@MusicCandy @SadMe70 A place to communicate

Hello! It has been a pretty good week overall. I have stuck to my diet and have gotten plenty of exercise. The weight loss has already slowed, but I am still down 6 pounds so that is good. I have done 4 physical therapy sessions for my shoulder. The therapist is the one I saw for my neck about 8 years ago, and I have a little bit of a crush on him, so it's nice to see him again :-) He's a really good PT also, though I think all the ones I've seen over the years for my various problems have been good so I've been lucky!

We did Father's Day last night, because it is the only day we could get both boys and their girls together. It was very nice. They came here and we made pizza again. My wonderful husband pre-made me a cauliflower crust to go with my diet, and it was delicious! We may go see my older son on actual Father's Day, since his gf and my other son and DIL are all away that day.

I am glad they came over and cheered us up because our basement flooded Thursday night and again on Friday. We spent 5 hours Friday trying to keep water out of the basement, and cleaning up what did come in. I made many, many trips up and down the outside basement stairs with buckets of water, so I earned my pizza and didn't gain any weight from it!! The basement is an even bigger mess now, and still drying out. We left the door open all day with the attic fan runnign to get some air blowing through there. We need to get rid of a lot of stuff before it can be put into any kind of order, much less clean the floor. Who knows when that will happen. I've decided this summer my big project is my own body, so if I lose weight and heal my shoulder, I don't care how the basement looks right now!

A massage for your friend Beth sounds really good! I am sure she needs some downtime and stress relief. That was very thoughtful of you!

I am glad you found homes for 2 kittens! Any more progress on the last one and the mother?

I finally got my bloo​dwork results, and the ANA and other extra tests to try and find the cause of my hand pain were all negative. I am glad not to have an autoimmune disease, rheumatic arthritis, etc! No hand pain right now thanks to the course of naproxen, so maybe it will just stay away! The one surprise was high LDL! My cholesterol has always been low, so I was pretty surprised by that. It's not way high, but I don't really understand why it was high at all, except for my weight gain. Hopefully the weight loss will take care of that.

Is high LDL your issue also? I hope you don't have to go on a statin. My husband is on one, among many other meds. I know how good you are about diet and exercise, so it is a surprise that yours is high too. I hope the lipidologist can give you some suggestions to try before meds!

​I got a very cool map of Shenandoah National Park on Amazon, made by National Geographic. It's a color topographic map, with every little trail, and distances of each trail segment, and water resistant! I thought it was really neat, and showed my kids last night and they made fun of it. One son was poking it saying "Alexa, navigate home." But I think it's cool!! I have at least 3 hikes I want to try, but not sure when I will get out there!

I hope work hasn't been to hectic, and you have had a chance to get out for some good walks between rainstorms!

first paragraph - flood, not food Geez.

Hello! I forgot to tell you I was on vacation last weekend, and I see that I missed the previous weekend too. So sorry about that!! My summer is actually halfway over already, as I go back Aug. 2. The timing of the school year still feels weird to me!

My vacation was wonderful!! We stayed in Grayson County in southwestern VA. I found a great house on airbnb for $115/night. It was an old farmhouse, so full of charm. The owner is a doctor but paints as a hobby and every wall of the house was filled with artwork, his and others. It was fun to walk into a room and see a picture you hadn't noticed the last time!

I did find a house with bedroom and bathroom on the first floor, but my husband still had problems. He almost fell coming into the house the first day. We had to bring a big trailer to hold his larger mobility scooter, so it was hard to park almost everywhere we went, but he used it to drive up to a side door that only had 2 steps and he could reach the doorframe to balance. We had to bring foldout cushions to make the bed higher, and a toilet rail. One morning he was on the scooter on the edge of the driveway where a hill started and he tipped over onto the driveway rocks. I don't know how many more times we can go away, because he just can't function.

Aside from that aspect of it, I loved the vacation! We visited 6 state parks, one on the way down, one on the way home, and the four that were within an hour of the house. My very favorite was Grayson Highlands. They have semi-wild ponies that were released there in the 70s to keep a clearcut area clear. It was very cool to see them in the beautiful mountain setting. The trails there are very fun and beautiful too. We went there 3 times. The weather was cooler up in the mountains, and NO humidity and NO bugs!

If I lived near there, I would lose all my weight! I was actually down 10 pounds when we left, and only gained 1.5 back on vacation because I was mostly good with my eating and drinking. I did have s'mores three nights as my vacation treat! I took over 300 pictures over the week. So many probably look very similar, of lakes and mountains, but every time the beauty took my breath away, I HAD to get a picture of that particular landscape! There used to be a user on here called SoulSings, and while I liked all 6 parks, Grayson made my soul sing.

The sushi sounds delicious! I don't like the raw fish ones much, but veggie and other ones I like a lot. I had smoked salmon sushi once that I've never had elsewhere and I still remember how tasty it was! I'm glad your fiance liked it too!

I hope you do get more good kitten homes from the FB lead! Also glad that the rescue group came for the second litter so you didn't have to deal with those as well! My goats were not successfully bred, so no babies and no milk. I haven't had milk since last fall. I got some a couple of times from a friend, but I miss having it regularly. On the other hand, not having milk and cheese around all the time is helpful for my diet! I do wish I had the yogurt though!

I am glad you are getting all the legal work done for Rachael. I am sure it is a big worry for you. I hope your ex does not cause any trouble. From his age, I see that he is a lot older than you, like my own husband is. Another thing we have/had in common! Since she lives with you, and you are likely to outlive him, it seems the logical choice for you to be her guardian.

We are going to my sister's house for a few hours for the 4th. We can't stay too long as it is a 2 hour drive each way and we have to leave the dog at home, but it will be our first full family get-together since the pandemic - my sons, their girls, my sisters and brother-in-law, my mom, and my mom's sister who is unmarried and childless so has always spent major holidays and vacations with my family. We'll be driving home when fireworks would be happening, but I hope that will help there not be a big backup getting back across the bridge on 301 at the Potomac.

I hope you are able to do something fun tomorrow! If you are working, I hope it is not too hectic a night - no stupid fireworks accidents, etc.! I am sorry for having missed 2 weeks - thanks for sticking around!

Have a great week, with hopefully somewhat cooler weather!

I knew you were doing fun summer activities so i wasn't worried. That was a great deal on the home. So many people are using Air B&B and VRB now. It seems like a win for everyone. I have read reviews about Grayson Co. that agree with you - that it is supremely beautiful and relaxing. I would love it too when we can do more exploring, and still close to home.
So more parks for your list! I'm smiling for you that you could enjoy the whole experience and take pictures . It must take a lot of patience on your part with your husbands limitations - but thats what we do.. right? I'm glad he wasn't hurt falling.
I'm working this weekend, but off tomorrow Sunday as my usual schedule. But I'm usually tired and just rest Sunday evening.I like fireworks, but Rachael doesn't like them at all. I'm sure there will be an oppertunity to park far enough away from the noise and still see them if we decide to do that. One year I was at the D. C. celebration and that was quite a show to see in person. I'm glad you will have some family time, even a short visit. I try to video call my sisters, but its hit or miss with at least one of them. I called my neice in N. M. last /sunday and we talked a looong time. I actually have more in common with her than my sisters - it was a nice feeling to share some time with her.

It doesn't look like I will get a week away this summer, but a day here and there to kayak will help mentally. And HEY - Fiance painted the bookcases this week-end, the boxes of books that were in them sat in the living room for 2 years i think, ?i lose count. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Any little fresh update helps me enormously.
The VA War Memorial put up thousands of flags on the lawn for Independence Day, i'd like to ride by there and take in the riverfront a few hours. Again, any little thing.
And, like the movie- you NEVER have to say you're sorry.. I know i can count on you to come back with a story.
Keep the summer fun going as long as you can, and I will too.

Hello! I did have a good visit with my family on the 4th. It was really good to see my aunt for the first time since March 2020. On our drive home we could see a few fireworks which was a nice bonus. Did you end up going anywhere to see them? I have never seen the ones in DC. I went to the ones at the Inner Harbor one year when I lived in Baltimore, which may be the biggest ones I have seen. Next weekend I am going up to PA to spend time with my mom, and we hope to see a couple of my dad's relatives, and maybe my mom's brother.

My daughter-in-law and I went hiking on Wednesday out in the mountains. My husband drove us out there like he always does for me. I am going to try to walk with her somewhere close to Fredericksburg this coming week, and maybe my other son's gf if she can make it.

My diet is going strong - down 13 pounds now. This is my week to be all bloated, so I don't expect to see any change until that is all over and gone. The exercise is really making all the difference, because I eat my regular healthy meals, but still have enough calories left to have chocolate and wine *in moderation*. I hope I can keep up with the moderation part when school starts, since that has alwatys been a challenge for me!

I actually did some outside work yesterday. We have some blueberry bushes on a mound that we built years ago since our soil here is bad, and I had planted red bee balm in between. The bee balm grew so well that I have thinned it twice, but it was starting to overshadow some of the smaller blueberry bushes. My husband's helpers built a sort of cage around the whole mound, out of bamboo poles and netting, to keep birds from eating the berries, but twice this week there was a hummingbird caught inside there, going after the bee balm (which is a pollinator attractor). I dug all of it out and moved it to various locations. It took me an hour and a half, and although it was shady and not very hot, it was so humid I felt like I was breathing through a blanket! I hope the flowers will survive because they are beautiful and have bloomed every year, and the pollinators really do like them.

It is nice that you have such a close relationship with your niece! My sisters don't have children, so that is something I won't ever experience. My youngest sister was pregnant once but had a miscarriage, and I guess she was never able to, or chose not to, try again. I'm so glad you got to have a nice long talk with her! That does sound really nice.

Hooray for the newly painted bookshelves! How do they look?​ I know you are glad to get the boxes out of your living room, and the books back on the shelves. We have a lot of stuff sitting around this house endlessly like that! It's always nice to get something done and put back like it should be.​

I hope you will get a chance to kayak here and there! I have not been for 2 years I think. I know I went with my son in Fredbg but I think that was 2019. Did you get to ride by the War Memorial to see the flags? I know what you mean about the little things. I get a nice feeling just seeing some beautiful flowers or trees, or even how the blue sky looks against the green trees. Any news on the kitty rehoming?

I hope you have had a great week!

I assumed the bookshelves were done! I hope they are farther along by now!

I had a tricky week for the diet. My period was later than usual, which makes it come on with a vengeance, and it wipes me out. I didn't do much exercise, and I ate too much some days. So, I'm up 2 pounds but still that's down 11. I am headed to my mom's today and a little worried about that. Mom eats very healthy, but we are having relatives for lunch one day, which will include my mom's amazing cheesecake. My sisters will be there half the week and they do not eat well at all. One day we are all going on a day trip and will be gone for two meals. I'm going to push for taking our lunch, but not sure what to do about dinner. I do not want to eat at a restaurant but will probably have to. I hope we can do carryout at least - I am not at ALL comfortable eating inside somewhere and have avoided that so far. Mom is going to lunch with her sister and two friends one day also and wants me to come, really pushing me to do it, and I am so uncomfortable about that. In addition to the food challenges will be exercise challenges. I like to do a 30 min cardio video in the mornings but I will feel awkward, espec around my two very overweight sisters, plus I want to take some walks but it's been so hot. I will do the best I can!!

Your protein shakes sound tasty and nice a cool in this awful weather! That is a great way to get a healthy snack or meal. I have made yogurt-based "green" shakes in the past with spinach, kale, even cooked sweet potato. I like them but find I am too lazy to get them prepped and made.

I have been sleeping pretty badly, whether I take melatonin or not. I am very interested in CBD in gummy or other non-smoking form. Do you mind telling me what specific product you use? I know nothing about what might work for me or where to get it. A friend sent me a really good description of different strains of the plant and what they are good for, but I don't want to smoke anything. I need something I can ingest. Plus gummies will make me think I am getting candy :) Good job sticking to small glasses of wine! Four oz is the size I shoot for also if I have enough calories left in the evening for both wine and chocolate. I split the calories between the two, so it's usually something like 4 oz wine and 5 Hershey kisses.

I have picked about two big handfuls of blackberries for the last two days! Very exciting! The Japanese beetles are getting to the leaves so we started spraying neem oil. We have released a bunch of praying mantis over the last couple of years for bug control, and I have seen two of them in the berry area. The neem is not supposed to hurt them since they don't eat the leaves, but fingers crossed! One day I suited up in jeans and a denim jacket and gloves and picked some of the wild ones on my driveway. Those thorns are ferocious! I have not tried again yet - too hot!

I didn't do much with herbs this year - just the perennials that came back and my husband planted a couple of basil plants. Your herb pots sound nice. Are they in your house? I might put some inside this winter to have something green. My husband potted a fern from the woods that was doing really well inside the house until we went on vacation and it died from lack of water. He's going to try again.

Did you get back to the river? It's certainly good weather for that! I hope you've had a chance to do some paddling!

Thank you for your encouragement! It means a lot!!

Hello,
Y ou may be already on your way to your Mom's, but I am writing anyway. No rush to answer of course. I wish I could offer advice on the eating out dillema, I'm in your court. There are still so many unvaccinated folks, and youg people getting sick now ( we had a 16 y/o death at an emergency center yesterday , just found unresponsive) Even vaccinated people are getting sick, but not as bad, but who wants to get it at all? We are seeing the numbers creep back up and that is not good. i wish you the best outcome on all the tiny decisions for the days that you are there. It is really hot to even walk outside, but Rachael and I are still trying early in the morning when possible. I have one overweight sister, one hypochondriac that has health problems, but she makes it worse, and one that tends to anorexia. I'm already thinking about the VTtrip next September, We will be in one house, but its just a weekend.
The new sleep supplement I tried is Swanson brand online. They have about every kind of supplement you can imagine, and reasonably priced. It is CDB sleep support Full spectrum. I do find that I stay asleep longer and no fuzziness in the AM. I'm getting some for my daughter too.

The only thing we could o at the river last week was take a little hike and sit on the dock with Rachael. That was better than nothing, but i really want to get in the water soon. My herbs are in a long rectangular tray/pot just all in a line. We did bring them inside last winter in the garage, but SOMEONE who goes in the garage forgot to water them so i had to start over. But its OK. The chives are in the ground and they come back fine. The gardenia fiance gave me bloomed like crazy and its getting big - competing with the very tall fig tree that my friend gave me 3 years ago. I'll need an orchard ladder to pick them , but I already got a few. I need to plant a blackberry plant too - they grow on the roadside but like you say - thorny.
Bookcases, don't get me started. He has to make every project a giant deal makeover. so he sawed and glued and painted smaller shelves to fit in the gap next to the mantle and they are at least up against the wall now, but hs is not done. Every time he starts the saw, the little kitty ( I'm calling her Gray-Z- she is gray with white paws) runs out and goes under the bed in the spare room ands hides on top of the under bed storage bin. She barely fits on top. I told him to move her first. We do have an appointment finally for the mamma to get fixed in 2 weeks, but its still too many cats.
I hope your time away isnt too traumatic, or you will need another vacation when you get back! Best wishes and don't do anything you really don't feel safe doing.

Hi! I had a great time at my mom's. Both sisters were there the first two days, and it has been years since the four of us spent time just ourselves. On Sunday we pressure washed Mom's deck and most of the house. I worked about 6 hours and it was actually fun. Around here I can barely get myself to start a project, much less do it for 6 hours. It makes such a difference to be with others, talking and having fun.

On Monday, my Dad's 93 year old cousin and his daughter came for lunch, and it was so much fun. He looks great. One sister went home that day, and Tuesday Mom, my other sister, and I went to a safari park and zoo near Harrisburg, PA. That was also fun! The other sister went home Wed, and Mom and I spent some time cooking together. On Thursday, I dodged the restaurant and stayed at my aunt's house. I did some minor cleaning for her because her arm is in a cast. Friday I bought some delicious raw Jersey cow milk from some Amish near mom, and came home.

I got moderate amounts of exercise, and more "doing stuff" than videos, plus Mom and I walked near her house 3 times. My meals were not bad, but I ate lots of dessert and alcohol. I was way over my weight loss calorie budget most days, but still right around my weight maintenance amount, so I only gained a pound! I'll take that!

Our schools just announced they are not requiring masks this coming year. I am disappointed in that decision, since I think many here are not vaccinated, and their kids are going to bring COVID into the building. I will have to trust that the vaccine will do its job.

Thanks for the name of your CBD product - I am going to look into that. There are so many out there, I don't know where to start, so trying one that somebody I know uses is as good a place to start as any!

Sorry about your plants dying! Hopefully round 2 will go better! I love gardenias!! My mom had one on her deck and I sat beside it reading a couple of times and it smelled so nice! Mom had some figs too and those were so delicious! Our fig tree has exactly 3 figs on it, and the other tree has none. Grrr!

I was able to carry over a little of the "sister energy" and cleaned my kitchen pretty well today, except for mopping the floor. So many things were greasy all over the room from airborne cooking oil and I usually don't get around to wiping all that stuff off, so now it's all temporarily clean! (And finding grease everywhere that travelled by air was an interesting demo of how far lighter disease particles can travel.) I am worn out and thinking about an early dinner and a bit of wine!

I hope your week has gone well! Maybe more river time?

Hello! One week of school under my belt. Kids start this coming Monday. Our 6th graders moved into the newly renovated middle school, so our school has a little more room, and my team got to move from a storage room to a full classroom. I'm so grateful because now we are spread far apart when we eat. We have two weeks of generally support for teachers before we start our actual lessons. This year they put us in teams of two for the last 2/3 of the day, and I got teamed with the woman who wouldn't wear her mask last year. I grit my teeth at the very thought of her! I am trying to look at it as a character building exercise for myself!

My exercise level dropped way down with my lack of time. I am doing only one more PT visit, this coming week, so I hope to incorporate a walk one day a week after work. I started back to my yoga class, just modifying to protect my shoulder. I got my weight down to where it was before my first vacation, plus one more off, so I am down a total of 15. We have already been barraged with junk this first week of school, so I need a lot of strength to keep me on track!

We are having dinner with my older son tonight at his house. He wants to see us because he plans to stay away from me once the kids are back in my school, since I will be exposed to hundreds of unmasked, unvaccinated people every day. How's that for a twist from me keeping away from my sons because of their exposure. I just pray the vaccine keeps me and my husband safe. I have been wearing my mask at school, but only about 25% of staff are doing it. We had open house, and about the same amount of families were masked.

How is your shoulder doing? I hope your pain subsided! I'm sorry that happened and slowed you down. I know how frustrating and depressing that is. Sounds like you had a good plan for taking care of it, so I hope you are on the mend and having some better days!

Good job on both getting some unneeded stuff out of your house, and getting it to someone in need! We have a church-run shop here that has a dropoff back porch area, and that is where I take stuff sometimes.

How are things at work? I am glad you have the equipment to try to protect yourselves. I am getting nervous with reports of vaccinated people getting sick. I thought we were coming out of this. I just keep praying we stay safe.

I hope you enjoyed your Thursday night off! You really deserve that. Too bad you ended up working an extra day though!

Have a great weekend, a great week, and stay safe my friend!!

Well, I guess work and routine had to start back whether we really like it or not. when I was teaching, I looked forward to seing and playing with the kids, but the adults are another story. i feel for you not wanting to be paired with a no-masker. I think its crazy that schools are not mandating mask wearing. This new variant is no joke and the numbers are steady going up. Every day there is a news story of a parent in ICU, about to die, apologizing to his family for not being responsible and getting vaccinated. We were down to 3-4 in patients with COVID - now its up to 23 in our 3 hospitals. Lke you, i am grteful for the vaccine and happy to be protected - but still the morons can spread to us and we can spread it to others ( innocent children). Some predict this September will be worse nationwide than the last peak. People can be so stupid.

I hope you do get in minimal exercise anyway. Your weight loss is remarkable - too good to go back on. Always have a healthy snack. I ate a big aple tonight when i "thought" I was hungry. with a little cream cheese - it was delicious and filling. I have been lostly walking and stairs at work, but no weights with my shoulder and arm still hurting. /for some reason, it bothers me more at night and wakes me up in sharp pain. I guess I'll see someone if it doesn't get better soon. i did get a comfirmation from the Lipidologist that I'm doing the best I can on the cholestrol issue with lifestyle. She didn't advise a statin, which is what I wanted to hear,

We finally got on the river Thursday afternoon in the double kayak, since I didn't want to paddle. It was perfect weather and we mostly floated for about 5 hours. 5 hours to enjoy nature and not think about anything at all. Came home and made a quick salmon/ veggie dinner and wine and ended the night on a HIGH note. My coworkers say i need to do that more often. Maybe they are trying to tell me something. . Momma kitty got spayed - yea!. Still have all the cats and the little one is still cute for now. She pulls the napkins out of the holder on the table and chews them and chases them on the floor - like she doesn't have toys. No , the bookcases and mantle aren't finished. i keep asking, and he details all the steps he has to do... A woman would have been done a long time ago.

Positive vibes for your second week back to school. Just keep your mask, I'd suggest N95 when you can be distanced even though it is uncomfortable. Best wishes for better days for us all.