Reinventing the wheel

I hear that a lot. Don't re-invent the wheel.

Well, was that very first wheel perfect? I doubt it. I bet it needed a bit of tweaking.

Life is like that for me. Maybe not for you, but for me it is.

I was forced to go back to work. Oh, no part time job for me. Oh no, I had to jump in with a 40 hour work week. To say I am not used to this is an understatement!

I have worried a few of my friends with my comments about burning at both ends etc. I need to make things perfectly clear here. Of course I don't want to work, but the job is good. It's right up my alley. It's not physically demanding. I swore I would never do that again. This summer working in the restaurant, coming home every night in tears sucked. This job is excellent, if you have to work. I'm learning new programs on the computer. I get to interact with people. I'm challenging myself and winning and that makes me feel great. I like the job. Will I continue with it after both our houses and our 5th wheel and truck sell? I don't know. I would if it could be done part time, but it can't. I really do love it though, so probably! So, now that that is clear as muc. Let's reinvent shall we?

This last week was difficult as it was all new. I wasn't prepared. I didn't quite know how to go about getting prepared. I tried a few things, they didn't work, so I tried a few more. I'm getting it.

As you know I'm an avid Weight Watchers supporter. I think it's a fantastic program. It works. It really does. I made the difficult decision to cancel my membership. I can't go to meetings. I do know the program. I can use the $40 elsewhere for sure. Money wasn't the reason I cancelled it though. My brain needs a rest. Excuse? Maybe. I know that this week it was all I could do to grab anything to eat, never mind counting points or figuring recipes. That's not going to work for sure! There are bowls of candy sitting around at work and huge bags of individual sized chips. All my favorite things. So, reinventing and preparation were in my future for sure. I couldn't face it M-F, but as I have weekends off for right now, I made it my goal to tackle it yesterday and today.

I've decided to try to do what I've read so many places. Eat less and move more. One step further, I'm going to try eating more whole foods, more healthy options. Incorporate more fruit and veg into my life. I'm planning ahead for the week to come. I planned meals, made a list, and we'll shop later when TBM gets up.

I asked for help. TBM works 3 days a week, midnights. I've asked him to fix dinner on his days off. I'll fix his on the days he works. Sounded like a fair trade to me and he agreed. I'm going to use the crock pot more. I'm going to prepare foods on my days off and freeze them. I thought partial preparation would work. It didn't. Example. I got up Friday morning and put chicken on to simmer. I asked Den to drain it, take the meat from the bone and put it in the fridge so I could make soup when I got home from work. He even chopped the celery, onion, and carrot for me. Bless. I got home at 5:30 and I was just beat. I wanted brown rice in the soup. I like my brown rice to cook about an hour. I didn't want to wait that long to eat. Lesson learned. Wheel reinvented so to speak. I know now that I need food totally prepared or I'm just going to grab what I can. Cooked brown rice freezes well. I shall cook a batch today and freeze it in 1 cup portions for recipes.

So many of you have given me great ideas. I want you to know how much I appreciate them. Yes, I worked a lot of hours and still ran with my kids when they were little. I was younger then. That plays a huge factor. I'm not over the hill by any means, but it is harder now than it was then for sure.

There aren't enough hours in the day to do all I want to do so I have to prioritize. I have to keep my mind sane and my body healthy. Balance is my motto.

I'm going to get this. I really am.

Peace be the journey

:-)