go back where I started.  Tomorrow will likely be filled with more of the same.

Eating?  I don’t know.  Not all that great today, not terrible as far as calories are concerned, but not the healthiest of diets either.  I drank a glass of oj and took my vitamins and supplements before heading out the door.  At some point in time, I ate a lite granola bar.  Lunch was a veggie chicken burger that I had in the freezer in the break room.  Then I ate a small piece of Greg’s peanut butter pie…have I mentioned how much I love peanut butter pie?  Does anyone know of a recipe for a lite version that still tastes good?  Mid-afternoon, I ate a bag of Doritos from the vending machine (I know, I know).  I came home from work starving.  Ended up eating a grilled cheese…haven’t had one of those in a while and it tasted pretty good.  I should have thrown some veggies in a bowl and had a salad, but I was too tired to do much of anything other than the never-ending household chores we all have to do.

Now, if only I can actually go to sleep early tonight, like in about half an hour.  That’s ridiculously early, I know.  But the alarm is set for 3:30 in the morning…or the middle of the night for all of you folks who don’t roll out of bed until 7 or 8 (or even later, Lavon…not to mention any names or anything).  One more day, I just keep telling myself I have one more day before I get a day off…a precious day off!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed your weekend, that your team won (mine didn’t), and that you have nothing but pleasant dreams tonight.

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Break room etiquette

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If you work outside the home and share a break room with your co-workers, there are a few simple rules of etiquette that you (and they) should follow to make your breaks more enjoyable.

1. Clean up after yourself.  Now wouldn’t you think that everyone would understand this one?  Apparently there are a lot of people in the work force who think their mother  is going to come in and clean up their mess.  That’s the only thing I can think of, otherwise why would anyone leave food or beverage spills on the table?  Or a mess in the microwave?

2.  Push your chair back under the table when you finish.  Okay, this may just be one of my pet peeves, but our break room is small and, if the chairs are left in the middle of the floor, you have to shove them out of the way.  So just do everyone else a favor and slide your chair under the table when you get up.

3.  Don’t bring stinky food to work with you.  I’m thinking fish, but I’ve also smelled particularly strong garlic odors…so strong that you can smell them throughout the store.

4.  Don’t spread your stuff all over the break room table…other people need to use that space too…it’s not your personal table, it’s a shared space.

5.  Don’t eat someone else’s food.  Again, you would think this would go without saying, but you’d be surprised how often I have to listen to someone complain that their food has disappeared.

6.  If you bring food to share with your co-workers, bring enough for everyone.  People tend to get their feelings hurt when someone brings food to share with everyone except them.

7.  If you bring food to share, make sure it’s still good…don’t bring something in that’s past its expiration date….yuck!

8.  Take your lunch bag, containers, coffee mugs, water bottles, etc home with you at the end of the day.

9.  Don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink or on the counter or table. 

10. Don’t leave shared food that needs to be refrigerated out on the table.  Surely you don’t want to make anyone sick…right?  Right?

11. And last, but definitely not least, clean up after yourself.  Oh, I already mentioned that?  Well, it bears repeating…as far as I know, your mama doesn’t work here!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 78

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This was such a pleasant day today.  I woke up to a light rain, something we really need.  I went downstairs, got the newspaper, fed the cats, made breakfast for myself, then took my breakfast and the newspaper upstairs and sat in bed, propped up with my pillows,  eating breakfast while reading the paper.  Ahh…how peaceful and relaxing. 

I was inspired by last night’s episode of a hoarders show to clean house.  I completely cleaned the bedroom..it looks so nice.  Who knows? It may enable me to sleep a little better tonight.  I vacuumed and dusted, cleaned the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen.  I really enjoy coming home from work to a nice, clean house.  Now if I open that front door tomorrow evening and that little monster Spooky has messed up the house, I’m going to be so mad…oh probably not really.  She does have a tendency to drag her toys out of her toy dish (someone once gave me a huge cat dish, a dish that is much too large for a cat to eat from.)  It’s so cute that I decided to use it to keep her toys in.  A toy dish instead of a toy box.  Poor little kitty, she’s so mistreated.

I had a good day of exercising…biking, walking, strength training and stretching.  My eating was just okay.  I, once again, should have eaten more veggies.  I’m working on it though.  I have my menu planned for the week and my goal is to fit in a few more veggies than I’ve been eating.  Veggie burgers and either cole slaw or a large salad at work, spinach in my smoothies, a low sodium V8 in the afternoon.  That would be better than what I’ve been doing.  I really admire these folks who manage to eat 8 or 9 servings of veggies each day.  Not sure how I could manage that…guess I’ll just have to work my way up to it.

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 73

I’m feeling pretty good tonight considering I worked all day, couldn’t seem to get anything done, went to bed way too late last night (those crazy housewives of New Jersey…why do I watch them?), and ripped my pants this morning at work.  Go ahead, laugh.  I can take it.  I know everyone needs a good chuckle on  a Monday.  I went shopping at lunch…found a couple of pairs of khakis for work, then walked past a clearance rack and saw a black shirt (we have to wear black shirts at work…so attractive).  Upon closer examination, I didn’t notice anything wrong with it, then I looked at the price tag and was thrilled to see it marked down to $7.99!  I snatched that baby right up.  I looked for other shirts appropriate for work, but that was the only one I saw.  Still…$7.99.   I also bought the softest pair of navy blue sweats…you know the temps are going to start dropping soon (not this week though, we’re expecting 90 degree temps for the latter part of the week) and those things are so comfy.  So anyhow, my mood improved with a little retail therapy.  Now if I could just find a truly comfortable pair of work shoes…

I walked for thirty minutes today and that’s it on the exercise front for me.  My eating was decent…ended the day with 1635 calories so right in the range I’m aiming for.  Now if only I can get just a little more sleep tonight, all will be right with my world…for tomorrow anyhow.

My boss is in Dallas for the next few days.  I pondered how to motivate the people to work quickly and efficiently…decided intimidation was out (sorry, Simone), am still considering bribery for truck day, but went with “Let’s make Chris proud of us.  Let’s get all of this work done while he’s in Dallas.  He’ll come back and be so happy and relieved and proud of how hard we worked while he was away.” Believe it or not, it actually worked today.  One of the guys was really gung-ho about completing his tasks…now for tomorrow…

We’ve already discussed the most effective way your boss can motivate you, but how do you motivate yourself?  That’s really where it’s at…if we can motivate ourselves to eat right, exercise, keep the house clean, do our chores, or whatever is important to us, then we’ve already won the battle.

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 58

Wow…58 days.  And today was a good one.  I ate a lot of fruit and veggies today, took my lunch and snacks to work, had fish and corn on the cob for dinner..yum!  And work was fine…I was a little tired…had my alarm set for 3:50 am (had to be at work at 5 am), woke up about 8 minutes before the alarm was set to go off.  I decided to just go ahead,  get up and start getting ready…I walked back into the bedroom when I was just about ready to go…looked at the clock and realized I’d gotten out of bed at 2:42 rather than 3:42…what?  I could have slept for another hour?  Oh well…

I walked today for 35 minutes and that was the extent of my exercise…I want to get back to doing more, just have to get a routine going again.  I ate a little over 1600 calories for the day, so that’s good.  I’m a little disappointed to have only lost 13 pounds in 58 days…tells me I’m not really working hard enough at this…too many days of eating more than I should and exercising less than I should.  But  I have stuck with it for 58 days, so that has to count for something, not sure what, but something.

So how did your weekend go?  Are you planning any last of summer get togethers?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 54

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It was so nice to be able to sleep with the windows open last night.  I was actually cold, in August, in Indiana!  I wore long sleeves when I went out for my walk this morning, probably could have done without that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  It just looks like fall out there…the air is cleaner and crisper, the sky is bluer, and the leaves are turning (probably has more to do with lack of rain).  Have I mentioned how much I love fall?  Well, I do…it’s my favorite time of the year.

The only exercise I got today was walking this morning for about half an hour…boo for me.  I did eat fairly well, but still didn’t eat as many fruits and veggies as I should have.  I had a veggie pasta dish for lunch…not bad.  Not my favorite meal of all time, but I like it every once in a while.  And no, I still didn’t do anything with that zucchini…maybe tomorrow…tomorrow’s another day, just call me Scarlett.

I did manage to get a little more house work done today.  I cleaned the carpet in another room (my carpet cleaner worked fine today…maybe I really did fix it…yeah, right…if I did, it was totally accidental), washed the kitchen windows, and worked on cleaning out my spare bedroom.  I’ve got so many things to donate.  I think that’s going to the top of tomorrow’s to-do list.  I’m being brutal, getting rid of things that I haven’t used in a while (well, not the yarn, fabric, cross stitch supplies, or gardening supplies).  So far I’ve got a couple of boxes to donate to the bingo ladies here at the complex where I live.  I’ll probably end up with several boxes to take to Goodwill.  You know, I’m really being careful with my purchases…not buying things on impulse or just because they’re on sale, but I still have so much stuff.  I go through my stuff about once a year and get rid of a lot, so how do I end up with even more stuff?  It’s crazy.  Not to mention, a waste of money and time.  I’m just going to be even more cautious when it comes to buying things…do I need it or do I just want it?  Is it something that I will actually use or will it just sit around gathering dust until I give it away?  Am I buying it because I went in with the intent to buy it or am I wanting to buy it just because I saw it at a good price (and really, how good a price is it if you’re not really going to use it?)  Less stuff=more money saved, is that true or what?

Are you guilty of making impulse purchases?  What do you do with them when you realize you’re not really going to use them?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 53

This was another very pleasant day.  I was able to get outside early and take a long walk, stopping to take a few pictures of the early morning sky as I walked along.

There’s just something about being out early enough to see a beautiful sunrise that makes the rest of your day better.

In addition to walking for about an hour, I also danced for 15 minutes this afternoon.  I haven’t done any strength training yet today, but I’m going to do a few lower body exercises before I go to bed.

My eating was pretty good today.  I did forget to eat lunch though…that doesn’t happen often.  I got involved in cleaning and then sat down to read for a few minutes.  When I realized my stomach was growling, I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 4 o’clock… 

I got some house work done today, vacuumed the entire house, cleaned the living room carpet.  I’m afraid I’m going to have to replace my old steam carpet cleaner…it’s just not working like it should any more.  It’s just a small Bissell one, about the size of an upright vacuum cleaner and I’ve had it for over five years…I tried to kind of take it apart and see if there was anything I could see that might be causing problems…like I would know if something was out-of-place inside it, even if I did see it.  I have to admit, that is one thing I miss about not having a guy around the house, a mechanically inclined guy…one who can fix things for me.  Being an independent woman, I should be able to fix things myself, but I have no idea how to go about it…never had a dad around to teach me these things so…I usually end up just buying new…not very frugal of me, is it?

I know I said I was going to do something with my abundance of zucchini, but I didn’t..maybe tomorrow.  And I missed a call from a dear friend today.  I have a bad habit of not checking my messages…sorry, Margaret.  It would have been fun to get together with you and Hannah today.

I want to know what you do when something around the house needs fixing…are you one of those women who can roll up her sleeves and tackle repair jobs? 

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