My World Lately

Good morning bloggyland!  Yes, I am still around.  It has been a crazy few weeks.  I've had to be at the office a good part of my life this past week which I don't mind yet I do because I can't be at my easel when I like.  Yes I have an easel there but it is getting harder and harder to paint there with a nearly 4 year old in the mix, you just can't get in the zone.  I've been painting a couple of birds for a friend that has commissioned them but not just real happy with the red-headed woodpecker.  There is just something WRONG with it.  I may have to start all over.  I actually hate it.  I've painted one before but am struggling with it.  I had it here then as I looked at it DELETED it, it is just plain UGLY.  The cardinal I'm happy with...onward. 

This week I had tons of my paintings framed for a couple of shows and let me tell you THAT WAS EXPENSIVE, even with a 1/2 off sale.  But it has to be done for the shows coming up.  One show I can have 4, the other 7, but probably less on that one because of the size of my Topiary, framed, it is HUGE!  Framing it makes it impressive for sure.

Well, our youngest is in town from California for a two week visit and her guy arrives on Monday to finish out the visit.  We haven't seen him in a couple of years.  He will be performing at Hodges Bend on Monday evening and we will go then he is teaching a master class at NSU in Tahlequah the next day.  The Hodges Bend thing he doesn't start performing till about 9 pm....EEK...I will have to get a nap that day.  Their visit will be the visiting of relatives and friends with a final day here with The Hubby's side of he family.  The tricky side of them here is that they have turned vegan.  My house, my diet, my food is definitely not vegan but I can make it happen a lot. 

Good news last evening as my good friend Harri and Jimbo have become grandparents to sweet Caleb.  So very excited for them.  Everyone around them had grandbabies and they were a bit jealous I think, now they are among us.  

I've also been gathering my stuff to ready for our trip to Europe.  In the next few months we will take a Mediterranean cruise around Italy and France.  We are going with three other couples of which the wives and I paint together.  We want to take photos, photos, photos for painting.  I'm nervous but ready.  My brother right now is in Poland with his church praise and worship band.  He plays guitar in the group.  He has only been to Mexico so this was a big deal and he is having a grand time, and eating his way across Poland!  

Diet....LIFE CHANGE WITH FOOD

This diet.....NO.....not diet.....Life Change With Food...

is still rolling on and on.  I'm not saying I've been an angel but mostly, yes I have.  Last weekend we headed to the cabin and I knew that would be a challenge.  The cabinites all like to get together and drink, eat and be merry.  Friday night was ham and cheese sandwiches and chips and I was on tap for appetizers.  I brought carrots and celery and Greek yogurt dip.  I ate the insides of the sandwiches and only drank water.  With the C&C&Dip I took these wonderful okra chip thingys that I have found at Whole Foods or Reasors.  I know there is a bit of oil but I can have a couple and it's like chips.  (Going to try the kale chips again.)  Saturday night was pork tenderloin and again I was up for appetizer.  So I put together an amazing platter of fresh, blanched veggies and more of the dip.  I admit I had a couple of chips and guacamole, EGGROLLS, and one gin and tonic but mostly water.  I bought a bottle infuser and had cucumber, strawberries and lime in my infuser.  Yum!  Honestly I did okay.  During the week I made an awesome Skinny Zucchini Lasagna.  It is so very good and makes several servings to eat during the week.  

I've also been dragging my lunch to art on Tuesday's.  So in anticipation of the week of lunches I roasted eight chicken breasts and bagged them up individually to grab, pack and run.  It has worked beautifully and my yummy water infuser has been by my side also.   

The upside of this new food change is I'm down 9 POUNDS!  That is exciting and spurs me on but I have to admit that it is a struggle and I want it to move faster.  I know if I start really exercising it will move but, but, but, but...I have excuses, I won't lie.  

I was also faced with this temptation at art as Miss C insisted she bring donuts because she won a blue ribbon.  I asked her PLEASE not to but she said she had too.  ARGHHHH.  I DID NOT EAT!  I had the same challenge at the office as a sales rep brought a box and I DID NOT EAT!

My pal Linda, who is doing this with me, my art buddy too, have discovered that we can eat at the Mexican restaurant across the street from art.  We order lettuce, carne asada steak, pico, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, no taco chips, and it is delicious. 

This food lifestyle change is a struggle not only daily and  hourly, but by minutes and seconds.  I have to consciously think about my choices every second.  It's always on my mind.  As I drive past temptations, walk by my pantry, or make runs to the grocery store, my mind it always saying, "No.  Maybe.  Absolutely not, you are stronger than that."  Every step I take, every thought I have I'm constantly talking myself out of making a bad choice.  It is exhausting but it is paying off and I have to keep pushing forward.  

For dinner last night I wanted to go out.  I wanted to make the right choices successfully and I think I did.  We went to Charlestons and I knew I would have to say NO to the bread that accompanies the salad.  Awww, that wonderful melt-in-your-mouth roll.  I ordered the salmon with a side of steamed broccoli, salad with no croutons and NO BREAD!  It was delicious and I was satisfied.  

Sabotage

Oh my goodness, perfect timing I think.  Mama's Losin' It! blog post suggestions this week arrived in my email box and as I was reading them the very last one caught my eye and stabbed me in the gut: 

 6. What is sabotaging your plan to drop 5 pounds? (Actually for me 100 pounds)

Yup, really what I needed to think about since I haven't thought about losing weight in the last 5 minutes for the past 30 years or so!  

When I was a kiddo I really didn't have any issue with weight at all.  That didn't stop my bro and Daddy calling me fatso for some reason.  I expect it from a sibling, that's just kids but my Daddy, not sure why.  

I had the usual child plump but as I got into junior high and on I kept it down, I also didn't eat well or much.  

Watching what I eat started when I was in 6th grade when I broke my leg.  It was a hugely traumatic event in my life and being in a cast for nearly 6 months took a toll on my mobility and growth.  It was at a time when your body is moving and grooving and I didn't move or groove.

High school rolled around and I was definitely curvy but I also ate sporadically and not much.  I LOVED food but I didn't eat.  I lived on popcorn, Dr. Pepper, occasional cheddar cheese or Momma's fried chicken.  I also did 100 sit-ups every single night.

It worked but was not healthy.  

We didn't grow up with fast food at all, there just was not availability in our town at that time.  So when I met The Hubby he opened up my life to fast food and we ate at weird times.  That was the first time I had to have Tums because of the level of food we ate.  I don't want to blame it on him I blame it on fast food.  I was bitten by the fast food bug.  

I got caught up in fast food, Dr. Pepper, and Twinkies and Ding dongs (The Hubby liked them in his lunch, I just liked them.)  Chips, dip, Taco Bell, I was a mess.  That first year of marriage I started going to Weight Watchers.  We really couldn't afford to eat out so I learned to eat right at WW.  That was when you ate a can of dry tuna, a lot of tuna.  I lost about 20 pounds and looked great and felt great.

Then babies came and I had the old-fashioned thought, "I'm eating for two." Boy did I eat for two.  Back to the Twinkies and Taco Bell.  After the birth of  B I got right back to WW and also started to actively garden in the backyard,  I had a huge garden.  I tilled it myself with a TG&Y tiller (we still have) and the thing just about beat me up.  I got muscled up and was in the best shape I had ever been in.  I was so strong and looked great.  Baby #2 and I let myself go again.  Not as bad and I actually lost a good part of the baby weight, not all but a lot.  

I was not happy and so food became my go too.  We were in business by the time the first girl arrived and he was working 7 days a week 12 hours a day.  I was lonely.  We lived in a part of town where I knew NO ONE except my next door neighbor.  I was lonely.  I ate and my food-drug of choice was fast food, Taco Bell and McDonald's.  I also had a friend who ate and sympathized.  Sadly she passed away from a heart attack at the age of 49...EYE OPENING!

I did do Jazzercise for about 15 years every single day and then a trainer but as of last year I have stopped.  I am not self-motivating and I know that.  I am lazy, flat lazy and I LOVE food.  Over the years I've let my knee problems dictate the lack of exercise but I'm LAZY.  I don't know if I actually sabotage myself but if you want to call being lazy sabotage then there you go.  

Doesn't really help that to work out I have to do it the first thing in the morning and frankly I don't have time in the morning anymore.  I'm usually running to the office to watch Snicklefritz or to art class or just work.  By the end of the day I am pooped.  I still am getting up at 4:45 every single day but I am enjoying my early morning to read blogs, post, read Facebook and emails, or just wake up.  Now that age 60 is looming in my very near future I know I need to get it together, but there goes all my best laid plans.  I'm a good talker yet I SIT and do nothing.  

I have discovered something though.  Last month while I was getting my monthly massage and facial I got a B12 shot they were offering.  I remembered my mother-in-law talking about getting them when she was trying to raise three rough-n-tumble boys and needed the energy.  I thought, "Why not!" Let me tell you, I didn't necessarily notice the energy but my KNEE!  The swelling and heat from the inflammation had almost disappeared!  WHAT!  I'm taking the stairs in a different, getting into a standing position is a breeze.  WOW!  Will have another one today.  

So did I answer the question?  I think I did, my Laziness sabotages any attempts to lose weight.  

Eat, Exercise and Babies

So, I'm totally stealing this photo from Rio's momma's Facebook page but how DARLING is it.  I mean reading by the fireside with Mondo, her daddy and that face, oh, that face.  Speaking of fireside, the weather she is a changing for sure.  We are just waiting for the snow to begin.  Goodness, I am so not ready for winter, for the cold mainly and the dark, dreary days.  What gets me through is that I know that in a few short months the sweet green of spring will pop out of the dead stuff and the world will be flush with color and beautiful sun filled skies.  That is what I look forward to.  What I do now is to stay very busy and that is not a problem for me.  I will kiss Rio, paint lots of pictures, read, crochet, do counted cross stitch ornaments, and cook.  I have to be careful with the cooking because I have quit my trainer and the cooking thing entails EATING!  

I don't know if I have shared about my trainer but yes I have quit him.  There were a lot of factors in my decision to be done with him.  Don't get me wrong I am not giving up on exercise but I am taking a break.  I've pretty much done it 5 days a week for years now, early, EARLY in the morning, but sleep has been a pressing need.  I am in need of a new place, a new kind, and new people.  I don't have time to check it out yet but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be back at it.  FYI, doing it at home on my own is not an option.  I am not self-motivating.  I will not get off my keaster to ride the bike that sits gathering dust.  Just not in my head to do.   

Food & Poo

WARNING:  This blog post is not for the squeamish. If you don't want to know then STOP READING NOW!

For the past few years I have had an issue with my, well, poo!  There I said it.  At this age I guess it is inevitable to have some issues with bodily functions.  I think the menopause thing is done, I think, and now I'm faced with another bodily function that is plaguing me.  The other day, on a Friday after lunch, I was at the grocery store getting the goods for a weekend at the cabin and I was walking in the parking lot to the car.  All of a sudden, it happened, I mean IT happened.  No warning at all, just an event.  There was nothing to do but load my groceries, put the shopping cart in the slot, climb in the car, and drive home.  EGAD!  This was not the first time I have had this happen and probably won't be the last.  Then the other night after eating dinner with my friend in the restaurant (thank goodness she is my good friend) I felt it happening again with no stopping.  Good thing it was not bad.  It's funny that there is no stomach pain, no rumbling, just an EVENT!  It seems to happen on Friday's especially after we eat at a particular restaurant which is Thai food.  Funny that the other night it was at a different restaurant, but, I was eating Thai salmon.  Hmmm, may be a theme.  Well, this got me to thinking that instead of calling the doctor and of course probably having another colonoscopy and tests that I do a Food and Poo Journal to see if it is just what I am eating that my tummy DOES NOT LIKE!  

I know this is a pretty icky subject but if we are not honest and open here we will not learn to talk about unmentionable subjects.  

New Year's Resolutions and MORE!

Day 2 of the New Year and I'm ready!  I told The Hubby that we would get back completely on track with the eating on Jan 2 and that is what we are doing.  Actually, we weren't too awful bad at all during the holidays.  Because we have been doing the no bread-no pasta-no rice-no potatoes thing since June it is like a habit now.  Don't get me wrong we have definitely had a bit of bread and potatoes during the holidays but you have to enjoy life and we did, just in tiny quantities.  I'm very excited for the scale to continue its decline this year.  The fruitcake is gone (my niece made), the chocolate covered toffee is gone (a fabulous Christmas gift), and the cream cheese candies (tossed, good but tossed).  Ready, Set, GOOOOO!

On Monday I spent the day at the office going through a box that Daddy had me get out of one of his closets.  He couldn't lift it down so I did.  We opened it to find a mountain of bank statements and canceled checks from 1968-1971 from his business, their personal stuff and my grandmother's stuff.  Old appliance manuals, and a bit of Boy Scout stuff (Daddy was a leader).  Most of it was ready to toss and shred, which I did on Monday.  I did find a few interesting things about my broken leg, in fact the hospital bills from my two night stay.  And of course I have already forgotten the date on it but it is the exact date that I did not know.  It's already in a file folder to keep, somewhere!  I know, I know, I've already started another pile to go through.  That brings me to New Year's Resolutions or Clean Out!  I'm looking at my desk at home that has a pile of paperwork sitting on it five inches high.  It is where all the bills I pay for our personal records and has been accumulating since last January. I have to go through to get ready for tax stuff.  

New Year's Resolution #1 - To have a specific box for tax stuff and a box for utility bills and nonsense - NOT THE TOP OF MY DESK!  

New Year's Resolution #2 - To clean out the guest closet.  Get rid of the crap that has accumulated and either sell on EBay or flea market or whatever - GET RID OF!  My plan is to whittle down the Christmas stuff as I take it down the next few days and that is where it will be stored.  I'm tired of it going up in the attic!  Next year all the stuff that we did not take down from the attic this year will come down next year and there will be another purge!  Not only will the guest closet become the Christmas closet but it will also house some of he paintings that are piling up here.  They will shortly go to the new building, my new studio but in the meantime they are piling up.

New Years Resolution #3 - Sell paintings!  Easier said than done.  Oh, I have sold in 2013 that is for sure but they are piling up and I don't want to store them in the attic.  Again, Etsy may be the place.  I do have another show in January at The Garden Trug that I'm very excited for.  It will be the perfect place for the flower paintings in preparation of spring plantings.  I need to get some more going, ASAP!  

New Year's Resolution #4 - Get into a gallery or restaurant!  I've only tried once but maybe again!

New Year's Resolution #5 - Diet!  Well, I'm sort of not going there.  I'm already doing it in a huge lifestyle change in our eating.  I think my goal is to continue, and continue with the exercise.  I am hoping with the 26 pounds gone now that this spring I will be able to do more walking again.  Don't think the running will happen anymore, but, you never know!  Maybe another 5K is in my future!!!

New Year's Resolution #6 - Read!  I have read 60 books yet again this year, 2nd year in a row!  I'm quite impressed with myself and so will continue with this goal.  I love to read!  That is one thing my mother instilled in my Bro, Sis and I was the love of reading!  She said it was the window to our future, that we could accomplish and become anything if we could and would read!  I hope I passed the love to my children, I know I did, and I am going to encourage Rio too.  She already at 15 months, loves books to look at and hold.  It doesn't matter if they are BBQ cookbooks or Architectural Digest Magazine, she loves to look at them and hold them.  Her favorite is her bedtime book, "Good Night Moon", and when she tries to say it, OH, the cutest thing ever!  

New Year's Resolution #7 - Continue nurturing mine/our friendships!  I have made a point of having our friends out to dinner or to cook here, and I am going to continue it.  I know The Hubby sometimes just wants to come home and do nothing but it is not going to happen.  I will NOT get into a rut of nothingness when it comes to our social life.  I started a book club with a few friends and neighbors and so far I LOVE it.  We have drinks and dinner with a couple of our neighbors and I love that too but sadly one of the couples called a couple of days ago to tell us they are moving!  Not far and she is still in the book club, but so sad!  I love them to pieces and she has become a really good friend, quickly.  I want to stay busy with my friends and family.  I will NOT sit in my house day in and day out with nothing and nobody to do stuff with.  A social life is very key to staying young and with it!  So my list for dinners/meeting with friends and family is a continuing thing.  

New Year's Resolution #8 - Blogging - I almost gave it up in 2013 but I just can't do it.  I have made some awesome bloggy friends here and some of the family reads this too.  They can see me here, I hope.  I have to write!  I still journal but some of the stuff I write in my journal I just CAN'T write here for fear that "someone" will find me here and read it.  I can be open and honest as much as possible here, but there are limits.  I have found that through my journey in blogging.  I would like to attend another blog conference sometime, with a friend possibly.  Maybe that can be another goal.  

Extra Fabric

Tuesday and good morning all.  Guess what, guess what....I decided that I was tired of hitching up my jeans that had begun to sag.  I realized on Saturday that something was hanging off of my backside and it WASN'T my ASS.  It was the extra fabric of the seat of my blue jeans that was hanging!!!!  WOOT - WOOT!!!!!  So this morning I started trying on the plethora of jeans that are in my closet and found a size smaller that FIT, that means zipped up and buttoned!  How exciting is that!  I say very, very exciting and I am continuing.  I'm making better choices nearly every single thing that goes into my mouth.  Now don't get me wrong, my weakness lately is Payday candy bars that seem to call my name.  Since June I have had 2 and that is 2 too many but it is what it is and I'm still losing and that is what counts.  

This weight loss thing is for me obviously for my health but it's also for this little light of my life.  I want to be around to see her children!

Day 3 - (Fortune Cookie Friday)

I have finished the 3rd day of the colon cleanse and truthfully it has been a breeze.  I've already lost 4 pounds, probably water.  I have not had a piece of meat, chicken or fish in three days.  I do miss it and will be back on it on Tuesday.  This is definitely not like a colonoscopy, thank goodness.  I have purposefully NOT got to the grocery store but will be faced with going there tomorrow for something to cook for The Hubby and a ton of veggies for Sunday's family bash.  Wednesday morning I woke up with a dry/sore kind of thing going on in the left side of my back throat.  I think it might be allergies but last night it got a lot more tender, sore to swallow.  I'm thinking it might be a side thing from the cleanse.  It's funny that I have not been sick in a year and I start this dang cleanse and get sick.

Yesterday I planned on a bit of painting but the throat thing made not feel like it at all.  I have got to get busy and finish, well, start the commission that is due August 16.  That reminds me I have got to email the guy and tell him what I plan on doing.  Lots of loose ends.

I've also been toying with the idea of starting a book club and so far I've got some good responses from friends.  A date for the first one needs to be picked and then we'll be off.  Lots of fun to spend with a few friends.  

I guess I should do the Fortune Cookie Friday thing too today:

A fun party is soon to be in your future.