Serious Snow !

 

It's day 3 of the 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. I will be starting Nutrisystem again on Saturday 01-04-25. My original day 3 blog can be found here. My first Nutrisystem order was delivered this day and I was excited to get started ! This time around, I'm dreading it a little. I've decided I'm not going to attempt the treadmill until the start of week 2. The change in what I eat will likely be a little bit of a shock to my system and I need to take it slow. The bigger shock will probably come when I record my starting weight .. lol !

I spent the morning and most of the afternoon on the couch watching the snow pour out of the skies. It finally stopped around 4 pm and since I was dressed, I decided to go out and clear the snow away from the side door and the front of the garage. I didn't measure, but I would guess there was 2 feet out there ! The stuff on top was the light fluffy stuff but underneath was a thick layer of the heavy stuff that came down yesterday. What I cleared should make it easier for Doug to plow. He called to ask me if I was going anywhere today and since I wasn't he is not going to plow, which was fine with me. He'll probably do it tomorrow. If I feel like it tomorrow I may go back out and shovel a little more just for the exercise ! At the very least I have to shovel off the front steps. I really enjoyed watching it snow ! It is so pretty when you can sit on the couch at home and not worry about having to go anywhere. It was just very relaxing. It's also very quiet when snow is falling and the ground is covered. The snow absorbs traffic noise and makes it that much more peaceful. Even now I hear nothing outside other than an occasional gust of wind or noisy vehicle. What will not be fun is when all this snow slides off my roof ! It will be quite the dramatic crash ! It's going to be pretty chilly over the next week without a lot of sun, so it may be a while before the avalanche !

I never saw the stray cats today. I'm sure they were warm and dry somewhere, waiting for the snow to subside. There is always dry food out there if they want it. It's covered so it doesn't fill up with snow. I'm sure they will be hungry tomorrow ! It's not quite 5 pm now so I'll keep checking to see if any of them venture out. Minnie and I snuggled on the couch and I happened on a live stream of someone who was driving around my area "storm chasing" the snow. He was actually at the gas station by my house about a half hour before I found the stream ! It was pretty cool to watch. He live streamed for almost 6 hours !

I mentioned last night that I was having chicken tenders for dinner. I did, but I have to say I did not enjoy them ! They just weren't good. As such, I'm going to throw away what is left. You know what the problem is ? I didn't want frozen tenders you cook at home. I wanted Tully's Tenders. Yet again I substituted instead of getting what I really wanted. I'm starting to think manufacturers are cheapening the ingredients in everything and the end result is it just doesn't taste good. I have a box of potato skins and they will be my dinner tonight. I've had them before so I know they'll be delicious ! I finished the donuts last night and I'll likely finish the coconut cake tonight. I have a couple of Christmas cookies left but I'm going to toss those too. Tomorrow I will have no choice but to eat Nutrisystem food ! Breakfast is always Nutrisystem anyways, so that is easy. I will make sure to have a protein shake at lunch, which I always enjoy. I will have a pepperoni pizza melt for lunch, which I always enjoy. I will have cottage cheese or fruit, along with some crackers for afternoon snack. Dinner will be a Nutrisystem entree with a veggie. Evening snack will be a Nutrisystem dessert. I will also have to make a huge effort to get enough water in !

I got an email today acknowledging my unemployment claim so I'm glad to know that process has been started. I have to remember to certify for benefits every week now ! I will put a reminder in my phone to do it every Monday. I actually applied for a job online today. If anyone at unemployment asks, at least I'll have something to show !

It's not even 6 pm and I am tired ! I was awake at 7 but didn't get to sleep until after 1 am. I guess I'll sleep good tonight !

I think this is a great time to get back on Nutrisystem. The timeline will follow my original journey and I feel mentally and physically ready. It helps that I'm really disillusioned by the quality of the junk foods I used to enjoy. I used to eat chicken tenders all the time and they tasted so much better. Maybe it's just the Tyson brand ? I don't know. McDonald's and DQ food used to be better. I guess I'm glad it's expensive crap now. Even CopperTop was a major disappointment. I didn't expect that ! At least with Nutrisystem I have a menu of foods I've enjoyed for years and the quality and taste hasn't changed. My latest shipment will even include 2 new desserts ! One is apple and one is a pumpkin spice. They're limited editions but I'm glad to be able to try something new !

Well, so much for waiting until tomorrow to clear off the front steps. I decided to do that just now (came back inside at 6:42) while my potato skins cook. I'm glad I did as the temp is going down into the teens tonight and that snow was just to freeze solid and be even harder to move. Even if we get more snow, the bulk of what we were expecting has come so anything else should be easily managed. It took me a grand total of 7 minutes to shovel off the 4 steps and clean the sidewalk in front of them. The wind has come up and the wind chill is brutal. Even with mittens on my hands were freezing when I came inside ! It's going down to 20 tonight and the high for tomorrow is only 27. Temps will be in the low 20's after that with overnight lows in the low teens right up to next Thursday ! I'm also glad I shoveled the top of the driveway. Doug will clear the rest and if I want the sides wider I can work on that over the next few days. The hard work is done !

I decided to cook the whole box of potato skins, even if I don't eat them all. I can reheat the leftovers tomorrow for lunch, even though it's my official restart of Nutrisystem. After tomorrow, however, there will be no non-supported foods except on bingo night. My goal is 2 pounds a week and I think I can easily achieve that. I'm sure I burned a fair amount of calories today shoveling snow ! I tossed the remaining Christmas cookies, so those won't tempt me. Honestly, they were stale anyways. My family makes so many cookies and I think a lot of them end up in the trash.