Do you ever have those weeks where it seems you had absolutely no down time whatsoever? Well, thats what this last week has felt like for me. Whew! I'm glad it's over.

First, my mom falls again. This time trying to get up on her own and she broke her foot. She's got a knot on her forehead and bruises all over her arms, probably from people trying to help her up. It's murder when that happens because she gives up on helping herself in any way and lets all of her considerable dead weight fall on you.

 I had to go get her prescription, wait for it to be filled and ended up eating 2 pieces of costco combo pizza to bide my time. I knew I was going to pay for that one.
then, of course, I had to take it back to her and someone stalled in the left turn lane at rush hour. Ugh! Don't worry, the weight came back off in 2 days.

Next day, I finally pinned the evap. cooler guy to Wed. afternoon for the programmable thermostat remote the home warranty co. finally ok'd. This after I contacted the BBB about the issue. And that took 5 hours for the guy to install it. Good grief! Afternoon wasted for me.

Thurs. eve. I had the carpets cleaned, so when I got home from work I had to move the furniture and vacuum, corral the beasts outside and try to unwind. Right.

Fri. I taught my a.m. class, stopped at Costco again for my prescription (why they didn't give it to me when I was there for moms' ???), go to Best Buy and drop off my old dvr & receiver from directv, come home eat, then the termite guys came to protect the house (4 hours), laundry, clean some of the house, clean myself up for a date, That's right, I said a date!, meet my sister after, come home make a shrimp/avocado sandwich on sourdough bread and die.

Today... fold the laundry that had to hang dry, it rained last night, get the dishes cleaned, long walk the pooches, the pest guy came to get rid of spiders and other icky bug type things (black widows, scorpions, things with more than 4 limbs) do some grocery shopping, clean the microwave, fix the curtain in my bedroom, roast up some butternut squash and again, die. Still have the bathroom to clean but all in all, the place is looking pretty good right now.

Now, I don't like a lot of squash type foods but I was surprised to find out that I do like roasted butternut squash.

Here's all you need to do.

I buy the butternut squash at Costco 'cuz it's already cubed.

20oz. butternut squash
2 cloves garlic minced
1-2tbs olive oil
2-3tbs brown sugar
dash of sage dried or fresh rubbed
salt 7 fresh ground pepper to taste

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lay squash on tin foil covered roasting pan. sprinkle with olive oil, then add the brown sugar, garlic and sage. Lastly add the salt & pepper and place pan on the bottom rack in the oven. Roast for 25 min. Pull out the pan and mix/turn the squash and place back in the oven for 10 more min.

It should appear almost caramelized. Yummy. Give it a try.

Well, time to die again. Stay well, keep dancing and...

Peace

 Hmmmm, once again I've been the intended victim of a scam. This one involves being called over and over by people saying that I am named in some litigation and that I need to contact them back on some fraud issue regarding a Payday loan. Bullpucky!

First of all, I've never taken out a Payday loan ever, 2nd, I'll be damned if I give them any bank information, 3rd, I'm not easily frightened but many are.

As soon as this nonsense began I called the State Attorney Generals office.  Oh heck yeah, I sure did. I gave them the phone number of the caller and the name they gave me. After I contacted the Attorney General office I then decided to call the one guy back. This was classic.

First, he answered the phone with "Hello!" Really? What business re; fraud litigation answers that way? I had to ask if this was the fraud dept. to which he paused then answered ,"Yes." I told him that I had contacted the State Attorney Generals office and reported him to them. His response was to say something about his job and then to not call his office with my ignorance and he hung up on me! I love it!

I've gotten a few more similar calls and continued to send the information on to the SAG's office. Names, numbers and state of origin, content. etc.

I actually decided to let 1 woman try to tell me about the issue., This was also kinda fun. She kept asking me leading informational questions. My email, which she had, this website, which she had, my bank account which she had the name of my bank and I went silent on that never confirming nor denying it. She tried to tell me that I had either closed it or there wasn't enough funds it to cover any repayment of a non-existent loan. Fishing/phishing!!!!

Finally since all I would say was that I had never taken a Payday loan she said she was writing me down as unresponsive and unwilling to rectify the situation. Then she hung up on me. Yup, you guessed it, I called SAG's office with all of the info.

I've received a couple letters from the SAG's office thanking me for all of the info I've gathered and sent in to them to prevent further fraud scams. I have stopped receiving harassing phone calls from these losers.

Be careful people. These predators are relentless. They prey on seniors viciously and cruelly. Get whatever info you can, and call your SAG's office immediately. Don't fall victim to this BS. It can ruin your life if you succumb to it. Protect yourself. Never give out your bank info, pin number, balance, NOTHING!

This can become very stressful and can not only cost you financially but emotionally and physically too. Stay on the offense.

Now, for a lighter note. Another 2 lb.'s gone! So far a total drop of 13 lb.'s down. I've lost 2" from my hips, 1" from my waist and .3" from my neck. I have noticed that I'm moving better as well as feeling better. People are beginning to notice the loss some.

My clothes are fitting better and better every day. So there you have it. We'll see what this week brings on the scale.

Remember, you have to be patient with yourself and your weight loss journey. Slow & steady does win the overall race, folks. Again, I average about 1.5lb.'s/week. That's a good healthy drop.

I look at the loss in small goals of 10 lb increments with a larger, long-term goal for the future. The slower loss helps to insure it's Fat that I'm losing and not muscle or lean mass tissue. The last thing you need is to have your body sort of feed on itself because your not eating enough.

Some of these "DIETS" have a person in starvation mode so bad that it does turn on itself and chow down on the good tissues we need.

Once you start to eat normally, much of the weight comes back on. Your body doesn't like the roller-coaster ride of weight up & downing like that. It creates a lot of stress on it. Remember, it didn't come on overnight, it ain't going away overnight. Period.

Now, another realization you need to come to terms with is the fact that the body does need some fat on it. About 20-30% for women and 12-20% for men is ideal. It does have some great purposes.
1) Fat protects the brain from getting continuously bonked against the the cranium.
2) Fat surrounds the nerve endings to keep us from zapping.
3) Fat is our body's thermo-regulation system. It heats up to cause sweat, okay, okay, perspiration to help cool us off when we're hot. It burns up to keep us warm when we're cold.
4) It is fuel.
It's just that many of us have way more fat than necessary. I have a "6-pack" but it;s covered by "insulation."

It's not just exercise you need to look at nor is it just the nutrition side but a combination of the 2. I honestly can't exercise much more than I already do so for me I had to go the nutrition end . We are not all the same so get some help to guide you in the right direction for you. A trainer, a nutritionist, a Dr., someone to help you. It tough to do it  on your own too. A support system is essential. I check in with a couple of people, keeping them updated on my progress. I have no negativity involved here, and, this is super important here my friends, no saboteurs.

If anyone is going to have a "bad" day I'll do it to my self and believe me, I do occasionally. I can stop myself when I need to and do so on many occasions. But....every once in a while.

I just do it and then return to my new normal again. The bad or not-so-good choices are now the occasional not the norm. I don't beat myself up about it, I just move on.

Keep up the good work everyone and enjoy your life.

Keep dancin', stay healthy. Peace.

Good grief there was a lot going on last week for me. First of all, I had dinner with G. and we went out and looked at that beautiful Super/blood moon and lunar eclipse. absolutely amazing. I sure hope ya'll got to witness it for yourself. It's gonna be a while before that happens again at the same time.

Before that, we went down to an overpass on the road and over a wash to witness the tiny Mexican fruit bats fly out in a huge swarm. Hopefully to rid the area of mosquitoes. You could tell when it was about to begin by the increase in urine-y smell that happens. Whew!

It seemed to last for the longest time. they just kept coming out of the crevices in this long swarm and flew south. At one point a hawk swooped in the midst of the swarm and snatched one of the bats and flew off. Nature. The circle of life.

The dance workshop M. & I took was amazing. They were funny, elegant, brilliant, talented and more.  The drummer blew us away. I'd never heard of an 8/10 rhythm before and boy, was it tough to dance to but awesome. Yes, thats right, I used the word "awesome."

At the end he played about 6-7 rhythms seamlessly, from slow to fast 6/8, 8/10, 4/4, etc. We learned some of the history of Egyptian belly dance as well as some of the dance and rhythm styles. I loved it. I want more!

I finally broke the 10# mark. I'm down 11#'s now. On to the next 10 # mark. I'm losing it slowly but I don't care. It'll stay off me better in the long run. It already feels better without those pesky pounds on me.

As this saying says, I'm taking it slowly and patiently. I am a Warrior!

I did make that pork tenderloin stew dish and it came out great, if I do say so myself.

I placed the pork, after cutting it in half, added some cut up potatoes, apples, green beans, and 2 large green chili peppers that I roasted myself, 2 cubes of chipotle bouillon in 2 Cups of water all in a crock pot. I later added some fresh ground pepper. I left it on slow cook overnight and there you have it. A mix of spicey & sweet pork. Nom-nom-nom!

Give it a try, I think you'll like it

New swamp cooler has arrived! It's been a bit of an ordeal but at least I've got some cool air blowing in the house now.

Yesterday as I was leaving the house to meet G., I found a stray dog across the street. she's the cutest rotty mix. She's probably about 4-5 months old and full of joy.

I took her to the vet this morning with Delilah and found that she does have a microchip. I call animal control and they gave me the phone number of the owner who was so happy to hear she was safe. She'd been gone for 3 days and is from the whole other side of Tucson.

I'm a bit torn emotionally. I'm happy for the family to get their dog back but i'm gonna miss this feisty little girl. Last night when I went to bed, she jumped up on the bed and slept across the other pillow all night. She also snores!

As for Delilah, the vet is really pleased with her progress but still has to wear the cone. Sad face here. There's still a little openness on the tail but it is so much better. So, on with the soaking, anti-biotics and the cone.

I do believe that the other babies in the house will be happy little Poncho is going home. She chased Cray-ray in the yard this morning. He wasn't too happy about that. He-he-he!
Oh well, she was just playing. I got my face "washed" multiple times by her and everywhere I am, so is she. Pretty cute. Oh well, it was the right thing to do.

I am officially the permanent Fri. Aqua ex. instructor at JCC . I totally enjoy this group of people there and hope to continue for a long time there. If you're interested, come join us at 8:30am. We'd be glad to have ya.

Well, I guess thats all for now, folks.

Stay healthy and keep dancing!