Monday, October 13, 2025

118.8

This week is supposed to be beautiful here: Sunny, lower humidity, no thunderstorms. Fall (or what passes for it in Florida) has finally arrived. It is my favorite time of year here because it isn't as hot but the crowds of seasonal people are much smaller than January to March.

Nine and Dine was fun yesterday though we came in DFL in our group. But we were the least experienced other than DH. Picture below. You can't see it but I also had a small pumpkin sticking out of my ponytail in the back.

Today I have water aerobics, then am playing 9 holes of golf with 2 other women. I played better yesterday than I had in the spring when I last played. Hopefully that will continue. I need to work on my packing list for Arizona as we leave Thursday and I need to be fully packed by end of day on Wednesday. Lots to do this week before we go: hair appointment tomorrow, bocce tomorrow and Wednesday, golf on Thursday morning before we leave.

Did I mention that for the last month now, I have had no sign of the weird skin condition that caused me to have blisters on my fingers and feet? I am becoming more and more convinced that it was due to a nickel allergy. I knew I was allergic because costume jewelry used to make me break out in blisters under the jewelry which would take a couple of weeks to heal. Apparently some people can have a similar reaction (usually on hands and feet) when they ingest foods containing a high level of nickel. I have avoided high nickel level foods since mid to early July and the blisters are gone. The foods that I was eating a LOT of and also have a lot of nickel were chickpeas and tahini in hummus (which I was eating a lot of daily), plus beans, lentils, and nuts. Lots to avoid since almost all foods have at least some nickel in them. I found a food list that categorizes foods in levels and the top 2 levels have way more nickel than the others (and include the foods I just mentioned). I guess the proof is whether the skin condition continues to stay away.

Anyway, that's it for self-diagnosis. have a mostly marvelous Monday!

Good morning! The roof estimator came this morning. Such a nice guy. He came two years ago for another leak I had when Kirby was a tiny puppy and they had a nice reunion. We had 0.60 of rain in less than an hour right before he came, but the leak in my room didn't start back up thankfully. Water is funny in the paths it chooses. Ah, it's raining again.

We agreed that the solution is to carry the roof material to the end of the ledge, so I lose the stucco. It won't be attractive like it is now, but it will be more durable. I don't spend enough time up there to worry about it. He's also going to give me an estimate to pull up the decking and redo the roof material underneath. If it means I don't wander that end of the house paranoid, looking for leaks every time it rains that seems worth it.

When he was up there, he checked the rest of the roof and I heard him squeal. Apparently, I have a tarantula on the roof and he thought it was dead (curled up like spiders do when they die), but when he reached down to take a picture, it spread out its legs and scared him... ha!

I have a MUCH needed hair appointment to have my hair cut for the first time since June. Woo, I need it. The color also needs work...

Not much else to share. Hope you all are well!

Sounds like a sound plan to fix the roof properly. Tarantulas! Yuck! I'd prefer not to meet one.

I need my hair done too - tomorrow thank goodness.

Tarantulas! Yikes! I'll let you keep your scorpions and big hairy spiders! I know I get some new creepy crawlies to deal with when we move to FL!

Glad you are able to get the roof leak fixed! Way too nice of a place to have to put rotating buckets down in your bedroom to keep it dry!

207.8 Slowly the downward trek begins... I want to be back around the 200 lb mark before my surgery. Given that I'm hoping to move my surgery to early December, I better get a move on...LOL!

Rain is forecast for this afternoon and into the night. It is cool enough this morning that I'm actually wearing a long sleeved thick Tee shirt. Still in shorts, though! I give up my summer attire as slowly as possible.

Yesterday's dog #2 was a lot of work. The day did not feel as low key as I had hoped. I trimmed dogs for 5 1/2 hours.

Today my only obligation on the calendar is a workout with my trainer at 5 pm, but I think I need to go visit my pop since I haven't seen him in 2 1/2 weeks. I think I will stick around here most of the day and do odds and ends. I'm feeling a bit self indulgent. Perhaps I am entitled?

I re-listened to The Anxious Generation on my drive home. I'm not generally a read/listen to a book twice type of guy. I've reread probably fewer than 20 titles that were not school required. I got even more out of the second listen. At one point I was listening and wondered how this mental health crisis has touched the children of our tribe? It sounds like DD's and Paula's children are the right age to be affected - maybe even Liz's - though I think they are a bit older. Anyhow, I'll suggest the book again. I found that many of the findings cited in the book were applicable to me! YIKES!

Okay, time to get my butt in gear...

Wishing everyone a fabulous week.

My kids are 52, 37, and 34, so possibly older? Cellphones were around when they were teenagers but they weren't smartphones - they could just make/receive calls on them. Helicopter parents were just starting to be present during the middle daughter's late teenage years and I wasn't one of them. When my oldest went to college orientation the parents stayed home. When the 37 year old went she asked if I was coming and I was totally surprised to be invited. I went but had a hard time understanding the need of some of the other parents to want to continue to be involved in everything. Also my kids (even the youngest) grew up playing outside with the neighborhood friends. No online game playing and no messaging until they were in their 20's. There was email but not the constant back and forth.

I think even your youngest is old enough to have escaped what the book calls a "phone based" childhood. He writes that the most affected generation was born after 1994 or 1995.

My kids were born in 1992 and 1995. They didn't have phones until high school (dd) and middle school (ds). Their first phones didn't have cameras, and you had to text by using the number pad. MySpace was a thing, but neither of them were into it. The level of anxiety in my students seemed to skyrocket around 2010. Snap Chat and other social media platforms fuel the fire. OMG. I'm glad my kids mostly didn't grow up with that, and that DS in particular loved to be outside on all his various wheels: bike, scooter, roller blades, skateboards. Lots of teachers were reading and recommending this book, I might take a look at it.

The 2010s are exactly when the spike occurred. The contrast between a play based childhood and a "phone based" childhood is so well presented. I think you'd really like the book - especially with your teacher's point of view.

I'm not much of a reader, but this book sounds very interesting! My kids were born in 98, 99 and 2003. They had phones in high school, not middle school. I was not a helicopter parent at all, probably because I had kids later in life and my own childhood required a lot of independence!