Maintainers Weekly Chat October 8 - October 14
 

I'm with DW visiting her elderly mother and other relatives. All meals are extended affairs with multi-generations. And many, many dishes including pastas and carbs of all flavors. I'm trying to make sane choices within the chaos - with partial success.

But there was joy in the heart when the three year old adopted me to read me a series of 'her' books. I was the only adult around who hadn't heard the books read a dozen times or more. Kids are good at finding new humans to serve their needs. I got to watch kids stop eating when they didn't want any more - trying to remember if I ever stopped eating when food was still visible, LOL.

holiday - long post
 

It sounds like a very lovely family time Bill. I find I don't have difficulty walking away :no: from the table when I am full if I take care to put small portions :yes: on my plate initially.

We are having our first "winter eating" holiday today - Thanksgiving. DH and I are going kayaking this morning. I'm squeezing in a cat sit around noon. Dinner will be quite simple - the turkey is already made (I buy amazing :D rotisserie ones from a portugese place), I'm steaming green beans with dill (leftover go in my lunch tomorrow), and the lower cal version of scalloped potatoes I do will be prepped in about an hour and then popped into the oven at the appropriate time.

I am going to relax :yoga: and catch up on some reading in the afternoon. I gave Lucy (the dogsit dog) my all for 10 day and need to recharge. It was fun though - loud, exhilarating, exhausting fun. :hyper:

The best moment of the sit was yesterday afternoon. Lucy and I went for a walk along a very underused portion of the beach (due to a long treacherous scramble down a steep rocky hillside covered in fallen trees to get to it). I wish I had taken a camera along (pic = 1000 words) but I don't know if it would have come back in one piece.

The hillside that runs parallel to the beach is very steep and covered in brush and trees, some of which are turning with their fall colours. There are a series of man made lagoons with outcrops of big boulders piled quite far out into the lake. On our way back from our 2 hour hike Lucy had calmed down considerably. I just let her run all over the place and swim and sniff and just be a dog. This relaxed her enough that when I climbed out to the end of one of the boulder outcrops she came with me (nimbly jumping from rock to rock like some strange spindly legged goat) and sat down on my shoes. The lake was mirror smooth and there was a lone canoeist way out on it. The sky was amazing - huge with all sorts of different clouds and many shades of blues and grays. The lake's colour mirrored the sky. Lucy leaned contentedly against my legs as I surveyed this beautiful serene setting. AAAHHH - breathing room. Hard to believe there was a city of 3 million people minutes away from us.

I will recreate this feeling in my mind time and time again the next few months. I hope to "borrow" Lucy some weekend and do this walk again. It makes her calm down like nothing else can. I would like to share that feeling with her again.

Dagmar :sklol:

Dagmar, that sounds like a moment that will stay & stay. When people say jokingly, "Go to your Happy Place," you'll know exactly where that is.

My mother will be leaving today, which always leaves me with mixed emotions: Relief, but also, after a little while, a kind of emptiness. I need to remember the mantra that food won't fix that.

My apartment finally coalesced this weekend, as we hung curtains, a mirror & brackets and a big architectural pediment, and we finally unrolled my living room carpet. We're still not done, with three other major things to hang, but these may require the intervention of a carpenter to ensure they stay on the wall, as one is a repurposed fireplace mantel, which I am turning into a shelf, one is a hanging corner cabinet and the other is a bed crown, from which curtains are going to festoon around the head of a bed. So the place remains a work in progress, but I'm much further along than I was at this time last week.

I'm working today, despite Columbus Day. Really working. I need to finish up a PowerPoint presentation draft ("preso," in work lingo), listen to a recorded session in preparation for writing a report on it and meet with an analyst about a writing project we'll start later in the week. Already I am missing the weekend.

Good morning all and Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends, including Dagmar! I live in NY, 30 minutes south of Canada, so we have had a ton of Canadians shopping in our area this weekend!

On the agenda today, DH and I are taking his 94 year old father out to lunch and then are going to pick apples. It's pretty chilly but beautifully sunny, so I hope it will be a great day!

I am holding steady at 117 pounds and am very happy about it. I am going to Ponderosa for lunch (yikes!) but since I ran 12 miles yesterday, I can afford a little over indulgence, I think. I'll start with a big salad to help fill me up some.

I have the meeting the MD scheduled with the nutritionist this week. I am anxious to see what she has to say about my weight and eating habits. I'm pretty confident and not sure that I need this appointment, but since insurance pays completely for it, why not go for it?

Jen

Hi all,

Once again I'm not quite sure where my weekend went. I did some fun things, but as I'm sure you've figured out I'm one of those people who needs to get some things done around the house to feel productive and this morning I'm left tired and feeling behind for the week already. Surely one of these days I'll pull myself together. Sushi night with the girls Friday was delicious and I got to see several friends I haven't seen in months. Yesterday I went to see "Crimes of the Heart" in the city with friends. It was a good play and very well performed. Of course it seems that the trip takes the whole day. I tried to stop by my friend's small town local grocery store on my way home since I was right there, rather than travel out of the way to my small town grocery store, and the produce section alone made me so annoyed and sad I just left. Instead I went home and ate too much pasta. I still need to go to the grocery store and didn't get enough exercise, nor did the dog. I caved and just dropped her off at daycare this AM, accepting I will take her twice this week. Poor thing shouldn't suffer bc I can't get myself together. I made no headway on gathering props for my play, set design, let alone tidying my house, and slept poorly once again last night, which is probably the biggest determinant in my current mood. Sigh.

Dagmar, Happy Thanksgiving! Your walk with Lucy sounds so nice. And hey, you got her to calm down and rest her head on you? Sounds great for this very active dog you've described to us.

Jen, I vaguely remember eating at a Ponderosa once during my childhood in PA. Do they have a big buffet? Have fun apple picking! I am curious what the nutritionist will tell you.

Bill, sounds like a really nice visit w your DW's family. Nice to be "adopted" by this girl. Spending time w the kids or the pets is always a good distraction for me as well, when I'm at loose ends and want to get away from the food.

Saef, glad to hear your apartment is coming together.

Is it only Monday? Have a good week all. :tired:

Good morning! Happy Thanksgiving to all you, Dagmar, and any other Canadians out there.

I made a wonderful pasta sauce yesterday and served it over ravioli. I bought a different brand of ravioli and they were much better than the old brand. Who knew the store brand would be better than the national brand I used to buy. It also claimed fewer calories.?

DH and I spent over 3 hours Saturday cleaning our back patios, furniture and grill. It's the one thing we do that make it feel like fall. Since everything was so clean, we ate al fresco both weekend nights. It is so nice to have that huge chore done (and even better that we can sit out there and not wonder what kind of muck we might be sitting on as everything is clean!).

My in-laws are scheduled to arrive back here on Tuesday for the season. It's been a long summer without them.

Happy Thanksgiving Dagmar! Sounds like you have a great plan for the day.

Megan-- my dogs could use some doggy day care too. They need more walks from me.

Hi to everyone else. I'm late getting started at work due to having to clean up a mess right before I left home-- my cat decided to projectile vomit from on top of a bathroom counter-- quite a mess to clean up!

:wave:

Bill, agree that we can learn some good things about watching kids eat. When mine's done, no force on earth can get him to eat one more bite - he has actually left half a slice of pizza on his plate - "I'll finish it later". Weird ...

Dagmar, Happy Thanksgiving! It's good to know you have a happy place. :) Sounds like Lucy has one too! Did you get through Saturday all right?

saef, I'm glad your nest is coming back together. It will be a beautiful home again!

cherrypie, I think I can count multiple decades since I've been in a Ponderosa! Enjoy the splurge - if it makes FIL's day, that's worth a lot. :)

megan, it sounds like you need a weekend to recover from your weekend! Hope you can get to bed early tonight and have a "do-over" Monday tomorrow.

allison, congrats on knocking off the big fall job - it feels so good to check a major task like that off, doesn't it? How do you know it's fall if it's still in the 90's? Michigan has lots of clues - the trees are almost at peak color, and my patio is about two inches deep in leaves already. And we saw our first hard freeze last night. :eek:

All the priming is complete, and I think the ceiling may only have needed one coat. Hopefully I'll get home in time to see it in the daylight. I might throw the last pint of paint up there anyway - better on the ceiling than in the trash, I think. I'm taking tomorrow off to do the walls. The paint color is "River Mud" - doesn't that sound lovely? :p I don't know quite how to describe it; it's in the yellow color family but way off into the taupey/gray/brown. I'm not a big fan of yellowish anything, but that's what it took to meet my requirements of playing nice tonally with a red oak door and trim, a cherry-finished vanity, and very earthy shower curtain. And if I hate it, well, it's just paint, and I still have another weekend I can burn if I have to pick something else.

Becky~the telltale sign that it is finally fall in the desert: out of state license plates.

Oh! I went out back this morning at the office and the little feral kitty let me pet him! He actually ran up to me as I brought his food out and kept getting in my way to the point where I was afraid I'd step on him. Then I put the food down and he just let me pet him and pet him! He's so soft. Next we'll need to trap him to get him neutered. I don't know how he'd react if we tried to pick him up at this point.

How sweet Allison! What color is he?

Slower is better with ferals. Although this little guy doesn't sound so feral any more. It would be best to feed him in his transport crate, without shutting him in of course, a few times and then take him to the vet. This way he associates the crate with a good thing and doesn't get scared of people picking him up - good for future adopters.

Dagmar :dizzy:

Michele~he's a ticked gray tabby. His face looks like a regular tabby, but his body is more ticked rather than striped. He has a black line along his spine and the rest is ticked. He had a sibling that looked a lot like him, but the sibling has been missing for a few months, so I'm pretty sure he or she died. He's about 6 months old now, so still a kitten,

Good idea on the crate feeding. Thanks, Dagmar. Right now his "house" is the little trailer we have for hauling the golf cart around. He eats and sleeps under it and sometimes hangs out in the corner where we have some skylights stored. We're going to have to use the golf cart trailer tomorrow, so maybe I should get a carrier and put it out there today.

DH is going to take a video today of me feeding and petting him--I'll post a YouTube link to it later.

Here's the video: kitty kitty

Watching the video I can see he's very comfortable with you Allison. a lot of cats don't like to be touched while eating. His tail shows that he's a bit nervous but just a bit. I would definitely get the carrier there ASAP as moving the trailer will probably cause him a great deal of stress. Most ferals do not like being exposed and you are taking his "hideout" away.

If there is something else that's quite large that you can put the carrier under all the better.

Dagmar :dizzy:

Dagmar - Your rotisserie turkey sounds yummy; I'll have to search to see if that's available around here.

We returned home with a couple of silver serving spoons. I just tried to polish them. What a pain! Anyone have tips on how to polish silverware without going bonkers?

Yes, Bill. Do it while watching an engrossing movie or one of your favorite TV shows. I'm afraid it's one of those dull jobs requiring patience and what used to be called "elbow grease" but it can be a very calming & centering activity also if your mind is otherwise engaged.

My mood has improved somewhat today. I believe that in a weird way I was grieving for my mother after she left, departures being a rehearsal for death. We get along so much better when we're visiting each other rather than living together for an extended period of time, and when we're task-oriented, like getting the living room arranged and pictures and objects hung on the walls.

Ahhh... Ponderosa. Yes, for those of you who don't know, they feature a GIANORMOUS buffet. They do have a huge fresh salad bar with fresh fruit. I started there, but didn't finish there LOL. Most of their other stuff is a lot of "down home country" (read fried) foods.

And they have a TON of awesome desserts. As expected I ate a lot... scale is showing up 2 pounds this morning, but most of that will go away in a couple of days I'm sure.

Since I'm new to maintenance I'm still figuring all this out, but it's nice to be able to go off plan once and a while. I RARELY allowed myself this on the way down, but I want to be able to do it once and a while now that I'm at goal.

Allison - we recently rescued a feral mother cat and her 4 kittens. We spent a month nursing them to health and taming them. We found homes for mama cat and 3 of her kids, but DH got really attached to one of the kittens, so we adopted him. We now have 10, yes I said 10, cats. We are nutbags!

In other news, I had a contractor come out to look at re-doing our kitchen. I got really excited about this and started looking at flooring and countertops this weekend. I was expecting that the contractor cost would be in the neighborhood of $2,000-$2,500. I got his quote this morning and just for his part - not including flooring or countertop costs - would be $7,000!!! WAYYYY out of my price range. So I am really disappointed.

Jen

Dagmar~the kitty has already had his first "home" removed. He and his sibling (that has been absent for 2-3 months) were "raised" in several pallets of paving stones. They would climb inside the pallets and hide and sleep. We had been storing the pavers for a year and kept getting the company to come and take them away and they finally did a few weeks ago. So the kitty moved to the trailer--prior to that his hidey place was between some skylights that are stacked up against the building (those are still there, too). The trailer will only be gone for a couple of hours, but I will put the crate down this morning to see how he does with it.

Jen~10 cats? Wow. My secretary has 5 and I thought that was a lot! And that is disappointing about the cost of redoing the kitchen.

My Dad has decided not to fix up his basement after the flood. The insurance he has does not cover replacement costs, so they'll give him $4000 for damages. The contractor was over $7000 and that didn't include carpet. I would think it prudent, however, to replace the insulation and drywall, but I don't think he's even going to do that. I'll let he and my brother be the judges on that.

I meant to share some photos of what my mother & I accomplished over the weekend with hanging up stuff, rolling out the carpets, unpacking pillows, etc.

This side of the living room is pretty much done. This is the view if I swivel around completely in my desk chair.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...erLoveseat.jpg

Okay, and if you are sitting on the sofa, between the two big pillows, and looking across at my desk, this is what you see: My desk, complete with glowing laptop and water bottle. The thing over the desk is a sunburst or fan pediment salvaged from a building. I put a coat of tung oil on it, to protect it, which darkened it.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...t-Pediment.jpg

This part of the living room is incomplete. I have purchased another chair that is pretty much like the light blue one, only a dealer in Arkansas has it. Since March, he's been talking about sending a picker to Pennsylvania to meet up with me & hand it over. That still hasn't happened. Even if it had, I'd still need to get it reupholstered. So my armchair is left lonely without a mate. Remembering highlights of its youth during the Lincoln administration, no doubt.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...yBlueChair.jpg

To the left of that blue stained-glass floor lamp there is a length of blank wall. I can't decide whether I want to put a card table there, and hang stuff over it, or if I will get a bookcase. I really want a card table, but I really could use a bookcase.

Anyway, so there is the living room, thus far. There are three paintings that I still need to hang. Well, four, when I finish paying for the big one & pick it up. I got it from one of those nice dealers who is willing to hold something and accept periodic payments.

I feel much more settled. Just a week ago, there were bare walls in the room, bare floors and boxes with stuff in bubble wrap in corners of the room & hidden in the living room closet. Now I have some kind of liveable atmosphere around me again.

Saef, your apartment looks lovely!

Not much to report here, same old same old. I'm off to Seattle Friday night for a week-long conference and I'm a little stressed because I'm supposed to be staying with a friend Friday night and I can't get a hold of her.

Saef, your apartment looks beautiful.

Yes, a do-over is what I need! Today is going a little bit better. I got more sleep, though still couldn't get to bed early last night. I went to the grocery store yesterday and stocked up on some healthy foods to cook this evening, took care of some director duties, and at least the dog is tired from daycare even if I didn't get a workout in. This is probably what my life will look like until Thanksgiving, though. :dizzy: At least I didn't even feel like stuffing my face with food yesterday.

Saef, your home looks wonderful! I really like the rich lustre of all of your wood, and how you carry the blue in little ways throughout each item in the room. What a unique and interesting pillow on the couch, too (the one with the cherubs? I think that's what they're called).

Allison, sorry to hear about the costs at your dad's. I'd think at least insulation would help retain heat/AC - where does he live again? Good for you for helping your office kitten. I can't watch the video since I'm at work but will try to check it out later.

Jen, I have no control at buffets. 2 lbs is not bad. You're right, it will come off in a few days. Bummer a new kitchen will cost too much, but now that you know the price perhaps you can give yourself a savings goal so you can do it in a few years.

Bill, my mom would pay my sis and I something like a dime a piece to polish silver when we were little. Got any kids nearby to foist this chore off on? Be like Huck Finn and the whitewash fence - make it look fun! ;)

Dagmar, how was your Thanksgiving celebration?

Have a good do-over Monday, everyone. :)

Do-over Monday sounds awesome.

saef, your apartment is beautiful, I knew it would be .

Happy Thanksgiving Dagmar, and Bill, I can SOOOOOOO relate to eating after satisfied and then eating more. Can I feel comfortable with appetite hunger and then not eat too much to protect myself against fear of that hunger? For the first time in my life, after some real inner work, the answer is yes. I move forward towards the holidays and the chillier days with trepidation but a real hope that this time I can "go to that happy place" where I can feel safe and OK and not eat more than I need. As a result, it's now October 9 and so far no net weight gain at all since reaching my goal in August! One day at a time... to paraphrase my financial advisor, past failure to perform is no indicator of future success... the fact that I have regained weight in the past is not proff that I have to stay in that same rut now!

I'll take a do-over Monday as well!

saef~beautiful!

I'm "working" from home while awaiting my window washers. I was given an 8 AM - 11 AM window. It's after 10 and still waiting for them to show up. I hate this. I also have a vet appointment at 2:30, so my time at the office will be stressed to get my work done. I hate that, too.

So my cable phone has not been working (again). It rings, but then when we try to answer, it says system busy, try again later. And I can't make outgoing calls. So while I'm stuck here waiting, I'm on live chat with TWC. It takes 10 minutes between my typing and his reply. More waiting.

And I left my doggies at the office. I feel kind of alone as the cats are off napping.

Ok, guys, I need your help. I was just informed that I am being invited to lunch with some mucky mucks from the state for tomorrow. They want to eat at a new Japanese place that just opened.

Here is the menu: http://ruyiasianfusion.com/Catalog.aspx?cid=37

I have never eaten Japanese food before.

Can those of your that are more worldly then me give me some suggestions on healthy things to eat here?

Jen

Don't do tempura (it's wonderful to eat, but it's battered and deep fried food). Avoid the fried rice as well. Too much oil there.

I would do the lunch special. Miso soup or salad with maybe the cucumber roll. Of course some of the Asian Cuisine lunches are pretty good served with the brown rice. Just keep in mind that glazes are often sweet and therefore more calories. Saute would mean in oil, so be careful there.

Or gosh, just get a salad.

saef, your apartment looks beautiful!

Allison, our former feral kitty now spends about 23 1/2 hours a day sleeping on various soft surfaces in the house. I started feeding her and her siblings thinking that they might help keep down the mole and chipmunk population in our yard. One cold, rainy day I opened the door; Alexis walked right in and she's never left. Meanwhile, the moles and chipmunks happily multiply and dig all in our grass. Once we got our dog the other feral cats won't come near our house.

Jen, have you ever tried sushi or raw fish? Usually at the restaurant they will have a more detailed description of what ingredients are in each roll. Like Allison said, tempura means deep fried, and also spicy sauce has mayo, eel sauce surprisingly has sugar in it. If they have special rolls with words like "explosion" or "volcano" or things on top with spicy sauce, they are usually quite rich. Sashimi is raw (or usually raw?) fish alone. Miso soup is quite light and low cal, and I think wonton soup is pretty light. Seaweed salad is yummy and healthy but not enough for a meal. I like raw fish, so I often order raw tuna and it sounds like they have several good-sounding raw tuna appetizers (under "from the sushi bar"), but they have seared tuna also. The tuna and avocado salad sounds yummy. If you haven't been to a Japanese restaurant before you'll have to ask questions anyway, perhaps you can glean some more info before ordering. The Asian Cuisine Lunch options all look pretty fried and heavy on the sauce to me. It's nice they have a brown rice option.

ward . if you want the feral cat or any feral cat to keep the mole or chipmunk population down, DO NOT FEED THEM when they are hungry the moles and chipmunks will be mighty appealing to them.

Thanks for the advice. I am new to eating fish (although not shellfish) and I have never had raw fish. What do you guys think about the coconut soup with the scallops, clams in it? Coconut broth has to be good, right?

Coconut milk is pretty high calorie I think, I don't know about coconut broth. The soup sounds good, though. I might go that route - soups are filling. Though, soups at Japanese places are notoriously huge as well.

I don't love sushi, but I love seared salmon. Seared tuna is good as well. Not quite raw, so not as intimidating for me. :)

Raw fish totally turned me off until I dared to try Ceviche in a Mexican restaurant and just like Mikey I liked it !

Morning all,

Is it Monday? Wednesday? Do-over Monday x3! Yesterday afternoon I realized it was beautiful out, and low tide, so I ran home to take Emma out for a 2-hour walk on the beach. We both had a lot of fun. :) I did my weekly cooking that I usually do on Sunday last night since I didn't have rehearsal, and ended up staying late in the kitchen working on that. I have some healthy foods ready to go for the rest of the week now. Tonight I have rehearsal but after that sleep "wins" and will be first priority.

I love raw fish! I didn't try sushi until I was about 22-23 but love it now. Raw tuna with some wasabi and soy sauce....mmm. I love ceviche, too. Scallop ceviche is actually my favorite.

Jen, coconut milk is pretty caloric but coconut water is not as bad, especially if it's not sweetened coconut water. I guess it depends what the soup is made out of.

Ward, Alexis sounds like she knows how to reach out and take advantage of a good thing!

Allison, people who are supposed to do work on one's house never show up at the beginning of the time frame they give you. Unless of course you aren't home. Then they show up early. Did they ever arrive yesterday?

Chris, congrats on maintaining for 2 months. Not eating until I'm stuffed is something I do ok with day-to-day, but struggle with at big events or holidays where there are tons of options and "special" foods. Someone on this forum (bargoo? JayEll?) told me "Eat until you are 80% full".

Have a good Wednesday, or do-over-do-over Monday, whichever you pleasure, everyone.

saef - Your condo is stunning indeed. Gotta admire your perseverance and consistent good taste.

I've completed the first pass at polishing the silver plated serving spoons. They look good enough to use now, but I may work a bit more. The challenge is to leave the pleasing black highlighting of the design while removing the apparent tarnish. The drawback is that polishing reveals any worn spot in the silver plating. I declare that it's character and move on. I'm a big fan of Downton Abbey and am inclined to think there is supposed to be someone in my basement making this happen, LOL.

Jen-- I am a sushi convert-- love it! I'll be curious to see what you get. At my new favorite sushi spot, we get grilled edamame, tuna cerviche salad, and spicy tuna. Sometimes we get miso soup or salmon sushi. Never tempura or anything with mayo.

I need to remember and look here at home as I can't see Saef's pics at work!