Garbage That GOO!

Bogus weigh-in?

I don't trust this new low of 215 pounds!

I believe it is a function of having been sick... and spending too much time on the toilet yesterday. My head cold appears to be actually some other kind of bug. The congestion has eased a little this morning.

My bodyfat reading is up, however, I'm not worried, I'm pretty sure it is because my hydration level is dramatically down. I'm doing my best to get in liquids, but it feels like they do no good. My waist inches are down to an even 41 inches... I don't know if that's the dehydration or not. I checked my upper arm, it is about the same as my last measure.

As for my Traineo button showing pounds yet to lose, that site seems to be revamping its look and my button is no longer working. So I've removed it for the time being. If they enable they blog buttons again, it will probably reappear at some future date.

Anyway, today's the day to clear the car of snow again... and maybe dig out the driveway a little, though hubby is home and might do that for me. I need to get out tomorrow for my root canal, if the dentist is willing to have me in this sickish state. I've got to call and find out.

I'd do some snow pictures, but I'm too cold to care! Maybe later. We are expecting more snow for Christmas!

Hubby says we had a record 7.4 inch snowfall for yesterday!

The slippery sliding slope

Which describes my driveway perfectly right now!

Lots of snow here! I'm hoping I can get the car in and out today for a shopping trip, but the slope part of the driveway is steep and while I tried to shovel, I kept finding myself slipping and I got scared. I am not surefooted on ice and snow! My knee has been very cranky lately.

Sorry for no recent posting... Friday the 12th, we got our tree out of the garage and up to the living room and erected in the tree stand with great travail, just before snow flew. The kitties have loved their tree, which stands there in undecorated splendor. Hopefully, I'll feel like doing something about decorating it soon!

Anyway, I think I overexerted myself or something, but I started coming down with a head cold, which has simply gotten worse, possibly because each time we get a snow storm through, I feel compelled to dig out and mostly clear the car and the driveway. I learned in North Dakota that it only gets to be a worse job if you just keep letting snow accumulate. That and I had last minute online shopping to do.

With the head cold going, I'm feeling dehydrated and not much in diet mode. I had bought assorted treats ahead of time as stocking stuffers and also some candy canes for tree decoration, big mistake, those went down the hatch right after snow blew. There's no junk in the house NOW, but I've still been eating way too many comforting carbs, oatmeal, brown rice, lentils, etc... and not enough veggies or protein.

Oddly, I hit a new low today of 216.6... and it makes NO SENSE! I mean I ate cheddar cheese, almonds, lots of brown rice (w/butter), grapefruit, oatmeal (w/butter), an apple smoothie and a Fajita Pita from Jack in the Box yesterday. I felt bloated from the carbs last night and was dreading the scale. Oh well, it picked up my mood a bit!

Exercise? Other than a bit of snow shoveling, none. Will try to improve on that gradually as I feel better. Looks like more snow is coming tonight or tomorrow and it's gonna be difficult to get out and have my root canal Tuesday. Exercise is not the biggest priority in my book at the moment, at least not until my congestion clears! The fun part... I can't always tell whether it's my nose or my tooth throbbing!

Essentially, I'm just hoping to maintain the status quo and not gain!

The grapefruit have come, the grapefruit have come!

OK, I *was* going to write a post about "The grapefruit are coming, the grapefruit are coming!" as a play off the classic movie "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" that I enjoyed as a child and still enjoy on the rare occasions I see it televised.

But I'm a blog slug... and I didn't get to it until today, though the grapefruit actually arrived Saturday. I guess I should have taken my camera over and gotten a picture of all the grapefruit boxes piled high on the PGG (Pendleton Grain Growers) loading dock. But I didn't. I just grabbed my three boxes and drove home quick so I could slice into one.

Truly though, the arrival of the Texas RioStar grapefruit is something that this native born Texan looks forward to! Every year, a local group of women order a huge pile of grapefruit as a fundraiser for the AAUW (American Association of University Women). Our purchase helps fund the Educational Foundation, Mother-Daughter Choices, and now, a scholarship at BMCC (Blue Mountain Community College). It somehow seems appropriate that I still have and use my mother's old grapefruit knife that she gave me when I moved out (pictured above).

The first time we ordered, my husband sat with a grapefruit half in front of him and asked "Where's the Splenda?" Those of you who have had good Texas ruby grapefruit will understand when I say that I threatened him with my grapefruit knife and told him if he wanted to sweeten his grapefruit, he could go buy one at the store, because he wasn't going to TOUCH any of my Texas grapefruit with sweetener! He then tasted his grapefruit and could see my point, LOL!

Anyway, if you can get some Texas grapefruit... enjoy! Sweet, beautiful and good for you! The nutrition facts make it a great buy! For more grapefruit information than you ever imagined or wanted... check out this link from Vegetarians in Paradise.

Fat Tuesday Confession

I had a big binge Tuesday. Can't say I'm happy about it, but it happened. I'd been to the dentist, because I'd thought I might have a loose filling. It's worse than that though, I'll need a root canal, and the dentist is not entirely sure he can save the tooth, which means if he can't, I'll need an implant.

There's just nothing like getting a ROOT CANAL FOR CHRISTMAS! Yep, the appointment is two days before. Meanwhile, drinking water hurts and I have to chew on the other side of my mouth. Not pleasant.

I also got to find out that most of my old fillings are "past their expiration date", i.e. they have been deformed over the years by chewing and now will soon need replacement. Heck, I even had a tooth that just had a hole in it from where a filling USED TO BE and I'd never noticed when it fell out! So, with the thought of oodles of dentist appointments in the coming new year and bills, I guess I was a little down. And my bad tooth was throbbing a bit.

I came home and just started eating... I had some whole wheat bread in the freezer, got it out, defrosted it and made THREE... yep THREE grilled cheese sandwiches. Very tasty... but WAY TOO MANY CALORIES! Worse, I felt bloated after that, so I didn't get any exercise done and still worse, I coerced hubby into bringing me egg rolls and a shake from Jack In The Box later. Totally a bad eating day.

I ended by just deciding it was a cheat day and that I'd resume on my low carb days following. Which I have. And I put in one heck of a good exercise session Wednesday. But it sure has made a dent in scale progress so far.

1X here I come!

Well, the past week obviously did not go quite as well... I had to post a slight .2 pound gain. I have found it more difficult to get back on track after Thanksgiving than I thought it would be. Still, for the past week, my Omron Body Fat Monitor has several times shown a reading of 38 point something. And though last week wasn't ideal, November has been A-OK for progress.

Chart is from The Hacker's Diet Online... a useful tool for keeping track of weight loss, while canceling out the noise from oddball weigh-ins, like those spike days after my planned cheat days.

I've lost more inches! The day after Thanksgiving, I was debating whether I should order another 2X sized swimsuit on a Black Friday sale. I knew the current suit would only last another month, I never get more than three months out of a suit because of the high chlorine in the gym pool. I hated the thought of buying 2X yet again.

A while back, taking advantage of a close-out sale, I had actually bought a 1X sized swimsuit in the suit style I'd been wearing before this one. So I thought I'd try that on, just in case. Yes, I know what you are thinking... SHEER MADNESS TO TRY A SMALLER SIZE SWIMSUIT AFTER THANKSGIVING!

But guess what? It fit! OK, it was a little tight, but I got it on without too much trouble. And come January, when my current 2X suit is totally worn out, I will finally be wearing 1X!

Talk about incentive to staying on track!

About Thanksgiving…

Hope everyone had a good one!

We went to the Hamley Steakhouse for the Thanksgiving menu as we hadn't been to the restaurant yet and we wanted to see the joint and try out the food. Choice of three entrées... turkey, prime rib and cranberry glazed salmon.

Naturally, I went for the salmon and was not disappointed! OK, I'm a fish person and not particularly traditional! Fixings included green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and a sweet potato soufflé. Every bit of it delicious! We opted to have a local hard cider with our meal.

What I hadn't realized is that the restaurant would offer a plate of small servings of "seconds" to each diner. I hadn't counted on that, and the food was so good I couldn't refuse! Oops! Plus dessert on top of that. I really should have skipped dessert...

We'd heard Hamley's had spent a bundle decorating and we believe it! Very nice interior. You walk in and there is a gorgeous six foot wide Tiffany stained glass chandelier overhead! Dividing the bar area from the dining area, there is an original bank teller wall from a First National Bank that was robbed by Butch Cassidy and Kid Curry. There were beautiful ceilings of stamped tin throughout the whole restaurant. Naturally, they had a Christmas tree up and were playing soft Christmas carols, so our dining was very pleasant and enjoyable.

Other fun included some nifty photos of topless cowpokes sporting six-pack abs in the ladies room! I got hubby to stand guard while I checked out the men's room... they didn't have photos, but there were paintings of topless ladies and a statue! All in good taste! Hubby still can't believe I did that, but inquiring minds wanna know!

Naturally there was a display of Hamley leather wares past and present in the hall leading to the bathrooms, as well as a stupendously huge old antique liquor cabinet. We also went downstairs to peer at the wine cellar through an iron grill door (locked). No wonder... we did a brief glance through the beautifully carved and stamped leather wine menu, there were some quite expensive wines available! Anyway, the cellar was lovely looking, with wine racks made from old wine barrels lining the walls, and a custom-built wooden table in the center that was made from wood left over from the original Hamley's business.

I really enjoyed the dinner... and it quite made up for the fact that on Thanksgiving afternoon, my kitchen sink decided to back up big time! Friday was "call the plumber" day, sigh. I am thankful for a good dinner AND a plumbers on emergency call during holiday weekends!

TRX trainer sale…

More holiday sales!

If you like the idea of having a TRX trainer, Fitness Anywhere is offering a special where everything on their site is 20% off and free ground shipping!

Coupon code is: SAVEBIG08.
Good from November 27th to December 1st.

I couldn't resist getting a couple of the newer DVDs.