We went to the gym and made a brief stop at Wal-mart to shop for a gift for our gd. Only found a couple small things but may shop again tomorrow. Her party isn't until Sat. Son called us home to babysit after that and mama just came home to get them. We forgot we had a siding salesman coming but the kids were good. They were cranky after that though and we are tired. I was kinda upset with my son last night. Without asking us, he told the kids they could stay up until we went to bed, and the parents went to bed. They usually watch movies or play games for a while, so he did check in a couple times but still it meant we were basically babysitting. I am going to have to tell him that cannot happen again. The kids were good, but were asking for things and I got pretty tired. The only reason I let it go was because I knew he was pretty stressed and tired himself and mama said she didn't feel well.
This siding thing is getting discouraging. Because our house is so old some things have to be repaired or replaced and that all means more money. Just may have to save longer than expected but then they say the price will be higher next year too. We also need a new roof. Dh and I were saying now we understand why many people don't remodel, they just move into a newer home! We didn't want the longer mortgage and I'm still glad we don't have that, but the remodeling is expensive too. But at least with the remodeling we have a choice...we don't have to fix the house up as long as it is not as there is no problem, like a leaking roof. Just would be nice to make it look better too. I have to remember that being debt free is much better. The nicer home will come in time....or not..either way is ok. Some people have recommended we just paint our old aluminum siding but I've always felt paint might just emphasize all dents etc., I don't know.
Well dh just went to get some salsa and guacamole for the taco salad, so I'd better start preparing it. You all have a nice evening.
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Mary, that is why DH said we will only do what needs repaired on our house. It is newer than most of the houses on our street. Only 3 were built after ours. I can understand that you want the siding to look nice. I hope you are able to get it all done without too much expense.
A guy came and gave us an estimate to remove a dead tree that would hit the house if a good wind took it down. We have had a couple others fall, but they were far enough away from the house and caused no damage. We hope to get that done in the next week or so. A neighbor recommended this guy, and here it turned out that I grew up several houses away from his father, 60 years ago. Small world.
The doctor's office just called and changed my appointment tomorrow from 3:30 to 1:30. They had a cancellation. He will probably get to leave earlier now, and that will open up my day, also.
It is a nice sunny day today. It has been a good couple days ~ I have felt pretty good and gotten some stuff done. I have finished up several small sewing/hand sewing projects. Got Evie's birthday gift (the dress and doll dress) wrapped and packed up to send.
Maddie has been with her other grandma, so it has been quiet here. Not that it isn't usually quiet, but it is easier to get stuff done when I am not having to stop what I am doing off and on to help Maddie with stuff.
Sometimes, I do stuff ~ not really important stuff ~ just something that needs doing and I never get around to it. This morning, I was going through the pictures I have on my computer. A lot of them were saved with numbers that were assigned from the camera. It is easier to find one you are looking for if it has a person's name or occasion instead of the number. So, I was doing that ~ replacing the numbers with words. For a long time, I didn't know you could do that ~ but I have learned a lot (a lot of times by accident) over time.
Steve takes over the TV I watch while he makes his breakfast ~ has to get his news fix. I'll be glad when he is done so I can switch it back to something else. Usually that is when I have been going to the other room and doing my PT exercises, but I am a little off this morning. Taking advantage of being “off duty” LOL.
Carol Sue ~ that is sort of where we are with our house. Just doing the things that need to be done to keep it in good repair. When we first moved here ~ December of 2006 ~ wow ~ where has the time gone? There were things I would have liked to do ~ decorating things ~ making it more “us”. But we have never gotten around to it. We have talked about maybe someday moving to like maybe a condo or something where someone else does the yard work and outdoor upkeep of the structure. Part of me thinks ~ we could just stay here and pay someone to do it. Either way it is gonna cost money. I like my house ~ it one story ~ so no stairs to deal with as we age. I guess if we have lived here this long with out doing that decorating stuff, it sort of doesn't make much sense to do it now. We might have to update the kitchen to sell it. That is the kind of work that bugs me ~ spending money that I'll not get to enjoy. Oh well ~ guess we do what we gotta do.
Mary ~ I don't envy you trying to decide on the siding thing. I am so thankful that Steve does all that stuff. Does the research and talks to the people. I'm sorry that you had extra duty with the kids. Hope you can get some rest. It is nice to have some time when they aren't here. I love having Maddie, but also enjoy when she isn't here. Sometimes when I feel like it is too much, I think back on when I lived in NC and Corbin was little and I only got to see him once a year ~ then I am glad for the opportunity to get to spend time with Maddie. Of course, there was one year I came to visit Sara and Corbin ~ and he was maybe 3 or 4. That visit wasn't much fun ~ he was always mad at me ~ I couldn't do anything right. I couldn't do the puzzles right, I didn't color right, I didn't toss the ball right. When that visit was over, I felt like I wasn't in any hurry to go back the next year. But of course, by the time it was time to go again, I was missing him terrible and the not so fun parts of that last visit were long forgotten.
Hello Sandy, Karrine, Emaline.
Guess I will get this posted and go do those PT exercises, so I can get on to something else. I've got a bunch of bananas to cut up and freeze for smoothies.
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Gayle, I don't like the idea of having to upgrade your house to sell it. I know they tell you that is what makes it more appealing, but some people might not like your choice of things, like cabinets, carpet etc. I would rather cut the price a bit and they can upgrade to their liking. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law lived in a 100 year old home for 20 years. They did some cosmetic upgrades to their liking, but when they sold the house they put all new windows in because they didn't think the house would sell with the old single pane windows. I felt that they lived there all those years, paying sky high heating bills because the windows didn't keep the cold weather out, then they put the new windows in for someone else. We get a lot of single digit temperatures here in PA.
Today I was reading through The End of Diabetes by Dr Joel Fuhrman, and I am going to go back to eating more vegetables. I've gotten away from it over time. Dr Fuhrman makes it sound like vegetables are the key to healing a lot of health problems. I still eat them, but not large portions like I was. Either way, I don't see any big changes in my weight or blood sugar/blood pressure. I don't really eliminate all the things he says to eliminate, though. I can't cut as far back on animal protein as he recommends, and I still eat things like eggs and dairy.
Tomorrow is my doctor's appointment so I will find out why my stress test was "slightly abnormal." I will listen to what he has to say and his recommendations. I will probably tell him that I have been having some dizziness. I didn't want to tell him, but I had it a bit again today and it might be significant to my condition. DH tells me not to tell him because he will put me in the hospital, but if I need to be in the hospital, so be it. If there's a problem, better to get it taken care of. It's been a long two weeks waiting and finally I'm going to get the prognosis.
We hardly ever see our grandson anymore. He is busy with activities. Baseball is over, and now it's Cub Scouts. We are going to watch him for a short time on Monday while his mother goes to the dentist. If we weren't available, she would have just had to take him with her.
Last edited by Wannabehealthy; 06-23-2016 at 09:06 PM.
My weight is up 3# again...I think it's sodium because I've been eating salty foods recently. We had taco salad one night and corn chips with that plus the taco seasoning (pkg) is kinda salty too. On Sun at the birthday party, I ate 3 small pcs of pizza and one was very salty. I think most restaurant food and pkg food is more salty than what I usually fix. So I go up and down. I did have more corn chips yesterday with leftover salad, however I it was pizza night (boy that comes around fast!) and I didn't eat any! Probably first time in my life I have't eaten at least 1 slice! There was also birthday cake and I did eat one pc of that. Wish I'd only eaten 1/2 a slice now. But that was all I ate the rest of the evening.
Today all I've had a is a slim-fast drink. Will have lunch soon though. We went to the gym this morning and then more shopping for the real birthday party tomorrow.
Still haven't gotten in the living room to clean. It usually isn't really dirty because we rarely are in there but for some reason I have trouble getting myself to do it some weeks. Also need to quickly vac the fam room.
Carol - I've lived with this bad siding for almost 40 years, so I do want to get it replaced, but it is very expensive. I remember when I used to think $10,000 would cover it. Our siding is the worst in our cul-de-sac and probably always has been as I think it probably needed replacing when we moved in. The kitchen and one bathroom also needed remodelling. We finally got that bathroom done a couple years ago...dh did it. So believe me, we are not doing anything that doesn't need to be done....really we need to do more. The roof needs to be replaced. Dh did it in 1999 or 2000, but that wasn't his trade...it's just that he sees himself as a jack of all trades and usually can do a fair to good job at most things...and it needs to be redone...he just put shingles over the original and it all needs to be removed and reshingled now. Thought about doing that first as we probably have enough money for just the roof but I'd have to settle for a color that will match any color siding and I'd rather have the siding first so I know the color I want. The roof isn't leaking into the attic but we do have dry-rot and will have to get some of that repaired before we can get all the siding done even as they will be painting the trim and soffets as part of the job.
Hope things aren't too bad with the stress test results. I'm not sure I could "pass" one anymore. My heart rate went up very quickly last time. I never felt short of breath though. Dh always passes with flying colors and they praise him on how he does at his age.
Glynne - I have so many pics on my computer and have tried to organize them but really haven't got them like I'd like still. I set up folders for each family and some others like friends (you and Steve are in there!), and extended family on each side etc. So when I save a pic I try to put in into the right folder but I notice sometimes I get it in the wrong one. So it's kind of chaos right now. Another thing I'd like to work on when I have time.
Also have a chest and a box full of hard copy pics in this office too to go through...started that project once and then stopped. Also started transferring VHS tapes to DVDs, got about 1/2 way through and stopped. So much to do! I thought our modern day life was supposed to be easier...
Well done resting...need to have lunch and get to work.
ETA: I saw some old friends in Walmart today...they are just a little younger than us but have been much worse off medically esp the dh. They are both diabetic and he is on dialysis. But they both had lost a lot weight and looked very healthy today. Made me want to try harder, but I do get discouraged when I lose 10# and there is NO change in my middle, my biggest area!
Oh I just noticed you'd already posted the result of the doctor's visit. So happy for you!
I got my living room cleaned and rested a bit, tried to stay away from taking care of the children as I needed to rest and now I've got dinner in the oven. It's Baked honey Sesame Chicken and rice, plus I'm going to stir-fry whatever veggies I have. Dh is so glad to finally have rice again as it's been several days, unusual for us.
Found out today that my son got sorta a promotion...don't know how to describe it exactly but it's more focus and authority in one area that he's especially good at. So far no talk of a raise but he is hoping.
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Mary, years back we got a leak in our kitchen ceiling. We didn't realize our roof was leaking, but it became an emergency. DH was much younger then and was going to do it himself and get some brothers to help, but I told him I worried about someone falling so we got a company to do it. They had to replace a lot of wood as it was so damaged. This past time the roof wasn't really bad, but they were able to get it approved for hail damage so we were lucky to get that done. It will probably be our last new roof. I understand your wanting to replace the siding, and the front door, too, since you have had it that way for so long. We have lived here for 35 years, and the house is 45 years old. DH wants to get some gutter guards as we get a lot of leaves in the gutters.
I commend you for saving up for these home improvements instead of going into debt.
Good for you on passing up on the pizza! When DH orders pizza, I will eat the toppings off a slice and skip the carby crust. Sometimes I chop up the cheese and toppings and mix it into a salad. I call it pizza salad. My weight is way up, too, Mary. Yesterday, I ate so many fatty, carby foods. It is really not like me to do that. I felt terrible all evening. Also, at the restaurant, when they brought my sandwich, it had a pile of potato chips on the plate. I ate them and they were very salty. My blood pressure went way up. This restaurant does that if you order a sandwich without a side dish. Next time I will have to remember to tell them "no potato chips." I took a lot of Amaryl yesterday! Back to my healthier eating today! The only healthy food that went into my mouth yesterday as the lettuce and tomato that was on my sandwich. I was celebrating my good doctor visit!
We recently went though a box of old pictures we had and saw so many we had forgotten about. I have some albums I had bought and never got around to putting the pictures in, and I don't know if I will do it now. They would have to be sorted out according to date. I hate seeing how thin I was back then. LOL
I hope your son gets a raise with his promotion. Congratulations to him! I was reading in the paper this week that there will start to be more jobs available than available workers due to so many baby boomers reaching retirement age. I know a lot of baby boomers continue to work after retirement age, but many of them just do part time work. That will be good for the younger generations.
Kind of a quiet couple days. Maddie stayed over night with frineds, so she wasn't here Friday. Steve and Jason had appointments, so I had some alone time.
I was messaging online with a friend and somehow we got to talking about where we lived. It started me on a trip down memory lane and I was looking to see if I could find pictures of the different homes I had lived in. That was kind of fun ~ and some of it a little sad. One house was a pretty, old house (built in 1888) with charm and character. The people who lived there after us, did some remodeling ~ things to improve the heat loss in the winter ~ new windows and stuff like that, but to me they ruined it. I guess it had to be done, but the replacements didn't really go with the style of the house. It was changed inside too. I saw pictures on a real estate website. They probably did the best they could ~ it is an economically depressed area in Maine. I think eventually the house was foreclosed on from the information on the real estate website. Sad.
Sun. 6/26
I started this yesterday, but never got back to it. After looking for the house pictures, I was kind of at odds ~ didn't know what to do with myself. I was waiting for Jason to call and say he was ready for me to come visit/do the vegetables. I might not have felt so restless if I had been working on some kind of project, but felt that Jason might call at any time and I didn't want to get a bunch of stuff out and start on something then have to put it up. Times like that are when I start wanting to munch. I wasn't really hungry ~ would have eaten, but didn't want to do that ~ I end up feeling too full and not feeling good. I chewed gum, but that didn't “do it” for me. Then I decided to have a few pieces of hard candy. I had some sugar free that I had forgotten about, so had some of those. I didn't pay any attention to how many I ate. That seemed to satisfy me. But later, my stomach started cramping up and rumbling, then the diarrhea started. I looked at the package and it cautioned that if you are sensitive to artificial sweeteners it could upset your stomach. Or if you ate too many it could cause diarrhea. So, I guess that is what happened. One other time, I got some cookies at the grocery store that were labeled as sugar free ~ they did me sort of the same way ~ I got bad stomach cramps. I won't be eating those again, or if I do, will pay attention to how many I eat. My weight was down, but that wasn't a fun way to lose it.
I keep hard candy on hand and take along in my purse. Sometimes I get real hungry and I know Steve is not gonna stop so I can get something. I usually try to take along a banana or some glucerna or peanut butter crackers, but you don't always intend to be gone as long as it ends up being, so the hard candy will help in a pinch. I started doing that when the kids were growing up. We would be traveling and they would get hungry and Steve was bound and determined to keep going ~ the kids would get hungry and cranky. So, a few pieces of hard candy would help with the hunger until he was ready to stop and feed us.
As it turned out, Jason wasn't feeling well and had enough stuff left from the stuff I fixed up last weekend, to make it through this week. So, he was trying to get to feeling better and told me he didn't feel up to a visit.
We had sort of a little scare last night. It started raining. There was a big crash of thunder that made me jump. You know how they say that if you count the seconds between the lightening and the crash ~ tells you how many miles away the strom is from you? Well there came a second crash and lightening and they came both at the same time. There was a flash of light right outside the family room window ~ the TV went off and one of the electronic things started making a screaching noise. I called Steve to come look at it. I was afraid of a fire and that that lightening had fried the satelite reciever.
No fire thank goodness, and all that stuff was plugged in to one of those surge protector/power strips. Steve got out another one and plugged the stuff in and it worked. He said ~ looks like the power strip did it's job.
I was afraid of a fire ~ growing up, we had lightening and thunder like that ~ both at the same time ~ and soon there was smoke in the house ~ we thought it had struck the roof, came in through the metal strip in the corner of the wall, out a nail in the baseboard and sparked into a basket of clean clothes ~ it all happened so fast ~ fire was going up the drapes in the room by the time we figured out where the smoke was coming from. One of us called the fire department, and we made a bucket brigade and by the time the fire department came we had the fire out. Oh my ~ how scary, but we were so thankful that everyone was ok and that our house was ok.
Carol Sue ~ I'm glad your stress test results were ok. What a relief. I too don't cut back as far as the Furhman diet says to. I do think I remember reading in there that occasional meat is ok and that if you can stick to it like 90% or something like that ~ that is still pretty good. I also think that these diets aren't a one size fits all kind of thing. I feel like maybe a diabetic person's needs are a bit different than a regular person. Even though he has that book, each person is a little different and has to figure out what works for them. And if beans (which is supposed to be the source of protein on this diet) upset your stomach and you can't tolerate them ~ or at least not in quantities large enough to provide you with adequate protein ~ you have to get protein from somewhere. I wasn't a big meat eater to begin with, so if I keep doing (meat wise) like I already was, I don't feel like I am doing a bad job. I do make progress when I stick with mostly the vegetables and fruits. What messes me up is not the stuff like meat and cheese, it is the snacky stuff, sweets ~ the stuff I know I shouldn't have. I do feel better when I eat the right things, but sometimes I just “want” some of those other things.
Mary ~ happy for your son that good things are happening at work ~ hope he gets the raise as well. I have done sort of the same thing as you have described with the pictures on the computer. I have a folder for the different families/people. That has helped some. But having the name/wording that you save it under is what helps a lot when I am searching for a particular picture for sharing or one of my projects. What ever program this lap top uses ~ I can type in a word or name into the search thing for the pictures and it brings up any labeled with that word. That is why I was trying to change over the ones that only had numbers identifying them.
Sorry this got so long ~ this is part of what I do when I don't know what to do with myself. It keeps me busy and my hands out of the food.
The kids are gone so it's very quiet here this afternoon. They were home when we left for church and said they were going house hunting. We came home for lunch because we have so many leftovers right now...Baked honey chicken and hot wings and drumsticks, and beef vegetable soup. I haven't eaten any of that though...I had 1/2 cup of Trop 50 OJ and then lay down for a nap and was there two hours. Drank the OJ because my bs was on the low side. When I got up I ate strawberries with whipped cream. Yummy! I'll probably make some rice and eat the honey chicken with it later on.
The party went well yesterday and the kids have been enjoying all the new toys since then. We left slightly early because the caffeine in the diet soda upset my tummy. I needed the rest after the party and then cooking quite a while, my legs were hurting and felt good to lay down.
Last night I had a wierd dream ...I thought I heard our door open and figured it was one of the little kids. I sat half way up and said, "what." I think. But they didn't say anything and no one came in. Then suddenly I heard this giggle from my side of the bed...I thought perhaps it must be my granddaughter, but in my sleepy mind it sounded kind of evil, not like her. I waited a few minutes, but nothing more so I decided I had just dreamed it. I got up to go to the bathroom, taking my lighted phone and there was no one there. Crazy how one can do this, and I hadn't had anything like happen in a long time.
Glynne - I've done that same thing with sugar-free candy a few times. I too have learned to read the ingredients...it's the malto-dextrin they use I think if I remember correctly. Glad no fire.
Carol - We got the Leaf Guard Gutter system a few years back and it's been great. I didn't want dh to be up there cleaning the gutters. We do still get the pine needles on our house plus mold so hoping we can get our son to take care of that soon.
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A group of guys just cut down a dead tree on the hill behind our house. It took them about an hour. They are braver than I am! The one guy climbed up the tree with a chain saw, and the other guys used their rope and equipment to pull the branches down as he cut them off. Then he cut the trunk into pieces as he climbed back down. We have a couple other dead trees on the hill, but that one was in position to hit the house if a strong storm came along.
Gayle, I was searching online for a forum that follows the Nutritarian Diet and I could not find any, except for one from a few years ago, no recent posts. I guess no one is interested in eating vegetables. The more I read about it the more I decided that what I do is Flexitarian. Where you eat all the nutrients, but still have some animal protein. The book I use is The End of Diabetes and his plan is much like Eat To Live, but the book describes a lot more about diabetes. He allows for very small portions of meat. I'm surprised, but he says fish is not good for diabetics, but I forget why. I will have to go back and read it again. He says to start the beans with very small portions and work your way up gradually. I never ate 2 cups of beans a day the way he recommends. I have them packaged in freezer bags in 1/2 cup portions so they are handy.
The only thing I buy that is sugar-free is popsicles and cough drops. Oh, and my diet Coke. I never noticed any undesirable side effects. We keep packages of peanut butter crackers in the console of the car, but we are not usually riding for that long that there's no food available. DH always has hard candy with him because that replaced the cigarettes he used to smoke years ago. I don't like hard candy, but needed it that one time that my sugar went down to 44.
We have never had a fire, but I am always worried about it. One time when I lived in my apartment, I came home and found I had left a candle burning, and the outside casing of the candle holder was starting to melt. No candles every since that day. My step-daughter used to like to burn candles in her room. I was always telling her not to, but she didn't always listen to me. I was always wondering if she was smoking and trying to cover the smell, or worse, smoking something else. We never had any obvious issues with that, but who knows what kids try behind your backs. I also worry about fire when I'm cooking. I think that's a good reason not to do it. LOL
Mary, DH has dreams that someone is in our room, often. He actually tells me that someone is in the room, as if he's awake, but he's not awake. I wake him up and he realizes he was dreaming. One time it was his mother, and other times it was a man coming to get us. I told him if a stranger was in the house the dog would be barking/growling.
Just got back from the gym a few minutes ago and now we are babysitting while the kids sign the papers to put in an offer on a house. Our son took us by it the other day, didn't go inside, but it looked really nice. There was also another he liked better and I could see why but they are both nice. His wife and children liked the first one best so they are going with that one. He was very excited to finally be making an offer and we hope it works out for them.
I thought my headaches were gone ...but about 2 am I got them again. At 4 I got up and took Tyl and it really helped. So glad they respond to it at least.
I don't buy sugar free products much either...the times it bothered my tummy was once or twice when I tried the candy. Learned my lesson since if I have candy I will always eat more than I should..and it was a long time ago. When we eat out I often order a diet coke, pepsi or dr pepper but here at home we rarely have it unless our son buys it for us on pizza night. Oh and I also buy sf cough drops, so far they don't bother me. In fact I like the cherry ones a little too much.
I'm trying to cut back on my carbs more because I'd like to drop one of the Amaryl tabs but I am not sure i can get myself to do it. I wish I liked meat more esp chicken, but if I'm going to eat meat I actually prefer beef. I do like beans but of course they are also carb. Also I'd like to see lower weight numbers, I'm still going up and down in my 3-4# range but I'd like to see that range be lower.
I haven't done anything here at home, so need to get started. Just sit down to rest a bit. If the kids don't keep me too busy, I will weekly clean our bath and bedroom today as usual on Mon. I feel restless, want to do something different...would like to travel or something, but won't leave my house right now.
I was looking at the top corner of our Leaf Guard gutter system. That corner was dented. I checked the other corner and it was fine, so think something hit it. We no longer have a trailer that is that tall, so dh thinks the men did it when they delivered bark dust and we just now noticed. He's going to call Leaf Guard and said even if we have to pay for it (because its probably not their fault) it shouldn't be that much to repair. Also dh says we have to have three large trees cut down...well two we have to because they are dead and even our neighbor behind us is worried about them falling and the other dh doesn't like cause it's too close to the house (foundation) and because the needles fall all over our roof and the side neighbor's roof. That will only leave 2 tall but slender trees in the back yard and they haven't looked very healthy to me for a long time. I think we will miss the shade because when we first moved here the trees weren't tall and it was very hot on that side of the house. Since then it's not been bad at all because of the trees growing. At least we have AC in the house now so can escape inside and usually we don't get really hot weather that much, however last spring and summer it was much warmer and dryer and so far also this year. We are having 80+ days already now and then. But those three trees will cost a lot. Plus we want to get someone out to repair the dry rot on a portion of the roof. So don't know when we'll be able to get the siding down now.
I dead-headed the rhodies again yesterday...doing a little at a time as usual...still have one side of one large plant to do. I also took care of the roses. They need more care than I am willing to give any more so now I just take off the old dried up flowers mostly. If they die out so be it, we'll plant something else that doesn't require so much attention. It was too hot to stay out there long.
Tonight I think I'll bake a small steak...it probably won't be enough for the kids but they probably won't want it anyway. They can eat what they want...there are plenty of leftovers as well.
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Mary, there seems to be a contraversy about beans. They list a high carb count, but I have also seen them listed as a meat replacement, because if the protein. I think the fiber in them offsets the carb count. Dr Fhurman doesn't believe in eating any starchy carbs, such as pasta, bread, rice or potatoes, but he is a big promoter of beans, as much as two cups a day, if you increase gradually. I have never eaten that many, and I never really tested afterwards to see if they spiked blood sugar. When I eat them, they are usually in a recipe where other foods are involved, not just plain.
I like chicken and I cook a lot of it for myself because DH prefers beef and only wants chicken occasionally. I am getting away from eating pork recently, although I used to like it. I seem to like the fattier cuts, and DH likes lean loin cuts.
Yes the fiber in beans certainly offsets the carbs. I love beans and would eat a lot more of them if dh also liked them, but since he doesn't we don't have them often for dinner. I sometimes have them for lunch for myself though. I prefer pinto or kidney. I really like them with potatoes...more carbs but also more fiber. My weight has dropped back down one pound but I do think I've been eating too much. I think sometimes I've snacked for emotional reasons and I know better so need to cut that out.
Last night I made baked steak and a vegetable casserole. It was good but the casserole didn't thicken up as well as I'd liked and the steak was too salty. I scraped off the onion soup mix sauce that was under and over it so I think it will taste better now. It was otherwise very tender and tasty. I think the steak was just not large enough for the whole pkg of soup mix I used. For some reason I just wasn't thinking last night...I also made the whole recipe for the veggie casserole...I think before I've only made 1/2 just for us. I did the same thing when I made beef and veggie soup the other night...made too much. So wasting a lot and I hate that. I may be able to freeze the chicken and drumsticks at least. Not sure I'll bother to freeze the soup or veg casserole. I made a lot of the chicken wings/drumsticks on purpose thinking the kids would like them but only our son ate them (besides us). Tonight is leftover night so I will not be cooking unless I make some chicken fried rice to get rid of more of the drumsticks.
I helped in the back yard this beautiful morning...really enjoyed it. I finished dead-heading the rhodies...all I can reach at least. It's a big bush so took quite a while. Dh was raking and I could tell he was hurting so I took that over too and then helped him pick up the piles of debris. I really enjoy working outside now but I usually don't think about it or feel I'm too busy in doors.
I think it is time or almost time for dh to have help...so it's either me or hire someone. Our sons are willing but they don't know when to do things...dh won't usually ask for help and also they are busy with their own lives. I wonder whether we ought to try and find a small house with a small yard now, but I don't know. I know dh will do whatever I suggest, so feel it's up to me. We love our home and yard and our neighborhood is not bad. We've lost our old trusted neighbors and know our neighborhood is not 100% safe but compared to many it's pretty safe and we have the security systems in place. The house is plenty room for us but not way too big. We basically live in 6 rooms but venture into the living room to clean or to enjoy the real fireplace (electric one in fam room), or for family events, esp holidays. Six rooms includes the dining room with the kitchen plus we have 1 3/4 bathrooms. The only thing that is really too much for us is the yard. Dh does a really good job but I'm wondering if it is costing him too much physically/pain. He does enjoy working in the yard but it also causing him pain. How much is exercise and enjoyment and how much is over doing/wearing down of his body It's hard to know what to do. These are things that I'm thinking and praying about today.
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Yesterday, my husband shot a raccoon in the yard. We get groundhogs around sometimes, but I don't like when the raccoons come down into the yard. He went out on the deck and scared this one away but it came right back in a few minutes so he got his shotgun and killed it. It would tear Rusty apart if it got too close. A few years ago we had 3 raccoons and DH trapped them in a box trap and took them out to the country and released them. This one was just too close for comfort. I don't like to see any animal killed, but Rusty is more important to us, and this raccoon could have had rabies being out in the daytime.
The guys stirred things up on the hill on Monday when they were cutting down the tree. It's possible that they disturbed the habitat of the raccoon and that got him wandering around. I feel bad that he killed it.
Mary, our yard is small, but it's hard to maintain because of the hill behind the house. DH likes it because it means we have no neighbors behind us. DH usually weed whacks it every year but he's getting too old to be doing that now. I would love to move, but he woudn't. There was a house for sale up the street from us that was built on a slab with no basement, and an even smaller yard. It was wheel chair accessible inside. I was interested in buying it but DH said No. He's the one who has to maintain the house, so it's his decision. I also don't like that getting in or out of our house involves a flight of stairs, no matter which way you go. Who knows when we might reach a point where we cannot navigate stairs. The house we had before would be perfect for us now but it didn't have a garage.
The nicer home will come in time....or not..either way is ok. Some people have recommended we just paint our old aluminum siding but I've always felt paint might just emphasize all dents etc., I don't know.
Another thing I'd like to work on when I have time. 
It's hard to know what to do. These are things that I'm thinking and praying about today.
