Out of the Box

I was standing in line at the grocery the other day idly comparing my cart full of stuff to a cart in the next line over.  I confess I felt a little prideful.  My cart was brimming with good, good-for-you things.  Beets, cabbage, carrots, apples, kumquats, carrots, fresh ginger, greek yogurt, mayer lemons, chicken, tilapia, olive oil.  The other cart, when I really looked at it, seemed to be filled with boxes.  Hamburger helper, jello, cereal, frozen waffles, pasta, pizza mix.  Some people come out of the closet.  I have come out of the box.  I buy very few processed foods any more.  That's a good thing.

On the weight loss front, I've kept up my streak!  I've lost at my last eight weigh-ins and, with the help of the 17DD, I've lost 13.6 pounds from my 2012 high.  What's working for me now is to stick with the basic Cycle I from Saturday to Tuesday and then to relax to WW Core (Simply Filling) with some of the extra weekly points thrown in from Wednesday through Friday.  Strangely enough, I find it easier to stick to the more restricted diet on the weekend.  This is probably because DH is very supportive and trying to whittle off a few pounds to get back to his WW lifetime goal (he's lost about 10 and is just a couple of pounds away).  I'm gradually learning how to enjoy the "extras" without going overboard.  It helps me when I know that I can enjoy popcorn or a dessert or brown rice once in a while.  Or cookies.   I made my sister's killer Oatmeal Cookie recipe yesterday, but changed it just a bit to make it a little more figure-friendly. I took a big plate of them to our Bible Study (they usually get grapes or pineapple from me, and it was fun to bake for a change).  Those were all  eaten and when we got home, I noticed that Jay had put all the rest into a tin box.  I sent those with him to work today.  Of the whole batch I just had 3--not bad.

Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

You might notice that I have a new recipe page that you can link to in the right column.  A few of you had expressed interest in my Stuffed Cabbage recipe.  I remade it and wrote things down.  I based it on a recipe for Sweet and Sour Cabbage rolls from Eating Well, but I made some changes to suit my tastes and requirements.  They were dee-lish.  I also put a recipe for roasted parsnips and carrots there.  Talk about tastey!  And good for you.  Try these. (oh and I just added the Oatmeal Cookie recipe . . .)

The penny finally dropped (love that expression!) and I now know that I can use my trusty little ipod nano 6th gen to record my runs on nike+ without messing with the nike+ kit.  You might notice that my little nike+ avatar in the sidebar is running again.  Yay!  I'm mostly walking so far, but the distances are getting better and the running bits are getting longer.

Virginia Bluebells

Like many of you. we're having an early spring.  I was surprised to find that my Virginia bluebells were in full bloom yesterday.  We're about 2 or 3 weeks ahead of last year's season.  I've spent a few hours doing spring clean up stuff in the garden, but I need to push myself to get out there soon to finish up, because I think the awful hot humid days when it's not fun to do heavy garden work are galloping toward us.

Oh and we had our first after-supper bike ride of the season last weekend.  I love this.

Mileage report: with the increased running and a few bike rides I'm adding 46 miles for the past two weeks. YTD 222 miles.

I am washing my hands about 60 times a day and doing lots of hot water loads in the washing machine in an effort to avoid the nasty little virus that is plaguing my little grandchildren.  Jack and Ella and their parents have been trading it back and forth for the past couple of weeks.  Hm, I think I'll go wash my hands again. . . .

Have you come out of the box??

Busy Day Check In

 I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted here.  They were a good two weeks!  My brother, his best friend and my 88 yr old aunt came for a long weekend inbetween.  We had a great time together, mostly talking, playing games (NYT crosswords!), watching Maggie Smith outtakes on YouTube, and cooking and eating delicious healthy food.  You'd never believe my aunt is 88--she's loads of fun and it's always a party when she's there (and, no, there was no alcohol involved :-)).

I completed Cycle I on the 17DD and lost a total of 10.5 pounds.  Then I transitioned to a WW approach for two weeks and gained 3 pounds.  Partly overindulging in foods I'd missed (hello brown rice) and partly having houseguests for 5 days (two batches of Lori's Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies--Warning!:  don't go there if you don't plan on having them; the picture alone is enough to make you want to preheat the oven). DH and I decided to do Cycle I together for 5 days to get back on the straight and skinny.  Today's the last day, and I'm happy to report that those 3 pounds and a bit more have left the building.  Hoping for another good WI tomorrow.  I have a streak going with my WIs.  I've lost at my last 5 WIs.  There were a couple weeks when I didn't go, but still, not bad, right?

On the food front, right now I have my Slow Roasted Plum Tomatoes in the oven.  I'm planning to use them to make a Roasted Tomato and Basil soup.  I've got a big bunch of basil waiting and the tomatoes smell wonderful, they're got about 20 more minutes until they're done.  Here's a quick picture from the oven.  Wish I could send you the aroma, too!

I also made some Stuffed Cabbage.  I was thinking about my mom's cooking and remembered that she used to make Stuffed Cabbage.  I didn't have her recipe but perused the Joy of Cooking and Google to come up with some ideas.  I wanted mine to conform to my 17DD requirements (using ground turkey rather than beef), but it seemed doable.  I used lean ground turkey, chopped onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, basic marinara sauce (Amy's), low-sodium soy sauce, Lee & Perrins,  and salt & pepper for the filling.  I browned the meat and then added the veggies until they were tender, then the other ingredients.  I steamed the cabbage leaves until they were pliable and wrapped a spoonfull of filling in each leaf.  I tucked them seam-side-down in a pyrex dish, added a bit of low-sodium chicken broth and cooked them for about 30 minutes.  I didn't write down amounts, but I wish I had.  They were dee-lish!   Here's a picture. Looks like we had roasted tomatoes at that meal, too.  I told you they were good.

Today I have an unexpected day off from babysitting the grandkids.  I'm on my 4th load of laundry, cooking my soup, catching up on blogs, and planning to get out and do a "rawk" (run/walk, borrowed stolen from Shelley). I need to load up a new audio book on my ipod as I just finished Believing the Lie (Elizabeth George, a Detective Lynley mystery).  A great book that has me gnashing my teeth that it'll likely be two years before I find out what happened to one of my favorite characters!

Oh, I'm also going to drive over to see my friend, Mrs. Elliott.  She is my choir director's mom, who moved up from Alabama to an assisted living place near to her daughter. Mrs. Elliott turned 90 last week.  She's fun and bright and always glad to have company.  She didn't know anyone here except her daughter and was missing her friends so I've sort of adopted her as my "mom" and try to see her at least once a week.  

Here's a picture of little Jack.  He was quite taken with the "real" carrots (as opposed to the baby carrots one usually encounters these days) we found at Whole Foods.  He wanted to eat one right away.  I washed and peeled it, but he wanted the green top left on it.  He ate every bite (except the green, which he tried, but declared "Yucky!)"  Don't you feel rather virtuous when you load up your grocery cart with great looking veggies and scorn the offerings from whole aisles of processed foods?  I do.

We had some snow flakes yesterday, but biking weather is coming closer and closer.  I, for one, can't wait!

Oh, not great report on the mileage project.  I finally recovered from the heel blisters and enforced croc wearing and reclaimed my Nikes a few days ago. Total mileage for the past two weeks is 26 miles.  YTD total 176.  I'm hoping to up the ante now that I can wear real shoes again!


What's your new favorite healthy recipe?

Checking In plus 17 Day Diet Update and Recipe Ideas

I've been enjoying getting out to walk.  How did I let this "me-time" fall by the wayside?  I'm experimenting with a bit of running interspersed and might try out the C25K (again).  I'm still wearing my pedometer.  Last week I averaged 6K a day for a total of 22 miles.  YTD mileage 128.  Next week my goal is to avg 7.5K per day and work up within a few weeks to 10K.

Today is day 11 on the 17 Day Diet  (check here to see a description and review of the plan).  It's working for me.  After the first couple of days, I found my cravings for sugar and salty/crispy things diminished to negligible levels.  This is good!  I also think the variety of foods is okay (even on the first, most restricted, cycle).  I feel in control of my eating again and that's a super feeling.  Even when I spent four days in the hospital last week with my son, I was able to stick pretty much to my planned eating.  I'm getting my exercise back on track (aiming for 10K steps a day and my 2-3 circuit trips a week).  And, best of all, I'm losing weight.  After 10 full days on the program, I've lost 8.4 pounds.  :-)

I'm not bored with the food choices yet.  A friend asked what I found to eat for dinner.  I think she was imagining boiled chicken and celery sticks at every meal. Here are some meals that we've enjoyed over the last 11 days.

Soy Lemon Chicken (8 chicken thighs (bone in, skin removed); Marinade: 1/4 c each ls soy sauce and lemon juice,  seasoned w/  dash of garlic powder &  1/2 tsp powdered ginger and 2 thinly sliced lemons)  Bake 50 min in 350 oven or until done.  Turn pieces over, half way thru cooking.

Steamed Asparagus

Flash Cooked Collards w/ Lemon Juice  (I have good nonstick pans and half the olive oil worked just fine)

Slow Roasted Plum Tomatoes    These are yummy.  Make a lot. Again, I used about half the olive oil.

Stuffed Green Peppers  (I added some chopped fresh collard greens and mushrooms)  We had this for dinner tonight--YUM!

Baked Salmon w/ Apricot Mustard Glaze  (A Cooking Light recipe: substitute water for the 1/4 cup apricot nectar & Truvia for the honey)

Artichoke w/ olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette dipping sauce

Roasted Chicken Breast (Ina Garten recipe)--This is the BEST recipe for roasted chicken, it's very easy and makes it moist and delHicious and ready for using later if you need it in another recipe.  Remove the skin afterwards.

Roasted Broccoli (high heat, olive oil, S&P)

Stir fried pepper strips (green, red, & yellow peppers strips stir fried in canola oil)

Chicken Vegetable Soup (broth, carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, chicken, cabbage)

Green Salad (cherry tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, cucumber, olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette)

Pan Seared Talapia (in olive oil,  w S&P, paprika) with lemon

Asian Slaw (cabbage, shredded carrots,  2 tsp canola oil,  1 T ls soy sauce,  3 T rice vinegar,  1 1/2 tsp truvia)

Chicken Stir Fry (chicken breast, canola oil, red peppers, yellow peppers, snow peas, celery, shitaki mushrooms, scallions, ls soy sauce, S&P)

For your viewing pleasure:  Grandson Jack (2 1/2) putting the finishing touches on his egg-carton caterpillar.  We had craft time after their naps this afternoon.  It's so fun to have them and to watch them learn and grow.

Thanks for your supportive comments last week.  Son Jay is sounding much better (cough-wise) and goes for his follow up appointment on Wednesday before he can go back to work.  He's getting bored being home, I think!  DH is fighting his own bout of congestion and cough plus flu-like symptoms.  Much chicken soup and tea.  I'm big into hand-washing just now and keeping my sickies away from the kiddos.

I'll miss my WI once again (3rd week in a row) because Jay's appointment falls smack dab during the meeting.  Maybe I can get to an earlier meeting . . . I'd like to go.  I do think that the 17DD fits well with the WW Simply Filling (Core) program.  I've tracked a couple days and am eating right at my daily target points.

Onward and downward!
Tish

Good News

1. I figured out how to insert one of my own photos via iPad.
2. Jay loved meeting the two therapy dogs who visited his room in the hospital.
And 3. We're HOME, and Dorothy got it right. There's no place like home.

Tish

Halo polishing

I'm starting this day off with a little halo polishing.  Yes, I biked 15 miles on Saturday, and yes I was pretty darn good about avoiding all the tempting goodies baddies at the potluck last night, but that's not why.  It's not even because I'm feeling really good about being on plan and losing weight.  Here's why I'm sporting that sparkly halo:

Do you remember the great coke disaster at our house from last May?--the time that our son Jay left not one, but several cans of diet A&W in our two freezers which subsequently exploded and left huge ugly messes in both freezers?  Well today, after I dropped off the children at preschool, I cleaned the garage freezer from top to bottom.  I took everything out and scrubbed all the surfaces with vinegar water.  I threw out freezer-burned rejects and got rid of a few things that were woefully past their expiry dates (would you believe 2003!).  The freezer is now restocked, organized, and sparkling clean.  I can attest  to the fact that there are no kamikaze coke cans anywhere in there, too.

Apparently though, cleaning out the freezer doesn't rack up a lot of points on the pedometer.  I may see if I can add even more sparkle to my halo by doing a Walk Away the Pounds dvd  to reach 10K steps while the kids are napping.

For your viewing pleasure.  A couple of pictures from our Christmas vacation to Texas.

Christmas Eve in west Texas (near Marfa)

Some of the lovely sights on a walk around Town Lake in Austin

Oh, and I joined a challenge to go 1000 miles in 2012.  Reporting in with 39 miles for last week (14 walking, 15 biking).


Have you been polishing your halo lately?

Have a great day!

Lead Us Not into Temptation

It seems that the meteorologist took my more water goal to heart.  We've had showers or storms or sprinkles every day for the past week or so, but spring is still coming.  The water really does help make me less vulnerable to the snack monster, but I can't wait to get over this phase where I need to know where the closest facility is at all times.  As I recall, that improves as the water habit becomes well established--am I right?

I've had a fairly good week on the exercise front, too.  Three walks on my river path and two workouts at the gym.  Our gym has a computer-linked system that keeps track of the workouts.  Mine me me with a plaintive "Where have you been" message when I went back for the first time since my surgery (2 months).     I'm doing almost all the stations in my normal routine, but, as per doctor's instructions, I've stepped back the weights and upped the repetitions.  The rain has put our evening bike rides on hold this week, but tomorrow bids fair to enjoy a nice ride in the late afternoon.

You might remember our youngest son, Jay, who lives with us.  He is wonderful at eating (and liking) whatever I put on his plate.  He does, however, love soft drinks.  He usually takes a diet coke (or diet A&W) in his lunch and we usually keep a good stash of them in the garage.  We've had to talk to him about chugging them down when we're not home, but it wasn't too bad.  Lately, he's gotten into the (bad) habit of sneaking cans of coke up to his room.  I saw him go into the garage with his winter coat on (75 degrees outside) and walked in to find him stuffing cans of coke into his pockets.  Another talking to.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon I heard a loud noise in my kitchen.  Some investigation revealed an exploded can of diet coke in the ice cube box in the freezer.  Jay admitted to the deed.  We talked again.  I tried to explain about how liquid expands when it freezes.  I tried to make it clear that he was limited to only 1 can a day.  An entire roll of paper towels gave its life to the clean-up.   When I was making dinner, I went out to the garage to grab a bag of peas from the freezer in the garage.  TWO more exploded cans of diet coke.  Jay was confronted with the mess.  He was very sorry.   While I was talking to him, I noticed 4 additional cans in the freezer--not yet exploded.  The upshot is that DH and I decided that we won't keep coke in the house so Jay won't be tempted.   DH took the rest of the cans to work.   I confess that I just closed the freezer door and left the mess for another day.  That freezer needs a good cleaning out anyway.

All this made me think about my temptations and how they call to me.  Jay's problem is easy.  We can totally cut off the source.  He doesn't shop by himself, so can't get any unless someone gives him some.
My temptations are not so easily dealt with.  I avoid what I can (candy aisles, bakeries, the Krispy Kreme donut shop) but some temptations throw themselves in my way.  I'm trying to redevelop those say-no muscles.  Right now I'm feeling strong, and that's good.

How about you?  Do you have any great ideas for turning away from temptations?

Friday Fly By, Hot 100 Update

Where has this week gone?  And next week, by this time, Thanksgiving dinner will be a year off.  Amazing.

I did my strength work out last night, so this morning was a cardio morning.  It was beautiful out so I went for a run on the river trail.  For a change, I set off the opposite direction.  I did a combination of walking and running for a total of about 3.9 miles.  My little Nike+ girl is happy with me again.  I only have about 45 miles left to run this year to reach my goal of 500 miles in the year.  I'll probably surpass 500 handily.

We celebrated son Johnny's birthday yesterday (34).  I made two cherry pies and cranberry bars during the day.  We had flank steak, roasted potatoes, and broccoli (all "plan-friendly") and I did have a small piece of birthday pie (because I knew it was 'special').  I was pretty good about staying away from the cranberry bars, too.  Jay helped, inadvertently.  I made a double batch because I wanted to give a tin to Johnny (he loves 'em) and also take some to my dad (who also loves them) and have some for numerous house guests next week and send a tin in with Jay on his birthday next week.  This morning when I was getting the milk for my cereal, I noticed that the big tin with the extra bars was not there.  I knew DH wouldn't have taken them, and finally guessed that Jay had misunderstood and thought he was to take the big tin in to work to share with his work team today.  That was what happened.  The tin re-appeared back in the kitchen, empty, when he got home from work.  Oh, well.  I do super well at avoiding temptation when the object of my temptation disappears!

The second cherry pie was for dessert tonight.  We had some friends from our time in Rome to dinner tonight.  They're moving back to Virginia after having lived in Rome for 20 years.  They're missing good Italian food and cappucini, but are enjoying all the ethnic restaurants.  I made steak, whole wheat orzo with spinach and tomatoes, and sauteed zucchini with mushrooms for dinner.  I confess to another small-ish piece of pie.  We're sending the leftovers over to Johnny's house tomorrow morning and planning austere eating until the first house guests start arriving on Tuesday.

Hot 100 Update:
1.  I gained weight at my WI this week.  I am having a hard time getting back in that good mind-set.  I'm not giving up and I still hope to make progress toward my goal, but this week's grade for making progress is a fail.  Semper Speranza.
2.  Yes to the exercise.  6 out of 7 exercise days this week.  Good cardio, good strength workouts and I enjoyed the exercise.  I helps me feel better about myself to have succeeded in this goal and thank God it helps with the calorie war, too!
3.  Chocolate did not stay at 1 oz/day allotment this week.  Hmm.  Perhaps there is a correlation between goal #3 and goal #1.  

I've been tagged with some interesting questions.  I'll try to get to those tomorrow.

Be strong.

Home Again!

My mother and her parents at the beach, 1921

Nope, DH and I didn't even get on our "bathing costumes" during our stay at the beach.  The weather was fine, but it was, after all mid-November! I think my grandparents look pretty neat in their bathing apparel, though.

We went to early church with my FIL at St. Andrew's Covenant Presbyterian Church, where my FIL went when he was a boy.  Then back to pack up.  I love how it's so much easier to pack to return home than it is to pack to GO.  We left ourselves an hour to get in one last walk together on the beach. It really is a nice beach--flat, sandy, just enough shells, nice dunes, and very uncrowded.  Here's one more picture.

The wave breaking just behind us "caught" us and totally soaked my shoes!

DH put the things in the car and strapped on the bikes and we headed off to my FIL's apartment.  He had invited numerous friends and family members to an "open house" between 12 and 2:30.  He announced that he was serving tomato soup and didn't seem to want any advice to the contrary.  I stopped by and picked up a vegetable platter and some spinach/artichoke dip at the grocery to round out the offerings.  Apparently he'd rethought his menu, because in addition to the soup he had little dishes of nuts everywhere (honestly, I'd guess there were 15 nut dishes in his small apartment living room and dining area!)  Have I mentioned that I'm a "nut" about nuts.  I found them very hard to resist, and am sure that I overdid both my nut quotient AND my salt quotient for the day (week).  Oh well.  Lots of people came and it was good to meet them and to give FIL a chance to "show off" his family.  We got off at 2:30--much later than we'd planned, but we got home by 8:30 or so with good traffic most of the way. Jay is a super traveler.  I was fooling around with my camera and taking pictures over my head toward where he was sitting behind me. This one turned out pretty well!  He was in charge of the big cooler on the seat next to him.  We always travel with baby carrots, bottles of water, bananas, and apples.  

Jay.  I can't believe he'll be 29 next week!

Let's just say that the scale was NOT my friend this morning.  Lots of cups of tea and glasses of water today in addition to my regular eating routine.  I loved having the babies come this morning. Ella was wearing a new little red corduroy dress.  I said I liked her outfit.  She replied, "Amie, this isn't an outfit, it's a dress!" Silly me.  We had baked salmon and almond apricot couscous with mint for dinner.  Then DH and I hit the gym for our strength training.  We switched our schedule so that we go on Mondays now because we have our Messiah rehearsal on Tuesday nights in November.  

I'm just starting to realize that Thanksgiving is NEXT week.  Aaaaak!  Did I mention that we're at 15 and counting for dinner that night???  (and 7 of them are overnight guests so I really have to get all my spare rooms spiffy--no piling up stuff in a "spare" room this time). Yikes.  No playing games on Facebook this week.  Oh, and yes.  We're celebrating FIVE birthdays next week--I think we're having birthday pies at T-giving dinner.  They're all clustered right around Thanksgiving Day.

I'm woefully behind reading and commenting on your posts.  I've read more than I've commented, but I'm missing that exchange.  It's part of my routine that works and I'm going to carve out some time to reclaim that part.  

Take care.

Paradigm Shift

I subscribe to WikiHow on my igoogle home page.  It  has interesting, useful,  or totally off-the-wall articles on how to do things.  Like How to Change a Tire on your Bike.  Most useful!  Or,  How to Cut out Perfect Paper Snowflakes. Interesting.  Or, from last week, How to Winterize a Livestock Barn.  Hmmm.

Today's article caught me by surprise:  How to get Lots of Candy on Halloween  I guess there was a time when I'd have been very interested in doing this, but this evening when I saw it, my reaction was totally different. I don't want to have anything to do with Halloween candy and I certainly don't want or need to know how to get "lots" of it.

I avoid Halloween candy.  I've learned (the hard way) not to buy it until the afternoon of October 31st.  I've given our son Jay the job (privilege?) of opening the bags of candy and doling it out to the little ones who knock on the door.

Jay is a super-hero where candy is concerned, he doesn't like candy and doesn't eat it.  I was there at his birth and know he must have at least half of my genes. Why is it that he has always had such a healthy attitude toward and it took his mom 50-some years to get that smart??

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a saint about candy. There are certain kinds that are still very tempting to me. I literally avoid the candy aisle in the grocery store and avert my eyes from the candy displays at the checkout.  I will buy Halloween candy that doesn't tempt me.  I've been known to buy just mini boxes of raisins and might go that route again this year. Besides Jay, I have another ally in avoiding the pitfalls of Halloween candy. DH, as you may know, is a lifetime member of WW and has been at or below his goal weight for more than two years. He doesn't want to take "leftovers" from Halloween night to his work and I certainly don't want them here. We jointly dump the leftover candy in the trash as soon as we decide to turn off the porch lights.

One thing I definitely don't need to know:  How to Get Lots of Halloween Candy!

What's your take on Halloween Candy?

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Well, my Friday Focus plans to spend a day tuning up and strengthening my exercise and diet met with mixed success.   To quote Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley."  My plans started to "gang agley" [go astray] when Jay woke me up to let me know that he'd missed his bus.  This never happens.  He's awesome about getting himself up, dressed, fed, and ready.  Usually he's ready an hour ahead of time.  Every day but today.  Sigh.  I got up, threw on my running clothes, scarfed down my breakfast and drove him to his work--45 minutes away.  


I didn't get started on my hoped-for long run until 11.  It was a little warmer than I'd hoped for, but I'm proud to say that I ran 7.5 miles AND I also met my goal of cutting out some of the walking bits I've gotten into the habit of taking.  I ran the first 2 miles and the last 2 miles without any walk breaks and allowed myself a one minute walk on each of the middle miles.  Score.


By the time I got home, got my shower, and had my lunch, it was almost time to go visit my Dad.  I always go on Fridays and sometimes go an additional day, but today was the day.  My brother went with me.  We stopped by his former house (where my son and his family now live) to pick some figs.  Daddy loves them and this fig tree was from his mother's house.  He enjoyed the figs and we sat with him in his "activity"--a sing-along featuring songs from the 40s and 50s.  Dad liked it and sang some of the songs.  We sat on either side of him and held hands or patted his back.  It was a good visit.


We left there at 4:30 and I stopped by the Safeway on the way home.  I never got time to do any reading, so I decided to make a Sweet & Sour Shrimp--faintly novel because I haven't made it for a few years.  I enjoy cooking and have enough experience to be able to throw something together.  My version featured lots of tender/crisp veggies (red pepper, snow peas, broccoli, red onion, & shitake mushrooms), pineapple,  a sprinkle of roasted almonds, and some "tiger" shrimp (15-21 count) that was on sale for $11.99/lb.  I used Kikkoman Sweet & Sour sauce (35 cal/2 TBSP) thinned with a bit of chicken broth.  I served it with brown rice.  It was very good. 


I totally failed in my plan to read in a few of my diet/fitness books and to scout out new recipes in recent issues of Eating Well.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.  

To give equal time to my adorable older grandkids, here are J & B, my Laura's two oldest, in their "hungry squirrel pose."  Note the glorious nimbus of shiny curls on J.  Of course she yearns for straight hair, and I'm very envious of any curls that don't have to be (wo)man-handled into my super straight locks by burning or chemicals.  


To add to the catalog of weird word verification words that people have come across, I got PIGOUT the other day on one of the blogs in my blogroll--diet and fitness blogs for the most part.  LOL  Although I tend to take things literally, I'm hoping this was not a subliminal message to me from the blogosphere.


Traffic really slows down on Saturday.  Depending on what today shows, I may just stop posting a Saturday post.  If you read this and comment, please let me know how you handle the slowdown.  

Onward and Downward

I'm still in the midst of my re-charging, bachelorette long weekend and, let me say, it's great!  I took DH and B to the plane on Friday morning.  Note--Jay is still home, but he's pretty self contained and very undemanding.  That day our weather turned great (much lower humidity, lower temperatures too).  I did a leisurely shop at Whole Foods, concentrating on their wonderful produce section.  My meals have been wonderful--and delicious.  The best, so far, was pan-seared scallops with a splash of lime, mango-avocado-cilantro salsa and corn on the cob.  I've been able to  avoid former alone-in-the-house pitfalls (such as buying a big bag of lime tortilla chips)--thanks, Patrick (Responsibility 199), for the idea of working for an "A" on my report card--I always was a grade-grubber.  On the exercise front, I biked 14 miles on Friday and I scored an 8 mile run (with a generous sprinkle of walking) on Saturday.  I took yesterday "off."  Who was it that posted over the weekend about the "newbie tendency" to try to work out every single day??  I may be ready to tweak that goal of 7/7 days of workouts in favor of a 6/7 schedule.  I ran an easy 3 this morning and, if the thunderstorms hold off, I may bike this evening, too.  I've gotten about half way through my new book (To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick--really good historic fiction) and plan to hop into bed early-ish again tonight so I can read in bed again.   Tomorrow I get the babies again and I'm ready for them!  We're going to walk to the Farmer's Market and get some tomatoes.  I'm craving great, "real" tomatoes.  Our two plants gave us a good first harvest, but slacked off on production when the weather was so hot last week.

It's hard to believe it's already August.  A new page on the calendar, full of possibility.  This August I'm going to take advantage of all 31 days and move ahead toward my weight loss goal.  Like Karen (Waisting Away), I'm going back to my basic diet plan for a push start.  I use the WW CORE plan (yes, I know, WW doesn't acknowledge the CORE plan anymore, they call it Simply Filling, but I still have the book and the CORE plan is a plan I can use to lose and continue to use for life).  I'm going to re-read the book today and look for any areas  I need to tweak.  I still have 7.2 pounds to lose by September 7th to meet my goal for the Summer Diet Buddies Challenge.  I'm gonna do it.

I am adding one goal to my list this week.  This one is guaranteed to make me look slimmer, younger, and better.  I don't have to change any of my eating habits to accomplish it.  I don't even have to add anything to my exercise routine.  The goal?  I want to work on my posture.  Head up, shoulders back, tummy in.  I always admire people who stand up without slouching.  I practiced in front of the mirror this morning.  I look way better when I stand up straight.  Like a before and after picture.  My goal:  I will leave a note on my bathroom mirror to remind me.  I will use good posture on the walking bits of my runs.  I will walk around my block (1 mile) every other day using good posture.  Maybe I'll throw in a bit of my Wii Yoga, too.


How's your August shaping up?

AHA Moment

We were eating dinner tonight when I happened to notice my son, Jay. I was just about finished with my meal, DH was almost done, but Jay, as usual was still working on his dinner, only half done. Jay is a good eater, he always eats everything he is served and has very few dislikes (he doesn't love nuts, but will work around them). He's just slow. Not the slowest eater I've ever known, but definitely slower than I am. That was my AHA moment. Maybe I should try to slow down when I eat. I've done a lot of tweaking of different things in this life-quest of mine, but I've never even thought of trying to fix this obvious fault. I need to slow down.

Jay was a champion at the Special Olympics in this picture when he was 9.

He's still a champion slow eater!

So this week, that will be my Spring Focus goal. I want to work to slow down my eating. I'm embarrassed to admit, but I usually spend 40- 60 minutes cooking a great meal and only about 10 minutes eating it. My initial goal is modest. I want to spend at least 15 minutes eating my dinner. I'll put smaller amounts on my fork, put down the fork between bites, stop for drinks of water, talk a bit more with DH and Jay, and, if I have to, pace myself to Jay to slow down.

Jay's 14th birthday--he even eats birthday cake slowly!

Jay is our youngest. He is 28, works in a sheltered job in a retirement home restaurant, saves every penny he earns, has a terrific sense of humor, knows the prologue to Romeo & Juliette by heart, picks up litter when he takes his two, mile-long walks around our neighborhood, and loves to shuck corn. He has Down Syndrome. He reads at about a 5th grade level, loves to write in his black & white speckled composition books, and has the world's best collection of VHS & DVDs (all the great musicals, Fairy Tale Theater, every season of Monk, every season of Due South, 12 versions of Romeo & Juliette, the Disney classics, and many other great movies).

I'm doing great, so far, on my goal to exercise every day. I'm going to go work out with my Wii tonight and tomorrow morning is my last day with the C25K. YAY!

Jay shucking corn on the cob a few days ago. He's a handy guy to have around.

How about you? Do you need to take a lesson from Jay about eating more slowly?