blackout

Yesterday was not a day out of the ordinary.  It was a blackout day.  It will happen to us every other month or so.  The power goes out, stays off all day, and then comes back on.  Not usually a huge issue, just kinda gives need for a little day re-arranging.

So at 7:30 am--while I was in the midst of a downward facing dog, Stan was headed out the door for his second attempt at his written drivers liscence test (that's a whole other story), and the boys were playing in their room--everything went dark.  And actually it was pretty dark in the house cause the sun wasn't shining so britely quite yet.  Our first thing is to always check the breakers to see if we just overloaded things a bit.  No such luck, it was the neighborhood.  And the area of Stan's testing location, but seriously that saga will get a post all of it's own once the end unfolds.  So anyway, like I said this isn't uncommon.  I think they put up notifications, or maybe announce it on the news, but we are never privy to the information cause we don't watch the local news and ignore signs that we can't read.  Some friends that live nearby asked around and we found out that it was probably going to last until 8 pm.  Great, it's completely dark at 7 pm right now. 

I have to admit at first I was really annoyed.  I had a HEAP of laundry to do.  I only got 10 minutes into my 30 minute yoga workout (and for some reason this week the chocolate has been a-calling my name and I needed the workout to at least balance things out).  I have some expense reports that MUST be done soon and I wanted to get them finished on Friday--and be able to harrass our accounting guy by email since the new format has yet to agree to make friends with me.  And a million other things that I wanted to get done so my Saturday could be nice and lazy.  But I quickly decided what I really needed to do was make a list of things that I was thankful for so that day didn't get me more and more annoyed as it went on.  So here, I will share them with you.

*Coffee was made.  And we have flavored coffee creamer.  No coffee for the day could have been disasterous.
*The load of laundry I set to start early that morning was already finished.  No half soapy, soaking wet mess to deal with.
*The night before I reset the hot water heater that goes to our shower (this hot water heater drama could possibly get it's own post too) so I was all set for a nice hot shower.
*We got to have family nap time.  My two big boys don't take naps anymore, which takes away my time for quiet and/or rest in the afternoons.  But the trade off is we now put them to bed at 7 and they go right to sleep.  Anyway, yesterday we got family nap time AND 7 o'clock bed time. :)
*The boys didn't beg to watch TV all. day. long.
*I didn't have to cook dinner.  Instead we went out, the boys played in a fun play area, and when we got home (right before 7 when it was already too dark to see) we entertained the boys with head lamps while getting them ready for bed and they pretty much went to bed without issue.
*Stan had downloaded a couple of TV programs (one of which was One Tree Hill, which I really enjoy cause inside I'm still 14) and we hadn't touched our computers all day so there was plenty of battery so we could watch them. 
*The power came back on at 9:30 so we still got to have heaters on while sleeping so it wasn't icey cold outside of the coveres...just a little cold.

This morning when the boys got up at 6:30 and discovered the power was on again, Bennett ran into our room, screamed 'THE POWER IS BACK ON', flipped on our overhead light and ran out of our room.  Stan, who had slept wonderfully, got out of bed, shut the door and went to handle early morning crowd control.  I, who slept less wonderfully, got to sleep till 8, and when I got up a little grumpy, there was coffee already made. :)  Laundry is going.  Expenses will be reported...sometime, but still before it's too late.  I may even get out for a walk to counter the chocolate.  Could it be I'm getting used to these annoying things?  Could it be that I no longer care that our power is being sold to neighboring countries/provinces/outer space?  Maybe.  But also maybe I'm just more thankful it wasn't on my lazy Saturday when it would have been really, REALLY annoying.  The end. 

post thanksgiving diet update

I hit my first big goal the week before Thanksgiving--yes, I did a little dance in the bathroom to celebrate.  I decided that since I had gotten to the point of only losing about a pound a week I needed a little break.  Not that a pound a week is horrible, I just knew I was getting closer and closer to a pretty frustrating plateau.  To try to boost things a bit I took the week off of close calories counting.  So I kept pretty close to my normal exercise routine and just ate like a normal person.  And on Thanksgiving day I ate like a normal person on Thanksgiving...I'm only human, you know. 

The result was as I hoped.  I stayed right at the same weight.  So here we go with some hardcore calorie counting, water drinking and exercising.  After my last little 'break' and then kicking it into high gear I had great results.  Hopefully the same thing will happen again.  I know at this point in my weight loss it's gonna be a little more slow going.  And it's the Holidays.  But I will make it through without a set back.  I am determined!

I've been able to start wearing normal pants again.  That is a great feeling.  I still have this post baby stomach issue, but it's nothing a little tummy tuck won't eventually take care of if necessary.  You think I'm joking, but I'm not.  So I have about 10 more kilos, or really 20 pounds, that I would like to lose.  I feel better and better with each little bit of loss.  I hope anyone else battling this same battle will stay strong with me through the holidays.  It can be done!

we gave thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  We hosted three other families and our adult son G, a single guy who we basically count as one of our own.  So in all there were 9 adults, 3 teenagers, 9 children and one baby.  I felt the need to differentiate the ages because two of those teenagers are boys and could out eat any adult man present.  Except for maybe G, who's 26 and still has the metabolism of a teenager.  Also, the only child present that actually eats a small amount is the 8 month old.  The next youngest, Judah, is now a full fledged Pittman eater.

So we fed a lot of people.  I made my first turkey ever.  It was stressful to think about, but not at all in the actual process.  Thanks to the help of my wonderful friend E, who is a culinary expert, and PW, who we all know is a lover of butter and all things wonderful.  I couldn't have done it without you.  When I make my speech after winning the award for 'Best Rookie Turkey of the Year' I will be sure to mention you both.

Here is a picture of the loveliness.

It was sad that only minutes later, during the carving process, this beautiful bird tried to escape and jumped onto the floor.  I will just say, I was not the one carving.  And leave it at that.  It was one of those National Lampoons type moments that left us all drop jawed and silent.  It was quickly scooped up and juices cleaned off the floor moments before our lunch guests arrived.  It may have been wrong, but we didn't tell a sole until after we ate.

This was the rest of the spread.  Can you say gluttony???

In addition to the turkey I made gravy, sweet potato casserole, seven layer salad, dinner rolls, creamed peas with bacon, and cranberry sauce (straight from the can, Amen!).  As you see, there was plenty of other wonderful things to eat.  One family and G stayed through the afternoon--my friend K and I took off and let the men watch the kids and did a little shopping and walking off of lunch--and we ate leftovers for dinner.  There were barely crumbs left after that.  It was a great day.

Friday night our playgroup families, plus a visiting family with small children, got together for soup, sandwiches and dessert.  E organized some fun family games, in addition to being a fabulous cook she is quite crafty, and we ate and worshipped through song.  It was just so wonderful.  Before moving here I prayed for one family that would be in our same life stage that we could be friends with and God provided that times five.  As we live life with all of these families I am more and more thankful!  We also got to talk with family back in the States, which is always so great.  Hard to believe we will get to celebrate with them in person next year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

bad dieter...

Well other than the fact that I kinda blew the end of my week with some Chocolate, I had a decent week.  I still lost a little.  I weighed .1 kg more than my first big goal.  You think that doesn't make a difference...well it does to me.  But I have to admit that little chocolate indulgence was worth it.  And I'm back hard core this week. 

I've decided that not only am I turning into the worst blogger ever, but I'm a really bad 'dieter'.  Let me explain.  I have this philosophy that if it doesn't taste good, it's not worth eating.  Well...with the current exception of Soyjoy bars.  They taste really bad to me, but it's one of the only convenience snacks I can get around these parts and sometimes the quickness over shadows the yuck.  And anything that will satisfy huger in a quick manner is sometimes worth killing a few taste buds.  Well not anything.  But you know.

Back to being a bad dieter.

I do not consume low fat mayonnaise, low fat cheese, or low fat cookies/brownies.  Those are what I consider a waste of calories.  Sound backwards?  It's totally not.*  If I'm going to use mayo, I don't want the added sugar version just to save fat grams.  Give me the good old regular stuff--I'm a Dukes girl, if you must know--and let me enjoy my sandwich.  Desserts...If I'm going to have something sweet, I want it to be good.  Made with real butter, milk chocolate and whole milk.  Now I admittedly do have a few muffin and bread recipes where I will substitute apple sauce for a portion of the oil.  This is mainly to keep it moist but keep it from being greasy.  Have you had a greasy muffin before?  I have.  Yuck.  Also, there are several low fat and low sugar ice cream treats that I find delightful.  Not available for purchase here (OK, I take that back, TCBY is now in KM) but if they were I would occasionally buy them.  And cheese.  Don't give me low fat or fat free cheese.  I might gag.  I like the real deal.  I'm a bit of a cheese addict.

*This is not dietary fact. Just my opinion...which should be fact.


I am more willing to eat an appropriate portion of these 'real' foods, and count the full calories and fat grams, rather than skimp on taste.  I discovered this in dieting many years ago.  I found myself craving these food more and more after denying myself.  I would overindulge and go a little crazy.  So I decided, if I were to melt 1 ounce of cheddar cheese (120 calories-Kraft)  instead of 1 slice of fat free American (30 calories--Kraft) on my sandwich, it would taste so much better, that those 90 extra calories (and yes, maybe 10 fat grams) would be worth it.  As a bonus, not only would my taste buds be much more satisfied, but my tummy would to.  When they take out the fat, they add in carbs (don't believe me, check it out--the fat free cheese has 2g carbs and the cheddar 0g).  For me the carbs are the issue.  And more times than not, it's sugar they are adding.

This still may all sound kinda strange.  And you may think that I'm really confused with this dieting stuff, but it works for me.  If it makes me a bad dieter, I don't want to be right.

And while we are on the topic of full calories, fat and carbs...anyone else so excited about Thanksgiving?  I might have to post-it-up about that later this week.  And here is a dietary fact...holiday calories do not count.  I'm sure of it cause it just wouldn't be right.

retirement?

I have been doing such a poor job as a 'blogger' lately.  I've been contemplating retirement.  Although, this blog is mostly my outlet and the Angel's blog is to keep up with the boys.  If you read that one you may assume they have been sleeping or twiddling their thumbs since Sept. 2nd...the last time I posted.  My goal is to do an update post--with pictures--on each of the boys.  I'm going to beg my wonderful husband to get some pictures of them with his camera phone.  Our small camera got 'picked up' by someone out in a village back in September and our video camera, that also takes photos, is more difficult for me to use.  This is for sure another instance where my laziness shines through.  But I'm making this a goal.  Cause really I've been doing that blog for almost 5 years, and I want to keep it up.

Minutes after my last post here I took off for the rest of the week for a super challenging language class in KM.  It hurt my brain.  Quite a bit, actually.  But I made it through, felt challenged, and was able to scoop up my brain soup and make complete sentences once again.  While I was there I did my best to watch calories and even did my walking video two mornings before class started.  I came away losing another pound.  Last week I did my normal Monday exercise (walking to the market and back--it ends up being 40 minutes total and on the way back i'm keeping up pace while lugging groceries) but by that evening my back was aching.  In order not to have it turn into a complete sciatic mess I rested the rest of the week and watched my calories.  I stayed about the same but I really think the 'dieting break' will keep me from plateauing too quickly. 

This week I'm back in full swing with exercise (I did yoga this afternoon to make sure my back could handle activity again--so far so good), careful calorie intake, no sweets and really watching my water intake.  I'm really hoping to have a great week.  I am ONE pound away from my first really big goal.  Oh, how I hope I can reach it by next week.  This weekend two of my friends told me that their husbands asked if I was losing weight...now that was encouraging.  Not in any way because I want their husbands to notice me like that (that part is actually a little embarrassing) but because we all know how most men don't pay attention to stuff like that.  Or at all.  I'm happy enough when my own husband notices my weight loss.  But for it to become noticeable by those who don't know I'm actually trying, that encourages me to keep going strong!  Kinda makes me want to give myself a Julian style high five--if you don't know what that is then you need to watch a few episodes back of One Tree Hill.

Also, for the first time in my dieting life--maybe 15+ years now???--I am for real using a food scale.  I got a digital one brought to me in September and it is making a huge difference.  Stan laughs at me weighing my morning oatmeal and my dinner.  All I've got to say is laugh away Stan, laugh away.  I'll be the one laughing myself all the way back into my clothes!

OK, enough for now.