#2510 three things: snow, Mac's collar, and self-care

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1. Snow. Yesterday (Wednesday 2/17), it was super snowy in the morning. I had to be up early to go to an all-day training for work. Fortunately, the training venue is just five miles from my house - straight down the road. No turns, no fuss. It took me nearly 25 minutes to get from my house to the venue. That's actual road time, too. It snowed most of the morning, then the sun came out, the roads dried (with the help of brine solution, I'm sure), and even though it was cold, it was pretty. The mountains look amazing! My thoughts are with the folks in Texas and other parts of the country that are suffering through power outages, busted pipes, and extreme cold. I am thankful that we were not affected like that. Here a photo of my front yard yesterday afternoon when I got home.

It looks like there is a lot of snow, but there's probably just four to six inches in the main part of the yard. MT shoveled the walk, so there's a big pile right up front there. Look how blue the sky is! Crazy Utah weather.

2. Mac's collar. When I got home yesterday afternoon, I planned to take the dogs for a walk. The sidewalks were clear and though it was cold, I have a warm coat and I'm good at layering my clothing. The thing was that Mac's collar was, and still is, missing. Mac and Harley play their faces off, and sometimes Harley manages to take Mac's collar right off her neck. (I keep it kind of loose so she's comfortable.) I looked all over the house and even out in the back yard, but I couldn't find the collar anywhere. Not having a collar could not stop us from taking a walk. Both dogs have harnesses that I have used to curb their extreme pulling. I bought Mac's harness when she was little. It still fits, but definitely now looks teeny-tiny on her nearly full-grown body.

Doesn't she look a trifle annoyed at the tiny harness? Here's how it looked on her in August:

Today we used Harley's harness instead and it was much better. I didn't take a photo, but trust me when I say Mac looks like a boss in the orange harness. I'll replace her collar this weekend.

3. Giving up on being down for Lent. In the past I have given things up for Lent, things like sweets or Diet Coke. Honestly, this does not make me a better person. I actually think it makes me a worse person to be around. I'm not a religious or even a particularly spiritual person, so I'm not really sure why I even thought it was a good idea to give up something I like for 40 days. There was a bit of conversation about it with the work group through Teams. One lady said she was going to focus on self-care for 40 days, and I really like that idea. Self-care is something that I have been focusing on throughout the pandemic. Women, especially, often put themselves last when it comes to taking care of themselves over their family, and I think that is flawed. If we don't take care of ourselves, how can we take care of others?

I was thinking about all of that and I googled self-care for Lent ideas and found this nice blogpost that had some cool ideas. What I'm going to do is name one non-scale victory (NSV) each day for 40 days. A non-scale victory is a WW term for finding a win that is not related to the number on the scale. For me, I still want my NSV to still be related to the weight loss wellness journey. 

My first NSV of Lent was that I paired a couple of things that I want to turn into habits together. I want to finish my evening with a nice cup of tea after I clean up the kitchen. It's kind of a signal that the busy part of the day is over and it's time to relax and time to stop eating. I also find that I have been more successful in my weight loss when I plan what I'll eat the next day and write it down the night before (pre-track in the WW lingo). Last night, I fixed myself a wonderful, warm cup of blackberry/elderberry tea, grabbed my planner, and figured out what I would eat the next day (which is today). The bonus: I actually stuck to my meal plan today! Most of the time, when I have a plan, I will stick to it, even if it's just to prove to myself that I can. Heck, the fact that I followed my eating plan might be today's NSV!