Week 23 - Food and Clothes

First things first. The trash collector took the old chair, no problem. I ran out with a coat over my nightie to ask if they’d take it (I’d already changed the “Free” sign to “Trash”) and he nodded and grabbed it with the big hook that picks up the cans and off it went. Easy peasy. Now to put out the 2 chairs I have in the garage but that’ll wait. I’ll get to my annual garage clear out one early morning this summer when it’ll be too hot for gardening. But on to the week….

After a less then satisfying break week before my last rotation, I was determined to eat all kinds of yummy things during this week off and absolutely succeeded. Maybe too well. I also made big progress on the new clothes front, buoyed by some actual retail price shopping with Darla. All good.

In addition to having ribs, potato salad and 3 bean salad in the frig for dinners, I also ate out. A lot. I brought strawberry rhubarb pie to knitting, which was enjoyed by all. Then the water aerobics crew went out to Leabbelly’s after swimming on Tuesday, where I enjoyed a burger with PB&J plus bacon – candied and smoked. Yum! Layton was back from Europe so we went to Red Fox on Friday then Andrea and I ate at Bahnwich Café after our Friday night culture (quilt museum and the Hillestadt Gallery) and I finished my eating out with breakfast with Darla on Saturday. All delish.

I went to Wellness Wednesday at the student health center first thing Wednesday for a fasting blood draw to check my cholesterol and sugar. I’ve never had a sugar problem, which is a miracle (I must have gotten my mom’s pancreas), but my cholesterol needed work. Well, my total cholesterol was WAY down to 190 and my HDL went up (good) and my LDL was down. LDL was still a bit above normal but so much less that I was happy, happy, happy.  Yay!

Something different happened on Thursday in the pool. They didn’t send a lifeguard, who unlocks the pool, so we got a late start. It was 6:00 and Jessica had just said she’d stay later when the fire alarms went off, which were blaring announcements to leave the building and blinding strobe lights. There was weather south of us so we wondered if it was a tornado but the loudspeakers were saying to leave the building. Well, we have never moved so fast. I showered, including washing my hair, in less than a minute, threw on clothes and we all walked out to find fire fighters in the hallway. We didn’t see any evidence of fire but what an experience! I hope that doesn’t happen again anytime soon.

Darla and I had planned to meet at 8:00 Saturday morning for breakfast and thrifting but when I woke up early, I called her and we got going earlier. After a nice catch up breakfast at Greenfield’s, we popped into Wal-Mart, which was right across the street, to pick up nail polish remover for Darla and kill the time until Goodwill opened. Encouraged by Darla, I tried on a few clothes and it’s a good thing I did because I’m down 2 sizes for pants and tops. I found a pair of blue capris, 3 shirts, one of which is perfection, and a cami so I can wear a fun, sheer blouse from my ironing pile. Yay! Then we hit Goodwill and although their racks were fun (so full you couldn’t move anything – not good), their prices were nuts. I did find the world’s most perfect summer nightie, a beautiful crocheted lap afghan for the back of my new chair and for $3, a bike for under my desk. I had been looking for one on amazon but they were $35 so I hadn’t bought one. Score! After a stop at the Capital Humane Society to pet puppies and kitties (Darla’s request cuz I stay away from danger zones) I dropped Darla and headed to another Wal-Mart to see if they had the perfect top in another color. They didn’t but I scored a pair of denim capris, which I desperately needed. What a pleasant and productive morning.

I had plenty to do once I got home but first thing on the list was to finish going through clothes. I started with the first shirts I’d tried on 2 weeks ago, which I suspected were too big and they were. I tried on everything and culled a bunch more. Then it was downstairs to iron. By the time I was done, my closet was nearly empty but I had a dozen shirts that FIT hanging and ready to wear. This should go a long way towards removing the stress from my mornings.

Saturday morning brought more rain. It had rained nearly every day that week and the lawn squished when I walked on it. I was hoping the sun that finally arrived Saturday afternoon would dry things out. I had to mow because I hadn’t the previous weekend and the grass was long. I had put the AC on when I got home Saturday so was puttering inside Sunday afternoon, mostly avoiding chores but 5 loads of laundry were done and on the line, when the phone rang. Andrea wanted me to help her reconfigure her furniture in her house. Yeah, love doing that! I headed right over and after looking around and seeing what I had to work with, we completely reorganized her living/dining room, creating a conversation area with her two couches and moving her piano and taking a leaf out of her dining room table to create better flow. We were discussing changes in her kitchen when her friend Mike arrived so I headed home (my clothes weren’t ready for prime time) to buckle down. I finished up some inside things and headed out to mow ~4:00. I had thought I’d heard thunder but there was nothing on the radar. Well, I was just about to finish the lawn when it started raining AGAIN. I practically ran on the last few rows but got it done and made it inside before the skies opened up. It didn’t rain long but sheesh! At least the lawn was mown, albeit badly. Next weekend may require a double mow in multiple directions.

So all in all, it was a fun and productive week. I finished Sunday prepping a bunch of fruit for my next rotation and went to bed with yogurt culturing on the counter. I’m ready for my last rotation before vacation with hopes that I’ll break 50 pounds lost. Wish me luck.