Sometimes it's nice to be busy

Like today, being busy is sure chasing away my work boredom.

Last night I did the first 4 tracks of Step twice. My track was sooo much harder than these. Now we've got a practice scheduled tomorrow at 3:30 where we'll each work on our tracks some more. Boo to #8. The other ones are more fun! oh well. I'll eventually teach them all!

Tonight we've got a girl's night club team meeting thing. We're trading favorite books/cds/movies at a girl's house and having appetizers and drinks. Just low key. But still fun. I lost my very favorite book so I'm bringing 2 back-ups. But they're fairly heavy books (not physically). I've got the Count of Monte Cristo which I stole from high school years and years ago. (well nobody had signed it out but me for 15 years!). It's super super super good. But a bit complicated. You have to pay attention, and I had to take notes to keep the characters straight (they change names when they grow up from their given name to their title. confused me). And i'm bringing Gone with the Wind, which is a really big book as well. Both classics, old, long books. I'm sure somebody is going to bring a Shopaholic book. That's a funny trade. (I'm also bringing Spanglish, because it's a good, cute, lighter, chick flick movie that is less intimidating).

Anyway, very busy at work today. Trying to get reports out by the end of the day. Plus somebody else wanted my help to get their report done by the end of the day. That's 3 reports! Too much!

Have a good weekend! It's finally here!

chugging along

So I'm just chugging along at life it feels like right now. Sort of in the blahs. I think it's partly because it's -43 degrees outside with the windchill (no I'm not exaggerating! Seems like it though huh?). And partly because the work I'm doing at work, just feels so much like WORK! boo. I'm just dying for the weekend to get here. I hate that. I hate feeling like I'm just killing time during 5/7 of my life.

Oh well, TOM might also be affecting this nasty mood. Big fat boo to that.

In other news, I successfully avoided cookies yesterday. There were none in the house so that helped. I threw them out. I did eat chocolate covered raisins though. I really have to get this food out of my sight. I had a tuna sandwich for supper since hubby was gone. Didn't plan anything. I always over eat when it's like that. No clear end of meal. But then went to step class. It was good. I started with the step high, then had to lower it. I didn't feel as awesome as I think I should have. I was really comfortable with the moves. I think I sort of felt like people were watching me a bit, those who knew I had the training. Sort of had stage fright. When it was done though the girl behind me said "thank goodness you were at class today, I just followed you the whole time" since it's sort of tricky sometimes when the instructor faces you (she's being your mirror image and when she says right leg, she uses her left, to not screw you up, but people don't always know that). So that was nice. Plus the instructor said that once I'm ready I can practice teach a couple of my tracks in her class. Which is pretty cool. I'll maybe aim for 2 weeks from now.

Which means I have to revisit those tracks! Been taking a breather since Sunday. I bought a step yesterday from Superstore (thanks for the heads up Angie!). so tonight I'm gonna do the video. Maybe I'll just do the first 4 tracks twice so I can learn them better. I'm really interested to see if each track is going to be as hard for me or if I really did just get a tricky one on the weekend.

I've got a friend who wants me to be her personal step trainer. While I know that would get really old really fast, she could be a really helpful little guinea pig at first. we'll see.

Going out for lunch at work today. Montana's steakhouse. I'll check online but not sure they'll have nutritional info. Probably stick to some sort of salad or sandwich with salad (no fries is the rule today!)

Lent post

So today is Ash Wednesday I guess, from the word on the internet. A lot of talk about giving something up for Lent. Interesting stuff.

I would like to point out something. I think most people doing this are just doing it the same as any other "challenge" online, like the BLBE, or the 100 rep challenge or something. Which is totally fine. Giving up sweets or vowing to exercise every day or something. All great stuff.

If you are doing it for "religious" reasons, those don't really count. It's not about getting healthier, it's about "depriving" yourself of something. It should be a sacrifice. While not eating cookies for Lent may feel like a sacrifice and deprivation, I'd be doing it to lose weight, not for a religious experience. Do you see the difference? Giving up something for Lent would be like a child giving up his allowance, or not eating out or not going shopping. (though there could be other reasons for doing each of those as well.)

I am not doing anything special for Lent. My Catholic guilt kicks in when I think of that though, like I should try going to church or something. But instead I'll just try and be a better person all the time or something. ;)

Mother Hugger, I've got a problem...

My name is Randi and I'm addicted to cookies.

In the last 3 days, I've eaten probably 18 cookies. (3600 calories ish?) These were delicious soft homemade or bakery cookies. Not Oreos or anything. Those are gross. These were amazing.

I have always loved cookies. We used to get a cookie every day when watching Mr. Dress-up. (morning snack, 1 peanut butter cookie).

Cookie was my first word.

I had a brief break from cookies when I went to school. Kindergarden to probably grade 6 or something. The time when you still had to ask Mom if you could have a treat ya know?

Then in high school I remember sneaking cookies. Everyone was watching tv in the living room, I'd go in the kitchen, open the cookie jar and quickly eat 2 cookies. I ate them as fast as I could and never really tasted them probably. But I loved cookies. If everyone was having 1 cookie, I would always take at least 2.

This was never really a chronic problem because we didn't always have homemade cookies. Plus I had 3 siblings and 2 parents who also loved cookies so when somebody did make cookies they'd only last a few days. I think that's part of the reason for the fast and furious eating. Wanted to make sure I got as many as I wanted before somebody else ate them.

Well occassionally that cookie monster (me) will come out again. I rarely make cookies, and try and get rid of them quickly when I do (take them to work). I know that if I'm aware that there are delicious cookies sitting in my kitchen, that's all I'll think about. And I'll give my permission to have some, because cookies are a treat and I love them so much.

But instead of allowing myself 1 cookie, I allow myself 1 day of cookies, knowing I'll get rid of them tomorrow. But what often happens, there's none left tomorrow to get rid of.

This is actually really unhealthy behaviour. Sort of binge eating behaviour isn't it? (when watching Oprah, I never had any of the eating disorder things, there was no "reason" I was overweight aside from too big of serving sizes. But turns out there is a bit of something there...)

As far as I know it's only cookies. They are my trigger. I think I really need to break up with cookies. As in NEVER eat them. And if I do eat them. It's one, because that's the only one in my house, because I got it for a gift, or I made them at somebody else's house and only brought one home. And if I need to make cookies for something (baking exchange etc) I'm making ginger snaps which I don't like. Oh and also, I am never allowed to buy cookies again at a bakery or whatever. Just not an option.

For some reason when it's a cookie it seems so different from a donut. Seems like a "serving" is 3 whereas I'd never eat 3 donuts in a row. Plus, the calories and fat in 1 cookie, really aren't that far off of a donut (well some kinds).

Does anybody else behave like this ever? What are your trigger foods? Is it like an alcoholic and you just can never have it again?

oh to be lazy

I was so lazy yesterday. It was nice. (I have to tell myself it was nice because I feel sort of guilty).

I left work a few minutes early and went to a PEDICURE! sweet. I booked it knowing my feet could use a little love after the stepping. It was really great. I wish she did more calf massage because they really could use it. My big toes have not been this caulous free since I was a baby. I have always had nasty big toe bumps. Gone now!

So went home a bit late, cooked up some chicken breasts I had marinating (lemon pepper, too peppery though). I also cooked up probably 2+ cups of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots and shredded just a bit of cheese on top. It was so good. I had a full plate of that while waiting for the chicken to cook. Yum.

Then for the rest of the night, just sat on the couch, watched oscars, surfed the net, snuggled with my dog. it was nice. I wasn't feeling terrible and could have gone to weight class, (granted it would hurt today! my butt and calves are still sore when I use them) but I got home so late and my nails were still tacky, didn't want to sock and shoe them.

Tonight, hopefully I'm more productive. I've got to get my tire checked, it's definately leaking, but don't know if I need a new tire, or just something else. Have to book this today, hopefully can get in after work. Plus I've got a box of stuff that needs to go to BIL that he forgot with hubby when they went fishing. Also, I'd like to have a little jog tonight, and I have some mailing/tax stuff to do. Not to mention dishes and laundry and house cleaning and all the little things my life revolves around.

Want to workout at home?

Check this page out for some great at home workouts. No equiptment! I bet they work you harder than an elliptical too.

Group STEP hurt my calves

oh baby am I sore. I can barely even put my heels down my calves are so tight. yes folks, I had group Step training this weekend.

How did it go down? alright. I didn't go to bed early enough on friday. Hubby was gone ice fishing and it was friday and I got hypnotized by the tv and stayed up until 11:00 or so. Then had to be up at 5:45. That's a LOT less sleep than I'm used to. So pack up a ton of junk and head into town to the gym.

First thing we did was TAKE the actual step class. So a nice 1 hr workout bright and early. Good stuff. Then we did a bunch of talking stuff. Learned about the program, learned about some management stuff, learned about the brand. Blah diddy blah blah. Very basic stuff. Took up a lot of the day. (yes we had lots of lunch and bathroom breaks etc.) We also each were assigned a track that we'd have to learn over night and then teach in the morning. I got the hardest one. Seriously, it was the hardest workout one (last one before abs and stretching), AND it had a pretty complicated move in it. So all the practice time we had during the day I spent trying to learn the moves. Then at home (we had a dvd of the class), I tried to learn the order of the moves. I spent 2.5 hours at least at home, doing the same track over and over and over again. Don't think I got it all the way through once. Boo. I was getting really frustrated so I just went to bed.

First thing the next morning we each taught our tracks. I got a bit screwed up but really not that bad. I got screwed up when trying to tell them what was coming, I'd miss a beat and be off. But the second half was really good. Then we spent the rest of the morning learning what makes a good instructor, how you can get people into class, how you can use your voice and body language to make people know what they're supposed to be doing (mine was a tough track, so put on the serious face, talk a bit louder, drill sergeant like, compared to the warm up. get it?) We also did a tough workout circuit that was just 7 stations with common moves (jog on and off, or double squat, across the top etc) and worked on the specific strong arm movements that go with each (since new instructors suck at arms), but just did one after the other (rotating stations) for a minute each for 30 minutes. it was really really hard. I LOVED IT! I think I was in better shape than a lot of the people so that made me feel good. Everyone was dripping sweat when that was done. That was designed as a workout for instructors to do prior to starting teaching. Supposed to do it every 2 weeks for 3 months on top of learning the routines etc. She was really cool about telling us how in shape we had to be. Not skinny or do the hardest options for each moves the whole time. Just had to be able to get through the whole thing and be able to talk the whole time and probably do the hard options 80% of the time. Plus the way she made it sound, just practicing the routines and throwing that workout in periodically would be enough to get us in shape. Easy peasy.

So after we had a break after that workout, then we had to teach one last time. This time, focusing on the attitude and connection we make. So we had to say at least one person's name, say something personal (I love these ones, these kill my legs etc etc), and give some kind of motivation (we're halfway, just 4 more hard ones etc etc). Plus we had to keep in mind the "spirit" of our track. So I shouldn't be all smiley and skippy for mine, and the warm up person shouldn't be like "now go go go go!!!" etc. Which is fine, I can do that part fine. But then my routine went to heck. I missed the transition and couldn't figure out another move to get us to the other side, so we did the whole track on the right. Oops. But she said she didn't care a bit about the steps and routine and we could just make them to marches the whole time as long as we did the other things.

So I felt totally stupid at the end since my track was last, that was the last thing we did, and I totally messed it up. Oh well. I still think I'll be a good instructor. But the same as when I taught labs at school, I do much much better when I fully prepare. I knew I wasn't prepared saturday night when I went to bed, but I did all I could. A couple weeks of practice and I'll be fine.

So instructing ended at 1:00. I had a really low tire so went to walmart to buy a tire gauge and fill it up, plus bought a whole schwak of junk food. Bought cookie dough, peanut butter cups, chocolate covered raisins, gummy worms. Then went home, sat on the couch and ate and watched tv. That was my lunch and supper. and it was great. I worked out a TON over the weekend, plus I was feeling very raw and emotional and tired and just done. So it was needed. Plus it had a nice side effect. Like on old tv shows where the dad catches the kid smoking so makes him smoke a whole pack in one sitting. I ODed on candy and junk. I was craving water and fruit. I ate as much junk as I wanted, no restrictions. And I ate far less than I thought I would. Far less than I probably would have if I felt guilty about each bite. Strange. but nice. (only problem is now I've got all this junk food at home I have to get out of site so I don't just mindlessly eat!)

So what happens with the instructor thing now is we've got to learn the routines, practice practice practice. Probably with the other instructors at my gym. Once we're all set, then we have a launch when the class is first offered and put on the schedule. So that probably won't be until April. So we'll have all March to get ourselves ready. As far as certification, in the next 3 months, we have to tape a video of us teaching the class and send it in. They then approve or disapprove us. I think as long as I can get through the class teaching I won't have a problem. They mostly have issues with safety things, like not stepping in the correct spot, not showing options etc. I was fine with all that, just didn't know what I was teaching!

Anyway, today I have a pedicure scheduled. Take care of my banged up feet. Hopefully a decent calf massage too. They are so sore! My butt too. Feels good though. I thought it would be worse actually, the way I felt yesterday. This just feels like the first time I took a weight class after a summer off or something. So not PAIN, just SORE. I'm not sure if I'm going to go to my weight class tonight though. We'll see how I feel when it's time. No pressure this week.

Anyway, that was my weekend. Didn't feel like a weekend. Now I'm back at work. boo. I think this week is gonna suck.

Oh, by the way, I'm in love with hugh jackman and absolutely loved the razzle dazzle oscars. you?

I watched the Last 10lb bootcamp last night. It had a guy on it. Interesting. Hubby said, "he's not even that big or anything" but I explained, yeah "last 10 lbs" right? I think hubby was comparing to himself and his friends, who are all bigger. that must not feel nice to the old ego. But this dude did obviously have a beer belly to lose. Anyway, it showed the food he should try and eat every day. SO LITTLE! And this is a dude! Definately less than what I eat. Interesting. I don't remember what the calories were though. But all his meals and snacks were tiny. Poor guy. AND full of veggies, like lentil soup and wilted spinach. Guys don't eat like that do they? ;) Heck, I can't eat like that!

Just interesting to me. I know I eat relatively lots. But I don't really want to change that, if my metabolism is keeping me steady with all this i'll take it. Well as in I'll cut down a little, to lose weight, but not to that sort of degree!

Speaking of, my WI this morning, 145.4. that's an exact STS. I thought it was a loss. oh well. I told myself as I stepped on the scale "there are changes happening, you're happy with how you look, this number won't change that." And it didn't. Except I wish it was a loss. oh well.

Yeah, so I'm feeling better about my belly now. Posture makes a big difference, and posture improves with core work. So now when I walk my dog I brace my abs like I'm about to get punched. It's different from just having abs "engaged", this actually hurts after a few minutes. Not sure if it's really that, but it makes me feel like I'm working so I'm keeping it up. Also, ran on the treadmill again last night. Should have put better socks on and my blister coating stuff. I got a painful blister on the arch of my foot. Horrible place to get a blister, but that's where I get them now. Hopefully it won't still be affecting me tomorrow during Step! But I did different sort of intervals. Milder ones, using small inclines, and just ran a longer time. Finally running is feeling easier, and I don't feel out of shape doing easy speeds. But the endurance isn't really back yet. I ran just about 4 miles in just over 30 minutes. Pretty pleased with that. Needed one walking break as the treadmill was moving and I had to put it back, plus that's when my blister showed up. I should have stopped and changed socks or just stopped all together right then, but I was stubborn and went through it. Oh well, I iced it before bed and it doesn't hurt now (granted I'm sitting...).

So that was the good.

The bad is my eats. I over ate my trailmix yesterday. I wasn't hungry for supper so I cooked hubby some souvlaki but was going to just have some eggs myself (actually at first wasn't going to eat right away, but my mind kicked in and said supper time). so scrambled up some eggs with my leftover veggies from supper yesterday. Then I shredded too much cheese into it, and had it with some fancy mashed potatoes I thawed out (as in with creamcheese, they're delicious). So my "light" supper wasn't so great. THEN I had 2 handfulls of chocolate covered raisins, and about 3 gummy worms (stupid hubby packing for his fishing trip, he was in charge of snacks). But thankfully I stopped myself and had half a diet coke since I knew I just needed yummy tastes.

Tonight I've got tons to do, might try and leave work early. But I also have to finish something for work today. I've got to pick up my luggage from the repair shop (new zipper), buy some fruit since I'm out (packed CANNED for lunch) and will definately need it tomorrow, and I've got an eyebrow wax at 5:45. Combine that with getting off work at 4:45 and needing a half hour drive to get home for the waxing, pretty tight. oh, and grocery store and luggage place aren't near each other at all. Yep, gotta go early.

Tonight I'm planning on going to bed early, not working out. Packing food for tomorrow, maybe watching Lost. Step training class starts at 7:00 am tomorrow, again need that half hour drive, PLUS they're really sticky about being on time I hear. ew. Oh yeah, class will go form 7:00am to 6:00pm without stopping for lunch. I sure hope there are little 10 minute breaks for water and bathroom!

And ACTION

So yesterday was great. good good day. Granted I ate every morsel of food I packed myself for lunch, but then I packed it to eat so that's not bad. Today I cannot do the same thing. I restocked my emergency foods (aka baggie of almonds, craisins and dried fruit, YUM)

Supper yesterday was a salmon filet in dill sauce (captain highliner, needed some instant food since I didn't thaw anything, but it was healthy, only 129 calories or something). Sweet potato fries (sprayed with cooking spray and that's all), steamed frozen cauliflower and broccoli, and green peas. It was a plate FULL, but it was sooo much veggies it didn't matter. Dessert was a glass of milk. Go me!

Then I did a TT workout involving planks, lunges, push-ups etc. THEN I ran on the treadmill for 15 minutes of intervals. THEN I took the dog for a 15 minute walk. super successful exercise and eating day. Watched a little Jon and Kate Plus 8, read a little Women's Health. Bed.

Let's hope for a repeat today!

Hubby's going ice fishing this weekend, so if he has any interest in spending time with me I'll take it since I won't see him for a few days. Not likely because he's got a late hockey game and then is leaving at like 6:00am tomorrow so he'll want to nap. In which case, I hit the treadmill!

So little to say for today. Just hoping to make it another good one. I downloaded a bunch of comedy cds over night so I'm gonna have entertainment while I work, so how could that not be a good day right?

I can't believe the time

As in the time of year, as in, second half of February already. I was supposed to be down 10 lbs right away...

This weekend already is the Step training. I was supposed to look like a step teacher by now...

I'm still way up from Christmas. Haven't lost ANYTHING since then. It's simple math right? I'm not in calorie deficit. I don't feel like I'm eating significantly different from when I was 8 lbs lighter. Where is it coming from?

1. I think my lunches have gradually become bigger and bigger. Not that I try and eat processed foods, but if I did, a granola bar alone would be a morning snack. Now I need a granola bar and 1 cup of grapes. And the granola bars are higher calorie currently because they're oatmeal to go bars (200 calories) to try and get the extra fibre, or some sort of protein bar. In trying to eat for fuel and up the protein and fibre, and avoid just junk (100 calorie packs) I'm also eating more calories. I think the aim is right, but I shouldn't be making changes by choosing other processed foods with extra benefits. How about a dish of carrots and a hard boiled egg? More benefits, fewer calories.

2. Suppers haven't been awesome. I froze a pile of good stuff and when I remember to make a real meal it's good. But I often don't, and then eat "desserts" of bananas, muffins, candies or whatever.

3. Breakfasts. I think I'm enjoying my cereals too much. Buying "good" cereals that I want to over eat. When it was rasin bran, I couldn't eat too much of it. I also used to eat more fruit with breakfast and more smoothies.

I'm gonna say something that some people will disagree with now. I don't want a lifestyle change. I have a good lifestyle now. I try to avoid processed foods and preservatives in most things, (hello, homemade bagels!), I eat tons of fruits and veggies, whole grains. "bad" treats are rare (chips, cookies etc). Obviously I'm not perfect, but I think the way I'm eating is a good life long habit.

I want a diet.

I want to do a calorie restriction for a short period of time, then go back to my lifestyle. I don't think that's bad. I do think it's bad to be in a calorie deficit for years. Messes you up. I do think it's bad to be on some extreme diet or fad diet. I don't mean that. I think it's ok to deprive yourself of treats and eat different foods that you won't do long term. I only have 10 lbs to lose, that can be done in a couple months if I diet to do it. My lifestyle is fine, it's healthy. It's not making me lose weight (not making me gain either).

So that's my new attitude. I'm going to do the rest of february strictly and see what happens. Plan my splurges and treats again. I'm in maintenance mode now, but I don't want to maintain. So that's the plan.

In other news...

Went to a Mary Kay party with my sister last night. Ugh. I have no brand loyalty. I don't always agree with what they say (especially about mineral powder last night, but I bit my tongue). Oh, the big one was about moisturizing. I had "normal" skin, and she told me to not moisturize on my forehead and nose because without the special "oily skin moisturizer" then it would make me shiny and oily in the t-zone. Ok makes sense. Except that my forehead and nose felt really tight and dry with nothing on them. And I believe that's why I get oily, because I actually have dry skin. So to try and moisturize itself, my face produces oil. Like overwashing will dry my skin out and then give me breakouts. It makes perfect sense to me. But she didn't want me to put anything on my nose or forehead. wrong.

Anyway, it wasn't all bad. She had some nice techniques for putting on color that were different and gave a different look. We played with some fun colors and looked way beautiful when we left.

Gotta do some shopping after work today. We're out of shampoo. weird. I also want to buy some caulking for around the sinks. Plus used up the brown sugar and sandwich bags on the weekend. odds and ends. Then hitting the treadmill for a good one AND some heavy weights. When I was losing weight, I was hitting the heavy weights. Go with what works.

Also gonna try and plan some stuff for the weekend. My training saturday starts at 7:30 am and goes STRAIGHT until 6:00. No lunch break. we're supposed to bring food and snacks. (how am I going to go to the bathroom once and hour like I do at work?) So I gotta figure out what kind of food I can bring that will pull me through a whole day with no fridge or microwave. Maybe I gotta make something, go shopping etc. Ideas?

An extra day makes all the difference

I love long weekends. yay!

So friday hubby and I celebrated v-day. We watched Wanted at home (Angelina Jolie, assassin movie.) It was so-so. I bought myself yellow tulips. V-day is very silly I think. Hubby got off so easy.

Saturday hubby had to work. I had errands. I mailed a thank-you to my boss for the trip to Calgary. Went to his work to check out bathroom things (toilet, sink, etc etc). Then went into the city to get my hair cut (just a trim, but I loved it anyway, hair dressers just know how to do good hair. It's back to looking boring when I do it). Dropped off a suitcase to get the zipper fixed. Then went to my brother's to watch Lost together. I got a bagel at Timmy's for lunch and bought donuts for hubby's work. Brothers and I had one first though. Ok, I had 2. Donuts are my kryptonite, I should know better.

Then went to Walmart and grocery store with bro. Just grabbed a few things. Then back to hubby's work to look at more stuff and drop off donuts. Then we went out for a romantic supper at the bar (sarcasm?). I had chicken quasadillas that came with fries. Too much greasy food. bad bad bad. Saturday night I don't even remember what we did. Just watch tv and clean house I think.

Sunday I made homemade bagels. How cool is that? They're a bit lumpy and weird looking, but taste good. But since I'm not a big fan of all those carbs at once. I think I'm going to cut them up and make bagel chips out of them. I just love the homemadeness. I also made 2 different batches of low fat super healthy banana muffins (diff recipes). Like with egg whites, whole wheat flour, double the bananas, splenda and applesauce. They dont' get healthier. And these were still good tasting!

ALSO made puffed wheat squares. Just wanted to get rid of that big bag of puffed wheat. But they came in handy when we went to friend's house for supper, brought those for dessert. Then the guys went to hockey and me and the wife just hung out with the dogs. Watched tv. She's the friend that sometimes is super annoying and very messed up (drinking too much to deal with her parents divorce, throws tantrums like a child, very very jealous of her husband doing anything, does the whole binge then crazy diet thing, just messed up in many ways, then doesn't really listen to advice and help). I probably wouldn't hang out with her too much except that her hubby is one of my hubby's closest friends.

So I'd already had a very productive weekend, but it just didn't feel like enough. the house was still a disaster, I hadn't worked out, hadn't done any real different or interesting things (well the bagels were good). but I had another day!!!

So monday I cleaned my house top to bottom, really really cleaned the kitchen. Hands and knees scrubbing baseboards etc. Lots of laundry. vaccumming. Strange odds and ends, put more garage sale stuff outside, put the ladder away, moved the barbeque. Plus I ran on the treadmill and did a yoga video. Made some homemade veggie soup and cooked up tons of chicken breast and froze a bunch pre sliced for salads etc. Then after supper I was gonna try the 30 day shred. I got about halfway through the first level thing then hubby needed help in the basement. Boo. For the rest of the night we hashed out exactly what the plan would be for the basement (which I thought we should do months ago before he built ANYTHING, and we could have it all on paper with proper dimensions, but he doesn't work that way. So he had to rip a wall down and move it over and all kinds of running up and down stairs to see how wide hallways should be and how big toilets are and stuff.) I think I'm pretty happy with the final plan. I get an extra hall closet out of the deal now. But did that basically until bedtime.

Oh, forgot to mention that I thawed a bunch of stuff out of the freezer as it was too full, including a tub of cookies for hubby to take to work. But I ate them ALL yesterday. again, I should have known better. At least the puffed wheat is gone to his work.

Lunch today is a nice detox. Everything is a fruit or veggie or yogurt or chicken slices. I had one banana muffin. Going to sis's house for supper and then a Mary Kay party thing. I like those things alright, but I just wish there wasn't the pressure to buy. Like tupperware parties, if I need something I'll get it then, but instead I find some cheap thing I don't really need just so I get something. boo.

Don't you guys love money?

I adore tax time and thinking retirement savings and RRSPs and compound interest. I'm a big nerd in case you guys still haven't figured that out. Of course all of this is only fun and wonderful if you've planned ahead and done good things with your money. (yes I still love RRSPs even though the bottom fell out for most people lately, we had so little in there that it didn't set us back very far. Plus we have a big big pile of money that's eventually going to be invested in RRSPs but we haven't done it yet, because it's also our basement building fund. So thank goodness the basement wasn't finished last year because we'd have lost so much of it, but the way things worked out, we had it earning 3% interest (still not great of course, but better than -30%!)

My parents do taxes and financial planning for farmers. Dad has his own business. They raised me to just think certain things are stupid and really unthinkable. (not paying cash for furniture or electronics or something? STUPID! Don't care if there's no interest for 6 months or something. They bump up the price then! Buying a new vehicle? Why not just flush dollar bills down the toilet?) So I was raised like that, just having smart money sense as an instinct. Then I go and become a grown-up and realize, the majority of people, do NOT see this as the default. In fact that's why my parents taught us this! Growing up I'd just hear them complaining about how stupid some client was by doing whatever. So obviously tons of people do these stupid things! (in fact, probably most of you! so I do appologize for calling you stupid...)

I know I'm very lucky and I make good money. I have no student loans thanks to my parents (they paid for my undergrad tuition, let us have their hand-me down vehicle, and bought a condo for us kids to live in at minimal rent. My summer job paid for my books, groceries, clothes, gas etc.). We were lucky enough to buy our house a few years ago (well lucky or advised by our finacial advisor to not wait) when things were still inexpensive, where I live, real estate pricing has doubled in the last 2 years. So I know some things were just stacked in my favour to begin with. But I think that part of this was our own making (we had to be able to afford the house in the right timing, I was smart enough to get through school to find a good paying job etc etc).

Anyway, I've realized it's all about how you were raised. I was super lucky to have my parents be so smart at money. BIL to be (sis's fiance) was raised by a women who is a complete idiot when it comes to money. his dad died, leaving them insurance money I'm sure which is all gone now. His mom retired last year but is going to have to go back to work because she's blowing all her money already. Poor sis is guaranteed to have to look after her when she's older because she wont' be able to support herself (and is the kind of person who expects people to look after her...)

Hubby's parents did instill a wonderful work ethic in hubby, and he knows the value of a hard earned dollar. But they also are the kind of people who are bailing their daughters out all the time, loaning them money free and clean, pay back when you can (we took out an official loan from my parents when we bought our car, paid them the same interest we would have paid a bank, but they were more flexible about paying it off faster if we wanted etc). They have no plans to retire, probably work until they physically can't any more. Heck, they're late 50s and are still paying off debts, let alone saving for retirement!

My dad had a plan to retire early (which with the market fall out is no longer happening, but you can't forsee this coming 10 years in advance! well maybe somebody could...). He also had savings for the kids education, set up so each kid would get the equivalent of 4 years university tuition (taking into account rising tuition, inflation etc). I feel really lucky that any stupid little question I have about money, they'll explain it to me. (sometimes I still feel dumb about things other people know though, like last night, I asked them about mortgages and pay cheques and bank account balances, like percentages and what to keep it at, but they don't have regular pay cheques, self employeed, and they live in a small town where you pay cash for your house, no mortage. hm.)

Just today I opened up my tax free savings account, invested the full $5000. (not that I have that kind of money hanging around, we're basically paycheque to paycheque, but that's by design, we save or invest what's left. I moved the money from our basement fund, we'll still get the same interest, but tax free.) I also upped the amount deducted from my paycheque each month. They don't take it right off to an RRSP (small company, it's the boss's wife who rights the cheques.) but I have them take off $500 extra each month for taxes. I know it's not the best way to do things, because the government is getting money for 12 months that I could invest and make interest on, but since hubby is much more nervous about money and doesn't want to put too much away where we can't touch it (he has no retirement plans, think of his parents. I want to retire at 50!) and since early in our marriage I made the mistake of letting him pay the bills and deal with the day to day of the accounts (always make the saver in charge of this! not the spender!) this is the only thing I really have control over (my pay cheque). So this way, I'm guaranteed a huge refund come tax time, and we can put some of that into short term savings (baby fund, etc) and then buy RRSPs with the rest.

I'm sure everyone knows all about compound interest and so on, but I just want to remind you guys how important it is to start young. I don't remember the exact numbers, but if you start putting away like $1000 a year when you're 18, but stop when you're 30 (12 years), you'll have more money (assuming the same interest rate) when you're 65 than somebody who starts when they're 30 and puts in $1000 every year until 65 (35 years!). It's crazy. I think it's definately worth it to live poor for a few years and start saving when you're young (and probably used to living poor if you were a student or anything). It's really really hard to go back to living on less. I say just about impossible.

Hm, strange post. But I do love me some money talk! I think it's really interesting and exciting. Basically everyone makes enough to be rich. If you've ever bought yourself a coffee a timmy's or starbucks you have enough to invest to be rich. Not saying you shouldn't treat yourself to a coffee, but realize you're setting that as a priority over being rich. (straight out of my book I'm reading, Automatic Millionaire). Like if you spend $5 every day eating out or on smokes or fancy lattes or something, you could basically be costing yourself a million dollars. no joke.

Anyway, long weekend here this weekend! Sask gets a family day monday. so woohoo! We have no v-day plans. hubby has to work. I told him we have to watch a movie together this weekend. Sit down with popcorn and hold hands. that's the whole extent of it. we might do it tonight instead or tomorrow.

I've also got big plans of a huge chore list. Things like cleaning out the tupperware cupboard, washing the shower curtain, getting a hair cut, taking a suitcase in to get the zipper fixed, picking out toilets and shower stalls for the basement. Big plans.

Oh, and it's friday, so WI, 145.4. Down from 2 weeks ago. I didn't weigh last week we were off on holiday. actually I did weigh, I just didn't write it down, don't think I liked the number. But that means I had a good loss this week and it included the holiday last weekend so that's good.

I treadmilled last night. Just a 20 minute interval workout. Faster intervals. But the dog was being so cute and trying to get on the treadmill with me I cut 'er short and took her outside for a walk. And then a run. It was cold and icy, but I had good tunes in my ears and just felt like running a bit. I forgot how much nicer it was to run outside. Excited for it to warm up.

oh oh oh oh oh oooooooh

I can't believe it's thursday. That's what I get for having a social life I guess. That and a tv. Don't get anything done between the two of them.

So yesterday I went to the gym again to workout. This time I brought my little brother. We did this crazy stepper machine that's more like an elliptical, but with ridiculous incline. I liked it. I worked (compared to an elliptical, my HR actually went up!). I did 15 minutes. Ugh. But we wanted to do some weight things (what's the point in having a partner if you're not going to use him as a human shield to not be nervous in the weight area?) So we hit the weight floor. And mostly wandered around again. (I didn't have a chance to look a workout to do from my New Rules of Lifting for Women yet). My brother recently lost a ton of weight, just from having to cook for himself and buy his own groceries (when he moved away from home). I think now he wants to build some muscle. But he has no experience with that at all. He was the heavy kid all through school so never really into sports or anything. More the video game nerd. So he doesn't know stuff the way I know stuff (though he was very helpful at computer problems.)

So I tried to explain how the free weight things were better than machines. Yet I was too chicken to go do squats or anything. Did leg presses instead. And even though he's a guy, my bro couldn't really do much heavier weights than me. I'm not sure if he felt bad about that or not. I AM crazy strong as we all know. ;) We did some cable exercises. Not too much. I had a deadline.

Unfortunately the lunch I packed wasn't enough and I ate my sandwich in the afternoon. So I needed another supper option. Sis made perogies and smokies. I had like 4 perogies with low fat sour cream, and like a 3" sausage. And corn. Much bigger than a pb sandwich. But probably not a terrible meal.

I ate less at the little party than planned I think. Only a few veggies and hummus, a bit of goat cheese and crackers. But I did have a brownie. It was really good. I'm glad I had it, even though it wasn't in the plan. Some things are just worth it.

anyway, the ladies group got ironed out a bit. We might be calling it a "team" instead. My sister wanted to know who's idea the whole thing was, and on the drive over she asked "so who's the team captain?". I love the team name. Then I can just say I'm going to a "team meeting". Very discreet but cool sounding. Not instantly associated with a knitting bee or anything like "ladies group" is.

My month is July, we decided that whoever's the host for the month, plans the activities. It could be pole dancing or video games or baking cookies. Anything you want. My sister's going to do a wine tasting in March. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. It's friday night (usually, unless it doesn't work out for somebody's activity). I originally thought I'd teach Step and comp everyone into the gym or something. But the end of July seems like it should be a more summery thing. I have time to think on it still.

That's about it! Tonight I feel like I have catching up to do. Housework, mailing a thank you card, downloading the new episode of Lost (catching up on the last week one!). A treadmill interval workout. I also have to pay for my step training still (nobody was there yesterday to take my cheque!). I just emailed the girl about some questions about teaching another class as well. Not sure if I can really handle all this, especially since I'm planning on getting myself knocked up in the semi-near future! ;)

Oh, and lunch today is also not going to be as planned. I forgot my dad was in town and going to take me out for lunch. Yay! I'll avoid the fries and greasy sandwiches and try and stick to a salad or something light like that.

deviating from the plan

Well if I can't remember to thaw out food the night before, then supper will never be what I set out in my weekly plan! grr! Last night I forgot to thaw out some chicken, and hubby was home before me and made cream of celery soup (just a can). So that was supper, with a bun and a banana. Not too bad. But not the plan. I remembered to thaw something today, but I won't be home to eat it, (yes that's part of the plan). Hubby's having elk smokies. I'm having a pb&j sandwich.

Went to the gym yesterday for the first time (my new gym). It was nice, but I felt a bit lost. I'd like a workout buddy. I sort of wandered a bit. I did 10 minutes on the treadmill (each cardio machine has a tv you can hook up your earphones to, plus they have virtual trainers and can make you do any number of different workouts like intervals, or races or whatever. Plus you can plug in a USB drive to save your data. Just seems fun, but overwhelming). 10 minutes on the elliptical (I had the wrong shoes for running and could feel a blister coming so had to switch). Then tried to use the weights. I don't really like weight machines, but wasn't feeling confident enough to do much at the free weights. I did some leg presses and assisted chinups, then did some arm exercises at the free weights. I think I need to come in with a plan.

Luckily I have tons of plans at home that I really think are good. I've got the New Rules of Lifting for Women that I still haven't done, plus I've got months and months of Turbulence Training workouts.

So what's new today... my sister found herself and new rental place for her and her fiance to move in together. Exciting. It's near my friend's house who is hosting our first "ladies group" meeting so we'll drive by it tonight. AFter workout I'm hitting the gym again, then going to my sister's to eat my sandwich and give her her shoes. Then going to the ladies group. (anybody have a different name for it, I hate that one. It's not really a splurge group or anything since we're not spending money, just getting together for different things. A book club without books.) Since all I've got is a sandwich for supper, I'm going to plan to eat a bit at the meeting. She said veggies and hummus so I'm counting on that!

Stupid TV is preventing me from getting as much done as I used to in the evenings. I watched a Baby Story, Ellen and Project Runway Canada last night. Normally I don't even get these shows. I've got my PVR taping like 4 hours a day. Hopefully the novelty wears off soon and I save these up for weekends. I'd like to just have some of these shows on while I clean house or scrapbook. They're shows you don't necessarily need to sit and watch and pay attention to. Plus I have to figure out what shows I even like and when the new episodes are on and stuff. I taped Biggest Loser so I'm excited to watch that for the first time EVER since it's so popular on here.

Anyway, salad time. I remembered dressing today! (yesterday I had a can of pears in light syrup in my desk drawer and put some of that - not all the liquid! - on my salad and it was awesome.)

that cereal...

That cereal is called President's Choice On Track Plus Protein I believe. The word PROTEIN is hugely prominant. I think the taste was really good too. It's like corn flakes, rice krispies, cheerios or something all mixed together, many different little flakes and textures. yum.

I love President's Choice

I went to buy groceries yesterday. President's Choice is now pushing the healthy. woohoo! (I already loved it because of the cheaposity, plus it was pretty good at making "trendy" type food. Good knockoffs I guess I mean). So I bought some new cereal. Cereal with like 15 g of PROTEIN! No need to shell out for Kashi anymore! I also bought a bunch of fruit. Including kiwi's. I heard they were among the healthiest foods ever. As much fibre in one small kiwi as a large apple, more vitamin C than an orange, more potassium than a banana. All sorts of awesome things. Also got a big tub of spring mix salad. I hope it's good because I used it to pack a salad for lunch (along with some sliced strawberries, and sliced turkey sandwich meat) and forgot the dressing!

I even got random things like a can of beans in tomato sauce, but it's soybeans! good times.

Had myself a salad for supper and a bun and a banana. I'm not sticking perfect to my plan apparently. I'm ok with switching out one fruit for another because I didn't know what I was going to buy at groceries. but I'm going to try and do well with the rest.

Intervals on the treadmill yesterday, did the full 30 minutes. When I'm running outside, I don't care if it's 20 minutes or 30 minutes, it feels the same. But on the treadmill when you're staring at that number, it just feels like failure if I don't go at least 30. Then hubby wasn't ready for me to help him so I didn't do that chore like I'd planned. oh well, a little behind schedule.

Tonight I'm hoping to get to the gym. I don't really know if I have to pay, or if I have a membership yet (I get a free one when I start teaching, probably March). I emailed and asked so we'll see.

I also got an offer to take the training for teaching the power class (weight lifting sculpt class). I sort of want to. But I'm not sure how it would work with this job. Would they pay for half the training? Would I be guaranteed to be able to teach it enough hours to pay for itself? Do I want to teach so many hours? I'm hoping the girl I "interviewed" with will be at the gym tonight so I can talk to her about it. She seemed really nice and down to earth about things.

You know the Spring shoes everyone bought last week? I bought 10 pair (between my sis and I). well the first couple got delivered yesterday. They're sending them individually! doesn't that seem silly? It was free shipping for me, but it's gotta make more sense for them to send 1 big package than 10 little ones! weird.

Anyway, realized I've got a pile of work to do with actual deadlines so gotta get organized and get at it!

new plan

for this week.

Monday
food - cereal breakfast, no CTC (cinnamon toast crunch!), lunch - pita afternoon snack - banana, carrots and snap peas. Yogurt if needed. supper - not decided. maybe I'll have the salad I packed for lunch (girlfriend called for lunch)

workout - treadmill. Just 20 minutes hard intervals.

chores - groceries, help hubby organize the basement and plan walls. Laundry

Tuesday
food - cereal breakfast (NO CTC!), lunch - salad, grapes. snack - yogurts, grapes, apple, carrots. supper - chicken breast and veggies. no carb.

workout - go to the gym! take a class? Spin? check schedule

chores - pay "tuition" for step teaching. Decide if I'm doing Sculpt teaching as well. more laundry.

Wednesday
food - breakfast smoothie. lunch - leftover chicken. apple. snack - yogurt, fruit and veggies. supper - packed sandwich. evening snack - minimal crackers and cheese. veggies and hummus x lots. no brownie. (at a girlfriend's house, I know the menu).

workout - gym workout. class if schedule provides.

chores - go to girl's meeting. Organize a "splurge club" or "ladies group" with friends for the year.

Thursday
food - breakfast cereal. Lunch - salad. grapes. snack - yogurt, veggies. supper - kabobs. frozen veggies.

workout - 30 minutes treadmill intervals.

chores - kitchen and living room cleaning while watching tv?

Friday
food - breakfast toast. Lunch - leftovers. apple. snack - yogurt, veggies, grapes. supper - undetermined.

workout - try the gym.

chores - laundry, wash bathroom shower curtain. probably veg in front of tv.

Weekend - chores. send off thesis. Send off EIT stuff. Send off insurance forms. Book hair appointment, facial, massage, physio etc. Vacuum, general house cleaning.

I think that's all I've got for now.

A big update

Such a busy long weekend for me to recap! Get ready for a long one!

Thursday night my brothers came over and helped adjust the satellite dish. And yes folks, we got tv. Hurray! So didn't do the cleaning and packing, until 9:00 when they left. Too busy playing with the PVR! And watching shows I didn't have access to! Like 30 Rock. It IS funny! I had no idea.

Anyway, so hubby still didn't let me know what he anticipated for the weekend. So I tried not to overpack. And I succeeded. I underpacked. Oh well. I can wear the same thing 2 days in a row. House got completly cleaned too. Our plane didn't leave until noon on friday. So friday mornign was changing linens and one last clean and pack.

Got a friend to drop us off at the airport. Waiting for a plane (especially before a trip) always feels soooo long. Plus with the whole liquids thing I get freaked out and extra extra thirsty but feel like I can't get anything since I can't bring it through security (and I'm too dumb to realize I can buy something on the other side). I have mini panic attacks about the thirsty thing. Dumb.

Anyway, the flight was nice and short, just an hour. Then we took a cab downtown to our hotel ($36, not too bad) and got to check in early. We just hung out in the room for 2 hours before our massage. Hubby is like that, just wants to wait and flip channels. BORING. but I dealt with it. read some magazines. explored the hotel without him. I should have brought my laptop, they did have a business center with computers and internet that we could use for free, but I still felt naked without google. How was I supposed to find anything?! I didn't even write down what airline our flights were on, because it was in my email. I either need to bring my laptop from now on, or get a blackberry or iTouch. I'm so dependant.

So massage was good. It was my girl's first day at the spa (she'd done it before, but just new there) and I think was nervous in front of the other girl. So her bedside manner and pre-massage stuff was a little weird, but once we got into it it was fine. Hubby had a sore back they were trying to workout, I just relaxed. the best part was the face massage. It was more like just a couple pressure points, but it worked so well. Who knew how tense your eyebrows are?

Anyway, so we got showered and changed after and went to the Keg to use our gift certificate (present from SIL for all the work we did at her wedding). So we had goat cheese appetizer, and I had a big margarita (we were walking) and then the steaks. very good. Even better because it was free!

So on our walk back we stopped at a Mac's and picked up some snacks for breakfast and the room and just went back and didn't really do much. I don't even remember a discussion about are we going to go out or what.

Saturday morning I got up early and just watched tv. A lot of house flip shows. Good stuff. Gave us ideas (we could SO do that, if only we knew what the housing market was going to be like. We're in a very strange place right here, house prices were shooting up, then the US housing problems came and everyone here felt like, well shouldn't we be having a problem too? but prices still are going up...) Anyway, figured out the c-train thing and headed to the game early (hubby wanted to see everything).

That was really fun. I dont' like hockey, and Calgary sucked. but the doing new things and eating hotdogs and nachos for $20 and seeing all the jerseys and little kids be excited. it was like going to the fair. The last 5 minutes of the game were exciting since we were only down 1. We got to see 2 fights (which I hated, I think it's so stupid), realized we knew one of the players (sorta, through a friend) and had lots of chances to win stuff (they were giving away player's jerseys that day). It was cool. Plus I took lots of pictures.

Then on the way home we stopped at a mall (TD center or something) and just wandered around a bit. Bought some books. I got a really good one and I'm going to be a millionaire because of it (and the book was only $7). Automatic Millionaire (by the guy who wrote Smart Women Finish Rich and all those books). I just have to convince hubby to let me be in charge of our money, not him. If only I could get him to read...

I think that's all the shopping we did there. We were feeling fairly low class to be at this mall. Everyone was walking around in suits and pencil skirts and stuff.

That's when everything broke bad. Hubby and I had a big fight. It was coming for awhile. Started about where to eat. He wanted chinese and then basically made me figure it out (which is what it felt like at least), I didn't really care where we ate so we just set out walking somewhere and then somehow everything was bad and I was crying on the street and he was mad because I wanted everythign planned and he liked to just not do anything (I kept asking, so what are we going to do tonight and he didn't say anything, because he didn't want to do anything. Which would be ok, but I wanted him to say, "stay in the room and veg" because then I could plan accordingly.) Anyway, we had our big fight but we out in the streets downtown and I didn't bring my room key so I had to stick with him anyway. So once we were into the silent treatment aftermath part of our fight, we found the Spaghetti Factory and ate there. I completely lost my appetite though so I had the side salad and then 1 bite of my lasagna. (good thing we had a fridge in the room). It was a very awkward supper. I texted through it, (we had issues with our puppysitters, they all fell through so we had to arrange to have new ones and substitute ones and part times ones, ugh).

We did make up and I think somethings are worked out that needed to be. (we were also fighting about the basement how I don't like anything he does etc.) all our fights were topics of course, and the issue was communication. We need to talk more BEFORE things happen so we can be on the same page for them. If I knew he wanted to hang out in the room all weekend I wouldn't be upset when that's what we did and he wouldn't be upset because I kept asking him what the plan was. If we agreed how we were going to lay out the basement and what finishes and blah blah blah we were going to use before we did it, then we'd both know what the other person was thinking and wanting etc. So hopefully we can remember that and put it into practice.

Anyway, so we had 3 hours of really big suck on our trip. oh well, we fight every trip we ever go on.

So then Sunday morning, I got up early, went to the gym. Was going to go for breakfast but I thought I'd feel like an idiot by myself, so I ate half my leftover lasagna in the room. Read my book, watched tv. waited for hubby to feel motivated enough to get out of bed so we could check out. We left our bags with the hotel and took the c-train to the chinook center mall (THANKS LAINEY!!!) where we felt much more comfortable instantly. We are such suburbanites. This place had a Zellers. We could breathe again. haha.

So hubby went off to sportchek and bought 10 jerseys which were on sale for buddies on his hockey team. I went off to Sephora and Shoppers and bought tons of makeup (and got free stuff, if you need any Elizabeth Arden stuff, go hit up shoppers for a free gift!). I didn't look closely at Sephora and now I'm kicking myself. I bought a primer but didn't realize the seal had been broken and wasn't full. Do you think I can return this to the online store or something? hmm...

Anyway, I also went to Lululemon and found a shirt on SALE. Seriously. I bought a tank for $24. It's a size 6, which gives me a bit of armpit bulge, but it can be a midpoint goal shirt for me. (last october I'd fit a 6). That and I found a black sweater/shrug/something also for cheap at just like Siren's or something like that. And that's all I bought.

So we head back to the hotel, pick up our bags, were going to take the train closer to the airport so the cab would be cheaper, but realized we didn't really have time for that. Manage to rearrange all our luggage (yes really 10 hockey jerseys) so we fit on the plane. Almost miss it while grabbing a bagel for supper (missed the first boarding call and all we heard was the final boarding call for our flight, eek!). Finally get home around 9:00 last night. I missed Daisy tons and I also wanted to see if my PVR worked (and it did somewhat, also broke a bit. Same thing this morning, some channels aren't coming in, not sure what the problem is). Anyway, I also organized all my make-up. I have too much. Especially considering I only wear a mineral powder, eyeliner, and mascara every day. I've got blushes and eyeshadows and all kinds of pencils and lipsticks and so on that I never use. I've already sorted out the stuff, I really never use and that's in a give away bag. (colors that look bad on me, stuff I just don't wear ever). Then I sorted out unopened packages that I'll put in the garage sale this spring. Again, bad colors or something. Then I sorted my every day things into one container in the bathroom, made a travel set of everything for going home. Put another travel/miniature set in the purse. Then put some special occassion stuff in another container and put that in the bathroom (in the back of the drawer). All the other special occassion, fun for a makeover or something (like all these random colors of eyeshadow) I put in a train case in my bedroom.

Anybody have an opinion on this? I wear basically the same couple colors of eyeshadow (when I wear it) sort of plum colors, some pinkish browns. Varying the intensity dependant on the occassion. I've also got greens, greys, brown browns, tans, shimmery pales, etc etc. I never wear this stuff, but totally could. But I guess I just dress for my eyes, colors that look good with green, and neutral/natural looking (like I can do smokey eye, but not in like metallic or green, but my neutrally shade). When do I wear the interesting colors. I wear these ones because I think they make me look prettiest. Should I change it up and match my outfits more or something?

Anyway, so that was my weekend. Eating wasn't good. But I watched a few Bulging Brides and stuff like that. One in particular basically had my starting stats. (granted she ate horribly currently and never worked out), in 6 weeks she lost 10 lbs and 2 inches off everywhere. (exactly what I want to do.) And she could do it in 6 weeks. I can eat like that and workout like that. I dunno, it sort of fired me up. Plus I've got a new goal lululemon top, my step training right away and really seeing the countdown to sis's wedding looming. Plus I'm super unhappy with how I look right now. I'm going backwards. So ready to be serious now.

strange appetite

So now here it is lunch time, and I'm usually counting the minutes to lunch, and i'm not all that hungry. Except I am at the same time. My stomach is growling and ready to eat, but my mind isn't really. It's usually the other way around. I eat when my brain tells me it's time (either cause I'm bored, or it's time to eat or I know it will taste good or something). But now it's my stomach. and I don't feel like listening to it. odd odd odd. I will. I'll go heat up my food right now.

What am I eating? THis really good concoction I made up. I had cooked chicken breast I reheated. I was planning on making some kind of noodle bowl with shredded cabbage, because I happen to have a lot right now. But then saw the recipe I was going to use was for sweet and sour noodle bowl. Didn't sound good. So instead I sort of made up a recipe for a teriyaki noodle bowl. But then forgot the cabbage. duh. But it's still really good. I used bok choy for the first time ever. Just adds to the restaurant flavour. quickly steamed that with some onions, snap peas, a bit of green pepper (add the cabbage here!) some oyster sauce and some soya sauce. I also cooked some bean vermicelli in chicken stock and then mixed it in with the chicken breast shredded up. Yum! A bit too salty though. I gotta start getting low sodium stuff. Chicken broth and soy sauce was too much.

Hubby said it needed more vegetables. Neither of us could believe that.

On my way home I stopped at the grocery store to grab a few treats for the trip. Lemon Luna bars were on sale so I bought 4 of them. I've never had one before. Hopefully they're good.

tonight my little brothers are coming over to help point our satellite dish. They're tall so they'll be able to reach from the top of the ladder. I told them I'd cook for them if they tried. So I'm just thawing out burgers. That and a salad should be lots. Then we're also going to try and watch Lost from yesterday. It's so much more fun to watch with somebody else, they might remember things you don't and you can freak out at the same things (CHARLES WHITMORE WAS A SOLDIER ON THE ISLAND?!?!). Should be fun.

Then tomorrow we're off. We get in to Calgary around 1:00, I booked us a couple's massage at 4:00. So we'll probably just hang out at the hotel until then. Hubby didn't want to make any plans at all, just see what he felt like doing. (that so doesn't work for me, what am I supposed to pack? Are we going out? staying in? shopping? walking? touristing?) I'm hoping we can go to a movie since we've got gift certificates. Maybe the Keg if there's one down town (another gift certificate). If he wants to just hang out in the hotel room and watch tv that's ok too. (since I haven't had tv in almost a month it will be like a treat). Or I might ditch him and go make-up shopping. Cat's concealer post had me written all over it. (maybe find a Sephora? We don't have that here). Maybe I can even find weird grocery things we don't have in SK. Like ezeckial bread. (any Calgarian's know 'bout this one?)

Ok, so today is my friday. Hope you guys have a good weekend! I know I will!

I didn't eat supper

I like putting in headline like titles. it's funny.

Yeah, I didn't eat supper yesterday. I also didn't go to step like I was supposed to (well planned to). Well, what important thing did I do instead of EATING? nothing. I just wasn't hungry.

So I found that shoe sale yesterday, then immediately ran to my sister's house (in my car...) because I have no fashion sense and needed a second opinion. Got her 3 pairs of shoes, I got like 7 I think. CRAZY! total cost $150. The last pair of shoes I bought were $150 (they were my runners). I think that averages out well.

anyway, I was having some trouble with the Spring shoes website. It ate my order. So I had to reorder everything (I hadn't paid yet.) Anyway, so with all that, I ended up being late for the step class so I just didn't go. I went to the grocery store, bought a ton of chicken.

I accidentally bought the bone in chicken. I'd never done that before, so I had a hard time de-boning. Didn't know what to do. I think I wasted some meat. Oh well. I cooked up a few chicken breasts so I could have them for salads and recipes this week. Anyway. cooked it up. But it didn't seem appetizing to me. I really wasn't hungry. I was sort of upset that I missed the class and I was upset that hubby gave up on setting the satellite dish. So since I had no plans, I decided to try tuning the dish (anybody do this? got any good tips?). So I read the manual, grabbed a flashlight, put on my warm clothes, and climbed on the roof.

It was hard. Turns out I'm a little scared of heights. Hubby could reach the dish from the top of the ladder, I couldn't. So I boosted myself onto the roof. Tried to adjust it to the proper angles. But I couldn't hear the signal from the tv inside. (hubby wasn't home yet). So I climbed down off the roof (which was much scarier than getting up there) and went back inside.

I still wasn't too hungry, but was going to run on the treadmill. So I had an oatmeal-to-go bar and a glass of milk. that was my supper. Then I ran on the treadmill, hard. I did 2:1 intervals for a full 30 minutes (more like 32, I had to finish a song). I did 2 minutes, 0 incline, 6.0 to 6.5 miles/hr, then did 1 minute at incline 3, 7.0 miles/hr. I loaded up the MP3 player with new tunes that pumped me though it. I never do a full 30 minutes of intervals. Usually 20 minutes. So I was really happy with my workout.

Then I came upstairs, played with my puppies. Daisy (my dog) is a big bully. It's funny, I got each of them a big dog bone to chew on. As soon as Daisy hears Taz chewing, she drops her bone, and decides she wants Taz's. So poor Taz submits, then goes to Daisy's bone, no wait, Daisy wants that one too! So Taz comes and snuggles with me, Daisy gets jealous and jumps on my lap and pushes Taz out of the way. Mostly she just wants Taz to be miserable or something, actually wants Taz to wrestle with her and be more interested in her. Daisy also steals all the food, or treats or whatever. So I spent a few minutes sticking up for Taz.

Anyway, then I worked on that darn thesis again for a little bit and went to bed. Woke up, fairly hungry. Not as hungry as I thought I should be. But again, no time for breakfast because I have to deal with 2 dogs. So I make myself a hot chocolate, and grab another oatmeal-to-go bar. I hope I'm out of those soon, I love them and find every excuse to eat them. 200 calories isn't great!

Anyway, tonight I've got step. And gotta clean the house. We're gone on the weekend and SIL and BIL are going to stay at our house. Plus I have to pack for my weekend (remember this is the weekend we're going to see a Flames game!)

OMG SHOE SALE!!!

Attention Canadians!!! Do you like shoes? Do you like 50% off shoes (or more?). Go to Spring and buy buy buy! (but don't buy the ones I want if there's only 1 pair left!) I'm probably shopping for the rest of the day and I'm not even a shoe girl!!!

want a workout? Build a basement

So I helped hubby last night before my exercise class. He had bought a bundle of 2x4s that were sitting in our driveway and had to go to the basement (a bundle is 50, I think they're 8 feet long). Wiki says that each weighs about 10 lbs. (I could only carry in 3 at a time, 4 was like juggling and I would run into things and they'd fall all over. My macho sexy hubby can carry 10 at a time - well so he says) I carried all of these in to my house and then down to the basement. That's 500 lbs! (right?) and that's like 15 trips up and down my stairs with them. My legs were sore before I even went to class. No not sore, tired.

Supper I had spaghetti. And I kept my serving so small. 1 big fork full out of the pot (like 1/3 of what you'd get in a lean cuisine frozen entree or something. Had it with some ground elk and canned pasta sauce. Finished eating that and I had the big nasty ball feeling in my stomach. Though it was much less than when I eat more. Not exactly sure what that means. I'm not allergic to pasta, I eat my homemade frozen lunches of spiral pasta and veggies and pesto with no pain. And I eat tomato sauce and elk meat in other things with no problems. Could there be a difference between spaghetti and other pasta? I guess my spaghetti was whole grain. Very confusing. But whatever the cause, I now accept that I get that feeling if I eat it. So I bet I don't eat it much any more. (which is alright, because I'm not the biggest fan anyway).

Any scientists out there? Can you explain the conservation of mass with respect to weight loss? Was thinking of this today (NERD ALERT!) and I think you must have to pee it out and sweat it out. Your body is like a furnace, burning food for energy, and in a furnace the wood fuel mass turns into smoke and soot and vapour right? So even though it's hard to imagine the whole mass of the log (minus the coals that don't burn) is equal to the mass of the smoke and ash though the volume is a whole lot different. Same thing with our bodies too I guess (volume being different...) I'm such a geek.

Tonight I'm going to that step class with my 2 weeks free at the one gym. Oh, I should say, yesterday in sculpt I used 10lb weights intead of 8 lbs like I usually do. HUGE difference. Particularly in squats, also some arms. Felt good though. Nice to push myself. Anyway, extra step class tonight. Maybe some other gym things too. But I've got stuff to do around the house tonight as well. Plus deal with those darn puppies (who didn't let us sleep again last night.)

flavoured drinks made me fat?!?

So I came to a realization (I'm going to say a while ago, but I never wanted to admit to it until now). I've been drinking more and more crystal light and green tea and other calorie free drinks that were not plain water. And my weight has been creeping up and up. I think there's a link there.

I've read articles explaining how drinking sweet drinks, even though they have no calories, can make you fat, because your body responds funny to them. (I don't really understand the science so I won't fake it, something about, your body doesn't know it's fake sugar, and it also makes you crave more sweets).

So I'm finally admitting it might be a problem and going back to my 1-2/day. (I was up to like 5 water bottles full of green tea/crystal lights per day, no water). I still like the 1/day in the morning (I don't drink coffee but want something to sip on the way to work). I put some benefibre in there and get a few extra g of fibre to help the old ticker, plus I like to think it keeps me a bit more full so I last longer before I need that morning snack.

So there, I'm doing that.

Edit - anonymous's comments made me laugh. I know it's not these 0 calorie drink that are packing on the pounds! I guess it sounds like that's what I think. I know it's not. But I do think it's contributing, both to my sweet tooth, and to my sense of "treats". It used to be a flavoured water was a "treat", now it's the regular, so I need a cookie for a treat. Ya know? Plus I think it makes me want to eat more and changes my tastes. So water it is.


This weekend I didn't eat great, didn't eat horrible. It was carbarific though. Lots of bowls of cereal and muffins and toast (seems like a lot of breakfasts).

I didn't do much. Finished most of my thesis edits. Was waiting for an email I got this morning, so should be able to finish completely today or tomorrow and send it off again.

Did a weight workout friday night. And interval running on Sunday. Nothing saturday. that's ok.

Didn't get a good sleep. We're puppy sitting SILs dog while they're in Vegas for the week. He's a good dog, but didn't like some of our house rules (like bed time, and no barking outside at 11:00 at night, and stay sleeping in the kennel quietly until we let you out in the morning).

Anyway, strength workout tonight. Pasta for supper (really gonna watch serving size, eat seriously appetizer amount, doing an experiment. I think I don't react well to pasta, no matter how much I eat, my tummy hurts. So gonna make sure I'm not just overeating.)