March (Stop the) Madness

Mihani

I couldn't think of anything better for a title! I don't think many of us are truly mad, but we might be verging now and again lol. Who was that bald gal who did the Stop the Madness thing, she was a big fitness/diet person way back. 80's maybe?

Anyway, I am working on doing a strict 6 week plan style of diet for the next two weeks, but my debit card numbers got skimmed somewhere and over $1,000 was taken from my account which will be put back but it made it impossible to go buy groceries this week so far. I hope it is back in there tomorrow. This happened to me several months ago and this is a new debit card, so I am really suspicious now. I made a police report this time at the suggestion of my bank.

My goals this month are to continue on with more veggies and beans and fruit, I've really enjoyed the past few weeks of eating better. My cravings are under control now yay! And more consistent treadmill.

Lia the baby girl clothes are so cute! Getting closer all the time.

y'all

liapr

Yay thanks for starting the new thread, Mihani! I love the name actually, haha, it's kinda perfect for our group!

Ahhhh I can't believe it happened again with the bank!! Argghhhhhhhh. Not fair. Glad you noticed it right away though. Awesome that your cravings are better these days too, woohoo!

My goal for march is more greens! Even green smoothies, just to make it easier to get them in

Mihani

Lia, after the last time I set up my bank to text me every time my debit card is used, so I got a text right away and was able to call the bank and shut down the card, but what a PITA! I don't know why these people who are so clever at stealing things can't get a real job.

I'm still humming along eating fairly well but not as close to 80% ETL as I would like. I am making tofu scramble again tonight. I love this recipe, it's so tasty, and I add more greens and peppers. minimalistbaker.com/southwest-tofu-scramble/

I had a problem with ants the past two years, and with the mild winter it has already started this year. I may have to call in a professional. In the meantime I have ant bait traps all over the place! A couple of my neighbors have mentioned to me they are seeing more ants and having trouble with them, so I don't know what is going on in this neighborhood. I hate ants! I have a bad feeling fleas are also going to be a problem this summer.

B - sprouted grain toast with avocado
L - Amy's burrito
D - tofu scramble
S - some blue corn chips, Silk yogurt

whats_her_name

Good morning, and Happy March!

I had a false start, but I'm gonna go all out starting tomorrow.
My goals for the next 2 weeks:
- get groceries, and PLAN AHEAD
- smoothie every day for bfast
- veggies and hummus/guac or a big salad every day for lunch
- planned afternoon snacks still tbd --> this is my danger time when I tend to overeat bad foods
- veggie stirfries, soups and bowls for suppers - light on the starchy carbs
- at least 45 minutes of exercise (swimming or treadmill) every single day.

I'm going to commit to this plan for 2 weeks at a time. Larger goals seem too unattainable and I tend to flake out. So just 2 weeks. March 4 - March 17th. Will see how it goes and tweak it at that time.

liapr

great idea, Karrie, I like bite-sized goals too (no pun intended). They're easier to accomplish! I'm going to try that for next week. Like I will have at least three green smoothies for breakfast next week.

Mihani, I had an amy's burrito last night! I wish they were bigger lol. So annoying about the ants... My client today said they are having a racoon issue, which is early for this time of year, but one actually dug a whole into his roof (throwing off shingles in the process). Of course 1 week before closing lol. I think raccoons are the cutest though, but I don't have them in my neighbourhood, so I can afford to be biased lol.

I'm hoping to have time to food prep this weekend on Sunday before the prenatal course. I have been really enjoying my soups lately. I made a yummy rice dish last week too, but I think I should try something else or else I get sick of things too quickly. What dishes are you guys making this weekend?

Mihani

Karrie, yes to planning ahead! If I don’t have stuff ready to go and easy go-to meals, it’s nearly impossible. Do I recall you had a guitar recital? How did that go? Do you have any ideas for your afternoon snacks? I love apples with a little peanut butter, but too often I reach for the blue corn chips. I think I will make some hummus this weekend too, that’s always good with raw veggies.

Lia, I agree raccoons are cute, but they are dangerous and destructive too. Can’t wait to hear how your class goes tomorrow. How are you feeling these days? The Amy’s things are good in a pinch, but I do wish I had time to always cook for myself. It’s so much better.

Carla, I think we've lost you to the loom! How are you doing?

I made the OSG chili and some cornbread last night. I have lots of leftovers. I just remembered I bought some chard last week, hope it is still good, if so I will make the recipe I wanted to try when I bought it. Work is so crazy that I am going to have to rely heavily on Trader Joe’s frozen stir-fry with brown rice for dinners this week. I do need to replenish my salad fixin’s so I will stop tomorrow on the way home from the office for lettuce and veggies, get them prepped tomorrow evening. I only stayed at the office about 5 hours today, and should have put in a much longer day, but I am so burned out. Sigh.

B – 2 slices of sprouted grain avocado toast
L – nothing
D – leftover chili and cornbread
S – lara bar

Mihani

Put in a much longer and more productive day yesterday, my boss didn't come in yay! So I had uninterrupted time to work on things. Good day today, got through some more stuff. It's just really weighing on me, so much to do. It makes me want to eat junky food! LOL

But doing my best...

B - amazing grass shaken with some hemp milk and water, a slice of whole wheat toast with PB
L - Amy's pad thai
D - the last of the leftover chili and cornbread
S - skinny pop and some blue corn chips

Going to bed super early tonight. I brought some work home to do but I think I'm better off getting to bed and hit the office by 6 a.m. I feel like people are disappointed in me lately, that I'm not giving their cases the attention they deserve. It makes me feel sad and inadequate. I try to prioritize, but everything is a priority.

Sabine_Stroehm

As always, I love the thread title. I'm currently re-re-re-reading The End of Dieting. Always good to have reminders!

whats_her_name

I plan to re-read ETL soon too. When I have time. (HA!)

This morning I'm having a booster juice smoothie (kale-mango) with hemp and I got protein crunch pumpkin snacks - ohmigosh they are soooo good!! 10g of protein in 7 pieces. Yummy!

Lunch I will be trying the osg cauliflower lentil curry stew from the cookbook (can't remember the name of it). I made it last night, but I didn't try it yet because I always enjoy the flavours more on the 2nd day...

Supper will be salad, I think. I'm undecided. Might do the veggies & hummus. See how I feel.

I just dropped kitty off at the vet to get neutered. My DD is stressed out about it. He was really calm though, so I think he'll be fine.

I did have a guitar recital before xmas. I got really nervous and started shaking and made some mistakes because my hands were hitting the wrong strings because I was so shaky. I felt like an idiot, but my teacher, my family and even 2 random strangers told me I did a beautiful job (I played an arpeggio version of Silent Night). In May I've got another recital. I'm playing Spanish Romance. Google it, because it's beautiful! I know a little more than 2/3 of the song so far and I love it. I practice it on repeat. So far my family hasn't complained and my daughter hums along...

I did my treadmill workout last night (I really should remember to log that into MFP - but I never get back online in the evenings!) I love my Zombies, Run! App. It really makes the time go by quickly, and I look forward to the next episode to find out what happens next!

Back to losing weight this morning. Yay!

Carla_wfpb

Oops! Yes, Mihani, you were right...I was lost to the loom hahah. Actually, more accurately, lost to the crafts. I came to the sudden realization that if I could weave, there's no reason why I can't learn to crochet or knit online, too. I had this crazy mental block up until this point. So I picked up a ball of yarn I had kicking around and crocheted a slipper using a youtube tutorial! I'm out of yarn so there's only one slipper LOL I also decided to learn to knit, so I ordered a kit (on sale for half off) for knitting 3 different sock patterns. Aside from the socks and slippers, I'm weaving up some cotton & linen dish towels. They are made with a super fine yarn and it took quite a while to set the loom up. I have a few twisted yarns that have me ready to pull my hair out, but once that is settled, it should be easy. After that I'm going to weave a wool rug for my entryway. I'm trying not to add anything else to this list, but my mom wants a scarf similar to the one I made myself and I sense a lot of requests coming up for slippers, too.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up here. I've been making a lot of hummus lately and trying to have it with veggies as often as I do with bread. A struggle. I've had too many Amy's burgers. LOL All of a sudden this sounds like I'm in an ETL confession booth listing my sins. Suffice to say, I have sinned.

Here's the kitchen towel project on the loom. I'll be doing the same 3 greens in the opposite direction, making squares of color.

Mihani

Let us know how the recipe turns out Karrie. Sounds like you did great at the recital. I think we notice the mistakes more than other people do. I used to play piano and guitar, I was never great but I enjoyed it. Poor kitty, hope he recovers quickly. I seem to recall the boy cat was okay that evening. The girl went up and got on my bed and barely moved for about 24 hours.

Carla WOW... that is some project you have going there! It looks so fun. I can knit, but I've only made a couple scarves with a straight stitch. I don't do anything fancy. I like your confessional... I think you should say 10 Hail Marys and eat a pound of kale.

Today was crazy... got a lot done, but at 2:30 I was just getting back to the file I started on at 7:30 and had to abandon by 8:00 because of all the interruptions and crises. Left pretty reasonably on time because I need to do laundry and I'm going to be stuck late tomorrow.

B - amazing grass with hemp milk and water
L - never had time for real lunch, just ate a handful of blue corn chips several times through the day... not wise but lower overall calories than some things I could do
D - big ol' salad, I think I'll do "taco" salad with black beans, mango, avocado, onion and salsa

I need to do better tomorrow. When I'm all over the place like this it is just setting myself up for a bad few days of overeating.

Carla_wfpb

Tough, but fair, Mihani I will have the pound of kale in smoothie form, but instead of Hail Marys, I think I will do some cleaning...I see in the above photo that it is starting to get messy around here!

Karrie you do such an amazing job when you're all fired up. Nice work on the exercise and congrats on more weight loss!

No big ETL news around here, just checking in and saying hi because I lub you all

Mihani

Actually, I meant to mention Carla, I love your kitchen. Looks roomy, as well as functional and pretty.

Crazy day, secretary was off and we had clients all day. I stayed a little late, then my boss forced me to go have a drink with him lol. Just had one glass of wine and came on home. Still need to eat a little something and do a couple chores before bed.

B - amazing grass shaken with water
L - skipped it again, ate some skinny pop and way too many little peanut butter pretzel nuggets throughout the day
D - probably a pita with some hummus and lots of veggies
S - aforesaid glass o' wine

I gotta get back at it... I kind of fell off after the party last weekend and having trouble getting back into my groove. I have a party Friday night, then I'm going 6 week plan for a couple weeks.

liapr

Carla I was also going to say, your kitchen is beautiful lol. And super clean! So funny. The loom looks SO cool!!!! I am in awe. Also, how do you just pick up crocheting so quickly?!?! I still have not done anything with my ball of yarn lol. I'm the worst.

Mmmm glass of wine sounds delish right now Mihani (and it's 10am, yikes). Glad he forced you to have a little breather. I actually went for lunch with another female lawyer in town yesterday and it was actually so nice to have a real midday break and laugh.

Karrie, how is your kitty doing? It's always so sad taking pets in because you can't warn or reassure them!! Or they don't believe you anyway lol. Awesome to hear about your zombies again. It feels like spring suddenly! Hehe.

We got to do our prenatal classes this weekend and they were kind of amazing! I loved learning about stuff. I have already been reading but it was nice to hear the dumbed down "this is what actually happens" and all the funny details that aren't in books. It made me a little more excited and anxious and also feel like I'm a little more prepared for now. I am due exactly two months today and I just really want her to wait until May to come lol.

whats_her_name

Kitty had a bad day on Tuesday. First, he had only 1 descended, so they had to get the other one through the abdomen. So he has 2 incisions instead of just one. Then, we got him home and he had a couple little naps and cuddles. All was going well. Then my daughter decided to have a bath, and he jumped up on the ledge to see the water pour in (he likes to do that), but he was still loopy from the medicine so he overshot it and ended up in the bath. He jumped out as fast as he could, and then he was running around trying to find a good place to dry off. Poor guy. I was chasing him around with a towel trying to catch him and calm him down. Took awhile. But finally when I caught him I was able to dry him off and cuddle him for awhile. I felt so bad for him. I had to google animals getting their stitches wet; happens quite a bit, as it turns out. So at least that reassured me. I've been watching his incisions very carefully and he's healing well. Thank goodness. Poor guy.

He's such a sweetie though that he just takes it all in stride. Ten minutes later, he's on my lap purring and enjoying his cuddle. I'm so glad he's so easygoing. I love him to bits.

It's been one of those weeks where all the best intentions are completely irrelevant.

The OSG cauliflower lentil indian stew/soup (I can't think of what it's called right now, but it's from the original cookbook) is really yummy. I still think I like the red lentil and kale soup better, but this is definitely a good one to put into the rotation.

Every single night I have been cooking/cleaning/etc all night and I haven't been able to sit down at the end of the day until somewhere between 8:45 and 9:30pm every single night. Did I mention that it's been every single night??? Ugh. I am pretty crabby right now. I NEED to just park my butt on the couch tonight and binge on Netflix.

I'm working on a pair of socks right now. I'll share them when they're done.

Sabine_Stroehm

whats_her_name wrote: »

I plan to re-read ETL soon too. When I have time. (HA!)

This morning I'm having a booster juice smoothie (kale-mango) with hemp and I got protein crunch pumpkin snacks - ohmigosh they are soooo good!! 10g of protein in 7 pieces. Yummy!

Lunch I will be trying the osg cauliflower lentil curry stew from the cookbook (can't remember the name of it). I made it last night, but I didn't try it yet because I always enjoy the flavours more on the 2nd day...

Supper will be salad, I think. I'm undecided. Might do the veggies & hummus. See how I feel.

I just dropped kitty off at the vet to get neutered. My DD is stressed out about it. He was really calm though, so I think he'll be fine.

I did have a guitar recital before xmas. I got really nervous and started shaking and made some mistakes because my hands were hitting the wrong strings because I was so shaky. I felt like an idiot, but my teacher, my family and even 2 random strangers told me I did a beautiful job (I played an arpeggio version of Silent Night). In May I've got another recital. I'm playing Spanish Romance. Google it, because it's beautiful! I know a little more than 2/3 of the song so far and I love it. I practice it on repeat. So far my family hasn't complained and my daughter hums along...

I did my treadmill workout last night (I really should remember to log that into MFP - but I never get back online in the evenings!) I love my Zombies, Run! App. It really makes the time go by quickly, and I look forward to the next episode to find out what happens next!

Back to losing weight this morning. Yay!

I'm listening to it on my walks and runs. That's my "reading" these days!

Mihani

Glad you enjoyed your classes, Lia. Two months! That is going to go fast. Have you got your energy back?

Aww Karrie, poor kitty. Glad he’s doing okay. Hope you got your R&R evening.

I actually took yesterday off. I napped quite a lot, did some cleaning, prepped salad stuff. Made a roasted veggie pita pizza for dinner that was really good. I haven’t been feeling all that great lately, seem to be on the verge of a cold.

All stocked up on veggies and such for this week. Heading to the office today.

Carla_wfpb

Mihani! I love that you took a day off. Napping and prepping sounds like a good way to spend it. I hope you've managed to fight off the cold.

Karrie, I'm knitting socks, too. My first pair. Only they are only about 3 inches done because I have to keep redoing them. Is knitting supposed to be that much harder than crochet? With crochet, there's only one open loop to worry about and things just seem to work out. I was a little too eager with my knitting socks plan, because not only am I taking the 'my first socks' class with Lucy Neatby on Craftsy, I also bought a kit to do 3 more pairs! All different patterns.

Lia, your due date is suddenly so close! I'm glad the class was interesting and you learned new info. Do you have people treating you differently with your baby bump? Lots of extra smiles and comments? Is your office ready to do without you for a while?

I think I've dropped a few pounds, not that I've been weighing myself. It is mostly because of my gallbladder being sensitive. I'm off the deep end making things and if there's nothing easy to eat, I just don't bother. I have so many projects to do that I had to make a list.

Mihani

Hey y'all... been super busy this week, even for me. Will be scarce until the weekend. Doing the best I can, but no prep time so mostly hummus and veggie pita pockets.

whats_her_name

Kitty is doing well. He's healing. Thank goodness. I was so worried there'd be an infection!

Carla, that is ambitious of you to get all those sock kits; sounds like me!! If you have any questions, fire me a PM. If you're on Ravelry, add me as a friend; I'm wbmommy.

Lia! Are you counting down the days yet?!?!

Gotta run...

Mihani

Hey y'all... things have been tense the past few days. I didn't want to mention yesterday because I wasn't sure what was happening, but my uncle was in ICU and he passed early this morning. Have to drive out of state about 3 hours each way to get to the funeral so I'm going to be working like a crazy woman to get some stuff done and take a day off. Probably won't check in again until next week.

whats_her_name

So sorry for your loss, Mihani. Take care & drive safe.

liapr

Hi guys,

Mihani - oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle What day is the funeral scheduled? I hope it's okay and not crazy work-wise, you don't need that on top of everything else. Hopefully one of your colleagues will offer a little extra help to cover you

Aww Karrie sorry to hear about your little kitty, but I was also hearing his sweet purring in my head. Hope he's almost back to his normal self now! Poor little guy, they're so defenseless. I am nearly counting the days now! It's crazy, less than 8 weeks now. I can't believe how fast it's going. I'm starting to totally freak also lol. Panicking a bit about leaving work behind (even though fortunately my Dad says he isn't worrying about me being gone) and also just at the idea that my life will do a total 180 shortly lol. It's such a funny concept. How were your labours, Karrie?

Carla, you're always so ambitious lol. Glad to hear about the happy coincidence about the weight too! Not about the gallbladder though. Are you noticing it improving at all lately?

Thinking about you guys! Especially since I need more greens in my daily life lol. xo

Carla_wfpb

Mihani, I am so sorry to hear about your uncle Safe travels. *big hug*

Karrie, thanks for the offer of help! I love your projects on ravelry! I might be asking you about some of them in the future if you don't mind. I started my sock over from scratch and did a much better job of the cuff and leg. I'm about to re-embark on the heel.

Lia, it is great that your dad is ready to handle things and you won't need to worry about work. I can't imagine how it would feel to be in your shoes right now. I am so excited and happy for you!

My gallbladder hasn't been triggered in a while, so it is getting better. I'm happy about that. I really don't want to have to have it removed.

I can see little signs of spring all around on our property, and I'm starting to look forward to setting up our garden and cleaning up our yard after a crazy winter. So many branches came down around the property, and many are so large that we need to buy a chainsaw so we can chop them up and fit them in the pickup.

I'm also ready to be able to work in the shop with the garage doors open as I paint.

Still 3 more kitchen towels to weave and then hem. To reduce yarn waste, all towels are done one after the other without removing them from the loom. It does reduce yarn waste but it also makes for a long wait before you can see how things have really turned out!

whats_her_name

liapr wrote: »

How were your labours, Karrie?

You don't wanna know. JK. I had back labour with my DD (all the pain was in my back). It was long, too. The first baby usually takes longer for your body to do everything it needs to do. I started having contractions about 11pm. Nothing serious, so I *tried* to sleep. (ha!) Went to the hospital in the morning, and they checked me and then sent me home. I wasn't dilated enough. About 1pm, I started having REAL contractions (ouch!) and then went back to the hospital soon after that. But my daughter wasn't born until 10:40pm!! It was a very long 24 hours, but you really do forget the pain almost as soon as you see that sweet little face.

My son was a totally different story. All the pain was in the bottom front of my belly, and I thought I would rip open (think: Alien). My contractions started right around 9am, and he was born by 12:30. Yikes! The speed made it really hard to stay focused and calm. It was a whirlwind!!

But I'd have 2 more if I could... Can't convince the DH, though...

whats_her_name

CarlaEnsink wrote: »

Karrie, thanks for the offer of help! I love your projects on ravelry! I might be asking you about some of them in the future if you don't mind. I started my sock over from scratch and did a much better job of the cuff and leg. I'm about to re-embark on the heel.

Thanks! Feel free to ask away; I'm on ravelry a lot (too much!) The community on there is SO helpful when you have questions - I LOVE it!!

Mihani

Been a rough few days... I sort of let myself sink into grief and work is still really busy and stressful so I was sort of in and out of rational lol. I am better now. I was really wondering if I should even go to the funeral with all the stuff going on at work, but I realized that my guilt of not seeing family at this time would outweigh the guilt of not working on Sunday. The work guilt and stress is perpetual anyway.

My food has been erratic. Not even worth going into. Either not eating or eating junky stuff, but dinners have been decent... hummus wraps. Boss leaves for vacation in 3 more days so we're going to remain super busy until then, but then maybe I can have some breathing room and catch up a bit. So I may be a bit scarce still the next few days. Going to plan a cooking marathon and restock my freezer soups and make some other things this weekend.

I have some work to finish tonight that I brought home so I best be off.

Carla_wfpb

It sounds so stressful for you right now, Mihani. I hope you can fit it all in and manage to hang in there.

The weather has been much nicer here lately and suddenly it is spring! I think I'm going to have to change gears and start spending some time working in the yard. It is healthier but after a long winter it is hard to get back into it. I have so many indoor projects that I'm in the middle of and many more that I still want to do.

My birthday is tomorrow and tonight we're going out for dinner with with Joe's dad and his dad's wife. They are treating us at one of my favorite places to eat. It is right on the harbor with fantastic views and excellent food.

I have to run. I'm doing some boring data entry work and I have to push through it so I'm not stuck doing it tomorrow.

liapr

Happy birthday, CARLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay that is awesome. What delicious food are you going to have tonight? It's my Mom's birthday on Sunday so we are doing celebrations tomorrow night actually. Hope you have a nice night out, you deserve it

It's funny, I don't nearly have the same property as you Carla and I was thinking about how nice it was to get out of the habit of doing any yard work lol. And how busy the weekends still feel! I guess it's like anything. I have been trying to say yes to lots of social things while it's still a bit easier to but I find I am feeling super burned out, and I just want to hibernate at home again.

Mihani, sorry to hear it's been such a crap couple of weeks. Ugh. I hope you get to fit in that cooking marathon too, just to feel like you're on top of the food stuff is a nice feeling. Also fit in some relaxation time though too. You really need it! Self care, self care, self care... lol.

Karrie thanks for sharing your labour stories! I find it interesting to hear them, even though they are SO varied from woman to woman, so really the end lesson is that there is no planning for anything lol. Our instructor told us that for baby #1, the average labour time is 18 hours. Kill me now lol. It's worth it, right?!?!

It's nice and a bit warmer here now too! It puts me in an instant better mood, just knowing that the worst of winter seems to be behind us (even though it was much better than usual for us). Hope you guys all have nice weekends with some down time and sun!

Mihani

Okay I made it through the week! I am not going to the office tomorrow, at least I don’t think so. I will decide in the morning, but I’m honestly exhausted. I went to the grocery on the way home and got lots of veggies and fruit. I always have rolled oats, beans, canned diced tomatoes, etc. around so I’m good there, but I’m prepped to go full on 6 week plan strict ETL starting Sunday. Tonight I’m making the OSG black bean butternut squash burritos. I have been craving them! So good, and pretty ETL friendly other than a little daiya and a tiny bit of olive oil. I have made them without the daiya and still really good, but I’m adding it tonight. I also add chopped kale which isn’t in the original recipe.

My family here wasn’t able to go to the funeral but we did make the calling hours last Sunday. I was overwhelmed at the number of people who were there to pay respects, the line never diminished in 4 hours. It made me think about you don’t have to be a big wheel to have a big impact on your community. My uncle was much loved by a lot of people, including me.

I will catch up more on your posts tomorrow. I want to stay home and work on laundry, cleaning, prepping veggies for the next few days. I think some napping and reading will be on the agenda as well.

Mihani

Karrie, hope your kitty is doing better.

Lia, so glad your dad is supportive of you being away from work. It is coming up so fast now.

Carla, congrats on the weight loss. How are the socks coming along? Happy belated birthday!! Hope you had a nice dinner.

I stayed home yesterday, did a little cooking, lots of reading and napping, some laundry, a little dog hair removal from the floors. I read something the other day that labs only shed twice a year… January to June, and July to December. That is so true!

Went to the office today for about 5 hours, got through some stuff. Still a long way to go but I have all week plus Saturday to do some catching up while the boss is gone. Going to finish a little more laundry and prep my salad fixins’ for the week. I have beets and carrots to run through the shredder, and need to clean and chop romaine.