random bits

Happy Sunday!

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I am really over the winter season and ready for Spring.  Unfortunately, the calendar is not in agreement and it is only the beginning of January.  Tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be “take your breath away and freeze exposed skin in minutes” temperature days.  ICK!  Oh, and that is after it rains later and changes to snow tonight… so everything should be coated in a nice layer of ice to add to the fun.

Today I went and gave blood.  A different experience though because I did a double red-cell donation instead of a whole blood donation.  They hook you up to a machine, take out your blood, separate the red blood cells from the plasma and platelets, then put the plasma and platelets back into you with additional saline (and then do it again to get a double batch.)  This allows them to get twice the red blood cells from you.  You can’t donate again for 112 days as compared to the 56 days if you do whole blood.

However, since I am 5’4″ tall, I was told when they switch over to all the new machines, I won’t be able to do the double type.  Seems odd that it would be allowed just because the machine is older but apparently it had something to do with the rate it processes the blood and to have the proper volume women have to be 5’5″ (but I may still qualify if my iron is high enough and depending on my weight).

One of the cool things about it was that you don’t have to sit there and eat cookies or crackers and juice after.  Since they put saline back with the plasma and platelets, it has less of an impact on the way you feel.

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Made egg salad today, we’re going to have it for dinner and I’m also going to portion it out for a few days worth of work food.  I’d like to get back to planning and taking my own lunches.  Even though lunch is free at the cafeteria, it isn’t always full of great choices.  There is a salad bar but I am not a fan of lettuce unless I have lots of dressing.  I was getting the vegetable occasionally, the soup, and then peppers and cucumbers with a bit of lettuce.  When you added in the crackers that I must put in soup and the dressing I can’t pass up… even those seemingly healthy choices end up being higher in calories without much protein to keep me satisfied to the end of the work day.  Then I want a snack, and I have candy bars (not just a few, actually within my office at the moment there’s about 72 candy bars and it can be up to 108 or 144 candy bars if I’ve just been to the distributor for an order) in my office that are for sale for the students’ fundraising.  I have a box of Corn Pops (yes, that cereal formerly known as Sugar Pops!) and maple oatmeal.  Much smarter sugary snack!  Plus, the lunches I will take have decent protein levels for better satiety.

I’m gonna kick butt in all of the weight loss competitions I am in currently!!!

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A couple of my co-workers are looking at doing the Autism Frostbite 5k in March…  since the 5k I originally planned on doing is in April, not March as I thought, I am considering it.  The pros are: still have a goal to work for in March, good cause, friends to run with, still can do the others in April and so more is better.  The cons:  it starts at 8am and with it’s location I would have to leave my house by 6am, in March, on a Saturday…  So I am leaning towards bailing and just having my first one be the 5k I’d originally planned on doing.   Which starts at 10am on a Saturday in April (much more reasonable since I wouldn’t have to leave my house until closer to 9.)

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I plan on doing my first and second 5K of 2014 a week apart…  I don’t know if this is necessarily a good idea but by that point (in April) I should be running 3.1 miles at least once a week and that would be Saturday anyway…

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Okay, off to do some dishes, sort out my plastic food containers (not being able to find lids to match bowls is driving me nuts), and shred some onions and cabbage (also to be packaged up for work food)