Hands in the dirt today

That’s right.  I had the day off work…it was 80 degrees (seriously, it was)…and the only thing I had to do was run over to the doctor’s office for a blood draw…in and out in less than 10 minutes.  So I had plenty of time to enjoy the early summer-like weather.

I decided to get outside and get my hands a little dirty…planted some lettuce (leaf lettuce, a mixture of varieties) and some radishes.  Ah…it feels so good to be able to go outside without a coat or jacket.   I have to admit, I was a little sweaty by the time I came back inside…I mean, 80 degrees…that’s like June kind of weather here in central Indiana.  But at least I got my little garden started…

lettuce from 2011 garden

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 149

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Right now all I want to do is go soak in a hot tub and go to bed.  What a crazy, hectic, stressful, exhausting day this was.  Ahh…tis the season!!  A funny thing happened today though.  I was in the stockroom sorting repacks (freezing, by the way…wouldn’t you think they’d spring for some heat in that stock room?)  when some guy stepped through the door (the door that clearly has a sign that says “employees only”, and asked me if I worked here.  I felt like smacking my head and saying, “duh”…but I didn’t…I simply told him that I do indeed work at the store.  He then asked me if I knew how much “that is” and points up toward the ceiling.  Well, I had no idea what he was talking about, so walked out of the stockroom to try to figure out what he needed.  He wanted to know how much a floor plant was but then quickly told me he wasn’t going to buy it…oookay…so I moved a bunch of stuff around so I could get a ladder in there to tell him how much a plant that he wasn’t going to buy would cost…hmm…if you’re not going to buy it I guess it won’t cost you anything, will it?

My day was so crazy that I didn’t eat the lunch I brought to work…I didn’t eat lunch at all…so I ended up with only two fruits and a veggie for the day.  Darn it!!  I even left my lunch bag in the fridge, so I guess I can eat that yummy salad tomorrow.

I did do about 10 minutes of strength training before I left the house this morning.  Of course a lot of walking and lifting and throwing things and screaming (oh wait, make that silent screaming…no one heard me screaming, it was all in my head…no, no, not voices in my head, just that silent screaming to relieve some of that stress). 

I have to admit I was more than thrilled to get out of there today.  My body hurts and I’m tired…what’s that?  I think my bed is calling my name even though it is only about 6:30.

Oh, and I must mention this…go Hoosiers!!  The boys are coming together, looking vastly improved, the basketball world will be in proper alignment once again!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 146

Aye chihuahua!!  I’m worn to a frazzle and still have another day to work before I get a day off.  At least I feel like we’re finally starting to get a handle on all of the seasonal stuff.  We still have a little more to get done, but we’re fast approaching the period in the season where all (all?) we have to do is keep things stocked and help customers.  It goes by so quickly…and that’s not a bad thing!

I did do a little range of motion stuff this morning before work, but am hurting quite a bit.  Not sure if part of that has something to do with the wild weather we’ve had last night and today.  Temps in the high 70s today…this is November, right?  Then thunderstorms this evening.  It kind of feels like spring.  But I think all of that is about to end…soon…like on Wednesday…on my day off…of course~

My eating was okay.  Almost all frozen stuff that I have in the freezer at work.  After the holiday season, I’ll get back to eating healthier, less processed food.  Until then I’m just going to try to make it through by eating Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine…I did eat four and a half servings of fruits and veggies.  A little short of my goal of 5, but still not too bad.  I’ve got a little salad mixed up to take tomorrow to eat while my dinner is in the microwave.  That helps on the freggie intake.

I think sleep is maybe the most important thing I can do for myself right now.  I actually came home and took a nap this evening.   And I’m not going in at 5 am tomorrow.  We usually only do that on the days that Chris and I are both there and he’s taking tomorrow off.  I’m afraid he’s getting sick.  I keep bringing fruit and salad in for him to eat, and he does eat it, but I think the long hours and stress are starting to take their toll.  Sometimes I don’t think our company (or any retail company) realizes just how much they ask  demand of us at this time of the year.  But we’ll get through it.  I may go out and buy some Echinacea tea, well, that’s if I thought I could get him to drink it.  I drink it when I feel a cold or the flu coming on.  It’s definitely not my favorite tea, but I think it helps…yes, that could be all in my head, but I think there are a lot of cures out there in nature that we don’t often take advantage of.

What about you?  What do you do when you start feeling under the weather?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 140

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Why?  Why do I let these stressful, crazy, hectic days get to me?  I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know I allowed it to happen today.  It was just nutty from the start today, so busy, not enough people working.  And I let myself give in to the stress.  I really wish I could be more like my boss, he loves when it’s crazy…gets his adrenaline pumping…and he’s always so cheerful (well, at least where most people can see him…I’m privy to some of his not so good moods, but customers never see him like that).  I can get a little snarky at times, most of the time with the people I work with…not nice, I know.  Once the closing manager got there and the framing manager got back from lunch, I decided I was going out for lunch just to get away for a few minutes.  Not the best choice as far as the old diet goes, but it did help me with my mood.  Of course, I could have stayed at work and eaten my healthier lunch and probably would have still had my mood improve just the same…I know I went too long without eating…come on (thumps head…twice) when will you learn to eat on a regular schedule? 

No exercise today to speak of…lots of walking around at work, but that’s it.  I have tomorrow off so I’m going to get in a couple of workouts, albeit short ones.  If it’s as nice as today was, I’m going to go out for a walk.  I couldn’t believe it was in the 70s today…on Nov 8!

I need to do a little salad prepping tomorrow too…tear and wash some lettuce, shred some more carrots.  I’ve been thinking about making a healthier Waldorf salad…we used to eat that a lot when I was a kid…of course, with full fat mayo…

And maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be a day that sees me taking a little nap in the afternoon…and sleeping in in the morning…at least until 6 am!!  Long gone are the days of sleeping until noon…

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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 83

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Okay, I must admit, I’m writing this long before the day has ended.  I found out yesterday afternoon, late in the work day actually, that my schedule was going to change for today and that I was going to have to close tonight.  With all of my sleep woes, I knew I would need to at least attempt to get some sleep tonight and getting home late from work kind of makes that super difficult.  I didn’t want to have to stay up even later trying to write a blog post…a post that probably wouldn’t even make much sense what with me being tired and sleepy. 

So…I’ve already biked and walked this morning…did core strength training.  I’m sure I’ll be extremely active at work today too.  That’s the easy part of my day to report on…the exercise.  The eating?  Well, I ate my usual healthy breakfast, took my vitamins.  I have to figure out what to take for my dinner tonight.  Lunch will be some flaxseed crackers with Laughing Cow cheese and a low-sodium V8…not the best lunch in the world, but not terrible either.  Dinner, I still don’t know…I’ll have to figure something out soon though.  I know I do have some chicken veggie burgers at work, so that’s a possibility along with  a spinach salad and a piece of fruit.  Hmm…that sounds pretty good…quick and easy too!  That’s it…not enough veggies, but still decent.

How do you deal with unexpected changes to your daily schedule?

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Quinoa corn cakes

I had completely forgotten how truly tasty this meal is until I was browsing recipes at SparkRecipes.com.  When I came across this one I knew this was what I was going to prepare for my lunch for work for the first part of the work week.  Because this recipe is so basic I already had everything I needed on hand.

Quinoa, whole wheat flour, an egg, skim milk, onion, frozen corn, salt, pepper, and water…how much more basic can you get?  Here’s the link to the recipe…

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1207271

Okay, this doesn’t look like much before you cook it…

But look at this with a little fresh salsa on the side…yum!  Tasty, filling and about 200 calories for lunch…can’t beat that!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 62

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Whew!!  What a crazy day at work…I’m exhausted, sleepy, in pain and in a bad mood…not a good combination, huh?  I just could not get to sleep last night so ended up with a little over four hours of sleep.  We went in to work at 5:30, the truck came at 7:30 and everything was hectic from that time forward.  I ended up working 10 hours…just go, go, go all day long.

My eating was  good…had a really good cucumber, tomato and onion salad with my favorite Hendrickson’s sweet vinegar and olive oil dressing…yum!  I’m thinking about having the same thing tomorrow.  It’s nice to be able to go outside and pick the cucumbers and tomatoes for that salad…handy and tasty!

I got in an hour’s walk today and did lower body strength training…oh yeah, and worked like a maniac on that truck…fun times!

I’m planning to get to bed really, really early tonight…I’ve got to try for eight hours of sleep.  When I combine lack of sleep and hunger, like I did at work today, it’s not a good thing.  I get just a tad grouchy…what’s that you say?  More than a tad…much more than a tad?  Hmm…okay, I’ll give you that one.  So, to any of my co-workers who I may have offended with my grouchiness, I’m sorry…one thing I know for sure, I need to stop and eat when I start feeling like that.

How does being really hungry, sleepy and tired affect you?

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Putting food by

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That’s how my grandmother referred to canning, freezing, drying, pickling, and storing root crops in the fruit (root) cellar.  Putting food by.  I like that.  It brings to mind that you’re putting food aside to get you through the long, cold, dreary winter.  That was much more important 50 years ago when the food you could purchase was more limited and whether or not you could feed your family during the winter depended on how much food you put by during the harvest season.

These days, I think a lot of people would have serious problems if the food distribution system would happen to be disrupted for a couple of weeks.  Not so with my grandma.  She  could make it through the entire winter without going to the grocery store,  if necessary.  In addition to her garden and fruit trees, she had chickens.  I didn’t really like messing with them when I was a kid, some of them were kind of mean and enjoyed chasing little girls.  And I couldn’t stand to watch her kill them.  But she always had eggs and meat on hand.

I don’t put food by to the extent that Grandma did, but I did a little pickling the other day with my abundance of cucumbers and peppers.

Cubanelle peppers…

Some of those peppers sliced and pickled.  Okay, I kind of cheated on these.  I had just emptied the last of the sweet peppers from this jar and simply put the sliced pepper rings back in the jar using the same liquid…I had some of these on a veggie sandwich yesterday and they tasted just as good as the original.

Refrigerator pickles…these will be ready to eat in just a few more days.

This jar is really more of a veggie salad.  I just used the veggies I had left over, put them in the clean jar and poured my favorite Hendrickson’s sweet vinegar and olive oil dressing over them…these are seriously good!

Alright, Grandma would probably shake her head at my meager attempts at putting food by, but I’m pretty pleased with the results.

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