Friday, 10/22/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  155.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  Not sure...  (900 by 5:00 p.m., then Blackwoods.  Grrr.)

Had an OK day with eating, but it seemed like I was hungrier than usual.  I had a gut-ache ALL day, and it felt like hunger, rather than something else.  By only 8:30 I was famished, so I ate "breakfast," if you can call a little smoked salmon washed down by a Slim Fast shake that.  I managed to wait until 1:15  to eat anything else.  I ate my favorite Ezekiel-bread-scrambled-egg-sandwich for lunch with a cup of hot tea, and I was full until 5:00, when I broke down and inhaled 175 calories-worth of SKITTLES, of all things.


I hate it when I do that.


My willpower was floundering a little after that, and I waffled back and forth between heading home from work with baby at 5:30, or meeting up with the teenager and my Mom, who were on their way to Blackwoods Bar & Grill for supper before attending a concert at UMD.  I honestly thought long and hard about this.  Ultimately, my rabid hunger (thanks to my post-Skittle-insulin response) won out, and I joined them.

Supper was great, and I kept it relatively light, as far as restaurant meals go for me.  I had a "crostini" appetizer (rounds of baguette-type toast topped with a half-inch-thick glob of mozzerella cheese and drizzled with a gooey-sweet "balsemic glaze," YUMMMMM!!!), and a raspberry-chicken salad, and two glasses of fountain Coke Classic.  I also drank most of the large milk I ordered for baby, but at least that was good for me.


I'm going to have to make that crostini.  It was carbs, and it was chewy-gloppy cheese, but OMG, was it delish!  If I can find a recipe for the glaze or fabricate my own, I'd make this as often as I make my bruschetta.  (I stole Olive Garden's bruschetta recipe off the Internet, LOL!)


I'm not one to be greedy, so here it is:  (It's SOOOOOO easy, and crazy-tasty!!!)

I don't eat here often, because of the high prices and the CHEESE COMA afterwards.

Yours will look EXACTLY like this.  Fabulous!

 Olive Garden's Bruscetta

3 firm roma tomatoes, finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon minced fresh basil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons diced marinated sun-dried tomatoes
pinch dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
9-10 slices ciabatta bread (or Italian bread)


Directions:
1.  Toss diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and salt in a medium bowl.  Cover and chill 1 hour.  
2.  When you are ready to serve the dish, preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3.  Combine Parmesan cheese with dried parsley in a small bowl.  Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet.
4.  Sprinkle a couple of pinches of the Parmesan cheese mixture over each bread slice.  Bake for 5 minutes or until the bread starts to crisp.
5.  Pour tomato mixture into a serving dish (strain off the liquid), and serve it up alongside the toasted bread slices.  Makes 4 servings.


Voila!  Tomato-ey goodness!!!

Once again, I digress...

Once I got home, my Friday wound down with me grumbling to myself about the Blackwoods calories while I ate not ONE, but TWO Blue Bunny English Toffee Bars.  This certainly did not help matters much.

130 calories each, and SO tasty!!!

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Thursday, 10/21/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  156.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  1215.  (Another decent day!)

Exercise today:  45 minutes on the treadmill / 150 calories burned.  (Sweet!)

Today was another good one for me.  It wasn't easy, or fun, but it was manageable.  I survived.  I kept things simple, and tried not to dwell on the mental stress of the "dieting stigma" quite so much.  This seems to help me.  One of the worst things about being on a diet is the fact that it places food in the foreground of your brain.  When I'm trying to lose pounds, I inevitably think about food all day long, whether it's about what I'm going to eat for my meals that day, or wondering how many calories something contains, or trying to figure out portion sizes, etc..  My point is, I think about food WAY more when I'm dieting than when I'm not particularly trying to lose weight.


Shouldn't it be the other way around?!


Today, I tried to have more mental control over my tendency to obsess rampantly about food.  One thing that really helped was planning out my entire day of eating in the morning.  I have tried this before, and am wondering why I didn't remember until now how helpful this has been for me in the past.  When the day is already planned, it eliminates the "what am I going to eat at my next meal?" question.  It makes things easier, and it frees up brain time to think about more important things, like, "Why do I have to wait so long for the 3rd Season of True Blood to come out on DVD?!"  See?  It's win-win.

This pic pretty much sums up my favorite T.V. show.

So I tried to keep food out of my brain as much as possible today, and just the attempt was helpful.  I had decided early in the day what I'd be eating for lunch and supper, so I wasn't thinking about either of those meals at all.  All I really had to deal with was between-meal hunger when it cropped up, and I'm trying to wipe that out with the kinds of things you're SUPPOSED to snack on:   A piece of fresh fruit (I've been eating an apple every day, which I've never done, and also bananas and frozen berries...), a serving of veggies (I love steamed AND raw cauliflower, of all things...), a serving of almonds or peanuts or peanut butter (for the protein boost), a cup of hot or ice tea, a glass of milk, or a serving of plain Greek yogurt.  I've been doing really well with this the past few days, amazingly. 

I always keep frozen raspberries and strawberries on hand... baby loves them, too!

40 dry roasted peanuts contain about 160 calories.

I would drink a gallon of milk a day, if I wouldn't weigh 500 pounds as a result.

I'm back on the occasional crutch of diet pop, but I'm embarrassed to say that it's simply unavoidable.  I'm a pop addict, and it's not something I can quit cold-turkey.  I read the other day that many people who are addicted to regular pop, such as Coke Classic or Dr. Pepper like me, switch to the diet version "on their way to drinking water instead of any pop."  I am still trying to "make" myself love water.  I can only stand it ice-cold (as in, more ice than water in the glass).  Keeping that kind of a crushed ice supply with me at all times is, unfortunately, impossible.  So, back is a can of diet 7-up or diet Dew here and there, followed by the crushing, throbbing brain-pain.  Fun.   

The elixir of migraines and eventual death.

One other tidbit I've decided is that I should be eating as much soup and as many salads as possible, since I love both!  I even had the crazy idea that I should try to eat a bowl of soup, a salad, and a sandwich every day for a few months, simply because they're low-cal and there are so many options for variety.  On salads I love dumping raw sweet onions, turkey, chicken, tuna, smoked salmon, imitation crab, boiled eggs, carrots, pickles (YEAH), grape tomatoes, raisins, seasoned slivered almonds, Parmesan cheese, Wishbone spray dressings, and Mortons Seasoning Blend.  All delicious!

My favorite soups right now are from Progresso, and they include Hearty Tomato, Creamy Mushroom, Lentil, French Onion, and Minestrone.  YUM!

My current #1 favorite soup...  Only 220 calories per can!

My current #2 favorite, with 240 calories.

So my day played out much like Wednesday; I had eaten only 770 calories worth of coffee, hot tea, Progresso Hearty Tomato soup, baby's leftover Carl Buddig-brand honey turkey,  Diet Mountain Dew (UGH), and a Rich Chocolate Royale Slim Fast shake by 7:00 p.m.


I loved my raisin Ezekiel toast-scrambled-egg sandwich so much on Wednesday, I made another one tonight, minus the turkey bacon (I was out!).  I rounded out my day of eating with a cup of 2% milk, which I know I need to drink more of.  


So once again, I headed downstairs after my sandwich for 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I honestly have no idea what has kicked me in the butt the past 48 hours and served to motivate me to action; I really don't.  I wish I did, so I could bottle it and sell it!   LOL


A final note on two more celebrities who have inspired me to lose my pounds, though they're two that you'd least expect from me.  I've never watched them on T.V., and the first, Drew Carey, used to really irritate me.  But he has lost more than 80 pounds in the past several months, and he is unrecognizable!  He hosts The Price is Right now; I keep forgetting!  He has been quoted recently while explaining how he lost his weight, and cutting carbs was key for him - so I've been following his story with interest...

Before and after... CRAZY!

80 pounds lost made a huge difference.  DUH!

An old Marine pic of Drew, and one before his transformation.

About his more than 80-pound weight-loss he has said: 

“No carbs,” Carey says. “I have cheated a couple times, but basically no carbs, not even a cracker. No bread at all. No pizza, nothing. No corn, no beans, no starches of any kind. Egg whites in the morning or like, Greek yogurt, cut some fruit.”
“I don’t drink anything but water,” he says. “No coffee, no tea, no soda.”

---------------------------------------------------

Another celebrity who has shed her extra weight is Kelly Osbourne.  I've never paid particularly close attention to what she does, and I never watched "The Osbournes."  But her weight-loss is inspiring to me, because she has made several comments that tell me she has really "figured out" that losing weight, and keeping it off, isn't just a passing activity that ends once the weight is gone.  Once the pounds are gone, you simply must live your life in a new healthier way to keep the pounds off.  She spent years yo-yo-ing, but now has figured out that she needs to eat healthy every day, and she needs to exercise throughout her life, if she wants to not gain it all back again.  This is basic truth, and so I admire her accomplishment! 

After and before:  Amazing!

Awful and awesome. 

New runway model?!

Gorgeous!

Crazy style, but her confidence is what I admire!

Kelly Osbourne hasn't always been the role model for healthy living. The once potty-mouthed singer and "The Osbournes" reality TV star has not only struggled with her weight, but also checked herself into rehab for drug and alcohol addiction three times. But now, according to an exclusive interview with "Us Weekly," it looks as if Osbourne has embraced a healthier lifestyle, which helped her lose a whopping 42 pounds.

The 25-year-old Osbourne recently dropped weight through a healthy, low-carb diet, training and competing on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" (in which she won third place), and the fat-blasting ballet-meets-yoga-meets-Pilates Bar Method, she told "Us Weekly." Her new lifestyle has shrunk the 5'2" singer from a size 14 to a size 2 (from 160 pounds to 118 pounds)!

"I have seen her when she is heavier," Melanie Bromley, West Coast Bureau Chief for "Us Weekly" told That's Fit. "At the shoot [Osbourne's February 21 "Us Weekly" photo shoot in Bel Air], she had more energy and seemed excited about her new body. She had a new confidence. We had so many outfits and she was really enjoying trying them on. She looked incredible and so slim; she was in the kind of clothes that you've never seen her wear -- they were tight-fitting and cinched at the waist. We haven't seen her in that role before."

Tight-fitting, cinched-waist clothing? It certainly does seem like a different side to Osbourne. Even from a young age, the reality star has struggled with her weight, and admitted to "Us Weekly" that she's suffered from bouts of depression and was an emotional eater. "I'd order a pizza and eat my emotions away," she said.

This isn't the first time Osbourne has lost a considerable amount of weight. She shed nearly 40 pounds on the Blood Type Diet. However, she gained it back before the 2009 season of "Dancing With The Stars." To keep her weight in check, she's even been known to try a few extreme dieting tactics. "A friend told me to take Adderall [an ADHD drug that suppresses appetite] a couple years ago," she told "Us Weekly." "Or I'd take diet pills. I starved myself until I was shaking and felt sick. I tried the Atkins Diet, but you had to eat so much meat and cheese, I hated it. No vegetables. I felt dirty when I ate like that."

It was during DWTS, though, that she shed some serious weight, attributing her success to partner Louis van Amstel. Van Amstel made her work out and practice six hours a day to get fit, she said. As soon as DWTS ended, Osbourne began the Bar Method. "DWTS taught her that she can change her body shape," said Bromley. "You really have to be committed to DWTS -- and many people lose a lot of weight while on the show. But after the show ends, they generally gain it all back. For Kelly to have kept it off is an accomplishment, and I think she has a better figure now than when she finished the show."

While she may not be a fan of exercise in general, Osbourne swears by the Bar Method, a class she takes for 60-minutes three days a week. "Not every day," she told "Us Weekly" of the Bar Method. "I don't have that kind of dedication! Working out sucks. It's miserable. You sweat and you stink, but then you're done -- and you see that just taking an hour three times a week can change you so much. It becomes addictive." When she can't make class, Osbourne hits the hiking trails near her parents' California home with mom Sharon and a trainer. "We'll stop and do pushups and situps then keep walking," she said. "There are so many hills that, by the end, we're gasping for breath."

An average day eating-wise for Osbourne consists of an egg-white omelet with turkey bacon for breakfast, a chopped salad with tomatoes, salami, mozzarella and garbanzo beans for lunch, and a turkey burger with a salad or a side of steamed vegetables for dinner. Sugar-free Jell-O is her go-to snack.

--------------------------------------

So, all I have to do is stay focused and do whatever it takes to eat as few unhealthy carbs as possible, and I will succeed.

Right? 

Wednesday, 10/20/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  157.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  1145.  O.M.G.!!!!!!!

Exercise today:  45 minutes on the treadmill / 150 calories burned.  Shocking!


Today, I sensed a better weight-loss frame of mind affecting my... frame of mind.  I was hungry all day.  Starving, really.  But hey, that goes without saying.  I'm always hungry, to some irritating degree.  But today, I tried to be at least conscious of WHY, rather than just whining subconsciously about the repulsive feeling.  


I decided that today would be a day for reflection and making changes.  For the past 31 days, I have begun each day by lumbering onto my scale, and recording my weight at the top of a clean sheet of paper.  Then, over the course of the day, I have recorded the calories in everything I've eaten, and totaled them up at the end of the day.  My goal, always, is to never go over 1200 calories.  Unfortunately, as I've ashamedly chronicled here, I have failed to meet my 1200-calorie goal many, many times in the past 31 days.

So today I decided to really examine the "whys" of what's happening.  I've written before that I know I eat less calories over the course of an entire day if I hold off eating anything in the morning as long as possible.  Some days, this is easy - and other days, such as this past Monday...  I break down and eat 1000 calories of crap for lunch, to soothe my pissed-off stomach.  

I've decided today that my system simply can't handle being empty in the morning, day after day after day.  I need to have SOMETHING in my stomach besides hot tea or coffee before noon.  However, I do not believe that it must be protein or whole grains or dairy for me to be healthy, or for my metabolism to get a "jump start" in the morning.  I also do not believe, because it has not been my experience, that eating meat and cheese and other dairy products all day in place of carbs is the best way for me to lose pounds and keep them off.

No.  In my experience, it's often quite a different scenario.  It's really all about nutrition and balance for me.  I understand the necessity of good nutrition, and I take that very seriously.  I need to drink some milk every day, I need to eat fruits and vegetables every day, and I know I have a dietary need for a certain amount of whole grains and fiber, as well as lean meats and other protein sources.  I assist the foods I eat with a few supplements of my own, to give my system a little boost:

This is my multi-vitamin, until baby is 100% done nursing.

Daily B12 is a necessity, thanks to my 34 years of dealing with Crohn's Disease.

I know I don't get enough "healthy oils" in foods, so I take these.

This fall I've started taking Vitamin C, and I do think it's keeping the colds away.

I can either take zinc in tablet form to fight colds, or use the metallic-tasting Zicam or Cold-Ease.  I prefer to skip the disgusting taste!

This will be my next multi-vitamin, when I finish with the Prenatals.  I took these until October of 2007 and loved the results.  A few details below:

 

• Compare to One-A-Day Weight Smart
• Multivitamin Dietary Supplement
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• Child Resistant Cap
• Specially Formulated to Help You While You Control Your Weight.
• Meets Or Exceeds 100% Daily Value of 17 Key Daily Essential Vitamins and Minerals. Egcg, A Natural Green Tea Extract, to Enhance Your Metabolism** Chromium and Important B Vitamins to Help Convert Food to Fuel**Vitamins C,E,Folic Acid, B6 and B12 to Help Support A Healthy Heart**
• Chromium, A Metabolism Promoting Nutrient**Helps to Keep Your Metabolism Going Strong**As You Age, Your Body Composition Can Change and You Can Gain Weight. to Help Support Healthy Metabolism, Take This Complete Multivitamin, Specially Designed to Help You While You're Controlling Your Weight.

The best part about my day today was that I stuck to my calorie-counting, even though I was downright miserable doing it.  All I consumed until 7:00 p.m. was 2 cups of coffee, a grapefruit, a cup of chicken broth, a glass of ice tea, baby's leftover string cheese, a cup of fresh acorn squash, baby's leftover red pepper, 40 dry roasted peanuts (yes, you have to count them out...), a can of Fresca, and 4 pieces of sugarless gum (yes, you have to count those 10 calories, too).

When I got home at 7:00 p.m., I had only eaten a total of 625 calories all day.  This is a HUGE accomplishment for me!!!  I ended my day with a healthy dinner:   Two slices of Ezekiel toast with two scrambled eggs and two slices of turkey bacon on top.  The entire sandwich contained 360 calories.  I followed that with my "dessert" of a mini box of baby's raisins, for a final 130 calories.  And yes, the Diet Mountain Dew I washed it all down with was HORRIBLE because of the HORRIBLE artificial sweetener in it, but I ended the day at 1115 calories and that made it worth it for me, at least today.  My 45-minute treadmill walk after dinner helped boost my spirits even more.  I was sore and tired at the end of it, but on the whole, I feel better about today than I have about any of the previous 30 days.  

That's got to count for something, right?

YUMMY.  AND good for you!  BONUS!!!

  

Tuesday, 10/19/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  155.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:   Slightly under 2000, I'm guessing.  Stopped counting after Big Apple Bagels.  <sigh>

Exercise today:  30 minutes on the treadmill / 100 calories burned.  YIPPEE!

Today was a typical Tuesday, with fair-to-partly-cloudy success counting calories at work all day, and then I picked the teenager up from school at 3:15 and drove us to Big Apple Bagels.  Now, I need to clarify one thing:  We LOVE Big Apple Bagels.  And we do not only LOVE them, but we have gone without them ever since Big Apple closed down many months ago.  

They recently re-opened, much to our delight... and to my dieting dismay, obviously.

Today, mine was a pumpkin-flavored bagel with plain cream cheese.  (Is it not prudent to join in SOMEHOW with the festive Halloween revelry that pulses all around us???)  I try to limit Big Apple to once a week or less, and it's usually on the way to the violin lesson on Tuesdays.  We don't go crazy, that is to say we don't get chips and cookies and stuff to go with our bagel.  We just get a bagel of whatever flavor we're craving, with cream cheese on it.  The teenager gets her orange juice, and I get a pop, usually a 200-calorie Coke Classic.  

The bagels are jam-packed with calories and carbs, of course.  Up to 500+ calories each, and a carb-content I refuse to research.

LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Pure decadence.

News Flash:    Thankfully, at long last, I believe I am nearly done with the wishy-washiness that has been the first 30 days of my "diet."  It almost always takes me awhile to get into the "groove" when I have this many pounds to lose.  Wait; what am I talking about?!  In my entire life, I've only had 37 pounds to lose one other time: after my first pregnancy.  I've never been a huge yo-yo-er.  I've gained and lost the same 5 pounds 1000 times before, but that was when I weighed 125-130 pounds.  I never went above 130.  I weighed 125 to 130 between the ages of 18 and 27, and then I had my first baby, and I was 40 pounds above that from age 27 to 30.  Then I got serious, started drinking Slim Fast, doing Tae Bo a couple times a week, and counting every calorie...  and I lost 40 pounds, seemingly with very little effort.  (Well, in my dusty memory it seems like it happened over-night, but back then I know it took a few months.  But no more than that, seriously.)

I kept those 40 pounds off, and stayed right in my 125-130 pound groove, until I got pregnant again in 2007.  And since baby #2 arrived, almost 26 months ago, I have been carting around an extra 37 pounds.  I must lose it if I'm ever going to be happy with myself, or fit into my old clothes again.  


And I will.

A little bagel humor.    ROTFL.

Oh man, I would love to hand these out in HellMart!!!!!!!

Monday, 10/18/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  156.0

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  Over 2000  (Erberts and Gerberts = 1000 calorie lunch!  BBBBBBBLLLLLLLAAAAAAAHHHHHHH).

I hate when I start my week this way.  

Got on the scale, I was OK with the result after not counting calories all week-end, I go all morning with just a couple cups of coffee, and WHAM - I snarf down 1000 calories at noon from Erbert's and Gerberts.  


Why do I do that?!?!?!?!?!


It's more than simple weakness.  It's not a lack of desire to succeed with weight-loss.  And it's not even hunger alone.  I think, after years of sabotaging myself in this way occasionally, that it's most likely nothing more than a lack of willpower.  I'm not weak; I'm STUPID.  My biggest problem and weight-loss hurdle is my utter lack of willpower when a spread of good food, or the possibility of eating good food, presents itself.  


I need only to THINK the word "Guadalajara" and a plan is set in motion for our next meal there.  Similarly, when lunch time approached today and my stomach was empty, I was powerless to resist when the thought of an Erberts and Gerberts Titan sub entered my brain.  It was MY idea to order lunch, and naturally I ordered Cheetos with my Titan sub, when I could have just eaten the sub.  My lame reason for the Cheetos?  "I'll share them with baby."  My husband is so good to me - I'm sure in his mind he was thinking, "Could she be any weaker???" but he just smiled and said, "OK" and ordered the Cheetos.  He's a saint.  


So I inhaled my Titan sub, which is a mass of turkey, several globs of pesto-flavored mayo, tomatoes, cucumbers, sun-dried tomatoes (my favorite part!), and cheese. all nestled on a white-bread sub roll, of course.  I used to get whole wheat rolls for subs.  But after researching bread to the extent that I did, I learned that whole wheat sub rolls at a sandwich place aren't any healthier than the white ones.  So, now I revert to my Wonder Bread-loving younger days and enjoy my carb and calorie-infused gut-bomb properly on my white sub roll.  I also swap the cucs for onions and have them double my sun-dried tomatoes (I'm kind of addicted!).

The Titan is advertised as containing roughly 700 calories.  Give or take a couple hundred, no doubt.

I love how Cheetos's label boasts "O grams trans fat."  They conveniently forget to mention the 320 calories and gazillion grams of carbs!!!

So, lunch was bad.  I mean, it tasted incredible.  I loved every squishy, slathered, carboliscious bite.  But because of all the "bad" carbs, I was, thanks to the ever-present insulin response we humans are CURSED WITH, starving again within two hours.  THIS SUCKS to a degree even I cannot elaborate on.


And I knew it would happen, after years upon years of experience.  I ate it, and I knew I'd suffer and pay for it.  I did it anyway.  


Not the best way to start the week, to say the least.

It would take me about an hour to eat a bathtub full of Cheetos.  Even without baby's help.

You can do it, weird girl in a bathtub full of Cheetos.

I don't normally have quite this much fun when I sabotage my diet with Cheetos.  At least I feel remorseful...

Yes.  A deadly Cheeto weapon, boring artificial-cheesy wormed-shaped holes in my weight-loss success.

Sunday, 10/17/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  156.0

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  Over 2000.  (An educated guess.  Didn't write anything down again today.)

Another day of cleaning for me.  The hubby went duck hunting in the morning, and then to the cabin with a buddy in the afternoon to take our dock out of the lake.  (Thanks, honey!)  I spent the day hanging out with the girls and trying to do cleaning projects here and there.  I wasn't as motivated or as energized today as I was yesterday, and that definitely affected my productivity.  I was dragging and bleary-eyed with exhaustion by 9:00 p.m.  I could probably have managed a treadmill workout today, or some crunches, but I didn't.  


The day ended on a good note, however, with a home-cooked meal of roast duck, boiled potatoes from our old garden, fresh acorn squash, and stuffing.  I washed it all down with a glass of Sangria, yum!  A huge meal, but mostly high-protein and healthy veggies.  Baby even likes duck!  (It's a good thing, because Daddy's been bringing lots home!)

I baked small pieces of duck with a little water and a lot of butter, in a covered baking dish.  It turned out great!

I love acorn squash with butter and brown sugar.  YUM!

My favorite brand of Sangria, from my Hacienda del Sol waitressing days.  Fiesta!!!

I'm getting ready to start making more home-cooked meals, with summer over and hunting season upon us now.  I love cooking and baking in the fall and winter.  We eat a lot of crock-pot roasts and stews, as well as homemade chili and Grandma Plank's fabulous potato-ham soup.  My hubby came home from a rummage sale a few days ago with a stack of old cookbooks, which will hopefully motivate me to try some homemade bread recipes soon.  I love eating homemade bread, but since almost all bread is a dreaded-hated-revolting CARB, I have avoided going there.  This winter, however, I just might go there, for the fun of baking it.

A recipe too good not to share:
Florence Plank's Homemade Potato-Ham Soup

Ingredients:
3-4 slices, 1/4-inch thick each, of sliced honey-ham (from your deli)
6-8 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 cups diced carrots (I use mini-carrots)
4 stalks chopped celery
9 cups water
5 rounded teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1 can (8 oz.) Vitamin D evaporated milk
1 stick real butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
dash pepper
dash dried parsley

-------------------------------

Place ham and veggies in a 5-quart dutch oven-sized pot.  Add the water, chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then cover, boiling on medium until all veggies are soft (about 25-35 minutes).  Add stick of butter, evaporated milk, and parsley.  Serve (with crescent rolls or baking powder biscuits!) as soon as butter is melted.  ENJOY!!!

Any soup that contains an entire stick of butter has to be amazing, right???

Saturday, 10/16/10:

WEIGHT before eating today:  157.5

Daily Calorie Goal:  1200 or less 
Total calories eaten today:  Not sure.  (House Project day...didn't write anything down.)


Kind of a slow end to a long week with food, dieting, eating, calorie-counting... all of it.  I'm not discouraged, just ridiculously, psychotically busy right now.  Now that the last of my sorting through boxes and bags is completed, I am on to the less satisfying task of organizing my new office.  To the average person, this may seem like a task to look forward to, or even to be enjoyed.  I am instead anticipating many more hours of sorting, organizing, throwing out, filing, etc.  I don't hate this type of job, but I just don't have the numbers of free hours it's going to take to complete it in any short timeframe.  So instead, I'm looking at a several-weeks-long (or months-long) project that drags on and takes way longer to finish than I wish it would.  I understand that I have to grab my free 15 minutes and free half-hours when they present themselves; I just hate doing this kind of a project that way.  In a perfect world, I'd magically find myself with an entire free day, with a beginning, a middle, and an end to my hours of work, the end being the final END of the project.  Meaning, do it all in one day, and at the end of the day, I have a clean, organized, wonderfully cozy office to hang out in!

This is not to be.

My new office is up the library ladder, in the loft above the dining room.  Fun!

A built-in bookshelf for my many, MANY books... Yay!

I will especially love the radiant heat off the wood stove pipe in the winter!  (Unless it's 130 degrees up there!)

I have 3 new, black wire shelves for my office - still in the boxes.  I have no unoccupied space up there to set them up yet!

Today I also drove to Goodwill with the Explorer packed to the gills with all of my leftovers from the rummage sale of September 17th-19th.  I cannot accurately describe how amazing it felt to drive away from Goodwill with an empty vehicle.  I can only say that as I drove away, I did give a yowl that would have sounded at home in a jungle.


Nearing the end of my crazy-busy day, at 7:00 I dropped the teenager off at the DECC to play a pre-concert in the lobby (before a Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra concert) with her high school Chamber Orchestra.  They were great!  I sipped my sugary-foamy-vanilla-caramel-flavored cappucino with relish while videotaping the performance.  How can I go to the DECC lobby without indulging in my cappuccino, which is always waiting for me?  

I cannot.  So, I did not.

A similar-sized 12-oz. Starbucks cappuccino with 2 flavors and whipped cream contains 250-300 calories.