5am:What time is it? TOO EARLY!!!
5:45am: What time is it now? Okay. That’s good enough.
6am: Making coffee (Starbuck’s Anniversary Blend–yumm) and some homemade yogurt with muesli and walnuts on top. Very satisfying. New practice–let the dogs ‘sleep in’ while I have a little quiet time. I highly recommend this to you mothers of young children! Of course it only works in the winter when its still dark outside…
7am: The natives are restless. Let them out, and get dressed while they are outside. Saw this when I looked out the door this morning.
Well, it WAS first thing in the morning...
8am: Out the door for a walk with Noah. Funny thing’s been happening. Even when I give myself ‘permission’ to take a short walk, I just keep on walking for an hour. Almost exactly, even though I don’t have a watch on me. Here’s some of the scenes from this morning’s walk.
Spy cam in action again (first pic is what I can actually see, second pic is with my camera zoomed in 12X–there’s people living over in them thar hills!)
The road home. But we turned and walked for a bit longer.
It was cold this morning! My angora gloves came in handy. Did you know that angora is 7X warmer than wool? What else do you want to know about angora? Did you know I used to raise angora rabbits? I raised the rabbits, ‘plucked’ their wool (its shedding) dyed the wool, spun the wool into yarn, and knit these gloves.
English angora rabbit--aren't they the funniest little creatures?
9am: Back home, make a cup of TJ’s Gingerbread Spice coffee (DELISH,) check a few blogs, look HIGH AND LOW for my bag of buttons (I’m working on the fourth ‘Pay It Forward Quilt’–mine!) Cannot find them. Read a few blogs, then get cleaned up and ready to leave the house. Grab a couple of lo-bars for a pre-workout snack.
11am: Hit the gym, do a vigorous weights workout. Ooh–the scale was down 3.5 pounds from my goal weight. What does that mean? Absolutely nothin’. But it makes me inexplicably happy for a while.
Here’s my favorite machine at the gym. Its the only one I am glad is facing the mirrors LOL at myself. Can you guess why?
That white bar across the middle is in *just* the right place.
12noon: Lunch with a good friend. I parked in front of the new W.W. meeting room, and went in to see my old leader and tell her I was still holding the line. I think I am exactly the same weight I was the last time she saw me about three years ago.
Lunch was good. Salad was too big, but a great combo: romaine lettuce with walnuts, avocado, blue cheese, cranberries, and mandarin oranges, with an oriental dressing. Sorry, no pic, even though I had my camera with me. Great conversation with my friend, and we shared a mini-pumpkin pie. Probably the only one I’ll have this year.
2pm: Went to my favorite Costless Market. I got a little turkey for $3.50! I had just realized that I was not going to have leftovers this year (working, we will have a nice meal there.) So decided to get myself a turkey. I also got a cauliflower to try those cauliflower ‘mashed potatoes.’ Joanna described them in such glowing terms that I decided I had to try them. I guess that will cancel out the calories from the turkey gravy…
3:30pm: Home again. Writing a blog…trying to sew between uploading pics…BFF calls, good chat…the natives are getting restless again…
4:30pm Leash up all three dogs and run outside again for a quick walk before it gets dark. Back home, I load the batteries into the flashlight and LOOK FOR THE $%^%$## BUTTONS AGAIN. No luck. I guess I’m meant to work on another quilt for now.
6:00 Having a light dinner to ‘make up’ for the big lunch. I’m not suffering here. This is what I ‘felt’ like eating.
Boiled zucchini, small bowl of cottage cheese, pineapple and a couple of walnuts, and a cup of that delicious Candy Cane Lane tea. Yummm.
And yes, I was blogging while eating this dinner. Not very mindful of me, I know.
Back to work tomorrow, so will spend another hour or so with the doggies while watching yet another episode of the Dog Whisperer. Habanada everbody!
debby weighs in 
Those gloves look positively mystical – glowing, aural. Gorgeous! And that angora rabbit looks like a cat hiding inside one of those crocheted toilet paper holders that my grandma might have made, lol!
Is that a Japanese Maple that Noah is peeing near? So pretty!
You look fantastic in that gym picture! I get why it’s your favorite machine – and I approve. 😉
Sounds like your food was so good and the visits with your friends were very fulfilling – great day all around!
The light was so pretty this morning–that’s why the Japanese maple and the glove look so good, I think.
That’s hilarious about the cat hiding in the TP cover.
Debby-
Congrats to you for maintaining so successfully, I am sure your WW leader must have been thrilled to see how fabulous you are doing. And this blog day is an example why – lots of exercise, smart food choices, positive mindset, repeat over and over and you’ve got it!
🙂
That is one rockin’ rabbit!
Georgie
Thanks Georgie–that is a great mantra– gotta remember that one–” lots of exercise, smart food choices, positive mindset, repeat over and over and you’ve got it!!”
You wrote:
” I parked in front of the new W.W. meeting room, and went in to see my old leader and tell her I was still holding the line. I think I am exactly the same weight I was the last time she saw me about three years ago.”
I am so glad you wrote that and also hopefully you REALLY relish it. There are VERY few people who maintain. And you maintain in a way that is comfortable for you. You like your food and once you get going, your exercise too.
and you wrote:
“Ooh–the scale was down 3.5 pounds from my goal weight. What does that mean? Absolutely nothin’. But it makes me inexplicably happy for a while.” I was glad to see that in two different ways. First, you are ‘hugging the floor’ in staying slightly below instead of riding ever higher (as many do). And I was also glad to see you took it in stride and did not think ‘pig out’. You exercised as you always do and you ate as you always do. And that is maintence. And as I have written, I think it is much wiser to hug the floor of our maintenance range (rather than the ceiling) so we have some margin for when THINGS happen, because they always do.
And I eat steamed zucchini with a 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce and a tiny sprinkle of melted mozzerella (I can’t do parmesan or feta – migraines). My spaghetti sauce has NO added sugar and reasonable sodium. So this is my psuedo ‘pasta dish’. I often add onions and mushrooms to the zucchini. Makes a very nice ‘dish’.
Thanks for the reminder, Vickie–I like to shred the zucchini and carrots, add in the mushrooms and onions, and top with my own spaghetti sauce! Kinda forgot about that dish. I think I’ll make a batch on Sunday.
Yes. Funny thing about my ‘goal weight’ at present. It is not a range. Just 168. But 1/4 pound above that is not acceptable. I guess I know me well enough to know that I will push the limit, so there is no sense in making it a range. Also that was the number that came up so very many times when consulting my weight history for the last couple of years.
I recently read the very interesting collection, C.G. Jung Speaking: Interviews and Encounters. In 1960, Jung was interviewed by journalist Gordon Young, who asked, “What do you consider to be more or less basic factors making for happiness in the human mind?” Jung answered:
“1. Good physical and mental health.
2. Good personal and intimate relationships, such as those of marriage, the family, and friendships.
3. The faculty for perceiving beauty in art and nature.
4. Reasonable standards of living and satisfactory work.
5. A philosophic or religious point of view capable of coping successfully with the vicissitudes of life.”
I am reading Gretchen’s Happiness Project and the above link was on her blog post today:
http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/11/5-basic-factors-for-happiness-according-to-carl-jung.html
I thought of you the minute I read it.
So much to comment on!
1. Noah pees like a girl? So does my new foster pekinese Simon (blog post later).
2. GORGEOUS japanese maple!
3. I am afraid of angora rabbits. That is a scary picture – nightmare inducing. But I can still get behind a pair of angora socks for my cold feet if they are so much warmer than wool. Must investigate.
4. You look adorable in that gym shot.
5. That salad sounds delish.
6. Hope you find the buttons!
That rabbit looks scary and I may never be able to wear Angora again after that. Did you find the buttons yet? I hope so!
Alright, JUice and Helen–WHAT on earth is scary about a little defenseless, fluffy wabbit?
Love this post. They are always so fun to read 😀
Those angora gloves look like my regular gloves do because I have a long-haired cat LOL!
Noah’s face in that picture looks like he is saying “Oh come on – you aren’t going to put that on the internet, are you?”
Delightful post! I enjoyed reading about your day. I bet that made your WW leader’s day, too!
I was in TJ’s this morning on my way to work, and I’m kicking myself for not buying the Gingerbread coffee. I kept wondering, “What if I don’t like it?” But it did sound pretty good, too. I might just have to go back there and get it.
Wow, I didn’t know that about angora. Those gloves look so plush! As does the bunny. I, too, kept thinking it looked like a cat’s face in all that fur. I wonder how cat fur would be to make into yarn? Our cat is shedding like mad – she doesn’t groom herself as well as she used to do – and brushing does not seem to help very much.
You MUST go back and get that coffee. I don’t like too much flavored coffee, but this is really really good. Think it would be good as an afternoon ‘latte’ made with some almond milk and maybe even a little pumpkin.
Congratulations on “holding the line” for three years! That’s a real accomplishment! I also loved with photos of your beautiful surroundings, and the angora rabbit too! I have never seen one before–very interesting little creature! Great post!
Poor Noah. How would you feel if he put a photo of you peeing on his blog? 🙂
Love those gloves! I hadn’t thought of angora. Then again, I rarely think to put my gloves in my pockets either. 🙂
You crack me up. Now you’ve given Noah that idea. I’ll have to be on guard when I go to the bathroom. He might use his extra thumbses (dewclaws) to snap a picture of me…
Gotta comment on the pics…poor Noah caught mid squat…but the lighting and the trees and the misty morning in the background look just like a Thomas Kincaid painting!!!! I wanna come live with you ..seems like a magical cottage in the woods.
I’m glad someone got the main reason I snapped the pic! You guys are all making me feel very guilty for ‘exposing’ Noah that way LOL.
BTW, I think a magical cottage would be self-cleaning, wouldn’t it?
My (very late) response in bullet point (sorta) form:
~ your Japanese Maple looks so pretty! I love how it spreads out like a canopy! My landscaper husband would be so proud!
~ I want some angora gloves!! They look sooo soft and preeeeety!! And now I want an angora rabbit as my pillow. What a funny bunny!
~ You are so lucky to live on a such scenic road – I’ll have to take a picture and show you how bland and boring my one way road is. Not a fun place to walk.
~ I love waking up before the kids! It’s nice to have a few minutes to wake up before the rugrats start clamoring for my attention!
~ Noah and the squat – I think it’s hilarious! No guilt there. 🙂