What's on your Wednesday Menu?

Good Morning Everyone.

Monday started our Employee Appreciation week. We handed out goodie bags with the company logo on it and the bag was filled with a beanie hat, baseball hat, long sleeve t-shirt and a Carhartt vest. Today everyone gets a tailgating table and tomorrow we have a raffle where everyone gets something. Yesterday lunch was catered by a BBQ and the food was so good. Today we have Panera Bread coming for 9am break and tomorrow we have another catered lunch with more great food. I love my job, but God help me it definitely adds to my weight gain. So hard to not try something that looks amazing and smells even better. For all of you New England sports fans if you see Win-Waste Innovations ads during Patriots and Bruins games that is the company I work for. They have gotten a 10 year rubbish removal contract with those two teams so far. :)

QOTD: None hence the reason my ass is getting fatter. LOL Seriously though I do keep most trigger foods out of the house. I just have to work on being stronger at work to avoid them temptations.

5am coffee with raw milk

B: No idea

L: leftover brisket and flank steak (those two are safe to indulge in only a rub and no BBQ sauce)

D: Garlic parm chicken wings

JB great job on getting orders for the bakery. You really make lovely cookies.

Sounds like a great employee appreciation week. I hope if you are one of the organizers that somehow you are shown appreciation for that too!

I want one of those swag bags sounds incredible.

Good morning ~ Happy to hear how well your bakery is doing! Enjoy your last days of freedom. Yesterday was super busy, but I had some time to get organized and caught up which was really nice. I enjoyed a relaxing evening of wine and TV. Today I have interviews this morning then more training on the last couple of things. Feeling good about work.

The Vault is being delivered today! I was not expecting it so soon. I need to get the furniture out of the guest room still, so that will be my Saturday project - very excited!

QOTD - It's definitely a mind set I have struggled with my whole life. I feel I am doing much better right now but there is too much gray area still like wine, and a bite of this or that. It would be one thing if I was trying to maintain, but I'm trying to lose! Most recently I started keeping a snack basket full of on plan goodies separate from Robs food and it works to keep me out of his stuff. I recently added Nacho cheese protein chips for any Dorito ideas I may have in the future. Honestly I rarely eat any of it - just knowing its there is enough most of the time. My down fall is uninhibited eating when I drink... It's clear what I need to do to avoid that. Also, the 'be a machine'. For me that means taking the emotion out of food choices but it's very hard to do sometimes!

Yesterday:

b-coffee x 2, eggwich, latte

l - chicken skewer, coleslaw

d- chicken and NO dumplings

s - celery and yogurt w/ranch seasoning

+ 2 glasses of wine

e- rest day

Have a great day

Can't wait to hear how the Vault works for you!

Good morning, everybody!

This week seems kind of poky. A good day today could change the calculus though. Friday is a stealth day off since I am traveling for the weekend (although working remotely part of the day.)

QOTD:

Lisa: "What are you getting for lunch?"

Jim: "Chips and salsa"

Lisa: "what !?!?"

I totally agree that you can't outwork a bad diet. But, with that said, I do think that having more muscle allows for higher caloric consumption than the strict thermodynamic model based on weight alone. Also high intensity interval training is shown to increase metabolism for the 24-48 period after the workout.

As far as strategies, I guess that having a replacement on hand helps me the most. Nuts, jerky, fruit, sugar free puddings are go to for me. Also, since surgery I crave a lot less. I may have a candy occasionally, but won't wake up the next morning wondering when I can have another candy.

The Series I bond rate will change to an expected 6.48% on Monday. If one hasn't purchased bonds for 2022, it is possible to get 9.62% for 6 months and then 6.48% for the next 6 months. But you need to scurry.

For those who did purchase in 2022, the rate will start at 6.48% in January if you buy for 2023. While nobody can predict the future with any degree of certainty, it seems like the Central bankers are trying to get inflation to 4.5% as a first step. So, even if that happens 2023 could be a blended average of 5.5%.

The one year Treasury Bond has yielded as much as 4.5% lately, so the Series I may pay only be 1% more interest than could be obtained with 1 year Note. The tradeoff is really the flexibility of the one year. Remember the Series I can't be touched for 1 year for any reason and if its redeemed within 5 years, forfeits 3 months interest.

We are going to buy I bonds for 2023. Between the 1% rate differential and the possibility of upside participation if inflation is stickier than hoped, I think its worth it. But if Trish tells me she would rather own the 1 or 2 year Note, I can see that argument as well. The 2% note is particularly interesting because it locks in a good rate for two years.

Busy day today, lifting in the morning, Crossfit in the afternoon and Happy Hour tonight. Oh yes, and my job.

Breakfast: bagel

Lunch: Roast Beef

Dinner: Hello Fresh then Happy Hour

Have a great day, all!

I hope the week gets better for you.

Good morning all and Happy Hump Day,

Yesterday was a rough day, mentally. I'm feeling a little better to start today.

QOTD - I'm a black & white thinker and remind myself of the gray area of temptation. Everything in moderation is alright as long as I only consume unhealthy once in a while. I have found I have a hard time reigning it in once I start to revert to bad habits.

B: Dannon Light and Fit Coconut Yogurt, Tangerine.

L: PP shake.

D: 2 chicken skewers.

S: string cheese.

I hope today is better for you.

Mornin' All!

another fairly busy day. One of my film groups meets from 10:00-11:30, then I have a massage at 1:00, an online thing from 4:00-5:30, and another online thing (Nate Silver - he'll be on campus, but it's hybrid - I registered for the Zoom version) at 7:00. I've got some things I need to do between those - like order a cake for my mom's b-day, vote, and work on class stuff, because I'm still behind. UGH. Hoping to catch up before Sunday, when I'm headed off to Chicago again (sorry you'll be in Texas, Jim - maybe next time!!). Then home sometime Monday for hopefully a more laid-back week.

QOTD: I struggle with this all the time. I wish I had the resolve I had that first year post-op. For me the worst time to control eating is when I'm bored. So being in the house all day is a disaster waiting to happen. I need to try to get out more - even if it's just to do my reading and classwork over at the public library instead of at home. Getting out to take a long walk or ride my bike helps, too - although with winter coming, I'll have to do most of my exercising over at the gym. Which is fine - at least I'll be out of the house. We don't keep much in the way of crappy food here (although DH always has chocolate, which he hides), but it's amazing how much healthy food I can put away. I'm thinking I might make some kind of dip today (with plain Greek yogurt) for use with raw vegetables. Raw vegetables (esp carrots) sometimes irritate my pouch to the point where I don't want to eat anymore. And dips make them more interesting (and tempting) than just eating them plain. SF Jello and SF popsicles help, too. Or FF/SF hot chocolate. They do have calories, but they're not excessive - and the sweetness helps with the sugar craving.

B: I'm not sure whether to eat something now (I'm rarely hungry in the morning) or wait 'til I get to the coffee shop at 10:00 for the meeting and get one of those breakfast sandwiches (egg, bacon, and cheese on an English muffin - super filling). I may just do that - then I probably won't be wanting lunch - so it'll serve two purposes. Coffee with half & half.

MS and L: see above. May take a protein bar with me in the unlikely event I get hungry again before 1:00

AS: protein shake or protein muffin

L: salmon with either cole slaw or salad made with light dressing

have a great day, everyone!

Jim - not sure what I'd do with bonds. Just in the past few months, the university moved our 403(b)s over to TIAA, who stuck them all in some targeted retirement fund which I wouldn't have picked for myself, and I've been afraid to move it into other funds for the time being given the crazy stock market fluctuations (I'm fine with TIAA in general, just not that particular fund). In addition, Vanguard just moved all of our accounts (IRA's and non-retirement) into brokerage accounts - or rather, I did - because they're going to charge crazy fees if you opt to keep them in non-brokerage accounts. Long way of saying, I'm still trying to come to terms with all of these changes, so I haven't give much thought to I-bonds lately...