Friday Night Photos

This has been the craziest week! I am SO thankful that our power came back on last night at around 9:30. You don't really realize how much you rely on electricity to do so many things until you don't have it. I can't even tell you how many times I flipped on a light switch without thinking about it, only to have it not work.

Now, we just have to wait on the insurance company to come out and assess the damage to our roof and siding. It will be the biggest miracle if they will pay to replace them! (Or at least the roof--that took most of the damage.) I was so worried that we'd get water damage on the ceilings that I just finished removing the texture from, seaming the drywall, skim coating, sanding, and painting. It's funny--shortly after I finished everything, I used to have nightmares that it would storm and I would just watch as all of my work dissolved from the ceiling down the walls, into a big drywall mess on the floor! Haha.

Here are some random pics from the last week...

When I quit drinking coffee in the mornings, I really missed that routine (I would drink coffee and play Best Fiends). I looked forward to that little quiet time while everyone was still sleeping. So I decided to check out my old friend, David's Tea, to see if they had any new flavors. I haven't ordered their tea in a very long time, but I used to love it.

The last time I looked, they'd discontinued all of my favorites! So I quit ordering. But last week when I looked, I noticed that they had Red Velvet Cake black tea in their "last chance" section--meaning they were discontinuing it (again). Red Velvet Cake was my favorite flavor of ALL TIME. I couldn't believe it was on clearance! It was 50% off, so I ordered quite a bit of it--40 oz--which is in 20 (2-ounce) pouches. It was $80 (after an additional discount for ordering 10+ ounces. That makes it $4 per pouch, when it would have been $10 per pouch if not on clearance! This will last me a very long time.

I have really looked forward to drinking it each morning--it's just as good as I remember!

Speaking of tea and Best Fiends in the mornings, I was a total nerd a few days ago and wore my Best Fiends socks and drank my tea from my Best Fiends mug while playing Best Fiends ;)

When the power was out, and my computer and phone were down below 5% of battery life, I thought, "At least I can read my book!" I read about three pages before I got the notice that my Kindle's battery was low! The Kindle battery lasts FOREVER--I'm a slow reader, but I can read about three books before I need to charge it. I need to start keeping all of my stuff charged, haha.

I don't know why I felt the need to take a picture of the cats here, but when I got in bed, Estelle, Chick, and Duck all came in to sleep with me. I thought they looked cute.

Duck doesn't realize he's a little too big to fit on this cat bed. Phoebe and Estelle sleep in it, but Duck and Chick never do. A couple days ago, I found Duck sleeping with the upper half of his body on the bed, and his lower half dangling off of it.

Remember when I put a big note on my treadmill so that I would remember to turn off the GPS on my Garmin? Well, it didn't work for long. I ran three miles on the treadmill, but my Garmin read 0.28 miles because I didn't actually go anywhere!

I was organizing our board games and when I saw the playing cards, I was inspired to play the solitaire game Grandma's Game. If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know how much I love this game. I never knew what it was called until I posted about it on my blog. I've only won the game ONCE in the 20 years I've been playing it! (I made a video tutorial here.) In the game below, I was SO close to winning. If just one card had been in a different spot, I would have won.

This picture is hilarious! I don't remember why Jerry did this, but it looked so funny that I had to take a picture. (Then I tried to do it myself, and I couldn't.) The picture is so much funnier because of the shorts he's wearing--they aren't actual jorts (jean shorts), but printed to look like them.

I was cracking up when I saw the race predictor on my Garmin--it looks at your current fitness level and predicts your race times. There is NO WAY I could run a 5K in 27:10 right now! (Or even in the near future.) I would be surprised if I could run a 5K in 33:00. I have no desire to start racing again, though. I just thought this was funny.

Eli called to me, "Come look at this squirrel!" and when I looked, I started laughing so hard. He was just chilling like this on the deck--he stayed there for a relatively long time, too. At first, when I grabbed the camera, he stood up and watched me in the doorway. I figured he'd never get in that position again. But then he laid down in the same position to relax in the sun. So funny!

I saved the best for last... I went with Laura, Jerry's sister, for an embryo transfer! (Yes, she gave me permission to post this.) She's been going through IVF to get pregnant and her husband just started a new job, so he wasn't able to go with her for the embryo transfer. She asked me to go, and it was so exciting! I watched on the ultrasound screen as the doctor placed the embryo in her uterus. She had Shelby, my niece, via IVF--I really hope she'll have success this time as well. And how cool that I got to be there when it happened! (She'll find out next week whether it worked.)

I'm going to go tweeze my unibrow right now... haha.

Have a great weekend!

Continue Reading...

Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 11

I know it's Thursday, but I didn't have time to write much yesterday. 

I am pouring sweat as I write this. I wish it was because I just got done working out or something, but no--it's 90 degrees with a dew point of 72(!), and we have no air conditioning because the power is still out. (I know, first world problems.)

I want to see the upside of this (like our insurance possibly paying for a new roof!) but I've been super stressed and anxious about it. Yesterday, I made the most perfect-looking enchiladas, and I was so excited to have them for dinner. Jerry was feeding the squirrels on the back deck. It was sunny, but there was no breeze, so it was super humid.

This is when the craziest thing happened. As I was preheating the oven and watching Jerry feed a squirrel, the sky went from sunny to extremely dark and rain just dumped on us--within no more than five-seconds. Jerry ran inside and then the wind went from 0 to 60 in about 2 seconds flat. The power went out immediately. As we stood there gaping, branches started falling off of trees and the trees were bending so much I thought they would fall over. I heard and felt a huge boom--something had hit the house.

Noah and Eli came in and we were all running around looking through the windows to see what was going on. I was sure that we were having a tornado. The last time we had a wind storm like this, we actually had a tornado come through (this was in 2010, I think).

The whole storm lasted about 15 minutes. I heard several things hit the roof and I watched in horror as a branch fell on my car (thankfully, it didn't cause damage). When the branches had stopped falling, we went outside to check everything out. There were huge branches blocking the road, there were branches caught in electrical wires, branches in our yard and several on our house. The biggest damage was on our roof--lots of shingles came off and a branch hit the side hard enough to break the gutter and damage the roof. There were several spots where things had punched holes or made cracks in the siding.

I went around taking pictures of the damage (knowing we would want them for the insurance company). Jerry called and they are coming out next Thursday to report everything. Our roof and siding are 18 years old and we've been talking about how we need to get them replaced in the next year or two. So I am REALLY hopeful that the insurance will pay for a new roof (and if I'm really dreaming big, new siding!).

My anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks. I obviously wasn't able to bake the enchiladas without power, so that was a bummer. Jerry had to leave for work an hour after the storm started, so he wasn't able to help me (with what, I don't know--I just felt like I needed him).

Here is a map of people without electricity as of this afternoon; the storm left 700,000 customers without power. The circled spot is where I am.

I hadn't eaten more than a few hundred calories up to that point, but I couldn't even think about food. I told Noah and Eli they could go out to eat and I'd pay for it. I told them to bring their phones and charge them (they went to Panera). I stayed home and cleaned up the house so that I'd know where everything was when it got dark and I couldn't see anything.

After that, I was bored. I didn't know what to do! My phone and computer were nearly dead. I obviously couldn't watch TV. I had cleaned what I was able to (I couldn't do laundry). I just laid on the couch in my bedroom and fell asleep at 7:30! The kids brought me a bagel from Panera, but I just wasn't in the mood to eat--my anxiety was so bad that I couldn't focus on anything--so I just went to bed. I couldn't sleep because it was SO HOT without the air conditioning. I was sweating all night and just couldn't get comfortable.

This morning, Jerry brought home a generator from his parents' house. I hadn't even been interested in using one because I was imagining that they would use a ton of gas--like a gallon an hour or something. It turns out that a gallon lasts about six hours--so even with our high gas prices right now, it would only cost about 50 cents per hour to get (some) electricity. The most important one was the refrigerator/freezer; I didn't want our food to spoil. We couldn't use the generator for things like the air conditioning, water heater, oven (thankfully we have a gas stove, so I can still use that), and a couple of other things.

We were able to plug in our refrigerator, internet/TV, a large lamp, charge our electronics, and right now, I am running a floor fan aimed directly at me.

Having the generator relieves a little of the anxiety because the most important stuff (refrigerator and, yes, internet) is available. But I still feel super overwhelmed--the feeling of needing to do something but not being able to think of exactly what that is. (Maybe it's laundry...? haha)

Anyways, aside from that whole story, I did do a Wednesday Weigh-In, so here is that:

I was at 170.8, which is down from 172.6 last week--a loss of 1.8 pounds. I'll take it!

I had two (very) high calorie days a few days ago. I felt like my stomach was a bottomless pit. I was starving! Then I noticed my skin was feeling oily, and I thought--oh, crap, I'm about to start my period. And sure enough, I started yesterday. I think that must have been why I was so hungry for the few days prior. (Unlike a lot of women, I don't tend to gain weight before/during my period--I just feel ravenous, I get extremely moody, I feel bloated, and my skin breaks out. So much fun, right?!)

It's interesting, though--I haven't had much of an appetite at all yesterday or today, so maybe it's my body's way of balancing out the ravenous appetite I had before.

Anyway, I really hope to see the 160's next week. The last time I saw the 160's was in late 2019!

Continue Reading...

Powerless

We had a MASSIVE storm come through late this afternoon, totally unexpectedly, and the power went out. Of course my phone and computer are almost dead. Ugh! The last time we had a storm this big, we lost power for four days.

Well, the electric company is estimating four days--YES, four days without power. So I have to write this very quickly before my computer dies. I'm going to babysit Luke and Riley tomorrow night at their house (and thankfully, they have power) so I can bring my computer, phone, iPad, and all the other stuff I need to charge. And laundry! Haha.

So, my posts may be weird/sporadic/who knows for the next few days. This is super stressful--we have to make an insurance claim for our roof (pictures below). The siding was damaged in places, too. The first picture is my street!

I'll try to write my regular Wednesday Weigh-In post tomorrow.

Okay gotta go!

Continue Reading...

Transformation Tuesday #37

Happy Transformation Tuesday! I can't believe it's only Tuesday; I've had a super busy couple of days, and it feels like it should be the weekend already ;)

I only have a couple of transformations to post today (and this first one is mine!) but here goes:

I really loved the bar stools that I'd gotten for out kitchen snack bar, but the metal broke on one of them. My dad tried welding it, but it's still rickety and needed to be replaced. I didn't want to spend much on stools, so I looked on Facebook Marketplace and found a solid pair for $35. I didn't love them, but I think it was just because of the color. I could imagine liking them if I painted them.

When we picked them up, I was happy to see that they are really good quality and we shouldn't have any problems with them breaking. I primed and then painted them with leftover paint from my kitchen cabinets (a very light blue). I love how they turned out! Once they've finished curing, I'm going to move them into the house (they're in the garage now).

It's funny, whenever I look at the legs of the chairs I'm reminded of the rolls on my arms and legs when I was a baby--hahaha!

---

 
This transformation is from Deb, who shared her paintings before--she was making over her den into a mid-century modern/tiki theme. She sent before and after photos to share today.

"The final piece of my den transformation is complete. I know I’ve sent pictures of the paintings I made, but I’ve now “finished” (as much as anything is ever finished to me) the final project in this room: the coffee table/trunk. My husband needed a place to store his instruments so it needed to be functional, fit with the vibe of the room, and be pretty cheap. I picked up this cedar chest because the top was in terrible condition. It didn’t exactly fit with the mid century mod/tiki vibe, so I added a funky design to the top.

This room went from the place to store stuff we don’t know what to do with, to a pretty cool hangout spot! Getting the gas logs replaced (not cheap!) was the motivation I needed to get the room fixed up so we would actually use it!"

- Deb

Deb, you did an AMAZING job on your den! I think I told you already that I love mid-century modern furniture. I really like the light blue chair in the corner. And WOW--the trunk looks so good! Painting the design on there is super creative and it changes the entire look. Love it! Thanks so much for sharing.

I need some more transformations to post, so please go transform something--anything!--and submit them. I love drawing inspiration from other transformations. Just send a before photo and an after photo to me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Make sure to include your name and a description of the transformation. Thanks!

Continue Reading...

Return to Running Recap : Week 11

Another week in the books! Eleven weeks ago, I honestly didn't believe I'd ever get back to running three miles--it felt SO HARD to just run for 60 seconds at a time. For the past three weeks, though, I've run three miles, three times per week.

This week, I noticed that it's actually starting to feel easier. And that the speed I've been running on the treadmill (5.0 mph) is starting to feel too slow. I'm going to continue to run this pace until I can keep my heart rate in Zone 2, though--if I increase the speed now, it'll only increase my heart rate.

Anyway, I ran on the days I said I was going to: Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I have such a hard time with that--I procrastinate and then have to fit them all in toward the end of the week. So my plan is to continue with Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday being my running days.

Just like the last couple of weeks, each workout was three miles at 5.0 mph on the treadmill, with my main goal being to keep my heart rate as low as possible. My MAF zone is 131-141 bpm (Zone 2 on my Garmin).

Wednesday

There is really nothing notable about this run. It didn't feel abnormally hard or easy. My average heart rate for each of the miles was 131, 147, and 149 bpm.

Friday

I almost didn't run on Friday. I knew I said I was going to, but I was really tired and decided to put it off until Saturday. However, at 9:44 PM, I had the urge to do my run. No idea where that came from! But I figured I'd better take advantage of it. I changed out of my pajamas and into running clothes, then hopped on the treadmill.

I didn't think it felt very hard, but my heart rate was pretty high (mile splits were 145, 150, and 152 bpm). I felt like I had a lot of adrenaline, so maybe that's what made it feel easier. Afterward, I felt so good! I laid back on the treadmill (while the cats all walked around, sniffing me curiously) and just enjoyed that good feeling--it was a feeling that I missed a lot since I stopped running. (That's when I took the photo at the beginning of the post)

Sunday

I actually wasn't sure if I was going to fit in my run yesterday. I've been working in the garage a lot the past few days (I painted some chairs and I have been working on the table that Noah and I are making--adding coats of polyurethane and now working on the legs). It's been super humid outside and it makes me sweat like crazy, even if I don't feel hot.

When I came inside last night, it was almost 7:00 PM, and I could tell I was dehydrated. I was breathing heavier than normal and my heart rate was up, so I felt like it would be a bad time to run. But I felt like I had the energy to, and I was already sweaty and in need of a shower, so I went ahead and did it anyways.

I challenged myself not to look at the treadmill display AT ALL during the whole run (my Garmin beeps every 12 minutes so that I know I've run a mile). I knew I had to be getting close to the end and then I got a text message--I tried to glance down at my phone and I unintentionally saw the treadmill display showing 2.64 miles. I swear, the next 0.36 miles felt like it took forever! Once I saw the number, that's all I could think about. I'm going to start covering the display from now on.

I actually expected my heart rate to be much higher, considering I already felt like I'd been working out before I even started. My heart rate for each split was 144, 149, and 149 bpm.

Overall, the week went well! I quit drinking coffee, like I mentioned last week. I switched over to tea, but the tea has less caffeine than the half-caffeinated coffee I was drinking before. Since the time of day that I ran varied greatly this week, it's hard to tell whether or not the caffeine had any effect on my heart rate. (I ran at 10:00 AM, 9:45 PM, and 7:00 PM).

I'd like to run at a consistent time of day, but I really just wait until I feel good enough to do it--if I have anxiety or I'm in pain or something else that might have a negative effect on my run, then I wait. I do find that I feel much better running in the evenings than I do in the mornings, though.

This coming week, I just hope to have another run that makes me feel as good as I did on Friday night--that's what I miss most about running!

Continue Reading...

Reader Emails

Posting "Reader Mail" recently was pretty fun, and I'd like to do that now and again. I'd had the idea to do posts about news from readers (things people may want to share--like an engagement, a new baby, buying a house, paying off debt, adopting a pet, etc), as well as bargain finds from readers (cool things you may have picked up at a garage sale or thrift store), or other topics that I write about on my blog. (Over the last decade, my blog has gone from mainly weight loss and running to a smorgasbord of DIY, thrifty finds, recipes, mental health, pets, and other stuff.) So rather than making several separate posts like that, I may just post emails from readers now and then if it relates to something I generally write about. (And don't worry, I will always ask permission before sharing something.)

Anyway, here are a few reader emails to share!

---

This first one is a recipe from a woman named Lynette. She had seen my posts about all the peaches I bought and wanted to send me her favorite peach recipe. It sounded so good to me that I made it the very next day! It turned out to be delicious (my family ate it all within 24 hours) and I asked her if I could share it here. Here is what she wrote about it, and the recipe itself:

"It is a simple recipe but oh so good. And it is almost impossible to ruin. I accidentally scorched the marshmallow mixture once and I really did not want to throw it away. I carefully avoided the scorched areas and to my surprise, the recipe was still perfect. If you do not try it this year, I encourage you try it sometime. I love that it uses fresh peaches because you can really taste the peaches."

Peaches and Cream

44 large or approximately 4-1/2 cups mini marshmallows

2T lemon juice

2T orange juice

1-1/2 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced peaches (I usually slice the peaches into wedges and then slice into small bite-size pieces)

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Melt marshmallows and juices over low heat. Refrigerate until partially thickened. Add peaches and whipped cream. Pour into 9-inch pan with graham cracker crust. Refrigerate.

For the graham cracker crust, I just use 1 pkg + 2 crackers of graham crackers (made into crumbs), 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar. I apologize as I am not sure of the exact measurement of graham cracker crumbs.

If you try this recipe, I hope you like it as much as I do.

Best wishes,

Lynette

Well, I tried it and loved it! I did a terrible job on the crust (it did not stay together--from what I read online, I don't think my butter was melted enough) but that didn't change the taste at all. I imagined this in a pie plate, but I chose to use a square baking pan instead (just easier to portion out). I hope that it looks how it was supposed to, haha--but it was easy to make and it was definitely the perfect summertime dessert! Thank you for sharing. (I bet this would be good with pretty much any summer fruit--strawberries would be delicious)

Here is a printer-friendly version of Lynette's recipe!

---

This next email is from Elaine in Nebraska. She actually sent this for a Transformation Tuesday post, but she didn't have a "before" photo. I only post transformations with before and after photos, but the organizer in me loved this "after" photo of her spices--so I wanted to share this regardless. Despite the fact that I love to organize, my spices are a total mess right now--this inspired me and I hope to get mine organized like this soon. Thank you for sending this, Elaine! It looks so nice and neat.

"Hi Katie-

I'm heeding the call for transformation pictures. Alas, no "before" pictures, but it's not too difficult to visualize a jumble of spice jars of varying sizes and ages. I wasted so much time trying to find what I needed when cooking a meal, and finally had had enough. I ordered these spice racks, but the labels that came with them really didn't match everything that I had, so I went with 1-inch labels from an office supply store and made my own labels with my label maker. Under each label, I wrote the "best by" date in pencil, so I have a clue as to how old my spices are, and can update as needed. Lastly, I alphabetized them! Such a small but rewarding project to finally tame those spices! 

--Elaine from Nebraska"

---

This email is from Karen, who wanted to share a thrifty find that she and her husband bought. I love finding used items that are perfect for what I've been looking for; I've furnished pretty much my entire house from Facebook Marketplace!

"We got this single floor lamp from Craigslist for $75.00, and put it in our living room. We got this pair of buttercream yellow floor lamps from Craigslist and put one on either side of the bed, and we only paid $75.00 for the pair. We didn't talk anybody down--we paid the asking price. We love all of them!

- Karen"

Continue Reading...

HERITAGE RECIPE: Barbecued Beef (a.k.a. Sloppy Joes)

When I chose this recipe from the heritage book, I had no idea what a surprise I was in for (not about the recipe, but about the person who submitted it).

Hopefully it's not too hard to follow...

This recipe for Barbecued Beef (a.k.a. Sloppy Joe's) was submitted to the Rockwood, Michigan Area Historical Society by Jeanette Laura.

I've heard the name before, but there are a lot of Lauras in Rockwood (which is where I lived until I was 15 years old) so I wasn't sure. I asked my mom and she explained that it was my "Aunt" Vickie's mom. (Vickie was my mom's best friend when they were growing up, and I always called her "Aunt Vickie" because they were very close.)

Anyway, Vickie's mom is Jeanette (who just turned 97 years old!) and Jeanette was married to Emerson. This is where it gets interesting... Emerson actually built their home in Rockwood (where they had nine children!) Annnnd, years later, when my parents were ready to buy their first home, that was the house they bought!

So, the house that I lived in from the time I was born until I was 15 was built by Emerson, who was the husband of the woman whose recipe this is. Hopefully that's not too confusing--but isn't that a cool coincidence?!

Jeanette's recipe included a note that said: "Sloppy Joes get served around here often, especially at Dad's poker parties. I just put it in a crock-pot after it's done and let the men help themselves."

I'd never heard of sloppy joes being referred to as barbecued beef, but she listed both names in her recipe. I've always loved sloppy joes but I preferred the Manwich version rather than the few homemade recipes I'd tried. Still, I wanted to give this one a go.

I'm so glad I did! I won't be using Manwich again--this recipe was too good (and super easy). I made homemade hamburger buns to use with it (another heritage recipe--I'll post that another time). If you like sloppy joes, definitely give this recipe a try!

As always, I am typing out the recipe exactly as written in the heritage book and I made it without substituting ingredients or modifying the recipe. The printer-friendly version is rewritten with any clarifications by me.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Barbecued Beef (Sloppy Joes)

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onions
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. minced green pepper
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 c. catsup
1/4 c. water
1 tsp. vinegar
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Brown meat and drain excess fat. Add onion, celery, green pepper, salt, pepper and brown sugar. Cover and simmer slowly about 20 minutes. Combine catsup, water, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, then add to meat mixture. Cook for an additional 20 minutes. Serve on hamburger buns.

My Notes:

This recipe was super straight-forward and I didn't question anything. It seemed like it would make such a small amount, though, so I wondered if it would be enough to feed five people (Eli had a friend over). Sloppy Joes are a great way to stretch a small amount of meat--with the homemade buns, they were super hearty. I think we even had enough meat left over for another sandwich.

To get specific, I used 80/20 ground beef; I doubt it matters, though. Also, 'catsup' is the same as ketchup--no difference in the product, just in the name.

When I've made homemade sloppy joes before, they were always watery for some reason. This recipe was the perfect texture.

I'm not a fan of celery and I usually leave it out of recipes that call for it (I don't like the texture). Since I don't modify the heritage recipes, I included it. I can honestly say that I didn't even notice it there--I chopped it small, but it mixed in with everything really well. And I'm assuming that it contributed to the overall flavor, so I would include it again.

I can see why Jeanette liked to serve this at the poker parties; it would be so easy to cook ahead of time and then throw it in a crock pot.

The whole family really loved these! We all agreed that we would like to have it again. (And it was fun learning that this recipe was served frequently in the house I grew up in, long before I was born!)

Continue Reading...

Friday Night Photos

It's my favorite time of week... Friday night! I'm pretty sure the most exciting thing I'm doing tonight is laundry, but there is still something about Friday night that feels good. I don't have very many photos from this week (that I haven't already shared) but here goes...

Being stiff and in pain when I wake up every morning is really taking a toll on me. Mornings are the worst--my joints are extremely stiff and I walk like I'm 100 years old. It usually takes 90 minutes or so before I can actually function and it's really frustrating. (My third appointment with the rheumatologist is next week--but I don't know that she'll have any answers.)

Anyway, even though it's the last thing I feel like I can do when I wake up, I wondered if I go for a short walk (just around the block--half a mile), will it make me feel less stiff and painful? So I tested that out today. I was in a lot of pain but I managed to get Joey leashed and out the door. We walked slowly, but Joey loves that because he wants to smell everything anyway. By the time we got back home, I can't really say that the pain was much better, but I definitely felt less stiff and I was walking faster.

I'm going to try and do that every morning before I do anything else. Even if it's not helping, it at least makes me feel better mentally. And Joey loves the idea ;)

My next door neighbor is very into gardening and she's so good at it! I wish I could grow something, but even my attempt at starting seedlings in my kitchen failed because my cats ate them. Anyway, my neighbor generously shares her bounty with me sometimes and yesterday, she gave me this basil. Isn't it amazing?! That was a full grocery bag full of fresh basil (my kitchen smelled heavenly). I made pesto with it--I'd never made pesto before, but I love it!

This is a new project I'm working on. We needed a couple of stools for the snack bar in the kitchen (one of the ones we had in there broke) but I didn't want to spend much on them. I found these on Facebook Marketplace for $35. They're not really my style, but they are very well-made and sturdy, and I figured if I paint them, they'll look much better. Yesterday I primed them and today I put the first coat of paint on. Tomorrow, I'm going to paint a second coat. I'll share the "after" photo when I'm done.

A year ago, Eli was addicted to pop. We never have pop in our house (I don't really like it and Jerry could take it or leave it, but somehow Eli got hooked on walking to the store and buying a pop every day. We were sitting around a campfire up north last summer and somehow it was brought up. I proposed that if he gives up pop for a year, I'll pay him $1 per day--but only if he makes it for the whole year (so, it would be a total of $365 if he could do it).

He said he would do it (I totally didn't believe him) but he stuck with it--for a whole year! I really hoped he would decide not to drink it again after the year was up, but he was excited to try his favorite (Pepsi) and see if he still liked it as much as before. He walked to the store and bought one, and I told him I wanted to get a picture of him trying pop for the first time in a year.

I asked what he thought, and he replied, "It tastes just as good as I remember!" Haha. Well, I'm proud that he managed to complete such a difficult challenge. That's tough for a 15-year old boy!

When I pulled up to my parents' house last weekend to pick up Luke and bring him to my house, my heart melted when I saw this in the driveway. My dad had turned a kids' basketball hoop into a gas pump for Luke and Riley's bikes. It's so cute! I love the pictures he drew of them, hahaha.

When I went grocery shopping, I wanted to buy some Nutella (which I hadn't bought in a long time). I was a little taken aback when I reached for one; I had to choose between these three! They were all the same, just with different labels--obviously for a marketing thing. I just now looked it up out of curiosity and found, "Start the Nu school year with a smile" and there are labels for all the school grades. 

This is one of the peach muffins I made for the heritage recipes, spread with the peach preserves I made--it was so good! 

I saw this on Instagram (@90smovieclips) and I thought it was a fun decision to make...

From those, I would choose a Drumstick, Cherry Coke, and Friends. 

And here is another...

From these, I'd choose Cool Ranch Doritos, Peanut M&M's, and Jurassic Park. Feel free to chime in with your own responses!

And that's all I've got for this week. Have a great weekend :)

Continue Reading...

Some FAQ's About How I'm Losing Weight

This post feels premature to me because I've only been back to calorie counting for 10 weeks and I'm still 30 pounds above my target weight. (I don't really want to say "goal weight" because I'm not sure what that is, exactly. I know I feel best at 130-135, but if I am only able to get to 145, I'm cool with that. I start feeling uncomfortable in my own skin when I'm above 145, so I am loosely aiming for something under that.)

Anyway, the last time I was under 145 was actually in early 2018--so it's been quite a long time! I am just hoping that I don't write this post and then stop seeing progress in taking the weight off.

I was about 130-135 pounds here, which is where I feel best.
Clearly, though, I was stronger back then. That tree was heavy AF ;)

I've gotten a lot of questions about how I've been losing weight and the details of how I count calories, so I wanted to write an updated post to 'How I Calorie Counted My Way Back to My Goal Weight').

Before I get into it, I REALLY want to stress that what works for me may not work for others. Everybody is different, and bodies respond differently. What works for others may not work for me, and what works for me may not work for them. I think it's super important to experiment and find out what works for you (especially if there are dietary restrictions for medical reasons to consider).

This post is actually going to be quite boring, because my biggest "secret" is that I keep it SUPER SIMPLE. Over the decades of dealing with my weight, I've learned that the simpler I keep it, the more likely I am to stick to it. So here are some frequently asked questions (and my answers):

Q. Do you track just calories, or do you track macros too?

A. In the spirit of keeping it simple, I only track calories. I would feel way too overwhelmed trying to track anything else in addition. And each time I've counted calories, I've been successful at taking off extra weight. I've tried all sorts of diets but nothing ever worked for me except for eating less food in the form of counting calories.

Q. Do you limit carbs?

A. Like I said with the previous question, I don't count anything but calories. So no, I don't limit carbs. I just eat whatever sounds good to me and I weigh or measure my food to log the calories.

Q. How many calories do you aim for each day?

A. I don't have an exact number. I roughly shoot for 1600, but I don't feel like it's mandatory to hit that number. If I'm feeling less hungry that day, I eat less; if I'm ravenous, I eat more. But when I average out the numbers, it's about 1600 per day.

Q. Do you add calories for exercise?

A. No, I don't--since I don't have a target calorie count, it doesn't really make sense to add in calories. If I'm hungrier on the days I run, then I just eat a little more. I usually find that I'm less hungry on running days, though!

Q. What exercise do you do?

A. I started the Couch to 5K plan the same day that I started counting calories. It's only three days a week and I followed the plan exactly as written--it starts out at about 20 minutes per workout and at the end, it took me about 36 minutes per workout. After completing the plan, I'm now running 3 miles, 3 days a week.

Q. What kinds of foods do you eat?

A. I eat anything that sounds good to me--I try to eat what I want most because that is what will most satisfy my appetite. I eat a lot of grapes (because I LOVE grapes!) and this week I've eat so many peaches that I feel like I'm going to turn into one. I usually eat a really light breakfast and/or lunch because I like to save most of my calories for my main meal (dinner).

For dinner, I usually just cook something that I've already posted the recipe for (you can find the recipes page here). Something that I make a point to avoid is changing the ingredients in recipes to be lower in calories. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but I like to use whole milk, real butter, full-fat cheese, real pasta versus subbing in cauliflower or something, and I don't cut back on those ingredients.

The reason for this is that I prefer to choose quality over quantity. I'd rather eat a smaller portion of rich, cheesy lasagna than a huge portion of zucchini "noodles" with plain tomato sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. (This is just my personal preference; if I liked zucchini more than pasta, I would choose the zucchini!)

I've also noticed that I lose weight much more easily when I eat a smaller volume of food. Even if I eat the same number of calories, my body prefers smaller portions of higher calorie food than large portions of low-calorie food. I don't feel hungry when eating smaller portions as long as I get enough calories.

Here is a variety of what I've eaten over the past couple of months:

Also, I love dessert--I usually have something sweet every day. This is something I did throughout my entire 125-pound weight loss.

Q. What do you do when you don't know how many calories are in something?

A. Another lesson I've learned over the years is not to take calorie counting to the extreme. If I don't know the calories in something but I want to eat it, then I just search on my app to find something similar and I count the calories that way. For example, my mom made a "hummingbird pie" and brought some over. It looks like an apple pie with a streusel topping, but it's made with peaches (she got a box of peaches from The Peach Truck, too!). I didn't have her recipe and I didn't worry about that--I just ended up counting it as an apple pie with streusel topping.

When Luke stayed the night last weekend, we made homemade lemonade. We also had a movie night and made popcorn (and Luke asked if we could add a handful of Skittles to it, and as his fun aunt, of course I said yes). It was all about spending time doing something fun with my nephew, and I didn't want to worry about measuring out exact portions so that I could count it correctly. I just guesstimated it later by looking up similar things on my app.

We watched the movie Cars (which is why I used this filter) and sent this
"Jerry face" selfie to Jerry (he was in Wisconsin at the time).

So basically, I don't take it super seriously. If I'm going to have to count calories forever to lose/maintain my weight, then I want it to be something that I can fit into my lifestyle.

Q. What app do you use to count calories?

A. Currently, I use Cronometer, at the suggestion of a reader. It's very detailed and numbers-oriented, and as a "numbers person", I love that (even though I only actually count calories). I pay for a subscription for it, though.

The first app I always recommend to people is actually Fat Secret. I used that for a long time before I switched to Cronometer and it's the best free app I've tried (and I've tried a lot of them!). It's very user-friendly, there aren't ads, the database isn't overwhelming with hundreds of entries for the same item, and it's easy to create and save recipes (for easy tracking later). I highly recommend it.

Okay, I think that about covers the questions I've been getting lately... if I didn't answer something and you're curious, feel free to ask! Remember, these are things that work best for ME and MY preferences; it's important to figure out what works best for you. This post explains that in more detail--how to make changes that work for YOU.

Now, I just hope that I continue to see progress! I feel very confident that I have the determination to see this through--and beyond. I've learned just how easy it is to put weight back on, and I definitely don't want to have to lose the weight yet again ;)

Continue Reading...

Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 10

I'm not sure when it became "a thing" to use a mirror selfie on my Wednesday Weigh-In posts, but that's what I've been doing. (My blog automatically uses the first photo in each post as a thumbnail on my main page, and the last thing I want is a huge picture of the scale on my home page!)

Anyway, trying to take a mirror selfie when you have cats is next to impossible sometimes. Estelle used to be in almost all of my photos, but now that Duck follows me around everywhere, he is the one that winds up in them. And Chick, for some odd reason, loves to get on my scale! So it's hard to weigh myself in the mornings because Chick sits down on the scale; then I take him off and then hurry to try to get my weight before he steps on again. It usually takes a few tries. They love bathroom time in the mornings, apparently!

Here are some outtakes of the photo I was trying to get for this post...

Which reminds me of a very funny photo I have of Duck when I was trying to do a mirror selfie for 75 Hard...

Anyways! Last week, I weighed in at 173.4. This weeks weight:

I was at 172.6, which is a loss of 0.8 pounds this week. Not a huge loss, but I'll take whatever I can get! That brings my 10-week total to 24.4 pounds. If you'd have told me 10 weeks ago that I would lose this much, I never would have believed it. I thought I was too far gone--it seemed impossible to take the weight back off.

However, I came to realize that when I *thought* I was trying to lose weight over the past couple of years, I wasn't really doing all that I could. It wasn't until I saw the scale on Day 1 in May that I got the determination to do it--no matter what. Seeing how close I was to the 200's again scared the bejesus out of me.

Sometimes the days feel like they go by so slowly--I have times where I just want to eat everything in sight, almost always due to stress--and it's very hard to be rational. However, I am super determined to see this through. (Here is my post on motivation versus determination--it explains the difference.)

I am finally, FINALLY, starting to feel a difference in my clothes. The shirts that used to be really baggy, then got tight and uncomfortable, are feeling somewhat loose again. Also, I can only wear my size 10 jeans once before washing because throughout the day they get looser and looser as they get worn-in. For a while, I couldn't squeeze into them at all--quarantine meant yoga pants! And then if I did manage to get them on, I was afraid to wash them for fear of not being able to get them back on, hahaha. 

Last year, I cleaned out my closet and got rid of a LOT of clothes that didn't fit anymore. However, I didn't want to part with all of my favorite things just yet. So I put them in bags and brought them out to the garage. I said that if I can't wear them within the next two years, then they're gone--I'll get rid of them. (My closet was pretty bare after that--I only kept things in there that were wearable at the moment.)

Before we went up north a couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a pair of pants that I knew I had kept. I brought in the bags of clothes from the garage to look for them, and I decided to try on the clothes that I thought might fit me again. And I found a lot! Mostly the sweatshirts/hoodies (like the one in the mirror selfie today). I'm not even going to attempt trying on the jeans for a while. I also found a few pairs of capris that I can wear now (although I still prefer to wear pants year-round).

I'm so relieved that I'm actually seeing (and feeling) the progress now. I was really worried that I was going to continue gaining weight until I was back up to where I started, at 253 pounds. I still have a good 30 pounds to go, but I'm almost halfway there!

Continue Reading...