I'm excited about learning new things about chess at lichess.org. Their learning module is just fantastic. I don't remember a time when I didn't know how the chess pieces move, but the way that they teach the movements also got me to start thinking several moves in advance -- my chess development never went very far in that direction.
The 50th anniversary of the Fischer-Spassky match has me thinking about some opportunities that I was denied when I was 10 (partly due to family dynamics, partly due to 1972-style sexism). I'm declaring that it is never too late to learn!
I talked through chess memories with my brother (who got the benefit of those opportunities), yesterday, which was fun and illuminating.
Today's challenge is the dental appointment for my permanent crown. I'm assuming that's a much easier and, possibly, shorter, appointment than the one a couple of weeks ago that got everything prepared. I'm not clear on whether it will require numbing again. I wrote a food plan assuming that it won't, but I have a Plan B in mind, if necessary.
Exercise +55, 305/1600 minutes for August
maryann: I smiled the whole time reading your post. Go, Teach!
Another hot August day, and it looks/feels like rain could be moving in here soon...that would be very welcome. Outside work was pretty limited, just scouring the birdbath in front garden, deadheading patio pots and a bit of weeding. Each time I'd come in looking like I'd been in Death Valley. Small tasks done today that have been on my "tackle it" list for awhile including absolutely p*ssing off the three cats by trimming their claws, which takes both of us. DH will hold and I trim and he gets the brunt of it while I dance around yipping that I don't want him to hurt them holding so tight. It's a seasonal dance. Luckily cats apparently have pretty short memories about who angered them and accepted treats with nary a hiss, just a swat. To show who's in charge.
So I did well enough on the weekend but today, I did not do well with food. I can regroup, but for some reason I opened a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of salsa from Trader Joe's ... it's DELISH and was new this summer. Not as light as salsa should be, but the peanut addition... mmm. Breakfast and lunch were fine, but in my mind, I've totally blown the week already. Not true, but it's all negative in my mind. I do this after I do well with others around it seems.
Old curmedgeon that I am found out a print magazine is moving to digital only, so I cancelled. I liked flipping those pages while in the tub. I did wonder how it was done on the cheap. I guess it ceases to be doable. I will never access it online and check out videos.
Joy - Good luck with the permanent crown. I used to worry that they'd pry the base off with the temp crown, but they said if that ever happened, there'd be bigger problems. I didn't know if I should worry more or less.
Maryann - I just loved reading your update. CONGRATULATIONS. You worked hard for this achievement and nailed it. So many achievements for you the past few years, it seems! I'm so happy for you! Xeroscape learning, mom to a college student and that's a lot right there, SUPboarding, hiking Machu Picchu, the other many travels including Ecuador, the Galapagos, etc., the new tech you learn for teaching, it goes on. CREDITS abound.
Bill - I, too, miss Pluto as a planet and honestly I'm just not trusting how something is, then ceases to be. Like the brontosaurus, always my favorite plant-eating dinosaur as a kid. Not ferocious. Mellow. (I can dream...) Now... Nope. No brontosaurus. WTH. I had learned the planet order with the old "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pumpkins" ... and now these kiddos must change that to ...Just Served Us Noodles, I guess... Your dinner sounds wonderful.
Penny - I have GOT to follow your lead and get back to a large salad each day for lunch or dinner (and honestly I liked it when I got in a lot of veg right away in a big breakfast salad. It kind of kept me on the straight and narrow. ... The Nutritarian plan calls for the daily salad with lots of veg and I have been fighting it, and seeing the scale's proof. I think I need to get a food plan written down like Joy again.
CurlyJax - My August challenge to lose 5 pounds might have to be 7 bc I gained two this morning and went into wth thinking... Credits to you for tackling financial tasks I know you don't enjoy.
Tuesday - Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden" (1854)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Waited all day for the Amazon delivery of the igniter for my gas clothes dryer. At 11am the tracking site marked it, "Out for delivery." Continued to check every hour or so just to be sure it hadn't been delivered. I planned to wait until 10pm - the latest delivery time - before turning off the front porch light. The light isn't needed, but it gives the aura of expecting a package. When I checked after 9pm, the tracking display had changed to "You're 9 stops away." I got excited. "You're 3 stops away," along with the map of the truck a street over in my neighborhood. When it read "You're next," I walked downstairs to the front steps as the delivery guy walked up and handed it directly to me. An amazing display of technology. By the time I got back to my computer on the second floor, the display read, "Handed to a member of the household." What a chunk of artificial excitement as a distraction from real life.
Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was consumed inside as the heat continues. We had BBQ Turkey burgers - an experiment to see if ground turkey could replace ground beef in our life for burgers. Only so so. Was a nice dinner as in, anything put on a toasted brioche bun with a grilled slice of onion and a slab of tomato would taste good. But the turkey didn't contribute any taste of its own. Might go back to exploring the whole range of veggi burgers. Evening snack of watermelon did hit the spot. Eating watermelon makes me feel like I'm getting cooler.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Neat to revisit your chess knowledge, although painful to remember that sexism toward women learning chess was still around as recently as 1972. That chess site looks fun - don't know if I can dip my toe back into chess without getting suckered onto the slippery slope. Good luck with your permanent crown. It is a pain not to know if one is going to leave the dentist office all numbed down or not.
nationalparker – Congrats for getting stuff done from your "tackle it" list. Trimming cat claws is for folks more adventurous than I. Thanks for the memory of Brontosaurus, the "thunder lizard". I had forgotten that its genus and species had been reclassified.
curlyjax - You're certainly feeding your DS well, "a crockpot pork loin with a cranberry-port wine sauce, ferro and cauliflower, and corn on the cob." Good luck figuring out how much to push your hip.
Penny. - Always good to be eating salad.
MommaMeli - Hope all is going well.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 6Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan
challenging situation skills
After the Event
13. Use your Cheat Sheet. If you made a mistake, don't catastrophize. Don't criticize yourself or get discouraged. you're human. But learn from every mistake you make. The more often you use the Cheat Sheet, the more quickly you will be able to get back on track and the less likely you will be to make the same mistakes again.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 137.
I got into treats at work again, ugh. After work I continued with financials yesterday, getting money sent hither and thither. Then I went over to my widow friend and helped her make tofu gnocci, which was fried with sundried tomatoes, garlic onions and butter/oil, and was actually pretty tasty. Later we watched some silly music videos from the 80s and I danced a bit. I did not sleep well and hope to catch a nap before going out to dinner tonight with a meetup. I’ve already looked at the menu and will order a big salad, and indulge in one drink. Nationalparker- I’m not doing so good either on the losing front, but then I keep straying. Manfriend’s cat is so mellow that his dtr can clip his nails easily; I know that is very unusual. The kitty even purrs at the vet. Digital magazines are just not the same. Gardenerjoy- very cool to be learning new things with chess. Good luck with the dentist. Bill-the tracking of delivery folks is pretty amazing. And kind of scary, the amount of tracking that can be done these days.
Yesterday was back at school. Kids come on Wednesday. It was a long day. I can see my teaching muscles need some work. Admin combined a back to school night BBQ. Usually BTS nite is my least favorite day of the year so credit for having that behind me. It was nice actually lots of kiddos from last year popped in. DH always comes. It is a nice ritual. I looked at my class list and realized I have the football kids for my second period. They are usually a fun group but need a firmer hand in the beginner. There is a real freedom knowing I can retire anytime now. My goal is to really enjoy the kids and inspire some kind of passion for the world we are in today.
Credit that I am two pounds away from 180. I join many of you in the five pound challenge. It would make all the difference in how my pants fit. I am going for the lower half of the 170s.
Hello! Checking in early because we're prepping to head to DH's folks house, dare I say it one last time ... need to remove the motors from the washer and dryer and take to scrap but motors are worth more, so just a quick job for DH he says, then back to the house and load up the range and take to someone who wants it. Also need to check on his older daughter's cat (whom I esp love) but she won't get a dang petsitter and he let himself get talked into going there.
Read a very interesting study in Vegan Food and Living (a UK vegan periodical) regarding the health benefits of eating 30 different plant foods every week. I tried to link to the article but won't know if it works or is it somehow connected to my account. I think it should. Anyway, I took out my menu planning pad and started thinking (i don't put breakfast and lunch on there all the time, esp if leftovers) ... and noted that we ate 26 different plant foods in the past week. I thought that was good start. Karen, this referenced the gut microbiomes that I think you were talking about. I don't know a lot about that. (If interested in reading it, click the little booklike icon in lower center and will bring up easier to read version.)
Started reading The China Study and it's very interesting so far. Saw it referenced a great deal on legit nutritional videos, so thought I'd get my baseline of info from it.
Bill - I had to laugh with your delivery updates ... I keep looking to figure out how to turn those I'm 10 stops away off on my orders (until something gets stolen from my porch, I'm sure) ... I joke, "just drop it off when you can!" I have a new bed skirt coming today and fingers are crossed that the platform part is legit material and not that fake olefin that wears holes and isn't washable despite claims on packaging to the contrary. The old bedskirt was embarrassingly in bad shape due to the number of pets being under the bed and swatting at the one not under the bed.
CurlyJax - I think these vegan magazines got me re-enthused and I'm hoping that if I can just get into a good routine, I'll be less tempted. I went to the market in a hurry this morning and picked up a fair amount of good healthy stuff, so will write out my menu for the next 5-7 days today. Will AIM to get back to the large salad daily - I have so many wonderful balsamic vinegars - both white and dark, some fruity and some more typical of balsamic/neapolitan herb, etc. ... No reason for me to not invest in my health with a big salad. I guess I"m just lazy and if stressed, I don't think how can I care for myself. I think, I want a baked potato.
Penny - Thanks again for the motivation to see that it's just putting one good day after the other and bam - a streak. Hope you're surviving your slew of work days in a row.
Maryann - I hope this school year is a good one for you! I think the knowledge that you can retire at any time is so good for mental health. When DH was there, every time he'd get frustrated about something, then he'd say, "It just doesn't matter!" He knew he'd be out of there when it worked best for us financially. We have a "back to school" gathering for the group of us who volunteer with this county-wide reading program for 2nd and 3rd graders. It will be the first time back in school for us since March of 2020. I put it on my calendar and rearranged walking with a friend that morning to another day, so that I WILL go.
Joy - I suspect I'm writing around the same time as you, but hope all went smoothly yesterday at the dentist. I get all hiked up for any dentist visit and think I need some sort of reward other than it being over. Have your temps dropped a bit? Ours will when these storms move off.
OH guess we're heading now in a break from the rain. I said I don't want to be sliding down a makeshift ramp of plywood with lightning popping around me. (Trying to get these appliances in his truck...)
Last edited by nationalparker; 08-09-2022 at 12:17 PM.
I'm very happy with the permanent crown. It did require numbing -- I should have asked for more but didn't in the interest of expediency at the appointment plus fewer hours of dealing with numbness later in the day. Unfortunately, that made it too easy to justify a drive to a frozen custard place. That was Plan B, but it didn't serve me particularly well -- too many calories and I was hungry too soon after.
We have cooler weather today so I'm looking forward to a walk and/or yard work.
Today's challenge is a meeting with a school administrator bringing up a concern that surfaced at a school board meeting a couple of weeks ago. I asked for a meeting with three administrators and got a meeting with the equity guy. So, I'm working through how to express appreciation for the meeting that I got while also pointing out that this sends the message that equity work is for the equity guy. That's not how it works, and the district pays lip service to knowing that, but didn't follow through in this case (and it's not the first time I've noticed).
Week two on plan is going well. Half my salad fixings were suddenly missing but I was determined to still have it for lunch. It was still good with fewer ingredients and some oddball swaps.
I'm creating a small resistance at work with my example of not letting them steal my personal time. They try to push a certain number of home visits as a norm, even though it is impossible to do in an eight hour shift. I started using more assertive language and saying I can't work extra that day so one of the visits will have to taken off of my schedule. Another nurse spoke up and said something similar, so it's happening! Yay!
I'm off until my four day stretch over the weekend and going to enjoy my time. Tennis class tonight.
Joy, good luck with your meeting! Good job seeing through the bs.
Curly, I'm so glad I can duck in and out of my work office quickly. They were cutting into an entire bundt cake last time I went in. It looked so good!
Maryann, yes on the five pound goal. good luck getting the new students tamed for the year. lol
Nationalparker, one last trip doesn't sound too bad. The China study is what got me doing plant based but then I read it was debunked, but idk. I don't care. It has to be healthier. My colonoscopy and labs showed an improvement and that was the point.
Well, we stopped for Thai food on the way home, since we'd be home pretty late to start dinner. I am trying to take a credit for stopping partway through my meal, when I probably could have eaten in all (and ingested a LOT of calories) ... I caved easily to DH's suggestion to get takeout instead of pushing to just get home and I'd figure a quick meal. I feel a sense of failure. How many times have I said OK refocused. And then stray DAY ONE. ugh. Onward and forward. ... I'm tired of the "buts" ... I was doing good, but... I was on track, but ... These buts=bigger butt.
Penny - I had heard that about The China Study but couldn't find anything debunking it by a legit source vs. just various individuals' .com websites and who knows where they receive funding. (If you found a sound resource to delegitimize the research and conclusions, lead me to it I'm taking some of it and leaving the rest. I don't think I'm going to completely eliminate all oil and most nuts and avocado, like it calls for. I'm hoping by cutting it back a fair amount that I can skate by a bit I am enthusiastic to try many new recipes that I've found in a few cookbooks, but want to start with those that I have most of the ingredients already.
Wednesday - Foundation laid for the Royal Observatory (1675, Greenwich, London)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was gazpacho enjoyed on the patio because a one-minute rain burst had cooled off the day. The gazpacho included cherry tomatoes - we're overflowing and they're not that much fun in sandwiches, LOL. Watermelon for evening snack. One watermelon goes a long way around here. A flock of some 30 House Sparrows has gathered in our tiny front yard. We presume it's this year's crop of hatchlings. We've got enough vegetation in the back that we're serenaded throughout dinner. We tend to keep the patio umbrella up; not for protection from sun or rain, but from bird poop. Buzzing us seems to be their way of letting us know that we're in their territory.
Excitement was a trip to the supermarket. Quite standard. I wore a mask - almost so few of us that we could have waved as if recognizing members of an exotic cult. Bananas have taken a downward turn; they're just don't taste as good, have different labels, and don't come in the range of ripe to green that we need in order to purchase them only once for the week. First world problem, I know, but we do need a "nana" each Sunday for the DFGD's visit. One doesn't casually mess with the expectations of a two-year-old.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Neat that you're all crowned. That should be settled for life. Good luck fighting to make "equity" a broader concern than just to the designated equity guy. "Equity" is such a powerful word.
maryann - Congrats for getting back into the swing of teaching after the best summer ever. Love the notion that you're trying to inspire passion in those kids.
nationalparker – 26 different plant foods in one week seems like a lot to me. When you figure out microbiomes, let me in on the secret. LOL at "just drop it off when you can!"
curlyjax - Making tofu gnocchi and dancing seems like a proper recovery from "getting money sent hither and thither." Congrats for barreling through your financial stuff.
Penny. - Super Kudos for standing your ground that you can't be glibly overloaded. We see the social workers in the foster care system get swamped with stacks and stacks of cases. It's a daily chore for them to triage what kids to look after.
MommaMeli - Sending supportive thoughts your way.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 6Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan
challenging situation skills
After the Event
14. Weigh yourself tomorrow morning - no matter what! If you eat food you hadn't planned, you may be mightily tempted to skip your weigh-in the next morning. It's critically important to get on the scale every morning without fail and not to stick you head in the sand. Remember, when has not getting on the scale every morning helped you lose weight and keep it off?
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 137.
Credit for two salads yesterday. Demerit for accepting an ice cream sandwich that was practically pushed into my hand at work (they were trying to get rid of the last ones) and then eating too much later in the evening when I was hungry. Credit for pushing my social skills by hosting a meetup at a restaurant. Everyone had a good time although it was a bit too loud. Another organizer was there and seemed very wound up about how some people change their minds at the last minute, don’t show etc. We had 8 out of 10, I think that’s pretty good! After the things I’ve been through, I just can’t get worked up about that stuff. Nationalparker- I will click on that link later, cool idea. I kind of remember you doing the volunteer reading, great that you can get back into it. Had to giggle at these buts =bigger butt. I know, I keep going back to square one every day. Maryann- so nice to know you can retire any time now. Gardenerjoy-yay for a successful dental visit. Penny- yay for asserting yourself at work, great job! Bill-how lovely to be serenaded during dinner!
Kids come today. It is a "no backpack" day with a focus on getting to know you exercises and set a positive environment. I rewrote the "positivity" curriculum because it was deadly boring and not positive.
Weight is down a touch.
wave to all.
We're planning to get the Shingles vaccine today. Our doctor gives that advice at age 60, so I received that at last month's appointment. DH never got around to getting his, so we'll both get it done.
Exercise +50, 455/1600 minutes for August
curlyjax: One of my secrets to happiness in organizing is to always be happy with whoever shows up. The meeting that is meant to happen is the one that happens with these exact people in the room. That philosophy led to facilitating a book group that just had its 14th anniversary. Our book group is supposedly under an umbrella organization, but it only lasted a couple of years. The umbrella organization always wanted a thousand people to show up at their events and were disappointed to get a hundred. At the book group, we're happy if we get six people. Good for you for getting eight people out on a weeknight -- that's terrific!
maryann: I very much appreciate you making positivity both positive and interesting! Positivity is one of the things that I most wished I'd learned in high school, but I don't think psychologists were really working on that then.
Yesterday was on plan and weight continues to frustrate me with its slow progress.
My day was busy with kid clothes shopping, tennis class, and then salad fixing grocery shopping. My cheap store did not have a single crouton selection without dairy in it. I should make my own or just do without. It's the fun part of my salad.
My shipment of yarn came in so I'll work on finishing up my rug project today. It's getting close but will probably take several more days of work.
Nationalparker, that's good to know you couldn't find anything legit debunking the China Study. I don't have anything, it was just something I heard. Not that I really need a study to tell me the less processed the food, the better it is for health and longevity. I think the rural areas of China still ate meat too, it is just very small amounts.
Curly, 8/10 is a great turn out. Good for you, leading your own meet-up! I like Joy's group turnout outlook but it is a little frustrating when it whittles down to just me and the host. lol
Bill, I can totally see a future with us holdout maskers doing a little nod to eachother when spotted in the wild.
Maryann, that's funny the positivity program wasn't positive. It doesn't come natural to some. Good luck with your first kid day!
Waving at Karen. She must be having too much fun to check-in, hopefully.
Tuesday - Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden" (1854)
I'm taking some of it and leaving the rest. I don't think I'm going to completely eliminate all oil and most nuts and avocado, like it calls for. I'm hoping by cutting it back a fair amount that I can skate by a bit 
