I stopped by yesterday, but somehow didn't leave record of my passing.
Yesterday's strength-training was moving an under-utilized armchair from the living room upstairs to my office. I think this will help on those lousy weather days that I attempt to reframe as warm and cozy.
Also, I think it will help me read more print books. Sometimes, the book I want is only available in print. Sometimes, I want to study or research with a book and print is more effective for me when I'm reading in that way.
CREDIT for making adjustments with what I have to better serve my needs.
Credit for walking the bleachers again at school during my half hour lunch. My back is really feeling better. It s also good to feel like I accomplished something. My brain tries to tell me "It doesn't matter unless it is an hour, or two hours, or whatever." Every little bit helps. I also ate my potato soup for lunch in homage to potatoes. I used my vitamix and blended up leftover rotisserie chicken in it along with the usual veggies. It was a little gummy but the taste was fine. Almost no fat for a cream soup is a good thing.
I have a follow up appt today at the surgeon and hopefully he will take the stitches out. They still ache.
Finished the Berlin Blockade and heading toward the Korean war. I am going to show clips of Rocky four to get the idea of Russian symbolism we all grew up with. Plus I like the soundtrack.
Karen: Congrats on cutting the cable.
gardenerjoy: yeah for streamlining. I love thinking of better ways and uses for things.
curleyjax: Is your boy still going? The verdict is out for ours.
BBE:Your Universe oblivion seems to contradict my current Hail Mary morning meditations. Shall we make a small bet meeting in the afterlife to collect?
Friday - Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing certain but death & taxes" (1789)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was the second meal from the bag of Trader Joe's frozen meatballs - added to high protein spaghetti. Again, there are leftovers that will become lunch.
Excitement was trying to understand how the brain forms new memories. We are indebted, sadly enough, to folks who have had serious brain injuries for much of what's been learned. In one notorious case, a man with serious brain injury could not form a new memory. If asked the date, he'd always respond with the date three days before his accident. Remembered everything before that - but nothing afterward. Again, sad, but utterly fascinating.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for moving an arm chair to make a space that's warm and cozy. Maybe COVID-19 will bring a resurgence of reading.
maryann - What an inspired idea to show your kids parts of Rocky IV to set the stage. Yes, we should place a bet hoping to meet in the afterlife. Am sure we could find each other - eternity is such a long time.
Karen (karenrn) - Super Congrats for cutting the cable. I might take you as an inspiration to look into doing the same. It's such an inexpensive first step to try a digital, indoor antenna.
curlyjax - LOL at "discovering" a croquet set and badminton set. Long ago memories there. Kudos for on track eating.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks:
task 7 Fill Your Distractions Box
Keep adding to the list over time as you think of new distractions. Store a copy of your Distractions List - along with any other items you need, such as puzzles, nail polish, playing cards, CDs, photo albums, and the like - in your Distractions Box.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 39.
I worked from home yesterday because I felt a bit wheezy. I think it was the aftermath of so much sorting etc which kicks up the dust. Today I'm much better, but I have a long webinar so I'll do that at home too. I may start pulling back on some in person things as the Covid numbers are going up, and some towns are closing things again. My elder agency has pushed doing visits in person whereas a few of our sister agencies have not, and I'm wondering how my director made this decision.
Last night someone from church called me, saying she hadn't seen me in the zoom church for awhile. It was nice of her to check in, and we chatted for a bit. She is 74, widowed a year but her husband was sick for a long time, and she is living alone for the first time and loving it. Of course she misses him but is cherishing her independence. It's interesting to hear people's experiences. Maryann- DS is planning on moving onto campus in the spring. The university switched gears suddenly a few weeks before the start in the fall, I really hope they don't do that again because they will lose all credibility if they do. But the majority of colleges are letting kids live there, or at least some. They've done a good job with testing and so on, with very low numbers. And DS won't have a roommate which he is happy about, being a introvert. Karen- great job on installing the youtube tv. I'm always so proud of myself when I do things like that. Gardenerjoy-print books are the best. I try to read most nights a little before I go to sleep, and only with a print book. Bill-the brain is fascinating. I used to work with head injured folks and it was really interesting.
Today's excitement is understanding our county's new stay-at-home orders. I think we'll refill propane tanks today before the orders go into effect on Tuesday. That's probably well within the guidelines, but not entirely clear to me.
I also placed a delivery order at 7:30 this morning from Whole Foods to beat the rush of people stocking up.
Food was just a little off plan yesterday and weight is stable. We did a great hike yesterday and today's exercise was walking Otis and housework . . .soon. I did get to the Cox store to return the equipment today, so we are finished with that. I'm doing fine with the change, dh is still working on it. One of our channel changers will not adjust the volume. I figured it was something with a setting, but so far we haven't figured it out. We can change the volume by speaking into the channel changer. We aren't so used to doing that. Might need a new channel changer. We'll see. Food is planned for the day, but I don't feel very committed to it. I hope to stay on track. I'm going to use the My Fitness Ap again for a bit to get myself on track.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Every now and then a rotisserie chicken appears so that the chef around here can take a holiday. Good news is that we both like the chicken. This one was so large that we joked that we had a small turkey. The other eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi.
It gets real; a contact just told us that she had been close enough to a person who just reported testing positive for COVID-19 even though masked and distanced. She drove in for a test whose results won't be known until Monday. But we're going through all the counting of days since we last saw each other - wearing masks AND being at least six feet apart AND only briefly. Seems very low probability, but we'll lay low so that we don't add anyone else to the web of concern.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Ouch for trying to figure out guidelines. Seems wise to have a little propane just in case. Thanks for the link to your review of Isadora Moon. The DGD and I are halfway through our third book. I get a sliver of her time while her grandmom does a scheduled chore, then reading with me is dropped in preference to games with grandmom. It was fun to be reminded that Isadora was going through the experiences of a typical British child.
Karen (karenrn) - Returning the equipment is pretty final. You've cut the cord. Kudos for food planned for the day even if you're still working on commitment.
curlyjax - Always encouraging to hear about a person who is able to move forward in life after losing their partner. This current rise in COVID numbers is scary.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks:
task 7 Fill Your Distractions Box
Also keep other helpful lists in there, such as friends you can call, Web sites you would like to visit, items you want to buy, chores you never seem to get to, and games you want to learn.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 39.
Quick wave as I am heading down to my car insurance agency to hopefully insure and register my dad's car. One of my friends said it took forever to get hers registered so we'll see, but at least I'll get the process going. Then I will probably donate the other one to NPR. Other exciting things today are bringing a lot of outdoor junk to the dump with my strong son. And getting my hair cut.
I did terribly with food last night as I ended up emotionally eating ice cream- DD was home for a day and we still managed to quarrel- but I saved half of my calzone anyhow for today.
The sun is shining today, yay!
I had the rare early morning rising - 3 a.m. I'm glad it is not a habit. Yesterday something wet and cool was falling from the sky. Somehow I remember what it was called - rain. DH was in an absurdly good mood completely disproportionate to the .2 " rain received. My sister arrived from Baltimore immediately stirring up discontent for our outdoor plans for pre-Thanksgiving. I deliberately made alternate plans for the actual day knowing drama would occur. I'll find out more today. I am happy for my Mom who will enjoy her company. I am completely flexible so that everyone can be comfortable but I know it drives DH crazy.
So I have been thinking about last holiday season when I ended up 15 pounds heavier and in Greece. Neither of those two things are going to happen this year. I researched the average BMI of a woman my age, and it is 29.1. I am 26.3. Credit. So I am reframing my food habits as a success considering my cultural circumstances. Asian average BMI is 24.9 which is not overweight. I have continue to be 'weird" with my daily habits - not eat mass manufactured sugar items; add healthy spices and condiments such as black cumin and vinegar; continue a food log; weigh twice daily; find extra exercise in a day. I am coming from a place of proven success which gives me an advantage. This kind of thinking is much more helpful than feeling I am so unsuccessful moving to my final goal. Back to the basics today.
Lots of school work and grading today. I will also go to the gym as a break to keep good karma with my back.
We successfully and safely got our propane tanks refilled.
I spent a fair amount of energy yesterday working with other people to decide about whether we made today's vigil our last hurrah before new restrictions or we cancel it in quiet acquiescence to the dangerous situation that our community is in. Since we're all about protecting lives, we went for the cautious choice. CREDIT for being supportive without being overbearing to the young folks who were more responsible for this decision than I am.
I just read the news report on our new restrictions. The one thing it will change about how we live our lives is that we're expected to have a mask on every time we leave the house.
We, along with all of our neighbors, have been exercising without masks. Our neighborhood has limited traffic and limited sidewalks. So, everyone (even kids), stay the full width of the road apart from each other.
I predict that DH will refuse to walk if he has to wear a mask. I'm going to propose this compromise: we carry our masks and put them on when we approach people. That means we will put them on between 0 and 2 times during a typical walk. I think he'll go for that. And, I get to put this off for a day because it's raining and we'll find indoor exercise alternatives today.
Yesterday, I passed the 25,000-word mark on route to 50,000 words in November. Today, I'm determined to reach 700 minutes of exercise so that I'm ahead of the game for that goal, too.
Exercise +50, 650/1400 minutes for November
BillBlueEyes: Our book group picked Caste for our January book. We combine our November & December meetings so we have a longer time than usual to read our January book. The other issue has been the availability of library copies. I think most of our group got on the waiting list in late September to make sure that they had access. I think I'm going to purchase a copy so that I can both take longer to read it and read it closer to our meeting date.
I almost didn't post today, but decided to get up from the football game that dh is watching and be sure I posted. Food was on plan today and I did a 10 mile hike by myself this morning. It's just a long loop in the preserve near me that I have done many times in the past. It's got lots of elevation gain and the weather was perfect. My weight is not where I want it to be, but I'm pretty surprised that I can still hike strenuous hikes and feel good. Some photos of hiking/climbing Flatiron in the Superstitions from 10 years ago came up on my phone yesterday. Boy did I look good; ten years changes the face quite a bit and I am heavier now. Anyway, it inspired me to work on getting in better shape in the next month to hike Flatiron, which I do every year. Dh figured out that by plugging the Firestick into the non-Smart tvs we can run the You Tube TV on them. We are so impressed with ourselves. Yesterday I figured out the volume on the bedroom remote. The button doesn't work like we thought it did. Once I figured that out it was like oooh la la.
GardenerJoy Our mask mandate is pretty lax, but when hiking I have it with me and put it on if anyone comes near. Of course they are to be worn indoors at the stores, etc. Some people don't even have one on the trail, but I figure I am safer to have it on although we are mostly quite a ways apart. Maryann Fifteen pounds less this year sounds super. Curlyjax It's so nice that you have your son there to help you with the dump runs. Bill Both of the books you mentioned sound good. I started listening to a book on my hike today, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. So far I'm enjoying it. I guess it's a five book set.
Sunday - American painter Georgia O'Keeffe born (1887, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - The person who was a possible COVID contact got her test results back already: Negative. So relieved. Had it been positive, we'd have had to get tests ourselves and had to give up our Wednesdays with the DGD until all was clear. This has sent me into being even more vigilant. The number of cases in the U.S. is higher than ever. And the number of folks who believe it's all a hoax is higher than ever. Scrambles my mind.
Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. DW made a big pot of chili that will be three dinners (or suppers, depending on where we live) using hamburger and our favorite 13 beans collection. She made it a tad more spicy than either of us preferred. Don't know if our tolerance for spicy is decreasing with age or whether she's doing a better job of having fresh hot spices. Definitely will tone it down next time she makes it. Evening snack was my cherished apple.
Spent an hour sorting through some stacks of paper that are blocking my life. Found stuff that is ten years old and no longer relevant to my life. Still have a hard time just discarding them since they contain a slice of my history. I have friends who didn't seriously discard their 'stuff' until faced with moving from their house into a smaller space in a retirement community. I may be one of those.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats to your area for taking the COVID threat seriously enough to take precautions. Neat that you're reading Caste. You remind me that I may just want to buy it since I suspect that DW will want to read it after I do. And also Congrats on being half-way through your NaNoWriMo project.
maryann - LOL at "something wet and cool was falling from the sky" - check carefully that it's not Oobleck. Certainly you read that Dr. Seuss classic to your DS a decade ago. Smart to recognize that it's the entire holiday season that threatens.
Karen (karenrn) - Super Congrats on a ten mile hike. To the rest of us, that's a bunch. You win the techie award for mastering your new TV setup.
curlyjax - I'm jealous of you having your DS to help you get rid of stuff. It's not just the muscles, it's a second opinion that it's time to go. Yay for saving half a calzone.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks:
task 7 Fill Your Distractions Box
Make it as easy as possible to distract yourself when temptation strikes.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 39.
Success with the car yesterday- it is insured, registered and has new plates. I enjoyed talking with the chatty young adult at my insurance agency as she worked away, much nicer experience than going to the DMV. Then I raced over to the hairdresser who is also very chatty, who discussed where to go dancing to live bands post covid, and also learned about a newish brewery that also serves roasted coffee. I got a coffee to go from there, and learned that they had live music pre-covid and hope to again. So I got my social interaction needs met and have things to look forward to post covid.
I didn't get the stuff hauled to the dump since it was really cold out, we'll do that next week. Today is grocery shopping, finishing a report that is due for work (since I wasted some time during the week), and continuing to consolidate DD's stuff in the living room so we'll have space for a Christmas tree. She should be doing this but it's been sitting there for months so i'm stepping in. Food wasn't good yesterday but I didn't get into the sweets at least. I will do my healthy light salmon etc tonight. Maryann- big credit for being 15 pounds down from last year indeed! Bill- ooh, I think I will put chili on the menu this week. Glad your friend was negative Karen-hiking Flatiron sounds like great inspiration. I'm impressed with 10 miles! I think I can just manage about 3 miles straight walking with stops Gardenerjoy-that sounds like a good compromise for walking with a mask;I think a lot of folks around here do that too.
CREDIT for reaching the half-way point on my exercise goal before the half-way point of the month. CREDIT for doing Day 1 of the yoga program that's been working for me all year. That's the first yoga that I've done since I twisted my ankle last month. There were a couple of moments where I could tell that it's still not 100%, but no moments when I feared re-injury. So, I will continue gently and carefully.
Exercise +50, 700/1400 minutes for November
curlyjax: Way to go on getting the car paperwork sorted out! That's the sort of thing that I can sit on way too long instead of accepting that it needs to be done and doing it.
BillBlueEyes: What a relief that the COVID test was negative! My parents still had every check they ever wrote and every pay stub they ever received when they died. I'm trying to get rid of more of that sort of thing so that no one else has to throw it away. I'm not quite as good at it as I want to be, but I have rid myself of the first 25 years or so of adult paperwork.
Karen: You inspire me to convert our second tv to internet. You're on a role. I am forcing DH to go to Sam to buy one. Gardenerjoy: It is great you are in active groups with young people. My goal when I retire is to always have lots of different ages around me. BBE: Glad the DGD time is still on. curleyjax: That is awesome that you got your car registered.
OK I have a specific food plan for the day. It is logged. I am committing to it here. I have lots of work to do. I think I figured out a few new ways to use breakout rooms to promote student interaction so that is a piece but i also have a tremendous amount of correcting.
to get the idea of Russian symbolism we all grew up with. Plus I like the soundtrack.
Friday - Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing certain but death & taxes" (1789)
