Father`s Day 2013

THE perfect gift for the Dad in your life.

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  Tomorrow is Father`s Day and I figured I would post now because I tend to forget and that would not be cool. It is just going to be me and the old man most of the day. I think that is the way we want it to be. We can sleep in. Have a lazy breakfast. Walk around in our jammies all morning or afternoon. I think that is the best present I could give him. A glimpse into an empty nest. My Dad is long passed away. 30 years this November. That is a long time to be missing your parent. But I am not weepy about it. He is gone and my Mom is gone and I have come to terms with that. Same with Hubs. His grandfather has been gone for many years and I think he has come to terms with that loss too.

  The rains have left us with a little bit of water in the basement. Not a huge amount. It is in the sump pump area. Well, a hole has formed in the plastic piping and it is shooting water all over the place. I could be the Mrs. Fix-it that I am and go down there, dig out the sump pump, take off the piping, cut it, put it back on, put the pump back in the hole, re-adjust, and cross my fingers but I am not in the mood. Ugh!  It needs to be fixed but I am not in the mood to get wet and sit on the floor. But I will do it. I will get sick of going downstairs and adjusting the pump every hour cause it has moved again. Grrr!
  Tonight we are going out for Vietnamese Pho. Nice big bowls of hot steaming beef and noodles. I cannot wait! My mouth and stomach drool in anticipation. That will be our Father`s Day out. Tomorrow we will be lazy and probably I will get him to help me fix the damn pump.

I hope you have a wonderful Father`s day. If you are a Dad or you are with your Dad or you are remembering him.

Happy Father`s day to all the Dads and single Moms out there!

It has been an interesting week and this is why I have not posted anything. I have an article to write for my friend for the gazette but my ass did not wake up till like noon. I will do it in the morning. Yesterday I took Fred to get his Father`s Day gift which was a tattoo. First we went to lunch to have pizza with Natalie. He was hungry. We had a prosciutto, gorgonzola, fig chutney, and pear pizza. It actually tasted good. I was scared of the pear chunks at first but then I just dived in. Good.

 This is what he got on his arm. The NL that is the symbol of our city. He likes it. Later on, he can come back and get some more stuff added to it as he thinks about it. His last tattoo on his other arm is like 18 years old so we had to teach him all the aftercare for it. Raymond left to go to Virginia for a week to visit his Mom. Then Fred and I went to Mohegan Sun casino. I just wanted to go. I kept winning on the machines and giving him the money. When it was all said and done...We both gambled for 3 hours, ate at Johnny Rockets, I bought Natalie an eyeliner at Sephora ($20), and coffees for later..Because of my winning money and what I had to start off with..We only spent $10. Pretty cool, huh? We got home at like 1am and I did not get to sleep till 2am.
I am a bit tired.

  Today he is being lazy but first he went with me to the Dunkin Donuts, then I watered at the garden, and then the grocery store. I am making his chicken wing recipe, potato salad, left over pork ribs, and I have collard greens to shred, I have the broth cooking on the stove right now. That takes over an hour. Then I will wash all the damn dishes and start on cleaning the greens, making the salad, etc. Oh, he wants a tossed salad also. So it is going to be a big feast today. He deserves it. He did alot over the years to make this family run. He should get one damn day of relaxation and food!

Okay, gotta go. I really do  have a mountainous amount of shit to accomplish.

Let`s try this again for old times sake

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Low carb eating that is.
   Fred and I need to lose weight and keep that shit off. I talked to a friend of mine online that I have known for many years. She had WLS (weight loss surgery) and lost a couple hundred pounds. And she has kept it off. I wanted to know how because I know people that have had the WLS and they have gained weight back. She eats as much protein as her stomach will allow and she eats low carb. No whites at all. But she told me something different. I can have brown rice. I can have spinach pasta. The meals do not have to be uber boring. So we are going to start the Monday after Father`s day. Fred is getting a tattoo on that Saturday. He and I are going to go out to eat for lunch and dinner on Father`s Day. He said forget the kids. They did not remember MD so only we get to celebrate on his day. I am also waiting till then so that it will give me time to shop for supplies. Nuts, grains, meat, eggs, low carb pasta, brown rice, veggies. I have to compile some recipes for us also so that we can eat. We will probably eat lots of leftovers for lunches to save money at first.
  I needed to be doing this all along and I was given a wake up call by my friend. She is right. I should have not been eating all those whites and crap all these years. She did say as I lose weight, I can have a night where I have some ice cream now and then.
 But never eat another damn potato! No more you loverly spud!

  I do not want to lose Fred to heart disease at an early age and he does not want to lose me too soon to this damn diabetes. Our complacency ends on the 18th of June.
I have already started. I have been back drinking my big glass of tomato or veggie juice every day. It gives me the veg I need and it fills up my stomach so I do not go off and snack.  It is the mid afternoons that I get the hungry horrors. You are bored and you just want to eat every god damn thing in the house that has any fattening value.
I have been able to hold back on that since I lost the 30 lbs but then I never lost anymore. I just go up and down in the same 5 lb range. This is going to kick it into high gear. And it is the perfect time to do it. All the summer fruits and vegs to enjoy in our meals! I am not going to say no to corn completely because I love a nice corn on the cob but I will not do it all the time. Once a month. Next month is when the bread and butter corn comes out (local) and it is dirt cheap. Like 12 for $2. I am going to buy a shitload and can it for the winter. Just normal canned corn. Cut it off the ears, quick blanch, and can. The girls love corn and it would be a sin not to take advantage of it.

 So yeah. I need to look for some different low carb soups, casseroles, and meals. Different ways to make eggs besides hard boiled, fried, scrambled, omelets, and etc. I was thinking of trying a florentine or maybe eggs benedict but without the English muffin. But I have time to work out the kinks. We did not do that the last time. We kind of just went with a modified Atkins, which we are doing now, but it was so rigid that we were starving. We lost weight but we were starving. So we need more proteins, more vegs, and a smidge of low carb from some alternative pastas and rices.

  I also need to start drinking my Metamucil again. I just lost my way and didn't do it anymore. Now my stomach has been hurting again like before. My GP says it is probably irritable bowel. He says the plus of drinking Metamucil is extra fiber, regularity, lower cholesterol, and it fills up your gut so you are not as hungry in the evenings after dinner. Which is true. It is just gross. He even said that it has to be the gritty kind with the psyllium. That is what helps the most. So tonight I will drink my first cup in a couple months.

 Long post huh?
   I have much to do. One part of the Atkins eating is salad. Every week I would fill a large Tupperware bowl with lid with salad stuff. No dressing of course. But lettuce, cucumber, carrots, and broccoli. I would have tomatoes to put in each day. So for every meal we would have either a vegetable or a salad with our meal. In the evenings when we were hungry, we would eat nuts.

If anyone wants to join in, go for it. Just go online to Atkins. Sign up because they will send you a free starter pack with a couple Atkins breakfast/energy bars. You can stick to their diet rules to the letter or modify it like we did. We did not want this to be a *DIET*. We want this to be our new way of eating. So try not to look at it as temporary. Look at it as this is how I am going to live. I am going to lose the excess weight, keep it off, be happy, and eat wonderful meals!

Next topic will be exercise and my fear of hurting my feet again....