It's Monday and We're Back to a More "Normal" Schedule

I found my opal-embellished crystal and gold chain, so I'm breathing a bit easier today. It wasn't too far from where the pendant was found, but for some reason or other, I simply hadn't found it in my first run-through (or 2nd, or 3rd - LOL). Whatever reason, however, it's all back together again. 

What was lost is now found. I'm quite relieved, my 
Lady and the Moon, amethyst crystal and gold 
chain is quite important to me. It's all together once 
again and I'm very happy. 

I worked yesterday - we were photographing items that we couldn't take care of during the business day. But we got them done. DH needs to send them to me, then I'll get them into the format, and our photographs will (mostly) be complete. We got home and decided to have Chinese for dinner - Moo Shu pork - yummy! Of course it put two pounds on me for this morning, but I consider it worth it and those two pounds will quickly be gone. 

I do love my electronic bathroom scale. It's just about as 
accurate as my previous mechanical scale, but it's quick 
and easy and has large numbers so I don't have to wear 
my glasses. LOL - The perils of growing old. 

I stayed up late to watch the closing ceremony for the Olympics. We were still working at the shop when they were originally broadcast, so I caught the redo. Since I stayed up until 10:00 am, I decided to skip my treadmill today and sleep in until 5:00 am. I can't be late to the shop - I have too much that has to be done before I open the doors this morning. 

I adored that the closing ceremonies were held in an 
amphitheatre that is 2000 years old and still used today. 
Think about it, those of you who live in the USA. Two 
thousand years old and still being used! Fabuloso! 

So, I'm cutting this short, hoping that all of you managed to catch some of the Olympics (which were absolutely MARVELOUS to watch), and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

The War Continues - Is War Genetic? Also a Small Victory and Celebration

I'm celebrating a small victory today. I had to go to Target on a quick errand yesterday, and on a whim gathered up the multitude of gift cards I had accumulated. I wanted to find a pair of pants that actually fit me, and maybe a Spring or Summer top. So, I went shopping. I've been as high as a size 16 in my life, and usually level out at a size 12 which is a perfectly acceptable size, but I knew that the jeans I'd been wearing were 10's and 12's and they were WAY too lose. So I grabbed a 10 and an 8 and headed to try them on. To my surprise, even the size 8 was way too big. So I handed the jeans to the clerk and went to get some size 6 pants to try on. I found two that I liked and went back to the changing station. They both fit beautifully! Total shock! I also found a couple of really cute tops, so I paid for them with my gift cards, augmenting the remainder with my Discover card. I'm beyond thrilled! Size 6! I would never have imagined I'd ever be that size, and I'm comfortable and happy. The new pants are in my laundry bucket and I can start wearing them on Monday. Whoot! 

I'm totally doing the happy dance. I'm amazed and so very 
pleased at where I am now, compared to a year ago. 

The war goes on forever, or so it seems. It appears that the human condition is war and aggression rather than peace and cultivation. I don't know why this is the case - certainly we celebrate peace in our conversations, poetry, music, books and artwork. But, when you look at the history of humankind, it's a history of battle and war, aggression and conquest, and simple coveting of what the neighbor owns that you don't. Obviously this must be hard-wired into our general genetic makeup. I doubt it would be something that could arise independently, over the millennia, the millions of times battle was chosen as the correct pathway. 

Ancient cave paintings already celebrate conflict 
between different groups of people. It's obvious 
that sharing and peaceful negotiation wasn't on 
the table, even back then. 

So if conflict is in our DNA, maybe it's a good thing that we rarely live past a century of life. The thought of that much conflict and that much blood loss is depressing enough, without pushing it out to centuries. In my lifetime alone, the following conflicts have occurred: 

        The Malayan Emergency and Kenya Emergency were ongoing when I was born.
        The Cyprus Emergency began in my first year of life.
        Vietnam, that horrible war, began in 1955, continuing for 20 years.
        The Suez Crisis was in 1956,
        the Brunei Revolt in 1962-1963,
        the Indonesian Confrontation in 1963-1966. Continuing on,
        the Aiden Emergency was 1963-1967,
        "The Troubles" from 1968-1998,
        the Falklands War in 1982, and
        the Gulf War from 1990-1991. 
        The Civil War in Sierra Leon stretched from 1991-2002,
        the Bosnian War from 1992-1995,
        and the Kosovo War ended the century from 1998-1999.
        The 21st Century kicked off with the War in Afghanistan from 2001-2014,
        and the Iraq War from 2003-2011.
        Wars that are still ongoing are the Libya Conflict (began in 2011),
        the Syria Conflict (2011-present),
        the Yemen Conflict (2014-present)
        and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS which began in 2014 and is still ongoing. 

The basic estimate is 187+ million people who have lost their lives in war and conflict since 1900. That's a lot of people! And even with all of those losses, we're still overpopulated and straining the abilities of our planet. Maybe that's one more reason why we're in eternal conflict - Mother Nature knows we will destroy the planet with our numbers even without that aggressive tendency to thin down the horde. It's a rather depressing thought, isn't it? While we're working so hard to save the people of Ukraine? I'm sure it doesn't come as a huge surprise to many of you, though. If you're interested in the full timeline starting in 1900, or information about a conflict I listed that you hadn't known about, I got my information on this from 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/timeline-of-20th-and-21st-century-wars

It almost seems safer to deal with driver rage and individual crazy people with weapons. Almost ... but not quite. Because if aggression is genetic, we will be involved in conflict from birth to death, no matter what. I think that's a very depressing thought. So I'll continue to concentrate on art, sunshine, bird calls, the promise of Spring, and reading fiction. I hope you have an excellent day today, and I'll return on Monday. Peace! 

Happy Birthday to Claire, and I've Got a Happy Body (Mostly=LOL)

Although the new headphones for my swim worked very well, the new goggles were a disaster. After I returned home I trashed the goggles, putting them into my "use in emergency only" pocket of my gym bag, and grabbed an old set of goggles that had been MUCH more comfortable and stayed waterproof. I'm not guaranteeing they'll work 100%, but they can't possibly be as uncomfortable and leaky as the "new" set. Unfortunately my audio might not work with them - the strap is too thick to go through the side clips of the speakers. If worse comes to worse, I'll make sure I bring a set of waterproof ear buds (I own several - they die regularly with the chlorine) and my underwater iPod, so I'll be set to continue listening to my Amelia Peabody book. My new pair of bone induction headphones is on its way to me, so I will have flexibility once again when they arrive. 

Happy Birthday wishes to my good friend, Chickie Mama - 
aka Claire. I hope you have a magnificent day. I know things 
are tough right now, but you're strong and you'll manage 
to land on your feet. I expect you'll turn a couple of 
double-somersaults while landing on your feet. 

DH is a bit grumpy because he has to work today. Chickie is taking the day off to celebrate her Mom's birthday, and she asked for it off MONTHS ago, so yeah - DH has to work. It's a small sacrifice and he'll just have to deal. I'm quite sure he'll manage. I'll be in a similar time/schedule crunch next week when Chickie takes a full week off that encompasses a Friday in the beginning and a Wednesday at the end. It'll be inconvenient, but I'll manage. She's fully entitled to take her vacation time. 

I have a pair of "skinny jeans". I expect most of us 
have one or two. I was wearing them yesterday, 
and had to put a belt on, quite tightly, to keep 
the darned things up. I could have pulled them off 
my body without unzipping them! Happy? Oh yeah! 

I hit another new low on the scale this morning. I have four pounds left until I've hit my firm "No More" release point - I need to keep my BMI no lower than 18.5, and I'm at a BMI of 19 right now. Are you curious about your own BMI? It's easy to calculate. Go to THIS website, plug in your height and weight, and the number will come up. When I started WildFit in March, my BMI was 27 - solidly in Overweight and close to Obese. In seven months, I'm back to High School weight and extremely happy with where I'm at. (I know sometimes links don't work, so I'll put the full URL for BMI here just in case you're interested and the link didn't work for you  - https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm ). 

I'm not supposed to go below 18.0 BMI. My bones aren't 
good, and my Doctor wants me to keep some weight 
on them. I'm quite close to that now. I'm willing to keep 
reducing my weight to approx 115 lbs, but I'm not pushing 
below that. Right now I'm solidly in my High School 
weight range, and I'm pretty darned comfortable there. 

I'll be getting in touch with some of the WildFit coaches today. I really need to find out how to plateau on WildFit. I've got the releasing weight aspect nailed, but I'm not sure I've got a handle on how to maintain without continuing to release. I'll put a query out there for JoUnicorn and Ariel and Eric to answer, and hopefully get some good suggestions that will guide me into the next stage of my life. 

I took the Cerascreen test for Food Reaction. I 
took their mid-range test, which tested 44 of 
the most common, then an additional 96 in-depth. 
I wasn't sensitive to anything in the 44, but did 
have reactions in the more intensive 96. Now 
I'm really curious about the allergy tests I'll be 
getting next week. 

You might remember, I took a blood sample allergy test screen shortly before Sharon arrived for the State Fair. I got the results back from that, and they're quite interesting. Two different tests were administered - an IgE and a more refined IgG4. In the IgE, which was tested on 44 major food groups, I had no sensitivities at all. But when they did the more extensive IgG4 test, I was Moderately sensitive to Green Beans, Pinto Beans, Spinach and Tomato, and had Very High sensitivity to Chicken Egg White and Chicken Egg Yolk (something I've suspected for years). I had a few other things that also charted in the red, but at a lower rate. I get my full allergy test from my clinic next Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to those results too. 

I'm out of here. Today was a good run and tomorrow I'm in the pool at 6:00 am. I already nabbed my 5:00 am slot for Friday, so I'm set for the week. Huzzah. It's wonderful to be back in the pool, even though I'm REALLY out of shape for that particular exercise. It's just wonderful to be back in the water again. Have an excellent Tuesday, enjoy your day and please, stay safe and be kind. I'll be back on a more challenging schedule tomorrow - LOL. 

Some Good Movies Coming Up, and a State Fair Wrap-up

By the end of today, my house will be thoroughly cleaned and Sharon's visit will only be a fond memory. It didn't take me any time at all to get my Fair weight gain right back off, so now I'll finish cleaning the guest bedroom and the guest bathroom. Then I'll be ready for the next challenge. 

For a long time they were calling this "Matrix 4". Not 
an incorrect name, but now it's officially "Matrix 
Resurrection". I'll put a link to the YouTube trailer 
here. 
https://youtu.be/9ix7TUGVYIo
"Matrix Resurrected will release on December 22nd. 

Have you seen the trailers for "Matrix: Ressurection" and "Dune"? These are two films upcoming that I really want to see. I've even marked the dates they premier on my calendar. I would also love to see the LOTR epic when it comes out, but I don't stream, and I don't have Amazon Prime, so that may be almost impossible. 

OK, just saying here that this is a bad ass sandworm. Wow, 
just wow. "Dune" will release on October 22nd. If it's 
anything at all as good as the trailer, I'm totally on board 
with it. It won't have Sting as a Harkkonen, but it has 
sandworms like this one - just too amazing. Here's the 
YouTube link for the Dune trailer. 
https://youtu.be/6r-WSSbKUC8

State Fair attendance figures were 1.3 million lower than last year's record numbers. Still, the crowds came out on Sunday and Labor Day, setting new attendance records for those days. We were part of the Sunday crowd, but at the Renaissance Festival on the Monday. I think poor weather combined with fear of Covid played a serious part in the first week or so of the Fair. Our total attendance was 1,301,584, compared to more than 2 million people each of the previous two years. 

The State Fair attendance figures might have been down, 
but Sharon and I (and DH and Chickie on Sunday) 
enjoyed ourselves. See that big Ferris wheel in the 
background? Sharon and I rode it twice - one during the 
day, and a second time at night. We got in immediately 
during the day, but had to stand in a very long line 
(2-blocks long) to buy our tickets after dark. We 
were curious about how many people could ride 
at any time, so I did the math. Number of cars 
times six, because they try to put six people into 
each car, equals 180 people total. It was fun during 
the daylight, and totally magical at night. 

I should be receiving my blood test materials on Monday. I'm really looking forward to what the test results will be. I know I ate something that my body hated, hives and a rash are pretty good indicators that I ate something wrong. I have a full photographic record of everything I ate during those three days at the Fair, so I'll get the photos into a listing and start trying to isolate which foods my body objected to. I'm hoping it wasn't my Danielson and Daughter's onion rings - my absolutely FAVORITE food at the Fair. 

My love of Danielson & Daughters Onion Rings is 
over the top. I'm totally addicted to their wonderful, 
light coating and crisp goodness. I ate two portions 
on my own on Friday and Saturday, and shared some 
with DH on Sunday. If these turn out to be a trigger 
food for my skin rash, I'll be devastated. 

So that's it for today. Short and sweet. I'm going to plug in my photos and links to the trailers for the two movies listed above, then I'm going to work on my shopping list. I'm hoping I don't forget an item this time - I usually get home, put the groceries away, and remember that I forgot X, Y or Z (often the main part of my planned meal). It's far from unusual for me to be back at my grocery store later on the same day as an earlier trip. Have a wonderful day, and please be kind and stay safe. I'm holding all of you in my heart today - thanks for being good friends. 

Good Beltane - A Robin, A Scale and a Bush

Good Beltane to all. As we move toward Midsummer (it hardly seems as though Spring has arrived yet, and here I am looking towards June), my rose bush is a day or two from full bloom, a robin has been silly enough to build a nest on top of my exterior main door lamp - she'll be disturbed at least twice a day while I retrieve the newspaper for DH and when he goes out in late afternoon to collect the mail. I hate disturbing her, but I'm not going to open the garage door for silly things like the newspaper and the mail. 

The light sits to the right of the main entry door 
of the house. As you can tell, there's a robin's nest 
sitting on top. Although it gets protected from rain 
there, the winds in a storm can blow it right off 
(it's happened in the past), and the squirrels are 
able to get to the nest with some squirrel 
acrobatics movements that defy gravity. 
All in all, not a great place for the nest. 

I bought myself a new bathroom scale as an early birthday gift. It arrived at the shop on Thursday, so I got it set up Friday amidst many other errands and projects. My old scale has been with me since high school. It always weighs me about five pounds lower than reality, but a scale really is just a guide, not an absolute. It's measuring the amount of gravitational pull your body and the earth exert on each other. Plus, using the same scale all the time allows me to have a good feel for plus or minus in weight over time. 

The WYZE scale works with an app on your 
phone via Bluetooth. It checks for a lot of different 
items - weight, body fat %, muscle mass/lb, 
body water % and many more. I think I'll 
like this new "toy". 

But I felt it was time to upgrade to a "fancy-dancy all-seeing scale". I wasn't willing to spend a lot of money on this - I've had scales similar to this in the past and have been disappointed. (In fact, I tossed one of those disappointments into the garbage within the past month.) But I did some research and the WYZE scale fit my budget and the requirements of what I wanted from a la-di-dah scale. 

Almost two weeks ago, this is what my "rose" bush 
looked like. It had a LOT of buds, so had promise 
of a spectacular bloom later on. 

It automatically calibrated my weight up four pounds from my normal scale - not really a surprise, but disappointing because those numbers, although they really don't mean much - mean a lot psychologically. Still, it also gave me a lot more information - body fat, muscle mass, body water percentage, lean body mass, bone mass, protein, visceral fat, and BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). I'm pretty happy with most of what I'm reading on these indicators, although I'll need a lot more than two days of information to establish any guideline. 

A few days after the photo above, the buds were larger and 
much more prominent. 

Still, for $40 from Amazon, I felt it was well worth the try and I'm happy with the scale. Now I have to find a good place to keep it. Although it fits where I put it, I'm not thrilled with the placement. It's OK for the summer, but directly under the heater for the winter and that's probably not ideal for the electronics. I'll keep it where I have it for the time being, though. Maybe it will give DH an opportunity to get used to having it there ... or not - LOL. 

Late last week it was showing signs of 
a magnificent bloom this year. I've had some 
disappointing years in the past, but this year 
won't be one of those. 

So on this day of celebration, I'm sharing photos of my flowering bush with all of you. I've adored this bush from the very beginning when I moved here, and it never fails to lift my heart. I'm not really sure exactly what it is - I call it a rose bush because I think it's a type of primrose, but I really can't say for sure. What I do know is this year's blooms will be spectacular. Just look at all of the buds ready to burst into bloom within a few days. 

Although it would have been lovely to have it in full 
bloom for Beltane, it's actually a bit early for that. It 
usually flowers fully in mid-June. But we had a mild 
winter season, so I think it's running about a week 
ahead of schedule. I'll keep taking pictures and share 
one when it's fully in bloom. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a truly wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Please stay safe, be kind and wear your masks, for your sake as well as that of others. Enjoy your weekend! 

I'm Rushing Through My Morning - Maybe I Can Relax A Bit This Afternoon

It's 6:45 am right now, my first load of laundry is in the dryer, DH is in the shower, and I've rushed through my emails - always so many to look through, answer or discard, and move on. My goal is simple, I want to get to Mississippi Market as soon as I can this morning, then a quick stop at Whole Foods for some Bison, then a stop at the pharmacy to talk to the owner about a prescription issue, and finally, put one load of groceries away, start laundry load #2 washing, and then head out to my local grocer for the remainder of my shopping. Under ideal conditions, I would have all of this finished by 10:00 am. I doubt conditions will be ideal - I'm already running a bit late, so I think I'll be an hour behind ideal. But it's the thought that counts, right? LOL

Today I'll be rather like a bee - buzzing on my planned 
route from place, to place, to place. To get everything 
finished on time, I've got to get going. This is a 
rushed post today. 

I usually never make the Wednesday Zoom meeting for my WildFit class - making the Friday call and just catching the Wednesday call on the saved recording. It would be nice to actually be part of the Wednesday call at least once, though. These are people I'm seeing on the chat boards and answering questions for during the week, and I always love to see what people look like when possible. 

I have to say that into Week 7, I'm still thrilled with 
my WildFit program. I'm learning a ton about 
nutrition, and I'm even losing weight which is 
nice (even wonderful) but wasn't the absolute 
goal I had in mind. 

I started WildFit on the last week of February, and today, I realized I've lost 7 pounds so far. Considering I joined to learn about nutrition with weight loss a hope but not a goal, I'm extremely pleased. I've been sticking to guidelines carefully because I'm learning a great deal about nutrition and how the body reacts to various foods. I guess it's working to my benefit. If I'm being totally honest, even though my Doctor would prefer that I only loose an additional 10 pounds, I'd rather lose an additional 20. But ... one pound at a time. I'm quite pleased. 

It's crazy to be this rushed this early in the 
morning, but such is my Wednesday this 
week. I'll be back tomorrow with my more 
normal level of rushed. LOL

So, as you can tell, I'm very rushed today. I'm getting out of here and starting (continuing) my day. Have an excellent day and please, be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. I fully intend to be back here tomorrow with clean clothes and a well-stocked refrigerator. 

Another Chapter in "How My World Turns" or Skirting the Whirlpool

We spent Sunday watching the final day of the Masters Golf Tournament, then switched to football. Being lazy, Subway sandwiches were our dinner choice. I was afraid that I would be up in weight when I stepped on the scale this morning - carbs for most meals, starting Saturday night, usually are not a good thing for my weight control/loss. But, to my happy surprise, I passed through the weekend unscathed. I'm quite grateful about that and hope the rest of my day today will be as smooth. 

Losing weight has always been difficult for me, and 
I've been fighting off the six pounds I gained in 
stay-at-home weight. I've finally gotten those 
pounds off, now I'm back to working down the other 
six-to-eight pounds I'd like to get off. My 
BMI is too high for my height, and it's the only 
thing negative on my health report, so I have to 
keep working at it. 

I finally got my new tool delivered on Saturday and will be trying it out with the cardstock today to get used to how it works before actually using it on my holiday cards. If it works (and it better work - LOL), then the Step 2 hurdle will be over and I'll progress to the Step 3 hurdle which I can see as a possible serious problem. Step 3 is where the fact that the width of the card is too wide for my embossing machine will come into play. I have some possible work-arounds, but won't know whether they will actually work until I've actually finished Step 2. It's rather like climbing a mountain. You need to do it one stage at a time, and plan the next day's attack carefully before jumping ahead. 

My goals proceed from A to B to C, etc. They 
are fluid, to a point, but then they reach a 
stage where they have to move onward. Success 
today will help a great deal in moving the 
project ahead. 

Today is Monday, and I'm already planning my schedule for Wednesday. I'm under serious time frames on Wednesday to get everything I need completed, and there's a machine knitting pattern that I really want to try for my afternoon's craft time. Right now my schedule is looking like laundry at 5:00 am, Target at 7:00 am, Office Depot at 8:00 am, Michael's at 9:00 am and the grocery store at 10:00 am. That should get me home by 11:00 am. I have a bit of wiggle room, but I need to get to those four places and still have to do more laundry when I get home, as well as get my knitting machine set up and the yarn I need to get at Michael's ready to go so that I can try this pattern. If it works out, my holiday gifts for a couple of people will be resolved. 

My life can be a whirlpool, but it's those bright 
things that keep me from being pulled down. 
I might skirt close to the edges, but I pull back 
out again to tackle the small difficulties and 
get them resolved. 

This is the state of my life - LOL. Work, personal projects, and projected time frame deadlines, all revolving around in a whirlpool of obligations, goals and desires. I suppose I'm not all that different from any of you, except my whirlpool has a lot more detritus floating around ready to bean me in the head if I'm not careful. Here's hoping all of you get through your Monday unimpeded. Please be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. I'll be back on Tuesday with another chapter in How My World Turns. 

Sunday Was A Day Of Cleaning and Good Food

DH and I spent most of Sunday cleaning my shelving and the top of my older workdesk in the craft room. It was certainly needed, and we got a lot done. We pulled things off the various shelves or drawers and did a rough sort. A lot of that will need to be reorganized before getting into new spaces, but quite a lot just needed moving to more efficient locales. I probably would have quit at least ten times, but DH is good at egging me on, and by the end of our afternoon, I was pretty happy to see progress. There's still a lot to do, but I'm getting closer all the time to having a functional work area for my life after the shop. 

This is too true. However, I have a lot of interests and
media in which I enjoy working. I'm quite sure that once
I start creating once again, I'll decide against some aspects
of my art and sell or donate the materials. Also, I HAVE
to cull my beads - I have WAY too many of those. 

Chickie is off for a few days to celebrate her birthday, so DH is working for her. He's a bit grumpy about that, but it's her last day off before the new year and although we normally don't run into November with vacation time, lots of things happened to cause that one day overflow. Of course, since it's now November, we're looking at the holiday season straight ahead, rather like a train running full-speed down the tracks towards us. Ugh! 

I'm sure we all want a lovely holiday season, but those of us
who work the season usually end up over-stressed and working
too hard to really enjoy it much at all. Still, it's coming and
we really don't have a choice in the matter at all. 

The holiday season is both good and bad. I hope we'll be busy at the shop - that's a strong goal - and I have my holiday cards keeping me sane (at least I'm creating something, not just focused on selling stuff), but I'll be working a lot more and stressing a lot more. We need a good holiday season and we're working hard towards having one, but if people don't come through the door and buy stuff, it won't happen. The stuff of nightmares for every retailer. 

I indulged and had Olive Garden's "Tour of Italy". Fettuccine, lasagna
and chicken parmigiana. It was good, but I would have preferred
no breading on the chicken. We added some Ziti to take home for
dinner later this week. I love Italian food, but am glad I don't indulge
too often - too many calories. 

We finally took the time, in the late afternoon, to have our belated Anniversary dinner at Olive Garden. I ate WAY too much, but it was really good. It's probably just as well that I don't do this often since I now have a couple of pounds that I put on with that dinner that I have to get right back off the peaks and valleys of my body! 

I'll be hitting the gym hard over the next days to get these few extra pounds right back off. I just loaded a new audio book onto my player, though, so at least I'll be entertained while I sweat. Have a glorious Monday, I'll be back tomorrow. 

Birthday Food Gifts - They're Coming From All Over!

Why is the primary reward or promotion item almost always food? I'm asking this because my email in-box is filled with a variety of offers from companies whose mailing lists I'm on. I get a free dessert from my local Italian restaurant. I get a free gourmet cupcake from my local grocer (this one I'm absolutely getting - their gourmet cupcakes are SO good). I get a free bagel with cream cheese from my local bagel shop, etc ... etc ... etc. While I'm working my way and culling through the many food offers in my in-box this week, DH is trying to determine if he can make me a cherry upside-down cake. He's complaining about the cost of the cherries, which are - admittedly - not in season. Hmmm - who knew that such a silly thing like adding another digit on my age would cause so much angst and so many calories? 

I had one of these in my email this morning. I love
their bagels. It's good for a week, so I'll probably
try to remember to take advantage one day this
week. Bad for the hips, but a wonderful treat. 

On my part, I feel sluggish. I'm struggling to get back into my own groove. I'm at the pool every day because that's what I do. I swim my mile, and I'm getting a good workout with it - I'm not backing off. But yesterday's swim was a real struggle and it will continue to be difficult while I try to lose the next five pounds. Having food offers tossed at me this week isn't helping my "get those five pounds of winter off NOW" reality. It's Spring and I want to be back to a reasonable Spring/Summer weight within one month before I leave town to attend the Bead & Button Show. 

My local grocer has absolutely fabulous gourmet cupcakes and
they are giving me a free one! I'll have to remember to cash that
in for sure! It's a wonderful treat. 

It's not so much that I want/need to have the weight off, it's the reality that I'll be super busy, won't get a chance to swim at all, and will barely have time/energy to hit the elliptical in the hotel gym. I know I always gain when I'm on an "out-of-town and away from my usual schedule" trip. I try to watch what I eat and keep my activity levels up, but it's extremely difficult when you're on vacation. 

These aren't precisely what DH made for his "Everything Bar", but
it's close. His are melt-in-your-mouth good, and he cuts them
into HUGE pieces. I always try to grab the smallest piece I can,
but they're too good to turn down. *sigh* I'm doomed! 

It's not impossible to get back to where I was six weeks ago. But birthday food isn't going to help. DH has been making these amazing dessert bars every week or so too. I swear - they're 1000 calories each! But they're SO good. Somewhere in here is a balance. Id better find that balance soon! 

Olive Garden is offering me a free piece of dessert
cake for my birthday. Of course, that means I would
have to eat a meal there first. I think DH is going to
throw steaks on the grill instead, so I'll miss this
birthday gift. That's fine though. I'm sure it's delicious
but those are calories I really don't need. 

On that note, I'm out of here and off to swim. I hope your Tuesday is glorious and happy. I'll be delighted if I can get my Cinco de Mayo weight back off by tomorrow morning. That's an achievable goal. *Hugs*

My Snow Mantra Continued

It's rather amazing how something as small as a snowflake can take over a life, but that's my life from Saturday through very early this morning. As promised, the storm started dumping snow on us on Saturday with fierce winds and almost zero visibility. I warned DH that I probably would close early and wouldn't pick up our usual dinner, so he went to the grocery and bought food for Saturday and Sunday. Very sweet of him, really good food, but carb and calorie heavy. Five Pounds gained as a result!!! Ack! 

My car is a garage car, but this is Chickie's car. We own the same
car, just one year apart. As you can tell, we got a LOT of snow
over slightly less than 24 hours. 

I did close the shop early and was on the road home shortly after 3:00 pm. It 's usually a simple ten minute drive straight up the street from work to home. It was 30 minutes worth of white knuckle driving because all of us on the road were steering by instinct. Seeing the road wasn't possible because the snow was blowing so hard there was no visibility. I steered by the stoplights, which usually are centered on top of each lane, but I couldn't see the stoplights until a half-block or so from the intersections. I got home safely, but it was a nightmare. 

The yard waste bucket in my backyard got an additional
layer added to its' snow blanket. Of course there have
been meltdowns over the winter, but I was still
pretty impressed by how much snow was on top
of the lid. 

Throughout the evening I got email notifications from restaurants and grocers in the area that were also shutting down early. I think it was a wise precaution for the safety of both their customers and staff. It was truly miserable driving weather. When we awakened on Sunday morning and looked outside, it was still snowing, although not as much. DH decided we would leave it until later in the afternoon in hopes that it would have stopped snowing. So we snow-blowed and shoveled around 3:30 pm, shoveling away more than a foot of snow in some places. I think in actual numbers we were closer to 6"-8" of snow, but the winds had piled it up everywhere. 

This area is really sheltered, leading down the back upper
yard to the back door. I only had about 3"-4" of snow
here to shovel. I got a kick out of the tracks on
the far left. Animals aren't stupid, they pick the
path of least resistance. 

I got up today at 2:45 am so that I have a clear 30 minutes to shovel again before leaving for the gym and my Chiropractor. At least I can work off some of the weight I gained from Hubby's "snow comfort food". I'll be losing that weight for the rest of the week *sigh*. 

A closer view of the tracks from my "wee beasties". I
suspect we've got fox here, but I didn't see any rabbit
in this grouping. Varmints of various kinds were also
scampering down my sidewalk towards their
cozy homes. I know we've got woodchucks in the
area too, and some of these prints could have
been theirs. 

Here's hoping your weekend was less eventful than mine, and that your week ahead is wonderful and fun. I'll be back tomorrow, a bit sleep deprived, but that's the necessity sometimes up here in the Frozen Northlands. 

Sunday Was A Snow Day

DH and I spent most of the day on Sunday clearing snow. We had received more than eight inches in about five hours on Saturday afternoon and night and it all had to be moved or removed from walkways, driveways and our roof. What a job! We started out by shoveling the walks and snow blowing the driveway. Then, after breakfast, DH started work on pulling snow down from the roof. It's a big roof and there was a lot of snow. It took him most of the day. By the end of the day he figured he had moved more than 300 cu ft of snow - a LOT of snow and hard work. With his blood pressure issues, he had some dangerous times there. It was really a bit frightening for both of us. 

On Saturday night, as I was going to bed, I took this photo
of my front door porch and the mountain of snow that
we have next to it. It was covered in an additional 8" of
snow (up to 12" in some places). Very pretty, but it would
be a very busy Sunday. 

Of course, nothing can really go smoothly, and in the middle of all of this, I got a recorded notification from my security alarm company that they had lost communication with the shop. So, I had to put away my shovel for a while and drive over there to make sure everything was secure and OK. The shop was fine, everything seemed to be working properly, but while I was there, I shoveled the front and bask sidewalks for the shop. It saves me work on Monday, at least. 

As DH ran the snowblower, I cleaned up the edges and did
the walkways. Here's my shovel next to the pile at the
bottom of our driveway. The shovel is there to offer a
bit of scale, but the pile is more than four feet high. 

Then I returned home again and started shoveling scatter from the roof. That sounds mild, but it really isn't. When he's pulling down snow, it's cascading down that large mountain of snow in the front of the house and filling the window wells, increasing the mountain, and recovering the sidewalk up to the front porch (which is also covered again and again). I think I ended up shoveling the same areas at least three times. 

I'm standing at street level and this is my mailbox. I got
the street cleared so that our mail can get delivered.
Yeah, the snow really is piled that high. I blame the
city snowplows for a lot of this mess. 

As a reward, DH took me to Red Lobster for dinner. "Lobsterfest" is going on, and we totally indulged. It was so good! I'm up three pounds from that dinner, but it'll be off in a couple of days. No worries and well worth it. When we got back home we settled down to watch the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. We're already looking forward to Beijing in 2022. It's always good to have a long-term goal at my age - something to strive for - LOL. 

Looking back at the front of the house, you can see
the mountain of snow at my front porch from a
different angle. The snow on the roof is approx 12"
deep. By the end of the day, DH had pulled most of
that off from this part of the roof as well
as the back. It's how we avoid ceiling leaks and
ice dams. It's a TON of work for him, though,
and we're not getting younger. 

I'm continuing to work on getting my new phone set up and arranged the way I want. I'm happy that my old phone isn't totally dead - it makes transferring data and organizing set-ups much easier for me. As I had suspected, it was a charging issue with my old phone. A flat wireless charger works great, so that's what I'll use for my old phone from this point forward. My new phone is a Google Pixel 2, the first non-Motorola phone I've had in a very long time. I like most of it, although I'll possibly switch back to Motorola when I upgrade this one in a few years; but so far I'm pretty pleased with the Google phone. The photos throughout this post were all from my new phone. 

Happy Monday to all. I'm SO looking forward to my swim - have to work off some of that lobster and cheddar-bay biscuit weight - LOL. Enjoy your day.