Looking for New Ideas/Submissions

As I mentioned before, I'm going up to my sister's cabin next week. Internet is spotty there and I'm going to be spending time with my family, so I'd like to try and prepare some posts this weekend to schedule to go live each day while I'm gone.

While I was trying to come up with ideas, I actually had several that I would like to do regardless of going up north. Most of these will have to wait until I get back, but I want to write this down before I forget about them.

I love getting to know the people who read my blog, and it's so cool to read about other people. I feel like I've shared just about everything there is to know about me, so I came up with some ideas to keep things interesting. But I can't do them on my own, so here is what I had in mind...

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First, if you have a transformation for Transformation Tuesday, I'd love to get it ASAP. I only have one transformation for the week right now, and I really hope to be able have a couple more in order to post a Transformation Tuesday while I'm gone. Remember, just send a before photo and an after photo of some sort of transformation, along with a description and your name to me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com.

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I would still really like to continue with the 'COVID Diaries' series. These are guest posts written by people whose lives were drastically affected by COVID-19, the lockdown, quarantine, etc. I would love to hear from healthcare workers, especially--what your job was like before the pandemic and then how it changed, how it affected your mental health, etc. You can see previous posts here.

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A reader mentioned trying a "Thrifty Thursday" -type post, where I can share cool thrift finds--items from thrift stores or garage sales or even in the trash--submitted by readers. (You know how much I love thrift shopping!) I can certainly share some of my own finds, but I would love to see what other people have found. I don't have to turn this into a series (it would depend on how many submissions I get) but it would be fun to at least make one post of it.

So if you have a cool thrift item to share, please send a picture and a description (what is it? What makes it interesting or important to you? Where did you get it (thrift store, garage sale, etc? And definitely how much you paid for it!)

Here is an example. One of my very favorite garage sale finds was this brown suede coat (in 2010). In garage sale prices, it was actually pretty expensive--I usually won't pay more than $2 or so for an article of clothing (maybe $5 for a coat). However, I fell in LOVE with this coat as soon as I saw it. The quality was amazing and the tags were still on it!

The woman was asking $75 for it (she paid $350, if I remember correctly). My mom (who is thriftier than I am!) told me that I definitely needed to get it--it looked like it was meant for me. I asked the woman if she'd take $50 for it and she said sure--she agreed that it looked good on me. It's the softest coat I've ever owned. I still have it and I hope I'll be able to wear it again this winter--it's very snug right now! 

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I did something similar to this with Motivational Monday, but I was thinking about just sharing fun news--if you have something exciting you want to share but you've already told all of your friends, maybe I can share it here. I'm thinking things like: an engagement or pregnancy, running your first 5K, adopting a pet, cancer going into remission, making Lifetime in Weight Watchers, buying a house, etc. Wouldn't that be kind of cool to read about and share in others' fun news? I'm not sure what to title this, so if you have suggestions, please let me know!

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Last week, while I was looking for heritage recipes, I had an idea that I'd like to throw out here. I think it would be fun to have readers send me old family heritage recipes--then I will cook them and write a post exactly like I do in the heritage series. You can tell me the story behind it, if there is one, or at least who it was handed down from.

I'll do my best to follow the recipe, and it may or may not turn out! But I think it would be cool to see recipes from other areas, especially if they are native to that area. (I can't promise that I will make it--it may be very similar to other recipes submitted, or maybe I can't find particular ingredients, etc. I will try, though!)

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I think that's it for right now. I'll have to gauge interest and see if I can come up with some fun new posts. If you have an idea or you want to submit something, just email me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. (If it's something I plan to use on the blog, I likely won't reply to the email--just FYI.) I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with!

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Week 7 Wednesday Weigh-In

Isn't that yellow shirt super cute? It's a loose cotton knit, so it's breezy and cool for warm weather, but I like that it covers my arms (the extra weight, PLUS my loose skin makes me self-conscious).

We're getting family photos taken at my sister's cabin up north next week and I needed a shirt. We're supposed to coordinate muted colors with our family members. I saw this shirt on clearance and I wanted to use it for photos, but finding a variety of yellow shirts for Jerry and the kids was difficult. So, I bought this same shirt in green and was able to get green shirts for the guys. 

It is so crazy to me that it's already been seven weeks since I started counting calories and the Couch to 5K plan. The time has flown by. Yesterday marked the end of the first month of my 6-Month DietBet. I haven't done my "official" weigh in for that yet, but only because I've had the busiest day ever today. I'll submit it later tonight or tomorrow morning.

So, I decided to finally do a Wednesday Weigh-In like I used to do back in the days when I was losing weight. When my weight is at a standstill or just going up frequently, it's disheartening and quite frankly, embarrassing to keep posting the weigh-ins. I wanted to make sure that I was going to stick with this for the long term before I decided to post them again.

The whole reason I even started all of this (calorie counting, Couch to 5K) was because of my initial DietBet weigh-in. I mentioned before that I was SHOCKED when I got on the scale for that! It scared me into counting calories, actually--I hadn't planned to count calories but when I saw my weight, I knew I had to pull out all the stops.

I want to explain more about the weigh-ins, but first, the actual numbers...

On May 23rd, I weighed in at 197.0. Yes, Friends, you read that correctly. I was almost up to the 200's again.

I remember when I was losing weight and I first weighed in at 199.5 in January 2010. I was ecstatic! To be under 200 was a dream come true. And I promised myself that I would never see the 200's again. Yet, on May 23rd, there I was at 197.0--so close to the 200's.

I signed up for DietBet that day, all set to do my official weigh-in the next morning. On June 24th, I did an initial weigh-in, which was rejected because I was looking at my phone and not the mirror for a scale selfie (they couldn't see my whole face). I had already eaten breakfast and drank quite a bit of water by the time I found out I had to redo it, but I had to take new weigh-in photos. So, my official start weight for DietBet was actually 200.4!

I really did not like that I was starting in the 200's, but I knew that it was higher than my actual weight--I was wearing clothes and I had eaten and drank water. So, for the purposes of my blog weigh-ins, I'm going to count the 197.0 as my official starting weight. If I use 200.4, it will look like I've lost more weight that I actually have.

I immediately got to work with calorie counting and the Couch to 5K. The DietBet didn't officially start until the following day, but I went ahead and started right away because I was horrified at how much weight I'd gained.

Just a week after my initial weigh-in of 197.0, I was at 189.4. I'd lost 7.6 pounds the first week! I didn't do anything drastic--just the same old thing I did before (because it works).

When I post weigh-ins on here, I'm only going to use my morning weight, no clothes, before eating/drinking. It's easier to stay consistent that way. My DietBet weigh-ins are higher because I try to simulate the same conditions as the first weigh-in (after eating and drinking water).

So, here's the rundown:

May 23: 197.0
May 30: 189.4
June 6: 188.0
June 13: 185.8
June 20: 183.4
Wednesday, June 23: 182.4
June 30: 181.0
July 7: 179.6

The first five that I posted above were Sundays, and then I switched to Wednesdays. Which brings us to today. I had a pretty big loss this week...

So, I'm down 20.8 pounds--I'm beyond thrilled with that! I've worked really hard to do it and I'm so glad that my hard work is paying off. I still have a long ways to go, but I feel confident I'll get there.

The best part about the last seven weeks is how much better I feel about myself. Not for the number on the scale, but because I just feel so much more in control. I don't feel disgusted with myself and/or my choices. Running again feels fantastic, even though I'm basically starting from scratch--I feel proud of myself each time I cross off another workout.

I was absolutely dreading our family pictures (and I still am, honestly, haha) but I feel a heck of a lot better about it now than I did 20 pounds ago. I'll be glad to have the pictures, even if I choose not to share them.

So, there you have it--the numbers that have so much power over us, hahaha. I won't be able to post a weigh-in next week because I'll be up north, but I will when I get home.

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Transformation Tuesday #33

It's Transformation Tuesday! I received a few fun transformations to share this week. As you know, I can't do Transformation Tuesday without transformations to share, so please keep sending them :)

Here are this week's:

Attached are pictures of my recent kitchen transformation. We had a crap ton of 1980’s wallpaper to remove in the beginning and just painted all of the walls white after that.  Finally, over the last couple of weekends I painted the cabinets and installed updated hardware.  I also put up a backsplash using peel and stick vinyl tiles.  I still want to update a few other things and get new appliances, but for under $200 I was really happy with the update for now!

- Ali

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This might be a silly transformation, but it has made me feel a lot better about myself! I love makeup and wore fake eyelashes everyday for over 2 years. When taking them off at night, I would just rip them off which caused me to lose most of my real eyelashes. 

Once the pandemic started, I stopped wearing makeup because of wearing a mask, pretty much never leaving my house (everything was closed in Germany), and I was pregnant so I had no energy to do much to myself. I really realized how much I ruined my lashes. 

I found this serum called Lash Cocaine on Amazon (I am in no way affiliated with them) and started using it. In 10 weeks my lashes grew SO much. I still use it and am so happy with my lashes. I no longer wear fake ones and have had so much fun trying new mascaras!

- Alli, Germany, makeup lover

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My husband and I had talked about expanding our open concrete patio into a larger, covered one for several years. Staying home so much last year sealed the deal for us, and we did it! We love it and spend SO much time out here now.

Jeanna

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Ali, I am stunned that those are peel and stick tiles! They look amazing. I bought a box of them a long time ago and have never attempted to put them up--but I want to try it now. The new hardware on the cabinets looks awesome, too.

Alli, I don't think the transformation is silly at all--it's remarkable! I've always thought the eyelash growth serums were just a gimmick. What a big difference. They look great!

Jeanna, WOW. You did exactly what I've been wanting to do for ages. I would sit out there all day long! It looks so inviting and fun.

Thank you so much for sharing your transformations! As always, they are so fun and inspiring to see. Again, please keep them coming... just send a before photo and an after photo to my email at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Make sure you include your name and a description of your transformation. I look forward to seeing more next week!

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Couch to 5K : Week 7 Recap

Seven weeks down!

First, I just want to update on the email subscription situation. I'm so sorry to keep writing about this, but I'm trying to get it all figured out. The switch from Feedburner to follow.it has been a total nightmare and I had a complete meltdown this morning (literally sobbing and catastrophizing everything).

I discovered this morning that the email notification for my blog went to my spam folder. I asked Jerry and my mom, and the same thing happened with them. So, if you usually get notifications and you didn't get one today, please check your spam folder. I notified customer service at follow .it and I'm still waiting for help. I'm praying that it will be delivered to my inbox tomorrow morning.

Okay, enough of that (for now). I finished Week 7 of Couch to 5K!

This was the first week without any intervals. All three workouts were the same: Run 2.5 miles. Seven weeks ago, that felt impossible. Logically, I knew I could do it (in 2009, I couldn't even run down my street, and three years later I ran a full marathon). Running just felt so hard seven weeks ago. The intervals were only one minute each, but I struggled through them!

My main focus this week was to "run easy". It sounds like an oxymoron, I know, but at some point running starts to feel easier. And eventually, if I keep training, an easy run will be just that--like going for a walk. I use my heart rate to determine what is genuinely an easy run.

To me, an easy run would be in my MAF zone. Since I'm 39, my MAF rate is 180-39=141 bpm. To figure the zone, you just start 10 beats lower. My zone would be 131-141 bpm. (Here is a post where I went into more detail about easy running. It's a good, informative post--check it out if you haven't already.)

I've mentioned before that my ultimate goal right now is to be able to run three miles while staying in my MAF zone. I'm not even close to that now!

Week 7, Day 1 : Run 2.5 miles

I chose to do this one on the treadmill again. I was kind of nervous--I hadn't run that far in a long time. I set the treadmill at 5.0 mph and read my book. I hoped my foot pod would be accurate this time because I worked on calibrating it, but after a little while, I realized that the Garmin had reset the calibration factor to 100%--so it was completely inaccurate. I don't think I'll ever have an accurate, consistent method to get my Garmin and treadmill to be in sync.

The first half mile, my legs felt so tired and wobbly. I was starting to doubt whether I was going to be able to complete it. Eventually, I managed to focus on my book and stop thinking about my legs feeling so tired. My heart rate showed that it was anything but easy...

My average heart rate was 155 bpm. My MAF zone is Zone 2, so clearly I have some work to do ;) Over time, I'm hoping to see a shift toward Zone 3 and eventually Zone 2.

Week 7, Day 2 : Run 2.5 miles

The weather was exceptionally nice that day and I decided to run outside. I figured I might as well take advantage of it because who knows when we'll have another day like that? Again, I was nervous. Extra nervous because it was outside and I would be venturing away from home.

I made sure my Garmin only displayed the distance and my heart rate; I didn't want to know what my pace was. Since my goal was to run easy, I wanted to run by feel and not let my pace dictate that.

The run felt really good! I was surprised at how good I felt, actually. Much better than the treadmill run. I thought it would feel like it took forever, but it went by more quickly than I thought. The last half mile was harder--my legs became like lead. They felt really heavy and tired. I was glad to be done after that!

I was very surprised at my pace. I was expecting something in the 13:00's, and I was cool with that. I was not prepared for a pace in the 11:00's.

I always subconsciously run faster the closer I get to home, so perhaps that's why my legs felt so tired at the end. I knew my heart rate was going to be up there--it gets higher outside than it does at home. However, my average heart rate was 153 bpm, so at least I'm at the low end of Zone 4.

Week 7, Day 3 : Run 2.5 miles

I did this one on the treadmill again. I usually do my third run on Mondays, but I actually really wanted to do it yesterday after dinner. I've learned to take advantage of the days I want to run, because they are few and far between!

This time, I tried my best to really focus on my breathing and running lightly. I wanted to see if I could get my heart rate down. I read my book while I ran and each time I found myself running too hard, I would try to ease my steps.

It definitely paid off--my heart rate was in Zone 3 longer than it was in Zone 4! After looking at the first two runs, it seems impossible. But it just shows how powerful the mind is--when I focused on running easy, it literally made the run easier, even though I was running the same pace (on both days 1 and 3). My average heart rate was 148 bpm! So my average for the run as a whole was in Zone 3.

I was really happy with my heart rate during that run. I'm going to stop fiddling with the calibration factor on my Garmin (I'll never get it to be consistent) and just focus on running easy. Maybe by the end of summer, I'll be solidly in Zone 3.

Week 7 is now complete. Just 2 more weeks to go for Couch to 5K!

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What I've Been Reading Lately (no spoilers)

First, I am so sorry to keep updating info about this switch from Feedburner to Follow.it. But I noticed today that my last two email notifications went directly to my spam folder. So, if you are signed up for email notifications and you haven't received any for the last two post, try checking your spam folder and marking it "not spam". This has been such a nightmare!

Each time I finish a book, I make a mental note to write about it later. And then I don't. And before long, I am overwhelmed with stuff to write about! (This is exactly what happens with my email and with blog comments--I read them and make a mental note to reply later. Such a bad habit.)

I finished another book today, so I decided I need to catch up. I don't know if anyone is interested in reading about what *I'm* reading, but I write this blog to keep notes for myself as well.

I've been reading a LOT lately. I don't know what happened, but I can't even remember the last time I turned on the TV. I read for an hour or so when I wake up in the mornings. I read when I have time throughout the day. I've been reading in the evenings before bed and then I end up staying up way too late. I've also been reading on the treadmill (something I've never done). I increase the text size on my Paperwhite so I can see it while I run. The time goes by SO fast that way.

I tend to go through phases with books, usually alternating between memoirs and mystery/thrillers. Right now, I'm definitely into the mystery/thriller books. I recently read one that I immediately gave a five-star rating on Goodreads. I'll start with that one...

(Links to Amazon are affiliate links, which means if you were to purchase from that link, I may get a small commission; but I always recommend checking your library first! I was able to borrow all of these.)

'The Last Flight' by Julie Clark

I came across this book randomly while searching for a different book on Amazon. I don't know why it caught my eye, but it sounded interesting. I was completely engrossed from the very first page. I'm not kidding when I say that I could not put this book down!

Here is the basic gist of the book (without spoilers). Keep in mind that I will not do the description of this book justice, so even if it sounds remotely interesting, definitely check it out.

A woman (Claire) seems to have the perfect life; in reality, she just can't take it anymore. Her husband (a very well-known philanthropist/politician) is abusive and Claire wants to get away from him. However, she is afraid for her life if she tries to leave, so she spent a year planning a clean break, with the help of her only friend. 

On the day she is to leave, there is a mix-up and she finds herself in a situation at the airport. A woman (Eva) overhears Claire on the phone and realizes Claire is leaving her husband. The two women begin talking and eventually, they decide to switch boarding passes. They've already cleared security, so nobody will check their ID's again. Eva wants to leave her life as much as Claire wants to leave hers. Switching boarding passes can give each of them a big opportunity for a clean start.

When Claire arrives at her destination, she learns that there was a plane crash--and it was the plane that she was supposed to have been on. She is horrified for Eva, but knowing there is nothing she can do for her now, she tries to start a new life. Everyone who knew her will think that she died on that flight, because as far as the flight manifest goes, she was on that flight. She begins by going to Eva's house (they'd switched ID's as well, so she had the address). There, she begins to piece together Eva's reason for leaving, and it's nothing like what she expected.

I'll leave it at that so I don't spoil anything. But if you are looking for a book that keeps you turning pages at a fast pace, try this one! (And definitely don't read any spoilers beforehand.) A lot of mystery books lack a powerful ending, which is why I rarely (if ever) give them five stars. This one was powerful, which is what makes it most memorable to me.

'One of Us Is Next' by Karen M. McManus

This is the sequel to 'One of Us Is Lying'. (Here is my review for that.) As you know, I LOVED 'One of Us Is Lying'. This sequel was good, but nothing like the first one. The first one was extremely clever and well-planned by the author. I also fell in love with those characters. The sequel had likable characters, but I didn't feel the same way as I did with the first.

The basic plot of this one is that someone is texting the students of the school with a game of Truth or Dare. A student is selected to choose truth or dare, and if they don't do it, a big secret of theirs will be revealed to everyone. A student winds up dead and the main characters are trying to figure out what happened and why.

'The Boy From the Woods' by Harlan Coben

I really loved a few of the characters in this and I was so sad when I saw that there wasn't a sequel! But I saw on Twitter that Coben is working on a sequel--I can't wait to read it. When looking through my books on Goodreads, I saw that I read a lot of Coben's books--but I don't remember them at all! I read several of them in 2015. Clearly, I like his books quite a bit if I keep reading them.

This book isn't so much about "the boy from the woods" (named Wilde); Wilde is actually a man who was found in the woods when he was just a kid and nobody knows (including himself) who he is, where he came from, or why he was found there, feral and alone. In this book, he helps to solve a current case of a missing teenager.

A teen girl goes missing and she was known to be an outcast at school. Nobody really takes it seriously except for one boy who didn't like that she was bullied (he didn't stand up for her, and his guilt about that pushes him to try to get people to take it seriously). Then another classmate goes missing. And I can't say more than that without spoiling.

I liked the characters in this (particularly Wilde) more than the actual storyline, but overall, it was a fun read. I had trouble keeping some of the characters straight, which is why I wish I'd known about the x-ray feature on my Kindle!

'Don't Let Go' by Harlan Coben

After reading 'The Boy From the Woods', I wanted to read another Coben book. I was disappointed there wasn't a sequel, so I just looked for one of his books that was available at the library and this is what I ended up with.

I can't say that I really loved this book. I only gave it three stars because I wasn't into the storyline once I got about halfway through. It's extremely far-fetched and kind of reminded me of sci-fi (except it's not sci-fi--I really don't have a way of describing it without spoiling).

A detective (Nap) has never really felt closure after his twin brother's death when they were seniors in high school. He'd died under odd circumstances (possible accident, possible suicide...). Nap's girlfriend took off without a word after Nap's brother died and he hasn't seen or heard from her in 15 years--despite the fact that the two were madly in love. Nap was clueless as to what happened and why she left, and has been searching for her and wondering about her ever since.

A new murder investigation leads to a clue about his ex-girlfriend that had left and now he wants to find out exactly what happened on the night his brother died. The book has a strong theme of conspiracy theories (which I think is why I didn't enjoy it as much). The answers he gets in the end were a surprise to me (nothing shocking, but I didn't guess it ahead of time)--I always like to be surprised, but I am good at guessing the endings, so a surprise is nice. Overall, I'd say this was a good mystery book--just not my taste of topics.

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I've read all of those since June 23rd--that says a lot! I just started another today (I needed something to read on the treadmill). I'm glad to be reading again; even though I'm not reading educational books, I feel better about reading than I do about watching TV. Hopefully I can keep finding interesting books :)

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HERITAGE RECIPE: Meat Loaf

Meatloaf is one of those foods that people seem to either love or hate--not much in-between. My family happens to love it. And when I saw this recipe in the heritage cookbook, along with a cute story, I just had to make it!

This recipe was submitted to the Rockwood, Michigan Area Historical Society by Tom and Diana Laura. Included with the recipe was this note:

"When I worked at the First Baptist Church in Monroe, Mike and Cathy would visit their daycare when they didn't have school. They would help Onalee (who was the cook). She took great care in preparing meals the children would eat. This meat loaf was one of the favorites of all the kids, especially Mike."

From this, I'm assuming that Mike and Cathy are Tom and Diana's children. I couldn't find any info about them--their names are all pretty common. I did find an Onalee in Monroe, but I have no idea if she's the person referred to in this note, so I won't mention her full name.

Anyway, I just thought it was a cute note about the recipe. If kids like a particular food, the chances are great that I will like it, too ;) I love that Onalee took the time to prepare actual meatloaf for the kids in daycare! Times have certainly changed.

As always, I am typing this out exactly as written in the book (it's even titled 'Meat Loaf'--I always spell it as one word, but maybe I'm wrong). And I prepared it without any modifications. In the printer-friendly version, I rewrote the recipe with any clarifications. See my notes after the recipe.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Meat Loaf

Base:

3 lb. ground beef
1-1/2 c. wheat germ or cornflake crumbs
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. diced onions
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sage
2 c. milk

Topping:

6 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 c. catsup
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Combine the base ingredients, blend well and press into a bread pan. In a separate bowl, mix together the topping ingredients, blend well and pour over the meat loaf. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour or until done.

My notes:

When I saw the amount of meat in this, I thought for sure it was going to be a huge loaf--or maybe it was supposed to be two loaves. But the recipe said "a bread pan" so I assumed it to be one large loaf.

I used cornflake crumbs, only because they were cheaper than the wheat germ.

I used 80/20 ground beef. Normally, I like 90/10, but I've noticed older recipes call for ground chuck (which is 80/20). So I use the 80/20 when making the heritage recipes.

After mixing the base ingredients, and putting them into a bread pan, I knew there was no way that it was going to be just one loaf. It wouldn't fit. So, I formed two loaves--I lined one with foil so that I could put it in the freezer (raw) and pull it out when I don't have anything planned for dinner. Each loaf was pretty big! (The purpose of the foil was to lift the loaf out of the pan after it was frozen, so that I could use my loaf pan in the meantime.)

I was really unsure about the nutmeg in the sauce--I'm not a fan of nutmeg--but as usual, I made it as-written. The sauce looked so good! And there was a LOT of it. (I put half on the loaf that I froze)

The meatloaf took longer than the 1 hour estimate in the recipe, but I used a glass loaf pan--I know that the metal ones cook differently. I believe it took mine about 1 hour 15 minutes.

I pulled it out of the dish to slice it (80/20 meat has a lot of fat in it and since the loaf is in a pan, the fat sits in there instead of draining out). When I pulled it out of the pan, the fat stayed in the pan.

This was delicious! It was very moist (I'm kind of notorious for drying out meat because I'm so worried I'll undercook it) and flavorful. The only thing I would do differently is leave out the nutmeg in the sauce. I ended up scraping the sauce off of mine (and using ketchup--I love ketchup with meatloaf!). But the meatloaf was so good that I'll definitely use that recipe again. I can see why it's kid-friendly. My family really liked it, too!

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Friday Night Photos

I'm pretty sure that I got the whole switch-from-feedburner-to-follow .it figured out and working. I won't know until after I publish a post, though--and I have no idea when it will show up in my subscribers' inboxes. I think it may show up late tomorrow morning if I understood correctly. Regardless, I'm just hoping that it worked so that I don't have to worry about it anymore. It will feel good to have that done!

I don't have any very exciting photos this week (not that every week is a party or anything, but still) so this will be a good test-post.

(Edit: I just received the notification email saying that there is a new update on my blog. I really don't like it! I can't change certain options, there are ads (I don't get paid for those), and they make it look like you're signing up for spam, basically. I'm going to stick with it for now, but research other options. Please just bear with me!)

The weather is GORGEOUS today (it has felt like fall all day) so I've been hanging out in the garage while I work on the blog stuff.

Anyway, here are some pics from the week...

My mom gave me some peaches that she said came off of a peach truck--literally called 'The Peach Truck'--while the truck was on a tour. The Peach Truck delivers fresh Georgia peaches to several different states on a tour. It was started by a couple who had just moved to Nashville (I believe from Georgia--it doesn't specify in the story on their website) and missed the taste of family-farm peaches.

I am a total peach lover (I actually love peaches more than grapes, if you can believe that!) but it's very rare that I find a good peach. The ones at the grocery store don't really taste like anything and they're not at all juicy.

When my mom told me about these peaches, I was excited to try them. And holy cow, they are the best peaches I've ever had! I ate six of them in two days (I would have eaten more if I'd had any more). They are SO flavorful and I pretty much needed a bib for all the juice.

The Peach Truck is coming back around at the end of July--so I preordered a box of them (25 pounds!). If Noah and I don't eat them all before they go bad (don't underestimate us), I'd like to freeze dry them. (My older brother has a freeze-dryer--not to be confused with a dehydrator--and I always forget about it. It would be awesome to freeze-dry some peaches!)

Chick is so funny. One of his new favorite places to nap is on top of the treadmill... while the treadmill is folded. He straddles it with his legs and rests his head on the end. And he actually sleeps like that! I haven't seen him fall off yet, but he's come close. 

I was explaining to Jerry why the dew point means more than the temperature and/or humidity when describing how sticky the air is. The dew point a few days ago (when the temp was 90 degrees F) was 74! It was awful. The air literally feels like you're in a sauna. I pulled up a chart to show him. I remember running sometimes when the dew point was in the high 60's (or even in the 70's) and I can't imagine doing that now.

I finished making the fitted sheet for my bed! I had a brand new Brooklinen flat sheet that was part of a set and I wasn't going to use it for anything (we have a duvet cover and don't use flat sheets with it). I very precisely measured the whole thing out and cut the corners to sew into a box-shape. After cutting it, I realized a mistake I'd made (I should have shifted the center of the sheet after releasing the hem, but I was talking to Jerry while I worked on it and got distracted). Anyway, the finished sheet 13.5" deep instead of the 15.5" I'd planned. Our mattress is 14.5" tall, which means the sheet isn't deep enough.

However, we are exchanging our mattress... remember, we ordered a Saatva mattress in the fall? Thankfully, it comes with a 180-night guarantee. I really don't like it. I wanted to. I hoped I'd get used to it. But it's definitely too tall and sits up really high (even with our platform frame, which is rather low). Mostly, though, I just can't get comfortable on it. I'm so used to the Tempurpedic mattress we had before and I miss how cozy it was.

I talked to customer service and they said we could either send it back for a refund (minus $99 for pick-up) or swap it for a different one--the man I spoke with suggested trying their softer one. It will have a 180-night guarantee as well, so I figured there is no harm in trying it--we'll need a mattress, after all--and if it doesn't work out, we can return it (and probably get another Tempurpedic).

Anyway, the point of that long story is that this fitted sheet will work just fine when we get the new mattress. (They had to order it and said it could be the end of July when we'll get it.)

But I'm excited that I was able to make a fitted sheet out of our flat sheet. It turned out great!

I've gotten in the habit of making a dessert once a week (mainly due to the heritage recipe series!) and I made this cake yesterday. Ohmygosh, it's one of the best cakes I've ever tried! I will be posting the recipe soon. I have made four heritage recipes recently so that I can write posts ahead of time. Not all of them are desserts, I promise ;)

Jerry took this picture while I was getting the ultrasound of my hands on Tuesday. Apparently, I inspired him to run on the treadmill :)

I discovered a feature on my Kindle Paperwhite (affiliate link) today and I am so excited about it! I can't believe I never knew of it before. Whenever I am reading and I come across a word I don't know, I tap on it to get the definition in the dictionary (or to learn how to pronounce it). I love that I can do that. 

Today, I accidentally tapped on someone's name instead of a word and I discovered something called X-Ray. Basically, it pulls up that person's name in the book--all the different times it was mentioned and the surrounding context--and puts it into one spot.

At first, it just shows a quick glance of the first time their name was mentioned, but you can tap "open x-ray" and it'll show a list of all of the mentions. I wish I'd have known this for the last book I read! There were lots of characters and I had a hard time keeping them straight. If I'd have known about this feature, I could have tapped their names to get a reminder of who they were.

On Tuesday, I had an ultrasound done on my hands (to hopefully solve my chronic pain issue). My rheumatologist ordered the ultrasound to look for signs of inflammation (possible rheumatoid arthritis). So far, almost all of my tests (blood work, urinalysis, x-rays, and now ultrasound) have come back negative. There were a couple of blood tests that were abnormal (indicators of something autoimmune), but nothing alarming or definitive.

During the ultrasound, I was asking the tech questions (I'm super into anatomy and I love seeing things like x-rays and ultrasounds, MRI's, etc.) She was pointing out what she was looking for and said that if there is inflammation, the space will light up red. I saw some areas that lit up, but again--nothing alarming that would explain things.

During the last appointment I had with the rheumatologist, she said she suspects I have fibromyalgia but she wants to be sure it's not rheumatoid arthritis, which is why she ordered the ultrasound. So, basically, I still don't have answers, but I have another appointment next month.

Have a great weekend! xo

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Blog Feed Problems and a Funny Story

What a nightmare!

Ugh, I spent most of the day working on what should have been an easy switch--moving my blog feed from Google's feedburner to follow.it. If you missed the announcement I posted the last couple of days, Google is shutting down their email subscriptions in feedburner, which affects everyone who receives my blog post updates via email.

I've been reading about different alternatives and I decided to go with follow.it; now, however, I'm rethinking that. I'll try not to bore you with the details, but right now I'm just waiting on customer support at follow.it to upload my list of current subscribers. If you have under 100 subscribers you can upload them yourself (which is easy), but if you have more than that, you have to email them and they will do it for you (after you submit proof via a screenshot of feedburner).

As of right now, it's been six hours without any further communication from them after I submitted the screenshot but the subscriber list still isn't uploaded to my account. So, for those of you that subscribe via email, I have no idea if you will get an email notification of this post tonight or not. I really hope that you don't get an email from BOTH feedburner and follow.it. I don't want to be spammy! As soon as I can confirm that my subscriber list is uploaded to follow.it, I'll delete the feed at feedburner.

Anyway, that's just a very long-winded way of saying that I have no idea what's going on with the switch right now. The reason I was procrastinating this for the last few months is for this very reason: I knew it wouldn't go smoothly.

(There was a time several years ago that I tried to switch from Blogger to Wordpress and good LORD, I was a sobbing mess and ready to throw my computer through a wall that day. I decided I'll just stay on Blogger because it's free, I am used to it, and I really don't want to deal with switching over.)

I didn't even prepare a post today because I was hoping for a "test post" after I made the switch. So I'll just share a funny thing that happened today.

I was washing dishes when Jerry woke up today, and he poured a bowl of Frosted Flakes. I told him he should add some Cocoa Krispies in there, too, because the combination is really good! He added the Cocoa Krispies, poured in the milk, and then I heard him say, "Ohhh, this sounds just like my childhood". (I had my back to him because of washing the dishes.)

I half-turned to see what he was talking about and he had his ear next to the bowl of cereal. He said that the sound of Rice Krispies reminds him of being a kid. He said, "Here, listen to it" and held his bowl up to my ear. My hands were soapy and wet, so I was still facing the sink, but I paused to listen (i.e. humor his nostalgia).

Jerry was watching my reaction to listening to the Rice Krispies (yes, I realize it's not a very exciting thing to watch for a reaction, but hey--whatever floats his boat!). While Jerry was looking at my face and he didn't realize that he was tipping the (very full) bowl of cereal and milk sideways. He dumped half a bowl of cereal and milk down the back of my shirt and in my hair while I stood there!

I just froze for a minute. Then I realized what had just happened--my husband had literally poured a bowl full milk down my back--and I burst out laughing. I was standing at the sink wheezing from laughter while Jerry breathed with relief before laughing (I guess when your wife is bipolar, you don't know what to expect when you pour milk down the back of her shirt! Haha)

All day, every time I think about it I start laughing again. You have to picture him holding a bowl full of milk up next to my head (with an eager, nostalgic smile on his face) and then tipping the bowl and dumping the milk down my back--it was very different than accidentally dribbling or spilling milk and splashing me. If someone was just watching it out of context, they certainly would have thought it was on purpose.

Okay, well, I hope to get this issue with the blog feed sorted tonight, but if not, I'll just have to deal with it tomorrow! (Edit 7/9/21 at 12:00 ET: It *should* be working now, but I guess I won't know until the feed updates--I think tomorrow? Anyway, you should only get one email, from follow.it. Fingers crossed that it actually works!

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A Few (Recent) Weight Loss Comparison Photos

It's been six weeks since I started the DietBet and finally started losing some of this extra weight, so I took some comparison photos today. I'm down over 17 pounds! My "before" photos from six weeks ago are terribly embarrassing--at the time, I never planned to show them. (They were my official weigh in photos for DietBet.) So I've been debating all day whether or not to post them.

I hoped that I could find a different "before" photo to use, but I avoided the camera like the plague for the past year and I was only able to find TWO. And they aren't the greatest pictures to use for comparison purposes (bulky winter coats), but I'll share them anyway.

Remember when I bought two winter coats in February? I took full-length photos in the mirror, so I decided to try them on again today and see if they feel any different. I was actually really surprised! I haven't seen much of a difference in the mirror since losing this weight so I wasn't expecting the coats to feel any looser, but they definitely did.

I tried to recreate each photo the best I could. (It's really crazy how much the pictures of me in the corduroy coat look alike--at first, I thought they were the same photo! But the socks give it away. And when I look closely, I do notice the coat isn't stretched as tight in the waist and across the chest.)

This coat is much more comfortable to move around in now. I accidentally wound up with three different sizes of it, haha! (Here is that story.) So hopefully by the time I need it again, I'll move a size down. (The pic on the left is from February; on the right is from today.)

The orange one is super loose now. As much as I love it, I hope it'll be too big to wear next winter! Now that I know I can find one on Poshmark, I just may do that if needed. (Again, the left is February, right is today.)

Most of the weight that I have gained has gone to my midsection and my face (it's the most noticeable there, anyway). I was really hoping to see a big difference in my face, but just don't see it yet. I'll always have round cheeks (Jerry and I like to joke that I just have a "jolly" looking face!) but I'm hoping that it'll thin out again as I lose more. But here is a picture from January versus today:

I'm just not ready to post my DietBet photos. I really wish I'd at least tried to take a decent photo! (I look like I rolled out of bed after having the flu.) I never thought I'd do anything else with them, so I didn't really care what they looked like at the time.

Anyway, I know these aren't the greatest comparison photos, but hopefully in another month or so I can take some more and see a bigger difference. It's definitely nice to have my clothes feeling looser, though!

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Transformation Tuesday - The One With the Chick and the Duck

First, I just want to post this announcement again, in case you missed it yesterday...

I've been putting this off until the last minute, because I have a feeling it's going to cause all sorts of problems with my blog, but if you receive my blog posts via email (and want to continue doing so) this is important.

Google is getting rid of feeds for Blogger--which means I have to switch to using something else to reach email subscribers. I think I'm going to use mailchimp, but I may use follow.it--I haven't decided for sure yet. Regardless, I am *hoping* it will be a seamless transition... meaning you will continue to get a daily email with my blog post link. It'll likely look different and may have a different sender name, but it will still be the post link.

I'm going to make the change on Thursday (unless Google shuts down its system sooner). So, if by Friday morning you haven't received an email, please let me know so I can investigate (first check your spam folder, just in case). I am not good with this kind of stuff, so hopefully I can make it work! The biggest downside to using Blogger as a blogging platform is that you can't get support; there is no customer service to call.

Fingers crossed!

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Sadly, I don't have any transformation emails for this week... please send some! I love this series and I know lots of other people do, too. I may have to cut it back to once a month or every other week, but I'd like to keep doing it.

To submit a transformation, just send me an email with a before picture and an after picture (of any transformation you'd like--cleaning a closet, painting a room, flipping furniture, a hair cut, an upcycled article of clothing, etc. Get creative! (And always remember to take a "before" photo--even if you don't plan to show it to anyone, you'll be glad to have it!)  Along with the photos, include your name and a description of the transformation. Send them to: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com.

Since I don't have any to post this week, I just put together a side-by-side of Chick and Duck. I took some cute photos of them when they were on top of the refrigerator (they like to watch birds through the skylight, haha) and I thought this one would be a good comparison photo. I cannot believe how much (or how fast) they've grown! I am SO GLAD we adopted them. (Chick is on the left and Duck is on the right)

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