GEM'S August Journal

GEM's August Journal

8-31 - Sorry it has been so long. What with having trouble with the server and the frenzy of last minute school shopping, I haven't been able to get to this. Today the kids went back to school and I went back to work. It was quite a shock after having off all summer. I work four hours in the media center and 2 hours in the cafeteria. They are going to start interviewing next week for an instructional assitant job. I sure hope I get it. Keep your fingers crossed for me. There is no air conditioning in the cafeteria and by the time I got done, I was sweating like a farmer putting up hay. (Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a farmer putting up hay. I grew up on a farm and know what hard work it is. I just don't like going around sweating like that at work.) Hopefully tomorrow it will be a little cooler. Keep the faith ;)

8-27 - Had a busy day yesterday, was gone most of the time. Finally got home to stay at about 8:00. My youngest starts middle school one Monday and his orientation was last night. He was feeling fine until last night. Now he is very nervous. This orientation was supposed to make him feel better, but it sure did just the opposite. After trying his locker last night, he is afraid he will not be able to get it open and will be late for class or something. To make matters worse, his best friend, Chip, is in another section and they will only see each other at lunch.

Jai starts high school this year. Her orientation is tonight. I sure hope she doesn't turn into a nervous wreck.

Had a good eating day yesterday. Ate well within calorie limits and drank plenty of water. It has been very easy to drink water lately because it has been so hot and humid. It is a little cooler today. Bonnie blew all the heat and humidity away. At least it seems like she isn't going to bother us here in MD, except for maybe some rain. Keep the faith ;)

8-25 - Had a pretty good day yesterday. Went swimming in the river. Bonnie hasn't affected us yet, but I am sure she will eventually. She is already affecting Ocean City and Rehobeth Beach with terrible rip tides. I am sure our tides will be affected when she gets further up the east coast. Yes, even the rivers get some extra currents when a hurricane gets close enough. Ate a few more calories than usual, but only 17% of them were from fat. I expended more calories than I consumed, so I guess that is a good thing. Keep the faith ;)

8-23 - Got some swimming in yesterday. There were a lot of people docked on the island and quite a few using the community boat ramp illegally. There were so many illegal boaters, it was hard for us legal users to find a place to park our trailers. When we got home, my husband called the town trooper and told him. He went down and handed out tickets. Some of them were also drunk when they were launching their boats and sure had no business even driving down to the ramp, much less launching a boat. I finally finished my daughter's Marvin the Martian shirt. I did it in cross stitch. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. She is going to wear it the first day of school. Had a good day today, except got hardly any exercise in. Did some toning, but no walking. It is just too daggone hot and humid. Keep the faith ;)

8-22 - Sorry about yesterday. Just got really busy. I finally saw that movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" In the scene where the mother comes out of the jail after getting Arnie and everyone is standing around my kids started laughing. I told them to stop and they said, "But why, Mom. You're not as fat as her?" I explained that it didn't matter how much or how little overweight you are, when people do things like that, it hurts. Jai said she doesn't think of me as fat, she just thinks of me as Mom. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. They all know I have lost about 50 pounds and am trying to loose more. Keep the faith ;)

8-20 - Nothing much to report. I go to the dr tomorrow for a complete physical for my job. I was looking at the form the dr has to fill out. Seems like the only thing they don't want to know was when was the last time my DH and I had sex. I am also going to lunch at a friend's house tomorrow. Some of us that worked together last year are getting together. I can't wait. At least this woman knows I am trying to loose weight and will have low-fat, healthy choices. Keep the faith:)

8-19 - Have had a so-so day. Ate well within my calorie limits, but the choices could have been better. Did some toning exercises; but know I need to get some walking in. I will get up early tomorrow and walk before going to do the paperwork for my new job. If I get up at six, I should have plenty of time to exercise, get a shower and eat breakfast before I have to be there. Guess maybe I should make that one of my goals for tomorrow. Keep the faith ;)

8-18 - We got some much needed rain today. We could use some more and they are calling for more tomorrow. I go up to the Board of Education on Wednesday and fill out the paperwork for my job. I start on 31 Aug. I can hardly wait. I really enjoy working in the library. Had a pretty good day eating today. Didn't get any exercise becuase I woke up with a migraine and spent most of the morning on the couch. The afternoon was spent taking sone for allergy shot and watching the lightening show. We had a couple of real good boomers that set Jack off. When he started barking, the puppies ran for cover. They get all upset when he barks and run to the closest human. Not much else to report. Keep the faith ;)

8-17 - My oldest son got home last night. He brought me a refrigerator magnet with Mount Rushmore on it and a thermometer. He also brought some other stuff back. It was good to see him. I am trying this font for my daughter. She has her own web page and I am trying this on mine to see if it really changes the font. Keep the faith ;)

8-15 - Had a great day. My oldest son is due home tomorrow, so I went to the store and stocked up on some of his favorite stuff. I know he hasn't had much of it while camping. I got a Tai Chi tape yesterday. Tried it this morning. This stuff is harder than it looks. Also lifted weights. The main part of my exercise though consisted of walking 1/2 miled down through the woods to the creek with the kids to catch minnows for Joey's Oscar. That way is all down hill. The walk back up is a real butt kicker. We did that twice. I am getting poison sumac on my arm. I believe that is from the puppies running through the woods and then coming for me to pet them. I don't even have to touch the stuff to get it. Just let the wind be blowing in the right direction and I am a mess. Will call the dr. on Monday for some cortisone. I hate taking the stuff, but if I don't my poison swells up so bad that I can't use my arm or hand at all. Keep the faith ;)

8-14 - Have had a couple of busy days. I did go for an hour walk with a girlfriend last night. I haven't seen her in a while and we had a lot of gossip to catch up on. We walked 3 1/4 miles in that time. I know we would have walked faster if I had put my ABBA tape on and listened to is instead of talking. Oh well, sometimes the chatting is just more important. I also managed not to eat anything after supper. The animal crackers in the pantry were calling my name when I got home; but I discovered I was really hungry, so I drank some water instead. That is quite an accomplishment for me and one I am very proud of. Keep the faith ;)

8-11 - Had a terrible day today. Ate like a pig all day long. Don't know what is wrong. I got the job down at the school. I will be working in the library. I have to call Human Resources on Thursday and get some papers from them. Then I have to get a physical, which includes drug and alcohol tests. I don't have to worry about being fingerprinted as I already had that done when I started subbing. Keep the faith ;)

8-10 - Have had a good day so far. We went out on the boat and docked at the island. I swam for about 1/2 hour. We would have been there longer, but a storm was blowing up so we had to leave. It started pouring down rain as we were putting the boat on the trailer. I had a most difficult time while swimming. Had to play a rousing game of stuff the boobs back into the bathing if I swam too fast. I guess that is a good sign because my bathing suit is getting too big and lets things come out. I refuse to buy a bathing suit this late in the season, besides, most stores have already put them away and are putting out winter stuff. At least the water is crystal clear like in a pool. Then I would have major problems. Keep the faith ;)

8-9 - Had a little excitement this afternoon with my son's asthma. He is doing fine now, but is was a little hairy for a while there. He was out jumping on the trampoline when he started with his asthma attack. I hate to tell him he can't do things because of his asthma. I don't want to turn him into a wimp who is afraid to do anything because of his asthma. The doctor said to just let him do what he wants. I try, but sometimes I just want to wrap him up and put him on the couch for safe keeping. So far, I have managed to not do that. He is a normal 11 year old with all the cuts, scrapes and bruises that they seem to accumulate without knowing how it happened. No much else going on. I have drank so much water today, I am water logged. Seems as if I have spent much of the day drinking and the other part visiting the bathroom. Keep the faith ;)

8-8 - Another day slipped by without me noticing. Actually, Tripod wouldn't let me in yesterday. Don't know what was wrong. I may have some good news about a job. The woman who worked in the library as the aide turned the job down this year and the principal called me yesterday asking if I wanted it. He has to call Human Resources to see if he can just put me in it, or if he has to interview. Either way, I feel pretty confident that I have the job. He also told me he would rather have me in a classroom and asked if I was still interested in an instructional assistant job. I said sure; but that I would take the one in the library (which is a sure thing) over one that may or may not happen. I am making progress with this exercise thing. I find it is getting easier to do the toning exercises using the weights than it used to be. I do that every other day because they say you should give your muscles a break in between working them. I haven't done much walking, most of my aerobic exercise has consisted of swimming in the river. Swimming against the current really gives me a workout. Nothing much exciting happening here. Keep the faith ;)

8-6 - Sorry, I didn't realize it had been two day since I had updated. Yesterday wasn't my fault, I couldn't get into anything after about 4:00 on.

I had a most awesome day. As many of you know from previous entries, we have a boat and a tow-along that we use to pull the kids behind us. The rougher the ride, the better they like it. I have never ridden in it because I have very ambivalent feeling about the boat. I like it, but if we just went the quarter mile from the dock to the island where we dock and swim, I would be happy. Today I actually got in the tow-along and went for a ride. Picture a 230 pound woman in this thing and you have a winner on American's Funniest Home Videos. When they first start pulling you before you get on plane, it is pretty rough. I didn't realize how rough it would be and told Yobo to stop. The kids explained that it got better, so I decided to try it again. It was so cool. Of course, Yobo didn't do any of the stuff he does with the kids. I got major air at one point. I thought it was about 6 inches, but the kids said it was closer to two feet. We were only going about 30 mph, but it sure seems faster. You can actually feel the water skimming along under your butt.

The second thing I did that was awesome was to learn to drive the boat on plane. This is the third summer we have had the boat and the first time I have ever driven it on plane. Then Yobo got in the tow-along and I pulled him for his first ride ever. He must be either very brave or awfully stupid. I paniced when I was another boat coming and stopped. I haven't really learned how to hit wake from another boat so it gives you the least roughness. I didn't want to kill Yobo, so I just stopped. He said that was fine with him. After that, we went to the island and docked.

Since this is supposed to be a diet journal, let me also say that I ate within my bounds, drank plenty of water, and used Richard Simmon's toning tapes this morning and swam for an hour this afternoon. Keep the faith ;)

8-3 - Had a great day today. Spent about two hours swimming around in the river. Played catch with the kids while swimming. We took the puppies out on the boar with us. Lenny loved the water and swam all around. Buster didn't care for it too much and mostly stayed on shore. Everything else is pretty much the same. Keep the faith ;)

8-2 - Another beautiful day. I have spent much of it puppy sitting. Those little rascals keep me busy. They love it outside, especially when I run with them. Every time I sit down to catch my breath, they come and jump and bark at me til I get up and run some more. They are worse than the kids. I got a lot of smileys on Diet Watch today. Somehow I went way over on my vitamin A. Is this a bad thing? Every time I eat a lot of baby carrots I go over. Guess I will have to find something else to munch on. Cut up a cucumber today and had a major allergy attack. I can eat them; but the washing and cutting procedure always seems to bring on major trouble. I sneeze and my eyes water - the whole nine yards. Well, nothing much happening, catch ya later. Keep the faith ;)

8-1 - I can't believe it is August already. Only 30 more days til the kids go back to school. I had a great day. Ate within my limits and drank plenty of water. My exercise consisted of running around the yard with the dogs. Had the puppies and Jack out. They about ran me ragged. Going up and down the hill was good for my legs. I am feeling it now. Joey called this morning; they are now in Minnesota and hope to reach the Dakotas by this evening. He is having a good time. I told him to make sure he took pictures of (oh heck, I must have a brain fart, I can't remember where the presidents are carved into the mountain). Oh well, you all know where I mean. Oh yeah, Mt Rushmore. Well, not much is happening here now. You all keep the faith ;)