Marsia's Diary

Me, too! I would love it if we could visit each other!

I am bad at relaxation, so I study it a lot. So it's nice that what I am learning helps you, too!! I finally realized that I can't change a lot of what happens to me, but I am in charge of my reactions to what happens. So when I read about keeping long term goals in mind when figuring out what I want to do, it just clicked. I used to be so good at long term goals as a kid, so I knew that if I keep to what I want in the long run, most things work themselves out without me worrying. I just need to act on my real values and not on the short term stress feelings. It's hard to remember to pause and think about what I really want, but when I do, it's great!
 
It's the first rain of the season tomorrow, so I got all the gardening things put away and chain sawed up a huge pile of dead bamboo canes that I use for kindling in the wood stove - they work great for getting the fire started. So am nice and tuckered out. Tomorrow I prep for Thanksgiving and make pumpkin pie with a nut crust and monk fruit sugar so it's a zero calorie sugar. Tried this with just pumpkin custard and it worked great.

I am starting to get energy back! It's been a long time since I could chain saw for a few hours or dig out small trees and dig huge holes in the gardens (for my rescued ferns). I am so happy because I waited long enough to really understand my property and what each spot needs and I can really landscape the way I want it now! And I have enough energy to rip out all the ivy that took over and the wild blackberries that invaded the back of the garden. It's nice to feel like me again!!
 
I am super impressed by your ability to handle the chainsaw! I get anxious just handling the electric knife, LOL. Happy you are feeling like you again and have more energy. That's super awesome! Landscaping is something I am looking forward to this spring. I'm really wanting a eucalyptus tree and some magnolias.
 
Hi Jenni,

You have a gorgeous spot with all those lovely tall trees in back of your house. It looks like fun to start with a blank slate and put whatever you want where you really want it! I love magnolias - I bet they will look awesome! There are so many kinds of eucalyptus to choose from, too. Some are really exotic and fun, and I love their smell. I especially like the silver ones with round leaves that look prehistoric and the ones with the multi-color bark.

My small chain saw is wonderful because it has guards all the way around it, so you really can't hurt yourself. It's a Black and Decker alligator garden lopper and I love it a lot. Actually using that gave me the confidence to buy a regular chain saw and use that.
 
I have never held a chainsaw in my life lol . I'm left handed and my sister gets anxious watching me cut vegetables lol .
I do give myself an odd nick so perhaps I'll stay clear of the chainsaw .

Happy thanksgiving my dear friend . Very thankful to know you and all here . Enjoy your special holiday :party:
 
Thanks, Petal! I am a lefty, too! Not sure if I chain saw left or right handed. That sort of thing messes with my brain, so I try not to think about it! At least it isn't like table manner etiquette where you must use the correct fork for the correct course, so I don't have to figure out the correct hand on the handle of the chain saw! One of my contractors told me not to be a "mountain mama" and use my chain saw for some project he was discouraging me from tackling. No one else is going to do it, and I enjoy it, so why not? I guess I am a mountain mama.

I am making such yummy food, will definitely enjoy the feast! Thanks!! I am grateful to have you as a friend, too, and grateful for the great people on here!!
 
Marsia said:
Hi Jenni,


My small chain saw is wonderful because it has guards all the way around it, so you really can't hurt yourself. It's a Black and Decker alligator garden lopper and I love it a lot. Actually using that gave me the confidence to buy a regular chain saw and use that.
Click to expand...

I am glad you like your saw, but remember safety at all times lol, biggest saw I have used is a Husky 3120, but only have a 2100 at home. Chainsaw racing is fun :D
 
Trusylver said:
I am glad you like your saw, but remember safety at all times lol, biggest saw I have used is a Husky 3120, but only have a 2100 at home. Chainsaw racing is fun :D
Click to expand...
Big chain saws scare me. I have little cute ones! I have never heard of chainsaw racing before. Sounds terrifying and probably really fun to watch, like caber tossing or something!
 
Just got in from pulling ivy in the rain. I am uncovering nice little stone retaining walls, which are really pretty, so it is very satisfying, and fun because things pull out in the rain a lot easier. And it's really good exercise. It only rains in the winter here, so I love being out in it. And helps work off all that food I ate yesterday! I did tri-tip steak, ribs, mashed cauliflower, giblet and mushroom gravy, green beans with garlic and crumbled bacon, cranberry sauce with zero cal sugar, and pumpkin pies with pecan crusts and whipped cream, and they had chocolate ice cream, but it had sugar, so I passed. Having left overs today and I can barely eat anything I am still so full!
 
Your Thanksgiving meal sounds delicious! I really want to try making mashed cauliflower ... just haven't had time lately to experiment, but I am putting it on my list!
 
Thanks, Jenni! It was my first time making mashed cauliflower. I put cream in it, but it was a little runny, so next time, will just put butter and a little salt and pepper and make it in the blender and use a pusher so it blends evenly. It's nice having it so there is something low cal to put gravy on. I love all the left overs and not having to cook for a few days. So relaxing!
 
Marsia that all sounds really wonderful. No turkey though ?

As a leftie I am unusual in that I never had a problem at the dinner table with cutlery and I'm not sure why that is . It's only when I'm chopping and dicing with sharp knives and my left hand that my sister can't bear to watch lol . Too funny .
 
I often pop a slice of cheese on my husbands cauliflower as he doesn't eat potatoes and pop in the oven until it melts he likes that . Also my friend makes shepherds pie with a cauli mash top rather than potatoes
 
Hi Petal! I like your cauliflower recipes! I put Parmesan in with my daughter's cauliflower so she will eat it, and like the idea of a slice of cheese. The shephard's pie sounds wonderful - I think I will try that! We don't care for turkey - the dark meat is nice, but there is so much dry white meat. I grew up catching with my right hand as I learned sports from right handed kids, so I always get confused about which hand I use for which things, though I am mostly left handed. But things like sharp knives are definitely left handed things!!
 
I'm doing well with the new diet and digging in the garden a lot. Down 12 pounds in the last 2 months, so now at 182.8 (36.2 pounds lost so far.) I am kind of shocked that I am still so flabby, but I am starting to see stomach muscles again, and my arms look so much better. I am now at the weight I was when I got pregnant 13 years ago. And I think the intermittent fasting helps for getting rid of the excess skin. Only about 23 pounds to goal weight now!

I may go do yoga classes at the gym because I think a lot of my muscles need strengthening and I want to start putting recycled concrete walkways in soon, and need the strength so I don't hurt my back. There are two dump truck loads of the concrete patiently waiting for me in the lower driveway, and so many places that need hardscaping. Just hauling around retaining wall rocks for my fern garden, which is on a pretty steep slope, is tiring. But it's so satisfying, and so nice to have a yard that can double as a source of really good exercise!
 
What a big job you have ahead of you. It sounds like lots of fun though. I did a rock retaining wall a few years ago but did some damage to my toes. I hope you are wearing steel-capped boots. I moved some seriously big rocks. Maybe getting some instruction at the gym with weights would be a good idea.
You are doing so well, Marsia. I may try 16:8 instead of 5:2. Eating only 500 cals 2 days a week just became too hard for me, but eating 12-8 I think I could do.
 
Thanks, Cate! Honestly, I had a lot of trouble with any other kind of intermittent fasting than 16:8. With not snacking between meals even, it didn't happen until I got the 16:8 down first. Now I made sure I get around 3-6 ounces of protein for at least 2 meals, and I eat a big salad or other veggie for most of one meal, and if I am particularly hungry, I eat a lot of good fat in salad dressing or nuts. The good fats to cut cravings has been what makes this succeed for me. I usually eat 2 meals now, in about a 6 hour window, but if I am hungry, I eat 3 meals in an 8 hour window. I usually don't need to snack because my meals are so big and satisfying. It's surprised me that I tend to eat 1,400 calories to around 1,000 calories a day doing this, and really I don't feel deprived in the least. So it's really what's gotten me to continue to lose weight, I am sure.

I have farm boots for working in the garden, but you are probably right, I should have steel toed boots. It's really fun making walls with rocks. It feels like such a nice accomplishment and looks so good. But I am not moving huge ones or anything. I like the idea of instruction with the weights - really good idea!
 
More strength is rarely a bad thing - if only because having more muscle mass mean you can eat a more "normal" amount of calories as you get older. Also in a couple of decades every ounce of muscle mass is going to matter in your mobility.
 
Oh, really happy to have company with the 16:8! It'll help me to keep good track of the time and not forget to put the cream away for tea and things like that! I really hope the more regular schedule helps you succeed at the intermittent fasting like it did with me!!!

LaMa, that's really inspiring! I am not really fond of working with weights per se, but if it helps me get a beatiful garden and a normal life span, I can get myself to do it!! Now that I see that they are calling dementia "type 3 diabetes" and see from my mom starting to get this, how serious it is to not be pre-diabetic and to be active and live a healthy lifestyle!

You guys are the best!!!
 
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