SueWorks

I Cannot Wait

It's official; in one week it's the bestest day of the whole year.  It's Thanksgiving.  There are three turkeys with my name on them, thanks to my Dad.  Thanks, Dad!

I will pick up one early next week to begin the defrosting process.  We use frozen birds because we know it's all about the stuffing.  I cannot share the family recipe.  Yes, it is a secret, and yes, it is not written down.  There are special ingredients with a base of Mrs. Cubbison's corn bread, that's all I can share.  It's heaven and it's the bestest way to stuff your bird.  Honestly, you don't even need a bird, and we always have extra for pre-dinner snacking and during dinner and then for after dinner meals. 

There's an article in yesterday's LA Times, actually a few, about Thanksgiving traditions and recipes.  There was also a statement about Thanksgiving being utmost a family holiday, and that's why I love it so.  You spend all day, actually a few days with pies and prep, preparing for one meal that you share with loved ones.  Who could ask for anything better?!?  I think I have pictures from last year.

This year I have a new roaster rack.  It's got a removable pin that will allow the bird to be gently moved from the roasting pan to the serving platter; I'm rightfully skeptical, but I shelled out the 15 bucks anyway.  It's worth a try.

Happy Monday

I have weigh-in on Monday, which makes me think a little more about what I eat on Sunday.  It's a good thing.  Today was a good day, down 1.6 pounds.  That seems like such a little bit but it's like half a can of coffee.  That's something!

My friend, and main non-paid motivator, is on Lindora which is a high protein, very low carb plan.  She is losing weight much faster than I am but I like my carbs, love them in fact, this is best plan for me right now.  If only, only I can get exercise in.  We spent a hour at the shooting range, and I'm sore but 'cause of the big ass bruise on my arm that Pkin poked really hard last night.  He can be a major pork chop most of the time.

There was a study in Australia or New Zealand, I think, about low carb versus not low carb diets.  Carbs make people happy, they help in serotonin production.  Though people lost about the same amount of weight, the carb eaters were happier.  It's supposed that happier people have better eating and exercise habits overall.  I like that kind of thinking. 

I'm also afraid to write this next bit.  If I continue on track, I will be at my goal is 31 weeks and my super goal in 36 weeks.  Neither is a long time.  I'm been on plan for 5 weeks so far, that is 13.9% of the way there.  That's like what tax will be next year, at the rate we're headed.  That's almost 15% and that is a lot, a lot!  Wow, I've accomplished so much already and it's been a process but not really super hard.  I just need to keep it up to keep my weight down.

Have I shared about Pkin's diet by proxy?  I'm sure he's down as a size and a half.  He was wearing a formerly sausage shirt that now is only slightly snug about the belly.  He's so lucky I'm doing all this and that he gets the take advantage of the benefits.

Bakerina

I've looked at her blog before, but I re-found it.  Take a look!  The posts are spare right now but very engaging. 

If I can figure out how to add Bakerina to interesting links, you'll be the second to see it.

Signs from God (maybe Buddha or Confucius)

I needed to get away for a bit this afternoon so I went to Chinese lunch alone though I would have preferred to do something more social, it was all I had open to me.  The food was good, of course, and as I was paying the server asked if I had a dime.  I spilled out my few coins and I had not only a dime but also an old fortune, which said:

Look around; happiness
is trying to catch you.

As Pkin will attest I cannot throw a piece of paper away.  It might be important, you never know.

Guess what my fortune today was?

 

My Literary Energy

Over the past week I've been expending my literary energy in slightly different ways.  First, I've been posting on another site's bulletin board - trying to gain inspiration for the DIE-IT.  It's going pretty well, you need to find a category and then they get to know you and you get to know them and then you need to settle in.  My niche is out there somewhere.  Where is the grumpy, approaching-middle-age place?

Secondly, I've been reading, other people's blogs, published books and even newspapers.  You should take a look at Plotastic; I've been doing the opposite but it's still interesting to read.  I wrote a few days ago about the gray haired women.  I finally got the book (Amazon's no cost delivery costs lots of time), and I'm disappointed.  I feel like the author is name dropping; which is something I really, really abhor.  I'm sure it's my own thing but I'm wondering if anyone else felt the same.  If she's making such a personal statement of empowerment, why do I need to hear about a Genius Grant winner's opinion of said author.  Of course, the author is published and I am not.  Something to think about.  I'll continue reading.  Oh, the book is physically deformed. 

I'll take a picture for you (soon).  You have to see it to believe it.  First the publisher let it out of China or someplace.  The people at Amazon unpacked it.  Then they repacked it.  All of this happened with no one stopping to say, Hey is this defective?  I can still read it, but it looks odd and feels odd in my hands.

Depends, or How I Spent My Saturday Night

[After writing a fun entry on grocery store experiences, TypePad @#$%@ed out.  Here's goes Take 2!]

I do not know how to grocery shop.  Some people shop for economy, some for health, some for culinary expression and then there is me.  I shop for things that I think will make me happy.  When Pkin and I got married, neither of us had really managed a home of our own, by ourselves (me even less so.)  I have never learned the skill of meal planning.  It's so interesting to me that people plan two or more weeks of dinners at home and then actually make them and eat them, leftovers and all.  I shop for A meal.

The worst happened last week, after shopping for my small part of Easter dinner (candy and homemade cheesecake) I came home to color eggs and make dessert.  Mom was visiting too.  We started the cake, and were thinking about the eggs and decided it was lunch time.

How yummy tuna melts would be, was my thought.  I went to the cupboard and looked, no tuna.  After moving around 6-year-old soup cans, exploring the cabinets under the countertop, and even searching in the "rice" cupboard, I realized that I did not have tuna.  (The stuff that can live in your cabinets for years, not the fancy, trendy steak kind.)  I always have tuna.  Tuna is a staple of the raised-Catholic.  You just have to have tuna, especially during Lent.

After another week, I finally went to the store.  Pkin and I stopped after dinner out.  We bought three containers of milk (Pkin loves his milk,) one gallon of ice cream (it was on sale,) two cups of yogurt (I get bored quickly,) apples (my concession to good health,) and tuna.  The massive Von's computer decided that our purchased indicated a need for Depends during our next shopping trip. 

I think the major Safeway corporation thinks we're lactose intolerant or perhaps that we are 75 years old.

To Die-et or Not

It should be so easy, just stop eating and exercise.  But we know that it is not just so easy and that is why there are multi-billion dollar health and fitness industries.

I have fat cells that have been roosting from the day after birth if not before; then there's the whole genetic pre-disposition to fat deposit-tion, plus I have bad knees and I like the taste, sensation and emotions around eating a good meal.  Oh, and I get bored easily.  I recently learned that weight and insomnia are related, have both of those; need to figure out what comes first in the annals of badness.

I don't want to sign up with another diet biz, but I want and need to do something.  If the truth be told, I'm really intrigued by a "medical intervention" a la Star Jones, even though I find her repulsive on so many levels.  I know that I'm a perfect candidate; I've got it all -- age, weight, and health risks.  For less drastic measures I've been re-considering Weight Watchers. 

I could do it myself, I have the points calculator (it's a paper slide rule thingy) and I can do simple math adding up to 26 points.  We've started walking at work and bringing lunch too; all I really need is something (someone) to help me through the two weekend days, or as I like to call them binge-eating Saturday and don't-want-to-go-back-to-work Sunday.  And, you can get a food pyramid online at something like, pyramid.gov, seriously, google it.  What more do I need?

I even know enough about exercise to do something sensible.  I have the pedometer; I can take my pulse.  My exercise video library is extensive and well-rounded, pun intended.  If you want to stretch with the oldies, there's Richard Simmons; the Cosmo girls do it all from buns and legs to an entire workout and they aren't too skinny, one is even a bit uncoordinated.  They did a tremendous job with that video.  The leader is perky but not annoying, one back up is perfect, spot on and the other is every girl, and slightly less coordinated.  Don't get me wrong, they are all prettier than average.  If I want I can even do these 60's and 70's music thingies with a very funny looking leader who has all the pretty and hot girls wearing dorky clothes in the background.  You just know that she, the leader, didn't make the pep squad in high school but now she's in front of all the cheerleaders who are clothed in gawd awful color combinations while dressed in well-fitting, excellently coordinated Lycra.  Revenge is sweet, even in the health biz.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I cannot believe that there is that much sun in the world to dry all the sun-dried tomatoes you find on the supermarket shelves at such divergent cost points. 

It's making me wonder!

Fruit Salad

No euphemisms here.  I had a watermelon, I had a pineapple, I had some oranges and I had some apples.  Now I have a tub o' fruit salad.

The watermelon was a gift.  It had sound texture firm and juicy though the flavor was bland.  On my counter sat a pineapple that should have been cut two days ago.  I mixed the watermelon with the fresh pineapple and said, "Yum."  Then I thought, "If two fruits are good, then four would be better."  After a few swift knife cuts I had orange and apple pieces mixed in the bowl.  Topped it all off with a little lemon juice and we were good to go.

Did you know pineapples have little seedy like things?  Mine did.