gallavant

Well, I just got back from the first meeting of the 9:01 club.  For those of you who don’t know what that is, the pool where I live is clothing optional after 9:00 -  Wow!  I feel fantastic.  Just laid back on my floatie and watched the stars & the moons of several of my friends.  Helps me to realize - it’s just a body - and mine works so I’m grateful.

Joined the Georgia Mountain volunteer fire department - they are interested in training first responders, especially females, to go out on their calls - I’m really enjoying it.  I’m learning basic first aid & CPR - then we get to learn hazmat - then actual fire fighting.  I’ve also enrolled in several BLS classes at work.  I think it will be a good challenge for me and a good way to give back to this community which has come to matter so much to me. Ernie, the man who owns the marina where I live, suggested that I join - he thinks I’d be good at it - and I suspect he’s probably right.  Even if I do totally choke & don’t have what it takes at least I will have gained some valuable skills - and sailing and being on the water those are skills that could very well come in handy. 

The scale’s still stuck - but I’m still working on it.  Pfft.

Loving my garden, ya’ll.  I picked my first cucumber this morning and had it for breakfast.  The tomatoes are looking good - going to have squash out my ears - and thought that I would try purple hull peas - love them.  I really encourage people to get their hands in some dirt and grow food - eating what I grow is so satisfying to me - sharing what I grow even more so.  I grew a whole row of chard - I don’t really like chard, but I have two friends that do - thus, a row of chard.  I have the most beautiful lettuce - I plant a spring mix instead of a flower bed.  Herbs are weeds and grow well where nothing else does - thus basil, oregeno, parsley, lavender, & rosemary go where I can’t get anything to grow.  Even if you live in an apartment, they make special hanging pots so that you can grow tomatoes & strawberries.  Herbs grow in pots. 

I have noticed that women tend to nurture people with food - depressed?  I’ll have  a pint of Ben & jerry’s on your doorstep before you know it.  Loving a man?  cook him up an apple pie and some fried chicken.  New  to the neighborhood?  Have a platter of brownies.  Sick?  Well - chicken soup will do the trick.  

So, where are my thoughts leading?  To the potluck dinner, of course.    Came thru w/ flying colors - I share office space with some very caring women.  There was a home made keylime pie.  Two crockpots full of bbq meatballs.   Homemade potato salad.  And while I did not eat very much of it I complimented the hell out of it.  It ain’t the food that needs acknowledged, it’s the cook and the love that went into the preparation of the food that needs attention.  No one noticed that I had a plate full of fruit and salad with one of each kind meatball.  All I had to do was state that I love homemade key lime pie - that everyone loves rotel chili dip - and where did you get the receipt for the strawberry glaze layer cake w/ cream cheese frosting.  The fresh strawberries and peaches that I brought were enjoyed, and it warmed my heart to see people eat it - even if it was simple.  So why not return the feeling?  Mean time, I’m down two pounds.

Well, made it back from the North Alabama Scottish Festival.  Boat did great, stayed at a beautiful marina in Scottsboro, Goose Pond Colony - and really enjoyed the festival.  I have a thing for bagpipes, what can I say.  Hope to have pics on my profile page soon.   Stayed away from the food vendors - there was a booth called the Frying Scottsman that sold, and I am not kidding, Fried Snickers Bars.  And Haggis & chips.  Fried hardboiled eggs - ugh!!!!  In 95+ degree heat.  Nauseating.   

I’m originally from Colorado, and was fortunate enough to land in Alabama about 15 years ago.  I really love it here - but the food here is a nutritionists nightmare.  I worked my way thru college in a redneck diner and learned about the south and the glory that is southern cooking while working there.   I discovered that I really love the South and southern cooking - Fried Green Tomatoes, real coleslaw with mayo & sugar, fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits and gravy.  Everthing is prepared with some mixture of sugar, salt, and fat.  Squash is fried.  There was a place down the road where I used to live that actually sold hamburgers, battered, and then deep fat fried.  Turnip greens are cooked with pork fat.  Same with beans.  Macaroni & Cheese is a vegetable here.  It’s rare to find a place to eat that isn’t an ”All You Can Eat Buffet”.  I could eat like that when I was chain smoking,  younger, and running myself ragged working & going to school, trying to raise a family - but the moment I got a desk job & put down the smokes - and turned 40 - well, hello biscuit butt. 

I have no tolerance for it anymore.  I know how to eat right - so I will.  Two more days till I weigh in.  Hoping to be anywhere below where I am now.

Hi ya’ll;

Weird day -  Today was birthday time in the office.  I have the good fortune to work with a woman who is a wonderful cook - and she brought in a lemon poppyseed bundt cake that was like heaven.  Then we all went out for lunch - Mexican.  Two weaknesses I have - Mexican food and cake - so here’s how I handled it.  I did eat the cake - and I’m so glad I did because it was really really good.  One slice.  At lunch, I had a grilled chicken salad with black bean salsa, fresh pico,  real chipolte ranch dressing and pepperjack cheese (deprivation not my thing) wow, good stuff.  O.k, what I wanted was the Enchalada Platter - with extra sour cream - but I do recall the statement “nothing tastes as good as thin feels” - so that worked.  When the late afternoon munchies set in, I thought about the cake - I looked at my Wasa Whole Grain Crisp bread & peanut butter - I took a deep breath and - - - ate my crispbread.   Worked out like a fiend after work - 20 minutes rowing, biking, treadmill & elliptical for a total of 80 minutes of powerful fat burning cardio.  Bye Bye Cake.

Here’s my 15 seconds - totally surreal - I’m back at my desk, getting into the work groove, got my XM getting ready to hear Dr. Laura give em hell and - - - she read the blog I posted yesterday - on the air.  Cheeze Whiz.  I thought only ya’ll read this stuff, you know,   folks like me who need to drop a few & need a little encouragement to keep going - it was bizzare.  Anyway, I called my mom - told her to call my conservative uncle and tell him about it cause he’ll be so proud.  The rest of the family will probably disown me.

Other personal stuff:  Still getting ready for my trip Scottish festival up the TN river.  I’m thinking of loading up the boat Thursday night rather than Friday morning - it’s going to be hotter than blue blazes on Friday, and I’m thinking leaving EARLY Friday might be best - beat the heat.  There should be wind from a favorable direction, so I should be able to sail/ motor sail for a chunk of the trip.  I’m thinking haggis might be the perfect diet food - much like spam, too revolting to eat.   Looking forward to the music & the piping - bummed that the grandkids won’t be there - my mom & dad & daughter & son in law have no desire to drive the guys up in the heat & they are too young to come with me on the boat.

Ya’ll are the gravy on my grits.  Be blessed.

O.k., I confess - I’ve just started listening to Dr. Laura in the afternoons on XM at my desk.  She’s said some not so nice things about extra curvy people - still and all, today she said something that made sense to me - a curvy person called her and asked how she stayed motivated to work out - her answer?  Motivation has nothing to do with it - she does not get up and feel excited about working out  - BUT SHE DOES IT ANYWAY.  It’s not motivation, it’s just what she does because she has to do it.  I beleive the word she used was “grit”.  I would like to get there - make taking the stairs like brushing my teeth - just do it because it needs doing.  So when I left work today after a one hour commute and ten hours behind my desk and didn’t “feel” like going to the gym - had no “motivation” to do so I thought to myself - yeah, I have no motivation today - none zero zap zilch - but I do have plenty of grit.  And that is what got me to the gym - and boosted my normal workout.

Then there is this site - which is motivating to me - I have a buddy that I report to every day about how many flights of stairs I took - and that really does keep me from taking the elevator.  It also helps me to keep fitness and health as an active part of my life instead of as an afterthought. 

My final thought - grit alone ain’t enough - but sometimes it’s all you have - so use it.  Motivation is the gravy on the grit(s).  I’m a hefty girl - I really like gravy a lot.  So I’m really glad I’m here.

It’s ______ and exercise - the magic non-wormknuckle formula to weight loss.  I’ve been avoiding that part of the puzzle - I like healthy food -  in fact today I had plain non fat yogurt for breakfast w/ frozen cherries and I really liked it -  also really enjoyed my veggie burger on one piece of whole wheat bread - liked my fresh carrots and celery sticks -   will probably have a bag of 100 caolorie popcorn later tonight for snack - but that doesn’t make up for the days when I make not so good choices - too much of too bad - No, a chocolate bar is not satan, cake is not evil, and an occasional fried thing does not need to end my quest for thighs that don’t rub together -  but the amounts of those things and the frequency with wich I consume them is troublesome.  When in the cafeteria at work, I will go in with every intention of grabbing a box of fat free milk to put on my kashi cereal - but when the smell of BACON hits me, frequently, the Kashi goes by the wayside.  Eggs, biscuits, bacon, hashbrowns.  mmmmm.  Same with lunch -  yeah, baked fish & steamed broccoli is always a good option - but there’s mac & cheese (it’s a vegetable in the South) - fried chicken - peach cobbler.  Needless to say I do better when I avoid the cafeteria.

When in doubt, look at the size of the butts in the line - salad bar, little butts, mac & cheese fried chicken line, not so much.

Guess I’d better suck it up and set some limits.  Fat breakfast once a week, fine - five days a week, NO.  Baked fish with mac & cheese?  Better than Fried Chicken with.  Practice moderation.  It’s what I’ll think about over the weekend.