Day 33: Mid-week Slump

 

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 33 blog can be found here. It was titled "Dare To Dream" and I am definitely dreaming of being thin again ! I titled today's blog "Mid-week Slump" only because it was only 6 degrees when I got up today and my phone says it's only 16 now at 10:52 am. On the positive side, the sun is out ! As much as I'd rather stay inside where it's warm and cozy, I need to gas up the car and buy a few groceries. I haven't heard from Kim so I'm not sure if they're doing rock & roll bingo. I plan to head out about noon to shop. That gives me plenty of time to get everything done and get home in time to get ready if we are going. Despite the cold temp this morning it was 64 upstairs and 68 in the dining room. The laundry room was at 62, which is par for the course. I'm glad Spring is only 6 weeks away !

Breakfast was a 180 calorie cinnamon roll and an 80 calorie yogurt.

I was awake around 7 today and got up around 7:30. Mama cat was waiting for me, so I'm glad I didn't linger in bed. Once she was fed and Minnie was fed I settled on the couch to catch up on my slots and watch some YouTube. I checked my email and the link for my utility bill was there. The bill was $338.97, which is about $35 than the same period last year. Considering how cold it's been and how much I've used the space heater, I thought the bill would be closer to $400. I am fortunate to have the means to pay it ! I got my weekly paycheck for NYS so my bank account is looking good. I'm fortunate to have received 6 months severance and I'm glad to have 26 weeks of unemployment. That really covers my needs for 18 months or more. Before I was laid off I had $47k in my savings and I have almost $62 now. My tax refund and the unemployment payments will help keep that balance from dropping quite so fast. When I'm nearing that original $47k balance I will see about starting to collect social security and my pension. I don't want to spend down all of my savings. I have to remember that I won't get a big tax refund next year, since my only earnings will be the unemployment and any prorated bonus I might get.

My full Disney store order is expected to be delivered today ! I hope it comes to the house so I can bring the ornament to Lauren tonight, if we go to rock & roll bingo. It's 11:45 now so it's time to put on my big girl panties and back the car out of the garage so I can go run some errands !

Well, it's 3:22 and I'm back home from running my errands. I had NO trouble getting the car out as I paid attention to the backup camera and turned the wheel just slightly when I was about halfway out. It was nice and sunny and the roads were bone dry. I got gas first then headed to Wegman's. I bought everything I needed to make the cucumber salad and I will be giving that a try tomorrow ! I'd better like it as I bought 6 cucumbers, 5 gloves of garlic and a bag of red onions ! I didn't buy sesame seeds only because I didn't put them on the list and the original recipe didn't use them. I also didn't buy MSG as I forgot. I thought I could just add a little salt, but it turns out MSG has less sodium and adds more flavor. I will give it a try with salt and plan on buying some MSG the next time I shop. After Wegman's I FINALLY got my oil changed ! It hasn't been done since August 2023 ! Last stop was Walmart where I got wet & dry cat food, litter, plastic utensils (I know), yogurt, cottage cheese, whipped cream, soda, toilet paper and a couple boxes of flavored coffee. I was looking for the Cinnabon cinnamon roll flavor and happened to spot Gloria Jeans butter toffee flavor, which I haven't had in forever. I did say I was going to stop with the flavored coffees, so I did buy a box of unflavored as well. I came home about $400 poorer .. ouch ! The only good thing is I didn't buy any "bad" foods .. though I did look for cherry pie and the seasoned pretzels I like at Walmart. Lucky for me they had none of either !

I hadn't heard from Kim so I texted her to see how Joe is and to see if they were going to rock & roll bingo tonight. She called me and I knew immediately they weren't, as she got sick a couple days after Joe. The good thing is they are both feeling better and still leaving for Florida tomorrow. Joe will be back on 3-1 and Kim's heading back on 3-8 or 3-9 with her girlfriends. That means no bingo for at least 4 weeks ... so no pizza and beer either ! I guess that's a good thing as it will allow me to get this diet going. MAYBE I will have lost a noticeable amount of weight by the time I see her again ! Walking around the 2 grocery stores, hauling everything inside and putting it away will stand in as my exercise for the day ! My Disney order came while I was out, so I was happy to see that. It was only in the teens when I went out but the sun made it feel much warmer. I am SO glad the weather forecast forced me out the door. When I pulled the car back in the garage today I pulled straight in without turning the wheel to the left like I usually do. My hope is the next time I back out I can just go straight out and be perfectly situated in the garage. Once the snow is gone I don't worry about getting in and out but I'd like to make the process easier ! All in all I had a successful afternoon. I left the house about 12:11 and was back home at 2:47, so I was out for about 2.5 hours. I had no wait at the oil change place, which was great ! I guess the middle of the day in the middle of the week is a good time to go. I'm okay with not going to bingo tonight as I was ready to veg on the couch by the time I got home, put everything away and had my lunch. I was starving ! I spent a lot of money but I won't need coffee or litter for a while. I also won't need toilet paper for a while. I bought the plastic forks and spoons BUT I am trying to not throw them away after one use. Today's breakfast fork became my lunch fork. I've been using a "real" fork for dinner and my evening snack spoon gets rinsed and reused. The products for the cucumber salad will last a while and once they are all gone I will try to work out the cost of each salad. You're supposed to use an entire cucumber when you make it, but I'm going to start with a half. If it's super delicious I can always repeat the process for the 2nd half. The cucumbers were $4.99 for 3, which is $1.66 each, so it's not a big expense for a daily salad. It's easier to make and better than throwing away lettuce, celery and radishes. I really, really needed an alternative to salad and I hope the cucumbers fit the bill. The soy sauce & rice wine vinegar don't add any calories but the sesame oil is 120 calories per tablespoon, so I'll go easy on that. I'm not going to sweat an extra 120 calories a day. Some people also add sesame seeds, but those are 52 calories per tablespoon - so your healthy salad can turn into a calorie bomb fast ! The nice thing is the soup containers from my chinese food are the exact container the people online use to do the salad ! They slice the cucumber into it, add the other ingredients and shake it up. I got those containers by chance, so I'm hoping it's a good omen !

And ... now we have yet another weather warning. This one is for 4 am tomorrow through 10 pm tomorrow. The daytime high is going to be 38 so we're talking a mix of sleet, snow or freezing rain. At this point I don't have to leave the house until I really need something from the grocery store ... so I'm good for a bit ! There is actually a possibility of snow every day right through next Tuesday ! If I eat a whole cucumber each day they will last through Tuesday ! I don't see myself eating a whole one in one sitting, so we'll see how it goes. I'm going to start with a half and go from there. 

It's 4:02 pm now and I'm so hungry. I didn't have a morning or afternoon snack, so I'm running on 480 calories and 2 cups of coffee. 

My online slots are still up and down. 88 Fortunes let me win some today so I'm up to 25M coins. Sounds like a lot, but most of the really fun games have a minimum of 240k per spin. Your coins disappear fast if you don't win ! Dancing Drums let me win some last night and today, so I have 124M. They don't have the ridiculous minimum. Even some of the most fun games have a 10k bet. They also have easy daily quests with generous rewards. I'm really liking this slot. Lightning Link is the worst one I have right now and I can't seem to build up enough coins to play for more than a few minutes at a time. That makes the game boring and I may end up getting rid of it. Quick Hits is another one that's tough to accumulate coins. They also randomly lock and unlock a lot of the slots, including the ones that I really like. I still like CluBillion, but it's gotten harder to win coins and they seem to have limited free coin gifts to 100 per day. I guess there is no point to gain more "friends". I used to get 30B in free coins every day. I have 60B to play with, but I mostly just play the daily quest. No matter what I will NEVER spend real money on these games. Jackpot World is my new favorite but you have to be careful not to get sucked into the quests as they will drain your coins fast. I have over 7B coins right now, but some games require you to get huge amounts in order to be eligible for all of the jackpots. If you avoid those traps it's a fun game with NO ads !