Back on Track and well over 50

[feminist54]

Oh, the boards are quiet and lonely...my friend Jerry is back in the hospital, so I have been playing nursemaid...tghis evening, some other friends are there, so I can rest...
It is so humid out...I went and got my hair all cut off (so much for letting it grow --it was almost bob length). Food has been mixed this week--lots of salads, but every one in a while a tortilla chip comes my way ;(.
The personal trainer was very expensive...she wanted me to do pilates at $65 a pop...not going to happen! So I have been doing the elipitical and the bike, and one zumba! a week. (My ankle has given out when I did 2 a week).

How are you all doing?

[Chris55]

Yes, it has been quiet here. I've been so off-plan that I'm not motivated to share my failures!!

The humidity has been awful here, too, and my allergies and arthritis are acting up. So no energy and lots of cranky joints. Yesterday I finally started taking some aleve and have done my yoga stretches two days in a row hoping that the combination will help my flexibility. Did a quick swim in the lake with DS yesterday afternoon after being holed up in the A/C most of the day.

Food is a mix of nice veggies, grilled meats, and very unbeachy snacks like cheezits and ice cream. I know that if I put a lid on the junk that I'd do much better. I'd really like to lose at least 5 before September but I'm not making any progress.

I've somewhat committed to working for United Way again in the fall (which is why I need the weight off - I'll be surrounded by candy again!), but have one more interview this week for a part-time position elsewhere. I just would like it all to be settled soon so I can relax and enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

DS is gearing up for returning to NP, ordering books, finally being assigned another roommate after his former one decided to withdraw from school. He's had a nice job this summer that has made him happy - just cashiering in a small store in town - walking distance, nice people, and a 20% discount. They seem to like him, too, and he's bailed them out a few times already, even working overtime - he's discovered the joys of time-and-a-half pay! Hopefully he'll be in good shape with the manager and can return earlier next summer so he can bank some funds for enjoying study abroad.

I attended/assisted at an event this week at the Frances Perkins Center with artist Judy Taylor (of the missing Maine Dept. of Labor Mural). The center's director is the former Maine Secretary of Labor who actually commissioned the work, so it was an interesting evening. I've met a few board members, very interesting people. One is a retired Mass. judge, another actually set up the Lowell Mills NPS Historic site from exhibits to having reproductions of trolleys made. Hoping I can stay involved there a bit.

Promised to make blueberry scones this morning for the boys. Will try and sneak in some whole grain flour and probably have an egg with mine!

[feminist54]

Morning--its beautiful here- no humidity, slept with the windows open & no a.c. for the first time in weeks..glorious! I am going to hang the wash outside to dry (and it will dry!)
I have been on hospital duty for the past week-my closest colleague & friend, Jerry, whose operation for his aorta aneurysm was successful has been suffering from the side affects of the contrast dye used, and so has been in the hospital since last Thursday...oy, he is NOT a good patient, and suffers from medically induced sundowners (after I leave at 8...he's good for a bit,and then the nurses end up moving his bed to the nurses station so he can see people and not feel isolated.) Good news is that tomorrow another close friend from Boston is coming up to relieve me, so I can just do normal visitation (not 8+ hour shifts).
So needless to say, exercise and food have been a bit off--breakfast good: yogurt, berries & oat bran parfaits, lunch not so (been taking carrots & cheese which I nibble on throughout the hospital run--getting him water, making soup, getting jello, getting the nurse's aides, talking to doctors & his other friends...by the time I get home its almost 9 and dinner has been leftover roasted chicken and julienned zucchini (using one of the julienne peelers, so its almost like a spaghetti, --spray a fry pan with pam and then add a smidgen of butter, add the zuke, turn every few minutes-about 6 min total, until done-- add lots of pepper, and a sprinkling of parm....mmmm) But eating at 9:15, not so good...oh, and that glass of pinot....
But the good news, is he is improving albeit slowly, last night when I left, he actually was watching his normal political shows...so his mind is back to engaging...

ciao

[Chris55]

You're a true friend. Hospital duty is lousy, even for people close to you. My mom had a very strong reaction to the catherization dye used to diagnose her heart disease, but that was back in the dark ages (1972 - she was a pioneer bypass patient), and one close friend of hers died from the test. Nasty stuff. People think heart surgery is so common and easy since it's done so often now but it's really an awful experience. It must be nice to see him rallying and watching his political faves on TV. This is one year I'm glad we don't have TV - no election ads, which I understand are getting pretty ugly here since we have some major national races and the marriage equality vote again. Too bad we're not voting on our governor; don't know if I can make it through the next two years with this guy.

Doing OK with exercise - 45 min of yoga stretches three times this week, a lot of swimming in the ocean yesterday. Today I have another interview, last position I'm being considered for before absolutely committing to UWay again in September. Just wish I could do that year round!

Food is good and bad. Lots of veggies - tomatoes are finally in season and wonderful as well as zucchini and eggplant. But hitting the ice cream too often! Tonight will be pasta - interview at 3:30, then picking up DS at work in opposite direction - his car either needs a battery or a starter and he can't deal with it until his day off later in the week. So I get to drive to Boothbay twice a day. Won't be home until around 5:45 or 6, so have a pot of meat sauce going and will have to just pop the pasta in the pot and throw a salad together. Youngest is home today and can have that going for 6pm. I don't know how you can eat at 9pm - I'd have indigestion all night!

[feminist54]

Hi--before Sobe I used to eat dinner at 9 all the time (more civilised), but now try to eat much earlier, and have desert/treat before 9... Do you get bluebunny icecream products? They make ice cream treats under 100 calories--- carmel swirl w/ choc mmmmmmm
Jerry's still in hospital--thought we'd spring him today, but his blood presure spiked....arghhhhh.
Humidity back today, double arghhhh.
Sorry that you are on chauffeur duty... how did your interview go?
Food has been good-evercise not so...

[Chris55]

A few of our stores carry Blue Bunny, but I think mostly the big tubs of ice cream. Will have to look for the smaller treats. Most of the 100 calorie frozen things I see have fake sweeteners, which I don't like.

Job interview went OK, but the other two people at the agency (a different Big Brothers Big Sisters) are VERY young, may not be a great match. Callback interviews, if I'm still considered, will be next week. Meanwhile, I have an offer from United Way to do their temp fundraising again and am playing phone tag with them about how long we can stall my decision to work there. The staff there keeps sending me job postings, but I really need to figure out SOON what I'm doing. Meanwhile, my sister is arriving on Sunday to visit and we are trying to have some kind of quick camping trip before DS goes back to school. Trying to buy groceries, get the house cleaned, help DS pack what he can since we'll probably have only a day or two home right before dorm move-in.

Spent the morning horsing around getting my oldest's car towed somewhere we moderately trust. The thing won't start, jump starting does nothing, hoping it doesn't cost him a fortune. He needs brakes, too, so there goes his first paycheck.

Exercise has been fairly good - an hour kayaking yesterday and a quick swim. Today my back is stiff again, probably from sitting scrunched in the kayak. I need to motivate myself to do some yoga stretches - they always make me feel better. No swimming/outdoor activities today - 82 and muggy. Yesterday's 82 was delightful - the humidity makes such a difference.
Meals are good for the most part, it's the ice cream and snacking I need to control. Fish for dinner tonight, not sure what veggies are left.

[Chris55]

Dr. JAM, second thoughts on having your students read "Zeitoun" - the subject of the book was just arrested for beating his ex-wife out on the street and hiring a hit man to kill her. Guess they won't be making his story into a movie after all! Yikes!

Rain, fog, mugginess have invaded Maine. Hoping to make a dent in DS's packing/prep for moving back to campus - today is his day off so he needs to just dig in and organize.

Still dealing with oldest child's car issues, bringing it to a reliable Subaru repair person we trust to fix the rear end so it can be aligned, then tires, up over $1000 total so far. Poor kid. I took him out for sushi as a consolation lunch.

CSA share a bit disappointing this week, no eggplant as promised, not a whole lot of meal making veggies. But my neighbor invited me to pick some blackberries in her yard before the torrential rain blew in. Tried not to take too many, but have enough to throw on ice cream or make into a small dessert. They deserve more than yogurt, I'm thinking.

Tomorrow my sister arrives from LI for the week. She'll help me get back on track - she walks every morning, early, before it gets hot, and she's on strict WW, very few points because she's tiny, so she eats mountains of salad. Will definitely be stocking up every few days. Hoping to actually get some of the cheap lobsters that are supposedly being sold - found one place in the harbor advertising $2.99/lb - the first I've seen that low, though the news reports say they're going for $2 - which must be wholesale. So lobster once or twice this week. My sister is addicted, would eat it every day while she visits. I may cook some up, clean them, and vacuum seal for the freezer.

[feminist54]

Hi...Heard that about Zeitoun, Thereasan article about the lobster harvest, but the lobstermen and the consumer seem to be the ones not benefiting...if I remember correctly steamed lobster is max 1point...so enjoy...
LX's boyfriend got stung on his lip, so after slice of onion & toothpaste didnot work,they are at the ER (his lip kept swelling...)
Jerry is home and doing ok...though only eating white food: pears, pasta, rye bread, harboiled eggs w/ ranch dressing...
Did 5 miles on the bike & 2 miles on the eliptical today...want to work up to 10-15 miles on the bike, and then I might take a spinning class. No Zumba! beccause my ankle does not like to move sideways lately...
Food has been good, though montonous so tonight I made whole grain pasta, broc & clam sauce (clam broth, OVO for garlic, fresh thyme, oregano,basil, parsley). Barilla's whole grain linguine is the best I think--not gummy, or heavy...
Have a good week, enjoy your sister, camping and the end of youngest S summer vacay.

[Chris55]

Wet rainy day today, which is sad since it's my sister's last day visiting. Not sure what we'll do. Have been running around a lot with her plus shuttling oldest to get car issues straightened out. Yesterday was supposed to be lousy weather wise, but it ended up only sprinkling once or twice. We did a late afternoon shopping and museum visit followed by fried seafood - but at least we both had veggies as our side dishes!

Have been eating loads of veggies, running out to replenish greens twice this week. My sister eats huge salads for lunch and with dinner, so going through lots of lettuce mix. Tonight will be grilled (indoors!) scallops and veggies, maybe some brown rice. Exercise has been walking, swimming, a bit of kayaking one day. She's out first thing every morning walking. I need my slow start to the day with caffeine. It's also been still too humid for me to walk without getting drenched.

Tomorrow I sign my hiring paperwork at United Way. I'm very happy to be doing that again and eager to meet the other new team members for this year. My boss and I have joked about having a weigh-in before we start. I don't know how I'll resist all the goodies they pile in our conference room. Would love to join a local gym so I can work some of it off, but my schedule will be very crazy so not sure if I'll be able to cram that in. Maybe I need to find a space to set up our Total Gym permanently for a few months. I just know I need to do something to prevent a weight gain!

Sunday it's off to Acadia with the boys for a few days, then back Thursday or Friday, pack up the kid, and move to NP on Saturday. Overnight in Newburgh, then home on Sunday. United Way starts Monday.

[Chris55]

Had a lovely 4 1/2 days camping in Acadia. Now back to reality. Move-in at NP tomorrow; DH has made about 30 trips to the car and it's loaded and ready to go except for last minute things. Staying over in Newburgh, then home on Sunday. Start at United Way on Monday. Unfortunately training is about 1 1/4 hours from home and I need to be there at 8am Already stocked up on beachy food - will be back to P1 with fruit on Monday. Expecting to be plied with bagels, donuts, and at least one pizza lunch the first week so will be packing alternatives. I bought lots of grab and go things like V8, cheese sticks, thin deli ham, greek yogurt, nuts, so I should be OK. I need to restart and shake this weight already. And I need to exercise somewhere somehow!

[feminist54]

Good Wednesday morning...my life has been crazy--what with the beginning of the semester and Jerry backin hopital with pneumonia ( but he;ll hopefuly be released today , and then in 6 months have a heart valve replacement)...so monday I met his three back to back classes to hand out their syllabis and an essay quetion. Yesterday I had my two full first year classes, tcoday is full of meetings, tomorrow the two American National Government classes and in the evening the senior thesis class.
I have not fit in the gym this week, partially because I gashed my knees soneting horrid at the shore (my ankle gave out and there I was, on my knees! ) & partiually because I have to get on schedule, but with havin to tend to Jerry, not so easy...
I am doing SoBe 1.75 (berries with oatmeal for breakfast, turkey rollups, eggplant parm for dinner--cheese & carrots for snacks (its cool & not humid today, thus the eggplant---though this is just a repreive-- back up to 100 is forcaseted for Friday ;( )
Good Luck on your United Way gig, Chris--you are more prepared for all they throw your way this year--pizza, donuts, candy etc.

[Chris55]

Wow, you're certainly back in the trenches! I hope your friend Jerry recuperates quickly, for his sake as well as yours.

I'm in the middle of my United Way training. I've been doing great with food and water weight loss - 2 lb. the first 2 days. I bring yogurt for breakfast (I leave home at 6:30) to have with the fruit on the breakfast spread, lunch and snacks are from home or a little added fruit from their stash. They actually asked if there was something they could get for breakfast that we would like, but trying to explain to someone that I only eat plain non-fat yogurt would have been futile, so I just bring my own. Tomorrow they're providing lunch, which thank God will not be pizza but some kind of wraps. I'm hoping they'll be more veggie oriented and less salami and full fat cheese. Today we had a cocktail reception to introduce us to the board and I ate about a half pound of cold shrimp and lots of veggies, then came home to a healthy dinner. So far, so good. I announced to my boss that I was going to be the first United Way Loaned Executive in history to LOSE weight during the campaign!

I've been traveling to Lewiston, Maine every day for training, which is about a 90 minute drive. Today I carpooled with one of the recent college grads so she could save some wear and tear on her car. It's mostly a young group I'll be working with this year, but they're very enthusiastic and very good public speakers. I'm always amazed at how this young generation has grown up comfortable in front of a classroom. Luckily the staff is mostly my age so I have someone to commiserate with. my two supervisors are outstanding wonderful 50-somethings.

Exercise isn't happening much. No time at all in the morning and the little time I have at night is usually devoted to packing lunch for the next day and texting with the kid at NP. Hoping he'll be settled with his schedule by next week so he can stop stressing so much. At least there's no hurricane hitting upstate NY this year!

[feminist54]

Happy Labor Day Week end!
Chris: Sounds like you are off to a great start--2 pounds own on the first week! & Your S should have an easier time navigating the add/drop system...my LX is taking only one class this semester--intro to psych.
Except for walking, I have done zilch exercise this week--my knee is still extremely sore.
My classes are good--my two American National Government classes are full...the incoming students eager, but many have no grounding in American history past or present! And, very little cultural literacy (popular or classsic). It might be because they do not read!!!! or that the shows they watch are self referent. I gave them a citizneship test in which only 2 passed out of 50!
My senior thesis class is all over the place--both politically and knowledge-wise. We had an interesting conversation about the right to vote--some were in favor of the voter ID laws--others had not thought about them at all--and still a few saw limited impact. Reminded me of Paul Ryan's comments about working mowing lawns, etc. devoid of insight re: the privilige that thse jobs were just pocket money on his way.... I need to connect the students to the idea of public good, versus what is good for themselves...again, they seem mainly self-referent.

Well, its quiet in the house, so I am going to take advantage of it and write!!!

ciao

[Chris55]

One more day and we get our state back, except for the leaf peepers! It poured last night and today, but the sun is back out. I may try for a paddle tomorrow before we lose the nice weather.

I've spent much of the day downloading my daughter's dance performances into her locked YouTube account. She's trying to get a permanent or long term visa in Australia and needs them for her visa application. She was getting nowhere trying to apply and finally went to an agent that handles immigration cases and they think she has a really good chance applying for a visa for people with specialized skills/talents. She has someone from a national dance organization there (where she did arts admin work) to nominate her, and letters from 7 or 8 dance companies/schools. So she needs her videos, which are taking 10 min to load each minute. I'm getting a bit more tech savvy although I accidentally spent an hour loading one she already had!

I took a break in my computer day and we did a shopping trip to Portland, had some Chinese food (and ice cream!), but stocked up in Sam's Club and Trader Joe's. So tonight I will be having salad for dinner to make up for the splurge. But at least now I have my favorite low fat cheddar, lots of lean meats and fish, Two Buck Chuck (which is getting dangerously close to becoming Three Buck Chuck), sandwich fixings for the guys, and a jug of olive oil.

My son is doing fine this semester, getting along with his roommate. I don't think they'll end up socializing together much but the kid seems pretty low key so I'm happy about that. They've had a number of tragedies at NP already this semester - a rape of a student and a very serious car accident with a student who was a pedestrian. His classes seem good, he's dropped German and added ASL and is still working on trying to get his Japanese Ind Study approved, so he'll be somewhere between 17 and 18 credits.

He's doing American History 1869+. I'm always surprised at how little kids know of civics and US History, but it's just not a priority in schools. I did a lot of civics with my kids - a whole semester on the Constitution and Bill of Rights along with a large unit on Supreme Court cases relating to the Bill of Rights. I did slack off quite a bit on World History, though, which I regret. One of the best things I used was a PBS series done by Peter Jennings called "The Century" which was broadcast on New Year's Eve 1999. I taped the whole thing and bought the accompanying book. It was fabulous - footage of cops pouring booze down the NY sewers during prohibition, pretty graphic stuff about concentration camps, quite a few wonderful interviews with old geezers who were pilots or worked building planes or ships during WWII.

So back to eating straight and clean tonight, not even waiting for tomorrow. I bought extra bananas for the snack table at United Way - the candy is there already! I'll be in the office more than last year since I have the Education division and most rallies were done a week or so ago before kids returned to school for the year. But I have follow-up to do on them and a few more meetings, then I'll be helping the person who is doing the division I had last year (banks & finance) since there are so many accounts in a huge geographic area. I'm also supposed to be working on developing new small business accounts. So not as much running around, which means I'll be in the room with the chocolate more often! Not a good thing. A couple of us briefly talked about doing a weight loss and exercise challenge. I may just need to do something to encourage that!

[feminist54]

It was a cloudy/gray Labor day ..w e ran errands, and I bought rain boots on sale at Target, which are going to cme in very handy since forecast for tomorrow: Torrential RAIN ..and I have to be all over campus...
LK Is oing out to the Hamptn the end of this week, and the following week we have to be in NE PA/SW NY for a not exactly a destination wedding...the wedding is in NorthEast PA in the afternoon and the reception is at a place that is similar to Mohonk, called Peakn Peek...(or do I have that reversed?) Its all pretty strange--while Gen & her ex husband have to pay for the rehearsal dinner ( and what every is customary for the wedding)--they have had no input what the menu for the rehearsal dinner will be...plus it seems that the thing to do at weddings now is to rent houses, so they are both renting houses for their extended families...

Had oat bran cereal, yougart with berries for breakfast, lunch was turkey rollups, snack carrots, celery & cheese, dinner chicken tacos (there are whole grain taco shells now) & guac with the last of the jersey tomatoes (which were soooo flavorfil).

Glad that things are going well for DS in NP & sounds like yur daughter is doing well in Australia! How's the composer doing? You should be very proud of them!


Well up to watch some political shows--tomorrow starts the DNC...one of my students is down in Charlotte for it...

ciao