Happy Thanksgiving

          Okay Thanksgiving is over so time to get back into Noom. Oh boy have I fallen off the wagon lately. I actually think I blew up the wagon LOL I have been so bad about following the program. I do not log food, I just skim through articles, and I rarely read the message boards. In my defense logging is hard when I use recipes. It is impossible to figure out calorie count for every ingredient or how much is in a serving. Yesterday alone I made dressing for turkey. I added celery, onion, butter, and broth to the cornbread dressing mix to doctor it up. No clue what calorie count was after that, then to try and measure out servings??? Impossible. The articles are okay, but I do not like the ones where I must fill in the blanks. Is too much like school. I want to just read LOL the quizzes are okay, but the typing sucks. Finally, the message boards irk me. Since I started Noom my group has been combined four or five times with other groups, so it is impossible to really form a bond in there. I get lost in the shuffle. I can not even tell who is who anymore. It would have been better to keep them separate so that bonds can form. I see a few people posting, but I have no idea who they are. It is a nice feature, but not managed properly in my opinion.

            I still like Noom. I did have success with it in the beginning, but now I seem to be stuck in a plateau. I cannot seem to get past the 30 lbs. mark. I have not gone up thankfully, but I cannot seem to go down either. I walk, usually over 12,000 steps a day, and I try and be mindful of what I eat. Okay granted I have been a bit indulgent over holidays so far LOL I really need to stop that. I must go back to eating very simply so I can see what calories I am putting in. So not fun. If I want to keep losing, then I must LOL so I have boiled me some eggs and will have that with toast here in a bit. I already had my lemon water and coffee. I plan to make seafood salad today which for me is just the fake crab mixed with shredded cabbage and I am using a healthy ranch dressing on top. I am also tossing in some celery for extra crunch. It should not be too high in calories.

            Today is Black Friday. I took these two days off so I could spend time with my kids. Yesterday we made thanksgiving dinner, not my best, but I am claiming work fatigue since I worked the two nights prior LOL, we have some leftovers. I did not make much since just the three of us. Today we are going to see Encanto after my son gets his booster shot. He is showing me it is not that bad since work is mandating, I get my covid shots. That really pisses me and ALL the other nurses off. I also am a bit worried since I tend to not react well to any type of med or vaccine. The flu shot knocks me out of commission for three months, hence I do not take it. So, I am afraid of what this vaccine will do to me. Work is not going to like me calling in because of reactions, but oh well. Is their fault for mandating it.

           

          After the movies I have no idea what we are going to do LOL probably just come back home and relax. I have scoured the Black Friday deals, and nothing has caught my interest. My shopping gene is malfunctioning LOL saves my bank account though. We will take our walk tonight to look at all the pretty light displays that have gone up in the neighborhood. Everything is so festive. We even have lights and inflatables up. Ours are simple compared to some LOL is so very nice that everything it lit up. The planes flying overhead should really appreciate it LOL  the pictures are of our decorations this year.

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.

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.