oh I love the theme for this month! TY!

I am grateful for Brooks, my health and my dogs. also thankful for Ka’Chava vanilla vegan protein powder. Starts my day off right. I add ice, water and a tsp of instant coffee.

Went to my favorite Puerto Rican restaurant after a morning of walking dogs, swimming and yoga. was starving by 1:30. i get sides of bean, rice and sautéed vegetables. mix it in a bowl. comfort food. my comfort food use to be mac and cheese but now beans, rice, quinoa and veggies. Maybe with sweet potatoes.

My sister who is keto and swears that it is the healthiest diet since beginning of time…her cholesterol was 300! 😳🙀🙀🙂😞 She went back on a statin. She was all excited about visiting my oldest sister for xmas. She is 75 and I haven’t seen her in 10 years. the last 3 times i did see her we drove or flew. I stated I felt disappointed that if I wanted to see my family I had to be the one to travel. She said that was because I was younger than them. I stated my mil when she was in her 90’s visited us in Italy. Then she stated it was because she couldn’t afford to visit me. 😳. she lived in Albuquerque and tickets to SA are less than $200. She kept telling me I had no right to feel that way. I know we don’t have a good relationship but I felt very dismissed by her. As if my feelings were not important.
Sigh, thank God for friends, dogs and nature.

Howdy all... heading to the office again today. I think one of the other gals is coming in as well so hopefully we can get a little bit caught up. I am really having trouble with managing stress right now and going to work on my routine to carve out time for relaxing activities and exercise. I'm sticking with the morning treadmill but that's generally the only real physical activity I get all day and I need to start adding another walk or strength training or yoga etc. in the evenings. Plus maybe dig out my knitting or look for some fun new books to read.

Bisky, glad you are taking the sister friction in stride. When do you leave for Alaska?

Nanc, when do you find out about Lulu's tests?

Never got around to making the soup and wanted to use the bag of little potatoes before they rotted so I am just boiling them this morning. I can eat a few with my steamed broccoli at lunches the next few days. I also got a couple boxes of steamer bags of broccoli and cauliflower at the wholesale store and will make some rice to eat with those this week at lunch. I am not fond of frozen veggies but a little nooch and bragg's makes them more palatable. It's funny when you look at the little bags of frozen veggies and they say 3 servings. Really? Try one serving for a WFPB kind of gal. LOL

I am back to adding mushroom extract to my first cup of tea. I try to eat a couple mushrooms every day by throwing them in with my broccoli in the microwave steamer, but they go bad so fast I often don't use them up.

Mihani - is there much flavor in the mushroom extract? Thinking that would be a good addition to our morning smoothies. Esp. for Brooks as mushrooms support the immune system.

Magic - one down two to go! Yay!

we unpacked and organized garage yesterday. Then unloaded more boxes from our storage. i am so over packing, moving and unpacking. Brooks starts his job mid March. i am going to fly up there for one week and come home. Then end of April he will fly back and we will drive up with 3 dogs. 🫣. After losing 4 lbs in another plateau. 3.2 mile hike. Charlie Bear was in the doggy back pack for one mile.

Brooks and I were at the library to vote this a.m. by 6:15. We were 3rd in line. I will be glad when this is over.

It is frustrating that my sisters are waiting to see if I gain my weight back. They constantly ask how much I weigh. In the past I did lose weight but then gained it back. Middle sister on keto diet and cholesterol of 300 asked me if I thought high cholesterol ran in our family. I said no, it is diet related as my numbers are all down plus my A1C is 5.2. Reason years ago I went ETL with fish was my cholesterol was up. For me it was also cutting down on processed foods. Still battling chocolate.

Need to find the box with my cookbooks. Want to make minestrone.
Had a vegan eggplant curry from Trader Joe’s for lunch. Added garbanzo beans and red pepper. Was tasty.

Mornin' all,

Bisky the mushroom extract doesn't have much taste. It's alcohol extracted so a tad bit bitter straight. I add it to tea so I think the heat gets rid of that. The doggie backpack is adorable. Congrats on your big drop on the scale!

Nanc, sounds like maybe the guy who quit wasn't happy and was taking it out on you. That's a relief he's gone.

I scheduled this morning off and debating on whether to sleep a bit more or go ahead and get moving, head to the office.

Quick question. Does $80.00 hour sound fair for an organizer?

Gathering tonight was postponed to next week. I'm relieved. One of my co-workers has been off a lot of days over the past month and I need to really concentrate on getting caught up a bit at the office this weekend.

The smoothie bowl looks good. I'll have to keep that in mind for a treat sometime.

I slept way in this morning. I've been exhausted the past few days and battling headaches so I hope catching up on sleep helps with that. Should be at the office by 10:00 or 10:30 and will stay 6 or 7 hours today. Today I'm concentrating on eating lots and lots of veggies, fruit, beans. I need to get off this junk food kick.

Mornin' all. Got up reasonably early and decided to work at home today. I need a day of solitude. Just tired of people and chatter. Catching up towels and bedding and the last load should go in the dryer soon then I can head up to my desk.

Today's plan...
B - ezekiel toast with tahini
L - sweet potato and steamed broccoli
D - big ol' salad with a variety of veggies and some beans added

Mornin' all, was a busy weekend of working but feel like I'm settling back into routine. Treadmill 2nd consecutive day and will be a good day of eating WFPBNO as well.

Plan for today...
B - ezekiel toast with tahini
L - oats with the usual goodies (berries, chia/flax, a few walnut halves, sprinkle of grapenuts for crunchiness)
S - apple and a yogurt
D - big ol' salad

I'm cooking up enough steel cut oats for today and tomorrow.

Bummer about the sauna, Nanc.

I overslept. Got home and continued working until almost 11:00 last night. So no treadmill.

Good planning for the week, Nanc. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I was in the store the day after Halloween and they were playing Christmas music. Ugh...

Missed yesterday but got up and did 3/4 mile on the treadmill this morning. I need to get to bed by 9:00 consistently. I've been staying up later reading, partly because I'm rarely getting home before 6:30 these days working late.

Plan for today...
B - steel cut oats with all the usual goodies
L - steamed broccoli and baked beans
D - big ol' salad with sweet potato

Glad things are going better at work, Nanc. How'd your sauna go?

I did 4 out of 5 days hitting the treadmill first thing so I'm happy about that. I stopped at the store tonight and stocked up on stuff to make my GBOM soup/stew. I get my greens, beans, onions and mushrooms that way, and the berries and seeds/nuts are taken care of with morning oatmeal. Plus veggies to chop up for salads. Now to get into a routine with strength training 3 times a week. I can do it, just have to make the time and find the energy.