Today is the last day before I jump right back into the South Beach Diet. My stomach is finally completely well and I feel I can handle the vegetables and proteins without the carbs.
So, today I am celebrating this by having a carb blowout! I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast with real maple syrup made just up the road in Littleton, New Hampshire. It was wonderful! I’ve been craving blueberry pancakes for weeks and since today was the last day I could do it, legally, I broke out the flour and frozen blueberries from last summer and whipped up a batch! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! They were just great!!!
Later today I will polish off the last of the apple pie from Thanksgiving. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it! And after all, the first two weeks of South Beach are the toughest and so I’m just rewarding myself in advance.
My goals on South Beach are easy. To get control over my eating once again. When I started having problems with my stomach about all I could eat were carbs. Toast, noodles, cream of wheat, crackers. All those comfort food things that sit easily in the stomach.
But for someone like me, a carboholic, eating carbs makes me want to eat more carbs and I feel hungry all the time, and my weight starts to climb. I feel so much better when I really limit them in my diet and eat a diet that is high in protein.
So good-bye blueberry pancakes and apple pies and hello low fat cheese and salads!!!
Author: Dackel Princess
Turkey…Again!
Okay, at this point I think almost everyone who cooked their own turkey at home is getting to the point of turkey burnout! I know we are. We had turkey on Thanksgiving. Great, wonderful, ooooh, it tasted so good! Then on Friday we had turkey left overs for lunch. Hubby had a full meal and I made my famous turkey/stuffing and cranberry sandwich! Last night was my homemade turkey soup. Yummy! Noon today I made my sandwiches again for Hubby and me. And tonight…yes, you guessed it, Turkey Soup!
The good news here, is that I froze the other half of the turkey soup, so this will be it for the soup for a while. I can still throw together a sandwich tomorrow, but then the turkey is done. Tomorrow night I think I’ll plan a nice juicy steak!
The Story of Shubi’s Illness
I have often written about what a miracle Shubi is, but I am not sure most of you realize that what I say is true, and not just me being a drama queen. While going through files on the computer, trying to decide what to keep and what to trash now that the laptop is fixed, I came across these letters written in November and December of 2003. They will show you clearly how sick she was, and how very close we came to losing her.
Shubi’s birthday is next week on December 1st. She will be 10 years old. Back then, no one believed she would see this day. So truly, she is a miracle.
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The story opens November 19th 2003
Shubi is in the hospital. We brought her in yesterday as she seemed to be getting worse and worse. We just didn’t know what was going on with her. She couldn’t stand up without falling over, has terrible pain in her back and still wasn’t eating. If we brought her outside to do her wee-wee she would crawl in a counter clockwise circle. Over and Over and Over she would crawl like this until we picked her up and brought her back in.
The x-rays showed that her spine is full of degenerative arthritis and it is getting worse. The good news was that she has no ruptured discs in the spine. She also has an inner ear problem which is causing much of the lack of balance and the crawling in one direction.
The doctors are giving her steroids and muscle relaxants and an IV. I called my Vet in New Hampshire yesterday and we spoke with him last night. I felt better after talking with him and we will see him as soon as we get back to New Hampshire on Wednesday next week. He will call the Vet down here who is treating Shubi and get all the details on her case today.
We go in this morning to see the x-rays and bring some of her food. I am so eager to see her. I hardly slept last night without her next to me.
The inner ear problem had given her the appearance of having had a stroke. But he has ruled out a stroke. The last few days have just torn me up. I feel so useless and stupid.
Meanwhile, Fritz had two puppy boosters yesterday and weighed in at 37 pounds! He is growing by leaps and bounds.
We have spent our vacation mad money on the Veterinary!
Thanksgiving in the Mountains
It’s a winter wonderland here in New Hampshire, this cold Thanksgiving day. Somehow having the turkey cooking in the oven, slowly with the smell wafting through the house goes well with the falling snow outside. Needless to say I have not ventured out, but I have enjoyed my views of the white winter world from my windows.
Greta went out and dug in the snow until she found her ball and then proceeded to push it with her nose through the snow. Fritz jumps like a deer through it, and Hubby, is currently using the snow blower to clear the drive.
Yes, it’s winter in the mountains.
Our menu today consists of turkey, (naturally) chestnut dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, peas and pearl onions. Dessert is plum pudding with hard sauce, and apple pie! Yum!!!! Over the next few days there will be turkey sandwiches, and I’ll make my turkey soup as well.
I just love Thanksgiving!!!
I was thinking of all the things I have to be thankful for this year. The health and love of my family and friends is, of course at the top of my list. For without these special people I would be lost.
Next I am grateful for my pets. Their unconditional love and light heartedness makes my days complete. I continue to be grateful for Shubi’s good health. and Fritz’s presence and for the special little love that our Greta is becoming, each and every day.
And last, but not least, I am grateful for you, my blogging friends. You all have added a new dimension to my life. Reading your blogs and having you comment on mine. It makes life so very interesting.
So to all of you I wish, A Very Happy Thanksgiving!!!
It’s Back
The laptop is back. Up and running, and I was actually able to set it back into the network myself! But now the real work begins as I track down e-mail addresses that I lost, and also attempt to put back some of the information I was able to salvage from the other system.
The laptop is working so well now and it’s a joy. But I could spend the next two or three days doing nothing but sitting here with this thing and still not get it all done. And of course with Thanksgiving tomorrow I have a lot of cooking and baking to do, even if it is just Hubby and me.
I am a little better today, myself. I think things are finally starting to move around so I can get rid of the congestion. I actually went out to the store yesterday to get our turkey. Wow! It was so great to be out in the world after being a shut in for over a week!
Not Strep
Just got back from the doctor’s. They did a quick strep test, just to be sure it wasn’t strep, and I passed. No Strep. Apparently this virus is all around New England and I am just unlucky enough to have gotten it. They said that my throat actually looks better, even though I sound terrible, and that I will keep improving.
So their prescription was, go home drink plenty of fluids and make turkey soup!
HaHa.
***update*** Laptop is now at the computer doctor’s. We are not sure yet what is wrong. I sure hope it isn’t “terminal“!
I have an appointment witht the people doctor tomorrow morning. I hope both the computer and me will be okay!
CRASHED
My laptop computer crashed this morning. I don’t know when or why. Sometime in the night. I had been planning to take everything off the system and reinstall it all anyway, because the stupid thing has been sooooo slow recently. Now, I have to work with a half usable machine, get the last few bits of information off and then wipe the drive clean and start all over again. Ugh! I guess I know what I will be doing all day.
To help you all start your work weeks right, here are a few pictures of Greta that show you that this little dackel leads a very good life!!!
Voiceless
It’s Sunday and I now have no voice. Hubby will be happy about that. He won’t have to listen to me complain! lol But it looks like I am headed back to the doctor tomorrow. Actually Hubby is sick and tired of me being sick and tired! So am I. I just want to feel better. I need some “Super-Antibiotics” to kick the heck out of this stupid germ!
Saturday Thoughts
I’ve been listening to music most of the day. My cousin will hate it, but I’ve been listening to Paul McCartney. Not that she “hates Paul”, it’s just that he isn’t her favorite Beatle. But much of his music, especially in the early “Post Beatle” years speaks to me and I often drag out the old music and remember a time when I was a teenager with no problems, no cares and my biggest trauma was not having a date for the weekend.
Now all these years later, it is often comforting to listen. Often when I feel life has not been so kind. Or when I am feeling a little bit alone. I listen and feel, just for a moment ageless.
It was during this time that I saw and heard Pauls new song, and I fell in love with the words. It made me think about Hubby and feeling safe and being loved.
Follow Me (McCartney) –
You lift up my spirits, you shine on my soul
Whenever I’m empty, you make me feel whole
I can rely on you, to guide me through, any situation
You hold up a sign that reads, follow me.
You give me direction, you show me the way
You give me a reason, to face every day
I can depend on you, to send me to, any destination
You hold up a sign that reads, follow me, follow me.
Down the track of lonelines, down the path of love
Through the words of heartache, to the end
On the shores of sorrow, where the waves of hope crash in
The perfect place for me to find a friend. ahh yeah yeah yeah, oh
You lead to places, that I’ve never been
Uncovering secrets, that I’ve never seen
I can rely on you, to guide me through, any situation
You hold up a sign that reads, follow me, follow me,
Follow me, follow me,
Follow me, follow me