Been distracted, incontinent dogs, other people's kids, being fat, maybe getting back on track.

Hey y'all. 

I am sorry if you have been looking for more videos about my journals or planners or just anything really. My brain's felt a little more addled than normal lately, and I've been dealing with a tension headache/migraine that's not wanting to go away fully. I get a few hours of reprieve and then it's back.  I have figured out how to sense it coming on, and can try to subdue it by just sitting quietly and taking a ton of Tylenol.  That has really kind of messed up my plans of actually accomplishing anything.

The last couple of days have been much better, thankfully. Yesterday, I finally got my entire living room swept and mopped.  Even used a real cotton mop and bucket like mom always did.  I'd been using those washable pads and the Flylady mop and swiffer and stuff, but this time it needed a deep cleaning.  Y'all ... it was embarrassingly gross. My daughter's dog needs to get his boy bits cut off and quit marking stuff or her boyfriend is going to find himself with a new dog.  ARGH it's so frustrating.  And my dog, Sophie... omg she barks to go out ALL the time, and due to my weird hours at work, she doesn't have any sort of regular sleep schedule either, so all day and all night she needs to go out to pee.  Lately, I have been going to bed as soon as I log off from work, so I'm in bed by 3:30am, so I can try to have some sort of life during the daylight hours with my family... her bladder is not accustomed to this.  So, now and then, not only do I find the obvious signs of Mr. Wiggles marking a piece of furniture for the hundredth time, but also giant puddles in the MIDDLE of the living room floor! Ok,... must calm down before I trigger another headache.

So, yeah I mopped my living room floor within an inch of its life. Hot soapy water, cotton old fashioned mop.  Then I rinsed out the mop, dumped the bucket in the driveway like Mom always did and refilled the bucket at the spigot outside where I rinsed the mop (not doing THAT in my sink yuck!)  Then came back in and mopped it again with cold clean water, ringing out the mop each time. Rinsed out the mop and hung it outside to dry with the bucket. I defied anyone to walk on that wet floor.

It finally dried and the furniture was put back, just in time for the kids we were babysitting to show up. A friend of ours who is battling cancer for the 2nd time in her young life had tickets to a concert 4 hours away, and couldn't get any of her family to babysit her boys.  They are a handful. So, we agreed. When you have that sort of thing going on in your life, you need to see as many concerts as you want. So, her boys were dropped off by a mutual friend after school.  At first it was cool.  They did their homework without being asked. One sat and played with toys we had laying around here and watched TV with me, talking over the good parts of course.  The other one asked to play video games on my computer.  Thankfully my youngest was here and knew the boys well and played with them each for a while and got the computer set up for them. Also, thankfully, my husband was off work and home when they got here, so he dealt with the fact that they refused to eat what we cooked for dinner (though we knew they wouldn't want pierogies and broccoli and cheese). I don't know what their mom feeds them, but apparently it's not mashed potatoes, or broccoli and cheese. I went to my office and logged into work, and he got them to take baths and finally asleep on the couch. I am just not equipped to deal with kids at this point in my life.  I'm sure a grandchild would be different since you start out slow... but two 8yr old boys.  Nope. Kudos to those of you who take in relatives or foster kids etc.  Y'all have my respect.

Oh, yesterday, I also got Zoe and my husband to help get the piles of junk and trash that had accumulated over the winter. The porch looks so much better, but still has a long way to go.  Christopher wants to fix the railing and stain/paint it this year. We need to put a new set of steps on it as well. We've decided to stay here at least until Zoe has graduated high school, so hopefully this year, we can get some much needed home improvement and maintenance done outside.

Today, I woke up at 11:30 as I have for the last few days.  I am so glad to finally be on a new sleep schedule and it's working out! Being up before noon gives me so much time to get stuff done around here and still do stuff I want to do on my own, like catch up on TV shows or maybe even work out.  I hate working out when other people are around.  So I just don't.  Today was a GORGEOUS day. Sun shining a few fluffy clouds and 74 degrees. I made my protein shake, then walked the dogs and decided today would be the day to start a new habit. It'll require me to keep some cash on hand, but it's well worth it. A little before 2pm, I downloaded the first Longmire book on my phone's Audible app and had charged my phone and bluetooth headphones.  I got the headphones working and the book started and I headed out towards Sonic.  It's a 15 minute walk from my house to Sonic. Mostly up a pretty steep hill, but listening to the book took my mind off of that completely and before I knew it, I was practically to the Sonic parking lot. I sat at one of their outdoor tables and pushed the walk-up order menu button.  From 2-4pm every day, they have Happy Hour with half price drinks and 99 cent corn dogs. Now, yes I know the corn dog completely countered any calories I burned with this walk, and I hadn't planned on getting a corn dog, but it sounded so good. I don't plan on getting one every time, maybe once a week. I did get my usual 44 oz Diet Dr Pepper. After I finished the corn dog, I turned the book back on and headed back home. Carrying a huge Styrofoam cup like that is pretty awkward, but well worth it. I love my Diet Dr Pepper.

While losing numbers on the scale will be really nice to see again, what I am really looking forward to is finally seeing my legs and thighs shaping up again.  I used to walk every evening, years ago.  of course I was younger then, and losing weight and toning up was a lot easier.  But I remember seeing my legs shape up over the months I walked.  Now, they are like giant fleshy tree trunks. It's awful. My arms are worse, but I don't see anything really helping them.  Even if I can tone them up, that flab never goes away. Legs are just easier, so I'm just going to concentrate on them.  The rest of it will come along.. weight loss,  Waist size will shrink.. eventually.  I will be looking at numbers on the scale as far as the goal goes.  I want to lose 10 lbs for my first goal.  I feel like that's attainable, and not too far reaching. That'll finally get me back into the 220s which I was at a few years ago.  I've been in the 240s and 230s for the last... 4-5 years now maybe? It's not the size I want to be my default. I feel and look much better in the 220s.  Then, when that's accomplished, I want to get into the 210s again. Eventually I want to get back under 200.  I don't know if I will, but that's the ultimate goal. I'll still be overweight, obese even, officially, but I'll sure look and feel better than I do now, and that's all I really want.  So, today I started the journey with a walk that was just about 1 mile total. Long way to go.