Author: Owiella

Netflix binge watching,
Catching up on all my shows,
Need more exercise.

I finally reached double digits, but it feels like I’ve been on this plan forever. Okay, so maybe I have with a few short breaks here and there. I’m really on day 94, with about 10 cheat days mixed in. And even the cheat days were not too far off plan, so overall I feel very good about my progress. I certainly feel healthier, but I do more to go. And then this brings on thoughts about what 100% achievement looks like, and does such a thing exist?

But I don’t need 100%. I’ll be happy with 80% – 90%. Now I realize everyone’s 100% looks different. My 100% is to be back to my high school self, or even my early 20s. Yes, a most unachievable goal, but if i can get 80% there, that’s a success in my book.

At least it’s Friday, the end of the work week. I did have to pop into the office today to participate in a department meeting (we used an oversized meeting space so that our self-distancing bubbles remained intact), and it was good to see everyone healthy, even though the campus looked deserted with no students or faculty around, and half of the staff is working from home. I managed to get some face-time in and was back home by noontime, and stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get just one thing—chicken. And oh joy, oh joy! The store had only two packages left (needed 2 lbs of chicken thighs for a stew I want to make), and I grabbed one of them! We will be enjoying my favorite on-plan stew in a day or two, right after we finish off the rest of the corned beef. I do want to open a really good bottle of wine to go with it, but for today I am able to resist.

The rest of Friday was fairly uneventful, and these days that’s a great thing!

The news on my mind,
Florida beaches crowded,
Selfish Spring Breakers.

Hopefully some day soon my Hikau’s will be more light-hearted. But for today, Thursday, that’s the key outrage people all over the country are expressing. And the interviews with the drunk college students on the beaches and in the bars is only fueling the fires in every way possible! They are angering the rest of the country, and they will be the cause of this country’s numbers of confirmed cases and deaths shooting through the roof. But today they are happy and partying. Come March 27, they will be the ones getting sick and watching their loved ones get sick and dying, all because they did not want to heed the warnings and brought the SARS-CoV-2 virus back to their homes and communities. They won’t be bringing it back to their schools, however, because just about every school in the country has closed until further notice (all classes to be held virtually).

I work for a college in Vermont, one of the last states to identify a first case, and our biggest fear even as much as a month ago was students bringing the virus back from Spring Break. We took incremental steps: first extending spring break by a week and requiring all students submit to a health screening before being allowed back onto campus, but now we are not allowing students back until April 18, which is another month away, and that date may change again. Even with all the precautions being taken by employers, governments, schools, etc., there is a large number of people who still believe that the health professionals are overreacting. To them I have only one thing to say, “You’re an idiot!” There is an expression that is commonly said when someone realizes they made the wrong decision or choice: “In hindsight, …” or “If I knew then what I know now …” The ironic part of this situation is that the United States DOES have the precious gift of hindsight—and it has a name: Italy!

Now that I got that off my mind, I can switch over to the health update. Diet going strong with no cheating yet. There was only one worrisome issue today in that my sister visited 2 different grocery stores and neither of them had any chicken of any kind left to buy. A moment’s pause and a hope that the shelves are restocked tomorrow. Fortunately I did not need the chicken today as we still have corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes leftovers from St. Patrick’s day, and it is even tastier on the reheat!

That’s it for today. I’ll be more upbeat tomorrow. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, stay alive.

Yesterday was my pj day, which means today is my “errands” day. Given the current flu environment, my goal was to get out and get things done as early as possible. As early as a Sunday morning would allow, that is, given all the blue laws in mine and neighboring states that limit store hours. But my thought turned to “get out and do my errands while the religious community is watching church online.”

So that’s what I did, and I was fairly successful. There were no lengthy lines at the grocery store as others had reported just a day earlier, and I was in and out within a half hour (bringing a list of “must haves” really helps speed things along), although I did find the experience almost equal to a gym workout as I found I had to find creative ways to get those items that were on the back of the highest shelf—climbing up a shelf to reach, finding a long item to help move the item closer to the shelf’s edge. I’m just going to bring a yard stick and step ladder with me next time I go shopping!

Diet wise: still on track! But I do see challenges going forward as cities and towns, states, and even entire countries are shutting down in effort to slow the spread of covid-19. The trickle-effect will be vast and touch every industry, even distribution of goods to grocery stores and pharmacies. I expect that some of the healthier food products that I have enjoyed the last half year may become very hard to find soon, like almond milk, raw coconut water, cashews, fresh produce, etc., as delivery systems start to slow or stop completely. For example, I like to make my own mayo instead of purchasing it from the store as I know if I make it there will be no sugars or preservatives in it. The ingredients needed are olive oil, eggs, salt, mustard powder, and lemon juice. Nothing that can’t stand the test of a few weeks time, but once made and because there are no preservatives, it’s only good for about a week whereas a bottle of Cains would probably last years. I also use my homemade mayo as the base for salad dressings, so that too would suffer. If there is no unsweetened almond milk for my coffee, I may just have to give up coffee completely, and that would be a major change and I almost equate that to a smoker giving up cigarettes, and yes, I know what that’s like as I gave up smoking 25 years ago. So in short, my biggest worry these days is how to maintain my Whole 30 plan in this era of pandemic-induced shortages.

For today, things are on plan, a visit to the scale revealed another 1.5 pounds gone, and I will keep at it as long as society’s grocery systems hold on. At least we have our own egg-producing chickens so breakfasts will be spared.

Sunday prayers online,
The faithful find solid hope,
Peace be with you all.

The weekend has finally arrived! This is when I re-energize and let a day of rest repair any stress or body aches before the next work week begins. It doesn’t matter if the day is Saturday or Sunday, it’s a day spent in pajamas doing household chores, cooking, enjoying a hobby or two, ignore paperwork (yes, there are piles), and just let the work of the previous week wash away in the laundry with the rest of my cloths. This weekend the pj day is Saturday. My sister and niece are back and in their scurry to clean up from their trip and get some of their shopping done, so I’ll do all my scurrying about tomorrow as I’ve learned if we all do our scurrying on the same day, tempers are tested when our goals clash.

The body feels good, even though I could use a good back massage to work out a few knots. Stayed on plan, and even gave the scale a curious glance, and then a visit. Down 3.6. Not too shabby for 4 days since we last met!

I am still feeling a bit creatively stifled these days, however. And thoughts about a rather ambitious stop-motion animation project I’ve been wanting to do for years has recently resurfaced. My stumbling blocks around it is that it will required uninterrupted space for a long period of time (perhaps months), a LOT of patience, watercolor work, obtaining some music rights, and learning origami. There’s also the camera components, lighting, rigging, software, and all the technical side, but that stuff doesn’t inhibit me. So i came up with a plan: Step 1: Write it all down and treat it like a movie production complete with storyboards, scripts, shot lists, equipment lists, stage construction schematics, list of actors, location possibilities, and the origami animation models. Step 2: order origami paper and start learning how to create the actors. This is when Amazon Prime is the best thing on the planet. I sifted through all the fancy, multi-colored paper options and found a package of 100 white squares. Perfect for practicing. They arrive tomorrow! Now I’m all set in the event I find myself working from home for weeks on end! That’s what I call a successful lazy day in the pjs.

And now, for the haiku:
Quiet days at home,
Restful invigoration,
Resetting the soul.

Day 3 has arrived! My first thought for the day was, “Thank GOD this is not Day 13!” as today is Friday the 13th. Irony aside, it felt so much like the curse of the date tried its hardest to prove itself true. Yes, it was a clutsy day. It started with a downpour, which resulted in me waking up late due to lack of any light. It continued when I was attempting to get into my car with my hands full and dropping the Yeti mug with almond milk in it .on the dirt driveway and realizing I forgot to seal the lid! Ugg! So back inside I went to clean off the muddy mug and refill it with a little bit of almond milk (coffee to be added later). I get to the office a half hour late, and the parking lot was only about 20% full when typically at this time you struggle to find a spot. So at least no one noticed.

A few more people showed up later, and perhaps the campus is quiet as Spring Break begins today, but it is still an eerie feeling. There was still a lot of buzz about the coronavirus pandemic, and later in the day the lighter side started to ease its way in, so perhaps the curse was losing its power! Even the rain started to subside just after noontime. My favorite meme of the day: “Drink of the day: The Quarintini. Same as a Martini, but you drink it alone in self-isolation.” Yes, even though there is no alcohol allowed on the plan I’m following, it still got a chuckle from me.

Even so, I still found it difficult to concentrate on work with all the news floating about. I did complete what needed to be done, was able to work on a few other projects, but my focus was just not there. It wasn’t until a text from my sister arrived just as I was leaving the office asking me to stop at the store and get toilet paper as the store she was at had none left (she was just returning from a vacation to Wolfeboro). I laughed out loud as there were only two packages left in the store near me just two days earlier (and I bought them both). I let her sweat it out a little then assured her that our butts were saved. That seemed to break the final spell of the day and the remainder of the day was fairly light-hearted.

Diet wise: everything stayed on plan, energy levels normal, things are on track, and I leave you with the following:
Friday, the 13th,
Your curse failed to knock me down,
Happy endings won!

This post will be short and sweet. Day 2 was just fine. Co-worker was still out sick and he’s convinced that he is suffering from covid-19. I, on the other hand, am just fine with not even the smallest of a sniffle, which is actually unusual for me as my allergies are typically running in overdrive this time of year. It’s been just about a week since he was in the office so I’m feel comfortable that whatever he has I did not catch.

So yes, I am feeling fairly healthy these days, knock on wood! My eyes were a little puffy when I woke this morning, but that’s most likely due to only 5 hours of sleep and the humid weather (working on a new knitting project with a difficult stitch, and kept making mistakes so stayed up until I got the rhythm down). Stayed on plan with the food, no weigh-in, and remained upbeat even though the office is fairly deserted these days. There were other co-workers around, but pretty much everyone is staying in their offices. The big topic of discussion was the spread of the covid-19 pandemic, and the messaging we have to deliver to anyone who had registered for a college or campus event for the next two months as most events are being cancelled or rescheduled for a later date. But aside from my co-worker who has been out all week, no one on campus is sick.

To finish, here’s my haiku for the day:
  Coughs, sniffles, headaches.
  None of these symptoms for me.
  Today I feel fine!

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Welcome back! I know it’s been a few days … err, a handful of days since my last post, but rest easy that I did not give up! Life got in the way, and this whole time change thing always throws me for a loop regardless of whether it’s springing forward or falling behind. I absolutely hate the time changes, and if it were up to me I say, “pick ONE and stick with it!” and my vote would go for daylight savings time, would would mean that New England permanently observe the Atlantic time zone. It also doesn’t help that this has been a cloudy, rainy week so sunlight has not been bright enough to help mitigate the darker mornings. Life just seems so much more depressing when you have to get up in the dark and it takes you twice as long to ease into the day.

Enough with the dreary shit (yes, it is dreary out this morning too), welcome to the reboot. My plan remains mostly the same as the previous rounds, with some minor changes. Yes, I will try to post each day, but instead of posting about the day’s progress, which honestly doesn’t make much sense as the day is still happening and the story’s not finished, I’ll be reflecting on yesterday’s thoughts, feelings, physical and mental wellbeing, and all the events that either helped or hindered progress. Also, I will not be doing daily weigh-ins. I liked them, I know a lot of you followed them, but the plan strongly advises against them so this reboot round I will be trying to follow their advice instead of making modifications. Plus there are other ways to measure success without stripping down to nothing and stepping on a cold piece of glass each morning!

I’m also going to try to be more creative with these posts. I’m an artist at heart, and the winter months seem to just suck all the creative juices from me. I do still find creative outlets in my profession and hobbies, but not the ones I find myself truly wanting to be engaged in. But it’s almost Spring and once the first crocuses and day-lilies begin to peak their beautifully bright pedals from the black snow, my spirit returns to capture them on canvas or film. So I hope to share those moments with you as well.

So about yesterday. I mean that is the whole reason for today’s post. Yesterday was fairly descent. It was Day 1 of the reboot, and there was no problem with sticking with the meal plans. I got in my 10K+ steps, so from an energy standpoint I felt really good! Did some work on a new knitting project, realized I made a few mistakes, tried fixing them, and then gave up and unravelled the whole thing so that I can start over tonight. But as devastating as that sounds, it was all good because I still got to use my hands and concentration on the project and sometimes that’s all that is needed to experience a feeling of success.

Aside from all that, however, is the work environment. It’s been very busy and very quiet at work. My main co-worker has been out sick all week, and while I hope he feels better soon, deep down I am feeling relieved that I get to be in my office alone without anyone else around during the dawn of this coronavirus pandemic that is just reached Vermont this week. I’m relieved I don’t have to go to the dining hall each day and opt to eat at my desk instead, in solitude, with no one within 10 feet of me. Yes, I am relieved. Things at work are evolving rapidly with emergency plans being prepared, reviewed, tested, and creative solutions found for helping the college I work for brace for the worst-case scenario. Spring break starts tomorrow, and we have extended it to two weeks instead of one so that we can switch all classes over to a virtual alternative. So while all the students will be leaving campus tomorrow afternoon, we staff members will be working twice as hard to set up a teaching and learning environment that will allow our students to continue their studies off campus if necessary. So I ask for patience over the next few weeks with my posts as I may be exhausted with this whole effort (and I pray I don’t catch it!!!).

Today is off to a good start, but more on that tomorrow ;-).

And now for something a little lighter:
  Looking for the sun,
  Will it shine on us today,
  Only time will tell.

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