Life after the CK Message Board

So the powers that be at the Club CK forums have announced that the forums will be discontinued as of June 15, 2013.  Luckily one member has so kindly started up a new forum called Scrappin’ Peeps.  This is a closed and private message board, so no lurkers abound. 

I am excited to be on the ground floor of this venture.  We are starting new, but with many of our same friendships that we developed while at Club CK.  If you would like to join Scrappin’ Peeps, click here:  Scrappin-Peeps.  Let the administrator know where you heard about the board (from this blog) and let me know the name you sign up under so I can contact the administrator and get you approved quickly.  There will be scrapbooking, card, and other challenges on the board, including a thread for those addicted to, I mean subscribing to, the Scrapbook Generation kits of the month (KOTM). 

The only problem so far is that we don’t have a gallery.  The CK gallery will stay up, but I frankly don’t see a reason to keep my layouts over there if there are no forums.  That said, I will be migrating my layouts from there to this blog slowly.  So for the one or two of you who may read this, just bear with me, please. 

Project Life–Days 1-7–Week 1

Well, I haven’t been that good at posting yet, have I?  I have to admit that I have been very busy.  I had a wonderfully, humbling, retirement party at work on Halloween.  Around 100 people came—I couldn’t believe it!  Then Mr. Wonderful (my darling husband) and I were getting ready for the party at our house on Saturday.  I counted, and there were 39 people here, including us.  That party was a blast, too!  The last couple of days have had me puttering around the house, putting things away, and doing some housework. 
I thought I’d take the time to catch up here, with my pictures from November 1 through 7.  Let me know what you think! 

November 1:  Here I am, turning off my morning alarm clock (yes, I used my cell phone as my alarm clock).  It felt good!  However, I’ve been waking up between 6 and 7 most mornings anyway.  Go figure.  And I am NOT a morning person! 

November 2:  Here is a beautiful bouquet of flowers the WSP District Secretaries gave me (along with gift cards to Starbucks, Michael’s, and Joann’s).  I love the fall colors.  I am going to have to adjust this picture, as my PL page protectors only take landscape 4x6 photos.  Maybe I could make it 4x4 and put some pretty paper behind the photo.  Always the scrapbooker! 

November 3:  Not the best picture of me, but these are the pearls that my office bought for me—can you believe this?  This strand is 72” long, almost as long as Mr. Wonderful is tall!  I fell in love with them when I saw them in the store and mentioned them to a coworker.  Shirley collected enough money to pay for the entire bill, including tax!  Mr. Wonderful paid for the lifetime warranty.  Yeah! 

November 4:  Although this picture was actually taken on October 31, I wanted my PL album to show where I had come from.  This shows the name plate outside my office door.  I held this position for 30 years.  I am very proud of this accomplishment! 

November 5:  I am posting a substitute picture, because the pic I put in my album included Mr. Wonderful—he does not want his picture on the internet, so this is a substitute.  These are two of the kittens we nursed since they were two weeks old.  Smokey is the gray one and Bear is the dark brown kitten.  They keep me company and entertained during the day while I adjust to being retired. 

November 6:  This is my fall mantle-scape.  I love the warm color and the fullness of the mantle.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  In addition to the beautiful colors, I love cuddling in at night with a cup of tea or a glass of wine in my favorite chair, with Mr. Wonderful next to me in his favorite spot on the sofa.  Hot toddies, homemade soups, bread baking in the oven, and the holidays approaching.  Of course, after a few months of the cold, wet weather, I’m ready for spring, but right now, I’m comfy and happy.

November 7:  This is me at my physical therapy appointment.  I’ve been going to Evergreen Physical Therapy for five years.  The physical therapists (pt) and physical therapy assistants (pta) help me manage the excruciating tension headaches and migraines I get.  They also help a lot with the fibromyalgia.  This is my new pta, Brenna.  She has the strongest hands, and really gets in there and loosens up my muscles.  The owner of the practice is Jay, and he’s got wonderful hands, too.  Jay (pt) really takes care of me.  I was seeing JR (pta), Jay’s son, but JR is at the university studying to become a full-fledged pt.  JR’s hands are absolute magic.  I miss him, but Brenna is doing an excellent job. 

Project Life Ordered

I ordered my PL 365 supplies today—the binder, the cards, and the page protectors.  Amazon.com had free shipping for orders over $25 and I sure took advantage of it!  I ordered the Cherry set.  I didn’t think I would like it, but when I saw it in a video, I really liked this set.  Which was good, because none of the other sets caught my eye. 

I figured I could get the album all put together and ready to start the project on November 1, 2012.  Wish me luck! 

Getting Closer!

Okay, so I’m feeling a little better today about the whole retirement issue.  I checked out Becky Higgins’ Project Life 365 products, and I’ve picked the one I want.  I’ll have to wait until payday to order it on Amazon.com, but I’ll have it here and waiting for my daily photographs starting November 1, 2012!!!!!

I’m a bit bored today, but that’s because I didn’t get going early in the morning.  I actually slept in until 9a.  In-laws stopped by, and my mother-in-law asked to see my practice quilt.  She said my quilting is good.  I should probably have quilted 1/4” from the seam instead of a couple of millimeters!  But like I said, this is my practice quilt. 

DH and I are going out to dinner with his parents tonight.  I love going out for dinner! 

5 Weeks . . . What was I thinking?

Only five weeks to go.  Am I crazy?  Sometimes I think I am.  I started crying yesterday, actually afraid of retiring.  Will I have enough to do to keep me busy?  Will I get bored?  Will I get lonely? 

I have to remember to let my body rest and do what I can each day.  I’ll take Barb up on her promise to get me involved in the local senior center, doing things like sewing classes, quilting, hey, maybe even scrapbooking.  Hmm, if no scrapbooking class, maybe I could teach one?  I know the basics, that’s for sure.

I can do this.  It will be fun.  I’ll be able to do at least some of everything I’ve been putting off!  I will have to remember that it all doesn’t have to be done the first week.  And I’ll be taking pictures of my adventures for PL 365. 

Hmm . . . five weeks.  It will go by so fast. 

Retirement–Project 365

Well, blogging about weight loss didn’t work (neither did the weight loss—I only lost 15 pounds).  I just found that I didn’t have the time to keep up the blog.

So a new subject:  Retirement!  Yes, I am retiring after 30 years of working for the WSP.  Can you believe it?  Some of you aren’t even 30 years old!  I have had a wonderful career, but it is time for me to go.  It is time for me to take care of myself and my family.  

If you know me, you know that I am a scrapbooker.  I absolutely love keeping my family’s memories!  I’ve also told myself that when I retired, I was going to learn how to quilt.  So I have started quilting.  Yes, I know I don’t retire until Halloween, but I started looking into it, and decided that I would try a practice quilt before I took a class.  And you know, I’m enjoying it, and I don’t think the practice quilt will be too bad.  Oh, there is a lot for me to learn, there is no question about that.  I’m waiting for the classes to be offered at Cotton Pickins’ in the little town just south of me.  

Back to scrapbooking.  Every August I meet up with a bunch of wonderful peeps from over at Club CK for three days of nonstop scrapping and fun.  On the way over, I was telling my friend Devra of my upcoming retirement, and how my feelings go back and forth from joy to apprehension.  Devra suggested I do Becky Higgins Project Life for my first year of retirement.  

Hmm.  I’ve been thinking about it since.  It’s a big commitment, but it is also a big investment.  So I thought I would a Project Life 365-day blog.  

For those of you who don’t know about PL 365, it’s taking a picture a day for a full year.  You scrapbook the little things in life.  Another “hmm” moment.  Do I have 365 little things in my life?  Well, we shall see.  I think it will be eye-opening for at least me.  A journey to take.  A journey to document.  

I will start this journey on November 1, 2012.  To coin a corny phrase, the first day of the rest of my life. 

The Weight Is Coming Off

Yes, it is taking time, but the weight is coming off faster than I expected.  I have lost a total of seven (yes, 7) pounds as of today. 

Yesterday at work a coworker made everyone lunch—it would have been rude not to partake, right?  Oh, my was it ever yummy.  Brisket, rice, onions, and carrots in this wonderful dish that he cooked over a wood fire out back.  A great salad.  And four, yes, four desserts.  I only ate one kind, the crepes, but I ate five half crepes. 

I was so full, I didn’t even eat dinner.  So I stepped on the scale with trepidation this morning.  Yeah!  I didn’t gain two pounds like I thought I would yesterday—I actually stayed the same. 

I am really liking the food.  Like this morning, I had NutriSystem scrambled eggs with vegetables.  To be sure to get more vegetables in this morning, I “sautéed” some more veggies in a spray of olive oil, and added the eggs, veggies, and my afternoon smart carb (a whole wheat tortilla), a little low-fat cheese for my protein, and I had a great breakfast wrap. 

My next shipment of food is getting ready to ship, so I went in and changed some things around.  Like the lunch chicken alfredo does not thicken up, so it’s more like a bad soup.  And I found out that I do like the Nutri Chocolate.  I’m even trying some beef this time. 

For those of you actually reading my blog (if anyone), I am not impressed with the chicken patty.  21 years ago, it was a reconstituted patty that is a lot better than what they have now.  Very small, but thick, and just tastes funny to me.  Oh well.  Not everything can be a hit with everyone. 

But all in all, I’m liking the food and the pounds are coming off easily! 

First Four

I lost four pounds the first week!  Yeah!  Now to keep it going. 

I really like the majority of food, only a couple of the meals aren’t to my liking.  And I’ve learned a couple of hints, like add a tablespoon of extra water to the gravy for the biscuits and gravy—and to brown the biscuit in the oven. 

This weekend has been a chore, as Friday I came home after lunch with a horrible migraine.  I did manage to eat an entrée for dinner, but that was it.  Not even a dessert. 

Saturday came, and since the migraine was an ER visit, I was pretty much out of it for most of the day.  I did rally up and get dressed to attend my previous boss’s retirement party. 

This was a dinner, and I was wondering how I would do with eating.  I think I did pretty good.  I had two bites of my husband’s turkey cutlet, some salad, and lots and lots of green beans.  I did have two bites of Miss Clara’s cake—oh, my, goodness.  That lady can bake! 

Today is Sunday and I am having a lazy day.  I think I will have pancakes for breakfast!

Diet–Day 1

Well, today is my first day back on NutriSystem.  I forgot how much food there is to eat each day!  I thought it would take a couple of days for me to adjust to less food.  On the contrary:  There is a LOT of food! 

I had apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast; it was a little bland, so I added a packet of Splenda and it really brought out the flavors. 

I had a low fat cheese stick for morning snack that I should have had with breakfast (a NS meal and a “power fuel,” aka protein). 

Lunch brought three cups of lettuce and free veggies for a salad, low fat dressing, and a NS Three-Cheese Chicken Pasta.  By the time lunch was over, I was stuffed. 

Then the afternoon munchies arrived.  Oops.  But I was ready.  I had saved a protein from the morning (a yogurt) for the afternoon.  That put me over the edge.  I was officially stuffed.  And I still had a super carb from lunch and my afternoon snack to eat.  Hmm.  Maybe later. 

I finally ate dinner at 7 p.m.—I was just too full from everything earlier.  Dinner was NutriSystem meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Totally yummy!  I added some home canned green beans.  I still had those two “super carbs” left to eat.  I gave up and had a glass of wine instead. 

Still full, but I am eating carrot cake for dessert. 

I had weighed myself at the beginning of this week, and have been trying to be really good, and I have actually lost 3 pounds before I even started the diet! 

I think I can do this.  I’ll shamefacedly post pictures this weekend. 

A different journey . . .

Way back in 1991, I lost a lot of weight—50 pounds to be exact.  I did it on the NutriSystem program.  I was even in a nationwide commercial—what an experience!  Fast forward 21 years (wow, that seems like such a long time, and I guess it is) and I have gained 70 pounds from my thinnest when I did the commercial. 
I have become totally disgusted with my weight.  I lumber instead of walk.  I jiggle when I talk.  (I sound like Mrs. Claus!)  I’ve tried dieting on my own, but that obviously didn’t work.  I tried WW, but that was only moderately successful.  My thin-as-a-rail husband doesn’t understand why I can’t do this on my own, but to give him is due, he is supporting me. 
Anyway, I have joined NutriSystem again.  My hopes is that by making my weight-loss journey more public, that I will be more apt to stay on it and follow the plan closely.  I know it works—it did in ‘91!
Anyway, my food gets here tomorrow.  I’ve already gone on the website and logged my weight and measurements.  I’ve created a profile, and I am ready to jump in with both feet on Thursday. 
I need to figure out what extras I need, as the plan only provides the main course.  I add in Power Fuels (proteins), Super Carbs, and fruits and veggies.  Oh, and I think I add in dairy too. 
Wish me luck!