Yesterday was finally a bit lighter at work. I indulged in the work lunch with fruit for dessert. Home to help DD with step one of figuring out some insurance thing, then a quick nap and my salad for dinner, then off to see Six with BFF. I enjoyed it even though it was very loud and not what I expected. I could tell BFF wasn't thrilled with it and felt bad as it wasn't cheap, but she enjoyed a night out anyhow. I indulged in a glass of wine as she was driving, and wondered aloud, at what point did theaters give up and let people bring liquids in, as it certainly didn't use to be like that. Now they give you a sturdy plastic glass with a top, that you could actually use again, although I left mine there.
Today I'm having a meeting with my financial advisor before work-it will be interesting to hear what he thinks.
Maryann-very true observation about language and first impressions.
Gardenerjoy-wow, that's exciting about the potential house! Haven't heard the 67 thing either.
Onebyone-yay for good news with scale and blood sugar. Sorry that you're heavy relationship issues, that is very hard.
Bill-hope DW can find answers soon.It's the most frustrating when you don't know what's going on.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Yesterday could not have been more different than the previous TV - fest. I was busy until 8 pm. I made 13 freezable low carb lunch wraps and dinners for DH while I am away. That included cooking up 3 pounds of potatoes I didn't want to go to waste. I tried a new recipe called Ranch baked cheesy potatoes with ham. The cheese sauce was mostly cottage cheese. I thought it was very tasty. Then the last of the sconces came but alas one was broken. Back to the ligth store and hour away to meet our Friday Deadline with the electrician. I ended up getting something I liked better. Then I met DH at the RiverHouse at night for the first time and we turned on all the lights. Everything looked just beautiful. I am so pleased how everything has turn out. A last ditch run to Home Depot for a door bell plate and I threw my body into bed.

The great thing about busy days is I usually don't eat much. The scale this morning is back to 1 pound above ticker. The exercise water holding seems to be waning. Yes!

Today is the finals of packing.

onebyone: I hear you about emotional pain in a relationship. It is hard to say the tought things.
Joy: Fingers crossed for a new adventure with the house.
Curly: Joining you in a salad for dinner.
BBE: I was going to mention - the best movies on Linguistics is Arrival. It is sci fi and just wonderful about the power of language to even transcend time.

Coaches

The sink battle continues. Sink is still winning. As DH promised, Amazon remedies arrived but none did the trick. I suspect the sink will be my catalyst to whip the apartment into shape. If we need a plumber in then we need the landlord in and that means cleaning up the place. I have a few days to do the cleanup but they are all parts of days. Except Sunday. That's all day. It's all okay. I surrender. I am willing to do whatever comes next.

Today scale said 320.0. there is that number again. I ate worse today than yesterday. I had too much pasta (seconds were eaten) and I felt way too full. I used to always feel too full but I have had a few weeks away from that and I don't like that feeling anymore. In fact it's 10:55pm and I still feel myself digesting. I stopped eating at 8pm.

Emotionally I'm still feeling the after effects of yesterday's run in with DH. I'm just not feeling secure our relationship today..But I'm willing to try and see what happens. So much going on.

I have a new 8wk ceramic class starting on Saturday. I wish I had a longer break between classes but it's probably good to just keep going like this for.now.

BillBlueEyes: I hope DW can find the cause of what ails her so she can heal and put it behind her.

Curlyjax: I was fascinated by your description of getting drinking glasses at the theatre. I've never thought of that. I need to get out more.

Maryann: It must have been so satisfying and exciting to see the river house with all the lights on. BTW I loved the view from your window at the end of the hall. Like a dream to me.

Friday - The Beatles record "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1963, EMI Studios in London)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Babysat the (5 yo) DGD at her house for two hours so that both her parents could attend the parents' evening at her school. Delightful time. When doing a 36-piece jigsaw puzzle on their dining room table, she carefully explained to us how it was done, "I've done this a million times, actually." Gave us praise when we found a piece. So funny to feel like a kid being patronized. I did ponder how a little kid comes to correctly use the word 'actually'. Nouns and verbs must be pretty instinctive, but 'actually' is a nuance.

Dinner was the cheese pizza we had picked up on the way over - as planned. Rather plain but it solved the problem that we had to feed her. Also had a Stegosaurus Dino Nugget that DDIL had set up to add to the pizza if the DGD got picky. (I provide the link in case any of you are, like I was, so out of touch that you aren't familiar.) Must have been the most processed piece of food ever. The DGD assured me that it was chicken, not real dinosaur. Reassuring.

Fantastic food victory. Last Christmas, I'd provided a tin of Jingle Jangle from Trader Joe's to each of our three families. The kids' families quickly gobbled theirs in a week or so. I'd delayed opening our tin because I knew that I'd eat it all once open. But it's sat in our panty calling my name for ten months. Last night DW arrived at the DGD's with a tiny paper bag as an after dinner treat for the DGD. "Last of the Jingle Jangle," she informed me. Amazing - all these months she's been sneaking little servings of them to the DGDs. They're all gone and I had not a single bite. CREDIT moi, CREDIT moi, CREDIT moi for a grand success with no embarrassment that I was passive in achieving it.


onebyone - Continue to send supportive thoughts as you work your relationship. Does sound like you have a full-time diversion getting ready for a dreaded landlord visit. Good news that you have a ceramics class starting up for an external focus.

maryann – Thanks for, "The great thing about busy days is I usually don't eat much." Yep! Adding Arrival to my movie list to help understand linguistics.

curlyjax – So fun that you saw Six, the Musical. It's such an unusual performance that it's almost certain to not be what was expected. I join you in not being thrilled that theaters allow (encourage) drinks and snacks.

Readers -

Good meeting with the financial advisor. He's encouraging me to work with him to manage my finances, which would mean making ongoing investment recommendations, figuring out doing taxes implications, thinking about RDAs etc. I'm thinking about it but its a significant chunk of money. I was blunt and said my brother had money stolen from someone who had invested it, and I was nervous about all that, and someone being able to potentially access my money. So we'll see.
I indulged in the work lunch again-a satisfying cheeseburger, yum. And then dessert too. I was going to have my salad for dinner but DD was hungry and begging for pizza so we did that- at least I stopped after 2 slices. I also had corn on the cob which was still good even though I feel like its beyond corn on the cob time. In between work and dinner I went to my workout again. The core stuff is so hard, I don't remember it hurting so much in the past. DD wasn't feeling well so we snuggled a bit.
I need to get going, I have to drive DD to an appt since she still isn't feeling well. wave to all

Good Morning, Coaches.

On a flight to LAX at 5:00pm. I will stay overnight in an airport hotel. Tomorrow morning I hop a flight to Boston ( waving over the heads of Curly and BBE!); have a 3 hour layover; and then off to Madrid. The prep for this trip is so much less than either Antartica or Africa. It seems like i am just sneaking off to San Diego or something!

I am taking a package of low carb tortillas with me. I don't know if I could find those in the downtown area I am staying. They are great for leftovers. I can go out to dinner every other night. I will have a kitchen for the first week. I am bringing the powdered chicken bone broth sticks along with chicken bouillon. I am food sealing small packets of cut up cheese and the high protein Pressels for snacks on the plane - also celery and dried strawberries. I have a little bottle of water enhancement - grape flavored.

I do NOT want to backslide on my weight journey. I actually set up my TRX travel on the door and I have a Tabata timer workout on my phone. I didn't even take the TRX out of the case in Africa; we were so busy. I am imagining school life will be much less of a jumble.

I have decided to take my laptop so you will get a full travel diary.

Wave to all.

The house didn't turn out to be the right one for us. But I think it bumped us up to the status of "seriously looking for a new house." It helped us refine our criteria of what we're looking for and brought us in contact with a realtor.

Today was definitely a recovery day. I spent most of yesterday on my feet and outdoors with the 5yo. The nearest park has a fun playground and is the site of a 2000-year-old Woodland Indians village. The most visible evidence in the landscape is a mound. There used to be so many mounds in this area that St. Louis had a nickname of Mound City. Nearly all are gone. But this one is still intact and protected by a city park.

Exercise: 60, 945/1800 minutes for October

Check in
 

Coaches

Off to bed. Scale was 322. That's the Pasta dish I ate after 7 pm yesterday. Had the leftovers tonight so maybe another rise tomorrow

I'm more exhausted than I thought so I am off to bed .
Good night 😴

Saturday - British Broadcasting Company (BBC) founded, becomes Corporation (1922)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Previous day's trip to the financial advisor went very well. I proposed that we "downgrade our risk tolerance a step", i.e. move a wad of our retirement monies from stocks to bonds. I love, love, love, being in stocks - a strategy that's worked for this grand bull stock market - but accept the notion that retirement isn't the time to ride out a down swing. CREDIT moi for accepting, for the first time in my life, that standard financial advice applies to me.

Dinner at an Indian restaurant to celebrate DW's birthday, same place we celebrated our anniversary a month ago. Both kids remembered so she felt loved. I ordered lamb roghan josh, a new dish for me - had to ask the waiter how to pronounce it. Because we'd made a reservation, we had the prime table in front of the restaurant to be entertained by the street doings on the other side of the front glass wall. Do enjoy watching the folks with gray hair bundled as if winter were here while some of the students were still in t-shirts.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with a slightly elevated calorie count for the restaurant dinner. We had naan, the terrific Indian bread. DW had her much savored mango lassi drink; I only took a sip since it's so much her thing. Our goal was to talk about anything other than current events that take up so much space in our heads.


onebyone - Scale jiggle happens. Hope you have a good night's sleep.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Terrific that you followed through with looking at this house seriously enough to advance your notions of what you're looking for. You've certainly advanced from window-shoppers to folks"seriously looking for a new house."

maryann – Waving back toward LAX or somewhere over the Grand Canyon. You sound prepared for a fun trip. Can't help but note that you compared a trip to Spain to a trip to a city with a Spanish name, San Diego.

curlyjax – Good luck making your peace with a financial advisor. I share your distaste for anyone having the keys to my monies. I'm confused that your financial advisor knows about "RDAs" (Recommended Dietary Allowances).

Readers -

Much of the day spent with DD but we both were on our best behavior and didn't squabble for once. I drove her into the appt, then we picked up some favorite foods, including a treat from the Half cookie. They had new flavors including a Dubai chocolate which I chose- that seems to be a thing these days, I'm seeing it everywhere. I have fallen off my opt out October pledge (about sugar) and am getting back on it today. We got lunch from Cava and Sweet greens which both seem healthy, at least healthier than other fast food options. Them home to take a nap, and peruse the internet for a bit, including looking for a landscaper. I'm seriously thinking about hiring someone to do the lawn stuff, it's starting to seem overwhelming. I keep putting off doing the leaves and then I feel guilty as they blow into other yards etc. Exercise was taking a stab at a chunk of leaves, interspersed with chatting with my neighbors. I also vacuumed my bedroom a bit which I've put off-I need to find the vacuum manual to relearn some of its floor vs rug options, and how you tell when its full. A bit of snuggling and tv watching with DD to round out the night. plus more internet perusing for at home equipment. I'm thinking of gifting myself an elliptical machine to put in the basement; I really need to up my endurance and its a great way to do that, especially in the winter.
Today we need to get some paperwork done for her, the regular dump run etc and fit a walk in before going to an afternoon protest with BFF. I decided to skip my workout this am as I know I would be too wiped to do everything else after.
Bill-happy birthday DW! That lamb stew sounds so good. Oops, you're right, I meant to say the RMD. Although my FA is health conscious so he probably knows about RDAs as well;)
Maryann- waving back to you on your next adventure! Glad we'll be getting real time updates, I'm living vicariously through you.

Today's adventures are a back-to-back vigil and protest -- all in a heavy thunderstorm!

I already ate my salad so I can come home and eat the warm comforting foods on my plan.

Exercise: 60, 1005/1800 minutes for October

Good Morning, L.A.,

This area is almost unrecognizable from my youth spent here. I grew up in Malibu. I was the last of its middle class. I spent my youth in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey both of which have somehow become a part of the LAX region. Sigh! I am getting old. I recognize the street names but nothing else. Still, there is a familiar feeling. Isn't that strange? Home is home.

Breakfast was the free buffet and I loaded up on scrambled eggs, blueberries and coffee. Credit moi. I tossed and turned all night so I have good hopes for sleeping from Boston to Madrid. I just checked and there is a Legal Seafood in Logan airport terminal. So many good memories with DS and I eating at those restaurants. I hope lunch will be their clam chowder.

BBE: There is a possibility (my parents and grandparents all live into the 90s) that i will be retired longer than I worked. No switching to safe bonds for me yet.
Joy: The thought of me moving within the next year has really pushed a decluttering button in me. Everyday I get rid of bottles, bags, boxes and extra items I do not value enough to pack up.
Curly: Yeah for snugging time. DH will be home for Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to hugs.
oneybone: pasta is a tough one. I have to stay completely clear because I never get nearly the portion I want to eat - which is all of it.

Sunday - Russian Politburo expels Leon Trotsky and his followers (1926)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walked, CREDIT moi, as one of the 125k people in downtown Boston with my sign, “Love America.” Great to be walking around surrounded by so many people waving American flags. Good show. Was a kick in a crowd that large to run into a few people we knew. Had to chuckle when I heard a 6-yo boy ask his father why the helicopters were overhead. After he answered that, he then had to explain to the kid what TV evening news was. It's not just Walter Cronkite gone - the whole idea of evening news on TV may be gone.

Local excitement was the arrival of the plastic nut that holds the toilet flush lever to the tank. One that I'd ordered didn't fit. The second one ordered was a genuine Toto packaged part (for a genuine Toto price) that took seconds to attach and be done. We were both ready to flush without carefully holding the loosy-goosy lever. Joy in the little things.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with lunch squished before and after leaving to catch the subway to downtown Boston. Dinner was our salmon dish microwaved with new potatoes and a tomato from our garden. Just don't tire of salmon.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - A double duty day. Hope others join you in the thunderstorm. Boston's weather was just on the chilly side of ideal.

maryann – Stellar choices from the FREE breakfast buffet. May you live into your hundreds.

curlyjax – I seem to have missed this Dubai chocolate trend. So it's not a new chocolate, but a pistachio, filo pastry, chocolate bar. Will have to find a way to taste a small square.

Readers -

Exercise yesterday was hitting the grocery store and the dump, then spending 90 minutes standing with my sign at a local protest. Maybe the latter isn't exercise exactly but it was physically tiring. Very fun to be out there with BFF and some other folks from church. We got food after- I had a giant quesadilla and should have saved some for later but I was so hungry I wasn't thinking straight, then had some dessert too with a microwaved smores type of thing. Watched a documentary on The Love Boat show which was fun as I watched it as a kid, but it could have been a lot shorter. They made the point that the show got people more interested in cruising and expecting things like entertainment on a cruise, which makes sense.
Today I'm planning on taking a walk with DD, along with meal prep. laundry, planning for our Aruba trip, and helping DD with some forms. And eating less, I really overdid it yesterday.
Bill-the photos from Boston were great. Yay indeed for the little things.
Maryann-the saying you can't go home again is true. Sounds like a delicious breakfast indeed.
Gardenerjoy-good for you on braving a thunderstorm.

Fast fly-by
 

Coaches

just a quick hello.
Scale was 321 down from 322 yesterday. Today I cooked up a upc frozen thing for supper knowing it may push my weight up tomorrow. Sink is still clogged and kitchen feels lost non functional so I caved to that.
on the bright side it was an extremely small portion. I have an NSV somewhat like eating a small portion and being ok with that, which is that yesterday I ordered at a fry truck ( season is ending) and half became leftovers for today’s lunch also accepted without an inner fight if wanting MORE. Astounding.

Sunnybrook tomorrow. An early start so m headed to bed.
oh yeah! Saturday’s new ceramic class is a good one. We’re going to have some fun. I can feel it.
more tomorrow. Sorry for typos and horrible run-on sentences. Better not perfect will have to apply to this post as it is better to check in than not.
:wave: