Friday Five - I Bought A New Car And Survived

  Friday Five - I Bought A New Car & Survived

It has been a wildly productive week, but I am tired and looking forward to the weekend! 

1.  After yet another ordeal, FINALLY finished installation of my mother's new stackable washer/dryer. I'm too weary to go into details, but after hiring a handyman for $100, we finally got everything up and running. 

2.  Also completed the process to get my mother her first ever passport this week. We were able to make an appointment at a public library to do everything in one fell swoop, including photos. After my ordeal with her washer/dryer, and her Real ID before that, it was a delight to whiz through this next goal I'd set for her. 

We'll be going on a cruise to Mexico and up along the Pacific Coastline in the fall of 2026 with my mom and my husband's elderly sister, hence why the passport. It will be both of their first ever cruise, and my spouse and I are much looking forward to enjoying their excitement over the ship and adventures that await them.

3.  This was 'Mom' week, apparently, as I likewise enjoyed taking her to lunch at a lovely lake-side restaurant for her birthday. She gets excited about anything new, which made my job of selecting which restaurant to go to very easy.

4.  Our little Mr. Coffee maker is acting up, even though we've only had it for a couple of years. At just $20 it's hardly a budget breaker, however we've generally found them to last for years, so a bit puzzled as to why this one did not. 

We don't program our coffee to brew at a set time, because our wake ups are all over the place, so a simple little hit-the-button set up has worked fine in retirement for us. Today, for example, I woke up at 4:15 AM, but yesterday 'slept in' till 6:45 AM. Still, it might be time to splurge on a slightly nicer coffee set up, lol.

5.  We bought a new car! I've been contemplating this purchase for about two years, ever since we sold our travel trailer and no longer needed an SUV with towing capacity. At that point, our prior SUV's lower 16-17 mpg and 13+ year age began to become an issue. As the primary driver of our SUV, I wanted improved reliability and higher mpg. Plus a sunroof, the only thing I had on my 'want list.' All of which we got in our new purchase, so I'm very pleased.

The deal making was somewhat less annoying than anticipated, but still required a couple of hours of waiting for the paperwork to be finalized. Sigh.

The selling of our prior SUV, however, was quick and efficient. We received an online bid from Car Max, made a same day appointment to finalize the sale, and walked out about an hour later with a check in the exact amount of the online offer. So that was great.

My pretty new silver hybrid SUV gets 40 mpg, yeah!

Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Walk five miles at the harbor, go to Trader Joe's to pick up the last of this week's grocery items, change out cars on our insurance policy, pick up lunch at Board & Brew to take over and share with a girlfriend currently working through cancer treatment (she's in between treatment cycles, and thus has a temporary appetite), spend time learning about some of my new car's features, particularly the Apple CarPlay functionalities, and with hubby at a men's event for the evening, a salad and old episodes of Top Chef are my only evening plans - it's been a week and I'm tired!

Weight Maintenance Is A Whole New Mindset

 

Weight Maintenance Is A Whole New Mindset

When I returned home from my recent hiking and kayaking trip to Newfoundland, Canada, I shared here that I had hit a new low weight of 108.8 when I stepped on the scale. I was thrilled both at the number displayed, and on having reached the end of my weight loss journey. A space I had actually never occupied before . . . my mindset at every previous new low figure over the years was, 'Just five/ten/fifteen more pounds to go!'

So this is a brand new space for me, and I am actually struggling just a bit trying to figure out how maintenance works exactly. I mean, I know how to lose weight at this point, and certainly I know how to gain weight(!), but how exactly does one just stay where they are?

So I'm a bit of a work in progress on this. As a result, when I got to my library volunteer job earlier this week, I noticed this book on the discard/free pile, and immediately picked it up:

Initially, I thought it was written by Bob Greene, Oprah Winfrey's long time fitness and health consultant, who I followed back in his heydey in the 80's and 90's. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it wasn't 'that' Bob, it was Bob Harper from TV's The Biggest Loser, a show that I was aware of, but had never actually watched.

As I was skimming through it, a few things jumped out. Firstly, that I had already come to a lot of the eating rules his book lays out. Things like protein and vegetables over refined grains; eat your fruit, don't drink it; plan out meals ahead of time, not 'on the spot;' and get comfortable with going to bed slightly hungry. All rules I'll need to continue to follow going forward if I want the weight to remain off.

The one rule that I knew I'd been ignoring, to my detriment, was to drink a glass of water before every meal to ensure I stayed sufficiently hydrated. So I definitely, definitely appreciated that brick-in-the-head reminder, as I know I have done poorly there. In my case, dehydration generally exhibits as fatigue, which is annoying. So I've started following this principle and it was immediately effective in diminishing fatigue over my day. 

Otherwise, I realized I have to come up with a whole new system of rewards that are not solely based on getting to a new, lower number on the scale each day. 

Here's what I've come up with so far:

• Invest in attractive new yoga clothes, and stop wrapping a shirt around my waist when I go to class.
• Find a local skin care studio and begin to get monthly non-invasive facials. (No needles, ever!) I'm fine with aging in general, but if there is a non invasive procedure I can do to help my face look just a bit fresher, than I'm good with that at this point.
• Find a nicer salon and commit to monthly pedicures. (Not a fan of the salons that start out cheap, but then attempt to upsell during the entire procedure. I've decided I prefer to pay a bit more up front instead, in order to avoid the upsell efforts.)
• Investigate whether the hard earned lessons that my recent 25 pound weight loss journey delivered might be of any benefit to others walking the same walk. I've never been beyond the BMI range of Healthy, just at it's higher end vs the lower end I'm at currently, so I'm not sure where exactly I might fit in, but will investigate.
• Go through my closet and begin to pull out the 'comfort' clothing I've accumulated over the years. They can all be let go of at this point, and instead slowly replaced with more structured apparel.

Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Check in to make sure my mother's new stackable washer/dryer unit arrives and is installed as expected, go shopping for new jeans at a boutique I just discovered that carries stylish, structured jeans for under $100, the max threshold I set, and stop in to test drive a new Toyota Rav4 Hybrid . . . I'm in the market for a new car, yeah and nay - Very much want the new car, but intensely dislike the car buying experience. 🫡

August Goals - Final Results

August Goals - Final Results

As I had hoped, focusing on five goals that I then shared here on my blog, turned out to be pretty productive. 

Here are the results:

1.  Thirty minutes of nonfiction reading in the morning, as I drink my wake up coffee.  ✅

My nonfiction reading goal for the month of August was The Pioneers by historian David McCullough.

Only because I wanted to check it off as completed, did I keep pushing through this interesting but exceedingly dry history book. I do not imagine I'll read another by this author, though I did actually enjoy his book about the carving out of the Panama Canal, The Path Between The Seas. I read it before embarking on a Panama Canal cruise, and it made the transit incredibly interesting and emotional. I highly recommend doing same for any who might consider doing a transit thru the Panama Canal.

2.  Incorporate walking with stops into the gym to do weight training.  ✅

This worked very well. I incorporated three walks + weights in August. I was slightly sidelined by the need to get in lots of miles for my September hiking trip, but with that now completed, I expect to accomplish combining a walk with weights at least one time each week going forward.

3.  Grill and eat dinner outside here at home at least one night each week.  🆇

I did not accomplish this, grrr. I'm a little nervous about firing up the grill after a couple of years of not doing so, but am going to re-attempt it this coming weekend. I'm going to make Hawaiian chicken kebabs, which are pretty forgiving on the grill.

4.  Make Happy Hour dates with two couples - one new to us, and one that just returned from a multi-month trip.  ✅

Accomplished, though as I shared here, it didn't go quite as smoothly as hoped. However, by evenings end, everyone wanted to meet up again, plus another couple on our street wants to join in the next time as well. So, hopefully, it was an 'All's well that ends well' finale to the evening.

5.  Purchase new summer sun dress summer gauzy trousers.  ✅

I did go shopping for a new dress, but ultimately decided that some lightweight summer gauzy trousers would be fun instead. So I bought three pairs - pale blue, black, and the light olive green that I'm wearing in the photo below. 

Bonus points that I don't have to remember to shave my legs each time I wear them, such as I do with a summer dress. 😄

Five New Mini Goals- September

   Five New Mini Goals- September 

Since my vacation took up the first two weeks of September, I’m setting more modest goals for the remaining two weeks of the month.

(And I’ll be back with the results of my August goals in my next post.)

1.  Complete the purchase and installation of stackable washer/dryer unit for my mom’s condo. Getting her old laundry water valves swapped out for new ones last month was the first and more complicated step. This last remaining part of the process should, fingers crossed, be easy.

2.  Send photos of minor hardscape repairs to landscaper, and schedule repair work.  Now that training for, packing, and then attending my recent adventure is complete, I can focus on getting some minor concrete remediation work done, plus my outdoor lighting fixtures reprogrammed so that they don't flash for two minutes each night as they turn on(!). This later should be an easy fix once I find the right person at the landscaping company.

3.  Make flight and lodging reservations for trip to our daughter's for the Christmas holidays.  December will be here before we know it, so I need to get this done sooner than later, when prices and inventory for both flights and hotels are good.

4.  Purchase new jeans to celebrate reaching the end of my weight loss efforts.  Trying on jeans in a retail store can be a bit of a pain, but once I find 'the pair' I should be able to proceed online for any remaining purchases. I do that a lot, BTW. I find something that works for me, and then order it in every available color or style online once back home. I prefer to order only from companies that have brick-and-mortar stores, to make returning anything a simple matter. On that list would be H&M, Skechers, Nordstrom Rack, and Columbia Outdoor Wear.

5.  Begin work on holiday felt ornaments for my family.  I enjoy this annual endeavor once I'm underway, so I just need a push in order to get started.

This year's packet of felt tree ornaments. 
They really are so fun to make.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Meet girlfriend for a 6 mile beach walk followed by lunch out somewhere pleasant, make up next week's menu and grocery shop list, do light yardwork, begin this month's book club book(!),  attend philanthropic group event, reheat leftover chile verde pork stew for dinner.  

  

Post-Vacation Weigh In & Movement

 Post Vacation Weigh In & Movement

Ongoing Maintenance Weight Range:  108-110

September 15 Weigh In:  108.8 (A new low, yeah!)

The food battle continues to feel as if it has been won. I'm not fighting myself at this point, just making and executing each day's food plan. My focus continues to be on anything and everything around me, other than using food as a reward. I focus on my daily planned-out meals, good coffee, sparkling water, having fun with my clothes, good books, good friends, volunteering commitments, fun activities, running my daily chores, going to the gym, walking, hiking, and kayaking with my spouse or with friends or groups, vacation planning, and all of the clubs and club activities we belong to and attend. Food is truly now at the very bottom of the list, and often times, not even on the list.

If this sounds 'Pollyanna-ish,' I promise you that it is not. It is the result of not giving up after many, many, many tries over the years. But with eight months of positive momentum and successes (including more than a few slip ups, rest assured), a new habit of dealing with food has been created. And because it has finally become a habit (which I promise, promise, promise it will, given some time)  it all now feels easy, effortless and best of all, permanent.

How much, what, and when we eat are habits we've developed, which, means that, yes, absolutely, they can be changed. Here's a re-link of an article on this I shared some months back:  

Getting Used To Eating Less

It took me a solid six months to get to the point of food no longer being an unhealthy focus, but instead simply a tool to generate good energy and brain focus throughout my day. Life is infinitely better with the incessant food thoughts no longer occurring.

Weekly Mileage/Movement

• Sept 8-  6 miles
• Sept 9-  4 miles 
• Sept 10-  8 miles (kayaking)
• Sept 11-  8 miles
• Sept 12-  6 miles
• Sept 13-  1 mile (sightseeing day)
• Sept 14-  None (Airport day) 
• TOTAL FOR WEEK: 33 miles

Some of the views I enjoyed this week as I walked, hiked, and kayaked in Newfoundland, and along parts of the East Coast Trail:

Maintenance Food Efforts

I have an easier time managing my food intake on vacations than I do when at home. The reason, as I know this sounds backward, is that I'm so stimulated by the vacation sights and activities, I'm simply too distracted by it all to feel hungry.

For this most recent trip, which I went into two weeks ago at 112.4, and finished yesterday at 108.8, I did the following:

• Had only black coffee, sometimes an egg, for breakfast.
• Walked/hiked/kayaked lots of miles - between 5-9 daily. 
• Carried nuts to be consumed as needed during activities rather than calorie-loading at breakfast. This resulted in a much better balance of food calories in vs activity calories out at day's end.
• Enjoyed lunch as my primary meal.
• Was careful about my alcohol intake (It weakens my resolve I've learned, and makes me less food-disciplined.).
• Enjoyed small bites at dinner, great conversation, and of course, no dessert.

Today, in addition to restocking my pantry and refrigerator, I'm going to go shopping for a new pair of jeans, something I'd put off until I got to my revised 110 pounds or lower goal.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Unpack and do laundry, meal plan and do grocery shopping, attend a free movie with my mom at her 55+ community, do some new-jeans shopping at a few smaller boutiques I enjoy, book our summer 2026 cruise around the British Isles, read through my emails and purchase tickets and save dates for the myriad of activities they contain, use up small balance on an REI gift card to purchase running socks and electrolyte packets.

Friday Five - Moose Stew & Iceberg Beer

Friday Five - Moose Stew & Iceberg Beer

It’s been an amazing trip, with this past week seeing my husband fly home, while my girlfriend and I transitioned to the wilderness portion of our trip on Newfoundland versus the Toronto city sights we enjoyed last week.

Friday Five In Newfoundland 

1. Iceberg Beer lived up to the hype. My girlfriend and I heard about this beer while researching St. John’s Quidi Vidi area, and out of curiosity decided to walk over and try it. Well, it was really interesting and tasty, and not overrated whatsoever. Plus, where else could we try something so unique?!?

2.  I experienced Moose Stew. Our first evening dinner at the meal-inclusive cabins we are staying in featured Moose Stew. I was a bit hesitant initially, but quickly and pleasantly surprised by the moose meat’s mild and non-gamey taste, quite similar to hamburger meat. I did also appreciate that my first experience with moose meat was in a mixed stew rather than as a large moose steak. I think I would have mentally struggled with a steak!

3. We went to Canada’s eastern-most point, one of those little factoids that makes travel so fun. Specifically, we visited Cape Spear and the Cape Spear Lighthouse. Both were rugged, remote, and exquisitely beautiful in the way off-the-beaten-path places so often are.

4.  We kayaked in paradise. During our 8 mile / 13 kilometer paddle along spectacular Cape Broyle Bay, we saw Bald Eagle, Minke whale, sea stars, sea urchins and extraordinary sea caves. We were also fortunate to have sunny skies and calm winds for our paddle, which our kayak guides told us repeatedly was turning out to be their best kayaking weather day of the entire season. So, yeah us!

5. It looks like we can all get home. We are flying Air Canada on the return, and thus have been keeping an eye on the negotiations currently occurring between Air Canada and their flight attendants. So far, so good with regard to our upcoming flights home, but my fingers will remain crossed until it’s wheels up.

Friday Five - Vacation Edition!

  Friday Five - Vacation Edition!

I 'borrowed' this idea from a fellow blogger, so thank you Juhli over at Boomer Girls Guide!

I don't think I can swing more than this once a week update until I return, but I'm definitely 'gifting' my blog with travel photos today. 😄

1. Had an easy, holiday-lite drive to the airport on Labor Day Monday, a quick check in, a fast check thru security, and a wonderfully smooth flight into Toronto, Canada. Gosh, if it were always this pleasant, I'd fly a lot more often!

2.  Paid a small fortune for our hotel in the Old Town area of the city, because our days of saving money by skimping on lodging are pretty much behind us. We may not be flying first class quite yet, but we are definitely paying more for convenience these days!

The hotel's central city location is fabulous. We've walked everywhere, and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

3.  I am not a fan of the hotel's choice to play loud music in the AM in the dining room, however. Can I please just sip my coffee and read my Kindle in peace and quiet?!?

4.  We had a long, but fantastic tour of Niagara Falls yesterday. And you know what? It lived up to every single one of my expectations! It was fabulous and worth every effort to get there!

The falls roared  . . . 

We definitely got wet . . . 

And we are so happy we got to experience it!

5.  I declined to engage when an Australian gentleman I sat next to at our lunch at the Falls yesterday launched into a personal diatribe on pretty much every controversial political topic we are grappling with around the world. I pointedly gave him my shoulder and immediately engaged the woman on my other side, coincidentally as it turned out, on her and my upcoming hiking adventures in Newfoundland. 

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Next up, hiking and kayaking on Newfoundland, where, remember, if it's 5:00 somewhere, it's 5:30 in Newfoundland!