drowning in coupons

I've been slacking when it comes to clipping coupons, sorting them and then processing them to send to troops over seas. I decided that I was going to at least clip and sort all the coupons in my house on Monday. Before going to bed last night I felt proud that I had accomplished that goal and planned to "process" the coupons on Tuesday and get them ready to be mailed out. (processing= typing the worth of the coupons into excel so I know how much "saved money" I'm sending over seas.)

It's Tuesday and as I've been working on cleaning the house, I've found more coupons. Not "I've found 10 coupons to sort", more like "I've found a large stack of newspaper coupons that have been clipped, another large stack of coupons printed from the internet that need clipping, AND a large stack of newspaper coupons that need clipping."

AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The whole thought of going through all these coupons that haven't been clipped or sorted makes me want to give up on the whole project! I have a bunch of stuff I'd like to accomplish today and I don't need to be sitting on my butt clipping coupons while watching recorded tv from my dvr TWO DAYS IN A ROW!!!!!

*sigh*

Have I mentioned that I've lost my motivation to lose weight and get back into a work out routine??

Yep I have. I can't get motivated to do it. I don't know when to fit it into my new schedule and it's frustrating me. On a positive note, I've gotten back to tracking what I eat this week. I've gone WAY over my points allotment on a few days and I've almost eaten my way through the extra 35 points we get for the week! Eck!!

Oh that note, I guess I need to get my butt up from the computer and start working on my long to do list, which includes coupons, cleaning house, and working out. :-/

Hello old friend...

It's been awhile since I've posted and the only excuse I have is that my life (which I'm suppose to be blogging about) has been busy. I've been working 6 day weeks for the last month and a half. I've enjoyed working 6 days in a row, and before you call a shrink for me let me explain.

I've been working at my regular job for 5 days and then I've been working as a substitute teacher for the other day of the week. There was one day where I was crazy and subbed for 8 hours before going to my regular job. I was tired at the end of the day, but I survived. There's been a recent schedule change at my regular job within the last week, so instead of working at night I'm working during the day. I'm liking it so far and enjoy being at home in the evenings with my boyfriend and our cats. It's the closest thing I've had to a normal life in the last 5 years. I'm still working on the weekends, but that doesn't bother me because it allows me to sub.

So other things going on....

I broke into the 150s and will be fighting to stay here and break into the 140s. That is going to involve me getting back to the gym and working out this week. Even with my body feeling better, a gym membership that is paid in full, a stability ball & bike at home and numerous workout dvds at home, I haven't worked out since probably early February. I can't even remember the last time I worked out. My goal for this week is to workout 3 times. I'm hoping that slowly getting back into it will be good for me and encourage me to workout more next week.

Because of my new schedule change, I had to stop going to my morning WW meeting. This week I'm going attend a meeting in the evening and hopefully will find a new meeting to call home. I just want to keep my life consistent and that includes when I go to my WW meeting.

Thanks to the tax refund that I received today from the IRS, I was able to complete one of my 101 things! YEAH!!!! 45. Expand my car fund to $10k.

It took me awhile to do on my small income and I've been putting any/all saved money to this fund. I've been putting money into this fund for years and to finally have that much money saved is exciting!! I'm not going to be buying a car anytime soon, but there are a few expenses coming up in the next month with the car I currently drive. It's nice to know if the cost of the repairs is high, I won't have to eat ramen noodles to survive until it's paid off.

Other than that news, I've been toying with the idea of going back to college. I'm not sure what I would want to study or if I'd want to get another Bachelors or start a Masters degree. It's such a life altering decision and I find it hard to decide where to eat dinner. So I will be thinking of this and trying to figure it all out within the next couple of months.

I'm also going to set a new goal of posting a blog once a week at the least. I'll let ya'll know how the working out goes this week!

C25K & Weight Loss Update

Sorry I haven't been good at keeping up with this blog, but things have been busy. I'm behind on a lot of things: reading my novel, tv shows are stacking up on my dvr, and the blogs I'm subscribed to haven't been read in forever.

From the first week of January to the first week of February, I've lost 5.6lbs. I'm excited about that, but feel that I'm running out of steam. :( I'm going to challenge myself again to track my foods everyday for the month of February. It worked well last month, so I'm hoping it will work again this month.

Last night was a challenge at work with all the Superbowl foods that were around. I went a little crazy and didn't feel very well by the end of the night. I'm hoping that eating well the next 2 days will help my weigh in on Wednesday.

So today I'm starting over with a Fiber One Yogurt and a banana for breakfast. It may not seem much of a breakfast, but considering I'm just now eating at 10:15am, it works. I've discovered that since I normally sleep until 9am everyday, I'm not eating breakfast until 10. It kind of throws off my eating schedule for the day, but it also helps because I am usually working late every day.

On the exercise front, things have come to a complete halt. Week 1 of C25K I developed shin splints, but after some rest and then wearing proper running shoes I felt much better finishing up W1 and starting W2.

During Week 2, I tried running outside because of the gorgeous weather and really found out how different it is than the treadmill. In the middle of W2, I started having some knee pain. I wasn't able to finish my workouts and opted to switch over to the bicycle for the rest of the week.

On my 2nd Week 2 (I felt like I needed to redo this week and not move on to Week 3), I tried to start working out again and decided to quit because the knee pain started up again.

Before starting Weight Watchers, I would jog/walk around Memorial Park's 3 mile loop a couple of times a week for about a month or two. I was 26lbs heavier and I don't remember any knee pain what so ever. I'm not sure what's going on, but the knee pain has disappeared.

My plan is to slowly ease back into working out. That includes weights, squats, cardio and the C25K program. I'll keep updating my progress, but it looks like I will have to put off the C25K program for the time being.

Hopefully I will be able to finish the program and participate in another 5K this year.

Measuring Wine & Yummy Lasagna

This is the 12th day I've been tracking with WW. I'm not talking a theoretical 12th day, but an actual, I have the proof written down, 12th day.

That's a first for me! I also did something tonight that I've NEVER done before. In the 3 years I've been a WW member, I have NEVER measured out my alcohol. Before I would just not count it or save up all my extra points for that day and then not count any of them.

Tonight, I measured out 4 oz of water, added it to my wine glass, and then used a washable marker to make a line on the glass. Then I filled red wine to that line and enjoyed!

It was a very satisfying experience to know that I was in control of the amount of wine. It also helped that I had a bunch of veggies and 1 slice of pizza for my dinner. So I was satisfied with food and with the alcohol!

:)

I hope that the days to come are filled with satisfying foods and that I keep tracking.

PS- For a yummy recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna go here. I replaced most of the "fatty" ingredients with low fat/fat free versions and it was SO good. I'm not a ricotta cheese fat, but this was just right in that sense.

C25K

I have successfully finished 2 days on the program!! Woo hoo!! After the 2nd day, I had slight shin splints. Only I would be "injured" after 2 days of the program. I did some reading on Runner's World and have been resting and stretching since then.

Today I'm going to be going back to the gym to start back on the program. But this time I will be wearing the correct shoes that I bought over a year ago for the purpose of training for a 5k. Why I didn't think of wearing them the last two times I've run, who knows.

I've found the program to be easier this time around because I'm using free podcasts and not trying to time myself. Before I was too distracted reading the printout of the training schedule, running, watching my time, people watching in the gym, watching the tv, trying to breath, and making sure whatever form I was using was helpful.

With the podcasts, there is a person telling you to change your pace or a sound that indicates to change your pace. I've been able to focus on running, breathing, and a spot across the gym so I can maintain that focus.

I found a good collection of music at Running Into Shape. I like the combination of pop/hip hop and I was SO happy to hear her say "Congratulations! You just finished the running portion for today. Now it's time for a cool down." Both times I wanted to through my hands up in the air like I had finished running a race or something. It felt so good to be done!

I also found a version with techno music that was free on iTunes. If you are interested in more podcasts, there is a facebook fan page for the C25K program. I believe that's where I found RIS.

I'll continue to update my blog on how things are going with my training. And once I sign up for a 5k, I'll let ya'll know about it. :)

New Years Resolutions

I'm finally caught up on reading other blogs I like and noticed that a few of them have started talking about resolutions for 2010.

The Prior Fat Girl and *Bitch Cakes* both posted recently about what they are planning to do in the next month or year. PFG is planning on not eating out for the month of January unless it's family related. BC has used a few of the Weight Watchers Tools for Living to come up with her goals for this year.

I like how both of them approached this and decided that I should do this myself. Since I'm a pack rat and have some WW worksheets saved from past years, I busted them out and wrote down what my Winning Outcome.

I will follow the WW plan to:

-track my foods and stay on the program

-train for a 5k

-get in my 8 good health guidelines everday

-attend a meeting every week

-break into the 150s and get to my goal weight

-be a healthier and happier person

-make it to lifetime member and start going to meetings for free!

Some of my to do things include:

-train and participate in a 5k

-read 10 books

-learn how to drive a manual car

-work on my 101 things list

I'm hoping to start 2010 on a good foot with healthy food in the house and a few healthy meals prepared in advance.

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmastime

(Just pretend I posted this last week.)

I love Christmas! The decorations...the shopping...the music...spending time with loved ones....it's all great!

While out shopping for some last minute gifts a few days before Christmas, I found myself to be in such a joyous mood. At the mall I was smiling, humming along to Christmas music, and just enjoying myself in general. Such a wonderful time of year.

My boyfriend went to his parents house in New York state for the holidays, and I stayed at home because I was working. Since we weren't going to be together for Christmas, we decided to exchange gifts early. In my opinion, guys are extremely hard to shop for. So I ended up giving him some specialty food items, a few things for his cars, and some new socks. (Lame, I know. But he seriously needed new socks.)

In return I received a new vacuum cleaner and a new bedspread set. I'm extremely happy with the presents because I needed and wanted both of them.

The old vacuum cleaner I have is from my very first apartment. It's small and wails this high pitch frequency that drives me and the cats crazy. There are no attachments for the old vacuum, so I have to bring in the shop vac to reach corners and under couches.

My new vacuum is a Hoover Whisper and it is much quieter. It also has a handle that pops out to suck up anything in the corners or other hard to reach places. A furniture brush and a crevice tool also came with the vacuum cleaner.

See the difference between the old one and new one:

As you can tell, the new vacuum is a big upgrade from the last. Even though I'm 27, have been out of college for 5 years, and have been living in my own place for almost 5 years, there are days when I still feel like a college student and not an adult. Does anyone else feel that way?

So I feel like these gifts are helping me and my boyfriend become better adults. Or at least the gifts make me feel like more of an adult and that I really am 27 and graduated college 5 years ago.

Here's the gorgeous bedspread:

Right now we have it flipped over so this side is down and the solid red side is up. I'm so afraid that the cats are going to tear up the bedspread on accident with their claws, so I'm trying to take preventative measures against that.

So far, we love the new bedspread. It's nice and warm, soft, fluffy, and comfy. The cats even like it because they have been sleeping in bed more often lately.

I spent Christmas morning at work and then drove to my parents afterwards. I had a good time back at home. They have 4 dogs living there right now and it's always fun to play with them and get kisses in return.

My family had a good Christmas and I completed another thing on my 101 list. For a Christmas present, my mom told me to go out and buy some business clothes and she would reimburse me for Christmas. But I would have to give her the clothes and wouldn't get them until Christmas. So Christmas morning when my sisters were opening 1 expensive present, I had 5 cheaper presents to open. YEA for bargain shopping and coupons! I wasn't expecting to buy all my new business clothes at once, but that's just how it turned out. There are probably a few other things I can buy (ie: jackets, jewelry, etc), but I will start picking that up when I have a need for them.

I also received some kitchen gadgets that I will have to try out and report back on later. I promise to take lots of pictures when I use them and to blog about it.

I finally have a few days off this week, so I've been busy cleaning up the house and getting things in order before having to go back to work. Hopefully I can whittle down my to do list before the days over today. :)