Finally!

Haven't blogged in a long while due to problems in my condo from the sewer backup. After 3 day of trying to save the rug with daily bleach water treatments and other bacteria killers, it became apparent the carpet would have to go. The mold problem that I already had was magnified 10 times and I had to hire a disaster recovery company to try and fix the problem. very expensive and it fixed the mold problem but created another problem. The biocide he used created fumes throughout the condo that made me very ill. so for 6 weeks I lived with my sister while i had 8 fans blowing out or in (depending on the day) the entire time. Then I had to come in and wash everything in the house. Every dish, vase, piece of furniture. every curtain and every item of clothing. Haven't finished that task yet despite working on it for many many days. I did throw away many things like the coffee pot and old coats. Nothing like washing all your stuff to get you to realize you have too much stuff! I was able to stay on the first floor last evening and overnight with no ill effects. what a joy to wake up in your own home and pop out of bed (couch) without worrying that you're in your underwear. I'm sure my sister is happy to see me me and my 2 dogs and my cat gone. she has 2 dogs and 2 cats of her own. afew months back my 86 year old dad decided that living on his own wasn't working so he moved into my sister's spare room. Her 21 year old son Mike moved back home last year. so there we were me and 4 other adults with 4 dogs and 3 cats. I bought her a new vacuum as a thank you present since hers was broken.

Raindrops keep falling in my head

Why does life have to get so complicated? Yesterday I arrived home at 4:30 to a very squishy carpet. My central air conditioner drain had overflowed a few years ago so that was the first thing I checked. Not that. Then i see that water is coming out in a steady trickle from underneath my downstairs toilet. wonder freekinful. So i call a plumber and they come 50 minutes later. meanwhile I was bailing the bathroom floor with a bucket. The trickle got worse as people got home form work and flushed toilets or otherwise used water. The plumber refused to turn off the water supply because the only way to do that is to turn off water for all 18 condos on my line. Useless man and a waste of precious time. So i call someone at the condo board and they refer me to another board member but he's not home. I leave a message and he calls me at 6:00 and tells me which plumber has fixed this kind of problem in the past. I call them and they come pretty quickly and shut the water off but by this time it's 6:30 and I have been bailing for 2 hours on and off, mostly on. They have the problem fixed by 7:15 and I spent the next couple hours with my carpet machine draining the carpet which despite the bailing is pretty well saturated. Is still pretty wet even with three fans I left blowing on it overnight. sigh

This and That

3 1/2 miles walked with the dogs this afternoon before the humidity got too high. That's a good thing. Went to the gym but saw how full the parking lot was and left. That's a bad thing. Nothing is more frustrating than having to weight for a machine while watching a (another) fat old guy sweating all over it. I figure the gym will be much more crowded this week in the day time because schools are out for spring recess. Only thing worse than watching fat old out of shape guys is watching very fit in shape guys and knowing that you haven't a prayer of ever getting close to that level of fitness. Not even if you went to the gym every day. which you never will, ever. I have to remind myself that I used to weigh 310 pounds and my fitness level was such that I needed three tries to get up from the couch.

This dog food recall has me scared. I ran out of dry food Saturday and fed them pedigree in the can. That at least hasn't made the list - YET. But canned food every day isn't so good for them or my budget. So off to the pet shop and ask the owner what he recommends that won't kill my dogs. Never knew about this one section of natural dog food they have. Ended up with a dry food called Premium Edge that is gluten and wheat free, has glucosamine and chondroitin for my older dog's hip joint problem. I picked the kind for weight control because again the older dog has started getting heavy and the vet wants her thinner. The website http://www.premiumedgepetfood.com/ calls it carbohydrate controlled. It also contains L- carnitine and antioxidants. I'm thinking of eating some myself.

The good and the bad of it

This weather is hanging in there! another 80 something degrees yesterday. so another 4 1/2 mile walk. another day at the gym. weight workout and treadmill (just 12 minutes for warmup purposes). All that exercise had me so hungry after dinner that I could not stop munching. 3 slices of low carb bread toasted 3 1/2 ounces of cheese and finally a hamburger on the last slice of low carb bread. This was after a dinner of chicken drumsticks with a boatload of broccoli. I wish I knew how to combat this overeating when i exercise heavily. I love the exercise, love the way i feel mentally and physically as i leave the gym or after an hours walk. but 2700 calories and net carbohydrates at 74 makes me think I'm doing something wrong here.

You Gotta love beautiful spring weather, especially on the weekends. walked 4 1/2 miles with the dogs off leash at Tanglewood park. The hardest part was not stopping to sit under a tree every so often. Eating wasn't bad today (OK so far). we'll see what the numbers are at bedtime.

Guilt brought me back to at least post some links to my favorite websites and blogs.

about me: Lost 113 pounds doing a low carb diet, a combination of Atkins and Protein Power. Have gained back 20 pounds in the past 2 years, really yoyoing up and down to arrive at my current weight. I started this woe on valentine;s day 2003 Several months after my only brother died from a massive coronary (his first). he was 56. I'm 56 now (57 in July). I have mostly stayed true to my lowcarbforlife attitude. living alone helps because nothing is brought into my house that isn't low carb. yet i have a tendency to overdo things like low carb breads and tortillas. nuts and peanut butter don't stand a chance so I rarely buy them. My biggest downfall is when I visit my sister who has the carbiest kitchen in town. at any given time there might be 8 bags of chips, 4 loaves of bread, a bag of bagels, cookies, cakes and you name it. I sometimes eat 1/3 of a jar of peanut butter when i'm there. (sigh). Maybe finally using this blog to hold myself accountable will spur me to get stricter with myself.

On the exercise front I'm doing pretty well! Joined a gym last year and went faithfully 5 to 6 times a week for the first month. Then after getting 2 facial rashes and the worst cold I've had in 25 years I stopped going nearly as often. gyms are famous for things you can catch. That cold, by the way, developed into walking pneumonia. Starting in january I've upped my gym visits somewhat. I've gone at least twice a week and often 3 times. Three times a week is really all i need to do the weight machine workout. and this week I've achieved that. I also walk quite a lot with my two dogs, sophie and sandy. usually about 2 to 4 miles each time but sometimes 5.

yesterday we went on a 2 1/2 mile walk but i did 1/2 mile on the treadmill at the gym to warm up for my weight workout. Then in the evening just before sundown we walked another mile. so 4 miles for the day is not too shabby! Eating could have been better as far as calories (3057) but carbs were only net 17. which is pretty good considering 45 is what I aim for.