Sistah Pat

A little Cat Stevens this morning.  I got up early and took my coffee to the spa.  Watched the sun rise and the moonflowers close.  I was considering that I ought to try getting up earlier so I could exercise while I’m still fresh but I really don’t think I want to do that.  I can get up early and read the paper or sit in the spa but I have to be up a couple of hours before I’m really energized.  I agree more with Rita Rudner when she says, “I don’t think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging.  If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to motorists, they would stay home and do push-ups.”  Yeah, Rita, I know where you’re coming from.   After my day with the heart monitor, I don’t think I want to jog.  I was really surprised to find that my heart rate is higher when I do step aerobics than jogging.  Given the choice, I’d much rather do step and I know step is a lot better for my ankles.

hmmm…DH says Meijer has pork loin on sale.  I’ve been waiting for a good time to stock up.  Guess this is it.  I have a lot of lean recipes that use pork loin.

I’ve been giving some thought to my dilemna.  How do I find the time to do everything I have to do and still have time for myself?  The answer is simple enough.  I have to give up TV.  It’s the only thing left.  I don’t want to get up early and it’s not a prime time for me to even think about exertion (much less practice it) anyway.  My days are pretty much consumed with work or family and I’ve got to fix dinner and do homework duty and run the boys around in the evenings.  I usually collapse in front of the TV for a couple of hours before I go to bed.  That’s when it has to be.  I really don’t want to do it then because I’m worn out but I don’t see any other time.  At least for now.  I know I could exercise when I get home from work but it’s too hot upstairs.  In a month or so, it won’t be.  Maybe then I can do something different.  Right now, I’m just in the Nike mode.  Just Do It.  Just weigh myself every morning, record everything I eat every day and exercise every day.  Just Do It.

I’ve really been missing you guys so I’m going to try to read some blogs and get caught up before the day overwhelms me.

11:15 - Okay, I finally had a chance to touch base with some chickies and see what everyone’s been up to.   Looking at what a lot of others are dealing with makes me feel like such a whiner…I’ll stop (for today).  I’ve decided that if I think of today as a light work day with lots of time off instead of an off day with lots of work, it’s a lot more palatable.

Speaking of palatable…those apple dumplings I had at the reunion last week…I made them last night.  Figured up the calories and they have 200 calories EACH!  We’re talkin about a little moon shaped dumpling and there’s no way I could ever eat just one.  So…I’m going to try to adapt the recipe today and see if I can come up with something halfway acceptable.  The recipe says to take three apples, peeled and cored, and slice them into eighths.  Take two cans of Pillsbury Flaky Biscuits and roll each one out, tuck an apple slice inside, fold it over and crimp the edges.  Lay them out in a buttered 13″ x9 ” dish.  Mix 2 cups of sugar, 2 sticks of butter, and a cup of water.  Bring it to a boil and pour it over the dumplings.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 for thirty minutes until browned.  200 calories…  each….  They come out with a syrupy caramel-like glaze on the bottom.  I made them last night but I used butter flavored Pam to coat the pan and two cups of Slenda instead of sugar.  That brought them down to 121 calories each.  They didn’t get that nice caramel glaze on the bottom of the pan but there was a enough of a syrup to make them pretty good anyway.  Still too many calories but diabetic DH was in 7th heaven.  He wasn’t real happy to find that the twins ate them all after he went to bed.  Now he wants me to make more today.  This time, I’m going to place them into two square pans and I’m going to use applesauce, splenda, and water with one and Brummel and Brown Yogurt spread, splenda, and water with the other.  That should bring the calorie level down to acceptable “diet” levels.  Will let you know how they turn out.  Right now, I’m off to work out!

9:15 p.m. - Okay, I wasn’t supposed to try C25K today.  It just wasn’t in the cards.  I did a tough one hour step workout and managed to keep my heart rate up around 140 for most of it.  That’s pretty good for an old lady like me.  When I was almost finished, it occured to me that I had meant to try the first session of C25K today.  I was actually pretty motivated and decided to do it before the day was over.  I worked most of the day on the newsletter and asked DS to download the first podcast of C25K onto my mp3 player and check to make sure it worked.  I finished working and decided to call it a day around 7:00 and watched The Visitor with DH while we ate dinner.  After dinner, I took my mp3 upstairs to do C25K and it didn’t work.  It wasn’t on there.  Since I was already dressed for it, I came back downstairs and tried to download it again but I can’t get it to work.  It’s gotta be fate.  I’m not supposed to do this today.

About those apple dumplings, DH messed up.  He went to the store and bought GOLDEN flaky biscuits.  The flaky biscuits have 40 calories each but the GOLDEN flaky biscuits are full of butter and have 100 calories each.  (sigh)  I tried though…I fixed one batch with water, splenda, and applesauce and it turned out mushy.  I did the other batch with Brummel and Brown, water, and splenda and it turned out decent.  Not what I would call great but good enough.  I only had one of each batch to see how they tasted.  Even so, I stayed within my 1200 calories today and got in a good workout so I’m happy enough to tell Nike that I just did it.

g’night, girls…