2021 Goals

The beginning of the year brings renewed energy to make changes and this year is no exception.

I decided to get back on the exercise bandwagon and vow to workout for at least 20 minutes every day. This past Monday I stepped on the scale and was beyond alarmed. I knew I put on weight but didn’t think it was so much. This explains why all my pants are tight. Operation Get Back To Healthy is now back in swing. Every Monday morning I will continue to weigh myself. I also managed to remember to measure my self to have a starting point. I will measure myself monthly. I have some lots of work to do. I have been challenged by a co-worker to fast on Tuesday so we shall see if I am able to do it.

Next thing to tackle on the health plan is controlling what goes down my piehole. I am going back to meal planning and eating salad for dinner. Last weekend I finally used my instant pot for the first time. I made spaghetti and meat sauce. It was very saucy but the texture of the spaghetti was not a favourite for my kids.

Since everything is on lockdown, my bank accounts are getting fatter. I still have to nail down this year’s budget but I feel like it will be a quick task. The building I live in is now offering internet as part of our amenities, so no more internet bill for me. 🙂 With the lowering interest rates, I have renegotiated my mortgage. I am going to keep the payments the same to pay it down faster. No or reduced eating out means more money goes into savings.

Once I settle into my new exercise/lifestyle routine, I will move finding a new job higher up my to do list. I appreciate having employment during this pandemic but the job duties are no longer challenging. I don’t see a place for me to grow in this company. I love the people I work with, but the time to move on is coming.

I have rekindled my love of reading. Not being being able to go anywhere certainly helped with that. I challenged myself to read 40 last year. I read 42 books. This year I am upping the anti and challenging myself to read 45 books. I have recently finished “The Meaning of Mariah Carey“. It was interesting to learn about Mariah according to Mariah.

Decluttering is always on my list of things to do. I am slowly getting rid of things I no longer need. Last Sunday, our microwave started sparking, so out it went. I am going to see how long I can live without getting a new one. My kids give me 1.5 weeks. Out of spite I am refusing to buy another one. Stubbornness is my middle name! Plus I think if a microwave comes in this place, it should not be on my dime.

I think that is enough for now. I will revisit every quarter to make sure I am staying on track.

Hope all is well in your world.

Cell phone lust

I am now the owner of a brand new alternator! Yeah me. At least that mystery has been solved and my vehicle is working well. The trunk doesn’t look well as the old battery tipped over and some battery acid leaked out. Even though I put baking soda on it, I think too much time had passed. The carpet in the trunk looks chewed up. I took my van to the car wash that does detailing and had them wash the trunk. It looks like only the carpet was affected.

Last week, I managed to get a workout and a couple of walks completed. Worked both my shifts. I did not connect with my cousin in the week as she was under the weather. She did pass by very early this morning to drop off her boots. I have not tried them on yet, but she did say they were not very comfortable.

On Friday, when I dropped off my old battery at Costco, I took a wander to the mobile kiosk and played with the Samsung S9. Not sure why I did that as it is beautiful. The camera is fantastic. It makes my S4 look like crap. It reminds me of when I change out my TV last year. The resolution is incredible. I want it but I don’t want to change my current phone plan so I would want to buy a phone free and clear. And with my upcoming trip, it would be used. It is not a need. I also looked at the S8 and the A8. Both are also a huge upgrade to what I have.

I am on the fence as my current phone works. It is just dated and is always running out of space. There is $300 difference between the A8 and the S9, with the S8 being smack in the middle. There are small differences between the S8 & S9, not sure it is worth the $150 pre-tax price difference. Things to ponder.

I am on the schedule for 4 shifts this week at the PT job. We have started summer hours at the FT job, so this Friday I will be leaving at noon. Bonus I do not have to work that evening so I should make plans while I am thinking about it.

Aside from my usual loads of laundry, I managed to get on the ball and roasted some vegetables and made rice and fried chick peas. I am trying to get back to a more plant based diet. Plus I eat less when I bring my lunch to work. Good for the waist line as well as the budget. This is a priority for me as I tried on my summer capris and it did not go well. I do not want to buy bigger clothes. So I have to make “lifestyle” changes. Now to convince myself to get up in the morning and do the workout.

On a Roll

Last week we did not do our regularly scheduled workouts. Monday, the trainer was stuck in traffic. So my coworker and I did our own workout. I was out of the office on Wednesday and one of the other ladies was also not available, so that class also needed to be rescheduled. The new lady was not available for the rest of the week due to family commitments. My regular boot camper was disappointed to miss the whole week as she was only available for a half class on Thursday, so I suggested Friday.

Aside from the fact that it was the end of a long week, it ended up being a hard workout. It seemed that the trainer was trying to get both workouts into the hour. Then instead of going home to relax, I decided to knock out a “quick” trip to Costco. Hoping for less foot traffic as everyone else should be tired too.

At Costco, I bought some meat. I am not supposed to be buying meat as my freezers are still not empty, but I am not cooking and needed inspiration. A huge pork loin and 6 pounds of ground beef made it into my cart, along with lots of vegetables. We will not mention the two shirts and track pants that also came home with me.

Yesterday, I met up with my Dad for brunch and then ran a few errands, voted in the local bi-election and of course visited the library.

Today I dealt with the pork. I cut it into three pieces. One of those pieces I cut into chops. The chops and one of the pieces went into the freezer and the other chunk was seasoned for dinner tonight. The ground beef was divided into one pound packages and all but one went into the freezer.

Back in early October, my gym buddy’s child was having a fund-raiser that offered autumn vegetables instead of the usual magazine or chocolates. I am now in possession of lots of potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and onions.

I roasted some of the potatoes and sweet potatoes to go with the pork. Might as well make good use of the oven while it is on. I fried up a pound of the ground beef with some carrots and made the sauce using this recipe. It’s my favourite go-to stir fry sauce as I always have these ingredients in my kitchen. Rice was made to go with the beef.

I should not need to purchase lunch this week.

On to the next task

So I think I am getting the fitness part of my life under control. I now need to focus some attention on my eating. Everyone tells me that weight loss is 80% what you eat. And while I am not eating “bad” food per say, I am eating a lot more than I probably need to.

To combat this I will get back to taking my lunch to work. By the time I eat, I am usually rather hungry and want ALL the food. The café at work provides lots of healthy options, which is what I stick to. But I tend to get a lot.

My meal planning has been slacking lately. It doesn’t help that my girls don’t tend to eat at home much anymore. Or when they are hungry they are more likely to order pizza than eat out of the fridge. I think if I cook, they will eat. So on the menu this week is pasta and meatballs and BBQ ribs, not diet friendly but family favourites. Also a modified tomato and cucumber salad. If all works well these should keep us fed for the majority of the week.

I still have to put some thought and energy into making smoothies. I know once I get the hang of it, I’ll be making them all the time. It is just to get started. If I was more on the ball, smoothies would definitely fix my what to have for breakfast questions every morning. If you have any good combinations, I’d love to hear about them.

Freezer inventory

Small freezer.

Chest freezer. This will need to be defrosted at some point.

I have 2 freezers chocked full of … I have no idea what.

My goal over this winter is to eat out of the freezer. Ignore any sales on meat. Resist the desire to eat anything other than what I have on hand. Give away anything I know we will not eat. Like the English muffins that are in the top photo (lower right corner).

Meal planning would definitely help with this. My problem with meal planning is that not everyone eats in my house. So I am trying to find the balance between having too much and not enough. Now that my girls are working they are more inclined to eat out than at home, unless it is the few days before pay day ….

At some point I would like to take inventory of the freezers to see what I am working it but I am procrastinating like there is no tomorrow. From my memory I know I have 2 whole chickens, various types of sausages, ground beef, chicken thighs (with and without bone), shrimp and sole fillets. There is also fish sticks, chicken strips and chicken wings.

I did take out some ground beef and chicken thighs for dinner this week. I also know think those meatballs will be used up this week.

I am making split pea soup today. Princess and I will happily eat this, Diva not so much. Maybe I’ll make spaghetti and meatballs as well since that is quick and easy. Plus I have zucchini so I can make zoodles for myself. 🙂

 

OTMTW – 2/1/16

Firstly I forgot about taking a picture of my Korean fried chicken dinner until we were almost done. Bad blogger. 😦

Secondly I neglected to post it so you could see the deliciousness that is Korean fried chicken. 😳 All that sauce is heavenly. 😍 We had 3 different flavours (sweet, soy and spicy) and they were all excellent, however soy was the reigning champ. 😄

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. I was at a loss as to what to cook this week. I am feeling very uninspired. I have lots of meat and pasta. I ran into the grocery store quickly this afternoon and picked up a few things like rice and spaghetti sauce. I still need veggies but one thing at a time.

Monday – leftovers
Tuesday – butter chicken and rice with broccoli
Wednesday – salmon and sidekick
Thursday – sausage and pasta
Friday -TBD
Saturday – TBD
Sunday – tacos

I am waiting on an update which I hope to get tomorrow which will let me know if I am able to travel on Friday to go Maryland for the celebration of life ceremony on Saturday for my cousin that I called Aunt. Could that sentence be any longer or any more vague? lol

OTMTW – 1/25/16

Since I didn’t really cook a thing last week, I was going to recycle last week‘s menu. Then I remembered I was running low on white rice for my dirty rice. Then I thought whatever I’ll just use brown rice and hope the kidlets don’t notice. 😉

I’m going to challenge myself to not spend any more money this month. I am under in the food categories, but paying for grad photos and the post secondary school application for Princess pushed me over my “other” category.

I am going to have to get creative as I am out of spaghetti sauce but have lots of pasta and meat. I will be scouring the cupboards if I need to. The lasagna roll ups I made tonight, the left overs from the weekend and the dirty rice should get us to Saturday. I have a couple of frozen pizzas and other convenience food in my possession. This might not be as hard as I thought.

*******

On a completely different note, my tea mug cracked today. All I did was pour hot water … like I have done hundreds of times before and crack … hot tea all over my counter.

Not sure you can see the way it cracked right through the bottom and partially up the other side.

 I have never had this happen before. It was one of my favourites. 😦

 

Why do I meal plan?

My kids seem to be going through a grazing stage. So we had leftovers on Monday that were supposed to have been eaten over the weekend. Yeah for no food waste. 😀

No problem we’ll just make the lasagna roll ups on Tuesday right?

Nope.

Diva came home starving and craving pizza on Tuesday and wanted to treat the family to dinner. She was so excited to be able to “contribute” to our household I couldn’t say no. So she ordered 4 pizzas as Pizza Hut has a deal right now where you buy one large pizza at regular price and get up to 3 additional medium pizzas for $5 each.

We are slowly making our way through all these pies.

One of my cousins invited us out for Korean fried chicken tomorrow. Which I will be the first to tell you is so much better than any other fried chicken I have ever had. It is light and crispy and not greasy at all.

We’ve been to this restaurant before, it’s a little dark but I’ll see if I can get a good picture so you can see the deliciousness I speak of.

I am going to make my lasagna roll ups to Saturday. I will not let anyone distract me.

 

OTMTW – 1/17/16

I feel like my life has been dominated by death recently and I am SO over it.

I am ready to get back to normal. Even though that was a little mundane. I could use mundane right now.

Back to menu planning. It doesn’t get any more normal than that. 🙂

Monday – lasagna roll ups
Tuesday – fish sticks and sidekicks
Wednesday – leftovers
Thursday – dirty rice
Friday – frozen pizza
Saturday – leftovers
Sunday – steak and sidekicks

I’m toying with the idea of doing “The Whole 30“. Just waiting for the book from the library to see exactly what I am committing to.

What to say?

So far so “good”.

I have moments of sadness but overall I am okay. References to cancer, like commercials or those Facebook statuses still hurt/piss me off but this too shall pass.

Right now the only service to be had is for my cousin’s Aunt (who is also my cousin but older than my mother so I call her Aunt). I’m on the fence as to whether or not to attend. It is next Saturday and while I feel like I should go, it is not as strong as I feel to attend my cousin’s.

As per my cousin’s wishes, she will be cremated and a memorial will follow. Based on my last communication with her mother, it will not be this month.

To add to my sorrow, the wife of one of my cousins on my father’s side passed away last Thursday. The funeral will not be held in Canada so there will be a wake tonight. I will attend to represent my father who is not here. This will require a trip to the liquor store for a bottle of something.

Right now I am over death. So on to some brighter news. I am still on the exercise wagon. I really want to step on the scale but after the last time, I will wait until February 1. I feel stronger and leaner so I’m sticking with that.

I’ve done a little meal planning this week and made chili earlier and will make chicken stir-fry tonight. That should cover us until Friday when I will make lasagna roll ups.

My low/no spending is going well. I am well under budget in most categories. I am staying out of stores (read Costco) and it is having a wonderful effect on my bank account. 🙂 With the exception of an oil change and Princess’ grad photos there has been very little unplanned spending.