The Last Day of May - How Time Flies By!

The last day of May started very nicely with a walk with my friend, Gail. We went out to Restoration Park to walk the loop and got quite a workout. I can't tell you how much it reminded me of Upper Tampa Bay Park or Lettuce Lake Park back in Tampa. It was very buggy and had the same scrubby look. I think the only thing it didn't have was palmetto bushes. The bugs weren't great, but the shade and the company were perfect!

I can't say much for the rest of my day - laundry, facebook, little clean ups here and there. I did talk to my mom, my mother-in-law, and all three of my kids on the phone. I called two and the rest called me...a nice balance!

We've finalized plans for our vacation/Becca's graduation, which is a good thing considering we leave day after tomorrow. We're looking forward to the 14 hour trip down because Becca's friend, Marisa, will be along for the ride. She's our adopted daughter and has traveled with us before. She's an easy one and makes us laugh. We'll need some laughs to see us through the long, dry miles between West Monroe and Tampa.
I-10 is so boring! Ugh.

Tomorrow is for packing and wrapping up lose ends around here, and then we're off by 6 a.m. on Thursday morning. Rebecca graduates from high school on Friday, and then we're offically done with Hillsborough County Schools as far as the kids go. I've taken a deferred retirement with them so I'll always be connected. It's hard to believe the last of 3 is finishing school and headed to college. We remember our own high school days like they were yesterday, but the kids are proof that the years have gone flying past. Randy and I face our 49th birthdays next week. At least we hit it together.

And, hey! I'll be hitting it a tiny bit lighter. Just think...by next year when I turn 50, I could be 1/4 less the person that I am today. lol! I hope I lose the stubborn, snippy, selfish parts of me and keep the sweeter parts - that would be nice!

  Restoration Park, West Monroe, LA

Monday 5/30/11

Okie dokie. I'm just going to put this out there - I stuffed my face today! We started out the day with a 2 mile walk when all I really wanted to do was sit down with a cup of coffee and work on my book in silence. As with many plans, mine were foiled first thing. Randy got up before the coffee even got put on to brew and started the walk talk. I tamped down my resistance and reworked my thoughts toward the positive benefits of exercise, figuring I could put the coffee on to brew and have some after a post-walk pool cool-down. As I dressed and put on walking shoes, Randy went ahead and sat down with a cup o' joe as he checked his email and watched some inane hunting show. I jealously sniped at him about diving into the coffee without me. He suggested I have some, but hot coffee before walking sounded like heartburn waiting to happen. I downed my morning meds with some plain ol' water and grumbled about male selfishness as we headed out the door. To make matters worse, Randy can walk forever and never feel a twinge of pain. I, on the other hand, was in pain in both legs/ankles the entire way. I think my attitude probably made things worse than they would have been. At any rate, we finished the walk and I headed straight for the pool to cool off. Finally, we headed inside and I sat down with a lovely cup of hazelnut coffee while Randy made breakfast.

This is where the face stuffing began. I was a bit resentful about having to take a painful walk at 7 a.m. and missing my alone time to write, so I decided to get a second cup of coffee and check in on breakfast. Randy's homemade pork butt bacon (buckboard bacon) smelled especially delicious and my stomach suddenly demanded food. I obliged with 3 small pieces of  bacon and discovered I loved the smokehouse flavor and the small slivers of crispy fat clinging to the sides. (See photo below) That was all she wrote. I devoured every piece of bacon on the paper plate and told him to fry up some more. He added hashbrowns and egg casserole to the plate and we had a feast. By that time, all thoughts of writing had flown out the window, but my attitude toward life in general, and Randy, was much improved. He has the Midas touch with everything he does. He's one of those people that is capable of doing pretty much anything he sets his mind to. Happily, I benefit from his abilities...breakfast chef, gardener, hunter, sauerkraut maker, pickle maker, bacon maker, sausage maker, jambalaya maker, griller, well...you get the picture. I think I know where these last 30 unwanted pounds came from. If he'd quit making such good stuff, I'd probably lose more and faster, too!

After the gigantic breakfast, I figured I'd redeem myself by skipping lunch. After doing laundry and making up two queen sized beds, however, I found myself hungry again. Out came the leftover pizza dip with french bread and Cabot sharp cheddar and crackers. We took it poolside and ate and swam the afternoon away. Of course, by "swam" I mean we lazed about on our spring floats until we were sun-ripened like plump raisins. No worries - I spritzed on Bullfrog a few times so I wouldn't be sunburned before we get to Indian Rocks on Thursday.

Finally, dinner rolled around and I found myself hungry again. It's Memorial Day so grilling came to mind, but Randy already had homemade pepperoni (see what I mean?) and beef jerky in the smoker. Rather than make him heat up another outdoor appliance on a 94 degree day, I opted to bake hotdogs in secret sauce in the oven. I made a pack of 7 - yes, 7 - hotdogs in the oven and put some fresh picked green beans and squash on the stove. I filled my plate with green beans and squash to try to counterbalance the pepperoni, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and bacon I'd earlier consumed. Then, I put one modest hotdog on my plate. It seemed like a great plan at the time, but those hotdogs were so darned good! And you know how swimming makes you ravenous. Back I went for another dog, minus the bun...and then another. Yes, I ate 3 hotdogs. Oh my.

Blame it on my attitude. Blame it on my appetite. Blame it on the alignment of the planets, the time of the month, or anything else you can come up with. I couldn't have stopped myself from today's pig out if Jenny Craig herself had appeared at my door. Did I forfeit weight loss today? Did I perhaps gain a pound back? Maybe. But I have to keep in sight my overall goal...lose 50 lbs in 56+ weeks PAINLESSLY. Yes, I said PAINLESSLY.

So now that my attitude has been adjusted, my stomach has been so pleasingly filled, and the antacids have been downed, I'll forgive myself a day of overindulgence and forget about the scale for a moment. Once again, I'll adopt Miss Scarlett's attitude and worry about it tomorrow.

Randy's Homemade Buckboard Bacon

dachside's photostream

dachside's photostream on Flickr.

My life and loves.

Sunday Stats Day 5/29

So I weighed in today and another pound is gone. That's 3. I'm enjoying myself. It's fun looking for new recipes and new ways to burn some calories without feeling like I am. We swam today and cleaned out the garage, went to Lowe's twice, grocery shopped, and swam some more. The garage cleaning is my exercise for the day. I did plenty of sweeping and sweating!

As we head into Memorial Day, we're looking forward to another day of gardening (must pick the pole beans), swimming, walking, and errand running. We're also going to start packing for our beach vacation which begins on the 2nd. Since we're staying in a condo, we'll cook most of our meals which means I'll be in control of the menu. Walking the beach each morning is one of our favorite things to do when we're down there and there's a beautiful pool plus the Gulf in which to swim. I'm not worried about vacation pounds this year, even if we do have an Outback night planned and some birthday desserts on the horizon.

Deep South Shrimp and Sausage

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup refrigerated prechopped tricolor bell pepper
• 1 (6.5-ounce) link smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup water

Preparation

• 1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shrimp, seasoning, and black pepper, tossing to coat. Cook 3 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring frequently. Remove from pan; keep warm.
• 2. Return pan to medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sausage; cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add reserved shrimp mixture and garlic. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup water; cook 30 seconds, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Remove from heat; let stand 2 minutes.

Day 13 - Saturday, May 28th

Today was an incredible day. I was up at 6:30 a.m. just because I didn't have to be. I tried a bowl of  oatmeal that I hadn't tried before and really enjoyed it. I believe it's called Better Oats, but I'll double check that. I'm trying to get heart healthy foods into my life and oatmeal is top on the list for my high cholesterol. Heart disease runs in our family, and I have high blood pressure and am overweight, too. Put it all together and that means I'm at increased risk for having a heart attack. It's a real motivator to get in control of my health and lower those numbers.

Anyway, I worked on my ABC book, The Big Z Circus, for a bit until Randy got up. Then I picked blueberries from our bushes and made blueberry pancakes and some of Randy's homemade maple bacon. So good! After cleaning house and tackling laundry, we headed outside for they day. Randy brought home a truckload of firewood for next winter, so we unloaded and stacked that and then we hit the pool. Swimming is great exercise for fibromyalgia. I worked on strengthening the extensor foot/lower leg muscles so I won't have so much pain walking uphill. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll see improvement over time. I also got the chance to work on strengthening my left shoulder. Then I worked on napping on my raft. Later on, we made Cooking Light Shrimp and Sausage Grits and collards with an onion from our garden and Randy's salt pork. Great food today! I wonder what the scale will say at tomorrow's weigh in.

Between housework, laundry, unloading and stacking wood, and swimming, I think I got a good amount of exercise today. I'm wonderfully relaxed and very content with life.

Good stuff! 160 calories in a pouch. Didn't taste instant!

MiO Drink Flavor Enhancer

MiO is a water flavor enhancer. It comes in Berry Pomegranate, Strawberry Watermelon, Fruit Punch, Mango Peach, Sweet Tea and Peach Tea. There are 24 servings in each little bottle with zero calories. They are naturally flavored. Add as little or as much as you like. I'll never buy Vitamin Water or Sobe again. Peach Tea and Mango Peach are my favorites, but I gather that most people like Strawberry Watermelon because that's the one that's always off the shelf!