What's Wrong Today?

I have been so off plan today.  I am talking candy bars and Doritos!! WTF?! This is my nightmare.  I don't want to do this.  Well, most of  me doesn't anyway.  My mouth is formenting revolt!  My tastebuds are calling for a total overthrow of the current regime!

I ate good healthy stuff too, lots of fruit in particular, but these junk food craves are gonna be the death of me.  Literally and figuratively!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Dinner was light but yummy.   Mushrooms stuffed with diced ham, bell pepper and onion.  Cooked in olive oil.  Once again, perhaps not the Point friendliest meal, but nothing overly off plan.  The crescent is low fat also. 

These were beautiful mushrooms, perfect for stuffing.

Summertime and Sangria Wine

They just go together!!  When we lived in Spain, we learned to make our own Sangria.  Here's a quicky recipe.

About 4 cups Burgundy Wine
1 Liter of Orange Soda
1 liter Lemon Lime Soda
4 jiggers Triple Sec
1 cup of Sugar
2 Red Delicious Apples, cored and cut into bite size pieces
3 Valencia Oranges, chopped into bite size pieces (leave the skin on!)
2 cups green seedless grapes, sliced in half

Mix the first 4 ingredients and stir well.  Add the fruit and some ice and allow to stew for an hour or so.  Enjoy!

Now, I Weight Watchered this up using diet sodas and Splenda.  This will serve a number of people for a day or two (unless you have a drinking problem?!) I figure its about 2 points an 8 oz serving.  It's yummy and goes good with a BarBQue or Stuffed Mushrooms which is on my menu tonite!! 

                                                                                     

This picture is before adding ice.  That will dilute it significantly.  It needs it, trust me!!

Dinner was Pretty Good

Everything was about the Corn on the Cob, which was actually so-so.  Here is what I have learned about corn.  The longer it sits after picking, the less sugar/more starch you wind up with.  So if at first harvest its 80 sugar, 20 starch and you don't get it home to the table PDQ, you wind up with 20 sugar, 80 starch.  Um, lets just say my corn was old!

Anyway, the steak was good and I made a totally not WW friendly salad but damn, did it taste good.  Made up for the disappointing corn.  Here's a pic or two. 

This is my salad.  It has PINE NUTS and GOAT CHEESE.  Its temporary insanity, I swear.  But my taste buds were very, very happy. 

This steak is exquisite.  You can't go wrong with this recipe unless you overcook the meat.  Then you should be shot or at least sent to your room without supper.

So this is what the fnal damage looked like.  I don't think I will get drummed out of my next WW meeting,

Saturday Food

Ok, yes, the title is Saturday food, but first, let me cover Friday food!  I made shrimp cakes yesterday.  I don't know what to think about them.  They taste ok, but the texture...hmmm.  Hubby liked them.  I doubt I will do them again. 

Tonite, we are having skirt steak marinated (since 5 am mind you! overnite is even better!) in a wondermous balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, garlic, pinch of sugar concoction that will render it amazing!  Along with that I will roast a couple ears of corn and make a salad.  I love this time of year.  If I can avoid diving head first into my meal tonite, I will try to get a picture.  I am drooling just thinking about it.

Weigh In and Blog Awards

Weigh In...Down .6 for a total of 34 lbs gone!  Ok Then!!  I was hungry this morning and took a banana and milk with me to the meeting and chowed down while we talked about breakfast.  I love breakfast.  Normal breakfast for me is an egg, a couple of slices of crisp bacon, a Sandwich Thin and fruit of some kind.  And don't forget my 12 oz of fat free milk!! I have no problem with a 9 point breakfast.  It gets me going and keeps me satisfied until lunch and that's what its about to me.  And, of course, anything with bacon is heavenly!

Suzi gave me my blog award last week and I did part of the requirements but had not passed it on as yet.  So here are my three awardees.  Love your blogs, all!!  Enjoy.

Rapunzel   Jessie   Sally

A Blog Award!

Wow, my long lost little sister (ok, maybe third cousin twice removed, but we don't care) Suzi at http://okjustonemorebeer.blogspot.com/ gave me an award! Hugs and kisses, babe! It's that flashy green thing to the right over there, the Oh My Blog award. Gorgeous, isn't it? There are rules (Aren't there always?) and they go something like this:

1. Get really excited that you got the coolest award EVER! – CHECK!!

2. Choose ONE of the following options of accepting the OMB award:
(a) Get really drunk and blog for 15 minutes straight, or for as long as you can focus.
(b) Write about your most embarrassing moment.
(c) Write a “Soundtrack of your childhood” post.
(d) Make your next blog a ‘vlog’/video blog. Basically, you’re talking to the camera about
whatever.
(e) Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning, before you do anything else (hair,
makeup, etc) and post it.
3. Pass this award onto at least 3, but preferably more, awesome bloggers as yourself. Don’t
forget to tell them.

Excited? I am thrilled. I feel uber special. I figured out how to post a vlog. Aren't I clever?! I need to do a little research into which one of my friends does not already have this award and that is gonna take a day or two. In the meantime, I want to get it posted and thank Suzi!! With all my heart.

And yes, I am as old and tired as I look!! Especially today.

Weigh in and Shopping

Well, down again, .8 this time.  Such a crawl, but as I say, down is down.  I am not going to complain.  I am within 13 lbs of what I weighed when I got married.  I have lost 3x time that already.  I can do it, I just need to be patient!

On the other hand, just went and spent a small fortune on clothes.  I have been adjusting my wardrobe for work, but not for play and really had little in the way of summer clothes, especially pants/capris/shorts, things of that nature.  I have given all of my larger stuff away including all my brand new capris from last year that no longer fit me. 

I love Kohl's and they are having a tremendous sale right now,  so after my meeting this morning, I hit the sales racks.  I got several new capris and I think Gloria Vanderbilt rocks!!  Her clothes fit me so well.  And, despite the name, the cost is reasonable.  A winning combination, fit and affordability. So, I am set for the duration of the summer, I do believe!!  I know I have more weight to lose and am sure I will do so, but I don't think I will lose it fast enough to shrink out of these clothes before summer is over!

Going on Vacation!

OMG, I just booked travel for 2 to Cabo San Lucas!  I am on cloud 9.  We will stay for a week with a cousin that lives there.  I cannot wait!!

I have to buy a bathing suit. I am not looking forward to that!!  And my passport picture?  Dear God, its frightening just how heavy I was.

On another note, I did my 3 mile walk yesterday and wore blisters on my feet, so only did 2 today.  Notice I say ONLY.  I think I have lost my mind!!  This from someone who once did not walk more than 200 feet without complaining is now developing a guilt complex because she didn't walk 3 miles with blisters on her feet.

More Walking Talk

Ok, so I have been doing about 2 miles of aerobic walking a day and an additional 3 miles just booking around the job.  Getting my recommended 10,000 steps a day in.  But the 2 miles is getting "easy" so I have been trying to figure out what is going to kick it in gear for me and not kill me.  I can't seem to find an "attractive" route around work that will allow me to expand the length of my walk and I don't want to double up on the same route...BORING!!  Fastest way to convince me not to do that again! 

So I went to MapMyWalk and set a course around the neighborhood.  I set a 3 mile course that I know will be uphill in the beginning, but mostly downhill on the return side and I think I can do it in an hour or less.  I have changed my work hours some, so I can get an early enough start to walk first in the morning then come home and get showered and  ready to go in.   Wish me luck at least for these first few days.  I have a feeling I am going to need it. 

At least I will be walking in the dark so I don't scare the neighbors!

Imitation Crab

Costco used to sell the most awesome imitation crab and they had an awesome recipe for a salad that if my memory serves was something like Mermaid Salad.  Which kinda gave me the Willies cause I always had a vision of Ariel missing a bite out of her tail!!  Anyway, Costco quit carrying this yummy stuff and I quit eating Mermaid Salad because I am suspicious of fake food and without an opportunity to taste I wasn't investing anything into fake crab from a lesser source.  Until yesterday...

I went to Safeway to pick up a few things and I wanted some shrimp.  I didn't see any right away so asked the butcher, a young woman, and she showed me right to the shrimp.  We were talking about recipes and she asked me if I had ever tried their imitation crab and, of course, I hadn't.  And then she gave me a sample and then I swooned.  No, actually, I grabbed a package and brought it home and made some Mermaid Salad for lunch today.  Ariel be damned!!  I should have bought more, its on sale, and I might go back and get some to freeze.  Wow, just wow.  Here is the recipe.  Please note, I used full up mayonnaise and whole (white and yolk) eggs for this.  If you use light or fat free mayo and only egg white, this is probably practically Point free.  It's also nowhere near as tasty.   Also, I think next time I would add a little more fake crab.  Its good. 

Mermaid Salad
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 10

Ingredients

4 item(s) whole hard-boiled egg(s), diced
1 cup(s) Vidalia onion(s), diced
1 1/2 cup(s) tomato(es)
3 cup(s) Iceberg lettuce, Shredded
3 medium stalk(s) celery, diced
1/2 cup(s) Best Foods Real Mayonnaise
1 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp McCormick Ground black pepper
1/3 pound(s) imitation crab, chopped or shredded

Instructions
Mix all ingredients together. Serve on Triscuits or Flatout (rolled up).
Serving Size is about 1 cup

We put about a cup on a Flatout Flatbread and rolled it up. Oh, mermaids are yummy things!!

Weigh In and Back to the Struggle

Well, I was down -4.  Whoopee! I know, down is down, right.  Sometimes its such a struggle.  I started walking in an effort to boost my loss rate, and it seemed to work last week.  Not so much this week.  But I am not going to stop walking.  I am liking it too much!  So, if we must do this in half pound increments, I guess that's what we have to do.  I am here for the long haul.

A Few Yesterdays Ago!

Today I was reminiscing about youthful escapades and a favorite memory popped up!  One in which I was relatively thin and really young, maybe 25!

I don't recall exactly how it happened, but somehow or another I wound up being a chaperon for the Base High School's senior class trip!  Remember, my husband was in the Air Force?  Anyway, the trip was 4 days, 3 nights to Ibiza, a beautiful island in the middle of the Meditteranean Sea off the coast of Spain. I had to pay my own way, but I wanted to go so badly. My husband stayed home and it was just me, one other adult not much older than I, and about 30 teenagers. 

When we got to our hotel on the island, I called a meeting on the patio while the hotel staff processed the stampede.  I told everyone "You are or will be legal adults in the not too distant future.  I am not going to tell you how to behave, where to sleep, what to drink or not drink, etc.  I am here to make sure that there is an adult available in case of an emergency.  Otherwise, you guys all go have a good time.  I will leave word of my daily location with the front desk if you need me".   And then I prayed.  And then I headed for the beach!

Topless Beach!!  Now, before you go getting all freaked out, this is totally normal on most of the beaches in Europe.  They have a totally different attitude about the body than most Americans do.  We are really prudes!  It took me all of about 30 minutes to relax enough to actually go topless on the beach and I probably did it more because I felt out of place fully dressed (with top) when everyone around me was half naked. 

It was glorious fun and I enjoyed the rest of the time we were there getting sunburned in the damnedest places.  The kids actually did really well and we only had one mishap; a broken leg in a moped accident.
Of course, there is no telling what happened nine months after the fact.  After all, I wasn't checking beds.

New Clothes or No?

Ok, I have to ask here because I love to stir the pot and would like to know what you all think.  In the process of your weight loss, did you buy new clothes along the way?  Did you wait until you had lost 5 sizes before you could convince yourself that you needed some new duds?  I, personally, am having so much fun buying clothes and I still have a metric ton (ok, a metric 30 lbs) to lose, but I like to look nice and I don't feel like I look nice in the gunny sacks that my previous sizes have now become.  Just by virtue of the fact that they just hang on me.  I am also removing my "fat" clothes from my closet as soon as they can actually be defined that way.  I won't leave myself any excuse for backward movement.  On the other hand, I know a number of people who won't make the investment. 

To me, that is self doubt.  I know where I am headed.  I don't intend to go back where I came from.  I may never make it all the way to the goal that WW says I should be reaching for.  And that's ok.  Dammit, I am an old lady.  Even the doctors expect some fat!!  But I will no longer allow myself the indulgence of 220 lbs.  Ridiculous!! 

Cold in Arizona in May? What is that about!!?

I got my walk in this morning, but it was like 44 degrees and the wind was probably blowing about 10 mph.  Just enough to make me miserable.  It was cold, brrrrrrrr!!  I am a desert rat and anything below 60 usually has me grubbing for fleece!  I got a 1.5 mile power walk, and still managed to get my 5+miles overall in.

I am complaining about it being cold, but a few years ago, I wanted to take my grandkids to the Desert Museum, a really cool zoo here in Tucson.  It was in the summer and I had to wake their little tyke butts up really early so we could get moving before it got too hot.  We arrived at the zoo about 7 am.  It was, now no kidding, 110 degrees.  At 7 am!!  I wanted to die!!  We strolled for a couple hours, but that was it.  Nana was melting and even the damned coyotes have enough sense to get out of the heat!  Went home and got in the pool. 

Damned Chinese Food!!

Weigh in and Walking Results

Saturday morning weigh in and I am thinking "Well, if I didn't lose some serious poundage this week I don't know what is going to jump start my loss motor."  Well, Ladies and Gents, I am pleased and proud to announce that I walked off 2.8 pounds last week for a total loss of 32.2 lbs.  I also lose another  food Point this week but that's ok, I have not been eating them all anyway.   Yeehaw!!

Other Things on Laura's Mind

Ok, so y'all are probably sick of reading about walking and I don't blame you.  I do have other things on my mind.  Some great weighty things and some other just interesting (at least to me) things and being that this is MY blog, I guess I get to be the judge of that.  I always wanted to be Queen of the World.  I just didn't expect the scope of it to be quite this small.  Oh well.  So here goes...

When I was a little girl, my dad called me Lard Bucket.  It was a term of endearment.  Really!!  and it fit.  I was a chunk.  Look..

Look at the rolls on those adorable thighs.  I think that was the last time my thighs were adorable. Anyway, dad called me Lard Bucket for years.  In case you don't know, lard used to come in little miniature buckets.  Back when my dad was young those buckets were made of tin and used for lunch pails once emptied.  So, it when I reached about 3 years of age, I think I was just about a year here, someone said to me "Aren't you cute?! What is your name?"  and I answered "Laura Bucket Powell".  My dad quickly found a new term of endearment!!

Ok, now a more serious subject.  If you are a follower and have read back in the blog, you know that my mother and I had to make a decision as to her care when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2007.  The treatment was as hard, if not harder on her than the disease, and we reached a point where we needed to just spend some quality time together and know that eventually her disease would kill her, but she would not suffer any undue pain.  We did just that and had a 6 months of her being ok and able to enjoy what was rest of her life without the constant interference of the medication.

The medication is the issue that I have.  First, I need to address the fact that modern medicine is amazing and can and does do miraculous things every day.  And Oncologists are often nothing short of miracle workers.  However, their reputations and careers are solely based on keeping patients alive.  Without regard to the quality of that life.   My mother's body was broken, her spine was crushed and compressing more all the time, her kidneys had been damaged by the disease.  The doctor said "Well, we can probably give you 2 more years."  But what kind of years?  Years in pain?  Years sick because of the potency of the meds?

The reason this comes up today is that last night I was watching the news and Dr. Sanjay Gupta was running on about a new Prostate Cancer "vaccine" that was probably going to be approved by the FDA very shortly.  And its big plus?  It could give a man maybe 4 more months to live.  4?  4?  And its cost?  Astronomical!!

Maybe I am seeing this through a different lens than others but I could not for the life of me grasp the benefit of this.  Is this what medical science is spending billions on?  Is this why our medical costs are so high because of R&D cost on drugs like this?  I love the people I love and like most everyone else and I would not give this drug to anyone that I love or like.  Because 4 months is a false promise at best and I can't imagine anyone that loves me or their families (the ones I like) willing to bankrupt their families to postpone the inevitable for 4 months.   Senseless.

Enough for tonight.  I will do more like this later

I got to walk today!

It was chilly when I got to work this morning, but I had a nice little fleecey jacket with me so I grabbed it, the iPod and my pedometer and took off.  I power walked 1.81 miles.  I am going to have to change up my route soon so I can add distance. Which means, of course, that I will have to make time concessions somewhere.  I don't know that I want to go in much earlier, I already get to work right around 5 am.  However, I don't like staying later in the afternoon either.  I could start running but not sure I am ready for that yet. 

Anyway, here is my picture of the day.  Just in case you thought I was kidding.

That's 5.25 miles today total.  I am choked up!