Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind?

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a little couplet  in A Child's Garden of Verses that is probably familiar to you:  "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."  Even as a child, I recognized that the word should left some doubt as to whether we all were actually as happy as kings.   And if we're not as happy as kings, why not?  (Assuming for the time being that most kings are happy.)

I think maybe it's  that "number of things" part of the deal. Too many choices. Have you ever dashed into the store to buy peaches, for example?  If you go in August, you're likely to be faced with choices that will slow you down on your errand:   white or yellow?  donut shape or round?  local or imported?  organic or not?  seconds or "perfect"?  pre-bagged or choose your own?  regular price or on special?  And that's just peaches.  Don't even think about getting out of the store quickly if you have to navigate the aisle that has allergy medicines, or nail polish!  Sometimes life would be much simpler if there weren't so many choices.

The Lovin' Spoonful's 60's hit Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind was one of the songs on my playlist during my run this morning.   It's a great song to run to.  A nice beat and fun lyrics.  The guy finds a girl he likes, but his affections are easily swayed when he meets other girls.   Pretty simplistic.  But my mind was on free rein and the chorus made me think of the potluck dinner we had at our house last night.

Cammy wrote a great  post about potlucks last week.  She's so right.  Potlucks are fun, but potluck fare is seldom synonymous with healthy eating. We grilled burgers and provided an assortment of diet and regular sodas as well as iced water and coffee.  Our guests brought potluck for the rest.  I used to love potlucks.  It seemed a guilt-free way to end up with chips, burgers, jello salad, marshmallow salad, potato salad, pasta salad, and at least a small serving of each dessert on offer.  You don't want to offend anybody by not choosing the thing that they brought.  Last night as the hostess, I actually did have that feeling.  I put a tiny serving of each food on my plate.  It filled the entire plate.  It did not look appetizing.  I've grown accustomed to the colorful, healthy look of less processed, fresh fruits and vegetables.   I think every single salad had mayonnaise dressing.  There were no green salads.  The most appealing side dish was a huge platter of glass noodles that a Filipina friend made.  I had my burger sans bun--garnished with lettuce and tomatoes.  I did take a few bites of the other things, but, happily, found myself busy doing hostess things--finding more spoons, greeting latecomers, starting the coffee, and putting birthday candles in one of the cakes. I was able to scrape my plate into the trash and enjoy a cup of coffee for dessert.  Too many choices.  And, in terms of my Plan, not so many great choices.

I like black and white choices.  A bright line between a good choice and a poor choice.  Life, well, my life anyway, doesn't give us only black and white choices.  I try hard to make the choices in my house mostly good choices.  Sometimes, though, I need to exercise my choice muscle.  It's a muscle that needs a little more toning up.  I gave that muscle a little workout today, crushing and tossing a big, unopened bag of chips that got left behind.

This morning's run was mostly walking.  My hip was still a little sore (probably from all that floor scrubbing on Friday), so I went the distance (4 miles), but just ran a little.  It was a beautiful day.  There were so many butterflies out today--it must have been the optimum temperature for them.  One of the bald eagles was perched right next to the eagle nest.  The sweet autumn clematis has started to bloom and greeted me with a lovely spicy scent as I went by the blossoms.  I didn't run a lot, but I did work on my posture and tried to keep remembering to walk with my head up, shoulders back and tummy in.  It makes me feel taller and slimmer to stand up straight.

Patrick,  here's a picture of a snazzy pedal, like the ones I got for my bike.  My special bike shoes clip into the pedal and provide a more efficient ride. The  shoe being attached to the pedal means you get not only the downward push on the pedal action driving the bike, but also the  upward pull action.


Tonight I chose what to have for dinner.  We had baked fish, whole wheat couscous w/ mint and dried apricot, zucchini, and mango/avocado salsa. Yum. I made dinner early so that we were able to start our bike ride earlier.  We rode for 80 minutes and added a couple of miles to our usual route.  It felt good.  (but the Hill was still there--maybe it had something to do with having "run" this morning).  Oh, and this time, I didn't fall off of my bike.  Not even once!

Pride Goeth . . .

Granny on a Bike

After a good day's work on getting the house ready and a nice dinner out with DH we set out for a long ride--my inaugural ride with the new bike shoes and snazzy pedals. I was psyched to get the increased efficiency of movement, now using the upward pull of the circular pedal motion as well as the regular downward push.  I wanted to sail right over the Hill (the capital H is well deserved). I wanted to finish in our regular hour and realize that we'd gone a few extra miles. I very much wanted to get through the ride without falling.  In spite of the good advice I got from you all [I live in Virginia--we say "you all" lots around here]. In spite of that good advice, I decided to just learn how to clip on and off along the way.  DH gave me the briefest of demonstrations and off we went.

Our normal ride is through neighborhoods with just one or two crossings of major traffic roads.  DH had me kick out my heel to un-clip at about every other stop sign.  Lots.  As a precaution, I un-clipped before the three or four dicey spots (just before the major road crossings and when we went through a very narrow opening to the park that often brings us to a standstill).  I found it fairly easy to clip off and pretty easy to re-attach.  I chose the pedal style that has the plain pedal on one side and the clip pedal on the other side, so it took me a bit of time and sometimes a peek or two to see if I had the right side.  Things went well.  I felt good.  I tried to be aware of the mechanics of the pedal and to work at using the pull up motion.  I could do it for 10 or 12 turns in a row, but it doesn't come naturally yet.  I must say, I didn't sail right up the Hill.  I worked at it, like I usually do.  Maybe it was a smidgeon easier, but maybe not.  I definitely hope it will expect it to get easier as I get more and more used to effectively using the new set-up.

We went our usual route to start and then went a new way to join our alternate route.  We wanted to drive by our new house again.  The sign out front still reads "For Sale," but the agent is picking up our signed agreement dropping the inspection contingency tomorrow, so maybe we'll get a Sale Pending or Sold sign up next week.  All this time, I'm still releasing and re-attaching my bike shoes every other stop sign or so.  I felt a little like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, clicking her red shiny shoes.

I had wanted to go 15 or so miles tonight to stretch out the distance, but the days are getting shorter and, by the time we got back from our dinner date, we just had an hour before sunset.  We went about 13 miles.  As we reached the home stretch I started writing this post in my head.  Tell me I'm not the only one who composes posts in her head, trying to think of clever titles and thinking about how to tell you all  about my doings.  My title was going to be something about "it's not FALL yet," because I was going to make it.  Only a block and a half left.  DH reminded me not to forget to unclip as I turned into the driveway.  I was feeling confident.  I was excited.  I was going to do it.  I signaled the last turn, came down the hill, signaled the left turn into our driveway, smartly un-clipped my right foot, and . . .

a GNAT flew into my eye.

I thought it was funny and was trying to clear my vision, break brake (mmm, was that foreshadowing?) to a stop, and tell DH about it when I suddenly remembered that I hadn't un-clipped my left foot.  At this point I had no forward motion left and I gently fell to the left, my left foot still firmly attached to its pedal. Fortunately, I had pulled to the left edge of the driveway, and I fell onto the grass.  A much softer, less damaging landing than my last fall.  DH helped extricate me from the pedal and we were both still laughing when he finished putting the bikes away.

This makes a MUCH better post.  What I won't do for you guys!

Friday Fly By, Progress Pix

I can't believe how hard I've been working today.  We're hosting a party for our choir on Sunday and are working hard at getting everything ship shape.  I've cleaned the outside grill (DH took it apart and cleaned the unit, I attacked all the removable pieces and scrubbed through a ton of built up gook.  I've cleaned the oven, cleared out and cleaned the fridge, taken apart and cleaned all the crystals on our chandelier, dealt with the inspector and the realtor about our final list of contingencies on the house we're buying, arranged for the handyman to fix the two holes in the drywall from last weekend's flood, and just finished the second scrub of the kitchen floor before the polish coats go back on.   I'm pooped.  Tonight's 15 mile bike ride will be downright relaxing!

Last night on our way to the gym, we stopped at the bike store and I chose fancy pedals that will attach to my fancy bike shoes so I, too, can ride more efficiently--after I learn to stop without falling off the bike.  DH has the day off (yes, he's been working hard around the house today, too) and took my bike and shoes by so that they're all set for me to try them out on our ride tonight.  I'm excited.  Thank you all so much for your input re bike shoes & pedals.  It really did help me make up my mind to do this.

We almost never go out to eat anymore (except my weekly lunch with BFF right after our WW meeting).  We just might go out tonight though (in the interest of keeping the sparkling kitchen floor, stove and fridge sparkling a bit longer).  There's a cute little place in Old Town (Alexandria)  that makes an awesome caprese salad and that serve a nice Italian pizza--Jay's favorite.  That sounds really good to me.  I'm sure I can probably talk DH into it!

I want to be able to get in my run tomorrow morning, so I'd better get back to slaving away on the house for a couple more hours today.  I hope to be able to spend a little time here tonight and also tomorrow. Welcome to my new readers and followers!  I still get excited when I see that people are actually coming to my page and reading what I write.

About time for some progress pix:

at my highest weight, 218 pounds

at my current weight, 185

So Long, Big Apple

Nope, this isn't a post about New York City (though I love visiting NYC). Nor is this a review of some wonderful kitchen gadget that spirals the peel off the apple in one perfect piece. It's not even about how much I like to chop up apples, sprinkle them with cinnamon and cook them with my oatmeal when I'm in the mood for a yummy, hot breakfast. No.  This is about my shape.


You know. Some people are pear shaped (extra weight distributed at the waist and hips), some are banana shaped (my little E's measurements are 20", 20", 20"--definitely banana), some have shapely hourglass figures, and then there are the apples. I'm an apple shaped person.  Any extra "avoirdupois" shows up right at my middle. This is the worst shape to be. Not only is is neigh impossible to find clothes that fit nicely on an apple, but this shape is a known predictor of disease--coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and gall bladder disease. The rule-of-thumb danger sign for apple is the waist measurement.  The critical measurement is 35 inches.  That's the dividing line between just overweight and obese.

I take my body measurements about twice a month.  It's not an exact science.  I really like exact science. It's too easy to pull the tape measure a little tighter, or to go the other way and be overly scrupulous and not pull it tight enough.  Most definitely I never take the measurement exactly the same way twice.  But, and this is a big but, (stop laughing!) over time, the measurements definitely show what's happening. I started measuring again at the beginning of May, when I got serious about this whole thing again.  My waist measurement is 3 1/2 inches less now than it was on May 2.  Yes, there's a "fudge factor," but 3 1/2 inches can't be fudged (when I'm honestly trying to measure myself correctly each time).  Three and one half inches lost is progress.  I also have corresponding progress with the hips, bust, upper arm and thigh measurements.


So Long, Big Apple??  Well, I'm still an apple shaped person, but, as of yesterday morning, I'm not a BIG apple, or at least not an obese apple, anymore.  My waist measurement is officially under 35, just.   I'm going for more, but I'm loving the trend.


One last piece of business.  Do you remember Charlie, of the Laws of Physical Diet?  Well, he posted a challenge the other day to encourage his readers to get on board with him in his push to finally get down to business and get this weight, these inches, this bloated lifestyle done with and over.   I commented that I was "in," but that wasn't good enough for him.  No, I have to post a picture of myself saying I'm on Board.  So, without any further ado . . .

Do you take your measurements?  (If you haven't yet, I highly recommend it!)

A Bump in the Road, WI

Okay, first the BUMP. It was pouring rain when I got up this morning, but Wednesday is my WI day, so I sucked it up and went out for my usual run.  I went 4.1 miles and it was a fairly good run (the rain and overcast felt cool and good compared to summer's usual muggy hotness). After my shower I set off for my WI. I am an every day weigher, so I knew that this morning's weight was not likely to yield a loss at my noon WI. It didn't.  For the first time since the beginning of May, I gained.  Up 3 sticks o' butter, +.8 pounds. Yuck. I hate that.  Maybe it's last week's chocolate extravaganza, maybe it's too many BLT's (bites, licks, and tastes) during cooking, maybe it's a few too many almonds. Whatever. It's just a bump in the road. I'll tighten up on my regime, cut out the extraneous BLT's, put the almonds back in the freezer in the garage and get on with it. The road is still there. I know where I'm going. I know what to do.  Next week will be a different story.

On a happier note, we had the inspection on our new house today and the inspector never stopped raving about what a great house it is and what good condition the appliances/furnace/AC/roof/etc  are in. With our heavy rain this morning, it was a good day for making sure that there are no water problems in the house. There were a few minor electrical things, but we'll get the seller to fix those and be ready to go.  I want to start taking some pix to put together to show potential renters.

I wish I'd had a camera with me on my run this morning. It stopped raining about half way through and it was really beautiful out.  Everything felt cool and fresh and clean. Some of the trees have leaves that are starting to turn. I'm going to take my camera next time and see if I can snap some pix of the beautiful leaves.  I think they're black gum trees. Some of the leaves are a bright crayon red now. Also the sweet gum have dropped some beautiful yellow star shaped leaves. Does this mean that fall is coming??  I sure hope so.

I have the g-babies tomorrow.  E has become fairly reliably potty trained over the past few weeks. Yay!  My oriental carpets are breathing a collective sigh of relief! And I can ditch the remainder of the evil siren m&m's which have caused me to put hand to mouth many more times than I should have in the past few months.  J, not to be outdone, added a third tooth to his collection this week and now has the equipment to give a pretty good bite with both lower and upper action. This is a picture of E, showing off her sticker collection. She used an entire sheet of stickers and put every one on her legs and tummy.

DH is trying to convince me to use biking shoes and clips when I ride. He actually bought me the shoes when we bought my bike, but I've never used them. I'm scared of not being able to get loose and falling, but I know I read blogs that talk about how much more efficient (easier) it is when you do use the clips.  DH has an exercise bike which he uses a lot (while he watches soccer or football).  I never use it.  He thinks I can get used to the shoes/clips while using the exercise bike.  Do any of you all have any advice on this subject?  Do you use them (the shoes/clips)? I like the sound of easier riding, but don't want to fall.  [It doesn't help that the first time DH was showing me how nifty they are, he fell off his bike right in front of me!]  Do you think I could learn to be comfortable with them before our Labor Day bike vacation?

Feeling a little blue about the gain, but going on,

185.0

Mango Mania

I am loving mangos this summer. Did you know that they have been called the "fruit of the gods"?  Most of the mangos in the world are grown and eaten in India.  They also pack a powerful punch in the area of nutrition.    They have the largest amount of vitamin A of any fruit.  They are also good sources for vitamins C, B1, B2, and B6 and Potassium.  [my reference is The Fruit and Vegetable Stand:  The Complete Guide to the Selection, Preparation and Nutrition of Fresh Produce, by Barry Ballister--a book I go to quite a bit.  Don't forget I'm a librarian!]  Mangos are increasingly available in supermarkets here.  I never had one until about five years ago.  Now, I buy one or two every week.  I like the ones that get a nice reddish bloom with a bit of yellow and green.   Choose a mango that feels heavy for its size, that give slightly to a gentle pressure, and that has a tropical fruit scent. Don't store it below 45 degrees for more than a day or two.


The biggest issue about mangos is how to get at the fruit.  The mangos have a large flat oval seed that parallels the shape of the fruit.  If you don't know what you're doing, you're likely to get mangled fruit with too much left on the seed and rather ragged pieces.   I recently read someone's blog (Diane's?) where she asked about the best kitchen gadgets.  A few people commented that it was their mango seed gadget.  I bought one last week and used it for the first time tonight. I'm in love. It did a great job and I got so much more usable fruit for my salsa. The Oxo splitter to the left was the one I bought. There may be other brands that are similar, but I like how sturdy Oxo kitchen gadgets are and I'm getting quite a collection of them. I was curious about what would happen if the seed was bigger than the metal cutter part. My seed tonight was slightly bigger. It just cut down over it and there was a tiny bit of seed still attached to the fruit. I cut the fruit in long wedges and had no problem trimming off the little part of the seed that was still attached. This gadget is really a time saver and does something that is almost impossible to do as well by hand.

I used my mango in a mango, avocado, and tomato salsa.  I don't really use a recipe, just add 1 chopped mango, 1 diced avocado, some chopped cherry tomatoes, a bit of diced red onion, a generous bunch of chopped cilantro and lots of fresh lime juice.  I served this alongside my night-before-WI baked cod fish, whole wheat rotini pasta, and some leftover carrots and peas.  Very eye-appealing, very quick, and quite tasty.  


Tuesday is always a gym night and I had a good workout.  DH and I go together and each has a set routine.  It usually takes us about 50 minutes.  I do my routine while listening to a book on my ipod.  It really makes the time go faster.  Before I had the ipod, I often ended up counting the ceiling tiles!  Hearing a good book is much better. Right now I'm in the middle of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear.


Tomorrow is my WI.  As usual, I can't predict what will happen.  I have done well on my eating and on exercising this week and don't expect to gain, but the scale today was nearly the same as last week. We'll see what tomorrow brings.  


Tell me about your favorite kitchen gadget!  I love finding out about new, useful tools.

Wishin', and Hopin', and Thinkin', and Prayin', Planning and Dreamin'

That 60s song by Dusty Springfield came through my headphones today while I was running. The final part of the thought is that none of those things will "get you into his heart" or help you "find love." It occurs to me that I've always taken that approach to my weight/lifestyle goals. And it has never worked. I've lost 34 pounds and I still have several outfits in my closet with price tags attached that I bought with a "wish and a prayer" as much as 6 years ago. I think about losing all the time. I want to be that slim person I envision. I chart my weight and plan and project how soon I'll reach goal if I continue to lose at a rate of 1.5 pounds/week, or 0.5 pounds/week. I daydream about having a fit, slim body that I can be proud of.

None of this works--at least, not for me. I've tried it for years and years. What's been working, and what I have to pound in my brain actually, really does work, is DOING it. I'd hate to confess here, in public, how many times I've read through a diet book while munching on a bagfull of lime tortilla chips [supply your own salty or sweet vice]. I probably spend way too much time, even now, sitting in front of this computer reading about other people's journeys and successes when I should be getting out and running, or bagging up my fat clothes for Goodwill, or making a grocery list for the new OP recipes I want to try. BTW Roni's butternut fries are near the top of that list!

While the wishing, hoping, thinking, praying, planning, and dreaming are all nice, and are things that are arguably part of making those wishes come true, Nike got it right. Just Do It! Get out and exercise. Go to the gym. Sign up for that 5K. Make new OP recipes. Try new things you've never thought you could do. Turn the corner on old, bad habits. Go to your WW meetings, or whatever support group you prefer. Get rid of your fat clothes as soon as you buy smaller ones.

This is the new me. The new way I live my life. I want to live that life, not just dream and wish and hope. I'm happy.  I am Doing It!  [But is it okay to say I'm hopin' and wishin' and yes, prayin' that my WI on Wednesday will show a weight loss from all the "doing" that has been happening??]



Are YOU doing it?

Re a few questions about the popcorn popper review, it's a Presto PowerPop Microwave Multi-Popper endorsed by Orviile Redenbacher.  It's under $15 at amazon.com  which is where I bought mine.  I think I read, when I bought it almost two years ago, that you could find it other places too (maybe Walmart??)  I don't know if that is still true.  You need to also have "concentrator" papers.  It comes with the first batch which last a while.  I've bought maybe 3 sets of these since we've had it and have 1 1/2 sets left.  Each one is good for 12 batches or so.  Totally worth it because the popcorn is so good and doesn't have any more additives than you choose.