Possible Snow

A lady I played slots with yesterday mentioned the forecast had snow at 6,000 feet - so I didn't linger too long this morning.  I woke up at 7 and while I would have loved to have gone back to sleep, I bolted out of bed and got the day going.  I skipped the buffet breakfast and played what I had to play. Slots were not kind this morning - bummer!

I was heading out of town shortly after 10 - gassed up the car and made a Starbucks stop and had the first sugar I've had in over a week - three petite vanilla scones were breakfast.  The temperature in Reno was 60 and sunny and just past Truckee, the temperature was 45.  I stopped in Auburn for Jim Boy tacos and then hit rain - drizzles off and on most of the way home until I hit San Joaquin county. J. says the back of my car is a mess and I'm sure it is - first rain in a while and the roads were filthy. I used my back window wiper at one point and it was just smearing mud all over the place.

J. trekked to Costco to pick up my final 'doctors order' supplement and went late enough to bring home a roasted chicken for dinner.  Along with a few bites of roasted yam, it was a delicious dinner and will likely be delicious lunch tomorrow, too.

The news reported lots of rain and huge hail in Roseville (which I drove through) as well as heavy rain in Sacramento.  And snow! on the road up to Reno.  Really glad I got an earlier start so I missed the hail.

I had a really fun weekend - played long and aggressively with their money and mine.  No life changing amounts (not that I didn't try) but lots of fun.

Happy to be home with my best beloveds and (as is typical for Sunday evenings) dreading work tomorrow.  But I'll survive.

Furrows

I have the world's deepest sleep wrinkle - completely dissecting my left eyebrow right down the middle.  It's been there before but today?  It's huge.  Looks awful.  And there's not a damn thing I can do about it.  Thankful for bangs that while technically in need of a trim are a good disguise over the cavern on my face.  I'm going to have to look around for some plumping and/or I might even consider medical intervention of the injectable variety 'cuz this is serious. I must sleep on my left side more than I realize.

Two beers yesterday led to a decent night's sleep wherein I put crevices in my face without knowing.

The casino is being good to me and I'm playing on their money for the most part.  Still have 4/5 of what I brought to lose and if I stopped right this minute, I'd be up a few hundred.  The next 'random jackpot' round starts in 52 minutes so I'm pacing myself with some time in my room.  Ate an apple. Did a game thing or two.

I'm playing with really fun people and it's been a blast.  So fun to play with folks that are enthusiastic and love to share the highs and lows of slot play with others.  The lady I played with today had a diamond on her finger that was at least 4 carats.  Definitely a high roller.  She lives in Paradise, CA with her husband - long retired - they come to Atlantis every month.  She suggested J. and I buy a 4-wheel drive now so we wouldn't have to skip coming up in the winter months.

Update....I lost the rest of this post - on my laptop and always manage to hit something that wipes out full paragraphs of writing.  I'm down a bit (into my fun money now vs. their money).  The 2nd random jackpot was given away within 10 minutes of the second round starting - so that led to a very abrupt end to what could have been 4 hours.  Everyone participating in the event received a coupon for two free buffets - and that line was HOURS long.

I headed to the Italian cafe instead and had a salad and a small mini pizza - thin crust with chicken and artichoke hearts.  I'm proud of myself for eating carefully - I had the buffet this morning but ate a bowl of oatmeal with raisins for sweetness; one piece of bacon; scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and a very small biscuit with a little gravy.  Dinner last night was a salad and 1/2 sandwich - and I left most of the bread on my plate.

I resisted cotton candy this morning - it's a buffet and they have EVERYTHING all the time - and J. can attest to cotton candy being something I never, ever decline.  But I skipped it.  And also skipped the waffles with butter and syrup.

Salads are delicious when you are really hungry.  I devour every morsel.  Tonight, the five tiny croutons on the salad felt like the biggest splurge ever!!

The furrow is greatly improved 13 hours after I woke up.  I'm heading to bed shortly and I'm going to try to figure out the pillow issue to see if I can prevent it from being quite so bad tomorrow.  I've had Blue Moons again so...not sure.  Will probably just be really glad for long bangs again.

My plan is to get up, have breakfast, play a little - I've hit a machine for a pretty big jackpot two mornings in a row so it might happen again! - and then head home.  Might stop at Thunder Valley - haven't decided yet and it will probably depend on how I do in my brief gambling stint in the morning.

It's been a fun trip and the only thing missing is my sweet J. - we need to come up again before the snow makes it impossible.  Or buy a 4-wheel drive vehicle.  :-)

Today's Workout

brought to you by painting stair risers.  Geez....my legs were shaking uncontrollably and the rest of me felt like Jello - so that's a sign of a pretty darn great workout - no equipment (except paint, brush, wipe cloth, sweat wipe cloth, edger, paint tray) required.

J. is heading to San Leandro in about an hour to visit with his brother - brother's celebrating a birthday today so nice that J.'s monthly visit coincides with a special day.

I painted 9 stair risers in one session - though I'm pretty convinced we are going to need to do a second coat.  Totally want it to look great and stand up to wear and tear as much as possible so if a second coat will make that happen, we'll do it.

H. is already at school this morning meeting with friends.  At least I hope that's where he is.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day working on my desk and bedroom.

Trying not to obsessively check emails.  I'm off.  I need to be off!

Dinner last night was fantastic.  I love this friend so much and we always just jump back in with both feet and pick up right where we left off.  It was a really wonderful evening - and at some point, I had a thought of 'I have no idea what time it is and it's going to be really hard to get up in the morning' and then I remembered 'I'm off tomorrow!!'.  Slept in until just before 8 which was really great!

OK - I'm re-hydrating while J. does a little more trim work using up the paint in the tray.  Then I'll get to cleaning the equipment and letting what we've done today dry.  Might try to do the second coat later this afternoon when J. gets home - if my legs can take it!

Done!

Combined something I despise (exercise) with something I love (slots - in this case, watching slot videos on You Tube via the iPad) and did a brisk 1/2 mile on the treadmill this morning!

The hardest part was all the devices pinging at me with codes to ensure the person attempting to reset a password to YouTube was ME.  Holding an iPad and my iPhone whilst awaiting the secret code barely awake - that was also a workout.

I got up at 5 and am still rushing like mad so guess I need to move it up to 4:45ish or so.  Dog routine, saying hi to my cousin (which I wouldn't miss for the world)....though tomorrow will be better 'cuz I won't spend 10 minutes trying to get my device to play what I want it to play.

And today is my Friday 'cuz in a miracle moment, I arranged to be off the rest of the week - which means I'm frantically cramming 5 days of work into 2 days but oh well!

Tonight is dinner at Simply Fondue in Livermore with a wonderful friend and I'm giddy - and no, it's not just the chocolate.  More treadmill time tomorrow to work off the Everything But the Kitchen Sink mixture I will be enjoying this evening - along with a blackberry martini!  And lots of veggies dipped in melted cheese!!

Meal Planning

After months of not feeling great, this past week, my skin started itching like crazy - especially (of all places) my wrists.  I couldn't help scratching and I'd look down and see they were welted and flaming red from the itching.

Also one night this past week, I got lazy about dinner and ate Frosted Flakes for dinner - and then had flan for dessert.  (Costco has flan in tiny glass jars - it's delicious!).

The next morning, I asked J. to help me use his glucose meter to test my blood.  He took a look at the strip and said 'you need to see a doctor'.  250 was my number.  He HAS diabetes and said 'I've never had a number that high'.  Next morning 225.  I ate incredibly carefully all day - next morning was 170.  I emailed my doctor to request he order the blood work and I went on Friday morning - the results are back and it's pretty much 'for sure' that I'm diabetic.  I also have very high triglycerides (while both my good and bad cholesterol are in an OK range).  I already take 2 anti-statins every day.  I have an appointment with the doctor on Thursday afternoon and anticipate adding a glucose meter and meds to my daily routine.

The high tryiglycerides combined with high blood sugar are a part of 'metabolic syndrome' - which puts me at high risk for heart disease and stroke.  Which doesn't surprise me but with my family history, it's a huge issue.

I searched immediately for meal plans and found EatingWell.com - seems like the answer to prayers. Clicked on 'Diabetes' and found multiple meal plans in various calorie ranges.  Used the tool to know how many calories to consume and selected the plan.  It seemed great!

I am making a grocery list for J. so he can go to Winco this week - and clicked on some of the recipes.  The first meal called for 'low sugar plum spread'.  TEN POUNDS of plums; 6 apples....cook them and then run them through a food mill.  Add sugar substitute (or sugar) and make a jelly. Seriously?  There is no way I am making from scratch jam.  Maybe when I retire...but now?  No way.

Lunch was 'Shrimp Bisque'.  I love bisque soups - but once again....maybe on a weekend I could make it...

I need to find quick, easy options to help me eat better and that's what's been so hard.  Pretty much ALL the things I've done to eat better are things that are increasing my triglycerides.  Nuts are my go to snack - they are mostly a 'no'.  Coconut oil is a no.  Butter - which I use because margarines are processed oil and gross - is a no.

I think when I see my doctor on Thursday, I'm going to ask if I can see a nutritionist.

If we hadn't spent a lot of the weekend painting (and HUGE kudos to hubby who finished taping off all the stairs!), then cooking all weekend would have been fine - but on weekends like this, it's impossible to make fresh jam and shrimp bisque.

The painting yesterday worked 'cuz my legs are sore.  And I did get on the treadmill, too.  I am determined to move more and will be up at 5AM tomorrow to give myself time to get on the treadmill for 20+ minutes.  Starting slow but starting.

28 Years and Counting, My Love

28 years ago this evening, I met my Prince Charming!  Happy Anniversary, sweetheart!  Thank you for making all my dreams come true - including many I didn't know I had.

When I tell friends how you pack my meals for me; do all the laundry; keep the homestead running; get my car washed and gassed up as needed; help me with errands; do pretty much all of the shopping for pets, house and food....while wrangling a 23 year old young adult and keeping him on task and on track as well, they say 'not my husband'.  Or 'my husband wouldn't do any of that'.

I am so blessed - I really, truly am.  While it's hard to be working still, it's OK - because you make it easy.  There is no workload from the home front 'cuz you handle all of it.

Thank you, my sweet - you are my one and only and only I know how truly, deeply blessed I am to be married to you -

You are one in a gazillion and the blind date 28 years ago was the best decision I ever made.  Right up there with marrying you!

About Work

'It will never be completely easy. Whatever “it” is. For every moment of bright brilliance there will be many more moments of wading through deep marshes in thick fog wondering WTF is actually going on. Hang in there.'

Saw this on Facebook last night and it really resonates for me as related to work.

There's a lot happening on the work front and I don't write about work much 'cuz you just never know.

Change is always incredibly hard and we are trying to change our culture.  It's an uphill battle.  There are a great group standing beside me pushing a ginormous boulder up a steep hill - pushing as hard as we can all day, everyday.  It's exhausting.  It's even more so when there is a much larger group on the other side of the boulder pushing in the opposite direction.  Because there are many more of them and because they are on the side of downward motion, it's easier for them to push down.  Harder for those of us pushing up.

We are tired.  I've been re-reading materials and reminding myself that we knew going in this would be a very hard, long process but geez.  It's more troublesome than I expected.  Factions are created and the angst is growing by leaps and bounds.  Every little thing is a battle royal and what used to be simple is now not.

I know my role and my responsibility and I know I have to keep plugging away at it.  Keep pushing up as hard as I can with all the people standing beside me - and keep encouraging others to see the direction we're going will result in the betterment of our students - and ultimately, that's what we're all in this for.

I'm having strong flee responses lately and with a job possibility looming for next year, it has me unsettled - and I'm not good at unsettled.

It will get better.  Wading through deep marshes of fog wondering WTF will become the 'new norm' and someday, we will be at the top of that hill.  I know we will.

If the marshes don't kill us.