Parker's Pad

[Parker]

Ok, since the missing hard hat pic was disappointing, here it is -- the left pic is with the piece that zips on and wraps around your head to cover your ears and neck and buttons in the front (like a little neck sweater lol) and the right pic is without it.





ps - Jack did not like me walking around with a hard hat on ... he didnt know what the hell it was or what was going on, but he did not like it one little bit! He dropped low to the ground and backed away from me, his eyes never leaving the hat. lol, poor little scaredy-dog.

[Parker]

This morning when I was weighing myself for my morning VA Move! call, I noticed that I am remaining steady at 240 these past few days - usually I bounce up to 243 then hit 240 then drop to 236 then back up to 240 and so on. Anyway, I was thinking that I may have hit a plateau and each time I weigh myself and I am still at or around 240, I say out loud to myself that it's better to maintain than to gain.

Then it kind of hit me after I did that post about the jacket and I weighed myself this morning - I dont just weigh less now then I did at my heaviest (which the VA has down as 285 but now that I know that my boots, clothing, stuff I carry, etc is 10+ lbs, that was probably always a little closer to 275), I weigh less than I did when I first moved here 7 years ago (which was 265 - a weight I maintained for almost 5 years).

I have lost approx 13% of what my total body weight was when I started this and while I am not quitting and I dont want to stop here (I'd still like to lose another 65-90 lbs), if I *have* hit a plateau, 240 is a nicer place to be than 285.

[Parker]

Ok, these are those 2 jars of honey-lemon-ginger tea that I made a couple of months ago - remember? I sliced up some lemons and ginger and added them to a jar then filled it with honey and stuck both jars into the fridge. I was supposed to wait until they turned into a gel then use a heaping tablespoon of the mixture in a cup of boiling water as a tea to soothe sore throats, etc.

Even though I made them at the same time with the same ingredients, the one on the left "gelled" better and faster than the one on the right, which is still mostly liquid with some of it gelled at the bottom of the jar.

Now, this isnt gelled like jelly or jello, which is what I was expecting - it is more the consistency of mayo or mustard - a very thick substance. I fished some of the lemons out of the one on the left because I didnt want to have to deal with them when I was drinking.

So tonight I boiled some water and added a heaping tablespoon of the mixture (I didnt use a measuring spoon, just a large eating spoon) and then I added another because the mug of water I used was large. It's pretty good - it's really lemon-y so make sure that (a) you like lemon and (b) you can ingest lemon or (c) use less lemon.

I forgot that my cholesterol meds dont mix well with citrus, so drinking this may give me a tummy ache, but it also has ginger in it, so maybe not. lol, who knows - we'll see!

Oh, but it isnt so lemon-y that it isnt drinkable - it is a nice mixture of lemon and honey to make it tart but not pucker-up-your-face-and-suck-down-your-lips tart.

As I said, it's pretty good and would be great on a cold winter's night if I had the beginnings of a cold or a sore throat - or just wanted something warm and good for me - especially if I added a little whiskey - then it would kinda be like a hot toddy.

I will definitely make more of this in IL - but I think I should use smaller jars - and I will use more honey and/or fewer lemons. To avoid spending money on jars, I just used old pasta sauce jars, so these are large and I think a smaller (4 oz or so) would work better because it would probably gel faster, be easier to work wish, spoon stuff out, transport, give away, etc. So yeah - smaller jars next time.

I recommend this.

[Parker]

The friend of mine who was going to come here with her hubby to pick up some stuff that I was going to donate to her because I couldnt take it with me contacted me today with an offer I couldnt refuse and that will change how much I can take with me when I move.

Apparently, her hubby is traveling with a friend to OH and back in mid-May by way of an RV and they offered to take a bunch of my stuff with them to OH and then drop it off in IL on their way back here!

All I have to do is either set things up with my sister to store my stuff with her for a few weeks or, if she doesnt have room for it, find someplace for them to store the stuff until I can move it all into my new place.

This way, when I leave in May, half +/- of my stuff will already be in IL so when I load up my trailer with the rest of it, I can bring some things I wasnt going to be able to bring like my recliner, my kitchen stuff, my grill, etc. The recliner was the big thing - that's what she was thinking about when she made the offer because she knew that I just got that thing a couple of years ago and it's quite comfy - and would be one less thing to replace when I move into my new place.

This changes everything and removes a lot of stress and anxiety over what I cant/cannot take with me and what to do with what I thought I couldnt take with me -- I even had a large 20 +/- lb box of stuff that she was going to hold onto and ship to me when I get settled, but now that can go with her hubby instead of being shipped.

[Parker]

Ran out of store bought dog cookies so I decided to sit down and mix together some of the last of my whole wheat flour and oats to make them some cookies myself - I also added a little baking powder and enough water to turn it into a dough I could work with.

I didnt want to add anything like milk, eggs, or peanut butter because the cookies go bad too fast - so just those 3 dry ingredients (4 cups whole wheat flour, 3 cups oats, and 2 TBSP baking powder) and some water.

I used little bone cookie cutters - large for Zeke and medium for Sally and Jack - and baked them at 375 for about 30 minutes - using those cookie cutters, I was able to make 18 cookies for each dog.

Even without all the frills of peanut butter or whatever, the babies LOVED them.

[Parker]

Got a lot done -- took another load of stuff to Goodwill and took an even larger load of stuff to the dump.

I also got a couple of totes for the clothes & bedding that is in the luggage I have right now so I could re-use that luggage for last minute bed/bath stuff and clothes when I move ... so I spent $15 on totes now instead of $40 on duffle bags later.

I did this because the stuff that was in my luggage now is stuff that will go with my friend's husband when he goes to IL in May .... of course, now I know that I didnt have to get rid of my other sheet sets and all of my towels several weeks ago, but they were all kind of old and could stand to be replaced anyway -- and I am considering a king size bed this time instead of a queen, so I would have had to buy more sheets anyway - and I may not want my bathroom colors to be plum anymore anyway, who knows. We'll see

Now that I have cleaned more stuff out of that storage room, I have some more organizing to do out there: stuff that will go with me vs. going to friends vs. staying with the house - and I have a few totes to clean out and use for other stuff.

But first - I feel like a turkey sammich and some potato salad while I catch up on my shows from last night.

[Parker]

I hate those commercials or ads that try to sell you more dog food by telling you that humans dont eat the same thing everyday, so why should your dog??

Because, seriously, 2 of my dogs get upset stomachs and bad gas when I feed them something different, no matter how slowly I introduce it, and the third is very finicky and doesnt like change.

Case in point: I tried to get cute this month by buying a small 15 lb bag of fish flavored kibble to mix with the 30 lb lamb flavored kibble that they normally eat because I didnt want to afford the fish oil I sometimes buy to add to their food (I still need a few things for my trip, so I was trying to keep from spending the extra $35 this month) ...

Well, 2 of my dogs have not stopped with the gas, even with gas meds; and my finicky eater will, literally, pick out the lamb kibble and leave the fish kibble in his bowl. lol

Consider my lesson officially learned - from now on, I buy the lamb kibble and only the lamb kibble so my dogs (and my nose) never has to go through this again!