Reflections

It has been a long time, but something had to give with everything going on in my life. I have missed blogging quite a bit, so I'm happy to have some time to write again. I'm in no way going to try to catch up on everything that has gone on since the last post in early April. There are also things better left unwritten as well. Anyhow, here are the random thoughts...

I'm beginning to reflect upon all that has happened since about Novemberish. That is when a lot of major, yet good changes were happening to both the hubs and me. He got a good job in his field (after receiving a PhD the previous May) and close to home. I applied and got accepted to graduate school. The adjustment to it all hit me hard, but I got used to our new life.

When I first started going back to school (grad school, not work school), I was so happy. It felt great to read, learn, apply new things, and grow. I met other people who are in in similar situations and who I consider friends now. The thing that struck me in the first few classes is how right it was to be going back to be a counselor. The professor would talk about "typical" traits or behaviors that many counselors have, and I would think "Hey, that is so me." I remember thinking that this is where I belonged all along.

Lots of reading...

and writing.

In January I really got on track with losing weight and was feeling great about myself. I had lost 15 lbs in less than 2 months. I was working out consistently. I even got sassy and cut my hair short for the first time ever in my life. I got compliments on the weight loss and the haircut. I was working full time, cooking/eating healthy, working out, and taking two grad classes. I somehow achieved a busy, but balanced life.

Looking good and feeling good.

I tripped up a bit at the end of February, but kinda got back on track for part of March. Then I pretty much fell off the weight loss wagon in April. The stress of all the assignments, readings, and group projects (especially the group projects) started getting overwhelming. At work I became stressed out trying to plan the best spring program that I could. I poured my heart and my whole being into work and grad school. In the process, I stopped taking care of myself.

I stopped planning meals and ate junk food or fast food. I stopped working out and then ended up with an injury anyway. Instead of getting into the doctor for my injury, I just but on my "boot" from five years ago since the injury felt like the same thing. Then I just kept plugging along at work and school. It got to the point that I did next to nothing fun or for myself. I was stress eating and eventually got to a point I was so stressed that I didn't want to eat and my stomach hurt.

Many of the stressors have been resolved and my first semester of grad school is done. I am finding it strange to have time to myself again. Now is the time to meal plan and figure out some kind of work out I can do until my injury is healed.  Speaking of injury, I finally went to the doctor for that and am still in the process of getting it figured out. I get to go in for an ultrasound on my ankle next week. I plan on blogging more often again as well.

I guess since this post has next to no point, I will call it a reflection post. A "hey, I'm still alive" post and I will be back on track again post. There is so much I'd like to write about. I would love to start posting my grocery shopping trips, meal plans, food for the week, workouts, my injury, and some stuff I learned in grad school (I'm thinking personality types and Meyers/Briggs related). I guess that is where I'll leave it for now.

Food for the Week and Daily Life

Monday and Tuesday have been good and productive days. Monday I didn't have to go to work or school because of MLK Jr. Day. I slept in until 6:30ish (Hey, that is sleeping in for me!) and spent the first part of my morning cooking my food for the week.

My three ingredient meatloaf that I found in the Hungry Girl 300 under 300 cookbook.

Another recipe from the cookbook mentioned above and also three ingredients. Since it was one of those things you make when you want it, I got all the things ready and put in the same drawer in the fridge.

All my snacks portioned out and ready to go.

I also did some chores like laundry, dishes, picking up stuff and putting it away. I took Benjamin to the vet to get his annual heart worm check.

Benjamin is a crazy one, but he is good to us.

I spent the afternoon running errands at a few stores and then went to the gym to do my workout plan on the machines. The evening was spent getting things ready for work and doing some reading for school.

Tuesday was a pretty typical work day. It was pretty darn cold though. Some parts of the state were so cold that schools had two hour delays. We didn't though. After work I ran to the Dollar Tree to pick up some 100 calorie packs of cookies (six for $1 is a good deal).

Then I went to the gym and did some walking on the treadmill. On the way home I stopped at the post office to mail a couple of gifts for some family members. I only had three people in front of me in line, so that was a positive. My plans for tonight are to do some dishes and laundry, play a little Song Pop and Sing Party, and read some more of the ACA code of ethics for school. I know I lead an exciting life. ;)

 
Random thought: I forgot to include this last week, but I walked into my classroom and found that the numbers/words I had on the board looked like they have melted into an evil smiley face. It was weird and creepy, but I think it was just because they used the wrong cleaner on the board.

I've planned out my food for the week like I have been doing, so here is the plan...

And here are the pictures:

Breakfast

Snack

Snack

Lunch

Snack

Dinner

Snack

First Days of Grad School

This week is my first week of going back to school, so it has been a little busier than I'm used to being. That is my reason for the lack of posting. I'm still doing well on losing weight and working out though. Since it has been a while, I'll try to go through the highlights of each day this week and then post some pictures of what I've been eating.

Monday: This was my first day of class and the class was ethics in counseling. After work I ran home to take the dogs out, eat a quick dinner, and gather up my stuff for class. I left about an hour before class to have some extra time to find the classroom since I've never been there before. I was there 15 minutes early and there were quite a few people there before me. I found one of the people that interviewed with me back in November and sat by her. I also talked to the girl sitting behind me and she is also a teacher and lives in the same town as me.

I felt a little weird being a student again after working for six years. I'm used to being the one in front of the room and in charge. After I got over that and the fact that I had to sit in an uncomfortable old-fashioned little wooden desk with the chair attached, I was happy to be there. I wasn't able to get onto the online system for our classes which left me with no syllabus. Luckily I wasn't the only one having this issue and the professor had some extra copies for us. The first night was spent going over the syllabus and class schedule, a PowerPoint about chapter one, and a group activity.

And, as a side note, I finally got on 80/94 going the right direction to go home. I always end up screwing that up. I learned the hard way to make sure to get it right. The last I messed up, I just got off on the next exit and took 173rd back to Indianapolis to get on going the right direction. The part of town I drove through felt a little bit scary and dangerous.

Tuesday: After work I went to the gym and had a good workout. Then I ran home to take the dogs out, freshen up, and go back to work for a PTO meeting.

Wednesday: I had an asthma attack in the afternoon while at work. I still felt bad when I left, so I didn't get to go to the gym.

Thursday: It was my first night in my measurement/testing class. Since we have professional development until 3:15 on Thursdays, I just stayed after work and ate dinner in my office. I left early again to make sure to find my classroom in time. I found it in two minutes and was there way early. The classroom was a lecture hall with no windows, so I wasn't sure if it would be okay to walk in so early. I sat outside the lecture hall on a bench and decided to wait a while and see if anyone else in the class came by. A guy that had interviewed for the program back in November with me came and sat down next to me and we talked for a bit about going back to school after being out for so long. Eventually a girl in the class came and was waiting next to us and decided to peek in and see if it was okay to go in. And it was.

I was grateful for the seats in the lecture hall being much more comfortable. I was also able to get into the online system for the classes to see and print the syllabus before class. It ends up that the third edition book that my hubby ordered for me won't work with the class (the tests/methodology is outdated), so that night after class my hubby ordered me a 4th edition. Other than that, the class went well. We pretty much followed the same kind of order as we did on Monday (the same professor teaches both classes). For the group activity we had to find a partner and do a made up type of "test" where we had to choose one of two items that fit us and explain why. I ended up sitting next to another teacher (yay for finding people I have things in common with) and we did the "test" together.

Friday: Not too much to say about Friday. I went to the gym after work and got a good workout in. I came home and printed out some stuff for classes, but didn't do too terribly much.

Saturday/Sunday: I meal planned for the week, made a grocery list, and went shopping in the morning. I spent the afternoon cleaning the house and making food for game night. And, of course, I went to game night in the evening. It was with some of my St. Joe friends and their friends. I finally got to try out Sing Party with people instead of by myself. I have to figure out all the modes in the game before the next time, so we can try more things out. I had a good time, but took no pictures as per usual. I don't know if everyone would really want to be posted on my blog doing what they were doing last night anyway... I ended up staying the night along with a couple of other people. We had some Cinnamon rolls (I know I shouldn't be eating them.) this morning and they were about to watch a movie when I left. I came back home and got one chapter of reading done for one of my classes and a few chores done around the house.

Our "nice" bedding for the king size bed which I'm loving. It was my first time having the set on the bed, so I had to take a picture.

Weekly Eats

Breakfast

I had fruit bites instead of yogurt.

Snack

Snack

Lunch

I had two pieces and a half cup of applesauce.

Snack

Dinner

Other stuff

 

This was the worst thing I ate all week, but it tasted so good. Costco cake...

 

It's Been a While

It's been a while (as I'm writing this the Staind song is playing in my head) and there is lots to blog about. As far as life goes many things are really good and are keeping me busy. I've been officially accepted into grad school, my hubby and I are in the process of getting a king size bed, I've rearranged all the bedrooms to accommodate for this bed, I turned 29, the Christmas decorations are up, and I'm tyring to plan ahead and keep ahead at work. These things could probably all have their own post, but I will worry about catching up later.

The thing that I have been avoiding the most in the midst of all of the above is anything to do with being healthier, eating healthier, working out, or blogging. I've come to a point where most of my healthier habits have gone out the window and I'm just doing whatever. I kind of had an "a-ha" moment last night and am ready to get back on the horse again (for the millionth time). Right now I plan on just focusing on the basics, so no big challenges or goals. Once I'm back in the groove of things that may change.

I would like to focus on making healthier food choices, portion control, and drinking more water. I will work myself back to the Six Week Body Makeover or Weight Watchers, but for right now I just need to do something simple that won't overwhelm me. My meals are usually okay, but I've been doing horrible on snacking again. I've been eating candy bars and cinnamon rolls recently. When I was really following my plan, these things would make me sick if I ate them. I want to get back to that point. I'm usually a big water drinker, but lately I've been drinking more diet pop and less water. Also, when I do eat a healthy meal, I sometimes just plain eat too much.

As for exercising, I will set up the Kinect for the 360 tonight and do that or the Wii Fit for a little bit. I'll try doing a little bit of either one of those a day until I get my fitness level back up. I also need to start doing my stretches for my neck/shoulders again due to pain in my wrists. My hubby's place of employment has a small gym in it, so I would like to do C25K again (and not stop 2 jogs short of finishing) and complete it. I have asthma, so wogging in the cold won't work for me.

Another thing that needs some attention is the mental/motivational side of this. I need to work on positive self-talk and finding what really motivates me again. There's a book that I've probably mentioned before for emotional eaters called Life is Hard, Food is Easy by Linda Spangle. I've read through most of it twice and did some of the exercises, but never finished it. I would like to work on finishing that as well.

Here is the food plan for the rest of this week:

Breakfast:

I haven't tried these yet,but I hope that they are good!

Snack:

Snack:

Lunch:

I will have two of these plus some veggies and applesauce. It is an English Muffin pizza made with a whole wheat English muffin, reduced fat cheese, pizza sauce, onions, and turkey pepperoni. Bake them for ten minutes at 375 degrees. Yum!

 

Snack:

Dinner:

I'm going have these in whole wheat tortillas instead of corn hard shells.

Snack:

The trick with these is portion control. I'm hoping for one or two at night as a treat.

Winning the Stripes Challenge

I managed to wear stripes the whole work week as per my challenge from a colleague. On Thursday I wore this outfit:

And on Friday I wore this outfit (which means I met the challenge!):

 

 

 

I'm still feeling under the weather, but I managed to get through the week and not miss any work. I'm still really tired, have an irritated, sore throat, slight cough, and red eyes. I hope that I feel better by my grad school interview on Monday!

My husband has just finished his first week on the job and is doing well. It is strange to be at home alone for a couple of hours (as alone as you can be with three to five dogs). Once I get my energy back, I think it would be a good time of day to work out.

I've been enjoying watching The Voice which is the only TV show I make sure to take time to watch. I have a song stuck in my head that was sung by Melanie Martinez. It is "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant. I've never heard of them, but I just got through listening to several songs of theirs on YouTube. I really enjoyed it. I guess I do need to try to listen to some new music more often. Also, if you really listen to the lyrics it sounds pretty depressing, but the lead singer of the band said it is about wanting to break out and do something different than what suburbia expects of you (not drugs or suicide). I like that interpretation of it the best. Anyway, here is the video of Young the Giant performing it.

I've been pretty much eating the same things I pictured in my earlier posts this week. I've been snacking a lot and drinking much more diet pop than usual to help keep my energy up while working. I just hope that I can at least maintain for this week. Now that the weekend is here, I can maybe take naps instead of eating sugar and drinking caffeine.

 

Good News

Well, day three of the new weight loss year is almost over. I'm totally drained and tired plus my sinuses have been hurting off and on all day again. Anyway...

There really isn't too much to say about today as far as my life goes. I'm still working on gathering all the things I need for my upcoming music program at the end of the month, so after work I went to a "teacher store" to see if they had any guiros or agogo bells. (Bonus points to you if you know what they are without looking at pictures!) They didn't have any though. It looks like I will probably just have to order them online very soon. I techincally have two guiros, but one's "tail" end has came off. If I don't have the money in the budget for a new one, I'll try gluing the one I have together.

My husband's life is a little more exciting than mine today. He was offered a job in his field and will get to start soon. He graduated in May with a PhD and has been job searching ever since. He could have had a job sooner, but those jobs involved moving. We are not interesting in moving after putting so much money and sweat equity into the house. He was finally offered a local job and took it. So yay for the hubs!

The October Photo A Day Challenge by The Lean Green Bean has me leaving an operation beautiful note in a public place. I forgot to write one before leaving work, so I didn't have one to leave in a store bathroom (which is my plan). I'm going to write my note today and leave it somewhere tomorrow.

My plans for tonight include trying to get more stuff done for the music program, getting ready for work tomorrow, playing Song Pop, and taking Sebastion (one of my doxies) to the vet. He isn't sick, but is having gland problems. That is probably all I need to say to those out there who have dogs.

As far as the October Challenge (Tighter Belts and Even Tighter Wallet) goes, I've been on plan all day. I'm once again just planning on getting in my 8,000 steps since I still feel lousy though. No extra money has been spent today, so that is a positive!

Food for the day:

Breakfast

Snack

Snack

Plus some light string cheese.

Lunch

With applesauce instead of a cookie for dessert.

Snack

Dinner

Snack

Exercise: 8,000 steps