Monthly Archives: November 2005

by Ramona

Grailing is ill

Hi, all. Bad news.

Grailing has a growth of some kind near his right hip. A physical exam ruled out most of the benign options; a surgery is scheduled for Thursday to remove the growth and do a biopsy.

It is possible that it is cancerous. If it is, it is also possible that it will be difficult if not impossible to treat.

I know there are a lot of unknowns, and that I need to not distress myself with unknowns, but that’s easier said than done. I’m coping right now by eating chocolate. And by not considering the possible meaning of any of this.

Anyway. Wanted to let everyone know.

by Ramona

Holiday food index?

I was skittering about this week, trying to figure out where the recipes for all the traditional favorites made off to. Some are in this book, that book, an e-mail from someone, a printout, one’s written on the back of an envelope.

Got an e-mail from mom indicating she was having a similar experience, thinking they were all together and then -surprise- one is missing.

So. I was thinking, and tell me if this is an idea with enough merit to actually do it ….

I was thinking that it would be lovely to compile all the “traditional” recipes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas on a website. I could put it together on my geocities page; Chris could take the code and post it anywhere else, if that were more convenient.

I was thinking that not only would this get all of them in one place for my benefit, at least, but if the other two of you got into it maybe we could even sort of explore what “traditional” has come to mean for the three households.

So …. tell me what you think. I even got carried away with myself, and thought it could be expanded to talk about the other traditions that we have going for the two holidays .. but starting with the food, what do you think?

by Nelia

Pre-Thanksgiving WW

Funny, I have been trying to sign in and have been told my password is not correct. I finally realized that i had not capitalized my name. I am so used to not that it took a while to even notice.

OK, on subject: Weight Watcher Meeting. I did not lose anything this week. I am not surprised. 1) I have been hungry all week. 2) I ate Thursday and in past weeks I have not. and 3) I wore heavier clothes. It is cold.

I figure I have reset weigh-in to eating on Thursday and winter weight clothes.

The meeting was interesting. The leader put a list of Thanksgiving food up and we were all given a paper plate to write on. (nice memory tool, the plate) On the plate we wrote all the things we planned to eat on Thanksgiving. Then she put up the same list with points for all the foods. We all added up our points. Wow. I plan to eat more than a day’s allowance in one meal.

We then went on to talk about how this is once a year, and if we do not nibble all day and if we send the leftovers home with guests and do not continue to eat this way for several days, it is fine. We also talked about how we can earn extra food points with exercise. I have never used those extra points (they are optional) but I may consider them this week. We did not talk about saving points from other days, but I am doing that too. If I eat only 2 points less each day, that should give me enough saved points for Thanksgiving.

To give an idea of points on Thanksgiving, here is my list:
1 slice of turkey – 2 points
½ cup stuffing – 4 points
¼ cup cranberry sauce – 2
¼ c gravy – 2
1 c green beans – 0
½ c sweet potatoes – 3
1 roll – 3
fresh veggies – 0
½ slice pumpkin pie (1/16 of a pie) – 4.5
½ slice apple pie – 4.5
½ slice pecan pie – 6
½ c whipped cream (light) – 2

Total – 33 points
Goal – 31 for the day

That is a reasonable Thanksgiving meal. I usually eat larger portions. Especially considering the whole day. I also eat black olives and dip my fresh vegies. On the other hand, i intend to count up the points in the recipies i actually use. Mine are sometimes lighter than traditional.

The less you weigh, the less your get to eat. I feel for those whose goal is 2o points.

by Ramona

Brownie Rant

Okay.

This is a rant. Or venting, or gaining perspective, or what-have-you.

I have a co-worker (desk within about 6 feet of mine) who is 1) Very Religious 2) a new adoptive father 3) a successful dieter 4) the office “encourager.”

On the surface, and probably down deep, he’s a really nice guy. And he doesn’t press his attitude on anyone; he doesn’t try to convert anyone, either to his religion or his diet plan. But every parent stops by and I hear those stories. Sometimes someone calls him and I hear the same stories again. He heads a bible study and I hear those encouraging calls. Every time anyone in the office is dieting they come by and I hear those pep talks. For some people, it’s a daily to weekly session. For months on end. Seriously, one person stops by at least once a week and has done so since they started dieting. In JANUARY. And they’re having great success, in part due to the constant encouragement; they’ve lost 60+ lbs and look great.

Yet for some reason, the constant encouraging on all of these topics is driving me Up The Wall. Why? Why am I bothered by this?

A few days ago I brought in brownies. It was my car’s birthday, I wanted to celebrate. This co-worker (let’s call him Henry) brings in brownies frequently. Not to carp, but his brownies are often unpalatable. They are usually dry and bitter. They have chocolate chips mixed in, like some brownies would have pecans, on the “triple chocolate” theory, which does not work for these brownies. They are topped with their own height in store frosting. I always take one. I seldom eat it.

This “Henry” does take similar office offerings from other people. But seldom-if-ever from me. (I can’t recall any time that he has, but I’m sure it’s happened at some time) And this time, when I specifically offered, he said, oh, he couldn’t, he’s dieting again. HOWEVER, a while back we specifically talked about brownies, I said I had a great recipe and I’d bring them in sometime, and he said great, he looked forward to tasting them.

So. I’m sure he is dieting. And I should be really supportive of his will power, especially since Mom is successfully dieting and I want to pattern myself after a supportive, encouraging person.

Yet, I was really really miffed. I felt slighted; insulted. And I know a lot of it is because I’m so tired of all the happy encouraging. And a lot of it was because I feel my brownies are really superior to his and I wanted to show him up a little and I felt like he’d promised to take a taste. Just a taste. I told him to cut his own sliver; I didn’t want to mess up his diet but wouldn’t he please celebrate with me?

Rant rant rant.

OK. So. This got me thinking about how emotionally tied I am to food gifts. And I got to thinking about how this is a pattern I need to break.

So. MOM. What do you think is at work here? How would I best redirect my emotional attachment to the gifting of food? Why is food and the appreciation of food so blasted emotional anyway?

And why am I so fed up with what is a positive behaviour (the encouraging)?

by chris

You shouldn’t notice it..

…but the wordpress software running the family page got updated today. It’s an update that should have been done a while back but I put it off till now.

Honestly I was waiting to see if anyone had any problems with the update so they could be addressed before I tried it. Of course, my waiting period was over a week or two ago so that excuse doesn’t hold for long.

by Ramona

coffee is good for you

Found this article a few days ago – just getting around to distributing it:

Coffee does not increase risk of high blood pressure – www.usnews.com

This study was just for women. It found that while drinking highly caffinated colas increased the risk for high blood pressure, drinking coffee regularly decreased the risk.

That’s right. It’s Healthy.

by Nelia

Another week of weight watching

Another 4.something pounds. I have another star… It confuses me. For 2 weeks in a row i have not followed the plan very well, and both weeks i have lost. I have been eating too much on the weekends, and then trying to make up for it during the week, with mixes success. And then on Thursday i eat breakfast and don’t eat supper till after the meeting. 🙂 (That is because i am convinced that i am not going to lose… maybe I’ll even gain.) But it seems to be working for me and i think that the days that i am eating too much will keep my body from resetting base point on the days i am making up for it.

This week i am going to get back to keeping track of points. I have a good idea how much of what i can eat in a day and i have been judging my food intake by that instead of by counting the points. Think it is time to get back to counting. This not knosing how i am really doing is driving me crazy. I am going to allow a few more on the weekend days and a few less on the weekdays, though. That seems to be the pattern. I might as well keep that going.

by Nelia

The Cats and the Great Outdoors

Penny wants out, and when Penny wants something she wants it will all her being, and she wants it persistently and loudly. She is also slipping out the door with no hesitation when the door is open so I know there is no way i am going to be able to keep her in. I would go to the laundry room, shut the house side, and then go out, but Luke won’t. He might try to, but then he will want to put the mail out and not think about cats. And, besides, it is impossible to ask everybody who rings my doorbell to come around to the back.

And then there is the jealousy factor. There is no way i can keep Bruce inside. He gets mean; that is proven. He got mean cooped up inside when he was not allowed out. Think of what he would be like now that he has had freedom. And if i let Bruce out and keep Penelope in now that she knows that outside is a wonderful exciting interesting place, she is not going to understand. Penelope is the most curious of all the cats, and the most excited by anything new.

I feel like the only workable option i have is to choose the time I let the cats out, limiting the dangers by making it late morning when it is light out, after everyone has gone to work and before they start coming home. My hope is that by letting them out early, they will come to expect to be let out in the morning and not be obsessed with getting out at other times. Maybe we can aviod the night wandering. Luke might be able to remember to use the back door at night… and we seldom have anyone ringing the bell after dark.

I am letting Zoeie out too. Though she is not as interested in it, she does want to do what the others are doing and it does not seem fair to keep only one cat inside. When there were 2 inside i felt like they had each other. I wish they were all as indifferent to the outside as she is. She ventures out for a little while and then comes back in and, if the door is open, sits in the doorway looking out.

This is the first time i have tried to keep my cats safely inside. Maybe if i lived on a busy street I would have more motivation to keep up the effort…. but on a quiet street…. sigh……. I am not happy about it….. but i think i am fighting a loosing battle and it is time to give up and hope for a satisfactory compromise.

by christina

crabpeople!

a few days ago….we noticed something…one of our “snails” looked different, in fact it looked suspiciously like the empty shell that had been on the bottom of the tank. then we noticed…that’s no snail! that’s a hermit crab!!! we finally had one change homes!!!!
we got super excited, though a little sad we could not find the old shell but more so that we missed the great move.

yesterday we traveled to the fish store on the north side of town that has quality fish and clean tanks for some empty shells so out other crabs could move if they needed. we let the shells spend the night in the small tank, then this morning into the drink they went with the fishies. the crabs came a running. first was a crab that appears to be in his original home he came to us with. he investigated a shell, but ultimately decided to move on.
then, down the rock face comes the crab that moved. the crab approached the shell, stretched to take a quick peek inside and retracted.

ok…but then the crab grabbed the empty shell, lined up opening to opening, reached inside and snatched a bit of detrius…rolled with the shell and in a quick moment scooted his body from one shell to another. it then righted itself and began to clean house before taking back to the rocks.

chris and i are very excited to see a crab move. we hope to see the more of them move in the future. it is really just too cool!

*any mispelling of crab that looks like crap is not intentional and is not reflective of the views of the author.