March goals

So, things are finally starting to calm down around here.  I feel like I have post traumatic stress disorder.  I can’t really remember much of January at all.  A friend reminded me of a conversation we had, and a committment that I made, and I honestly do not remember making it at all.  That scared me a bit.  Too young to be doing the senile thing already.  So I have decided to go with post traumatic stress.  Yep, that’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.

Anyway… I mentioned in an earlier post that what I always seem to do in January and February is gain weight.  All of that sitting and eating and number crunching do nothing positive for my posterior area.  I thought I was doing better this time, all that skiing and such should be enough to make up for the fast food, but then…I stepped on the scales yesterday morning and it wasn’t pretty at all.  Frightening in fact. 

So, I am starting fresh with March.  I have set myself some goals I hope to be able to maintain.  In two months it will be our 20th wedding anniversary, and while we haven’t planned anything terribly exciting, I am using that as my ending point. 

I have this thing about starting new things on the first of the month or the first of the week.  I can’t start something new in the middle of the week.  Is that strange?  Probably.  I know there must be other people out there similarly challenged like me, so hopefully you won’t relegate me to the loony bin. 

But, I digress.  My goal is to lose about 15 pounds and I plan to do this by a bit of dieting and a lot of exercising.  I have a lovely spare room in my home equipped with a treadmill and a weight machine.  It is my goal to actually use that room every day this month.  There, I said it, I can’t take it back.  I must now be held accountable.

I started off Monday quite well. So good in fact that I shed three pounds in one day.  I know, water, but let me just pretend.  Water or not it is three pounds less than I weighed Monday morning.

Today I got my exercising in early, but Wow! did the dieting blues hit me in the afternoon.  I drank so much raspberry tea and water trying to curb the mid afternoon hunger pains.  Then, a bout of sleepiness hit me.  I tell myself that it is the toxins in the cellulite burning off of my butt that is causing the lethargy.  Isn’t sleep supposed to help you burn fat?  Alas, I was at work, no sleep for me.  Just drinking more water so that I could make the frequent trips up and down the stairs to the restroom just so I could stay awake.  Now, it is only eight o’clock and I am imagining myself in a bath – then bed.  Just can’t seem to shake the drowsiness even after dinner.

One of my other goals was to increase my blog time and learn how to navigate around this thing.  I have a good friend who helped me set this up, and she now has to come over and help me learn to run it.  So, expect more updates on the diet.  The weather is supposed to be dry this week, shock, so I think some outdoor exercise might be in order.  Hopefully pictures will be coming soon.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Most people I know really love the first of the year.  It is a time for new beginnings, new habits, it feels like a clean slate.

Not so me.  I am a bookkeeper.  Instead of being excited about a new year, I get to live in the previous year for a month and a half.  From the last week of December until the middle of February my life becomes a blur.  I burrow myself in my home office, drink tea, gain weight, and crunch numbers.  I am just now getting used to writing 2010 because I spend so much time still residing in 2009.  (Which reminds me, are we saying two thousand ten or twenty ten?  I think the verdict is still out on that one.)

This year to give me some hope and a goal, we planned a ski vacation over the long weekend ending in President’s Day.  One of the great things about the Pacific NW is the great skiing that we have right in the backyard.  We rented a house in a vacation community just a few miles from Mt. Bachelor in Oregon.  It was about a four and half hour drive, but well worth it.

We had a great time.  I did take some work with me, and even my cell phone. Didn’t do the work, but I did answer my cell phone.   I blew a few clients away when I answered their phone calls while swishing down the slopes. 

“Why is it so windy?”…  “Where are you?”….”Oh, don’t mind the noise, I’m just skiing……….ha ha ha!”

I did learn a few things on this trip that I thought I would pass on:

1.  Renting a private house is the way to go.  We got a house that would sleep six people for $110 per night.  The house was fantastic!!  Make sure you see pictures.  Our place was actually better than the pictures. 

2.  If you are going to ski for more than one day in a row, make sure the house has a hot tub.  It is so nice to have a private hot tub right out of the backdoor.  Less people to see you in a swimsuit.  Besides, if you are over thirty and ski for three days in a row, you will not survive without one.  Ibuprofen is also a must, lots of it!!

3.  There are great deals on ski passes if you do your research.  We found that if you bought an adult pass where you ski three days of five consecutive days, you get a free pass for a child up to 18 years of age for the same time period.  Our son was able to bring a cousin who was able to ski for free.  It worked out to about $25 per day per person, which is a great deal compared to the usual $64 per person.

4.  Bring your own food.  We went shopping before we left and planned each night’s dinner.  We had spaghetti, tacos and t-bone steaks.  We made a really big breakfast each morning, and also packed a light lunch to take in the lodge.  The food at the lodge can be very expensive.  We saved money so we could buy some t-shirts and hats for souvenirs.

5.  Most people already have a DVD player, and I really recommend getting one for a long trips if you don’t.  We do a lot of driving, so we love having one.  I stopped at Target in Bend on the way home and just happened to hit a $9 movie sale.  We had all kinds of new material for the drive home. 

It was really hard for me to plan for this trip when my husband suggested it, but I am so totally glad I did.  I was afraid I wouldn’t get all of my work done in time, but instead it gave me a goal to work towards, and I accomplished everything I needed to before we left for the trip.  Looking back, I don’t know if I would have survived if I didn’t get that break.  I might try to post some pictures later when I figure out all of this website stuff.

White leggings…

One discussion I have a lot with my gal pals is what fashion trends we hope will never return.  That’s why I could hardly contain myself the other day at the hair salon when I overheard my hair stylist ask her assistant to find her some white leggings.  I choked on my tea and tried not to laugh.  After all, I did have perm rods and solution in my hair and if I didn’t want to walk out of the salon looking like I stuck my finger in a light socket, it was in my best interest to clam up.  Thankfully, as the conversation continued, it seemed she wanted them for Halloween, which was appropriate…there should not ever be another occasion for them to be worn. What really surprised me was her disbelief that her assistant hadn’t been able to find them anywhere.

Now, I know she is only a few years older than me, and yes, we were teenagers in the 80’s, when all things truly hideous were in fashion.  Neon, spandex, lace gloves, big hair, and leggings.  I know these things are coming back; I just don’t want to be part of it.  Except maybe for the big hair, I have always had big hair.  However, I don’t ever want to see white leggings again.

I have always wondered whose bright idea it was to make the first pair in white.  Was it the same person who decided to make them black, navy blue and charcoal grey?  Highly unlikely.  But it must be the same person who also decided that they should be made in spandex material and in plus sizes.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am not size discriminating.  In my opinion, they look terrible on everyone.  Ok, maybe they are cute on chubby little baby girls at six months old, but that will be the only time in your life it should be socially acceptable to wear them.   Cellulite is something that comes to all of us in one sort or another at some time in our lives.  Leggings in general are not the most flattering of clothing items, but at least black will hide the cellulite.  White leggings just put it on display for the whole world to see.

The other problem with white leggings is what to wear under them.   Is your mind conjuring up all sort of terrible images right now?  Mine is. Ever been to the web site that shows you what people wear to Wal-Mart?   The horror of black thongs under white leggings is forever burned into my brain.   Even if your undergarments are white they will still show.  And for those of you thinking it, commando isn’t even an option to be discussed.  

I am hoping that if we have to revisit some of the 80’s trends that white leggings will not be one of them.  I am hopeful, but they make be lurking out there somewhere just waiting for someone to make them fashionable again.  Be afraid, be very afraid…….