Day 13: Nine Weeks Until Spring !

 

Here we go ! It's a new year. Time to get back on track with diet and exercise. The goal is 100 pounds by 12-31-25. Can I do it ? Well, I won't know unless I try. My original Day 13 blog can be found here. My original Day 13 was unremarkable. It was just another work day and another day pretending I wasn't scared to death about losing my job. More on that later in this blog.

I woke up just before 8:30 and it's another chilly day. No snow in sight but the forecast says we could get a snow shower around noon. Snow is possible every day for the next week, but I'm hoping there are no more lake effect events. It would be nice to get a little break from that ! I created the ticker above to count the days until Spring. We'll see if that becomes counterproductive !

Breakfast was 180 calorie Eggo waffles with sugar free syrup. I didn't have a yogurt or morning snack. Lunch was the last pizza with too much sauce, too much cheese and too much pepperoni. Call it my last hurrah ! I didn't have an afternoon snack. Dinner was a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was a 140 calorie lemon zest cake with whipped cream. I'm going to start working on using LESS whipped cream as it's gotten out of hand.

Last night I had waffles with peanut butter before bed. It wasn't that I was starving, it's more like that thought was stuck in my head. The good thing is I'm almost out of Eggo waffles. I also have no more pretzels or cookies, other than the ones you have to bake. I may whip up some tapioca today, but the dishes are the first priority when it comes to the kitchen ! After breakfast I played a little Cookie Jam while watching YouTube and then threw in a load of dark clothes. As of 10:52 am they're in the dryer and a load of sheets is washing. I have a new set of sheets to wash and then I'll finish with a load of towels and my bathroom rugs. Laundry and dishes are priority one today. Litter boxes and cleaning up the laundry room is priority two. Last priority is cleaning off the kitchen and dining room tables.

In exciting news, my SIM for Mint Mobile should be delivered tomorrow ! That means Michelle may get hers today !

Reading through my original blog, I have to admit it was a whole lot of BS. The thought of losing my job scared me to death and I was fooling myself thinking I'd fall into a good job with another company. I'm very, very lucky they kept me on for another 5 years. So lucky ! Losing my job in 2024 wasn't quite so scary as I had plenty of money in the bank and no debt other than my mortgage and car payment. I'm at an age where I can sign up for Social Security. I have a pension. I have an IRA with nearly $400k in it. I still have $65k in the bank and this year I'm looking at a pretty hefty tax refund. So it's a whole new ball game ! Speaking of BS, a lot of my original blog was BS. I lied about how much weight I lost on many occasions. I lied about reaching my goal weight. I had thought that making the journey public would keep me accountable, but it was too easy to lie about it. That's why I am keeping it private now. It's "only" day 13 but I'm not following the program and I've made zero effort to exercise. The snow and cold and its associated stress is a big part of that so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I know this journey will be easier when the weather improves, because I won't be worried about the pipes freezing, driving or keeping the house warm enough. I internalize everything and put on the happy face, even when I'm struggling. My family would love nothing better than for me to sell my house and move closer to them. I'd love to do that too, but with mortgage rates so high now is not the time. If rates drop significantly I may consider it ! Even though the winter weather is dragging me down, there is plenty I can be doing around the house. I really need to push myself a bit harder. I'm also not going to give in to buying "comfort" food just because there is a snow event coming. Eating more doesn't change anything .. lol ! So I need to stop making excuses for myself. I am sure I will have a lot more posts about the BS nature of my original blog as time passes. I'm just so glad that in 2019 I was able to motivate myself to lose the weight, get fit and pay off my debt. I need to find that spirit again ! I think part of the problem right now and I've given up on ever finding a new job and it hasn't been an easy process. I'm starting to accept it and I know I will be fine financially, but it's hard not to worry about it. I guess worrying about money is part of being retired/unemployed. I do want to take some time one day soon to compile my annual expenses as it will help me determine how much retirement income I actually need. The current plan is to live on savings and collect unemployment for the 26 weeks I am eligible. Once unemployment expires I will have to figure out the next step. Do I start collecting social security ? Do I start collecting my pension ? I can get through 2025 without touching any of that, so it will be a 2026 decision. My hope is that when 2026 rolls around I'll still have enough money to make it a 2027 decision ! I will be 65 in 2027 and eligible for Medicare. This goal is why I need to start saving as much money as I can. That's why I need to cut out stupid expenses like paper plates and bowls and plastic utensils. They're expensive and that adds up ! I'm not changing my coffee habits because of money. I'm changing that because I'm just not enjoying the flavored coffees and syrups. The artificial flavors are just not good. I may also consider buying ground coffee and using the k-cup accessory for that. I would have to do a comparison of k-cup cost vs the cost of ground coffee. Easy enough to do ! To that end, my thought yesterday about "treating" myself to a new phone will likely not happen. I don't need a new phone and spending hundreds of dollars for one anyway would be stupid. We'll see. The pre-order for the new S25 ends on 1-22, so I have a few days to think about it. While I want to spend as little money as possible, I don't intend to spend the rest of my life going without.

It's 1:06 pm and my 3rd load of wash is in the dryer and #4 is in the washer. I just put my lunch in the oven and once I eat I plan to get the dishes soaking. I also need to fold all the sheets and put those away. I may make some tapioca later, but that is contingent on my washing the dishes. No dishes = no tapioca. There's only a few to wash, so I have no excuse. Tomorrow will be day 14 and Saturday I need to weigh myself. I never took a "before" photo, so I need to do that too. I may try out my tripod and remote, which I bought over a year ago and have never used !

Well, it's almost 6:30 pm and I'm done with "things" for the day .. lol ! I got 4 loads of laundry done and I'm happy about that. I spent most of the afternoon watching YouTube and playing Cookie Jam. I decided not to change my sheets as I just changed them not long ago. I do still need to fold a bunch of sheets and put them away. I may start on that next time I get up. I think I have 4 sets to fold. The dishes will be my first priority tomorrow. I did put everything I could in the dishwasher and I'll run that tomorrow even though it's not full. The little bit of plasticware I need to wash will take me maybe 5 minutes. It takes longer to sanitize the sink and run the water ! I need to get a better sized dishpan so I can wash things more easily. The one I have is not deep enough so I will measure it and see if I can find the same length and width but with more height. If I get the dishes done tomorrow I will be making some tapioca. I bought a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, so I need to make something ! Last time I made a triple batch but this time I may go with a quadruple batch. Last time I made it I didn't temper the egg whites enough and it didn't mix as well as I would have liked. It tasted perfectly fine - it was just a visual defect. This time around I'll be sure to do a better job !

We had a brief snow shower this afternoon but it didn't amount to anything. Doug came by to plow some and was kind enough to text me and let me know he was just cleaning up and wouldn't be charging for it. I was glad to hear that ! 

Michelle texted me tonight for info needed to activate her Mint Mobile service, so she must have received her SIM. I can't wait until mine gets here tomorrow ! I'm hoping we can cancel service before the next billing cycle starts.

We have yet another winter weather advisory from 9 pm tonight through 1 pm tomorrow. It says we could get 3-6 inches of snow. I'd like to go and get the mail tomorrow and I may just walk to the post office. I need some exercise and I'd like to get out of the house ! The good thing is I need absolutely nothing from the grocery store. I would like to get another bag of dry food for the strays but I have plenty of canned food. Early this evening I found the orange & white male along with another male cat outside the back door. I gave them both some canned food and later put an extra bowl of it out. I really hope someone else has been feeding the strays as I still haven't seen several of my regulars. I don't think they've ever experienced a winter like this as the past few have been very mild. I hope the January thaw shows up soon !

I plan to spend the remainder of the evening watching YouTube and playing Cookie Jam. In tomorrow's blog I'll be looking back on the first 2 weeks of this latest journey. I haven't done as well as I'd like, so there is a lot of room for improvement.