Day 4 through 8 - Begin Again

 

Today is the 8th day of my latest effort to lose the weight and stick to the Nutrisystem plan. I originally prepared this blog to document the beginning of a new job, but over 2 months after being laid off there is no job in sight. Therefore, I am choosing to use this for something positive.

After a busy weekend in Pennsylvania, I've given myself today off from the treadmill. I will resume that effort tomorrow.

I last wrote on Wednesday July 31. Thursday August 1 was spent getting my things together to go away and that meant a trip to Walmart. I bought snacks for the trip and didn't eat most of them. The bag of Chex Mix I had is still unopened. I came home with a 4 pack of chocolate chip muffins I had bought. I had one of those for breakfast today. I also bought a small bag of fun size candy bars and that was never opened. The candy won't spoil so it can sit in the fridge for now. Friday August 2 was the day we left and I had to be out of the house at noon, so I had a busy morning making sure the outdoor cats had enough food and water and also Minnie. I turned my Eufy cameras inward so I could keep an eye on Minnie while I was gone. That worked out because they captured at the food bowl several times. She did knock over one camera so if I ever go away again I'll have to rethink where I position it. I live in a really safe neighborhood so I wasn't too worried about anyone breaking in, but it's nice to have all the cameras to keep an eye on things when you're away. I also have lights on all night outside several doors, so the property is well lit.

So I left here at noon on Friday, picked up the mail, stopped at Walmart to buy an umbrella and then headed to Rich's house. He was working so we didn't actually get on the road until about 2 pm. We had to stop 2 times to charge the car and we also stopped to eat dinner at a place called Hoss's Steak House. Food was good and the price was reasonable. I had a flat iron steak for the first time and it was delicious ! We got to our hotel shortly after 9 pm. It was an old motor lodge but it was very clean and I had zero complaints. The room had a fridge and microwave, which was nice because I was able to keep my cheese snacks, candy bars and drinks cold. Our only complaint was a strong chemical smell from something they sprayed. I'm thinking it's for bed bugs and I'll take the smell over bed bugs any day ! Weather was hot and humid all weekend and although Saturday brought rain on off, it seemed to come in between our stops, so it never interfered with our plans. We had breakfast at a local place Saturday morning and food was great. I had scrambled eggs, bacon and french toast. After breakfast we walked over to the Walmart in the plaza, because I had somehow managed to leave my bag of toiletries at home ! So I had no baby wipes, make up, q-tips, comb, shampoo etc. I had the essentials: skin care, deodorant, shower gel and my toothbrush & toothpaste. I spent $45 at Walmart and the only thing I actually ended up using was the baby wipes I bought. I bought makeup and never used it, since it was so hot and I knew I would just sweat it all away. That was fine since I needed some new mascara and brow gel. I also bought a new shade of eye shadow to try. I have a ton of the pink shadow that I've worn for years but I want to try something new. At noon we went on a 90 minute train ride on the Everett Railroad and they served us a box lunch consisting of an amazing hamburger, chips and a bottle of water. It was included with the $60 ticket. They sold beer & wine on board so I had a Miller Lite. We later stopped at a local microbrewery to kill time before the baseball game. I had a flight of beer. While we were enjoying our beer rain moved in. By some miracle it moved out shortly after 5 and we headed over to the ball park. By the time we were in our seats the rain was gone and the sun came out ! It ended up being a great night for a ball game, even though the home team (the Altoona Curve) never scored. We all bought t-shirts and changed into them for the game. I happened to be sitting alone in our row when one of the team mascots (Loco) plopped down into the seat next to me. I fumbled around to find my phone in my bag and managed to get a picture. Loco looked great but I was showcasing my double chin and fat cheeks. Ugh - I am so mad at myself for gaining all this weight back ! Barb and Rich came back to their seats just in time and Barb was thrilled to get a photo with him as it was something she really, really wanted. We ate hotdogs and fries and I bought some cinnamon roasted pecans. I was glad to crawl into my bed after the game as it had been a long day, but I took the time to pack everything I could before I got in bed since we were checking out Sunday morning. I brought my tablet with me so I could play Cookie Jam and that really helped me be able to relax and sleep. TV was good, they had cable with plenty of channels so that was nice too. I slept in until 8 Sunday morning but after a quick shower I was ready to go. I'm glad I packed the night before ! We had breakfast at a local diner (Tom and Joe's), which was reasonably priced with great food. The place was packed the entire time we were there, so it's clearly popular with the locals. After breakfast we visited a working railroad roundtable, which was unfortunately not in use on a Sunday morning. We also saw a trash train from NJ pull into the yard for a crew change and Rich surmised they were heading to the Horseshoe Curve, which is the historical railroad site we came to see. This was the last item on our weekend itinerary so we headed there to see if we could beat the train. We did .. just. Getting to "the curve" itself meant walking up 184 steps and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it. You know me, I never think I can do anything hard. I did do it and I did better than I expected. Barb had to go back to the car to change from her flip flops to sneakers, so Rich and I started walking up, since we're heavier than her ! Rich was counting steps and we got to 66 before I had to take a break. After a couple minutes we continued on and got to about 122 before I had to stop again. It was a short break though, as we heard the train coming. I hustled my fat ass up those stairs and we got to the top just in time to see the trash train coming in. Was it easy ? Nope - I barely made it. However, I did make it and I recovered my breath faster than expected. We saw about 6 trains while we were up there. Just as we were going to leave a train was coming in so we decided to stay for "one more" and boy we were glad we did ! We ended up seeing 3 trains at once, so all the tracks were in use at the same time ! The real railroad nerds at the site were losing their minds over it. There were many people with cameras on tripods set up to capture each train. I have to admit, it was very cool to see 3 trains coming through at the same time. One was hauling coal, one was hauling fuel and the 3rd, on the center track, was an Amtrak train. The freight trains were headed east and the Amtrak was headed west. We left after the trifecta of trains and it was a perfect way to cap the day. Once back at the bottom we discovered a museum about the site and the air conditioning inside was a welcome relief from the heat. I was pretty overheated but recovered by the time we left the museum. I was glad we had cold drinks in the car ! On the way home we made the same 2 charging stops, which were surprisingly easy and didn't take that long. One was at a car dealership in Painted Post, NY and the other was at a Sheetz gas station/convenience store somewhere in PA. We also stopped in Ithaca to have dinner at a place Rich likes, called Spiedies & Ribs. That didn't go well as it turned out Spiedie Fest was going on ! The restaurant was out of sub rolls, so the spiedies were served on pita bread. I wanted a pulled pork sandwich and they didn't have any, so I had to get a spiedie. It was good but pretty messy to eat. I ended up bringing more than half home, along with half of the fries. I was back home around 9:15 pm and first order of business was cracking a can of canned food for Minnie. I took my bags out of the car and left them in the garage while I fed her. I also got fresh water for the strays. None of them were around so I didn't put out any canned food. Once Minnie had eaten, I vacuumed the carpet in case any fleas hatched while I was gone. Then I worked on emptying my bags. I decided not to bring them in the house right away just in case there were any bed bugs in the room. I saw no evidence of them, but you can never be too careful. I threw my clothes in the washer and transferred everything else to other bags to bring them inside. Shortly after 10 I was comfy on the couch in my nightgown with Minnie on my lap. She doesn't sit with me for long but I know she was happy to see me. I ended up sleeping on the couch as I was too tired to shower or vacuum the carpet in my room. That brings me to today.

Day is day 8, and as I mentioned, I've given myself the day off from the treadmill. I was going to mow the lawn but a rain shower at 8 am put an end to that thought. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be dry so I will get the lawn mowed soon, unless Doug happens to come by.

I look pretty ridiculous right now as I got some sunburn while we were watching the trains yesterday. My nose is bright red ! I had capri length leggings on, so my legs didn't get burned. It's just the exposed skin on my face, forearms, ears, neck and chest. It's nothing extreme so the redness will fade in a couple days. Rich & Barb want to go back again next year, and if they invite me to go I plan to weigh a whole lot less ! I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be, but it would have been much better if I were 100 pounds lighter !

With "vacation" over, I need to buckle back down and work on applying for jobs. That will be this weeks agenda. I also checked in on my bills and my bank account this morning. What I have in my checking should cover this month's bill, but I'll have to start dipping into my savings when September rolls around. It will pain me to start spending my savings but hopefully I will find a job soon. I didn't deny myself anything while on vacation but I also didn't spend foolishly. I bought 3 very reasonably priced t-shirts and that was it for souvenirs.

This morning I enjoyed 2 cups of coffee and 2 chocolate chip muffins while my clothes ran through a second wash and the then dried. I only did the second wash because I left them in the washer overnight and stuff was drying and wrinkled. Once everything was dry I took a shower and washed my hair. I hadn't washed my hair since Thursday, so it was time. I didn't plan on washing my hair while I was away but I had planned to bring all the stuff to do that, just in case. Although the motel provided packets of shampoo, I didn't have everything else I would have needed (comb and mousse) and it worked out in the end.

I found live fleas on Minnie today, so I put more flea treatment on her. I need to buy some fresh as what I'm using is several years old and probably not very effective. I will continue vacuuming every day to ensure they do not get completely out of hand.

On the job front, I have a phone interview Friday at 10 am for a telecom expense management job with a small company out of PA, of all places ! I also applied for a billing specialist job with Dow Jones. I'd love to get the DJ job as it's not telecom and it likely pays more the the job I'm interviewing for. We'll see how that goes !