At The Speed Of Molasses

BURSTING FORTH….

                                    AT THE SPEED OF MOLASSES!!!!

 Day one has not gone exactly as I had envisioned it but I am still happy with what all was accomplished today.  I had some trouble sleeping last night and didn’t fall into a restful sleep until about 4 am.  So this morning I slept until 9:45.  As I sat on the edge of my bed I took my thyroid medication as it is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach. Sometimes this is quite the challenge for me as nausea is a HUGE issue for me especially in the mornings.  At this point our two inside dogs, Roxie and Cabo, are more than ready for a trip outside.  I knew they would not stay out there long with the cold but I was able to get my bed made before they were ready to come back in. 

The foundation I have used to set my routines and schedules as well as my plan for getting my home under control is by a wonderful person named Marla Cilley aka The FlyLady.  If you struggle keeping CHAOS (she calls this Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) I highly recommend you check out her website at www.flylady.net as it is full of awesome help.

 First things first….. my morning routine began with the making of my bed.  Now on to the hard part of this post but I told myself I would be brutally honest with you and with myself. So, off to the bathroom scale I go for my daily weigh-in.  Today my weight was 273 pounds.  I have 130 pounds to lose.  This is the last time I will ever weigh that much.   WHEW!!!!!  That was tough but I survived.  My plans for weight loss are to go about this slowly – to make a lifestyle change I can continue and not just a diet that will fail.  The weight MUST come off because in addition to it increasing my risk for my cancer to return, I have nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (is a liver disease).  Failure is NOT an option this time. I will be concentrating on portion control, bringing in more healthy food options and exercise.  I still plan to eat my favorite foods, just in moderation and not as often.  I have however given up my beloved margaritas.   My blood sugar has been creeping up and this morning I was shocked as it was 182.  It is normally under 120 but it was probably due to the snickerdoodles I rang in the new year with last night.  This number must stay in the normal range as I do not want to deal with diabetes on top of everything else.  My blood pressure was also up some this morning at 171/92 but am hoping this was due to my rough night trying to sleep.  Heart rate was good at 74.

Now that the medical portion of my new morning routing was over it was time to move on.  Last night before I went to bed, I took my contacts out.  I wear the kind you put in, wear for a month and then throw away.  BUT… I have not been real good about changing them and may wear them for months at a time before changing.  So this morning, I put in a new pair and changing them the first day of every month is now in my schedule.  At this point I also brushed my teeth, showered, moisturized my face, fixed my hair and put on some basic makeup as I wouldn’t be doing much today other than work around the house. 

 One of the things FlyLady recommends is to swish and swipe your bathroom every morning while you are in there so it is maintained and never gets where you need to do an all day cleaning of it.  I gave a quick swish of the toilet bowl.  I used some Clorox wipes on the outside of the toilet and on the sink.  Tomorrow I think I will move this up in my routine to where it will be done BEFORE my shower.  

To continue my morning routine, I got dressed all the way to shoes (another FlyLady rule), threw a load of laundry in the washer, fed the inside dogs and cat and then fixed my breakfast which consisted of Special K Vanilla and Almond cereal ¾ cup, skim milk ¾ cup, 2 tsp sugar, an apple and 1cup of chocolate milk all coming in at 507 calories.

 

After breakfast, I took my morning meds. By now the laundry was ready to move to the dryer so I did that and threw in a second load.  The last item on my morning routine is to check my email, calendar for the day and write my to do list.

 

TA DAAAAAA!!!!  Morning routine complete in just short of 2 hours…I think this will get easier and quicker as I go…I hope so anyway.

 

I had a few items I needed for the New Years meal I was making for my family. So off to Wal-Mart I went.  Some of the items purchased were:

 

            Toothbrush – I try to replace mine every 6 months but wasn’t sure how long it had been so I thought today would be a good time to do that.

 

            Mascara – I have never been good about replacing this every three months as recommended but it is now in my schedule as well.  Thank you Teresa….my bestest friend

 

            Scrubby scrunchy thing for showering.  Not sure what it is called but decided it should probably be replaced too.

 

            Address book – I have not seen mine in years and I have noticed a few people posting lately about changing phones and losing all their phone numbers, addresses and such so now I will have a hard copy back up just in case.

 

I fixed ham and beans, cornbread, braised kale and an old family recipe we call “noodle stuff” to have for lunch/supper.  It was good and I loved having my kids, daughter in law and my daughter’s boyfriend all here.  Missed having my husband here but he had to work today.  I didn’t eat any of the noodle stuff but may have a small serving here in a bit as I still have 628 calories left for the day.

 

Fixing the food today was harder than it needed to be because my kitchen is a disaster area.  I can’t wait to get it under control but will do so one step at a time.  The first step with FlyLady is to shine your sink – this will be my goal for tomorrow.  I am just too tired to tackle it tonight.

 

One other purchase today was Quicken to try to get a good budget established.  So that is now loaded into my computer and waiting to be set up.

 

It is now 7:22 pm and I am fighting a bad headache and will be taking it easy the rest of the night.  I will try to get the dishwasher loaded and running tonight.  I will also finish entering my food for the day into the Lose It app I have chosen.  You can access this on your smart phone, tablet or computer at www.loseit.com.  This is what I will be doing to monitor my calories and exercise.

 

I will begin an abbreviated version of my before bed routine around 10 pm and will hopefully be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning when I go to have my mammogram and thyroid ultrasound performed.

 

I know this has been a long post today but they won’t all be like this.  There was just a lot to cover on this first day.  So stick with me and together we will get our lives where we want them to be.

 

Until next time…….

 

 

Copyright 2013 by Betty Williams