Good morning coaches,

Food was NOT on plan yesterday in kind of a big way. We had an invitation to meet for happy hour on the patio of a golf course restaurant and went. I had a couple of drinks and a salad for dinner, but stopped at the store and bought a brownie and some ice cream which we shared. Most often when that kind of thing happens it is after a couple of drinks. I did a 6 mile hike this morning and we have company coming in an couple of hours. I decided we're going out for lunch/dinner since I just don't feel like fixing anything. Dh has agreed but went to the golf course to hit balls for a couple of hours. I know he wishes we weren't having company, but I think the biggest thing is we just aren't used to it after this past year. The good news is they aren't staying the night. I think the guy sounds like a really nice guy and I bet we'll enjoy it.

I'm afraid I had better get cleaned up. I may only have 50 minutes until they are here. Would hate to be caught dirty in hiking clothes. Personals tomorrow.

Monday - I. M. Pei's pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opens (1989, Paris)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Our walk was cancelled due to rain. Ouch. DS and DIL stopped by for 'tea' instead. To my delight, DW served purple seedless grapes instead of cookies or cakes. I didn't add sugar to my tea. Made it an on plan day with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi.

Dinner was Chana Masala from our Christmas gift from our DS and DIL, served with Chinese Broccoli, Green Salad, and Oyster Crackers. The Oyster Crackers were a definite clash but we're still working on the bag we bought a few weeks ago. They are still crisp; I'm impressed. DW was moved to show that their hexagon shape makes a perfect tessellation. Playing with food at the table is pretty rude. I suspect that a year of isolation has reduced our social skills. Hope they return.

Spent all idle time at my computer watching for news of the attempts to re-float the container ship in the Suez Canal. What a pain to the world that is. I keep trying to envision its 400 meter length. That's a nice hike from one end to the other. The news this morning is that the stern is free and that the bow is improved. Yay for tides to lift ships in distress - a very old idea.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Ouch for the reminder of the complication of gathering vaxxed and un-vaxxed people; hoping that'll be ending soon.

maryann - Congrats for doing the difficult herringbone climb up the Diamond Trail. I thought of you teaching when discussing the two weeks added to a ship's journey by going around Africa. When my teachers were trying to get me excited about that idea, I was like Meh. Now I think of it as two long weeks with cargo aging, crew needing to be fed, and the perils of the far south Pacific to be faced. Thanks for the "chief critic" analogy.

Karen (karenrn) - Yay for company that visits but doesn't stay for the night. Kudos for managing a Happy Hour that can be difficult.

Penny. - Congrats for staying your plan despite teens adding food to the shopping cart.

Readers -

I went for a morning walk with a friend yesterday which was great. She has a date this week with someone she met online and we giggled about it like high schoolers. I'm very glad for her; she's been on her own for a long time. She likes playing golf and watching sports which is a big advantage when meeting men. We timed the walk just right before the rain. I felt very content afterwards which was nice. I talked to my BIL on the phone and made tentative plans to visit him in the summer. He didn't seem to get the fact that it takes a long time to get an appt here for a vaccine; my kids will be eligible to sign up April 19, but who knows when they'll actually be able to get it.
Food was pretty on track I think- I didn't track it but waited to eat until I was hungry, and didn't eat anything sweet.
DD was home over the weekend. We end up arguing about money quite a bit-kind of the same arguments over and over. I have money I can pull out and have been doing so, but that isn't sustainable forever. I need to make a money plan but I keep putting it off.
Penny- great job two days on plan!
Gardenerjoy-great idea to see MIL early. I can't believe Easter is Sunday!!
KAren- good plan to go out, and yes indeed, yay for company that isn't overnight.
Maryann-great attitude about a tough situation. You are my role model for avoidng sugar.
Bill-I get the Nutrition Action newsletter too! I saved that page for a reminder. The newsletter seems shorter than it used to be.

I'm checking in late today for no particularly good reason. So far, I'm following my plan but I did have a snack on the early side, so I'm here to pledge that if I get hungry before supper, I'll eat an apple.

Exercise +35, 1320/1400 minutes for March

curlyjax: Would it help to pull DD into the process of making a money plan? My dad didn't pull me in until quite late in my parents' lives and I wished he'd done it a lot earlier. I think it would have helped my personal financial education if I'd watched my parents work through their ways of doing things. There was a huge privacy issue in my family, which kind of felt like a huge non-issue at the end when I was managing everything for my mother after my dad died.

Good afternoon!

loving my lazy day at home. I had to clock in for work eight out of the last 10 days and my lazy self did not like it.

Eating is going well. Penn Jillette's book talks about eating nothing but potatoes to reset your stomach and taste buds for healthier flavors. I'm not going to eat only potatoes but I bought a variety of them for eating in place of junk when I get hungry later in the day. And I'm not eating them plain. I have a low calorie green salsa and Tabasco for them, which is not too much salt.

They are pretty yummy, and back to my goal of eating whole, plant based foods.

Tuesday - National Doctors Day commemorates Ether as anesthetic (1842, Georgia)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Made a trip to Home Depot. The crowd was fully masked and spaced. Wonderment was looking through all the LED options for light fixtures and light bulbs - more than I've ever seen. There's a group of 'fixtures' that screw in like light bulbs but contain a globe and flange to look like an installed light. I do like clever new gimmicks. We bought some door knob sets to replace some that are old, ugly, and working poorly. Such mechanical cleverness for a modest price.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was in a time squeeze; DW grabbed from the freezer: Trader Joe's Vegetable Biryani - the package says that it serves two but they can't be hungry folks. Good enough; we'll have it again. This grab from the freeze thing seems to be working for her. She made deviled eggs to go with it from a basked of eggs given to us from someone's Easter service preparations. I made my standard green salad. Looked out on the patio and longed for the warm days of summer when we'd have taken out dinner out there. It'll happen.

Congratulations to those who dislodged the Ever Given from the Suez Canal - what an event with such HUGE possible repercussions.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Eating an apple is a super plan. Thanks for the reminder that my notion of financial privacy from my kids faces the reality that I plan for them to take over my finances at some point in the future.

curlyjax - Ouch for the reality of needing a money plan and Double Ouch for the reality of trying to negotiate money with a college kid with infinite needs. Love the thought of you and your adult friend giggling about a date.

Penny. - I like the idea of a variety of potatoes - not so much the notion of eating them only. Just read an article suggesting that pop corn was just the best thing for you because of the fiber and whole grains. But it had to be air popped seasoned with dry spices that don't contain salt. I've had that; tasted like a sponge.

Readers -

I'm going into work today to get trained again. It's a little exhausting but it does my brain good to learn new things. And then I have to go to a visitation. A friend of mine had cancer and died. Another lovely person in her 50s, it is so awful.
Food was off yesterday. I ended up eating a frozen pizza over the whole day. In the past I would have had the whole thing at night, so I guess this was an improvement. It wouldn't be too bad by itself but I did get into the Easter chocolate I had stashed away. Ah well. I have my salad packed for today plus healthy things for snacks if needed.
Gardenerjoy- That's a good idea. DD is somewhat aware of the money issue, we have had a talk about it and she is keeping more track, it's kind of complicated. It is funny how we ultimately become aware of our parents finances.
Penny- potatoes do taste really good, and definitely a better snack than other things. I need to remember that when i'm hungry at night. I've jazzed them up with a bit of spaghetti sauce and mozzarella, and boy is that good.
Bill-yay for a fun visit to Home Depot and cool new fixtures to look at. I'm with you, plain popcorn doesn't cut it.

Good morning coaches,

I guess I didn't get on here to post yesterday. I met my backpacking buddy at 6:30 to do a 10 mile hike nearby. It was nearly 60 when we started and about 80 when we finished. Tomorrow we'll head north to higher elevation to hike. Neither of us are crazy about hiking in the heat. My weight was to a new low yesterday but this morning was very disappointing because I was up a couple of pounds even after a very careful day. I guess the weekend and maybe some water weight. I will be very careful today with lots of water and see if it will drop again. I'm going to take my car into the shop this morning and walk home. I know there are a couple of things it probably needs, so I've asked them to kind of evaluate and then it can either stay or go back once they have parts. We were kind of researching a new car, but I think we'll wait. Mine is older, but has been a good car and they say I should be able to get a lot more miles on it.

Curlyjax I'm so sorry about your friend. Sometimes it just seems there is so much sadness.
Bill The deviled eggs sure sound good. I think maybe I need to make some for lunch.
Penny The potatoes sound like a great idea. Dh used to take a small bag of the little ones when he did really long bike rides, like 100 miles.
GardenerJoy My parents were a bit private about their finances too and then suddenly I was in charge of them when my Dad got really sick. I was glad I had my stock brokerage background (prior to nursing) to consolidate things. I try to keep my son in the loop a bit.
Maryann I hope this week is smoothing out a bit. What a horribly tough time to be a teacher.

Well I guess I had better make a plan for the day so I can be a little bit productive.

Good Morning,

up extra early to try and figure out a plan for success at school. I now know my code so I can work earlier and not set off alarm.

weight is up five pounds. That is a combo of steroids, elevation and too much wheat. Let’s see what the scale says tomorrow. Today is biking to meet my March step goal.

Today has a Zoom meeting this morning and a Whole Foods trip this afternoon. That feels like a big day for me, now. So, here's my reminder that food won't help, before or after -- unless I'm hungry. In which case, I have a plan to follow.

Exercise +40, 1360/1400 minutes for March

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan- the new plan with potatoes, and all is well.

Bill, dry popcorn tastes like I imagine packaging peanuts would taste like. Lol

Karen, I'm debating a long walk from a mechanic. It's a dumb recall fix for free but they will provide a free loaner. I could get the exercise or try out a fancy new car. I'll prob be more tempted by the new car.

Curly, so sorry about the loss of your friend.

Maryann, I'd be counting the days until summer break too. Teachers have had such a stressful time during all of this especially. Well, everyone has but I'm sure your summer break is going to feel so good.

Joy, two things on the calendar counts as busy to me too. You've got this!

Wednesday - Eiffel Tower officially opens (1889, Paris)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns. I do not NEED hot cross buns.

Regardless of how many are displayed at the supermarket. Even though they celebrate Easter. Even if they evoke warm memories of my childhood. They are just sweet roles with sweetened dried fruit crossed with a sugar icing. They're evil, they are.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was Russian Easter Pie - an ancient recipe from DW's file from the days when we had to get rid of all the Easter Eggs that we'd dyed with the kids. It's so unbelievably good. The secret is 8 ounces of cream cheese for a pie of six servings. Not a low calorie meal. Oh - it also contains boiled cabbage and onions as well as the eggs and a bunch of seasonings. All in a full crust.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Thanks for "food won't help, before or after -- unless I'm hungry."

maryann - Such little triumphs in the COVID age - knowing your code to avoid the alarm. Kudos for not feeling distressed over one scale reading.

Karen (karenrn) - Whether to repair a car or trade it in is always a tough decision. My kids make fun of me for driving my cars into the ground. But I do that knowing that we have a second car for emergencies.

curlyjax - Supportive thoughts for the pain of losing a friend at such a young age. Kudos for making a pizza last the whole day instead of just one meal.

Penny. - LOL at popcorn without oil tasting like packing peanuts. Fits my experience exactly. Yay for moving forward with the potato diet.

Readers -

Long day yesterday. I was able to go to the visitation with a friend fortunately. She chatted to the spouse but I just stood there with tears in my eyes, of course thinking about my husband as well. I remember feeling almost giddy with relief when his memorial was over. Afterwards I went to Ben and Jerry's and got a brownie ice cream sundae which was worth every bite. Eating was on track up until then.
Bill: I wonder what's on your mind these days:) All Easter candy is evil too.
Penny- always fun to try out a new car and see what the newest things are these days!
Gardenerjoy- good to remind oneself that food won't help with anything but hunger.
Maryann- I think most clearly in the morning too, good idea to make a plan.
Karen-goodness, I didn't know you did stock brokerage before nursing! What a lot of varied knowledge you have, that's awesome.

It seems likely that I'll meet my exercise goal for March -- CREDIT!

Today's adventure is visiting MiL for the first time in a year.

She wants us to bring her a fish sandwich from Dairy Queen for lunch. Unfortunately, there is nothing from Dairy Queen that I want that isn't a sweet and fat concoction. I'll get myself a treat and call it today's snack. I'll have something nutritious when I get home and call it lunch.
This plan worked for me in the winter of 2019-20 when we visited a couple of times a month after she got over the medical crisis of autumn 2019. So, I'm reasonably confident that it will work well for me now. Working well to me means that my day can handle the calories and that it doesn't trigger cravings. I'll want to monitor both of those factors because neither are constant over time. What worked for me a year ago, might not work now.

Exercise +35, 1395/1400 minutes for March

Mornin'.

Yesterday was on plan. I had to force myself to get exercise in but did get it done.

After several years of neglect, our hot tub is cleaned up and filled. I've ordered new pillows for it and left a message for someone to come fix the nonworking pump. It still has the more important pump working, that does the filter cycles and a few jets. The broken pump does the rest of the jets. I hope the hot tub fixers are okay with fixing a 24 year old model.

Covid testing job day. I am getting kind of tired of this job.

Discussion continues on the April 2021 Thread
 

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