meganr's Friends

Art of the season - Contemprary Photograph

Snow Impressionist ~ Valerie Berdyuk

My Christmas tree is up!  Gayle's husband wired on the ornaments and even got me a few new, tiny ones, in scale with the small tree.  It looked so pretty lit up last night. 

My apartment is also very clean now, and thanks to Lesley my laundry is all done.  One of Gayle's helpers spent the time to use the pet hair attachment on my new little Black & Decker cordless vacuum to go over all the furniture really well.  I'm going to try to keep it up.  Can't have guests going home with cat hair all over them.

Plan for today:  phone calls this morning, then the annual tree trimming party in the community room at 3 PM. 

Menu for today:  More raisin bran and a banana for breakfast (problem nearly solved, thank you) Lunch - Must eat something before the party.  Another big salad should do it.  Supper - vegetarian chili, tortilla.  Snacks - cookies and punch at the party, apple.  I doubt if I'll be under my calorie goal of 1500.

It's a rainy morning with hope of some sunshine later.  It's also warmed up, so no ice!  The temperature should reach 50 F, 7 C.  I'll be glad to see some sun this afternoon.  This means that I'll have no problem getting to my doctor's appointment tomorrow. 

Today:  Let the happiness of the season overtake the gloom. 

BREAKFAST

• one cup of Fiber One cereal
• one cup of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• one slice of toasted Flax Seed sprouted bread
• one-half cup of low fat cottage cheese

LUNCH

• Trader Joe's spicy ranchero egg white salad
• one blueberry fiber cake
• three slices of lean turkey
• one medium cucumber, sliced
• one slice of Flatbread 
• two tablespoons, roasted red pepper hummus 

DINNER

• two slices of toasted Flax Seed sprouted bread
• two slices of fat free cheese
• two servings of cinnamon-roasted butternut squash 
• three servings of fresh spinach
• one cup of grape tomatoes (salad with the pepper)
• organic, free-range, grass fed lean sirloin

SNACKS

• six hardboiled egg whites
• two cups of radishes
• one medium, peeled cucumber, sliced (with spritz)
• five slices of fat free turkey bologna
• one-half serving (25 sticks) of Trader Joe's Veggie Sticks

TOTALS FOR THE DAY

• TOTAL CALORIES: 1587
• TOTAL NET CARBS: 122
• GRAMS OF FIBER: 73
• VEGGIE/FRUIT SERVINGS: 11

Get this: it is zero out and due to the wind chill factor, feels like -8.  And lovely sun egging me on to go outside.  Un uh.  I'd rather sit here, listen to Emmy Lou, be grateful to Megan, type around Samyot Siamese and wait for the roll dough to rise.  Comfy.  Socks on this morning cause the wood floors are cold. 

Making cloverleaf rolls for hubby's work feast and also for tonight's beer meeting feast.  Per usual, in with the white flour went oat flour, nutritional yeast, flax seed meal and almond meal and a tablespoon or so of sesame seeds.  Can't have just white rolls.  No fun.  So that is rising in the warm oven.

We got a wow!! Yule invite.  This cold is keeping the snow and crappy driving away. I appreciate that.  Crappy as in petrified driver.  Anyway, this coming Saturday an SCA type group is having a feast and a lady from it has asked us in.  OOOH.  Chivalry and folks that include rituals such as if you want to share a special poem or other meaningful thing with us, feel free.  If the roads are too nasty, I'm finding a cab.  Old time Yule celebration.  Yes.

Thank you so very much for including me in your deliveries, dear Santa Megan.  I promise to leave the envelope alone.   A silly friend of hubbys more than mine keeps blessing us with Christmas packages in the mail.  As in petite fours and yesterday, not kidding, a big box of chocolate liqueor bottles- 64 of them!!!  And I don't drink.  The only sweet that does not claim my greedy little fingers.  Hubby plans to bring some to the beer group tonight- get our doc. soused!! 

Godiva kit wanted out yesterday afternoon.  Sunny so I put her on her tether and about 3 minutes later, heard a heart smacker of a yodel!  Yes, this Himi yodels when distressed.  I went out and brought her back in to the house and she was amazingly sweet, ha ha, snuggling up on my lap.  She needed her toes warmed, I am sure.  This house is an ark for us all.  I will go to the library per usual.  I am grateful that the wind is not so hearty.  I am grateful that the temps are supposed to go up to 19. 

And can't forget the news from my oldest sister.  She is or was a large person- probably weighed in toward 300 at some point in her career.  And yesterday she finally told me that last year the weight issue caught up with her.  She was told that she had diabetes and now is working on a cataract thanks to the diabetes.  She is currently going to TOPS and walking- this sister walking is a total shocker to me.  I am glad she is finally getting going though becoming so sick is just plain nasty.  We have been getting to know each other in the past few years.  She is the oldest and I the youngest.  I really don't know her and what I do know, the church that she belongs to, for one thing, keeps us apart. We have gotten to the point of friendly phone conversations so that is good.  The church thing will always keep me distant.  I can not and will not condone that particular church.  Its history is way too bloody and way too terrorist for my liking- Americans killing Americans cause of their faith.  Not cute.  And innocent children slaughtered.  No thanks.  

 'Nuff.   I am grateful for my little house this morning.  Grateful for socks.  Grateful for a loving hubby who e-mailed me to say I'd best be very careful if I went out today.

But it's not really so little.  I safely navigated the shoals of bad eating again yesterday and am well underweigh for another appropriate day.  I actually went for a walk after supper instead of suffering my usual postprandial cravings to eat ANYTHING for two more hours.  In the dark.  In the cold.  on icy streets.  For 45 minutes. Ta-da! and thank goodness for Christmas lights.  And I didn't feel like eating when I got home.

In fact, I strung another necklace with a homemade copper bale and 90 percent clay beads made by moi, just a few coppery sparkly goldstone beads for umph. 

Isn't it someone's birthday today? I'm sure it is.... huh.

Anyway, another inexplicable weight loss again last night. I lost a whole pound, despite the fact I have over a full pound of food still undigested in me (dinner was fabu, by the way). Might have been the massive amounts of water I had at night. Might have been the insane exercise? I don't know. It's too hard to tell. All I know is I better see those numbers going down fast right now because in a couple of days I am going to gain about four pounds with TTOM. So I appreciate the losses and have the good grace not to question them because who knows if/when it will happen again.

The eats today:

Breakfast: 1 egg, 3 whites scrambled; English muffin with Move Over Butter. A LOT of Move Over Butter. I probably used the whole tablespoon this morning (I usually allot for it but probably use about a tsp instead).

Snack (that I already ate): apple.

Lunch: TBD

Snack: Protein water.

Dinner: Turkey garlic pepper stirfry over brown rice.

Snack: That entirely depends on my lunch.

Lunch is a surprise pizza party for the entire staff of our division (about 130 ladies give or take, plus four men). We did so well on our accuracy and timeliness this year (and frankly I think they have a smidge more money left in the budget they need to use) so they are getting pizza for us all. Which is a nice thought, but at 280 calories for a slice of pizza.... is it worth it for me? I COULD have one slice, but when it comes right down to it, can I trust myself to only have one piece? Ugh! It's frustrating. I did bring a backup lunch in case I really need to excuse myself (PB & J roll and popcorn). But depending on how much I eat at lunch/what I eat at lunch, my after-dinner snack may need to adjust. We'll see.

I hate when things are up in the air like this. Take for example Friday. I am going to McDonald's with my kid. I only get usually one serving of red meat a week and it's usually a dinner out with the fam fam. So I am going to have a burger and half of my fries = 690 calories, which I can PLAN for and know exactly what I am getting in to. I hate with pizza that you just never know -- the slices are hardly ever even though the calorie count measures them as equal slices, I don't really know what the topping situation is until I get there, and, especially at home, there are always leftovers and it's so hard to keep from picking. At least when I go to McDonald's I know I get my 690 calorie dinner and it's done. There is no picking after dinner because it's gone. Blah.

Today I'm doing the elliptical for 35 minutes and a upper body sculpt after work. No shoveling yesterday, but we are supposed to have 1-2 inches by sunset, which is about 4 in the afternoon now, so I'll get some light shoveling in today at least, and maybe a bit more tomorrow. Yay for more forced labor! I have 2.8 pounds left to lose in my 10 day challenge with 8 days left to go. I'm so going to make it.

UPDATE: I'm having two pieces of pizza. I know it's a horrible excuse, but my brain is a puddle of mush right now and I don't want to have to try to figure out lunch on top of that. So I have a slice of veggie and a slice of cheese AND an M&M cookie. I'm going to be about 200-300 calories over today, but I since I get to shovel I'm going to call it a wash. So there.

P.S. Who knew plain cheese was worse than veggie pizza, calorie-wise?

Art of the season:  Contemporary Watercolor by Donna Elio

Early Winter ~ Donna Elio

Once again I didn't do much.  However I'm having good days and rest and inactivity seem to do me good.  I am trying to move around more.  I'm hoping today will be a good one too, but I had a very poor night's sleep because of a hemmoroid flareup.  One of my meds causes constipation and I didn't get my proper fiber for two days, and now I'm paying for it.  I hope that with topical treatment it will calm down and I'll be able to nap.  I haven't had this problem in years.  A tip for you - buy stock in Preparation H.

Plan for today:  This is the day that all my housework will get done and my Christmas tree will go up.  Leslie is coming in the morning to do my laundry and make my bed.  Gayle will be here in the afternoon to deep clean and will bring my little tree which she stores in her basement.  Her husband decorates it for me and all we do is take it out of the bag.  These are really kind people and I appreciate them doing this wonderful thing for me each year.

Menu for today:  Raisin bran for breakfast.  I don't like it much but it should solve my little problem.  Lunch - a bit salad with nuts and seeds (more fiber) Supper - chicken in a sauce, whole wheat noodles, broccoli, carrots.  Snacks - grapes, apples, celery, milk.

The snow is about half melted and it should be "warm" enough today to melt the rest off my car.  We expect a high of 41 F, 5 C.  I'm not going out until Thursday and hope the weather holds and we don't get more snow.  I can't clean off my windshield by myself and I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon on Thursday.

Today:  An ice pack is a good thing to keep around. 

I thought I was over that hunger monster a long time ago. again it rears it's ugly head. It must be the time of year and the flood of christmas memories and all that come round this time of year, every year.  I know nerves make you hungry, and I really don't "feel nervous", but I just can't seem to curb my "appettite."  I am getting back into my exercise and usually when I get busy doing other things the appetite goes into remission. right now I just seem to be hungry all the time. ugh.   hubby worked off today so He will be home for 4 days.. was going to have to work overtime thurs and fri, but luckily another guy with 5 kids, and a new car needs the overtime so he took it for hubby.  glad that someone that needs it took it. not that hubby does not need to work, but he works plenty just working his reg. days, he needs his days off to recuperate now.  I know I will keep this thing in reins, but I seem to be having more trouble than usual right now. understandable after getting back from vac. and then all the holidays and now christmas coming up. it won't be a big deal meal for us though since it will be just ma and hubby and I. we will have a nice meal but not the usual over doing it of some years with 10 dishes for 3 people. 

This is all I have to say...I live where it rains...but where is the rain...it is bitterly cold here..19 degrees and who know with the windchill!

I whined all day long. I had dog walks and although I wore the appropriate clothing I still froze..whine whine. You would think one would burn off energy..HMPH

Finally mailed out all my holiday cards and a package. The lines are getting long.

I am grateful to have six warm fur bodies to sleep with (Yes a repeat from my last journal)

I am trying to keep things interesting by adding variety to my vegetable selections and my protein options... especially at dinner time. And I've decided that it's perfectly OK to toss in a stray can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup from time to time (I get the low sodium version) ... just for fun. But, so far (one week in) I seem fine with pretty much having the same breakfast every day, and pretty much the same lunch... but I do have some other options waiting in the wings (things like salmon and tuna!)  But, for now, I am just trying to adjust to eating healthy and logging. BABY STEPS, right?

BREAKFAST

• one cup of Fiber One cereal
• one cup of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• one slice of toasted Flax Seed sprouted bread
• one-half cup of low fat cottage cheese

LUNCH

• Trader Joe's spicy ranchero egg white salad
• one blueberry fiber cake
• three slices of lean turkey
• one cup of grape tomatoes
• one slice of Flatbread (turkey sammy)

DINNER

• one slice of toasted Flax Seed sprouted bread
• two servings of cinnamon-roasted butternut squash 
• three servings of garlic lime grilled asparagus
• one cup of grape tomatoes (salad with the pepper)
• one medium orange pepper (diced, in salad, with tomatoes)
• calorie free Walden Farms dressing (on the salad)
• organic, free-range, grass fed lean sirloin

SNACKS

• six hardboiled egg whites
• two cups of radishes
• one medium, peeled cucumber, sliced (with spritz)
• five slices of fat free turkey bologna
• one-half serving (25 sticks) of Trader Joe's Veggie Sticks

TOTALS FOR THE DAY

• TOTAL CALORIES: 1509
• TOTAL NET CARBS: 122
• GRAMS OF FIBER: 76
• VEGGIE/FRUIT SERVINGS: 11