[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (6 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. Wore no jacket whatsoever; felt like a free man. She ran non-stop on the school's climbing structure with a bunch of her buddies for nearly an hour. They played the age-old game: the boys chase the girls. I watched closely. The object wasn't to catch the girls, but to chase them. Round and round, over and under, fall down and get up. When one left, they all called out "Goodbye <name>," in a caring voice. The DGD hugged one of her friends as she had to go. All so touching. I keep needing to be reminded that they're humans and have a human society underneath their mayhem.

On the drive there we stopped again to see the Bloodroot blossoms. DW wanted to see them on a sunny day when they were more fully open. They're visible after walking only some hundred meters down the path. Felt like we'd stolen an event from the constraints of time since the place we stopped was on the way to the DGD's kindergarten - only a few minutes added to our schedule to squeeze in an event. When DW later told a gardening friend, they planned to drive back there together. Apparently, Bloodroot excites some folks.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Managed to finish dinner at the table before DW zipped off to her evening Zoom meeting.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for "drama-free day with pleasant visits" - maybe you're winning in a slow, methodical way. I continue to be chastised at the amount of effort it takes to close out an estate. Do hope the weather in your area being predicted by our newspapers is a typo. You do know it's Spring, right?

nationalparker – Love the notion that you can get so immersed in your painting that the time just flies. How do you let others see your work? Exhibits? Thanks for the reference to the Purdue Agricultural Extension Office. Sent me off to explore all the things that Purdue does supporting agriculture research. So good to believe that there are folks out there thinking the big picture in support of all the folks growing the foods that we eat.

Karen (karenrn) - Your 70-year-old friend out there pushing her comfort zone is an inspiration. So glad to hear that after all the pounding you make your feet do for you, you give them a pedicure. Hope they're grateful. LMAO at "look for a woman who was middle aged and not skinny and ask her." Neat to hear that it worked.

Penny. - Wish you well finding a path for the kids getting into school as a good place to be. I can certainly see your reasoning for wanting them to be there. Maintaining your own sanity being a major one.

Readers -

Chapter 5 Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan

Bonus Calorie Guidelines

• If you are on the 2,200- or 2,400-calorie plan, you have 200 daily Bonus Calories. If you are on any of the other plans, you have 150 Bonus Calories.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 122.

[curlyjax]

I'm back from my trip and had a lovely time. We stayed in the https://www.woodstockinnbrewery.com/lodging/ . I imagine in season its crazy expensive, but we had a great deal that included breakfast and the use of a gym/pool at a ski resort 5 minutes away. We went to the pool and used the outside hot tub as well. There were man made snow trails and a few die hard skiers zipping by every once in a while. We stopped at a thrift store on the way back and I picked up two pretty dresses; one that fits now and one that is a goal to fit in. Tuesday morning we had a huge breakfast and didn't eat until an early dinner, which worked out well. My friend is a big talker but I had my own room so that worked out well. Tuesday night we ate at https://www.thecman.com/common-man-lincoln/ which was sooo good. I had an enormous dessert and felt truly sick afterwards. I am really motivated to lose weight after seeing myself in a swimsuit, yeesh.
During all this relaxation I had to send some more proof that I could pay for exorbitant Boston housing as my salary is so low, but thanks to the magic of the internet I was able to do so, and DD scored a nice apartment with two other girls. One of the dads is putting up the whole sum and then we pay him by venmo, which is a little odd to me, but at least I know my portion will get there on time.
I'll get back to personals tomorrow. Nice to go away, nice to be back!

[gardenerjoy]

No severe weather, after all. It was originally predicted for between 1pm and 4pm, but by 1:30pm, they'd decided it was going to stay south and east of us. Apparently, our morning storm sapped the energy out of the system long enough to give Missouri an uncomplicated rainy day. Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky weren't so fortunate.

Today's adventure, if we pull it off, will be to get our second booster, now recommended for the over-55 folks. All of our vaccines were early, for various reasons, so it seems like we should follow the pattern and get this one done early, too. We were a little freaked out by the news that the CDC no longer has good data for the numbers of COVID cases, now that we're all testing at home. I guess I'll start keeping an eye on the Missouri Sewershed Surveillance Project -- which is showing an increase in a couple of areas just west of here.

Exercise +65, 630/1400 minutes for April

BillBlueEyes: I ran errands in the morning yesterday without a coat. Overnight, our low was in the mid-30s -- two quilts plus blankets plus the furnace.

curlyjax: Woodstock Inn looks cozy!

[maryann]

Good Morning, Coaches.

The Catalina Trip was challenging but beautiful. I had an accident the first afternoon at the spa. In a fit of self will run riot, I decided to move an umbrella to get shade for my SIL. People were saving cabana seats in the shade but were absent. The umbrella was heavy and wheeled.I dropped it on my toe. Paramedics were called and for the second time in as many months I was taken to the hospital for stitches and X-rays.
Lessons learned:
1. Sometimes my anxiety and judgment of people force me into hasty actions that nearly always end up in negativity.
2. My SIL likes shade. I was trying to "people please." She said in the end she would have been happy to move into a shader area. I need to stick to my own lane and let people find their own peace.
3. I struggle to forgive myself for being human. An accident by definition is an accident.

I have now a new set of "opportunities for growth." (Mother Teresa allegedly used this term instead of "problems.") I can't wear covered shoes for who knows how long. I can't walk or use the climb machine because doing so requires my orthotics or I will inflame my plantars fasciitis. My weight is in the wrong decade and continues to edge up. I need to commit to a better plan of action or I will not be fitting into my clothes for much longer. Here are some ideas:
I am heading to my podiatrist this morning to take every step in making my toe 100% ready to hike by this summer.
I will do the bike at the gym and some yoga when I can get my toe wet again. I can do yoga at home until then.
I am going to increase my protein at breakfast. I read some new research that might support that action.
I will go back to the habits that are easy and successful. A glass of water before every meal. No white flour except my protein tortillas. Vinegar and black cumin. Legumes at every meal. Absolutely no manufactured sweets.

The good news is that I was able to reframe the trip and sit and enjoy that fabulous ocean view while SIL went hiking. Even when I lost the new earring I bought and a storm forced us on the island for another day, I remained positive. Also good news was DH biopsy showed his prostate cancer is in abeyance. We continue with attentive watchfulness.

BBE: I laughed when you used the term "xeroxed." I do it all the time and the students say "What does that mean?"
Penny: I agree with nationalparker. I did not enjoy high school but it gave me the tools to succeed with many other things.
Love all the organizing talk. Keep it up everyone.

[Penny.]

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan.

What a difference a day makes sometimes. Both my school kids are feeling much more positive and things are better. After an entire evening of homework with the 15yo things are starting to click and she seemed excited. It's a lot to play catch up 2/3 into the school year but she's picking it up quickly.

Also she writes extremely small, always has, and I found myself reading about micrograpia last night. It can be neurological. But usually linked to Parkinson's, which is not the case here. Google does like pathologize everything, doesn't it? Apparently I do too if I'm researching it. Haha!

Curly, your trip sounds fabulous! I haven't been to a Goodwill for so long since my local one closed and miss it.

Karen, lol at the part time hiking job. I'm inspired by the friend who only started running in her mid 40s and is doing marathons at 70. Wow!

Nationalparker, what a great day you had! I guess you're feeling better? What kind of things do you like to paint?

Bill, nice that you could leave the jacket behind. It will be 115 degree weather before we know it.

Joy, I'm glad you're safe and the storm missed you.

Maryann, so sorry about the toe! That is a frustrating set back. Any foot injury seems to stress me out way more than any other body part because I imagine my walking ability taken away. No stranger to anxiety! It will heal and you'll get right back to your usual stuff.

[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Food has been on plan except that I did have a date with a small amount of peanut butter in it. I actually thought it out and decided to have one and only one. It was a good plan and I used Beck thinking and didn't go back and forth whether I would have more, just one. Dinner will be a chick pea salad sandwich in whole grain pita with greens and mushrooms on the side.
I had a good hike this morning with a gal I hadn't met before that messaged me after seeing we are both in the Explorer Chicks FB group. She is a really nice 58 year old who retired last week.

Penny I'm so glad your girls are feeling better about school. One of the regrets I have from my growing up years is that my parents expectations of us were probably too low. Anyway, I hope they continue to get used to and enjoy school.

Maryann I'm so sorry about your accident. It sounds like you did a good job reframing the vacation. I'm also very happy to hear dh is doing well.

GardenerJoy I don't think we have any idea about how many cases of Covid are out there these days. Frankly if it is milder and it isn't overburdening the hospitals I'm kind of okay with that. I think we're probably going to have to live with it for some years to come and hopefully with just an annual vaccine at some point.

Curlyjax Your lodging and the restaurant you went to both look really nice. I'm glad you had a nice get away. Really great that you found a couple of dresses you like. It seems dresses are really popular again which is nice.

Bill Always great to hear about dgd and her friends. She is a lucky little gal.

Nationalparker You might be having another hard work day. Holy night that sounds like so much work. As for Otis and storms. He does bark some with really loud thunder, but he isn't too bad. Usually it seems like it's at night and he's in the bedroom with us. Today we walked with the recycle bins on the street and again I had to carry him from one house away. For some reason our bin is the scariest. He's a nut bag.

Well I'm hungry, so time to fix dinner.

[nationalparker]

It was a busy day but nothing hugely taxing or important tackled - a good one with a long chat with a friend. I told DH I'd go to the cinema with him to see the Dumbledore one and big mistake on my part. I just cannot watch a movie or anything with an animal being hurt, CGI or not (DH keeps nearly stage whispering, "it's CGI! it's just CGI!" as I sob. The whole reason they do it is to grab your emotions, and what can I say, it works. UGH. I ended up putting in my earplugs and figuring out how to turn kindle on my phone on black screen, white text with very little brightness ... and read my novel under my jacket. AFTER eating enough popcorn for a third-grade class, butter-less as their machine is broken. Thank god for small favors. I have NOT been on plan foodwise, as far as nutrition - i'm wildly over on calories and just have to call a stop to it right now. I stopped reading the Beck book about 10 days in. Just ... put it away and didn't think about it again. I considered calling Easter my restart but just figure restart number 148 will be tomorrow, suck it up and just do it.

We'll be at the house clearing out both Friday and Saturday. DH is off tomorrow. I'll pack healthy lunch - probably a filling salad and maybe put that bean soup in the slow cooker for dinner.

Maryann - I'm so sorry to hear about your injury - but kudos to you for staying in a positive frame of mind. And great news on your DH's results! And how you're already figuring out how to not get behind at all on your fitness progress. Credits!

Bill - My painting is exhibited mainly in the grass on the trail next to our home... I have been painting ROCKS and leaving them there for kids, hahaha. I like it because it's so low stress and if I mess up royally, I can repaint the whole thing a darker color and start a different scene. I leave a few at a time and they're gone a while later if I walk back out to leave another one. I can't figure out how to link to a photo that's not posted somewhere. I'm clearly no artist like OneByOne but I have fun with the acrylics and wish I could learn more watercolor technique. Later this year, I hope.

More personals in the morning.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excited to learn a new word: pareidolia - spotting images in seemingly random data. I ran into it in the negative sense - describing those folks who see a straight line on an image of Mount Ararat and are certain that it's Noah's ark. But it's also the ability to spot a Neutron Star from wiggles on a strip chart. Apparently, the human brain is quite good at this. What a great word!

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Was invited to an evening Zoom about birding in Cuba. But I'd been Zoomed out for the day after two Zoom classes. DW watched; some good pictures of birds but lots of general travel pictures. I'd have wandered off. Zoom does have the advantage over a real-life meeting that one can wander off unnoticed.

Spent a delightful two hours in class delving into the three kinds of Neutron Stars. And tut-tutting that Jocelyn Bell, who spotted the first one, wasn't given the Nobel Prize for that work; it went to two male professors. Hard not to be suspicious that gender played a role. Karma won; in 2019 she was awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for $3M - three times the amount of the Nobel Prize and not shared. She joined Stephen Hawking and some top tier names.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Glad you missed the foul weather. Congrats for making your decision about the second booster shot - we're still pondering when to go for it.

maryann - Thanks for "opportunities for growth" - will have to remember that. So sorry to hear about your injury; do hope you can keep going while it heals. And Super Congrats to your DH for good test results.

nationalparker – Love that you are dispersing your art on rocks. Our DGD picked up a painted rock when we had her out walking and was over the top excited. Naturally, we had to help her gather, paint, and distribute rocks, herself. Well short of art, but good exercise for a kid. I suspect that yours are highly prized in the lives of the kids who pick them up.

Karen (karenrn) - Neat that you were 'found' by a hiking partner via Facebook. Yay for the Internet being useful.

curlyjax - Enjoyed seeing your vacation spot. Love the image of you lounging in the hot tub while the diehards stretch the ski season. Congrats to you and your DD for scoring an apartment in Boston for her nursing studies.

Penny. - Yay for things beginning to click with your 15 yo - the fruit of a lot of work on your part. Have to agree, "Google does like pathologize everything, doesn't it?"

Readers -

Chapter 5 Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan

Bonus Calorie Guidelines

• Don't make decisions on the spur of the moment about how to spend your Bonus Calories. Plan when and how to use them when you plan your meals and snacks.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 122.

[curlyjax]

A lot of my time was taken up yesterday by figuring out how to Venmo a big sum of money to DD, who would send it to a roommate, who would send it to her dad. He apparently put up the whole first and last months rent for the apt so we wouldn't lose it. I feel a bit odd about doing it this way. And then I couldn't venmo more than 1000.00 for the day, so i tried to add a bank account on and that failed, so i finally went to the bank for help. First world problems to be sure, but taxing anyhow. I was still feeling tired from the trip so I splurged on some takeout and binge watched Big Little Lies for hours. Today I really need to clean up-especially the bathroom as the rebath folks are coming tomorrow morning to give me an estimate for my tub. I should get some groceries in too; need to plan for that.
Bill- zoom does have that benefit- or being able to do something sneakily offscreen
Nationalparker- so nice that you do painted rocks! I hear you about certain themes; I can't read books about parents whose kids die, and I try to avoid violence in movies, its too upsetting. That's what I like about a lot of the murder mysteries, you don't actually see it happening.
Karen- I forgot about dates- that's a good dessert. you guys are inspiring me to dig out my Dr. Geiger books and make recipes from that.
Penny- so glad things are going better for the girls. I do love a good thrift store!
Maryann- so sorry that happened, and on vaca!
Gardenerjoy-glad you missed the bad weather.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

I'm taking the day off again since I've hiked 6 out of the last 7 days. My Garmin says I've walked/hiked 52 miles in the last 6 days. I have company coming at some time today, so I'll do a little housework and a few errands. She will be here for 2 nights. Also Otis goes to the groomer at noon. We'll get a nice walk in this morning. My weight is at the low point so my goal is to stay on plan and get it to drop to a new low.

Curlyjax I borrowed the Dr. Greger cookbook from the library and made a greens dish for dinner last night. Dh wasn't a huge fan, but I thought it was good. Luckily he did like the other dish. It's great that the housing issue is resolved for dd.

Bill Zoom certainly does have some positive points. My friend leads grief group classes for the cancer community on Zoom. People who are out of the area have been able to attend since it doesn't mean a long drive.

Nationalparker I think rock painting sounds great. It sounds like something I would enjoy since as you said you can always paint over them. I would love to take a class to be sure I enjoyed it before investing in the paints and brushes.

Waving to everybody else. Have a great Friday!

[gardenerjoy]

We succeeded in getting our second boosters. So far, no ill effects, except that we both woke up with sore arms.

Today's adventures are to send the last three boxes of books to the book fair, get groceries, and go to the Transportation Museum that's only a few miles from my house. The next several scenes in my novel will be set on trains in 1943. I want to get a partial sense of what that might have felt like (minus the actual movement). We're expecting some rain early in the afternoon, but I think that will be to my advantage. My hope is to have the whole place to myself. Most of the train cars that I want to visit are under a big shelter.

Exercise +45, 675/1400 minutes for April

maryann: Sorry about the accident. I'm with Penny, foot injuries seem to have an out-sized impact on life. Good for you for figuring out how to make exercise work in spite of the challenge.

[maryann]

Yesterday was epic puttering, which I love. My SIL and BIL have decided to come with us in Italy in February. They are very fun. I booked companion rooms and our flight home from Rome. I also booked my flight to the same SIL in LA. we fly to the Galapagos from there in July. Of course, my toe will be perfectly healthy. I put this out to the cosmos.

I also ordered a complete Easter dinner for us, Mom and another BIL. Mom asked me to put together an Easter basket for him. I first thought of See's Candy and then remembered See's is like a glass of booze for me. I had a couple of baskets. I will fill them with treats that are not problematic for me. I am determined to take the next few weeks to get into the right decade of weight. Yesterday's scale showed a pound up from ticker which is good.I focused on protein at every meal, a glass of water before meals, and fruit and veggies. I have planned eating for today already. I will do yoga after the grocery store. I read a referral for the youtube excerise routine - Yoga with Adrienne.

Karen: So excited about your Explorer Chicks trip. When is it?
BBE: What a great word. I have now added Quardle to my Wordle word puzzles for the day. I am always looking for words that have "ai" and "ia." By the way, I also play Heardle now which is music snippets.
Penny: Glad to have a good day store up. You will have a rocky road, I fear for the rest of the years but i bet it ends positive. Then next year will be much easier.

Wave to everyone else.

[nationalparker]

Tackled another day at the in-laws. There is no more room for trash bags in the lower floor, so tomorrow when we go I'll work in garage with DH. Finished hauling out a full large pickup truck of recycling and then my car's rear area today. Little is savable ... it's all either trash (mice got into nearly everything or it is just filthy and ruined) or recycling (empty boxes, old mail, old magazines but not good ones that would be sellable, because they're ruined). Not a lot of decision making as in, would someone buy this? today ... We got home after 8:30. I made bruschetta for dinner as I have a lot of tomatoes that need to be eaten now. I'd prepped large salads for each of us for lunch outside at their house. It was windy and there were wasps all over. There is a nest somewhere in the house. We'll have to get an exterminator. They're still cold/slow. Thank goodness. I did end up dripping some of my balsamic vinegar near one who sat there and drank and drank and drank. I sat there and watched him forever. I think I was procrastinating... somehow that was riveting.

DH is asleep on the couch. I just got out of the tub. It started out nice today but now will rain through the night. Weight is wildly up; it's varying 3-4 pounds each day and I know it's due to retaining water. I need to keep making better choices and moving forward and I'll get more answers when I see that dr. in five-plus weeks. The time will pass, even though I'm anxious to get things figured out NOW.

Joy - Good news about the boosters. I just ordered/received Home Front Girls from a used bookstore and am looking forward to diving in. Our library didn't have it in any format. I especially love good books in letter format (84 Charing Cross Road and Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society are two favorites, though I wish the streaming version of the latter was a series and not jammed into a movie, it was mediocre all compressed).
Bill - Ahhh I love the little historic notes you lead your check-in with. I can picture the tale about your DGD and the painted rock. I do enjoy puttering with them.

CurlyJax - I am glad to hear that you're not the sole parent signing off on that apartment. Wow rents are really high there. I mean, I know that it's much higher than here, but wowsa!

Maryann - I haven't heard of Quordle, so I'll look at that in the morning. Thank you for the tip. Yoga with Adriene is so good. I like her meditations as well. Wait, that sounded like I currently DO her yoga videos. I try the beginners ones and for aching back, etc. now and again. I'm so out of shape now, need to restart.

Karen - I'm finding that I'm enjoying rock painting more than watercolor because watercolor is so unforgiving to a non-artist like me - the paint goes where it goes. My rock painting supplies are very inexpensive - at Walmart, matte acrylics are $0.50 and gloss ones are $.97 ... I just got a few sets of very inexpensive brushes from Amazon - they started out to be the grandkids brushes for painting but they're good enough for me. I did splurge on a few nail art brushes for fine detail and the tools to make different sized dots, i think they're still sets and under $5. I didn't get as many sets as shown there. But some rocks I do all dots and they come out fun. I do wish I could link to a photo - they're far from professional but it's stress relief, too. Fun to get lost in something for a few hours now and then. I rarely do that except in gardening.

[Penny.]

Late check-in. Still on plan.

Today was a dumb day as part of my brain thought it was Monday all day long. With my new work schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Friday, I am always thinking Friday is Monday after my two days off.

I showed up for my pre-op appointment first thing in the morning on the wrong day, and later readied myself for an evening Zoom lecture on the wrong day.

I guess it was a practice run for the real Monday.

Have a great night, everyone!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Did an adult thing by walking around our house with DW noting where touch-up painting was needed. Found several places where the water table had rotted; painting has to be preceded by board replacement. That's not good news because we have a terrific painter lined up but carpenters for small jobs are hard to find. (The link is because some houses don't have a water table trim board.) There was a day when replacing a piece of trim board was a job I'd gladly take on even though I had no idea how to do it. And would do a mediocre job at it. Oh, Well.

Good news is that our tax returns are resolved. Resolved means that our accountant filed for an automatic extension. We don't owe so there's nothing more to do. Either we got our data to her too late or she's taken on more work than she can handle. Have to cut her some slack; she's taking care of her elderly mother now. But resolved also means that I don't eagerly await the daily mail to get her form to sign with directions of what checks to write.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was spent trying to figure out what news sources we can trust for reports on the situation in the Ukraine. Being blasted with contradictory messages. Trying to avoid simply believing whatever supports my preconceptions. Don't know if news reports have gotten more noisy, or my ability to distinguish has diminished, or whether more outright propaganda is filling the airwaves. No useful conclusions to tell you about.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats that those last three boxes of books are gone. What a great feeling that must be.

maryann - Smart to avoid See's Candy. I continue to hope that they don't expand to the East Coast. Exciting news about your planned travels.

nationalparker – A full first floor sounds like serious progress. Kudos for your persistence. LOL at the wasp drunk on balsamic vinegar.

Karen (karenrn) - You are getting so prepared for your Grand Canyon hike. Sounds like Otis gets a haircut more often than I do. But then I don't have to be held down when getting mine. And I'm quiet about it.

curlyjax - Congrats for tackling Venmo. Still haven't done that myself. Faced disbelief from my DD when we had to swap some bit of monies and she discovered that I didn't Venmo. Good luck with the contractors looking at your bathroom.

Penny. - LOL at living the wrong day. BTDT. Thought it only happened to retired folks.

Readers -

Chapter 5 Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan

Bonus Calorie Guidelines

• You can eat all of your Bonus Calories with one meal or snack, divide them up between two (or more) meals or snacks, or create an additional snack.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 122.