11.30.2009

Thankgiving and Beyond!


Thanksgiving has come and gone again.  I was blessed to spend it with the parents of my dear friend Sherry.  They have adopted me... thank you!  Sherry's father reminds me of my own in many ways... only shorter and with a southern accent.  Of course, if you trade the southern accent with my dad's farmboy speech... I think its an even trade. lol  It was a  good day all around... I only wish I knew I was getting sick...I feel bad that I now have a full blown cold and have exposed them all!  Sorry.

No Black Friday early morning shopping for me!  I went home Thursday night and put up  my tree.  Its an improvement over last year when I didn't put up one at all since I was on the road for work and then leaving for Utah.  This year, I am forcing myself to be in the Christmas mood!  fortunately I don't have to force much.  I put up my nativity... my beautiful Jim Shore nativity!  (he has a new one now... does a woman need more than one nativity????)  Tree decorating coupled with sewing on XXXXXX's present kept me late so I slept till 9:30ish... went out around 11... and while I did not have a long list with which to guide my purchases, I was out for almost 8 hours!  I'm still not sure what I was doing.  (the gold ornament is a family heirloom... I am the 4th generation to possess it)


Saturday, a lovely day trip into Pennsylvania.  With my friend Laura (another link through Sherry and her family) we did some driving around beautiful rolling countryside... saw my first Amish buggy in transit.  Lots of shopping with reasonable "buying".  And by the end of the evening...full blown feeling-like-crap head cold.  Ugh!  Vegged all day Sunday... showered but did not do my hair OR makeup (I KNOW! I was THAT sick!) and lounged about it jammies. 





17 days before I head to Utah for Christmas!  Oy... I still have lots to do!  Yikes!

11.01.2009

I wish...

...I were one of those people that just can't eat when they are stressed out.  And its not so much that I am eating everything in sight, I'm not... but my body is definately hanging on to everything... damnit.  Maybe someday I'll mean it when I say "I'm so frazzled, I think I'll eat a carrot to make me feel better" 

I have to confess that I really haven't ever tired very hard to lose weight... oh sure, I'd modify what I was eating, occasionally go for a walk or exercise... and make small changes... but I haven't ever committed and followed through.  I suppose that's true for a lot fo things in my life... most things have come easy to me... not that the challenges weren't difficult (grad school comes to mind)... the effort just came easy.  There are two notable areas in my life where that IS not true... weight loss being one, my love life (or lack thereof) the other.  Huh... wonder if they are connected.  LOL  ya think????

So, lets looks at what's come easy... perhaps there will be some nuggets I can use in the aforementioned areas that are typically difficult things. 

School... bachelor's degree; master's degree... boatloads of student loan debt but the completion of the classes came easily... I had a schedule to follow, friends in my study group that were relying on me, and grades to show me how I did.  Now, I say that it came easily... its true as long as I cared about the subject matter.  Sociology... psychology... organizational management...communication.... all things I cared about so my grades were stellar... so saith the woman who can hardly look at her Master's transcript because of a damned B+ in a Marketing class.  LOL 

Mommyhood... being a mother was not something I had planned when it happened.  I wasn't married and was alone from go, meaning no partner. Raising Anna was a joy for the most part and the moments I wanted to beat her silly were minimal and never followed through.  People have marvelled at our relationship and how great a kid she was.  Being her mom, I never gave it another thought... it just was what is was and there were no alternatives and nothing that I would change. (ok, that's not really true... there are always things parents wish they had done differently... but nothing that I think is going to send her into therapy)  Again, I followed through because, well, I had to!  I have great family and I couldn't have done it without them, but at the end of the day I was the mom and the dad.  At the end of the day I was who she needed to take care of her.  She had expectations that I had to meet.

Daughter, Sister... my family has always been close.  Not the kind of close where we're in each other's pockets, but close nonetheless.  My parents may not have NEEDED me to do the things I did for them, but I enjoyed doing them... figure I can't come close to repaying them for giving me life, keeping me alive, and supporting me through everything good, bad, or ugly.  Doing for them wasn't on a schedule and they really didn't have expectations of me except to respond when they needed something... altho I tried to anticipate their needs.

Ok... so lets thing... Rieda does well with tasks/goals when:
  1. She breaks them down into smaller chunks
  2. She has support, someone to do it with
  3. She has deadlines
  4. She has a reward at the end (great kid, diploma, life made a little easier for family)
Ok, so tomorrow is November 1st and a good time to turn over a new leaf (as there are so many blowing around here it should be easy.. November, Fall, leaves... get it?  lol  ) 

When I looked in the fridge yesterday I realized that all that's in there, aside from the standard ketchup, mustard, lemon juice, etc, is bread... oh, and milk. (please note the bread is still there because I'm not eating it)  Heck, I was even out of Diet Coke!  Now to be fair, if you open the crisper, there's apples, carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes.  Freezer contains fish, steak, pork chops, and hamburger... and frozen veggies. 

My first goal is to kick up the fruit/veggie intake.  And I MUST learn how to cook for one.  I hate it... and its tough to do (for me) having grown up cooking for a family of seven and Anna was good about eating leftovers.  I however, I am NOT good at eating leftovers unless its specific stuff.

Its daylights saving tonight and I guess that makes it only 11:30 instead of the 12:30 my clocks say...time for bed... must get more sleep too.  Welcome to November everyone!  4 paychecks till Christmas!