Ate More, Moved Less

Watching Dancing with the Stars while finishing supper of grilled sirloin with sauteed veggies with whole wheat couscous. Stars is good but supper was better.

After a breakfast of French toast with sf syrup and turkey bacon, Bubba and I had a nice walk in the brisk morning air. Lunch was chef salad. So, all in all, it was a great eating day.

This afternoon I hooked up the low-voltage lighting in the new flower beds. Looks real nice. Just need some plants and mulch.

Go, Jerry!

We really need the rain that is falling this morning, but exercise is difficult. Maybe it will stop this afternoon so Bubba and I can take a walk. This is the new patio with puddles. Bubba's paws are not nearly as muddy these days.

We had a great omelet for breakfast today- ham, green onion. red bell pepper, and cheese. Also ww toast with sf jelly.

For lunch I took Sweety's left-over grilled chicken pasta with steamed veggies from Copeland's in Shreveport, added some green beans and the rest of the red bell pepper from breakfast, and another grilled chicken breast along with some butter, lemon juice from one lemon, heated it in a large skillet, and devoured it. Very tasty. Got rid of a bunch of left-overs too.

Yesterday, breakfast was the usual. Lunch and supper were the same because we had our real estate agent over for lunch of shrimp salad, pasta salad (whole wheat, of course), and baby spinach salad with sf poppy seed dressing. Sweety made cheese crackers as well as most of the salads. Very tasty. We had enough left over to have D and S over for supper as well. Finished with ff, sf cheesecake pudding.

Played golf yesterday morning. Got in 18 holes and was home b4 11:30.

Bubba hasn't gotten a walk since Thursday, so we'll go now, if the deluge is over. Not complaining about the rain, just saying.

Going to E and S's tonight for chicken enchiladas. We're taking guacamole and chips. Shut up.

Blogging from our new laptop while watching Dancing with the Stars.

Had the boiled shrimp tonight with creamy coleslaw (made with Splenda and low-fat mayo). Very filling and delicious. Had lunch with Pawpaw at Buckners. Started with a very good salad of romaine with a sweet Vidalia Onion dressing. Entree was citrus (orange) baked chicken breast with squash caserole (too cold) and half a small, baked sweet potato. Dessert was sugar free cherry pie. I ate the filling but left the crust. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with bacon and a whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese.

Took the Bubster for a walk this morning then played nine holes of pretty bad golf. I'll be glad when the grass starts to grow. This afternoon we went shopping at Academy for some foam for Sweety's bathroom project but wound up with a very heavy hammock stand. After wrestling that big, heavy box around, I set up the table saw to cut a board for the BR project. Cleaned up the garage then spent the next two hours working in the backyard on running low voltage lighting around the flower bed and on drilling drain holes in the edging around the flagstone patio so that there are no puddles. Then I changed clothes and went to the grocery store to get some ingredients for the lunch we are having with our real estate agent tomorrow. We are not buying or selling anything, just being friendly. Then I cooked supper and helped Sweety with a pasta salad for tomorrow. Finally got to eat. Boiled some eggs, finished making the shrimp salad for tomorrow, and cleaned up the kitchen. Got to sit down and watch Idol.

This has been a long day.

Breakfast was egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat toast with sugar-free jelly, decaf coffee with Splenda, fat-free half-and-half and a splash of sugar-free caramel syrup. The coffee was really tasty because it hardly had any coffee flavor at all! :)

Lunch was leftover pizza margherita and bag salad with balsamic vinegrette.

Supper will be boiled shrimp with creamy coleslaw made with Splenda and lowfat mayo. I will make a double batch of shrimp so we can have shrimp salad for lunch Friday.

Bubba and I had a good walk this morning. We were the only creatures stirring except there were a thousand noisy black birds on the ground on the seventh fairway. As we approached, maybe 100 feet away, they took off in a swirling swarm. I don't know what (or IF) Bubba thought, but I felt a great sense of connection with Mom Nature. Very cool experience right here in the city.

UPDATE: Had to go to Shreveport to pick up a new computer so supper was Ricochet Catfish at Copelands. Just ate the catfish and some onion rings. Unfortunately desert was included in the fix prix dinner, so had a few bites of brownie ala mode. Shut up.

Breakfast was usual. Lunch was pizza margherita with bag salad. Snacked on cashews and scotch. All good. But supper was really good. Reheated some grilled chicken breast that I glazed with Blackberry Chipotle sauce. Accompanied that with leftover sauteed veggies and a salad of thin sliced tomato with avocado drizzled with olive oil vinegrette.

Due to the lousy, drizzly, foggy weather, I didn't get to play golf. Bubba and I did get our walk in this morning. Cleaned up the tiller I borrowed from Eddie. I intended to take it back this afternoon, but weather was too nasty to want to drive across town. That's all the exercise except grocery shopping.

Had some chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Love the SBD. Ready for the fog to go away!

I made those SBD eggplant rolls for lunch yesterday, and they were mighty tasty. The whole wheat couscous was especially good. (Note to H: The word "especially" looks wierd. Kind of like I'm trying to write with a Spanish accent. Like, I work at the eschool. Is it a good word? I can't seem to get the Blogspot spellcheck to work, so I can't check it. Does your spellcheck work OK?)

Sweety did not care for the eggplant, especially (there it is again) the eskin. (Oops, Spanish accent again.) I had to leave it on as it was the only thing holding the eggplant eslice together. The roasted tomato esauce on top was good, but I added some Italian eseasoning to it. There is feta cheese in the couscous as well as that esprinkled on top. (OK, it's irritating now.)

Had sauteed tilapia with left-over green beans and mock mashed potatoes for supper. Very tasty.

Also got up the courage to check my weight and still hanging at 218. Not bad.

Ate a lot of breakfast this morning, then took Bubster for a walk. Bridges on the golf course were very slick with ice. Schools were opening late today due to road conditions. Bubster had kicked into sled-dog mode and I sort of skated over the downhill side of the last bridge. This is how Winter Olympic events get started.

Having SBD greek salad for lunch and grilled chicken with sauteed veggies for supper. My day is planned.

UPDATE: Going to Casa Ole for Tex-mex tonight. Got a coupon for $5 off that expires at the end of the month.

Very cold here in East Texas. No frozen precip, but would be plenty if we weren't in the middle a a severe drought. Took the Bubster on our walk yesterday and now I think I have a code in my head. Or allergies. Probably the latter.

Eating has been pretty OK. Feeling a little chunky today (therefore have not weighed), so after Sweety made a coffee cake to go with breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and decaf coffee with fat-free half-and-half (no one's told me how they do that), Splenda and sugar-free vanilla syrup, I think today we will go vegetarian at lunch and fish for supper. Southbeachdiet.com has a recipe for eggplant that looked very tasty and different that I will try for lunch. It is "Eggplant-Couscous Rolls with Roasted Tomato Sauce." The eggplant and tomatoes are roasted in the oven. Strips of eggplant are stuffed with couscous, rolled up, and topped with a sauce made from the roasted tomatoes.

We had supper at D and S's last night. Eve brought spinach salad with a delicious homemade lemon-olive oil dressing, we brought green beans with shallots and vermouth and SBD mock mashed potatoes (made with cauliflower), and Sue made a delicious stuffed, baked chicken breast dish. We had brunch at Buckner's with Pawpaw yesterday. I had eggs, bacon (real pork!), sausage patties (more real pork!), and last but not least, a biscuit (no whole wheat flour in sight) with gravy. OMG! How good (and BAD) was that.

Friday at school I did very well. The Student Council was apparently sucking up to the faculty and provided movie theater style"snacks" in the teachers' lounge. Nothing but bad carbs as far as the eye could see. Buckets of candy, pretzels, popcorn and a giant cake with about inch thick icing. I had no trouble eating my leftover half of a Jucy's cheeseburger, apple and diet rootbeer, and leaving all the "goodies" on the tables. I believe this is a conspiracy to fatten up the faculty for the slaughter. I'm not going there.

Got to go shopping for eggplant and fish. And Benadryl.

Well, not enough play.

Been too busy to blog much this week. Have stuck to the SBD pretty well. Exception was Tuesday, Valentines Day, took Sweety to the new Asian restaurant, formerly a rib and fish place that didn't make a year in business. Turns out the new place is run by a former oriental guy who ran a Chinese buffet in town. It went out of business, so this must be his new place. Pretty much same old stuff with some bad Tex-mex food added to the buffet.

Wednesday did better with usual breakfast and very little for lunch because I was on the golf course. Had a chunck of cheese, part of a bad apple, and a little popcorn and a Diet A&W rootbeer. Supper was roasted chicken (from Albertson's), sauteed veggies, and salad.

Today was usual breakfast of eggs, oatmeal/walnut muffin, turkey bacon and coffee w/Splenda and fat free half-and-half. Lunch was grilled chicken ceasar salad w/ rootbeer and an apple. Had to gulp it down as I was subbing at HHS. Subbing tomorrow also.

Got the flower beds tilled (twice) and edging installed. With the subbing and gardening, I'm worn out. Bubster didn't get walked yesterday or today. Think we'll go now for the walk. I tricked him yesterday by taking him across the street to the fire hydrant where he peed and then came right back home. He seemed not to notice the subtrafuge.

Hope I can talk Sweety into eating out. I'm too pooped to cook.

UPDATE: Went to Jucy's for a cheeseburger and Burger King for fries for Sweety and onion rangs for me. Ate half the burger. Will have the other half for lunch at school tomorrow.

My herb seeds have sprouted: cilantro, basil, and oregano. I'm going to pot them and use them for cooking and to give to friends who like to cook.

Got plenty of excercise today. Walked the Bubster on the golf course in the am then dug in the flower beds in the backyard. Sweety spread peatmoss over the top and tomorrow I will borrow a tiller and mix it all up.

Made some delicious oat muffins from the SBD Cookbook. We had a muffin and scrambled eggs and turkey bacon with coffee for breakfast. Lunch was similar to son-in-law's "Refrigerator Sauce". Took all the leftovers in the fridge, mixed them together, poured some chicken stock over it and added a chopped, leftover grilled chicken breast to make a noodley soup sort of thing. Very tasty. Now I must figure out what's for supper.

Maybe, sprouts!

UPDATE: remembered the leftovers from Ralph & Kakoo's that Sweety brought home. Stuffed bell peppers. I know what you're thinking. But these are not your daddy's stuffed bell peppers. No, these are stuffed with crab and crawfish. OH MY GOODNESS. Added some steamed veggies and a salad. No sprouts.

Went to BC with our usual crew to visit Bass Pro Shop and see the new Louisiana Boardwalk and to eat supper. Thought we might find an interesting place on the Boardwalk, but no such luck. The only places that were open were Hooters (Sweety won't go and therefore won't let me go) and San Francisco Bakery. The latter is a pizza place and not very upscale. So we went to Ralph and Kakoo's where the food was great. I had salad, grilled chicken with a dark sauce containing crawfish and sausage, steamed veggies, and onion rings. Excellent onion rings. The rest was very good also, but I loved them rangs.

Earlier today we had homemade breakfast tacos for breakfast and grilled chicken salad for lunch.

On the way home we stopped at Walgreen's for arch supports for Sweety and found sugar free Reese's Pieces and sugar free York Peppermint Patties. Yum.

Didn't get to walk with the Bubster this morning because I had an allergy attack while making breakfast, took 2 benadryl, and slept till noon. Will walk extra manana.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, whole wheat toast with no sugar added apricot jelly. Had lunch with Pawpaw at Buckner. It was cheese burger (no bun), blackeye peas, turnip greens, cream of broccoli soup, and sugar free blueberry pie.

I went crazy at supper and made a grilled chicken pasta with broccoli and cherry tomatoes served over spinach fetuccini. Not so carb friendly, but it was very tasty.

Weight today was 218, the lowest since we left for Alaska last May. Go me.

I have been too busy this week to post daily. Retirement can be so hectic! I worked at the Jr. High Monday and Tuesday and at the High School yesterday. Played golf Wednesday. Today I ate a great breakfast of poached eggs with cheese sauce on toast points with 2 strips of turkey bacon and a cup of skim milk. Took Bubba for a wizzle in the drizzle.

I ate pretty well this week with the exception of pizza margherita last night. Also had a glass of Smoking Loon cabernet sauvignon. We had some at J&P's in Lubbock, and liked it very much. I am not much of a wine drinker and especially reds. But this is very tasty. And has a cool label!

We had boiled shrimp Monday night. Perfect for a low carb meal. When I cook shrimp, we cook two pounds. We eat one pound for supper and then make shrimp salad out of the other pound. I use Paula Dean's shrimp salad sandwich recipe from the Food Network. I just leave off the bread part.

Here is the recipe:

1 lb. boiled shrimp, peeled and deveined (I finely chopped half and coursely chopped the other half)
3 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup low fat (not fat free!) mayonnaise
dash onion powder (or any form of onion flavor)
dash celery salt
dash seasoning salt (this is a very important ingredient, I think)
black pepper to taste

Just mix all the ingredients and enjoy. Very tasty.

Out of eggs, so got to go shopping.

UPDATE:

Had leftover cabbage soup for lunch. Threw in a few whole wheat saltines. Had Blue Bunny Lite 85 raspberry yogurt for snack and wine, cheese, and pork rinds for appetizer before grilled chicken and steak with baked sweet potato and salad for supper. Stuffed. Hope I didn't overdo it.

Went to Lubbock to go to the old Spade ISD where we spent the formative years in our education profession. We spent Friday and Saturday night with our college friends, Judy and Paul. They are really very nice people and still a joy to hang with. We tried to stick to the South Beach plan, and were very succesful-no potatoes, very little bread or sugar, no beer, just white wine. Got in a good walk Saturday when we walked from J&P's house to the United spirit arena for the Red Raider stomping of Missouri.

Sunday, however was a different story for me. Exercise was ok due to walk from plane to car in parking lot. Wifey still did well, but we were supposed to have hotdog roast during the Super Bowl. One of the couples had colds, so we canceled until next weekend. Therefore, I ate WAY too much junk Sunday afternoon and evening. Beer, boneless chicken wings in batter (some of which had sugar in the sauce), and a bowl of onion soup.

Got back on track today with scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and one piece of whole wheat toast with no-sugar-added jelly. Lunch was bag salad with chopped chicken strips and lite ceasar dressing. Supper was delicious boiled shrimp and broccoli slaw (intended for yesterday's canceled party). Got my exercise by teaching 7th grade math to the advanced students. Very nice kids.

I certainly hope the weight is going the right way after yesterday. Breakfast was SBD cereal with fresh strawberries and 1% milk. Snack was homemade beef jerky. Lunch at Buckner's with Pawpaw was Salisbury steak, creamed corn, turnip greens, tomato soup, tossed salad, and sugar free chocolate tart. I only ate part of the graham cracker crust of the tart and about half the corn, so maybe that wasn't too bad.

Had a late afternoon snack of a banana.

Last night, however, we went to the Hallsville Jr. High one-act-play dinner theater. Salad was good, but what does one serve a whole bunch of people and costs very little? Spaghetti. That's right, the same stuff marathon runners eat for "carb loading" before a race. And I enjoyed every bite. At least they had some green beans on the plate. I did skip the chocolate cake and the bread. Kind of like the diet Coke and candy bar snack.

No blogging for a couple of days. Off to Spade, TX. The real home of the Longhorns.

BTW, breakfast today was delicious. Two poached eggs on one piece of toasted whole wheat bread topped with 2% cheese melted with a couple of tablespoons of fat-free half-and-half. (What's up with that? How do they make it fat-free?) Two strips of turkey bacon and decaf coffee with fat-free half-and-half and Splenda. Very tasty.

Had a very good breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and two strips of turkey bacon and sugarfree cappuccino. I did not have toast because I wanted to save the bread (low carb Orowheat) for a sandwich at lunch. Did not have time to walk Bubba before golf because I got a haircut. Did make some tuna for a sandwich to eat on the course for lunch with an apple and a diet A&W rootbeer. Had a piece of string cheese for snack.

Golf was vacuumlike-it sucked. Bummer.

Got home and the new flagstone patio was complete and I didn't have to lift a finger (or a flagstone). Very good. One of wifey's former students did the work and it looks very nice. Covers about half the yard. He also tilled up the edges of the yard for flower beds. There were no flower beds in the whole yard.

Probably will have pizza margherita with salad for supper tonight. Yum! Yes it will have pizza crust. Shut up.

Going to Lubbock Friday to see one of the last basketball games at the school were I began teaching in 1968, Spade ISD. The school is being consolidated and this is its last year of operation. Wifey painted the longhorn in the mid-court circle on the gym floor back in the day. I wonder if it is still there? It was a good little school. I hate to see it go. Bummer.