Holy Moly-I woke up early!!

I stayed up late last night but whether it is Spring or a surge in vitamins and minerals (cause i have been a REALY Good vitamin taker of late-very unlike me I assure you). Anyhow...I woke up at...wait for it..8am!!! I know. you are scoffing. so what you have all probably been up for hours already. Ever since the start of the year I have been one messed up sleeper. I fondly say I have been living on Hawaiian time (four hours time difference from here). Well at least for today that is no more. I am going to do my darndest to make this a permanent shift.

Grace found this pretty cool thing on pintrest that we are trying out. It is a task board using post it notes. The blogger who gets the credit for the idea and the picture has a blog full of knitting and crafting and organizing. We are one day into the technique using a piece of paper before we invest a bunch of time and energy on a permanent clip board. Grace's day was a bit of a fail but I think that has more to do with the fact that I had to go to work and the inter-parent communication was not quite up to snuff. I am home all day today and am going to try to keep both of our goal setting and work-flow plans on target.

The crazy thing is that I have way too many post-its. I don't know if this is the result of my letting stuff slide all of the time or trying to do too much all of the time. Many of the todo items were emails and phone calls so I did get some of them taken care of yesterday. It is amazing how writing it all down and slapping it in front of your nose keeps these things at the front of your brain. Let day 2 commence-:) The coolest part is because they are on post it notes I can reorder the list at anytime and pick out which of the tasks I want to do (I am hoping giving Grace control over her time will also be a positive development for her as well). Yesterday I put the in order of what two or three things could I accomplish today (before work) and then mapped out what I would focus on for Tuesday-and then the rest of the week. This morning I got up and had another look. Somethings changed. I pulled off the post its I finished and wrote some new ones I thought of. So far it is pretty nifty.
xxxooo

Noisy Neighbors

I wonder how long it takes to get used to new neighborhood noises. Our bedroom faces the south. I love this from a sunshine perspective. I cannot wait until summer comes and I can again wake up to the sun streaming in my window (I leave the window coverings open just enough so I can wake up with sun on my face). There is a down side to this south facing position. Behind our new city in the burbs living is the grocery store, a kitchen and furniture store and a couple of restaurants. I have not yet figured out what night is dumpster night but it seems to be more than once a week! Last night was at least one of the dumpster nights. It took the driver what seemed like forever at a very noisy volume to dump a very full of bottles dumpster into the truck. It woke both of us up. David got up--since I finally went to bed at a lovely 3am I went back to sleep. argh...I need to relearn sleep.

We are settling in and I did a lot of cleaning and unpacking work yesterday. Pictures are going up. The shop is finally being cleared and my vision is starting to clear about how I will manage to fit it all together (not totally clear but getting clearer). I am still not happy with my bedroom arrangement but it will require a new much smaller bed so I am just putting the room on the decorating back burner for a while. All work is aimed on the knitting/craft studio shop. I am saving how to figure out getting stock until later. I have no clue how to do any of this (which makes it scary) but I know I can get it (even with a few mis-steps ehem learning opportunities) along the way.

xxoo

Listen

I am on the brink of another epiphany I think. News flash--your body talks to you :)...I know duh..right? So yesterday I wasn't hungry all day. I had plenty of things to occupy my time and mind so I just didn't eat. So then I come home from work and my Mon. Wed. night hospital visits and because I skipped food I was starving (not the tummy kind but the whole mind and head kind). I plotted on my drive home what I would have so 1. I would pick something with some vitamins and minerals and 2. something that would not sit in my stomach when it was time for bed.

Well....I hit the door and sitting right on the counter was an open box of thin mints. Thank goodness there was only 6 left. I grabbed them and a cup of milk and chilled with a totally inappropriate dinner. Just before sleep I had a small slice of cheese to appease my guilt. I do not think I have ever sunk this low before (not at least in my selective memory). Well low and behold guess what happened this morning. I am down three pounds. Nothing like positive feedback for a completely negative behavior eh?.

So what did my body say-I had hit a high of 167. My body seems to have settled into this range and shuts down my hungries (I am grateful for that). It still starts screaming when I am about to lose weight though. It always does so at night and send me into binges if I am not very careful. I battle it all of the time (or fail..most of the time).

On the good news front. I am taking my vitamins and in a month or so will do another blood test to check on whether my iron has improved. I am pumping up the D too. My attitude has improved for sure.

I have quit my teaching job for next term and plan on trying to get my sleep patterns, daily schedule and eating more regulated next term. I am so excited for Spring to return to Oregon and to get my exercise back on track, my knitting/craft shop open and life in some much needed sun :)

Now I am off for a manicure :) wahhooo.

xxxooo

Not Much to Say Here

I'm not up to much here. Just the normal work (I actually had to teach class while David had a holiday off!). It was quite weird because I am the one working for a government entity and he works for a big corporation. I deluded myself all weekend into believing that I would not have to work today but the academic calendar did not satisfy-I handed back hastily corrected midterm exams for one of my classes and discussed both the common mistakes and gave students a preview for the rest of the term.

I then taught my second class and scared them a bit by making them actually do some work and hand it in.

I then stopped off at my uncle in the hospital for a bit of a visit. He is much much better and headed back to rehab tomorrow with a plan to be on the quick recovery route to home.

My weight is on an upswing and I have been craving crap like crazy and not resisting much. My shoulder is at this moment and has been all week driving me insane. It hurts. It is food related most of the time but sometimes I wonder if it is more (not enough to actually do anything about it mind you :)...How long have I been moaning about my shoulder pain? Today for example I had two coffees, some shortbread and had every intention of ingesting something worth a darn when I got home but what was sitting on the counter when I arrived...why girl scout cookies of course-Thin mints. I have now eaten about 6 with a small glass of milk and that is it for my day (perhaps the vitamins I have been taking like a good girl will help make up for the utter crap).

Tomorrow I will eat something worthwhile I promise :)

I am off to bed-sleeping before 1am..yay :)

xxxooo

I Have Gas :)

I was woken rudely by the gas man this morning. It is hard to hear the door knock way up here in my bed. Most thunks I figure come from Graces room so I was surprised to find someone actually at the door. David starting calling every telephone in the house to insure that I actually woke up and answered the door. All our phones however were downstairs and I couldn't find my glasses...such a bother :)

In the end I did answer the door. The gas man ran around back and turned on our tap giving me just enough time to make myself decent. He then came back and checked that the stove was working, that the hot water tank was heating, that the furnace was turning on and finally...he fixed our fireplace (a gas one). I hadn't worked at all. He even showed me how it all came apart and let me clean the glass front before putting it back together.

I did of course fill him in on all of our complaints. He said he would sure find out what the deal was and that he figured they sent him to my house because he is more experienced than the other gas men...and more able to handle an angry customer. I of course said I knew he was just the messenger and I was really mad at the powers that shut us off. I also told him we had lodged a formal complaint with the public utility commission in our state...Of course we are screwed really because nothing will get us back the 5 days we went cold and had no hot water.

I gave my second midterm today (to my other math class). It went fairly well but I haven't corrected them yet :). I am going to miss the dears next term but am really excited to get the shop put together and see how it goes.

On the weight front-The shift to low carb has been absolutely impossible this last week. A girl with PMS and no gas need sugar..and chocolate. I had both over the last few days..(much to much of it actually). The scale however is still my friend holding just above goal. :) I am good with that.

xxxooo

Birthday V-day

I am a Valentines day baby. Today I turned the big 48. I don't feel very different. I think I need to go in and have my eyes checked again as I am having even more trouble reading (an ongoing battle for me). I also worry a lot about losing my memory. I think both of these are pretty common. I won't even talk about the hot flashes and gray hair in the oddest places ahhhemmm...

I would have to say my day was rather crappy. I slept too late (not intending to) and woke up with a headache. Grace and I got dressed in the freezing house and dashed through the coffee drive through and down to pick up my grandson. We picked him up and then drove on further to our local (about 30 miles away) UPS customer service place to pick up the package that they failed to deliver (as they always do). We tried to get it on Saturday but they were closed. I got lost a few times and missed a couple of exits trying to find the place (can I get a frustration moan from anyone?). In the end I found and picked up a lovely box of Chandon wine. We drove to the lego store to pick up Davids V-day present (lego is the answer to all things for David). I then drove to grab lunch at our local high quality burger place. We drove up---A dangerous recipe for disaster but all went well at least for my eating. I then drove home to pick up my knitting and attempt to dash back out again but Grace brought Grant in the house because he had an accident with his water and other liquid bodily functions. I had to search out a change of clothes for him, change him, load back int he car and dash down to knitting class. We got to knitting class only to be turned away as apparently This was not Grace's last knitting class of the session but the first of a new session and I didn't know it. They gave her slot to someone else ( I personally would have let her come and do one extra in the class but it was all a bit weird..I am going to not dwell on it too much because I will go all conspiracy theory). Anyway we drove all the way down to the flipping place ready to knit and did not get to. We came back home and took our knitting to Starbucks instead and had a little mom, daughter and grandson knit-a-thon with coffee. Grant made a V-day card for his mama (my oldest daughter). We then went home..phew I am tired now just typing. I was kind of bummed out about my do everything day when...I noticed David was home.

I walked into the house and the living was filled with big boxes and the dining room had a bunch of chairs lined up against the dining room wall. David was sweating and taking apart our old farm-table to move to the garage. He bought me a new dining room set for my birthday and v-day. Before you get all freaked that how could he manage to correctly pick out furniture-he consulted me and we agreed on the set but had not moved to the purchase phase yet. He also gave me a day at the spa! He then drove us all downtown to see my uncle and take Grant home and then took my aunt, Grace and I out to a lovely dinner at a local seafood place (Jakes Crawfish). He ordered Escargot and we all tried our first snails together. We all agreed they were good. They tasted just like chewy mushrooms. Grace even said she liked them so much that she would order them the next time we went. I had salmon and creme brule for dessert. Grace shared a big chocolate box filled with white chocolate mousse, whipped cream and fresh berries with everyone. We dropped my aunt off and came home.

At 11pm we forced Grace to stay awake and we loaded up clean clothes, our shampoo, a bar of soap and towels to go over to our old rental house for a much needed shower for each of us because it has heat and hot water. A wacky ending to our evening but I feel much better for having done it. We sort of said goodbye to the old place tonight and then came home and tucked right into bed. David is snoring next to me and I feel quite like the family from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' as we are all decked out again in jammies. Grace is even wearing her sweatshirt with the hood up. We are loaded up with blankets in our beds and anticipating the arrival of the natural gas man to turn on our gas tomorrow.

Happy V-day everyone!!! xxxooo

Mooooaaaaaannnnnnn

So Friday we officially were put on some dead-beat list. It was a good Friday. Grace and I got a little scrappy over her room cleaning but we had had some relaxation time, we called out for an Indian food take-away and David brought it home. We ate and we were planning on watching a family movie with popcorn when...

I put the whirly pop onto the stove and click, click, click...there was a starter but no gas. Apparently our local natural gas utility decided that we needed cutting off. Friday at 7 pm had me on the phone with the "if you smell gas" man trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I found out all right. Apparently the management company who no longer own our home of just over a month decided to call and have our gas cut off. From what I understand despite the fact that we turned on the gas in July and had done same bill paying over the last few months our gas company decided the management company was the goto people for notification. The notified and then drove over and turned off the tap. We had no clue...until..click click click.

Of course being the lovely company that they are they decided to find enough man power to shut off our gas after 5pm on a Friday so that no one could even think about turning it back on until Monday (today). David phoned them this morning to get to the bottom of the problem and viola...they had enough power to turn our gas off on a Friday but do not have enough manpower to turn it back on again until Wednesday.

Sure..Portland is a balmy sort of place as far as Winters go but sheesh..not that warm. We are freezing. I am right this minute sitting in my comfy chair with my wool winter coat on and a blanket and socks. Where are my hot-flashes when I need them???

David said tonight that in the Middle Ages the poverty stricken would spend most of Winter in bed...Researchers thought it was because they were saving energy from a lack of food. David says he thinks it is because it was so flipping cold!! :) He then put on his flannel Jammies and crawled in bed.

Of course wouldn't you know-we still have heat at the old place ;) We might need to go camp out again!!!

xxxooo