Yesterday was long and complicated but I am happy with all of my efforts, even after another run in with my land-mined Junior. Sheesh. Yesterday was not OP but the total amount of food wasn't bad and I thatched for 20 mins. I say from deep in my heart - TGIF.
Today is a Cinco de Mayo celebration at school. I am taking the opportunity to wear my sunshine orange dress https://poshmark.com/listing/Rare-Fe...waAoGNEALw_wcB. It is a twin of another dress i just love which is a subtle olive. Life is too short to not wear orange sometimes.
BBE: There was a sad part of the owl story I left out. The owl's sibling lay next to it dead. No matter how I try I can not make my life more dramatic than nature's stories.
I took a look at Grandma's china that I pulled from the storage unit a couple of weeks ago. There's way more of it than I thought and there's a written story about where it came from. So, it's feeling more like a family heirloom, again, and something that I may not want to give away to strangers if there is another option.
I'm going to talk it over with my brother. We have cousins that may take it, if we can figure out a way to get it to Indiana.
OTOH, am I doing anyone a favor? It's very pretty, but everything looks miniature-sized compared to modern place settings and none of it is dishwasher-safe. I've owned this stuff for over 20 years and never used it. It might be better off in the hands of someone who would actually use it and I have little reason to believe that includes any of my cousins.
Here's a reminder that not everything in the storage unit is going to cause this much of a dilemma (because, if I forget that, I won't keep plugging away at this project). Here's a reminder that food will solve none of it.
Exercise: 60, 120/1800 minutes for May
95% of Ideal Food Day
I've had two new tyres fitted so now I'm safer and legal. It was great to be able to drop off the car, walk back to the house in 10 minutes, have lunch and do some gardening before getting a phone call from the fitter. For years I’ve had to camp out at a tyre fitters with a book, bottle of water and possibly some food. Sometimes it’s taken many long hours on an uncomfortable seat. Other successes include arranging to collect two large and free plant pots tomorrow and planting out some irises in a different place to see if they’ll do anything after a long period of neglect. In garden news, I think the greenhouse ants have been moving the seeds about. I sowed a drill of coriander seed very neatly and it’s germinated in two clumps, one some distance away. Ants are important seed dispersers, apparently, but I have my own ideas too so this is quite frustrating. Not that I want to be badly at odds with ecology, of course, but I would like to grow a good supply of herbs.
Sleep - I woke early again. Thinking about it, this is often associated with eating too much or the wrong things. I remember that I’ve been saying to you that I’ve been eating too much. The solution might be quite straightforward …
Food - quite good but possibly too much! I’m going to rethink how much ground linseed I eat as that could be getting my day off to a poor start, despite it being so healthy. We’re all different and I know my sensitive insides aren’t that keen nowadays on eating too much fibre.
Exercise - some good kneeling, bending and reaching with the flower bed and the jigsaw. Some brisk walking which counts even though it was only 20 minutes in all. A few foot exercises and I’ll do some more when I’ve finished here.
onebyone, I love the sound of a sun hat! I’ve been wondering about getting a new one and you’re encouraging me. Thanks for your emphasis on being concerned with today. That’s very helpful.
Bill, that’s great that a bank card is finally on its way. I agree about being terse with robots. Our long-term in-house AI person has always been very short, clear and loud with them.
curlyjax, credit for entering all your calories faithfully. I hope that you’ve managed to sort out something good for your dad. Tell us about the swing dancing!
maryann, the weekend has arrived here. It will be with you soon!
gardenerjoy, good luck with working out the best solution for the china. And for not letting it stand in the way of working through the rest of the storage unit’s content.
A good day today. Food and fasting on track.
I cooked from scratch and have plenty of food for
tomorrow. That's about it. A good quiet restful day.
billblueeyes: Here is a recommendation for a very powerful graphic novel. Your library may have it: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood https://a.co/d/h8Ogk6z This is my sunhat. It just makes me smile: Women Bucket Hat Reversible Double-Side Wear https://a.co/d/ePqTzb8
maryann: Orange is a favorite colour of mine. Your dress looks really festive, like it wants to dance.
curlyjax: Credit for not overindulgence in cookies today inspite of stress.
gardenerjoy: As someone who's faced dilemma of decluttering when I was reading about the china you found I kept thinking "just use it." Use it in bits. Use parts of it but use it... if you like it. I'm using my grandmother's china in our regular rotation. Some pieces are now worn. Others chipped. I don't regret it. Otherwise look it up on Ebay, see if it's worth anything and then sell it off in lots. 6 plates. cream and sugar. etc. I find these types of items really difficult.
silverbirch: Congratulations on 2 new tyres. Also credit for so many garden successes. Besides the sunhat I opted to BBE I also got this one. Super lightweight with max sun protection I'm very afraid of the sun Men's Wide Brim Fishing Hat Outdoor UPF 50+ Sun Protection Removable Face and Neck Flap https://a.co/d/gYm1B7S I got a light grey. Such awful colours! But it's about being protected. I have a giant TV head so this fits well It is adjustable.
Saturday - Star Wars Day. May the forth be with you
Diet Coaches/Buddies – One more victory over bureaucracy, albeit so minor it's embarrassing. I needed to log into the New Yorker magazine's site because it, rather snottily (as befits a New Yorker), announced that I'd read my last free article for the month. I should quit being a freeloader and subscribe. Our household gets the New Yorker - hard copy delivered in DW's name. Like an idiot, I copied all the numbers on the mailing label - all zillion of them - in preparation to make an argument to another robot that, as husband, I was intimate enough with their subscriber to be allowed on the site. I was ready to do battle.
Then the obvious hit me. I asked DW to open one of the many emails she gets from them. At the bottom of an email so long that she'd never read that far was the link [Manage preferences]. With one click she was asked to create a password to open her digital account. With her password in hand, I'm now their old friend from my computer. DW is pleased because she'd never even thought of the online version; she's a hard copy person. In Beck's style, I claim CREDIT moi for a problem solved even if the solution should have been obvious.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with afternoon snacks. I don't even have a credible reason, much less an excuse. Dinner was our meal titled Burger, Beans, and Rice where I serve my own portion size. I served myself slightly less to feel as if I was balancing. My news feed today features King Charles of the UK wearing a pink tie with tiny dinosaurs, "C-Rex wearing T-Rex" carefully explained for those who feel a bad pun is OK if explained. The world must be in wonderful shape if that's the news.
onebyone - Prepping food for the next day is so ahead of the game. I have read
. Perhaps the first to make me take graphic books seriously. (By-the-by, for me, your links arrived at the home site of superoffers - missing which product was intended.)
Joy (gardenerjoy) - I do like the idea of getting your grandmother's china to someone who actually wants it. China being held as a memorial is a PITA.
Silverbirch - Such a benefit to be able to walk to a trusted tire shop. I've tried to use the waiting time in such a place with a good book but always end up studying the posters on the wall describing how each component of the car works. I wish you well competing with a colony of ants deciding seed locations. There's a lot of them. Maybe bull-headed.
maryann – Love the attitude, "Life is too short to not wear orange sometimes." Wish you well with your land-mined Junior who's taking so much effort to get under control.
curlyjax - Congrats for limiting the damage of homemade cookies. Raw cookie dough seems to call your name. It's an honor to know someone who has met Allison Bechdel.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 1The Key to Success
How Cognitive Therapy Woks
For example, let's say you have the thought I'm hungry. If you then have "sabotaging thoughts" - such as, This is terrible ... I can't stand it ... I have to eat! - you'll feel panicky and grab some food.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 20.
Today is my usual Saturday challenge of timing meals around life. I will go with a tried-and-true solution of eating the same foods but at different times. I'm sure that's good for my brain and body to mix things up, occasionally.
Exercise: 65, 185/1800 minutes for May
95% of Ideal Food Day
The dance was very fun. The teacher wasn't great and it was hard to hear him as there was a noisy kid thing going on in the next room; i was glad I had experience in East Coast swing dance. This was West Coast swing which is a little different from East Coast swing and I find it harder, but fortunately the men have to lead and figure out what to do so I just follow. There were a few good male dancers there and the rest were learning, and everyone switched around so I was able to dance most of the dance lesson. Afterwards a few of us went to a nearby place for a drink. I stayed briefly as I had to pick up a few groceries after but everyone was friendly and I would have stayed longer otherwise. I was so hungry when I got home I had to eat and overate my calories for the day but oh well.
On the way to the dance, one of my dad's helpers called sounding very upset about the short term rehab nursing home my dad was in, and then put my dad on the phone begging to home, so that was fun I think I made the wrong decision and should have sent him straight home, but it was all very complicated. Thank god I have my older brother to help me figure this out- i'm going to call him in a minute.
Later today I'm supposed to get a mattress from BFF, stuff it in my car and deliver it to DS. Hopefully that will happen or DS won't have a bed for a week. I am determined to not overeat about any of this!!
Wave to all!
With a fab Saturday comes a fab, gentle May Rain.I have opened the windows to enjoy the sound and smell.
Food was unorganized and maintenance. No exercise as I went to the grocery store. I feel I am just holding on until the end of school. That is not the right attitude because it takes me so long to lose anything. So for today I will continue to put info into Lark. I also received the scale. That is a little exciting.
Today's priority is the gym and getting DH passport renewal completed.
Curly: Good Luck with Dad. You are the definition of a sandwich generation. Helping with Dad's care and taking a mattress to DS. onebyone: Credit for a day on track. Silverbirch: Itis easy to feel there is a secret to unlock about weight loss- just adjust sleep or reduce a food. Then I look around at all the people and realize how easy can the secret be if everyone is struggling with the same thing.
I collected the free plant pots from a lovely seaside town where the sun was shining, the clouds were little white puffs and the sea was sparkling. ‘Like the Mediterranean’ as my uncle likes to say, and he’s right. I explored the back streets for an hour or so as it’s an interesting place historically and I used a voucher for completing a government survey to get some food (olives, anchovies, hummus). In the garden this afternoon, rescuing some more irises and some mystery corms.
Sleep - I woke too early but was able to go back to sleep.
Food - OK but work is needed on lunches. Fish and chips for tea as the SO is working a coding challenge and I’m not interested in making anything.
Exercise - a reasonable amount of walking, squatting, reaching and bending. No foot exercises yet today.
onebyone, those are great sun hats. The fishing one is amazing. Now you have to get the rest of the outfit, including the rod! Credit for cooking from scratch and having a quiet and restful day.
Bill, credit for not having to enter one-to-one combat with the New Yorker! You’re right about there being a lot of ants, and there’s only one of me. I don’t want to enter one-to-thousands combat with them so I’ll think about how to work round them (but I definitely don’t want them farming aphids on the crops).
gardenerjoy, the same food but at different times is such a sound and flexible solution. Onebyone’s solution to the china conundrum is a good one. I was given some china many years ago by my landlady’s mother who was getting rid of it. A number of years later I made some tea for a guest who was astounded that I had such valuable pieces (she collected them so perhaps her valuation was a little skewed). I put the china away as a hedge against hard times, and have never used it since. It's not in great condition and it isn't worth a great deal of money so I think I’ll get it out again! (ETA - have just looked it up and Wikipedia rehashes the 'sought after and valued by some collectors' angle. Groan.) We already wash up most things by hand at the moment. For what it's worth, I've given part of Mum's china sets (eg, gravy boats) to the charity shop, keeping those things that we would use. It took me a while to give myself permission to divide the sets.
curlyjax, so glad you got to the swing dance! Much sympathy about the care difficulties. They are so demanding and upsetting.
maryann, I think different people have different challenges associated with their weight which can hold weight loss back and make it less than easy. Three examples which spring to mind are eating mostly UPF; hormonal change; having agency over one’s life. Lack of sleep is a big one for me.
I was on plan today. I fasted, ate home made food (chili leftovers) and then I
did some decluttering and some laundry. A good day. Plans for tomorrow are to get what I need out for my Wed night printmaking class.
I have 4 people which is exactly how many I wanted for my first class in 8 months.
DH is off to Barrie, one hr north, for another video game show. I'm on my own until tomorrow night.
billblueeyes: Congratulations on your Boston Bruins dispatching our Toronto Maple Leafs tonight in overtime in game 7. Honestly, I don't know why Boston took so long to do that. (speaking as an Ottawa Senators fan...)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – I'm battling with the headphones that I use to keep the audio of my computer from interrupting DW in her office that's not so far away. My computer no longer recognizes them. Had to admit that the headphones had a broken part of the structure and the earmuffs were deteriorating. First step would be to replace them before hauling my computer to the shop that would incur a minimum expense just for showing up. Found the Koss pair that I wanted on Amazon - the exact ones I'm using - where I was helpfully told that I'd ordered them eight years ago. Neat piece of info to have. Ordered them. When I looked around for a place to stuff the old ones until I can throw them away, I found a tired pair of inflight airline headphones stuffed there waiting to be thrown away. I tried using them; the computer didn't recognize them either. Since I don't know if they work, I really have no information. Will just patiently wait for the new ones to arrive. TL;DR: Long story with no punch line; make better use of your time.
Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was a lentil dish (not dahl) topped with cilantro from our garden. Cilantro is suddenly plentiful which makes me very happy; I'm a fan. Served with toasted baguette coins. Makes me a vegetarian for the day. I'd be happy if cilantro and baguettes came with every meal.
onebyone - So glad that the class you're teaching is just the right size. On behalf of the Bruins, thanks for the Congrats. Overtime in hockey is so intense.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - You've got your Saturday challenge under control. Suspect that you're right that mixing things up is good for the brain.
Silverbirch - Delightful description of your visit to a town ‘Like the Mediterranean’. Neat that being a good citizen completing a survey is rewarded with Mediterranean-like food.
maryann – Opening the windows for fresh Spring air feels so good out here, also.
curlyjax - Knowing how to lead and follow in dancing might be a lost art. Congrats for being able to do that. Decisions about your dad will always allow second guessing since they'll always be complicated. Wish you well just marching forward.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 1The Key to Success
How Cognitive Therapy Works
On the other hand, if you counter your thought with "helpful responses" - But it's all right ... I'm going to eat in a couple more hours ... I can wait - you'll feel in control and get involved in an activity.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 21.
Yesterday I practiced my resistance muscles, ignoring a slight stomach ache all day. I refused to use food to try and cure it. I made a very grown up simple lunch of measured white rice, roasted broccoli and measured chicken. I had one slice of the sweet cakes bought for DS. I closes the kitchen at 2:00 and saw the first measurable drop in the scale. Oh, so that is what I have to do. Also, I was slug-like all day watching useless tv and playing chess. I might have needed such a day. I did do yoga for 30 mins.
I used my light therapy for wrinkles on the face while listening to the rain and then on my shoulder ( different setting) with Voltaren rubbed in first. I am hoping the heat makes the medicine more effective.
Today I am up at 6:30 to go to our local discount super market to fill in the food for DS' arrival. It can be a madhouse on Sunday. I will also take a walk and post on Lark.
Silverbirch: I agree that everyone has vulnerabilities and they are all set in a food toxic environment - at least here in the states. The good news is more choices and knowledge. Would love to see your silvery water. BBE: There is a very safe container for the two defunct headphones - a trash can. LOL. Joy: I agree with onebyone. I use the apple china left by Grandma. I have good memories of it and put it in dishwasher whether it is good for it our not. Many of the plated have chips in them now. ( I am not a careful type of person.) but DS has grown up with them and when the times comes, they will be an easy Goodwill. There are larger serving plates that have gotten hardly any use but they set a nice table on the blue moon I invite company. Another nice idea is use them for gifts.:
1. Bake a plate of cookies and give them on a china plate. Save the environment from a plastic dish.
2. Use a teacup and fill it with fancy chocolates, special teas, etc. . . I have made tea cup bouquets
Thanks for all the suggestions for the china. I'm enjoying all the possibilities, including the cute tea-arrangements, and other options for using the pieces myself or giving them away as gifts. I found a tool that is supposed to identify the pattern from a photograph, so I'll play with that next to have a better idea what I'm dealing with.
Exercise: 60, 245/1800 minutes for May
95% of Ideal Food Day
I’ve been working through my list today so I have the decks cleared for a trip northwards on Tuesday. Excitement has been watching Fledgling Blackbird learning that a root is not a worm and Poppa Blackbird do a quick survey of edible insects and worms in the greenhouse.
Sleep - not too bad.
Food - not great as I grazed whilst making a huge amount of food for tonight and the freezer.
Exercise - one set of the foot exercises.
onebyone, credit for a good Saturday. So nice to hear about your printmaking class again, and with the ideal four participants.
Bill, that headphones don’t last forever is a known fact, I think. Chuck them! I have cilantro envy but this may disappear when the ants let me have a coriander thicket.
maryann, credit for your grown-up lunch!
gardenerjoy, some people need replacements for broken pieces of their loved but discontinued china set. We’ve used China Search here but an American equivalent might be Missing Pieces. I’m sure there are others. It’s fun to see pictures of china familiar from the houses of friends and family down the years.
All of a sudden it's the evening before i go to Sunnybrook again. I will get bloodwork done, see my oncologist and find out if my elevated liver enzymes have fallen enough to go ahead with the new maintenance infusion. I sure hope so, though I don't know what they would do instead... wait yes I do. I would be put on steroids to combat the inflammation. I really don't want that. Let's hope my daily, since last Monday, attention to food and fasting has helped my body move back to my normal level.
DH had a good videogame event today. He said he sold his most expensive videogame ever to a return "high spender" $475.00 for a Saturn system 1998 Japanese game called Cotton Boomerang. It kills me that 1998 is the olden times, but I guess it is. Certainly the world is very very different in 2024.
Time for bed. Goodnight Coaches.
silverbirch: A trip up north sounds awesome.
gardenerjoy: Using the china as a part of a gift seems like a great idea. I just love to hear people finding ways to use it!
maryann: I'm still working on understanding that food will not fix a stomach ache. Credit for knowing this.
BillBlueEyes: Credit for a good food day. Toasted baguette coins sound fancy to me. I wanted to mention a mind-bending comic book series called Beanworld. Do you know it? It may take a few tries to get through it. but when it grabs you. OMG it's genius level writing.
Men's Wide Brim Fishing Hat Outdoor UPF 50+ Sun Protection Removable Face and Neck Flap 
Saturday - Star Wars Day. May the forth be with you
I think I made the wrong decision and should have sent him straight home, but it was all very complicated. Thank god I have my older brother to help me figure this out- i'm going to call him in a minute. 
Goodnight 
the evening before i go to Sunnybrook again
