just 10 more

Last day of the month AND the good news is that I’ve lost  2 lbs total in Jan; of course it was 2 lbs. that I lost back in Nov. only to regain when I was sick in Dec.  I was aiming for 2lbs. with the under promise-over deliver idea of Round, wish it was more (the over-deliver part.LOL) but I’ll take it.  Also, I missed only 1 day of my 2mi. a day M-F goal in the last 2 weeks but I thnk I made it up with slightly higher milage other days.  Yesterday I did gym: stretch and exercise mat, wt. machines, 20 incline sit-ups, 3.25 mi. on tm., 15 min. rowing, and ladies lite aerobics.  Today 2.82 mi. tm. and 12 min. rowing.

Food yesterday was good—can’t remember specifics but nothing way out of line.  Today….bfsk: V8, oatmeal w/skim, decaf tea w/skim…………..early lunch–had mammogram appt. to get to: tomato soup, 1/3 large chicken breast, bean salad……snack: thin slice banana walnut bread (made it with 2/3 whole wheat flour, 1/3 white)……….dinner: salmon, 1 slice whole wheat bread, green beans, 1/3 sweet pot.  I see that other than the banana in the banana bread (does that even count?  I used 1 1/2 of them) I’ve had no fruit.  Soooo, snack later will be a half Wasa multigrain cracker and a few strawberries and 1/2 pear.

I picked A. up after school, thought she was at track practice.  Not so. She decided to go out for soccer so has started soccer conditioning….hmmmm…..not sure how I feel about this.  Personally never much cared for the “team” type sports; been there, done that, thought we were over it.  I know the term is track “team” or swim “team” but with those type of sports you are competing against your own time to better it in addition to competing against others; it’s measurable progress.  I’d much rather see her rely on herself. 

Off to my book and the t.v.  G’nite, chickadees.

Yesterday:

bfsk: grapenuts flakes w/skim, V8, tea w/skim….  lunch: Ruby Tuesday’s  1/2 broccoli/cheese soup, salad, 2 mini burgers–1/2 of 1 bun, 6 fries………snack: skinny cow ice cream cone……dinner: bean salad, 1/3 sweet pot., cherries and blueberries….snack: 1/2 wasa, slice swiss, lofat

Wed.

bfsk: 1 manicotti, V8, tea w/skim……snack few walnuts and pistachios….lunch: tomato soup, toasted cheese sandwich, blueberries and cherries………dinner: bean salad, vanilla no fat yogurt, 1/2 pear

G’nite chickadees!

I weighed yesterday and was down one half pound….checked again today and it’s holding!!!!  This, despite the fact that I slacked off on gym and ate at KFC, 1/2 chocolate bar, and a whole Kit Kat last week. Go figure!!!!

Yesterday’s food: bfsk: grapenuts flakes w/ skim, V8, 1/2 banana……3 cups decaf coffee w/skim (waiting while A. was at lecture)………late lunch:  cup tomato-basil soup, 1/2 Greek salad,  1/2 manicotti serving, 2 scoops chocolate yogurt ice cream  (lunch was at a new place—beautiful decor, equally good food)………..later: really wasn’t hungry but realized I should have a bit before bed….about 2 T. f.f. cottage cheese, 1/2 multigrain Wasa cracker

Today….bfsk: 2 scrambled eggs w/chives, 1/2 piece whole wheat toast w/spray butter—meant to eat the whole thing but dropped it on the floor, lo salt V8, mix of blueberries and dark sweet cherries, decaf tea w/skim……..will update food later–have chicken defrosting, don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet……..Update….lunch: Wendy’s chili-small, side salad w/f.f. French dsg., 1% chocolate milk…………..dinner: chicken in a sauce of ketchup, onion, soy sauce, lemon, pepper, olive oil, and brown sugar–had 1/2 small breast, stuffing, steamed yellow squash.

We’re heading to the far barn with the 3 yr. old horse for some training.  ( Later) Well, that was a bit of a bust.  We got her all brushed and groomed and combed and hoofs picked-quite a job as she had rolled in mud (and worse!); saddled her up, took her in the ring and A. got on her and she just refused to move.  She went around twice with me leading (pulling, begging) but that is not what A. had in mind.  A. did the usual stuff–tapped her on the sides with her boots, tappped her behind—nothing.   Hmmmmm…I think maybe A. better go back to her horse training books and read that chapter again.  I mean, they do move instinctively, don’t they?  I can understand teaching gaits but she wouldn’t move at all.

G’nite chickadees from someone who is most certainly NOT a horse whisperer.

Nothing much new……in the winter doldrums with just about everyone else.  Why is it, the last 2 weeks of Jan. always seem to last a year????  Huh????

A’s exams are done; she’s upstairs re-arranging her room, which seems to be a hobby of hers.  She did get an A on that Am. History exam that she only had 45 min. to do, no idea about the algebra2/trig.  or any others yet.

Went to the gym yesterday and today.  Yesterday I just did tm: 3mi.  Today warm-up, machines, tm: 3.15, and ladies lite aerobics

Food today: bfsk: oatmeal w/skim, V8, tea w/skim…….snack: f.f. cottage cheese……….lunch: fish, bean salad, peas, 1/3 sweet pot………..snack: Kit-Kat bar (!)………dinner: mixed greens salad w/tomatoes and olives and balsamic vinegar dsg., 2 slices deli chicken, f.f. vanilla yogurt with blueberries and sweet red cherries

I have a bit of a headache and that restless, off kilter mood continues.  No plans this week-end so far.  It’s a bit too cold out to suit me, how spoiled I’ve gotten!!!  Thought about going to a community play tonight but didn’t act on it.  Guess it’ll be the tv again.

G’nite chickadees!

First, I’d like to thank all of you for the kind comments and observations on the last post.  Our mothers, no matter what type of person they are, probably exert more of both overt and covert influence on us for our entire lives than anyone.  The last four years of her life, when she lived with me, she was not the person she was when I was growing up.   If she had been, it never would have worked.

Yesterday was the first day of mid-term exams for my daughter.  We had black ice resulting in many, many accidents and her bus was over an hour and a half late, then took almost an hour to reach the school.  The schools really dropped the ball in not calling for a delay start time.  When she got to school, A. was told to report to the teacher holding her first exam.  When she did, she was handed an exam and told to get to work on it.  She had 45 min. to do what the rest of the class had 2 hrs. to do.  Now, since it was Am. History, not even an  IB or AP course, she probably aced it.   BUT, her next exam was algebra 2/ trig. which is one of her more difficult subjects.  She said her hand and wrist were still shaking from the tension and pressure of rushing to finish the first test.  I’m furious.  Again.  I want to just scream, “Enough!!!” and go down there and just tell them what I think of this; of course, she doesn’t want any comotion in the form of mom.

After the awful day, when I picked her up, I took her to Olive Garden for a well earned treat.  Had soup and salad.  Food for the rest of the day was good.

Went to the gym this am: warm-up, machines, tm. 2.6mi., rower 12.5 min., and ladies lite aerobics.

Food:  oatmeal w/skim. V8, decaf tea w/skim………snack: f.f. cottage cheese, 6 cherries……..lunch:  KFC–3 chicken strips, mashed pots., coleslaw……………rest of day: 1/2 chocolate bar, 1 kiwi, bean salad, 2 Kashi crackers

I feel restless tonight.  Can’t figure out what I want to do, can’t sit still, can’t concentrate on a book or tv.  A. went to bed way early, good, she needs the rest; 2 more days of testing to go for her.

See ya later, chickadees!

Today will be about my mother as this would have been her birthday.

She was born in  a very small town in the hard coal (anthracite) mining region of  eastern Pa.  Her father was pure Irish and her mother pure German.  They met at a dance; he was 10 years older and quite an accomplished dancer from all I’ve heard.  My grandfather died before I was born and my grandmother when I was 10 months.  My mother’s actual name was Agusta Emma but she always went by Emma, hating Agusta.  (One of my aunts spilled this name info to me as a teen-ager and I tormented her ruthlessly by calling her “Gussie”. )  There were 8 children—one older brother died at 10 after being pushed down the schoolhouse steps (same place I went to elementary school) and a 2 yr. old younger sister died of scarlet fever.  An orphaned  female cousin, five yrs. older than mom was also raised in the household.  (She’s still living (the only one) and well into her 90’s!) My mother was in the middle of the siblings with an older brother and 2 older sisters.  Money was not plentiful, her father working in the mines and drinking up his pay.  The mother apparently “ruled the roost” with an iron hand.  The kids had to gather the good coal from the slag piles and do such things as pick huckleberries (wild and very small blueberries) which were then sold for  .10 cents a quart.  My mother was the first to manage to graduate from high school.  I understand she enjoyed playing basketball in high school, hard as I find that to believe. She wanted to train to become a nurse at the local hospital but it cost $75.00 and her uncle (who lived with the family—her mothers brother) would not loan her the money.  So she went to work sewing in a shirt factory at first then had various secretarial jobs.  At one of these she met my dad and they married and lived with her mother who was by now alone, a widow and ill, needing care.  She had difficulty becoming pregnant so it was quite a few years before I arrived.  She was, for the most part, a stay at home mom with occ. short lived jobs—-seasonal retail and once worked for a year or so in a flower shop.  She also cleaned for a neighbor for a short period.  Money was not abundant when I grew up.  To put it bluntly—we were extremely poor and would have probably been homeless if not for living in the family home, something I didn’t realize until many, many years later.  I was in junior high before we had a phone or an indoor bathroom (can you say outhouse?) I never realized how truly poor we were for the longest time.  When it came to stretching money, she was an absolute miracle worker.  It was a point of pride that we never took welfare or any of the free government food.  Maybe it was the constant worry about making ends meet that made her seem so unloving; all business, maybe it was the German—I don’t know, just that it seems so cold looking back.  She was in her late 50’s before she learned to drive and continued to do so long after it was a good idea for her to be on the road.  My dad died when she was about 77.  The next year my daughter was born, much to her delight.  I swear she finally had the outlet for the love she couldn’t manage to show me, which is a good thing.  My daughter will remember all the hugs and kisses and good stuff.  I brought her down here to live with me when she was 86 after surgery to clear a blockage in her carotid.  I moved her down in April but looking at her checkbook there was a definate change in the quality of her writing 4 months earlier and I believe she had something neurological occur at that time.  She lived 4 more years in a gentle kind of dementia, confused with patches of lucidness and died right here in this room, about 4 feet from where I’m sitting.  Her death, in large part, was the caused by what passes for medical care these days…..but that’s another blog.

Will add food and maybe edit some later, I’m spent for now.  This was emotionally exhausting to write; there’s so much that will never be resolved or understood.  Rest in peace, mom—love you.

Food: bfsk: 2 egg omlet w/ Swiss cheese and salsa, V8, f.f. vanilla yogurt w/ strawberries and blueberries, decaf. tea w/skim…….late lunch: tomato soup, mixed greens salad w/ tomatoes and olives and balsamic vinegar dressing.,  4 slices deli turkey…………snacks: peanuts, pistachios, last 3 Dove candies

G’nite, chickadees.

More than a dusting, probably less than 1/2 inch and it’s kind of crunchy cause of the drizzle that was mixed in—-just yucky and major cold.  We have a heat pump ( system is over 20 yrs. old; I should be grateful it’s still working at all) and it just can’t keep up when we go under about 35, esp. if it’s windy.  The house is built on a cement slab so the floors are super cold in winter.  I’ve noticed that my favorite gifts recently have to do with keeping warm—the electric mattress pad and now my L.L. Bean  lined bedroom slippers, which I’ve had on all day.  There’s rarely any medium—I’m either freezing or roasting but all in all I’d rather be warm.

A. has mid terms this week and I promised her a trip to Olive Garden for the soup and salad lunch one day.  So she has one thing this week to look forward to.  This I.B. program she’s in is sooooo hard; so glad it’s not me.  I would have sunk weeks ago.  She’s got a free ticket for a concert tonight from her school so I’ll have to go  out in this weather much as I don’t want to.

Food:  bfsk: oatmeal w/ skim, V8, banana, decaf tea w/ skim………lunch: cube steak w/ onions, bean salad…………..treats: 3 Dove chocolate cherry carmels—thought my dau. would discover these and they would disappear but so far not happening…..rest of the day: cherries–about 6, 1 slice Alpine Lace Swiss, pistachios–a handful, cup of cocoa @ Barnes and Noble; killed time there while my dau. was at the concert, it was very cold out tonight!!!!

Stay warm, chickadees!!

Well I suppose what snow we’re getting has started–looks pretty sparse so far, doubt if it’ll amount to much.  Driving home from a movie (In The Name of The King; not my choice!!) about 4:30 it was a sloppy mix of drizzle w/ a few flakes, but I just looked out  (7pm) and it’s all snow now but not the big fluffy flakes, not sticking either.

A. had a Sat. am world affairs lecture from 10 to 12n. so I killed time at Target–they had some good sales but I wasn’t in the mood to buy anything much.  Then we ate and went to the movie.

No exercise today, unless I count walking around Walmart.

Food:  bfsk: V8, oatmeal w/ skim, peach yogurt w/ 4 walnuts, decaf tea w/skim……………lunch: 1/2 pizza steak hoagie…………movie: popcorn, no extra butter or salt–this is the first time I’ve had this in ages and it was split 3 ways, about 3 sips root beer (this is rare, I hardly ever drink soda)………….dinner: not real hungry; just bean salad and 1/2 pear……….snack: had 3 of those Dove carmels

Got on scale today—no change.

Hope for SNOW, chickadees!

Believe it or not,  tomorrow we are to have rain changing to SNOW!!!!  This rain is supposed to back in off the Atlantic and combine with very cold air coming down the bay—we hardly ever get measurable snow!!!!!  ( I suppose you people who are sick of shoveling are shaking your heads at my glee.)  Me, I’ll believe it when I see it.  Wonder if I can find the snow shovel; haven’t needed it in years.  Must keep the bird feeder full, our birds aren’t used to foraging in snow  and they really do appreciate it.  Saw a new one at the feeder yesterday–red-breasted nuthatch, found in the area but not one of my usual feeder birds.  I’ve been adding chopped apples, a few walnuts and some almonds to the feed; maybe the goodies tempted him.  Also a dollop or two of peanut butter. 

Went to the gym this am: stretch and exercise mat, machines, walked 2.7 mi. then home.  Didn’t do yoga—for some reason just didn’t feel like it.  Ate bfsk. at usual time (5:45 am) but was completely starving by 9-needed more than just a snack–what’s that about???  happened yesterday too…..

Food:  bfsk: oatmeal w/skim, V8, 1/2 banana, decaf tea w/skim………10:00am: 1/2 deli lunchmeat chicken sandwich, mushroom soup, 1/2 pear…………….1:30pm: small cube steak w/onions, black eye peas…………7:30pm: last of the mushroom soup, vanilla f.f. yogurt w/ 12 cherries……….treats: 4 Dove dark chocolate w/ cherry carmels–these are a special edition for Valentines Day and they are not diet friendly but sooooooo good, figure I can have a couple (or 4) a day      

When A. got off the bus today we went over to the barn where they keep the theraputic riding horses that we volunteer with and had a horse “fix”—-she got to groom and love on her fav. who is now off the anti-psychotic meds and on a herbal supplement for treatment.  I groomed the one across the aisle.  I think there actually is something soothing about getting knots out of manes and tails!!  It really was good to see them all again, kind of like old friends.  I think the program starts up again in April.

Doing some laundry and planning a night in front of the t.v.  Oh, we did have sun today and it was wonderful.

Have yourselves a great week-end, chickadees!

Been trying to get caught up a little on others blogs.  With mid-terms coming next week, the computer is in pretty much constant use when we are home by A. and to be honest, I’ve just been lazy—about blogging, not that I ‘ve misbehaved food-wise, other than occ. foray into a good piece (or two) of chocolate.  When I was making goals I forgot to say that I would try to be more consistant taking my vitamins which I have accomplished so far.

Food has been good w/o going into each and every day.   I’m happy to be able to say I’ve kept my walking goal of 2mi. a day during the week.  I get large print library books so I can read on the tm.; today was 3mi. on the dot cause I finished up the book.  One by Rita Mae Brown; she writes mysteries with the star’s animals having personalities and helping out, very light easy reads; and she lives here in Va.

 I’ve been without a loss on the scale since I got on the scale early in the month until today—down 1/2 lb.!!!  I’ll take it.  One bright spot!!!!

Food today: oatmeal w/ skim. V8, decaf tea w/ skim………….later: 1/2 deli chicken sandwich w/ whole wheat bread, bean salad………….Main meal: salad of tomatoes and cucumber w/balsamic vinegar dsg. and homemade mushroom soup (turned out great-w/paprika, lemon, dill, fresh ground pepper, dash of soy)…………..lite dinner: hard boiled egg, blueberry yogurt w/extra blueberries.  Also had a few walnuts during the day.

It’s cold( but not as much as it has been today), windy, and rainy—I know we need it but gray days combined with short days don’t do much for me and my SAD.  We all know the only cure is sunshine.  I’ve been freezing all day no matter how high I put the thermostat.

Good sunny vibes, chickadees!!!  Will try to update food later….