Tuesday Ta Dah PWYC

[Twins' Mom]

Let's hear about the ta dahs happening today! Tally then up!

[LadyMaverick]

Good morning

I made blunder after blunder this morning. I woke up late. Instead of getting started on my day I sat down in the recliner. I picked up the laptop and started reading social media. I didn't watch the clock. I forgot to turn the alarms back on after Thaksgiving break. I didn't set up my cards for the day. And wouldn't ya know it on the day that I messed up so bad, DD12 slept through her alarms. End result = I finally noticed the time when it was FIVE MINUTES before we needed to be out the door. I woke DD12 up and we both scrambled to get clothes on and do minimum personal care. There was no drama and we got it done as best as we could. There might of been a few smiles shared as we scrambled. Thankfully DD12 arrived at school before the tardy bell rang.

DS15 has a session with his personal trainer this morning. We will be out the door for that in 40 minutes. DH and I will exercise while DS15 is guided and mentored through his exercise hour.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

As my 15 min timer goes on my wrist....

I was popping in to make a post about my social media ta-dah and then saw LadyM's post. It makes me feel a lot better because I see her as what I aspire to be, and her 'human' times are a reminder to be gentle with myself as well.

Dh commented this morning (while in bad) that he's spending too much time on social Media (almost exclusively FB, the other forums he's on are work related) and he has deadlines that he's having trouble meeting because the wasted time.

I have the same feeling these days.

As well because the Residents' Facebook group is active, I have to open up Facebook a few times a day to make sure things aren't going off the rails. Then I end up scrolling through 'my' feed and getting distracted (it isn't 'my' feed, it is things that FB put in front of my eyes to make me stay on the site longer and it is working.)

So my ta-dah is this morning I went through and bookmarked each FB page I am friends with and the group I follow. Thankfully I don't have many friends, under 50, because I had learned that one's FB friends should only be people you know in real life and see occasionally, or might see occasionally. They are all family or close friends, people I actually would like to get a 'catch-up' phone call from, not someone that, if I saw them on call display, I'd hesitate to pick up!

Skippable:

So here's how I'll be Facebooking from now on. (These are Chrome instructions but I think they work similarly in most browsers.)

1. I created a Facebook Links folder in my Bookmarks.

2. I went to my FB profile and selected Friends, then All Friends. All their names show up in the left frame of the window.

3. I clicked on the person's Facebook name and that brings up their FB page. In my browser's internet address window, I clicked on the star (save bookmark) and it brought up a window asking what name and where in my bookmarks I want to save the link.

4. I enter the person's name. Facebook is the default entry in Chrome and it is important to a name in because otherwise, when you look at the bookmarks they all look like they have the same name since the unique parts are beyond what Chrome shows in the folder unless I open up the folder to full screen. The first one you save, you'll have to select the bookmark folder but after that it assumes the following bookmarks will go in the same place.

5. For ease of use, in bookmark manager I sorted that folder alphabetically. I could have sorted it manually, grouping family members and friends.

6. I created a 'groups' subfolder in the Facebook Links folder and went to each of the groups I follow and saved links directly to the groups in that folder.

I've put my Facebook Links bookmark folder on my bookmarks bar for ease of opening things up.

Now I have two choices when I want to check FB.

Choice 1: right-click on the folder and click on Open All. It will open up, in my case, 49 tabs, one each for my friends. This takes a couple of minutes to load up. Once loaded, I go to tab one, see their new posts at the top of their feed, read, and then close the tab. I do this all the way along and in a matter of minutes I can read the latest posts from everyone without having to scroll past, or worse, stopping to read/watch reels, ads and 'selected for you' content.

The algorithm on my news feed shows me ~ 2 of my friends/group posts for every 15 items in my news feed. This method cuts out all that distracting content specifically fed to me by AI (which is tracking not only my cookies from all of my browsing, but also how long I take to scroll past an item, because that means it may have caught my interest.)

Choice 2: If I'm only interested in how a few people are doing, I can just click on the Facebook Links folder and scroll down to each person I want to see.

Potential Choice 3: I might created multiple Links folders, each with subgroups. For instance, there are about 10 people I'd like to look at daily, so put them all in the same bookmark folder and then when I open up that folder, I'll only be open up those 10 tabs, not 49.

When I open these tabs, my notifications (which I have set to only see in FB, they don't come to me on my phone), are indicated so I can also jump to those to see what new activity I need to keep an eye on.

And, of course, I can just open the Residents' Association group page directly and quickly scan for new posts. Unfortunately, the algorithm doesn't feed me the latest posts, it shows me only "most relevant". You'd think as moderator, I could tell it to always show me all posts, because, if it feels a post isn't relevant, I could end up missing something really important. Like this morning, when someone who had asked for a 'charitable' person to help him photograph and post for sale a vast jewelry collection on Facebook, accused members of scaring away volunteers, just because we had pointed out this was a huge job and not something that you can expect others to do for you for free. And when I called him out, saying his post was unacceptable, he shot back at me that "you're certainly not an opinion reference judge." In fact, I am because it is MY group and he is now on posting restrictions and his offending posts have been deleted!

That was my other ta-dah of the day, dealing with him. (He is a continual problem posting something polite or nice and then an attacking post hours later in an unprovoked mood swing.)

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Yesterday I got my minimal Monday stuff done. The decongestant kept my coughing at bay but I was still very tired and slow moving. I decided to not take dd's kids to the Holiday Train. Had it been in the city, I would have but it was an hour away. At 4:30 I decided I was well enough to go so dh and I had dinner on our way there, then met up with ds and his family at the hospital (he had just got off shift), parked our cars and walked to see the train. We watched the side of the car come down to reveal the stage and stayed for 2 songs. Then we worked our way out of the crowd and back to the front of the train since dgs2.75 wouldn't totally connect that this display of lit things was actually a train. At the front, you could see the locomotive. He had a lovely smile on his face for most of the time.

Dh and I got home at 9:45. I didn't get to bed until midnight because I was so wired (I suspect partly from decongestant taken at 3:30.)

So it is an hour after my "are you dressed?" alarm and I'm in my robe still. Tea and chocolate are done, 2x my light therapy, and the bed is made. Next up will be s2s and then as much of a full house blessing as I can manage before noon. Then I'll switch to paperwork.

[blessedw2]

hello - a fine good morning to you.

praying for more energy for you today d Kathryn! I am glad you enjoyed yesterday!

hello d lady it doesn't sound like a blunder - it's hard back into routine again after a nice break. it's hard getting back to school time out of the house!!! At least for me.

I am so happy that your ds loves the training.

hello d twins. thank you for starting us!!! ta Dah thinking is exactly what I needed!

hello d everyone

[CathyS]

Hi!

It's snowing again and the wind is coming straight from the east. Brrr... Dh seems to be feeling the cold more this year. He told me this morning that he only put $50 worth of gas in the truck instead of his usual $100, because "It was so cold with that wind." He has never made comments like this before. It's not even December yet, so there are 3 more months of this, at least. Right now all 3 cats are inside. The smallest wants to be out in this weather. She's walking around yelling at us. "MEAOW! MEOW! MEOOOOW!!"

I have emptied a garbage can and taken it outside. Dishwasher got emptied and refilled and it's doing it's thing. I have washed 1 large pot. There are a few wooden utensils "soaking" in the sink and the soup pot needs to be washed.

My dd is coming to get her tires switched tomorrow and I will give her her Christmas gifts (unwrapped) tomorrow as well.

Dh has requested salmon casserole for supper.

[blessedw2]

what I am looking at in the house. I think that says it all.

I brought the lights and laid them out in the kitchen - so many broken bulbs - my fault for putting them in bags instead of hanging them in the garage individually.

I put lights on the kitchen window and left everything out on the table - under the table - through out the kitchen -

after doing stuff in the am, I picked up mom for lunch - I would rather not eat out but she needed to eat. We ordered her meds and picked up meds. I called her cousin (92) in France for her in the morning to get some addresses. Oh they had such a wonderful time! it cost me $50 but the laughter between the two was wonderful. We also bought my brothers present for my mom to give. yay one person done.

men- lol I am trying to get my brother to figure out what he and my uncle want to do with Christmas, if I need mom to get a present for aunt and uncle, what his wife would like from mom. do I need to set up food for them for Christmas Eve etc. etc.

going out in the afternoon with mom is lovely but it also takes away the time to make dinner. it takes up my afternoon and early evening. I came home with mom and she watched walker Texas ranger again. She loves it and stayed until 9 pm.

I have to figure this out with my 3 x 5's and figure out a routine while working with christmas.

[Twins' Mom]

I'm thinking it will be good to have a break from the ddog. She is driving me crazy with her demands. I just walked her two laps. I sat down and now she wants out in the yard.
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In spite of ta da Tuesday I'm more in the mind of To do Tuesday right now, i.e. getting ready for this trip. I finally this a.m. began a list of to dos before we leave at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon.

I have a workout at two today - and dh is out this p.m. bowling. So I have plenty of time, if not the motivation.

Yesterday I got to a stopping place on my DAR supplemental application and sent the registrar a link to the Dropbox file. I have the application filled out, an analysis (proof statement) for the generation for which there's no direct evidence, and I think all the documents as pdfs, in folders by generations. So I am not done there, but done until next week. Dregistrar was on a trip, and on her way home.

Last night we had grilled chicken (George Foreman grill), roasted broccolini, and a cup of tomato soup for our dinner. We have left over grilled chicken and more soup, so that will take care of us today.

Ta dahs!
-had garbage and dog poop out this a.m. before eight
-leftovers take care of meals today

[Nancy]

Joining the "I slept in" crew!
Up at 6:30 ish. It was lite out when I woke up. Sunny out now and frosty.
I have a good reason I was up a bit later getting out Dec. decor then showered before bed at 10:30.
An hour later than normal. Dreams about a trable weaving loom I used to have. 8 harness was to heavy for me to move.

Today I have the decor out of the spare room and ready to go up no hurry I have all week.
This is a process and a journey.

Dig qt & had bfast.
Trash is at the curb.
I put more leaves in the can.
Not dressed still have on p.j. bottoms on to remind me I'm still on the mend & to not over do,
More coffee. Took Rx & vits.
House is okay of course except for the clutter from decor not being up yet.

[LadyMaverick]

Taking a much-needed break. I haven't even finished my one cup of coffee this morning! I did drink tea while exercising but that doesn't give me the mmmmhhhh response I receive when i drink coffee.

DS15 survived his first workout with trainer after a two week break for covid. He knew it was going to be tough to get back into the groove and he wasn't disappointed. He says he can barely lift his arms now but I notice he is doing it without a problem so I suspect a tad bit of drama happening. Yesterday his doctor recommended DS15 only eat out (fast food) once a week at the most. DS15 took that recommendation to heart and said he was only going to eat out on Sundays. Today his trainer is recommending that he eat more protein. About the same time he was telling me that a meal plan came across my screen. With almost no thought I printed it off for DS15 and he like it. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home from the gym and he picked out some ingredients to make the meals. He made a green salad for lunch (!!!!!) and added the protein to it. Here is the meal plan that DS15 thinks he wants to follow.

The 9 meals I’d eat OVER, and OVER, and OVER if my goal was to lose 30lbs and flatten my belly:

#1 - Cheeseburger Tacos
8oz 93/7 ground beef
2 low-calorie tortillas
Sugar free ketchup
Fat-free shredded cheese
Approx 500Cal 70gProtein
Add pickles if preferred.

#2 - Buffalo Chicken Bowl
8oz chicken breast
8oz whole potatoes
Hot sauce
Approx 560Cal 70gProtein
Potatoes are one of the most filling foods in the world.

#3 - Shrimp & Rice Egg Bowl
8oz grilled shrimp
1 cup (cooked) rice
2 scrambled eggs
Hot sauce
Approx 600Cal 70gProtein
Shrimp is one of the leanest sources of protein you can find.

#4 - Breakfast Burrito
8oz 93/7 ground beef
2 eggs
2 low-cal tortillas
Hot sauce or salsa
Approx 560Cal 73gProtein
A great way to get a ton of protein in early in the day.

#5 - Protein Smoothie
1 scoop whey protein
1 serving vanilla greek yogurt
Water
Ice
Approx 300Cal 50gProtein
As quick & easy as it gets.

#6 - High Protein Salad
8oz sirloin, salmon, or chicken
Salad base (amount not important)
2 hard-boiled eggs
Low-calorie dressing
Unlimited veggies
Approx 560Cal 60gProtein

#7 - Fat Loss Omelet w/ Side Greek Yogurt
1 cup egg whites
2 slices turkey bacon
1/4cup reduced fat cheese
Hot sauce or salsa
1 serving greek yogurt
Approx 400Cal 60gProtein

#8 - Protein Snack Combo
1 fairlife protein shake
1 greek yogurt
1 can canned tuna or salmon
Approx 460Cal 85gProtein

#9 - Chic Fil A
2 12ct grilled nuggets (24 total)
400Cal 76gProtein

After we got home from the grocery store I cooked 4 lbs of hamburger meat, debone a rotisserie chicken and made 28 deviled eggs. I'm trying to get the refrigerator ready-to-eat food restocked.

After my break I am going to the city to pickup DS15 prescpition med (for acne), fill up with gas and buy a few things for DS15 meal plan that our local grocery store doesn't carry. I plan to be back home in under 3 hours so I can pick DD12 up from school.