Today is saturday!
Trying to play catch up from the holidays, we were in Indiana for 2 weeks which is a long time to be away from my job.
Seeing clients out of town today...
I love my job!https://forums.psychcentral.com/imag...lies/throb.gif
On to my second cup of coffee.
Have been on the computer for an hour so need to get moving.
First client is at 10am.
I Provide foot care for the elderly in their homes. Pedicures for a living.
I am the traveling foot nurse, https://forums.psychcentral.com/imag...lies/smile.gif
Hubby just got my license plate that says "FOOT RN"...love it!
This morning the scale still says 171.3
so am happy about that and I am over 50 days Alcohol free.
Life is very good!
bizi who is feeling grateful for my life and stability. __________________

Your doing fantastic, Bizi.

Donna :hug::grouphug:

Had our usual gumbo for lunch and a bowl of cabbage slaw.
Met with a friend around 4 and talked with her and had 2 cups of coffee with milk and ate quite a few nuts....was not sure what they were serving at the party and I did not want to be ravenous.
I Survived another party bringing and drinking hot tea while others drank. I also was very aware of what I was eating. I ate 5oz of chicken and a big helping of salad with a light balsamic dressing, one bite of not so good chocolate brownie. I gave the rest to a friend.
I was social and tried to talk to people there, when the conversation lulled I went and sat next to Jeff. Our friend who hosted the party was celebrating his own birthday.
He and his wife live 2 1/2 hours away from each other. Just found out that she applied for a position here and we are thrilled.
The evening was a success.
I only drank tea, ate healthy, and was social.
All in all we enjoyed the evening.
bizi

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the party with your sober plan and without your usual social anxiety :):):)

You sound like you are much more confident! I love it! :):):)

you sound so great!

I was up 3 pounds today so I did not like that.
Maybe it was all of those nuts I ate yesterday, salty smoked.
I know that I should not weigh every day but can't resist.

I am still at a solid 11 pound weight loss in 2 months.
thanks for your support!
bizi

Bizi,

Eleven pounds is fantastic.:D


M

Found 5 houses in the neighborhood that our friend lives in Austin Village south subdivision... Lafayette, LA
if anyone is interested at looking at them on zillow:
218 sand hurst
107 green haven
223 green haven
103 wind chase

WE meet with the loan officer next week to get preapproved so we know what we can afford.

This is exciting!
bizi

Bizi

Good luck on the house hunting next week. I find your updates
of uplifting. You sound so happy.

Donna :hug::grouphug:

Which is better for breakfast?
 

The scale reset it self.
down 14 pounds in 9 weeks.
my weight is fluctuating it seems.
I am eating well! That is of most importance.
Had some oatmeal this morning, I forgot about it as an option in the morning as I usually don't eat breakfast.
But they say you should eat something to get your day started.
I think it is about 150 calories about the same as a banana.
I wonder which is a better choice for breakfast.
my oatmeal has quite a bit of sugar but is very satisfying and I don't have to worry about it being ripe or over ripe. Bananas are easier to grab and go though. I have plenty of oatmeal and right now have not any bananas so it was a no brainer this morning.
We only live 3 blocks from the grocery store.
bizi
bizi

Found a 12 year old diary/journal....read it to my therapist during a 2 hour session that we had planned. I was shaky afterward, much emotions and dysfunctions .... stuff.
Hubby and I are like room mates.
sigh
I see her again next monday to digest some of this.
On a separate note, We are looking at houses.
I can't/won't buy another house if I am not emotionally involved with my husband.
bizi

hugs-even in the past few months with the new medication you have come such a long way. bipolar is a beast.

I couldn't agree with you more, Bobby.

Bizi, I'm very proud of you for being able to face your past and some of your current problems. I know that all of this must be extremely hard. You are showing a lot of inner strength :hug::hug::hug:

It makes sense not to make a fresh start with your husband by buying a new house if you don't feel your marriage is on solid ground. I'm very sorry :hug::hug::hug:

BTW... 14lbs... wow!!!

Thank you for saying that.:o
Rats! the oatmeal was a disaster in the microwave.
Oh well, so I ate a greek oikos zero yogurt:
( zero added sugar, 0 fat, 120 calories, 15 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber sweetened with stevia) and a banana and steeping hot tea.
I am trying to eat breakfast!
bizi

I ate a large amount of food today.
yogurt, banana, coffee with cream
lunch 3oz of chicken1/2 cup of collards smothered, 1/2 cup of beets, 1/2 cup of lentil rice. and small amount of greek/grecian dip.
Same thing for dinner. I split lunch up in to 2 meals.
Then I ate the left over chicken with beans from last night meal at 9pm. about 4 oz of chicken and 1/4 cup of saucy beans.
Very good eating day! Just not sure if it counted as a diet day.
have to make this work, I know that I should not have eaten at 9 pm but I was hungry.https://forums.psychcentral.com/imag...es/redface.gif
bizi

170.9 This morning!!!!!!!!
It looks like as long as I eat healthy foods....I will lose weight!
Gives me reason to stay alcohol free.
bizi

Just arrived back home in Texas from the Philippines. Arrived in Austin just before 11pm last night and arrived home around midnight. Slept till 4 but I also slept throughout the day in the airliners and airport. Took a nice long hot shower till the hot water ran out :)

nice to have you back! bought the bread.

I hate running out of hot water. We turned up the thermostat but I still run out of water.
bizi
welcome home!

how big is your tank? is the rod inside it corroded really bad?

How do you check a rod?
bizi

According to statistics presented by the
American Journal of Managed Care:
About 56 percent of individuals with bipolar
who participated in a national study had
experienced drug or alcohol addiction
during their lifetime.
Approximately 46 percent of that group
had abused alcohol or were addicted to alcohol.

the tv show This Old House on youtube has a few videos on watertank maintenance which includes replacing the rods inside the waterheaters to extend their lives. a good amount of ppl never change their rods in the tanks

ate well!
meat balls over tabouli.
and a small bowl of butternut squash soup, which was delicious!
talapia for dinner and a chopped salad with kale and cabbage and brussel sprouts with cranberries and pumpkin seeds with a light poppy seed dressing. It was delicious.
pop corn
I ate from noon to 8pm.
supposedly this is intermittent fasting. who knew!
bizi
who has officially lost 15 pounds in 9 weeks.
bizi

Great job Bizi! The pounds are just melting off! :):):)

Adding zyprexa has given me my life back in some ways. I now have the ability to control my drinking, picking, over eating.
I still need to work on my computer over using.
And I drove around alot last night trying to figure the easiest way home for jeff from a neighbor hood that I am looking at homes this saturday.
I like this neighborhood and my friend lives there too!
and the houses are newer like I want. I will see if jeff wants to come look at the houses with me. There are a total of 5 house in this neighborhood for sale. 3 for sale by owner then 2 with a realtor. The for sale by owner we can low ball their asking price because they don't have to pay a realtor fees thousands of dollars. These homes are in our price range.
I met with the loan officer yesterday, He helped me see that it would be very expensive to remodel our home adding 475 dollars to our mortgage. It will be cheaper to just buy a new house.
bizi

egg plant casserole for lunch and a bowl of cabbage soup.
Both were very good.
I had a slice of cheese and some almonds an am sipping on hot tea before jeff comes home.
Will have pork chops and butternut squash soup for dinner.
bizi

I am doing intermitant fasting. eating only during an 8 hour window then nothing but water or unsweet tea coffee the rest of the 16 hours over night.
eating 12pm to 8pm
so no snacking after 8pm.
so far so good.
have lost weight this way though have only been doing this for a few days.
bizi

Intermittant fasting is basically skipping breakfast and no snacking after dinner. This what I now do and it feels normal for me. The only difference
is I was maybe eating a banana in the morning or a bag of pop corn as a snack at night. I have not missed either of those food items.

my coffee in the morning does have a bit of half and half which is a fat so I don't think it makes that much of an impact.
But I am unsure about that.
I like coffee but could just switch to hot tea.
Do any of you think the half and half matters enough?
bizi

I am getting in the shower!

We look at houses tomorrow even though it is going to rain the entire weekend.
I just got the name of a buyers realtor who helped our friends buy their home and helped them with the paperwork to sell their house "for sale by owner" Which is exactly what we want to do.
bizi

The half and half does not matter, Bizi.


M

I drank 3 dark beers tonight....I was bored.
went to whole foods and played trivia.
Surly I can come up with something else to do on a friday night.
my friend susan was working and could not go out like last weekend.
I saw some friends who I had not seen in a month.
It was good to see them.
I over ate as well.
Re group tomorrow.
bizi

Just landed in Austin 3 days ago. Crashed on the couch as soon as I went into my apt LOL

It must feel good to be home :)

You have done very well being AF for a long time. You drank one night. You can just reset :hug::hug::hug:

It sounds like you have thought out all the aspects of the house-buying and are well prepared. I hope that the house-hunting goes well :)

Yeah I just picked up my mom last night and we stopped by Joes Crab Shack.

were you really bored? did you need to feel a little high? or were you feeling low? How do you feel now? Might you beat yourself up?

The scale went up a bit so that was not good.
I ate half a cheese tray, half a burger, and a piece of chantilly cake that was only fair.
I did stop drinking and eating at my 8 hour window of 7;30
so actually it was 2 1/2 beers.

my last client of the day canceled on me so i was done early.
Jeff was going to trivia with out me usually so I just thought it was something to do. It is raining here, should be raining all day.
My back yard is flooded half way to the house.
don't like it one bit. We look at 3 houses starting at 1pm so I need to get dressed and finish up my tea.
I could not sleep last night so at 3am got up and took 1mg of klonipin and slept in till 1030am.
Today is a new day.
I must figure out how to have fun with out drinking.
bizi

WE are staying put!
 

Well after looking at many houses and then talking with a couple of realtors about our area that we live in.
We believe our house was built better than new homes. So we have decided to stay put and fix the foundation and remodel our kitchen and the bathrooms.
We are having a man come look at our front door to see about installing a new one. We have already picked out a new door. We like a certain one but it will have to be stained first. It looks like a frank loyd wright door, with geometric angles/lines.
First the foundation needs to be dealt with.$$$$
We will take out a line of credit against the house using equity to pay for the repairs and remodel. It will be cheaper this way. 5.5% on the line of credit.
The kitchen designer is contacting us next week to come to the house and measure the kitchen. The man/Jeff is someone that was recommended and works for home depot. We went there this afternoon to start looking at kitchens and cabinets. We have to bring in the sample of laminate flooring that we saved from 16 years ago from the kitchen to match the cupboards.
Brenda from home depot helped to make up a mock up of the kitchen on her computer. It is amazing what they can do. Next week The cabinet guy/Jeff will measure the kitchen and both bathrooms.

Had a coupon for a free bang bang shrimp at bone fish grill for my birthday. Went there for dinner tonight as we also had gift certificates from christmas.
Jeff had scallops and I had the lily's chicken dish, artichoke hearts, basil, spinach, goat cheese. A big side of spinach and brocolli. yum!
took home half for another meal. What a deal! only had one piece of bread and ate between my 8 hour window too. Now am drinking hot tea.
Chai rooibos by yogi. It is cinnamon flavored.
This intermitant fasting is easy.
bizi

bizi

I am concerned about how quickly you are jumping into this remodel after being so committed to buying a new house...
That being said, it sounds like you are getting a good interest rate, and I think you will be happy with all the improvements. You are already on your way to updating your home and making it pretty and more comfortable :)

Thanks kay.
WE have been toying with the idea of fixing up the house over the past few years. We took out a tree that was supposed to be affecting the foundation last summer and had the foundation inspected 2 years ago but never acted on it.
Recently we discovered many cracks in the sheet rock that were not there, lord knows how long they have been there. They split the wall paper!
Then there is the door we had picked out over a year ago but never followed thru. Right now it is next to impossible to lock the front door.
Lets see if we can finally follow thru on these endeavors.
They guy who could install our door is coming this morning to give us a quote. It needs to be stained.
Next week we will talk and set up an appointment for another man to measure the kitchen and bathrooms. Jeff is going to get more estimates from several companies about the repair to the foundation.
That will be a huge project!!!!
So this has been in the works for a while now. We have just not been committed to making the financial commitment to go ahead with the projects.
Last week I met with the bank about getting a new line of credit ours expires in 6 months. The new one will be for 10 years, but we can extend it after that.
We ignored the foundation and have issues with cracks etc.
I believe we have to address this firstly before we can go on with the other ares.
It will cost over $10k.:eek:
bizi