I did a LOT of good stuff yesterday. I was busy all day, used my time well, got a LOT of things checked off my to-do list. The problem is that I have more to add to the list each day than I checked off, so the list seems to be growing exponentially.
I’m TRYING to choose the highest priority items each day, thinking if I can get THEM checked off, I’ll be making headway. That’s a reasonable goal, but ALL the things are ‘priority.’ :0(
The HIGHEST priority today is OUTSIDE – my veggie garden maintenance and tomato pruning – because we have a stormy forecast for both tomorrow and Tuesday. And while I’m doing these highest priority items, I’m constantly reminding myself that my daily exercise – taking care of myself – ranks right up there, too. My house looks at me with its sad face because anything more than daily necessities there are taking a backseat to all the other stuff…. UGH.
I found this quote I like –
“The only thing more important than your to-do list is your to-be list. The only thing more important than your to-be list is to be. “The best way to get through any challenge is to step back, look up at the sky, breathe deeply in and out, smile if you have to…then dive in.” “To-do list : to-do list!”
It may seem a small thing, but I’m feeling empowered.
The timer to the irrigation system for our veggie garden ‘went wonky’ the other day, probably after a storm. At any rate, it wasn’t working. My husband, who has, for years and years, been the technical expert and fix-it person around here, said, “Maybe we can find the old one.”
I stopped at the timer several times over the last week or so, trying to reprogram it on the fly. To say I was unsuccessful is an understatement.
I finally made it a priority to find the paperwork and see if I had directions on how to program the thing. A backup would be writing down the NAME of the timer and looking it up on the net to see if there was an online set of directions.
Luckily, I found the paperwork and it did include directions!
I read over them carefully, took them with me out to the outside standing faucet. I followed the directions as carefully as I could and it seemed to show I had done it.
I set the timer in the house for the time it was supposed to start watering, then went out to see if it did, in fact, start. It DID! It watered for 10 minutes as I had programmed and then shut off. HOORAAAAAY!!!!!
I – almost the least technical person I know – or have ever met – programmed the irrigation system.
Finagle’s law of dynamic negatives (also known as Melody’s law, Sod’s Law or Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s law) is usually rendered as “Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.”
123RF.com
Since I’m finally losing some weight – and losing inches in conjunction with that, I hope – I put in an order for a size smaller jeans.
I ordered one pair. (They are too long and I’m having to roll them up, but they are a much better fit otherwise.) I put in a follow-up order for the same size, but in ‘petite’ (a tactful word for SHORT.) I received one pair (I’m wearing them now) , but the other pair is on back-order.
My husband suggested I order a couple more pairs in the same size, so I would be in good shape once they arrive. I did that, and also ordered a size smaller, since I’m hoping I’ll be ready for that in the future. I also ordered some shorts, since our weather changes from spring to summer temperatures sometimes in the space of a couple of days.
Yesterday I had a delivery! The package was on our front porch waiting, since we had gone to look for my husband’s sugar-free drinks.
Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives definitely applies –
Did I receive the back-ordered pair of jeans from the original order? NO.
Was it the additional order of the current sized jeans? NO.
The shorts? NO.
The delivery was the two pairs of SMALLER jeans I’m hoping to be able to wear in the future, once I shed more of my lard. :0)
Hahahahahahaahahahah. I guess they will be further motivation on my efforts…
I’m finally learning (I know – It’s about time…) that I shouldn’t let things overwhelm me. As I age, feeling overwhelmed is my first gut reaction. Thankfully, nowadays it’s not my ONLY reaction. Fast on the heels of my more immature feeling, I’m learning to break things down into doable chunks – or ‘what do I need to do first’ questions. Even, walk away for a couple of minutes, calm down, and THEN do the above.
This gut reaction has been with me all my life. I’m NOT the person who calmly deals with things in a crisis. My eyes glaze over and I’m engulfed by panic. A small example: Years ago, when my husband and I lived in our first home in Tulsa, OK, the garage apartment caught fire. I called my MOTHER first – before I called the fire department! (Yeah, I’m still embarrassed.)
So, when I’m feeling very small, overwhelmed, like the small child above looking up, I am consciously trying to keep my head and put one foot in front of the other, starting to deal with whatever happens as well as I can.
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are” – attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but HE attributes it to Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia.
If there ISN’T such a word, there SHOULD be. I am experiencing it, so I know. :0)
Progress report at the end of Month # 1 on my low-carb eating plan and end of WEEK 3 on my new exercise regimen. –
The numbers –
Down 7.4 lbs since new push. Down 30.8 lbs since my heaviest.
Lost an inch from my waist since new push. (With all my gain during the pandemic, inches loss has changed to about 26 and a half inches since my most voluminous. (Even though we have another week of April, I’ve recorded things for the month. I won’t measure again until the end of May. Hoping for some good changes then.)
The feelings –
Feeling much more in control of myself now. I’m planning my eating with MyFitnessPal.com. I’m doing daily exercise videos with MoreLifeHealth.com/Seniors. I’m doing yoga stretches daily. Alternate days I’m also doing my elliptical trainer. (My new MP3 player is helping a LOT with this, since I can now listen to some music while I’m on it. I’ll change from 11 minutes to 15 minutes starting tomorrow.) I have a plan. I’m executing it and it is showing modest results.
I’m not starving to death all the time or resenting the fact that my husband eats things that are off my list. He is still trying to avoid all sugar, and that’s the most important thing for him, being a Type II Diabetic (although he denies this. He says he has a ‘sugar problem.’)
New Goals –
New short-term goal – lose another 5 lbs. (4.2 lbs to go.)
New long-term goal – have improved numbers on the blood test I’ll have before our next primary doctor appt May 16. (blood test May 11th)
We are cornering the market on character-building lately. This time it’s trying to get a phone line rehung that fell down into the yard during the last storm.
After the storm we initially called our electric company, Arkansas Valley Electric Co-Operative, because we weren’t absolutely sure whether we needed help with electrical lines or phone lines. The company sent a service man right over. We couldn’t have asked for better response time. He confirmed that the lines were phone lines, and told us the phone company would need to come out and fix them.
It took us forever (3 or 4 days) of talking to person after person at our current phone company, AT&T, before someone mentioned that the two phone lines we have now were actually installed years ago by CenturyLink.
My husband got mad at this point and was up on a two-story ladder propped up against a telephone pole, trying to rehang the line. He finally gave up on one of the lines because even with that ladder, he couldn’t get up high enough. That didn’t stop him from trying to rehang the 2ND phone line. He had to cut down the branches of a tree in order to get access to the line and managed, after getting bitten by the tree several times, scratching up his arm badly, to get the line hung.
I spent another day trying to contact CenturyLink. This was iffy, since we are no longer their customer. They finally gave me a repair ticket number. Nothing happened, so I contacted them again and they said they had no record of the ticket number. They finally found it, and told us the technician would be out to the house yesterday between 8 and 5. We had to stay home to be sure we were here to receive him.
A little before 5, I contacted them again. The lady said to give the tech until 7pm. We did, but no action.
My husband stayed home from Lunch Bunch and errands this morning so he would be here if the tech showed up. He didn’t.
I contacted CenturyLink again. She told me the ticket was marked, “completed.” My husband went outside to double check, and the line was still down. I told the lady that and she has now generated ANOTHER repair ticket with a “commitment date of 4/23.”
And so we wait again…. I wonder if ‘character’ SHOWS, like building muscles….
I’m in celebration mode this morning. I would love it if you would celebrate with me.
I have finally reached my first goal of losing the pandemic lard I gained. I’mback to my long-time basis of 30-pounds-down from my heaviest, plus an 28.7 inch decrease from my most voluminous.HOOORAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!
30 pounds down
This is a huge motivational boost. I was beginning to think that no matter what I did, I would never get control and would continue to yo-yo.
Now I’m breaking into ‘NEW TERRITORY!’
I now know that if I record everything I’m planning to eat for the day on MyFitnessPal.com (and then stick to it) I will stay within my eating parameters. (Tonight we’re having “bacon-wrapped cheesy chicken” – Suzanne Ryan, Simply Keto, plus salad and I will eat a low-carb biscuit and my husband will have a deli dinner roll.)
Though my measuring tape isn’t showing anything yet, I’m hoping it will soon. I’ve mapped out my exercise regimen for the week and am giving myself gold stars on my desk calendar as I do things each day. I am starting to FEEL a difference. My exercise for the day is a part of my ‘to-do’ list now, given 2nd highest priority, right under the ‘have-to’s.’ :0)
I’m pleased that I am taking control of myself. I consciously think and plan what I’ll eat for the day BEFORE I eat or drink something that will sabotage my efforts. A HUGE HELP in this is MyFitness Pal.com. Yesterday I made some low-carb biscuits that had nice texture and tasted good. Today I’ll make bacon-wrapped cheesy chicken from Simply Keto and we’ll have a side salad and biscuit. I’m able to smell the popcorn my husband makes and watch him eat it without kicking the wall. :0)
I’m consciously planning what my exercise for the day will be. I’m using a monthly exercise planner by Mike, an Australian who has created MoreLifeHealth.com – a whole series of videos to help seniors get and stay in better health. In addition to his programs, I’m doing yoga stretches daily and my elliptical trainer 3 times a week. Yard work and house work count, too, on moving more on a daily basis.
I’m happy to see the scales acknowledging my efforts. The weight is coming off slowly, but steadily. As long as I’m showing some progress each week, it keeps me motivated. I’m researching how to break through any plateaus that will inevitably occur.
I’m FEELING a bit more energetic. Even though I still have aches and pains, I now have more arrows in my quiver on how to deal with them. I’m doing the warm-up and stretching videos by Mike daily, plus my yoga helps. A heat pad usually takes care of any residual. If not, some Tylenol.
I’m feeling happier. The world is too much with us these days, and I find myself feeling pretty down unless I consciously look for the good things – and there are a lot of them – in the world around us. I’m finding more and more coping mechanisms, and getting healthier, stronger, and more flexible is one of those things. My mantra remains –
A couple of weeks ago at Lunch Bunch, we were having a discussion about habits. I was saying I wanted to build a habit of exercising every day. Bud, Kay’s husband, said he thought that I should be saying “regimen” instead of ‘habit’ because habit could be good or bad and could be broken, while regimen suggested concentration and motivation.
I went home and looked up the words and have to agree. I want to build a REGIMEN on exercising that becomes so ingrained that it’s automatic in my day. I told him yesterday that he was right, and he was pleased. :0)
My REGIMEN is now made up of –
A monthly exercise planner provided by Mike of MoreLifeHealth.com consisting of 4 different ‘workouts’ during the month (1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b) warm-ups, stretches, physical activity (I’m doing 10 minutes on my elliptical trainer) etc. in a pattern.
Added to this, I’m doing two different videos of his with weights.
And then I’m doing half an hour of ‘senior’ (I hate that word) yoga stretches.
When the weather is cooperative, I’m doing some work in the yard and in my garden.
I’m eating low-carb, mainly using recipes from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto. These are delicious recipes not requiring weird or hard-to-find ingredients, and don’t take a lot of preparation. I can make double recipes, freezing the leftovers into individual portions. I’m also experimenting with trying to find some recipes for low carb dinner rolls. (I’m trying a new one today.)
My goals are –
to make the REGIMEN and low-carb eating NOT diet and exercise programs, since that sounds temporary, but a lifestyle change. I want it to become my way of life to try to stick to 20 carbs or less daily, watch my macros and calories using MyFitnessPal.com
I want to get as healthy as possible for my age (advanced, but not in the ground yet :0) ) . I know that getting the lard off and exercising may help me avoid lots of pitfalls, diseases, and more. I want to increase my strength, flexibility, and balance.
I will finish Week 3 tomorrow. Onward and downward!
I feel as if I’ve finally won the lottery this morning.
After two-plus-days of being shuffled from one ‘service agent’ to the next, repeating my problem from the beginning, having to provide all my personal information, account numbers, etc. over and over, being cut off, etc., I FINALLY found from about the 20th person at AT&T that our phone lines were actually put in by CenturyLink. I contacted them via chat, talked to Sara in customer service, who transferred me to Dana, in repair scheduling, who actually scheduled a repair technician to come out to our house next Thursday. She gave me a ticket number. I offered to pay for the service call, since we’re not a current customer, but she said there would be NO CHARGE. I took care to fill out their rating thingie after the chat ended, praising both of the ladies involved by name, and the company in general.
(My husband got so angry over the past two days just listening to MY end of the previous conversations that he was determined to go out and fix the lines himself – JUST the thing I was trying to avoid! Only the fact that the two-story ladder wasn’t tall enough to get to where one of the lines needed to be attached stopped him from trying on one line. I came in to try again on connecting with someone who could help and found neither our home phone or my cell were working! I panicked because I knew my husband might get into a dangerous situation on the 2nd downed phone line, but I managed to find the emergency button pendant thingie I got when we had ADT put in our security system. I hung that around my neck and went out to see if I could help. He was cutting down branches from a tree where the 2nd line was tangled, so I came back in to find the phones working again, and so got back on to fight with our problem. He got the tree branches down with loppers and a chain saw, managing to scratch up his arm pretty badly. He said he got the 2nd line back up. I did what I could to clean his wounds, and told him about the tech coming Thursday. He was pleased because he conceded it was beyond him to fix the 1st line.)
We solved a couple of other things yesterday, too, so we’re feeling exhausted, but still standing. We have Lunch Bunch in about an hour, plus a couple of errands after, but otherwise are hoping for a very quiet, calm day – at least until the storms are supposed to start, sometime after sunset.
WIN: Today we WON a little because my husband was able to fix the window that is part of a 3-window set in our dining area. Yesterday, after the storm, we noticed that there was a GAP between the central window, and the window on the left. It was actually blowing the cafe curtains above the trio! We were too tired to deal with it yesterday, but we tackled it today. I took down the cafe curtains and rod because you can’t open the windows, otherwise. My husband saw that it was in the track on the bottom, but not on the top. He opened the window on the left, then used his hand to slap the top of the window back into the track on the top. Problem solved. It’s still a mystery why the window got OUT of the track, but we’re declaring victory and moving on.
X96
LOSE: (so far): Yesterday we found two lines down in the side and back yard. We weren’t sure whether they were power lines of some kind or phone lines. We had power and we had phone service, so this was an aggravation, rather than a huge problem. I called our electric company, Arkansas Valley Electric Co-Operative, described the problem. They sent a man right out. The problem was, the lines were phone lines, so he wouldn’t touch them.
Yesterday afternoon I chatted with a lady from AT&T online. She said a person would call within 15 to 30 minutes to set up an appt for a technician to come out and fix the problem. No one called. I got on chat again this morning. She said a supervisor would call me. He did, but after having to explain my problem for a third time and giving them information, including my first grade report card and thumbprint, he kept trying to reach the people who could help me, a 2-minute-hold each time for 6 times. He then tried to get me to get another cell phone to add to my account “while we were waiting for him to get through to the people.” THEN we got cut off.
I dropped it and my husband and I fixed the window. The phone rang and it was the guy from AT&T again, saying he was unable to get to the people and that he had left an URGENT message and that they would call me back. I’m still waiting.
MEANWHILE, my 79-year-old husband is fighting me, saying HE can get out our two-story ladder, prop it against the telephone poles, and re-hang the lines. So far, I’m threatening him with death….
I told you that my husband agreed to let a solar panel guy come to the house in answer to an email talking about a government program for free residential solar panels. I researched it, read to my husband that there WERE no ‘free’ solar panels, etc. He wanted to hear the guy out anyway.
The guy was here for about an hour and a half this morning. I had him send the offer to my email so I could print it, and give me his card, telling him that we “needed to discuss it.” After he left, I said, not only ‘No,’ but, “Hell, no!’ Of COURSE my husband wanted to do it.
He gave me all his reasons. Some of them I agreed with, others not so much. He asked me for MY reasons to NOT go with it.
the offer started off ‘free,’ then went to ‘none of their financial people would probably go with reverse mortgage situations’, then ended up being an ‘up-front one-time payment of $42,450 (give or take.)’
I told him that we needed any extra money we could pony up for unforseen events that might occur, and that, even with inflation, we could pay a LOT of electricity bills for over $42K.
I then threatened him with hiring our ‘man-of-all-good-works-with-large-equipment,’ who just HAPPENED to come up the driveway yesterday to see if we needed him to do anything, that he had a backhoe and could probably did a large enough hole in the back yard that would be perfect for my husband. And that could be done BEFORE my stress level erupted.
Surprisingly, my husband remembered years ago when we were at loggerheads about what to do with a stocks profit windfall. My husband wanted to buy more stock. I wanted to pay off the house and cars. I won that battle, and he has told me several times since then it was one of the best decisions we ever made. He told me if I really didn’t want to do this, that would be the end of the discussion.
THAT’S one of the many reasons he’s a keeper. The man I married is still in there, though sometimes he is buried a bit. I thanked him for listening to me, and caring what I thought.
The backhoe expert can wait awhile on the hole…
Now I’ve just used my ‘1a warm-up and workout,” and “weights video” to calm myself down. I’ll relax a bit and then do my yoga. I’m exhausted, but I am SOOOOOO relieved. :0)
Any minute a guy, or guys, from a solar panel company will be here to talk with us about a ‘government solar panel program’ for our home. My husband signed us up for this. I researched it, and though it isn’t really a ‘scam,’ it’s quite misleading.
The solar panels are installed at no cost to the homeowner, but the homeowner doesn’t OWN the panels. You LEASE the panels. If you sell your house, the new owner has to agree to continue the lease. If they don’t, you have to pay to remove the panels and try to get someone else to take the lease, or you break the lease, costing you up to $20,000. You get no tax incentive break for installing the panels – that goes to the solar panel company. To maintain the warranty on the panels, you must have them inspected each year and cleaned twice a year – a cost of $450 a year. For many reasons, this is not a good thing for us.
I read this to my husband. He agrees it’s not for us, but still wants to talk to them. I will sit in just to make sure he doesn’t sign up for anything…
Tenor
It’s quite rainy today. Really gusty winds went all night and into this morning. Now the sky is getting quite dark. We have possibly severe weather. Fingers crossed we get through this day with no damage.
I hope that your Wednesday is safe, calm, and dry.
No change in measurements yet almost at the end of Week 2. Down 28.7 inches overall since my heaviest. Hopeful to see changes by the end of April.
Down 1.6 lbs this week. Down 28.4 lbs since my heaviest – first goal is trying to get down to -30 – where I was pre-pandemic, then on from there.
Exercise level is way up. Still fighting sloth. Am doing yoga session each day. Also an online video on exercise with weights for seniors. Also working in the yard each day the weather cooperates.
I’ve read that it takes 66 days to build a ‘habit.’ I’m hoping that by the end of May my new way of eating, drinking, and exercising will have become ‘routine,’ ‘habit,’ or ‘regimen,’ – whichever word describes it most accurately. One day at a time.
My husband decided he HAD to have a new computer – to upgrade a bit, to switch to Windows 11. I told him to go ahead, as long as he opted for the offer to pay a bit more and have nerds put the computer together for him with Windows 11 already installed, compatible parts already installed so that he would just have to change out the hard drives, etc.
Since then we’ve been in ‘computer Hell.’ There is no nicer way to say it.
It started with UPS ‘delivering’ the humongous, HEAVY (75 pounds +) box by simply leaving it at the bottom of our STEEP, graveled, 650+ foot driveway. We practically killed ourselves getting the box INTO the back of the truck, THEN unpacking as much as possible, having to remove two dog gates in order to get it into the house and into the office. (We asked for, and received a refund for the extra we paid for expedited delivery.)
The computer was as my husband ordered, so mostly he has been fighting with software. Right now, the fight is to get an email program that will work the way he wants it to.
Since my husband and I are both older-than-dirt, changes and technical stuff are becoming much more difficult. An added problem is that my husband had a couple of strokes in the past two years, and he has more trouble, though he has mostly bounced back. He has been reduced to asking ME – the woefully incompetent tech person of our duo – for help. This is a lose/lose situation for me. If I can’t help, he gets more frustrated and angry – a really uncomfortable situation. If I CAN help, then he’s upset because I could do it, and he couldn’t, making him depressed.
A real character-building exercise for both of us.
So, the NEXT time he wants to get a new computer, I’ve told you my answer at the top.
We have vines stretching all the way to the driveway to the left of this picture. My husband has been trying for years to have BLOOMS all the way across. We’re making progress on it each year.
Yesterday I ate right, stayed under my calorie total for the day, stayed under my carb total for the day, exercised with weights, did my yoga, cooked for an hour, cleaned, etc., and guess what – I GAINED .2 lbs. Bummer. This is a character-building exercise for sure. I’ll simply keep on keepin’ on and hope for the best.
aramananatural.es
I’ve been making phone calls most of the morning, following up on things, confirming others, asking questions, etc. The thing I’m coming away with is that you MUST be your own advocate. Everyone is in their own personal world, worried about their own problems, understandably. These DON’T include whatever they told you would happen, wouldn’t happen, shouldn’t happen, etc. Unless you make notes and follow up, it simply DOESN’T happen/or DOES – whichever is worse. You can’t depend on other people. You MUST do it yourself, and KEEP after it until whatever it is is done. Sometimes I would definitely trade my ‘adult’ hat for a happy, carefree ‘child’ hat from my past.
I’ll make sure to get outside for part of the afternoon. It’s going to be in the 60s and there is lots of sunshine to play in. Will you get outside, too?
We’ve had a long, hard day. Bottom line, we couldn’t make our private network work. His computer can’t see mine, and vice versa.
SO, he made me a CD of the main program I need on a daily basis. We’re going to stop beating our heads against the wall – and each other – and move on for now.
We’re both exhausted. So each of us will do our own thing for a bit and then share dinner and a quiet evening.
The rain started early this morning. We avoided the possible severe weather, though, thank goodness. It’s still rainy, though we’re due for a break in the rain until ‘downpours’ this afternoon. An inside day, for sure.
Happily, I pushed myself yesterday, doing three sessions of weed whacking to clean up the edges from my husband’s good lawn mowing. We almost look like someone cares!
Since we have a cool front along with the cloudy, rainy weather, I’m cooking Keto Chili tonight from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. I feel I have a good start now on my renewed effort to lose the lard. My scales are noticing my efforts this week. :0) Today, since I can’t work in the yard, I’ll try to add some time on my elliptical trainer in the garage along with my afternoon yoga stretching session.
VectorStock
A good thing: my husband agreed to try using a cell phone again, mainly because he wants to be able to receive verification codes on HIS phone rather than mine. We went to AT&T yesterday, and the two nice people there got the new phone added. The guy showed my husband how to get rid of the stuff he doesn’t want on the phone, so now he’ll quit bothering me about the stuff on mine… PLUS, the lady helped me make it so I can again take pics with my phone and email them to my computer for use on the blog again. (I haven’t been able to make it work since I had to change my email address.) The final great thing was the guy suggested I call ‘611’ on my cell to ask them if they would waive the extra fees associated with adding another phone. I was to ask for the Loyalty Dept. I did and they DID give us a credit toward our next bill. Yea!
Another good thing: I spent a long time on the phone this morning, trying to get the status on some wire transfers we did lately. The nice lady was able to confirm one was ‘good,’ and is researching the other to find out what’s what. It’s good to find competent, polite help when you need it.
My husband is trying to make his new computer work. It’s together physically now, but he’s having trouble adding software. My contribution is to keep my mouth firmly shut. Some access to things we share aren’t working yet, so I’m modifying my activities until they do again.
My husband ordered a new computer – a large, old-style one. He paid extra for the providers to actually make sure all the parts were compatible, Windows 11 was already installed, and then also paid extra for delivery by the 25th.
Delivery was finally yesterday evening (the 28th) just after 6pm. He received an email saying ‘the package had been delivered.’ When we didn’t find it on the front porch or outside the garage, we went to the bottom of the driveway in the truck. UPS had left the expensive computer just off the street.
To say we were upset is a vast understatement. Just picture two older-than-dirt people trying to pick up a HEAVY (75+pounds) box with no handholds or cutouts into the back of our truck on a STEEP driveway. We finally managed it.
THEN we had the problem of getting it up the three steps through the ‘people door’ in the garage. We used our truck dolly for that after opening the box, fighting to get an inner box out of the shipping box, then opening that to find another inner computer box, getting down to the actual computer plus extra boxes. We had to take down two of our three dog gates because the remaining inner computer box was too large to go through the gate openings, and too heavy for us to even THINK about lifting it above the gates.
The computer is now in the office. My husband is working on changing from his old computer to the new. I THINK he has to pull the hard drives out of the old and put them into the new. There are a million (give or take a few) cables and hook-ups that filled two small boxes. I’m going to give him a wide berth today while he tries to make the changeover.
Last night we wrote (I typed because my husband’s hands were shaking) to both Newegg and UPS about the delivery. We managed to get on chat with Newegg and they agreed to refund what my husband paid for ‘expedited delivery’ – since it was 3 days late and only ‘delivered’ to the bottom of the driveway. We will probably never hear from UPS, but at least we let them know about the problem.
Once again I’m trying. I hope this is mainly annoying, rather than a red line for you – reading things I’ve said many times before. If the line is red, stop reading here, and I apologize.
If you’re still reading, THANKS!
CoolFunnyQuotes.com
My husband and I had a talk, continuing over the past several days, about our eating. Due to the weather encouraging comfort food, plus my husband trying to be ‘nice’ to me, bringing me popcorn or ice cream, and other assorted excuses (pick one. ANY one will do…. :0) ) I have regained weight I tried really hard to shed. We’re doing a lot right, but never enough to actually make significant progress in my goal to LOSE the lard.
This morning we are AGAIN getting serious. Today I’m trying a new recipe for “Keto Bread Rolls” from Arman online to hopefully take the place of the deli roll we have been eating with dinner. I’m also making “Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bake” from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. We love this.
I’m tracking my eating, drinking, and exercising via MyFitnessPal again. I have my macro set up there now (5% carbs, 25% protein, and 70% fat) so I can see how I’m doing. My personal macro is actually 14grams of carbs, 77grams of protein, and 85grams of fat daily. I’m trying to keep my calories to around 1137 daily.
I’ve entered what I’m eating today already so I KNOW I’m staying within my calorie total, plus am hitting the right percentages on lunch and dinner, with even a snack some time today. I have also entered my activity and have already started that. (I get some credit for moving more, though I don’t really make any allowances for it on how much I’m eating.)
Our lunch stays the same, except I’m not having any fruit. The only changes are at dinner – plus snacks – and that’s not bad at all.
I have found FitnessPal.com more to my liking than others because they allow you to add recipes not in their database (which is large) quickly and easily without having to list each ingredient and quantity in the recipe separately. They also allow you to repeat easily what you eat daily, rather than having to enter it all again every day. (We basically eat the same lunch every day with the exception of Lunch Bunch on Friday.) Once you enter something, when you go to the category again for each day, what you listed previously is there if you wish to check the box. NICE.
I’m motivated to stay with my plan. My husband has agreed NOT to bring me ‘goodies’ just because he likes me, so I’M in charge and the only one I can blame is myself if I don’t stick to this. So far, I’m feeling energized.
I’m going to start cooking now. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I’ll see a bit of improvement. Fingers crossed.
A. A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh – Illustration by E. H. Shepard
One of the many ‘perks ‘ of getting older is trouble remembering things.
Just this morning I was reading an email from a dear friend who talked about what she was going to cook for dinner. THAT reminded me that I had neglected to take our dinner out of the freezer. I finished answering her email and then found some painted bottles online that were absolutely STUNNING.
I remembered again that I needed to go to the pantry to get our dinner out of the freezer. I got up, stopped in the bathroom, poured water in Amber’s dog bowl and then came back to the computer. I saw that I had forgotten to refill my coffee cup, so I got up and started to go to the kitchen. I stopped, grabbed my wallet and the record of our blood pressure and blood sugar we used this morning to take back to the kitchen. I put them away in the dining area and then came back to the office.
I again saw my coffee cup. I picked it up this time and went to the kitchen, refilled it, and brought it back. Then remembered I was supposed to go get our dinner out of the freezer…
My husband came in and wanted some help. I helped him and then sat back down at the computer. THEN remembered I was supposed to go to the pantry.
I got to the kitchen and couldn’t remember why I went in there. Had to come back to the office and sit down. THEN I remembered.
I actually got our dinners out of the freezer this time. Please shoot me.
One of my many excuses for stuffing my face is stress eating or emotional eating. My husband is definitely a keeper for many reasons, but the last few days he has WORKED on getting on my last nerve. When I told him I was digging a hole for him in the back yard, he agreed that he probably merits it. We have agreed to spend ONE DAY without a crisis or ‘do-it-or-die-trying’ project. Hopefully, that day is today.
Carstickers.com
Each day this past week I have promised myself I’ll be good. I make it through till lunch, then eat like a lunatic the rest of the day. I’m blaming it on the stress around here, but since I’m an adult and ADMIT it’s an excuse, I should be able to zip my lips. Right?
I’m now hoping that
we will have a quiet, calm day
I will react to that by eating like a rational human being
Update –
My husband just asked for my phone. He says one of the things we thought we finally did yesterday didn’t work, so he’s starting to tackle it again. I started typing here again and he asks, “Do you really need all this on your phone?” AND HERE WE GO AGAIN…. I wonder if we have any chips in the pantry….
Sometimes I feel as if I’m on my last nerve. The past several days have been like that. I’m having ‘whine’ with my cheese today.
My husband is trying to drive me crazy. I love him, but I’m actively thinking of hiring a man to use a backhoe and dig a hole for him in our back yard.
Just one example –
He doesn’t want a cell phone. I’m listening to music on the computer. Suddenly, I realize he’s talking to me. I stop what I’m doing and turn to him. He wants to know if we have “What’s App”. I tell him, ‘no.’ I ask him why he’s asking me. He tells me someone wants him to pay them using the app. Then he gets mad when I tell him I haven’t added it to the phone. I leave to go to the other room since I’m tired of him ranting at me. I get comfortable in my chair and fall asleep. He wakes me up, asking me what my passcode is to my phone. I tell him. I drift off again. He is back, telling me my passcode doesn’t work.
I get up and come into the office, put in my passcode, get the phone working for him. I get busy on the computer. He asks, “how do you get messages on this thing?” I stop what I’m doing and show him again where the messages thing is, push it and pull up his message. A bit of time passes, and he asks me, “do we have “what’s app?”
I guess you can tell by my posts that I’ve been enjoying listening to a lot of music lately. Music is magic, in my opinion, transporting us to another place, either taking us back to where we were when we first heard it, making aches, pains, concerns simply drop away, or take us to the place the singer takes us in a new song, or their take on a classic that makes us hear the words in a different way.
I’m lucky because I have a lot of coping mechanisms that give me some relief from the hostility and frustration and helplessness I feel about what is going on in our beautiful world or to keep me calm in the face of any unpleasantness or concerns I feel about what is going on in my personal world.
Music – if I’m outside by myself, I sing. Inside, I watch music videos with my headphones on, or listen to songs on my MP3 player
Reading – I’m in the middle of “Forgotten in Death” by J.D. Robb, “Life Force” by Tony Robbins, and listening to a video on Cryptocurrency.
Art – finding it on the net and sharing it with you, or playing in my art room
Animals – playing with our dog, Amber, and our cat, Abby.
Exercise – yoga stretching
Gardening – getting my veggie garden going and working in my flower planters
Figuring out what’s happening in our world is more and more challenging.
I read several sources on my computer daily and also watch news programs on TV. The disparity I find is confusing and frustrating, to say the least. I’m not sure whether I need to read more or less!
The images I see say one thing. The explanations from the media say another. It’s difficult to judge what is real, what to think, what to believe in the face of some stories reported on a source or two, yet completely ignored by others. When the subject is covered by several sources, the slant of the media people is like night and day.
It makes me frustrated and hostile, so I tend to vacillate between spending more time trying to find out and avoiding the whole thing.
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as “the most trusted man in America” after being so named in an opinion poll.
I’m so old I remember listening each night to Walter Cronkite. No bells. No whistles. No fancy stuff. Just a reading of what happened during the day. I don’t remember him ever giving an opinion, but I was young at the time and not aware as I should have been about things like that.
I don’t like to be cynical. I don’t want to have to ‘weigh’ what I read or hear, trying to figure out if I can trust the information – if the person speaking has an agenda – skin in the game – an axe to grind.
It makes me tired. I wish I could have Walter back.
Lard is CUTE on this sweet hippo, but not so much on me.
Now that we finally seem to be calling winter over – at least according to the calendar officially designating spring this Sunday – I’m trying to call comfort food eating over, at least until next winter!
My husband and I have discussed NOT putting food that is NOT on the list in the shopping cart. This goes in one ear and out the other with SOME of us. Since my willpower is laughable, I have seriously asked for his help. We’re going to try to get back to our once a week salad night, as well as eating the good individual frozen meals we’ve been getting from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ and Real Food, both of which are easily accessible, now that getting snowed or iced in isn’t nearly as possible. I’m trying to include a side veggie from my list of ‘good’ veggies from various lists that are supposed to maintain or improve the status on our various health concerns. We also have some good low carb dinners we like that I can cook, freezing leftovers into individual dinners.
Happily, spring already brings me to more physical activity with our garden and trying to get the yard and our planters in shape. I’m also continuing to do my old lady yoga stretches each afternoon. If I can, I’m going to TRY to include a session three times a week on my elliptical trainer, now that the garage isn’t freezing.
Losing the lard will be in two phases –
PHASE I – getting back to where I was before the winter hit.
PHASE II – starting to enjoy new territory.
A full two-armed embrace of spring for my garden and hopefully, less of me, with the exception of a huge smile on my face.
With all that’s going on in the world, it’s hard to keep your head above water. It would be easy (and understandable) to simply give in to all the ugliness and pain and be crushed under its weight.
I’m finding ways to get through –
Do what I can to help
keep up with enough news to know what is happening
Immerse myself in the beauty that ALSO abounds in our world – the arts, books, music, stories of what others are doing to make our world a better place, talking to our son, hugging my husband and our pets, reaching out to friends and family
escape to my art room to try to create something healing for myself, and maybe others
look for plants for my early spring veggie garden
start to plan to get our yard in shape after the winter
exercise to try to make myself stronger physically
ACKNOWLEDGE that there are many, many things I cannot control
hahahahhahahahah. Actually, I’m not stressed, just late today. I just loved the picture above. :0)
I’m having a very late start to blogging today. I had a haircut appointment and errands to do this morning. By the time I got home, it was time for lunch. THEN, after we ate, I got sleepy and took a nap…
We’re having a weird day today.
We were just checking a detail on our investment account and saw that Schwab had generated a corrected tax form for us. We printed it, and then I emailed our CPA that we were having to mail him a correction for our tax stuff.
My husband wanted to check to see if we had gotten a delivery from Fedex or UPS (sometimes left at our mailbox at the bottom of the driveway) and said he would mail the corrected forms when he went. We talked about how it would be mailed, etc.
Then I started to work on the computer. I heard the driveway alarm and realized my husband had left. The form was still where I left it, so my husband didn’t take it. Wonder what he’ll think when he gets to the post office. Getting old is SO much fun. I’m glad I don’t have to do it alone.
It seems to me that our world is a mass of mixed signals and confusion. It’s hard to know what to think, what to feel, which way to jump.
I’m kind of like a deer frozen in the headlights, concentrating on one day at a time, trying to do what I can, when I can, one careful step at a time, with a lot of trying to escape thrown in, too, since there is so much happening that I can’t do anything about.
The only thing I can come up with is to try to personally stay as strong as I can, continuing to look for any ways to try to make things better wherever I can find.
I wish I were a fairy godmother, able to wave my wand, think good thoughts, and save the world.
I’m in awe of people who create ‘felted’ animals. SO much patience and talent involved. This elephant melts me into a puddle.
This is a happy Friday.
First, the weather, which has been so challenging lately, is truly beautiful. Our high temperature is supposed to the in the 70’s today with lots of sunshine! We JUST celebrating the last of the ice on our driveway. It’s still in the ditches along the north sides of the road to town, but it’s finally gone otherwise. I happily waved, ‘bye-bye’ to it. :0)
I immediately wanted to go get some plants, but will need to be careful to watch for freezes in the next couple of weeks if I do find plants to put in my square foot garden.
We have Lunch Bunch today. If all goes to plan, all of us except one will be there today for the first time in about 3 weeks or so. It’ll be great to catch up with our friends.
After, maybe we’ll check to see if there are early spring plants available. I’m particularly looking for lettuce, spinach, and broccoli. We’ll see.
I am actually caught up with all the pesky bookkeeping/taxes/filing etc that I truly hate. Yesterday I updated an ‘important’ spreadsheet for our son that lists information he would need in case both my husband and I croak. I was able to send him the link to it via our chat program. AND my desk is still clear!
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