Trip Up Tuesday

Ok, here I am...no trimmer but it is Tuesday so here goes:

Weight:

• Too much to say right now. I have made the decision to call Jenny Craig as my lifestyle is really too hetic to cook/prepare all meals for myself. If I want to really want to be in control, I need to give the control to someone else. I need someone to prepare meals for me at least until the end of the semester, which is in June. Between looking for work, working extra hours tutoring etc. I simply do not have the time, energy or desire to cook for myself. Hopefully by being honest about it and formulating a plan for getting low fat meals will help me with my wieght loss goals.

Diet:

• I really have chilled on eating out as much as usual and the fast food has come off the menu as a mainstay. I have only eaten at a fast food restaurnat about once or twice a week which is a MAJOR improvement for me! I must say the fact that they feed me twice a week at the group home is an improvement over driving through the drive through. I still need to work on portion control. I also did buy food and have been bringing my lunch to work every day for about two weeks now. I only get to eat what I pack so it has been good.

Exercise:

• Does walking from the car into the shopping center count? I have been getting no real exercise but my goal is to get a pedmeter thingy. I have a watch that measures a bunch of stuff like calories burned, steps taken etc. and its still in the box so I would say its time to take it out and read the directions so I can use it.

Goals:

• Go back to Jenny. (I have lost weight there before) Analyize lifestyle triggers and map out of plan of what I want to accomplish. My goal is to make an appointment for Friday and begin the program Sunday.

FYI....162 Days since I quit Nicotine 172 Quitting with Chantix

I only count the days I stopped smoking cigarettes. I don't count the ten days that I still smoked cigarettes. That is a lot of money saved and lots of health risks that are hopefully improving.
Peace,
Diva

STILL LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB AND OTHER THINGS

Hey there all...
I have been super busy looking for another job! I have faxed out over 30 resumes and cover letters and am following up by mail. I am also tutoring twice a week so my time is really limited! I sat sat down and wrote for the fun of it last night when I posted and it was really cool! Stuff came to me that I have not thought about in years!

Anyway, as far as fitness, I took my beautiful Siamese cat Yoda to the vet. She kind of has an eating disorder! She is a HUGE almost 20 lb cat that freaks out if food is not in her bowl. I met a really sweet guy who is a vet in one of my smoking classes and her recommended a special diet for her. She gets to eat and the food is super low-fat/calorie. I am in the process of doing 50/50 split between this food and her old "low calorie" food until I can more her to that food completely. He told me that when you restrict an older cats food too much they can have system failure so he wants her to try and lose weight this method first. When I took her in, the vet was super sweet. He told me that Yoda was going to be fine and he would work with me to help her lose the weight so she would be more healthy. I was really sad when he told me he was smoking again.

I really did not think this guy would be telling me he picked up the habit again. I mean, he was like the model ex-smoker from the class! I offered to meet him at the class (as we can all pop back in when we are feeling weak) and I showed up but he didn't. I was feeling kind of week and was stressed so smoking was kind of sounding good on some level. I guess it was good that I went! The topic of the class was "Smoking and Stress" and it was taught by a sub and not the instructor I am used to. The topic made me realize that I was dealing with stress not so much the desire to smoke. Then I saw all the new people, some with freshly applied nicotine patchs on! I remembered the feeling of wanting to jump out of my own skin and it brought me right back to the beginning of this journey! I do not want to begin the quitting process again and I definitely do not want to revisit the "Kicking nicotine" part of this whole ordeal. It is way easier to stay quit than to quit again!

Anyway, as for my fitness goals, I am going to call Jenny Craig this week. I have done better in terms of eating but I am going to need a bit of help when it comes to eating the right amount of calories and fat. I mean if the cat can be on a weight loss program, so can I! I gotta go so I can take a shower and mail out those resumes. Hopefully I will get a job by the end of this semester.
Peace,
Diva

Eight Random Things About Me...

I got tagged by Mamaflo so here goes:

1.) My spoken English is WAY different than my written English! When speaking, I use a lot of figurative language, street slang and way too many cuss words! I am working on changing that as I have an extensive vocabulary and should be able to come up with more appropriate words besides cuss words to describe something. My friends who know me in real life were surprised that "I sound so well educated" when I write. For me, writing is a totally different type of communication. I communicate in a much more informal manner when "kicking it with the homies!" I only use business English in my personal life in business or when making a formal presentation.

2.) I have a super weird bond with the east coast, particularly New York City. I wanted to go to New York ever since I was a little kid. The first time I went there, it was like I was home from the minute I got off the plane. It was almost like I had lived there in another life. I could navigate through the city like I had been there before and never really felt life a tourist! For about five years, I got to travel to New York City frequently. I used to work with a friend of mine who was an exotic dancer. She passed away a few years ago and I am still not over it. She used to make sure all of her tour dates to New York were when I could go. I have some of the best memories of my life going on the road with her. It was an adventure to say the least! One year I got to go to New York for every season...winter, spring, summer and fall! I am definitely an "East Coaster" at heart and most people do not think I grew up in Los Angeles.

3.) I have been clean and sober off of drugs and alcohol since 1987. My life almost took a totally different direction to say the least! Just because I got clean and sober does not mean I became a saint. I still behaved and thought like a street punk with a bad attitude for many years and had some hard lessons to learn about life even after I gave up drugs and alcohol. Every now and again, I slip into that street punk with a bad attitude persona.

4.) I am a firm believer in Karma and following your hunches. I have seen miracles happen in my own life and other people's lives by trying to do the right thing. I have also been really blessed by learning to follow my hunches. It sounds crazy but I have been really blessed with almost a sixth sense. A quick example was when a friend that I was supposed to go to an AA meeting with called me and told me to meet her and another friend and go flying in a private plane. I got the worst feeling on the way to the airport and circled it twice and then left to go to the AA meeting I was originally supposed to go to. When I got home, there was major news coverage of a plane crash into the Malibu ocean. I knew almost instantly that it was THE plane my friend was in and it was! Fortunately she survived but had major medical problems because she broke her back and suffered from extensive hypothermia. The other person that we knew did not survive that crash.

5.) I love teaching but do not see myself doing it forever. I think I will be doing something dealing with education but its all really fuzzy. I do know that what I do in the future will help change people's lives on a bigger scale but I am still not really sure what the ultimate goal is yet. I am sure that I will know when its the right time.

6.) I have attention deficit disorder! I have had it since I was a little kid but I used to have the hyperactive component with it so what a joy I was to raise as a child! Even as an adult when too much is going on at one time, it is really hard for me to focus!

7.) I HATE to clean! I am really intelligent about a lot of things but organizing things and cleaning them makes me TOTALLY overwhelmed! Once it is done, I am really good at keeping it up unless my life is totally busy! I color code EVERYTHING that is important so I can remember where things are. I think the organizational issues are from the ADD and I really have had to really work at developing compensitory skills so I could figure out where the hell thing are when I put something down and am not focusing on it.

8.) I only got a college education because I was really blessed with a variety of people in my life who pushed me in that direction; even when I screwed up! I am pretty bright but I was far from a model student. I was kicked out of four middle schools and graduated a year late from a continuation high school after being expelled from the traditional high school I was at. I ditched school at least three times a week, went to school high every day and was missing huge gaps in my education. I don't know how many brain cells died bufrom all of the drinking and drugging but I do know that I had to work WAY harder than most people to get through the same classes! I think it was because I got to take easy classes like consumer math instead of college required math. Hell, I didn't even know the X was not used for multiplication until I got to the college remediation courses that I needed to take because my math skills were about on a fifth grade level! I still don't think numbers and letters should be mixed in a math problem!

9.) In fact, I still am not a big math fan unless it has to do with money! For a mathematical idiot, I am really good at understanding finance and business.

Peace,
Diva

CRAZY BUSY SO I HAVEN'T HAD MUCH TIME TO BLOG...

Hey all...
I am still determined to join Trim Up Tuesday but my life has been super busy! Its that time of year for us teachers! I have been grading papers, looking for a new job (I faxed out like 15 resumes and cover letters yesterday and still need to follow up by mail) and I started tutoring at a boys group home last week. It is so sad to see kids that are 17 years old and cannot barely read. It really breaks my heart. I work with a couple of kids that are all tattooed up that can't even read at a third grade level. I originally took the job because I am planning to take the summer off and want to save up some extra cash to attend a special program but from my first day there, I realized that these kids really need me! They are in a group home and its pretty much the last stop on the block for them! Hopefully, they will be able to change their lives through this program. Most people think I am crazy, but as a teacher I really like working with the population no one wants to deal with. I mean, kids that are intelligent and doing honors work usually have supportive parents to make sure they do what they need to do. Truthfully, the motivated kids are going to make it no matter what teacher they have. I have been recruited to teach honors and people don't get it at all when I tell them I'm not really interested. Hopefully, I will find a job that is a good match for me.

I have definitely have been checking into everyone's blog and will let you know how my job search is going. I am still smoke free. Speaking of smoking, they guy who hired me to work at this facility is a TOTAL smoker! Damn, he leaves and I can smell the stale smoke when he gets back and he smokes A LOT! Think I should tell him about Chantix? He is also a recovered drug addict/alcoholic like me so I know he is not totally opposed to quitting things. Anyway, I need to go but I love reading about all your guys adventures from quitting smoking to cleaning the closets! That is the one thing I love about blogging on here....I have come to love reading about things that I never thought I would be interested in because my fellow quitters are living life and doing stuff like cleaning their closets with no smoke break in between! Besides, after working where I have been working....I am really grateful to be able to read and write. Working with these kids has given me a HUGE dose of gratitude. Gotta run or I will be late for tutoring.
Peace
Diva

161 days on Chantix; 151 days quit! Amazing stuff!

Hi all....
Ok, I just read Maggie's Blog and felt I should log in my quit days. This has been a huge milestone for me. It has been 151 days off of cigarettes and 161 days on Chantix. From what I have estimated, I have been off cigarettes and nicotine for a little over five months! I am still taking the one Chantix pill a day and am going to move down to 1/2 a pill a about a week or so. My doctor approved me for the full six months on Chantix since I was a 30 year smoker. (I started when I was 12 for those of you wondering how old I am....hey it was the 70's and everybody was smoked something!) Hell, I even remember my mom walking through the grocery store smoking cigarettes and there were ashtrays at the end of every aisle! Go figure how things change!

I am glad I finally woke up and decided to take the plunge into the world of being a non-smoker. I got clean and sober from drugs and alcohol but still stubbornly held onto my right to kill myself slowly. I am gearing up mentally to change my sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. I have changed my deadline to be where I want to be in terms of diet/exercise until April 15th. For now, I can only deal with small changes and detoxing off fast food except for once a week. I feel really optimistic about resetting a new lifestyle goal so I will be able to map it out just like I did with quitting smoking. I sat through a couple quit smoking classes before I REALLY knew I wanted it and had a plan of what I had to do to get it.

Hope everyone is good in quit land.
Peace,
Diva

Its finally over...at least the presentation part! I miss you guys!

Hi all...

I was out of town (well more like out of the Los Angeles County) presenting at a conference in Pamona. It was a really long process preparing but it was really rewarding to present my research and lesson plan to fellow educators. My presentation was titled "The Common Person of the Civil Rights Movement...the Unsung Heros." The presentation went really well and all I have left to do is finish viewing the video I did and decide where to edit it. The video is of oral histories I did. The video is due to the editors next month and then I am finally done! This project has been one hell of a major undertaking but definitely worth it. For those of you who don't know I am an English teacher turned historian but what I really want to focus on is creating something to do with educational videos/seminars that are more like reality TV where students and/or teachers engage in meaningful challenges and learn ALA America's Next Top Model, Biggest Loser, Top Design, Wife Swap, Nanny 911. I say give people a hand's on learning experience and see what happens. That is the vision we will see what happnes! Believe it or not, I also teach health and before I quit smoking, I would walk into class after just smoking and teach about the evils of cigarettes! Go figure! You do not have to practice good health to teach about it.

I miss posting and am determined to post my Trim Up Tuesday (that is a whole other sad story that I will save for later! Lets just say I am not any trimmer yet but I have been WAY more conscious of what I am putting in my mouth! Even if I put it in anyway, I think about it and how many calories I am consuming! I have been trying to respond to everyone's blogs and make the rounds but I will get it together and post about all of the stuff that is going on with me.....life is crazy but I am not smoking! I did consider it the other day and realized it was just a thought and it disappeared as soon as fast as it came! I miss you guys!! Dr. Howell, it was great to see you stop by my blog. I can't wait to catch up on all those good health articles from your site. I have been kinda busy and haven't been able to read much latley. I am hoping to see one on the potential health effects of cell phones. I am dying to know if they are really all that bad for your health since I gave up my land line like two years ago.

Peace,

Diva