2020

OK so 2020 is not the great year it promised to be in December 2019.  We are only halfway through and yet we know the rest of the year does not look like it will be a big improvement.  Even without an alien invasion or asteroid we can count on more protests after the November election and lingering effects of the economic meltdown and coronavirus pandemic.  

On the bright side, hubby and I are still happy and healthy (Thank God) and still financially sound.  We live in Paradise (without it actually BEING Paradise 😉) and we have a few good friends, great godchildren, a nice Temple, and a classy new car on the horizon.  A little gratitude always helps get us through the tough times (and we've  conquered much tougher ones). 

Still, I can't help but wish that 2021 was here already...

The Street Where I Live

As I perused the morning paper I glanced at the "New Homes and Villas" offered by The Villages in our newest section, an area I think of as The Wilderness.

I have long surmised that The Villages has run out of attractive names for their new streets but now I am sure of it.  The new homes are located on streets with names like "Rebusmen", "Polacheck", "Feulner" "Lazkowski" and "Hickey".  I am sure the ladies and gentlemen for whom these streets are named (I'm assuming The Villages' planners did not make them up) are extremely deserving of this honor but I confess, there would be No Way I would want their names to be on my return address stickers.

The clincher for one home we purchased was when I asked the salesperson what will be the name of the street of the lot we were looking at.  When he said "Live Oak Terrace" I was hooked.  Ah, the beautiful image of soft Southern breezes and shady sweetness.  Likewise, we now live on a street whose name reminds us of the English countryside or the gentle city in Georgia where some great movies were filmed.

Plus I have the Live Oak tree I always wanted!

The Plus

"If you aren’t getting happier as you’re getting older, you’re doing it wrong."

I am eagerly awaiting this new book by Greg Gutfeld.  It sounds like it will be a different take on the zillions of self-help books out there. 

It says it's "self-help for people who hate self-help".  Now honestly, who would hate self-help?  Doesn't everyone want to help themselves? If you don't help yourself who will?? 

I do indeed find myself getting happier as I get older so I guess I am doing something right.  If I make it another 20 years to 90 I should be ecstatic all the time!

Goals

It's been a week since I started using PoundAWeek to track my calories and I am so proud of myself.  I have 4 pounds to go to reach my goal.

One "trick" I have found helpful is to replace food favorites with items with lower calorie counts. I have lower calorie bread, English muffins, egg substitutes, cheese, chicken and turkey breast, sausages (hubby found them), salad dressing, salmon filets and lox. 

Yay Me!

Self Tanning

I had good luck with self tanning about ten years ago so I decided to try it again this summer.  I had a tiny bout with a skin carcinoma around the same time and have been avoiding real sun bathing since.  But my (masses of) old white wrinkly skin, especially on my pale legs, inspired me to dig out the 10 year old can of L'Oreal's  Sublime Bronze spray.

I must admit, it is easy and quick and the result surpasses my rather low expectations.  The can says it's best used within 6 months of purchase but obviously that is a falsehood, hahaha. 

Just point and shoot!

Summer Reading List

	The Summer House by James Patterson A Convenient Death: The Mysterious Demise of Jeffrey Epstein by Alana Goodman Fair Warning by Michael Connelly Camino Winds by John Grisham Walk the Wire by David Baldacci The Last Trial by Scott Turow Thin Girls: A Novel by Diana Clarke The Plus: Self-Help for People Who Hate Self-Help  by Greg Gutfed

Pound A Week

Tired of get-thin-quick diet fads?  Strange restrictions on foods or times you can eat?  Ready to go back to the tried and true method of counting your f***g calories?  Here's a new take on the old standby.

I found this friendly app when I decided to lose those pesky five pounds slowly.  I guess if you can think it there's an app for that.  

Here's the "new take":  You get a weekly allotment of calories and you can only weigh in once a week (saving you from daily angst).  You can rollover your uneaten calories to the following days of the week which means if you have a "bad day" you will not immediately fall into self flagellation and depression and quit immediately; you have a calorie "bank" to draw on. You can re-launch the whole app if you need a true fresh start.  The calorie database seems robust and I even was able to use the scan feature to add my bread choice.  And one really nice feature is the rotating motivational messages which I find to be not corny but actually helpful. 

"One pound at a time" is my favorite.

Self Care Cards Part Deux

A few days ago I mentioned my new set of "Self Care Cards - a set of (24) self care cards with feel good activities and reminders to put yourself first".  So every day I've been drawing out another one to remind myself to feel good.  I've watched a kitten video, browsed a bookstore, watched a movie, ate takeout and today I'll call an old friend. 

I'm inspired to make my own cards (actually a list) of other ideas.  Can I get to 24?

1.   Color my grays

2.   Polish my toes

3.   Turn off the TV

4.   Have a cup of coffee

5.   Stick to my diet

6.   Throw out an unloved item  in my closet

7.   Run through my gratitude list

8.   Clean something

9.   Light a candle

10. Light some incense

11. Look out the window

12. Take your vitamins

13. Write in Dear Diary

14. DVR an upcoming show

15. Balance the checkbook

16. Put on my "good clothes"

17. Re-read a good book

18. Look at our wedding album

19. Check Facebook news

20. Bath with eucalyptus salts

21. Play solitaire

22. Make the bed

23. Say a prayer

24. Kiss hubby ❤

Healing Through Chant

People sitting around their computer screens and chanting in Hebrew for peace and healing.  Quite an image.  I guess it's a sign of the times how much folks are yearning to connect with other people and are trying to overcome the challenges of 2020. It actually did help and I really hope more sessions are coming.  

We need a lot of healing...

This Is Me (now)

I noticed that the picture I labelled "This Is Me", shown below, when I started blogging in 2011, no longer looks that much like me. I don't really want to update it - I'd rather preserve it as a reminder who I was when I started Dear Diary.

The above is a rather nice and more recent picture of me now.  Nine years later and we are in a different place, both of us retired, with different concerns and interests and hobbies, in a different home and with a different social circle.  

Of course, I still wonder who exactly "this is me" really is...

Yoga

I bought a set of "self care cards" -  24 tips for "feel good activities and reminders to put yourself first".  The first is "what do I need to do to take better care of myself?".  I put "yoga" on that list.  

I am the most un-physical person imaginable but I did (sort of) enjoy the one yoga class I took at the MVP club (free membership comes with our new 2020 health insurance).  I even bought a new yoga mat and block as the free equipment usually available is available no longer due to the coronavirus.  I had to make an appointment online to attend the limited access class today.

It has been a rough two and half months and current events promise even more national angst.  Hubby and I have had it better than most being retired and not worried about layoffs or financial ruin.  But yoga sounds like a much needed fun and peaceful activity.

A good first step to taking better care of myself...

Toilet Paper

I admit it, I have always been a fan of toilet paper and always had a little extra put away.  I never gave this much thought until the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020.

Of course it makes sense.  Toilet Paper is a Great Necessity and although we can make do with different kinds of food and other essentials, there is truly no viable substitute for toilet paper.

People are staying home more so the paper we would normally use in stores and offices is sitting idle.  I see that there is beginning to be a little more in the stores - I guess folks have finally stored enough to last them for months.

I know I have!