Day 41: Just Another Day

 

Friday September 27, 2024

Here is the link to my original Day 41. It was  Wednesday February 13, 2019. My headline that day was "Just Believe". It was cold winter day and I was struggling to get into an exercise routine. I stated I would be happy with exercising 3-5 days per week. At that time I was still going to the office every day and arrived home just before 6 pm each day. That didn't leave much time to do anything in the evening. Today I don't have that excuse. I'm here all day and could be exercising 4 times a day ! Today I will make more of an effort to get at least 2 workouts in. My original day 41 made me a little nostalgic for one of my favorite lunch items .. the chicken fajita melt. It was so good and I used to put a little salsa on it. They discontinued it a few years ago but I still check once in a while to see if it's back.

I was awake around 8 but didn't get up until after 9 - I need to stop doing that. I really want to get up earlier, so I need to stop scrolling my phone half the night. I've been spending way too much time looking at nonsense on TikTok and Instagram. Once the cats were all fed I had my breakfast and watched some YouTube.

Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt with a chef salad. Afternoon snack was an 80 calorie cheese stick and 100 calorie crackers. I think I used to buy a different variety of cheese stick that was only 50 calories, so I was able to have 2. I need to look for those if I want to continue with cheese & crackers. I've stepped away from cottage cheese because lately the Wegman's brand seems to have so much liquid in it. I think the manufacturer is doing that on purpose to cut costs and increase profits. I'm going to buy a small container of some other brand and see if I like it. If I can't find something I like, I'll continue having regular cheese. I actually have a 1 pound block in the fridge that I need to eat, plus I still have a lot of cheese sticks so I don't need to buy any cheese for a while. Dinner was a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich and a bag of steamed green beans. I also had a glass of wine. I could have finished the bottle by filling my glass, but I opted to have a bit less than last night and I'll finish the bottle tomorrow. Evening snack was a 140 calorie chocolate cupcake. That puts my calories at 1105 plus the wine. Still a little low since my plan calls for 1400, but I'm not hungry or feeling deprived. Besides that, the sweet wine probably brings me to 1400 !

Today's news brought word of the death of Maggie Smith, who played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies. She was 89 and lived a good long life, but it's still sad. The actors that played Hagrid and Professor Snape have also passed, along with both actors who played Professor Dumbledore. The actor's who played Harry's uncle Vernon Dursley and the wand maker Mr. Ollivander are also dead, along with a couple other minor characters. It's a sad fact of age to see celebrities dropping one by one. I always remember them from their films, even if they were 30 years ago ! It's hard to believe the first Harry Potter movie came out in 2001 ! I have the entire set on DVD and I might just watch them this weekend. The first film is my absolute favorite and I never liked the fact that the movies got so dark. 

I made the bed and got dressed around 11 am, then sat on the couch enjoying a second cup of coffee. I'm doing pretty well with motivating myself to get on the treadmill at noon, so that is the plan today.

The hurricane lost power quickly and has moved into Georgia and points north. It left a lot of flooding and devastating in Florida. As yet it doesn't appear that a lot of people lost their lives, but whether it's 1 or 100, it's sad that anyone died. They say that with global warming, these devastating storms are just going to continue to get worse. One more reason not to move to Florida or anyplace that gets hit with them. We may get lots of rain or snow here, but I'll take that over hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados and wildfires. I lived through getting 10 feet of snow back in February 2007. I worked from home for 2 weeks after that, mostly because I wanted to .. lol. Our tiny snowblower couldn't clear the mountain of snow at the end of the driveway and I had to walk through the snow to the gas station around the corner to get gas for it. A good samaritan came along and plowed it for me. I can't remember if we gave him money or not. It was only the 2nd winter in our home so we were a little shocked by the snow, even though our area was considered "the snow belt". I haven't seen snow like that again and in recent years our snowfall has been below normal. I'm ok with that. The experts attribute it to global warming, yet warmer waters should mean more snow. In the fast couple of years a lot of the snow has been north or south of me. I guess being in between Lake Ontario and Oneida Lake has some benefit, since many major storms miss my little town. I'm grateful for that ! Brrrr .. I do not want to think about snow and winter yet !

I checked in on my finances this morning to ensure my credit card payment posted. I also scheduled a transfer from savings to checking to cover my mortgage payment. I'll have to schedule another on the 1st to cover taxes and the few bills that are due to the first part of the month. I'm waiting until the interest credit posts, then I'll move the money.

I made my shake just before noon and got my fat ass on the treadmill to start part 2 of the Road to Recovery series. It was 15m8s at mostly 2.2 mph. It popped up to 2.3 briefly with about 3 minutes to go. When it dropped from 2.3 to 1.5 with 2 minutes to go, I bumped the speed back up to 2.3 for those last couple of minutes. I was able to manage that speed just fine, so on my next workout I'm going to increase the speed to 2.3 mph for the duration of the workout. These workouts start at 1.5 mph for a brief period and at this point I'm not overriding that. I'm going to try getting back on the treadmill at 3 pm. It's 12:29 now, so we'll see how that goes. Mission accomplished, but I didn't make it to my 2nd workout until just after 6 pm. It was 15m54s with the usual 3 minute warm up and 4 minute cool down. Even though the programmed speed was 2.2 mph, I increased it to 2.3 for the duration of the workout. I was able to keep up just fine, though my left hip gave me a couple twinges towards the end. I will monitor that going forward as I don't want to end up having to not workout due to pain. Total workout time today is 31m2s plus 14 minutes of wu/cd, for a total of 45m2s. I will take that !

One thing that is getting in my way is my phone. I am spending entirely too much time (again!) scrolling endlessly through Instagram and lately, TikTok. I got into TT because of the Chase bank "glitch" (ie: check fraud) that started a couple weeks ago. Basically, a bunch of idiots heard you could mobile deposit a check and the funds would be 100% available immediately, whether you had the funds in your account to cover the check or not. These morons deposited checks, made ATM or branch withdrawals and some moved the money to things like CashApp or Venmo so they could spend it all. Well, the fallout is accounts with negative balances that are now closed. CashApp's and Venmo's are also closed due to fraud and any legitimate money is their accounts was taken to satisfy some part of the fraudulent withdrawals. Some people will face arrest for check fraud due to the large amounts, as rumors say some are in the 6 figures. Most all who committed this fraud will never be able to get a bank account again. Some claim all forms of public assistance will also be stopped. So now everybody and their brother is making TikTok's about the fraud. Some claiming to have committed fraud and other claiming to work in the fraud department at Chase. So I fell into the trap of watching these video's on TT, but it stops now. I'll check in on Instagram but I'm going to avoid the "reels" section. I'm not going to open TT at all. In other news, the mayor of NYC and a bunch of other officials are under indictment or investigation for corruption. Shocker ! Fraud exists at every level of our government, from the President to the lowliest village official .. and there is little we can do about it. The mayor must have pissed off the wrong person - likely Trump and other Republicans. I say good riddance to him and all his cronies !

Just after 1 pm I cleaned out the sink and put the plastic ware to soak. I also put what I can in the dishwasher. I could have put the stainless steels pan in there, but it's just as easy to wash them by hand. Once that was done I cut up my salad, had my melt and played some Cookie Jam. I put that aside about 2:15 to have my salad, with plans to get back on the treadmill at 3 pm. 

Just after 3 I got up to head for the treadmill, but decided to wash the dishes first. I was done with that by about 3:40, so I sat down to have my afternoon snack. There is still a lot to be done in the kitchen, but clearing away the dirty dishes was the first step. With that done, I will be able to move forward with other tasks until the entire kitchen is spotless. I plan to be on the treadmill by 4:30. My vitamins are a mess so I need to sit down tomorrow and reload the 7 day dispenser and start taking them every day. 

Mission accomplished, but I didn't make it to my 2nd workout until just after 6 pm. It was 15m54s with the usual 3 minute warm up and 4 minute cool down. Even though the programmed speed was 2.2 mph, I increased it to 2.3 for the duration of the workout. I was able to keep up just fine, though my left hip gave me a couple twinges towards the end. I will monitor that going forward as I don't want to end up having to not workout due to pain. Total workout time today is 31m2s plus 14 minutes of wu/cd, for a total of 45m2s. I will take that !

I may note have made it to my scheduled workout on time, but all that matters is that I did it ! Before the workout I took the time to dry most of the dishes and put them away. I left the bowl lids out to air dry. I also washed the rubber gaskets for my water bottles, as they tend to grow mold. I need to clean them more often or at least check them more often as the one on the bottle I've been using had a fair amount of mold on it. I don't think it touches my water, but it's still gross. I may try swapping water bottles every couple of days and see if that helps. I have two that I rotate.

The best part of the day is taking my shoes and socks off ! Today was a good day since I finally started getting some things done around the house and I'm putting more effort towards my exercise program. Diet is going well too. I did eat pretzels in bed the past 2 nights, but the bag is about gone and I'm done with that. I also treated myself to a glass of wine last night. I don't often do that but I just felt like having one. I will likely finish the bottle with my dinner tonight.

It turned out to be another nice day. It was chilly this morning but the sun came out and it turned into another sunny warm day. I opened all the windows late morning but closed them all around 6 pm to keep the warmth in the house. It's supposed to hit 75 tomorrow but there is some rain in the forecast. Speaking of which, it doesn't look like we'll get any rain from the remnants of Helene, though that could change at any time.

I called today's blog "Just Another Day" because Friday is just like any other day now. It doesn't signal the end of the work week, so TGIF has no meaning for me now.

Today has been a good day. I'm happy I got 2 workouts in and I got the dishes done. Tomorrow I will spend more time in the kitchen as the fridge needs to be wiped down and the stovetop needs to be cleaned better. I also want to clear all the junk off the kitchen table. I think I can put away the battery & charger for the lawn mower but I'll keep the one for the weed trimmer out for now. Once the kitchen is clean I will address the cluttered dining room table. 

Below is what I achieved today. I am focusing on what I did today and not looking back to what I did or didn't do yesterday. I changed up the checklist to only list exercise once. Each x equals a completed workout.

Make the bed - x

feed cats - x

have breakfast - x

exercise - x x 

clean litter boxes - x

take vitamins - 

get dressed - x

have morning snack - x 

have lunch - x

have afternoon snack - x

have dinner - x

have evening snack - 

shower - 

skincare - 

brush teeth -