Bored at work. There's just not much to do after the magazine is finished. I really need to work on my freelance assignment (even though I HAVEN'T received a contract in the mail and it's been almost a week, which is plenty of time for it to get here).
I've been reading others' diet journals today and I'm feeling really bad about not modifying my diet at all. I think I've squeezed all I can out of the exercise-a-lot-eat-what-I-want method. That was good for the initial 10-pound loss, but I think I've reached a plateau. I've tried increasing my cardio to 45 minutes instead of my usual 35-40, but that hasn't done much. It remains to be seen what effect the yoga will have. Truthfully, I think the only answer is decreasing my calorie intake. Forty-five minutes is plenty of time for cardio; any more and I risk hurting my legs (which are already feeling very sore and brittle, thanks to the daily 45-minute workouts they get).
But it's going to be SO hard to eat healthfully. Mark, my fiance, is a diehard junk-food junkie. He'll eat anything, as long as it's bad for you. He insists on pepperoni pizza every Friday night, and he'll only eat salads if they're loaded with full-fat ranch dressing. Trying to feed him grilled chicken and steamed vegetables is an exercise in futility. I keep trying to tell him that he needs to shape up his eating habits - high blood pressure runs in his family and his dad was actually hospitalized this weekend for it - but he won't listen. He's developing quite a gut and he's already wearing 38-inch-waist jeans. Yet he's not fat - that's the only bit of pudge on his body.
I guess I'll have to ramrod my new diet down his throat. The next time we plan our weekly meal menu, I'm including some low-fat, high-nutrition dishes in there - he can either eat it or he can make something else himself. I'll fix baked chicken breasts with squash and zucchini. I'll use those recipes from Fitness that I've been wanting to try. I will not help him polish off that carton of Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean ice cream that's sitting ominously in the freezer. I've already taken big steps towards getting in shape, and I'm not about to stop now because of Mark's unwillingness to commit. If he wants to join me, fine, but I'm charging ahead, with or without him. This is something I have to do for myself.
The moth extermination did not happen yesterday. The apartment guy swore up and down that he'd get the bug people to come after hours yesterday, but apparently he failed. They'll be here before noon today, and you can bet your ass that I'll be coming home at noon to check. Heads are gonna roll, baby.
On a brighter note, the stuff I bought on Ebay is here. I got a package slip yesterday and all I have to do is go down to the rental office and claim it. It's a couple of bottles of a discontinued Bath & Body Works scent - Mistletoe Magic - for my sis Kat, whose birthday is like next week. I thought it would be a nice surprise. She's been looking EVERYWHERE for the scent and can't find it. She's luckier than me - I've been looking for Bath & Body Works' Gingerbread scent for two years and haven't been able to locate it yet.
The Yoga Experiment continued last night with a beginners' session at the gym. I personally prefer the Level 1 class to the beginners' level, mostly because the poses are more challenging and I feel like I'm working my muscles harder. Last night's session was full of, well, beginners, so I felt like the old expert with my 3 months of experience. My arms and legs are a little sore today, though, so maybe the session served its purpose. I am becoming a real yogi these days.
Okay, so we have a major moth problem in our pantry. Sometime this summer a few moths flew in there, and now we have a big-ass moth clan hibernating on the pantry walls. I cleaned the pantry out once without insecticide (after all, our food is in there) and hoped that would be it. That wasn't it. They started to burrow into our boxes and packages, ruining a brand-new bag of rice and destroying my appetite one day when I opened a package of ramen and found larvae setting up camp in the noodles.
Finally I decided enough was enough. I wasn't going to co-exist with these little things, though Mark seemed sort-of willing to do so. "Most of what I eat is in the fridge," he said. Well, fine, but I eat Pop-Tarts and peanut butter and lots of other non-fridge stuff, so the little bugs had to go. I emptied the pantry, dumping everything onto the dining room table, and doused it with Raid Flying Insect Spray. A few hours later, it looked the same. The moths are cocooning right now, you see, so I couldn't tell if I had killed them in their sleep or if the bug spray was simply ineffective.
So I called the apartment people, who told me a guy would be out today to spray. The hard stuff. Oh yeah, baby, professional grade. So Mark has waited at home all day for the guy, so he can tell him NOT to spray anywhere but the pantry and to please not asphyxiate the cats. The guy never shows. So at 3 I called them. Apparently, the woman I talked to no longer manages the complex, and somehow she forgot to put our name on the list. Bitch. So the guy I talked to said he would ask the bug guys to come out again and take care of us. We're still waiting to hear back.
I hate this apartment. I hate the management. I am so glad we're moving when our lease is up.
I like that I'm getting back into the swing of things - work, regular blogging, working out every day. It's like I have my little routine and I'm kinda glad to reassume it. All those holidays and get-togethers and unbridled eating were getting to me.
The Great Yoga Experiment resumes tonight with an 8:30 p.m. class at the gym. I wish I could make an earlier class, but my eight-to-five workday won't allow it. Maybe I can sneak out tomorrow for the 4:30 class, but who knows. I really don't like going at 8:30, though the instructor kicks ass. It's just so late to be working out. I hate getting home at 9:30-9:45 and then whoa, it's time for my Friends rerun and then time for bath and bed. I really liked it yesterday when I went at 12:30. Man, the gym was deserted, which is exactly how I like it. I don't need some sweaty guy running on the treadmill beside me, giving lecherous looks to all the women that pass by. But it's guaranteed to be packed today, with all those penitent holiday overeaters trying to make up for what they did last month.
There's really not a whole lot to do at work today, save for proofing the magazine and beginning to work on the employee newsletter. Oh yes, and I must make some time today to call the guy for my freelance story. So there is a little pressure.
Happy New Year! I must be getting old. Normally I would insist on having at least one alcoholic drink on New Year's Eve, but the night was surprisingly low-key. Mark and I went to my aunt's house (she's more like a friend than an aunt) and watched Halloween and Fistful of Dollars (talk about variety there). We ate Chinese too, but I was VERY careful not to overeat, even though the chicken lo mein was SO good...
Earlier in the day we went to see Bowling For Columbine at the Dobie. If you're lucky enough to have it available in your town, do yourself a favor and go see it. It's a documentary about guns in America. Amazing how it can be funny, sad, serious and scary all at the same time. Y'all, some of the people they interviewed aren't even qualified to hold a butter knife, much less a gun. And the horrible thing is that the wackier they are, the more guns they seem to have. Some guy was talking about how he made a 5-gallon bucket full of napalm in his backyard. I am totally anti-gun and I think they should be outlawed completely (though I know that's not practical or possible), so that made for interesting post-movie conversation afterward. Mark is pretty pro-NRA, so we had fun debating.
I didn't work out yesterday, because we did grocery shopping and a bunch of other crap, but I did today. 45 minutes at 3.8 to 4.0 on the treadmill and bike, plus some sprints. Felt good, but I noticed that old pain coming back in my right calf and ankle so I have to watch it. This happened months ago and I had to take a 2-week break from the gym while it healed. Don't need to be injured like that again. Maybe I'm not wearing the right shoes.
In case you're wondering, the Great Yoga Experiment is still ongoing. I haven't been to yoga since Dec. 22, though, because I was home visiting the folks and then classes were cancelled this week for New Year's. I think they start back tomorrow, so I might go. Yoga is such a great way to stay in shape. When I went running on the track back in Alabama last week, I did some yoga on the ground afterward and it really helped loosen my muscles, which got all tight when I exercised. Mark wants to do some yoga too since he can't even touch his toes, but he's too embarrassed to go to class. So I'm looking into getting a yoga tape or DVD that we can do at home until he gets more flexible.
Really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. Mark doesn't go back till the fifteenth. Man, I wish I was a student again.
Still can't figure out how to remove the "poseurs" line in the commenting area. Oh well. If Enetation doesn't fix it pretty soon, I'll just remove the link...
Yesterday was weird. No one was at work, hardly, and those that were here were goofing off. I did a fair amount of Ebay browsing and ended up buying two discontinued Bath & Body Works lotions for Kat's birthday. Around 2 p.m. I finally decided to sneak out. So I went home and Mark and I got ready to go to the gym. We turned right out of the apartment complex and stopped at the light up the road to turn left. Well, the light turns green and the guy in front of me starts going...then he stops. Right in the middle of a fucking green light. To give a dollar to the bum on the corner. So I hit the brakes and managed not to hit his bumper.
If only I had been so lucky myself.
I was preparing to hit the gas again and go when the guy behind me, in a Ford Explorer or some crap, smacks me right in the rear. No real damage, though...except a small gray mark on my white bumper. This is the second time I've been bumped in less than a month. People need to quit following so closely. And they also need to quit stopping at f'ing green lights to give money to homeless guys! All three of us gave the bum a dirty look when we got out of our cars, and he hightailed it out of there. Coward. If there had been real damage I would have done a lot worse. But it really wasn't his fault - it was the idiot who stopped to give him money. Obviously they don't realize that you can hold out a dollar no matter where you are in the line of cars and the guy will come and get it from you. No need to take the money to him.
Anyway, the guy gave me his name, phone and drivers' license number...who knows if they're correct. I'll call him if I see any real damage later. Man, people can be assholes sometimes.
Oh yeah, almost forgot ... got my first bona fide freelance assignment! I will be doing a medium-sized story for a Texas newspaper - I won't say which, but rest assured it's one of the biggest. Yay. Finally I get to do some newspaper writing again. Pay's not bad either - I was hoping for $50, but turns out they're paying me about $300! All of it's going to pay off credit cards.
Okay, I finally have the time to actually sit down and update everyone on things since Dec. 19 (the date of my last post). So here goes.
I traveled to Alabama on Dec. 23 to spend some time with my parents over the holidays. Things went fairly well - my parents have reconciled, my sister and her husband seem to be getting along, and I didn't run into any high-school acquaintances at the mall. For the most part, my vacation consisted of shopping - last minute Christmas shopping on Dec. 24, after-Christmas sales on Dec. 26. I bought all the stuff for next year's tree (all blue stuff) and even bought a Christmas tree. So I will finally have a tree next year. No more sadly stringing lights across the back of the couch, trying to pretend that it's just as festive.
Christmas stuff: I got a big velour robe from my Mom that I love. It's my favorite Christmas present. Mark got me one of those nylon chairs you take camping, so we can both sit on the porch. He also got me a Peanuts DVD set and some Warm Vanilla Sugar stuff from Bath & Body Works. Mmm. My sisters got me some B&BW stuff too (Creamy Coconut) and earrings. Before I left, I got a nifty jar of Habanero pepper jelly from my aunt. Trust me when I say it's better than it sounds.
Christmas eating: Oh, the shame. I didn't diet at all over the holidays, unless you count ordering a side salad instead of fries at Garfield's dieting. But I did go to the middle school track twice and run a bit. I got back Saturday, and you better believe that I went straight to Gold's on Sunday and did a whole 40 minutes on the treadmill (would have done 45, but my calf was hurting again and I didn't want to strain it). Believe it or not, I haven't seen any significant weight gain. The scale still has me at 129, so that's good enough for me.
I'm ashamed to say that I acted like a bitch at times during my stay with Mom and Dad. For some reason, I had a big problem with Steph's baby - my niece - coming with us to the mall on the day after Christmas. I like kids OK, but I cannot stand lugging them around in public places. Babies don't belong in shopping malls, restaurants, movie theaters, libraries or any other similar venue. They just don't. If the parents want to go to these places, they should hire a babysitter, at least until the kid is big enough not to throw a fit or start screaming. But Steph brought her daughter, and of course that really slowed us down. We couldn't use the escalator in Dillard's because of the stroller. We had to make several bathroom visits to change diapers. The table at Chick-Fil-A had to be carefully selected, to ensure there would be plenty of room for the baby.
I know I sound horrible, but that's the way I feel. And the rub was that the kid didn't even have to come. Her no-good father was at home, but he didn't want to watch her.
Anyway, hope everyone had a good holiday. More tomorrow.
Name: Jen Location: DFW, TX Occupation: Journalist WHY this stupid blog?: To lose the 20 pounds I've packed on since high school and to entertain you with stories about my fabulous life. Current Weight: 138 My Goal Weight: 115 Pounds to Go: 23
