I'm making quick progress on a couple of goals that have been hanging around for more than a year, with no real progress. It's amazing what I can do when I commit to doing something instead of just telling myself that this is something that should be done. And, make a plan to get it done. And, follow through. I have break downs at every one of those steps, sometimes. But, I got them all aligned for two things. Partially because I insisted that I choose two things of the dozen that could use this sort of attention. My promise to myself is that when I finish these two things, I can choose two more.

Exercise +45, 285/1400 minutes for May

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (5.5 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. The Museum of Science, once again, captured her attention for all the time that we had. She was mesmerized "flying" a drone over the Arctic looking for wildlife - all visualized on a giant, wrap-around screen in front of us. I was bored because "controlling" the drone had no effect on the outcome. But she loves pushing buttons and this met her needs. I was hero because I remembered to bring two quarters and a new penny to insert into one of those old-fashioned smash out an elongated penny machines - the kind with a big iron wheel that she got to turn. They we explored a new playground that had a rather advanced climbing device that deliberately wobbled. My exercise was holding it so that it didn't move so she was able to climb it. Lots of fun.

Eating was on plan with daytime snacks limited to the planned uneaten apple on the drive home. Lunch was a disaster. To use the museum's lunch room, one of us had to buy. I volunteered. A few chicken tenders wouldn't be that bad. Unfortunately, they came with French fries. Mediocre French fries. And the tenders were super breaded and tasted like frozen things warmed in the microwave. Being totally mediocre wasn't the worst thing; I ate it all. I forgot my Beck strategy to leave stuff that I don't need to eat on the plate.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for choosing a finite set of things to do. I suffer from the habit of making a to-do list too long for any sane human then slacking off of what I do.

maryann - "pear balsamic vinegar" sounds great on a salad. Yay for busy.

curlyjax - Yep, getting in and out of a kayak is a learned skill. Good luck with fridge hunting.

Readers -

After a few lovely spring days, which helped motivate the walks, we're expecting a cool and rainy weekend. I'm going to focus on some stretching to deal with the lower back pain that I woke up with today.

Exercise +40, 325/1400 minutes for May

Good Morning, Coaches.

Yeah for Saturday. I actually took an hour off school even though it was suppose to be Teacher Appreciation BBQ. It had been such a taxing week, I practiced some self care. I used the time to get two projects done on a Friday so that this morning I felt justified in sleeping in and puttering on the computer. It worked like a charm. I mowed and edged the yard and cracked and dried two big mason jars of pecans. I also prepped dinner which was salmon on the BBQ and salad. Then I collapsed and enjoyed a movie with the boys. So happy I did that. I want to get in this habit of doing tasks on Friday afternoons. It shakes off the "desk sitting" distance learning imposes on me for the week and it extends my fabulous weekends.

Big congrats on the food front. I lowered my weight details by two pounds. I am now in the lower half of the sixties. I haven't been there since November. I am giving myself credit for completely rethinking my food patterns. Waiting the half hour between cold water and a meal has cut my standing while eating by 75%. Drinking the water on an empty stomach stomach has stopped my snacking between meals the same. The balsamic vinegar in water (my new one is pear flavored) is quite satisfying either cold or hot in tea. The almost complete deflouring of my food means I am not getting so hungry with the wheat except I do eat some. I like the idea of balance. I have also mostly stuck to my rule of drinking my "boxchecker" green smoothie before I am allowed my dark chocolate JoJo bar. The JOJO bar is a new discovery. It has only 8 grams of sugar and 5 grams of protein. It is not a red light food for me.

All of this makes me feel much more comfortable giving the new med some time to kick in. My medical problems of the week - the bleeding and the tremors - have mostly been solved. I still have a few tremors but that medication is being eliminated. Emotionally I feel much better.

gardenerjoy: I love the idea of just getting two things done. My two for today are sewing my fitted sheet which has a rip in it and buying a beachball.. I went to buy a new fitted sheet. They only come in $200 dollar sets. WHAT??????? The beachball is 99 cents if I buy it now at Walgreens when they have their summer stuff out. I use it for class in the fall.
BBE: Another thank you to Beck for that great rule. Is it calorie worthy? So useful even if forgotten at times.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Happy Mother's Day to everyone of woman born. And especially to those who raised kids or nurtured nieces, nephews, and grandkids. DW likes for me to ignore the day. Sort of. She did like the flowers I brought her for the kitchen table and accepted my offer to take her to dinner tonight - modified to picking up takeout. When she chose the place, she already knew what she'd order.

Exercise was vacuuming a basement floor, walls, and ceiling. Ouch. It had accumulated that standard dust and a zillion spider webs. Old houses look good in spider webs in the movies - not so much in real life. Got reminded that any form of moving about is good exercise.

Eating was terrible. I accepted an invitation to a "completion party" for one of my courses that just ended. Must have been my first time going to a party in 18 months. I didn't wear a flannel shirt, LOL, although it would have been acceptable with this crowd since all are retired folks. Loved every minute. It's an interesting crowd of people with amazingly diverse backgrounds. Talked about a guy's experience designing efficient air-conditioning in Abu Dhabi while being aware that the United Arab Emirates wasn't even on my Bucket List. Good news is that I remembered how to be a good guest. Bad news is that we were all clustered around the table laden with appetizers. I ate, standing up (no chairs in sight), like I'd never seen food before. Fortunately, the hour to end came so I had to go home. Maybe I burned some calories walking there and back although it was under a mile and the host made sure that I knew the shortcut that shaved about 50 yards off the distance. Out walking for the exercise but fervently taking a shortcut since I can. Yay for having a brain that can hold contradictory goals.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - The party followed the course using the book The Color of Law. We were driven into friendship after suffering through that book. For everyone in the class it was a life altering experience.

maryann - Yay for watching a movie "with the boys." The benefit of watching in the living room is that cracks, comments, and questions are fair play. I worry that I won't remember that they aren't allowed in a public theater.

Readers -

My lower back pain is better today -- that's a relief. I suspect it's as much the naproxen as the stretching, but both probably helped. And, not sitting too much.

Exercise +55, 380/1400 minutes for May

BillBlueEyes: One of the best things about my book club is being able to bond with real people after sharing a devastating book. So glad that you were able to do that in person. That feels like progress out of a pandemic.

Good morning coaches,

I got back from out hiking trip late yesterday afternoon. Friday we enjoyed alternating walking the Rim trail and taking the bus and looked over the Grand Canyon from multiple view points. One of them had a stunning view of the Bright Angel Trail all the way from Indian Gardens to the Rim that we had hiked the day before. I did a video of that. Yesterday we packed up early and met our hiking group in Flagstaff to hike the Kendrick Peak Trail, 9.2 miles with 2371 elevation gain and topping out at 10,417 feet. There is a fire lookout at the top and I got to go up there and see the 360 degree view from their outdoor deck. I felt great even after waking at 1:30 a.m. cause I ate a good dinner at the Mexican restaurant and also had a substantial breakfast. I lost about 3/4 pounds on the trip even after a cheeseburger and dessert last night. I'm going to work on holding that loss and continuing down.

GardenerJoy I'm glad your back is better and that your husband is doing so well too. That must be a relief to both of you.
Bill I'm sure none of us has had enough practice using our resistance muscle around a table full of appetizers. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed them and it does sound like you enjoyed the gathering. My exercise for the next couple of days is going to be around the house as yours was.
Maryann Your new habits seem to be working like a charm. Getting a few tasks done on Friday afternoon to open up Saturday seems like a great idea too. How is ds and how has he been liking school?
Curlyjax I hope you're having some luck finding a kayak and did you find a refer? Your kids are home already huh.

Waving to Penny!

I had to get moving yesterday morning so I forgot to post.Friday I did buy the fridge, including a quick jaunt home to double check the measurements and the doorway, which I totally forgot about. It is set to come later this week, yay! yesterday I brought home DS and bought a kayak too. There are much less available than even last week so I'm glad I got it done. And I got a call from my accountant that my taxes were done, so I zipped over to pick them up and found out I'm getting a hefty refund which will help pay for these purchases so double yay! Eating has been dreadful for the past two days so time to get back on track.
Bill- what fun to go to a real party! No worries about the eating, you will get right back on track. yay for a DGD day on friday to kick off the weekend.
Gardenerjoy- I'll echo Maryann that focusing on two things to get done is a great idea. I definitely have breakdowns on each steps but its great when I do finish. Glad your back pain is better.
Maryann- you are doing so awesome with the weight! Sounds like a very satisfactory friday.
Karen-sounds like a great trip. Yes, the kids get out kind of early, DD will be done this coming week.
I''ve been lolling about in bed so time to get moving!

Good Morning, Coaches.

Yesterday's big credit was my first gym training hike. There is a new machine that is called a ClimbMill. It is actually a rotating steps of 16 stairs that replicate bleachers. I have a super nice daypack that I have actually used over night since it has an excellent support frame. I put in 10 pounds of water bottles, strapped it on and walked 40 minutes. That was 71 floors. I found a calculation online that says it might represent 787 feet in elevation. I'll double check the measurements today when I try it again. Like gardenerjoy, I need some Naxopren. My foot was bothering me. It is fine today. I was beat and slept well. The Machu Pichu trip says I need to be able to hike 12 miles with a ten pound pack. It is fun to fiddle around with training schedules, plans and equipment. Also credit for not caring if I look really sill in the gym. This is a perk of age.

KarenRN: Your trip sounds like a dream. DS loves school. He is set to go for an internship at a company that detects radiation. Since he is a nuclear engineer major, this is right up his alley. He has a roommate and his stuff is all moved in.
BBE: So glad you got your first venture party. You could chock up the experience as "rare and unusual" and give yourself a pass.
Curleyjax: Thanks for the warning: I need to get the kayak sooner rather than later.

Weight was under 165 for the second day in a row. My minigoal is six days under 165. That hasn't happened since October.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walked, CREDIT moi, around the local reservoir with DW, DS, and DIL. They're pretty excited because their new granite countertops are being installed today. That's after the whole adventure of scouring stone yards for the 'perfect' slab of granite then puzzling with their installer over where from the slab to cut each piece. It's so remarkable because there is no room for an error when sawing out granite pieces from a slab. It's either perfect, or it just won't fit. Once the installer hauls it up the stairs into their kitchen, they don't want to haul it back down.

Offered celebratory Mother's Day dinner to DW; she selected the same restaurant where we'd recently ordered curry. Then, not expecting that they would be free, invited DS and DIL to join us. They accepted! So we had a grand meal with four different dishes - seasoned at four different levels of 1-10. First time I'd ever had, or even heard of, Gundruk soup - a Nepali dish made with fermented, dried veggies prepared to last their long winter. Smelled great, but ordered too spicy (by DS who has no upper bound); now I gotta go back and order my own bowl.

Eating was on plan, including the big take-out spread because I only ate one serving of one dish. CREDIT moi for restraint. Even skipped the evening apple to be sure that I wasn't overeating.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for having your back on your side again.

maryann - What a great machine at your gym for preparing for your Machu Pichu trip. Neat that you're warned that you need to be able to hike 12 miles with ten pounds. Sounds like you'll be ready.

Karen (karenrn) - What a gift to look down on all the trails you just walked from the rim of the Grand Canyon. Not surprised that your scale noted that you'd been out exercising.

curlyjax - Super Kudos for buying a fridge and a kayak both. Maybe Triple Kudos for measuring the doorways to be sure that the fridge can be hauled inside. They do seem to get wider and deeper and taller every year.

Readers -

Quick wave. I am running late today and its all my coffee makers fault i tried 3 times to make a decent cup and it came out coffee flavored water each time. I guess i could try cleaning it, or maybe buy a fancier machine that will actually work. Not much happened yesterday other than escorting DS for his first shot, groceries and take out italian for mothers day. I saved a third of my portion so at least there's that.

Good Morning, Coaches.

My principal called me on Sunday with tragic news. One of my sixteen year old Juniors shot himself. He is in the hospital. I don't know the extent of the injuries. He was troubled - dallying with the Crips Gang, long discipline record with minor defiances, but he was playing several sports in track. He and I had a talk Friday afternoon. Other teachers were one him about "using the bathroom" every period. I told him I didn't care because he was respectful n my class and had pulled a D up to a C. He said he appreciated my attitude. I can't believe I met with him individually on Friday and he din't say anything to indicate intention.

Yesterday I seemed to let it roll over me but today i am hit hard. Today, admin is coming in to talk to all the classes. I will pray and meditate and hope to be of service where I can.

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan, but weight was up a pound anyway. I'm heading out to walk Otis and then will do housework today, no hiking until tomorrow.

Maryann I'm so sorry about your student. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be a teacher and feel such responsibility. I hope he is okay.
Curlyjax Yay for ds getting his vaccine.
Bill Gundruck soup doesn't look too good to me, especially if it was really spicy. I do love curry though. Nice that you could all go out to dinner together.

Okay, heading out the door with Otis before it gets too warm.

We had a bit of drama with MiL this weekend. She had a fall on Saturday. She hit her head so the nurses' phone line said to take her to the ER for a CT scan -- she's on blood thinners, so they wanted to make sure she didn't have a brain bleed.

The CT scan came back fine, but they took her blood pressure for the first time in a year and a half and it was 265/90. They got the top number down to 210 with medicine, but then we got in a Catch-22. They couldn't put her in the hospital because 210 was "too low" for insurance to pay for a room, but they wouldn't send her home unless they were assured that she wouldn't be alone over night.

For about an hour on Saturday evening, it looked like I was going to go out to Washington, MO to spend the night with her. Fortunately, DH's nephew stepped in at the point -- he stayed with his dad who often needs help at night due to MS so that his mom, DH's sister, could stay with MiL.

We just got an update from DH's sister. MiL is worse this morning -- two black eyes and couldn't get herself out of bed. She has a video appointment with her doctor at 9:20, so hopefully we can work out a plan after that.

That's going to add a background of stress to my day. Here's a reminder that eating won't help, but exercise might. And, a reminder that worry won't help, either, so I might as well get on with my day unless and until someone actually needs me to do something.

Exercise +45, 425/1400 minutes for May

maryann: So sorry to hear that. I know that must be so hard on you, your colleagues, and your students. Sending supportive thoughts your way.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was leftovers from Mother's Day take out. Spicy food reheated well. DW added some brown rice - a clash with the basmati rice but we can just call it food 'fusion' and be modern. Then she added Bok Choi because she just does.

Distraction was running an errand with gray clouds wondering if I'd get rained on. Nope. Not while I was out. Felt taken care of. Spent a good part of my day preparing for a two hour Zoom meeting in the evening where I served as conductor. The conductor has to respond to all the emails from folks who may not come, definitely won't come, will come, or who might be late. Might want to design a response site where they can post there current thinking without needing a reply from me.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Ouch for your MIL's trauma. And Double Ouch for having an insurance company cliff tied to a blood pressure reading. Good that you could juggle responsibilities for the first night; sounds like you have more coming to deal with.

maryann - Sending supportive thoughts as you and your class have the weight of your student. Hope he recovers. Hard to imagine the impact on his friends at school.

Karen (karenrn) - Always Kudos for an on plan day.

curlyjax - Yay for your DS's first shot. Ouch for coffee problems - the day needs a good cupa for a good start.

Readers -