Who Knew?

I was having a Glee marathon last night, bundled up in my robe, eating chocolate chip cookie dough after working a twelve hour shift at the hospital.  I thought I was having a cheaters night from my diet until I realized that I didn't want the cookie dough.  For the first time in my life I was not into cookie dough.  What I really wanted was herb tea.  I was so surprised by that revelation that I ate more dough and watched another episode of Glee.  Come to think of it, I never did make any tea.....

Gypsy Blood

Should I change my career?  Should I throw it all away to pursue a dream I have had for two days?  What is missing in my life that I am always looking for change?  Yesterday my husband and I were talking about moving out of the country for a year just for variety.  Why do we want to drop everything to live in Brazil?  Or Italy?  Or Australia, Thailand, Egypt, Ireland, or Guatemala? 

I have no idea. 

So much for that idea

Let me catch up on blogs today.  What a cool blog!!! I want to make a comment.  What, I am not signed in?  I thought I was.  Ok, let me sign in again.  Really?  Not signed in again?  What is going on?  I am not Anonymous.  I am Plain Jane.  Why am I showing up anonymous?  Oh, I am  not signed in.    Let me sign in again.  This time it will work.  Nope, still Anonymous. 

I guess it is time to clean the kitchen, find my IPod, and vacuum. 

Is It Really Important?

There are so many opportunities for complaining about your spouse.  Jc doesn't put away the laundry.  He leaves his shoes, socks, and clothes out all over the couch.  He never makes the bed.  In eight years of marriage he has never cleaned the bathroom.  I wish he would occasionally clean out the car, take out the recycling, pet the cats. 

But... he washes all the clothes, rubs my feet every night after work, makes me dinner, scoops the kitty litter.  He will clean the kitchen, drive me too and from work, and listen to me complain about work.  He is always looking for ways to take little vacations, and reminds me (in a really sweet way) to be a nicer person. 

Does any of that other stuff even matter?

FINALLY!!!

I sat down at the computer this morning, zipfizz in hand, blueberries for munching, cat in lap.  I was totally ready to amaze and astound with a new blog post.  Instead I get, "page not found" or whatever.  Darn it, Blogger.  Don't you know that I wanted an excuse to sit in my robe for a little while longer?  Instead I had to go to the gym where I did an hour on the treadmill and an hour of yoga.  When I got back could I then write my clever and witty post?  No, Blogger is still down.  So once again I had to leave and be productive.  I went to Costco and ran a bunch of errands.  Now that Blogger is back I have no energy for anything but to go to bed early.  Sigh.

Z is for Zipfizz, A Blatent Advertisement

Zipfizz is the best additive EVER!!!  I get it at Costco, 30 servings for $27 so just under a buck per serving.  I add it to my water and feel energized for 8 hours.  There is a little caffeine in it, but the zip comes from the 41000%  B12.  That is right, 41,000 % of the daily recommended dose.  Nothing else comes even close.  Unfortunately it didn't work for me today as I am so drugged up with allergy medicine, but it did keep me functioning at work.

It is sure a good thing that I am on the Pacific coast so I can type this late at night and still qualify for the A to Z challenge.  It is reminding me of that book "How To Eat Fried Worms," where the kid becomes more and more creative in his attempt to eat 30 worms in 30 days.

Y is for Singing in the Shower

Y is for Christmas music in April.
Y is for Karen Carpenter, Patsy Cline, and Meatloaf (the singer).
Y is for walking into Abercrombie and Fitch and finding the entire store 40% off.
Y is for spending hours on RJR Daydeamers blog watching his YouTube videos.
Y is for a really good streach after a long workout.
Y is for having my husband gone all day so I can sing at the top of my lungs.
Y is for making homemade bread.
Y is for walking to the grocery store instead of driving.
Y is for new tennis shoes.
Y is for petting my kitties all day.
Y is for benadryl after petting my kitties all day.

Y is for Yes, I am very happy today.  How can you tell?

X is for Xenophilius

I do love the Harry Potter books, but apparently not as much as some.  There is an entire Harry Potter Wikipedia devoted to characters and back story.  That just seems a little weird to me.  But if you want to find out everything you never wanted to know about this character, go here.

Of course X is also for xanthopsia which is a visual disturbance that makes objects appear yellow.  As yellow is a happy color, I don't think I would mind very much.

W is for When Can I Eat Lunch

Yesterday I was busy all day and stayed on my diet very well.  Today I am sore all over, hungry, and have allergies.  All I want to do is eat, but I just finished breakfast.  How long do I have to wait before I can start in on lunch?  Is thirty minutes long enough?

V is for Very Busy Day

Uhhhhhh.  I can't tell if this was a good day or a bad day.  We left the house ten and a half hours ago and just barely got home.  We went to the gym, the clothing store, and the park where JC ran 10 miles (I only ran 3).  Then we went to the barber where Jc got a haircut AND a shave.  Our next stop was the sporting good store for shorts, shoes, and accessories.  The final stop was Subway Sandwiches for dinner on the beach.  Considering Southern California traffic, I should be grateful we made it home at all.

U is for Gag Me With a Spoon

Underwear, underarm hair, udder, urine, uranis, unloved, ugly, unhappy, unwed, umbilicus, unattractive, unappreciated, under-wire, unwanted, usurp, under paid, uppity, upset, unfortunate, unbecoming, unsightly, useless,  utility bills, ungrateful, used up, unhealthy,  and urchin.  Wait, I finally got a good one...under budget.

I don't like U words.

T is for Toilet Seats

Today I was in a restaurant bathroom and discovered that there were no toilet seat covers.  How can that be?  How gross!  I will never eat there again, because they probably don't clean this very well. 

Last year I was in Central America.  I visited a bathroom in a bus depot.  Yay! How wonderful!!!  These toilets actually have seats!!!  We must come here every time.

S is for Sitting in Your Car

Yes, my husband thinks I am crazy.  But I absolutely love sitting in my car.  It is temperature controlled, comes with music, and nobody yells at you for eating....or talking on the phone.  I don't care if I am sitting in traffic, a parking lot, or outside my house.  If my husband can't find me, he knows where to look.

R is for Roaming

I miss Guatemala.  I don't suppose it helps that I see that cool picture at the top of my blog every day, or that the screen saver on my phone is of a Caribbean beach.  It has been almost a year since my last trip and I am chomping at the bit to leave this country.  Don't get me wrong, I love the US, especially Costco, but I am ready to go roaming.  Last year we started out in Costa Rica, traveled through Nicaragua and Honduras, then stayed in Panajachel Guatemala for eight days.  Sigh.  Can I go now?

Q is for Quiznos, the Anti-Diet

The other day at work, the nurses were ordering out from Quizno's for lunch.  I have always loved them, but don't eat it much because it is too expensive for a sandwich joint.  Well, I started looking at their options and decided on an innocent looking salad.  That can't be too bad, right?  WRONG.  My chicken caesar salad had 63 grams of fat in it.  I was agog, I was aghast.  How can they pack all that crap into a little salad?  Needless to say, I didn't order.  I just ate my little Nutrisystem lunch and was very happy. 

P is for Peaches

I have never been able to pick fruit that is ripe. It either is mushy or flavorless. I have always wished that the stores had little helpful tips on how to pick the best fruit, but then they would all this bad fruit that no one would buy...but I digress. I have recently started buying these peaches from Costco that are canned. But these are very special peaches that are canned in fruit juice instead of syrup. So now I get to eat a delicious peach and have the juice for dessert. I luv it sooo much...and am very jealous of all you lucky people who own fruit trees.

Wow, this post is too long.

O is for Oh My Aching Abs

I did one of those group fitness classes yesterday and I can no longer hold myself upright. What I can manage to do is type this blog on my friends IPad. That is the coolest thing ever. Plus it is permission to type with two fingers...Yay!

N is for Nothin' Better to Do

Todays post is brought to you courtesy of LeAnn Rimes. 

Perhaps if I keep up this diet and exercise I will look like her.  Well, her in twenty years.

M is for Munching

I am supposed to eat five servings a day of veggies.  Unfortunately, the only veggies I have left in my fridge is a giant bag of baby carrots.  That means for the last two days I have had to eat 5 cups of carrots a day.  All day long at work I have been munching on those things, trying to get them all in.  It is true that I haven't been hungry, or craving anything bad for me.  But all that munching is making my jaw tired.  And here I though lettuce required too much chewing.

L is for Lettuce

I recently discovered that I don't like lettuce.  My whole life I have been eating salads, ordering them at restaurants, buying different varieties, but it wasn't until I bought an entire cookbook of salads that I realized that I only want the salads with no lettuce.  Wild rice salad, garbanzo bean salad, roasted tomato salad...yum.  Chopped lettuce in a bowl?  Too much chewing.

K is for Kitchen Woes

I figured with me eating nutrisystem every day, my kitchen would stay clean.  I was right.  It is spotless.  My husband uses the same pan over and over for his meals, and my food comes from a box.  So what is my problem?  Well, I miss cooking.  I miss baking bread, cookies, cobbler, lemon bars. I miss trying new recipes for chicken in an attempt to make it interesting.  I miss full-fat cheese melted on everything.  Huh.  I think I just figured out why I am overweight.

J is for Jack Sprat

Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. 

And so between the two of them they licked the platter clean.

Why do I have to be the wife?

I is for Ice Cream

Some things are just fine as diet food.  One of the nutrisystem pizza's actually cures my craving for pizza.  The fake candy bars are also good.  The peppermint patty cookie is better than the real thing.  But ice cream should never be substituted.  Yech.

H is for Heavy Lifting

I have joined a new gym this month.  It is a beautiful place to hang out.  I can spend the day in the spa, sauna, shower, and pretend like I am working out.  Unfortunately, my husband comes, too.  This is a guy that will say, "I am going lite today" and then come home six hours later.  What does that mean, going lite?  He is in excellent physical shape, runs 14 miles uphill for fun, and does bicep curls with 90lb weights.  When we go together, I come home beat.  By myself, I come home smelling pretty and fresh from a massage/facial.

G is for Gastric Bypass Surgery

Wouldn't it be nice if going under the knife could solve all our problems.  I just spend ALL DAY at the gym and what does my husband say?  "Are you going back for that yoga class you wanted to try?"  Is he crazy?  What part of ALL DAY does he not understand?  It is now 7:30 pm and if he thinks my feet can even carry me to bed, he's got another think coming!  I am so exausted, I can't even chew dinner.  I would rather be hungry.

F is for Fatty Annie and Famous Amos

When I feel like I am having a lazy day, I just make sure I move more than Fattie Annie. 

 

Although Famous Amos sleeps almost as much as Fattie Annie, he prefers the couch cushions.  Probably because she won't share.

E is for ?

A box without hinges, key, or lid,

Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

J.R.R .Tolkien

I probably should have blogged about exercise or some such nonsense, but who wants to hear about that!?! 

Donuts

My eternal downfall is the donut.  It doesn't even have to be good.  I will eat them stale, half-eaten, no frosting...but I will draw the line at buggy.  I won't eat a donut that has bugs on it.  Maybe I should imagine that apple fritter with the so soft middle and crispy edges containing little bugs instead of the apples.  Perhaps then I can resist, but I doubt it.

Counting Calories

Can you tell I am fixated on my waistline?  There is something to be said about the focus needed to blog everyday and stick to a diet.  For some reason having to do both is working for me, at least so far.  I figure since I love food so much it should be easy for me to blog about it every day.  The creativity needed to make diet food edible goes hand in hand with blogging.

Blueberries

Every day I am allowed two or three servings of fruit.  I used to be cheap and just eat apples or bananas but I am now splurging on blueberries.  I have them with milk, plain yogurt, oatmeal, blended like a milkshake, on cereal.  And apparently the are one of the foods highest in antioxidants.  That means once I loose all my weight I won't have any wrinkles either.  I will be one hot mama, if only I can stick to this dang diet.

Aspartame

I have been following Nutrisystem for a while and have discovered a few things about myself.  Aspartame may be an alternative for sugar, but it has a downside.  I can guarantee that one hour after consuming a food containing aspartame I will be hungry again.  Not regular hungry, but starving hungry...feed me right now hungry.  Therefore, I am trying to enjoy my food without any sweetener.  It's tough.  Some days I would rather be fat.

Why the A to Z challenge?

For someone who only occasionally posts new blogs, reads lots of blogs but is too lazy to comment, why in the world would I want to do the A to Z challenge?  I have finally figured it out.  I have always liked the idea of having a record of my life, but every time I have started a journal it just becomes a place to complain.  Writing a blog is a record without the constant whining.  Sure, there is a little whining, but not too much.  Doing A to Z gives me an idea of what to write, and since I have tons to say about food and dieting I figure that will be my topic.  Of course if I get bored with myself I will change it up, but for now I am brimming with food thoughts.

Why???

I know when I eat cobbler that I feel like garbage but I can't stop myself.  I though with only a tiny serving I would be fine, but I was wrong.   Oh my poor stomach...  Why is diet food so much better for you?  I want cobbler to be good for you.

Kitchen Cleanup

I guess I am all better.  I was able to wash (most) of the dishes, vacuum, and clean the bathroom all in the same day.  I haven't been this productive since .....uh.....Christmas?  It helps that my husband is finally done with school and I don't have to help him study any more.  Nursing school was bad enough when I was going through it; having to go through it with him almost put me over the edge. 
Nobody should have to do nursing school twice.

A New Me

I feel so weird.  For the first time in weeks I have the energy to write a blog post.  I have been sick FOREVER!! and today had the energy to go grocery shopping.  It is amazing what a little antibiotic can do for you.  Of course, my energy has not yet sent me cleaning my filthy kitchen but I keep hoping my husband will do it.  He is so good about keeping the laundry clean but the kitchen is a different matter.  We just keep washing the same spoon, fork, and cup and leave all the rest of the dishes.  Someday.....

There is something about knowing the I am supposed to be busy that requires me to sit at my computer and just read blogs all day long.  Of course, I didn't sign in so I never commented but what I waste of a day.  I have been up since 5am and accomplished nothing except make a list and scrub the shower.  Oh yeah, and spent $300 on internet shopping.  My husband comes back from school at 4pm and all my errands are supposed to be done by then....maybe I should just give up the day as lost and go take a nap.  If I sleep in my gym clothes does that count as working out?

Sour....Cream

How is it possible that you can take something named cream and make it even better when it is "sour"?  Shouldn't that make it worse?  I thought sour was bad....  Today for dinner my husband made ground turkey.  Nothing else, just ground turkey sitting in a pan.  So I added a can of stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, and a can of corn.  Voila! now we have a meal.  And hidden in the back of the fridge is a tiny little container of sour cream I have been saving for a special occasion.  One little dollop and I was in heaven.  Ahhhh.  I feel so much better.

The Curse of the Lemon Tree

So much for my plans for loosing weight.  But I swear it is not my fault.  We have a lemon tree in the backyard and I have been looking for ways to use the lemons.  Last week I made lemon bars for the first time.  They were so good we ate the entire pan.  In one sitting.  All 2000 calories.  And I can't blame my husband because I fought him for the last one.  Since then I have made them almost every day.  I will come home from work and my husband will have the lemons juiced, zested, and the butter softened.  "Please, honey. Will you make me some of those delicious lemon squares?"  How can I resist that?  I have gotten better at not eating as many, but those bars call to me in the middle of the night.  But, February is a new month and I hope to start fresh (again) and eat healthier.  

I sure hope that tree stops producing fruit.

Count Your Blessings

Sometimes I spend too much time wishing my life was different.  I don't have a bad life, it is just not what I planned when I was ten years old.  I am living in Southern California wishing for snow and cold.  I have a perfect little home that I rent but am wishing for one that I own.  My job is about as good as it gets, but I want a change.  I have two cats but want a dog.  What is wrong with me?  Why am I refusing to see my blessings and focusing instead on things I can't change?

List Making

I love days where I make a list of things to accomplish.  I get to put things on it like "read and comment on blogs".  I now have permission to spend an hour on the computer doing something that I have missed for the last month or so.  I also included brush teeth, get shower, feed kitties, call sister.  Apparently I will get to spend all day doing nothing and can still pretend that I have been productive. 

The Smallest Vacation

Sometimes the smallest vacations make the biggest difference.  I have had a rotten New Year so far and was really missing my family.  Although I got to spend some time with them, it didn't feel like enough.  But...on Saturday my husband decided to take me across the border to Mexico.  We got there in time for lunch, had some great lobster, and checked into our room with a soothing view.  We watched the sunset on the beach, then went to bed early.  Ahhh...I finally feel ready to face the world again.

TV can be so annoying

What is it about tv as background noise? I think it's really annoying to have it on just for the noise. Especially when a person needs to think, and the other person, the one they are married to, decides it's too quiet and boring with someone thinking, so on goes the tv blaring in the background.