I'm still here

Quiet, but still here.

I got back to 85# lost this week.

I've been trying to work out whether I'm really and truly stuck, or if my head is stuck and my body is following. I'm pretty sure it's my head. So, I'm ready to move forward.

More activity. Be extra vigilant about my comfort zone.
More veggies.

We'll see. I'm ready to get to goal, so the real work can start.

Normal? what's that?

Things are slowly getting back to normal.

More and more traffic lights are working, our neighbors have power (our side of the street got power the day of the storm - the other side got power yesterday - day 15!!!!), stores are opening. And - best of all - there is finally power at school! Ian and I go back to school tomorrow. Five weeks into the school year and we've missed eleven days!

I'm getting the eating back to normal, too. I self medicated for a little while - and, as usual, it didn't really help! When will I learn? I'll update my stats after I weigh in tomorrow morning.

Tonight's dinner is already cooked - I made a big pot of split pea soup last night and it smelled so good that I could have had some for dessert! It's always better the second day, so we just planned ahead! That should take care of lunches for a day or two this week, too!

It's been a strange 2 weeks - not like a vacation, just weird. Many places weren't open, so we couldn't go do things - although we did go to the zoo and the Natural Science Museum. A kind parent from school donated tickets for all the staff and their families to go to an Astros game, so we were able to do that on Thursday evening. It was good - it gave us a chance to reconnect! I feel like I've been gone for years.

The school building will be open today, so I'll go put things back in my classroom. When my kiddos get there tomorrow THAT will make me feel normal again!

This has been very random - sorry about that!

Ike

Ike did a number on southeast Texas.

We were among the lucky ones - we were only without power for 13 hours - some people are still without power after eight days. We still don't have cable, phone or internet.

I've learned to appreciate little things:

• working traffic lights
• open grocery stores
• grocery stores that are open past 6 p.m.
• buying gas without waiting in long lines
• ice in drinks
• not needing to boil water for drinking
• full water pressure

I managed pretty well through the stress. Friday - almost a full week later - I melted down and ate most anything that wasn't tied down. Oh well - it happens - and Saturday was Core.

My school still doesn't have power, so I'm not sure when I'll be going back to work.

There is a silver lining though - it was a break from all the election coverage!!!!!

I blame the Cheerios!

Not that I'm absolving myself from responsibility.

I had a bad evening last night. Poor choices were the order of the day.

Cheerios? Yep. I've been hungry for Cheerios - but haven't bought them because I didn't need a whole box. I found a single serving cup of the them at Target and had it for breakfast yesterday. They were just as good as I remembered, but I think that the little bit of sugar in them was enough to keep me hungry all day.

At any rate, it's over and done. I'm back on Core today - although it's 11:00 and I've not eaten anything yet - not even a little bit hungry. I was actually a bit nauseous when I woke up this morning. I'm just starting to get hungry now, so I'll have an early lunch.

What a long and exhausting week...

Somehow it always seems that the short weeks are the worst.

• I'm splitting an extended day job with another teacher. It should be 5 days out of 10. I worked 8 out of the first 9. She seems to have herself organized now, so next week we can start splitting evenly. I mean, it's easy money but if I wanted to work until 5:30 every day I wouldn't have split with her.
• We had our unexpected (but still enjoyable) weekend away last weekend, so I didn't get anything done for the week.
• There was a plumbing flood at school overnight, so Thursday morning one whole wing of the school was a soggy mess. Open House had to be rescheduled, which is rotten 'cause I'd rather just have it over with.
• A couple of my kids were extremely trying this week (and one of my moms was, too).

Anyway, thank goodness it's the weekend!

Oh, and in other breaking news....Ian didn't want to stay late on Thursday and one of my co-workers offered to take him home. He let himself in the house, did his homework and just hung out until Sean got home. He was here alone for a little more than an hour with no panic calls to either of us. That is the longest he's been home alone - and the first time he has let himself in. He's growing up!

Hanging out in San Antonio

Hey - it's never a bad thing! We love coming here, so much so that the staff at our favorite hotel knows us!

Tonight I'm going to do my C25K on the treadmill in the health club. I'm also going to give the elliptical a try - I've never used one. I forgot my HRM, but that's OK because I don't eat my AP's.

We came on short notice because Sean is concerned about Hurricane Gustav. It looks like we'll get spared this time, but that's bad news for New Orleans. :-( I did point out to him that if we had a lake house then we'd have a place to go on short notice. Unbelievably, we're going to start looking. Am I taking advantage of him in his stressed out state?

The third time's the charm, right?

Ian and I have started - and dropped out of - Couch to 5K twice.

We restarted tonight. No dropping out this time! We're planning to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.