Lissa's Better Eating Journal

[DCLissa17]

Hmm today has been a WEIRD day. I haven't eaten enough, but haven't really felt very hungry either. I've been up for awhile (for a not-work day) and will probably go to bed shortly. The day was odd, I kept feeling like I should be going to work tonight. And I didn't have much to do, I mean, even in my normal time-wasting habits, I still ran out of stuff to do. All of my shows are on hiatus right now and I watched up to the current episodes on Warehouse 13 which was a "new" show a few weeks ago for me. I mostly took this week off from shopping. I read the last 2 books in a series that I had finally gotten the missing link to.

I SHOULD have gone to the gym. But I didn't.

I did do some vaccuuming, and I went to a couple of real estate agent offices to scope out the possibility of buying a second house up where I am renting now. I ran some numbers and discovered that couponing is not good enough, I need to really rein in my spending overall on groceries/eating out. I came up with a savings plan in order to get the downpayment that I will need for a home loan. I made another meal for next week.

I didn't take down the Christmas decorations.

I didn't get together with any friends or call that guy I went out with a couple of time 3 weeks ago.

I didn't take the dog to the groomer's or wash the futon cover free of layers of dog hair.

Like I said, it's a weird day of a weird weekend. There's some work stuff inside my head making me a little crazy with indecision. Which I just really don't need, I need to leave it be and stay out of it entirely.

Well, here's the tally for today, food-wise:

B: last of eggplant lasagna
S: Kit Kat, mini box of conversation hearts
L: African peanut soup - very interesting. Not bad but not one of my faves either. I think if I make it again I'll just do a half batch. I may freeze half of this batch in fact. Realized after making it that it doesn't have a protein in it (just a little PB) and probably not enough veggies. So it would do better paired with an entree and salad or salad w/ meat. Greek yogurt, cinnamon apple spice tea
S: Dried mango slices, Doritos

And that's about it. I just realized that tomorrow morning I start a new PAH job and I have to be up and driving to Bothell to give meds/food to a cat sometime around 8-9a. Which is not nearly enough hours from now. So to bed with me! Luckily I'm pretty wiped. Maybe I'll hit the gym on my way home and then back to bed for a few hours since I do work tomorrow night.

[DCLissa17]

Well last night the weird continued. Maybe it's the full moon? Or the solar flares? I dunno. But weird cases, weird owners, and just a weird vibe in the air. I realized why I felt like I should be at work on Tuesday.....because I was supposed to go in for training on our new CT machine. Gee wish someone had called me! Oh well. In return, I will get to stay 2-3 hours later on Friday morning between shifts to do it instead. Lucky, stupid me.

On the other hand, I'm back to work and back on track with eating! I also decided this weekend after running numbers and doing some thinking and research, that I am going to buy a house. I own a house a couple of hours away (too far to commute to work) that I rent out and I rent an apartment close to my work. I've decided to buy a 2nd house up here. I have ran the numbers and should be able to have an adequate downpayment saved in 4-10 months. I have a very narrow location in mind and a pretty low budget, so I will have to buy a short sale/foreclosure so it will probably be a lengthy search in any case. Which is fine. It's nice to a have a concrete goal to work towards. I will need to do some saving here and there, I will be refinancing my current house into a lower interest rate, and I will take 2-3 extra shifts a month to put towards the downpayment. Good things SB-wise that this will do for me?

1. I am going to make sure I get my money's worth from that $44/mo gym membership.
2. I am going to really be careful to shop sales on fresh produce and not waste anything.
3. I am going to eat up the excellent staples in my stockpile of whole grain starches, nuts, jello, eggs, lean meats, frozen veggies, soup fixings, rather than buying more cheap non-SB foods
4. I am going to stop eating out except for very occasional with friends and then try to use my Entertainment book coupons and already bought restaurant.com cards and other restaurant gift cards.....less eating out is less opportunity for cheating
5. I am going to STOP buying candy!! (I can't usually get it totally free even with couponing, just realllly cheap. But cheap is still spending money and I don't need more sugar in the house)
6. I am going to stop drinking. Maybe a occasional drink with friends, but no more $6 bottles of champagne or $4 of mini liquor or $4 glasses of wine at restaurants.

So, these are my new SB + Downpayment savings plan resolutions! Hopefully by this time next year I will be happily settled in a new house with a YARD. And a WASHER & DRYER. And NO CARPETS!

Today is good:

B: 2 scrambled eggs w/ spinach, 1/2 of apple, coffee
S: a few conversation hearts
L: side green salad w/ slow-cooked pork, bowl african peanut soup, coffee
S: pear, string cheese, coffee
S2: a few peanuts, a prune, a few conversation hearts
D: tofu veggie stirfry, cinnamon apple spice tea

[DCLissa17]

You know how when you first make a big decision in your life, or you decide to start some big project? And all you can think about in your downtime is whatever THAT thing is? And exercising patience and restraint is moving towards it is really really hard? Even when you KNOW that patience and planning is what needs to happen first? Yeah, that's this let's-buy-a-house! thing. I'm all pumped up about it but I really can't DO anything about it right now.

I've looked through listings and see 3 houses that I would like to go and see. On paper, each of them has something that disqualifies them for me, but they are all close matches and I think the best way to go about this process is to look at a lot of houses so that I can really narrow down exactly what is most important to me.

#1: Is VERY small if the listing is correct. A 600sqft 2bed/1bath? That's too tiny I think. It's only $110,000 (doable RIGHT NOW) and in the right neighborhood though.
#2: Is good sized, looks in decent condition, has a big lot but lousy fencing, and is a good distance out from my ideal neighborhhood. At $148,000 it's listed at the top end of my price range, so room for negotiation. Worth taking a look at just to get a feel of some houses in my price range.
#3: Is a 3bed/2bath townhouse in excellent? condition w/ 2 car garage and fully dog-proofed fencing, decent size backyard with lots of trees and garden beds and patio. It's priced just above my range at $175,000 so may be possible to negotiate to my high end (150,000). It's just a little farther out from the neighborhood I want to be in, but not bad. I did a drive-by/peek-in-windows (bed/baths are upstairs so couldn't see those) but I must say that I am enchanted with this house. It's at the top of my (i've only been looking for 4 days) list and I definitely want to do an actual walk-through this weekend. I think this house will be one that if I like it at walk-through, I would maybe look into my financing options and either put in a total low-ball offer to see what happened or just keep an eye on it's price in the next couple of months if it doesn't sell quickly.

Anyhoo, that's all MY mind wants to do today. My week is going by quickly with work and my PAH client. It's not too far out of my way too & from work and the cat is super easy so it's quick and easy work. One more day on Saturday with that and I've got $120 towards my downpayment. Also picked up a relief shift on Monday overnight so that's another $235. After doing some grocery/dining out budget analysis I am pulling WAY back with that. So far this month I've only spent $30. I plan to not spend any money on eating out or on alcohol for the rest of March. I have lots of produce and TONS of staples so I will do very little grocery shopping this week. Going to pick up some super cheap cheese, free after rebate cereal and fruit and free salads at Safeway and then it's a doubler week at Albertson's. I will have 18 doublers, I'll see what I can manage to get for free with those. I will NOT spend money on items that I do not need or have plenty of stock in just to use up doublers. My plan is to only spend $120 this month on food/household items, a $180 savings from last years average, and a $50 savings on my new budget. I will put $100 of "old" grocery money into the downpayment fund. So there, just with already planned things, I will have an extra $455 towards my downpayment fund! More money, relief shifts, call-in pay, or PAH clients are sure to turn up before the end of the month too!

Ok, back to SB:

B: HB egg, 1/2c. kidney beans w/ cheese, coffee, V8 fusion
S: 1 Tbsp PB
L: green salad w/ tofu crumbles, African peanut soup, coffee
S: 1/2 large apple w/ 2Tbsp PB, coffee
S2: a few peanuts (i know, heavy nut day), small activia yogurt
D: FF hot dog, sweet potato fries, veggies w/ hummus, glass OJ

Now, to bed!

[DCLissa17]

Oh I have been such a cheater lately! Fairly good meals, just lots of candy/Doritos as snacks lately. Also I haven't bought anything new to drink, but I did watch Bridesmaids the other night and had some blackberry liquor w/ lemonade that I've had in my wine cabinet for EVER. Oh well.

I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks and looks like that will be continuing what with this new lets-buy-a-house resolution. Had a PAH job last week = $120 net. Took a relief shift last night = $230. Had a staff meeting today = $25. And I decided to go ahead and pick up another relief shift next Sunday (a day shift, we'll see how good an idea that was!) = $200. Soooo gonna stay busy but in just 2 weeks I will have made $575 to add to my downpayment fund! I also went grocery shopping for the week today and ended up only spending $11.91, 10 of which was paid for with a rebate VISA card so it won't come out of the March budget = only $1.91!!! I got lots of great SB food, too:

(2) packs artisan ancient grains tortillas - gonna make some homemade baked tortilla chips I think!
(6) bags salad kits (2 servings in each bag of 2c.)
(2) 4-pack yogurt
(3) apples
(1) pear
(1) kiwi
(1) large bunch celery
5lbs whole carrots
(5) packs Kraft fresh takes cheese + seasoning packets.
(1) Country Crock margarine

+ 4 rolls of paper towels and 4 boxes each of Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes (cereal will go to coworkers) will submit for another $10 rebate with the cereal so I really did get ALL this for $1.91!!

Ok, just for accountabilities sake, here's the tally so far today. Warning: its not very good. I have also been a total slacker with the gym the last 2-3 weeks. I WILL get better with that!

"S": apple on the way to a massage. Cocoa roast peanuts on the way to staff meeting.
Brunch-ish: croissant w/ turkey + lettuce + cheese @ meeting.
Brunch continued: 2c. spinach salad w/ slivered almonds and strawberry vinagriette, 1c. milk
S: about a single serve bag-size of Doritos, snack size Reese's PB cup

Today is a weird day cuz I only had a couple hours sleep after my shift last night, then I had to get up for a massage appointment and then the meeting and grocery shopping. Got home at like 7:30p which is when I should have woke up. Since I was so busy I FEEL like I've had a full day and should be in wind-down mode. But in reality, I need to stay up til at least 4a because I start my workweek tomorow night. It's already 11:30p tho and I just started watching a movie, I need to do laundry and clean litter boxes, and I would LIKE to get to the gym (or at least do some yoga) so I should have enough to do to keep me busy.

For next week I made a pot roast w/ sweet potato & carrot, with sauteed asparagus to accompany. I will probably make a pot of chili to have w/ salads also. That should keep me occupied for the workweek.

I'll probably have either some roast or some chili for dinner tonight at some point. Yogurt for a snack. Probably some veggies w/ hummus as a snack also to help get some more veggies in there.

[DCLissa17]

Wow this week has been busy! Can't believe my whole workweek is gone and I haven't been in here once. Has been just non-stop all week long. Tonight we had 2 major surgeries (3 hours each) + 2 other anesthetic cases + about 10 patients in the ward. Major surgeries suck because by the time you do all the set-up, the surgery, recover the patient, do the charting, and clean up the surgical suite .....you're looking at a minimum of 5 hours time just dedicated to that. I spent probably about 6-7 on my surgery tonight (1/2 my shift!) and I coached my newer coworker through hers. Everything went fine with everything, just didn't get a chance to sit down or chill out and I stayed nearly 2 hours late. This week = ~$50 in overtime pay - straight to the downpayment fund.

Speaking of the downpayment fund..... it may be a shortlived fund! I am taking a look at a condo today that seems promising. Probably wouldn't be a long-term plan, but might be great for the next couple years, then I could sell it or rent it and move into a bigger place. The best thing would be to buy it, plan on staying at least 2 years, keep saving aggressively for another downpayment, then depending on the market, sell or rent and move to a higher-value house (i.e. not a 600sqft 2bed/1bath condo!). I have enough saved to make a 10% downpayment on this condo, so would just NEED to save aggressively for like 3-4 months to replenish those savings. We'll see. Depends on if I go for this or wait awhile longer for a house in my price range/specifications to come around which may or may not happen in the next like.....year.

Food is good. The nice thing about being so busy is that I don't have time to snack. I had meals prepared for the week so no scrambling there. I found last time I did SB and I worked 60 hours a week, it was really easy because I was out of the house and just had the food I brought with me each day. That innate structure is really helpful. It's my lazy schedule-less weekends that prove challenging.

Today:
B: 2 scrambled eggs w/ spinach, celery sticks, coffee
S: yogurt w/ granola
L: bowl chili, coffee
S: (late after I got off work -- was supposed to be part of my lunch) mixed greens salad w/ pear gorgonzola vinagriette
S: Snickers PB egg, sweet potato chips
D: since I haven't had much starch: BBQ pulled beef sandwich + beans + raw veggies
S: apple w/ PB. Or maybe I'll pick up some bananas for $0.19/lb at the local grocery store. My grocery budget is incredibly good so far this month!

[DCLissa17]

I just went back to a year ago in my journal, which was when I was slowly phasing out of P2 into P3 (but really just some basic SB principles and lots of cheating) ad it is HILARIOUS! The food, my life, the silly craziness. Very fun to look back.

So I worked a relief day shift today. It was actually very satisfying and went smoothly and fast! I was in good shape, slept all night before and wasn't tired at all. Called my real estate agent on my break and told him I want to move forward and put in an offer on that condo. I talked to my mom about it and honestly, it just seems like a great opportunity and there's no good reason not to do it. I'd rather be in a house and not have to save so hard for the next year but still save and put money towards another downpayment in 2-3 years on a bigger house. Or just max out my IRA. Or put extra money towards the principle in the condo to pay them off quicker and maybe have pure rental income from them in like 10 or 15 years. I'm pretty excited about it but trying not to get too ahead of myself about it. There's still a lot that could happen to make it not work out.

However, I did revise the lease for my tenant's at my other house and will be taking it down to them to sign and to inspect the property tomorrow. They are excited to show me all their improvements. AND I did my taxes tonight! I used Turbotax this year and it was SO easy! I was worried that with my business doing pretty well and me making more money and the rental income that I would end up having to pay in. Nope! I get a $800 refund! That's the biggest I have EVER gotten, even when I was itemizing because of home interest. That money will be perfect for some home improvements on the condo if it works out -- I need to replace carpets in the bedrooms with laminate flooring and add some shelving units for the closets. Awesome! If not, it will get added to the downpayment fund - bonus!

Today was a good SB day:

B: 2 scrambled eggs w/ spinach on 1/2 WW english muffin, couple pieces broccoli, coffee
L: bowl chili, green salad w/ almonds & peach vinagriette, small cranberry scone
D: BBQ pulled beef on WW english muffin, kidney beans w/ sprinkle cheese, corn, crystal light raspberry
S: apple, almonds
S2 (my treat for doing taxes!) greek yogurt, 1.5 shots peach snapps w/ V8 fusion, Doritos!

A little veggie light/starch heavy but that's ok, I'm feeling great about this day!

Tomorrow: prep documents to send to mortgage broker for loan pre-approval, take lease to tenants/inspect property, meet up with a friend down there (2 hours away) for early dinner, go to the bank and to Rite Aid. Hopefully get all the documents emailed out to the broker by end of day. I'm hoping to get my pre-approval by Tues/Wed so that I can make the offer on the condo. This all just happened so FAST!

[DCLissa17]

Today was a very productive day! Actually this whole weekend feels that way, it's a nice change from my sloth-like behavior of some weeks. I went down to my rental house and spent 3 hours there, looking at the property and all the improvements and talking with my renters. I worked with the wife years ago so I know them fairly well so it was nice to catch up. Had them sign the annual lease agreement - check! Then stopped at Rite Aid for some free facial cleansers/body wash ($2 and change in tax OOP cost) and went out to dinner with a friend who I don't see very often since we live 2 hours apart and have very different schedules. It was really nice! We went to Red Robin and I had a vodka lemonade (not very SB) and a the apple harvest salad which is lots of greens w/ a grilled chicken breast and apples/walnuts. Very good and filling compared to the measly burger and fries my friend had, heehee. I paid for it with a gift card I bought months ago so NO out of pocket cost - awesome! Tonight came home and just chilled out. I did download and scan in all the documents I needed for my mortgage preapproval and emailed them to the broker so they'll be there in the morning when she gets in. I'll call in the early afternoon when I get up to check on it. WIll probably head over to the real estate office in the afternoon to drop off the earnest money check and fill out the offer paperwork so that as soon as the preapproval comes through, my agent can send in the offer. I am HOPING that we can get this all coordinated tomorrow, Wed at the latest. Of course, now that I have decided I want this condo, I want to have everything rolling and CERTAIN. I hope it all goes quickly and smoothly....

Food was good today, easy since I was mostly out of the house!
B: tuna, LC cheese, carrots/celery
L: grilled chicken salad w/ apples/walnuts, strawberry vodka lemonade
S: banana, Doritos, a caramel egg :s
D: FF hot dog, ~1c. corn, few slices cheese, ~1.5c. green salad w/ almonds & peach vinagriette

Hmmm another light starch day...oh well! I have heavier ones of those too.

[JeffInJax]

hello Lissa, ive dropped by from time to time and read your journal. You're very religious about posting in it which is a great thing and seem to be doing well. Congrats on the soon to be condo! Im Jeff, nice to meet you. I'll stop by a little lengthier when i have more time but life has bene pretty hectic lately. Nice to meet you and stay strong.

[DCLissa17]

Hey Jeff, great to meet you! Thanks for stopping by. I have definitely found that trying to keep up in the journal (as if I AM talking to an audience) is a great way to help hold myself a bit more accountable. I've definitely seen in the past where when I stop posting, I find it easier and easier to ignore myself falling into bad habits again. It's nice to know that there are people actually reading

So.....my preapproval came through really quickly on Tuesday and I got the offer sent in. Thankfully, I've been working these last two nights so no time to overstress waiting for the phone to ring! Even better, shortly after I got home this morning, my real estate agent called and said that they accepted my offer, with just a touch less closing costs than we asked for!!! YAY!!! Now barring anything horrific on the home inspection or bizarre with the bank, I should be closing by April 25th!EEEEEEEE! I am so excited. I was really trying not to count my chickens, but I was already strategizing furniture and planning flowerpots so I am really happy that this is moving along, and so quickly. Everyone tried to tell me that foreclosures can take a long time, but I think this condo is just MEANT to be mine. I could tell as soon as I saw it.

Best thing? I only have to put 5% down and with the interest rate I qualify for, even adding the HOA fees to the mortgage (PITI) I will only be paying as much on the condo as I pay in rent now. So my budget won't change at all! And with my tax return and all the extra shifts I had already lined up over the next couple of months, I will easily replenish my savings and have money to do a few minor improvements on the condo before moving in!

Ok, back to SB. Wed night was pretty good, today not as good. Work was just ugh. One of those days where you just DON'T feel like being there and you can't get invested in it and you just want it to be over. So it draaaaaaaggggs. Also, there were gourmet cupcakes and I caved and had half of one and then had the munchies for the next 5 hours. But news that I got the house and a new ep of Vampire Diaries once home so it's all good!

B: cup of beef/veggie/WW noodle soup (mostly veggies!), HB egg, coffee
S: cinnamon apple spice tea, a few conversation hearts
L: bowl beef/veggie soup, 1.5c salad w/ almonds & pear gorgonzola vinagriette, coffee
Sssss: (over a 6 hour period) small strawberry yogurt, 1/2 cupcake, some conversation hearts, nut/dried berry granola bar, coffee
D: 2c. roasted brussel sprouts (last of my fresh from several weeks ago!), box of pasta-roni chicken/broccoli w/ chicken (totally OD'd on the processed white pasta, but OMG so good. This is a little bit celebration for the house news and a lot indulgence. Totally overfull now but fairly ok with it

2 more shifts this week!

[bethy]

OOH! Someone who makes even MORE lists than me
I just read the last page of your journal and now I'm dying to know what a PAH is.
Don't tell me!
I'll read the rest and find out during my next procrastination fit (usually an hour after my current one)
Just wanted to say Hi and "true love" "be mine" "so cute" "say yes" "love him" "4ever"

[DCLissa17]

OOH! Someone who makes even MORE lists than me

I have a love affair with listing things. I also tend to talk a LOT with the written word. Back in the day when I had online friends and EMAIL was the "big" thing, they would laugh over my "Lissa-letters"....usually written at 3-something in the morning.

Oh yeah, and "...." I use those compulsively too. Welcome to my crazy world!

I have been such a snacker this weekend. Trying to not get out of control and devour bags of jellybeans or anything too stupid. What I need to do is figure out a couple of meals for this week and make them so I have something to fall back on. Last week I had my beef veggie soup but I winged it for dinners in the morning and that kinda set me to fail a little. Plus there's been a bit of "reward" behavior on the eating/drinking side of things for this house buying situation.

On the plus side? I have done better with getting to the gym this last week! I did yoga on Wednesday before work and I went to the gym Sunday morning on my way home from a shorter relief shift. I will try to go to the gym later today, if not, Tuesday for sure.

Signed the counter-offer paperwork for the house on Saturday morning. This morning I need to check in with my real estate agent about the formal acceptance, scheduling the home inspection, and getting the HOA bylaws, check in with my mortgage broker to set an appointment to come in and sign all the loan application documents, and attempt to get ahold of my landlord to ask about breaking my lease. Have I mentioned that I have 10 more months on my apartment lease?

Ok, here's the tally for the day so far. It's another odd one as I've been up since midnight and need to stay up til late afternoon because I have CT training at work at 3pm. Warning: it's not a clean SB day and I've just been grazing, so no formal meal delineations.

~1c. sweet potato chips, ~1c. raw carrots/cucumber/celery, a Reese's PB cup
2 servings tuna helper alfredo (total processed with huge carb servings and no veggies)
1c. strawberries (oh how I love berry season!!! yay!!)
handful of almonds
strawberry greek yogurt (the Oikos really IS the best!)
glass of Trop50 lemonade

I'm trying to resist the Doritos I know I have in the cupboard. I ate all the open bags so that's something. No chocolate cravings and I took all the jellybeans to work. I'll probably have a salad and some more strawberries in a little while. Really need to make a proper meal at some point in the day. See ya around!

Take Care,
~Lissa

[bethy]

I read the first page you're Giving Me Wine Cravings
Oikos is NOT. Full fat fage w/ walnuts and sourwood honey is. (was, before SB)
I used to live in Frederick and visit the lemon cake at Dean and Deluca, I mean my Daughter, in Georgetown, a lot. And Clydes!

(daughter tangent:She worked in a yoga studio right off Dupont Circle. It was on the ground floor. She had a night class and middle aged, definite non-yoga-type men kept wandering in. She said they made her feel funny....then the place upstairs got on the news WHOREHOUSE. And when I Think what she was *wearing*. omg. She's in California now. India actually, right now. monkeys. galore.)

I miss Frederick and Georgetown and Tyson's Galleria in between. I don't miss 495 or 270 at ALL. I miss the TRAIN. God, I miss the train.
I miss the Costco in Frederick. The Costcos in NJ and PA are grody and super crowded and the people are not so polite about where they shove their shopping carts. Plus they don't have Zafarani, my favorite rice. Which is readily available at all my previous costcos in savannah, louisville, and frederick. sigh.

This is monday, then tuesday I may be able to have the wine, wednesday I can definitely have it, but I might be real tough and hold out till thursday if Grey's Anatomy isn't a rerun again.

I couldn't do coupons if my life depended on it. I get them in emails from Wegmans all the time-you would LOVE Wegmans. Nice dollar off ones. Dollar off any seafood purchase. Dollar off any Produce purchase, etc. Leave em on the table every time. Unless I remember them... then I leave the store with them still in my pocket. In which case I put them on that windshield clip in the car so I'll see them next time. Then they expire. Total coupon retard. In Louisville, the coupons would download to your store membership card. Not here.
TTYL Lissa

[DCLissa17]

lol yeah one of my triggers is drinking for sure. Like the 3 rum/zero cal strawberry lemonades that I had after getting back home last night ..... along with another servings of tuna helper (with sauteed asparagus this time) and raw cucumber slices. I actually had strawberries warming in the counter to have dipped in choc/pb sauce and cooked a box of WG rice-a-roni before falling asleep in the recliner. Woke up several hours later thinking......when did I turn OFF the stove on the rice?

Sigh. I had pulled salmon out of the freezer to defrost in the fridge and forgot about it. When I found it last night it was looking quite questionable and had to be tossed. As well as the lonely 2 zucchini covered in mold in the bottom of the crisper. I hate letting good food go bad.

My sleep schedule is completely wonky this weekend and I haven't even attempted to moderate it at all. I am sure that I will pay for that come this workweek. K, I have one more day off today. I'll probably get some more sleep in a few and get up midday which would be a pretty good plan. Here's the goals for Tuesday:

1. Meet with mortgage broker to sign loan application stuff
2. Go to massage appointment
3. Drop by Albertson's (to score some more free-after-rebate cereal - coworkers will be so happy!)
4. Make a couple of meals for next week
5. Do laundry
6. Vaccuum
7. Put away Christmas decorations - my first sort/pack task for moving! (what, YOUR Christmas decorations were down before Valentine's Day? Good for you. I'm working on getting my money's worth from this tree.)

Oh yeah! 8. Go to the gym. Or something.

[bethy]

MY Christmas dec's went to the basement over Two Weeks ago. NEENER. But I once kept a live tree up until march. Well, more than once, but the bad time was in Frederick! We had to SNEAK it out of the building under cover of night and ALL the needles fell off in a long, deep trail to the elevator. the hall was CARPET. There were 3 of us out there at 3AM trying to clean it up with BROOMS, and be quiet, before the Neighbor from Hell left for work at 7:30 and had to wade through it. I thought we'd gotten away with it all. But the next day the garbage disposal broke down and I had to call maintenance. The maintenance man pulled one of the Giant NUTs that stops the tree stand screws from puncturing the trunk out of the disposal and just stared blankly at me for a long long time. My husband THE APPLIANCE GENIUS AT GE eventually admitted he put a few "tiny branches" down the disposal.
I have a deep and abiding love for Christmas Tree smell. So much that I've wasted untold dollars trying to find a good Christmas Tree Smelling candle. They all smelled gross until this year I found The One at Nordstrom. I'm smelling it now. It cost a freaking fortune so I sniff it more than burn it.

[DCLissa17]

LOL It's nice to find another Christmas-lover.

The decorations didn't get taken down today. Not even close. Not even kinda-thinking-about-it-if-I-wasn't-so-tired. Oh well. Eventually the house will close and I will move and I will HAVE to take them down. May sounds like a doable timeframe.

Today was weird. (seeing a theme lately?) This whole weekend the sleep schedule has been bizarre....like a few hours here and there and all kinds of randomness. Drinking a bunch of rum on Monday(?) and then having a hangover all day yesterday didn't help. Although I DID toss the rest of the rum, which is a step forward for me. It was stupid to buy it in the first place.

Went to bed at 7a (tues), pried myself out of bed about noon. Went to the mortgage broker and signed tons of papers, went to my massage --- then ALL I wanted to do was go home and back to bed, but that would totally screw me over for the workweek. Had to stop at 4 (FOUR!) stores to use my cereal coupons (don't get me started), then finally home. Good thing the rum was gone or I would have drank it. Had some lunch and then totally zonked out in the chair for like 2 hours before my nice neighbors knocked on the door to let me know that it was OPEN. Thank god it's a building with an interior hallway. Surprisingly, none of the super-observant animals had realized the door was open and made a break for it. They're so smart, not. Not really much to report for the rest of the evening, just hanging in my chair snacking and watching episode of Vampire Diaries. At about 2a I got up to take the dog out, checked my phone, and saw a text message from a coworker wanting to know if I wanted to meet her and another coworker at Denny's (they just got off work). I decided to go since I needed to stay up a bit later. Course I went and had pancakes. So stupid. Back home, I did manage to do laundry (ok, it's in the dryer, I'll fold tomorrow)(p.s. I canNOT wait til I have a washer/dryer of my own again!) and I went to the gym for about 45 minutes. Home again, trying not to snack and probably will watch a little more TVD before heading to bed this morning.

Food is oddly structured again, but not TOO bad all in all:

B (on way to appts.): tuna, carrot sticks, banana
L: spinach salad, yummy bean soup (this is what I will have for lunches this week)
S: (here's where it gets crazy) ~1.5c raw veggies w/ FF refried beans; peanuts; some Doritos; strawberries dipped in choc/PB sauce, a few slices cheese
D: (at Denny's): 1.5 BIG WW? pancakes w/ real syrup, 4 slices turkey bacon, scrambled egg
S: (after gym) Zone perfect protein bar, cup of bean soup

Ok, so there's a couple off plan items, probably not enough veggies and too much pancake, but not horrible. I tend to be a grazer and a snacker rather than an all-out binger so I will have lots of stuff, but often in fairly small amounts. I'm just really happy that I didn't drink more, I got the bean soup made for lunches this week, and I didn't go hog wild with candy or chips today, and I went to the gym like I told myself I would. Some days it's about the small battles, ya know?

Oh - and Grey's better be new this week! I am SO sick of this one episode on, two weeks off junk that's been happening in network TV lately. Very obnoxious!