Maintainers Weekly Chat July 8 - July 14
 

Let saef's quote start the week:Walking in the heat gives a false sense of accomplishment as the sweat streams off. We're in our hot spell that happens about twice a summer before it returns to New England's milder weather. Spent extra time watering our community garden that suffers under the heat.

New Jersey blueberries are now selling for $2 a pint. It's such a delight to indulge pretending that each berry carries enough antioxidants to make me live a day longer. When I'm indulging in blueberries, it's easy to ignore the repeated, consistent studies that show this not to be true. Belief can rise about science, LOL.

Good morning!
 

Salad! there, did that take everyone's minds back to a healthier place? :p

It is 3H here - hazy, hot, humid - for the 4th day in a row. DH and I were going to kayak yesterday but thunderstorms held us back. Ditto for the biking we decided to do instead. Just got the tires pumped up and everything checked out and it started POURING rain. SIGH.

But we did find something to do indoors. :devil: No, it did not involve anything with a Dutch name. :p

DH is really having problems with his knees now, due to what I think is arthritis. He won't go to a doctor. We are regularly having the discussion about weight loss, exercise, and increased health. And less stress, therefore probably less pain, for his knees.

He actually asked me what the point of it all was - what was the end goal? :(

That's so sad. It's been so long since he's felt healthy that he's forgotten what a major satisfaction it can be for us to know that we are strong, ready to face each day, and that we will be able to do something other than sit and stare as we age.

Speaking of which I am going to go strength train now. I can squeeze in 3 sets this morning as my work start is going to be at 11 a.m.

I'm having the joyous experience of both a mammogram and an ultrasound right before work so it will be a relief to take the dogs out afterwards. I think I'll be eating lunch in my car today but that's OK.

Good week all!

Dagmar :strong: :yoga:

Good morning! I don't want to say anything about our weather for fear that I will jinx it, but there seems to be a strange bright thing in the sky ...

Thanks all, for the kind words about my grandma. She was a force to be reckoned with - a steady presence of practicality. In my last conversation with her, I told her that I never needed to consult "WWJD", because I had a living mentor for civilized behavior. All I needed to consider was "WWGD" (What would Grandma do?) and when I aligned with that, I never regretted it. I got a big smile for that one. Saef, she would have been a great tough-love consultant around here, kind of like Lori Bell. I think Nike decided on their "Just Do It" logo after somebody who worked for them met my Grandma. I will miss her ... but she has left an indelible legacy of strong values, independence and critical thinking.

I am still recovering from DS14's birthday party on July 5th. I had 8 12-14 year old boys for 24 hours. I made major "mom points" on that one, although I suspect I shortened my lifespan. :D I requested two of my close friends, whose sons represented 50% of the attendance, to sit on me and pummel me into unconsciousness if I ever suggest doing such a thing again. No one got (seriously) hurt or arrested, which apparently means a successful party.

Hoping for a quiet, normal, predictable week.

Hi all,

Yes, the very word "salad" helps me think healthy! I may be a chocoholic, but I also REALLY enjoy fresh salad and consider the day incomplete without lots and lots of it.

Since my business is going under, this is a time of very low confidence. I can't seem to stop my mind from telling me that I can't succeed in my efforts at maintenance, just like in the past. That stress and my low emotional state guarantee my utter fasilure in this as in business.

The only answer I have to that voice is to eat well and lose my "winter weight," now. It's a "just do it" time where psychology and affirmations etc don't seem to help. The only other thing that seems to help is my maintenance allies right here, receiving support from you all.

Last week I switched from weight gain to maintenance gear, and in the last three days I am switching from maintenance to weight loss. The self-confidence will have to come later, I guess.

Chris, I am sure there is a great new future ahead for you. It may be different to what you have done in the past but with your creative mind I know you are going to find success.

Chris, I've never owned my own business, only worked for huge corporations, but I suspect that the issue is how closely you identify your job with yourself, and that you identify more closely than a lot of us. But the job & the way you make a living is only a part of you. You remain yourself at your essential core, unchanged, with all your good qualities. Still, I suspect what you are doing is mourning a loss of a kind, while also preparing to undergo some big change. But your weight loss must've taught you that you are able to initiate change and benefit from it, and respond well to it, that it takes patience, but that it can bring a new & better life. So I am hoping that helps you, and that you know you can continue to take good care of yourself despite what you are dealing with.

I was just thinking this morning that, this time last year, I finally stepped into my newly renovated apartment right after July Fourth holiday. All I managed to do with my mother's help on that first trip downstate was get the kitchen stuff put away, hang curtains and set up a bed. Thus began July 2012, when I alternated driving downstate to bring some things in my mother's minivan & camp out for a few nights, then returned upstate to live in a fully furnished, air-conditioned & comfortable house. I didn't really move in fully till the end of August. I am in a better place now ... if the tropical storms & hurricanes of this season will hold off. The kind of rain you all are having down in Georgia would be freaking me out. I don't like heat waves much but like snowstorms, I can sit them out. I have my own resources. But rain & flooding is another story.

I'm back at work after a 4-day weekend. The paperwork really piled up and I'm busy, busy, busy! It was really nice having the extra long weekend. We relaxed a lot and went to see FOUR movies (as a way of staying out of the heat).

I sure wish some of your rain would head our way.

Just two more weeks until we leave for our vacation. I'm getting a little antsy.

I'm at one of our outlyling locations (Dawsonville, for those in the know of the geography around these parts) today, about 1:15 away from my office, working on the time clock. The father of one of my coworkers (one I work with in my offices every day) passed away Friday and they are having the service today. I wanted to go, but it is 3 hours away from my office in the opposite direction from where I am now. Our Controller was able to go, but I'm sad that I couldn't be there, too.

I made my planned exercise every day last week, finishing the week with 5.25 miles at the park. The scale says the same as last week, but the pants I have on today are loose and they weren't the last time I wore them. I'm going to go with Dagmar's suggestion and take that as a reason to cheer. :carrot:

Ward - I'm trying not to jink the weather myself, too. I was thinking this morning I need to buy a sunlamp.

Saef - the rain down here is freaking me out. I'm not in a flood zone, but friends and family are. I looked today and it seems as if we are currently at 125%+ of our average rainfall.

Chris - the confidence will come back. I agree with Bargoo, you are too gifted and creative to not settle on something fantastic soon.

Becky - brave woman with the birthday party. I have a hard time with two boys in the house, much less 8.

Dagmar - hope the tests go well today.

Bill - I love blueberries. I'm going to go with faith in their effectiveness, too. :)

Good day everyone. :wave:

totally non maintenance
 

but I'd like some feedback from people I trust. And I trust you guys and I think most of you are homeowners.

I am going to have to buy a furnace. For me that's kinda like selecting a yacht - no clue as to how much it should cost or what brand I should get. It's going to be a high efficiency gas one. I'm looking at Bryant, Trane, American Standard, and Carrier.

Anyone got any of these? And what do you think of them? Model # and some specs - variable speed blower, dual heat exchanger, and AFUE rating are all factors.

thanks!
Dagmar

Homeowner here! We have combo furnace/AC units (gas). Three of them are made by Lennox and the fourth (AC only for the garage) is a York. We didn't choose them. When we built our house the guy we felt was fairest in installing them said that Lennox was the best and we trusted his input. When DH decided he needed AC in the garage (we keep it at 85 year around) the previous guy was too busy to help us so we went with a different contractor that suggested York. I can't tell you that it works any different.

You've obviously done your homework. Have you interviewed contractors/installers to get their input? Granted they usually have ties to certain brands but if you get an "old guy" who has been around and has seen the good, the bad and the ugly and is willing to share with you, I'd trust his input.

Also keep in mind warranties--how long and what all is covered.

My grocery store has blueberries on sale and I bought a bunch as well... love them fresh or frozen (or in a pie...)! Even if they're not total superfood miracles, I'm sure they're pretty good for me.

As for salad - and veggies in general - I need to eat more. I've been doing some travelling (to the beach and then to NY to visit my boyfriend for the 4th of July) and I'm pretty sure the arugula on my sandwich was the only real veggie I had in almost a week...

I eat blueberries year around. If a store has them I buy them, no matter the price. I like blueberries.

Dagmar - I have a Trane, and have had to replace two condenser coils in five years. Everyone says that is abmormal, and both have been warrantied. We've 'only' paid labor to the tune of $600 per time. The unit itself is good. Don't go zoned, I can say that clearly. :) like Allison said, pay attention to warranty. Lots of attention. LOL

I currently have an excess of blueberries and cherries in my fridge! I have tons of other fruit as well. My fridge is full of healthy food!

I don't know anything about my furnace except we bought a furnace/AC unit when we bought our house 7 years ago. Our house was built in 1980 and had no AC when we bought it! That wouldn't have been fun last week when it was 105 degrees multiple days in a row.

I don't remember if I mentioned the issues my dh had trying to fly to China? He usually leaves on Saturday and his flight would have been taking off around the same time that the flight crashed there. He planned to leave Sunday instead and I dropped him off at SFO at 9 am (news crews EVERYWHERE!). His flight was due to leave at noon. First it was delayed till 12:30, then 2:30, then cancelled! They put him on a China Air flight that was supposed to leave at 2:30. It kept getting delayed and finally took off at 8 pm!! He arrived safely but his bags apparently are still here at SFO in lost baggage. We'll see when they make it to China!

Older dd and I have a flight to Houston on Saturday. Not sure how that will go as the one runway is shut down indefinitely.

I had a lovely lunch today with three wonderful parents from my school-- they have been my volunteers and we've all become friends-- I had a healthy salmon salad with the dressing on the side. Ignored the bread basket. Success.

Not so successful was my trip to the dentist. I have an old crown that needs replacing. I hate the dentist. I'd rather go to the gyno and have 5 mammograms (which by the way I have a mammo this week to) than go to the dentist. Plus it's $$$$. Sigh.

My afternoon gym session also got nixed. I was at the gym. I had gotten my pass for body pump. Then dd (younger) texted me that she has a migraine and was throwing up. So, I left the gym and went to take care of the doggie that she is pet sitting for. She just got home from work and went to bed.

I've been buying huge clamshells of fresh blueberries at either Trader Joe's or Costco. I think the grocery store is usually $4.99 for about a cup and TJ's was $5.99 for twice that and Costco was $6.99 for four times that! Eating it with Greek yogurt for breakfasts during the work week I was unable to finish the Costco clamshell in 5 days! I wish they were that cheap all the time. I also bought a dozen nectarines (my favorite fruit) at TJ's for $4.99 or $5.99 (can't remember). I bought 2 dozen--one dozen per week, but that is a fruit that is only good for a short time, so I'll probably not buy more lest I be disappointed.

Amazing that the airport was still having delays a whole day later, Michele. As soon as I heard about the crash (as we were on our way into a movie) I had to text both my brother and niece to see if my SIL was back from Japan. She did get back on Thursday but my brother also said that the flight that crashed was one that they've been on twice before. Yikes!

I buy blueberries year round, too. But I only share them in the summer. ;-)

Did I ever tell you guys about the sleepover we had for my son's 8th birthday? The boys were on the main floor and making lots of noise, so I kept getting up and going downstairs to tell them to be quiet and go to sleep. Well, when I went down at 1 am, one boy was dancing around buck naked! I still don't quite know why, but I can tell you that he has not been invited back. That's something you'd never see at a girl's sleepover!

I'm another maintainer enjoying the blueberries of the season (they are plentiful in MI). I could care less whether their antioxidants add any days to my life, they add deliciousness to my oatmeal, and that's enough.

Michele, what is the reason your siggie counts your workouts and your Bikram yoga classes separately? Do you have different goals for each (as in, strength vs. flexibility)? I'm asking because I have several different workout types (strength training, cardio, HIIT/metabolic training) and pretty much just alternate them, but sometimes wonder whether I should formally track each to see what ratio gives me the best results.

Wardhog, as the mother of 3 boys, the youngest of whom just turned 8 last week, my heart goes out to the little boy you caught dancing naked at 1 am. That could so totally have been my DS, who gets overexcited and overtired simultaneously, and does silly things like that to keep the attention (and limelight) on himself. Please don't count him out as a friend for your son on that basis alone; he may have many lovely qualities when he's better rested :>)

This seems to be the week for medical tests. I am scheduled for an MRI on Friday.

Andrea-- no real reason, but I've been tracking my workouts for three years now. This is the first year I'm separating my workouts. Last year, I tried to workout 310 days and I got close but didn't make it. This year, I decided to focus on workouts and not days as sometimes I do two workouts in one day. I truly believe my yoga improves my strength and flexibility so I'm tracking that separately. My yoga studio recognizes students that take 100, 200 or more classes per year so I'm hoping to be recognized for 200 this year. There was a woman last year that was recognized for 400 classes-- she takes multiple classes daily-- I'm not that crazy!

Blueberry fan here, as well! Nature's candy, and so good on everything they touch. :)

Ward, I agree with Andrea re the bizarre things that take place when kids are overtired. I think I saw enough last weekend to scare me off hosting sleepovers for, well, EVER. :lol:

Chris, please don't let one business crash derail your headspace. Don't forget that opera - how huge is that? No one has a 100% success rate, and the most successful people are the ones who've made big mistakes and learned big lessons. Steve Jobs, anyone? ;)

My focus for this week and next is getting my portions back under control. The long weekend and vacation brought back the my habit of wanting to be full as opposed to satisfied. It's summer and the eating is good ... but I don't need to eat it all at once.

Bargoo~best of luck to you on Friday. Hope all the scans are clean!

The countdown to vacation has begun. The anxiousness has also begun (which means hours of sleeplessness in the wee hours of the morning).

I get blueberries in the big clamshell from Costco, too. Unfortunately, the last ones I got were really terrible. So bad I had to return them. I've been a little afraid to get any more and I miss them. :(

Ward - don't write off the little guy, he really could be better when hes's not worn out and over stimulated. I know little boys I could see doing that for various reasons.

Michele - I'm so impressed with your Bikram yoga.

I got my whoosh today. I'm three pounds down from last week. Woo.

Shannon, congratulations on the whoosh !

Whoosh Shannon! Thanks for the kudos. I love it!

My weight was down a pound. Still three over my redline. So close and yet so far.

Saef and others,
Thanks for your support! I am realizing that I'm kind of in the male thing of idedntifying my worth with my work and can't pull the confidence back up. But one good thing about us guys I guess: being simpleminded in some ways we can sometimes just plow forward and fake it till we make it. So I am doing the right things at least, which is the one thing I can do.
The way this applies to my weight: I consider 195 a maximum acceptable "winter weight" now, and 185 a good "summer weight." Today I finally broke through at 194.2 so I feel I am en route to my summer weight at last. So I am feeling low, but at least I'm doing the weight thing better again. Saying I feel a lack of confidence is true, but I don't want to use how I feel as an excuse to gain back all the weight I lost last year!

I'm paying 99 cents for a pint of blueberries from a local produce market and eating them every morning with cinnamon, Splenda and plain Fage on top.

Chris, good on you. Sometimes doing well at something, anything, just when you're starved for success, can be enough for a turnaround. Actually, I think that's part of my life story regarding my view of my weight and body. When I have the upper hand on my weight, then I feel like my life in general is a little more under control.

Shannon, I'm so glad that your scale has spoken, science is reaffirmed and hard work is rewarded: You got your whoosh. I want one, too. I may very well get one, but mine will have something to do with abstention from sugarfree gum & not drinking too much Diet Pepsi when I'm feeling dehydrated from the heat.

Cheers for Virginia Wade's 1977 Wimbledon victory
 

Ooops ... My apologies to British women when I restated the line that the British just won their first Wimbledon in 77 years. That story is being corrected all over the press, e.g.I like the tweet by Chloe Angyal, "Murray is indeed the first Brit to win Wimbledon in 77 years unless you think women are people."

I was called on it when I congratulated my neighbor from London. She reminded me of Virginia Wade's victory in 1977. She also let on the subtlety: if Andy Murray had lost, it would be, "Too bad the Scot lost." When he won it was, "Yay for the Brit who won."

Saef you are so right. It IS feeling good to keep diet under control when other parts of my life are out of control. Just lost another half pound today. Now I'm off for a long hike to over 12,000' to sniff some wildflowers. Life can be hard but I can be kind!

Quite right about Virginia Wade whose smile also lit up the country, back in 1977. Bill, your neighbour passes on a comment which is in circulation. It has some degree of truth in it (as stereotypes sometimes do) but is also being pushed hard for a political purpose. There will be a referendum in Scotland in 2014 concerning independence. A lot of detail has to come out in the next months and we're also likely to see more of this kind of comment. I think I'll leave it there.

A lovely day here in the countryside. I've decided to get rid of most of the spare rough bits of slate. I'll keep pieces for edging and for paths. So, out with the barrow, down to the car and off to the tip. If it's cooler than this morning when it felt inhuman.

Bill - I have a friend whose parents are Scottish, was born in England and lived most of his life in Canada before moving back to London a few years ago. He made a point of putting on his FB that the victory was a great one for the Brits and the Scots. He didn't catch Virginia Wade though, nor did I. Oops.

Shannon, you may be a bit young to remember her? :)

I've sorted some slate and am now a puddle.

Hehe. Maybe so. I don't feel young right now, so anything I can say I'm too young for I'm good with. :)

What is the weather like where you are, Birchie? I know earlier this year some places were seeming to go straight back to fall and skipping summer.

And I'm back up two pounds today. Sigh. Never ending battle.

Shannon, we had a very long winter which held all the blossom back. Then spring came altogether in a rush - it was quite glorious. Now we're having an over-typical British summer - almost completely unpredictable. I wore leather gloves and a fleece hat to school sports day about 10 days ago as the rain drove in almost horizontally. At that point, I was certain I wouldn't see the sun for weeks. But London on Monday & Tuesday was scorching. Today, at home, it's been about 27C (81F) with the wind swinging about. All my garden plans disintegrated. Now the wind's in the NE, our coldest quarter. I'm finding all the changes very wearing and I still haven't unearthed all my summer clothes.

It's bedtime here and I'm a little hungry. I'm just going to clean my teeth and go to bed. That's the best thing to do, I think.

Good Morning!

Got my first good night's sleep this month last night. The new house CAN be fixed. I didn't buy a "lemon" and it will eventually be a really nice, functional house. After our visit yesterday and the pronouncement by the HVAC guy that the furnace and ductwork could be moved I came home and literally jumped up and down in our front hall. :dance:

Now all I have to do is keep DH's alternating enthusiasm/aversion to spending my money in check. That's what really separates us - I can and do make decisions and stick to them. DH formulates 7 plans and then spins around trying to decide between them all. :dizzy: His approach makes me :crazy: sometimes.

I have been quite overwhelmed by it all and have to keep repeating "everything doesn't need to be changed at once, every thing etc. etc.". I'm hoping, once the quotes are in and a kind of reno "plan" has been set up for August. I can then seriously address my :o "eating slippage". I'm not too far down the slope yet, but I have been gaining momentum lately.

I figure I have August-October to diet things down a bit and get set for moving. I'm thinking I'll take my "vacation" the last week of October and move then. November will be chaotic and then December should be easier.

Dagmar :cool:

Weird - we are 11 days from closing and my dad has started his harrassing phone calls again. No way he could know what's happening. Probably coincidence. But my stomach still lurched when I heard his voice - kinda like one of Pavlov's mutts. :lol:

Dagmar :eek:

Memorial service for my grandma is over. It was short, sweet and to the point - live simply, with dignity and curiosity, and teach when you have something to offer. A simple formula, really. I will be "brainificating and thinkifying" on this for a bit.

Good words to live by. :hug: to you Becky.

Dagmar

Michele, my heart goes out to you in empathy. I feel like you are living the same nightmare I had for the 4 months leading up to my swearing off further attempts to get down to my goal weight. And I'm betting that, like me, no one not on this board will understand why you are so driven to lose weight when, to them, you look "just fine." I have no advice, just sympathy.