What's Great for a Snack and Fits on Your Back?

[DrFeelgood]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:18 AM, deftona said:

I'm still game if you are! 

 

Well, gimme a year or so... 

I'm in, what's say we set October 22, 2022 as the target date?  That's a year and a half, which should allow plenty of time to get looking all peng and svelte.

 

On 4/30/2021 at 8:52 PM, Snarkyfishguts said:

BUDDY!

 

glad you are back and wow, you have been through A LOT!!!

 

and look at you , still awesome and stuff. 😁

Awesome is as awesome does, and I every now then I trip in to it. 

____________________________

 

Finished up the week with a little bit of ease on the disciplines, which resulted in a slight uptick on the scale.   I have legitimate reasons to believe that's not a genuine number, but even so I'm not sweating it too much.  Fluctuations happen.  I also gave myself a haircut on Thursday, and now I look like a pineapple.

 

 

I did relearn (let's see how long it sticks around this time) that not getting enough sleep has a devastating impact on my appetite, but I didn't get too junky with my eating; so that's a win.    I meant to do some firmer thinking about what a sustainable exercise reboot might look like, but I have so much other stuff happening this coming week that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.  For sure my goals in the next challenge will address food and sleep, and I'd like to get some conditioning going as well to support the "strong" portion of L&S 6.0.   Spreadsheets will be fabricated before too long, and that will give me opportunity to program some ideas, but I'm also going to take things one week at a time while I ease back in to rehabbing this old couch potato.

[deftona]

17 minutes ago, DrFeelgood said:

I'm in, what's say we set October 22, 2022 as the target date?  That's a year and a half, which should allow plenty of time to get looking all peng and svelte.

 

You have yourself a deal! 

[DrFeelgood]

On 5/2/2021 at 2:27 PM, deftona said:

You have yourself a deal! 

Aw man, we're already over halfway and I haven't even started.

 

This feels an awful lot like a high-school term paper assignment now.

[deftona]

42 minutes ago, DrFeelgood said:

Aw man, we're already over halfway and I haven't even started.

 

This feels an awful lot like a high-school term paper assignment now.

 

Oh wow, I have my work cut out too! 

[Shello]

Ooooh, look who's back!  

 

 

[DrFeelgood]

5 hours ago, Shello said:

Ooooh, look who's back! 

Working on it...

[DrFeelgood]

Alright, 7 months off, time for an update:

 

Since last August I've been focused on figuring out my digestive system and its new (lack of) tolerances.  I started by eliminating things and then slowly reintroducing stuff to see what's what.  It's a slow process since every poor response to a reintroduction requires a recovery period before the next thing can be tried.  Currently I am completely excluding wheat and beans, and I've managed to not only get rid of sodas but apparently my desire for them as well.  It's easy to not miss things that are associated more with pain than with pleasure.  This seems to be a pretty smooth spot, though I still occasionally have a few issues I can't quite iron out.  Mostly they seem to follow MFG's well-meaning efforts at finding gluten-free alternatives, and I suspect that the grains in those alternatives aren't necessarily doing me any favors.  I don't want them in the first place: they're unpleasant and unnecessary.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness and the attempt to include me in the regular family meals.  I'm certainly not going to impose my restrictions on everyone else in the house, but I need to find a setup that works for me.  I'd prefer to get my starches from potatoes, rice, and corn; whereas her wheelhouse is more pasta and bread.  We're working on it.  The family went to visit grandma for spring break, and while I was home alone I got to eat my way.  It was much better.

 

The need to be totally conscientious of my food has recently yielded an unexpected side benefit:  I'm losing weight again and doing so relatively easily as I've retooled my diet toward something sustainable.  It's taken several months to get to this point, and I'm not sure it'll actually last, but for now I'm very content with eating fewer foods in smaller quantities while focusing on maximizing my nutrition--getting plenty of fiber and micronutrients from as many freggies as I can.  The other deliberate thing I've done is to slowly reduce my ice cream habit.  I started by reducing it from nightly to just on the weekends (Fri-Sat-Sun) and not keeping any in the house.  Now I've got it down to just Sunday evening when I eat as much as I want, and it's no problem to have a partial carton in the freezer.  I've also been pretty successful at paring down my snacking while at work.  It used to be pretty common for me to eat a big bag of chips and a large candy bar with a soda after lunch, easily adding 1000 empty kcal to my day; and I'd do that several times a week.  Now I make a point of taking a daily drive over to the mini-mart for a large ice water and a single small candy bar every afternoon.  It's a treat that I can easily keep going for the foreseeable future.

 

Physically I'm not really working on anything other than my golf swing, and the main emphasis there is to stop trying to be strong and fast.  Instead I'm concentrating on being smooth and relaxed--nothing at all like what I'm used to when it comes to sports physicality.  But I'm still enjoying the process of improving and hoping to play more rounds this year than last.  The old creaky body continues to deteriorate out from under me, and I don't think these are things I can exercise away.  Toughest right now is trying to find shoes that don't destroy my knees, but that's a current goal.  Another short-term goal is to upgrade from a queen bed to a king--I slept way better when MFG was out of town, which I attribute to three things: 1) I wasn't huddled over as close to "my" edge as possible, 2) I wasn't clutching my blanket all around me to keep her from stealing it in her sleep, and 3) I wasn't being disrupted throughout the night by her restlessness.  I suppose a bonus 4) could be that she also took the dog who sleeps crated in our room and periodically disturbs my sleep with noise.  And I do still want to finish building the deck in our backyard so I have a place to do bodyweight stuff or yoga or stretching or whatever.

 

Lifewise I'm pretty much just chilling.  Winter kept me out of my workshop, but now that it's warming up I'll try to do another guitar build this year.  The kids are growing fast and needing more of my time--most recently I helped Bubbles file her taxes.  Household duties and the paying job are same as they ever were.  MFG recently quit her self-employed job to refocus on homeschooling the Minions who had gotten a little slack while she was working, so we're retooling finances again.  I've been plenty busy with church and music--our worship band recently recorded one of our original songs and I got to play electric guitar on that.  It's nothing fancy, but I had fun with it, and the first cut of the Master made good use of my contribution.  Mostly I've been deliberately keeping my circle pretty small while the world is busy losing its mind.

 

I think that brings my log up to date, and with that I'm going to try and piece together some goals into a post for the upcoming challenge--hope to have it up by Friday.

[Shello]

It's good to see you back.  Sorry to hear about all the intolerances.  That's a sucky way to get the weight loss moving  

[Elastigirl]

Glad you are figuring out what makes your stomach unhappy.  On beds, we only had a double bed for the first 10 years of our marriage. I always had to sleep on the edge of the bed. Now we have a queen. I love when we are at hotels with a king, but  our bedroom isn't big enough for a king size bed.

[Snarkyfishguts]

Hi! Great to see you!

 

Figuring out diet issues is such a pain, but it sounds like you're finding some great solutions, and making a lot of healthy changes. 

[DrFeelgood]

On 3/22/2022 at 8:44 AM, Shello said:

It's good to see you back.  Sorry to hear about all the intolerances.  That's a sucky way to get the weight loss moving  

I wouldn't call it ideal, but surprisingly it hasn't been as bad as you might think.  Knowing that something is going to cause pain doesn't just make it easy to avoid, it actually removes all desire to ever eat it again.  I don't miss pizza or pasta or bread at all really.  The biggest impact has been in the convenience realm--I simply don't eat out any more.  That can be a little frustrating, but even then I generally prefer to cook and eat my food in my kitchen with only things I know I can trust (unless the kids have cross contaminated the butter or salt).

 

On 3/22/2022 at 12:14 PM, Elastigirl said:

Glad you are figuring out what makes your stomach unhappy.  On beds, we only had a double bed for the first 10 years of our marriage. I always had to sleep on the edge of the bed. Now we have a queen. I love when we are at hotels with a king, but  our bedroom isn't big enough for a king size bed.

Thanks, and me too!  I was getting really tired of feeling poorly all the time and despairing of finding a competent medical pro to help me iron it out without costing me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours.  The bed front is unchanged still--I discovered what I think may be the major issue, and it's not the mattress size.  MFG spends a lot more time in bed than I do, so her side has worn faster.  As a result she hogs more of the middle at night.  I think we'll be able to solve it with a new mattress, even though that has it's own kind of pain since I spent a crapload (both money and time researching) on the one we have now and I still love it.  Hopefully we'll find a suitable replacement since that company went out of business.

 

On 3/25/2022 at 3:31 PM, Snarkyfishguts said:

Hi! Great to see you!

 

Figuring out diet issues is such a pain, but it sounds like you're finding some great solutions, and making a lot of healthy changes. 

Hi Snarky, I'm definitely feeling better and  really starting to dial in a sustainable new groove.

________________________________

 

Apologies for the hit-and-run update mode I seem to be imposing on y'all.  I have been trying to get back to a more regular participation status, and I certainly don't mean to drop out the way I seem to recently.  I check in from time to time to see how you're doing, and I usually don't have much to contribute.  My energies are more focused on music and building musical things lately, and that's only when I can get a break from hubby and dad responsibilities.  Raising teenagers is pretty demanding; even though each of my kids is relatively low-key having four of them at once means there's almost always something that needs my attention.  And MFG has been dealing with some health stuff, so I've been taking up some of her work as well to help with treatment and recovery.  She's well on the mend now and it looks like she'll be nearly 100% again soon.

 

In terms of updates there isn't much to add.  I've gotten very good at planning my food and have had a lot of success staying 100% gluten-free.  MFG went away for a couple of weeks to vacation with her sister, and I took those days off work to have a bit of a staycation with Brick and Butch (and the dog and cat).  Mostly I just held down the homestead getting younglings to and from their summer dealings, keeping the household in order, and preparing delicious meals.  In total I lost nearly 5 pounds over the last two weeks finally cracking the 240 line again.  And due to slimming I was able to switch out all my size-38 jeans for the 36s on reserve in the closet.  The old 34s are in deeper storage, but I hope to be digging those out by the end of summer.  The 32s are long gone--they all went to the boys who have now worn them out and outgrown them.   If I can ever get back down to a 32 then I'll happily go buy new ones.

 

Still not doing much for exercise.  I try to hit the driving range at least once a week to keep working on my golf swing, but I haven't played a round yet this season.  I've been spending more time in my shop now that the weather is suitable.  I'm nearly finished with a little guitar amp project that's been waiting for me to solve it, then I'm going to get on with a couple of new guitar builds and see how economical it might be to do more than one at a time.  I did end up finding some new shoes that seem to be helping with my knees, and that makes it a little easier to spend more time on my feet.  Backyard deck is on hold until (if?) lumber prices come back down, and if they don't then I think I'm just going to suck it all the way up and build a shed back there instead of a deck.  That'll at least free up my garage a bit.

 

I'm still doing music and captaining the sound team at church.  The song we recorded got made in to a music video, on which I played guitar.  It released a couple weeks ago on most of the major music platforms.  Those of y'all that follow my socials may have noticed the updated profile photo that I snipped from one of the music video segments.  Figured I put all the effort in to looking good for the video shoot so I might as well seize the opportunity.    I still game most nights, but it's way less than it used to be--usually just a few Rocket League matches then a handful of chess puzzles before bed.

 

Life continues, and I continue to be blessed in it.  

[DrFeelgood]

My goodness how the time flies.  

 

Reading through the previous post made me realize how much and how little has changed in the last 14 months.  Kids have gotten older, bigger,  moderately snarkier, and whole lot more independent.  MFG and I got a taste this summer of what empty-nesting might be like, and we've enjoyed those times even while missing the kids during their jobs and events.  Bubbles is preparing to head off to college in a few weeks.  She's super-excited to be taking the next step and getting away from the hometown so she can stretch her legs and try to find her people.  I'm full of all kinds of feelings about that, but the biggest one is that I'm so proud of the young woman she has chosen to be.   Brick will be starting his senior year of high school--still homeschooled but he'll be attending the second year of his technician program at the local trade school in addition to taking a couple of concurrent-enrollment classes at the local university.  Boomer at 16 is already finished with his high-school curriculum (kid is a bona fide genius and a hard worker) so he'll be doing a different technician program and also taking classes at the university.  Butch is about to begin his freshman year, and he'll be traveling to play bass in a student jazz band that he's joining up with for the first time.  All three of the Boyz are over 6 feet tall now (crazy!) and the older pair are anxious to start working out together at the university gym.  MFG has taken up vegetable gardening and is enjoying that very much.  I built some raised beds for her last autumn.  Trying to grow veggies in SW Oklahoma is gardening on Legendary difficulty at the best of times, and a spate of severe storms this year made it even tougher; but she likes the work and is very proud of the food she harvests.  I've eaten (and enjoyed) a lot of squash this season. 

 

I continue to fight the good fight with dietary issues.  In addition to Gluten Freedom™ I've discovered that eggs are problematic for me, and I'm also currently trying to pinpoint the upper limit of a "safe" amount of spicy pepper (having gone over a few times and paid dearly for it).  I have been able to reintroduce small amounts of certain legumes that don't hate me as much as others (lookin' at you, lentils) seem to, and I've been experimenting with a few GF pasta dishes to bring some Italian goodness back in to my life.  I made a killer deep-dish pizza a while ago that needs to be a more regular feature in the rotation.  In all I've developed a really good catalog of nutritional meals that taste great and don't mess me up, and I'm grateful to be living generally free of discomfort and embarrassment.

 

The Dadbod...well, that's just a feature at the moment.  I've been holding pretty steady in the mid 240s for quite a while now.  At brief intervals I've been a little more motivated and dedicated to cleaning it up and have dipped in to the 230s for a spell, but my current lifestyle seems to want to hover right around the +50 mark.  And you know what?  I'm okay with that.  I like who I am and what I get to do, so for now I'll continue to enjoy my life and the good things in it.  I've still got all the same old aches and pains in addition to a couple of new ones.  I try to not let them dictate too much.  This year went from perpetually stormy to endlessly broiling overnight, so I haven't played as much golf as I'd hoped.  The couple of rounds I have played were terrible (score) and a lot of fun!  My main takeaway from those days is that I need to improve my cardio, which was reinforced last weekend when I had to mow my lawn for the first time in a couple of years since all of the boys were away.  That need has not yet risen to the level of a "plan".  This update is a first-step in that direction.

 

I did set foot in a gym yesterday for the first time in ages, but it was to evaluate the condition of the floor construction for a project at work. 

 

Speaking thereof, I'm in a solid groove professionally/occupationally.  The job is the job and I'm pretty good at it, plus it takes care of my family and gives me ample time for my hobbies and interests.  I just finished another guitar build that still hasn't attained the level of quality I want before putting one on the market, but it's getting closer.  I've got one other guitar project (custom artwork by a painter friend) going on for this year, but I also have a design on the board that I'm really excited about, and I want to get a prototype built so I can start refining it.  At the moment all of my "clients" are in for repairs; maybe someday I'll get a few orders for custom full builds.  It's a fun hobby, and I like getting better at it, but I don't ever want to have to rely on it to pay the bills.  My dream is to see one of my guitars in an outstanding player's hands and hear what (s)he can do with it.

 

I'm altogether content with the many, many blessings in my life.  The only thing I'd change (if I had to wish for something selfish and frivolous) is to be less round in the midsection. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Sounds like an eventful year. Those kids who I met six years ago are not allowed to be that big now.

[Shello]

Thanks for the update!  Glad to hear things are going well and you are finding much satisfaction in life.  I'm with you on the feels about kids going away to school.  I'm prepping for my youngest to head off this year.  The last one is a doozy although I suspect with 4 of them you might get used to it by the time you get to the last one.  

[DrFeelgood]

20 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Sounds like an eventful year. Those kids who I met six years ago are not allowed to be that big now.

IKR?  I think the same when I see pictures of your daughter.  It's been a good year--things have smoothed out and settled down very nicely.  I've been going back over some of my posts from years past and it's incredible what I recognize because of what I now know about my dietary issues.  That isn't to say that there weren't legitimate difficulties, but from this side of things I can see how a lot of what I was struggling with (psychologically) was exacerbated by pain, uncertainty, and the accumulated effects of chronic poor digestion.

 

There was a day in 2018 when I ate pizza for lunch and a veggie-egg scramble for dinner, and my post for that day talked about searing nighttime belly pain.  Today I know exactly why that was a problem--the years of gluten intolerance damaged my digestive system to the point that it can no longer properly handle egg proteins.  Since getting my diet 'fixed' my system is in much better shape, and there have been significant improvements across the board.  I don't have the sleepless nights that I used to.  I haven't needed anywhere near as much sick time at work.  I haven't seen any of the occasional migraines, brain fog, fatigue, and mood swings that formerly plagued me.  And though I still have some irritability it's pretty infrequent and generally only pops up when somebody does something stupid while driving. 

 

17 hours ago, Shello said:

Thanks for the update!  Glad to hear things are going well and you are finding much satisfaction in life.  I'm with you on the feels about kids going away to school.  I'm prepping for my youngest to head off this year.  The last one is a doozy although I suspect with 4 of them you might get used to it by the time you get to the last one.  

Glad to see you, Shello.  Congrats on the wedding and on Peach's graduation--the pictures were lovely and made me miss the midwest.

 

If things proceed as they ought then we'll be shuffling one out the door each year from now through 2027 with just a single break in 2026.  I'm looking forward to these last few years with my Boyz at home and hoping they're willing to come out of their shells a little more.  It's been an amazing ride and it isn't over yet.  

[Snarkyfishguts]

YAY! Hi Buddy!

 

I've enjoyed the photos you share of your guitars. It's such a cool process! And it's fun to get updates on the kiddos. I'm still kinda reeling from how much older everyone's kids get, yet we all stay the same age  

[DrFeelgood]

On 8/3/2023 at 4:10 PM, Snarkyfishguts said:

YAY! Hi Buddy!

 

I've enjoyed the photos you share of your guitars. It's such a cool process! And it's fun to get updates on the kiddos. I'm still kinda reeling from how much older everyone's kids get, yet we all stay the same age  

Thanks for following along, I always enjoy seeing the 'like' notification from my favorite season.   Kids are crazy, they make you old and keep you young at the same time.  I always get a kick out of my daughter telling me about whichever most recent friend didn't know that I'm her dad.

___________________

 

Over the last week I didn't do anything fitnessy, I just made a point of being mindful of my foods--something that's always infinitely easier when I'm home alone.  MFG took 75% percent of the kids and 50% of the pets to visit her mom in New Mexico for the week, so I've been bach'ing it with the cat while Boomer was still finishing his last week of work at the camp.  Most of my meals consisted of things that needed to get used up before going bad which took a full five days, and I've been able to keep work snacking in check.  I wouldn't say it was all of the quality that I'd prefer (very little meat, way too many carbs), but I was able to be highly efficacious at both not wasting food and not waisting food. 

 

The whole week was hotter than blazes, so golf was completely off the table.  Well, I did watch a slew of videos, but I consider those mostly entertainment as opposed to learning.  With MFG gone I was obligated to take care of her gardens, so my daily activity consisted of about an hour each evening watering all the flowers and veggies.  I even harvested a couple of squashes that were ready and roasted them under the broiler for dinner last night with some fresh tomato and red onion (yum!).

 

On Friday I spent a couple hours before dinner fixing the clothes dryer that went Tango Uniform on Monday--upon returning from camp the family had less than a day to prepare for the next trip, and too many laundry loads in a row without a cool down blew the thermal fuse.  $6 for the part, $12 for shippng (that was the cheapest option), and four days later I had the replacement in hand and got to work.  While I was at it I cleaned out the vent pipe (wasn't too bad at all since I'd already done it less than a year ago).  Everything functioning normally again I washed a small test load of towels and then went to bed.  Alas I seem to have pinched another neck/shoulder nerve because I woke up Saturday in pain that only got worse all day long.  By bedtime it was so bad that I couldn't move, and I didn't get more than an hour of sleep that night.  Sunday was excruciating, but I did my best to push through with all of my obligations.  I slept a little better last night.  I'm doing my exercises to try and ease the compression, and if it doesn't seem to be improving by tomorrow then I'll make an appointment to get it looked at.  Despite the pain I'm still feeling good about the week's progress, and I fully intend to continue eating a bit more mindfully to keep the slimming going.  I might even keep watering the gardens for MFG in the evenings--at least until the weather cools down and I can hit golf balls after work again. 

 

On to another week of mindfulness.  My family should be back from their trip tomorrow, then we'll have 10 full days at home with all six of us before taking Bubbles to college.  And my mom ('Nana' to all 18 of her grandchildren:  oldest is 22, and the most recent arrived 11 days ago) is coming out to visit this weekend which should be a nice way to wrap up the summer.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I hope your neck stops hurting soon, that sounds awful.

[Shello]

Enjoy those 10 days with all the kids around! 

[DrFeelgood]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:34 AM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I hope your neck stops hurting soon, that sounds awful.

Thanks, I am feeling much better.  The pain gave way to simple tightness, which was far more bearable.

 

On 8/7/2023 at 12:17 PM, Shello said:

Enjoy those 10 days with all the kids around! 

I have been soaking it in.  I've already had some experience with the feelings when Bubbles left for her summer job a couple years ago, and I recognize them coming back.  I'm super proud of her and not worried for her future--mostly I think I'm just going to miss my friend.

____________________________

 

It was a very nice week.  Monday I did fancy steak dinner for Boomer and myself.  Family returned from their trip on Tuesday in time for dinner (carnitas tacos, the best I've ever made) and then we had a few days of getting settled back in and reorganizing & preparing for the coming school year.  After work on Wednesday I drove to a neighboring town to pick up a grill/smoker I bought cheap on Marketplace, so that's sitting in the shop now waiting for cooler weather to begin the refurbishment process.  I've wanted one for a while and I'm excited to get it up and running for tasty barbecue purposes.  Thursday was band practice playing rhythm electric alongside our other electric guitarist who's leaving for college, so we decided to do team-up on his last Sunday.  On Friday my mom arrived with her paramour and my brother for a weekend visit, so Saturday I smoked a bunch of spareribs for dinner and served them with twice-baked potatoes.  Then we had ice-cream for dessert.  Sunday we all went to lunch together after church, and since that was so big and relatively late in the day dinner was just scrounging, along with more ice cream.  I managed to lose a pound over the course of the week, and my waistband is pleased with my efforts.

 

The neck pain steadily improved over the week.  By Wednesday I was feeling much better.  Today I'm almost fully recovered--at least I've been able to sleep well the last few nights.  It was still way too hot all week to do any exercise-y stuff.  Today and tomorrow are supposed to be cooler, so I'm going to do golf stuff after work:  short-game practice today and either driving range or an actual 9 holes tomorrow.  I need to do more walking even when I'm not golfing, so I may be firing up the old treadmill at home relatively soon.  With the kids juggling rooms as Bubbles prepares to leave for college (oof, my heart) I may be able to find space for a weight rack which would be outstanding!

 

Saturday-Sunday got a bit bigger with eating since we were enjoying the total family experience.  Now I can get back to mindfulness for the coming week and keep August moving in the happy direction.

[DrFeelgood]

Apparently this was Week 3 of my return to the Battle Log, and it arrived with a few of the usual hallmarks--low motivation, irritability, soreness--although these were only shadows of their past incarnations.  I'll take it as a sign of personal growth that I still worked hard (emotionally) to embrace and enjoy the week.

Immediately after last Monday's update MFG texted to let me know that the clothes dryer had harakiri'd itself again.  I took it in stride and still managed to do a couple solid hours of golf practice in the nice weather after work.  When I got home I did some troubleshooting.  Seems that the part I replaced interfaces with another part upstream that had caused the original to go bad in the first place, and it did the same thing to the replacement.  So I ordered new replacements for both parts which weren't expected to arrive until Friday.  Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty chill: the family is still getting used to their new schedules (lots going on with the Boyz this year, and MFG is spending most her time just getting people to and fro) and I was doing my best to cope with resurgent neck pain and the concommitant sleeplessness.  For Thursday Bubbles had requested steak and potatoes, so I got home from the office and went straight to work in the kitchen making my family-favorite roasted-garlic mashers and grilling a handful of prime sirloins to perfect med-rare.  All summer Bubbles and I had been working our way through her first viewing of Firefly (finished "Objects in Space" on Tuesday), so after dinner we watched Serenity to close out the story.  The dryer parts arrived Friday while MFG and Bubbles were out together, so I roped Brick in to helping me with the repair--he's still doing the HVAC tech program at the local trade school, so he was plenty interested and capable.  With that done I got started on dinner: Bubbles' final request before college was my signature pulled-pork tikka masala, and this was one of the best I've made.  We all enjoyed a wonderful family dinner and conversation.

 

Saturday was launch day!  We woke up and packed the vehicles, then MFG drove off in Bubbles' car so she could ride shotgun with me in the Rad Dad Van.  Two hours of road-tripping later we arrived at the campus (lovely) and got busy with all of the requisite in-processing.  I only had to make a few trips up and down the stairs in her dorm to get her moved in, then we went to lunch and the store to pick up a few forgotten items.  I also took some measurements in her dorm for a custom table I'm going to build for her.  We finished setting up her room in time to walk over for the breakout sessions:

 

(my girls)

 

...then we all got back together one last time for prayer and mass send-off.  MFG and I drove home together just talking about our family and all the wonderful opportunities the kids are going to have this year.  On the way we stopped to pick up ice-cream, then when we got home we just reheated leftovers (still incredible!) for dinner.  The neck pain finally eased up enough for a decent night's sleep, too.

Sunday was church in the morning (no duties for me this week, yay!) and a couple of quick errands before lunch, then I chilled at the homestead for the rest of the day.  I did a bunch of home-office-ing and tidying up, then I spent a few minutes in my shop trimming my pitching wedge down to the proper length--alas I was unable to save the grip, so that's going to get a replacement today.  For dinner I made smash burgers on the griddle, and we finished off the remaining ice cream for dessert.  The rest of the evening was super low key just getting ready for the coming week.  Bubbles sent an update saying how much she's already enjoying living on campus and getting to meet new people.  She outgrew this town a long time ago, and as much as I'm already missing her smile I'm so happy that she's finally getting to thrive in her element.

 

Owing to basically suspending mindfulness for the week I did not weigh in or even really think about physical shape at all.  After Monday the weather went straight back to Hot as Balls™ so I didn't do much movement-wise either.  Coping with pain and looking after my heart led to a mild increase in the junk-snacks, which is easy enough to reverse.  I've noticed a bit of back-and-forth with my belt--performing as expected.  With August winding down I'm ready to resume mindfulness and start thinking about what else I might want to add when September arrives.

[Snarkyfishguts]

I love everything about this update. I'm so happy that Bubbles is doing well and that you are dealing with her being away so well too. You're a good dad.  

[Shello]

Wow, you could post my update for me word for word.  The only difference was we were watching Gilmore Girls instead of Firefly and Peach's requests for food were all basically brunch or ice cream (often both).  I'm glad your move in went well and hopefully you and MFG are coping well now that things are settled down.  

[DrFeelgood]

On 8/22/2023 at 9:13 AM, Snarkyfishguts said:

I love everything about this update. I'm so happy that Bubbles is doing well and that you are dealing with her being away so well too. You're a good dad.  

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.

 

On 8/23/2023 at 8:23 AM, Shello said:

Wow, you could post my update for me word for word.  The only difference was we were watching Gilmore Girls instead of Firefly and Peach's requests for food were all basically brunch or ice cream (often both).  I'm glad your move in went well and hopefully you and MFG are coping well now that things are settled down.  

Glad yours went well, too!  Bubbles is settled but the Boyz are all kinds of spun up this year, and we're having the busiest semester yet.

______________________________

 

This ended up being a 'treading water' week.  I had a lot going on at work that needed my attention, and at home we're adjusting to the new schedule with all three boys going different directions every day.  MFG is still tending her garden and getting things ready to swap over for autumn plantings now that the summer stuff has petered out.  I'm helping as much as I can with cooking and cleaning, so we've had some pretty epic weeknight meals that I've enjoyed a lot.  Eating hasn't been totally mindless, but I wouldn't necessarily call it deliberate either.  There was a little too much ice cream and Dr Pepper, so the coming week will be aimed at reining those back in.

 

Still too hot for much in the way of activity, but I did spend some time in my shop cleaning things up and regripping a couple of golf wedges that needed it.  I also took Butch to the course on Saturday morning for a bit of short-game practice.  It was nice to get some exercise and sunshine before the day got stupid hot.  I didn't weigh in this week again, but the belt is holding nicely for now.  My neck hasn't quite decided whether it wants to recover or not, and I'm starting to suspect that gaming isn't helping things.  I may need to take a break and see if that helps.  Usually I end up gaming when there are other things I'd rather be doing but can't for various reasons, so I should probably take a closer look at those things and see if I can put them on the path of least resistance.  I can't remember what evening it was, but I did knock out 10 pushups just to see if I still could.

 

Four more days of August.  I'm starting to like the idea of monthly programming, so I'm going to weigh-in on Friday morning and then update the log with something of a battle plan to kick off September.  It would be nice to drop a few more pounds while working on strength and flexibility.

[DrFeelgood]

Okay, we're off to a pretty good start for September.  Last week's recap:

 

Monday - a bit of extra snacking with leftover chips at work, good meals that were probably too large, and I walked 7 holes (2 miles) chasing a little white ball after work.

Tuesday - recovery day with more chips, good meals, and just a bit of light stretching.

Wednesday - the last of the chips, two solid meals, no real exercise but I spent time in the shop working on the restoration of my used offset smoker.

Thursday - with the chips all gone I resorted to chocolate, meals were good, band practice in the evening counts for some light activity.

Friday - busy day at work, even more chocolate, decent meals, one extra Dr Pepper, came home and did nothing until bedime.  I had already decided that September was to kick off a return to fitness form, since I need the head start for next year's summer Dadbod , but since 9/1 wasn't conducive I scrubbed the launch and rescheduled for 9/2.

Saturday - day trip to visit Bubbles on campus which was nearly empty due to the holiday weekend.  It was still nice to see her and meet a couple of her new friends.  We delivered a few items that she's been needing for her room, then we took a mild walking tour of the main campus to let Brick get a feel for it since he's trying to decide what direction he's going to take after high school.  As of now he's leaning in favor of Air Force ROTC, which I of course fully support.  Lunch was Taco Casa which seems to get along fine with my digestive issues.  Dinner was a garden salad followed by GF spaghetti with tomato sauce and Italian sausage links.  Fitness Fall™ successfully launched with a return to logging in My Fitness Pal and sticking to my initial calorie target of 1900.

Sunday - ran sound at church all morning, came home and ate leftover pasta, then alternated Youtube videos and catnaps on the sofa for much of the afternoon.  In the evening I resumed shop work on the smoker restoration (nearly done!) and practiced some guitar playing.  I also did a setup on my buddy's acoustic guitar.  For dinner MFG made jambalaya, but she made it with Cajun seasoning that she blended years ago.  Less than an hour after dinner I kicked her out of the bathroom for emergency procedures and realized that her dinner probably had cayenne pepper, which causes me serious digestive grief.  All eating was on target for the day, but with the (unintended) speed of transit I probably ran an even-larger deficit than my calorie target produces.

 

I've joined the weight loss PvP since that's my main fitness objective for now.  I think I'll go ahead and write up a post for the upcoming challenge, too; might as well keep things going for Fitness Fall™.