Eating Lettuce

There I was. Day one on my diet and what do I have to do? Go out to dinner, at my all time favorite restaurant, Canoe!!! How would I get through the evening without spoiling my first day back on my diet? Certainly there were things I could order that would keep me legal, but oh, their lobster salad roll with sweet potato fries are to die for! How could I pass that by?
We arrived at the restaurant and sat down with our friends. The waiter recited the list of specials (all sounding wonderful and very fattening!), and I started silently talking to myself.
You can’t have that! There’s like a gazillion calories in that!”
Not that entree, it’s got more carbs in it than ten loaves of bread!”
I might as well do myself in now, because if I eat that, there’s another ten pounds, easy!”
Finally Hubby said he’d like to share the muscles appetizer with someone and I volunteered. Muscles sautéed in garlic, onions and wine! That’s on my diet.
Then I needed to order one more thing to have for my dinner. What to get, what to get? I stammered, I stuttered and then I did the RIGHT thing. I ordered the iceberg lettuce wedge with blue cheese, tomatoes and bacon bits. It was delicious and kept me on my diet.
I left the restaurant feeling happy, but hungry. I still feel hungry. Shoot I just hate that!
You all may be wondering what Hubby had for his dinner besides the muscles? Veal Parmesan and Ziti! A huge plate of Veal Parmesan and Ziti! Big, fattening, delicious Veal Parmesan with Ziti!!!
Needless to say, he is not hungry at all.

Weighing In

Did you all hear the pitiful cries this morning about 7 AM?
Yes, it was me, as I took off my pajamas, my socks and my earrings and stepped on the bathroom scale.

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I can’t tell you what I saw there, gentle reader, it would be too shocking for even you. Let’s just say I am still reeling from the shock.
I prepared my diet breakfast and sat down and ate it all up in 3.4 seconds. Now I am drinking coffee and once I’m done with that, I will drink a tall glass of (gasp!), water.
For those of you who know me well, you already know this. For new readers, here is the lowdown on my feelings about water.
Water should be used for cooking, washing, swimming in and relaxing viewing. It should not be consumed in vast amounts! Yuck! However, they tell me that it is good for you (could this be?), so I am going to try to get it down.
I just heard some skinny model type talking about having to lose weight! Now where is the sanity?

Eating…

It’s been a good day so far. Hmmmm. When I got up today I thought, “What can I eat today, that I won’t be eating for a long while”?
For breakfast I had a large glass of orange juice, and home made blueberry pancakes with New Hampshire Maple syrup! Oh my God! Talk about heaven on a fork!
I washed that all down with a nice steaming hot cup of coffee and then started planning lunch.
Lunch consisted of a ton of hot pastrami, sauer kraut, and swiss cheese on rye bread, with thousand island dressing and spicy mustard, toasted on the stove with butter spread on the bread. We also had home made french fries and a ton of liquid, as the fries and the pastrami were both very salty, but totally worth it!
I have a Yankee Pot Roast cooking in the oven with carrots, celery and potatoes and I’ll be making a nice gravy to go with that. I plan dark chocolate sundaes for dessert.
And that folks, is how I am spending my last day pigging out!

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It All Ends Tomorrow



I have 36 hours left to live!
Not really, but in 36 hours I will start diet number One Million Two Hundred and Fifty-nine Thousand!
As you all know. I LOVE food. I love to cook and to eat and to generally enjoy the Smorgasboard of tastes that God has put before us on this wonderful planet called Earth!
And of course, this is the reason for my problem. I have never met a piece of chocolate, an Oreo cookie, or a cake or pie that I simply wanted to pass by.
I do not understand picky, finicky eaters. Can you imagine not loving Pizza? Or mashed potatoes? Or chocolate?
Hubby is always trying to get me to try new foods. I beg him “Please don’t make me eat it! All I need is another fattening food to love, that I will have to avoid”!
It’s not that I really will hate being on my “healthy eating plan”, it’s just that for the next few weeks I will really miss my friends, “Chocolate Chip“, “English Muffin“, and “Baked Potato“.
So if I seem grouchy, or sluggish or petulant, I ask your indulgence. Once I get over the first two weeks, and actually have a little weight loss (gone) from under my belt, I will be in a far better frame of mind!

This & That Saturday

Yesterday we drove to the beautiful state of Maine to have Greta’s eyes examined and certified free of a disease called PRA (progressive retinal atrophy) and cataracts. The German Dachshund club requires this exam before a dog is bred. I also wanted this done, because I believe in breeding only healthy dogs and cats.
Greta (her German name is Xochil, but that’s another story), passed her exam with flying colors. She has beautiful eyes with no sign of disease! I am so happy I am on cloud nine!

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On another subject, Fritz the amazingly nervous car rider proved that the Vets don’t know everything. They mentioned that Benedryl might help to calm him when he is in the car. Wrong!!! The boy was crazed. He jumped, he whined, he fussed, he was basically so irritated that I had wild thoughts of leaving him on the side of the road in Maine. The only thing is, the boy has such a sense of smell, I know he would find his way home to New Hampshire.
Something must be done for my boy. Either he gets some sort of tranquilizer or I do.
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Today I am doing laundry and air conditioners.
Our house is on a hill and due to view restrictions we are not allowed to have any sort of shading trees on our property. Dwarf fruit trees, yes. But not any tall nice shade trees. Consequently, the afternoon sun just cooks our family room and bedroom. Opening windows just doesn’t work, so we need those heavy in the window air conditioners. Today we install them and prepare for the summer ahead!
Laundry? Well, I have been terribly remiss this week in keeping up with this task, so time to play catch up!
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To all far and wide, have a great day!!!

Ah-Chooooo!!!

I slept.
Now I know you are all thinking that I have lost it, writing about sleeping, but I have to tell you what happened on Wednesday night.
If you haven’t been following the news in New Hampshire, you won’t know that the officials have been trying to figure out what to do about “Sudafed”. What’s Sudafed? It’s what I use and have used for years to treat my allergies (which are many). It is also what the druggies have been using to make crystal meth in the many home labs nationwide. I’ve always been able to buy a cheap Allergy/Sinus medication that contained both Sudafed and Tylenol. This makes me a happy girl and one with a dry nose and who is not sneezing all over you, day and night. (Had Hubby seen me at my allergy worst, I am sure he never would have married me!)
New Hampshire, which is currently being run by a “I feel your pain” governor, put pressure on all the stores that carried my beloved Allergy medication until one day, you couldn’t just pick it up at the store.
I talked to the Wal-Mart Pharmacist and he told me that the new ingredient in my allergy medication was “just the same” and would be fine. (At this point he wouldn’t sell me my Sudafed, even though it is still a legal, over the counter drug. Can I help it if the druggies buy the stuff and make meth out of it?)
So, I took the new stuff home and I tried it on Wednesday night.
Oh my God!!! I felt like I had been drinking super espresso all day and all night when I tried to go to bed! I tossed, I turned, I rocked in the sheets. I did not sleep! The bed looked like a violent crime had occurred there the next morning. And worst of all, it didn’t work!
I went back to Wal-Mart to get my Sudafed. If they refused to sell me this medication, I would call my doctor, Dr. D. and get a prescription. I explained what had occurred. The Pharmacist said, “Oh I am sorry, it happens occasionally to sensitive people”.
I wanted to throttle him!
He agreed to sell me the Sudafed, but I had to fill out a form, show my license, a credit card and then sign another document. All the while the pharmacist looked at me like I was some criminal.
I’ll see what they’re charging at my local drug store. They know me there, they know I’m not a “Meth Maker” and I’m sure I won’t get that treatment there.
Meanwhile, last night, I took my beloved Sudafed. I wasn’t stuffy and I slept like a baby! And yes, I slept in my nice comfy cotton pajamas!


Thirteen Things I Really Love

I am just including on this list the things I love.( I could never in my life list all the people and animals that I love, as it would use up all my bandwidth for the next lifetime!)

1. Dark Chocolate. I know, I know, I know. I should put thoughts of this truly delectable evil stuff out of my mind and try to start day dreaming about carrots and celery, but I just can’t do it!
2. Flowers. Don’t ask me to grow them, I have a black thumb. However, I love them. The smell, the way they look, and the way I feel when I get them.
3. The feeling I get inside just before I see people I love again after being apart for a while.
4. When I get a card from someone for no reason. Just because they’re thinking of me.
5. A really good meal. Like the one we had on our anniversary. (You will note here that several of my great loves involve food! Which is why I am always on a diet!)
6. Pajamas! Soft cottony, warm, comfortable pajamas, and the time to spend relaxing in them!
7. Taking a jacuzzi! I love to lie in the hot water, with my eyes closed, thinking about nothing.
8. Watching fruit grow on our trees. I get the biggest kick out of watching the flowers bloom, and then the fruit develop right there on the tree. Then picking the fruit and making things like jam, sauces and canning the fruit. I can also add, eating the canned fruit in the winter. That has been a big thrill.
9. Watching my pups play. In my life watching these beautiful, selfless creatures romp and play has brought such happiness into my life.
10. Seeing something particularly beautiful that is only found in nature. Like the glacier I saw in Alaska, or the volcano in Guatemala, or the Old Man of the Mountain here in New Hampshire, before it fell from the mountains, or going mushroom hunting in Bavaria!
11. When something I do turns out well and makes someone happy. I am such a klutz and often I try things and they go so wrong. How happy I am when I try something and everything goes well.
12. Making a surprise and actually pulling it off. I love to give people wonderful surprises. I like the thrill of doing it and making someone feel special.
13. All the days I have been given in this lifetime. How blessed I am to have had all this time, with all these wonderful people and animals! Yes, all these days, make me very happy!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Janet
2. Elle
3. Shelli

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