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Psyching Up For a December Whole 30 Graduates


Jim4884

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I'll bet the extra exercise is giving you a boost, sure thing! Plus, you are pretty much totally on-program, right? You're entitled to Tiger Blood!

Happy "Friday!"...did your stuff arrive? Do the magic red ballerine flats fit? Your tale makes me appreciate our well, and that someone else already put it in, etc...but the filter thing is still not solved - and I am learning things the circuitous, or otherwise hard way, as is my custom = ) Too tedious to recount for you here, but the summary is that I think the local hardware store guy sold me a housing and filter that don't go together, and I think the plumber missed it. I'm still wrestling with it. If I'm right, I'm going to get an honorary plumbing certificate. Meanwhile, I'm equally disappointed in the 2nd plumber, but I still like him more, so won't mind hiring him again, and if I'm right about the above, I'll give him a raft of shit about it. :lol: Today was a day of moving at the speed of light...

...beginning with a giganto batch of chicken sausage patties. I think when you mentioned that you were congenitally not capable of making small batches of food, something clicked in my brain, and I said, "make more". I used 3 lbs, something I have never done, but just like a double batch is just as easy as a single, a triple batch is just as easy, too! So I am swimming in chicken sausage, and still have the hash in the freezer. I'm RICH I tell you! And the bratwurst was seriously delicious. I can't wait to get more...of course I have to know what's in it. What extra stuff if any do you put in yours?

Your nephew's wedding is in L.A.? You'll have to face a slightly north-easterly direction and wave hello!!

The rest of the week I'll be at the store 9-7 to cover for a staffer, but I am ready with great lunches! It's going to get up to 90 in the next couple of days, for the first time this season, so I think I'll be wearing summer-appropriate clothes. Trying to embrace it. Meanwhile I'm in that place where I couldn't have lost any weight yet, but I feel good, so that's not the worst frame of mind for the first summer outfit, right?

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LA confusion! Sadly, I've never been further west than Taos, NM so the only LA's I've ever been to are Lower Alabama and Louisiana!  :lol:I'm going to Louisiana for graduation festivities and I get to wear my new red ballerine flats! I got a little creative with them and have a zebra-print suede inset on the heel. They're awesome! And so comfortable. I was so excited that they fit and I didn't have to return and reorder. I'm ready to order my Oura ring, too but they're making it overly complex and I'm having issues. 

Ugh! Why can't people do their jobs and do them right the first time?! It makes me crazy! It sounds like you are well-prepared for your long work days; good for you! Isn't it wonderful to have a good stockpile? Brats are actually seasoned pretty simply. Salt and pepper (most use white pepper but I don't like it so I use black- I don't care that there are little black flecks), nutmeg, marjoram (I think), garlic and I include the traditional cream but I don't think most people do. I've done it both ways and I think the cream takes it from "really good" to "great". I had some in my freezer when I did that W60 and I had to keep reminding myself that they were off limits. Those are the only sausages I make that are non-compliant but dairy doesn't give me any problems and cream is almost all butter fat anyway (plus it's not very much) so I'll eat them occasionally when I'm riding my own bike. You could definitely make them into sliders and just omit the cream. I use pork but see no reason why your ground chicken  wouldn't work just as well. 

I've got my to-do list, of course, and am pretty much on schedule but I had a bit of a monkey wrench thrown into it today. I'm probably going to have to work until 6 or 630 this evening instead of flying out of here at my usual 3 PM. I'm "scheduled" to prep a bunch of chicken legs tonight and I don't know if I'll be up to such a tedious job after a long day. I had the bright idea to make chicken lollipops, knowing that I would probably regret it at some point but I'm a glutton for punishment. I'm thinking that it might be a good night to pick up some Greek food for dinner. 

We have rain and a cool front coming through so enjoy your first taste of summer!

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Louisiana, of course! Your new flats with the zebra-print detail sound gorgeous, nothing like a new pair of shoes. I got a new pair of (used) shoes at the thrift store next to our work place, and I'm stoked, they're Merrills, and I wore them for the second half of the day - very comfy. I'm on my feet all day, so I'm glad to have a new pair that will be good for that.

My Costco has organic blueberries, and a nice big 18 oz package!

Our sausage artist came in today with some more, frozen, and he confirmed the exact same ingredients you mentioned, sans the cream. Yummm. He uses a Kitchen Aid with a grinder as you described you had used before your dedicated grinder. He said he'll also bring me some of his breakfast sausage. He's an adorable, sympathetic character.

Ha ha, my husband just asked me to tell you he said hi. This is very unusual = )

Hope you enjoyed the Greek food after your super long day! I'm beat from today, too, but I know that a good night of sleep will refresh me.

I need to understand what my compost needs...I have flies, more and more all the time. I added boiling water, thinking it wasn't wet enough, but today was an all time fly-mess...and I was too tired to do anything about it. Any suggestions?

As hot as it is getting, our house stays nice and cool - a big relief!

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I feel so special that your husband said hi! :)

Ugh, fruit flies are such a pain! Every now and then some will hatch in our collection pail that's in the kitchen. I just dump it into the compost bin and don't give it a second thought. I guess we've been lucky that we've never had a problem. Maybe add more brown material since the green stuff is what attracts them? I saw a tip about burying your veg scraps under the compost or under brown material to hide it from them. One person suggested wrapping the scraps in butcher paper or newspaper. Maybe that would work until the current crop of them have all hatched and flown away.

The picking party and the food was a huge success but I feel like I've been though a storm. I walked 13K steps on Saturday! The weather was awful until mid afternoon but then it cleared up and we had a beautiful (but quite cool) night and a gorgeous full moon. We had our old tent set up there so we could just spend the night and we've decided that the time has come to retire it. It's 14 years old and it's been well used and well loved but it's worn out. It's a big, giant Kelty and their customer service is great; a couple of years ago they patched it up and re-waterproofed the seams but it still leaks and it's saggy and drippy. We have a newer one and like it but the old one has a giant vestibule that's really convenient in cruddy weather.

My meals were crazy erratic all weekend and, of all things, I had a still-warm-from-the-oven nutella-stuffed croissant yesterday morning. It was a small one but still...

So I'm feeling a little puffy but also feeling a little slimmer at the same time. Maybe the extra steps and hard work offset some of the off-roading I did. I'm very glad I had the foresight to have a breakfast and lunch prepared for today but now I need to go home and figure out what to do for the rest of the week. What I really want to do is curl up on the sofa with a kitty and rest up. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

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Are you recovered from your big event? Hopefully you have had some needed rest. 13K sounds like a lot of steps in one day - how many miles is that? Oh, the full moon sounds so magical. I'm loving seeing the moonlight around our place lately. Hooray for a new tent! Sounds like you got every inch of life out of the old one! Now the picking party is over, and you can relax a little bit! How is Kitty?

Puffy and slimmer - I get it! I'm feeling fatter from recent-months' mission creep, but also slimmer from the last 16 days of W30'ing = ) So now, to keep on keeping on!!!

Our staffer is back, so as of a few hours ago, my marathon is over...I did well food-wise, but I gradually stopped the morning yoga. Boy, was I productive, though! I got winter put away, and summer out. My new merchandise is selling like crazy -- cool fair trade stuff from Nepal among other things, and new window dressings, and, and, and...I've been a busy bee, including a 12-hour day on Saturday, which felt like the height of summer business-wise. All good!

Tomorrow is my errands day (10 stops are on my list for home and store), and I will come home with that new gas grill! Yay! So I've been sitting at my desk planning recipes and groceries, and it will be a new world! I think I'll start with the brats (we bought lots more), and also make kabobs, and who knows what else. But I'm feeling a little bored with my usual recipes, so digging into the files of things I haven't tried yet, I'm planning tikka masala meatballs, oven-fried chicken tenders for fun and comfort, and a piccata, as it's been awhile. Where I usually plan finitely what I'm going to cook, in this case I'll bring home lots of great raw ingredients, and see what shakes out, which is out of my comfort zone, but I'm sure I'll survive, and intend not to waste anything which I sometimes do when I'm not as tightly organized.

I'm so tired! TIme for a nap, or, to bed early! Zzzzzzz...the rest of my desk work can wait. Zzzzzzz

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It was just under 6 miles and included 37 flights of stairs! It sounds like you kicked butt on your work marathon; congratulations. 16 days already! Yep, I'm back on track, too. Monday evening I got some stuff thrown together for my breakfasts and we've been eating off of the leftover smoked pork with coleslaw yesterday and broccoli today except I forgot my mayo dip at home and will have to buy bottled ranch dressing from the cafeteria today- boo hiss! I used to love that stuff and now...not so much. It even looks fake. We took a pork break for dinner last night and had some chicken breasts that I threw in the sous vide thingy plus some grilled broccoli (cheesy for my husband, plain and deliciously charred for me). Have fun with your grill. I really missed it when we were without and I think the best new thing we got was a veg basket so you don't have to be careful about dropping your vegetables through the grates- it makes it almost like doing a stir-fry. The one we got was flat stainless with cutouts for the fire to hit the veggies. The woven ones looked like a pain to clean. I don't want anything that requires a toothbrush to clean- except, of course my teeth! :D

You are such a better meal planner than I am. Unless I have a hankering for something specific, I almost always do what you're doing. I'm trying to get better about applying a little forethought but I'm not always successful and fall back on some kind of grilled or pan-fried protein with a veg (two if I'm lucky!). That's tonight- a little sirloin steak and some vegetable something something. Tikka  masala meatballs sound delicious! I've been having a meatball craving lately. I'm thinking maybe MJ's Cuban balls. 

I can't believe it's already Wednesday! We need to get in the garden so I think that's the plan for this weekend instead of going to the annual crawfish boil at the joint up the road. We have a wedding to attend the next weekend and I leave for LA the following Saturday so it'll be here in a flash. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed but it's all going to work out. I'll need to have another emu cookup before I leave so I need to start trying to coordinate that even though I have plenty at the moment. AAAND...she's gained some weight!! She actually let me weigh her and she was up 1.2 lbs but she'd just eaten so I'm guessing it's a tad under a pound. I'll take it, though. I've turned her into a bone broth junkie! I always trusted W30 to have a positive impact on my life but didn't quite anticipate it being like this. Trust the program! 

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She gained weight! YAY!! Hopefully this puts your husband's mind at ease that she will not meet her demise when you are out of town. Oh my, yes, trust the program, just look at your life saving results! I should take this queue (cue?) and sip my bone broth every night before bed as is my plan, but I'm not back in the habit yet. Good stuff! I know home-made is best, but I brought home a case of organic chicken bone broth from Costco, and there's an open carton in the fridge.

You have a lot of action on the horizon! The crawfish boil sounds mightily tempting, but don't they do that pretty regularly, or is that a seasonal event? Garden time sounds very appealing, too...I'm sorely wanting to do the same. I'm taking a little breather from the fast and busy week with a half day off this morning before an afternoon meeting, and then home for the latter part of the day, so I'm planning to take on house cleaning like a Tasmanian devil. Zoom zoom. Tiger blood be with me.

I'm so glad I read your post before doing my errands, because when I went to get my new grill, I bought a veg basket that sounds like yours. Thanks for the tip!! I haven't connected the propane yet, but spent part of last evening reading the owner's manual, and looking forward to getting started. I think I'll start with some basics, but I'm excited to thread some chicken satay onto skewers, and all kinds of other skewery delights...chili lime shrimp, Greek-ish things (lamb for me, beef for hubs), bison burgers all come to mind. Yum. The copious warning graphics and text in the manual did their job humbling me to be careful and conservative, but I'll get over my scaredy-cat jitters, I think, after my first go. Age 52 with my first grill - I am a late bloomer in so many ways.

Pork and coleslaw sounds good - I brought home some sesame ginger slaw from our local sandwich place, and we'll have that tonight with Asian chicken and the leftover scalloped potatoes from Easter.

Sometimes I can make errands day chill and enjoyable - when I can take my time. Yesterday was a dead rush because I squeezed in two home visits, one as a hospice massage provider, one as a neighbor looking in on a sick daughter, so I was happy to do both, but pressed for time and a little stressed, plus in the contrails of the morning's rare menopausal bitch-on-wheels bad mood (I haven't been sleeping well, that didn't help). Perfect storm for poor choices...anyway, I had a good morning meal, but I stubbornly ignored when I got hungry again while making my stops. I shouldn't have done that, but I prevailed when I was surrounded by tempting "old way of life" crap food that I might have abused myself with in earlier days. Champion! Today I begin again with self respect and momentum. Sigh!

Off for a little hike up and down our winding road. Sweet day to you!

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I'm with you on the not-sleeping-well front; I've been sleeping terribly lately. I slept a (very) little better last night and woke up with tiger blood! I stopped my CBD experiment because (1) it didn't really seem to help, (2) I hate the swamp water taste/texture of it and (3) I was trying to save it to help combat kitty inflammation. Well, I was putting too much stuff in her food so she quit eating it but now I think it was that first steroid that wasn't the compounded one that turned her off. After seeing some more info on it, I decided to try again last night. I did a little more than before and did it a little earlier instead of right before bedtime. I still woke up several times but in a more dream-like state and have been really on it today! I remember the last time I felt this tiger blood-ish was during my first experiment with the CBD for sleep so maybe there's something there. I had a partial hysterectomy when I was 34 so I can't tell if my bitch-on-wheels moods are due to menopause or just me! :angry: Sleep is a definite factor, though.

You'll rock the grill! Are you used to cooking with natural gas/propane?  I always had natural gas in Louisiana but we're on propane here (except when they forget to come fill our tank and we run out on Thanksgiving Day!!). If I'm cooking something greasy/drippy like a juicy burger or something with a generous strip of fat, I try to keep a cooler side and a hotter side so when it starts to flame up on the hotter side, I can move it over to the cooler side and let the flames die down. When we use the basket for veggies, I keep the burners under the basket on medium-ish and the one off to the side higher for indirect heat. Starting with something small and lean like skewers is a great way to start. We've charred more than a couple of things due to inattention and just went with the "burnt is a flavor, too" theory! If you want some tips and recipes, I like amazingribs.com.

Good for you for prevailing against the crap food! For some reason I was hungry mid-morning today and had sushi thoughts that just wouldn't stop. I caved but I didn't get any with Krab because it's full of junk and I didn't use the soy sauce. Then my Siberian co-worker gave me a taste of this amazing dish his Mom made with layers of fish and beets, onions and dill- sounds odd but it was amazing and beautiful. I want to find out what's in it but it looked pretty compliant so I don't feel too bad about my sushi snack and now I'm full enough not to also eat the lunch I brought (which is what I would have done in the past).

And I am off to, hopefully, buy tomato and pepper plants since I didn't get seeds started. Everything else I can still start from seed, though, so I'm trying not to kick myself.

 

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Yay Tiger Blood! How adventurous and fun: sushi, and Siberian "lasagna"...I'm calling it that because anything that is layered I call lasagna...and I love because such a layered dish is full of combinations, and combinations are a joy in life, I say. This combo does sound a bit odd, but I totally take your word for it that it was amazing....and now I want some. 

Thanks for the vote of confidence re grilling, and also for your tips, and the website. I have often had natural gas stoves, though it has been over 10 years. As for propane, this is the first time I've had propane - it only applies to our furnace, and the rest is electric. Having a propane tank on the grill will take some getting used to psychologically, but once I know it's hooked up correctly (I think I'll have Hubs help me this weekend)  and I get the burners tested and fired up, I think I will have a comfort level with it - heck, maybe I'll be a natural! That's what I'm telling myself about the gardening, too, though that will be a longer haul!

I've been up and down our steep road  4 times in two days, for fun, and also to visit a neighbor. When I got home, I flashed on previous eras in my life when I lost weight and I wasn't even trying: I was just really engaged in my life and very active. I'm holding on to that!

No, please don't kick yourself. I don't like people messing with my friends :P

I'm going to go enjoy a hot bath, and take the CBD a little early! 

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Just to make the Siberian "lasagna" more fun, it's called Herring Under a Blanket! Now I really want to make it! And I was right, it's compliant ingredients even though I'm sure the mayo that was in my friend's was not. 

9 hours ago, LadyLisbette said:

I was just really engaged in my life and very active.

I'm feeling that as well. The walking challenge feels good and I'm smack in the middle of the pack right now, #25 out of 50 people. It's really helping me go with the W30 trust-the-program flow. 

Today I get to wear real clothes to work and that feels good, too. I'm tired of wearing scrubs. Even though they're comfy, they're sloppy. The big advantage has always been that they were cheap so if you get bleach or something yucky on them it's not the end of the world but now they're named after TV shows and trying to be stylish so they're pricey. I can get a $30 scrub top or a cute T-shirt from Costco for $14! As my scrubs are wearing out, I think I might transition to real clothes for the first time in my career (except for the 1 year that I was management and had to really dress). I even managed to eat my breakfast that had tomato sauce and red kraut without wearing it! I'm attending a conference this afternoon that I've been looking forward to for a couple of months- they call it a retreat but I'm not sure how you can retreat for 4 hours! 

The Unknown

As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.

—Feb. 12, 2002, Donald Rumsfeld Department of Defense news briefing

That's what I'm hoping for today! Teach me something that I don't know I don't know!

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Yes, it seems like a misnomer to call it a retreat. C'mon, right? I love that point about the things that we don't know that we don't know! Also, a work retreat is an oxymoron if you ask me. Except that you were looking forward to it, which makes it seem less like work - you must enjoy what you do, is that right? Hopefully your brain is all lit up like a Christmas tree from all that you learned. Did the Tiger Blood stay with you all day? Congrats on your great progress with the walking challenge! Champion. Do you feel fired up from the extra activity? Today I returned to my yoga practice and felt like my pilot light was back on. Such a nice feeling.

That's cool that you get to wear street clothes instead of scrubs if you want to. I've never worn scrubs, but I can imagine that even if they're comfy, it would get old after a while. How unfortunate that they're being marketed after tv shows...sometimes, now that there are tons of tourists in town, when I see a group of people together, and they are all wearing tee-shirts with corporate and business logos, I just don't get it. They should pay US to wear advertisements, not the other way around - it drives my crazy. Have you ever seen the movie Idiocracy? It seems like we are already there sometimes.

Ooh, the Siberian lasagna has herring in it- yum. Did the dish have a tender texture overall? I'm imagining it. If you get the recipe, I'd love to try it out, that would be fun.

It was a good day -after my morning yoga, I made Thai curried carrot soup (finally), and a big batch of chicken apple sausage, and to the spice blend, normally just cinnamon and salt, I added cardamom and cumin to switch it up. I had a community collaborator friend over for a breakfast meeting, and I made us turkey/Lebanese 7 spice blend hash bowls on a bed of roasted yams, and some steamed broccoli in there, and we added toasted pignolas and homemade mayo. He appreciated it, and I was glad = ) I worked all afternoon, and a little late, but it was a balanced day - not TOO much work. The breakfast bowl held me, and I had a late lunch at 4-something...so I skipped dinner. I know I can't do that all the time, but I figure fasting a little can't hurt. 

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We're on the same page once again! I've never understood paying good money to wear a corporate logo. I don't even like the decals that car dealerships stick on your car so you can drive around advertising for them. I haven't seen Idiocracy but I like the sound of it; we'll have to check it out.

I love what I do! I've always worked in the clinical lab (like where they send your blood for tests from the Dr's office) but now I'm on the research side. The official title of my little piece of the world is the Hematologic Malignancy Tumor Bank. I save the cells from bone marrows after diagnostic testing has been completed for use in research. Make people stop dying from leukemias and lymphomas, people!! The real irony is that my Dad died from a hematological malignancy so now it's personal. The "retreat" wasn't quite what I expected but I learned some things and made some really good contacts. I had to get out of my shell a bit and that's probably good, too.

Woohooo today is get-the-garden-started day! It's going to be a little overcast and the high is only going to be in the low 70's- perfect for working. I'm feeling good from all of the walking so some hoeing, bending and squatting will fit right in. We'll wait until next weekend to put the peppers and tomatoes in the ground; they need some partial sun exposure before we put them out in full-blast sun. Today we'll lay out the rows and plant some seeds. We mulched with straw last year and it was great but now we have little clumps of wheat trying to grow so I'll get some quality time with my favorite hoe, too. For fun and excitement we're going to go to another little town to the west of us to go their Co-op for some farming supplies. I can't wait (I'm such a dork!); everybody says it's the "good" co-op.

I'd totally go for one of your breakfast bowls right now; that sounds so good! I can't go to the farmer's market today. The NFL draft is here plus there's a marathon this morning so we don't want to get anywhere near Nashville proper. We're slightly to the west of town so we're out of the craziness and you couldn't pay me to get anywhere near it. Even the vendors at the fm said not to come this weekend because you just can't get there. I have no idea what I'm cooking up this weekend other than trying to recreate a seafood-stuffed pepper that my brother in law sent us a picture of. The sauce is roux-based so I'll be having a little bit of flour and there's rice in the stuffing. I'm going to use an heirloom rice from Anson Mills so that will be a "worth it" deviation. I got the name wrong on the Siberian "lasagna" it's Herring Under a Fur Coat! Love it- think potato salad kind of texture but pretty because it's layered- and hot pink!. He's supposed to take a pic of the can of herring his Mom used so I can get the "right" one- not too mushy, not too many bones but I'll probably just get whatever Publix has instead of going to the Russian store because, now that I'm thinking about it, I want to make it this week. 

Breakfast time! I have a few boiled eggs in the fridge so I'm thinking egg salad then outside and I guess, at some point, I need to attend to the usual mundane things like laundry and housework. 

 

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You are a heroine. I always knew you were brilliant, and now I know your work is brilliant, too. Talk about Right Livelihood. And the work being an ongoing legacy to your father is pretty amazing. Any malignancy is invasive I realize but a malignancy in the blood seems such an unfair and cruel invasion. In TCM we say that chi travels with blood, and the poetic underpinnings of blood and blood flow are innumerable. 

I was supposed to go to a volunteer celebration today, but I felt under the weather after pushing my luck with a small cup of decaf. A couple of times in the last two weeks I was able to enjoy a cup without ill effect. Rats! Truthfully, I am glad to stay home to read and lounge. We don't have anyone to clean the store right now, so I stayed late to clean, which was a great work out, and I always enjoy getting caught up when the doors are locked. So it was a long 11-hour day that ended with a luxurious bath :D After today's brunch of bison burgers, I used the remaining pound of bison to make MJ's Lebanese meat mixture, have you ever made that? I've used that spice blend in so many things, but never in the formal meat recipe, which calls for the aforementioned spice blend, of course, and also pignolas, garlic, and dried mint. It's chilling for later, I'm looking forward to trying it. Did you make your Cuban meatballs (ropa vieja, right?), nutty meatballs for everyone! <insert dancing girl snapping her fingers!>

Hope you enjoyed your garden and all the grounding-at-home activities! I'm going to read, lounge, and eventually do some chores and help Hubs with the grill set-up!

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Well, we kinda fizzled out on all of our grandiose plans. We're tired! We got a bunch of odds-n-ends stuff done but didn't get anywhere near the garden. Our trip to the Co-op was only partially successful, they were out of the row covers we need to protect some of the plants from deer but I got two really nice pairs of leather work gloves. We skipped meals a lot this weekend and I only got three breakfasts ready for this week. Thank goodness for some Thai carrot Soup that I had in the freezer and my second-to-last baked chicken thigh so lunch is covered today. We spent a good amount of time resting on the sofa watching Formula 1 racing and Saturday afternoon we sat out on the deck and had cocktails in the sun. Payback is that I'm starting to freak out over how much I need to get done before I leave town. Gotta pay to play! Well, maybe procrastination pays off sometimes. We were planning on going to a friend's farm to buy some biodynamic compost from him but we waited too long and he doesn't have any left. That saves us about 5 or 6 hours next Saturday!

Sorry to hear that the coffee didn't treat you well. With no caffeine, I wonder what it is that you body doesn't like? I was going to make MJ's Cuban meatballs but dropped the ball (!) on that, too. The ropa vieja is a braise w beef (chuck roast, stew meat or flank steak) tomatoes, peppers and onions and it's one of my faves, too. I got the recipe from Serious Eats if you're interested in it. It may have wine in it but I leave it out even when I'm not W30-ing because my husband doesn't care for it. I haven't made MJ's Lebanese meat mixture, only used the spice blend so I'll have to do that. 

Time to get a move on (literally and figuratively)! Have a lovely week and I hope you are well rested and feeling better.

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Feeling better - yesterday's lunch of Thai carrot soup with leftover meatballs was pretty tasty and held me. This morning I cooked up the Lebanese sliders, and this is something I'll definitely put in the rotation! I used bison, but I think it will be great with anything.

Sometimes the need for rest has to take precedence over grand plans - it's a relief just thinking about it. The garden will still be there, right? Cocktails in the sun sounds heavenly. I'll have to look into biodynamic compost....mine is still not quite cooking yet, but I am hopeful. As for the sands of the hourglass before your trip, your lists will guide you through - you can do this!

Pressed for time today, lots of end of month stuff, and an appointment down the hill, so I'll get some shopping in....cheerio!

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Yesterday was wildly crazy for me and wound up being an 11 hour day like the ones you had last week. At least I got some meatballs made Monday night and I was good to go for meals. Today is a little better but not much and I have a life insurance physical to endure when I get home. At least they're coming to me, though. I'm hoping to get breakfasts made for the next two days beforehand so afterwards I can just chill and get dinner put together. I got some organic ground turkey from Costco and it's really goopy but I'll try the Lebanese sliders in my cook-up this weekend. Thanks for the recommendation!

Because I was going to be so late my husband was trying SO hard to have dinner finished and ready for us to sit down to eat when I got home yesterday! He didn't quite make it and I helped finish things up but I was impressed. 

I'm doing ten things at once but I wanted to say hi and glad you're feeling better. Later!

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Thanks for checking in during such busy times! My husband just had a "house call" life insurance physical, too. Hope you got all your prep done so you could rest and enjoy some down time. (down time, what? LOL) I hope you like the Lebanese sliders, I know you'll let me know. That's so sweet that your husband put so much energy into having dinner on the table, awww = ) You guys are a good team. 

Well, today I blew my W60.

womp womp womp womp

I was in town, between meetings, and with a little time to kill, my hands bought chocolate when I wasn't looking, and then I ate it without shame and it was delicious. Later at work I ate two small pieces of marzipan, and since it all went up in smoke I ate almost half a basket of chips. I'm not sure what happened...but I'm over it, and tomorrow I will get on the bike again, but not make any W30 vows. I have lots of good groceries on hand right now, so I'll pick up where I left off.

 

I have been feeling *great*...and now my self esteem is suffering a little bit, but by tomorrow I'll be over it, and continue ONWARD.

 

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I hope you have forgiven your hands! ;) My self esteem took a beating yesterday, too. I had to get on the scale yesterday for the life insurance exam. Late in the day. Fully clothed. And I didn't have the self control to not look at the number. I, also, am over it! The good news is that my blood pressure has been steadily decreasing. I was borderline high then they decreased what borderline was and I've been there for a while and now I'm enough under the cutoff that she said my blood pressure looked great. Since my weight hasn't changed (:angry:) that makes me think that my general level of inflammation has improved.

You got a good 25 days and that's a nice reset. No beating ourselves up. No badmouthing. 

Trust the program!

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Happy Friday! I finally have a few minutes of peace and quiet. As a kid did you ever play that game on roller skates called crack-the-whip? That was my week and I was the kid at the end of the "whip"! I think I got flung off a couple of times but I managed to (mostly) hang on. I did pretty well meal-wise even though I didn't have time to make enough breakfasts and lunches for the whole week. I caved and got an omelette from the cafeteria for breakfast today so I could save my M1 sal-una salad (my husband's name for the salmon + tuna salad I made) for my lunch. I know the fat used to cook the omelette was some awful liquid margarine-y stuff and the bacon had some added sugar but, all in all, not too bad. It was pretty tasty and I didn't have to cook it!

I haven't gotten in the steps I wanted to for myself or my team this week but I should be able to get back on top of that, too. So far our team is winning and I'm just below the middle of the pack. I can really feel the difference in not moving this week. I'm stiff and achy from sitting, sitting and more sitting.

It's going to be a busy, rainy weekend. I need to do my regular cook-up for next week, a kitty cook-up and try to leave a couple of things in the fridge/freezer for my husband so he won't totally eat out the whole time I'm gone. We have a wedding to go to Saturday evening, too, and I have no idea what to expect for food. Wedding receptions in LA are like a cocktail party not a sit-down dinner and that's all I've ever attended but the attire for this one is casual and I think they're going with a Cinco de Mayo theme so I don't know what to expect. Cocktail party style would make it easier to decline certain foods without it being noticeable. We'll see and I'll ride my bike as best I can.

When I popped over to IG this morning to check on 1bikeworld and see how Nala was doing, I saw this post from one of the MovNat coaches:

...never aspire to anything but actualizing yourself.

Peace, love and bike riding to you!

 

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Good morning! Or good afternoon where you are!

I'm perilously pressed for time and in another work marathon of 10-12 hour days, but I wanted to say hi!

Your crack the whip tale made me gasp out loud in shock and sympathy! Thank you for the cheering on, too. Funny, last night I dreamed that we were at an event. And so we are, a very big event of turning our lives around!

Eek for more time. Hey, you faced the music with the scale, and yes, came away with self knowledge that the killer inflammation is down. More on all of this very soon...meanwhile, peace, love, and happy bike riding (and many many steps) to you, too! 

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How was the wedding? When do you leave for your nephew's graduation? Congrats on lowering your blood pressure and curbing inflammation - that's huge. I'm equating that with my not needing allergy meds while so many locals and visitors are really suffering right now (we're getting extremes with allergies and also mosquitoes this year!). I'll take that, with gratitude. With that in mind, I feel exonerated for my transgression - all is not lost!  I am still figuring out the weight loss part, but I am not giving up.  I know that's a tricky subject here in W30 terms, but seriously, I have to figure that out. To let go of that does not feel right. I know what letting-things-go feels like, and I equate easing up on weight loss expectations with letting myself go. Does that make sense?

Oh! I am also stiff and achy from not moving as much this week because of working longer hours. Correction: because I did not make time. In fact, my right lumbar and sacral area are really tight and hurting, so I've taken a stretch break - from the grill!! - and feel a little better. It will be my mission this week to get limbered up again!

Yes, so I woke up and prepared my first batch of grilling grub. Hubs liked it, and so I have relaxed the self-criticism - I know I have a lot to learn. I skewered mushrooms/red bells/Italian zuccs, and also chicken breast chunks that I had marinated in balsamic/EVOO/garlic. I was nervous. I overcooked the chicken a little bit, but I'll be getting the hang of it. When I finish up this post, I'll go back and prep chili lime boneless ckn thighs, and then I also have some drumsticks. It's going to be long days Mon-Wed. so I want to eat leftovers!...and then we'll go out of town Thurs - weekend to see Jerry Seinfeld stand-up, and also to get hubs car to the dealer for some serious work. So I'll probably be doing some off-roading but I'll try to stay as on program as possible. The week after that, also Thurs through the weekend I'll to to Monterey to get my mom's things out of storage and bring home. Honestly the thought of making these short trips NOT on W30 is a relief! I'm looking forward to good restaurant food on both of these trips. It's such a restaurant desert where we live, as much as I love it here.

I hope you're recovered from the crack-the-whip. That made me shudder. Are you getting your good movement in? Go Holly!

Sweet new week to you!

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I wimped out on the wedding. It was an hour away, the weather was awful and I had put in a pretty busy day around the house, grocery and farmer's market. So I feel guilty about not going but also relieved at the amount of stuff I got done. The number of steps I walked didn't even come close to the number I felt like I walked. Shouldn't stairs count double?? 20 flights of stairs both days! I can tell I haven't been stretching, too. My lower back has been pretty whiny about it so I need to give it some TLC. I have the house to myself for a couple of hours this evening so that will be a good time to get on the floor and work out some kinks.

I had a good cook-up this weekend and made beautiful breakfasts and left it at home this morning-_-! I had to do a little rearranging in the fridge and apparently took my breakfast out and then put it right back in. I was so disappointed that I had to do the cafeteria thing again. I took a page from your book and cooked up two pounds of meat with Lebanese spices, peppers and onions. I roasted some delicata squash and cooked all of the beautiful greens that came on my radishes, turnips and beets. Now I have half of that frozen for another time and it wasn't hardly any extra work since I was doing it anyway.

Your trips sounds great and Jerry Seinfeld should really be fun. I leave town this Saturday :o!! I come back Wednesday but I'm thinking about taking Thursday & Friday off of work just to rest, recover and play catch-up. It's been so wet that we haven't been able to get the plants into the garden and we feel like we're getting further and further behind on it. We usually run soaker hoses down each row but right now we're worried about everything drowning. It's supposed to be sunny today and tomorrow before it goes back to constant rain for several days so we're thinking that we need to git 'er done tomorrow no matter what. I'm planning on some off-roading as well (taco truck at one of the parties!) but will stay on plan most of the time. It's going to be hectic; there's a party or ceremony of some sort every day. I though Monday was going to be a down-day but there's an honors ceremony that evening that my nephew is part of. It will all work out just fine even though, right now, I'm a little overwhelmed. I think I'm going to have to bring something like 4 pairs of shoes! Pretty much everything I own except flops (which I'm trying to wean off of) and hiking boots!

I have no idea what's for lunches and dinner but I got a big bag of local arugula and another of baby mustards, some radishes, baby turnips, gorgeous beets that were so fresh the leaves were crispy and the first strawberries of the year- those won't survive the day, though. I'll be surprised if there are any left when I get home. I have some kabob meat and I think I'm going to marinate it in taco seasoning and grill them with some peppers and onions. I'll probably do fish one night on a big, green salad and I found a container of leftover Salisbury meatball gravy in the freezer so that seems like an easy no-brainer. 

I felt pretty whipped yesterday but have a bit more pep in my step today! I hope your long days are good days!

 

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Yes, stairs should count as double, I say. Good for you for taking care of yourself/your homestead over the wedding...that's a clear signal that you know that how you are doing matters. I like it. Did you get the kinks worked out? I had a good morning, needing a new lease on life...so I hiked the hill and then spent 20-25 minutes stretching - and really put my heart into it. That made me feel better physically and psychologically. The low right back/low right abdomen pain came back 24 hours after I took ibuprofen for it  yesterday, so I don't know what's going on. I hope it's not a foreshadow of appendicitis! Waah. :blink: That would suck, but for now I'm just keeping an eye on it. But that's the only shadow on my day - otherwise I feel like the come back kid, and I needed that.

Your cooking sounds great, nothing like goods in the freezer! I intended to come home from work a little early to get the chili lime chicken on the grill, but it was so busy I couldn't get away, so I'll have to do it in the morning....hoping the meat isn't mushy from the acid in the marinade.

I was going to ask you about the rain! I only keep half an eye on national news, but I heard it was really wet, still! Wow. Do your shoes have their own special weekender type bag? It sounds like they deserve it. I am noting that you are a woman who enjoys shoes, is that right? Do you have a ton in your closet? I have a thing about boots, but as for shoes, mainly mine are boring and comfortable as my work requires standing and marching around all day! I do have an amazing pair of genie slippers that I like to wear at parties in summer...which seems like a dream right now, going to a party. I'm definitely in all work makes Jane a dull gal. Of course, Seinfeld is waiting....Monterey will be a more stylin' opportunity, so I should take your cue (queue?) and have some fun with fashion. The more I think about it, the more I think that might help offset any grief spells that are likely to come over me.

Tomorrow I take Kitty to the vet. She's 20, and the litter-box is telling a concerning story, so we'll see what happens.

12 hours ago, hollysmokes said:

I'm thinking about taking Thursday & Friday off of work just to rest, recover and play catch-up

^ Yes!

I think by the time you read this, you'll already be at work, but, Hey Holly, don't forget yer breakfast!

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Breakfast was delicious! Thanks for the inspiration. I slept pretty well last night, had a great breakfast this morning and clocked >10K steps yesterday so I'm feeling good. My fitness tracker ring is finally shipping to day- from Finland! I'm really hoping it gets here before I leave. I never carry a purse and most of what I'm planning to wear on my trip doesn't have pockets so keeping my phone with me at all times to count my steps is going to be hard. Busted! I do love shoes but I don't have that many. Or rather I don't have that many that I can wear and I have a hard time getting rid of the ones that I can't or won't wear anymore. I'm transitioning all of my shoes to barefoot shoes but it's a slow process because they're pretty $$. I tend to be pretty minimalist anyway so I guess it's only fitting that my shoes are too! I'm trying to put more effort into accessorizing and such instead of jeans/skirt and a T-shirt. Genie slippers! How fun! Yeah, I remember parties, too. Back when I had a social life:P

I was thinking about your trip to Monterey and wondering how hard it would be for you. After my Dad died, his wife said she had to donate his shoes right away and get them out of the closet because it hit her so hard every time she saw them all lined up waiting. It's surprising, sometimes, what strikes that chord in us after a loss. Did you follow any of the links in MJ's last email? There's one about the English language that is hysterical but it really made me miss my Dad. He was a word guy (I learned early on not to play Scrabble with him and expect to win!) and my first reaction was that he's the only person I know that would really appreciate that post and I couldn't share it with him.

Another student of the litter box. Maybelle (my little girl) and I will be sending positive thoughts your way. Let us know how she is. 

 

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The shoe thing is very lady-like. Enjoy them! On enjoyment, I went back to MJ's latest missive to read the English language piece, at your prompting, and I really liked it! Here's my input to that thread: If the plural of mouse is mice, why not go from spouse to spice? I always wondered about that. :P FWIW you can always word-nerd on me, I am game! Do you like how I turned the noun into a verb? LOL Upon first glance at those links on her email, I went right to the hilarious video of the cat watching Hitchcock's Psycho. Did you see that? It gave my stomach a mad tickle. i watched it twice and forwarded it to my brother. It will not surprise you to learn that my mother was a brilliant word smith and killer Scrabble player, too. I played with her from as early as second grade, and over the years seldom beat her. I still have the Franklin Mint Scrabble set that my sister gifted her in the flush 90s, with a cigarette burn in the bordeaux velvet tile pouch that is very ghostly to me now. She relished her wins (and her smokes), and was not a modest champion, but it was part of her charm. Maybe your father and my mother are playing Scrabble competitively. Did he smoke weed? He'll get a contact high if he plays with my mom.

Your stepmother's story about your dad's shoes is so endearing. It also reminds me of a scene in a brilliant movie, one of my all time favorites, The Namesake. Have you seen it? It's based on a novel by the same name. There is something sacred about well worn shoes, as it's how we connect to the earth with our feet...so personal, and smelly! Magic is accompanied by smell, as we all know who have pets who make such a careful examination of our shoes. Our cat Spooky sometimes rolls around on our shoes like a lover. Ha. 

Spooky had a very hard day at the vet. She yowled all the way there in the car, and on the way home: radio silence. Yeah. There was some mix up, and our village satellite office of this vet's practice cannot take labs. So they examined her, a little late as the place was crawling with dogs that have been bitten by rattlesnakes, and have foxtails in various orifices. With all the big rains, the food chain is very  plumped up....hence a bumper crop of predators! Anyway, I was proud as the vet and assistant oohed and aahed at how amazing she is at 20. He doesn't want to do invasive diagnostics on her, but the blood in the urine could be any number of things, and we have her on dasuquin to shore up her bladder and joints, and meanwhile - and this is where it got very rough - she needed to have her dreadlocks sheared off! She's a long haired girl. Her undercoat has gotten downier and downier in her last few years, and even though we brush her regularly, she has serious dreads! I had to sit on the other side of the room and make space for the vet and his assistant, and I cringed as she gradually lost her patience. They had to restrain her and put a medieval looking mask on her, as she growled in tones I've never heard before. Poor Spooky. Then her nails needed clipping, too, and again, we do it at home, but in her aging process she no longer grooms herself as well, or claws at her scratching post, and some of her nails were trying to grow into her pads. Ow...at some point she volunteered the urine sample that they weren't going to take, so we'll see what that reveals. And in other news, she's lost TOO much weight - we had put her on a diet a few years ago and she's down to 8 lbs from 14.5....so they said to feed her some more, and she said  I TOLD YOU SO! I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU THAT ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, FOR YEARS, PEOPLE. I have renewed love and respect for this little creature.

So I thank you, and the lovely Maybelle for the love and good vibes. It helped = ) After the vet ordeal I went down the hill to make a hospice home visit, and made it home in time to get that chicken on the grill...and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I love it. The mosquitoes were bad, but I hung out like a dude and enjoyed my cold La Croix!

 

 

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