Trying to keep busy

Hey there!  I have survived one whole week of 2023!  It's funny because I feel like someone placed 2022 on a sheet of ice and it just skated past us.  By the time November came, I had given up and just sat back and watched because I couldn't keep up anymore!  But I have now been in 2023 for seven days and it feels like a hundred!  I know January always feels like a long month and I suppose it's because we just spent two months shoving in several holidays and gatherings and food and now, we are all stuffed, bloated, exhausted and broke!  I sure hope this isn't the year of the turtle, or God forbid, the snail!!!

I have been trying to reason with a kidney stone since December 15th, 2022, and I finally got some medicine yesterday.  I am sure hoping it works it's magic because I'm about shit-full of this!  Does it hurt more when the stone is stuck or when it is flapping around in there?  I never can remember.  I have lowered my intake of caffeine to almost non-existent now and my head is throbbing.  It will be interesting to see who wins this battle, my head or my kidneys!  HA!

The next 7 days should prove to be interesting as to just how much stuff I will get done and how much exercising I will make myself do.  I still haven't decided if I want to make another weekly goal of a loss or not but leaning more toward waiting another week.  Maintaining weight is so much harder than losing weight.

Back in May I had purchased a new Fitbit but couldn't get it to sync with my new iPhone, so I got mad and took the Fitbit back.  I was done with those things!  Never wanted another one again.  And fast forward to February 2023, where we are going to be needing a Fitbit to complete a wellness challenge for our insurance.  We aren't obligated to do these things, but it gives me a reason to not sit on my ass all the time AND this time they are giving us the Fitbit so................we will try again!  Besides, the more county employees that participate, the lower our prices get on our insurance, and we can all use that!  So that new challenge starts in February and goes through September.  I should be pretty sick of it by then!  

I think to keep my head straight this year I am going to have to have some kind of a challenge every month.  I really do love to torture myself!

I signed up for a 2 mile per day challenge for St. Jude's Children.  I mean, as if I am not already planning on being sick of walking!  HA!  Oh well, it's for a good cause and I am trying to get my feet better so this is the best way to do it.  Plus, it may give me a reason to get a new pair of shoes this spring!  I do love me some shoes.

Oh!  And speaking of the things I do love.  Apparently, jeans are back on that list.  The most pairs of jeans I have ever owned at one time is 12.  I think.  13 tops.  Today I was rearranging my clothes and putting laundry away and I own 16 pairs of jeans.  SIXTEEN!!!  Holy denim days!!!  I have a pair of jeans from Walmart that I bought years ago, and they are about to go bye-bye because when the belt doesn't work well anymore, the jeans gotta go!  That means a dozen pair of them are Maurices jeans (ummm and one pair of Maurices capris, shhhh).  Recently, I ordered a pair of jeans from an advertisement on Facebook.  Yes, I took a chance, and it was in my favor.  I got a pair of split hem jeans from Flamingo and am in love with them.  Now, the problem I have is that I should have counted just how many pairs of jeans I already owned.  But I did not do that.  So, I ordered two more. . Hehehe.  Don't judge.  I plan to lose a little more weight so some of those jeans will have to go out the door!  My loss, someone else's gain!

My friend Samantha got "75 HARD" in my head.  I have an interest in it but still don't know what all it entails, and I don't like to be punched in the gut and made to feel like I can't accomplish something after I've committed to it.  Ugh!  So, if anyone reading this has done it and wants to send me a message, I would appreciate any information you can give me!

Today, I went to Des Moines with my girl, Dana.  She got her nails done and I got to tan so we were both extremely happy.  Lunch at Jason's Deli because ya know..... diets and salads and all!  Still one of our favorite places to eat.  This picture bothers me because my hives haven't completely gone away under my eyes.  Boo!

Got home and started in on washing bedding and finishing up the blankets.  As of right now, I am waiting for my sheets to dry and then tomorrow I will work on the spare bedroom sheets aka the dog's bedding.  They won't be happy about it but it's getting done.

This beauty was given to me by a very dear friend, and I am in love with it.  Not only is it beautiful but it holds all my hoodies and winter hats/gloves.  Yes, I did pack all that crap in there tonight.  Why?  Because I'm taking a stand against winter right now.  All it does is make me depressed.  It was so beautiful today though.  The sunshine soaking into my skin when I was able to be outside was much needed.  Now, if the ground could dry out so I don't have to clean my floors so often, that would be amazing.  

I know, I know.  Don't even count on winter being close to over.  I get it.  I don't like it but I get it!!!!!!!!

Well, until I can think of something better to entertain you with, I will close for now.  I hope your week is fan-freaking-tastic!

  

I think it's a mental meltdown

 January 4th, 2023 

Things are back on track today.  Back to work and resuming normal life, or whatever normal is.  I didn't stay gung-ho on the supplements but I am still taking them.  Got through my regular exercises and overall was an uneventful but no-so-pleasant night!  Just one of those things that my volcano isn't happy that I can't deal with and move past it.  I'm ready for a settle-down!  So, no boring pictures to include on the days I have to be a responsible adult.  Went home and played with my babies, gulped down 2 melatonin so my mind would shut the hell up and I went to bed.  Picture of my babies just for fun and because they love me unconditionally every day of my life.  Even when I make the wrong decisions.    <3

January 5th, 2023

Woke up in the middle of the night and my eyes hurt so bad!  Well, around my eyes.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  I thought maybe my eye makeup had something to do with it but I had wiped it off.  They kept hurting and hurting and stubborn me didn't get up to check or anything.  When I woke up for the day, I had hives under my eyes and hives all over the front of my neck.  And oh my word were they painful!  I immediately thought about the melatonin but I have taken that many times.  "Maybe it's outdated?'  Nope, 09/2023 is the date on them.  They went into the trash anyway!  I look like Im carrying two saddle bags around on my face!  Ugh!  I didn't want to take anything for fear of going back to sleep and missing out on my day with my girl.

Today, my girl Justi took me for a foot detox.  Neither of us had ever done that before and it was neat to see all the toxins and crap being pulled out. The top picture is a close up of carbs and sugars that were pulled.

The bottom picture shows the parasites that were pulled.  It was a truly interesting thing to have done and enjoyed it so much, I scheduled a follow-up!  Gonna take my friend Tricia with me too!  So after our toxins were released, we went to eat and I loaded back up on the carbs.  LOL  I was starving.  I think they stole too many from me!  And I couldn't pass up trying a coconut margarita!!!  It was fantastic!

The whole rest of the night, I felt guilty about eating nachos and having a margarita.  Okay, I will be honest,  I was more guilty about the nachos than I was about the margarita.  So now I have to step up the exercises a bit just to make sure I don't gain.  I am not weighing for another couple of days.  One thing I do not want to do is get back into that annoying habit!  I just hope I am maintaining that 4 pound loss that I had.  Finger crossed and gut sucked in!

I did end up taking some allergy medicine but maybe a tad early because it knocked me out (you've all heard the Benadryl story!) and then I was awake when it was really time to be asleep.  My sleep schedule is so messed up!  So I laid in bed for the majority of the night doubting every decision I have ever made in my life.  That's always nice.

January 6, 2023

I chose the color brown for this day because that's how I feel about it.  Just a dang shitty day.  I have a lot of anger pent up inside me tonight and I can't seem to get rid of it.  I mean, I have tried being a complete bitch to everyone that I came in contact with!  LOL JUST KIDDING.  CALM DOWN!. Although my co-workers might agree with this a bit.  I may have vented just a little too much to them!

I normally wake up at a decent time of the morning and open the door so the dogs can go in and out at their leisure but since my sleep schedule is all bonkered up, the times are varying.  I had a nail appointment this morning in Des Moines so I set my alarm.  I am not used to having to get up for an alarm so I was hoping I would be able to start a better pattern.  My early hour did not work out for opening the door for the dogs but they just stayed in their bedroom under their blanket with their mattress warmer going, living the life of luxury they are now accustomed to.  My alarm went off at 08:00 and I turned it off.  I just needed to lay there and gather my thoughts because they were all sorts of confused after the night I had.  

The next thing I know, the dogs paw at the door.  They were done waiting!  I look over at my phone and it's 08:45!!!  Shit, shit, shit!  I fling the door open and go let them out, ran back into the bedroom and jumped into the same clothes I wore last night, turned the tv on for the dogs, handed out a treat and out the door I went!  I absolutely hate being late for anything!!!  So as I was pulling out of my garage, it was 08:53.  "I got this."

I am be-bopping down the road, lecturing myself on how I have ALWAYS gotten up when I had to and was always ready to go and "You are not getting into those kinds of bad habits now!"  Eight miles later, I'm thinking why didn't I bring a drink? I remembered a protein cookie, how am I going to choke this down?"  And for some reason I thought I better call the pharmacy before I forget.  No phone.  Shit bricks!  Nope, radio is not connected.  Phone is at home.  "Shellie, it would probably do you good to be without it for a few hours."  Okay fine.  Keep driving.  I wing my car over to the side of the road and just let the steam vent out of my ears and nose.  I'm surprised a passerby didn't call the fire department in on me.  "MY FUCKING WALLET IS AT HOME!"  I almost just went home and cancelled the whole damn day.  I was done and the fork that was stuck in me had melted.

Turned around and got the wallet and the phone and figured I would be about 10 minutes late at most.  I tried so hard to get into the music and be happy but nothing was doing it for me.  My girl text me and told me to "love life."  My answer was "fuck that."  *sigh*  For the record, I was exactly on time for my appointment and the owner says to me, "I was surprised when I got here and you weren't out here waiting.  You are always early."  Thanks for the reminder that I was late.

If you're early, you're on time.  If you're on time, you're late.  If you're late, you're not trying hard enough.

Now, for those of you that know me, you know how sensitive my feet are and how much I can't stand to get my toes done BUT they must be done!  Today they got done and it barely even bothered me.  That's one good thing for today.  The gal that always does my toes was even impressed.  The stupid moon probably has something to do with it.  I've heard it's a full moon.  I've heard it's a wolf moon.  I don't care what kind of moon it is tonight or the rest of the weekend because I can match it step for step.  I'm ready, willing and able to take on anything this weekend has to throw out at me.   

I hate today.  Don't tell me not to.  I need it just to get through it.  Tomorrow is a whole new, and hopefully better, day!

Hope you have a swell weekend..............................

And as of the close of the first week, I have lost and maintained my 4 pound loss.  There's my little sliver of sunshine.  Now............when TF is swimsuit season getting here???

The things we put ourselves through!

Hey there!  Happy 2023 to you!  I am hoping it is going wonderful for you.  I realize it's only a few days in but I am trying to have high hopes for all of you because I am not sure how to feel about this New Year just yet!

I was going to blog weekly about this process but I ramble too much so I had to cut this down to the first 3 days.  And trust me, I put myself through the wringer the first three days.  I just hope the following days have some kind of excitement in them!

I agreed to go on a diet at the beginning of the year.  My work bestie wanted to do it and I can stand to lose a little bit of weight so I thought, "Why not?  What could it possibly hurt?" Famous last words from Miss Shellie!  Well anyway, we did our planning and we both decided we would order some products that she had experience with before and had good results.  My thought was that I would blog weekly about what I go through while on this little program so if anyone wanted to follow along and read the good and the bad.  Just keep in mind that I added "the bad" onto that!

There's no crying in dieting so buck up! (I had to remind myself of this at some point) 

JANUARY 1ST, 2023 (as read from my journal so keep your hands close to your eyes in case it gets messy)

I started taking said supplements.  There was a chocolate mint mix that you put in water and drink a couple times a day, 1 capsule in the morning, 1 capsule at each meal, and a capsule at bedtime.  The one thing I was not looking forward to was that drink mix!  I don't care for chocolate and I really can't stand mint so I knew it was going to be one of those "plug the nose and drink it fast" drinks.  These supplements IMMEDIATELY curbed my appetite and took away my urge to snack (which is basically how I have been living for the last year).  They gave me that full feeling that I needed and raised my energy.  And to be honest, the drink tasted like what I think yoohoo would taste like.  A watered down chocolate milk.  No mint taste to mine so it was good enough I could drink it at leisure.

Now, when I say it was immediate, this is what I mean; I started them on the morning of Jan 1st and I didn't snack at work, had a sensible meal and when I got home from work I did the following between 00:15 - 02:00 (because I was full of energy):

- Went through the fridge and got rid of anything questionable in there and starting filling the garbage can.  

- Removed stuff off of my counters and cleaned them up real good followed by the sink!

- Emptied a very full drying rack (the rest of the world calls that a dishwasher but I don't like to use it for that).

- Vacuumed the living room floor and steam mopped the kitchen.  Have I mentioned I hate doing floors???

- Started laundry.

- Hand scrubbed and dried my bathroom floor (don't get too excited, it's a tiny room) but it's the chore I hate to do.  Floors UGH!!!  Yep, I strapped on my knee pads and scrubbed down all the cracks and crevices and pulled out the floor vent and cleaned that out.  After cleaning the toilet, even the toilet brush got a good cleaning!  I must ask this:  It is 2023, why haven't we found a way to keep the toilet from attracting hair and dust?  Why???  For the love of all that is good and Holy!

- I took down my winter shower curtain and valance and put up my regular, stand by shower curtain and hooks.  Found a new curtain  I had never used that matched in color so threw that up there (I literally done this twice deciding which one I wanted to use).  I even found the rugs that matched them all.  

I was starting to get the urge to move to my closets and purge, purge, purge!  But I held off!  I figured if I do all of this now, what will I have to do the rest of the days between now and the end of February??  Am I right??

Then I asked myself this, "Did Dana talk me into taking some form of meth?"   Because now my mind is going rampant and I need to start a list.  A long, long, long list of everything that needs to get done around here!  Is this meth?  Nope, it's Heaven!  At least for now!  I am loving this stuff!

So yeah, the list got made.  Purge clothes, washing bedding, wash blankets on the sofa, shampoo the furniture, vacuum basement steps, organize & purge holiday totes, bring upstairs trash totes down and get rid of, clean kitchen ceiling fan, get Valentine's Day decorations ready to be put out, etc., etc., etc.! 

There will be more to add to my list as soon as the weather starts getting better.  I hate winter now.  I want to wear a swimsuit and be warm.  Is that too much to ask???  So yeah, by the end of the night, I went to sleep hoping that I would wake up at a decent time and not feel groggy.

JANUARY 2, 2023

I slept pretty darn good!!!  Just like I suppose a rock would sleep!  I woke up at 05:30 and let the dogs go potty and went right back to sleep until 10:00!!!  That. Was. Exceptional!

So here I was again, going at it like it all had to get done now.  Now I have never been a breakfast eater and at 53 years young, I am not about to start now so I was a little light headed upon entering the world of awake.  I got through it though.  

Got the Winter comforter washed up and put away and dug out a couple of extra blankets to keep me warm for the rest of this miserable weather.  Started in on washing the blankets on the couch and the dog beds.  As of this writing, I have 2 more blankets to go.  

I was a good girl and got my exercises in.  I couldn't find a picture of 3 dogs in a gal's face while she is doing crunches but that's how my predicament went!  

I grabbed the curtains out of the bedrooms and got them washed and put back up.  Livingroom, dining room and kitchen are on the list to do!  I mean, why not???

I pre-made some meals (that I have yet to actually eat because I keep forgetting) to take to work so that makes life easier.  Mmmmm turkey roll-ups!

And it happened.  I got through both of my bedroom closets!  I actually purged more clothes than I thought I would and it felt amazing!  I can't wait to drop them off the next time I go south so I don't have to look at them again.  

So, again I asked myself (out loud this time), "Did Dana introduce me to meth???"  Wait till you hear what she did to me though!  She talked me into doing this "diet" with her and then puts not one, BUT TWO boxes of chocolate covered cherries in my cupboard at work.  WTF Dana???!!!  Why would you want to sabotage me? You should have done the money challenge AND THEN sabotaged me!  Duh!

I was hoping to see some kind of fluctuation in weight by the second day but that may be asking a bit too much, too soon.  I'm not a patient person but I think most people that know me, know that already.  Anyway, I did not see any difference on the scale.  

Goal weight loss for week #1 (by Jan. 8th) is three pounds.   Cross your fingers and I will suck in my gut.  -_- 

January 3, 2023

Remember, there is no crying in dieting.  I said it myself.  Well, here's where I got to remind myself of just that!  In the very early morning hours, all hell broke loose.  The bowels (pun may have been intended) of hell reached out, grabbed my soul and took it for the spin of it's life.  A long, agonizing, almost-spiritual spin, had Satan not been the one driving that bus to hell and back!

Folks, when I say it was bad, I mean it was bad.  I have done sweatin' to the oldies and I would rather do that any day compared to this!  I felt numbers and heard the voices of both yellow and green!  And I don't mean the M&M's!!!  All I could see was a mystical glaze take over me as I begged for 

to come take me away because it sure sounded like a less painful thing than what I was currently experiencing.  I mean, I am laughing about it now because... I like to laugh at myself.  It makes the pain feel like it has less of a hold on me.  

My weekly weight loss goal for myself was set at three pounds.  In a matter of 12 hours, not only did I meet that goal but I exceeded it by a pound.  I don't recommend that to anyone BUT I now have four days to maintain before starting on week #2.  And to be perfectly honest, I don't even care about having a goal for week #2.  I may just concentrate on maintaining a week or two.  Who knows.  

Now, before you get any ideas that I was putting something in my body that I probably shouldn't have, you first need to know this.  The stomach ulcer that I lovingly refer to as my volcano, reared it's ugly head. 

There could be a multitude of reasons for that.  It could have been the supplements.  It could be diet-related.  It could be stress-related.  Heck, it could have just been that my volcano needed a good eruption.  Boy, did it ever have a good one!  I have been under a little stress at work and I am diligently trying to get it worked out.  It may take some time and it may not work out in my favor.  Time and the strength of my will is going to determine this.  

So I took that day to do absolutely nothing more than I had to. Mainly because I couldn't mentally or physically do anything. But I did get some meds down and the fire put out.  

I will break here and work on the next three days.  I promise they won't all be long and boring and show all my bad decisions!