BL Check In

I know I skipped last week. It's just been crazy with deadlines around here and I've not spent a lot of time on the computer.

Weigh-in last week went really well. I was down 3.2 pounds! If I can just do a min of 1-2 pounds a week, I'll be ecstatic and have a shot at that $130 for my working vacation in October.

I was surprised by the drop in pounds on Friday morning because Bob and I went out to dinner for our 27th wedding anniversary the night before. I tried to be very good. We ate at Ruby Tuesday's. I chose the full rack of ribs with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegies. I didn't eat the potatoes, only 1/2 the ribs and the steamed veggies. I preempted the meal with a large salad. The remaining 1/2 rack of ribs was my lunch on Friday.

Friday night we ate out at a place called A La Carte in West Plains. A good friend of mine, Michael 'Blindcat' McIntire and his wife, Sandy aka Mamacat were the scheduled entertainment. You can check out his blog at Blindcat . They are talented blues artists, doing a mix of cover tunes and ones they've written.

A La Carte is a trendy restaurant with amazing food - most of it grown locally and made fresh daily. Reservations are strongly recommended. When you make your dinner reservation you also place your entree order from a pre-set list (usually 3 options). Friday night we had the option of Country Pork Ribs, Sesame encrusted Shashimi-grade Tuna filet or a Vegan dish. Bob and I both chose the pork ribs. They were so moist and flavorful. They didn't require any sauce or a knife to eat. The saute'd yellow and zucchini squash were the perfect accompaniment. I also ate both of Bob and I's dinner salads of locally grown greens with Balsamic Vinegar and EVOO.

Aside from great blues music to entertain us, I discovered I LOVE the lighter dressing. I've never eaten anything but creamy ranch on a salad. I was amazed to find salad doesn't need to be covered up. It's better to let the true flavors of great vegies come through.

So my tip for this week...

If you've never tried a lighter version of your favorite food, I encourage you to do so. You may find out you've been missing out on something AWESOME!

To a great week...

Joining a Team

Though I haven't been here, the weight has been doing okay. By 'okay' I mean not down but at least not up! I just want to get over this hurdle. I know once I finally dip below 180, it will be easier.

So this past week I joined a local Biggest Loser group at of all place, our local mini-mart. For a $10 entry fee, we check in every Friday for 6 weeks. There will be weekly prizes and at the end of September, someone is a few pounds lighter except for the extra cash in their pocket. With all the traveling I'm doing in October, I could sure use the money. I won't have to go clothes shopping, as I have favorites in my closet I'd love to be able to wear again. But I might need at least one new outfit. :-)

So although my home scales show 181, the store shows 186.8. So that is the weight I'll be showcasing for the duration of the challenge. At the end of the competition, I'll revert back to my home-scale weight. I know I'm going to like that number so much better. But loss is a loss, regardless of what scales I use.

In an earlier post I talked about sugar. Over the last two weeks I've been trying really hard to eliminate as much sugar and processed foods from my diet as possible. I've read Suzanne Somers' Sexy Forever and what an eye-opener. If you've not read it, I encourage everyone to do so... especially women from pre- to post-menopause. Wow! The stuff that is in our foods to supposedly 'enhance flavor' or add shelf life is killing us. So my focus has been whole grains, lean meats and more vegies. Gee, where have we heard this before?

One thing I've experienced in my education as a writer is that I can hear the same thing over and over, but it's all in how it's presented as to whether or not the information really 'sticks'. The same is true of this. I don't think it was so much about WHAT I NEEDED to be eating, as to hearing WHAT I HAVE BEEN eating. It is quite a scary list. So I guess you can consider me - Scared Straight.

Will I give up all my favorite foods? No. Will I try to learn new ways of making them healthier and less poisonous? YES I hope to share what I learn and create over the next 6 weeks and beyond.

Our weigh-ins are on Friday. This week I should go down as I'm having a tooth pulled tomorrow. Yeah, there's one day I won't be eating. LOL Followed by two days of soft foods while the gum heals, yep.. Friday is looking pretty good.

How's your week shaping up?

Back on Track

Okay, so I've never really been 'off-track' just off the grid.

Right after that last post we got hit with thunderstorms and rain. Lots of rain! Rain every day for 17 days straight, with very few breaks. I couldn't get out in the garden to put anything in the ground, while some people who planted early had all their hard work washed away.

When the rain finally stopped, it turned incredibly HOT and HUMID. Man, I've haven't known such humidity in June and July since I moved out of Baton Rouge years ago. It was horrid! You didn't want to be away from an air conditioner for more than five minutes.

Okay, you're thinking - 'What does humidity and heat have to do with being on-line? I wondered the same thing. But I could not stay on-line for more than ten minutes. Mind you, my HughesNet modem and my NetGear Wireless router are in the office downstairs. My dehumidifier runs 24/7 and we have central air. Heat SHOULDN'T have been an issue. And at the on-set, I didn't know it was. Multiple calls to HughesNet tech support were driving me crazy. I couldn't make them understand that I didn't want a temporary fix. I wanted to get to the root of the problem so it would STOP!

One night I finally bypassed the technician and requested a supervisor who spoke English. I don't have a problem with other nationalities, but I do believe they should be able to understand you and vice versa.

What we determined - mind you, I'd been battling this for most of two months - was that my Hughes Net modem needed to rest. Heck, no one told me to unplug everything at night! I was leaving everything running 24/7. So I started shutting down at night. For the first couple days I was good to go and tried getting everything caught up. Then it did it again! I finally determined the modem was good for about 10 minutes. Then it would overheat and shut down, kicking me off-line. So I made the trip into WM for a $10 desk fan. Voila! I've not had a problem since. Mind you, it took me to the middle of July to remedy this. From then, it's been a massive catch-up.

In the midst of it, I found a full-time writing gig as a columnist for our local paper. I love it being a reporter and a columnist. And a weekly by-line doesn't hurt the resume either.

So this brings me to finally being caught up enough to get back to regular blogging :: crossing fingers here :::

And because I want it to stand alone, I'm going to offer up today's post separately.

So here we go....