Ma and Pa's Blog

Thanks, Lyn and Bob, for another very special Christmas gathering. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and eating and drinking too much. Just wish I’d gone home with the yodeling pickle. ;D

Ma’s out to lunch with her friend, so I made a salad for lunch. The salad was a success — both attractive and tasty. Contents: chicken, celery, scallion, jalapeno, red sweet pepper, tomato, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin. I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.

Gained 4 pounds in two days! Thanks, Paska. Thanks, Kielbasa. Thanks, Ham. Thanks, Bunny Cake. Argh! Who started these traditions, and can he/she be sued? Great weekend, though. Enjoyed every minute.

So we decided we needed to take off some weight, Larry and I. Me more than Larry. But still. Time to get the house in order while there’s still a little bit of skin tone left to keep us from looking too much like shar-pei puppies. Larry found a great app for the iPod called “Lose It” that has become a new hobby round these here parts. After entering your current weight, sex, height, birth date and your target weight, you can choose how much you hope to lose per week (1, 1.5, 2 pounds) and it tells you how many calories a day you need and the date on which you should achieve your goal. And then you enter the food you consume during the day and it calculates the calorie count.

It’s been a revelation, y’all.

We eat a fairly healthy, varied diet and it’s been really frustrating to see the lbs. adding up.  But to actually see what the caloric value of the foods that we shove in our pie-holes during the day–even those healthy “bites”– add up to has been an eye-opener.  Those almonds we roast, unsalted?  I now count out 14 almonds to make a 97 calorie snack.   My glass (or two or three) of wine?  125 calories per.  Shit.  Larry’s peanut butter sandwich-bedtime snack?  Diet buster.  The coconut covered dates we bought at Mustard Seed? 127 freaking calories per.  The vegetarian wrap I had at Mustard Seed? (spinach tortilla, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, avocado, hummus) I figured out was nearly 600 calories thanks to the crazy-high tortilla calorie count. Larry’s platter of California rolls? Equally high (thanks, white rice).  See?  Who knew?  We are already more aware of what we’re consuming and we’ve only been doing this for a few days.

So why am I babbling about this now?  Well, for one thing, I’m done obsessing about my hair:  transition to natural gray is complete.  It is what it is. I’m still looking for a good style, but not obsessing. So I thought if I sort of put this new eating thing out there that I’ll feel more obliged to keep it up.  And I can bitch about it here ‘cuz no one really reads this on a regular basis, anyway.

That’s what we’ve been up to lately.  That and slipping on the dirty-gray ice that has blanketed everything.  Thank the gods the weather’s warming and it should GO AWAY in a day or so. So I’m off to prepare our vegetarian Moroccan Stew tonight, because I’ll be damned if I’ll give up my glass of house red.  If I cut back on the quinoa side dish, I can have two glasses…

Caleb and Owen cooked dinner this evening. Yummy pizza.

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Weather was wonderful, and everyone arrived safely. Caleb and Owen lit up the house . . . at quarter ’til seven each morning, which Jenn says is their routine.    On Saturday, we had a video chat with Jeff, Anna-Marie and Sebastian.   We wish they could have been here in person, but it was great to see Sebastian, Caleb and Owen greeting and entertaining each other on screen (we’re counting down ’til we’re all together this summer).   That evening, after Ma had spent the day preparing food for Sunday, we went to a Hibachi restaurant for dinner. The boys (especially Owen) were a little leery at first, but the chef’s clowning put them at ease. They seem to enjoy their meal, even though it was a little later than usual, and they indicated they’d be willing to go back there. On Easter morning, they were so excited to search for hidden eggs and their baskets. They even sneaked an early peek to make sure the Easter Bunny had visited; we think it was just before wake up, but it could have been earlier. Now the house is quiet, and we’re observing a day of rest and recovery and warm memories.

The first sunny day in the 50′s for a good while, and we took advantage of it — in our small way.  We went to the French Coffee Shop for lunch.  Then we visited Stein Mart and Mustard Seed, then continued on to Sears, Aurora Farms and Aldi. Do we know how to live, or what!? I guess being out in the sun in light or no coats made it all feel quite invigorating. Now we’re waiting for pizza to come out of the oven — spinach, goat cheese, onion, mushroom, garlic, and walnut on whole wheat crust. It’s beginning to smell pretty good in here.  While we wait,  Mom’s enjoying some wine  and I have a Great Lakes beer (Dortmunder Gold) from Mustard Seed. Hope you’re all having a day as good as ours — full of things YOU enjoy

We had a great day for the Thanksgiving gathering yesterday — sunny and just cool enough to dissipate some of the heat from the kitchen.    Rain had been predicted, but it held off until overnight — when it came down as snow!   Now it does feel like Christmas is just around the corner.    Caleb said, “Today’s the first day of Winter!  When we get home we need to get our Christmas tree up.”

First Snow 2009

It’s been a good year and we have much that we’re thankful for. In a few hours we’ll sit down for the annual feast, and in a few hours and a few minutes we’ll declare how we over-indulged yet again. Then, hopefully, we’ll embark on another year that’s as good as this one has been.