WEIGH IN 4-20-20

169-171-135

After two days of stomach issues I left coffee off my morning routine for a couple of days. Tasted good on Saturday but I still only drank a half of a cup.

Is eliminating the coffee part of the reason for my loss? Who knows. I do know I'm going to try and avoid coffee through the week whenever possible and just enjoy the 'treat' on the weekends. I'm not saying that is going to happen.. jsut that I'm going to try. :-)

I ventured out on Friday to pay some bills and pick up a few things. While I was out I thought I'd swing by my favorite coffee hang-out to see if they were doing take-out orders. To my huge disappointment, I found them CLOSED... not just for the shut-down but 'number disconnected, boxes full of stuff around the room' closed! Oh no!!!

I know this shut-down is affecting a lot of small businesses. I never thought Higher Grounds in West Plains would be one of them. 

Felicia has always had a good flow through there. She has carried my books in her cafe. My first book, Somewhere Down the Line, was written in her establishment when it was Heroe's Coffee. I'd hoped to offer her hard copies of that book later this summer when I get my rights back. 

I know Felicia works with the Boys & Girls Club so when this whole #SIP is over with, I can track her down and find out what's what. 

Now, I've lied to Fox News.

A few weeks ago they posted on twitter what did we want to do when this whol thing was lifted. I posted I wanted to spend an entire day in my favorite coffee house and work on my book. 

Hmmmm Sorry FoxNews... guess you can add me to the rest of the #FakeNews

I hope you are all safe and getting through this with a level head. 

Enjoy the Journey - this part can't last forever.

WEIGH IN 4-13-20

135/173/165

I've had an interesting week. Bob left last Tuesday and got zapped by the increased heat on Tuesday and Wesnesday. Wednesday we hit 97*! Today, we will only reach the lower 40s and the wind chill in the 30s.

My sugar number was the best it's been in several weeks. I hope I can keep that going in the right position.

While I don' t feel as if I'm moving more than I normally do, I did average 7100 steps a day last week. Wednesday with the gorgeous weather, I did hang several loads of laundry on the line. That task alone usually racks me close to 10k steps for the day. 

With only a couple weeks left to get stuff done around here before Bob gets home, I'm motivated to really pick up the pace in the next few days. 

One thing I'm doing this week is getting back into stretches. I don't think my body will benefit from jumping right into exercise until I loosen muscles up a bit. 

What do you do to stretch out?

I've always enjoyed my own form of pilates. Simple stretches. I'm not a yoga person. I've tried at various stages of my life and my body just doesn't want to cooperate. 

Here's a video to get you moving:

At this point, I have a problem with bending the knees. but I do loosen my knees (don't lock them!) and do the side bends. 

I've always been a strong believer in the saying:

A BODY IN MOTION - STAYS IN MOTION

Whatever you choose to do, remember....

Enjoy the Journey!

~Kelly

WEIGH IN 4-6-20

165/174/135

Well, the number is not pretty. But I have a plan in mind. With weather improving, I should be in the yard more. I'm also inspired by the dance videos I've been seeing on YouTube. Not sure why they came up in my suggestions to watch unless they were a result of the video I shared last week. 

Dancing I can do.  I'll never win a competition but I can move.

I thought I'd share one of them with you today.

In this time of quarantine, no gyms open, it's more important than every to KEEP MOVING - and most of all...

Enjoy the Journey!

I'M A PREPPER - Wouldn't you like to be a Prepper Too?

If we've learned anything from this Covid-19 ordeal  it is that we NEED to be PREPARED!

Some may wonder how this relates to a weight-loss journey.
When you think about the amount of stress people are under right now because their daily routine has changed, there are definitive health reprecussions. Stress can make us over eat, not eat much of anything, raise glucose levels, cause migraines... the list goes on.

But if you're prepared, as Bob and I have been, then you can ride out almost anything with very little impact on your day to day.

Whether that means having OTC meds on hand for the family or enough toilet paper to last at least a couple of months, there are things you can do to be prepared.

Now that doesn't mean you have to be set up for the SHTF (shit hits the fan) kind of thing, though this virus has come pretty close) but you should have enough basic supplies stocked up to ride through any crisis.

Do you remember this movie?

Over the next few weeks, I'll walk you through the basics. Start planning now so when you can get out and things begin to find a new normal you will know what you need to do when this or any type of natural disaster occurs.

Prepping is nothing new. People have been preparing since the beginning of time. From the first man killing/ preserving food for winter to the Cuban Missile Crisis and more recent. For generations people have planned for a 'rainy day'. They kept their food stock in root cellars in case of long winters when what they preserved might be all they had to hold them until Spring. How many families prepared for 'the big one' like our folks in Blast from the Past. Though the movie was meant to be a comedy, there was nothing light about the importance of how prepared they were to live below ground.

But over the past few years, 'Prepping' has taken on a new meaning. Some have extended the term into 'survivalist' - preparing for everything imaginable from a natural disaster like a tornado to Armageddon. Several months ago I found a book by Bernie Carr called - THE PREPPER'S POCKET GUIDE - 101 Easy Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home For A Disaster.

Bernie breaks prepping down in to 101 manageable tasks to having everything you need for any emergency that might arise. Disasters, like tornadoes, will knock you off your game if you are not prepared. My plan to kick-start this blog is to take you on my journey as I work my way through the booklet and prepare our home for an emergency and put our Prepper Plan into action.

In the meantime, I recommend you order Bernie's book and join me on this journey. If you are already a Prepper or know someone, link me to their sites. I'd love to share what others are doing

Enjoy the Journey!

THURSDAY INSPIRATION - Fit at 50!

I came across this lady earlier in the week. I'm linking the first video I found from Lisa. I invite you to check out her channel for more of her inspiring videos.

For me, Bob leaves on April 8th (as of right now) While I'm not jumping on her work-out videos, I am going to monitor her channel and set a 21-day regimen to see if I can get these pounds (and the sugar numbers) to drop.

Come join me! What will you do for 21 days?
Whatever you choose,
Enjoy the Journey!

FLY LADY - Basement

Okay, so I just realized what a HORRIBLE header picture that is. LOL I'll try to remedy that for next week.

In the mean time, we're talking basement this week. Ours is in sad need of clean-up, sort out. We have four main rooms in our basement.

1 - Bob's man cave. That's his domain LOL

2 - Furnace Room
There are things here that need pitched. I need to do a deep clean under the stair case but waiting for warmer weather. I also have 2 big stacks of magazines to go through. I'm not sure what is salvagable after I flooded that room a couple weeks ago. Bob gave most of this room a pass-over when he had to reconnect the heat duct as a result of my flooding said basement.

3 - The shower/ utility room
This is where we keep all of our 'pantry' supplies. I need to go through everything, reorganize and take stock of what I need to replenish once this whole covid-19 thing passes through.

4 - Extended Pantry/ storage
There are Christmas tubs that still need to go to the new holiday storage shed, my new weed eaters need tested then put in the shed. I'm working my way through fabric tubs for the Etsy shop. I also need to reorganize the pantry supplies in there.

We're to have a nice weekend so I'm hoping Saturday to at least relocate stuff to the holiday storage. That corner becomes the 'tornado shelter'. I'll be talking more about prepping and how I'm adjusting my supplies on Friday.

 What's your plan of attack this week?

If you feel as if you have no clue where to start, I encourage you to check out the Steph aka Secret Slob on YouTube. She takes you through the baby steps of Fly Lady and I just love her style.

Go check her out and I'll be back here on Thursday (No Recipe Wednesday this week) for a new Inspiration piece. Proving regardless of our age, anything is possible if we just mark out our Journey

Enjoy the Journey!

WEIGH IN 3-30

156/173/135

I have to say that once Bob comes home, most thoughts of bloggling leave my head. 

Bob used to sleep til 8 or 8:30, giving me time to get a few office things done before hand.

Now, he's up pretty much the same time as I am. I barely have time to boot up the computer and say good morning to my sister on-line. 

From there Bob and I spend about 2-3 hours at the dining room table enjoying coffee, chatting, breakfast then a 2 out of 3 battle hands of Deal before parting ways to our respective things to do.

about 12:30 or 1 we meet back at the dining room table for lunch and another 2 out of 3. 

Repeat then back for dinner when we call our duties 'done' for the day, even if they aren't.

Here's the thing. I LOVE spending time with my husband. We are best friends. So this whole 'sheltering in place' really doesn't affect us... except that usually when Bob is home, he has cabin fever from being on the boat for 21 days so his time at home is all about GO GO GO. 

That is why I'm glad I don't have a job that requires me to have specific things done at a certain time other than things I am able to schedule. Being a writer and a creater so works for me. 

I try to be regular on the blogs but I don't get paid for any of them. When Bob is gone I hit them hard. When he's home, I do what I can. 

Time with our loved ones is the most important part of our life. We never know how long they are here for.

The last thing I want to remember is that I spent all of my time on this computer and not with the love of my life - my best friend. 

While you're sheltering in place, UNPLUG... play a game with your family, do silly stuff, create memories, but most important...

Enjoy the Journey!