Week 2 Check-In

Wow, in checking dates, I did morning pages 7 out of 7 days. I had so many artist's dates, that I don't know if I remember them all. One I do remember and consider it such was having my husband haul our spotting scope to the "island" (really a penninsula) at Roper Lake State Park to check out a Great Horned Owl that was roosting in a Palm tree. I haven't used the scope much since I haven't had the opportunity to do a lot of long distance birding, but it was cool to see the owl seem so close, stretching and blinking. I am so good at paying attention, especially to the natural beauty surrounding me.

At this point in my life I don't have poisonous playmates. I've learned to say NO! One crazymaker in my life, my dad, moved back to Brazil after my mom passed away, and so he only makes me crazy during his yearly visit which is brief, and I know how to ignore him. When he lived here, he's a in your face kind of person, and therefore harder to bear.

I haven't been very good about the tasks at the end of the chapter. A lot of them didn't apply since I was on vacation, such as where does your time go. On vacation, my time didn't go anywhere I didn't want it to. I pretty much enjoy the 20 things I listed, frequently. No need to make an effort to do them. Even back at work and the mundane details of running a motel are moderately enjoyable. I like doing laundry, the repetitiveness of folding sheets, making up beds leaves a lot of time for my mind to wander and daydream.

One of the changes on my list of Ten Tiny Changes is to manage my eating and exercise better, and I was able to work on that on vacation. I have dieted most of my adult life. At 18 I weighed 119 lbs. on a 5'4" frame but I bought into the skinny propaganda, and so thought I was fat because I carried my weight in my hips and legs. I approached this weight after my second daughter, without working at it, but wasn't smart enough to stay there. Breast feeding helps overcome the tendency I have to consume more than I expend. Add some years, hypothyroid slowed metabolism, and smoking cessation, and I am overweight to the point that it is affecting my health. Just before I left on vacation, I discovered that my previously low blood pressure had crept up. I stopped the daily NSAID I was taking for arthritis in my hands, and started changing my eating habits. I am not on a diet! The mere mention of that word sets me up to binge, and I'm not doing this to wear smaller sized clothes, which still lurk in my ever optimistic closet. Small changes on vacation had big payoffs. I lost about 5 pounds over two weeks, and my BP is getting better. I didn't suffer at all with my small changes, and haven't felt the need to eat every bad, illegal food in sight since I'm not going to deny myself anything. I also didn't look upon my vacation as a license for over-consumption. Let's hope I can keep it up. I also got a lot more exercise, hiking and biking. Came back to 22 degrees yesterday morning, and I need to buy a stationary bike pretty soon since the Gazelle was just not it for me.

I need to get to work--playing catch up the last few days, but I'll post again soon.