Weigh In Wednesday #8

Today was weigh in day.

And as expected, there was a gain, 2.2 lbs to be exact.  Not great but not the end of the world either.

Next week will be better.

This popped up as a memory on Facebook today, my Grade 7 class picture.  I am second from the left in the back row.  I have a lot of wonderful memories from junior high school and seeing this picture just brought some of them back. 

I had my appointment today for my blood work results just after lunch.  As expected, I don't have strep throat or any other bacterial infection for that matter.  There is some inflammation but basically the sore throat is viral and therefore I will just have to let it run it's course.  So no meds.

However, the Doc was concerned because my liver enzymes were high.  As soon as he said that it reminded me that they found the same thing when they did the health screening blood work on me at work 2 years back.  At the time they told me not to be overly concerned but to let my Doc know and just to keep an eye on it.  I rarely go to the Doc so I completely forgot about that until just today.

Anyway, he wants me to go for more blood work next week and to have an ultra sound of my abdomen.  He said not to be too concerned but he does want to check into it.

Funny how a health scare makes you think funny things.  I am certain everything will be fine but at work this afternoon after the appointment I started thinking that maybe the aspartame that everyone has always warned me about (and I always ignored) is finally catching up with me.  Or maybe I take headache pills (ibuprofen and acetaminophin) too much.  Or maybe I have cancer....and so on and so on.  If I let it, my mind just kinds of runs away with all these crazy scenarios.  So I had to dial it back and remind myself that this is just precautionary and it is more than likely nothing at all to be concerned about.

They called from the clinic right away this afternoon so I have an ultra sound booked for next week so I won't have to wait too long to find out anyway.  I did a bit of googling tonight and I am feeling better about the whole thing.  No sense worrying about something I have no control over and I will just deal with whatever happens as it happens.  Everything is going to be alright.

I hopped on the treadmill right after work to get my hourly steps in, went back upstairs and started watching Ellen (I Love the Ellen Show).  I decided to go right back down and just get my work out done and over with so that is what I did.  I didn't even take time to change into work out clothes as that would have caused delay and I didn't want to have the opportunity to change my mind.

I did the work out that was on the schedule for yesterday:

 5 min brisk walk

4 x 5 min run with 1 min walk inbetween

5 min cool down

It was just slightly uncomfortable because of my throat and my mouth would get really dry but I did it and it felt good - just like completing a work out always does!

My Honey got home late so we went out for supper tonight here in town.  I had a chicken quesadilla (forgot to take a picture).  It was good but I couldn't finish it as swallowing was starting to hurt again.

It seems as it gets later into the evening, my throat gets sorer and sorer.

Fitbit Stats

My first thought when I looked at this was

"OMG - what was I doing between 6 - 7, how did I miss walking 250+ steps that hour?'

But then I regroup and I remember that I worked out today (Yay me), I remembered to check the totals before I went to bed (and went and did the 2 extra floors to reach that goal) and I have the highest total steps and active minutes since I got sick! 

Therefore I am considering today a Huge Success! I should not feel one iota bad about it.

Well that's all for today, I am off to my comfy bed and heating pad.

Until next time, be happy!

Don't Give a Darn Day

We had health screening at work first thing this morning which basically means we have an appointment with a nurse who weighs & measures us and takes some blood to send off for testing.

 We had to fast for 12 hours before hand and my appointment was only at 8 so that meant I had to wait a few hours for my morning coffee.  Also, I had to give in last night around 1 am and have a throat lozenge but the nurse said that shouldn't alter the readings too much.

So there you go, I can't remember the last time I have had blood taken and now it's been twice in a week.

They knew at the office that we had to fast so they had a few things there for us to munch on after our appointments.  I was so hungry that I gulped mine down before thinking to take a picture but I had two boiled eggs, a banana, some grapes, TWO slices of cinnamon raisin toast and this indulgence which I rarely have, Orange Juice, the extra pulpy kind! I was afraid it would burn my throat going down but luckily it didn't.

I made it outdoors for my hourly walks, it was a little chilly so I had to keep my ears covered, don't want to end up with an ear ache next.

.

The trees are still looking lovely.  I thought this red leaved tree between the two evergreens was particularly stunning for some reason. 

I am really enjoying the fall colors here this year.  As I have said before, we mostly have shades of yellow mingled in with the green but it is still quite pretty.

My throat is still giving me grief so this tasty treat after work felt really good going down.

I called the hospital to check on my blood work and it's back so I made an appointment for tomorrow to go in for the results.  They didn't call me so I doubt I have strep (or else they would have) but I am hoping I can convince him to give me something.  We are heading to Panama in just over a week and I don't want to be sick for the trip.

I was all gung-ho to work out today and then once I got home I completely talked myself right out of it.

Instead I sat on the couch feeling bummed about my sore throat and I watched some television.

First up, one of my faves!  I don't care what anyone else thinks, I for one love this family.  I think that they really do want to "serve" and they have good morals and I may not agree with all of their beliefs but so what?  I applaud them for not being afraid to show who they are and if they get paid for doing a television show, well good for them.  The show can be repetitive sometimes but I don't mind, I could watch it all day long.  I think I would like to just go hang out with them for a day, I grew up with 3 siblings and a large extended family and I thought it was so much fun.  This show reminds me of that and I just plain feel happy when I watch it.  My Honey isn't so keen on it but I just try to watch it when he is other wise engaged!

Next up, the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory.  First off, thank goodness for PVR as it was on last night and we would have missed it!

This is absolutely one of the best sitcoms of all time.  I only started watching it a few seasons in but now we never miss an episode.  It is always funny, ALWAYS!  Some shows seem to lose their charm after a time, or they change the characters slightly which doesn't always work out well but not this show.  I laughed out loud several times during this episode.  We even watch the reruns over and over and we just never get tired of it.  Sheldon's character is really a big part of why the show is so funny but as far as I am concerned all the others play their part too.  It just wouldn't be the same if any of them were gone.  The chemistry between the gang is fabulous!  I don't ever want it to end!

Then I heard the news, like THE NEWS!!! 

I wonder why celebrity gossip is so important to so many?  I am guilty of it myself. I have to be honest here and let you know that I have always been Team Jennifer Aniston so I secretly felt a little happy when I heard the news, like finally Jen wins. 

Then I felt guilty because that is just so silly. 

 I am not sure why I feel so invested in these relationships? 

It is sad for Brad, Angelina and their children. 

No matter the reason and celebrity or not, it is sad to see a family break up. 

Fitbit Stats

I feel like I took a step backwards here, what was I thinking.  I missed a few goals, Darn!!!

I just wasn't into it yesterday evening but tomorrow will be different.

Until next time, be happy!

Well it's Monday

So here it is, Monday!  I woke up to a nice day out and a lingering sore throat.  Is it ever going to go away?

Work was busy, I did get back to my hourly outdoor walks.

My Honey had to go pick up a new work truck because his broke down over the weekend so we headed to Whitecourt. It was a quick trip but we did stop for supper at Original Joe's. 

I had my favorite - Virgin Caesar, extra spicy.  It tasted a bit strange because of my sore throat but still pretty good.  I could have easily drank a second but I restrained.

For supper I had the house salad - it came with a red wine vinaigrette which I think I would skip next time but all in all, it was a good salad.

Then I tried this new menu item, steak & salmon bites on brown rice.  I couldn't finish all the rice but it was delicious and I would have it again for sure.

We are having health clinic at work tomorrow so we need to fast for 12 hours ahead of time.  I really wanted a smoothie but there wouldn't have been time so I opted for a Fudge Brownie McFlurry.  I should have skipped the brownie as it was hard and dry and just had the ice cream but it still felt nice on my throat.

We picked up a few essentials at Walmart then headed home.

Fitbit Stats

See what I did there?  Can't believe I forgot to check the totals before I went to bed so I missed the Floors by one but it looks a lot better than it has been looking so I will choose to be happy about that.

Until next time, be happy!

Rainy Day Doings

Woke up this morning to rain, rain and more rain.  Still not back to my healthy self so the rain is ok with me. 

My sissy ran her first 5k today in under 30 minutes.  She is serving overseas in a place that is extremely hot, so super duper proud of her! She totally rocks!

Hopefully we can run one together one of these days.

Started my morning off with a great sappy movie.  I will admit, it had me crying pretty good.

It was a sappy romantic movie and I enjoyed it. 

Next I started a new series.  Some family from PEI are coming out to Alberta to visit and they are big Heartland fans so they want to go check out Southern Alberta where this is filmed.  Thought I would check the show out just so I would be in the loop a little if I went with them.

I ended up getting 3 episodes of seasons 1 watched and I was doing laundry and cleaning in between so it wasn't a totally lazy day.

It is family oriented and wholesome and it has a good story line and so far I am enjoying it.  There are 9 seasons of it on Netflix so it will be quite some time before I can ever catch up.  I will continue to watch though, for sure.

I watched Pioneer Women (Ree Drummond) yesterday on Food Network and she made these "Funeral Potatoes" which I have been thinking about ever since.  When My Honey got home from work we popped down to the store and picked up the ingredients and made it for supper.  It is absolutely in no way a low fat dish.  It is full of butter and cheese and sour cream AND potato chips, but it was indulgent and good.  When make it again (because we will), we will doctor it up a little with maybe garlic, chives other spices or even different flavors of chips.  I think my brothers and my son would love it.

My Honey cooked up a couple of pork chops too so this is what supper looked like today!

My throat is still a bit sore so ice cream for dessert was soothing.  I sure hope this thing goes away soon.  I am concerned about my weigh in this week and am preparing myself for a gain.  I just hope it isn't a huge one.

My Honey & I watched this tonight before heading to bed.  I never really heard or saw that much hype over it but we really enjoyed it.  Ryan's character is a big screw up but you just can't help but like him.  I would definitely recommend it.

Fitbit Stats

As you can see, still not doing very great with these.  Tomorrow I am going to be back at it though. 

I  will be doing my hourly walks and my goal is to see green for all these items.

Until next time, be happy!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I woke up this morning feeling a bit better.  Still not well but definitely like I was maybe on the mend!

I washed all the sheets and pillow cases and opened the windows wide in the bedroom to hopefully air out the "sickness".

I took it easy though for the day and watched lots of TLC.

When My Honey got home from work, we popped over to visit my friend.  I was really wanting to spend as much time with her as I could before she leaves but I just was not feeling up to it this week.

She had gotten lots of packing done and it is kind of sinking in that she is really going.  I am going to miss her!

We stopped at the store and picked up the ingredients for an easy supper.  I got a jumbo fudgestick too which I thoroughly enjoyed.

|My Honey made nachos.

and homemade guacamole.  So good!

I couldn't finish it all but it was very good.  I love it when we make it at home because we can make sure to put on all the toppings we like (fresh jalapeno) and leave off the ones we don't (black olives).

We rented a movie on apple tv.  This was set in 1980 and it was an ok movie.  The storyline was kind of weird, there wasn't really a plot, just a bunch of university baseball players partying.

By evening I was coughing quite a bit and the sore throat was flaring back up so I took some more meds and called it a night early.  I want to get better as quickly as possible so I don't want to push it.

Fitbit Stats - still not looking so hot.

I really want to be better.  I am signed up for the Cupcake Classic 5K next Saturday and I definitely don't want to miss that!

Until next time, be happy!

Rest Day

The sleep meds didn't help at all.  In fact, I had the worst night yet.  I went in to the office this morning as I had a couple of things to do but I only stayed for a couple of hours.

I am not sure if the sleepless nights are catching up with me or what but today I felt like I was getting worse instead of better.  I got home from the office around 10.  I soaked in the bath for about an hour and finished reading "The Girl You Left Behind" (which I enjoyed by the way).  Then I took all the medications I had, including the sleep aids and I headed to bed. 

I actually got some sleep and only woke up around 4 pm when My Honey arrived home from work.  I was feeling like I wanted some meat.  I haven't been eating much in the way of protein so My Honey went out and got boneless wings and a pizza from one place and dry ribs and a donair from another.

They tasted so good.

We watched the final few episodes of The Get Down and then I went back to bed.

Doesn't look like I will be making the Inflatable 5k tomorrow.

Fitbit Stats - Can you tell I spent much of my day in bed?

I just know I am going to feel better soon, this can't last forever.

Until next time, be happy!

Will I Ever Feel Better?

Thursday morning, another beautiful day and I am still feeling awful.  I still headed out to work though.  I am a trooper that way!

This was at lunch time.  Our tree is looking so beautiful. I think the leaves were all blown off the tree last year before they even had a chance to change color.

I hope they stay a little longer, they just look so pretty.

After work today we had a farewell get together for a couple of folks that transferred to different districts.  Even though I wasn't feeling the best I wanted to make sure I made an appearance.  I love going to these things and hearing all the stories they tell and this time was no different.  I ended up staying longer than expected as one of the people that party was for had to work late and so was late arriving.  I am glad I went.  My throat was super dry and I think I drank about 12 glasses of water while I was sitting there.

It makes me sad to think of all the changes that have happened at work since I first started there 8 years ago.  There used to be so many more of us there and the get togethers we had were more highly attended.  We had lots of fun and liked doing things together, it felt like more of a family/team.

I still like work but it is just different now, our numbers have dwindled people just have other things going on so it is rarer to get everyone together outside of work.  Change is a part of life though and we just learn to adapt and move on.

Fitbit Stats - Thursday - Still sick, hoping to be better tomorrow. 

Broke down and bought some Sleep Ezee medication, hoping to at least get a good nights sleep.

Until next time, be happy!

Wednesday Weigh In #7

Still not a good nights sleep and still not feeling any better.  Being sick sucks!

I weighed in this morning at 246.  That is down 1 lb so that was a good thing.

My breakfast, a yogurt and a glass of almond milk.  It was about all my throat could handle.  Coffee isn't even tasting good so I skipped that this morning.

My Honey made this beautiful dish of pasta from the ravioli pasta scraps.  I had a little dish full and aside from the parmesan on it that it was a bit salty it didn't really bother my throat that much.

 I didn't get my walks in and no work out either but the way that I am feeling, I didn't much care.

Fitbit Stats - This is what a sick day looks like.

Until next time, be happy!

Trip to the Doctor

This is the sky this morning as I arrived at work, beautiful!

I didn't sleep any better last night, in fact it was worse.  When I swallow it feels like I am swallowing razor blades and my head is just pounding.  I still headed off to work and at first I did a couple of my outdoor hourly walks but I just wasn't up to it after that so I skipped those for today.

Such a bummer too because it was a beautiful day outside today.

My Honey sent me this picture of our daily visitor.  No wonder he visits though, he/she gets treats and belly rubs, I would be back often too!  And just look how beautiful it is outdoors.

By late afternoon my throat was just so sore and as I wasn't having any other cold symptoms, I started to worry that maybe I has strep throat.  I have never had it before so even though it was unlikely I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to work with something highly contagious.  I headed up to the hospital to get them to do a swab.  The doctor ended up taking some blood too just in case.  I waited for the results and he said all looked good.  It will take 3 days for the swab results to come back but he doesn't think I have strep throat, which made me feel better about going to work. 

Because my throat has been so sore, my meals have been looking like this for the past two days.  My Honey is so great, he picked up three different flavors for me. It feels good going down but it's right back to being sore as soon as I am done eating.

Fitbit Stats

So no surprises here.  I am not really focusing on the working out though, I just need to rest up and get myself feeling better.  I have the Inflatable 5K scheduled for this Saturday and I really want to be able to go.

Off to bed early again, hoping for a good nights sleep.

Until next time, be happy!

Monday Morning Blues

I didn't sleep well at all last night.  So far, the only symptom of a cold that I have is a sore throat but it is extremely sore.  I am finding it difficult to swallow and the lack of sleep has resulted in a major headache.  I was off to work anyway, I figured I could tough it out and as long as I stay in my office and be careful to wash my hands often, I would not infect anyone else.

This is all the paraphernalia I am running around with.  I drag it with me where ever I go.  There is nothing worse than having a sore throat and no lozenge for it.

My Honey was busy again this evening making pies.  This one is Shoofly pie.

And this one is Buttermilk Pie which I have never heard of before.

The finished products.  I tried the buttermilk and it was tasty.  The filling was creamy so it felt ok on my throat as well.  I skipped the shoofly as it was full of raisins which I don't enjoy in my baking.

Fitbit Stats

Even though I wasn't feeling well, I still managed to get out and walk for my 250+ steps each hour so I am happy with this!

I am off to bed early tonight hoping to make up for some sleep I missed last night.

Until next time, be happy!

Family Dinner

Well looks like the Cold FX didn't help me this time.  I am still taking it and hoping for a miracle but I am pretty sure this cold has it's grips on me.

Still, I invited the family over for supper today as my friend will be moving back to PEI soon and I wanted to have one more get together with her before she goes.  She is like family so she always comes to all of our family dinners.

My Honey was busy first thing this morning making homemade ravioli.

He made something like 8 dozen.

All ready for cooking.  He just amazes me with all of his skills.  Don't they look pretty?

While he was doing that, I was downstairs getting my workout completed, on the schedule for today:

1/2 mile warm up

3 miles run

1/2 mile cool down

My throat was so sore and kept getting so dry that it hurt a bit but I stuck with it and got it done which I was very proud of.

 My Honey got Miss A to help him pick some flowers outdoors for a little arrangement.  She was proud of the final product.

 Not everyone could make it as a couple were working and my one brother was sick but my son and my other brother were happy to come over for a home cooked meal.

My mom and her bestie Max!

I let my nieces take some scented wax, it turned into quite the project as they took a square of each scent and then wrapped them each individually in saran wrap so the scents wouldn't get all meshed together.  They enjoyed themselves though and it kept them busy. 

 Miss M is loving the ravioli!

He made two kinds, this is lobster ravioli with a tomato sauce.

And this is sweet potato, potato & cream cheese in a sage butter sauce.  It ended up being everyone's favorite.  I couldn't eat much as my throat was quite sore but I did have two of these!

He also made an artichoke pizza for the first time.  We have had it in NYC at Artichoke Pizza and it is so delicious, we usually try to get there once each trip to have a slice and this was My Honey's first attempt at it.  He made it with a thick crust like they do and it was slightly different but just as delicious.

He made a regular pizza too as my brothers can be a little fussy about trying new "strange" things. Everyone did try the artichoke pizza though and they all liked it, I was impressed!

I love what she wrote on the bag - "Smell Good Stuff"!

I love having the family over, even when I am not feeling the best. 

Fitbit stats

I am not sure why the hourly goals didn't show up properly in the stats but that happens sometimes.  I know I didn't reach them all as I slept in again and aside from getting my work out in, I was resting a lot today.

I hope I get some sleep tonight and that I feel better tomorrow.

Until next time, be happy.