Kathy, Project 365, Recipes/Food

Sunshine, Healthy Apps, and Getting in Shape

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The sun has been shining for days here in western Washington. It’s been wonderful. Truly we have been spoiled. Twice we went to the beach with friends. On Sunday, Sarah and I went to Costco and picked out some beautiful hanging flower baskets.

Sunshine - time to go for a walk.

Sunshine – time to go for a walk.

Today the temps had dropped, but the rain that threatened to come held off another day. Throwing on a winter coat (making sure there were gloves in the pocket), I met up with two friends for a morning walk. We managed to get in two miles before needing to return home and start the day. There is something about sunshine and the crisp air that cries out to be enjoyed.

Of course, I am very fond of sunshine and warm air as well. Especially if I can go some place like this:

I never get tired of looking at that blue water.

Rachel, Sarah, Jenny, and David – remember this? Ahhhh, I never get tired of looking at that blue water.

Tim surprised me with an early Mother’s Day present on Friday. A new cell phone!!! I was tired from a long day at co-op, so I barely appreciated it that day. However, I’ve been playing with it ever since. And today, my bright pink case arrived.

"Pink is my signature color."

“Pink is my signature color.”

I am attempting once again to take control of my eating and lose some weight this spring. I added the app for myfitnesspal.com in order to log my food and calories. I have tried to use this system before, with little success. This time I have made some tweaks to my recording, and so far it’s been a huge encouragement. I have a few friends who are also tracking their food and exercise. Seeing their exercise notifications pop up has given me new motivation to get moving.

FriendGirl has burned 280 calories doing 52 minutes of cardio exercises, including “Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace”
JJ255 has burned 202 calories doing 25 minutes of Aerobics, high impact

There’s even a category to record light cleaning and yard work. These programmers think of everything!

The next app I installed was runkeeper.com. Tim and Rachel both use this app for recording some of their exercise. I have only used it three times, and I already love it. With the gps turned on in my phone, I can start off for a walk or a jog and the phone automatically tracks the time I exercise, the distance I travel and the calories I burn. Love technology!!

Add to that a weekly weigh-in with two other friends, and it is obvious I am taking this spring shape up seriously. I’ve got a little bit of everything –

- recording food/tracking calories
- no sugar or junk food
- at the same time freedom in how I choose to distribute the daily calories
- walking and light weight training
- weigh in/accountability with committed friends

I am hoping to see great progress over the spring and into the summer. In the meantime I went for two walks today, made healthy food choices, and was under my calories. This is day 15 of recording my food! Praying to be faithful for the long haul.

The best way to get in top shape is with Slim Tree. We recommend the 20 grams muscle gain supplements. They will have you looking like new in no time!

Project 365 – Day 112
Kathy

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Project 365, Sarah

A Cat’s Life

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If for some reason I was not permitted to be a human being, I think I would like to be an otter. Of all the animals in God’s Earth, otters seem to have the most fun with the least amount of hardship. Even zoo otters seem to enjoy themselves greatly, lying on their backs in the water, sucking down endless streams of fish from their human keepers.

Not actually me.

Not actually me.

But if I couldn’t be an otter, I think I would like to be a pet cat. Not for me the scrappy life of a tough street cat — I’d want to be a pampered inside cat, luxuriating my days away in a patch of sunshine in some cozy bedroom.

Sarah gives Marco a little brushing love.

Sarah gives Marco a little brushing love.

Our cats like to sleep wherever it is warmest and most peaceful — often in my bedroom. They especially like to shed fur on my clean clothes or test their claws on any bills or important papers I might have lying out. But when they aren’t sleeping, they love to be groomed with a cool wire brush we bought for them.

It is hard to photograph the cats when they are being brushed ... they are not particularly passive in the experience.

It is very difficult to photograph the cats when they are being brushed … they are not particularly passive in the experience.

Marco, in particular, enjoys the process so much that he forgets the purpose and wants to wrestle with the brush. He isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’m afraid.

Marco particularly enjoys being brushed on his neck and belly.

Marco is very blurry when he is being brushed on his neck and belly.

Project 365, Day 111
Tim

[Disclaimer: Kathy distinctly reminded me to take a picture today, but I forgot, so once again I'm hurriedly blogging about whatever I can stage in the late evening.]

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Daily Life, Project 365

Why Would Anyone Want to Blog Everyday?

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It’s always a bad sign when the evening draws to a close with these sort of words:

“Why did you want to do a Project 365 anyway?”
“Me? You’re the one who thought it’d be some sort of a fun idea.”
“What? I distinctly remember YOU were the one who decided we should do this.”
“Decided? Is that code word for bullied?”

Yep the sheen and shine of the Project 365 is wearing thin. 109 posts so far in 2015, and we’re getting tired. Or maybe we started out tired. Or maybe we’re just lazy bloggers.

Heading to Costco with my girl!

Heading to Costco with my girl!

The difficulty lies in the fact that we’re not just taking a picture every day, we’re also blogging every day. It seems boring to list all the things we do in a day. What kind of a post is that? Hardly scintillating. We just don’t lead that exciting of lives. Or it seems to be bragging – oh, look we did this and this and this. That’s not very interesting. And even if it was, it probably wouldn’t be good for us to be boasting. I seem to recall a Proverb that mentions letting others praise you and not your own lips.

Now deep, meaningful, insightful blog post, that would be worth reading. The problem is (at least today), I started too late in the evening to be thoughtful. If I did strive to craft a touching, moving post like that it would take me at least an hour. I prefer sleep to blog fame and fortune.

Thankfully we are mainly blogging for our own family – grandparents (who already love us), our college kid (who actually like to see the pictures of the random things we do during the week), and kids at home (who are cheerful, faithful readers). So that means I can post my daily pictures, throw together a few (hopefully mostly coherent) words and call the Project 365 post done for the day.

For our family far away – we miss you! Here is a peek at what we did today (the rest of you can skim on by).

It was gorgeously warm and sunny here today. We walked up and down the block several times, enjoying the spring weather and gorgeous flowers growing everywhere. We did school. We decided to cancel piano lessons (songs aren’t ready yet). David mowed the neighbors’ lawn. Daniel worked a LONG shift at Chick-Fil-A. We went to the beach with a big group of moms and kids. I met my wonderful friend Julee and went to a BSF welcome/intro and signed up for next year’s Revelation class (who wants to join me???). We went to small group. David washed all the dishes (by hand as we still don’t have a dishwasher) and cleaned the kitchen. Sarah did a lot of math. We watched some shows on Netflix. Everyone went to bed. I made some food for tomorrow and did some laundry.

Beach time - almost too hot for these WA natives.

Beach time – almost too hot for these WA natives.

There you have it. The picture and accompanying blog for the day. Thank you for keeping the expectations low but the cheer high. Night!

Project 365 – Day 110
Kathy

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Project 365

Sunday Afternoon Driver

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Today was one of the Wilderness Northwest Counselor-in-Training (CIT) meetings, and so I drove a posse of kids from our church out to the Duckabush valley. A number of the kids who attend our church have become involved in the Day Camp program at WNW, and they greatly enjoy the discipleship program that prepares them to minister to the Day Camp kids each July.

It is a fair distance out to the Olympic Peninsula from where we live, and we usually rotate drivers, so no one parent has to carry the driving burden alone. This month I volunteered, since I have been playing Ingress, and there were some portals I wanted to hack and capture along the Hood Canal. I have dreams of building a large triangle that connects those portals to some around here, thereby gaining lots of points for myself and my team.

I admit, the game doesn’t make much sense to you if you go by my description. Think of it as geocaching with a combative twist, if you know what that is. Even then, I’m afraid it doesn’t make much sense.

Anyway, I spent the afternoon driving out to the Duckabush, dinked around with the Wifi there (I still needed to fix a couple of my previously-installed network cables) and then drove home again. I did manage to grab two portals in the Dosewallips valley (one valley to the north).

Sadly, I only took one picture the whole day, so this blog is a bit sparse in visual appeal.

Not an Ingress Portal ... yet!

Not an Ingress Portal … yet!

Just think of this as my way to keep the Project 365 bar low for Kathy.

Project 365, Day 109
Tim

Related posts:

Daily Life, Project 365

Saturday

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Today was a simply gorgeous day! I thought I would be able to sleep in as I was low on rest this week, but I woke up early, answered a few text messages, started worrying about Sarah getting ready for play practice, and next thing you know, I was fully awake.

Sarah’s carpool ride fell through, so Tim was gracious and took Sarah to her play practice while I went for a prayer walk by the water w/Kirstin.

Gorgeous blue water behind us.

Gorgeous blue water behind us.

Seriously, I think we live in one of the prettiest places on earth! If spring is this beautiful, I can’t imagine what kind of a summer we are going to have. I think Sarah and I should buy some hanging flower baskets tomorrow for the front porch. Something pink and purple and white that says SPRING all over it!

David and Sarah both had long play rehearsals today. Their plays open next week (can you say “open” if it’s just one weekend?). David is playing Lysander in a Midsummer Night’s Dream and Sarah has two small parts in Alice in Wonderland. Our homeschool co-op has a fantastic drama department for both the younger students (Limelight) and the older ones (Center Stage). The two directors are good friends and have worked together for years. This is David’s first year in Center Stage – what a beginning, Shakespeare right off the bat! He’ll do great. I can’t wait to see both productions next weekend.

The rest of the day was spent accordingly:

Surprising David with a cell phone (Tim bought me a new phone as an early Mother’s Day present so David gets my old one)
Taking apart/destroying the side deck (rotting wood w/old and broken hot tub)
Trying to back up old phone
Trying to sync new phone
Copying a gazillion pictures and other files onto the computer from old phone
Activating new phone

(It really shouldn’t take so long to start up a new phone. I guess the more complex the technology, the more complicated the process.)

Sweet chat with Rachel, my beautiful college girl, who will be home in less than a MONTH!!
Helping edit a math project
Reviewing French w/David for a chapter test
Laundry and dishes (always)
A long Skype chat with Joshua, who may or may not come home this summer.

Tim was supposed to blog tonight, but he was too sleepy and left me to ramble here cheerfully. Always glad to oblige. David posed for a last minute picture for me.

David

Project 365 – Day 108
Kathy

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The musings and ravings of a bloggart family