Saturday, August 21, 2010

2010 Book Challenge Update 2

Dragondreamer's Lair is hosting a book challenge again this year. I set my goal at 40 books since last year I exceeded my goal of 35. I keep track of my books at Goodreads.com and there is a widget in my sidebar that shows my recently read books.

2010 Read List

1. Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
2. The Good Sister by Diana Diamond
3. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
4. Prevention's Sugar Solution
5. The Pursuit of Other Interests by Jim Kokoris
6. The Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure
7. Now or Never: Why we must act now to end climate change and create a sustainable future by Tim Flannery
8. Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
9. The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott
10. Chest Pains: A Novel by Janet Nichols Lynch
11. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
12. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
13. Jemima J by Jane Green
14. Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth
15. Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Friday, August 20, 2010

Halloween Challenge

I am challenging myself to meet the following goals by Halloween.

1. Increase exercise minutes by 15 min per week until reach 240 or the end of the challenge whichever comes first. I missed my 90 min goal for this week by 2 minutes so that is my first goal for the upcoming week.

2. Track carbs at least 4 days per week. Yesterday was the first day that I tracked in well over a month. I came in well within the acceptable range but my calories were low.

3. Because my journey isn't only about weight I am going to tackle the two most annoying things in our house right now. The master bedroom closet and the mountain of work paperwork.

Should pose for an interesting challenge. I will be posting updates on my weightloss blog.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Wowzas it has been awhile...

I am still around. Still reading blogs here and there but have been more addicted to Facebook again. I have stopped playing games on there so my reading is primarily just going to be through my phone from now on. That should curb some of the obsession :P

It has been a crazy few months/weeks. Not quite sure why since my work numbers are not that high but things take a lot longer to complete these days. The house is still in need of painting and a good cleaning. Oh well, not going to fret about it. We are still running up to see my MIL about every 2 or 3 weeks though and two of those trips have been during workdays for me so I think that is part of the issue. I had a nice chat with her and she knows that it isn't the easiest thing for us to come and visit all the time. Unfortunately we are the only ones that she can rely on to regularly be available to her so I think that adds to the frustration. My BIL finally went up there again (he hasn't been there since Mother's Day) and he stayed for a total of about 18 hours. I sort of broached the subject that she might want to find a service to do her grocery shopping on the weeks that we can't be there but that didn't go over too well. If she lived closer we could just place a delivery order for her online and there wouldn't be any worries at all if she couldn't get to the store. I am really hoping that when my SIL comes for a visit that they will take a trip on the paratransit bus with her so that she can be more comfortable with riding it, however, it still won't work for grocery shopping since she would need to carry all of her own parcels.

After the initial visit with my ob/gyn I have been able to get my BP controlled on a safe medication but that is about it. DH hasn't arranged for his SA. We were hoping to find out that the state mandate laws would kick in for us but unfortunately there are not enough people enrolled in his company's insurance program for that coverage so we are self pay all the way. The money that had been put aside for treatments/adoptions won't be sufficient and with the lack of work for me this year until recently we are very nervous to use that bit of cushion we do have. Our nestegg has definitely shrunk over the past 18 months and now they are talking about pay cuts at DH's office. So we are back in limbo where we aren't doing anything about it and money is the reason. I hate this place. I was contemplating getting a second job but again, just as I started to look around things picked up again so all I can hope for is that the work continues to roll in for the rest of the year. I calculated where I am at and my income is only at 2/3 of where it should be right now. Actually it is between 1/2 and 2/3 of what it was last year and last year was a low year for me.

Weight wise I am still plugging along. The doctor's official record states that I lost 14lbs since the beginning of the year... my record is more like 18 but so be it. It still isn't the dramatic numbers that most people would be achieving but it is still going in the right direction so yay for that. I am still attending my in person support group though not as regularly as work as picked up. There was some drama and I really don't want to be a part of that so I think that shaded my thoughts as well about the group. They are looking at starting fresh so we shall see what happens. I haven't been to the gym in forever... sore subject and still mad at DH about that decision because he hasn't been there either. My endo appointment went so-so. He was but wasn't happy that I lost 14lbs. He felt that if I was doing what he said it should have been more but he also thinks I should only eat green veggies and meat. No other food items. Ya...HELL no to that suggestion. He also thinks watermelon is bad so pffftt. I so failed at the summer challenge though. Right now I am working on getting my exercise back up to 180 minutes a week which needed improvement when it was at that level but I am working on 90 minutes for this week. Of course I hurt my ankle again so slowly but surely.

So not a stellar summer but I'm am not sitting in the dark crying either so yay for that.

Now, time to figure out what to make for dinner. I have at least one new recipe on the list for the week so if we like it I will share it when done.