Day 106 to 116: The Struggle Continues

 

Time for a new mission statement. My goal for 2025 was to lose 100 pounds by 12-31-25 but I've failed miserably. At some point I need to pick myself up and try. A realistic goal at this point is 50 pounds by 12-31-25, so that is where I will start. When will I start ? I don't know .. do I need a "starting point" ? I don't. Every day that I don't "start" just adds to my misery. I plan to just take each day as it comes and do what I can to move closer to where I want to be. Life has changed and I haven't been able to adapt just yet.

It's been a while since I've written and nothing has changed. I'm still not "on" the Nutrisystem program and I'm still not "on" the treadmill. I think about it every day but I keep shooting myself in the foot !

So what have I been up to ? Let's see. April 17 is the last day i wrote and that was the Thursday before Easter. Friday April 18 I went to the baseball game with Rich, Barb and Mike. It was a double header and the Mets won both games ! The games were followed by fireworks and we had a great time ! I didn't do anything on Saturday. Sunday was Easter and I made my deviled eggs in the morning. I had a heck of a time peeling the eggs this time, even though I had bought them on 4-11. I guess they were still too fresh ! Easter dinner was wonderful and I truly enjoyed the day. Monday and Tuesday I didn't do anything. Wednesday I went to Walmart and made a stop at Taco Bell for the first time in a long time ! I got a crunch wrap supreme and some nacho fries, along with a large diet Pepsi. The food was great and cheaper than McDonald's ! I also kept the soda cup and I've been using it for my soda at home. Their plastic cups are much nicer than McDonald's paper ones. Thursday I did nothing but Friday 4-25 I went to Delta Sonic to gas up my car then stopped at Wegman's to pick up some coffee pods and produce. I bought cucumbers and radishes only. My main reason for going out was to go to Target to pick up an ottoman. More on that later in this blog. I also picked up my mail, so I'm caught up on my errands ! Saturday I was prepared to spend the day on the couch as usual but Rich texted to ask if I wanted to take a road trip to Old Forge, PA. Of course I jumped on that ! More later ! Sunday I spent the day on the couch as usual and that brings me to today ! Whew .. it's been a hot minute !

I bought the storage ottoman at Target because I need to sit at the end of the couch without the chaise, because that end sinks down so far that it's uncomfortable. The ottoman was only $80 and it matches my furniture. I haven't stored anything in it, but they're always a good place to store blankets. The road trip to Old Forge, PA was a lot of fun ! This town outside of Scranton is the self-proclaimed Pizza Capital of the World. They're "famous" for their pizza which is made with American cheese. Sounds kind of gross but I have to say the pizza was delicious. It had that thicker crust like Sicilian pizza but the crust was light and fluffy. It just melted in your mouth. We had the pizza at a place called Revello's. There were no other customers and the place was what I would call "dated", but our waitress was very nice and the pizza and beer was top notch. It was about a 2 hour drive and we packed a lot into the day ! We stumbled across a Boscov's store while looking for a local craft brewery ! Barb and Rich bought some shoes and then we headed to the candy counter. Rich and I got fudge and I also got a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. From there we walked to Mutant Brewing Company, which was just a few blocks away. Barb and I had a beer flight and Rich had a single beer. We walked a little farther from there to see their Veteran's park, which was quite nice, then headed back to the car. We headed back towards Syracuse but made 3 more stops. One to charge the car, one to get donuts at Krispy Kreme and one to buy a Yuengling beer Barb likes that is not sold in NY. The donuts were hot a KK so I got 6 of the hot glazed, 2 lemon filled, 2 creme filled and 2 chocolate glazed. I had 2 donuts in the car and they were amazing. I had 2 more with a glass of milk when I got home. It was a long day: I left the house at 11:40 am and got home at 10:30 pm. I did think ahead and left Minnie 2 plates of food, so she was fine. So yesterday I did nothing but watch YouTube and play my slot games. I also had 6 donuts, leaving 2 for today.

Today turned out to be a gorgeous day. Sunny and warm enough to open the front door and let Minnie out on the porch around 4 pm. I did a load of laundry and took a shower and washed my hair.

From a food perspective, I'm still eating a lot of stuff I shouldn't. I bought produce at Wegman's but I also bought a tub of chocolate covered cashews and a tub of chocolate covered almonds. I had also bought cheese balls, bite size brownies and some frozen Chinese food at Walmart. I have the say, the Chinese was delicious and it was enough for 2 generous servings. I really should have made it 3-4 servings. From a price perspective, I didn't save anything. Going forward if i want Chinese I'll patronize my local Chinese takeout. I also bought a huge bag of tater tots. I have those in the oven right now (it's 6:16 pm). I didn't buy pizza supplies or hotdogs.

I cooked a very large portion of tater tots BUT I didn't eat them all. I could have stuffed them all down but I didn't. I put the rest in the fridge and I can reheat in the air fryer since they're already cooked. What else did I eat today ? I had Nutrisystem waffles for breakfast, then the remaining 2 donuts. Lunch was a Nutrisystem burrito with salsa and low fat sour cream, followed by 2 cups of cheese balls. The tater tots were my dinner. Evening snack was 4 of the bite size brownies with a glass of milk. I also took a s'mores chocolate to bed.

I got an email the other day politely declining to hire me for the last job I interviewed for. It's ok because I honestly don't want to start a new job. I've accepted that my career days are over and I'm actually enjoying not working. I'll ride out my unemployment and then go from there. I'll probably start my pension and Social Security in January 2026.

So that's what I've been up to for the last 10 days. I've had some good times and I've enjoyed the time I spend at home. My slot games have been pretty good to me, though I struggled with 88 Fortunes for the last week. Today I won some shockingly large amounts and have plenty of coins to complete the daily challenge. Dancing Drums has been generous and I have a ton of coins there too. CluBillion has been up and down but I'm able to complete the daily challenges. Jackpot World is up and down and today I pretty much went bankrupt. It's my own fault, I'm playing and playing and playing so that I can keep the "MVP" title in my union/player group. The good thing about that is I think it's inspired some others in my group to try a little harder. I've been MVP since I joined the group a couple weeks ago and I typically finish the daily "mission" first too. You can have 500 friends in this game and that's a lot of free coins. There are also numerous side games and challenges that bring in coins, so you can build up your coins pretty quickly. So I don't worry when I run out. When the game refreshes at 11 pm tonight I'll pick up a bunch of coins and with any luck I'll win a bunch more ! If I just played enough to complete the daily challenges I would never run out of coins, but I also wouldn't be MVP in the player group. I do have quite a competitive spirit !

Being freshly showered, my plan for tomorrow is to get dressed early and get myself on the treadmill. I have to start somewhere ! I have a new sports bra and leggings, so it'll be a good fresh start ! I need to get myself on a better sleep schedule too. It was well after 3 am before I went to sleep last night and I got up shortly after 9 am. I should be tired tonight so I'm going to try and get to sleep earlier. Taking my tablet to bed has become a bad habit but I like to start the new slot challenges early.