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It's 29 degrees out.
I'm ignoring Sam and his incessant pawing and ripping at the door to go outside.

Allie Buys Discounted Fruit

I discovered the discount fruit rack at Kroger about a year ago.
On this rack, as you would've guessed, is discounted fruit. Every bundle you find is 99 cents.

Most of the time, it's bananas teetering on the edge of decomposition. One time, there was a bunch of bags of avocados. They were so squishy, they were pretty much just guacamole encased in skin.

A lot of the time, too, they'll have grab bags of old regular fruit. Like an orange, a pear and an apple. Or three apples. Or when Mike points out the bag to you with four apples in it when you were about to buy the one with three in it, you get the one with four.

I started buying discounted fruit because I always feel, like, guilty if I don't get around to eating it. This is why I only buy 5 bananas at a time, and why every winter I debate whether to buy a whole bag of clementines because even if I eat 1-2 PER DAY, some will get moldy by the time I get to them.

I'm also always reluctant to buy a whole bag of oranges or apples because what if I don't feel like eating them, you know, like, ever? And then you forget about them in the bottom drawer of your fridge and end of throwing them out when you actually do find them.

Like right now, I know I have anywhere between four and six grapefruits that I know are too far gone. I could go get them out and throw them away now, but instead I'm going to let future Allie deal with that.

Buying discount fruit makes me feel less guilty because I didn't spend much money on it, and if I have to throw it out, it was probably bruised to begin with. No biggy.

But here's what I'm finding out: I actually eat all the discounted fruit I buy.
First, it's because they only come in sets of like 3-4, it's a perfect amount for a week, so I don't have to figure out how to store 10 pounds of produce because it was "such a good deal."
Potato sales.
Yeah.
You know what I'm talking about.

Secondly, they take all the guess work of having to pick out fruit.
Mike gets so upset with me because I'll spend "hours massaging" (his words, not mine) avocados before deciding on one.
But if they're already bagged up, I just pick the ones that look the least gross and roll with it.

Thirdly, they give me a variety of apples! Red delicious, Gala, Fuji, Yellow Delicious, Granny Smith. All in one week. And I didn't even have to think about it OR think about which ones were on sale.
Sometimes, Honeycrisp apples (my fav) are like $3.49 a pound, which is ridiculous.
Today, I found one in my lunch that cost about 20 cents (yes! they had stuck FIVE apples in a bag this week).
It was the highlight of my day.

What I'm trying to tell you is that Kroger rox. And if they ever EVER take away that discount fruit rack, words will be had.

Words.

Sig-oths,
TWS

Foyer

Dial's Himalayan Pink Salt scented hand soap is a life changer.

It costs $1, and I fully endorse it.

You know what is another life changer? Consistency.

In this article, the guy talks about how consistency is his superpower.

My superpower is Googling things for people older than me, but consistency is a close second. 

I have recently discovered this in the past 2 or 3 months where I have been consistently working toward certain goals. This is not meant to be a bragging-in-your-face kind of a post, but an inspiring-let's-all-win-at-life kind of post.

Learning German - I have been sitting down every night to knock out a few review lessons. Sometimes it's after 11 o'clock at night. My course tells me I now know 51% of the language, but I think we all know that's a bit high. However, I tried to translate an article the other day, and I actually knew what they were talking about! And sometimes, I'll be in the kitchen or at work just thinking in German. 

E.g. "Es ist zeit fur Kaffee. Kaffee macht alles bessere."

Yeah, that may be misspelled and missing some umlauts, but I know some things, man, and some stuff.

What's encouraging is that it's only going to get better from here. 

Losing weight - I was very surprised at this one. As you know in my January 23rd post, I wrote about running. I had always heard that cardio is what helps you lose weight. I'd add that it's consistent cardio that will help you lose weight. Day after day I ran (which is why that post translates to "Every Day"), and week after week, I saw results. I also started eating homemade vegetable soup for lunch every. single. day.

Let's throw some numbers on the board:

October: 

Weight: 137.2

Waist: 28.5

Hip: 39

February:

Weight: 127.4

Waist: 26

Hip: 37.5

It didn't take me 4 months to do that. I lost the majority of weight after I started running consistently after my 5k in January. I may be inclined to post some pictures when I'm all the way there.

Fair warning.

But here's what's so exciting about this and I why I wanted to lose ~15 pounds in the first place:

My clothes fit sooooooo much better. In fact, today at church, I was able to wear this dress, which is one of the first dresses that my mom and I made together. A few months ago, I tried it on and it was SO tight in the waist it would barely zip up. This morning, it fit perfectly.

Quick note: I got a couple compliments from the older generation today on the dress. Probably because it came down all the way to my knees. 

o.O

So now my skinny jeans are falling down on me? And I've reached last belt loop?

Yes. This is what progress feels like.

(And, yes, I may have to go buy new pants soon.)

I ran 6.3 miles yesterday, which is more than a 10k. I texted my life coach, and she said that a 10k is 6.4 miles. I don't understand how a 10k could be more than twice a 5k, but math has never been my strong suit.

Oh, wait...

But if I had told my high school dryland-hating self that I'd be running this mileage in just 6 years, I would not have believed me. Perhaps this is why time travel is not possible.

Singing - So I've actually been working on a new album...I've written 2 whole new songs in the past 2 weeks which is probably more than I did all of last year. 

Like, playing guitar is almost at the point of "omgomgomg I can't wait to get home so I can play it" and I LOVE IT.

I haven't been riding my bike to work, so when I get in the car, I listen to music on the way to and from work. 

And I sing. 

Oh, I sing. 

I sing LOUD.

Doing this consistently has really improved my ability to turn meh songs into AWESOME songs. 

That is, I sing better-sounding and more challenging things because I CAN.

Saving money - I'm going to keep this short because you guys know all of my thoughts. But consistency has definitely worked for me in this area, too.

That, and the phrase, "Is there a greater waste?"

Growing spiritually - In Sunday school, we talked about how the ordinary means of grace are a long term strategy for ministry. Essentially, it's not going to be some showy worship service or emotional revival that changes your life long term. It's doing the ordinary things: studying the word, taking the sacraments, prayer; and doing them week after week. 

Then suddenly (plotzlich), you look back at where you were a year ago and you realize that you're not in the same place. You're not the same person. In fact, you're way better off, and you know so much more. How did that happen? 

Grace upon grace.

Consistency.

I wonder who Allie's life coach is,

TWS