Category Archives: Challenges

Diet and Exercise Run Amok

dumpaday.com

It’s run amok because I am a stress eater. My appetite would choke a horse on regular days. Under stress, I could win awards at the hot dog eating contests at the fair.

When we were dating, my husband would suddenly decide we should stop and get something to eat – a thing I later realized was a reaction to my getting terse, sarcastic, and maybe even downright ‘snipe-y’ when I got too hungry.

My appetite is endless and I end up stuffing my face with all sorts of things I shouldn’t eat. Afterwards, my more mature side comes out and takes the lead. Happily, MOST of my days are more controlled. I’m having a bit more trouble lately.

The good thing, as far as I’m concerned, is that each day is a new one. I’m coming up with more and more things to do that are fun and distracting – or productive – to do, resulting in fewer ‘stuff-my-face’ binges. I’m trying to plan our meals and any snacks. When my husband brings home things we shouldn’t eat, I put them somewhere I don’t see them – or, better yet, have HIM put them somewhere HE can access them if he wants, but that I don’t run across them continually.

I’m writing down my elliptical practice and my yoga stretches on my to-do list, scheduling them in my day as priorities. As a part of the to-do stuff is one project each day that will make me feel productive. (Today’s project is working on a clean-up of my art room.)

SO – as I type, my mouth is firmly closed. :0) I’m going to heed this suggestion –

Elizabeth Gilbert via 2STARart.com

One day at a time.

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, taking care of yourself

We Have a Leak

Pinterest

In 2005 we bought a competitor to the Sleep Number Bed, called Celenia, by Comfortaire. It has been a wonderful bed. We particularly like the fact that each of us can independently adjust the firmness of our side of the bed. It has worked flawlessly until lately, when my husband keeps having to hit the control to pump up his side.

We stripped the bed all the way down to the fancy, super-sturdy air mattresses this morning. We will tackle finding and repairing the leak, if possible today. This is much like finding a leak in a tire. We will make up a solution of soap and water and see if any area of the bed bubbles up. If that doesn’t find it, the problem may be where the hose goes into the mattress – a more complicated problem.

I’m a good go-fer and will endeavor to keep my mouth firmly closed – with any suggestions or questions squelched before they are allowed to see the light of day. Hopefully, we will find and fix the leak while I’m washing everything that goes ON the bed. I really would rather not have to call and try to find someone who can come and fix it for us…

Fingers crossed for our success.

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FINALLY!

I saw this Everblade Knife on TV around the beginning of November and ordered it online. I waited and waited, but didn’t receive it. Finally, a week or so ago, I wrote, telling them to either send the knife I ordered or give me a refund. It was just delivered about 30 minutes ago, January 25th.

Though the shipping was lousy, the knife seems to be first class. It comes with a self-sharpener for the blade built into the holder, which sticks to whatever surface you would like. Every time you take the knife out or put it back in, the blade is sharpened.

I have high hopes, since it was advertised that it makes cutting squash and/or bread easy, and that really appealed to me. You have to hand wash and dry it, but that’s a very small price to pay if it’s as good as I hope it is.

I’ll make a note to let you know.

_________________________________

The other thing I ordered about the same time was a purse. It looked like a good size, had a strap so you can wear it cross-body, is large enough to easily carry my big wallet/checkbook combination, and looked like leather, even though it cost almost nothing.

Again I just received it in the mail this past week. I transferred all my STUFF to it yesterday and carried it for the first time today. I love it. It’s probably not leather, but it FEELS good. Nice and soft and yummy.

This is the back.

This is the front.

I love it. So the lesson for the day is that determination and patience pays off. :0)

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Filed under Cause for Celebration, Challenges

I DID IT!

I just finished my part of the tax prep for the year. I feel SMUG, TRIUMPHANT, and RELIEVED.

I feel SMUG because I jumped right in on it this year, rather than doing my normal procrastinating until it was a really stressful, have-to thing. I have been inputting monthly information on the spreadsheets I created for each tax category so that when all the information is there, I just total it and print it. This has been the best year ever for staying on top of things. I have opened the spreadsheets now for 2021.

Depositphotos

I feel TRIUMPHANT because I figured out some things on my filing system for receipts that will save me a LOT of time and effort next year.

I feel RELIEVED because it is done ahead of time – for once. I will print investment statements when they are available and then we can take it all to our wonderful CPA to perform his magic and make sure all is good.

HOORAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

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Filed under Cause for Celebration, Challenges

Talking to Myself

Askideas.com

I’ve been talking to myself again; sometimes it’s the most intelligent conversation I have all day! :0)

One of the things I’m talking to myself about is NOT stuffing something into my face. I’ve been doing better on that lately, even though I’m a stress eater. I also could eat the entire house when I’m up in the middle of the night, not able to sleep.

The last several days I’ve been slogging my way through tax prep. (I’m hoping to essentially finish that up today). When my brain goes glassy, I get up and move around. I get some water. If the weather is reasonable, I put on a jacket and walk around the yard a bit. If not, I do a few minutes on my elliptical trainer in the garage. In the afternoon my ‘break’ takes the form of stretching yoga.

It is my hope that all of this will come together – resulting in

less lard

less pain

feeling good

In the meantime, I tell myself to take it one day at a time and

taolife.com

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, DIET!, Encouragement, exercise

What Will You Do With Your Now?

Forwarded by a friend

I laughed when I saw this. I have to admit that I do identify with it.

In our world today, tensions remain high. Emotions live at the surface. It’s hard to know whether to keep up with the news of the day or avoid it and cover up your head. Communication can be strained. Attitudes are like yo-yos or roller coasters. You’re not sure whether to smile and put your hands in the air or crawl down into the bottom of the ride car and hope the ride will end soon. It’s hard to plan when we don’t have the first clue what’s happening or what may be in the future.

I have found that I like to feel in control. I like to plan my day – know what’s going to happen – get things ready. Very little of that is possible now, so I’m a bit at loose ends.

But then – as I’ve had some time to think about it – I have never really had control over much of anything. That’s all just been an illusion. I DO have control over how I REACT to whatever is happening, though, so THAT’S where I will put my concentration and efforts.

All we really have is NOW. The PRESENT. I will try to remember that and make each NOW count. Make each NOW the best I can make it. Make each NOW productive, enjoyable, or at least as pleasant as possible. And make the people sharing my NOW know how very much they mean to me.

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, taking care of yourself

Perfect Weather for Tax Prep

Today through Monday is the perfect weather here for tax prep – cold, raw, rainy, gray. I don’t mean to offend tax people – in fact, our CPA is one of our favorite people. I just dread MY part in it each year.

I’ve come up with a system that causes the least pain now, though. I built spreadsheets for each category of itemization and strive to add information to them monthly so that I’m not faced with a truly awful amount of time trying to go through things to make sense of them. I finish December’s input, total the spreadsheets, print them, etc.

Our CPA provides a booklet through which I trudge, filling in information, adding spreadsheets and documentation. The booklet makes sure I don’t miss anything. I’m doing it this weekend, trying to finish tomorrow.

Then I just wait for the tax documents I need to arrive in the mail or be available for download and printing online, bag it all up and dump it on our CPA.

Since our weather is dreary and yucky, I’m not distracted by wanting to be outside. Hopefully, I can keep my head down and get this done.

Have a happy day!

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Filed under Challenges, Mother Nature

Hold On To Hope

source unknown

One of my favorite ‘memes’ – or things by which I try to live is, “Today I will not stress over things I can’t control.” I have it printed and up with magnets on the file cabinet near my computer so that I am reminded.

We are submerged right now in all kinds of things we can’t control and it’s easy to become depressed and frightened. There is a lot of fear, hate, and hurtful labels flying around that only compound our negative emotions.

I am reminding myself to breathe a lot. Just one breath at a time, slow and deep. (Yeah. I’m nuts. I talk to myself a lot in an effort to retain SOME portion of sanity. :0) ) I’m doing my yoga stretches in the afternoons – again – s l o w l y – trying to end up relaxed and looser. If I get sleepy, I’m OLD – so I can give myself permission to take a nap, whether to cover up my head and get away from what’s bothering me, or a power nap just to recharge for whatever comes next.

I go to my art room. Sometimes I’m actually productive, but other times I just sit there, clean things up a bit (or a lot), consider possibilities, dream… I listen to music on my MP3 player or on my computer. That always transports me, lifting my spirits. When the weather gets better, I look forward to working in my flowers and my garden. (Now I am plotting and planning which plants will go in which squares in my raised bed, square foot planter veggie garden in the spring. I’m going to TRY to get some plants going on my counter in the garage starting mid Feb or early Mar)

I hope that you have things that help you cope, too. The world is a scary place now and SO much of is made up of things over which you have no control. My suggestion is that you control what you can in your everyday living to insulate and isolate yourself from things while you protect yourself physically and emotionally.

Things will get better eventually. One day at a time. Stay safe and well.

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, taking care of yourself

Kindness

SayingImages.com

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Finding the Joy

ABC News – go.com

My efforts to keep hope alive continue.

Things that I have found helpful include –

  • Doing one concrete thing on my to-do list for the day.
  • Finding something hopeful to share on the blog.
  • Playing in my art room.
  • Reading
  • Listening to music – I have an MP3 player, plus I listen to my favorites list on YouTube
  • Learning something new on YouTube, such as a demonstration of an art technique
  • Singing (I do this outside while I’m walking around our yard. I used to play the guitar a bit, enough to accompany myself back in the dark ages of folk music. I gave my guitar to our son years ago. I only croak to myself now.)
  • Playing with Amber (our 95 pound yellow lab) – I’m trying to teach her ‘throw and bring back.’ She prefers ‘tug-o-war’ and run around the yard in a victory lap, shaking the toy.
  • Feeling good about doing my exercises and putting a gold star on my desk calendar when I’ve finished my elliptical trainer and my yoga stretches for the day.
  • Consciously mentally listing good things in my life

Life these days is challenging on a whole lot of different levels. If we really try, we can help each other find the joy.

Pin on Rainbow Connection

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Best Laid Plans…

123RF.com

I was going to get a big list done today, but my plans went awry.

I was getting ready to go out to the garage to put in my 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer. My husband wanted us to go to Walmart and get some glue, so I switched gears, grabbed our Walmart list and we headed for town. We DID manage to leave our trash at the bottom of the driveway and get our mail on the way. We got what we needed at Walmart, even though my husband was in the mood to wander around. Since we get very little entertainment these days, I tried to be patient.

By the time we got home, it was time to fix lunch, so I did that. Then I started getting ready to go to Rags & Roses to change out my products and rearrange the booth. My husband got a reminder on his computer that he was supposed to check the oil in the generator, so he went out to do that. Just as I was getting ready to go out the door, he came in, saying that we needed to get another battery for the generator. He insisted we go back to Walmart.

We took the old battery in and left it in a receptacle at the customer service desk where indicated, found a replacement battery and brought it home. We had a bit of trouble getting the new one in, but finally managed to get it hooked up and tested. Then we ran a quick test on the generator and it was good.

My husband went to put a tool back in the well house and decided he wanted to start the propane-powered gas heater in the well house to keep our pipes from freezing. (We have a small electric heater that turns itself on when it gets too cold in there, and it was on. ) He had a bit of trouble getting the pilot light lit and the heater on, but we finally prevailed.

On the way back to the house, we saw that the new pvc pipe we use on our irrigation system on one of the planters was broken in two. We thought about tackling replacing that, but we were just too tired at that point to care much.

Both of us fell asleep in our chairs.

Now it’s too late to go to the booth in town, too late to do my elliptical trainer in the garage, and too late to do my yoga practice.

SO –

I will write this day off as far as trying to get my list done and hope for more success tomorrow.

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises, Housekeeping - Maintenance

Under Height

I’m doing well so far with getting serious again about eating right and exercising. My scales are starting to take notice and do something besides smirk. I’m doing my elliptical trainer in the morning and my yoga stretches in the afternoon and trying to concentrate on moving in-between. I felt bad Friday afternoon, but other than that have done well. :0)

Instead of a commercial weight loss program as we’ve tried before, we are enjoying frozen meals for dinner from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ – both new to Greenwood, interspersed with my own cooking, the leftovers from which are stored in individual servings in the freezer with the other meals. This encourages paying attention to what a ‘serving’ is. Sometimes I fix an extra veggie or salad on the side, but most of the time, it’s just the meal.

For lunch we’re having homemade tuna fish salad – made from one small can packed in water for the two of us – sugar free jello, plus I have olives and my husband has sweet pickles. We are trying not to snack in-between meals or before bed.

I’m trying to drink lots of water.

I’m hoping to be able to report a good amount of poundage loss by the end of the month, but it will take as long as it takes. As long as the scales are showing a downward trajectory and my measuring tape is showing a bit of progress, I will be satisfied.

I will be delighted if I feel stronger, more flexible, have more energy, and feel fewer balance problems as I continue to exercise daily. I smile when I see the gold stars on my desk calendar. I will have earned 6 stars this week – and will have a chance to earn 14 next week. :0)

With so many things happening in the world over which I have NO control, I take comfort that THIS is something I CAN control.

TaoLife.com

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, DIET!, exercise, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself

Decision

Oberto

For my husband and I today is DAY ONE.

This morning we started an honest effort to get ‘back on the horse’ of our healthy diet – and for ME – daily exercise – in a real effort to continue our efforts to get the lard off, get and stay healthier. Our ‘diet’ has no time limit. We are trying to make a lifestyle change. This is not to say we won’t celebrate occasionally, or indulge in a favorite goodie when we reach our goals. This IS to say we will eat mindfully, trying to eat fresh, clean, REAL food.

I made tuna fish salad for our lunch. We had sugar free jello, and I had some black olives.

I read today that drinking broth is a good way to solve any hunger problems. I have some here at home, but will try to find a bone or chicken broth with the lowest sodium I can find. I will plan to make a cup for a mid afternoon snack.

Clipart Library

I have earned one gold star so far today for doing 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer. It’s in our garage, so I got a little cold, but I consider this a character-building – as well as physical – exercise. :0) I will try for a second gold star this afternoon, when I plan to do about half an hour of yoga stretches. I will also make note of my steps, although this is more of a monitoring effort right now, just to make me pay a bit more attention to it and motivate me to move a bit more.

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, taking care of yourself

W-D 40

Momma Giggles – Facebook – Pinterest

I’m pretty dense (aka ‘stupid’) when it comes to exercise. It’s one of the many things I would LIKE to do – wishing I felt the orgasmic high people on TV commercials get while they pump and sweat, looking great doing it. Sad to say, I have to talk myself into exercise. I know it’s GOOD for me, but it’s one of the many lessons I seem to need to relearn over and over.

During our holiday splurge time, I kept finding excuses for not doing my walking, my elliptical trainer, and my yoga. My exercise DVDs sit gathering dust on my shelf in the living room. I’m a slug.

The thing that has finally gotten me doing at LEAST my half hour or so of yoga stretches daily is the fact that my body is hurting. I’m creaky when I get up from my chair and start walking. My back is stiff. My right shoulder seems to be on strike, affecting my movements at odd times.

My reaction to the stiffness and pain has been to move LESS – because it hurts or is uncomfortable. My body’s reaction to THAT is to hurt more. And so the cycle goes.

My brain finally caught up with the pattern and I started doing my yoga stretches. Granted, the stretches are modified right now, but I’m doing them, breathing into the poses, moving slowly and steadily.

Once again, I am re-learning the getting older lesson – “Use it or lose it.”

I’m feeling better each day now. Starting Thursday, I’ll try to do my elliptical trainer every other day. My gold stars are ready to be put onto my desk calendar.

I may be dense, but there is hope.

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One Joy

I don’t think it’s Pollyanna-ish to choose to focus on what is good, rather than bad, in your life. A positive attitude not only affects how you feel and act, it’s contagious. (A very small example of this is when you choose to smile at people. I have found that most people smile at you in return.) People who answer phones as part of their work are taught to smile when they are talking to people on the phone because you can HEAR a smile over the phone lines or through the air waves.

Of course, you can’t be happy ALL the time. People have been squashed like bugs because someone wants their SHOES – and the same can happen with people who are TOO perky – TOO Smiley – TOO optimistic….

EzyVectors.com

My point is that it is your decision – to a large extent – to be mainly happy with your life (growing, learning new things, embracing new ideas, finding fun ways to spend your time) or allowing your world to implode, (being interested in fewer and fewer things, being whiny, complaining, not trying to reach out and get help, etc.)

I have watched people I love folding into themselves, their worlds getting smaller and smaller, not bothering to try to keep up with what is happening in the world, giving up things that used to bring them joy, not taking care of themselves, becoming brittle in mind and body. It breaks my heart.

Each of us handles aging, changes, and outlook in our own way, and we should be free to do that.

I am choosing to embrace the good stuff – finding things that bring me joy and sharing them however I can. I love it when someone writes, telling me they love a picture I’ve posted, laughed at a joke, encouraged them to try something new. Each of us can try to take something positive and pass it on. Everyone is richer for it. Maybe ‘Pollyanna-ish-ness’ is a survival skill.

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement, kindness

Laborious Aquarium Clean-Out

What is usually a 30 minute job turned into at least a two-HOUR job this morning and afternoon. I was putting together the aquarium after cleaning and ran into a problem with the filter. The motor wasn’t running when I plugged it in. I played with it, my muttering becoming more and more colorful as nothing worked. I finally asked my husband to come look at it.

He looked at things, tested it, and decided it was dead. I found one of our old filters and installed it so that the sweet fish wouldn’t croak while we waited for a replacement. My husband continued to look at the one that wasn’t working, and decided it was working again. I changed things out, only to find out the motor died. We did this two more times. Finally, he took the filter apart as far as he could and found a part he thought had been jammed. I changed the filters out for the fourth time and it worked. I told my husband I would fix lunch and leave the new filter running and see if it quit again.

I came back after lunch and it was still working. I then proceeded to clean up the kitchen – which is always a mess after aquarium cleaning – PLUS now from the lunch fixing. I have just now finished cleaning up and leaving the dishwasher running.

All this for two goldfish who never say a word, show any affection, do tricks, or perform any service. They DID get into the far right corner of the tank and wriggle their little bodies, opening and closing their mouths as they looked at me. I broke down and put a bit more food in the tank.

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Hooooraaaaaaay!

depositphotos.com

I told you yesterday that I spent the morning installing the newest version of Windows, then Start 10, then made a new System Image to use in case of catastrophic failure, then backed up my data. I am one of the least technical people I know so this was stressful, but necessary.

The result of all that – other that I’m grateful it’s done – is that the folder in which I have gathered images for the blog and elsewhere only showed an ‘icon’ image, NOT the picture. It showed the name of the picture, but not the image. This is really frustrating, irritating, and down right unacceptable. I know better than to ask my husband about it, so I have been fighting with it off and on the rest of the day yesterday and then about an hour just now. I kept at it, and then FINALLY hit an option button that restored the images. Whew!

I’m feeling a bit triumphant, a bit empowered, but mostly grateful and relieved.

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Arrrrgh!

Balanced for Life Yoga Therapy

My whole day thus far has been spent trying to get my computer updated.

I updated to the newest version of Windows, and then made a system disk, just in case my computer crashes with no warning. That took from 9:00 this morning until about 20 minutes ago. I was beginning to think I would die of old age before it finally finished.

I am not a computer or technical person. It’s all magic to me. I love my computer when it’s working and am ready to toss it out the window when it isn’t. Happily, it seems to be working okay now, except for a folder of images I’ve gathered for my blogs. They have names under an icon for a picture, all looking the same. Arrrrgh!

SO. I will limp along, hoping that if I can’t figure out what to do to fix it, it will miraculously heal by itself. (One can HOPE…)

Clipart Library

On a happier note, our weather is nice now, although it’s still a bit brisk outside. There is lots of glorious sunshine and the temperature is now 46! We will probably get rain Saturday, but no more forecasts of snow/sleet, and flying hairballs in the near future. I’ll take it. :0)

Pinterest

We will celebrate Christmas with the Lunch Bunch tomorrow, exchanging gifts, eating, laughing, and catching up. The next Friday is Christmas, and the following Friday is New Year’s Day, so we probably won’t meet again until January 8th. We’ll have to make it last.

I hope that your Thursday is an enjoyable one.

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Dead Eye

Spic.one

I finally saw some progress on my scales this morning. My husband and I have been eating well, enjoying individual frozen meals from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin‘ in Greenwood.

The problem is that we’ve been enjoying too much OTHER food that isn’t so good for us. The pandemic is our latest excuse, but the real problem is us.

I have decided – once again – to be responsible for my OWN eating, letting my husband stuff his face with ‘sticky buns’ – his latest indulgence, while I drink more water, eat some raw veggies with Ranch dressing as a dip, and hopefully continue to see results on the scales. The fact that HE is also seeing results is maddening – but I’m too old too whine and pout – MUCH…

I will concentrate on doing my elliptical trainer this morning, my yoga this afternoon, eating my raw veggies and drinking water, and looking forward to the scales being impressed with my efforts.

Please wish me luck.

123RF.com

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Filed under Challenges, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself

Terrific Tuesday

Forward from friend Bill Lites

The photo above was just what I needed to lift my spirits this morning. I hope it does the same for you.

We are all living through a roller coaster of emotion this year with politics, the pandemic, the economy and worry about what lies ahead.

My personal way of dealing with all of this is to concentrate on doing things that bring me joy or a sense of accomplishment, things that allow me to escape for awhile, to concentrate on one day at a time, working on things I can control, cherishing the wonderful things in my life, trying to sustain through humor.

Forward by Bill Lites

I am concentrating on how very lucky I am at this very moment. My family is doing well. We are trying to stay safe, being as careful as possible. I have a wonderful group of friends who mean the world to me. I’m concentrating on trying to let them know.

I’m working to fill each day with as much joy as I can.

This is a terrific Tuesday. I hope you feel the same.

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Friendship, taking care of yourself, Thoughts on a ________

You’re Never Too Old

Yesterday my husband went out to burn boxes in our burn barrel. I asked him if he wanted me to stay and help, but he said he was fine.

I went inside, taking some time for a bathroom break. When I came out, I saw he wasn’t back in the house yet. I went out to check on him.

The burn barrel had smoke coming up, but all the boxes were gone. My husband wasn’t there. I started looking around.

I found him, and wanted to kill him. He was lying on his back on top of the roof of our shop! (He has had several mini-strokes, just celebrated his 77th birthday, and we have agreed that we are too old to be up on roofs anymore.)

I tried to remain calm while talking to him. He wasn’t hurt, but he realized the ladder was rickity when he was on the way up. (He went up anyway.) He wanted to re-attach a wire to the power pole thingie that is attached to the front of the shop. He had gotten the wire re-attached, but realized the ladder might not stay where he needed it when he tried to get down. So he decided to wait for me to come ‘rescue’ him.

I held the ladder (and my breath) while he came over to the edge of the roof and got onto the ladder. He got down safely.

I reminded him that we had agreed that we weren’t going up on roofs anymore. He huffily told me that this job was ‘within his capabilities.’ I told him that I needed to be able to trust him not to do things like this without at least letting me know. He said he knew I would come out to check on him and would ‘rescue’ him then, even if he was lying on the roof all day…

He is lucky to still be alive today.

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Diet by the Sexes

Pinterest

I am of two minds about my husband’s progress on “OUR” diet.

Even though “I” am the one who plans the meals and snacks, cooks them – or heats up meals from REAL FOOD or STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’ in Greenwood, the one who exercises (elliptical trainer at least 3 times a week, yoga stretches almost every day), my HUSBAND is the one who has almost reached his diet goal.

I look for sugar-free snacks for him, since he is a Type II diabetic. He continues to throw ‘goodies’ with sugar into our grocery basket. I have decided that at 77, he is definitely old enough to either follow what he should and shouldn’t eat, or take the consequences. I don’t fuss at him now, but I do encourage him to eat healthier stuff, and the things I give him or make for him are healthy.

Regardless – his blood sugar numbers are good. His blood pressure numbers are good. He has reached his goal weight, though he snacks several times a day. “I” still have 30 lbs to lose. Is there a lesson here?

The ‘good person’ side of me is happy for him. All told he has lost a lot of weight. His numbers are good now. The ‘bad person’ side of me wants to strangle him. :0/

Pinterest

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Our Job

L. R. Knost – SayingImages.com

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Filed under Challenges, empowerment, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes, kindness

HELP!

cooking.NYTimes.com

I told you that my HUSBAND got peanut brittle for his birthday yesterday from the NICE folks at The Pizza Barn in Greenwood.

Now “I” can’t stay AWAY from it! It is CALLING to me from the kitchen as I type. My mouth is watering. I haven’t had any in YEARS. Neither one of us should be eating it, but my husband is adamant he doesn’t want me to throw it away.

All our friends are watching what they eat, so we cannot give the delicious stuff away.

I Googled the question of whether I can FREEZE it, and found out that that is possible. It will keep for 3 months. IF I can do this without upsetting my husband, maybe we can both forget about it until the 3 months has past and THEN we can throw it away.

It has such a plaintive voice…

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Wuss

Hey Sigmund

I have, perhaps, the greatest dentist in the world. His name is Wesley Moore and his office is in Fort Smith.

When I had my recent routine dental cleaning, the hygienist found the first cavity I have ever had. :0( I have to get it filled tomorrow morning.

Dr. Moore pulled a wisdom tooth last year that had broken off and caused problems plus a whole lot of pain. He used some type of medicine that put me in a ‘twilight state,’ (my description). I knew what was going on and was able to cooperate, but didn’t feel anything or remember the details afterwards. It was wonderful. :0)

Since I immediately started having nightmares about my cavity filling (I admit it – I’m a total WUSS when it comes to anything involving the dentist) I called and asked them if they could give me the wonderful medicine again for the procedure. They didn’t call me a wuss or tell me that it was beyond ‘wussy’ to ask for it. They just rescheduled my appointment and arranged for that to happen.

I’m still uptight about having my first cavity and having to have it filled, but the experience with the medication makes it so I’m not having to be beaten down with a stick today in anticipation.

We will leave first thing in the morning, so I may not write tomorrow until later – or maybe not at all. Just wanted you to know, in case you were wondering why the chatterbox goes suddenly silent. :0)

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, taking care of yourself

Finally an Answer!

Eric Geiger – Effex

Ever since WordPress (my blog host) ‘improved’ their website, I have not been able to see or choose categories for my posts. They have all been ‘uncategorized,’ lumped into the great mishmash in the sky, never to be found again.

I had looked and looked, not even able to figure out how to talk to a real person, much less find where my categories were listed, or if they even HAD category options anymore. Yesterday I finally found a CHAT and talked to a nice man who gave me URLs to the information I needed. They didn’t work, though, and he showed me screen shots of what HE was seeing.

Google Chrome – Wikimedia Commons

It finally dawned on me that some other websites I use, such as my bank website and Amazon Handmade, among others, weren’t happy with my Chrome browser. I have the latest version of it, but I had to use Firefox to get to the sites that wouldn’t accept Chrome anymore.

Firefox – Wikipedia

When I was able to move my blog website to Firefox, I was suddenly able to SEE and ACCESS my categories again. I am in the process of editing each of the posts I’ve written since the WordPress upgrade – a laborious process, but it will give my posts a home.

WordPress – Wikimedia Commons

Along with this, I decided I would finally move ALL my stuff from Chrome to Firefox. I now have Firefox as my main browser, moving each thing from one to the other, making sure my usernames and passwords work. This is a huge, scary project for an UN-TECHNICAL, almost Luddite, like me. I am looking at this as another of life’s character-building exercises.

I DO feel good that I figured out what was happening and am on the road to getting my act together again. HOORAY!

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, character-building exercises

Disappointment

The Boston Globe

We tried to vote this morning on this, the first day of early voting in Arkansas. It’s chilly and rainy here, and the line was all the way out the door and across the grass at the fairgrounds.

We will try again tomorrow.

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Wish

Jim Rohn – SayingImages.com

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, Encouragement

Challenges

forwarded email

Right now I am feeling like the sweet little dog on the left.

I realize I am in good company, with people trying to deal with challenges much greater than mine – whether it’s fear of COVID-19, economic results of the pandemic and shut-downs, fear for the future, dealing with the aftermath of hurricanes, wildfires, floods, unrest in the country, politics, family issues, and more. It’s ALL challenging and sometimes we wonder if we are strong enough to deal with it.  I found the following helpful.

 

Lori Deschene via tinybuddha.com

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Learning

Amazon Handmade

I am learning a LOT trying to list my stuff on Amazon Handmade. I am finally able to jump through most of the hoops.

I have finally learned that when a picture doesn’t show up with my product, I check to make sure it meets their parameters, and then let it go. That drives me absolutely nuts, but I’ve learned that is the best thing to do. It happened again yesterday, when I was adding some painted journals. I listed 5. 4 of them went well. The 5th picture didn’t show up for some reason. I checked it, and it should have gone like the others. It didn’t, so the product was listed on the site, but the picture area was blank. That’s embarrassing and I hate it, but – again – I left it. It still wasn’t up when I went to bed, but I checked again this morning and it was showing. Go figure.

I am not a patient person. I HATE errors or omissions to be ‘public,’ but there is no control over this one.

So, I will try to get the rest of the things I want to list online and hope for the best.

Today, some tote bags and painted canvas mini ‘essential’ purses.

Fingers crossed, teeth gritted, and determination strong.

Linda Lewis Artworks on Amazon Handmade

 

 

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, character-building exercises, learning new things

Eating vs NOT Eating

forwarded email

I have told you that my husband and I are REALLY enjoying the frozen meals from REAL FOOD in Greenwood. My experiment, since the food is SO good (but has no nutritional information provided) is to monitor the scales, take our blood pressure and blood sugar measurements twice a week (we BOTH are on meds for high blood pressure, and my husband is a Type II Diabetic – although he will deny that, saying only that he has a ‘sugar problem.’) and use these frozen meals as our main meal of the day, skip breakfast, and eat a snacky lunch (such as tuna fish salad) and a CAREFUL snack, otherwise.

We are finishing our first week and will enjoy our last REAL FOOD meal for the week this evening. I will make some keto chili (Suzanne Ryan, Simply Keto) tomorrow for the weekend.

I am continuing to drink water until my eyeballs float, and am conscientiously doing my exercises morning and afternoon (elliptical trainer in our garage in the morning and yoga stretches in the afternoon.)

I lost a pound this morning! 

Life Death Prizes

Fingers crossed that when I measure at the end of the month, the measuring tape will at least smirk at me, if not smile a bit.

I am determined to get as healthy as I can – losing the lard, strengthening my core, and increasing my flexibility – so that I can enjoy life, doing what I would like to, for as long as possible.

 

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

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Filed under aging, Challenges, DIET!, exercise