Try and Try Again- A New Month's Resolution

On January first I decided on a resolution, to lose five pounds. I amended it to a "new month's" resolution, to lose five pounds by the end of the month. The very next day I was up a pound and a half. Not a good start. Now I had to lose 6.5 lbs to reach the goal.

At the end of January I'd lost 4 lbs. I set the goal again for February. I wasn't very clear if it was for a new five pounds, or just to get to the original goal. Vague was good. The ultimate goal is ten lbs from the high point, but I wanted to break it down in monthly chunks.

A week into the new month I'd lost another pound and it was staying lost. A week later, the weight pretty stable-neither up nor down, I saw an orthopedist who said I had tendinitis in my right bicep and prescribed an anti-inflammatory to be taken on a full stomach. You know what that meant, I'd forget to take the pills with dinner so I'd have to have a hearty snack at bedtime which lead to regaining all the weight I'd lost.

Now, here it is, the first of March, I'm ready to try again. I'm off the anti-inflammatory, my shoulder is feeling better, I have no excuse. I weighed in this morning at a lower weight than I'd had for a couple weeks, but still above the goal.

So, here it is, my goal, down in writing. I will lose the rest of the original five pounds by the end of March. (This will be harder than you think, I'll be Europe for a week this month.) I will keep it off in April and start working on the next five in May.

It really bugs me when other women say I look fine, that I don't need to lose weight. I always thank them, but I know, my pants know I do. I need to learn where the breaking point is on the food intake now that I'm, uh, not a kid anymore. I need to retrain my brain about not needing snacks. I'll never be a size 4 again, but it sure would be nice not to ever become a size 14. Hence, the goal, to break it down, a couple pounds at a time, no crazy crash diets, get it off, keep it off.



 

The Last 24 Hours

I had one of those killer headaches yesterday, you know the kind, 800mg of ibuprofen and a 1.5 hour nap wouldn't touch.

I found my card reader, the one I've been looking for for months! Now I can get around to posting those promised pictures. I found it when I was looking for my work ID in the car. So, there's the good news with the bad. Getting through security here at the "reservation" is a royal pain without the ID. First you have to get a Temporary Employee Pass at the guard's shack. But that's just a sticker you're supposed to wear. Then you have to stop at the badge office to get an activated card that'll let you ride the elevators to your floor for that day. The next day, it's the same deal. Bless my husband for waiting for me while I stopped at the guard's shack these mornings.

I have no idea where the work ID is. None. I may have forgotten to take it off Friday, then it fell off somewhere while I was at the mall with the kids Friday night. I hate losing things!

But, now I'm pleased to find my card reader. I've started unloading pictures from my camera cards. I won't overload you with things to look at all at once so I'll just post this time-lapse movie of our recent little snowfall to start with.




 

I'm back from vacation.

I'm trying to tame the laundry beast.

659 new email messages were waiting for me at work.

My back hurts.

I haven't been sleeping well.

How are you?


 

Pardon me while I take a moment to be overwhelmed...

OK.

I'm not exactly freaking out yet, but I'm starting to get anxious.

Spring Break. Less than two weeks away.

The travel documents came yesterday, which, without a true airline ticket anymore, amount to the itinerary and luggage tags.

Driving to Florida for a cruise is one matter, where you can stop at any Target or Walmart on the way and buy what you need. Flying to Europe and back on long flights is a completely different matter. Try going into a foreign land with a foreign language and asking for contact lens solution. Best not forget it in the first place (Fern).

I gotta buy some quart sized zip bags so the security guys will be nice to us. I gotta find mini shampoo bottles, enough for everyone.

I know I'm going to forget stuff. So I'm getting anxious about trying to remember it all now before it's too late.

I bought a new memory card for my camera. And extra batteries, too. I bought a solar charger for cell phones and iPods.

Oh, and laundry. I have to find that balance of washing clothes to pack and washing clothes to wear in the mean time.

And what to pack anyway? That kinda depends on the weather. And weather can be temperamental in mid-March. Don't want to over pack, but don't want to be spending time in foreign laundromats, either. I gotta pack the correct weight coat so I won't freeze or smolder. How many pairs of shoes? Do I even mess with "dressy?"

Got to come up with portable activities to keep the kids occupied. Got to set aside books and/or knitting for myself.

Did I remember the camera? Should I take the non-digital Nikon and film, too. With all the lenses. Tripod either way. Polarizer filter too.

eye yai yai.

Thank you for enduring this little moment of anxiety.
I'll write all this down in a notebook, before I forget.
But first, I have a killer headache and need to go get a coke.

Travel pillows for the plane?
And a copy of The Blade.....

Right now I'm on the brink of a full blown headache, it's waxing and waning at the moment. I might have to search out a coke for relief. I hate having a headache.

 

Ever since I bought the yarn in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, I've been on the fence as to where my creativity is taking me. I hadn't planned on going back to knitting, and I have plenty of quilting projects that need my attention. Daughter still wants her quilt finished, all I have to do is quilt the border and bind it off, and I have a John Flynn laser cut Storm At Sea kit I've been working on since March. The blocks are in a sewing-order stack ready to go. Sheesh. Then there's the next bee meeting. It'll be at my house, we're dyeing fabrics. I love that, it's so much fun to play with color. And I really like sharing fabric dyeing with others.

But the knitting. I've made at least 4 attempts at starting a sock, different pattern, different needles, with the new yarn. It's be knitted, ripped and rewound so many times, it's splitting very easily when I work with it. And I want to keep going on this project, I'm not to the exasperation point yet.

So on one side of the fence, I have a cool new quilting bee with cool new bee friends and on the other side I have cool new yarn and a cool new sock pattern book and I just ordered two new sets of birch double point sock needles because I can't find my others.



Maybe I just need to get off the fence and mow the grass.
 

The headache is gone, thanks for asking.

The federal taxes are almost done, we owe many dollars. Many.

Husband is back.

Concert was good. Got home late. I didn't know any of the music but the company was good and we had a fun time. If I had make a generalization about the crowd, I'd say "boring clothes and sensible shoes."

The car is in the shop. I just hate that.

My head hurts. Fern and Polly have gone to fetch me a coke from McD's. Wave a $5 bill in front of them and they'll do almost anything. When they get back I'll take some ibuprofen and sudafed with my coke, hopefully the headache will clear.

I've been doing my taxes. Hence the headache. I'm on Schedule A where I have to figure out how much of my itemized deductions I can really take. Up to now I've been flying along without a calculator, good ol' noggin power. But I need it to do percents and I just don't want to mess with it on paper. I can, but not with this pain between my eyes. I don't know where a calculator is except the one in my cell phone and that's out in the car. So I'm blogging instead.

I miss my husband. He's been in San Antonio for the NCAA basketball tournament. Kids have been great. The house has been relatively quiet, haven't had the TV on much. Ought to start thinking about dinner. Dan gets home late tonight and tomorrow night I'm taking CG out in honor of her birthday to an Indigo Girls Concert in Baltimore. So maybe I'll get to talk with him on Tuesday.

Are those girls back yet?

I'm happy to report I'm sitting here in the dark. The GSA guys came yesterday and took the bulbs out over my desk. Nine working days after my paperwork was first received. Nine. Sheesh.

Anyway, no glare and no headaches!

Kevin's been playing with my crutches and leaving all over the house so I can't reach them when I need them. But that's not the disturbing part, it's that he can use them. He must have grown again because they are not too big which puts him at about 5'6" or 5'7." I guess it's growth chart time again to find out.

I rolled my ankle yesterday afternoon falling down a step. I thought I was at the bottom but wasn't. Oops. No broken bones, but during my discharge lecture at the hospital I was told soft tissue can take up to a year to heal properly. It's nice and swollen now, about the size of an orange.

I'm worried about my golf game.

Murphy's Law. I guess I should have posted my tirade earlier. Soon after I hit "publish" this afternoon, I got a call from my doctor.

1. their phones were on the blink since yesterday.
2. someone will re-fax my letter
3. someone will call me to confirm I got the fax

I did get the fax and the confirmation call and I did get the letter delivered to the disabilities lady in HR. Today was her last day. sheesh. She will leave it for the other woman in that office (the one with whom I spoke in the first place). She was out today. I might need more documentation, but it's up to her when she gets in in the morning. double sheesh. Isn't a headache everyday for two and a half weeks enough documentation? I reported all of this to my Assistant Division Chief who will help me out if I need more for HR. I'm beginning to get some real hope.

Two weeks ago I reported on my new cubicle in our new office building. I am happy to report I'm still getting headaches everyday. In addition to that, I'm extremely pleased to report the adjacent parking garage has a big crack in it from too much snow and ice piled in one place, and therefore is closed. But that's another story.

I finally got to see my doctor last Thursday (first appointment was canceled because of snow) so I can get a note to take to the disabilities office so I can get the headache inducing lights removed from my area. She said she'd have it written by Friday, Monday at the latest. At 3:30 on Monday I got a call from the office manager at the doctor's office telling me "the computers are messed up" and she couldn't get my letter to me until Tuesday. Tuesday at 3:30 I start calling their office again to inquire about my precious letter. The recording says they are out to lunch and lunch lasts an hour and a half. At 5 til 5:00 I finally get a call from the office manager, she has the letter and will fax it to me and rattles off the number. I want to check it since it's new in the new building but she says it's what the doctor wrote down and disconnects. It was the wrong number. I try to call back, but they are still out to lunch. When they are out to lunch, you cannot leave a message.

And they were still out to lunch until almost 2:00 this afternoon. When they finally answered the phone, I learn the office manager is not in today and no one else knows what's going on. And the doctor is with patients. I called again a bit ago, talked to someone new, she didn't know what is going on, will pull my chart and try to find the letter.

I'm tired of my head hurting every day. I'm tired of complaining about this with no results. I'm tired of not being able to get any work done. I'm tired of being tied to the small bit of "land" under this beach umbrella. I like my job, (when I can do it) and don't want to leave my agency, but my future here is a little too bright.

Well, I've moved in to my new office space. I got in on Monday and immediately got a headache, went out to lunch with friends and it went away. After lunch the headache was back. I hate these overhead lights. Right now I'm sitting under an umbrella which is propped up over my computer. Yesterday I wore a Panama hat. Any ideas for tomorrow?

To get the lights permanently turned off (like they were in my other office) I have to get the Services office to come by. They won't come by until they get a work order from the Disabilities Office. The Disabilities office won't issue a work order until I get a doctor's note. I can't get a doctor's note until I can get an appointment. I had one for today but the office was closed because of weather. Meanwhile I try to stave off headaches and get work done.

I'm almost unpacked, just a bit of little desk stuff to put away, but I'm waiting to do that because my drawer sticks and the fix-it guys are supposed to come by. I don't want to load up that drawer only to have to unload it when they come.