Happy Fall Y'all!!!

          It’s Fall Y’all!!! Woohoo my favorite time of year.  My kids love it too.  I love the changing of the leaves, even if we do not see much of that in Florida, I love how the temperatures outside start to come down a bit, okay once again not so much in Florida LOL but they come down a bit. I love all the colors of Autumn. Orange is my favorite color. Pumpkin spice and everything nice are abundant in my home LOL We have already put up all our harvest decorations inside.  I like to decorate with cute and colorful leaves and pumpkins.  Lots of orange, red, yellow, and golden brown found inside right now. Outside is my son’s domain LOL he likes spooky.  So, we have spiders, snakes, ghosts, bats, and on the porch are Fred and Ginger our life size skeletons.  This year we have then dressed up as the king and queen of Halloween LOL. We have also constructed a spooky archway for trick or treaters to walk through to get candy.  My son and the two pups are dressing up as mummies LOL my daughter is a moth. I am not sure what I will end up as. 

          I have already been scouting places for us to go and have fun.  I know of a corn maze so far that is a must. Scott’s Maze Adventures looks like a lot of fun.  There is also the Claremont Harvest Festival, Kissimmee’s Boo on Broadway, and Old Town Thriller nights.  This past weekend we went to SeaWorld’s Halloween Spooktacular, it was lots of fun, but so very hot. 

                The only thing I am worried about is trying to stay within my Noom calories during this prime baking season.  My daughter and I love baking autumn treats, so this will be huge challenge.  Shoot I have even purchased all sorts of baking supplies already in anticipation of baking LOL I just have to be mindful to not overindulge.  I have been doing very well, I am down thirty pounds now. That still blows my mind. Noom is getting a bit tedious, but I am sticking with it.  I liked it better in the beginning when it talked about calories and nutrition more.  Now it is mainly psych tricks.  Those are good, but not really what I am looking for.  I was more diet hacks LOL.  I also am getting a bit lost in the message boards.  What started out as just a group of people right where I was at in the program, has changed. Three times now we have been merged with other groups.  It has made keeping it personal very hard.  I do not recognize most posters in there. They should have kept it as a small group. My personal coach has also changed three times. I never did like that aspect of the program. Those messages always came across as robotic.  I guess I am just in a phase LOL honeymoon is over and now the real work begins.  I must force myself to keep using the program LOL logically I know it is how I am succeeding, but it is annoying LOL I guess I just need to do what I did in the beginning and just accept it and do what they say LOL that is when it really worked for me.

          Okay off to get my morning workout in.   Then it is time to go find some more pumpkin treats LOL Aldi’s has some yummy pumpkin spice whipped cream which is delicious and only 15 calories a serving. Tastes just like fluffy pumpkin pie.  They also have mums advertised for $3.99 which are my daughter’s favorite flower. Disney Springs’ Spice and Tea Exchange is also calling out to me with their seasonal teas LOL.   Only 26 days to go until my Autumn vacation where we really amp up the Fall Fun. I always take the last two weeks off so that my kids and I can relax and enjoy all the seasonal activities like corn mazes, pumpkin patches, fall festivals, and trick or treating.  It is always so much fun.

Happy Birthday Leland

          Today is going to be great, even if I must force it LOL it is great because it is my son’s 26^th birthday!!!  I cannot believe it has been 26 years since he entered my life.  I remember sitting on the couch, Superbowl Sunday 2009 and getting nauseous. Okay that is understatement, I got violently ill. I had just taken a bite of Digiorno Supreme Pizza and it did not stay put, in fact it brought back up company that I ate when I was a child LOL it was so traumatizing that I have never been able to stand even the site of that pizza. It was bad LOL the next day I bought a home pregnancy kit and went into shock. In the morning I was just a girl, but by the afternoon, I was an expectant mother.  It blew my mind. That whole pregnancy was awful LOL I had morning, new, and night sickness. I could smell everything within a 12-block radius, and there was only one room in my home where I could block off all scents. I was physically miserable. In the first month I lost 15 pounds. As bad as I felt though, I was happy.  I had always dreamed of being a mom, and now I was being blessed with a son.  My whole world was changing.  I no longer had just me to think of, I had this little person who depended on me for everything.  I had to do everything I could not to let him down. So, I got serious about school and got into nursing school. I got my BSN in nursing when he was almost 3 years old. He did not like me studying LOL he would always try and take my books from me. He did love my nursing gadgets LOL he was always walking around with my stethoscope listening to things. He was an amazing and precocious toddler. He made Dennis the Menace look like an angel LOL, but I loved him even more for keeping me entertained.  It was a very hard time in my life, but the joy of him kept me sane and moving forward.  Watching him grow up has been such an incredible gift.  I could have never dreamed of a more amazing son.  He has never given me any grief, he has stayed away from all vices, instead he prefers helping people.  He is intelligent and caring. He takes great care of me and his little sister. He is very protective of us both. When I am working, he makes me coffee and breakfast to get me going.  He patiently listens to me vent about my crappy work weekends and helps me with my Spanish lessons LOL we go to school together.  He still lives with me, for which I am very grateful.  The house I have is too big for just my daughter and me, he uses the front while his sister and I are mainly in the back. I feel safer knowing he is here. He has gone from being the perfect baby to an amazing man (but I still view him as my baby) of and he is the original “boo” LOL I have been calling him that since he was born, way longer than that term hit the mainstream. It was short for boo boo since he was an oops pregnancy LOL people would tease me about it back then, but I guess they also started using it for their oopsies and it became a modern term of endearment. I like to think he was the first though LOL I am currently waiting for him and his sister to wake up so we can go have his birthday lunch. I am surprising him by taking him to his favorite restaurant, U&me Hot Pot in Orlando. He also got a PS5 game system LOL he is going to have a great birthday LOL, but he deserves it.

Noom is Such Fun

          I was doing so well blogging, but the school started LOL my mornings have been filled with Espanol lessons and foreign politics papers.  They have been taking up more of my time than I thought they would. The Spanish class has lessons due even on the weekends!!! Not used to that. Speaking of weekends, my brain is tired.  The normal charge nurse for the weekends is out sick with Covid, so my manager forced me to act as charge nurse.  For 23 years I have managed to avoid being in charge at work.  I just want to go in, do my three days of nursing, and then go home. I NEVER EVER wanted to be in a leadership role.  My plan was to screw up so badly that they never asked me again LOL yeah that did not go well.  Everything that came up I managed because to not do so would have just caused the nurses some trouble.  I did not have heart to do that. Unfortunately, I think I did the job well, so not for two weekends in a row I have been in charge with no instruction how to do it. My brain so tired LOL. I really hope the real charge nurse comes back this week.

Due to the shortage of nurses, they offered a bonus of $125/hour to come in extra.  It pained me to turn it down, but my health came first.  Three days on is tiring. If I worked a 4^th, I would most definitely eat to stay awake and my whole diet and schedule would be blown.  I have gotten into a nice rhythm with my Noom program.  If I follow the lessons, watch my calories, and do the minimum 10,000 steps a day I set for myself, I lose about 2 lbs. a week.  The one time I went in just for 6 extra hours, it tired me out so much that I did not stick to my schedule, and I gained 2 lbs. That bonus money is not worth it right now. I am more concerned with my overall health, than I am with my bank account.  Noom has been talking about how losing weight can save me money.  I spend less on food, I will have less healthcare costs in the long run, and hopefully I will not have to buy any medications to manage health issues.  I really do not want any health issues.  My kids need me to stay healthy.  Noom always tells me to focus on my big picture, and my big picture is them. I want to stay alive long enough to see them grow up and have full lives. I want to be around long enough to drive them and their kids crazy LOL

                So, I did not work yesterday, I slept, then did laundry (still need to put it away), got a few groceries, and got all sorts of Halloween goodies I ordered in the mail. They were pet toys for my little fur babies LOL. All of them were a hit. It was my cheat day, so I indulged in potato salad and a burger. I wanted to have a sweet treat, but I fell asleep before I could make anything LOL.  This morning I have finished my schoolwork, had my lemon water (added a lime for fun), had my coffee, and now trying to get psyched up to go get some steps in while watching Castle.

                Before I go, I have a great quote I saved just to put into here. “When our values are at the center of our life then our to-do list no longer seems boring or difficult, it all serves a higher purpose”.  That comes from Miranda Hart (the picture at the beginning of the post are her catch phrases).  She is such fun and such a joy to watch.  I have mentioned her before. She is the British comedienne I am currently enamored of.  I make a daily to do list, usually very boring, but I am hoping to start adding my health goals to it, and steps to achieve those goals. That way my list will serve as a path to being healthier.  A list helps me focus so much. I like crossing things off it, so I do them quickly LOL. I cannot rest until everything is accomplished.  My minimum 10,000 steps is going on there as well as nightly walk. Lemon water is there as is taking my vitamins. I need to add make a healthy lunch and dinner to it, plus do some Noom logging LOL.  After all the responsible stuff is done, I am going to the movies to see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with my kids. New Marvel movie, so it should be good.