Snow, snow, snow!

Because I work from home, I can look cheerfully out at the piles of snow, the icy roads, and the cars creeping timidly along and love every minute of it! I sip my spicy tea while I type, type, type in my flannel jammies and thank God that I am here at home and not forced to drive on those awful roads!

The only thing I'm not thankful for is my proximity to the edible goodies right under my own roof. There is only one way to describe the way I have been eating for the last 3 days -- crazy stupid!! Today I have done much better, though, and my water intake is getting back up to where it should be. I'm making this confession in keeping with the spirit of this blog...all is not perfect in my weight-loss world, and that's why I'm talking about it. It really does help me to think before I eat because I know that I am in some small way accountable to others for breaking the bad habits I have gotten into and transparent enough to let you know I am struggling with it right now!

Back to the snow... Carol-Ann asked me to take some pictures of our snow since in her neck of the woods there is not much snow anymore. I didn't realize that before. When I lived there 30 years ago it seemed as if we had quite a bit, and it stayed on the ground all winter. Here in Colorado it falls heavily at times, but soon the sun comes out and melts it. If it is too cold to melt, the snow somehow gets absorbed by the dry air and finally disappears (sort of like a frost-free freezer, I guess!), so we have the beauty, but we don't get too bogged down with accumulated snow.

Here are a few pictures I took today. (Clicking on them will give you lots more detail.)

Looking from our front porch along the side of the house. See the kitty footprints in the light snow on the sidewalk!

The evergreen bushes in front of our front porch. You can see Denver on the horizon down below.

Looking west from our driveway across the fields with the "castle building" and the mountains in the distance.

Our back yard, where you can see the tracks of Lucky, a neighbor dog, who was checking out every tree and bush! I think I should learn something from Lucky. She was using up a lot of calories chasing around in the snow like that!

My Christmas Blessing

My dutiful subconscious woke me early this morning. Yesterday was all rush and run, and I dreaded the thought of leaving my warm cocoon, but that internal clock knew it was time to put the turkey in the oven, and there was no off button on the alarm!

It was early and dark, but... What?? Is it snowing?! A minute before, I had been dry-eyed and draggy from lack of sleep! Now, peering through the window was not enough, so I tiptoed back into the bedroom for my shoes and squeezed out the back door.
My Christmas blessing came first thing this morning before the busy world woke up, not from my wonderful family or the carefully-wrapped gifts or the delicious food, but from this -- stillness, quietness, purity -- a perfect picture of peace. It melted right down into my heart and has stayed with me all day, an outward picture of the inward heart-peace of Christmas!

Holiday Celebration Tips!

My friend Heather sent me this, and I just had to share it with you! I needed a laugh, and I hope you laugh as hard as I did!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's a treat! Enjoy it! Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:
'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, sandwich in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO what a ride!'

My Trip -- Part 2

In 1977 (many, many moons ago -- in fact, was I even alive then??), I was engaged to Barry, but we did not plan to get married for another long year, so I enrolled in the one-year secretarial course at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. That was an excellent decision because what I learned that year has been the foundation for all the work I have done since then. Typing, grammar, and shorthand skills weren't the only benefits, though. Three of us students -- Pat, Frances, and I -- became friends and spent a lot of time studying together and hanging out between classes.

Over the years, Pat has been just wonderful about keeping in touch with me. She wrote lots of letters before the days of email and sent pictures and Christmas cards. I have not been nearly as good at that as she has, but I have always admired her ability to do it so well. Thirty years later, we still love to keep in touch which is much easier now with emails back and forth and blogs and such! Still, there is nothing like getting together and gabbing the hours away over coffee, which is exactly what we did during my visit with Carol-Ann. Here is Pat, looking back at me from across the coffee-shop table.

This is a weight-loss blog, so I am duty bound to say that I totally resisted the urge to get more than coffee! We were surrounded by goodies at this wonderful coffee shop, but I raised my chin and stiffened my upper lip! (Actually, I better be honest and admit that I had just eaten!) Now, though, we are starting into the Christmas season with all the goodies and big meals that go with it.

This is my plan: Keep drinking more water, take only one helping at meals, give in and eat only one little sweet each day, and run around like crazy to burn off calories!!

On a more serious note, though, I have been thinking about how in some parts of the world there is no need for weight loss because there is not even enough food to sustain healthy life. So let's remember this Christmas to be very thankful for our many, many blessings!

My trip!

I'm home, and it is hard to believe that my long-awaited visit to see my family is already over!! It is hard to get my feet on the ground after such a GREAT visit with Carol-Ann and her family and our mother. They all made me feel so comfortable and at home, and we had just the best time talking, laughing, playing our instruments together, EATING TOGETHER... This was one of those visits when staying another few days would have suited me just fine, and Carol-Ann did have some of that wonderful bread left over...

It was so good to catch up with all the goings-on and interests of the family. I wish I were better with the camera, though. I seem to think of all the pictures I wish I had taken after I get home when it is much too late to do anything about it! I do have one or two and will use them later.

I came home to find that Barry had been working very hard while I was gone. In addition to taking care of Coral, he had put up the tree and added Christmas lights in four of the windows. He had also bought and assembled a storage unit (with doors) that we wanted to get for the office to help get us organized.

Speaking of the office, SOME people were naughty while I was away!

Elmo was trying to take over my computer! And Coral was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe!!! I had to chase him out of my office before he could make my computer crash! It was hard to be mad with him, though, with him so carefully dressed in his smart blue-striped shirt!

I am almost caught up with the doctor's dictation that had piled up while I was gone. He had 7 tapes for me, and 6 are done, so you know I was serious about chasing Elmo away from my computer!

Weigh-in is tomorrow morning, and I'm trying not to over-expect! Best wishes on your little get-on-the-scale ceremony, Carol-Ann!

Let's Try Gearing DOWN This Time!

We have learned some awesome things this past week. One of them being that we are much better encouragement to each other in the area of weight-loss when we are FAR APART!

It was a wonderful week sitting here stuffing our little faces with bread and bread and more bread! We have ZERO will-power when we are together! We want to pamper each other with food, it seems! Well, I guess we've finally found a good reason why it is better to live in different countries far enough away to need to fly rather than drive for a visit!

Mom and Bruce and Kinza and I just loved having you here for a few days! Mom said as soon as the front door closed, Mini dashed to the chair and leaped up to watch us out the window when we left to take you to the airport. She said when the car finally disappeared down the road, only then did Mini give in to the reality that we'd left without her and she flopped sadly to the floor where she remained for the entire hour+ that it took for us to get back home! We've joined her with the droopy puppy ears and big sad eyes!

Thanks for all the effort it took to come and try out my new scale!

Gearing up!

Tomorrow is the next weigh-in! I think we should put Elmo's vest and scarf on him and stuff those bulbous feet into heavy shoes so he will gain some weight! Best wishes for good numbers and better figures for all of us!

To be honest, I would love to see my numbers plummeting rapidly, but I know slow and steady is more in my best interests for healthy weight loss that lasts.

I'll be eagerly checking those stats tomorrow!

How is everyone doing?

Our blog has been quiet this week! It's time to post again to keep in touch.

Exactly a week from now, I will be in the final throes of packing to go visit Carol-Ann and her family and our mother!! How exciting is that?!!

Here's my confession for this week -- I had wanted to break the 180 mark before this visit to Canada, but I'm not sure that will happen. There is only one more week to go, so we will have to see what happens by then.

I have been somewhat taken aback by the number of obstacles I have run into on this seemingly straightforward plan. Just three "little" things in my plan: Eat less, drink more water, and get more exercise. Suddenly we are swamped with celebrations involving food. And I am finding it is a challenge to remember to get up from my computer to get water and be active.

I work at home as a medical transcriptionist. I take the patient information recorded by the doctor and turn it into a professional printed medical record to be put into the patient's chart. This is a very challenging job. I didn't know the half of it when I was beginning this four years ago! I thought it was going to be about learning the millions of medical words and phrases and short forms, the multitude of medicines on the market with their brand names and generics, all the parts of the amazing human body. Little did I know that...

The doctor is often in a hurry, tired at the end of the day, and not speaking clearly. Sometimes he yawns loudly, talking all the time. Sometimes she is sitting by a ringing phone that no one is answering. Sometimes she drowns out her own voice with the flapping and snapping of x-ray films she is putting up onto the lighted screen. Sometimes he pronounces medications all wrong, even spells them incorrectly. Sometimes he really needs to blow his nose but instead he keeps...Well, you get the idea...!! Being able to type enough lines to make a reasonable income requires mentally fastening yourself to your computer chair and staying there for long hours each day.

This is working against me! The only things active in my office are my fingers! I get myself into the most ergonomically comfortable position I can find, one that requires the least possible movement of my arms and wrists. So this has been a big challenge to me in this current little project we are in!!

Another side to the story ... just when I am ready to give up, the doctor says something like this, "The patient lost her job recently due to her level of pain and is now without insurance. She is not being charged for today's visit," and I forget all about the irritations along the way! (Here's my paraphrase of 1 Peter 4:8 -- Admiration and respect cover a multitude of sins.)

Keeping Track of Mid-Age Spread with a Spreadsheet!

Well, this is the first time I've thought of using a spreadsheet to keep track of my middle-age spread! Very good, Jeanette! It makes a lot of sense -- especially since your day is spent at the computer! When you come to visit in a couple of weeks you can teach me about spreadsheets! That is something I have never, ever used!

So far I have tried to do this without calorie-counting. My method has been to say goodbye (as much as possible) to bread, cookies, muffins, tea-biscuits, pasta, cake, pie, rice and potatoes. Now the rice and potatoes are not a complete deletion and I do cheat with a tea biscuit once or twice a week. However, I am a bread-a-holic! Bread, buns ... my goodness! I can't be trusted! So the bread and all its relatives are 100% gone during this weight-loss spree. And when I get done, I might just continue with that! Honestly, if you set me beside a toaster with a loaf of bread, a tub of "I Can't Believe it's not Butter" and a bottle of marmite, I'll shnorffle down 4 slices before you can say, "STOP"!

So starches are cut way back and grease and oil also. We tend to have mostly chicken or fish. We've switched from ground beef to ground chicken or ground turkey -- just as delish but less fat! And of those two, the chicken is much less fat than the turkey!

What I DO need to improve on is my water-drinking and exercise. I tend NOT to drink during the day because I'll do almost ANYTHING to avoid the need to use public washrooms and then I sit in my car to drive to my clients and I sit and talk to them before going back out to sit in my car! Lotta calories MUST burn with the driving tensions, though! Good grief!

Black Monday!

We had Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving, and I hear that today is Black Monday which is for online shopping. But for me, this is Black Monday because my weight loss slipped into reverse. I'm not too thankful for this aspect of Thanksgiving! It could have been much worse, though, so today I am climbing back up on the wagon. Kudos to Carol-Ann who is still on track with her weight loss!

My plan for the week:
1. Start writing down every morsel that I swallow.
2. Measure my water in the morning and make sure it is all gone before bed.
3. Walk every day.

Helpful hint that works for me (when I do it, that is!):
Keeping a careful log of everything I eat and the approximate number of calories. This works for me because I tend to lose my grip on exactly how much I have eaten and usually feel like it has been less than it really is. I made an Excel spreadsheet that totals everything for me, so as the day goes along, I can see how much more food I may have. It helps me to make wiser choices when I see that total mounting and know that I still actually want to be able to have some dinner without going over my limit!! I have been trying to keep the total number of calories right around 1200.

WHAT? I have to get on the scale in the morning?!

Are you going to prop me up and hold me there?

(Thanks to Cary for the pic!)

Thanksgiving Day

What a great time we had today for Thanksgiving. There were 16 of us, and everyone had a great time. There was our family of 4, Gord and Paula with Nathaniel as well as Ji Won and Jonathan (Korean high school students who live with them), our elderly friend Warren who always shares Thanksgiving with us, and the DiLorenzo family - Peter (dad) and his four sons (twins who graduated from high school last year and two younger boys under 10) along with a Japanese high school student (young man) who lives with them. (Mom is a nurse and had to work most of the day.) I have missed having teenagers around!

ELMO'S FASHION SHOW! As promised, Elmo has had his photo shoot. He is posing in our dining room.




Here he is, dressed for extra warm weather in his BVDs!












Elmo dreaming of the beaches in Hawaii!

















Blue jeans and smart blue-striped shirt, perfect for hanging out with Bert and Ernie and, of course, Coral!

















Just in case of snow, Elmo is ready in this trendy vest and scarf set!

















We have had so much fun with Coral's birthday present from Aunt Paula and Uncle Gord -- clothes for Elmo!
"A merry heart does good like a medicine." -- Proverbs 17:22

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Birthday!

I snatched this Thanksgiving pic from Amrita's blog!
Happy Thanksgiving you guys!
Take the skin off of it and eat as much turkey as ya want!

He told me to let you know he's sorry he's late,
but Elmo wanted to say "Happy Birthday" to you, Coral!

What does this week look like for you?

Congratulations, Roger! What great weight loss! Maybe you could comment on what has worked so well for you thus far??

I'm doing a mental review of what is happening this week, and I'm going to need a will of steel to have any loss at all next Monday. Today is my daughter Coral's birthday. She is 28. In case you are reading this and aren't familiar with our family, she has cerebral palsy (considered severe) and has a wheelchair as her constant companion. In fact, it is quite clearly an extension of herself. We must talk in code if anything on it needs fixing, as such an event is truly unconscionable, and any talk about it will precipitate a "scene," to put it nicely! All this to say that tonight we are celebrating 28 great years with pizza and ice-cream cake (her personal favorites). Woo-hoo for my waistline!

Then Thursday is Thanksgiving where I live, so guess what is happening in my house? A turkey will be roasting to a delicious golden brown, I will be whipping potatoes with butter and sour cream, there will be stuffing and all the trimmings, and pie with whipped cream for dessert! Oh, dear! The good thing about hosting this at my house, though, is that I will be too busy to do the overeating of which I know I am capable.

Your prayers for my self-control will be truly appreciated, and I'll be praying for yours, too. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." --Galatians 5:22,23

Wait? Weight?

Ready.....Set.....WAIT!
There's still another day before we have to do the weight thing!
Let's not rush this!

Two small squares of dark chocolate!

Just two small squares! That's all! But after not having anything sweet for nearly two weeks, I feel like I just indulged in two whole chocolate bars!

Let's see... do I have any confessions to make? Well...

I ate that fast food meal after the funeral on Tuesday, and that makes me feel like the week is a failure. (One meal couldn't ruin the whole week, could it?!) The rest of the time I have not gone back for seconds on food and have not eaten sweet things (except for the dark chocolate!) and have not eaten between meals for the most part. Still, I don't feel like I have lost much at all thus far this week.

One thing I have been failing on, and this might be the key to why I feel like I do, is I have been forgetting to drink water. I have not been drinking nearly my 8 glassess a day, and I'm sure that is making me sluggish and bloated. [Whoever thought up the word "bloated" really knew what they were doing! Just say it slowly and see what I mean!]

For the rest of this week, I am going to concentrate on the water. Has anyone else had a tough time trying to change habits this week? I think I've made progress in the sense that I am now thinking about not eating before I actually do it instead of saying "Oh, no!" after I've already eaten when it is too late to rectify the deed!

The 21-Day Test!

Best wishes on tomorrow's weigh-in, Carol-Ann! I'm hoping to see your weight down noticeably, and mine, too, for that matter. This is the best teamwork I have ever had with weight loss, so I'm feeling really encouraged!

I was thinking today that a lot of this is about habit-changing. Today, for the first time, I was going to eat something and then changed my mind because of tomorrow's weigh-in. I have to admit that this week has been tougher than I thought it would be, primarily because of my nagging stomach...nag, nag, nag! It is in the habit of being fed often and doesn't want to break that habit at all! I've been told that if you can hang in there for 21 days, old habits will lose their grip and new ones will begin to take over. So let's hang in there for 3 weeks and see what happens!

See your weight in the morning! (Dum, Da-Dum Dum DUM Dum!)

Cluck, Cluck!

OK, OK, I confess!
I just shnorffled down THREE pieces of KFC!

I don't even like KFC!
So what's the scoop? Rebellion! Sheer rebellion!

I'm gonna show y'all that I can do what I want and STILL weigh less tomorrow morning -- so THERE! Now I gotta go get some Ginger Ale to cut the grease and some Pepcid AC to deal with the indigestion!

Give Credit to Where It's Due!

Well, now that this has so quickly morphed into a public blog, I feel like I need to make some statement of credit for the header. Truth is, I have no idea where I lifted it from on the net. When I found it, it was actually a picture of a rock-bald old man in his undershirt and PJ bottoms. Thanks to a little bit of "paint", it became what it currently is and his big beer belly actually looks like our big ... well, just in case Mama reads the blog we'll leave it at that!

Talking about Mama, she was relieved of her last big belly 51 years ago today. Hubby decided we should celebrate that at The Mandarin this afternoon -- unfortunately, the kick-back may reflect in my sidebar on Monday!

Hunger Pangs = Encouragement

I have to get my encouragement wherever I can, and today it is in the hunger pangs! I don't like them very much and would really prefer to satisfy them with some munchies. BUT ... right now I am choosing to be encouraged by them. What do they mean? They mean that my stomach is not getting what it is used to getting; in fact, it is getting less than it wants. That's a good thing, but nothing seems to be satisfying them today. They keep gnawing even after that piece of chicken and the veggies should have quieted them. What's up with that?? I would like to forget about my stomach, but no, it has to gnaw, gnaw, gnaw... and not on food, I might add!

I did get a big boost today, though! The supervising nurse made a home visit to check up on Coral's health, make sure everything is going well, and check on the aide that comes each afternoon. I haven't seen her for about 3 months. She is a young mother, probably early 30s, trim and attractive.

As soon as she came in, she said, "Wow! Have you lost weight?"

Taken aback, I said the first thing that came to mind! "It's the black top I'm wearing!"

"No," she insisted. "It has to be more than that."

So I admitted, "Well, I have lost a little bit."

"How much?" She had this by the scruff of the neck and would not let it go!

"About 10 pounds."

"That's impossible! You have to tell me it is at least 15 or 20!"

I'm telling you, new energy is beginning to pump through these now sleek and svelte muscles! My face is beginning to glow! Wrinkles are disappearing! I am at least 20 years younger!!

Oh, the power of someone noticing that I did not give in to the hunger pangs! Her honest and genuine compliment to me today has made it so much easier to endure this journey I am on. There is a lesson in here somewhere...

EXERCISE? That's Just a Quack Notion!

Sorry, sis, when it comes to targeting exercise, I'm just a duck ... a sitting duck! Let's see ... you could climb stairs -- but who would want to do that?!

And then there's always sit-ups and push-ups!

OK, so what do we decide? Do we public-eyes this blog to put ourselves under further constraint?! That weekly weigh-in is gonna be for all to see!

I think I'm losing at losing!

Oh, dear! Since I weighed in last, it has been one celebration after another. Monday night we celebrated Kevin's birthday with pizza and an ice cream cake. No amount of saying "no" to the ice cream was heeded by the hostess! However, because I did so well the rest of the day, I was still down 0.2 pounds yesterday. But oh, dear! I did so well yesterday until the evening, when Barry wanted to go out to eat as a family prior to his departure for New Jersey today to visit his Mom. That was a great idea, and I picked something on the healthy side (translation: it did not include fries and a bun), but I still ate more than I should have.

On the positive side:
1. I have managed to completely stay away from sweets (except for the slice of ice cream cake!) That is a real step up from the last couple of weeks when I was going bonkers.
2. I have increased my activity level.
3. I am drinking more water.

Still needing improvement:
1. Quantity of food eaten.
2. Activity level -- I discovered that the treadmill is not working right, so walking inside during breaks from computer work is not possible at this point. I need to figure out an alternative that I can do inside for just 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Ideas?

Old Scale? New Scale?

Well, here's a solution to the problem of which scale to use!
I'm gonna take my old one and my new one and put a foot on each!