Month: February 2017

Here it is Friday, already. I’m totally enjoying living in Tennessee today, as our temperature hit 80 degrees, while northwest Wisconsin is digging out from a “snowstorm” that didn’t amount to quite what they were expecting, but certainly isn’t Spring. Believe it or not, trees are already blossoming here. I’m not sure what kinds they are, but there is a beautiful tall pink one that is fully blossomed all over town, as well as a low yellow bush – Forsythia, I think that is. That means that there is something blooming in northeast Tennessee from late February through November. Pretty awesome, if you ask me!!

We had a concert with the choirs last night. There were 12 songs in all, and I only played for 3 of them. So I sat at the piano and tried to look invisible for most of the concert. The one group had all three acappella, so I didn’t even go out with them. But the other three groups each had one song that I played and two that I didn’t! This was a “parents’ concert” for the choir competition that is next Friday down in Greenville, TN, about an hour away. We are leaving at 7:30 a.m., listening to other schools’ groups for a couple hours in the morning, having lunch and warming up a bit at a Baptist church nearby, then our groups begin performing around 1:00 and we are done around 4:15. It is a lot like Wisconsin’s large group festival, except that each group, when they are done performing their three prepared songs for the judges, goes to another room for group sight-reading. You have to do well in sight-reading, too, in order to get a superior rating. We have four groups, a 100 member mixed choir at the beginning level, and a women’s ensemble, a men’s ensemble and the madrigal group. The women’s and men’s ensembles are made up of the madrigal singers, with just a few others added to fill out the groups. And the madrigal group is also part of the mixed choir, to help them stay on pitch on their acappella pieces. So those kids have had to learn and memorize 12 pieces in the last 8 weeks. Any of the groups that receive a superior rating moves on to State competition. I think that is in Knoxville or Nashville, but I’m not sure when it is. I’m quite sure some of the groups will make it to that. The choir director said the madrigal group is the best sounding group he’s ever worked with and he’s been a choir director for quite a while (he’s 42 years old.) If the guys can just control themselves and keep their eyes on the director…

We went out to celebrate Don’s new job with a Dairy Queen treat yesterday afternoon. Then, this morning he made a special breakfast of eggs and bacon and those rolls you get in a tube and cook, then frost with the frosting that comes with them – also to celebrate. All this celebrating could ruin our weigh-in if we don’t get back on track soon!  Then this afternoon I had the fun of redoing our budget to account for actual income starting next month – that was an exciting time for me!

I started another new piano student this Tuesday, so now I’m up to 7. Not making me tons of money, but it is a start! I’ve been going over to school a LOT getting ready for this contest, though, so that is adding up to a pretty good paycheck, too.

I looked back at my weight records, and I’ve been stuck in this two pound range for over 3 weeks. Argh! And the thing is that I’m following my plan pretty well and exercising totally up to what I should. I don’t think I have to be perfect to lose weight, although I might lose it more slowly. But that would be okay, as long as I was losing some. But this is maddening.

So I’m going to do a close study of what I’ve eaten over the past three weeks and see if I can discover any flaws. I’m thinking I might be getting too little oil, since I don’t make it a point to add oil to my diet and with low calorie foods, oil is usually the first thing to go. At least I’ve written down everything I’ve eaten, so that will make it easier to study.

I’m also giving both of us two days totally off the eating plan. We are going to eat whatever we feel like today and tomorrow. Maybe our bodies just need a break from deprivation. But I don’t feel we’ve really been depriving ourselves, except when it comes to sweets. And meats. And breads. Well, maybe we have… And it isn’t working!

So here is the result of the study:  I have to eat way less cold cereal, marshmallows and cool whip. And I could afford to eat more vegetables, such as green beans, carrots, and peas; more raw fruit, such as apples, cuties, and oranges; and more proteins, such as chicken, milk, tuna, walnuts, and peanut butter; and I probably could use popcorn more as a snack.

Down another pound this week. It is slow going, but as everyone likes to remind those of us on diets, at least it is heading in the right direction! But it is so hard to be patient. How I wish there were instant results to weight loss efforts. A pound seems like so little after a whole week of really being invested in the lifestyle of eating less than I want, exercising daily, and giving up all sorts of things.

This is when I have to remind myself that this weight loss isn’t all there is to life. I also had a good week at school – we got a lot of music learned. It was a great weekend in the backyard – we did some work on the yard itself, pulling vines and preparing places for flowers, as well as getting the floor (fencing) attached to the framework for the chicken house. I finished a couple of books, including The Oz Principle, which gave me more incentive to be accountable for my eating, rather than making excuses.

So maybe only one pound, but still a very good week.

Where did this week go? Time had been moving along pretty slowly until this week. Maybe its because this is the week that January ended and  February began, so I was able to go shopping. With so little income, I’m really trying to stick to my rather meager budget plan, so I didn’t go out and buy things like dishwasher soap, paper clips, and hair color until February arrived. So that was a big (and expensive!) day, right in the middle of the week.

I’ve been going in to school to play for the choirs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for the past four weeks, too, which keeps me about as busy as I like to be. Basically I work three days, then am off four days – nice routine. My lessons fall on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I’d like to have them a bit more frequently, since that is where my steady income comes from. I’ll get paid for going in to school, but not until after the concert and contest, which is the beginning of March.

One problem I’m having is that on the days that I go to school, I don’t drink hardly anything until I’m done at about 2:30. I know I’m not getting enough water, but I can’t really drink much after about 6:30 p.m., either, or I’m up so many times at night. I need to have a plan to just drink and drink between 3:00 and 6:00. I did that yesterday and it helped.

I’m going in to school today, as well. The students have a day off, but the teachers have in-service. When we go to contest in a month, we are taking the madrigal group and the concert choir group, and also putting together a men’s ensemble and a women’s ensemble. Most of the members of those two groups are from the madrigal group, but there are a few others handpicked from the two sections of concert choir. The madrigal group has rehearsed all the men’s and women’s music a lot, but the others have not. So they are coming in today and we are going to work on that music for 90 minutes with each group – girls in the a.m. and boys following. It should be fun, because it is just the good singers. Each group is doing three pieces, and they are not easy, so it will be hard work. We’ll also be rehearsing at 7:00 a.m. some days up until the contest. (School starts at 7:30 a.m., and there are outside music rehearsals just about every day beginning at 6:30 a.m. The choir director gets there at 6:00 ! Ugh. And play practice, when they have it, lasts until 4:30 p.m. Long days.)