Category Archives: Challenges

Getting the Lard Off Progress Report -11/29/2018

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Short answer –

I’ve lost 30.6 pounds and 29.55 inches on Nutrisystem. When you add what I lost on a low-carb emphasis before that, the totals are 43 pounds off and 45.95 inches off.

Longer answer –

We are still on the plateau from Hell, but we’ve been eating homemade beef stew and bread for dinners three nights in a row, so I guess it’s amazing we didn’t GAIN weight this week.

The larger point is that we are AWARE of what we’re eating now. We’re incorporating flex meals (where you eat something other than Nutrisystem meals) into our lifestyle. We’re SUPPOSED to eat ONE flex breakfast, ONE flex lunch, ONE flex dinner, and ONE flex snack per week. We’re going to have to continue doing some changing to be able to eat only ONE meal of beef stew and then freeze the rest for other weeks, rather than simply having a bowl each night until it’s gone.

Other changes noted

  • I’m ALMOST down another size in jeans. I say, ‘almost,’ because I have four pair of the next size down and I’m only able to get into one of them. (I’ll claim victory when I can get into all of them.)
  • I can again wear a fuzzy brown vest we bought in the Grand Canyon Gift Shop umpteen years ago. I wore it for that winter, but then it has been WAAAAY too small to even get on, much less zip it up, ever since.
  • I am incorporating a bunch of abdominal exercises into my yoga practice every other day. My husband started trying to do sit-ups when I was on vacation. He’s a former Marine, and was able to ‘give me 50″ at the drop of his superior’s hat easily. That was some 55 years ago now, and he was appalled that he couldn’t do ANY. He is now up to about 10. I discovered I was equally challenged, but I’ve been working at it about 6 months longer than he. I’m up to 30 now, plus am doing leg lifts, and whatever you call the exercise where you’re lying on your back and you have your arms folded behind your neck and try to touch opposite elbows and knees while in a sit-up pose. We’re trying to cheer each other on in our efforts.

Most of our progress lately has been in attitude and confidence that we CAN lose the lard and get stronger with persistent effort. We have made a lifestyle change, trying to be aware of what we’re eating, the portion we’re eating, and modifying the rest of the day if we overdo at one meal. We’re consciously trying to move more and gain strength and flexibility. I’m also working on balance stuff, but have a long way to go on that, too. I’ll feel as if I’ve REALLY made progress when the hardest thing is NOT getting up off the floor from my exercising! :0)

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Encouragement, exercise, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, quality of life, taking care of yourself

Unintended Flex Meal Diet Enforcement

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A funny thing happened on the way to our Nutrisystem “Flex Meal” at Arby’s. My husband and I had been being taunted by ads on the TV from Arby’s, advertising a ‘turkey BLT’ and a ‘deep-fried turkey sandwich’ over and over again. We decided that we would spend our flex meal on this, eating half for lunch and the other half for dinner.

We ordered, paid, and then came home with our wonderful smelling sack of goodies. Our 93 pound lab puppy, Amber, was salivating in the back seat, becoming more and more agitated as we neared home. (I felt the same, but didn’t drool, as she did.)

I opened the sack to distribute our wealth to find only ONE sandwich. The lady apparently hadn’t heard my husband order my sandwich. We ended up cutting the sandwich in half, as “I” planned to do with MINE, and shared it for our lunch, obviously having none left over for dinner.

I would have been much happier using our new-found trying-to-become habit of ‘cutting-things-in-half-to-enjoy-the-second-half-later’ to be exercised by US, rather than an innocent clerk at a local fast food shop….

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While You’re Here…

Wilferd A Peterson via Lisa Bearnes Richey

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Tangible Motivation

 

I’m only halfway to my weight loss goal, but a few TANGIBLE things are helping motivate me:

I showed you several weeks ago that I am finally able to wear a sweater/jacket top that I’ve moved back and forth between closets for several years now.

Today I was finally able to wear a snuggly, soft, furry vest that my husband bought me years ago in the Grand Canyon Gift Shop.

And I’m actually able to zip it up without a problem! It has coyotes, bears, moose, evergreen trees, half-moons and other things all around the bottom third of the vest. I loved it when he bought it for me, and now I feel as if I have a ‘new’ vest. I love it again!

We were talking about our efforts on the way to town to do our errands this morning. I pointed out that it was a big deal that my husband has been able to change his 38/30 jeans for 34/30 currently, and soon will need to go to 32/30! TANGIBLE differences make you feel as if your efforts are worth it.

AND I’m going for a gold star on my calendar today for doing my session of yoga! :0)

If you have things that have motivated you in your efforts to lose weight or exercise, I would love it if you would share them with me.

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Cause for Celebration, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, taking care of yourself

This Week’s “Flex” Lunch/Dinner

Buzz Feed

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that my husband and I are on NutriSystem, trying to get the lard off. Since we were on it the first time, many years ago, they’ve added lots more food choices, plus frozen foods, plus a new emphasis on making this a lifestyle change, rather than a ‘diet.’ They are including ‘flex’ meals, one breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack each week to help you learn to function in the real world.

By trial and error, mostly (on our part) we’re learning to –

  1. ask for a doggie bag when we order our food. I am putting half of the meal in it, and my husband is adding part of his meal to the bag.
  2. modify our eating the rest of the day to make up for the larger calorie real world meal so that it fits into our plan, not blowing our efforts out of the water. (For example, since we ate our big ‘lunch’ today, we’ll have a salad for dinner if we’re hungry. If not so hungry, we’ll be satisfied with a snack. (We’ll eat more of what we brought home tomorrow.)
  3. we got combo seafood dinners at The Dari, today. We learned that next time, we can order ONE dinner, split it between the two of us, and still maybe bring some home.

Eating out takes the curse off of dieting for us. We’re happy enough with the Nutrisystem meals, but since we can eat out, we don’t feel deprived. If we want to share a meal with friends, they don’t even have to know we’re dieting. Eating a real-world meal is a quality of life thing, making it much more reasonable for us to stay on Nutrisystem until we both meet our goals.

We’re also learning how to modify our cooking so that we are building healthy eating habits with a much better sense of what a ‘portion’ is.

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, building good habits, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Healthy Eating

“Chock-Full-to-the-Brim” Day

Milton Hyundai

Yesterday we had a chock-full-to-the-brim day.

We started with Lunch Bunch – the usual wonderful time we catch up with our good, long-time friends, Linda and Kay. Yesterday, a lady we treasure was also there, Alice. We stuffed our faces and babbled as fast as we could in the time allowed. (My husband is an honorary member of Lunch Bunch. He sits at one end of the table surveying what might look like to uninformed strangers as his harem. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, he breaks us all up. :0)  )

We did errands, came home, regrouped and then went out again for a doctor’s appointment for my husband and more errands. Afterwards we got a 10 foot long X 12 inches wide board to make a ‘shoe shelf’ in my closet.

We got home again, regrouped, and then spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the shop.

Our weather was finally warmer, so we used the opportunity to change the tires on our truck. When we first bought the Honda in 2006, we found and purchased 4 extra wheels and then bought snow tires. We had them mounted by the local tire place and stored them in the shop. Twice a year we change the tires from the regular ones to snow tires, then back again, once winter is over. Usually we plan to do this some time in mid to late November or early December. This year we had a cold snap and then rain, and more cold with the threat of ice and snow super-early. We didn’t get stuck up here on our ridge line, thankfully, but we decided that the next day that was warm enough we would get the tires changed.

We’re getting a bit long-in-the-tooth for this, but we have a well-equipped shop with an air compressor, good fancy tire pressure gauge that allows us to fill from the compressor while the gauge is on the hose, stools so we can sit, etc. We have this project down to an efficient “dance” having done it for several years now. My husband does the actual tire changing. I am the go-fer, rolling tires from the back of the shop up to where we’re working, taking the ones we’re taking off back to the storage area, getting parts and watching to be ready with the next step. Yesterday I was also handling the jack. We got this done in record time. No blood was spilled. No harsh words. The tires are now filled up and ready to take us through the winter!

 

When we finished with the tires, we started on the shoe shelf project. We went inside and measured again, making a few decisions. My husband cut the board into three parts – the shelf, and three supports. I then painted the boards so they could dry overnight.  This pic shows several levels. Mine will be ONE board mounted on the wall across one wall of my closet, allowing me to put shoes ON and UNDER the board.

We’re going to try to get the shoe shelf installed today. If we do, I’ll share pictures. This will allow me to empty the cubbies that are now holding the shoes, giving me a lot more flexibility on what I’m storing where. :0)

By the time I fixed us dinner, it was 8:30 in the evening. Since I was up in the middle of the night before from 1am till 3am unable to sleep and reading, you could say, by the time we went to bed around midnight, I was ready.

 

amazinganimalstories.com

I didn’t do my yoga yesterday, but I think I MOVED enough to make up for it…

 

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Progress Report – Getting the Lard Off 11-15-2018

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Before I started NutriSystem, I lost 12.4 pounds trying to follow a low carb diet plan. Since I’ve been on NutriSystem, I’ve lost another 30.6 pounds. Total = 43 pounds.

 

Funchun.com

I’ve lost a total of 45.45 inches so far.

There are two big differences –

THING ONE –

At my last doctor appointment, my blood test showed significant improvement in my lipid profile. I was down in ALL the sections, where I had been way higher than desirable before.  I have had to go for blood tests and monitoring quarterly for as long as I can remember. She said to return in 6 MONTHS.

THING TWO –

My exercising is finally yielding ‘feel good’ results. I’ve finally settled on yoga and exercises one day and elliptical trainer the next. I’m giving myself a gold star on my desk calendar as I finish each day’s exercise. :0)   I was doing yoga yesterday. My husband apparently came in and sat down in his chair, watching me. When I finished, he told me how impressed he was with my efforts, particularly in increased flexibility and in my exercises for the abdominal area. To say that a compliment is rare is a vast understatement. It just doesn’t occur to him to say anything. I was grinning from ear to ear!

PLUS – Since I outdid him on sit-ups, and also did a bicycle type thing and some leg lifts, I think I may have spurred HIM on in HIS efforts!!!!

 

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Triumph! (We Think)

We THINK we MAY have solved my Internet problem – finally. I’m almost afraid to even whisper it, since I’ll have it, and then halfway into an email, it’s gone again. But I’m keeping all appendages crossed and I’m trying to “hold my mouth right” in hopes my access will continue.

My husband ordered and installed a new Ubit 8111F Network Adaptor Card today.

We’ve had a really mysterious situation around here – intensely frustrating – that my husband has Internet, the modem shows that I have a good connection, but I can’t access anything.

Anyway, communicating with you is quite difficult, or impossible, from time to time. I’ll keep getting through when possible. I long to be able to take the Internet for granted again – at least for several minutes at a time!

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Project for Today – 11/12/2018

World Arts Me

 

I’m in the middle of “PHASE 2” of going through our house with a fresh eye, trying to purge, donate, give away, clean, and reorganize things room by room, one cabinet or drawer at a time so as not to be completely overwhelmed.

I made it through PHASE 1 – and we have made lots of donations to the Disabled Vets Thrift Store and to our local library to use for fundraising. Our house is better for it – better than it’s been in years. I’ve made a pact with myself that I will do this at least once every 30 years or so…. :0)

Today’s project is the double cabinet under the sink in the kitchen. I have stashed as much as I can in there now, and it’s to the point where I can’t get anything out without several other things coming with whatever I’m looking for.

 

As you can see, it’s been time for a clean-out for quite a while. Last time I did this, I added the two storage bins to help a bit, but they are overflowing.

I have everything out of the cabinet now. My husband awoke from a nap in his chair, going into the kitchen to heat water for some hot apple cider. He asked, “What’s happening?” seeing all the ‘stuff’ on the kitchen counters. I assured him that it would all be ‘healed’ sometime during the day….

I’ll try to post a pic later, and hopefully, you’ll be able to see a difference.

 

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob, Organizing/DeCluttering

What Makes a Relationship Successful?

happified.tumblr.com via sayingimages.com

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Getting the Lard Off Progress Report – 11/8/2018

Pets World

The short answer is 30.6 pounds down, and 28.3 inches off.

The longer answer is that we are feeling more ‘at home’ with our new eating style. My husband and I are both on Nutrisystem, but they encourage flex meals – meals where you cook, or eat out, or branch out in some way from the Nutrisystem meals – one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, and one snack per week.

We are actually doing more flex meals than that -opting for a heartier dinner salad some nights, or similar things. An example, even though we’re only supposed to eat one flex dinner per week, we had a cold snap and the idea of homemade beef stew with some bread sounded really good. We ended up eating this combo for three nights straight, and then my husband was sad we didn’t have more :0)  The best news was that we not only kept our weight, but actually lost some.  So, we’re feeling more in control of our eating, our program, our goals.

We’re both exercising now. My husband spent four years in the Marine Corps, doing 50 sit-ups at the drop of a hat, or at a superior’s whim, with ease. Then, 55 years past. He tried to do a sit up about 6 weeks ago, while I was visiting a much beloved relative in Thibodaux, and was shocked that he couldn’t do ANY. (I was also amazed that he actually told me about his trial and shock, but told him that I was proud of him for trying, and that I knew if he kept at it, he would get stronger.)  He now is doing 5 strongly, and 2 or 3 more with great effort. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that he’s giving it his best shot every day. The doc told him to do cardio, but I’m not pushing it yet.

I have a stupid motivator in my own efforts to exercise daily – gold stars – like we used to get a million years ago for good work in school. My attitude is, “It it works, RUN IT!” I feel a bit silly, but it really works for me. I’m trying to do 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer one day, and about half an hour of yoga stretches and regular exercises the next. Yesterday was really busy, and it was late afternoon before I knew it. I thought, “oh, well, I’ll just do the elliptical tomorrow. One day won’t hurt.”  Then, as I sat there, I thought about not getting my gold star for the day. At 6:00 in the evening, I got up, went out to the garage, and put in my time. :0)

My husband often ‘isn’t hungry.” I NEVER have that problem. I have an appetite that would kill a horse. I get HUNGRY and if I don’t eat something, I get SNIPPY, CRANKY, and “MEAN AS A SNAKE,” according to my husband. The other silly motivator is the Nutrisystem bears you can get for each 10 pounds you lose. (My 30 pound bear is on its way!) I line them up on a shelf beside my computer chair in the office. When I’m tempted to go in and stuff my face at the wrong time, I think about getting the next bear…

Halfway to my goal now on lardage!

 

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Today’s Project

Hansen Wholesale

We love fans. We sleep with a floor fan and ceiling fan, even in the winter when we turn our electric blanket on. :0)  We have an attic fan that we figure is worth its weight in gold. We installed it when we built the house in 1987 and it has worked flawlessly ever since, allowing us to open our bedroom window at night in the summer and turn on the fan, bringing cool air in. Ahhhh.

We love to open our front and back doors and turn on the ceiling fans, bringing in a lovely cross breeze, airing out the house.

We have eight ceiling fans in the house, not counting the garage, back porch, or deck. I’ve swiped at them from time to time, but they haven’t been seriously cleaned since 1492….

They are on my list today. I recently cleaned the one in our bedroom. It was quite a laborious job, since it was thick with accumulated dust and grime. I ended up climbing up on a ladder with a wet cloth, moving it S L O W L Y across the top of the fan blade, careful to keep all the ‘guck’ in the cloth. I then climbed down, rinsed out the cloth, and then came back to seriously clean that blade. We have 5 blades per fan, so it was a good amount of exercise before the fan was clean.

Now multiple that times 7 more fans…

If I weren’t such a slob things wouldn’t get this way. By the end of the day, I hope to have all eight ceiling fans ready to be ignored for the next umpteen years. :0)

I did find an Unger Ceiling Fan Duster

I just ordered from Amazon. Once I get them clean, I SHOULD be able to dust them from time to time without causing the dust of the world to fall on my head…

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I DID It!

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I FINALLY  reached 30 pounds off in my efforts to get the lard off!  I went on chat on the Nutrisystem website, since I hadn’t received any notification or ‘reward’ redemption thingie in my email, and the kind lady said she would make sure my 30# off bear was included in my next order. :0)

To date:  30.6 lbs off. 28.5 inches off.  I think I’m about half way to my goal now, but I’ll see how I feel when I get there. My progress has been slow, but steady, so I’m happy that I can definitely see progress since April.

I still have to talk to myself about exercising, having a LOT of interests that involve sitting – computer stuff, like my blog, reading, working in my art room, etc. When the weather is good, though, I’m outside at least once a day, working in the greenhouse, weeding, or hacking something down, killing ants, and more.

I’m doing better since I decided to do my yoga stretches and exercises one day and my elliptical trainer the next, rather than trying to get both into one day. I’m a bit embarrassed to tell you that I bought sheets of gold stars – putting one on the calendar each day I do one or the other. Stupid – but it works for me. I say, “If it works, run it.” :0)

I’m especially happy that I lost weight this week. We splurged a lot this week, eating fried fish dinners at the grocery deli once, and eating breakfast out twice this week due to a botched attempt to get a blood test yesterday and a successful attempt today. Tomorrow is Lunch Bunch, and we’ll get chicken ‘thingies.’

The thing we’re learning is how to modify our eating the rest of the day when we eat out one meal in the real world. We’re still following the eating plan, but modifying our choices so that we stay on track better as far as calories for the day.  I have also found that, since we’re eating out more often, I don’t tend to get into the “YIPPEE!” mentality, where I eat completely bad choices like ‘this-is-the-last-time-I’ll-get-to-splurge,’ eating for 6 and feeling remorse later.  If it’s reasonable, I eat half and bring the other half home to eat some other time. I’m making better choices, such as a veggie omelette today, with no sides.

Slowly, we’re making this eating plan more ours. A life plan, rather than a way of eating for some specified period of time. I’m not feeling as tied to the program, panicking when we get off for any reason. I’m starting to cook more, bit by bit, though we ARE enjoying lots of raw veggies and salads now than ever, and my husband lives for his ‘grapes-and-nuts’ snacks.

 

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Filed under building good habits, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, quality of life, taking care of yourself

Standing Out

Lisa Hurwitz at Expanets via zen to zany via cathy ruggiero

I may be more ‘mature’ now, but I vividly remember how STRONGLY I wanted to be like everybody else when I was a young teenager.

One super-vivid memory is that my mom made me an outfit from corduroy – a skirt and top that went over a blouse. The skirt was some kind of pattern with yellows and green and there were four large black buttons on the front, forming the corners of a square. The top was green. My mom bought me a pale yellow blouse to go under the top.  She was an amazing seamstress and the outfit was beautifully made.

The problem? Back in 1492 when I was a teenager, the saying was, “Yellow and green on Thursdays means you’re queer.” (or something similar.) This shows you that – as messed up as our country is NOW as far as being inclusive and embracing our differences, 60+ years ago, it was worse!

Of COURSE my mom wanted me to wear the outfit on Thursdays and told me how ridiculous it was that I would care what other people thought. This caused really bad scenes in my household, as my mom was strong-willed and I was stupid and wanted to fit in so badly I would have almost rather died than cross the ‘group.’

Another thing was tennis shoes. New ones, clean and white, meant you were a nerd. NOW I would be proud to be called a nerd – maybe I could have become a gazillionaire and had enough money I could make a difference – but THEN I would go out and purposely get grass stains and dirt on them the minute they came home from the store.

AND – for some unknown reason – I felt that I HAD to be good at things IMMEDIATELY or I wouldn’t be ‘accepted.’ I think ‘what CRAP!’ NOW, but I sure didn’t THEN. I remember a pool party where everyone was doing some kind of dive off the diving board. My mind has blurred the details of what dive it was, or even who I was with. My turn came. I gave it my best, but ended up with a huge, painful SPLAT on the water. I remember swimming under water to the shallow end of the pool (I was a good swimmer, but couldn’t dive). Someone was along side, yelling at me to find out if I was all right. I lied and said I did that for comic relief.

I substituted at the local schools for about two years, trying to get a job in the Greenwood School System, substituting for kindergarten through high school boy’s P.E. and was saddened to see that everyone is trying NOT to stand out. If you’re a good student, you try to be quiet about it. Everyone dresses alike, talks alike, give the same blank look when you ask them questions about the subject they’re studying, the book they’re supposed to be reading, etc.

It would be wonderful if children were encouraged by adults – and especially their peers – to be DIFFERENT – SPECIAL – UNIQUE.  To CELEBRATE the things that make them stand out. To be CONFIDENT – CURIOUS – with PASSION to seek a unique place in the world.

 

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Annoying, then Good Morning

Everyday Health

We got up this morning and drove straight to our doctor’s office to get the blood test my husband needs for his appointment next week. We usually don’t have to wait long, but we did today. Finally, I got up and checked with the front desk again. They said the orders for the blood test weren’t in the chart, so they were waiting for the doctor to come out of a room. We waited again. When we had been waiting an HOUR, I went to the front desk again, asking them if they could get the orders into my husband’s chart by TOMORROW morning, when we would come again. They said they could, so we left. I will call this afternoon to be SURE the orders are in the chart so we can be more successful tomorrow.  (At our next appointment, I’ll ask the doctor to put the orders for the labs into the computer while we’re there.)

Added insult was Mother Nature choosing to pour on us each time we stepped out of the car. It would stop while we were inside, of course.

 

Scribol.com

Our morning improved quite a bit after we left the doc’s office. We had decided that we would try out the new restaurant in town, The Dari, for breakfast. We had been there for lunch and had been quite pleased.

I’m happy to report that our FLEX breakfast was delicious!  The people there are friendly. The group of women at the counter where we ordered went nuts over my ceramic ‘ghost’ earrings, even calling people from the back to come see. When we were at the table, another women came. That was really fun for all of us.  The service is fast and the food couldn’t have been better.

It’s more food than we should eat for breakfast on our diet, but we’ll modify our eating for the rest of the day to make up for it. It’s wonderful to have a nice place to have breakfast in Greenwood!

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Amber is at it Again

No one would believe, looking into Amber’s SWEET face and beautiful eyes that she can be so destructive. She won’t be two years old until March, but I’m beginning to think this is her natural personality, rather than merely ‘puppy-hood.’

We played a combination of ‘fetch,’ ‘tease-mom-with-the-ball-over-and-over,’ and ‘tug-of-war-with-a-spitty-ball’ yesterday in the front yard.  She weighs about 95 lbs now, so playing with her, throwing the ball the few times she actually lets me have it, and then bracing for impact in case she actually runs into me on the return is quite tiring. After we finished the pretense of ‘fetch’ we went out to the greenhouse. I prop the door open and she runs inside and out checking on everything while I water plants.

And what is my ‘reward’ for being buddies with Amber? I got up from the computer to find shredded silk flowers all over the foyer carpet. For some reason she attacked a bottle of flowers that have been on the floor in the foyer the whole time she’s been a part of our family. She has never shown any interest in the flowers before, so I found it particularly annoying.

I refuse to move everything we own up high enough she MIGHT not be able to reach and destroy it. There is no way I can control her movements every waking minute. We have doggy toys that we rotate, so she has something ‘new’ to play with. We make a point of either letting her out or taking her out so many times a day I’m not sure what we did with ourselves before Amber.

I’m HOPING that she will grow out of this.  It occurs to me that she has been companionable with a lot of my decluttering efforts. Maybe she is deciding what needs to go and making it so there can be no second thoughts….

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Getting the Lard Off Progress Report 10-25-2018

Ravelry Bob Tape Measure

I have now lost 28 inches on Nutrisystem – 44.5 inches since my lardiest.

 

 

ScalesGalore.com

And 28 pounds on Nutrisystem – 40 pounds since my lardiest.

The very best news is that my husband has been losing weight, too – going from 38 x 30 to 34 x 30 in jeans, and had a blood sugar count of 88 this morning, the lowest ever!!!!!! Woo HOOOO!

Another good thing is that we’re much more CONSCIOUS of the food we’re putting into our mouths now, and trying to move more.

My husband is trying to do sit ups. (He’s frustrated because he’s a former Marine and used to do 50 sit ups just because his superior was feeling out of sorts. Now he’s having real trouble – and is shocked to learn that 55 years or so without exercise affects one’s muscles! :0)  )  I’m really happy for him for trying and I’m cheerleading, telling him he’ll get stronger if he tries every day.

I’m switching off each day  between my elliptical trainer and yoga stretches and exercises, in addition to working in the yard and doing another decluttering of the house, room by room, consciously trying to keep moving.

We’re making progress. I’m about halfway to my weight goal now (I think – subject to re-evaluation if I meet it). It feels good to be doing what we CAN control to take care of ourselves better and improve our quality of life.

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, Healthy Eating, quality of life, taking care of yourself

Mantra

Wilferd A Peterson via Lisa Bearnes Richey

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes

Such a Morning!

amazinganimalstories.com

I’m feeling a bit frazzled at the moment. We hit the ground running when the alarm went off and finally stopped just a bit ago, declaring an end to the morning, and finally treating ourselves to a first cup of coffee.

I told you last week that our doggies, Amber and Molly, got out together and traveled to places unknown, returning with yuck all over them. I put Molly in the kitchen sink and scrubbed her, but her hair is super-thick and wiry, so after you get her wet enough for a good bath, it’s next to impossible to get her dry again, even using multiple towels and my hair dryer. So the first stop in our travels this morning was taking Sweet Molly to the groomer’s to get sheared like a sheep. We’re waiting for them to call us so we can go back and pick her up.

Between my closet clean-out and my husband finally going through his amoire to gather too-large jeans, we had collected three large leaf bags of clothes to take to the Veteran’s Thrift Store as a donation.  So from the groomer’s we drove to Fort Smith.

On the way back, we stopped at the grocery for a couple of items we neglected to get on Sunday, mailed a book at the post office that we sold via Amazon, went to the gas station to buy Mega Millions and Power Ball tickets, then stopped at City Hall for early voting that started today. I can’t tell you how MUCH I appreciate the people who make it possible for us to be able to vote when it’s convenient for us, when we don’t have to stand in line for a long time.

Finally, we picked up our mail at the bottom of our driveway.

Since then, I’ve paid bills, transferred money around, written a note to a good friend, confirmed the book mailing online, and done other odds and ends.

A good, productive morning. It’s now time for our Nutrisystem mid-morning snack and then we’ll regroup for the afternoon. I hope you’re having a good day today, too.

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Pigged Out

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We had a really nice day yesterday, full of good weather, projects for the day being accomplished, enjoying our animals, and – to end it on the perfect note – we grilled steaks on the deck and had them with baked potatoes.

I told you we’re TRYING to learn portions. Oh, well. Last night we pigged out and ate the whole thing.

We KNOW that if this were a Nutrisystem meal, they would have included 1/3 or less of the steak – sliced thinly and with a gravy, 1/3 or less of the potato (and probably cheesed it up a bit). We would have eaten a salad with it.

Instead, we each ate our whole steak and the whole baked potato with butter while enjoying a Jackie Chan movie in the living room.  The package of steak included three steaks, so I’m going to cut THAT up and we’ll have dinner salads in the evenings as our meal until that is gone.

So, now we’re up a pound since the meal and vowing we’ll do better the NEXT time we eat a flex meal…

On a wonderful note, my husband got his new jeans yesterday and they fit perfectly and he looks wonderful. His waist is now a good 4 inches smaller now. I just bagged up three larger sizes of jeans we’ll take – along with the leaf bag of tops that are too large for me now :0)  – to the Veterans Thrift Store tomorrow to donate. He still has some tummy he wants to get rid of, but he’s really close to a good weight now. I’m trying to encourage him to do some sit ups. :0)

I got a really good session of yoga in yesterday, doing a combination of stretches, regular exercises, and really relaxing at the end. Today I’ll concentrate on the elliptical trainer. I’ve decided to try doing these on alternate days, since I can’t seem to do both on one day very often.

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Family Fun

dogster

 

dirtydogs.biz

These aren’t actual pictures of our dogs, but close enough.

By last night, I was having to remind myself why I thought it was such a great idea to have a houseful of pets….

Molly and Amber ran off yesterday afternoon. My husband and I weren’t communicating well (imagine THAT!) and he let Amber out without checking to see if Molly was already out.

They came back about an hour later, finally, covered in ‘stuff.’  It was cool outside, so I wet a micro cloth and used it on Amber, since she wasn’t as bad as the doggie above. I was able, after umpteen times of rinsing the cloth out and using it again, to get Amber to the point where she could stay inside with us.

Molly was a mess from head to toe, so I put her in the kitchen sink and scrubbed her. After using two bath towels to dry her, I was exhausted and decided she was dry enough to finish on her own. (My husband said she was still damp when we took them out for their final outing for the day last night).

Meanwhile, Amber showed us another result of letting the dogs out together by puking on the carpet. I found this out when my husband started cursing loudly and putting her out. We got things cleaned up and just settled down when Amber barked to come in. By mutual agreement, we put her behind the gate in the utility room where she sleeps. The rest of the afternoon and evening I cleaned up more – and more, but it was on the tiles of the utility room floor. We fed her only water the rest of the day.

This morning there was another spot, but it was from last night. We have fed her and put her back in the utility room until we learn if she’s keeping her food down or not today. We’re hoping she never finds whatever she found yesterday again!

Meanwhile, I called and scheduled Molly to be shorn as if she were a sheep Monday. It’s cool outside, but she usually doesn’t stay out long – particularly if her owners are smart enough not to let Amber out with her – and she’ll be much easier to clean for a while.

We love our pets. We just wish WE were smarter in dealing with them.

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The Big Picture

Rollin’ France-YouTube

I guess we started really trying to lose the lard about a year and a half ago. We were doing low carb. I was cooking a lot, we were losing some weight, but not steadily enough. My husband’s blood sugar was better, but not good enough to qualify for insurance that required a health exam. The policy we had was going to skyrocket in premium on his birthday in November (Happy birthday to you…). He was still having bad symptoms from his diabetes.

I have been overweight for quite a while. I don’t like it. I got better with the low carb diet, but I need to lose a significant amount of weight to be healthy. We were kidding ourselves, SAYING we were on a low carb diet, and then ‘splurging’ on a regular basis, eating our favorite fast foods out once or twice a week. We finally got serious last April and signed up for NutriSystem. My husband is almost at his weight goal now. He just tried on some new, smaller jeans this morning. Better, but still too large. He has now ordered the next size smaller. :0)

Best of all, our doctor is patting us on the head. We’ve been going to quarterly doctor appointments, with blood tests for our various problems, for a long time. Last time we went, my numbers were so significantly better that she put me on 6 month appointments. My husband has one more quarterly appointment next month, and we’re hoping he’ll come back every six months, too! He qualified for a 10-year level term life insurance policy for twice as much insurance as we had. They jacked the premium up because of his age, but no one can control that, so we’re grateful to be covered now.

I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet on my lardage loss, to help me see the big picture, particularly when I don’t see much change for a week or two. The big picture shows –

Weight loss with NS is 28 pounds. Total loss since my highest lardage is 40 pounds.

Inches loss with NS is a bit over 23 inches. Total loss since my highest lardage is 39-1/2 inches.

Results at doc’s office –

  • Weight is down
  • Blood pressure is under good control with medication
  • My cholesterol is in the normal range now
  • Lipid profile is all showing in the normal range now

It feels good to be actively doing things that will increase our overall health.  We’re eating right and learning to eat outside the program without throwing things out of whack. We are not feeling deprived, with fast food items floating in front of our faces, as they used to. We are more active. I’m trying to get on the elliptical trainer at least every other day. I’m doing yoga stretching almost every day. I’m actively trying to ‘move more’ with specific chores I would like to do each day, such as housework and working in the yard. I write a post or two for my blog :0)  and then I get up and either do a chore, or exercise, over and over, throughout the day. I’m encouraging my husband, who is trying to do sit ups, to do more than ‘intend to,’ though I’m certainly no role model.

We ARE making progress – particularly when we look at the big picture. Seeing this is motivation to keep on keepin’ on.

taolife.com

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Still Riding on a High

treatshappen.com

My husband and I are just starting to be able to acknowledge and enjoy the fact that there is less of us than there used to be. I’ve lost almost 30 pounds and almost 28 inches now. It’s only about half way to my goal, and to be honest, other than going down a size or two in jeans, I haven’t seen much difference in clothes.

This changed, finally, with my cleaning-out-the-closet project, switching warm weather stuff for cool the past several days. I forced myself to try on everything I had moved to my closet, finding a really full leaf bag full of tops that were too large. Not just really roomy, but falling-off-the-shoulders and exposing-my-whole-front type too large. :0)   I showed you some pics recently of the sweater/jacket I am finally able to wear after several years of moving it back and forth, always way too small, and now it FITS.

I’ve seen a change in my husband, too. Not only can I see a difference looking at him, I’ve noticed that he’s taking more interest in his clothes now. He just ordered some new jeans, asking me to measure him to be surer of the size. (We’re in a mystery area right now. We KNOW we’re smaller, but tend to still order as we did when we were larger. Even though I tried to use the charts provided at an online store, I found the clothes were too large when they arrived.)

Anyway, he’s wearing some new shirts, some brighter colors, and tries to think about which of his flannel shirts he’s wearing over the tee underneath, where it was haphazard, at best, before. I’ve been complimenting him, and it’s delightful to watch him try not to show how pleased he is. Now I’m working on encouraging his efforts to do some exercise…

We’re both trying to change our eating habits. When my husband finally got serious about giving up sugar to try to get a handle on his Type II diabetes, I gave up salt. I didn’t just add salt to almost everything, I even added salt to salty things. We figure that losing the weight and getting healthier is a good trade for our former addictions.

One new addition – we’ve been having a salad nightly, along with our Nutrisystem entree. My husband has been enjoying this, and was even pleased that I’m adding cherry tomatoes to it. When I added a touch of chopped walnuts to the mix (thanks, Mary Lou) he liked THAT, too. I’m adding a few garbanzo beans to my salad, and my husband still nixes that, but he says he looks forward to our salads in the evening.

We’re still working on portion control. This is a really alien concept, since the two of us apparently have routinely been eating for ourselves and several other folks at each meal. Now we’re learning to have ONE portion of something with a side of veggies or salad. I told you yesterday that I was learning to divide my meal from a restaurant in half, bringing half home to eat some other time. It’s a process, but one we’ll build with exercise.

By the way, I FINISHED the closet-clean-out project yesterday, organizing the warm weather stuff in the guest room closet so it’s ready to move easily next time. Hopefully, by the time we’re ready for warm/hot weather stuff NEXT time, I’ll be able to fill another leaf bag!!!

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, building good habits, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, quality of life, taking care of yourself

The Sweater-Jacket

I found this sweater/jacket 5 years ago or so and simply loved it. Sadly, it was too small, but I TOLD myself that I would lose some weight and finally be able to wear it. I’ve moved it back and forth from the guest closet to my closet, trying it on once a year since then, with the same result. Even with my determination to get rid of things all over the house, including clothes that don’t fit, I just COULDN’T part with it.

Deep purple is my color. Whenever I see a group of things, all the same except for color, I’m drawn to the dark purple one. The fact that this sweater-jacket had leather on the front, with cut out flowers, made me drool (though I was careful NOT to on the sweater!)

 

This is the back. It can be worn as a top or added as a jacket.

 

Here’s a close up of the flowers.

 

I haven’t lost poundage or lardage this week. The scales are still flirting with 30 pounds off, but I’m not there yet. My measuring tape is unimpressed, showing the same as last week, even though I’ve been working, cleaning, and exercising. The one thing that stands out is from my switching from summer to winter clothes and trying things on.

I have a full leaf bag now of tops that are too large AND my sweater/jacket finally FITS.  YES!!!!!!

I’m about half way to my goal in weight loss and inches now. It may take the rest of my natural life to get there, but I’m on my way!

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A Vette Can Be a Character-Building Exercise…

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This picture shows you a clean, non-scratched, non-cat-print-pawed version of my husband’s 2003 Vette. He bought it online, flying to Kansas City, I think, with a cashier’s check and letter and phone number from the head of the bank in his pocket, prepared to drive it home or get on a flight home. Happily, he was delighted with it and drove it home and has been grinning ever since. This is truly who he is, and our life has been full of ‘six-months-without-another-speeding-ticket-and-it-won’t-go-on-your-record’ to prove it. The last such ended in mid August of this year, and he’ll be 75 in November….

I’m telling you this because he took our truck and is now in downtown Ft. Smith at an auction, hoping to find good-priced tools to bring home. This leaves ME with the Vette, and I’m going to Lunch Bunch in 25 minutes.

I really don’t feel comfortable driving this car. MY favorite vehicle was a Jeep Cherokee Sport. I don’t go off-road, but I loved that vehicle. Now I’m comfortable in the truck. I find, when I’m driving the vette, I sneeze and am suddenly going 90 mph. I have to admit I spend lots of time in the Vette while HE’S driving bracing myself as we fly through traffic. (I’m uncomfortable because he puts on the gas when I would put on the brake in any given situation.)

So, this morning will be a character-building exercise.  My first inclination was to call my friends and tell them I wouldn’t be there this morning. And then I was disgusted with myself for being a wuss. I KNOW I can drive the Vette. The fact that I’m uncomfortable driving it, particularly going down our 650+ bumpy driveway and back up again, as well as trying to figure out how far the nose of the car is from anything, are annoying details, rather than a reason for not doing this. I know lots of people who would ENJOY getting to drive the Vette.

So. I’m HOPING that the rain that is coming down now will stop in the next 15 minutes, the sky will lighten, and I can go and come back without incident. I’m too old to be such a wuss.

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It’s Said That a Sucker is Born Every Minute…

Linn Acres Farm

Since our weather is cooling off – finally – here in Greenwood, Arkansas – I’m getting more serious about starting things in the greenhouse.

I told you recently I started some iceberg head lettuce plants. My plants are doing well so far. I just went out and watered the saucers under the plants this afternoon, and the plants seem happy with this procedure. The exhaust fan was on – signaling that cooling was needed in the greenhouse. I still have the secondary fan on and the door on the opposite end of the greenhouse open to encourage as much air flow as possible.

Today while watering, I noticed that fire ants were swarming again on the floor of the greenhouse, so I went back to the garage and mixed up more EIGHT bug spray. I really love this stuff! It kills the bugs while being safe for plants and animals, so I don’t have to worry that our pets will come sniff or come in contact with the wet spray. I also can spray the plants in our raised bed planters in the square foot garden when needed without worrying about the residue on the edible plants.

I sprayed ants, which had shown new ‘homes’ in several places, and then found and planted one six-pack of tomato suckers. The picture above shows what a sucker is. You can plant these and a whole new tomato plant is possible. I’m going to plant a whole bunch of these because I have no clue what I’m doing and expect to lose a lot of the plants. If I can get SOME to survive, though, I may actually get some ripe tomatoes before we have a hard freeze!

I’ll try to accomplish something outside daily now that the weather is ‘my kind of weather.’ Maybe it’ll last long enough I can get things under good control for the winter! :0)

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Filed under Arkansas, Challenges, doing what you love, Gardening, greenhouse, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

Getting the Lard Off Progress Report

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The short report is 27.6 pounds  and 23 inches down.

The longer and more significant answer is that we are S L O W L Y  learning to modify our eating habits as we lose the lard.

We are making a point of going out to eat, rather than it being a special splurge for the week, using the meals as our ‘flex’ meals, learning to rein in our silly and destructive former habits. It’s easy to just ‘go out to eat’ and blow things for the next few days, if not a week. It’s harder, but more productive, to choose carefully from the menu, or – throwing caution to the winds – actually ordering what we want (within reason) AND ordering a doggie bag right then, cutting our meal into halves, and THEN plowing in to enjoy every bite. Not only does it help with the poundage, but also the pocketbook!

We figure our ultimate success depends on NOT feeling deprived. We really like going out to eat. We really like eating things not a normal part of our diets. If we can modify our intake to make up for this, we can make it for the long run.

This doesn’t mean that every day is ‘national-whatever-week’ – the celebration of which causes throwing our diet out the window. But if we NORMALLY eat super-healthy, and then eat half a cheeseburger and some tater tots occasionally, it’s much easier to go back to normal for the next meal, if that makes sense.

So far, it’s working for us. I’m HOPING that the NEXT time I order our Nutrisystem for the month, I can apply for a 30-pounds-off-bear to be included. Each mini-goal makes me feel I’m making progress. My massage therapist saying I looked, “skinny” today, helps, too! :0)  Even though I know she’s just being kind and I have a long way to go to my goal, it’s NICE when people encourage you by NOTICING there is a bit less of you. My husband got a boost this past Monday night when we went bowling with our good friends. They BOTH noticed how much weight he had lost. He was already feeling good, wearing some new smaller-in-the-waist pants and a new, smaller shirt, and the compliments topped things off nicely.

So, we have a good start now. I need to lose a LOT more lard, and my husband needs to start exercising, and together we’ll be healthier every day.

taolife.com

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Decluttering Project – Phase Two – Office

I’ve been going through our home this year, trying to look at everything with a fresh eye with the idea of keeping what is useful or brings us joy, and giving away what we hope others can use, and getting rid of ‘stuff’ that just weighs us down. Since we’ve been in the house for over 30 years now and are both pack rats, this is a big job. We aren’t ‘hoarders’ as on TV, but we have gone far beyond reasonable in ‘stuff.’

I’ve made good progress, going through each of the rooms of the house (with only cursory attention to basement, garage, and shop due to ‘intense discussions’ on what constitutes ‘junk’) and am now starting PHASE II, going through everything again.

I started with our office, because we both spend a lot of time in here. My husband was finally able to get both of our computers going again (INTENSE GRATEFULNESS and RELIEF) so I’m officially moving the laptop back out to our shop. There is one remaining open computer on the counter. This is a project of my husband’s, so I’m keeping hands off and mouth firmly shut. :0)

Otherwise, I have been working on this room part of each day for approximately two weeks. Trips and other priorities made this a bit hit and miss, but today I feel as if I’ve made definite progress.

I have one small pile of things left to file or pitch. Otherwise, I’ve cleaned out my drawers and shelves here. It’s nice to not have to wade through a whole pile of ‘stuff’ to get to my calendar, or discover that I actually have two wall calendars for 2019 already! I’m comfortable at my computer now.

 

This was a real mess. I threw away a BUNCH of things. Again, I can find things easily now and have removed more dust than I care to detail. :0(  Our shredder is sitting on a box containing a new laser printer. Our old printer that was beyond used up suddenly gasped and is functioning. We’ll finish out what it can do and THEN get the new one set up.

 

And this is my impractical, but well-loved desk, finally clear of many piles of things that couldn’t be moved before today for various reasons. It’s nice to be able to have a spot to actually work without having to move stacks and stacks of ‘stuff.’

Motivation is picturing our son, who lives and works in Thailand – and who loves his minimalist lifestyle, having to go through things and decide what to do with all of it. I’m not sure which room I’ll tackle next. I have to admit that everywhere I look, attention is needed. I feel good that I have one room “Phase Two Finished.”

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob, Organizing/DeCluttering

Greenhouse Lettuce Experiment

 

 

I’m a newbie at growing things in my greenhouse. My husband and I built this last spring. By the time we finished, it was already time to plant things in our raised bed square foot garden, so I didn’t do anything but try to get things into the greenhouse in preparation for planting later. As the spring went into summer, I found that the temperature inside the greenhouse was WAAAAAY too hot – no matter how many fans I ran – to grow anything then.

Now that our temperatures are finally cooling down some, I got the last of the available lettuce plants for sale in town in order to TRY to get them to grow in the greenhouse. I’m hoping that I can keep them alive and we can enjoy fresh iceberg head lettuce and maybe a tomato or two before we get hard freezes. (Today it’s raining, but I’m trying to gather some suckers from our remaining tomato plants to start out there.

The main purpose of the greenhouse is to extend the growing season as much as I can, mainly by starting seeds in there at the first of March, plus maybe getting some plants from the local stores before it’s technically warm enough to start them in the garden. If I can do that, I’ll be a very happy camper, indeed.

I’m trying to give the plants all the water they need by filling the terra cotta and/or faux terra cotta saucers under the pots, rather than watering the pots directly, hoping that the plants will draw up what they need and be happy. So far, so good.

As soon as I can find and get the tomato suckers planted, I’ll give you a progress report.

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Filed under Challenges, Favorite Things, Gardening, greenhouse, Healthy Eating, opportunities, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds, Starting - Growing in a Greenhouse

Our Doggie In The Window

The Doggie In The Window
Every morning Amber sits like this after she’s finished her breakfast. She’s waiting for Molly to finish HER breakfast in the pantry, and waiting for US to finish OUR breakfast in the dining area right across the room from her. I can’t see her without the song by Patti Page running through my head –
How much is that doggie in the window?
The one with the waggly tail
How much is that doggie in the window?
I do hope that doggie’s for sale
I must take a trip to California
And leave my poor sweetheart alone
If he has a dog, he won’t be lonesome
And the doggie will have a good home
How much is that doggie in the window?
The one with the waggly tail
How much is that doggie in the window?
I do hope that doggie’s for sale
I read in the papers there are robbers
With flashlights that shine in the dark
My love needs a doggie to protect him
And scare them away with one bark
I don’t want a bunny or a kitty
I don’t want a parrot that talks
I don’t want a bowl of little fishies
He can’t take a goldfish for a walk
How much is that doggie in the window?
The one with the waggly tail
How much is that doggie in the window?
I do hope that doggie’s for sale
Songwriters: Bob Merrill
The Doggie In The Window lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Music & Media Int’l, Inc
__________________________________
I’m also writing this to keep what Amber did lately in perspective –
  • Two days ago we turned off the TV late at night. This is the doggies’ signal that it’s time for the great game of “Out-A-Dog” followed by a cookie to each involved party and then bed. There is great enthusiasm, with Amber rushing over to us from her huge bed that is right under the TV. Two days ago I was slow to lift my bare feet and she, in her enthusiasm, stepped on the top of my right foot. Since she now weighs about 95 pounds, this is no small thing. It really hurt, and I yelled, scaring her.  A swollen area immediately popped up, shaped like a dome on the top of my foot. It doesn’t hurt anymore, but I have a very impressive multicolored bruise that is taking its good time to go away….
  • I have two ceramic type doggies decorating the front porch. I found them at a garage sale down the road, falling in love with them right away and adopting both to live at my house. For some reason, Amber either considers these ‘toys’ or ‘adversaries’ – I’m not really sure which. Her actions toward them go in cycles. All of a sudden one will be upside down on the porch. Or in the yard. This morning the brown one was upside down in the front yard where Amber had decided the felt on the bottom of it had to go. Bits of the felt were all over the yard. The fact that I have shown them to her and told her “NO!” in no uncertain terms only results in a sly, doggie smile. I’ve tried making the doggies go away for a while. I’ve tried going out with Amber, ready to discipline her if she goes to them. I’ve tried making sure a toy or two is in the yard, ready for play. So far, nothing has deterred her.

It’s a really good thing that she is so friendly and affectionate, melting me into a puddle several times a day with her antics….

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Efforts to Get the Lard Off

The Cincinnati Zoo Blog

I’ve told you I spent 5 days in Thibodaux, Louisiana, recently, visiting my husband’s cousin’s wife, Murray, one of the sweetest people on Earth. I had a great time, getting lots of good hugs,meeting a lot of fine people, and eating lots of good food. I threw caution to the winds, eating whatever seemed reasonable at the time, enjoying every bite.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you also know about my continuing effort to get the lard off – a daunting goal when you’re weight, age, and exercise challenged by nature.

I gained almost 4 pounds in the 5 days I was gone, but I got right back on the Nutrisystem horse when I returned. My husband and I even had a flex meal of steak and baked potatoes the other night, but we’re learning to compensate for flex meals better now.

This morning I was pleased to note that, not only had I lost the 4 pounds I had gained, but also hit a new low on the scales! I’m happy to report that as of this morning I’ve lost 26 pounds and 22.55 inches since we started on Nutrisystem this time. (I say, “this time,” because we were on it in the past, several years ago, and quit, due to NS dropping all the meals my husband liked.)

I’m also REALLY happy to tell you that my husband is trying to do some sit ups!  This is a former Marine, used to doing a LOT of exercise to stay in shape while in the Corps. This is also the man who told me, “No way!” when I suggested that HE try to exercise, too. He has been encouraging ME, but steadfastly refuse to do any type of exercise himself.

(He caught a cold from my bringing home germs from my trip, and so has taken a few days off, but is really trying to do these each day. I have learned that, even if you can’t do the exercises or stretches as you would like, ATTEMPTING to do them on a regular basis strengthens and/or lengthens muscles, too, and so the effort is fruitful.

 

 

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Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, quality of life, taking care of yourself