Hocus Pocus

I can feel my waistline expanding. This week I have become my own worst enemy. I've eaten too many carbs, and not the whole wheat kind. I'm dangerously close to having gained at least 15 pounds since Thanksgiving.

What on earth has happened? I was so motivated to eat healthier and choose exercise over sitting around, doing nothing. Now, even though I am making a half-hearted attempt at riding my bike, it's not enough. Being hypothyroid means I need to really move it to lose it. And now, for the last two days, I've binged on bread, crackers, and brownies.

I was at Amazon today looking for another "diet" book to inspire me. Not a book to tell me what to do. God knows, I know what to do. I was looking for a book to give me that magic potion for getting my motivation back. You know, that kick in the pants to get back on track. I saw a few that called out to me and I almost hit the "add to cart" button, but I didn't. I have a bookcase full of books that I thought would "get me in the mood mind-set" to diet. Did they help? Well, for a little while and I'd lose some weight. Sometimes a lot of weight. Then my old habits would start up again and I'd gain some back and then just give up. Is that what's happening again? Oh, please, not again.

I just want my motivation back.

A Very Late Thank You!

B-Day Wishes
Originally uploaded by Knitty Gritty
I got this sweet card in the mail last Saturday. It's from Andrea! Thank you, Andrea! So sweet and thoughtful of you. I was in such a funk last weekend and getting this card was a bright spot, for sure. Thank you, thank you, love you, lots!

It's not just a card, either. Soon, it will be flowers. How, you ask? Well, that little brown section is actually full of seeds and all I have to do is plant it and...they will grow. I can't wait to see what kind of flowers they will be.

This week is getting better. I'm overlooking other peoples hysteria and finding some joy in every day.

Office Update

Monday morning, I prayed for wisdom and calmness on my way to work. I can't control other people and how they behave but I can decide how I will handle it myself. I've had to tell myself this many times. I personalize to much. So, at work today, I stood up for myself in the nicest of ways and things seemed to quiet down.

Thank you, my friends, for your wonderful comments. They soothed my spirit and gave me such comfort. You helped me face the day.

I got a nice bike ride in after work. Stress Management: blogging and biking :)

I wish this weekend would never end.

I don't want to go back to work on Monday. If (financially) I could afford it, I would have gotten my purse and my plant and walked out on Friday. For the first time in years, I hate my job. I just simply think life is too short to have to put up with other peoples sh*t. But I have too many people relying on me to keep this ship afloat so I have to grit my teeth and pray and hope for a miracle.

Because of all the crap going on at work, my attempt at eating right was a little futile. I did okay until Friday. Then I stopped at Randall's to buy license tags for the car and decided I needed a brownie. I bought the package that had four brownies in it and ate one and a half on the way home. I just finished the last brownie tonight. I'm so miserable and it's not from eating a damn brownie.

I did manage to ride 25 miles this week.

And last night, I had a dream and Gerard Butler was in it. Nice.

Tune Day

Today I need a distraction from all the crap happening at the daily grind. I went for a bike ride after work in 75 degree weather with low humidity. I almost feel guilty mentioning that temp, but this is Texas and the weather here is famous for it's unpredictibility (is that a word? don't know, don't care today). After my ride I took Sydney for a walk - avoiding any poop along the way, lol. While riding today I heard my new favorite tune! I was giggling through the whole song. Enjoy! Hope you have a great Friday.

Well, poo!

I'm off work today (yay!) for MLK Day. My morning started nice and quiet with a cup of coffee, a little blog reading, and some greek yogurt with frozen blueberries mixed in. I let Sydney lick the container as she was almost drooling while watching me slurp it up.

Then we went for a walk. Nothing unusual for most of our time out in the neighborhood until...Sydney sniffed something and then tried to roll in it. I quickly reined her in and thought all was fine. But I kept smelling poo. Big time. We were almost home so I thought, whatever, some dog must have poo'd really big smelly poo. As we got to our driveway, I looked down at Sydney's "smiling" face and there, on her back, was a big smear of poo! And it was on her foot. What the crap (literally)?! Why do dogs do that? I couldn't believe it. Now we have bath #2 all in one weekend. I was more than a little disgusted.

It's times like these that I really wonder why I have animals in the first place. They are dirty, they like to throw up on my rugs, which right now I don't have any because of said throwing up. Does any one know why they have to throw up on their beds or on rugs? I was going to post today about the things that make me happy since I was awarded a lovely Happiness 101 awared from Suzi and Anne h about how my pets make me HAPPY. Maybe later tonight I'll get my happy list going. Right now, I'm working on anger management ;)

Here's Sydney after her second bath in two days. I think she's still wondering if were okay. I told her I'm sorry for getting so mad at her for acting like a dog. She's very sensitive and all my cursing probably upset her. Sorry, girl, I'm only acting like a human :)

Hope your Monday got off without any mishaps. I'm going to go make me some decaf coffee and chill.

Sunday Snapshots and Many Thanks!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. You all are so thoughtful and I thank you with all my heart. My birthday was quiet. Mom and I spent the evening going through old photos. It was fun to remember the "old" days, lol. She asked me if I wanted cake since I've been dieting again. I quickly said "of course and make it chocolate." It's very good and very chocolate. Yesterday we went out for steak dinner and that was good, too. Today, I gave the dogs a bath and spent time in my knitting stash looking for a new project. Here are some pics from the weekend and today.

Mom's chocolate cake :)

My new "I Love NY" coffee cup.

Egg in a cup. Today's breakfast.

Sydney and Colby after their baths, smelling good :)

A nice end to the day.

Have a good week!

Thoughts on The Day

Today is my birthday! I'm older, heh.

Here are some thoughts on birthdays:

We are always the same age inside.

- Gertrude Stein

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.

- Emily Dickinson

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. - Virginia Woolf

And to add a little humor to the day:

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not. - Mark Twain

Have a great day and a super weekend!!

Wild Horses

This post has nothing to do with horses (other than the photo), I just liked the sound of it, lol. Well, I'm feeling less anxious today. Food-wise was not stellar, but I'm okay with it and I'll get it all back under control soon.

Thank you all for "being there" for me. It really helped to blow it out here amongst the blog-o-support-system. You guys are the best.

Have a great day tomorrow! And don't forget to drink some water. Whatever, just drink it ;)

Stressed and Disgusted

Funny how fast things can change in a day. I've been very stressed at work all week and today was no better. So I fell into old habits and I gobbled down about 15 of those little mini candy thingies and 7 (yep) mini butter croissants. How disgusted am I? Pretty danged disgusted.

Why don't I care more about myself than that? Why don't I pamper myself when I feel used and abused? I just don't understand how I can let my emotions make me do the things I hate.

Happy Nellie, Happy Me!

I just have time for a quick post. Since my boss "discovered" me on the internet one day at work, I don't dare even look at the weather online anymore. So I'm thinking I'll try to start posting before work ;)

We had some great weather in H-town for the last two days. Sunny and high 50's and low 60's (I know, sorry for you all that are freezin your tush off) so I took Nellie out for a ride. My legs were already out of shape from the lack of riding, but they warmed up and felt great. A little achy, but it's just nice to "feel" the burn again.

Rain is headed our way, so I'll be trying to motivate myself to exercise indoors. Why do I hate that so?

Have a great Wednesday and drink your water!

Sunday Snapshots and Finished Object

I finally finished the scarf I've been working on since summer! Good thing, too, cause I need to get some wear out of it before the cold weather leaves Houston.

Lace Cable Scarf

Here it is, the start of a new year and I've been nothing but lazy about dieting and working out. I ate better last week so at least I was mindful of what I put in my mouth. But all this cold weather has had me seeking comfort food. Chili, crackers, fajitas. Well, fajitas might not be comfort food, but they were something I just had to have yesterday ;). I think I'm a little preoccupied with food again. All the goodies from the holidays keep dancing around in my head. I need, no, make that I want to get back to that mindset I had before where I only ate clean and was satisfied. It's so hard to get back on track.

Today I made a trip to Home Depot for a new toilet seat. You know, those things don't last forever ;). I took off the old one and put on the new one. Now I have a nice, shiny new seat. Funny how the simplest things in life can bring such joy, lol.

Since it's been so cold, I've been thinking about warm places. A special place that comes to mind is Cambria, California. I took my mom and son on a Pacific Coast journey the summer of 2001. Someday I would like to live there but that's just a dream. It's an artsy little place that grabbed my heart. This picture was taken on film so I scanned it in.

Moonstone Beach, Cambria, CA (2001)

Have an awesome week! Stay warm and drink your water!

Cold and Sunny! I'll take it.

I took the dogs out back this morning for their morning business and it was about 28 F out there. I had on my coat, scarf, gloves, sweatpants, heavy socks, and a hat. The exciting part is that I felt perfect. It was cold, but it felt good. Sorry, again, to my northern buds that are having 14F and below, I know our temps sound wonderful to you about now, but you must understand that this is so rare to have real winter weather. I'm all caught up in the novelty of it, I guess. And I LOVE IT! I really think I'm a displaced northerner. Anyway, here are some pics from our romp in the yard.

Bird Bounty

Our back yard collects water and we call it the Back 40 Pond.

Today it was frozen :)

Frozen Pond

Sydney loves ice and she found some in the yard this morning!

She loves to play soccer. The cold weather makes her frisky!

Today, I've got some running around to do. My mom's computer is acting up so we're going to take it to the Geeks and see if they can fix it.

Have a great weekend. Stay warm. And drink your water. I know it's not hot but the cold weather can dehydrate you, too.

Houston, get your sweatpants on!

I'm wearing sweatpants today. I only own one pair because here in Houston it's usually hot or humid or both. Winters usually consist of a few cold days somewhere in the 50-60's (F) with lows in the 40's (F). Right now, at 9:45 PM, it's 32 F and it will get even colder by morning. Brrrrrr. We Houstonians don't have clothing for this kind of weather.

I've wrapped the pipes. Covered some of my plants and made sure the cat is inside (poor thing hates indoors). I took my car and had it "winterized" :). Had soup for supper. I think I'm ready for the arctic blast.

Stay warm and don't forget to drink your water!

Miles to go...

I got my 2009 Dailymile Year End Report today and I must say I'm perty happy. I started logging my rides on Dailymile in May 2009 and here are the results of all that bike riding:

Total distance:  939 miles

Avg miles per week:  31 miles

Total Workouts:  115

Pounds burned:  23

Total time:  85.01

I love how they included some trivia about all my "spent" energy: 49.44 gallons of gas saved, 1,266 tv's powered, 435.64 donuts burned! How cool is that?! If you don't use dailymile to track your workouts, try it. You can track running, walking, cycling, and other types of workouts. I love it and this report was a nice surprise. Now I'm motivated to go even more miles this year and burn lots more pounds.

Today was back to work day. I loved being off for two weeks but I was just about doing myself in with all the eating. Way too much sugar has passed these lips lately and I've been feeling my blood sugar getting all wacky. Our bodies know what we need, why don't we listen?

Of course, I'm already looking forward to Friday. And on my calendar I've marked off the next holiday, Jan. 18th, lol.

By the way, did you drink your water today?? Well???

Don't try this at home!

Since we've had a lot of rain and cold-ness here in south east Texas, I've been whining a lot about not being able to ride my bike. Well, for Christmas, my family came through for me with a few exercise programs for me to do indoors, at home. Two go with the Wii and they are "My Fitness Coach" and "Wii Fit Plus." The other is a The Firm 5lb Kettle Bell Kit. Aren't they wonderful, my family? I love 'em!

Anyway, so this morning, I got up and decided that since it's still pretty cold outside I'd be exercising indoors. I got started with the Wii Fitness Coach. It's great, btw. I only did a 15 minute workout since my pathetic body has forgotten what real exercise is all about. Riding is great for the legs, but the rest of your body just kinda goes along for the ride - pun intended ;). So, after I got finished with the Coach, I put in the kettle bell DVD and did the express workout. Love this workout but by the time we got to the floor part, I started feeling dizzy and nausiated. What? Come on. I know I'm out of shape but, seriously?

Then it dawned on me...I hadn't had any water before I started working out. That's right. Me. The one who's always preaching about drinking water. I got myself totally dehydrated. I felt terrible and it had nothing to do with muscle soreness. Let me just say that dehydration will stop you in your tracks. It took me a few hours to get myself back to normal and even then I still felt queazy. Good grief. From now on, I will drink plenty of water before I start exercising and I will drink during the workout. I think having the heat on in the house didn't help, either :).

So, do exercise at home. Just make sure you drink water before and after. Lesson learned.

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

Ahhhh. A fresh start. Don't you just love it! A new year, full of possibilities. All we have to do is go for it. Sounds easy but we all know how hard it is to change old habits. Last year I made a lot of changes and as a result, I lost weight, I was way more active than I've ever been...and I liked it!

Here's some of what changed for me in 2009:

• ate less sugar and refined carbs
• rode my bike - a lot
• made an effort to make healthy choices most of the time
• ate breakfast - everyday
• lost weight :)
• blogged with awesome folks

I want to say thank you to all you wonderful bloggers out there that have offered support and plugged right along with me this last year. If it weren't for you, I really think I would have given up a long time ago. Every comment has meant so much to me and has sometimes been the reason I passed up candy or chips that day. Seriously, I mean it. Never underestimate the power of your comments!!

This year I hope to continue to live a healthier life. I want to lose more weight. I want to ride my bike more, and not just for fitness. I want to ride my bike to the store, and maybe even to work every now and then. I want to continue to be supportive to you, too, my blogger friends. You guys rock. And I'm seeing some new faces over there on the follower list! Awesome. Can't wait to hear from you and get to know you!

2010 will be one fine year! Let's make sure of it. Let's eat less and move more. And don't forget to drink your water!