on being healthy: one week down.

So.
Healthy.
I put it out there into the great wide interwebs last week, so I figured I'd better do something about it.  Baby steps to the elevator, right?  Right.

Here's what I did last week: not a lot.  Well, that's not true, I did clean the dust and grime and disgusting build up off of the tops of my cabinets in the kitchen.  I almost tossed my cookies it was so gross.  And I used the swiffer to get rid of the cobwebs on my kitchen ceiling (genius idea of my husband).  Do you ever clean something and afterwards think, "Holy shit, I was living in that!"  Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt late Saturday afternoon after I had spent pretty much the entire day knee deep in kitchen funk.

As far as healthy things go, though, I did implement 3 small things that will get us started on this healthy road (and by us I mean me, but my family gets to be promoted to healthy status vicariously through me).

First, I started tracking with MyFitnessPal again.  Helps to know what's going in my mouth.  And I've been using my kitchen scale.  I am always so surprised by what an ounce of cheese actually looks like (hint: it is a lot smaller than I think, but with an apple, I can stretch it as a good snack.  It goes well with wine, but I'm trying to be very stingy with my hooch consumption.  Something about empty calories, blah, blah, blah.).

Second, I brought back The Fruit Bowl.  It's just a huge bowl of cut-up fruit that I leave in the refrigerator; we pull it out for all  meals and it's a go-to snack spot after school for Abby.  I use whatever's on sale or seasonal, so this week's bowl is grapes, pears, oranges, and cantaloupe. It changes week to week. I've learned that bananas are not good to have cut up in the bowl, but I can pull one off the bunch and add it as we need it. Also, berries tend to get soft and mushy fast, so I also don't leave those in the bowl; we cut them up as we go when we have them (it's January in Minnesota - buying berries is not economical). I sometimes get annoyed that we go to the store for fresh fruit every couple of days, but then I remind myself that we're going to the store for fresh fruit.  There could be bigger problems to have.  Today I let Finn portion out his fruit for lunch and I had to put some back because three-quarters of his plate was fruit. Even I will admit that was a little excessive, but I'm glad he likes it, and he ate it all, so fruit bowl for the win.

Finally, I've implemented After Lunch Rest Time.  For everyone.  No computer.  No phones.  No Facebook or Pinterest or Etsy.  Only books for 30 minutes.  I actually really look forward to it...Finn sits at one end of the couch with his stack of books and I sit at the other with my book for 30 solid minutes (sometimes 45, not gonna lie - I stretch rest time).  We share a blanket between us and after the rest time is over, he picks a couple of books and I read out loud to him.  To be honest, rest time can last an hour here, but I think we were both struggling by the end of the day without a little re-charge.

Okay, that's it.  That's all I've done.  It doesn't feel like a lot, but I think these few small changes are a good start.

Oh, and I put this on my refrigerator as a reminder because I get distracted easily:

So.
Healthy.
I put it out there into the great wide interwebs last week, so I figured I'd better do something about it.  Baby steps to the elevator, right?  Right.

Here's what I did last week: not a lot.  Well, that's not true, I did clean the dust and grime and disgusting build up off of the tops of my cabinets in the kitchen.  I almost tossed my cookies it was so gross.  And I used the swiffer to get rid of the cobwebs on my kitchen ceiling (genius idea of my husband).  Do you ever clean something and afterwards think, "Holy shit, I was living in that!"  Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt late Saturday afternoon after I had spent pretty much the entire day knee deep in kitchen funk.

As far as healthy things go, though, I did implement 3 small things that will get us started on this healthy road (and by us I mean me, but my family gets to be promoted to healthy status vicariously through me).

First, I started tracking with MyFitnessPal again.  Helps to know what's going in my mouth.  And I've been using my kitchen scale.  I am always so surprised by what an ounce of cheese actually looks like (hint: it is a lot smaller than I think, but with an apple, I can stretch it as a good snack.  It goes well with wine, but I'm trying to be very stingy with my hooch consumption.  Something about empty calories, blah, blah, blah.).

Second, I brought back The Fruit Bowl.  It's just a huge bowl of cut-up fruit that I leave in the refrigerator; we pull it out for all  meals and it's a go-to snack spot after school for Abby.  I use whatever's on sale or seasonal, so this week's bowl is grapes, pears, oranges, and cantaloupe. It changes week to week. I've learned that bananas are not good to have cut up in the bowl, but I can pull one off the bunch and add it as we need it. Also, berries tend to get soft and mushy fast, so I also don't leave those in the bowl; we cut them up as we go when we have them (it's January in Minnesota - buying berries is not economical). I sometimes get annoyed that we go to the store for fresh fruit every couple of days, but then I remind myself that we're going to the store for fresh fruit.  There could be bigger problems to have.  Today I let Finn portion out his fruit for lunch and I had to put some back because three-quarters of his plate was fruit. Even I will admit that was a little excessive, but I'm glad he likes it, and he ate it all, so fruit bowl for the win.

Finally, I've implemented After Lunch Rest Time.  For everyone.  No computer.  No phones.  No Facebook or Pinterest or Etsy.  Only books for 30 minutes.  I actually really look forward to it...Finn sits at one end of the couch with his stack of books and I sit at the other with my book for 30 solid minutes (sometimes 45, not gonna lie - I stretch rest time).  We share a blanket between us and after the rest time is over, he picks a couple of books and I read out loud to him.  To be honest, rest time can last an hour here, but I think we were both struggling by the end of the day without a little re-charge.

Okay, that's it.  That's all I've done.  It doesn't feel like a lot, but I think these few small changes are a good start.

Oh, and I put this on my refrigerator as a reminder because I get distracted easily:

Resolutions. And also, deadbeat moms. Thoughts?

I've been thinking about a New Year's Resolution for about, oh, 8 or 9 days now.  I know...procrastinate much? The answer is yes, I do.  But I always make a big, glorious resolution and it lasts for a big, glorious month and then I loose steam and energy and motivation and am left for the rest of the year with a big, glorious anger toward my un-realized resolution.  Oh, and my resolution always, always involves losing a gazillion pounds and finds me looking svelte and chic in a time frame that is not advisable (usually around 1 month.  Okay, I give myself 6 months...usually I have it all planned out for bathing suit season, which I don't believe is an actual "season" where I live.).

Not this year.  This year is different.  This year I bit off an amount I can actually chew.  This year there isn't really a "resolution," per se, it's mostly just a word: healthy.  I want to be healthy and I am not attaching a number to it.  I don't even really have a plan as to how I'm going to get to that healthy point other than taking it one day at a time, tracking my calories in and calories out.  I figure I'm just going to stop feeling unhealthy and I'm going to start feeling healthy. One. Day. At. A. Time.

Seems simple enough, don't you think?

Here's a story: last night we got dressed up to go to Uriah's work Christmas party (I almost typed program like it was going to be a bunch of chef-type people and hotel-type people and corporate-type people getting together and singing songs and doing a little dance number for the audience.  It was a party.  There were drink tickets and dinner and allegedly some entertainment that we didn't stick around for because we have kids and a 30 minute drive back up the shore.).  Anyway, so it was a party, which means we got to get dressed up.  And I got this cute new shirt (that I didn't try on, but it was $7 on clearance at Old Navy so I figured, what the hell, it'll work fine), and I got a cute new necklace to go with my cute new shirt (I paid full price for the necklace.  I can't even type the price because it was shocking.  More than I ever spend on jewelry and I usually spend $0 on jewelry because the only jewelry I wear with any consistency is my wedding ring, but I figured its price balanced my clearance priced shirt.).  I squeezed my buns into some dress pants and shoved my feet into some heels.  All in all, I thought it was good.  Until I looked in the mirror.  I had some doubts about the cuteness factor of the shirt...it was a little shapeless and when your body is rather - shall we just go with curvy here? - okay, curvy it is...when you have a curvy top half, shapeless is not a good look.  Actually, shapeless is not a good look for anyone, but as the time was tick-tocking and we had to drive into the big city, I figured my new haircut and some makeup would take the attention off of my shirt and I hustled downstairs.

Matronly.  A word worse than shapeless is matronly and that's how my husband said I looked.  My face must have relayed my inner shock and disbelief because he quickly started back-peddling and telling me that I just looked like a mom who was dressed up to go out for the night.

Not. Any. Better.

I went upstairs as quick as my matronly mom-legs could take me and proceeded to rip through my closet looking for something, anything that didn't make me look old and frumpy.  Because I read between the lines and that's what I heard my husband saying: I was a 34 year old frumpy mom who was trying too hard to get dressed up and go out to dinner.  I'm sure he probably meant that I was looking good, since anything is a step above yoga pants.  And I'd actually taken the time to dry and flat iron my hair and I was wearing full-on make-up (not just mascara...I had eye shadow and lip gloss and everything.  It was a big deal!).  But I was devastated.  And of course nothing he said made me feel better and nothing in my closet was appropriate and nothing in my screwed-up brain was positive.  I tried on 17 different shirts before I realized that if we didn't leave 10 minutes ago we were going to be late.  I put on the original matron-shirt and we left.

I had 30 minutes to calm myself down a little bit and I didn't cry because...make-up, remember?  I didn't have the time or energy to repair that shit.  And Uriah tried to bring me out of my funk.  And I texted my gal, Bees and she, of course, had helpful, lovely things to say that boosted my spirits.

But really...this whole bag of matronly melt-down are my own issues rearing their fat heads again.  It's my own mind and my own lack of ambition and will-power and resolution to be better, to be healthier - eat more healthfully, exercise consistently, think positive thoughts and let the yuck slide off my back.  So last night in the car as we drove towards a ballroom full of people I didn't really know, I stopped caring what they were going to think of my shapeless shirt.  In fact, I stopped thinking about it all together.  I wrapped the word healthy into my head and I vowed to do better.  One day at a time, I will do better.  Because at the end of the day, my husband will still kiss me and tell me I'm pretty like a post card - and I usually don't even have make-up on when he says that, so I know he means it.  He makes thoughtless comments, but then so do I, I suppose.  At least we know enough to apologize for our thoughtless comments.  And at least I know enough to start on the inside and work my way out.

Exercise my brain muscle first...everything else will fall into place.

In addition to my matronly mom issues, I've been stewing on deadbeat mom issues all day long.  Stewing, for me, requires researching.  Did you even know this was an issue?  It is.  It totally, sadly is.  Some studies say that the percentage of deadbeat moms is actually higher than that of deadbeat dads.  I am a mom (obviously) and right now it is completely beyond my realm of comprehension, but I am trying to educate myself so that I can speak thoughtfully on a subject that blows my mind.  I wish so many things of our society, but the one I wish the most is that men and women were treated equally - and that includes areas of custodial and non-custodial parenting rights and responsibilities.  The research part of my brain encourages me to look at all of the facts, weigh all of the statistics and theories.  The mom/wife part of me wants to rage, and rage loudly, at the unfairness of it all.

Part of being healthy this year is going to be letting go of things that I have no control over.  It may also be a healthy throat punch to stupid people.  Maybe.  Possibly.

2014 - healthy mind, healthy body, one day at a time.



Oh, and I'm thinking of getting a dog, but that might be too big of  a commitment for 2014; I think my plate might be full.  Maybe 2015 will be the year of the dog...

I've been thinking about a New Year's Resolution for about, oh, 8 or 9 days now.  I know...procrastinate much? The answer is yes, I do.  But I always make a big, glorious resolution and it lasts for a big, glorious month and then I loose steam and energy and motivation and am left for the rest of the year with a big, glorious anger toward my un-realized resolution.  Oh, and my resolution always, always involves losing a gazillion pounds and finds me looking svelte and chic in a time frame that is not advisable (usually around 1 month.  Okay, I give myself 6 months...usually I have it all planned out for bathing suit season, which I don't believe is an actual "season" where I live.).

Not this year.  This year is different.  This year I bit off an amount I can actually chew.  This year there isn't really a "resolution," per se, it's mostly just a word: healthy.  I want to be healthy and I am not attaching a number to it.  I don't even really have a plan as to how I'm going to get to that healthy point other than taking it one day at a time, tracking my calories in and calories out.  I figure I'm just going to stop feeling unhealthy and I'm going to start feeling healthy. One. Day. At. A. Time.

Seems simple enough, don't you think?

Here's a story: last night we got dressed up to go to Uriah's work Christmas party (I almost typed program like it was going to be a bunch of chef-type people and hotel-type people and corporate-type people getting together and singing songs and doing a little dance number for the audience.  It was a party.  There were drink tickets and dinner and allegedly some entertainment that we didn't stick around for because we have kids and a 30 minute drive back up the shore.).  Anyway, so it was a party, which means we got to get dressed up.  And I got this cute new shirt (that I didn't try on, but it was $7 on clearance at Old Navy so I figured, what the hell, it'll work fine), and I got a cute new necklace to go with my cute new shirt (I paid full price for the necklace.  I can't even type the price because it was shocking.  More than I ever spend on jewelry and I usually spend $0 on jewelry because the only jewelry I wear with any consistency is my wedding ring, but I figured its price balanced my clearance priced shirt.).  I squeezed my buns into some dress pants and shoved my feet into some heels.  All in all, I thought it was good.  Until I looked in the mirror.  I had some doubts about the cuteness factor of the shirt...it was a little shapeless and when your body is rather - shall we just go with curvy here? - okay, curvy it is...when you have a curvy top half, shapeless is not a good look.  Actually, shapeless is not a good look for anyone, but as the time was tick-tocking and we had to drive into the big city, I figured my new haircut and some makeup would take the attention off of my shirt and I hustled downstairs.

Matronly.  A word worse than shapeless is matronly and that's how my husband said I looked.  My face must have relayed my inner shock and disbelief because he quickly started back-peddling and telling me that I just looked like a mom who was dressed up to go out for the night.

Not. Any. Better.

I went upstairs as quick as my matronly mom-legs could take me and proceeded to rip through my closet looking for something, anything that didn't make me look old and frumpy.  Because I read between the lines and that's what I heard my husband saying: I was a 34 year old frumpy mom who was trying too hard to get dressed up and go out to dinner.  I'm sure he probably meant that I was looking good, since anything is a step above yoga pants.  And I'd actually taken the time to dry and flat iron my hair and I was wearing full-on make-up (not just mascara...I had eye shadow and lip gloss and everything.  It was a big deal!).  But I was devastated.  And of course nothing he said made me feel better and nothing in my closet was appropriate and nothing in my screwed-up brain was positive.  I tried on 17 different shirts before I realized that if we didn't leave 10 minutes ago we were going to be late.  I put on the original matron-shirt and we left.

I had 30 minutes to calm myself down a little bit and I didn't cry because...make-up, remember?  I didn't have the time or energy to repair that shit.  And Uriah tried to bring me out of my funk.  And I texted my gal, Bees and she, of course, had helpful, lovely things to say that boosted my spirits.

But really...this whole bag of matronly melt-down are my own issues rearing their fat heads again.  It's my own mind and my own lack of ambition and will-power and resolution to be better, to be healthier - eat more healthfully, exercise consistently, think positive thoughts and let the yuck slide off my back.  So last night in the car as we drove towards a ballroom full of people I didn't really know, I stopped caring what they were going to think of my shapeless shirt.  In fact, I stopped thinking about it all together.  I wrapped the word healthy into my head and I vowed to do better.  One day at a time, I will do better.  Because at the end of the day, my husband will still kiss me and tell me I'm pretty like a post card - and I usually don't even have make-up on when he says that, so I know he means it.  He makes thoughtless comments, but then so do I, I suppose.  At least we know enough to apologize for our thoughtless comments.  And at least I know enough to start on the inside and work my way out.

Exercise my brain muscle first...everything else will fall into place.

In addition to my matronly mom issues, I've been stewing on deadbeat mom issues all day long.  Stewing, for me, requires researching.  Did you even know this was an issue?  It is.  It totally, sadly is.  Some studies say that the percentage of deadbeat moms is actually higher than that of deadbeat dads.  I am a mom (obviously) and right now it is completely beyond my realm of comprehension, but I am trying to educate myself so that I can speak thoughtfully on a subject that blows my mind.  I wish so many things of our society, but the one I wish the most is that men and women were treated equally - and that includes areas of custodial and non-custodial parenting rights and responsibilities.  The research part of my brain encourages me to look at all of the facts, weigh all of the statistics and theories.  The mom/wife part of me wants to rage, and rage loudly, at the unfairness of it all.

Part of being healthy this year is going to be letting go of things that I have no control over.  It may also be a healthy throat punch to stupid people.  Maybe.  Possibly.

2014 - healthy mind, healthy body, one day at a time.



Oh, and I'm thinking of getting a dog, but that might be too big of  a commitment for 2014; I think my plate might be full.  Maybe 2015 will be the year of the dog...

Virtual Motivation (guest post)

I'm guest-posting this week over at 100 Miles in 3 Months about virtual motivation...and visual motivation.  Check it out here!

I'm guest-posting this week over at 100 Miles in 3 Months about virtual motivation...and visual motivation.  Check it out here!

On my mind today...the weight of things.

• I feel like my days have been loaded with thoughts of food and weight and body-analysis.
• What can I eat? What shouldn't I eat?  What do I want to eat?
• Is it warm enough to go outside?
• Should I do yoga on the Wii? Obviously, but I don't really want to.
• My yoga pants are obviously not for yoga.
• Is this how I want to spend the rest of my life? Constantly thinking about food?
• Is the alternative somehow better? Not thinking about food, but then, not really being comfortable in my own skin?
• Who has time for this over-analyzing?  Obviously, I do.
• One step forward, 9 steps back.
• Get out and hike a bit with 30 extra pounds of wiggling, giggling Finn strapped to my back.
• Slip and fall (but don't get hurt).  Enjoy the view.  And then stuck in the house because sub-zero temperatures and wind make going outside a suicide mission.
• When do I get to feel comfortable?  10 pounds?  25?  When I hit my 40 lb goal?
• And when I get there, then what?  It's probably best not to worry about that right now.
• Let's just focus on getting there.
• Focus on getting off of this plateau that I'm perched on and can't seem to jump down from.
• One step forward, 9 steps back.
• Should I dare to cut back on the carbs again?  
• I hate cutting things out - denying myself.  I lack will-power. 
• Maybe I'll focus on telling myself I don't want something rather than I can't have it. 
• Mind games.  Weight loss is a mind game if ever I saw one.
• Baby steps to the elevator.  
• Maybe those 9 steps back will be baby steps and the one step forward can be a giant step.
• Thank you for listening, I'm going back to my menu planning now.

• I feel like my days have been loaded with thoughts of food and weight and body-analysis.
• What can I eat? What shouldn't I eat?  What do I want to eat?
• Is it warm enough to go outside?
• Should I do yoga on the Wii? Obviously, but I don't really want to.
• My yoga pants are obviously not for yoga.
• Is this how I want to spend the rest of my life? Constantly thinking about food?
• Is the alternative somehow better? Not thinking about food, but then, not really being comfortable in my own skin?
• Who has time for this over-analyzing?  Obviously, I do.
• One step forward, 9 steps back.
• Get out and hike a bit with 30 extra pounds of wiggling, giggling Finn strapped to my back.
• Slip and fall (but don't get hurt).  Enjoy the view.  And then stuck in the house because sub-zero temperatures and wind make going outside a suicide mission.
• When do I get to feel comfortable?  10 pounds?  25?  When I hit my 40 lb goal?
• And when I get there, then what?  It's probably best not to worry about that right now.
• Let's just focus on getting there.
• Focus on getting off of this plateau that I'm perched on and can't seem to jump down from.
• One step forward, 9 steps back.
• Should I dare to cut back on the carbs again?  
• I hate cutting things out - denying myself.  I lack will-power. 
• Maybe I'll focus on telling myself I don't want something rather than I can't have it. 
• Mind games.  Weight loss is a mind game if ever I saw one.
• Baby steps to the elevator.  
• Maybe those 9 steps back will be baby steps and the one step forward can be a giant step.
• Thank you for listening, I'm going back to my menu planning now.

Getting my crap together.

Today is day 3 of making a valiant effort to feel better on the outside and day 410 of trying to feel better on the inside.

I showered this morning - after I worked out (Uriah really had to kick my butt into gear this morning because it was damn cold outside, but as usual, I am so glad he did).  I curled my hair and I applied some make-up.  I am wearing jeans today, but I dressed it up with a shirt and a sweater that cannot be classified as a cardigan.  I did not put on any perfume, but I did apply deodorant, so I think that counts.

Yesterday I wore a skirt.  I don't know if it was the purply-flowyness every time I moved or the apron I put on to make play dough and never took off, but sometime after lunch I was possessed to clean Abby's room (13 year olds are such slovenly humans.). I kept expecting the cast and crew of hoarders to show up at my house at any moment. The girl throws nothing away.  Old magazines that she's torn pictures out of? Found them. Ripped up pieces of construction paper? Found those, too. I found socks and hair bands and a zillion bobby pins.  Don't get me started on what was underneath her bed.  And also, clothes that no longer fit (although her dad has the same penchant for hanging onto things he wore in high school, so at least I know where she gets it from.).  I cleaned and de-cluttered and set a standard of cleanliness that will, hopefully, slowly leach into other corners of our house (hello, closet by the door that has random junk shoved in it from when we moved.  You are next.).

All in all, this getting dressed in real clothes and putting on make-up and doing my hair is making me a domestic goddess.  Who would have thought?

As for feeling good on the insides, that is a slow damn process.  I wish weight came off as quickly and as easily as it goes on, but I am fueling that process with more fruits and veggies.  It started when I was visiting my sister after my prince of a nephew was born.  They had a huge bowl of cut-up oranges and grapefruits in their refrigerator (quick fuel for a new mom, why didn't I think of that?) and they pulled it out with just about every meal.  Last week I was visiting with one of my MomFriends during a much-needed play-date and she was talking about how they were visiting family over the holidays and her girls snacked on a huge veggie tray that was out - they'd just grab a piece as they ran by.  It finally clicked in my head: what an awesome way to get more fruits and veggies into the small humans with little effort!

So last week I got a cantaloupe and a watermelon from the store.  I cut them up and put the chunks in a huge bowl.  Between Finn, Abby and I we polished that fruit off in 2 days!  I couldn't believe it.  Finn and I made a trip to the grocery store earlier this week and he helped me pick out a bunch of fruit - we picked out oranges and apples and pears, Finn requested cantaloupe again, and we got grapes, blackberries and bananas   We cut it all up (I let Finn use a butter knife to "help" me), tossed it with some honey, lemon and lime juice and I pull it out for every meal and let them take as much fruit as they want.  They take a lot.

It has been a huge success, plus it's a quick go-to snack for me or when my sweet tooth is singing loud and clear.  I'm going to need to get more fruit tomorrow.  Abby has requested strawberries this time, and I really don't even care about the price of fruit in this off-season (Strawberries?  Watermelon?  In January?!) because I know it's not going to waste and it's healthy.

Next week I'm going to give some cut-up veggies and fat-free dill dip a try and see if we have similar snacking success.

Today is day 3 of making a valiant effort to feel better on the outside and day 410 of trying to feel better on the inside.

I showered this morning - after I worked out (Uriah really had to kick my butt into gear this morning because it was damn cold outside, but as usual, I am so glad he did).  I curled my hair and I applied some make-up.  I am wearing jeans today, but I dressed it up with a shirt and a sweater that cannot be classified as a cardigan.  I did not put on any perfume, but I did apply deodorant, so I think that counts.

Yesterday I wore a skirt.  I don't know if it was the purply-flowyness every time I moved or the apron I put on to make play dough and never took off, but sometime after lunch I was possessed to clean Abby's room (13 year olds are such slovenly humans.). I kept expecting the cast and crew of hoarders to show up at my house at any moment. The girl throws nothing away.  Old magazines that she's torn pictures out of? Found them. Ripped up pieces of construction paper? Found those, too. I found socks and hair bands and a zillion bobby pins.  Don't get me started on what was underneath her bed.  And also, clothes that no longer fit (although her dad has the same penchant for hanging onto things he wore in high school, so at least I know where she gets it from.).  I cleaned and de-cluttered and set a standard of cleanliness that will, hopefully, slowly leach into other corners of our house (hello, closet by the door that has random junk shoved in it from when we moved.  You are next.).

All in all, this getting dressed in real clothes and putting on make-up and doing my hair is making me a domestic goddess.  Who would have thought?

As for feeling good on the insides, that is a slow damn process.  I wish weight came off as quickly and as easily as it goes on, but I am fueling that process with more fruits and veggies.  It started when I was visiting my sister after my prince of a nephew was born.  They had a huge bowl of cut-up oranges and grapefruits in their refrigerator (quick fuel for a new mom, why didn't I think of that?) and they pulled it out with just about every meal.  Last week I was visiting with one of my MomFriends during a much-needed play-date and she was talking about how they were visiting family over the holidays and her girls snacked on a huge veggie tray that was out - they'd just grab a piece as they ran by.  It finally clicked in my head: what an awesome way to get more fruits and veggies into the small humans with little effort!

So last week I got a cantaloupe and a watermelon from the store.  I cut them up and put the chunks in a huge bowl.  Between Finn, Abby and I we polished that fruit off in 2 days!  I couldn't believe it.  Finn and I made a trip to the grocery store earlier this week and he helped me pick out a bunch of fruit - we picked out oranges and apples and pears, Finn requested cantaloupe again, and we got grapes, blackberries and bananas   We cut it all up (I let Finn use a butter knife to "help" me), tossed it with some honey, lemon and lime juice and I pull it out for every meal and let them take as much fruit as they want.  They take a lot.

It has been a huge success, plus it's a quick go-to snack for me or when my sweet tooth is singing loud and clear.  I'm going to need to get more fruit tomorrow.  Abby has requested strawberries this time, and I really don't even care about the price of fruit in this off-season (Strawberries?  Watermelon?  In January?!) because I know it's not going to waste and it's healthy.

Next week I'm going to give some cut-up veggies and fat-free dill dip a try and see if we have similar snacking success.

Thankfuls

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year.  A small gathering of Minnesota family on Friday since Uriah has to feed the masses on Thursday.  The small humans and I have big plans to watch movies and eat pizza on Thursday and I am actually looking forward to the quietness of Thursday as we gear up for Friday.  We tend to be a little over-zealous when it comes to entertaining, so Uriah is making a Turducken, which is a duck inside of a chicken inside of a turkey, layered with venison stuffing and roasted.  Each bird needs to be boned and the idea is that when you slice it, you'll have a layer of  of each bird.  I am not sure how one goes about boning a chicken, duck, and turkey; add to that the fact that Uriah threw out his back yesterday and is hobbling around like I did two summers ago, it's going to be an interesting weekend.  But we do nothing if we don't do it big.  If I have my wits about me, and my camera, I will blog about it next week - the turducken, not the hobbling; although I will probably have stories about that, too!

Anyway...things I am thankful for this year: another year with Uriah (and Finn and Abby, too), family - and soon a new member niece or nephew to make family gatherings a little bigger, a new beginning, having an over-all healthy family, Minnesota and Lake Superior and hikes and walks and runs, positive steps toward potty training and a little boy who's not such a baby anymore, the men and women who have served our country and those who continue to do so, nap time, books and hot coffee and cozy slippers, being home.

I had the lofty attainable goal of loosing 8 pounds by Thanksgiving and I didn't quite make it (I blame the martinis and daylight savings time and my own unambitious ways), but I did lose a little bit of weight, so I will mark that as a success. I've been almost a year on WW, and in that time I've managed to maintain a 25 pound weight loss (give or take a couple of pounds in either direction)  I am very thankful for that.  I've recently found that counting calories has its place, too.  It's a balance and I'm trying to remember that some days are easier that others and sometimes I just need to make it easier for myself.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!  May you eat until you are content, enjoy family and friends, and save room for pie (or, with the demise of Hostess, perhaps a non-traditional Twinkie Cake?!  I might just have to add it to my already gigantic weekend menu...).

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year.  A small gathering of Minnesota family on Friday since Uriah has to feed the masses on Thursday.  The small humans and I have big plans to watch movies and eat pizza on Thursday and I am actually looking forward to the quietness of Thursday as we gear up for Friday.  We tend to be a little over-zealous when it comes to entertaining, so Uriah is making a Turducken, which is a duck inside of a chicken inside of a turkey, layered with venison stuffing and roasted.  Each bird needs to be boned and the idea is that when you slice it, you'll have a layer of  of each bird.  I am not sure how one goes about boning a chicken, duck, and turkey; add to that the fact that Uriah threw out his back yesterday and is hobbling around like I did two summers ago, it's going to be an interesting weekend.  But we do nothing if we don't do it big.  If I have my wits about me, and my camera, I will blog about it next week - the turducken, not the hobbling; although I will probably have stories about that, too!

Anyway...things I am thankful for this year: another year with Uriah (and Finn and Abby, too), family - and soon a new member niece or nephew to make family gatherings a little bigger, a new beginning, having an over-all healthy family, Minnesota and Lake Superior and hikes and walks and runs, positive steps toward potty training and a little boy who's not such a baby anymore, the men and women who have served our country and those who continue to do so, nap time, books and hot coffee and cozy slippers, being home.

I had the lofty attainable goal of loosing 8 pounds by Thanksgiving and I didn't quite make it (I blame the martinis and daylight savings time and my own unambitious ways), but I did lose a little bit of weight, so I will mark that as a success. I've been almost a year on WW, and in that time I've managed to maintain a 25 pound weight loss (give or take a couple of pounds in either direction)  I am very thankful for that.  I've recently found that counting calories has its place, too.  It's a balance and I'm trying to remember that some days are easier that others and sometimes I just need to make it easier for myself.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!  May you eat until you are content, enjoy family and friends, and save room for pie (or, with the demise of Hostess, perhaps a non-traditional Twinkie Cake?!  I might just have to add it to my already gigantic weekend menu...).

Soup-er! (Yes, I did go there.)

Soups to try:

• Lighter Italian Wedding Soup
• Asian Chicken & Watercress Soup 
• Veggie Split Pea Soup 
• Sweet Potato and Chipolte Soup
• Mushroom & Barley Soup
• Onion Soup with Cheese Toasts
• Chicken Posole
• Butternut Bisque
• Broccoli Rabe & White Bean Soup

I've started making a big pot of soup on either Sunday or Monday to get me through the week for lunch.  It’s quick, easy to heat up and Finn eats it, too, so it’s a good extra serving of vegetables for him.

The key to really good soup, I think, is homemade stock.  I obviously don’t sit around and make stock all day, because, really, who has that kind of time?  Actually, who am I kidding, some days I do have that kind of time because I stay at home.  But it is hands down the easiest, best thing in the world, albeit a little bit time-consuming.  Everyone makes stock different; I make mine the way my mom taught me – vegetables, slow simmering, and a whole chicken carcass.  I usually make chicken stock when we've had a whole, roasted chicken for dinner – and it can even be one of those rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.  I clean most of the remaining meat off, which I set aside to use for chicken salad sandwiches or, if I’m making chicken soup, I’ll add that later, after the broth is done.  Then I put the bones in a big ole soup pot, add chopped celery, onion, carrots and a couple of cloves of garlic and fill the stock pot with water.  Add some herbs – I use oregano, thyme, basil and a bay leaf and bring it all to a boil.  Then I turn the heat back, put a cover on it and let it simmer on low until the broth has reduced by about half.

Usually at this point I’ll turn the stock off and let it cool down to room temperature then stick it in the refrigerator over night.  The point is to let the fat from the chicken congeal on the top so that the next morning I can skim it off…you want a little bit of that fat as you’re simmering the broth because fat adds flavor, but you don’t need all of it and it can make for kind of a greasy broth if there is too much.  And we all know that at this point, the less fat, the better (my bum will thank me come beach season!).  Then I put that big pot back on the stove and bring it up to a low simmer for maybe about 20 minutes to a half an hour and then strain all of the chicken bones and vegetables out, leaving a really nice, intense broth.  And then I freeze it in 2 cup portions for use later.

The same theory applies if you get a soup bone from the grocery store for beef broth or a ham bone for ham broth.  I've never made fish stock, so I’m not entirely sure how that process would work (I’m sure Uriah can give me a tutorial on that some day when I'm less busy doing stay-at-home mom things.).  You can also use whatever veggies you happen to have in the house.  I've added red onion, leek, and green or red peppers to my broth before because they were in the fridge and needed to be used.  Don’t worry about saving the vegetables from your broth to use later in your soup; you've already leached all of their good flavor out and into the broth – which is also why you want to remove most of the chicken from the bones and add it in later.  Even if you’re making  vegetable soup or chicken noodle soup, you want to discard the simmered veggies and use fresh in your soup.

Sometimes, however, I don’t have the patience for all of that simmering and straining and cooling and skimming, so I just make my broth, strain out the veggies and bones and then use the broth to make my soup the same day.  It’s just as good and if I have leftover broth, I freeze it.

Today was technically my first day of Soup for Lunch, although last week for my lunches I ate the Ham & Pot Liquor Soup I made when my parents visited.  The ham soup is a little bit spicy, so Finn wasn't sold on it; today we had a fall vegetable soup that I made yesterday with some chicken broth I found in the freezer and some veggies I had in the refrigerator.  I deliberately left out any sort of barley or noodle filler in my soup this week – I wanted just a broth with vegetables soup to kick my healthy eating into gear.  I paired my big bowl of soup with some low-fat cottage cheese and a banana, over-all a relatively healthy, filling lunch.  I think tomorrow I’ll have a salad with it and maybe on Thursday I’ll add an open-faced ham sandwich with low-fat cheese and spicy mustard.  I realize that for some people, eating the same thing for lunch 5 days in a row can get a little bit boring (and I’m one of them) so the sides I put with my soup need to be different each day and a healthy supplement.

So that’s soup week one… I've added the Ham & Pot Liquor soup recipe below – it’s really good if you don’t mind a little heat; you can always cut back on the hot sauce for a less spicy soup.  The vegetable soup recipe is really easy and made my whole house smell amazing yesterday.  I’m planning to work my way through the list of soups between now and Thanksgiving and then add some more for the weeks after Thanksgiving.

Today I felt much better about my choices than I have in a while…and more in control of what I’m doing.  I logged everything I've eaten and pre-pointed out my dinner, so I know that I can afford a small snack this evening if I need it and if it’s before 8 pm.  I didn't work out hard, but I did walk a bunch this morning taking pictures of Sarah and Michael, so I feel pretty good about getting some movement into my day today.

One day at a time...

• 2 pounds kale*
• 1 (2 lb) ham steak
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 red potatoes, diced
• 3 (14-oz) cans chicken broth
• 2 (16-oz) cans black eyed peas**
• 2 cups water, use reserved kale cooking water from second boil***
• ½ cup vermouth
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Remove and discard stems and discolored spots from  kale; rinse with cold water.  Drain and tear into 1-inch pieces.  Cover kale with cold water and bring to a boil in a large Dutch oven.  Remove from heat; drain.  Cover again with water and bring to a boil.  Drain, reserving liquid.

Toss ham with hot sauce.  Cook in oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned.  Add onion and garlic and saute until tender.  Stir in kale, potatoes, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally  45 minutes.

*Original recipe called for collard greens - couldn't find them, so I substituted kale.  I've never had kale before, but it was really, really good.
**I used dried black-eyed peas because Uriah couldn't find them in the canned aisle (probably looking with his man eyes.).  Soaked the peas overnight and then added 2 cups to the broth to simmer and cook through.
***The original recipe doesn't say to use the cooking water from the collards/kale, but I think it gives a little bit of extra flavor to the soup; if you don't have 2 cups, add water to make the full amount.  You could just use 2 cups of water if you forget to reserve your cooking water, though!  Sometimes I like to get a little over-zealous...

8 servings
Adapted from Southern Living Christmas Cookbook, 2005

Fall Vegetable Soup

• 1 leek, white and most of the green part sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ½ acorn squash, seeded, peeled and cubed
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 3 parsnips, chopped
• 1 cup fresh broccoli heads and stem pieces, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon each, oregano and thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat, add leeks and saute until tender.  Add squash, carrot, parsnips and broccoli; stir to combine with leeks and saute 3 minutes.  Add broth, water and herbs.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.

4 servings

Soups to try:

• Lighter Italian Wedding Soup
• Asian Chicken & Watercress Soup 
• Veggie Split Pea Soup 
• Sweet Potato and Chipolte Soup
• Mushroom & Barley Soup
• Onion Soup with Cheese Toasts
• Chicken Posole
• Butternut Bisque
• Broccoli Rabe & White Bean Soup

I've started making a big pot of soup on either Sunday or Monday to get me through the week for lunch.  It’s quick, easy to heat up and Finn eats it, too, so it’s a good extra serving of vegetables for him.

The key to really good soup, I think, is homemade stock.  I obviously don’t sit around and make stock all day, because, really, who has that kind of time?  Actually, who am I kidding, some days I do have that kind of time because I stay at home.  But it is hands down the easiest, best thing in the world, albeit a little bit time-consuming.  Everyone makes stock different; I make mine the way my mom taught me – vegetables, slow simmering, and a whole chicken carcass.  I usually make chicken stock when we've had a whole, roasted chicken for dinner – and it can even be one of those rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.  I clean most of the remaining meat off, which I set aside to use for chicken salad sandwiches or, if I’m making chicken soup, I’ll add that later, after the broth is done.  Then I put the bones in a big ole soup pot, add chopped celery, onion, carrots and a couple of cloves of garlic and fill the stock pot with water.  Add some herbs – I use oregano, thyme, basil and a bay leaf and bring it all to a boil.  Then I turn the heat back, put a cover on it and let it simmer on low until the broth has reduced by about half.

Usually at this point I’ll turn the stock off and let it cool down to room temperature then stick it in the refrigerator over night.  The point is to let the fat from the chicken congeal on the top so that the next morning I can skim it off…you want a little bit of that fat as you’re simmering the broth because fat adds flavor, but you don’t need all of it and it can make for kind of a greasy broth if there is too much.  And we all know that at this point, the less fat, the better (my bum will thank me come beach season!).  Then I put that big pot back on the stove and bring it up to a low simmer for maybe about 20 minutes to a half an hour and then strain all of the chicken bones and vegetables out, leaving a really nice, intense broth.  And then I freeze it in 2 cup portions for use later.

The same theory applies if you get a soup bone from the grocery store for beef broth or a ham bone for ham broth.  I've never made fish stock, so I’m not entirely sure how that process would work (I’m sure Uriah can give me a tutorial on that some day when I'm less busy doing stay-at-home mom things.).  You can also use whatever veggies you happen to have in the house.  I've added red onion, leek, and green or red peppers to my broth before because they were in the fridge and needed to be used.  Don’t worry about saving the vegetables from your broth to use later in your soup; you've already leached all of their good flavor out and into the broth – which is also why you want to remove most of the chicken from the bones and add it in later.  Even if you’re making  vegetable soup or chicken noodle soup, you want to discard the simmered veggies and use fresh in your soup.

Sometimes, however, I don’t have the patience for all of that simmering and straining and cooling and skimming, so I just make my broth, strain out the veggies and bones and then use the broth to make my soup the same day.  It’s just as good and if I have leftover broth, I freeze it.

Today was technically my first day of Soup for Lunch, although last week for my lunches I ate the Ham & Pot Liquor Soup I made when my parents visited.  The ham soup is a little bit spicy, so Finn wasn't sold on it; today we had a fall vegetable soup that I made yesterday with some chicken broth I found in the freezer and some veggies I had in the refrigerator.  I deliberately left out any sort of barley or noodle filler in my soup this week – I wanted just a broth with vegetables soup to kick my healthy eating into gear.  I paired my big bowl of soup with some low-fat cottage cheese and a banana, over-all a relatively healthy, filling lunch.  I think tomorrow I’ll have a salad with it and maybe on Thursday I’ll add an open-faced ham sandwich with low-fat cheese and spicy mustard.  I realize that for some people, eating the same thing for lunch 5 days in a row can get a little bit boring (and I’m one of them) so the sides I put with my soup need to be different each day and a healthy supplement.

So that’s soup week one… I've added the Ham & Pot Liquor soup recipe below – it’s really good if you don’t mind a little heat; you can always cut back on the hot sauce for a less spicy soup.  The vegetable soup recipe is really easy and made my whole house smell amazing yesterday.  I’m planning to work my way through the list of soups between now and Thanksgiving and then add some more for the weeks after Thanksgiving.

Today I felt much better about my choices than I have in a while…and more in control of what I’m doing.  I logged everything I've eaten and pre-pointed out my dinner, so I know that I can afford a small snack this evening if I need it and if it’s before 8 pm.  I didn't work out hard, but I did walk a bunch this morning taking pictures of Sarah and Michael, so I feel pretty good about getting some movement into my day today.

One day at a time...

• 2 pounds kale*
• 1 (2 lb) ham steak
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 red potatoes, diced
• 3 (14-oz) cans chicken broth
• 2 (16-oz) cans black eyed peas**
• 2 cups water, use reserved kale cooking water from second boil***
• ½ cup vermouth
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Remove and discard stems and discolored spots from  kale; rinse with cold water.  Drain and tear into 1-inch pieces.  Cover kale with cold water and bring to a boil in a large Dutch oven.  Remove from heat; drain.  Cover again with water and bring to a boil.  Drain, reserving liquid.

Toss ham with hot sauce.  Cook in oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned.  Add onion and garlic and saute until tender.  Stir in kale, potatoes, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally  45 minutes.

*Original recipe called for collard greens - couldn't find them, so I substituted kale.  I've never had kale before, but it was really, really good.
**I used dried black-eyed peas because Uriah couldn't find them in the canned aisle (probably looking with his man eyes.).  Soaked the peas overnight and then added 2 cups to the broth to simmer and cook through.
***The original recipe doesn't say to use the cooking water from the collards/kale, but I think it gives a little bit of extra flavor to the soup; if you don't have 2 cups, add water to make the full amount.  You could just use 2 cups of water if you forget to reserve your cooking water, though!  Sometimes I like to get a little over-zealous...

8 servings
Adapted from Southern Living Christmas Cookbook, 2005

Fall Vegetable Soup

• 1 leek, white and most of the green part sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ½ acorn squash, seeded, peeled and cubed
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 3 parsnips, chopped
• 1 cup fresh broccoli heads and stem pieces, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon each, oregano and thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat, add leeks and saute until tender.  Add squash, carrot, parsnips and broccoli; stir to combine with leeks and saute 3 minutes.  Add broth, water and herbs.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.

4 servings

And so today, I start again.

Who wants to talk about weight again?!

You?  You?  Not you?

Okay, look at the beautiful fall pictures from northern Minnesota and my sweet little hiking partner, who hiked nearly all of Gooseberry Falls last week (just over a mile through the woods - and I only had to carry him a couple of times!) and then move on to something else because after these pretty fall pictures is some more talk about weight.  

I've always been really good at working toward something...a project deadline or a goal I've set for myself (the attainable ones, not the hundreds of out-of-reach goals that I set idealistically and often.).  For the longest time I was working towards the idea that, maybe, if I got my weight to a manageable point, we'd have another baby.  I wanted to be healthy the next time around.  I wanted to enjoy and savor another pregnancy and be not so ridiculously tired while I figured out another tiny human.  I had a plan as to timing and how I would get back to my pre-pregnancy weight (the weight I needed to be before I could have another baby) and I was certain that to do all of that that - to reach that ultimate 2nd baby goal - all I had to loose weight.

So I walked.  And I started Weight Watchers.  I biked and I attempted to run.  I hiked.  I pushed Finn in the stroller, pulled him in the wagon and dragged him behind the bike.  I sweated and cursed and pushed a little bit harder.  Somewhere along the way, however, the drive to reach that magic weight goal (which I set for myself as December of this year) waned.  It became more and more apparent that another small human to add to my menagerie was probably not in my future.  Without that ultimate goal, I stopped working hard.  I will not meet my goal weight by December and that makes me almost as sad as not having another baby because the goal was attainable - I should have been able to reach it.  I think about my weight every day - I remind myself that today I need to get out my pen and mark my points; today I most certainly do not need to eat a doughnut with my coffee; today I need to walk far and fast.  But sadness does funny things to ambition.

I learned something from almost a year at Weight Watchers, and so I haven't gained a lot of weight back, only about 5 pounds since the beginning of the summer.  But they're 5 sad pounds because I don't want them.  It's 5 steps back instead of 5 steps forward.  The weather is turning serious shades of grey and gloomy, and the air is brisk almost all day now.  In an effort to jump-start my efforts (and to seriously stop my hibernation mode), I had Uriah set up the Wii for me (which we hadn't done since we moved.).  I started a list of healthy things to eat and I've been to 3 weigh-ins in the past month.

This morning I pep-talked myself in the shower (it's my go-to pep-talk place because the only place that I'm relatively alone - except for Finn playing with his trucks on the floor.).  At the beginning of the year (when I was optimistic and loosing weight weekly and on track to meet my December deadline) my New Year's Resolution was to be kind to myself.  To that I am adding: one day at a time.  That's all I'm requiring of myself.  One day at a time.  Life sucks sometimes and we have to find a new path to hike down.  Suffice it to say that I'm finding a new path.

My first goal is 8 pounds by Thanksgiving.  That's a measly 1 pound a week, but I'm going to have to work hard to do it.  Breakfast (more than just coffee) every day and soups for lunch.  No snacking and nothing after 8 pm.  And I'm once again joining the 100 miles in 3 months challenge to help keep me on track.

But mostly: just one day at a time.

Tomorrow: soups for lunch - my list and the first two recipes.  And probably more talk about weight.  And maybe a cute picture of Finn thrown in to keep things less gloomy.

Who wants to talk about weight again?!

You?  You?  Not you?

Okay, look at the beautiful fall pictures from northern Minnesota and my sweet little hiking partner, who hiked nearly all of Gooseberry Falls last week (just over a mile through the woods - and I only had to carry him a couple of times!) and then move on to something else because after these pretty fall pictures is some more talk about weight.  

I've always been really good at working toward something...a project deadline or a goal I've set for myself (the attainable ones, not the hundreds of out-of-reach goals that I set idealistically and often.).  For the longest time I was working towards the idea that, maybe, if I got my weight to a manageable point, we'd have another baby.  I wanted to be healthy the next time around.  I wanted to enjoy and savor another pregnancy and be not so ridiculously tired while I figured out another tiny human.  I had a plan as to timing and how I would get back to my pre-pregnancy weight (the weight I needed to be before I could have another baby) and I was certain that to do all of that that - to reach that ultimate 2nd baby goal - all I had to loose weight.

So I walked.  And I started Weight Watchers.  I biked and I attempted to run.  I hiked.  I pushed Finn in the stroller, pulled him in the wagon and dragged him behind the bike.  I sweated and cursed and pushed a little bit harder.  Somewhere along the way, however, the drive to reach that magic weight goal (which I set for myself as December of this year) waned.  It became more and more apparent that another small human to add to my menagerie was probably not in my future.  Without that ultimate goal, I stopped working hard.  I will not meet my goal weight by December and that makes me almost as sad as not having another baby because the goal was attainable - I should have been able to reach it.  I think about my weight every day - I remind myself that today I need to get out my pen and mark my points; today I most certainly do not need to eat a doughnut with my coffee; today I need to walk far and fast.  But sadness does funny things to ambition.

I learned something from almost a year at Weight Watchers, and so I haven't gained a lot of weight back, only about 5 pounds since the beginning of the summer.  But they're 5 sad pounds because I don't want them.  It's 5 steps back instead of 5 steps forward.  The weather is turning serious shades of grey and gloomy, and the air is brisk almost all day now.  In an effort to jump-start my efforts (and to seriously stop my hibernation mode), I had Uriah set up the Wii for me (which we hadn't done since we moved.).  I started a list of healthy things to eat and I've been to 3 weigh-ins in the past month.

This morning I pep-talked myself in the shower (it's my go-to pep-talk place because the only place that I'm relatively alone - except for Finn playing with his trucks on the floor.).  At the beginning of the year (when I was optimistic and loosing weight weekly and on track to meet my December deadline) my New Year's Resolution was to be kind to myself.  To that I am adding: one day at a time.  That's all I'm requiring of myself.  One day at a time.  Life sucks sometimes and we have to find a new path to hike down.  Suffice it to say that I'm finding a new path.

My first goal is 8 pounds by Thanksgiving.  That's a measly 1 pound a week, but I'm going to have to work hard to do it.  Breakfast (more than just coffee) every day and soups for lunch.  No snacking and nothing after 8 pm.  And I'm once again joining the 100 miles in 3 months challenge to help keep me on track.

But mostly: just one day at a time.

Tomorrow: soups for lunch - my list and the first two recipes.  And probably more talk about weight.  And maybe a cute picture of Finn thrown in to keep things less gloomy.