Calorie Guessing

 I do a lot of calorie guessing and estimating. I tend to track my calories when I eat less. It's just easier to keep track. 

I've been making okay food choices. 

Breakfast - slice banana bread

lunch - popcorn & watermelon, ravioli

Dinner - coleslaw with ginger dressing

popcorn, and watermelon

Snack - lemon thin cookies

I've been doing a lot of no makeup photos. Good thing there is a camera filter! 

I doubt any weight loss progress has been made. I hope there hasn't been any gain either. I've been under 2000 calories for the day with aprox 1600 - 1500 most days. Exercise has been just working as I figure it burns around 600. I've opted to rest and be a couch potato and get in a nap every afternoon too. I'm pretty exhausted after my busy workday. It's from 9:15/9:30am to around 1:30pm this week. Just a few breaks between driving from house to house. 

I ate up all the banana bread and ravioli so all those temptations are gone. Plus we are leaving today to go to the lake. I won't be counting calories, but I will still watch what I drink/eat. 

Here's what's on the menu:

Hard seltzers - 100 cal each

Breakfasts - hash browns, scrambled eggs, maybe bacon or chicken sausages, pancakes

Dinner- Hamburgers, pizza and ? 

Snacks - ? Chips/salsa/ guac/taco dip

Lots of boating, jetski, floating in the water, clean up/set up camp and cooking. It's going to be HOT mid 80's perfect for the lake. In all there will be 12 over the weekend. I'm going to start having the kids help out more, blowing up tubes, and cooking. This way Steve and I can enjoy ourselves more and the kids will have more fun helping out too. 

I have fun glow in the dark sticks to make Stick people for the 4th. I never did purchase those cowboy hats, probably should have as it would have been fun. I need a red, white and blue outfit to wear on Sunday. I have a red tank top, Blue too, mostly all black skirts so I'll need to come up with something! 

We are brining up everything for this weekend. I want to bring the row boat too. just need to figure out where the ores went! hum...?? Kayaks too for fishing! Which reminds me, we all need fishing a license! Plus, poles and bait! 

I have a busy work day ahead. Right after I need to pack up and drive up to the lake. We'll have to mow right away and set up at least one tent tonight. Mowing will probably happen Friday morning. 

Games, hammerslogen and ? Should have made or bought a giant jenga game! hum... ?? 

A fail or not?

 I had a busy work day so I skipped working out at the gym to relax. Is that considered a fail? yes/No?

Count down to the Holiday weekend!

 Well, last night was it for tent sleeping in the back yard. I had to move it due to the rain getting under and soaking the carpet in some places. I need some of the lights, air mattress and rugs in there anyway for the holiday weekend of camping at the lake. So it was time to move the tent to dry out and I'll put it away this afternoon. It's supposed to rain tonight, so now is the time to do this! 

I had the day off on Monday, so I got a pedicure and tried out the new Hope breakfast restaurant with a neighbor friend. I didn't take any photos. 

I mostly did a lot of shopping. Costco, Walmart, Cub foods, Trader Joes. Plus went to the Chiro. All the stuff that needed to be done before the holiday weekend. I was on a mission to find a water jug with the spout. I had to go to three stores and finally found them at the Cub in Eagan. I grabbed two as we have lots of people this weekend and will probably go through lots of water. It's mostly for hand washing and dishes etc. Just easier to use than the big jugs we bring. That's mostly for showers/hair washing. I'd rather have more water than not enough. We can purchase more if needed but we always have plenty. 

I am just ready to be on vacation. Have to earn some money first! I have a few bills to pay too, so it's good I have work. We won't be staying up there all week, I have two days of work on Wed/Thur, so it's a quick work week. We'll be back up to the lake on Friday or Thursday night for me. I'm tempted to leave the tents up over few days we will be gone. It just depends on the weather. If it's going to rain/storm, I'll most likely just take them all down and put up again next weekend. Ugh! Just would be so much easier to leave them up! 

I still can't find my tent lights? Maybe I threw them out? Doubt it?? I gave up looking yesterday, but will look again for them. I'd like them for the outside of the tents. They have to be around somewhere?? Which is so weird because I always have the lights all together. I do take some out when we don't need them for certain trips, so I probably moved them and they are in some bag somewhere in the garage. 

I'm washing sleeping bags today and that's about it for my todo list. 

SunDAY and much needed rain.

 I'm trying to look on the bright side of the rain this weekend. Saturday wasn't a wash out, the storms/rain held off until the evening. We still did everything we wanted outdoors. Last night, we even slept outdoors in the short hour long thunderstorm. 

I do think today/Sunday will be a wash with the rain on and off all day. We are making the most out of the rain. Went to the gym and worked out till 10:30 and now having breakfast. 

Today the plan is to groom Zoey. 

I have tomorrow off too, so already have plans

Pedicure, Gym, and Chiro appointment. 

A rainbow Saturday night!

Chicken and corn on the new grill

Farmers Market photo

It hasn't started out as a diet day. Raspberry coffee cake for breakfast. 

Let's see how the rest of the day goes! 

Weekend at home!

 Due to the storms/rain forecast, we decided to stay home. It's probably a good thing because we were able to get a few things crossed off our outside todo list. 

I mowed the trees growing through the grass in the back yard. Steve put up the new hanging lights above the deck. I took down the old tree lights out front and put up one set of new lights. Get rid of the old grill and moved the wood pile off the patio to the garden wood pile. 

Now we are off to get rid of a few pallets that have piled up and then get stuff for dinner. 

This Key Lime Martini was delicious. Unfortunately, it burned my stomach! 

We went to Hudson with our neighbor friends last night for happy hour and dinner. We did a little bar/restaurant hopping. 

The outfit for the night. Found some black healed sandals I forgot about. Plus, wore this shirt I haven't put on in years. The red skirt also now fits! 

Walking the pier 

Beautiful night to be outdoors. 

Happy Friday!!

It's Friday!! I have the day off. I could have scheduled some work but I have plenty to do on my 4 day weekend. Which means I've packed a week of work into three days next week so I can take a long Holiday weekend or week!  

I have been maintaining on my weight loss instead of losing. It's been tough. Guess I need the break, but want to lose the last 10 to 15 pounds too. 

Here's what I ate yesterday

breakfast 2 cups popcorn

lunch- 3 cups popcorn, watermelon

snack - Trader joes new snacks/ Tastes. 

Dinner- shitio peppers, pork dumplings, strawberry shortcake with extra fruit

snack - more TJ snacks 

Exercise - only work from 9:30am to 1:30pm, 4 hours non-stop! Never did make it to the gym or bike. I did run errands to the store, Costco and Trader Joes. 

I'm on week #30 and I'd like to start making weight loss progress. Next week is the 4th of July, which won't be a diet week, but will still watch calories and maintain. I need to get back to actually tracking number of calories and putting it down in my Fitbit. I've been slacking on that. Plus, need to just show up for the gym. 

Here's the plan for today/Friday:

Plank/Weights

Gym: Stairs/weights

Errands - store for grape jelly

clean kitchen /organize our main level/clean bathrooms

Pay bills (H2O and Electric)

If I have time, mow back yard, put lights in trees out front and on deck, groom Zoey. 

Saturday- Monday will be spend doing the things I didn't get done today. Plus, I want to go to the Farmer market and check out a new asian/French bakery in Richfield and look for some new sandals and tops. 

90 degrees officially summer

 We have a 90*f week of weather. Perfect summer conditions to be out on the St. Croix river boating. 

It was a fun afternoon out on the St. Croix river. The kids had friends and we ate on the beach cooking BBQ chicken, potatoes and roasted veggies. A few drinks might have been drank too. 

Beach picnic!

Still need to work on the stomach! It's my goal to drop 10 pounds and get it flat! Drinks are not helping. I did switch to MockTails which is a game changer. Just a little too difficult while out boating. A work in progress!! 

I did get in exercise yesterday before boating which was working from 9:30am to 12:45pm. about 3 hours minus some drive time of about 20 minutes. Plus, I got in a quick ebike ride in the morning. Felt great to start my day off with a ride. I'll have to do that again this morning around 8a.m. 

Maintenance phase of weight loss journey?

 I've been in the maintain phase instead of losing in my weight loss journey. It's a balance right now between being away on weekends, living life and not gaining weight back that I lost. 

Here's what I have been doing and not. 

I injured my knee back on Memorial Day and that took at least 2 weeks to recover. I still worked and did bike a few times and lifted weights while I was recovering. I call that a win for doing what I could at that time. It was just painful walking and getting around. 

I do track calories as much as I can while on vacation/gone for the weekends. I do splurge on having a few drinks etc. lately, I realized I can switch to just a seltzer with some fruit and a spritz of juice for taste or none at all and just have fruit muddled. This way, I still feel like I'm having a drink with out all the calories. I just tried this last night and it was a win/win for me! Loved the idea of a mock-tail. 

I finally got back to the gym yesterday where I was able to do the stairs again. I'm back down from level 8 to 6, because I wanted to be cautious on my knee the first day back. No need for setbacks. I felt great and so did my knee. I can now up it to 7 or 8 no problem! 

Dieting and being in a calorie deficit around 1000- 1500  cal per day is a little bit more difficult. I do fine until dinner. That's where I consume most of my calories. Some days I eat a popcorn breakfast, but mostly skip that. Lunch is still mostly popcorn with whatever for dinner. I snack also on fruit, sometime human and pita chips for a little more of something different. 

I just have 10 to 15 pounds left that I'd like to lose. Not sure why these last pounds are so tough. I thought I had dieting down. I just need to get back to eating less and working on that part. I've been stuck at the same measurements for weeks. I keep staying it's time to get back on track, then we are gone on the weekends and I don't record what I eat to track. There is no point in measuring this week. 

Coming up to week #30 tomorrow. This needs to be a start fresh week, but not start over. Just a count every calorie and plan ahead my food to stay within  1000 cal to lose the last 10 pounds. Should take 10 weeks to lose a pound a week! So week #40 is the goal! September! Sad to think summer will be over but it will anyway. Might as week work towards my goals. 

With my ex having a heat attack it makes you realize just how important it is to eat healthy and be in a normal body range. Keep moving and making progress every day! 

Father's Day weekend in the Dells.

 We Hipcamped in Cazinova Wisconsin. We had a beautiful ride through coon valley on our way south of the dells to where we were staying the weekend. 

I was unaware that this hip camp had multiple campsites. More than the 3 I thought they had. plus the owners lived in a camper on the property just up the hill from where we were camping. I'd say this wasn't awful camping here, but not great either. Here are my complaints. 

1. other campers near by. 

2. Neighbors dogs barking from 9pm to 2:30am (really annoying and hard to sleep!)

3. Firepit, unusable as it was filled with soot, and other wood/dirt. Plus, too close to our tents to use. 

4. 2 large dead trees that could have fallen on the corner of our tent. Very dangerous, Plus noticed the kids tent had a huge dead branch above it! Yikes!! Number 1 rule of camping, don't set up under a dead tree. 

5. dirt that was fluffy. No grass. It would have been a muddy mess if we got any rain. 

6. Not a single flat area. We were at an angle sleeping. It turned out okay as we adjusted our air mattress, but not idea sleeping. 

We won't camp here again, but I did like the area. Just hated the dogs barking!! This was by far the worst hip camp ever! We usually are the only campers and have ideal camping accommodations. We didn't let it bother us, as we only slept here or tried to sleep. 

While Logan and Hesuse were at Mt Olympus in the Dells. Steve and I had our own fun day. Breakfast and an art show in Reedsville. We also went to the Driftless Distillery by the river, had lunch and a drink. 

Art show

River distillery drink

Winery stop

Bridal party with cute wigs

Dinner in the Dells by the riverwalk. 

Stopped at a little town bar by where we were camping called Fishy's. Had a $3 dollar drink

Cows in the country. Of course I never got a photo of all the Amish in the area. 

Pretty rolling hill through Coon valley on our drive to the camping area, in the town of Casanova. 

Logan's first College apartment, Move in day!! His apartment is on the right, 1st floor. Bedroom window is the side garden. 

Room with his new queen bed and frame. We just unrolled the bed, but didn't make it. He can do that in September. 

kitchen

Lots of arched doorways, hardwood floors.

Living room. just needs a TV and stand. 

Home again on Sunday night at 8:30pm. What a great Father's Day weekend! 

Other news. Kendra's father had a heart attack early Saturday morning at 5am. He was flatlined. They got him breathing and brought him to the St. Paul Hospital. He was incubated and sedated. Woke up a little Saturday night while Kendra was there with him and they weened him off oxygen yesterday. Talking, aware and now up and walking today. He ended up needing 4 stents, widow maker heart attack with 100% blockage. Guess he went to the hospital Friday night, only to be sent home with meds. Yikes!! The paramedics must have gotten there in time when he stopped breathing. Glad he is okay and will make a full recovery! It would have been a sad Father's Day otherwise for Kendra and her sisters. 

Hastings/Happy hour

 We went to Hastings for happy hour last night. We had to pick up Steve's truck. They still don't know 100% what's wrong with it. It just doesn't start sometimes. It could be the starter but maybe something else. They wanted around $600. Steve can do that himself as it's an easy fix and will be max cost of the part around $200. 

I ended up helping Steve yesterday with a basement doing the mud on all the screw holes. In all it took me about 2 hours and I was done with all. I'll go back today and do the 2nd coat. I'm not looking forward to how busy I am today. At least it will speed up the day by being busy. 

My knee is finally feeling better and I'm able to walk normal for the 2nd day in a row. Well, maybe today is the first full day as I didn't start off 100% normal yesterday. I'm thinking next week I should be able to do stairs again. It's been a while, so not going all out and will ease back in. 

Here are a few new places I want to try! 

Outdoors at much as possible!

 I do like being outdoors. Love, love summer!! I am a big fan of sleeping outdoors in our back yard tent. Yep that's right. I will sleep outdoors every chance I get. The cooler air temps are wonderful. Perfect for sleeping even though it can get a little bit chilly. I'd rather be bundled under lots of covers than hot at night. 

Found this fun memory photo of Steve. Back when we did a lot of biking. Probably time to get back into that. Well, I have to recover from my knee injury first. I did a ebike ride and of course hurt my knee again in the process of crossing the road on the last part of the easy ride yesterday. 

I did take some Advil eventually and today it feel better again, but it reminded me that even though its feeling a lot better it's still not 100% and I need to take it easy! 

Weight loss week #28. I have made zero progress in a few weeks. Other then well, maintaining. I'm still eating fruit and popcorn. One main meal a day mostly. I had been skipping breakfast, but I feel hungry  so I've been having popcorn. I probably need more protein in my diet. 

I also haven't been tracking calories, but still mindful. Since we are going out of town again. I'm going to keep tracking and being mindful. Not trying to lose but maintain and fit in exercise daily. I shouldn't feel guilty for missing a few days here and there. It just makes me feel like I'm missing out on goals and I don't want to set up a pattern of skipping. Back to the gym to at least lift weights this week. 

Week #27 coming to an end

 I'm ending week #27. It was a week of not much gym exercise since I hurt my knee on Memorial Day weekend running into the picnic table bench. It's almost back to normal. I am giving it at least one more day if not two before I hit up the stairs at the gym. I've really cut down on exercise since my injury. I did manage to make it to the gym a few time to lift weights. That's better then nothing. Which is what happened yesterday. I ended up not working, napping and only doing a few errands. Well, I did manage to get my entire todo list done, which was wash all sleeping bags, get all the camping stuff cleaned/sleeping bags, wash stove and utensils, reorganize and charge up the batteries, lights etc.. Plus, I cleaned our kitchen and fixed the back yard tent since it had rain water under and the rug was a bit wet inside. I needed a down day to just recover from the weekend. 

It's back to work today and a busy week at that! I'm going to try going to the gym this afternoon and lifting weights, maybe if I have time ride my ebike. 

My Fitbit was low on batteries so I never wore it over the weekend and didn't yesterday either since it was charging. I'll have to go back to wearing it today. I get a weekly report on my steps which never records the stairs at the gym. Not very accurate! It also tells me I've gained about 3 pounds every week even though I set it to weight loss and enter my calories and am under most days or in range. Not sure why it's doing this when I have set it correctly. Maybe I'm missing something? I need to write to them to add in some measurements and figure out why it's staying I'm gaining!! Makes me question why I'm even bothering with this. 

Sleeping outside in the tent is the best. It was around 58*F for the low last night which was perfect weather. It's always too hot in our house at night even with the AC and a fan. I just sleep so much better outdoors! I finally got the other zippers to fix more of our tents. I'm just waiting for the 4th and will fix them when camping. No need to set up before since that would be extra work. 

I still need to order some disco lights for camping. Just need to pick the correct ones to work with zero power. It needs to be battery or solar power. It's only a $10 investment so not much for some added fun. 

Sauk Weekend

Back home and another Monday. At least I'm not working today, but have plenty of errands. 

Logan and two of his friends joined us up at the lake. We took the day off Friday and got to the lake by noon. The kids arrived shortly after. We did manage to set up their tent and most of the stuff before they arrived an hour later. 

We let the kids have the big 20ft dark tent and we took the other new tent on the 2nd beach area. 

We had the kids make their own eggs. I think they enjoy cooking a little as long as they don't have to clean up. 

We always make breakfast with some lunches and dinners. We did all go to the winery and had Zorba's pizza Saturday night. 

It wasn't crazy windy this weekend, so we had nice fires and it was a lot calmer out on the water. Just not as hot. I think it was in the mid 70's Saturday, but we all got in the water and did the jetski. 

Sunday it really cooled off. Thankfully, it was sunny at at least 68*F by the time I had to get in the water to take the jetski out and go home. The water actually is pretty warm, so it felt warmer than the air when I got out. We have such a perfect set up on the beach. We are still amazed at how good it all turned out when we fixed the beach area. We have the perfect shaded picnic table area, but still have sun on the other beach in the morning. It looks all over grown in this photo as you can't even see the picnic table or our new tent on the far side. We fixed the rocks that always fall down in the spring from the ice pushing it. I also put up more solar lights on the tree trunks. I had to fix some that no longer work and added a few extra. I love how it's all lit up at night. One of these nights I need to go out and take a photo from the water at night. I want to get a solar disco lights for the 4th to add to the party atmosphere at night. 

Nothing tastes better than outdoor cooking at the lake! 

We saw these assembled modular homes already to go and were interested in the cost. it would be an instant cabin. Just not sure how it would fit through the woods! We'd have to cut everything down! It would be a quick fix, but not really the cabin style we want. I still am getting a price just to check it out. 

Wearing my swim suit. Just like I wanted. I purchased a new swim skirt and some new shoes for the water. This is not the best angle but the only one I could get. I need a selfie stick! Still need to work on losing the last 10 to 15 pounds. No idea what I weight, but I'm going by clothes and how I feel. 

It's back to dieting today after a few too many drinks over the weekend.