checking in

Wow - I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted!

Let's see - what have I been up to?
The first week of the month I spent at Scott's. I'd been given a week off work so went to his place to organize for when I move in - tidying up closets and cupboards, setting up the spare bedroom.
A fun week: a pipe burst in the laundry room, tonnes of driving, then the rear wheel bearings on my car had to be replaced.
the second week: I missed the Monday because of the work on my car. Tue., Wed. & Thurs. went by much slower and much quicker than I thought they would. I took the Friday off as I thought it was too strange to have my last day of work be Friday the 13th!
Last week I was again at Scott's - still trying to carve out closet space. His parents (and in all honesty him too!) are/were big time clothes horses! It is quite difficult to get things organized as he really hates to throw things away. I now just wait until he is out and I put stuff in the trunk of my car and I drop it off at the Salvation Army when I am running errands. He hasn't missed anything yet! :-)

This week I've spent a few days at my apartment getting things ready to move. I'm deciding what stuff I'm keeping and what I'm going to get rid of. I really don't want to end up with the massive amounts of "stuff" that Scott's parents have left him to deal with.

As for exercise: lots of running up and down the stairs at Scott's place. Lifting huge bags of clothes that are being donated to charity. So that is my non-gym cardio and weight work.
My weight has been yo-yoing around the 208 mark.
My eating was pretty good up until about a week ago when I noticed that a few times I managed to miss breakfast and/or lunch. I'm back on track with a light breakfast and a light lunch. I think the problem is that Scott is a coffee for breakfast kind of guy, while I like my hot cereal and/or yogurt. He likes a light lunch and a larger dinner while I prefer a larger lunch and a soup & salad for dinner. We're working on a compromise.
On the plus side - he does like his veggies. we usually cook them and he likes to put a sauce on them while I avoid the sauces. I made sweet potato fries the other day and he quite enjoyed them and requested them again. Another good thing? He isn't that much into sweet desserts like cake, pie, cookies or ice cream and there is rarely any in the house.

Downside? No internet! He has satellite internet for his job (he publishes a newspaper) and I don't like to go to the office to use the computer as there really aren't enough there for everyone, and I don't want to get in the way. He said that weekends wouldn't be a problem but we're usually doing stuff and there really are other things I should be doing than surfing.

coming up? The wife of one of his friends has invited me to join her reading group. There's a cooking class that I hope to check out on Monday. I'm getting ready for a trip in April. And school in the fall.

Interesting Times

It seems that the old Chinese proverb has come true for me: I am living in interesting times.

Work:
I decided not to challenge my lay off notice. While I love my job I no longer enjoy the work environment. My co-workers are awesome but the morale is very low - and has been that way for quite a while.

the way I look at it getting the buy out was like winning the lottery - not the big jackpot everyone wants but big enough to get me started on something else.

Plans:
I am going out to California in April - to visit my nephew and his wife and daughters. He is being deployed to Iraq, again, and has asked me to come out before he leaves. I had planned on going out in December, his scheduled return date, but since I have all this free time I might as well go now.
I am moving out of Toronto. Scott has asked me to move in with him and I will start moving stuff this weekend. I've given notice to my building supervisor and will be giving up the apartment on March 31st. So - plenty of time to cull thruough my possessions and decide what I'm going to keep and what I will give away. Have already promised some furniture to my sister, some of my mother's knick knacks will be distributed among my sisters and the grandchildren. I'm having trouble giving up books - but Scott is a reader too and has just as many as I do. I think more bookshelves are needed!
I'm thinking of going back to school - ideally I'd like to take a wine making course. Have done some research on places in the Niagara region. My sister lives there now, and it is close to Scott's home.

Needless to say - due to the stress of being laid off - I had a good weight loss. Things have evened out a bit now. Not really a diet that I would suggest!
My work-outs have been going well - pretty intense cardio stuff, plus some weight lifting. The running is going good. I'm at it several days a week but feel I am not working at it hard enough. Still doing intervals at a good speed but I know I could be doing better.

I found out yesterday that I have next week off. The person who wasn't laid off is bumping me next week, the other guy the week after that. My final day of work was supposed to be Feb. 13th - but that just seemed too creepy for me so I took that as a vacation day. My final day will be the 12th.

I'm feeling good about what is ahead of me. At a party on Friday night I was talking to a former co-worker. When I told him of my plans he said "Congratulations on getting fired! Seems like it came at just the right time!"

1 of 39

A good work-out this morning. I was supposed to have a session at 8am with my trainer - but he didn't show up until 8:40. I guess he got caught behind some accident on the 401. I ran for 2 miles. Then did some weight work. Then off to work.

More lay-offs announced at work today. 39 people were let go - - me among them.

I am 1 of 3 in this particular job - 2 of us were let go. Me - with almost 18 years, Jamey with almost 4 years. Technically I can bump the person who wasn't laid off. But I'm not sure I want to. Today I'm just letting things sink in......and I've been watching the inauguration stuff.
Believe it or not - I was laid off at 11am - at 11:30 there was a staff meeting. I went - so of course we missed the swearing in. caught part of Obama's speech - but not all of it. oh well - I'll be able to read the text, and see something on YouTube later.

Have talked to my sister...and to Scott. We're just mulling over options now.
I might fight for my job, I might go back to school, I might go work at Tim's .
They're going to pay my salary for a year, and I've got health coverage and insurance - so I have some time to decide.

TMI

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you have been warned!
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I had a colonoscopy today.

When I had my physical last September my doctor was doing the usual "Does your family have a history of such&such?" I couldn't think of anything other than the usual diabetes and heart problems. Then I mentioned that the brother closest in age to me has high blood pressure. Then the doctor started a sibling by sibling check of known conditions. I got his attention when I mentioned my oldest brother died of bowel cancer and one sister now wears a colostomy bag. It wasn't until he asked "Has anyone else had colorectal cancer?" that I realized that Bob's bowel cancer and Joanne's colostomy operation were because they both had colon cancer.
Well, duuuh!

So - an appointment with a specialist was made. The consultation was last month. I think the doctor had way too much fun explaining what would happen! He gave me a perscription for a laxative - explaining that "everything has to be empty!" so the camera could do its work. Yesterday was laxative day - not as bad as I feared. One of Scott's friends had the procedure done and regaled us with tales of how much the laxative affected him. Since it didn't effect me quite as much as it did him I have to agree with my original impression of him - he's full of shit.
Anyway - went to work yesterday, despite everything. I was working the 4 to midnight shift so everything was pretty well over by then.
One of the instructions I had to follow was that I was only allowed clear liquids - clear teas, sports drinks, water. No milk or solid foods. I wasn't that hungry - but did have a massive headache - possibly because of sugar withdrawal. The headache woke me up around 3am.
Up at 6:30, quick shower and then off to catch the bus - I wasn't allowed to drive because the drugs they give would have made me legally impaired.
Got to the clinic just before 8am - actually got there before the doctor. Things went quicker than I thought - was out of there by 9:30, I think. I was quite hungry so I bought a muffin - only ate 1/4 of it as I was told to keep my food portions small.
Called in sick - while I felt fine my stomach was a bit delicate.
Eating light all day - made the muffin last until noon. Then a sandwich and tea around 2. Some crackers around 4.
At 7pm I was quite hungry. I was tempted to go out to get something to eat but, knowing my luck, would have run into someone from work. So I poked around the kitchen to see what I had. Ended up having whole wheat pasta. I chopped up a red pepper, some mini carrots and put those in the spaghetti sauce along with some fresh basil and red pepper flakes. It was quite good.

BTW - got the all clear. And I don't have to have another one for 8 years.

procrastinating

This is one of my biggest faults....I'll tell you about it later.

ha!

Over the weekend I was poking around the blogosphere and have noticed that EVERYONE has posted their goals for the year.

So I thought I better get on it.

Goals:
1. eat healthier
2. exercise more consistently
3. RUN!
4. spend less
5. procrastinate less

Notice what wasn't in there?
I'm hoping the usual "lose weight" thing is covered by the "eating healthier" thing.
I really have to cut out the fast food when I'm pressed for time. Because, despite the fact I don't have a DH (or even a so-so H), kids or even a pet, it seems I am always pressed for time. I'm working on prepping food ahead of time - I did that before but have fallen out of the habit.
I also have a new slow cooker so that will cut down on the "I don't feel like cooking when I get home from work" excuse.

I do like exercising - but it doesn't take much for me to fall off the treadmill, so to speak. My last session with the trainer was in early December - just before the tendonitis. Which was followed by bronchitis. Which was followed by Christmas and New Year's.
I did light work-outs at home but they sort of petered out after the awesome pre-Christmas dinner at my sister's. It seems I spent a lot of time on the road - and that is never good for a diet.
Scott does eat healthy most of the time. But it was the holidays - so we were out quite a bit. And there was the beer and wine. And I, apparently, have very little will-power! ;-)

surprised to see that I want to run? Yeah - me too!
But I figure that it is the best cardio work-out and it is something I can actually do, so why not?
My running goal for the year is 500 miles.

The spending less goal is something I've been working on since the middle of last year. If it weren't for the fast food I would have totally rocked the cheapskate gene.

LIke I said I'm an awful procrastinator and it is something I really need to work on. During the holiday period it seems I was late for everything. People didn't seem to notice because they were usually running late too. But I feel it is rude to be late when you say you're going to be somewhere at a certain time. And showing up late for work is so unprofessional - yet it seems I was 10 to 15 minutes late almost every day since Boxing Day. I was 5.5 minutes late this morning. And I felt really bad because my supervisor was in the control room when I came breezing in. apparently one of his goals is to be to work early!

Oh yeah - this is why I didn't exercise tonight. See? Any excuse will do!

BTW - I did a weight check on my Wii Fit board. I'm at 213. So I gained 6 lbs over the holidays. Not good but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

so far

Perhaps I bragged too soon. Food-wise, I didn't do so well between Christmas and New Year's . . . actually - possibly - today.

I avoided the nibbling on cookies, etc up until Christmas Eve. I was at Scott's and we had some hors d'oeurves and cookies and tea with his mother. Not much sleep for me that night - I was up every hour or so with her. So after a very nice breakfast - I took a nice long nap. Then off to dinner at the home of Scott's college roomate and his wife. Amazing food - a regular dinner and a vegan option. I ate a lot of the vegan-style veggies (less sauces) but had to put gravy on the stuffing....which totally defeats the purpose. And I had turkey. Dessert was ice cream.

After we took Scott's mom back to the nursing home we went home and relaxed: wine, beer and cigars. More wine than is healthy, I suppose.

Between then and today it was a lot of driving between Toronto & Scott's place - - which led to unhealthy snacking. When we were with friends I was careful with my beer/alcohol drinking - limit of 2 but then I'd switch to Pepsi since it seems no-one had water.

I did exercise - - but it became less each day.

I will post, eventually, on my health goals for this year.

Today was fun - Scott and I went to the International Bowl with Dave. We had nice seats - - but we ended up at Arriba and watched the game from there.

We were joking that we thought the Yukon Huskies were playing, when actually it was the UConn Huskies. Dave didn't appreciate our humour.

Today MizFit posted about tattoos. So here are the stories behind mine.

This one is based on a small silver pin that my mother bought for me when we were on vacation in Arizona about 10 years ago.

I'd wanted to get a tatt for years but couldn't decide on what to get. One day I was cleaning out my backpack and saw the pin and thought that it would make a nice tatt.

I was downtown, waiting for a friend, and went into a shop to get an estimate on the cost. The guy said that if I wanted it just black he could do it right away for $60. So I got it that afternoon.

My only regret? It is only 1 1/2 inches long. I wish I had a larger one made.

This is a memorial tatt for my father (he died when I was 15). It is a bracelet on my left wrist. The cactus is the logo of his unit in the U.S. Army during WW II. The red, white & blue is part of a flag - on the other side the flag looks a bit tattered. Because of my colouring the white doesn't show up very well - but I think it sort of suits the "tattered" look of the flag. The Hebrew on the left is from a pin I picked up at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

On my right wrist is the memorial tatt for my mother. I originally wanted to get a design based on a family ring we bought for her years ago. But the design just wasn't working. The artist came up with a stylized leaf - - which I liked but didn't feel good about.

One day I was cleaning her bedroom and saw a sweetgrass braid and a dreamcatcher she had. I took them to my tatt artist and she whipped this up in no time. The bead in the middle is usually blue but I wanted it red since that is the colour of my mom's birth stone.

Another view: