Down for the Count

Did you wonder if I fell off the face of the earth?  Well, I didn’t, but I kind of felt like it for a while!

Last weekend was our annual school auction.  This was my first year not being in charge of the whole thing since 2009; instead, I was only in charge of dinner tickets, check-in, and check-out.  Sounds like a lot, but it’s not, trust me! 😉 I also contributed my usual item to the silent auction…

That’s six jars of my jams (strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry) with the added bidding incentives of English muffins and bagels.  I never gave much thought to it, since I figure not many people like jam as much as I do, but I was astonished to have two different people ask me when I checked them in if I had donated my jams again…both were determined to win it!  That certainly made me feel good.  😀

Doing check-out meant I had to take payments and then give instructions to people as to how to pick up their winning items.  About 100 times.  While shouting to be heard over the noise of all the other people.  By the end of the evening, my voice was totally gone, and by Monday, I had a full-blown cold.  Normally, I can tough through colds pretty well, but this one really took me down.  I had to tough it out Tuesday and Wednesday at work because, as I mentioned in a previous post, my coworker left and I am the only person in the department now.  🙁  Finally, though, on Thursday, I couldn’t handle it anymore…I actually took a day off.  I can’t remember the last time I took time off work for a cold! I won’t lie–I did do some work even though I was home sick, but there is just so much of it right now.  However, I did rest some, too, and that helped.  I was able to go into the office today and stay the full day.

That cold is the reason why I haven’t posted in over a week.  According to my sister, I am very cranky when I’m sick, so I figured it best to spare you all from my evil twin, Sicky Steph. 😉  I actually was pretty miserable, to be honest, and therefore probably miserable to be around. I was so miserable, in fact, that, for the first time in seven months, I went an entire week without running!!  Since I started running on April 15th, I’ve only had one week where I didn’t run three times (when my foot was bothering me)–and that week, I “only” ran twice.  This week, I didn’t even run once!

It bothered me not to run, but it sure didn’t bother me as much as my cold did.  There wasn’t anything that could get me to run this week, not even my normally self-competitive nature.  Not only has there been a distinct lack of exercise this week, there was extra eating last week–we had a going away lunch at an Italian restaurant for my coworker (and yes, I had dessert–it was free!!), then there was all the food at the auction (and perhaps an adult beverage or two ;)), and then, I was sick, so therefore I was allowed to have homemade bread with my chicken soup, right? 😛

After reading all that, I’m sure it will come as a shock to everyone to find that I gained a little over a pound when I weighed myself on Monday. 😉  Add that to last week’s weigh-in, and I have gained over 3 pounds in two weeks!  It sounds ominous and foreboding, but I’m surprisingly unconcerned about it.  The truth is, I weighed 116.6 lbs on Monday, but that’s still almost 5 pounds less than my “goal” weight in my Weight Watchers eTools.  I had actually lost several pounds right before the relay, which I really didn’t need to do, so I suspect my weight is re-stabilizing after the intense exercise regimen I’d been on up to that point.

The other reason I’m unconcerned is because I also know that I won’t keep up last week’s bad habits forever.  In fact, I have come to realize that I’ve actually developed some pretty good habits in the last year, some without even realizing it.  Case in point: I ordered frozen cookie dough through the kids’ school as a fundraiser, and it came in yesterday. It’s pretty vile stuff, to be honest, at least to this girl who loves to bake, but the convenience of it has its appeal.  In just 20 or so minutes (includes pre-heating time), you can have some hot-from-the-oven cookies.  And I do like cookies. 😉 I baked up eight tonight (they’re pre-portioned, which is helpful), two for each member of the family, and when I pulled them out of the oven, they looked like this…

After I doled out the first six to the family, I left my two on the sheet and immediately did this…

Yes, I cut each one in half.  I didn’t even think about it…I just automatically cut them in half, because instinctively I know that smaller portions help me eat less. I eat slower, and my brain is somewhat tricked into thinking there is more.  (Yes, my brain is pretty dimwitted at times, lol!)

I have no idea when I started doing this, but I’ve been doing it for a while now.  I do the same thing with wine, too…I never pour myself a full glass of wine.  I always pour half or maybe even a third.  I might always occasionally go back a couple of times for more, but I find that pouring smaller amounts helps me drink less.

When I realized that tonight, I began to feel less guilty about missing my runs and eating all that bread and cake last week. 😉  I do feel like I might be ready for a run tomorrow, but I won’t push myself…I’ve been running extremely regularly since mid-April, and I suspect my body was overdue for a break, which probably led to my weakened immune system and my cold.  I know I’ll get back to it soon, because I really do enjoy it!

Meanwhile, since I have no running pictures at all this week, here are some fun hockey pictures.  My boys are both doing great this season, and I’m very proud of them. I’m also having a great time taking pictures of them, as well as the rest of their teammates!

We’ll start with my little guy, who cracks me up because he is the smallest kid on his team, but he insists that he loves playing defense.  Looking at some of these shots, I think I believe him!

He’s #16 in black.

He has no fear, my little DS#2. 😀

Next up is a shot of one of DS#1’s team goalies (they have two).

I was so excited when I got this shot.  I laugh because the kids are always happy when they make a great shot or a great save–and while they’re cheering about their on-ice successes, I’m on the other side of the glass, looking at my camera and getting giddy over my shots. 😉

And finally, my big guy, DS#1.

He is all energy on the ice.  Well, okay, sometimes he’s 90% energy and 10% attitude, as evidenced by the number of penalties he’s already amassed for himself this season. 😉

Thank you so much for reading my blog!  I promise to get back into a more normal blogging groove (both writing and reading) very soon.  I appreciate your patience!