Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Monday, July 30

I was all gung-ho to do Aquafit with more regularity, like catching all three mornings per week it is offered. Until I met the drill sargeant of a substitute instructor and she nearly killed me. Seriously. My arthritic neck didn't like the non-stop pace and my upper back was really sore all day long. Sadly I think I will pass on more Aquafit with Brooke. Nicole should be back next week. As will I.

I'd brought soaked oats, cherries, and vanilla yogurt to work for breakfast as well as two banana muffins and a mocha. I was still starved by lunchtime. Hubby came to town and we ate out (so much for writing menus for the week.) I had a Meditteranean style grilled chicken burger (chicken, spinach, feta, lettuce, tomato, sauce) and a side salad with Ranch.

Things are starting to slip on FlyLady's zones at my house. We went up to the beach to cool off when I got home. Then hubby was all excited about the new propane *tree* we'd bought for camping that can hook up our little barbecue, camp stove, and light onto one propane bottle. Then we cooked supper outside: barbecued chicken legs on the barbecue and yammy fries in the toaster oven out on the porch. Should have served salad but didn't quite get there; I was pretty sore and reading in the hammock while supper cooked. It actually got down to a decent temperature outdoors by late evening.

Then I tidied up, put the last of the laundry away, and hubby and I made some lists for the upcoming camping trip. By the time I'd finished cleaning the kitchen (yay me) and served our banana milkshakes I was dog-gone tired. I've been sleeping very poorly, and the night before I hadn't slept even that much, so Monday night I took a sedative to try to catch up even a little.

I need the heat to go away.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Sunday, July 29

It seems as though exercising first thing is well on its way to becoming a habit. Finally. I tried to stay in bed and talk myself into rolling over and catching more zzzzzs but just couldn't rest. So I hopped on the bike and went for a 45 minute ride. Came back, showered, had Fiber One with raspberries and vanilla yogurt and a mocha while I checked out the internet.

Did the bathroom swish and swipe and then tidied up a few hot spots. When hubby got up (that recuperating from night shifts is a killer every time) he wanted breakfast and my body thought it was lunchtime. This is a problem with my menu planning! :P So I made scrambled eggs with lots of veggies in--onion, pepper, carrots, broccoli--and a bit of bacon. I also had one slice whole grain toast (margarine).

Then we hit the road for over the mountain and visiting my mom in the nursing home and my two sisters (one of whom is visiting from Ontario). We brought Mom over to my sister's house for supper. Sis (who is skinny!) made a fairly low GI beef stew for supper and served it with a tossed salad and baguettes, of which I had too much. The meal was topped up with a home-made blueberry/ raspberry flan (all berries from her garden). We dropped Mom back to the nursing home and headed back over the mountain to home.

Did the evening routines to get ready for Monday, a snack of cherries, then off to bed.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Make it Splurge-Worthy!

Make it Splurge-Worthy!
From Reader's Digest (Canadian edition January 2007): Eat, Shrink& Be Merry! By Janet and Greta Podleski

When you get the urge to splurge (and we all do!) don't waste valuable calories and stomach space on tasteless, mediocre treats. As a rule of tongue, before any high-fat, high-calorie, belt-busting food crosses your lips, make sure it's "splurge-worthy." Rate the indulgent food from 1 to 10. If it isn't a 9 or a 10, don't bother--it's not worthy! Who really wants to gorge on 600 headed-straight-to-your-hips calories in the form of Gram and Gramps' 70th anniversary sheet cake? Be polite, enthusiastically taste a small forkful, then slip the rest to Aunt Gertrude's Pomeranian. Same goes for your mother-in-law's fruitcake, chock full of those scrumptious artificial fruit globules and the ever-so-tasty FD&C red #3. It's not worthy! Repeat: Not worthy! Every single high-calorie indulgence should have a high "worth it" factor and should be a food that you absolutely love, love, love. There's nothing worse than having to loosen your belt after eating a meal or food that you didn't really enjoy. Talk about waisting calories!

If you haven't met the Podleski sisters from Ontario, Canada, and are in the market for new healthy recipe books full of humor and delicious eats, check out:
Looneyspoons (1996)
Crazy Plates (1999)
Eat, Shrink & Be Merry (2006)

I've had the first two cookbooks for years and will soon be picking up number three. Eat, Shrink & Be Merry was written with the glycemic index in mind, so it should be a great blend of guilt-free recipes and whacky jokes. The Canadian Reader's Digest has been featuring recipes out of it in 2007.

Green Tea Lemonade

Need a cool, refreshing drink for hot summer days? Try this!

Green Tea Lemonade -- makes one gallon
Bring about a quart or two of water to boil (exact amount doesn't matter)
Turn off heat and toss in:
2 Green Tea teabags
1 Mint Tea teabag

(I buy President's Choice brand Moroccan Green Tea Mint and just use three bags of that)

Allow to brew until it has cooled to room temperature.
In a one gallon jar, place:
1 cup Splenda (or to taste)
3/4-1 cup lemon juice (to taste)
All the tea (minus the squeezed-out bags of course!)

Stir thoroughly, then fill with water.
Refrigerate and enjoy!

Saturday, July 28

This Saturday morning started out with a 60 minute bike ride which was fun. Had my usual breakfast when I got home: raspberries, soaked oats, vanilla yogurt, mocha.

Ran the vacuum through the main floor and did a quick clean-up of the laundry area in preparation for doing today's wash (which is nearly done as we speak, two loads put away and two still in progress). Hubby's rotation put him home just before noon today.

I made a salad called Glory Bowl for lunch (brown rice, greens, beets, carrots, almonds, and a homemade tahini dressing) and spent much of the afternoon reading. Went to town and picked up some groceries as well as writable DVDs so that one of these days I can back up all the photos on the computer. You never know, the beast is three years old and has glitches here and there. Had a couple pieces of toast (margarine) late afternoon as we were going to go to the beach but we decided against going after all.

I made shishkebabs for supper (beef, zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms) and peaches, yogurt and All-Bran for dessert.

The garden is watered and I did some pruning and weeding. The kitchen is clean.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Friday, July 27

Friday again--how did that happen? I barely dragged my body out of bed on time for Aquafit this morning. It's a good thing I had breakfast prepped and my workout bag loaded with clothes for work because I hucked it all in the truck and left for town about fifteen minutes after I woke up. And it was a great workout. I love Aquafit!

So I ate my breakfast (soaked oats, strawberries from my in-laws' garden, vanilla yogurt, mocha, 2 banana muffins) at work. And it was a pretty busy little morning, got my words on Dottie and that was about it for constructive. At noon I stopped for fresh local cherries and then drove home for the day.

It was great that I'd made the taco stuff (chicken breast, black beans, seasonings) last night as it was perfect for lunch with mixed salad greens, cuke, tomato, a sliver of cheddar and ranch dressing. I took a large bowl of cherries to the computer and did some research on colleges for Dottie's story. Later I went out and mowed the lawn (2 hours) which has to count for my outdoor *zone* for today!

Remembering that this week has been FlyLady's Master Bedroom week I went upstairs and flipped on the air conditioner while I looked the room over. It really was quite clean AND tidy. I picked up a few things and then decided to clean out my top dresser drawer which had stuff in it that didn't belong.

My menu told me tonight was chicken zucchini stir-fry night, so of course I rebelled. Didn't feel like zucchini. So I sauted up the chicken (onion, mushrooms) and added some sour cream and dumped it over rice (from the freezer). Snap peas for the veggie.

I'd come across old Sears catalogues that need to go to recycling and decided that being as I'm doing a contemporary novel for once, I'd tear out pages of models and figure out what my characters look like. So that's been fun--and it's cleaned up. I'd decorate a bulletin board with my pictures if I wrote at home, but I'll put them in a notebook with page protectors instead.

Banana milkshake is calling me and then it's time for a cold shower and bed! The dishes are done, the oats are on to soak, and I don't have to set the alarm for morning. Hope I can sleep.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Thursday, July 26

Breakfast: soaked oats, raspberries, vanilla yogurt (mocha)

I started the day with a Curves workout and weighed in at 142#. I got talking to the gal there about wishing I could get rid of my belly. Everything else is fairly proportionate except the abdominal region. She commented that is a woman's hardest place to lose (don't I know it!) and where we gain it when we are stressed out. I told her I didn't think I was particularly stressed: marriage is good, work is good.

We talked some more and the conversation turned to housecleaning and I told her about FlyLady and how my house had gone to seed this spring because of all the stress I'd been under because of my mother and how we'd rarely been home weekends for a few months. And yes, I heard that word *stress* come out of my mouth. Bingo! Indeed, I have been under stress--quite a bit of it--and not sleeping well isn't helping with that either. Huh. Not that it's an excuse, mind you, but it does help me to understand that I'm dealing with more complex issues.

A couple of weeks ago when I started trying to organize myself I also complained about finding focus to do my writing tasks at work. That's been going better too, partly because most of the customers are smart enough to stay away from the shop when it's this hot (we don't have ac). Nearly every work day I've started off with a half hour on my Palm Tungsten E2, writing my sotp novel, Connect the Dot. It is a very strange way for me to write but I badly needed to be creative again, and just finding time to get ready to start a story seriously was adding too much stress (there's that word again, I can't believe I thought I had none!). Last time I synched the file to the home computer I was at nearly 7k. And it amuses me. I've also been making regular progress on the crit and revision. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I came home for lunch because hubby was home on his split between day and night shifts. I made us a chef salad (lots of greens, cuke, hard-boiled egg, fresh bacon bits, ranch, and sunflower seeds). Snack: peas and chocolate.

FlyLady's zone this week is the master bedroom and I didn't feel like playing by the rules. I'd thought to wash my truck but our cistern was too low on water. The windows were really skuzzy and bug covered and the wipers and spray weren't cutting through, so I got a bucket of water with a good slosh of windex in it and scrubbed all the windows, then sprayed them off to rinse.

For supper I made a stir-fry with onions, mushrooms, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, spinach and shrimp (lemon juice, parmesan). It was okay! I have that basic meal a lot with minor variations and though it doesn't totally excite me, it is really healthy, filling, and makes good use of what's currently in the garden.

Wednesday is FlyLady's Anti-Procrastination Day, so of course I had it on Thursday. It only seemed fitting. My biggest struggle area for being organized is menu planning, so I sat down to create a week of menus. This is HUGE work for me, and still we somehow manage to eat every day. I don't get why I have a mental block about it but I do. Anyway I've pushed through five days of planning, though I laid out ten (to see us through another camping trip--thought I'd start figuring it out as well!) I did plant some random meals in the second five days also. And now I'm exhausted. Which may have something to do with sleeping so poorly--instead of getting a solid night's sleep for the past few weeks I've been taking a series of naps at night. Better than nothing, I guess.

One of the meals I love that I haven't made lately is chicken taco salad, so I prepped up a batch in the evening and put some in the freezer. I'm going to try it without any chips at all in it. I also bought a small piece of barbecue smoked salmon for just over a dollar and mixed it into 500 grams of non-fat cream cheese.

I've been continuing the good FlyLady habits of swishing and swiping the bathroom and keeping the dishes done in the kitchen. Snack tonight was 4 graham crackers with cinnamon/splenda cream cheese and a bowl of raspberries with vanilla yogurt and a sprinkle of All-Bran. Now I'm off for a cool shower and to bed. Perchance to sleep.

Tuesday & Wednesday July 24-25

These two days were odd ones in my little world due to taking a day off to meet my sister's plane at the nearest American airport. And I didn't make the best choices for food, either. The stats?

Tuesday morning I went to Curves for a workout before work. Breakfast was soaked oats, fruit salad, vanilla yogurt and a mocha-to-to. By the way, I make my own mocha with a hot chocolate mix in coffee, no whipped cream. The easy cheater way. For lunch I had brought tuna (1/2 fat mayo, pickle), 3 Wasa crackers, peas, and grapes. I bought and ate a bag of chips. I knew I'd have to report it the whole time I stood in line and ate it and I still did it. :( Chocolate later.

I hit the road right after work and soon after I crossed the border met major road construction so I was late getting to the town I'd intended to stop at. I had to check something at WalMart for hubby and knew there were a couple of fast food places and gas stations at that corner. One of them would have to do. So it was a Burger King Double Stacker (no fries or pop), 2 cookies. Fueled up and back on the road. Met my sister's plane at 10:37 and drove us to her friend's place for the night (international border closed--3.5 hour drive, anyway.)

In the morning I took the lady's puppy for a walk, 14 or 15 blocks, before we went out for breakfast. My sis and I split a Perkins french toast (who needs FIVE pieces???) and a fruit salad. Got a mocha. I need those, you know! Then we were on the road back to Canada. We arrived in the town where my mom lives about 1:00 and went out for lunch, again splitting two meals, so I had two kinds of grilled focacia sandwich, a few chips, and some carrot sticks. And another mocha, this one iced. Left my sis there and headed home, arriving about 8pm and starving. Zapped three ready-made burritos (salsa, nf sour cream) and had a banana shake later.

I was pretty tired but still wanted to do some of the FlyLady routines and spent 15 minutes hand watering parts of my garden. I was happy I'd left the kitchen and bathroom clean when I'd left the day before! So it was a matter of tidying my supper dishes (and the containers from Tuesday's lunch) and preparing my workout bag and meals for morning.

Good to be home. Wish I could sleep better. Wish it would COOL OFF.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Sunday-Monday July 22-23

Wow, life is busy but still somehow we are staying on top of things. Mostly. With a glitch or two in the system.

Sunday morning I hopped on my bike early and went for about a 45 minute bike ride, then came home for the shower and breakfast (fruit salad, soaked oats, vanilla yogurt, and mocha).

I stretched info in the last post saying my laundry was all put away; well, the camper curtains were in a basket waiting to go out Sunday, and when I took them out to hang them I realized that some of them were in shreds. So I hauled out a piece of fabric I'd bought for a different project five years ago and re-made about half the camper curtains. The fabrics go together okay. It's not like the camper is anywhere near new, but this does freshen it up a bit. So now it really is ready to go on the road again. It wasn't how I intended to spend my day.

I had two Wasa crackers with cinnamon cream cheese to tide me over cause hubby had a large, late breakfast of bacon and eggs. Then at (late) lunch time I made us a chef salad (lots of greens, cuke, tomato, hard-boiled egg, bacon, Ranch, almonds, sunflower seeds).

Throughout the day (once the curtains were sewn and cleaned up behind) I started reading Fearless by Robin Parrish (sequel to the one I read Friday). It was cool to have a somewhat tidy house and not feel guilty about reading!

For supper I barbecued homemade beef patties (bbq sauce) which we had with barbecued foil packets containing yam, carrots, mushrooms, and onions (dab of butter and sour cream). And the obligatory banana shake later in the evening. And finished the book.

Today I went to Aquafit. Monday is kickboxing day and I loved it! I'd taken my breakfast in a container because I didn't feel like eating beforehand (same brekkie) as usual). Hubby and I had lunch in town. I had a grilled Thai wrap with chicken, mandarin oranges and a sauce, with a tossed salad on the side. Snap peas and chocolate for snack later.

Supper: chicken strips in a honey-lime sauce, baby boiled potatoes (I only had 4 small pieces with butter) and stir-fried zucchini with onions, snap peas and tomatoes. Since mealtime hubby has left for his apartment (back to day shift tomorrow) and I picked raspberries and strawberries over at the in-laws' (they're on vacation). I've done the dishes, cleaned the bathroom, and run the vacuum throughout the house. I also cleaned out the car as I'm taking an over-night jaunt out of town tomorrow, and I really like the car to be very clean for that, especially when I'm crossing into the USA. No need for the border guys to wonder what is under the junk!

This week FlyLady is in the master bedroom. My first thought was that it is way too hot upstairs to do anything. But I flipped the air conditioner in the bedroom on early and so I dusted the whole room (then vacuumed upstairs also). Most of this week's MBR missions don't apply to me, so I'll make things up as I go along on the days that I'm home. For instance, clothes are already put away and bedroom hot spots have stayed out since my cleaning marathon weekend three weeks ago. I notice FlyLady is not talking about my closet but I may venture in there later this week even so. It's the scariest place in the room!

And I'm eyeballing raspberries and yogurt for a snack in a little while.

The biggest accomplishment for me so far has been having zero dirty dishes to wake up to any morning this month. That and keeping the bathroom clean (even while hubby was covered with grease this weekend working on the car, replacing the water pump and timing belt).

The biggest thing I need to work on is planning meals. Really I need to do that. But not today!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Friday & Saturday, July 20-21

Friday morning after a quick breakfast (soaked oats, fruit salad, vanilla yogurt) I headed to Curves for a workout. Weighed in at 144#. This does not make me happy. I really really want to get back below 140 and stay there. I'm hunting for that massive DRIVE I had last year to do whatever it takes. I'm scared.

Had my mocha at work. Hubby arrived home from his out-of-town job around noon. We had toasted bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch on flax & sunflower bread. (I think last summer I was smart enough to skip the bacon.) I had a handful of cherries later in the afternoon, but I spent most of the day reading Relentless by Robin Parrish (I think you'd like it, Jean!)

For supper we had wing-style hot chicken thighs, spicy fries (I only had a few, but still...) and tossed garden salad. Later in the evening I took a break from my book to clean the kitchen and make banana shakes for snack. And then I finished the book.

Today, Saturday, is usually my laundry day and I had a fair bit of it being as hubby's laundry day coincided (he works an 8-day rotation so it doesn't always). It's done and put away. For breakfast I had fruit salad, Fiber One, and vanilla yogurt...and my mocha.

My main cleaning task for the day was the camper which I worked at on and off all day. I'd emptied the basics last week when we got home, but hubby had left the door window open on the back roads and everything was covered with dust requiring a ceiling to floor wipe down. That's done; the curtains have been through the laundry. We're not going camping for a couple of weeks but it is now ready to re-load.

We were in town at lunchtime and ate out. I had a Mediterranean-style chicken burger that was quite tasty, along with a garden salad (Ranch). And about five or six of hubby's French fries (gravy). We bought a hammock and set it up when we got home. That'll be nice! Also my swimsuit finally arrived and it fits well.

Snacked on cherries and then the leftover thighs from yesterday's supper before we went up to the beach for a brief cooling swim. We didn't stay long (it's not as hot as it was last week!) but I tried to stay active, doing jumping jacks and stuff in the water to call it *exercise*.

At supper we grilled a beef tenderloin and had it with Garlicky Green Beans (recipe on forum). Since supper I've cleaned the kitchen and taken another swipe through the bathroom. FlyLady's routine next week will focus on another area of the house, and I wanted to make sure the bathroom looked really good before switching gears. Even though the last couple of days I haven't done much in the house besides the kitchen, I'm pretty pleased with the FlyLady routines so far. I think the house, over all, is cleaner and I feel more on top of things. Yay!

In a bit we'll have a snack. The banana milkshakes are pretty much guilt-free being as I use non-fat ice cream and yogurt, both sweetened with Splenda as well as skim milk.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Thursday, July 19

So it finally rained. In the middle of the night. Accompanied by thunder and lightning, making it hard to sleep through! We got maybe half an hour of rain which at least is enough to mean we won't need to water the garden for a few days. But--even better--is the fact that the air has cooled down. The forecast has been promising this for awhile but it never quite got here till now.

With the smell of rain still heavy in the air at 6:30 a.m., I decided a bike ride was in order so that I could enjoy it! So I got in a 45 minute ride before arriving back home for a shower and breakfast (soaked oats, fruit salad, vanilla yogurt, mocha).

As I try to get my life somewhat organized, I'm seeing that a major needy area is meal planning. I used to be really good at shopping every two weeks, with only a stop or two in between for milk and bananas. In the past couple years, I hate to tell you how many days I go to the grocery store after work, hunting for something that looks like dinner.

But Thursday the problem was lunch. I just didn't have anything in the house that looked appealing, so I packed snap peas and cherries in containers so I'd at least have a proper snack. At lunchtime I went to my favorite lunch spot in town and ordered a Thai Chicken Salad. This is really a very healthy meal and I hadn't been for quite awhile. It consists of romaine lettuce, sliced grilled chicken breast, a few peanuts, a few crunchy chow mien noodles, mandarin orange slices, and a zippy Thai dressing. I need to analyze that dressing so I can make it at home sometime. It also came with a ww roll (butter).

After work I put in a bit of time weeding, so after three days my raspberry bed is in good shape. Sadly not all the raspberry plants have survived the heat wave. I just couldn't come up with any ambition for any further house work so I read before, during, and after supper. (Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy--finished it!)

Supper: I stir-fried a yellow zucchini (yay, the first from the garden) with onion, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. And I pulled from the freezer a meal of brown & wild rice with barbecued meatballs from a few weeks ago.

Had a banana milkshake and cleaned the kitchen before bed, so at least I am no further behind for the evening off.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Wednesday, July 18

My daughter (who apparently watches the news on tv) tells me that our town has been Canada's Hot Spot the past few days. See! I wasn't exaggerating about the heat!

Breakfast: soaked rolled oats, fruit salad, vanilla yogurt. Two banana muffins and a mocha to go, for after Aquafit.

There is nothing like pleasantly cool water to start the day out with. It's a great workout, and a treat to not be boiling hot when it's over. I can hardly wait for my new swimsuit, though. It's supposed to be here on Saturday. And I NEEDED those muffins when I was done. Does that mean I work harder in Aquafit than Curves? Because the schedule is the same as far as when I eat breakfast etc. Hmm.

Hubby was home for lunch (on his split between day shifts and night shifts) so I made a salmon pasta salad (sockeye salmon, macaroni, onion, snap peas, low-fat mayo, s&p, lemon juice). Had more snap peas and cherries for snack. Too busy for the chocolate, which almost never happens!

After work I spent about 15 minutes weeding in the garden again, but I hadn't watered the night before so it was harder work. Still, progress.

I'd been thinking about my bathtub and how it needs to be refinished. And it does. However, that's not a good excuse for leaving it dirty beige in the meanwhile. It is very hard to clean it--or so I've always experienced--and because I have poor eyesight and don't wear my glasses in the shower, I have built up an amazing tolerance to the grimy tub. (The shower walls aren't too bad in comparison--shiny white tiles and dark gray grout=easy to clean) But since the bathroom sink looks so darn good, and I no longer have a chipped and stained toilet seat, I just couldn't resist the temptation to *try again*.

All I did was spritz the entire tub with liquid Comet after my shower on Tuesday. AAACK the fumes! And then I totally forgot I'd done this! I showered at the pool Wednesday morning but after my stint in the garden in the afternoon I decided I deserved a cool shower. I slid open the shower door and the tub looked--different. Still beige, but different. I touched the bottom of it and realized that I could make marks on the slimy surface with my finger. I turned on the tap, out came a cloth, and I found that much of the grime and slime JUST WIPED OFF! There were still a few icky spots, and I spritzed them again after my cooling shower. Hey guess what! The tub is actually quite white where it isn't chipped! (I had another shower at bedtime and even more of the stuff had come loose. Another day and I think I'll have the thing licked--and with ZERO effort, really.) Now FlyLady doesn't actually advise the use of toxic chemical cleaners so I may try her ideas for keeping it clean. Or I might buy another spray bomb of Comet cause I sure won't go through that much at a go again!

FlyLady's zone this week is the bathroom and while I haven't done things exactly according to her plan, I'd say the week focusing on that room is a huge success. I even wiped off every inch of the vanity doors. That made me wonder why the manufacturer would put fake louvered doors on? I mean, really, the louvers don't go through to the back, but they collect a lot of dust and ick on the front. Stupid design.

So, supper. I'm not doing so good at planning meals yet. I zapped three pre-fab beef-and-bean burritos and had them with non-fat sour cream and homemade salsa, then did the dishes while I chatted with my daughter on the phone. Because the day had been hubby's payday, I then sat down at the computer and paid the bills.

I actually had time to finish the book I started on the weekend when we were camping: Soul Music by Terry Pratchett. A chocolate banana milkshake, organized breakfast and lunch stuff and the workout bag, and off to bed with the air conditioner on full bore.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Tuesday, July 17

Just so's you know, I'm still hanging out with FlyLady. It's going pretty well, all things considered, though last night I felt (again) like I spent way too much time cleaning. I hate that, but it's getting better. And if it isn't getting better, don't tell me. I don't want my bubble burst. I'm not sleeping well due to the heat. That isn't helping to put a bounce in my step.

So. Tuesday. I went for a bike ride for about 45 minutes, starting about 7 am. It's already pretty warm then, but I can pedal fast enough to stir up a bit of breeze so that helps. I'd planned ahead better for breakfast and mixed half cup of large rolled oats with a third cup of milk (and a dash of salt) in the evening and left it in the fridge overnight. So I had that with the fruit salad and vanilla yogurt. The Fiber One is a really good cereal with a lot of fiber, but honestly, plain rolled oats is *purer*. To say nothing of cheaper. Mocha-to-go and I was off to work.

At lunchtime I ran errands--such as the pop cans and flavored water bottles that build up in the corner of the porch. It seems the bottle depot operates very similar hours to what I work which means that although the boxes had been packed for a couple weeks, I hadn't had (or made) the chance to drop them off. A whole $4.45, lol, for probably six months' worth. Ah well. It's out of the house and the area is ready for more. Hubby goes through more in the summer. Honestly, it is mostly him. I can't justify the calories in coke (my favorite pop) and can't handle the aftertaste of diet coke.

Lunch--way back in spring I'd canned a huge batch of black bean soup in pint jars so I ate one of those at lunch, plus snap peas and cherries. Chocolate later. I'm trying for two full water bottles (750 ml each) at work every day in this heat and I misplaced the bottle in the afternoon; finally found it in the back garage. I have to keep better track!

When I got home from work I spent 15 minutes weeding an area I'd watered the night before (to soften it up!). How can the weeds grow so well when the other stuff is dying from heat? Then I went inside and did my Bathroom Zone cleaning. Honestly my bathroom is in really good shape as I mega-cleaned it two weeks ago, so I took the time to install two items I bought on my lunch hour--a new toilet seat and a new shower caddy. I'd been meaning to do it for eons. So finally I just DID it!

Supper: I stir-fried a leftover piece of steak with a zucchini, onions, mushrooms, garlic and leftover rice from last week. (Froze the rest of the rice). Not that exciting but edible and healthy.

Did the dishes, ran the vacuum, cleaned the mirrors and glass doors, sorted a hot spot, made hubby's lunches for the next few days, sorted out my workout bag for the morning (switching from Curves to Aquafit every day or two makes me wonder if I should buy a second gear bag and fillers...) Finally remembered to put the rolled oats on to soak again for the morning.

Collapsed.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Monday, July 16

So. It was Monday. Strangely enough, it was also hot. I hear there are a few forest fires in our area now as a thunderstorm went through on the weekend but we didn't get rain. (This was while we were camping.) Lightning strikes when it is this dry? Yeah. Fire. Rumor has it that we are due for a cool-down in the next few days. I can hardly wait.

Breakfast: fruit salad, Fiber One, vanilla yogurt, mocha (I keep telling you I don't like to think first thing in the morning. Maybe by now you believe me!)

Off to Curves over lunch hour. That is the only place I weigh myself: 142#. Sometimes I go before work and sometimes at lunch hour (but before I eat) so that makes a difference to the poundage also. The Curves is air-conditioned but of course I still work up a sweat (otherwise what's the point?) and then I am over-heated for the afternoon. Of course, I'm over-heated anyway.

Lunch: one can of broth-based tuna (half-fat mayo, dill pickle), 3 Wasa crackers, a handful of snap peas, a handful of fresh cherries. Mmmmm. Chocolate later on :) I mean, they do say that a bit of dark chocolate is good for a person. I usually eat 2 squares of Lindt Ecuadoran chocolate which is 75% cocoa I think.

Supper: I stir-fried onion, mushrooms, garlic, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, garlic, shrimp, and spinach. Dash of s&p and lemon juice.

I baked banana muffins in the evening (recipe on the forum), using half sugar half splenda and half white flour and half whole wheat. I ate 2 and froze the rest. Now I have snacks for after Aquafit when I am starving! Speaking of Aquafit, I ordered a new swimsuit from the Sears catalogue. My current tankini has a halter top and that just isn't working well for exercising. I'll still use it up the lake, but I need something that doesn't cut into my neck for in the pool. It's been really annoying.

FlyLady says this week is bathroom week. I hate my bathroom, but not as bad as when we moved in seven years ago (SEVEN??? How did that happen?) I did paint it six years ago, including the worn-out lino floor, and put in an old secretary desk for storage (next to the 24" vanity) where my MIL used to keep a wringer washer back in the day. I also bought a couple little wall drawer thingies from Ikea and painted them up in a garden theme and hubby mounted a picket fence for hanging wet towels. I'm getting tired of the whole look again but not really ready to deal with it. The claw-foot tub seriously needs to be sent out to be refinished; it's in bad shape. Maybe this fall.

But Monday evening my gaze fell upon the bathroom sink. Now FlyLady is all about polishing (!) the kitchen sink, and my kitchen sink was brand new in May so it hadn't accumulated a lot of crap yet. And besides, I've been ignoring the polishing bit and settling for keeping it empty of dirty dishes. But the bathroom sink has been in place for 30 years. It is a one-piece gold-colored ceramic sink/ counter combo--not that there is a counter to speak of in 24" (hence the secretary desk!). And I was pretty certain that the *stuff* around the faucet was from the silicone that had been used to mount the taps in the first place. It certainly hadn't ever hinted at being removable in previous *attempts* to clean.

But maybe I could make it look better if I really tried. At least remove the brown/ black color in favor of what silicone would be. I found an old flat knife and started chipping. It made a wee difference. I could see it was going to take FOREVER so I ran and set the timer for FlyLady's magic 15 minutes. That's what I was going to give it, no more. In 13 minutes--with much scraping and SOSing--I pretty much had a new set of faucets. Now the sink ledge is gold right up to the shiny chrome. Duh. I've been living with that grime for seven years????

FlyLady is also in the office this week, so I went and looked at my computer desk (which is in a corner of my living room). It hasn't gotten cluttered since my marathon cleaning two weeks ago, so I sat down at the computer and began working on FlyLady's Control Journal stuff. Some of it I have already been doing, but it will be a little more complete now.

At bedtime, after making sure breakfast, lunch and supper were prepped, I looked at my kitchen sink and I thought, what the heck. I could polish this baby too. So I did!

Monday, July 16, 2007

The Weekend- July 13-15

I really don't want to talk about this weekend! I left the kitchen clean (and the house sort of clean) when we left for camping late Friday afternoon. And there isn't much to keeping a camper clean.

It's the food I don't want to talk about. I bought junk food and ate junk food--along with some real food, of course. Chips, cookies, pop...I was bad. And I got little or no exercise. It was WAAAAAY too hot. We took the bikes along and I went for a short ride Friday evening, but the hill gets steep too close to the campsite and I'm not up for hills.

I don't know how many calories shocking oneself with ice cold water uses up, but I did that a whole bunch of times. It was really hot--didn't have a thermometer along but I'm betting close to 100 Fahrenheit if not over--and so that creek, just barely off the glacier, was the only way to cool down. Hubby figured he could cool down enough wading in the creek and fishing--and pulling a creek-soaked tshirt over his head. Me, somehow I needed the whole submersion thing. Multiple times. (Photos coming to the main blog).

Got home Sunday afternoon and mowed the lawn. Yeech, hot at home too. When will we get some rain?

Did my basic night routine, left the kitchen clean at bedtime. On to a new track for the week to make up for my weekend backsliding!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Thursday July 12 to Friday noon

We're headed off camping for the weekend and I hang my head as I announce that I bought junk food that has my name on it, not just hubby's. Ah well. I'd bought it before I weighed in at Curves Thursday morning--and I'm up to 143#. Sheesh. Really I've been working hard. Must look at food again. After the weekend, apparently.

Breakfast both days, the usual: fruit salad, fiber one, vanilla yogurt, mocha. Probably I should be having oatmeal instead of the cereal. **Makes note for next week.

Lunch yesterday: two pieces of left-over pizza, followed by peas and fruit salad with yogurt.

Quick swim after work. *SO* hot. Must cool down. Supper: 6 ounce steak with stir-fried veggies (zucchini, onions, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes).

The kitchen is clean but my *extra* work was cleaning out the truck for the weekend camping getaway, and hauling gear to the camper.

We had a banana shake later.

Aquafit this morning. Love the cool water.

Off for camping shortly, see you next week!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Wednesday, July 11

Bleh, it is HOT around here.

Breakfast: yada yada (fruit salad, fiber one, vanilla yogurt, mocha)

I went to Aquafit this morning. It is a one hour workout and Wednesdays are deep-water aerobics with a belt to keep one afloat-ish. Intense! The temperature of the water is the perfect amount of cool. Too bad the instructor stands on the east side of the outdoor pool; even with my photo-grays on it is pretty bright. Still, a good workout. Gonna get rid of my pot belly this summer. I hope.

Lunch: I made bacon and eggs for Jim, but reheated tomato beef soup for myself and had two pieces of sunflower/flax bread toasted (margarine). Snack: peas, an apple, and 2 pieces of banana snack bars (from my forum). They're the last ones from the freezer so I guess I need to make more. Also I need to consider taking a snack to work in the mornings after Aquafit. I was starving.

After work we went straight up to the lake to cool off for about half an hour. I tried to practice some of the Aquafit stuff that I'm having trouble with--I'm SO unco-ordinated. When we got back we went straight into town so I could pick up groceries. Jim grabbed pizza and did the library run then came back to get me.

So...pizza...I don't do it that often. Four pieces (embarrassed sigh) of whole-grain crust, barbecue steak pizza. I even forgot to make salad for the side. It was kind of late so I didn't make a snack either.

I did clean the kitchen (talk about a perpetual motion machine) before bed, including FlyLady's task for the day, cleaning under the sink. That was good as Thursday is garbage day. I also washed the kitchen floor (while I was wiping anyway!) because it is Thursday's task and I was right there. And I won't be home on the weekend.

Yay camping! I told Jim all I care about is that we're high enough in the mountains that it cools off at night. He can pick which spot!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Tuesday, July10

The days are marching by, aren't they! Still, so far so good.

Let's see, I got up early for a bike ride before work. Not quite early enough for a long one, but I think I got in 35 minutes. I must add it's been quite a pleasure this past week waking up to a clean kitchen every single day.

Breakfast as usual: fruit salad, Fiber One, vanilla yogurt, mocha.

Lunch (you'd think I'd learn to plan ahead for lunch): an egg, a piece of bacon, cheddar on a whole-wheat sourdough roll. Peas and fruit salad for snack.

Today was a blistering hot day and when I got home from work hubby was done his field work for the day and wanted to go to the beach. I grabbed three stoned-wheat thins and smeared them with 95% fat-free cream cheese mixed with smoked salmon to tide me over till the late supper. We didn't swim all that hard, but paddled around in the coolth for about 45 minutes. It helped a lot to bring the core temperatures down to bearable.

Supper: Pan-fried sockeye salmon, brown rice blend, beets (butter), beet greens (butter).

So by this point it is 9:00 and no one has touched the kitchen since last night. It seems like everything is dirty, but I remembered that starting new habits isn't always easy and that it won't take long if I only just get started. So...I did it. The extra kitchen job for today (I looked it up this time!) was moving stuff and wiping every inch of counter. It prompted me to move a few things. Like the canning jars and tuna cans. Of course I just moved them back again, but the spot underneath has been wiped now.

Snack: strawberries and yogurt with some All-Bran sprinkled on. Then I washed those bowls too.

Whew. Staying on top is hard.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Monday, July 9

I am trying SO hard to get organized. When I got home Sunday night, I took the time to make sure my breakfast was ready to go, that my lunch was packed and in the fridge, that my workout clothes were ready to go. I'd intended to go to Aquafit at 7:30, but Sunday night realized I was too tired to get up that early and that I really wanted to buy a pass before going again. (The Rec Centre office isn't open that early). So I planned to go to Curves at lunch hour.

All organized.

It was great.

Until I was all the way into town and realized I'd left my lunch in the fridge. I was so choked! It was the only day all week I'd be taking a lunch, too. I did have time to swing by the Rec Centre and buy a pass for Aquafit.

Back up a step. Usual breakfast: fruit (only cherries this time), Fiber One, vanilla yogurt, mocha to go.

Lunch: after my Curves workout, I walked past Subway and bought a Steak and Cheese sub. So-so on the healthy. It does have roasted veggies! And I mumbled about my perfectly good lunch sitting at home.

After work I swung past the grocery store for strawberries, bananas, kiwi, and red plums for a big batch of fruit salad again. Then I went home and ate my lunch for supper: 1 can of tuna (broth based, half-fat mayo, 1 dill pickle), 3 Wasa crackers, a handful of peas, a bowl of cherries. Later I had a banana shake before bed.

Meanwhile I realized that I should write up a morning routine like FlyLady suggests. Apparently my habits are not quite as strong as I'd like to think they are, probably because I don't take a lunch every day due to hubby's schedule.

So I'm sitting there at the computer in the evening and I realize that, except for doing the dishes, I haven't done anything to KEEP the house clean. So I ran the vacuum in the living room and kitchen. With a cat, this is pretty much a necessity. While doing this, I wished I'd double-checked the FlyLady email before going offline. We're on dial-up so it's a pain to reconnect. I knew this week is kitchen week, but I couldn't remember what the Monday task was to be.

All I remembered was that one of the daily tasks was to clean the top of the stove, so I decided to do that, even though it didn't look *that bad*. As in, not bad enough to drive me crazy. But now it is actually clean. How amazing is that?

Monday, July 09, 2007

FlyLady

In a comment to a recent post, EJ wondered what formula there is to *finally* getting one's house in order. She complained that if it is the magical age of 48 that did it for me. Um, gee. Thanks, EJ!

Speaking as one who has certainly not arrived, this is only my mild musings on the topic. My mother was what FlyLady calls a BO- Born Organizer. As a child, I had no idea how the house got cleaned. It just was. We didn't have a ton of money and I didn't have a ton of toys, so the problems in my room--when I finally got one of my own at about age nine--didn't have a chance to get too far out of hand. And I played outside a lot. My four older sisters seemed to get the inside chores. They hated doing dishes with me. If I was washing and they were drying, they spent a lot of time twiddling the dish towel asking me to hurry up. If they were washing, the drain rack was always STILL full and that slowed down their washing. As a result, I got out of doing dishes a fair amount.

I do remember burning the trash in the barrel every Saturday, though, and dusting the living room, including the plastic geranium and polishing the silver platter my parents got as a 25th anniversary gift from mom's siblings. (I snagged that when we down-sized my mother after her stroke--someday I'll polish the thing again and put it on display in my china cabinet!)

My mom didn't have patience with help in the kitchen, either. Though the mother of five daughters, she didn't teach any of us to cook though I did learn to bake cookies and cakes. I went to boarding school for high school and she spent the first half the summer making all the stuff I liked because I'd been gone for ten months, and the second half the summer making all the stuff I liked because I WOULD BE gone ten months. I limped through keeping a half-way tidy room in the dorm.

Then I married Jim, and I had no idea what hit me. He just dropped stuff where it landed. I'm not sure what I thought would happen. That my mother would come clean the house? I had no idea how to cope. I could barely get meals on the table, let alone follow things around and pick them up. We followed our wedding with a baby 13 months later, and that didn't help either. Our house was a disaster.

I felt like I was always cleaning, always doing dishes, and yet the place was never clean. Never.

My kids remember the Saturday drill at our house as I tried to bulldoze everyone into action to clean up. Or even worse, someone had phoned and was coming by and I would holler at the kids: "Everybody get to work; we have 20 minutes to get this place clean!" Once I tried to get them moving and my son asked, "Why, who's coming over?" and I said wasn't it okay to have the house clean just for us?

I had to laugh when I read FlyLady's definition of CHAOS: Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. Oh, how true. Back in the days when I was a SAHM, I used to occasionally get on the phone in the morning and invite friends over for supper. That helped motivate me to get the house clean over the course of the day. I bet the shape of my house has been the biggest deterrent for us in having company over. I can't stand people seeing it a mess, but I can't seem to stay on top of it either.

So in the last few years the kids have left home...and two years ago, Jim left home. He works out of town and is gone four days out of eight. Even after all those years, I still thought he was the problem. And so I was quite surprised to discover that I still have a messy house. Um. Could I be part of the problem?

Astonishing.

True.

I do a lot of things right, but I do them in marathon form rather than a little every day. I wait until things are right out of hand and are driving me bats before dealing with them. It's like I can't be bothered to put away one or two things, so I wait until they multiply and over-flow available surfaces. Then I flip out and clean with a vengeance.

For the most part I've learned that I like myself ever so much better in the morning when I have left the kitchen clean the night before. Or at least done the dishes. Stuff creeps onto the counters, too. Right now there are a couple canning jars that need to go to the cellar and a few rinsed out tuna cans that need to land in the recycling box in the porch. Why? Why not just deal with them? I don't know.

I first heard of FlyLady a couple years ago. I read through the website but couldn't bring myself to sign up. I had sound reasons, such as that sort of website is for people with severe problems, not people like me who just need a few tips here and there.

**Roll of eyes.

What I need is a live-in maid. I guess I am her.

Okay, I'll be honest. FlyLady's site is a little over the top. To someone like me she seems to have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). So...why not take what is useful and ignore the rest?

The bulk of the method is her email reminders. There can be like 15 emails a day. My mind freaks out at that thought. Anyway, I'm at work all day and I don't need emails telling me what to clean in my house this minute while I'm at work. So I signed up for the emails in digest form, meaning I get one a day with 15 sub-parts. I can skim them and delete them. Such power!

So FlyLady's number one thing is to have a shiny sink every night. And I mean polished, not just uninhabited by dirty dishes. Um. OCD? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I'll likely never know, because that isn't my goal. Those dirty dishes are my goal. I'm perfectly fine with the second sink having a permanent dish rack in it, partly because I bought a nice new stainless steel one for the new kitchen. Those are CLEAN dishes, and I put them away a couple hours later, or the next morning, or while I'm cooking dinner. I'm good with them. It's the dirty ones that weigh me down, so they're the ones who have to go.

So that is July's mission (from the 3rd onward): leave no dirty dishes as seed for the morning. So far, so good. Baby steps, as FlyLady says.

July's new habit from FlyLady? Swish and swipe: swishing the toilet bowl every day, swiping the bathroom counter and sink every day. Every DAY????? It still looks clean from yesterday. Um, yeah. And we could keep it that way. Shocking thought, I tell you. I've cleaned my bathroom oftener this week--but not every day--than any other week in my life.

Did I have to be 48 to do this, whatever *this* is? No. I had to be frustrated enough to deal with it. I'm under no illusions that this will be a magic cure for ever. But if I can establish some good habits along the way, it's worthwhile.

Meanwhile I'm resisting the impulse to cancel the emails. There's good stuff in there. And today, upon FlyLady's advice I cleaned the top of my stove. It wasn't THAT dirty yet; not dirty enough to really bug me and spur me to action the old way. But why wait? Now it's clean. And the kitchen looks pretty darn good. Even with a couple of jars and cans in the corner.

Saturday and Sunday, July 7&8

Thankfully Saturday was a little cooler than the past few days. At least it didn't reach 100 Fahrenheit. Sadly, it was the designated gardening day. My plan was to weed a row every couple of hours and not over-do the heat. However, in the early afternoon, just after my third hot bout with the garden, my brother-in-law and nephew showed up to work in the garden (we share the space) so I dug my heels in and kept weeding until it was done. Way too much time in the hot sun, though I was wearing a hat and drinking lots of water. The guys came behind, hauling old bales of hay and spreading them as mulch.

I can sure feel it in all my muscles today. Ouch. Wrists, forearms, shoulders, knee-caps, thighs...that was one marathon weeding day. I'm glad it's done. With the thick layer of mulch, it's done for the season. Of course there are still berry beds and flower beds, but the veggie garden is the big one.

Food for Saturday: Not typical this day! I made whole-wheat sourdough pancakes and ate my four with raspberries, yogurt, and no-sugar pancake syrup...and a mocha. For lunch I made homemade tomato and beef soup (I'd canned the ingredients last fall) and whole-wheat biscuits, of which I had two (butter). I grabbed a handful of peas on one of my breaks, and a handful of cherries another. I had a sourdough whole-wheat roll (butter) for snack when they came out of the oven. For supper we barbecued a whole chicken over a can of coke and had a large salad (ranch dressing) and a small serving of baby potatoes (butter). Later in the evening I had a milkshake from a banana, chocolate nf/ns ice cream, yogurt, and skim milk.

Sunday I had my typical breakfast: fruit, Fiber One, and yogurt. Took the mocha-to-go in the car as I drove to visit my mom in the hospital. I stopped off at my sister's and she sent lunch up to the hospital, a great salad called Glory Bowl made with brown rice, spinach, shredded beets, shredded carrots, toasted almonds, and a very cool dressing with plenty of garlic, tahini, and engevita yeast. Mm. She also sent a piece of rhubarb pie for each of us. I had a nice visit with Mom--she's doing so very well after her April stroke--and a nice visit with my sister as well. Back to the hospital to see Mom before I left for home. I ate her dinner (she had leftover Glory Bowl from lunch!) of dry baked potato nuggets and a deep-fried piece of chicken breast. The broccoli and carrots looked totally dead and I passed on those.

Turned out the ferry I was aiming for got canceled and so I spent kind of long at the ferry landing and splurged on an 85 gram bag of nacho chips. Bad me. I was hungry! Had a banana shake when I got home.

And other than the weeding, I didn't do any specific exercise all weekend. Back at it Monday morning!

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Thursday and Friday, July 5&6

It's always a pleasure having company, and especially when it's one of our kids. It interferes with some of the schedule, of course, such as coming online to journal. It's always a balancing task, but what part of life isn't?

Towards the end of August our daughter Hanna and her hubby will be moving much closer to home than where they've been the past four+ years. They drove here Wednesday after work and we had a bit of visiting time before it was time to head for bed. Thursday morning my daughter got up early with me and we went for a bike ride for about an hour. She's been working hard on getting herself more fit as well, so it was fun to cycle together. When I left for work, they headed to their college town to look for a place to rent, and were here again by suppertime.

So: Thursday's food.
Breakfast: Do I need to write this every day? I am very boring in the morning! A bowl of fruit salad with Fiber One cereal and a good-sized blop of vanilla yogurt. And a homemade-mocha-to-go for my first hour at work. Lunch: I made a pasta salad, using a small amount of multi-color rotini pasta, a can of salmon, onion, bits of broccoli and snap peas, low-fat miracle whip, lemon juice, s&p. Snack: a handful of snap peas and a bowl of fresh, local cherries (and the 2 pieces of dark chocolate). For supper we barbecued chicken legs (cattlemen's barbecue sauce--anyone know if that comes in a sugar-free in the USA? It tastes great!), baby fresh potatoes with a bit of butter and chopped oregano, and a large bowl of salad (lowfat ranch is my dressing of choice). Later in the evening we had fresh raspberries with non-fat, non-sugar vanilla ice cream.

Friday morning Hanna and I went to Aquafit at the pool. Now THAT is a workout that would have killed me last spring. Hanna teaches Aquafit at her pool and worked here a couple of summers way back when and knew the instructor so that was fun for her.

After my usual breakfast I headed off to work with my mocha in hand. I only work half days on Friday these days, so at noon I went home. Because we were planning an early supper, Hanna had already fed the gang lunch. I made a couple of pieces of toast, slathered on some 95% fat-free cream cheese and a few slices of rosemary ham. Also a handful of snap peas. Cherries sit on the counter; I polished off a lot of those also. I was still hungry: grabbed two Wasa crackers with cinnamon-Splenda cream cheese. We barbecued a beef tenderloin roast for supper and had it with fresh baby potatoes (butter and oregano), baby beets stolen from my mother-in-law's garden (butter), and beet greens (butter).

The kids left for home about 5:00; I also needed to go into town then as I was scheduled to operate the sound system for a concert our church's youth praise team was holding in a park. Due to the early supper, I was hungry again when I got home at nine. Hubby, who spent HIS day driving around the field in circles raking hay was also hungry, so I fried up the leftover baby potatoes and a sausage that had been in the fridge a few days. I gave him most of it but had a few bites. Then a milkshake: banana, chocolate nf/ns ice cream, nf/ns vanilla yogurt and some skim milk. And a glass of blueberry port.

We're having close to record-setting heat these days, which is great for drying hay but is not as nice for people. Hubby is drinking massive amounts of water--he carries a 2-quart cooler jug on the tractor and has a few swallows once every round. I've also been drinking a lot more than usual. We have an air conditioner for our bedroom but even so it is almost too hot to sleep. And the thing is noisy. I don't like winter much but it's easier to counter-act cold than heat.

As far as the housekeeping goes, I've been reading the emails from Fly Lady every day. I've kept up with the dishes daily (or more, with the kids being home) and have kept my main hot spot out (gathering place for junk mail and the stuff that breeds from it when you leave it!) I've also done at least one other thing every day to keep up. I feel pretty positive about it all, to be honest. I haven't totally jumped on the Fly Lady's bandwagon but am trying to tailor her suggestions to my life.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Wednesday, July 4

So far so good.

I got up before 7 this morning in an effort to be at the local outdoor swimming pool by 7:45. You have to understand, I'm no swimmer. I've had one set of lessons in my life, and didn't learn much. I'm not keen on getting my eyes and nose in the water. However, I can propel myself through the water, even though it isn't all that graceful.

(My hubby swims like a fish and thankfully the kids learned from him. Our daughter currently makes her living as a lifeguard; our son got nearly as many basic lessons as she did.)

So I swam for about half an hour, and it was certainly aerobic even though I stopped to rest at the end of every length. I have no idea how many lengths I swam, but I feel like I got a decent workout.

My breakfast today was the same as yesterday: fruit salad, Fiber One cereal, and vanilla yogurt. The mocha accompanies me to work.

I wasn't expecting hubby home for lunch so that caught me off-guard, and I needed to pick up groceries but didn't have time until after work. Scrounging what was in the house, I had a multi-grain roll with a fried egg, a piece of bacon, and a couple slices of cheddar. Not an ideal lunch, for sure. I had a handful of peas and some fresh cherries in the afternoon, along with my two pieces of chocolate. (Had a stressful customer today and NEEDED that chocolate!)

Supper: a large salad with all kinds of goodies and a steak (6-8 ounces).

As I write, the dishes are done and the house is tidy. We're waiting for our daughter and son-in-law to arrive, so I'm not sure what we'll have for bedtime snack. Probably fruit and fat-and-sugar-free ice cream. (Western Classics is a good brand!)

The alarm is set for 6:30. What I do in the morning depends on if I can talk my daughter into getting up and exercising with me before I go to work and they head out to look for a place to rent a couple towns over. It'll be a bike ride or a Curves workout most likely.

Other than the cranky customer, I feel good about today. I even got a bit of creative writing in first thing at work this morning.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Tuesday, July 3

So, today's journal.

I went to Curves at noon today, not before work. But that was before I made the decision to set the alarm for 6:30 on work days and go in before work. So at least I exercised, right?

I currently weigh 142#. My all-time low (October '06) was 134#. I'd like to live around 130#. My weight fluctuates a lot with my menstrual cycle, and THAT is out of whack as I approach menopause. So maybe I need to be happy with generalities. But in general, I still weigh a bit more than I want to.

Last night I went to bed with a clean kitchen. I still have to do that tonight, but I will. There's not much to do.

Today's food:
Breakfast:
1 cup of fruit salad with Fiber One cereal (half a cup?) and a big blop of sugar-free fat-free vanilla yogurt.
1 mug homemade mocha

Lunch:
tuna salad made from one can tuna in broth, half-fat mayo and a pickle
3 Wasa high fiber crackers
a handful of snap peas
an apple

Snack:
2 pieces of dark chocolate

Supper:
1/2 cup wild rice blend
meatballs in home-made BBQ sauce (too high in sugar, maybe?)
1 cup of tossed salad with 2 cherry tomatoes and half-fat Ranch, sunflower seeds and almonds
2 glasses skim milk

Planned bedtime snack:
Banana milkshake (1 banana, a couple scoops of non-fat, sugar free chocolate ice cream, a blop of vanilla yogurt, skim milk)

I need to figure out what is for lunch and supper tomorrow. I picked up fresh local fruit after work today and need to prep the fruit salad I will eat the next few mornings.

That's it, folks.

New Leaf for July

So I'm not a very good housekeeper, though I'm better than I used to be. I'm not very good at organizing my time--I get sidetracked easily. I'm not very good at keeping up good habits, though I seem to have no trouble keeping up bad ones.

It's been a rough winter and spring in my little world. I've been sick, had trouble sleeping. My mom's been sick. We've been away a lot. Started renovating the kitchen but stalled out for the summer.

My house has suffered. My body has suffered. Most of my good habits have suffered.

The house was bad, just weeks and weeks of not really dealing with stuff. A little adds up at a time until one day you really see it and you absolutely freak out. I freaked out.

I had a three and a half day weekend for Canada Day and my goal was to clean my house from end-to-end and top-to-bottom. And indeed, I accomplished this, working my way out the door Monday evening with all the boxes and bags of recycling to stick in the truck to drop off this morning.

And then I looked around my house--my PineSol smelling house--and said, why can't I keep it this way? How refreshing this is!

The answer is, of course, that I'm 48 years old and I've never yet been able to keep my house clean for more than a week. Why would anything ever change?

Ah. A couple of years ago, I felt that way about my body weight, but in 2006 I discovered that indeed, I COULD take weight off and keep it off. At least I dropped 35 pounds and have kept 28 of it off, the rest has been wobbling back and forth for six months. Still. I've proved *something*. Why can't I apply that to other areas of my life?

So I spent almost three hours on FlyLady and I am going to make a serious effort to change my ways. And in the effort of THAT, I want to crack those last few pounds off (again) and learn to maintain.

If you find this boring, feel free to go elsewhere; there are lots of more interesting blogs out there, including my main one. I feel the need to journal this effort and it may as well be right here.

Good habits that I already have:
1. I make my bed every single morning (unless hubby is still in it, then I make it next time I walk into the room.) An unmade bed makes me stark crazy.

2. I have reasonably good morning routines.

3. I eat healthy food 95% of the time.


Things I want to improve in July:
1. Everything else.

Okay, Val, be reasonable here. Try again.
1. Make before-work exercise an automatic part of my day.

2. Make sure my kitchen is clean (FlyLady's shiny sink!) before I go to bed every night in July.

3. Journal my food and exercise and FlyLady habits.

That's it. It's enough to start.