Happy Canada Day!

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. a beautiful, hot day with lots going on in the city but very quiet at this end of town

No one was free to go to the cottage this weekend and I didn’t want to drive by myself so I started on my bedroom. I’ve even bought the paint. I think renovating and gardening are very Canadian things to do on the long weekend, next to going to the cottage. The streets are pretty quiet but Home Depot was busy.

Of course I can’t paint till I’ve removed the clutter. I’m starting at one corner of the room and working my way out. The problem is that the things I’ve cleaned up are spilling into the hallway. I need to decide what to do with the items I’ve removed and find a new home for them, preferably Good Will.

De-cluttering is a bit like losing weight. You have to stay focused and not stray from the goal. Don’t bring more things into the room than you take out (calories in vs. calories burned), celebrate the small accomplishments and don’t beat yourself up when you have an off day. Recruit help along the way. My blog family has definitely kept me on track with my weight loss. Now I need to find someone to help me remove the clutter from my life. Anyone interested?

I’ve started at the easy end of my bedroom, the side that I frequently organize so that when you walk by my bedroom it looks pretty good. The difference is that this time I’m removing even more items than I would normally. It’s when you take a couple of steps into the room when you really notice the chaos.

Oh well, I shan’t perseverate. On with the job. I’ll let you know of my progress when it’s noticeable.

Cheers!

Happy 145th Birthday Canada!

Down 19 1/2 Pounds

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. I’m half a pound away from my goal and then it’s time to set a new goal

I wasn’t going to announce my weight loss until I reached my goal but I realized that I haven’t been writing too much about my weight loss journey in the last two to three weeks. I didn’t want people thinking that I was taking a break or worse had quit.

At the beginning of my journey I lost the weight pretty quickly but in June the weight loss slowed down. As I’ve said before, stress is a huge factor for me when it comes to losing weight and June has to be one of the most stressful months for teachers (at least it is in our school).

Now that school is over for the summer, no more excuses about stress. In fact the last pound and a half came off in the last 2 days. In the past I would have given up when the weight didn’t come off. This time I can’t even imagine stopping. I have a long way to go but setting smaller attainable goals works for me.

At school I’ve started cleaning out my classroom because a new teacher is taking it over in September. I don’t know if you can even imagine how much stuff I’ve accumulated over the last 13 years. It’s time to purge and it feels good getting rid of stuff I know I won’t be using again. I don’t have much choice because I have to move all my belongings to a small office in the library.

At home it’s time to purge as well. I want to pack up all my big clothes and give them away. I never want to wear them again. In the past I always hung on to my ‘fat’ clothes just in case and just in case always happened. Funny how I never hung onto my ‘skinny’ clothes.

Time to Treat Myself

… and I don’t mean with food. Over the years my bedroom became the dumping ground when my family members didn’t know where to put things. Laundry, papers, books, bills, etc. were deposited in various parts of my room. Unfortunately my bedroom was the one room I never got to when I cleaned the house for company.

Don’t get me wrong I did dust, vacuum, change the sheets and put away my laundry (eventually) but I never found the time to organize all the clutter. I’ve actually taken before pictures of my room and hope it will spur me on to finally organize my space.

Once that’s done I’d also like to paint my room. It’s the only room in the house that still has the original coat of paint when we renovated the house over 20 years ago. So not only do I need to purge at school but I’m ready to do it in my bedroom. My goal is to have it done by the end of July. Stay tune for the updates.

Two More Days

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. the worst is behind me

I think that today was the last big stressor for the school year. The Farewell Ceremony! For a number of years I’ve been the MC for the event. It gets a little bit easier every year but I still have at least one stumble. Covering it up with humour helps.

I came to school this morning knowing that I had to write two speeches for the afternoon. Fortunately I work really well under pressure. The words came easily. I loved presenting the special awards. My principal cursed me for making her so emotional but she got through her presentation as well.

After the ceremony, the grade 4 parents served refreshments. I have to say that I wasn’t the least bit tempted by the cake and other sweets. After mingling with the parents and posing for pictures with some of my students I did munch on some delicious vegetables and hummus.

The report cards are stuffed into the envelopes for tomorrow, copies have been filed and I’ve signed off on the OSRs. The only thing left to do is the grade 5 activity day (Wednesday) and the Future Ace assembly on the Thursday. Friday is our last PD day which involves a staff meeting and time to clean our rooms.

At the end of the day my husband called me from the car to tell me that he had my aunt with him. She was released from the hospital and they were on their way to her house. I met them there and had a nice visit with her. We’re a little concerned about her medications and the fact that she lives alone. I think we will checking in on her a lot more often.

I’m looking forward to getting back to walking/running again once this week is over. I still haven’t gotten over that 18 pound hump. It’s late and I need some sleep before another busy day gets under way. TTFN!

Tying up loose ends!

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…… 3 more days, but who’s counting?

Today was an odd day. It started with trying to deliver the prizes from Jump Rope for Heart to the children who raised money. The boxes arrived late on Friday. When I opened the boxes I realized that the spreadsheet with the list of contributors was not there.

I searched high and low for my copy but to no avail. One of my grade 5s suggested that we sort the prizes according to classes because that was one list I did have. Amidst the chaos, we managed to find enough bags to sort all the prizes but then we discovered that we had a lot of prizes left over.

Some of my students thought that meant they could help themselves to the leftovers but I quickly realized that a large sum of money had been donated online and I hadn’t yet received notice as to where the donations came from. Hopefully the spreadsheet comes soon.

Later that morning we practised walking and shaking hands with the grade 5s so that they would know what to do tomorrow for the farewell ceremony. It’s funny how many kids don’t know how to shake hands or make eye contact. Such an important skill in today’s world.

In the afternoon I opened the report card program to run off some last minute reports that needed fixing. I didn’t get very far because one of our students experienced a panic attack and it didn’t subside. I ended up going to hospital with her in the ambulance. I’m happy to report that she’s fine.

When I got back to school I went back to the report cards. Nothing goes as planned. A good friend showed up to help me with some library issues I had so I put the report cards aside and proceeded to the library. We figured out why I wasn’t able to print off a report I needed and with B’s help I finally had a record of all the overdue books. So much easier than writing them out by hand.

I photocopied the report and placed all the overdue notices in teachers’ boxes and then finally printed the report card that was requested. I finally left school at 6:50.

I know that tomorrow there will be more reprints requested. The morning will be spent rehearsing some more for the farewell, stuffing envelopes to be handed out at the farewell, decorating the gym and trying to keep the grade 5s calm and occupied before the “big event”.

I’ve had a good food day but have found no time to exercise. I’m hoping that tomorrow there might be some good news on the scale. I’ve been holding steady at 18 pounds down. Wish me luck!

Cheers!

Ahhhhhh…………Relief!

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

………. the rain came and the heat finally broke.

The heat has been unbearable. It makes you want to do nothing but sit quietly. So much for exercising.

The heat makes me retain water and I’ve shown a gain on the scale. It’s also partly due to the stress I’ve been under which also has a negative impact on my weight loss.

After today no more excuses. The heat wave has lifted, the report cards are done, and the activities for next week have been organized and are pretty much ready to go.

I went to see my aunt tonight. She’s still in the hospital but her spirits are good. Tomorrow is her 86th birthday and unfortunately she’ll be spending it in the hospital. I’m away for the weekend but K will probably pay her another visit and I’ll pop in Sunday evening when I get home. It looks like it’ll be Tuesday at the earliest before they release her. The problem is they don’t know what is causing the congestive heart failure in the first place and her lungs aren’t completely cleared.

It’s crazy hair day at school tomorrow. I’ve been pretty bad at remembering some of these spirit days. I’m hoping that writing it down here will help me remember. If I do I’ll post a picture.

Cheers for now!

Holding Steady at 18 and the Potato Salad Wars

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. if I write about it, it usually changes the next day.

After the race yesterday my friend L thought I would drop 3 more pounds, based on the effort I put out during the run. Today my thighs were actually a little bit sore. I notice it mostly when I walk down stairs.

Unfortunately a drop in weight did not happen and certainly not 3 pounds worth. The one side effect of the race is that I am extremely tired and find myself drifting off in the middle of doing something (like checking my email and scanning things on the computer). It looks like it’s going to be another early night.

Yesterday I had a few challenges with eating because of Father’s Day. I’m happy to report that I passed on the KFC, the wine, the apple pie, the bread and the tarts. I did have a small sample of my homemade potato salad. My baby sister and I are having a bit of a disagreement as to whose potato salad is closest to our mom’s original recipe. I’m sharing my version with you.

German Potato Salad With Bacon

5 lb of new white potatoes, skins on

1/2 lb sliced and diced bacon

2 ribs of celery

small bunch of green onions

3 large radishes

3 small dill pickles

pickle juice

mayonnaise

salt and pepper

1. Boil the potatoes with the skin on. If they’re not new potatoes you may want to peel them after cooking.

2. When a knife pierces the potato easily, remove from the heat and drain. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

3. In a frying pan cook the diced bacon until the bacon is crisp. Let it drain on a paper towel. Save the fat.

4. Finely dice the celery, radishes, green onion and pickles.

5. Slice or cube the cooked potatoes and add to a large bow. Add the diced vegetables and bacon.

6. In separate small bowl mix together about 1/4 cup of pickle juice, 1/4 of bacon grease and 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like your dressing tart add more pickle juice or reduce the amount of bacon grease. To be honest I never measure the ingredients for the dressing. I go by how it looks and tastes.

7. Add the dressing to the potato mixture and gently toss. Start with half the dressing and if you like it more moist add more as needed.

Best Served Warm

Serves 10 to 12 people

My version of Mom’s German Potato Salad

My Sister’s Version

Potatoes

Bacon

Mayonnaise

Pickle juice

Salt and Pepper

The steps are identical to my recipe but she omits the pickles, celery, radishes, onions and uses way less mayonnaise.

You be the judge!

P.S. This is definitely not a recipe for people trying to lose weight!

Yesterday’s Post Went Up Today

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. all references to ‘today’ happened on Friday

I was up 1 pound this morning but I knew that might happen. I find that with Asian food I tend to retain water.

I did get out for a really good long walk/run this morning with my baby sister, K and the dog.When we got to the rugby pitch I ran about 3/4 of it and then I ran along the road to the point, along a side path off the main road and then from 11th St to 8th St., walked one block and then finished the last stretch by running. Feels good.

According to gmap-pedometer.com I ran about 1.3 km. I think that’s the most I’ve run to date. I actually feel like I could run further. I actually want to run further.

Watching us on our walk this morning.

Just a Quick Update

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Mama Cormier

.….down another 1/2 pound for a total of 18 poundsItalic (Ctrl + I)

It’s been a hectic day. When I woke up this morning I heard the answering machine downstairs leaving a very long message. My aunt was admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure. I’ve been trying to connect with her over the last 2 two weeks because my baby sister is coming to T.O. today and she wanted to visit our aunt H.

After breakfast I drove to the hospital, not really knowing what to expect . Aunt H is 86 this week and I haven’t seen her in 1 1/2 years. I’m happy to say that she looked good and she was in good spirits. We had a great visit and I promised to come and see her again with my sister.

It turned out that both my sisters came to the house today. We all went out for dinner and for the first time in a long time I felt uncomfortable after dinner. I’m hoping it was the 2 pots of tea that I ingested and not the food I ate.

I’m planning on doing an extra long walk tomorrow with my baby sister. If I did any damage tonight that should help.

Middle sister, CJ and baby sister, CS

Hubby, K and me.

Another Thing to Check Off the List

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. 10 days and counting

I just got in from our annual school musical production. It was suppose to happen every two years but somehow it’s back to every year. The students of course did a great job, the parents loved it and the teachers are happy to check off another thing off their ‘to do’ lists.

As a staff we decided to go out for dinner before the show started. Fourteen of us went to a nice Italian restaurant close to the high school where we were performing. We made reservations early so that we would be at the school by 6:15. Apparently when you have such a large group making up individual bills is a bit of a problem and we didn’t get out of the restaurant until 6:20. By the time we got to our cars, four of us found $30.00 parking tickets under our wipers. Ugh! I was 6 minutes late. Double ugh!

I had no problem finding something I could eat at the restaurant. I enjoyed a lovely piece of grilled salmon and a salad. As with most fish it was the most expensive thing on the menu, which I excepted but the thing that I didn’t realize until it was too late was that my bill already included the tip. To add insult to injury I ended up adding another $8.00 to the bill because I didn’t want to wait for change. Lesson learned. Eat faster. Just kidding.

I tried taking pictures with my iPhone but most of them were blurry or too far away and the camera that I had with me ran out of juice. I’m hoping some of the parents will send me some of their pictures for the school website.

Tomorrow my baby sister and her husband from Calgary are coming to visit for the the weekend. I guess I better clean up around here. I still have a few things to do with my report cards and a few more things to mark as well. It would be nice to check that off my list as well.

The Girls on the Run 5 km is this Sunday and after the race my father is expecting us to come over for lunch. He’s looking forward to KFC (his Father’s Day wish). I’ll be picking it up and I’ll probably make an extra stop to get a regular roasted chicken for me. A bag of salad and I’ll be all set.

My goal was to be down 20 pounds by the run. To date I’m down 17.5 pounds. I might be down one more pound by Sunday but I’ve decided it doesn’t matter if it comes off now or one week from now. The important thing is that the weight is coming off and I feel great. I have no desire to change my new eating patterns and go back to the old ways. When I reach my goal it will be time to set a new goal.

Cheers!

Ate Well, Worked Hard ……BUT Feeling the Stress

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. and it shows on the scale

Now it’s not all bad news. The weight that I’ve lost is still lost but I seem to have plateaued again. In the last 2 days alone I’ve walked at least 12 km and I’ve put in about 4 hours of gardening (mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, trimming trees and clipping the hedge … no power gardening tools at our house).

I’ve been eating a lot of salads with a protein or stir fried vegetables and fish. I can’t remember the last time I had a cookie or ice cream and I think in the last 8 weeks I’ve had bread once (one slice) and pizza twice (2 slices) and that was weeks ago. I know that I need to hang in there and that eventually the weight will come off again.

June is always a very stressful time at school. The biggest stress for me is the writing of report cards. Once I finish those I know that I can breathe a little easier and get on with the 101 other things that need to be finished….but none of these other things stress me out as much as report cards. It didn’t help that for period of time this weekend our internet didn’t work. We had to actually go out and but a new router. It amazes me how much we depend on technology even for writing report cards.

I better finish here so that I can go back and do some more work on you know what and I need to prepare some lessons for a supply teacher tomorrow. No, I’m not calling in sick. I’m actually taking the girls’ soccer team to a semi final game and if they win they will play again to see if they move on to the city finals. Wish us luck!

P.S. If the scale moves down tomorrow morning I will post a very brief update.

Cheers