Saturday, April 2, 2016

Decorating with Vegetables and Nudging Myself: Spring Break 2016 Day Two

Well, I crossed a few things off my teuxdeux list today:

First, we got up early (for a Saturday), and I took Darrel to his parents’ place so he could buy their minivan—big changes for them to give up their vehicle, but a great deal for us to get a well-maintained vehicle to replace the 1992 Mercury sable. 

Then I went to Costco to load up on the piles of vegetables and fruits we keep on hand these days.  We have a great, healthful eating plan that we’ve mostly been able to stick to these days.   It hasn’t resulted in much weight loss, but I have more energy than I used to have and I generally feel better.  After I got home, I put the groceries away, which resulted in bowls full of beautiful produce; it makes the kitchen look like a model home!  I made more homemade dip and ate a few carrot bites and a few potato chips with it. I realized that the new bathmat I bought doesn’t quite match the towels, and I still had a ¾ full box of trash can liners, so a return trip will be necessary—later.

Then lots of little things: made myself lunch, had several online conversations with friends, colleagues, and my daughter-in-law whose husband—my son—has recently been deployed, updated a sermon for tomorrow (and confirmed details with the pastor for whom I’m subbing), watered plants, placed a monthly online order, balanced the checkbook, paid the monthly bills (including an enormous IRS bill for this year—ugh!—but thank you, God, for enough), and got several birthday cards ready to mail—a task that takes me time but that I always feel good about doing, even if they are late.

While I was working on the sermon, Darrel made tacos for dinner, and we played Skip-bo while we ate.  We tried to find something to watch on TV while waiting for Saturday Night Live—Peter Dinklage is the guest-host tonight—and settled on watching a couple of episodes of Carpool Karaoke.

Last night, after I went to bed, I finished reading Amy Cuddy’s book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, which offers an empowering but simple message: our bodies can retrain our minds when we deliberately control our posture and practice “power poses.”  One of the last chapters was about how long-lasting, effective changes are more easily achieved by taking a tiny next step instead of setting huge goals—“nudging yourself.”  In the past this has included, for me, such things as drinking one cup or glass of tea a day in place of diet soda, instead of vowing to quit drinking diet soda altogether.  Today, having just finished the book, I focused on my posture all day, reminding myself to sit up straight, stand up straight, open up my shoulders, and to stand or walk instead of sit whenever I can.  It is amazing how much positive energy comes from these little adjustments.

Did I mention I also got a little unplanned nap today?


And now:  Saturday Night Live.

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