Happy Friday all!
It’s so good to be back. I am so sorry for the hiatus, that is if anyone actually missed my ramblings. I meant to get this out so much earlier than today, but never had an opportunity. Things have been going full-tilt since the middle of July!
It’s been quite a summer, to say the least. On the job front, I have found a groove with the new position and am finally making it mine. Loving the new job, and the new responsibilities I have taken on with the Company. I took a small hiatus from issuing the newsletter, not because I gave up, but because I have been so busy! I am hoping to get back on a regular schedule now, though.
Speaking of responsibilities….I was up in Maryland for the better part of the last three weeks as part of the management team filling in for the Verizon associates who went out on strike from August 7th through August 22nd. This was quite an experience. I am a Financial Analyst by trade, and during this little stint, I was a tech out in the field doing repair and maintenance for FiOS, our fiber optic voice, data, and internet solution. We went through an intense training for two weeks, and then the powers that be deemed us efficient enough to go out on our own. Yeesh! My main fear was having to drill inside someone’s house. Lucky for me, it never came to that.
Okay. The two pictures below are of me and my handiwork out in the field. My partner in crime (the photographer) decided that we needed some photos to bring back and share with our family and friends. The first is of me in my tech-garb. Note the fine hard-hat! The second is of my handiwork. I had finished replacing an ONT (Optical Network Terminal) at a customer’s home. In Maryland, they had had several severe storms and some equipment had data ports that got fried due to lightning. This photo is my nice neat work. The fiber is on the left side and the voice and data ports are on the right side.
I learned a lot in the training, and thought we did fairly well in our “new roles”. The union workers did return to the job on 8/22, but the contract was not settled at that time. This basically means that we are on call. My fear is that we will end up back there, only this time it’s going to be COLD, and probably twice as ugly (picketer-wise) than it was during the summer. I did come back to a family that was oh-so-happy to see me. It’s nice to be missed. My husband deserves a medal of honor. He was fantastic with the kids, as always.
Now, many of you may be wondering how I did when I was up there. I have to confess that the thought of going to a strange state rattled me a bit, but truthfully, the first thing I did was look up where the closest Weight Watchers meeting was, closest to where I’d be staying. I found a meeting that was about 8 minutes from the hotel. Bad news was that for the first week I was there, we worked 12-hour days, 7 days a week. I was upset at the thought of not attending a meeting, because my 3 year anniversary of being back with Weight Watchers was Thursday, August 11, and I didn’t want to miss that. What I ended up doing was contacting a friend of mine, who coincidentally happens to be a leader in Florida, and she agreed to have me call her on my ‘anniversary date’ and hold a virtual meeting. We talked for about 20 minutes about my week and how my journey was going, and that was my meeting for the week. Since I spoke with a bona fide leader, in my book, I didn’t miss. Plus, with my day off the following week, I was able to attend a meeting and I was very happy to see that I had lost 1.4 that week.
I think what worked for me while I was gone was the fact that I had control over my environment. I had a full kitchen in my suite, and I shopped for healthy foods to stock my kitchen with. Most nights, I cooked breakfast for dinner (mostly Hungry Girl Egg Mugs). I kept Greek Yogurt, walnuts, dried cranberries, Italian ice, skim milk, almondmilk, lowfat granola, Egg Beaters, and low fat cheese in my room. I also indulged on Maryland Crab Cakes (all crab, no filler and totally DELICIOUS). I set myself up for success and I saw those rewards. Another thing that helped me was the fact that we weren’t behind a desk all day. For 12 hours straight, we were outdoors fixing equipment or walking around. The extra activity helped. Wearing a pedometer during the day helped point out the fact that we managed to walk almost 3 miles daily. Even though those may not all have been aerobic steps, they were still earning activity Points!
So, on my day off, which was August 20th, I went to a Weight Watchers meeting, had a 90-minute massage and found a dress for my brother’s wedding coming up in October. I felt great after my little escapades and that was only helped by a pleasant phone call by one of my comrades letting me know that we would be going home on Tuesday. What a great way to end 2 ½ weeks away!
I am back to my regular routine, but I will say that I am still recovering. Still very tired. I am approaching my 44th birthday on the 23rd, and I feel like I am in a good place.
My meeting today was great, and the topic was so timely. It dealt with restarting, and what better time to restart anything like the end of summer. It’s like when we go back to school. New school supplies, new clothing, new outlook? We actually went over the new member orientation tools and remarkably, we did forget some of that! I plan to go over plan materials this weekend and pull out my ‘last straw’ story to refresh my memory on why I walked back into a center this last time. It helps to review this stuff from time to time.
What we need to remember are the four facets of the program:
1. Stay on Track – Stay within your PointsPlus® Target
2. Power Up – Eat work in as many “Power Foods” as possible into your daily meals
3. Treat Yourself - Deprivation is a no-no. This is what the 49 extra PointsPlus® are for!
4. Get moving – Find an activity that you like, and stick with it. Better yet, find a friend!
The premise is really simple, but we can all get off track from time to time. I think that my little foray into the unknown this summer actually helped me. It may just have been that “something different” that I needed in order to get things moving once again.
So, to report on how my resolution is going. So far, I have managed to do 5K races for Jan – June of this year. July and August were out due to the strike training and deployment to MD, but I am declaring two of our weekly 5K walks my “races” for those two months, since we do a 5K every weekend anyway. September we actually have two coming up, during the weekend of my birthday. I am doing Heroes for Children 5K on September 24th and Heels and Hills 10K on September 25th. We need races for October, November and December. Karen keeps pushing us for a second round of the Chupacabra, but I am still on the fence there. There is also the Arbor Day Run, The Jingle Bell Run and a few others that we can always do. I always liked the Arbor Day course too. In any case, I think I am on track for this resolution.
Have a fantastic weekend, and I commit to issuing weekly again!
" Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."”
~ Mary Anne Radmacher
RECIPES
Polenta Lasagna
I had these two tubes of polenta that are approaching the 'use by' date, and wanted to do something comforting and after the last month...I need comforting!!! After some searching through my go-to sites and magazines, I settled on this one. After my day of pampering last week (spa mani/pedi & facial), I stopped at the grocery store to pick up the few ingredients I still needed in order to prepare the dish. This dish is a great meatless option, and the picky 4-year-old cleaned his plate!
As usual, Cooking Light magazine will get the credit for helping me create this incredible entree. Enjoy!
This polenta lasagna is a great way to work extra vegetables into a weeknight meal, as it calls for chopped zucchini, mushrooms, onion, and red bell pepper.
Yield: 6 servings (I doubled the recipe for dinners during the week or to freeze for later.) at a PointsPlus® Value of 5 per serving
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 8 MINUTES
Cook Time: 35 MINUTES
PointsPlus™ value: 5 per serving (a bargain!)
Ingredients:
1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup meatless fat-free sausage, crumbled (such as Lightlife Gimme Lean)
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (16-ounce) tube of polenta, cut into 18 slices
1/2 cup (2 ounces) preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Spoon 1/2 cup marinara sauce into an 8-inch square baking dish to cover bottom, and set aside.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in sausage; cook 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring frequently. Add remaining marinara sauce; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
Arrange 9 polenta slices over marinara in baking dish, and top evenly with half of vegetable mixture. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese over vegetable mixture; arrange remaining polenta over cheese. Top polenta with the remaining vegetable mixture, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Nutritional Information per Serving:
Calories: 221; Calories from fat: 20%; Fat: 4.9g; Saturated fat: 1.4g; Monounsaturated fat: 2.1g; Polyunsaturated fat: 1.1g; Protein: 12.3g; Carbohydrate: 30.9g; Fiber: 4.6g; Cholesterol: 5mg; Iron: 2.8mg; Sodium: 880mg; Calcium: 125mg
