lifestye change - day 11

I am still trying to stick to the lifestyle change. We went on a walk today. Drove to the Lake Erie Metropark. It gets so boring walking around the neighborhood. Plus the sidewalks seem to make my joints hurt more. Walking along the nature trails at the Metroparks really feels so much better, but you sometimes are surprised by wild life. Two deer were scared off by us walking by. I only saw their tail ends, but they made a lot of noise leaving the area. We walked only 1.5 minutes(edited - miles), but it was very relaxing also.

I continue to be hungry for the wrong things. I melted some truffles in the microwave and dipped some pretzels in the melted chocolate so that I could have a chocolatey snack. Don't tell Dave what I did, as I didn't let him know that I did that.

eye twitches

My right eyelid has been twitching. I don't know why, but it is annoying.

Conversation with Dave:

Me: You know every time I say something and you disagree with me, my eye twitches.

Dave: No, your eye twitches every time you are wrong.

Very funny, Dave.

sometimes I have a good idea

Watching the Tigers

Me to Dave: So the psychology of stealing a base is so that it keeps the pitcher's busy thinking of the runner and makes him throw crappy pitches.

Dave: (looking confused) Well, not really. Well, okay, I guess.

Me: Don't you agree?

Dave: (Grudgingly) Yyyyeessss, I just wasn't prepared to let you know that you were right.

baby mama, baby daddy

I HATE those terms. When did we become illiterate? I guess this falls in the category of lol or rolf, but please. We are intelligent people. Why do we have to pick up the lazy speech patterns of people who have not graduated from high school and sell drugs for a living? Why are we copying them. I thought that only people who didn't know any better used these terms, but I heard Harvey Levin on the People's Court use it and there is a movie out that has that title. Disgraceful. Please do not ever use those terms around me.

Lifestyle change - day 9

Well, I was up 1.5 pounds today. That is okay. See, I like to track my weight daily. It gives me a reminder to be careful with my food intake. My daughter has been encouraging me to track my intake with a website like Dave does. But I have tried that in the past. I have tried Weight Watchers and other things and I have noticed that as soon as I impose a number or a limit on myself I want to rebell. I am not sure why this is. It is funny, if I start thinking that I am hungry for a donut and then tell myself, no you can't have it, it isn't on your diet, then I really, really want the donut and like a little child I will whatever I can to get that donut. But, if I say, okay, you can have the donut, but wait a minute, wait an hour, wait until later today, etc, then usually I don't want the donut. Strange, but true. Or I will say to myself (not out loud, that would be crazy, right?) "is there anything else that you would rather have or have instead since you don't have any donuts right here?" " Why yes, I would rather have a piece of toast with cinnamon on it. " Wow, that actually sounds good. I think I will go have some right now.

lifestye change - day 8

wo-wo - 3.5 pounds so far. I know that this will not continue, but I am going to enjoy it.

lifestye change - day 6

I think I did really good today. This is what I had to eat so far. Breakfast: English muffin (butter and jam), lunch: piece of steak, supper: chicken fillets on the grill and rice/pasta dish with taco seasonings, a small cup of 100 calorie tapioca pudding. I haven't had my one pepsi yet today. I had a capuccino and then had 32 oz of water with lemon and sugar added.

Our walk lasted 35 minutes. I tried walking with my dansko work shoes to see if they worked better. My knee didn't hurt as much today, but my right hip did have the stabbing pain in it half way through the walk. I just took two acetametaphin, so I hope my leg pains will get better by bedtime. I do think the pain is a little better than last week.

Dave is doing great. He is counting calories, using a website called Calorie Count. He logs everything he eats and how much exercise he does. He wouldn't get on the scale until yesterday. So, so far he has lost one pound that he knows of. I lost 2 pounds since we started.

I think I will buy some more V8 next time we go to the store so that I can get more vegetables. I have to remember to take my vitamins also. I keep forgetting.

lifestye change - day 5

Another 1/2 pound - 2 pounds total. Walked and worked in the yard. Had two small homemade breakfast burritos, two bacon, low-cal pizza, and a small steak. So still doing pretty good.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Dave and I went to a matinee to see Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It is a documentary by Ben Stein. I really enjoyed it. It was thought provoking, interesting, and enjoyable. I loved having my mind stimulated by this movie. I am going to do more research on the whole debate.

This goes along with the fact that in our colleges you have to be a liberal to be able to speak your mind. I feel so sorry for college students nowadays. It seems they are being shown a lobsided view of the real world. The liberal view.

Anyway, this movie is definitely a movie to see.

lifestye change - day 4

Yippee! I lost another 1/2 pound. But then Dave wanted to go out to breakfast. Well, I had thought I would eat eggs, bacon, and toast, but that was $7.29. The country breakfast that I usually get is 4.79. So I got that, but stopped eating when I was full. Well, maybe a little past full. Dave was even better and got the 2.79 sausage biscuit.

Then we went to see a movie which I will talk about in another blog entry. After that at home we at sandwiches made with tortilla shells, cheese and deli meat. I drank water with lemon and a little sugar in it.

Then I cleaned the garage, did some laundry and scrubbed and washed down the front door mat. It is lying outside in the driveway, getting dried out. Then Dave and I went for a walk. This was a lot longer walk, 35 minutes. My hip and knee joints were hurting pretty bad by the end of the walk.

Now we are going to each eat a fish sandwich. I might have yogurt and granola or popcorn later this evening.

Hopefully we can keep up the good work and not give up.

lifestye change - day 3

Another day of lifestyle change. I didn't lose any more weight. I weigh myself in the mornings. I had the last two toaster strudels, a piece of steak, two hotdogs (with buns), water, coffee and a can of pepsi. Okay, I know. I am lacking in vegetables and a little too high in sugar. I did use sugar substitute in the coffee, though. I probably will have a small can of V8. There is one left in the refrigerator. Hope it is still good. It has been in there a while.

Dave and I went for our walk at 4:30 and increased the distance a little bit. My hips aren't hurting quite as much today. But I might take some acetametaphin before bedtime. Sometimes my joints hurt worse at night and first thing in the morning.

Maybe I will have lost 1/2 a pound in the morning. I hope so.

lifestye change - day 2

I did okay on my lifestyle change today. Lost one pound so far. Went for a walk, same distance. Pain in my hips from walking yesterday and sitting all day today. Probably will lie down on the floor while watching TV part of the night tonight. My body really is complaining about the little extra exercise. Will have to keep moving though. It should get easier.

lifestye change - day 1

Yesterday Dave and I went to the store. Picked up food that we both wanted for our "diets". Today, I drank more water than usual. Yes, Kari, still probably not enough. Dave is watching his calories. I am just trying to eat less, stay away from sweets if at all possible. Then after work Dave and I walked around the block. Not too taxing, but a little work out. Definitely more than we are used to. We will increase the distance a little each day.

Trip to Forbidden Caverns

Instead of just lying around the cabin all day, we try to find an attraction nearby that isn't too touristy or costly. We choose the Forbidden Caverns. It was very interesing. This maze of caverns is privately owned. The temperature is 58 degrees all year long. There is a river running through the caverns. Very clean water, no weeds, fish or anything.











The caverns are made of limestone and I guess a by-product of that is onyx. There is the largest amount of white onyx found in a cave.










In the early 1920s until 1943, the cavern was used to make moonshine.










And the caverns are the sleeping place for very, very small bats.









It was very, very cool.

yearly vacation

Every year we go on vacation - a much needed vacation. Gatlinburg, Tennessee.



This year we are in a beautiful cabin. Soft towels, wi-fi, surround sound theater, beautiful view.

Dave relaxing.

Joanie looking beautiful.

Les relaxing.

gunk in my hair

A couple of days ago, I took a shower and then dried my hair. I must have put vaseline on my hands before I dried my hair, because now my hair has gunk in it. I have been using vaseline to help with my dry skin. I have washed it since then two times and I still have greasy hair in the roots. Guess I just have to keep washing.

Picture of Brett

I just realized that in the previous post there isn't a picture of Brett that looks nice. So I thought I would post a picture.

Birthday dinner - Mindy's birthday

At our latest birthday dinner, we had a little problem taking pictures with the window right behind us. We closed the mini-blinds and that allowed us to take a picture of Mindy, Kari, and Aydan.











But when we took of picture of Brett and I across the table the closed blinds made us be all washed out.









So when we opened the mini-blinds there was too much light for Brett and I.










Meanwhile, Aydan didn't really care for all the silliness.