Day 16 & 17: Snow Fatigue

 

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 16 and 17 blogs can be found here and here. It was the weekend and I documented what I was eating. There was no musing or mental gymnastics.

I didn't write anything yesterday. I spent the whole day on the couch wringing my hands about whether or not I should go to Walmart. There were 2 things holding me back. Well, maybe 3. #1 anxiety over getting the car out of the garage. #2 it was cold, only in the teens. #3 I didn't really "need" anything. So let's talk about #1. I haven't got the car "stuck" in the driveway in well over 10 years AND I shoveled the other day to widen the top so there would be ample room for the car. As for #2, the older I get the more the cold bothers me. The mild winters we've had for the past few years have spoiled me ! Now, number 3 is the most important to talk about. I really and truly do not "need" anything from the store. I have a freezer full of Nutrisystem entrees to cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and evening snack. I have plenty of yogurt to cover the rest of my breakfast. I have protein powder if I want a morning snack. I have salad items if I want a salad with my lunch. I have cheese, pepperoni, fruit and crackers to cover my afternoon snack. I have a couple of pot pies if I need "comfort" food. I have a package of ready to bake cookies and one of corn muffins. I have soda. I have cashews and almonds to snack on. I have soup & crackers if I want something "extra". I have hot chocolate mix, plenty of milk and a bag of marshmallows if I need a hot sweet treat. I have a box of Bisquik and a jar of peanut butter. I have plenty of cat food for the strays and for Minnie. I even have a jar of sauce and 2 packages of gnocchi, which is a major comfort food for me. I also have a ton of frozen veggies and 2 bags of baby carrots to roast. So why go to the store ? The threat of a multi-day winter storm. That's it. The only reason I've been wavering back and forth about going to the store. What would I buy if I did go ? Besides a bag of cat food, I'd buy a bunch of junk food that I do not need and should not eat. I know I'd have looked for a cherry pie. I might have looked at the cheese danish. I'd have bought more soda and pretzels, if they had the ones I like. I might have bought frozen things like pot pies, egg rolls or pizza skins. Tons of calories and fat. I might have bought ready to eat cookies. Again, tons of calories and fat. I'm struggling with that urge to go to the store again today, because it's sunny and the roads look good. However, nothing has changed since yesterday. I DO NOT NEED ANYTHING ! I even thought about doing Instacart yesterday ! I'd glad that was only a thought that I was able to chase away because again, I did not need anything. It's even colder today (8 or 9 when I got up, 13 as of 11:08 am) but the sun is out and that makes me happy. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw the sun !

The house was warm enough when I got up this morning. It was only 60 upstairs but that is nothing new and the thermostat is set at 65. Downstairs was 66 and the thermostat is set at 68. I think the laundry room was at 60 as well, but that too is nothing new. I had the space heater going in the living room most of the day yesterday and for a couple hours already this morning. It's off now (as of 11:18 as I'm warm enough and Minnie is basking in the sun in the kitchen at the moment. I'll turn it back on if I start to feel cold if Minnie is in here. I moved her pillow to the other end of the couch and she's accepted that ! I can now sit in the optimum position to watch tv and use my tablet or laptop. She sits with me when she feels like it.

From a food perspective, I finished the tapioca pudding last night. It was so good and I'm so glad I made it. I made it late Friday and it lasted the entire weekend. I don't think I'd want to have it any longer than that, so I'll never make more than a quadruple batch of it. Had I eaten "normal" portions I would still have a ton left. That's something to think about because next time I could just make a double batch, eat a "normal" portion and still have it for the same period of time. The thing is, right now I'm still struggling with portion control and eating as per the Nutrisystem guidelines. I need to keep telling myself I don't need to go to the grocery store. I'm approaching the point of no return when it comes to the current winter storm warning, as it "starts" at 1 pm and runs through 1 pm Wednesday. Looking at the weather graphics I might escape the snow this time around. We'll see ! Forecasts seem to indicate the worst will be north of me. I still worry about the overnight lows in the single digits. I left the cabinets open under the sink all weekend to keep the cold water pipe as warm as possible. I tried the cold water a little bit ago and it was fine. I don't know if a flash freeze can happen when it's not below zero, but I didn't use the cold water in the kitchen when I first got up just to be sure. After Wednesday the overnight lows will be in the teens so I won't have to worry. I don't know if I'll be going to bingo this week as I think Kim and Joe are leaving for Florida on Thursday. They may not go to bingo if they're planning on an early start. We'll see.

Breakfast was a 180 calorie cinnamon roll and later an 80 calorie yogurt. I didn't have a morning snack. Lunch was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. About 2:30 I made myself a mug of hot chocolate. We'll call that my morning and afternoon snacks.

I made the hot chocolate with some thought, rather than just microwaving a mug of milk and dumping the dry cocoa mix in. I filled the mug about 1/3 of the way and added the mix. I stirred as best as I could then microwaved it 30 seconds at a time to incorporate it. Dry cocoa mix is not easy to mix in to cold milk ! Once it had warmed enough to fully mix in I filled the mug and then microwaved again in 30 second and 1 minute increments until it was hot enough for me. It came out picture perfect and delicious !

Today was Inauguration Day for President Trump ! I did not watch the inauguration live. I'll watch it when the mood strikes me. I'm sure he will be issuing a flurry of Executive Orders and I'm more interested in those. Hopefully they start kicking illegals out and cutting off any federal money being used to support them. If he accomplishes nothing else in the next 4 years I'll be satisfied !

After a sunny morning the house is comfortably warm. I have the space heater off now but will turn it back on if I feel chilly again. It helps that I got dressed and am making use of my old sweat pants and sweat shirt. The sun is mostly hidden behind light clouds and a very fine snow is falling. I can deal with that ! On a positive note, there is no indication that my cold water froze in the kitchen. Hopefully I can get through the next 3 nights too ! It may help that I didn't use the cold until afternoon when the temp had risen and the sun was shining. I plan to do the same tomorrow. Lucky for me I can easily use the laundry room sink ! It's only the kitchen that ever freezes. I really need to figure out a way to get under the kitchen in the basement and insulate those pipes. That part of the basement is dirt and will be no fun to crawl in and out of. I had all summer to do it and I didn't. The insulation I added under the sink has got to help, but the cold water already froze once. Perhaps all the snow piled up against the house will help keep it from freezing even if the temp dips below zero. Fingers crossed !

Yesterday I downloaded and spent most of the day playing casino slot games. I'm a little bored with Cookie Jam and I did always like the casino games. The ones I downloaded don't seem to have the head to head challenges that sucked me in to previous apps. They also seem to have generous free credits and ways to earn credits. Honestly, I really enjoyed them ! I played this morning too until I exhausted my credits and then switched over to Cookie Jam. I've been chasing the multiple weekly challenges and the next rank in my team on Cookie Jam and it's been a little exhausting. Definitely time to step back a little and not feel the need to always be #1. Honestly, the rewards you get are not really worth the hours and hours I put in. The slot games let me play some of the "real" casino games I used to play when I went to the casino every week. I'd be lying if I said I don't miss the casino. I've mentioned before that I went by myself a few times after mom passed and it just wasn't the same. The worst part was sitting in the food court eating alone. Mom and I always went our own ways when it came to the machines, but we always met for dinner. I miss her and I miss that. I do play occasionally on rock & roll bingo night but it's usually not for long and it's usually only because Joe wants to play. Considering my current circumstances, I don't need to be throwing a lot of money away at casinos anyway.

While I was playing the online games I was also watching YouTube videos. I'm trying to catch up on Post10's content. It's just after 3 and I just started a video that is nearly 5 hours long ! I'm going to pause it though to pee and then clean out the litter boxes. Minnie is walking around meowing at me and I think she is unhappy with the service I'm (not) providing !