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!

Meditation

The Rebbetzin did a powerful guided meditation about standing at the bottom of a mountain and looking to your left and right and seeing not only your ancestors at Mt. Sinai but also the millions of their descendants right up to Anne Frank and Jerry Seinfield and your own grandmother. Millions of people throughout all of time, all there together.

I found this image deeply moving and powerful beyond belief.  In this incredibly disturbing time of Coronavirus and our cities being destroyed by protestors/thugs, I yearn for better days ahead.  A little guided meditation helps...

Tonya

Lots of people on Twitter and Facebook are asking "do you even KNOW anyone who has Covid-19?" 

Well up until yesterday I didn't and I still don't, really.  But yesterday I learned that this young woman, the daughter-in-law of someone we used to attend a former Temple with, passed away from the coronavirus.

Curiosity (morbid?) had me check her out on Facebook.  She was only 42 and was a Nurses' Assistant or perhaps a LPN.  She wanted to work with the elderly and had just got a new nursing job a few months ago.  She had only been married a few years and called her husband her "best friend". Her last post was only 3 weeks ago and she sounded happy.

I had *almost* convinced myself the virus was in the past, not so bad, maybe overblown.

Today, not so much.

Black Tops

 

My motto: One can never have too many black tops.  

I picked up two this week and am always on the look out for more.  They make dressing relatively easy and work well with jeans, leggings or skirts.  They make you look a little thinner or at least not conspiciously bigger. You can spend a little on them and still look well-off.  Best of all, they hide dirt and most stains.

I am a practical gal.  

GMorning, GNight

The sub title of this little book is "little pep talks for me and you".   I like that - the author says he's writing these "little pep talks" mostly for himself.

I'm in the mood to give myself little pep talks.  Can you blame me?  The world has been basically shut down for 2+ months and life is far from normal.  Social interaction has ground to a halt - no Temple services (except online), no Mah Jongg (I am sure I have forgotten how to play), no dinners out with friends, and a general feeling of "what can I do today?".

Here's a  good one from the book:

The world changes.
The ground shifts.
We still make plans.
We still find gifts.
GMorning.