Good evening!

Doing a later check-in to get through the difficult time of day.

Today was a cooking and baking day to restock the eats. The four loaves of fresh bread are sitting on the cooling rack and I thought about it but resisted.

I still have to deal with the two crock pots (garbonzos for hummus and bean soup) when they finish but then I will have good options tomorrow.

Checking in
 

Hi Coaches

I've been on and off plan since Friday when this thought rolled through my head:

When you see the Dr this week for your blood pressure check you're not going to have lost any weight at all.

Way to go brain.

I had gone off plan and my weight creeped up. Then I ate late at night and the next morning it went up more and has stayed there for three days: 282.5

Today, after the easiest, fastest, best, dentist appointment of my whole life, I came home renewed in spirit. I shopped for the ingredients to cook from scratch, always a necessity for me to stay on plan or get back on plan, and I made a new recipe that was great. So filling. And just like that I'm back in the game.

I also rescheduled Dr appt foe the end of the month. It's another bp check appt and I am on the new meds and I jist am going to take the extra time to make some more progress.

I had lots of stress over the weekend, and I used my old friend Food to help me through. Covid just adds that little bit more uncertainty to everything. Though I have to say I am so used to my mask that it was like my glasses. At one point when I was teaching I realized it wasn't on my face. I had removed it and didn't know. My glasses are like that. All of a sudden they are off my head and... Where are they now?

Yeah.

Anyway, back on plan.

Today I was making a list of recipes to try over the next two weeks. I want to cook one day and have leftovers the next day. If I buy fast food I am done for.

Billblueyes I have known three butterfly farmers. They buy the caterpillars or the pupae and raise them in screened in cages until they hatch. Then they are sold to event planners who offer them for weddings or other events. Fundraisers sometimes. I don't ever want to be a butterfly farmer but they loved it.

Penny I am back to the great big cleanup again. I seem to always end back at having to clean up. It's cause I have too much stuff. More has got to go.

Curlyjax I was really hoping your DS would get to leave home. I can't imagine how super stressful all of this is for you. It's expensive to make all those arrangements and then to have to change them. But if it's going to happen this would be the best reason, so everyone can stay well.

Maryann I think of you as well with your class prep. I have teacher friends who aren't sure how things are going to shake out. My other friend, whose son and DIL (who's 6 mos pregnant) are both teachers, is beside herself with worry. They have a two year old boy. My friend told me neither she (76) nor her husband (90) have held their grandson since February out of an abundance of caution.
No one knows how this will all go but it's going forward. I wish you well!!

gardenerjoy I was at my garden yesterday and all the tomato plants in our area of the community garden seemed to be stricken with some kind of leaf blight. We had three days of very heavy rain which cracked open a lot of the tomatoes, but it was dried out, brown, drooping leaves that shocked me. Well that and that some animal taste-tested pretty much every tomato I had been eyeing. Thankfully there are still many to focus on.

Goodnight everyone.

Wednesday - IBM introduces its first personal computer, the model 5150 (1981)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was escorting the plumber into the basement to introduce him to the blocked drain of the basement sink. I'd cleared the space well and had lighting set up to make all visible. He grabbed the bucket that I had sitting there for that purpose, unscrewed the horizontal plug in the two-inch pipe, stuck in his powerful electric auger and worked a full ten minutes to make the problem go away. I showed him where to plug in his auger. At his request, I handed him a roll of paper towels. Sink now drains. "Was just sludge - you probably pour grease down the kitchen drain." (Later, "I NEVER pour grease down the kitchen drain; that's what the grease can is for," steamed DW.) All for only $180. Maybe that should be my next career. DW is relieved that she can run the laundry on Thursday without worrying about the blocked drain. CREDIT moi for doing what I'm supposed to do.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Tomato sandwich for lunch using half of a red and half of a yellow tomato fresh from our garden. Just divine. Dinner on the patio was just the three of us. The Monarch caterpillar has exploded in growth to an inch and a half. Seemed to grow a half-inch during dinner itself. It has sufficient self-confidence to eat in plain view. DW moved it and its pot containing the Milkweed to a spot in the garden where it can crawl onto a different plant to do it chrysalis thing. "What's its name?" I teased. "I don't name wild animals." Her sister had already suggested that, since it's a Monarch, it should be named Elizabeth. DW was not amused. When we got up, I waved, "Good night, Butter," offering the most obnoxious name for a butterfly caterpillar that I could fathom. "Only it and its mother know its name," DW scoffed. Life under COVID isolation gets small.


onebyone - Yay for a positive dentist appointment. Oxymoron, that. Had never heard of butterfly farmers even though I've seen pictures of weddings with released butterflies. Hard to imagine speaking to a class through a mask.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Have a happy weeding day.

curlyjax - Bummer that your DS's school isn't doing on-campus housing. Joining those friends in his own house sounds like a good compromise. You're SO ready for your own space.

Penny. - Four loaves of bread and two crock pots of food is a bunch of cooking. Admire your energy.

Readers -

I'm definitely letting myself eat too much in the evening, especially ice cream, while I relax and watch tv. During the morning though I will really push myself to wait until I'm truly hungry, which is much later because of that snacking, so there is that. It is so hot these days, I don't feel like doing much in the evening and at least the mindless tv keeps me cheerful, I figure its okay to do for awhile.
DS's friends are now talking about living in the next town over, instead of farther away for an adventure, and I told him it doesn't make sense to spend his college money on that when he could just hang out with them all the time anyhow, which he agreed made sense. We also discussed him getting a job, and some ideas for that. He's too inexperienced to be a driver but hopefully something will work out.And that he will learn to cook.
Gardenerjoy-I have consistently set doing weights MWF and then doing whatever functional exercise falls in between. I've given up on weeding:) Next year I'll put down mulch or something.
Penny- good idea to check in during difficult time of the day. Great job planning ahead and making all that food. Homemade bread is a temptation.
Onebyone-I had a few tomatoes growing- and suddenly they are gone! Those annoying little groundhogs!! Yay for an easy dentist appt.I hear you about cleaning out, it is constant.
Bill- yay for an unblocked pipe. Plumbers do make great money.

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight came back down just barely into the better decade.

Today I need to make it two days on plan, which is even more difficult than the one day usually.

Onebyone, good job pulling it together with your diet. It's so hard.

Bill, that's good the plumber fix was successful and not too expensive. Your wife would not agree with my practice of naming house spiders, then. Ha! I name just about every insect that shows up in the house. It's been my way of mitigating the kids' fear of bugs. It works!

Curly, that transition age is so tough! My 19yo still stays in his room and makes no move to get a job or go to school. His waist-length hair is one giant sheet of tangled matted mess too. This pandemic is taking a toll for sure and I think he'll turn it around at some point.

I ended up weeding, yesterday, plus a short walk. No yoga. I'm not sure that I'll manage yoga today, either, because my back hurts a bit so I may take this as more of a recovery day -- a walk and some stretching. And, a naproxen. Maybe some ice.

Exercise +60, 520/1400 minutes for August

Good morning coaches,

Well it seems I have a couple of days on plan and then I slip, which I did yesterday. Not horribly and no sweets, but too much cottage cheese and nibbles of grated cheese. My plan is made for today and I've had a longer walk with Otis. It was 88 at 5 a.m. and I just couldn't bring myself to head out the door for a hike. It looks like we have another 8 days of over 110 in the forecast and we've already beat the record for annual days over 110, yuck. My friend and I did book a trip to Flagstaff in 2 weeks. We'll each have our own hotel room and it will be a nice treat to get out of here. I would really like to stay on my plan so my hiking shorts are more comfortable by then.

Curlyjax I was so sorry to read ds isn't going to be moving out. These are crazy times to be sure.
Bill I'm glad you have a nice clean drain now. I hate to call the plumber too, but sometimes it has to be done.
Onebyone Yay for a quick and easy dentist appointment. I think they make it that way once in a while so we'll return.
Penny After reading your post I put some garbanzo beans in water to soak. Not sure yet what I have planned for them, but I'll figure something out. I do know it would be nearly impossible for me to leave the bread alone. It sounds delicious.
GardenerJoy When you said the other day it was warmer there than where I live, I immediately had to look at the weather ap. No, not on your life. Your highs are lower than our lows. That day we may have had a little lower low though. I will say we are fortunate not to have much humidity, although this morning it felt pretty humid. It's about half of yours though.
Maryann How are things going for you?

You all have a good day

Better
 

Hi Coaches

Scale went back to 279.5 this morning. Happy to see that. Today I was both on and off plan. But mostly on so I'll take the win. Tomorrow's food is planned. Credit.

I have officially completed my ceramic class as I unloaded their work from the kiln this morning. Only one thing attached itself a bit to the shelf, which was a miracle for that thing. All glazing looked good. And the the most important thing was that their construction and forms survived the whole process and the months of March to July when we shut down for the pandemic. Quite a feat. Credit moi for a successful end.

The troubling thing today was my very very high level of anxiety. It's like I tripped my anxiety switch last week somehow. Thankfully I don't feel it now. I do know it's time to move forward with my clean up and with a few long delayed projects. Time to put them behind me. Credit for not eating over anything and for feeling the feelings. This too shall pass was proven to me yet again.

Must sleep now. I hope all who read this are feeling ok.

Thursday - Left Hander's Day (since 1976)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (4.5 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. She splashed in the set of fountains in a nearby park for nearly an hour: sitting on it; standing on it; directing it at the other kids. All the standard tricks entirely invented by her that are the same as those entirely invented by the other kids. Water and kids so seem to go together. When the package arrived that contained the mesh filter to attach over the exit hose of the washing machine, I asked her to help me open the "gift for grandma." Excitement was sky-high. She ripped everything apart and wasn't the least put off that the contents were so uninteresting. They were a gift for grandma and she just ate it up.

Lunch was a tea party on the patio including the DGD and the caterpillar. The caterpillar has again doubled in size - now at two inches getting thicker and thicker. This process is rapid. She doesn't sit at our table anymore - relegated to a potted Milkweed under a bush where she'll crawl to do the next thing. It won't be with us for much longer.

Dinner was pizza since DW is exhausted after a DGD day. I ordered the house special which was a kind of 'everything'. It was far more food than a normal one-item pizza. Feels like I gained a pound from two slices. Think I'll go back to one-item toppings next time. I missed having a specific taste instead of an everything taste.



onebyone - Yep, it's fun when the scale stays in the decade we want. Congrats for completing your ceramics class despite all the obstacles introduced by COVID. Wish you well helping that anxiety to ease away.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Weeding is such thorough exercise. DW picked a half-dozen tomatoes from our community garden last night. The time of tomato plenty is upon us.

Karen (karenrn) - Comfortable hiking shorts are such a good motivator. For drifting off plan, cottage cheese is a lesser concern food.

curlyjax - Neat that your DS continues to pursue the notion of living away from home. That seems to be an important part of the transition away from high school.

Penny. - Terrific idea to counter your kids fear of bugs. We always let our kids collect bugs. Never really turned out well for the bugs, LOL.

Readers -

Another exciting day, ha! But my work day was busier and that was good. A few of my residents do tell me how much they appreciate my calling which is nice. I am slated to go to my agency next week and get my PPE, and discuss more details about returning. So i'm going to enjoy my remaining days of being able to sleep later and get laundry done during the day. It will be so good for my mental health to be somewhere else during the day. I'm concerned about lunchtime since few places are open and its too hot still to hang out in my car, if I want to get away, but i'll figure something out. Once the weather is cooler it will be better. I do wish the libraries would reopen!!
My latest thing to dream about is river cruises. I feel like those would be safer than ocean cruises (as far as illness stuff) and I wouldn't get seasick maybe, and its something I could do on my own. I need to have some travel to dream about!
Karen-woo, that is really hot, I feel for you. Our hottest temps get to 95, but there is usually humidity involved too which makes it miserable. We are sliding into more reasonable temps this weekend which i'm psyched about. Flagstaff trip sounds awesome!
Penny- my kid's hair is long but not that long! Aww, it is a tough time for these kids.
Onebyone- that is amazing their works made it thru! I took a pottery class in college and vividly recall how easily things could break apart in the kiln if something wasn't right.
Bill- DGD is at such a fun age, I'm so glad you get to spend time with her again. Too funny about the package.
Gardenerjoy- hope your back is doing better.

My back is improved. I might manage yoga today, depending on the timing of things. I've got a lot that I want done today before a 6:30 video meeting tonight.

My snacking has got a little bit out of hand -- mostly of DH's sourdough bread. I'm only eating when I'm hungry, but it's time to practice a little hunger tolerance. Or, eat watermelon which is just as filling with a lot fewer calories.

Exercise +60, 580/1400 minutes for August

Good morning coaches,

I did have an off plan sweet yesterday. I'm having a lot of thoughts about getting back on track good and solid. I have a plan for today and I intend to stay on it. I want to get interested in making some new recipes and yet I don't quite have the motivation I need. I think I need to go to the store where I often buy more produce as that's what I'm feeling we need more of. I did soak and cook some garbanzo beans yesterday and I'm not sure how I'll use those yet. I guess I just need to look for one recipe, even if it's one I make but not often, and make it. I seem to be following the path of least resistance for just about everything right now. I did get out and hike this morning and although it was over 90 I just told myself I didn't need to be in a big rush. The nice thing about hiking alone is that I can set the pace. I might have been about 5 minutes slower than usual, but so what. Today Otis goes to the groomer, so I think I'll head over to Costco then. His appointment is at noon, but since they don't give out samples at Costco anymore (yay!) I don't think it will be busy.

GardenerJoy I'm glad to hear your back is better. I would be doomed with sourdough bread in the house. I love it and it brings back fond memories because my Dad used to fly to San Francisco for part of every week when I was a kid and he was working on a project with Bechtel. He brought a loaf of bread home every week.
Curlyjax I bet your clients really appreciate your calls. I know I appreciate calls these days and I'm not as isolated of some of them probably are. I hear your about the travel dreams. I think it's something we all want to plan and know it can really happen one of these days.
Bill I always love the stories about dgd and I love the fact she was excited about the "present" even though it was a screen for the washer.
Onebyone I'm glad all the ceramics turned out well. I hope your anxiety diminishes and I guess you say it has, good. Sometimes what helps mine the most is to just wear myself out physically.
Penny I'm cheering you on for multiple days in a row of being on plan. I'm hoping that for me too!

Maryann I'm thinking of you and hoping you're okay but busy.

Well now I need to post a travel photo on FB. A friend nominated me to post 10 days in a row . . . the hardest part is I have to nominate someone else each day. I'm not on there all that much anymore except for specific groups and many of my friends are not either. Here goes.

Guess who took her kids on a snack grocery run and then tasted everything more than once? It's me.

Playing one of my favorite songs in the car for them, to then have my son ask to play it again and turn it up made it a great trip though. It's No Good by Depeche Mode. Kind of stockery dude lyrics but the bass is so nice.

Today I hike with a friend I have not seen since school, and then I get my hair done.

Moving right along
 

Good evening Coaches

Today I pre-cooked and froze a bunch of stuff cause the freezer door was open a crack all night. Probably I should have cooked a few more things than I did, but I didn't.

What's ironic is this is what I've always wanted to do: have stuff ready that's on plan when I am looking for something cause I am 'starving".

Today I also practiced "doing something other than eat" when I was supremely bored late this afternoon. I *chose* to get at the dishes, which I will complete before I go to bed. I've come to feel deeply satisfied doing dishes. It's an unheard of thought reversal for me. Credit for being open to change.

Tomorrow I am up super early and out the door before 7 am to het to the guild by 7 to fire down a bisque kiln. The guild asks us to "watch the cones" so I jave to put the welding goggles over my for distance glasses and then peer through a small peephole on the side of a kiln that's about 950C to look for three cone shaped objects standing in a row. When the extreme left one slumps (the guard cone) "below 9 o'clock" it signals that the clay is reaching maturity for a bisque firing = cone 06. I have to look at the cones in the kiln on three levels: top middle and bottom. Sometimes the cones are moving great top and middle and then not on the bottom. We have to fiddle with the kiln sometimes to get it to fall but if the third cone falls, we have over-fired and the older members will let you know their displeasure! Anyway I doubt anyone was interested in that, I'm probably writing it to remind myself!

Credits today for food prep, for distracting myself from eating when bored, and for being on plan. The scale did drop to 278.7 this morning. I am looking for 276 which will be 20lbs gone. Come on 276!

Have a good night.

Friday - A 2.3 kg chondrite-type meteorite strikes (1846, Cape Girardeau, Missouri)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was a trip to the eye doctor. This may become a monthly or quarterly event from now on. Same procedure as last time: hurriedly escorted out of the waiting room to the first exam room to be seen by a junior person; escorted to a room with all the expensive optical equipment to wait for the doctor; quickly ushered past the receptionist to exit. All done with everyone wearing masks and mostly socially spaced - except when the doctor was in my face putting instruments in my eye.

At about 5 pm, DW was showing a neighbor some plants and happened to show her the caterpillar - quite fat now. At 6 pm when we sat down on the patio for dinner, the caterpillar wasn't visible. Couldn't find it. Perhaps it's off to its next stage? Maybe just better hidden? Feeling hurt that it didn't even say 'Goodbye.' We'll keep searching today, from time to time, to see if a green chrysalis appears nearby on a green bush. The other excitement of the day was frequent trips to the basement to watch the washing machine draining rapidly in the newly augured sink drains. Only a Geek can note the tiny specks of disintegrated clothing in the new filter and take pride.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Lunch was a garden-fresh tomato sandwich. Forgot to pick some Basil to go with it. There's some growing right outside the back door.


onebyone - Ouch for that freezer door issue - you're the third one of us to face that just recently. Kudos for practicing "doing something other than eat" - gotta train the neurons away from food.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Homemade sourdough bread would be a killer for me. I, too, met my first loaf on a business trip to San Francisco and was the hero for bringing home a loaf.

Karen (karenrn) - Great determination: "I have a plan for today and I intend to stay on it." Yep, I'm better off with Costco not giving out samples.

curlyjax - Join you in "I do wish the libraries would reopen!!" Miss them terribly. DW has to tell the DGD that there are no new books because granddad can't go to the library. Yay for being appreciated for your work.

Penny. - Alas, you sent me to listen: No Good by Depeche Mode. Great bass even on my headphones. Then Youtube suggested my old time favorite: Patti Smith - Gloria. Such fond memories of 45 years ago. I played her album Horses for treadmill time using a CD-player. Always turned on just waiting for the line, "leaning on the parking meter ...," and accepted that I was headed to eternal damnation for listening to "for somebody's sins but not mine." Congrats for teaching your kids about good music. (FYI, it was today, 55 years ago in 1965, that the Beatles taped their appearance for the Ed Sullivan Show.)

Readers -