Another week with nose in book or eyeballs on screens.

 

Good luck watching TV if Rubia decides she wants this seat!

Let's see... I finished reading Listen to the Marriage, by  John Jay Osborn.  This book had been recommended back in the Spark days by WATERMELLEN (if I recall correctly).  I purchased it back then, but didn't actually start reading until recently.  It takes one through marriage counseling, one couple, from the counselor's office point of view.

What did I learn?  Mainly insight into the failure of my own marriage.  We're approaching the 20 year mark since the divorce now.  Would I do anything better if I could roll back the clock?  The unanswerable question, isn't it?

I continue to crawl through An Immense World, by Ed Yong.  Just finished the chapter on touch and flow senses.  All of this material is interesting but it takes me a while to absorb it.  My goal of getting back to reading, at least to the extent of 12 books in 2023 is moving in the right direction.

Over this past weekend I re-watched the movie Sully, which stars Tom Hanks.  I have watched him in so many roles, and his breadth of range as an actor and dedication to his craft shows.  But this movie is so packed with details.  Remember, this event (the miracle on the Hudson as it was dubbed by the news media at the time) happened in 2009.  It's been less than 15 years and it is murky in the collective memory by now.  

However, back in the day, I flew on a lot of those regional jets, back and forth from Binghamton, NY to Baltimore, MD.  USAir was the main connecting line that connected Binghamton to the wider world.  So when this water landing happened and the late night TV started putting on the flight attendants, I had my eyes peeled looking to spot whether I had flown as a passenger with any of them.  I was checking out the props for familiarity with the aircraft I knew so well from the cabin.

Tuesday morning offered a brief glorious look, both to east and west as the sun came up, but now it's a cloudy morning.

To the East, it was bright!

And the orangey hues were reflected in the west.  The two photos were taken just a minute or two apart.

I may or may not have mentioned that I fell off the non-existent intermittent fasting wagon, about a month ago.  It started with the Girl Scout cookies, but it did not end there.  I did try a re-start 3 days later, but that fizzled.  Today, having ordered my dress for the wedding and reception, and also remembering WHY I started this in the first place (digestive issues)... I am sipping my tea, three and a half hours into my first fast.  I also took a nap this afternoon.  It's time to re-start!

Oh, and many of you who follow Sally's blog ( Sally's Princess Blog ) already know that she's doing a bit of drawing for me, in her playroom!  I am so excited, and when she posted a video of progress on Carl's puppy picture... well, I was so bubbly, I had to share it with the bride to be.  So much for keeping the present a surprise, Barb!  But I love that photo so much and it is emerging as a great colored pencil drawing, and I can't say enough about Sally's talent!

Support your friendly creators!  However they let you do so!

That's about it from here for now.  Hope all's well in your corners of the world, whatever the crazy weather is doing in your own backyards!  

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

Now that I've had time to assimilate...

 

What WAS that?  The radio silence?  The melt-down?

Carb-loading, see-food eating, after last blog's big walk around the lake.  It was "only" 2.2 miles, but it's farther than I had been walking on the regular, and you'd think I'd run a marathon or something!

I do know better, but I didn't behave better, and I grumbled in my dark-cloud of self for a few days.

Anyway, Wednesday morning I started to pull myself out of it.  Sunshine helped.  Mild temperatures.  A sister who came over to drag me out of my shell.  All those things help.

To be honest, I've had episodes like this my whole life... I'll be super productive and feel like I'm making great progress, and then... "crash and burn"... "fall off the wagon"... "retreat into my cave"... pick your favorite phrase.  When I was a teenager, I would feel terrible about this and think I was a hopeless case.  I would have new hope with each productive phase and then horrible guilt feelings when the down times came.

I got nicer to myself as I started to understand these cycles, later in life.  Letting go of perfectionism is not easy, but it is so worth it.  When you feel like you might be letting people down while you soak through a mood, well, it can be discouraging in more than one way.

Patience does bring a renewal.  I do believe that my default mood is an upbeat one, but I also know that there will be these times of not so much.

This particular one?  I had been intermittent fasting for 99 days, and I tossed that out the window for three.  Well, if I can be consistent for 99 days and only have 3 before getting myself back to myself, I'd say statistically, I'm doing OK.

How about y'all?  Do you have swings in behavior and mood?  Are you quick to forgive yourself and recover?  Do you expect that down times will come, and prepare for them?

Meanwhile, do the best you can, right where you are, one day at a time, and we will go on... because Life is Good!  Even if it has times of resting in the fallow field. Spark on!

✨💖🔥

New pan and old tradition

 

Anybody remember the old Spark blogs, "While the steel cut oats simmer"?  I used to simmer steel cut oats on the stovetop every morning before work.  While they simmered, I would write my blog.

Sunday when I got home from the movies, the Amazon app informed me that the pans I ordered were "10 stops away" from being delivered.  I misread it as "10 steps" and went hunting for the box, but it wasn't there.  Of course not!

Soon, though, I looked again, and saw the word was "stops", and the number was decreasing, and before long, it was here.  I opened it, and decided to put them to the test this morning.  These non-stick surface pans have me pulling out the wooden spoons to stir the oats Monday morning, and I'm giving the pan the big test for non-stickiness, with those steel cut bits of oat.

The pans came complete with see-through lids.  I got two of them, this being the smaller 1-quart version.  I also got a little 8 inch granite frying pan for my eggs.

Between the new knobs on the stove, and now three new pans replacing old ones, gee, it's kind of like Christmas all over again.

Back in the day, I did series blogs about the journey to good health and weight loss:  "alphabet blogs" about living in general.  Wonder if that would be a good idea to re-institute, writing on a theme, with a purpose of motivation and self-reflection.

Only one more delivery left to come.  My t-shirt quilt!  The package tracker says it is due today, and with that, everything I ordered will be here!

An updated weight history, with context

At the height of my "racing" career, I tipped the scale somewhere around 115 pounds.  I scared myself when it would drop below that.

After the great fall and concussion, late in 2016, I regained 20 pounds during 2017.

I shaved 10 of those off in 2018, which was the year of my last half marathon.  It was also the first year of my retirement.  It was the year I drove out to Corning, NY to surprise my brother who was running the full marathon to my half in September.  He ran his personal best marathon that day, and it was the last marathon he would run in his lifetime.  

I ran one more half marathon after that (or rather ran/walked it), in 2019.  Only a couple of months later, my brother died.  I proceeded to pile on about 30 pounds between then and the end of the year.  Scary.

In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, I pretty much stabilized about 5 pounds under that peak.

In 2021, the year that Spark went away?  I had a good couple of months of going into survival mode, and dropped about 15 pounds, but burnt out and it started coming back, ending up by year end about where I was at the end of 2020.

In 2022, I danced with the devil, and the weight crept up another five pounds, then started working on the next five... until on Halloween, I started the Intermittent Fasting experiment.  I told myself it was because of the tummy troubles (I even bought some antacids).  I managed my expectations about weight.  But seriously, here I was in October topping 160, peaking at 163.  This really was not acceptable!

I closed 2022 at 145, which I had stated as my goal weight when I started IF.  I continued with IF through January, as my body has adapted to this new "set point".  If I remained at this weight for the rest of my natural life, I think I'd be OK with it.  I think I'll be fine with whatever dress I fit into for my son's Wedding, this coming April.

But (and there's always a but), I don't intend to give up this way of eating.  It feels good.  And as the sign on my fridge says:  Feeling Good is Goal #1.

Let's get on with life, then.  Because Life is Good.

Spark on!

💖✨🔥

 

A little indoor sunshine!

The "just because" flowers are holding up well, a week later. Nice and cheery, providing sunlight even when the big sun is hidden behind a layer of clouds.

The softener salt delivery guy came today, after I was home from my trainer work-out.  I was about to close my eating window, sipping on my biocoffee, which cannot be consumed during my fasting hours, if I want to have a "clean" fast. 

I'm still stuck on "Married At First Sight" (sigh), a reality TV show based on experts matching strangers, they marry (legally) at the alter when they first meet, and then in 8 weeks (with various structured expectations) they have to decide to either stay married or legally divorce.  They have been doing this show for 16 seasons.  Each season they match 5 couples of strangers.  OK 16 times 5 makes 80 couples, so far.  Of those 80 couples, 11 are still married.  Pretty sketchy outcomes, if you ask me.  So it's the drama of relationship building / breaking.  This is the third time I have got sucked into this drama, out of the 16 seasons.  I think I saw season one.  Then years passed before I slipped down the slope again.  I think it's only a year and a half since I last did.

Meanwhile, I finished reading Dragon's Code.  I slowed down reading, when I only had a few pages to go.  Ever do this?  You don't want it to end, so you slow down the last chapter or two?  That's me!  Some of what went into the equation with this particular book is that every Pern novel that comes out now is a total gift, as the original author is no longer with us.  A couple were either co-written with her son, or in this case, written by her daughter.  It has followed the pattern of laying the story line within the timeline of the other novels, including some of the same characters, and introducing a few new ones.  Very satisfying.

That's about it from here today.  I shall sip a mug of Earl Grey tea, unsweetened, and black, which is allowed during fasting hours, simply because.  I have since taking up IF started drinking less caffeine bearing coffee, and more decaf and tea.  

Here's hoping that my friends out there in blog readership land have had a good start to this week, and are doing best they can to take care of their health and fitness, whatever the weather sends their way.

Life is good.  Keep Sparkin'!

💖🔥

Clearing off day, or the calm AFTER the storm

 

This is the "dark of the morning" photo from Thursday morning.  You can see the tops of plants poking through, showing clearly that we didn't get nearly the snow amounts predicted.  We did, however, get almost an inch of rain equivalent.  I waited until after sunrise to go "work on" the sidewalks and the driveway.

It was, mind you, very slick out there.  I didn't snap a picture of up close what it looked like as I shoveled a narrow strip down to the mailbox yesterday afternoon, but my kid sis describe what scraping this stuff off was like.  "It was like rolling snowball logs with the shovel."

Isn't that a great word-picture?  That's exactly what it was like at my house, too.

I went to bed on time and slept well.  Waiting for the other shoe to drop is exhausting!

Yesterday The Prisoner was so antsy that he went out the front door, and was prancing across the yard while it was still sleet-not-snow on the ground

He did the same this morning, in the dark.  When I stepped out on the front porch to snap the photo, he squirted out, and would not come back in.  Weather like this puts the kitties into "cabin fever" mode.

The Prisoner nailed my left index finger pretty well this morning.  He was demanding attention and I made the mistake of trying to pet his exposed belly, while Rubia was suddenly up on the table and batting at his tail.  No wonder he defended himself.  But it took two bandaids to cover the slice on my finger!  And that's my phone unlock fingerprint, too!

Someone brought to my attention an article that I'd seen featured on the news last night, too.  It reports that a 6 year study of Intermittent Fasting showed no association with weight loss. That was the headline.  When you dig into the actual nature of the study, it's not a study of Intermittent Fasting at all.  It's been warped to observe those who eat less than 3 meals a day, and calling that "intermittent fasting", mapping it and other eating patterns to weight loss.  The fasting times were 12 hours or less, on average.  The participants were average age 51, and average BMI was in the obese range.  

I posted a reference in the IF facebook group I belong to and got a really good discussion going.  Most of the group agreed that 12 hour fasts would hardly give the benefits of clean fasting autophagy.  It is true that losing weight is not about when you eat, it's about what and how much you eat.  Those of us who do fast intermittently are usually doing something else, too... we're trying to listen to our bodies, improve the quality of what we eat, not to overly restrict, but also not to binge.  

IF is not really a weight loss program.  It's a health care tool.  My own experience has been that the major benefit is about how I feel, how I sleep, how cravings have been reduced because after all, the body has its expectations of when it's going to be fed.  

I happen to have also seen some weight loss, slowly, and I've been fitting into some of my smaller clothing.  I don't care what program you choose, the healthy ones will NOT give you overnight success, and the ones that do will probably mess with your body in ways you don't like very much.  So be a good Spark refugee and be certain that what you choose to try in your "experiment of ONE" is not going to harm you. 

The clearing off work

Session one of clearing revealed that the sleet left a crunchy textured underpinning to the snow.  I'm estimating I only got about half an inch of the top layer of snow at my house.  The dog walkers who came by before the freeze overnight left icy footprints in the slushy underlayer. 

By the end of session 4, it was looking pretty good.  It's not terribly cold or windy, although it is below the freezing mark.  The sun has been in and out, so with ice melt applied, I am seeing some spots that are just wet, no white layer showing.  

The most dangerous spot is the landing leading up to my front door.  I spread ice melt and left it to do its work.

Feeling accomplished, I came in to work on the base for my next few days of eating.  I made runza soup.  

The soup work in progress.

For those of you who aren't from Nebraska, a runza is a sandwich made with ground beef and cabbage, baked inside the bread.  My runza soup is pretty much the beef, cabbage, onions, mushrooms simmered in veggie broth.  No bread, 'cause it is soup.  Today I added a little bit of green bell pepper because I had it on hand.  

After lunch, I looked out the window and decided a session 5 was in order, to try to reduce the puddles which no doubt will provide skating capable ice overnight tonight!

I'm going to call that good.  I am glad I canceled the trainer today so I wasn't worried about time to get to and from and didn't push myself to try to clear off last night.

Here's wishing all of you a safe and warm Thursday, leading into yet another good weekend.  

Life is good!  Spark on.

💖🔥✨

Made it through Monday!

 

Monday January 9, 2023

The construction zone down the block is starting to look closer to finished.  It's been interfering with my neighborhood walking routes since Halloween, and yes, it was here that I got my pretty pink shoes all muddy, too.  Of course, had I followed the rules and not tried to cross it, this would not have happened.  Mea culpa.

The HVAC guy came to change the filter at the last part of the two hour window they gave me for his arrival.  Took less than five minutes.  Once he was on his way, I sipped my biocoffee, started my fast, and then took myself for a walk, which is when I snapped that photo.

Over the weekend Lacey posted a photo of their celebration of Son's graduation with his MSW.  Now they are in the "getting enough hours and his provisional licensure" phase.  I've got my fingers crossed for that waiting game, while he's still working at the same outfit that sponsored his practicum.

Intermittent Fasting reading:

I have moved beyond the Fast section, beyond the Feast section, into the "Repeat" section of the book, Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens.  She's a fan of measuring progress as one goes along, which is a keystone of what one repeats.  Her four measurement items:

• Daily weigh-ins, but only look at the trends.  This can be done either with an app or by calculating for yourself a rolling average.
• Measurements, the waist being most important.  Waist/height ratio and waist/hip ratio.
• Taking progress photos, preferably in same clothes, and preferable in "real" clothes, so they can be shared (PG) when you are the success story!
• A pair of "honesty" pants, deliberately purchased a size or two smaller, and trying them on every week or two until they fit, then buying a new pair of honesty pants smaller again.

It strikes me that these are good for when one is looking to lose weight.  I have done daily weigh-ins for many years, and am quite familiar with the daily fluctuations, it doesn't freak me out.  

I have started doing waist measurements, because the idea is to improve my health, and waist measurement is a good indicator of reducing risk for several things.  

I took progress photos once upon a time (2010 - 2012), but haven't done it in a while.  I take them occasionally, but back then I took them every month, and compared the one from a year prior, and they showed clearly growing fitness even when I didn't think I'd changed at all.

The one item "new to me" thing is the honesty pants.  I have NEVER bought clothing to shrink into, and I'm not willing to start now.  

Take what applies to wherever you are in the process, and leave what doesn't work, but her one important message to folks following along the IF lifestyle is that if any one (or more) of these indicators shows progress, you ARE making progress, no matter what the others may show.

Clearly, the author is fighting against the discouragement folks feel when they are in a hurry for change!

But for me, regardless of ANY of the measurements, I am looking at the health benefits in how I feel, how I sleep, and yes, I can see and feel fitness returning.  

The Pep Talk:

Here's hoping we're all doing the basics of good health:

• Hydrate
• Nutritious food, enough, not too much.
• Activity, outside if possible to get an added benefit.
• Calming influences like music, meditation or spiritual practices.
• Breathing, and
• Getting well-deserved rest, at the end of the day, secure in the recognition that whatever of this you have done, it is sufficient for today.

Life is good.  Spark on! 

💖✨🔥

Purpose

What is my purpose?

This reverie is the result of a dream fragment, fueled by leaving "The Bishop's Wife" on the TV streaming as I was waking up.  Those of you who may not be familiar, this is an old Christmas movie in which Cary Grant plays an angel, sent in response to a prayer by a Bishop played by David Niven.  The wife's role is played by Loretta Young.  (It was remade into "The Preacher's Wife" starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston in 1996.)

I usually watch this old black and white classic at least once during a holiday season.  This morning as I was starting to stir, a scene toward the end where the angel tells the others that they will not remember that an angel gave them thoughts, or even that he was there.

This took me dreamily down the roles one plays in life.  We may start out as children envisioning ourselves with large roles on the world stage, making the world a better place.  But very few of us ever get placed in such a position.  Some of us grow to loathe the very idea of that kind of attention.

However, we all influence those with whom we come into contact:  co-workers, family members, friends, whether we like the idea or not.  We are just living our lives, but our attitudes, our efforts, the way we approach living our lives *do* touch the lives of others.  If we are kind, if we are hard-working, if we add a sense of humor to a difficult situation (remembering kindly, of course), if we lend a hand, anticipate a need, we create ripples in the lives of others.

It is not our job to live the lives of others.  But a word of encouragement is never awry.  You never know who might need one, so distribute those words liberally!

So what is my purpose?  To encourage!

Daily happenings

We have sunshine this afternoon, and mild temperatures by January standards.  It's 39℉ out there.  The Prisoner is holding a party on the deck for one of the cheekiest of the cats who come over as visitors.  

Nowadays, this skittish kitty even lets me open the door and take his portrait!  I wonder who his human family is?

Reading progress:  it looks as though the book I will likely finish first of the three is Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens.  I am in the "Feast" section now, and so far, no surprises.  All things I've learned over my many decades of weight management followed by my athletic years.  I used to have on my Spark page, that no one diet program was the solution for me.  Some interesting references are made in the book to fairly recent research into bio-individuality, which is a formal way of saying the same thing.

A diet profile that works for me may NOT work for you, and vice versa.  So the IF lifestyle allows you to listen to your body and use whatever style of eating works best for YOUR body.

Calorie counting is out the window.  Eating until 80% full the food you find delicious and nutritious is in.  There are no "bad" foods but there may be foods that you feel bad (as in body feels bad) after eating, and you need to pay attention to your body when it says so.

Like I said, no surprises.

Intermittent Fasting is not a free pass to "eat as much as you can stuff in during your feeding window".  

That's about it in my corner of the world for Thursday.

Life is good.  Spark on!  📑📗📖✨💖

Boxing Day as it was

 Boxing Day

Here we have Boxing Day's breakfast, eaten at lunch time, made up of leftover Christmas dinner.  It was delicious.  

I barely fasted the 16 hours, then kept a very short eating window (for me) starting my next fast at 3:38 p.m.  My "other" meal was chili soup. I still have at least one meal left in that pot I made on the 16th.

I had a treat for my "supper" dessert: a single chocolate covered cherry.  Which brings me to another Christmas day memory... I gave chocolate cherries to the other humans, and Jonathan (the mythical son) got a second box from someone else!  So that family tradition was fulfilled.

The other family tradition candy from my son's childhood is a dark chocolate orange.  I had found one at Target, and it went to their house.  Since I arrived early, and this was classically unwrapped (from Santa for stocking filling), the son immediately ferreted it away, rather than breaking it open for the "pickins".  Later he opened another package and it was a different kind of chocolate orange... I shall have to ask him how he liked that one.  The chocolate cherries are from my childhood.  The chocolate orange from his dad's.  He gets them both!

The only photo I have of any of the contents of the Shop Blind box is of the Guide Dog that came home with me.  I took it today, of "Guider" laid out on my bed.

Extremely soft!  Very tactile.  Guider has her name embossed in her ear in braille, and her paws are weighted.  Pip, the guide dog that went home with Lacey's dad is white, with a blue superhero cape.  Pip is similarly super-soft and has those weighted paws.

After reading Jeanne's blog on National Thank You Card Day, I was inspired to go write a couple, and I took a little walk outside to put them in the neighborhood mailbox.  I'm not sure if the USPS is delivering today or not, so I didn't want to put them in my box with the flag up.  And it felt so much nicer than it's been for a while.  The sun was out.  Yay!

Moving on to Tuesday

I have declare December 27th to be "404 Day", in honor of Kevin, my brother.  404 was the number on the racing bib my brother wore on the last day of his life.  December 27th was his birthday.  He was always a good sport, and running for the toy charity in December, he would wear antlers.

Today, being Tuesday, I went to work out with the trainer.  I always feel better when I do that. 

 The leftovers from Christmas dinner are not done yet.  I chopped the remaining brussels sprouts that had not gone to the Christmas gather and roasted them to go with the mac and cheese and the ham that I had for my "big meal of the day" (lunch time).  

I feel VERY well fed, and there's still another day or two worth of ham in that care package. 

There are enough desserts to last maybe a couple of weeks.  Today I dug to the bottom of this cute little box for a couple of chocolate dipped potato chips and one chocolate peanut cluster as my meal-ender.  I'm saving the pizzelles for a special treat.

Then I started my fast at 2 p.m. with my mug of biocoffee as the last item consumed.  It's how I close my eating window just about every day.

Today Lacey's mom sent me a photo of the comforter that she got from the Shop Blind box atop her couch.  Looks like they picked the right colors for her!

Once again, Life is Good!  Keep on sparkin'!

🔥✨💖

Four, then three days 'til Christmas

 Wednesday, a day in waiting

Waiting for the storm, I could see the cats getting a bit on the antsy side.  A cat fight on the dining room table is not something I like to see.

I scolded Rubia for messing with the tree, and she was watching me with caution ears pricked.

Wednesday was a gray and dreary looking day.  Cold, spitting a few flakes now and then.  All day long it was waiting for the predicted storm to start.

I ended up like a bump on a log for a couple of hours, in front of schmaltzy movies on the TV.  As happens in times of anxiety with not so great food choices available, I dipped into Frosty the Demented Snowman cookie jar, and I made grilled cheese sandwiches (2).  Tasted wonderful, but more than I need for the day.  I decided the best thing to do was to close the eating window early.  I brushed my teeth and carried on.

The mythical son had a work thing, out of town, and called me around 3 p.m. as he was on his way home.  That broke the spell of "bump on a log" and I started stirring around the house, folding and putting away laundry and starting the dishes to wash.  Sometimes you just need something to jog your elbow.

I tucked myself under the covers while Zelenskyy was addressing Congress.  Honestly, thinking of the people in Ukraine losing power while my own part of this country is under siege from Mother Nature?  Yeah.  Makes his speech even more powerful.  

Thursday, the coldest day of 2022 (I think... might January have had worse?)

Harking back to the Zelenskyy speech:  How would I survive without power, in a Winter like this?  It was -11℉ out there, with a predicted high of -4℉.  For those of you who speak Celsius, that's -23.9℃ at nine a.m., headed for a high of -20℃.  Add 20 mile an hour sustained winds with gusts up to 35, and I am not going to even look at the wind chill factors.

I know if we played "can you top this" many of you could laugh at my temperatures.  I also know that there were times in the not so distant past when I went running outdoors at -10℉.  Don't care to repeat that today.  Stay inside, my friends.  Those of you in Arizona and Florida?  Don't rub it in!

I slept in Thursday morning, until 5:30 or so.  Considering that I turned in early, and even counting the wake-ups that the watch detects, Fitbit clocks my sleep at nearly 9 hours.  In my opinion, this is a good way to spend time on a cold day!

I resisted at first, but did eventually cave to The Prisoner's demands to be let outside.  I did not want to open the door at all, because of course that lets the cold inside until the furnace catches up.  He was smart enough, within five minutes, to respond to my calls to come back inside.  Cats!

Due to Wednesday's emotional eating I found (unsurprisingly) that I was not at all hungry when I got up.  I decided to defer eating until the body truly sent physical hunger signals.  That took until 10 a.m. and I was credited with a 20.5 hour fast by the little app.  I broke the fast with something a whole lot healthier than Christmas cookies!

Here's breakfast cooking, just after I added the egg beaters to the sauteed veggies.  It was ever so yummy!  I followed it up with my coconut mocha coffee.  

Fully satisfied, I decided to finish wrapping the last few presents for Sunday's Christmas gather.

A little later, I moved the cookie dough and the olive cheese balls down from the freezer to the refrigerator.  I figure that gives them two days to thaw before baking.

I'm waiting for the temperature to moderate a bit before I make even an attempt at clearing.  You can see that the wind has already been moving it around, though.

Can't tell it from prior year shots?  Not surprising, this is the pattern the wind around here paints with the snow on my steps!.

Here's the funny one:  the frost invaded the door jamb.  This photo is from the inside of the door!  Yes, like a freezer in need of defrosting!

Bottom line, I'm about as ready as can be, just waiting on time and weather!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a warm and healthy few days leading up thereto!

You're worth taking care of, every day!

Life is good.

Spark on!

🎄🔥💖

Seven Days to Christmas

It may be seven days 'til Christmas, but it is the actual day of the final match in the World Cup, Soccer (or futbol) premiere event, the crowing of a World Championship Team.  What a match, France versus Argentina.  As I have throughout the tournament, I had the coverage on Peacock in Spanish.  What's fun about the whole experience, spread across several games?  The increasing ability to "catch the drift" of what's going on through my ears.

Since even the commercials are in Spanish, it reminds me so much of my experience in Italy on a business trip that lasted seven weeks, back in the 1980's.  I would turn on the TV in the evenings, and of course it was all in Italian.  Then based on what I saw heard the night before, would ask the guys at work what this or that meant.  By the end of those seven weeks I was able to "get by" pretty well, at least as far as the basics, directions, purchases, etc.

Argentina strikes first at about 24 minute mark.  And again at minute 35.  OMG, I watched them set up that second goal.  It was a long play back and forth the entire length of the pitch, but Argentina clearly controlled it (as much as anything is controlled in soccer, that is).  It was a thing of beauty.  You can see why they are in the finals.  

But then France came back with two quick goals deep in the second "half" (although strictly speaking soccer isn't timed the same way as most American sports).  Proving that they, too, belong in the finals.  It went into Extra Time, that phase of soccer where most of us have no clue when the game will actually end.  This ended with a tie, but that's a no-no in soccer.  We must have a winner, so they line up five(?) players on each side to do a penalty kick and whoever gets the most of those (one kicker versus the other team's goalie)... wins the game.  It went to the end, with Argentina winning on those kicks.

And after that excitement, who can even think about American NFL games?

My day continued from that point. I gave away the other half of the banana bread to the neighbor with whom I share a fence.  I continued with a walk outside.  It did not seem that cold, as there was sunshine and no wind to speak of.  The weather is headed for the deep freeze, with a high below zero F next Thursday, so I'm appreciating today while it's "nicer".

I sauteed onions and mushrooms, added baby spinach to it, and put two eggs sunny side up atop a baked yam for my "major" meal.  I felt really full after that meal, ended my eating window with baby carrots, an orange and my biocoffee a little after 2:30 p.m.

I plated up another batch of the better-looking cookies.  It's one thing to have baking as a holiday tradition.  Quite another thing to be left alone with the product of that baking!  

Alicia to the rescue.  She still has that marvelous place one takes excess treats to.  A job!  I drove my extra plateful over to her house while it was still daylight.  I'm going to call today a success.

Here's hoping you all had a "successful" Sunday, whatever that needs to mean for you!  

Life is good.  Spark on!

Reading and the naughty list

 

This volume was part of my birthday haul.  It's short, only 104 pages, but written in an old style that I sometimes have had trouble with in the past.  Think Dickens.  

However, the narrative is so compelling that I soldiered on and finish it this morning.

Originally put out in 1912, it tells the life experience of one person (the narrator).  I was kind of disappointed to discover it was a work of fiction.  But the author, James Weldon Johnson, has an impressive history of his own.  

He wrote the lyrics to "Lift Evry Voice and Sing".  He lived from June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938.  He served in the diplomatic corps (appointed by Teddy Roosevelt) in Venezuela and later Nicaragua.  

The author clearly knows of the material the narrative covers.  The final paragraph resonated strongly in me, driving the point home.

Sunday I did get two more Christmas cards to the mailbox around the block.  It was sunny and about 40℉, quite nice for December.  There wasn't much of a wind, and it felt oh, so cheery.

I was invited to the bride to be's Dad's side of the family Christmas get together on the 18th, so I have a second place to take treats.  How much to make?  Depends on how far the ingredients will go.  15 adults and 2 young children.  Doable.  Add to the list of retirement joys, I have time to do these things at my own pace, not crammed between work and shuffling my own kid's activities.

I slept well Sunday night, and Monday morning started much the same with candlelight and Christmas music.

Learning to appreciate black coffee

I have been doing this "intermittent fasting" thing for over a month now, and I've discovered a few things in that month.  One, knowing that putting even artificial zero calorie sweetener in my coffee or almond milk breaks the fast.  Two, I can in fact bear drinking it black.  Three, most importantly, not all coffee is equal when it comes to drinking it black.  Last Christmas my son gifted me with a bag of Fresh Roasted Coffee from The Cannon Bean.  The Cannon Bean is a small company founded by one of his army buddies.  And it is now my go-to first mug of the morning because it is one I enjoy black.

Item number four is that having that mug of black coffee alters my perception of my later in the day "treat" coffee, which is flavored with coconut mocha and a splash of almond milk.  It seems much sweeter than it did before I introduced the starter mug of black coffee.

Speaking of the Fasting experiment

I am beginning week six of this experiment.  I have found it pretty easy to do.  Of course, I have total control over my own schedule.  Except for the day of jury duty and Thanksgiving Day, I've had no interruptions to that freedom.  

What's freeing about it is that there are no specific "rules", other than the fast itself.  Inside your eating window, when you put your meals and what constitutes them is entirely up to you.  Most people who are seasoned campaigners in the dieting world don't get it.  They still want macros and calories counted.  But that's what is making it perfect for me.  I was burnt out on all that tracking and worrying whether a combination food I was eating "fit".  No points, WW people, either.

This does not mean don't pay ANY attention.  The little app gives you vague advice as you log general outlines of what was in your meal.  It will tell you you're on track for fruits and veggies (without you having to tell it which fruits and veggies you consumed), or that you should try to have protein in your next meal, or fats with your veggies.  Just gentle nudges for quality nutrition.

In any case, I've settled over those first five weeks into a pretty regular 16 - 17 hour fast, which leaves 7 - 8 hours of an eating window.  This would not have worked back in my working life, but it works just fine now.

On the naughty list!

No, not me!  Rubia!  Or as I hollered just after the big crash, "CAT!"

I have this lovely little CD holder that I purchased at the State Fair decades back.  My collection was all numbered, and if you move the slider to where your list says that album is, and lift the lid, it brings up the CD you wanted!

Not now!  She jumped up to the table (where I had foolishly placed my CD file so I could get at the Christmas music easily)... and CRASH!

I was eating my fast-breaking oatmeal with blueberries at the time.  Breakfast was interrupted to assess the damage.  The cat was put outside.  And the Monday interrupts have begun.

Hope y'all have a better start to your Monday than I did.  I'll let you know the outcome tomorrow.  Despite this:

Life is good.  Spark on!

😿🎄💖🔥

Thanksgiving safely, we hope

Smile with your eyes, ladies!

Navigating the need to see one another, and the need to keep one another safe was the theme of yesterday's feast.  The host and hostess masked, except for when eating and drinking.  Lacey's mom and I followed suit.  Son did a good job of distancing himself, while keeping Carl out of trouble.

 

Our close contact fellow, keeping his social distance

Carl was in heaven, with FIVE people to give him pets and praise.  And bits of acceptable treats, of course!  He feasted, too.

Grandpa Bob and Carl

The meal itself was traditional perfection.  The turkey done just as we all arrived.  The mashed potatoes were brought by Lacey's mom, and were excellent.  They paired well with the gravy that Lacey put together.  Well, I'm sure you all had your own favorites, and I did not take photos of the food... although Lacey did get one of her second turkey!

After dinner, before pie, we moved to the living room for the puzzle of the day, Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving:  What ARE those little "cheetos shaped things" in multiple colors?  They are too big to be jellybeans, but shaped and colored such that they should be just that.

We concluded that the relative size was unimportant to the artist, and they MUST be jellybeans.  Peppermint Patty does not name them in her listing of the foods, either.  So... question to the readers... if you are familiar with the film, have you ever thought about what they are?

From the movie to the video games.  This is a gaming family!  I found another point of commonality with my fellow "mom of the young couple".  We were both hooked on the original Legend of Zelda, with the gold-colored cartridge for the Nintendo machine.  The kids laughed at memories of how their mothers were playing their game!  I recall I was not the only mom in Newark Valley, back in the day, who grabbed her kids' game and played that game through to completion!

I like this pie photo of the blind baking "done" test.  If the knife, inserted halfway between the center and the rim comes out clean, the pie is done.  This test works for all custards, and my pumpkin pie recipe is even titled as "pumpkin custard" in the recipe book.

So, yes, we did break from games to have the pie with decaf coffee.  And whipped cream.  There must be whipped cream.  Tradition!

At the end of the pie and coffee, I started my fast.  Not too much damage on that front.  The program is intact, as long as I defer breakfast this morning until 8:50 a.m. or so.  And to be honest... not... hungry... at all.  Typical of after feast, right?

Now we all monitor our health for the next couple of weeks, to make sure we did NOT get infected by the invisible hand of Covid, and son's close contact.  His co-worker did the responsible thing and let him know.  She did not have symptoms until after the workday, and then she lost her sense of smell, took a test, and bingo... positive.  Given that Son had an appointment at a house with cats, he showered before entering his house after work, so hopefully between that and all the vaccinations and boosters, and everybody doing their best to distance at the gather, we'll all be good.

Some of the gamers, we rotated the three controllers.

Masked hugs and a careful drive home (it was after dark) closed a most satisfying holiday.  Friday morning, I'm still on kitty care duty for my sister, so I'll head over a bit after sunrise and take care of that, then I'm on my own for a peaceful day.

Hope you all had a similarly satisfying and health-conscious holiday!

Life is Good!  Spark on.

Cabbage soup and Thanksgiving on IF

 

Cabbage Soup.  Filling, warm, comfort food.  And so good for us!  I put this together on Tuesday.  It will make a wonderful filling pre-feast day meal, paired with a protein.  The photo is the pot in progress.

I started experimenting with "Intermittent Fasting" as a regimen on Halloween (I've dropped a note here and there about it in the blog).  In any case, I'm currently fasting 15 hours with a 9 hour eating window, at least on the app, but have been pretty regularly achieving between 16 and 17 hours for the fast, and shortening the eating window.  

I generally have been starting my fast between 3 and 4 p.m.  Thanksgiving dinner will be at my son and his fiancé's home, at 3 p.m.  Consequently, some adjustments are being made.  I have extended my fast from yesterday so that I will break it in a little bit.  (approximately 10 a.m.)  That will shift the end of today's eating window to 7 p.m., and similarly shift the start of Thanksgiving Day's eating window to accommodate the festivities. 

I am in charge of the homemade pumpkin pie.  Like last year, it is my plan to bake that pie tomorrow before the feast.  No nibbling outside of the fasting window!  Should be a "piece of cake" as I've been making this particular recipe since I was in my teens.  I know it's good, don't need to taste test.

Oh, you want to know how this regimen is working?  I can say that the major goal of this effort was health, but losing a few pounds would be welcome.  I feel less bloated.  Not experiencing as much heart-burn (because I'm not eating the junk, nor as close to bedtime).  That means I am sleeping better, too.  The scale has also been kind.  From October 31st to this morning, I have shed the weight I gained in September and October.  Plus a smidge.  For a total of 9.3 pounds down.

Happy?  Yes, very.  But more because I feel like I'm just living life, not "dieting".  I'm recording the general content of meals and their timing, but not tracking precisely or counting nutritional content.  It's easier for me, at this phase of my life.

One thing observed is that I am essentially incorporating into this everything I have learned over the decades about nutrition and adding in more recent experience with specific foods where I didn't feel so great after eating.  Nothing is ever done in a vacuum, is it?

Here's wishing all my US Spark refugees a Thanksgiving filled with its original purpose:  gratitude.  Also as a bonus, with family members (born or chosen) and love.  For peaceful interactions, good food, and maybe a nice walk or romp with the kids, grandkids, or pets, depending on your situation.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

🦃😋🍲🔥💖

The warmer weather teased us, but the sunlight never lies.

 

I snapped the above photo at 5 p.m. Veterans' Day.  Looks very different from 5 p.m. two weeks ago!  The sunlight is shrinking.  Suddenly the temperatures have decided to abandon their efforts to deceive us into thinking we've moved South.  And this morning I saw a FB status from a friend up the road who said she saw snowflakes.  Sure enough, a bit later, the smallest of snowflakes were drifting toward the ground.  Not enough to accumulate, but snow, nonetheless.

Day 3 of the comfort food crock I added the fresh spinach remaining in the 'fridge and some more fresh mushrooms, and it was ready by lunchtime.  It was an unusual combination of flavors, having both spinach and broccoli in the pot.  But I liked it.  I polished it off on Sunday.

Next week's excitement to come

I am to show up at the courthouse Monday morning.  I have a million questions, but not.  They have all kinds of information out there on the interwebs... including a nice educational video of what happens in a trial and your role as a juror.  My questions are more mundane.

Will I have to wear a mask while in the courthouse?  I suspect not mandatory, but I might feel the need. Going to take it along anyway.

Last time I went through this drill with the metal detectors and all, they confiscated my nail clippers.  What can I bring with me?  Water?  Empty water bottle?  Lunch?  Healthy snacks?  I've packed a bag of yogurt, carrots, apple, and walnuts.    

They gave us bathroom breaks last time, so I'm counting on those being there.  But just in case, I will wear a pad and pack extras.  I noticed that most of this boils down to "I don't want to embarrass myself", i.e. a tinge of social anxiety.  

What's happening with the intuitive / Intermittent Fasting

I'm finding myself remarkably calm with this whole thing.  It just feels "normal".  I'm eating like a normal person, i.e. my grandmother.  No eating after supper.  Early to bed, early to rise.  Morning chores before breakfast.  Most importantly, I feel good.  I feel well fed, not overfed, not underfed.  It may sound silly... why have I not been here before?  

My theory:  you can only go there when you are ready.  I must be ready for now.  Not promising I'll never lapse, but the scale is budging in the right direction.  I'm back to where I was the beginning of September.  I'm still 7 pounds above where I was a year ago today.  But the feeling good part is more important to me than the scale number.

Here's to all of us finding a stride that works for us.  A healthy regime!

• Good hydration is a common element of every program that has ever worked for me.
• Balanced nutrition has always been part of every program that has ever worked.
• Getting some activity and getting my rest and remembering to breathe have always been essential.

Wishing a healthy life for each and every one of us:  body, mind and spirit.  

Life is good.  Spark on!