Happy and Sad

 

It seems like each day has some Happy and some Sad things. Today is no different. We need to take each day as it comes and do our best no matter what.

I finally took down the Christmas lights but I added lights around the house because both Randy and I noticed it effected our mood. The newer LED lights don't use a lot of power and often at night we don't need to turn on any other lights. I added fairy lights to the bay windows and some colored LED lights up around the kitchen and in the bathroom. It was a very inexpensive way to improve our old lighting situation.

The picture above is right next to my desk.

These other windows are behind my desk. It's a rainy gloomy day, and the lights brighten it up.

Last year we had blizzard after blizzard about this time, so right now I'm thankful for just rainy weather. It's a cold rain, but it's not the piling up snow and us having to dig our way out just to get the firewood in the house.

My friend who is newly a widow called me this morning as I was sitting here at my desk sipping my morning coffee. She just started teaching again at the college. I told her she is amazing. She said the same thing I always say "Oh I don't know about that!" But she is. It brightened my day but I know she is still sad. She makes the best of every day and lives each day to it's fullest, living out her purpose.

Another dear friend messaged me and she has breast cancer. She just started chemo this week. She will have a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, have her ovaries removed, and will have 10 years of chemo treatments ahead of her. She had just recovered from foot surgery and was starting to workout again. She is devastated. Please say some prayers. 

We all have stuff to deal with. We must find happiness and blessings in spite of it. Don't waste another day.

For me that means I will continue with my nutrition plan and goals. I'm still happy and I find it a blessing that I can get food and prepare it. I have a nice simple house to live in that has all that I need, even if it's not perfect. I can keep it clean and nice, and do my best with each day.

Every day I've been finding things to figure out how to fix. I only have two good arms until March 1st when I have my first shoulder replacement surgery.

RECIPES AND FOOD PREP

Yesterday I grilled some chicken with a new BlackStone grill. When I had my back surgery over a year ago I got the Ninja Creami machine. It still serves me well. This year for my surgery present I got the indoor griddle. The marinade recipes and a picture of the chicken cooking yesterday is with my recipe section at the top called Chicken Marinade Recipes.

I will be adding more recipes there over time.

You'll see the RECIPES section on the right if you are on a desktop computer. On the phone, click on the little menu lines on the upper right and you will see them.

I'm also going through and adding specific blogs to the Nutrition Education section.  I have some writing I will do like I did on my old blogs over the years, I still have the research done but need to re-write many articles. Why not? Even if there are only a few of  you left here, I'll give you my best. I'll give you my all. Isn't that what I've been talking about here? If people don't have time to come read it, so be it, but I'll be here in my little corner of the world giving it my all until the end of days.

Please let me know if there is something you would like me to add.

KITTEN UPDATE

We still have a batch of 6 kittens. All are being treated for a virus and we are learning a lot.

She is one of the Scottish Straights

All the kittens are girls except for one. We will end up keeping him in our home as he grows because he is the unlucky one with genetics. He exists because one of Scottish Fold males escaped from his room and mated with another Scottish Fold and that's not something the vet wanted. It can produce a double gene. She always mates a Scottish Straight with a Scottish Fold to avoid that problem. Anyway, the little boy kitten with the double gene has tiny ears and big club paws and a very short tail. He will likely have joint problems and other problems and won't likely live as long as other cats. We will give him the best life possible here as long has his days last him. So I guess he is lucky in that way.

See, life can be full of Happy and Sad, and it usually is. Sometimes each will ebb and flow, more of one, more of another.

Let's just do the best with what we have.

NUTRITION GOAL UPDATE

I'm a bit nervous about my weigh in tomorrow. I look at my graph and there are too many peaks over the blue line. 

But here's the thing. If I have not lost any weight, it means I might need to lower my calories a bit more. It sucks, but that's the way it is. It means my TDEE is lower now as I age. Also, the blood work I had done recently for the surgery clearance showed that my thyroid was slightly hypo, which means my metabolism is a little bit low. That just means I need to eat a little less calories but keep the quality of nutrition high. The supplements really matter a lot in this case.

If I am losing a little, I can keep doing what I'm doing but get my focus on reducing those peaks and keeping my calories under the green TDEE line.

So, tomorrow will tell, and it happens to be my Birthday. I'm just going to be happy with what I get to do for the day because it's a blessing to have good food and to be able to have use of my legs. I have so much to be grateful for.

Life is Happy and Sad, full of seasons. Let's all make the best of it.

Roberta

Never Settle

Never Give Up

Live  Your Dream