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  Beautiful old Victorian home. We have lots of the smaller cruise ships just offshore. They have no passengers and are just station keeping locally. They can only come in to port to fuel and re-supply the ship because the unvaccinated crew come from countries that don’t have a large supply of vaccine.    This home has an open sleeping porch. Before A/C they had fans and porches during hot weather. The kid in me would absolutely adore sleeping in the open air right by the beach. The Dictator says, Yeah, but we’d be miserable with allergies if we did that. Oh well.  Gardeners were working here and the gate was open so I snuck a peak of this fabulous garden. Nice.  Dusty reacting to a coyote on the back hill. I’ve seen videos where they can easily jump a 6 foot fence. We’ve extended our fence to 8 feet but we still limit his access to the yard. If he goes one of us goes, too. The only time I’ve seen one run away in fear is when the gardener is using a power weed w...

Another talk with Wild Child, Dictator and me.  We talked a few months ago and agreed to allow ourselves a few small indulgences. Sadly, there had been some overeating going on. We had a talk to see if we could  figure out what was  going on last week. We agreed to stop eating candy for one week and talk again. Me. The week is finished and we agreed to talk about this issue again. WC, has the past week experience helped you figure things out?  WC. I was able to stop eating candy. It really wasn’t that difficult. D. It was tense for me.  Me. Overeating always causes tension in all of us because we know that overeating keeps us from reaching our goals. WC, can you tell us how eating candy feels to you?  WC. Candy tastes good. I like it specially when I don’t get many treats.  D. You sure had a lot of treats a couple of weeks ago!  Me. Yes, we all know that we ate more candy than we planned. Remember, no recriminations about the overeating. WC, you w...

A talk with Wild Child, Dictator and me.  We talked a few months ago and agreed to allow ourselves a few small indulgences. Sadly, there has been some overeating going on. I think we need to have a talk and see if we can figure out what is going on.    Me. How are you feeling WC?    WC. I feel, sad and frustrated.    D. YOU’Re frustrated! We’re all frustrated!   Me. Yes, we are all frustrated. That’s why we are having this talk. WC tell us more about how you’ve been feeling.    WC. I wanted to keep the agreement but couldn’t quite do it. She kicks the dirt.   D. I told you over and over that you were eating too many treats.   WC. But they were Sooooo good! I wanted more.    Me. Yeah. Eating treats is a new skill and maybe we need help figuring out how to allow indulgences but not overeat them.    D. You agreed to eat just a little and stop or I never would have agreed to this!    WC. We’ll you neve...

  Give yourself a nudge in the right direction.   Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's 2008 book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness brought the nudge theory to prominence.    Thaler, a professor of economics and behavioral science at the University of Chicago, says that you can positively change other people's behavior (or your own) by using motivational techniques most people respond to -- such as the need to fit in with social norms. Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his "contributions to behavioral economics.”   Thaler and Sunstein defined their concept as the following:    A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people's behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid. Nudges are not mandates. Putting fruit at eye ...

  Been missing for awhile. Sometimes life gets complicated. Nothing earth shattering (remember this word) just stuff. DD’s washer started dying and we helped her navigated fix or replace. She ultimately decided to replace. I kept reminding her that this is what she saved money for and it’s a good thing to spend it for needed items from time to time.  Little Dusty had an upset tummy for a couple of days for unknown reasons. He’s all better now.  I went walking near the ocean and put my wallet and phone in my pocket just in case I was once again overwhelmed by the beauty. This pair of jeans has been quite comfortable for quite awhile and suddenly they just would not stay up. Thankfully, DH carried the wallet for me. This required going through my closet in search of a smaller size. Just could find that size which created that awful thought of having to go and purchase new ones. The dressing room is as uncomfortable as the scale for me. It must be faced with the right attitu...