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Friday, October 3, 2014

October now...

Dallas Skyline

It's almost 4 pm Thursday and I'm thinking about supper tonight. Baked chicken, corn on the cob, and a pear salad is what I have planned. DH and I have stayed (pretty much) on our SB diet these last 3 weeks... occasionally having a thin slice of wheat toast during the week as well as a scoop of ice-cream over the weekend. But we've pretty much avoided bread, rice, pasta, and sugar for the most part. We've past the strict 2 week stage and have entered the "add in a few things like brown rice, corn, etc." stage... keeping the portions small and not over-doing. We weigh again tomorrow morning. Since I'm not feeling hungry nor skinny, it's hard to know if we've lost any more weight. But I'm sure that no matter what, it's been good for DH's borderline diabetes. So we will stay with it... hopefully until Thanksgiving. Once the holidays get here and I'm cooking for everyone, it may be a little more difficult to 'stay on plan'....





I've also been thinking about the approaching holidays... Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. We're not big into Halloween. It's nice for the kids, but we've never done much more than put out a pumpkin or two, a few  black crows here and there in the trees, and of course have an abundance of candy ready for the trick or treat-ers. But there are less and less of them each year now. Seems like it's the now thing to have Halloween parties at the churches or schools (or even trick or treat at the mall) rather than door to door. To be honest, I'm good with this. I've never liked the idea of kids going door to door... (except the little ones do look so cute).  And it's always un-nerved me to answer the door to teen-agers that are taller than me!  I do have one Halloween tradition that DH likes... I make home-made pumpkin pie from the carved out pumpkin. It's actually more of a custard pie with some cooked fresh pumpkin added in... but it is good.

Thanksgiving is the big one for us. Usually my daughter and her family come in to stay for a few days. The boys and their families come over and we have a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner. DH smokes a turkey, and I make our traditional sweet potato and bourbon casserole, as well as caramelized onions and green beans, hatch pepper and cranberry stuffing with pecans,  and sour cream garlic mashed potatoes... and of course cranberry sauce. For dessert DH makes his famous cheese-cake and I make the kids favorite, "Church pudding" which is a layered pudding with a baked cookie crust. Sometimes we have a pie or two also... generally Buttermilk, Chocolate, or Kentucky Derby (which is a bourbon pecan pie with chocolate chunks).

Now Christmas has changed since our kids all have their own kids. Used to be they would all come over for a formal Christmas dinner, but now that the kids are older and they sometimes have their own plans, we've down sized our get -together on Christmas morning to a late morning Christmas Brunch. That way they can still have their Christmas at their house, then come by and open gifts here (with a little coffee and pastry) and still get home in time for afternoon naps for the little ones (and parents) as well as time for the older ones to do their own thing. It seems to work out well.

Update:  It's now Friday morning and DH and I just did our *weigh in*.  DH has now lost 10 lbs. I have lost 8.  As I said, we plan to stay on it for a few more weeks... gradually adding back some good carbs (whole wheat pasta, brown rice, etc.). Then hopefully we will have jump-started our minds and bodies to consciously watch and be more careful without having to actually write everything down and weigh in as often.



Rose (21)
 I need to correct a misunderstanding on my last post where I had a picture of Rose with the caption, "one of our 20+ cats".  I didn't mean that we have 20 + cats, only that Rose was 21 years old... as is Molly. The other 3 cats are 10, 10, and 7 years old respectively.

Molly (21)

Tux (10)
Julie (10)

Ghost (7)

Have a great weekend!






14 comments:

  1. Congrats to you and your hubby on sticking with the food plan and the resulting weight loss. I would think the amount of weight lost would be secondary to how you feel, so good for you.

    I'm trying really hard not to think of the upcoming holidays, other than as a "hurry up and get past them" deal, so winter can go away and we can have spring again. LOL. Our Thanksgiving is in 11 days, on October 13th. So soon!

    Nice to see pics of the feline household -- Rose and Molly are grand old ladycats for sure.

    Take care.

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    1. Kim, yes, I agree. Winter isn't my favorite time either. And last winter seemed to last forever... even with us living in the South... so I can only imagine what it's like in northern climates.
      But... I am glad that our Thanksgiving isn't coming as soon as yours. I would never be ready!

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  2. Interesting, no, how the holidays change over the years as the nuclear family spins off its satellites. At least the kitties don't leave home.

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    1. No, the kitties don't like leaving home for any reason (especially Vet visits).

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  3. Congratulations on the successful dietary change! And I love that cute picture of the black kitty in the pot! :-)

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  4. I'm pleased you cleared up that misunderstanding about the cats, I too wondered how you managed 20+ cats. They are doing well to have reached that grand old age.
    Good for the two of you losing all that weight - here's hoping you can keep it up.

    Diana

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    1. Thanks, Diana. When I re-read my blog, I realized that it looked like we had 20 cats... not 20 year old cats. Although if you counted the outside ferals, there ARE that many at times, especially when they bring their kittens....

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  5. twenty one year old cats amazing, love the shot of the cat in the pot; good for you for dieting successfully, don't you just hate it that men loose so much faster than women

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    1. DH used to be really skinny in high school and right around his sophomore year, he suddenly filled out. But he has always been able to lose weight really easily... so I wasn't surprised.

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  6. A lovely picture of a contented couple doing their own thing, as far as the cats will let them, I suppose.

    I hope al your holidays will be splendid, but not only the holidays, but all the other ordinary days too.

    Well done for keeping up the diet. I should follow your example.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Friko. Sometimes things are easier done than others... and this isn't a hard diet to follow (especially since we give ourselves license to cheat on weekends).

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  7. Glad to read you and your husband are still losing weight...thumbs up for you :) Rose looks wonderful for 21...must be all the love and good care she gets. The other kittys look so content....the way a cat should :) I am like you with the Holidays...now that family is grown we do very little decorating or celebrating.

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  8. Hi Dee, thanks for commenting. DH has now lost 12 lbs! Yes, he is still ahead of me... but that's OK. And Rose and Molly do look good for their 21 years. Rose has lost a bit of weight, but otherwise she is doing fine. Molly seems to hold her weight OK (but she was never as big as Rose). As for decorating, we do more if we know the kids will be coming over and generally that's all outside.

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