June 18 - Street

The view of our road from the end of the driveway.

Progress photo

Only because you asked for it.

That'll teach you. Heh.

Honestly? I just don't see that much difference. But 15 pounds is 15 pounds
(the difference between May and June), and I suppose it should be recorded for posterity, right?

It's a jungle out there

The weeds in both my flower beds and vegetable garden are getting the best of me. I try, I really do try, but this spring has been such a fabulous growing season it's hard to keep up. The pattern of a few days of warmth and sun followed by a day or so of rain has been the norm, and that's good for whatever's growing, be it food or weeds.

My Honeycrisp apple tree is dead. It didn't flower last spring or this, but it leafed out beautifully and I wasn't worried about it. I noticed its withered brown leaves while I was mowing yesterday. (The Granny Smith and Yellow Transparent are both doing well.) I'm so sad, but I've heard Honeycrisps are difficult to grow so I'm not really surprised to have lost it. I'm pretty sure I've also lost the ornamental Summer Chocolate mimosa I planted late last summer. It leafed out this spring, but one day all the little fronds just fell off. I'm going to keep it in the ground until next spring, to see it it's really dead or just mostly dead. Right now it's just a tall twig stuck in the ground. Rather ugly.

Eeek! A snake in the grass! There
are snakes in the jungle, right?

It's so good to be home for a while. My husband and I took a long walk together yesterday morning, something we haven't been able to do recently. We would have gone a bit further had he not noticed a copperhead sunning itself along the side of the road. I missed it completely; I guess my head was in the clouds, while my husband was paying attention! I stopped long enough to inspect it carefully and snap this blurry photo, and then I did an abrupt about-face. We got 6.3 miles in (I'd intended to do 7), but 6.3 was definitely enough, and a good start for this week.

Jen, I promise I'll get a progress picture up soon. I don't think I look much different from the last one, but it's good to update every 10 pounds or so. And I've lost 15 additional pounds since then (May 6). So, yes, it's time.

I'd hoped to walk this morning, but since we've had three or four days of sun and warmth, it is – of course! – raining. Today might be a rest day, or I might sneak a couple miles in later today. It doesn't generally rain all day long – just long enough to interfere with my schedule. I have a lunch meeting in town today and my volunteer gig at the prison tonight, so it will be challenging to fit some intentional activity into the day. Not impossible, though.

There's always the elliptical option.

I'm running out of adjectives

Astounded: astonished, blown away, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, surprised, shocked, gobsmacked (my personal favorite)

It's Monday, I ate catered food all weekend at a convention and I expected a tiny loss, if anything, for this week's weigh-in. I ate lightly Friday and didn't work out, ate very little Saturday (because there was very little available to eat that fit the plan) and did work out, and was pretty close to normal yesterday – slightly under the calorie target with a five-mile walk when I got home. Still, I didn't prepare the food, which was definitely oversalted (everyone remarked on it) and I just didn't feel as though I was

4.5 pounds lighter

than last Monday.

I didn't believe the scale the first time I stepped on it, so I did my two-out-of-three thing, and it recorded the same number the second try.

That's a total of 33 pounds since December 26. Twenty-six of those pounds have been since I began the paleo plan on April 6. I'm losing nearly half a pound A DAY since I stopped eating grains, legumes, dairy and sugar. I had previously lost half a pound a week.

I wore a beautiful skirt with a light cotton knit twinset for Saturday's banquet – blue, of course, since it was the National Federation of Democratic Women convention. Everything was too big. The long-sleeved cardigan did a fair job of hiding how big the tee beneath it was. The skirt slipped around my waist easily. I think I'll alter the skirt and find a new top to wear with it.

I never liked that twinset anyway. Heh.

I ate some cheese over the weekend – a slice of Havarti on a grilled portobello sandwich (sans bread) and some goat cheese on a salad. My gut definitely rebelled, which makes me wary of trying Greek yogurt.

I really, really, really miss Greek yogurt.

Conventions = swag, of course, and among the swag now in my trashcan are a couple of cookies and some mints. The custom-wrapped chocolate bars are in the freezer, probably to be tossed at a later date. Each attendee received a large canvas messenger bag and at each meeting and meal we received stuff to put in it: several lapel pins and a cup and and a red/white/blue lei and a can cozy (which I didn't bring home because I don't drink from cans) and a keychain and a fanny pack and my favorite:

Time to redecorate my car … heh.

Of course, there's much more work to be done before 2016. And most of the women from my county group are understandably burned out on campaigning. Most people I know want to give politics a rest.

But if you bleed blue, and if you care about what's happening to workers' rights, the environment, education, the poor, children and especially women in states where the GOP has taken over state legislatures, well … we cannot rest.

We simply can't.

More …

Okay, so that meeting's over and we're free from now until 6. And I just couldn't wait to get back to you, and you, and you.

Also my room is being cleaned, so I'd rather be out here in the lobby soaking up the free wi-fi than in the room (where the wi-fi costs $12.95/day) dodging the maid.

Food has been … problematic. Yesterday wasn't too bad. I asked for a gluten-free entree for lunch, and the grilled chicken and sautéed summer vegetables were fine. I passed up the potatoes.

Dinner was substantial hors d'ouevres. I ate very little, but appreciated the presentation of potato chips in martini glasses.

Breakfast today was fruit for me, fruit and Danish for the other attendees. No protein. The cashews I brought with me came in handy mid-morning. I should have taken a picture of the lunch buffet: three kinds of sandwiches. I'm not sure what my luncheon companions thought about me taking one of each and then ditching the bread!

I couldn't take a picture of the lunch buffet because my phone didn't stay charged long enough. While the hotel is lovely and the service is excellent, it is not equipped with free wi-fi (except here in the lobby) and the battery drains quickly. Oh. Well.

It's probably fired back up by now, so I think I'm going to call it a blogging day and move on.

Hi, y'all!

Charleston, West Virginia, is alive and well and ROCKIN' with true-blue Democratic women this weekend. Our luncheon speaker was Christine Pelosi, who, in addition to being Nancy's kid, is the Platform Chair of the California Democratic Party. She spoke about the Dream Act. And the filibuster. And electing women. And the Fair Pay Act.

Tonight we're hearing from the President of the AFL-CIO. It just doesn't get much more Democrat than that.

The weather has been lovely, but we've been in meeting after meeting after meeting and I haven't even poked my nose out the front door of the hotel. I did, however, hit the treadmill at 6 this morning. Half an hour at 4.5 mph, which was blazing speed for me.

Uh-oh. Now that I look at the time, I'm supposed to be in a meeting RIGHT NOW. Adios!

To be continued …

June 13 - Kitchen

My house not only has a welcome mat at the front door, I have a welcome wall in my kitchen. 

Just in case you don't get The Weather Channel …

Wow. We've been under a severe thunderstorm warning since 11-ish this morning. The warning expires in 15 minutes (as I type), but we remain under a watch until 7 this evening. The power has blipped off and on a couple of times, but so far, so good. And, of course, it's not all about me. The midwest has been hit by storm after storm … if you're there, I hope you're safe!

I took my own advice and stashed some gallon jugs filled with water in the freezer. Two large iced-tea jugs are filled with drinking water.

Not having water during a power outage is the worst.

The internet is down, but I'm able to work through the magic of turning my phone into a mobile hot spot. Technology is THE BOMB!

Got a short walk in this morning before work – about 2.5 miles, the last full mile of which I ran jogged. That last mile is all downhill, and therefore both easy and fun to run. My pace for the entire distance was slightly faster than 16 minutes per mile. Considering that the route is an out-and-back and, therefore, the first mile is all UPhill, I'm pretty pleased.

For some reason – and this is very unusual lately – I can't get filled up today. I'm glad we have no pretzels, chips, cheese or ice cream in the house. This is the first day since I started my Whole 30 67 and counting that I've been hungry almost all day. I haven't eaten much lately (have been well under LoseIt's daily target calorie goal), so maybe my body is trying to make up for lost food.

I think – since the water still works – I'd do well to go grab a tall glass instead of trying to figure out what else I could eat.

Traveling again tomorrow. Hope to find time to post pictures, at least, but it all may have to wait until I return Sunday. The hotel charges $12.95 for in-room internet access, which I will not be buying. Wi-fi is free in the lobby, though, but the schedule is pretty tight. We shall see.

Our weather is coming from the northwest today. I've seen photos on Facebook of flooded roads and farms in central West Virginia, which is where I'm going. Should be an interesting trip.

June 12 - 11:00

We had a lovely rain this morning as I opened up at the garden center. It had
stopped by 11 a.m., but these hosta leaves looked so pretty with the raindrops
still sparkling on them. 

The halfway point

This morning's 3.26 mile-walk (the third mile of which was at the blistering pace of 15:03!), I'm officially halfway to my 1000-mile walking goal for 2013.

From my Daily Mile training page.

Not quite halfway into the year, finding myself more than halfway to my weight-loss goal and 500 miles into the walking goal has me feeling Pretty. Darned. Good.

Today is a work day, as is tomorrow, and then I'm off for the third consecutive weekend trip, this time to the National Federation of Democratic Women convention. It's local-ish (in Charleston, WV), so not a long, boring drive, but I'm leaving super-early Friday morning in order to be at the First-Timers Breakfast.

Which I probably won't eat. Heh.

The weather forecast for later today and through tomorrow does not look good at all for much of the midwest and mid-Atlantic. The prognosticators are even throwing out the word "derecho," which strikes terror into the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of us who experienced one last summer.

If you're in the projected path of the storm, stock up NOW on ice, non-perishables and bottled water. LOTS of bottled water. Put some water-filled jugs in your freezer, too, for additional cooling capability.

If you lose electrical power, don't expect it to come back on in a couple hours, or even a couple days. We were without electricity for nine days last year. Had I known, I would have grilled all the meat in the freezer, which we could have then kept chilled in coolers. We had to discard about $100 worth of grass-fed beef. SOB!

Wherever you are, I hope you have a great Wednesday ... stay safe!

June 11 - Something funny

Finding the volunteer tomatoes every spring is always a hoot. Last year I
 found half a dozen in the herb bed. This one came up in the asparagus bed.

Remember that scene in Bull Durham?

The one where Nuke is walking through the center of the team bus on the arm rests? And yelling?

WHAT?!? You don't? WHAT?!? You've never seen Bull Durham?!?

Here's the clip (NSFW) to which I'm referring:

Just why am I thinking about that specific bit of movie history this morning? Because …

I EFFING LOVE LOSING WEIGHT!

I do, man. It's like … BETTER than GAINING!

I went for Mammogram, The Sequel, yesterday, calling before I went to town to make sure the machine was in good working order. It was. I wore that Dylan shirt and a pair of denim capris, because who needs to dress up for radiology? The first pair of capris I put on were too big. But because my closet resembles the misses' department of a department store, I had the next smaller size in stock.

The second pair have a side zipper which can be difficult to zip all the way to the top while they're on me. So I zipped them all the way up on the hanger and then put them on. Due to the way they're cut, they don't slip or fall down, and they fit perfectly and comfortably.

So. About losing weight. I love that:

• I could take that photo yesterday and not want to hide behind something.
• it's not all-food, all-the-time around the Middle of Nowhere any more.
• the scale keeps moving down, almost daily, something it hasn't done in years.
• this way of eating doesn't leave me wanting more.

Also. I love losing weight more than I love:

• diet soda
• sugar
• grains
• dairy
• legumes

Priorities. FOR ME, finding out after all these years that replacing some foods (and food groups) with fat and protein and vegetables, oh my! would result in the dramatic and consistent losses I've experienced brings up quite a few feelings, mostly good but also a bit of regret, a negative feeling which I will not be stuffing down with food.

It took me a long time to throw up my hands and say, "Okay. Whatever. I've tried everything else, I might as well try this." What if I'd just been a little more willing a little sooner?

Then again, until I'd tried everything else, I might not have been ready to try this.

Everything happens in its own time, and it's all good. I've learned some valuable lessons, and I'm not done. What I've learned most is:

I EFFING LOVE LOSING WEIGHT!

P.S. For Gingerzingi, truly raw cashews are, indeed, poisonous. My "raw" cashews were from Trader Joe's, and were undoubtedly steamed to remove the toxic substance.