A Loss...

Official weigh in today! 4.5 off! Even got my exercising in yesterday. Was only able to stand 15 minutes because I stupidly put it off until after supper and I was still a little too full. Won't make that mistake again today. Now I only have a half pound to go to be where I was before Christmas. I'm so looking forward to new numbers. I know, I know, I'm a scale junkie at heart.

The wind kicked up before dawn this morning and I thought it would blow me off the mountain. Then the snow started. There's only about an inch and a half out there now and it sure is beautiful. Just hope the accumulation stays on the low side. National weather says we will only get 3 inches. That's enough.

Since my mailbox is at the bottom of the mountain, I tend to not check it everyday. I only check it when I'm going off the mountain for something else in the winter. In the summer I'll hop on the ATV and run down there to get it more often and enjoy the scenery a little while I'm out. But I haven't been to check it since last Tuesday. I just did (before the snow got too high) and was surprised with another Christmas present. It was from my NJ daughter. She made me the most gorgeous place mats. Going to clean my table off (crafting supplies all over it) today and take a picture of them. You're gonna love them. Both of my girls are so talented in the crocheting department and other departments as well. I am so proud of the women they have become.

Today and tonight will be quiet ones for me. I was invited to a New Year's Eve party but declined because I don't want to be out driving alone on New Year's Eve in the snow. Especially with the crazy drunks in this county that will be out there. And besides I don't have anyone to kiss as the new year rings in except my pups and they weren't invited. So what are your plans?

Enjoy the last day of 2008 and here's all my best wishes that 2009 will bring all of you what your heart desires. Maybe we will all reach goal in 2009 or maintain it if you already have.

Musings...

Well, this is the beginning of day 4 and so far so good. Didn't exercise yesterday but the food consumption went really well. According to MyFoodDiary I'll meet my goal by November '09, no February '10, no September '09... I've been getting a laugh out of that. It all depends on what I did that day. Now I'm wondering if I can just kick butt and make it sooner. This may be a way to really keep me at it with a vengeance.

I'm back to weighing myself every morning right now. Since I gained so much over the holidays I'm really anxious to see what happens. Right now I've got it almost all off. (That will surely mess up their computing.) But I know that after binging, for me, the first week the weight really drops.

I think I mentioned that they give you little smiley faces when you have done well and frowny faces when you haven't. Well...I will NEVER get a smiley face for my sodium intake! I do eat a lot of sodium rich foods and that is for health reasons. I tend to have low blood pressure and the doctors have always told me to increase the sodium so that I won't pass out. Even with a sodium day of over 4,000 I sometimes have dizzy spells. Hey, just had a thought, doesn't exercise decrease your blood pressure? Hmmmm, should I cut that out of my daily routine? Just kidding, I won't because it is good for my heart, heart, heart.

Later Bloggagators!

Some Ramblings...

Exercised again yesterday!

Ate within my allotted calories!

And that's all I have to say about that!

I've been working on more socks. I have all these partial balls left over from the ones I already made and I'm experimenting. Here's a pic of one I started.

Now all I have to do is remember which balls I used for the stripes and reproduce it on the other sock. Don't think I'll do the rest of them like that. I was looking at a catalog sometime before Christmas and they were selling "mis-matched" socks. Interesting enough, they were way more expensive than the matched ones. Think I will do that with the rest of the partial balls. I don't really need any more socks so maybe my family would like another pair or two. I'm beginning to think that I will just keep on making them because they are so much fun to do.

Started a new book a couple of days ago. It's "Duma Key" by Stephen King and I'm not sure what it will be like yet. It is interesting but so far it is just not like the usual SK novels. His writing has surely changed since his accident. I'll probably be into this one for a while since it is over 700 pages. I've read most everything he's written (pre accident) and I like Dean Koontz too. Have you read DK's "Marley and Me?" I've seen where they made a movie with that title. Wonder if it is based on his book. The book was really a good one and not at all in his regular genre.

Have a great week out there in blog-land.

Day 2 (545)...

So far so good. I made it yesterday! Yay! I had my doubts, that's for sure. I even exercised for a little while. I did have a problem last night at around 8:30, I was starving and had no more calories left. So I got myself some celery and munched on it for a while with a big glass of water. I figured celery would be a good choice since it takes more calories to chew it than it contains.

MyFoodDiary is a really cool site. It doesn't leave any room for guess work. It totals your calories as you enter them and tells you how many you have left in order to lose what ever goal you set for yourself plus it gives the amount of calories left to lose 1 pound a week. So you have options. And when you enter your exercise it adds some calories to your total left. That's why I exercised, to see what it would do. I really could have fudged it and just entered the exercise and not do it but that would be cheating, wouldn't it? At the end of the day you are asked to close out the day when you are finished. It then tells you how you did and gives you a date that you will be at your goal weight if you keep on doing what you did on that day. Hmmm, wonder if it changes as the days go by and you do better or worse. We shall see.

Guess you can tell I'm enamored with this web site and my new toy.

BTW the title means that this is day two of my new start and day 545 of when I began this. Sure wish I had stuck with it better and I may have been to goal by now. Oh, well, that's water under the bridge, or in my case I think it flowed over the bridge there for a while.

Those weren't my doggies in yesterdays post. I have one that looks sad all the time and one that just looks bored. They never pant so I can't capture them looking happy.

Pictures of the socks I made are coming. As soon as Cara takes a picture of her families feet for me to post. So please be patient.

Hope your Sunday is going as planned and is a blessed one.

A Fresh Start...

I've decided to get back on it!!

As I was lying in bed last night waiting to nod off I got to thinking about how far I've come in the past 544 days and how far I have yet to go. I decided it would be a shame not to continue the path I'm on. After all, I long to see my collar bones (can't remember the last time I saw them). I gained 5 pounds over the past 3 days and that is really BAD. I know we are not supposed to use that word but it is what it is. Today is the beginning of my continuing down the RIGHT path.

So, I joined Myfooddiary.com this morning. Cara was singing it's praises a couple of weeks ago and although there is a fee to use it, I decided I needed a tool that will help me stay on target. It does have some really neat features. The one I like the best is that after you enter a food it tells you how many calories you have left for the day in order to meet your weight loss goal for that week. This I think will be a very helpful tool for me. When I get the munchies or want something in the evenings, I can look there and see just what I can have. Just think, I will be able to check to see if I can have a cookie or not!

As hard as it was for me to do it, I updated my side bar to reflect my gain. After all, I'm doing this weight loss blog to help myself and if I can't be honest then it won't help me at all.

Hope your weekend is going well.

The Cookie Monster Came to Visit...

Baking cookies last night was a stupid thing to do. I really wanted it to feel more like Christmas with home baked goodies. BIG MISTAKE!! I had it all planned out. I'd eat 2 or 3 as a real treat and then one a day until they were gone. Wrong. I ate 6 before I had to slap my hands to keep them from getting into them and eating them all. I usually don't have a sweat tooth. So I was sure I could handle it. I guess I've found my weakness, home baked cookies. Cakes don't bother me that much and pies don't bother me that much, nor does candy, but home baked cookies, wow. Today has been a little better, I've only had 4, and I just can't make myself throw them away. I just can't! So my plan for tomorrow is, one for breakfast (they are oatmeal cookies after all) and one after supper.

Trivia time: Do you know why you get sleepy after a big turkey dinner? (If so, you can skip this paragraph.) Turkey contains tryptophan. It's an essential amino acid the body can not manufacture. It only comes from food. Tryptophan helps the body produce vitamin B (niacin) which in turn helps the body produce serotonin (a calming agent in the brain). Wonder if they put tryptophan in sleeping agents? If they don't, they should because anyone that has had turkey knows it really calms us down.

Have a good weekend.

Merry Christmas to All...

We had our little Christmas dinner a bit early this afternoon. I set a special place for "the kids" with their own little place mats. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, creamed corn and cranberry sauce. Actually they had all of that except for the dressing and cranberry sauce. I didn't figure they'd like those so I left them off their plates. I think they really liked it because as you can see they cleaned their plates and didn't even spill anything. It was really funny watching them lick up the mashed potatoes.

It's sure interesting the way I've changed. When I got my plate fixed the first thing I dug into were the veggies. I've come a long way "baby." I haven't had mashed potatoes in a long time and they sure brought back memories. I only fixed two medium potatoes so that I wouldn't have a lot left over to haunt me because I made them like I used to with real butter and Carnation milk. I figured since it's Christmas that was one of my presents to myself.

I was invited to a neighbor's house for dinner but I declined since I already had the turkey breast thawed and have been looking forward to it for a while. Besides it's been really nice and relaxing.

I was contemplating baking cookies yesterday and decided not to since I'd be the only one eating them. But I've changed my mind. I'm going to whip up a small batch and ration myself with them. I mean what's Christmas without Christmas cookies?

I've heard from all my family and friends today and they are having a nice Christmas too. I hope yours was grand as well.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

Holiday Greetings...

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanukkah

Just Some Ramblings...

Sure is cold here but I know it is most everywhere right now, so I won't whine too much. I did stop in at the dollar store yesterday for some household cleaning supplies that were dwindling and happened to see sweat pants on sale. I decided with this cold snap that I needed some so I got two pair. Boy am I glad that I did. They feel nice and comfy right now and much better than the thinner pants I've been wearing around the house lately. And they're mediums!

We have no snow so we won't have a white Christmas. For those of you out there that do, enjoy it for me.

Cara has a really good blog about eating comfort foods. It has put everything into perceptive for me. Go check it out.

My eating lately has been great. I'm still not counting and measuring, as I'm still on vacation from obsessing. Hopped on the scales yesterday morning and was down a half pound. But since I'm not on this cycle of trying to lose weight, I'm not changing my side bar right now. Think I'll wait for a couple more weeks and see if it stays that way or just maintains like it has been.

Two more days! Are you ready? I am. Have my dinner all planned out for the doggies and me. They are really excited about it too, I can tell. Didn't get them any presents though. I think they'll enjoy the turkey breast enough without presents. After all food is more important to them than another squeak toy.

Have a great day.

Sensible Eating...

I don't know what came over me when I went to Wal-Mart Wednesday but I picked up a couple bags of potato chips. Yeah, a couple, one in regular flavor and one in the sour cream/cheddar flavor. I have been wanting them so badly lately. Just a few with a sandwich would be nice. And the last time I had chips I was pretty careful to ration them out a few at a time. So I thought what the heck, I can do this. They stayed unopened until yesterday. I decided I'd give them a try. I opened the plain ones and counted out one portion. I brought them to the computer to munch on while I read and commented on some blogs. Well...I didn't enjoy them at all. The taste wasn't nearly as satisfying as I'd thought it would be. I did finish off the portion and then had a few peanuts to wash away the yucky taste of the chips. What's with that, anyway? Am I morphing into a healthy eater? This just couldn't be happening to me. I put a chip-clip on the bag and tossed them on top of the fridge way in the back. Still haven't tried the cheddar ones and at this point I really have no desire to do so, so they are right beside the other ones for the time being.

Cake...remember the cake I told you about that my friends had brought. It was/is about 5 inches long and about 3 by 3, in the cutest little ceramic baking loaf dish. I still have about 3 bites left!!! Yeah, I've made it last for 5 days instead of the 4 I had planned. One reason is that I refused to cut myself a piece and set down with it. I just kept a fork near by and took a bite whenever I wanted something sweet after a meal. This has worked out really well.

It's been a couple of "gloomy Gus" days here and I'm not complainin'. At least all this precipitation is in the form of rain and not snow. The road up the mountain is clear of snow and ice so I don't have to worry about slip/sliding down or up. I'll take the soggy ground anytime as long as the road stays clear. Usually after the first snow fall the road stays icy all winter but since there's been so much rain it's all gone as of now. I'm sure now that I've stated that fact we'll have a great snow fall soon and the road will be horrible so I'm knocking on wood just in case.

Gonna have some oriental chicken over pasta for supper. And since I have been eating a lot of beans instead of chicken I'm actually looking forward to it for a change.

I must confess that I haven't been very diligent with my exercise. I only did the Richard Simmons DVD 4 times and haven't thought about it in about a week. It's just so boring exercising alone. I get all fired up when I try something new then it gets boring and I quit. I've got about 5 DVD's of different types of exercise and different people that I could change them around and not get bored with any one of them, but the aloneness gets to me. Just don't know how you all keep at it.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy all the Christmas doings going on. But don't forget what the season is really all about.

Good Doctor's Visit...

Back from the doctor and shopping jaunt. And I'm "plum tuckered out."

Test results were great. Cholesterol was 192!! Sugar was a little high but not in the danger range, just have to keep an eye on it is all. That had me bumfuzzled since I have cut out all sugar and have very little carbs. She said that if I hadn't lost the weight I'd probably be on insulin since it runs in my family. So we will keep an eye on it for the time being. And isn't it amazing I have no aches and pains now :o)

Of all the things to forget before my trip was my list for WalMart. Good grief. I'm afraid to look at it now to see what I forgot because I don't want to have to kick myself in the butt this afternoon.

Stopped at the Post Office on the way home and got all my packages mailed out. Now I can just relax. It's ALL finished, WooHoo!

I was really thrilled with something that happened at the doctors. Don't know if you remember but the "really cute" med student asked me to make a pair of socks for his Mom and girlfriend. I took them to him and again he asked me what I wanted for making them. I told hem they cost $21 for the materials for both pairs and he gave me $50. I felt that was too much but he said it was perfect as far as he was concerned. He said he was definitely not losing my phone number or email address because he'd probably want some more. I splurged at WalMart and bought myself another Jimmy Buffet CD.

I even treated myself to breakfast at Hardy's I had a steak biscuit minus 3/4 of the biscuit. I feel really great right now and am going to go curl up on the couch with my book and enjoy my afternoon.

Happy Hump Day Y'all!

Comfortable Company...

I don't know what is going on in my head right now. I've been so blessed with good health over my 60+ years and have been bragging lately that at this ripe old age I'm not on any meds AT ALL. No high blood pressure, no diabetes, no cholesterol problems and so forth. Then I go to the doctor last week because I wasn't feeling so well in the female department. I insisted on getting a complete blood work up too, even though the doctor tried to talk me out of it because of the cost, she wasn't sure my insurance would cover it. Well, the female test has come back with an all clear. Whoopee!! Now I'm waiting on the blood work part. And the bad part is that I'm imagining all kinds of problems. Every little ache and pain I may get during the day has me thinking that maybe something is really wrong with me. Example: pain in the side of my neck wrapping around to the back, had me thinking I was going to have a stroke. Now, this has just got to stop! I think it is because I live alone and start to imagine all sorts of negative stuff that no one can talk me out of. Or it may be my mortality that is niggling at the back of my mind. Gotta get back that positive thinking about my health.

Company came and went and I enjoyed them immensely. They brought left over fried chicken and a very small friendship cake as a Christmas present. I really thanked them for making the cake a small one. And I did get into it yesterday and ate about 1/4. I'm working on making it last at least 4 days and counting the calories into my daily allotment. The fired chicken? Well, I opted for 2 wings. One I ate the night they arrive and the other was for lunch the next day. "All things in moderation."

They were so funny after we finished supper. They had been to Indiana and I was the last stop on their way home. They know that I have a DVR and wanted to know what movies I'd taped. So they picked one out that they wanted to watch (and I'd seen a couple of times already). I put it on and about halfway through it I looked over when I heard snoring and noticed that they were both asleep. And it was only 7:30. They must have been zonked with all the traveling and visiting. They did wake up with just 15 minutes left of the movie and I filled them in on what they had missed. Then they headed to bed. Well, he did anyway. She stayed with me and we talked for a couple of hours. Guess hers was a power nap. He was my hubbies old school chum and married this wonderful woman 5 years ago. She is the sweetest most thoughtful person I've ever met.

She can't stand to set still so she got up the next morning and began cleaning. What? I cleaned before they came. But that's just her. She saw something that I had put off and just did it. I had been saving boxes and putting my personal paperwork in them to be burned and was saving them for when they came because he loves to start a fire outside and I had decided I'd have some fuel for him to start the fire. Well, the wind was just blowing too much for a fire so she proceeded to make everything compact and take them to the garage for me to save for when they come back and the wind isn't too strong. This used to bother me but it doesn't anymore. I just let her go, because that's the way she is. I even joked with her about when she comes back in the spring I'd put Windex in her hand and put her on a ladder outside with me on the inside armed with my own bottle and we'd hit all the windows.

Follow-up visit with the doctor tomorrow at the horrible (for me) hour of 9:00 AM. Hope the blood work is back by then. Will be heading to Lewisburg for the last of my Christmas shopping and stocking up on what is needed for my "little" Christmas dinner alone. (Gonna stay home again this year. I feel better in my comfort zone.) Then stop on the way home and mail all the packages I need to.

Hope your week is going good and continues to do so.

A Good Day for Chili...

It's been a rather quiet couple of days. Once the rain and flooding stopped the snow started and it got really cold again. Just a dusting this time but I think it's going to be that kind of winter.

Eating has been on target and exercising could use some work.

May have some company tomorrow, just for the night. So, I made a big pot of chili just in case. And if they don't come I will freeze it and be set for a while. Gonna make some Pumpkin Custard (crustless pumpkin pie) just in case and hope that they don't eat it all so there will be plenty for me. I love that stuff.

I've got all my Christmas shopping finished except 2 gift cards. Will try to go to Lewisburg on Tuesday and take care of that, then I can say I'm done.

Hope your weekend is pleasant and not too hectic during this season. Don't forget to stop and take a deep breath or 12 and remember what it is all about.

T-shirt...

Okay, I've been searching and searching and can't find it. Who posted a picture of herself in the "I love (with a heart instead of the words) myself" t-shirt? I gotta have one of those and the person said they were at Target. I don't have one within 2 hours of my home. Hold on a minute, let me go to target.com and look........well, that took a while (there were 19 pages of t-shirts). Did you miss me? Shucky darn. Couldn't find one.

The craziest thing happened last night. I had just turned over to find a new position in bed and heard a car driving up my driveway. I waited a few seconds and listened and the horn beeped. I looked at the clock and saw it was 5:30. So I didn't turn on any lights and felt my way down stairs wanting to catch whoever it was without alerting them. They had already gone. I went back to bed and started wondering what I would have done if it had been a "bad guy." Then I hit myself in the forehead and thought, "you dummy, that's why you bought guns." So maybe if I'm in a panic like last night I won't remember what to do. Don't tell any "bad guys" out there that I forgot to take my gun with me or the directions to my house either.

Have a good one, blog-buds.

NSV...

I should have known the doctor wouldn't notice my weight loss because it's been over 2 years since I've seen her. It's been so long that she didn't even remember that she had seen me before at all. You see, she and her husband are in practice together and she had to take a leave of absence for family reasons and I only saw her once. So, very subtly I asked her what my weight was the last time I was there and she about freaked out. Being a doctor she immediately asked if the weight loss was intentional. Then she started singing my praises. Later on when the med student (and he was a real hotty too) was drawing my blood he continued to gush and told me that I had just added many years to my life. He has such a wonderful bedside manner, :sigh: but he's young enough to me my grandson.

The best part of the visit was weighing on official scales instead of home scales. My weight was 182.5 with all my clothes on. (Durn, they wouldn't let me strip to weigh in there in the hallway of the practice.) I had on heavy jeans and a sweater, so I'm a thinkin' that I could probably knock off a pound or two to get my home weight since I do that in my undies. You know what that means? It means that my maintenance is working!!! I haven't counted calories or anything in quite some time and have just been eating the way I have learned to do over the past year and a half. It means that I have learned a new life style of healthy eating! It means that my persistence is paying off! It means that I'm a new person! It means that I love myself!

I did get a wee nap in before the phone rang. I didn't turn it off because I was expecting a call and figured that the call would keep me from sleeping too long which would keep me up to all hours. Don't know what has happened to me but I'm not a night owl any more. Yes, I think I do know what has happened to me. It's this durn time change and the darkness that comes so early. About an hour after dark I start getting sleepy. Oh, well, this is getting me up earlier so that's all right too.

Talked to both my girls yesterday evening and after talking to Cara I was in the mood to put Richard Simmons into the DVD. I only did about 20 minutes this time but at least there was some extra movement in my day. I have to print a retraction or correction or whatever you want to call it. I blogged the first time I did the DVD that my heart rate was 270 and that is wrong. I didn't look closely at the timer on the screen and he was counting off 10 seconds. I'm used to counting off 6 seconds and just adding a zero to the number. So if I do it the way he did it my heart rate was really 162. That sounds more like it.

Have a great hump day!

Coffee Update...

I made it through the exam but it hurt like it has never hurt before. I was in real tears by the time she finished. Seems I have a bacterial imbalance in the cavern due to old age and no estrogen in the system at this time in my life. I've got three meds to take to solve the problem and then I wait to see what the results of the tests bring. I hate waiting.

And speaking of waiting...while I was waiting for my scripts there was a box of yummy looking Hersey's brownies staring at me. Lawsy mercy was that a tough one but I didn't cave. I walked away with only the scripts, and a free calendar.

And there was a med student there and I gave permission for him to be in during my exam. Had a pair of my homemade socks on and he has commissioned me to make a pair for his Mom and girl friend for Christmas. I have to go back for a check up next week and will have them ready for him then. He wanted to know how much I'd charge and I had no idea so I just said to reimburse me for the materials and we'd call it even. I so enjoy making them. He balked on that and said he wouldn't take them that way so I told him to just give me what he thought they would be worth.

So after that I headed to town and ended up going to 9 different places to get all the stuff done that I needed to do. And I won't have to go off the mountain again until next week when I take my doggies to the groomers and back to the doctor. Now I'm too exhausted to exercise and think I'll take a nap instead. I can always exercise tomorrow or later today.

That half peanut butter sandwich was a life saver. Is peanut butter a wonder food or what?

Coffee

Boy, I must really be addicted to coffee though I only have one cup a day. I'm setting here sipping water. Can't have anything else until my blood work at 11:00. But I'm going to fool them, I'm taking a half a peanut butter sandwich with me and a bottle of Kool Aid and scarf it down after the blood is drawn. Actually I'm doing that because I have a lot of errands to run and don't want to faint from lack of nourishment on the way.

Thank goodness a lot of you had new posts for me to read which helped pass the time and keep me from thinking of coffee and food.

Not much else to add today. Maybe my adventures out into the big bad world will spark something for later or tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Good Carbs and Bad Carbs...

I'm having a lot of trouble feeling full and staying that way without snacking unless I have some carbs in my diet. So I went online and checked out good carbs vs bad carbs. Seems the the bad carbs are the ones that keep me feeling full longer. Now, I could make my own pasta out of whole wheat flour but I haven't been able to find a recipe that doesn't call for a lot of processed white flour. Do you have one? What I didn't find out in my research is whether potatoes are good carbs or bad carbs. Do you know? In my remote area I can't find store bought whole wheat pasta (my Wal-Mart doesn't even have any, or the spinach kind either). The past couple of weeks I've been eating a lot of beans and that is good but even beans don't stick with me that long without a corn muffin, so I'm thinking that I'm hooked on bad carbs.

Haven't done my exercise today yet but will before the day is out. I tend to want to do it in the afternoons. Gotta save my mornings for blogging, answering emails and surfing the net. Besides, I'm just not a morning person and it takes me a long time to really wake up fully.

Have a good week. Only 20 days left 'til Christmas.

Frustrating Day...

Me and my big fat mouth fingers. I just had to go and say write that I hadn't seen a snow flake, didn't I? I saw my first one yesterday around 11:00 AM and it hasn't stopped since. We only have a couple of inches, thank goodness.

What an interesting day yesterday was. I told you that the satellite repairman called to get directions. He said at that time that he had a couple of other calls to make before he got to me but if he would be too late he'd call and let me know. I got a call all right, from his main office in Raleigh, NC, apologizing that he wouldn't make it because he had to go home sick. They told me to call the Dish people and reschedule. I hate calling them on the weekend because I don't get anyone that lives in the US. Their weekend tech support is based in India. And I have very difficult time understanding them. But I had to bite the bullet and do it anyway. After punching 1 or 2 or 3 at least 1,325 times, I started just punching zero until someone answered. As I was talking to the person and trying to explain that they had called and said the guy wouldn't be coming he pulled up in my driveway. I was wondering how someone in NC would know that someone in WV was sick and I got my answer. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

He came in and went through all the checking procedures through the TV (which I had already gone through) and couldn't find anything wrong. I explained that an error message came up only periodically and that it said Error 004. He still had no idea what that was. So he went out and proceeded to climb on a ladder to check the satellite itself. He got a step ladder out of his truck and was getting ready to back his truck up to the edge of the house to put the step ladder on the tail gate of the truck. Thank goodness I was watching out the window. I ran out and told him where my extension ladder was. I've never had to call 911 for an ambulance and didn't want to do it then either. It's hard telling how long it would take them to get here and it is really cold out right now.

He checked everything on the satellite itself and found nothing wrong. I kept suggesting that he call tech support and he wouldn't do it. There is a way you can get into tech support on the TV so he did that. I don't think he wanted to talk to anyone from India either. Well, in the tech support system on the TV you are asked to type in the error number and it will tell you what the problem is. NOT. It kept coming up "invalid error number." So all in all there was nothing found to be wrong with the system and the trip was for naught. But he was a nice young man and has a brother that does construction work and he gave me his card so I may have someone that can do some work for me when the weather gets a little better.

I still don't have railings on my stairs and a little trim work needs to be completed before I can get carpeting and the brother does all that kind of stuff including flooring. So maybe it wasn't a complete wash.

I have a service contract with the Dish people and they told me when I called that I'd have to pay the repair man $29.95 for the service call. I argued about that a while and was told that the service call wasn't included in the contract, just their equipment. Well...the nice young fellow informed me that there would NEVER be a service fee and that the service call WAS included in my contract and if I ever had anyone out here that asked for money to refuse. At least I didn't have to pay for a service call that found nothing wrong. And so far I haven't gotten the error message again.

Easting wasn't so good yesterday and it wasn't so bad either. Got the munchies again last night and couldn't quell them with my usual tricks. Didn't exercise yesterday either. Got to thinking about it yesterday and decided to come up with a plan that would, maybe, keep me on a exercise regiment without making myself think I'm pushing myself so much that I might rebel and quit all together again. So...I decided to do the DVD Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. This way I'm giving myself the weekend off and a day off in the middle of the week. I know it should be more than 4 days a week but at least it isn't zero days a week. And maybe if I can turn that into a habit I can add more days or different things later on.

I've crocheted myself a scarf and mittens to match. The gloves I had already, didn't go with my coat at all and for the life of me I can't figure out why that matters here in the mountains but I just wanted a set that would look nice in case I ever go anywhere that someone may see me. I started making myself a sweater last spring and am about halfway through the front. I put it aside to start on Christmas gifts so I got that out yesterday and will work on it some here and there. I shouldn't have started it because I hate working on large projects. I like instant gratification and that isn't going to be the case with a sweater. And it will probably be too big when I finish it since I started it 20 pounds ago. But at least I'm making it out of cotton so maybe I can shrink it. Haven't looked closely at the label yet and I'm hoping the yarn isn't the preshrunk kind. I may just have to wear it big and not worry about it.

So how was your Saturday?

Soup Weather...

Found something really yummy. I made a pot of Taco Soup and had a left over corn muffin. It was soooooo good. The soup is yummy in it's own right but with the corn bread it is even better.

And soup weather is definitely here in the mountains. It was 15 when I got up this morning at 8:00.

I'm having trouble with my satellite and have a repairman coming this afternoon to fix it. He called to get directions and asked what the problem was. (Guess technical support doesn't give the repair men much info on what is wrong, they must just call and say this person needs service.) When I told him it was error number 004 (which is what comes up on the screen periodically) he had no idea what that was. This is going to be a fustercluck for sure. And I was impressed that he actually has 4-wheel drive so that means he won't have any problems getting up the mountain. I haven't been off the mountain in a week so I don't know how bad the main (dirt) road is coming up but I know my driveway is clear.

We still haven't gotten any snow and they are predicting it every day. Only 20% to 30% but you'd think I would see a flake now and then. Hey, I'm not complaining about it though. I just hope it holds off until after my doctors appointment on Tuesday. Then I've got a dentist appointment the next week but that one I can cancel if the weather is bad. And since I hate going to the dentist almost as much as getting the dreaded yearly body exam, I won't mind putting that one off until better weather. I was kinda stupid for making it in December anyway.

Had one of my munchy nights last night. I was just thinking about that the other day and was amazed that I had quit munching all evening like I used to. Guess it's going to hit in cycles. It was really hard to break that habit, so I hate to start it up again. I broke it by just mind over matter. Every time I'd get a craving I'd just stand up, walk around the living room a while and assess my hunger level. If it was just cravings and not hunger I'd set back down and continue crocheting or watching TV. If it was really bad I'd get ONE Hersey's dark chocolate kiss and put it on the roof of my mouth and tell myself that it was all I was going to get in the sweets category. And if it was salt that I craved I'd have a few (and no more) almonds. It took a couple of weeks and a lot of will power, but it finally kicked in and I haven't had the cravings in a while. It does help to make sure I am really full after supper.

Have a great weekend.

I Wanna Be a Meterologist...

Meteorologists suck. We never got the ice storm (thank goodness) and didn't even get the rain or snow they changed their forecast too. They also forested snow today and through the weekend and the sun is out today and the skies are beautiful. I guess I talk about the weather so much because I'm fascinated with it (certainly not because I'm old). I've been fascinated with it all my life. I should have gone to school to be a meteorologist instead of a teacher. I've even looked on line for courses on it but they are way too expensive, so I guess I'll just talk about it instead.

Yep, I did the DVD again yesterday. Gonna take today off. Don't want to wear it out or get bored with it too soon. And since I'm so out of shape I should probably take it easy at first anyway.

Eating was good yesterday except the cream cheese I got into last night. I had stuffed celery as a snack. Now if it weren't for the cream cheese on it that would have been a good snack. But I had some left over from the cake I'd made and it kept talking to me. Well, I got my fill and to beat it all it didn't taste as good as it used to. YAY!! I won't be wanting that for a long, long time since I didn't enjoy it. It's kinda funny how some of the things I used to love just don't taste that good anymore (then again, some do).

I started having cramps about a week ago and I haven't had the "ick" in 10 years or so. So I decided I better go to the doctor and have it checked out. Got an appointment next Tuesday. I've been putting it off since hubby died and he wasn't around to goad me every year about it. Guess I'll have to have that dreaded mammogram too. YUCK!

I'm a little excited about going to the doctor, since I haven't been since I started losing weight. I sure hope he's pleased with me about it.

Finally got all my Christmas crocheting projects done last weekend and now I'm crocheting for me. That's part of the reason I got finished so soon, I'm sure. There were several things I wanted to make for myself and I wouldn't even start on them until I got all the other stuff finished.

Have a great weekend out there folks.

Ouch...

Well, I did it. I actually got off my duff and put the DVD in and danced with Richard Simmons. Didn't do much sweatin' cause I had the heat turned down and it was a little chilly in here when I started but I was nice a warm when I finished. The DVD is an hour long but I only made it half way through and just couldn't stand huffing and puffing any more. Boy, I've got a lot of work to do to get back to where I was this summer. I actually enjoyed it and will do it again today. One of the best parts of his DVD's is that there are people up there dancing with him that are my size and what used to be my size. I've tried several others but didn't like them because the people on there could do everything perfectly and definitely didn't look like they had ever been over weight or out of shape.

He stopped about 15 minutes into it and had us take our pulse and mine was 270. Forgot to strap on the HRM but will do that today and record my accomplishments. The ouch in the title is my neck. In one of the dances he had us stretch our necks and boy did mine crack when I bent it to the side. I think I over did that one a little because my neck is really sore on one side. Funny how we don't move our neck in every day living.

I've got his second one too but won't try that one right now. It is supposed to be a little more intense and right now I just want to try to make it through the first one all the way through.

I've got some extra water run and filled up all the animal's dishes, so we are set if the power goes off. I've got a rechargable lantern but for the life of me I can't find the charger. I haven't used it since my hubby died and I don't know where he put it. So it will just have to be candles and oil lamps.

Dependancies...

Been watching the weather reports closely and I think it's about time to run some back up water for tomorrow. They are predicting a wintry mix in my area. So just in case there's ice I want to be prepared. Prepared for the electricity to go out. I've got plenty of candles, extra batteries and some oil lamps. I even got book lights, one for upstairs and one for down so it will be easier to read. Now if I could just figure out a way to make a battery operated crochet light. Hmm, maybe I aught to try my hand at being an inventor. Oh, and I even have some of those little Sterno cooking thingies. It really doesn't cook anything but warms it up. So I've got soup in the freezer for emergencies. I may even make another batch today, just in case. Who knows, maybe if I get really prepared it won't happen.

The last time the electricity was off for a extended period of time (three days) I packed a bag and called a local motel to see if they had power (not in that order). They did and accepted dogs. As I was getting ready to walk out the door the power came on. The power going off is the only thing I dread about living where I do. Everything else I love.

Maybe I should look into getting a generator. Wonder how long it will run on one tank of gas? Guess I could do some research. Course then I'd have to have an electrician come out and hook it up to my fridge, well, TV, some lights, hot water tank and the microwave. Hey, that would take a large generator!

We sure do depend on electricity a lot in this day and time. And fortunately I'm not old enough to remember any times without electricity.

My eating was horrible yesterday. I got into things I shouldn't have. Just had to have some broccoli with cheese sauce. And I didn't use the kind of cheese that's good for me either, nooooo, I had some Velveeta and used it. There was some left over and I threw it away this morning. All the Velveeta is gone now, thank goodness.

As soon as I'm through catching up on what's going on in your lives I'm putting on an exercise DVD and do some sweatin' before my shower. So there.

Have a great Wednesday.

Borrrrrrrrring and an NSV...

Well, I think I did a little too much thinking on yesterdays post. I'll try not to do that again. It's just not my forte. Sorry I was sooooo boring.

After going out to dinner and a movie (we walked between the restaurant and theater) last Saturday I discovered that my jeans were too light weight for winter and they are the only pants I have so I started catalog and on-line shopping. Thought I'd get a pair of chords. After looking at the size charts I've discovered that I have a size 12 butt and a size 14 waist. I just hate having a baggy butt so I went searching for stretch chords. I hate to order them on-line without trying them on so I started getting disgusted. Then I remembered picking up some jeans at Wally World at the first of the summer and after getting them home I discovered they were stretch but too slim cut, but I kept them hoping they'd fit later on. So off I went to the bottom drawers of my stash and found them. Hey they are 14P slim and fit perfectly and they are heavy enough for winter. Yay, I don't have to waste the money on a new pair of jeans but I'd still like a pair of chords.

Haven't done so well the past couple of days with my eating. I haven't eaten unhealthy but a bit too much. I've gotten down all my water though and that's a good thing. I've also noticed since the bread problem (almost running out), I'm eating more bread than usual. Just craving those sammies. So I've got to get a handle on that one. A loaf has been lasting me about 2 weeks and last week I went through a whole loaf. So far it's going better. I've never been much of a sandwich person and usually didn't eat that much store bought loaves of bread. I much prefer biscuits and corn bread and hot rolls. At least I don't have them often because I'd do myself real damage. Although I am considering whipping up some corn muffins to have with some pinto beans for supper. I do have enough will power to freeze the left overs and use them sparingly.

Things are back to normal for me and the dogs since the puppy's gone. Sure glad for that. When you're as old as I am (and the dogs) change is a little hard on us.

I entered the Mary Lou's Weigh Platform Giveaway!

Check out Roni’s Weight Loss Blog for more information.

With all the problems I've been having lately this just might be the key to keeping me on track.

So how's your week going after the holiday?

Here's to Us...

As we are at the end of a challenging holiday and preparing for another, here's a toast to us:


May we recover from our indulgences of this last holiday celebration,

And may we survive the next with little or no regrets.




Don't know if this will help but it couldn't hurt.

This is a really hard time for those of us that are trying to become healthier and happier through weight loss and/or exercise. I've noticed that a lot of us (me included) have been struggling with sticking to our regiments lately. Whether they are obsessions with trying to eat correctly or struggling with trying to keep up the exercise programs we have set for ourselves. After giving these problems considerable thought, I've come to the conclusion that it may just be the holiday seasons that we were facing. Now that one is down and there's one more to struggle through, we are going to need all the encouragement we can get. So lets be sure to read and comment as often as we can to help each other out.

We all know that stress makes us struggle harder with our plans for becoming or staying healthy, and there surely is a lot of stress during this time of the year.

I've been searching for help on this problem and have come across these:

1. Write about your stress. (we are doing this with our blogs so we've got that one covered)

2. Basic breathing exercises...with this technique you breath in through your nose to the count of 5 and breath out through your mouth to the count of 8 being mindful that you breath with your stomach. This is also called "baby breathing."

3. Music therapy...helps change the mood of your day and can be very relaxing.

4. Humor therapy...laugh, laugh, laugh, even at yourself.

5. Guided imagery...find a relaxing place to set and begin the basic breathing exercise. Then call up an image of yourself in the most relaxing setting you can think of. As you are in this setting try to involve all your senses. Think about how it looks, smells, feels, sounds and tastes. Stay here for as long as you can and enjoy your mini-vacation.

6. Progressive muscle relaxation...You do this through flexing and relaxing each of our muscles to help us relieve tension and feel more relaxed. Start with the face, then work down the body from the shoulder to the toes.

7. Sex...don't think I need to go into this one any further. But the article I read said that when we are stressed this may not happen as often as needed to be helpful so those of us that have a partner may want to try to make a little more time for it.

8. Yoga

9. Exercise...we need to keep those endorphins flowing to help relax us.

If you have any suggestions or other stress relievers you use please share them with us.