Sunday Summary and #ROW80 Update

  1. Well I just plumb forgot to post yesterday.  Blame it on lawnmowing to beat the rain (that’s suddenly out of the forecast for a few days), a trip up to see my uncle, and a trip across the state line to Alabama to help my in laws bring home some furniture they bought at auction.  Oh and a whole hour on the phone with Zune support trying to figure out why my Zune software keeps crashing.  It’s been an excellent game of Stump Tech Support.  So far I’m winning.
  2. So…the Dark and Early Experiment.  I feel compelled to say I really hate morning.  And there were a few monkey wrenches thrown into the schedule last week.  One early day at work because we were out of town.  The storm aftermath, sleep in on Thursday.  But I did yoga every day except Thursday and Saturday (I mowed Saturday instead).  I do like starting my day with it.  And because New U is dynamic, it keeps ratcheting up the difficulty level so that there’s no comfortable rut where your body stops burning as many calories.  So that’s all good.  But of course you all really want to know how the writing thing was going.  I wrote in the mornings every day (except Tuesday and Thursday).  They were small word counts.  100 something. 200 something.  300 something.  Friday I hit 520 in my morning writing session.  That’s my full minimum before work.  YEEHA.  But the best side effect, really, was that it got the story in my brain FIRST THING, and generally it stayed there, so that when I sat down at lunch and after work, I was able to get MORE words in each day, for a total of 4,980 words this week (last Sunday to Saturday).  YIPPEE!!!!
  3. Now the part that didn’t go so well…  Hubby hates the new schedule because it interrupts his relatively quiet morning since I am now in the way.  So I ordered the necessary cables and crap so we can move the Wii into my office.  Hopefully that will happen today.  The other part that didn’t go well was getting in the second workout of the day.  I just can’t get up early enough to do both before work.  I just can’t.  I’ve been sleeping like 10 or 11 hours a night this weekend because I’ve been so tired.  I can’t short myself any more sleep.  I’ve been SUPPOSED to do my 30 minutes on the bike after work.  Well I managed that exactly ONE day this week, which meant that I was under my calorie burn budget for the week.  Bleh.  I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do about that.  If I can get more efficient with the words during the morning session, I can go back to doing a second workout at lunch.  I guess I’ll try that this week.
  4. Word count in general has been going up.  I wrote in April almost as many words as I wrote in February and March combined.  That’s still not up to the production level that I really want but hopefully this is a sign that I’m rebounding from stuff and my brain is working again.  So that makes me very happy.
  5. Regarding project G.I.T….that’s not going so well.  Eating out is the kiss of death.  Just ONE meal out will ruin whatever calorie deficit I’ve created in a week.  This week I ate out FIVE TIMES.  Admittedly, this is not normal.  Greek for lunch on Tuesday with my boss while we were out of town.  Hibatchi with my husband for dinner that night for our anniversary.  Deli for lunch on Thursday.  Olive Garden for lunch with my uncle yesterday (where, yes, I had a grilled chicken dish and two bowls of salad, but all the ricotta cheese totally blew that).  And Mexican for dinner with my in laws’ last night (and yeah, I had veggie fajitas–which were really good btw–but THE CHIPS…).  Oh, and yogurt on Friday, because I was desperate for it.  To be frank, I feel like an overstuffed sausage casing today.  SO FREAKING FULL.
  6. So it’s back to square one this week.  I will at least wait until tomorrow to weigh to see what the damage is.  Not going to ignore it and wait until next week.  Hopefully the rising scale number will give me the kick in my butt to say “no” to temptation and make better choices this week.  Hubs is on board with that plan, so today I am GOING TO DO SOME MENU PLANNING.  And probably some batch cooking and general food prep to make life a little easier during the week.
  7. This week marks the inaugural post of Efficiency: 101, wherein I begin sharing my secrets for how I get so much done.  It seems fitting that such a series should go up on Mondays, so look for that tomorrow.
  8. I am also making my initial call for writer recipe posts!  Here’s what I will need from you:
  • The recipe written out with the obvious name, ingredient list, directions, number of servings, and nutritional info if you’ve got it.  NOTE: When I say recipe I do NOT mean something that involves opening a jar of pre-made spaghetti sauce and dumping it over noodles with some pre-cooked chicken.  I’m talking legitimate, from-scratch cooking.  Why? You can find more information about that where I talk about my Retake Homemade revolution, but in a nutshell the focus here is on everyday meals that even the most harried housewife (or writer) could throw together after a long day at work (or in the crock pot before work), using simple ingredients that would be found in  your local small-town Walmart or grocery store.  No dressing up boxed dinners or freezer meals.  Your entry MUST BE HOMEMADE (though I’ll allow entries that use cans of “cream of…” soup, ’cause I’m southern and that’s a casserole staple).
  •  A brief blurb about why you wanted to share that particular recipe, any story behind it or whatever.
  • A picture of the recipe prepared.  Remember, this is going up on my food blog and we are all about the pictures.
  • A brief bio about you that includes all your web and social media links and a listing of any books you’d like to promo.  Make it fun and it will be more memorable.
  • Email your post to me at kaitnolanwriter (at) gmail (dot) com.

9 thoughts on “Sunday Summary and #ROW80 Update

  1. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate. Same here, writing-weight-work, on my slate too. Have a great week. I still can’t believe we’re a month into ROW80.

  2. I’m glad you’re making progress in several areas. I know that eating out thing gets us every time. You really can’t lose weight and eat out a lot. This is the voice of experience talking.

  3. I am so not a morning person either. Kudos to you for working so hard to make it work! I hope moving the Wii makes it a little easier on you. 🙂

  4. UGH, mornings. I feel your pain. I’m so proud of you for trying to make it work. And congrats on the word count, yay! 😀

  5. Boy do I understand your struggles. After I had my first kid it took me 2.5 years to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. And then I got pregnant again. ARGH! So now I get to start all over.

    Good luck to you! Look forward to seeing the recipes.

  6. I’m all or nothing with the hours thing. I can do early mornings, but it’s like an Amish farmer kind of schedule. Up before dawn, in bed at 8. So that doesn’t happen a lot.
    I’m really looking forward to your efficiency posts. The amount you manage to do is truly mind-boggling.

Leave a Reply to Vicki Keire Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.