That's one bad dog walk, Megan. Glad you cornered him before damage could happen.

I'm continuing to be consistent going to the gym to do my stationary bike ride as well as doing my physical therapy exercises to recover from six weeks in a cast. It amuses me that the bone is well healed, but it's the muscles that need recovery from being constrained.

I have never in my life thrown away a piece of pie, cake, or cookies. Don't think I could now. Those were all precious when I was growing up and wasting them was unthinkable. You'd think that I would recognize that I live in a different world and act accordingly. Perhaps it'll happen.

Throw out food?

This is the kind of family in which I grew up: During my mother's recent Christmas-time visit, she stopped short at the sight of the box of tissues in my kitchen. "Why did you get that kind?" she demanded accusingly. It's because the tissues were packaged in the small, cute, upright, cube-like box, which takes up less space, rather than the long, rectangular box, which contains more tissues and generally costs less per tissue than the smaller box. So my mother was calling me out on the unsoundness of my investment decision in facial tissues.

With that kind of programming in me -- the untold story is how I hesitated in the grocery store aisle before going for the two-for-one Proctor & Gamble tissue deal, and even had trouble buying the brand name over the generic -- do you think I'm capable of throwing out "perfectly good" food? No. It has to be fed to someone else, at the very least.

Regarding the generic vs name brand issue: t here are some items on which I will not skimp. Others I can't tell the difference so I don't care--I'll choose the cheapest. But facial tissue? That is one item I refuse to budge on. Why buy a generic, often single ply, tissue that blows apart on one blow so you have to use two? The el cheapo ones you get at most hotels are good examples. Nope. Give me Kleenex any day--and preferably their 3-ply kind!

But canned tomatoes? Any kind will do, and if one is on a really good sale, why not stock up?

My MIL apparently has no qualms about throwing out perfectly good food. I remember one time we were staying with them and they had a bunch of people over for a BBQ. There were two leftover baked potatoes. I had one for lunch the next day and was planning on the other one for lunch the next day. Nope. She threw it out because it was TWO DAYS OLD. Total nonsense if you ask me. It was wrapped and in the fridge and would have kept for several more days.

But as we sit and type I think about the carrot cake sitting in my fridge. I didn't like it--only ate part of my serving the other night, so I know I won't be eating any more of it, but I don't know if I can throw it out. What if DH or DS wants it? But then MIL is going to be staying at my place while DH and I are on our cruise and I shudder to think what she'll think if it is still in the fridge TWELVE days after it was originally served!

Allison, I prefer Puffs to Kleenex although I will buy Kleenex on occasion. I have had to learn to throw out food and it was not an easy decision, I have other areas that are even more difficult, I have socks in my drawer that I will never, ever wear again but I just can't throw them out or give them away .I think Becky talked of getting rid of her wedding dress. I still have mine even though I am divorced, I would never consider getrting rid of it.I have books I did not like and will not be reading , can't get rid of them either.

I came home from the holidays with half of a peppermint layer cake, half of a chocolate chip pound cake and somewhere in the range of 15 lbs of candy. I was able to throw away the cakes, the candy is still in a bag in my dining room. I'm trying to decide if I have the willpower to keep it and eat it a little bit at a time or if I need to bring it to work and donate it to the guys who work downstairs.

It is HARD for me to throw away food, too.

I'm indifferent on tissue brands as long as they are the ones with lotion for blowing my nose or the ones without lotion if my eyes are watery or for other needs. A different kind of picky I guess.

I am also somewhat of a packrat - like Bargoo I never get rid of socks. I did get rid of my wedding dress after I was divorced, though. I donated it to a women's shelter that sells them at low rates to women who couldn't otherwise afford a nice dress and then uses the money to feed back into their shelter maintenance.

I need to get back on track this year, as well. Need to get back to exercise. We've had a lot of sickness in the family the last couple of weeks - DH was sick from Christmas Day to Monday, still kind of stuffy and not quite 100%. DSS started throwing up on Wednesday. I've got some kind of sinus infection going on that started to hit me hard on New Years Day, so I skipped my resolution race. I ended up missing work yesterday. My entire head feels like it has been filled with water and frozen from the neck up. My ears feel full and crackly, my cheeks and nose actually hurt to the touch and my face feels numb. Nose has been bleeding for days. I exercised on Monday and it felt great, but haven't gotten back to it since then. I did some yoga on Wednesday, some inversions helped the sinuses feel better for short term. Back at work today, still feeling kind of under the weather. Had a meeting this morning that started an hour late and left me sitting in a crowded waiting area until it got going. Which meant that I was irritable when I got finished so ended up with a biscuit and a hash brown for breakfast instead of the healthy oatmeal I was going for... Not doing a great job on getting back on track.

Shannon, I have nose bleeds , too. Doctor's advice, saline spray, cheap OTC and it works, for me , at least.

I'm so hoping I don't come down with a cold or flu before my trip!!! So far, no one in the family has gotten sick, except MIL who had bronchitis in November but many of our guys here at work have had the flu.

We routinely go through our closets and donate old clothes and although I do have a plethora of socks that are rarely worn, I tend to hang onto them "just in case."

But on the subject of books, we are getting rid of almost all of them! My nightstand was covered in books that I didn't feel like reading. I had two overflowing boxes in my closet that I couldn't decide what to do with although I was leaning toward a garage sale. Well, DD fixed the situation for me. She decided to finish cleaning out her closet which meant going through all her books. She decided to list them on Amazon. So I directed her to my stacks and she listed those, too. She'll do the same with DS's and DH's next time she visits. She stuffed her trunk with the books to take back to Fullerton last night. And I know she's already sold a few. If she can't sell them, she'll donate them to a library.

OK so last night a friend's birthday party in the middle of my craving times. Two pieces of birthrday cake and a generous potluck. No success there. But Karen and I looked at our calendars. The next public eating event is in a week; her Dad's 84th birthday. So today I find the willpower to begin four days with no processed sugar, no dark chocolates, etc. Just clean up a bit, lose those holiday (and now post-holiday) pounds and back to maintaining my ideal weight. So it's my turn to ask for strength.

And anyone who has the willpower to let tempting food grow moldy in the fridge has more mental toughness than me!!!

I threw out the remaining tuna salad that has sat too long in the fridge for me to feel safe eating it. No mold, but it was getting pretty old. DS and DH had carrot cake (DS ate two pieces). I got one small taste from DH's and it reinforced the fact that I don't like this particular recipe.


All that is left in the fridge in the way of leftovers are some refried beans and carne asada and that will be our lunch today before golf.

Weight is now 1.7 above pre-holiday (which was in November--I stopped trying to lose around Thanksgiving).

Felt good to be out of the holiday whirlwind! The first week of January was a horrid spiral of TOM, thankfully now in the rearview mirror. I could almost say that today feels like the kickoff to a new year instead! My fridge is clean, there's a few lonely stale cookies around that don't appeal, and I announced to the family today that I was back in the loss mode again. I put on 4# and need to get back to logging and counting again, pronto.

Meanwhile, the guys are still working on the siding. The house is almost fully clad. They're doing finer points on the trim and details around the electrical boxes, and beginning work on the porch. There was a goof with the material for the soffits, so the upper parts can't be done for a while, and they won't do the work around the clerestory windows until the snow melts off the roof. Slow but steady.

Good luck to all that are dodging the sickness bullets or recovering!

Dd's birthday was yesterday (she turned 22-- how did that happen!?).
I ate out THREE meals with her! I totally stuck to healthy choices at breakfast and lunch (though I'm sure the sodium was still high).
I knew dinner would be the challenge-- we were going to our favorite Italian restaurant but I was planning on weighing in this morning at Weight Watchers. My friend that I meet texted me that she was sick and couldn't meet-- so of course that gave me permission to go off plan! I made a fairly good choice-- there really are no good choices there-- and allowed myself a "tiny" piece of birthday cake. Coupled with Bikram Yoga yesterday and the scale was "only" up a pound today. Still 8 pounds higher than I want, but most of the special occasions should be behind me now.

Probably going to lunch today with dd to PF Changs but I have a healthy option there that I love (though still high sodium I'm sure).

I'll be glad to get back to work Monday if only to get back to normal eating.

Dh turns 50 on Feb. 3 (SUPER BOWL) so he doesn't want to do anything but watch the game that day. I had pinned him down for another available date and booked a great hotel and restaurant in the Napa area. He realized yesterday that he can't make the date (he'll be traveling out of the country). I was pretty mad as it looks like we can't come up with another day. Not sure what I'll do for him now. We did book a cruise for late March so we may just celebrate then.

Looking for soup suggestions, I have chicken stock, carrots and onions, what can I add beside celery to add more vegies and make a good soup ?

mushrooms! Always, always, always a place for mushrooms. I am a mushroom fanatic ... is it showing? I also like a can of diced tomatoes, if the real thing is out of season, and baby peas are great too.

Becky, I'm with you ,there is no such thing as too many mushrooms.

Bargoo, they add a few more calories but I love to add beans or lentils to soups to add lots of fiber, protein, and nutrients, and make the soup more filling. How about also adding some kale, collards, or other greens at the end of cooking? Spinach might complement mushrooms nicely. Greens wilt nicely and provide lots of good nutrients for few calories, too.

Just got back from walking the dog with a friend and her boyfriend's dog on some local hiking trails. We went somewhere between 4-5 miles. It was a nice day, a nice change of scenery as the same walking routes get rather boring, and nice to have someone to chat with too. I'm still several pounds up. I actually gained this weight during our vacation in early December and it stuck around for Christmas. I've been eating pretty well (small portions of healthy foods) on my own, it's the social occasions that still hold temptation, as usual. I'm feeling more on track though. These vacation lbs will be leaving before February.

Michele, 1# doesn't sound like too much damage, especially with 3 meals out! BF and I also usually celebrate our birthdays on different days due to work schedules and they are during both of our busiest seasons with work. It's tough to schedule, but it's a celebration after all! Hope you and DH can find a nice day to celebrate his day.

Becky, glad the house is coming along and you're on track. Sounds like you feel good about it.

Chris, I'm with you. If there's tempting food in my house, I can't resist. My best method is to keep it from entering the house, period. I'm sure you can do 4 days of clean eating without problem! GL!

I hope everyone is having a nice Saturday.