crew leader assistant

Took the final test today for my part-time Census Bureau job as an enumerator. Got the second highest score in the room! Yup. Missed two. And one of them, when I explained the way it was written was faulty and open to interpretation, was marked half right.

So here I am! Ready to roll!

I’ll be an assistant to the crew leader, meaning my job description changed mid-stream, but I’m good to go. I’m excited to earn a little money and get it put away into savings. And I look forward to being busy in the evenings.

Just one more thing to check off the bucket list. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to work for the Feds.

[Oh my heck you wouldn't have believed the food that came into the room this morning! One guy, seriously, ate two sleeves of Ritz crackers and a huge Maverik cinnamon roll and two diet Dr. Peppers for breakfast! And the gal next to me ate four of those little 100-calorie cookies snacks, [hello! that's four hundred calories right there!] two huge 48 oz. mugs of diet Pepsi, two Slim Fast bars, a pudding and a blue-lid yogurt. When she came back from lunch she had two more mugs, some brocolli [why the heck bother with broccoli now?] and two of those ginormous square ice cream bars –the Klondikes!]

It’s been a long time since I was confined in a room for ten hours a day with people who had to bring their snacks and lunch for a whole day. Very telling.

But, do those people not know that people like me are blogging?

11th

It’s my eleventh day of eating healthy. Not one thing has gone into my mouth that is sugary, fatty, processed-y or full of chemicals for eleven big ones. What a huge difference! The first week was h.a.r.d but lately it’s been easier. Today has felt almost natural. Almost normal.

And all but two of those eleven days I have exercised — except I gave myself both Sunday’s off. I’ve felt sore every single day. Good sore! The kind of sore when you know you worked out the day before and it’s manifesting itself in every single muscle today. My favorite kind of sore!

So yah.

No more rubber bands holding my snap and buttonhole together. No more ginormous overhang on my tummy. [There's still a little one!] No more tight pants pinching my cro***. No more baggy eyes. No more.

Just feeling great.

Totally worth it.

[I know, I know. I've said that a hundred times before! And given my history, I know I'll mess up again. But I'm going to enjoy right now.] And Saturday is my one year anniversary of this post. One year ago [and 341 posts ago!] I weighted 161. At the time I was trying to be a Weight Watchers Receptionist but had gained about twenty pounds a couple of years after I had reached goal. What a hypocrite! I was miserable and [dang, there's no other word to put here] more miserable! I had no idea what the coming months had in store for me. Had no confidence I could really lose weight. I was so depressed. If you don’t believe it, take a look back there. I just jumped off the cliff and decided to do it. And I’ve blogged and blogged and blogged about the struggles and the successes. Probably way too much! Sometimes I go back there and read. Totally different life now!

Right now I’m celebrating, but not with food! I’m celebrating with feeling and joy and being proud and feeling OK!

It’s OK for me to feel OK!

140!

m.o.n.d.a.y.

i love monday.

this morning i woke up well. it was a little before four. i must have slept soundly because i felt so good. first thing i noticed was i didn’t have the usual morning bags under my eyes. i showered and dressed then did dishes and laundry. i got to work ten minutes early and exercised for twenty.

monday is my favorite day. monday is the perfect day. monday is often a misunderstood day and has been the butt of jokes for decades. mondays have been maligned. mondays have been taken for granted. mondays have been treated poorly. to me, however,

monday is

refreshing
energizing
forgiving
invigorating
newness
starting over
seeing clearly
organizing
realigning
monday is my day

monday comes right after the day of rest so it naturally follows that it’s a day of feeling brand new. this monday, today, comes after a week of spring break so it is especially a feel-good day.

i’ve visited with my children and grandchildren. scott and andie were here last weekend for three days. then i drove to rigby for five days and stayed with tracy’s family. on the way home i decided to go through logan and stay overnight with mikelle and logan. i got a new haircut from my favorite beautician, had a lovely home-cooked [by logan] dinner and watched a movie with mikelle.

delightful. wondrous. amazing.

i’ve checked off things on my to do list. i’ve eaten pretty dang healthy and i’ve managed to get in some good exercise.

i’m reporting my weight to camille this morning —  141.5.

monday is also a day to reevaluate and put things in perspective for the week. it’s a day to take a step back and look at what’s working and what’s not. it’s a day to choose what’s important to me for the week. it’s a day to let go of things that overwhelm or take away or drag down.

i’m optimistic and determined this morning. i feel like i can do anything. i feel my own value and worth. i want to accomplish something extra this week. something i’ve put off. i know i will find something to turn this energy toward.

i hope you wake up well today and enjoy this brand new day!

what i did instead of stuffing

OK. For your eyes only!

It’s 8:30 p.m. and I just did 40 push ups and 100 ab exercises, a combination of sit ups, the plank, core rolls, the superman and recumbent toe touches.

Haven’t done them for weeks! I finally made myself get off the couch!

Feel so dang good!

Tonight — the first time in a long time — I’ve resisted all TV-watching-junk-food. No ‘low-calorie’ Swiss cheese [it's all gone!] No 95% fat free kettle corn. No dark and bitter cacao! No chips from the top of the fridge [again, all gone!]

Just two apples and an orange.

Don’t know where the intestinal fortitude came from to do it right tonight; I’m just tickled it came at all.

[Yay! I'm not a total hypocrite today!]

long story short

In a nutshell . . .

Went to SLC to babysit for the weekend
Went to Eddie Bauer in Park CIty
Sat for one hour 37 minutes in snarled traffic in Parleys
Went to the Gateway
Went to the 40% off sale at Christopher and Banks
Got Keziah to her triathlon. She is nine years old and did great! So proud!
Took the kids to Coldstone
Went to Quilted Bear
Went to three Robert’s Crafts
Went to Michael’s
Went to some ‘dot com’ place to exchange shorts for Blythe
Went to Sugar House park and spent time with the ducks, geese, and pigeons
Went to the Family Ball
Went to church at the Stained Glass Church

Ate healthy
Weighed 142.5 this morning
Exercised legs and abs
Worked on my taxes
Cleaned my bedroom and bathroom while talking on the phone
Washed the whites

Started working on my lesson for this coming Sunday

Feel pretty darn awesome today!

Favorite moment of the whole weekend: Seeing my niece who has been working hard to lose weight and get healthy! She was so darn cute and funny and I was proud of her. She and her husband had a hotel all to themselves yet they were heading to the gym to work out! She inspired me and I worked out hard this morning!

Received news that my sister is doing well after having a tumor removed from her colon after a colonoscopy.

Stephen was able to go to work after missing all of last week due to a pinched nerve in his back.

See, everything turns out! Eventually.

multi-tasking

What a great day! Yesterday we ran to Ogden to do a few things. I got so many things crossed off my to-do list, and did some other things that weren’t even on it.

• got a part for my vacuum from the Sears parts place
• got money out of my credit union for a payment on Mikelle’s new washer and dryer
• made that payment while I got the vacuum part! How’s that for killing two birds!
• slipped into Dillards while Scott and Andie were at the food court and bought a pair of Dansko’s I had looked at during Christmas break up in Idaho Falls. They were on sale! It took three minutes!

• bought Scott his birthday present, a Carhartt hoodie to match his green vest. [It didn't match -- there are about six different Carhartt greens. Oh well. It looks good with black.]

• bought a new Camelback water bottle with help from granddaughter, Andie, to get the correct color [lime green]

• found a tire for hubby’s snow machine trailer. Scott and I had tried three other places and had given up but on a whim I tried one more place.
• bought a darling Christmas stocking for half price that I plan to duplicate next year. So, so cute, huh Andie. We saw it last November but couldn’t justify paying $21 for one stocking! I feel much better about it now.
• bought a few more glasses at Sam’s. These are 1.75 and used for scoring. Most of my others are 1.5 and I have to wear two of them for really close-up work. I feel pretty stupid wearing two pair of glasses, so I had to get them!
• ate at Chuck-a-Rama. Delish! I had squash, four kinds of salad, a little roast beef, steamed veggies, green beans. Dilish, again!
• Then got a week’s groceries at Wal-Mart on the way home.

I feel so organized — ready for the coming week. Can’t wait to wear my new shoes to church.

And I’ve had such a good week — health-wise — that I now am the proud owner of a body that weighs 140.5! [not necessarily a good emotional week since I'm still frustrated with the whole work incident!] Even after all that food at Chuck’s and having company this weekend. I’ve exercised almost every single day. And I have been ultra careful about what foods I’m eating.

140.5! YEAH!