Monday

Its Monday…and all is way better in my life…my headache is gone, my tummy said, feed me, and all is better….I have kept my calories under 1000 these last couple days, and I am actually full and happy….only eating extremely healthy food, good stash tea, and lots of water…I feel better mentally and am so over sabotaging myself…..I can only move forward and get back on the ole proverbial wagon, so to say…I will not shoot myself in the foot again…I never say never, but will try to keep my six-shooter in the holster….I really don’t own a gun, so no worries…LOL   I did get on the scale on Sunday and I am pretty sure that I lost all that I consumed on Saturday….whooo hoooo for a quick start to weight lost…but I don’t recommend it at all!!!  The scale never went up or down…yahoooooo –  just hovered right there where it was….so that was nice….so feeling like I can do it again…

Got up this morning (5a) and was able to catch a few beautiful crescent moon beams and watch the sun rise….my little cheap Samsung phone refused to capture the beauty of the moon…so I will share the sunrise…

Then by noon, the wind picked up and we had a good ole dust storm, not real bad, but we could not see the mountains…been a long time since we have had a dust storm….

My good friend Rowena over at,  Beyond the Flow….nominated me for a 3 day Quote Challenge….Thank you Rowena, and as everyone knows, I never nominate anyone, but all…its fun and interesting to see what we all come up with…I am unable to get the link to add so you can just click on it and go directly to her blog…thanks to WP, please copy and paste here address below and go over and say hello and giver her blog a lookie looo, shes pretty special!!!  My Ausie friend from down under….

https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com

So onto the fun…as you all know I can’t just add one quote….it would be to hard to choose….you can never go bad with Popeye. Mary Poppins and Einstein…..

Not sure who wrote this one…but its the best!!!

Until tomorrow……

Thursday….oh hummm

Greetings…..been doing well up until yesterday…I did something really stupid all in the name of protecting my precious plants….we had our new pest control guy out to spray under the house and around the yard…of course , I was extremely concerned about my  loved plants that I sing to on a daily basis…so I stupidly hung out watching him like a hawk….after all he had a very long, thick, yellow hose full of poison …hummmm didn’t the full body suit, gloves, goggles and breathing mask that he donned before spraying alert me….apparently not!!!  Nope…looked right past that…it wasn’t until he left that I felt woozy, headache, upset stomach, big black spots in front of me….guess had I been an arachnoid I would of been Ka-put!!!!   Showered felt like burning my clothes and spent the afternoon drinking bottle after bottle of water….and sitting in front of the fan…went to the pool to get some water relief…I actually felt like I had come out of anesthesia, the taste in my mouth and the feeling…how frigin crazy can I be!!!!  The worst part of this was I felt like I was starving…I couldn’t stop eating….the more I ate the better I felt…I had done great  up until about 4pm….then it was nonstop grazing until I went to bed at 9p…I had a bad night, woke up couple times swearing someone was in my room, a little scary…but by morning the spots left and the nasty taste in my mouth was gone…next time I will not follow him around, I will spy out the windows…and they will be using green spray…okay for plants and trees…and has a citrus odor instead of ether….Aghhh!!!   I am sure I burned out several healthy brain cells…hell I don’t have enough good ones left to be doing that!!!!  Good thing was, no termites, whooo hooo just spiders and ants….

Beside yesterday, my calories have been from 1000 to 1400 daily, getting exercise, and going to the pool…busy working outside…seems like I scheduled everything for this week…LOL  so feeling good about where I am at with my weight loss journey….

Got the truck back on Tuesday…..husband out double checking everyone’s work…still has a little miss, he found the brand new plugs not gapped correctly, one was almost closed, can’t trust anyone’s work anymore…we just dropped a couple grand to get the heads and a new fuel pump installed…oh well she is not ever going back to the shop….its all about drive till she stops running…we recently put the silver sun screen up in the Arizona room, well my husband got a bee in his bonnet and thought we should put it on the inside of the screens so it is outside the windows keeping the windows from heating up, sounded like a good theory so we finished that project this morning…LOL   and Shed will be here tomorrow, they will be here to fix the carport roof and we have a meeting with the soft water lady, the water here has an odor and we want it gone, so she will be talking to us how we can fix that….so another busy day in Paradise…and oh yes….we will be playing in bricks some more out back…the path to the old shed will need to be taken up and a new one laid in front of the new shed…well its really more like a cottage so it will take so thought before she gets her patio out front…LOL

So until later….

 

Just got home from the pool….spent 2-1/2 hours swimming and exercising….got a good 40 minutes in before anyone showed up….I also jogged 20 minutes so that felt good…can’t believe how refreshing the water is in the evening…I got a call from the gym…apparently something happen to the trainer, she could just be on vacation, but I would of thought that would of been blocked off the schedule…anyway I was told she was going to be gone for the next 2 weeks.(sorry they couldn’t tell me why-HIPPA), they were sorry…I was really looking forward to working with her tomorrow on a game plan….guess I will just go in and do the circuit by myself to the best of my ability…can’t hurt anything…LOL I could also just work out on the floor on the machines…lots of options…food has been great today…at 1483, so I am happy with that…only had some hummus and pretzels tonight, that put me over 250 calories…for some reason I thought it was only 120 calories…that’s what I get for going on what I thought…LOL I ate at 4p before I went swimming and had the pretzel snack pack when I got home…otherwise I was going to eat another sandwich and it was way to late to do that…tomorrow is weigh in day…kind-a excited to see what I have done this week…

Well I believe summer has hit the desert….suppose to be over a 100 tomorrow and the next day…then will settle into the 90’s during the day and still cooling off into the 70’s at night…but that will change very soon….so it will be late swimming for me….I don’t like to be in the hot sun for long…

The last 3 days have been insane with truck hunting….I know more than I have ever wanted to know about 4 wheel drives and trucks in general…LOL  yesterday and the day before we spent over 5 hours ach day going to dealers, used car lots, and going to see some being sold privately…. we checked out a jeep wrangler…totally fell in love with it, but it was a manual…and our old knees just won’t take that anymore…but it was fun…we then thought about it and the best bet would be a truck so we could use it to haul stuff too!!!  so after much calling and scouring Yuma Craig’s list adds, we found a 2001 Dodge Dakota – 4 wheeler….we can know go out and play in the sand in the desert and go on the dirt roads that are so bad for my car..We are having a once over on it tomorrow at a shop to make sure we don’t get stranded miles from no where and then we will be a little more free to go roam….can’t wait…

  Picture off the internet….

We were up early and drove to San Luis this morning before 8a to look at a red Toyota….it was 26 miles south of us, a border town…I guess he couldn’t put that the engine light was on….he had removed the catalytic convertor, said it got dirty and since there is no  emission testing in Yuma County he didn’t need it….hummmm so that was a no…but got to see the border of Mexico in the early morning…long line going in and coming out, I am assuming workers…We did learn that in Arizona, the MVD (Motor Vehicle Division) aka DMV, requires a title to be notarized to be sold…no bill of sale needed as there is no tax, you just pay for the registration fees and we have 15 days to show proof of insurance…we walked away with a new license plate, the old one is garbage…the title, tags and registration….no waiting 6 months like in California….its all done in one stop!!!   How nice…and it only cost $39 dollars….I was shocked….LOL  they will even notarize the titles for free if you ever want to sell the vehicle….I love it….however Pima county, Tucson and Phoenix have  the smog program in there county…I am loving this state more every day….

Well its late…for me anyway….until tomorrow….

 

Wednesday

 

Well its been an interesting day….Dr. Jonathan, @ –  https://allabouthealthychoices.wordpress.com/

sent me a note –

Since we have a WordPress relationship I would like to ask you a question. Naturally, you are not obligated in any way to answer if you aren’t comfortable.
When my patients used to tell me they really weren’t hungry and kept their calories restricted (around 1200 calories,) I used to ask them why they felt they were not losing weight in the manner they desired. I have learned that perception and reality can vary greatly. You are active, happy, responsible about exercise and calorie consumption, yet something seems to be interfering with your goals. My question is, what do you think is impeding your progress?
I ask out of concern and a desire to understand the complexities of people to better help those in need and looking for answers. Again, I completely respect your right to privacy and will continue our wordpress relationship regardless.

My reply:

You make me smile….always hit the nail on the head don’t you….I haven’t been completely honest with myself….I have to stop eating late…I do my blog and poof I sit back to watch tv and my food addiction starts…..before I curbed with popsicles…can’t seem to get into them again…so I am afraid my late night munching is effecting my weight loss….whew glad I good say that out loud…I am not a closet eater, just can’t seem to get the late night eating under control again….before I would stand up and don 20 knee lifts every time I wanted to eat at night…that was a good cure all…..not sure why I can’t get back at it….I am loosing…but at a snails pace….I do wonderful up until I am sitting here alone in front of the boob tube…I know I hear you….turn it off and go to bed….maybe that’s the answer….so in all reality my calories at the time I blog are at that number, then I start to eat….I have to say that I haven’t gone over 1600calories all week, so I am doing way better…blogging helps…today I am at 1240 and its 2p…I plan to have some zucchini, which I love, later and that will bring my calorie quota up to 1320….I am so happy that you wrote to me, as I feel I can own it and will not eat more that that today….I will go back to doing the leg lifts…nothing like curbing the desire to eat than exercise…LOL.thank you jonathan…I hoped I answered your question…if not let me know what more you would like to know….mostly I can say I am a food a-holic and man its tuff to kick old habits….xxkat

And then:

:

Just wanted to say thank you again for helping me face my demon/rebel that seems to take over my sensible side….after I sent the last note I went and got a very serious workout in the pool for over an hour and have started doing what I know I should be doing….20+ knee lifts every time I think I need to go get something to eat…I am in charge and am totally aware of what I have to do…thank you again Jonathan…you may not think you did anything but ask me why and to share, but you opened up my eyes to what I need to do…and stop beating around the bush, its all about hard work…no one else can do it for me….thank you my friend…kat

So its been a day of soul searching and getting a grip on the late night eating…its working so far…its 7:30p and I am well on to my way to 100 knee lifts…LOL  time to get back to being in complete control and totally honest with myself and all of you…not that I have purposely lied to anyone, but since I haven’t been honest with myself , that means that I haven’t been with you all as well….for that I am sorry…didn’t mean too…its weigh in tomorrow –  I am excited to see if I am at least the same as last week…I had lost 1 pound on Friday when I checked so I am hoping I am at least even or less….no fingers crossed…it will be what it is….but I can guarantee that I am back in control and will not be swayed anymore by my inner rebel, that bitch is back where she belongs….I sit here shaking my head, I am 59 and have overcome huge obstacles in my life, but flash a frigin piece of bread, popcorn, ice cream or anything else that’s eatable and I am a goner… I have said it before and I will say it once again….hopefully for the last time…

Hello my name is Kathy and I am a food a-holic…..

xxxooo

 

 

Friday….Good Day!!!!

Okay I literally jumped out of bed at 6a….jumped on the scale….and I have lost a pound…whew — deep breath….just checking in….so it made my step a little lighter today , I felt so much better about myself….Its been a good day….we actually left the house at 9a to go hit a few stores, introduced my husband to Hobby Lobby..he loved it   LOL.. it was nice to feel better….way better….I even hit the pool and got in a full 40 minutes of exercise…felt great….I am a little over the 1000 calorie quota but its all good…I did get in my 5 bottles of water….and feeling good….back in control….yay..

Until tomorrow…..

 

I’m Back….

Good Day everyone…..woke up feeling like my old self…yay…Antibiotics are magical…..thanks for all the well wishes….I hate feeling like crap!!!

Not only did I wake up without a headache, I woke up wondering WTF I was doing to myself….carbs, sweets, late night eating…Really ?  Really?    Is all I can say…so I am back at it….cut my calories back to 1000 a day for awhile….I was just out of control before and I am going back to what I know works….I know how much food I can consume on that many calories….lots if you eat healthy, nutritional food….I feel good, my head is clear….not quite up to exercising or going to the pool, however I did go out over the last week and check out 2 more gyms…one called Snap Fitness (1 mile from my house & $30 a month) and Planet Fitness, (8 miles from home and $10 a month) and then, there is the big blue exercise ball sitting in my bedroom holding extra clothes, and my weights….hummm   I am going to make up a routine for myself including some of the knee lifts I used to do, I was doing 100 of them daily and also sit ups in bed every night…also 100 of them….I will add those back in to my daily life…and figure out a simple but effect routine with the ball and weights, 20 to 30 minutes 4-6 days a week….I don’t need a gym to succeed in my weight loss…I have all the tools I need right here at home…I am going to give myself a few more days before I start exercising, as I am still recovering from being sick… but will get back on the healthy eating routine that I was in before starting today…I am not beating myself up for gaining back 10#’s, but I have done a couple swift kicks in the arse….well deserved for sure….but just chalking it up to what it was…I fell off the wagon so to say…but once again back on it…I did weigh in today, 270!!!  My body feels it…my hip pain that left along time ago is back…my body is swollen, joints ache….I am sure that is from the carbs/yeast foods that I was eating, telling myself its okay…..I need to first apologize to my body for letting it down, and promise myself to take better care of me!!!  and then last, try to learn from my mistake…..I am pretty hard headed…get that from my parents, one Irish, the other English/German….hummm yep I am really stubborn….LOL   I am also journaling not only on Fat Secret APP on my phone…and in a notebook….I will do this at least for a month or more until it comes naturally again…I am being totally accountable to myself for every morsel that enters my mouth….

I realize the day is not over, but I have all my food prepared for the day so I can say positively I am at 993 calories today….have drank 5 bottles of water, cut my coffee intake back to 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup of iced coffee in the afternoon…we have changed to caffeine free coffee for my husband….he has essential tremors and with all the inhalers he uses for his COPD his tremors are getting worse…deleting caffeine from our diet can only help, and in more ways than one…

I know I can hear a couple of you saying, you have to eat more than 1000 calories, however, I had an omelet with 1/2 once cheese and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese for breakfast, protein and calcium…..lunch is a carrot, tomato, onion,  zucchini soup with spicy chicken …it is almost 3 cups more than I want…dinner is 2 cups mixed salad greens with cucumber and tomato with fresh lemon….I will have an orange later, and have had a watermelon (2c) smoothie made with its own juice after breakfast..all adding up to 993….and a belly full of healthy food!!!!   feels good!!!

Found this on Facebook and thought it fit the bill!!!!!

Until tomorrow…

Monday, Monday..

Well its Monday, no fireworks, no redo on a long lost project. no restart on a diet that’s swerving off course, no scale, no sweating from over exercising, no wet bathing suit hanging in the shower…..its been a long week into a weekend….I was back at it and then, for some unknown reason to me…I swerved  off course….not bad, well not real bad, no binging, just eating to much and not all at one time….just continual grazing so to say…. I have been making huge fruit salads, and then they become smoothies….and they are ooooooh  sooooo good….so I really need to back away from the fruit counter…LOL   they are so full of sugar (pineapples, watermelon, grapes, oranges, kiwis, bananas) the list is endless, cheap and seem to be everywhere, they don’t  have the pears, peaches and nectarines, or plums, well they have them but they are not very good…….so its probably, no it is lighting up my sweet/addiction area in my brain…and my cravings for sweets have increased over the last 2 weeks…the reason I am analyzing my last couple weeks is a good man Dr. Jonathan    https://allabouthealthychoices.wordpress.com/                         suggested I ask why??  why am I falling off the path of health and wellness…Why am I back to my old habits and eating our of control??   WHY?  WHY?  WHY?   So I have been reflecting what’s been going on in my life as far as eating and why I am having problems….I haven’t really come up with anything concrete, there is my inner REBEL, bitch that she is has been sitting on my shoulder making me feel powerless again…I know boo hoo quite whining and get back at it….I have also been fighting a sinus issue, headaches and my sinus are throbbing….so I have been doing salt eater rinses and using my nasal spray from the doctor I have on hand for this problem….popping tylemol for a low grade  fever…..not an excuse, but still just another issue I am fighting…I have been  craving comfort foods…pretty sure its due to feeling crappie……no not looking for sympathy just trying to answer the WHY’s   The weather has been changing rapidly, well at least every 3 days it seems there is a new pressure system bowing over, wind, higher humidity than normal, enough to feel it in my joints and head….and with my sinus inflamed on top of this its really effecting me….and last but not least, our routine, our life routine is still off balance…the projects are finally coming to an end….I hope…LOL  so being off balance in our personal lives effects me more than any of the other I have mentioned….so I will continue to reflect on correcting the WHY’S and get back on the path to health and wellness….

I will leave you with a few pictures of some more yard work… Playing with the rocks…LOL we needed to make a place to put our big plastic garbage cans, I did not get a picture of that….but we had all these big rocks in that area….so I lined them up along the brick walk way….makes a simple reminder not to walk over them as I have new cactus along the edge, you really can’t see them all..so this will help protect them…especially from me….

My brother put a hat and sun glasses on my small saguaro, LOL  however as soon as they drove off, they have left to go to there home up north for the summer, the disguise went in the bin…LOL                                                                                                                                                       I really am not just sitting around eating bon bon’s LOL  We have been removing all 13 windows in the Arizona Room, used an air gun to blow all the dust out of the window sills, we washed and cleaned everything of all dust…LOL  as much as we could…we decided to make them permanent windows, so we removed all the handles and put everything back, all 13 windows and sealed them shut with silicone….this has taken us 4+  days just to get the inside done…we have to remove the Az. screen on the outside so we can silicone them…..hopefully this will help with the dust coming in….long story short, we had a quote for new windows and the cheapest we could get, were over eight thousand dollars for the house, with the Az room being the biggest chunk of change…so we are taking the bull by the horn and sealing them shut…LOL they are over 33 years old…and the seals prove it…LOL  we are leaving the door windows that open alone so we have a breeze coming through….took over 50 bricks to make the landing for the garbage cans so that was all manual labor…LOL  sweating the oldies it wasn’t but sweat I did…LOL

I have decided that it helps to post every night….so see you tomorrow….xxkat

 

 

Good Day

Had a great day….got a good work out in the pool…..I asked David over at Chape, he’s a trainer,  (if you haven’t checked out his blog I think you should!! He has great work out ideas… )   https://chapeblog.wordpress.com/

Anyway he said for every step in the pool it counts about 10 outside steps…way cool…I was wondering as people are very focused on getting there 10,000 steps in each day, and with an arthritic knee I am no where near that number, lucky if I get to a thousand….so I asked and he was very kind to get right back to me…so with the resistance in the water I can get in about 3 to 4 thousand steps, so that’s a great workout for me…….pretty good considering  !!  So thanks David!!!  I have been using the water weight buoys at the pool, with the water acting as resistance I think I am getting a good arm work out as well… and have found that I am also continuing working out at home…probably not as much as I should be, but still trying to get a few weights in….however working up a good sweat at home just vacuuming and cleaning is worth something…LOL

At 1500 calories…I made a pot of black beans and added fresh cut corn off the cob at the end, along with celery, carrots, and onions…..made great taco’s….thanks to Cheryl over at “Cheffie Cooks”  https://clwiser.wordpress.com/  she gave me a great idea and I ran with it this morning…LOL  if your looking for great recipes, made with fresh products, go check her out…she’s also a sweetheart!!!

Life’s good in the desert…getting warmer this week…I leave you with a few quotes….

Kat………………..

 

Thursday…..new pool

Well can’t believe the week is almost over…had a great day…got in a good work out this morning…we were putting up wire on the back side of the fence to keep the snakes and critters out of the yard this summer….living right on the desert has some down falls…LOL  but worked up a good sweat and even backed my behind into one of the frigin pokey cactus out there….so had to stop and pull little spines out of my bum!!!  all well…you only do that kind of stupidity once…LOL

I joined the new pool club yesterday…had a great work out…they have 2 morning aquatic classes and then 9a to 11a is lap swimming….I was the only one there at 9a but soon a couple arrived to do lap swimming so I was forced into doing the same…there is room for 3 of us to swim…so I got in 45 minutes of going back and forth and doing some exercises in-between paddling back and forth….great pool…really clean facility…no indoor showers but that’s okay, I never showered at the gym anyway…there is one on the side to rinse off before and after…so that works…clean restrooms too!!   no mold or nasty broken walls….they have a minute clock by the pool and a clock in the table area, but easy to read – 6′ to 3′ and 2 sets of steps leading into the pool for easy access….they also have the hand water weights/buoys to use…so that’s a bonus as I was going to buy a set….they are open 4a to midnight 7 days a week…the best part is its only 150$ annually…which is only 12.50 a month….YEA and I have a key card to let my self in at anytime…just have to sign the log book and swim…I couldn’t be happier….heading back to the pool in the morning…after we string the rest of the wire…..

 to the left is a club house, pool table kitchen, etc….all available to use if I like….

 My new pool club…pool to the left of the arch…very excited…

My son sent me some pictures he took, there was a blue heron nest rght behind where we were camped….we could see the 2 little heads bob up and down in the nest…we counted 6 adults it the tree at once…

Below is one of the 2 cliff dwellers home…my son said that there was room for at east 60 people inside the cave….amazing…

I am still fighting the rebel at night…she wants me think I have the right to eat all willy nilly any time I want….so as of right now I am at 1304…its going on 7:30p…I am heading to bed early away from the kitchen…sounds like I am a wussss, LOL  I am….I have popsicles in the freezer ready to go…but I am bigger than that….I will just remove myself from the food….LOL  I have set my calories at 1200 and that is helping, now I just need to get back into the habit of no eating after 6p….

Still haven’t lifted a weight…but I am working on a routine mentally…that’s something…guess I could move them off my dresser and out to the living room where I might actually life them…LOL

After while crocodiles….LOL

We are home…

Oh my, you never know how bad you really need to get away until you go….It was so much fun, not only seeing my son, but just getting away…..I gave up on the ole calorie counting while I was away…but kept mindful about eating…and got plenty of exercise….some walking, swimming, and soaking in the hot springs…did a lot of reading…played some games….and had dinner every night with my son and his friend…I sure miss my kids…but the time we shared was so full of love just being together, we didn’t have time to fight and quarrel…LOL   I went down to there camp and enjoyed the hot springs with them…and sat around the fire eating dark chocolate and drinking sips of southern comfort….all in all a really great time…Our Campsite…we were the only ones there…whooo hoooo

The cliffs all around us….

The Gila National Forest from the top of the road into the Cliff Dwellers Monument

The huge rock where the cliff dwellers made there home on the back side of the rock…stands about 7000′ at the top…

The weather varied, this was a really big thunder storm, started a few fires on the mountains but the hail and rain put them out…my phone camera didn’t catch the ominous looking cloud it really was….

The Gila River and one of the hot spring soakers…

One the way through Arizona East of Phoenix….Lake Mohawk

Saguaros on top of a huge pile of red rocks, the road below was a really bad dirt road we ended up on after Lake Mohawk, we are up on top looking down to where we were headed….went on forever..at least it felt like it…the one below is at the end of the road…it had pavement the last 1/4 mile..LOL  the Beaver Tale cactus growing out of the side of the rocks….

 

 

 

 

 

 

This huge mama was in our campsite on the way home…we stopped in Benson Arizona, the weather was windy and wet, rally hard to drive in, so we stopped and enjoyed the evening…I swam and used the hot tub got a good workout in…

Well glad to be home…I forgot how bad my arthritic body could hurt,  as soon as we were in cooler, damp climate….boom it all came back…LOL…not complaining but was just amazed at how much better I am in Yuma…however its been raining off and on here….not a lot, but its definitely cooler than when we left….

Back at it in the morning….kat