I’m about to go in and do my half hour of yoga stretching.
I feel good that I’ve definitely done a good amount of moving this body today. 2 gold stars on my desk calendar!
Monthly Archives: March 2022
2 Star Day
Filed under exercise
Keep Moving!
My SIL has this at the bottom of her emails, and I’m trying to embrace it as my mantra.
Since the weather has warmed up, I’m having an easier time of getting myself moving. Yesterday was rainy, so all I did was my afternoon yoga stretching session. Today, though, the sun is shining. I’m planning to weed our rock beds that run all the way along the front and back sides of the house. All that moving, bending, etc, plus the yoga will be a good amount of motion today.
I’ll also walk out to check on our veggie garden. We had quite a bit of rain a couple of nights ago, with rain most of the day yesterday, so I’m HOPING things are good out there. Fingers crossed.
I’ve become a master at making excuses, but this week I’ve done a good job of balancing sedentary activities with getting up and moving. I’m hoping that I can get into the HABIT of including exercise in my day EVERY day. I won’t worry about specific exercises, though. At this point, concentrating on stretching, flexibility, balance, and relaxation is my goal. The research I’ve done says that it takes 66 days to build a habit. Today is Day 4 for me. One day at a time…
Filed under exercise, taking care of yourself
The Driftwood Birds
Filed under Driftwood Art, When Wood Comes Alive
Wet Wednesday
The rain started early this morning. We avoided the possible severe weather, though, thank goodness. It’s still rainy, though we’re due for a break in the rain until ‘downpours’ this afternoon. An inside day, for sure.
Happily, I pushed myself yesterday, doing three sessions of weed whacking to clean up the edges from my husband’s good lawn mowing. We almost look like someone cares!
Since we have a cool front along with the cloudy, rainy weather, I’m cooking Keto Chili tonight from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. I feel I have a good start now on my renewed effort to lose the lard. My scales are noticing my efforts this week. :0) Today, since I can’t work in the yard, I’ll try to add some time on my elliptical trainer in the garage along with my afternoon yoga stretching session.
A good thing: my husband agreed to try using a cell phone again, mainly because he wants to be able to receive verification codes on HIS phone rather than mine. We went to AT&T yesterday, and the two nice people there got the new phone added. The guy showed my husband how to get rid of the stuff he doesn’t want on the phone, so now he’ll quit bothering me about the stuff on mine… PLUS, the lady helped me make it so I can again take pics with my phone and email them to my computer for use on the blog again. (I haven’t been able to make it work since I had to change my email address.) The final great thing was the guy suggested I call ‘611’ on my cell to ask them if they would waive the extra fees associated with adding another phone. I was to ask for the Loyalty Dept. I did and they DID give us a credit toward our next bill. Yea!
Another good thing: I spent a long time on the phone this morning, trying to get the status on some wire transfers we did lately. The nice lady was able to confirm one was ‘good,’ and is researching the other to find out what’s what. It’s good to find competent, polite help when you need it.
My husband is trying to make his new computer work. It’s together physically now, but he’s having trouble adding software. My contribution is to keep my mouth firmly shut. Some access to things we share aren’t working yet, so I’m modifying my activities until they do again.
Stay dry and warm wherever you are.
Filed under .gifs I Love, Challenges, DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Mother Nature, Thoughts on a ________
Felted Wool Paintings
Tracey McCracken Palmer – BonnieblinkStudios – Felted Wool Paintings
Yesterday’s Small Triumphs
- I managed to bake some really low-carb dinner rolls for our dinner. (I’m trying to replace the deli/bakery dinner roll we’ve been eating.) They were okay. I will continue to look for a recipe we like better, but this would work. :0)
- I also cooked a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Bake recipe for a low-carb dinner. It was as good as we remembered. I froze the leftovers into individual containers so we can have two more easy dinners from one cooking session.
- I got a gold star on my calendar for doing a good session of yoga.
- I mixed and sprayed two gallons of weed killer under the planter boxes in my raised bed square foot garden. I’ll probably need to spray at least one more time, but I have a good start on it now.
- My husband mowed our lawn for the first time this season. He had to air up the mower tires first, having to repair a leak on our air compressor in order to DO that, and then get the mower running – always a headache after it sits all winter, but he prevailed and it now looks like someone cares, at least a little, about our yard.
Today I’ll try to weed whack all around the front and back yard to complement the good job my husband did on the lawn. (I have even more motivation than usual because we have a 90% chance of rain tomorrow.)
Happy Tuesday!
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Thoughts on a ________
Yesterday’s Challenge
My husband ordered a new computer – a large, old-style one. He paid extra for the providers to actually make sure all the parts were compatible, Windows 11 was already installed, and then also paid extra for delivery by the 25th.
Delivery was finally yesterday evening (the 28th) just after 6pm. He received an email saying ‘the package had been delivered.’ When we didn’t find it on the front porch or outside the garage, we went to the bottom of the driveway in the truck. UPS had left the expensive computer just off the street.
To say we were upset is a vast understatement. Just picture two older-than-dirt people trying to pick up a HEAVY (75+pounds) box with no handholds or cutouts into the back of our truck on a STEEP driveway. We finally managed it.
THEN we had the problem of getting it up the three steps through the ‘people door’ in the garage. We used our truck dolly for that after opening the box, fighting to get an inner box out of the shipping box, then opening that to find another inner computer box, getting down to the actual computer plus extra boxes. We had to take down two of our three dog gates because the remaining inner computer box was too large to go through the gate openings, and too heavy for us to even THINK about lifting it above the gates.
The computer is now in the office. My husband is working on changing from his old computer to the new. I THINK he has to pull the hard drives out of the old and put them into the new. There are a million (give or take a few) cables and hook-ups that filled two small boxes. I’m going to give him a wide berth today while he tries to make the changeover.
Last night we wrote (I typed because my husband’s hands were shaking) to both Newegg and UPS about the delivery. We managed to get on chat with Newegg and they agreed to refund what my husband paid for ‘expedited delivery’ – since it was 3 days late and only ‘delivered’ to the bottom of the driveway. We will probably never hear from UPS, but at least we let them know about the problem.
Filed under Challenges
Rusted Metal Creations 2
Filed under metal art, Rusted Metal Art
Delightful Driftwood
Filed under Driftwood Art, When Wood Comes Alive
Sweet Cutlery Figures
Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art
Reboot – 1003+
Once again I’m trying. I hope this is mainly annoying, rather than a red line for you – reading things I’ve said many times before. If the line is red, stop reading here, and I apologize.
If you’re still reading, THANKS!
My husband and I had a talk, continuing over the past several days, about our eating. Due to the weather encouraging comfort food, plus my husband trying to be ‘nice’ to me, bringing me popcorn or ice cream, and other assorted excuses (pick one. ANY one will do…. :0) ) I have regained weight I tried really hard to shed. We’re doing a lot right, but never enough to actually make significant progress in my goal to LOSE the lard.
This morning we are AGAIN getting serious. Today I’m trying a new recipe for “Keto Bread Rolls” from Arman online to hopefully take the place of the deli roll we have been eating with dinner. I’m also making “Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bake” from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto recipe book. We love this.
I’m tracking my eating, drinking, and exercising via MyFitnessPal again. I have my macro set up there now (5% carbs, 25% protein, and 70% fat) so I can see how I’m doing. My personal macro is actually 14grams of carbs, 77grams of protein, and 85grams of fat daily. I’m trying to keep my calories to around 1137 daily.
I’ve entered what I’m eating today already so I KNOW I’m staying within my calorie total, plus am hitting the right percentages on lunch and dinner, with even a snack some time today. I have also entered my activity and have already started that. (I get some credit for moving more, though I don’t really make any allowances for it on how much I’m eating.)
Our lunch stays the same, except I’m not having any fruit. The only changes are at dinner – plus snacks – and that’s not bad at all.
I have found FitnessPal.com more to my liking than others because they allow you to add recipes not in their database (which is large) quickly and easily without having to list each ingredient and quantity in the recipe separately. They also allow you to repeat easily what you eat daily, rather than having to enter it all again every day. (We basically eat the same lunch every day with the exception of Lunch Bunch on Friday.) Once you enter something, when you go to the category again for each day, what you listed previously is there if you wish to check the box. NICE.
I’m motivated to stay with my plan. My husband has agreed NOT to bring me ‘goodies’ just because he likes me, so I’M in charge and the only one I can blame is myself if I don’t stick to this. So far, I’m feeling energized.
I’m going to start cooking now. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I’ll see a bit of improvement. Fingers crossed.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, motivators
Fun Metal Art
Filed under metal art, spoon - cutlery - art
Unusual Gourds
Filed under Gorgeous Gourd Art, Gorgeous Gourds
Garden 3-27-2022
I just checked my veggie garden and things seem to be going really well at this point. I could actually start harvesting some lettuce leaves, but I think I’ll let them go awhile longer.
You can see spinach, red onion sprouts, leaf lettuce, and one broccoli or cauliflower plant in this box.
broccoli and lettuce
Spinach, red onions, broccoli and cauliflower
This afternoon, I’ll mix up several two-gallon containers of KillzAll. I’ll spray some under the planter boxes and around my garden, and then move on from there – as many containers as I can during the afternoon.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Modification
I have read and poured over various lists of foods to include in our diet for our various ‘conditions/problems/concerns’ – trying to come up with a master list. I’ve tried and tried and finally officially give up.
The eating regimen that is closest to what my husband and I need is low-carb, so that’s what I’m concentrating on, starting tomorrow. There is only so far my husband is willing to go – and there are definitely two strong personalities and likes and dislikes to consider here.
One of my favorite low-carb recipe books is Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan. She provides delicious recipes we both like without a lot of hard-to-find ingredients and without a lot of spices we can’t tolerate. I also like the fact that I can cook once and have enough for at least one more meal, if not more. I can freeze the leftovers into individual containers we can nuke, serve with a side veggie, and enjoy.
Tomorrow I’ll cook her “Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Bake.” We like it for dinner with a side veggie or salad. I’ll also get supplies for her ‘Keto Chili.’
I’ll intersperse cooked meals with the ones we’ve been buying from Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’.
I’ve lost a couple of pounds in the last few days, so I’m hoping that this further modification will result in scales that quit laughing and smirking at me.
Filed under DIET!
Virtual Trip to the Beach
I feel really lucky to have someone who cares. This way I can take a virtual, instant trip to the beach whenever I need it. :0)
THANK YOU, ML.
Filed under Delightful Surprises, Family, Favorite Things, vicarious enjoyment
“Where is the Love?”
It’s easy to be irritable, to lash out these days. So much is wrong in the world. And who receives the hostility, the sharp words? The ones closest to us, of course. They are right there with us, sometimes the catalyst for our quick slashes, when they are the ones who we need the most to get through it.
And after the quick irritability/frustration/depression/hostility is let loose on both sides, there is the awful aftermath – silence, space, hurt feelings, lingering anger, isolation.
The thing that caused the clash is stupid. It’s only a symbol of the deeper feelings. It doesn’t matter what the catalyst, who said the first sharp words.
We need to remind ourselves that NOTHING is more important than the time we share on this planet with those we love. If we can’t stop the lashing out, we need to recognize it for what it is and do what we can to bridge the gap as soon as we can.
Life is so, so short – so little time to show the love.
Filed under love
Metal Mammals
Filed under Helen Denerley Sculpture, metal art
Sculpture That Speaks to Me
Filed under sculpture
Saturday 3-26-2022
Since our weather is supposed to be sunny and in the 60s this afternoon, I’m planning to spend a lot of time outdoors today. I’ll check on my new spring garden, plus mix and spray as many two-gallon containers of weed killer as I can handle today. (Good exercise, too!)
We caught a raccoon in our humane trap overnight (finally!) so we’ll go out in a bit, get our mail, relocate the raccoon, and hit the store for incidentals on the way home. Hopefully, we can fill up the bird feeders again, unless he’s part of a huge family of raccoons…
I hope you have a happy Saturday.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Gardening, Thoughts on a ________
Luscious Painted Bottles
Filed under painted glass
creativeartworksblog 