Unexpected Money Rocks!

Woo! I came home from work today, got my mail, and had something from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Ooh, bad news. That was my initial reaction. But! It turned out that, to quote the stub: "In accordance with the new STAR school property tax rebate program approved by Governor George Pataki and the State Legislature, we are pleased to provide you with the attached check to help reduce the burden of your 2006-07 school taxes." They sent me $158.40! Excellent. I love unexpected money!

And, more good news, the diet continues to go well. I am weighing myself on my home scale in the mornings and then on the scale at work after I get there. According to my home scale, I lost three pounds last week. According to the work scale, I only lost a pound. So obviously, I'm ignoring the work scale and paying more attention to my own scale. :) Regardless, it's still going well, and the weight continues to come off slowly, and I'm still just as motivated as ever. And I have to mention here that I got the best comments from a new reader in the UK, Reid. Reid, you rock. Thanks for the support, and congratulations on your own weight loss! I hope you'll keep reading. And hey, maybe someday I'll even put up a progress picture or two! I'm not sure. Maybe. I'm a little camera shy, though, so we'll see.

And now I'm going to think about what I'm going to do with my unexpected windfall. Actually, I'll probably be boring and save it for my homeowner's taxes, since my school taxes are already paid. Anyway, here's hoping that you will all have great weekends! I'm going to go to lunch with my sister on Sunday, so I definitely will. Talk to you later!

Link-a-roony

Not that she needs any help from me in getting readers, since she has about a bazillion to my five (hi! I love you, my five faithfual readers), but if you haven't already read Pamie's entries about the marathon she ran in Maui, you should go do so now. They had me alternately thinking I would never, ever do that in my whole life and thinking, "hey, I should start training for that!" And then I almost cried at the end. She's an excellent writer. Go. Read them. But finish reading me first. :)

So. Last time I did this weight loss challenge, you never heard another word about it, because I sucked so horribly and quit after like three or four weeks. This time? I'm doing pretty darn well, and I'm staying motivated. So I feel like writing about it. I hope it doesn't bore you.

I have been doing pretty well, like I said. I'm not losing a lot each week, but I am losing each week, which is good. And I'm starting to feel small differences in my body - I'm just a tiny bit smaller in a couple of places. Nothing noticeable to other people yet, but I can feel it. It's good stuff. I have to work on being good all weekend, though, because I've been cheating for the whole weekend, plus Friday, so then I spend Monday and Tuesday losing what I gain over the weekend, and then only Wednesday and Thursday losing new weight. Obviously that needs to stop. As of this week, I am cheating on Friday (because I have to have one day to look forward to, or I'll never keep this up) and being good on Saturday and Sunday. I'm so glad that I'm finally reclaiming control over the shape of my body. I gave up control a long time ago - I say it started about the time my Mom started having strokes, back in 1996, which I guess is true, because prior to that point, I was only overweight by about 15 pounds. Not a big deal. After ten years of stress eating, grief eating and then just "bad habit" eating, that 15 pounds has snowballed like crazy. Not for much longer, though. It's going to take me about ten months, at this pace, to get to my goal, but I AM going to get there. I want to be healthy again. And I finally want that more than I want to stuff my face with junk food.

And okay, if you stuck around to read all of that, you deserve a cookie. But I don't have any to give you, so you'll have to buy your own. Oh, and go read Pamie's marathon entries now, because I'm done here. And read the rest of her stuff too, because she rocks. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Working up a sweat, and not in the fun way

Well, it took me how long? Two weeks, at least, since I first mentioned the need to do it? But I finally started exercising tonight! I popped in my (and yes I realize I'm aging myself here, but you know how old I am anyway) Jane Fonda workout tape circa 1986 or so, and I did the beginner's workout. Or at least I did half of it - then I felt like I was going to die, so I stopped. I'll be able to do more next time, though. The cardio-vascular system is surprisingly resilient.

And you wanna know the scary thing? I remembered every one of the horrible songs they play and sing during it, and even worse than that, I was able to say everything that Jane said, right along with her. Yup. I forget names, I forget things I learned in school, but I have no problem whatsoever remembering the words in a workout tape. Oh, the joy of me.

Anyway, yay! Go me!

Munchies

I want nothing more than to eat right now. Chips, cookies, granola bar - whatever. I want to eat it! But no! I've had enough today, so I can't. And I'm not hungry, I just want to snack because I'm sitting here watching TV and playing the Sims, and that is perfect snacking time. Ugh. Dieting sucks.

In which I prove I am a TV addict

I stole the following from Clare:

Instructions: Bold (or change the color) of all of the following TV shows which you've seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

24
3rd Rock from the Sun
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
A.L.F
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Allo Allo
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/X-Fact0r
America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
The Ben Stiller Show
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bleak House
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Brady Bunch
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
China Beach
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dallas
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new Who)
Doctor Who (series 1-26)
Dragnet
Due South
Dungeons and Dragons (old cartoon)
Dynasty
Earth 2
Eastenders
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Falcon Crest
Family Guy
Family Ties
Fantasy Island
Farscape
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Flamingo Road
Frasier
Friends
Full House
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Head of the Class
Highlander
Hill Street Blues
Hogan's Heroes
Home and Away
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
Iron Chef (Japan)
Iron Chef (USA)
Ironsides
JAG
Jackass
Jeopardy
Joey
John Doe
Kath and Kim
Knight Rider
Knots Landing
La Femme Nikita
LA Law
Laugh-In
Laverne and Shirley
Law & Order
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: SVU
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Magnum P.I.
Malcolm in the Middle
Married...With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission Impossible
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Family
My Favorite Martian
My Life as a Dog
My Mother the Car
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Mysterious Cities of Gold
NCIS
Neighbours
Night Court
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numbers
One Day at a Time
One Tree Hill
Oz
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Party of Five
Perfect Strangers
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pirates of Darkwater
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Prisoner / Cell Block H
Profiler
Project Runway
Psyche
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Samurai Jack
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
Small Wonder
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
SquarePegs
St. Elsewhere
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis - New season
StargateSG-1 -Newseason
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
Teletubbies
That Girl
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bionic Woman
The Colbert Report
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Prisoner
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Sullivans
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
thirtysomething
Three's Company
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Upstairs, Downstairs
Veronica Mars
Wings
What Not To Wear (US)
What Not To Wear (UK)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Witchblade
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls
Wonder Woman
Xena: Warrior Princess
Young Hercules

Okay, yes, I watch way too much TV. In my own defense, a lot of these shows were watched when I was a kid, and yet I still managed to play outside a lot. I've always been good at multi-tasking, I suppose. But oh, some of these shows hold fond memories for me.

Being a Good Grown-Up

Okay, I'm not putting it off - I just made a doctor's appointment for a physical. Of course, they couldn't get me in until October, but that's okay. The health/blood pressure/not wanting to end up with my Mom's health problems thing is all I've been able to think about since yesterday, so I'm going to make sure to do something about it. I am NOT going to be like my Mom - I'm going to take my little early warning sign and I am going to heed it. (No offence, Mom.)

And I'm okay with waiting until October, because that gives me more time to lose weight and exercise before I go in, so maybe my blood pressure will be closer to normal by then. :) We'll see.

Wake-up Call

The Red Cross is having a blood drive in the gym in my building at work. I am a good, blood giving type of person, so I went in after lunch to try to give. I knew I might not be able to give, because my iron is usually too low. But I have to try. So I went in, and I had my vitals taken, and my iron was in fact too low. I got some unexpected news, though - my blood pressure was borderline high.

I've never had high blood pressure. Whenever I've had it taken, it's always been normal. However, it's in my genes - my Mom had high blood pressure. And heart attacks. And strokes. So obviously this was a huge wake-up call for me.

I of course came right back to my desk after I left the blood drive, and looked up high blood pressure on webmd. It may be no surprise to you that high blood pressure can lead to all of those things I listed in the previous paragraph. The site also confirmed for me what I already knew - how to change my lifestyle to get it down. I need to lose weight, eat healthier and do aerobic exercise for 30 minutes a day. I'm already working on the losing weight thing, and I'm eating less junk food and less total food during the day, so no problem there. I do need to work in more fruits and I suppose I need to figure out a way to work in more vegetables too, although I really don't know how I'm going to do that without puking, because I hate them all, pretty much. The biggie, for me, is the exercise.

I live a very sedentary life. I sit on my butt all day at work, I sit on my butt in the car on the way to and from work, I sit on my butt at my computer when I'm home - I don't move much. I don't even walk my dogs - they just go out loose in my yard. The idea of losing weight just to improve my self-image wasn't enough incentive to get me to start exercising. But the desire to avoid all of the health problems that come with high blood pressure is.

Sigh. It looks like I'll be breaking out those old aerobics tapes.

When the Red Cross comes back in a couple of months, I'll attempt to give blood again, and I'll find out if my plan is working. If not, I guess I'll have to go to the doctor (and yes, I know I should go now, but I'm not going to. I'll try what I know I need to do first, and if it doesn't work, then I'll go). But if it's lower, then I'll know I'm on the right track.

Genetics are a bitch.

Steve Irwin

I always get very sad when a celebrity dies. I guess it's because I feel like I get to know them in a way, from watching them on TV and in the movies. I was shocked today when I heard that Steve Irwin had died in a freak accident while in the water with stingrays. I don't get so sad about him, really - his pain is over. I feel for his wife and their two kids. His youngest son is about two years old, which is how old I was when my Dad died, so I really empathize. His kids are lucky that they can watch their Dad in videos of all of his shows, so at least he'll be a living, talking person in their minds at all times, instead of just still photos like I had of my Dad. But I know the pain of not having any actual memories of your Father - of never being able to remember a day spent with him, or a time when he called your name.

I feel for his kids. I hope Terry does what she can to make sure that his memory stays alive in their memory forever.