Omigosh,
Nancy! I am So, so glad that you all escaped the tornadoes. Some parts of NC were hit so badly, and I was so worried about you! I called my sister and it looks like they missed Hendersonville too, thank goodness. That's about all she'd need right about now. Thanks for the birthday wishes! And thank you,
Gayle, Rie and
Tea! And
Bobbi! I was glad to see that you'd checked back in - thanks for the birthday wishes, but snow! Ohhhhhhh, nooooooooooo! None for us, PLEASE!
Okay, so I've gotta say that yesterday was just soooooo fun, but my diet kinda went out the window. We took the bikes out at @ 11:00 - I spent the morning in my bath, and primping and pampering to my heart's content. Took awhile to get the bike rack positioned properly on dh's car, but got it done finally. We first went to the Blackstone Valley bike trail, where I learned that most of the muscles that used to be well-oiled and working smoothly when I used to ride my bike all the time have loosened right up like little pockets of Jello, and that this bike riding business is going to take me awhile to get back up to speed with. So, I rode
on the downhill slopes and flat areas, but did a lot of walking up inclines and hills. (But hey - walking is good exercise, right? And pushing a bike adds a little semi-resistance training...? Okay, not that. Weight-pushing training?) So, the trail is 5-something miles, and you have no option but to turn around and come back when you get to the end unless you have somebody waiting for you with a car at the end, which we, of course, did not have. Soooo...
is this possible, she asks? I did 10 miles combined riding and walking....and then we still didn't feel like going home and stopped at my daughter's house. They had spent the weekend in the Berkshires at a friend's timeshare, and had spent yesterday running errands and such - grocery shopping, etc. Dgd (the 10-year-old that we take on our monthly field trips) was really enthusiastic about the biking, and wished she'd gone with us, so we decided to...yup...go again! We went up north of Worcester to another trail that I remembered from when I was younger, and we rode there with dgd for about an hour and a half. It's really pretty - goes right through the woods, and there are some historical markers from where troops were quartered during the Revolutionary War, so we stopped and read those, and stopped by a stream that runs near the trail; it was really running high because of all the snow melt...so pretty, and all the trees and bushes are budding, and omigosh, it feels like spring in the northeast! Okay, so the baaaaaaad part was that I had my breakfast of oatmeal & blueberries in the morning, which typically sticks to my ribs pretty well, and it did - but by 5:30, and after all that riding & walking - I was starving to death! (Okay, obviously not starving to death, but ravenously hungry). So, we took dgd out for supper, and the restaurant, which has been in the same place since I was a child and my parents took ME there, has great food and serves sweet potato fries! My weakness! And every last one was delicious! So, you add a big, whopping serving of sweet potato fries to maybe 8 or nine onion rings (dh ordered a big basket of them for an appetizer) and half a grilled chicken souvlaki wrap (I could only eat half because I was so focused on the onion rings and fries) and you have......a diet-smashing supper that I can only hope I burned enough calories during the day to balance out, although we all know that if you're going to overeat, it should be BEFORE exercise, not after, correct? But eating woes aside, yesterday was great, great fun, and I am SO looking forward to putting that new bike of mine to lots of regular use from now on.
Tonight, dd is hosting my birthday supper at her house - a traditional New England lobster boil with all the fixings....oh, Lord....I'll need to get back on that bike first thing in the morning!
Oh - and dh got my old exercise machine out of the attic for me yesterday morning, and I did 50 repetitions on that in the morning and at night when we came home. I should be able to work my way up to somewhere around 250 once I get back into the routine. Yay!
Rosey, I love the way the color of that blouse sounds....sea mist....is it sort of a palish teal bluey-green? Any chance of a picture of you in it? Congrats on losing even more, girl! Sorry about the hair business, but hey, skinny as you're getting, you could get yourself a sexy wig and really pull off the diva look! Oh, so sorry about the loss of your friend. So painful. My thoughts are with you.
Omigosh,
PT! Your Granny/Mom reminds me of an article I read in my lawyer's office when I was in the middle of my divorce...it was an interview with a French woman who was something like 110, and they asked her what she thought had enabled her to live so long. She says, "It's probably because I quit smoking." So they ask, "When did you quit?" She says, "Last year." I. of course, smoked at the time, and took that as a sign from the universe that I shouldn't worry about quitting until I turned 109! since then, I have of course revised my thinking on the subject, and did quit maybe four years ago...I haven't kept track. I sure like life a lot better without cigarettes. Hmmm, as for the corn in the pants as an energy booster, I had a quick flash of me walking around the office with a bag of frozen corn down my pants....oh, MY.
The dishwashing liquid idea sounds interesting,
Jane. I'm thinking to get some into the freezer pronto just for any future needs. And congrats on the new baby in the family!
Tea, I cannot imagine having any more snow. As
Karen3 pointed out, I have become downright phobic about it. Please send NO pictures!
Oh, and
Karen3, I'm so glad that your daughter fared okay amidst those tornadoes! SO scary!
Freda - oh, you were SO right about fun on the new bike! I am absolutely loving it! Oh, my dgd is playing soccer, too. Poor kid couldn't last year because of the broken arm, but it has healed well, and they're removing the pin this Friday.
Oh gawd,
Lynn...I guess the nurses here are able to give you better advice about that uti than I could, but all I know about ut health is that at the first sign of pressure, you drink cranberry juice and flush yourself out. It's always worked for me, and worked almost immediately. Good luck with the new course. I swear, I have to wonder if you EVER take a rest, Lady!
Nice picture,
Mary. Oh those danged scales! They make me sooo mad sometimes!
I simply
cannot weigh in every day - I know it would drive me batty. I'm weighing once a week, now, but I still hate stepping up on that thing. Once I've lost as much as I can by our Memorial Day getaway weekend. I'm going to stick to my diet & exercising (biking, YAY!) but I won't weigh in every week after that. More like once a month, and more judging by how my clothes are fitting/looking. That seems to work the best for me over the long term.
Yup - another novelette from Z!!!! I tell you, somebody needs to tap me on the shoulder and stop me....
Have a great day, everybody!
Karen31, I hope you're doing okay on your travels..check in when you get a chance, now.
Z