Tera, yes, of course I know the string joke. Second favorite joke suitable for all audiences.

You guys never wanna get me started on the other kind!

Hi coaches

I have good news and I have bad news, one connected to the other.

Good news: I've talked to all family members. Bad news: I've talked to them because my aunt died on Monday. Really suddenly. I haven't been feeling it much yet though. I am really good at taking painful feelings and sliding them away from view. Old family survival skill. In fact I was getting a bit worried as I hadn't shed a tear. Very strange. And then I got an email from a cousin who wondered if there was an online obit. I went looking and there it was, with her picture and that rattled me to my bones. My aunt's picture + obituary do not go together.

I don't like this dying business.

My aunt though was ill for about 2 hours. She was living in nursing home and had some dementia, but not too bad, she would wander and then she had trouble breathing. She went to the hospital, her sons visited, she felt better, they left for lunch and she died while they were gone. Luckily my mother visted with her the night before. I am VERY grateful for that.

There is visitation tomorrow night which we won't make it to, but we'll be there for the bulk of Friday, from 9:30 in the afternoon. That, my friends, will be when I am sad. Very sad. Can't let go until then it seems...

I am still reading the Pollan book and thinking of stenciling on my bright yellow kitchen wall his words: Simple as this seems it may be the toughest way for me to eat. And yet if I could only do those three things it'd be enough I suspect.

I guess that's where I am at. I'm kind of neglecting the ceramic room. I'm sort of worried of being really disconbobulated after the funeral. I am worried I am going to f*** up the new connections with my siblings. But I have to say, hearing all about my sister's Key West move and her adventures is very entertaining. I can't hear enough about it.

Good and bad. Good and bad.

I'll keep in touch.

Oh and robinw I wanted to ask you, since you mentioned living in St. Catherines do you know, is this area smoggy? I was looking up smog statistics for Windsor and it's worse than Toronto... what's your experience of the niagara area? I want to avoid smog.

have a good evening. be well.

Hi onebyone! I found st. catherines extremely humid. More so than it is here in Buffalo. I honestly cant tell you about the smog. I pretty much worked 50-60 hours a week indoors. Any and ALL time off was spent OUT of st. catherines. Usually over in brantford. Its pretty over there. My parents are in waterloo, and I love it there too when I visit. But its alot more expensive to live there than in brantford or st. catherines.

But I can tell you if you are sensitive to atmospheric (sp?) changes, st. catherines/niagara is really bad for that. The pressure in my head some days was just brutal. I didnt really know what it was...I was thinking it was stress from the job. But it turned out it had to do with the mountain, and the air that hits it and rolls right back. My asst. told me to take tylenol head cold stuff and I was surprised how well it relieved it.

So that is something to think about. It didnt bother many ppl, but it seemed to affect those of us who had allergies.

I hope that helps a bit.

So sorry for the loss of your aunt, Onebyone.

Thanks maryblu.

Busy day. On track and doing very well over here. Kudos to me for getting through a workout despite feeling lazy and having to bring down my intensity from my usual bounciness to.. less bouncy. My upper foot area on my right side and both my calves/shins aren't too happy with me. ~0~ I'm hoping some good Yoga this Friday or Saturday will work it out. Aside from that, nothing out of the ordinary. I'll probably have something more to say tomorrow. But for now: Stephen King here I come!


onebyone - My heart goes out to you for your loss of your aunt. I absolutely must give you kudos for seeing some positive in your current situation. A lot of people can't do that. I just hope that everything settles and you get more good news from this point on!

Coaches/Buddies I've got to be quick tonight. Wore pre-DS pants to work today. Size 14s. Getting there. Eating was on plan, until dinner, where I thought I made reasonable choices at the restaurant but apparently not. Lesson: look at the nutrition info before and not after. Oh Well. It was good.

Back is still better. May try to get out and walk tomorrow.

to everyone. I'll do real personals tomorrow.

onebyone I'm very sorry about your aunt.

Kim You are indeed doing a great job under difficult circumstances.

Anne

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating OP. Went to the gym but did a reduced session when I felt a twang in my back. Don't like backing off for a good reason because I excel in making up reasons for backing off. Oh Well.

Was delightful out walking after work without a jacket; gotta love the warm weather. What we need locally is some rain; my tomato plants are thirsty.


maryblu - Good grief! You actually told the electron joke. In a public forum. I'm afraid that the string joke can't be far behind, LOL. But, encouraged by you and your colleague bucket (bucketwithapurpose) here's my humility joke from the sixties:
onebyone - Sending warm condolences for the loss of your aunt. Yep, this "dying business" stirs up all our emotions. I wish you well dealing with the "painful feelings."

Congrats for talking with all your family; Kudos for seeing this as an opportunity, despite the pain.

Like your idea of stenciling the Pollan quote on your kitchen wall.


Robin (RobinW) - Presumably you won't see this this morning because you're on the way to the gym; Kudos for planning that.

Congrats for losing inches; that's some good NSV there all right.


Anne (wndranne) - Congrats on wearing your pre-pregnancy pants to work. Yay for NSV's.

Ouch for late recognition of restaurant evil; it's amazing to me that food with normal sounding names and descriptions can hold so many calories.


Tera (twilit tera) - Congrats on the new low scale reading (although down 2.5 in one reading does sound like there's a little scale jitter in there). Do you have a reward in mind for the new MINIGOAL?

hmmmmm ... I'm a fan of Hallowell and Ratey's Driven to Distraction. When I was trying to come to grips with my own kids performance, I read a bunch of similar books. Theirs was one of the best. I liked that simply recognizing ADD like behavior is part of the strategy for finding behaviors to move forward in life anyway. If I remember correctly, they have a bunch of strategies to help focus, some of them remind me of CBT.


Kim (bennyhannamama) - Sending supportive thoughts for dealing with the loss of your brother. With all the stuff in your life, it would be easy to find an excuse to wander off plan; Kudos for recognizing that and giving "little pep-talk to myself."


bucket (bucketwithapurpose) - Kudos for sticking with your exercise despite the "lazy" feelings.

Feel free to gloat that you've started something with your bucket joke, LOL.


Readers -

I wrote my report last night and the personals this AM. I’m on vacation until next Wednesday, so I’ll be posting when I can… My Mom likes to get up around 9 AM so I’m hoping to exercise and post in the mornings…
maryblu For all that I live on a lake, I don’t see many water birds. I do see loons almost every day. And cormorants and herons are around. But egrets are a treat, and I never have seen a swan or pelican here. I have bird-envy!

Atom joke -

bucket (with a purpose) It sounds like giving your Dad some specific info on what you eat and why has helped in the past. (I’m sorry it hasn’t stopped the passive aggressive comments…) So Bill’s idea may help now. I give you a lot of credit for persevering in the face of such challenges.

Credit for working out when you were feeling lazy!

Anne I’m glad the back is feeling even better. I find that I can do mental planning for a few days at a time, and then I start slipping. Having something off-plan here and there. But I’m a believer in doing what works, so if this works, why not?

It’s really too bad that your cravings for ‘junk’ haven’t subsided in the face of being on Beck. Most of mine have, until I slip. Having such cravings must make every day a real challenge…

Size 14 You always seem to be right ahead of me. Thanks for the draft!

for looking at nutritional info after dinner – I’ve had the shock many times myself.

Bill I try to think of exercise as ‘no choice’ and do it before work. Credit! for doing it after work when you were worn down -- getting up and walking showed commitment.

I think it’s so funny that you wrote your sock NSV when I’ve been meaning to write about the same issue for about a week now. But it is incredibly rewarding isn’t it? I hope the ability to enjoy small triumphs so thoroughly is not indicative of a small mind.

I’m doing my personals in the AM today. I’m watching the sunrise and have seen multiple rose breasted grosbeaks already. This is the first year we’ve had so many, and I don’t know why. We don’t have anything special in the feeder. I’m going to have to look up bobolinks – I’m not even sure what they look like… What’s an NWR?

Kim It’s so nice to hear your stories about time with your kids. It gives you an opportunity for spontaneous exercise, and they really put the rest of life’s craziness in perspective. And it sounds like you do have a lot going on. Credit! For realizing that and adjusting your expectations of yourself.

In spite of all that, you are in a groove it seems – credit!

Robin I’m flying to Buffalo today and it seems like it’ll be a really nice weekend. I can’t wait! Would you mind if I stopped in? If not, what’s the name of your shop again? I don’t know what Mom has planned, but I’m planning to lobby for a visit to the Darwin Martin house and visit to the shops on Elmwood. Or did you say the shops had moved to Hertel… I can’t remember!

Tera new low and mini-goal!! So are you below 220 now, or is that more of a milestone rather than a mini-goal?

I agree the ADHD thing is way overblown. Some people are really challenged by it, especially when children/teenagers. I know it’s been a real challenge for several of the teenagers in my family.

I’d begun asking myself the same question about taking the wii with me. My hubbie is tech support in our house, so I’ll ask him if setting up the wii at my Mom’s would be difficult. If not, I’ll see if I can pack it today. I was planning to do only carry-on today…

one by one It’s nice to hear from you. I’m very sorry about your aunt. This dying stuff is total crap as far as I’m concerned. But I’m glad it’s giving you an opportunity to see your siblings (I love Key West…). In any case, my thoughts are with you...

Chinamaine and BillBE, I have balance envy and Yoga envy.

Something so simple we take for granted..balance. Once we can walk upright, it is assumed we have balance.

Yoga is one of those nuanced, blend-of-skills-kind-of-thing. Never could master anything that takes me beyond just mechanical-do-this-then-that kinda talent. Not a drum roll, not meditation, and certainly not Yoga. I did do Pilates for a while, and that was as close as I got. So, my coaches, feel free to ask me what I have done about getting some Yoga, meditation, balance (in more ways than one!) into my life.

WI: +1
Pain: 0/3/5
Activity: 1

Credits: calorie counting , vitamins ...

It was a bleh sort of day, though I did manage to get the wolf face design done. I like it even better than the cat face.

Today: Truly finish the housework (til it gets messy again), focus on informative pages in the healthcare reform website. At least I'm better rested. Oh yeah, and I'm going to be so on plan. It's nice to know of at least one thing that's going well.

onebyone: I'm sorry that you're having to experience this. Losing someone is always a shock.

Bucket: for the exercise and staying on track.

Anne: Huzzah for the pre-preg pants!

Sorry to hear about restaurant trouble. They can be awfully sneaky.

Bill: Oh, I knew all along that a 2.5 pound drop would be followed by a minor gain. I also knew that the minor gain would still put me below where I'd been before the plunge, and within my minigoal. Sure enough, I still weigh less than 220. I'm going to get a haircut this weekend.

I'm glad that the book helped you when you needed it. It's not that I don't think that we should do all we can for people who are experiencing functional problems... but all kids need to get up and run around - it's part of the experience of being a kid. Studies are now being done linking exercise and school performance - how much of apparent ADD has been due to a lack of adequate exercise? We have them sitting at desks all day long and then often they go home to video games and television. And with adults (like my aunt) some people are high intensity/low focus and others are high focus/low intensity - what makes one type better than the other that we label the first one a disorder? How much of our seeing "disorders" is simply expecting people to act according to unrealistic standards?

at the eletron humility joke. Oh, and I think I saw an invitation to tell the string joke...

ChinaMaine: for having a vacation plan. I do hope you enjoy your time.

Under 220 is both a milestone and a minigoal. It became a minigoal when I realized it was taking me longer than expected to reach my non-scale minigoals and needed something along the way to reach for.

Maryblu:
Okay. What have you done about it?

Good Morning everyone!

Did my workout this morning... I think I over did it tho. My hip gave a ping at one point. So I immediately stopped what I was doing, and didnt finish any of the other leg exercises. I switched it to upper stuff instead. Hopefully it was just a warning. So far I can feel it, but there isnt any pain. I'll keep my fingers

Im already at 6000 steps for today!

ChinaMaine~ I'll send you a pm with all my contact info! This is exciting!

onebyone~ Im so sorry about your aunt

Im sorry I dont have more time for personals...the corporate challenge t-shirts are waiting.

Have a great day everyone!

Weight: -1 lb.
Credit: Exermocisin' through my laziness, Not eating after dinner last night, Remembering to read all my cards, spontanous dance breaks, staying within my food plan

Woohoo! I just discovered I don't have to take the SAT/ACTs to get into the college I'm enrolling in next spring. Downside: I have to take the GED, *but* Texas won't let anyone under the age of 17 take it. GAHHH. I'm hoping I can figure out a way around it so I can take it this year and be enrolled by next spring. I don't know what I'll do with myself if I have to wait until I'm 17. Defiantly does take a whole lot of stress off me.

I swear I felt more energized once I discovered that I didn't have to take the SAT/ACTs within the next 6 months. XD As Mr. Mackey would say: Stress is bad, mmm'kay~.

RobinW - Kudos for stopping when you started to feel pain instead of working through it! Rumor has it, it reeeally sucks when you can't exercise because of an injury caused by pushing yourself too much.

Bill - Also kudos to YOU for backing off when you felt pain too. :3 That phase between spring and summer is always awkward, yet it has the prettiest weather, doesn't it? It gives autumn a run for it's money, I think!

Also: I unforantely did not get your joke. This makes me want to go study physics again, but I'm already working towards calculus just so I can get all the funny calculus jokes. Hmmm.

Hi Coaches:

I'm about ready to turn in for the night. We leave for my aunt's funeral at 8 am or so. It'll be a long sad day. I don't know how my mother is holding up. I'll see her tomorrow. Of course my long lost TOM showed so I am feeling crummy with that right now and usually it's worse the second day and, of course, that's tomorrow. I did buy my sister a gift, her own copy of In Defense of Food. If it's right, I'll give it to her. If it's wrong, I'll do it another time.

Foodwise I'm still reading said-same Pollan book. Getting to the end of it. I'm feeling like it's got all the info I need but not feeling like I will be able to implement any of it. I need the behavioural aspect at the same time. Even if I found the perfect diet for me, it'll mean nothing if I can't stick to it, if I continue to eat when I'm not hungry, eat crap, eat when sad or eat to hurt myself.

Oh I sense some despair here. Better to talk to me after the funeral is over I think. I'm kind of a downer right now. And I'm feeling really puffy.

Thanks for listening.

Coaches/Buddies I'm exhausted after the second straight night of being awakened by coyotes. I'm so distracted right now, between turning 40, which shouldn't be that big a deal but somehow is, and stupid work stuff. Weight is at a new low, and I'm more or less on plan.

Anyway, I'm always telling you all it is ok to drive by post, so I'm giving myself permission to do that tonight. I need to tally up the food log and then I think I'm going to hit the hay.

Tomorrow doing some house clean up, badly needed after my injury earlier this week, and getting a long massage.

Anne