Fence Post, WI, and Pix

My running is going very well, despite the first wave of summer heat and despite the challenge of finding times to run when someone else is able to watch the grands. I ran four times last week for a total of 18.5 miles. Running very early, I was able to beat the heat and avoid leaving Rose alone. I found it also started my day off on a note of success. I feel good about myself when I've run and am set up to have a good day of following my plans. If you look closely, you'd probably notice my little halo on those early morning run days!

We had a new fence put up last week. We'd had a chain link fence that was here when we moved in, but I wanted a wooden fence for a few reasons. I like the look of them, for one thing, and we're hoping they will inhibit the deer who have been feasting on our liles and hosta and many other beautiful, and apparently delicious, plants in our garden. I chose to have the solid part only four feet high because we like our neighbors and want to be able to chat face to face through the "topper." i also thought the fence would make a nice backdrop for our garden. I think the three workers were trying hard to be careful, but there were several plant casualties in the garden beds near the fence. :-( I'm hoping that most will come back next year. The workers worked through two of our hottest days. Rose and I kept them supplied with a cooler of ice water.

I lost 1.4 pounds at my WI last week. We're going to a family reunion, beach vacation on Vancouver Island in five and a half weeks. I'd love to lose 7.5 more pounds by the time we leave. The last time we were with this crowd (DH's sibs' families) I was feeling quite trim at 6 pounds above my current weight. :-)

One new recipe in the RECIPE page this week. Debby asked for the recipe for my brownies. It's there and you'll love them, but caveat emptor! They're wonderful and made from old-fashioned, read NOT health or diet-concious, ingredients!

We're aiming to take an after-dinner bike ride tonight. Rose is opting out, but can stay alone for a bit with Jay. We'll shoot for an hour long ride. I've missed riding.

If one picture is worth 1000 words, I wonder how many these two pictures are worth?

It was this picture from last Dec, posted on
FB by a friend, that brought me to my senses and
back to being serious about getting myself in shape.

Tonight, -30 pounds later, feeling good about myself.

Photo Story

We had a great time hosting a tea party for FIL's 90th birthday.  He lives in Wilmington, NC and we and all our progeny (kids, in-law kids, and grands) went there to help him celebrate.  Daughter Laura made this beautiful cake and it was possibly the best cake I've ever eaten.  Awesome.  I tried to limit myself, but suspect that this cake was largely responsible for the 2 pound gain my scale reported the day after the party!  (fortunately gone within a few days)

The grands (12, 10, 8, 4, and 2) worked on this banner and we think it turned out wonderfully well.

These are the world's best brownies.  The recipe was my grandmother's.  I made and froze 4 batches of these and never had even one until the birthday party.  Um, they might have also contributed to that 2 pounds.  But they're all gone now. :-)

We put son John in charge of the helium balloon kit.  He got them blown up and the kids were delighted to find places to attach them around the party room. (We had reserved the poolside party room at FIL's condo complex.)  Granddaughter Ella is eying the platter of scones as she looks for a place to tie her balloons.

Grandson Ben is a talented chess player.  His opponent was in his mid 90s, has played chess for decades and was surprised to lose 4 out of 5 games to a 10 year old.

After the party, the children gathered up all the balloons and took them outside.  No, they didn't let them go, they had fun popping them and disposed of them in the trash.

Laura gave the grands a push on this neat swing in a large Wilmington park (Greenfield Park).  They climbed trees (live oaks, I think), enjoyed the Spanish moss, saw an alligator in the lake, caught a small box turtle, and collected some large pine cones for future art projects.

DH and I love being surrounded by our gang of grandchildren.  We love each and every one!

More smiles!

Grandson Jack (almost 3) gets up close and personal with the little box turtle.  He waited patiently for it to come out of its shell and chortled when it scuttled into the water.

Granddaughter Jeannine scrambled right up this live oak.

We brought granddaughter Rose (8) back to Virginia with us.  We took her up to Lancaster County PA to a play about Jonah at the Sight & Sound theater there.  We drove through beautiful countryside and saw a dozen horse drawn vehicles.  There were also horses powering the farm machinery.  

The play was so well done.  It was a musical and the staging, special effects, and costuming were every bit as good as at plays I've seen in NY and at the Kennedy Center.  It was a fun day.

Rose loves to shop.  Here she is modelling an outfit we found at Kohl's.  Gotta love those 75% off racks!

Can you spot the dog in this picture??  I seem to be the only one in my family who has noticed the dog who is always out in this yard in our neighborhood.  Here's my photographic proof.  Remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge.

My new favorite meal.  Tish's Eggplant Parmesan .  I made up this recipe with what I had on hand one night and it's a definite keeper.  (lean ground turkey, lots of veggies, grilled eggplant, fresh mozzarella).  Only 275 calories per serving.  The recipe is in the RECIPE page in the sidebar to the right.

My little Nike+ is not reporting my running right now because the Nike+ site is being renovated.  But I'm doing really well with the running.  I ran 5 times last week, averaging just under 4.5 miles per run.  I'm running farther and faster which makes things better as I can allow an hour for transportation to and from plus the run rather than the hour and three quarters it took me for the same run a month and a half ago. I've been getting up early to accomplish my run before Rose wakes up and the other grands arrive.  The weather has been wonderful recently, but I noticed that the 90s and even a 100 degree day are in the 5 day forecast.

I'm not biking as much as I'd like now.  Mostly because Rose is not yet a confident biker and we don't leave her alone.  We'll get back to our long after-dinner rides in a few weeks.

I'm continuing to lose at my weigh-in's.  I'm down over 30 pounds since Christmas.  Happy days.  I've had some great "closet shopping" sessions and reclaimed some cute outfits that hadn't seen the light of day for over a year and a half.  I still have 23 pounds to lose to achieve my WW goal, but I feel confident that I'll get there.

Today is DH's and my 39th anniversary.  No big celebrations today, but we are very thankful for our wonderful life together.  We're hoping to get in a bike holiday weekend next month.  Maybe that will be our celebration!

Smooth Sailing

The USS Jack and Ella

Ella and Jack loved fixing up an old carton into their boat yesterday.  Each side is painted a different color and, by the end, we had seats (stadium seats leftover from our days cheering on their Daddy and the Georgetown track team), a number for the boat (68 at Ella's insistance), and a nice rope attached at the front so I could pull them across the deck.  And the best thing?  They loved it so much that they wanted to take it home!  My decorating plan doesn't really have room for a small boat. . . .

My life has had happy sailing since my last post, too.  I lost 2.2 pounds at my WI on Wednesday (26. 6  since Christmas).  I also dipped down into the next decade--yay!  I record my weight every morning and enter it onto the physicsdiet.com site.  I love how it coverts them into an average weight, so that the minor fluctuations in weight don't have such an impact on the graph.  On the graph, green is good.  Here's my graph since Jan 1st.  There are a few spikes (red) and plateaux, but the trend is good.  You can spot the three dramatic down trends when I did 17DD cycle I (beginning of Feb was the first and I'm just finishing the most recent).  My average is just about 1 pound per week.

I had to squeeze in my run this morning to get to my hair app't on time, so I ran faster.  Another minute off my pace!  Notice my little Nike+ runner girl in the upper part of the side bar.  The pace there says 13:04 per mile, but that's the cumulative pace for all my runs and walks over the past few years.  The pace kept going up as I mostly walked last year, but it's definitely turned around.  I'm hoping to make the Nike+ girl's pace go back under 13 by the end of next week.  Today's pace was 10:53 per mile. :-)   My method of running for an increasing distance every time my ipod announces that 5 more minutes have passed works really well for me.  I'm now running 80% of the time (run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute).  I'm going to have to  start running earlier though, the weather is edging into the 90s and definitely getting more humid.

We're driving down to Wilmington NC next week to celebrate my FIL's 90th birthday.  We're rented a huge beach house that will accomodate 12 of us (DH and me, all our children, their spouses, and all the grands.  It should be really fun.  I've planned the party.  A tea party.  According to the RSVPs we'll be about 35.  I'm going to bake (scones and brownies) before we go, Laura is going to make the birthday cake (she has a white thumb!), and I'll get fresh fruit when we're there.  Pink lemonade for the kids, clotted cream and strawberry jam for the scones, some nuts, a nice selection of teas and we're calling it on the food offerings.  I found a rental place there that assures me I can walk in and walk out with teacups, linens and whatever else we need.  I've reserved the poolside clubhouse at my FIL's condo, sent the invitations, have supplies for the grandkids to make a happy birhday poster, and am running out today to buy a box of balloon magic (helium, balloons, and necessary acoutrements in a box).

We'll be returning from Wilmington with three of our grandchildren in the car! Ella and Jack are going to stay for a couple extra days (John and Tobey have to get back to work on Monday and this works out for childcare and gives them a chance to be with their cousins longer).  We'll also have Rose, Laura's youngest who is eight and enjoying her first solo summer visit with us.  (We've worked out a great deal with Laura and David--we get to have their kids come here  for a few weeks in the summer when they're 8, 11, and 14.  It works out so that we get one child each year and we have a lot of fun.  Ben (11) will come next year, and then Jeannine (14) the year after that!  We'll have a wonderful time!

Rose when she was 7.

We're going out to dinner tonight!  One of DH's international students (he teaches an advanced law course at Georgetown) invited us to dinner to meet his parents.  They are Italian and we'd had the student to dinner a while ago.  We lived in Italy for a few years and have some other connections.  It should be fun.  We're going to the Chart House in Alexandria.  I've got to peruse the online menu to make my choices, though my brain is trying to remind me about their Mississippi mud pie.  I'm trying to ignore that, we'll see.

Hoping to take a nice long bike ride, tomorrow.

No News . . .

In this case, no news is good news!   I admit to an epic fail at my goal of posting once a week in April (sorry!), but the rest of the story is full of successes.

On the exercise front, I've passed some invisible barrier in the past couple of weeks and it's coming much more easily now.  I'm enjoying running, and yes, it's now a lot more running than walking.  I've been going out for 90 minutes a few times a week and each time, my distance increases and my pace gets faster.  I'm not trying to embark on a racing career, but I'm feeling good about being able to run, and to feel like a "real" runner, again.  My ultimate goal is to be able to run 4 or 5 miles a few times a week.  For now, while the weather is great (not too hot!)  I'm doing a little more.  Follow my running with my little Nike+ avatar at the top of the right sidebar.

My biking has also gotten better.  As the weather has gotten so much better, I'm getting in about three good rides a week.  My balance issues of last year (that followed my spine surgery) are a thing of the past (YAY!) and I'm using my road bike a lot more than my hybrid.  I'm inspired by Lori and Michele in their biking successes and working on my endurance and stamina.  I'm also scheduled to take a basic bike maintenance course so that I won't have to trudge home walking my bike if I have a flat tire or other basic problem. You can follow my biking progress in the DailyMile widget in the right sidebar.  Thanks to Michele for the idea of using DailyMile.  A few nice long bike rides and several decent runs for a total of 99 miles over the past two weeks.  YTD total miles is at 407 as of April 15!

I am continuing with my own approach of using 17DD and WW Simply Filling with good results.  I'm losing every week at my WI's and am firmly back in "wonderland" again.  I'm averaging losing about 1.3 pounds a week.  Not bad for a 60 year old!  At this rate, I hope to be at my goal weight by the time we go to the beach in August.  I'm at that happy place now, where clothes that were not fitting are now fitting well or starting to get loose!  DH has reached his WW goal weight and son Jay has lost a little over 3 pounds since February.  Neither has a weight problem, but both are in "fighting trim" now and looking quite good.

I'm trying out new recipes and continuing to make our favorites and we're eating well.  Tonight I made roasted fennel.  I took the bulb, cut it in 2/3" slices, dipped it in a mixture of one part balsamic vinegar and one part olive oil and sprinkled some parmesan cheese on the top.  I roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 20+ minutes so that it was golden brown and quite tastey.  (the original recipe called for two parts dijon mustard to be added to the mixture, but I opted out of the mustard!).

I'll leave you with one picture from the past few weeks.  None of me, I was the photographer.  I'll try to  do better about getting myself in the picture next time.

DH and Ella, who has finally learned to smile for the camera!

Have you ever thought that you couldn't lose weight after a "certain age?"

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?

Soup's On

It feels like winter here, today.  There's a possibility of snow flurries and the temperature is in the low 30s.  It's soup weather!  I love soup weather and soup.  I've made three soups recently that I'd like to share with you.

The other day I made Classic Chicken Soup with Noodles a WW recipe that's become a favorite in our house.  I add a cup of sliced mushrooms and some frozen corn (about 1 cup), but it's deelish either way.  I actually made two pots of soup because it's really just as easy to make two as it is to make one.  I took the other pot to son Johnny's house.

My mainstay, go-to soup, that has been a favorite since before we had children (38 years!) is hamburger soup.  I should really think up some other name for it, because it's hearty, healthy, delicious, and filling.  It's also very forgiving.  You can substitute just about anything.  My own changes depending upon what veggies I have on hand and what the season is.  What stays the same is its deliciousness!  The recipe will be at the end of this post.

The third soup I want to share today is a new one.  Coconut Curry Kale Soup.  I even love the name.  A hint of sweet, a hint of spice, and some good-for-you stuff.   I read about it on Debby's blog (Debby Weighs In) and she got it from Helen (Doing a 180).  I added about 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels and substituted 1 can of white beans for the chick peas.  Mine looks pinker than the picture Helen had, but it's great either way.   I made it a lunch time today and had some kale left over from the bunch I picked up at Whole Foods, so, during the last 10 minutes of cooking, I made kale chips to go with my soup.  (tear kale into chip size pieces.  spread it out on a silpad or pam-sprayed cookie sheet, bake at 400 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.  the kale will turn crispy but shd still retain some green.  sprinkle with salt to taste.  DH and I devoured an entire big bunch of kale before dinner one night, the first time I made this.)

Not too much happening in the garden over the winter except for the daphne.  It's one of the earliest bloomers and ours is covered with beautiful, dark-pink buds.  When they bloom, the flower has a heavenly sweet fragrance.

Daphne bud, mid January

The bush is covered with buds.

The buds bloom to white fragrant flowers (pic from last year).

One more comfort on a winter's day.  I think I'd mentioned that Laura gave me wool socks for Christmas.  I was able to find more at my local Costco.  They are toasty warm.  It's amazing how wool is so much warmer than cotton or synthetic fabrics.   Also, the 12 new, energy-efficient windows we put in are making a big difference in keeping our house warm.  We have two heating systems.  The upstairs rooms used to get quite cool in the winter, but since we installed the new windows, our thermostat doesn't trigger, because the temperature stays about 69 degrees. No more drafty windows.

And no more mishaps with the pedometer to report!  I'm trying to develop good habits about storing and using it.

I LOVE the new "reply" button in the comments section.  If you ask me a question in your comment, please check back.  I'll try to answer you.

Oh, I lost one pound at my WI on Wednesday.  That's two weeks in a row that I've lost.  I'm striving to be a trend-setter!

Be good, enjoy the season, and make some soup!

Hamburger Soup  (core)

1 pounds ground beef   (93% fat free)

2 cans diced tomatoes  (use fire roasted)

1 can tomato sauce

4 cans water

3 carrots–sliced

1 can frozen corn (or canned—rinsed drained)

1 cup frozen green beans  (or canned—rinsed drained) 

1 can rinsed black beans (optional, usually I omit)

celery–3 or four ribs chopped

onion–1 large chopped

barley about 1/4 cup

2 or 3 bouillon cubes, vegetable or chicken (I like the Knorr brand)

salt and pepper to taste

Makes about 10 generous servings.

I start this just after church for Sunday supper.  Brown the beef (and drain if beef is not lean) add onion, celery cans of tomatoes and sauce and about half of the water.  Simmer for a few hours, then add vegetables and barley.  Add more water as needed if soup boils down too much Simmer for 1-2 hours more.  Great first day and even better the next.  This is the “can” way from things you may have on your shelf.  You can substitute fresh or frozen vegetables for any of the canned.  I particularly like to add zucchini slices, fresh sliced mushrooms or fresh green beans–added about 1 ½ hours before serving.

Watching my Step(s)

I got a new pedometer for Christmas and am trying to join my sister and daughter in accumulating 10,000 steps a day. They are both champion steppers. I'm not, yet, but I'm getting there.

One of the hurdles I need to overcome is remembering to wear my pedometer every day. Another challenge is fnding it. One day this week I realized I hadn't put it on. I was pretty busy, but I ran back upstairs and did a quick search. No pedometer. I took little Jack up with me later and got him looking for it, too. He and I searched under the bed, on the bathroom counter, and on my closet floor. No ped that day. I think I got a goodly amount of steps, but have no record. The next day (still no ped) I was doing the last couple loads of laundry and I heard a thumping from the dryer. I did what I usually do in such a case and ignored it. You may be smarter than I am.  Yes.   My ped was washed (heavy duty cycle) and tumble dried for about 40 minutes. The amazing thing is . . . it works just fine! AND it registered 1472 steps on it's journey through the laundry!

I lost 3 pounds at my WI on Wednesday. I'm hoping to continue the trend this Wednesday. I made WW Classic Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner tonight and made an extra pot for Johnny's family. Soup is always welcome on a chilly day.

I'm going gangbusters on drinking my water. The 24 oz drinking bottle is working for me. I drink at least 9 cups a day and keeping so hydrated helps me keep on plan with my eating.

For your viewing pleasure:

Laura's family, DH, and Jay in Austin.  I was on the other side of the camera.

16 miles to report for last week--NOT counting the 1472 steps registered in the washer and dryer!  No more biking until the weather is a little lot warmer.  YTD=45 miles

Are you watching your step(s)?

Go Away, Mr. Munch

It's that temptation time--a few hours after lunch, too soon to eat dinner and Mr. Munch is on the loose, knocking at the doors, peeping through the windows and trying to take over my house.  I've got the electric tea kettle turned on with some of my favorite tea (Bigelow Vanilla Caramel) almost ready and thought I'd come here to enlist your aid in my effort boot Mr. Munch out of the area.

The kiddos are having a snack (beautiful little baby carrots from Costco) and watching a Veggie Tale DVD.  I've made a bit pot of turkey noodle soup that's nearly ready (my chicken soup with noodles, but I made it with turkey and added some chopped collard greens and mushrooms this time).  I'm sifting through WW recipes for biscuits to go with it and think I settled on one that has some crisped turkey bacon added to the biscuit.  Oops, the kids are both finished with snack time.  We just read Epossumondas (by Coleen Salley) and now they're doing some parallel play with a big bunch of wooden blocks.  Ella is pretending her tiny doll is Rapunzel and is walling her up in a tower with only the yarns of her hair sticking out a tiny window.  Jack is building a more utilitarian garage for his little FedEx truck.  I love their imaginative play.

I had a good week last week, for the most part, and was rewarded with a 1.4 loss at my WI on Wednesday.   It has really helped me to track my eating.  I have to confess that even though I've been continuously enrolled in and a pretty faithful WW attendant, I'm still not really conversant with the points plus of the food that I eat.  Part of that is that I followed CORE for so long, but also, because I haven't tracked.  This spate of tracking is helping me.  I'm still trying to do mostly CORE--all my pasta and rice are whole grain.  I buy very little processed food and concentrate on the lean meats, fish & poultry and fruits and veggies still.  I have, though, decided to allow some previously verboten food to make it's way into our meals occasionally--bread (whole wheat thin Pepperidge farm), butter (light) used very sparingly, for flavor.  The difference with the past few months--when my weight chart looked a lot like the Dow Jones average, dramatic losses and then huge gains, all making for a fairly flat average--is that now I'm tracking those "extras" and fitting them into my daily and weekly points.  Amazingly, this works.  Biz--over a My Bizzy Kitchen is a great inspiration.  She posts her WW meals, with pictures and recipes, every day.  Her meals are fantastic, and she doesn't stint on using whatever she needs to make them, but she is doing a super job on her weight loss goals and is keeping healthy.  I'm enrolled in her latest challenge and have challenged myself to lose 20 pounds by Jan first.  Three and a half gone, 16.5 to go!

Oh, last week I suddenly remembered my wonderful baked apple recipe that my sister (hi Missy!) shared with me last fall.  Buy Fuji apples, core and slice them 8-12 slices per apple, layer them on a large cookie sheet (use foil for no clean up mess), sprinkle generously with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes until they are tender.  These are great just for snacking on (NO points), wonderful on oatmeal, loved by the kiddos, and make a very nice dessert with a dab of fat free cool whip.  Try 'em, you'll like 'em!

DH has arrived home and is happily playing with the children.  DIL is due here any minute and then I'll get  those biscuits started and we'll eat in about 30 minutes.  I think Mr. Munch has taken a powder for the time being.  And, just to get all my boxes checked on my tracker (and, of course, because it's good for me) we'll go to the gym tonight

Stay tuned,

Off and Running

This is a snap of Ella and Jack on the first day of preschool.  Ella often had teary drop-offs last year, but is raring to go this year.  Jack is new to preschool, but seems to take after his daddy whom I remember running off to join the line of new kindergartners with never a backward glance.  Here's hoping that they're this eager every day!     I am not quite this geared up to meet my goals, but I can happily report that I'm starting my fourth week of being on program, exercise, and tracking what I eat.   

I lost 3 pounds the first week and, as Debbie wisely predicted in the comments of my last post, gained one pound last week (the day after my surgery).  Thank goodness for her counsel, because I just chalked it up to water and stress and kept on going.  Of course I haven't been perfect every day in my eating choices, but, on the whole, I'm pretty content with my diet.  I've tried lots of new recipes and bought a few new food items  to keep things interesting.  The WW online recipes are great.  I made their Classic Chicken Soup with Noodles for dinner the other night now that we're getting a hint of fall in the air.  It was a definite winner and will make a repeat appearance soon, I think.  As a side to the soup, I made a half recipe of Apricot Scones (just 4 points +) and used some of my flex points to have two!  Such indulgence!

Thank you all for your good wishes about my surgery.  It went well and I was back to my normal routine the next day.  I got the great news yesterday that the biopsy came back "all clear."  I'm not a huge worrier, but, as you can imagine, this was really good to hear.

Today I earned a gold star (well, an imaginary gold star).  I had the morning "off" and had decided to get out and do some exercise.  I woke to the patter of rain on the window panes, but got dressed and went out and did it anyway.  I went to my favorite river path and did Week One, Day One of C25K!  It's the first time I've actually run in any organized sort of way since my spine surgery in March.  Yay me!  And I didn't even melt in the rain--I guess it was only the Wicked Witch who melted.

With September, it seems like everything's starting up again.  This year, instead of BSF, I've joined another Bible study group (Community Bible Study).  They are very similar in content and format, but CBS is a bit closer to my WW meeting so that I won't be late.  

WI tomorrow and I'm hoping to lose.  

Are you off an running?

I Found it! Finally.

My cell phone. We have two pre-paid cell phones (besides the fancy smart phone DH uses for work). Way back at the beginning of July I lost mine. I thought I'd lost it while traveling back from Seattle, on one of the planes. Gone forever. Not so. I was driving today and slipped my fingers down between the seat and the center console and, much to my surprise, came up with my very own cell phone. That's the good news. I tried to call to have the number reinstated. Several transfers later, many explanations, many repetitions of my cell phone number and pin code and I finally got to the right agent to help me accomplish my goal. Long story short, he couldn't understand what I wanted and I couldn't explain it so that he did. His English was minimal at best. I finally gave up. I'll go into my local T Mobile and take care of it in a couple of days. Very frustrating.

Oh, and maybe, just maybe, I've found my mojo, too! One entire week of being OP, feeling confident, exercising, tracking, trying new recipes, and generally feeling good about myself and my weight loss and health goals. I was rewarded with a 3.0 pound loss at my WI today. Yay me! It's amazing the contrast in my outlook from just a couple of weeks ago. I'm an optimist--I'd wake up every morning feeling that maybe, somehow, that day would be the day I got back on track. My optimism lasted until the first temptation and subsequent bite of some non-program food. I can't tell you what did the trick. I'm just very grateful.

We had Chicken Tetrazzini for dinner tonight.  One of DH's favorites and nice and hot for a cool rainy day.  I made a WW online recipe which was yummy and only cost 9 points.

I also bought a half bushel of peaches at the Farmers' Market.  My favorite seller says this may be the last week for the yellow peaches (which I prefer over the white variety).  I hope to get some frozen while the grand babies are napping tomorrow.

One of my recent photo finds while sifting through one of the many boxes from my parents' attic (now in our attic!).  This is my mother, about two years old, in 1922.  I got none of those natural curls, BTW, nor the blond hair.  The puppy is Dis-Donc  and appears to have been her constant companion for the first few years of her life.

Hot, Humid, and Happy

I mentioned that I was hoping for a good WI today, well, I had a good WI.  Despite being on prednisone (#1 side effect = weight gain) for five days this week, I managed to lose 1.8 pounds.  Yay me!  It was every bit as hot and humid as predicted, but I ducked out early and walked along my river path before the heat had a chance to do its worst.  Still needed a (cool) shower when I got home, but I got my exercise in and felt good.

Tomorrow's weather forecast is a copy of today's.  I'll have the grandkids and plan to take them to Huntley Meadows, a lovely large county park just a few miles from our house.  It has marsh lands with a raised boardwalk and lots of wooded trails.  Given the weather, though, my plan is to take them to the air-conditioned visitor's center which has lots of interesting, touchable displays.  We'll hit the boardwalk on some other (cooler) day.

I made a great dinner tonight.  Rigatoni with sausage, spinach and goat cheese.  It also calls for a pint of cherry tomatoes (very colorful) and I added a cup of sliced baby bella mushrooms (added just after the sausage).  I also made mine with whole wheat rigatoni.   Quick, beautiful, and nutritious.  This got rave reviews from my fellas.  I saw someone demonstrate making this on the Today Show and you can see the recipe and a video here. (It's the second recipe at that link.)

On the garden front, I got a surprise today.  I was taking my daily tour of my "babies" and noticed something really white in one of the beds.  I went over and found that the gardenia that I planted about four weeks ago had a big, lovely, fragrant white flower.  I'd just about given up.

Hope you've had a great day, too.

Coming Up Roses

Hi, my friends, things have turned around in the past couple of days so that it seems that everything is coming up roses, as they say.

First, I saw a sympathetic doctor on Tuesday and got the mega super dose of prednisone to zap my poison ivy.  After just two days the swelling is gone, the itchiness is gone, and the redness is fading.  Still not quite ready for my photo shoot, but I'm getting there.

Then, I went to WW on Wednesday and lost!  I joined Biz's (Biggest Diabetic Loser) 101 days of Summer Challenge that started June 1st.  My goal was to lose 1 pound (or more) per week during the summer.  I am proud to report that I lost 1.2 pounds this week.

To help with that goal and to get myself back in good shape, I also joined Alan's (Pounds Off Playoff) June Boom Challenge.  For this challenge, the participants are striving to exercise each and every day in June.  So far, so good.  Yesterday I walked along my running path and this evening DH and I are going to bike our long evening route (13 miles) after dinner. So far, so good!

The weather yesterday was awful.  We had record breaking temperatures--hot, hot, hot and super high humidity to make things worse.  We've had a few days of these awful temps, let me tell you, not the best weather for someone trying to get over the worst part of poison ivy.  I confess that yesterday mornings walk got cut short because the sweat kept getting in my swollen eye and hurt like the dickens.

All that has changed.  Today's temps are in the low 80s, very low humidity and it's a joy to be outside.  I'm watching the grand babies today and we spent the better part of an hour playing outside this morning.  Lots of fun with a small wheel barrow and one red plastic ball.  Our back yard is great for running around and playing on the lawn.  DH got his heart's desire last year and put in a sprinkler system which leaves our yard lush and green--great for playing.

The children are napping now (oh good nappers, how I love 'em!) but I filled the little blue pool with a few inches of water and dragged it into a sunny spot so the water would warm up.  When they wake up we'll get out the bathing suits (or "baby suits" as our little Laura used to call them) and have some pool time.  Nothing fancy, just some measuring cups from the kitchen and a few floaty toys to play with.

My sister, Missy has been here for a few days.  She left this morning to go to her 45th reunion at Bucknell.  She'll be back on Sunday for a couple more days of visit before returning to Atlanta.  Talk about hot weather . . . at least we're usually a few degrees cooler than Georgia.

A big welcome to my new followers!  I'll try to keep it interesting and come by and visit you, too.

Here are some pix for your viewing pleasure.

Our patio tomatoes,  looking quite healthy.

The Stella D'Oro Lillies are just starting their show,
notice the clematis behind them.

These yellow evening primroses were transplants from a friend's yard.  They give a very cheerful look during June.

I love my hellebore.  These bloomed a couple months ago but still look great.

We transplanted this hosta from a huge plant (this is 1/3 of the other plant)
notice the children's wheel barrow for scale.

Solomon's Seal

This catbird has a nest right next to the fig tree, she
was sitting on the nest and flew just 3 feet away when I came
 round the corner.

Some of the figs, the birds wait until the exact second that they
ripen and then start feasting.

The catbird's nest was too high for me to see
into, but I was able to snap one picture
before she got too upset at my being so
close.  I never knew catbird eggs were such
a pretty blue.  They look like blue Easter eggs.

I hope you day is coming up roses, too!