I had a list of lots of excuses as to why my weight is back up today. I could say how my mood and emotions were just on a rampage this past weekend. I could say that the monthly ick is around the corner. I could babble about how the internet at my house was out all weekend (apparently the cable company didn't bury the line far enough and the line got nicked during all of our gardening ventures) and since the internet is how I track my food and where I make my plans...well there goes that! I could babble about how my back hurt so I didn't exercise. I could go on about the wind that kept me from getting on my bike. The cold that affected my knees. I could just keep going on and on. But they are all excuses.....SOOOOOOOOOO....

I messed up! I didn't eat properly and exercise religiously this past weekend and my weight on the scales reflect that! Whew...honesty hurts sometimes! :-)

That said.....I made it to the gym this morning! And I'm getting ready to get online and make my food plans for tomorrow and this evening (track). This weekend I made Taco soup. I picked up the recipe a few months ago and I've been wanting to try it. However my hsuband always was so skeptical that I never made it. Yesterday I said, "who cares, if he doesn't like it he can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich". SO I made it. First of all, it makes a LOT. It is dang dang dang good! VERY good! Todd had seconds! So that means he liked it. And then today when I went to prepare lunch before heading to work Todd was like, "Why make that...lets have the leftover soup because it was sooo good." I have a little bit more left that I may have tonight! :-)

I always denied that I was an emotional eater. I mean, I eat when I'm happy, I eat when I'm sad. I can pretty much eat all the time. But just in the last two days I've realized that yes, I am an emotional eater. It comes with being an addict. A food addict that is. When I'm upset, I know that food will give me that momentary high, it will take whatever pain I'm feeling away, temporarily...but it's a good thing. On the flip side, when I'm feeling good and on top of the world I think about food and know that if I just eat a bit more, then I'll feel even better. It's the mentality that 'things are already so good, and the only thing that would make it absolutely perfect would be to eat something super duper yummy!" (and thereby get that 'high' that 'rush of pleasure'.) That is simply another form of emotional eating. The list goes on...I'm tired, so I eat because it will fill me with a sense of satisfaction and well being...something that sleep and rest would do. I look to food for everything because I know that whatever I'm doing, food will enhance it.

An addict...I am plain and simple an addict. Food is my vice. I use food to enhance my moods, to change my moods and as a crutch to get through life.

So why do I talk about this today. Yesterday morning there was a bit of a marital spat in the house. I tried to deny my mood all day. I tried to push it to the back of my mind refusing to acknowledge that anything was wrong. No one that talked to me had a clue. But the emotions were simmering. And I managed to only eat the amount of pizza that I had allotted for myself at the work birthday party. I however later in the afternoon added and extra cupcake to my food eaten list. Ohhh and some ice cream. I then went home and didn't stick to my eating plan for dinner...but added a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (on top of my dinner food) and another cupcake and later I made popcorn with lots of butter. So it eventually caught up with me. Sooo today was spat part two before I came to work. And I'm bound and determined to not let it affect my eating today. I will not will not succumb!!! I will not medicate my emotions with food today. (and yes, today it would be medicating my emotions...tomorrow or another day it may be enhancing my emotions...but today it would definitely be medication.

Yeah, yeah yeah...the weight is up today. Not surprising!

How quickly the mighty fall!

Yesterday i was so gung ho. I was proud of myself because even though I succumbed to the cake batter, I adjusted the planned food intake for the rest of the day and all was good. I was on a high of pride. But then it all crumbled around me. How?? Well, of course in the evening when I made a fudge icing for the cupcakes! Icing tastes so good ya know! Sooo I had chocolate fudge icing.....washed down with a cold glass of milk. Nope, not counted at all in my food budget! So the scales were up .6 of a pound. Expected! I've owned up to my eating catastrophe and I'm moving on!

The cupcakes. I saved two mini cupcakes for each of us for dessert tonight and the rest have been brought to work. Some are on a cake plate to eat today...and the others are in Ziploc bags to put in the freezer at work...so they can eat them here over the next few weeks. I'll be fine with that.....I'm not overly tempted here. (Closet eater am I)I do plan on eating pizza with the group for lunch...but I have accounted for it and it is planned into my food budget!

It just goes to show how quickly things get out of hand. I wrote yesterday afternoon about the pride high and how I want to remember that....but mere hours later I was in a chocolate daze after shovelling the leftover icing into my mouth! There is NO excuse for it...but I think what happens is that I take a taste without thinking. Sub-consciously...testing it. And once the taste is in my mouth, I can't stop!

No fears...I'll lick this addiction if it's the last thing I do. Ohhh no....wait, I don't want to LICK it....how about I beat it! tee hee hee

What a busy day yesterday was! I woke up eary and got my breakfast and started Todd's coffee. By the time he woke up the coffee was ready and I was raring to go. I got two loads of line out on the line by 7:30 or so and I was out digging in the dirt. I dug up some more beds (I had gone outside on Tuesday evening and dug up a few beds), seeded a few areas, I planted strawberry roots, I mulched the flower beds (this involves shovelling the mulch from the pile to the wheelbarrow and then again onto the beds), I planted some flowers, I raked and picked the sod out of the new beds that I had dug and Todd had tilled. I was just a busy beaver. I did stop working outside long enough to make lunch for us! But all in all, I worked non-stop for hours on end! When it came time to exercise, I just couldn't do it!

No matter though.....I was down to 199 pounds this morning. (the last few days I've been hovering above 200....I'm a little worried about tomorrow though)

Today I got up stiff as a board. And sore!!! Am I ever sore! I didn't let it deter me. I got on the exercise bike and rode away. I then made a cake (cupcakes actually) for a co-worker...we are celebrating his birthday tomorrow. (he likes plain cake...so I'm doing yellow cake with chocolate icing...nothing fancy...no decorations..nada. Well, I do have some candles to put on it). Soooo my problem? Cake batter. I had some! I am very proud to say that I immediately went to the computer and adjusted my food for the day. I took out some extra things I had thrown in for fun...and swapped out some higher calorie items for some lower calorie items. Stuff like that. ANd in that way, I brought my calorie count back to where I want it to be!

I was emailing back and forth with a friend this morning and we were talking about the pride that one feels when eating correctly. It's a sense of pride and accomplishment to know that one ate correctly and actually conquered the pull of food! This is nothing new. But then I started to think about the fact that this sense of accomplishment is just phenominal and I walk on air and feel so good about myself...and it lasts for a while. This is in comparison to that high or good feeling that I get from eating food. I freely admit that I eat some foods simply because that first bite or two is just soooo good and that it gives me a rush...a high. What high lasts the longest? What high makes me feel the best? Well most definitely the high and satisfaction that I get from making wise choices and being on top of this addiction. The high that the pride infuses in my body is much stronger and more lasting than any food high!

The problem???? Remembering that the high of my pride is a stronger more powerful high than anything that food can give!

Acceptance

So, what is a good motivator to stay within ones food budget for the day????? Hmmmm, would a pair of pants splitting at the seam while you are wearing them do it???? OK, this morning I was fixing breakfast for Todd and I. I was wearing a pair of flannel lounging pants. They are not overly tight...or so I thought. I made breakfast and called Todd to eat. I sat down.....shhhhrrrriiiiiiiiip. I felt my seat of my pants and sure enough, I didn't feel soft cozy flannel, but rather cool skin. Uhhhhhh, not good! Not happy here! But, just another reminder to keep myself focused!

My weight this morning jumped from 199.0 to 200.6. One point six pounds in a day? Possible???? Yeah. But I definitely did not eat 1.6 pounds worth of food. :-) Soooo here's hoping it's water! No matter the cause, I'm focused on reversing it. I did have a big breakfast today. Pancakes and turkey sausage. However, I've planned out the rest of my day eating wise and I'm good!

I think part of this journey for me is to start to stop making excuses. Yeah, I worked outside yesterday morning so that when I came in to eat lunch I scarfed up every morsel of food that was readily available to me...BUT I worked all morning. Excuses! I didn't need that extra food. My body had received enough nutrients from my planned lunch. I did not need seconds! I need to stop making excuses and just say...it happened so lets move on. The question pops into my mind though....where is that fine line between making excuses and consoling oneself. For example, saying....I had a lot of sodium yesterday so it's probably water weight. That is still an excuse isn't it? Yet, it also keeps me calm and motivated. There is a fine line there!

Acceptance is a difficult thing. Not just as I just wrote, accepting responsibility for my setbacks. But also accepting what I am. I have changed drastically from what I used to be and what I am now. And sometimes I just don't get it still. Yeah, I'm riding my bike mad miles. (for me at least.....and growing all the time as my endurance improves) Yet I still feel like the sluggard MF from days gone by. I struggle with believing in myself. I doubt myself at every turn in my biking adventures. I am stuck thinking like the fat maryfran that bought her bike in 2001. The MaryFran that proudly took her bike to the canal and hopped on to ride and didn't even make it a mile before she was practically falling off the bike in total exhaustion. Yes, I went about a half mile to 3/4 of a mile and was so exhausted that we took a LONG break before heading back to the car. And we had to stop numerous times on the way back to the car so that I could catch my breath and rest up, gathering myself to bike just a little further until the next rest break. Reconciling that MF to the current MF is difficult!

I've been in a melancholy mood the last few days. I've been working on some scrapbook layouts, trying to finish the bulk of last years events and activities. (Right now all that is left, for the most part is our October vacation from last year....so I"m giving myself permission to start working on my April GWG stuff!). What makes me melancholy is the pictures of me from last summer. I was so much trimmer, my face was lean. I was looking dang good, It makes me sad that I frittered away the winter and gained and now I'm behind the eight ball again. I want to get back there sooo bad! And of course the scales creeping up the last few days does NOT make it any easier! But I will persevere with it....and I will work on accepting my new self!

Well, my weight this weekend was well, pretty much the same. On Saturday I had that small increase. And on Sunday I went up to 199.0 Today I held steady at 199.

BUT..........worked outside all morning and when I came in, I didn't stick with my planned meal. I had seconds! And totally blew my food budget for today. I'm goint to do my best to keep it reigned in tonight...and add exercise tonight to negate my food splurge! Otherwise, all it well.

Disgusted!

Disgusted, whatever about????

Well, lets start with the fact that I woke up early and decided to check my mail. While checking my mail I hopped onto the weather website. I wasn't disgusted about what I saw for sure! The last time I had checked the 10 day forecast they were calling for 3 partly sunny/cloudy days out of the 10. BUT this morning it has changed to 9 partly sunny days out of the 10. That is excellent news. Today is one of the partly sunny days! YIPPEE! I immediately decided to ride my bike to work today! I made the plans, I did everything...and right before I left I double checked the hourly for the day and saw the doom and gloom. Chance of scattered showers in the morning. ARRRGGGHHHH I don't want chance of scattered showers! SOOOOOOO I drove to work. Booooo hoooo hoooey!

Disgusted. Yesterday I slugged myself up those hills. I worked out. I found myself hungry through the day so I did end up dipping into and eating some of my exercise earned food allowance. Not much 150 calories! Sooo woo hoooo, when my weight was up .2 of a pound today there was much much cause for celebration. (note the sarcasm!) Ohh well......stick with it, and the good stuff will happen!

On a brighter note......well...the never ending rain has seemed to have run it's course! In a fwe days the ground will be dry enough to till...so we can FINALLY get our strawberry bed planted, and asparagus and horseradish. All of which are currently residing in my refrigerator, in the crisper drawer!

I'm struggling withhow I feel today. Not so much physically (nope, I'm used to the ache in the shoulder/back and the sinus congestion is still there, but has eased up quite a bit)...but mentally. Today my cup is half empty. I keep telling myself that my mood is my choice. My mood is my choice. Think it will work if I keep saying it????

Well, I had so much to say yesterday and I totally did not have a chance to get online and write a post. So today rolls around and I forgot what I wanted to say! Oh well. I will say that as of this morning that my weight is down to 198.4!!! I'm absolutely delighted!

Yesterday morning I got up and rode on the exercise bike for an hour and a half as it was really wet and looking like rain. This morning however I got up and headed out! I got a really nice ride in!!! This is the first hilly ride since my GWG ride in mid April...so it was past time to get a hilly ride in! My heart rate was WAY up there....I got a great workout in!

sickness and weight

Whew....this morning I woke up feeling like I'd been run over by a bus....no, a bus isn't big enough, a tractor and trailer....no a train! Whew. I was reduced to routing in the bathroom for medication. But, alas I don't like to take medication. It is a totally last resort for me. SO, when I finally hit the 'storage' spot I was tickled when I found something that was perfect. I checked the expiration date. I'm not anal about expiration dates...but when I saw that this had expired in 2003 I kinda figured it wasn't a good thing to take. SO I sat there and cleaned out that drawer. My garbage can is now full! I think there was only one or two things that was left. Sadly enough, nothing for me at this juncture in my life. I will say that being upright and moving has eased it up a bit. Now the big 'argument' in the house is that I'm determined to go to the gym. My husband is just as equally determined that I not work out! Well shucks!

My eating plan for yesterday worked like a charm. I didn't even snitch an extra 6 calorie pickle slice. Because staying totally on track was the goal and the end result was that cheesecake . Instead of eating huge bites of cheesecake, I savored it and thoroughly enjoyed it!

SOooo even after my cheesecake what did the scales say this morning???? 200.2 Down! WOO HOOO!!!

Holding steady

My weight held steady today. Exactly the same. I'm cool with that. I mean for the last 4-5 days it has dropped a pound or so every day. I knew that couldn't last and continue. I'm staying on target and I've got my foods planned out for today. Because I dont' have to cook for Todd and thereby if I can control myself can use less out of my food budget, I have enough left in the budget to allow for a splurge of cheesecake. It is a lower fat version. And no, it's not as smooth and creamy as a full fat version...but it does the job. So I'm super tickled to have this treat planned into my day! And no, I'm not using mad numbers of my earned exercise calories to eat this!

I got up this morning and rode the exercise bike. I soooo badly want to be outside. I probably could have gone out today on my bike...but I"m still feeling a bit under the weather. Ok, my sinus are draining, I'm hacking up the crap that's draining, my throat is sore, my voice is hoarse. Yeah, I didn't want to get out on the bike and start to feel worse...so I rode inside. Whadya know..the first day that it's not raining and i'm under the weather! BOO HOOOOOO

Raindrops keep falling on my head!

Rain!

That about sums up the morning! Well, actually not. But it does have a lot of bearing on the morning. I heard Todd putzing around the bedroom early and looked at the clock. 4:55???? What? Is this really my husband? Up before 5AM??? No way! But he was. I mumbled hello and drifted back to sleep. I drifted in and out of awareness until he was finishing his coffee and putting his shoes on. I heard him getting ready to leave so I mumbled my goodbyes. He was going to the studio to paint the floor. He had turned off the fan so I could hear the rain pounding away on the roof. Finally jarred the whole way awake, I gave up trying to sleep and turned the light on to finish reading my book. By about 6:30 or so I was done with my book and ready to face the day. I weighed myself, ate my breakfast and directly hopped onto the exercise bike. I rode until about about 9AM.....roughly an hour and a half. Todd came home while I was on the bike and he agreed to run to the next town with me to go to the bank. So I showered and we went out for a drive through the wet dreary day. We checked on the level of the river, went to the post office, ran to the bank and stopped to get gas in my car (hey, if he's going to pump, I'd be a fool not to have him do it). We took different back roads so that we saw as much as we could see before going back home. I got home and it was still only 10AM. I didn't have to be at work until noon! So a productive morning.

My weight, dropped again this morning! YIPPEE! I'm tickled! I will hopefully soon be back under 200 pounds. And I do swear that this time, when I get solidly into the 100's that I will NOT return to twoterville! I've learned my lesson...the decline (actually the rise of the scales) comes quickly and harshly, taking no prisoners!

My health....oh what a story.

The shoulder? Hurts. What else can I say? Ever since my massage on Thursday it has been hurting worse than it's hurt in the last few weeks. Admittedly, yogo didn't help! tee hee hee Wonder what would happen if I did yoga again tonight?????? haa haa haa Ok, not a good idea, I think I'll pass on yoga tonight. However, I am thinking that a nice long soak in the tub with the Epsom salts may be a good idea.

The throat? Hurts. My voice is all hoarse and raspy. My husband is getting chuckles because I'm talking to him in this deep raspy voice. I'm leaning toward it being a simple sinus issue and not any bug (mono or the piggy flu...yeah yeah yeah...swine flu...but doesn't piggy sound much more fun??.....)due to the way that I can feel the sinus' draining and all that. We'll have to see, time will tell.

BUT, other than those two things, I feel peachy! Dandy! Hunky Dory! A little wet but pretty darn spiffy!

What was I thinking???

Got up this morning and after boiling and baking a batch of bagels that I had made yesterday. No fears...no bagels for me. First of all, bagels are not my favorite thing (I 'tolerate' them). But the kind that Todd requested I really do not like. (Everything Bagels). I had my bowl of cheerios and then we were off to the gym. 72 minutes of cardio later and we were done! We made one quick stop while in town and then we came home. For lunch I made whole wheat pizza dough and threw together a pizza for us. And then commenced an afternoon of simple relaxation. I worked on my scrapbook, trying to get some small events caught up so that I can scrapbook our vacation from last fall and then on to what I'm dying to scrap about...and that is my Girls With Gears event and weekend. :-) Moving along toward that! Dinner came and I ate wisely (fruits and veggies since my lunch of pizza took such a big chunk from my food budget). All in all, I can chalk up another day of staying in the food budget!

After dinner is when the problem began,.....or technically while I was cooking dinner. I noticed at first a tickle in my throat. And as the evening has progressed it has become a full fledged sore throat! This is not cool! Lets just look at the situation. I'm working with a gal that has/has had mono. ARRGGHHH! I"m hoping it's nothing serious.

SOOOO as if the cold wasn't' enough, I decided that I had better do a little more exercise. I have but have never used The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga. I decided tonight was the night. OHhhh my word, I did the first two workouts (not including the warm up) and it was HARD. I was shaking and sweating up a storm as I tried to hold positions and such. But I finished. The problem? Sitting here at the computer my back is just really sore! YIKES!

Weight this morning...down again!

So far so good. I had a really good day with my exercise and food yesterday. I ate exactly what was planned. After dinner I was really craving something sweet. Not so much for the sweetness, but the tacos were spicy and I just needed something to take that tangy spice out of my mouth. SO I picked up a small piece of candy and had that. I did the trick perfectly. I logged it and I was still right where I needed to be in my food budget!

Scales are dropping. Yeah, I know that these massive drops (1.4 pounds yesterday morning and 1.2 pounds this morning) are due to water weight. But you know what...I'll take it anyway I can get it!

I just finished up my grocery list and i've culled through my coupons and I'll be ready to hit up the grocery store this afternoon....gotta restock on fresh fruits and veggies. That is the only thing with shopping for groceries only every two weeks. The second week is rather lame on the fresh produce. I plan it out as well as I can and we use my home canned produce to supplement so it's not too bad, but I'm looking forward to getting the fresh produce! And no...we save way too much money by doing groceries every 2 weeks! I found that I was spending the same amount each week (maybe 25 dollars less) for groceries versus what I'm spending now every other week. That means I've almost cut my grocery bill in half! That is amazing. Don't know if it's more close planning or the removal of two weeks worth of impulse buying...but whatever it is (probably the combination),we'll run with it!

Woke up early this morning and I rolled myself out of bed and hit the exercise bike. 52 minutes of exercise complete this morning! I'm on a roll finally the eating AND exercise is both on target. Now just to keep this momentum going. I want this weight to come OFF!

Water weight go away!

The water retention weight is slowly going away. I was happy with what I saw on the scales. Well, happier than yesterday, that's for sure!

Went to the gym this morning before work. Got in one hour and 22 minutes of cardio. I'm still not doing much strength. First because I'm bad and just don't do it. But secondly because I've been instructed to not do weights with my upper body. Ohhhh shucks! :-)

Meanwhile, my eating is all planned out for the day and I'm lookin' good on all fronts!

the attack of popcorn and water weight

I managed to not eat the kitchen cupboards and everything in them on Tuesday night. My plan worked well. I even had some extra points/calories so that I could enjoy some popcorn in the evening. However, as I was eating the popcorn, I realized my error. well, not really an error, but I realized that my weight would be skewed the next morning as I admittedly put way to much salt on my popcorn. And i was right. My weight on Wednesday morning was quite a bit higher.

Wednesday, I didn't let my weight get me down. I went to the gym and plugged away. I don't know if it was because I started on the elliptical and I have kinda ignored the elliptical for a while or what, but my legs felt like lead pipes. HEAVY! Good news, we may have found a new gym to go to. They are opening a Planet Fitness within a mile from the location of our current gym. We have been contemplating leaving our current gym for a while. One reason is cost...it's rough on the pocket book. But also because it's tight and cramped and filled with really old people. As in old people that can barely walk and are there for therapy. Nothing wrong with that...but it's overrun...in a bad way. So Planet Fitness appears to be a heck of a lot cheaper. The only real difference seems to be the exercise classes...planet fitness does not have them. Hmmmm, I've never gone to any anyway (with the exception of spin...which I did love...but I haven't been back in 2 months and when I've tried to go and call to reserve a spot, they have no room...already booked up). So we'll go and check it out when it actually opens.

I am however appalled at the gym. When we were talking to the sales person and he was giving us the selling points. And one of the selling points was free pizza night. Where they give pizza to their members that are there. WHAT???? The next selling point was Bagel morning. NO WAY! Interesting. Can't say that if we join that I'll be partaking of those perks!

So I knew I was in trouble with my weigh in for Wednesday morning on Tuesday night while I was eating my popcorn. But when Todd got home, I knew that my Thursday morning weigh in may be in trouble. You see he walked in and his first words were "wow, that smells good". Of course referring to the popcorn. SO predictably last night rolls around and he asks for popcorn for a snack. Yes, I ate popcorn again...was there ever any doubt? Sooo my Thursday morning weigh in was still high. I can only hope and pray that tomorrow it drops. I'm super determined to keep my food budget under control and not screw it up tonight so that hopefully I can recoup some of that water weight!

Finding the right fit

For years I've heard about people that just gush about how much they love exercise and it has always made me somewhat sick to my stomach. I mean, exercise....love? Do you mean in the same sentence? No way! That is not possible. But I do have to back pedal a bit and say that part of it is finding the right fit. Finding that right exercise to make it at least bearable. I doubt I will ever be a person that jumps out of bed and says "exercise is the best thing in the whole wide world". I know that I will ALWAYS have memories of the sluggard Maryfran that would rather wake up and stay in bed curled up with a good book. Yes, that is the epitome of a great day for me. Wake up and read all day....staying in my pajamas and just relaxing all day! But I digress. Even though I will never be one to just gush and rave about how much I love exercise I have noticed in the last few weeks that I am gushing about my bike and my bike rides. I find myself going to mapmyride.com to add in my rides (it allows you do to any exercise....not just outdoor bike rides, but also stationary bikes, walks, runs, weights, gym equipment, etc etc). True, all of my exercise/training entries are bike rides either on the stationary or an actualy outdoor ride..but they are all bike related. Woahhhhhhh hold the horses. What's up with this. It wasn't until my wild bike buddy talked about how much she loves her bike and how it was just utterly amazing to hear herself go on about her bike that I realized that...oh my word...I'm an exercise gusher! I don't live for it...but I really do enjoy it!

It takes finding that right fit for exercise. Finding what I enjoy and what makes me feel good. For me, biking is that. When I'm out on the bike I feel so refreshed and renewed when I get back. Not just physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually as well. For biking gives me that time to contemplate issues in my life, ponder situations and reflect on everything. Biking is my right fit!

Sooooo, my weight didn't budge today on the scale. No problem. :-) I did get up and we had breakfast together. I made pancakes and turkey sausage. So I'll be eating lighter fare the rest of the day. I've got my eating all planned out so as to not blow my food budget today. After breakfast, I left the dishes in the sink and I hopped onto the exercise bike and rode for 75 minutes. That left me just enough time to jump in the shower and get ready to be at work on time. Now I have to admit.....the weather is nice and I would have rather have been outside on my bike. However, with my lower back being so sore yesterday I wanted to make sure that I was ok before I got miles from home and then had a problem.

Tonight Todd will not be home. This can be a problem for me as I can be a bit of closet eater. You know, if no one sees me eat it, then it doesn't count right? Haa haa haa. but I have my plan. I've already written down my food for dinner tonight in my journal. I'll get home at about 6:15. I figure to eat and clean up the kitchen (remember dishes from breakfast still in the sink). I was watching an episode of the Australian Biggest loser this morning and it ended in the middle of a challenge! So I'm DYING to see how it ends. I have a rule, I can only watch the Australian Biggest Loser's when I'm riding (on the laptop which is propped up on the handlebars of the exercise bike...gotta love youtube). SOoooo since I'm dying to watch the next episode (it should only be a 30 minute episode) I'm planning on hopping back on the exercise bike after dinner. I'll bike that 30 minutes and then hop in the bathtub filled with hot water and epsom salts (for my shoulder) and soak for a bit. That will take me to TBL on tv tonight! And heavens, I would feel guilty eating while watching Bob and Jillian beating those guys to a bloody pulp in the gym! That is the plan! I hope it works!

weekend work report

What a weekend! The fun never stopped! I worked on Saturday morning and rushed home. Todd was just about ready to leave so I rushed around and grabbed my healthy lunch (mostly fruits and veggies). We ran up to Hagerstown to mom and dad's house. I fired up their mower and push mowed their yard, the restaurant's grassy area and my grandmother's house. All in all about 45 minutes to an hour of push mowing. Todd cut down some brush while I mowed. We didn't want to appear rude, but when the mowing was done, we piled back in the car and beat a hasty retreat back to Sharpsburg. Once in Sharpsburg we hopped onto our bikes and rode on the canal for about an hour. The canal is gorgeous this time of year with all the bluebells in full bloom. We rode between Snyders Landing and Shepherdstown (that general area) and in some areas the sides of the towpath were a sea of blue flowers. Absolutely gorgeous! We got back to our house at around 4:30 and after stowing away the bikes, I headed outside. As our riding lawn mower is still in the shop, I fired up the old lawn boy. I mowed from about 4:30 until about 6:30 or so before calling it quits for the night. (ok, I only called it quits because I broke the mower and had to quit). I went inside and made dinner and baked a cake and we had a late dinner (pizza). We were in bed EARLY as the day had worn us out.

Sunday dawned bright and early for me. I was up at around 6AM. I had my cheerio breakfast and I was off and running. BY 8AM I had the house cleaned, two loads of laundry from the day before were put away and the next two loads of clothes were on the clothes line outside. By 8:30 I was over at the studio and I was working preparing the flower beds for the upcomign season. They needed to be tilled and all that good stuff. I then moved to the wood chipper and chipped up some trees that we cut down. The chipped stuff makes an excellent mulch...and the flower beds are pretty much already mulched for the year due to my chipping yesterday. Our vegetable garden is also now tilled and ready to go also. We got back to our house at roughly 2:45 having worked out in the sun for all of the morning and early afternoon. I took a short break and drank some water inside and then back outside. I worked outside, more mowing and some transplanting of flowers until about 6PM. Then it was inside to make dinner (pesto crusted chicken, sweet potatoes, steamed brocolli). My final activity for the evening was to hop on the exercise bike. I mustered up a 30 minute ride and then called it quits!

Soooo I wake up this morning and find myself stiff as a board! My weight was up a bit. I think it's mostly water as I was drinking but I think I was sweating it out faster than I could drink it in. My shoulder is still giving me grief (but surprisingly not as bad as one would think after a weekend of work) but it's my lower back that is just making me want to scream. I periodically have problems with my lower back so I'm not too surprised. It will ease up (ironically enough, the last time my lower back hurt was the day that I worked out the stiffness on the bike...the same day that my shoulder started to hurt.....go figure). I'm sunburnt (not really bad...just a bit pink) But i'm happy with my weekends activity!

Business!

Weighed today...not happy! It seems as if my body is happy fluctuating within a 2-3 pound range and it doesn't want to go any further. The good news is it's not going up. But it's increasingly frustrating because I see 201 and then it pops to 202 or 203 or even 204. Frustrating. If I remember correctly, I had the same problem when I was getting ready to break the 200 mark the last time. So my body must like this weight! However, I'm determined to break through it! (the monthly ick could be affecting my weight today.....yeah I'll stop with the excuses!)

This weekend will be really busy. I work until noon today. I'll be rushing home and eating lunch. From there we will hop in Todd's car and heading to mom and dad's. I'll be mowing their house, the restaurant and my grandmothers properties while Todd runs the weedwhacker and chainsaw on a few problematic spots. I know from past experience that it takes about 45 minutes to mow all that up there and Todd estimates he'll need an hour. From there, we will head home and hop on our bikes. We want to take a ride on the canal today. The blue bells are up...and it is always so pretty to ride through a sea of bluebells! I'll be taking my camera! After that, I hope to come home and mow our yard. Or at least part of our yard! The riding lawn mower is still in the shop, so that will be more time behind a push mower. After that I do believe it will be time for dinner. So inside, shower and dinner! Dinner tonight is homemade pizza. I figure that with all this activity, Pizza is a perfect 'reward'. One, it's my favorite. But secondly, I'll have burned those calories before I even eat the pizza! (I have a big but low point lunch planned for myself, so even without the exercise, I probably would be ok with the pizza!)

Tomorrow it's another ride planned for me (hopefully on the road) and then garden work all day. We will be starting at the studio and doing those gardens first (we actually have someone that bartered studio time for manual labor time, so we will have help to get those flower and the vegetable garden area in shape). Lunch (we are feeding the guy) and then a full afternoon in our yard and garden areas! WHEW! I'll have laundry out on the line and I should work on cleaning the house when I have a spare minute or two. (I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor last night...so the kitchen is done...for the time being!)

I'm all excited. There is another ride I want to do. It's on June 6th...and it's in Lancaster Co. How perfect is that. It's to raise money to save the farmlands of Lancaster Co. The ride is actually in New Holland. I hope to do this ride...and I'll be talking to Todd and making the final yes or no decision this weekend! This ride will be 20 miles and from looking at the route and comparing elevations seems to have no hills that are worse than what I did in GWG, and seems to be a bit flatter any! (not to mention 5 miles shorter!)

I'm hoping that life slows down some. However, I'm not sure that it will. This morning I was up at about 6:30AM. I got an hour ride in on the exercise bike (it was cold out at 6AM) and I had the clothes on the line outside by 8. I ate my breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen and got ready to go to work. Even though I had already ridden about an hour, I decided to ride my bike to work. Yessiree bob, I did. I rode my bike in to town. It's a great feeling. I'll admit that because of my earlier ride, my legs were a bit stiff and sore. Ohhh wait, maybe that's because the road I live on, is just plain no fun to ride!!! Soooooo I've had a good day of exercise.

This weekend will be busy. I'm determined to ride one if not both days. We are going up to Hagerstown tomorrow to work in mom and dad's yard (I'll mow their properties and Todd has some weed whacking and chainsawing to do). And then we have a lot of stuff to do in our yard and vegetable garden! Not to mention that our riding lawn mower is still at the shop..so I'll be push mowing AGAIN! Great exercise! Just think of all the extra food I'll get to eat because of all of this activity! I will also have more laundry to do and hang that out on the line (and then of course bring it in off the line) and the house is in desperate need of cleaning. And lets not forget the normal cooking and cleaning up that cooking entails. So no rest for the weary this weekend!

I can't believe it is Thursday already. Where has this last week gone. I think it was partly because it was such a big weekend for me. And the high that I've been on has contributed to it just flying by. Not to mention that I've been just insanely busy. I've been running errands and just going hither and yon all around town. Yesterday the plan was to get to the gym in the midst of appointments, pre-arranged meetings and those pesky errands. But somehow that just didn't happen. I think part of the problem was that after my massage my shoulder felt so good that i didn't want to 'upset the apple cart' and irritate it any! So this morning I was planning on definitely exercising. Afterall, I didn't have to be at work until 8. BUT once again life intervened. I spent a good chunk of my morning working on an issue with a company regarding something for the studio, making dinner for tonight (I have a mandatory training meeting after work tonight, so I'll be getting home later...which means I want to have dinner pretty much ready to go) and all that general stuff around the house. Let me tell you, I was scrambling to get my shower and eat lunch before I got here!

So no exercise this morning. I keep telling myself that I'll do it tonight. But being honest, I know that it may not happen. if I'm not getting home until around 8, by the time I eat dinner and clean up from that it will be 9 or so. And will I really exercise at 9PM??? If I don't, I'll be getting up EARLY tomorrow morning. NO EXCUSE!