Thursday - Spring Vernal Equinox - which begins the Persian New Year
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Spent our first Wednesday without the (4 yo) DGD. Ouch. My heart missed her interactions and my body missed the constant exercise. Our DD arranged a 'test' use of Google's app, Hangouts. (Only requires a Google gmail account.) It was easy to set up; worked well. The plan was to read a book to the DGD when she returned from daycare. However, she was cranky and didn't want to. DD intends to try again today. Predicting the mood of a 4yo isn't rocket science.

Food was on plan, CREDIT moi. Excitement was receiving a box from a nursery. DW was excited to get two trees (sticks) and a stack of ferns. She is as easily pleased as I am sometimes.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Glad that your mom's vision has a possibility of getting better. DW always drives to a place to walk. I tend to walk from our front door even though that limits me basically to the four directions on the compass. I get variety by using different streets. DW sees trees and birds; I see construction in process.

maryann - That's great news that your Mom is looking better. Yep, might as well get adapted to Zoom and Hangouts since they may be a serious part of our future.

Karen (karenrn) - Thanks to your DH and all those who are keeping the food coming to the stores. I plan to break out of here tomorrow for my usual Friday shopping trip. Hoping the empty shelves are under control.

curlyjax - Your work does seem like it would be difficult to work from home. And the needs don't go away just because of the virus. Wish you well keeping the tension down with your DD.

Penny. - Yes, "But, deep breaths. We carry on." Your pizza on homemade bread makes me drool.

Readers -

We've got rain, today. I'm planning a cozy day of writing projects with a pot of vegan chili for supper. I'm going to lay off social media and news sites to make that all happen.

Exercise: +40, 760/1300 minutes for March

BillBlueEyes: A daily hangout sounds like just the ticket for interacting with DGD. Some days, I'm sure, will work better than others.

Good Morning, Coaches. I have one day abstinent from refined sugar and wheat. Credit. I made two calls to other people in Overeaters Anonymous ( I know them from AA) and then attended a ZOOM online OA meeting. Thanks to BBE. I had never heard of that ap before. I did a yoga class but didn't like it much. I'll try another today. Weight floated down the typcial two pounds when I get off sugar. I adjusted my profile. It is very motivating for me to get down below the weight at which I came in.

Today's adjustment will be to write down tomorrow's food plan tonight. This is what Beck and OA suggests. One of the people I talked to yesterday made a great suggestion that if I want to eat something at night, I simply put it on my food plan for the next day. I know Karen's PHit and Phat program recommends this.

I got off the phone to my Mom. Starting on Monday, there will be just me around to help her. She is an hour away. I must say part of me started to panic because all the responsibility would be on me. I immediately labeled that selfish. But that is not really all true. My mom and I have a very tangled relationship and I quickly lose boundaries with her. I love her and she is great but I also need space. I have to acknowledge these feelings and come to some kind of system that works for both of us. If I just put myself down, I know I will jump in the food to comfort myself and that is not something I want to do. One day at a time there is a way to find peace.

Good afternoon coaches,

Food was on plan yesterday and today. Dinner this evening will be the split pea soup I made yesterday and a salad. Tomorrow I'm going on a 10 mile hike in the Superstitions with Hiking Suzanne and a young friend from my PNP group. I'm sure we won't be getting together on Saturday morning as most of the restaurants are closed and I'm sure some of them wouldn't want to be in close contact, actually me included. I went to Costco this morning and was just amazed at how well they were organized. They opened early and there was a long line of people very spaced out down the sidewalk. As 10 people came out of the store they allowed 10 in. There was a whiteboard outside the store saying what they were out of. The carts were inside the store and cleaned. The toilet paper and paper towels were just past the carts with an employee handing one each to the customers if they wanted it. The rest of the store was less populated than usual and the cashier lines were no problem. I also went to the library to pick up a book that was on hold and that was done with a pick-up window like a drive in restaurant.

Maryann I am certainly not perfect eating what I write down on my plan, but I think I'm a lot better than when I just use MFP without making a plan first. Every little thing is a tool to help me. Good luck continuing to stay off the sugar.
GardenerJoy I hope you've enjoyed your day.
Bill My sister in law reads to her grandchildren all the time just using Face Time and an iPad. She lives in WA, 2 children are here in AZ and now 3 are in TN. One little boy doesn't hear much of the books cause he can't sit still, but oh well. I hope it works for you for now.
Penny Just reading "thick homemade bread" makes me drool. I realize how much easier it is for me since I just have dh and myself in our home.

Dh is playing golf this afternoon and I'm so glad for him. Time for me to get Otis's dinner ready. Take care all of you!

Friday - International Earth Day (since 1971, UN Secretary General U Thant)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - A flyer arrived in the mail slot announcing Boston Red Sox's opening day of baseball. Apparently, advertisements get printed long before announcements are made cancelling the start of the baseball season. Don't know where that is going. There's a message here; that that was the exciting news from a self-semi-quarantine couple in Massachusetts.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Our perishables are depleted as they always are just before the Friday shopping trip. I'm going later this morning. I intended to go uber early in the 6am slot opened for old folks. I was, until I read that one of those was a total bust. The parking lot filled by 6:10am; there was no crowd control; and the shelves hadn't been stocked for the early arrivals. My choice of 9:30am gets me there before the parking lot is filled yet the milk and lettuce are in the coolers. Hard to believe that the arrival and stocking of perishables is going to be advanced by a few hours. Life is different.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Vegan chili sounds like a dish worth looking forward to. I've increased my social media time. Ouch! My brain is looking for comfort, I guess.

maryann - Congrats for doing your first Zoom app; methinks we'll all be doing a bunch of those. Wish you well finding a path forward with your mom.

Karen (karenrn) - Your Costco sounds well organized. Best news I've heard lately is that Costco is not accepting returns on hoarded items. Don't know how that's calculated, but it might help stop folks who want to grab it all for themselves.

Readers -

I'm feeling grumpy again about going in to work, but I am glad to have a paycheck. DD and I got into another fight and I am just eating up all the Easter candy I foolishly bought early. I guess its just as well i'm out of the house for a bit so we can avoid each other. Her stuff is ALL over and everything is a mess which doesn't help. I do feel bad for her, having her college experience altered like this, but at least she isn't a senior. My son is a senior in HS, i'm hoping he'll still be able to go back to school at some point but we'll see. Of course the main thing is that none of us get sick.
It's a toss up too- people say get take out from local restaurants to support them, but you don't want to have people handling your food a lot either. Although i guess its no different than people at the grocery store handling food too.
Difficult times! wave to all.

Good Morning,

I have two days abstinent.Food plan was adjusted from last night. I am going to Mom's and I left dinner open because I didn't know what she would want. I realized that leaving things open-ended would be a disaster on the third day of an eating plan while visiting family. So I committed to bring a cup of the chickpea and sausage stew I cooked last night. Finished. Now I can get on with the rest of the day.

I have some puttering to do. I will continue to write, read, practice the piano, and walk.

I ordered food online for the first time at a local grocery store. The pick time is Saturday at 5:00 p.m. My hope is that purchasing ahead will mean there will be a few scarce items like eggs saved for me. We'll see. As it is, we have plenty to see us through. We may not have choices like we are used to in this country but we have a balanced diet. Last night I made fresh bread (I thought of Penny) using ground wheat from our coop. I have a ten gallon bucket of that along with two large packs of yeast from Sam's club, powdered butter and salt .I can make that delicious meal staple for months. People talk about the restrictions right now but I am history teacher. We have no concept of the real scarcity people lived with up until (through and continuing for some in the world) the 1940s.

BBE: Good Luck on your supermarket outing. I always learn so much from you. Uber has slots reserved for the elderly? I found a new word for you "Tsundoku." It means the stack of books you have unread next to your bed. :)
Curleyjax: DS is a senior. He does not seem too upset about the disruption. He is really ready to leave. It is hard for me to believe this will continue until May and disrupt graduation.
Karen: Enjoy your hike. It is nice to know people can be orderly and civilized instead of panicked.

I woke up at 4am with thoughts for my writing project. It took a significant turn for the better yesterday. At 4am, I saw how I could complete the turn with a couple of hours at work. So, I got up and did it! And, then, I took advantage of the early hour and did our grocery shopping. The two most important items on my list for today were done before breakfast.

The challenge, of course, is going to be fatigue. Food doesn't fix tired. I have plenty of low-key projects that will keep me happy and amused without adding calories that I don't need.

Exercise: +50, 810/1300 minutes for March

maryann: I feel you on being responsible for an older person's well-being. I don't have the daughter-mother difficulties with my mother-in-law, but I have to negotiate some of that with her daughter. Her daughter lives right next door but is self-isolating to protect her husband with MS. So, that leaves us as the responsible folks, even though we're 45 minutes away.

karenrn: Costco was a lot better organized than our grocery store. I was astounded how many people were there at 7am. You couldn't stay 6 feet away from everyone all the time.

BillBlueEyes: I think your 9:30am slot is better. The store I went to had 6am-7am shopping for 60+. As I showed up, lots of older folks were still in the store or just leaving. The lettuce was well picked over, but I'm guessing that's the last of yesterday's and the morning produce truck hadn't shown up.

curlyjax: It's definitely a puzzle about carry-out vs groceries + home-cooking. For the moment, we're going with home-cooking, but there's going to reach a point where we're going to need to get a lot more experimental or use carry-out for the variety.

Good morning Beck friends!

I only managed one day on plan, or maybe it was two, and weight is holding.

I stayed home for a week and finally ventured out for groceries yesterday. Everything was in stock except whole wheat flour. Only a few bags of white were available, which I grabbed. A second store had no flour at all. The kids will be happy about all the white bread.

Then my mom called needing a ride home from the ER. Her pnumonia is not improved, and worsened. She was tested for the covid-19 and sent home with a different antibiotic. We both wore masks in the car and I squirted hand sanitizer into her palm immediately. She'll have the results on Wednesday, luckily before my next work weekend. I doubt she has it though. This has been going on for weeks, and she says it feels no different than her usual pneumonia. (Unfortunately usual because she is a bit immunocompromised since cancer treatment long ago).

Anyway, groceries are stocked and we're set to stay in another week.

Karen, definitely keep your distance. Before the biggest outbreak is the time when lots of infected people are out spreading it wothout knowing it. That is the time to stay in.

Bill, figuring out the best time to hit the store is interesting. It feels like some apocalyptic game of strategy.

Joy, that is kind of crazy the daughter next door is not helping. Maybe she's maxed with her husband's needs. Yay for getting some writing progress made!

Maryann, good luck with your trip to Mom's. Stay safe!

Curly, I'm sorry things are stressful with your daughter. Maybe she would respond to a need for one clean haven in the house, like the living room.

Saturday - Novelist George Eliot finishes her "The Mill on the Floss" (1860, London)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Made the big trip to the supermarket. Parking was easy ; shopping cart was available. I wore gloves and my favorite travel bandanna. I just loved looking like a bandit. Only about a half-dozen folks wore masks. One person had a loose turtleneck pulled up over their mouth and nose. Everything I needed was stocked and ready. I picked up an extra 8 oz bar of our standard cheese only because it was the last one in the case; I had to do some kind of hoarding. We eat a bunch of cheese. I'm only a half week ahead of myself. Also bought two cans of corned beef. It's not part of our normal diet, but I love the stuff and can eat it when DW isn't around. Later took a walk, CREDIT moi, to the pharmacy. Waited, quite properly, in the line with spaces market six feet apart on the floor with yellow tape. I always hand the clerk my driver's license to get my name; this time she just looked. I still signed the machine with the same plastic "pen" used by everyone else. Used Purell on the way out.

Did a brief video chat with the DGD. The technical connection was good, but she had trouble connecting with us. Afterward, DW suggested it might have been because our image doesn't look at her eyes. Don't know how to fix that. Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Super Congrats on completing your two major tasks before breakfast. Thanks for "Food doesn't fix tired."

maryann - Chickpea and sausage stew sounds really good. Congrats for trying the grocery store delivery. [My reference was to take Uber to the store's 6am time slot. Unambiguous English is difficult. English, itself, is difficult. Yay for George Eliot.]

curlyjax - Ouch for finding the Easter candy. Good news that your work takes you away from home for a bit. Yay for a paycheck these days.

Penny. - LOL at having to feed your kids white flour products for a spell. Yes, "like some apocalyptic game of strategy."

Readers -

Good Morning, Coaches.

Yesterday plan's to bring my food to Mom's went off very well. In fact I brought the same food for Mom and my sister. I brought a vegan version for my niece. I have to give myself loads of credits because there were several times yesterday I redirected myself from eating more than was on my plan. I kept trying to convince myself there was not enough food on the plan. Miraculously, every time I distracted myself I forgot to die of hunger. The weight didn't hop down two pounds as it should have with such fabulous behavior. So today's pitfall is to not convince myself the scale is hopeless no matter what I do.

The visit with Mom went well. She agreed she wants to keep living by herself and I will come down three days a week. This is very doable while I am off work. We can make another plan if necessary. It was a good visit with my favorite sister and my favorite niece. Yesterday's to do list was accomplished except for some reading and a walk. I was pleasantly caught off guard with a phone call from a college buddy that was a nice treat. So today I will start with the reading, yoga and then walk later in the day. The boys are working very hard on the farm as if there was nothing extraordinary going on everywhere.

Penny: If you would like some whole wheat, we have 200 acres in the field right now. It should be ready soon :)
Gardenerjoy: I am up at 4:00 as well. It is always best to get the hardest things done first.
BBE: You are all being so organized and sane in the East with your six foot markers and your stocked shelves. There is insanity around here and there really is no toilet paper to be had anywhere. I finally found the last 18 pack of eggs at the health food store. A local had just brought them in. My theory is I have to go to the most expensive place in town. Less drama the higher the price.

Hi everyone. So great to sleep in today, I really needed it. I had a family meeting with kids to discuss if there are other provisions we need if quarantined (like the lightbulb just blew in the bathroom) and i'm not going to go crazy but am going to get one package of lightbulbs and some batteries. If i can find some:). Also DD is getting panicky about getting the virus; she has unusual health issues related to digestion and although she isn't more susceptible to the virus, I can understand her concern and I think it would be tougher on her if she does get it, even if she is only 20 and quite healthy. So I think i'm going to play the widow card and tell my agency I want to work at home in any capacity that I can. I am a healthy 53 year old but some people are dying with no other underlying symptoms, and my kids need one parent. I think we're moving to a lockdown in Mass anyhow.
so today i'm going to hopefully buy some groceries, hit the dump, and then clean up. I'm so grateful we have heat and light- and internet!! Wave to all and glad everyone is posting, its so nice to wake up in the morning to you all.

I managed a tired day without overeating. Mostly because I found the right project for me -- a blog post on self care that I scheduled for Sunday. Engaging, but not too difficult, especially since I'd been drafting it all week in my head and on some scrap paper.

I got ten hours of sleep last night, so lack of energy is not going to be today's problem!

It's still cool, but the rain has stopped and we're getting a little weak sunshine, on and off. I'm looking forward to a walk today.

Exercise: +30, 840/1300 minutes for March

BillBlueEyes: In my limited experience with video classes, looking into the eyes requires looking into the camera. It feels awkward, then, because you feel like you're not looking at the person. But the other person suddenly gets a zap of connection. Maybe, if you tried that for the first few minutes? Once the connection is made, DGD may be able to sustain it.

Good morning coaches,

Wow, you are all up early and posting today . . of course several of you are a few hours ahead of Maryann and me. I had a great hike out in the Superstitions yesterday. Suzanne came here but then said she wanted to drive separate cars. That was fine with me as I think she has been around more people than I have been. I did have another friend in my car for the last few miles though. The hike was a 9 1/2 mile loop that typically has maybe a large puddle off to the side. Yesterday we had wet paths some almost with streams down them and a number of water crossings from a wide stream. It didn't seem like we have had that much rain, but I guess we have. That's such a good thing. Again it was just lush and beautiful with the brittle bush almost concealing the trail at times. Our third hiker had never gone that far but she is only 40 and did well even though she is more overweight. I am doing another long hike on Monday with backpacking buddy Kathy and I'm looking forward to it. I find that after a short distance I am no longer worrying about the problems of the world. I will admit though when I got home and saw how the financial markets did I overdid dinner, which was pizza and salad, and had 3 drinks instead of 2.

I just had a talk with dh to let him know how I'm feeling and that I need to cut back on the White Claw drinks. I don't need the calories and I also don't need to spend money on something doesn't help anything. He seems to drink his light beer without it effecting his weight, and I doubt I could convince him to stop, so best to work on myself. Today I made a realistic food plan that does not include sweets or alcohol. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

GardenerJoy Enjoy your walk. Getting outside is my saving grace.
Curlyjax It sounds like a number of us got a good nights sleep. I hope you can get all your things done today so you feel ready for a lock down if that is in the cards. I think it's hard not to panic about getting this virus. I hadn't been worrying, but seeing the increasing numbers is a worry for sure.
Maryann I'm glad you had such a good visit with your Mom, sister and niece and also did well with your food plan. I need a few days of that.
Bill That's great that everything you needed was in stock. I've just kind of altered what I felt I needed according to what is available. I think GardenerJoy's advice on looking at the camera is probably good. You'll have to let us know how it goes.
Penny Weight holding sounds pretty good to me right now. I've been bouncing around with 4 pounds and it is at the top right now. I'm hoping having lots of water and a lower sodium day will help. It seems for me I have to be thinking I'm in weight loss
mode to maintain. If I think I'll maintain . . . I gain. I would love to smell the bread baking, but I'm afraid I'd eat the loaf with butter.

You all have a good day. I'm going to be productive around here and also call a few friends.

Good morning!

Yesterday was sabotaged by oven baked tater tots and today will be sabotaged by homemade pizza. Well, sabotaged by me.

I'm panicking a bit about going to work next week, and the availability of appropriate PPE. I'm afraid if it's not available, I won't be available either.

Bill, credit for taking precautions at the store. One thing I have been considering is the feeling of embarrassment or the need to maintain social etiquette over personal safety precautions is going to put us at risk.

Maryann, you are well prepared for a food shortage! I'm glad things went well at your mom's house.

Curly, smart to stay home! The permenant lung damage has me freaked.

Karen, someone posted this on FB-
Six months ago: okay, Boomer.
Now: Boomer, you okay?

Be careful!

Joy, yay for good sleep! It does make for a much better day.