Today was a good day, and fairly productive:
Cleaning
If I'm to keep on top of this, I'm going to have to remain accountable for what I do. I didn't get nearly as much as I'd planned to today, because I had lots of running to do (and because I didn't fall asleep until after 0500, not having taken my sleepy pill).
But I did do some. I put another load of laundry in and switched out what was there. I'll probably switch it out again when I go to bed, and fold tomorrow.
I cleaned out and refilled the litter box (at last, it was sooo pewwy).
The two recycling bins were way overflowing because Rob had put all the flattened Girl Scout cookie boxes in them, so I took those out. I flattened the remaining boxes and called in a bulk pick-up for the dozens of cookie boxes we have to put out for tomorrow morning. Then I had lots more room in the bins and was able to get all the recycling that was piled up in the kitchen back into the bins.
I carried the flattened boxes out to the street, thinking I was doing Rob a favor. Unfortunately, while I was gone, they blew all over the place and he had to run around and pick them up. Oops. Hopefully they'll stay put tonight for pick up in the morning? Guess we should tie them together...
Running
It was soooo nice to have my own vehicle back at my disposal today, even if it's only temporary (and thank you so much for the sympathy, Nicole! I appreciated that!).
As soon as Jack came home from school, I threw a yogurt down his throat and then packed the Littles up for the drive to Newport News to see my surgeon. Luckily, it was warmish out (what is UP with our crazy weather?!) and they didn't need to wear coats and all the winter toppings. So much the faster.
We had a smooth drive up there this time, completely incomparable to the last visit. Just a straight shot up there, and we got there ten minutes early. What a relief.
Sophia was a hoot when we got into the waiting room. The kids remembered our last trip there and went straight for the water cooler, filling up their cups. Then she walked over to an older gentleman sitting there and asked him to hold her cup, saying, "But don't drink it!" I was almost laughing too much along with him to admonish her, but I did. A little. He told me to let her be, he was enjoying her company. So I mostly just sat back and let her entertain him. The kid is a character!
But then she spilled her water all over the next chair over, so I took them and ran to the bathroom for paper towels. Oopsy. Then we had to run back again so everyone could go potty. By the time we were finished, it was weigh-in time.
I always know the scale at their office is going to be more than mine, since I weigh in naked and first thing in the morning. So I don't pay it any mind! (By the way, I did weigh in at home this morning, and the number was exactly the same as the last time, so couldja all give that scale a mental shove for me? Thanks.)
The doc was extremely pleased with my weight loss so far and said I had done a tremendous job. He asked me a few questions, answered a few of mine, and then said the golden words: "Now you can do anything you want. Eat whatever you like." Woohoo! I'm free to do as I please, within reason, of course. The goal is still to get my 64 oz of liquids in a day, 90 g of protein, and minimize the carb intake. But I can try anything I want, as long as I go slow, take tiny bites, chew the hell out of it, and listen to my pouch's cues. Yay!
Since I started the mushy foods phase, though, my protein levels have gone down. So I asked the doc about his Metabolic Center, where I knew lots of protein goodies were sold. Luckily, it was just down the road, so off we went to find it.
I don't know my way around Newport News at all, so it was a bit tricky. I knew where it was supposed to be, but it just wasn't jumping out at me. I spent about 20 minutes going around and around in circles, until I finally spied one little side street I hadn't noticed before. A-ha. There it was.
There was snow on the ground there. Weird. Anyway, I went in and was immediately taken under the receptionist's wing. She pointed out all the foods and told me the protein content of each one, and her opinion of the taste of each of them. And since it was my first visit, I'd get 10% off my total! Woot!
I picked out all kinds of things. Unflavored whey protein powder (blech but necessary), tomato soup, mint chocolate pudding, dark chocolate wafers, some drinks... lots of good stuff. I spent a lot, but it should last me a good long while.
Mindful of the time, we sped home to beat Chloë from school. Ah, we had plenty of time. It was an hour before she came in. So the Littles had a snack, while I took a picture of all my foods to show you (because I'm lame cool like that), and then some pictures of an unwilling subject, Jack. Now they don't want to upload, so here's another photo-less post. Blah.
When she came in, she helped me straighten up a little of the shoes and coats by the front door, and we whiled away the time finishing the recycling chore business. Before I knew it, was time to leave for Brownies! I hustled everyone into the van (♥), and we got there a few minutes early.
I was hoping to collect a bunch of cookie money to deposit in the morning, but only two moms had only some of theirs. It's something, but we're getting down to the wire here, and it makes me nervous!
Nikki assigned me to the task of helping the girls with one of their Cookie Try-It patches; I had to take two girls and make one the customer and the other the salesperson. They had to practice the cookie-selling interaction and make proper change. I now don't feel quite so worried about Chloë's general inability with math and especially money. Some of those girls were really great with it, but others were as clueless as she. I helped them as much as possible, but some were just not getting it. We ran through it a few times, and in the end I figured they'd done enough to earn that part of their patches.
Oh, in the meantime, Rob had come to pick up the Nonnies and leave me is rental car to get home. Phew. Love them to death, but they are seriously underfoot whenever we're at Brownies, and it wears on me.
When we finished with the money stuff, the girls were making dough shapes and mixing colors to make new colors and other stuff for a different Try-It. I was confused about all that, but they were having fun just squishing up the dough and pounding it, so I just tried to encourage them to make their shapes (what are they, two years old?) and figure out what colors blended together would make what. Eh.
Chloë and I drove home when it was over, and I switched to the van. Another troop mom was taking some of our extra cases of cookies, phew. So I delivered four cases that we won't sell and then picked up two more that we will, and headed back home.
I wanted to clean then, before Stim came over, but there was the matter of Jack's homework. And dealing with all the cookie money and the cookie input website. Jack had to write about his favorite weather and draw a picture. He chose snow. Snow?! Not my child! His sentence was, "The snow fell." Hey, works for me. Then we read a story, another from the Prize Patrol that I'd forgotten about. I was glad; I'm not one of those moms who will happily read the same damn thing over and over. I want variety in my life!
I had to dash out with Chloë, again, to deliver a cookie order to a neighbor who'd called me earlier. She wasn't in, and the husband was reluctant to take them from me! Um. So he called her and got things straightened out, and then he agreed to pay for them. Gee, thanks. But he did give her a 50¢ donation, so hey.
I was adding up the cookie deposit when Stim arrived. She showed me her new little cloth diapers for their wee baby, and I hugged her and was so excited to see her, since this was the first time we'd gotten together after her big news! Everything is moving along swimmingly in there, and she has her first ultrasound on Monday! So thank you, thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts!
Rob and I headed out to dinner after that. Now, we do live by the beach, where there are plenty of good, local seafood restaurants, but something about the Lobsterfest commercial for Red Lobster had a serious hold on me. I had to go to there! I had a coupon and everything, dudes. I didn't know what I wanted, but there was going to be some serious seafood indulging on my part.
Um, yeah. Not. I managed to eat about four bites before Pouchy was too full. That part sucked. Rob and I talked a lot about his work, our plans, and my life since surgery, so that was part was good. Oh, and did I mention both Steph and Tim could tell I'd lost weight? Steph says the girls at Bunco will be wowed next week! I'm thrilled; I can't tell myself!
Meanwhile, I watched Rob eat. And eat, and eat, and eat. Seriously, it was impressive. For a not-so-big guy, he packed it away and wasn't even stuffed. It's insane. And a little bit unfair, in the sense that I would have gained five pounds from that while he loses weight from all the work of chewing. Ahh, life. So be it.
Well, this is ridiculously long, so I'm going to go eat a piece of shrimp and then get back to my Wii Fit. I repeated my Body Test last night and got my Fit Age back down to 32, so whee! (But then I repeated it again and it went to 41, and 36. LOL) I unlocked another fun balance game tonight, so I'm going to go work on that!
Toodles, my peeps.
Fin.
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