@MusicCandy @SadMe70 A place to communicate

I made it through another "time to sleep" without wine/chamomile tea just like you. 2 days so far this week

I did well with the wine again this week. I still wake up around 3ish, but get back to sleep much quicker with no alcohol in me. I had wine Friday and Sat nights, and slept badly but it's worth it! I will only get one meal made ahead this week, but I plan to have an omelet one day and fish another day, and my husband makes those 2 meals. On my yoga night (Tuesday), I will stop at Wawa. They actually have 2 really good, healthy, premade salads so I don't feel so bad about eating there once a week pretty often (except that my husband has me get him a sub, oh well).

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad work week! Two days of no wine is great though, and keeping up with low carbs is fantastic! What kinds of salad do you like? I like the bagged spinach/kale mix but then I add lots of tasty stuff to make it interesting - dried fruit, sliced almonds, avocado, chickpeas, feta, whatever I have on hand to make it yummy but still healthy. For dressing I like flavored vinegars mixed with olive oil. I have a peach vinegar and a pear one that are both tasty.

I do make the yogurt from goat milk. Two years ago I got an Instant Pot, which is a pressure cooker but has a yogurt setting. It has made yogurt making sooo easy. I throw a gallon of milk in there, it boils, I take it out and cool it in a sink of ice water to a certain temp, stir in the culture, put it back in the Instant Pot and let it sit in there doing its thing for 10 hours. So for a few minutes of work on my part, I have a gallon of fresh yogurt. I have a super-fine sieve that I can drain it to make very thick yogurt. I often put some into a container with a bunch of frozen fruit on top and let it thaw then mix it up. For most fruits I don't add any additional sweetener. For something more tart, I might put in a little honey. I also use the plain yogurt as a savory on some lentil dishes or stuff like that. I love my yogurt!

I am going to the state fair today! I go every few years, and it's been about 3 since I last went. I don't do the rides or midway stuff. I head straight for the goat barn first! My Alpine's breeder often shows her goats, so hopefully we will see her there. Then I go see the chickens and rabbits, and whatever other animals are there. My other favorite thing is the arts and crafts hall. I like to drool over the baked goods, and especially like to see the quilts. I have been wanting to get a quilt for my new bed, since I got my parents' old headboard, and I always love the quilts at the fair. If there is one I like, I thought maybe I could get the person to sell it to me or make me one. Fingers crossed that I will find a great quilt! The best part of today is that my older son is driving down from Fredbg, hopefully with his gf if she got enough homework done yesterday, and my younger son convinced his roommate to bring him from Richmond, so both of my boys will be there! I think this will be a great day!

I hope your day is going great, and that you have a much better work week this week. Keep up the excellent work with your low carbs and no-wine nights!!

State Fair! Yea for you and spending time with your sons and GFs will be even better. We used to go every year when it was in Richmond but not the past few years.I was a volunteer with a booth for prenatal health which gave me a free ticket and I only had to purchase for the family. Just like you, I don't like the rides either; I have a fear of heights and motion sickness. But like you say- there is plenty of good old fashioned fun. I know you will enjoy the animals and looking at quilts. I remember growing up- my grandmother had the extra bedroom set up with a quilt rack hung from the ceiling I guess- and the aunts and cousins could all sit around and work on a quilt. The upstairs had no heat so winter was feather beds with a pile on of quilts and you never slept so good.(tin roof too). IThe weather is beautiful for the fair. Enjoy and make memories. After the terrible shooting, we all have to treasure our family and cherish the time we have- you never know.

Fiance and I took a long hike yesterday downtown over the river walking bridge to Belle Isle and down trails. It was so nice and warm - very restorative for me, and I love sharing the hikes with him. He is talkative and entertaining and I am more quiet, but open with him.

Good for you my friend with the no wine but week-ends. That is fantastic! Mind over matter mostly, I know. I am fully committed to the 2 nights and low carbs for now. When it gets to be a habit I will add another night- but I'd rather have success with a little goal first. I did have less wine last week too. So lets keep it on the upswing for awhile..

I am writing to you from PA. I came up yesterday afternoon for my mom's birthday dinner last night. Her actual birthday is today. My sisters came, my brother-in-law, and both my sons came too. I didn't end up seeing much of my sons at the fair, so it was a nice treat to spend the evening with them and everyone else. I did make a good quilt contact at the fair. Last night I had pizza, cake, and wine, but I was good all week so that's ok. I knew all that was coming. I will have more cake today and probably take a little home tonight. We played a fun game called Quiddler, and I found out that my younger son has a girlfriend. He skyped her so I could "meet" her. His only other gf was for about 3 weeks last year and I never even met her before she broke up with him. This girl seems lovely. So the evening was wonderful.

Today will be emotional but good too. Mom is at church and everyone else left last night or very early this morning. I drove over to the church to visit Dad's grave. His VA footstone came in since I last visited. I cried a while in the graveyard and just got back to Mom's. I'm hoping to do an exercise video in a few minutes to combat the cake. After lunch Mom and I are headed up to York, PA to a memorial service held by the facility where Dad died, in memory of everyone who died this year. So, more crying is probably in my near future! I'm headed home after that but it will be close to bedtime before I get home.

Tomorrow we start our kindergarten literacy groups. In the past, the paras have been divided into two teams of 3 and one group goes into 2 classes and the other into 3 (a half hour per class). This year, in order to have smaller groups, 5 of us will go into a class at a time, and the 6th one will be doing one-on-one lessons with really low kids for that half hour. So we will each teach 4 K lessons plus have one rotation as the one-on-one person. That will be a very busy morning but I think it is a good idea. Smaller groups of lower kids will make the lessons more effective. (The high kids have been bumped out of the program because it's really intended for low kids anyway.) Our afternoons are already first grade literacy groups, and that will continue.

Your hike sounds lovely! I want to go to Belle Isle but have not made it there so far. I think my son and I were close the day we went on the Pipeline trail last year, because we wandered a bit, but I wasn't sure exactly where it was. I am glad you have your fiance to be more open with than with others. I get along well with some of the people at work, but I don't socialize much, and mostly only my husband and one close friend from high school know the "real" me.

I think your idea of getting your current plan to be your normal routine before adding something else is a good idea. I well know that trying too much at once gets overwhelming and can be doomed from the start. I have actually finally lost a few pounds, though I jump up and down. Mostly up on the weekends and back down by the end of the week! The overall trend is slowly downward though, so I'm very happy. That makes it a little easier to resist the wine on weeknights, though boy do I want it sometimes!

Seems like we are both doing great right now. Yay us!!

This week seems to have flown by. I got in most of my exercise, except for the short hike I've been trying to do on Thursdays. This Thurs was my monthly physical therapy maintenance appt and I needed it. My neck has been killing me, and she gave me some relief. Lately I have mostly been focusing on doing things to work on my pelvic rotation to alleviate my lower back and knee issues, and haven't been working on my neck or jaw. There's just too many spots that need to be worked on!

I am not traveling anywhere this weekend so my food intake should not be crazy like the last 2 weekends. I am going to try and catch up on stuff that I've gotten behind on. For example, I haven't cleaned hay out of the animal pen in 3 weeks! I picked 3 butternut squash a couple of weeks ago and haven't done anything with them yet, but I saw two recipes I want to try. One is pumpkin oatmeal, and the other is pumpkin almond butter. I always use butternut for my "pumpkin" pies, so I figure it should work in these recipes. I also want to make a pureed soup.

How did the extra shift go on Sunday? You function really well with not a lot of rest. I'm not good with that. I feel tired all the time as it is, partly from restless sleep. I am sleeping better without wine though, which makes me sad because I want my wine. But, today is an allowable wine day because I don't get up early tomorrow! I have been getting up 10 minutes earlier this week because on non-YMCA days, I try to squeeze in 10 min of exercise in the morning between milking and showering, and I wanted to try and bump that to 20. I end my mini sessions dancing to the link below. I come in from the animal pen and take off my dirty clothes, and dance to the booty dance in my underwear and bra before I get in the shower. And I do NOT look or move like JLo! It's so fun but I'd die if anybody, even my husband, ever saw me.

My booty dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdBLqZ1MtEo

Good for you witih the extra no wine night! It's sad that something we both like so much is something we need to limit. Don't worry about one slip on the carbs! Like you said, you were off routine. You have been doing great overall! Like me with my birthday cake last weekend, I let myself be ok with that and got back to my regular routine this week. Keep it up, my friend!

Sometimes it seems things are better than usual, then it is more like "meh" - whatever. This was one of those weeks. I am holding steady with the 2 days without wine and I'll try for one more. Carbs are OK one day then feeling tired and it's no more control. I know my biggest help is making a list for the week and checking it off, and I didn't do that. I need to do that every Monday. I don't like crazy sleep patterns either, but it is just part of my routine that is a trade-off right now. The other night I was on call and drove back home in the downpour, 3:30 AM. Not good or very safe. The only thing is I try to catch up when I can on sleep, but it's not best for your health. I read about the Nobel proze winners that discovered the different body clocks and how they work together for good health, but not on my time frame.

I didn't grow winter squash, but I should make a patch because it is sooo good. I like it anyway you cook it. It gives you a sweet taste with the spices and lots of fiber. Have fun with your recipes!

Good for you getting back on track too. Life happens and I don't think we should be so deprived that we can't enjoy some treats, and some wine. I know your exercise in cleaning pens counts and a happy dance video definitely puts you in a good mood. Thanks for sharing the clip. Thanks for the back pats too. Right back at you!

Feeling tired and lazy today. I had two glasses of wine last night and they were so tasty, but I slept pretty crappy. It does confirm that it's a good idea for me not to have wine during the week. Sigh. I've been trying to drink herbal tea at night and pretend it's just as good. My eating has been pretty good except for eating extra chocolate on Friday through today each time I had wine. I missed my weeky hike because I had my monthly physical therapy appointment, but otherwise got my other regular exercises done.

We did put the rooster down yesterday which is a big relief to me. He was starting to get aggressive and I was getting afraid of him. The animal pen is my haven, and I need it to be a happy, safe place. I made him into stew. I went to pick up a goat buck from a friend, to breed my two smaller goats, and he got away from us.

I made the pumpkin oat bran for breakfast this morning, with cinnamon, allspice, and syrup. It was delicious! I have some yogurt made and I'm going to put some pumpkin in that, plus a little honey.

I'm sorry you had a tough week. I hope this week will go better! Make your list this week!!! I will be checking up on you! I hope your schedule will not be as crazy this week and you can get more regular sleep. I know that will help with your diet.

List, what list?!? This week was another mixed up mess of changing work scedules which affected sleep/work/eating and pretty much everything. However, I admit I had time on Sunday to make some sort of list but I didn't, so this Sunday I am going to do that for sure. I am making a note to make a list. Ha!

Your pumpkin bran dish sounds so good. I love pumpkin anything especially the spices. It has to be really good with your yogurt. So sorry you had to put down your rooster, and the goat getting away too? Animals can bring us a lot of companionship and acceptance. Rachael's kit-tee is all that to her and I'm grateful. Actually Fiance's cat, but Rachael loves her too. She is pretty mild natured when she is in the house, but when she is outside we find little chipmunks and voles that she captured, and then they wouldn't play anymore

I signed up for a metabolic research study at VCU that included an accurate body fat measurement with a "bod-pod". Have you heard of that? It looks like a pod that you sit in and it gives you as precise breakdown of fat/muscle/water. Some gyms and PT places have one, but an analysis is expensive. $75. So this was free for participating, having a blood draw and questionaire about your activity. so it showed about what I expected- I have "excess body fat". - but not obese. I had something similar at the gym awile ago and it was close to that figure, adding the pounds I gained I wasn't surprised. I was hoping the gain would be muscle! Not so much.

I am on for the 2 days without wine this week, but the low carbs has not been good. Candy everywhere. Parties at the hospital. Good for you limiting the wine days/evenings. Keep it up and get some exercise this week-end. Fall is a great time to enjoy nature around us. I'm going to do that for sure.

The weekdays with no wine has been good for me, but I overdo it every weekend and sleep really badly and start the week off tired. I just had one mixed drink on Friday night at dinner, but 3 glasses on Saturday night and was awake for a few hours during the night and felt crappy all day Sunday. The one good thing was that since I was awake anyway, I went outside and laid on the ground and stared at Orion looking for meteors. I ended up seeing 4 of them which was cool. None were actually in the constellation where I was looking, so I just saw them out of the corner of my eye, but still cool.

I hope you made a note to make a list, and subsequently made the list! I think it is amazing how much you are able to stick to even with your crazy schedule. My "good" wineless sleep is not even that great and I wake up stiff and sore and unmotivated every morning. You are a strong person!

I am not sorry about the rooster. It is much nicer without him in the pen making me nervous, and crowing really early. I made stew so he did not go to waste. We have the little buck now, and he's so tiny I'm not sure he will get the job done. My neutered male, who has not had a problem with the other 2 bucks we've brought here, keeps chasing him away from the girls, so I haven't even seen him get a chance to try anything yet. It's great that Rachael has a kitty to love! I have 2 cats and really enjoy them too. So soft and purry! They do like to bring presents too, and the dog loves playing with them when the cat is done.

The research study sounds really interesting! I have never heard of a bod-pod. Your results sound like what I would expect for myself too, excess body fat but not obese. What else will you do as part of the study?

I hope you will get a chance to take more good snacks with you to work and avoid that candy! I am sure it will ramp up more at school as Halloween gets closer, plus people dumping stuff after Halloween. Sometimes I put a note to myself in my pocket, like Stay Strong, or Don't Let Other People Derail You. Corny but sometimes it helps.

I really hope your week is less hectic! I am thinking about you!!

Hello my friend.. I planned to jot a note this week but time just slipped on by. I had a 3 AM call back Tuesday night so that messed up half of Wednesday trying to get some, but not too much sleep. I know what you mean about sometimes just enjoying the wine too much to worry about the after effects. I have gotten to the point that I don't overdo it, but sometimes I wake up and my tummy feels queasy because of the wine. It must have been nice though just lying back and looking atbstars. I do think we need to do THAT sometimes to appreciate how the world just keeps on turning and it is bigger than our little problems.

I DID make a list and even though I didnt physically ck off each thing, it was on the counter so I saw it every day and I did much better with sticking to a plan. though not perfectly. Just that visual reminder seemed like a committment to myself . I can appreciate your little note in the pocket , something similar.

The bodpod research study really only gave me that breakdown that I mentioned, mostly your fat % number. The bloodwork was for their ctudy and I didn't get any readout from that. Still, it was good to know. . I think. They give you a BMI number too but that is pretty easy to figure out with measurements of your waist/hip. The tech did do the tape measure too so that should be pretty accurate.

I hope you are getting in your therapy and exercise this week. Fiance and I went on a bike excursion today around the downtown floodwall, but it was a refurbished bike he fixed for me and not ideal for a long ride. A lot of getting on and off the bike! They have a new bike share program around town shere you can rent a bike for an hour , or a day and they are really nice bikes. There are drop off stations at different spots. We may try that another day. Enjoy the Fall weather this week-end, and I'll be thinking of you and your menagerie.