Daily Challenge Walk & Photos

Yesterday's Daily Challenge was to go for a walk and take at least three pictures with a camera or cellphone.  Here are my pictures:

This rock puzzled me for a while. That house was not built in 1846! 

The whole neighborhood is post-WWII Tract homes. 

I finally figured out it is the house number.

With the telephoto and flash I was able to get a pretty nice view of the lilies. They would look white in the daytime but the darkness brought out the yellow in them.

I like the contrast between the dark tree and the evening sky.

It's kind of hard to see, but the siding on this house is two colors. 

Did they run out of time and money, or do they just like it that way?  

Notice that the side door is blue.

Water, Water, Everywhere

I started this post at about 9 a.m., retaining water, having regained back the 1.4 pounds I lost, putting me at 200 even again.  And how did this happen?

I spent Thursday and Friday at a church conference with some very awesome Mormon youth!  Thursday evening there was a dance. Fun!  

We spent three hours on Friday cleaning up a historical village, pulling weeds, picking up trash, and clearing out dead brush.  We even got on the news! 

After a short lunch, we had an afternoon of games at the park, followed by a luau (dinner/dance) at a different park pavilion. It was a long, hot day on my feet, and my whole body protested by retaining water again!  











Saturday morning was also spent with the youth, and I think Saturday afternoon disappeared in a wave of fatigue.  Sunday I got up too tired to do much, so I skipped church and slept from 10 until about 3.  I had a 4:00 meeting, so I  quickly showered, and on impulse weighed again, finding myself a whopping 2.2 pounds lighter than 6 hours earlier!  So that puts my weight at 197.8.  I'll take it!

The other effect of the fatigue is that I'm a basket case.  My 4:00 meeting was canceled but I didn't know it so I showed up, (dragged myself out of bed, showered, had a quick snack, and drove over there, for nothing) and the whole thing made me cry. How stupid is that? 

So I'm a waterworks. Water, Water, Everywhere.  I think I'll go make some lemonade just for a change!

Weekly Update, Slimmer this Summer

After the swelling from the poor overworked feet went down, I lost 4.2 pounds, for a total of 4.6 for the challenge, if I remember right.  I am excited to be making progress and I am trying hard not to overeat.

I am not remembering my pedometer much; I really need to just stick it with my phone or something. I have not been fairy logging; I just try to pay attention to whether I am really hungry or not.  Sometimes that's hard because the food is just there.

We ran out of bottled water; I wish I at least had a lemon to put in the tap water.  Maybe ice will help.  I don't shop on Sunday but first thing tomorrow we will run to the grocery for a refill.

Happy Independence Day Everyone!   Let's celebrate--and continue--our independence from overeating and the health problems it brings as we pursue our STS challenge! 

Farmer's Market Foray

I decided to walk to the local Farmer's Market. Healthy, fresh produce, locally grown, and it's right down the same street as my house. Then I realized it's actually about 2.5 miles down the street!  So I drove.

I think this particular market is more flea than farmer.  There were about ten craft booths for every one produce booth.  Overall I thought it was too expensive and time-consuming, but it was fun to see.  $7.00 for a loaf of bread? $5.00 for a quart of berries?  I could have had a breakfast burrito for "only" $5.00.  

I had gone with the determination not to spend more than $20, and I stuck with it.  

After spending an hour and fifteen minutes, this is what I got at the Farmer's Market: 

Two splendid tomatoes, $1.00

1 nice cauliflower, $2.00

5 average-looking radishes, $0.50
1 tasty loaf of whole wheat bread, $3.00.
1 smaller loaf of butter bread, $1.50
1 crepe filled with mashed potatoes and a touch of mushroom, which I ate on the spot, $1.00.  It wasn't all that good.





1 yellow squash and 1 cousa squash (something new to try) $1.50.
 1 dollar donation to the Girl Scouts to help the people of Joplin--$1.00.

Free Stuff:
1 tip on a bicycle club for beginners
1 reusable grocery bag with a credit union logo
1 coupon for $7 off the haircut I was planning to get later in the day
Several "taste" samples--cheese, granola, a strawberry, etc.
A very red face from the heat and sun.

1 compliment on my hat! 

1 long wait for a train to move slowly through the middle of the market. Priceless.

I used to wonder how in the world hobos ever got on a moving train, but I was sorely tempted to try it myself--up one side and down the other--just because the wait was so long and the train so slow.

Total Spent: $11.50.

When I went to get the haircut, there was about a 25-minute wait, so I went to the discount grocery next door and spent the rest of my $20 on a cantaloupe, a pint of blueberries, a bunch of bananas, 3 peaches, and a 16-oz. bottle of cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil.

Not bad for a couple hours of shopping. I got in quite a bit of strolling at the farmer's market, plus a 3-block walk each way to my car.

Will I do it again? Maybe. They had some cute bracelets that would make a good gift for someone on my list, or maybe even myself, at a really good price.  It wasn't on my list to buy things like that today.  Over all though, I think I can write it off my list of things I've always wanted to do. It's a shorter walk to go to my local air-conditioned grocery store, and perhaps the gas used offsets the benefits of buying local. Not to mention that I am not too wild about crowds. The picture below is from last year's market.

When I Get Old

When I get old I want to be like the ladies I met today at water aerobics.  There were probably 30 women there, and one man, and not a one of them under 70 years old! Not a dark hair among them, except one obviously dyed lady!

That was the first thing I noticed, and at first it was a bit disappointing. We do tend to socialize with people in our same age/stage of life, don't we?

Then I decided to admire them and learn from them. Some of those old ladies are in better shape than me, that's for sure.  They are not sitting around doing nothing, but are actively taking care of themselves.

The instructor is also old, and she was telling us that a particular stretch was good for our

and there she stopped. She could not think of the word, and no one else seemed to know what it was either. Someone volunteered "circulation" but that didn't seem to be right.  She shrugged and said "I don't seem to have that either."  and on they went.  It was funny and touching at the same time.

The music was a great combination of 70's music, which means that it was probably the music their kids listened to (and they hated) but nobody complained.  I loved it!  "Dance to the Music"  "That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh."  It was great fun.

And the workout? Let's just say it really was a full aerobics workout.  I was pretty impressed. I'll go back, but I may just have to put on my purple hat with my red swimsuit.