11/12/18, Monday

1. Within Range: Yes
2. General Wellbeing: 9 on SS
3. 10,000+ Steps: 5174
4. Fitness: walking
5. Self-Care: Experimenting with Rodan & Fields Radiant Defense
6. Play/Leisure: More cuddling with DS & DA
7. Intention: Live in the moment !

Heading to NYC tomorrow for DC's hip replacement consult at VA. It is a five hour drive, so depending on weather, traffic and length of consult, we'll either drive straight home, or overnight in PA. Dog sitter is on stand by for either option. Friday, I fly to Chicago for my niece's wedding. Youngest DD is flying out from Brooklyn, and we'll have a mother-daughter weekend. DC is staying home with the dogs. Now that I'm retired, I'm not getting dressed up as much. I have to decide what I'm wearing before hair and nails on Thursday. Today, I have to bite the bullet and put away the outside Halloween specific decorations. The mums didn't survive the snow, and have to go too.

Positive energy flowing; invite as much as you need !!

Weight: 136.0
Macros: Cals - 1,374, Carbs - 142, Fats - 37, Protein - 93, Fiber - 37
Sleep hours: 6
Vegetable/Fruit Servings: 6
Water glasses: 1 (I must learn to do better)
Exercise: Walking (10,200 steps - yes!)
Meditation: Yes

Up early again this morning at 2:15 am, and weight was down to 136, which is excellent for today. As you can see from the details above, I had a good Sunday except for the water. I've just remembered that after WLS I used Mio drops to make water more appealing, so I'll try that today. :)

Aaahhh ... the Meyer lemon! Yes, it has been a revelation and continues to be so. I didn't know before this weekend that a Meyer lemon is thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, which makes it sweeter and less bitter than "regular" lemons. I learned that all lemons, once picked, do not ripen on the counter, even a pretty counter. I also learned that a whole Meyer lemon in a salad built for one person is a LOT of Meyer lemon and that, even with one mandarin orange parent, a Meyer lemon still tastes a lot like a lemon.

I found beaucoup recipes online featuring Meyer lemons and ranging from salsas for shrimp and raw oysters to garnish for sautéed green beans to beautiful, worth-the-calories cakes and tarts. How did we live before Google?!

Yesterday brought even more holiday spirit and I bought three Amaryllis bulbs, a bag of paperwhite bulbs, and a beautiful little Christmas cactus, then set the dining room table with a boatload of Christmas Spode china - the "Christmas Tree" pattern, of course. I have no idea why I'm doing this except to play, since I have zero plans to host a Christmas tea party, even one that features Meyer lemon tarts.

And this morning while meditating, I had an interesting thought (because meditating without monkey-mind-ruminating is so boring, right? JOKE, people!): What if I had only one more year to live? How, where, and with whom would I want to spend it? The question wasn't the least bit depressing. You'll be proud to know I didn't spend the rest of my meditation time trying to answer that question, but I'm thinking about it now.

Anyhoo, today I start my pre-cataract surgery eye drops.

Namaste, y'all!

Today's theme: Life is precious, life is brief. True, dat.

Your plate pic from yesterday looked so very delicious. The Meyer lemon focus and fixation has me remembering Laredo, TX and how easy it would be to make a tree happen. Reality is, that out the window, snow is floating down--ground covered in a blanket of white. While it is inviting, I don't think such a lemon tree would welcome such a sweater as this.

Whoo hoo on your food/health/mind focus. You do that so very well, and that kind of mindfulness will take you home.

LIP,LIB ditto me.

I have a Meyer lemon tree in my backyard. I agree it's much more lemon than orange and I basically just use it as a lemon.

House sitting is complete. I am glad this time. The poodles have developed a bad habit of barking at everything. They are hyper alert. Trucks driving on the hwy that are 1/2 mile away. Planes that fly over. Deer that make noise in the woods. If you bump the cabinets they think someone is knocking. There is a tone on DW s phone that they think is a door bell. They do not even have a door bell. To make matters worse, when the poodles bark then the boxer starts in and he has a howl like a bloodhound. It was every 30 minutes on the last day. I was expecting someone and every time they would bark I would get up and see if the guest had arrived. They made me look. I expect bark collars will be in their future. DS#1 has been complaining about it for 6 months.

Eating has not been good. DS has a bread maker and I made some. I ate some. Other than the bread I pretty much grazed all week. My wt was up another 3 pounds but now away from all the goodies that 3 is gone. Re focus started on the sixth. Good overall.

On the 5th Baby Adalyn fell and hit her head. She started vomiting within 10 min of the fall so she went to ER. They did a CT and she was cleared. No symptoms of head injury today. Baby Lola has broken out in a head to toe rash. Fever. Foot and mouth disease is in the daycare.

I can not put on my socks yet and I get up early. Stepped out on the porch and had trouble keeping my clogs on. Fell off the porch trying to put them back on. I was worried that it dislodged my spinal hardware. Still no lifting for another 6 weeks. Banged up my arm but my back is fine. Arm is improving daily.

More Later, David

Ann- Sorry to hear that you fell. So happy about your NOLA plans and French lessons. I try to learn Spanish occasionally. Positive thoughts on your surgical procedure.

BB - Sitting up watching TV. Milestones amaze me as a grandpa. Adalyn will watch Little Baby Bum or Baby Shark when I hold her. I have an iPad holder mounted to the overhead compartment of my bed. I can hold her if someone else puts her there and picks her up.

Cecily- Congrats on the trainer. I think I am going to dig out the elliptical because the cold hurts me.

Devon - Congrats with the dog show and blocking the sugar.

Diamond D - Good luck with your Mom s treatment plans

Diane S- Good picture of you and Devon and the pups

Diane O- Good thing they found the electric board. I would be good if during the winter that you go out periodically and turn stuff on in the winter. Not the winterized stuff. If you find anything else they could fix it easy in the winter. Even the million dollar rigs have problems. Safe travels.

Liz- They have come a long way in the past few years with Alzheimers units. Patient to staff ratios minimum of 1:3 I have heard of a couple with 1:5.

Miss150- Wishing you the best and praying for speedy healing

Paula - So very happy for you. Also the are several companies making CBD products. I am trying a 3rd brand that is a tincture. If you can show disability they will sell it for almost half priced. It is still pricey.

Shel - Nuts were a draw for me for years. When I quit nuts and yogurt just did not crave plain nuts either. Vyvanse is a win for me for now.

ShirlAus- Lots to do on the farm. I could use some of that 100 degrees. I really am cold intolerant.

David, this wonderful post from you reads like a letter from Lake Wobegon. And in my book, that's a good thing.

Make that a very, very good thing.

Except I'm sorry you fell off the porch. Don't do that.

You say the nicest things.

David- bread makers can be the devil--too easy to make the softalbeitlusciouswhitestuff that tastes so good warm with lots-o-butter. Whole wheat made w/100% whole grain can be hit or miss in a BM. I have discovered wheat gluten added (about 1 TBL) per cup of flour gives a great elasticity to the dough and lifts the loaf just about where it should be.

Those falls are really scary after back surgery. So glad nothing went out of whack. I remember mine-- the neurosurgeon at the end of the expected "don't do this anymore-" added "and for sure, do NOT fall". Like I would purposely consider doing so for the pure joy and yucks of it. Sure enough, some time later, I went flying face first down the basement stairs. Time stands still when these things happen, and I remembered the warning and, believe it or not, relaxed into the fall and landing. Down for about 5 minutes taking an inventory--no harm done. Basement stairs replaced soon after.

Weight: 167.4

It is currently snowing in OKC! And it's my husband's birthday!

Weekend eating was not the greatest--we just kind of hibernated. Bedlam was very close--unfortunately not because either team was any good.

Becca is now 8 months old as of yesterday. It's crazy how much she's grown! Yes, she was sitting up and watching bedlam!

Diane O. and Ann-I have a lot of Thanksgiving (turkeys, cornucopia, pilgrims, etc.) so I took down Halloween immediately and did that. I'm trying to resist the urge to put up Christmas. I love it, but don't want to get tired of it. But come Black Friday, game on. (To be fair, Christmas lights are up, but they aren't on)

Weight 122.2, calories? Wine last night to celebrate SIL's arrival...

We discussed SIL taking 2-3 days a week when meal planning is her responsibility. That should help.

DH lost the sunglasses he had lost here for the entire summer again last night. He came back from the pool with them on, I gave him his regular glasses, and put the sunglasses on the counter. They disappeared. DH has 0% memory for things like that these days. Sigh...

Nothing specific on the agenda today.

Here is the project I completed yesterday. Both bathrooms have medicine cabinets with mirrored doors with sharp corners. The one in the small bathroom is near one's head so was a little disturbing. I made the frame from plastic molding, painted it, and glued it to the mirror which required using a mitre box and figuring out the right glue to use. I will probably do the other ones in the master bath now that I've figured out how to do it. I suspect the joints will look better when I go straight to the correct glue. The after picture is to the left and the one on the right is the cabinet in the other bath (with DH reflected).