Day 148 & 149: I Made It Through Christmas !

 

I had so much hope for 2024, but I haven't accomplished anything. I failed miserably getting back on my diet and exercise program. I lost my job. I can't seem to keep my house neat, though I'm trying. Here is a link to my first post of 2024: New Year  I feel like I'm still in the same place. I started and stopped so many times and I have yet to "get it right". I am going to be starting 2025 with the same goals as 2024 .. and 2023 ... and probably 2022. I have to pull myself out of the hole I've dug and start this final section of life: retirement. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking I will magically find a job in the new year. In all honesty, I don't want a new job. This means I have ZERO excuses not to fully devote my life to losing the weight. I have nothing but time. I do not want to end 2025 in the same place. I want to be thinner and happier.

I wrote the paragraph above on 12-16-24. I'm going to repeat it in every blog through 12-31-24.

It's the day after Christmas and I can't say I'm sorry it's over ! It was very stressful because I left everything until the last minute. I really am going to try and do better next year. I spent today doing nothing. I really just needed a day to relax, so I watched YouTube and played Cookie Jam. Nothing new, but relaxing nonetheless. Honestly, I am glad it's over. I am such a hermit in the winter !

I spent Christmas Eve with Rich & Barb. I didn't head to their house until about 3 pm because Rich was working and Barb was making her lasagna. We had a nice dinner (ham, salad, mashed potatoes) and we had shrimp and other appetizers that I brought. We watched Holiday Inn and Scrooge and just relaxed. My Christmas Cheer was a hard cider and a beer ! I left about 10:30 and got home shortly after 11. Weather was perfect, so that made it a stress free day ! Christmas dinner was at Kim & Joe's house and everyone was there except Alyssa & Erin, who came later. I got there about 2 pm and everyone headed out just after 7. Dinner was Barb's delicious lasagna, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, corn, rolls and baked artichokes. I make the gravy every year and it came out perfect ! Dessert was cookies and ricotta pie. I only exchanged gifts with Kim's family but I got a lot of nice things. New flannel sheets, an electric kettle with a variety of teas, no-show socks, new slippers, foaming hand soap, wine, a Christmas ornament and a Wegman's gift card. Weather was perfect yesterday too, so I was happy about that. Kim & Joe are hosting New Year's Eve, so I need to think of something to bring for that. Weather looks to be fine that day ! It will be my "last hurrah" as I plan to start my diet & exercise program on January 1. I'll start the day with a photo, a weigh in and a new blog ! I will only be adding 5 more entries to this blog and then I'm moving over to the new 2025 blog.

Tomorrow I'm going to make some tapioca pudding. I've been craving it for a while and I want to have it before my diet restart. I also have to add a footnote about the bang bang chicken I got at CopperTop. In retrospect, it was not that good. There wasn't enough sauce and the chicken was dry. It looks like they took a pre-cooked chicken breast and just tore it up and threw it on top. It was clearly not freshly cooked. I ended up freezing the leftovers and will likely end up tossing it, which is sad for a meal that cost $18. I am so done with fast food and take out. If I want that dish again, I'm going to sit my fat ass in the dining room of the restaurant and eat it. Better yet, I may look for a recipe online and make it myself ! Every craving I've tried to indulge this year ended in disappointment. Every time I wanted DQ it sucked. Every time I wanted McDonald's it sucked. I had chinese one night and that sucked too. Now the CopperTop debacle. Alyssa didn't seem pleased with the gift card I got her, so now I'm wondering if she doesn't like the place anymore. She didn't even say thank you. Neither did Erin. Oh well. Next year I will ask for gift recommendations.

I'm not sorry to see 2024 come to a close. My life has changed and I need to pull myself out of this rut and make the best of it. Shifting my focus to diet and exercise is not going to be easy, but it needs to be done. I do not like the way I look and feel. I can't spend the rest of my days sitting on the couch getting fatter and fatter. I want to get back into my nice clothes and be proud of the way I look. I want to feel energetic again. I want the aches and pains to go away. Losing weight and getting fit is the solution and I'm going to do it. Today I was sitting here thinking that I have nothing to eat in the house. Well, not true. I have plenty to eat. What I don't have is junk to snack on. No cookies or pie, aka carbs ! January 1 is going to be a rude awakening, that is for sure. Tomorrow I will make tapioca and enjoy that for a couple days but I'm not buying any more junk at the store. I still have 5 pizza crusts and if I'm careful I should have enough sauce, cheese & pepperoni to make them.

So what did I eat today ? Breakfast was the remains of the cheese danish and much later a yogurt. Lunch was a pizza. Dinner was leftover ham and mashed potatoes with gravy. Evening snack was a chocolate cupcake with whipped cream. As I write this I'm snacking on cashews.

I did manage to take a shower today ! That is 3 days in a row. I definitely need to continue taking care of this in the early evening before I get tired. Tomorrow is going to be a day of some self care. My feet desperately need attention so I'm going to soak them and scrape off some of the dead skin. I really need to do this more often, especially in the winter. My feet always feel so amazing afterward. I'm just lazy about doing it.

On a somber note, Laurie's husband is in the cardiac ICU. Apparently she ended up taking him to the hospital yesterday. What a way to spend Christmas ! She almost lost her mother at Thanksgiving, so this is stress she does not need. She hasn't lost her job yet, so that is a good thing ! She is the bread winner in her family, so if she is laid off it would be devastating. The cynic in me says they're just keeping her until whoever is taking the work is fully trained, but we'll see. Hopefully they realize how valuable she is and keep her for a few more years.

There is not much else to record here. I am feeling better physically, but as I mentioned earlier I am very uncomfortable in this fat body. My boobs are back to being huge and so heavy. I hate it. I can't wait to get back on the treadmill and start moving. Goal for tomorrow is to get my feet in shape. Over the weekend I will shop for lettuce and other veggies, along with whatever I need for New Year's Eve. I happened to see a recipe for Cheesy Chicken Bacon Ranch dip, so I may make that.

I can't say I didn't enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, because I did. Spending time with my family always makes me feel better. As always, the stress associated with the holidays was self inflicted. I have the power to change that. Next year I will shop earlier and be more thoughtful. I will bake earlier and maybe try some new things. Everyone makes a ton of cookies but they're not to my taste, so I end up not enjoying them. They like soft cookies and I really don't. I really want to make the biscuit style cookies that Aunt Ann used to make, since those aren't shared. Alyssa makes them now but for whatever reason they must be in short supply. I managed to get the recipe but it calls for 5 pounds of flour and a dozen of eggs .. so the recipe clearly makes a ton of them. So where do they all go ? I'm assuming Alyssa shares them with Joe's family. Honestly, I'm not impressed with her baking skills, so I don't even know if they're any good. I found a recipe with the same ingredients in smaller proportions, so I'm going to try it. They're not a super sweet cookie, which is what I like about them. They're soft but they're not wet, like many of the cookies everyone else makes. Whatever happened to golden brown cookies ?!?!?!

Oh well. It's after 10:30 and I'm tired, so it's off to bed for me. I'm looking forward to my foot spa tomorrow !