This Monday business just keeps happening. There must be a way to just eliminate Monday from an otherwise useful week.

For some reason, I over-indulged at the dessert table at a pot luck dinner last night. Two different thin, athletic, healthy, folks make large batches of hermits and chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies respectively, then pushed them on folks since they didn't want to take them home - "That stuff is deadly" - well ... yeah ... duh! Ate them on top of the healthy fruit salad that we'd brought. It's hard to give myself credit for the healthy eating when I followed it by the sugar-lard stuff.

The good news is that I carted another station wagon of de-cluttering to Good Will. This batch included some stuff worthy of a second life. Now that's a good feeling.

I'm very happy to be back. Weighed myself this morning and it's time to start eating properly and cutting back the caffeine again. Much easier to do from home.

Last week was very stressful re work. The first 3 days of this week will also be that way but then it lets up a bit.

I'm hoping I can really start to clean up my diet cola habit this week. I've been waking up at around 2:30 - 3 a.m. and having withdrawal/dehydration symptoms. And I've been drinking a can of pop so that I can go back to sleep for a bit longer. I need to to stop that.

Bill It's so hard to refuse home made treats. Maybe not so much because they look/smell sooo good but because people are offended when something they worked at to make is refused.

Good job with the decluttering. For some strange reason our branch of Goodwill no longer accepts anything but clothes in the donation boxes. In our neighbourhood we wait until nice spring weather and then put stuff out on the lawn. Most of it disappears quite quickly.

Great Monday everyone!

Dagmar

Good morning, everyone!

Our problem with decluttering is that we declutter our closets and take stuff up to the attic "just until we take it to the Salvation Army." Which, of course, we never get around to doing. So, it's really more of an exercise in clutter relocation. Good workout, though, if it's heavy stuff.

Down another half pound this morning. I'm sure it's just water weight -- I had kale chips yesterday, and they were super salty, so I drank a boatload full of water, and had to get up 3 times in the middle of the night. OK, too much information. (And, I suppose a boat full of water isn't the best analogy, is it?)

Today The Boy has a downhill ski trip after school, so that will be my exercise for the day. It's really more "active recovery," but I can't afford to take the afternoon off work and go to the gym in the morning. Maybe I'll do some ab work at home this evening, or even play on the pullup / dip bar station I bought for DH for x-mas. (He works out at home.)

Have a great Monday, everyone. The days are getting noticeably longer around here (northern US), which makes me happy happy happy!

//b. strong,
Kim

Well I don't have to face the scale at today's TOPS meeting, because last nights' snow has cancelled our meeting. Yah!! I wasn't too sure I would still be within my KOPS status. This past week I've been "practicing" my company's coming dinner. I'm not a natural cook and entertainer, so I am somewhat stressed out, and want my dinner to be good. I was hoping eggplant parmesan could be frozen and reheated. The eggplant was like wet socks. Just as flappy and tough as could be. The meatballs were tasty, though. The dinner is in three weeks, so now I know I will have to prepare dinner no later than the day before. 152 pounds this morning at home. Just within my limit.

DD's diet has been working for us all. DD is down 5 and DH and I are both down 4 pounds. I won't ask DS as he's 5'11" and 130 pounds--in other words, a bean pole. We had an excellent weekend and I didn't over do anything except going over my cocktail allotment by one on Saturday night, for which I awoke at 3 AM with a headache. Back to zero for the next four days and now I know that one or two on the weekends is much more manageable (although I didn't lose over the weekend--something to think about there).

Yeah, Bill, it's Monday. How do we eliminate these from our week?

Today I take DS to the DMV for his behind the wheel driver's test. I hope he passes as we bought him a 2011 Hyundai Elantra on Saturday. Everyone wish him well!

Good morning everyone!

Bill, I have mixed feelings about the pushing sweets issue. On the one hand, it bugs me that people always bring junk in to work. This morning in the break room is an apple pie with one small piece taken out of it. On the other hand, I am also guilty of doing it, because sometimes I also want one tiny piece of pie but I can't cook just one piece of pie. Then to avoid eating the rest I bring it in to work.

Dagmar, good luck kicking the diet soda habit!

Kim, I am laughing about the boat. A leaky boat full of water due to being inundated with waves in a storm maybe?

Charm, how many people are you having for dinner? (that sounds like you are eating people...)

Allison, great job losing 4lbs! And great job limiting the alcohol. It's amazing how many calories are in just a couple glasses of wine.

I'm still on track here, for the most part. I restricted last week to kick the holiday weight and am proud to report this morning my weigh in was 134.8, which is even lower than I was before the holidays. Back to a little lest strict eating this week. On the other hand, exercise is still kind of shot due to my multiple sports injuries. Not sure if I posted about that on this thread or not -- I have tailbone pain that's lingering from riding my bike with a poorly positioned seat last spring, and plantar fasciitis from running. I have two days left of the steroids my doctor gave me before switching to prescription NSAIDs. Bonus of the steroids is that my chronic wrist pain is way down too. In any case I'm avoiding running and biking to let this stuff heal, which limits my exercise to swimming and upper body strength. To the bench press, Batman!

In other news DH is still on a health kick and wants to improve his nutrition. He said his plan is to figure out what are his "required" foods, meaning the food I cook for him, and then figure out how to better allocate his "free" foods, meaning all the other stuff he eats during the day because my portions are too small for him. I think I've convinced him that the best first step is to log what he's already eating for a week just to get an idea of his current status. Then we'll figure out how many calories to cut and how to modify it so he gets enough protein and enough veggies without getting too much salt.

Carter's training is going well so far. We've been getting in 4-5 short sessions per day. Hopefully by our next appointment with the trainer we will be able to show some progress. The trainer recommended a book from the library about canine body language and it's been pretty enlightening. I always thought it was funny that Carter would do this series of behaviors to "ask for permission" before coming up onto the couch. Turns out that is standard "negotiation of personal space" behavior for dogs -- since we're already on the couch, it is our territory, and he has to see if we will allow him to share it. Who knew?

Bill-- I hear you on the Mondays. Fridays take forever to get here and Mondays come way too soon. Sigh....
What the heck are hermits?! Alas, I have no control with desserts so I most often "just say no".

Dagmar-- you drink soda during the night and then go back to sleep. wow. Does sound like you need to cut back. How many do you drink a day if I may ask?

Kim-- kale chips sound interesting. Are they like potato chips?

Charm--how does TOPS work? Just curious. I am a WW member myself.

Allison-- good luck to your ds! We'll be doing that next month with my dd. I know how stressful it is for mom too!

Jessica-- good job on your weight. Wish I could report the same. That is funny about Carter and the couch. Our great Dane, Jozi, is the same way about the couch. We rarely let her up on the couch but she knows when we *might* and follows a routine to see if we'll give her permission.

Saturday was nice, Sunday not so much. My younger dd (almost 16) had a breakdown because she is overwhelmed with all of her commitments. She has a tendency to over commit herself and then realize it too late. We spent a good part of the day trying to rationalize with her to help her decide what needs to go. Now we have to follow through. Poor thing was just wiped out and it wiped dh and me out too. We had fun plans for the day but didn't end up doing any of them. The joys of parenting.

This week is going to be crazy hectic. Dh and I are renewing our vows on Saturday and have a ton to do to get ready. On top of that, dd has two choir concerts, and other commitments. I have a very pretty dress to wear on Saturday and it would look much better if I was a few pounds lighter so I'm hopefully going to find exercise time and eat perfectly OP to help that situation! I am currently 127 and my tummy has a noticeable pooch that gets better around 123. We'll see if I can make any progress there.

Bill, it's kind of a twofold good feeling--getting rid of the clutter plus helping an organization that helps others. Give yourself that credit for eating the healthy salad--you could have had something else instead of the salad and then eaten the sugar stuff.

Dagmar, it's amazing that you can drink the soda and then sleep. I have to cut myself off caffeine at 3:00 pm. How about an aspirin and some water instead?

Kaw, I was going to make kale chips with my fresh kale last year, but noticed that the aphids got it. Didn't need that much protein with my veggies. Maybe next year because I've heard they're good.

4xcharm, there is a use for snow!

Allison, WTG on the weight loss! Kudos to your DD.

Jessica, even though I don't have a dog, you've made me want to read about dog behavior. I know a bit from volunteering, but mostly about dogs interaction with other dogs. The way they hold their tail, their head, etc. Pretty fascinating, I think.

Michele, poor DD--and poor parents. So is the vow renewal a big ceremony with lots of people or just a private thing? Remember, there's always shapewear. . .

Woke up to a skiff of snow on the ground and low temps. Got my fear of falling activated for sure. When I was in the ER last week, the nurse gave me a shot in the thigh and said, "oh, you're got great muscle tone so this shouldn't hurt that much." Not true about hurting that much, but I was thrilled about the muscle tone comment. It's nice when hard work pays off, although I wish the comment were made under other circumstances.

Happy Monday, everyone!

I am really excited about the vow renewal actually. When dh and I got married 23 years ago we were married by a Catholic priest because our Rabbi wouldn't marry us (I am Jewish, dh is Catholic). For our 15th anniversary, we went to Vegas and renewed our vows at the Little White Wedding Chapel (dh jokes that Elvis married us but not so). Our temple had vow renewal classes that we signed up for not really realizing what we were starting. I thought the classes were more about keeping your marriage strong, etc. Basically there are three couples including us that will be participating in a full Jewish ceremony. It will be small with only very special friends or family. Our only guest will be our younger dd as older dd can't come back from college. I feel like we are coming full circle.

Sheila, the book I am reading is called "Canine Body Language" by Brenda Aloff. Your local library might have it. It's 90% photos and then the rest is explanatory text. Like you said, there is a lot of body language in how dogs communicate with other dogs, but it is interesting to see that the dog is using that same body language to communicate with humans -- we just don't realize it.

Michele, I'm surprised that a Catholic priest agreed to marry you in the first place! DH and I had similar issues. We wanted a Jewish wedding (maybe I should say Jew-ish), but my mom is not Jewish and I wasn't raised exclusively Jewish, plus we wanted to get married on a Saturday afternoon. Amazingly, we were actually able to find a rabbi to marry us.

Jessica,
We had to go through all of the Catholic pre-marital counseling in order to have the priest marry us. This included classes and an "engaged encounter weekend". We also had to have special permission from the bishop because we were having the wedding outside of a church (my mom refused to come if it was in a church-- gotta love the relatives).

The problem with not picking out recipes for the week as I usually do is that now I have no idea what to make for dinner. The perishables in my house are: boneless skinless chicken breast, boneless skinless chicken thighs, ground turkey, tofu, kale, chard, mushrooms, lettuce, yukon gold potato, sweet potato, and a mo qua (chinese fuzzy melon, kind of like a zucchini). Time to peruse the recipes sticky!

Anyone wanting to learn more about dogs' body language can watch Cesar Millan "The Dog Whisperer". He is so in tune with what dogs are saying with their bodies and faces that it's scary! I have learned so much from that show - it's totally changed the way I relate to the dogs I walk.

And Cesar is an inspiration as far as fitness goes too. He once carried a 60 lb. wild feral dog over 1 Kilometer tucked on to his hip! I read about his 4-6 hour workouts with his pack in the California hills - amazing!

Have a good evening all!

Dagmar

Jessica, I'd make ground turkey chili with mushrooms, kale and potatoes, but then I make chili out of anything. I bet you could throw that Chinese zucchini thing in there, too.

Yes and no. Mostly no. They're crispy and salty and a bit greasy like chips, but taste a lot like, well, kale. They're really just baked/roasted kale, but they turn crispy ... about 30 seconds before they turn into cruciferous conflagrations.

Lots of recipes on teh internets, but I just sprayed a bit of "FF" oil on a pan, laid out the washed, trimmed, and dried kale leaves, gave it another shot of spray on top, salted them, and put them in a hot oven. Check after 10 minutes, then watch like a hawk -- you want 'em crispy like chips, but if they start to brown they turn bitter. You can play around with spices: try garlic, chile, curry mixes, whatever floats your (leaky?) boat.

I should say that I'm not a kale fan (friends gave us two bunches from their CSA because they were going out of town), but I like these.

//b. strong,
Kim