It's been a hard couple of days coaches. I spent hours on DDs taxes; got the federal ones done and got stuck in the state ones. I don't understand enough about stocks- what some of the terms mean. It was very frustrating. I finally had to give up and dropped them off at my accountant-it bothers me to spend a lot of money on this but what else can i do at this point. next year i will be more prepared.
The college trip went well-DD really likes the college and is going to commit today. We met up with an aquaintance and that helped a lot to get her perspective.
But that morning we were going to leave, i discovered a leak from the toilet that had been going on all night and was dripping into the basement. I was able to contain it, but that stuff is so awful!! On the way home I was worried about the leak, and was missing DH and wishing he could come on these college visits too. It is so hard to have to deal with all of this myself.
The plumber came yesterday and we're all set although now i have to call the town, because apparently my valve to turn off all the water is old and probably isn't working- yikes!
I did manage to make it to water aerobics and i think it helped my back even though its still sore. A woman said she had my same swimsuit, but i looked better in it than she did, so that was nice Maryann- thanks for that travel link,great advice. I'm hoping to do some travel when the kids are in college and i always over pack.
On plan day - and it was buoyed by the sunshine we enjoyed. I'm sorely tempted to take tomorrow afternoon off as well. Fridays are too hard, but time off will be severely limited until June. But I think it's just the sunshine talking wanting MORE. Dr. appt was fine and I came away with a recommendation of a different primary care dr. to replace the one I do not like at all.
Dinner will be a splurge of a quick buy of a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken and mixed green salad for me ... DH will get the added bowtie pasta with red pepper spices and some parm/olive oil.
On my work trip, I have to wear work-assigned shirts/specific colors each day/set wardrobe and am working with athletes, so I have to bring enough capris to get me through nine LONG sweaty days with no time to hit a laundry and we're not at a hotel so laundry service isn't an option. It's not a trip where I bring scarves, jewelry, etc., It's all sportswear and you are planning for days out in the rain, heat, cold, etc. throughout the event. Last year selecting my clothes was easy - everything fit and the stuff that didn't was too big. This site will be HOT, they say. At least at last year's event, when it was in the 30s, they were saying just wait until next year, it'll be 100. Ha. With the winter that won't end, we'll see. Typically when I'm traveling for myself, I pack pretty light, change things up easily. Going to Europe with my backpack for 10 days was a good feeling - used all I brought and schlepping it was no issue. I joked that I'm bringing my hikers to save my ankles from the snakes the locals are saying we''ll run into. Aaahhh... personal trips That said, I went to Kohls and got a few pair of capris. I'm leaving the tags on everything until I need it. If by any chance I'm in more of my own stuff, I'll return what I don't need. I just didn't want to face a store without the larger 14/16 sizes and be out of luck when I'm in a time crunch. They charged me for an extra pair - I noticed it when I actually thought about my receipt so back into the store. Twice in one week that's happened to me on items - one was on meat at a market.
FMD.3 going strong.
Last edited by nationalparker; 04-11-2018 at 06:42 PM.
All went well with the art class event. It was actually 4 full grades in an auditorium with each grade working on one indigenous based design on canvas. Trace then paint. 90 kids in the room. They were super well behaved. What was weird to me was the p.a. announcement during recess asking all kids to go outside cause they can see on the cameras that they're in the hallways instead. Surveillance. Wow.
Foodwise improving. DH announced he wanted to stop eating junk as he has been doing that since Easter. That wasn't what I thought but I will join him in that. It helps when he's on board.
Billblueyes: I watched big ink crowdfund the money for that press about 3 years ago. Lyle Castonguay is really making it happen with that press. Admirable.They are out of Newmarket, New Hampshire.
Exercise was unloading lumber from the car and moving boxes around in the storage unit. Found out that I have a heavy winter coat that fits but not a medium weight one. I’m not going to buy one—May is not that far away. I’ll keep wearing an oversized coat for another few weeks.
Why do I have so many fleeces, though—I found about 6 in my current size.
I still need to figure out regular planned exercise. The (kind of) food is easy for me right now but exercise isn’t.
Another quick post and hope to return later. Obviously didn't get back here yesterday as the day got away from me. I walked up and down the steepest hill in the nearest town. Had to stop twice. My ambition is to power up without stopping. Food not too bad but not great either.
Have to get on now. Make the DB's sandwiches (no bread last night as the SO hadn't finished making it) and make myself a salad.
Thursday - Dr. Jonas Salk's Polio vaccine called "safe, effective, and potent" (1955)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Exercise was chase the (2.5 yo) DGD day. She took it upon herself to 'clean' our house. Terrific!!! That lasted a full two minutes, consisting of one swipe up the stair railing and a thorough clean of the top of the vacuum cleaner. All done. The book that I'd ordered for her arrived in the mail while she was here. She helped me unwrap it; just loved having her own copy of The Woods which we'd read a zillion times from the library copy. She proudly carried it home to read to her mom. Feels good to send a book home with a child - even a child with hundreds of books in every room of her house.
Also walked to the subway to attend an evening lecture at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Glad that I didn't drive since there was serious traffic competition with the nearby Fenway Park where the Red Sox played the NY Yankees. The lecture went well; the ballgame didn't, LOL. Eating was good, CREDIT moi. Dinner was the third meal from DW's large pot of chili - a lot of bang for the buck. Yay for large enameled cooking pots.
onebyone – 90 kids in one room being super well behaved is just amazing. Kudos for a family agreement to stop the junk foods. [Newmarket, NH is only about an hour north of Boston. Big INK will have some local demo that I'll get to see.]
silverbirch – Hills are great for exercise. I have no idea what folks do in Kansas.
nationalparker – Congrats for chasing down a recommendation for a different primary care doctor. Kudos for an on plan day.
curlyjax - Yay for the good news that your DD likes the college. Ouch for a leak from old plumbing; since my house was built in 1872 I do know about old plumbing. Glad that you have a plumber that you trust.
Beth (bethturnaround) – Lumber is a great resistance exercise item. Love the notion of refusing to buy a coat in an intermediate size.
Readers -
Quote:
day 7Arrange Your Environment
Changes at Work
Where do you find food at work? Do certain foods remain in plain sight in the office break room? Do some of your coworkers keep candy or other treats on their desks for others to enjoy? Is there a coffee shop or gift shop in your building that sells snacks? Are there vending machines in your lunchroom? Are baked goods served at meetings?
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 92.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 04-12-2018 at 12:10 PM.
Reason: Typo
Curleyjax: i am in awe of your strength and resilience to face life on life’s term during your grief. One day at a time and you will be traveling.
Ok I’m weird but I have this packing fixation. I read an article about traveling for five days with only a personal item size luggage. So I packed mine up😄 it is sitting in my closet. I have a little dream of spontaneously hopping on a flight somewhere . I bought a cool new silk sleepliner so technically, I even have a sleeping bag in there. Looks like I’m off to someplace warm.
OP despite a twenty hour day yesterday. Don’t ask.
A good day - very busy at work, but finished what I needed to to meet deadlines tomorrow. I left late to get home to enjoy the 70-degree day. OP day for all meals and snacks. Successful phases I and II. The test will be eating lunch with my former boss tomorrow. I picked our little Mexican restaurant and goal will be to order chicken fajitas w/o tortillas. (no flour, but protein, veg and olive oil are fine - it's a guess as to what oil they use, but they're not drenched in it, so I'll survive).
DH is out this evening with a coworker in town. I am happy to be alone for a bit, moving items around in the closet - heavy fleece moving to the front, light snow forecast on Monday be damned.
Counted it up and 30 days until my event. Just under three weeks for an earlier trip there as well. I'm counting down until June when the heaviest work is done. It's within site.
I haven't explicitly mentioned it lately, but wanted to give myself credit--I have been weighing, checking my blood sugar, (recording both), and taking my morning meds every day. My blood sugar is actually looking good enough that I expect the doctor to take me off one of my meds when I see him in two weeks.
Food is no change--and exercise is no change :-(.
nationalparker: that sounds like a great Mexican plan. I've also been known to order a Mexican stir fry at restaurants that have that option. Avoiding carbs at a Mexican restaurant can be done--but I've always struggled there!
maryann: Credit for an OP day. Does your packing fixation include packing cubes? Although I don't keep a personal bag packed, I can usally pack for a 2-5 day trip in about 20 minutes since I keep all the toiletries and sundries always packed and ready to go.
BillBlueEyes: Credit for good eating. And credit to your GD for realizing the vacuum needs to be cleaned!
silverbirch: Steep hills are hard--credit for it!
onebyone: I'm glad your day with the kids went well. It is easier when everyone in the house is on the same track.
curlyjax: Lots of hard things going on--but you still made it to water aerobics--big credit for that. (For tips on traveling light, visit onebag.com. He has lots of great advice on how to travel with just one carryon--no matter where or how long.)
Good morning. Exercise good, food not bad but not good enough to lose weight. I will try to improve the food a little bit today. And today is very busy.
Just for fun, I watched an infomercial on Nutrisystem for about 30 minutes. it was basically just success stories. I did like that they showed people who had lost 15 pounds as well as those who lost 100 pounds.I continue to enjoy the food. It is comforting that I have to think so little and still be OP and the food taste is fine. I am not that great of the cook to be honest. So for today, I am grateful to wake up, turn the coffee pot on and microwave a Canadian Turkey Bacon Sandwich. I have to remember to keep some bars and or cheese sticks in my purse. I am supposed to eat every 2-3 hours and I have been caught without a couple times.
I have been on the latest mood stabilizer for a week now. It has been by far the best. I don't want to get my hopes up but maybe this is the one. The upside is I actually feel connection to people sometimes ( no zombieland.) The downside is I am sleeping much less. (That is why I am typing this at 3 a.m.) Hopefully everything will settle in.
nationalparker: i am counting down to June as well. My counselor was talking to me about plans. She says it is important to have structure. Right now, I just want to sit in a chair and read for two months.
silverbirch: It is hard to remember that "food not bad" takes a tremendous amount of intention. Credit for it.
Beth: As a packing aficionado, I have moved to packing cubes 2.0. I now have compression packing cubes that have two sets of zippers. and shrink up everything. I also have a ready set of toiletries. My personal item packed for five days remains in the closet. I will open it up in a couple of days to see what gets wrinkle. I think it symbolizes a readiness to leave behind old ideas, patterns, anything that does not serve me well anymore. My husband believes it symbolizes I am a looney tune. I believe both are correct.
My treat for going to counseling is plowing through the Thrift stores in a new city. I found the perfect lightweight summer long-ish black skirt (styled 'crumpled' look made in USA) for which I have been looking. We have Friday school color days and i can wear it lots of my tcvshirts with it belted, layered or tied. (Our colors ar black and green) I also found a coral 100% cotton lightweight cardigan and tee ( supersale day 4 bucks for both). I will have all cleaned.
On another day i would have gone to the super candy store next door. But not yesterday. Credit.
Friday - Southern writer Eudora Welty born (1909, Jackson, Mississippi)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Eating was OK even though it did include snacks. As often happens in my case, the snacks were to alleviate some feeling instead of providing fuel to sustain life. You'd think that I could just read a book by some Cognitive Therapist and get past such nonsense.
I did reach an understanding with DW that I'd put away the step ladder and tools and put off working on the bathroom ceiling heater that's become noisy until warm days are here when it can be ignored. My initial reconnaissance into the fixture suggested that it'll be more difficult than I'd hoped. Now, when the heater is on, everyone in the house can hear it. That means that my major accomplishment for the day was to make an agreement to postpone doing something. I've had more productive days in my life.
silverbirch – Hope you survived your busy day.
maryann - It's impressive that you actually packed up a five-day travel suitcase.
nationalparker – Good luck at the Mexican restaurant today. Just avoiding the chips is a big win.
Beth (bethturnaround) – Yes, Kudos indeed for such consistency that even your blood sugar knows.
Readers -
Quote:
day 7Arrange Your Environment
Changes at Work
The easy availability of these foods is counterproductive to your good intentions. It can be hard to ask others at work to make changes, but it will be worth it. Provide a rationale and phrase your request as a question. "I'm trying to eat in a more healthful way. Would you be willing to ...?"
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 92.
Getting ready to head out to gather up some artwork to drop off at a new venue for me: a store called Urban Rustic Decor. The store overlooks Musselman Lake and is about a 45 minute drive from here. I will be the only one with paintings, prints and ceramic items. Today I will bring paintings. It's very hard to know what to bring without a definite idea of how much space you have or what someone may want in that area or what even the display area looks like or the other people's work in the store. No clue. Anyway no long term contract just a flat fee and no commission on sales which is great and as it should be. The store is just opening and I heard about it through a newsletter from my maker space. Excited to see if this works or not.
Foodwise I am more consistent (credit) in what I need to do to take care of myself and lose this weight. The scale is now 268.8 down from the 270 high water mark it held for a few days. Long enough for it to become the New Normal. So happy things have *clicked* again for me. I want to keep this going. I know what to do. Tonight I will write out my food plan for the next few days. I need to automate this food process for a while.
You know Coaches, I beat myself up over seeing 252 in February after DH's hospital stint and then losing my mind and eating everything in sight and forcing myself to eat large quantities. I didn't really want the food, did not feel comfortable after eating it I just wanted to be eating for comfort and self-soothing. The old habit is readily awakened and I seem to lose all skills and knowledge about alternative ways of coping. I will never lose a significant amount of weight until I tackle that. It's back to meditation and affirmations. baths, and some form of regular exercise to re-connect to my body. Can anyone recommend any online or Android apps for exercise routines or meditation/relaxation that I could try?
(credit) for checking in.
Better go. Time to head over to the studio and choose some art to take to the new venue.
Early check in following lunch. 100% followed my plan. No chips, no tortillas, no rice! Proud of that. Chose the lunch fajitas/chicken and ate the onions and bell peppers and guac/pico with it. I could have ordered an extra side of guac, but I'm cheap - plan calls for 1/2 cup of it on the third phase if that's the chosen healthy fat. I knew there was oil with the prep of the rest, though, so figured I was in good shape. I am happy with progress so far. I do know, however, that the scale will tick up, typically, on each weekend day and again Monday, as the plan changes a bit. So far, though, down several pounds and am pleased. Dinner plans are set - grilling steak and chicken and will cook a peppers/onions mix since I got wonderful red/yellow/orange bells fro $0.50 each. Nice break from the $1.50 each.
Feel like I've got it together on every front, a rarity. Re-reading the book was a definite help to turn the corner.
Spent some time tonight working in the garage on our Basic Mobile Workbench.
We have a relatively quiet weekend planned--which is nice. Workshop stuff and a games party. It'll be nice.
I asked the dietitian what type of schedule to expect when I start to transition to real food--she says that she recommends people stay with one meal (plus 4 products) for 2 months. That's longer than I'd expected (and obviously varies by person). It helps me get my mind around what to expect, though. I've been on the 'full fast' for 13 weeks--and am currently intending on staying on it the full allowable 26.
nationalparker: Major credit for the lunch choices! It sounds like things are going well--and you having mentioned it will make me spend some more time reading the book.
onebyone: Comfort eating is a hard thing to confront. It's amazing how many reasons other than 'hunger' there are for eating.
BillBlueEyes: Do you know such a cognitive therapist? Her whole concepts seems so simple--but they're so hard!
maryann: I am glad to hear the Nutrisweet approach is working well for you. I never thought I'd be someone who could do what I'm doing--but I seem to be thriving with it--perhaps Nutrisweet is being that for you!
Compression packing cubes? When I finish this, I'm off to google!
Thursday - Dr. Jonas Salk's Polio vaccine called "safe, effective, and potent" (1955)
wagon driver
Her whole concepts seems so simple--but they're so hard!