Good morning all (changed my usual greeting to welcome Larry!). I survived the family festivities yesterday although I did eat things I probably shouldn't have. However, it was a water whoosh day so the trip down took forever -- 4 stops! -- and it's only about 150 miles. I woke up this morning to a weight loss from yesterday so the long drive was worth it.
Larry -- welcome (didn't get a chance to welcome you yesterday) to our group of chicks......or should I make that chicks and rooster. Glad that you've rejoined us, and it will be nice to have a male perspective. Your dieting approach is something that I'm slowly coming to realize -- we all have to be able to figure out a way to lose weight and then keep it off without constantly feeling deprived. Your comment about being the last one in your family hit home. Same for me. Such an empty feeling when you have a memory and realize that there's no one who can understand or share the memory.
Anewlife4me -- Welcome to you as well. This is a great group and we share our thoughts pretty much every day.
Ubee -- I'm with Donna. Forgot to make the coffee? I've forgotten to take my medicines occasionally, but never the coffee. You must have been really rockin' and rollin' yesterday. Are you celebrating school starting today?
SilentArctic -- Sounds like you had a fun New Year's -- it's nice to have someone younger to remind those of us who have reached the stay-home-and-hope-we-make-it-until-midnight stage of life that partying still occurs. And I love that you ran the dishwasher and count it as work. You're my type of woman. My hatred of housework is to deeply felt that I, too, count ANYTHING that gets done as a major achievement and sacrifice.
Donna -- We'll never be old boilers! Perish the thought. We might become dowagers, but will be considered too worldly and wise to be relegated to the boiling pot. (I do love living in my fantasy world!). Your bread sounds wonderful along with the turkey soup -- and having a slice of wonderful homemade bread isn't what did us in. Loved your description of trying to walk all 3 dogs at once -- what a brave soul you are. One at a time would definitely be the way to go. Or maybe walk all three but with your son and husband to have some quality together time and sneak in the exercise as the extra benefit.
Fi -- WOW -- your walk around the lake is wonderful. I would be busting my buttons (which has happened before but for a different reason) if -- make that when -- I can walk 1.5 miles. Good for you. I love how you actually experience things -- the description of the walk added so much to it. Laughed at the eye liner and mascara. It's only when I'm actually going to see other people -- don't bother for gardening. I have very deep set eyes, very fair skin and dark hair (with a little help from a box!). If I don't do some liner and mascara, I look like a sheet of typing paper with some bumps on it. The baked brie is done on a cookie sheet, at 350. Take the rind off one end of a brie round, top with pesto, then slivered almonds. Wrap in rolled out puff pastry and bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with crackers. Actually, once it comes out of the oven, if you took the puff pastry off (which it easily comes off almost like a wrapper) the resulting melted gooey cheese and toppings are low carb. And I always use nut thins for crackers as I can have 17 of them in a serving. But if you took the puff pastry off, you could use almost anything with it or even just eat it with a fork or spoon.
Is anyone else mentally thrilled to have the holidays complete? It's almost as though I had a sense of fear when Thanksgiving arrived, and I knew that there'd be way too many opportunities for binging and loss of control. Today I feel refreshed and ready for the continued effort to get healthy. Maybe it's just the excitement and almost awe that I feel when I realized that I'm still mentally in the game when my history has always been that I'd be well on my way to regaining everything by now. Off to get my hair cut, run errands and pay those pesky bills. Have a great day.