Focus

Yesterday was a long and winding day, beginning with a four-mile walk that ended in the rain, and moving on to a five-hour Sam's Club/JoAnn's/Kroger mission that began AND ended in the rain. On tap for today? MORE RAIN.

There was an inch of rain collected in the gauge this morning. I sure do wish I'd gotten the garden in prior to this week. But it's easier to plant and pull weeds from wet ground than from rock-hard soil. Counting my blessings.

My focus the past month (I began the paleo plan April 6) has been spot-on, and it's working.

Less than a quarter-mile to go. At this point I'd been walking in the
rain for 20 minutes, so when my husband called to see if I needed
him to come pick me up, I declined. I was already soaked!

What have I focused on? Basically eating protein, vegetables and fruits; not eating grains, legumes, dairy and sugar, and getting some kind of daily workout done. The eating part has been STELLAR. Astonishingly so.

For instance: I have two packages of lemon sandwich cookies in my car, left from a long-ago road trip. I don't even have to take my eyes off the road to find them, open them and eat them. That's how road-trip food works, right? Well, I've been on several solo road trips since those cookies landed in the car and I don't even think about them. They'll most certainly outlive me. Because I'm not touching them except to pitch them next time I clean the car.

Part of yesterday's mission was to find spaghetti squash, which is classified as a winter variety and, thus, hasn't been available at Tiny Kroger. Giant Kroger had plenty of them, pricey but still … I was so happy to see them I put three in my cart. (Spaghetti squash keeps well and you can cook and freeze it, as well.)

You can bet I'm planting plenty of spaghetti squash (and butternuts. I picked one of those up at Giant Kroger but returned it to the bin when I realized it was going to cost $7.50!).

I was also on the hunt for coconut flour and almond meal, both of which were on the shelf at GK. I was not surprised to find them there, but was astonished at the price – nearly $9/lb for the almond and $10/lb for the coconut. I've read online that Trader Joe's has coconut flour for $3.99/lb, so I'll be stocking up next time I'm in the vicinity of one. Which will be the end of this month. YAY!

Theoretically I could make my own almond meal. I've tried in the food processor, but not in a coffee grinder. I have made almond butter. Once the almonds begin to release their oil, you might as well keep processing.

I ended up buying one bag of each of the flours, despite the high price. I'm in an experimenting mood and getting a little bored with the morning bacon-and-egg routine. Since I was too tired to bake anything last night, that's what breakfast will look like this morning (SOON!). But tomorrow? Banana pancakes or bread, maybe?

Film at eleven!

May 6 - Broken

Found these on my walk this morning, leading me to believe that
something is broken. I didn't see any stray buggy wheels or auto parts, though.

Another giveaway for you yarny types

Click this link to enter to win Yarn for Life ($480 worth of yarn per year for 20 years, which would probably be more than life for me!) from Patternworks.

That is all.

17, 18, 19

It appears I'm kind of on a number roll for blog titles lately. After walking seven miles yesterday morning (7.1, actually, in two hours), I ended up logging 17 miles for the week.

And if you subtract last week's total loss from 18, you'll come up with this week's magic number. Don't feel like clicking through? That's okay, I'm pretty easy to get along with.

I lost 1.5 pounds this week.

Er, um, waitaminute … I LOST 1.5 POUNDS!!!

That's 18 pounds in 19 weeks. I'm feeling Pretty. Damned. Good. about that.

To sum up: Pre-paleo I'd lost 7 pounds in 14 weeks. In the past 5 weeks I've lost 11.

Here's what that looks like. I CRINGE posting the before picture. I only took it so I could crop away everything but the sweater, which was the only knitted item I completed last year. But it's the only full-length photo of myself I can find. Because, you know, fat women don't like to have their pictures taken.

Or at least this one doesn't.

I can tell a difference. Also, those jeans I'm wearing in the after shot? Those are The Jeans I've been trying on for a couple of months now. The ones I couldn't get on AT ALL in December (or for the previous two winters, for that matter). The denim capris in the September photo have an elastic waist, of course, because … well, if you've been there, you know why. The ones on the right are Lee Riders, made for everyday ordinary women who can zip and button their jeans.

Meatza! Meatza! Mmmmm!

That would be me, thankyouverymuch. We went out in public together yesterday. I'm still not ready for form-fitting tops, but at least I'm smiling and actually felt like going out in public. IN JEANS.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo (because, you know, Young and McNeer are soooo Mexican) with a south of the border-inspired meatza dinner. Which was basically a spicy burger topped with salsa, onions, peppers, avocado and cilantro (from the garden!). Meatza is paleo pizza, but next time I'll just cook regular-sized patties instead of one giant one, which fell apart. We're still getting asparagus, so I threw a handful of spears in the microwave with some Amish butter, squeezed some lemon juice on it and called it dinner. Olé!

May 5 - Paper

The front page of the tiny little local weekly was all-Sylvia, all-the-time after
her unanimous Senate confirmation to be Director of the Office of Management
and Budget during President Obama's second term. 

4, 3, 2, 1

FOUR …
grandchildren.

THREE …
of them soon-to-be five-year-old boys.

TWO …
restaurants.

ONE …
great day!

But a long day, indeed.

This set of young'ns lives three-and-a-half hours away, which is on the cusp of an overnight trip. We've always made it a day trip, and as the children get older it becomes more and more difficult to leave. We arrived mid-morning, in time to go to the boys' first t-ball practice (what a HOOT!), and didn't leave until 4:30 p.m.

I don't write much about my family, especially my grandchildren, but I'm sure you know how much I'd love to. I just don't think it's my place. It was fun spending time with them and I'm so happy they're all healthy and active and sociable and they love having us visit.

Birthday presents might have had something to do with that. Heh.

My husband and I took everyone out for lunch after practice, to Pike's Old-Fashioned Soda Shop, which was paleo-perfect – they offered a burger in a bowl, no bread, with a fresh fruit cup on the side. Fun fact: Shallow Hal was filmed there.

The irony did NOT escape me.

We had dinner on the way home at one of the many Cracker Barrel restaurants dotting I-77 between NC and WV. Grilled pork chop, baked sweet potato and turnip greens. I didn't know Cracker Barrel  sweet potatoes came topped with a brown sugar/cinnamon mixture, but the server was most accommodating in replacing it with a plain one.

I did not feel deprived, not once all day. I was appropriately hungry when I sat down for a meal and satisfied when I finished. My husband strayed from the plan (he's been very supportive), and said he honestly wished he hadn't, after all.

Disc.i.pline. It's definitely working. The only DietBet weigh-ins that count are the first and last, but we are encouraged to check in frequently. I've decided once a week is frequently enough, and this morning I'm down 3.5 pounds from last Sunday's weigh-in.

That sounds like a lot to lose in one week, but I'm not quibbling. There's money on the line!

I'm walking this morning, aiming for six miles. But I'm walking on my very hilly road instead of the nice, flat road that runs along Indian Creek. So it might end up being five. Either way, I'll beat my lowest week of the year, and that's really the goal du jour.

Hope your jour is a good one.

May 4 - In your cup

My kitchen window, reflected in my coffee cup.