Autumn Refresh

 

                And we begin again, but that is okay. We never really gave up; we just got a bit lazy LOL. So yesterday, halfway through vacation, I stepped on the scale. I knew it would be bad since I had just eaten a huge, OMG I am so full dinner the night before, and it was. I was up 4 lbs. *Shudder Shudder* so all day yesterday I was totally careful and minded my calories big time. I had last piece of pumpkin pie, because it was delicious and I did not want to throw it out, but I budgeted for it LOL. This morning I was back down those 4 lbs., so it was just water weight. Before going to bed I found and followed all sorts of Noom users on Instagram. I am hoping they will inspire me daily to keep at it. Their pictures of their meals look so good LOL I wish I were that creative. I need to become that. My meals are super sensible and boring LOL. I am going to try harder to be creative. Based on pictures I need more cut up fruit and yogurt LOL. I can buy frozen cut up fruit as well as some veggies. I also saw a lot of wontons. I will have to investigate those. I just blindly followed last night, later today I will go through them all and see which recipes I think I can recreate. I need to get back into following the program. I reset my Noom app to the beginning since that is when it worked best for me. The later lessons were more focused on psych stuff. I do not need that at this point. Perhaps by the time I get there this time I will appreciate it. Right now, I want to deal with just the basics. If I try really really hard, by end of the year I still might make my year end goal.

                It is vacation!!! I have been enjoying being home with my kids SOOOOO MUCH!!! We have been doing all sorts of Autumnal fun stuff. We even were gifted a Sedona van from my friends who moved to England. I call it my mommy mobile LOL it is 17 years old, but in really decent shape. I have one expensive repair, but other than that, the mechanic said it was good. That will come in a couple of weeks. Mechanic said it was ok right now to safely drive. Drive it we have been LOL we have been all over the place. Today Staci and I are going to a Harvest Festival in Claremont then to The Friar Tuck restaurant/British shop to find us some English goodies. Did I mention friends moving to England and I am so jealous LOL I am living vicariously through their pictures. Where they are living now is so picturesque.

                Tomorrow is Halloween!!! My kid’s favorite holiday. Since my son got a job this year, he will not be able to hand out candy, so it falls to my daughter and I LOL we have 90% of the outside decorations up, just must make the archway and remember to put up the foggy tree trunk. Fred and Ginger (our skeletons) need a bit of sprucing up as well. I already mowed the lawns, so we are good to go. I bought tons of candy to give out, based on prior years we will need it. My puppies are going to have on their mummy outfits so they can bark at all the trick or treaters LOL need to find a way to block them from getting all the way to the door. I want them seen, but not able to escape. I just decided the cats are going to have to be locked up for the night LOL

                Okay so time to get my mini me up and dressed. It actually feels like Fall today which is awesome. I get to wear a cozy wrap and she gets to wear this orange and comfy hoodie she has been wanting to show off LOL. Perfect weather for it today.

The Importance of Being Grateful

 

          Sometimes I suffer from massive anxiety/panic attacks. Logically I know that I am okay, but when I am in middle of one, it is so hard to think logically. I just must force myself to continue normally. Since I am a mom, I must be strong, even when I just want to curl up in bed and hide from world. I work very hard to keep my life drama free in order to minimize anxiety. When stress outside the norm happens, it triggers the anxiety. This past couple of weeks my norm has been upset by car issues. Those are the worst triggers. I never really understood the concept of “triggers” in media, but now I get it LOL. My friend is gifting us their old car since they are moving to England. I just had to pay to get it shipped. First attempt, I got swindled, and lost $200 deposit. Working with bank to try and get it back. So, I had to start all over, find another shipper, more expensive, to get vehicle. Is supposed to arrive next week. So that triggered me. Then last weekend my current car started acting up, battery died, had to get new starter system, and it still did not fix issue. My car is currently gaslighting me. When I take to mechanic, it never acts up, only with me, so they think I am nuts LOL. Every time I start my car, it hesitates. So, every time I drive, I am stressed, wondering if it is going to start. It sucks.

          Anyway, the whole point of typing all of that is this.  Tomorrow starts my 18 days of glorious vacation. I am so excited. Yet, when I left work this morning, I felt such anxiety. Driving home, I had to ask myself why??? I was talking to myself in the car. I started thinking logically, OUTLOUD, and it helped. I had been focused on the little problems instead of the big picture. I am getting a free car; I will now have a back up car. So, it cost me to get it shipped, it is arriving next week. The money I lost; the bank will help me get back. I might not get it registered because I do not have appointment, but I do have appointment on 27^th, so will not be later than that. My current car might be acting up, but it is driving. Mechanic says nothing is wrong with it. My son got a job, so he is getting money. I am on vacation next couple of weeks, so I do not have to worry about his schedule conflicting with mine, the new car will be here so he will have own vehicle to drive before I go back to work. I am on vacation, so have the time to deal with all of this. I have my health, I have lost 30 lbs., and I have time off to try and lose more. It is my favorite season, I love Fall, and tomorrow cooler weather is supposed to hit Florida. There were so many good things. I just had to find them and acknowledge them aloud. It helped me big time. I just have to remember to be grateful :)

Welcome to October

 

            Wasn’t my daughter adorable when she was an itty bitty? That is from Halloween back in 2012 I think, Time sure has flown.  Life has been busy.  It has been challenging keeping up with all my school stuff, my daughter’s school stuff, and work.  Instead of being able to relax in the morning I end up being all responsible and doing school LOL so not fun.  I do not have any assignments due right now, so I thought I would blog a bit. I have only 2 weekends to go, then it is vacation!!! So excited to have 18 glorious days off.  I will still have school, but no work to stress me out LOL. We aren’t going anywhere in particular, just going to enjoy Fall activities.  I have found festivals to go to, trunk or treats, and even a train ride to a pumpkin patch. We have pretty much finished decorating, we just need to paint the frame for our Halloween door entrance and attach the gauze to it, but that is not needed until Halloween night.  We are hoping my son will get to be here to help, but he might not because…He Got a Job!!! I am happy he is getting to earn a bit of money.  We also got another big blessing this past week. My friends who are moving to England are gifting us their Kia Sedona. We just have to ship it here from Chicago. It is supposed to be picked up tomorrow and arrive on Sunday.  I am praying everything goes smoothly. I am not used to relying on other people to do stuff for me, and hiring a shipper is stressful. I want to know who, what, when, and where it is all going down.  I will be relieved when van is here.  It will be nice to have back up vehicle again. It is a total mommy mobile LOL so my son will end up driving my little car to and from work.

                Okay Noom update. I seem to have plateaued. I stopped at 30 lbs. and can’t seem to push past it. On the good side I haven’t gained, but still need scale to move down again. I suppose it doesn’t help that I am getting a bit tired of the app right now.  All it is doing is talking psych stuff, nothing to do with diet and nutrition. That is what I wish it would focus on again. I don’t need a shrink; I need weight loss. I wish I could go back to the beginning of the lessons when the info was more helpful. All the app wants me to do lately is fill in answers to questions. I do enough question answering with school and work, I don’t need it anywhere else.  If anybody at Noom is reading this, can you tell developers to stop with the fill in the blank stuff? The app no longer feels like a diet and nutrition thing, but a psych app. I am disappointed.

                So, what is on tap for today. Nothing LOL. I have done all my responsible stuff. I even got less responsible stuff to do.  I finally got freed from the HOA Board Monday. I get to just be regular homeowner.  I was laughing at all the new board members talking about what changes they are going to make and how they are going to get people involved LOL we could never even get people to come to meetings LOL. Nobody wants to participate; they just want to complain.  Not my circus anymore.   I get to just watch them fail and discover they have no power to do any changes. I mean I would love to see the neighborhood get better, but the people here are just not into doing things like committees. We tried for three years to get things done and got nowhere. All people did was yell. Even the property manager quit Monday LOL so new board will be led by new manager LOL it will be a mess. Not my problem though LOL.