The Bear Necessities! April 2019 W.I.S.H Goals

[Zhoen]

Hello, Dearies!!!

It's FOODIE FRIDAY!!!

Have you tried any healthy new foods this week? I went out of my way to finally test an idea I've had banging around in my head forever... only to find that the rotten kids had gotten into my ingredients, so I'll have to try again later today and report back...

Meanwhile, have any of you, like Baloo, every tried prickly pear? How about pawpaw (pink or otherwise...) ?

Bonus question: In the Marvel movie arc, there is a recurring joke about shwarma... have you ever tried it? Did you like it? (I don't think I've ever tried it, but I've had falafel, and it was in fact, awful...)

More later, but now... <sigh> statistics...

 

[Oneanne]

Super power... I'm going to say vision. I have the ability to look at something and see how it can be transformed, used in a totally different way. I also have the ability to see when I'm not really looking.

If I could have a different super power, I'd go with self control

Foodie Friday, yah, got nothing again this week. I did cook burgers for myself a couple evenings this week.

I've had prickly pear margaritas, the best one was at The Starlight in Terlingua TX. You could tell the prickly pear syrup was freshly made and it had the lightest freshest slightly sweet flavor. I've had others where the syrup came out of a bottle and it just didn't compare.




I've only had shwarma once, yep, you guessed it, it was at Tangerine Cafe in WS at EPCOT. It was a hot day and I was over heated and the only table I could find to sit at was in the sun so the meal didn't settle well, but the Hummus was so light and lemony and some of the best I've ever had.



I eat across the way at Spice Road every trip and my favorite is the Olive and Hummus plate, but even that Hummus doesn't compare.

 

[sjrec]

I haven’t been very adventurous this week food wise-we’ve been eating turkey breast, leftover ham, salmon and fresh vegetables. A potato or rice for my husband. Not too exciting.
One thing I do to bulk up my fresh spinach (because a huge bag winds up being barely enough for two of us!) is sauté a half of sliced sweet onion, then a cup of grape tomatoes, halved, and when they’re a little blistered, I toss in the spinach.

 

[4Mickeys]

BONUS QUESTION to go with all the Marvel talk earlier... What is your super power? And what is the darkside of that super power? If you could CHOOSE a super power, what would it be?

I have this on my office door at work Most of us in this career seem to be carers, nurturers and creative - the dark side would be putting others first most of the time... Superheroes I watched in my childhood that were my favourites were Spiderman and Wonder Woman. In introduced DS18 to Spiderman (ala Toby Maguire) when he was little and he has been all about Spiderman ever since - Of all the Spiderman movies Toby was my favourite until Tom Holland - I really enjoyed Spiderman Homecoming. I love kick#@% Black Widow. An flying the Aussie flag love Thor - many of my new friends on here may not know that when they were filming Thor Ragnarok about an hour from where I live - the kids and I took the day off school/work and stood with many others at the location shoot ALL day - we were rewarded though - Thor (Chris), Loki (Tom) and Odin (Sir Anthony) did a crowd walk - our best pics were with Chris - we did get in a background shot with some friends we made by standing with them all day with Sir Anthony. That's my best - superhero story - DS18 was interviewed and on the news - so everyone at his school saw it as the teachers thought it was great and emailed the link to each other

​

For my superpower - I'm torn - I would love to fly - or swing like Spiderman - that always looked fun swinging from building to building - but I do think the strength of Hulk and Thor are pretty cool.

If I could choose a super power, I think I'd like either invisibility (so I could be even nosier than I am now...) or the ability to freeze time, in which case I'd spend all my non-time trying on all the pretty jewelry at the mall, walking around wearing it like a pirate, then slipping it back with no one ever even knowing it was gone... because it wasn't, not for a second! And since I hate crowds, it would be a way I could enjoy the mall without the crowds, just a lot of very realistic statues!

I laughed out loud reading this thinking of you doing this

Have you tried any healthy new foods this week?

Nothing new here this week - mostly on track but all things we have had before.

Bonus question: In the Marvel movie arc, there is a recurring joke about shwarma... have you ever tried it? Did you like it? (I don't think I've ever tried it, but I've had falafel, and it was in fact, awful...)

Ok I had to google shawarma - the closest I would have had is a chicken doner kebab - I do like those.

 

[4Mickeys]

OMG - sorry I hate it when the image grows in size when you hit post.

 

[sjrec]

Well, my super power used to be getting a class of 9th graders working diligently on their research projects! Now it’s making dinner almost every night-I manage to throw something together with whatever’s in the fridge. The one I wish I had was turning my yard into a real garden, like one of those magazine articles.

 

[PollyannaMom]

So today, what artists/writers are you thankful for?

J. K. Rowling - because I love the Harry potter series, and it was something to connect with nieces over.

BONUS QUESTION to go with all the Marvel talk earlier... What is your super power? And what is the darkside of that super power? If you could CHOOSE a super power, what would it be?

Superpower - Compartmentalism - I'm good at keeping everything in it's proper box.
Darkside - Sometimes that means I forget about things if that's not the "box" I'm in right then.
Dream Superpower - Teleportation!!! (Instant Disney, whenever I want to be there. )

 

[MickeyMom76]

It's been a busy week. While I've been reading all the posts, I just didn't have time to post for myself. So I'll try to catch up now...

WOOHOO WEDNESDAY?

According to my fitbit, I've walked over halfway to Disney since January. Total distance from my house to Bay Lake Tower (where we are staying in July) is 1048 miles. Only about 550 miles left to go.

So today, what artists/writers are you thankful for?

Being a kindergarten teacher, I'm so thankful for the many talented authors and illustrators of children's books. My favorite it probably Eric Carle. I love that his illustrations are so unique and colorful! And his books really capture the attention of the little ones and make reading fun for them!

Thankful Thursday was also Take Your Sons/Daughters To Work Day. So my daughter came to work with me. I am so thankful that she is so kind and caring of others. For some reason, the two of us tend to push each others buttons a lot. So I'm thankful that Thursday wasn't one of those days. We actually had a very nice day working together. For that, I am very thankful!

What is your super power? And what is the darkside of that super power? If you could CHOOSE a super power, what would it be?

Similar to @4Mickeys,

Requires lots of patience, energy, compassion and creativity. The darkside of that super power is that some days I have no patience, energy, compassion or creativity by the time I get home...especially for teenage attitudes. If I could choose a super power, I'd probably go with the power to complete tasks just by thinking about them. Wouldn't that be great...when I think, oh I still have to do the laundry...and then it's just done because I thought about it.

It's FOODIE FRIDAY!!!

So my daughter, although very kind and caring to others, often forgets to do her chores or argues with me about doing them. So over the break, I decided that I am done arguing with her about her chores. If she doesn't do it in a timely manner, then I will. But then she will have to do one of my jobs (mainly, cook dinner). So she was in charge of dinner most of this week, although I did already do the meal planning and shopping. And I should add that she is a much better cook than I am! However, that's probably because she takes her time and isn't thinking about a million other things that need to get done. Anyway, her first meal was supposed to be chicken. Well, I had planned to put that in the crockpot. But she didn't want to do that. So my new food this week was trying her own improvised meal that she made up. She made a chicken pasta with asparagus using some chicken broth and parmesan cheese. She was even surprised at how good it tasted. We all just added a little salt.

The end of April is near and just finished my 8 weeks of LIIFT4 (focusing on the lifting part and not so much of the HIIT though). I'm looking forward to taking my measurements again on April 30 to see if there is any change.
I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

 

[Zhoen]

Good Morning Dearies!!!

Wow, here we are and April is almost over!!! Our very LAST MOTIVATION MONDAY of the month!!! (See, I made that a bright, happy orange, aren't you feeling all sunshiny now?)

So what is your motivation to get through this week? Anybody got plans wilder than driving 90 miles in a rental car with 6lbs of (about 20,000) live bees? If not, then no matter how things go this week, you can say at least THAT wasn't on your to-do list!!!

For me, my motivation this week has to be reality... The reality is that I have 18 calendar days left of this class, and then it is over, so there is a light at the end of the (mind-numbingly dull) tunnel. However in those 18 days I still have 2 chapters, a project, a test, and a final exam to get through, so I have to buckle down!!! As soon as this class is over, I will start thinking about school in the fall, and hopefully start planning a post-graduation adventure, any suggestions?

 

[Zhoen]

I did cook burgers for myself a couple evenings this week.

I've had prickly pear margaritas, the best one was at The Starlight in Terlingua TX. You could tell the prickly pear syrup was freshly made and it had the lightest freshest slightly sweet flavor. I've had others where the syrup came out of a bottle and it just didn't compare.

View attachment 397045

Hey, big points for cooking for yourself!!! (And now I want a margarita... Alas, alcohol puts me right to sleep...)

One thing I do to bulk up my fresh spinach (because a huge bag winds up being barely enough for two of us!) is sauté a half of sliced sweet onion, then a cup of grape tomatoes, halved, and when they’re a little blistered, I toss in the spinach.

Sounds so good!!! The only time I get cooked fresh spinach is at restaurants... at home it's either canned, frozen, or salad...

the kids and I took the day off school/work and stood with many others at the location shoot ALL day - we were rewarded though - Thor (Chris), Loki (Tom) and Odin (Sir Anthony) did a crowd walk - our best pics were with Chris - we did get in a background shot with some friends we made by standing with them all day with Sir Anthony.

Ok I had to google shawarma - the closest I would have had is a chicken doner kebab - I do like those.

That is SO cool!!! The last time anyone shot a movie around here (that I'm aware of) was Harrison Ford in some Tom Clancy movie when I was in high school... I didn't go downtown for it, but lots of other kids did, then we watched the movie and it was ridiculous because the hero comes running out the gate of the Naval Academy and is suddenly downtown... but the director didn't like the look of the downtown gate, so they shot it with him coming out one of the picturesque side gates... anyone but a local wouldn't know, but we all laughed and laughed and it was impossible to take the movie seriously after that... (ok, it's impossible to take ANY Tom Clancy story seriously...)

Doner kebabs are YUMMY!!! As far as I know we don't have them in the states. The first time I had one, I was disappointed, because it was very dry (they hadn't served any in a while and the meat on the rotisserie was overcooked and crusty...) but I gave it a second chance and I'm glad I did... Just mostly ate the meat and threw away the roll, though

Well, my super power used to be getting a class of 9th graders working diligently on their research projects! Now it’s making dinner almost every night-I manage to throw something together with whatever’s in the fridge. The one I wish I had was turning my yard into a real garden, like one of those magazine articles.

I feel ya! 365 days a year x year-after-year-after-year... it gets hard to feel excited about cooking! (And you'd hate to live in my house, btw... my next-door neighbor is half-English and a landscape designer and her English mother lives in the side suite... they just *LOOK* out the window and things start to grow!!! Ok, not really, they really do work hard all the time, and the husband helps, too... but still, it drives me bonkers how much better things look on their side of the fence!!!)

J. K. Rowling - because I love the Harry potter series, and it was something to connect with nieces over.



Superpower - Compartmentalism - I'm good at keeping everything in it's proper box.
Darkside - Sometimes that means I forget about things if that's not the "box" I'm in right then.
Dream Superpower - Teleportation!!! (Instant Disney, whenever I want to be there. )

JK Rowling is a superhero for getting all those kids to read!!! A few years ago I tried to read all the books to DDs, but I stalled out partway through the Half-blood prince... but it was enough that when we went to Universal, they understood all the references... meanwhile, while DD15 is aware through spoilers about a few of the major character deaths (and spoiled it for DD11,) I don't think anyone's spoiled any of the other things, so I am good with forestalling all the carnage of the last 1200 pages of the series a little longer... some of those scenes were horrendously intense, even for me reading as an adult!

Yes... teleportation would be nice! Hopefully they never ACTUALLY invent teleporters, though. I think it would make the world too homogenous if people could live in the country, blink to town for work, blink to Paris for dinner... but as a one-off superpower, that would be really nice!!!

According to my fitbit, I've walked over halfway to Disney since January. Total distance from my house to Bay Lake Tower (where we are staying in July) is 1048 miles. Only about 550 miles left to go.

Stop there. THAT is already a superhero accomplishment!!! Go you!!! Walking the parks in July will be cake for you!!!

 

[Zhoen]

Most of us in this career seem to be carers, nurturers and creative - the dark side would be putting others first most of the time...

​

Requires lots of patience, energy, compassion and creativity. The darkside of that super power is that some days I have no patience, energy, compassion or creativity by the time I get home...especially for teenage attitudes.

I wanted to respond to these two together, along with a shout-out to retired teacher @sjrec!!!

Yes, anyone in the teaching/mentoring fields is a superhero, and yes, the potential to give too much and until you have nothing left is a real issue! Thank you!!! When you read this, get up and go get yourself a cup of tea (or a prickly pear margarita....) you deserve it!!!

 

[Oneanne]

Motivation Monday

Last week a healthy living blogger I follow posted an article titled "Get French Fast", in which she chose highlights from a number of books about what French Women get right about life. A couple that stuck with me:

... they don't care to be popular
... they will always choose pleasure over work
... french culture is a grown-up culture, not a youth culture
... they do not become invisible and are never out of the game: women from 18 to 80 can wear a well cut pair of jeans

I've been chewing on the 'grown-up culture 'and 'never being out of the game' in particular and am starting to shift my thinking from hiding my age, which in turn makes me invisible, to standing up straight and owning my space. Not caring about being popular is also a biggie for me... my mantra this week is going to be "take me as I am"... and first a foremost I'll be saying that to myself. And not feeling guilty when choosing pleasure over work is also a mind shift I'm going to make. I ordered a couple of the books to delve deeper and get more ideas.

Here's some lovely french decor to start the week off right.

 

[sjrec]

Here we go, another Monday!
Hope everyone is off to a good start to their week.

I finished swapping out winter clothes for spring stuff this weekend and was remembering last year at this time I was 20lbs plus heavier and everything was so tight! So there’s my motivation!

I’m off to the grocery store soon because we’re out of fresh vegetables. I need to get better at estimating what will get us through the week.

 

[PollyannaMom]

So what is your motivation to get through this week? Anybody got plans wilder than driving 90 miles in a rental car with 6lbs of (about 20,000) live bees? If not, then no matter how things go this week, you can say at least THAT wasn't on your to-do list!!!

I'm going to remember that!

JK Rowling is a superhero for getting all those kids to read!!!

Absolutely!!

 

[MickeyMom76]

Our very LAST MOTIVATION MONDAY of the month!!!

The end of the month is motivating me this week. I really wanted to finish strong (slight attempt at a pun here since my goal was to work on increasing my weight lifting).

I'm also motivated by my progress. Today I put on a fairly new pair of jeans that I bought late fall/early winter and they were TOO BIG! Before Christmas, I gave in and bought some clothes up a size so they weren't so tight because I had accepted that I gained weight over the year and couldn't fit into my old pants. But that was before I found this wonderful group of motivators! And now I just want to keep it going...weight loss, muscle tone, healthy living, positive attitude....all of it!

And I love @Oneanne 's attitude - take me as I am! Great points to remember - we should not be invisible and we should choose pleasure over work.

 

[glss1/2fll]

Motivation Monday--we're going to see Mickey!!!! That and the scale made a whoosh this week. Love a whoosh! All that and I think the longer, sunnier days are helping me just feel all around happier and therefore more motivated.

 

[Oneanne]

Over the weekend I finally managed to lock in on some healthful changes that needed to happen. I've been having tummy aches on a fairly regular basis and finally got back on to pro-biotics and also found a pre-biotic gut health powder that you add to drinks. I've been good about getting more protein and have been getting back to green smoothies as well. Adding to that the French inspiration and I finally feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

The only monthly goal I'm going to achieve is to squeak by on my commitment to get in 600 minutes of exercise this month... provided I get 30 minute in today that is.

I really need to buckle down for May and get my body in to shape to handle all the activity and heat/humidity that's going to be happening during my June trip to WDW. Yesterday I put the last piece in place by getting a ticket to the special Villains MK After Hours that takes place while I'm there. Last few trips I've spent very little time in MK because it's so full of over stimulated kids (imagine that, at WDW no less!), so this will be a nice way to spend some more relaxing time there and it should be a bit cooler than during the day. They encourage you to dress up like your favorite... who should it be?

 

[PollyannaMom]

I vote for Madam Mim. Her purple hair looks fun!

 

[Zhoen]

Here we are, the very last TOPIC TUESDAY of the month!!! (In a nice, breezy Mediterranean blue because our topic this week is.....)

WATER!!!!

Now, I'm going to go out on a limb and presume that you are not dead while reading this, and that furthermore, that suggests you probably *do* get "enough" water... being as you'd be dead within days if you didn't... but what about "OPTIMAL" water?

Hah. You already know the answer to that!!! "Nobody can agree on how much is the right amount!!!" I once had a teacher from a desert nation who was adamant that Americans drink far too much water and "wear our out kidneys." Then they transferred a girl into our class who was 8 months pregnant (and Californian) who drank 2 liters of water during class each day, plus whatever she was drinking at home... that was a fun dynamic to watch!

So, how much clear, unadulterated agua do you down per day? Do you wish it was more? Tap, filtered, or bottled? City, spring, or well? Do you think "doesn't matter if it's pure water as long as it's liquid?" Are you the "I drinks when I'm thirsty and that's good enough!" type? Have you ever tried the "your weight in ounces" method??? (I feel the need to pee just THINKING about that one!!!)

Personally, I rarely drink clear water, even if I should (more for eco-ethics and cost concerns than for health, TBH.) I certainly don't drink ounce-per-pound !!!! But I do have ice in my drinks... and that melts... which is water... technically!!!

Meanwhile, as I am typing this, I have a gallon of sugar water cooling in the kitchen to feed my new baybees… and while I wait for that to finish, I am going to go feed the kittens, who are sick of dry food and water and anxiously awaiting the magic opening of the can!!!

Back in a bit!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I thinking do pretty well with with water - usually filtered in a refillable bottle or insulated travel cup. (I have a few fun ones.)

I probably did the *best* when I was pregnant and worked in an office - between commuting by train and always having one on my desk.