The Weekend Wrap

Before I get on to the weekend, I want to respond to the comments on my last post...

Chris - Thanks for your amusing antidotes... they made me smile. And you're absolutely right, much of my "anger" comes from the fear of knowing what she is doing to herself.

Drazil - You're so sweet for wanting to come rescue me! Its hard to know what to do... but I find myself biting my tongue a lot. She is here til Wednesday.

Josie - Thanks for your encouragement, especially when I know you haven't been feeling well. :)

K - I'm so sorry for your loss. I really do try to be as compassionate as I can. It just gets very frustrating at times because not only will she do little to nothing to help herself, but she does things that prevent me from doing what is best for me & my family (as far as living a healthy lifestyle). This post will give you a little bit of insight into my relationship with my Mom.

Okay... on to the weekend...

Saturday was a lovely day. I made these yummy chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

Then it was off to the gym. The first hour there I spent upstairs where I did 40 sets on the circuit machines, 30 core sets & 50 free weight sets. Free weights are killer because my shoulder is so freakin sore... but I've got to get it done. Then I spent about 40 minutes on cardio, split between the bike & elliptical. My energy level was way low, which was really a bit frustrating considering how much of the challenge I still have to go.

We had company over dinner... DiAnne (the peanut butter cookie baker) and Erika (the BFF, who has been better lately). It turned out to be a great time... lots of food (which I tried not to overindulge in... but I ate too many cookies for sure) & many fun games of Dutch Blitz. My Mom was even pleased because we had potatoes and something with beef in it, lol.

Sunday started with blueberry oat pancakes. I don't know what my obsession is with pancakes lately, but I could eat a variation for breakfast every day I think. Sorry I was so busy eating I forgot to take a picture, oops.

Next stop was naturally the gym. There was an "incident" at home this morning which left me with awful chest pain... so I took it really easy. I just did 22 miles on the bike & 22 sets on the circuit machines. The good news is that I'm now close to having those two parts of the challenge completed.

This wasn't a typical Sunday because I didn't get much of my prep cooking done for the week. However, I managed to get a couple batches of Lemon-Poppy seed muffins baked & some brown rice cooked. For dinner I made these boneless wings and a simple salad with Asian dressing.

It was really yummy. And, would you believe my Mom actually liked it so much she asked for the recipe??? I'm still recovering from the shock!

Speaking of recipes, should I start posting them on here?

Overall, it was a great weekend. Hope the weekend was great for you too!

No Foolin Here...

Ladies & gentlemen (wait, do I have any guy readers??? lol), I have no time for the pranks of April Fools today... so I swear everything you are about to read is the honest to goodness truth... fortunate or unfortunate as it may be.

Remember the dinner I was going to try not to eat too much of last night? Here's my plate...

Let's just say that my plan to eat a small meal went a bit awry. I had one small spoonful of the casserole after this. Hopefully the fact that I substituted a banana for the bread & butter that everyone else ate with their meal counts for something.

And about that chicken I was looking so forward to at the casino... I ordered it, they cooked it fresh and I was excited to sit down with it - 7 "flamin' wings" - at the only remaining table in the cafe area. *Insert here that I attempted to take a pic of them, but the 300+ pound security guy that came to yell at me for using a camera in the casino was less than helpful.* The first bite, of the first wing, was luscious - spicy with just the right amount of heat - and juicy. The first three were fairly tasty. On wing #4 the trouble began. There was such a thick layer of fat between the skin & the meat that I could NOT force myself to take a second bite. Wings #5 & #6 same story! Gross, disgusting, wretched nastiness! By wing #7 I gave up & was literally picking the flavored coating off the last piece - being careful not to get any of the nasty skin. And if that wasn't bad enough, when I got up and started walking around the casino, I had the WORST stomach ache I've had in ages. Lesson learned - NO MORE WINGS AT THE CASINO!!!

And while we're on the subject of the casino. I FAILED to make my regular donation! That's right, I actually left the building with more money than I took. Not a lot more - but a little - plus I bought food there. This is one time when it felt pretty darn good to fail, lol.

As I type, I am waiting for the rest of the family to assemble themselves so we can head off to dinner - at the freakin BUFFET! Honestly, I swear I will be lucky not to undo all of last weeks progress & then some at this rate. The good news is I knew what was going on for dinner ahead of time, so I had this for breakfast...

One grapefruit with 1/2 whole wheat bagel & a scant 1 tablespoon of reduced-fat peanut butter. 310 calories... and way satisfying. Plus, I've eaten a small portion of the leftover casserole from last night, which is actually pretty low calorie other than the rice since she used 96% lean ground beef, so I won't be famished when we get to the buffet (that's if we get to go sometime before now & next year).

We spent the afternoon visiting some local antique stores... and I've got to tell ya I never knew before today that its possible to pile on the calories while shopping for things older than dirt. Every store we went to had out trays of cookies and/or candy - free for their "valued" customers. Its embarrassing to report - but I had four huge malted milk balls (they were the best I've ever tasted) and five freakin cookies (not even homemade yummy cookies, but store bought sandwich cookies). Even more embarrassing that was pretty much what ended up being for lunch too! Ugh, I can't remember when the last time was I had that much sugar in a single day, much less an afternoon.

Even after all of that, I'm looking forward to the buffet tonight. I will follow my rules & it will be fine. They have awesome food & I know in advance what is worth using calories for. And the best part, I can steer clear of anything known as "beef." I swear its like I've had a "cow relapse" or something - going from eating beef maybe once a week to having had it (omg, wait while I try to count here) four times in a 48 hour period. The Husband has been "dying" for a good steak... I think his wait just got extended by a nice long period of time. Maybe that will be his farewell dinner before he goes on deployment, lol.

One "yay me" event of this trip: I have not had a single chip the whole time! Normally not a big achievement because I don't eat chips that often. But, they are everwhere here. The Husband ate them on the way here, they have bags sitting on top of the fridge beckoning, they pull them out at lunch or for snacks in the afternoon... and though they are right there mere inches from my fingers (and my nose) I do not reach for them. I am strong. I will not bend on this... small & insignificant as it may be. Now those addictively tasty pepper jack cheese sticks in the fridge are an entirely different ball of wax - or should I say artery hardening dairy product?!?

I'm gonna try to catch up on some blogs while these SLOW people are finishing getting ready, lol. I'll be back later with my April lifestyle goals & to take care of an award I received... hopefully tonight.

What surprising places have you found mounds of goodies free for the purpose of widening your arse? I must know so I can avoid them in the future, lol!

The Trip East & Bra Wars

The driving part of the trip here was lovely - mild traffic & fairly good road conditions through the mountain pass. The Husband sitting next to me eating his array of food - chips, chex mix, cheeseburgers - and mouth full of chewing tobacco when he wasn't eating... NOT so much! Anyone remember my Mom eating the whole bag of Doritos for dinner awhile back? Am I somehow cursed to having one of them eating chips for meals while sitting in the passenger seat of the car? Seriously people this is not life sustaining food - more like heart attack in a bag - how do you call it a meal?

We arrived here in time for dinner - a lovely concoction of things I try to limit - sloppy joes & potato salad. Can we say ground beef (at least it was lean), white buns (thankfully I had whole wheat sandwich thins packed along), potatoes, mayonnaise? I ate pretty carefully on the way here because I knew something like this would be on the dinner menu & this Auntie makes some yummy food. My calories were pretty much dead on for yesterday... score one for me ... I'm usually a snacky traveler, lol.

Today has been a really inactive day, which I'm finding way harder than I would have thought. Sitting around for hours on end was so much easier before I started making the gym my second home. Food has been okayish so far today. We had a minor snafu on the way here, so I wasn't able to get everything I planned at the store before we came to the house. At least I was able to get some yogurt, fat free milk, low fat granola & the sandwich thins. She has lots of fruit & light string cheese, so I'm good on snacks. Lunch ended up being leftovers from last nights dinner & she is making this casserole with ground beef, rice, tomatoes & onions for dinner; its a yummy treat...but seriously I'm already feeling "cowed out" from all this ground beef.

I'm going to try to eat a really small portion at dinner because tonight we are going to the casino. They have these chicken things there that are to die for good... and since I only go there once a year (if that) I fully intend to indulge. Hopefully casino time will mean I can walk around lots... its a pretty big place & she always takes way longer to make her "donation to the tribe" than I do so my plan is to walk around after I'm done "donating."

My bra wars are continuing. The ones I packed to bring here just are not working out... we are going to go bra shopping tomorrow. I'm so at the end of my rope with this bra war... either there's enough room for the girls before they decided it would be a good idea to shrink to a shadow of their former selves or what's left of them wants to present itself for the world to gawk at. Its embarrassing! Any recommendations out there for a brand that might be worth trying?

I'm also going to try to get my hair cut while we are here... but I'm terribly scared of going under the scissors! No clue what I want to do with it. Its been well over a year since it was even trimmed & for the love of all that is unholy ITS TIME!

TTFN

~ Julie ~