Alison -- I hope it won't be too bad and she can indeed do without surgery, and without rehab.
Mel -- That's so true! And it makes you wonder how French people are supposed to "not get fat", huh? More than often, you need to run the gauntlet in restaurants to get some veggies that aren't dripping with butter, nor are just a meager portion meant to enhance the size of the rice or pasta that comes with it. More than once, I've had to resort to ordering a vegetarian menu just to be sure I would get my veggies. (Speaking of which, we have a Korean "fast-food" restaurant in Strasbourg, and their meals are delicious. The vegetarian option is one huge plate of vegetables, with rice, kimchee, soy salad and fruit. Yummy and not too caloric if you don't eat all the rice, which is hard to do IMHO if you eat the veggies first.)
Baffled -- Yeah, it's tragic. T_T Better laugh than cry about it, but... (An excuse I've got? "But green beans won't go well with pasta." Meh. Either I have crappy tastes in terms of food, or it's really a bad excuse...)
Just a pass-through as we're supposed to be leaving for a Glug party right about now (hot spiced wine, eh - but the company will be good!) I've already been to a brunch with my quilting friends today. It was great. Good food, not too much, and great friends.
Allison - sorry to hear about your mom. Hope she's okay.
Good morning! I have to go out for the gym and stuffing bread this morning - hopefully before the mall traffic! - and then I'm planning on staying put today. One bathroom left, then the cleaning is done. All that's left is organizing my final grocery list for tomorrow morning and doing the cooking timetables for the various holiday meals. Since we had Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant in New Mexico this year, the family is demanding a traditional T-giving dinner for Christmas. All but the pies ... we'll have Christmas cookies instead.
I'm having good food days mixed in with not-so-good food days and am maintaining, though at a few pounds higher than I'd like. After next Saturday's visit to my MIL, the holidays will be over and I can get back to my comfortable rut. Thank heavens!
Kery, I never understand it when people say they don't like "vegetables" generically. There are dozens of varieties! Try them all and THEN tell me you don't like vegetables! It's the same way with fish, all the many kind of fish and hundreds of ways to prepare it. But people say: "I don't like fish" and that's the end of it. I just don't get it.
Allison, how's your mom today? Lily, how are you feeling?
Good morning maintainers. I hope you all have a good week-end.
I've decided that the holidays would be a good period to... go on exercising as usual. So we may be on the 23rd already, but I still went through a 4-miles brisk walk this morning, no matter what. Especially after the hardships I've had in the past 2-3 months regarding food, I do NOT want to go on along a road where I wouldn't commit at all to what needs to be done. The weirdest thing in all this is that it doesn't feel like a chore at all. We get used to everything, including liking exercise, right?
Meg -- To be honest, I used to say "I don't like vegetables". Then, one day, I decided this was childish, and "programmed" myself to have a taste of as many veggies as I could -- all the while telling myself "I'm sure I'll like it" instead of "bleh, yet another veggie I don't know it, so I already know I won't like it". It seems that there was a veggies-lover hidden deep inside of me, and I'm pretty glad she's finally come out of the closet. Sure, I don't like all vegetables the same way (we all have our personal tastes), but if I had gone on considering that "I don't like them in general", I'd still be eating quite the bland food all day long.
And now I'm off to friends for an impromptu pre-Christmas afternoon of (their words) "snacking and grazing". I hope I'll be able to hold good; I'm not going there for the food, but for my friends, yet depending on the foods they'll have prepared, it may be difficult for me to resist. I guess I'll just compromise and pick 1-2 things that I really really like, instead of grazing in every plate. Please wish me luck. ^_^;
Allison - so sorry to hear about your Mom. Full leg cast sound awlful.
Lily - hope you start feeling better soon. You've been sick too often lately.
Today, I'm making "Outrageous Chocolate Cranberry Fudge Cake" for Christmas Eve at my SIL's. I picked it because I don't think I'll like it, but it sounds really fancy and will impress her. I'm also bringing a salad so I know there will be something on the table that's healthy.
It's raining and going up to 62 degrees here in South Jersey, so we won't be having a white Christmas.
Since I've been decreasing the amount of Med 2, my taste for sugar has come back and I'm up 2 points over goal. I made butterscotch cookies for DH this week and ate seven of them one night. No control.
Carolyn, great idea to make a cake that doesn't tempt you for Christmas Eve. But if your sweet tooth is back, how about using that strategy with DH too? If butterscotch cookies are a weakness of yours, is there another kind you could make? If ALL cookies are a problem, how would DH feel about you not baking for him? I'm sure he's proud of your weight loss and maintenance and it's hard to imagine that he would want to sabotage it.
Oh Allison. That's too bad about your mom. I'm glad to hear she's in good spirits though. That counts for a lot. I hope she has a full and speedy recovery.
Carolyn, I agree that it's a good idea to make something that you don't like. Though that cake sounds yummy to ME. Right now, almost anything sweet sounds yummy to me . And I have no excuse for it. No meds or cessation of meds. Just a period I'm going through. It DOES make things harder, but I'm determined to not give into it. Good luck Carolyn. Stay strong.
Oh my gosh Kery, "snacking and grazing". Oy. What a concept. Good luck to you in choosing one or two things.
Meg, as usual, it sounds like you've got everything under control. Good luck with the maul (mall) traffic.
Baffled, that honey veggie dishes sounds great. I LOVE parsnips. Yummmmm.
Hubby and I went out dancing last night with a bunch of our good friends. Another good friend of ours was playing with his band last night at some club. We had such a great time. I danced all night long. I was on the dance floor, just thinking about how great it was to be able to dance freely. For one, that I was physically able to dance for sooo long and two, that I wasn't self conscious about it. I mean I used to be even self conscious about me WALKING. I hated the fact that people would have to see me from behind and SEE my behind. Now, I don't care who walks in back of me, or in front of me or anywhere else for that matter. Yup, even though my sweet tooth has returned and it HAS been more difficult as of late, I am NOT giving into it. I am not giving into it. I am not giving into it.........
Last edited by rockinrobin; 12-23-2007 at 12:53 PM.
Robin, how wonderful that you had fun dancing all night. I haven't gone out dancing in ages, and my husband and I used to really enjoy that. I wouldn't feel self-conscious now either, which is a huge difference from years past!
Carolyn, I often make German chocolate cake with that nasty coconut-pecan frosting (all homemade, of course) when I have to contribute a dessert, because I can't stomach the very thought of it but everyone else seems to love it. For tomorrow's Christmas gathering, I'm making two kinds of cookies I like and two kinds I do. A bit of a compromise, I guess...
Count me as one of those who USED to say I didn't like vegetables. I'm still not thrilled about some of them, but that's true of any kind of food, I guess. I can't imagine saying I hate ALL of them -- that does seem insane. I thought I hated them when I was younger because I grew up in the boonies of the Appalachian mountains, where every vegetable is cooked down to a disgusting mush and usually has a slab of hog meat mixed in with it while it's cooking. So, for example -- no, I don't like the broccoli pudding-like mush that Southerners often make, but I do like fresh steamed broccoli or raw broccoli with lowfat dip! My husband likes it mushy, though, so I always cook his longer. Yuck!
It's icky and raining here, and I'm soooo tired. I need to muster up the energy to wrap gifts and start on the cookies. If I can get my Turtle Thumbprints done tonight and convince my husband not to eat all of them, I'll have a head start on tomorrow's baking...
Lisa, LOL, I wish someone would volunteer to come clean my house too. It was clean before I kept the grandsons for 2 days and that was the end of the clean house.
Allison, so sorry to hear about your mother's accident. I pray she is better soon and that she won't need surgery.
I am feeling better today. Tired, but I expected that with all the activity with the grandsons. Baby Taylor (age 3) got his new Power Wheels truck from us yesterday. We had fun playing outside with it. Then Gunner (age 18 months) climed into the truck with him. Gunner stood up and fell out the back of it. He wasn't hurt at all and didn't even cry. We got it all on film. LOL, Lacy put it on YouTube. BTW, I must have lost my mind the day I bought Gunner drums for Christmas. He has drove me nuts with them, LOL.
We are heading out soon to my MIL's for Christmas. I'll be home late tonite after a zillion calories and at least 3 hrs. of washing dishes.
My Christmas baskets that I made turned out really pretty. Plus, healthy with all the fruits and nuts. Hope they like them, cause this isn't stuff they can take back, LOL.
I talked with her yesterday and she was not doing well at all. The night was painful despite a morphine drip. She sounded groggy and was quite nauseous from the morphine. It was rather upsetting. Today, my Dad called with an update and she is doing much better. She has been changed from a temporary splint to one she'll wear for the next 3 months--but no cast and no surgery unless she doesn't heal. If it doesn't mend, she'll need a total knee replacement as the break is just below the knee. She'll stay in the hospital through tomorrow and then move to a nursing home. So she'll be in a nursing home for Christmas. So sad. I talked to her today and she was back to her old self. She says her only problem is that she has no appetite--which is how she always gets when she is cooped up in bed. I'm sure the meds have a lot to do with it. She is drinking copious amounts of ice water as that is all that appeals to her (again, I'm sure it is the meds). She's been up and out of bed at least once today--but must be non-weight bearing for 3 weeks, so I'm sure that means a wheel chair. After that, she'll need to go back to the walker she used when she broke her foot a few years ago. Frankly, I think she is very lucky--at age 83 to fall and not break her hip.
Meanwhile my weight is still up, but it is on it's way down. I refuse to give in to the holidays and let my exercise lapse (like Kery). I will stick to my running routine despite the fact that that means running on Christmas morning. I'm sure I'll be back before anyone is out of bed!!
Oh, remember my sister (diabetic--broken ankle that got infected after surgery)? With the problem with my Mom, I finally had some time to talk to her. She's had two additional surgeries--one to open up the veins/arteries in her leg, the other to remove infected screws. They have her doing hyperbaric chamber therapy every day for 10 days and then they'll reevaluate for a possible 20-30 day total. She said that after only two sessions (of 2 hours each) she can see a definite change for the good!
Just a pass-through as we're supposed to be leaving for a Glug party right about now (hot spiced wine, eh - but the company will be good!) I've already been to a brunch with my quilting friends today. It was great. Good food, not too much, and great friends. 
I have to go out for the gym and stuffing bread this morning - hopefully before the mall traffic! - and then I'm planning on staying put today. One bathroom left, then the cleaning is done. All that's left is organizing my final grocery list for tomorrow morning and doing the cooking timetables for the various holiday meals. Since we had Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant in New Mexico this year, the family is demanding a traditional T-giving dinner for Christmas. All but the pies ... we'll have Christmas cookies instead. 
So we may be on the 23rd already, but I still went through a 4-miles brisk walk this morning, no matter what. Especially after the hardships I've had in the past 2-3 months regarding food, I do NOT want to go on along a road where I wouldn't commit at all to what needs to be done. The weirdest thing in all this is that it doesn't feel like a chore at all. We get used to everything, including liking exercise, right? 
. And I have no excuse for it. No meds or cessation of meds. Just a period I'm going through. It DOES make things harder, but I'm determined to not give into it. Good luck Carolyn. Stay strong. 
