[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Food has been on plan. I hiked with some friends this morning. The same hike we did last Friday but in the opposite direction. It always amazes me how different it seems. We were in the Phoenix Preserve which is in the middle of Phoenix, but most of the time you think you are way out of town because you can't see any buildings due to the hills. The weather is pleasant but a little cooler.

I just walked Otis and now need to find a swim suit cover up online to order. I did just put the paper products in the suitcases though and I'm not going to have that much room. I'll be doing laundry for sure. If worse comes to worse I'll remove some of the paper products and take them next time.

Dh is not having any sciatica anymore. He has quit doing some of the daily exercises he was doing, so I'm wondering if some of them were keeping the pain going. He was doing a plank for over two minutes and maybe that kind of kept the back irritated a bit.

Bill I didn't see the first Avatar, but the preview looked good and I considered going. A movie over three hours just sounds like too much.

GardnerJoy Too bad a snack doesn't fix pain. It's so much quicker than doing exercises.

Curlyjax I'm glad you were able to get more help for your Dad in the evenings. Even better that it's someone he is already familiar with.

Maryann I'm glad your cold is getting better. I see in my five year diary that I had one last year at this time, but it only lasted a few days. Getting three more hours in your day will be incredible.

Waving to VertOlive and Penny!

[maryann]

TGIF!

The freshmen classes were a trial today. They want to sit back and let me do all the heavy work. That is not going to work. I'll have to do some restructuring that puts them on the hot spot. Juniors were great. I am tired.

Food was on target and so has water been for 2 days. It makes all the difference. why do I not remember that. I had extra servings of veggies. Credit me for buying the more expensive tiny cukes that do not need peeling. They are worth the cost if I eat them. I have been trying to eat the bits and ends of everything in the kitchen. A cup of hasbrown casserole which I put in a foodsaver bag three months ago was delish n the airfryer. I had frozen hummus which helped with the extra legume serving. I may skip yoga tonite and do an extra long climb at the gym tomorrow.

BBE: You reminded me of my essay to get into UCLA. "Summarizing myself in 800 words is like summarizing Moby Dick and skipping all the whale description. It just doesn't capture the essence."
Joy: Sorry for the back pain. You did remind me my neck is really better and I need to be grateful. Like you, I rely on bits and pieces of the things that work for me.I know my body best.
Karen: I spent sometime in Phoenix and haven't seen any of the pretty places. I know they are there I just have to know where to look. Of course, I have always been near the convention areas.
Curly: Small steps are really big steps.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Got up at 2:00 AM this morning; logged in to read the status of the Speaker of the House voting. That makes me a true patriot, a dedicated citizen. Wasted a bunch of my life yesterday following the situation. Need to remind myself that I'm not involved at that level. Hopefully, I can now go back to my life. For example, one task today is to sort thru my basement box of scrap pipe and metal to bring to an electronics recycle event today. Some I can let go because the copper is only useful as recycle. Some are harder because, from time to time, I've needed a three-inch section of copper pipe. Yes, one can buy it at any hardware store but it's rather pricey these days.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Still using my snacks to avoid facing my to-do list. Snacks, so far, haven't cured procrastination. Perhaps if I try fifteen times in a row that will change.


maryann - LOL at "summarizing Moby Dick and skipping all the whale description." I suspect that UCLA admitted you in admiration for a little 'attitude.' Yay for a hashbrown casserole lasting three months in the freezer.

Karen (karenrn) - A modest solution for Arizona having simultaneously an “elected governor” and a “duly elected governor.” There’s precedence in the Great Western Schism of the Roman Catholic Church which had two popes from 1378 to 1417. Solution: one moves to Avignon, France – a lovely spot on the Rhône River in the Southeast corner of (what is now) France. (At the time, it was owned by Vassals of the Pope until 1348 when it became direct papal property until the French Revolution, but that doesn’t change my recommendation.) As a delicious nit, this further devolved into three popes, one succeeding to (hysterical named for English speaking wordsmiths) Baldassare Cossa – a name that might appeal to a “duly elected governor” prone to speak of herself in challenging terms. Too much detail.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Create a Holiday Mindset

It doesn't matter that it's holiday time; others are eating and drinking a lot; you're exposed to special food; or your host is pushing you to eat more. If you eat extra calories, you are going to gain weight.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 155.

[maryann]

Happy Saturday.

Gosh I love my Saturdays when I am in session. Rain is filling Shasta Dam which is great. It is where from which most of our water allocation originates. DH sat through two days of meetings to earn required hours for a PCA license. The forecast was so dire on walnuts that the speakers urged farmers to pull out certain varieties. The others are forecasted at a top price of .40 a lb. At the heigh a few years ago they were 1.90. If we get enough water, we can do some pullout and grow rice and wheat which actually allow farmers to make money. A reference: in OK wheat went for $3.00 in 2020 to 13.00 in 2022.

I feel that if BBE is taking lead on Papal Legacy, I'll take the Farmer's Almanac corner.

I am down in weight a total of 3.5 pounds this week. if I dip even a half a pound in two days I will meet my Monday goal of under 180. I know some is water loss from getting off cold medicine but it is a nice validation of the NSV victories this week. An hour of gym and yoga will meet my exercise and motion goals. I will prep meals for next weeks focusing on extra servings of legumes. Credit.

Puttering this weekend. I am reading Blink by Gladwell. It is fascinating work on our subconscious. I will set up my new laser printer and maybe buy a dishwasher.

[gardenerjoy]

I took down and put away our Christmas decorations yesterday, on Epiphany. It was very satisfying.

We hadn't put up decorations for several years. I realized that it was because our collection was way too large for the space available, so it was all too intimidating to even look at it.

With my experience in the last year of Marie Kondo and our Buy Nothing group, I pulled out everything this year and figured out what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to get rid of. A lot of it went to other homes in early December. I still have some things to give way early in the Christmas season in 2023, but I have plan for that.

One advantage of downsizing the collection, is that I can store what remains in the nicest containers that I own. No more cardboard boxes with Sharpie written on them -- words that indicated what were in those boxes at some point in the last thirty years, not necessarily what was currently stored in them.

This morning, I moved all the boxes to the basement -- enough effort to count toward my cardio exercise today.

Exercise +50, 315/1700 minutes for December

BillBlueEyes: We listened to the 14th round of votes on the House Speaker on my phone last night as we were going to bed. Before getting out of bed this morning, at DH's request, I checked the NPR live update story to learn that McCarthy won on the 15th round and took the gavel in the wee hours, DC time. We never use the phone that way and I think I won't get in the habit. I was way too susceptible to jumping into social media this morning.

[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Food has been on plan. I guess I'll have to cut portions a bit for weight loss though. It was cold this morning but I got out and did the 9 1/2 mile hike I did the other day and remembered to take the GPS. I learned it is 2046 ft of accumulated elevation gain and my moving average was 2.6 miles per hour. I consider that good since it is hilly and very rocky in places. It was only 41 degrees when I started so I had shorts under long yoga type pants. I carried a smallish backpack so I could disrobe as I warmed up. By the finish I had on shorts and a tee shirt. The large parking lot at the trailhead was packed when I got back to my car. Luckily most of the people are close in not back where I was. I've had lunch and a nap. We have a party to go to this evening for a friend's birthday. We will only know the birthday girl and her husband. I was glad to be invited but don't relish going to a party where I don't know anyone.

I saw some of the voting last evening but missed the final vote and then watched Jeffries speech on YouTube this morning. It was interesting seeing what was going on due to more television cameras than usual.

GardenerJoy I have gotten rid of quite a few Christmas decorations over the years. Mine all fit in one side of a large credenza type chest in the family room and a cupboard under the kitchen island that has shelves that aren't very deep. I have my ornaments and other Christmas things in red and green plastic storage containers. Pretty easy to know it's Christmas things.

Maryann I've heard so much about water and nut trees and wondered if that was a problem for you. So much rain over there. I just hope some of it ends up as snow and doesn't melt immediately. I read certain FB posts that talk about the snow in the Sierra and some years a lot of snow falls early, but melts early and doesn't effect the hiking in the summer. Although we haven't gotten near that much rain, we've had more than usual. I hope that will be a good predictor of nice flowers in the dessert in a couple of months.

Bill I watched some of the proceedings also, but found I felt better watching things about Damar Hamlin's recovery. Fifteen times in a row changes some things, so let us know how it works with your snacks.

Waving to Curlyjax and Penny!

[maryann]

Up at 3 .m. This is obviously a sign of me getting off one of my meds. I haven't had a problem sleeping for three years. I have also gained ten pounds. So i am willing to wake up to see if I can't find some sort of balance.

Food was hit targets. Credit. Puttering is on for the day.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was the third (and last) dip into the pot of homemade chili, consumed with corn chips. A dying container of humus from Christmas Eve dinner was put on the table to be consumed with dinner using the chips. "What's not eaten goes to the worms in the compost," DW firmly announced. The good news is that only a few chips of humus was left because I'd brought the smaller container. Usually, because it's only a few coins more expensive, I buy the massive container which then sits in the fridge until it grows a rainbow of colorful molds. CREDIT moi for avoiding that path this time.

Finally got into reading my Richard Dawkins book,

The Blind Watchmaker

The Blind Watchmaker

that I keep putting aside because he's a tad long-winded about the obvious. He gives some informative mathematical examples on the difference between one-step evolution by natural selection and cumulative evolution by natural selection. I'm not reading to get converted but I'm delighted with the thoroughness one can put into the discussion. He even shows sympathy to Lamarck's ideas of inheritance of acquired traits; baby giraffes do have long necks and the sons of blacksmiths do have muscular arms when they grow up to become blacksmiths. Makes me happy since I'm used to hearing folks only make fun of Lamarck because he had the wrong idea. I have to finish the book because it's blocking a stack of others.

Major achievement was adding a bunch of stuff to the box that went to a recycle event. Turns out that they even accepted sash weights from old-fashioned weighted-sash windows of which our old Victorian house has dozens. Each is an elongated tube of cast iron; I do hope they have some use for them. They're a marvelous mechanical, noisy part of old windows. I enjoy hearing their banging when opening one of our windows that hasn't been updated.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for actually reducing your collection of Christmas decoration stuff. We've just been carefully returning it to its place in the storage room knowing that we'll never use them again.

maryann - Such good news that the Shasta Dam is filling. So interesting that a farmer can look at the water behind that dam knowing that that's what'll feed his crops. I do hate the notion of pulling out a walnut tree.

Karen (karenrn) - 2046 ft is one goodly chunk of accumulated elevation gain. Glad that you're a wizard at on and off of layers when outdoors. Hope you survived your party of mostly strangers.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Create a Holiday Mindset

Remind yourself that you have a choice: You can give in to holiday temptations, or you can practice those skills and keep excess weight off for good.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 156.

[curlyjax]

Wow, I slept late today, until 9:00! I was grumpy yesterday so I missed posting. I continued grumpy for part of the day as a bunch of things went wrong like my tire inflator wasn't working for the car that needed it, a snafu about the long term care insurance policy that we need filled out so my dad's pricey help can be reimbursed, I knocked over something the Easter eggs which went rolling into a hard to reach, cobweb filled corner, etc. And DD wanted some help and intensive mothering, so I had to rally myself and simmer down. But I didn't eat over any of it, I ate when I was hungry (although it did consist of a bunch of sweets) and I did ultimately get some stuff done around the house, so I ended the day feeling productive.
I'm hoping to go for a walk with manfriend if he's able to-he still has some physical stuff going on-do some prep cooking, and continue sorting out clutter. I enrolled in a Take Back Your House online class last summer led by 3 women with different but compatible ideas about decluttering and organizing, and its good for a year. They did an all day declutter live class on FB and I spent some time watching/listening to videos which inspires me. One big idea is -focus on your life today, not keeping stuff that you may use in the future. Other ideas that are helpful are- pick a container that makes sense and don't keep anything else that doesn't fit, and thinking about where would you look for something (if an item is in the wrong place, like a bunch of random stuff in a closet). These are really helping me sort out stuff.
Gardenerjoy- I took down everything but the lights on the tree yesterday, and have it stored in two big tubs, marking some things for donation as I go. Those were my predetermined containers. Very satisfying!
Maryann-yay for down 3.5 pounds! So interesting to hear about farmer's life.
Karen-hope the party was fun, I know what you mean about not knowing others. I tend to disrobe as I go in the winter, sometimes ending up with my coat off but my hat on as my ears are cold, particularly with hot flashes.
Bill-I can just imagine those old sash weights. I fall into that same idea with containers of stuff like hummus.

[gardenerjoy]

I learned a new weather word yesterday -- “graupel.” That’s the word for the tiny white spheres that fell from the sky during our weekly vigil. One of our group members knew the word, but I didn’t quite remember it when I got home. Weather.gov has a helpful page of winter weather terms.

I wasn't dressed quite appropriately -- I forgot take into account that my inner ring suburb can easily be five degrees warmer than the outer ring suburb where I stood outside for an hour. CREDIT for not using excess food to warm up. My planned hot lunch was definitely appreciated!

Exercise +60, 375/1700 minutes for December

maryann: I hope you find a path back to a sleep routine that works for you. Puttering sounds like a terrific activity after a low-sleep night.

[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

I had a couple of drinks and birthday cake at the party, but that was what I planned to do. We had something to eat before we went since I didn't know what they would be serving. It was really a beautiful party. Her friends home was lovely both inside and out. We were outdoors quite a bit, but the doors were open so people went in and out. They had an outdoor fireplace and a number of heat lamps. Lots of outdoor seating a live guitarist for the music. We had a really good time and the people were easy to visit with. We were just there from a little after 6 to 9, so perfect as far as I was concerned. My friends husband flew her brother in from Alabama and her niece from Portland for surprises.

Today has been a wasted lazy day. I have done some packing and put the suitcases on the scale. I'm having to leave some of the paper products home so I can take my clothes etc. I guess that means I'll go again next year and take those items. I can take two checked bags up to 50 lbs each. Dh says why don't I mail it. A few years ago I sent a box of clothing for ds and it was $250. That's why I don't mail it. I do have clothing that I've purchased for ds too.

GardenerJoy We have had graupel here and I hear the term on the news once in awhile.

Curlyjax I hope your day is going well today. The online class sounds really good. I know it is more difficult to get rid of some things. Focusing on your life now sounds like a really good idea.

Bill It must be kind of a recycle time of the year. I remember those weights for older windows. I think we had them at our last house that was built in 1926. It was a beautiful home, but lots of maintenance.

Maryann I hope waking at 3 am is just a one time event for you. I do that often, but then again I have the luxury of a nap after lunch if I'm dying. Hopefully your sleep schedule will even out soon.

Waving to Penny!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Visit with the (2.5 yo) DFGD, DS, and DIL a bit later than normal. Seems that getting a toddler out of the house has its challenges. We played the game, again, where I cut the grape then . . . OK here's where I messed up. I handed the cutting board to her. No, no, no. She needed a plate, not a cutting board. Plate was produced. New grape. This time I pushed the two grape halves from the cutting board to the plate. No, no no. She is the person to take them from the cutting board. New grape. I held the cutting board toward her; she grabbed the grape halves with both hands; stuffed both in her mouth at once. So I'm a slow learner, but she's a persistent teacher, LOL. Lots of time spent with granddad hiding her "Llamacorn" under his vest. "All gone." Then producing it to high-pitched giggles. Repeat until the adults are begging for a new game.

Avoided the snacks that I'd put out for our guests, CREDIT moi, including pita chips and almonds. The Red Bell Pepper strips were ignored. I thought they'd be gobbled up. The DFGD only likes them when the (7 yo) DGD is there eating them. Dinner was chicken grilled on the small deck just outside the kitchen door - in the cold. Veggies were a frozen combination from Trader Joe's that claimed to be three servings. Who needs three servings? DW offered to serve half and save half or to serve it all at once. We went with the three servings split between us. Wasn't too much. Thank you Trader Joe's for a spicy handful of veggies with short prep time when we were squeezed for time.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Well, the word "graupel" is new to me. Pretty useful since it happens a bunch. Those linked-to winter weather terms are useful. Neat to know that there's a precise boundary when to call a storm a blizzard.

Karen (karenrn) - Sounds like a good party. You are so prepared for your trip to Thailand. It's such an unusual tradeoff between spare clothes and paper basket liners.

curlyjax - Thanks for "focus on your life today, not keeping stuff that you may use in the future" - I can use that since apparently I'm saving stuff for when I return to being twenty years old. Congrats for converting yourself into mommy when your adult DD needed one.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Create a Holiday Mindset

If you choose the latter, it's true you will be giving up eating some food. But you will be getting so much in return. Ask yourself Where do I want to be next holiday season? And the season after that?

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 156.

[curlyjax]

I ended up doing some errands and laundry for DD as she had a full day at work. Food was cobbled together. Its a challenge when the kiddies are home because there are more treats around. More frustration when I tried to get a new password for dad's medical portal, so i could contact the dr about the long term care paper glitch. Grr, I couldn't get that to work. I'll have to call and see if they let me start anew. So I'll have to fax the form to the doc sneakily from work. This is really important as it will hopefully pay for my dad's home care which is very pricey. This will be a working week at home- financial stuff like arranging money for tuition, and supporting DD as she figures out some things for next term. But then i'll have the house to myself for a few months starting next Tuesday, and can get back to some good habits again. I don't really have a food plan for today or this week for that matter, yet.
Bill-too funny about DFGD. Little kids are adorable but exhausting.Good you finally caught on
Karen- glad you had a good time at the party. Wow, that would be some pricy paper liners for sure!
Gardenerjoy- I haven't heard of that term either, thanks for sharing.

[gardenerjoy]

Today is my first workday after going through my annual process for planning the year. Ideally, it would be a typical workday -- the kind of day where, at the end, I could say, "Yes. That's exactly what I want my days to be like in 2023."

But it didn't work out that way. We need groceries. And I'm scheduled to walk with Dear Niece to figure out what it's going to take to pursue her dream to move to the UK. So far, in the last many months we've worked together, she has yet to achieve her dream to pay all of her own bills, so this is big reach, but I'll be as supportive as I can.

Here's my reminder that food doesn't cure the frustration of the day not being my ideal or the fretting about how DN will react to my gentle reminders of how far away she is from realistically moving to a foreign country, especially one that's extremely expensive to live in and getting worse on that front every day.

Exercise +50, 425/1700 minutes for December

[VertOlive]

Greetings!

It has been SO busy for me. Since DS has to have an adult in the car when he drives on his Learner's Permit, I have to go to work when he does. This sometimes puts me in the Athletic Club for hours before my own shift. We live too far from work to make multiple trips each day, sigh.

I'm still managing my single January 2023 goal of 100 ounces of water per day. I won't even try to add another goal until I've mastered this one. No more "Start Everything At Once" Januaries for me! With the BUSY schedule, I can barely get my regular activities done and that is stressing me. That, and my touchy new harp has popped two of its strings, had them replaced, then popped one again. It's normal for a new harp to take a year to stay in tune but I've done everything right and still had to buy two new strings. Sigh. That said, one of my other daily habits, Latin study, is slipping too. It makes me suspect there is a tentacle of depression creeping in.
It's a Fasting day....best to all here!