Thanksgiving... A Day Where Nothing Has Calories?

You know that you are very serious about dieting and losing weight when the first thing you do Thanksgiving morning is sit down and plot what you can and cannot eat today and how much exercise you will need to burn off what you shouldn't eat today. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays NOT because of the wonderful food... but because of the family. We are spending the day with KT and Rob, my Sister & Brother In Law, Jane and Bill, and Stephen's grandmother Betty Jane and Stephen's second cousin Bruce. They are all coming here! Most of the food was premade yesterday... so in that regard, we are almost ready to go. But, the food is still on my mind. The Good Morning America guest this morning stated that Thanksgiving is the one day where nothing has calories. Oh, yeah??? Well, yesterday, my mashed potatoes had 230 calories for a 2/3 cup, 6 oz. of turkey ham was 218 calories, 6 oz. of Turkey was 280 calories, Pumpkin Cheesecake was 168 calories for an 1/8 of the pie, Pumpkin Pie was also 168. Peanut Butter Pie was a huge 250 for an 1/8th of the pie. This means, if I eat two servings of potatoes (which I am want to do), a serving of turkey ham, a serving and a half of turkey, and a half slice of both the pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie, I might be able to eat something again tomorrow for dinner! No... just kidding. With the hour of Wii Fit I did this morning, and the fact I lowered my goal for the week to losing just one pound, with some balance, I can eat again tomorrow! I just need to avoid the pre-dinner munchie items - like chips and dip - and any soda other than Coke Zero. Change that. Just stick to water today. Sigh! What a joyous Thanksgiving this is... just me and my food scale!

Tomorrow has me completing two independent contracting jobs. One of them is in Wheaton, MD and the other is here in Laurel. Hopefully, after my doctor's appointment tomorrow, we can just get both of these jobs out of the way and I can spend my day away from the mobs of people attempting to shop their brains out.

Let me see... 460 calories for potatoes. 560 for Turkey. 218 for the Turkey Ham. Maybe I can afford the whole slice of pie at 168? Throw in 8 cheese cubes at 130 calories. 1536 calories. Maybe I should try again... Prestuffed blogger out!

And... You Say That WHY?

You know... sometimes I just really hate being a student again. I mean, it isn't like I am an undergrad again with the bonds of friendship you make during that time and the stupidity you can get away with in the name of being young and naive. And, this experience isn't like my Masters degree, either. With my Masters, I felt like I was accomplishing something and learning something new every single lesson. I was able to apply what I was learning to the whole world and it just "MADE sense"! I will admit I have gone back and read that epic that was my Masters Thesis and laugh out loud at the stupidity of all 750 pages. But, dang... I was learning something.

Law School, however, is very different. I feel like an alien on an alien planet. I can't seem to get the hang of the Legal Essay writing. And, that really is something. For the last twenty some years, I have heard "write in complete sentences!" and "Don't write in run-on sentences and sentence fragments." Every rule of grammar was examined and a rationale was found in my mind for each that I could share with my students. I might as well forget ever learning it because Legal Essay writing has NOTHING to do with writing skills. It is your ability to write a formatted essay with almost total disregard for the English language and rules of speaking and grammar. No matter how much I try, I end up being verbose. This should surprise no one since my writing in real life tends to boarder on the verbose, too. But, I hate formulaic writing. It is a format in which no one wins and everyone loses.

J., Ten, and I went to Panera this morning for breakfast. It was great to see Ten and spend time with her. Hopefully I will see her again tomorrow! My Thursday just isn't complete without seeing Ten!!!!!

Well... time for lunch. J. is off to the Big Mac to work with the Eagle's Nest Crew. Sometimes I wish she wouldn't leave me alone here. But, independence starts somewhere... right?????

Lonely blogger out!!

11/16: What's Up and Happy Anv. Three Wise Guys!

First, I want to give a shout out to the Three Wise Guys from the Washington Post. They bring happiness to my husband's Sunday mornings by answering Washington readers questions. It is their anniversary this week and they had a really funny, multi-paged article this week. Stephen's joy is barely containable as he reads allowed to J. and I. Our Sunday mornings are always brightened by our three men of wit! Happy Anniversary, Three Wise Guys! Many more to come, I hope!!!!

I know it has been awhile since I posted. It has been a really non-eventful time around here running around trying to get the every day stuff complete. I have a "new" job... but it is one of those things I'm not allowed to say much about at this point. Hopefully it will make it possible for me to pay credit card payments (not that I wasn't before!). I just want the balance to go down... not up! Health insurance has also been the "object" of all my immediate attention. My Aetna policy is ending at the end of December. There had been a promise of a conversion plan from the Self-Funding people I send money to. Aetna claims there isn't. So, have been scrambling to find new insurance QUICKLY. They (being Aetna) have turned me down for a new policy because of migraines, allergies, and bilateral hearing loss. Not to mention I am still 10 pounds outside their weight limit. Hey... I'm losing weight quickly... give me until February and I'd be there!!! Sigh!!!

Well... I have very little else to share. We are going to my SIL home today for a somber event (Duncan, the family paraket's, funeral). Duncan was a beloved bird whom we all adored. His loss was taken hard by all Wenzels and we are just hoping that we can remember the good times with Duncan and not focus on the "Ill Duncan" that he was towards the end. I feel, and Stephen agrees, we need to make sure we have cheese at this celebration of Duncan. He, being Duncan, was a cheese fiend! Duncan could be looking like the most miserable bird in the world and you give cheese..... INSTANT ACTIVE bird!!! I hope, if there is a parakeet final resting location, Duncan can have all the cheese a bird could ever want. Without all the mess of an all cheese diet, too!!!

Blogger out!!!

No Matter Who Won, I Am Already Sick OF the News Media!

When I came up this morning, I already knew the results of last night's election. Stephen spent a majority of my early night sleeping time with headphones on to listen to "the historic" Upon getting upstairs this morning, the news was on. Almost immediately, they were reviewing the local races. No surprises were to be had there, either. But, what really makes me feel ill is the media's take on our local county shooting down their telephone tax. The telephone tax for Prince Georges was an increase to the telephone tax they already have. It currently had the highest phone tax in the state and they wanted to raise it. Yes, it was "for the schools"... who are currently holding onto a 50 million surplus... but, good grief! The news media is bemoaning that it was 70-something to upper 20's AGAINST it. I quote the media guy - "Oh... those poor kids in Prince Georges are going to have to do without! And it is an area really in need of educational reform!" Whaaaaaaaat?
I never heard ONE positive article, ONE positive news story, ONE positive speach saying that the telephone tax was worthy of voting yes. All I heard, from every angle, was how we already had a telephone tax, how most of the other counties didn't, how the district already had a major surplus (depending on the source, it is between 50 mil. and 100 mil.), and how it really wasn't going to help the the district enough and they needed to look at reform... not additional taxes. The only person in power that I ever heard say anything positive was Jack Johnson(County Executive) saying that, even though we had a surplus, in these hard times, it wouldn't hurt to have a little more. Sure.... glowing recommendation there, Jack. I did my homework... I read! The news media needs to get off their soap box and realize that not everything "good" goes through. I hate the news media!

I think I really need to just boycott tv for awhile. But, we all know I won't. Too addicted.

Part Duo: A Blogger's Headache

As I said earlier, I have a major headache. And, between last blog and now, it has not gotten any better. If anything, it seems to eat stress and has gotten worse. I hate headaches!

Ok... I have that out of my system. All in all, this hasn't been the world's most horrid day. After I stopped blogging, J. and I went to Home Depot (to get my paycheck), the thrift store (to look for books), and Lowes (to get paint for B's room). We ended up with nothing new at the thrift store, got my paycheck, and got some paint samples for the room. When we got home, B. asked if we wanted to go to lunch with he and grandmother-in-law. We went to Silver Diner and then went to Shoppers. Upon getting home, found out that my medical tests have been approved. Also got a bill from U. of MD for my MRI, which Aetna claims has been paid already.

Speaking of bills, I am getting SOOOOooooooooooooo sick of medical bills that have been either denied (for no reason) or are incorrectly billed. If I had paid Laurel Regional when they asked, I would have owed them 25,000.00! Now, I'm not even sure I owe them $250! Am soooo sick of that stress.

Tomorrow is election day. California Tortilla is offering a free taco coupon for wearing your "I voted" sticker. We are voting at Bond Mill Elementary a couple miles away. Probably will go be before lunch and get the voting mess over with. With all the issues on the ballot, I'm ready for this to be over with. Slots v. No Slots/Early Voting v. No Early Voting/Telephone Tax v. Status Quo/Library and Roads Tax! I feel like my head is already spinning with choices. The Presidential election isn't the big thing around here. It is SLOTS, SLOTS, and more SLOTS. I think it will pass, though. How can it not? If they don't, the politicians are going to get that money somewhere else!

There was something else I had the intention of blogging about today. Unfortunately, I lost my train of thought as it went through a tunnel and I've been unable to catch up with it. So, I will close with my banking woe. We recently left Bank of America to join the Commerce Bank family. I got tired of hearing the Kelly Rippa/Regis ads about how great their bank was and how much my bank was screwing me out of money with service fees. So, since it was opening a bank in our area, we joined the Commerce family. Unfortunately, Commerce and TD bank merged. So, just after I get a brand new check card, I need to get new checks AND a new check card. I hate banks.

Grumpy blogger out.

Have You Ever Just Wanted The World To Go Away... Just For A little While.

As I sit down to post today, my daily headache is worse than normal. It hurts so badly that I just want to run downstairs and lock myself in my room and cry. The crying would be simply because my head hurts THAT much. I am hoping that the one cup of coffee I allowed myself this morning and the 2 extra strength Tylenol will help quickly. Otherwise, I am going to have to bring out the heavier duty meds. And, right now, I want to avoid that.



The headache really has little to do with my topic, though. For the past few weeks, we thought the dog had been very lax about asking to go outside and leaving a pile on the floor multiple times daily. We were wondering how the dog, 35 lbs-ish, could have so MUCH to deposit. Well, J. found out yesterday, it isn't the dog! It is the 11 lbs-ish CAT! I swear this cat is crapping her entire body weight multiple times daily. AND she is still using the litter box and making deposits there. So far, every home remedy method has proven Katie Cat proof. She loves wax paper (darn)! She doesn't seem to be bothered by pepper (WHAT?)! Even steam cleaning the floor again, there are only a few more home remedies to try. The vet feels that it is a teritory thing. When the dog claimed the cat's downstairs rug, this happened. When the dog claimed the snake's bedroom, this happened. So, now, the dog may have claimed Katie's (human) room. So, now the cat feels this need to claim that room, too. Sheesh! What is a human to do? The cat is mine. The dog is my in-laws. We both love our animals. No one wants to get rid of either of them. The cat cannot cope outside. The dog wouldn't go out and stay out on a bet. The two realistic options? Upstairs cat box and putting food upstairs. Realistically? Neither is going to work. Wish us luck.

More later.