Saturday, June 16, 2012

June in Central Texas

When the rain stops, the heat sets in.  This is when I detest Texas.  We haven't had that much rain this year, but at least we've had a little.  It's looking like we won't get much more before fall unless we're really lucky.  So, how was this week, and how did it stack up against my expectations?

The Good Stuff:

- Not particularly important in the whole scheme of things, but hubby's truck has been acquired.  We particularly like the dark interior and an unexpected bonus was the blind spot mirrors that came standard this year (I had to buy the stick on kind for mine).
- Lawns are mowed.  SA hedges are two-thirds trimmed. I'll be doing some yard work in (gasp!) July when I head down there for a couple of weeks.  Trimming, hedge work, and vine removal is still needed here in Central Texas.  Watering is commencing in full.
- With a big thanks to Stephen and a little research on my part, I have a few steps to take to begin the transition to a more anti-inflammatory diet.  Yes, the Air Force encouraged this right before I retired, and I've read a couple of books about it two years ago, but I'm finally reaching the stage where I believe it may help.  Step 1 -- eliminate soft drinks, sugared drinks, and sugar-substitute drinks from my diet (I have two left after I finish the one I'm drinking now, and I've already begun to think this one doesn't taste good). This will leave water, unsweetened ice tea (the only way I drink it), coffee, and a very little bit of juice available for beverages.  I rarely drink beer or hard liquor, so I'm not going to worry about that.  I do drink wine once or twice a week with meals, but I began to suspect it was inducing hot flashes a couple of months ago, so I've eliminated all but a few white wines (Riesling doesn't seem to bother me).
- I stocked up on a bunch of fruit when I returned to Central TX the other day, so I'm guzzling blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, and apples while I determine what other changes I might want to employ.
- I did my WW weigh-in and measurements this morning.  I also began tracking again.  If I'm going to pay for the site, I may as well use it.
- I finished sanding three boards along the back of the garage (hubby asked that I do boards all the way across the back instead of the three foot sections of all ten boards that need to be sanded).  I'll begin working on the rest later on today.
- Frustrated with pain from simply trying to sleep, I conducted a search and found a .pdf on the Simple Ergonomics website that offered suggestions.  My shoulders, knees, hips, and feet were suffering, but I know my shoulders hurt because of the way I sleep.  All the other aches and pains have other potential causes. I'm employing some of the suggestions, and they seem to be helping.  If you sleep with someone else, these suggestions might be cumbersome.
- VA appointment is set for the 29th, so I'm assembling my list of questions to ask


The Not So Good Stuff:

- No recumbent bike time
- I thought about working on PBOTL. I had plenty of time to work on PBOTL over the last two days.  But I did not do so.
- I opened MAY DAYS and synchronized with Simplenote, but I did not work on it either.
- I'm up 26 pounds from my lowest since I started WW.  That was in early September.  I've lost 16.4 pounds overall since beginning WW a year and a half ago.  Clearly, the trend is not in the direction I want it to be in.  I think I'm ready to make some changes, and the anti-inflammatory changes should help.  I'm going to start with the ones that have no impact on hubby and I eating together and expand to integrating other changes in the least disruptive way possible.
- No stick shredding.  In fact, I'm seriously asking my neighbor with the commercial quality shredder how much he'd charge to shred the pile (it would take him about fifteen minutes and me about 8 hours with my little 10HP shredder).


The Week Ahead:

- The kitchen floor.  After two weeks of mostly surrendering it to the cats, it needs a good vacuum, sweep, and mop.  Same for the kitchen counters (although, the cats are not supposed to be up there, I'm sure there were while we were out of town).
- In fact, no matter what week this is for FlyLady, it's a kitchen week for me.
- I'm going to say it again, PBOTL.
- And again, recumbent bike.
- Get the meal planning laid out, a good grocery list made, purchase, and execute the plan
- Track for WW

4 comments:

Wendy said...

Step 1 sounds like a great place to start. Any sugar and fake sweeteners you can eliminate will be good for you in the long run. I've been trying to sub honey or Truvia in recipes as much as possible with mixed results. Truvia is so much sweeter than sugar that I sometimes over-estimate how much to use and end up getting things too sweet. I'm sorry it's been such a struggle.

Paying the neighbor to shred the sticks sounds like a good plan.

Jean said...

Step 1 is something I can do with no inconvenience to hubby, so it's a good place to start. He's been expressing interest in reducing portion sizes, so we're looking at ways to reduce the carby items and still get good proteins and veggies. Reduce the fettuccine in tuna noodle casserole, for instance.

One Pepsi Max remains in the fridge, but I'm not rushing to complete it. I'm sure it will be gone sometime this week. I think there are two or three down in SA, too. For now, tea and water. I may dig out the sun tea jar. Unsweet tea is $2-4 a gallon in the grocery store. Seems kind of dumb to buy it when I can make it for dirt cheap.

Half a page on PBOTL. It's a start!

SBB said...

Oh, I do miss pasta, but not as much as I thought I would. I'm getting used to its absence. And the same for the soft drinks. I'd like to cut back on my tea drinking, also, except for the green tea, of course.

Sounds like you're making progress in getting started. And that's often the hardest thing.

Jean said...

Soft drinks (that I consume) are out of the house. I picked up green tea bags and Luzianne tea bags today to make sun tea (blending the two). I skipped fries at lunch and just had the burger and dinner salad with iced tea. I usually have either fries or onion rings with that, but it's part of cutting out the fried foods (something I haven't formally implemented yet, but why not do so where it makes sense?).

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