[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Almost forgot that we'd changed our plans and I was back on the hook to fill the stockings for when the kids and their families come for dinner tonight. I was missing the gold coins for the toes. Despite the torrential rain, I offed myself to the bank expecting to deal with the mobs of people who put things off until the last minute. There was a parking space in their small lot. I was the only customer. The clerk did have to lock his drawer and retreat to the vault to get the tube of 25 gold $1 coins. Accepted cash - that was strange since they usually demand that I swipe my card so they know who they're dealing with. Home in the rain without pain. And dry because I wore a rain parka instead of a cold weather coat since it was 51 degrees F warm. Right now it's 11 degrees F downright cold.

Was successful ordering two more electronic gift cards for the two adult men. No one NEEDS anything, so gift cards at least allow them to choose. Grub Hub for the parents of the 2.5 yo; they're frequently just exhausted in the evening and love the thought of a restaurant sending them hot dinner after the toddler is in bed. I still have to "wrap" the two books that I have for DW. She'll be surprised because she asked for them so long ago that she's forgotten. Have an appointment with the butcher at a nearby supermarket to pick up the pot roast that'll cook for dinner; DW decided to drift away from the traditional ham or turkey.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - I join the crowd wondering if double-frozen cranberries works. Love the thought that you'll march out when it warms up to 7 degrees F.

maryann - Kudos for being in the same house as See's candy and not participating. Hope your mom is OK.

Karen (karenrn) - Good to have a weeks worth of shopping under your belt. Weather up in Washington state doesn't sound like it's improving since the first news item on my computer this morning was that the Seattle Tacoma and Portland airports had a zillion cancelled flights.

curlyjax - Sending cheerful support as you, once again, plow into all the emotions that come with Christmas. Ready to bake cookies are just right when all one wants is the cookies. Reminds me, DW just decided that this morning we'll pick up a tube of exploding rolls since that'll distract the two girls who might never have seen such a thing opened and popped into the oven to magically produce dinner rolls.

VertOlive - Sounds like you're facing the travils of Job all at once. What is a "Sea Turtle stun event."

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Create a Family Dinner Mindset

To help maintain your mature, adult mindset, read a Response Card such as the following:

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 154.

[curlyjax]

Work yesterday was fun and short. We didn't have any internet, so our boss let us go home early as we didn't have any clients either. I told 2 of my colleagues my tale of woe with DD, and they ended up leaving a bottle of Bailey's on my doorstep later in the day, which was so thoughtful. Especially since I got into another squabble with DD. My kids went out driving in the late afternoon which made me nervous and ticked off since I had told them the weather was bad and I didn't want anyone out driving. I did get the cut outs made and my favorite molasses with chocolate chip cookies as well. I relaxed by watching some episodes of Wednesday on Netflix- Wednesday Addams goes to a special boarding school for outcasts, its very fun. Thank goodness we didn't lose power/heat, I feel for all those who did. And it doesn't appear icy outside either.I have to run to Wegmans this morning to pick up our pre-made Christmas dinners for tomorrow, which will be a zoo but that's fine, all I care about is not having a treacherous journey there. Today I will finish frosting cookies, wrapping presents and possibly making one more dessert. I'm bringing salad and cookies to my widow friends house for Christmas Eve dinner which will be fun. We need to be around other people. Thanks for the support peeps, it is extra hard this year.
Bill-those exploding rolls will be so fun! yay for continuing the gold coin tradition for your adult offspring, I can assure you they appreciate it.
Maryann- I like your sentiments of kids learning from parent struggles, its true. yay for non scale victories.
Karen- glad to hear i'm not the only one who isn't in the christmas spirit hope your family travels safely.
VertOlive- glad you guys are okay, wow!
Gardnerjoy- my take is the cranberries will be fine since they'll only be frozen briefly. Wow, ice inside the windows is not fun.

[gardenerjoy]

We figured out about mid-day yesterday that the reason my office wasn't warming up was because the upstairs heating unit wasn't working at all. Oops.

I called our HVAC folks. We're not on the emergency list because the downstairs unit is functioning admirably. We'll get a service guy on Thursday. We believe it's just the emergency electric heater that has failed, but that's all that's available when it's this cold. As we warm up, we'll be able to use the heat pump, so we'll have a reasonable solution even before we see the service guy.

In the meantime, we did some experiments and figured out how to use a fan to get heat into my office, making it warm enough to use -- at least for indoor exercise, which is a requirement of my days.

That plus the predicted drips made the day a bit stressful and weird. I stuck to my extra snack plan of herbal tea and fruit (a yummy orange). CREDIT!

My dried cranberries were delivered to the door by a nice young UPS employee wearing several layers including a balaclava. So, I didn't need to go farther than the front step. Our warm-up is happening a little slower than I hoped. I'd planned to go to the grocery story on Tuesday, but now I'm hoping that we can make things stretch until Wednesday. I may have to get inventive about my salad the last couple of days.

Exercise +60, 1275/1700 minutes for December

VertOlive: Yikes! You definitely didn't need fire on top of the weather stresses.

[maryann]

Good Morning, Coaches.

Lots of NSVs. That is what I will focus on.:

Dressed for the gym in the morning and then finally got around to it by 4:00 pm.
Attended an OA zoom meeting with ladies from Liverpool.
Sat down and ate real meals rather than snacking. Meal included legumes.

Today:
Dressed for gym and will go by 11:00 a.m.
A different box checker breakfast.
Will track food.

Credit for the first stage of completing a project that has been hanging over my head for years. I had several different places where I put recipes for the last 20 years ( when I started cooking.) There is a recipe box, a binder, books with things written on the pages, and several electronic locations. I picked the 6 x 4 card box for a central place. It was given to me at my wedding shower so good memories. I threw out all the old index dividers which mean nothing to me. Formatted new ones and printed them out in cardstock I had. These reflect how I plan and eat: categories like Airfryer, Instapot, grains, smoothies and nuts. Then I threw out all the recipes for which I am searching new versions for favorite appliances. This will keep me cooking healthy despite my busy life. I formatted recipe cards using 4 x 6 photo paper that i never use because who prints phots anymore? An added bonus will be spill resistant. I finished transferring all hard copy recipes. Done. Today I will look through the electronic bookmarks and make a hardcopy of the much loved recipes. So satisfying.

Today is wrapping and Christmas movies with the boys. Have a wonderful Eve everyone.

[Penny.]

Merry Christmas, coaches!

I'm working through the holiday. Hanging on, stressed until my move happens in February. I realized I stopped going out and my online social activity has dropped off. Just working and reading, tv, and eating too much. Hope all is well with everyone.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. Our Christmas Eve celebration was splendid. It started with an bang when the DD and the (7 yo) DGD arrived just after the DGD threw up all over herself and the backseat of their car. The kiddo was devastated - although feeling great as a kid does immediately after losing all their problems, so to speak. First minutes of the party involved getting her coat into the washing machine and the DD taking her upstairs for a shower. Fortunately, the coat protected all her other clothes; she came down from her shower fresh and ready to party. Two cycles through the dryer got the coat back in shape. Our two adult kids brought wine and desserts - as negotiated in advance. I'd finally solved my stocking problem. I'd just bought too much stuff to fit and too heavy to hang. So I put a few light items in the stockings, including, of course, the five gold one dollar coins in the toe, and put the remainder in three shopping bags marked "Stocking Overflow 1, 2, and 3." When the time came to empty the stockings, the bags were emptied onto the coffee table; usually divided because there were exactly six of items like mangoes, and sometimes chosen for items less than six. It's a game we've played before.

The (2.5 yo) DFGD got a mini-scooter from us that she'd never seen ridden before. After a ten-second lesson from the DGD, she rode it around the house continuously. All the while wearing her super-girl cape - pink with a big heart on the back - a genius gift DW had found. I received Temple Grandin's new book, Visual Thinking, that interests me as a long-time Temple Grandin fan.

Eating was party high but bounded, CREDIT moi. Only one serving of dinner even as the two other men had seconds on the pot roast. Did have some of both desserts with caloric toppings. Yep, high but bounded. DW read The Night Before Christmas to the two girls with the DGD reading along with her. We never get tired of this human being breaking the code and knowing how to read. All left hugging each other. As we were cleaning up, pictures kept arriving from the DD and DDIL of killer cute pictures of the two girls thoroughly enjoying themselves.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Ouch for failed heating system when the temps are so low. Neat that you found a work-around to blow some heat where it's missing. So happy that the freeze-dried cranberries survived by virtue of a balaclava clad deliverer.

maryann - Great to consolidate recipes and so much stuff getting done.

curlyjax - It's so good to have someone else hear our tale of woe just to know that we're not insane. Wegman's is just the most fun shopping but hard to resist that everything looks so tasty.

Penny. - Sending supportive thoughts to survive your last month in transition. Such big changes carry big stress.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

family dinner skills Try the following strategies: . . .

Fortify your resolve before you go. Expect that this meal may be more difficult than normal and that you may have to work harder to stay in control.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 154.

[curlyjax]

Merry Christmas! I had a nice time making frosting and frosting cookies in the quiet of the morning yesterday. Then I braved Wegmans which took forever to pick up our premade foods because a zillion other people had the same idea, but it is so worth it today to not have to cook and clean up. I got my nap in, made Christmas crack and a salad and wrapped presents, including some silly things for myself. We had a nice time at my friends house- they had made ziti and garlic bread, and it was simple and perfect. My salad and cookie tray were much appreciated- I filled it in with some store bought cookies as well, and some chocolate coins, and I must say it looked nice. I'm more motivated to put some effort in when its going to someone else.
Today will be quiet and relaxing hopefully.
Bill-ugh, what a way to start a celebration. But glad it all worked out.How nice to have everyone under one roof. My mom didn't care about any holiday except Christmas, so we made it a priority to be there for that, and spent Thanksgiving and sometimes Easter with DH parents since everyone lives a distance away. kids make christmas so fun.
Penny- hang in there, that's a big stresser indeed. But will be so worth it.
Maryann- yay for NSVs and getting a project done. you always sound so productive. I should do the same, I rarely consult my handmade recipe book with so much on the internet now.
Gardenerjoy- glad you have some heat and smart to make indoor exercise a priority.

[gardenerjoy]

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating and happy Sunday to everyone!

I made a Waldorf salad, yesterday, to use ingredients we have in abundance -- apples, celery, walnuts, raisins -- while conserving the ingredient that I'm most worried that I'll run out of before I want to go to the grocery store again -- lettuce. It was yummy! CREDIT for thinking creatively about what I eat. I think I'll make it again today. We thought it was a festive touch for our lunch.

We'll have a Zoom call with some of DH's family. My brother and I will likely talk on the phone at some point -- which we do most Sundays, so not exactly for Christmas.

I'm embracing the otherwise quiet day with some food preparation for a festive meal and some planning and organizing activities that are more themed to the New Year than Christmas, but it works for me. Planning is my favorite thing, so getting to do it on Christmas is a gift to myself.

Exercise +65, 1340/1700 minutes for December

Penny: Thanks for being one of those who serve during the holidays.

curlyjax: I like your way of doing a festive meal.

BillBlueEyes: I'm glad DGD recovered rapidly to enjoy the festivities. The scooter and cape sounded so fun for DFGD.

maryann: Congrats on the recipe organization project. That's one that took me years to get to as well, but I've been happy with the system that I finally implemented a year or so ago.

Waving to karenrn, VertOlive, and anyone else who stops by today.

[maryann]

Happy Xmas,

Last night we had our time honored tradition of a bucket of KFC and It's a Wonderful Life.

This morning, the stockings are filled. Santa came. We will wake DS at 9:00 a.m. We will head to the big Christmas at this afternoon at the ranch with DH's side of family. That will last a few days. Lots of babies around. Yeah!

Weight is at a high. Drat!. I will not try to solve that problem today. I will enjoy the day without focusing on food,

Thinking of everyone

[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Merry Christmas! It seems most celebrate Christmas here. I've had a nice couple of days. Yesterday I hiked by myself and listened to a book and then a relaxing day. We had veggie pizza for dinner last night and then a cookie with ice cream for dessert. Tonight we're having pasta with mushrooms and asparagus and a salad with a cherry dessert and ice cream. I bought frozen sweet cherries by accident thinking they were the three berry mix I buy every week. I've had some of them in my oat meal, but I'm making a dessert today. We've kept to our plant based foods including the desserts, but richer than we typically eat which of course is fine for Christmas.

This morning I hiked with a couple of friends and had a good time. Lots of cheery people on the trail. It had been a little colder so I had on long pants, but we went at 9 and it was warmer today, so I was overdressed. It is 73 degrees here and will be again tomorrow. I am very thankful considering the weather in so many other places. We will have our bad weather in the summer when it's 115 degrees.

I had a nice zoom call with my youngest db and Sil. My middle brother that was hoping to get to Seattle didn't ever get there. They tried again today but Blewett Pass was a sheet of ice so they turned and went home again. I'm sure they are very disappointed, but better than being injured or killed in a car accident for sure.

Maryann A big Christmas with babies sounds really fun. Does dh have a lot of family?

GardenerJoy Waldorf salad sounds really good. I'll have to make it one of these days as it would work just fine on our food plan. Nice to be able to Zoom with family. It's better than just a phone call. When my brother called today, I almost answered as I was getting dressed after a shower. Luckily I saw it was Face Time and pulled my shirt on first.

Curlyjax The Ziti and garlic bread sounds like a tasty but easy meal. It is fun to put together a pretty tray of cookies. I used to make so many different kinds and it was fun to display them on the platters. I love frosted cookies, but really haven't made many of them. Do you do a lot of different shapes and things? I hope your day is going okay today. So many people I know are having a pretty quiet holiday this year, some of them unplanned due to travel problems.

Bill OMG your Christmas Eve sounds like so much fun. Especially with the caped wonder riding her scooter all around the house. I hope your dgd didn't have a bug that some of you caught later.

Penny Thinking of you as you hang in there just over a month more. It's been awhile and I'm sure it will be better to be in your own place.

VertOlive I hope things are better for you than it was when you posted the other day. No power, cold and a fire sounds scary.

Well I guess I'll find my dinner and dessert recipes and get started.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Such a quiet Christmas Day since our celebration was the day before. Quiet but cold down into the low teens F degrees. Took a walk with DW, CREDIT moi, for two hours around a favorite walking path. Expected to see few birds. We saw few birds. Except for a pair of Mute Swans doing their standard thing of eating all the food that the ducks need before the pond freezes over. However gorgeous, we're not fans of Mute Swans because they drive away the other water fowl. Was good to see a few folks out in the cold - far fewer than on a warm day. Spent time noticing how different folks dressed: one lady was layered and bundled sufficient for an Arctic expedition; two teenagers with their parents were wearing spring jackets with their hands in their pockets since they likely weren't wearing gloves. I so fondly remember when my Mitochondria were all working full blast.

Eating was on plan for meals, CREDIT moi. Dinner was a repeat of the pot roast with baked winter vegetables, with a side dish of green beans added. Pot roast must be the best re-heatable food of all. Unfortunately, DW says that she'll try to buy a smaller one next year to avoid two meals of leftovers. I was thinking that buying a larger one would give us four meals of leftovers. Mixed marriage, to be sure.

Spent some time sitting on the couch near the Christmas tree just enjoying it while reading my other new book Atlas of the Heart by Brenι Brown. Apparently, I'm the only person on planet Earth who hasn't listened to her TED talks. The book grabs quickly, especially since it can be read a page at a time.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Waldorf salad is such a good compromise when the lettuce is in short supply. Yay for thinking of your Christmas time as a gift to yourself.

maryann - LOL at the thought of having to wake your DS for Christmas morning. By 9 am we'd already received pictures of both of the grands busy under their Christmas trees. KFC and It's a Wonderful Life is such a neat tradition.

Karen (karenrn) - Ouch for the continued snow blockage up Seattle way. Having to turn around twice when trying to visit family is a bummer, indeed. We had the thought about the DGD possibly having a bug that we'd all catch but her mom felt sure it was due to too much junk food. We'll see.

curlyjax - Ziti and garlic bread with salad and a cookie tray sounds like the right level of complexity for a meal. I can imagine that Wegmans got backed up.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

family dinner skills Try the following strategies: . . .

Be assertive. Do what you need to do, Nicely say, "No, thank you," if someone pushes food or drink on you. Change the subject if someone starts talking about your eating, weight, or appearance, and you would rather not discuss it.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 154.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan yesterday but higher calorie than usual. The pasta dish was delicious and so was the dessert. There was plenty of pasta left over and I put several portions in the freezer for dh to eat when I'm in Thailand. It might not be great, but he'll be happy to have it. I've got a number of things in the freezer for him. I'll take an inventory before I leave and do a semi big grocery shop so he won't have too much to deal with.

I'm planning to walk with dh this morning. I think he kind of likes to go alone, but hopefully this once we can go together. I really don't have any plans for the day. It's going to be a beautiful day and pretty nice tomorrow too before we have some much needed rain on Wednesday.

I'm glad to get back to being more careful about food. Weight jumped up 3 pounds in the last couple of days. I need to lose at least 2 1/2 to be under last years Jan 1st weight. I will do it.

Bill I think I listened to Atlas of the Heart a bit ago. I know my dh was a big fan of pot roast. I'm a big fan of meals with plenty of leftovers so I would go with the bigger roast.

Waving to everybody. Are any of you crazies going shopping?

[curlyjax]

Happy Boxing Day! Best part of Christmas was a whispered conversation with DS about some of his plans/ideas for the near future, while DD slept. It was great to hear what was on his mind for the summer and beyond. Opening of presents and stockings dragged on a bit,many cookies were consumed. The premade meals from Wegmans were good - I had ham which satisfied my yearning for it, with just the right amount. I ended the day watching the newest Call the Midwives which was lovely.
Today I'm hoping for a walk with a friend-if not, i'll go myself, and back to Wegmans for more groceries. I need to return a rental nursing book to Amazon before the 29th, so that is a priority, and then in the next few days mail a late present to my brother, and exchange a sweatshirt for DS-I forget how big his torso is. So we'll see what gets done. I may end up taking off a day during the week to get things done around the house.
Karen-I forget when you're going to Thailand. Great to start planning for it.

[gardenerjoy]

Our quiet Christmas went as planned. We even enjoyed a Christmas rom-com -- Your Christmas or Mine on Amazon Prime. There are lots of Christmas rom-coms that wouldn't work for both of us, but that one did.

I ate more than necessary and woke up with a tummy ache. It improved quickly but is a good reminder that my normal food plan works for me in all kinds of ways. Best to just stick with it.

Exercise +45, 1385/1700 minutes for December

BillBlueEyes: I currently have Atlas of the Heart checked out of the library. I listened to it as an audio book last year and it's a terrific experience, but I didn't retain much. The physical book is beautiful.

karenrn: I'll see if DH wants to walk today. It's been several days but I'm not sure that he'll deem the weather and road conditions good enough.

curlyjax: I've got the new Call the Midwife on my list of things I'd like to watch this week. I enjoyed watching the King's first Christmas speech on YouTube yesterday.

[maryann]

Happy Boxing Day Indeed!

The morning was spent opening a few gifts and playing chess with DS. I am so excited we finally have a game all three of us enjoy. DS has taken a new interest in it. I will subscribe to Chess,com and start taking lessons. DH and I need to develop common interests as well. Also, DH expressed an interest in pickleball. So I will try and put together some league info as well.

Yesterday I was knee deep in babies and that will double tonight. So fun to play with them. Thankfully, all my nieces and nephews allow us to scoop them up. It is a free for all. . By this afternoon we will have a total of 50 down at the ranch. I will be staying down there for three nights. Then I will head down to my side of the family in Pismo beach. A more moderate gathering in the teens..

Food was rich and weight is two pounds above ticker. I didn't worry about it too much. This is ot the week to solve my food plan. The goal is to avoid making myself sick and disappointed with my self. Add healthy will be my motto. I will yoga today. My BIL has a new huge chair massager that I was tempted to buy. DH says it is too big for the house. I have a suspicion I will get as much relief from yoga. I will do yoga today.

I have been mediating a little on unconditional love. I worry too much about DS. He is in many ways emotionally immature and though he craves friends doesn't really know how to develop long term friendships. At the party last night he socialized for a while with cousins and then creeps off with his phone. I know he wants to hang with the older crowd but doesn't "make it happen" almost deliberately not making himself available. So many of my friends have far different issues with their 20 somethings - behavior/ addiction issues, launch issues, difficult mate issues. DS is "performing well" but is he happy? I told him to help his dad with some new technology and he seemed completely incapable of step by step teaching in a giving manner . I scolded him ( which never happens) for deliberately messing with his Dad and producing additional tension rather than being helpful. DS just laughed and shut down. Sigh.

My Part: Acceptance is the answer to all my problems. I am grateful DS is completely capable of figuring things out. He possess the three most important capabilities to happiness: He can love, he can laugh and he can work ( be "of service") Not everybody has those three capabilities. He is free to choose hi life. For my part, I will gratefully accept the love and consideration he gives to his father and me. He is generous with his time, affection and thoughts. That is huge.Thank you for letting me process. These fears are the real reason I over eat.I turn to food when I can not turn it over to a higher power.

Karen: So wonderful for a Christmas hike. I am glad you went walking with DH.
Curly: those precious moments with DS are what make Christmas special.
Joy: Does a Waldorf salad have mayo. I can't do that but I can do whip cream.
Penny: Thank you for checking in. My thoughts are with you through this difficult transition period.