Weighing In on the Weekend

Last week was rough. Steve (Boss #1) was trying to get a lot of stuff done before leaving on vacation. We had a summary judgment motion/brief to get out, and a big mediation to get ready for. In fact, I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but when I realized that he was going to be gone for not one, but TWO weeks, I got my second wind! Whoo hoo! Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of stuff to do in his absence, and Carrie (Boss #2) is still there, but still it should be less stressful... as long as I remember to Tivo 24 and Lost for him while he's gone!

Anyway, then along came the weekend - Mother's Day weekend! The Sibs and Niece #1 came down to visit. Dad had a rough week and the weekend started rough too. But by noon on Saturday, he was feeling better. I mowed the lawn, bopping around on the riding mower with my ipod. Ho weed-whacked, and Ha attacked a couple of big bushes with the choppers. By the end of the afternoon, the place looked picture perfect.

The diet wasn't exactly followed, not with a big ol'bowl of potato salad, a Cajun pork roast straight off the rotissere, and a German chocolate cake for dinner! It was Goo-oo-ood, even if I ended up using all my extra points for the week and more! We wanted to take mom out to dinner for Mother's Day, but were concerned about leaving Dad alone, so Haley suggested that we get a bucket of chicken (those of you who've read about my feelings regarding KFC won't be surprised that I firmly suggested Grandy's) and fixin's and have a picnic on the front porch. We wheeled Dad out in his chair, brought the living room table outside, and set out quite a feast. Even Merle graced us with his presence. Haley snuck him a wee bit of chicken now and then and everyone was happy.

A happy weekend was had by all the mothers in our little group. Mom with her three girls. Ho NOT having to deal with her two kids. Ha with her oldest alone at home, the youngest in Honduras with Ed, and the middle one with us. Me and my two adorable kitties napping with me after everyone went home. Hopefully it was a Happy Mother's Day for all!

KFC - Chicken Done Right

My mother has always said that if we go to a restaurant and someone’s going to get either 1) crappy service or B) the wrong food, that it would be my father. And experience has proven her to be right for the most part. Well, now it would appear that I’ve inherited his luck, at least as far as KFC is concerned.

Recently, KFC started advertising their new grilled chicken – in fact, there was even a day when anyone could go to KFC and get a free piece of grilled chicken just to try it. I wasn’t able to take advantage of that deal because I think I had a doctor’s appointment over my lunch hour that day, but the whole grilled chicken intrigued me, especially since A) I’d recently joined Weight Watchers, 2) I love chicken, and thirdly, because grilled be better for me than fried. So, I convinced my main fiend, Jennifer, to go there for lunch.

We got there about 12:15, we went early (for us) because we were starving. As we walked into the restaurant, there were about 7 people in line in front of us. We overheard the person at the counter telling the first person up there that they only had dark meat in the grilled chicken at the moment. Now, maybe I was wrong to assume things, but again, it was 12:15 PM – lunch time – and I assumed that: first) they had white meat already down and cooking or II) they were in the process of putting some white meat down to cook.

By the time when I got up to the line, and the woman told me, in response to my inquiry about white meat, that they didn’t have any, I began to wonder… I’d assumed they just didn’t have any cooked. Maybe they had run out totally. So I asked, to clarify, if they were going to have some soon, because if it were cooking, I could wait. She told me that it takes about 20 minutes to cook. I said, um, but might it already be IN the process of cooking? Like if they put it down 10 minutes earlier, then waiting 10 minutes wouldn’t be that bad. So she gave me a look and went to go check. She came back and said that it wasn’t down yet. So I asked if they had dark meat, with another look she went to go check and said they did. I ordered the dark meat (not my preference, but still, I’m ok), green beans (the lowest side point-wise) and mashed potatoes without gravy (I don’t like gravy, in general, this isn’t a diet-related choice).

I’m guessing that you’re thinking my ordeal is now over, but no, she asked if I wanted a drink. Now, see, there was this sign right behind her that said 2 piece grilled chicken meal, with two sides and a drink, for $4.99. So, I said yes I would like the drink that comes WITH the deal! The lovely woman looks at me point blank and says, “no, it doesn’t come with the meal.” I graciously pointed out the sign BEHIND HER! She said that isn’t going on anymore. I’m thinking “Anymore? KFC’s only been selling this grilled chicken for a week! Oy!” By now I’m really losing my thrill over lunch in general – which is saying a lot! I told her that I didn’t care, just give me the freakin’ drink!! Of course, when I got my receipt, the 2 piece meal was $3.99 and the drink was $1.00 so essentially, it was the meal and the drink for $4.99 just like the SIGN BEHIND HER said!

Well, then I was happy to see that she was the person who prepared my food. Yeah. I get to the table with my drink, napkin, spork, etc. I opened the box to discover that the leg looked like it came off of a baby chick rather than an adult chicken and both it and the thigh looked like they’d been sitting under the heat lamp since the free chicken day. As for my green beans, well, they were cole slaw, and the mashed potatoes were swimming in gravy. I almost cried. Jennifer was all, “go up and complain!” But I just wanted to get out of there. My meal, which I had carefully calculated to be a certain amount of points, was now almost double the points and my lunch had been ruined. I'm sure you'll understand why I might not be going back to KFC any time soon. Sigh.

Of Swine Flu, Housework, and Rose

It is a crisp 63 degrees as I write this on Sunday afternoon. The bunnies are playing in the backyard, and the next door neighbor is mowing his lawn, so I don't have to compete with the cats to look out my windows. Although what with all the smudgy nose and paw prints on the windows, I might as well. I guess Windexing this window is on my list of to-dos for the day.

Yesterday I did laundry and cleared my bedroom of a herd of dust buffalo from under the bed. Sophie and Gizmo enjoy it when I clean because I uncover a world of toys that they've lost from under the dressers, the bed, etc. So this morning I awoke to the glorious sound of Giz playing with a plastic milk ring on the hardwood floor right at my bed. The whole apartment is hardwood floor and, therefore, tons-o-fun to play milk rings on, but no, he has to play right at my head. Didn't bother me at all when I heard the lawn mower start and he made a run for sanctuary behind the fridge. haha!

I'm not feeling at that great at the moment. I had a sore throat and slight fever yesterday evening. I woke up this am and decided against going to church. It was a guest speaker anyway, so I chose to do my napping in bed. I woke up again, post nap, about half-way through a History Channel show on the kidnapping of Lincoln's body, feeling somewhat better. So I forced myself out of bed to go see what I could do about the other half of the house. I don't think I have the swine flu, despite the title of the blog, I just have the chilly-weather sinus-y gakky throat.

This coming weekend is Mother's Day, and the Sibs are coming down and one of them and her daughter will be staying with me. So at a minimum, I'll go in and brush the carpet to get up some cat hair. Oh! That reminds me, there was this priceless pic on the cheeseburger site and I think I could easly reinact it after brushing the carpet. The cat even looks a little like Sophie.

Oh! Heavens! Somebody make a note of the day and time! Gizmo just came out from behind the fridge to join us in the bedroom! Personally, I think he falls asleep back there, because the lawn mowing neighbor has been done for at least an hour.. he doesn't have THAT big of a lawn! And the silly boy waited long enough before emerging that the frolicing bunnies are gone.

The diet's gone pretty good this week. I haven't gone out and walked any, but likewise, I've done well. Well, except for Friday - over my lunch hour, I went to Joann's to get a gnome as a graduation present for Niece #3 who is graduating high school this year. And I took my dining out book so I could get something to eat. I decided on nuggets and iced tea from McD's. A 10 piece nuggets is 10 points and iced tea is free, as long as it's unsweet. So the first temptation came when, after explicitly ording UNsweet tea, the girl put sweet tea on the monitor. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE SWEET TEA, expecially McD's sweet tea!! But I'm proud to say that I was able to overcome that temptation and told her kindly that it was supposed to be UNsweet tea. So far so good. I pay, I get my food, and I drive off thinking "I wonder if they'd have put in a fry or two if I asked them to." As I'm back on the road, I start thinking, man those nuggets smell like fries - I figure they're all cooked in the same oil. I stick my hand in and I'll be damned if there wasn't a package of fries in there. This would be your classic blessing/curse situation. I decided that I'd just eat 2 fries and pitch the rest. Needless to say, before I got back to the office, the nuggets AND the fries were history! However, with a nice big ol'healthy (mostly point-free) salad for dinner, I did not go over in my points for the day.

Which was good because yesterday was my fiend Becky's bridal shower, being thrown at a Chinese restaurant. And let me just say that there was nothing on the (already set) menu that was low in points. I ended up eating most of my points for the day AND my blow away points for the week. But the shower was nice and the food was delicious, and she got a lot of nice loot!

Well, my handsome boy wants to lounge on the desktop here, so I guess I'll close and let him have the desk. Although I've already told him he missed the bunnies. I need to go brush the carpet anyway (and make my test cat!)

Bob (it's as good a title as any)

Monday night I weighed in for Weight Watchers. Tuesday is my normal weigh-in night, but Steve (Boss #1) wanted me to attend some seminar at the clerk's office from 4:45-5:45 and I couldn't do both, so I choose Monday night. And for the results... (drum roll please) ... I'd lost 6 lbs! Ok, I know this is just the first week, and yeah a big part of it was probably water loss, but I was very happy. VERY happy! :)

It wasn't an easy first week, either. I started it, as planned, but without having anything even remotely healthly in my cupboard/fridge, which wasn't planned. So it's 6pm, I get home from work, tired, and I have to figure out what to eat. Frankly, by Friday, I was ready to quit and I ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. Albeit, it was a Veggie Lover's, but still. One slice of a large Veggie Lover's is 5 pts. Not bad, and I could have 2 slices. By the end of the night, I'd eaten the whole thing and blown my entire week's allowance of points to blow! But I still lost weight!

Saturday morning, I woke up with a new attitude. I went to the grocery store and Sams, bought a bunch of fresh veggies, decided I couldn't wait for the farmer's market over on St. Joseph Avenue to open up for the season and made a mental note to call and find out when they open. (Note: at this point, I'm reminded that I've never called. sigh.. being 40 is a bitch!)

Also, I bought me an ipod - a cute bright purple one and I've been working on converting my considerable music library over onto it. (Still not finished, but we're on the homestretch.) The idea is that since I had to cancel my membership to Curves, I need to get out walking. Which I did twice (Friday and Sunday).

And did I mention that Wednesday was "Administrative Professionals" day and the firm catered in lunch? And the attorneys brought in desserts? Yeah, technically, my blow away points were probably wasted on the turtle ice cream pie and the apple pie. Sigh. But the point is I still lost weight.

It is the Big One?

Yesterday morning, as I was waking up and getting ready for work, I listened to a local radio station and the DJ’s were discussing the fact that their respective pets had been acting crazy for the past couple days and how studies show that animals can sense major events, such as earthquakes, and act oddly for up to a week prior to the events. Not a major concern except that we’re on the New Madrid Fault and they’ve been predicting the “Big One” for many years now. People were calling in from all over Southern Indiana and Southern Illinois saying that their pets were acting oddly too.

I went to work, though, not giving it another thought. But then last night, as I’m settling down for the evening, Sophie and Gizmo are acting like someone gave them a big ol’dose of wacky pills. They chased each other up and down the hallway, one would jump up on the dresser and then pounce on the other from the height, one would run up to the top of their kitty condo (6 ft high) and then jump down on the bed and bound after the other one. Truly, nothing more than they usually do, only this was to a factor of 10! Even after Sophie got tired and crawled on my chest for a nap, while I was catching up on the Daily Show and Colbert Report from the previous night, Gizmo still was at it. In fact, at one point, he was on the top of the condo and jumped right on her (right on me). Her claws dug in and she ran, then his claws dug in and he ran after her. My chest and tum area look like they’ve been run through a cheese grater!

Of course the conversation from the radio that morning came to my mind and as I’m lying there in the dark trying to go to sleep all I can think of is if the Big One comes during the middle of the night, is it going to knock that big heavy picture hanging above my bed off and bean my noggin. Long time readers of my life will remember that we had an earthquake about a year or so ago in the middle of the morning, and it woke me up. We had aftershocks for months afterward.

I don’t know if we can expect one in the next week or so, but I’m keeping my feelers on alert in case we do. And what with the way Soph and Giz are acting, I just wonder what the fish would be doing if my brother-in-law hadn’t sent them all on a ride on the giant porcelain wave the other week. Hmm..

Weight Watchers - 2009

There are several reasons why I fell "off the wagon," so to speak, last time. I'd lost 50 pounds, I was getting cocky and complacent, I stopped tracking my points like I know is necessary, my co-hort in weight loss, Kathy, got pregnant and couldn't attend meetings with me anymore, I got a part-time job wherein I worked 2 nights a week and weekends which made it difficult to go to regular meetings, and it was the holiday season. All together it made it easy to let things slide.

But I currently have very little in my closets and dressers that actually fits me. And really, it'll be cheaper to lose the weight than to buy a whole new wardrobe! My friend Royale is in the process of getting ready for either lap-band or gastric bypass surgery. And I think my health insurance would pay most of the expense for me to have the surgery. But I'm just not ready to admit defeat yet. And as I think I've already pointed out, being with my dad in the hospital pushed me over.

So tonight was my first weigh-in/meeting. Of course, I've done this before, so I know how the points and everything work. But you know, the actual weighing in makes it OFFICIAL! I was happy to learn that I actually weigh 1.8 pounds less than I guessed I weighed when I signed up online! So that was good news! The meetings are at 5:30 on Tuesday nights (there are tons of other meetings, but Becky tells me that the leader of this meeting is really good), so I arranged with Bosses 1 & 2 to come in/leave work early on Tuesdays to go to this meeting. Despite drinking a bunch of water and tea today, I didn't go wee before I left... after all, you wanna weigh as much as you can on your initial weigh-in, right? :)

The whole system seems to be the same, based on points, as it was before. However, now they allow most all liquids to count for the water drinking, instead of just water, AND they changed the way they calculate how many points you get each day, but otherwise, it's the same. I signed up online yesterday and filled in the points for the food I ate yesterday on the online tracker. Pretty cool, actually. More high-tech than it was last time I did this. Or, well, I don't honestly know how high-tech the website was before because it wasn't free with my monthly membership then like it is now.

Where was I? Oh, I logged in my points yesterday. And I did pretty good. But then I had a horrible migraine last night and, to put it politely, ended up losing my dinner along with the medicine I took. So I wondered if I got to eat those points twice? Of course I was in so much pain as I took my medicine again that eating was the last thing on my mind. I refrained from asking the woman at the meeting tonight about that, as I figured she'd think I was weird and I decided I'd let her find out naturally, rather than all at once!

Tomorrow is my first "official" day, and wouldn't you know it, it's the firm's "Administrative Professionals Day Luncheon" :) But that's ok, since it's the same menu every year, I can plan ahead and know what I'll be eating. The desserts will be what is tempting - after all, I'm not my Uncle Doug's "cookie-mooching bear" for nothing!

Guess nows the time to close. I've rambled long enough, and I need to go skirmish some and try to take over Mozambique in World Domination on Facebook!
Later!

I'm Still Here

I have heard from a large percentage of my fan base (well, one of the sibs) and have been chastised for not blogging since February. So what follows is a quick and perspicacious summary of the sub-plots from March and April.

• Dad was in the hospital for a week, but after much stress on everyone’s part, he’s doing much better. Turns out all the Big D was a result of the antibiotics they were pumping into him killing off the “good” bacteria in his tum, which allowed the “bad” bacteria to run amok.


• Mom was running herself ragged taking care of dad, and consequently forgetting to take care of mom, but the sibs came down and that allowed her to rest some while he was in the hospital, and I’ve been told the plan is for them to come down more often to help her out some.


• Sophie and Gizmo turned the Big Three yesterday, and we spent a good portion of the day cuddling and napping together. Winifred is one hyperactive adolescent, and either Merle or Blackie pee’d in my car. Oh, and Tom helped me get rid of the fish tank, so Charlie’s Angels and their subsequent progeny are no more.

Now, as for the main character, in no particular order of importance:
Late February, I got a new tattoo – I was on the cheezburger website (one of my favs!) and found this pic, and I knew immediately that that was what my next tat would have to be. ‘Specially since it would go so well with the paws. I talked to Shawna at work and she told me about this place in Oakland City, run by a Christian couple, where she and her hubs get their tattoos. So one weekend I was all ready to go there. I had plenty of OT in that week’s paycheck and I was going to do it! Only, when I called to find out their hours, I discover the phone number is disconnected – they’re out of business. So much for Shawna’s connections. Sigh… I was bummed. So, the next weekend, I’m having dinner with Royale, we hadn’t gotten together in quite a while and had tons of stuff to catch up on. She’d never even seen the paws! So, I flashed them at her and she asked for all the details. Then I inquired of her where she would go for a tattoo in Evansville. She said one of two places. I said, do you wanna go with me now? :) She did, we went, I got the tattoo and was very happy! A couple of girls at work are jealous, though, so we might have to go and get them copy cats! Hahaha (Get it? Copy? cats?? Hahaha)

I continue to use my CPAP sleep machine and my mental alertness is much better, although Steve (Boss #1) might argue that point occasionally. I don't feel like my physical pep is improving though, but let's face it, at my weight what could I expect?

So, between how I actually feel and watching them taking care of dad in the hospital this past month, I decided I needed to yield to the inevitable and rejoin Weight Watchers. My fiend Becky (BK for short) goes, and I know from experience that it works, so I decided now was the time. Of course, I can't afford both Weight Watchers and Curves, so since I haven't actually been GOING to Curves much, it was an obvious decision. I cancelled that membership and started the WW membership. Tuesday night is my first weigh in.

What else? Well, late March I took a long weekend (well-deserved, considering all the over time I've been working since October!) and went up to Indy, stopping by Bloomington to pick up Niece #1, Hollian (or Ho2.0, as I like to call her) first, and then the sibs and Nieces #1 and #3 (Brynn) drove up to Lafayette to visit Niece #2 (Natalie) at Purdue. Well, that was one reason to go, the other was to eat at the Triple XXX - a goal ever since seeing it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. (The goals I set for myself, eh?) Anyway, we got to tour the campus, eat lunch, and meet the skanky roommate.

Ok, so has that been it? Yup, I guess those are the major items for the past month.