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!

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?"

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

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.

This is the day!

I really like that children's song based on Psalm 118:24.  This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.  That's what I'm going to do doing today.

I got up early (for a Saturday) to let in the guy who's installing the last of our energy efficient windows.  The rest of the job was finished in early December, but they ordered one window the wrong size, so it's going in right now.  We're expecting unseasonably warm weather today, but let me tell you, at 7:30  this morning it was too cold to stay toasty-warm in the house with a large window-sized hole in the wall.  Thank goodness for the snugly wool socks my Laura gave me for Christmas!

Guess what DH and I are going to do today!  Here's a hint:   You got it.  We're going to take advantage of the great weather (near 60 is the predicted high) and go for a bike ride.  And I'm going to ride my "Pearlie."  DH gave me a road bike for Xmas last year, but with the winter weather and then my surgery in March,  I've only ridden it three times.  I mostly rode my hybrid bike this year because the road bike has the rider lean over the handle bars more and I was leery of stressing my neck where I had the surgery.  Now, though, I'm ready to ride Pearlie again.

I'm feeling good on the WW front.  I bought three 24 oz BPA-free water bottles at Costco yesterday.  I'm drinking 60+ oz of water a day and tracking my eating on the WW site.  Morning weight augers a happy face at my Wednesday WI.

Laura made applesauce during our Christmas vacation.  Amazingly easy, fast, delicious, AND fills the house with a wonderful aroma.  Here's the recipe:

Core and slice 10 Fuji Apples (Laura uses a mixture of several varieties) (one of those apple corer thingamajigs works well.  No need to peel the apple.
Fill a large pan with 1 inch of water. Bring water to a boil. Put apples in pan, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Blend apples until desired consistency.  (I use my new immersion blender!--Cuisinart Smart Stick SB 77)
Add cinnamon (optional).
Serve warm or cold.
Oh, and ZERO WW points!

I'm making pork tenderloin tonight and Laura's applesauce is definitely on the menu.

See you soon, I'm going to get moving and continue rejoicing and being glad in this day!
(Tish is my nickname.  I love knowing that Tish, Tisha, and Ticia (as I spell it) mean "glad." I think my parents did well in naming me.)

So far, so good

Dashing in to report that things are going fine.  Things are busy, busy, busy here as I imagine they are in your house.  We're leaving tonight for Texas.  We're going to drive two long days and then rendezvous with our Laura and her family and with my brother who lives in Austin.  We've rented a house in Austin and will have a terrific time including a 5 day jaunt out to west Texas (Big Bend) over Christmas.  We have Christmas day dinner reservations at the Gage Hotel and have rented a large private home to accommodate our group of 10.

The angel cone choir awaiting their big moment!
The recipe is from Sandra Lee.  But I used melted
lifesavers for the halos.   Yes, edible.

Little Jack, aka The Eyelash King,
surveying his new fleet of vehicles.

Last week we hosted three Christmas gatherings at our house.  On Sunday I had my annual Christmas Tea Party for the little people in my life.  We were 11 total: a one year old,  2 twos, 2 fours, and a 6 plus 3 moms and 2 grandmas.  Iced cookies, angel cones, crustless little sandwiches, cranberry bars, green grapes, dried apricots, baby carrots, and cheese sticks.  Then on Wednesday we hosted a Christmas potluck for our couples' Bible Study.  A true potluck.  I made my Cooking Light Seafood Lasagna.  Then, yesterday, after church, we celebrated an early Christmas with our family here.  We opened presents and then had a light brunch with my scones and Tami's (Nutmeg Notebook) Sausage, Cheese, Egg Muffins (a new family favorite, great for a special occasion or for a grab-and-go breakfast).

Despite all the yummy food that came through our house in the past week, I've managed to lose just over two pounds in the past week and a half.  I missed my WW meeting last Wednesday, but my daily morning scale visit confirms the downward trend.  I'm hoping that the next two weeks, away from my everyday temptations and with a ratcheted-up level of exercise, will continue the trend.  Hiking in Big Bend and rental bikes on the beautiful bike paths in Austin.  Oh yes, gotta pack my biking shorts . . . .

Gotta go.  I promised DH that I'd have the car packed and ready to go by the time he got home from work.  The laundry is done (!) but I have to pack suitcases, load the cooler, remember all the electronic devices and their respective cords and chargers (2 phones, 2 ipads, kindle, garmin, 2 ipods, laptop and camera) and I have two little guys as "helpers" today!  LOL,  I'm counting on a good 3 hour nap for both of them today!

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,

Getting a Jump on the Weekend

DH took the day off and we're busy doing some errands and packing because we're going on a Bike Holiday today!  Last fall Sharon (Gains and Losses) and I biked the W&PD trail from Leesburg to Alexandria (34 miles!).

W & OD Bike Trail

DH was sidelined by a broken wrist, but was our support-team for the ride.  He has wanted to do this trail ever since he had to listen to us enthusing over the great biking surface, the beautiful country scenery, the trail-side BBQ place, and the beautiful towns we went through.  Well, today (and tomorrow) he gets his turn.  We're going to HQ in a hotel along the way and drive to the trail head, in Purcerville, VA.  We're going to bike over two days (I'm not up to doing the whole thing in one fell swoop).  Tonight we're going to have a 'date-night' with dinner and a movie (The Help).

Yesterday, day two of my line-in-the-sand fall campaign, went super well.  Got many errands done, ate and tracked every BLT (bite, lick, and taste), got in a nice visit with my BFF (hi, Marilyn!),  and did my weight routine at the gym.   Oh, and at lunch (at Coastal Flats, a very nice seafood restaurant) I scored big-time.  I had their Yucatan Shrimp Cocktail and a green salad for lunch.  The YSC is fabulous and BFF and I often wonder exactly what they use in the sauce.  I asked our waitress if she had the nutritional info for it and she did me one better.  She came back with a list of the ingredients.  Not the proportions, but I can guess.  I feel a Yucatan Shrimp Cocktail coming up on the menu at our house, soon.   Ingredients:  Shrimp, mango, avocado, jicama, radish, lime juice, ketchup(!), celery seed, tomato,  tobasco,  cracked black pepper, onion, cilantro and, the surprise ingredient, orange soda.  The sauce is made with the soda, ketchup, and lime juice--I'm guessing it's about 1 T or less apiece of these ingredients, not a diet-buster.  My best calculations puts this at 5 WW points plus.  Not bad!

My aunt, my mother's sister visited for a week at the end of August.  She's loads of fun! She turned 88 while she was here. One of the things we did together (besides puzzles, mending, shopping, watching movies, and talking) was to look through three huge plastic bins of "stuff" I have from my parents' attic.  I chose these because they were labelled "Lattin"--my mother and aunt's maiden name.  We had a ball.  Found lots of fun pictures (including one of my grandparents on their wedding day) and she recalled and told me lots of fun family stories.  One of the upshots of this was that she paid for me to sign up on ancestry.com so we could pursue a couple of questions we came up with.   Here's  one of the fun pictures we found-- my maternal grandparents.  On their wedding day.  They were married at city hall in Paris.  He was an officer in WWI and was shot in fighting along the Marne.  While he was hospitalized, he met a charming young French nurse.  They were married a few months later.  She was 19. The year was 1919.

Have a great day!