Day 50: A Better Start

 

Sunday October 6, 2024

Here is the link to my original Day 50. It was  Friday February 22, 2019. My headline that day was "Prepared For Battle". My cold had gotten worse so the headline referred to my stop at Walmart to pick up supplies to fight off the cold. I was happy that is was Friday and I'd have the weekend to get better ! I'm still using the "hot mess express" graphic because I'm still working on the routine I want to follow. My sleep schedule is still all over the place and I want to get back to getting up at 7 am. I read that magnesium is a good sleep aid and I have a bottle of it, so I might start taking it. I've turned on the 7 am alarm I used to use Monday through Friday, so we'll see if I can motivate myself out of bed at 7 tomorrow. That should help me get to bed earlier. I'm also still struggling with self-care, so I need to work harder on that. I'm also not cleaning the litter box every day, which is pure laziness. I also have some cleaning to do in the house. Right now I'd like to see at least a full week of meeting all the expectations I've set for myself. Only then will I consider adopting a new graphic !

I woke up just before 9 and it was 62 degrees upstairs and 63 downstairs. The temp dipped to 44 overnight, so I was expecting this. I didn't feel like I was freezing, so that was great. This winter I plan to keep the thermostat much lower and use space heaters if I need a little extra warmth. By 11 am the sun was shining bright so I opened the doors and the kitchen windows to let some fresh air in. Minnie grabbed her favorite spot on the porch to enjoy the sun.

Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was the usual 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt with a chef salad. Afternoon snack was an 80 calorie cheese stick and 120 calorie pretzels. Dinner was 260 calorie roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and carrots. Evening snack was a 140 calorie lemon zest cake with whipped cream. I also treated myself to a glass of skim milk. The calcium and vitamin D are good for you and I love milk !

After I opened the windows and doors I headed upstairs to make the bed and take a shower. It felt so good to be fresh and clean ! After I combed out my hair I made my shake and then got dressed. I also took my Fitbit apart and scrubbed the band. Then I made a 2nd cup of coffee, grabbed my yogurt and headed to the couch. After my skincare was complete I started this blog while enjoying my coffee. The plan was to get on the treadmill around 1 pm.

I think morning showers are going to be my new routine, since I'm failing miserably in the evening. Dealing with my long hair is the problem, so it makes more sense to do this during the day. I tend to linger on the couch too long in the evening and then I'm too tired. I do like putting on fresh clothes to workout, so I think I'm going to like this new routine. I will have to push myself to brush my teeth before bed.

I can't wait until I'm done with the older letsdig18 videos. I'm spending all my tv time during the day trying to get through them. Once I am done and caught up on the current videos I want to start watching some other things. I had thought about watching the old Sheepishly Me videos, but I'm not willing to commit to another marathon of trying to watch them all. I really want to watch some other things on Hulu or Disney+. I pay $20 a month for this and never use it. I'm thinking about watching Grey's Anatomy as I never watched that show and all episodes would be new to me. I pay extra for no commercials, unlike YouTube, so it'll be a more pleasant experience.

I've given more thought to my competitive nature and realized it's been a big problem during my lifetime. I have sought validation from others for as long as I can remember. I think part of the reason I allowed myself to gain the weight back is because my life didn't change. I know I've talked about this before but I'm looking at it from a different perspective now. Maybe I just didn't give it long enough. There was no Fairy Godmother to wave her magic wand and change my life. I wasn't "thin" for very long and I'm sad about that. I feel like I will not make the same mistake again, but is it too late ? People do find love later in life, but do I really want that ? Right now all I want to do is get this weight back off, slip on my size 10 jeans and enjoy the rest of my life !

By 2:20 my first workout of the day was in the books. It was 20m on the Hauru Beach Walk. I started later than planned for a couple of reasons. First was I took the time to clean the bottom of my shoes, since I had worn them out in the dirt yesterday. There wasn't a ton of dirt but there was some stuck in the crevices of the shoes that I wanted gone. Once that was done I had to address an issue with the little toe on my right foot. This bothers me from time to time and it was sore today. I tried a silicone pad on it but that just made it hurt more. I finally got out the clippers and cut off some dead skin. That ended up draining a blister than had formed too. I cut away more dead tissue and the pain was mostly gone. By the time I started the treadmill it was fine, but I'll try to keep a closer eye on it. The toe tends to develop a vertical crease that runs from the top of the toe to the bottom and I'm guessing that is why a blister formed. Going forward I'll pay more attention to clipping away the dead tissue of the crease. There was no way I was going to let a sore toe be an excuse not to exercise ! Once I had taken care of the toe I needed to walk around a bit so I watered my indoor plants and the mums outside. I need to repot my begonia and my lucky bamboo, so those tasks are on the list ! The bamboo will be easy since it's in water. I just have to trim the roots and move it to a bigger pot. I think I have one in the garage that will work.

I read last night that the death toll from Hurricane Helen is actually over 200 and that is incredibly sad. So many people were caught unaware by the devastating flooding and now another Hurricane is forecast to hit Florida Wednesday. It has the potential to be just as bad and that is horrendous news for people who are rebuilding. All you can do is stop the work and hope for the best. Insurance companies are going to be making massive payouts and that is likely going to result in increased rates for everyone in the US. I did read a story today that indicates the new storm will make landfill south of where Helene hit and they aren't expecting the devastating floods, so that is good news. It's also not supposed to move north, so that is a relief for the folks in North Carolina. Fingers crossed it's nothing more than some wind and rain !

I felt so refreshed after my workout. I think showering first was a big help mentally ! I had my lunch just before 4 pm and set a goal to get back on the treadmill at 5.

I played some Cookie Jam today and was able to just enjoy it, without chasing a challenge. I'm going to do my best to ignore the challenges and might start playing some of the other games I have. I have 5 or 6 "match 3" games on my tablet and they're all fun but the problem is the lives are limited and if you hit a tough level you can be out of lives in 10 minutes. I lean towards Cookie Jam because it's easy to get unlimited lives. Right now I have something like 56 days of free lives.

One thing that continues to weigh on my mind is getting a job or being retired. I will make a decision in the new year, but right now I think I'd really like to just be retired. The only problem there is going to be the cost of health insurance and the lack of dental insurance. I know I need some dental work done and I'm not sure I can get a decent dental policy on my own. If I start collecting social security and my pension, I shouldn't have to withdraw much from my IRA in order to cover my bills. If I don't have a job, I'll have to sit down with my financial advisor to talk about my options. I'm also thinking of just taking any job I can get, just to get dental coverage, and then quit once the dental work is done. Right now I'm living off the $21k of my severance payment that was transferred to my savings. I won't be spending my own money until that is gone, so I can't complain !

By 5:47 pm I had completed my 2nd workout. It was 15m9s in the Road to Recovery part 2 series. This claimed to burn 97 calories, while workout #1 burned 130. With the 14 minutes of warm up/cool down you have 49m9s and 301 calories burned. That's 227 for the two workouts and 74 for the warm up/cool down. I call that a successful day !

Before my workout I spent a little time petting the outdoor cats and giving them some treats. Only the 2 orange boys were out there. One is very friendly and the other is still afraid, but warming up to me. I think he sees how relaxed the older boy is. I also took the time to cook some carrots to have with my dinner. With the carrots already cooked I won't have to wait so long to eat. That's important because I often wait until I'm starving and then have to wait longer than I'd like.

With today's sun the house warmed up to 69 degrees downstairs. That's what I got to yesterday as well. The high for tomorrow is only 61 and rain is forecast, so I might need my litle heater. I also got that out before my workout and made sure I had the remote handy. I really don't want to turn the heat on yet.

Shortly before 9 pm I realized it was thundering, and when I checked the radar I could see a storm heading my way. I threw on my leggings and brought my mums inside. They are so pretty and I didn't want to take a chance on them blowing away or being damaged by heavy rain. Since I was up I also went ahead and cleaned the litter boxes. I also lit a candle in case the power goes out. I also have my older tablet and my phone charging, just in case. At this moment, I've achieved everything on the list below except taking my vitamins and brushing my teeth. I am going to try very hard to make sure I brush my teeth when I go up to bed. 

Below is what I achieved today. I am focusing on what I do each day, and not looking back to what I did or didn't do any other day.

Make the bed - x

feed cats - x

have breakfast - x

get dressed - x

exercise - x x

clean litter boxes - x

take vitamins - 

have morning snack - x

have lunch - x

have afternoon snack - x

have dinner - x

have evening snack - x

shower - x

skincare - x

brush teeth - x