Tag Archives: weight loss

Two More Days

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…. 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!

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…… 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!

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………. 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

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…. 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!

Another Thing to Check Off the List

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….. 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

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…. 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

I’ve Got My New Computer

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… but now I have to figure out how to use it!

 I thought I knew how to navigate around Apple computers but this new MacPro is giving me some challenges. I have an appointment on Friday at the Genius Bar. I was hoping to have my photos ready to go but I can’t transfer my data from my external hard drive into this new laptop. So unfortunately today’s post will be sans pictures.

This time of year all my non teacher friends and the parents at school ask if I’m ‘winding down’. I know that there are only 3 weeks of school left but I can’t even allow myself to think about that. I have report cards to write, report cards to proofread, correct and print, costumes to cut and sew for the year end production, Girls on the Run to train for, soccer practices, soccer tournament, grade 5 visit to next year’s middle school, biography and social studies projects to finish and mark and the year end activities to organize. I’m tired just thinking about it.

On a personal note I’m continuing to have success on the scale. I’m down 15 1/2 pounds and I’m finding that making good food choices is becoming second nature to me. I’ve had a few challenges, such as attending a retirement party, preparing snack day for the staff and buying $50. worth of chocolate for 20 gift bags that I made up as thank-you gifts for the staff. I can honestly say that I don’t feel deprived. My reward is the large number of compliments that I’ve been getting on my ‘noticeable’ weight loss.

The weather has not been great and I haven’t been as successful with getting out for my walks/runs. I’ve been wearing a pedometer and I’m only tracking 4000 to 5000 steps a day. My goal is at least 10 000.

Anyway I have to ‘run’ and proofread about 25 more report cards.

Cheers

Sorry for Not Responding

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…. looks like I’m going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new computer

The thing I miss most about not having a fully functioning computer is replying to emails and thanking people when they ‘like’ one of my posts. I am able to read everyone’s comments (with some difficulty) but I can’t even push the like button or make comments when I see things I like.

At the moment I’m working on my husband’s computer. I can’t always depend on using it though because he needs his for his business. Today is not a good day for him. The side effects of his last chemo session are hitting him hard this time around. Thank goodness it’s the last time (for now) that he has to endure this dreadful nausea.

I also miss posting pictures on my blog. I don’t feel I can download my photos on other people’s computers so at the moment all my pictures are sitting in my camera waiting for that new computer.

On the weight loss front, the scale had been up and down or static this week …. except today, it finally showed a significant loss. I am now down 14 1/2 pounds. Hooray!!! I’m almost hesitant to share this with you because of the fluctuations on the scale but on the other hand it keeps me motivated to keep going.

I’m going to try to keep my activity level up for the next two weeks because the Girls on the Run 5 km is two weeks today. It won’t be easy because it’s also report card time. Enough said.

For those of you who are following my blog, don’t give up on me. I read yours everyday and hopefully I can be up to full speed again in the next few days.

Cheers

Time to Celebrate

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…. so many things to be thankful for, but the best is that “there are no more cancer cells to kill” according to K’s doctor.

The day started off with a 1/2 pound weight loss on the scale and I can now say I’m officially down 13 pounds.  Not as much as I had hoped for but I’ll take it.

I took the day off work to be with K for his first day of chemo in this last round. He rode his bike to the hospital and I drove to school to drop off a few things that needed to be dealt with today. When I got to the hospital my husband had already had his blood work done and the doctor decided to wait for me before she shared the good news.

All K’s organs are normal again, the lymph nodes have shrunk significantly and there are only a few small nodules here and there that don’t seem be a concern. We couldn’t believe it when she told us that this would be the last round because there were no more cancer cells to kill.

Apparently there is no permanent cure for CLL but K’s quality of life should be significantly better for some time to come. After this round it will take him about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks to feel better. We are over the moon with joy. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I didn’t get out for a walk this morning with Frances but I did go for a long one after dinner tonight. I love the route we take and I brought my camera to share with you what we see on our walks. These are 2 more things that I’m thankful for: being able to walk 5 to 6 km and love it and for living in one of the most beautiful areas in Toronto.

Life is good! Enjoy every minute of it.

Plateauing

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… is there such a word?

I’ve been up and down all week and I’m feeling like I’ve hit a plateau. I’m sure that a lot of it has to do with that “stress” thing I’ve written about in the past but I’m not going to let it get me down. 

Tomorrow I’ll be doing a lot of sitting as I keep K company during his final chemo round. I’ll probably read and maybe even mark school assignments when he sleeps. When we get home I’ll make sure that I take Frances out for an extra long walk and maybe if I get up early enough I can take her out in the morning as well.

Yesterday I made a wonderful low GI chicken bake with salsa. I regret that I didn’t take pictures of it before we consumed it but I have leftovers and I’ll be sure to post pictures and the recipe sometime this week. I served it with a dhal that I made from scratch and it was delicious as well. I’m wondering if the legumes played havoc with my weight loss totals this week. Beans don’t always fit into the low GI category. Oh well, no point in crying over spilt milk. What’s done is done. Moving on……

Cheers