Good Morning, Coaches.

Food was a little over maintenance portions. Still the scale took a little dip although it is high-ish. I did the stair climber and will do TRX today. I am still trying to stay in willingness to eat healthy.

Busy day. I am speaking at an AA meeting tonight. Maybe sixty people will be there. I have to do some errnds at the RiverHouse and in town. I prepped the house for the cleaner. what a luxury when I arrive hoe tonite and all is clean..

Wave to all.

I was pleased to see a down tick on the scale with one day of slightly more attentiveness.

We'll be with the kiddos for our first evening gig, arriving at about 4pm and leaving when their parents get home from looking at a piece of property where they're considering building a house. Or maybe hanging around to talk with the nephew who we haven't talked to in a while.

The challenge, of course, is supper. I'm planning to pack sandwiches, veggies, and hummus. We may face an offer to eat supper with the children. The only possibility that's likely to feel more fun than our packed supper is pizza. But, I plan to make delicious sandwiches, so I'm going to remind myself that the sandwiches are both tastier and healthier. I can put excess pizza in the fridge for the parents to eat when they get home. Better them than me.

Exercise: 60, 240/1800 minutes for August
Weigh-in: 82.9, goal for August is 82.1

Wednesday - Hiroshima Day (1945)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Just another trip to the supermarket and library. DW had asked me to pick up a specific bag pita chips that our DD had introduced us to. Just to be sure, I googled it to get a visual on the package I'd be looking for. Then added my supermarket name to the search; saw that they advertised that they sold it, "In the deli section." Smart decision. Even with that specific information it took me a while to find them. There are a bunch of kinds of chips sold in the deli section. This one was around the corner next to eggs. I'd have never found it if I wasn't pretty sure it was there. Yay for mother google providing a benign service.

Accomplishment was making three phone calls that I was avoiding. CREDIT moi for simple adulting. The actual phone calls weren't as bad as the anticipation. I do exercise what Dr. Beck calls negative projection.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio, once again feeling grateful. Salad was overflowing with our garden's cherry tomatoes. Also doubled up on cukes which have declared this the week to arrive. We shared dinner with a bee that had no interest in us - just the rotisserie chicken. I'd read that one can put aside a piece for an interested bee who will then focus on that leaving you alone. Tried it. Wasn't able to communicate to the bee which was theirs and which was mine. Can't believe that I read that "helpful" piece of advice without questioning how to tell the bee.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - It might be a challenge to make sandwiches more fun than a hot pizza staring one in the face. I've made it through the first chapter of by Ashley Shew that I'd just gotten from the library. Was immediately struck that my brain assumed that I was owed 'the story' of how someone came to be disabled. Was reminded of the time we were working to make a building wheelchair accessible how we were confronted with "It'll be visible" as a reason not to do so. It turned out that once we stopped arguing, accepted that we were going to do it, that a good landscape architect was able to make it blend quite well.

maryann – Never cease to laugh at prepping one's house for the cleaner. We do that.

curlyjax - Best use I've heard of for ChatGPT - even if its help is limited. Was a great day to be on the Cape.

Readers -

Good Morning, Coaches.

The speaking gig went well. There were dozens of people with less than 3 months sobriety. They all seem grateful for safe place to be. Food was good but not wiithin the eating window. Still a return to normal on the scale was very welcome.

I am enjoying the newly clean house. I will putter today. I am getting ready to see DS in Michigan tomorrow. Super excited.

Joy: I envy you being round the littles. A contained amount of food planned is always cleaner than an unmeasured family style buffet.
BBE: The River house is a bee haven. So glad I learned at an early age to not panic at the sight of one.

Our evening with the kiddos went well. They ate almond butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit, so I was happy to eat my chicken salad sandwich and veggies.

Today was our annual doctor's appointment. We still have the labs to do, but everything is looking pretty good at the moment. Yay!

Exercise: 60, 300/1800 minutes for August
Weigh-in: 82.95, goal for August is 82.1

Thursday - Côte d’Ivoire Independence Day (from France, 1960)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Surprised by an immediate response from the roofing company to have a team of men arrive at my house within an hour to finish unsatisfactory work. They did. And they did some of the things I wanted done. Some repairs of damage they've caused just can't be done by them, as in, "We don't do painting." For others, I need to learn acceptance. It's just a roof that need only concerns me if it's leaking. Learning acceptance is a long time goal that always seems to elude me.

Major accomplishment was to properly accept an incoming call on my iPhone while an app was active. There's an exact spot to tap atop the screen; anything else makes the call impossible to answer. Everything on the iPhone is simple and obvious - obvious after you've decoded the mindset of the engineers who designed it.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio was spent enjoying late summer. The glory is gone from the flowering plants but it's still a pleasure that all look healthy and green.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats to your body for being healthy. Terrific that you got to spend an evening with the grand nibblings without having to consume unwanted pizza.

maryann – Bon Voyage to Michigan. Do hope your DS is inventing amazing ways to use nanotechnology to make better solid state batteries and solar panels. So many important areas to explore.

Readers -

Good Morning, Coaches.

The scale was up again. The power of the number to throw my psyche off is amazing. Research shows that people who weigh everyday lose more weight. Sigh. I have to think on what to do. I am still unwilling to log my food.I can pray for the willingness today.

I spent 2 plus hours controlling bushes that had encroached upon my neighbor. It was exhausting. I am sure the heat played a role. So i will acknowledge that 2 hours of yard work in the summer at my age is my limit. Thankifully my livelihood does not depend on an 8 hour day. Today is TRX. Other priority is making an anniversary card for DH.

The food plan is adding salad and a protein drink to what ever breakfast I choose.

BBE: There is a serenity prayer for renovation. It includes accepting what contractors are unwillingness to change.
Joy: Credit for following through with a food plan.

Friday- US boycotts 7th Venice Film Festival due to Mussolini's Fascist regime (1939)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Spent some time pouring water on the roof and in the gutters. The area where water pools is less, but not gone. Methinks it's time to follow maryann's advice "accepting what contractors are unwilling to change." Moving on. We won't get wet. Life has other fish to fry.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio was a joy, even with the two bees who joined us. They ignored our first gazpacho of the season made with tasty cukes and tomatoes both from our garden. Each year the first bowl is the best I've ever had; so it was this year. I could have gazpacho year round if we lived on the equator with a year-round garden. The bees lost interest when I covered the bones from the rotisserie chicken; that's all they were interested in. We also had avocado smeared on toasted baguette. Eating like royalty we were.


maryann – I'm confused, thought you were in Michigan yesterday. Two hours of whacking bushes would tire anyone who isn't used to hard labor. I googled "serenity prayer for renovation" and got an AI summary that was useful advice. Thanks for the tip. My hats off for an AI summary that was useful. Maybe this AI stuff has some value.

Readers -

We're still kind of recovering from busy-ness earlier in the week. I ate a couple of frogs early this morning to keep some projects moving along on course. Actually eating is on plan. CREDIT for both.

Exercise: 70, 420/1800 minutes for August
Weigh-in: N/A, goal for August is 82.1

Super late check in
 

Hi Coaches

I'm finally ready to get to bed but wanted to chime in here as I've been absent for a bit.

I'm finding it hard to be and stay motivated on the day to day stuff. My decluttering is at a standstill but on my mind constantly. Same with food and exercises. I do continue to work in my sketchbook and have restarted the 31 day challenge. That's been good. My ceramic class is almost done. One more official class and then one more will probably happen unofficially. I had two students absent last week due to injuries (knee and back) and so I said they could come in and extra time when I am on the studio working on my own project.

Next week I'm having a blood test for my endocrinologist appointment the week after. I don't expect a good result. I haven't lowered my blood sugar readings much at all. And my weight is still up about 5lbs from when I last saw her 6 months ago. She was the Dr that had recommended the portfolio diet which seemed so impossible for me to follow. I think I'll revisit it tomorrow
Guess that's it. I haven't caught up with all of you but I'll be on that tomorrow.

:wave:

Saturday - Opening of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (1483)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Enjoyed a day catching up on little things. The screen door that opens to the flat section of roof was behaving oddly. Thought the pneumatic door closer needed oil. Nope, the screws holding it to the door had loosened so that it had become only half a door closer. Easy fix with a screw driver. CREDIT DW who saw that.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio was based on homemade chicken noodle soup that used the last of a rotisserie chicken. That one little chicken served us many meals. Same old too much homegrown salad. The two bees returned only interested in the chicken in the soup. I feel that chicken soup will have cured anything that ailed me that I didn't know about. I once read that it’s an old wives tale that chicken soup is curative. No way! I choose to believe.


onebyone - You're generous to give your ceramic students a makeup class on your own time. It's appealing that the Portfolio Diet focuses on adding foods to your eating plan.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Tending to the frogs early in the morning gets the day rolling. Continued Congrats for your continuing to meet exercise goals.

Readers -

I'm back from the Cape. The weather was perfect for me- upper 70s -low 80s during the day and then upper sixties at night. I did get some seafood in, and the favorite treat was large cinnamon rolls from a nearby bakery; the bread was not sweet which seems traditional to me. We were right on a small beach which didn't attract a ton of people so it was very peaceful. Part of the beach is private meaning you can't sit there-people with houses on it "own" their own spot, but you can walk on the beachfront itself for miles. I should have brought water shoes, one part had zillions of tiny shells which were challenging to navigate in bare feet but very cool to look at. We did get to a harbor and saw fishermen unloading tons of skate, with adorable seals close by, waiting for an easy meal when the men would throw a scrap in. We stayed on the outskirts of Chatham, and even though I had to drive everywhere i'm glad of my choice, as my priority was on the beach and quiet. I had made the smart decision to avoid the weekend-even friday morning it was much more crowded driving into town for breakfast. At one point I was feeling sorry for myself, missing my husband who would have loved it, and would have done all the driving. I would much rather drive on the highway than in these crowded touristy towns, its exhausting.
Good to be back in my own bed, although coming back to the mess in the house is depressing. I am feeling a bit bitter these days of people with good husbands and easy adult children relationships. I'm feeling very resentful and I need some time to just be alone but that's not going to happen with DD's surgery. I'm very grateful I am able to afford vacations and I'm aware I'm privileged in many ways but-wherever you go, there you are, and my feelings came with me on the trip;) I think this is all resurfacing because of DD living with me, the old patterns etc and I don't see it changing any time soon.
Anyhow-thanks for letting me vent. On with the day!

I just ate my traditional Saturday mid-morning salad. I remember when Saturdays were the days that I ate my rice krispies in front of cartoons on the TV. I guess there's lots of room for a variety of traditions in a life.

I hope everyone has a good Saturday!

Exercise: 60, 480/1800 minutes for August
Weigh-in: 82.65, goal for August is 82.1

Saturday in August
 

Coaches

The extreme heat this year has me hiding out in the house from the sun most of the time. Plus, with the air conditioning on the fritz in the car, driving around isn't good during the peak heat hours of the day. In spite of this I am thrilled to have a real summer, extreme that it is. We have been under at least five heat warnings. Each warning is at least three days to a week long. The only weekend that was not hot was the first one back inay. Since then maximum summer. That's ok
Winter will be sure to come and siay awhile. I'm.banking summer days to balance that. DH and I are both grateful for our air conditioned apartment.

DH started a week of vacations today. We won't do much. He just wants to putter with his projects but we will.do a few car.rides here and there on the early morning when it's cooler.

It's late so I'm signing off. Talk tomorrow.

Welcome back Curlyjax! I loved hearing about your trip.

Sunday- Laylat al-Qadr / Night of Power when Quran revealed to prophet Muhammad (610)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was a trip to a computer store with a coupon for a FREE 128 GByte thumb drive. Still boggles my mind to have that much memory in a portable, hand held device. The FREE part got me to visit but it's rabbit in a briar patch fun for me to look around. I wanted a few of everything. They even sold 'pre owned' iPhones for an attractive price. Chatting with an honest salesman left me happy that I'd already purchased a new model because Apple stops providing updates and repairs after a calculated number of model revamps. It's getting closer to a yearly rental agreement.

The real errand was to pick up almond biscotti for DW at Trader Joe's. I shouldn't go in there. I had a sample Trader Joe's brand Oreo cookie - as if it were rare and unusual. Then bought a small box of oatmeal cookies which I ate as afternoon snack. A big snack. Got my head back in the right direction to pick up a reserved book at the library on the way home - rather pleased that I'd designed a trajectory that made that work.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with a large afternoon snack. Dinner was a meat lasagna taken outside on the patio in splendid weather. Again, my salad mounded up the cukes and cherry tomatoes. The Yellow jackets returned to chase the lasagna. After all was eaten, I covered my plate with my napkin. That didn't stop one of them from flying around looking for a way to get under the napkin. Was diligent that I didn't bring 'her' inside with our trays. (DW insists on 'her' - don't know how she's so sure.)


onebyone - Thanks for the reminder, "Winter will be sure to come and stay awhile." Need to go enjoy summer while it's here even if it's a bit hot right now.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Oh Yes, Saturday morning cartoons on TV. Hard to believe that all the smart people that I know today had that as part of their childhood.

curlyjax - You picked prime weather to enjoy Chatham on the Massachusetts Cape. Watching fishing boats unload is just the best sight there is. Wish you well as you remember life with your late husband.

Readers -