Friday Quote Day

You are never too old to set another goal 

or to dream a new dream.

~ C.S. Lewis

Well, C.S., that's good to know. Since I'm perpetually setting (or re-setting) goals and dreaming new dreams.

My dreams kept me up last night. Or this night, I guess. When I first woke up the first digit on the clock was a "1." When I finally gave up and got up, it was a "3." I don't often suffer with insomnia, but when I do … it's pretty brutal. I think I got about four hours of sleep.

I'm going to have a very wonky, weird day, I just know it.

I think part of the reason I didn't sleep well is because I spent a lot of yesterday on the phone, talking with a variety of people about many things. I don't usually have so much verbal stimulation, and all the ideas and projects and enthusiasm spilled over, I guess.

I'm working on an annual report for a local foundation, assisting a friend with some website issues, helping plan a couple meetings, trying to decide what to wear to two events next week (my late-winter/early-spring wardrobe is pretty much non-existent), and still urging the Governor to veto that bill, along with the usual meal-planning/preparing, homekeeping, laundry, and, of course, the daily walk.

Yesterday's walk was cut WAY short. So cold, so windy. Had to turn around after only a quarter mile. But today will be lovely, and tomorrow, too. My husband and I will be at a little ceremony this morning dedicating a business to a community leader, but will be coming straight home and, hopefully, getting a long walk in this afternoon.

I mentioned to him yesterday that I was going to have to average 4.5 miles/day, every day, for the rest of the year to hit 1500 miles. He didn't suggest I lower my goal, bless his heart (and I don't mean that in the Southern belle way, but in an honest-to-goodness wow! he gets it! bless his heart! way), but said I'd probably have to throw a few more five- and six-milers in there than I'd originally planned.

He's right. And I will. Those walks have become more than just exercise.

They're bordering on therapy. Heh.

Friday Quote Day (an occasional reprise)

See, don't ever give up! Maybe sometimes you feel like 
a rotting old pile of firewood too, but you are actually 
full of incredible potential underneath. All you need is a 
heavy-duty sanding and some paint, and possibly some 
new handles on your drawers!

~ Lindsey, author of the Better After blog

© 2013 Debora J. McNeer

Lindsey features furniture (and sometimes room) makeovers over at Better After, and I LOVE the way she writes. When she wrote the lines I'm using for today's quote, she wrote them for me. And you, if you're also working toward a tough goal.

The number on the scale this morning was much more realistic than last Friday's. I might even get some work done around here today. (Last Friday I collapsed in a heap and didn't move all day.)

To recap: I stepped on the scale Christmas morning and saw a most horrifying number. My New Year's resolution to get fit, once and for all and I really mean it this time, began the next day. I'm using the LoseIt! app, and following the calorie guidelines there to lose a pound a week. I hope to lose 50 pounds this year.

I wanted my progress to be measured simply by staying within LoseIt's target calories each day and achieving my exercise goals, which are to:

• walk or use the elliptical six days a week
• do a short yoga session twice a week
• do a light weight-lifting session twice a week

I planned to take Mondays off - no counting calories, have a little treat if I want and rest from exercise.

But I also want to know if the plan works for weight loss, so I decided to weigh myself on the 25th of every month. Just once a month, a quick check-in, because I was confident I would be at least one pound down for every week on plan.

Last week's two-pounds-in-a-month result was pretty devastating. I had eaten well below the calorie target each day and had only missed a couple workouts. Both of you suggested eating more. LoseIt! has done the research and knows what it takes, and I was, possibly, sabotaging and/or short-changing myself by creating a deficit each day. I vowed to stay on target and check the scales in a week.

Well, the week is up. I did great from Friday through Monday, staying either slightly below or barely above my daily calories. Tuesday was a tough, tough day and I barely ate anything; I came up short on calories Wednesday and yesterday, as well. I didn't know what to expect this morning.

I've been looking for, working for and hoping for a pound a week. And I got it. Five weeks, five pounds. I don't FOR A MINUTE think I lost three pounds this week. Last week was, as you both pointed out (gently, thank you) a fluke. So this week? Yay for me! Wait, I'm sorry:

YAY FOR ME!

Last Friday I really did feel like a rotting pile of firewood. Or maybe even what lies beneath a rotting pile of firewood. Today I feel (again) like a woman on a mission. Not a life-or-death one (although it may very well be one, I'd rather not know), but simply a let's-get-this-done one. Let's get back to a body that likes to move and doesn't hurt when it has to. Let's get back to enjoying shopping for clothes. Let's get back to being able to do XYZ, rather than making excuses not to.

Thanks for your advice last week, and for your sympathy and empathy and kindness. Thanks for your help. Thanks for coming along for the journey, one pound at a time.

Thanks.

Friday Quote Day

The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.

Richard B. Sheridan

Well, it's a nice theory, anyway.

Actually the surest way not to fail is to set reasonable, achievable goals. Oh, and lower your expectations. Heh.

I'm doing a little better emotionally this morning. I took a nap yesterday afternoon and I went to bed at 8 p.m., not reading even one screen's worth on the Nook before I went to sleep. I think toddling off to bed right after Jeopardy might officially make me an "old" person.

Let's talk about something else today, something not related to my inability to exercise. (Okay, one thing: My heel pain this morning, after just one day of rest, was reduced significantly, surprisingly so. I thought this heel healing would take weeks, as it did the last time I had plantar fasciitis. Perhaps not.)

Do you ever click on any of the blog links in the sidebar on the lower left side of this page? Did you even know that list was there? I know it's hard to get to, with all the other Important Stuff in that column. Some bloggers click through from their own pages to read what their favorite writers are up to. I use Google Reader for that, but I like to include my faves on my blog for your inspiration.

I've added a few new links recently, most having to do with food – the "reaping" and "eating" part of the Knit/Run/Reap/Eat brand. 100 Days of Real Food and Kath Eats Real Food fall into the food category, but they have very different approaches.

I found Kath quite a while ago through a friend of a friend. Her blog is photo-heavy, so if you're still on dial-up (and if you are, I hope you'll soon have a wi-fi option – I know what it's like living in slow-mo while the rest of the internet speeds by you) you might want to pass. Kath snaps pictures (lots o' pictures) of each of her meals and posts three times a day. It would take me an hour just to style, shoot, edit, upload and post the photos. My food would be cold by then. That said, her breakfast concoctions and lunch salads are inspiring, and if you're looking for good restaurants in the Charlottesville, VA, area, she and her husband eat dinner out fairly frequently.

Lisa, of 100 Days, explains her goals and motivations here, and invites you to play along. She and her family live in Charlotte, NC, and I'm intrigued by a couple of resources I've found while reading her blog, especially the Hillbilly Produce Market. We have family in Charlotte, and I think I'll look for this market next time we're there for a visit. Some of her recipes sound delicious, Pin-worthy even.

My favorite new blog is Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda. I can't pigeonhole Mir. She's a professional blogger who writes about everyday life in her family, but I find her style and voice hilarious. Even when nothing funny happens, she manages to write about it in a humorous way. Well, it's humorous to me, anyway. Tell her I sent you. She has no idea who I am.

I hope both of you have a great weekend. I'll be traveling for the best kid's holiday of the year, spending it again with my younger granddaughter. I'm the candy-passer-outer. Let's hope I don't pass out from eating too much candy. (I need to be my own Snack Nazi: No snacks for you! If I do indulge, I promise to journal it.)

Thanks again for your support, encouragement, suggestions and kicks in the butt this week. I can never get enough. I'm greedy like that. Heh.

Friday Quote Day

It's not about how fast you go.

It's not about how far you go.

It's a process.

~ Amby Burfoot

Ain't that the truth?

What a very busy week it's been here. The weather has been crappy to lovely and everything in between, and I've been able to keep up with the walks every day. Ditto the strength training (no one is more surprised than I am about that!) and making this a snack-free zone.

I'm having trouble journaling my food and, surprisingly, drinking as much water. I'm here (at my daughter's) on a mission and am busy, busy, busy. I should be jotting the meals down on paper and entering them online when I have time to get online (which isn't often), but I just haven't been doing it. I drink water when I think about it, but it appears to be easier to drink more water when one sits on one's butt in front of a monitor than when one is, um, busy.

Oh, well. As the young folk say, 'it is what it is.'

I still feel good about the process almost three weeks into it. I'm heading home tomorrow and will grab a few rest-stop walks on the way home to get my miles in. I hope both of you have a great weekend.

Friday Quote Day

Your life does not get better by chance,
it gets better by change.
~ Jim Rohn


Gonna change my way of thinking

Make myself a different set of rules

Gonna change my way of thinking

Make myself a different set of rules

Gonna put my good foot forward

And stop being influenced by fools

~ Bob Dylan

(This ended up being kind of long. Apologies in advance.)

A Friday Quote twofer this week! Because the first quote is the essence of what I want to say, but how could I miss the perfect opportunity to throw in a Dylan lyric while I'm at it? Heh.

Years ago, I blamed my bad luck on everything that was wrong in my life: a husband who was, shall we say, nipping at the heels of insanity; my girth, of course; my children's distance from me, both physically and emotionally; my lack of money, lack of opportunity, lack of hope.

The common denominator in all the unfortunate circumstances of my sad little life was … me. Until I could accept the fact that I was the one who made those choices, pushed people away and settled for less, and decided to do something about it, nothing in my life was going to get better.

It's a bit of a cliché to acknowledge that we humans resist change, but there you go. The fact is, most of us go kicking and screaming into new ways of living. Here's the thing, though: When the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing, then and only then will change happen.

And when that happened for me, I could stop blaming bad luck and start giving myself the credit I deserved.

My biggest and most profound change happened more than two decades ago, when I had my last drink of alcohol. I didn't know I was an alcoholic at the time, all I knew was I was fat and out of sorts and trouble seemed to follow me everywhere I went. I joined Overeaters Anonymous, and they told me I needed to abstain from sugar, white flour and red meat.

So I did, and I made the conscious decision to put alcohol in the sugar category.

My OA sponsor also was a member of Al-Anon, and she thought I might be rewarded by going to some meetings. Hey, I wasn't going to argue with her success. She had everything I wanted, that's why she was my sponsor. So I went, but what I heard was person after person sharing their experience, strength and hope dealing with people like me. One week, instead of going in the Al-Anon door, I opened the Alcoholics Anonymous door and found my true home.

AA hasn't solved my weight problem, though. Um, duh. I did lose a significant amount of weight shortly after I got sober, but haven't been able to maintain that loss. What I have maintained is my sobriety, and that truly is more important than a normal BMI.

What AA has solved, for the most part, is my resistance to change. Whether the changes I've been incorporating into my daily life recently result in that normal BMI or not, they're still working. I'm getting ready for more active "golden" years by lifting those baby dumbbells. (Thank you, thank you, thank you, gingerzingi, for continuing to nudge, prod and suggest that strength-training would make a difference. I couldn't have run – excuse me – RUN! most of my four miles yesterday had my legs not been a teeny bit stronger than they were two weeks ago. Also? Your post yesterday was so good. SO GOOD! Exactly what I needed to hear, especially that pithy statement about time and energy. And that body-image article you linked to. Thank you!)

I'm replacing diet soda with water, which is not only weaning me from artificial sweeteners, but also saving me money. Water's free for me – I drink from a well. As long as the natural gas drillers stay out of the neighborhood, I feel like my water's safe to drink, and there's plenty of it. In 30 years, our spring-fed well has never gone dry.

The other changes I'm making – no snacks, a daily walk, journaling my food/exercise – are great tools which could be beneficial for who-knows-what situation I might find myself in 10 or 15 or 20 years from now.

While it might sound like I'm planting myself in the future (an impossibility, after all), I'm actually consciously living in the now. Now is all I have for sure. And even though it's been less than two weeks, and even though my weight remains the same, these few changes are helping me feel so much more energetic and strong and motivated that I'm going to, as Gladys and her Pips like to say, keep on keepin' on.

Friday Quote Day

The impossible can always

be broken down into possibilities.

~ Author Unknown

What a week. I'm busy all day long, every day, and it seems like something needs attention every time I turn around. I don't even have a written-out to-do list, I just know that when one thing gets done, something else is right behind it.

I didn't used to feel like this. There was a time when I would plop down on the couch with a book or a magazine and read – guilt-free – all afternoon. I'm not sure when things changed, or why. I still read, but now it's only a couple pages right before I go to sleep. I have three months' worth of magazines to go through and quite a collection of books on the Nook, all waiting for their fifteen minutes at the end of the day.

My plan to drink more water, cut out snacks, start a strength-training program and take a daily four-mile walk has worked out well so far, and the accountability part of it – the daily Stats post – has been very helpful. I'm sure it bores you, if you even read it. And I'm sure you're not going to beat me up or make fun of me if I sputter or falter.

Yesterday proved to me how valuable that post is. I was very tired after a morning in the garden and could easily have justified that work as at least as valuable as a walk. I was smart enough to do the lower-body workout before I went out to the garden, I can almost guarantee I wouldn't have done any squats or lunges afterward.

The impossible (referred to in today's quote) is, of course, getting back to a somewhat normal weight for a woman my age and height. The possibilities are working well. If it's true that it takes 21 days to create a new habit, then I've given myself a bit of extra insurance by promising to "report in" for a month. I wish I didn't have to resort to little tricks like this. I'm a grown-up, I shouldn't have to. I should want to do these things because they make me feel good and because they're good for me.

My husband is a little worried that I'm doing too much. All I have to say to allay his concerns is this:

I don't want to end up like my dad.

Friday Quote Day

The best way to find yourself

is to lose yourself in service to others.

~ Mahatma Ghandi

Today's quote is a fitting tribute to my friend and sponsor. For more than 35 years – that's how long she was sober – she followed AA's suggestions and practiced its principles, including the one to "help others." I was so lucky to have met her when I needed her (that's pretty much how it works), and I'm so grateful for her many years of guidance, understanding, patience and love.

I'm in Tennessee now, have been here since Wednesday afternoon, enjoying time with my daughter and her family. My granddaughter's dance recital is Saturday. She and her brother will then be coming home with me to West Virginia.

If it was raining somewhere a couple weeks ago, it's hot there now. That goes for where I live and where I'm visiting, and it makes doing anything outdoors extremely uncomfortable. My desire to be comfortable trumps my desire to burn calories and I'm somewhat disgusted with myself about it.

When I'm using my body – exercising my muscles, moving my limbs – I'm aware of what I can do. When I'm lounging around trying to avoid exertion so as not to sweat, I'm aware of all that I cannot do. Ultimately I'm not comfortable anyway; I might as well take a walk, right? The kids won't be up for a while, so I think that's exactly what I'll do.

I hope one positive step will lead to another (less snacking?) and another (drinking water instead of soda?) and another (_________________________). My healthy habits have taken a nosedive recently, understandable, perhaps, when one's routine is upset, but it's never too late to change course and get back on track.

I have a handful of excuses for not starting over. Who starts over on Friday, on the third day (instead of the first) of the month, when you're at someone else's home, after a great personal loss? Who does that?

I guess I do. Heh.

Friday Quote Day

We may encounter many defeats

but we must not be defeated.

Maya Angelou

That's what KOKO is all about, right?

Sometimes I do feel defeated, mostly when I'm tired, and I'm really tired right now, even though it's 7 a.m. and I should be bouncing off the walls.

I'm defeated by that darned little program on the BlackBerry that I'm supposed to be using to track my daily food intake.

and

I'm defeated by that piece of paper in my office with the strength-training moves on it.

But I'm not defeated. I have been through all of this in the past and come out swinging, and I will again. So why am I so tired? Too much driving, too much thinking, too many people. But I'd do it all again tomorrow if the opportunity arose.

I spent the day yesterday in our state capitol with 100 other Democratic women and more than a few legislators (who are, at their cores, politicians). (A couple of iconic photos here.) West Virginia is holding a special election to install a new governor this fall. The primary is in May, and several candidates were at our event.

When you think of West Virginia, what first comes to mind? Before I moved here, I thought of Appalachian hillbillies living in rundown shacks, coal miners with blackened faces, poverty.

After living here for 14 years, I know that West Virginia is all of that, but much, much more – beautiful mountains; clear, clean streams and rivers; natural beauty; common-sense wisdom; friendly, helpful neighbors; generous spirits; longheld, deep beliefs. And more.

What it isn't, at least any more, is King Coal. Coal is on its way out as a way to "keep the lights on," but politicians who represent us are hellbent on placating the mine owners at the expense of our natural resources. Follow the money.

I can fight that mindset (and did, yesterday, in an uncharacteristic display of courage) or I can believe that it's all bigger than I am, and that my opinion doesn't count.

At the end of the day – and, apparently, at the beginning – I'm still swinging!

Friday Quote Day

You don't stop playing because you get old,

you get old because you stop playing.

~ George Bernard Shaw

In the book I'm "reading" (the Audible version of Born to Run), this quote is amended to read:

You don't stop running because you get old,

you get old because you stop running.

Does that mean if I start running again I'll get younger? Well, maybe.

I've been pretty lucky in my pursuit of running in that I've had very few injuries. I've had one painful bout with plantar fasciitis and I've purchased a couple different knee straps to wear when minor twinges show up. Not bad for five years of off-and-on running.

Older runners have done some remarkable things, and despite my husband's misgivings, I hope to be one. And I hope that being one will keep me active and healthy for the rest of my life, no matter how long that may be.

The biggest obstacle to my running is, of course, my weight. It stands to reason that if I weighed less, I could run more comfortably. And it also stands to reason that running could help me lose weight. It hasn't worked that way in the past, but I'm ever hopeful!

Today's quote is another way of saying what I've said many times before, in real life and on this and my old blog:

Keep on keepin' on.

It's the best way to accomplish anything.

P.S. I posted a couple of pumpkin photos on the Project 365 blog. It's the very last pumpkin from the garden, I promise. I love this pumpkin, it has the shape of a traditional Jack O'Lantern, but the skin of a butternut. I hope the seeds will produce more of the same, but there's no guarantee of that. Have a look!

Friday Quote Day

We cannot do everything at once,

but we can do something at once.
~ Calvin Coolidge

Today's quote is brought to you by the word "busy." Man, have I been busy.

The thing about party planning, unless you're a pro, is that you don't do it every day, and therefore you have to think-think-think and make lists-lists-lists and, if you're me, if you think about it and don't put it on a list (or do it right away), you're going to end up with no cream or sugar for the coffee.

I bet that didn't make a bit of sense, did it? Heh.

Yesterday was tough.

Yeah, baking cupcakes all day is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it, right? And since my husband is less-than-handy in the kitchen, it was up to me. These are Snickerdoodle cupcakes with penuche frosting. Martha's recipe called for seven-minute frosting dusted with cinnamon-sugar, but I couldn't have pulled that one off. I hope this is a good combination.

This is half of what we're serving to my mother-in-law's guests. The other cupcakes are carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting. They look just like these, except the frosting is white, so I didn't take another picture.

The carrot cake part is yummy. I baked some of the batter in a small metal mixing bowl and then carved it to look like a cupcake (and ate some of the trimmed-away part). I frosted the lower portion with the penuche and the curved top with cream cheese frosting, and topped it with one candle, because 90 wouldn't fit. I'll get a picture of it tomorrow. It looks a little "homemade-with-love," but I think it'll be fine.

I missed working out yesterday, but there literally was no time. How do those of you with jobs manage?!?!? Although, come to think about it, I used to have a job and I worked out at the gym a couple hours a day. I didn't work in a cupcake factory, though, that must be the difference. Sitting on my ass in front of a computer, which is what I used to do as a graphic designer, is more conducive to doing something physical after work than slaving in a hot kitchen all day.

[An aside: Back in the olden days of graphic design, we actually did a lot of standing. Prior to computer-aided design and desktop publishing, sheets of type had to be trimmed and pasted, lines had to be drawn by hand with ink, overlays had to be created and fitted. All of this was done – standing – at a drawing board, cutting mat and wax machine. Aha! A contributing factor to the obesity epidemic everyone else has overlooked!]

So. Back to the Friday quote. This week has been a steady progression of doing something at once, leading up to the Big Event tomorrow afternoon – my mother-in-law's 90th birthday celebration. Some guests are coming from out of state, including my husband's son and his family, which will add six to our household for the weekend. We can't wait to see the children again. Oh, and their parents, too. Heh.

When everyone has gone home and life settles back down, my workouts will have to ramp up to make up for the lost time from yesterday's no-show. I'm already thinking my February goals were a little over-optimistic. But I might be able to sneak one in today. You know, since the cupcakes are done!

My friend Elora frequently ends her posts with a sunset shot. I recently complained to her that her view is so much better than mine (and it is!). But I couldn't help snagging this shot a couple evenings ago. It reminds me that on Sunday evening, all the hoopla will be over here in the Middle of Nowhere, and will be starting in Dallas. The Packers and Steelers can go at it while we kick back, relax and … eat cupcakes!