Don't Get Me Started

Greetings from the living! A few days ago my computer was attacked by some virus that completely shut it down; even engineer hubby couldn't figure it out. It was brought to a big retailer that boasts their data retrieval skills and yet only the teen's and hubby's data was restored. Hmmm...is this some karmac payback from another life? In any event, we've finally caught up with the rest of humanity and invested in a laptop - from the Flintstones to the Jetsons in 48 hours.

Since it's still unclear whether or not my entire work and personal files will be found - and there are A LOT - the stress has sent me over the edge in terms of making bad choices. It all culminated last night with a visit to Burger King on the way back from my CT scan. The scan wasn't the worst of it as I feel pretty confident there's nothing wrong but the Waiting Room was like a skit right out of Saturday Night Live. Although the four other people arrived at different times they all seemed from the same trailer park - with all due apologies to the trailer parks. Our ring leader, Alma, started the conversation about bagging a dear which led to Darryl talking about taxidermy, which lead to Alma saying how she gave the deer head to her brother. Revolting hunting and stuffing coversation ensued. Then Darryl and his other brother Darryl began comparing notes about their nasal cavities history with one of the Darryl's describing how his doctor really "augered" the hell out of them during his second surgery. Honestly, it was like that SNL skit with Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest as nightwatchman talking about inserting meat thermometers in their ears with ballpeen hammers - only this wasn't made up and it was really freaking me out. I took a couple of walks but couldn't go too far away as I didn't want to miss being called. I was finally called and they pretty much could've operated on me without anesthesia and it still would've been a step up from the waiting room experience.

I was SO relieved to get out of there that I felt I "needed" something to calm me down and so fell back onto a bad old habit of fast food. It was on my way home, I hadn't had any dinner yet and I really needed a "treat" after such a disasterous few days. These are all the thoughts I convinced myself of as I ate my dinner consisting of enough caloric content to fuel a class M sun for a few weeks. Regrets? Yes, I had a few but then again, too few to mention. It was the not-so-crowning touch to end a very upsetting week.

It's good to be back online and on plan again. Now I've just got to figure out how to recreate as much of my missing stuff as I can and pray that the cyber gods will smile down on me for the rest. By the way, Jenn at Watch My Butt Shrink - I have been having the hardest time accessing your blog these days so shoot me a comment to let me know you're hearing me. And Dancing in the Moonlight - I've left lots of comments that never show up. Just wanted to let you know I visit whenever you post.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Booster Club

I need some help here, ladies. While I have lost some acreage around my belly and butt, it has not moved far enough north to make much of a difference with Ethel and Lucy. I don't wear underwire because it's just so uncomfortable but every other bra always rides up in the back no matter what I do or how it fits in the store. I want to stay in a positive frame of mind but when the girls are running too far south of the border, it's hard to look good and feel good - never mind marvelous. So ladies, any suggestions that don't include underwire?

Express Lane

I have to go to the doctor's today for a follow-up on my reflux problem. Great. As you would expect, the only thing I'm really nervous about is the weigh-in. Wish there was an express lane just for face-time with the doctor. I might even pay extra. Maybe that's the solution to defraying the rising cost of health care - take a couple of extra bucks from everyone who wants to skip being weighed. Hello, Congress? Anybody listening?

I've been good about exercise and most of my eating. I still feel like our dinners are too heavy for that time of day and must think of some ways to lighten those up - especially since it's dark so early so walking after dinner really isn't an option.

Some stress factors are dissipating and I'm grateful for the extra breathing room. While trying to sell his late aunt's house (which is also a rental property and in another state), my husband had to deal with 2 scumdogs who wouldn't vacate and it looked like we'd miss the closing because of them. Sometimes, however, the good guys win as my husband's persistence and patience seems to got them out...but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed until it's signed, sealed and delivered.

Hope you're all having a good day.

Well Said

For anyone who has hit a major bump in the road or feels completely stalled and wonders whether this fitness journey is worth the trouble, please consider the following words:

"If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?"
-John Wooden

"I'll Start Again On Monday"

It's been a while since I weighed in and that's because I knew it would be bad news. I avoided the scale almost as much as I did my diet and exercise. I finally got up the guts to do it late last week and was up about 2 pounds. Grrrr. I have no one to blame but myself. Granted, there were circumstances beyond my control but I took longer than I should have to get back on track. And I still think I'm sabotaging myself when it comes to breaking through to Onederland. The closer I get, the longer it takes me to reach that goal. Time to reassess.

I am still good with the cardio and walk or do elliptical for 45 minutes a day but the upper body weights have been sidelined until I get through physical therapy for my elbow. It seems whenever I start something new to change up my workout regimen, something else blows a gasket - and I am not going overboard with whatever new challenge it happens to be. I start out slowly and build up but every now and then I get a pain that won't go away. And then the doctor wants to wait a couple of months to see if it goes away on its own before prescribing PT; all the while telling me not to exercise it. Very frustrating!

"I'll start again on Monday".....oops, it's here! Hope you all have a good one!

New Exercises For The Insanely Busy

credit: stubailey

Oh my, it's busy season again. My posting is bound to be sort of sporadic these days as I've got some new busy-ness that's keeping me...well, busy. In case you hadn't heard I'm now co-blogging with Crabby and Jo over at Cranky Fitness and loving it! But I'm also in full fund-raising mode for the non-profit and all the year-end scramble that goes along with closing out the financial year too. And then there are the holidaze that are fast approaching. So how does a gal fit in a work-out with so much going on around her? Here are a few activites that I'm counting as exercise during this busy season - although the caloric burn measure is still a little iffy:

- Running off at the mouth
- Losing my head
- Losing my mind
- Swimming against the tide
- Going for broke
- Kicking the can down the road
- Running in place
- Running on empty
- Swimming in quicksand
- Spitting into the wind (not highly recommended)
- Treading water
- Jogging my memory
- Chasing my tail
- Walking on eggshells
- Hopping mad
- Diving for cover

Have I left anything out? Let me know.

Take Yer Own Advice, Why Dontcha

Getting back on track is proving a mightier task than I originally thought it would be. All the stuff that got put on hold while the teen was sick has proceeded with its forward, tsunami-like movement until I am rooted to the spot with overwhelmed-ness (when under stress I tend to invent new words or re-tool great words to make them even better). This has led to some clandestine meetings with the fridge - harkening back to the coping habits of old.

In better days I've preached from my soapbox that emotional eating can be conquered. First you have to ask yourself if you're really physically hungry. Nope (I mean "nope" to asking myself that first - not if I was actually hungry). Then you have to distract yourself with all those other busy things you thought of to keep your mind off the "hunger" until it passes. That would be another no. Then you have to cut yourself some slack and not let a little mistake snowball into an "all hope is lost" mentality; thereby opening the gravy floodgates. I did a little bit better with this as there currently is no gravy in the house and WD-40 makes a lousy substitute.

Okay, blog about it and try, try again. Okay - that's better.