Tuesday Randomness

Lots of stuff has been going on so this is just going to be a lot of rambling.

My oldest is at camp for the whole week :( We dropped him off on Sunday evening and won't be picking him up until Friday evening. We're taking the youngest to a mini camp tomorrow evening and picking him up Friday as well. I miss them like crazy while they're gone so this is a hard week. It's been weird only having one kid at home too. I'm used to them entertaining (or trying to kill each other) and now I'm the one who has to do the entertaining. There's a lot less drama here with only one though that's for sure. It will be nice to have them both back though.

I've gained a pound back over the last two weeks but I'm not stressing about that. Yesterday I had someone tell me that someone who had just met me didn't believe I'd ever been heavy. It was nice to hear. I dug up some pictures of myself at my biggest and it was a real shocker. I was amazed at how large I really was and how I thought I looked. I honestly didn't think I looked as big as I was. I also didn't think I'd changed that much, but clearly I have. So, I'm happy even with the slight gain.

There has been a lot of other stuff going on in my life that I don't feel too comfortable sharing on here at this point. However, I will say that they have been an interesting test of the power of positive thinking (or negative, whichever the case may be). Based on how so many things have played out recently I realize that the only course of action is to maintain a positive attitude and focus on the outcomes I desire. The hows of all of those things will take care of themselves.

Last Week of School!

So tomorrow is the beginning of the last week of school for the boys and I can't wait! Oh sure, I'm ready for them to go back when the time comes, but I also love it when they are out of school and we can worry less about bedtime and homework and such. It's great to just be able to go out in the evenings and do things we want without having to constantly think about what has to get done.

I'm taking a break for the summer myself. After seriously overdoing my schedule last semester and ending up with my first "F" ever :( I decided I couldn't cram it all in like I was trying and do a good job. So, now I won't graduate until May and I'm fine with that. I'm also fine with the "F". I didn't do the work plain and simple. It would have broken my heart when I was in high school, but now it's just a sign that I need to slow it down.

After my last Weight Watchers meeting (where I gained 2/10 boo) I realized that I'm only 17 pounds from goal!!!! Holy crap! I still want to lose 10 more after goal to be in the middle of the healthy weight range for my height, but once I hit goal I'm going to be so freaking happy!! If you had told me in October that I'd be at this point now I would have told you that you were crazy. Sure, others have lost it faster, but I never thought I'd lose the weight. Now, I have all of these things I want to do and ways I want to test my body and that's something I never thought I'd feel. It's amazing and I owe it all to WW!!

Hope your week is great!

Lazy Monday

I had all sorts of plans for today. I decided not to work (my job is flexible) today and get some stuff done around the house and do some more of my online job. I did manage to get a three mile walk in, but that was it. I honestly don't know what I wasted the time on, but Facebook and a nap took up a little too much of it.

On a more productive note, I went to the doctor last week to discuss my thyroid medication with him. He lowered my dosage the last time I had it checked and I've felt like garbage since. My hair has been falling out way more than I'm used to, and I cannot stay awake for anything. I told him I couldn't handle the way I was feeling on this dosage and he agreed to let me go back on the old one since I felt good on it and was only slightly overmedicated on it. I have to go back in a month to see what it looks like. He was very impressed with the weight loss (which now stands at 40.4 pounds) and just kept telling me how great it was. He's happy with where I am now even though I'm still overweight but he's also very happy with my goal of 145. He was also very supportive of my new vegetarian diet and while he did crack a few hippie jokes (and then admitted that was an unfair stereotype) he didn't say anything about getting enough protein or anything like I expected. Overall it was a great visit and I hope the medicine improves how I'm feeling so I don't have too many more days like today.

Sorry I've been MIA

You know how it goes. You get busy, you get behind on posting and then you feel like it's been too long. But here I am anyway, and here's just a mismash of what's been going on.

My semester is over and it didn't go very well (at least by my standards). I had five classes and one of them was a bear! It's a two part course, the second part will be in the fall, and it took up all my time. I managed to get a B in that class, an A in my psych lab and a C+ in another English class. I had two other English classes and didn't manage to get any of the work completed. One of the two professors offered to give me a passing withdraw which means I can take it again without if impacting my GPA this semester (YAY)! The other offered me an extension if I turned in one paper. I really wanted to do that because it's so much cheaper, but I just didn't have the money for the cost of the extension of enough of the reading done to get a good paper finished. I expect that professor to fail me and I totally understand that. It will be my first ever F though and that will be rough. I'll be taking it again in the fall either way.

Things are still going well on the vegetarian front. I still don't miss meat at all and have been finding some great new meals. I'm still not totally there on the vegan thing. I'm almost there but sour cream and laughing cow cheese are tripping me up. I've found vegan sour cream, cream cheese, and butter but the points are so high on Weight Watchers that they aren't worth it.

Speaking of WW I'm doing OK but I could be doing so much better. I've lost 39 pounds so far and it feels amazing, but I've been slacking the past few weeks. This week has been horrible, I've been eating like crazy and I expect a gain at the meeting on Thursday. I'll get back on track, but I feel like crap right now and I just want to eat. WW is a lifestyle and not a diet though. I won't beat myself up about it anymore!

Books Should Be Written

Yes they should. Books should be written about my mad procrastination skills! Seriously, it's insane. I used to be pretty on top of things when I was working full time, but now that I have no set schedule and work is different every week I'm a mess! Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. I really prefer this over the alternatives (OK, I'll take full time pay) but I need to force myself to at least try to stick to some sort of schedule so that things get done. So here's the rundown for the week...

About 10 hours of work in four stores (two are 20 minutes away) squeezed in somewhere
Zumba classes on Tuesday and Friday
Brownies delivered to my son's school Wednesday morning and lunch with friends in the afternoon
Lunch with my son on Thursday, then Weight Watchers in the evening since I can't go in the afternoon
Hopefully doing something with my best friend on Friday
Archery for my oldest on Saturday

Doesn't sound too bad, but I also need to fit in...
Wax that must be rescheduled since I can't go Thursday
Car inspection and oil change HAS to be done this week
Call my doctor about the fact that my hair is falling out and I'm narcoleptic and pray he doesn't make me come in to see him
Four papers for school and a final exam as well as turning in an extension form and $150 for one of the classes since I didn't do anything for the class (with the exception of the paper I'll do this week to get the extension)
I have a ton of plants on my front porch that are going to die if I don't get them in my garden
Online work for extra money since I'm as broke as they come right now

I'm tired now. Is the week over?

But honestly, I LOVE my life and things may be crazy, but they just keep getting better!

Happy Earth Day!

Have you hugged your planet today? I have to admit that I didn't do anything special to celebrate the day. Not eating meat is all I did I guess. I did turn down a plastic bag, but other than that, nothing monumental. I had things I wanted to do, but as with most things I want to do right now, they just aren't happening.

It was an interesting day though. I lost one pound at Weight Watchers, but because I gained last week it was really only 4/10 of a pound. I found that I'm likely not eating enough. I really upped my exercise this past week but I didn't eat enough of my weekly points. I'm going to try eating more this week and see if it helps. Fingers crossed it doesn't hurt!

I've felt like total crap for a few months now. I practically have narcolepsy and my hair is falling out by the handful. This is usually an indication that my thyroid medicine needs to be adjusted. So, I had the blood work done and my doctor says my medication is OK. So, is it the diet? Well I'm thinking it could be, but not in the way most people would assume. I recently learned that soy is really not good for people with a thyroid problem. I'm not eating a ton of it, but my intake has increased enough that I'm thinking it might be impacting it. On top of that, I also learned that a lot of commercial veggie burgers have a toxic chemical called Hexane in them. So, I'm thinking that it's time to cut out the soy. I'm also going to research more ways to get iron in case I'm anemic.

So, no meat, still working to cut out the dairy, and cutting out the soy. Looks like I might be heading toward a mostly raw food diet soon.

Finally Friday

Everyone is always waiting for the weekend right? This week was pretty crazy for me, but the weekend isn't going to be any less crazy so I'm not sure it makes a difference that it's Friday. I'm getting up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to help my friend shoot baseball pictures for tons of little children. It's going to be crazy and I'm going to be exhausted. I'm going to spend all day Sunday trying to get caught up in school. I have two classes that I've done no work for. It's not because I didn't want to do the work, I was actually looking forward to the classes, but I took way too many classes with way too much reading in the same semester. I e-mailed one of the professors to explain to her what happened and she (without my asking) told me she would give me a WP which is a passing withdraw. That means I have to take the class again, but it won't impact my GPA. I decided to give it a go with the other class as well so we'll see what she says. Keep your fingers crossed because I've never failed a class before and I don't want to start now.


Today was an interesting food day. I had to do an Easter to Mother's Day card changeover in a store that takes a long time, but I thought I'd be done in plenty of time for lunch. So, I was craving a donut really bad and decided to splurge and get one. I knew it was a lot of WW points, but I figured I was going to be fine because I'd be home for lunch and dinner. WRONG! I was at my store from 8-1:30 and by the time I was done I was shaking I was so hungry. Literally the only place to eat near the store was Burger King. They have a veggie burger there so I gave it a shot. It was really good! I didn't think about what they might put on it though and they loaded it with mayo. So, it ended up being a ton of points as well and blew my day. But, I still managed to have a good meal without having to get a salad and even though I don't love fast food restaurants, at least I know I have an option when I go there. Next time I'll have them hold the mayo though!