{"id":93777,"date":"2026-02-09T08:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T15:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=93777"},"modified":"2026-02-10T08:49:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:49:57","slug":"93777","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=93777","title":{"rendered":"The Weak Begins But We will Be Strong After The Gym Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-93778\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"1327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-001.jpg 900w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-001-650x958.jpg 650w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-001-102x150.jpg 102w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-001-768x1132.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-001-100x147.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><div id=\"greeting-message\"><\/div>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n\tdocument.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', function () {\r\n\t\tconst morningGreeting = 'Good Morning, what are you doing up so early?';\r\n\t\tconst afternoonGreeting = 'Good Afternoon, do you realize it is 5:00 pm somewhere?!';\r\n\t\tconst eveningGreeting = 'Good Evening!';\r\n\r\n\t\tconst date = new Date();\r\n\t\tconst hour = date.getHours();\r\n\t\tlet greeting;\r\n\r\n\t\tif ( hour >= 5 && hour < 12 ) {\r\n\t\t\tgreeting = morningGreeting;\r\n\t\t} else if ( hour >= 12 && hour < 18 ) {\r\n\t\t\tgreeting = afternoonGreeting;\r\n\t\t} else {\r\n\t\t\tgreeting = eveningGreeting;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\tdocument.getElementById( 'greeting-message' ).textContent = greeting;\r\n\t} );\r\n<\/script><p>Estimated reading time: 6 minutes<\/p>Colleen was up because she is still three hours ahead.\u00a0 Colleen wanted to go to Dunkin&#8217; Donuts for her caffeine fix, so, being rather brilliant, I sent Colleen in The Silver Fox with instructions to get lattes for Mary and me.\u00a0 Now, the car will be warm when we go to the gym!<\/p>\n<p>Me: &#8220;How heavy is it?&#8221; Trainer: &#8220;Light?&#8221; The ball: built like a small refrigerator with anger issues.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re ready for the rack!\u00a0 Bring it on, Peak Performance\u2014we can handle it (without crying).OK, maybe just a light misting when we hear our tendons pop like bubble wrap and the coaches casually yeet* a 100-pound medicine ball at us, instantly compressing our lungs into the size of a small green pea.<\/p>\n<p>* &#8220;Yeet&#8221; is slang that means to throw something, often with wild, energetic abandon, forcefully.<\/p>\n<p>After an hour of torture, we headed home hat in hand and defeat on our faces.\u00a0 We went to the office, where I found my email inbox was full, so I quickly went through the mailbox, keeping only the emails I wanted to read.\u00a0 Of course, when Thomas Sewell sends out a message, I read it twice because he is so smart.\u00a0 He defines the government under liberals quite well!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_93779\" style=\"width: 612px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93779\" class=\"wp-image-93779 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002-e1770651737170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"602\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002-e1770651737170.jpg 602w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002-e1770651737170-150x138.jpg 150w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002-e1770651737170-100x92.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-93779\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I love this man!\u00a0 He is very wise and a great American!!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Back home, we put Mary in her La-Z-Boy and said, &#8220;Sit, Stay!&#8221;\u00a0 She was expecting her masseuse at 11:00 am.\u00a0 Colleen and I went joyriding, doing necessary errands.\u00a0 We dropped off the wheelchair, thus making room in the car for cases of wine!\u00a0 \u00a0Next on the assul list was Trader Joe&#8217;s, where we arranged for four cases of &#8220;Three-Buck&#8217;Chuck&#8221; to be placedin the trunk of the car along with several other necessities of life.<\/p>\n<p>We had to make a &#8220;quick stop&#8221; at Ralph&#8217;s for our favorite variety of milk\u2026 and somehow that turned into a full-blown mission for milk plus &#8220;a few&#8221; additional goodies (you know, essentials\u2026 like snacks and other snacks).<\/p>\n<p>Colleen and I had a great time shopping\u2014then it got serious: we started planning how to sneak our treasures into the house without Mary noticing.<\/p>\n<p>When we got home, we were acting like we&#8217;d robbed a bank:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u2022 &#8220;You take the milk.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll distract her with normal conversation.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2022 &#8220;If she hears the bags, abort.\u00a0 ABORT&#8221;&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2022 &#8220;Worst case, we claim Ralph&#8217;s employees accidentally put the treats in our cart.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>All this over groceries\u2026 like we&#8217;re not two adults doing a snack heist in broad daylight.<\/p>\n<p>But first, we needed to do an In-An-Out flyby!\u00a0 I practiced Mary&#8217;s order twice before I blurted it out to the young man taking orders: &#8220;Cheeseburger protein style, no onions, light spread, extra pickles, trim the lettuce, etc.&#8221;\u00a0 He ran out of room to write the order.\u00a0 Colleen and I did cheeseburgers and fries.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_93787\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93787\" class=\"size-full wp-image-93787\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-003.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-003.jpg 900w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-003-650x488.jpg 650w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-003-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-003-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-003-100x75.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-93787\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The poor order-taker did not know what hit him!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Upon our arrival, a strange man was leaving the house via the front door as we pulled into the garage.\u00a0 I ceased to worry when I remembered the masseuse was scheduled to depart around noon!\u00a0 We had a great lunch and made sure we sent photos of our In-N-Out tip to Mark!<\/p>\n<p>Then the magic began.\u00a0 I stepped up to the stove, raised my baton, and began to cook to the tune of Disney&#8217;s Fantasia!\u00a0 I donned my Sorcerer&#8217;s hat, waved the baton, and ordered the broom to assist me!<\/p>\n<p>Browning the 1&#8243; cube of meat was my starting point, and then allowing the meat to simmer for an hour in Paul&#8217;s Secret Beef Stock while I prepared the veggies.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Fantasia - The Sorcerer&#039;s Apprentice (Part 1)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B4M-54cEduo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After an hour, the veggies were ready to go into the mix.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_93788\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93788\" class=\"wp-image-93788 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-004.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-004.jpg 900w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-004-650x488.jpg 650w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-004-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-004-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-004-100x75.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-93788\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrots, small potatoes, and celery were ready!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One additional hour of simmering with the veggies, and we were ready for dinner.\u00a0 I decided toast was in order, plus some sliced peaches, topped off by a glass of our finest wine (Three-Buck-Check)!\u00a0 \u00a0Dinner was served!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_93793\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93793\" class=\"size-full wp-image-93793\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-006.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-006.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-006-650x488.jpg 650w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-006-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-006-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-006-100x75.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-93793\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The meal was actually quite good!\u00a0 I think Colleen was amazed to see &#8220;pops&#8221; conducting the kitchen and coming up with something edible (other than a TV dinner from the microwave!)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We sat down, I lit the candles on the table, and lowered the lights (so they could NOT see what they were eating).\u00a0 A quick look in the kitchen revealed that my cooking skills were improving, as there was no mess.\u00a0 Then it dawned on me: Colleen was my wingman, performing cleanup behind me, as I do for Mary!\u00a0 We all had a good laugh and an excellent meal!<\/p>\n<p>Cleanup was easy because before I knew what was happening, Collen had the table and kitchen spotless!\u00a0 Then came the first yawn!\u00a0 Colleen is still running on East Coast time, so it was 9:30 pm and her bedtime.\u00a0 Off she went down the hallway, candle and bell book in hand, to settle in for a long winter&#8217;s nap!<\/p>\n<p>Mary and I went to the Living\/TV Room and watched five episodes of &#8220;Suits&#8221; ending at Season 3, Episode 9.\u00a0 While Mary got ready for bed, I checked my email and found a picture of Vicky and Jim, who decided to take a walk on the beach by the Seal Beach pier.\u00a0 It was a sunny day, but they did not realize how cold the water was.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_93789\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93789\" class=\"size-full wp-image-93789\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"1199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-005.jpg 900w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-005-650x866.jpg 650w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-005-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-005-768x1023.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-005-100x133.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-93789\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It was a sunny day in California, and you can almost see Catalina in the background!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I buzzed through my email and ran across a great video about the place where I grew up.\u00a0 \u00a0I lived three long blocks from the Helms Bakery on Venice Blvd and walked by there every day while going to High School!\u00a0 This video brought back memories.\u00a0 It is 2 minutes and 20 seconds long.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 576px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"video-container\" id=\"video-93777-1\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002.mp4\">http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-09-002.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>Nostalgia hit me, and even today, sixty-five years later, I can smell the bakery in action when I see the images!<\/p>\n<p>Good night,t all!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-93796\" src=\"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/491086563_687405310607477_3669575057033589666_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"736\" height=\"920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/491086563_687405310607477_3669575057033589666_n.jpg 736w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/491086563_687405310607477_3669575057033589666_n-650x813.jpg 650w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/491086563_687405310607477_3669575057033589666_n-120x150.jpg 120w, https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/wp-content\/dailydiary\/uploads\/2026\/02\/491086563_687405310607477_3669575057033589666_n-100x125.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colleen was up because she is still three hours ahead.\u00a0 Colleen wanted to go to Dunkin&#8217; Donuts for her caffeine fix, so, being rather brilliant, I sent Colleen in The Silver Fox with instructions to get lattes for Mary and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=93777\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[229,5,16,250,230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking","category-family","category-gardening","category-gym","category-working-around-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93777"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93797,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93777\/revisions\/93797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}