Getting set to head out to dinner. Jack and I will be going to Sweet Tomatoes -- the most nutritious of the all-you-care-to-eat concept places. My plan is to start with a salad, leaving off dressing and croutons. Then I'll skip the pizza, and instead enjoy all the soup I want. For dessert, if they have something special that appeals to me, I'll have a bit. Otherwise, I'll save myself for one of Jack's chocolate chip cookies when I get home!
I had a great lunch out on my deck. It was 2 oz of leftover salmon, a slice of my wonderful multigrain bread from Beyond Bread, a carrot, a half cup of blackberries, and a cup of skim milk! I love eating this way and it thrills me that I can eat this well and lose weight. And, although the weight loss has been tediously slow (11 lbs in 3 months), I am determined to keep it down this time. I'm at 132.5 this morning, from a high of 143.5 on 10/25/11. My goal is to grow older in a body that's 125 lbs. :)
I'm finding, too, that I'm not obsessed with food, as I used to be. I mean, I do think about it, because I have to be sure that I have the right things in my house, but I'm no longer thinking "appetizer" when it gets to be 4:00, "dessert" when dinner's done, "snack" when it's mid-morning, etc..
Non-food things: Mail came finally, so if I owed you money, it's on the way now. We took Mary to her heart doc and found out that all is well there. After a trip to Albertsons, we took her back home.
The weather today is perfect. Lightly cloudy, but mostly sunny and lovely. I've been watching other people go past on the way to and from the pool. It's not quite warm enough for me to want to go to the pool. I need 80. :)
Friday, January 20, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Putting it away
There are too many things that it took me too long to learn. These usually come crashing over me in one of those delightful "aha" moments that leave us wanting to shout from the rooftops. So here I am, shouting from my virtual rooftop!
"A place for everything and everything in its place" ... We've all heard that one a thousand times -- so often that it loses its meaning. When we are trying to get ourselves organized --and who isn't? -- we need to first have a place for everything. That is a topic about which many books have been written, and about which I could likely write a fetching book of my own. But that's not what I'm going to write about today.
What I've learned recently though is that I'm far better off if I put things away, immediately, where they belong. Here is an example: When I arrive home from the grocery, arms full of purse, keys, and grocery bags, I set things wherever, just to free my hands and take off my coat.
In the past, I might have hung my coat on the post by the steps, dropped my purse beside it, and set my keys on the table. Then I'd begin putting away the groceries. I'd attack the cold stuff, putting freezer things into the freezer and the fridge stuff in the fridge. Then maybe the phone would ring or I'd have to go to an appointment. No big deal to leave the rest of the groceries till later, right?
So I grab my coat and my purse and head out. But wait... where are my keys? Urgh... back into the house, I retrace my steps, ultimately finding them on the table.
So what's wrong with this and why did I feel a need to change? What I'm doing now saves me time, stress, and dignity. What's different is that now I put things away.... where they belong. My coat goes into the closet, hung up. My purse goes into the cabinet in the top drawer alongside my keys. (Nothing else is in that drawer to make it hard to find these things I use all the time.)
I still put away the cold stuff first. And then I put everything else away. Not sort of away. Away. Fruit in the fruit bowl (alongside my fake fruit!) and cereal in the cereal cabinet. Someone calls, I let the voicemail get it. Putting things away is important. If I have another appointment, it can wait that 2 minutes that it'll take to put things where they belong.
And I'll save that 2 minutes when it comes time to leave anyway, because I don't have to look for my keys! My coat is hung with my other coats, so I can easily see which coat I really want to take for this other errand.
The bonus is that, when I arrive home, everything is put away. I don't have to see stuff all over my counters. I do this little thing -- put things away, where they belong, immediately, and my house will always be ready for company. :)
Simple? You bet. But it was a revelation to me.
"A place for everything and everything in its place" ... We've all heard that one a thousand times -- so often that it loses its meaning. When we are trying to get ourselves organized --and who isn't? -- we need to first have a place for everything. That is a topic about which many books have been written, and about which I could likely write a fetching book of my own. But that's not what I'm going to write about today.
What I've learned recently though is that I'm far better off if I put things away, immediately, where they belong. Here is an example: When I arrive home from the grocery, arms full of purse, keys, and grocery bags, I set things wherever, just to free my hands and take off my coat.
In the past, I might have hung my coat on the post by the steps, dropped my purse beside it, and set my keys on the table. Then I'd begin putting away the groceries. I'd attack the cold stuff, putting freezer things into the freezer and the fridge stuff in the fridge. Then maybe the phone would ring or I'd have to go to an appointment. No big deal to leave the rest of the groceries till later, right?
So I grab my coat and my purse and head out. But wait... where are my keys? Urgh... back into the house, I retrace my steps, ultimately finding them on the table.
So what's wrong with this and why did I feel a need to change? What I'm doing now saves me time, stress, and dignity. What's different is that now I put things away.... where they belong. My coat goes into the closet, hung up. My purse goes into the cabinet in the top drawer alongside my keys. (Nothing else is in that drawer to make it hard to find these things I use all the time.)
I still put away the cold stuff first. And then I put everything else away. Not sort of away. Away. Fruit in the fruit bowl (alongside my fake fruit!) and cereal in the cereal cabinet. Someone calls, I let the voicemail get it. Putting things away is important. If I have another appointment, it can wait that 2 minutes that it'll take to put things where they belong.
And I'll save that 2 minutes when it comes time to leave anyway, because I don't have to look for my keys! My coat is hung with my other coats, so I can easily see which coat I really want to take for this other errand.
The bonus is that, when I arrive home, everything is put away. I don't have to see stuff all over my counters. I do this little thing -- put things away, where they belong, immediately, and my house will always be ready for company. :)
Simple? You bet. But it was a revelation to me.
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