Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Fall From Power

Well, that was fun!  I certainly enjoyed the glimpse into long ago and far away.  It's difficult to remember when I was a princess and reigned the world.  What happened?  Well when you have 4 children in 6 years there is not nearly as much time to sit in front of the mirror and consider whether your eyes or lips are your best facial feature.  You become Cinderella rather than the princess.  It's really a cruel twist :)  Nothing in all my years of princess training prepared me for it - certainly not 6 years of ballet lessons.  Still, oh so worth it.  You are still the center of some very special little peoples universe... you just have to do all the work.  My children would tell you however, that I gave birth to them all just because I wanted slaves.  If only they had learned how to clean the house... :)  Fast forward 25 years and now the queen mum is chubby but happy in her own little paradise built by a loving husband who is the king of everything.  Really he is more like a court jester :)  And now I am beginning to enjoy watching my babies raise babies of their own.  Ha ha!  :)  I have no idea where this is going... I think I have left the hair dye in too long and the fumes are affecting my brain. But again... so worth it... when I am done I will look about 3 days younger.  :)

So... 157.3 and glucose 99.  I have bounced around this past week beating 157 to death but over all I have made some progress - about 12 pounds in what... 6 weeks.  I just took a break to wash that hair dye out and upon fixing my hair and getting dressed in my skinniest jeans... (sure I had to jump up and down a little to button up those size 8 jeans) and a pretty green shirt that perfectly matches my pendant (yes... I still like jewels) I was briefly very satisfied with my appearance.  I say briefly because as I stood in front of the mirror turning from side to side - a skill I perfected long ago and far away, admiring my thinner form I remembered that I was at some point going to have to breathe.  (Insert huge sigh here)  Now that I have cleaned up the shattered mirror I am going to take a trip to visit Beto in Zumbaville.  If I am a very good girl and keep my hands out of the cashew jar I just might be able to report 156. something tomorrow.  

Happy Wednesday and Ciao!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Princess... I can't believe I am doing this :)

It has been suggested that I take a day off and allow this guest writer to amuse us with the following story.  If you are closely related to the princess you will be familiar with this tale.  It has been said that beloved fairy tales begin with an element of truth and over time take on the character of those telling the tale.  It is certainly true in this case.  If any of the "band of brothers" are reading this... best not to enjoy too much as I believe there is also a fable named... Little Blue Sambo.  Enjoy :)

THE PRINCESS

A short story by her father, Wally Taylor of Bear Spring, Tennessee

There once lived a beautiful young princess in a far off city called Birmingham, Alabama. She had long curls, and was fair, freckled and very fast on her toes. She held total dominion over her subjects, her brothers, two older and one younger, with an iron hand. One fine day, her brothers, who suffered mightily under her iron discipline, decided that they would try to discover the source of her power, and by so doing, be able to increase their strength and reduce the might of their sovereign princess. Their plans were formulated with great cunning and considerable trepidation, for should they be discovered, the full wrath of the fiery princess would descend upon their wretched heads. In the fullness of time, a day came when our fair lady was attending to her personal needs, in the sanctuary of her bathing room. A great hue and cry arose, with the accompanying din of a clanging bell, while three noble citizens named Genus, Patricus and Jeffro cried out--”FIRE!, FIRE!, FIRE“. Her majesty, who had been firmly ensconced upon her throne, deep in thought about the weighty affairs affecting her domain, upon hearing the terrified cries of the poor citizenry, leaped up from her throne, without the help of any attendants, and fled into the hallway of her palace. Her very deeply concerned brothers rushed to her aid and excitedly advised her that she might suffer grave harm in running, if she did not retrieve her royal panties, which being around her ankles, could be a great hindrance to flight. Instead of being gracious and thankful for their kind thoughts and solicitations, she raged and roared at them as they fled shrieking out of the palace. It was later revealed that a false alarm had been raised, and that a certain trio of oppressed brothers had, indeed, seen the source of the fair princess’s power. The conspiracy was discovered and the rebellion was short lived, for the princess soon gathered her reins and swiftly punished the foolish knaves. For years, thereafter, however, in humble homes and around cheerful hearths, the story of the valiant band of brothers would be told and retold, uplifting the hearts of countless oppressed kin, giving hope and optimism to all who aspire to rise above the meanness of their circumstances. The end.


Now how am I supposed to follow that?  :)  I won't.  I'll just report that the fat princess is having some trouble with cashews and seems to be bouncing back and forth rather than losing weight.  The fatometer measures her girth this morning as 159.7 and glucose 98.

If you enjoyed this tale please comment and thank my guest writer as he will be waiting with great anticipation to see how this was received by my four readers :)

Ciao!

Monday, June 28, 2010

The People of Walmart...

You've seen them!  Seems like I get a new updated list of the tackiest people in the world about once a month in my email in box.  I'm getting to where I don't even open them any more.  Up until we moved to Chewbaccaville I would not even step foot in Walmart.  Yuk!  Why would you go to Walmart when you could go to Nordstrom for clothing or Central Market for food???  Things have a way of changing.  Now a trip to Walmart is the big event of the week - and if we go to Big R too we know we have really been to town.  I had planned to go to Walmart on Saturday with little Aubrey but we got about 5 miles down the road and I realized that I just did not have the energy to chase a little not quite two year old around the store so after dropping her off I went in to do some quick shopping.  Here's where I must confess... although I don't open the emails anymore... I do play I spy in the store.  I always find one candidate who could be the Walmart poster child for the day.  I know... I'm really a very bad person!  :)  Anyway... I was finishing up in the food section and remembered I needed some tooth paste so I headed across the store to find that.  I was just passing the ladies clothing department when bam!  There she was!  No make up... hair sticking out at strange angles from tacky clips.  Shirt and shorts that looked horrible together and legs the color that ought to have made God ashamed that he created people that color!  You can imagine my mortification to discover that I had caught my reflection in one of those full length mirrors!  Oh man!  I looked around to see if anyone was watching :) then decided to just leave... did not even get the toothpaste.  I just wanted to get out of there.  I headed for the shortest line possible and checked the next mirror to see if I still had all my teeth.  I finally got all my stuff loaded onto the check out conveyor belt and ran my bank card through the machine.  As I waited for the scan pad to produce the screen for me to sign the cashier looked up and said, I'm sorry ma'am but your card was declined!    What!!!!  How embarrassing!  I wrote a check (why would they let you write a check after having a declined card?) and left the store completely humiliated!  Of course I called the bank and discovered that they put a stop on the card because of some unusual transactions in FLORIDA!  Dave!  Well one can only live with so much ugly for one day so I went home and mowed and planted flowers so my yard would be all pretty... I really wanted to get that whole Walmart experience out of my head.  Here's what I planted.

I guess there is no hope... I'm a confirmed Walmart shopper...

Well... after all that I guess I better go ahead and report the stats which are 157.6 and glucose 103 so I'm back on track.  Have a great Monday!

Ciao!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Turn Around! You are going the wrong way!

158.4 and glucose 116.  :(  I guess popcorn is off the list.  At least the whole bag anyway.  I was just testing... yeah... that's it.  Just testing.  It was good!  :)  Well tonight I doubt there will be munching.  I have to take Aubrey home today and when I get back I have to mow all the lawns and down by the creek (because the enormous dandelions are about to bloom) and catch up on some house work such as washing little tiny hand prints off the windows :)  I'm going to miss my little fairy munchkin.  When she falls asleep she squishes her face right up to mine and keeps inching closer so that I have to pick her up and scoot her ooooover!    The chicks will think they have been abandoned too.  Nobody will feed them every 15 minutes.  Guess I better dust too.  Before Dave for Florida left he had a 20 item list of things to do and the only thing he didn't get around to was dusting.  He also said, "don't you just love coming home to a clean house?"  :)  I'll dust really well and then fill his side of the bed with sand so he will feel like he is still on VACATION IN FLORIDA.  What a brat!  He keeps reminding me of the time I went without him on a class trip with Michele's 5th grade class to Washington DC.  Granny I hope you are reading this cause you would really enjoy what I'm about to say next... Can you say SINGAPORE????    Here's a nice pic of Dave enjoying his Florida vacation...  Thank you Amberlyn... this makes it all worth while :)  I love you both!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

It's Saturday!!!

This will have to be really fast!  Since Aubrey woke up at 5:45 she is already taking a nap.  This morning we have already fed the chicks, chased the little calf back in the pasture, we ran through the sprinklers, had breakfast and a bubble bath :)  Whew!  What a busy girl!
After nap time we are going to Colville.

Yesterday I ate bad stuff!  I didn't really go crazy on the calories but I had a soft shell taco.  The healthy kind but still... bread.  That would have been ok except for the fish sticks I made for Aubrey.  She loved them but did not eat them all so... yeah... breading.  Then there was the cheese nachos I made before going to bed.  :(  I didn't use too much cheese but... tortilla chips.  It should be no big shock that my glucose want from 80 yesterday to 105 this morning.  Plus... the sodium in the chips probably caused some water retention so I am back to 158.3.  Waaahhhhh!  There you have it.  Well... we are going to the market to make sure I have some healthier options.  I'm thinking about making a chicken pistachio salad for lunch :)  yum!  Dinner?  Hmm... my cuz posted a link to a cool food website:  allrecipes.com  showing some seriously tasty bruschetta.  I think I will make that - only I'll switch out the grilled baguette for some rounds of grilled zucchini.  I'll let you know how that works out.  Check out the website though.  I've never heard of it and was really glad he posted it.

Well... gotta fly... ciao!


Friday, June 25, 2010

Florida Friday...

But not for me... boo hoo!  Dave is off to Florida with Amberlyn for a little daddy/daughter time.  It was so kind of her to uninvite her fiancé just so she could spend some quality time with her good ole dad.  :)  Poor Dave is crushed though.  He really loves Wes and would have loved to have him come along.  :)  I'm sure they will have fun.  I will stay home and shoo the calf back under the fence whenever she gets out... and hope there is no serious cow emergency while he is gone.  It's nice to know if there is that Carol is just down the road.  Like how I sign you up without even asking Carol?  :)  This weekend instead of accomplishing anything at all I will have my beautiful little granddaughter Aubrey.  :)  I didn't want to do anything anyway!  I can't wait.  I'm sure she will want to feed the "chicks" and step on some veggies in the garden.  She will throw the stick for Lucy and yell at Tank for licking her face.  She will chase the "meow" around the house and want to go outside lots.  I'll burn off calories just watching her... not to mention following around after her to make sure she has not gone down to the creek for a swim.  It will be a fabulous girls weekend :)  We might go to the farmers market and maybe if I'm brave even Walmart!  We will under no circumstances get one of those carts with the little play cars attached!  Whoever dreamed that up needs to have a lobotomy.  I did that once at Safeway.  We got through two isles and then she escaped and slipped getting out then would not get back in and I was stuck driving a bus that was a big pain to maneuver around the store :(  Oh well... live and learn.

This morning the fatometer registered 157.6 and glucose of 80.  It's gratifying to see that I am making progress.  I'm actually looking forward to my next visit to Dr. Z to check my new blood work.  She will be amazed and pat me on the head and say, "Good Job!  Hope you can keep it up... this time."  :)  And that will indeed be the trick.  This time I will know exactly how quickly the weight and elevated glucose levels will come back.  Sure doesn't take long.  Good thing I like veggies!  

Speaking of veggies... I made some asparagus soup yesterday.  I didn't even know I liked it until my Aunt Netta made it for me when we visited in her in Germany in early May.  It was yummy.  I like the thought of getting the most out of food by using those tougher end pieces.  I went a slightly different direction with it though.  I caramelized a large sweet onion and added a little cumin to the pot along with the asparagus and chicken stock and then pureed it then added some diced Canadian bacon and about a cup of the left over wild rice in the fridge.  A little red pepper flakes added just a kick to it.  It was good... but you do have to like asparagus.  If you don't just keep moving :)  To go with it I grilled some prawns marinated in black bean garlic sauce.  Yum!  That was very simple.  I enjoy having different bottles of the prepared Asian sauces in the fridge.  Sometimes they do have quite a bit of sugar or maybe even MSG in them... I really didn't investigate too closely I just dumped it on.  Since my glucose level was only 80 this morning I guess it was not too terribly harmful.

Well... I can see Dave through the window out visiting the cows and telling them goodbye and to not be too much trouble for me.  He is also checking the bird netting to make sure no magpies get into the chicken coup and break the eggs.  He's doing a last minute check on the electric fence and running the weed wacker.  I'm sure he will relax when he gets in the car to go to the airport.  I was a brat this morning and told him that next time I go to Seattle (without him) that I was going to go visit Pike Place Market and have seafood dinner on the pier without oil all over it!  That was very mean.  I don't think they will run into oil where they are going.  I am so sickened by the oil spill in the gulf that I almost can't watch it on the news anymore.  One more reason I love driving past the big wind turbans along I-90 in Ellensburg.  Dave thinks they are ugly and detract from the beauty of the hills.  I think they are sort of majestic and fascinating and way prettier than dead oil soaked birds.

Have a great weekend everyone... ciao!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

After the storm...

Last night we had a great little storm.  It was awesome!  I was a little freaked out because I saw on the news that it was coming and that it had just dumped 6 inches of hail the size of half dollars on another little farm town.  I thought how my poor tomatoes had already been frozen and soggy and now they would finally be pelted to death.  I just went out and checked though and they were fine.  No hail for us!  It rained buckets and the lightning & thunder was pretty spectacular but all is well in the garden.  It's beautiful and sunny, everything is fresh.  Yay!  I just picked a nice little wad of cilantro so I want to make some salsa but I only have ONE tomato and... what to put it on... I'm not going to wreck my progress by inhaling a bunch of chips.  I almost went on a big binge last night.  First I shelled some peanuts and ate them then I migrated to the kitchen and grazed around in the pantry.  I opened a can of almonds and ate two... then I moved on to the bag of chips and ate one... then I decided I was being an idiot and went back to the couch.  The storm started and I ran and jumped into bed to watch it safely from there.  I curled up to Dave figuring if the lightning was going to get me he was going too :)  you know... revenge for letting the chickens into my garden!

So... this morning... 158.0000  Sweet!  Glucose 93.  Yippy skippy!  Oh!  I also checked my waistometer and saw that another inch had disappeared.  Very cool!

You know the FatSecret website I have been mentioning... well... it lets you create your own recipes and calculates the nutritional value.  I jammed this one in yesterday.  I have it all the time so I thought I would enter it... then I can just click on it to add it to my "food diary".  I'll do more later... but there is only so much time for dorking around on the computer in any given day.  Anyway... check it out... It's kind of fun.  Apparently they will review the recipe to see if it makes sense... as you can see mine is waiting approval so it may be kicked outta there.  In that case I think I can still have it in my personal cookbook but they would not publish it to the "community".  Well... I can't figure out how to escape the border at the end of the recipe so I'll just say it from here... Ciao!  :)  Have a great day!

p.s. The little ads that pop up in my blog just informed me that the Zumba DVDs that I just spent $80. bucks on - I know... I'm a sucker... are now HALF PRICE.  Man that irritates me!  But if you click on it you can be only half a sucker :)  They really are pretty fun and I think they are working... so there you go!


Recipe is awaiting approval.

Servings:
1
Prep Time:
5 mins
Cook Time:
4 mins
Meal Type:
Breakfast
Rating:

not yet rated.

fatsecret members overall average rating

Simple Fritatta

One egg with Canadian bacon, spinach and cheese

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Preheat small skillet on med/low flame.
  2. Crack and wisk egg in a small bowl. Chop one slice of Canadian Bacon. Add to beaten egg along with a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper.
  3. Pour egg mixture into skillet and turn the flame down to low.
  4. Dice one slice of your choice reduced fat cheese and chop several spinach leaves. Sprinkle on top of egg mixture. Sprinkle with a few drops of Tabasco Chipotle hot sauce. Turn heat off and cover with a lid to melt the cheese and finish cooking the egg.
  5. Fold egg over and plate. Add a teaspoon of greek style plain yogurt if desired and garnish with fresh chives. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 82
Calories 180
% Daily Values*
Total Fat 9.13g14%
Saturated Fat 3.428g17%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.955g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.419g
Cholesterol 232mg77%
Sodium 624mg26%
Potassium 259mg
Total Carbohydrate 3.26g1%
Dietary Fiber 0.3g1%
Sugars 2.09g
Protein 20.12g
Vitamin A 29%Vitamin C 7%
Calcium 17%Iron 9%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Nutrition Values are based on USDA Nutrient Database SR18
9%
of RDI*
(180 calories)
9% of RDI
Calorie Breakdown:
Carbohydrate (7%)
Fat (47%)
Protein (46%)
* Based on your RDI of 1900 calories (13 Jun 10)


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Who Let the Cows Out? Moooo Mooo Moo Moo

Ahhh dang.  For a second I thought I was imagining it but no!  The calf is again standing in the front yard munching away on the grass.  This is getting ridiculous!  I keep having this same "what's wrong with this picture?" event over and over.  Yesterday evening as I was mowing I rounded the corner of the house and BAM!  There she was again.  What?  The grass is greener on this side of the fence?  See... this is why Dave is going to Florida on Friday and I have to stay home.  Who will chase the rascally little cow back into the pasture if nobody is home?  If he would quit obsessing over the magpies and fix the fence so she can't scoot under...!  He keeps telling me, "in just a few weeks she will be too tall to get under".  Lame!  Oh well... I can't go to Florida anyway.  I think I would be fired if I took another vacation after the trip to Europe in April.  I have to save up a few days so I can go see my baby girl in Cali in October :)  I can't talk about the pit-stop in northern CA to see my aunt and uncle... my mama get's all out of sorts thinking about how I should be coming to TN instead :)

Wow... that had absolutely nothing to do with 159.2 (yay, new low and yes... every ounce counts!) and glucose of 92.  Slowly but surely :)  Let's see... lunch and dinner were both tasty yesterday.  For lunch I was feeling the need to have "big" food but it's sort of hard to do if I want to see the numbers on the scale decline.  I decided to go with a big bowl of steamed veg.  Yeah I know... doesn't really sound exciting but I chopped up some broccoli (out of my garden!) and some cauliflower and sprinkled with a little S & P and steamed in the micro while I hiked to the mailbox.  Then I sprayed with a bit of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray.  I also sprinkled (now this sounds really weird but it was actually good) a couple of tablespoons of a wild rice blend that I had left over in the fridge and then about a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese on top.  The wild rice gave it just a hint of nutty texture and taste and the cheese made it seem... well... less like just a bowl of steamed veggies.  It did the trick.  I feel like I had a substantial meal and did not torpedo the diet for the day.  Dinner was also good.  The plan for the afternoon was to mow but I only got through the front yard before the gas ran out and learned that the gas cans were in the truck with Dave who was working overtime.  I decided to make a quick dinner to have immediately when he got home so I could jump back on the mower and finish up before dark.  I had a little of the salmon salad mixture left over in the fridge so I decided to go get some sturdy dark green lettuce leaves from the garden and make salmon salad sandwiches on those little whole wheat thin buns.  I also made a little salad of cucumber/tomato/fresh mozzarella cheese and basil with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  I know that salad has a name but I can't think of it... someone help me out with that!  You would think that would do it but I also was craving something hot so I remembered the prawns in the freezer.  They were large already butterflied with the shell on raw prawns.  I just rinsed them off and put them in a plastic bag on the counter to thaw in some Wasabi/Teriaki sauce and grilled them up on a grill pan.  Oh Baby!  They were awesome!  The whole thing together was big, tasty and healthy.  I was not sure what the thin buns would do to my blood sugar level but I've had them several times now and have not had a bad reading the next morning.  So I actually had two "bad" things yesterday - in moderation.  The rice and the bread without catastrophic results.  Nice!

Ok... I'm going to go visit Beto in Zumbaville now so have a great day... ciao!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Back on Track!

159.4 and 97 glucose.  Ah yes... I'm back.  And the best thing is that the sun is shining and it's going to be a beautiful day :)  I set my alarm early so I could get up and do my Zumba this morning... unfortunately the power went out :)  My alarm went off anyway but no DVD and I am just not motivated to do it with no music and no Beto... so I'm going to get off the couch and do it now since the power came back on.

If any of you see my husband today please slap him!  This morning he came in from the chicken coup announcing with a sheepish grin that he accidentally let the chickens out.  I just replanted half my garden!  Right... EIGHT chickens accidentally got out.  And on the cat front... the kitty has been laying low for a few days.  He somehow "fell" out of the tree.  Well... he was sitting on top of the large bird house that was nailed to the tree and I think Dave encouraged him to come down by throwing a pine cone at him.  He has brought us several birds lately and we found one baby at the base of the tree.  When he brings a bird home it's like times square after new years... only with feathers.  NOT COOL! Anyway...  I think he sprained his leg when he reached the ground.  He is much better now though.  He is back to mousing and leaving portions for me.  This morning he left just the face.  So sick!  Yep... I lost my appetite!  The good news for you is that I did not post a picture of it :)  The sun is shining...  it's going to be a great day!

Ciao!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Major Failure!

This is what I feel like today!  Like a dead tomato plant!  This morning 161.5 and glucose 115.  That's not an accident by the way.  :(  Back to that later...

We had a great weekend with the kids.  Amberlyn, Adam and Daniel, Nicole and little Aubrey spent the weekend with us.  I cooked stuff all weekend long... and most of it was healthy.  Except for the crepes I made for Dave specifically for Father's Day.  I hate making crepes!  It's so hard for me to turn them for some reason and seems like it's two hours standing over the stove when you are feeding lots of people but Dave just loves them.  I did come up with a tasty topping though.  I made a cream cheese fruit butter.  I just simmered some frozen mixed fruit in a pan with sugar and let it reduce down and then mixed that with softened cream cheese and a stick of butter and enough powdered sugar to make it spreadable.  I should call it Barney Butter because it turned out just about the same purple shade of Barney the dinosaur.  But the kids loved it.  I had one crepe with a little Barney Butter on it.  Yum.  Really though I was pretty darn good the entire weekend until... (back to MAJOR FAILURE) Sunday evening came along and then invasion of the body snatchers took over and I ate and ate and ate and ate.  Every kind of nut I could get my hands on, most of the sugar free candy in the cupboard (NOT low cal by the way) and I even ended up making a small plate of nachos!  And of course this was all after Dave had gone to bed so I didn't even have him to give me the look that says... gee I would say what the heck are you doing but I know I'll get my head bitten off so I'll just look at you from across the room and you will know!   The only way I could have made it worse would be to have opened a bottle of wine and drank the whole thing.  I am happy to say I did not do that.  :)  It's seriously good that one major failure does not take you back to square one.  Today I will redeem myself and not be a big fat pig.  I am still encouraged because yesterday Dave gave me a hug and noticed how my waistline was slimming down.  :)  And... even my poor dead tomato plants are making a recovery.  I cut off all the dead stuff a couple of weeks ago and they are leafing out nice and green.  Of course if it does not quit raining they will rot away.  Grrrrrrrr!  Enough is enough!

Well!  Before the binge began I did make some mighty tasty salmon.  I guess we can call it Honey Mustard Salmon.  I mixed up some mustard, honey, fresh lime juice, butter, S&P and then chopped up some fresh dill out of my garden and slathered that all over and baked it.  That was a success.  I have a piece left that I'm going to make like tuna salad... only better :)

I have about two weeks until my first Silverwood (amusement and water park) trip.  I'm so tired of the beached whale look so I'll keep that in my head next time the Lard A$$ goblins come knocking.

Have a great week everyone!  Ciao!

Friday, June 18, 2010

What I love about spring...

I love that it is light before I open my eyes in the morning!  I decided I need to start getting up an hour earlier so I could do my Zumba DVD  :)  Unfortunately I did not get around to the Zumba yet today.  I did get a workout though... I got to chase Tickles the baby cow around the yard.  So fun to look out the window and see her grazing on the wrong side of the fence!  Jamie you can tell Elliena that Tickles escaped.  Tickles is the name Elliena gave the poor nameless baby cow last weekend.  I'll have to do the Zumba either at lunch time or after work.  I did put the DVD on and do it yesterday. Just the mini 20 minute version and I thought I was gonna die!  Then I walked for almost two miles so I guess I wasn't really gonna die... it's just a lot of fast paced salsa flavored dancing.  Pretty fun but I'm sure I look really creepy doing it!  :)

Oh... the stats... new low for both - by the skin of my teeth... 159.5 and glucose 82.  Woo hoo!  A little at a time!

Yesterday it was so cold I just could not bring myself to eat a cold salad for dinner.  I was craving soup so that's what I made.  When I started out I was just going to make some veg/beef soup but somehow I decided to throw a can of red beans and one packet of chili seasoning mix and I came up with what I call... Chili Light.  :)  It was so good.  I just browned a pound of ground beef and threw in a bunch of veg.  Onions, red bell peppers, a couple of cups of shredded frozen zucchini from my garden last year a can of fire roasted tomatoes.  I added two cups of chicken stock (homemade - I make it then store it in the freezer) and then the red beans and chili mix.  It is just a bit thinner than my usual chili and has no tomato paste which helps keep my blood sugar down.  Only one can of beans too.  Makes it easier to live with my husband after dinner :)  I also threw in about a cup of left over frozen stuffing :)  If you make too much stuffing when ever you make a turkey just freeze it in small containers.  It makes a great addition to soup.  This is really one of those throw in whatever you feel like dishes.  I guess that would be called Cupboard Soup.  That's a name my brothers and I gave whatever meal my dad made when he cooked when we were kids.  Which was maybe twice :)  He loves to cook now.  As long as my mom chops everything up first.  :)  Anyway...when I have time I'll punch the recipe into that FatSecret website and calculate the calories.  It was very tasty though and warmed me up on such a drizzly nasty day.

I would love to have served it up with a big fat piece of corn bread but no!  The board this dish is sitting on was one that my brother Gene made.  It says, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread".  I love it.  It's the only thing I have that he made.  But what a tease!  I really have to limit my bread.  Really though it's not bread that I crave... it's rice and pasta.  I love pasta so much that he gave me the nick name Noodles when I was a kid.  And... that was the very last thing he said to me as I said good bye to him the night before he passed away... Noodles.  :)  Very bittersweet.  Which makes me think of chocolate... dang it!  :)

Well... have a great weekend everyone because today is FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Ciao!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I was almost depressed this morning...

after getting on the scale and seeing 159.7 again!  But my glucose was 85 which is great.  The thing that brought me back from the brink was taking my waist measurement... very risky... that could have caused a suicidal reaction but I had lost a little over an inch of blubber since my last measurement.  Yay!  Now - next time I measure if the inch is back... someone please call 911.  :)  Really I think it's this damn weather making me all crazy.  Yeah I said it... damn!  I moved over here to get away from this drizzly crap.  Perhaps this is to make up for the lack of snow this winter.  I feel like I'm being punished and I don't like it.  The only good thing about the rain is... well, sorry I got a big fat nothin!  Ok... done.  Moving on now.  Oh wait!  My lettuces in the garden love this nasty weather.  Ok... that's one.  And... I finally got around to planting my sunflowers yesterday evening so the rain will help them germinate so that's two... although some nice sprinkler action would have worked just as well... so I'm back to one.  Speaking of my lettuces... I went out to harvest some yesterday and found my Walla Walla onions all scratched up by the stupid chickens.  I stomped into the barn and insisted that Dave help me put up a chicken wire fence around the garden.  He agreed but then decided that we should just put bird netting over the chicken yard.  Their fence is about 5' high but some of them fly out.  He thought it would be quicker. He LIED!  Since the bird netting was not wide enough we had to sew two pieces together and then tie it down.  Ever tried sewing 30' of bird netting with fishing line?  We were still out there finishing up at almost 10pm.  He was very happy when we were done.  He said, "I'd like to see those magpies get through that!"  That's when I knew I'd been outfoxed again.  He didn't care about my onions at all - he's still obsessing over those stupid magpies!  I know how I'll get him back... he is a big time penny pincher so every time I cut up an onion from the store - which is pretty much every day I'll tell him how much I could have saved if the chickens hadn't eaten all my Walla Wallas.  :)  By the way... I did get two big tubs full of lettuce and it was very beautiful :)


Have a fabulous little day - I hope it is not raining where you are!

Ciao!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Successful Day

Despite a temporary setback in the morning. I  had just finished declaring that I was going to open the Zumba box and I did but then could not get the DVD to work.  You now how some people have gardeners and maids?  I'm pretty sure I need a technology manager.  It's just riduclous to have to use three remote controls to get a DVD to play!   Anyway... I had to wait for Dave to come home and get a lesson.  AFTER he went to bed I turned it on and spent an hour learning the basic dance moves.  I don't know what I'm going to do today when I actually put on the real work out.  I was sweating my tail off just learning the moves.  And let me tell you... I'm pretty sure some my body has never done some of those gyrations!  :)  I'm so glad Dave was not present.  He might have had a heart attack from laughing so hard!  This morning I am going to do the mini 20 min workout.

Writing down everything I eat is very educational!  Now I know that every time I pop the lid off the can of cashews and grab a handful which would be just about an ounce it's 160 calories.  So... I had ONE handful yesterday instead of maybe 5.  I also know how many calories I am consuming througout the day and the total at the end.  Yesterday I had 1581 calories.  And they were all quality, healthy calories too.  Oh... well not the Johnsonville Stadium Brat at 260 calories per link (I had one), but everything else was good.  The salad I had with it was so tasty.  Even Dave was saying yum yum.  Must have been the blueberries.  I know... sounds weird but so tasty.

It's easy to add foods at mealtime, especially if I have saved a meal.  An example of a saved meal would be what I call a typical salad. I add all the ingredients that I would usually put in a salad and give it a name.  When I am having that for lunch or dinner I can just select the salad and add anything else I might throw in.  I also saved my yogurt parfait that I make for breakfast most mornings too so one click and it's added.  Of course I don't drag my computer to the kitchen for lunch but I can access the app easily from my phone.  Check out FatSecret.  It's kind of fun.

I weighed in at 159.7 (every ounce counts) and glucose was 86.  As I begin to firm up the... unsightly areas :)  I realize the flab will convert to muscle which is heavier so I'll probably lose the weight at a seemingly slower rate.  I decided to start measuring my waistline.  That will be the ultimate indicator.  No I'm sure as hell not going to report it!  It's hard enough to put my weight down.  A waistline measurement would just be too humiliating.  Until it's an acceptable number.  How bout... I'll just tell you when I have a waist?  :)  Oh!  Some exciting news... I think I may actually see my collarbone in a week or so :)  My glucose level regardless of my weight definitely lets me know I am on the right track.  I did not think I would be seeing regular readings in the 80's so I'm pretty excited about that.

At work I outfoxed one of our slacker customers out of a big wad of cash he had not intended on paying any time soon so I'm pretty happy about that. I also mowed the lawn which I love.  I enjoy riding around with my headphones on and singing at the top of my lungs - and nobody can hear me over the sound of the mower.  I'm sure the funky head bobbing and dancing in my seat look a little strange but any of my neighbors would have to have binoculars to see me and if they need a laugh that bad then they are welcome to it.  Same thing goes for sunbathing nude.  Of course I would never do that since I might pass a mirror and scare myself.  Maybe next summer :)  The only thing I did not do yesterday was the cartwheel... Yessss!  I can still do one :) so now I'm off to Zumbaville!  But first... check out my little granddaughter Charlotte...just got this pic yesterday.
Grandbabies are worth being healthy for :)  Ciao!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Insert Sound of Rooster Crowing Here

This morning 159.8 and 87 glucose.  New low for the weight.  Yay!  That's where the rooster crowing comes in :)  I may be sad tomorrow that I crowed but that's ok.  I thought I should celebrate - but I seem to have given up all my celebratory substances so it's either crow or do a cartwheel.  Hmm... what should I choose?  I'll do a cartwheel outside later today and let you now how that went :)

Well... I did not open the Zoomba box yet.  I got so busy with (insert all the excuses you can possibly come up with here) stuff yesterday... one of which was taking Lucy to the vet.   Poor girl!  She had stickery (I don't think that's a word but it should be) grass seeds in her ears irritated by creek water.  They were getting infected and she was miserable!  We have to cut back on throwing her ball across the creek.  She loves it but the water trapped in her ears is part of the problem.  She also had a tooth pulled that was cracked when she was younger.  Another sports injury.  Yeah if you caught softballs with your mouth you'd have broken teeth too.  I had to get rid of all the softballs.  They are actually NOT soft!  Oh boy... how did I stray so far from the subject of... Zoomba?  Eeek!  Avoidance?  Ok... I'm going to cut this short and open the box!

Oh!  But one last thing.  I found a buddy doing the FatSecret (horrible name!) website too.  Shelly... you rock :)  Ok... done now!

Ciao!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Monday Morning

Here we are again, Monday!  We had such beautiful weather this weekend (and the sun is still shining that) forgot to get all depressed about Monday!  I enjoyed my guests, Amberlyn brought her friend Jamie and daughter Elliena who was highly entertaining.  My best friend's daughter Maggie and her boyfriend Anthony came over too and stayed the weekend.  And I didn't alter my cooking too much for them so I didn't eat horribly.  Yay!  I mentioned that FatSecret website... it's quite interesting.  It really does take a lot of work to write down everything I eat - which makes me think twice about eating it... oh dang, I don't want to have to enter that... not worth it.  It is sort of cool though.  If it's a packaged product like the yogurt I am eating right now I can just scan the barcode and it will bring it up and I just have to enter the portion size and it calculates the calories.  Then I have to add the granola and blueberries so it's kind of tedious.  Oh..the barcode scanner.... I have a Droid phone and it has a FatSecret app and a barcode scanner that syncs up with my computer.  Never thought I would have a use for the barcode scanner :)  Who knew?  Anyway I am learning more about portion size and calories.  I really never have counted calories too closely.  I probably won't do it for too long I'll just kind of become familiar with the foods I typically eat so I'll have a better idea of how many calories I am stuffing in.  :)

This morning 160.8 not a new low but still better than 170 :)  and glucose 85.  Now that is a new low.  Sweet.  I must be doing something right.  Like not eating a smore yesterday :)

My goal for this... week :)  will be to take the Zoomba DVD's from the box and learn how to work the DVD player.  Wish me luck with that!

Ciao!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Another Day in Paradise

It's 7am.  Everyone else is still asleep.  My coffee pot is about to beep the signal that will tear me away from this screen.  Ummm... that first sip of coffee.  Better than... many things :)  I love early mornings when it is quiet and peaceful.  The day is still brand new and full of possibilities.  I think I'll finish this, get dressed and go for a walk before breakfast. I just saw my neighbor drive out headed home to Moses Lake.  They come up for the weekend sometimes.  They don't have a home up there just a campsite.  It's high on the hill and has a pretty view.  I always like it when they leave so I can trespass :)  I walk up pretty much every day - just to make sure the deer and elk have not partied their tails off and left a big mess.   The neighbors appreciate that I care so much :)  I bet everyone will sleep in - except for Elliena.  Dave took the girls into town to Sporty's last night to show them off.  I think he likes being the most popular man in the bar.  :)  One of our neighbors who poured our walkway last year hangs out there.  When ever we have gone in for a beer Dave will wave at him and he usually pretty much ignores him.  But last night he decided to mosey over and say "Howdy".  Of course.  When you show up with two beautiful 25 year old women you are the king.  :)  I am not drinking so I thought I'd let them go and stay home with Elliena.  We had a great time.  She went to bed and I messed around with a diet website that my sister in law sent me called - FatSecret.  What is she trying to tell me I wonder?  Guess what?  When you're fat it ain't no secret man!  :)  You're supposed to  write down everything you eat and it calculates the calories... there's a lot too it.  It might be more effort than I want to put in.  I'll do it for a little while though.

Oh yesssss!  There we go.  First sip!  Ok the stats:  161.2 (not a new low but not bad considering how much taco salad, and a burger - with a "thin bun" I pounded down yesterday) and glucose 94.  Which is shocking  since I caved and had a smore down by the fire last night.  It was oh so good :)  Elliena had more than one.  Here she is eating the first one.  Check her out.  She is wearing mommy's sweatshirt and looks like she has no legs :)

And here she is once the sugar kicked in:
Ha ha!  So funny!  And ready to eat another one!  I wish I had taken a picture of her after the last smore - that she couldn't even finish.  Her face was a disaster. Tank wanted to lick it in the worst way!  I'm pretty sure she had a great time.  She told me it was the biggest fire she had ever seen in her life!  :)  She also had fun collecting eggs.  We got 4 eggs yesterday.  We've been only getting one or two because of the stupid magpies but she wanted to go check for more "baby eggs" about every 15 minutes so they didn't have time to steal them away.  Dave tells me that's what I need to do everyday.   Wonder if he thinks it's important for me to have an income?  Yes I work from my home office - but they would figure it out if every time someone calls I'm out at the hen house :)

Well... better get rolling!  I have sunflowers to plant today!

Ciao!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Can You Say Saturday? :)

This is going to be the best day of my life - so nobody screw it up ok?  :)  No - I just mean it's Saturday!  And the sun is out and it's going to be 80 degrees and we have visitors.  And Maggie and Anthony are going to mow my lawn :)  Speaking of moving.  I'm so sore I could almost scream!  The worst part is I can't say, "Yeah I ran the Boston Marathon, I'm pretty sore."  Nope - pathetically for me it's three hours of hard time on the riding lawn mower.  That is so lame!  But my back and sides are so sore.  It was bumpy!  I almost got thrown a time or two.  :)

Well, this morning my glucose was 99.  Perfect!  I weighed in at 161.8.  :(  I don't know why I weigh every morning.  There is always bouncing up and down.  I do love those mornings when I reach a new low.  Today is not one of them though.  Over all I am down about 9 pounds though so that's good.  I do need to get some real exercise though so that's why I bought - oh I hate to admit this... Zoomba CDs.  Ok - it's out!  I'm going to groove it up with Pedro, or Beppo or what ever his name is.  What hooked me was the zoomba sticks.  You know they make noise when you shake them.  Did you ever see the animated movie Hercules?  With the Roman cartoon dancers?  Yeah.  I'm the fat one.  Maybe if everyone gets bored this weekend I will pull it out and try it.  If nothing else it would be funny.  Disgusting but funny.

Dang!  Here comes my cat again.  He is an excellent hunter.  I'm so tired of it.  He always brings his prey in the house.  Last night he ran in through the cat door with a little live mole in his mouth and let it go.  Finally Dave chased it out.  I like that better than his usual solution of flushing them down the toilet.  :(  What a way to go!  And now I can't use that toilet anymore!  I have to keep getting up and looking to see if the mouse has magically crawled back up into the bowl.  Eeeek!

Ok... little Aleena has emerged from the bedroom down stairs and I now can not hear myself think.  She is five - but almost six and she is going to be 6' 2" when she grows up and she is going to ride a cow today after she flies her kite and she has her ears pierced and is almost in kindergarten and one time when she was at her Chacha's house it was raining so bad and they almost got struck by lightning and they have dogs and got in trouble cause they were digging in the garbage...   :)  So... yeah!  I am going to retreat to the tub (until her mama gets up) to soak my sore fatness.

Ciao does not seem appropriate this morning.  I think I'll go with... Peace Out!  :)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Stuff That Makes Me Smile

As much as I enjoy my bimonthly trips to the Woodinville I am alway ready to go home.  I've come to enjoy the drive home - once I get through Issaquah anyway.  It's always a treat to take Hwy 231 through the farmland and valleys.  It's a very rural and twisty drive.  There is very little traffic and I've found I can drive as fast as I am comfortable.  If I have had a Starbucks double shot I tend to really breeze along.  The radio reception offers nothing but twangy country music which I enjoy especially if they play Josh Turner :)  Once that fades out completely I am left with my crazy mix of favorite songs on the CD.  The closer I get the louder I sing and I'm really glad there is nobody else in the car :)  The cool surprise this trip was turning a corner, looking over toward a small lake and seeing a moose wading out of the water.  I was so excited I was waving and yelling through the glass.  I was only a little disappointed that the moose didn't wave back.  Well I guess you had to be there - but next time you see a moose I guarantee you will smile!

This morning I forgot to test my glucose level but I weighed 160.4 which is about 2 lbs lighter than when I left for a total of 10 lbs since May 15th when I started this gotta get a grip journey.  Yippy!  Maybe not so surprising considering what I ate while I was away from home.  Not much!  We had appointments in Colville this morning that took until noon.  Dave wanted to stop at Subway to get something to eat but I feel like I'm on a roll so I decided to just come home and make something.  I had some boneless chicken thighs in the fridge so I thought I'd grill them with an Asian style oyster sauce and have them with a salad.  I threw together many of the usual favorites, mixed greens, tomatoes, cukes, avocado, fresh mozzarella cheese and chopped nuts with ribbons of basil on top and some balsamic pomegranate vinaigrette.  It was delightful.  Much more healthy than a sub sandwich or even a wrap.  If I am going to grill chicken with a sauce I like to use thighs.  They tend to be more moist and flavorful, not to mention cheaper.

I've been on the riding mower all afternoon mowing parts of vacant pasture.  Those giant dandelions were just getting ready to burst open so we wanted to catch them before they seeded out.  It was a pretty bumpy ride.  I felt like I was riding a mechanical bull.  I'm sure I will be very sore tomorrow.  Maybe I got a good core workout :)  This day flew by.  It's dinner time and then I have to get ready for my late arriving weekend guests.  The sun is expected to warm us up this weekend.  I have some lettuce to harvest in my garden.  Yep, that's a whole list of stuff that makes me smile!

Ciao!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Oh Baby!

Now I remember why I was thin when my kids were little.  They don't let you eat!  We had a great family evening over at Jeff & Andrea's house, my brother and sister in law.  My nephew Chris and his family are visiting from TN so we gathered up all the cousins who were living over here in the Seattle area for dinner.  I brought my little granddaughter Aubrey who will be two in August.  I was worried that I would over eat because Andrea is a fantastic cook but never fear!  Little Aubrey would not let me put her down most of the time we were there.  I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the big people.  And my oldest son Adam always scares her with his booming laugh :)  I attempted to get her to eat the little bites of meat, salad and yummy bread I had cut up and put on my plate for her but all she wanted to do was feed them to me so I had to fake eat the bread.  She didn't even let me make the salad I planned.  Thanks to Amberlyn the salad was very yummy.  She made it while I held the baby.  Jeff grilled pork tenderloin and it was fabulous.  I inhaled as much as I could in between her wiggling.  We (when I say we I don't mean me) also had crispy garlicky potatoes, several kinds of bread and brownies... ummmm brownies.  They smelled fabulous.  Little Aubrey saved me from the potatoes and brownies.  Well... I would rather hold my little baby than eat anyway so I guess that worked out ok.  It's so easy to forget all the energy it takes to run around after a toddler.  Aubrey kept me busy enough.  I don't know how I handled four small children.  Especially the mischievous Michele who was always found swinging from the chandelier or up to her elbows in the big tub of Costco margarine that I used to bake industrial batches of cookies!  I used to eat about half of them as they came out of the oven too.  I must have burned the calories running around after the little curtain climbers.  Those were the days!  It will be very interesting to see what my glucose level is in the morning.  It should be ok.  Thanks to Aubrey I ate pretty sparingly.  :)

Well, I'm off to bed.  Tomorrow after work I'm on the road again headed for home.  I can't wait to see how my new herb barrels are doing that I planted before I left.

Ciao!

p.s.   this morning my glucosse was 91!  So the Aubrey factor really worked.  In the last two days I have learned to ALWAYS request your salad dressing on the side and if you need a distraction from eating borrow a toddler :)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Eating Out

Today I took my son Bobby and nephew Nick to a little local diner - The Clearview Cafe.  Bobby who is 19 and lifting weights was ravenous!  I chose that restaurant because I knew they had big food for little money.   Bobby chose a French dip sandwich with fries.  Nick chose a country fried steak with hash browns and gravy breakfast and I chose a bowl of chili with a side salad.  I asked them to not bring the bread or croûton to the table.  Easier to resist temptation if it's not in my face.  What I failed to do though was ask for the dressing on the side!  It was a honey mustard dressing and quite good but about 3 times more that I would have put on.  Lesson learned1  Bobby inhaled his food and was getting ready to drink all the little half and half packets so I felt sorry for him and gave him at least half of my chill.  Nick finally slowed down and put his fork down and Bobby swooped in to finish his hash-browns and gravy and even finished up the last of my salad.  He ended up with all of the plates in front of him.  By the time he left he was full but I thought for sure he was getting ready to order dessert.  Sometimes I long for the days when I could eat like that and still be a skinny Minnie.

This morning the stats were 162.9 lbs and glucose 108.  I can't thing of a thing I ate yesterday that would have caused a little spike like that.  I'll just have to keep at it.  Time for bed!  My eyes are rolling!

Ciao!

p.s.

This morning my glucose was 118.  Yikes!  That honey mustard must have bee LOADED with... well - honey :)  A little if ok but since I forgot to ask for it on the side I got a bunch!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Cauliflower Again?!?

Tomorrow I'm going west again so no time to blog.  Thought I'd tell you about the side dish I made for dinner tonight.  Dave had to work late so it was dinner for one.  I grilled a small rib steak so I thought I better make something very veggie.  :)  I decided on cauliflower.  I love cauliflower but how many times can you have steamed cauliflower?  After a while it does get kind of... boring!  So I chopped up a little garlic, shallots and yellow bell pepper and a few sun dried tomatoes (they really add a nice touch... very tangy/sweet) and stir fried them with salt and pepper until they were sort of caramelized.  The yellow pepper cooks more quickly and has a lot of sugar so it browns nicely and adds great color to the cauliflower.  Then I added just a little balsamic vinegar and melted some grated Gruyère cheese on top.  Not much... I use my small micro planer which shaves a very fine layer.  Since everything turns sort of a golden color I thought it would be nice to add  just a bit of fresh green so I went out and snipped some chives and raided the new baby spinach in my garden.  I rolled up the spinach with the chives and just snipped it up into ribbons after taking the cauliflower off the heat so it would retain the bright green flavor.
Wait!  Do I have utensils backwards?  :)  Too funny.  I am sort of... process challenged :)  You ought to watch me make a sandwich.  Takes about 5 trips to the fridge because I just can not remember everything.  And every night when I set the table I forget the serving utensils.  Every night!  

So what's healthy about rib steak?  Well :) It is home grown very healthy beef.  Make no mistake though... moderation is the name of the game.  I am always satisfied with just a small amount.  This was a small steak and I put at least half of it away.  Dave would wolf down the entire steak easily but I'm good with just a few ounces.  I was a good girl and ate all of my cauliflower.  Since I can have as much as I want to that I chowed down!  It was quite tasty.  You have to like cauliflower though.  My friend Brenda (bff) hates vegetables.  But she's a great mom and knew it would be best for her children to learn to like them so she just... lied :)  and told them that she was allergic to vegetables.  Still makes me laugh.  All five of her girls love veggies so I guess it worked out.

This trip will be very quick.  Not enough time to get into too much dietary trouble.  This weekend when I get home we will have our daughter Amberlyn and Maggie, Brenda's daughter (but I claim her too) visiting.   I don't have to worry about cooking differently for them.  They like veggies :)  I think I will be able to keep the momentum going this week.  We shall see!

Well... better get to bed.  I have to get up super early for the trip.

Ciao!

Making the Most of a Rainy Day

When I can't get outside to dig around in the dirt I love to curl up on the couch and catch up on my favorite cooking shows or pour through cook books and magazines.  Although I rarely follow a recipe closely I am inspired by watching the shows or thumbing through the books and mags.  My new favorite book is a Cooking Light book named Fresh Food Fast Weeknight Meals.  The recipes are either 5 ingredients or 15 minute prep and cook time.  My favorite thing about this book is that each recipe has a full page color photo.  I am 10 times more likely to stop and read a recipe if there is a picture and these are big and beautiful.  For each main dish there is also a recipe for a simple side.  This book is a pleasure to read.  I ordered mine throught Oxmoor House and it is a hardback but I found this paperback version on Amazon.com in case anyone wants to check it out.   The best part of a rainy day is what happened yesterday about 4 pm... the sun returned!  :)  I know we need the rain but can we please just have it at night?  Wouldn't it be great to be able to listen to the rain on the roof while we slept and then wake up to a fresh sunny day?  What's wrong with that plan?


So this morning:  162.5 lbs and 97 glucose.  Sweet and sweet.  Glucose is fabulous - let's me know I am doing something right and the poundage is the lowest yet I believe.  While I have a lot lot lot to go... I've lost 8 pounds so far!  Yesterday Dave gave me a hug and noticed for the first time that I was thinner.  He said, "Wow... my fingertips can almost touch!"  :)  The man needs an ass whoopin!  Why do I love him?          

Last night for dinner I grilled some beef tenderloin.  Oh baby!  I was very proud of myself.  I am usually way more successful with my grill pan over a gas flame than on the grill outside but perhaps I am starting to get the hang of it.  I paired the tiny little steaks with a simple salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers cukes with goat cheese and pomegranate-balsamic vinaigrette .  The surprise was the blueberries I scattered on top.  I didn't know if it was going to work but it was really good.  We both thought so.  I love fresh or dried fruit in my salad but had never tried blueberries before.  I planted a couple of blueberry bushes about three years ago.  This year it looks like I will have more than three berries.  How exciting!

Well... now that Monday has arrived I can quit dreading it and start looking forward to the weekend.  :)  This week will be special though.  Tomorrow I am driving west and will have the company of my little  granddaughter Aubrey.  I'm delivering her to her other grandma for a visit.  I also get to visit my nephew Chris  and his fiancé Georgina and daughter Kiera from TN.  Yay!  Lots of things to look forward to this week!  On Friday we are renewing our passports.  Finally a new picture!  In the last picture I looked like... well... really not good!  :)  Every time I look at a camera it shudders apparently because I almost never take a good picture.  It's amazing because I just know I'm not that ugly!  How can the camera be wrong all the time?  :)

Here's to a great week!  Ciao!