[nationalparker]

I think this evening will be a bit of a rush if we come from his folks, eat leftovers and then hit the cinema, so an early checkin. I prepped overnight oats again for tomorrow. DH and I split the last serving and each topped it with a banana. I think I'll alternate this with the smoothie as I'm able to freeze super ripe bananas. Credit for finding something that works and that makes me feel as if I'm starting the day with the intention to be healthy. Dinner will be leftovers of tortilla soup or a few other fridge options, making it speedy as well as opening up space.

Bill - HA on the pricey lemonade. I'd rather give a few dollars as a donation than be asked for it. Right after I donated my OLD car to our humane society years ago, they sent me another request for $1,000. Nope. I told them that was due to car donation and they needed to start out a heckuva lot lower.

CurlyJax- I totally missed the shower curtain when you wrote you purchased new towels and mat..sorry. DH has been talking about our bathroom reno with it in the future (no time yet) but I want to make sure we don't bite off more than we can do ourselves. He is very handy, but your day-turnaround is amazingly wonderful.

MrsCalypso - Hope you are faring well! Miss seeing your posts.

VertOlive - I, too, am shocked at some of the random items that have surged in price lately. I remember bleach shooting up quickly in price around here at the start of covid. Now I'm continually surprised at the price of beans, because that's what I buy vs. meat. I keep coming home and saying NOW it's on SALE for $2.48 when it used to be on sale for 2 for $3. Thankful I can afford them and am trying more recipes with dry beans.

OK off to the inlaws here soon. Will be 90 so I want to go before the afternoon heat socks me.

[gardenerjoy]

CREDIT for passing the half-way mark of this month's exercise goal at the half-way point of the month.

CREDIT for finishing the first draft of my script, slides, and virtual handout for the presentation on Tuesday. I read it aloud last night and it was only 20 minutes. It will take longer when I'm presenting instead of reading, but probably not more than half-again as much. Thirty minutes seems about right. It allows for 10 minutes of introductory stuff by the group before I get going and 20 minutes of questions and discussion at the end. So, I don't have a massive editing job this weekend.

I'll do a couple of read-throughs while I edit to improve the wording and clarity and to help me get it more-or-less memorized. Ideally, I'll feel like I know the presentation well enough that I can give it with just a mind map and the slides cueing me in to what to say next. I don't like reading presentations.

I compose my 3FC posts in Evernote and copy them into the window so that I don't lose things. My problem, these days, is that the threads take a long time to open. I only use 3FC on my desktop computer, so I don't have a lot to compare to, but it used to be instantaneous until a few weeks ago.

Exercise +60, 820/1600 minutes for July

BillBlueEyes: We avoid the neighborhood lemonade stand by never carrying money our walks. I feel kind of bad because the kids can't possibly be making much money off this venture in our neighborhood, but not quite bad enough to make a point of carrying my wallet.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food has been on plan. So much easier to stay on plan when I am out of the house more. My friend and I did the hike this morning. I'm just sticking with the 4 1/2 mile moderate hike until it's a little cooler. Who knows when that might be.

Yesterday on the way to the movie my friend called she was so sorry but she had to cancel last minute, so I changed and saw the movie Hallelujah:Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. I loved the movie and today will see Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. I see that I live in the top state of America's worst places to live. Right now I would say that's about true with our weather being what it is.

GardenerJoy Glad your presentation is coming together very well. Seems like you have lots of experience at that.

Nationalparker I hope your day goes well as you near the completion of the in-law's house project. What a lot of work that has been.

Curlyjax The new shower sounds just great. I'm glad you are enjoying it.

Bill I sure hand it to your friend who is recovering from two strokes. At least these days we know that recovery can continue on and on, but at 92 it seems it would be daunting.

VertOlive The one thing that helps me the most with the snack fairy is that any of the things she might suggest I don't have in the house anymore because I know "In the house is In my mouth". Of course my living situation allows for that.

Waving to the others and hoping things are going as well as can be expected for MommaMeli and family.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio lingered forever as the weather was just splendid for just sitting. Had leftover potato salad and another dip into the rotisserie chicken. We get a lot of meals from a single bird. Evening snack included cherries - counted out carefully.

Walked, CREDIT moi, with DW about Mount Auburn Cemetery - chosen because there are areas greatly shaded by large trees. Was a perfect choice. Some trees are old enough to be labeled "Pre-1813." They take seriously the job of being an arboretum. Every tree is labeled. It's one fine way to upgrade one's ability to recognize trees. Few people were about despite it being an ideal place to be out walking - possibly because the temperature hit 90+ degrees Fahrenheit, which we consider super hot. As expected, there were few birds since it was too hot for the bugs to be flying.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos, indeed, for having the first draft of your presentation done. I agree that it's easier to cut back than to add.

nationalparker – Like the attitude, "starting the day with the intention to be healthy." Freezing super ripe bananas is such a good idea; do you make a faux ice cream with them?

Karen (karenrn) - Hallelujah:Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song is definitely on my list. I loved Leonard Cohen back when I had to buy vinyl albums. By-the-by, here's my current favorite short tour of the Webb Telescope's first five pictures from the Washington Post.

curlyjax - So great that you're happy with your new shower. Also great that you continue to work to meet new folks.

MommaMeli - Continue to send supportive thoughts to your family.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

challenging situation skills

Before the Event

6. Imagine the aftermath.
Immediately before you enter the challenging situation, imagine leaving it, having eaten too much. Can you see yourself feeling weak and defeated? Disappointed in yourself? Fearful of what the scale will show tomorrow? Unhappy about what you did? No longer confident in your abilities to lose excess weight and keep it off?

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 135.

[curlyjax]

The get together with the widows was very nice. One was in her thirties and hadn’t been able to have kids before her husband died, but is determined to still do it with someone new, which is awesome. It was interesting to see the different situations. I may go again.
I was craving a hamburger which I hadn’t had in eons, so I made two lovely ones in my air fryer, and had most of a beer as well. Tonight is salmon, greens and corn.
I signed up online to take a course called “take back your house” which involves 3 women who have been doing the declutter-organize-minimalism thing in different ways, to get myself going. I started working on the living room a bit yesterday, then stopped to watch a show called Madame Blanc on Acorn tv, which i am really enjoying.
Today I’m getting groceries and seeing some former colleagues for a walk or more likely coffee as its going to be hot today.
Nationalparker- It was so great to have the shower done in one day. It cost more that way but was worth it. Your healthy breakfast foods sound great.
Karen- I thought of you when I talked to someone who vacationed in AZ recently. She said the only reason she went there in the summer was to visit family That movie sounds good too.
Gardenerjoy-yay for getting the first draft done. I don’t bring my wallet on neighborhood walks either, and so many people don’t even carry money these days.
Bill-that is such a cool cemetery, with some interesting folks laying to rest in it. Great they label the trees, I would love to know I was looking at a pre 1813 tree.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

First off Hallelujah that the site is working fine this morning. I came to my desk top to load the site and figured by the time I got something to drink it would be up. Oh no, it was up immediately.

Food was on plan yesterday. I've hiked this morning even though I was thinking about taking the day off. I was up and it was a few degrees under 90 so I figured I may as well. I met my friend and we pat each other on the back for going hiking in these temps. We do fine since we're acclimated and it's in the shade. We saw Mrs. Harris goes to Paris yesterday and just loved it. Definitely a chick flick but I'm really glad I waited on it so we could go together. No big plans for the day, but there are things to do around the house and probably some pool time too.

Curlyjax The decluttering organizing class sounds good. Nice to have some structure and motivation. I'm glad you enjoyed the get together. I'm sure you meet some interesting people.

Bill The photos from the telescope are just magnificent. I can't get my head around it no matter what I do. I guess it's okay to be awe struck even though it is beyond my understanding.

Thinking of MommaMeli and family.

Waving to all the rest of you and hoping you're having a great weekend.

[gardenerjoy]

I successfully rid myself of all the expired medicines that were in our linen closet. Our local police department has a special bin in the lobby for disposing of medicines responsibly. I took all the pills earlier last week and read the instructions. It turned out that they would take liquid medicines, as well, as long as the caps were carefully closed. Most of mine were never opened. I bought cough medicines at the beginning of the pandemic that we never needed and then, expired. So, all of that went into the bin yesterday morning.

Here's a story that some of you will appreciate. I got rid of unused COVID tests, last week, on the day that they expired. I posted them on the local Buy Nothing Facebook group on the day of their expiration and someone needed them for their family! I have another set that will expire next month. I put it on my calendar to post them a few days before that date. I only knew about how soon some of these tests expire from a conversation in this group.

Exercise +45, 865/1600 minutes for July

BillBlueEyes: Thanks for the reminder about the "Water Music" anniversary. I'm playing it now. I appreciated the short explanation of the Webb images. My recent listen to Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson helped me understand the news a bit better last week! Like karenrn, I'm more in awe than I am in full understanding. At least, I'm kind of getting the time equals distance concept.

[nationalparker]

We have enjoyed a lazy rainy day today. I made a new (to me) vegan banana cinnamon muffin recipe that was simple and delicious, with minimal fat. I haven't baked much at all in the past year or so, so this was a treat for us. I ate my planned one and had a colorful salad at lunch, so didn't stray too far with a sweet treat. Planning to get on the exercise bike for a while as soon as I post.

I have a few bell peppers that are on their way to being fairly wrinkled so tonight's quick dinner will be veg fajitas and roasted broccoli ... i went to face the weekend crowds at my sam's and stocked up on all of the other veggies I needed.

Bill - I do make banana "soft serve" with the frozen bananas on occasion, but mainly we use them in smoothies with pineapple or strawberries, or do one with frozen cherries and some cocoa.

Joy - If our pharmacies didn't have those Rx disposal units, I don't know how I'd have gotten rid of my in-law's stash. There were close to 100 bottles of Rx, many not opened. Not sure why, in their case, they let the auto delivery of meds continue that they never took. It sounds like you're well on your way with your presentation. I am the opposite of you - i can have a 20 minute presentation but then I fly through it due to nerves and have to have someone in the front row ready to make a hand motion for me to slow down.

Karen - Glad to hear the movie is fun. It's not coming to the theatre here where I can go for free, so I'm overcalculating do I go to AMC where I have to pay and go on the cheap Tuesday or spend more gas and go farther away to the other Regal options. I'm approaching this like I'm determining the distance of a planet. I think I want to go tonight, so I'll see if DH wants to roam through Barnes & Noble near the distant theatre.

CurlyJax - I'm so happy that your meetup went well and you met with a supportive group. Let us know what you think about your online course! I brought home some things from DH's parents that now I decide I don't want so they'll go to Goodwill. I cleaned out and reorg my misc. drawer that has pens, tape, scissors in my kitchen, as well as another drawer and cleared so much out. I love it. Last year I redid several other drawers and they're still org the same way. I'm not sure why I held off on these.

Change of plan tonight and I stress ate popcorn fairly solidly, ruining my streak of several good days. Split the popcorn with DH. I finally picked which cinema to go to and when we neared the theatre, which is at a mall, police and ambulances are racing there, joining a lot of others - I'm talking 40-50 maybe. Found out there was an active shooter at the mall. I wanted to turn around and get the heck out of Dodge, not knowing where it was, was he (assumption on my part) going to be gunning his way out, etc. We pulled up news when we got into the theatre area parking (it is on exterior of mall parking areas, not in the mall) and a story had been posted three minutes earlie and said it was in the food court with two dead at that point and a few injured. At the cinema, someone was there who heard the shooter was apprehended. They decided to show the next schedule movies, but not later ones. When we left, there seemed to be just as many police, but news said they were concerned about a possible bomb in a backpack but that was determined later to be no issue. I am home and not hungry but feel like I need the comfort of food. I will pull out my journal and just handle stress that way.

The veg fajitas will now be lunch tomorrow. Need to remember before I lose two good, albeit wrinkly, peppers.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walk, CREDIT moi, including stopping at a hardware store to buy a battery for DW's wrist watch. She'd turned it over to me after she was unable to remove its back. YouTube produced a video that showed how to spot the tiny arrow that points to the secret indent that allows a small screwdriver to pop it off. Done! For $1.50 less, Amazon would ship me the battery by 9pm the same night. Or I could patronize our local hardware store and get a walk in the bargain. So, off I went. Replacing the battery was the easy part. The video warned that the challenge was to reinsert the back without cracking the crystal front. I devised a safe way to do it in the bench vice in the basement. DW devised a way to drill a hole in a block of wood just the diameter of the crystal so that the watch could be inserted resting on the case edge. A normal, large c-clamp provided the pressure to pop it all back together using both sets of hands to hold it together. Mission accomplished. Might become a jeweler for my next profession.

Excitement was receiving a "Birthday gift" from Lands End for $50 off an order of $100+. Jumped at the opportunity to replace some aging polo shirts. Got three in my cart ready to push the order button when I noticed [Back ordered. Delivery December 12, 2022]. For a summer shirt! Super annoyed. I returned to my curmudgeon hole determined to wear whatever is in my closet until I die - one of those old men in ragged clothes for whom folks whisper, "Do you know he isn't poor?"



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos, indeed, for including expired COVID tests as needing to be disposed of. Think I'm behind there. Love the notion that you're listening to Handel's Water Music likely with your images of the Thames River going through your head.

nationalparker – It's always Kudos for baking a good muffin and not over indulging. I'm among the target consumer groups for those HUMONGOUS muffins that are sold these days. Mind boggling story of a shooter at the mall where you were headed to see a movie. Pretty adventurous for you to just go forth and watch it anyway.

Karen (karenrn) - Definitely worth a pat on the back for hiking in those temperatures. The predicted temperature in Phoenix even made our local newspaper. Melt the sidewalk kind of hot.

curlyjax - It's so encouraging to hear the story of the young widow who is determined to get on with her life. You do sound like you've become facile with your air fryer.

MommaMeli - Continue to send supportive thoughts to your family.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

challenging situation skills

Before the Event

6. Imagine the aftermath.
Then imagine that you are leaving the vent, having exercised your resistance muscle and stuck to your plan. Can you see yourself feeling strong and in control? Looking forward to getting on the scale tomorrow? Happy about how you did? Proud that you proved you can stick to your plan during a challenging eating situation?

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 135.

[curlyjax]

I’m still having trouble loading the site on my laptop. Then again its a bit old.
I had a nice time catching up with some former colleagues at one of their houses, as it was a bit too hot to walk. I didn’t end up making salmon as DS was at his friends’s house, so that is for tonight. I forgot to mention, DD had a bad cold last week which turned out to be covid. She’s doing fine but stressing over missing school etc. I am now paying top dollar to have ubereats deliver things to her but ah well, its only for a few days.
Last night there were helicopters nearby- turned out to be looking for a missing person. Hopefully they have been found.
Nationalparker- OMG that is so scary!! Other countries must think we are crazy. Great job on just the one muffin.
Bill-great job with the watch. DH would wear his shirts into the ground too.
Karen-yay for hiking in the heat. I look forward to watching a nice chick flick at some point.
Gardenerjoy- great job disposing of meds properly. I think I gave up on a few liquid ones, never thought to bring them in.

[gardenerjoy]

I indulged in some stress eating yesterday. This morning, I woke up feeling puffy. That makes me highly motivated to eat lightly today. I don't want to wake up feeling puffy before my presentation tomorrow morning.

Here are some alternative stress reducers: stretch, dance, yoga, practice the presentation, make multiple copies of my slides in multiple formats, press my jacket, write a review of the film we watched last night (Persuasion on Netflix -- we liked it, but it's irking Austen purists), plan a fantasy trip to the shore of Chesapeake Bay.

Exercise +35, 900/1600 minutes for July

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Well yesterday must have been a fluke that my desk top quickly loaded the Beck page. This morning it was back to the several minutes. It loads quickly on my phone, but I don't want to type on that. Food was mostly on plan yesterday. I increased my watermelon portion and decreased my Dahl portion. Not good for macros, but I figured it was better than overeating. I had been waking up way too early so I decided to let my friend know I would not be hiking today and take half a Costco sleep aide to see if I would sleep longer. It ended up being a good plan because we had a doozy of a storm right at bed time and there was still some lightening when I got up at 4. That sounds early but it's an hour or two after I have been waking up. I just took Otis for a walk and it's very juicy out. The humidity is 66% which is nothing for some of you but horrible for us.

I have my second appointment at PT this morning. I haven't done the exercises as frequently as I was supposed to. The Cobra push up thing I was supposed to do about 6 times a day and I've only done it about 3 times a day. I'm not sure it's helping, but it is too early to tell. A friend who I'll be staying with in Seattle came down with Covid on her return from Italy about a week ago. She is really quite sick even though vaccinated and boosted. I just sent a text to check on her. I will be wearing a N95 mask on the plane and in any risky places, so my fingers are crossed. I also will take some of the home tests with me so I can check between places I am visiting. My biggest concern is getting Covid and not being able to do my hiking trip, but I am not going to stop going. I figure I may die before Covid is over or at the least my hiking days will be over cause I'll be too old and frail.

GardenerJoy I hate that puffy feeling too. So good to feel it and remember how good we feel when we are eating the way we plan. I'm enjoying following Retirement Travelers on YouTube. Although I know I won't ever travel the world like they are, I can relate to them. Yesterday their video on packing light even encouraged me to really be thoughtful about how I pack for my upcoming trip.

Curlyjax I'm so sorry about dd. My friend thought she just had a bad cold too, but no it was the dreaded Covid. Nice that you had your get together with former colleagues.

Bill That watch repair sounds like a very time consuming but satisfying endeavor. Maybe you and Maryann can go into business together in a small jewelry store.

Nationalparker Did you actually stay and see the movie? Holy moly girl, that is scary. Of course it's all over the news this morning. Sounds like it is one time where a good guy with a gun might have helped.

[Penny.]

Good morning!

Weight is at the top of the bad decade so I probably need to reverse the reverse diet. Haha! I spent the weekend working on a giant latch hook rug project, so lots of sitting.

Nationalparker the shooting sounds scary. I'm glad you were not in the mall.

Curly, yay for the finished shower job! Isn't this the second illness for your dd? Poor thing! I hope she's better quickly.

Karen, the site still loads slowly for me. You must have got lucky. lol

Waving at everyone. Have a nice day!

[nationalparker]

I'm not sure why, when I'm staying on program and the scale is slowly going down (because I STILL haven't moved it out of the bathroom so I don't weigh as often), I think I'm doing GREAT. When it stalls, or gains, I think I'm a failure and there is no hope. REALLY?! All or nothing. Anyway, up a bit today and not a surprise after the salty popcorn. Did well on food today, so need to stop beating myself up. Credit for veg fajitas for lunch, using two bell peppers and two onions. Dinner was crostini with spicy white beans and bruschetta mix. I am working my way through a terrible container of various color small tomatoes that could be used to play ping pong. Hard as rocks.

Spent much of the day cleaning and cooking and cleaning up from the cooking twice. Then took several hours and pulled out my acrylics and moved forward on several rocks I'm painting. Finished one and nearly done with another. It's one I'm trying to learn depth with and need to make a few darker areas. Tried to do a mermaid using a dark gray rock with that being her hair curling around her and the rest of her is painted. Sounds weird but I am happy with how it's coming out now and ready to try a new one with a Black mermaid for a close friend who is a beach lover and I think she'd especially like one, but I want it to be good enough to give to her, not just anonymously leave on our trail I completely lose track of time when painting. I put on the audiobook of The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson. I enjoy his writing but always need to listen to his books. If anyone is on the hunt for a good listen, an early one of his, Devil in the White City, was very good to listen to. (Serial killer in Chicago during the World's Fair who preyed on the young women coming to work at the Exposition, building his house to better attack his victims.) I do think his sometimes take a little bit to get into.

Joy - I've finished The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle and it was a light read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Partly because one of the snobby characters changed early in the book and I honestly am over so much aggressive/mean characters right now in my reading. I know how they're used, but ... this was a nice reprieve. Very interesting to hear more about clothing rations and how the English handled it. Family on my mom's side is from outside London, but came to the USA after WWI. I took note of some of the resources she used and now want to read Spuds, Spam and Eating for Victory: Rationing in the Second World War.

Karen - Does your friend suspect she contracted covid in Italy or when she returned? I still need to get my second booster shot, as well as the Shingrix. I need to just pencil it in on my calendar and do it. I got the Moderna two-shot vaccine and then the booster to that, but not the latest one. I am hearing more updates on those who have covid now with much worse symptoms than a little while ago, but know it's different to the person. I am so over humidity right now. It was 99% this morning and then dropped to 97% and then into the 80s, and upper 70s as the day wore on, but the early morning wet blanket feeling had me staying inside today.

Bill - What a project on that watch battery. Quite impressed with your solution and your wife's input as well. You engineers! My DH is in charge of all clocks and watches in our house - he's is more into clocks and watches than anyone I've met. Yet he is not time oriented in the least. An odd combo. I'm completely time-centric and suspect when he's late, that he's being passive aggressive and not wanting to leave when I want, say for the airport, etc. Thought the same as Karen - you and Maryann could be good jeweler duo!

CurlyJax - The site is loading better for me on my laptop than kindle or phone, so it's all over the place for us. I sure hope your DD appreciates you for all that you do for her! (Let me know if you ever need a few hints dropped her way to remind her that she hit the jackpot with you... I'm queen of the anonymous postals.)

Penny - OH how I used to love latch hooking! I forgot all about it! What does your rug look like? Years ago I did one for my brother (a saint), who willingly put it in his room and took a photo for me to see. A matador and a bull. Can you believe it? We lived in Spain at the time and he was in the States. A funny memory your post brought up.

Our weekend zoo trip with DGS is now tomorrow after I walk with my friend. I was hoping to get out of the zoo, but DH is adamant that he wants me to go with him. We can bring a reusable (not disposable) drink container and a child-size snack. I will do so. I was going to freeze water in containers but guess they don't allow you in with that; nothing with a cap that can be dropped/thrown and an animal can ingest.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was a trip to the dentist to install the screw-in post that will hold a new crown in the space created by extracting a tooth a few months back. All excited for the big event. Alas, the appointment was brief, just to check if my skull had enough bone for to be screwed into. Done in a few minutes. Now have an appointment in two weeks for the great screw-in. Felt like I'd wasted putting on a clean shirt, LOL.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was out on the patio despite having to wipe the chairs from the tiny rain we'd received. Leftover conglomeration of sauteed veggies and pasta with tons of Penzey's spices (recipe from Penzey's). It's a great dish. First time was served warm; we agreed to try this time cold. Both worked well. DW says that they call it a "salad" which she takes as permission to serve it cold, LOL.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Love the notion of planning a fantasy trip as a way of relaxing.

nationalparker – Your rock painting always sounds fun. I was mesmerized by Devil in the White City - hard to believe that the story was real. Interesting that the zoo has strict rules to try to protect the animals from humans.

Karen (karenrn) - Kudos for actively working your eating plan to meet your needs. Admire your determination to keep going with your PT despite COVID concerns.

curlyjax - Ouch for your DD's COVID - especially when she's feeling the pressure to keep up with a challenging program. You win good mom of the year award for sending Ubereats so she feels taken care of.

Penny. - Kudos for being open to making your eating plan work, even at the cost of "reverse the reverse diet," LOL.

MommaMeli - Continue to send supportive thoughts to you and your family.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

challenging situation skills

At the Event

7. Use good eating habits. Don't make an exception about how you eat. It can be especially difficult to enjoy every bite when you are distracted by noise, conversation, and people walking around. Be sure to eat all of your food slowly, while sitting down, and focusing, intently on how it tastes. Otherwise, you can eat mindlessly and wonder, Where did all my food go? and be tempted to eat more.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 135.