Spring is coming

I have a job interview for a job I really want. Mostly because it would be good pay, good benefits and retirement, things I don't currently have. It would alter some plans I had made, but I believe it would be a good thing for me now. And, with Spring, there is some interest popping up in my house. So, after a year of planning this move, I have hope that it is actually going to happen. I had my doubts for a little while about it.

My friend Chloe has what she calls, the Chloe 5 Fists a Day Diet. It is brilliant. The premise is that you eat 5 small meals a day, each meal no bigger than your fist. Nothing is outlawed, though clearly, 5 bowls of ice cream a day wouldn't be a great thing. But you eat pretty much what you want to eat, in smaller portions. There are the usual things to aim for, i.e. less processed foods, less white pasta, bread and rice, lean meats and fish, but really it is more about portion control. I think if I have better control on my portion size, everything would be better.

Bad Ginnie

I have been remiss. I have been so mad at Blogger that I have been giving it the cold shoulder. SO, since we last spoke, I haven't made huge progress. But I am plugging along, trying my best. That isn't completely true, sometimes I just want a damn cookie. Other people manage stress with a lovely martini, I manage it with sugar. I AM doing better, but not as well as I would like.

And, now for something completely different, it is Spring and the sun is out, and yes, I know it could all dissappear in a snow storm next week, but right now it is sunny! And people are starting to wake up and want to look at my house, which has been on the market for 9 months. Yea!! So I am crossing my fingers that good things are starting to happen and I will actually sell my house and move....somewhere.

New Blogger

May I just say that the whole new Blgger thing just sucks. It is difficult to get into, I spend so long trying to log in and by that time, I have lost my posting mojo.
That said, I have also lost my diet mojo. When I say diet, I am referring to the scientific term applied to a species' eating habit. I have over eaten and had afternoon sugar and need to get a handle on it again. I feel better when I eat less. Plain and simple. So I am starting again. I am still doing significantly better than in the past, but not good enough. Apparently, I still don't have the good posting mojo, either. I just feel very uninteresting and blah. Sorry bout that.

The blahs

I have the blahs. The blahs of February. I have not done well with food in the last week. I am still managing the sugar, with the exception of a couple of wayward cookies. But I kept it to one big cookie, each foray into cookieland. And I only visited cookieland twice. But my portion control has waned a little bit. I am not depressed int he clinical sense. I am winter depressed. The dark, the cold, the blahs just weigh me down. I lose my inclination to be creative. Really, I just want to sleep, and if not sleep, just curl up in bed, all warm under the covers.

Well, that was pretty uplifting, now wasn't it?

My bad

So, on Mondays, I always go to town to do my banking, and now I am taking an upholstery class on Monday nights. I go into town way to early and then need to kill time, and sometimes that involves food. On my way home, I was tired and justified it by saying I need a little protein. Well, I am guessing popcorn chicken and friend cheese curds form KFC/A&W are not healthy foods. But they are damn tasty foods!

SO I didn't maintain my eating real well on Monday. I took dinner to my mom, and she had cookies. Oh, well, as Our Lady Of Weight Loss says, "All is forgiven, move on". www.ourladyofweightloss.typepad.com She is magnificent.

We are still having sunshine, and so, life is good. Cold, but good. Sunshine does not equal warm, necessarily.
But I am off and shall have a lazy day. You have a great day, too.

Off to Hook

I've been having a little trouble getting in here to post. So didn't even try yesterday. I have a little summer cabin that my husband and I built about 15 years ago. Our plan was to retire there, and to enjoy the birds and watching the waves, and looking toward the distant mountains. It is probably my favorite spot in the world. Or was before a real estate agent bought the lot next door to me and proceded to have his McMansion built. It takes up almost the entire lot...he built it so close to the property line that he can look in my living room window from his kitchen. For fourteen years I had no curtains or blinds, but quickly put a set of mini-blinds up on the window between the two houses. During the summer he and his wife entertain from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening, all summer long. So I try to make good use of my place in the winter when I know no one will have the speakers out on the deck all night long. (it's soft rock...but still) They are nice enough people, but have no sense of the privacy of their neighbors.
Don't know how that digression started...but anyway, I had a party of my own yesterday. Actually I just had a couple of friends down. We barbequed salmon. Well, my cousin in Georgia says that's not barbeque, that's grillin'. In my neck of the woods, if you put something on the barbeque...you are barbequing. We also had whole wheat pasta with mushrooms, and zucchini...also cream and parmesean. I admit I did make a blackberry cobbler for dessert...but no ice cream. So it wasn't too awful. It was a very nice evening. They are from the midwest and tried to teach me how to play Euchre...but it was a dismal failure. They and my husband and I played pinochle once a month for 20+ years. I spent the first two or three of those using a crib sheet. My mind just doesn't work that way. My husband would remember every card in everyone's hand...and I couldn't even remember what I had unless I kept checking it. We decided next time we would play pinochle...I'm already trained for that.
After everyone left, I cleaned up and went to bed. The next morning I was enjoying a cup of coffee, and watching the bay when something swooped near the edge of the bank. Before long it came back into my line of vision, and perched on the limb of my maple tree. It was a very large bald eagle and he sat there for quite awhile. I was inside, but afraid to move for fear he would detect the movement and fly away. They are such impressive birds, and I consider myself very lucky see them so close at hand. I understand that, although they appear to be quite large, they do not weigh much since their feathers are filled with sir. Too bad that isn't the case of people. I would probably only weigh 20 pounds.
I leave early tomorrow morning for rug camp. I'm looking forward to getting away for a few days. It's only about an hour and a half away, but very different surroundings. I will try not to indulge in the desserat each meal. They make a wonderful oatmeal every morning and thet is usually my choice...sometimes I succumb to the other breakfast choices as well. Wouldn't want to become so weak that I can't hold up my needle. It's interesting to watch the eating habits of others. I always wonder what they do to balance things out. Such as: there is a average sized older woman who puts butter and gravy on her potatoes, and eats few vegetables, as well as always drinks the juice (more sugar that juice) and has seconds on the dessert. But she doesn't ever seem to gain weight. Then there are three sisters, one of them is average sized and the other two are quite large. They eat fairly amazing amounts...the average sized sister eats quite a lot too, but is much smaller than the other two. I know...metabolism and all that. Nothing else would account for the fact that most of the women eat the same amounts of food while there, and there ia a huge disparity in their sizes. Please understand, I spend very little time making these observations while I'm there...Iam only doing so here since this is the place I think, and talk about, about size.
I have to finish packing and get it all in the car. I will be back with more to say in several days.

The Sun

Like much of the country, we have had some weird weather this year. So much snow. There has been snow on the ground since Thanksgiving, and that is pretty rare. We usually get a couple snows a year and that's it. But not this year. But yesterday and today, and clear into next week. Oh, the glory of the sun! In the last couple of years, the winters here in the Cascade foothills have really gotten to me. It gets dark around 3 pm in the deepest winter, and it is so depressing. B ut then, in January, one day the sun comes out and it is all better. I feel human again, and like I can tolerate the rest of the winter. ind of like a little booster shot.

I have been fairly good with my eating, but I don't own a scale so I have no idea if it has resulted in any weight losss. Just being in some sort of control is somewhat empowering. I am off the next 3 days and intend to wallow in the sun.