August 19 - 22 Abby discusses the heat, fear, and says bye to a tree

August 14 - 18

 Abby gets a visit from an old friend on the 18th!

Thank you Crabby McSlacker, for stopping by! You totally made my day a much better day! Hope you and the Lobster are doing very well. Hugs!!!

Dear Diary, August 5 - 13

Questions and Answers

 Moving day has come and gone. This is a photo of Abby's 'new home'.

practicing...

practicing ...

It was quite the adventure to pack up for a smaller place. 

Where would everything go?

She rented a truck from "Me Haul" and got it all packed up:

Her last day at the old house:

Oh LOOK! She's moving into her new home!

And then celebrated:

Let's see how things are going as she moves in:

Oops, wrong word....

There, now it's fixed.

It's fun and hard at the same time, organizing...

The weather doesn't always help either...

Still learning things?

Still practicing...

Life's mysteries...

See you next time my friends...

GUESS WHO?

 

 We last left poor sad Abby here. 

The words say "Is this the end of Abby? Sad, Blank Mind, Blank Page, Depression, Anxiety" It was a dark time. Abby went into a dark place and lost her mojo for most everything. 

Well, much time has past and guess what?

Stay tuned for more "Adventures with Abby"

Hello, Goodbye

The Walker Lady blog will not be updating for the foreseeable future. Everything is ok, but life has gotten in the way and I may have to close down the whole blog. I haven't decided yet. Anyway, I hope you are all doing well and perhaps I will see you again someday!

Short and simple

I've started my weight loss support group again. Thirty people signed up for it and four showed up the first week. Two showed up the second week. One showed up yesterday. It doesn't surprise me, even though it is a bit disheartening. I SO wish I had the magic pill, the perfect answer, the solution to everyone's weight problems.
I don't have the answers to my own weight problems either. I did lose two pounds this past week though. Perhaps I am on the right path this time? We shall see.

Realism

If you think this is me, you really do NOT know me! hahahaha 

I am a bit more practical about my lifestyle. I would not be able to do that schedule for one week, let alone six. For me, personally, it is not a realistic lifestyle.

I have had a good week so far. I worked out two days, with my trainer. I started my support group up at the senior center. There were four participants there. It's been almost a year since I went on hiatus from that.

I lost a total of six pounds now, following my new program. I am very pleased with myself!

How are you doing in your new year?

Is it working?

It has only been five days since I started my new program. I will find out today if it has made a difference. I don't know how I will react if it hasn't made a difference. I don't know what I will think, if it has!
I am doing intermittent fasting. I was successful for three days. Weekends are 'normal' eating times. Two days CAN negate all that three days of fasting can accomplish. I will find out later, what success or lack thereof, I have.
Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. My method is to basically eat once a day, five days a week. My husband has done this for most all his life. I did it successfully 20 years ago. I had to quit because I became pregnant. I don't think that will be an issue now that I am in my 60's. I also got my doctor's permission to try this.
One other caveat is that I had stomach stapling surgery almost forty years ago. I cannot stuff myself on the weekends. I cannot stuff myself at night when I eat. That makes a difference between me and someone else who would try this method.
If you do try it, proceed with caution and DO talk to your doctor first!

Being good enough

I have often written about being good enough. Lack of self esteem has been an issue for me, all my life. I recently put my quilt "Beadee the Beading Fairy" in a display of quilts at a local library. There were prizes given from voting by both the patrons of the library as well as from our local guild. Beadee didn't get any prizes. Does this mean I am validated in that she isn't a good art quilt? No. It means that there were a lot of great quilts. Beadee is a great quilt too. I don't need to have that validated by others as long as I like her myself.

BTW, that spiderweb is made of hundreds of clear beads of different sizes. It represents dew drops on a spiderweb.

I am just a few days older than 770 months today. If you had asked me before I did the math, how many months old I was, I would have thought it had to be in the thousands, right? Nope, ONLY 770. You would think after all these months, I would not let my lack of self esteem affect me so much. It isn't as bad as it was. I have to really work at accepting praise and realizing, I AM good enough. Are you?

It starts with just ONE

This was on a friend's posting on Facebook. I thought it was quite appropriate for not only today, but for every day in one's life. It is from the website, tinybuddha.com.

I Will

Earlier last year:
I was sitting in the john and said to myself, "I am just going to give up and die." Now don't get all weird on me. I didn't mean it in a suicidal way. I am just tired of fighting the battle. My weight has gone up and up and up. I may as well get fat and die young.

A few months ago:
Since I wrote the above paragraph, it's been several months. I got on a different antidepressant and it seems to be helping. I have stopped drinking as much as I was. The year is now almost over and I am 10-15 pounds heavier than I was last year.

New Years Day:
This brings us to today. The first of the new year. I am full of intentions. I will start blogging again. I will walk more. I will get some weight off. I will, I will, I will.....will I? I don't know. For today though, I WILL.

Happy New Year to one and all!!!

Preoccupied

Over the holidays we lost our two old dogs. One was just before Christmas and one was on New Year's Eve. They were quite old but it was still a shock and unpleasant surprise. We thought Dex would be enough for us but as weeks went on it was apparent that Dex missed having a playmate.

So this happened. 

I feel like I did when I had my human babies, well, almost. Roxy is a mixed breed puppy that we got a few weeks ago. She's probably a shepherd/husky mix. She's a lot of work! Eventually she will be more dog like and less puppy like. I hope. hahahaha

Dexter isn't too sure of her and has protected me from the demon eyed beast. Eventually we will all go on long walks together. At least that is the plan.

Till next time, walk-on!

Those TV food ads

TV food ads are literally in your face all the time. You cannot escape  They can trigger cravings too! Along with this is the exposure to alcohol and cigarettes. As a former smoker, I am amazed at how prevalent cigarettes are still on TV. Not so much the networks but on all the cable movies and many of the cable TV shows. 
Worse than that is alcohol though. That is still so acceptable in our society. You can't hardly get away from it on TV or on FaceBook. 

I drink too much wine. I want to cut down or cut out, wine in my life. My primary reason is that I don't need those calories or those types of calories on a daily basis. (high carb) It leads to snacking more too and messes up my sleep. I self medicate with it. At the end of the day, I want to de-stress fast and just blank out the day. I didn't do this all my life but it has gotten out of hand over the past few years.
Anyway, it is hard to quit when you see this person or that person talking about having a glass of wine with dinner or a drink or you see it on TV, everyone has a shot of whisky at the end of the day or a hard CSI case.
I don't know how successful I will be. I am off to a good start, but I've done this before and always talked myself into, "Just one" again and again. I have replaced the wine with a book. I go to bed earlier and read. Reading a book is a much healthier choice than a bottle of wine or the snacks that follow.
I see those food postings on FaceBook too and when I see it isn't a healthy recipe or food, I scroll past it like it was a dirty joke. Not my cup of tea. I am trying to look at drinking postings differently too. One drink is never enough for me. Other folks can't eat just one cookie. And we all know "Nobody can eat just one" potato chip! One is too many. I am accepting that now and working to find other ways to de-stress in the evenings.
Where am I going with this? Well, I have made a huge (to me) effort to say to myself, "You know what will happen if you give in. What can you do to change your mindset?" Then I make a big deal, again, only in my mind, about every stinkin' little victory I have over a drink, a snack, or whatever is tempting me to lead a life that I don't want. I might think I do, but I know, deep down inside, I don't.
Sorry to write so much this morning. This blog brings out the 'other me' who might be too verbose at times.

Till next time, make healthy choices and Walk-On!

Tis the Season to say hello!

We start with a sunrise over the river at the outlook at Petit Jean State Park

We really have embraced camping life. The more times we get away, the better our mood has been. I think camping has saved our sanity! I know it does something to my soul, to be outdoors.

The year is almost over. Crabby McSlacker wrote on my post before this, the one done in November. That reminded me that I wanted to blog again this month! Thanks Crabby!

So, life has been a bitch. I don't want to bore you with all the excuses, but I have not been practicing what I preach. No surprise then, that I gained weight. I am at 237 today. 

Not cool Sherri, not cool. Well the leggings are kinda cool.

I KNOW I have to adjust my attitude and make a stronger commitment to living a better life. I am working on that. I almost stopped leading my weight loss support group. I almost gave up on myself. Almost. What is that saying? You only fail if you quit. I refuse to fail. I refuse to quit. I CAN figure out what kind of life I want and I CAN achieve that. Know what else? I WILL!

I had my annual checkup last week. All the blood work was just fine. Phew, no diabetes! My blood pressure was up though. Not good. I have taken steps to come back in January like gang busters, in my support group. I have lots of plans for the future there. I 'feel' an attitude change coming over me. I hope to keep sharing things with my few readers that are sticking with me too. Thank you to them!

We'll end the post with a moonrise taken at Petit Jean, near our campsite.

Oops one other last thing, Abby and Dex wish you all happy holidays 

and a super duper new year!