Mornin' all... got up and started laundry and now working on my old laptop. I got the new one a couple months ago but hadn't got around to copying all my old stuff to an external to move over. Fired up the old laptop and am reminded why I hated it and needed the new one. It is really old and SO slow. It is going to take a loooong time to copy everything. It took almost 20 minutes just to boot up!

Getting ready to eat my big bowl of oats for breakfast, then I'll get on cleaning the house so I'm ready for company tomorrow. It's not bad I just need to dust and do a quick mop of the floors, give the bathrooms a once-over. Hoping to have all the cooking and cleaning done by early afternoon and then I can spend the rest of the day working since I'm taking tomorrow completely off and going to try not to even think about work. Just enjoy my company.

I'll get in a walk today too. Loving this weather lately.

Plan for today is a big ol' salad for lunch, and I'm making a big batch of greens, beans, mushrooms and onions for dinner and will have leftovers for a few days. Also making roasted broccoli and mini-peppers to add to salads again.

Ugh, now I'm getting errors on the old laptop. Off to deal with that!

Hope y'all have a great day.

August ended with a "bang" for me.

On Tuesday we went to one of my favorite spots from when I was a child. It is a pond with hiking trails. I have not taken my daughter there since she was a baby. We decided it was a gorgeous day, not warm enough for swimming, but perfect to go on a family hike. My daughter loved it! We ended up seeing 9 rabbits, 4 deer - one buck and 3 fawns, 2 cormorant, 11 aquatic turtles and 1 snapping turtle. We also found in the community garden they had honey bee hives that anyone could sponsor if interested. When we were walking over the bridge we saw the turtles and a cormorant resting on logs. Two ladies were next to us and looked over the bridge. They commented that there was a snapper in the water and asked if we saw it, then shared that they named her Bridgette. LOL My husband could see it but I could not. (He's over 6 feet tall and I am a tad over 5 feet) I decided to superman my body onto the stone wall of the bridge which has the width of a kitchen table. I When I did I felt a "pop pop pop" in my right side of my ribs followed by intense pain. I quickly got down and said "I think I just broke my ribs." I had a dentist appointment in 45-50 minutes to repair a broken filling. I had been waiting 2 weeks for this appointment and did not want to cancel. I opted to not go to the doctor to get my ribs checked out and go to my dentist appointment. The next morning I woke up feeling fairly well. Some tenderness that I did not need to take any meds for. It was no way near the pain that I had felt the day before. I was okay as long as I didn't make any sudden movements. I again opted not to go to the doctor. Since exercise is not an option with an injury we decided to go into town and walk around. The following day I felt really great. We tried out a new hiking trail which was AMAZING. I came home and felt wonderful. Well, yesterday I woke and was very tender. It was uncomfortable to sit, it was uncomfortable to stand. Again not enough pain to make me take any meds or feel like I need to go to the doctor. I spent the day resting. Today I feel pretty good, some discomfort here and there (more like a bad bruise) but nothing I can't handle. My plan is to take it easy today and let my body heal.

I don't know if I shared in this group or another that I had a goal of meeting 100 days of 10K steps on Fitbit. I was close to 80 days. When my injury happened I was really bummed that this threw off my ability to exercise. Hence why we started walking around town and discovering new places to hike. Even with an injury I hit my 10K steps each day! YIPPIE!!!! Well that was until I logged into Fitbit to see how many more days I had to go. To my surprise it told me I was on day 4 of my streak. WHAT?!!!!! I had to scroll back and see what day it missed because I know I have been hitting 10K every day. Well, Sunday, the day I did yard work all day it only logged me at 9,985 steps for the day. I am fairly certain I remember hitting my 10K for the day. (grrrrr) So for now I have put my goal on making my 100 days of 10K steps on the back burner until I am 100% back to myself.

Due to my injury I have not set any goals for myself for September. I will continue to weigh and log my food. I have to figure out what I can do for exercise in the mean time. I know I can handle walking which has been great for me so far. But I need to figure out something to do on the days it is raining and I cannot get outside to walk. I don't have a treadmill to walk in the house and walking in place or doing laps around my house gets incredibly boring. But to be a Suzie sunshine... my heel has had plenty of time to rest and I am having zero heel pain. Though I do feel incredibly lazy with all the sitting that I have been doing. Maybe this was a sign telling me I need to slow down and take time to rest.

On Facebook I follow a lot of plant-based and vegan groups. In the groups many people recommend Plant You for recipes. I follow her on Instagram but have not made anything yet. Last night I decided to make her Lentil Quinoa Salad and it was quite tasty. Both my daughter and husband liked it a lot too.
https://plantyou.com/lentil-quinoa-salad/

These pics were from our walk around town the following day. This sign outside one of the shops spoke to me. I looked at my husband and said “I am living proof of this!”

Wow, JNettie, that sounds painful. Glad it seems to be healing. Great pics! You have some beautiful places to walk.

I am up early and having a cup of coffee before I get busy. I didn't do a lot yesterday. Had an awful headache and it was really hard to keep moving. Feel better this morning so now I have to finish straightening up the house before I get on cooking.

Fortunately, the house is in pretty good shape so it won't take long to finish cleaning.

Mornin' all... yesterday was so nice. Enjoyed the visit with relatives very much. Also enjoyed taking two days off and trying not to think about work. I am going to run down to the office early just for a few to check on a couple things before tomorrow, then home to work the rest of the day. I don't have much else I need to do other than make a big skillet of greens and beans with onions and mushrooms for the week.

My brother had picked up carryout BBQ for everyone which they all seemed to enjoy. I made a big pot of mexican rice for myself and to share although only one other person tried it. They had a lot of food to eat though. I also did a salad bar and everyone ate some salad.

I used this recipe: https://www.myplantifulcooking.com/easy-vegan-rice-and-black-beans/ and left out the oil. It was okay not enough seasoning for me. I cut up a few slices of jarred jalapenos and mixed into my serving with a big dollop of salsa and it was much better. I think next time I'd add one or two diced jalapenos at the beginning with the other ingredients. I also added about a cup of thawed frozen corn when I threw in the beans. I did like the cooking method with the rice infused with flavor and easy all one pot, so I'd consider it a keeper with some tweaks. The recipe notes say you can use a couple cups of salsa in place of the diced tomatoes and that may make this recipe perfect so I'll try that next time. Also makes a LOT so I'm glad the recipe says it freezes well. I'll divide a bunch of it up into serving sizes and freeze tonight.

Had half a cupcake and a cookie that my SIL got from a local vegan bakery. They were delicious and my first off plan thing in two weeks. Everyone loved the desserts and couldn't believe they were vegan. We discovered this place years ago and their stuff is amazing, but they use a lot of oil and vegan butter so it's definitely a special occasion only thing. I am not that into sweets and don't crave them so I don't think it will derail me. It's the salty snacky, bread/flour and daiya cheese that I need to stay away from.

Plan for today...
B - cantaloupe and blueberries sprinkled with a little oats, chia/flax and a few walnut halves, cinnamon and cardamom
L - leftover rice with cooked greens and beans (going to make the greens and beans with black beans and mexican seasonings to complement the rice)
D - big ol' salad

Glad you are enjoying your weekend and your new work schedule, Nanc. It sounds great! What did you put in your soup?

Nanc, did you get your soup made? Love seeing your cute smileys again.

Donna, those trips sound awesome! And yay for new pants in size 14!

I am doing well sticking to plan this week although I haven't been out for walks in a couple days because the weather got hot and muggy again, and I'm still struggling with the headaches. I need to hit the treadmill tonight since I am feeling a little better.

I turned the rice and greens/veggies into tacos for dinner last two evenings and they are SO good topped with salsa and avocado.

@bisky - you mentioned in your post about low energy. I have that and was told it was due to low levels of iron so I am on a prescribed iron pill. Fortunately when the kidney doctor prescribes it I get it paid due to my kidney failure. Also the dyhration is a big thing. Don't know how much water you drink but they told me 72 oz is where I should be doing. They also told me that the lack of energy could be from what we eat - are you eating anything processed as that could cause some problems.

It is now 1 week that I have completely changed my food and exercise plan. When I saw the kidney doctor yesterday they also got me to talk with the dietition - had talked to her on the phone but this time in person. She had me tell her what I was eating to see if there was a way I could make changes re the salt in the food. She smiled and said I was right on track. She mentioned meat especially red meat causes acid in the blood to go up and vegetables and fruit brings it back down to normal. So she said to keep the meat to 2 oz and have more fruit and vegetables. When I told her I didnt really enjoy vegetables she said then to increase the fruit until I get used to eating more vegetables. No processed food and do not add salt to anything. Since September 1 have lost 5.9 pounds so I am on the right track and my blood work looks good this time around - of course the kidney function is still low but keeping it high enough for no dialysis so that is good.