Alarming how charming...
We're not dead. Not even a little bit. Just took a posting sabbatical because, for awhile there, I couldn't post anything without it turning into a depressing pity party.
I'm a little better now and so is K.
We now have 5 cats. That's three, plus TWO MORE.
You see, the rescue lady had these two kittens. A light brown tabby boy with a brown nose and an all-black girl. The boy was found under her sister's porch and was lured out with meat. The girl showed up in someone's backyard before she was even weaned and set up a huge racket until a kind person took her in. They looked for her mother and siblings, but couldn't find them. She was tiny and bottle-fed, but a real fighter. The rescue lady's daughter called her Sophy.
"Sophy?" I said. "Seriously?"
But we couldn't possibly adopt another cat, let alone two (she and the boy with the brown nose had become buddies). Even if they were sweet and one of them had the same name as our dear departed Sophy.
But then we talked about it and spent more time with them and it was just inevitable. Because they were babies. And I wanted a baby. Probably not the best reason to adopt cats, but losing Tenacious has profoundly impacted my ability to make rational decisions.
The light brown tabby boy is now Charlie and he looks like a baby lynx. The black kitten is now Abby because it was making me kind of sad to call her Sophy. She also has that forensic scientist look about her. Sometimes her eyes are green and sometimes they're gold. Pictures to come.
Ben LOVES the kittens! He grooms them and watches out for them and plays with them. Ziva occasionally will play with them and groom them, but she finds them puzzling. I think Ziva's not sure where she fits in. She's like the Jan Brady of our newly expanded cat colony. Ella continues to ignore everyone unless they get up in her grill. She does seem to tolerate the little ones and Ben interacting with her. She still hates Ziva.
So we are officially the Crazy Cat Ladies.
In other news we started the South Beach Diet on Monday.
Monday was okay. Tuesday was hell. Today, although I had trouble dragging ass out of bed, I'm much happier.
I just needed to do something to kickstart my metabolism. I normally eat a fairly healthy diet and I've increased my activity level with absolutely no change in weight. I gained 20 pounds after the miscarriage (all in the belly) and started to seriously try to lose weight in August. Nothing happened. I think my metabolism is broken. So I'm going to shock my system with SB phase 1 (lots of healthy veg, lean meat, and low fat cheese; no fruit, no bread, no pasta, no rice) for two weeks and see if it makes a difference. I got the SB book from the library, read it through, and I'm fairly convinced that this plan will work for me.
The timing for doing this isn't the best -- K's going to Chicago next week for a work thing so it will be difficult for her to avoid carbs. With her away, I may fall off the wagon. But we're going to try, dammit.
The hardest thing for me (besides giving up my whole grain toast and steel-cut oatmeal for 2 weeks) is the fact that you need to have protein with breakfast and can only have a tablespoon of peanut butter. You're also supposed to have at least 1 serving of vegetables with breakfast. For most people, that equals an omelette or other egg/veg thing. But I HATE eggs. I can barely stand to be around when other people are eating them. I also can't (at this point) imagine eating a chicken stirfry or something for breakfast.
I compromised by making the SB-approved Veggie Quiche Cups To-Go with egg whites only. They're not bad. There's so much spinach in there that the egg white (or "binder" as I call it to keep from freaking out) just seems like it's part of the cheese. It kind of tastes like the middle layer of spinach lasagna, which is not a bad thing at all.
Tonight, I'm going to make these "Binder" Muffins. I figure if I whip up the "binder" before pouring it in the muffin cups, it will get fluffy like the ones in the picture. BTW: Kalyn's Kitchen is an AWESOME resource for someone starting SB.
Just for the curious, today's meal plan:
Breakfast:
2 "Binder" Muffins
6oz low-sodium V8 (Which K hates almost as much as I hate eggs. She is a trooper).
Snack:
Celery sticks with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter.
Lunch:
3oz grilled chicken breast
2 c. romaine lettuce
1 tbsp. light caeasar dressing mixed with 1 clove grated garlic
1 tbsp. grated parmigiano reggiano
Snack:
1 c. broccoli and orange peppers
1 tbsp. spicy hummus
Dinner:
2c. spaghetti squash
crushed tomatoes with garlic, basil, and olive oil
1 italian sausage (I know, sausage isn't recommended on phase 1, but I'm trying to make this liveable and use up what's in my freezer. Next week, I'll make my own "sausage" with ground turkey and italian seasonings).
Dessert:
1 c. low-fat ricotta mixed with 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp unsweetened Ghirardelli cocoa, a dash of espresso powder and a little Splenda (I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners, but this "dessert" needs sweetening. Aspartame gives me a headache. I'm investigating Stevia and Agave. Splenda is a stop-gap, but we should probably just use a little sugar). This tastes like a cross between cannoli filling and tiramisu. Sort of.
The things I dislike the most about SB are the inconsistencies throughout the book. There are foods in the phase 1 recipe section that are not included in the "foods to enjoy on phase 1" list. In the SB book, he says 1 tbsp of peanut butter, but in the SB Good Carbs/Bad Carbs guide, he specifies natural, unsweetened peanut butter. Argh. That's why I'm letting the sausage slide and will probably use a little sugar in the ricotta thingy.
Today, I feel terrific. I'm wearing a pretty outfit and my hair (which I'm growing out) looks good. Can't really ask for much more. That's the WeevilView for now. We have been reading y'all (well, mostly K reads stuff out to me and I occasionally ask her to comment) and we still love you.
M.
I'm a little better now and so is K.
We now have 5 cats. That's three, plus TWO MORE.
You see, the rescue lady had these two kittens. A light brown tabby boy with a brown nose and an all-black girl. The boy was found under her sister's porch and was lured out with meat. The girl showed up in someone's backyard before she was even weaned and set up a huge racket until a kind person took her in. They looked for her mother and siblings, but couldn't find them. She was tiny and bottle-fed, but a real fighter. The rescue lady's daughter called her Sophy.
"Sophy?" I said. "Seriously?"
But we couldn't possibly adopt another cat, let alone two (she and the boy with the brown nose had become buddies). Even if they were sweet and one of them had the same name as our dear departed Sophy.
But then we talked about it and spent more time with them and it was just inevitable. Because they were babies. And I wanted a baby. Probably not the best reason to adopt cats, but losing Tenacious has profoundly impacted my ability to make rational decisions.
The light brown tabby boy is now Charlie and he looks like a baby lynx. The black kitten is now Abby because it was making me kind of sad to call her Sophy. She also has that forensic scientist look about her. Sometimes her eyes are green and sometimes they're gold. Pictures to come.
Ben LOVES the kittens! He grooms them and watches out for them and plays with them. Ziva occasionally will play with them and groom them, but she finds them puzzling. I think Ziva's not sure where she fits in. She's like the Jan Brady of our newly expanded cat colony. Ella continues to ignore everyone unless they get up in her grill. She does seem to tolerate the little ones and Ben interacting with her. She still hates Ziva.
So we are officially the Crazy Cat Ladies.
In other news we started the South Beach Diet on Monday.
Monday was okay. Tuesday was hell. Today, although I had trouble dragging ass out of bed, I'm much happier.
I just needed to do something to kickstart my metabolism. I normally eat a fairly healthy diet and I've increased my activity level with absolutely no change in weight. I gained 20 pounds after the miscarriage (all in the belly) and started to seriously try to lose weight in August. Nothing happened. I think my metabolism is broken. So I'm going to shock my system with SB phase 1 (lots of healthy veg, lean meat, and low fat cheese; no fruit, no bread, no pasta, no rice) for two weeks and see if it makes a difference. I got the SB book from the library, read it through, and I'm fairly convinced that this plan will work for me.
The timing for doing this isn't the best -- K's going to Chicago next week for a work thing so it will be difficult for her to avoid carbs. With her away, I may fall off the wagon. But we're going to try, dammit.
The hardest thing for me (besides giving up my whole grain toast and steel-cut oatmeal for 2 weeks) is the fact that you need to have protein with breakfast and can only have a tablespoon of peanut butter. You're also supposed to have at least 1 serving of vegetables with breakfast. For most people, that equals an omelette or other egg/veg thing. But I HATE eggs. I can barely stand to be around when other people are eating them. I also can't (at this point) imagine eating a chicken stirfry or something for breakfast.
I compromised by making the SB-approved Veggie Quiche Cups To-Go with egg whites only. They're not bad. There's so much spinach in there that the egg white (or "binder" as I call it to keep from freaking out) just seems like it's part of the cheese. It kind of tastes like the middle layer of spinach lasagna, which is not a bad thing at all.
Tonight, I'm going to make these "Binder" Muffins. I figure if I whip up the "binder" before pouring it in the muffin cups, it will get fluffy like the ones in the picture. BTW: Kalyn's Kitchen is an AWESOME resource for someone starting SB.
Just for the curious, today's meal plan:
Breakfast:
2 "Binder" Muffins
6oz low-sodium V8 (Which K hates almost as much as I hate eggs. She is a trooper).
Snack:
Celery sticks with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter.
Lunch:
3oz grilled chicken breast
2 c. romaine lettuce
1 tbsp. light caeasar dressing mixed with 1 clove grated garlic
1 tbsp. grated parmigiano reggiano
Snack:
1 c. broccoli and orange peppers
1 tbsp. spicy hummus
Dinner:
2c. spaghetti squash
crushed tomatoes with garlic, basil, and olive oil
1 italian sausage (I know, sausage isn't recommended on phase 1, but I'm trying to make this liveable and use up what's in my freezer. Next week, I'll make my own "sausage" with ground turkey and italian seasonings).
Dessert:
1 c. low-fat ricotta mixed with 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp unsweetened Ghirardelli cocoa, a dash of espresso powder and a little Splenda (I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners, but this "dessert" needs sweetening. Aspartame gives me a headache. I'm investigating Stevia and Agave. Splenda is a stop-gap, but we should probably just use a little sugar). This tastes like a cross between cannoli filling and tiramisu. Sort of.
The things I dislike the most about SB are the inconsistencies throughout the book. There are foods in the phase 1 recipe section that are not included in the "foods to enjoy on phase 1" list. In the SB book, he says 1 tbsp of peanut butter, but in the SB Good Carbs/Bad Carbs guide, he specifies natural, unsweetened peanut butter. Argh. That's why I'm letting the sausage slide and will probably use a little sugar in the ricotta thingy.
Today, I feel terrific. I'm wearing a pretty outfit and my hair (which I'm growing out) looks good. Can't really ask for much more. That's the WeevilView for now. We have been reading y'all (well, mostly K reads stuff out to me and I occasionally ask her to comment) and we still love you.
M.