LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

I’m on the cusp of 10 lbs. lost although I don’t feel it at all. Anyway, the biggest hurdle I have to overcome when it comes to eating better is my own laziness. I settle for takeout because I’m lazy. If I do cook, I cook quick-prep high-calorie meals because I’m lazy. I eat large portions because I’m lazy and don’t want to measure.

So I decided this week to make sure I keep my portions in check. After we got back from Wegmans yesterday I spent a few hours in the kitchen getting the cabinets organized and portioning out my food. I bought a fresh pineapple and sliced it up. I cut up the romaine and radishes from the Collingswood Farmer’s Market along with tomatoes, onions and cucumbers into a big salad so I can just take portions of it as I go. Instead of the pricey and package-heavy Steamfresh vegetables I’m buying two bags of frozen veggies and portioning it out myself. I wrote the calorie info on each bag. I made 4 more servings of sugar-free jello. Cut up strawberries (also from the Farmer’s Market) for shortcake. And also bagged out single servings of grape tomatoes (not pictured.)

And I haven’t had a Mountain Dew in over a month. I miss it deeply. Here’s to another successful diet week! (tips her class of Diet Green Tea)

Love this link!: Freeze Ground Meat in Small Portions with a Chopstick

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I’m off today because this morning I’m heading to the Hall of Justice(!!) to file the quit claim deed on the house. That’s basically a legal form saying that I’m signing away my claim to the property. Like the rest of the formalities, we didn’t use a lawyer and filled out documents ourselves. It’s made things so much nicer. Honestly, if you’re getting divorced and 1) don’t want to kill each other and 2) don’t have children I STRONGLY recommend the do-it-yourself route.

Once that’s filed I’ll be getting a little sum of money from BvP. (I asked for it to be given to me as stacks of $1 bills in a briefcase. I think it’ll end up being a check. But wouldn’t a briefcase of cash be hot?) Some of it will pay off bills. Most of it will go into my savings account and be used toward a little place of my own someday. He’ll be remaining in the house. I think this was the best choice for us, as the only offer we received was $40,000 below the asking price.

I’m leaving him just about everything in it, because I have no room and really no desire to own the communal stuff again. The few things I’ll be taking are sentimental items like boxes of books, my silver flatware set, and my Christmas dishes. Maybe a Disney print or two. Where to put it all? I have NO idea. I’ll probably have to purchase storage. Yay.

Funny enough, there is no sadness over this all. It’s the end of an almost 2-year funeral for my marriage. I’m more upset over the fact that whenever I’m off from work and NOT sick, the weather forecast says it’s going to rain. Sure, it’s sunny out NOW, but we’ll see what happens once I step off of the train after it’s all over.

If it rains I guess I’ll have to sit home and work on my beading and/or programming. If not, I’ll meander down Haddon Avenue and shop. What a hardship.

Enjoy your Monday!

(slyly puts some Disney music on in the background)

Weekend in a nutshell: Mom’s Family BDay dinner friday at the Olive. No drinking, no bread. World of Warcraft Saturday/Sunday. Leota, the undead mage is now 15! Wings win 15-8! I’m up WAY too late for a Sunday night.

Upcoming Work week: End of month reports tomorrow. Training on Tuesday. New product launch on Wednesday. (bueno?) Can’t say much more due to suspected moles at work.

Upcoming Social week: Birthday party tomorrow night. (must buy gift for 5-yo girl) Flower Show on Wednesday. Aunt’s BDay dinner on Friday (must buy gift for ??-yo woman). Baby shower luncheon SOMETIME this week. (Oh, please not tomorrow! Must buy gift for unknown-gender baby)

Survivor: Lordy Lordy Lordy, am I in full-on Survivor Love with Fireman Tom. He’s a leader! He’s a workhorse! He kills snakes and tries to kill sharks! He’s the best survivor I’ve seen in seasons – meaning he has a huge target on his back and will probably be out soon. Nonetheless, this season of Survivor is one of the best in recent memory. Everyone I hated is gone and there are at least 5 who I wouldn’t mind seeing make it to the end. If you enjoyed the early seasons of Survivor and grew bored/pissed with the later seasons, try to catch Survivor:Palau.

Pet update: Max – still trying desperately to catch rabbits. Charlie – has picked up the strange habit of yowling after 11pm until I go up to bed. Misty – still scowly.

Diet update: Fridge is full of healthy (healthful?) stuff. This week, breakfast will be yogurt and two prunes. (Prunes suggested in my “French Women Don’t get Fat” book) Mid morning snack will be sugar free jello. Lunches will vary, depending on the errands I need to do at lunch. (See “Social week,” above) I have Graham crackers, Ritz Bits, and Smartfood popcorn bags, too. They’ll rotate through “Drive-home snack” duty. I’m going to try to homecook my dinners, and add lemon juice to my water to aid digestion.

Thursdays are now Size-Ten Thursdays, wherein I try on a size-10 item of clothing. So far I’m 2 for 2, both with size-10 pants. I wonder how my size 10 shorts fit? Because one never knows when one may be plunged into a warm environment and need shorts, hm?

Welcome home, Martha!

Cat yowling. Time for bed.

I’m really excited about the concert tonight. This time I’m going with my brother, John, and I’m looking forward to not being sick at the show, like I was last year. (note to self: Neat having over a year of my life written out — easy to refer back to!)

Another difference is that this year we have actual seats rather than just lawn seats. So hopefully people won’t pee in my vicinity.

Yesterday, Thor went to Lowes, bought the garden bricks, and edged/landscaped the lawn at the bottom of the lawn. It looks so much better. I can see how home improvement becomes an obsession.

Mood: A little blue (been fighting the blues, but not wanting to blog about them), yet excited about tonight’s show.

Work docket: It’s difficult for me to talk in-depth about what we’re working on, as I’ve mentioned before there is a ‘mole’ at work who tattles on my web site if I say anything remotely specific. On Tuesdays I do my weekly revenue numbers, plus the hit report for Wednesday’s big weekly meeting. This manager’s gig has become easier to handle, now that I have 7 months under my belt. I have a system for doing things, and I’m lucky enough to have a department who does great work in great time. I still worry about anything new that crops up, and my personnel skills aren’t the greatest, but I’m learning on the job.This week we’re working on a project that will launch Monday. Lots of little intricacies involved, and it will change how people surf the CPO web site.

There’s a free trade magazine that I get at work — they insist on sending me my ‘free’ subscription, so who am I to complain — that really pertains more to the Information Technology folks than to web folk like me. Dry, dry, boring, boring reading. What I’ve started doing is highlighting the terms that I don’t understand in the articles, and then going back and looking them up later. Proof that learning doesn’t stop, even if you’re over 30! (over 30…ugH)

Lunch: Day 2 of the renewed “Don’t-eat-so-damn-much” diet that did so well for me a little while back. Although I don’t write about it much, I’m pretty bummed that I put a chunk of weight back on. While I’m not 178 again, I’m guessing I’m in the mid 150s, whereas I was 136ish this time last year. But I’m still into Mediums and 10s, instead of the Larges and 12/14s I was in before. When I got this new job, I put my own self on the backburner, and slid into old habits. Fast food lunches, vending machine snacks, etc. It’s a failure that stings. The last person I want to be is the person (you know him/her) who CONSTANTLY talks about weight and dieting while they continue to eat the junk. So now I’m walking the walk, and aim to get into fighting shape by my cruise in October.

So for lunch, I’ll have a frozen meal (yesterday I had Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara) and some fruit salad that I chopped up Sunday. An oatmeal bowl for breakfast, and mozzarella string cheese sticks for morning and afternoon snacks. And plenty of water.

Afternoon plans: This category doesn’t really apply anymore, since I work until (at least) 5pm with the rest of y’all. Today, however, I plan to knock off at 4ish so I can come home and get some stuff done before the show. Namely, take Max for his rousing walk. I feel NO guilt about leaving early…I usually work 1-2 hours late every day anyway.

Evening plans: Dave Matthews Band show at the Tweeter Center tonight. Last year I hit paydirt, as many of the songs I liked were played. This year, I’m hoping to hear “Song that Jane Likes” and “Two Step.” This will be my third DMB show, which now makes DMB the band I’ve seen in concert the most. Which is a GOOD thing, as the prior band was New Kids on the Block. You may cringe, but I look fondly upon my NKOTB fandom…it was part of who I was, which was a teenage girl at the time. Don’t ever fault teen girls for loving the pop groups, as bad as the groups may be. It helps the girls pass into adulthood.

I’ll most likely retreat to bed upon arriving home.

Off to the showers. LONG day ahead!