Weekend--lucky 13th and 14th

[Gaelen]

Today dawned like a beautiful fall day...cool, but not cold, a little damp from the dew. And I woke up PAIN FREE because last night I slept for the first time on my brand new featherbed...yippee! Unlike most of the last couple months, getting up after waking up was NOT an effort at all, and I had plenty of energy. The PT for the herniated disc, plus the featherbed, seem to be working AND I'm reducing my pain meds. FINALLY!

The weatherman has been saying all week that this weekend would be a washout...but so far, he's dead wrong! And normally, on a nice fall weekend, I'd be really tempted to overschedule, overdo, and then have to spend at least half of tomorrow sleeping because I've worn myself out. That's ultimately counterproductive. So instead of my typical way-too-ambitious weekend list, I decided to focus on some narrower goals that should give me some time to actually ENJOY this great day...
--harvest the herbs and a batch of tomatoes
--do something with the harvest
--get groceries
--do laundry
--work on ONE of the writing projects I brought home from work
--start working on the 'Let's Cook' forum, which has needed indes updates for a few months...

So I've taken the dogs for a walk. While they were drying off and my coffee was brewing, I harvested herbs and tomatoes. Spread the herbs (thyme, savory and sage) on a rack to dry out from the morning dew. Decided to simplify the tomato overabundance by tossing them into the 6 qt roaster. No skinning--and they'll cook down all morning into paste which I can then freeze in ziploc bags (way simpler than canning them!)

Spent an hour on one of my work projects, and now I'm doing my 'internet' work (besides this forum, I also admin a cancer support group and need to send emails to a few people). I'm giving it two hours; the time is set.

Then as a reward for knocking four of the items off my list, I'm going over to the fairgrounds to take a walk at the country arts show and to the farmer's market to start my weekend grocery shopping. Laundry is sorted and ready to run tonight, when using the dryer for a couple hours will warm the house all night (I don't want to turn on the heat just yet...cheap!)

How are you going to simplify this weekend (and keep your eyes focused on your goals?) Have a great weekend everyone!

[Ottawa]

This weekend is full of committments that has caused a bit of stress at home. It won't be very simple but it lets me know that I should plan things a bit better and have a fun weekend planned for the next one.

On track and I'll get a workout in with a movie later this evening.

[Anniesnan]

Afternoon, all who are here and not:D

slept in, a little. Contrary dog, who will not let dh let him out in the morning, woke me by barking at the cat:rolleyes:
Hard fried my eggs for a change of pace.

We had an Annie visit - always lots of fun and moving - one of her new favorites is the Hokey Pokey with lots of exaggerated moves and faces.

Then we went walking. I'm feeling the results of the furniture moving, but in a good way.

I needed some groceries - local store was selling pernil (a cut of pork) for .79/lb - we picked up 3, all under $7.00. These are big enough for a family of four for 2-3 days. Since we're only 2, we'll invite someone over to share. DH has seasoned one and it's "marinating" in the fridge for tomorrow.
We also picked up a rotisserie chicken for lunch, it was delish!

Laundry has been off and on all day - tomorrow will be just relaxing:D

[Feelix]

checking in. I am doing good. I looked at my reflection and was shocked what I see. I just don't look like myself. And admittedly embarassed to go to church for people to see me looking like this. Motivation to drop the fat but still - starring at my issues- I'm a little unnerved.

Apart from that, I went to a discount fabric store in a city 45minutes away. I had a great time and left with lots of fabric and creative ideas. :-)

Hope everyone else is having a great weekend!

[Claudette]

Hi, ya'll,

My cousin is doing well. They removed the infected graft, but didn't have to do anything else, like borrow a vessel from his arm or something. Talk about answered prayer, (at least to me).
He is still in ICU, but will be out soon. His Mom is with him today, I will see him tomarrow.

I slept in alittle later, then took one of our dogs (the younger) to the annual "Bark in the park" locally, sponsored by the local SPCA, local vets, etc. Had great time.
Saw distant friends we hadn't seen in years, they said, "wow, you are looking good.". I was sooo glad my efforts are beginning to show.

To simplifiy, am still putting up stuff in the new house. Have some wash to do. The rest of the weekend, just staying home and working on the new house which I adore.

Heard from our only son, he might be over sometime this weekend.

Am on plan, #13 day, today will be a yes for me.

Feelix, don't worry about what others might think of you. You can make your image better by staying on plan, so just hang in there.

Gaalen, sounds like you are going to have a great weekend.

Hugs,
Claudette

[maxlharris]

Today: On plan. Ate right. NEANed wife's dessert at dinner. Went to a museum in the district, looked at Ansel Adams and Annie Leibowitz and some very boring european landscape paintings and other assorted boring objets d'art. Got off at the wrong metro station for dinner, so walked the 1.5 miles to where we wanted to go. Was exceedingly pleasant. Turned out to be a pretty good day.

Tomorrow, who knows. I'm finding a new place for brunch. Probably see a movie.

[hawk]

I traveled 65 miles yesterday to various quilt shops and over 100 miles today. We visited 9 quilt shops all arounf the Chicago area. I bought WAY too much fabric. Jacket patterns and purse and bag patterns. We had a blast. We both like totally different things.I am into earth tones..Sister is onto bright greens,yellow,blues...(eww) but we had fun.I have enough projects to keep me all winter.
Stayed on plan. ate a salad at a panera bread for lunch. Sister cooks PP. So all was great,. I got a bike ride in today and yesterday at my sisters house. I don't like her bike , but I did ok.

[Gaelen]

Pick a good movie, Max!
Plans for laundry were flooded out...literally. A pipe burst that goes from the main water supply to the two rows of townhouses at the end of my circle...and since I live in those rows, we went on water restrictions while they try to get emergency crews in to fix it. Refrigerators never die in the winter, furnaces never crap out in July, and water pipes *never* burst during plumbers' hours. :rolleyes:

Otherwise, though...all on plan. Finished the day with a chocolate 1 minute muffin and a spritz of whipped cream, just because. Almost made it pain-free through the entire day, but the nagging back pain has begun again, so I took some pain meds as a precaution before sleeping. If I don't, afraid the pain will wake me up around 2 a.m. and there will be no sleeping after that.

Fingers crossed that they get the pipe repaired in time to take a hot shower in the morning...

[Shadow]

Claudette - I am so glad your cousin is doing well :)!!!

Today I'm simplifying but not doing anything :lol:! JK - exercise is done and meals are planned. Yesterday was busy with inside chores followed by 3 hours of yard work so I was too busy to get into any kind of trouble ;).

So count yesterday and today as both being 'yes' days!

[Ottawa]

Saturday was an evening workout and on plan although I was on the road quite a while and ate mostly in the car listening to Berserkers - The Beginning.

FD Total: 1299
Fat: 88 7
Carbs: 47 - 21 = 26 ECC
Fiber: 21
Protein: 95

[Claudette]

Hi, y'all,
Slept in this Sunday, guess I just turned the alarm off.
Will continue to unpack. I never thought it would take this long to completely unpack and sort. Glad I am getting rid of alot of stuff.

Will go the hospital later today, tonight is voice lessons.
Did toning exercises this am, later this am, dh and I are walking. Will check the miles when I figure them out.

Meals planned, on track. Going to make it #14, a yes.

Claudette

[Anniesnan]

Gaelen - hope your pipes get fixed! DH keeps waiting for a power outage in the winter, instead of the hottest day of the summer - says THEN we'll all be in for it.

Claudette - glad your cousin is doing okay.

Had a good day yesterday - stayed on plan. Almost had some things I didn't need last night - wouldn't have been off, but were completely unnecessary and I could see might have been the beginning of justifying other things - I resisted that "bad" angel on my left shoulder whispering to me:D:D

Bought two pattern books, and wool and new crochet hooks and everything else I need for 2 different patterns, and, started one pattern last night - supposed to be the "easier" one, it's been 3+ years since I've crocheted anything - and, of course, nothing is ever simple.
I didn't realize, there's apparently a type of yarn I've never heard of - it alternates colors in the skein. It's one color for "x" number of yards and another color for "x" and you end up with a striped outfit without changing colors. Would have been great (and easy), but I didn't buy THAT wool. I bought two different colors and didn't realize what was going on until I really started reading the pattern and couldn't figure out WHERE to CHANGE COLORS!!!

So, now the easy pattern isn't so easy, 'cos I have to stop and measure and finish off and start again and I have to do so without a pattern to follow:eek:. Luckily it is an easy pattern:D. Keep my hands too busy to be tempted:D

[Feelix]

CHeckin' in... Doing well... bacon and eggs for breakfast. Spending the day with my husband playing video games. my fingers will get a work out. :-)

[oceanblueLA]

Hi everyone--

It's been a good, busy weekend. My food has been great. But I didn't hit the gym. I did, though, walk all over the place and will accept that for my exercise. but I need to hit the weights tomorrow for sure.

I bought a small crock pot at Target a few months ago and finally used it on Friday. I took lean sirloin chunks and cooked it with a can of fire roasted tomatoes and 3/4 cup of cabernet. It came out so well... fork tender with a bit of the wine tang. I'm looking forward to figuring out a few more no-brainer dishes. Time to hit the recipe board!

Hope everyone is having a great day. :-)

[Gaelen]

Hey, everyone...so far it's been a cautious day with the pipes...water is a bit tricky. Sometimes no pressure (because of the leak) and frankly, I'm a bit worried about just drinking it from the tap. So I have to make a run to the store to pick up some bottled, and I've been boiling water all day.

The old dog had a tough morning...it's mushroom bloom and crabapple fall season, and he scavenges. Ever try to tell a spaniel that a non-ripe crab apple will make him sick? It's tougher than taking high fructose corn syrup out of the American food industry. ;) Last night he must have gotten either a mushroom or an apple, and this morning he was drooling and in great intestinal distress (every fifteen minutes for about two hours. He's been sleeping for most of the afternoon, so I'm going to ex him and M. one more time, and then make a quick run to the supermarket for bottled water. I think by this point he'll be just fine if I'm out for an hour or so. Whew...what a day! Monday will almost be a relief.

[hawk]

While I was at the quilt shop hop, my G'man cut off the ends of the beams on our new poch like our pergola. The design was really cool and it lloks great. We had a campfire last night under the roof . Today we are just hangin out. Friends are bringing over some dinner and we are supplying dessert (PP cheesecake)
We went out for fajitas for lunch and ate all but the beans,rice and shells.
Yes for today. It's my rest day from workouts, but I can't take a break, so the bike will get a workout soon.

[Rhyme'n Reason]

Hi, all--

Today is a yes. I'll have to consider yesterday sort of a draw. I reached my protein goals and limited my carbs during breakfast and lunch to only 12, but we stopped at a Chinese buffet for supper. I completely stayed away from all rice, egg rolls, and such. I did take a bite (literally) each of three dishes with breading, and I'm sure the sauces are questionable, although I did not eat anything with a sweet sauce. I'm fairly sure that I was over a bit for the meal but under for the day. I feel pretty good about it since we were on a bus trip/cruise for the day.

The trip was lovely--gorgeous weather and a wonderful visit to Mount Vernon. I will definitely go back again since the cruise time limits kept us from seeing everything we would have liked to see.

Now it's off to bed.

Ruth

[maxlharris]

Hidden Dangers:

Took wife out to brunch yesterday. I wanted to go to the tex mex place, but DW doesn't think of tex mex as breakfast. I think living in Texas and LA did a lot for me on un-defining breakfast, or at least opening it. So, master planner that I am, anticipating that she might veto the tex mex, I had a backup place. Bonus, it was over half a mile away and I wanted to walk if it was nice. It was nice, so we walked. DW got a frittata with cheese, tomatoes, and artichoke. I got Eggs Steak Benedict, with hollandaise, flank steak and two giant balls of poached eggs. If you're not in the know, hollandaise is very LC friendly, especially depending on what reduction you use to make it.

I gave it a little shake of salt. It tasted a little sweet, so I gave it another. Couldn't taste the salt. Another light shake of salt, and no appreciable saltiness. Was puzzled, but just soldiered on, not eating the muffins, but having the option. DW salted her potatoes, and said they were sweet. Turns out, someone in the kitchem had filled some salt shakers with sugar!!!

Needless to say, I didn't eat the english muffins.

I didn't get the sick, sugar feeling or the quick rush I get from sugar (I burn really hot with sugar at first), so I don't think I got too much. So, I'm counting it as a yes, and that's 8. Feeling good.

[Claudette]

Today, ended up a no on Sunday.
ds brought pastry he made, (he is learning to be a pastry chef) and I sucumbed.
Back on track on Monday, however.

[Ammy]

Survived MIL this weekend.
She IS crazy, but then again, aren't we ALL a bit crazy??

The river was beautiful (she lives along a small cute calm river) - got a close up view of a blue heron. Enjoyed climbing up and down the river bank as we cut up a tree that had fallen into the river along her shoreline. Couldn't get it all, it's a deep part of the river, but had fun playing monkey climbing on it to cut off everything we could then try to bring those pieces up the bank.

Was a good workout, and it sure is fun getting DIRTY!!

[gitfiddle]

Amy, that sounds like fun getting dirty. ;)

Friday was a yes, so was Saturday and Sunday! Lovely! It's been a long time coming!

Took a great color tour on Saturday and I have yet to upload the pictures to my computer. Some of the best scenery was at places where we couldn't pull the car over, but it was a feast for the eyes.

Sunday I did some laundry and spent a lot of time reading, so it was more relaxing than productive. Had a good chat with DS. The nephew came over to introduce us to his new girlfriend, so there was another chat. The killer is that just as I was going up to bed (at midnight--too too late) I came upon DH and DS having a conversation and I was asked for my opinion. I always have one, so it was an hour later before I climbed the stairs. I'm sort of a zombie today. :rolleyes: Got class tonight too, wouldntcha know! :p