Checking in late. Tonight's the big event that we've been planning for the last couple of weeks. I'm happy with how it's come together in the end and confident that we'll make it work, even with unexpected things. I've been trying to get lettuce washed for a couple of days. It will happen today! We already walked, but I'd like to get some yoga in, too. The event is not until 7pm, so I'll have some time in the early evening to do that. It will likely be the best way to get ready for the meeting anyway.

Exercise +65, 215/1400 minutes for July

Coaches:

278.1 this morning. A bit of a surprise drop. Tomorrow I forsee a scale rise as I wobbled this evening eating 8? 10? long red licorice and a handful of chips. Things in bags. Always a weakness. DH brought them in for the hockey game (we won! 2-1 in the series- best of 5).

I had planned for my outing today and how I would deal if my friend pushed food on me at the lake. She tried. I caved a bit. But she backed off and I stopped there. It was ok. The bulk of my food was my own and I drank my water. Most important, I swam! I was at Sibbald Point Provincial Park on Lake Simcoe. About a 45min drive from my home. I wish I had known about this place before. I think I will try to go once a week. There is camping there and I asked DH and we may go overnight a few times before it's too cold.

The water was like that of a northern lake, Lake Ramsey sprung to mind, which is in my hometown of Sudbury. The air was 23C and overnight it had been 19C so I expected cold water. Once you got submerged the water was warmer than the air. And if you got out the air felt colder still and going back in you'd swear the water warmed up 30 degrees.

Very enjoyable.

I was good foodwise until I realized I again (3rd time) that the soup didn't make it back to the fridge yesterday so another good soup wrecked and my planned for food was gone. I had more unplanned food but ate too much. I kept going back for seconds, thirds, fourths and then it was gone. What I really wanted was soup and this other thing filled me but didn't satisfy. When I am tired this is what I do. This is a primary behaviour I need to shift.

Which reminds me, I go to the makerspace tomorrow and I will head straight home when I am done. I will follow my new rule.

So on plan for 1/2 the day. Off plan for half. Back on plan right now.

Have a great night.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (4.5 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. Visit to the Boston Children's Museum was only good enough. The major 3-story, enclosed, climbing structure was shut down. In the water area a docent handed her exactly two small water toys from the "Sanitized" bucket. In the golf ball area that is usually bursting with kids and hundreds of golf balls rolling down different chutes, she was handed three sanitized golf balls. Three! The illusion of an infinite number was demolished. Told my DD that it was like a bordello without the s e x. We drove there instead of the much-loved subway ride ($25 parking). But, joyously, did eat dinner at a picnic table on the wharf overlooking Boston Harbor with gulls, pigeons, and House Sparrows galore looking for bread crumbs from little bit. "How old do you think she'll be before she stops chasing pigeons," DW asked me. "Only when it's too embarrassing about thirteen," I guessed.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio included more of the pasta salad from before; DW made a HUGE bowl of it and it has to be consumed. The green salad did include cukes and Cherry Tomatoes from our garden. My evening snack was an apple. Unfortunately, it was cut up in a baggie having been carried to the Children's Museum and back home again. Eating a child's leftovers never tastes quite the same as food designated for me. But I do feel so very noble - as if saving the planet from the waste of an apple.

Fitting into a smaller shirt is a joy. Although tempered because the stack of Polo shirts that I found are all a bit tired - as in skip-at-a-yard-sale-even-if-only-25-cents tired. Washing them a hundred times consumes their life. I'm wealthy enough to spring for a couple of polo shirts, LOL. Sadly, new ones range in cost from $6.99 to $69.99 and I don't know how to tell which one will look good and which will look 'tired' after the first wash. I'm so old that I fondly remember brick-and-mortar stores where one picked up a shirt and felt it before purchase. And visually evaluated whether or not "brick oven" was a color of red that I'd happily wear. First world problem, I know.


onebyone - Yay for a surprise drop! Sibbald Point Provincial Park does look like a happy place. Yep, 'tired' tends to bend the mind into off path thinking. Kudos for recognizing that.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Hope the big event worked as well as you expected. I love seeing dirt wash away from lettuce - connecting me to the ground that it grew in.

maryann - Welcome back to the classroom. And, simultaneously, Good Grief! A friend with kids in the nearby school just told me that the two older ones will start the year with online learning. And that they're still trying to figure out how to do Kindergarten since Zoom doesn't work on the younger kids.

Karen (karenrn) - Mineral King looks like a great place to explore - sorry you didn't make it. Hope you make the right predictions preparing for upcoming shortages.

curlyjax - Glad that Hurricane Isaiah was easy on you. DW is annoyed that we didn't get so much as a single drop of rain from it. Yay for attempting normalcy by eating at a restaurant's outside table.

Penny. - Yay for getting the benefits of your improved endurance.

Readers -

DInner outside was lovely; well spaced out and lots of umbrellas to avoid the sun. Manfriend was quite happy to be there and I teased him saying, see I have some good ideas! He's definitely feeling better so he can be my occasional companion which is nice. He is going to a pilates class which surprised me that any were open. I may try to find something like that in the fall if our numbers don't increase.
Food was terrible yesterday. Onwards and upwards. I'm so tired of this hot streak on top of everything.
Karen: thanks for the acknowledgement, it is indeed a real challenge to do everything on one's own, and especially during this never ending pandemic. You sound wise to not go with your friend and look forward to next summer instead.
Bill- yay for the wildlife that keeps showing up. I don't think shirts are well made anymore, mine tend to shrink after a year (and its not just me gaining weight).
Onebyone-that's lovely you got to swim. I really enjoy lakes better than the ocean.
Gardenerjoy-good luck with your big event!
Penny- yay for hiking. I have a really hard time wearing a mask while exercising so I admire you for that.
Maryann- are you back in your classroom already, goodness! Is it in person, I forget. Around here they are still figuring out what to do and school starting has been pushed back a bit. I must say i' m glad my kids are older now.

Our event went well. One action and a team to do it materialized out of three possibilities. Good enough, especially in a global pandemic when schools aren't going to want to talk about anything except the virus. We're hoping to find a few administrators who are relieved to have a different topic -- integrating black studies into the curriculum.

Today is grocery day. I'm hoping I can get onions that haven't been recalled. The ones in the pantry got tossed.

Exercise +40, 245/1400 minutes for July

Good Morning, Coaches.

Gardenerjoy: Interesting you were talking about integrating black studies into the curriculum. I just had a thought this morning about how that is accomplished and whether we do it correctly or not. In my experience it has been taught by studying the outstanding people of color and the prejudicial environment they had to overcome. While that is important I think causation of inequities is maybe more important. For example, in the fascinating book I am listening to, Guns, Germs, and Steel, the author makes a case that the native population Papa New Guinea have a higher IQ than the colonizing Europeans because it was germs that was the leading cause of death in the Europeans (they lived in such close quarters) whereas the New Guinea natives mortality is mainly caused by famine, murder and warring tribes. It took intelligence to survive for them and therefore intelligence became the selected evolutionary gene. So the theory that whites are superior ,which for generations was used as a rationalization, is completely inaccurate. If I present the question to the kids "Why power inequities?" we look beyond race to geographical and cultural differences. This might be a better course for the students.

Okay, I went on and on again.

Back to Beck. OP for day 2 and no night time eating BUT I didn't make dinner for the boys so I still have to practice my new skill. Weight is one pound above ticker. Credit for earlier morning walk. I started to swing my arms race walking style to speed up. I am SUPER slow. I have a plan that includes more fiber. The last two days have been lacking in that department.

curleyjax: DS got a move in date and time. I have made the plane and hotel reservations for us. We are very excited. I am starting online with my students.
onebyone: a swim sounds wonderful to me.
BBE: Most sites have super easier return policies. I use Nordstrom and Carhart. You print out a return label and off the stuff goes. You pay a little more but you don't have to park for $25.

Coaches:

A quick note in the dark before bed. Scale climbed 4lbs to 282. Sugar sugar sugar!
Today was 100% on plan.

I put my outdoor show tent up in the backyard and did the necessary, but tedious, work of photographing a bunch of ceramic work that I intend to try to sell online. Five or six pictures of every one thing. No shiny highlights. I can do that cause I have a pop-up photo tent that I place my object in and it cuts the glare/hotspots. Less editing for me to do if I look after it at the photo stage. Took me all afternoon.

I was alarmed by my low energy level and my huffy-puffiness. Where has my stamina gone? Scary! I managed to do what I needed but I had questions beforehand as to whether I could. I am in bad shape.

But! Another unexpected NSV. As I walked carrying something I caught myself tugging up my skirt with the other hand as it felt like it would fall down. Whoa! I immediately noticed this after I did it and thought my skirt mist be getting too big! I've never had that happen with that skirt before. So +4lbs vs. pulling up my skirt. Skirt is what I am focusing on!

Bye for now.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio was gazpacho made with our cukes and tomatoes, corn on the cob, and kale salad. The kale salad is raw kale with feta cheese, raisins, and Mandarin oranges. Very good, despite the thought that cooked kale bites back so raw kale must fight back with two fists. Wasn't a problem. The corn turned out to be industrial strength; it comes that way sometimes.

Excitement was unboxing and stacking all the clothes that I stash away when they get too small. I never evaluate whether they're done and should be passed along. My goal is to own only the volume of clothes that I now need. Apparently, a few years ago I needed some 20 polo shirts in this size. My style is to keep buying inexpensive shirts trying to find ones that I like. I envy folks who can look at cloth and clothes and know what they'll feel like when being worn. Methinks that I'll have to break down and visit a real store. An awful thought from my perspective.


onebyone - Congrats for yet another unexpected NSV. Neat that you have a popup photo tent.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - I can imagine that it's hard to get folks to focus on introducing Black Studies when they don't know where and how they'll be teaching at all. When I was a kid, George Washington Carver was the only Black Man in our history books.

maryann - Interesting tidbit from Guns, Germs, and Steel; that book had quite a few new perspectives for me. Kudos for changing your walking style.

curlyjax - Yay for a good experience at an outdoor restaurant.

Readers -

I am so depressed, I can't wait until I can get back to seeing clients somehow. I know I am lucky to work at home etc but boy is this repetition getting to me and the small spaces, and again not having enough to do.
And yesterday UMass Amherst, the huge flagship university of our state, suddenly reversed gears and is not letting most kids live on campus anymore- after letting the kids pick rooms, roommates, even held a webinar on the moving in process. I get why they are doing it but the timing is just unbelievable, they should have decided this much earlier. I think the small town is pushing them to do this, for fear of bringing more COVID to the town. DD has an apt and she is still going to live off campus. I hope my son's school doesn't follow suit. Out of state folks have paid for plane tickets etc. Such chaos, and of course its everywhere.
I am emotionally eating once again. Time to find some internal resources and reset my thinking.
Does anyone else worry we might go thru the great depression again? This is all so scary!!
Sorry to be a downer this morning.

Good morning!

I ate too much yesterday and missed the scale before breakfast.

The 7-8 mile hike with friends on Wednesday was fantastic! I have to work this weekend and then I have more hikes planned for next week.

Bill, nice to be able to shop your smaller clothes in the closet. They do get old and raggedy, don't they.

Curly, sorry you are feeling depressed. One nice thing about being able to work from home is you get to avoid the sweat mustache under all the PPE. Haha!

Maryann, I'm glad you aren't having to get back in the classroom just yet.

Onebyone, your incident after the makers place is exactly what I have to watch out for; my need to calm down after any social interaction or outing. Good job limiting the damage.

Joy, excellent that you are working with schools to integrate black studies. In addition, I think the real subject is class politics.

Waving at Karen.

Groceries went fine, yesterday. Lots of paper products, although not my brand of toilet paper. We have plenty of not-my-brand toilet paper, so I didn't buy any.

Exercise +35, 280/1400 minutes for July

BillBlueEyes: Thanks for the Macbeth history. It's become the Shakespeare play that I'm most familiar with. Lots of good life lessons in there. Although, as I'm getting older, I'm also looking to King Lear -- the main message for me is to be nice to the young folks that I know.
I'm also not a fan of shopping and DH is worse. We've come to rely on LL Bean and Lands' End. Pricey, but they last a very long time.

maryann: DH read Guns, Germs, and Steel and I think it's still on our shelves. I'll pick that up!

curlyjax: so many things to worry about! I'm definitely there, even the part about the great depression. My best strategies are walking, yoga, guided sleep meditations on YouTube, narrowboat vlogs on YouTube (floating virtually on a canal keeps being a good relaxing moment for me), working on creative projects (both art and writing), deep cleaning bits and pieces of the house (I was slow to get on this one, but now I'm finding it very satisfying).

Good morning coaches,

I kept myself so busy yesterday that I actually forgot to post. It was a little cooler here (80), so Amy and I hiked Sunrise which is not long but it is more strenuous. We saw a guy training with a backpack and he's doing a week long trip in Olympic National Park in Washington. I've actually never hiked there. It made me want to pack the car and head north, or anywhere but here. The only thing is I'm afraid once I hit the road I would realize I don't really want to be away from dh and Otis right now. After hiking I came home and did housework and Amy came over and we watched the movie, "If You Could Read My Mind" about Gordon Lightfoot. It was really good and as you all know I love movies, but especially if there is a lot of music. He was a wonderful songwriter, musician and singer. What a fabulous voice! He is 81 now and Amy actually saw him in concert just a couple of years ago. Food was on plan, but weight didn't really change. This morning it was also cooler (80) so I hiked Bell Pass by myself. I haven't hiked that one in maybe a month and it is longer and strenuous, but it felt great. After that Otis and I went for a short walk with only a little encouragement for Otis. My food plan is made for the day. Yesterday's housework was because Amy was coming over. I vacuumed, cleaned the leather couch, polished the counter tops and dusted. It was a good excuse to spend a couple of hours cleaning and I actually enjoyed it. I plan to do some more today. I keep thinking that it will actually be good hiking weather in a couple of months and I'll be outdoors longer and too tired to clean when I get home, so I had better do it now. Not that I can do housework ahead of time, but the spring cleaning kinds of things and decluttering.

GardenerJoy I'm afraid I have a bit of that not-my-brand toilet paper too. I won't need to buy anymore soon and at least even the not-my-brand type is pretty good.
Penny I'm glad you're enjoying the hiking. I just think it's the best thing for both physical and mental health.
Curlyjax I'm sorry you're feeling so depressed. I can understand especially with the uncertainty surrounding your children's school situation. I've certainly had some down days and I do recognize I'm irritable at times when ordinarily I'm not. I don't think we're going to go through another depression but I will admit to being very security minded. Before I decide to add on a monthly expense I review things and see if there is an expense I can get rid of. I really am trying to focus on staying healthy so that when this is behind us I will still feel energetic enough to do things.
Bill Is industrial strength corn the stuff you think should have been fed to the cattle? At this time of year we get some corn called Olathe corn from Olathe, Colorado. It's the best, but I'm sure you have some good corn back there too. What fun going thru the new found smaller clothes. I was excited when I found just a few things in the back closet. I have a hold on a book called Project 333, The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More. I know I could get rid of so many things, and I have gotten rid of some things. Dh probably has 60 polo/golf shirts and I don't think a one of them were cheap, but he wears them daily.
Onebyone That pop up photo tent sounds like it's perfect. Have you done much online selling? And sugar . . . you don't have to tell me about sugar, it holds water worse than salt.
Maryann I'm not perfectly careful either, but my cousin has ocular pharyngeal muscular dystophy, a heart condition and a pacemaker and I worry about her. I actually think she is beginning to think about being a little more careful too. Not crazy, just not having indoor parties with a bunch of 30 year olds some of whom think there is no reason for a mask anywhere. I will say I thoroughly enjoyed socializing in Washington and can't wait for it to be cool enough here to be outdoors with some folks. Will your new skill of no eating after dinner be any easier once ds is off to college?

Well I can't believe it's nearly 11 and I'm still sitting around in my hiking clothes. Time to shower and get ready for the rest of the day. Maybe I'll do a bit of housework first though. Have a great Friday everybody!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Bit the bullet and aimed my walk, CREDIT moi, toward the only brick-and-mortar store selling men's clothing within walking distance. The store sells super discounted stuff. Certainly, they'd have a pair of khaki men's shorts for me. Alas, I got reminded that they have sparse sizes in odd fashion stuff. Nothing for me. In the good ol' days, I'd have stopped in the Whole Foods just to walk their aisles nibbling the samples. But I'm not doing daytime snacks right now, CREDIT moi - accepting credit for not taking samples from Whole Foods even though, had I tried, I'd have faced that Whole Foods is not now giving samples. Dubious to take credit but it's a judgement call and I rule in favor of more credit whenever possible, LOL. Came home and pressed a button to order shorts and two Polo-style shirts from Macy's - all on super sales since most folks have already bought their summer clothes and are into buying ski jackets for winter.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. "No daytime snacks" doesn't count a handful of cherry tomatoes from our garden since they're too little to have calories. And our plants are now producing more cherry tomatoes than we can incorporate into dinner salads. Gotta keep up. Dinner on the patio was, one more time, just a lovely way to spend a moment in life.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - I have a 90 year old friend who is now into King Lear. [When not squeezed into a headline, yesterday's On-This-Day would read: "Possible first performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, performed in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace for King James I (1606)" Thought you'd appreciate the details.]

Karen (karenrn) - Fun to be tweaked to put If You Could Read My Mind on my list. Thought I'd listen to In the Early Morning Rain while typing here. I'm surprised at how many songs that I recognize are by Gordon Lightfoot. Yep I was referring to the corn that should have been fed to the cattle. Congrats for getting your housework done in prep for longer walks this fall.

curlyjax - Ouch for the reversal by UMass Amherst so kids will no longer be headed to the dorms. Hope your son's school doesn't do a last minute reversal. Sending supportive thoughts as you find a path through all this. Yes, getting back to real work is a key.

Penny. - You'll soon be rivaling our Hiking Karen with your hiking adventures.

Readers -

My eating has been getting sloppy. So, CREDIT for writing a food plan for today. That's my fastest path back to rational food consumption.

Exercise +30, 310/1400 minutes for July

Good morning coaches,

Food was off plan yesterday. I had some air popped popcorn for an unplanned snack and then did an equivalent exchange for dinner. Weight is the same, but a higher same than I want for sure. Like GardenerJoy it is time to do something different, so I am going back to using My Fitness Pal and weighing and measuring food. I do write a plan each day, but the quantities are obviously too big. I'm also going to see if some of this is just water retention from my increase in hiking. Luckily the change of my clothes fitting isn't noticeable. I wish I could be better about using the hunger scale and stopping when satisfied, but that simply isn't happening right now. I took some time this morning to delete a lot of things from the my food lists on MFP so it would be easier to log the foods. I had so many duplicates, etc. I'm taking the day off of hiking but did walk Otis this morning. I'll also do a little housework. We're having a friend over for dinner this evening. She is a single gal and I'm sure she is feeling a bit isolated.

GardenerJoy I hope the food plan does the trick for you.
Bill I love that the stores aren't offering samples now. It makes my trips to Costco much less frustrating. I think you would like the Gordon Lightfoot movie.

Waving to the rest of you and hoping everyone has a good Saturday planned.