Saturday - Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show (1956)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Exercise was changing DGD's car seat from backward-facing to forward-facing. No kidding! It was an exercise - both mental and physical. The little clips on the strap connected to bars deeply embedded between the seat cushions. My hands could reach them; DW's could not. First I had to remember that the clips existed. You do not want to know how much junk was revealed when the seat was removed. Yikes! I wouldn't want to live next door to such unsavory people, LOL. We used the reversal as an excuse to vacuum both cars; both were in dire need - beyond the pound of dead cheerios that were revealed by removing the seat. Now all is restored. Martha Stewart would approve of our cars.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, until DW suggested that we 'had' to patronize the local Greek Festival. This meant dinner with choices of the best of Greek culinary tradition. Part of that tradition is servings too large. I brought home the dessert which now sits in our fridge. Perhaps it can be split between us later. Much basmati rice was left on the plate. Oddly enough, I find it easier to leave food on a paper plate in a tent than I do on a china plate in a restaurant.


onebyone – Ouch!!! I share your angst about Florida relatives. We have relatives who are sitting it out in Miami. One issue with Irma is that it's a BIG storm - it's gonna just keep going and going. I hope your sister and BIL do well.

maryann - Sixteen hours is a looooong day indeed. Kudos for choosing "real."

nationalparker – Neat use of samples to figure out what paint you wanted. When we repainted we used a zillion sample cans of paint until DW got completely satisfied. Or, perhaps, satiated, LOL.

Karen (karenrn) - Thunder and lightning can make any sane person restless. Kudos for counting your points even when "over by just under."

characteristic 5
You Comfort Yourself with Food

The Beck Diet Solution

Instead of trying to comfort yourself with food, the Beck Diet Solution teaches you to calm down in other ways: by using distraction and relaxation techniques, by countering your sabotaging thoughts, and by solving the problems that were associated with your negative emotions in the first place.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 38.[/QUOTE]

DH's sister flew to Naples, Florida, on Wednesday. We didn't find out until Thursday. I wish we'd been consulted. Maybe my stories from my friend in Texas (she just got power and water turned on again after Harvey) and my friend in the BVI (we still haven't heard from her since the day that Irma hit), would have resulted in a different decision. Now that the path of Irma has changed, she's in place for a direct hit instead of safely here in Missouri. I don't fully understand why she went. They own a condo (that's rented out) and a small vacation home in Naples, but I don't see how her being there helps anything.

I tried to eat away anxiety yesterday. It didn't work, so I'll try some other things today:

• a yoga DVD this morning
• staying off the internet between breakfast and supper
• a diverting project (probably planning for the England trip that we never seem to get around to taking -- good thing planning is fun and educational!)

karenrn: I only use purses with long straps that go over my head -- carried from one shoulder across my chest to the opposite hip. That leaves my hands free for shopping and I'm never tempted to put my purse down where I would surely forget it. They're great for travel, too -- much less likely to be purse-snatched.

onebyone: I wish your sister had evacuated, too! We can wait this out together. If there's nothing that I can control about that situation, I might as well control the things that I can -- what I eat, how I move, my level of news consumption, engagement in healthy distractions.

Just a gorgeous day here - I wish I'd spent more time outside. But have the house opened up and have been in/out. I enjoyed a leisurely morning after DH went to work for a half-day and then I headed to Lowe's, got a fifth color of paint that we both liked the paint swatch and just dove in with that color. Also got more stain (it's a tossup with that color - the last batches were mixed from a few different ones that didn't work alone) and used a gift card from cashing in rewards points that were expiring. Did a quick market stop for veggies, mainly. I got started with the painting and stopped for a break for late lunch with DH... then back at it until I finished the room and then got the trim stained, so we're ready to get that room wrapped up tonight. We bought the Home Depot out of quarter round! Had to look elsewhere this week for it, so the completion of the room dragged out, enabling me to decide to paint. Now we're going to do the other spare room the same color ... and I'm thinking that it might actually look nicer and warmer throughout the living area. I am semi-kicking myself that we didn't do it when the floors were bare concrete.

Tossing around the idea of a firepit tonight - but only for me if we spray for mosquitoes - they're terrible in our yard this year. We need more bats!! I had hopes of a bat house, but my agricultural extension office person said yellowjackets often move into the bat houses - and after paying for a bunch of them to be eliminated from our house last year - no thanks.

Birthday is tomorrow - have tix to the U2 concert here... will be a packed house. Dinner with a group of about 16 beforehand. Spent a bit of time today while in the car thinking about what I'd like this next year of my life to consist of - what do I want to bring into my life ... what do I want to maintain ... and what am I ready to let go of. What do I want to learn? To get better at? To improve? To enjoy. DH kept asking me what I wanted and the one thing I could think of was gardening gloves that work against thistle but not leather. The other thing is to have my brother with me to celebrate the NEXT birthday but he can't control that.

Bill - Credits for enjoying the Greek Fest. We should do more of those. DH would really love it. LOL at the remains of the Cheerios. Do you remember when food in cars became the norm ...bc as a kid that was NEVER permitted - no food or drink in a car and that went for everyone, not just us kids. I guess it was because it was only in the kitchen or dining room period. Sounds so old fashioned now.

Sunday - Stephen Jay Gould born (1941, Queens, NY)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Dinner on the patio happened wearing long sleeved fleece vests. DW voted to eat inside, but agreed to enjoy another last day of summer outside if she could wear her jacket. It was cool but pleasant. Walk, CREDIT moi, included stopping at a well-advertised yard sale. Meh! All the kids' stuff was overpriced. There's great variation in folks notion of yard sale pricing. I believe in the low end - both when I'm selling and when I'm buying. Nothing that we own is as nice to another person as we see it to be ourselves.

We have relatives in Miami and other parts of Florida. A Houston relative had escaped from there to stay with his brother in . . . wait for it . . . Atlanta. He may get hit again. Wish all our Beck Forum and other 3FC folks safety from Hurricane Irma.


onebyone – Continuing to think of your sister and BIL in Key West.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Thanks for "I tried to eat away anxiety yesterday. It didn't work." Kudos for trying other activities instead.

nationalparker – Happy Birthday!!! Your U2's The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 concert looks amazing (link from another location). Love the notion of installing bat houses - without the yellowjackets, of course.

Readers -

Good morning. A challenging day here with other people's emotions running high. I am trying to take things easy.

onebyone, thinking of you, your sis and BIL. :hug:

:wave: to all. Think I'll close my eyes for a moment.

DH's sister is in a shelter in an elementary school in Immokalee, Florida. That would be a nightmare for me, but she's an extrovert and the director of a pre-school. I imagine she'll find a role for herself and be happier during the storm with others than on her own. With Irma tracking farther west than expected, the wind speeds are going to be lower and the storm surge higher, so we're glad that she's farther inland.

I've got a nice distracting project set up for myself -- mindless paperwork while binge-watching Call the Midwife.

Wishing everyone's Florida family and friends the best today.

Good morning coaches,

The WW meet-up event is over and I participated in a couple of the get togethers. The hike was short and even then it took a long time especially because a few of them took a wrong turn and extended the hike quite a bit. Of course, then we had to wait for them to return to the trailhead. It was not well organized, so it was kind of a wonder we all made it out of there. I keep wishing I could lean further over to the "team player" side of things, but I just don't have the patience for large groups with the ton of compromise involved. Sometimes the best I can do is acknowledge the way I am and participate in as much as I can and then bow out before I get snappy.

Last evening dh and a friend and I went out for a couple of beers and a burger, so the weekly extra points are nearly gone. That's pretty much how it goes most weeks, but overall it seems to work for me.

I'm hungry today, so going to go find something to do to distract myself. Happy Sunday to all!


Today Otis and I took our walk, I've done some laundry and we'll be going over to our pool this afternoon for a bit. It's a beautiful day and the temps are getting ever so slightly cooler.

I've been continuing to watch the hurricane news. Those crazy newscasters who are out in it are driving me nuts. I just hope none of them get hit with a flying object. I hope your friends and family are safe.

Good Morning, Coaches. Two days and nights of wedding was enough for me. I begged off the Sunday brunch. Boys will meet me here this afternoon. DH and I felt the strain of constant busy. We need to find sometime to take a break.

Food is bleh. I am starting to eat standing again. OK. Positives. We scheduled four practice hikes for Whitney. I am going to report my mileage to my SIL every week. I'll buy a new audiobook as a treat to get started.

Wave.

I, too, grow weary of the constant barrage by the weather warners, so end up looking up the local news for the area I'm looking for. They're more less grandiose and dramatic and just give you the info you need to know. It seems absurd the level that some go to, trying to keep viewers, while the local meteorologists are saner. :)

Concert was good, DH really enjoyed it tonight. Have left a good bit of work to get started on early tomorrow, so heading to bed tonight, committing to a restart tomorrow. We split a large salad at Buca de Beppo for dinner, so that worked out well. Detailed checkin tomorrow

Monday - The Beatles record "Love Me Do" (1962, London)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Standard Sunday walk, CREDIT moi, thoroughly enjoying a pleasant day. DW harvested yet-another large yellow tomato from the remnants of our community garden. I do admire that so many veggies are not stolen by the local kids. The gardens are fenced with a gate that's inconvenient to reach, but vandals have been known to work hard to cause trouble. Especially since ripe tomatoes are such fun to throw at each other. My eating achievement was to split my dessert from the Greek festival with DW. Half was enough, but sharing it made me feel like a hero.

Continued to spend my day locked onto the screen watching the news of Florida. The Tallahassee relative continues to post on Facebook, so we know that family is alive with working electricity. Haven't heard from the Miami branch of the family which isn't surprising since over a million have no power. Frightening stuff this hurricane business.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Glad to hear that your DSIL made it to a shelter. Hard to imagine life within. What do they eat? Where did it come from? How long has it been in storage? What if you're 95 years old and need heart medicine? I just cringe.

silverbirch – Help: After using the phrase "Mad dogs and Englishmen," I was challenged to explain it. I Googled that Kipling wrote in Kim "Only the devils and the English walk to and fro without reason." ". . .and we walk as though we were mad - or English." Is that it? Shouldn't it go back to the Canterbury Tales or something? Kudos for keeping your wits when emotions surround you.

maryann - Yep, I'm so old that I remember a wedding as a thing one attended in a single afternoon. Kudos for buying yourself an audio book - a great non-food reward.

nationalparker – A salad for dinner is great. Splitting a salad for dinner is worthy of Kudos. Glad that U2 continues to please.

Karen (karenrn) - Congrats for not losing a bunch of folks who aren't used to hiking in Arizona. Kudos for thinking about distracting yourself instead of thinking about eating.

Readers -

With amazing modern technology, I was able to track Irma as it hit Marco Island and all the way up past Immokalee by watching a live stream of a Fort Myers TV station. I'm not sure that was a good idea, but I'm still amazed that I could do it.

Someone heard from DH's sister last night and the school shelter weathered the blast -- they ended up getting a lot of the wind and rain on the "dirty" side of the storm. No one was leaving the shelter last night because they needed to wait for crews to clear downed power lines and trees.

Hopefully, she gets a more comfortable sleeping situation tonight. Her neighborhood was highlighted several times as the spot with the most rain -- over six inches in about four hours. So, we'll see if it's livable.

karenrn: Maybe you can be the leader instead of a team player? At least for the hiking portion. It sounds like what they needed was a local expert to take over.

maryann: Good for you for bugging out for some alone time.

nationalparker: I did better watching the Florida local news than the national news yesterday, too. It was more focused on what I wanted to know.

BillBlueEyes: My dad had a funny (looking back on it) story about stealing and throwing tomatoes when he was a teenager. All farm boys who should have known better. Local law enforcement scared them straight.

I know that DSIL got a couple of meals, at least. One of them hot. Maybe they used the food the kids would have eaten this week? The schools are closed in Florida for at least a week until they can get people sheltered more appropriately. I guess I'll find out when I talk to her!

I'm looking forward to hearing the mad dogs and Englishmen roots. The whole phrase, as my dad said it, was "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun." So, colonial period, when Englishmen refused to behave like locals even when it made more sense.

onebyone: have you heard from your sister? I haven't seen anything from her on Facebook. I did finally hear about my friend in the BVI. She's fine, but her house was damaged, so she's staying with a friend and doesn't have access to the internet. She texted a friend who posted a comment on FB to let everyone know she was okay.

Just back from seeing my trainer who has sorted out my knee/hip/shoulder niggles. He's now treating athletes who almost made it into the Olympics but were injured and previous treatment didn't work. We go way back and I'm on rates accordingly so that is very pleasing all round. I'm shattered and am yawning madly. Apparently any work that involves the shoulder, neck and head has that effect - something to do with the flow of oxygen to the brain.

Bill and gardenerjoy, 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' (go out in the mid-day sun) is a song! It was written by Noel Coward and performed first in 1931 in New York. Here is Noel Coward performing it (with subtitles which may help as he speaks/sings in what's called 'received pronunciation', very fast). Yes, 1931 was a time when much of the world map was coloured red (denoting the British Empire). I'm starting to wonder about these stereotypes of British people in this period and to what extent they were over-developed for laughs abroad. It's not only Coward but also Wodehouse. How did you come to use the expression, Bill?

onebyone, I hope things are as OK as possible in Key West. :hug:

Must go so hello and goodbye to all. :wave: Hope to be here tomorrow.

Good morning coaches,

A good on plan day food wise yesterday. I had to keep an eye on the storm for no good reason, but we did go over to our house for a couple of hours and enjoyed the pool. Otis came too and I gave him a ride around on the floatie. Today it's back to the routine and Otis and I have had our walk. It was 88 degrees this morning. Can I just tell you I am ready for some cooler temps. I think they're coming late in the week.

Silverbirch I'm glad to hear your trainer is getting you sorted out. My friend Coleen from Cananda says she is "shattered" when we get done hiking. Then if she sits too long she says she is "seizing".

GardenerJoy When it comes to my friends and making plans for hikes and trips, I am the leader. A couple of other gals started this meet-up and there was a local who choose the hike and set it up. I had to step back and continually remind myself I was a participant because I didn't want to step on toes. They even had a couple of guys in the sweep position, but I think they were too far back and this group made a turn without them seeing it.

Bill I'm glad I'm not the only one who was hooked to the television yesterday. Of course I've got it on again this morning. It looks like a mess but not as bad as it might have been. So many without power though.

Nationalparker Glad you enjoyed the concert. I absolutely love music, many kinds, but the crowds and the traffic put me off. The last concert I saw was Sara Brightman, years ago.

Maryann I am so envious of your hike practices. Let us know how it goes. I wish I could give you a little of my time to do it in. My backpacking friend Carrie and I are thinking about doing something between Tahoe and Yosemite next years rather than continue with more of the JMT. We'll see what we can plan. She had trouble with the altitude last year and I know she is nervous about that.

Onebyone Thinking about you. I hope your sister is doing okay. What a worry.

Well, I guess I had better get a couple of things done before I head for the gym. I hope you all have a great start to the week.

Phone check in. I dusted off my fitbit and will update software. My goal is to track miles every week. Started one of two stacks of papers that I have been dreading. I told myself to do ten and see how long it took. I can do ten of anything ( well except pull-ups, push-ups, horror flicks) well you know what I mean. This week feels less overwhelming than last week.

I just wrote out a decent post in the advanced box and lost it. Frustrated - long day and I'm overtired. Waiting on my soup to finish cooking and then cool for tomorrow night. Rigged up a new recipe from what I had on hand. Smells good - and on plan. I hope it tastes good. I think it'll be pretty spicy as it has the Ro-Tel and crushed red pepper and hot turkey Italian sausage. We'll see. This will save an hour tomorrow night, at least.

Read an article of folks who were together in an assisted living during the hurricane in Florida, talking about one they'd been through decades ago - and one woman said how it just didn't seem such a big deal..."Maybe we weren't so anxious then." BAM. That's it. That so clearly stated it. Reminds me of reading some journals of women on the Oregon Trail ... how they stopped for a day when they had their baby, then back to moving the stones for the wagons to go through. It just "was".

Have gained the past two week faster than if I were trying to bulk up for a movie. Onward and forward. Today was a good day with the exception of a sugar slip without even thinking about it - just enjoyed a cookie because someone brought in good ones to work.