Good morning coaches,

Food has been on plan and I hiked Bell Pass with my backpack this morning before walking Otis. I hadn't heard back from the financial people, so I made another call this morning and have that going. I don't think it will be too hard, it's just a matter of how much it costs to have some help. I've done things so long without their help. We'll see what options there are. This afternoon is my mammogram and bone density scan.

Db and sil left Sequoia NP this morning. Our cousin that I camp with over there most summers and her husband went up to see them at the park and drove them around. They even drove them to Crescent Meadow where my High Sierra Trail hike will start 8/12. I just heard from sil (cause they have cell service now that they are on the road) and they had a great time. They did a day of hiking yesterday. So fun to have family who likes to be outdoors like I do.

GardenerJoy I saw a bit of the eclipse out the front door at 4:15. It was a bit cloudy here which was a bummer.

Maryann Glad you had a fun school day. I think you're doing great on the climb mill. That machine is hard!

Curlyjax I'm glad you get to stay home today after all that driving around yesterday.

Bill Aren't there specialty places to order online for older plumbing things? I would think that would be difficult to find in Home Depot. About Thailand; I have been there twice. Once with dh and then a second time after my trip to Nepal 9 years ago. I stopped for a week on the way home because it was only a 3 hour flight. I plan to go again in January depending upon what is going on with Covid over there. I'm hoping ds will take me around to Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. We'll see.

Penny Have fun at the river beach and the ocean beach. That sounds wonderful. Dh also works out on a machine that is like an elliptical but with much more range of motion. I don't know what it's called but I've tried it and it's more strenuous than the elliptical. He does it a time or two a week for an hour each time and gets his HR up to 160 or so for an hour. He also does strength training. The golf alone wouldn't get him up the hill.

I guess I had better get in the shower after I do my journal page. Have a great day!

Good morning!

Planning another good day. I tried to drop off a chair at Goodwill last night but discovered they were closed already. When I pulled in a loud recording yelled that after-hours donations are criminal and a photo was taken of my vehicle. Haha! Way to scare a person half to death.

I'll head out to Goodwill now for attempt number two, and might pop in to look for Harry Potter books. We are missing books 3,4, and 5. We're reading book three on the Kindle and my daughter thinks it's not so great for reading aloud.

NSV, I got a free t-shirt from the Pelaton cult for hitting 100 strength classes and 100 cycling classes. I also hit 100 meditations but that doesn't seem as cool.

Have a great Wednesday.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (5.5 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. Visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts including their new Basquiat exhibit. Basquiat is an acquired taste. I had to fight my gut feeling that these were exhibits for a graffiti prosecution instead of art. The videos of hip-hop being played in abandoned subway stations was neat. Glad I saw it. She stayed focused for an amazing hour and 45 minutes. She loved paintings that included girls her age as well as all animals. When we saw a Jackson Pollock, she said that he was her favorite artist. When we got home where there's a coffee table book of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings, she said that Georgia O'Keeffe was her favorite artist. Neat to already have two favorite artists. What an abundance of privilege.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Triumph was ignoring the package of cranberry scones that DW procured. "I've lost a couple of pounds and want to restore them." Ouch! Can you imagine living with a person who notes a small loss as something to be restored rather than celebrated? Eventually, I'll have one - just because scones are among my favorite things. But I won't have my traditionally allocated half of them. Temperature reading in the car was 97 degrees F. Hello Arizona, LOL.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - It is kind of boggling that we saw the lunar eclipse in real time as part of a normal day. I missed the moon over Rome.

maryann - Congrats for a whole hour on the treadmill with a weighted pack.

Karen (karenrn) - Your January trip to Thailand and other parts of South-East Asia sounds really exciting. Hope you get to do it.

curlyjax - Good news that your new set of travels won't include a favorite chocolate shop.

Penny. - LOL at the thought of being prosecuted for donating a chair to Goodwill; you'd be ridiculed by the murderers and bank robbers in prison with you. Congrats for the free T-shirt from Pelaton.

Readers -

Good work at home day yesterday. It was super hot and I'm so glad I bought a tower fan for the tv room where I worked,as it doesn't have ac (since it used to be a porch). Apparently my new office doesn't have ac either as its converted from being a closet, so I will no doubt be hauling my fan there. If its too hot I'm going to raise **** about it. I'm starting to get stressed about juggling things at the old and new job, and dropped out one optional responsibility I was going to take on, so I feel better. Today I'm doing more training with my replacement and need to figure out what supplies I can gather for the new office like folders etc. My eating etc isn't terrible these days but it isn't great either. I'm going to ride it out a few more days until i'm more settled.
running late so personals tomorrow!

Good morning coaches,

I woke up just after 1 a.m. I think and slept only about 30 minutes after that so I decided not to hike today. Looking back on my Garmin ap it looks like I only take one to two days off a week, so today will be one of them. Food was on plan yesterday and weight is stable in the 140's. I will stay on plan today and see if I can get a little drop. Otis goes to the groomer today. Dh has a letter of resignation written and is planning to hand it to his boss on Tuesday. In his business that might mean it's his last day with his employer. He doesn't really want to be retired, but is not wanting to work there anymore. I'm glad he is quitting. I just don't think it's healthy to be working in a stressful environment at this point in his life. We'll see what he does. Meanwhile I did speak with a financial advisor, completed his questionnaire and we have a meeting on June 4th.

My mammogram was fine, can't really tell what the bone density says but I'll look more closely at that today.

Curlyjax I hope the heat doesn't last. I can't imagine having to tolerate not having ac if it is hot very often.

Bill I guess the only thing worse than having a spouse who accidentally loses a couple of pounds would be having one who is heavy, unhealthy and insists on having tempting high calorie food in the house. I think its was as hot in Boston as in Phoenix yesterday. I bet your humidity was higher too.

Penny Congrats on your good streak of exercise! So funny about the Goodwill.

Waving to GardenerJoy and Maryann. I think it's time for breakfast.

Slept in too late. Off to school. Weight is one pound above ticker. Food was better and I was a little hungry in the evening. That is usually the successful day.

karen: is your Garmin app set for a training schedule or something? I need to start documenting some kind of schedule myself.

The promised video feed of the moon rise over Rome failed to materialize. Oh well. It was a good opportunity to notice that I'm more forgiving of other people's failures than I believe that other people are of mine. I suspect I can improve my mental health by assuming that other people are no more than curious when I fail to show up how I expect.

Exercise +65, 1175/1400 minutes for May

maryann: I document my exercise here: May Exercise Challenge - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community Feel free to join us if that's a useful format for you.

Good morning!

Fast food happened yesterday after the beach trip. So did grocery shopping.

The chair I took to Goodwill was rejected because a section of seam was opening up. I put it on the curb and someone took it away.

Nothing planned for today, so the diet should be easy. Have a great day, everyone!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was tracking three (3.0!) separate packages on their way to my front porch from Amazon. They contained the new claw tub faucet set and connectors that will replace the faucet parts that are irreparably leaking and shut off valves that are irreparably frozen. Big moment was sitting at my kitchen table testing that all the connectors connected to one another. Bingo! Great joy. Now, I have to assemble them in place. I do entertain a bit of the mathematician who thinks that proving that it works concludes the task, LOL. The actual task includes my Sawzall (reciprocating saw) with metal blade and a pipe cutter. I won't have to use a torch in the confined space that would provide the opportunity to burn down the house.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was dahl, bok choy, green salad, and (real) baguette eaten on the patio. My dinner companion, the gardener, excused herself rather quickly because the sun was still shining and she had plants to be moved into new containers.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Now you've got me stuck in the thought that we need to get back to Rome and see the zillion things that we missed on our last trip. So much art in one city.

maryann - Kudos "a little hungry in the evening" - a good thing.

Karen (karenrn) - Congrats for good results from your medical tests - always good news. Wish you and your DH well in finding the right thing with retirement and a job that he doesn't really want to leave.

curlyjax - Congrats for being mindful that you can't do more than you can do. Yep, it was sniffling hot yesterday.

Penny. - LOL at having a chair rejected by Goodwill. Your curb donation sounds very efficient - and you know that whoever took it wanted it.

Readers -

Last day of driving 1 hour 30 minutes round trip, yay. My body is not happy about all the driving, and sitting in front of the computer all day. I make sure I get up often during the day but still. I was so exhausted I took a brief nap when I got home at 6:00, and was still able to fall asleep before 11 pm. I haven't done anything other than my morning stretching. I did take some time last night to get my new job work stuff more organized so I can ask a lot of questions today and get things straightened out. Food has been unplanned at night but I have my lunch set. The new frig seems to be set too high as the lettuce is getting so cold its freezing and then unedible-I have two containers this has happened to now, so I better look at the manual tonight and figure it out.
Karen- goodness, that is not much sleep. It's good that DH is stopping his job, no point in being unhappy at this stage of life. The weather is crazy, its going to dip down to cooler temps for a few days here.
Bill-have fun doing your manly faucet stuff

Good Morning, Coaches.

Happy Friday to Curleyjax and your last day of commute. That is a big deal.
BBE: I am impressed with the plumbing work. Totally outside of my wheelhouse.
gardenerjoy: Great perspective. People forgive me probably more than I forgive myself.

Scale is back down to ticker and I have noticed that if I have my box checker smoothie in the evening, the scale responds well.

In class, I compared the 1930s depression with the 2008 Great Recession by showing two video presentations. The pictures of the need on those in the 30s really surprised the kids. They particularly remembered how families would divide themselves up into two groups - some ate Mon, Wed, and Frid while others took the other days. This concept blew their minds. It made me think how very little food we actually need compared to the impression our environment today creates. I felt satisfied that we travelled far enough in history this semester to get to a time when they were alive. I told them to compare the 30s pictures to how they lived when they were 6 or 7.

I am going to take it easy today, play a few games, work on final projects. It will be good to have a three day weekend.

I started a project that I've been promising myself for more than a year. Going through my mother's trip diary of our vacation when we drove from Missouri to Disneyland and back, 50 years ago, in 1971. I intend to scan a few things and write up the adventure, day-by-day, as Facebook posts. So, a big portion of my mind is in 1971, right now. A weird place to visit that includes things like "The children ate hamburgers and french fries -- as usual." I have no idea how we got enough vitamins to grow into adulthood, since ketchup was the closest thing we got to a vegetable in that entire trip.

Exercise +55, 1230/1400 minutes for May

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan yesterday, but I think weight might have been up a touch. I had some high sodium foods, so I will concentrate on lots of water today and lower sodium foods. I got up and did a moderate hike for an hour and a half early this morning. Since it was less than two hours I waited to eat until after I got home and then after that I took Otis for a walk. I woke up in the night again, but this time got back to sleep. I think I'm a little nervous about dh resigning and not knowing exactly what is coming next. There is a part of me that likes that it is an exciting time, but there is the other part that likes same old, same old. Tomorrow I'm heading further than Flagstaff for a hike with the group. I've decided to meet them at the trailhead cause it's kind of a long drive/ride. I don't want to get stuck with a crazy person like I did last time and I'm listening to a long book which I think I can finish on the trip. The book is Fantasyland by Kurt Anderson. I think it could be about half the length, but it's kind of interesting anyway.

GardenerJoy I think going through your mother's trip diary will be so fun. Enjoy your project.

Maryann Again I wish I were in your class. You do such an excellent job. As for my Garmin, no it's just a wrist band that provides lots of information. I can look back at the ap on my phone and see how many steps, flights of stairs, etc. that I've done each day so I can tell pretty easily if I had a day off. Anything under 10,000 steps was a day off. I keep thinking I'm going to write my hikes on the calendar, but then I forget. I guess it doesn't really matter.

Curlyjax Yay for losing the commute. It will be great to have that much more time. I'm sure you'll find it is easy to change the temp in the fridge.

Bill I'm glad you found the plumbing supplies you needed. I hope they aren't too difficult to install.

Penny Gee, next time you can just put your donation on the curb. That will save you having to load it in the car, etc.

Time to get moving with my journal page, to do list and see if I can get something done today.

Good afternoon!

Exercise was done and eating was meh. I'm getting laundry done and getting ready for my beach weekend.

My friend made me laugh when she texted me saying she is looking forward to our weekend becsuse she has reading to catch up on. So, apparently we will be reading. I do have six books going at the moment and that is just too many. I need to get a few of those cleared, starting with "Meaty" by Samantha Irby. It's pretty good!

Karen, oooh! Big changes with your husband's retirement. Hopefully the transition is smooth.

Bill, good luck with the plumbing job. Thank goodness for company to inspire both cleaning and hone improvement.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Long day working on the faucet. Got half done and feel good about that. The hardest part went well; but several hours were spent removing a simple nut that was nearly impossible to reach. After using two different mirrors and my cell phone camera, then a Jerry-rigged arrangement, and, at last, a different wrench, I got the old faucets removed. Stopped at that point because my frustration was affecting my judgement. The highlight was when I was laying on my back using the Sawzall over my head to cut pipe with the metal cutting blade that I realized that this was a young man's job. DW handed me an Ibuprofen, "Your muscles will thank you." Will continue today.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Made the journey to Trader Joe's to replenish roasted pecans for my peanut butter sandwiches. They had rearranged the store. Ouch! My goal is to dart in, grab the tree nuts on my list, then scoot directly to the register. This avoids viewing all the tempting cookies, dark chocolate covered this and that, yummy breads and pastries. Had to wander the entire store to finally find nuts against the last wall. They won, I suppose, since I was forced to view it all. But their marketing geniuses didn't take into account that I'd arrive with my Resistance Muscle fully operative.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - LOL at the thought that ketchup was your only vegetable back then. What a fun project to undertake.

maryann - Such a sobering reminder of life during the depression when there just wasn't enough food. If you take up adult education for your next career, I'll sign up.

Karen (karenrn) - Neat to have an audio book ready for the long ride. Hard for me to imagine a ninety minute hike before breakfast.

curlyjax - Ouch for the frozen lettuce. Been there; done that. We have to keep lettuce away from the back of our fridge where the cold air flows down. We can even freeze milk back there. Yay for no more ninety minute commutes.

Penny. - Yep, six books simultaneously is a challenge to the brain. That said, the last time I cleared my stacks I had bookmarks in 21 books. Almost all were better labeled "unfinished" than "in process." I'm slow at declaring that I'm done with a book before reading the last page. Have a fun beach weekend.

Readers -