Be careful

You have heard the old adages "Be careful what you wish for" or "Be careful what you pray for?"  Well I have a new one....be careful what you blog about!  Just yesterday I was tooting my new 'tude...struttin' my stuff at the office and WHAM...out of the blue...the MOST obnoxious customer struts his stuff into the bank!  I'm not going into details now (although I doubt he reads blogs), but let's just say if you snort at me "Fine, I'll take my 2 million dollars elsewhere," my response will ALWAYS be "Okay!"  I don't like being bullied....at all.  The hairs on the back of my head stand on end and my guard goes up.  I don't care how much or how little you have in a company....be kind to the working folk.  Just a little tip for the day, Grainiacs.  Everyone has their job to do and kissing your butt is not part of my job description!!! The end.

So here it is Memorial Day weekend and I'm home alone.... cleaning...and blogging.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love the person(s) who came up with the term "stay"cation.  I had been practicing it for years before someone gave it a great name and it became viral and in vogue!  I pray everyone has a safe and wonderful 3 day weekend (if you get Saturday and/or Monday off).  Be sure to hug a veteran and say "thank you."  This Strawberry salutes you and gives thanks for your and your family's sacrifices.  God bless, Grainiacs.

New Attitude

I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes
Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do
I tidied up my point of view
I got a new attitude.

Oh yeah, sing it with me, Grainiacs…Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo; I’ve gotta new attitude!

I just noticed yesterday that my attitude was a-changin’.  It hit me at work. I realized I was walking around more and smiling more and joking more.  When I wasn’t feeling good about myself, I wanted to hole up in my little cubicle called Me!  I went to work and got my work done, but I didn't get up much or try to call attention to myself.

When you feel good about yourself, it shows in everything.  I am back on track with weight loss (no big news to report as of yet…I weigh on Tuesday evenings), I’m ahead of the game this week with my paper for Old Testament, and the house is not a total disaster area (close but my attitude about it is okay).  

The bank bought red/white/and blue (Memorial Day, 4th of July!) t-shirts for us to wear on casual Fridays.  Corporate policy is to wear ALL t-shirts TUCKED in.  Well, you and I both know that chubby people do not like to tuck in the shirts.  We prefer (or at least I do) to wear them out.  My new attitude has my bank t-shirt tucked in (and pulled out a little...okay A LOT) so my muffin top is not overflowing too noticeably!  Sheesh, the things we'll do to show off our new attitude.  I was watching some old footage on youtube of Patti LaBelle singing "New Attitude" and you would most definitely need an attitude to wear some of the stuff she was strutting.  Of course take into consideration it was the 80's.  I mean, really, WHAT were we thinking????  My cute little ones still laugh hysterically at my old photographs of that era...you know....the Polaroids?  

So wish me luck today, Grainiacs.  I've got my hair done and my shoes on and my shirt (ahem...still not completely comfortable with it, but hey...) tucked in and I've got a new attitude.  Thank God it's Friday.  I'm not sure I could keep this up all week. zzzzzzzzzz

Hello, It's Me!

It's been a while; I know.  Every morning I had every good intention of blogging but sleep got in the way.  Garbage Gut has been waking me up like clockwork an hour before I want to get up.  (I've got to find a muzzle....pfffff...I have one.  His face is too small and he barely has a nose for the muzzle to fit on.)  I guess I better start going to bed earlier so I can get up earlier so when Sir Alarm Clock beeps...er, barks I don't crawl back to bed.  That's the problem: my grain is to go back to bed instead of getting up.  My grain is to go back to eating like I did back before I started losing weight.  My grain is to take the easy non-thinking way out.  No wonder I'm tired and grumpy and frumpy and fat!  My inner child (have I named her yet?) whines when she is bored or tired.  And that, Dear Grainiacs, is why I have a weight problem (and a clutter problem, but that's for a different day!).

Last week I went and weighed at my WW meeting and although I wasn't shocked by the gain, I was disappointed in myself.  I should be farther along on this journey.  Instead I've lost almost 20 pounds and have remained there for several months...more than several...almost SIX  MONTHS!!!!!  Well, that has got to change.  I have got to change.  I am going to change!!!  How's that for a self pep-talk?

If you attend those weekly meetings then you'll know what I'm talking about it.  If not, please bare with me.  Last week was our new leader's meeting.  She did a fantastic job, but I'm not doing this for the leader...or Hubby; I'm doing it for me.  So I will not use the excuse of "I didn't like the leader so I'm not going back."  I'm not hurting her/him; I'm hurting myself.  Again, I am not losing weight for that leader so they are a tool (okay, THAT doesn't sound right but I've got to publish this so I can eat my healthy breakfast and get to work!) to help me.  If I don't like her/him, I'll forgive them for not being motivating or helpful and instead glean helpful info from the group.  Last week I also stayed for the "new member" part...the part where they tell you about the program and how it works and yada yada (thank you Jerry Seinfeld for a great word!).  They also give out a nifty little booklet.  As Providence would have it, the topic this past week was on "spaces."  You know, clearing out the junk food and adding in the good healthy foods.  "You can't eat it if you don't have it"-- great philosophy and so true.  How can I eat that tub of ice cream if it isn't in my house and I'm in my jammies and I'm just bored and want something to entertain me-- like a big bowl of ice cream!!!  NO;  out, out damn thought.  You are just bored. Oh wait, silly me, I don't have ice cream in the freezer...no problem.  How about frozen grapes instead?  Ah, yes, that hit the spot!  Ha ha ha, okay, don't start yelling obscenities at me-- I know the two are like night and day, but think about it.  I'm bored.  I really don't want to eat but I've got a hankering for something cold and frozen (I'm leaving out the "creamy")...cold and frozen....cold and frozen.  I have frozen fruit in my freezer.....why not?  It's cold and frozen and sweet.  Go for it.  Pretty soon my ice cream craving has vanished and my new craving for frozen fruit has taken over....PLUS it is 0 points...unless I eat the whole fruit bar in the freezer....then I WILL need to count the points.

How about you?  How have you done this past week....weeks...month?  Why not start afresh with me?  I have not-so-fresh frozen strawberries in the freezer!!!!

Connections

I have bad news....for me, that is.  My favorite weightwatcher leader is moving!!!  I really like this one.  The others have been nice to step up to the plate and help us fatties out but this one was great- funny and motivating.  I didn't always show up regularly and I didn't lose the most weight but I connected with her.  I'm really gonna miss her (can you tell?).  I asked for her email address.  She gave it out once before and I have it somewhere.  That's the thing: you don't know what you've lost till it's gone- wait!  Isn't that a song?  Sidebar: Working Daughter came home for Mother's Day. College Daughter was home too.  We have an annoying habit of singing a song when a person makes a comment.  College Daughter was on the Beatles song track.  Every time W.D. said something it reminded C.D. of a song and she'd sing.  Poor things. I did that a lot when they were growing up- ah and now it's passed down to the next generation.  I also played loads of different genres of music so all my kiddos are set for life-- show tunes, opera, oldies, rap...okay, not so much rap.  We did listen to a little Christian Rap.  Rev. Hubby calls is "C"-Rap....get it?  C...rap???  LOL

Getting back to connections:  We Need Them.  I don't know about you but I would make a horrible hermit.  I love my time alone, don't get me wrong, but I love people too.  I'm really gonna miss my WW leader.

Speaking of connections: Hubby texted me after his "procedure" to come get him.  I was on my way back to work and I received my first message from him....

Hubby: Out now-come n get me- 4th floor  (I was still in my driveway so I texted back)

Me: OK

(I pull out of the driveway and make it a few feet to the stop sign and....)

Hubby: 1st floor entrance

(As I was stopped and no one behind me (( never text and drive while the car is in motion and don't text while someone is sitting behind you at a stop sign!)) I texted back....)

Me: K

(on the road to hospital...remember I live in a small rural town so hospital is pretty close.....)

Hubby: I'm outside now- waiting

GOOD LORD, the drive is not even 5 minutes from our house!!! I was really expecting to see Hubby walking down the street and the next text saying "you just passed me on the road!"

Now what was I just saying about being connected?  Note to self: don't let Hubby have cell phone after a colonoscopy!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

I must admit- I sometimes walk around in a fog. My routine is rote. Wake up; take shower; get hair and make-up done; get dressed; walk to the kitchen; look out the window....whoa! What's that I see out of the kitchen window?  The dogs are sitting by this big pile of blonde fur....I mean it's everywhere.  My heart sinks; poor rabbit.  The dogs look guilty or do they?  Blonde Dog is sitting on his usual step and he's ...... fur-less!  LOL  Poor Blonde Doggie got an amateur hair shave last night.  Interesting thing about having college kids home.  Sleep patterns are MY sleep patterns.  Yesterday Hubby woke up at 4 a.m. which woke me up and I padded to the bathroom and lo and behold the family room light was on and a conversation is pursuing.  Not a "aw Daddy woke me up" but a "Protect my back; I'm going to run for it!"  A marathon computer game with a friend in Texas! Gotta love technology- it keeps us connected.  So I imagine the kids didn't think twice about shaving the dog at midnight!!!

In other news, Hubby had his first colonoscopy yesterday.  Poor thing couldn't enjoy any Mother's Day yummies on Sunday.  Instead he feasted on jello and chicken broth and, oh yeah, the ever pleasant bowel stimulant (thus the 4 a.m. wake-up call!).  Good news is no biopsy needed.  I guess everything looked peachy keen...well as much as an intestine can.  Silly man thought he'd just go in and have it done and come back home. HA!  He can't drive for 24 hours so guess who is awake to take him to work?  Not the college kids.  I don't mind. He was there for me 10 years ago when I needed my first (and only to date) colonoscopy.  Oh and thanks for the reminder Peaches!  You first!

Well gotta get off my blog and take Hubby to work.  He's pacing back and forth.  Such a man.

Now Why Would I Want to Do That!

I work with a woman who is a neatnik.  Everyone in the bank says "You can eat off Sheila's floor!"  Hey, you can eat off my floor too, but you'll be coughing up a fur ball or two-- just ask Garbage Gut!  And besides, why would I want to eat off someone's floor?  Their feet have been walking around there and Lord knows what else.  I know, I know, it is a saying about how neat and clean that person is.  Even when I had a house keeper I wouldn't have asked someone to eat off my floor- they still might cough up a fur ball.  I guess I didn't do a great job of training or expecting much of my hired help.  See a pattern?  I'm pretty laid back. 

I recall dating a guy whose living room was "OFF LIMITS."  Don't even think about stepping in there and if you did, his mom heard.  She had laid out plastic runners along the floor.  Oh and if you got off the runner (which you shouldn't have been in there in the first place), your foot left a mark in the immaculately vacuumed carpet which was white!  We weren't over there much...maybe once in the 2 or 3 years I dated him.

I grew up in a home where we lived in our home; it wasn't a showcase in the sense that Better Homes and Gardens would be knocking at the door for a tour, but my friends were always welcome and we "hung" out in my room...that is till we got wheels!  Later, Mom had one junk room (my brother's former room- HA).  The door was closed and it was off limits to guests.  I have a junk house (I think I told you my father's motto was "if one's good; two's better.").  I can't do anything in moderation so I've got my junk house, my junk garage, and my junk storage shed.  LOL  I beginning to see a pattern here too.  I've read where there is a correlation between having too much stuff around your house and having too much stuff around your stomach, hips, and thighs.  I want to read more about this because it is interesting.  I am overweight and have a lot of crap.  Sheila is thin and you can eat off her floor.  I think I'll go hang out with Sheila!

Put on those big girl panties!

Have you ever started telling a story only to realize it isn’t going the way you had hoped?  You know, when your audience starts recoiling versus laughing?  And you realize what makes the story funny is the protagonist but your hearers don’t know this person?  But you can’t stop talking and you keep going on and on and they are even more repulsed?  THAT was my story yesterday!  

It all began with the Times magazine cover picture a co-worker pointed out.  That picture got me thinking about a funny (I guess to me!) story my kooky grandmother told.  It makes me smile every time I think of it.  Problem was/is:

1. My audience didn’t know my kooky grandmother.
2. Instead of just saying “Aw, never mind.”  I kept going trying to redeem myself and my story.
3. I got pissed off at one of the co-workers when he said “That’s just sick!”

Hey, Jerk, that’s my grandmother you are talking about!

When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?  After all, I’m only working to save money for my continuing education.  These people are not my best friends; and sometimes I wonder if they even consider me a friend at all!

It happens in my family, too!  I posted a comment on FB and one of my kids took issue with it.  I wanted to scream “It’s Not ALL About YOU!!!!!!”  Instead I spent the good part of my “study time” explaining what I meant by my status.  Sheesh, can’t a strawberry catch a break?!  Please don’t write me asking me to explain more about this post; I won’t answer!  LOL

But it’s all good.  Today is a new day… to think up more repulsive stories,… I mean, to pick myself up, dust myself off and greet each person with the dignity they deserve and I hope to receive.  We are all in this crazy world together so let’s make the best of it and not hold grudges.  Okay, me?  Okay!

Good Monday!

Hello, My name is Strawberry and I'm a Messie!  Did you know they have a Messie's Anonymous?  I'm thinking about starting a chapter here in Rural, USA except I don't have time and my house is a M-E-S-S!  I wonder if it is like Weight Watchers where in order to lead you must first succeed in the program?!  Personally I'd rather have an overweight leader who is struggling like I am versus a skinny minnie who now eats every kind of veggie and has 500 ways to make it into a gourmet meal....from scratch....and enters every 5k, 10k, 100k event!  That's not me.  Yes, I yo-yo and I go-go and I still don't get anywhere.  There's my confession for the day.

In other news, Boy launched the 2nd part of his Eagle Project (first part being it got approved!)....a spaghetti lunch and dessert auction fund raiser.  It was a success.  Thank you, Lord, that part is over.  In addition to getting this fund raiser taken care of, we celebrated Working Girl's birthday AND I wrote and submitted a paper for Old Testament (that is why I had to neglect you, dear Grainiacs; I'm so sorry. Actually I need a ghost writer...someone who say, has already taken OT and Christian Ethics that misses the readings and the deadlines....anyone?  Anyone at all?).

And still in other news, I have a boatload (I'd like to use a different adjective? indirect object? Aw hell who cares...okay you English teachers do and I'd like to think harder about it, but nope!) of lettuce.  Consider this an invitation to come and eat lettuce with me for the next couple of weeks.  I don't know how many salad-eating people Hubby was expecting at the fund raiser but he was expecting A BOATLOAD of them!!!  We served about 50 people and have at least 10 heads of lettuce left-over!  I think he is secretly reading my blogs and saw my Go Green post and decided we will flush out our systems.  Or it might be his upcoming colonoscopy?  I'm not telling him he'll still need an enema or five!  He is happily eating his breakfast this morning and I sure don't want to be the kill-joy.  The doctor didn't tell him to flush himself out so I'm thinking the procedure is for some other day otherwise his doctor is in for the BIG surprise!  LOL  There you go, I was being so good by saying "boatload" and I still wind up talking about shit. 

Some of you have already seen this but it makes me smile every time I read it.....thank you Julia Turner Creations (whoever you are!); you have captured my very essence!

Have a great Monday, Grainiacs, and smile... you are not alone....we are in this together...in thin and in thick.

 

In a Pickle

Have I mentioned my ADD?  Well here is a perfect example!

While thinking about my post today (I usually write it out in my head or at least get it started in my head), I thought about the phrase "in a pickle."  I've grown up hearing that phrase and I know what it mean and how to use it when speaking or writing!  But I've never thought about the exact phrase before (and here goes the ADD).  Instead of writing my post and then looking up the phrase, I spent most of my morning routine searching "engines" and reading and copying and thinking about pickles.

The meaning of "I've gotten myself into a pickle" means getting oneself into an awkward or difficult situation.  It refers to a person being disoriented and/or mixed up.  I have definitely gotten myself into a pickle more times than not....actually most of the time!  Like this morning.  I've spent so much time looking up the origins of a phrase that I've left barely any time for getting ready for work much less continuing with this post.  Ah, my life.

First of all, one definition said "pickles were spicy sauces made to accompany meat dishes."  One site included the words "stewed vegetables."  Strawberry's translation is yummmm.  I think Del Monte makes a wonderful stewed tomato medley just perfect for opening the can and dumping in a crockpot with meat.

Another site states that the Dutch version of this saying is "in de pekel zitten" (English please: to sit in the pickle"); pekel being the liquid, brine or vinegar where the food was preserved.  Yep, THAT would be an uncomfortable situation, fer sure.  Your poor hiney.

I guess I was thinking literally.  I mean how did this phrase come to mean what it means?  After all, there you have a nice sweet cucumber and you add a lot of vinegar to cure it and it comes out a zangy tasting pickle that makes you pucker your mouth.  I'd think the meaning of "in a pickle" would mean "You are a Sour Person!"  Wouldn't you?  I'm just glad I'm not in charge of dispensing the meanings of phrases.  Why, we'd all be in a pickle!

So I've run out of time, Grainiacs.  That's your history lesson according to Pickles, I mean, Strawberry for today.

Join me tomorrow where I'm hoping to stay on track.  Nah, who am I kidding!