Walk Streak - Half A Year!

Well, I ended up finishing that book today! (I started The Selection yesterday--here is the post about that.) I haven't been that absorbed in a book in... I don't even know how long. It was REALLY good and I immediately downloaded the second one. I was carrying around my Kindle as I unloaded the dishwasher and cooked dinner and basically every spare moment I could find.

Jerry asked me today how long my five-mile walking streak is up to, and I had to stop and think about it. I started it on July 20th and yesterday was January 20th, so I figured I had to have hit the halfway point of a full year. I added up the days and today was Day 185--so a couple of days ago, I reached half a year of walking five miles a day!

It's actually been really hard to stay motivated to do it this month because I just haven't been able to find any audiobooks that interest me. I love listening to audiobooks while I walk. I've started and stopped SO many this month--I even reached my limit for checkouts at the library. I'm very particular about the narration of audiobooks and if I don't like the voice or tone or accent in the first 30 seconds or so, I just can't get into the book.

The audiobooks have always been what I used to motivate me to get out the door. I only let myself listen to them when I'm walking, so I would look forward to going for walks. This month, with it being so cold and without having a good book to look forward to, I've struggled. I'm still doing it, though, because I can't bear to break the streak!

Today, it was actually sunny outside. It was still cold and windy, but the sun made it seem like a nicer day. Jerry was off work, so I asked if he'd want to walk with me. We headed out with Joey late in the afternoon. 

Apparently, it wasn't a good time of day to go out because there were SO many cars! The first half of the walk was really irritating but once we got into the quieter neighborhoods, we were able to talk without yelling over the noise of cars driving by.

It's nice going for walks together because we have good, in-depth conversations. When we're at home, we're usually distracted by all the stuff going on (pets, kids, electronics, etc). I would've liked for the kids to go with us, but they "don't really like walking that far in the cold" ;) They missed out; we had fun!

After six months of walking every day, I have to say that it feels completely natural and habitual. I would feel weird NOT doing it. This is, by far, the longest exercise streak I've ever done. I'm glad I've maintained the discipline to do it; I may not have the discipline to do other habits that I attempt, but this one is sticking for some reason!

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The One Where 'Friends' Meets Reality!

Yesterday, someone tagged me on Instagram in a post about a read-athon for 2021--with a Friends theme! ('Friends' being the TV show, of course--if you're not aware, Jerry and I are a little obsessed with it. I write this with Chick and Duck on my lap while Phoebe is curled up on my legs. It's hard to type with cats all over the place! Haha)

The Instagram account that is hosting the read-athon is @where.fiction.meets.reality. Each month, there is a prompt to choose a book based on an episode of Friends. When I looked over the list, I was glad to see that it could be interpreted very loosely--I usually don't do book lists or clubs because I'm so picky about what I read. When you're a slow reader like I am, every page needs to be interesting!

Since I'd already had a goal in the back of my mind to read one book a month, seeing this list made me excited to do it. And since there are only 11 days left in January, I knew I'd better pick a themed book right away so I'd have time to finish before the end of the month.

January's prompt is:
"The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate" : Read the 1st book in a series.

Since I don't have a full month to read this book, I decided to look for a Young Adult book, which tend to go faster. And I love YA books! The Hunger Games trilogy got me interested in other apocalyptic/dystopian books, but for the past few years, I've been reading mostly psychological thrillers.

I turned to Amazon's list of "Best Sellers in Teens and Young Adult Dystopian ebooks". Pretty specific, right? Some of the lists are even more specific than that!

I ultimately chose selected 'The Selection' by Kiera Cass (Amazon affiliate link). It's #2 on that Amazon list and I've had it on my Goodreads "Want To Read" list for a long time after a friend told me about it. It's book one of five, so hopefully I'll like it and will want to read the rest (in addition to the books for the 'Friends' read-athon).

To finish it in 10 days, I decided that I'd aim for 10% of the book per day (with the Kindle Paperwhite (Amazon affiliate link), it shows you the percentage of the book you've read). I started it this morning after my walk and I have NOT been able to put it down! Right now, I'm kind of hurrying through this post so that I can continue reading it.

This book is exactly what I needed. A book that keeps me excited to read and choose reading over watching TV or something else before bed (or, in this case, all day long.)

Here is the description of the book from the publisher on Amazon:

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want.

Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

The description doesn't sound very enticing and there isn't much detail at all. It sounds very "fluffy". The only reason I'd had it on my list is because my friend was so insistent that I read it. So far, it reminds of something like the love child of The Bachelor and The Hunger Games. Hopefully the rest of the book will pan out to be as good as what I've read up to now.

Anyway, I'm excited about this Friends read-athon! I'll share my picks each month and then do a quick review of the books when I'm done. (I'm not good a reviewing books, so I basically just write--"Holy cow, read this!!" or "Eh, it was okay." But I'll try.)

If any of you want to join in on the Friends read-athon, you can find the Instagram account here: @where.fiction.meets.reality and the post regarding the details here. Below is a screenshot from Instagram.

(Just to make it clear, I am not the one hosting this... I'm just participating!)

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Transformation Tuesday #10

Yay--another Transformation Tuesday! I have loved looking through the transformations you've emailed, so PLEASE keep them coming. I'm hoping to post 3-4 each week and I have a few more in my inbox--so if you've sent me an email, I promise I'll post it. I'm just doing them in the order that I get them.

I love seeing the variety in transformations. It's so inspiring and it makes me want to do something... well, transformative! ;)  Here we go...

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"I updated my daughter's bedroom. She had picked the colors over the summer, but we hadn't had time to paint, so while my kids were away with my husband on a 3 day ice fishing trip, I tackled redo-ing her room as a surprise. 

I painted, found a new headboard (and painted it to match), painted some shelves that I had found on FB for $10 and made new curtains. Thankfully I had the help of a couple girlfriends to paint and rearrange and my brother and sister in law helped move furniture and hang shelves. I love how it turned out! It definitely reflects her age and personality better. It was a great kick off to the new year."

Kandi - Casper, WY - I enjoy sewing, quilting and crafting in my spare time.

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"This is my townhome patio project from almost two years ago. I had a lot of help from my handy Dad, but I did a lot of the planning and work myself (with my husband’s help). It went from a mossy, wet, unusable space, to one we actually use!"

Olivia - Pennsylvania - For fun, I like to bake - cakes, bread, whatever! I also love to travel and can’t wait to eventually travel with my daughter who will be one in less than two weeks!

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"I love doing different things with my hair. I've had pixie cuts, perms, shaves, anything goes.  This is a transformation process that happened over about a year.  I had grown my hair out from a pixie, then got a perm, it grew out, then cut into a bob. Donated my hair to Wigs for Kids."

Steph - North Dakota - haircut junkie ;)

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"This transformation is of my dining room. My husband and I bought this home last October and it needed LOTS of updating. The home is beautiful...3000 square feet on 2 acres, custom built in 1996. LOTS of green, oak, and brass (no offense to anyone who likes green, oak and brass; it’s just not my style!)

I removed the center upper cabinets and painted them white; had new doors with seedy glass and X’s made (I work at a lumberyard and we custom make doors and cabinets); added a granite top to the buffet; painted the room; changed the light fixture; and added pulls to the buffet drawers. 

Even the new table was a DIY. I bought it off of Facebook and stripped it, painted the bottom half and stained the top. I bought the chairs off of Facebook and painted them and covered the seats. We also had the green carpet removed and solid oak floors installed. I did about 75% of it myself. This one room took 10 months. At this rate my dining room will need to be updated again by the time I finish the rest of the house!"

- Valerie, Oklahoma - My hobbies are fixing up my house and gardening

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"We decided to renovate our master bedroom since it had filthy carpet and mustard yellow walls. We had never done anything like this before, but we watched lots of DIY YouTube videos and I think it turned out pretty well :) "

- Valerie

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Aren't these great?! I'm so impressed with the DIY's and I love seeing hair transformations--I used to be very adventurous with my hair back in the late 90's and early 2000's, but after that, it's been pretty much the same.

If you have a transformation to share (anything at all!) just send me a before photo and an after photo along with a description to: Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Don't forget to include your name, where you're from, and what your hobbies are! (If you'd rather that I don't share your name or something, no problem--just let me know.)

Thanks for sharing your transformations this week!

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Things That Make Me Laugh

I didn't have any submissions for Motivational Monday today (bummer!) so I'm guessing MM is not going to make its comeback, unfortunately. I started to write a post about things that I miss from 45 pounds ago, but it just felt too negative--well, I guess "vulnerable" would be a better word--so I think I'll save it for another day.

Then I thought it'd be a good "Motivational Monday" to post motivating quotes/memes and I started going through Pinterest to find some. Then I just fell down the meme rabbit hole on Pinterest, as I always do, and I can't help it--I have to share the ones that make me laugh. I've never really been a "positive motivational quote" type person--I like to laugh.

So, I went through my folder of memes called "Things That Make Me Laugh" and pulled out some of my favorites. Hopefully they'll make you laugh, too! ;)

(I did a post prior to this with my very favorite funny memes about mental illness--100 of them!--so this post is not including those. But those are hilarious and you can find them here.)  And because I really, really love memes, you can find my Pinterest boards of memes here.

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I Found It!!!

So, I STILL haven't gotten a winter coat. I've looked online and just can't find anything that I really love and that is practical. I need something to wear in the winter while I walk, and it has to be big enough to wear a layer or two underneath. Walking is so much different than running in the cold weather! I just don't warm up like I did with running, even when I walk very fast.

Speaking of running, for a few months now, I've been having the urge to run. When I'm out for a walk with Joey, sometimes I just really want to break into a run (well, a very slow jog at least). Not for any reason other than that I know it will feel good. A few times, I've run a mile or two during our walks, but only when I'm not wearing my bulky winter clothes.

All of my winter running tops are too small. I can fit into them, and I do actually wear them underneath my coat, but I would never want to wear them without something over them. I was looking through some old photos of running in the winter to see what I used to wear, and I decided to look for a couple of running jackets that are big enough to cover my insecurities in my regular running shirts. Just a baggier top layer in the form of a zip-up jacket.

I figured I could walk Joey three miles, drop him off at home, and then run/jog two miles. That way, I'm still getting in the five miles but I don't have to bring Joey with me. I can run with him using my hands-free leash, but I'd rather wait until running feels "easy" again. 

Anyway, I looked at Poshmark for some jackets (I didn't care how ugly or what color or anything like that--I just wanted something inexpensive and practical for running). I found a couple of jackets for under $20 and I bought those.

I think they were inexpensive because of how BRIGHT the colors are--hahaha, at least I won't get hit by a car! They wouldn't be my first choice of colors, but they looked comfy and the descriptions sounded good. I like that this pink one has cuffs that can fold over your hands. I didn't even know that existed and I had plans of trying to sew something like that.

While I was at it, I decided to look for a winter coat again. As you may remember, I'd bought one that looked similar to my very favorite coat from several years ago. In a nutshell: I had an orange winter coat that I absolutely loved and when we first adopted Joey, he chewed it up. I was bummed! I recently looked for the same coat again on eBay and on Poshmark--I couldn't find the exact coat, but I found something very similar, so I bought it.

When it arrived, I liked the coat... but it had a funky smell. It smelled a little like mildew--you know how if you forget you put clothes in the washer and then you realize it the next day and they have that mildew smell? (No? Is that just me? Haha.) That's what it smelled like. I tried washing it a couple of times, but it didn't go away. So, I ended up returning it.

Yesterday when I was looking for coats, instead of searching for orange Columbia coats (to find the one I really wanted), I just searched for orange coats. And I was SHOCKED when I found THE coat! It was the same one that I had years ago. I carefully scrutinized the photo on Poshmark next to the photos of I have of my old one, and it was literally the same model and color. (Clearly, my previous one was smaller--as was I!)

You know why I didn't find it before? I was so sure it was a Columbia coat; well, it turns out that it's from American Eagle, NOT Columbia! There was only one of these listed, and thank God it wasn't a size small. It's an extra large, which is probably going to be a little big, but I would rather it be big so I can layer up.

Anyway, I'm hoping this one arrives without any funky smells. I'm just so excited to have found it! I know it seems so stupid to care about a coat this much, but I loved that coat and was so disappointed when I had to get rid of it.

I'm really looking forward to getting the running jackets. It's funny that I'm actually excited to go for a run! I really didn't think I'd miss it this much.

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A Funny Experience I Had (a writing prompt)

I've been frustrated lately because I cannot, for the life of me, think of anything to write about that I haven't written a hundred times before! I don't want to break my streak of writing every day, but it's hard to think of stuff. So, I'm going to choose topics from my writing prompts here and there when I can't think of what to write.

When I was looking through the topics, this one jumped out at me because I was just talking about it a couple of days ago.

It happened in 2013. I had worked it out with my sister's husband, Shawn, to surprise Jeanie by showing up the day before her first half-marathon and running the race with her. She had been a little bummed about running it by herself, so I thought it would be fun to show up and do it together. She was super surprised when she saw me at her house, and we had a fun weekend!

Anyway, while I was at her house, a friend of hers stopped by (I forget his name). After a quick introduction, Jeanie left us outside for a minute while she ran into the house for something. I'm terrible at small talk, but I said it was nice to meet him and explained why I was visiting Jeanie for the weekend. 

He replied that he'd met my "other" sister a few years ago when she visited. I was confused--I only have one sister. After a bit of questioning to figure out who he might be referring to, I realized that he was probably talking about ME--before I'd lost the weight.

I asked him, "Did she look a lot like me, only heavier?" and this question obviously made him uncomfortable (never comment on a woman's weight, of course). I was kind of eager to see if I was right, though, so I said, "I think you might be talking about ME--I lost 125 pounds a few years ago, so I look a bit different!"

He laughed then and realized that he was, in fact, talking about meeting me. He knew he'd met Jeanie's sister, but didn't recognize me after I'd lost weight. I thought it was hilarious and it totally made my day! Haha.

One other funny story regarding my weight loss...

After I had my skin removal surgery, I was really nervous about post-op complications--my incision coming apart, hematomas, etc. I was inspecting my incision frequently and everything seemed to be healing fine. Until about a week after my surgery.

Here is what I wrote about it back when it happened:

Last night I noticed that my left hip was hurting a little bit more than usual. There is a drain there that hasn't had any drainage since the day after my surgery. I poked around a little, and felt a hard lump. I immediately started thinking of all the bad things it could be-- hematoma, seroma. I was very careful with how I slept last night to avoid any trauma to it.

This morning, when I was taking a shower, I noticed that it's definitely a noticeable lump. I pressed on it and it felt really hard, so I didn't think it was just normal swelling. I showed my mom, and she was worried that the drain tube was blocked, and all the fluid was just collecting in there. I called my doctor (who is away) and one of the residents who works with her called me back. She asked me about all the usual signs of infection, and I had no other symptoms. She said for peace of mind (if nothing else), I could go to the nearest emergency room and have it looked at.

I debated whether to go, and finally decided I would rather be safe than sorry. So my mom drove me to the ER, and I was seen right away. The first person to check it out (a nurse practitioner) seemed completely undisturbed, but he got a doctor to come look. The doctor was pressing around, and I pointed out the spot. I said, "It's a hard lump right here. It's hard enough that it feels like my hip bone."

The doctor said, "Katie, that IS your hip bone."

Hahahaha! Boy, did I feel dumb. I'd spent $100 on an ER co-pay only to learn that I did, in fact, have hip bones. I'd never felt them before--I was always overweight/obese and then I had excess skin that covered them. At least the experience made for a funny story, though ;)  (Here are all of the posts regarding my skin removal surgery--it's been just over nine years! I can't believe it. This year, I'll have to write a 10-year post-op update.)

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Friday Night Photos #5

My favorite post of the week... Friday Night Photos! Just some random pictures from my camera roll that I'd taken throughout the week. This week has been very uneventful, unfortunately. But here are a few photos...

Hunting season is over, so I was able to take Joey on the access road through the marsh across the street from our house again. He was SO happy to be back out there now that hunting season is done!

Toward the end of the road, I noticed a tiny clearing in the trees that looked like it could be a path, so I turned and explored a little. 

Being a huge true crime fan, I was imagining all sorts of of terrible things--being attacked, finding a body, etc. But I had Joey with me (not sure how protective he'd be, though!) and I was very curious. I ended up seeing a couple of cool things. I wasn't sure what these orange discs were, but I guessed that they were probably clay pigeons. There were several broken ones but also about 25 whole ones.

The end of the hidden trail took me here...

I thought this was unusual... I'm guessing it was a blind that a hunter put together, but I don't know. The inside was hollowed out. I didn't want to get closer to investigate, because I was afraid of being the subject of a future true crime podcast.

I took Eli to a big empty parking lot to try driving for the first time. He's going to start driver's training soon and I wanted him to get a feel for the car. He did great!

This was his first parking job. He did better than I do! ;) 

Joey spent the night at my parents' house and my mom sent me this text in the morning. Hahaha!

Speaking of my mom's, she finished putting together this "family tree" on her wall. I LOVE it! The tree is some sort of sticky transfer that you stick to the wall and then she printed and hung photos of the kids/grandkids.

Remember forever ago when I bought this pattern on eBay so that I could make an identical costume to the one I wore when I was little? My mom made me the costume for Halloween in the 80's from this pattern.

Well, I never got around to making it. So, I decided that it's time! I'm going to sew the pattern and hope it fits me in October for Halloween. (The dress is listed as "medium" which is size 14-16; but this was before vanity sizing, so I'm guessing it'll fit more like a size 8-10 now. Meaning I need to drop some pounds for sure.)

I went to JoAnn Fabrics to buy the materials. I even brought my old dress with me to try to match everything. I got it pretty close. I'm excited to get to work on sewing it!

Here is a photo of me when I wore the dress as a kid:

My mom handed it down to my little cousins who used it to play dress up for years. And then my cousin got it back to me a few years ago and it made me feel super nostalgic. I thought it would be fun to make the adult-sized costume to wear for Halloween, so I found the original pattern on eBay. I cut out all of the pieces yesterday and today. I'll start sewing it tomorrow.

While I was at JoAnn's, I saw this fabric on clearance and I fell in love it with it. I know it's a "loud" pattern, but it's definitely "me"--I couldn't help myself. It was 70% off, so I got four yards of it for $20. I have no idea what to make with it, but I'm going to find something! Maybe a maxi dress--it's a jersey knit fabric.

I have been craving mushrooms like crazy lately, and when I realized I had some Swiss cheese that was close to its expiration date in the fridge, I decided to make scalloped mushrooms (this was actually a recipe in the heritage cookbook). They were DELICIOUS. I will share the recipe soon!

Finally, here is a totally random and ODD photo of Chick (and Duck). Jerry and I thought the kittens looked adorable all cuddled up on the bed, so I took a picture. When we looked at it, we both said, "What's wrong with Chick's eye?!" because it looks, well, really messed up and in the wrong spot. When we zoomed in, however, we discovered that it was actually his EAR that we were looking at! I'll show a zoomed in photo after the first.

Cats have little patches between their eyes and ears that are kind of bald-looking. Here is a photo of Estelle, where you can clearly see what I'm talking about.

Complete with a photobomb by Duck! Hahaha.

Anyway, I just thought the picture of Chick's "eye" was hilarious once I realized what it actually was! He has a little tuft of hair behind each ear that sticks out (I call them his "wings") and in the first photo, I thought the wing was his ear and that his ear was his eye. Hahaha!

Have a great weekend--I'm hopefully going to be spending my time sewing the Snow White costume :)

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