Random Thoughts for a Monday

I am typing this on Sunday morning, and I think Mother Nature may have been out carousing a bit too much this week. It was near or over 50 degrees F at the end of the week. It got chillier yesterday. This morning, it was raining so much the dogs didn’t want to go out, and as I typed this, it was snowing. Its not going to accumulate (I hope!) but still, what the heck? I think Mother Nature needs to practice dry January!

I made a new (to us) cocktail last night: a Negroni Sour. I like Negronis and sours, so it seemed like a good thing to try. Made with gin, sweet vermouth, Campari, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white (or foaming agent). It was quite good, with that nice Negroni bitterness and the smooth, slightly tart mouth feel of a sour. I will make that one again.

This week’s addition to the Habit Tracking Challenge is to have one perfect plate a day. That is, a balanced meal of protein, vegetables, carbs, and fat. We have a guideline sheet that lists what would make up that perfect plate. For me, that’s 20-30 grams of protein, one fist-sized portion of vegetables, one cupped fist of carbs, and 7-12 grams of healthy fat. That’s added to the previous 64 oz. of water and three servings of protein per day. It’s going okay, although I am cutting my protein intake a bit. I was going for the higher (30 g /day) amount, but that has resulted in a bit of weight gain. Since one of my goals for this assessment period is to lose weight (I have a six month long term weight loss goal), that’s not optimal. So, I am going to cut back a bit and see if that changes things. It’s a tricky balance, for sure.

The other issue with the above is that I am currently a bit hampered in the exercise area. I could (should) be upping my cardio workouts and I have been trying. I started using our treadmill every week, but unfortunately, my knees have gotten so bad that I can’t and expect to actually walk the rest of the day. I have been going to our gym’s 24/7 space once a week and using the bikes and/or ellipticals, but that’s not necessarily practical several times a week. It also hampers my walking the dogs, since I can’t make up for speed with distance, either. I did have my PCP do a referral to the orthopedic doctor I’ve seen before, but sometimes an appointment with a specialist is not going to be soon. So, until I can find out what needs to be done to get the knees back to not hurting all the time, I am going to have to try to find that balance between getting enough protein, especially, and not gaining back the weight I’ve lost already.

Otherwise, things are good. It’s winter, even though we haven’t gotten a lot of snow (which is okay with me!), so we’ve not been doing a lot of out-of-house stuff. I am starting to plan this year’s gardening projects so I know what I need to buy/order/look for when the garden centers open up again. I have the seeds for starting the veggie garden plants in a month or so, and will get the spring sown stuff soon. I also want to finish the herb garden and get a bunch of dill planted for pickles next season. Then, the landscaping this year is probably going to concentrate on the front yard. We want to turn it into a native habitat and get rid of the turf grass that’s left. I’ll need to get the area measured, then plan out the path from the driveway to the side gate into the backyard, so I know where not to plant stuff. If the path gets put in this year, great, but if not, at least I will know where it will go. I need to get some ground cover put on the front hill, also, so we don’t have to keep adding mulch. I am glad I didn’t cut down the seed heads on the hill. There have been goldfinches and juncos munching on them regularly now. The neighbors may not love it, but the birds sure do!

I guess that’s about it for now. Drink your water. Eat a vegetable. Get outside and refresh. Be nice to one another.

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My latest book is a collection of very short stories, half science fiction and half fantasy, called “Crossed Wires and Other Very Short Stories”. I have also written a few other short pieces, another collection, two novels, and an urban fantasy series. You can find most of them at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold. A few are also available from Amazon in paperback. My novel, “Circle Unbroken” is also on Kindle Unlimited, if that’s your reading preference. You can find out about all of them here.

There are also some stories you can read here on my site, mostly the yearly Halloween short I write, but there are a few others. You can read them from here