Friday, August 24, 2007

4 o'clock fluke

On Wednesday I woke up at 4 o'clock. I was able to cook breakfast and dinner, as well as get in a workout and do some freelance work as I'd done the day before.

I tried to do the same yesterday, because I planned to go to my freelance job earlier and I wanted to get some sort of workout in before that, but I ended up getting up at 5:30, which didn't seem like enough time to work out properly and still manage to feed Sean. I did go to the grocery store instead, though, and on my way back I got Sean a couple of breakfast biscuits from McDonald's. But I barely had time to put anything away, I didn't cook that night's dinner, I was only able to pack a lunch because there were still some leftovers from Wednesday, and the kitchen was a mess.

This morning I woke up even later, at 6:30. I called the guy I'm doing freelance for and told him I couldn't make it today. The purpose of getting up early was to get in a workout, get my meals prepared, and spend time with Sean, not to have time for a second job. While I will appreciate the extra income, the other things take priority. I'm still easing into this, as evidenced by my inability to get up ridiculously early on a consistent basis, but I don't want to let the important things slide.

Disenhearteningly (which is apparently not a word), I awoke with that same raspiness (also not a word) in my chest and throat. Lovely.

(I'm enjoying Firefox's spell-checker. But come on, I think it's past time for spellchecker to be all one word.)

I've been feeling pretty good this week, overall.

I did get the lab results back from the doctor, and I'll go and talk with him about them on Tuesday. My cholesterol is high. My thyroid is borderline. The endocrinologist called me back to ask that I add a complete metabolic profile to the labs she requested, which I will be having drawn sometime next month (I have to start the progesterone on the 1st, and then have the labs done on day 2 or 3 of my period).

In response to the cholesterol I am trying to figure out ways to include more veggies in my diet, and less meats. It turns out I can steam frozen veggies in the microwave at work pretty easily, so if nothing else I can always grab a bag from the freezer to put in my lunch. I'd love to eat more salad, but it seems like when I buy bagged salads they go bad before I eat them. Now I'm considering the tried and true head of lettuce method.

Today's lunch is going to be a BLT, I think, because I have leftover bacon from Wednesday and I just bought tomatoes. No lettuce though...

As far as my productivity, I feel that it's up, but there are still things I need to deal with, like getting the desk in the second bedroom disassembled so a work friend can take it, dealing with the weird smell in that room, finding a smaller desk to put in there, and assembling our second media cabinet for the living room. I'm also planning to rearrange my office at work soon, which has kept me thinking. It's really an awkward space with awkward furniture; hopefully the idea I have in mind will work out.

Speaking of working out (har), I'd better get outside for my walk before it gets too much hotter.

2 comments:

Brooke said...

I think you're right to not be so worried, now, about whether or not you get your "freelance" stuff worked into your schedule. Home and family stuff is WAY more important than a few extra dollars here and there.

Eventually, as your body gets used to going to bed at a different time, and your requiring it to get up at a different time, you'll find that continuity, that "general wake up time" that you decide is best for you.

As for working in more veggies, David had a steamer before we got married, and at first it was kind of confusing for me to figure out, but NOW I can't live without it! We usually have some kind of meat (like a grilled chicken breast, for example) and the rest veggies. To mix it up, too, I do a few things a few different ways, like last night was steamed fresh green beans, snow peas, carrots and baby corn, and boiled cabbage (using boullion instead of icky animal fat!!) I don't use a lot of butter, either, but instead we have a VERY LIGHT margarine we both like --and we don't use much of THAT, really, except on toast, and HIS sandwiches. (I just can't hang with the "butter on a sandwich" thing, but at least I'm getting used to the concept.) Whatever meat or vegetarian product we're having takes up 1/4 of the plate, and the rest is veggies. I cook fresh veggies 99% of the time, with the very occasional bag of frozen peas. We don't do much bread --and right now, I'm looking into healthier alternatives, like rice or oat flour bread-- and we hold the potatoes back to Sundays only, as we've started having a "meat and potatoes" meal that one evening a week (usually a really nice steak David will grill, while I put the "chunky chips" in the oven, and prepare any veg we might have.), if we're not over at his parents for dinner.

It took a little getting used to at first, but I think the fresh food concept we both like is REALLY coming together, and really doing us BOTH a lot of good. Plus, we just experiment with food a lot, to figure out what's best for us, what we LIKE, and what we don't. It's a LOT of fun.

Also, I've recently bought a really cool low fat/healthy cooking cookbook for two people, so the recipes don't make HUGE batches of food that will compel a person to eat more, OR just go bad in the fridge or freezer because it doesn't get eaten quickly enough. I look forward to cooking from that soon, too! :)

Make cooking an adventure, and you'll have more fun with trying new and healthy things; it won't seem like so much of a chore.

Anonymous said...

If you put a paper towel in the bagged salads when you open them up, they last longer in the fridge. Try it, it works! :D


-mari-