Fun with My Fitness Pal

So, I am happy to report that I have finally arrived in the new millennium and now have a smartphone.  I said goodbye to my little Virgin Mobile flip phone, and I am having a lot of fun playing with my new toy.  I can't believe it took me so long to get one.  I feel like I am part of the modern world again!

One of the first things I did was download the MFP app.  That was 6 weeks ago, and I have lost 14 lbs.  Hmmm, could it really be that tracking my food and counting calories might lead to weight loss?  Who knew!  Well of course I knew this because of my history counting points with Weight Watchers.  I really like the WW program, but unfortunately it's not free, and MFP is.  Bye bye Weight Watchers!  If I win the lottery I may go back to paying $45 a month and going to meetings, which I enjoyed, but until then I will do my best with MFP.

Wish me luck!  About 40 lbs. to go..... and I have the rest of my life to do it. 

Late Summer Camping Fun

D and I had a great trip to High Cliff State Park near Appleton, WI.  3 days of perfect weather.  Lots of spiders everywhere.  Is it just me, or is it a spidery year?  It was crazy to see huge webs in the morning where there were none the night before.  Those spiders are industrious!

We also saw a walking stick insect.  It was climbing up the gray cinder blocks of the pit toilet house, so we could see it clearly.  It just sat there very still.  Such an odd-looking insect!  It really does look exactly like a stick.  If I was a Millennial I would have whipped out my $900 phone and taken a quick snap, then forwarded it to all my friends and relatives.  But I'm a Baby Boomer, so I just have a picture of the walking stick in my mind.  That will do.

A Bountiful Harvest

What possessed me to plant 4 zucchini plants?  I have been baking zucchini bread and making stuffed zucchini and feeding it to my worms and giving it away left and right and I still have 117 zucchini in my crisper.  OK, I am exaggerating, just a bit.  But let this be a reminder to me for Garden 2018 -- 1 zucchini plant, maybe 2.  No more than 3.  :)

My herb bed was supposed to be a thing of beauty this year.  But a mistake in the seed packet messed me up good, and you can't even see my herb bed.  I bought a packet of dwarf zinnias, they were supposed to be 8" tall, to edge my raised bed.  Instead, they are 36" tall and are the most robust bunch of flowers in my entire garden.  You would never know the poor herb bed is there unless you looked closely.

And I have several more huge bunches of tall zinnias in my border, somehow every seed I sprinkled germinated 200% and grew twice as tall as stated on the packet.  These zinnias grew like small trees, with huge woody stalks.  They are colorful and awesome, and I love to fill vases with them.  But they are high maintenance chopping all that stuff down and disposing of it.

A Great Summer After All

We have had wonderful weather here in Chicago.  I have enjoyed this summer so much!   And it's not over yet, we have at least 2 more months of pleasant weather.

We were finally able to take some camping trips, the mid 90 temps of early summer were replaced by delightful 80s through most of August.  We went to IL Beach State Park for 2 nights and had a great time camping.  We got to play in some gigantic waves on Lake Michighan.  They were way too big and powerful to swim in, especially for the 5-yo, so we just held tight to her hand and jumped around as the waves crashed on shore.  She loved it and we had a blast.  The only downside to this trip was swarms of mosquitoes, the likes of which I have not seen in years.  A result of the horrific flooding in the area this summer.  We got bitten up, even though we slathered on the bug spray.  I feel guilty complaining about the mosquitoes when so many people lost their homes.  :(

Then a few weeks later we went to Rock Cut State Park in Rockford.  Another great place to camp.  Nice trails, and a nearby water park that had an amazing wave pool.  So, more frolicking in the waves!

Lily had a great trip -- until the very last 10 minutes.  Oy.  She was sitting at the picnic table, watching us attach the trailer to the tow hitch.  We were cranking it down when we heard a series of very loud screams from the area of the picnic table, like someone was being murdered.  It was a dastardly daddy long legs, crawling on Lily.  OMG, she was so freaked out, and I don't blame her.  I hate those things.  I ran over and brushed it off her and crushed in the sand, buried it and stomped on it and spit on it and called it a few choice names.  Lil stood by, sobbing and shaking.  I sort of hate myself for this now, but both Dan and I were a bit less than patient with the hysterics.  I gave her a quick hug and told her to pull herself together, and Dan said something like "such a fuss about nothing".   In our defense, we were breaking up camp.  Any camper would understand that we were a bit less than cheerful, and ready to just get the heck home.  But I hate those stupid creepy spiders so much, I totally understand.  I think if I had one crawling on me I would give out a little yelp too.  Maybe not a hysterical screech, like Lily, but then again maybe so!

Hot!

It has been a hot summer so far, and I think we are in for a steamy July.  Not as bad as the west, though.  Phoenix has been in the 110's for a while, as high as 118.  I can't imagine!

We have been having fun playing in the sprinkler and tossing water balloons with Lily.  As a bonus, my lawn and garden gets watered.  As a non-bonus, my water bill goes up.  Oh well, it's pay to play.  We'll conserve water in the winter!

It's been too hot to take the camper out, we were hoping to go up to Illinois Beach State Park for a few days this week but a high temperature of 95 degrees has me shaking my head.  Even with lovely Lake Michigan, still too hot.  No air conditioning in our hard-sided, A-frame camper, and I am a big baby about heat and humidity.  Best to just stay put and enjoy the park district pools and squirting the hose in my own backyard.  It has a mist setting that feels so good after working in the garden.  Ahhh

I am trying to cut down on gin martinis.  I have been having one every day for weeks now!  Bad habit, because of course I have to have a snack along with the drink, and then I throw all dinner eating caution to the wind as well.  Bah.  Today is Monday, and I am putting the brakes on.  I will toast the afternoons with iced tea.  Good luck to me!

Early Gardening Gift

The past couple of days have been unseasonably warm.  Highs in the 50's, and nice and sunny.  I have been able to get a good jump on my spring cleaning -- garden-wise that is!  My house remains nice and dusty.  Who cares, with weather like this!

I got a lot of dead perennials cut down and thrown away, and did some raking.  It did my soul good just to get out in the bright sun.  Ahhh!  I am looking forward to a wonderful gardening season.

I have been retired for 3 months now.  It is going pretty well, I give myself good marks on getting in the pool just about every day, Monday through Friday.  But I give myself lower marks for general laziness in the lazyboy.  I am hoping that nice weather will spur me out of the house every day!  I tend to isolate, homebody that I am.

Buying Tom B's sweet little A-frame pop-up camper should tempt me out of the house during camping season.  Dan and I are envisioning trips to Shawnee National Forest, as well as to Ergang and up north to Wisconsin.  I don't think we will be taking any drives to California in our 21-year old Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Even though it would probably make it, I wouldn't want to worry about having to leave it at the side of the road somewhere out west.  How sad!

Liberta!

Liberty!  I have retired from my full-time job as a legal assistant.  December 2, 2015 was my last day.  It was very emotional to leave all my wonderful co-workers -- I felt  like a wrung-out washcloth when I finally got home on my last day.  It has been 12 days, but it still seems surreal.

I can't really relax and enjoy until the husband (also retired) and I get out health insurance ducks in a row.  As we are too young for Medicare, we are tangling with Obamacare.  I have absolutely no faith in the business operations of the insurance company that we chose, but we chose it because it has my specialist in the network.  I have all my fingers and toes crossed that it will be OK.  I never thought I would wish to be 65, but I do!  A few more years......

Today is Monday, a lousy rainy day.  Dan and I have been trying to get in the habit of taking a walk in the morning, and we were doing fairly well the first week.  Then over the weekend we had the 3-year old granddaughter, and she threw a monkey wrench into our leisurely walking.  We had lots of activities planned for her -- we went to cut down our Christmas tree, decorated it, went to a Christmas party complete with Santa and 27 other kids, and then went to see our other granddaughter dance in the Nutcracker Suite.  I wasn't too sure how 3-3/4 year old Lily, who is constantly on the go, would tolerate the ballet, but she loved it.  She was positively transfixed with the beautiful set, costumes and ballerinas.  She behaved beautifully and sat still for over an hour.  Success!

Last week I walked to the library, updated my card and took out 3 novels to read.  No more buying Kindle books on a whim, I have to watch every penny now.  It really made me feel retired to stroll to the library on a weekday morning!  I will repeat that operation every 3 weeks.

I also plan to swim at the park district pool near my house.  I just have to get my gumption up and find my bathing suit.  Baby steps..........

My Lions and Me

I love my cats!  Getting the feral colony from Tree House was the best thing I ever did.  I can enjoy my backyard and garden without worrying about seeing a rat scurry by.  As a matter of fact, I go days at a time without even thinking about rats!  A year ago that would have been impossible -- I was terrified to go anywhere near the garage or the alley.  On October 5 it will be one year that I have had my cats, and that's about as long as it's been since I have seen a live rat.  Quite a few small dead ones here and there, though.  That's fine!

This is Goblin, the black and white longhair.  Brando, the gray and white longhair, is the friendly one.  He likes to have his ears scratched, and he will come very close to me when I am putting the food down in the morning.  He also stands on the deck and meows for me when he is hungry.  He must have had some human contact shortly after he was born, because he is only half-feral.  The other two cats are comfortable with me, but they don't really come near me and if I stand up and walk toward them they skedaddle.

Today is Labor Day, and I am relaxing around the house.  It has been very hot and humid, I have only been going out in the garden in the mornings and after sundown.  I really hate this kind of weather, and I am looking forward to Fall's cooler temperatures.

The Party's Over

It's Monday, back to work today.  I did work Friday, January 2, but it still seemed like a holiday and they let us out at 3:00.  Today it's back to business as normal, and it's freezing out there.  3 below at O'Hare.  I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about my cat colony!  I'm sure they'll be fine, but I wish I knew for sure that the kennel heating pads are still working ok.  I hate to take the roofs off the feral villas to check, because I don't want to freak out any cats that might be snoozing in them.  I'll just have to hope for the best.

I had a wonderful, quiet weekend.  I have always been a homebody, but the older I get the more I love to hang out at home.  Yesterday I made taco soup and roasted a chicken.  I did laundry and putzed around.  Did a lot of relaxing in the lazyboy -- I should call it lazygirl.  Watched the long-awaited first episode of Season 5 of Downtown Abbey.  It started a little slow, but ended up being very good.  I love that series!

I hate the thought of slogging through the snow to the train, but I really want to get my walking in this week.  I may take the bus to the el on Wednesday morning, though.  It is supposed to be 12 below zero in the morning.  I am flirting with the idea of staying home if it's that cold!  I'm a wuss.

My food intake has been just "OK", nothing stellar.  I have realized that I can't be trusted around a block of cheese.  I have a couple of recipes that I will be making that call for shredded cheese, and I know that hand-shredding a block of cheese tastes so much better.  But I have already hacked off several hunks of the block of cheese to nibble on, it's probably about half gone.  Sigh.

Because I am cold and rather depressed about winter right now, I will post a picture that makes me feel a bit warmer.  Our granddaughter, Lily, and her kiddie pool.  Ahhhhhhh  I wish I could time travel right through January and into July.

A Good Day

January 1 was a nice, stay-at-home day for me.  I did some relaxing, reading the paper with my morning latte and playing Words With Friends with my friend Sharon.

If it's true that what you do on the first day of the year will set the tone for the entire year to follow, I'm in good shape.  I did my favorite things -- relaxing at home and cooking.  I made good use of our Christmas ham bone, and made split pea soup.  It's chilling on the back porch, I'll finish it up tonight and we will have it for dinner.  I dearly love split pea soup!  I also made Hoppin' John for dinner, it's supposed to be good luck to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day.

I did a lot of peeking out the back porch windows at my cats.  I love to watch them, even if they are just eating and stretching.  They do a lot of stretching!

This is Brando, he is so adorable:

My food was very moderate, too.  And, per my resolution, I logged everything that I ate.  All in all, a very good start to the New Year!

A Resolution

Happy New Year!  Call me naïve, but I always have a feeling of hope for a shiny new year.  I will be a better person!  I will do everything I am supposed to do!  At least I think about it, right?

Along with the usual "eat right and exercise" resolutions for 2015 I resolve to try to journal, and to write on this blog.  It's therapeutic.

I will write what I did that day.  What the weather was like, what happened at work, what my cats did, what my husband did.  How did I feel?  I will just try to write something, every day.

A Neat and Clean Bandit!

When I got my feral cat colony, I also got a lot of paperwork and instructions from Treehouse Humane Society.  One instruction was to put food down at the same times every day, morning and evening, and to ring a little bell so that the cats would come to feed.  If the cats didn't come within an hour or so, I was supposed to pick the food up and bring it inside so as not to attract other wildlife.

Other wildlife, I thought?  All we have around here are squirrels, garter snakes and of course, rats.  I had already observed that the squirrels were not interested in the food, but only took a few sips of water here and there.  I wasn't worried about the snakes, and I hoped the rats were staying far away from anything that smelled like cats.

Because my cats made themselves so scarce in the beginning of their stay in my yard, I left food down 24/7.  Many days it would go uneaten, and I would just throw stale stuff away and replace it with fresh stuff.  I assumed my cats were off hunting and catching their own food as they got familiar with their new neighborhood.  I got a few reports from neighbors in the condo building next door -- my neighbor Louis was getting into his car one morning, and he looked down and saw a mouse head and a mouse tail.  That made me laugh.  Finicky cats, they only want the soft center filet of mouse!

So that I could see what was going on with my little colony, I bought a motion-detector camera, the kind that hunters use to spot wildlife.  I strapped it into position on my deck and aimed it at the feralvillas (the cat houses) and the feeding station.  I set it to take 20-second videos.  It takes nice color videos during daylight, and black and white after dark, using infrared so there is no visible flash.  The cats don't seem aware of the camera at all, it is working great.  Dan and I have been watching the cats come and go at all hours of the day and night.  We watch them feed, groom themselves, and perch on top of the feralvillas.

For a Thanksgiving treat, I mixed a bunch of turkey scraps in to the regular canned cat food and put it out in the feeding station.  The next morning I retrieved the camera and Dan and I sat down to watch some cat videos.  Everything was as usual until we got to a couple of videos that were shot at 1:30 a.m.  Much to our surprise and alarm, there was a raccoon munching away at the feeding station!!  Treehouse was right, I had attracted other wildlife into my yard by leaving the food out all night.  It was a young raccoon, probably a teenager.  It munched on the wet food -- enjoying the turkey, I'm sure -- and then it took a few sips of water from the water bowl and dunked one paw in the water.  He looked like he was rinsing off his little paw.

So now, of course, I have to start doing what Treehouse advised me to do from the beginning.  I have to put food down when I come home from work at 6:00 p.m., ring my little dinner bell, and then pick the food back up and bring it in the house before I go to bed.  Hopefully the raccoon and his relatives won't come around during the early evening hours, but the wildlife camera will let me know if he does.

So what did I learn?  To take the advice of people who know a whole lot more about this stuff than I do!

Fun with Feral Cats

I live right in the city of Chicago, which has the dubious honor of being the "rattiest" city in the country. Congratulations to us! NOT It has been so depressing, seeing rats run through my yard every evening at sunset, and being afraid to work in my garden. We placed black boxes of poison all over by the alley and the garbage cans, and then I found a dead rat rotting away under a large clump of monarda. My husband Dan was worried that our brick patio was collapsing because of rats tunneling underneath. I had to do something to regain my backyard from these nasty rodents! I was contemplating a rat terrier, but didn't really want to care for a dog or put up with the damage that a terrier can inflict on a garden.

Then I saw something interesting on the 9:00 news. Treehouse Humane Society, a no-kill cat shelter, had implemented a program called "Cats at Work". They trap feral cats around the city, spay and neuter them, clip the tip of one ear, and install a microchip. Then they place colonies of feral cats in private homes and also in factories as natural rodent control. These cats are completely feral, with no hope of ever being adopted as pets. Once a cat lives in the wild and reaches a certain age, they will almost always be very afraid of people.

I sent off an email to Treehouse, and received a response. A few weeks later, on Sunday, October 5, I had my feral cat colony! It was a very exciting day when Erica from Treehouse brought 4 feral cats and a large dog kennel to my house. We set up the kennel in the yard, because the cats had to be confined for 3 full weeks in order to get used to the sights and sounds of their new environment. Inside the dog kennel were two large lidded Rubbermaid containers that had been retro-fitted into little cat shelters, with a round door opening cut in the side, Styrofoam glued on the walls on the inside, and stuffed with straw. These little houses kept the cats warm and dry inside the kennel, which we also covered with a tarp to keep out the rain.

Twice a day, morning and evening, I would bring fresh wet and dry food to the kennel. The cats always disappeared into the rubbermaid houses when they saw me coming. Treehouse told me to speak softly to them and ring a small bell so that the cats would equate the bell with feeding time. There was also a large litter box in the dog kennel that I scooped out every morning. Those 4 cats had nothing to do all day but eat and poop, so I did a lot of shoveling every morning! I have to say that I did not see any rats once the kennel of cats was in place. I guess the rats didn't realize the cats couldn't get out!

Finally 3 weeks passed, and Dan and I were very excited to wait until dark on Friday night, open the kennel door, and go back in the house to watch from our enclosed back porch. We saw the cats slowly and timidly exit the kennel and disappear into the night. The next morning I anxiously looked for them, and checked the food, which had not been touched. I was so worried that they would just disappear and never come back. Erica from Treehouse kept in close contact with me, and assured me that this was normal. Though it was late October when we released the cats, it was right in the middle of a string of beautiful, warm weather. I don't blame the cats for taking off and partying!

We kept watch for them from our back porch, and finally on Sunday night, almost 2 days later, we noticed the motion detector light by our garage go on, and we finally saw one of our cats sneaking down the garden border toward the food and water bowls. We were so excited! One by one, over the next few weeks, all 4 cats came back, and we would catch little glimpses of them from our back windows. Then we noticed that one cat was missing, a large gray and white shorthair named ElGreco. It has now been a full month since I have seen him, I hope he is ok and that he has just gone to live with another colony somewhere in the neighborhood. Maybe he will come back some day.

The other 3 cats, Moo Shoo, Goblin and Brando, are right at home in our yard. They live in little wooden cat houses that we equipped with electric kennel heating pads covered with straw, so they are nice and warm. On nicer days they like to hang out on top of the houses. We have a sheltered feeding station set up on our patio with electric heated bowls for water and food. I put food down twice a day, and ring the little dinner bell. Our yard is the Four Seasons for these lucky cats! I feel like we are the lucky ones, though, because I just know that the rats will be gone, and come next spring I will be able to happily work in my garden again. I may have to shovel some cat poop out of freshly-cultivated soil, but I will be happy to do it.

Oh where oh where did my mojo go?

If you're a compulsive overeater and a yo-yo dieter like I am, you will know exactly what I mean. You will be going along on your latest healthy eating and weight loss plan, thinking "this time for sure! I can't fail this time! Nothing will stop me until I get to goal!". And it really feels that way. Then, you lose your mojo. For whatever reason, it doesn't matter. Life, stress, the sky is gray, the sky is blue ...... It doesn't matter. I have slipped in my commitment to counting points with Weight Watchers. Can I get my mojo back this time, and not backslide until I gain this 30 lbs back? Can I continue to lose another 30 lbs to get to goal? Yes I can! I can do whatever I want to do, I am in charge.

Mike is gone

My big brother, Mike, died of esophageal cancer on Monday, July 28. His death came only 2 months after we found out his cancer had spread and was terminal. He spent the last 3 weeks of his life at Agrace Hospice in Madison, WI. My family and I are so grateful to this wonderful hospice facility, and the angels who work there. I will miss my brother so much, and I will never forget the strength and dignity with which he faced this illness. He never once complained or said "why me". I did hear him say, many times, "it is what it is". I hope I will be as strong and brave when my time comes to face something like this.

We are Married!

Dan and I had a perfectly wonderful wedding day. The weather was gorgeous, 70 and sunny. We took the bus to the Blue Line down to City Hall, where we met Peggy, Ted, Dawn, Brad, Nancy and Sarah Riley. Sarah brought me a beautiful bouquet of cream-colored roses. Marriage Court at City Hall was awesome! We waited about 15 minutes, and Brad played the Hawaiian Wedding Song on a tiny little cassette player. Hilarious! We were ushered into a small office and were married by Judge Steven Bernstein, who was fabulous. It was a warm and very loving ceremony. It was so much more than we all expected! After the ceremony Nancy passed out barley for everyone to toss at us when we exited City Hall. So cool! We then went over to the food court at the State of Illinois building to get something to drink and relax until it was time to go to Petterino's for lunch. We enjoyed a step dancing demonstration at the State of IL building. It was all so perfect, and we had a blast. At 1:15 we made our way to the restaurant and were joined by my niece Katie and her husband Steve. Lunch was delicious, and then Dan and I made our way back home. Tomorrow we are off to Akron, Ohio for AA Founders Day. I could not have had a more perfect little wedding!! We are very, very happy.

Emotional Eating

I always knew I was a compulsive overeater -- I always want "more" food, and actual hunger has nothing to do with it. It really hit home for me yesterday that I am also an emotional eater. A couple of days ago I came down with a bad chest cold. It was lousy, and my lungs burned when I coughed. I have to be very careful with infections because they tend to run rampant due to immunosuppressant meds I take for rheumatoid arthritis. A bad chest cold usually turns into pneumonia and a full week off work. When my fever got up over 100, I was positive I was headed for pneumonia. I felt extremely sorry for myself. As I hung out in my lazyboy for 2 days, all I wanted to do was EAT. It was ridiculous. I would have a snack, and then immediately start thinking "what else can I eat now?" I haven't had that feeling in a long time, and it was very telling. I did ok with the food, basically having little snacks, but the psychology of it really taught me something about myself and my brain as it relates to food. And the good news is, no pneumonia! I am off to work this morning, and very very happy about it! Back to an orderly way of eating, too.

Life is Good

I am looking forward to my little wedding in 3 weeks. Dan and I will pop in to City Hall here in Chicago to tie the knot on June 5. Monday he came downtown and we walked over to Jeweler's Row where we picked out some nice matching wedding bands. Now we need to get a license, and we will be all set. I am still doing well on Weight Watchers, but as expected my losses have slowed down. I was averaging 2 lbs per week, and I knew I wouldn't be keeping that up much longer. I will be very happy with 1 lb per week, we'll see. I have to eat this way for the rest of my life, so I am trying not to worry about it. I am enjoying my own delicious cooking every day, I rarely feel deprived. I did have a few moments of "poor me" this past week at work. The lawfirm I work for was celebrating Administrative Professionals Week the way they do every year, by throwing fattening food at us just about every day. Tuesday was pizza bingo. I love bingo, so I decided to partake. I did pretty well, I had 2 smallish pieces of margherita deep dish pizza, it had either goat cheese or fresh mozzerella, and slices of fresh tomato. It tasted very good without being all ooey-gooey with a ton of melted cheese. I also took a large portion of salad and enjoyed the bingo. I did well! One of the moments of "poor me" came on Thursday, when they catered lunch from Portillo's. Sausage, ribs, Italian beef, fattening green salads with pasta in them. And of course, the crowning finale, Portillo's chocolate cake. The best chocolate cake in the history of the Earth. My favorite. I absolutely did not have the points for a lunch like this, so I just brought my own lunch and retreated to an empty office with my book. I did not go anywhere near the catered lunch. When I got back to my desk, along came Julie, my sweet little cubicle mate, enjoying a piece of cake. Good thing I love her! Ha ha I comforted myself with the fact that I will be going to a party at my sister-in-law's house on Sunday, where I will be able to have a treat for dessert. That afternoon I called Peggy to check on the time of the party and to see what she would be serving and what I could bring. Guess what she will be serving for dessert? PORTILLO'S CHOCOLATE CAKE! Yes, life is good!!!

Shrinking!

So far so good! I started Weight Watchers on January 29. I am down 25 lbs, and my blood pressure was perfect at the doctor the other day. I am trying to find a way of eating that I can stick to for the rest of my life -- I am so sick of yo-yo-ing up and down. I am eating all my favorite foods and using the same recipies, the only difference is the portion. One normal portion, not seconds and thirds. It's working! Now I just have to keep it up, forever.

I'm all cookied out

At least I hope I am all cookied out. I am so mad at myself, I had to buy new, larger pants to wear to work. Time to knuckle down and get some weight off. Dan wants to lose a few pounds before his ski trip at the end of January, so we will attempt to count calories. I really need to lose for health reasons these days. My blood pressure has been up, and I can no longer blame it on "white coat hypertension". I eat a healthy diet most days, with fresh food I cook myself. Portion control is my problem -- I am a classic "volume eater". If I don't have a huge mound of food in front of me I am not happy. I wonder if I starved to death in a former life?