Jen FitzGerald's Blog, page 40

It's Friday Once Again...

The days and weeks are cycling by and COVID-19 is beginning its wave of peaking in various states across the US. Texas is expected to hit its peak in two-weeks' time. Our state has been truly blessed with a comparatively low number of cases and deaths.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those on the front lines--this includes the janitorial services in hospitals and clinics, not just the healthcare workers. May God's blessing and covering be upon one and all.

Nothing I'm doing compares in any way shape of form to what these folks are doing, so let's end with this: Well over half the NHL facilities (and maybe other sports facilities) lit it up in blue to honor the essential front line workers.

Dallas Stars / American Airlines Center
 Pittsburgh Penguins / PPG Paints Arena
 Philadelphia Flyers / Wells Fargo Center
  Washington Capitals / Capital One Arena
Take care--

Happy Hump Day!

There's not much new going on in my neck of the woods. I'm still doing well with the food logging --> not eating things I shouldn't as well as planning some body-hot-spot specific routines. I've also learned that according to Fitbit, fat burn mode burns more body fat for energy than cardio mode does although the cardio will burn up more calories overall.

That's a tough choice for me--because burning body fat for energy by exercising after having fasted since before 7pm the prior evening was my primary method of actually getting rid of my fat stores. On the other hand, I need all the calories I can earn for enjoyable meals. At my height and weight, I have basically no spare calories for treats and have to earn them via exercise.

Any who... since there was nothing exciting to report, I'm going to dig up some random images from blogs past. Let's reminisce.

 Way way back when Sonshine was in high school, the marching band got to play on the steps of the Texas Capital Building. DD and I drove down to see them. (Look how tubby I was!)

Way way back 2010 (I think), some special friend of mine, known as the JAG ladies, spent a long weekend down on Port Aransas and visited the USS Lexington.

Some other friends of mine (and me), spent a long weekend in Oklahoma City helping one another plot and brainstorm some books. That picture was taken in Toby Kieth's restaurant.

Have a great week. Hope you're well.

Making Progress!

The garage is looking good! DD helped me haul her stuff to the warehouse on Saturday and I was able to sweep and move some of the equipment around. It turns out I can use the Bowflex as a rowing machine so for now I’ve got to figure how to do that.
I also rearranged some of the other stuff, getting things into and onto the cabinets and out of view and off the floor. 
All that’s left is to haul all the donation stuff once that’s doable and eventually put in a TV. DH likes to watch TV when he uses the treadmill and I’d like one with YouTube access for aerobic and yoga routines.

* * * *
DD convinced me to watch The Aeronauts this weekend too, a movie chronicling some of the first hot air balloon flights into the upper atmosphere to prove theories that weather could be predicted. I enjoyed it for the most part and would rate it a seven.

* * * *
This week's adventures in grocery shopping included finding toilet paper and flour, so yay. They also included having one set of double doors permanently closed and a cordon setup at the other set dividing up the entrance lane vs. the exit lane. It also looks like they've setup a line cordon down the side of the building for busier parts of the day when they might only allow a certain number of people in the store...? Inside there were two employees wiping down shopping cart handles.
And while wearing masks in general has been recommended, not everyone wore masks. I took my makeshift mask, but opted not to wear it. Hope you had a good weekend.

It's Rained Yet Again...

Of course, it's spring in Texas and we do tend to get a lot of rain. But, man, with all the COVID-19 happening, sunshine would go a long way to keeping our spirits up here in North Texas. *sigh*

So update on the Chili Cheese Corn dog Casserole... It was okay. It was good. It was fine. But it wasn't great. 'Cause, here's the thing. Corn dogs are deep friend in their batter, right? And our cornbread batter was not deep friend, it was merely baked. And corn dog batter is usually a bit sweet, too, yeah?

Now the sweet can solved, but the deep friend, not so much, unless we use real corn dogs. Which I'm not opposed to. But here's the thing--I'd rather just have a corn dog with mustard and not all that chili and cheese. I guess the FitzGerald household doesn't have a new recipe to incorporate into the rotation. Shame. But, as you know, I try not to eat too much with high bad-for-you content these days, which corn dogs most assuredly have. So is it really a bad thing that the recipe didn't work out?

Logging food and being aware of calories and all the other bits and bites that the Fitbit keeps track has helped me actually drop a couple of pounds. Might all be water weight for the moment, but it's a start. I still have a few pounds to go to reach the target weight again, and I'm almost dreading it because that means my workouts have to become more targeted in order build the muscle. That also means my daily pretzel habit may have to go bye-bye. Will probably have to go bye-bye so I can replace the calories with more protein to help build my own muscles and reduce those carbs>sugars>body fats.

The garage project will continue this weekend with another car load of stuff to be transferred to our warehouse. I might also start some cleaning now that a stretch of (unfinished) wall will be revealed.

Have you got big, exciting plans for the weekend?

Hope it's a good one. Take care.

DD Scored Some Toilet Paper Yesterday

It's funny the things that get a cheer these days.

I would have been happy with a 4-pack, but it's a 12-pack, so I can divvy it up between the house and the office. :0)

The food logging is helping. I've been resisting temptation, like Monday when I bought DH McDonald's. I really wanted a Dr. Pepper. I exerted my willpower and didn't get one however. Today, I finally brought a serving of the unsweet tea I bought at the grocery store. I could make unsweet tea, I know. It's not the same, though, so I splurged. I did have pizza for dinner last night, but stayed within my allotted calories even though I definitely didn't need the carbs.

I've discovered a new annoyance in all this COVID-19 business. The PSAs by folks who keep saying "stay inside." That's not the mandate, really. It's to stay home. You're allowed to go outside into your yard if you have one. You can go for a walk or bike ride. *sigh*

DD found a recipe on TikTok that's gonna challenge my willpower. It's called Chili Cheese Corn Dog Casserole. She's gonna make it for dinner tonight, so I guess I'd better be chincy with the calories today so I can afford to eat it. I'll update you on Friday on both the actual taste as well as my efforts not to gorge myself.

So...DD found this while at the store:


This amuses me no end, mostly because Peeps have been a running joke in my husband's family for years. One of my sisters-in-law had a thing for Peeps way back when and so we still buy some of the more crazy flavors we come across.

Anyway, I hope you're doing well, whether your life is relatively normal or turned on its ear. See you Friday.

Quarantine Update...

Last Friday, I mentioned accomplishing some stuff. Of the three things I mentioned, only one was worked on last week as it should have been--the book; one was half-assed--the weight loss; and one wasn't even gotten to--the garage.

I just wasn't feeling it. Until yesterday. I finally started sorting through some boxes. I loaded up my car with as much stuff as I could fit without playing Tetris and jamming the cargo area full front to back, top to bottom. Of course, I'll have to unload it all tomorrow morning when I get to work, but that's fine.

Unfortunately, my trip to the donation station was originally postponed because of rain, and now it's on hold indefinitely until the world is allowed to open again. But all the stuff will be ready to go when it does.

As for the weight loss, I did get up and exercise every day but one, because I was up late (re-)watching a hockey game. I do build in those off days for the mornings after hockey game attendance or hockey game watching from home, so it wasn't as if I was cheating. In fact, I lost all those built-in off-days because hockey's been canceled.

On the other hand, I've been comfort / stress-eating more carbs than I need to, so I haven't lost anything, but I haven't gained anything either. But! Starting yesterday, I'm back to wearing the Fitbit, which tracks all my steps and exercise and food / water consumption. I'm hoping that by having to log my food and see the daily numbers, I'll be less inclined to eat the things I shouldn't. *fingers crossed* I'll see some improvement this week.

And last but not least--the writing. After exercising each morning, I plop my heinie in my chair, put on the headphones and Harry Potter soundtrack, and write. Since hockey's been canceled and I have no off-days, except the one I mentioned earlier, I've been making progress every day. Yesterday morning, I even knuckled down to sort out the actual timeline as well as some wonky plot issues. My romance beats are lined up and ready to go.

I've been working on this thing since mid-January and it's just about done and is very over word count. It's very rough and needs some heavy handed edits, but I'm ready for it!

While going through boxes left by my Brown Eyed Girl that she slated for donation--I came across this...

Why, yes, that's a tiara. While I wouldn't have bought one for myself, I'm not turning one down that's there for the re-appropriation. Where would I wear it, you ask. Well, I wore it on Sunday during my ZOOM session with some of my writers group friends. They loved it. I might even wear it to the first meeting back. :0)

And one last thing--the trip to WalMart this morning was not bad. There still wasn't any toilet paper, although they'd had some. I saw a woman with a package in her cart. Unfortunately, there was none left by the time I reached the appropriate aisle. But the cereal aisle was fully stocked and there was bottled water and plenty of bread. The lunch meat and meat displays weren't full, but they weren't barren either. I have hope that next week will be even better.

Take care and have a great week.

Why Weren't We Prepared...?

Several people, and probably more, but including Bill Gates five years ago, predicted a pandemic.

Why was the United States, then, not prepared to handle a) testing, b) vaccinations, c) the needs of the health care system to handle those infected...at the very least?

Because politicians / the government are / is generally more concerned with their own wants and needs, as well as the here and the now issues of their constituents. While the government has a role in these types of extraordinary events, and while I'm disappointed in our preparedness, is it solely the government's responsibility to be ready?

What about the health care system itself? What abut the pharmaceutical companies? What about private companies and organizations? How much falls on an individual?

I don't know the best answer, of course... No one wants to prepare (i.e. spend money) for something that seems so unlikely to happen.

Being prepared aside, it's satisfying to hear / read about how people from across all manner of industries are doing what they can.

For example:

The family distillery who switched to making hand sanitizer and offering it to their community for free; they did ask for donations, if they could be spared, but they are not refusing to give out their product.

Bauer, a sports equipment manufacturing company, who switched to making face shields for health care workers instead of hockey masks.

There are more, but you get the idea.

Anyway, it's the weekend again. So here's to that. here's hoping my local grocery store won't look so bare Sunday morning. And here's to writing time, which I will have an abundance of tomorrow morning.

And finally...the last of the cruise pictures.

From our stop in Belize:





Next time we cruise and have a stop in Belize, I'm gonna spend the day on the beach. It was incredibly beautiful there. For the rest of the Belize pictures, click here.

From our stop at Costa Maya:








I might consider swimming with the dolphins on my next trip to Costa Maya--that looked like fun. So one of those dolphins was playing catch with those people up on the walkway in the background. For the rest of the Costa Maya pictures, click here.

 Have a great weekend. :0)

No Time to Die...

That's a movie title, by the way, not any sort of commentary on anything...

One of the many things affected by COVID-19 are movie releases. While on the cruise, I happened to catch Skyfall, Daniel Craig's third Bond film and subsequently saw the trailer for this new one.


Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond and I was super excited until I got home and learned they were postponing its release until November. While I want people to be safe from illness, I'm disappointed that I won't get to see the movie anytime soon.

How about you? Who's your favorite Bond?

Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton,  Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig...

Image from James Bond Vector

Days Without Hockey

Some humor to lighten our day...









Hope you had a good weekend. I had big plans for writing. Alas, I shot myself in the foot by volunteering to host a four-hour write-in early Saturday morning for a writers conference that had transitioned from an in-person gathering to online sessions, utilizing various social media platforms as well as ZOOM.

I was going to be up and writing anyway, right? I have a ZOOM account since my own group was going to use it for our monthly meeting, right?

Problem a) I'd never attended a ZOOM meeting before and didn't know how the platform worked. Problem b) I didn't do a trial run the day before to iron out technical issues which led to wasting a full hour of writing time finding a work-around.
Problem c) Everyone arriving at various times kept distracting me from my work and so Saturday was a complete bust for me.

I did determine, however, that I prefer straight typing chats much better for that sort of thing and should we do them in the future, I will use a different platform to host.

I also spent some time Saturday afternoon using one of my favorite writers tools (a particular book) along with notes I'm made while on the cruise to get the story arc / plot onto large post-it notes to make sure I hit all the marks. Which I mostly did. Sunday's early morning writing session was very productive as a result, so whew. I was beginning to stress out that I wasn't going to ever get to write again. :0)

If you like to learn, The Great Courses if offering a one month free trial. They have a ton of really cool and interesting subjects to choose from. They do require a CC to create your account, but I just set a reminder for 27 days out to login and cancel the trial.

Here's to another week of social-distancing.

Take care--

Thank Goodness It's Friday

If there was ever a time to say Thank Goodness It's Friday it's now. As things continue to slow and shut down, I'm glad it's the weekend.

A handful of our clients have decided to work from home, but that doesn't affect us much. We're still showing up every day and taking care of the back end side of IT.

I spent some time project planning yesterday as I mentioned Wednesday I needed to do. Looking at the breakout makes me want to not do at least one of them... If you're so inclined to see what my project planning looks like, it's here. The verbiage (project / phase / task) is taken from our software at work and worked well for my purposes. Plus it's always nice when my two worlds can cross-pollinate.

Home life is back to normal. The last piece was finding my charger cable for my car, and now that's back in the car... I'll go grocery shopping early Sunday morning as per usual and hope that the shelves look closer to full than to empty. But we'll make do with whatever I find. The dog will get her first bath in probably 4 - 5 weeks, poor thing. I'll prep food for the week. Laundry will get caught up once and for all. I can hardly wait.

I might -- MIGHT -- start on that garage project.

I'm already working on the Holiday / Disability Anthology.

Aspects of the weight loss project will be put into place.

And now...more cruise pics!! These are just general pictures from time on the boat...

The view from my in-law's cabin at the back of the boat.
Playing shuffleboard one evening,even though none of us actually knew how to play.
The view down the side of the boat from deck 8, I think.
Chess, anyone?
For the rest of the randomness, click here.

Have a great weekend!