Another busy day at work. There is leftover halloween candy around and i got into it again. I'm writing myself a "stay on plan" card today. My dad called to say he couldn't find the checkbook and I reassured him a few times I had taken it and was going to handle the bills. I had a very good appointment with my therapist; I need to write up my notes from that and start using her language. I have been saying things that are too judgy, and enabling some of the bad conversations.Then I voted and went to my line dancing class. It's such fun and so great to focus only on that for an hour. I treated myself to watching tv for awhile after and not dealing with anything.
Today is oil change after work, then pack, pay bills and prep for another trip to my dad's tomorrow.
Karen- good luck with DH's back issues, its great you have some good contacts
Maryann- glad some things are ruled out about the bleeding.
Today will be day three on plan and I need to go to the store for more salads to make that happen.
My sore throat has expanded up to my ears a bit. Covid test negative still.
Curly, that's good your dad is still able to call you.
Karen, I hope the back pain consultation is helpful. That must be miserable for him.
Bill, now I'm curious about dried figs. My fig eating experience is limited to fig newtons. DS's car is great! I'm kinda jealous of it since my little Yaris has no conveniences- crank windows even. lol well, it is automatic but no "beep beep" to unlock it, and it has a drip inside when it rains. It was cheap, though!
We've had quite the morning dealing with a dead truck to beat a deadline of a dentist appointment at 10am. We managed to get it going with jumper cables so that we could drive it somewhere to get the battery replaced. I just had enough time to gobble down breakfast before going to the dentist.
Now, I'm home and having a hard time figuring out how to make the rest of the day work. While typing this, I decided that my energy is better suited to preparing for a couple of meetings and getting ready to go to the grocery store than it is to writing. So, that's what I'm going to focus on for a couple of hours.
Maybe later, I'll feel like writing.
Here's my reminder that there's still a lot of month left and that food and worry don't increase wordcount.
Exercise +65, 425/1700 minutes for November
Wordcount +306, 16321/50,000 words for November
BillBlueEyes: I had a friend running for US congress. She lost by about 2%. Heartbreaking. But apparently, I awoke in a state where I could comfort myself with a joint. Well, I suppose it will be a while before I can buy one from a legal outlet. I haven't paid much attention to how all of that is supposed to work.
Food was on plan yesterday and weight holding. We went out to dinner with some friends and I found hummus with pita and veggies on the menu which was pretty good. I stayed up way too late watching the election returns and then woke up very early this morning. I decided I could take the day off from exercise today. I took Otis for a good walk and then shopped at Costco and then the regular grocery store. As it is every week the fridge is full with so much produce and I'd better get busy and use it. I did have some air popped popcorn for an after lunch snack and then took a short nap. We are waiting here to see how the election really turns out as the votes aren't all counted yet. I know however it turns out I need to focus on other things and not let it produce anxiety and anger in me.
Dh just heard back from the surgeon. His appointment is 4/25. Holy moly that is a long time. The guy must be good.
GardenerJoy I'm sorry about your friend. I can't imagine how much work it is to run for office and to lose would be very hard.
Penny Congratulations on day 3. I hope you start to feel better soon.
Curlyjax I'm so glad you have the counselor to speak with. I'm sure it must be helpful to have the suggestions for the best ways to help your Dad. How are you doing on the line dancing. Is it getting easier?
Bill We'll have to continue to wait for the Arizona results. The races are very close. Secretary of State looks pretty good, so I feel pretty good about that one. I'm glad you were able to go to bed and not worry about yours. Congrats to your state for electing your first woman governor.
Maryann I'm glad you got good news at your gyn appointment. That would be a stressor for sure. It is a bit difficult to try to be on a food plan while prepping for a colonoscopy. At least they don't occur very often; thank goodness.
Congratulations, Everybody. It is a quiet day after an election. Although I may not agree with all the results, I am blessed to be in a country without tanks and guns outside my window in a coup. That is at least what I told my 16 year olds. I showed them the disputed election maps and they looked bored out of their skulls. I screamed in their ears "Be grateful you are bored!!!!! No one is bored in the Ukraine." Then I made them memorize one of my Gratitudes "I am thankful for those who gave some and keep in my heart those who gave all." They will have to repeat it to me before they leave for Veteran's Day weekend. I have decided to put my gratitudes on their final. Today's was "Three Cheers for a fair and safe election."
Credit for Target 1 and 3. Breakfast was much smaller because of the no fiber issue and yet I was very full. 100 oz of water is easily done by 2:00. That saves getting up in the middle of the night.
I was reading the habits book by Wendy Wood. It is not thrilling but two ideas really struck me.
1. Obesity is like Type 1 Diabetes. It can be managed but never cured. Wow!!!! That is what a past president of Weight Watchers said. As I think about it, I think it is true for me. When I am at a healthy weight, I am simply in remission and unless I do the things necessary to maintain the healthy weight, I will again suffer from the effects of the disease. I have never couched it in those terms but having been obese as a young girl, I can truly say I will never completely recover from the damages my obesity has caused when I consider the extra fat cells I grew that will never go away and damage to my brain chemistry that was altered early on (which now releases hormones that fight any weight loss) . I don't really feel negative about it. In fact, now that I feel I have a path forward, I am grateful that there is a way for me to escape the worse effects. Diabetics are not so lucky.
2. 43% of my life is run by habit. What !!! That means 43% of my food behavior runs on subconscious habit. I have made food choices I wasn't even conscious nearly half the time. Abandoning healthy decisions to my conscious brain will never get me where I need to go. I need to have 43% healthy habits to give me a fighting chance in the battle of weight loss. This makes sense considering the incredible failure rates of all diets. The water habit is a great start as is a simple breakfast. habit I have put a 50 ounce tumbler of water near my toothbrush. As soon as I brush my teeth in the morning, I down 8 filtered ounces. It was a hassle before. Walk into the kitchen to get filtered water. Walk back to finish getting ready. By the time I get into the kitchen, I don't want water, I want coffee. The tumbler will last me a week. Target 100 talks about recognizing barriers and solving them. I get a gold star on this one.
Karen: LOL that to you a no exercise day includes dog walking and shopping. I am not so angelic. Any motion is going into a bucket of minutes Penny: 3 days OP is huge. The joke in our department is they are ready to buy a positive test in order to get 5 days off paid. Curly: what a gift you are to your father. You should also write that on a card and remember all the good you do. Joy: I am sorry your friend didn't win.The legalization of marijuana terrifies me. BBE: I am already worried about turkeys. I have never hosted a T-Day. I am thinking I'll just get a rotisserie chicken with the more traditional sides.
Second check-in. The day is a success but I can feel some vulnerability setting in. No no no! I'm forcing my sick, masked self out the door for my final guitar class at the community college. It was a pretty great class, and I don't want to miss the handouts.
Thursday- Uncensored "Lady Chatterleys Lover" sells in the UK as not obscene (1960)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - The horror exposed in my class on Information Theory was the recent story of an English solicitor, Sally Clark, who was convicted in 1999 of the murder of her two infant sons. The prosecutor argued that it was beyond statistically possible for one mother to lose a second infant for what we now call SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) for any reason other than murder. Took spending two years in prison before it was revealed that the second son had a pulmonary infection that tends toward SIDS and her conviction overturned. Sadly, as a broken woman, she died from alcohol poisoning several years after release. We studied the case as a misapplication of statistics. The case moved one of the retired doctors in our class to research SIDS. Found that it isn't a specific disease; there is no symptom or test that shows that it was the cause. "SIDS is a name for a real event that the medical profession is still trying to understand," he suggested. The absolute human horror wasn't discussed since this was a class on statistics. But just WOW!
Eating was on plan at meals, CREDIT moi. Snacking was reduced, but not the zero level planned. Breakfast heroically consisted of slices of a nut-fruit-bread from the freezer that DW purchased on a whim at least a month ago. It contains all the good stuff one would like in a bread but just doesn't light a spark. It's got too much stuff in it to eat with a meal but isn't sweet as would make it a dessert. So I'll eat a few slices for breakfast every now and then until I free up the space in the freezer.
Great success, CREDIT moi, was resetting the three thermostats in our three-story, three-zone heated house. Their timers have to be changed with each switch of daylight savings time. The challenge was that I bought these way back when the very notion of individually timed thermostats was new. They have that old style complexity of changing settings of early Japanese products. I can celebrate that I've saved a fortune by using the same thermostats for so long. And I can celebrate that I get to exercise my brain and my up-close small-print vision twice a year. Or, perhaps, I can celebrate that I have heat and just quit my whining.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for being so swift that you did a jump start and battery install without being late to the dentist. Ouch for the close loss by your friend. Happy new right to smoke that which we used to not even be able to say. You can buy some from a shop within walking distance from my house; never been in there.
maryann - Thanks for the perspective, "No one is bored in the Ukraine." I took your lead to be grateful that I had heat instead of grousing that I had to reset the thermostats.
Karen (karenrn) - Always good to have a full fridge. Yes, we have our first Massachusetts woman governor. And, we still have a bunch of folks who are quite concerned because she's one of THOSE L-word women and that might rub off on their children.
curlyjax - It's eye-opening that you need to keep reminding your dad that you took his checkbook. Hard to believe that each thing that you take you have to leave a RED colored card stating that you have it. Maybe with a picture of it. Also eye-opening that we're all headed there.
Penny. - Kinda nice to have a car that doesn't go BEEP BEEP all the time. I once got up to go potty when we were in a very quiet campground and my car noticed that I walked by with its key fob in my pocket and loudly went BEEP BEEP to let me know that it "saw" me. Didn't dare turn off the key fob because it would loudly BEEP BEEP that it had happily turned off as I requested. As I expected, it saluted me with BEEP BEEP when I walked back to my tent. I've never read in a guide to camping that one needs to turn off their key fob before turning in for the night.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 6Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan
Special Advice for Buffet Restaurants
When you practice the art of buffet eating, do the following: . . .
Walk around the buffet before putting anything on your plate, reminding yourself of your pre-planned options.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 149.
I thought I'd better check in before I get out of here in case I'm busier later. I did have an unplanned snack yesterday, but it was air popped popcorn which usually has been okay. I'm heading out to hike the Peralta Trail to Fremont Saddle in the Superstitions. It's just a moderate hike but very beautiful and it's one of the six on our 6 Peak Challenge so we'll have one completed. It is a bit cooler out there so I've got layers with me.
I'll post personals when I get home if time permits.
Yesterday was on plan and weight is coming down. I'm still getting by on Nyquil but hoping to start feeling better soon. It seems to be one of those illnesses that drags out. My two school kids each missed about five days. Hopefully the 11yo is feeling up for the saturday Owl talk at the nature preserve he signed up for.
Bill, interesting about the extra beep beep on your key fob. It probably doesn't come up enough to want to change a setting but that does sound annoying in a campground.
We're feeling lucky that the truck saga ended in a day and with fewer than 300 dollars.
I had a morning meeting followed by a grocery trip. We were out of cottage cheese and milk, two things that our kitchen requires. I rarely let us run out of those, so I think I may have to admit that NaNoWriMo is taking a bit more of my brain power than would be acceptable most of the year. I always have a fantasy in November that I could make this work all year, but that's probably not the case.
I did manage to write a little first thing this morning, already beating my wordcount for yesterday. I have the afternoon cleared for writing, so I'm hoping to partially catch up to where I want to be. Up until yesterday, I was averaging 2000 words a day which would get me to 60,000 words in November. Having a secret goal that overshoots helps me get to the stated goal.
I'm trying to prepare myself for a big shock in the weather. We've had an unusually warm fall. But it ends today with a high in the mid-70s. We'll have highs in the 40s for foreseeable future. I'll follow others' lead here and be grateful for our functioning heat system. And, also, for weather that invites coziness and layers of soft comfy clothes.
Exercise +45, 470/1700 minutes for November
Wordcount +648, 16969/50,000 words for November
Last edited by gardenerjoy; 11-10-2022 at 06:28 PM.
I am currently eating gummy bears after having separated out the red ones.. My colonoscopy is tomorrw. In a short two hours, I must begin he siege.. Blick. Oh well. I have Friday off so that is good.
Obviously food plans have to put on hold. I am setting the intention however that I will hop right back into tomorrow while I am resting up after the procedure.
I have started using my incredibly simple pedometer. All it does is count steps. It is on a carabiner that attached to my shoelaces. When I wear other types of shoes it will go on my waist. I can't stand anything on my wrist. Pretty neat to think that a short day at school is nearly 4,00 steps.
Second check-in: went a little overbudget today with extra grapes and adding the fake chicken to my lunch salad, but protein was higher than what I usually get.
Maryann, good luck with the prep tonight. Fingers crossed everything checks out good.
Friday - Veterans Day: Since 11/11/1918 "War to end all wars"
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Made a useful decision that reflected that I can respect my time. For an odd reason, I have to read from The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins before next week's class on Information Theory. (Because evolution by Natural Selection depends heavily on sexual reproduction and the statistics of what one is likely to inherit is grist for our mill.) Found, thanks to a good library network database, a copy available in the library located in the far side of an adjacent town. Was planning how to get there avoiding traffic and the like while still managing some other errands. Then realized that I could have it at my front door the next day just by pressing the button on Amazon and not spend my afternoon trying to park at a library that I don't know. Pushed the button. I just tracked the package; it arrived at the Amazon warehouse an hour's west of here at 2 am this morning and will get to my house later today. I do love flashy technology. The good news is that owning a copy is what I need since I want to read the whole book. It's been on my list forever. And I can afford to buy an inexpensive paperback which I can stick in a curbside library after I'm done if I admit that I've run out of room to store books.
Fun trip to our local computer/electronics store looking for a new wrist pad that's the right size for my new laptop. My old one sticks out three inches. My desk is small and I covet the space. Just love walking about in a geek-heaven store. I want one of each. The immediate draw was a FREE 32 GB flash drive because I'm on their mailing list for nerds with a credit card. I'm so old that the notion of a 32 GB flash drive (thumb drive) makes me happy and the thought of being able to own one is shear delight. I own several - they only cost a few dollars. They're great for gathering a large bunch of photographs to bring somewhere.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yes, an automobile saga that ends costing less than $300 is a win in my book. It is interesting that writing takes a chunk of brainpower. While I was on Amazon, they said that I could get 3 books for the price of two so I pushed the button for The Bluest Eye and another. I do miss dawdling about in a physical library standing in front of, say the Toni Morrison section, fondling all eleven of her novels and selecting which one I wanted to read next. Knowing the other others would be there after I'd finished this one.
maryann - It is pretty amazing how many steps teaching takes. Good luck with your colonoscopy prep.
Karen (karenrn) - I do like the names of your mountains and trails. Would you kindly count your ballots so that some other news appears on the front page of my newspapers, LOL.
Penny. - Hope that Nyquil is sufficient to cure whatever has you by the throat.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 6Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan
Special Advice for Buffet Restaurants
When you practice the art of buffet eating, do the following: . . .
As you plate your food, give yourself credit for choosing foods that are on your plan.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 149.
Quick wave. I had a wierd bout of dizziness yesterday morning and spent the day in bed, took long nap, felt better. now its back again. Sometimes I get this out of the blue but it usually lasts only a day. Hopefully it will resolve itself. I'm wondering if its caused by underlying stress about my dad's situation, etc. More later!
Friday - Veterans Day: Since 11/11/1918 "War to end all wars"
