Delicious December

[Flossbolna]

Twitter has become my vice. I can justify that it actually gets me into reading all kind of quality stuff because I follow some people who often link to really interesting articles online. About politics, psychology, art. It’s like a modern way of reading a quality newspaper. But it is also very passive and I can spend far too much time on non-quality stuff, too.

My other time killer is travel planning. We are currently planning our honeymoon and also American part of our wedding (we got married last December in Germany, my husband is from the US) and while some travel planning is needed, I still spend far too much time researching unnecessary things.

Mindfulness to me means to do things with a purpose. If that’s watching a crappy tv-show or plan our trip or read the DIS that’s ok. IF I make it a conscious decision and not just fall into a hole that I don’t get out off until much later. Kind of like binge eating.

 

[sjrec]

I need to turn off devices, tv, close the book, etc. when I am eating. Too often I would look down at my plate and be shocked that it was empty! My husband and I make it a practice to eat dinner at the table with no distractions, but eating breakfast in front of the tv was/is becoming a bad habit. I will work on that this month.

 

[Oneanne]

I need to turn off devices, tv, close the book, etc. when I am eating. Too often I would look down at my plate and be shocked that it was empty! My husband and I make it a practice to eat dinner at the table with no distractions, but eating breakfast in front of the tv was/is becoming a bad habit. I will work on that this month.

This is a challenge for me as well, I haven't had time to take a proper out-of-the-office away-from-my-desk lunch in almost four months. And I eat diner in the living room in front of the TV. You've inspired me to start doing this differently!

 

[Oneanne]

One other thought about mindfulness that I forgot this morning.

A couple years ago I got in this frustrating loop of trying to reset several passwords, and ended up creating a new password that included ...ihateyou... It felt good for about a day, then guess what, I hated typing it in and changed it to something positive. I've continued to do that and my current password for applications at work intentionally evokes an image that brings me calmness.

Yesterday in the blog post for the Peace Project she brought up the intentional/mindful power of passwords: its something you do on a regular basis, so her suggestion is 1) create passwords that invoke a positive response and 2) create a practice around entering your password, such as taking a slow deep breath while you type.

 

[Flossbolna]

That’s a great idea about the password! Also, I think that something with a positive meaning is much easier to remember because you associate positive vibes with it!

I am about to get on a train to Berlin to visit my sister and am really looking forward to this weekend. I brought a book and Christmas cards so that I have something else than my phone to occupy me. I have the best intentions to make good use of the 3.5 hours in the train!

 

[Oneanne]

FRIDAY FREE FOR ALL!

 

[Oneanne]

Last night I did stand out in the front yard for five minutes, breathing and listening... then I went in to the house and mindlessly ate dinner in front of the TV while playing on my phone. Baby steps, right?

After work tonight I officially kick off vacation with a massage. Tomorrow all I "have" to do is to clean house, pack, and then head to the airport around 7pm. The WDW weather forecast looks pretty good, just some thunder storms predicted for Sunday and some pretty cool temps Monday and Tuesday, but I'm OK with that because it seems seasonally appropriate... I'll just pack accordingly. This is still feeling like another business trip, it won't really hit me until I get off the plane at Orlando, and take that first magical ride... on the tram to the main terminal.

Hope all have a wonderful weekend and happy healthful next week!

 

[piglet1979]

This weekend will be jammed packed. I get to leave today at 2 to go home and clean. Then we are going to the Cavs game (basketball) tonight where the kids get to go on the court and high 5 the plays. Tomorrow we have karate in the morning, each kids has a basketball game in the middle of the day and then a friend of mine and her daughter (we met though our kids) to bake cookies. Then on Sunday I will be going to the Browns game (football) for work. Somewhere in there I need to shop for the ingredients that we will need for the cookies. We each picked 2 kinds of cookies and will get our ingredients to make it fair with the price of things.

 

[glss1/2fll]

I really like the password idea! As it turns out, all ours are happy ones, but once at work I did Ih8change! It was easy to remember, and true. But at work we are always having to change them so it didn't last long!

I think I practice mindfulness more at work than at home. Working with children/others causes that I think. At home it's too easy to zone out. I eat my breakfast while playing solitaire on my ipad. Pretty much same with lunch. When we had the twins we ate at the table. Now that they are gone DH is back to eating in the family room. I'm about to put a stop to that. I'm a guilty party because our dining room was cold so I said sure to the warm family room!

I'm so relieved to have the scale be down this week. Funny how it goes that way when you're under calories. Not sure today will be under. And so far no exercise. Plan to go for a walk soon. It has to be soon because it'll be dark before I know it. I've had a lovely day, though. Finished a book, done lots of laundry, vacuumed the house and mopped the kitchen floor. Waiting for it to dry so I can move some laundry to the dryer. DH scrubbed sinks, tub and toilet. I love that man!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Happy Monday everyone!!

I had a lovely weekend with my sister. We made loads of Christmas cookies. Not good for weight loss. But wonderful quality time with my sister.

This will be a very stressful week. But I am hopeful that everything will get done and then vacation starts on Saturday!

 

[glss1/2fll]

Yikes! Today I scheduled my holiday breakfast with my former walking group. That means I need to get busy baking. I make several different types of cookies as gifts. Now I have eight days to do it and four of those I will be out of state! If I'd remembered earlier I could have started tonight, but it was a grumpy work late because students and their parents are so much fun kind of day! Sadly, yesterday was close to the same. I so, so wonder what is wrong with people?!!!! Anyway, DS2 picked me up from work then we picked up DH then we hit a restaurant for dinner. Yup. I'm over calories--only by about 100, but over is over. Tomorrow's a new day so I'm going to practice better food choices!

 

[glss1/2fll]

Been tracking my food and managed to stay under calories! Tomorrow I'm off for a long weekend. Gonna surprise my dad for his birthday. The entire family is coming. It'll be nice to see everyone! Food will be a huge unknown, but I'll make the healthiest choices I can!

Hope everyone has a fun weekend. And by the way, y'all need to start posting!

 

[Flossbolna]

My last day at work before vacation. Have been working like crazy. But also managed to write all my Christmas cards! Eating has been all over the place. I am committed to improving this!

 

[Oneanne]

Motivation Monday...

 

[Oneanne]

I'm back from vacation... not as sparkly as I should be after a week off, so I'm going to have to find a way to take some more time off, maybe having the two short holiday weeks coming up will be enough.

It was a lovely trip. I did pretty much everything I had in mind, except there was a mix up on the Terrace Dessert Party... it was actually a MVMCP night (which I realized when the party wristband stations went up) and I didn't have a ticket to that party and didn't want to attend it, so the coordinator gave me a refund. I was actually OK with this, as I had just done Jingle Bell Jingle BAM the night before and didn't feel the need for more desserts. I had already received an invitation to review MDE, so I put the feedback there that I shouldn't have been able to book the dessert party without the other party ticket.

The trip highlights were having two fabulous dinners at Flying Fish (my tummy gets happy just thinking about them), and the Candlelight Processional... I stood in line with a couple parents with kids in the choirs, and it was fun to chat with them; had a perfect seat with great acoustics; and Bart Millard did a fabulous job narrating. I also got to see several of the Holiday Storytellers, I think Pere Noel in France was my favorite, because of the way they scripted the narrative and the actor did a great job. The other performance standout was whoever was playing Timon in The Lion King... as may times as I've seen it, it had to be something extra special to have caught my attention.

Now it's back to the grind at work, and getting ready for Christmas next week. We're doing stocking-stuffer type gifts this year, and that's actually more work than just getting one thing for each person, so I did a lot of running around over the weekend and have already made several trips to the grocery store. Tonight I hope to make some cookies to bring to work.

Happy week before the holiday everyone!

 

[sjrec]

Oneanne, your trip sounded wonderful! We saw the Candlelight Processional many years ago-Phylicia Rashad was the narrator. We enjoyed it so much.

I am trying to finish up things here-my sister and her husband will arrive Sunday and stay until Christmas Day-we’ll all do brunch with my daughter’s family Christmas Eve. Then my daughter and her family will come to our house Christmas Day and stay overnight. Which is great, except we decided a week ago to paint the guest room, put up new curtains and replace the bed...what was I thinking??? Hopefully, we’ll finish up tomorrow.

I admit my eating is all over the place and I am not getting my walks in-unless parking far away from the store counts! I’m just going to make as many good decisions as I can and get back into a routine as soon as I can. A WW leader once said “it’s not what you do between Thanksgiving and Christmas that derails you, but what you do between Christmas and the following Thanksgiving.”

Hope everyone is having a good week!

 

[Oneanne]

TUESDAY TOPIC:



When you read/hear things like this, what does it mean to you? Is it something you think about, strive for? What is the best version of you?

 

[Oneanne]

A couple things have been on my mind lately, and this is one of them - what is the best version of me?

I've come to realize some new things about myself, things that expand my self-definition to include negative traits. So I've been faced with owning those negative parts of myself and at the same time changing my internal conversations to include "be better" and "do better". So I guess the best version of myself is self-accepting of my shortcomings but also striving to be better? Hmmmm....

 

[piglet1979]

So tomorrow is my last day before I am on vacation until January 7th. I can't wait. Just so much to get done before I am out of the office for 2+ weeks. We are not going anywhere. Just lots of Christmas and New Year stuff, cleaning and spending time with the kids while they are off.

I finally got all of my Christmas shopping done. Well all but a few things. I went shopping with my mom for like 5 plus hours on Saturday. I was so behind. that was the first day of shopping. I can't wait for the kids to get there gifts. They are truely spoiled.

My mom had a rough day on Sunday as did I. She was trying to get all of us together to get pictures taken. Her friend was going to take the pictures for us and we were going to go them at a local garden store that has a whole scene set up. My brother wouldn't cooperate and my sister was blaming my husband for stuff. We were being flexible but originally asked for pictures early enough so DH can watch our local pro football team play. It was all fine and then my sister said that she can't do it at that time because her daughter works until 2:30 and said "I hope (my DH's Name) would put (my nieces name) over football". We are tick of at her. My bother just said he works but never said a time that might work. I said we could do any time before 4 as we had Christmas at my dad's. I was not the issue they all were. I called my mom and she was crying that none of ever want to spend time with her and don't call. This really upset me and I really wanted to lay into my siblings. I call my mom almost every day on my way home for work and though I don;t get to her house often I invite her to do stuff with us. Like we are going the the Lion King play in August with her. It was just a rough day.

 

[sjrec]

A couple things have been on my mind lately, and this is one of them - what is the best version of me?

I've come to realize some new things about myself, things that expand my self-definition to include negative traits. So I've been faced with owning those negative parts of myself and at the same time changing my internal conversations to include "be better" and "do better". So I guess the best version of myself is self-accepting of my shortcomings but also striving to be better? Hmmmm....

The best version of myself-would make good choices most of the time and move on when I don’t! Keeping with your other post, being mindful. Living in the moment and not stress out myself and the people I love.
Good question!