Saturday, December 5, 2015

Goosebusters!

I absolutely love the days I get out and take a walk at lunch time. Friday, I had a quick errand to do and ended up by the little park I've walked at before. I was happy to see a flock of Canada Geese hanging out. I know they are somewhat controversial, but I love them. This guy was standing in my path. I thought maybe he was trying to intimidate me or at the least was not intimidated by me.  As I approached I was singing (in my head) "I ain't afraid of no goose" "who ya gonna call?...Goosebusters!!" 
As I got closer, I did feel a bit guilty as the poor thing hobbled away. It appeared he might have a broken foot. Then to make me feel just a bit worse on the next lap he was lying by himself away from the other geese. Broken foot and no friends - no bueno. 
This sign reminded me of the teeter-totters in elementary school. All metal with a small wooden seat. Recess was all about giving "bumps" - meaning making the person fly off their seat by hitting the ground hard with your end or letting your feet touch lifting yourself off the seat and then dropping down again. There was plenty of squealing and laughing....and I guess we might be the reason I don't see very many teeter-totters around any more. Are you Team Teeter-Totter or Team SeeSaw?   
This fun sundial seemed to be pretty accurate, if I am reading it right. I walked about 1-1:30 pm.
I have a confession as I was walking at lunch on Friday, all I could think about was ice cream (and the sad goose, of course). I spent the better part of the walk trying to talk myself out of stopping at DQ on my way back to the office or maybe I was trying to justify stopping...we will never know.  I had spotted this library box and planned that I would check it out right before I left.   
On my final lap, I decided maybe I should look for a sign in the box - yes, I should get ice cream or no, I should not. Maybe there would be a book about ice cream. The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street or An Ice Cream War would be a definite green light, right? And for the record, I don't even know why I thought up this crazy plan. I don't take stock in signs and certainly when I've asked for one I didn't get one (at least a discernible one). When I got to the box I immediately saw a book....and didn't think about my silly sign again until much later in the day, when I remembered I forgot all about the ice cream. The book is A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. That doesn't seem to have anything to do with ice cream - for or against.
 Turns out the book was from the public library system. I worked in a public library for a couple of years and you can't take the circulation clerk out of the girl.. I checked it for indications that it has been withdrawn. No, in fact it is a new release. It clearly should not have been left in this "library". I decided to take the book with me and drop it off at one of the public libraries so it could be returned to its home library. I made a call to a friend who works for the library system to alert them of the potential issue.  I became completely engrossed it righting the path of this wayward book that I was back at work before I knew it and without the ice cream.  Now the question is should I read the book before I return it??

Oh and I took this free book for myself. Oddly enough I didn't see it as a sign.  And now, on further reflection, it does seem to have a relation to my picture trauma of yesterday.  Apparently, I need a "squirrel" to chase instead of a "sign" because I can't read signs.
Oh, SQUIRREL!!  I saw this one at the park...nice and chubby for winter. Did I say chubby?  I meant fluffy.

My Saturday was not stellar in the 5-a-day and water department, but I did make an effort so all was not lost. I was out of the house without a proper breakfast so I grabbed these for the road.
The cucumbers were so good - nice and crunchy.

I spent a good portion of the day with my oldest niece, who is 3 weeks from delivery - where does the time go? She and I went to watch her sister compete at a cheerleading competition. Aren't they pretty :)
In case you ever wondered what a gym floor full of nervous cheerleaders waiting for the results to be announced looks like...
I was very thankful for my niece's cool driving head today. We were almost run off the road by a semi. It was changing lanes and we must have been in his blind spot. It pulled over right in front of us. I thought for sure we were going in the median ditch. She did a great job avoiding a VERY ugly situation. I am not sure I would have done nearly as well. 

When we got home I decided to run out and do some quick Christmas shopping. I am not a huge fan of shopping, but it actually worked out pretty well. A special message to someone reading this....yes, I bought a present for you.

I am planning for tomorrow to be better with my goals. I should be home most of the day and can keep the water glass topped off throughout the day and munch on more cucumbers and grapes. 

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DECEMBER GOAL ACCOUNTABILITY
December 3
5 Fruits/Veggies -  1 c spinach, banana, 1/2 cup Brussels sprouts, 1/4 c carrots. apple, 1 c. cucumber
100 oz. water - 100 ish - I lost count at the end so I drank a 12 oz before bed
Next best choice - We have candy in our office that we put out for workshops and meetings. There was a meeting in the office on Friday that I was not attending. I knew my boss would take the candy into the meeting room. I almost stashed a couple pieces in my desk "in case" I wanted a piece while the candy was in the meeting. I stopped myself...and I did survive the two hours of candy not being available :)
December 4  
5 Fruits/Veggies - 1 c. cucumbers, banana, 3 cups lettuce (if I get hungry before bed I might have some grapes)
100 oz. water - 75ish - Honestly, I lost track. I was out of the house all day. I did take the two coffee cups with water and drank those. But forgot and had soda with lunch. I drank some more water in the evening, but I don't think I hit 100.
Next best choice - We stopped at Steak n Shake on the way home. By that time, I had pretty much given up on getting all my veggies for the day. Then I saw taco salad on the menu and got it instead The salad wasn't the greatest calorie-wise, but it was less than the burger and cheese fries I thought I would get...and it had a built in veggie


12 comments:

  1. Back in the summer, a friend of mine asked me to join a 3-day fitness challenge with her. To support her, I agreed...although the only thing I had to do different for it was to drink 100 oz of water a day instead of my usual 64. By the end of the third day, I felt incredibly waterlogged, not good at all. It was a good lesson for me, though...now I know that my body tolerates 64oz. (or 84, if it's a run day) just fine...any more than that, though...ugh!

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    1. It is probably more water than I will do long term, but it has definitely helped me be for aware of drinking enough.

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  2. Poor little goosey. Hoping that his foot heals up. I've had a couple of bad experiences with Canadian Geese so they aren't high on my favorites list but I hate to see any animal suffer.
    Great job following through with the water and fruits and veggies. It's all about making better choices!

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    1. Geese can definitely be ornery, but I still love them.

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  3. Geese scare me. Seriously. I am so happy that I don't have to deal with them on runs here.

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    1. Glad you have found a goose free zone so you can run in peace.

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  4. Aww, I actually like geese because of their shifty ways, and I hate when they are hurt.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Yes, they do have a shifty look...serious side eye :)

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  5. Good for you in saving the library book!

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