Yesterday I cleaned up my office and did some thinking with coworkers about how we could utilize our file cabinets and some storage. I miss the clients this week but I love the quiet. For the first time in eons I did not eat anything sweet at work, and reminded myself sternly to stay on program. Last night I made healthy salmon and green beans but did get into the cookies, which are fortunately diminishing in numbers. DD woke me up at 2 am because there was someone walking thru our backyard. I saw them shining a flashlight as they went thru the woods beyond it. not sure what they were doing but they disappeared. The kids were quite freaked about it and wanted me to call the police. I stated-and say what, someone walked thru our yard and they're gone now? But then I was awake quietly worrying,a bout what I don't know. This morning I'm fine. Suburban excitement!
Karen- I have a Rav 4 and its doing great, knock on wood-its probably 8 years old. I also have a honda crv which I also like. The newer cars have great safety features.Yes, you want to get a price for the car first, then figure out financing separately, and if you don't get a good price for that you can say you'll pay cash. It's a good time to buy as they'll want to get rid of their 2022 stock. You could contact the dealers online and see who offers you the best deal.
Bill-interesting they want to deliver prescriptions. I agree with you -if you can pick them up easily, why not.
Maryann- I agree, online makes things easier for caregivers. My dad gets his meds done by a nurse every two weeks otherwise he will fixate on them.
Gardenerjoy- great indeed you can afford the heat fix.
DH made popcorn to go with a movie last night. CREDIT for keeping my consumption quite small. I used to rush to get my share. This time my competition was to make sure that I ate less than he did.
I can recommend the new movie version of Lady Chatterley's Lover, with the warning that it would have been rated X a couple of decades ago. It's easy to see why the book was banned in Boston. Gorgeous film, though, and an interesting story about classism and about female empowerment.
Just a quick check in. Food was on plan, but weight up a bit anyway. I hiked a new trail with some friends this morning and it was really great. It is a gray cool day and I'm ready for the sun again. It looks like it may be a few days and even some more rain on Sunday and Tuesday.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Surprise event: the (7 yo) DGD spent the night last night. An unexpected surprise due to some window work being done at her house. She arrived all wound up ready to go. Got impatient because her mom chatted with us at the front door - imagine that. But it was cutting into her grandmom time. So, our DD left to live her own free life and our tornado began. My burst of time came; the DGD asked me to guess what her favorite subject was in school. "It's math; I'm good at it." Just makes my heart soar that a young girl is allowed to believe that she's good at math. I asked her some simple problems. Moved on to giving her a pencil and pad of paper. For three pages she'd write the problem I'd ask then write the answer. Then carefully gathered the pages, "I'll show these to my mom." But before that, she read them all to DW excitedly retelling each problem as if it were a puzzle that she'd solved. Most proud: "Add 999 and 1; it's 1000." Just love watching her young brain gain mastery over the magic of numbers. She found a red marker and wrote a circled A+ on each sheet. Ouch! She's only in the First Grade and already dedicated to the adrenaline of teacher's markings on her sheet of paper.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Fortunately our freezer now stores the exact brand of frozen meatballs that she likes and we like also. With, of course, broccoli since she's a broccoli monster. And sliced Red Bell Peppers for her since that's the 'salad' that she'll eat.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - I just watched the trailer forLady Chatterley's Lover - without permission of the Boston City Council even. Striking scenery. So captures the house and grounds that I'd love live in. Such an education to be reminded what was totally unacceptable in a movie or book not so long ago. Congrats for converting your competition to staying your own plan.
Karen (karenrn) - Amazing that you always find a new trail. We, too, are facing some warm days.
curlyjax - Yay for some healthy salmon. Your backyard story reminds me that my childhood yard was a seriously desirable shortcut that'd save a three-block walk around. It was just accepted that folks used it night and day - even if we were sitting or playing outside. A level of courtesy and acceptance of days of yore that's neat to remember.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 6Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan
Confidently Follow Your Plan During Holidays
Holidays are difficult. Some of the difficulty is practical. We run around, we have less time, we're exposed to food at every turn. Some of the difficulty is psychological and requires a mindset change.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 155.
Happy New Year's Eve Day! Very light day at work which was fun. 2 staff brought in their doggies for a playdate (since the boss wasn't there, shh!) and they were adorable. Then I went to get one of my car's sticker done which I had been charged for while I was getting my but they forgot to change the sticker. DD is being paranoid about being alone at night after yesterday, so I'm probably having my friend here for dinner and movie instead of going to her house. which means i'm going to have to do some major cleaning up.
Wave to all and hope you all have a nice new years eve in whatever form you spend it!
My big plan for New Year's Eve is to watch the fireworks in London on YouTube, livestreamed by the BBC. That's at 6pm, my time -- a much more reasonable hour for a party, in my opinion.
Good Morning, Coaches. Still in Pismo. A little down this morning. I feel like a fool letting my younger brother chum me into a very painful disagreement. I should know better. His has always dealt in the currency of conflict just like my Dad. Dad wandered around an entire morning trying to pick a fight. I dodged all that. I must have been to worn down. I am trying to retrace my mistake. I think at the end of the night I tried to get into people pleasing "entertaining" conversation with the whole group. My normal tactic these days is only talk to one or two at a time. I said how grateful I was DS takes after my brothers with their slim build. DH's side is very heavy. My brother started on there was no genetic advantage to being thin, it is calories in /calories out, etc. . . It is completely not true. I have done tons of research. In any case, I refused to backdown, he starts yelling that I am completely wrong, I make the fatal mistake of using myself as an example and then it became personal. Everyone makes a mad dash to the door, I say something ridiculous like "none of you were 200 pounds at 16 so please don't try and give me any advice." The ironic thing is DH guards me usually like a pitbull but I sent him down to visit a friend in a town two hours away which he really enjoyed.
So. . . . silver linings:
DS held my hand in the car on the way to the hotel. He gave me lots of hugs and said it wasn't me. He hates to see how my family upsets me.
I can choose to go back to watch the game or I can choose not to go.
My little sis (who left early and who also would have come to my side) sent a text this morning of support.
Bottom line. I do not have to overeat over this. I have more than enough love and gifts in my life. I can feel compassion for those who are mentally ill. The brother that attacked me had a domestic violence charge on him and he could not raise his only daughter. I am lucky.
Karen: Gosh I wish you lived an hour from me and would take me on a hike.
BBE: Love your DGD is a math aficionado. Keep up the support.
Joy: Sounds like a great evening of banned books and popcorn.
Curly: Yeah for no sweets at work. I will start that when I go back on January 3.
Food was a little off plan yesterday cause I had a couple of beers, but weight is a little lower. I need to be down a bit more by tomorrow so that I am not any higher than last year's weight but we'll see. It will be close. I got out for a nice hike alone this morning and listened to a book. I'm finishing with taking down Christmas today and dusting and putting the other decorative items back in place. It doesn't take too long and I did half of it yesterday.
I just received a book I ordered from Amazon called The Proof is in the Plants by Simon Hill. I listen to his podcast sometimes but his voice is such a monotone that I don't care for it. I listened to a Chef AJ YouTube yesterday with Dr. Stephan Guyenet who wrote The Hungry Brain. He is involved with a group who do reviews of diet/nutrition type books called Red Pen Reviews. The Simon Hill book was highly rated so I decided to purchase it.
Maryann Sorry about the family disagreement. I guess there is both the good and the bad of getting together with family. I wish you lived nearby too. Hiking is such a good thing for both the physical exercise and the head clearing. I always feel so good after a hike. I'm going to keep track of my hikes this next year to see how far I go and include the elevation gain.
GardenerJoy We'll probably have a similar New Year's Eve, but we haven't even decided yet. I know we're staying home. My husband has always called it amateur night but we used to have parties. I had a memory come up on FB from 12 years ago and we had 3 bottles of Verve Cliquot champagne on the table along with some others. I must have been feeling flush in those days.
Curlyjax Having company is always a good motivator for a quick clean up. What movie are you going to watch?
Bill Your little dgd sounds like a firecracker with lots of confidence. That's a good thing. You were up extra early today I noticed. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. I checked the thread and you had already posted. I needed a short nap, maybe you did too.
I need to write a list of not resolutions exactly but things I want to focus on a little more again or this year. I've been thinking of them when I hike, but haven't written them down. I hope you all have a good New Year's Eve and are ready for a fabulous New Year!
Another password kerfluffle, but back again. I saw someone here mention a book called Target 100 and spent the last 2 days reading it. Somehow it gave me a toehold for thinking about the coming year. Though even 6 categories seems a lot, I picked a couple easy ones to try. Today is the first day of attempting to take in 100 ounces of water. That's quite a load for an old lady's prolapsed bladder but it is getting me off the couch a lot on my day off! I'm also trying the 4 day Breakfast Experiment suggestion to examine whether my habit of no breakfast is really the best choice for me. On Day 1 of that as well.
Our cold spell has broken and we're back up to 74 degrees this evening. Our local State Aquarium rescued 254 cold-stunned sea turtles (many of them our local endangered Kemp's Ridley turtles) and they have already been mostly released. A cold-stun even happens when temperatures drop so low (about 55 dg F) that the sea turtles become lethargic and cannot swim to eat or to escape danger; they are also more vulnerable to pneumonia. The Aquarium, local residents, and the Coast Guard gather them up and place them in the "Turtle Warehouse" to recover and then release them when they've perked up again. It's a big deal here.
Back in January I had ordered a new harp and it has finally arrived. It is splendid! The sound fills the house and it's simply stunning to look at. I have uploaded a stock photo.
Thank you all for being here-may 2023 be all the best we could hope for.
Saturday - New Year's Eve
