I am having an AWESOME week!!!

What's the phrase... "when it rains, it pours"??? Although that tends to remind me of bad things... and this week has not been that (well, except for my frustrations with the girls!) But get this... I already told ya'll (I hope I spelt that right, Miz Ginga) how on Tuesday quite out of the blue I get a phone call from the library regarding an application I turned in about 6 months ago. It was quite a surprise! So I am still flying high from that phone call when on Wednesday morning I get a call from a lady I met in February regarding a job as an office assistant. She wants to meet with me as soon as possible to see if we suit each other's needs.

So I went from being completely miserable at my current job... trying to decide if I should make the move to dayside there and now I have two possible other prospects! Well, I met with this woman today... she took me to lunch... get this at the restaurant that is directly below my husband's office... her office is 1/2 mile from his. Anyway, we discussed what I do at my current job... am I happy there...what do I like/dislike... then we talk about what she is looking for. Basically, she already has 1 assistant but is in desperate need of a second one part-time to start. The hours are 10-2, M-F (just 2-4 hours less than my current job) and very flexible. She said I should have no problem getting off for kids events at school, etc. She understands all too well the joys of having been a stay at home mom. I also mentioned a possible 2 week vacation in August and she said that would not be a problem. And as I said, it's only 1/2 mile from J's office. The only down-side (and it's not that big of a down-side is that the pay is the nearly the same as what I make now... a few cents less, in fact). But she did mention that they hope this position will eventually evolve into a full-time postition with more responsibilities.

I was straight forward with her and told her about the library interview. She said I definitely need to go thru with that... play out all my options. But if I want the job, it sounds like it is mine and all I need to do is let her know by mid-week. I love the great benefits... more time to spend with the kids (I hate the thought of being gone from them for 8 hours a day during the summer) and the flexibility. But the thought of working in a library with all those BOOKS!! and I have to admit that the pay at the library is great! Now I haven't even interviewed with the library yet... that's tomorrow a.m. (thank you all for your words of encouragement and luck!). I just don't know how long they will make me wait to hear yay or nay. I have to be honest with ya'll... if I didn't have the library job sitting on the interview table right now, I would've walked into T tonight and gladly handed in my two week notice!

I will post tomorrow on my thoughts about the interview... maybe I will really blow it and I will know right away that I don't have a hope in hell of getting it! :)

My 3 Good Things:
1. A great job offer!
2. A great workout of strength exercises
3. My turkey/cheese/chipotle sandwich at B&N cafe!

Today was better...

With respect to the girls... at least bedtime was smoother. However, we were shopping at Target and I swear the two of them just have to nitpick at each other... K2 has to hang onto the cart that K3 is pushing... then will walk faster or slower. Then if K2 said anything to her sister, K3 would respond and respond and respond. My mantra became "Just let it go. Just let it go." Ahh well, I need to appreciate the good times more and not take them for granted.

Good news... the library called me. I had filled out an application back in November for a library technician job. I never even made it to interview stage... talk about depressing!! Anyway, today I got a call from the library... nothing new there as they call me just about every other day letting me know that I book I have on hold came in. However, this time as I was listening to the machine, the woman says "hi, this is Sue from the *** library..." And I am thinking, "Huh, that's new... they never introduce themselves when they call about a hold." The woman then goes on to say that they are currently interviewing this week and next for a job posting and they had my application on file... was I still interested. Well, yeah... I really don't want to start a full time job right before summer but if I am offered it I will have to think about making it work. The library pays pretty well... Well, better than what I get now, that's for sure! However, it sounds like they are interviewing lots of people for this job so I am not getting my hopes up... if it works out great... if not, that might not be such a bad thing. Anyway, I am interviewing on Friday morning and I hate interviews... I never feel like I interview well. We'll see...

I did well on the exercise front today... another 30 minute bike ride with the girls (that makes 4 bike rides in a row!), then I did BR legs and abs today (did BR abs and arms yesterday.) I also took my measurements AGAIN today... although I have no idea how I compare to January. I lost the paper I wrote them down on and I thought I entered them on the computer but if I did I can't find where... so today I start fresh with the measurements. Still it would've been nice to see how I did... then again... maybe not... considering how lackluster my exercise performance was this winter. :)

I finished The Raven Prince today... awesome book!!! It was so unlike what I grew to hate about historicals... this one actually deserved a scorching rating... it was HOT! My biggest problem reading too many historicals is how everyone is so prim and proper and there is not a lot of nautiness... yes, I know I LOVE P&P but I still don't want a steady diet of it. Give me something HOT and I usually found that historicals didn't cut it. Also, I love that this one, neither the hero nor the heroine is perfect. He has pox scars and she is plain. Gawd save me from the "perfect people". This was a great read! I may have to run to B&N tomorrow to find the next in the series... although from what I read it may not be quite as good but that's okay... just so it's not a dud.

I should go to bed... 5 a.m. comes way too soon... but before I go... my 3 good things:
1. Reading a GOOD book.
2. News about the job interview.
3. My boss telling me I did an awesome job last night (I did, and deserved her noticing.)

Arrrghhhh....

Someone...please anyone!!! Please tell me that someday my girls will be friends and actually like each other. They have days...well, maybe not days but definitely periods of time when they actually get along and can play well together. But then there are times like right now... K2 is down in the basement pissed off angry because her sister always gets things her way...

They were playing outside together after school very nicely... they had their bikes out and were zipping around the driveway. In the past we didn't always remember to close the garage door and there were times that I would come home from work at 5 a.m. and see it sitting wide open. Well, now that I have a nice bike in there, I have stressed the importance of closing the door when we are done with it. We live in a nice area but still... crime happens everywhere these days. So while I am doing BR arms, it dawns on me to ask the girls if they closed the garage door when they came in. OMIGAWD! It was as if I had accused someone of some atrocious act! Right away, K2 says that she wanted to but K3 wouldn't let her. K3, of course, has to deny this. Meanwhile, I am trying to finish arms...trying to relax before going into work (which if I don't wrap this up soon, I will be late!)... and listening to the two of them bicker about why the door didn't get closed. I finally lost it and told them to go check and see if it was closed. J gets involved at this point and tells the two of them to go outside, "Yes, in your pajamas."... to check the door. It doesn't matter who was last in... they both are supposed to go and check. Well, K2 is outraged at the injustice of it all... she didn't do anything... it was all her sister's fault... K3 is ruining her life!

She is now back upstairs in her room, telling her sister that she hates her because she ruins her life...

Do you think there is hope for these two? Will they ever be friends and appreciate what they have in each other? I am 11 years younger than my sister. By the time, I was old enough to appreciate having a sister, she was moved out and gone. I never felt close to my sister mainly because of the age difference. I would've loved to have a sister to confide in.. to teach me things. But I didn't... I look at these two and think how lucky they are and they don't even know it.

Ugh... I just want them to like each other... is there hope?

Okay... strange to do it here... and it is rather difficult tonight but here are my 3 Good things... I think I need to remind myself of them now more than ever...
1. A nice big hug from J
2. Fairly easy night at work last night
3. Lily, the guinea pig, greeting me when I sit at the computer.

My 3 Good Things (from Sunday)... just a little late...

1. Biking to the grocery store.
2. Running into a teacher's aide from school.
3. Watching Extreme Home Make-Over and being thankful for the family that I have.

Finally Spring has Arrived!

The temps finally hit the 50's today! Although we didn't take advantage of it right away. The kids had popped in a movie and I curled up with Vengeance in Death and finished it!! Good book!

I finally got to pull out that new bike and give it a try. K2 and I went for a 40 minute ride thru the neighborhood. Hmm... I need to be sure to continue to do BR legs... my legs were burning for a bit... can't have that now. I know I can do better.

For dinner, we threw a couple of cheap steaks onto the grill and added a salad, baked potatoes (sweet potato for me), some green beans and French bread. A most fantastic meal! I even surprised the kids with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Nothing much going on tonight... I think I am going to crash with a new book... I have two historicals sent from the Book Pimp via Sinful that I have yet to read... The Raven Prince and A Lady's Pleasure. I think I will start with RP, I believe I heard good things on the BB about it.

So goodnight, all! Hope you are having a good weekend.

My 3 good things:
1. Bike ride
2. All the kids getting their bikes ready for spring
3. Strawberry shortcake

Just another day...

We had a nice, quiet day today... no late night rush to the ER. :) I woke K1 up this morning to see how his hand was doing. He had taken the wrap off sometime during the night and seemed to be doing much better... he could now bend his fingers and the swelling was almost completely gone. We decided not to visit his pediatrician today since it looked like everything was back to normal. It is strange what happened.... J mentioned to me this a.m. that the one thing no one mentioned (although Sin did here on my blog) was a bug bite. I suppose that's what it could've been but it has been so cold here for the last week and a half... I haven't seem many spiders or such around. But whatever it was seems to have cleared up.

Many of you probably thought I was psycho to run away with the idea of the blood clot but once you know someone who died that way... the image is hard to reject from your mind. My former sister-in-law lost her nephew this way. He had been in a slight accident where his leg was injured... they took care of him at the hospital, wrapped his leg and sent him home. That night he started to feel weak and lethargic and before the ambulance could arrive, he died in his dad's arms. He was 15. Whenever I hear of a child dying, the image stays with me... whether I knew them or not. I don't want it happening to me. So that is why when K1's hand went ice cold last night and the pain moved from his fingers to his hand to his mid-forearm, I knew I wanted to be at the hospital in case anything went further wrong. It was me being a worrisome mom.

But all is well today... thank gawd... and now we just wait for the ER bill. J and I were playing guessing games at how much it would be... he is guessing $2K... I don't think it will be quite that much but we haven't had an ER visit in 8 years so what do I know?

The rest of today was very uneventful... The girls cleared some books off their bookshelves and we took those in to Half Price Books today ($14 for a bag of children books... not bad!) Then we went to Barnes and Noble for lunch... I have missed my Turkey Chipotle sandwich this week! When we came home, K2 and I checked the internet for the nutrition info on what we ate... not bad and some not good. My iced tea is safe and the sandwich isn't bad... about 320 calories... but it is the dessert that got us... The girls split a Molten Chocolate Bundt cake (47o calories...but they shared it) and I thought I was getting a healthier choice with the Lemon Raspberry Square... HA! It was 420 calories!!!! And I didn't share mine... ouch!

When we came home, the temps were only in the 40's but the sun was shining... so I wanted to go for a walk and the girls joined me. We had a lovely hour walk down to a local pond... still too cold for the frogs though.

Then tonight after J came home and ate we went to Target... I needed a new bike helmet because I know it is going to warm up soon and I plan to be on my bike! Plus, we checked out bikes for K2... she claims she needs a new one and her birthday is coming up in June so maybe...

A nice quiet day...very, very enjoyable!

My 3 good things:
1. Turkey Chipotle Panini sandwich
2. K3 discovering a "waterfall" in the neighbor's drainage ditch
3. Sleeping in this a.m. after J left for work

An ER Visit...

We have been very lucky... we have three kids and before tonight have only visited the ER once...back when K3 was 17 months old and had croup (scary!). Tonight's visit was a toss-up on whether we should go to ER or Urgent Care but the unknown led us to the ER.

Earlier today around 1:00 p.m. K1 complained that his middle finger hurt (NO! Not from overuse!!). I disregarded it as nothing. About an hour later, he came to me and said now it hurt across all of his fingers. I took a closer look and it seemed as if his hand was swelling. I watched it over the next hour and it was extremely warm to the touch and the swelling had definitely increased. I called J at work and his diagnosis was tendonitis either from shoveling yesterday or increased video game playing... nothing to worry about.

A short time later I was on the phone with a college friend and told her about K1's hand... she said to go in to the doctor. That's why we have insurance to help alleviate those fears of the unknown. By 5:00 I was going to take him into Urgent Care but by then his hand though still swollen was no longer warm... it had cooled down considerably. However, he could not bend or move his hand in any way. K1 said it didn't hurt as long as no one touched it (which K3 made the mistake of bumping into it and he almost broke down and cried). We had just finished eating dinner around 7:15 and I brought it up to J again. He started touching it (K1 said it hurt!) and J said that K's hand was ice cold. Something was definitely wrong... swelling, poor circulation, touch sensitive. J called his parents who both work in medical professions but they couldn't offer any advice other than to take him in.

Because of the severity of his condition at the time, J and I both decided to go which meant the girls had to come along as well. We debated whether Urgent Care or ER... but I was worried about worse case scenario of a blood clot and thought I would feel better being at the hospital. We have a wonderful Children's Hospital accessible to us and decided to trust them with our son. We didn't have to wait long... maybe 20 minutes at most before we were seen in Triage and then led to an exam room.

Our doctor was extremely stumped... she ordered x-rays, motrin and a warm soak. All which showed or did nothing. His x-ray showed no breaks. The motrin so far has not brought down the swelling and the warm soak evened out his skin tone a bit (it was really mottled when we went in). Our doc conferred with a veteran doctor and they also consulted with a rheumatologist. They could not come to any conclusion on what was happening. They did rule out a clot based on a strong blood pressure reading and reactive crit (pressure to the cuticle). Our orders are to continue ibuprofen every 6-8 hours for 48 hours and see his pediatrician tomorrow. For now I am resting a bit easier and hope that tomorrow brings some sort of answers or at least a return to normal of his hand.

So based on our excitement and anxiety today and tonight... my 3 good things for today all relate to K1's medical emergency...

1. The ability to have a choice on where to get good medical care for ourselves and our children.
2. Girls being concerned over the pain their brother was feeling.
3. Being reassured that our son did not have a blood clot.

Keeping Things in Perspective...

The present is what slips by us while we're pondering the past and worrying about the future.
- Ziggy, cartoon foible


Ain't that the truth... how much time do we spend thinking about something we did yesterday or last week... did we do the right thing... would we do it differently if given the chance? Or what about worrying about tomorrow? I have a work review coming up... I wonder how I'll do... or how am I going to pay for braces? IS this you?? I know it's me... I spend so much time criticizing myself over things I did or didn't do yesterday and worrying about what I have coming up. What happened to living in the present?

Ziggy is absolutely right on this one... poor Ziggy... he gets placed in one sucky scenario after another and always manages to come out okay... If anyone knows that tomorrow will probably suck, it is definitely Ziggy yet he manages to face each day with a smile. Well, okay, he's a cartoon character, I mean really what does he really have to worry about... his creator's pen running dry? But seriously, I know I could use more humor in my life... more smiles... maybe that would help with facing each day even knowing that it was going to be a bad one.

Back when I first started doing my food/mood logging as suggested by Alden at the end of each log I would list my 3 good things. Part of this idea was stolen from someone else on the BB, but I don't think she'd mind. Somedays I was hard pressed to come up with 3 things but I usually did after some thought... it didn't have to be life changing good things... anything simple that simply made me smile that day would qualify. The funny thing is some of those things I took for granted until I actually sat back and reflected on the day itself. How many of those things would have gone forgotten if I hadn't made myself think about them? So yeah, worrying about yesterday and tomorrow while sometimes necessary shouldn't take up all our time... we need to live in the here and now and appreciate the good, no matter how small. Don't let your today slip away...

My 3 good things from today:
1. Appreciating a pretty snowy day (knowing full well it won't last long!)
2. A trip to Starbucks with K2
3. Hearing Philadelphia Freedom on the radio and remembering

So Many Thank You's to Send Out...

This is a post that I meant to do last Friday... Thursday was one of the best mail days that I ever had! That day in the mail, I recieved 2 manilla envelopes, 1 priority mail envelope and a small box... and not one bill in the bunch!! In the two manilla envelopes were books, one an old Suzanne Brockman, Kiss and Tell, I bought on-line and from Janet, I received another great JD Robb. She knows that I love this series and am far behind in it... I seriously think the woman is doing all that she can to see that I get to read the entire series. :) The box came all the way from merry old England from a wonderful lady that I am exchanging books with... I find some old American ones on her wish list... and she sends me some for K2 (who apparently has a great fondness for British authors). The box from Annie contained the Doomspell trilogy in one bound book, the World Book Day, Vampirates, and another she sent as an extra, The Code of Romulus. This exchange has been such a gift!! K2 gets copies of books that aren't published here in the States (as is the case with the 2nd and 3rd books of the Doomspell Trilogy) or aren't scheduled to be published here for months yet. Also... her friends think it's pretty cool that she has this connection to getting these books from England. How fun for her!

Then there was the last envelope. A week earlier, I had an email from Andrea asking me for my address, she had something to send me. I gladly gave it to her thinking that it was a Lisa Kleypas book... she is a big fan and I just discovered her. Well, the envelope definitely had a book in it but not exactly what I was thinking... this is what I found...






Andrea is a fellow scrapper and had made journals. She knew that I am a scrapper and decided to send one to me. While it is true that I am a scrapper, I haven't strayed far from the traditional scrapbooking path...meaning pages for scrapbooks. I had yet to try creating a journal so I was so ecstatic to receive this one! It is so beautiful and so extremely well done (J's comment... she EVEN covered the pen?!?!) I had been wanting to do this with my Brownies and was actually going to do it last week but in the end chickened out... now Andrea has inspired me to actually give it a try with the girls.

****

So my good fortune had me out shopping on Friday... trying to decide how to send the Easter spirit... I picked up partial trinkets for friends (but haven't been able to complete due to being sick) and decided to do something for the little kids that I know in my life... nieces, nephews, kids of friends.... but alas, they are all here bundled up just waiting to be mailed! And I promise!!! it wasn't my post office phobia that held me back this time!!! I was honestly and truly sick... so off they go in tomorrow's mail... at least the kids presents... not in time for Easter but I hope they truly don't mind.

****

Then my good fortune continued this week. I received cards from Cindy (220/221/whatever), Emily (sorry Em, my chocolate bar came smooshed and opened... it had to be tossed... :( ... a card, pez candy and GOAT!! from Mary (love ya, Mare... I know you believe me!), and from Brenda, a cool camo basket filled with goodies! (Not sure how you think we spend our Easter if we need Camo baskets...but leave it to you to have us prepared for any event that we need to be camoflaged! Now that the snow is gone... wear white and lay down no longer works, right?)

***

So thanks again one and all... love ya!!!

Back at it...

Well, it seems like I have my momentum back again... at least as far as working out is concerned. After a few weeks of mindless drifting and being completely stalled, I then had some good advice from a friend and was able to ease back into it. But it was definitely easing... my attempts were sporadic at best. But now I seem to have renewed vigor and am taking it to the mat...

Starting with Sunday, I have 2 walks in and they were both with J... imagine 6'2" height...thus long leg stride, so I had to work to keep up with him. Then I came home each time and went right into Abs Essentials - Level 1. I will pick some of the BR Essentials back up (especially arms and a cardio or two) but I have decided to do it progressively. Right now I can feel that my legs have been worked but I am not stiff and sore... but my abs... they hurt. All that muscle tone that I had spent months working on... yeah, it was pretty much gone, but I am getting it back. Hell, it even hurts when I sneeze...but I am looking at that as a good thing.

Food consumption has been fairly consistent. I am still trying to make better choices and have stuck to some of my life changing decisions... skim milk, greatly reducing soda intake, wheat vs white (bread, pasta). I eat breakfast everyday... sometimes it is a Slimfast shake with fresh fruit or some peanut butter toast with fruit. And my biggest success has been at work... I am still avoiding the vending machines and am taking lunch from home... turkey sandwich, salad or soup. One area where I seem to have faltered is water intake. It was a real chore to get my water level up to 60-80 ounces a day and I found that if I don't think about it and work at it then I don't do it. So back to THINKING about it! I have another visit to the vampires coming up and I want it to be as easy as the last couple of times... so time for a glass of water!

Sunday:
1 Hour walk
Essen Abs - Level 1

Monday:
1 Hour Walk
Essential Abs - Level 1

Good Things:
Feeling muscles again
The smell of clothes dried on the line
Walking with just the husband

What a Beautiful Weekend!

In the reality of what my friend is facing with losing her great-niece, I was reminded how lucky I am to have healthy, happy children. I tried to focus on that this weekend and just watch and enjoy them.

The weather was perfect... warm 60's yesterday and reaching into the mid 70's today. K2 had a girl scout fitness program yesterday that I didn't have to chaperone. I dropped K1 off at the library to work on his research paper and K3 and I went to my favorite hangout... Barnes and Noble. I bought her a new book, Amelia's 6th Grade Notebook, her new favorite series (at least this week) and a cool bookmark that helps her keep track of her reading minutes. Then we went down to the cafe to have lunch... I can't resist those Turkey, Cheese, Chipotle Panini sandwiches! K3 had a frapuccino and I had iced tea. Then it was time to pick up K1 at the library and take him for a haircut. My preference short!... his preference long (basically take it back up out of his eyes). So I thought to myself... how horrible is it really for his hair to be longer? Is this really worth fighting over? Nah... there will be other fights that I will need to enforce my will... this really doesn't have to be one of them. So when he sat in the chair and she asked how "we" wanted it cut... I told her, "It's his hair.. ask him." The final result... it's not horrible... I really do prefer it short but my little boy is growing up... have to let him "win" some.

Today was even more glorious than the yesterday. Yesterday the kids did manage to find some time to play outside. This morning K1 said to me, "I discovered playing outside." When I asked him what he meant, he said how good it felt to be outside playing and goofing around with his sisters. So after a late breakfast, they were back at it.... climbing trees, playing mini-tennis on the driveway, riding scooters and running like loons throughout the (1 acre) yard. And when K1 and J ran to do errands, I was even invited to play tennis with K2. Normally, I would have declined using dishes or something as an excuse, but not today... today I rejoiced in being able to play with my kids.

In honor of the great weather, we did steaks on the grill and enjoyed a great dinner. Then afterward, despite it being dark, J and I went for a walk. The temps were still in the 70's at 8:00p.m.!! Now my kids are all settled for the night, I Revvved (finally!), showered and am sitting back with a mug of green tea. I am lucky and completely blessed... I have my health... 3 fantastic children... a husband who completely loves me... really... what more do I need?

Well, maybe a piece of chocolate... :)

LIFE... it's a Good Thing!

I Love my Starbucks!

There are 3 different Starbucks that I frequent not to mention the 2 B&N stores that sell Starbucks products. However, the one that is the closest to my place of work is by far my favorite! They have great seating plus a nice little fireplace that is cozy during the winter. However, the biggest reason they are my favorite is they also have the nicest staff working there. Not only am I greeted but they talk to me, ask me how my day is... comment on either my jewelry or something else. They are just very personable. Plus, they give me free stuff!

A couple of months ago, I was stuck behind a woman trying to buy 15 gift cards for $10 each but purchasing them with other gift cards. The cashier ran into a problem because apparently you can't use more than a certain number of gift cards to make a purchase. To make a long story short, it took a loooong time for them to work out the problem and "cheat" the system. I wasn't in a big hurry that day and waited my turn. When I finally got to place my order, I was offered a coupon for a free beverage of my choice on my next visit. And when I used it, I actually had a 3 drink order, 2 talls and 1 venti... they gave me the venti free instead of one of the talls.

Now fast forward to last week... I stopped in before taking some GS cookies into work to distribute. I had quite a bit of singles, 5's and 10's on hand so I could make change if need be for the people paying for cookies. The manager noticed my money and asked if she could buy 2 tens from me. Sure, no problem... I still had the ones and fives for making change. When I picked up my drink, she gave me yet another free drink coupon for "helping" them out. WTH? All I did was give her 2 tens for a twenty... no biggie. But heck yeah, I took the coupon! :)

Then this morning, the cold weather had returned. So as I left work at 5 a.m. I stopped in at Starbucks for a Venti Non-fat, SF Vanilla, Chai Latte and the manager started talking to me and then offered me a "broken" donut. She said it was fresh, she just couldn't sell it. Well, okay... I just started exercising again... and not very much either, but of course, I took it. Come on... it was free! You never get anything free anymore! And it didn't hurt that I had just gotten off work... let me tell ya... that donut was gone by the time I hit the second traffic light.

Starbucks... for me... its a Good Thing!

Food/Mood Log - 25 FEB

Food:
Vanilla Slimfast shake w/skim
1 slice French Toast w/syrup
2 sm pieces of ched cheese
2 choc nougat slimfast bars
1 Tukey/Salami sandwich on whole wheat w/lettuce
1 bowl Beef Veg soup
Microwave popcorn (shared w/J)

Green Tea - 15 ounces
Skim Milk - 8 ounces

Water - 60 ounces

Exercise:
3 hours of shoveling ... HEAVY snow

Mood... Good day... pleasant attitude... exhausted at night but hey! I worked my butt off!!


Good Things:
1) Watching big fluffy white snowflakes fall
2) Exercise from satisfying hard physical labor w/my the whole familly
3) Not having to go into work on a Sunday night

Food/Mood Log - 23 FEB

Food:
Slimfast Shake w/skim & fresh banana added
Turkey sandwich on whole wheat w/cheese
Small movie popcorn w/butter
Bacon Cheeseburger
Fries
Oreo Cake

8 ounce Iced Tea sweet
16 ounces Vanilla Coke

50 ounces water

Exercise:
none... :(

Mood... Good day... nothing out of the ordinary for being tired. However, it was a long day... can't remember too much. I remember calm... relaxation... no agitation... and no strong desire for midday nap. However, tiredness really set in tonight. Long day been up since 5:00a.m. or it could be the Bacon Cheeseburger...

Good Things:
1)Eating movie theatre popcorn
2)Mailing 2 packages that should bring smiles
3)Mother-Daughter talk w/K3 about school, boys and life (her experiences and mine)

Food/Mood Log - 22 FEB

Food:
Turkey & Cheese Chipotle Sandwich
Lemon Raspberry Square (HEY! It's better than the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake that was calling my name!)
Salad w/carrots, tsp cheese, seed mix and low-fat dijon dressing
Spaghetti w/ whole wheat pasta... little sauce w/2 mini-meatballs
Corn
5 Hershey kisses (the bag is finally gone!)

12 ounce Black Iced Tea (sweet)
Venti Chai Latte w/skim

Water - 50 ounces (need to do better tomorrow!)

Exercise:
1 HR walk

Mood... good day... only 4 hours of sleep but seemed to do okay with it. Ate a nice relaxing lunch at B&N's cafe. However, 1 hour later while grocery shopping was getting tired... little sleep? the grocery shopping? or the sandwich?? But when I came home had no problem finding the energy to make dinner, do ALL dishes and some laundry.

Good Things:
1) Relaxing reading lunch at B&N
2) Book browsing and shopping
3) J buying me sugar snap peas

Food/Mood Log - 21 FEB

Food:
Vanilla Slimfast Shake w/skim
2 Fried eggs
2 WW Toast
Salami on whole wheat bread
2 Slimfast peanut nougat bars
1/2 Bnls Sknls Chicken Breast (palm sized)
Mashed potatoes
Peas
Slimfast Blueberry Muffin bar
Turkey sandwich on whole wheat
Veggie Crisp Chips (cheese flavored)
Grapes
10 Hershey kisses (edited... forgot to mention these earlier)

Skim Milk - 8 ounces
Green Tea - 8 ounces

Water - 90 ounces


Exercise:
Legs (3 wts)
Cardio (2 wts)
Arms (2 wts)
Abs (3 wts)

Mood... When I woke up this morning, I was extremely tired! But again, I only had 4 hours of sleep. But I finally had enough sense to eat a nice large breakfast with K3 and afterwards I was raring to go. Since I had an energy spike, I did legs and cardio but then was interrupted before I could get into arms. However, by early afternoon, the sluggishness was back and sleep was needed. After a 3 hour much needed nap, felt much sluggish at first but after a bit became more alert. Ate a slimfast bar for a little pick me up and to help carry me over to dinner. Seemed to help. I had energy to make dinner and do a couple loads of laundry. However, I was extremely tired at work tonight... was it the mashed potatoes?? Was it the turkey sandwich??? Or was it simply because it was 2:00 in the freakin' morning??? Ended up taking a 1/2 hour power nap at 3:30 on my last break.

Good Things:
1) Getting my brand new washing machine (it's HUGE!)
2) Getting a nap in the middle of the day.
3) Mashed potatoes and peas... don't ask me why I love eating these two things together... and I do mean together... I scoop up some potatoes and then get some peas to climb on board and then... yuummm!

An Addendum to Food/Mood Logs

There is a lady from the BB (Cranky Otter) who post 3 things that makes her happy each day. She just recommended this tactic on the BB this week to help keep your focus on the positive. The kids and I used to do this a few years ago. We had a composition notebook that we labeled our Happiness Journal. Each night before bed, we would list at least one thing that made us happy that day. I am going to have to dig that thing up. It was fun to do back then so I have decided to adopt this and add it to my Log each day. It should be interesting to see what makes me happy especially on those bad days.

Food/Mood Log - 20 FEB

Food:
Bowl of Cooked Wheat Cereal w/ 2% (wahhh! we ran out of skim and I had to resort to Jeff's)
Turkey Sandwich on whole wheat w/mayo and lettuce
Veggie chip crisps (cheese flavored)
10 kisses (coconut cream variety)
Chinese Pepper Chicken w/white rice
1 mini Crab rangoon
2 Rice Cakes (white cheddar flavored)
3 Madeline cookies (from Starbucks - 230 calories! Yikes!)

Coke - 12 ounces
Grande Non-fat Chai latte

Water - 70 ounces

Exercise:
Cardio (2 wts!!!)
Abs (3 wts!!!)

Mood... Good mood today... very tired this a.m. but only had about 4 hours of sleep. Worked out after lunch (cardio and abs)... feel energized! I bumped my wts up one each (Cardio is now at 2 wts and Abs is at 3)... I can honestly say that I sweat this time. That's nothing new during Cardio although it was more intense this time but I can't remember the last time that I sweat during Abs... normally it is complete relaxation for me... and it was this time too however, there was SWEAT as well. It felt good! Great, in fact. Maybe that is what my workouts needed lately was to be bumped up a bit... I have been at 2 wts for the 3 main routines since October so probably overdue.

3 Good Things...
1)Doing the nail polish "thing" with the girls... toes for me... fingers for them.
2)Talking to Laura on the phone - we had been missing each other for a couple of weeks and finally hooked up today.
3) Having it reach 40 degrees and sunny! Feels so good!