Noms of the Day and May the Fourth Be With You

So here we are, again.

How's about some music while you read?

 Brekkie was Coffee, twice and a Fage Total 0% with some Truvia and an orange. 

Calories: 245.

Lemme just ask you, how much do you loooove Greek yoghurt? Mmm... 

Lunch was soup and a serving of Triscuit Thin Crisps and a Diet Pepsi. 

Calories: 440

Snack was popcorn. Forgot to take a photo. 

Calories: 240.

Dinner was a Lean Cuisine Mushroom Tortaloni bag with extra peas and some mushrooms and a salad and a big glass of Crystal Light. 

Calories: 495.

I had an orange, later for 65 calories. 

Total: 1450.

Did you know that today was Star Wars Day? 

Are you kinda surprised that I would know or care about that? 

I'm an onion, people. I haz layers. :D

I am beginning to feel "squishy"/ That means that fat is beginning to depart my zip code. Yay. 'Bout time I got it together and got squishy, huh? 

I need to get my coupons organized and make a shopping list, I have grocery shopping to get done and I need to hit the drugstore, too. Maybe I'll order a few polishes from Amazon as well. Because I don't have enough, you know... 

I should count my polishes.

Maybe not.

I don't know why i am so tired. I didn't do squat, today. Seriously. William and Patrick straightened up the house for me before I even got up, this morning. The most strenuous thing I did was my nails. Maybe it is my head making me tired. It has been at about a Cat. 3 all day. Yesterday, I had a humongous aura flash and took an Imitrex and half an hour later, I felt as if a freight train smashed into the side of my head. That shit is weird. Sometimes when I take it, it works a little and takes the hell in my brain down to a dull roar, others, it doesn't do anything but make me feel weird. And headache-y. Others, like yesterday it seems to feed my migraine so that it can really go to town. I really shout talk to my doc about that. 

Someday. :P

Okay, I think I'll hit the sack and read for a while before I conk out. 

Noms of the Day and Other Nattering

Let's just get right to it, shall we?

 Brekkie: A cup of my regular coffee then William brought home a latte. Oh, yeah! Sooo Good. Method Coffee, a local coffee house is as good as Starbucks. The falvours are different, of course but still, delicious. I will happily go to either. :D The cup was actually empty by the time I took this photograph. I sucked that latte down like someone was threatening to take it away from me. I also had some scrambled egg whites softened with a little water, mustard and Tabasco for flavour.

Calories: 285

 Lunch: A Lean Cuisine Mushroom Tortaloni with snap peas and sun dried tomatoes. (I love this bag of food like I love my mother, kids.) I added a serving of frozen peas, heated to the entree to bulk it up a little and to add a little extra veggie nutrition. Yum. Seriously. Yum. 

Calories: 380

Did I mention that stuff is yum?

 A vat of coffee with ff 1/2 &1/2 and Truvia. 

Calories: 80.

 Dinner: Salad. Then I piled on top of my salad a Smart Ones Sesame Chicken micro in the bag meal. Hey, I am well aware of the fact that I eat weird food combos. You are reading a blog written by a broad who thinks that French fries dipped in chocolate milkshake is the height of heavenly noms. So, weird tho it may look, it's delicious, all piled together. Don't judge. You do weird shit, too. lol

Calories: 440.

I just needed to snack snack: An orange. Isn't it freaky that there are fabulously delicious oranges in the store, right now? This time of year? And a serving of Triscuit Thin Crisps. These little crackers are da bomb. They are slightly cheesy, slightly herby, a little salty and full of win. 

Calories: 205.

Total for the day: 1390. I got plenty to eat, lots of yum and came in well under my 1500 calorie cap. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. :D

So, to prove that Prescott, Arizona is the suckhole of the universe, I went into Big Lots in search of prime goodies as detailed in blogs I had read and had yapped about earlier and hoped that I would find, too. Ha! Know what I found? 

That's right. You see, our Big Lots is the Big Lots to which other Big Lots in better places send all of their random, useless, nobody-wants-this-shit shit that they don't want to try to sell. It is hard to find anything truly useful in that store. Once in a rare great while I score. But not very often. Usually it is just a pile of crap. Some of it overpriced crap. I saw some cute as hell lamps. Fifty clams a piece. Huh? At Big Lots? Knockoff lamps. At Big Lots. Fifty freaking bucks? Are you shitting me?

I also went to Ross hoping to score Color Club collections. Ha! Again. They had some but I already have them. I am looking for the Spring and Summer collections. I'll keep trying. I did find another palette to repurpose. I'll tell you all about that, another time. It's an ongoing project. :D

I found the prettiest pink eyeshadow at Walgreen's, tonight. It is a new Loreal Infallible shadow the colour is Pink Sapphire. Oh, buy is is ever lovely. I could see it working for eyes and for cheeks, maybe as a highlight along the top of the cheekbones. Over a pretty peach blush... Or with bronzer... Loreal is all BOGO 1/2 so I grabbed a lipstick from the display, as well. It is Rose Agate. Wow! Perfect Summer lippie. It's a subtle your lips but better rose packed with a gold fleck. So. Pretty.

Shit. My manicure is chipping. I'll have to change it, tomorrow. Early. I have a busy day, tomorrow.

Oh! Did I tell you that Patrick (my son) was awarded Employee of the Year for 2011? He was. *proud mama moment* He went down to the Valley today for a little company awards ceremony where all of the EotY for the region were honored, given plaques and had their picture taken with the president of the company.  He had a great time. Ate a ton of food and came home smiling ear to ear. I am so happy for him. <3

Tired, now. Must go nighty-night.

May Day

No, I'm not going down in flames. Almost did. But no. lol

I decided to do something new, for me. Take pictures of the food I eat in a day and then post it. I know that this is something that helps a lot of people so I thought that I would try it, too.

So, here are my Noms of the Day.

 Brekkie was two cups of coffee lightened with fat free half and half and some Truvia. A protein shake made with unsweetened almond milk, protein powder and a little yoghurt rounded out my morning meal. Calories: 385.

 Lunch was scrambled egg whites cooked with some sauteed onion and orange pepper lightened with a tiny bit of ff 1/2 & 1/2 and some mustard for flavour and colour and some generous dashes of Tabasco. I made a chopped salad and used some of the tomato from my salad to top my egg whites, too. Calories: 250.

Some canned pear slices (no sugar added) with cinnamon. Calories: 80.

Dinner was a big salad (I ate late and was hangry so I decided to make a big salad) and a microwave entree. Chicken with curry and rice and a few beans. I know... Microwave meals are teh evil but I don't care. They taste good and I am a lousy cook so... I eat them. :P Calories: 480.

I did popcorn (Calories: 240.) but I forgot to take a picture. I guess that will take some getting used to. My total for the day is a very respectable 1355. I feel good abut what I accomplished, today. And I don't feel like a bloated tick. Or guilty. Or full of shame and self loathing. I like feeling like this. Not like that.

I had a pretty productive day, today. Did my housework, (except for laundry) and did my roots and a fresh manicure. I spent a lot of time goofing around online, as well. More than I really should have but some days, I just let the time get away from me. 

I am hoping that soon, I can work salon visits for my colour upkeep into the budget. I like my colour but I don't like painting it on my roots. I wasn't as precise as I should have been, this time around and got some overlap. My hair doesn't seem to have suffered but it can't take too much of that or I will end up in a pickle, for sure. It would be worth the money to let a pro precisely paint the dye just perfectly on my regrowth. While I relax and navel gaze a bit. Yep. That sounds nice. 

I'm thinking of fringe and a few face framing layers. I feel as if my updos are a bit severe, with no softness around my face. Slicking my hair back when I was younger was okay but now, it looks and feels a bit harsh. I don't know... I will think on it a bit more. I don't make spur of the moment decisions abut my hair, any more. When I did, I made bad ones then ended up crying my eyeballs out and regretting them so now I enforce a long wait and think period before anything gets done. There is no hurry. 

It was a little cooler, today. Windy and cloudy. If there had been rain, it would have been a perfect day. :D

Keep Shoveling, Bitches

Snow. More of it fell, last night and on and off, all day today. Patrick and later, William, too kept it cleared pretty nicely. The snow finally stopped just before sunset and the clouds parted, the sun came out and the temperature started dropping. Rapidly. By the time it was dusk, it was in the mid twenties, out there. Brrr! It shoudl be well and truly frozen solid out there, in the morning.

It is supposed to be clear and sunny and warm into the forties, so the ice that is everywhere, right now should melt in pretty short order.

You know... I wouldn't bitch so much about the snow so much if we didn't live on the side of a hill. Seriously, what I woldn't give to have a short, level driveway on a well plowed street.

Patrick is shoveling, looking as if he is about to go sliding down our steep drive on all that ice while William leans on his shovel, goofing around on his BlackBerry.  (That's our neighbour's car. The obnoxious smoker on the balcony one.)

The view off of my front balcony, looking off to the right. The sun was just beginning to set and gold and pink and coral light were beginning to flood the landscape.

This is looking off to the left, you can see Willow Creek Road, snaking along in the distance.  I loved how everything was overwhelmed with gold from the rapidly sinking sun, here.

Patrick, shoveling madly. He really wanted to get done and come in and warm up. lol

This one looks much better, enlarged, as yu can actually see more detail. Shooting right into the sun is never a good idea, but I still had to try it. It just makes me crazy that my camera doesn't capture what my eyes see.

I love the colours of the setting sun on snow.

Patrick, surveying his hard work as the sun gets ready to sink below the hill below it. It was already in the twenties when this photograph was taken and in spite of all of the snow clearing activities, the drive was slicked with ice. Landlord needs to provide that snow melter stuff. It would make the drive so much safer. 

Did you know that Washington Irving was the first author to describe Santa as fat and jolly? I imagine that he would describe me as fat and bitchy.

I am tired, tense and my head hurts and I think I am going to make it an early-ish night. I am looking forward to hitting the sack, tonight.

Is This Arizona? Or Alaska?

Bleargh! Moar snow. And we are still under a Winter weather advisory for the rest of today. Which means... Yepper. You guessed it. Possibly even more snow will fall. Patrick and William will love that. :P Patrick is out, right now clearing the drive. Considering how long and steep it is, I am sure that he is having a real bast. lol (That is an evil laugh, BTW.)

Pretty? Yes. Pain in the ass? No question. I suppose I would object a tad less strenuously to snow if we didn't live on the side of a steep hill and it weren't so frakking difficult to clear it.

Other than my constant bitching about the weather, not too much going on, around here. Marley is flaked out in front of the fireplace and Sabryna is passed out on her beddies. Nothing like warm, contented hairbags on a cold, snowy Autumn morning. :D

I need another cup of java. My brain is still in fuzz mode. Then I am going to get some new polishes swatched for my nail blog and... I dunno... Just hang. I get to have a lazy day since I cleaned house like a dervish, yesterday. I love that. Even housewives need vacay days.

Okay, off to the kitchen to make more coffee and some brekkie. I think that a nice, hot bowl of oatmeal with some chopped apple will go down very nicely, right now.

Did You Know...

That you can fall upstairs? It's true. You can. I know 'cause I did, today. I had finished scrubbing my bathroom and had my phone in one hand, a tube of face "scrub" that I was taking upstairs so that William could remember to return it and I started up the stairs and instead of clearing the riser a couple of steps up, I jammed my right foot into it, instead. I lost my balance and footing and fell down the couple of steps and came to a halt at the bottom. I jammed my toes, knocked the hell out of both knees and thighs, took some skin off my left forearm, wrenched my back and left shoulder and smacked my beak on the step above me as I fell. I now have sore, swollen knees, a big, swollen lump on the top of my left thigh and another spot like it above my right knee. My poor toes are killing me and my fingers on my right hand are stiff. Which is making typing a ton of fun, lemme tell ya. lol

When I fell, I dropped my phone and you want to know what is really sick? It was my first worry when I came in for a landing. I was afraid that I had broken my phone.  :P I am stiff, sore and not moving around too fast, right now. Aleve is going to be my bestest friend, for a few days, I am thinking. But I'll live. I'm just thankful that I didn't break anything. Especially my poor beak.

My house smells like caramel and apples and a little like cinnamon. I love scented candles sooo much! They make the air smell so yummy and the flickering light is so warm and welcoming.

Warm is needed, right now! It is much colder, all of a sudden. We got snow, yesterday morning. Just a dusting. But I remembered, later in the morning to grab my camera and fire off a few shots. Some melting had already occurred but there was still enough of the white stuff to show you. I hope that you like the photos. I did the best I could with my busted down old cart horse of a camera. (I am hoping that Santa will be bringing me a new one, this year. It is time, my old one is six years old and really starting to show it's age. lol)

Photographs are clickable. 

 I just love the shapes of this tree in the below photo and I have been wanting to shoot it for a while, now. :D

I just turned on my fireplace for the first time, today. It is just so chilly in here and my toes are froze and I want some warm. It is already beginning to throw a little heat. I wonder how long it is going to take my cat to figure out that it is on. He loves a good fire. He is currently curled up in a tight little ball on his blanket on the top of the back of the sofa.

It is dark and cloudy, this afternoon and The Weather Channel is threatening  more snow. Just an inch or so. Blech! Yuk! Ptooey! Rain is fine, I like rain. But not the fluffy white stuff.

I'm working hard to keep my fat ass on track. And doing a little better, the past few days. Yesterday was a definite good day, I came in under 1500 calories. I should come in right around the same, today. I am also pushing water, I had been slacking on my slurping and was feeling the effects. It is good to be getting more hydration, again. I would like to take a walk, but I am going to need a few days to heal and unstiffify. (Yeah, I know it isn't a word. But I am using it, anyway. :P) I think that I am going to go take a really hot shower, in a bit. That should help to soothe me and loosen up some of my stiff and sore muscles.

Jeeze! I am such a klutz! lol

I just put Marley down in front of the fireplace. He is now sitting there, staring into the flames and giving himself a little bath. He will probably pass out soon. He likes to sleep in front of the fireplace with his paws stretched out to the heat vents and hose up all of the warm. :D

Okay, so I think that is about all I have to yap about, for right now. I'll talk to you all, soon.

Something Pretty... Something Ugly

This weekend was busy and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But I did, indeed get on my scale on Saturday and snapped a pic of the number.

But first, I want to show off my pretty, pretty flowers. William's and my 23rd wedding Anniversary was on the ninth and William had a bouquet of huge, pink stargazer lilies delivered to me here at the house. What a surprise!

Aren't they gorgeous?!? I love stargazers and these are really lovely specimens. 

Okay, as I said, earlier, I did, indeed get on my scale.

And I have to tell ya, folks. It wasn't pretty.

Up three. I can blame some of it on puff. But not all of it. My idiocy is to blame. And that bitch Frost Princess. Seeing that number threw a scare into me and I tossed Frost Princess into her tower room, threw all of her nasty junk food in with her, slammed and locked the door and put my Dragon on guard in the corridor. That little sneak isn't getting past my Dragon. If she does, I am screwed. And I don't want to be screwed.

Yesterday and Saturday were stellar days. Two in a row. Time for three. I am back to thinking day by day, even minute by minute, if I must. I let my guard down, I stopped my constant vigilance. It hasn't been working for me. So I needed to get back to something that I know does. *sigh* Still learning, still have work to do to change old patterns. Sometimes I wish that there was a magic... Something that could just poof! And my mental and emotional wiring was put right. Wouldn't that be nice?

It is finally starting to cool off a little around here. But it is stupud humid. We are expecting possible thunderstorms. We got a bit of a blow, last night. Some wind, a little rumbly and lightening and a sprinkle but I have to say, this year's Monsoon is, so far a total bust.

So what else? Not too much, really. Life is just ticking along and. Yeah.

Accountability

Image Credit

I got on my scale, this morning. And I took a picture:

(No feet... My pedi is in sad shape and no one needs to see that! lol) Note the date stamp.

Time to kick this pig. I have lost fourteen pounds since January.

Fourteen.

That is fucking abysmal. 

I have no one to blame but myself. No one held a gun to my head and forced chips, popcorn, peanuts or what have you, a handful here, a bowlful there down my throat. Oh no. I did that. 

And it really needs to stop. No more dicking around. No more hiding. No nonsense. 

I will weigh, with my camera on Friday or Saturday morning every week. (Whichever morning I am least puffy, urgh!) And I will post the photograph, date stamped. Good, bad or ugly. Accountability. I do better when I own it. I do better when I am actively showing how things are going for me right here, on my blog. 

 I am going to start a personal challenge. There is no start date, no end date. It is a challenge to remember to be accountable to the most important person in this whole endeavor. Myself. I am worth this and I am accountable to myself for my health and well being. And I am challenging myself to stay on track and stay accountable and stop the nonsense.

You are welcome to join me, if you like. If you want to, grab the above photo (not my eight one...;)) and post it, with a linkback to this post in your sidebar. Lets do this for ourselves! We deserve this. We are worth it. 

Thank you for your sweet messages on my last post. Three years. This one, for some reason hit me kind of hard and I thought a tribute was a good idea. I don't do this every year. I am not a big believer in dwelling but sometimes I need to remember and feel. :)

Okay, I need to run. I have to get my lazy azz in the shower. I have a nasty infection in my gum and it hurts like a sumbitch and my face is all puffed up as if I got hit by a Mac truck so I am going to pop in to the Urgent Care and get me some Godzilla antibiotics to kick it. Then I need to get my procrastinating ass to a dentist and get my teeth dealt with. I hate going to the dentist but I really can't put it off any longer. But I can't hold out with this infection, any longer. Waaahhh! 

Blowing the Dust Off My Blog...

 

Been a few days, hasn't it? No particular reason, really. I am just in a not so chatty mood and feel exceedingly boring. Life is trudging along here. I am working hard at getting my ass back on track in a solid way. Some days are diamonds, some days are shit. I am not gaining, but I am eating maintenance calories some days. *still* Gah. Today is going really well. Tomorrow should go as well and I can build from there. :)

Four loads of laundry, today. So. Much. Fun. 

 

 

Oh! If only it were that easy! lol

So, there is the gist of it for right now. Life is okay. I am still working, still in struggle mode but working hard to get out of it and the wind is blowing too much, making me feel a little psycho and I spent too much time looking at LOL Cats, as you can see. 

And, that is all I have, right now.

Obviously, the above photographs do not belong to me. I sourced them here. I dare you to visit and not spend too much time looking and laughing. :D

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I awoke to quiet and about three inches of the fluffy white stuff on the ground. It is a warmish, wet snow that was already beginning to melt a little, fall off the trees and it won't last long. Forecast is for fifty, tomorrow so even if more falls, it won't hang out long. Crazy weather we have in my neck of the woods. lol

Weight, this morning, back to 288. *sigh* just call me Duncan. You know... Like the yo-yo? Yeah... Lame. But anyhoozle. I need to seriously get my shit together. I have a goal to reach and I won't if I keep screwing around. No one to blame but myself. I am fully responsible for my actions. Now I need to act responsibly.

I took a few photos and a short video with my cell phone, this morning and tried to upload them to my puter. My photos uploaded fine but my video just uploaded as a single frame. Don't know what happened there. When I tried to go back into my gallery to upload it, again? It was gone. I dunno. I'll have to try, try, again until I figure it out. And I will figure it out. I always do. :D So, you almost got to see a little of my surroundings and hear my voice. Maybe that wouldn't have been such a good thing, after all. lol

Marley on Washer. An original work by me, with my cell phone. My phone has a 3.2 MP camera. Decent. Takes a fairly pretty picture, for a phone. You can click the pic, then click it again to get it bigger. Observe the pout. He was begging for Party Mix. I wasn't caving. He was pouting. lol

I just caved and gave him a little Party Mix. That cat is so spoiled! And he knows the difference between Party Mix and his crunchies. I tried to trick him, one day and he totally busted me. lol The funny thing is, Party Mix is basically dry food in a treat bag. But oh! How he loves that stuff! And if he doesn't get a little bit every day, he meows around here like a brokenhearted, starving little waif. Starving little waif, my ass. That little orange creep is getting fat. I am going to have to trim him back a little bit. He is up in the window, behind me, looking out at the snow.

Well, I am about out of stuff to yap about, for now. I am going to drink my coffee then I may go in search of some brekkie. Talk to you all, later. :D

Yeah, Baby!

 

Carry on. 

:D

Ugh! Moar Snow!

So, it snowed some more. And now we are even more socked in, up here. I am never getting out. lol Trapped in mounds of snow. Forever. Truly an Ice Queen.

Bwahahaha! Drama, much? :P

It is going to be a pain for a day or three, but the temps are supposed to be up to fifty, in a couple of days, so this snow is going to melt away, fast and life will return to normal. :)

I took more pictures. And yes, I am going to torture you with them because this is my blog and I can. ^^

 Backyard. Deeper in.

 When there is no snow, there is a patio and a drop off to the ground, below. It is a foot at the wall, less by the tree.

 Sabryna in the snow. 

 Drop off? What drop off?

 The driveway, even more deeply covered, now.

 Between the drive and the slope is a high curb. All that is visible of that curb is a slight, long bump in the snow. 

 I am never getting out of here... lol

My little view of a bit of Prescott

About caffeine and water? Personally, I think that I need more water to make up for the additional fluid loss from the natural diuretic in coffee. The coffee I drink and all the water I am drinking definitely help keep the puff down. It never really goes away, entirely... I have hopes that as I lose more weight, it will resolve and I will not have to worry about it, anymore. Or at least as much. 

My chow is on track and I am right on pace with my water. My last load of laundry is in my dryer. Maybe I can just rest my back, this afternoon.

Okay, I am chattered out, now. Thank heaven, huh?  :P