Bon dia! We arrived safely home last night around 11:15. Despite all the gloomy predictions about cancelled flights etc, we left on time from Boston and only had a 45 minute delay from Aruba. Eagle beach https://www.shutterstock.com/search/....google.com%2F is indeed just beautiful and the water was so warm! Our hotel was a short walk to the beach, and was a suite so had a pull out couch and full refrig which came in handy (plus we could shut the bedroom door and have some space away from each other!). I was not prepared for the heat-about 90 in the day and only cooled down to 80 at night, plus blazing sun with very little overcast. I abandoned my plans for exploring and learning about the history etc, it was just too hot for me. We went on a very fun,bumpy 4 hour jeep tour to Arikok National park, and on a 4 hour catamaran snorkeling trip. It was nice to be on the boat but I'm not into the drinking culture prevalent there. DD also went on the Jolly Pirate boat trip herself as I had had enough of boats and loud people at that point We had dinner at the Flying Fishbone, and were fortunate enough to snag a table where we could sit with our feet in the water, which is what its famous for and DD really wanted to do. I came home sunburned, exhausted and up 3 pounds, ack.
I was very impressed that the native Arubans speak 4 languages-Papiamento at home, they learn Dutch in Kindergarten, and then Spanish and English in elementary school as well. I got to chat a bit with the jeep tour guide, and then with a 20 year old another day which was fun. I know the primary industry there is tourism, but I always feel uncomfortable with the whole thing of us "wealthy tourists" coming to a poorer nation and them depending on our dollars etc.I'm glad I went but the next place I go will not be a tropical island. Very thankful we are able to travel, and thankful to be home!

Coaches

Not a bad day today. There's room for improvement.

Weight stayed the same. And now a 5 day 10 min walk streak. I almost talked myself out of doing it but because it was such a short duration of walking I eventually just did it because I would stop beating myself up over not doing it.
Whatever it takes.

Tomorrow I'm going to help my potter friend at the potters' guild with her mentorship project. I really didn't want to. I've been avoiding the guild because there are very steep stairs going down into the guild. That's the truth. But my knee and leg has been better so I need to see what happens. I suspect it's better than I think.

I just feel like I have no spare emotional energy for anyone right now. But then, I took a minute and remembered all the times my friend has supported me and helped me and I can do this. I can help her. So I'll see her tomorrow and I'll be able to put it behind me.

Today we had snow that didn't melt during the day. This 2cm snowfall caused the art workshop that was scheduled at 2-5pm to be postponed until the 23rd. 2cm of snow. It's probably not the amount of snow that was the issue but the shock and surprise and the lack of snow tires on vehicles that caused the panic request to reschedule. I was ok one way or the other for the postponement. I was surprised that it was due to winter weather. Wow. It is Canada after all.

BillBlueEyes: it's news to me that Cheerios can go stale. Thanks for that tidbit. Sorry for the removal of patio furniture. It will be a while before it comes out again. I share your pain.

Maryann: when I think of garden stepping stones I think of concrete. You can make a lot of great yard things out of concrete. I don't think of stepping stones as ceramic because up here ceramics left out over the winter will crack due to the freeze/thaw cycle. If you can have that there then that's perfect.. I look forward to hearing more about it.

Curlyjax: welcome back! I saw the pictures of the beach. Wow. I just love those colours. Your trip sounded great. I'm glad your trip went well. Sound like good memories were made.

Really late...

Diet Coaches/Buddies - The (5 yo) DGD burst in with her standard full-on energy. She painted with water colors at her kiddie table while occasionally adding her version of the topics being discussed. She chose the board game that four of us played while DDIL kibitzed. She can play well - especially since we all point out good moves for her. All was cheerful with only one brief meltdown just before leaving when DW said she couldn't have a (some) post-its from my work area. We're both willing to give her anything but have chosen to set limits when she randomly asks for everything she sees. She sulked for a few seconds, then emerged as cheerful as before. Methinks she doesn't get told "No" very often. So hard to know what's useful.

Was fun dragging five barrels of leaves to the curb for the city to pick up. DW had already done all the work collecting them. The two small pumpkins half-eaten by squirrels don't go out as yard waste; they go into our compost bins in the back yard. Only some leaves join that compost because we don't let it ferment long enough for leaves to fully break down. Composting is a science.

I spent a bunch of time reading Faulkner's version of the events in Mississippi during Reconstruction. Scary. Realized that I need to read W E B Du Bois Black Reconstruction in America. So much of that history I don't know.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with snacks of almonds and some chocolate that had escaped my prior searches. Dinner was omelettes which are easily prepared when we're pretty zonked after a DGD visit.


onebyone - Ouch for the beginning of the snow season, albeit only 2 cm. Usually your part of the world wouldn't even notice so little. Good friend you are to be so supportive.

maryann – LOL at the tension between so much done and so much left to do. I'm not ready to read books about losing children.

curlyjax – Breath taking beaches to be sure. Speaking four languages is such a gift; I'm jealous. Having dinner with my feet in the water is just beyond. Welcome back.

Readers -

BBE: Kids thrive on boundaries. They really do. Knowing the love you and DW have for that girl you will never err on the damaging side. It is much better for people who love DGD to set the boundaries than people who don't. Believe me, parent cannot shield a child for the truth: the world can be unfair, fickle and cruel. The best protection is giving her practice in resilience and perseverance. I cringe when I remember the story of taking all of DS's toys away in first grade because he got a "yellow warning card" in class. I had taught years in a really tough middle school and expected kids to tow the line. He looked up at me and said, "Really Mom, what are the chances I am not going to get a warning card again all year?" It threw me into perspective. We laugh about it today. DS is the class of 2020. He has survived the rise of cell phones, the pandemic and a climate where all opinions and rolls are scrutinized and judged. He is and has always been happy. I am proud of him.
Curly: I am drooling over those pictures. They are my dream!!!!!!
onebyone: We don't have freezing and thawing but we do have frost. I'll have to look into it. I really want art I can put into my massive outside area so they need to be resilient, largish scale, and succesful for amateurs. Thoughts on classes?

As for me, I am one day away from weigh in. All I want to do is avoid salt and stay on the small light side of calories.

Hi Coaches

Another event called for snow! Ridiculous. I guess they want to be safe not sorry.

I made it to the guild. I helped my friend transfer images from photos onto her wheel-thrown dinner plates. One was of her late husband and the other of her two grandchildren. It was a test for me to see how we could do that as there are several ways. I was shocked at how easily it all went. Credit moi. They are in the kiln being fired right now. When they come out she will add colour and hopefully some pattern.

Otherwise I spent time watching the TV and now it's bedtime. Tomorrow I see that new cultural centre at 1pm. This is the day's highlight. I am back to decluttering tomorrow. Another round in the same location in the apartment. It's garbage day on Wednesday so I'm going to attempt to make some garbage to go out I *really* want to make a dent this time. I need this to progress bigtime.

Maryann: Big sculptures can be made with wheel-thrown pots that are attached together to create larger forms. The limitation is the size of the kiln. So you end up firing the components of your piece and cleverly gluing them together. As an example check out this work by Russell of Key West Pottery. That height is achieved by a series of pots that are places rim to rim, bottom to bottom to create the pole and then the decorative pelican is added to the top. I know Russell. I've seen these. Just start with a throwing class. See how it goes. It's a good way to find out if you like clay and that's where you need to start. You can do this for sure!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Encountered a new word resile: “She does not resile from anything she said then.” That's a statement put out for Fergie, (previously known as Duchess of York, now to be known as 'Sarah Margaret Ferguson'). It means "abandon a position or a course of action." I cannot explain why such a statement appears in my news feed - way over here far, far from the U.K. Nor can I explain why I read it. One would think we have enough local scandal, thank you very much.

Drizzly rain all day. Just enough to make going out unpleasant but not enough to make the gardener DW happy. But it did make me a tiny bit of a hero for going out to bring in the trash cans.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with snacks of roasted almonds. Dinner was a frozen concoction from Trader Joe's with generous portions of chicken and edamame. The only place that edamame comes into my diet. Can't say that I like it or don't like it - one more bean in my life. The dish also contains mushrooms - enough veggies that DW serves it over brown rice with nothing else.


onebyone - Hard to believe that you transferred those images from photos onto the plates. Well done. I assume the plates are for display. Not sure that I could pour gravy over an image of my deceased spouse. Amazed to see how one creates a big fired sculpture from pieces fired individually.

maryann – Wonderful story about your DS and a "yellow warning card". Good that you can both laugh about it now. We can laugh with our DD now about the time that two pairs of parents were called to her school because she and her buddy, a boy, had become a major class distraction. Avoiding salt is always a good idea.

Readers -

Good Morning, Coaches.

Today is weigh-in. I instructed ChatGPT yesterday for a menu to safely "drop a pound of water weight" off a 60 year old woman. I drank a half gallon of water with lemon in it ( yeah! I got my water in); did not salt my roasted broccoli; a left out any glucose other than my morning coffee. I didn't feel hungry all day but also didn't exercise. I was a pound and a half lower this morning. I'll take it. It was great resistance practice. The good news is the lemon water reduced a morning headache I usually have. I will keep that in my practice.

I am true farmer's wife this week processing persimmons, pomegranates and pecans gathered from the ranch.

BBE: I checked the house that Andrew to which will most likely move. I do not resile from my determination it is perhaps to generous of his family.
onebyone: That is a very exciting pottery idea. Excellent.

We're celebrating that DH applied for social security yesterday ahead of his 70th birthday early next year. Most people only do that once in a lifetime. It was straight forward, but we can still celebrate.

I'm celebrating that I'm at 1/3 of my exercise goal, 1/3 of the way through the month.

Exercise: 60, 600/1800minutes for November

Coaches

I started decluttering clothes and whatever is on the floor of the bedroom between the bed and the dresser.

The Goal: Nothing on the floor by the end of the day today Tues Nov 11

Progress I have made
Garbage: 2 bags full
Washing:1 comforter washed. Now 3 load of clothes.
Drying: everything dried

Break for breakfast and appointment at 1 to see Cultural Centre in person.

Will check-in later.

Didn't complete goal . I have bins on the floor but all clothes clean and ready to sort
Bonus: cleared top of dresser

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Boring trip to the supermarket - the good kind of boring. Encountered a massive pile of "reusable" aluminum pans for baking a Thanksgiving turkey. I can't believe that they're being reused given the humongous stack that are sold each year. Many years ago we bought a sturdy aluminum one from Sedona Kitchen. Pricey, but reused each year. Just remembered: it comfortably holds a 12 pound turkey; too small for a 24 pound turkey. One year nearly led to divorce when I bought one larger than had been requested. Oops! Just barely squeezed to fit - a rather uncomfortable looking bird.

Evening Zoom meeting was productive. It's rather nice to work a sixty minute meeting that only consumes sixty minutes of the evening's time. Hard to believe that we had meetings before Zoom became ubiquitous.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with afternoon snack of roasted almonds. Dinner was salmon grilled on the back deck. Winds were strong enough to challenge our small Weber propane grill. Conversation was a contest about who had worn more layers going out in the first cold day of the year. Yay for fleece vests.


onebyone - Two garbage bags full is progress, Kudos. I'm impressed that you can wash a comforter without a trip to the big machines at the laundromat.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Joining your celebration that your DH applied for his Social Security. He now has to choose whether to joyfully accept that it's his money being returned - as has been promised for 90 years since FDR - or to feel shame that he's part of the Ponzi scheme ripping off the next generation - as the group argues who want it abolished.

maryann – I do not understand such great results just from lemon water. Nor do I resile from the joy of playing with new words.

Readers -

I was having troubles signing on as I forgot my password, and then I also deleted some history of the laptop which resulted in having to look up some other passwords. I forget that google connects everything and my main laptop was affected too along with my email sign in, and everything was a big mess. But success finally, geez.
It was great to get back to work Monday and see everyone. I was once more reminded that a lot of the exhausting part of work is dealing with the social interactions, even though that's what I also need, including our small staff. I had yesterday off and went to my gym early with my colleague, both of us grumbling we didn't want to be there, but were glad in the end to have gone.I made a fabulous chicken soup with my instapot, some other stuff for DD, did some dishes and that was about it for productivity of the day. It's going to be a real struggle to get something done in the evening with the early dark and cold, I need to find a way to keep myself going.
I did talk with DS yesterday evening to chat about upcoming thanksgiving etc. Among other things he requested books for christmas so i'll have to see what I can find that might appeal to him.
Bill-good point about the reusable aluminum pans. I suspect they are tossed so you don't have to clean it The 60 minute cut off is helpful for a meeting indeed.
Onebyone-good job starting the decluttering. I need to join you in that pronto.
Gardenerjoy-always yay for a successful SS interaction.
Maryann-that is a great idea to ask ChatGPT for such a menu. Lucky to have pomegranates homegrown.

Today is my turn for a, hopefully, boring trip to the supermarket. A good excitement would be if they have packages of turkey thighs. We'll swap our normal chicken meals for turkey when that becomes available.

I read an article yesterday touting the benefits of isometric exercise. I successfully performed wall sits. I think that's not a daily activity for me, but I could do it every other day. No. 1 Exercise for Lowering Blood Pressure

Exercise: 60, 660/1800minutes for November

Good Morning, Coaches.

Weigh in/ Body Fat analysis was a success. I have lost nearly 10 pounds lost and very little of it has come from loss of muscle. I was very excited. My trainer pointed out that it was especially successful in that I had two major trips in the 3 months we have worked together. Now that I have 3 three solid months of mostly home, I am hoping to see more improvements. In celebration, he raised the weights and lowered the repetitions. Ooh am I sore.

Much of the victory comes from the kitchen. I cooked ramekin size egg bites with ground turkey, cheese and egg whotes. they are now frozen in pairs for breakfast. I made greek yogurt. I made sweet potato pie for the early Thanksgiving at my father's in Pismo Beach.

Joy: How do you cook your turkey thighs?
BBE: Last year or so, I decided to stop buying large ziplock bags. So many foods today come in ziplock bags. i save them. Wash if necessary. I was never going to be one of those "fanatics." It is really quite doable, though.
onebyone: A clean floor is a worthy goal.
Curly: extra points for resistance muscle that takes you to a gym class whether you want to go or not.

Coaches

DH is at the office today. So I have the joint to myself.

My decluttering job for the day is to clear the kitchen floor of everything that's there. I just gathered up some mugs that DH refuses to watch, instead lining them up in the floor.next.to the cupboards that are next to the under the sink cupboards. He stands then in rows and tells me the mug army is on the march So I've cleared those away in my dishwashing bin to be washed later. I think today I may donate some mugs. I am wondering if I could pick out 7 favorites and donate the rest? Maybe.

I had a meeting I had to go to at 12:30 and I got back at 2. I ate some lunch and now I'm ready to get back to it. I am in fact, procrastinating by writing this note so I will end it here with a check list.
Wash mugs __
Clear under kitchen table_x
Clear off on kitchen chair__
Clear front hallway__
Clear off shelves of front hallway bookcase__
Move front hallway bookcase__
Move carved woodblocks/artwork from hallway
Clear off top of kitchen table__
Clear top of upright freezer _x_
Did laundry _x_
________
So. This list makes me feel like I didn't do much today. I'm just going to remind myself that clearing under the kitchen table has been on my to do list for months
I've never been able to get that done except today. I had to do it in really tiny steps too. I'm really not sure why it's so difficult for me to clear things out or move things to other places. I also slowly began to declutter the top of the kitchen table plus all the stuff that was on the top of the freezer. That's all gone. The whys are.not as important right now as the how's. How can I do this. How do I do this. How do I keep going until it's done.
One step at a time.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - The (10 yo) DGD was full of herself when we picked her up from the fourth grade. She was carrying a blank white poster; "We each have to make a poster for tomorrow's World Kindness Day," she said. She'd already decided that it would be, KINDNESS ROCKS! Was so pleased with herself. Spent our hour together carefully laying it out, choosing the colors, and choosing how to switch colors for each letter so it wouldn't be boring. Today she'll stand in front of her school to greet the younger kids with kindness. Warms the cockles of my heart that some teachers organized all of this.

Excitement was an opera event in the new artistic section of Boston. It was a gala event with a bunch of the opera company's regulars singing old favorites, all losely connected by a weak story line meant to be funny for those in the know. They graciously reduced 14 hours out of Wagner's music leaving us only with a rousing rendition of Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure. That's the only Wagner most of us can listen to. The program continued with opera arias from Carmen and assorted non-opera warhorses like I got plenty of nothing from Porky & Bess. We sat with those whose seat price included a generous donation - generous but way less than the $2000 minimum seats for those served dinner beforehand. As we waited to be seated, we had a clear view of the auction that raised some $800,000. Pricey stuff being bought by generous supporters.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Dinner was a new-to-us Whole Foods' lentil and spinach soup with a ficelle (a thin half-baguette). Was difficult to discuss the evening's upcoming music since neither of us had figured out what was going to be played. Had to wolf it down quickly to leave early enough to allow for odd Boston traffic and parking difficulties. Had neither; zipped right to the venue and parked within feet of the entrance - pricey but super convenient.


onebyone - Yep, celebrate the small steps of decluttering. We've had to donate mugs several times over the years. Each time has been as if they were personal friends since many had a logo of an organization or event that we cared about. When I get to be czar of the world, I'm going to forbid the automated manufacturing of coffee mugs - only hand made.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - I like that those wall sits require no ancillary equipment. Happy turkey hunt.

maryann – I join your trainer in thinking that your weight control over two long trips was an accomplishment. Neat that you now have to lift using larger weights.

curlyjax – Good news that you're back online. Choosing books for your DS for Christmas should be fun.

Readers -