Stuff

So, the scale popped back down 2 of the 2.6 pounds that appeared after Sunday evening. That’s good – it puts me back where I was last Friday, but 3 days is a long time. Which makes me feel like having the treat was okay, but I probably went a little too overboard. Lesson learned – keep it in moderation. I am still thinking I will see some loss this week, so my overall plan is on track.

Last night was a “double header” at the Y – 5 pm water aerobics followed by 6 pm spin class. I had never had either instructor and I was pleased with both. The water aerobics class was the largest I’ve been in- 15 or so folks. And spin was full!

I left water aerobics a few minutes early (I missed maybe half the weight workout and the cool down) so I could grab a quick rinse shower and get upstairs for spin. I need to take some lotion to stick in my locker at the Y – my skin was itchy after the chlorine!

After I got home I ate supper and watched a little tv with the hub. I made sure to pack my gym bag so it was ready this morning. That was smart because I didn’t sleep very well and I was up for an hour in the night. So I slept a little later this morning so I’d be rested.

One thing I am finding is that I’m just not walking in the morning. I guess I’m working pretty hard between the 2 gyms but I miss my walks! I need to get in a couple a week, and I still need to add kettlebells in.

This 6 week session at work ends mid December. After this, there is the possibility they will go to 12 week sessions. Whether the sessions are 6 or 12 weeks, I think I will keep lunch yoga but drop the weights. I feel like I’ve gotten enough strength and stamina back that I could handle a class at the Y. That way I could do either kettlebell or a class if I didn’t feel like kettlebell. Chances are I would do a mix.

Anyway, I do feel like I am making progress – I can see the difference in certain yoga postures and I’ve moved up in weight in the Tone & Sculpt class.

Have a good day!

The down side to working at home and having dinner in the crockpot? Smelling the yummy aroma ALL DAY!!!!

Still Scary

The scale number is still scary. I know intellectually I didn't gain 2.6 pounds in one evening, but it still makes me feel nervous. I dunno - maybe I shouldn't have had popcorn! Frustrating!

Yesterday was yoga at lunch, 30 min Tone & Sculpt followed by 30 min on the elliptical after work, then home for a quick bite to eat then restoraative yofa at the Y. Long day - no sofa time at all!

Lunches are all cooked and packed - ready to be tossed into the lunch box. Tonight's dinner is in the crockpot and the gym bag is near readiness for this evening.

I just keep on keeping on! Nothing too exciting I guess!

Going to go vote soon. Have a good day!

Weekend

The trip to Asheville was lovely and it was great to see friends. I didn't get to the gym Saturday morning - I was tired & slept late. Normally I wake up naturally, so it didn't occur to me to set the alarm on a weekend morning. All I can say is I guess I needed the sleep!

I got ALL my cooking for the week done yesterday! I also made good progress on my bathroom curtains - just some hand stitching on one left to do.

My weight was down a bit more over the weekend. Last night I planned to eat popcorn & have some beer & watch scary movies. I knew I'd see a scary number on the scale as a result (hello, salt!), but I decided that it was worth it to me. I am drinking water like a crazy woman today in an effort to move that salt out of my system!

Today is the new session of classes here at work, so I have Tone & Sculpt this afternoon in addition to yoga at lunch.

My bike shorts came! I was so impressed with how quickly they arrived and they fit! That means I have no excuse not to go to spin tomorrow!

Wow that was a lot of exclamation points in one paragraph.

They boy is being a teenager and making us nutso. Please lord let me survive the teen years.

For lunches this week I have a mexican casserole type thing with black beans and quinoa and corn and tomatoes plus leek and squash soup. I used the greens of the leeks to dehydrate to use in salads etc and the whites I used in the soup. Easy and very good!

This morning I had oatmeal for breakfast. I used cranberries - having forgotten I bought a couple of apples to dice up & put in it. I am such a creature of habit.

Have a good day!

Woot!

First of all, I lost 2.2 pounds this week, bringing my monthly total to 5.4 pounds lost. Yes!

Yesterday, I walked 40 minutes on the treadmill prior to Tone & Fit. Yay exercise!

For all the folks around here who griped about it being nearly 80 at the end of October - we're back to shivering, happy now? It was in the mid 40s this morning. Brr!

I probably have written it every fall since I've had this blog, but I'll repeat it again this year: the seasons are pretty but I really was okay living in Hawaii where there is only 1 season "fabulous!". I dislike both cold and coats - you see my dilemna!

Tomorrow we are riding up to Asheville for the afternoon (a couple of friends are getting awards) and we really want to be there. Hub agreed that we will go AFTER I've gone to the gym. I can't decide if I want to do water aerobics or yoga. Or I could do yoga & then do some cardio on a machine on my own. Hmmm...

Money is a bit tight right now. Hub is working (yay!) but his team just started a new job and the foundations haven't been poured yet. With the rain we had, he isn't working today and didn't work yesterday. He cleaned around the house yesterday and is doing a few things for my mom today. So he's keeping busy, but of course this is unpaid time off, which puts a crimp in the budget.

Despite that, I did order myself a cheap pair of cycling shorts yesterday. My Pearl Izumi's were comfortable 30 pounds ago, but they are horribly uncomfortable now, not to mention I don't want to stretch them out & ruin them. I had a note this morning that they shipped yesterday! This will make spin class MUCH more pleasant. I consider cycling short a must.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

NSV

Yesterday afternoon/evening/into the night saw storm after storm roll through our area, leaving us popping between tornado warnings and watches - oh, and flash flood warnings. There was a lot of standing water on the roads already as I drove home, so I elected to stay put rather than go to water aerobics. I felt weird doing so, but I worked on lining my bathroom curtains.

Hub decided he wanted some milk (which I don't normally keep in the house except for almond milk) and asked if I wanted anything from the convenience store. I waffled a bit - I was feeling restless (probably due to lack of going to the gym) but said no. Go me!

I don't record my weight until Friday, but I've been weighing myself daily and am very pleased with what I am seeing. As of today's number, if I lose 10.2 pounds by the end of the year (just over 9 weeks), I will have undone the 15.6 pounds I gained this year. While I'm mad I gained, I'm glad I'm doing something about it now.

Take care of yourself

This article is well worth sharing. It's from this web site: http://refusetoregain.com/refusetoregain/ and is written by a doctor.

Swallowing the Universe
by Barbara Berkeley

Ever since Jonah was swallowed by the whale, the idea of being ingested remains a terrifying thought. In horror films, aliens gobble people whole. We fear being "swallowed" by the ocean, by storms and by quicksand. Perhaps we have nightmares about our planet being swallowed by a black hole.

We are frightened of being eaten, but we have little fear about what we, ourselves, choose to eat.

Unlike most posts on this site, this is not going to be a diatribe about sugars, starches or calories. Instead, this is a diatribe about safety and why we should be circumspect about the things we choose to swallow.

Aside from breathing, eating is the only act in which we take something from the outside world and make it a complete part of ourself. If you think of it, this is profound. The old saw "you are what you eat" is true in a very real way. The components of the things you ingest become the substance of your body. So too, their toxins...the unexpected hitchikers that accompany foods, drinks and medicines.

As the wife of a gastroenterologist, I can tell you that there is an inordinate amount of food poisoning in our world. Whenever someone gets a GI illness, they say they have the "stomach flu". More likely, they've been poisoned. Think about that: poisoned! While there is the occasional epidemic of Norwalk virus or other gastroenteritis, most of our unexplained bouts of vomiting and diarrhea come from contaminated food. This knowledge has made me think twice about the restaurants I am willing to trust. While it's always a crap shoot, if the chefs are a bunch of 18 year olds in a franchise at a highway exit, you can be sure I'm not stopping.

There has been alot written recently about contaminants that wind up in supplements and medicines. It has always astounded me that otherwise cautious people---people who buckle up when they drive, wear bike helmets, and floss their teeth---think nothing of taking potions they hear about on the internet or peculiar supplements that are not vetted by the FDA. Even vitamins branded with names of doctors, clinics and celebrities. Who is making these supplements and what in the world is in them? Are you really willing to put them directly into your Ferrari of a body?

This week, I saw a new patient who asked me whether she should stop taking her vitamins while dieting. When I asked her what she took, she produced a shopping bag full--literally. There must have been 15-20 different supplements in there, all from manufacturers I'd never heard of. Apart from the question of what these bottles actually contained, there was the larger question of whether healthy people should be taking vitamins at all. No less an authority than the vaunted Cleveland Clinic says no. And I agree. But then again, I'm particularly paranoid about my food sources. I do believe in fish oil, but I'd feel alot better if I knew the Norwegian guy who caught the fish personally.

You can call me crazy, but it only takes so many salmonella and e.coli outbreaks to tell us that we need to look out for ourselves. No one else is going to, at least not until after the fact. Consider the latest example, fines levied against pharmaceutical giant Glaxo for shameful practices in the manufacture of major drugs.

The New York Times reports:
Altogether, GlaxoSmithKline sold 20 drugs with questionable safety that were made at a huge plant in Puerto Rico that for years was rife with contamination. Cheryl Eckard, the company’s quality manager, asserts in her whistle-blower suit that she warned Glaxo of the problems but the company fired her instead of addressing the issues. Among the drugs affected were Avandia, Bactroban, Coreg, Paxil and Tagamet.

The article goes on to specify:
The plant was GlaxoSmithKline’s premier manufacturing facility, producing $5.5 billion of product each year. But Ms. Eckard soon discovered that its quality control systems were a mess: its water system was contaminated; its air system allowed for cross contamination between products; its warehouse was so over-crowded that rented vans were used for storage; it could not ensure the sterility of intravenous drugs for cancer; and pills of differing strengths were sometimes mixed in the same bottles.

Although F.D.A. inspectors had spotted some problems, most were missed. And the company abandoned even the limited fixes it promised to conduct, the unsealed lawsuit says. Ms. Eckard complained repeatedly to senior managers; little was done. She recommended recalls of defective products; recalls were not authorized. In May 2003, she was terminated as a “redundancy.” She complained to top company executives; she was ignored even after warning that she would call the F.D.A.. So she called the F.D.A. and sued. The agency began a criminal investigation and used armed federal marshals in 2005 to seize nearly $2 billion worth of products, the largest such seizure in history. Unable to fix the plant, GlaxoSmithKline shuttered it in 2009.

Who is looking out for you? Only YOU.
Here's what I recommend:

1. Carefully consider your food sources and try to eat in places that you know and trust. Foods that stand out in the open, like salad bars, are risky unless you know they are frequently cleaned and the food kept cold and fresh.

2. Don't eat unknown substances and supplements simply because they have an ad in Shape, Women's Fitness or the National Enquirer.

3. Don't assume that medicines are safe. Take the fewest pills you can. (But DO take meds if you need them!)

Your body is precious. Vet everything that you decide to eat by giving it at least a few moments of consideration. If it's worthy of you and your health, then enjoy. If it's suspect, unknown, or of uncertain value, give it the heave-ho.

Happy “hump” day

Yesterday I spent half my workday enjoying my job, and the other half feeling like I was getting the proverbial shaft. Not a good feeling. I ate Jalepeno Cheetos. Not a good way to deal with stress, but I’m proud of what came next.

I skipped my afternoon snack. I went to Tone & Sculpt & worked hard. I went home and while I made soup I asked the hub to make a big salad, of which I ate a huge bowl and then a smaller bowl of soup. We ate late (for us) – 6:45. I wasn’t hungry for the rest of the evening.

Anyway, one thing I need to remind myself is that I am not the kind of person who can stick to a plan 100% all of the time. Cheetos will happen from time to time. At the end of the day I hadn’t eaten more calories than I planned because I adjusted. I had planned to have a sandwich with the soup, but adjusted and had salad instead. Go me!

Tonight is water aerobics and yoga at lunch.

Like a rubber ball

The scale has been bouncing around like mad since last Friday - luckily it's bounced lower (well, not luckily - I've worked for that!), but still, it reminds me to watch trends and not single data points.

I didn't stay for yoga last night. I went to Spin class at 6, and by that time I was tired and really needed to finish my cooking, so I opted to go home and take care of that. I did soak in a tub and my back is fine now.

I brought my MP3 player in case I want to walk some before class this evening.

I had roasted brussel sprouts from the cafeteria with my lunch yesterday. I'm not a huge fan, but these were so good I asked the manager for the recipe! I'll be making them this weekend.

1200th post

Wow. That's pretty amazing.

Saturday I went to kickboxing because I am insane, Actually, the class itself wasn't too bad - but I did wake up extremely stiff yesterday, so decided not to do kettlebells.

This morning I signed up for the next session of fitness classes here at work - I did yoga at lunch again, and opted for the Mon/Wed Tone & Sculpt. That frees up Tue/Thur for deep water aerobics and/or spin class.

You know the '11' calculation? That is, you need your bodyweight times 11 in calories to maintain your weight. For my goal weight of 130, I would get 1430 per day to maintain that weight. That isn't very much! All the more reason to work on getting the most food & nutrition bang for my caloric buck, as it were.

After a wonderful weekend which I thoroughly enjoyed, I overate last night. Ugh! I know it's only one meal, but still. Grr.

I think tonight I will do spin and then yoga at the Y, and of course today is lunchtime yoga. Double yoga should help my back!

I hope you have a great day!

How lucky is that?

I've thought a couple of times it would be nice to have an extra swimsuit for the pool since I go to water aerobics multiple times a week. But if you've ever shopped for a"sport" swimsuit, you know they are quite expensive.

Anyway, this afternoon my mom was over and she was taking us out to supper. We had a few minutes to kill, so we rode down to Goodwill to poke around. Guess what I found? I brand new (tags still on) Speedo aquatic sport swimsuit in my size. Retail price on the suit $72. Goodwill price $3.50. Sweet!

Freaky Saturday

This morning I got up and was down another 0.8 pounds. Woo hoo! I had a few leftovers (I got up early) then had half a green drink before heading to the gym. I ended up doing kickboxing (which kicked my butt) and yoga. Then I finished my green drink when I got home.

Hub is gone for the day and I took the boy over to his grandmother's to mow the lawn. He's back now but it made for a very quiet, very relaxing afternoon. I had a nap and fell asleep listening to the birds. It was cold this morning but lovely today.

I wish the weather could stay like this until April! :-)

Have a good day!

As always, TGIF!

Well, today I weighed the same as last Friday. Eh, I'm okay with that. I didn't make Tone & Sculpt last night - I called the pediatrician to get the boy scheduled for a flu shot and they asked if I could be there by 4. Now, getting in to a pediatrician is like trying to get an audience with the Pope, so I said yes and bolted.

Last night's dinner was awesome - it was a take-off on a stuffed poblano chile recipe I found online. I'm lazy, so I roasted the chiles (on the grill) and them used them as the top & bottom of a casserole which had homemade mexican rice & beans in the middle. We had refriend beans on the side, served with salsa & guacamole. Yum-o! Mexican is my go to cuisine.

I haven't been getting enough greens and I've been feeling kinda overfull, so today I am having just green drinks for the day. I'm hoping the super infusion of greens and light eating will leave me feeling better. This isn't something I do often, but occasionally I get the urge and I'm left feeling better.

Not much in store for the weekend - I need to get my living room valences hung since soon it will be really cold and I'll want to be hanging curtains. Of course, that means I need to actually sew them! That was the one project from the house re-do that never got completed. My other project is to line the bathroom curtains. They are vintage and I don't want them to fade, and that room gets loads of very direct sunlight.

Yoga is late Saturday morning, I'm trying to decide whether I want to go to water aerobics or kickboxing beforehand. I'm leaning to water aerobics because I want to do Tracy's kettlebell workout Sunday.

Ah, the thrilling life of a jetsetter!

Mornings are definitely colder - it's 8 am and 38 degrees. The heat still isn't on and I have our bedroom windows and a couple of windows in the living room open. I wish I could have the windows open year round!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Decisions, decisions

I can hardly believe it, but next week is the last week of the 6-week fitness classes I signed up for here at work. Monday is sign-up for the next session, which starts immediately after this one. I am definitely going to do the Mon/ Wed lunchtime yoga. The Tone & Sculpt is being offered at 4:30 on Mon/ Wed or Tue/Thur. I am currently doing the T/Th which allows me to go to shallow water aerobics Monday followed (after a long break) by yoga and then the deep water aerobics with Jane at 6:15 on Wed. I like Jane’s class a lot, but I don’t like the Monday class, and the break between water aerobics and yoga is long.

Also, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Y they offer a deep water aerobics class at 5:10 (I don’t know who teaches) AND a 6:00 spin class. In talking it through with hub, even though I’m not totally thrilled with doing both work classes on the same day (but it does have the plus of not having to bring in my gym bag so often!), I think I’m going that route simply because I have more options at the Y on Tue/ Thur and I can still get home on Monday in time to eat and have a break and then go to yoga.

The scale was back down to last Friday’s weight today. I made some good choices and some not so great choices this past weekend, and the result is that I’ll likely finish up this week where I was last week. I wouldn’t mind so much if I were farther along results-wise. Luckily, we don’t have anything similar coming up between now & Thanksgiving, so I have time to (hopefully) make up for the “lost week”. Ugh. Done can’t be undone – moving on now.

I am very happy that last night I told my husband I didn’t want to go to water aerobics and he told me I needed to and then I did! No excuses – just went. I keep telling myself “This is my life now.”

Last week I ate too big of a snack prior to class and felt a little pukey. This week I ate too small a snack and was starving! I called hub and told him to heat up some of the soup because I was so hungry! I had a bowl of soup & a small piece of leftover lasagna when I got home and it was wonderful.

I can’t decide if Saturday I want to do shallow water aerobics or kickboxing prior to yoga at 9:45.

Oh the frustration!

So, last week after working hard and eating well I lost 2 pounds. After a weekend spent on the road - making reasonable choices but eating out a lot, I'd gained 2 pounds. (Some water - my fingers were seriously swollen, but still). So frustrating.

That weight STILL hasn't come off. Big picture, I'm not freaking out. I don't go out of town regularly, nor do we eat out often.

The really frustrating part is that my knee is really hurting. It was stiff from the car ride, then I did something in water aerobics Monday, and it's still hurting. I really wanted to go to Tone & Sculpt, but it was hurting enough that I decided to stay off it. We do squats & lunges & I was afraid that would be too much - those are the movements that hurt.

Can I tell you how nerve wracking it was to decide not to work out? I felt like I'd never lose weight if I didn't go to the gym. Not a good feeling - forcing myself to exercise when something is hurting is not smart. (And I know the difference between hurt and sore.) I have yoga and water aerobics today, and I'm going to do both. Yoga will be fine, and I can be careful in aerobics.

Breakfast this morning was a vegan bean burrito, lunch is lentil burgers & a green salad & some beet salad, dinner is vegetable soup (I love my crockpot) and a salad.

I'm back!

The family and I had a great weekend in Maryland. We visited friends, the hub ate blue crabs, and the weather was awesome!

Last week I lost 1.8 pounds. I probably re-gained a bit over the weekend, I tried to make good choices, but it's hard when you are eating out so much. But he had a great time and that's what it was all about.

Spnding so much time in a (small) car meant my knee was sore Monday. Then I went to water aerobics and I think I may have done something because it hurt - a lot. I stayed home from yoga last night. This afternoon is tone & sculpt. I'll le tthe teacher know it's bothering me and do as much as I can. We'll see how it goes.

For lunch this week I made some yummy lentil burgers. I'm having them with a bit of sauce along side a spinach salad. I also made a marinated shredded carrot & beet salad that's yummy.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal - my fall back plan.

Hope you have a good day!

Keeping it real

My dogs all have theme songs:

Bess: "Tiny Girl" sung to "Barbie Girl" (spoiled little chihuahua!)

Jordan: "Cute Stuff" sung to "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer. I always loved Donna Summer.

Butch: Actually has two, as "Butchieman" may be sung to either "Spiderman" or "Candyman" from the original Willy Wonka movie, depending on which aspect of his personailty is being conveyed. Considering how much I hated that movie, I'm amazed I remember that song!

Maya: "Sweet Maya Girl" sung to "Sweet Caroline". I know, Neil Diamond, but she is so sweet and loving that she deserves a theme song as sweet as she is.

Last night I got home from water aerobics and I was so tired I had 1 Reece's peanut butter cup and a beer for dinner. I hope I don't get scurvy or rickets or anything. Le sigh.

Last night was deep water, which thoroughly kicked my butt. Good lord it was hard!!!

I was hungry all day. I mostly made good choices, but really too much beans & not enough vegetables. Must eat more vegetables!!!

Too pooped to pop!

Last week I did 25 minutes on the treadmill prior to Tone & Sculpt. I was tired but it was a good workout. Yesterday I did 35 minutes on the elliptical and when I got to class I felt like I hit a brick wall. There were a couple of points where I really wanted to do what she was saying, but there was just no way. Clearly, that was too much to do before class. So I need to ease back, or do that at another time. Hmmm.

I was so tired last night. I fixed & ate supper, took a soak in the tub, and sat on the sofa, exuding crankiness. This morning I absolutely did NOT want to get out of bed!

Yesterday I ended up buying an afternoon snack because I was very hungry. I realized that breakfast was about 250 calories, and lunch was the same. Not enough food for me to be satisfied. I ate an extra 200 calories in the snack. This morning I brought the same food, but I also bought a burrito in the cafeteria - veggies, no oil. It did have an egg and the wrap, both are things I'm trying to avoid. Given that I'm doing an hour each of yoga and water aerobics today, I'm not too worried about the calories - I just feel like I could've added a more nutritious choice.

Next week I definitely need to plan, but also have a back-up plan if I need to adjust. As I've said before, it is a realy challenge at times to make a healthy choice (by my standards) in the cafeteria.

Good things come in threes

First of all, about last night. Yesterday was lunchtime yoga at work. After work I met the hub at Lowe’s to pick out a new dishwasher (you have no idea how happy this makes me!). After that I realized I didn’t have time to make and eat dinner if I wanted to make water aerobics. So I put dinner in the oven for the guys, I ate some leftovers, and then headed off to the Y.

Water aerobics was okay – not as good as Saturday’s IMO. It was a different teacher, and it didn’t seem as intense. After that I had nearly 40 minutes until yoga (we finished a little early). I sat in the hot tub, took a shower, sat in the sauna. It was really nice, but it did feel like a lot of down time. However, the Restorative Yoga class was worth the wait. I thought it was an excellent class. It was taught by the same lady that taught Saturday, and I have to say I like her much better than the lady who yoga teaches at work. Work lady is okay – she just doesn’t come across as inspired or inspiring to me. But it’s solid yoga, so I’m glad to be taking it.

It was 8:45 by the time I got home from the gym. I ate a sweet potato and went to bed! Needless to say, I slept like a log! I didn’t get up & walk this morning – I was too wiped out. But I’m okay with that. Getting plenty of rest is important to. Which brings me to my title.

IMO, there are three components to good health & fitness: nutrition, exercise, and rest & recovery. If I had to rank order them (which I know isn’t really fair since they are all critical) I’d put nutrition first, then rest, then exercise. I read a quote once “You can’t out train poor nutrition.” With that in mind, I am making myself make the time to not just plan my meals, but prepare them! This weekend I had planned a lunch for myself that, frankly, came out yucky. (I pitched it). I bought lunch yesterday (veggie burger & a salad) and got up this morning to make lunches for the remainder of the week. I could have been walking, but I felt having lunches made was more important.

Second: rest & recovery. Sunday night at 2 am the neighbor’s dogs started barking. Amazingly enough, he actually let them in after a mere 45 minutes of them barking. Our bedroom windows are open and his yard is at that end of the house, so it was like having 4 dogs barking right under your open window. Needless to say, we were awake for an hour or so in the middle of the night. Monday my alarm was set to get up & walk at 5, but I turned it off. I realize that NOT exercising – skipping exercise – seems counterproductive. But in that instance, I was exhausted and needed the sleep more than I needed the walk. Making sure my body gets enough rest is imperative.

Third is exercise, which I also view as having three components: cardio, strength, and flexibility & balance. I am addressing the third through yoga, and the older I get, the more important that component seems to be. In the past I haven’t stuck with yoga for a couple of reasons: 1) it doesn’t come naturally and who enjoys practicing something they aren’t good at? And 2) it seemed like a waste of time since I wasn't burning massive amounts of calories. Time spent on yoga could be spent on the elliptical! This time around, I am treating yoga with equal importance. I have Monday & Wednesday at lunchtime at work, Monday night Restorative Yoga at the Y, and every other Saturday after water aerobics. On the alternate Saturdays it competes with water aerobics – I may try that one sometimes but 3 times seems like a good amount.

For strength I have the 30 minute Tone & Sculpt on Tuesday & Thursday at work. This Friday I am trying the kettlebell class at the Y – this is normally during my work hours, but I’m taking Friday off. I need to do kettlebells on my own at least once per week – twice would be ideal. But I have my 2 days guaranteed with the class.

Cardio is where I’m on shakiest ground! Tone & Sculpt also has some cardio component, and I am going down to do 30 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment before class on days when my schedule permits. I like the Saturday AM water aerobics, but there will be times (like this upcoming weekend) when I’m out of town. Monday night was okay, but not a great workout. I have heard good stuff about Wednesday’s deep water class and am looking forward to trying that tomorrow. I think that will be a definite part of my week.

I don’t know how long the water aerobics (except Wednesday) will stay on the schedule. I like the fact that I can do that AND yoga and have energy for both – not to mention get them done in a single trip to the gym. And I like the fact that I’m in my swimsuit which encourages me to use the sauna etc., which I really enjoy. So we’ll see. Wednesday water aerobics and cardio equipment as I can.

I’d like to fit in a spin class, but not sure about that one. And I plan to continue to walk in the morning, but I view that as more for my mental well being than exercise per se, so if I need to rest then rest it is. I can tell the difference between being lazy & being tired! Hee hee

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned the fourth quarter challenge being run by the on- site nutritionist: “Maintain Don’t Gain”. You weigh & get your measurements taken, then participate in various classes & healthy activities (you earn points per each one). You need to earn at least 6 points. Then you get weighed & measured again at the end of January. I weighed & got measured last week. This is just an extra bit of incentive to keep on the path!

Right now I’m feeling very good. I told my husband that for now (at least) I intended to treat health & fitness as my primary hobby: I intend to learn about it, practice it, and try out new variations. Outside of work, that’s my thing. If it means we don’t eat together as a family Monday & Wednesday then that has to be okay. We still sit down & eat together most other nights. I think my son seeing his parents being active & trying to get fit is probably even more important than those 2 nights of eating together.

Easier than I thought

This weekend I tried somethng really radical and daring: I went to back to back classes at the Y. Granted, these were not the toughest of classes - I did AquaFit (aka water aerobics) then had time for a sit in the sauna and nice shower before going to yoga. It was great!

A girl in AquaFit recommended the Wednesday deep water class, and a lady in yoga recommended the Monday "Restorative yoga" class (which I've been wanting to try). It meant I spent all Saturday morning at the gym, but that was okay by me. Yeah, I didn't get all my chores around the house done this weekend, but oh well.

I am really enjoying yoga a lot. I get a little impatient at times, but I just keep trying to focus on the moment and the pose we're doing. This is something that I don't quite view as "exercise" in the sense of burning calories, but I view it as important.

To me, fitness has 3 components: strength, endurance, and flexibility/balance. So if my workouts comtain a combination of cardio, weights, and some flexibility training, I will improve more than if I just focus on one or two components. Especially as I get older, I think that the flexibility is increasingly important. And yoga is relaxing. I think in the past it's been hard for me to justify time spent doing yoga since it doesn't burn a lot of calories.

So, meals this week: breakfast is quinoa and pintos, lunch is an asian flavored cabbage & noodle salad, I'm bringing 2 prunes with peanut butter for the afternoon. Dinners are varied.

The weekend was very nice. I didn't get accomplished everything I wanted to, but I think I simply had too much on my list. Gee, that seems to happen on a regular basis! :-O

Weather here was lovely, maybe a tad warm yesterday (air conditioner is OFF), but really good. Our windows are open as long as possible. Once they get closed and the curtains are shut, it feels like a long time till spring!

Have a good day!

Rawr!

A co-worker and I agreed to start going to the fitness center a half hour or so before Tone & Sculpt to use the cardiio equuipment before class. Yesterday afternoon we got in a 25 minute workout - I used the treadmill (someone was on the elliptical - curses!) and S used the treadmill and then the bike (she has bone spurs in her heels, so could only do the treadmill for a bit). I didn't kill myself but I pushed it pretty good.

Class was the hardest we've done so far! it was total body and very intense - lots of compound movements. I had sweat dripping off my nose and onto the dumbbells. Yes!

After class S looked at me and said "Aren't you glad we came down & did cardio first?" We were both toast, but I felt great.

Scale was down 1.5 pounds this week. Best of all, I'd forgotten just how fantastic I feel after a really great workout.

What’s working, what’s not

Food is going pretty well. This week for breakfast I’ve been doing oatmeal – this makes a great plan “B” since they sell a 12 oz. bowl of plain oatmeal (add your own toppings – I bring mine from home) for 85 cents in our cafeteria. But I’m not that wild about oatmeal, so I don’t want to get burned out while it’s barely fall! Next week I was thinking bean burrito, but I’ve decided to do a bowl of pintos & quinoa with salsa or pico. Better grain than a tortilla, and with some real staying power.

Lunches this week have been a version of VeganEpicurian’s “deconstructed sushi salad”. It’s good, but I think I strayed too far from the basic recipe for it to be great. The way I made it, it’s essentially a marinated raw vegetable salad. The up side is you can eat a lot! With yoga at lunchtime, I’ve been doing lunch in 2 parts, a small portion prior and the rest after. It’s been working okay. And with Tone & Sculpt after work 2 days a week, I’ve been doing an afternoon snack to keep me going.

So, food is going well, but I decided to add back in an afternoon snack. I tried eliminating snacking altogether, but I have such a long break between lunch and dinner that it wasn’t working for me.

I’m using FitDay to help me figure out the calories in what I’m eating. I need to be more diligent about this, but I am making an effort.

Evening snacking still happens at times, I’ve been trying to eat less/better. I don’t make optimal choices 100% of the time, but I’m improving. The nice thing is that exercise helps me feel better helps decrease my desire to eat too much junk in the evenings.

Exercise is going very well. I have a new pair of New Balance walking shoes and I’m walking in the mornings, doing yoga twice a week, and Tone & Sculpt twice a week. That’s my minimum.

This weekend I plan to finish my living room valences and do a bit of tidying up. Other than that, just the usual shopping & cooking.

There is a water aerobics class Saturday morning at 8:15 I want to check out. I’m hoping hub will get up and go with me to the gym (I know he won’t do water aerobics!)

Anyway, that’s about it. Fall is definitely here – I’m wearing a jacket for my morning walks.

Have a great day!

Wednesday

Tone & Sculpt was good last night. I used heavier weights and I need to go up another notch. Glad I still have some strength!

We closed on our home re-fi last night. Yay! Four years off the mortgage with the stroke of a pen (several actually).

Off for a quick walk break!

The answer to life, the universe, everything!

My husband turned 42 yesterday. ;-)

He had a good day - he's happy to be working local again, which was probably the best birthday gift of all. Next weekend we are headed up north to celebrate and visit with friends - first to Springfield Va then to Laurel Md. (Not this coming weekend - the weekend of the 16th).

The weather is cooling off and soup is turning up on the menu for often. Yum!

After a ringing endorsement from my walking buddy, I tried a pair of the Sketchers toning shoes. Hated them! She said it took a while to get used to them, but since I consider my morning walks to be more for relaxation and meditation than exercise, I'll be sticking with my old fashioned New Balance. :-)

I picked up a stretchy yoga band at Target - that's the kind the teacher has and I tried hers and really liked it. This evening is tone & sculpt. Woo hoo!

This weekend I am skipping my medieval plans to putter around the house and to try a couple of new workout videos I haven't used yet. I feel badly on the one hand, but I feel like I need some quiet time, so why make myself feel guilty for doing what I want????

The least flexible person in the world

At my request, yoga teacher walked around & checked form, which was very helpful. Class was VERY hard - I needed the belt & blocks very often.

Need more yoga practice!

Monday? Already??

Mom and I had a nice time at the beach. It was a very quick trup - we drove down Saturday morning and got there about lunch, then left Sunday after breakfast. We did have time to look at some townhouses for her, take a long walk on the beach, and poke around in a couple of antique stores.

I am feeling stressed again at work, which all too often translates to poor choices Sunday afternoon/evening. I need to think of a way to keep me occupied and/or out of the house. There is a 2 pm spin class every other Sunday afternoon at the gym - maybe I should start going to that?

Hmm

I'm back at a place where I'm frustrated with my work. I've posted for a couple of jobs in other departments, but no offers yet. I've been in my current dept a while and it's time for change. I would prefer not to switch companies - benefits (which are nice, especially after over a decade there) aside, it's a good company and I'm happy there.

Anyway, it's left me feeling frustrated.

Today I am getting my groceries bought and picking up around the house because tomorrow I am getting up and heading to the beach for a quick all expenses paid overnight trip, courtesy of my mom! Just the 2 of us - boys are staying at home! :-)

Walking was lovely this morning. I finished watching Tracy's kettlebell dvd - I thought it was very good and will be very useful. I'm glad I bought it.

Went shopping (I had a 30% off a Kohl's coupon) - I got a new pair of walking shoes (needed!), bedroom slippers and a wallet (not needed as badly) and some new tops for fall (needed - old stuff is getting old). Thankfully nothing has sequins, sparkles, or designs reminiscent of cat puke. I call that a victory.

Going back Monday to pick up some more stuff for the boy (he needs jeans) and a pair of sneakers for MIL, if she can find a pair she likes. My coupon is still good plus I have $20 in "Kohl's cash", so mom is getting her shoes for her b-day gift. Being diabetic, she needs to have a good pair.

Other than that, not too much going on around here. I like my body sculpt class and yoga was okay - she didn't go around & check form, and it's been a while since I've done yoga so I wasn't confident I was doing stuff correctly. I am going to ask her to please check my form during the next class. She's an okay instructor - I've had better, but she's not bad and the convenience of at work is hard to beat.

I hope you have a great weekend!

What would you have done?

Yesterday my boss asked that we clear our calendars for a planning session & that he'd be ordering in lunch from Salsarita's (a mexican "build your own" bar type deal). having gotten my food planning, prepping, & portioning to a good place, I really didn't want to go there.

I told him I'd been eating more vegan recently (true) and asked if he'd mind if I brought my lunch. He said not at all, so I'm taking my lunch with me. I'll probably grab some guacamole for my carrot sticks, but that's it. I have a really good lunch (my pita) so I don't think I'll feel sorry I can't have mexican.

The office - a dieter's peril!

Happiness is....

opening your jean drawer to put away a baseball cap and finding 2 pair of jeans you forgot you bought, and they fit! ;-)

Just a bunch of stuff

I went to my Tone & Sculpt class at the work gym last night (it’s more like a mini-me gym wannabe, but it has enough room for (small) classes, a few weights and a dvd player, and 1 each recumbent bike, treadmill, and elliptical). I thought the class was pretty good.

Plusses:
It’s 30 minutes, enough to get a decent workout without getting bored
It’s at work. Hello, convenience!

Minuses:
Co-workers seeing you looking chubby in workout clothes.
I chose too light weights last night, so not too much of a workout, but I can fix this next time.

All in all, I’m glad I signed up! Today I have my first yoga class. I’ll report back!

I’ve watched an hour of Tracy Reifkind’s dvd. It’s not a “workout dvd” per se, it’s more of a seminar to teach instructors how to design workouts, drive progress, etc. for their clients. It’s useful, but it’s a “sit down and watch and make notes” v. “follow along at home”, which leaves my son wondering whether I consider watching people exercise as exercise. (15 year olds say lots of smackable things!) The main disc is 1.5 hours long, with another discussion disc that’s 45 minutes. I’ve learned a lot of stuff so far.

We were able to turn off the air and open the house up this past weekend. It has contributed to my sleeping like a log! I got up a little before 5 this morning to get my walk in and get my lunch box packed. I wanted to leave early since I needed to get 2 dogs to the vet (Butch is having his sutures out and I wanted the vet to check a cyst looking thing on Jordan’s eyelid). The mornings are very pleasant, and luckily I got my walk in before it started raining because it was really raining hard! Juggling 2 dog leashes and an umbrella is pretty comical.

I’ve been doing a smoothie (frozen banana, 1/3 mango, green powder and spinach) and a mini bagel with lox for breakfast. This morning I didn’t have time to sit down & eat (plus it was very early) so I had my smoothie then had oatmeal when I got to work.

Lunches this week are pitas. I found some oat bran & flax pitas that are 60 calories each. They’re pretty thin, but they hold up fairly well. I’ve been stuffing them with hummus, 4 olives, banana peppers, cucumber, and tomato. Also brought a very small cup of vegetable soup yesterday & today since it’s been a bit chilly in the office. It takes a while to get everything packed up, but I’ve just decided to take whatever time I need to get ready instead of rushing like a crazy person. It’s much less stressful.

Yoga is from 12-1. I usually eat at 11:30. I don’t want to eat my whole lunch before doing downward dog, so I have to experiment with eating part of it and finishing it after class. I’ll either have the soup or half a pita. No big deal, just something I need to get used to. I eat breakfast early, so I’ve been eating lunch at 11:30 for the last decade or so!

Hopefully this is hub’s last week working out of town! It’s been tough, I’m glad the end is in sight!

What do you think?

Last night I was watching “Thintervention” with Jackie Warner. I had never watched it before, but hub and I came across it while channel surfing and I was curious. I had watched a few episodes of her previous show. Based on the eyes wide apart “horsey” look she has going on in the face, I suspect she’s been using steroids (that’s a side effect).

ANYWAY. That’s not the point here. They were having the therapy session at the end of the show and Jackie talked about overweight people using food as a form of self punishment. How we talk negatively to ourselves and hurt ourselves with food.

I’m not sure I agree. Most emotional overeaters do so to comfort themselves – to make ourselves feel better. Does overeating have negative consequences? Yes, but they aren’t generally immediate. If you overeat when you’re young, your body can cope with a lot. As you get older you may gain weight, but other side effects may not show up till middle age (high cholesterol and blood pressure). Sure these things show up earlier in some folks, but as a general rule the gratification is immediate and the down side seems far off in the future.

Do I dunno. Do we overeat because we love ourselves or hate ourselves? Or both? Or neither?

My triumphant return!

I had a wonderful time on vacation. I didn’t use an alarm clock, I took afternoon naps as needed, and at the end of it all I had what feels like a brand new, larger, space.

I painted the hall, entryway, living room, and dining room. Everything is a neutral light khaki (think of sand) except under the chair rail in the dining room is aqua. Since the new slipcovers (yes, I did that too) are a neutral color (they were made from painter’s tarps from Lowe’s. Hey, they’re inexpensive and can stand up to dogs) I painted the bookshelves in the living room the same aqua. It matches my new lamps I bought when we got the sofas right before Pennsic.

I re-arranged artwork and framed some prints I had and hung them as well. Oh, and I steam cleaned my carpets.

Hub liked it too, so I am glad. I can’t get over how much airier it all feels. Well worth the effort.

I didn't get to the gym as planned, but honestly I was exhausted from all the physical work I was doing.

Nice to be back to work and back to a routine. I have yummy food planned for the week, heavy on the raw veg. And the 2 classes I signed up for here at work (yoga and tone & sculpt) starrted last week, so I'll let you know how they are once I've been.

Happy Friday!

Woo hoo!!! I made it to the end of the week!!!! It's been one of THOSE weeks, where you fantasize about stabbing people with a fork, you know? (If you don't, then I guess that means I'm farther gone that i thought...)

Anyway, other than 1 meeting next week (yeah, ugh) I am free!!!! Weather looks to be good - a tad bit too warm to have the house open full time, but cool enough that I can open it up some to let the paint smell out.

I doubt I'll be posting much, but I'll try to check in.

Have a great weekend!

Quick

Butchie's surgery went fine - he had a couple of fibroids that were bothering him, so we had them removed. They were just fat deposits, but he was really scratching at them.

I was so tired last night. I took the boy & a friend to a field hockey game at the school, then picked him up later. I was in bed at 9 and decided to sleep in this morning. I woke up at 6:30! Clearly I needed to catch up on some sleep!

My weight is steady at 10 pounds less than last year and 15 pounds higher than the beginning of this year.

Here's what I find aggrivating - I went to the cafeteria and bought a veggie wrap - no meat, and it was nearly $6. But a hurger would've been $2. How crazy is that?

Plans have changed some this week with the boy and my dinner plans have been tossed out the window. I hope next week is a bit more organized. Ah, life with a teenager.

Luckily I have healthy leftovers for myself. Thank you crock pot!

Did I mention I finally purchased a pressure cooker? I've been wanting one for a while and I got a great deal on one. I am looking forward to trying it out!

Am I serious?

Sometimes I wonder if I really want to lose weight. As miserable as being overweight makes me, you’d think this would be a no brainer. And yet I go along, making foolish choices. Why did I buy sweet knots when I stopped in at the product stand yesterday? Cause I ate them after dinner – with a beer. Sigh.

I want to lose weight, but clearly I don’t seem able/ready to do the hard work to change my behavior in a permanent way that is required for that to happen.

That said, I watched a really great documentary last night called “Spirit of the Marathon” – so much so that I purchased the book, which was a follow-up book to “First Marathons”, which I also purchased. So much for my “don’t spend money” resolution for the month (Butchie is in surgery this morning, plus of course we’re still paying off serious amounts of car repair).

I keep looking for the thing that will inspire permanent change, rather than a never ending series of temporary changes.

TBTB (too busy to blog)

Don't worry, I'm doing okay. ;-) If there's anyone still reading, that is!

Work is busy, hub is still working out of town. I'm getting by, thanks to my crockpot! I am walking some, but the gym ... not so much.

Recently a small "fitness facility" opened here at work. There's not much in it yet - a few bands & dumb bells & a place to show a video. On the other side is a space for classes. I have signed up for lunchtime yoga and late afternoon tone & sculpt. Yoga is an hour & the tone/sculpt is 30 minutes. I'm here, so there's no excuse not to go. Well, except they start next week and I'll be on vacation!!! But, other than that! Seriously, I'm glad I signed up. It's nothing huge, but it's a start and something I can do consistently without a lot of extra effort - which seems to be lacking these days!

My plan is to take next week off and paint & make that seconds slipcover, maybe to a bit of re-arranging furniture. I am very much looking forward to it.

We went to Ga this past weekend (14 hours in a car is a lot!) to visit my great aunt. I really wish we could move her out of where she is & back to the place she liked where she was before & can't afford any more. Sigh. My mom is looking into the price difference to see what we can do. The place she is just kinda sucks....

Well, that's all I got for now. Just wanted to let folks know I'm doing okay, and my absence doesn't mean I fell into a vat of cheese dip! ;-)

More argh.

This has been a difficult week, no 2 ways about it. Not in a "my child is ill" or "my house burned down" way - no, difficult in that "nibbled to death by cats" kind of way.

HOWEVER.

I have walked in the morning, and I have followed my eating plan. Hopefully by the end of day today I will have ordered a replacement SS card and we'll have some news on getting the minivan fixed besides "We can't get it to make the noise."

Argh.

Car stress continues. Hub called the Kia dealer and I am meeting him at the halfway point (he’s working and hour & a half from home) so we can swap cars so I can drop his at the dealer. I hope I get it back quickly because 1) my son’s car isn’t my favorite (Jeep) and 2) I need to get the registration on my car renewed. OTOH, after dropping this car off 4 or 5 times and spending a fortune, I want the thing fixed already!!!!

Food yesterday was good. I walked 30 minutes at lunch. I wanted to go to the gym after work but had to drop my car off to get inspected & take care of a couple of errands. So that didn’t happen. Hopefully I can meet hub, drop the car, get a ride home, get something to eat, and have time to get to the 7:15 body sculpt class at the gym. If not I’ll just swing my kettlebell or walk in the neighborhood and call it good. They will be having the class again Thursday.

After talking to the manager at Merchants Tire, I understand the confusion around getting my car’s alignment fixed. The upshot is it’s gonna cost $200, so I think we’ll wait to pay for that next month since we already spent a bazilliondy dollars this month on car repairs.

I am stressed by a lot of things, both big and little. Big: car repairs and trying to get this home re-fi done (I pretend it’s a scavenger hunt!) and little: Why can my MIL clean what I want her to when she comes over to clean? I mean, she isn’t doing this out of the goodness of her heart, I’m paying her, so why can’t she follow instructions!?!?!? Some days I regret offering to let her clean, but if we hadn’t how on earth would she have worked off any portion of the $800+ we spent getting her car fixed???

Something that might help!

Great post today over at http://yawwblog.blogspot.com/ about a virtual weight loss meeting. I love the concept. Lately, I've been overwhelmed by taking take of everything alone all week while hub is out of town and having to deal with everything from car troubles to the boy wanting me to drop all my plans so he can hang out with the new girlfriend.

I've felt overwhelmed at the thought of trying this (again) for the 4 billionth time - getting aroutine going seems like Mt. Everest right now. Maybe participating will help!

Here's my answers to the questions she posted (some, I felt exactly the same!):

1. What is going well for you right now? I haven’t decided that losing weight is impossible – I haven’t thrown in the towel!

2. Where do you need to improve? Evening snacking, getting to the gym.

3. What new recipe do you want to try this week? None – right now I’m focused on cooking healthy but easy & familiar recipes so I have time to go to the gym.

4. What was your favorite new food find or recipe from last week? I made a simple moo shu pork recipe that involved a bag of cabbage mix. Simple!

5. What is your general weight trend right now? Unfortunately, up.

6. How do you feel about your weight loss efforts? Frustrated, stuck, and overwhelmed
7. What is your weight loss goal for next week? To lose a pound.
8. What two weight-loss behavior goals do you plan to give 100% to this week? Sticking to my pre-planned food and going to the gym.

9. What do you fear most about trying to get group support? People making light about the stuff I am finding difficult right now.

10. What can other people give you that would be truly helpful? A sense that I'm not going it alone

Why I remain overweight

Because food is an effective way of dealing with stress!

Sure, it’s not the healthiest way. And people say “It’s only temporary.” Yeah, well, stress always comes back, whether you deal with it via meditation or nachos!

Hub is working out of town until October 5, son just started back to school. We’ve spent roughly $1400 over the past 3 months at 1 shop plus the dealership in an effort to get the minivan’s brakes fixed. We thought they were done after a visit last weekend to the dealer, but this past Sunday they made “the noise” again. I cried. I mean, I don’t know what to do at this point. Spending over $500 a month getting the brakes fixed over and over doesn’t seem like a logical choice.

Hub needs something to carry his tools for work, and we need something that will haul the trailer. He found a truck that would work for about $1000 more than we could sell the van for. It’s a 1994 (10 years older) and has 77K miles, which is a lot less. An older guy who worked for the dealership bought it new & didn’t drive it much. Which means it could be in great shape or have problems. I don’t know what to do.

When it mde “the noise”, we were going to Merchant’s to get my car picked up. I have an alignment package where I’ve paid an up front cost for alignments. Only when I went to pick up the car he said they couldn’t align the back b/c the parts weren’t available & I should call the dealer. The dealer seemed confused and said the parts weren’t Nissan and they would have thought Merchant’s could have been able to get them. So roughly $100 - $175 at the dealer to get the back aligned when I’ve paid Merchant’s for alignments.

I’m kinda tired of money going at a speed double at which we earn it. Which is maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure feels that way some days. Cars are such a pain in the ass. They are huge money pits and it just seems to never end.

Bleh.

It's the time of year when I feel "bleh". It's coming back from vacation, son starting back to school, getting back into the swing of things at work, etc. It all adds up to a serious lack of motivation and a strong desire to sit on my butt reading a book.

Got up & walked in the neighborhood, packed a healthy lunch, & have a yummy & healthy dinner scheduled for tonight. Just keep moving, right?

Remember those goals?

A few posts and a few weeks ago, I posted 4 goals for myself. I read over them yesterday.

1. Better job of planning & preparing food/not relying on Slim-Fast or the cafeteria. Busted! I had S-F on the grocery list. I took it off, and am hitting the farmer’s market on the way home today to get veggies I can pre-chop for salads. Breakfast will be my green drink and pb toast.

2. Exercising more faithfully. Yes. Yay! I walked at Pennsic, and have kept it up here at home. I printed out all the schedules of classes at the Y for the month and told the boy I’d be going next week. He wants to come along. Also, I ordered hub a book on bodyweight exercises so he could get in some exercise while out of town. Good start!

3. Working on things I enjoy. I have scheduled a week off work next month so I can paint my living & dining rooms, hallway, and entrance. And make new valences. Also, I have scheduled in a weekend to make a slip cover for the new sectional sofa. It’s a start!

4. Thinking of myself as healthy. I think this will be a work in progress. But being down about 3 pounds from my pre-vacation weight is helping. And I think regular exercise will be positive reinforcement. As of today, I weigh 182.2. An improvement!

Next week hub has asked for mexican casserole to take out of town with him. That's a nutritious meal that he loves. I am doing 2 meals for myself & the boy, which we can eat twice. This keeps my cooking to a reasonable level. I am planning spagetti and moo shu pork (lots of vegetables, little meat).

There is still loads of unpacking to do, but the laundry is almost done. MIL came over yesterday and really helped out.

Have a great weekend!

Misc.

Vacation was nice. Hot, but nice.

I’m caught up on emails at work. Not quite on all my tasks, but getting there as well. Should be up to date by the end of the week.

Monday hub called from work to let me know he would be working about an hour and half from home for the next couple of months. They wanted him to start at the new job site yesterday, but he had a dental appt and needed 2 new tires on his car, so he headed out this morning. We have a friend who is about half an hour from the job, so he’ll be staying with Todd during the week and coming home on the weekends. This sucks, but we’ve done it before. We’re both happy that he has a job and grateful he has a free place to stay with a kitchen so he won’t have to be eating out all the time or driving 3 hours a day!

When we got home, MIL’s car was making a funny noise, so Monday hub loaned her my car and we took hers to the shop yesterday. Total cost was over $800, but everything including the A/C and window are now fixed. We sat down with her and worked out a plan: currently she cleans for us twice a month. We’ll pay her for the second cleaning this month then she won’t get anything for the next four months in order to repay my mom (funny, she seemed to have forgotten she’d borrowed $400 from my mom). After that we’ll pay her for every other cleaning for all of next year. That will cover most of the expense of the repairs.

She doesn’t make a lot in social security so I know she can’t pay us out of that. Having her clean for us seemed a good way to help her cover some of this unexpected stuff, I just didn’t expect to “loan” her so much up front. Oh well. That seemed like the most fair plan. If we could just foot the bill we would, but honestly we’ve put a lot of $$ into plumbing and hub’s car lately, and with his job situation still a bit tenuous, we just can’t.

I am doing something I feel weird about: I am using Slim-Fast. Yeah, I know, not the healthiest. I have just gotten so overwhelmed with everything that major cooking on the weekends feels like too much. I am doing a low-cal green shake in the AM (banana, greens, green powder) and also eating a raw veg salad with lunch. This is far from an ideal way to eat, but until I get everything washed up and put away from vacation (the sheer logistics of which would shock someone who’s never done this. I currently have 8 large Rubbermaid tubs in my garage and a 50 gal trach can full of laundry that all need to be dealt with), it’s a way for me to control my calories and not just eat out all the time.

I hate that hub won’t be able to go to the gym with me. :-( But I am walking in the mornings and I’ll be starting back next week. The boy starts back to school next Wednesday. I can’t believe how summer always flies by!

I'm back!!!

It was hot, but we had a great time. We are slowly unpacking. I missed the dogs. I walked every other morning with one of the folks in our camp at 7 for about an hour - it was lovely.

I remain convinced it's very difficult to eat healthfully while primitive camping, but I did my best.

I got up at 5 and walked for 45 minutes. I was sweating like crazy (the humidity was unbelievable!), but AM walking was a good habit I have once again re-formed. :-)

Some Goals

Post vacation, things are always a bit unsettled as the school year kicks in and we establish a new routine. But with the boy older and his routine being much as it was last year, hopefully the anarchy will be kept to a minimum.

As annoying as it is when someone swears they'll start something "tomorrow", I do want to set some goals for myself once we return from vacation.

1. A better job of planning & preparing food. I've been relying on the cafeteria and Slim-Fast too much, neither of which is healthy. (Their "healthy choice" selections do not meet my definition of healthy, sorry.)

2. Exercising more faithfully:

• Ride bike with hub 1 per week
• Walk in the neighborhood (this is more meditation than exercise) 3 per week
• Kettlebells 2 per week
• Classes at the Y - 2 per week

3. Working on things I enjoy, like painting and sculpy.

4. Thinking of myself as a healthy, active person and acting accordingly. I often sabotoge myself by "I can't" thinking. Bag that!

Twas the week before Pennsic

and I'm going nuts.

It's partly my fault - I've been suffering from scope creep. "Oh look, I bought the duck to make G's new marshals tabard and there's enough to make another. I'll make T a tabard too - he's an MIT and I'm sure he'd like a spiffy new marshals tabard..."

Pants still need hemming & elastic, turkish coat still needs buttons and button holes AND I have 2 aprons cut out, not to mention the marshals tabards. Oh, 1 pair of the boy’s pants are hemmed - I want him to try them on to be sure before I hem the other 2 (they're pinned).

Hub worked all day Sunday (unexpectedly), so I have boxes that are packed but still sitting in my kitchen. Calgon, take me away!!!

I need to make banana bread, slice & freeze, get that stuff out of my kitchen, and then pack up as much as I can before they leave Saturday morning. Anything left will go with me. I hope it's just a cooler and a small overnight bag, and a few ends & odds.

To make things worse, I'm sick. I have a sinus infection. You know, the kind where you feel like someone is randomly stabbing you in the ear with an ice pick? Yeah, that one. This is the worst ear pain of my adult life. And naturally I go to the clinic at work and get the PA that doesn't believe in drugs because we overuse antibiotics. Yes we do, and any other day I'd agree. But my ^&***( ear HURTS, I'm tired, I'm sick, and I want something to make it all better!!!!!!! She said come back Friday if I still wasn't feeling good.

Really, driving through the mountains of WV with an sinus infection sounds like so much fun.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I'll be going back. Cause using my neti pot twice a day isn't cutting it this time.

Meanwhile I'm tired & feel crappy. Not the best way to spend the week before Pennsic. :-(

No, I haven't quit

Work has been INSANE. Between that and getting ready for vacation (I know that sounds weird, but trust me that spending two weeks primitive camping in a medieval style pavillion wearing medieval clothes with 10,000 other people requires planning & preparation), I have been swamped.

Despite that, I'm doing okay. Boring breakfast, boring lunch (green drink and soup), walking in the mornings before work (which feels like exercising in a microwaved sponge, ah, summer in the south).

I guess I'm in "hanging in there" mode. :-)

I'm not dead yet

This week is kinda nuts - working late due to some tight deadlines. But I plan to jet out early on Friday, so that'll give me a bit of time to catch up.

Allergies have been ick, energy has been low. But I'm still packing my lunch, and I've been very good with having my green drink every morning, so I'm starting the day with a healthy dose of fruit & veg.

Anyway, still here, still busy. Plumbing needed work, le sigh. Sometimes I think hoem ownership is overrated!

Clothes

I needed a couple of more summer tops, as the temps here have reached those in Hades. I am of a size that I can shop in "regular" stores, but can't wear just anything. Coupon in hand, I went to Kohl's.

Can I just say (like it hasn't been stated a billion times before by every other overweight woman in America) that clothes that run in any size larger than "L" are clearly designed to punish women for "letting themselves go"? You can look like you're on a cruise with your grandma, wear t-shirts made out of stretchy material with a design that looks like cat puke, etc. Like going in the dressing room isn't enough.

Had a green drink for breakfast, along with a piece of pb toast. Lunch will be either soup or salad - I didn't have time to cook over the weekend, so my fate is in the hands of the cafeteria.

The week in review

Overall, I did a good job with my eating, except yesterday afternoon. What I didn't do was get enough exercise! I allowed stress to undermine that this week. Must remember that exercise helps stress!!!

The scale bumped up a half pound last weekend and has stayed at that higher level. I will continue to stay the course. I had my green drink for brekafast, a cup of low salt V8 for a snack. Lunch is a small bowl of homemade lentil soup, I have another cup of V8 for the afternoon, and dinner is in the crock pot at home - vegetable soup.

I guess it sounds like I eat a lot of soup! Yeah, I guess I do!

Have a good weekend!!

Call a repairman!

Stupid scale, seems to be stuck. ;-) Don't worry, I'm holding the course.

What’s new?

How are things going? I’m doing okay. I will tell you, this has been an interesting couple of weeks. I decided to eliminate snacks. I eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, and if I’m going to the gym I will have a pre-dinner snack before I go (we eat dinner when we get home from the gym).

For a long time (a decade?), I’ve always packed 2 snacks in with my lunch: one for mid-morning, and one for mid-afternoon. Now, these were generally healthy snacks of appropriate size, but I realized after reading “Eat to Live” and “The End of Overeating” that what I’ve done is train myself to eat pretty much all day.

I have breakfast, then 2-3 hours later I’m having a snack. I get hungry & twitchy without my snack. Then I have a healthy lunch and take a nice 30 minute walk. Then 2-3 hours later I’m jonesing for my afternoon snack. I would have a hard time focusing if I didn’t get my snack. I felt hungry and restless.

So, 2 weeks ago I cut out the snacks. I won’t lie. I have felt hungry, and restless, and twitchy. I do clock watch a little – especially between breakfast & lunch. But it is getting easier.

I’ve been doing something similar in the evening. I can tell that when I don’t eat an evening snack (which I’ve been eating for as long as I can remember), I find myself looking around – I know it’s getting close to bedtime, but I’m looking for some sort of sign. Because without my evening snack, there’s nothing to tell me it’s time to go to bed. That one has been just as tough, if not tougher.

I’m not saying I’ll never have another snack (I’m sure I will!), but I’m kinda tired of feeling like one of Pavlov’s dogs when it comes to food.

Swim lessons are still going well. Last night I swam 200 meters, then we did some drills & practice, then I ended with 100 meters. I could use any stroke for the laps but I had to do them with no breaks. I did it! Swimming is one hard workout! Hub used the treadmill & spin bike for his workout. I’m so glad he’s back to going with me!

I wish I had something exciting

Not too much. I was home alone this weekend. I went swimming Friday night, sewed, and watched dvds of old Tours de France. netflilx has a series of the 1999-2005 tours. Pretty cool!

All in all, things are going along pretty quietly. Hope you had a happy father's Day, if that's soemthing you celebrate!

Friday evening

Just checking in. I was down another pound and a half this week. This week has been tough. One of the things I've been trying is to cut out snacking. Research shows that folks who snack are more likely to be overweight. I believe that. I know for me, the day can become one feed then waiting for the next. Nothing huge since I pack my food, but still.

I took half a day off today. I'm going to Asheville tomorrow (for my final class) so I wanted to get my grocery shopping done, not to mention we sold our pontoon boat so we needed to meet the guy at the bank etc.

Shopping is done, then I went & swam some at the Y, then came home & had a good dinner. I am having a small snack this evening, but I carefully avoided buying any junky snacks ... or beer! Go me!

I did buy some vegan stuffed grape leaves to take for the car ride tomorrow. We eat nearly 2 hours later than I normally do (we eat lunch after class), so that snack will be very helpful.

We've been having some parenting conflict - boy getting home late, being disrespectful, grandma making excuses for him. I am very proud of myself for not caving in to emotional eating, even though I did visit some junk food in the grocery store. I stood firm, came home & had a green drink, & hit the gym!

I am enjoying the swimming, I just wish I could go for longer! I guess I'll get there.

Have a good weekend!

Quickly

I am the lowest weight in 3 months! :-)

I have read about 75% of "The End of Overeating" - I highly recommend you read it if you feel like you have issues controlling how much/what you eat. I believe knowledge is power and the more we understand how and why these mechanisms in our brain work, we can give up the guilt and focus on changing our behaviours. You are a bad or weak person if you can't stop eating cookies.

The boy is out of town until Sunday and then he'll be leaving Monday for a week in Florida. Cooking is much easier, but I do miss him.

I went to the pool last night. I got there early for our class, so I swam a few laps! Go me, rocking the pool! It was great!

I think I ate about 2/3 of a pound of oven roasted green beans with dinner last night. YUM! I put just a tad of sesmae oil on a cookie sheet, the rolled the green beans around in it (it was less than a tablespoon, and a fair bit stayed on the pan). Then I sprinkled them with powdered ginger and a tablespoon of sesame seeds. As rachel ray would say: "Yumo-o!"

I made a really excellent dinner the night before (I had the leftovers for dinner last night). I took a recipe we all enjoy for an asian-flavored noodle side dish and left out of oil, decreased the noodles, added a butt-load of veggies and a package of tofu (which I cubed and baked in the oven). I needed to increase the amount of sauce, but it was really good, and you could eat a large portion thanks to all the veggies.

I read a quite on a blog the other day that cracked me up: "Broccoli is a fat guy's best friend." I do believe vegetables ARE our best friend, overweight or not.

I've been making a conscious effort to have a green drink every morning and I do think that after 2 weeks, it's helping. My cravings do seem to be going away a bit. I think shoveling my body chock full of high nutrient veggies is finally paying back my micronutrient deficit, which I surely have (most of us do).

Anyway, S.H.I.T. (so happy it's Thursday!)

Got my grandmother moved and my mom is very happy with the new place. We are selling our pontoon boat tomorrow - we always use the ski boat, so it had become a hassle. Glad that will be finished - that's been a bit of a pain.

Anyway, life is good!

The most wonderful time of the year

This is my favorite time of the year! I love it for loads of reasons:

The weather. I know, 100 degree heat & 100% humidity kinda sucks, but I love thunderstorms! And the mornings are fantastic for walking in the ‘hood.

The food. Here’s the thing: The boy is gone a lot this time of year. Not to be mean or anything, but it does simplify my life. I can cook a vegan dinner and no one freaks out, and a normal meal generates enough leftovers that I don’t have to cook every night. Since I plan, shop for, and cook dinner 6 or 7 nights a week all year long, a break is nice.

The Tour. Sure, I was watch other cycling events, but nothing comes close to the Tour de France. I discovered that Netflix has DVDs of the 1999-2005 tours. I’ve been getting those to whet my appetite until this year starts. The dvds are 4 hours per Tour. That’s not a lot when you consider that each stage gets 2-4 hours of coverage, depending on the length & type of stage. That’s every day for 3 weeks. That’s a lot of television! It takes planning to be able to watch that much television (it does for me at least). Luckily, I’m good at multi-tasking and I tivo them so I can at least skip the commercials.

Projects. This one works in conjunction with the Tour, which I watch while working on Pennsic projects. Always some garb, but there may be painting furniture, banners, day shade covers – all sorts of crafty stuff. This is the one time of year where working on fun projects is more important than keeping the house tidy (which is easier when you don’t have to cook every night!!!)

Pennsic. Need I say more? Our whole family looks forward to this vacation so much!

Hmmm

How are things? Not bad. Weekends continue to be difficult. I am currently reading a book called “The End of Overeating”. It’s written by an MD who is a former commissioner of the FDA. I’m really enjoying it. He explains a lot of scientific studies that have been done to show why we respond the way we do to certain foods. I haven’t gotten very far into it, but it’s been eye opening. It also makes me feel better to understand that our response to food is very wired in our brain and that modern foods are designed to trigger all these responses. Food scientists are working very hard to create food that affects us like crack. Some people have stronger responses than others, but it’s nice to know there is a scientific basis for this stuff and not just “lack of willpower.”

Weight popped up a couple of pounds over the weekend, as it tends to do. Working on that. Missed swimming last night so we could move my grandma. The new place seems a lot better, so I’m glad that’s taken care of.

Boy acted like a horses’ patootie last night. That whole “15 going on 30” thing was kicking in. I ended up with less than 5 hours sleep, which makes me an unhappy camper. He’s at the beach with grandpa for a couple of days, so cooking around our house just got easier for a bit.

Hub has to go back out of town to finish the job he was doing last weekend. I hate that for him. The boy will go with him I presume and then he’s leaving with grandma next Monday for Florida for a week. Almost as good as a vacation for me!

Friday!!! Happy Dance!!!

I think I recovered, despite setting myself up for "failure" by planning overly elaborate. With some improvisation (and help from frozen leftovers!), I made it through the week without eating pizza or cheese dip (of the non-vegan variety). ha ha ha

Last night I made one of my husband's favorites - we call it "mexican hamburger helper" but it doesn't contain either. I used quinoa, black beans I'd cooked earlier in the week, salsa, tomatoes, corn, onion, and fresh jalepenos. Hub added shredded chicken to his first bowl, but preferred it without.

I planned the meals for next week, trying to balance cuisines and incorporating easy meals on those nights I need quick & simple. Since it's my "off" weekend from cooking class, I plan to experiment with crackers & etc. in addition to doing plenty of my prep work this weekend and not waiting until Monday morning (hear that, self?)!

My blood pressure has remained lower (thought it still needs to come down a ways) and I have lost 4.4 pounds. Swimming is going well – last night hub & I went to the gym together just to sit in the hot tub (his shoulder was bothering him). It was nice. Since my shopping is relatively easy this week, I intend to go swim a few laps after dinner tonight. I’m having leftovers, the guys are having pizza.

Have a good weekend!

Misc.

Boy's second day of summer. I wonder what time he’ll get up??? He's up visiting with his uncles since yesterdya afternoon, the house sure was quiet last night.

Took dog to vet. Butch has been not feeling well, with the result he’s been aggressive to guests and our other dogs. Not good.

Last week MIL’s car window broke – in the down position of course. Estimated $300 to fix, which she doesn’t have. Luckily the garage managed to get the window up for her, so the car can be secured until she has the money.

This week MIL’s AC in her car broke. No estimate on that repair. My mom is unwilling to loan her any more money and we aren’t either. Hub always says that if his mother didn’t have bad luck, she’d have no luck at all.

Moving my grandmother with an ETA of Monday to get all the paperwork done. We are having to move her ourselves since this new place isn’t in the county. No point in going into detail, let’s just say my mom went over Saturday and was horrified.

Food planning this week wasn't the best - made a couple of things that just didn't work out and didn't have time to make some others. Despite that, I'm doing pretty well and I'm down nearly 5 pounds. A good start!!!

I can't remember if I mentioned, but I signed up for swim lessons at the Y this month. Last night was my second lesson and it's going great! My freestyle form is looking good and so is the back stroke. I want to learn butterfly so that I can alternate for a more complete workout when I swim. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the pool.

June 4, 2010

Huh. Four days of E2L style eating and I’m feeling better, sleeping better, lost some weight. So of course last night I totally binged. Why? I dunno. It was a frustrating day at work, got skeeved with hub when he wanted to go to Costco when dinner was gonna be ready in 15 minutes – but I waited until he got home (even though he was late) so we could sit down as a family. But none of that really explains it. I was home alone (that’s important), I was still feeling a little hungry after dinner (fine, have more dinner – it was yummy and nutritious), and there ya go. Recipe for disaster.

Intellectually, I know eating unhealthy food leaves me feeling worse in the long run, so why do I still do it sometimes? Oh well, back in the saddle.

Despite that setback, I lost half a pound last week – it’s a start!

Food has been good - I have have really good breakfast & lunches planned. Dinners have been pretty successful this week. Next week the guys requested some stuff that will make it more difficult - I think I'll need to make a couple of things for myself and just eat them for a couple of days.

Have a good weekend!

June 2, 2010

I woke up without an alarm this morning, as I did yesterday. And I slept through the night. Amazing – not getting up to pee! I can’t believe I woke up naturally at 4:58 (the alarm goes off at 5, but I forgot to set it last night). Also, I checked my bp this morning – the top number was down 17 points and the bottom was down 11 since Monday. I will continue to check periodically – but that seems too good to be true.

Okay, now a bit of bad. I went for a 2 mile walk this morning and had a lot of “free floating anxiety”. For one, I kept feeling rushed & wanting to take a shorter walk even though there was no reason. Then I worried about money – things are tight right now anyway, and B’s bi-annual profit sharing check (which he received yesterday) was over $900 LESS than the last one. It has never gone down in the last decade, ever. So that was a huge blow to the budget.

The deal is this: he only gets 6 vacation days per year, and this year he used a fair bit going to SF in January, not to mention the beach in April. And in years past he’s been able to work holidays and save the vacation day, but now they are making folks take the holiday – which means no opportunity to save additional days. Any time we take is going to be unpaid for him, and as of right now we have no money saved for vacation. So that’s bad. I dunno how long we’ll be able to go, which sucks. We’ll get something saved, it’s just a question of what can be accomplish in less than 2 months. Sigh.

When I got home from my walk we had a big, emotional discussion about it. Lousy timing but we did have a good discussion. He’s going to look at doing a side job he’d been asked to do a while back, if the folks still want it done now. So that would help a lot. Heaven knows my husband is a good man and a hard worker, and I’m grateful It’s just that sometimes it takes a sledge hammer to get him to pay attention!!!

Needless to say, after that conversation I really wanted to eat something not on Fuhrman’s plan!!! But I held strong, but I just feel tired and ugh – emotionally, if not physically.

Food Report:

Yesterday:

Breakfast: Green drink (frozen banana, greens, green powder), strawberries with soy yogurt, walnuts, ground flax seed

S: cherries, almonds

L: gazpacho soup with pintos & avocado, collard wrap with sunflower seed pate, sprouts, cucumber, and sriracha hot sauce

S: 2 prunes & pb (he says no dried fruit but I have them and I portion them out so I don’t go crazy)

D: grilled corn, sloppy joe (homemade with veggie crumbles) over pinto beans, salad

S: 1 T sunflower seeds and 1 T dried cranberries (which have sugar in them!!!) ARGH!!!

Plan for today:

Breakfast: Green drink (frozen banana, greens), strawberries with soy yogurt, walnuts, ground flax seed

S: cherries, almonds

L: gazpacho soup with pintos & avocado, collard wrap with sunflower seed pate, sprouts, chopped kale and parsley

S: 2 prunes & pb

D: black beans & rice – veg = ????

As you can see, I tend to eat the same food (except dinner) pretty much M-F. It's easier to plan & prepare ahead during the work week.

I felt tired yesterday by the end of work. Last night I was feeling really worn out - I slept good & felt better this morning. Dr Fuhrman warns that giving up sugar, caffeine, etc., may leave you feeling lethargic for a few days. He's right!!!

Just a little sad

One of the first blogs I ever read was dietchick.blogspot.com. I loved that she was funny & honest and a little bit insecure. Later, she moved to a new blog when she got married, and later locked it for personal reasons. Today I was clicking on links to some of the old blogs I used to frequent, and clicked on hers. Her old blog (where she no longer posts) is now locked as well. I can't explain why, but it makes me a little sad.

I hope you are having a good Memorial Day (if you are celebrating). I chose to come in to work - I'd like to have a quiet day to myself in a couple of weeks.

I am enjoying my cooking class, but being gone for half the weekend every other weekend is getting old! I am learning a lot though. For my lunch wraps this week I am using a sunflower pate that I learned in class. I tweaked the recipe a tad, but it makes for a very tasty lunch!

I'll admit to feeling a bit nervous about this whole E2L experiment. I know I'm going to feel blah for a while since I've eliminated oh .... everything! Chemicals, caffeine, sugar, flour, ... You get the idea. I'm also nervous about making 2 dinners (at least some nights). And worried that when I get tired or stressed I'll give in. But I really really really want to do this thing as close to 100% as possible for the next 6 weeks. Forget about weight - I want good health!

Did I mention that I signed up for swim lessons for June? My old swimsuit when I was swimming in my old tri days still fits, so I just need to get new goggles & a nose clip. Sweet!

Day 1 E2L

Breakfast: Green drink (frozen banana, greens, green powder), strawberries with soy yogurt (I’m trying to use it up), walnuts, ground flax seed

S: cherries, almonds

L: gazpacho soup with pintos & avocado, collard wrap with sunflower seed pate, sprouts, cucumber, and sriracha hot sauce

S: 2 prunes & pb (he says no dried fruit but I have them and I portion them out so I don’t go crazy)

D: grilled corn, grilled asparagus, and I need to add something to that – probably some seasoned beans.

Traction

I was down 2.4 pounds today – yay!

I’ve been tossing several ideas around in my head. Have you ever read “Eat to Live” by Dr. Joel Fuhrman? It’s a terrific book about the eating habits he’s developed for his clients and the medical results they’ve seen as a result. The basic gist is this: we get too many macronutrients (carbs, fat, protein) and not enough micronutrients (vitamins, antioxidants, phytonutrients). His eating style encourages you to consume sufficient micronutrients by eating a diet based heavily on vegetables, fruits, nuts & seeds, - basically, natural, unprocessed foods.

Given the fact that my blood pressure has crept up to ‘pre-hypertension” levels and my weight is… well, my weight, I can’t keep pretending that eating the way I am and just exercising more is going to fix anything.

This weekend I am prepping my kitchen to get ready, Monday I begin this way of eating – no counting calories or anything like that, but eating plenty of a variety of nutrient dense foods and staying away from the refines stuff.

I'll probably be posting my food here, not sure what else.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend (if you celebrate it)!

This weekend

MIL has an apartment! Given her history, I just hope she can manage to keep her bills paid on time. (This can be a challenge when you never balance your checkbook, you know.) But I’m trying not to worry about what may be in the future and instead focus on the fact that her days of living with my mom are numbered – to 2 or 3!!! Anniversary plans have been modified to accommodate move.

I finished watching the companion DVDs that came with “Simply Raw”. One lady made a very simple green smoothie that made me realize I’ve been trying to cram too much into mine. I simplified it to: 1 frozen banana, water, greens, and green powder. For greens I’ve been using some combination of lettuces, spinach, kale, parsley, and dandelion. You would be amazed how much energy this gives you.

As a matter of fact, I’ve been drinking one in the morning and I think I am going to add a second for when I get home from work – I think it will help keep my evening eating in better control as well as give me a boost of energy for the evening. For the second I may try frozen berries instead of banana – I’m not much of a banana person, but the organic are cheap and they do give it a nice texture. (While bananas are low pesticide foods, they spray those pesticides while the workers are in the fields, so I choose not to buy conventional bananas.)

I signed up for swim lessons for the month of June – I like swimming but a) it’s been a while and b) it’s easier for me to go regularly if I have a standing commitment.
I have 2 more raw food classes, so I don’t see myself getting much done in the way of sewing until after they are finished. This has me concerned because I have other projects I need to get done prior to Pennsic as well. I need to sit down and get these prioritized.

Unexpected guests

Saturday I went to my raw foods class. Since the guys were in PA for the weekend, I was thinking I’d have a quiet weekend of puttering around, sewing, etc. once I got back home. Uh, not so much!

When I got home I had a message from Amber at the Humane Society where we volunteer. Someone had brought in 11 2-week old puppies Saturday afternoon. (Mom had been hit by a car.) The guy said the mom was a Blue Heeler, the puppies are little tri-colored cuties.

I brought home 4. They really didn’t want to nurse, but they’ve done okay slurping a mix of mushed wet food and formula out of a dish. They are sleeping a lot at that age, but they are just little sweeties. Fox would have liked to foster them longer but Butchie felt the need to protect them from the other dogs – which led to a lot of dog related stress around our house this weekend. (Not to mention lack of sleep stress.)

Luckily other foster home are lined up. It’s been fun, but a lot of work!!!

Brain Dump

My trip last weekend was good. We did the following: eat, sleep, nap, sew, look at books. It was nice, but as I had a long drive home I tiptoed out & got on the road at 6 am Sunday. A couple of observations:

Even at that hour of the morning, DC drivers are nuts. I was on the beltway between Greenbelt and Andrews AFB. There were 5 southbound lanes, but the speed limit was 55. I was going 17 mph over the speed limit and I was passed ON THE RIGHT by a SCHOOLBUS. See? Nuts!

The down side of leaving so early is that you have to drive a long way to get to a good place to stop. I am of the opinion that unless you are in Arizona and the next gas isn’t for a thousand miles, a business should not be on the freeway sign if it involves driving more than a mile and making multiple turns (I’m looking at you Exit 163B, Potomac Mills). At that point, I’d been on the road quite a while and I was hungry and wanted caffeine, so I decided to get off & go to the Wawa, thinking I could gas up as well. First, even finding the place was like “The Hunt for Red October” and then when I found it I was sorry I did: the sandwich was greasy and the bathroom was scary. No more Wawas for a long time!

To change the subject: Things with my grandma are not good. There are several things that have my mom concerned, but let me just share this. Yesterday they moved her to a different room. While doing so, they lower the bed, move it, then raise it up. Apparently her bed was broken or stuck or something, because the 2 people are laughing & joking about it being broken while they rock & shake it to try to get it to raise with my grandmother in it. Between my grandma and the usual self-absorbed BS from my MIL, my mom is about insane. Between my grandma and work, my stress levels are about as high as hers. I feel like one of those cartoons where you see the thermometer liquid shoot up & explode.

Saturday’s class in Asheville: "Crank It Out: Juicer and food processor techniques highlighting Green Juices, Sprouting, Patés, Sandwich Stacks, Lettuce Roll-ups, Hand Rolls and Ruby Red Turnip Pickles.” Sounds interesting! My mom was going to ride with me, but given the situation with my grandmother, she doesn’t feel comfortable leaving town even for a day. One of the ladies from class is going to carpool with me so at least I don’t have to make the drive alone. The boy was horrified that I was going to ride in a car with a lady I just met in a cooking class. Hopefully she isn’t a lunatic!

From a personal perspective, I NEED it to be Friday, from a work perspective, I NEED it to be like 3 days ago. ARGH!

What I'm having for lunch today

Adapted from a recipe for sesame noodles originally found on http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/

Formerly Sesame Noodles:
1 bundle soba or udon noodles
1 bunch greens – I used rainbow chard
1 block tofu
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp pure sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon (or more) hot chile sauce (I use Sriracha)
1 T umeboshi paste
2 tbsp hot water
3 to 4 green onions, sliced thin

Put water on to boil.
Dice tofu into chunks and put in 400 degree oven (just to firm up – I left them in until everything else was ready.)
De-stem greens, chop stems, and set aside.
Roughly chop the leaves.
Whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, chile sauce, umeboshi and water in a bowl.
Prepare the noodles per instructions. Toss the stems in with the noodles to cook.
Drain the noodles & stems then pour over leaves to wilt. Mix the tofu in with the noodle mixture and toss with the sauce until evenly coated. Toss in the green onions and serve. Enjoy hot or cold.