Persistence

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I was visiting my credit union which I had joined eight years ago when I bought my last car. 

Each month I had deposited a small amount of money, and pretty much just let it grow over the eight years. I decided to use some of it to pay for the closet shelving we were putting in our new house. 

I stopped by the credit union yesterday to withdraw the money. After giving the teller my account number, I asked her if she needed my drivers license?  She said no because she had it on file. 

A moment later she had a quizzical look on her face. She said I almost didn’t recognize you, you really look so much better today. Have you lost weight?

I shared with her that I was a lifetime member of WW (Weight Watchers) and that yes I had lost weight. (Probably about twenty five pounds since then.)

I was amused at her reaction, and told her she had made my day. It’s rare that a woman in her mid-sixties is told she looks better than she did eight years earlier. 

Now I wish I could say that I had accomplished this all on my own, or that each and every day of my life I had only made the healthiest of food choices. 

To be honest the last year between a pandemic, a sprained ankle, building a house, selling a house and planning two moves, along with basic lack of motivation it’s pretty crazy that I’ve not gained back every bit of my weight loss. 

That being said, I have managed to stay active with my WW workshops both through Zoom and in studio. Each week I’ve taken to heart the lessons I’ve learned, and although not perfect they have been enough to keep me from completely going off the rails. 

Add to that my WW buddy and life-long friend Carol who is always there to support me, and meet me at the workshops. 

I learned long ago that trying to do this on my own is impossible, but with the help of WW and coaches like Kim N. I’ve been able to do it. 

It does require persistence, but when you think about it what really good things in life don’t require this trait?

I’m looking forward to things settling down a bit, and putting into practice the healthy lifestyle I want to live. 

Packing

Guess what I’ve been doing today, and yesterday, and the day before that, and even last week?

 Yep, packing. I guess we accumulated a few more things over the last three years. 

Note to self- don’t attempt to pick up heavy boxes at age 65. Your back will let you know it doesn’t appreciate it. 

Needless to say I‘m a little tired to write a long post today. 

Vera

Vera is our Aloe Vera plant. She began her life with us as a small succulent that I picked up from Walmart. 

I had owned an Aloe Vera plant before that was a gift from my friend Michele, but unfortunately it did not make it through a freeze when I forgot to bring it in from our apartment porch. 

If you don’t own an Aloe Vera plant you might want to consider purchasing one. They come in handy anytime you burn yourself while cooking. 

Vera held a place of honor on the window seat of my home. She got plenty of diffused sun, and was just perfect for me because she didn’t require to be watered regularly.

When we put our house on the market, and staged the house I took her off her ledge and placed her outside. 

Well apparently Vera didn’t like that because within days she began to show signs of distress. She started to turn a dark green and overall looked pretty pitiful. 

It broke my heart because overtime Vera had grown to be gargantuous. In fact before we named her Vera, we called her the beast. This girl was thriving, and I couldn’t imagine just letting her die. 

Luckily the house sold in just a matter of days, and she found herself back in the house. We placed her on the kitchen island, and remarkably she began to perk up almost over night. 

In a matter of days she was her old self again, and her dark green had returned to the greenish hue of her youth. 

We love Vera, and plan on finding her a place of honor at our new country home. 

What Was I Thinking?

Thirty-six years ago, to quote my three year old grandson, I had a “great idea.”

For some reason I thought it would be brilliant to get married on my birthday. Now I suppose if my birthday had occurred on a random Thursday that year I would have thought differently. However, conveniently it turned out to be a Saturday. 

Now my wedding day was one of the best days of my life, and I’ve been richly blessed the last thirty-six years, so the getting married part was not the problem. 

What I feel bad about is that most of the time the day is overshadowed by my birthday, and Chuck gets cheated out of a true anniversary celebration. 

What the heck, to be honest I squeezed two really great days into one, and both celebrations pale a little in comparison to what they probably should be, and I’m probably missing out as well. 

I wish I had taken the advice of my favorite high school teacher Miss Krebbs, now Kathleen Whitson, who counseled her students to get married on a date between Christmas, and each other’s birthday so there could be presents given and received year round. 

She was really on to something, and hers was the really brilliant idea.

 

Nevertheless, this year marks thirty-six years of marriage, and a milestone birthday for me. 

Chuck and I are planning on celebrating the anniversary with dinner at Pappadeaux’s  (thank you John and Sally) and later when we get settled into the new house we will have a little family celebration. 

Ironically, after reconnecting with Carol my friend from high school she informed me that she too had done the same thing!

Breaking the Chain

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to post on my blog five days a week. 

I can honestly say I did just that until this past week. 

Somehow with everything related to our moves ( yes I did say moves, because there will actually be two) I completely forgot one day, and was too exhausted another day to post. 

I woke up early the morning after I forgot to post (since I can’t seem to sleep past 6:00 am anymore) and wrote two for that day. Sadly they posted with the same date, but technically they counted for two days. 

After a restless night at Brittany’s which I’m not sure I got more than a couple of hours of sleep-who knows why-I stopped beating myself up and later that next night I finally wrote a post that had been on my mind. 

I’m hard on myself, and expect to follow through on the goals I set. In fact I’ve learned that I have a tendency to be an “all or nothing” person. This can be self-sabotaging if you break the chain. 

I’m coming to the conclusion that moving at almost sixty-five isn’t quite so seamless as twenty-five, thirty-five or forty-five. So I’m going to take Chuck’s advice to not be so hard on myself, and keep on keeping on one blog post at a time. 

Don’t Let ‘Em Get Your Goat

Sometimes my oldest grandson lets his younger brother get the best of him. And I must admit I think the younger one enjoys getting on his brother’s nerves. 

That being said, the other day I counseled the older one not to let his younger brother get his goat. 

He looked at me with a puzzled look. What in the world did a nonexistent goat have to do with anything. 

I quickly looked through a bin of farm animals that just so happened to be out in the living room that day, and located a plastic goat. 

I explained to him that the expression “Getting your goat” had to do with not letting someone annoy or bother you. 

So each time little brother did something he considered annoying I would respond with, “Goat, Goat!” while pointing at the goat he had affectionately named Cookie. ( This kid has a gift for naming animals. LOL!)

And he would smile a big smile, and say, “Oh, yah!” and remarkably he would not let his brother get to him. 

Now in an attempt at solidarity, I confided in him that Cooper gets my goat when he barks too much. So both of us worked hard that day to keep our cool. 

It was actually a fun way to teach a lesson, and something I needed to be reminded about as well. 

Cabinet Hardware

We got our cabinet hardware installed today, and I’m in love.