Day 56: A Ray of Sun

 

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 ? At this point, probably not but I'm going to keep trying. My original Day 56 blog can found here. It was a sunny but cold day back then, -4 when I left for work ! It's 27 today, as of 11:41 am, so that's quite a difference. We actually had below zero temps in December and early January this winter, which is unusual. The forecast now is calling for a low of 4 degrees Saturday and Sunday night but it's going to warm up after that. My original day 56 blog didn't have much philosophical drivel to share, thankfully !

It was close to 8 (I think) when I got up today. Mama cat wasn't waiting for me but I saw her on surveillance cameras around 6:30, so she was a little early for breakfast ! We caught up with each other a little later and she chowed down. Her orange friend was nowhere to be seen.

Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup. I have an 80 calorie yogurt sitting here to eat. I just had 2 Eggo waffles (180 calories) with butter and cinnamon sugar as I just needed a little something warm and comforting. They were delicious !

The last bit of snow came off the laundry room roof about 9:30 last night so I went out just now to see if I could shovel it away. Unfortunately it froze solid overnight and I couldn't shovel much of it. There's not a lot so it wouldn't interfere with getting the car out. I titled this blog "A Ray of Sun" for two reasons. #1 - the sun is shining ! #2 - I can see a patch of grass outside the living room window ! That's because Doug scraped away all the snow along the house so there wasn't 5 feet waiting to melt. Regardless, it's wonderful to see grass again ! On the down side, the window weather advisory has been extended to 4 pm tomorrow. They're forecasting 6-10 inches and 40 mph winds. The percentage of probability for Mexico is less than 50%, so I'm hoping the bulk of any snow is north of me. We had none overnight even though it was forecast. I can see the system coming across Lake Ontario and if the trajectory continues north I should miss most of it. Fingers crossed ! Tomorrow is March 1 and I don't want to start the month with another blast of snow !

I spent most of the morning watching YouTube and catching up with my slot games. I have sufficient coins on all of them, though Clubillion continues to be a struggle. It is my least favorite game so it will be the first to go if I get a job. Dancing Drums is my favorite app. Last night I was up to nearly 6B coins thanks to some amazing wins. Today I still have about 5.3B, so I can't complain. Quick Hits and 88 Fortunes have been more generous with coins of late and I don't really favor one over the other. Each has different games that I enjoy. Jackpot World would be my #4 game, though it's been sucking away my coins again. I've amassed nearly 175B but when you're betting 1.2M and getting a ton of dead spins they go fast ! The app does have a lot of ways to earn coins and they send out a lot via notifications, but I've never liked having to chase coins. The slots are great right now because I have nothing else to do, but if I get a job I won't be able to keep up. It takes several hours each day to complete the daily challenge and I just won't have that amount of free time.

About 2:30 I decided to go to Walmart and pick up a few things. I had pulled the car into the garage on an angle, so it was very easy to back it out without getting off the pavement. Towards the bottom I was a little close to one side, so I just pulled forward and straightened the car out. There's a big pile of snow there, otherwise I'd have been fine. I only spent $63 at Walmart. I was going to get pizza supplies, but I decided to get hotdogs instead ! I've been craving them so I bought a big bag (I think it's 3 pounds) along with 2 packages of buns. I also bought some ready to microwave rice sides ! So often I just want a little bit of carbs with a meal and Nutrisystem doesn't really accommodate that. Now I can just microwave a package and have a big of rice. I bought 4 different varieties and the plan is to only eat HALF at a time, so that is 8 meals ! Going out was a good idea as I got to see the impacts of the snow on a lot more people. So many others have snow blocking their windows ! When you're in the midst of a crisis you think you're the only one, so it's good to see that you are not ! Many roofs had been shoveled, but some had not. They were in the process of shoveling off the roof of the town hall in Parish. It's a good size 2 story building and it had a ton of snow piled on it. It's going to take them a few hours to finish that job. Walmart had ONE cherry pie so I grabbed that up. I also bought a package of vanilla sandwich cookies, since I finished the ones I bought Sunday. They had no Diet Coke so I couldn't get that. Fortunately I have enough for about 10 days, along with a six pack of Coke Zero, which I don't really like but will drink in a pinch ! I only drink one soda a day, so I should be fine. I bought mustard too, which it turns out I didn't need. I also picked up a jar of dill pickles. I like them on the meatloaf sandwich entree from Nutrisystem and I kept forgetting to buy them ! I also bought 2 cans of whipped cream and a 1/2 gallon of milk. I bought the whipped cream because I decided I really don't like the Cool Whip. I will finish what I have and then move on. They clearly changed the formula and it is probably 80% air. When I got home I used the shovel to chip away some of the ice on the driveway outside the side door and in the driveway. I doubt I'll be able to get rid of any more of it until next week, as the high for tomorrow is only 32 and the high Sunday is in the teens. The overnight single digit temps won't help either !