Posts by razormonkee

I'm a full-time student with a part-time job and I have a dog. It does take a lot of work and some major adjustments to your life. My social life has dissapated, but I can't blame that entirely on my dog---I'm about to graduate and classes are harder and I have way more work to do. My dog initially presented a ready excuse for not going out, but now I generally enjoy staying home with her 5-6 nights of the week.

The other adjustment I've made is the amount of time I spend asleep. The fact of the matter is, I am gone the majority of the day and I know my dog needs exercise and attention, and she also really likes a regular schedule. So now I get up around 6, which is 2-3 hours earlier than I got up pre-dog. We go for a half-hour walk in the mornings and then we both have breakfast. I make sure my class and work schedule allow for at least an hour for me to be home for lunch, when we both eat, play with the ball and lounge around being lazy. I get home between 6 and 7 every night, and we both eat dinner. Then we take another half-hour walk and play for a good hour or two before I start any homework I may have and then we go to sleep, and start the whole thing over the next day. On Saturdays, I usually only work 4-5 hours, and then we spend the rest of the day playing, and I usually go out for a few hours Saturday night. Sunday is our day to sleep in and go to the dog park, and we usually have an hour long walk sometime Sunday.

So basically, I sleep from 6-7 hours a night and don't spend that much time with my friends OUTSIDE my home, but I find that when there's a puppy involved, everyone wants to come hang out at your house anyway. I love my dog and have absolutely no problems sacrificing things for her. I figure she's good for my health anyway: unconditional love, and exercise partner, and I've had to stop buying a six-pack of beer three times a week because Audrey needs dog food. I just wish she wouldn't chew my shoes.

If you get a puppy, they're going to be crazy no matter what breed you decide on---definitely go with an older shelter dog.

I rescued my little girl off the street when I was looking for a dog. My friend's roommate's sister (complicated much?) found her and was going to send her to our local shelter, but I fell in love. The vet said she was about 6 weeks old when we found her, and she was in-effing-sane until late 2007, after she was a year old, and now she is the most obedient, loving, content dog. Right now she's asleep at the foot of my bed with her head in my lap...she's not particularly small, about 50 pounds, but she thinks she's a chihauhau. Man, I love her.

If you decide not to go with a shelter dog, then please do all the research you can to make sure you get a dog from a reputable breeder. Puppy mills are scary business. My sister's toy poodle was rescued from a puppy mill when she was a few months old, and she was overly cautious with the family for a long time. Now she's a happy little girl who can beat the crap out of my big dog, but they're both great friends.

I just received my Calorie Count Gazette today, and this thread was on it. Of course, I have to add my list.

1. Biscuits with sawmill gravy and breakfast sausage.

2. Italian sausage. It's been 6 months.

3. Fried egg sandwiches: two slices of bacon, an egg fried in leftover bacon drippings, all slapped between two pieces of toast with a slice of American "cheese." I think what I miss the most is the bacon. Turkey bacon just doesn't cut it for me; I've stopped eating that too. It's just not the same.

4. Beef fajitas with refried beans and Spanish rice. And sour cream...all glopped together. Mmmm.

5. This delicious brie tart I saw Paula Deen make once that I added to my repetoire until I started this in March: brie, topped with raspberry/blackberry preserves, sprinkled with walnuts, and wrapped in deliciously flaky phyllo dough. Yummmmmmm.

I grew up just outside of Ft. Worth and now I live in Denton, going to UNT.

I lurve Texas.

Shakespeare isn't really that bad. I took a class a few semesters ago that focused on Hawthorne and Melville. I read short stories, The Scarlet Letter, The Blithedale Romance, The House of the Seven Gables, Billy Budd, Typee, Moby Dick, the Piazza Tales...ugh.

Then what did I do?

I took a class with the same professor that c/c-ed Hawthorne and Faulkner. Faulkner. What was I thinking?

More recently, I took an American Jewish Writers class and read a lot of Philip and Henry Roth. Philip Roth, thumbs up. Henry Roth, two thumbs down.

I hate taking my shoes off. They go on as soon as I get dressed in the morning, and they come off when I change into my pjs at night. I've stepped on too many nails in a work-in-progress house to not wear shoes. I swear I've had more tetanus boosters than physicals.

Also, I wear flats all the time with no socks. My feet smell. My mom's cousin makes us take off our shoes when we enter her house, and I'm always embarrassed by my stinky feet. Ha!

The brown paper sack idea will work, especially if you throw in an apple with the underripe fruit. I can't remember exactly why this is, but Alton Brown has a great scientific explanation.

Also, while I generally prefer eating organic myself, bananas are one of the few fruits that are safe to eat un-organic (is that word?) Pesticides can't leach through a banana's tough peel to the fruit. If you continue to have organic banana problems, you may consider the switch.

Yeah, the lady was on a radio show in TX---Hold Your Wee for a Wii.

Sometimes Texans are a little stupid...even I can admit it. (I'm from Fort Worth.)

smilin08, congratulations to you too!! That's awesome!

Last week my mom and sister and I went to the McD's drive thru and I ordered a fruit and walnut salad, expecting lettuce. I don't ever eat McD's, and I was pretty disappointed when my lunch came and it was tiny.

Luckily!! My mom had boneless, skinless chicken breast and lettuce at home, so I cooked up some chicken, mixed it with the fruit and walnuts, put the mix on my romaine and smothered the whole thing in the yogurt which I thinned with a little water. It was delicious!! Seriously, it was probably my favorite meal in about two weeks or so. I bet if I had thinned the yogurt with some lemon juice instead of water it would have rocked way harder.

The Southwest sounds great too.

Unless instructed to do so by a doctor, you don't have to cut salt out completely. Kosher salt or coarse salt deliver more flavor for less because the crystals aren't uniform and "melt" over your food, unlike table salt, which kind of just dissolves where it lands.

We have receptors on our tongues that were designed to ONLY taste salt. Don't cut it out completely, just use less and make sure you drink your water.

Alton Brown is my true love. I can quote Good Eats...at least seasons 1-8, word-for-word, every single episode. I have also decided that, while I generally do not condone breaking up relationships, I would have to manipulate him into leaving his wife and coming to Texas with me.

Paula Deen's crazy, and I love her. Rachel Ray's all right, but I prefer her magazines to TV, because then I don't have to listen to her awkward laugh. I like Bobby Flay since he started doing Throwdown---he loses a lot and isn't quite so cocky anymore. Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), love her. Sandra Lee is entertaining. Emeril cracks me up. Duff! Ace of Cakes is awesome, there's a Harry Potter episode coming up; it's like both of my nerdy vices combined.

Giada and I do not get along. I also really despise Tyler Florence. Guy gets on my nerves too.

Man I love Food Network.

Welcome to CC! I'm in Texas too, originally from the DFW area, but I'm in school in Denton. I started seriously counting around the third week of March, and I've lost 9 pounds! I do an exercise video 3-4 times a week, and I walk a lot, eating about 1400-ish calories a day. This really works, so stick with it.

Good luck!

Hey all!

I went to the dr today and weighed in at 160.5. Two weeks ago I weighed in at 161.8, so that's minus 1.3 pounds in 2 weeks...a little discouraging, but it's TTOM, so I hope to see better results next week or so.

SW: 169

W1: 161.8

CW: 160.5 (-1.3)

7/4 GW: 145

Keep up the good work everyone!

I did in the beginning, but one piece of my Extra gum has only 5 calories, and I know I burn at least that many chewing it, so now I don't log them.

I've tried using the same logic for celery and cucumbers, but I just can't make that match in my brain. I still log those, even though they have the same calories as my gum. Too bad they aren't minty fresh, or I'd make the switch.

Danyelle