Weekend Joyfulness and Monday Musings

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend with lots of opportunities for joy.  I’m looking forward to catching up on what everyone’s been doing.

I had a wonderful weekend despite my own proclivity for crankiness.  Saturday we went to the cabin and I admit I was cranky.  The girls insisted on fighting every second they could and it just seemed difficult to find the joy.  But somehow, we managed and the crankiness evaporated.  We took the boat out and had a very good time on the water – it was sunny and very warm and the water just a bit cool, perfect boating/swimming weather.  Then we went back to the cabin, did some yardwork, and then grilled chicken.

While we were grilling, we met a neighbor we haven’t seen before – a black cat who is obviously feral and evidently either pregnant or having recently given birth.  She came out of the woods – I suspect because she smelled the chicken on the grill – and meowed incessantly, but wouldn’t approach us closer than about 20 yards.  So we put a couple of pieces of chicken in a bowl and set it at the bottom of the hill while we ate, and sure enough, she finally worked up the courage to come and eat.  She still wouldn’t come near us, but at least she had a decent meal.

YD and I went for a bike ride after dinner, which was really nice.  There’s a little road next to the cabin that goes up into the hills and isn’t too heavily traveled, so we took that.  It’s very sunny for part but then gets beautifully shady and cool.  I figured it’s about a half mile up to the fork, which is where we turned around (but I want to drive it in the truck to be sure.  I walked it, but my pedometer was being very unreliable.  It said, alternately, that it was a quarter of a mile, half a mile, and a mile and a quarter.)  We made that ride about three times because it’s heavy going on the way up but all downhill on the way back, so it’s like sledding, tons of fun that makes it well worth the work.

Sunday, we hung around the cabin.  DH did more yardwork, we all played games and the girls and I went on another bike odyssey, all three of us this time.  YD and I rode, and then we made another series of trips with ED riding my bike, YD riding hers, and me walking.  So I actually got a lot of exercise over the weekend, and really enjoyed it a lot.  I also swam while we were out on the boat, but not a lot.

Sunday afternoon, we all sat on the porch and played games while it rained.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Then the girls took a nap while DH and I took inventory of what we will need when we go up for the Fourth, and then I spent some time reading and digesting Perfect Weight.  More about that later, but I did spend quite a bit of time re-reading, highlighting and making notes.  I understand the concept of it much better than I did on the first go-round, and it’s definitely got me thinking.

I am going to give the approach a shot, and given that I am scale-free right now, this is probably the time to do it.  The big principle is not to lose weight, but to find your perfect weight.  So it’s really all about balancing yourself emotionally and spiritually and using that balance to make good choices.  One of the cornerstone principles, however, is that you do not stress over those choices, and you do not place stress upon yourself to get results.  So it’s a great scale-free experiment.  I may get to July 24 and have gained…or I may find that I’ve really lost.  I don’t know and I’m not worrying about it, because that’s sort of the point.  I think it’s going to be a very interesting adventure, though.

I am not changing what I am eating significantly – I will still be eating the same healthy stuff.  I will be changing my eating patterns some; I will be changing my exercise patterns and what he’s recommending is very much in line with what I find myself wanting to do right now, so I think that will work very well.  There will be a lot of yoga, walking and biking and not a lot of other stuff.  I know that I will eventually get back to regular weight training, but right now I need a change.  I am going to try to keep at least one day a week for upper body work though, because I don’t want to totally neglect it.

I’ll be focusing a lot on meditation and keeping my mind and spirit nurtured and exercised.  I’ll be working to regulate my sleep and activity patterns.  And some other stuff, which I will address later, probably in Wednesday’s post.  I’m getting further into the book with my detailed study, so hopefully by Wednesday I’ll have a better understanding and a more concrete plan.

Then, when I do my monthly stock-up shopping at the first of the month, I’ll be really regulating what I’m eating, with more detailed plans so I don’t have to put a lot of thought into it.  I’m not going to follow everything that’s recommended, but I am going to try to do one day of liquid diet and a day or two meatless every week.  Again, it’s in the nature of an experiment, and I may hate it, but I may not and I really believe it’s worth trying.  I can do anything for a month. 

So that’s sort of where I am now.  Baby steps toward a new way of looking at things.  And meanwhile, I hope that everyone has a wonderful week!