Job Interview

This morning kinda' sucked.  I went to the park at 10am and walked 2 miles.  But everything hurt.  My hips, back, knees, feet.  Everything.  So I was a little discouraged that I've been walking every day for 3 weeks now and it doesn't feel any easier yet.  It doesn't help that it's June in Georgia and that means mid 90 temps with a nasty humidity to match.  It might not have been that hot yet at 10am but it was certainly uncomfortable. 

Breakfast was another homemade egg mcmuffin.  Lunch was a philly cheesesteak of sorts.  I had some thin sliced steak.  I sauteed that as well as some mushrooms, onions and red bell pepper.  I didn't really plan ahead for the bread for this so I used a leftover hot dog bun from Dwayne's smoked sausages last night.  I also didn't have any mozzarella, so used some provolone.  It was pretty tasty albeit a little dry.

After lunch I ran out to Goodwill to purchase some inventory for my Ebay listings...

Then a quick stop at Wal-mart.  Right before I got out of the car, I got a call from a guy at Principal Financial Group asking me to come in this Friday morning for a job interview.  It's an Administrative Assistant position as an independent contractor assignment.  My good friend Lori told me about it...it's her old position, she's moved on to bigger and better things. 

I've been doing Ebay for about 3 or 4 years now and to be honest, it's a struggle.  The money keeps my part of the bills paid, but I can say I do not enjoy the stress of always wondering if you're going to make enough each month.  There's definitely not much extra and the stress of that can be draining.  It would be nice to work at a job outside the home again for the sole purpose of having a check you can count on.  Well, sort of.  At least count on for a little while.  I say that because I was laid off from my last 2 Accounting jobs, so nothing is ever guaranteed.  But it would be nice to have a little break from the weekly stress that comes with sales.

I will continue to do my Ebay sales on the side.  If I happen to get this job, and for some reason it ever ends in the future, I want Ebay to be up and running.  I do not want to have to build another store from the ground up.  So we'll see what happens.  I've discussed it with Dwayne and there are a couple of parameters that need to be met in order for me to accept on offer.

First of all, it's a pretty bad commute.  It will be at least an hour each way in metro Atlanta traffic, if not more.  So Dwayne said it needs to pay at least $17/hour to make it worth it.  Secondly, Boomer our Labradane puppy is only 7 months old.  With an 8 hour work day for each of us, and a 2 hour commute each way, that would leave him in the crate for 10 hours.  Neither of us are comfortable with that thought.  That's way too long to expect him to hold his bladder, plus it's just sad that he's used to being out and playing with Scarlette during the day, out in the back yard, all over the house, etc.  Dwayne shocked me to death.  He actually told me that I'm "so awesome" and "do so much for the family".  That he has grown to appreciate me working from home because I'm here to take care of the house and the dogs, etc.  Me doing these things takes the load off of him and he's thankful.  I was blown away.  I'm pretty sure that's the first time he's ever voiced his thoughts on that.

So...they would have to agree to let me work from 7a-3p or 7:30p-3:30p in order to stagger my hours with Dwayne.  He doesn't leave the house until 9:15a....so this would put Boomer in the crate about 6.5 hours instead of 10.  That is much more doable.

I've been a nervous wreck since I got the call this afternoon.  I haven't interviewed in quite a while.  I caught myself wondering if I could remember how to do basic admin duties.  Can I load paper in a printer?  Fax something?  Scan a document????  Dwayne came home from work and I was still freaking out and he just laughed at me.  Told me to chill and stop freaking, that everything would be fine...it's just a simple interview.  We don't even know if we're going to accept the offer, so just do the interview and don't worry about the next step.  He's my rock....my calm to the chaos that is my brain.

Dinner was a little late and not very well planned out because I was too busy freaking.  I mean, I knew I was making bbq chicken, but didn't bother to make any sides.  After he got home, I realized this, and threw a potato in the microwave for him.  Covered it with salt, pepper and butter and he was fine.  I went with raw veggies...cukes, tomatoes and carrots.

I had "bake egg cups" on my menu plan for tonight so I just pulled them out of the oven.  A lot more green in them this time.  I used yellow squash, spinach, zucchini, asparagus, mushrooms, onion, a little bit of steak leftover from lunch and a sprinkle of cheese...topped with Egg Beaters.  I bake mine at 375 for 20 mins and the consistency is perfect every time.

I didn't take a pic of the finished product because I started typing this post while they were still in the oven...but you've seen them before.  :)  Boomer has to go to the vet in the morning to be neutered.  He's starting to hump everything in sight and that just can't be tolerated.  I will be dropping him off at 7:30a and picking him up sometime before 5p.  I've been worried sick all week.  What if he's allergic to any of the meds?  or the anesthesia?  I just hate it when my babies have to have surgery....even one as common as this one.  I'll be happy when I get him back home and on the couch, and just cover him up with Momma hugs and kisses.  He's gonna need his Momma.  Sure do love my babies. 

Dwayne took off work Thursday and Friday to be home with Boomer, too.  He said one of the reasons is for the physical fact that I can't lift him if anything were to go wrong, he had to go back to the vet and lifted to the car, etc.  The other reason is because he's a big softie and loves his boy as much as I do.  :)

Chugging Along

Today was a good day.  That's saying a lot for a Monday, lol.  I didn't get out for my "morning" walk until noon.  Boy was it hot and humid.  I really did not want to do it today but I managed to do 4 laps, which was 1.3 mi.  According to the Runtastic app, I burned 390 calories. I took a pic, ever so thankful for these 2 little patches of shade on the track.

Breakfast was an egg mcmuffin, made at home.  I used a 100 calorie English muffin with 18g of net carbs, an egg, 2 slices of Canadian bacon and a sprinkle of cheese.  I had a small side of hashbrowns with it.  Lunch was a bowl of my deliciously chunky lasagna soup.  Holy cow this is soooo good.

I did lots of chores around the house today, as well as my normal Ebay listings.  At some point I had this snack plate to take one of my 5 meds with.  Turkey, cheese stick, baby carrots and cukes.

I had these in the freezer so I thawed them and sauteed 2 of them, then mixed them with the leftover grilled veggies from last night.  I also had a leftover ear of corn with it.  The corn served as my dinner carbs.  I roasted some sausages in the oven for Dwayne and served them on buns with a side of baked fries for his dinner.

We waited until 8pm to head to the park to let the sun go down as much as possible and still give us enough time to see for our walk.  We had intended to walk 5 laps starting today but lost count and ended up accidentally walking 6, which was 2 miles.  My app said I burned 557 calories.  Combined with my earlier walk, that is 947 cals burned for the day.  Yay me. :)

Never Perfection...Always Progress

This weekend was better than the last in the way of eating and exercise and I'm damn proud of that.  Last weekend I had 3 restaurant meals out.  This weekend I had 1 lunch out, eating 5 out of 6 meals on Sat and Sun at home.  Last weekend I did one walk on Sat and none on Sun.  This weekend I did 2 walks on Sat and 1 on Sun.  I took a few food pics to show the delicious meals I had.  Last weekend the meal plan was in my head, not solid and written down on paper as it should be.  This weekend I wrote it, edited it, re-wrote it and hung it on my fridge.  I even took into account the fact that Dwayne will be home this week on Thursday and Friday, and scheduled breakfast and lunches for him as well as me.

Saturday's lunch was the most delicious wrap I've ever made.  I mixed up some solid white albacore tuna (1 can) with some mayo, onions and dill pickles.  I put it on a Joseph's flatbread (10 net carbs) with fresh spinach, tomato slices, cucumber slices and sliced orange bell pepper.  Oh my goodness was it delicious.  It had just the right amount of crunch with the peppers, cucumbers and pickles.  I found something at the store I'd never bought before...Pepperidge Farms Pretzel Thins.  I had a handful of those with my wrap instead of the Doritos I served to Dwayne.

About 3pm or so I finally made it to the park to walk.  Dwayne downloaded the Runtastic App to my phone that Biz uses and it's pretty cool.  It measures your time, distance, calories burned, etc.  I've been doing 4 laps around the track (3 laps is 1 mile) and said I would bump it to 5 laps on Monday, but I decided since I was by myself with no dogs and no Dwayne that I'd go ahead and do 5 laps.  It took me 35 mins, was 1.75 miles and said I burned 499 calories.  When I got back home I had a snack plate of turkey slices, a cheese stick, baby carrots and baby tomatoes.  The dogs helped me eat 1/3 of this plate.  They're always willing to help Momma shave some calories of my daily intake.  :)

I decided to make jambalaya for dinner.  The only traditional item I leave out of it is the green bell pepper.  Dwayne will tolerate SOME tomato based dishes once in a while, but anything green is out of the question.  I used andouille sausage and some cajun spice and it had just the right amount of heat.  I also cut up and sauteed 2 boneless chicken breasts and shrimp.  I cook the shrimp separately and then add it to the whole pot when it's totally finished cooking.

You'll just have to forgive my crappy pics...I have zero photography skills.  Just trust me when I tell you this was AMAZING.

After dinner I decided to take Boomer to the park and walk with me.  Boy was that difficult for the first couple of laps.  He finally got the hang of "heel" about 2.5 laps in, and we ended up doing 5 laps altogether.  The app said it took 38 mins and I burned 533 calories, so just a little longer and more difficult than the earlier walk that day.  It was another 1.75 mi for a total of 3.5 miles for the day.  Go me!  Who am I??  I don't even recognize myself!

When I got back home I checked out my meal plan for the week and saw that I had lasagna soup scheduled for Sunday's lunch....time to make the soup!  Now I made this last week for the first time after getting the recipe from Biz and I followed it almost to the "T" last time.  This week I decided to make it my own.  I wanted a chunkier soup.  Last time I cooked the pasta separately and stored it that way in the fridge, only mixing the soup and pasta into an individual bowl when I was ready to heat some up.  This time, I decided to buy a bag of smaller pasta at the store (not the rotini I used last week), and mix it in with the soup.  I measured out 6 oz. of ditalini.  I used petite diced tomatoes instead of the fire roasted tomatoes (smaller pieces) and I used chicken broth instead of chicken stock (cheaper).  I also used about 5 TBSP of tomato paste instead of the 2 TBSP it called for, because I wanted a richer, deeper flavor this time.  Oh, and I used about 3x the amount of oregano it called for.  I only had 2 of the hot Italian sausage links left in the pack from last time, that I had in the freezer.  I knew I needed more meat, so I used 2 of the Andouille sausages I had leftover from the jambalaya.  I sauteed these 2 meats together and it added just enough heat to my pot.

I had a small bowl when it was finished and it turned out just as good as I had hoped.  I believe I'll be making it like this from now on.  I was supposed to have it for lunch today but those plans got trashed.  We went out to buy new shoes...

And then Dwayne wanted to go see that new Jurassic movie.  Well that was 2.5 hours away from the house I wasn't planning on, so we had lunch out first before we headed to the movie.  The movie was decent.  We headed home afterwards and hung out a bit before grilling pork chops for dinner.  I also had him grill some veggies while I roasted some corn in the oven.  Everything turned out so tasty...grilled is my favorite way of cooking, but Dwayne is way better at it than me.  I really need to learn...Biz is my grilling hero, lol.  I need to ask her for some tips. :)

I was seriously thinking about taking a rest day from the walking...I figured 6 days in a row was enough reason for a break.  Then the guilt set in.  A break from what?  It's not like I did anything strenuous or grueling today.  No reason not to walk.  I love walking at the park, although the scenery is growing a bit boring.  But tonight I decided we'd walk around the neighborhood with my new app.  I wanted to know the distance, but was also curious to know if the GPS in the app would measure elevation and difficulty based on that.  There is a horrible part of the walk that I call the Hill from Hell and I absolutely hate it.  I can walk up it now without stopping but it is the slowest walk you have ever seen.  I am putting one foot in front of the other the whole time I'm trudging up, without stopping, but it's so slow I'm pretty sure a turtle could pass me and leave me in the dust.  It is so hard to breathe and I'm just huffing and puffing the whole way.  Dwayne just walks straight up it w/ no obvious effort or pain (I so hate that) and I fight and claw my way up, many feet behind him.   So we were doing it this evening and about 10-12 steps before I reached the crest of the hill, teetering on the brink of death, the app says out loud "GPS Has Lost Signal".  Without missing a beat I blurted right out loud "F*CK YOU!!!"  I didn't stop...I kept on going just in case it recorded ANY part of the walk, but man was I pissed.  I nearly wanted to cry.  We made it on home and the app said it was .94 of a mile, it took 22 mins and I burned 324 calories.  Well that calorie burn is just about the same as it as walking laps at the park, with no hills, so apparently it does NOT measure difficulty based on elevation.  Therefore I see no need to ever walk that hill again.  EVER. 

When we got inside I fixed a small bowl of cottage cheese with blueberries to take my 5th pill for the day.  I dislike having to take so many meds.  I'm hoping by focusing on eating better, fewer carbs and exercising regularly that some of the meds can be reduced or cut out after my next lab appointment.  At least that's my personal goal as well as the goal I set for Biz's Summer Challenge.  Hope everyone had as nice of a weekend as I did.  It really feels great when you make the right choices MOST of the time.  Never perfection....always progress.