[maryann]

Good Evening, Coaches.
Wow! what a day.

I braved the storm down the hill for about an hour. Cars were slipping and sliding all over. Then I thought I forgot to close the garage door. Poor DH went back to close it - an hour and a half one way. Turns out it was closed. Sheesh. The 60th party was great but I over socialized. I compensated by eating huge amounts of frosting. Sigh.

So to relax I practiced pack for Italy. I want to just bring an "under the seat" roll on and my backpack purse. I started with a capsule wardrobe template. Here is the final product: https://ibb.co/N1R6F8V. When I got home and I packed it into the suitcase and it fit like a dream. I will be wearing the bulkiest items on the plane Success. I'll unpack it tomorrow and wash everything.

Penny: yeah for moving forward. I hope the next month sees you with more peace and progress.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - The (2.5 yo) DFGD blew in with the DS and DIL; "blew in" and never stopped running for the entire visit. For a period I chose to be the person who chased her around the loop of rooms on our first floor. She'd end each loop in a burst of giggles in DIL's lap then take off again. I did it so that DIL could have a visit with DW in the kitchen. Frequently, she arrives here and then is commandeered by the DFGD the full time anyway.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with still too many daytime snacks. Dinner was a bean soup from the recipe on the package of Bob's Red Mill 13-bean soup mix. DW added smoked paprika for a nifty flavor. We're a great pair to eat together: DW hates Lima beans; I adore Lima beans. Since we're eating along, she just plucks them out of her bowl and plops them into mine. We might have wandered out of the range of acceptable behavior for going to a restaurant, LOL.

Continue to read about the Ancient Near East. Finally caught on to the obvious. From the point of view of England, the Near East was the Ottoman Empire right there beginning at the edge of the Mediterranean. From the point of view of England, the Far East was where China met the Pacific Ocean. The Middle East was between those, perhaps including India and Pakistan. The term "Near East" has been replaced with "Middle East" - as we think of it today. The obvious that I had missed was that it'd be from the point of view of England.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - This group of warmish days in January is a real treat. Wish that my "it'll all average out" pessimism didn't translate that into thinking it'll be a miserable February.

maryann - Nifty goal: "80% full is my goal today." It's a challenge for me to give up the notion of wanting to feel 'full'.

curlyjax - A cleared dinning room table is a splendid sight. Congrats. You chose a great day to drive into Boston with no snow and no rain.

Penny. - Sounds like real progress getting your new place ready. I continue to send supportive thoughts as you're also preparing yourself for your mom's funeral in a week.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

The Travel Calories Decision

Make an important rule for yourself similar to the Special Event Calories decision. Be prepared before the next time you travel. You can opt to:

• Follow your Think Thin Eating Plan as is. OR
• Eat up to 300 extra Travel Calories as often as every day you are away (for not more than a week and as long as you plan in advance how to use the extra calories.).

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 159.

[curlyjax]

I zipped into Boston to get the signatures from DD, then stopped on the way home to reward myself with food- yes dear reader, I did. Back to the most excellent ham and cheese croissant, with a chocolate one for later. These are the real deal and worth every calorie. I also stopped at the container store where I haven't been for quite some time; longingly fingererd multiple items and ended up buying a set of containers to organize the top drawer of my bureau. I did not get the walk in, but had a good check in on the phone with my brother, and then an exhuasting hour long text with DD. I baked a casserole of leftover cauliflower, greens and frozen meatballs and ate part of that for dinner. A productive day.
I woke up a little early on purpose to get some exercise in so i'm going to go do that right now.
Penny: great to hear from you. Glad things are moving along for your new digs. Good that your siblings are doing the funeral planning.
Bill-yay for chasing a young kiddo for exercise. Too funny about the lima beans.
Gardenerjoy-55 is perfect weather for a walk.
Maryann- I hate those feelings of "did I lock the door" etc. your wardrobe looks great!

[gardenerjoy]

I made an effort to not plan too much into my week, but I don't think I was entirely successful. We'll see how it goes.

My plan included grocery-shopping tomorrow so I wouldn't have to do it on a day that already included meetings. But we woke up to a layer of white stuff on the hard surfaces and we won't go over freezing again until Wednesday. I'm hoping it's cold enough for everything to sublimate, but I want to have an alternate plan in case I decide to wait until Wednesday or Thursday.

Today, I plan to start this program of strength-training. I've done some of the videos before, but I want to work the program the way that the presenter intended -- five weekdays for five weeks. Strength Training 10-15 min a day - YouTube

That will be my second month-long challenge of the year. On Tuesday, I'll complete Yoga with Adriene's 30-Day Yoga Journey for 2023 called Center. I feel stronger and more centered -- so it worked as advertised.

Exercise +40, 1655/1700 minutes for January

Penny: I'm glad you have siblings who take over some of the necessary activities. I did most of the work after my mother died, but my brother was supportive, appreciative, and did things that I didn't want to do. It really helped!

maryann: Cute clothes! You'll feel really good about traveling in those, I think.

BillBlueEyes: Thanks for the "view everything from England" insight. I find that a helpful technique on many issues, including the history of racism in the US, but hadn't applied it to the geography of the East.

curlyjax: Enjoy your morning exercise!

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

I played Jeopardy with each class today. There was a time when jeopardy was taped index cards on a chalkboard. Some student would play Vanna and turn the cards. Now it is electronic on a giant smart tv. Crazy how somethings are so much easier and somethings are so much harder. Credit for transferring our departments assessment into a new format call Quizzez's. I am amazed how I can do all these things. It is just like skiing. Start down the mountain and you will figure it out.

I bought the shjortest umbrella I could find. 7 inches. I want it to fit in my small purse. Unbelievably expensive. Still it is a small company and I didn't order it through Amazon. We bough an expensive travel umbrella for Ireland and it is still going strong years later. DH will take that one and I will have the new one.

Food was better today in terms of qualities. Only Greger at work. That is good. Closing the kitchen at 5:00.

Joy: Great idea to start strength training and credit for finishing yoga. One day i will do one of her cycles.
BBE: Credit exercise that doubles as babysitting.
Curly: Sorry DD is a needy space. She is luck to have you.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Two books were delivered by the US Post Office. Happiness is getting new books. The picture on the cover of one is the stele (top piece) of the stone inscribed Hammurabi Code that's at the Louvre in Paris. One more reason to return to Paris. As if one needs an additional incentive to return to Paris. His Code is frequently remembered for "An eye for an eye" - but the thousands of stone tables of transactions suggest that judges quoted Hammurabi's Code then made more practical decisions, like pay the victim a stack of silver. The other book is about an asteroid hitting the Earth. Fun reading. It's easy reading. The key point to remember is that the Asteroid Belt circles the Sun between Mars and Jupiter with a zillion asteroids; one may have our name on it.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, still with snacks. DW procured two small whole-wheat buns that look like hot-cross buns. But, no sugar. A delightful way to get a small amount of good bread. Went well with the second dip into the pot of 13-bean soup.

Got the replacement Debit Cards from our bank - powerful little cards since they reach directly into money. To activate hers, DW rang the 1-800 number and was done in two minutes. Not me. I'm for using the proper website from my desktop computer. Jeepers! Hard to believe how many ways their software insisted that I'd made a mistake and had to start over. Until finally, for verification of this 'new device' (that I've used many times before) they offered to send a text message to my land line (that doesn't do texting). Finally convinced them to text my cell phone. Then they allowed me to start all over again and log in from my 'accepted new device'. Took me at least four times as long. Worse than the time, I had to put up with a smirking wife who offered to bring me food and water if required to survive my journey.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for failing to plan too much into your week. May you experience that failure frequently.

maryann - Yay for ordering directly from a company so that they avoided the Amazon cut. Thanks for "Start down the mountain and you will figure it out."

curlyjax - LOL at "longingly fingered multiple items" at the container store. Me too. Love looking at containers to buy that will solve all my problems. I agree with the others, you're a good mom for continuing to support your adult DD through this difficult journey.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

The Travel Calories Decision

There are advantages and disadvantages to either decision. Sticking to your regular plan makes life easier because you will have less opportunity to obsess over how to spend the extra calories and less planning to do, and you are more likely to lose - or at least maintain - weight while you are away.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 159.

[curlyjax]

I did indeed do a 15 minute WATP (walk away the pounds) session and felt great after wards in the morning. Food was on track and the only sugary thing I had yesterday was a little homemade hot cocoa in the afternoon. Started having a disturbing low back pain in the kidney area at work and was fretting about that for awhile. Could my body just stop it with all these wierd scary pains! After work I went to the bank to deal with a check that was made out to my husband as the custodian of an account for my daughter, and found out I couldn't because of the wording of the check and the fact that my dtr is no longer a minor etc. I called the brokerage and they will cancel the check and then there's a whole process where DD has to transfer things and make a new account etc. I did not eat over it I got my hair dyed and decluttered most of the two bureaus in my bedroom, so it was a very productive day. At some point my hip started killing me and is still painful so i'm skipping the exercise this morning.
Gardenerjoy-I like the idea of month long challenges,and both of those look great.
Maryann- that is a tiny umbrella, very cool to find it. Some technology has made life easier indeed.
Bill-very interesting about that code. Too funny about the different approach to the debit card.

[gardenerjoy]

We still have frozen white stuff on the driveway, so I won't be going out today. We even decided that we could forego trash and recycling for a week because there's no safe way to get the wheelie bins down the driveway.

CREDIT for passing my exercise goal for January a day earlier. Today will all be bonus!

Exercise +60, 1715/1700 minutes for January

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

I am mid busy day. I was super focused and productive at week but that has a cost. I left school a little early. I am taking a sponsee out for a sobriety bday, then a meeting. dived into a prize candy bin. Stopped realtively quickly. At dinner I will just have soup and a salad.

Grateful for today for the housecleaner visit. It is a couple of times a month and worth every penny. I will give it up when I retire. At least I know the sheets get changed sometime in a month.

I have been feeling a little visible this week. I have been very outgoing at parties and the lunch room. Sometimes for me this turn into manic. and then depression. I want to be careful of the swings.

Curly: It sounds like you are making some solid progress on decluttering. Good for you.

[BillBlueEyes]

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Beck Diet For Life/Solution – February 2023 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

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