Biscuits and Clothes...

Decided I couldn't stand it any more and made myself a batch of biscuits this morning. I had them left over after the eldest came to visit and started having one in the mornings. It stayed with me a lot longer than my regular breakfast so it's worth another try. Had one hard boiled egg with it and some light butter. Just a little over 300 calories including my coffee so I feel good about that. Will keep the left overs in a zip lock for as long as they will keep. Didn't know how much batter to use for just me and ended up with 9 biscuits. Will cut that in half next time so I won't have so many. 'Cause I'm sure they will spoil before 9 days is up, and I just hate wasting food. Especially with the economy the way it is right now. Gotta save every penny we can, you know.

Looked back at my calorie intake from this past week and it wasn't so good. Won't know until tomorrow just how bad or good it was, but mostly stayed around 1350 calories. I think I have to do better than that to show a loss on that scale demon. Boy this last 35 pounds sure is hard to get off. Yeah, yeah, I know don't put so much weight (pun intended) into the scales, just look at the way the clothes are fitting. Well, they aren't feeling any looser lately either.

Been giving some thought to making the trip, 70 miles, to the thrift store for some winter clothes. Haven't figured out yet if it will save me money with the gas prices the way they are or not. Probably be better off just going to Cato's next time I go to the dentist. Wally World had zip-point-shit the last time I was there. I really prefer shopping on line but don't know what size to order right now so will have to try them on, and I HATE trying on clothes.

Talk to ya later blog-buds.

Cleaning, Eating, Sleeping and Bears...

I haven't figured out yet why I'm even posting, so this may not even get a title or at least not get one until I have an epiphany. I guess I'm doing this because I'm bored and am afraid the great blog demon in the sky will strike me with an unusual and horrible illness if I don't post. I think I've only missed a couple of days since beginning with this and they were days that I was so down I didn't want to burden anybody else with my negative ramblings. So today I'm going to bore you with just ramblings.

Got my tail in gear and got the kitchen cleaned. Been trying to talk myself into it for quite some time. I mean when I'm the only one here, who cares if the dishes pile up and the table piles up with mail and other stuff I dump on it when entering the house. But, alas, I finally got tired of looking at it and I must say it has brightened my spirits some to have a tidy kitchen. Now I'll just be dirtying it up again when I cook supper. SIGH!

I have started sleeping on the couch at night. For some reason I just got tired of going up to that lonely bedroom by myself. I don't really understand that because my hubby never was able to climb the stairs and sleep up there after we built the place. It just all of a sudden got lonely up there. And the couch is closer to the bathroom if I have to get up in the middle of the night, which I haven't since I started sleeping down here. In the bed I'd wake up a lot throughout the night and on the couch I sleep like a log all night. Go figure.

Eating this past week has had some good days and some not so good days but no bad days. I had a taco salad last night. I used a cup of the chili I had frozen as my sauce to pour over it. I don't know what it is about that salad but after I eat one I feel so bloated I'm uncomfortable. Not full just bloated. Then an hour later I'm starving. I think I try to remind myself every time not to have one again but I don't listen to myself. I'm just soooooo stubborn that way.

A neighbor called me this morning and said she thinks some hunters killed my bear. They said they got a yearling about 100 pounds. So it may be the same one that visited me. How sad. I wish they'd hunt on other mountains besides this one. I love watching all the wild life. But I do understand that they need to be thinned out. Just wish they'd thin them out somewhere else. This is an unusual time for them to be having bear season. It's usually not until the second week of December but since the bear needed thinning they put in a week in September for it.

Can't think of anything else to ramble on about so, bye y'all.

Another Road Block Gone...

I finally did it! I got my sketching materials out yesterday. I haven't had them out or used any of them since hubby died. He was my bestest critic and it was just something that I wasn't looking forward to doing without him to tell me what needed work or what was perfect as was. Another road block removed!













I usually sketch animals. Here's a picture of one of my cats and the sketch I did of him with my watercolor pencils. Well, anyway. Yesterday I decided to try people. I'm still working on it. I've got the person looking like himself but I haven't captured the personality yet. I think this will be a long project. Can't decide if it is the eyes or what that hasn't captured the personality. Maybe I just can't do people and should stick to animals. Oh, I also do "pen and ink" sketches and have one hanging in our local county court house. It is a sketch of the building that houses the county offices.

Enough boasting about myself. But, hey, it's my blog and I can put anything on it I want, right?

Was listening to the news in the background while I'm typing this and just heard something interesting on their doctor's segment. Having night mares? Try fresh flowers on your night stand. He said that they did a study in England with people that were having horrible night mares. He said that after the people went to sleep they'd slip in and put a bouquet of fresh aromatic flowers right beside the bed and they'd have sweet dreams. Then when they'd slip rotten eggs in there they'd have night mares. He said that the sense of smell is the only sense that continues to work while we sleep sending signals to the brain. This makes sense to me because we all have experienced memories when we smell certain things. So for those of you out there that have night mares often it might be worth a try.

Have a wonderful Sunday, what's left of it anyway.

Let Them Eat Cake...

I finally figured out what happened that made my cake fall! Actually it was my daughter in NJ that brought it to my attention. But it's my blog and I want to take the credit. I live at 3100 feet above sea level and I keep forgetting that when I bake. Soooo, I looked at the box of angel food cake mix and saw the "high altitude" directions in little itsy bitsy teeny weeny type. So when I make the next one I'll follow those directions and it will probably be fine. I guess I didn't think about that because I don't bake very often and never have. I'm just a cook(er) not a baker at heart.

Eating has been on plan for this past week. Except the weigh-in day at the restaurant. Think I will rethink my splurge days and only have them on weeks that I show a loss as a reward instead of every week. They don't seem as important to me right now as they have been in the past. I've even been doing really well in the "snacking after dinner" respect. I've been trying to make sure I eat enough at dinner to get full and just talk to myself all evening telling myself that I'm not hungry and asking why should I eat if I'm not hungry. Then I allow myself a healthy dessert about 1-2 hours after dinner and sometimes that is all I want but most of the time I want something salty so I have a small 100 calorie pop corn or 100 calories worth of pretzels just before bedtime. I have discovered that if my tummy isn't a little full at bedtime I can't get to sleep. I just keep thinking about eating. And I realize that is all mental but it is still there.



Hope the rest of your weekend is a great one.

I'll Wear Jammies Anywhere...

I made Mary Frans cake (see yesterdays post for the link) and it is scrumptious. Only problem is that it fell. I've never baked an angel food cake before and I'm not sure what I did wrong. I didn't have a tube pan and had already decided to make it in loaf pans so I could freeze two of them for later. I followed the directions for loaf pans and everything. I had gotten a call earlier reminding me that it was a neighbors birthday and decided to take him one. Ugly as it was he really liked it. He knows that I can cook so he was a little surprised that my baking left a lot to be desired. I drizzled chocolate glaze on top of it to make it a "chocolate covered cherry" angel food cake. Didn't do that with the ones I kept for myself. Although I really wanted to. Wonder how it would be with chocolate chips inside? Hmmmm. No I don't think I'll do that either cause I would probably eat a whole loaf in one setting.

The friend that I lost a couple of weeks ago called me yesterday. I must have been on line because she left a message on voice mail. She apologized for what she had said to me but said she wasn't up to talking about it yet and she still sounded angry as all get out. So I'm not accepting that as an apology. It's going to take a whole lot more than that. And it's going to take a lot of time for the wounds to heal.

When I took the cake to the neighbor, I rode my 4-wheeler down there. It was a little chilly and I dressed accordingly. I stayed for an hour and a half and when I went out to come back home it had rained. Well, as you know 4-wheelers don't have tops to them so I had a very soggy butt when I got home. And in my new size medium jammie bottoms no less.

Yes, I wore my jammie bottoms to the neighbors house. You see this is the man that one of my daughters called to come and help me get out of bed when I had a cyst on my spinal column and woke up one morning and couldn't get out of bed on my own. Don't know what possessed me to call my daughter who then lived 2 1/2 hours away, but I guess I just wasn't thinking. But she had me hang up and called him to help me. I have to say that now I have no modesty at all around this man. He saw it all. I did have on a t-shirt and under pants but with all the pushing and pulling he had to do with me he definitely saw it all. And to beat it all I had to have him get a towel to put under me because I had to tinkle so bad I was afraid I'd soak the mattress before he got me up. He is one person I really call a friend.

Hope all of you have a great weekend.

Snifffffffffffff...

I hab a code. I woke up with it yesterday but forgot to mention it. That was fun at the dentist with all the nasal drainage running down my throat.

Boy am I ever looking forward to a regular meal today. Think I'll saute a chicken breast in a little olive oil along with some onion and garlic then sprinkle some cheese over it (wish I had some mushrooms). With Brussels sprouts and a big vine ripe tomato on the side, my mouth is watering already. And the best part is there will be enough for tomorrow night too without having to cook.

That's all for now folks.

Sex at the Dentist...

Why, oh, why do we do this to ourselves. Left for the dentist early armed with floss and a toothbrush, because I was stopping for lunch on the way. I did something I'd never done before. I went to a restaurant (instead of a drive through) all by myself. I've always been self conscious about eating alone in a restaurant so I just decided that today I'd give it a try and see how it went. I took my book and read between ordering and getting my meal. It went fine and I didn't feel awkward at all, like I thought I would. Then came the meal. It wasn't worth the calories. I was very disappointed with myself when I left. And to beat it all I gained a pound today too. I knew I would so I wasn't really disappointed about that. It seems that I always gain a half a pound to a pound after a good loss.

I stopped at Wally World on the way home and stocked up on Mary Fran's crack (granola bars), protein bars and stuff for low fat desserts. That stuff I can not get at my local market so I have to stock up on it when I'm near Wally World. I even got the ingredients to make the scrumptious looking cake Mary Fran talked about the first of this week. I decided to bake it in small loaf pans and try freezing it, because I don't think I can wait until company comes to try it. So, just in case I really like it, I got enough stuff for two batch's so I'll have it for my company in October.

While I was at Wally World I also bought myself a pair of flannel jammie bottoms in a size medium and THEY FIT! I also picked up a size large shirt to keep around and work to under-grow into it. I didn't try it on there because, of course, it wouldn't fit. When I got it home and looked closer it is half spandex. ARGH! That thing is going back in two weeks when I go back to the dentist to get my crown. What I found interesting is that all the clothes in the plus size section of that dreadful store were really cute and the stuff in the regular section were hideous.

Something interesting happened at the dentist. I have to precede it with the fact that my dentist is a very good looking, tall, silver haired, 50ish, hunk. Very, very nice to look at with my mouth gaped opened, but I digress. I took my book in there with me because he is always running back and forth between two patients and I usually have some down time while waiting on him to return his attention on me. I was reading and all of a sudden the book had a really, really sexy scene in it. I slammed it shut immediately. There is no way I could have read something like that and then looked at him with his hands in my mouth without blushing. And I don't blush easily, folks.

I can't figure out why I'm setting here typing when I should be dead to the world in bed. I couldn't get to sleep last night. Kept turning the light back on and reading after a half hour of trying to fall asleep. The last time I turned the light off was after 5:00 AM. So I've been running all day on about 4 1/2 hours of sleep and I'm really not that sleepy right now.

Have a happy, out there.

Group Therapy...

Stayed on eating plan yesterday. And I have to admit I did step on the scales a couple of times this past week but it wasn't an obsession like it had been. I think that week of having it covered up helped. I was really tickled one evening when I did it that my weight was the same as the weigh-in morning but it is back up this morning one pound. Official weigh-in is tomorrow and I have been really good this past week except one day so hopefully it will pay off. If not I won't be discouraged, because I already know that the weight loss isn't consistent with me at this point.

As I'm setting here typing this I'm wondering why I want to get down to 150. I already feel better, a LOT better. I already look better, a LOT better. I don't have anyone in my life to look better for except myself. So maybe I'll just keep doing what I'm doing because it makes me feel better. My BMI is still in the overweight range but not in the obese range anymore. I know! ::did you just see the light bulb light up:: I'll just keep going until I can wear a large shirt comfortably. Then reevaluate the situation. Sounds like a plan. Course I haven't been to the doctor in over a year to see what he thinks I should do and maybe that would be something I should do. I'll think that one over too.

Have to go to the dentist tomorrow and I really hate that. Hopefully this will be the last tooth he will be working on for a while. Well, since it will be another crown it will take at least two trips to get it finished, but...

It is really funny about this blogging stuff. I whine or rant about something that is bothering me and then the next day it isn't bothering me. Sometimes the problem returns and thankfully you all don't seem to mind me reiterating my problems so it continues to help to vent. This blog world is very therapeutic.

See Ya...

Power and Recipes...

D-a-m-n that power company. Woke up this morning to the power being off AGAIN. When I called to report it I got a recording that it was a scheduled outage to replace some equipment. I finally got a customer relations person on the phone and asked why I wasn't being notified about the "scheduled" power outages. They told me that they put it in the local newspaper this time. I then relayed the info that our local newspaper is only a once a week edition and is not home delivered. She then said that it wasn't a "scheduled" outage (yea, right), after telling me that it was put in the newspaper. I told her that they could use automated phone calls like they use when the power is restored. I requested that they use another form of communication than the newspaper and she said she would be putting a note on my account to call me to inform me or send me a post card. I even told a little fib that I had a doctors appointment this morning and couldn't take a shower before going and that I had to cancel my appointment. I bad. Now we'll see if that works.

And to beat it all I had just reset the microwave and stove time because we don't have any storms coming our way that could knock it out. Guess I'll just leave those unset and maybe the power will stay on.

Have been staying on plan and that was a really hard thing this weekend. Living alone and not working really play havoc on my self control. All I can think about all day long EVERY day is food. What will I have for breakfast? And as soon as that is completed, what will I have for lunch? And after that...you get the picture. And since I'm at home where the refrigerator and cupboards are it makes it really hard not to think about food. Then the cravings start. All of a sudden out of the blue a food will pop into my head that I haven't had for a while and it drives me crazy. Last night it was nuts. Peanuts, almonds, cashews were all I could think of. Thank goodness I don't have any of those in the house. I know they are good for me and wouldn't hurt to have a controlled amount but I also know me and know that is one food I can not control.

I've tried my hobbies as a distraction and that doesn't help because while doing the hobbies food stays on my mind. I just can't seem to chase that demon away. Even while exercising I think of food. This must be how an alcoholic feels. But at least alcoholics can rid their surroundings of boose, I can't.

I have had a couple of people ask me for recipes lately so I am going to start another blog that is just recipes. I will put a link to it on my side bar so you can go and get them if you like. I will add WW points to each recipe and calories. These are recipes that I've been using my whole life but have made them weight friendly and they are still scrumptious. So be on the lookout, it will appear sometime today.

Have a great week blog-buds.

Short, Short...

Not much going on today and I have no epiphanies. So this will be short.

Eating was relatively good yesterday and so far today.

Got the chili made and most of it in the freezer. I'd almost forgotten how much I love the stuff and it sure is hard for me to have just one cup but that's what I do now. I'd really love to set down and eat it the way I used to but know that I would regret it later. I like it with cheese on top and a huge piece of cornbread soaked in butter. Oh, well those times are past. And one day I will have that again, AFTER, I'm at my goal weight.

Hope your weekend is a happy one.