Update - Oh Crap

Update -

Well, here's an update on the lovely hot water leak situation. First of all, neither of us has ever lived on a slab, and my dad hasn't either. So, we didn't really know how exactly to go about doing this. So, we called a few people, one of them being the person who lived here before us, cause I remember walking in the kitchen once with them having a giant hole in the floor before. So, he told us what they did was listened to the floor, followed the pattern of hot water until they found the leak, listened, and then basically just busted up the concrete to find it. he says they have had 5 of these leaks to fix, and only once were they ever completely off by like 2 feet. So, you bust up the concrete, braise the pipes to fix them, and voila! Simple, right?

Ha. Everything is simple in theory. Its the actual doing of it that's not so simple.

I think we spent a good....4 hours looking for the leak. We turned the water on, tried to follow the sounds. Well, we couldn't HEAR anything, because we could hear it everywhere! We then let it sit in the hot water heater for a while so we could follow the heat. Every once in a while, he'd come ask my opinion of something, and of course me being me, I couldn't really tell anything. I mean, yeah, the floor got hot in the closet first. But, its pretty close to the hot water heater, so maybe it hasn't had time to spread yet??

I don't know how he finally determined it, but he made his decision of where to break the tiles and start drilling. And of course, all this is punctuated by breaks to Lowes to buy more tools. So, he gets started drilling about 430. This is such slow going. An hour later, he decided to get a bigger drill bit. An hour and a half later, we are rewarded with the sight and sound of gurgling water. YAY!! We hit it on our first try! Thank GOD!

Then, we come to the realization that what we found is a COLD water leak. Hmmm, weren't we looking for a hot water leak? He does all the usual checking, and yes, this is not a hot water leak, what we were looking for, this is a cold water leak. So now, we aren't sure if we found the right spot, or if this is just another leak we didn't know about.

He finished drilling a bit more, and after a while, he was able to stick his hand in there, have me turn on the hot water, and realize that YESS, this is where the hot water leak is, too!!

I don't even know how long he spent on this thing Saturday night, cause I'm a light weight and went to bed at 10:30. But he stayed up, finished drilling the hole in the concrete so that when he got up Saturday morning, all he needed to do was go to Lowes, buy the whatever whatever to fix it, and fix it. *SIGH*

So far, we're only out the cost of a few tools, but, how is that a bad thing for him, right? It hasn't been too bad, but we haven't had to buy the concrete or tiles to fix the floor, yet, so we will see.

So, he's gotten the tape stuff, whatever it's called, silicone, or whatever, to try to fix the pipes. That was a no-go, so he's going to have to braise them. In order to braise them, he's going to have to make the hole bigger, and that is such an ordeal. So, the plan, for now, is that I'm going to have a big ass hole in my kitchen floor for a week, until he can spend next weekend working on it.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the destruction of my kitchen floor.

Well, Crap

Well, crap.
I mean, really. Is it too much to ask for a nice, normal, BORING life? I mean, dang it. It's something every day.

I've been stressed out about Christmas for the kids this year, we are really hurting, with both of our jobs. There seems to be some new drama at the clinic every day I go in there; Tuesday, Corrie fell and broke her leg, and we are all going to have to scramble to make up for her loss, yesterday we had the Sevo leak, and today I had to go to the EC for 3 hours for blood work, and now this.

I came home from the clinic early, cause quite frankly, we were dead. We had canceled all the surgery procedures because the machine was on the fritz, and we really just didn't have anything to do. So I come home, and change my clothes, and go to the bathroom, and I can hear water running in the pipes. So, I thought maybe the kids didn't shut off the water in the tub, or maybe the toilet in the other bathroom was running again. I check every faucet we have; all the ones outside, the washing machine, everything. Can't find where its coming from. Driving me CRAZY, cause it sounds like a lot of water. At first I thought it was the ice machine, but like I said, I couldn't pinpoint the location, because I could hear it in all the walls near the faucets. and it just continued on.

Then, later through the day, as I'm walking through my kitchen, its very odd; there are a few hot spots on the tile. Now, let me tell you; there is nothing like walking on a cold tile floor, and then coming across a warm one. So, I"m wandering around, tracing the pattern, trying to figure out WTH is going on.

Later, when the kids were taking a shower, they were complaining that there was no hot water in the shower. Oh, CRAP. I mean, dammit. really. So, I start wandering around, looking for the hot water heater, cause I didn't know where it was, and I finally found it. And I found the source of the noise of the water running. Its coming from the hot water heater.

No, the hot water heater didn't bust. We'd be better off if it had; then all we'd have to replace was the hot water heater. No, this is much, much worse...

So, after talking to my dad a bit, bouncing off ideas, trying to figure out what is going on, I went and had "lunch" with Jon, and told him about it. and he thinks that the hot water pipe leading to the washing machine busted somewhere. So, he wants me to check the meter when I get home. And, yeah, its spinning. Great, we've established we have a leak. WTF do I do about it running up my water and gas bill until we get it fixed??

I call my dad up, and talk to him about it. He wants to come into town to turn my water off (he lives an hour away, its already 830, I don't think so). I start talking outloud, trying to establish a few ideas. So, I start asking him if I can turn off the gas going to the hot water heater, cause I don't want 2 outrageously high bills this month. So, he tells me its ok to turn off the gas to the hot water heater, which I do, and can hear shutting off instantly. You wouldn't believe the heat coming off this thing at this point. So, I go sit back down, and I can still hear the water, and then I say, can I turn off the water TO the hot water, without turning off the water to the house? I figured that out, and it worked. No more rushing water through the pipes in the walls. But now, we have no hot water, and I have no freaking idea where that leak is. Surely, its under the slab somewhere, cause, you know, why not, right? Why not make it even more difficult for us. I don't even know how to begin to go about fixing that, and neither does my dad, which is a shocker; he's the know everything man.

So, yeah, I'm not looking very hopeful at Christmas at this point. Its not like we can chose, Christmas or hot water. This is something that is going to have to be fixed now, this weekend, or we are going to have to find somewhere else to take showers for a while.

And, needless to say, my diet is out the window tonight. With all this stress, I am drinking me some hot chocolate, and going to bed.

Wow. What a day already. I just got back from the clinic. Apparently, the anesthesia machine at work had a leak in it. We've been having problems for about 3 weeks now with patient's waking up almost immediately from their procedures, and yesterday, they found out it was leaking. So, EVERYONE from the clinic, for a liability thing, had to go to the emergency clinic down the road for an EKG and blood work. Man, oh man, was that a nice waste of 3 hrs this morning! And plus, since the anesthesia machine was down, we didn't have any surgeries to do. So, we were really dead. But, I did get to come home early, which I like.

My note from the universe this morning...

In virtually all person-to-person relationships, Amanda, disappointments can be lessened, setbacks can be regained, and little annoyances can be brushed off, when one stops and realizes that such relationships are always temporary.

Physically speaking.

Still day 3

So, I feel like a complete and utter loser. And not the good kind, the one that's losing. The kind that makes all the B choices, from Lyndyn's DT. I consciously made the choice to eat a bad dinner. I had a good hour to talk myself out of it, but I was so miserable all day. I didn't go overboard; I didn't eat chocolate, or candy, or ice cream, but I did eat something that I shouldn't have, and now I feel ... desolate, I suppose. Its just that feeling that I can't win this fight, this will always be me, because I can't even convince my own body that it doesn't need any of that stuff long enough to lose all this weight. And I know, I keep thinking about Daniela's words about how there are no "Cheat" meals, this has to be a way of life, and I know, that eating 2 pieces of pizza with the thinnest crust that could be hammered out without ripping is not the end of the world, but I still failed. I'm not quitting, I'm still going to get up tomorrow, eat my eggs and turkey sausage for breakie, eat my turkey burger for lunch, and my salmon for dinner. But it is still very disheartening to stumble so early in the game.

One thing I learned while doing kimkins was how easy it was, in the beginning, for me to lose; all I had to do was just eat the meat. And then, another thing I learned, as I lost more weight and became sort of comfortable in my skin for a moment, and started cheating, was that cheating, or eating carbs, doesn't really harm me all that much. I am not carb sensitive. Thats why I have been able to go the past 6 months without gaining; until the last month, in which I've gained 4 lbs above my ticker weight. Not bad for someone who ate like it was her last day on earth. And that is what I need when I go on a diet; I need to learn moderation. It honestly doesn't matter what I eat; as long as I don't gorge myself on whatever it is. But the low-carb way was easy for me to lose weight, and its easy not to gorge yourself on something when your practically sick of it anyway. Plus, the ketosis thing is a great appetite killer. So, the problem is, I know what I need to do. The question is, can I do it.

Day 3

Well, its day 3, and I'm feeling it. Man, oh, man, I need something to help me through this day. Day 3 and day 7 are the hardest for me; they are the days when my body, goes "Ok, this isn't funny anymore. Give me some damn chocolate!!" and I'm so weak, I really want some. I ate a HUGE breakfast; 2 turkey sausage patties (the homemade recipe) a low carb pancake, coffee, and then I mixed up some cream cheese with some pumpkin, then I ate some turkey meat, and my stomach is still rumbling around. I don't think I'm HUNGRY hungry, but my body is determined to get something good.

Yesterday afternoon was interesting; it was drawing on 12 oclock, and I was looking at the clock, going, UGH. Its time to eat, but I'm not interested. So I waited a while. I got really weak feeling, though, so had to force myself to eat something at 1, which made me feel a little better; I didn't eat it all, though. Guess I just need to stay busy; which is hard to do at home, you don't necessarily make yourself stay busy when your thoughts are filled with chocolate.

I've sort of picked back up on my writing, something I've always liked doing, and I've seem to have an abundance of ideas lately, so I'm trying to use that as a distraction today. at least I'm home to be able to work on it, but if I was at the clinic, I'd be too busy to think about food!

Day 2

Well, exercise has been a bust for the last 2 days. Yesterday, I was so busy, running around; it always seems to take longer than I anticipate when doing stuff like that, so your running around crazy trying to get it all done. I got home from the plasma center, and typed up a story I had been working on; by then, it was time to take my daughter to dance, and then it was 7, and time for dinner, and I didn't even think about it ONCE! Ha.

Today, I had to work at the clinic, and boy, was today a rough day. I walked in to the new that my coworker, a girl that I went to high school with, was on her way to work, was taking her trash out of her house, walking down the sidewalk, when she slipped and fell (I"m assuming it was icy) down the stairs, and broke her leg. Well, obviously she wasn't coming in to work, and she equals like 3 of us, so we were all running around work today. Later on, we found out she had broken her femur in 2 places, spiral fractures, requiring surgery for pins and rods. Can you say, not coming to work for a while?? Wow. Everyone is stressed at the sudden loss of our best and most experienced pet nurse. We are all scrambling to make up her shifts, and so they are going to be pulling me in to work extra shifts.

So, needless to say, I am tired today, but I'm always tired after working the clinic. Its a lot of standing around and struggling with animals, trying to make them be still so we can stick a needle in their jugular and draw blood, and most of them outweigh my children. So, can I count that as a workout? 8 hours on my feet, practically nonstop? I mean, yeah, I had time to sit down and scarf down a bunless turkey burger, but man, does my back hurt after days like today.

And I'm making the kids dinner, and I just really really want a bite of that mac and cheese. Please, don't do it! I will regret it as soon as its all gone!!

Starting

Well, its monday. Looking forward to getting started, I'm already nervous. So very nervous that I'm going to fall off when I should stay on. I'm having my coffee now, will have turkey sausage and eggs for breakfast; salmon for lunch, and chicken chili for dinner. I have to take daughter to dance today, and also was planning on going to the plasma center to donate; we will see how that goes. I had also planned on doing weights today; only problem with that is the room the weights are in is not insulated, and we have the vents closed to it, because its a waste of energy; in the summer, we have a window AC unit, but nothing for the winter, yet. Its going to be cold in there, and I'm such a baby in the cold weather. I will really have to force myself to do it, or find a suitable replacement exercise that I can do in the living room, where its warm wink.gif

December

Wow, December already. I can't even believe it. Shoot, I couldn't believe it on Tuesday when I was looking at a calendar, and realized Saturday was going to be the first. This year, especially the last few months, have been really hard on us, and I'm still hoping for the best for some semblance of a Christmas this year.

I was thinking about it in the shower this morning; actually, I'm always thinking about it, how I'd like to get back on the wagon and continue my weight loss, and lose the rest of this weight hanging on me. I have a workout plan all written down and ready to go; now I just gotta do it. But I was thinking this morning, about how some people might put it off; well, its about to be Christmas, and I know I'm going to eat the bad stuff at Christmas, so I'll just wait for the new year before I start. I say, WHY?? As far as I'm concerned, there are 25 days between now and Christmas. Christmas is 1 day, not a whole month. And, Yeah, I'm going to eat me some pumpkin cheesecake, and dressing, and sweet potatoes for Christmas dinner. But that's it. And, its in 25 days. I should be able to lose at least 10 lbs in 25 days, right? So, I am going to put this in writing, and hope that this makes me more accountable. I've also joined the December challenge, and as it is a Saturday, and its really hard to start things on Saturday, I am hoping that I will post there every day my status. Regardless of good or bad. and, of course, I'll post here, too. But, my goal is to start my workout calender MONDAY. No more stalling; that sucker's been written out for at least a month now. It's HIGH time I put it into good use. Also, starting Tomorrow, since I've already screwed up today, and I need to go to the grocery store tonight anyway, I am getting back on the low-carb wagon. I've been checking out all the recipes, and that flax muffin looks like it might be a lifesaver for breakfast mornings; before, when I got tired of eggs, all I could think of was protein powder mixed with ice and coffee. Not very fulfilling, very long.

So, here it is. My plan for December. Starting tomorrow, I'm low-carbing it. Starting Monday, I'm working out according to my workout calender I've already made for myself. Today, and tomorrow, I am going to spend more time working on food ideas; Monday, my husband starts back at work on second shift, so not only do I have to adjust to making dinner for just me and the kids, but also need to figure out what I'm going to make. In the past, when its just been me and the kids, I make them the kid stuff, mac and cheese and chicken nuggets, and then end up not making myself something, so I have work on that. I definitely need to make up some stuff to have on hand to heat and eat, for sure.

Here's to a weight-losing December.

ETA: Start weight, 179 lbs