10/21/18, Sunday

1. Within Range: No, .2 over
2. General Wellbeing: 7 on SS
3. 10,000+ Steps: 2,388
4. Fitness: walking
5. Self-Care: No
6. Play/Leisure: Yahtzee
7. Interest/Talent/Skill: No

Participated in a Yahtzee round robin tournament with friends yesterday. This was one of a few times we've played games socially outside of our own home, since VSG. I'd forgotten how much crap is put out by others when hosting these events. Didn't think that possibility through first and fell into some mindless grazing. Now that I know better, I'll do better next time. Temperatures ranging from mid-30s to mid-40s with wind and alternating drizzle and sleet. Man, I want to be outside MOVING and putting my face in the sun! I'll be trading the mower for the snow blower in short order !

Will you consider going south in the RV to avoid the snow? I may have already asked this as I have this feeling that you can't this year but maybe next???

We had a good day in Portland yesterday. We visited the Chinese Garden in the middle of the city. An oasis of peace surrounded by modern buildings! DH enjoyed the day but is still fairly non-verbal. He is laughing a lot though. BIL commented on how much he has changed since they last saw him in May.

Picture of same view from yesterday morning in the afternoon yesterday and when I got up at 6 this morning:

Chinese Garden:

135.2

Good Sunday morning, all.

Sorry about the cold front. I think Michigan sent that weather your way- Yesterday's FB posts from MI were full of bemoanings over the foul weather up there. The sun broke through yesterday for a proper Fall display and DH and I spent a lot of time outside surveying the property and planning for this and that. I am hoping for more of a park like layout and less of a "looks like a great place for flora and fauna to go wild" sort of environment. Work goes slowly- beating back the "wilderness" only to have it re-advance. Bits and pieces are coming together nicely- DH being retired--more time to play. Today looks to be as pleasant, if chillier. Maybe another good stroll is in order. I will try to send sun your way.

Smiles, -b.

Good morning,

On self care...I can tell by my stats that I have been shorting sleep a bit. But what was really telling, is the massive amount of sleep the last couple of days. I could sleep extra because I hadn't scheduled my usual early morning HIIT class. My Rainier training (which forced me to severely cut back on HIIT) may (re)teach me things about sleep.

On poisoning each other: I was looking at recipes today (I have a whole pumpkin and whole kabocha squash) and I came across a comment that went something like "If serving to company, this is great, as is. But if you want something healthy for yourself, do xyz and it will still be fabulous for 1/2 the calories". I totally get that, don't we all? After all, the company is just there for one or two servings, then they can go to back to their usual healthy lifestyle, right?

About strokes in folks we know: Peps, good job with nursing. Maybe years of cleaning up pup messes helped you deal. Honestly, it takes a special person to do all that without expressing horror. Many, many props. As Ron moves into post hospitalization appts, keep your ears open (or ask) if the system has post stroke groups, particularly shared medical appt's. There is evidenced based support for SMA's, in particular. That's an appt where a bunch of patients with same history (so, stroke) pretty much drive conversation, call out each other's misconceptions, (they can say things in a way that a doctor wouldn't dare), with a medical professional (usually doctor) in room as content expert.

Also, to dietician asap if that makes sense to you. (I don't trust Ron's sense.) People frequently think they know what to do. (Raising my hand as someone chronically guilty of this) But, they don't.

Ron will be overwhelmed and may put off extra appt's....but now is the best time to plant seeds of lifestyle change. Eventually, many people discount what happened "Oh, I had a stroke, but I'm fine. It wasn't like a real stroke. Not at all!"

Enough lecturing about what others should do. Must Clean Floors and Counters so people don't regret living with me. That includes me.

Keep hugging everyone,

Shel

Had not thought or sending him to a nutritionist. Great idea. Getting him to go to a group might be tricky, but I will give it a try. Thanks for those ideas.

I find knowing what to do and getting myself to do it are entirely different animals. Perhaps being accountable to a dietician makes the difference...

Weight 172.2, calories 1357

Getting to the point of not being embarrassed to post that number, though it still needs to be a good bit lower.

Second day of resetting also went well. The brain is such a strange thing. When I'm not behaving myself foodwise, I have a hard time believing I can stop. But when I set my mind to it, it doesn't feel that hard. The parts I can't figure out are how to not flip into "not behaving myself mode" and if that fails, how to flip myself back faster without needing the shock of feeling like I really screwed up? My food life has always been one of extremes. It's exhausting. I would love to live a moderate food life. I want to be the ball in the middle of one of those Newton's Cradles instead of the balls on the ends.

I'm meeting some friends for lunch today for a birthday celebration. Must make good restaurant choices! Off to hop in the shower...

Handing out free happy Sundays to all comers!

I want to be the ball in the middle of one of those Newton's Cradles instead of the balls on the ends.

Me too!

Diane O. How cool is it that you actually forgot about the crap buffet at game night? I can't seem to forget food at all! LOL! I "missed" the birthday spread last Friday due to being out to care for Ron. I was both happy and disappointed to miss the food fest. How conflicted and weird is that? Hehehehehe.....

Liz, love the pics of Portland. It is a beautiful city. I can see the Columbia River in the background so you must be facing Northeast-ish in that view. Are you able to look to the right and see Mt.Hood? Sorry to read that DH's progression is so noticeable since only May. Sad.

Miss150 - Oh, to have the land that you have. It would do this wanna be country boy's heart good. I would love enough land for the dogs to have a bark zone. Actually, if we lived away from this lovely trail to which our property backs, we wouldn't have people and dogs walking by all day long and there would be far less barking. Sort of a win win for me. LOL!

Dave, how is baby Adalyn?

BB - hope you had fun at the Halloween party. You looked pretty darn good in that skimpy little black and green outfit! Your weight may not be ideal to you, but it is certainly doable. You look great.

Weight is MELTING off. I don't quite understand, but I'm going with it. I'm down another 2 pounds today to 253. Since Ron's emergency I haven't tracked or logged - just been careful with what I've been eating and keeping the sugar at bay. I did "breakdown" and eat a bit of Halo Top the night I brought him home, but other than that I have been on track. Thank goodness, Halo Top and the knock off brands are pricy. Keeps me from stocking up on it.

I do have a client today around noon. Other than that the day will be devoted to care giving and prepping things for the week. My patient is in very good spirits this morning. He's doing very well on evacuating his bag now and got up twice last night to take care of it.

I spent the morning yesterday catching up on keeping his family in the loop and getting him situated for the day, so I could run down to the dog show, groom a Border Terrier (Tesla's breed), say hi to some friends and update them on Ron. Came home got dinner fixed - lean beef, salad, and 2 TBS of mashed potatoes for Ron. I think he was somewhat taken aback by the small portion of potato. I think he got the message when I asked him before dinner if he had eaten mashed potatoes while I was out. He had. Sigh.... I dumped the rest down the drain. It's funny. He thinks of mashed potatoes as potatoes. I think of mashed potatoes as delivery system for butter and cream. I can see mashed Cauliflower or skinny mashed potatoes in his future. Welcome to the dark side, my friend. Welcome to my world. LOL!

Does he accept your higher level of general nutrition info? My DH definitely does not trust mine but I am not sure the what this is based on except that (ahem) I once weighed 360 lbs. He has no idea what I eat even tho 95% of my meals come from our kitchen.

He went gluten free recently per GI doc's recommendation and insinuated I would never be able to handle it. I'm like....where to you think I have gluten and how often? What, exactly, do you think I would be giving up? Of course, I said almost none of that out loud, but inside I was yelling.

Anyhoo, I'm glad Ron has your help tho it will be painful to acclimate. He has an awful lot to think about and it would be nice if he could let you help with food.