Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Food Diary 7/31

a.m. cup of tea w/ sugar and milk



walked for 30 minutes. weighed myself 164 lbs. I thought I had gained because I really ate poorly the last couple of days, but I still seem to be losing. It is really the walking that does it and maybe just trying to control portion size (though I'm not always successful).



Breakfast - part of a nectarine. The nectarines have been delicious so far but this one simply had no flavor so I couldn't eat it all. Bowl of Stonyfield non fat French Vanilla yogurt. Very yummy stuff. Mixed in some organic Flax Plus cereal. Made a surprisingly satisfying breakfast. Managed to cook Rick scrambled eggs and eng. muffins without snitching any.



I have been doing lots of laundry this a.m. Already drank another cup of tea and a cup of coffee.



For Lunch I'm having left over proscuitto and pasta - small portion and maybe some baby carrots.

I did many loads of laundry and cleaned out the hall bathroom. I also typed up a draft of decluttering systems for my household control journal that I've been working on.

I didn't snack at all yesterday afternoon. Wahoo!

For dinner - had 2 small slices of ham. a few bites of corn, a handful of grapes. Got hungry and ate a handful of almonds and a tiny sliver of apple pie.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Mount Vernon Sweep

I started doing a major decluttering a couple weeks ago. I started 7/21. I thought it was a lot longer than that. Wow, now I feel like I am actually accomplishing something, though I'm still going slower than I thought. I haven't finished the upstairs.

What I've done so far:

Cleaned around the sink area in the master bathroom sink. The shelves above the sink and the medicine cabinets. I also went through junk in the black container and also through clothes piled up.

Still need to: take shower doors to dump or for special collection. Clean through box of sundry stuff like old files, mail, curriculum, magazines, bits and pieces of toys. Tidy bookcase.

I don't think I'm going to tackle the closet much. I just cleaned it out during the spring and while it isn't perfect, it's okay for now.

I also cleaned off Rick's and my dresser. My dresser still has area of containers that are just holding sundry junk, but I can't stop and do such minutae. It just takes too long. I also cleared the desk and beside tables. Today I cleared off the chair.

I still need to tackle the corner by the desk.

Things done in boys room: closet, dresser, beside table and bookcase cleared. Toys cleared through, but not the toy drawers. Cleaned up under the beds.

Cleaned through linen closet. cleaned out junk sitting in hall way.

Got 3 bags to Good Will. Now have back of mini-van full of give away bags and boxes.

Tomorrow I hope to clean out the upstairs hall bathroom and get stuff to Good Will.

Wednesday, start on Hannah's room.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Menus 7/29 - 7/4

Breakfasts - smoothies 2x, cereal 2x, frozen french toast 1x, bagels 1x, bacon and eggs 1x

Lunches - hoagies 2x, chix nuggets, 1x, pbj & soup - 1x, quesidillas - 1x, grilled cheese 1x, out - 1x (for me salads or soup)

Dinners:

Sunday - proscuitto and pasta, salad, bread
Monday - baked ribs in bbq sauce, corn on the cob, salad
Tuesday - ham steaks, baked potatoes, applesauce, salad or veggie
Wednesday - porcupine meatballs, rice, veggie
Thursday - beef fajitas, mexican veggies
Friday - pizza night
Saturday - chinese!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Food Diary 7/28

cup of tea with sugar and milk



Walked and said rosary - 30 minutes.



Everything bagel with cr. cheese. Small coffee with 2% and a touch of half and half.

Lunch - small pb&j and nectarine

sometime in afternoon - handful of roasted almonds

cup of tea with sugar and milk

dinner - roast chicken, two slices of bread with butter, fruit salad, slice of lemon pound cake.
(shouldn't have had the butter or the lb cake!)

Food Diary 7/27

Didn't walk - my knees were killing me. I guess from the hour walk I took the day before.

a.m. Cup of tea with sugar and milk. Two strips of Ian's french toast.

tall skim latte and reduced fat blueberry coffee cake from Starbucks.

Lunch - grilled chicken salad from chick-fil - a A med. coke

had 15 little toostie roll chews. These are really tiny tootsie rolls. Still, not good for losing weight! Becky was eating them.

Dinner was bad too. 8 inch steak and cheese, LTM. Oh gosh I ate out for every single meal yesterday. Bad, bad, bad! But I didn't eat any fries!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Food Diary 7/26

Got up this a.m. and took an hour long walk. Really felt good about it. I'm down to 164.5 from 167 last week.

a.m. - had cup of tea with milk and sugar; english muffin and nectarine. Remembered to drink water.

had several tortilla chips the kids were munching on midmorning.

Lunch was out (I'm eating out an awful lot this week!). I had the trio salad at The Corner Bakery. Scoop of tuna, tomato - mozzerella and pasta, and green salad with dressing. I have no idea how fattening it was but it was delicious! Oh and I only ate half the roll and didn't use any butter. Also had large ice tea with lemon and honey.

p.m. snack - a handful of almonds and a glass of Zinfandel when a friend came over.

dinner - pot roast cooked in mushroom sauce - small portion. Unfortunately had two medium servings of rice with same mushroom gravy. It was yummy, if I do say so myself. Also had a handful of baby carrots. and a few grapes.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Food Diary 7/25

a.m. cup of tea with sugar and milk

Starbucks - tall skim latte and reduced fat blueberry coffee cake.

Lunch - achhh! Quarter pounder with cheese and a coke (but I didn't eat any fries!)

afternoon snack - leftover baked apple pie from MacDonald's later at the pool I finished up Becky's lemon Italian Ice which is think is worth 1 point weight watchers.

Dinner - 2 small drumsticks, a medium portion of mashed potatoes, some baby carrots and a few grapes.

But I didn't have any milkshake for dessert!

Not a good eating day, I know. Tomorrow I hope to get up and walk. Today I had a headache and had to get Becky to her gymnastics camp.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Food diary 7/24

woke up in a bad mood. The construction crew started working outside our window at 6:40 a.m.





Went for a 30 minute walk and tried to say the rosary and shake my bad mood. Wasn't too successful.





cup of tea with sugar and milk @ 7.



9:00 Fruit smoothie for breakfast. Cup of coffee with milk.



Two slices of roast turkey for mid morning snack @ 11:30 Handful of roasted almonds



1:00 p.m. leftover chicken parmesan



1:45 p.m. cup of tea



worked for 1.5 hours on Josh and Sean's room, cleaning and looking for poor lost baby gerbil.




7:00 dinner - a little bit of a cheese/ham omelet; 2 slices of cornbread with butter (bad!); small serving of fruit salad, green salad.

I have to remember to drink more water.


Monday, July 23, 2007

Food Diary 7/23

early a.m. cup of tea with sugar and 1% milk





On way home from gym camp had tall skim latte from Starbucks and slice reduced fat coffee cake.





Lunch with Becky after her gym camp: grilled chicken salad from chick-fil-a. Only put on a little salad dressing, no croutons and maybe half of the little bag of sunflower seeds. Good salad.


Finished up with decaf coffee with some half and half in it. Strong coffee!





Okay, I have discovered the afternoon is the binge time for me. Ate leftover french fries and a coke somebody left out! Boo hoo. No willpower in the afternoon at all. I should have just thrown the junk away before it could tempt me! Will be better next time I hope!



7:26. chicken parmesan (probably ate a little more than I should have, but mmmm, it was good!) one cheese roll, a slice of melon and a small salad with a little bit of caesar dressing drizzled on it.

tomorrow I can go out walking. I think I definitely need to eat healthier breakfasts. Tomorrow I'll make a smoothie and make sure I get a high protein, low fat snack midmorning. I think that will control my hunger for the rest of the day. I just don't eat enough in the a.m. and then I spend the rest of the day trying to make up for it.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Menu week of 7/22 - 7/28

Sun. L - hoagies, chips, fruit
D - skirt steak in wine sauce; salad, corn on the cob

Mon. B - smoothies; fruit, cereal and milk
L - hoagies for kids; salad and lean turkey
D - chicken parmesan; garlic rolls; salad

Tues. B - cereal with milk; fruit, french toast (frozen) for kids
L - soup and bread; or pb&j and fruit
D - omelets, cornbread, fruit salad, baby carrots

Wed. B- smoothies; cereal with milk, english muffins
L - salad with with hard boiled egg; grilled cheese; fruit
D - slow cooker pot roast; rice, tomato slices; zucchini

Thurs. B - cereal with milk; fruit, eggs and bacon
L - soup and bread; or chicken nuggets and french fries
D - prosciutto and pasta, salad, cheese breadsticks

Fri. B - smoothie; english muffins, fruit
L - salad with tuna; tuna or pb&j, fruit
D - pizza

Sat. B - bagels and cream cheese
L. - hoagies
D - chicken drumsticks, veggie, boiled red potatoes

Food Diary 7/22

I am going to try to watch what I eat more. Need to lose a few pounds! So for now I'll use this spot as my food diary.





Today so far:





7:00 a.m. cup of tea, 2 tsp sugar and a little 1% milk





9:00 a.m. a banana





Then I went to Mass, came home famished, ate:





1 bagel with cr. cheese (maybe 1.5 tblsp)





A fruit smoothie made with 1% milk, 1/2 banana, a dollop of non fat yogurt and fruit juice. I don't know how fattening it is, but I think pretty low cal.





A cup of coffee with a lot of 1% milk in it.



After an hour of decluttering, half a mug of tea with sugar and 1% milk. Only drank half before I ran off to grocery shop.



4 potato chips while food shopping with Becky.

Ate 7 fig newtons! Shouldn't let myself get so hungry. Can't help binging.

Made good dinner of skirt steak in wine sauce. Had 4 small slices, 1/2 ear of corn; slice of melon.

Weighed 166.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Thoughts!

This blog is really an informal accounting of daily things. Writing things out in blog form seems to help me clear my head. Lately I have been writing up posts but then never hitting the 'publish' button. Everything seems so mundane. Since we are not focussing on education right now, the days are less complicated and I don't have the drive to record things so that I know what I've done and what I need to do.

That said, I really do need to work on simple household stuff. The 5 areas I could use improvment in:

1) Laundry - we are continually backed up. I start out the week trying to stick to a routine but by Wed, I have sunk back into bad habits. I let things build for a couple days and before I realized it, we have a huge mount washme! So I really need to stick to every day have a particular laundry goal. I really have to start laundry when I first get up and then (and this is crucial!) not forget about it during the day! I had assigned days of the week for each child but I don't know what I did with it. So here's what I recall that seems workable:

M - Hannah
T - William's and Becky's
W - towels, sheets and covers
TH - Josh and Sean's
F - Mine and Rick's
Sa - any catch up laundry or sheets, towels and covers that need to be done
Su - day of rest

I just need to stay mindful of this schedule. I am thinking of posting it on the laundry room door. Perhaps that will help for a bit. Usually I stop noticing things once they've been up for a while.

2) Mail - The first step would be to clear out my in box on my desk. The second step would be to remember everyday to sort through mail and 1) throw out any junk 2) put magazines and catalogs away immediately 3) Put any mail that needs to be attended to in the in box. 4) One day a week; maybe Sat. morning go through the mail and discuss with Rick and then put away. file in study whatever needs to be filed; let him attend to bills; throw out anything that needs to be thrown out.

3)Clutter - the ever-present and ever discouraging existence of clutter on every horizontal surface in our house. I really think that the best 3 things to handle this come from Flylady: 1) declutter hot spots for several minutes every morning and night 2)27 Fling boogie as well as remembering to take out recycling and trash - just getting the stuff out of the house is a major block for me. 3) Zones - systematically moving through the house on a rotating basis and taking care of what needs to be done. Hah! I can dream, can't I????

4) Food - I need to plan and grocery shop more consistently and realistically. I need to be more aware of what I've got in the house. I need to control everybody's out of control snacking. The first step for today (since yesterday I cleaned out most of the pantry) is to really clean out the fridge. It's in a very bad way right now! I have started to tackle that by putting a menu rotation plan along with a list of recipes in my control binder. So maybe I'm moving forward on that!

5) Exercise - I really need to just start walking more. I have done that before. Why can't I get myself into that habit? If I could just successfully get myself doing that, I could then think about other exercise too.

Today I would like to 1) change into day clothes take a walk and say the rosary then come home and shower. Make bacon and eggs for breakfast and clean up right away. I'd like to go to the Tridentine Mass but now I am chickening out. I didn't envision taking Sean with us. I wanted to go first by myself so I can explain things to him. He won't take to it happily without some preparation. I'll have to see how things go. So I don't know what we'll do today for mass. Right now simpler seems better. Then even though it's Sunday I need to work on laundry, clean out the fridge and go grocery shopping. I haven't cooked dinner in two days. Poor Rick is still out of commission with his hurt leg.

Sunday - hamburgers and hot dogs
Monday - french toast and sausage
Tuesday - porkchops in mushroom gravy and rice
Wednesday - bbq chicken in crockpot
Thursday - Broiled fish, potatoes
Friday - pizza
Saturday - chicken dish

Monday, July 2, 2007

Things to do list 7/2

1) Read


2) shower (Becky get a bath a.m. early p.m.)


3) run to store for lunches (on the way to camp)


4) Rosary


5) Boys to camp (is Sean sick or has it passed???)


6) Weeding


7) meal planning/grocery shopping with Becky


8) which computer will be the Latin one for Will?


9) Hannah must read her Church History - a lot!


10) pick up J (& S?)


11) Quiet time - more reading or nap?


12) hair cuts and shoes


13) Laundry


14) Tidy up - remember focus on hygiene also finish B & W's room


15) See if we can tell male and female gerbils apart - got to give away this week


16) Read Sun Faster, Sun Slower at dinner or sometime


17) Mail B's birthday invites.


18) Make dinner



Okay today has felt like I haven't gotten much done so let me think about what I have done:



1) Showered and Becky got a bath. J and H took showers.

2) Hannah just took all the kids to get haircuts

3) Finished cleaning Becky and Will's room (deep cleaning) and Will went through his dresser and put outgrown clothes in give away.

4) Kept tabs on Will's computer time

5) Got nap in!

6) Remembered to defrost the steaks for dinner!

7) Tidied up sitting room a tiny bit.

8) Read some to Becky

9) J and S have been playing tennis and ping pong a lot today.

10) H took W, S & B to Mass this a.m. while I took J to music camp. Sean was sick last night so he didn't go, but it turned out it was just one of his sick headaches.

11) Unloaded dishwasher and loaded with dirty dishes

12) H did some reading in her church history

13) Mailed most of b-day invitations

14) said rosary this a.m. on the porch to the roar of bulldozers in the backyard.

15) J weeded a bit

16) S got stung twice, nursed him back to health!!!!! Took a while!



Right now I am going to put laundry away. I will read Sun Slower Sun Faster at dinner.



So it was actually a really good day so far. It's just in the afternoon I got all lightheaded and shakey, like I was coming down with something. So I have been really sedentary for the last couple of hours.