2023: Finding My Way Back

  Today was a better day. I thought a lot about the baby owls and I'm thinking it may not have been their father that killed them. I had read that the male offspring from last year still hangs around the nest, so it's possible this male was jealous or just hungry (lazy!) and saw the babies as food. It doesn't make the situation any less sad, but I'd feel better if that were the case. Needless to say, I won't be watching that cam any more. I found one for baby falcons and the parents of these babies are both extremely attentive. I also watch an eagle cam and same - very attentive parents. Breakfast was 120 calorie french toast with sugar free syrup. I forgot to have my yogurt ! Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack (at 5 pm !) was cottage cheese and an apple. Dinner was broccoli and a 250 calorie chicken enchilada with the last of the low fat sour cream. Evening snack was a 140 ...

  Today was an unsettled day. I couldn't motive myself to get up early (I was awake at 6:30) and I didn't even want to get up when the alarm went off. I got up around 7:20 and trudged downstairs to face the day ! Breakfast was a 180 calorie cinnamon roll and an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie vanilla shake that I actually had after 5 pm. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese and an apple (about 95 calories). Dinner was green beans and 260 calorie roasted turkey medallions. Evening snack was a chocolate cupcake with whipped cream. I also had a slice of apple bread. 2 slices left ! I say the day was unsettled because a day or two ago a live webcam came up on my YouTube feed. It was showing baby barn owls in Florida and I watched a little bit, so now it's in my suggestions. Today I tuned in just after 11 am and to my horror, the male owl came into the nest box and killed all 3 babies while the mother was out hunting. She came back with a dead mouse, ...

  I was awake early today but opted to go back to sleep. Totally disregarded goal #1. The coffee I had last night was a mistake as I didn't get to sleep until after 1 am. Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie yogurt. Lunch was a chef salad and 220 calories pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese and an apple (about 95 calories). Dinner was the last of the carrots and a spinach & a 190 calorie artichoke & spinach stuffed chicken breast. Evening snack was a chocolate cupcake. I also had a slice of apple bread with butter. 3 slices left ! So how did I do on my mini-goals ? Not too bad for the first day ! get up when I wake up - nope make my bed - yes clean litter boxes - yes take my vitamins, magnesium & Metamucil - yes exercise 2 times - yes take a shower - yes do skincare - yes put on lotion - yes brush teeth - yes I'm happy with the effort I made today.  Work was semi-busy but I again ran out of steam...

  I was awake early today but opted to go back to sleep. I really want to stop doing that. I want to get up whenever I wake at a reasonable hour. I think I'm sleeping better now that the weather has gotten cooler. I haven't had to turn the fan on much over the past couple weeks. I have the thermostats in the house set on 70 and that is comfortable.  Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup. I never got around to having my yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a chef salad and 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese and an apple (about 95 calories). Dinner was roasted carrots and a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. After my shower I had a slice of apple bread and a cup of coffee. Evening snack was ___. Today I realized that part of my afternoon exercise problem is time. Some days I really don't want to spend my entire lunch hour on the treadmill. Today I did a 20 minute interval ...

  I woke up about 8:05 this morning and could easily have slept a few more hours. Abby wasn't bugging me for breakfast and my bladder was quiet ! The bad part about sleeping in on Sunday is not getting to sleep until late and then dragging my a$$ on Monday morning, so I got up just before 9. By 9:30 the indoor and outdoor cats were fed and I'd had breakfast and my first cup of coffee. Breakfast was a slice of french toast with sugar free syrup. I will talk more about this later in the blog. I held off until after 12 pm to have my yogurt. Lunch was a pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese and an apple. Dinner was roasted carrots and a spinach & artichoke stuffed chicken breast. After my shower I had a slice of apple bread with some butter. Evening snack was a chocolate cupcake with whipped cream. After breakfast I spent some time finishing up challenges and playing my slot games. Yet again I was struck by how many of the ads are obvious scams. I can see whe...

  As much as I wanted to sleep in this morning, by 8 am Abby and my bladder were screaming that it was time to get up. As always, once I'm up I'm fine and that it's for the day when it comes to sleep. I always tell myself I can take a nap, but I never do. Breakfast was a cinnamon roll and a yogurt. Today was the first day I lamented the loss of the tea cookies I used to have with my yogurt. This is probably because I was super hungry by the time I had the yogurt. Lunch was a pepperoni pizza melt before I went out. After shopping I had 2 slices of apple bread, then dinner was broccoli and a meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was a vanilla ice cream sandwich and later a concoction I made. I sliced the 2 remaining Honey Crisp apples ( they were small ) and microwaved them for 3 minutes with a little water. Ok so far .. but then came the calorie bomb: cinnamon sugar, caramel sauce & whipped cream. Yet again .. it was good but didn't knock my socks off. The peels ruined it...

  Today started off slow - I didn't want to get out of my nice warm bed ! Breakfast was french toast AND pancakes, only because the slice of french toast was clearly smaller than normal. I guess you can attribute that to variations in bread size. That put my calories at 270 for breakfast, so I decided to just forego the yogurt. A typical breakfast total for me is 240 to 260 so I'm only 10 calories beyond that. I had my protein shake (chocolate today!) during my lunch workout. Lunch was a chef salad and pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese and an apple. Dinner was brussel sprouts and a meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was a vanilla ice cream sandwich. Rain was forecast so the skies were gray and gloomy, but the temps were mild. I will take that ! We ended up just having some light rain in the evening. My work morning was productive. I ran through most of my cases I needed to follow up on, closed 2 and took on a new "hot" item from my boss. Today was...

  *** Written Tuesday 10-17-23 *** Today was a horrible day .. for no good reason. Abby is really stressing me out because since I gave her the new Wellness brand wet food on Saturday she is pretty much refusing to eat anything else. Neither of the cats seem to like the other 2 foods I bought, so I'll be feeding all that to the strays, who will love it ! I only bought one package of 12 cans of the Wellness and I only had 3 cans left as of this morning. I ordered some from Chewy and it should be here tomorrow, so I just have to get through today. She cried and cried for food and when I fed her she ate a couple bites and walked away. I'm glad she likes the new food but I have a ton of Fancy Feast ! The new food is super expensive ($41 for 24 cans !) but what can you do ? I also freaked out because I noticed no payment was taken in October for my Disney credit card. It's on auto pay so I couldn't figure out what happened. It took me forever to find a number to contact them...

  Since the "day" comes but often doesn't stay, I am turning my focus to just taking each day as it comes. I've been drowning in the negativity associated with what I perceive as failure after failure. In truth, I've been using it as an excuse to justify my behavior. Breakfast was pancakes with sugar free syrup and a yogurt. Morning snack was a chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a chef salad & pepperoni pizza melt. I took a bit of a break from salad but I'm glad to have it back on the menu! Afternoon snack was cottage cheese and an apple. Dinner was broccoli and roasted turkey medallions. This is my favorite entree because it has mashed potatoes and gravy ! Evening snack was a chocolate cupcake with whipped cream. Around 11:30 I had to move my a$$ to get dressed and put my shoes on, because I knew if I didn't I wouldn't exercise. The thought of skipping it DID cross my mind, but I pushed that away. It helped that my shake was alre...

*** Written 10-10-23*** Is today the day ? I don't know. Maybe "the day" will never come. I just need to pick up the pieces and take each day as it comes. I woke up at 6:35 this morning but dozed back off until the alarm went off at 7. Today was another gloomy drizzly day - typical Fall weather ! I've kept the heat on in the house to ensure dampness doesn't set in. I have the thermostat on 70 and that is comfortable. Yesterday was an off day because I'm still upset about the loss of my phone. It just irks me when someone takes something that is not theirs. I have the new phone all set up and once I have my new case (identical to my old one), I think I'll feel better. On the bright side, I was a tiny bit envious when Michelle got her S23, since I had the S22. I guess someone up there decided I should have an S23 too ! I always says things happen for a reason. I had planned to exercise yesterday and that didn't happen. Oh well. Work has slowed down some ...