Thursday. Another busy day. Rodrigo is out sick, so we are short staffed and really feeling it. I was at my desk all day and am just getting busier. Tomorrow, I am sure, is going to be quite busy. I will probably be working over the weekend to try to keep up with the current demands.
Today was a coffee day. Paul brought some amazing, freshly packed Colombia coffee beans that we made a couple of pots of today and drank all day.
Today is Paul’s only full day in Texas before he leaves again. Just back from Medellin, Colombia, he is heading off to Missouri tomorrow for several days there.
The temperature really dropped this afternoon. This morning we were pretty warm and we had several of the windows open. By evening we were very chilly.
Dominica and I managed to go out for our walk this evening before it got dark. But we were too late to go out while the temperature was still nice. So it was a rather cold walk. We just did our short loop in the greenway, nothing too crazy. But we have been doing a rather good job of sticking to it. This is about a week of solid, daily exercise now. And a week and a half of being on our calorie counting diets. I weighed in today and it has been pretty consistent progress.
Kat was supposed to come over this evening. But then changed to coming over this morning. But ended up getting tied up and couldn’t come this morning. So we never saw her.
After eating a little too much yesterday, today I was not hungry all day and just skipped eating. Why eat if you are not feeling hungry? So, I suppose, that totally offsets any calorie overages that I might have incurred yesterday. My guess is that I was somewhere in the 1,500 to 1,800 calorie range yesterday, which is too high for me it seems. But it was high enough that I did not feel any need to even snack today. So, I will count that as a win.
Since this is the only day that Paul is in town, he and Dominica did a quick run to Costco this evening to make sure that we had necessary supplies to get through until next week.
The girls took a bath tonight and played with the last of Luciana’s bath bombs. And both girls got their swim goggles and played in the tub with them. Luciana had done this last night as well. I think that it makes her feel like she is practicing for swimming this summer.
I was on the phone for work until after eight at night. A very busy day. Once I finally got away from my desk, I moved to the bar to “work” and Dominica put on The Golden Girls.
Nick stopped by this evening. And he brought a six pack of Revolver Full-Tang IPA which was pretty good. He hung out for an hour or two at the Sheraton Lounge before heading home. I only had one, which is good, as it was my sole calorie source for the day. But I was never really hungry. Now we will see what happens tomorrow after I go a full twenty four hours without food. A bit more, actually, as it was twenty four hours before I went to bed. It will be about forty hours by the time that I eat something tomorrow, most likely.
I realized today when I was getting lots of posts on LinkedIn congratulating me on my twentieth work anniversary that NTG was now twenty years old! Unbelievable. Two entire decades. So many people have been a part of the team over the years.
I made the kids soup and sandwiches for their late dinner tonight. Dominica sent them to bed, and I spent at least forty minutes talking to them and teaching them about how to set and manage their own alarms. We are trying having them get up to an alarm tomorrow. And then tomorrow we are going to have them set a “last meal” alarm as one of our hardest issues is getting them able to go to bed at night because they constantly ask for more food. Once it gets to be about ten thirty, our evening tends to turn into a nearly constantly barrage of asking for more meals. That, more than the sleep, we need to figure out how to shift. But it seems like only by shifting their sleep times can we shift their meal times. And having them understand and anticipate a final meal “cut off” time seems to be the only way that it will work.
I stayed up late getting some work done. Without late nights to myself, there really isn’t much time for me to really do the “catch up” type of work that I often need. My days are just too busy and interrupted to really focus and knock things out. And the evenings are always full of one thing or another. So once everyone goes to bed and the house is quiet is really my time to be able to do that stuff. My to do list is not all that bad at the moment. But does require my attention a little.
The alarm talk seemed to work well, the girls went to sleep pretty quickly. So that seems like it was a good idea.
I was not able to get to sleep anytime quickly. Around two in the morning, when I realized that I was not tired in the least, I realized that I had had some of my first caffeine in a really long time today, because Paul had brought that awesome coffee from Colombia that we had to try right away. So my caffeine level for the day, while nothing for what I used to drink, is easily the most I’ve had in nine months! And on top of that, I had not a single bite of food today. So that means that I am probably in full on fat burning mode, and that always makes me have more energy and need to sleep less. The combination, especially since caffeine is a trigger to push you into fat burning, probably means that I have a crazy amount of energy.
I wish that it was not so cold or I would have used the excess of energy to go out for a couple mile walk in the middle of the night. Need to burn it off somehow.
I got my inbox cleared down to almost nothing tonight. Wide awake quiet time can be very productive.
I thought about going out for a walk even though it had gotten chilly, but I checked the weather and it wasn’t just chilly, but it was below freezing. So that plan was scuttled.
Rodrigo, who is super sick, ended up coming online to work at three in the morning because he could not sleep. So we talked a little. Our first real chance to catch up this week as he has been so sick. I think that he has strep throat, but they don’t have the cultures yet. At least he is on antibiotics now, as of this morning.
I have SpiceCorps DFW to attend tomorrow evening. Down in Irving. I have not made one in a while, it should be fun. No sponsor or speakers this time, just people hanging out. And tacos.
Paul is leaving for Missouri in the morning. His plan is to leave around six. I saw him get up twice during the night while I was still exercising!
Paul got up at three thirty. At four twenty, I decided to make an attempt at getting some sleep.