I'm exhausted

We just got home from a weekend at my parents in PA. Brian, Taylor, and I left after work Friday morning for Thanksgiving. Taylor was hesitant at first about going for her first trip to my parents with the fear of being uncomfortable. She backed out of the trip once or twice during the week, but eventually decided to go. I think she's glad she went. She had a blast. The ride back sucked. Snow, ice, rain, and traffic. A 3 hour trip took almost 6.

I had my physical on Wednesday. How did the weigh in go? Well, first off I apparently shrunk 3 inches in the last 4 years. What?! I wasn't going to argue. Weight: I'm up. Way up from last year this time. I gained 13 pounds from last years physical. The cause? Who knows. Some is eating and I'd venture to say some is from medicine and from the GI issues that I'm in the process of trying to figure out. But since last week was Thanksgiving, I can say, I'm proud of myself and my eating. Hell, I ate things that I know that I'm not supposed to, but I totally did not stuff myself. I skipped on most desserts and anything I did have was a bite just to taste. The way I look at it is I could have been worse. As for everything else, hopefully this week I'll have some answers. Although I don't want to be told I'm sick or something, it would be nice to hear, "you have thyroid issues" or something and make me realize I'm not a load. Just a half load.

Totally changing the subject, I learned to crochet again this weekend. I learned years ago, but when I was making a baby blanket my cat at the time peed on it and that was the end of my crocheting career. Anyway, it stresses me out. It hurts my pointer finger on my left hand. My sister said I need to build up my crocheting muscles. I didn't even know those muscles existed. Maybe I'll stick to something a little less painful.

Found a doctor with a plan

I've scored again. I've got myself a squared away, young GI doc. I was very impressed with him. He had more of an interview with me then an exam and built a plan right there. I have to get labs drawn tomorrow to check my thyroid and a few other levels or stuff. I have really no idea of the specific labs he ordered. Next week, I'm going for a CT (with contrast, ew--they swear it tastes good like vanilla) of my belly to see if there's any evidence of diverticulitis or colitis or any -itis that could be causing my issues. If he sees something, he'll treat it with an antibiotic and go from there. Either way, because of the strong family history of colon cancer he ordered me a colonoscopy. Who could ask for a better Christmas gift? (Me! Me!) I feel much better after going. I'm glad the doctor didn't jump the gun but at the same time, I like that he took me seriously. Now, do I hope my luck continues and look for a few other specialists?

Done with the nose, on to the belly....

Now that the nose issue has been corrected and healed, I'm continuing on my endeavor of trying to keep myself healthy. I've been having all sorts of GI issues off and on for a year or two. Recently its gotten worse. I've blamed it on stress and side effects from medicine, but I'm starting to run out of excuses. Why am I afraid to go to the doc? My grandma was diagnosed with colon cancer when she was just a little bit older than I am now, and she unfortunately passed away from it in her mid 40's.

NO, I am not jumping to any conclusions saying I have cancer or something. I just realize that putting stuff off doesn't miraculously fix things. Being there's obviously a history of GI issues in the family, I want to be sure my problem are handled before I have more serious stuff to worry about later in life. Surprisingly, I got a new patient appointment next Monday. That's crazy to me. Usually I have to wait like 3-6 weeks for an appointment. I've been having good luck lately with doctors, especially specialists, so I'm hoping the trend will continue.

I heard someone got gas for $1.53 today!!

I'm posting this part for Brian. I think he should create a blog where each day he can post where he found the cheapest gas. I want everyone to (enter a touch of sarcasm here) enjoy those conversations as much as I do. If I have to suffer through them EVERYDAY so should everybody. Maybe for the comments of his posts you can suggest other topics of interest for him. :) Love you, Pop. I mean, dear.

I had one of those days.

The ones where it starts off wonderful, then WHAMMO! something smacks you from behind and it all comes crumbling down. I had my food all planned out for the day yesterday. I had lunch and supper which ended up getting eaten for breakfast and lunch. Suppers plan was to IHOP it. I was only getting pancakes and light syrup. Side order at best. My partner and I got there around 7pm and sat down to order. I got a little excited when I saw omelets, so I "ok'd" myself into an omelet and pancakes. The not so pleasant waitress came to take our order and told me I couldn't get the kids version. What!? She said I was over 12. I was going to argue with her and say if I stood outside and ordered carry out they would give it to me but because I was in a booth in a lovely uniform, I can't have a kid sized breakfast. Whatever. She wasn't worth the breath I was going to use up arguing with her. I ordered the adult sized portion. Asked for lite syrup. Never got it. Of course, as any firefighter/medic knows, a meal is not complete unless you get a call in the middle of it. "Good," I thought to myself, "this is God's way of telling me no more deliciousness for you, Sarah." Instead of leaving the extra on the table, I plopped it in a doggie bag. (I know, I know, bad decision!)

So, we responded to this car accident. I will spare most details, because I know none of you really give a crap. Ultimately, my judgment (which I would stand behind my decision til I die) was questioned and I was ultimately overruled about the treatment/transport of my patient. Unfortunately, being in a para-military line of work, I really couldn't run my mouth and defend myself or question why we were being overruled. Well, I'm sure I said some stuff but that was an off the book, unofficial Sarah rant. I was a bit fired up. And an hour or two later, in an annoyed emotional state, there I sat with my IHOP deliciousness covered in strawberry syrup. I don't know when the strawberry syrup got there. I swore I put normal stuff on as we were running out the door for our call. Either way, I stared, had a conversation with myself that I should just throw it away. About ten minutes after that, the pancakes were gone. And they weren't in the trash (unless you're calling my belly trash and that is just not very nice).

This morning I found myself very sleepy and sitting in a booth with Brian at a bagel place eating a wonderful seasame bagel with PB&J. Just the smell of it proved it wasn't reduced fat PB. I could smell the extra grams of fat. And the full of sugar jelly.....mmmm, may just convert me back from my current sugar free preserves. I know I shouldn't eat tired. It's kinda like driving drunk. Bad judgement, bad driving (honestly, some days), and bad decisions.

I know I have to look past it and now, at 5pm, I'm over it and moving on. I'm back on track. But those mini breakdowns are so frustrating. It makes me feel like I've lost all control and the easy thing to do is continue that downward spiral (its a very yummy spiral I've found, too).

Can you say Ms. Super Bargain shopper?

Mattingly got spayed today so to kill some time before we picked her up, Brian and I went to the local Goodwill store to snoop around. I was looking around the kids section at books when I decided to check out the toys. Brian bought Brandon a dump truck there a year or so ago for $1.25 and its one of Brandon's favorite (and noisiest) toys. Anyway, I looked on a shelf and there stood Yoda. He's about 10 inches tall, dressed in his linen cloak, looking cute. I picked him up and he started talking. Are you kidding me? This has Brandon's Christmas/Hanukkah present written all over it. I flipped Yoda over, and he was $3. How can you go wrong? 3 bucks, looks brand new and not played with and did I mention, $3?

So, I've been ebaying for the past hour or so looking for a new North Face coat (I refuse to pay full price for a fleece) and I decided to search for the talking Yoda. This is what I found. Can you even believe it? $700? Granted ours isn't in a box and won't be a real collectors item, but, ummm, about $697 cheaper.

Unbelievable. I love Goodwill. (Amy, you and I should take a Goodwill barhop, minus the bars, and try to find the best deals.)

Few new finds....

Found a few new things to chew on lately:

Ronzoni Bistro
I had penne with chicken and broccoli. I found it to be pretty good, especially for being premade. Its ready to eat after 90 seconds in the microwave. When you grab the package, you'll think there's not enough food in there, but once prepared, it was a pretty good portion. And the best part: 1 svg per bag so you don't have to share and the one I ate was only 4 points. Totally tasted like 12.

Brian and I found Werthers Originals Sugar Free at Walmart. Its 1 point for 5 candies. I spread my five out through the day yesterday and I gotta say, that little bitty candy saved me from snacking on the danishes and breads out on the counter.

Brian has been eating these for a while, but we came across something new. There is now a breakfast version of them. I believe one was caramel coffee cake and the other was blueberry lemon crisp. I don't know the exact number of points, but if they are like the mini cakes they shouldn't be bad. (I hope.) We got them at Safeway.

Now, its time for turkey meatball subs, made by my lover boy. (Ha, makes him sound sexy in the kitchen.)

I loved tonight (and yes, in fact I am a 28 year old dork!)

After the gym tonight, Brian took me to our favorite pizza place for Pizza Monday. We needed a few things from the grocery store so we stopped at Safeway on our way home. Our few things turned into lots of things, but here's the best part.....between Club card savings and lots of coupons, I saved $47!! It was like a game to see how much stuff I could get for under $100. It just so happened a lot of our staple items were on sale plus I had matching coupons.
And, we were under $100. I think $91 total.

It was a wonderful night.

It's going to get easier

I got a surprise email from Brian yesterday. "I joined WW online." He said he wanted to lose weight. I'm not sure if he joined WW to actually lose or just to support me. Whatever the reason, I'm not going to argue it. I'm just happy I have someone to do it with me. He doesn't want to go to meetings and that is fine by me. I really go moreso for the weigh in than anything else.

It makes life much easier when we're both working towards the same goal. Like I said, I'm unsure of his reason for starting WW, but I'm grateful for it. Thank you, honey. :)

Tomorrow is a new week.

I wish I could say I had a good WW week, but I'd be lying. And I think the reason is, I know I won't be weighing in until next Tuesday. I work my 24 hour shift tomorrow and will get heldover at least 2 hours on Tuesday so that shift can vote. Theres no way I can make it home in time for my meeting.

I ate junk two days because it made me feel better. Another two days I ate bad because I felt good and it felt good to be out having fun with Brian. And, deep down, I don't feel bad about this week. There's next week to focus on. The journal will come back out and all will be good.

I did make it to the gym yesterday and I loved it. I went to the women's gym at the gym and found out I love it. Its smaller, less people and the equipment I like. The layout is better----I don't feel like I'm walking in the middle of a mess trying to figure out what to do next. I think Brian was happy I was happy because he's been going to the gym faithfully and I have not. I'm excited to see how the working out will help change my body. I dont know why, but now its like a competition with myself. That just sounded stupid. But at least I'll win no matter what!

Oh...I'm so serious about this working out thing, that I'm considering getting up early and working out before my shift starts so I can shower and not worry about it during the day. But that all depends on how the sleeping goes tonight and if I can get my butt out of bed an hour earlier in the AM. Going to sleep tonight shouldn't be a problem with the sunset so early. I was ready for bed by 5:45!!