Good morning!

Whew, we survived the latest round of holidays and I *think* that means we're free of food holidays for quite a while? Yeah, I know about the Memorial Day and 4th of July BBQs but at least they don't have candy associated with them!

All candy is gone from our house (home with DS) and there are lots of chicken and roasted asparagus leftovers, so that's good. There's also a plate of lemon bars and those will go in the freezer this morning for DH. But if I find myself hunting them out, then they'll go in the trash.

My iMac had a logic board failure on Friday and it turns out it would cost almost as much to fix it as to buy a new, better one. So I ordered a new iMac and am making do on my laptop until it comes, hopefully this week. Then we'll see how well Time Machine worked backing up the old computer! I had all of our taxes done and saved on the old computer but not filed and hopefully everything can be restored. Unfortunately, I don't think restoring the data will change the fact that we owe the IRS money this year.

Off to the gym in a few minutes. It's always jam packed after a holiday, plus we all know that Mondays are bench press days for the guys.

How was your holiday? Regardless of any over-indulgence, we're all back on track and looking forward to summer, right?

Why did I forget how much I loved biking? DH and I went for a 45-minute ride yesterday and, after 20 years away from it, I got back into form in about 5 minutes . Another bonus of being fit to begin with!

I could have pedalled for a couple of hours but I didn't want to undermine DH's being out there or have him kill himself trying to keep up with me.

I did really well with the holiday . I seem to have lost some of my enthusiasm for chocolate. I bought DH and myself each 6 small belgian chocolate eggs (they came packed that way). I was satisfied after eating two. The other 4 are hidden away in my closet for another two times when I want a treat.

My big challenge is going to be the bag of rice chips/cakes after dinner. I'm going to try to get the bike out as many nights as I can to avoid the TV/eating trap. I'm hoping DH will join me on some of those rides.

We have also started a small monetary reward thing for maintaining our weight or losing weight during the week. If one or both of us maintains or loses weight during the week we both contribute $5 to the "treat box". At the end of the month we take out the money and do something together using it.

And finally I will, sadly, have to bow out of boot camp classes this time around. I have aggravated an old back injury and, coupled with the head/chest cold, I really don't think I will benefit from the classes right now.

I think the biking will make up for that and it's something DH can do as well. He was quite shocked to see how out of shape he was yesterday and admitted that freely.

I'm really, really hoping this will be his "wake-up" call. I don't want him to have to go through a major health crisis.

Great Monday all!

Dagmar

Good morning!

We have some leftovers to deal with, too. I purposely did not buy chocolate candy. The kids like the pure sugar stuff (skittles, starburst, etc.) just as well, and I won't eat it. I pool whatever they get, and they can each have one piece per day until at some point we toss what's left.

Dagmar, my DH went biking yesterday too! The true miracle is that we all went roller skating on Saturday, so that's two days of exercise in a row for him!

The kids are home for spring break this week, and it's going to be hot! Seems like we skipped spring and went straight to summer.

Easter candy? I didn't even get tempted to buy any except one package of 6 Reeses PB eggs which DS ate all of. So no candy or other Easter stuff to deal with. Well, except for the eggs I cooked on Saturday. No, we didn't dye them, we just like the convenience of a hard boiled egg for a quick and easy breakfast or snack. It's all good.

Had a nice earthquake yesterday afternoon. We were all sitting around watching TV (well, I was cleaning a bit here and there) when it struck. Since I was up and moving around I didn't feel it at first, but heard what sounded like someone throwing something against our screen doors (it was actually a couple photos falling over inside a hutch). DH made everyone run outside where it seems a lot of my neighbors also ended up. We watched the pool slosh around and then I kind of whooped and hollered a bit as it was an interesting ride. 35 seconds--a long one! We had no damage but unfortunately two people were killed near the epicenter in Mexico. We continue to have aftershocks including one that woke us up at 4 AM and another 5.1 at 6:30.

We had a nice light dinner last night of pulled pork sandwiches I made in the crockpot. I haven't tried to figure out the calories, but I used pork tenderloin which has little or no fat and the only other ingredient was an onion and BBQ sauce. I served it on ww rolls and we had a nice garden salad on the side.

Good morning all! Today is my holiday rather than yesterday... Baseball opening day. DH & I were calorie conscious and active all weekend to prepare us for the chicken wings, soft pretzels and ice cream planned for today. I've had a protein smoothie for breakfast, have some fruit planned for the next few minutes, then I'm planning on nothing but the bad stuff after that.

We did lots of cleaning and organizing this weekend - Friday I finished the closet organizer in DSS's room, cleaned the floors downstairs and cleaned and organized the breakfast room. Which is really DSS's playroom at this point. I had forgotten how big that room is...moved his toybox upstairs along with some plastic storage bins, organized the toys downstairs. He is at Disney World with his mom this week, so I have time to finish his room this week. Sunday I cleaned and organized the office and moved some things in DH's side of the closet, did some laundry. 6 hours on Friday, almost 8 hours on Sunday. I'm totally counting that as exercise. Lots of carrying heavy things up and down stairs.


Allison - the pork sound great! I saw that you guys had some earthquake action, glad everyone is okay.

Ward - it is supposed to cool down some this weekend, but going to be hot today!

Dagmar - sorry about your back & the bootcamp.. Ouch. Enjoy the biking though!

Meg - I doubt that the new computer can erase the IRS debt. If it could I would be buying one myself...

Good day everyone!

ETA... Now that I've been sitting at my desk with nutritional info in front of me I'm wondering if I should eat chicken wings or the shrimp and avocado salad with salsa.... I have to admit that I love love love chicken wings, and haven't had them in almost two years. Would cost me somewhere in the 1500 calorie range. The salad would cost me about 325... Would still be high today with the ice cream I'm not prepared to let go of - question I guess is if I would rather have the ice cream and the salad or the ice cream and the wings. How will I feel afterwards, etc. It isn't as much fun being bad anymore.

Morning all!

We had a quiet Easter here. No candy bought or consumed (unless DH did somewhere else - his problem!) Since we both had Easter breakfast potlucks at our churches, I didn't plan a big dinner at all. I did well at the potluck with a small piece of quiche, some fruit, and a hot cross bun - and if course (these are Lutherans! ) I can't believe how quickly I got full! I ate with two friends who have 7 and 11 year old daughters. One had a plate 85% full of fruit, the other about the same amount of pastries! Both were grossed out by the candied fruit in the hot cross buns.

After church I went to a play with 3 GFs. We hadn't realized our season tickets would put us there on Easter. The holiday was reflected in the theatre too - about 25% empty seats when it's usually sold out. Fun play though. THen DH and I ate left over salmon for dinner.

Shannon - I'd say you got plenty of exercise! I ended up helping to decorate for our fund raising square dance event on Saturday, and then of course dancing at night, and then - ugh - cleaning up. (My DH is the president of the club this year, so we were expected to help) My legs were sore by the end of the evening!

Dagmar - jealous of your bike riding. DH did get mine out of the barn yesterday (along with my summer tires) but today is cold, cloudy and windy - not a good biking day at all. I hope your DH keeps up with the program. You're wise to move slowly at adding in healthy foods/exercise.

Allison - I heard about your earthquake. Glad everyone in your area is okay. Did your dogs feel it before the rest of you? my cats usually sleep through any activity we have (which we haven't had lately).

DH has gone off with a list of errands to do (for himself) and places to be - ice skating and the gym among them. My plan is to review the taxes one last time before pushing that "file" button. I'll have a small snack and then head to the gym for some weight work. That will leave me the afternoon to do what I want. TOmorrow I have to get some bloodwork done first thing so I'll eat right after, do my errands, then get to the gym before coming home. Remind me how I ever had time to work.

Pat~my Mom makes a Christmas bread (Julekaka) that is very similar to hot cross buns--but more candied fruit. Not as much as a fruitcake, though. My kids both love it--but they were raised having it from a young age. But fruit? They sure have their peculiarities about fruit. Neither will eat pineapple or citrus. What? Why? I have no idea! Even when we were in Hawaii, I couldn't get DS to even try a bite of fresh pineapple. They don't know what they're missing! But DS does like his melon and DD likes bananas and they both eat apples and pears. I think DD will eat some strawberries and they both like raspberries. I just don't get why they won't try the other stuff! (But they would definitely take their fair share of pastries! LOL).

As for the earthquake, I don't know for sure if my black lab was telling me something or not. I had been in the back yard cleaning off patio furniture and he had gone out with me but suddenly he was back inside the house just seconds before the quake hit (we have a dog door on the side of the house). But while it was rolling, we all went outside and he was happy to accompany us. The yellow lab slept through it if I remember right. The black one woke up with one aftershock but wasn't bothered by it. Back when we had the big temblors in 1991, I had a golden retriever who was so frightened by all the aftershocks we had to give her Benadryl to calm her down (and make her sleep more) just so we could go to work. Poor thing was frantic.

I wish I were so busy I didn't have time for work!!!

Hi all! I've been busy busy at work today, so not much time to post.

Made it through with my planned small chocolate bunny (well, half of a medium-sized one that I split with DH) and 2 creme eggs. I was so mad that I couldn't find any cadbury creme eggs yesterday! They were all sold out. I did find a cadbury orange creme egg and an off-brand creme egg though.

I'm so glad Passover is almost over. I'm going nuts without my cereal, rice, and pasta. DH is feeling it too -- we both felt exhausted after our race Saturday and I'm sure it was related, plus we both are totally excited to eat an enormous bowl of spaghetti tomorrow night for dinner.

Shannon, go for the shrimp avocado salad. Yummo!

Jessica, I did so well avoiding the Cadbury eggs. They've been everywhere since, when, January? And I did not buy a single one. Not a single one any time I saw them. And then yesterday, DD #1 said, "Oh, no Cadbury creme egg?" when she looked in her Easter basket. So I looked at the store to get her one and I couldn't find a single, solitary, blasted Cadbury creme egg!

Cadbury eggs are so sweet they make me sick to my stomach. I guess that's a good thing! But those Reeses PB eggs? Decadence! Good thing I passed those up and gave them to DS!!

So DD was home a couple of weeks ago for spring break. She said she's no longer sure she wants to be a music teacher. I told her in all honesty how can a 19 year old know for certain what they want to do. Anyway, she said she's thinking of either going into the military or becoming a police officer (dreams of being a K9 cop--which I understand is extremely difficult to get into). My next door neighbor is a police officer and I said she ought to talk to him about it. I'm not particularly happy with her decision, but what can I do?

Shannon~as hard as it may be to turn down those wings, think about how much happier you'll be in the long run when you choose the salad.

I did choose the salad, and it was fantastic! Grilled shrimp, black beans, tomato, onion, avocado, feta cheese, romaine lettuce, salsa instead of another dressing. Fantastic! I did have one of DH's wings, so it was a nice trade off. Fabulous salad!

Ahh, Cadbury creme eggs. One of my clients a couple of years ago worked in marketing for Cadbury. He brought home a box of about 100 of the eggs and left it in his front room with instructions to "help yourself" . I did, many times. Even though I didn't really like them much - too sweet!

Those clients probably helped me put on the 10 lbs. I've lost. I remember getting boxes and boxes of chocolate of all kinds from them for Christmas, my birthday, Easter, and just because they really appreciated how much I loved and how well I looked after their dogs.

They had two chocolate labs - how appropriate!

Dagmar (the Belgian eggs are still in my closet)

Dagmar, LOL about the chocolate labs.

Okay, so I lied about making it through Easter unscathed. Last night we received a package in the mail -- my aunt unexpectedly sent us a solid chocolate bunny. Not just any bunny, but a hand made one from the special chocolate shop near her place in NJ. So. Good. DH and I ate half of it last night. I have a feeling the other half will be consumed tonight. I'd better hit the gym with a vengeance this week.

Allison, your daughter could very well change her mind again, many times, before she decides what she really wants to do. Consider my parents -- my mom got a degree in home economics, a masters in public health, worked as a dietician for 10 years and hated every minute of it, quit when my sister and I were born to stay home with us, then when my sister and I were older ended up teaching first grade and loving it. My dad got a degree in psychology because he didn't know what to major in, worked as a social worker, wanted to be a cop but didn't meet their height requirement, so he went to law school and became a prosecutor. You could talk to your DD about what it is that is attracting her to the military or the police -- is it a sense of justice? Would she be interested in becoming a lawyer? (I'm assuming you want her in a less risky job!) Is the K-9 thing because she loves animals? Are there other animal-related careers that might be a good fit?

I have a bachelor's and master's degree in Computer Science and I work as a software developer, but even though I like my job, I often dream of other careers. I'm a different person now than I was when I was 18, and if I had to start all over again I would major in something else. CS was the right choice at the time for the person I was then. The only frustrating thing is that nowadays if you want to change careers later in life, you need to go back to school and get another degree, which can be hard to do because of money and time.

So we're getting our house painted, and we just got an email that they're going to come over and do some prep work on the house this afternoon. We don't need to be home for it since they don't need to get in the house.

We left all the windows open at home, but they have screens. The dog is in the house. Once before, we tried to leave the dog outside when we were gone and the windows were open, and he tore his way through the screen to get into the house. Am I being irrational because I'm really kind of afraid that the dog is going to tear his way out of the screens to attack the painters when they show up? I'm seriously considering trying to work from home this afternoon so I can keep an eye on him.

Good morning!

Fantastic ball game yesterday! Wow! I ate my shrimp salad, ended up with two chicken wings, a few french fries and ice cream. The salad was fantastic, and I had a small amount of badness to even it out.

Planning a run at the park if the pollen hasn't smothered me by then.

I made it all Easter with no Cadbury cream eggs or mini eggs. Whew.

Dagmar - good job keeping the eggs in the closet!

Allison - I didn't know what I wanted to do at 19 either, actually, I didn't know clearly when I was 24. Finding out what is making her look at law enforcement is a good tactic, it might lead her into other things she hasn't thought about.

Jessica - does Carter have a history of aggression towards outside vendors, deliverymen, etc? If so, the I might find a way to work from home if he has torn through a screen before...

Good day everyone!