Check in. I know you probably think I make these things up but . . . Tomorrow I have to talked to a police officer for a possibility of restraining order on a family who won't accept their son's B in English. They have asked for extra credit, moved from from the district in hopes of dropping the grade, moved back and hounded for extra credit and last night were caught breaking into my classroom and taking something which was caught in video. Did they have hopes of hacking my computer? Tonite I am spending the night at the ranch. I have eaten WAY too much sugar but at least not at work😋 I know it will be fine but it is really surrealistic. BTW the boy is a frosh. Now he is kicked out of my school. It reminds me how compulsion can ruin lives and I have compassion for him.
A lovely morning with the sun rising in the East, and offering an opportunity to get the raspberries I bought a few weeks ago into the ground. Rather too many things have been on hold with the boundary nonsense and all the travelling. I woke at 4.45am and got up at 5.30am so theoretically I'm ahead of myself.
I had the feta salad yesterday: frisée lettuce, cucumber, feta, olives, sun-dried tomato and olive oil. And sparkling water with ice and lemon. It wasn't bad and led into an interesting conversation about fitness and exercise.
maryann, words fail me. Beaming you good vibes to get through this latest stuff and the power to stay on plan.
nationalparker, this really is your busy season, isn't it? Ignore all that shop-bought food - it's not worth eating and yours is so much better.
karenrn, sounds good at the gymn! Well done for passing the test.
curlyjax, sleep is so good. It's one of my hobbies, I think.
onebyone, amazing work. You keep on going! There are some great English roses. I had one (Rosa 'Wenlock', a deepish red - cannot find good pic) and the others were all originally bred in France in the C19th. Look at the thumbnails in the links for good pics.
Félicité et Perpétue is a keen rambler and it marks the contested boundary! Pink buds opening creamy white and it will be wonderful in June. Although I now realise it's no longer supported so I'll have to get out there and rig something up.
I've just bought another rambler, Albéric Barbier, at a plant sale. Just because, not because I needed or wanted another rambler. Yellow buds opening creamy white. I went out last night to water it and cannot find the pot (no time to plant recently). I think it may be under a pile of my pea sticks pushed over by the neighbours.
I used to have two others which never came to much in the front garden. They went when I reorganised things. One was Rosa 'Wenlock' and the other was the warm pink Comte de Chambord.
Must go! I hope to keep hold on my eating today but I'm still rather off kilter.
Thursday - Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov (1997, New York)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Chased the DGD, CREDIT moi, for exercise. More words, words, words. The nouns keep coming - that's easy to expect. But it's the other words properly used in context that get me: other one, backward, forward, noisy, smiling, boy lives there. It makes sense; one can't construct sentences until the supporting words are in place. I found a larger cushion to place at the slide from the bouncy house so it was easier to prevent her from killing herself when she threw herself down headfirst.
No snacks, CREDIT moi. Meals were on plan. Dinner was constructed from the table of appetizers at an evening reception. It's hard to judge whether I'm eating more than I would have at home. I load up on the diced fruits as an attempt to balance the higher calorie meats and cheeses. I was surprised to bump into an old friend who I haven't seen in a couple of years. Good to be hit with delightful surprises.
onebyone – Yep, "Persisted to Victory" indeed. Kudos, Kudos, Kudos. Alas, I had to google tickety-boo to know that all is copacetic. It's hard keeping up with modern terms.
silverbirch – Kudos for conquering your business lunch with feta salad. Love the thought of planting raspberries.
maryann - Good grief! Teaching is becoming a dangerous profession. Kudos for being so professional that you can find compassion even while being attacked.
nationalparker – Ouch for working too many hours - hope that ends soon. Super Kudos for avoiding bakery donuts even before donut-Friday.
Karen (karenrn) - Congrats for passing your gym evaluation. Does make one wonder if anyone actually fails, LOL. Happy Camelback climb today.
curlyjax - Yay for a good night's sleep. Do hope that your DH continues to feel better.
Readers -
Quote:
Conclusion Stay Free of Traps - for Life
Using Escape Plans for Life's Varied Traps
Beth told me a little more about her stress-filled days and what happened when she left work. I told her I thought we should plan to have a few sessions. First, I wanted to go back to basics, starting by making a new advantages list, giving herself credit, reading her reminder cards, and eating slowly and mindfully. After that, we would work out a plan for when and what she would eat in the evenings.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 227
It's been a great day. Food on plan and we did hike Camelback this morning. I'm not fast, but it's a tough hike and I can still do it. Hoping when I get stronger I can do it a little faster. Tonight we're going out to dinner, but I already have a plan about what I'm ordering. It's a salad I've had in the past. Since I have WW weigh in on Saturday morning, I figure we can go out again on Saturday and I can relax a bit about what I have. Tomorrow we are back to the gym for a personal training workout. I will have two before I start the class.
Bill It's true, no one fails the gym evaluation. It just lets them know what your starting point is. I'm really looking forward to the classes which are very small. Glad you found a larger cushion to save your DGD from her face plants. They don't seem to have any fear at that age.
Silverbirch I'm not sure what I like the sounds of more, the raspberries or the roses. We had some beautiful roses in Washington and I do miss some of the gardening, just not the weather that made things grow so well.
Maryann Holy moly, it's crazy what is going on with the boy at school. Well, I guess not at school now. It is just hard to imagine what some people will do.
Nationalparker I sure hope you are either very well paid or paid overtime. Your hours are horrendous, at least at this time of the year. I don't know how you do that and all the home things as well.
Onebyone I'm so glad to hear about your success. That has got to be quite motivating for you. Keep up the good work!
Well back to the company that is easy to be around. Actually Bill, I find it difficult to have most house guests after 3 or 4 days, so it really is a complement in my book that I say they are not hard to have around. For being as young as she is, 28, my niece is happy to hike, be by the pool and read with a tiny bit of shopping and a couple meals out. We are actually very happy to have them a couple of times a year.
I'm feeling like I can't get caught up and deadlines are fast approaching. Tomorrow is my last day at work before heading out for almost two weeks for the event...I just shut my work down for the night. Will be hard to turn off my brain to sleep and alarm is not far off. I know I need and want to do personals but just checking in is almost too hard. I do wish I did get overtime!
Maryann that has to be such an added stress...it's like it's never-ending. At least your supervisors didn't push the grade change. Or did they.
Pls ignore typos...
Last edited by nationalparker; 05-12-2017 at 02:05 AM.
Friday - Florence Nightingale born (1820, Florence, Italy)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Morning bird walk encountered a Yellow-billed Cuckoo - a rare bird for me. Later walked, CREDIT moi, to an evening program with DW in delightful weather albeit rather chili. The walk to the library yielded Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe which DW immediately appropriated for her night reading stack. I'll get a high quality summary and not have to threaten my own towering stack of unread books. Win-win it is.
Another day of no snacks, CREDIT moi, to make an on plan eating day. In the afternoon I thought about how nice a handful of peanuts would be. I also thought that I'd have to write about it here, so avoided them. Makes me wonder if I'd be able to stay my path if I were isolated on a desert island. Then realized that was absurd. By then the urge to eat had passed.
nationalparker – Feel free to skip personals while you're inundated with your 'boot camp' period of work. Rather than overtime perhaps they could just slip you a pair of tickets to Italy.
Karen (karenrn) - Sounds like you have a lot of gym time booked for today. Thought of you when noting that today is Florence Nightingale's birthday. It's amazing how many changes to nursing she initiated.
Readers -
Quote:
Conclusion Stay Free of Traps - for Life
Using Escape Plans for Life's Varied Traps
I asked Beth whether her sense of over-responsibility had surfaced again. "Do you remember how we talked about this unrealistic expectation you had to solve all your clients' problems? Could some of your desire to comfort yourself have to do with expecting yourself to immediately fix all the agency's problems? On the way home every night, are you anxious about work? If you are, no wonder you want to calm down by eating."
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 227
I still cannot find the missing rose and I think the neighbours must have just reached over the wall and stolen it. I am mulling over what to do next.
It's now lunchtime. I've achieved what I wanted to do this morning but at the cost of eating poor food. That could be the result of two nights of not enough sleep, as well as all the other stuff. I think a short zizz is in my immediate future and then I'll reassess what to do next. I certainly don't have much in the tank at the moment.
I should also have lunch, despite (because of?) eating that poor food this morning. I bought a dressed crab (reduced in price so it has to be eaten up) so I'll have a crab salad. Protein, omega 3 fats, B vitamins, several great mineral + all the goodness of veg. That should set me up for the afternoon.
Bill, you're doing very well with no snacks!
nationalparker, good luck with the event and everything!
karenrn, gymn, WW and hiking all sound very good to me.
Three cheers for Friday. I can not say I will miss this week although some very fine things happened. My Freshmen translated scenes from Romeo and Juliet and I sent them off around school to film with their smartphones. This is a first for me and meets my goal for the year of setting up "google classroom" which allows me to post assignments to which the students respond with electronic submissions. Next year, I will predominantly use this method of turning things in. So much freedom with this project. For 25 years I have been a little mother hen with her chicks constantly around her. That is the nature of the lower grades. Now there is more independence. Also, I learned my VP has assigned me exactly what I asked for next year - 3 more College level English classes, A college prep course for AVID students and a creative writing class. Pretty exciting stuff.
The resolution of the crazy family ended with two arrests and bizarre fall out. Admin totally supported me. I didn't know but the family had petitioned all the way up to the superintendent to drop the B- grade before they broke into my classroom that night. Also, the boy had been attending classes without even being enrolled. In any case, it seems to be over. Credit for weight back to ticker and less sugar. There is no problem that a compulsive bite won't make worse.Three more weeks of school. You sure can feel it on campus. Short shorts and restlessness.
Two green meals yesterday - Credit. No exercise - Drat! The boys will be gone Friday and Saturday. My two main priorities are correcting papers and exercising a couple of times a day - walks and gym work.
Food on plan and exercise today was my first personal training session at the new gym. I will have two and then join the class. I did fine, but it will be plenty of work. My niece went with me and it was difficult not to watch what she was doing. The most impressive move I caught a glimpse of was push ups from a handstand position. That would be a never for me, but if I can even do a burpee one of these days with decent form, I'll be happy.
I was awake several hours in the night, so I caught a nap this afternoon. The company (I call them the kids) are going out with friends who are also in town this evening. So we will have dinner alone and I'm sure an early to bed.
I'm very excited about the new gym. I won't go again until Tuesday, but Sunday we will hike Tom's Thumb and Monday we will do Camelback again.
Maryann I am so excited for you that you get the schedule of classes you want next year and the google classroom sounds great.
Bill Bravo on the no snacks. You are doing terrific with that.
Silverbirch OMG the neighbors are stealing the roses. Bummer.
Nationalparker Do not worry at all about personals and only worry about checking in if it helps you. We all know how busy you are and you sure don't need any more pressure/stress than you already have. Take care.
Tomorrow is WW weigh in. I'm hoping for a little loss and hoping my new strength training and slightly sore muscles haven't caused some water retention. I'll let you know how it goes.
I turned over one project this evening and need to not check on it. I explained the potential issues to keep an eye out for, and know it was accurate when I left it. A bit of a mental break. My other project to be done by Sunday morning is on target. Need to send out to 32 people to proof their section and then make any changes, but will require a speedy turnaround. I worry that some things aren't "sinking in" into my brain - we have different methods of working with broadcast, digital, print, social media, what have you, and at some point it's just all static in my mind right now.
Weight at 154.4 - so I'm still up and edging higher than my previous panic weight sliding up of 153. I don't feel that panic and just want to return in two weeks to this same range and then get to work on getting back closer to 150-52. One thing I need to remember when it gets really busy is this food plan's author reminds us - DIET = Did I Eat Today? Did I eat enough, healthy, natural, clean food? I picked up a few lighter snack items as "treats" to have instead of the pastry chef's items and Ezekiel bread, raw almond butter that, with fruit, can count for late night dinners ... and will get a 2 pound bag of carrots and cut them up into carrot sticks and just put in a ziplock and have that as an option. I think now I'm finally able to see what is feasible.
Bill - I've downloaded the audiobook by Dava Sobel - I really liked Longitude by her, as well as Galileo's Daughter ... DH will like this one as well. Thank you! I hadn't read "The Planets" by her, but think this would be more up my alley.
More rain yesterday and I finally got the raspberries in. A nice neighbour came round and gave me a blackcurrant bush. Today I hope to work out what to do with the sweet peas that should have gone out some time ago and have been growing and tangling themselves on our deep bedroom window ledge. I will also sow some runner beans inside (am also late with this but I don't think it will matter too much).
The DB and I had a fabulous range of salads for tea. I told him that the basil in the tomato salad came from the plants growing on the bathroom window ledge. I felt very encouraged when he waved his hand across the table and told me that soon, all of this would come from our own garden. That's not strictly true but I enjoyed the feeling!
Bill, I am delighted at your 'no snacks' progress and I think this should be my way forward. They've crept into my life and they are too much for me. I eat proper food but snacks take me over a boundary.
Maryann, Romeo and Juliet in the here and now sounds good. And that is just brilliant about next year. We are reliving Henry V here. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ... That kind of thing.
Oh, karen, that handstand exercise! I will never be able to do that either.
nationalparker, carrots sound just right for the situation. Good luck with it all.
Saturday - International Migratory Bird Day (since 1990s, Smithsonian)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – One more trip to the supermarket without buying all the junk food that calls to me as I pass the aisles, CREDIT moi. The supply of roasted peanuts is stacked up in our pantry; DW eats them occasionally for her afternoon snack. I haven't had any in at least a week, maybe two or so. If they last too long I can always bring them to Sunday's social hour where the teenagers consume any food made visible.
Walk, CREDIT moi, saw that the new stone wall that I'm sidewalk supervising is being built in three levels - appropriate for a wall on a hill. The masons study a space, then study the rock pile, then select one to chisel down to the required size. I admire their ability to visualize how a large stone contains a portion that will suit their need.
silverbirch – Thought of you since today is the anniversary of “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat” - knowing that you share my admiration for Churchill's way with words. Sending supportive thoughts for your ability to put a missing rose in perspective with neighbors causing you more serious concerns. Kudos for not eating about it.
maryann - Yay for getting the classes you want - albeit a rather heavy load. Continue to be boggled with your story of the boy with a B- grade. Thanks for "There is no problem that a compulsive bite won't make worse."
nationalparker – I do know that feeling of static in the brain. Kudos for making your own bag of baby carrots from mother carrots. I never thought of doing that which I'd like since I'd keep the peel which I like. (Which is a sentence with two which's neither of whom will volunteer to be replaced. Oh, well.)
Karen (karenrn) - Had to google burpees since my head only thought 'seeds.' Kudos for starting your gym trainer sessions.
Readers -
Quote:
Conclusion Stay Free of Traps - for Life
Using Escape Plans for Life's Varied Traps
It was as if a lightbulb had gone off in Beth's head. "Yes, I think that's it exactly." She paused. "You know what was really helpful before? When you suggested I ask myself on the way home, 'Did I do a reasonable job in helping so-and-so today?' The answer was always yes, given what I had control over and what I didn't. I think I should write a new reminder card with that question on it: 'Did I do a reasonable job today, given what I have control over and what I don't?'"
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 227
Saturday morning and I have tried to start a new routine. Usually I do my prayer and meditation using my phone app. But there are always unanswered texts and messages. The pull of the electronics diverts me. Today, the phone remained on the charger and I brought out a little seen device called a meditation book. As I wean myself from the anxiety/seizure meds I must put calming routines in their place. Less electronics is better. I will take a walk this morning. Then correct some. Then off to the gym for strength. Weight is 1 pound below ticker.
KarenRN: I continue to imagine plans to get out there and hike/back pack. I want a a training schedule that would put me within possibility of Whitney. My great barrier once summer hits is hiking partners. Plus it has been so long since I ventured way out, so I must admit I am nervous. My days of heading up into Desolation Wilderness on a lark are over. Once school gets out I am going to investigate hiking groups. I will make a plan. I also can string together people if I make long range dates but that will take thought. I don't want to "go gently into that good night" and lose this hobby.
BBE: Congrats on a successful store run. I practice healthy behaviors by NOT attending teacher appreciation lunch. All I could think of was scraping frosting off the tops of cupcakes.
nationalparker: Sounds like we are in the same place - determined to hold steady until the chaos subsides. Yeah Team!
silverbirch: I envy you your hobby of gardening. It just isn't in me. I feel the same way about cooking but I can't be in the kitchen for too long. So hiking it must be. (See post to Karen.)
Quick check in here. Food remains on plan. Exercise today was a walk with Otis after my WW meeting where I gained .8. I weighed at home, so it was not a surprise, but disappointing because I have tracked carefully all week and I was lower mid week. I think the sore muscles from the new strength training are holding a little water. I will persevere.
Tomorrow Justine and I are hiking Tom's Thumb, then Camelback on Monday morning and they leave Monday late afternoon. On Tuesday I'll have my second training session before attending the small group class.
Maryann There are hundreds of groups on Meetup.com for hiking or almost any other interest. I bet you could find a group that would work for you. I joined one here when many of my friends were no longer wanting to go for one reason or another.
I'll get back to better with personals after the company is gone.
I'm checking in to say that, as I ALWAYS seem to do right before a trip, I'm wanting to eat so many things that really aren't part of my plan, or worrying about bringing food with me. I'm also prepping multiple on plan meals for DH, which entails the dishes/cleanup too, which I don't feel I have time for. The turkey italian sausage/meat pasta sauce is in the slow cooker, though, and parts of soups are prepped, just need to chop more and assemble/cook/clean tonight. I am half packed which I hate because then I forget what I've packed and what I just thought about packing Luckily the size 10 pants fit me still but ARE a bit snug over my abdomen. I'll be doing a lot of walking there, though, so at least that's good. One guy challenged me (jokingly) to a step challenge, saying last year he walked, 1,343,567 steps or something like that during the whole event I have to stay mostly in a central area so I can be found, even with the radio earpiece. Which I hate. I'm venting so much here - thanks for listening.
Got two substantial cat scratches after trimming one kitty's claws - she was just launching off me at some point and don't you know, they're right where my arm hits the computer/table when I'm typing. I might just put a small towel/cloth down so my arm doesn't keep sticking on the red lines. I feel a mess!
Talked DH into going out for mexican tonight - our last dinner together for a while and we've not done mexican food for months together - i did it once with coworkers and chose decently. I'm OK with taking a reasonable portion of the chips. I suspect with all the race action, though, that we'll head there and then see the parking lot and think twice...ending up somewhere else.
Thursday - Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov (1997, New York)
Luckily the size 10 pants fit me still but ARE a bit snug over my abdomen. I'll be doing a lot of walking there, though, so at least that's good. One guy challenged me (jokingly) to a step challenge, saying last year he walked, 1,343,567 steps or something like that during the whole event 