Weekly Report: Progress Not Perfection

 

As an extrovert, public accountability is a strong motivator for me, so I'm now listing and tracking my daily, weekly, and monthly goal results here on my blog each Monday. Having and achieving goals makes my life feel immeasurable richer, so much thanks to those of you that read along here.

Last Update for JANUARY:

Daily Goals

• Exercise (Run, walk, hike, bicycle, kayak, do yoga, or lift weights).  Achieved 3 out of 7 days. All three days involved meeting up with other people, either my hiking club or my spouse. The days I didn't do anything were when I was on my own, so I need to work on finding the motivation to be active without other people being involved. 
• Tue:  Six mile hike
• Sat:   Eight mile hike
• Sun:    Six mile hike
• Practice guitar.  Achieved all 7 days. 
• Practice 15 min Spanish.  Achieved 6 of 7 days. 
• Limit processed sugar intake to Sat & Sun only.  Almost. I had a small piece of freshly made banana bread on Tuesday evening, but otherwise adhered to my goal. On Saturday night I had two cookies, and on Sunday night I had just one cookie. Sunday night was an easy stop, so I think I'm past the worst of the sugar weaning process. If I am good to go over the next five days, my plan is to reduce my processed sugar intake to just one day a week, and not worry about what day that occurs.
• Consume eight cups of water.  Averaged 4 cups a day. Even though I'm not yet hitting my goal of eight cups a day, this is the most water I've consumed on a regular basis, pretty much ever. So I'm very pleased with my progress thus far, and will continue working to get to eight cups a day. 
• Complete a unique household chore.  Achieved 5 of 7 days.  
• Cleaned the screen door tracks for all three of our sliding patio doors.
• Sorted and stored the leftover paint from our recent bathroom painting project.
• Dusted behind the piano
• Laid snail-deterrent copper meshing along rear wall of backyard.
• Did some minor grout touch ups in upstairs guest bathroom.

Progress not perfection is my mantra for all of my goals.

Weekly Goals

• Read and finish one book.  Achieved, I read two.  I read Evicted: Poverty And Profit In The American City by Matthew Desmond. I started this book not expecting to get too excited by it, because it was an assigned read for my spiritual congregation book club. But dang, it was so compelling I had a hard time putting it down, and read the entire 330 page book in four days. Way more to this book than I can possibly unpack here, but if you are interested in trying to better understand the issue of the cycle of poverty in our country, this is the book.

I also read The Island by Elin Hilderbrand, an easy to read and pleasant offset to above.

• Lose 20 pounds by summer, at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week.  Achieved.  I lost 1 pound this week. For me, there is an extremely strong correlation between processed sugar and overeating, so by working to keep sugar at bay, everything else fell into place and my total number of calories consumed dropped. 
• As of 2/1/2021:  2.5 pounds lost, 17.5 to go
• Menu plan and grocery shop, including at least one new recipe  Achieved. Here was my menu for the week, with the new recipe's in bold, and links to recipes as I'm able to find them online:
1. Pioneer Woman Meatloaf, baked sweet potato, sauteed broccoli. I left off the bacon from the meatloaf, but it was still terrific. And enough leftovers for at least two additional meals.
2. Leftover Huevos Rancheros from last week, fresh fruit.
3. Chicken Stew with Carrots, Parsnips Red Potatoes and Celery, from Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook, Pillsbury biscuits. I like parsnips, but I decided to swap them out for some red potatoes I already had on hand and needed to use up.
4. Above leftovers
5. Mustard & Panko Crusted Salmon With Roasted Red Potatoes And Broccoli. Also from Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook. It really is a great cookbook!
   
6. Chinese take out
7. Wine Club Dineout (and I do mean dineout . . . it was brisk!)
• One game night in lieu of TV  Achieved. We had fun putting together this Clue mystery puzzle, working to solve the mystery as we did so. I found the key to making this happen was to pull out the game ahead of time, setting it out on our dining room table so it remained nice and visible during dinner.  BTW- I saw this game on sale on EBay for $45, wow! Pretty sure I paid less than $10 even though it was 20 years ago, when my daughters lived at home.

• One reading night in lieu of TV  Achieved.  Since entering post-menopause I find that I struggle to stay awake in the evening, due to waking up between 3 and 4 AM most mornings - not on purpose, trust me.  But to my surprise, not only did the time fly, but I felt nice and alert as I read.  

Monthly Goal Updates

• January Goal Focus:  Home  This final week in January we had the glass shower walls and doors installed to finish off our recent bathrooms remodeling project. 

I also did another round of dusting to get rid of any residual dust still left from the project. We also enjoyed lots of YouTube fireplace music, mostly jazz saxaphone, on the TV in our family room as we went about our chores and various activities each day. I embraced my kitchen again now that we no longer had to depart our home while workers were present, and made a loaf of fragrant banana-chocolate chip-bread on a rainy afternoon. And as a result of our home feeling very finished and cozy, I spent a rainy afternoon huddled up reading on a sofa in front our family room TV, which was 'playing' a faux crackling fireplace. It felt sooo good to be done.

• February Goal Focus:  Romance  It's February, it's Valentine's Day soon, and with so much stress now lifted (2020 election, COVID vaccine rollouts, our home remodel project, and delivery and set up of our new travel trailer) I feel lighter and brighter than I have in some time, and I want to spend this month focused on the relationship between me and my husband. He is such a wonderful person, and I appreciate him more with each passing year, so I look forward to lavishing him with love this month. My intention is to pick one item each day from a book I purchased years and years ago, called 2,002 Romantic Ideas. 

I have lots of grandiose ideas, but I'm going to start off small and make a batch of his favorite cookies today, Oatmeal Raisin. I haven't made them in years because I don't care for them at all, of which he is well aware, so I'm hopeful he'll interpret my making them just for him as a small romantic gesture. 

 

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How about you? Any goal updates to share?

Five Happy Things: Wind!

  

Every other week I will be listing five things that made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here each week, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so many even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere.

Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  The Ocean After A Storm.  We had S. California's version of a winter storm this week, accompanied by enormous amounts of wind. I love going down to the beach to see the subsequent effects on the ocean, and so as I was driving along Pacific Coast Highway yesterday on my way to the market, I swung into the free parking lot at Capo Beach to check things out. There weren't a lot of us there, because it was wildly windy, but those of us that were out there seemed united in our desire to stand at the edge of the parking lot's sandy bluff overlooking the pounding wind and waves, and take it all in for as long as we could.

I didn't last long - it was incredibly windy and cold - but it was still wonderful to take in even a few moments of nature's rawness and power.

2.  TV Fireplace Music.  I stumbled on YouTube crackling fireplace videos last year, and this year they've gone even farther by including music along with the sounds and sights of a crackling fireplace. Plus, no commercials once you get past the introduction ad. They range in length from 30 minutes up to ten hours, and they appear to come in pretty much every variety of music under the sun. My current favorite is either smooth jazz and a fire, or jazz sax with a fire. Just search for Fireplace Music when on the YouTube site (if on a computer) or the YouTube streaming channel (if on a TV).

What it looks like when streaming on our TV. You'll have to imagine the sound of the music playing over
 the crackling of the fire, jazz saxophone in this case.

3.  Reopening Of Restaurant Outdoor Dining.  Restaurant outdoor dining shut down in most of California on December 6 due to rising ICU patient rates, and even though we understood and were supportive, still, it has been missed. Thankfully, ICU capacity is improving and of of this past Monday we are no longer under the emergency order anywhere in the state, and restaurants can now reopen for outdoor dining. So on Sunday, the first projected good weather day after another storm rolls through here,this upcoming weekend we are to planning to visit a nearby brewery and enjoy some terrific local craft beer and food. 

4.  Reopening Of California Campgrounds And RV Parks.  Campground and RV parks were also closed during the recent emergency order, but they too can now reopen. And I wasted no time making RV reservations for next weekend at one of our very favorite places to visit, Malibu Beach RV Park. It's an easy 90 minute drive from our home, and we've booked an ocean view bluff site from which to not only enjoy miles of adjacent wilderness trails, but to also do a thorough test run of our new trailer's working parts - refrigerator, hot water heater, lighting system, stove, heater, and water pumping system. Also hopeful our best friends, who live nearby, will join us for hiking during one day of our visit.

Assuming no rain, this will be the view from our site.
We love it here, but only visit in the winter because prices are insane here otherwise.

5.  Our Last Two Bathroom Remodels Are Done.  We started this project at the discussion phase way back in August, and it finally finished with yesterday's installation of shower glass panels, so it's been quite the long haul. I shared photos of the two smaller bathrooms last week, so here are the before and afters for the remaining two.

Upstairs Guest Bedroom Bathroom Before  . . . 

Upstairs Guest Bedroom Bathroom After . . . 

Downstairs Master Bedroom Bath Before . . . 

We pulled down the drapes, and repainted everything upon move in, but still it was homely.
And that combo Roman tub & shower? Awful!

Downstairs Master Bedroom Bath After . . .

The teak bench is from AquaTeak, and we decided to do this vs a built in bench at the suggestion of our designer.
Right off the bat, it's so much softer and warmer than sitting on cold hard tile.
Plus I love that it's another bit of texture in the bathroom, and that it's moveable.

We love absolutely everything. There is now a rollout laundry hamper hidden behind one of the cabinet doors (lower middle) and the new cabinet tower on top of the countertops is wonderful. We now have more storage than we can use.

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

Weekly Progress Report: Hey, It Works!

 

Well, accountability clearly is a motivator for me, because I had an amazing and productive weekend. I mean, I certainly did not want to report out zero progress, so thanks to those of you that read here!

Update for January, abbreviated Week Four (Fri-Sun)

Daily Goals

• Exercise (Run, walk, hike, bicycle, kayak, do yoga, or lift weights)    Walked 12 miles in total, 6 on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Skipped Friday because I ran lots of errands, however, I could have/should have gotten my workout in before I left the house. Will work to do better on busy days.
• Practice guitar    Achieved all three days.
• Practice 15 min Spanish    Achieved all three days. I'm using Duolingo, the free online version, and it's fun. As a result I actually did 30 minutes of practice each day, so yeah me. 😊
• Limit processed sugar intake to Sat & Sun only    I had four Oreo cookies one day, and zero sugar the other. Life for me is so much better when I avoid processed sugar, so I may revise this to one night a week only going forward.
• Consume eight cups of water    I consumed 2 cups on Friday, 6 on Saturday, and 5 on Sunday. I am thrilled with my progress, and to my surprise, consuming water has lessened my tendency to snack in the afternoon, and then again after dinner. Plus, I did not have any energy dips throughout the day.
• Complete a unique household chore   I actually did four, one more than I needed to, because knowing I'd be reporting out here actually incentived me to keep going.
• Dust off shelves in curio cabinet
• Clean hanging lights over kitchen island
• Rehang one of the six prints displayed over our family room sofa, which has been off by about 1/4" since they were first hung last year
• Move the recessed light above my bathroom sink in our bedroom to the right about 1/8" to completely cover the opening.

Dust free! This cabinet is filled with mementos from our travels, so it was actually a fairly pleasant task.
Lots of memories as I worked my way down each shelf.

Feels good to know both hanging lights are now clean. Actually found a little bit of splattered smoothie up inside one of them,
which was a bit of a surprise. I guess my blender is more powerful than I'd realized!

Now perfectly straight

Weekly Goals

• Read and finish one book  Yes! I finished White Fragility: Why It's So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo. This book, which I highly recommend if you are a white person seeking to understand the subtle racism most of us don't even know we carry around, was thought provoking to say the least. After completing the book, which I borrowed for free from our library, I am left with the knowledge that while I may not be able to step away from much of my subconscious racism, I can be open to receiving feedback when it does manifest itself, in order to do better.  
• Weight loss check in (goal is to lose 20 pounds this year). Yes! My scale shows I lost 1.5 lbs over the weekend, the likely result of 12 miles of walking and good food choices due to limiting my intake of processed sugar. So, 1.5 lbs lost, 18.5 lbs to go.
• Menu plan and grocery shop, including at least one new recipe  Yes! Here was my menu for the week, with the new recipe's in bold, and links to recipes as I'm able to find them online:
1. Sheet-Pan Pork Meatballs with Onions & Artichoke Hearts This was delicious! I served it over a bed of brown rice mixed with lots of marinated fresh kale.
2. Above leftovers
3. Pollo Asado (I buy the pre-marinated package from Aldi's), grilled onions and bell peppers, green salad.
4. Above leftovers
5. Huevos Rancheros with tortillas (From Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook), green salad.  Also delicious!
6. Above leftovers
7. Takeout Pizza
• One game night in lieu of TV  Planned for tonight, and each Monday going forward.
• One reading night in lieu of TV  Planned for this Wednesday night, and each Wednesday night going forward. To be honest, it took a little effort to get back in the swing of reading after the stress of the Presidential election and subsequent efforts to have the results overturned, but now that that is behind us, and because I've now made it a goal on my blog here (i.e., public), I'm finding myself sliding right back into the groove, I have a pile of books (both paper and electronic) that I'm anxious to read, and I'm much looking forward to a night dedicated to cozily doing so. 

Monthly Goal

• January Goal:  Home  New this week: With the onset of shorter and colder days, we've gotten in the questionable habit of eating our dinner on trays in front of the TV. My husband and I chatted about this, and agreed that unless we are having a specifically designated movie night at home, we'll return to eating dinner in our dining room. Our very pretty dining room I should add, so it's not like this is a punishment. Plus, increasingly we are finding more COVID-conscious individual activities, meaning we have more fun things to share with each other at the end of the day than when the pandemic first began. 

Like the afternoon I recently spent helping to paint a tall ship at our harbor. As I painted and chatted with my fellow volunteers, I learned about a sailing club that was open to non-boat owners (they basically act as unpaid crew, which works just fine for me), and a white bass fish hatchery program that was going on literally under our feet. So, much to talk about when I got home, which was a very welcome change.

  

The tall ship I am helping to repaint. Isn't she a beauty?

Up next:

• February  Romance!

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How about you? Any goal updates to share?

New Blog Direction

With the presidential election now in the rear view mirror, and COVID vaccines on their way, plus hubby having received his first dose last weekend, I'm feeling ready for a new direction here. 

This blog was resurrected from it's dormancy primarily in response to the pandemic, when my previously travel-heavy retirement life was put on hold, and it was a wonderful outlet in which to reconnect and share the stress we were all undergoing. Now, though, with several major stress points smoothing out, I think I need to morph my blog into more more of a structured and/or personal accountability blog, in order to have the motivation to keep it up.

With regard to structure, I'm planning to do a weekly Five Happy Things post, or a weekly Simplicity post. Happiness for me is often about simply paying more attention, and that is an area I want to devote more time to. Simplicity can refer to areas where I've streamlined for greater peace of mind, including clutter, spending, mindfullness, and health. So lots of directions I can go there.

With regard to personal accountability, here are the areas where I want to be held more accountable, and which I've divided into daily, weekly, and monthly goals.

Daily Goals

• Exercise (Run, walk, hike, bicycle, kayak, do yoga, or lift weights)
• Practice guitar
• Practice 15 min of Spanish
• Limit processed sugar intake to Sat/Sun only
• Consume eight cups of water
• Complete a unique household chore

Weekly Goals

• Read and finish one book
• Weight loss check in (goal is to lose 20 pounds this year)
• Menu plan and grocery shop, including at least one new recipe
• One game night in lieu of TV
• One reading night in lieu of TV

Monthly Goals, organized by Theme

• January  Home
• February  Romance
• March  
• April  
• May
• June  
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

I'll do a write up each week on how I'm doing, including progress on my monthly theme.

Monthly Theme (Home) progress report 

Selecting Home for January seemed like a no-brainer in that we recently completed the last remodel I believe we will do in this home. At this point there is nothing significant remaining to be done inside the house and it feels great!

Purchased/accomplished this month to date: Remodels completed, arches and crown molding removed from our bedroom, new mirrors hung in all four bathrooms, new art and shelving for powder room ordered, received, and displayed, two new lamps purchased for our bedroom, windows cleaned, and new sliding door for upstairs guest bedroom's bathroom doorway ordered. 

Before arch removals

After arch removals

Still remaining: Installation of shower glass for last two bedrooms, which has been scheduled for Monday.

I'll be back on Monday, and then each Monday thereafter to give a progress report, plus I plan to do a second post each week that will alternate between Five Happy Things and Simplicity.

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If any of you are tracking goals as well, please feel free to share here how you are doing.

Bathrooms Reveal (Part 1) plus a little of The Eagles

 

Two of our four bathrooms are now 100% complete, including all small little punch list items I needed remediated post-remodeling (electrical outlets repositioned slightly, painting, new towels put into place). The remaining two bathrooms are awaiting installation of new shower glass, which should occur within the next week.

Here is a before of our downstairs guest half bath (i.e., powder room) as it appeared when we first viewed the house in 2017:

Here is how is looked after we did a refresh upon moving in:

What we changed: New faucets, new hanging hardware, new mirror, new flooring, new paint, and we refaced the cabinet.

And here is how it looks now:

What changed: We removed the awkward and very low, wall-to-wall countertop and replaced it with silver quartz just above the cabinet. We installed a 36" tall cabinet, 5" taller than the previous cabinet, which allowed us to replace two very narrow and somewhat useless top side drawers with an enormous 9" deep roll out bottom drawer instead. We replaced the round sink with a rectangle sink. We also replaced the mirror (again) and the toilet. And with the low, wall-to-wall countertop removed, we were able to purchase a normal size toilet, instead of the super duper low toilet that previously existed. Our tall friends will be appreciative I am sure!

Also new are the hanging shelves and made-to-order prints, the later of which I ordered from a wonderful local artist, Emily of Jetty Home. Emily made the artwork for my family room, and I was so happy to have an opportunity to use her again. 

My goal was to avoid the powder room from feeling too beach-y, but still reflect our S. California coastal lifestyle, and I feel like I achieved that as evidenced by how happy the room makes me every single time I pass it.

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And here is our prior upstairs hall bathroom at move-in, the one we call the Kid's Bathroom, because it has the only bathtub in the two upstairs bathrooms:

Here is how it looked after we refreshed it upon moving in:

We replaced the fixtures (faucets, medicine cabinet, towel rack, shower fixtures), replaced the flooring (it was carpeted . . . yikes!), and painted both the walls and the existing builder grade cabinets.

And here is how it looks now:

We refaced the cabinets, replaced the countertop with silver quartz, installed new sinks, retiled the shower/tub and replaced the solid glass mirror with two hanging round ones.

I had a little fun with this bathroom. I used a wave patterned white tile for the shower/tub, plus I had picked  out a lighted-hearted piece of art for hanging. This is the bathroom my granddaughters use when they visit, and I wanted it to feel very light and bright accordingly.

This room makes me happy as well!

And finally, just for fun, and at risk of considerable public humiliation, here is a short video I recorded yesterday during one of my guitar practice sessions. This would be me at the six month mark of learning to play on my own. Oh, and you'll note from the little of me that you can see, that I'm still in my PJ's, which I thought was perfect, because, COVID!

Take It Easy by The Eagles

My Husband Has A Vaccine Appointment!

This feels a bit crazy, but I was able to get my husband a vaccine appointment after reading that California's Governor Newsom just expanded eligibility to seniors 65+ years old, and that my county (Orange) was ready to proceed accordingly. So after spending 4+ hours on the Orange County vaccine sign up website yesterday, I was finally able to get him scheduled. 

It was a frustrating process. There is no rhyme or reason to when the appointments for the next available booking day are loaded onto the website. It's pretty much down to luck. If you are lucky enough to make an attempt within about five minutes of the appointments being loaded, you may be able to snag one. I made over 100 attempts before finally getting through. As I shouted in excitement, the first appointment I attempted to grab disappeared before I could click through. My second attempt was successful, however, and we got one. My husband will be vaccinated this Sunday, and my understanding is his second appointment will be given to him then and there, so no website follow up needed. 

It feels a bit surreal.

This won't change my life for the time being, since even vaccinated he can still carry the virus and thus infect me, but I least I'll no longer have to worry about him becoming ill.  Plus, he will now be able to fly back east to visit and help out with our granddaughters in that my son-in-law is back out to sea with the Navy. I wish it were me as well, of course, but I'm relieved that at least one of us can soon go back.

Otherwise, much relief that our home is once again a place of peace and tranquility with all work pretty much completed. Shower glass has been ordered for two bathrooms, and is due in next week, plus we have two small adjustments that will need tradespeople to return, but all of these will be brief and mess free. 

As a result, I've been able to rejoin my kayak, hiking, and bicycling groups and it feels really good. I feel free for the first time in months, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

Here is a photo of where we sat down to eat our lunch during yesterday's bicycle ride. Our high yesterday was 98 degrees, so this ride took some determination to complete, not to mention a whole lot of water. Still, it felt great to return to having my days once again available to spend outdoors.

January In A Sentence A Day

 

1. A very welcome New Year's Day, which we kicked off with a 35 mile bike ride along the ocean with our daughter and her boyfriend, then back to sit out on their warm and sunny ocean viewing patio sipping champagne while they whipped up freshly made lobster mac and cheese . . . I was relieved to learn that the lobster had been purchased frozen when I saw it boiling away in their kitchen(!).

2. We loaded up our kayaks and headed to Newport Harbor to meet friends Ray and Dayna for a six mile paddle on another beautiful day, beaching our kayaks midway at Balboa Island in order to pick up To-Go burgers and, yum, truffle fries, from the delicious Snipe Island Crafthouse, then back home to wash down the kayaks, enjoy leftover Chinese food, and watch one episode of The Crown before falling into bed.

3. A 2:00 AM wakeup, oh boy, five to six hours of sleep seems to be my max these days, but did accomplish a lot as a result - de-cluttered the garage, weeded and trimmed the yard, ran a load of returns to Home Depot, read, made a new recipe for dinner -  but couldn't stay awake past 8:00 PM.

4.  Slept till 4:00 AM, a miracle, after experimenting with taking my HRT pills at night vs in the morning, 

,5.  Slept till 4:00 AM again, so, so far so good with regard to timing my HRT pills, 

6.  Enjoyed a beautiful 7 mile hike along the Bear Canyon Loop trail in Cleveland National Forest with my hiking group, a stop at decadent JD Flannels after for earned donuts (blueberry meyers lemon and cinnamon crumb) a phone call to let us know our new TrailManor travel trailer had arrived and was ready for pickup, then a beyond dismal rest of the day as we learned about the Capital being stormed by angry mobs.

7.