The Kitty Cooler

I have never been one for making New Years Resolutions.  I think mostly because I don’t want to make something that I wouldn’t be able to see through for the entire year.  I like the think that when one year ends and a new one begins that I re-evaluate my progress and shortcomings from the previous year and set new action plans and goals. So here it goes…

This year my goal is to like myself better.  I have been reading a lot of posts and blogs about how you cannot be your own worst enemy and expect great results.  It just doesn’t make sense.  I need to enter into a new train of thought and forgive myself for shortcomings and mistakes.  I have to realize that yes, I am human and am going to mess up…but I have to learn from them and improve. I have to stop beating myself up and worrying that I am not going to achieve the goals that I set for myself.  I have noticed that it takes a lot more energy to worry and fret over what I cannot control than it is to focus on what I CAN control.

Another goal is to achieve another 20lb stretch this year.   I have seen a lot of people plan to lose this amount in a few months (for those crazies, a few weeks)…but I want to give myself room to learn…room to make mistakes and learn from them…room to adjust to each milestone that I achieve…room to learn the new PointsPlus Program from WW.  Is this too lenient of a time frame for the amount of pounds I want to shed?  Maybe…I could set it shorter and push myself…but then I risk not achieving the goal set above…

I also want to blog more…participate more in the WW program.  I don’t have time for meetings…but I do have time to get online (and rather than play Sims3 all the time…which is AWESOME BTW!…get on WW.com).  I am seeing (and reading) that in order to be truly successful at something you cannot sit on the sidelines and be envious of those getting what you want…you have to get into the game in order to achieve the goal…

I have other little goals…reduce my book collection…pay of credit cards…get out of debt…but those will forever be the goals for many years to come…

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Yesterday we had planned to spend the day in State College visiting Penn State. We got up early, got ready and headed out.  On the way down 15 South we were admiring the changing colors of the trees and the approaching sights of fall and expecting a really nice day for our outing.

About an hour into our trip I grabbed my book out of my bag and started reading to pass the time. The next thing that I knew we had made impact with the driver side guard rail. We were both shaken up, not knowing exactly what happened and got out to assess the damage (which is significant, but not unfixable). I didn’t know who exactly to call first (it had to be at least 10 years since I had been in a car accident) so I called my dad.  He told me to call 911 and he let me know that he was on his way down to us.  I hung up and called 911 and after reassuring the 911 operator that there were no injuries and no leaking fluids, he transferred me over to the local state police to get my location and details of what happened. After re-explaining the situation, the operator advised that a police car was on its way. 

The wait was trecherous. It had to have been at least 45 minutes before the state police arrived. During the waiting period there were tons of thoughts going through my head…”Is Allan really OK?”, “What happened”, “What do we do from here?”, etc.  I try really hard to assure Allan that everything would be OK, but at that point he really wasn’t believing it.  The police finally showed up and had asked what happened. Allan told him what he knew and I have to say that the police guy did not really have very good social manners.  I understand that he probably deals with some stupid and slimy people, but has he been in the business THAT long to no longer be able to see when an accident really happened and to take some compassion and understandning?!

From that point on it was more police logistics and waiting. He issued a citation and information on what to expect in the coming days. Told us that the tow truck was on its way and where it would take the car to await pick up.  We then waiting for the tow truck and my dad to arrive.

On the way home, I couldn’t help but think that if I hadn’t been so caught up in my book that I should have been aware of what was going on around me.  15 South has some pretty long stretches of highway where I am sure a lot of drivers have dozed off. If I had only looked up every few minutes or not read at all to keep Allan company I could have prevented this accident in the first place.  He has so much going through his mind right now and I feel helpless not to be able to convince him that things will work out OK.  He is planning on getting a new car, but how does this effect the chances of that? What is it going to do to our insurance?  I have ideas of how to get through only having one car, but the hard part is going to convince him to go with it.  The after math is more emotional than physical.  After a minor case of whiplash felt the morning after I think that the pride and emotional part is going to take longer to heal. Accidents happen. I wanted to say yesterday that I don’t care about the car (old or new one coming). I only care that he is safe and unharmed, but knew that those were the words that needed to be said.  One way or another things will work themselves out and things will be OK again.

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So these past 2 weeks I have made excellent progress getting back on track with my WeightWatchers.  I have been recording everything and measuring everything to boot as well.

Allan and I went to Charley’s today. This was the first time in a long time that we have gone there and the last time we had gone I didn’t have any problems finding their nutritional facts online. What happened to it?!

I understand that restaurants are not by law required to post their nutritional facts when it comes to their foods, and probably most people don’t care as long as it is good. But as for me…I care.  I googled “Charley’s Nutritional Facts” and got everything from everyone.  It amazes me that all these different sites that advertise nutritional values differ so greatly from each other.   So I went directly to their site and the only nutritional values I found was for their breakfast. Really now.

It is this challenge that is part of the reason that I do not record my points when we go out!  Restaurants do not make it easy.

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So Allan and I have eating out quite a bit lately. The more that we go out, the more I am starting to realize that the service in restaurants is really starting to suck.

We went to the Olive Garden for dinner tonight. Mostly to use up a gift card that my parents gave us. Let me say that I have experienced good service there before, but tonight, it was horrible.

There was not really an initial wait. Maybe 5 min. So the bad service started after we got to the table. We waited about 10 minutes before our waitress even got to us. When she did there was no greeting, no wine selection (not that we would have had any) and no announcement of the specials that they have. We gave her our drink and food orders and then she left to get the salad and breadsticks. I would say another 10-15 minutes went by before she even returned with those. She asked if we wanted cheese on our salad and when we said yes she left and waited on another table before coming back. She rarely checked up on us and when we were finished she came over, asked if we wanted dessert and walked away before even getting out answer. Then when she returned from the other table she assumed we said no and handed us the check.

It surprised me that the service was that bad. I have never received that kind of service there before. It just seems the more we go out to eat the more I realize that the service in restaurants is really starting to decline.

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