Good Morning!

Sigh....I'm sitting here feeling like I have an inner tube around my waist. I had a big old pity party yesterday and ate a bunch of crap that is "not my food". I really need to get my head back in the right place. I'm fasting this morning and have the rest of the day planned out LC. I felt so "ugh" when I went to bed.....wondering how I can be so stupid to do that to myself. What's done is done, just have to move forward. I'm going to watch some YouTube videos today and also some Amazon Prime videos on Fasting etc. I am determined to get this under control this weekend and Monday morning I'm back to boot camp and strictly on plan. No excuses! Guess this is part of my word of the year - Perseverance - to keep going even when it's difficult - never give up! Pick myself up, dust myself off and get on with it!

The weather is starting to get to me. All these days of severely cold weather are set to end on Sunday. To be this cold for this long is not the norm around here. I do not plan on sticking my nose outside my front door until Monday morning.....possibly Sunday afternoon if it warms to above 20 degrees. Sad.

Jaz...your long weekend next week sounds awesome. Hope the weather is greatly improved by then so you can get out and enjoy.

Trig...I hear you on forgetting bdays etc. DH & I don't exchange gifts etc, but I try to to remember to say Happy Birthday or whatever....although sometimes it may be a couple hours after I get up when it dawns on me. As always, I admire how committed you are to your eating. I strive to be closer to where you are.

Nic...sounds like you are in the groove! Good on you! I'm anxious for that feeling once again. Right now I feel like I'm balancing on a wire. ACK!!

Blue...fingers crossed that you don't have a storm while your DH is away. I felt the same way when my DH was in Iowa with our son in early December. I don't touch our snow blower either and would have had to shovel my way out and I sure didn't want to go there.

KMom...hope you are doing well and enjoying your soup. I won't be getting out to get my ingredients for chili today....maybe that will be a Sunday project for me.

Ok....5 more hours to fast. OY! Another cup of coffee and some plain hot tea will have to see me thru.

Happy weekend all!

Jaz, I am SO glad you promised me spring is coming

It is about 5 here with wind chill of like -5. WTF? I remember one Christmas long ago it was 64 with a low of like 48. Those were the days!! This cold just ain't right at all

OK I am cliff hanging on wanting to see your post about what you are doing this weekend!!!


Lori...I swear days just blend into another and I get so tired 'being the keeper' of all 'the dates' in this house All I think about is Xmas is over and I am SO thrilled there are no big holidays etc to handle and I almost always forget his 1-4 birthday, it just comes too darn fast

Winter BBrrr, oh yea it can drive one nuts. You had to cancel your trip and turn around, now your days are off cause you wanted that trip and you are stuck inside freezing.....yes things like that will put you on edge. I do think your boot camp routine and such is important to you. You do well on a regimen you know and hold.



Hey everyone.
Hope ya'll are staying warm
Cold as you know what here!! 2 hr school delay cause it is like 5 deg. outside and feels like -5 or something. I told hubby if this is a 2 hr delay, cold weather, then she is gonna have alot of delays for school

Treadmill. Will start with high incline walking today. I want to mountain hike alot more this early early spring so I need incline walking and doing just 1/2 hr for a while to get 'started' and increase to 1 hr of high incline down the road.

The cold weather is making me lazy and indoors....I am an outdoor person....so I best move a bit more than become a tv couch watching bum Cold makes me tired. Blah. And a whole lot more so I was thinking what to do? I am not going 'shopping to just get out of the house'...screw dat! So I thought, treadmill. Yea ain't much but it is all I got right now HA ha.

Today is big old bacon cheese omelet when hungry around brunch time
A big ol' bowl of leftover chuck roast from the crockpot. Might have small bowl of meat with my omelet also. Love my crockpot roast

I have to hit the store and buy a few more for the freezer. On sale and good price. Store? Hmm, goes off sale Wed morning so I have alot of time before I have to go and get my on sale chuck for the freezer
And this is what drives me nuts! I need nothing but chuck roast for the freezer and when I hit the store whenever I will go in and buy chuck only....not one other thing...hmm, lets see if I can do just that HA HA

ugh...shopping and freezing weather and boredom and and and and.....

great day all! stay warm!

Water Hounds

Wednesday: Jaz 5/5, Blue 2/3, KMom 4/5
Thursday: Jaz 5/5, Blue _/3, KMom 4/5

Today let's do it and all meet our water goal!

Hi everyone!

Yesterday at my grandson's basketball game, I showed my daughter my emails on my iPhone. She said..."Mom, what do all those names mean?" I smiled. I asked her if she knew anything about cryptocurrency or crypto banks... and she said no. I explained a little bit about it and in her wise way, she said, "Mom, be careful." I assured her that we were just playing with it to have some fun. The "we" is my brother and I. I invested in the most recent ICO and had to use Bitcoins to do it. So that meant registering with a cryptocurrency broker to buy the bitcoins from. Went smoothly. Just makes me smile.

Blue:
I still smile thinking of your time with your son. I know you shared how hard it was to leave. I am sure it was, and yet you are leaving him in such a good place. He is proud of himself and you and hubby are proud of him!

I need to chew. In fact, I love to chew. Glad you are back on track and that the SF trip of "divine" eating has not derailed you. In some ways, that is good to know. In other ways, I am sure you need to remember to not let it give you the license to do it very often. I don't see that. In fact, you tend to meticulously figure out a "planned treat." One that will be delicious!

Jaz:
Glad the shakes are working with you and how fun is that to bring your co-workers out to the store to get the ingredients for themselves! I bet they loved it. I think shakes are great for short-term and a boost. I have two large cartons of that GNC protein powder. Right now I am doing the soup for two meals, but might switch it up to the shakes next week.

Lori:
That is something I would do. Make it home after a stressful drive and realize that my planned days away will now be days at home....so then reward myself with food. Plus, I think you said you were having company that you weren't thrilled about, so were happy you were going to be gone during that time. And here you are now at home...did not get to visit your sister, AND get to have the company! But you know this as well as me...it is just a blip in life. And lots to be thankful for. And yet, rewarding ourselves with food seems to be a go-to. At least it is for me in those kind of situations. I am confident you will undo it....and you have already started with the fast this morning. Say, can you let me know if you read anything really good about fasting. I have read quite a bit, but would still like to read more.

Nic:
I can fulfill your request for snow! Just come visit me and Blue! Actually, we don't have that much yet, but it's a comin'.

Glad your soup came out well. I will explain more about my soup later in this thread. I want to try pulled pork.

It might be kind of fun to invest just a little in the latest ICO (initial coin offering). I think there have been quite a few...with Bitcoin being the one people know most about. For sure people should only invest what they are willing to lose. Plus, some people say it is like buying a lottery ticket...Not good odds. But, I tend to think the world is heading towards something like this. It is a way to make paying for things much easier and smoother. So I think it is fun to be in on it in the beginning. Let me know if you want anymore information. I can email you about it. I will PM you the ICO I invested in. If nothing else, it is fun to read about.

Trig:
I also had a big old bacon and cheese omelet this morning! I am going to have my soup for the other two meals. Like you, I need to chew, but think I could handle the shakes for one meal replacement. Good job on doing the treadmill on a high incline for 30 minutes working up to one hour! Yes, you will be ready for some super hikes in the spring! Good luck getting in and out of the grocery store with just the Chuck roast! I remember a few days ago you bought enough groceries for a month!

Me:
Soup! The first bowl only had one positive thing going for it....it was hot! And I don't mean as in spicy! I mean as in not cold. Very bland. I added some more spices and more tomato sauce. Helped some. I also added some riced cauliflower. Second bowl was better. Third bowl actually tasted good, and fourth bowl was delicious. I think maybe it sitting there for a while in the pot helped with the flavor? Hmmmm....four bowls. I think too many. I added some butternut squash which is not very LC.

Just had my O4 and plan to have soup (ONE BOWL) for lunch and soup (ONE BOWL) for dinner! I also plan to cut up a hamburger patty I have cooked and add half of it into the two bowls.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

K-Mom 10x4

Jaz- Awesome that you will have a long weekend! You will enjoy that jammie time for sure.

Posted my goals and intentions a few pages back. Looking to lose at the moment and it is going fine.

Blue- Excited that you are going to open up to the world of texting. Some of my friends were texting before I was and I totally didn't get it. But I have discovered a great love of texting, particularly among my family. I'm not a phone talker though, so I love that my friends text me as well. I can address things immediately or on my own time.

Where is your hubby headed, for a week? Seems like you guys don't leave each other often.

You know, I was thinking about what you wrote, that you were considering the word simplicity and how that won't work due to all the changes that you have coming, and you are right, it won't. But one thing I see you having to do this year is to keep a big picture, and not sweat the small stuff, and to realize that these big changes are opening up into a much larger, beautiful picture. It reminds me of those books that are out for kids, that show a picture of something and ask you what it is. And you have a heck of a time figuring it out bc it is a tiny piece of something, magnified by 100 or 1000 or whatever. It is just a piece of a much larger picture and when you are so close to it, you can't tell what it is. That's kind of the challenge I see for you this year- to not get bogged down in the immediacy and magnification of the upcoming changes but to try to keep the big picture in mind- that they are part of this glorious picture that will unveil itself to you and is better than you dreamed while you were in it! Okay, getting my nose out of your business now!

Trig- That snow driving story was scary! Not a lot happens around here when it snows and people try to stay in til the roads are cleared.

I think it is awesome that your DD remembered your DH's birthday. I *think* my DD might do so but the boys likely would not. DH is better with dates than I am though in some ways- things like anniversary, our first date etc aren't a big deal to me, but I do remember birthdays etc and will remind him of his mom, dad, brothers etc.

I am not a fan of shakes either. I tend to feel like I "haven't eaten" even though calorically I have. That being said, I haven't tried one in ages and if it were really satisfying maybe I would feel differently. Dunno!

Love the word 'Freedom' for you and it is totally fitting. You have been shedding conventions and expectations of others over the past year and I think it has been very freeing for you (and frustrating at times, as well, particularly as you have evolved yet things stay the same around you.) You are like one of the wild assateague horses-- we should call you Misty!

Lori- Big hugs to you, girl, on the "inner tube." Crappy feeling I know. But yes perseverance is going to come through and you will drop that quickly I know.

••••••

Butt cold here- 13 degrees at 10 AM as I drove DS16 and a couple of other kids to school today. Two hour delay for weather. I think we have some mixed precip possibly coming for Monday also but we'll see. This was a very short school week with no school Monday or Thursday and a delay on Friday!

Homecoming is on Saturday. DS at now-16 is allowed to date but he isn't saying much about it at this point. He is going but that's all I know, and no date.

Speaking of, I need to be at the school at 11:45 because I'm at the table selling Homecoming tickets today. Whoo hoo.

Day five of induction and doing well. Making some progress on my goal. I am in no rush though because the maintenance part kind of stinks.

Our Dishwasher is leaking under the floorboards so no more dishwasher until it gets replaced, which appears to be in late January. Stinks!!

All our trees etc are still up. I'm in no rush to take them down. They make me happy. A lot of the little tchotchkes and such are down though.

DS19 is taking his econ class and that seems to be going well. He's home until the 24th. DH is working hard and getting over his cold. He was just listed in the Washingtonian magazine as one of DC's top lawyers. Proud of him- he works hard and has an amazing work ethic.

Guess that is about it from here!

Hi all,

Trigger---Ha, I never do fiber shakes, having had the unfortunate experience you did. I get enough fiber w/my salads, when I'm in the mood. Also, don't like Kale or spinach which is what almost every fiber shake calls for.

The thing I like about my shakes is they double as my daily coffee and now protein bumps. So easy, don't have to think about food really at all. Takes a minute and by the time I've sipped away at it as I work on my computer, I'm satisfied. Amazes me. Never used protein powder before. The prep work for LC foods has always been a challenge for me, so for now I'm all over this solution.

Interesting how our conversation brought out all the "chewers" and the
"don't need to chew" folks on our thread." Which just shows to go you, no matter how much we chat about our woes, there's always an aspect we haven't covered yet.

Jaz---Yeah, "as long as it stops the hungries," and for me as I said above, it's super easy. I think right now I just don't want to think about food. What to make, do I have the ingredients, do I need to go to the grocery store, etc. etc.

Shakes sure solve that for me. And they give me a nice dose of fat and protein. I'm going to experiment with throwing coconut oil in...sort of a bullet coffee shake w/protein powder. The Peanut Butter powder Lori suggested is quite good, and for the teaspoon I use about a carb or 2. Doesn't take much to give just a bit of PB flavor, which is all I want.

Fun that you got the girls in the office going on shakes. These are things that make a mgr. fun and empathetic and yes, human to those that report to them. You are so very good at this!

Lori---Pretty easy to understand how the "what the heck" bug got you yesterday. Bad morning drive to no avail, disappointment over not being w/your sister, and being holed up in the cold. Yeah, that's a pretty good recipe for "why not?"

The good news is when we surrender to that itch it lets us know it's not w/out consequence in how we feel. I remember back in my super carb days when I didn't even know I felt bloaty and fuzzy because it was normal to me! Now we can recognize it so easily, and realize we don't want that feeling any too often.

Nic---I loved your metaphor for my challenges right now, and knew exactly what you were saying. The word that comes to mind w/your visual metaphor is "perspective." And I like that, as it really is all about keeping your eye on the horizon and the larger world as opposed to the exaggerated obstacle in front of your face that day. So "perspective" is under consideration!" My hesitancy is that I feel like I might need something a bit more bold and brave...which I'm not feeling as much as I'd like to these days.

How cool is it that your hubby is in the DC mags as a respected and excellent lawyer! From what you've said, he does indeed work very hard, but it also seems that he likes the work...in that it absorbs him and satisfies him. In my experience most people who are that good at what they do, like what they do, for the better part.

K-mom---Hey, I wanted to comment on your word, "chugging." Excellent. And you referenced "The Little Train That Could," which made me smile very big. This was a book read to me in my childhood, and when we'd get to the "I think I can" chorus mom and me would go over board w/it and end up yelling by the time we got to "I know I can." It made us both laugh but at the time I didn't think of it as a life lesson of course. But it's funny---when in stressful situations it still goes thru my head. And btw, I know YOU CAN. Just keep that cruise in mind, an excellent motivator right?

Friday water: 3/3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had a rough night of little sleep last night. Woke up at 3---was reading till 1, and just couldn't get back to sleep. Usually I don't get out of bed and just hang tight till sleep happens but last night I could tell it wasn't going to happen. So I got up, putzed around the house, read a bit, and did a bit on my work projects.
By 10AM I was at last feeling pretty drowsy, so got on the sofa w/my book and was out like a light w/in 10 minutes. Didn't wake up till 2:30 this afternoon! So my day was weird, circadian rhythms gone bananas. And 2 hours after I woke up, it was getting dark again. Still in jammies and I almost never do this, as I feel like getting dressed marks the day beginning. But today, whatever.

Gals, on day 3 of under 20 Ncs I cannot believe how much better I feel. And HOW MUCH the bloat has gone down. My rings are looser, always notice it there first. Also, my midriff and tummy has gone down remarkably. NOT getting on the scale yet. Might after two weeks of my back on track plan. Still, like I said, this woe works fast to de-bloat when we work it!

Right now I'm feeling dis-interested in food, except as fuel, and that's a good thing. I think my holidays topped off by the truly amazing food we enjoyed in SF, and not a regret to found over that, has simply scratched my itch for a time to come. I am enjoying feeling lighter and clearer and quite content on my plan.

Soup for dinner, 2 shakes and I'll come in at about 15 Ncs.

You know Blue what I found interesting? Right when I hit Day 3 I will also have a rough night of no sleeping- feeling like my body is buzzing and I can't get settled even though I am tired. I've decided that is when my body is trying to kick over/ adjust to the drop in carbs and back into LC. Seems to be a pattern with me, anyway. Just found it interesting that it happened to you as well.

Night!

Good Morning!

Sign me up for the bad sleep club! I had a good LC day yesterday and when I went to bed, I was buzzing, just like Nic described it. Just couldn't lay still and my mind was whirling. Ugh. At 5:15 Miss Kitty wanted her breakfast, so now I have a long day ahead of me. Another cold one. I'm not going to worry about fasting today, I'll just eat...or drink....low carb when my body tells me it's time. I'm particularly enjoying the Matcha MCT oil powder that I purchased. I just put a scoop of it in a mug and add hot water and whirl it up with my milk frother. I like the matcha flavor and it is so creamy from the MCT oil powder. Yum.

Boring here as I have just been spending these cold days under my fuzzy blanket. I may venture out tomorrow if the temperature moderates a bit.

Hope you all are safe & warm.

KM so agree that soup does best sitting and making more flavor
Hey I didn't get on the treadmill yesterday. I walked up to it and said NAH! Today I will make me get on the darn thing

Nicco sorry on the leaking dishwasher! If it ain't one thing it is another
I never use my dishwasher, with 3 of us it is easier to just the few things and be done with it. I have to run it every now and then cause hubby says it keeps the lines flushed or something, who knows but I run it like 2-3 times a year

Yea on the shakes that is me, I absolutely feel like I have been cheated out of a food meal and I want warm food vs. cold. A shake is cold and inhuman to me HA HA Hey, they can drink it up and I will chew and swallow my meals I just can't go there anymore. I remember the shakes as a 'diet' maneuver I tried in the past. I think I will always think of them that way. Eh just me and weird thinking on it.

Blue ya got the weekend to snooze and refresh!
Nothing worse than not sleeping well.
So we are the chewers and non-chewers group HA funny.

one thing I love also is a HOT meal. To me the meal is a real meal if it is hot, anything cold holds not much interest to me also. I think now I am SO set in my food ways that anything else sounds just 'oh so wrong' but I know it fits others

Lori, you too on the sleep?
I can hear the boredom in your posts. Winter blah! Too cold to walk out and get the mail let alone do something really outside. I will keep chanting, COME ONE SPRING, GET HERE FAST with ya


hey all
nothing much doing
cold as you know what...bleck
got the fireplace going and it is warm and toasty but would love it OFF and the AC on

gonna be boring kinda day
nothing much to do
some chores etc, nothing hard

I didn't do the treadmill yesterday. I said NAH but today I have to force myself on the darn thing. Let's see if I do it

food, hmm, nothing is sounding good
probably the big old bacon cheese omelet later when hungry
dinner, will hit the freezer and see what meat I will pull out. got my mind on ribs

great day all and bundle up!

Hey all chewers and non chewers !!!!! Yes I'm in the last group! That is really funny. I really don't care how the satisfied feeling happens. If everything were so simple right?!

You ladies have been chatting away! Let a gal go to work for a day and I have 2 back pages to read!

KMOM- Water Friday6/5! I was thirsty! I found your post interesting, regarding your "money". I would be interested in how you decided to invest in one over the other. Your right I have heard of the Bitcoin. You can actually use that now at Walmart and McDonalds. So you know that will catch on!!!!
I am not a position to invest at this point. But I love to hear ideas.

Funny about your soup. See I would have tossed the batch after say tasting the second bowl. I have little tolerance for icky, bland food. I know it can be wasteful. Bad habit of mine.

Blue- I think there is nothing wrong with a pajama day! I PLAN them actually. I NEED them every now and again. Not all the time- maybe one a month. My time to do whatever I want, sleep, read, TV, computer surfing, relax!
Wasn't your word last year PERSPECTIVE? I agree with Leeann that it's better sometimes to see the bigger picture! Funny how she would bring that up- funny story at the end of this post!

As far as your word- you will know it when you stumble on it. You have such a flair for words. I see you as re-inventing yourself! You can determine what that will look like as well.

Oh and one other thing- yes you will love texting! It's like a never ending conversation with people. My kids and I text more than we talk. My son however like to call his momma everyday! Good son!!!

Leeann- I know you are beaming about your hubby! It is rare that someone finds their path and love it. It's like not working. That is really cool!
I left my tree up one time through the end of Jan. I wasn't ready to put it away.
This year the thing came down practically the next day. I am ready to move on to Spring!!!!!!!
Did you get the snow you were thinking you would get? Sometimes the weather channel misses it. I do know cold- and this is brutal cold!
YAY- on still smooth sailing on induction! You got this girl!!!!!!

Trig- I PROMISE Spring IS COMING!!!!! But hey I could use some warm air too!!!! I was in Target yesterday and saw that they moved the winter coats and brought the swim suits back out to the front! I did a double take on that one! Only in the south!!!!!

So how do you make your pot roast? Do you sear yours first? Then do you add anything to the crock pot? I like pot roast too- but tend to either buy the wrong meat- or over cook it. And speaking of chewing- if I get a piece of meat that I have to KEEP chewing, out it goes. I spit it out. YA I do. I like the meat that melts. It's a fine line to get that meat balance!

GET ON YOUR TREADMILL!!!!!! I wish I had one!

Lori- I know that intertube feeling- WELL! I hate it too. Have you thought about going back to bootcamp? You were feeling SO strong and fit there. It works for you. Just a thought. Ya know golf season right around the corner!
I know you will figure it out! I hope you get your sleep this weekend!
--------------------------------------------------
going to post as not to lose- BRB

Jaz, ok if the bathing suits have hit the stores, then early spring is right around the corner.

In fact, kiddo needs new suits so if they are out there now I will have to drag her kicking and screaming to try on new suits!!

Glad you mentioned it LOL


Not pot roast. I don't 'know a pot roast' and I think 'any roast' can be a pot roast......right? HA HA no clue on that.

I buy Chuck Roast. Packaged as that. Big old hunk of meat. Labeled 'Chuck Roast' and what I do is trim off the 'big fat chunks' and ditch those cause it gives too much greasy fat. Then I cut in chunks and while doing that any of the tendons and that extra icky crap in the meat gets removed if I see it is there and once trimmed and chunked I throw it in. Like a baseball size. Then I add one jar of beef gravy, (then flavor as you like...I use onion, garlic powder, a bit of...oh heck what is it? what else do I throw in there? omg will remember later I guess LOL)......and let it cook on HIGH in the crockpot for like 3.5/4 hrs and it melts in your mouth.

I eat a little gravy. I don't 'do gravy' but it keeps the meat moist and yummy and can eat a giant bowl of it in a flash. I buy the big Chuck roasts cause I can do a few meals cause it heats up wonderful after.

I can heat up a big old bowl of leftover Chuck from the crockpot and be in heaven. Alot of things I hate re-heated but this one is a winner cause it tastes just like when it is fresh eaten ya know...not old or chewy or overcooked when reheated.

I do rely on my crockpot 'chuck roast' in my life!!

wow I talked alot about my chuck HAHA

AND I AM FREEZING MY BUTT OFF HERE-----IN THE SOUTH!!!!

Old days we would be in the 50s in Jan....now we are like a high of 25 if lucky...what the hell? yes it is my time to complain, it is winter, I hate hate hate winter and here we are so I am gonna moan!!

Mmmm I love a good pot roast. I do like it with veggies though- I could replace the potatoes with cauliflower chunks but I'd likely throw a carrot or two in there. That little bit of carb is no biggie IMO for me.

I saw goggles on sale at Costco when I was there this week and it was like 14 degrees outside. It actually was irritating. I think they still had gloves, sleds etc out also. Covering all their bases, I guess!

Trig, I join you in the hot meal category. I've been like that since I was a kid, not choosing sandwiches or salads etc over a hot meal. More satisfying to me.

Jaz, glad you took the down time and pajama time. I love my "spanky pants" which are sweat pants, plus a 32* long sleeve shirt and a big sweatshirt. Those are my "pajamas" but they are really not because I sleep in just a tee shirt. But you get the drift. I pretty much live in this get up unless I am out somewhere. DH comes home and changes immediately as well.

Lori, I'm sorry you didn't sleep well. Hopefully you can laze around a bit today and maybe get out a bit too. I am hearing more and more about matcha powder. I may try it.. what brand do you use and where did you buy it?

Blue, Glad you are feeling better and back "at home" on your LC lifestyle after enjoying what SF had to offer. I know your body is feeling better already!

•••••••••

Got DS16 dropped off for his first play practice of the year this morning. At 9:15 AM it was a balmy 10 degrees. I am so grateful for a warm house and car though. Fact is that this brutal cold has little effect on me besides a high gas bill. KWIM? I come down in the morning and the house is comfortable regardless of the outside temp. That is a gift and not everyone has it. I can't imagine. This cold snap should be ending for us on Tuesday with what will feel like a heat wave at 46*. Monday though looks like ice/freezing rain so DS16 may be enjoying a day off. We'll see. Poor kid has a cold and went shuffling off to play practice with a Nalgene of water, a dayquil and a box of tissues.

He has Homecoming tonight! Not taking anyone. He can date now that he has turned 16 but he hasn't said much about it. Either he isn't interested in anyone or he is waiting to be able to drive himself. Rules are strict here though- earliest you can get your license is 16 years 6 months, and then you have to go another 6 months before you can drive anyone else under 18 in your car that is not family. So he will be waiting a while if that is his plan.

DH and I have a dinner date planned earlier tonight with another couple that we have been friends with for years. We are going to the Mediterranean kabob place so we can eat clean. He is also doing a modified LC, with much more whining.

Guess that is about it from here. Hoping to maybe see The Last Showman tomorrow.

OK- back! Had to walk the pooch, toss in a load of laundry, talk to my kid!
Just poured my 3nd cup of coffee.

Trig- your description of your roast sounds DEVINE. I have to try it tomorrow! I have errands today, so I will drop into the grocery and pick up a roast and gravy. I never thought about adding gravy because it's processed. But I can see where it would make or break the dish! Plus it's not like you are eating a entire jar at one sitting.

Tomorrow will be a all day inside work day. So it will be perfect for a roast in the crockpot. I will pull it out tonight! Thanks!!!!! I am always looking for some good ideas. I will garlic it up!

Ok- SOoooooooo........ this afternoon I am going to visit a NEW build about 10 minutes from me. I accidentally hit the button while house hunting to max budget of 250! Well this one condo came up for 218. It's 3 bed/3bath 2 car garage - and my DREAM kitchen.

Funny how everything eventually comes back into style. So now the WHITE kitchens are back with high ceilings, drop lighting, and marvelous lines. Also granite is out, in favor of dang .... it will come to me. Large islands are in!
At first I didn't like white kitchens- but after seeing them so many times now on HGTV- I am sorta hooks. They are fresh and clean looking.

I am excited about it. But also know my budget- so I will try not to fall in love. So for you all following along- google Amberly Mill construction, Laweranceville, Ga. It will pull up several sites. I am checking out the ones in Laweranceville, because of it's location. The others are too far.

Other news- I have officially started my new journey once again as a student! School started yesterday. So I spent a good little while in that. This is not going to be easy. I actually became quite anxious as I was flipping through the 350 pages of REQUIRED reading, plus postings, plus papers, plus, plus, plus, .....I had a brief moment of backing out. It became overwhelming reading the EXPECTATIONS. I thought to myself WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS???????

Because I want to. I like self inflicted panic!!!!!
One day at a time. I decided I will try out ONE class and see how it goes for me.
Ok so here is the story I was referring to in last post, in Blue's section.
I am a person that would like to get a quilt. I can appreciate the work that goes into a hand made quilt. But I just want to buy it outright. I do NOT want to be the one to stitch every stitch. It is overwhelming to me.

That is my school analogy. I want the degree- without the day in day out "stitching". I really thought about this a great deal yesterday. So at the end of the day - do I want to put in the work to get my quilt/degree? Yes I do. But I now know myself self well enough that I now have to just focus on one stitch at a time and not worry about the size of it. I need to break it down.

At the end- I know I will appreciate the final product as blood, sweat and tears I know will go into this. And only I can do this for me.

Those are my 2 biggie things happening for me this weekend! It is yet again a push forward. To what I don't know. I have been ask- Why are you doing this and what is your end game? I guess the bottom line is, for the challenge of it. For me and no other reason. I know it will open doors. But I have not thought far enough ahead to consider what it may do. I might not do anything different, except scratch it off my bucket list. My terminal degree.

WOE- I didn't sleep really good last night as I got up 3-4 times with GI issues. (yes we tell all here!!!) Well, I think- no I know it's the shakes. It does have Stevia in it- and I think that might be an issue for me as my body does not tolerate sweetener or sugar of any kind.
Here and there having a shake I think is fine. But I was on 3 days- and it caught up to me. Lets just say I could have a colonoscopy now!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA- FLAT TUMMY!!!!!!- I will leave it at that!

I have Salmon thawing - I am in the mood for something light as my tummy still rumbly. I might have "riced" cali- I may not. I have some broth I might just make a quick hamburger soup, keep it simple. But I need a day to self adjust. Hate rumbly tummy.

Tomorrow - I look forward to emersing myself totally into my first assignment and putting on Trig's roast- and keeping warm and cozy.

Ok- all that is all I got for today!!!!! It is enough for ONE day! That is all I am going to focus on TODAY!
Remember my word?
PURPOSEFUL. It is so appropriate for me. My time/energy/eating/working must have a purpose.

Great day all

yea I cook my beef in the crockpot with gravy cause hubby will have it no other way so I adopted just eating the meat with a little gravy that sticks to it. I also FREEZE leftover gravy and use it on my next chuck roast. I mean come on, why do it all over when there is a ton of gravy juice left? So I get double duty out of the gravy and use it again as the next liquid for the next chuck roast. Anything left after that I throw.

tummy issues....ugh, hate them other than being sick from some crud I never get tummy issues. Yes it is the sweetener. It is telling you point blank to drop it!! Ya need to listen to that ya know HA

I have never been as perfect on the bathroom issue as I have been on Zero Carb! And everyone thinks ya must have that fiber, boo to that If everyone needs not one carb to totally survive, why is fiber so important? Cause of all the crap people eat and fiber helps send all the nasty down the canal to get it out of the body faster LOL

The less carbs one eats the better one feels. There is not a doubt about that (but everyone must make a meal plan they can live with or this all doesn't work point blank).....see I threw in a disclaimer on that --heehee

You are just a 'BUNDLE OF ENERGY AND NEW ADVENTURE' Jaz and I love that about ya....tackle it all. New home on the horizon, school, and who knows what else might come your way

Love your attitude and zip Jaz!! Very cool and very upbeat, you roll forward full speed girlie!!

ok- checking back in! Whew what a day!
(personals was morning!)

So I went to this new home construction site. They had listed they had 3 homes ready to sell at the 218 mark. Well I got there and they were sold out. Have a wait list of Oct- and the price has gone up to 250,000. Quite the bait and switch. I was a tad pisst as I drove all the way there. It was good though because what ya see on a map might LOOK like a short distance but it added another 30 minutes of ride time further from my work.
That would have put me at about an hour to 1.5 each way. Thank you but no thanks you. And it was in the country of sorts- nothing close. So other than an annoyance of an hour out of my time no big loss.

Back to the drawing board! There are tons of stuff where that came from.

I stopped and got a chuck roast. Boy I wished I could have called you Trig from the store. I was looking at all these meats and the chuck roast looked like a steak- not a roast and the top sirloin looked like a roast. I was so confused. I ask the "meat" guy who knew nothing. He tried to get me to buy pork- told me it all tastes the same!


So I ended up with 2 packages of chuck/ steak/ roast. So I will rough chop them- and dump them in with half an onion and garlic powder, salt, pepper, and aminos and gravy and let it cook.

I wrote my introduction thread post for school and read 2 chapters / and went through 5 videos. I know what my weekends are going to look like for the next 3 years. However I will be done at 55. Plenty of time- will be working until I drop- might as well make some dam good money in the mean time.

Ava update: My daughter and family are slowly adjusting. she has actually slept through the night a couple times. My daughter seem a little less frazzled and they are falling into a routine. She is growing and I will go for a day next weekend when I have my long weekend.
that is NEXT weekend!!!!

I feel pretty darn good- tummy issue gone. It has warmed up to 40 degrees! Time for shorts and flip flops!!!!! HAHAHAH heat wave after last few days.

I just finished making up my wonderful bed with my smelling good sheets. I also bought some really NICE "hotel" like king size pillows I adore. I feel like I am sleeping in a cloud. Love fresh sheets. Feeling good.
I wished I would have tossed a walk in!!!!! TRIG- did you get on your treadmill?????????????

I am nesting up tonight - on season 3 of PERSON OF INTEREST- and lit a salted carmel 3 wick candle. Packing it up and relaxing rest of evening. My Bella at my feet and I am so content. I know tomorrow will come. I am practicing being in the NOW. And now is pretty good!