Monday, August 30, 2010

The Aftermath

of a damp garage sale is waiting, no, make that lurking in the garage! As it is another rainy day today, I don't believe there is much chance of the soggy things drying out today! So, best get on with things indoors.

My aim is to simplify all areas of my life. As my hubby so aptly remarked the other day, I am never as happy as I am in a nice hotel room. I do not like clutter. I can live without nick knacks and assorted paraphernalia that others seem to think makes a home cozy. For me? They get in the way of living and actually using my home. After fourteen years of living in one place - a record for both of us, by the way- there was far too much stuff sitting around to suit me. We have had major clear outs before, but never were able to bring the house to a bare bones state. I will be working on this for awhile!

In the meantime? This is my goal.

"To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury
and refinement rather than fashion:
to be worthy, not respectable
and wealthy not rich,
to study hard, to think quietly,
talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and buds,
to babes and sages, with an open heart,
await occasions, hurry never,
this is my symphony."
~William Henry Channing


Food for today:

Breakfast: GF English muffin with Cheez Whiz, two poached eggs, skim milk
Lunch: soup - lazy me will crack a can, and have it with some GF crackers and of course, a bit of butter!

Supper: To be Determined - I have failed miserably in my menu planning, so right after I hit "publish post" I am going to drag out my calendar and plan the week! Hubby is home all week, so meals will actually be served at five, at the table, maybe even with a bit of company!

*supper was a chicken breast, 2/3 cup of mashed potatoes and 1/2 cup of creamed corn. NUMMMY! But oh boy! Am I full!

Snack: Tw gluten free cookies. Cinnamon-O's. They are absolutely wonderful. Jo-sef Simply Delicious Cinnamon sandwich cookies. OOOOOOO SOOOOOO good and 150 calories for two. Sure not sorry I bought them at Meyer's today!

Snack #2: since I am going to a make-up party, where I will have to use all sorts of restraint, I allowed myself to have some of that peanut butter marshmallow goop cake. 200 calories for a piece of heaven!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Friday

Passport photo? DONE! Passport taken to Gov't officials in charge of that sort of thing? DONE! Garage sale signs installed at relevent intersections? DONE! Me? DONE!

Now I am waiting for my treat for today. The girls are coming over any minute for a quick visit. Can hardly wait to see the little one if only for a moment!

Breakfast: two eggs, two slices of crispy bacon, skim milk
Lunch: 100 calories of sliced ham, two Vlasic dills and 1 oz of cheese water
Supper: Glutino cheese pizza BORRRRRRRING! But the only freezer quick food I have found! Fresca
Snack: 1/4 cup of cashew nuts

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Thursday

Today was the day we ventured into the garage to get all of the stuff priced, and organized for the garage sale. What a job! So glad it is over, and all we have to do now is to get people in here to take it away. I priced rock bottom so there won't be any dickering. If one of those difficult people comes along? I will tell them to take a hike, and give it away. Really, why bother with that whole energy waste? Buy it or leave. This is a no dicker zone! LOL

Breakfast: 2/3 of an english muffin, two eggs, glass of skim milk, two T of Cheez Whiz
Lunch: 200 calories worth of deli ham, coffee, skim milk
Supper: 1 cup of leftover Spaghetti and sauce
Snack: Devil potato chips were calling my name. So was the sour cream dip. Still came in at 1850 calories today, though, and have worked my fingers to the bone.

My pillow may be calling me, but my feet are hollering. Off to soak in a nice hot tub!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Wednesday

Breakfast: Greek omelet with spinach, mushrooms, peppers finely diced, onion. Two eggs, 30 gms feta cheese, 1 glass of skim milk, coffee with non dairy creamer.

Lunch: Woops. Forgot.

Supper: 1.5 cups of corn pasta, 1 cup of sauce made with organic tomato sauce, bison, mushrooms, peppers, onion sprinkled with parmesan. Blueberries with 1 T whipped cream.
Fresca. Chopped tomato with parsley, tsp. of olive oil, Fleur de Sel and pepper.

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Weekend

We had a lot going on this weekend. Hubby arrived home late Friday night, and "the girls" were scheduled to spend both days with us! Of course, we had to polish and shine everything in sight before their arrival. Special people deserve special efforts, don't they? Our activities included the inspection of every stuffed toy I had squirreled away from her father's childhood, methodical perusal of the jewellery boxes
and a trip to Dairy Queen where the princess fell asleep and the adults indulged! Although I tried to stick to the program both days, I am faced with a gain. Could be hot weather and Buster Bar, water retention, but I am treating it as "CODE RED" and will be monitoring to the calorie what goes into the old body this week. Which brings me to the age old question. Why is it, that when I "behave" I gain, and yet some days, I chow down on chips and chocolate and show a loss the next morning? I am not complaining, but it just doesn't seem fair somehow.

Since the house is still pretty shiny, I think today will be spent running the roads, doing errands and in general depleting the checking account!

Breakfast: GF English muffin, 2 poached eggs, 100 calories spread of choice...can't make up my mind yet! Cheese Whiz, peanut butter, jam? *1 T Cheese Whiz won!

Lunch: 1 cup of Habitant Pea soup, water.

Supper: 1/2 order of fries at Wendy's with 1/2 a Chili, water

Snack: 4 slics of ham, two dill pickles and 28gms of Cheddar

Friday, August 20, 2010

ARGHHHH FRIDAY already!

And I have so much to do it isn't funny. I am expecting visitors of the crawling kind this weekend, so every little thing has to be picked up and put out of harms way. There are piles all over the house...some for the garage sale, some for consignment, some for garbage, and yes, some for the laundry! PLUS I need to pick up some food that makes it look like Gramma really does cook! I am so glad hubby will be home tonight and then home for a whole week. I am just about ready to start a tour with him just to get some rest!

So far, so good though. I have made the bed, organized my dresser drawers, and now? ON TO THE COSMETICS! Although I have pared down a lot, somehow? There is a problem with having way too much once again. Today is the day I have to sort it all out and get rid of the excess.

Breakfast: Two eggs, three strips of bacon. Last time we bought the low sodium stuff from Costco and it was really good. Yesterday, I saw a package of Schneider's, that answered the age old question of how many calories are there in bacon after you cook it! This one said 210 for two slices before, and 45 after. That is a huge difference, as I have been counting the higher number forever, using the logic that it is better to overestimate the consumption and underestimate the exercise. Somehow, that should balance out in my favour, right? ANYWAY that is what I had for breakfast. The milk had gone sour, so no calcium for me this morning!

Lunch:

Supper:

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Another day...

Today was busy, from morning till late afternoon I was running the roads! The weather has been nice, so I have been taking advantage of that and my lack of structured recquired activity at home. In short? While the cat is away, the mice will play!

I was in the company of my dear friend all morning,and then went to get my hair cut at one. Then on to shopping and errands. Nothing major really, just a stop here and there to pick up a few things. I somehow managed to lose my bank card, so a quick stop provided me with a new one. I LOVE my bank! No judgement, just service! LOL

Breakfast: two eggs, oven fries, skim milk

Lunch: grapes

Supper: chicken, onion and carrot stirfry garnished with almonds, fried rice - minus the egg, bacon, and all that good greasy stuff! Just finely diced peppers and brown basmati rice with a bit of GF soya sauce. I found a little package of chicken ready for the pan at the grocery store for 2.58! It turned out to be enough for two generous servings, when mixed with the carrot and onion. I am quite happy going to the grocery store to buy as we need, rather than do the massive shopping that I had t do for years when feeding a family.

Snackage: Two Toblerone bars. Hey, they were a lunch replacement! 180 calories each, the equivilant of a sandwich for the gluten tolerant world.... I am beginning to see why the scales are not shifting as quickly as I would like. Far too many "replacement" items! Whatever. I am happy, and working on healthy before svelte!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Minimizing

I am in the midst of a great decluttering, so haven't had much time for blogging. We have a mammoth garage sale coming up, with all leftovers going out the next week to charity. Between now and then, I am going through this house with a fine tooth comb, getting rid of all items that I wouldn't want to pay to move. One has to be able to turn on a dime these days, and you just never know what may lie ahead for us.

Yesterday, I went through all of my hanging clothes in the closet. Today? Drawers, shelve and toiletries. Hmmmm. That ought to take a fair chunk of the day! Tomorrow will be the hall closet, hubby's office closet (really, my storage, if truth be told). I have done the kitchen for the most part, and then all that remains is hubby's closet. We can do that on the weekend.

Coats are a problem. I have far too many of them, and very few of them fit. Fifty pounds makes a bit of a difference in the size you need! I dread giving them up, because it is so hard to find a full length coat. Even my red quilted ski jacket is too roomy, but that one? I think I will keep till the last thread gives up, I love it so much.

Breakfast this morning was another breakfast of champions. Wavy Lay's chips and vegetable sour cream dip. Who says you have to be a saint? Sometimes I get so tired of being so strict with myself, and lately? I think I have been rebelling against nothing in particular and everything in general. A lot of meanderings off the path of late. If only chips were full of gluten I would find it easier to resist them, but as it is? They are a legal treat. I will be glad when all of them are gone...that doesn't make sense, because the longer they last, shows I am not indulging to an excess, but as long as they share my airspace they will be a meal replacement! But hey, there are people that eat bugs. I can console myself with that little factoid.

Lunch: two eggs, toasted English muffin, skim milk

Supper: stir fry made with onions, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, mushrooms and celery, topped with toasted almonds, over a cup of brown Basmati rice.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Discovery

We woke up to a dismal, rainy day. LOVE IT!!! I almost feel human again!

After a good long sleep in, we went out into the world to purchase a few necessities. A sink plug, and groceries. Couldn't find a medicine chest. I am trying to buy just what we will eat during the week, to avoid a lot of storage issues, and deplete the stash we already have at home. Since hubby leaves on Tuesday again, I only had to buy a couple of meat items, milk, shredded cabbage, an onion and some cilantro. There were a few items that snuck in, that were not on the list, but my total was much smaller than usual, so I was pleased. I have a choice of grocery stores very close to home so if I missed buying something important, it will be easy enough to pop over to pick up an item or two.

Discovery. When I went to make the chicken breasts for tonights supper, I found that there was only one breast in the package. Undaunted, I cooked it up anyway, and was surprised to see that it stretched to feed both of us to an elegant sufficiency. Of course, I also made a pound of carrots, thinking I was cooking ahead...not so. We ate the lot! One potatoe made scalloped potatoes that fed us both with NO leftovers. I quite like cooking 'just enough', and although the balance of veg vs. meat is not the norm for most? It really works for us, it seems, as we both left the table feeling very content.

As a treat, I thought it would be nice to buy "real" dip - not a treat at all! I discovered that two tablespoons of dip were 130 calories, whereas two tablespoons of sour cream were only fifty. And full fat sour cream at that! So, I found some no-name vegetable soup mix that didn't contain gluten, mixed in a few spoonsfuls of that into the container of sour cream. Not only does it taste great, but I got twice as much dip for the same cost. I will
use it with veggies and yes, my guilty pleasure, potato chips. Which brings me to my snack tonight. (Keep in mind it is Saturday, and we are wild party people.) Four tablespoons of dip and a serving of potato chips! MMMMM wrinkly, crispy, tastey Lay's Wavy!


By the way? I actually remembered the shopping list I tore from my new calendar. I was quite impressed with the facts that A. I wrote the list, and B. I actually took it with me! This calendar is going to make a new woman of me! (What are the chances? LOL)

Breakfast: English muffin (gf), Cheese Whiz, two eggs, skim milk
Lunch: cup of bean soup, two GF crackers, Fresca
Supper: 1/2 chicken breast (skinless, bone in)1/2 potato, 2 T cream, 1 tsp butter, 1/4 of peeled, cooked carrots. 1/2 a container of rice pudding.
Snack: 250 calories of potato chips, 4 T of sour cream dip, Fresca.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday

And the weekend begins. Hubby just got in, and will pick up Chinese food on his way home. NUMMY! I love chow mien and almond chicken, two things that won't break the points bank too badly! This morning, I had two eggs, and three strips of crispy bacon, with skim milk. Lunch was a handful of taco chips with salsa and cheddar cheese, so I would say today was pretty much a bust weight watcher wise! Ah well. You have to slip off the wagon once in awhile!

Today it was raining cats and dogs...so nice to curl up in bed and doze the day away. I had all sorts of plans for the day, but they quickly went away as the day progressed. I am glad it is a cool weekend forecast, as we have a lot of sorting to do in the garage before we can put on the sale. I have gone through the house pretty thoroughly, and will finish off my closet next week, while hubby is in Pittsburgh. I really don't mind him being away as long as I have something to do with my time. The past two weeks have flown by, and I have a very organized storage room and laundry room to show for it! Although, cleaning up one mess makes another! We will deal with that this weekend, and decide on a date for the sale. I like to have things neatly arranged, and not all dirty and jumbled, so our stuff has gone quickly in the past. Here is hoping it will this time, too!

As for the diet? With this heat wave we had, I think I was doing well to breath, let alone worry about food! This morning I woke up to thunder and lightning, and a lot of energy! It was so nice to feel like myself again. The kitchen got a good scrubbing before breakfast, and the frig got a good clear out. No more out dated items or mouldy berries! I am going to buy as we go for a little while, until the our stores are depleted. I am really going to try to trace our spending. I have let things slide just a little too much lately.

Oh happy day!

I have my car back! It is purring like a kitten, so here is hoping all is well with it. First thing on my list to do tomorrow is to go to the gas station...I don't know how happy I will be afterwards!




My new Polestar calendar arrived, and I am very pleased indeed. It is the best calendar I have ever seen. It even has pages of lists to tear out, that you can make and take with you. I bought the 2011 at Costco, and just couldn't wait to start using it. I went to the website, and lo and behold, the 2010's were on sale for five dollars. Granted, the majority of the year is gone, but what price beauty? Some things just rock my world, and this calendar is one of them. It is going to work sooooo well as my memory. Want to take a peek?



http://www.polestarcalendars.com/product/AFC11

Breakfast: bacon and eggs
Lunch: Mac & cheese. Tried a new corn pasta and it was delish. Made a cheese sauce instead of using a ton of cheese...passable, but not great.
Supper: went out to Kelsey's, had a baked potato, two little containers of butter, half of the little dish of sour cream, and two skewers of shrimp.
Snack: I am contemplating....

Thursday, August 12, 2010

SOOOO excited!

I just printed out the documents for our trip to Mexico! (That is what you do when you wake up at three in the morning after snoozing in front of the TV!) I like to bind all the information we need for each trip into a convenient to carry booklet. It also makes a good souvenir after the trip, as I add little notes and reminders for the "next time"! Why I find the heat unbearable here, but pleasurable there, is a mystery. I think it has a lot to do with the ocean breezes. This week, I am 'test driving' outfits for comfort in the heat, so out of all this oppressive weather, good will come! A major change in my thinking has resulted in a lot more comfort. I now wear sleeveless garments. I do not care about my flabby arms. I feel wonderful with more air circulation! We get these ideas in our heads, such as "say no to sleeveless" that are really irrational. Who cares? No one but you. I would much rather have a smile on my face and flabby arms, than a hot miserable face, and covered flabby arms! Let the breezes blow and enjoy life. How late we learn the really important, life altering things!

ANYWAY once again, I am in the throes of packing decisions. I don't want to take a lot of stuff, but what if? ALWAYS the whatifs! I do not like carrying every garment I own with me, even on car trips, and find that even when I pack "bare bones" I end up not some things. So, with that in mind, I think the best plan of attack is to limit my wardrobe to a very few but very wearable things. After all, if you can build a wardrobe on ten pieces, shouldn't you be able to survive for two weeks on ten pieces?(with the addition of a swimsuit and cover up, of course!) I have been thinking of ways to jazz things up with accessories, as it would be a lot easier to carry a few bits and bobs, rather than entire outfits. Time to get creative, so any suggestions to tart up a simple black dress for dinners out would be appreciated. I am quite handy with a needle and thread, so I was thinking that adding a bow or bauble to a plain black dress might do the trick, as well as the usual jewellery changes and scarves, and shawls. The theory is, that what is visible over the table is what is remembere, I have no qualms about wearing the same thing repeatedly, as long as it is comfy, I will be happy!

Wednesday

Was not the most exciting day for food, but it was comforting!

Breakfast: Two eggs, bacon, skim milk
Lunch: Woops again
Supper: taco chips with cheese and salsa, Fresca
Snack: Toblerone bar. Best spent 240 calories of the day!

Not a good eating plan by any means, but with this heat? It is the best I could do!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I will try not to neglect journalling as I continue the great purge....

Breakfast: two egg omelet with cheese, side of broiled asparagus spears wrapped with a slice of rosemary ham, glass of skim milk

Lunch: popcorn (when the cat is away....:)

Super: Gluten free spinach and feta pizza, Fresca

Snack: Toblerone....ah, the value of chocolate as a mini meal!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Missing in Action

Food journaling has paid the price for the time I have been spending decluttering our house. In a nutshell, our menus have been same old, same old. Eggs for breakfast, salads and beans, grilled meats and berries. I am holding the line, but really, I am totally immersed in my current activity to the point that food is an unwelcome interruption! It has also been unbearably hot here, and the coolness of the lower level is so much nicer on these hot days! Inch by inch, I am purging, cleaning and organizing every square inch of this house! I now know why it is so relaxing for me to be traveling with hubby. Staying home brings on these extreme cleaning frenzies!

I am going through the house from top to bottom, purging unnecessary things. My closet excess is going to a consignment store. Hubby put up two closet rods in the storage room to hold the goodies destined for the consignment store. There is room in there now, because the storage room has yielded enough stuff for a very hefty garage sale. That stuff has migrated to the garage, which is now filled up!

I am trying my best to let things go. Quickly, and quietly. As things are removed, what is left is given even more scrutiny...if it is not necessary, used or lovely, it is living on borrowed time! I can see a second and third round of purging will be necessary. I want an echo in this house again!


I have been doing a lot of research on minimalism, and I must admit the concepts appeal to me. I get an odd rush from tossing things out! It is a lasting euphoria, vs. the fleeting euphoria from acquiring something new!