Bring it on

I finally feel a little refreshed and revived after a 3 day weekend and tons of fun with my family and friends.

This is the garden we built in honor of my mom's 60th birthday. My sister and I bought the pig and the sunflower from a local couple who do gorgeous scrap metal art. My mom is a big folk art fan and we thought it would be fun for her to have some for her yard to remind her of all of us :). All 7 of us kids made stepping stones with messages on them to lead up the hill to the garden. It turned out SO nice and she was so happy with it. It was a lot of work but I think seeing us all working together on it was the best part of it for my mom. That is my sister in law and my little nephew in the picture.


I was depressed when I woke up yesterday and realized it was already Sunday but then told myself that It's up to me to face the week ahead with a good attitude. It's a challenging time right now but I can't let that continue to control my life. I started out by preparing a ton of good food for the week so at least I know what's for dinner every night. I have a ton of vegetables that I bought on the way home from the mountains. For $3.59 I got a huge cabbage, 2 sweet potatoes, and 2 meals worth of zucchini and yellow squash. Everything is washed and ready to go. The cooking instructions are on the fridge and HIGHLIGHTED so my husband can put things in the oven. No excuses to skip the gym which hasn't seen my fat ass in 2 weeks!

As I was finishing the above paragraph, I just got word that my friends dog died this morning of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Apparently it's going around so for all dog owners out there, please be extra vigilant. They think she may have eaten some discarded food on a walk. Bless her little heart. Positive attitude just took a little blow.

I did bring my copy of The Secret with me to work to read on my lunch break. I half-heartedly read it once but I think I really need to look at it more because I really believe in the laws of attraction. I guess it can't hurt and maybe it will help me get a fabulous job.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that your weeks are off to a good start!

Would it kill you?

Thanks so much for all of your uplifting comments yesterday. I feel a million times better today even though I just had to take money out of savings to pay bills. At least there was some there.

"Would it kill you" was a phrase that was used often in our house growing up even though it's not a very Catholic thing to say ; ) It was always "would it kill you to pick that up off the floor?" or "would it kill you be nicer to your sisters?" I was thinking about this a lot on my way home last night and decided I should really ask myself that question more often.

Would it kill me to go to the gym? No
Would it kill me to NOT go to the gym? Probably, eventually
Would it kill me to enjoy friends without alcohol? No
Would it kill me to be nicer? No
Would it kill me to get up earlier? No
Would it kill me to feel hungry now and again? No
Would it kill me to be a little more frugal? No
Would it kill me to go to work every day? No
Would it kill me to turn off the TV? No
Would it kill me to eat more vegetables? No

The list could go on and on but the bottom line is I need to quit whining and face the hard facts that the stuff I have to face everyday is really not going to kill me.

Moving on, I'm celebrating the 4th by scraping paint all day tomorrow and then piling the husband and the dogs in the car to go to my moms in NC on Saturday morning. It's going to be 10 degrees cooler there and I'm REALLY looking forward to that. Lots of family is coming to celebrate my moms 60th which was actually a couple weeks ago but she was out of town.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

Long week!

This week is just dragging by and it's a short one since I'm off Friday. It can't come soon enough.

I've been really down in the dumps again due to the usual crap. Each week I keep thinking something is going to happen to restore my optimism about my future but there's nothing happening. I continue to struggle to pay every bill but seem to work harder than ever. I know that so many people have it so much worse and I should be grateful to have a job etc. etc. but some days it really eats away at me. It doesn't help that I'm hungover from 4 beers I shouldn't have had last night but was necessary to get me through a really uncomfortable situation.

I had to go to a friends house for a get together since it's his little girls birthday and I missed the party over the weekend. The uncomfortable part? The way this little girl is taken care of breaks my heart. Her parents split up a couple of years ago and neither one of them want her. They take her a week at a time. I no longer speak to the mother so I'm not sure the situation over at her house but at her dad's it's not so pleasant. She was absolutely filthy from school and living out of a suitcase on the floor of her also filthy room. She turned 6 yesterday and I know 3 year olds that are more advanced and better behaved. She has obviously had developmental problems since she was a baby but no-one seems to give a crap. It's just hard for me to see and there is absolutely NOTHING I can do about it. It's not my problem nor my right to step in unless she was really in danger.

I'm really not sitting on my ass waiting for some breakthrough on the career/financial front. I'm working on a few side projects that I've always wanted to do and hopefully one of those will be a "way out". I also think not having had a true vacation in over a year has taken it's toll on my spirits. I thought about switching up my anxiety meds but right now I owe the doctor $500 that I don't have for my last physical which insurance didn't cover. (our "director of administration" failed to note that part when she switched our insurance plan)

Sorry to be such a downer folks but it's all part of the roller coaster ride that is my life. Things I'm grateful for today? The best husband in the world, 2 sweet rescue mutts, great neighbors and my blog friends. Oh and the 3 day weekend coming up. Now if it would just hurry up and get here!

*Edited to say that I'm not weighing in this week. That's the last thing I need because I know I've gained this week. My gym bag has sat unused in the car since Monday. If this headache will go away, I'll go tonight. I think I need it to get out of this funk.

The V8 on the ceiling

was caused by me dropping a can on the Spanish tile in the kitchen. There is not a corner that was spared. I'm still finding it today. Thanks again to my friend the Magic Eraser. I know you all were dying of curiosity. I suppose I could have made up a REALLY good story ; )

I'm so busy today and not in an altogether great mood so I'm going to read some blogs and get back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Monday Mix Tape

Another weekend gone in the blink of an eye. It was a good mix of hard work and relaxing as always. We've made it through the experimental stage of scraping off 60+ years of paint on our house and are at the "doing it" stage now. We have about a 4 hour window in the morning where we can work on the worst side before the sun is directly above us. It it is hellish work but we manage to have some fun.

husband: Shouldn't you be wearing eye protection?
me: yes but I'm not going to wear my Kate Spade sunglasses with all this dust.
husband: We should buy some safety goggles.
me: Yes I know but I haven't found any I liked.
husband: What, are you looking for Hello Kitty ones or something?

It's funny because it's true. Well, I wasn't thinking Hello Kitty exactly but something for girls at least!

Even though I sweat through my clothes all weekend, I haven't been to the gym in a week! I have my bag packed for tonight and even though I usually take Mondays off, Jack Sh*t made a comment last week that has stuck with me. He said he doesn't schedule an off day from working out since life usually takes care of that for him. SO TRUE. Something usually comes up in my busy life so no more scheduled "off" day.

Speaking of things coming up, I've got to get out of bed earlier than I do. We've already covered why I don't work out in the morning but I need to not be cutting it so close. There was V8 on the ceiling this morning and a neighbors dog was loose and I was so distracted our dog grabbed one of the sandwich thins I had out for our lunch. Complete chaos. I also went out last night and failed to do much preparation for the week so now I have to go to the gym, stop at Trader Joes then go home and make dinner while assembling the meatloaf muffins I planned on making yesterday. I'm leaving a half hour early today to try and make up some time. Thank God it rained Saturday night so I don't have to add watering to the chore list. There just never seems to be enough time. I don't know how you people with kids do it!!

I guess this post was as chaotic as my morning and this week is not going to be much better. I'm going to try to fit it all in and keep my sanity. Luckily I have Friday off or I would really be stressed out right now! Is it crazy that I look forward to a day off so I have time to scrape paint?

Sweat Management

Sweating has been a hot topic (pun intended) on my blog and many more lately so I thought I would share a few things that have helped me manage it a little - mostly to spare the people around me from having to see me dripping or worse, get any on them.

I'm that girl at the gym that Gigi wrote about yesterday. The one with all the "gear". I will spend ANY amount of money to make myself comfortable while working out.

Okay here are my new "favorite things". If I was Oprah I would give you all one of everything!

The Halo Headband - I bought mine at REI
This thing is great. I spent $12.95 on a sweat band because I didn't like the way the traditional sweatbands look but this one blows the old school ones away. It's made of anti-microbial material and there are some pads on the inside that block the sweat from dripping in your eyes. It's a miracle people. No sweat in the contacts is a beautiful thing and it looks cute!

The Paktowl - Also purchased at REI
I started using these on the 3-Day and have bought a new one to use in the gym. They are ultra-light, super absorbent towels that come in a pouch. They are pricey but they last forever (if you don't lose them like I do) My gym provides towels but they are too big and rough and they always slide off the machine. This one has a tag that unsnaps and you can hook it on something. I also like it because it's more subtle than the huge white towel when I'm wiping myself off. Damn I'm seriously more worried about my appearance than I thought I was!


Incase ipod armband - bought at Target

Fat [Free] Me posted about her smelly armband at the gym and motivated me to finally buy a more comfortable one that was washable (and hadn't been chewed on by the dog). I love this although if you have skinny arms it would probably be too big. I'll let y'all know when mine falls off because my arms are too skinny ;) Thank you for everyone who suggested to put my headphones on before I put my shirt on. Awesome Idea I never would have thought of. Now I can wait until the Motorola wireless headphones are cheaper! I still find it weird to walk around listening to my own soundtrack. I feel like I'm in a movie!

I'm done plugging sweat management products now. No one has paid me to review these or anything but Al Roker said it was over 90 degrees in 80% of the United States today so I'm sure I'm not the only one having "issues".

Have a great day everyone!

How much did she lose this week?

ZERO!

That was of course expected after my 7 pounds in 7 days. I'm thrilled that has stayed off!

I really need to get back in the gym tonight but I got 5 hours sleep due to my concert last night. It's going to be tough to drag myself there but I wore my workout clothes to work as extra motivation. My ankle is killing me from standing for 5 hours but it was worth it. One thing that's great about being obsessed with being at the front of the stage is that there was no opportunity to go to the bar. My friend was kind enough to get some water through the crowd to my sister and I who were up there dancing like fools. It was great fun and I'm sure I burned some good calories...I was tempted to wear my heart rate monitor but that's just a little over the top ;)

Time to work toward that next goal of 10%. Bring it on!!