Skeletons

This isn't a "real" post, but I know if I don't write this right now, while I'm thinking of it, I'm going to forget again. As you may know, I *love* when people create skeleton displays for Halloween (or bonus if it's any other time of year). It makes going for walks around the neighborhoods so much fun! I had hoped to do a post a couple of weeks ago showcasing photos of your skeletons displays, and I kept forgetting to ask.

So, if you have any fun photos of your skeletons, please send them to me! I created a Facebook post where you can post photos in the comments OR you can email them to me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. I'll try to put together a post with the photos next weekend. I'd love to see what you have!

Here is a link to a previous skeleton displays post for some ideas :)

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Friday Night Photos #133

It's been a week and a half, but I have pretty much NO pictures for Friday Night Photos. I don't want to skip it again, though, so I'll just share what I do have...

Jerry and I were watching a show and the "kids" on it (I write that in quotes because they are in their mid-20's, but compared to Jerry and I, they are kids!) kept using the word "ick". Because of the context, I could basically tell what it meant, but I texted Eli to ask. Then another word we kept hearing was "rizz"--so I had to ask about that one, too.

That started a long conversation with Noah and Eli about slang words and what words are used a lot now. Then Jerry and I told them the slang that was popular when we were their age: "Sup?" and "my bad" and "buggin"... they make me cringe now, haha.

This is a terrible picture of Jerry, but he was expressing his excitement over the manicure I gave him. He has a horrible habit of biting his nails and it drives me crazy. Since we've been working on habits (both good and bad), I suggested that I give him a manicure--which was an example in the Atomic Habits book--to see if it would keep him from biting his nails. I should have taken a before and after picture, because his nails are looking great now! (I put a clear matte polish on them.) Now I'm just hoping that he doesn't pick at the polish and destroy his nails.

When I get done with my run each morning, I sit down with a cup of tea and work on the NY Times puzzles (Wordle and Connections) as a sort of "reward". The cats have gotten in the habit of running over to claim my lap the second I sit down. I can never just sit without cats jumping on my lap. Chick lost this race, hahaha.

I had the house to myself one night and it was a perfect fall day--it put me in the mood to watch a scary movie. So, I popped some of the popcorn I bought at the Eastern Market in Detroit. I got cozy with my new favorite blanket and watched half of a movie before the kids came home and the ambiance changed immediately from cozy, warm, and quiet to bright and loud. I invited them to watch it with me, but apparently watching B-horror movies with your mom isn't cool ;)

The following picture doesn't show much, so I'll have to take a better picture later of exactly what I did. But, I'm pretty proud of this little project! I had been wanting a particular muslin blanket for about two years, but it's expensive and I just didn't feel right spending the money on it. After paying off the house, though, I decided to get one. I bought an "imperfect" one--meaning it has a minor defect somewhere--because it was a lot cheaper. Also, I knew that the pets would be on it and it would get a defect really quickly anyway!

The blankets are all oversized, and the queen is the equivalent of a king. I almost bought a double so that it would fit out queen size bed, but then I had an idea. I bought a king size (which is 120x120) and then I (very, very carefully) cut it into pieces. From those, I was able to make two large throw blankets (60x80) and EIGHT pillowcases (for standard size pillows)! Below is one of the pillow cases (inside out).

Jerry and I both love the blanket so much that we bought another (this time keeping it as a king size) for the bed. I love love love it. (Here is a link to the site: 365 Blanket. I'm not affiliated and I don't get anything for referrals--I just like the blanket so much! The link is for the regular one; I bought a "perfectly imperfect" one, saving about $90, and I couldn't find a single flaw.)

We had a few rainy days and I remember Estelle really liking my light therapy lamp in the winter. I got it out for her and immediately, she settled herself in front of it. I think it's so funny that she's into it!

This is another project I just started late last night. I won't tell what it is going to be yet, because I have no idea how it's going to look, but I'll hopefully have it done soon

My lunch today made me think of elementary school. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off and an apple without the skin. I never peel apples, but it sounded good today--and it was delicious.

And finally, this is a graph of my morning runs--today marks a 50-day streak. I'm still only running one block (or two, most of the time, because it's only a difference of a tenth of a mile). It only takes five minutes and I love starting my day on such a positive note. It's the first thing I do in the morning. Even when I don't feel like it, I remind myself that I'll be done in five minutes--there is NO reason not to do that!

And that's all I've got. Tonight, Jerry and I are actually going out on a real date--it's been a very long time since we've done that. Our friend Paul is playing a gig and we're going to go watch his set. I'm looking forward to it!

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 125

Last week, I had such high hopes that I would start this post by saying I had a much better week as far as my eating habits go. Sadly, that is not the case.

I know exactly what happened, and it's what I wrote an entire post about: "A Lesson In Weight Maintenance". I'd written that I've learned over the last year or so just how my body reacts to certain foods. Sugar, for example, makes me crave more sugar. Even the tiniest amount can start cravings that feel insatiable. And they last for days!

The hard part is getting back to the balanced feeling, where I don't have cravings. To get there, I have to refrain from sweets for about four days--sounds simple enough, right? Well, the cravings get so bad that trying to make it through four days is extremely difficult. I know that I can do it, but it's certainly not easy.

I also learned (only more recently) that overeating has a big effect on my body the following day. I hadn't overeaten in a long time--a couple of months--and one evening, I ate until I was really full. I don't even remember what it was, but I hated that feeling of being so full. I had no idea that it was going to affect me the way it did the following day.

I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. I haven't had alcohol in 975 days now, but I don't think I'll ever forget what a hangover feels like. I was ravenously hungry and my stomach felt like a bottomless pit. And I craved greasy food! It reminded me of college when my roommates and I would go to McDonald's the morning after a night of drinking.

That feeling lasted all day long and I realized it had been the first time that I had gone so long without overeating, and by doing so, my body just was not happy with me at all. What's difficult is that I had a huge appetite (even though I knew it wasn't true hunger) and it's hard not to eat when I felt that hungry.

For the past few weeks, I've been battling with these--what do I call them?--effects of overeating as well as eating sugar. I desperately want to get back to the neutral state I was in before, where I didn't have the desire to overeat or eat sweets.

Another side effect of the overeating was that my energy level tanked. My morning runs feel more difficult and I have to push myself harder during the day. I had never noticed that before. My whole life, I ate sweets pretty regularly, so I never knew what would happen when I didn't eat them for a long time. (These discoveries have actually been really fascinating to me.)

This past week, I logged my food for a few days, just to see how many calories I was eating. I wasn't trying to restrict because I was genuinely curious. I wasn't surprised when I saw it was about 2,500 a day. I knew I was eating too much. Before, I was probably eating about 1,800 to 2,000 per day and I felt so much better.

As for my weigh-in, I'm right at the border of the high end of my maintenance range.

So far, I'm lucky that my weight hasn't continued climbing, but I definitely notice the difference in how I feel (and in how my clothes fit). I would like to focus on getting back to my comfortable self--eating how my body feels best. And over the last year, I've learned SO much about what makes my body feel best! Eating normal-sized portions, no sweets, high-fiber, and a lot of fruit. (I think the fruit helps curb sugar cravings, but it doesn't have the effect on my body that refined sugar does.)

I've done pretty well the past couple of days, and once I get through a couple more, I should start to feel like I'm on the right track again. Fingers crossed ;)

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Slim vs. Overweight Eating Habits

I completely forgot how I wound up in the Reddit rabbit hole today (that's how it usually goes--I might google a quick question, read a response on Reddit, then a couple of hours later, forget what I even googled, haha), but I saw a question on the subreddit r/NoStupidQuestions and I found it SUPER interesting. As the name describes, r/NoStupidQuestions is a place to ask questions that you are genuinely curious about--and no question is "too stupid" to ask.

This one was regarding weight and the habits of slim versus overweight eating habits, and I spent more time than I care to admit reading the responses. They were so diverse and and it was a really great read. Here is the question:

You can find the thread here on Reddit.

If it's too hard to read, here is what it says:

"Are slim people lying about how much they eat or are they just blessed with a good metabolism? For a lot of my life I've been overweight, in the last few years I've lost weight but I'm definitely not slim, I'd say possibly midsize. I eat healthy and stay in suggested calories but really struggle to get to a slim weight. Are slim people lying about how much they eat and it's an unspoken rule to eat a smaller amount or are they just blessed with a great metabolism?"

There are over 7,000 comments at the time I'm writing this, so it's way too much to read them all, but I did read a lot of them. It seems the majority of people tend to believe that slim people eat less food altogether and overweight people eat more than they think they do. Not that they are necessarily lying to themselves, but that they just don't realize how much they're actually consuming.

I've been tracking my weight for so long, and I tracked calories on and off for the better part of two decades, so I'm very in tune with how my body reacts to my diet. I have *always* lost weight when cutting back on calories/food, and gained weight when eating more. My weight is super predictable based on how much I've been eating (meaning calories, not volume), so I certainly can't fool myself. But I think it's probably a trap that a lot of people fall into--thinking that they are eating a lot less calories than they actually are.

Some people in the thread suggested watching the British show called Secret Eaters. It features people who believe that they just can't lose weight, despite trying "everything". The show's producers have people follow them around and tally up what they're actually eating, and it's *very* eye-opening to them to see just how many calories they eat. I only watched one episode of it, but it did a good job of answering this Reddit question. (Obviously it doesn't apply to all slim or overweight people; the whole thread is speaking in general terms.)

What I found most interesting about the thread is when people talked about their own eating habits. Some people considered four Oreos to be "too much" and said after that they would be sick. Others said how they can eat a whole sleeve of Oreos and feel like it wasn't too much because they didn't eat the entire package. And yet others said that they would maybe eat two or three and then feel bad about it later because they didn't need it.

The thing that stuck out the most to me was a discussion about how some slim people can "eat whatever they want and not gain weight". Someone stated that when a slim person tells an overweight person that they can eat whatever they want and not gain weight, the overweight person may assume that the two are eating the same foods. However, the slim person may not enjoy Oreos, chips, candy, or whatever other high-calorie foods the overweight person may be imagining.

I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense! If a thin friend told me, "I can eat anything I want and not gain weight" or "I can eat as much as I want and not gain weight" I would have assumed that they were probably blessed with a high metabolism. In reality, it could be that they eat until they don't want anymore (and maybe that's what I would consider to be a small amount) or that they just prefer foods that happen to be lower in calories and they don't want junk food. So, they're actually eating "whatever they want" as well as "as much as they want"--they just have different wants than I would. Hopefully that makes sense!

There are so many various responses to the thread--I suggested checking it out if you're interested. It helps put into perspective the diets of "slim" versus "overweight" people, and I learned a quite a bit about how people think in regards to their diet! (Here is a link to the post)

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Three Things Thursday: Witness

Even though I said I was going to wait until the entire season had aired, Jerry and I watched the second episode of The Golden Bachelor yesterday. I absolutely loved the first date that Gerry chose to experience with one of the women. As opposed to the tired, over-the-top dates from The Bachelor (like a helicopter ride to a beach for dinner at sunset) they went to an old-school diner where they split a milkshake and fries. Much more my style!

(Warning: Mild spoiler of The Golden Bachelor second episode) During their conversation, Gerry used the line "don't stop believing" and then the song by Journey came over the radio in the diner. Then it turned into a whole flash mob! It was this scene that inspired my idea for Three Things Thursday today...

Three Things That I Hope To Witness Someday:

1. A Flash Mob

I am obsessed with flash mobs. They completely amaze me in just how the whole thing has to be coordinated and fall into place just right. I've seen them on TV (the one that I shared on my "jaw droppers" post was completely stunning) but I've never actually seen one in real life. And it's something that is on my secret bucket list! (I don't actually have a secret bucket list, but this would be at the very top if I did.)

I don't care whether I just witness it, participate in it, or am the subject of the surprise--it would just be so cool to experience someday.

2. A Birth

When Becky was pregnant with Luke, we went out to dinner and the subject of birth came up. Becky is a registered nurse and she said that she thinks everybody should experience seeing a birth and a death (preferably not on the same day) in their lifetime. (She said I could be there when Luke was born, but Brian wanted it to be just him and Becky. Besides, Luke was born less than an hour after she started having contractions!)

I can understand experiencing a death as well, although that isn't something to be excited about, of course. I thought I would be with Mark when he died in 2014, and even though it would have been so heartbreaking, I feel like he would have liked having me there. I would have done it for him.

As far as a birth, I feel like the emotions in the room--from leading up to the birth, the birth itself, and immediately afterward)--would be SO strong and, assuming there are no complications, a true joy to witness. If I had any desire to be a nurse, I think working in labor and delivery would be my choice.

The chances are very slim that I'll ever witness a birth, but it's a (not so secret) hope that I will one day.

Jerry got so emotional when Noah was born, the nurse thought he would pass out so she made him sit down, haha. My best friend Sarah (behind him) was there too, as were my mom and sister.

3. A Jury Trial

This isn't so much to witness, but more to experience. I'd love to sit on a jury for a big trial! Not only am I very curious about how it all works, I feel like I would make a good juror. Knowing how emotional I can be may make it seem that I wouldn't be very objective, but I think it would be quite the contrary. I've always been good at looking at things objectively and I'm a "rule follower" for the most part. If given instructions, I can follow them right to the letter.

I don't believe in capital punishment, however, so I wouldn't be able to sit on a jury for a trial where that is on the table; otherwise, the experience of listening to a crime being laid out, hearing witness testimonies, reviewing evidence, and shouldering the responsibility of paying super close attention to detail would be pretty amazing.

I've received notice of jury duty a few times, actually--when the kids were very young, I was excused (twice) because I didn't have childcare; when we went to Punta Cana, I was obviously out of the country; and then last year, I was so excited to get notice again, but received a second letter telling me I wasn't needed.

Interestingly, while I've been summoned four times, Jerry has never been summoned! Hopefully, I'll get another summons someday; if selected, I'd be happy to do it.

And there it is... three things I hope to witness (or experience) someday! Have any of you experienced any of these? Are they as awesome as I imagine?

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 124

This picture was from right before heading out for my run in the morning. I have been going out really early--a few times, I even finished my run before 5:00 AM, hahaha. Today marks 41 days of my "run around the block" streak. The farthest I've gone each morning has only been half a mile (the circumference of two blocks), but it makes a world of difference in how I feel about myself and how I start my day. I really like it!

I haven't paid much attention at all to my running stats--running half a mile doesn't tell you much--but occasionally I'll take a look at them. I've actually gotten faster since I started on September 1; I started at around a 10:45-11:00/mi pace, and lately it's been around a 9:45-10:00/mi pace. The best part about this running habit, though, is definitely that it starts my day off in a positive direction. I feel so good afterward!

Anyway, other than the running, my week hasn't gone well; I'm still eating too much. I know exactly what the problem is, and exactly how to fix it, but I just can't find the discipline to do it right now. It's frustrating! (And I know many of you can relate to that feeling.) I've been eating when I'm not even hungry and my portions are too big.

Thankfully, the scale stayed (almost) the same this week:

I think I was at 134.2 last week. I know that I just got lucky, though; if I don't reign it in this week, I'm looking at a repeat of last year at this time. I could write out all these plans of how I'm going to change things, but I've been trying to for a few weeks now and I just haven't done it. All I can do is keep trying, I guess!

Noah brought home some peanut butter cookies (that are very similar to Tagalongs from Girl Scouts) and they just so happened to be vegan. Even after writing a whole post about how eating a few bites of dessert/sweets makes me crave more, I wanted to tried one. They tasted exactly how I remember Tagalongs tasting, and I haven't had those in probably 20 years. So good! And just as I stated would happen, I started craving sweets really badly.

I bought grapes and dates, which are always helpful for when I crave sweets, so I'm relying on those to get me through the "rough patch" (I've learned it takes about four days for me to stop craving sweets). I *really* need to remember how tough this is because everything feels so much easier when I am on a roll without sweets.

I've been trying to get in the habit of planning out my days' meals the night before, and I'm good about doing that; it's just following through with my plan that is the hard part! Hahaha. A lot of times, I'll plan a meal and then when it comes time to eat the next day, it just doesn't sound good anymore. Maybe I'll come up with two plans and then choose whatever one sounds best. Meal planning helps not only with weight loss/maintenance, but just stress in general. I love not having to try to figure out what I'm going to cook for dinner when I'm in a time crunch.

Well, this week has had it's ups and downs, and thankfully, I'm squeaking by in my maintenance range--only by 0.4 pounds, yikes--but I'd like to do better this week. My biggest issue is eating when I'm not hungry, so I'm going to look at the Atomic Habits book and try to plan something out to help with that!

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Catch-Up Photos

Well, that was a long and unintentional four-day break! We had a super busy day on Friday and then I blinked and suddenly it's already Tuesday. To catch up a little, I'll post what would have been my "Friday Night Photos"--just a little bit about the week.

Yesterday, I had my second mammogram. I can't believe it had been a year already since my first one! I haven't gotten the results yet, but I have no reason to worry about it; it was just an annual screening.

I also saw my primary care doc for my annual physical. When she saw my lab work (the lipid profile I wrote about) she was stunned at my numbers. She said that people "would kill for numbers like these!" And then, "You must not have eaten a single carb for weeks before your tests."  Hahaha, this made me laugh. I reminded her that I am vegan and that the majority of my diet comes from carbs!

I did something I'd been wanting to do ever since we had to remodel the bedroom last year--I removed the legs from our bed frame. When the bedroom was torn apart and we were sleeping on our mattress on the floor, I actually really liked it; it seemed cozier somehow. The look of our bedroom is most certainly not for everyone, but we love it! (The cats do, too, of course. It's basically their room.)

Speaking of, every day I have to grab all of "Chick's" toys (he's the only one that really uses them) and toss them up on the shelves around my bedroom. (The shelves on top circle the entire room.) Chick LOVES to go get them and bring them down one by one. He makes this super loud meow that sounds like, "HELLO?! HELLOO-OOO!" when he has one. Sometimes when I go out to the kitchen in the morning, he's got all of his toys gathered like this on the floor. (His favorite is the "zebra mouse"--it's so ratty and nothing special, but that is his absolute favorite toy.)

And of course, when we get anything from Amazon:

The cats take turns trying out the boxes. Duck liked sitting in here and didn't want to get out. Then he decided he wanted to take a nap, so he laid his head in the corner and fell asleep. It didn't last long, but it was funny!

I happened to catch him mid-yawn as well, and the first picture looks like he's doing a Jerry face.

I'd been wanting to pierce my helix (upper cartilage of my ear) for a while. Since it's a pretty straight-forward piercing (no nooks or crannies), I used a couple of sterilized piercing needles to double pierce it myself. I'm pretty impressed at how it turned out--the hard part is getting the angle right. I like them!

I got out some sewing stuff in order to work on a pair of jeans and as soon as I set it on the floor, I walked over to the table to grab something. I turned back around and both kittens were already on my stuff! I don't know what it is about cats, but the second you put something on the floor, they have to sit on/in it.

I always put chia seeds in my cereal in the mornings, and when I was going to order some more from Amazon, I saw that a suggested item for me was a seed mix of chia seeds, ground flaxseed, and hemp seeds. It was very expensive, but it listed the ratio as being 9:9:2 respectively. I already had ground flaxseed, so I ordered the chia seeds and hemp seeds and just made my own mix. A fraction of the cost.

I've been putting two tablespoons in my Grapenuts with blueberries and soy milk. I've been eating this (with the chia seeds) for breakfast for almost two years now! I haven't gotten sick of it yet. 

This is one of the pictures that Jerry secretly took of me this week. (He's been doing it more frequently, and it's actually kind of fun to find them randomly on my phone, haha.) Here, I was working on the Connections puzzle from the NYTimes. I use a notebook to write everything out, because I'm a nerd, and it's something I look forward to every morning after my run! Duck likes to help.

We had SUCH amazing fall weather this past weekend. On Friday, I decided to cut down the trees in our front yard. Yes, you read that correctly. The apple tree and the "Asian pear tree". I put that in quotes because when I was pruning it on Thursday, I got stabbed in my wrist with a large thorn; it was killing me. I couldn't even bend my wrist! I finally started researching online to see if I should be worried, and it led to a rabbit hole of identifying pear trees.

And you know what? The tree that I'd been hoping to get Asian pears from for LIKE A GODDAMN DECADE is actually a callery pear tree! It's literally considered an invasive species, and it doesn't grow edible fruit. I wanted to go out there and just start hacking away at it. But I waited until Friday morning, and used a ladder and a manual handsaw to cut it down, piece by piece.

I decided to get rid of the apple tree, too. When I planted it, I chose granny smith because that was Noah's favorite. Now, nobody in the family eats granny smith apples, so they are kind of a waste. And if I'm going to try to grow fruit (as I've been trying for 20 years now), I might as well pick something I really want.

We still have to remove the stumps, but this is what they look like now. The yard looks so different!

Since I planted an *actual* Asian pear tree (Shinseiki) last fall, I ordered another to plant nearby in the backyard to cross-pollinate. And for the front yard, I ordered a cherry tree. The cherry tree I got is only 1-2 feet tall when it arrives, so I have no idea if it will last, but it will be fun to see if it does. I'm going to plant it right in the middle of the front yard. It's self-pollinating, so I don't need another.

We did quite a bit of yard work this weekend, and Jerry wanted to have a fire to burn some of the trimmings. I was working on a sewing project, so I brought it outside and sat by the fire with Joey. It felt like such a perfectly "fall" thing to do!

This is the project I did. I wasn't crazy about the gray owl shirt (the neckline was too wide for me) but I liked the owl. So I cut it out and sewed it onto a plain navy hoodie that I had. I love how it turned out!

I'll end with a homecoming picture of Eli. His girlfriend goes to a different school, so they had two homecoming dances this fall. They've been together for about 11 months now; they make such a cute couple!

And that's all I've got. I'll report with my Wednesday Weigh-In tomorrow :)

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Three Things Thursday: Good News!

Since I've done more than my share of complaining over the last year of tough luck, things seem to be looking up. Let's hope this post doesn't jinx that ;)

I thought I would write, for Three Things Thursday, about three *good* things that have happened recently. In the spirit of being more positive. And it's October--my very favorite month--so I'm probably going to be in a pretty good mood all month!

So, here goes... three things that have made me smile recently.

1. Paying off the house.

Tomorrow, we are going to write the final payment for our house! We *finally* got the insurance check from the Jeep (it only took six weeks--eye roll--but I'm not going to complain because it's finally here and the amount is more than what I was even hoping).

It's going to feel amazing to get the house paid off. And since we've been paying $1300 a month between the house payment and Jeep payment, that's an extra $1300 a month we won't be paying anymore. My plan is to have it automatically transferred to our savings account, so we can build that back up after wiping it out last year on unexpected expenses.

Jerry is still browsing for a truck, but he's not in a rush anymore since Eli bought his own car. If I need to use the Edge (what Jerry drives now) then I can either drive Jerry to work or I can use it before he goes to work. It hasn't been a big issue thus far, so hopefully we'll get used to it.

Anyway, I'm just excited to not have ANY debt. We paid off the credit cards in 2018 and haven't carried a balance since; and now we won't have any other loans to pay. Unfortunately, we need a new dishwasher and we're going to look at them this weekend; but we can use some of the insurance money to buy that.

2. Jeanie, my sister, adopted another special needs basset hound.

I've written a lot about my sister through the years, and it's clear how much she loves basset hounds. She doesn't have children, but her dogs are treated like such (better, even, haha). She and Shawn (her husband) are the BEST dog-parents and her dogs are so lucky that they wound up with them!

They've had Bentley for a long time now (I can't remember his age, but it's up there). A little over a year ago, Walter joined the family. He is a senior basset as well, and he has a heart condition. Jeanie and Shawn wanted him to spend the rest of his days happy and healthy, despite his special needs. (I can't even tell you how spoiled he is now!)

And a couple of days ago, they welcomed Sophie into their home. Her story is SO sweet. Here is what Jeanie wrote on Facebook:

"Sophie is an 8 year old special needs senior from the Guardian Angel Basset Rescue.  It seems she was a dumped puppy mill dog that was used for breeding. Once she came into the rescue, she needed a hernia repair, a tummy tuck, a cyst removal, her rotted/poor teeth removed and treatment for heart worm 😢.  But GABR made sure she received all the necessary medical treatments.

Then, because she is such a sweet hound who has endured so much, they named her the 2023 Queen of the Basset Hound waddle parade! (Walter didn’t want just any Basset girlfriend… he wanted the best). And we were lucky enough to be the ones to adopt her!!! Just like with Walter and Bentley, we plan to let her live out her best life with us ❤️❤️❤️."

Sophie being crowned queen

Jeanie said Sophie also has a heart murmur and eye issues, needing medications for both. Her hair is very thin, likely from malnutrition, so she has to take supplements for that also. They are also going to get her a winter coat because her fur isn’t thick enough to keep her warm.

Doesn't that break your heart? But she is the luckiest dog to be able to go live in the upper peninsula at "Jeanie's Dog Park" (Jeanie and Shawn have a cabin on a large piece of property up there that they recently moved to permanently). We let Joey "vacation" there in the summer of 2022 as well as this past summer, and I loved seeing pictures of his adventures. I even felt bad making him come home, haha.

Jeanie said Sophie is doing really well so far! I love this picture of the three dogs on the bed.

3. Well, I'm going to stop at two. I was hoping to come up with a third as I wrote this post, but I can't think of anything I haven't already written about. Besides, these two "good things" are pretty big! (I'm sure something will come to me tomorrow and I'll wonder why I didn't think of it sooner, but my mind is blank right now.)

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 123

As you may have noticed, I didn't write Monday or Tuesday. And I had no real reason not to! I've had kind of an odd week (or week and a half, actually). My mood was different, and I don't really know how to describe it. Not depressed or anything, but just maybe unmotivated?

Last night, it hit me that it started after my appointment with my psychiatrist last week; we'd changed the dose of one of my medications. Nothing major, but I'm glad to actually see a reason for my odd mood. It's been noticeably better for a few days now, so maybe I'm adjusted.

Overall, compared to the past year, I've been in a much better mood than I have in a long time. My anxiety is down to about a 5/10, which is probably the lowest it ever is. And I haven't felt sad or depressed. I definitely can't complain!

I'm not sure whether or not the med change has anything to do with why I haven't been eating great for a couple of weeks. I'm still eating healthy foods (most of the time) but I tend to pick high-calorie foods and I eat too much of them. I swear, peanut butter is going to be the death of me! I decided last week that I can't have it in the house. The only peanut butter that I eat is Smucker's Natural, and the rest of the family doesn't like it. They have their kind of peanut butter (the super smooth stuff; I think it's Jif) and I don't like it so it's not a problem to keep in the house. But I am not going to buy the Smucker's (at least for a while).

After getting rid of the peanut butter, I started snacking on mixed nuts instead. They have just as many calories, but I thought maybe I'd be able to eat less and feel satisfied. I learned I was wrong, haha. Nuts are so easy to overeat without even realizing it. A portion size is so small! And worse, it's so easy to just grab a handful here and there throughout the day--totally mindless snacking.

So, I skipped last week's weigh-in, knowing that it probably wouldn't be helpful (mentally) to see what damage the peanut butter had done. I would have liked to skip today, but I know that if I do, it will only be that much easier to just stop accountability weigh-ins altogether. And the weigh-ins help me!

Anyway, I'm not really sure whether my weight was better or worse than I thought:

I was at 134.4. In my mind, I was sure I'd gained 10 pounds over the last two weeks, so I was happy to see that it was "only" 3.8 pounds. However, that's how it starts... my mindset goes to "Well, it's only a few pounds, and I'm still in my maintenance range, so it's no big deal." If it was up a few pounds from a heavy meal or even a week of a larger than normal appetite, then that's totally fine with me. That's why I chose to have a range for maintenance (125-135) rather than a set number.

BUT. I know that this isn't due to one of those reasons; it's because I was eating a lot more calories than I was burning.

Something that I learned from my meeting with Pete Thomas (season two at-home winner of The Biggest Loser) was that if you're *going* to overeat, at least minimize the damage by eating lower calorie things. He wasn't saying it's good to overeat; just that if you do, make it something that isn't high in calories. (Nuts are definitely a poor choice to overeat, haha.)

Yesterday, I had popcorn instead of nuts for a snack (Jerry and I watched a scary movie), and I have fruit on hand to eat as well. I used to eat a couple of apples in the evenings and it was really satisfying, so maybe I'll do that again. Fruit always helps when I'm in a mood where I just want to eat. And it makes me feel good!

Even though my mood was unmotivated, I've still been working on my habits. I didn't add any new ones like I'd planned, but I've been continuing the same routine that I was doing last month. I've run every morning for 34 days in a row--I've never done that before. I actually really enjoy the super short (half-mile) runs. It wakes me up for the day and it starts my whole morning routine.

Also, Joey loves it. He likes routine as much as I do, so walks at random times each day weren't ideal; now that he knows we go first thing when I wake up, he gets really excited. I thrive on routine, and adding the "atomic" habits to my days has made sticking to a routine become pretty automatic--and that was my goal.

I'm really hoping that this week will go better!

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Saturday Night Photos

When I sat down to write my post yesterday, I realized I only had a few photos on my phone, so I didn't end up doing my usual Friday Night Photos. Today I grabbed the camera to take a picture of one of the squirrels and I remembered that I had taken a few photos on the camera last week... so here goes. Saturday Night Photos.

Below is one of those pictures of me that Jerry takes when I don't know it. Yesterday, he told me that The Bachelor had a new season called The Golden Bachelor. Probably 15 years ago, my sister said that they should make a "Bachelor for old people"--people that were retired or otherwise up there in age and looking for love. I thought it was a cute idea! I've only seen about three seasons of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette, and I don't remember the last one I watched--probably 15 years ago!--but when Jerry said there was The Golden Bachelor on Hulu, I insisted we watch it RIGHT NOW. I don't know why I was so excited for it.

Not even three minutes into the first episode, I was totally choked up and I knew I was going to be a mess. Jerry finds it hilarious that I'm so sensitive (it's not unusual for me to cry at the simplest tug of a heartstring) so I put my hood up and told him not to watch me. Hahaha, so he took this photo.

I think The Golden Bachelor will be so refreshing! The Golden Bachelor is 71 years old, a widower with two daughters, and in great physical shape. Considering the women chosen to be on the show are all at least 60 years old, I think the whole dynamic of the show will change a bit. They have a lot of life experience and they know what they want. I can't imagine it getting as catty as the regular Bachelor seasons. But who knows? I'm not going to watch another episode until the entire show has aired; streaming has spoiled me in that I can't wait a week between shows when I'm really interested.

Even though I have a million pictures of Duck sleeping on my head/neck/shoulder, I still take selfies when he does it. This one made me laugh because of the look on his face. I think Chick was in the cat bed above us and it caught Duck's attention.

When two of the cats both want to sit on my lap, they play nice with each other so that I don't kick them off. I couldn't believe how big Duck looks next to Estelle! (Estelle was there first, and then Duck snuck VERY slowly up behind her to avoid waking her.)

When I was making some seitan recently, it called for white beans. I decided to save the liquid (called aquafaba) and try out a recipe that I saw in a cookbook. It sounded SO odd to me, but apparently, you can whip aquafaba like you would egg whites--into a meringue-like texture or whipped cream. To make it, you just add aquafaba, sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of cream of tartar to a stand mixer and let it go for 10-15 minutes. I was extremely skeptical, but it actually worked! This picture was about 10 minutes in. I have no idea what to do with it, but it was a fun experiment.

I hardly ever make bread, but I was in the kitchen today for several hours cooking all sorts of stuff--I have been really into cooking lately! And since I was making chili in the crock pot, I decided to make some crusty bread to go with it. Look how good this looks... it is, by far, the best looking bread I've ever made.

And this was the chili. Jerry said chili sounded good to eat during the football game this afternoon. I put four different kinds of beans in it--it was delicious.

This is one of my favorite squirrels. He's super friendly--not at all shy--and I have to actually be careful not to open the door too far or I'm afraid he'll come right in the house. Today, he kept dramatically looking through the screen door until he got my attention. Then I'd give him a walnut and he'd go bury it quickly, and then repeat this over and over. He probably got 10 of them today.

I desperately wanted to get a picture of Chick and Joey without Joey noticing. I didn't have my phone with me in the kitchen, and I knew if I walked past them into the living room for my phone, Joey would jump up. So I grabbed the camera by the back door and hid in the pantry to take pictures. As soon as the shutter clicked from the first picture, Joey looked up--he knew I was looking at him. And he stared me down while I took several more pictures, haha. 

Chick ADORES Joey, and thankfully, Joey tolerates Chick sleeping on him, hugging him, and even play-biting his neck. 

I think I posted this already, but I thought it looked kind of cool. I was returning from my morning run around the block and Jerry had just gotten home. He was standing in the driveway taking pictures. The red light is from my headlamp. I had already let Joey off of his leash so he could run to Jerry.

Jerry and Noah went to a wrestling event a couple of nights ago. I'm not sure what the look on Noah's face is all about, but you can see that he recently got snake bite piercings. I was not thrilled about the idea, but I can keep my mouth shut and be happy that it's not a tattoo ;) 

Eli and his girlfriend, Ava, went to homecoming last weekend. I can't believe it's his senior year already! His freshman year was during lockdown, and that doesn't seem very long ago.

I took a couple of quick pictures before he left to pick up Ava, and I love this one. He rarely smiles a big smile like this, which is unfortunate, because he's such a good-looking kid. He's so grown up!

I posted this picture earlier as well, but I think it's funny. The cats are so fascinated when I stretch/foam roll on the living room floor. The second I sit down, they are all over me. Duck always manages to put his butt right in my face. 

And that's all I've got. Have a great Sunday! xo

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