Procrastination

It's been way too long.  Sorry.  I'm taking a break from packing just to check in and say hi.  DH and I are moving in two weeks to a beautiful house that we came across during a bike ride last fall.  It was an open house and we rode right up and took off our bike shoes and looked around.  In the intervening months there was a nice convergence of a reduced price and very low mortgage interest rates and we were happily surprised when the owners accepted our lowball bid in April.  Now we're in the midst of a swirl of packing paper, leaning towers of packed book boxes, and dozens upon dozens of carefully labelled boxes destined for various rooms in the new house.

I'm happy to report that I've been really good at culling out tons of stuff we never use.  DH and I have spent two weekends completely emptying our two attics and the garage.  We still have dozens of boxes of family papers from my parents that will go with us, but I've developed a welcome ruthless streak in dealing with lots of stuffed I've stored in the attic for years for sentimental reasons.  Today the Lupus people had the pleasure of hauling away about 10 large trash bags and three wardrobe size boxes with assorted treasures--VHS players, our kids toys (anyone remember those brown Fisher Price cassette player?s), table settings we got as wedding presents, one child bed rail still in its box, the aquarium  that Johnny begged for one Christmas, etc.   It feels great!

We took a break last night and met with Sharon (Gains and Losses) and Bill who were here on the first leg of their summer trip.  We had fun planning a future bike trip to the Eastern Shore over dinner in Alexandria.

My sister got married last weekend!  (Hi Missy!)  she had been a widow for several years and met a very nice fella in her Sunday School class.  They had a lovely wedding.  All my siblings were there (we're a close family) and one of the highlights of the weekend was the surprise appearance of her son and his family.  My nephew is stationed in Korea and was to have been on assignment, but was able to come at the last minute.

DH and I have started biking regularly now that the weather is getting so nice.  Our new house is right on one of our favorite biking routes and just about half a mile from the Mt Vernon bike trail.
I need to put my nose to the grindstone about my diet.  My best friend and I are going to do a Bible Study together  towards that end.  I would really like to reach my goal by this fall.  Doable, I think.

I'm hoping to use the move to polish my routines and hope to make time spent here part of my routine.

Oh, my post title?  Yes, I am procrastinating, but I need to turn to and pack up the rest of the living room tonight.  
Later!
Tish

I'm carving out a little time here to check in.  Life has gotten unbelievably busy in the past few days.  DH and I saw a house for sale nearby that we loved and made an offer.  On its first day on the market it got three offers and our offer was a definite lowball offer.  Surprisingly, they are negotiating with us rather than either of the other two and so my day involves routine trips in to our realtor to sign the latest offer.  We're on the fifth counter now and have said this is our final offer.  Fingers crossed.

I'm doing well on my diet.  Still going to WW.  I had an 8 pound gain over Christmas and have almost got it all gone now.  I still find it totally agravating that one week of off plan eating, and that's just what it was, takes nearly two months to recoup.  Anyway.  I'm a faithful fitbit wearer and meet my daily goal of 12,000 steps with gratifying regularity.  I decided to give up sugar for Lent and have found it surprisingly easy to stick with that plan.  My exercise is a tad iffy now.  I get in my steps, still go to the gym to lift twice a week and play a lot of Wii tennis.  We have the Wii grand slam and I like beating the likes of Venus and Martina and Maria and even Chrissy on a regular basis.  Oh, if you didn't see it, go find Tami's recipe for pork tenderloin medallions with cranberry sauce on her Nutmeg Notebook blog.  A big winner in our house.

With a very quick closing, one of our negotiating chips, we face a big clean up in this house, so I'm off to the garage for an hour or so of sorting through the 3 full size file cabinets from my Dad to see if I need to keep anything . . .Fun.

Sorry for the absence of links and proofreading.  cutting corners on time here.  Stay tuned . . .

Tish

Coming soon . . .a new post from me!

Okay, I've been fairly good at keeping the resolutions I made for the New Year, and I'm adding a new one as of now.  I'm going to post once a week.   I miss you guys! This doesn't count as my one for this week.  I'll be back soon.

Loving  my fitbit!   It's doing a great job of motivating me to move.

Later.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Can you tell that Christmas season has begun at our house?  We got back late last night from our Thanksgiving trip to daughter Laura's family near Seattle.  The high temperature here dropped 20 degrees from yesterday's mid 60s.  My title is from an Amy Grant song that is playing on my Christmas playlist.  The first creche is up on the piano and the first of the Christmas bins is empty and ready to put back in the storage closet.  If you were here, you could smell the cranberry bars that I just took out of the oven.  I made a double batch because today is Jay's birthday and he'll take a tin to his friends at his job and the rest are for the dessert buffet after our annual Messiah sing next week.

Here's a picture of the cranberry bars.  Definitely not diet bars, they have a full complement of butter, sugar, and flour, but these are the BEST bar cookie I know.  I always buy multiple bags of fresh cranberries in the fall to have on hand to make these as needed during the year.  I'll put the recipe in the recipe section at the right.

And here's the first creche that's up.  I collect them and we usually put up seven or eight each Christmas.  I guess I always refer to them as creches because that's the term I heard most at home (my mother's mother was French).  I'm excited because I have a small box that my cousin gave to me when he was clearing out my aunt's house.  The box is marked "creches."  I haven't opened it up yet, but am going to sit down with a cup of hot tea and see what's there sometime soon.

We had a whirlwind trip to Laura's.  We had been thinking about meeting them in the southwest and going to various national parks, but opted to go to Seattle instead.  It worked out to be the best plan.  Laura dislocated her elbow during a coed soccer game last weekend.  The pain didn't recede as expected and a return visit to the doctor and subsequent MRI showed more extensive damage than they'd first thought.  In short she has three bones that were shattered, including the radial head.  She went back for 4 1/2 hours of surgery on Wednesday.  They weren't able to put things back together as they had hoped, so they removed the bone chips and we're praying that the bone she has left will mend itself well enough to give her a decent range of motion in her right arm.  It was good to be there to help.  John took care of the kids and David and I took on the nursing duties and took turns getting things ready for, and cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner.  Fortunately I'd gotten a lot done early (before the surgery), so things did come together pretty well.  Laura felt well enough to come to the dinner table for the Thanksgiving feast and we had a good time afterwards playing games at the table.  Lots of laughter.

Ben, Rose, and Jeanning posing at a local nursery.

Ready for TKD, but playing a game until time to go.

Jeannine learned to make crepes at school and made them for  breakfast for all eight of us!

Ben and Rose fooling around with the Photo Booth app on my iPad.

The grandkids are a joy.  They are 12, 10, and 9 (in 3 more days) now and full of life, smart as can be, and funny.  We played lots of games (telestrations, Scramble with Friends, tripoly, 10,000, Draw Something) worked together to solve several New York Times Crossword puzzles, played basketball outside, and watched National Treasure together.  They were all willing and eager to help their mom when she needed something and I'm sure will continue to take good care of her while she recuperates.  David brought home a new ping pong table from a Black Friday sale and I'm guessing the kids are playing as I type this.

I am up a couple pounds from when we left for Seattle.  I drew a line in the proverbial sand when we came home last night and am back to 17DD, cycle one until I get back to my pre-France weight (about 5 pounds).  I made the cranberry bars today because I'm feeling quite strong and resolved in my plan.  I need to get them safely out of sight into their tins and then I'll be set.  Jay asked for meatloaf (!!) for his birthday dinner and was quite happy with the offer of Boston Market meatloaf, so he'll get to choose whatever he wants and bring it home and DH and I will probably have turkeyburgers, veggies and salad.  Haven't figured out the birthday dessert yet, but I'm sure it'll have a candle in it and he'll love it.

Oh, Laura has a new fitbit and loves it.  I love it too!  I've ordered one.  Do any of you use one?  Any tips?   Laura, the day after her surgery had registered 91 points by dinner time.  She's using that as a baseline to build up to being active again!

Enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

Off to the gym.

Tish

Bonjour!

It's been way too long since I posted.  Lots has happened in the meanwhile, but basically, I'm in good shape and have kept up with my eating plan and my exercise.  Except for the past two and a half weeks when DH and I caught a Space A flight to Europe.  We spent most of that time in France.  We had a marvelous time.  Really, it was probably our best vacation ever.  We enjoyed French cuisine (crepes, omelets aux champignons, pommes frites, boeuf bourgingnon, and creme brulee, plus generous samples of pain au chocolat and croissants from the local boulangeries) but, generally, we tried to be fairly circumspect with respect to eating.  I didn't do any formal exercise, but I'd guess we walked at least 5 miles per day and climbed a gazillion steps up and down various castle towers, church spires and, yes, the Eifel Tower.  Long story short, I gained 1.2 pounds from the day we left to this morning.  Not bad, or "pas mal" as the French would say.  I'm back to my routine now and hope to whittle off the French pounds plus a few more of their recalcitrant American cousins.

Hurricane Sandy hit this area (metro DC) with a rainy, windy bang yesterday, but we managed to get home safely just before the worst of it hit.  Long story, we got a Space A flight home, too, so decided to accept a ride to Charleston, SC.  We landed at 10:30pm Sunday night, rented a car, and drove through the night (9 hours) to get home.  We were lucky not to lose power and our basement crawl space is dry [whoops, I spoke too soon.  It had about a foot of water in it, so DH has the hose set up to siphon it out]  and our trees are still standing.  We were fortunate.  Others were not so lucky.  Our heart goes out to them.

Some of those steps we climbed were at the end of the 30 minute walk from the parking lot, the climb up to the top of Mt Saint Michel.  Here we are, about half way up.

With hopes of being back on track and posting and catching up with you all much more often!

Tish

Notes from the Road

Hey.  I started this a couple of weeks ago and never finished it.  I'm going to post it anyway to sort of catch you up on things.  Since I wrote this I had a nice 4 day trip to NYC with my mom's 89 yr old sister, and my sister and brother.  Now I'm working hard to get ready for our trip to FRANCE!  We're leaving in 9 days and I have tons to do.  I'm on the 3rd of 5 levels with Rosetta Stone and still think it's a super program.  My favorite sentence:  J'ai envie de manger un chocolate, mais je ne devrais pas.  (I want to eat a chocolate, but I shouldn't).  I may actually rely on that phrasing when we're in France! Still doing well on the weight loss front.  Down about 3 pounds from my last report.  A little hard to get in all my usual exercise during these trips, but I'm surely moving.  Lots of walking.

Hi all!  Long time no post, so I thought I'd snatch a few minutes and try to catch you up with my doings over the past couple of weeks.

When last I wrote, I told you that we'd be taking a small bike-holiday over the Labor Day weekend.  Well, we did, but we didn't go to Maryland's Eastern Shore, as we'd planned.  We decided to avoid likely traffic jams on the bridge, and headed west, instead.  We booked a hotel in Shepherdstown, WV, loaded our luggage and bikes in the car and looked forward to biking on the C&O Canal.  I forgot to pack my camera (grrr!) but managed to get a few pix with my iPad.

This is the Bavarian Inn, noted as one of the best hotels along the C&O Canal.  No camping out by the trail and and roughing it for this girl!  I was taken with the line "jacuzzi hot tub in every room" in the hotel write up and never looked back!  Totally worth it.

The building just right of center was where we were.  Just beyond those buildings is the Potomac River and our balcony looked over the river toward C&O on the other side.

This is the only shot of the C&O, but does capture rather nicely the nature of the trail (flat, covered with loose gravel, and somewhat uneven).  The bower effect of the tree canopy was lovely and makes the C&O several degrees cooler than out from under the trees.  The river was on our right, close enough to see, often, and to hear water noises as we rode.  Even though it was a holiday weekend, our two rides (Saturday before dinner and Monday morning) were not crowded at all, but with enough traffic so that we didn't feel alone in the wilderness.  We both rode our hybrid bikes, which were much better on the gravelly surface.  We did hop over the the parallel, lightly travelled Canal Road, for the last few miles, though to enjoy the paved surface.  We rode 12 miles the first day and 17 the last.  

On Sunday morning we drove our bikes to Antitem NP Battlefield and rode there.  Almost no traffic at all, nice paved rodes, a few hilly spots which challenged me, but which I overcame.  All in all, a fantastic ride.  We rode a couple big loops around and took lots of side roads, including one which took us by a local poultry farm.  We went back on our way home and bought two dozen eggs (brown eggs, still warm because the farmer took them right out of the nest to give to us).  The family was Amish.

I was feeling great and hopped right off my bike and up the stairs to the top of this tower.  Great views.  We seemed to be the only ones in the park that morning, just the way I like it.

Look at the hills in this next picture.  It was so steep that there are parts you can't see.  It actually doesn't look as steep as it was!  I balked at this part and opted to repeat the loop we had already done.  That old law of physics applies--whosoever goes DOWN must come UP later!

The following pix are from our next trip, about a week later.  DH had two conferences in the northeast. One in Connecticut and the other in Boston, Massachusetts.  We were gone from Wednesday morning through Saturday evening, took our bikes along and had a great time.  The following pix are from a place we rode near Groton Conn, Bluff Point State Park.  Gorgeous day.  DH talked me into riding to and from the park despite some fairly impressive hills.  I did it!  The park was beautiful, but the path, although hard packed dirt in some places, was mostly covered with gravel, sometimes as deep as 2 or 3 inches.  NOT FUN to bike in.  And this time I had my road bike with its skinny tires.  Besides the gravel, there were some definite hills, up and down, along the 6 mile trail, and small boulders and tree trunks that posed threatening obstacles and demanded carefull navigation.  A couple near misses, but I returned home mostly unscathed, except for one distinctive set of parallel grease covered cuts which still highlight where my chain came a little too close on one hairy descent on a very gravelly steep down hill part.  Note to self:  Do not rely on reviews in Map My Ride when they report that a ride has "paved trails!"

One of many self portraits with my iPad.  This was my favorite.

Going Green, WI

Our heat seems to have abated, but I still have to get up fairly early a couple days a week to get my run in before the grandkids arrive at 7:20.  This beautiful sunrise over the Potomac River is just one of the rewards of my early morning run.  I also enjoy the fresh cool scents that are more evident at that hour. Joe Pye Weed and Sweet Autumn Clematis were especially evident on my last run.  There is also a select community of early morning exercisers who nod or wave to one another in acknowledgement of our dedication and commitment.  I look forward to greeting the blond woman who looks about my age and is always coming from the opposite direction as I am finishing my run.  She's always out there, is in fantastic shape, and is an inspiration to me.  I usually run in the morning and bike in the afternoon or evenings.  DH and I have loved riding together after dinner this summer.  We're planning a short "Bike Holiday" weekend next weekend.  Thinking about going back to Maryland's Eastern Shore and doing a few of the great bike routes in Tablot County.  We've done two of them before but are excited about exploring a little more.  I love that this coastal county is pretty flat!  I'm getting better at hills, but they sap a lot of my energy on a long ride.

Going green?  Well, you know I like my charts.  This chart shows my weight loss for 2012.  That nice downward slope shows the trend of my loss well.  As you can see, I've lost an average of just about one pound every week for the first 34 weeks of this year.  There are obviously some pink spikes, where my daily weight went up, the last being when we were up in Canada (s'mores!) but you can see I've managed to get back to losing each time.  

At my WI on Wednesday, I lost 2.4 pounds!  I am in that new decade, now, and just over 15 pounds from my goal weight.  I also weighed less than I have since 2008.  All this means, of course, that I'm spending a lot of time in my closet.  I love trying on cute clothes that have been waiting patiently for me to trim down.  My 12P jeans that I reclaimed last month are getting roomy and the 10P are already on my shelf.  I've culled out a couple bags full that are now definitely too big and that I'm not going to wear again. Ever.  In the past, despite good advice, I've always saved some of my favorite "big clothes," just in case.  Not this time.  They're out of here.  Clothes shopping is fun again, too.  Cute, normal sized clothes from the "regular" section of the store fit.  I'm not buying much, because I'm going to lose more and because I have all those "old-new" clothes that fit again.  But I'm really loving the ability to "reject" anything that I try on, not because it's too tight, but because it's not exactly what I want!  

DH and I are having fun going through Rosetta Stone French lessons.  We're planning a 2 week trip to France in October. We're going to spend a few days in Paris and then rent a car and drive to places we want to go--Bayeux, Normandy, the chateaux country along the Loire, the Perigord region, Lascaux, and Bordeaux.   I used to be reasonably fluent in French, but living in Italy for three years pushed my French abilities out of my brain.  The lessons are bringing it back.  DH has never studied French but is whizzing through the first units and enjoying it.  

Parlez you francais?