I'm an overnight zombie!!

I have started working overnights on the weekends.  I expected to be pretty tired during the weekend but what I did not expect, was that I would feel tired all week long.  Apparently, messing with your wake/sleep cycle can really run a number on your body!  I'll get used to it, no worries there!

I will also admit, I have been eating like crap. I blamed it partially on working over nights but I know it's not really the truth.  I have been a slacker.  That is the truth.  Now, missing a few workouts last month - that is definitely due to being exhausted.  I'm not quite as tired now as I was in the beginning so I'm getting back to the gym again.  This week my daughter has been sick AGAIN, so that means I can't use the daycare at the gym.  Sheesh, talk about having everything against you!

We are getting to the end of the month and the house is really getting low on food.  I'm not going to be able to eat very well until the 1st.  I figured I'd give myself a little break from even THINKING about everything and I'll just start up properly again on the first.  I've been toying with the idea of planning out a week (or maybe a month) of meals ahead of time and shopping for that.  I'm not sure if that will work out for me though.  I am good at making the plan but not so hot at implementing it.  Either way, something has to give.  I need to get back into the routines I was in two years ago when I had so much success.

That leads me to another thing that I know has been hurting me.  Weight watcher's meetings.  I have been weighing in, but not going to meetings.  I KNOW that has been a bad thing for me.  I just need to get my butt there and sit for a meeting.  My problem lies with the fact that I need to weigh in first thing in the morning.  The other problem is that my daughter is no longer agreeable to sitting through a meeting with me.  That means I have to weigh in on one day and go to a meeting on another.  The job makes me feel like I'm missing out on so much at home so weight watchers felt like just one more thing, but I realize it's actually worse for me to miss it than to go to it.

I HAVE been keeping up with my running.  Ever since I lowered the speed to 4.5 I have been doing MUCH better!  It's still hard but not murderous!  I'm up to running for 3 minutes at a time.  I remember when that was such a huge accomplishment for me, now it feels like a big dud. :-)  I just have to get myself back to where I was and then I can feel accomplished again!

So that is the long and short of it.  I've been trying to kick start my butt back into gear but things are not going as well as I had hoped.  I'm just going to have to kick harder!  On the first, I'm going to officially start all over.  I may have said this before, God only knows, but I DO know that I am NOT going to give up.  I might start over time and time again, but the point is, I keep trying. :-)

Have a WONDERFUL day!  Thanks for reading! -Monica

The cat is out of the bag... and mine is about to go into one.

I had this post all written and my cat jumped on the computer and deleted it all! GRR!!  So that is why she is about to go into a bag - what a stinker!!  The cat that I'm letting OUT of the bag is.......I GOT A JOB!  I'm now a night shift caregiver at a residential care facility!  I always enjoyed being a caregiver.  At one point I held a CNA license but that has since lapsed.  It's hard getting used to the overnight shift but I'll get there.  I didn't work out for a single day last week.  I could smack myself in the head!  This week I'm starting all over.

I went back to week 2 on the couch to 5k program.  I lowered the speed a little bit.  Instead of running at 5.0 I am running at 4.5.  It's still challenging but it's not going to make me drop dead!  I'm REALLY looking forward to racing again!  I LOVE it SO MUCH!  The only issue now is that my work hours are not all that race friendly.  I'm sure I'll figure something out!  I have my eyes on two races, one in early May and one in early June.  I'm not sure which one I want to do more!

The other day I was in the dollar store picking up a few things.  I saw that they had some ear buds so I figured, what the heck.  My headphones had broken and I didn't have an extra set.  I got to the car with my dollar store ear buds and tried them out, not a single sound came out of them!  I know they were dollar store specials, but shoot, you'd expect them to at least work a LITTLE!  They don't do refunds there so she told me to grab something else.  I didn't want to try ear buds again, so I just grabbed some plastic Easter eggs.  I like to hang them from our big tree in the front yard.  My daughter about lost her mind when I got those.  I had no clue why she want so crazy!  In the car she kept begging me for one.  I couldn't figure out what was so exciting about a plastic egg.  I gave her one and watched the excitement on her face suddenly melt away when she realized there was no candy in the egg. HA!  She must have thought that the entire pack of eggs was filled with candy!  No wonder she was so excited!  What a silly girl!

Today is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  The sun is shining and it's in the low 60's!  I think this would be the perfect day to bring out the paints and make some paper Easter eggs for the window!  My kids will be VERY excited about this!  Especially my son, he has been begging to paint something for weeks now.

Well, I had better call it a day.  I have a lot of things to do and not much time (or energy) to do them!!
Thanks for reading!  Have a wonderful day! -Monica

Some big changes on the horizon!

I'm not quite ready to spill the beans yet, but there are some major changes that are going to be taking place around here.  They are for the good, but it's going to be tricky getting all the ducks in a row - at least at first anyway!  I'll probably explain more in depth next week, but for now - know that something is in the works!

I missed my workout today - but I've been running around in preparation for the new thing.  Remember - I've had a hysterectomy, so it's not a baby.  Don't even go there. HAHAHA!  The next two days are going to be crazy busy!  It seems like it's always crazy busy around here!  I'm going to do my run tomorrow but at the revised speed I talked about.  I was just not enjoying my runs at that speed and that is a major problem!  You have to love what you're doing right??!

Tomorrow I also go back to the pain management doctor.  I have decided not to take the medication for the breakthrough pain.  I am still getting some pain - and at times the ear pain is still pretty damned bad, but it's so much better than before.  I think I can tolerate it.  I can handle it much more than I can handle being on medication - that's for sure!

It's pretty darned late and I still have to pack my gym bag and plan my meals for tomorrow so I'm going to sign off after this brief entry!

Have a wonderful night and thank you for reading! -Monica

Big changes on the horizon. Also - I can't seem to post a new blog entry. I'm still here - just having technical difficulty.

Feeling a lot better!

Thank God, I'm feeling SO much better today!  I was still a little dizzy this morning but it seems to have backed off now!  I didn't do a full on workout - but I did make it to the gym and walk on the treadmill at a slow pace for a little while.  Then I had my hydromassage so all was right with my world again! HA!

While I was at the grocery store I checked my blood pressure on one of those contraptions that you sit on and stick your arm in the cuff.  It came out pretty good - I don't remember the exact numbers but it was 120 something over 70 something.  That really made me feel relieved!  I also went to weight watchers today and FINALLY weighed in for the week - I'm down 3.6 lbs! YAY!

This weekend I am making my son a costume for school.  They are dressing up on Tuesday to look like a character from their favorite book.  This took quite a lot of discussion in our house, but we have finally settled on "Ping" - it's a duck named Ping.  It's a super cute story.  Well, I'm going to be turning a previously worn chicken Halloween costume that I made a few years ago, into a duck.  So, the duck will have a white belly - big deal.  I'm in the process of crocheting a duck billed hat.  So far so good.  Fingers crossed that it comes out well!  He also needs a silly hat, I guess I'll be hauling out the fabric scraps and making something wacky!

It's so very late and quite honestly, I typed this HOURS ago, I just forgot to publish it. :-)  My mistake!  Tomorrow is destined to be another busy day!  I hope you all have a wonderful night!  Thanks for reading! -Monica