Day 25, 26 & 27: Catching Up !

 

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 25 blog can be found here, day 26 can be found here, and day 27 can be found here. Another 3 days of BS content. I'll say it again: I don't know, maybe I'm just jealous of the positive attitude I had back then. I read these old blogs and feel like it's all BS. Maybe *I* am the problem ?!?!?! Being stuck in the house because of the cold and snow is definitely NOT helping !

It's been a bit since I wrote so I'll recap Tuesday and Wednesday here. Tuesday was trash day and I put the bin out around 10:30 and by 11 I was bringing the empty bin back in ! They usually hit my street in the afternoon, so I got lucky ! There was some new snow in the driveway so I shoveled all that away. Doug cleared the bottom early but he texted me to let me know he'd do the rest on Wednesday as he had a medical procedure scheduled. I went ahead and shoveled anyway and I'm glad I did as we had more snow overnight ! It took me 2 sessions to do it all, but I got it done ! I made a big batch of tapioca on Tuesday and I think I finally satisfied that craving. I don't think I'll make it again for a while. I had 2 huge bowls after it was done and even though it was delicious, it was too much. Wednesday brought more snow shoveling but I had an assist from a guy with a snowblower ! He showed up shortly after 10:30 am. I was thinking it was Doug's son in law but when I texted him to ask he said it was a friend. Apparently Doug had to spend the night in the hospital after his procedure. He worries about me when he should be worried about himself ! I went out to clear the snow in front of the garage and side door and later I cleared off the front steps, the sidewalk in front of my house and sides and bottom of the driveway. I may not have stepped on the treadmill, but I got a good workout both days ! Other than that, I spent my time watching YouTube and playing online slot games. I did uninstall 2 games already and they gave few coins and few wins. I am not falling into that trap of chasing coins. I have 5 slot games in rotation now but a couple are in danger of being uninstalled if the coins and wins don't pick up. On YouTube I've been watching a new channel, Norwegian Xplorer. This guy spends the winters traveling around the Arctic in a van. His content is pretty amazing and he recently posted a 13 hour (!) video, which is incredible. I didn't go to rock & roll bingo Wednesday as Joe is sick. I was ok with that as I have such anxiety about the snow. When Kim texted us Tuesday night so say they wouldn't be going, it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. From a food perspective, I had that tuna on Tuesday, plus the tapioca. Yesterday I made gnocchi for dinner, with intentions of eating half and having the other half today. Well, pig that I am, I ate the entire bowl. I am so mad at myself as I know better ! I should have put half in the fridge before I sat down to eat. I will do that when I cook the other package. I have to use up the sauce and then I'll be done with that until I go to Wegman's again ! Even though I wasn't going anywhere I showered and washed my hair yesterday. That felt so good !

So here we are and it's Thursday. I checked in on my bank account and bills. Everything for January is paid so I'm holding steady for the new credit card & utility bill. Credit card looks to be a lot less than I expected but I'm sure the utility bill will be massive, since it's been so cold. Nice to see my unemployment hit the bank ! You only get 26 weeks, so I have 23 to go ! For a change we didn't have anything more than a couple flurries of snow overnight, so there is no shoveling in my schedule today ! Today's priority is going to be the kitchen and I intend to get off my ass and start that as soon as I'm done with this part of the blog. I texted Kim to see how Joe is and he is starting to feel better. This is greats news, especially considering they're leaving for Florida in a week !

Breakfast today was a 180 calorie cinnamon roll. Later I had a bowl of tapioca. Lunch was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Dinner was a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was hot chocolate and a 140 calorie lemon zest cake with whipped cream. I also finished the tapioca off !

I spent the morning watching YouTube and playing the online slots. It's 12:06 now and I'm going to get the dishes started. Since I had that pink mold on the lettuce I'm going to clear the counter off completely and sanitize everything before I start washing. I always sanitize the sinks before I do dishes but I want to make sure I do the counter area around the sink too.

January has been a tough month as we've had so much snow ! It's very isolating to be stuck in the house watching it pile up. I don't actually mind shoveling because it gets me out of the house and it's good exercise. Considering how awful January has been, I'm wondering what February will bring. That's when we usually have out coldest weather and true to form, the overnight low for Saturday February 1st is a whopping 5 degrees ! Despite the cold over the past few weeks I haven't had any issues with my cold water freezing in the kitchen. That may be because of the snow piled against the house and the insulation I added under the sink, along with keeping the cabinet doors open 24/7. I'm also careful not to use that faucet if the temps are super low in the morning. Looks like I won't be using it Sunday morning. The good news is temps are going to rise after Saturday ! I gave myself until 2-1 to get my shit together and get back hard on Nutrisystem and my treadmill. "Bad" food (other than some pretzels) will be gone and I am going to give it my best shot. I really think I will have more success once the snow is gone, but I can't sit here eating my feelings while I wait for it to get here.

It's 2:20 and all the dishes are done ! I scrubbed the counter and sink good to ensure there is no pink mold lurking. I also scrubbed all the bowls for the stray cats, since they seem to be the source of it. It's my own fault for running water on them and then leaving them stacked in the sink for weeks. I noticed a pinkish buildup on the bottom of the bowls but never paid much attention to it. Lesson learned ! Going forward I will make sure I wash the bowls frequently and air dry them. I'm going to use my tiny dish pan for that, since it's useless for washing dishes, and I'll keep it in the laundry room. I'm going to look for a storage unit I had put in the laundry room to hold all the cat supplies. I think that will make it easier to manage. I haven't fed much wet food to the strays for the past few weeks simply because they stopped coming. I expect once the weather improves or the snow starts melting I may see them again. I put dry food out every day and they likely eat that. The raccoons may eat more than the cats, but I'm happy to provide a source of food for all. I meant to put the last of the tapioca in a small paper bowl and wash the big bowl but I forgot ! Oh well. It's one bowl and I can hand wash it as soon as I empty it later. For now I have sprayed the drains in the sink again with a disinfectant to ensure all bacteria is gone. I'm going to keep the cat bowls in the laundry room from now on. I think it's best to keep that stuff separate from food preparation areas. I also put the dish rag in the laundry so I can start fresh in the kitchen with all clean stuff. I also put away the cans of fruit that have been sitting on the kitchen table for weeks. I need to get the ceramic Christmas tree off the table and upstairs, so that is next on my agenda ! There were some peeks of sun while I was doing the dishes and that was nice to see. I read a weather story today that seems to indicate February might be milder than usual and I am hoping and praying that is the case !! 

As expected, the country is in chaos due to President Trump. It wouldn't matter what he said or did, the media is going to criticize it all. After the election I inhaled a ton of media coverage and subscribed to several YouTube channels. I also subscribed to Fox Nation for a year. I haven't watched any of the content in weeks, so I'm going to unsubscribe from it all and I won't renew Fox Nation. I just can't spend the next 4 years wondering who is telling the truth. The fact of the matter is the Democrats hate Trump and I'm sure a fair number of Republicans hate him too .. but he is our President for the next 4 years. He needs to make hard decisions and nobody likes change. Hopefully things will settle down over time and he'll do what he should to bring JD Vance forward as a viable candidate for President in 2028. It's going to be a bumpy ride no matter what !

Today was a pretty productive day. I did manage to get the ceramic tree upstairs but I still have work to do in the dining room. Most of the junk is cleared off the kitchen table, so progress was made there too !