Am I there yet?

I finished up on the TV show "24" this morning. I watched all 6 seasons over the past 3 weeks. There was a "prequel" included with the last season, and I'm not sure how that qualifies. I am not sure if there are 7 or 8 seasons, but I had to go online to netflix in order to get the last season. It isn't an instant TV thing, but a DVD or Blu ray. I guess I'll have to wait until it comes in the mail later this week.
I think I am trying not to think about the stress in my life to move on, so I am escaping into the world of excitement through "24". What a great show!

I also finished the paperwork on the floor and am starting to work on plans to get the taxes started. The folks that send out the forms always wait until the end of January, so I have time to figure out what to do. I'll need a good tax person to help me sort out this mess.

I moved away from Bariatric based discussions here awhile ago, only adding things as I thought about them. I don't much think about it anymore because life is so stressful for me. I just try to eat when I'm hungry and to follow the diet as closely as possible.
I have found myself "grazing" too much recently, and have to cut back on that. I have kept up with my protein. I have to start forcing myself to take in more liquid instead of food. I am eating when I get hungry instead of drinking liquid. Usually, I can tell the difference between hunger and thirst, but the line gets blurred.
I know I should drink more, but it's tough sometimes.

I have things to do at the house in order to move forward, and I have music that I should be working on, but I still have trouble just picking up the guitar and playing.

I guess it's time to stop writing about it, and go and do something.
TTYL...

New Year's resolutions

I don't have any. I never follow them anyway and they just serve to make me feel guilty, so why bother?

I have made some changes in my life again. I'll talk about them another time.

I have been stuck for about two weeks, but have finally gotten unstuck.

I don't know if anyone else goes through this, but I imagine someone out there does. I have bursts of energy where I can keep going and going mentally. I make lists and all of a sudden, I get things done and the lists are finished. 

Then, I burn out big time.

I used to be able to go as long as I needed mentally, but now I find that I just fizzle after 14 hours or so. I am getting older. In my head, I feel like I'm 18, but the mind and body know better.I have to say that I used to worry about it, but now I am more frustrated than worried. It doesn't depress me as much as makes me mad. I would like to do a few marathons where I work until I'm finished with something, rather than pacing it out over several days, weeks, or months. This happens to me more mentally than physically. I think I could keep on painting for 12 hours a day until I'm finished, but my mind just won't let me. It stops thinking, I get very sloppy, and I have to quit.

So this past Sunday, I spent an hour in the morning going through the huge piles of paper that have accumulated due to my wife's death. Add to that receipts from bills, medical and legal stuff, and paper that I just couldn't categorize. I didn't know where else to put it, so it went into one of the 5 boxes until I got the energy to go through it.

This next year, I think I will get a money program and follow it. I really think that the solution will be to re-organize my methods so that I don't end up having to spend hours doing something. Rather, I will put it away as soon as I get it.

I noticed that I have gained weight because it was hard to sit on the floor and sort stuff, and that scares me more than frustrates me. My legs were falling asleep, and the bulge around my middle was the culprit. I will be calling the bariatric center for a refresh, and a dressing down so I can get back on track. I did start my diet again and found that it does help me to control my appetite. But, I digress....

I managed to shred a bag of paper, cutting down on my paper load on Sunday morning. The bag was also filled with envelopes, and junk added to the letters I got. You know, those fliers with helpful information in them designed to waste paper, and compel you to buy their product?

But, as of Sunday morning after I did all this work, I looked at the pile and it didn't seem any smaller. I had pulled out my bill box and spread out the bills so I could organize and consolidate them, so the room looked a mess, with piles of paper all over the place, as well as left over shavings from the shredding machine. The damn thing is messy. I have confetti all over the room!

So, I forced myself to go into the room again an hour before I went to sleep and work some more. I sat and filtered down even more paper until it was finished.

This morning after work, I came home, ate, and then came in and finished shredding.

I have one more box to do and that will be a bear. It has all the medical bills in it. It is a large shoebox that is overflowing with bills. The only thing I can do is to sort them, consolidate them, and separate the bills from the documents of "This is not a bill". I don't know why they send that stuff if it is not a bill, but they do. Like I really care!

I am making progress, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I need to clean the room when I am finished. Then, I need to move stuff from the back bedroom to this room in order to paint the back bedroom.

After living on this planet in this wonderful country for 57 years, I have yet to figure out why they (you know *"THEM"?) need to screw things up with excess paperwork. The only time it matters is when you are rich and can afford to hire an accountant to do this stuff for you. The poor people get screwed over royally anyway. It's just nasty to send us this crap just to twist the knife a little more. And then they complain about rising costs and they blame US.

Well, I got rid of all the excess paper in the shredding machine. If they want me to go back and show them something, they can go to the landfill and dig it up themselves.

So, sitting on my formerly fat ass for 5 hours or so was not in the least bit satisfying. The next step is to deal with taxes. This is where they explain why they have to take everything I have so that they can feed the people who are too lazy to work.

I am finished venting. I hope my next post will be a bit more positive.

* Them - these are the ones we blame for everything. When things go wrong, it's always "THEM"! They did it. They caused it. Why do they do things like that? They always mess things up. It's never me....it's THEM! Phew, I feel better now.