3 AM

Well, good morning, ClubMommers!  It's a very dark 3 AM right now, and I'm awake because it is too painful to sleep.  I've contracted the cold that my kids brought home from school (week three!) and I feel like my face has been kicked in. 

This is doing wonders for my food cravings, of course.  I have no appetite, and I can't taste anything - so why bother eating? 

I'm going to be trying to get rid of this cold as rapidly as possible.  I've been taking Airborne every three hours since I started to feel horrible, and I've been eating garlic with every meal (lovely, I know) - I suspect it might be not be enough.

In any case - I'm going to try to sleep sitting up, and see if I can't get some rest before the dawn breaks. 

Menu Monday - Day Late, Dollar Short

I'm beginning to suspect that I should have just made it Menu Tuesday, but it doesn't flow off the tongue as well.

So - this week, we've added several activities to our family schedule, and I've got even less time to make elaborate presentations.  The temptation is very strong to serve sandwiches every night. 

But there's no fun in that!  We've had a bite in the air lately, and I've started craving some of my favorite fall comfort foods.  While I'm not ready to abandon watermelon and corn on the cob yet, I'm ready for some warm, hearty one-dish suppers.  I just have to remember to eat a small serving, with healthy sides.

I'm going to raid my pantry this week, and make do with some of the groceries we've had hanging around.  Once a month or so, I like to drag all those unloved packages and cans forward, and see what I can make of them.  So - without further ado - my Day Late and Dollar Short Menu for this week:

All Over The Road

This has been a really chaotic couple of weeks, what with the start of elementary school two weeks ago, and preschool this week.  I'm struggling to keep my meal times regular, and I'm not listening to my body's cues, either.  I'm finding that my meals are either an hour before I'm actually ready to eat, or a hour after I've become ravenous.  I've been suffering from headaches, too - probably from dehydration.

I also weighed in at 173 this morning. 

I assume that if I continue to keep my meals as scheduled as I can, my appetite will eventually adjust, but it is killing me.  Especially the headaches.  I'm carrying around a water bottle every where.  Hopefully, I'll get to the bottom of it soon.

I've still been pretty good about the exercise thing - I'm getting at least 30 minutes of good aerobic exercise a day.  Yesterday, I walked two miles, and then rode a scooter with my kids for 20 minutes, and followed it up with 20 minutes on my bike.  This morning, I rode my bike two miles, and I'll do it again this afternoon - unless I decide to walk.

I'm putting together my menu for this week later today - check back and see what I'll be feeding the family!

Strategic Food Preparation

The worst part of school lunches is bringing snack-type foods into the house again.  All summer long, I've been able to avoid buying salty snacks in bags, unless they were part of a planned meal.  But the kids love to take crackers and cheese, and they love those Snap Pea Crisp things, and fruit leather and meringue cookies...

I'm at home with a kitchen full of forbidden foods once again.  And no one would be the wiser if I took a handful of crackers out of the box right?  Or a few meringue cookies?  Those don't count, do they - the package says "fat-free" and all...

I've decided that I'm NOT going to fall victim to an open box of crackers again.  I eat at mealtimes, not in between.  Well, mostly.  Ssssh.

So here's my new strategy.  I buy the snacks I want to send in lunches, and then I spend half an hour dividing the packages of snacks into baggies, which I load into a large tupperware box and put high in the pantry, where I would have to make an effort to actually get at them.

The kids have also been loving mini-bagels with cream cheese, so I go ahead and make up the entire package of bagels with cream cheese (one brick of cheese covers 13 mini-bagels nicely) and bag those individually, too.  I toss those in the fridge.  I buy one-get-one-free eggs all the time, so I'll take one dozen and hard-boil them, while I'm dividing up snacks.  Then I'll mark each one with an "H" in crayon before loading them back into their carton and putting the whole thing back in the fridge.

As I've mentioned, I have been enjoying "fancy eggs" in the morning - on shopping day, I chopped one sweet onion, one green pepper and one red pepper, and scooped them into a container for the fridge.  I pre-grated some cheese too, so when I want my eggs, I can just open up the fridge, grab the pre-chopped and pre-grated stuff and get cooking.  I've been adding some freshly minced parsley too, which has been delicious.

Now - let's talk salads for a minute.  As some of you know, I asked the Mom Network's question of the week - I wanted to know "What's for dinner?"  There were some fantastic menus mentioned in the responses - and also some great questions.  Brenda L. asked if I had some ideas for salads.  She's trying to eat more fruits and veggies, and is getting tired of the same ole same ole. 

One of my favorite ways to get more veggies is to broil peppers, red onion, small red potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, even sliced corn on the cob and toss together.  I drizzle them with olive oil, and toss on some fresh herbs and add some garlic cloves.  I love it when they get all caramelized and fragrant. 

My dear readers - help me out here:  tell me your favorite salads and creative fruits and veggies ideas... 

Good News/Bad News

Hoooo-wheee.  I've been busier than the proverbial one-legged man in the butt-kicking contest this week, for no particular reason. 

I've got some good news, and some bad news.  Let's see... where to start?

We'll start with the bad.  (drumroll please)

I had to drop the bellydance class before I ever tried it.  My husband's work schedule has just changed, leaving me zero chance of ever making it to the class on time, if at all.  I'm pouting, just a little bit, because I was looking forward to it.  If only for the chance to get out of the house once a week without my toddler dangling from my body like an oversized handbag.

That's more of the bad news... my toddler has become surly.  At six days until her first morning at preschool, I am counting the milliseconds.  Not that I don't love the little demon darling - but girlfriend is testing my patience in a big way, and I've developed a facial tic from all the howling and pointing. 

What is it about toddlers and that disappearing armpit thing?  You go to grab them under their arms, and they raise their hands in the air and wave 'em like they just don't care while making the rest of their little bodies limp, and you can't get a grip.  We've done that more than ten times this week, and I'm really sick of it. 

All this howling and going limp and irrational behavior makes it really difficult to break her mood enough to get a workout in during school hours.  I'm walking one way most days, but we're walking with Kim and her children, so the only time my heart-rate rises above normal is when one of the kids dashes into the street. 

Oh, and I didn't go to Bikram Yoga last night - same icky work schedule problems.  I don't know if I'll go back.  I'm thinking on it, and I have a whole month to try again, but it's just really tough to steal two hours from my family right now to bury myself in the gym.

So, I'm feeling like an underexercised loser. 

Now for the good news -

Menu Monday - Living La Vida Low-Carb

As I mentioned in my post on Sunday, I'm going to be cutting back on my daily bread until I start to see some downward movement on the scale.  I'll be sticking with low-carb (but still real food) meals for breakfast and lunch, and finishing my day with a regular dinner. 

I'm also going to attempt a second Bikram Yoga session tomorrow evening, to see if my body will get used to the heat, and if the nausea that brought me down last time can be abated by hydrating.  I'll report in on that action on Wednesday. 

So - without further ado - The Living La Vida Low-Carb edition of Menu Monday.

Breakfasts will consist of two eggs and one ounce of cheese, plus bell peppers, onions, mushrooms.  I might do a crustless quiche with spinach, bacon and feta cheese.  You get the picture.  Fancy, uptown eggies. 

Lunch will consist of a salad using only low-carb veggies, drizzled with olive oil and vinegar, and topped with either chopped egg, tuna, or some grilled chicken or turkey.  I might make a crudite plate with veggies and serve with a vinegarette for dipping, along with some sliced cheese.  I also like spicy green beans, or sauteed bell peppers, so we'll see what I come up with.  Lunch is mainly about veggies (about 2 cups, to be precise) with a small serving of protein (3-4 oz)

Dinners.  Now here's the fun part!  Let's start with Tuesday this week.

Tuesday night - mild whole bean and cheese enchiladas, topped with sour cream and guacamole and served with a green salad.
Wednesday night - crockpot mac and cheese, served with a cup of tomato soup and steamed broccoli
Thursday night - homemade calzone, stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and kids' choices of sauces and other ingredients.  Using the bread machine to get the dough ready.
Friday night - baked spinach with water chestnuts, garlic and parmesean cheese in heavy cream, and topped with panko bread crumbs dotted with butter and pork tenderloin, with fruit salad.
Saturday night - Chicken stew, with popovers and watermelon
Sunday night - Spaghetti with garlic bread and green salad.
Monday night - Waffles and sausages with sliced apples

Yo! Gah!

I woke up this morning after a rough night of bed-hopping kids and pee-pee accidents, and felt myself sliding toward anger before my head was off of the pillow.  This is not the way to wake up.  Although, let's be blunt, waking up to three children screaming and crying is not a good way to wake up in general. 

Note to self:  Tranquilizer darts.  Get some.

I've been thinking about giving Bikram Yoga a shot, on the recommendation of several friends.  Grace Davis made a particularly good case for it a while back.  When it became obvious that I was going to  walk around with my body twanging from stress, I decided that today would be a perfect day to get away for a ninety-minute session.

Ninety.  90.  Nine Zero Minutes.  The hell?  I find that a little over-the-top, don't you?

Okay, let's just establish that I'm a big wimp.  I like my intense exercise in 30 minute blocks.  Or, okay, 20.  Beyond that, I'm a withering flower.  I wilt.  And start pouting.  And, depending on what time of the month it is, I also get really nauseous.

Go, on.  Guess what happened?

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A New Angle

I stepped on the scale this morning, to a blinking 175.  Three pounds gained in one day.  This sucks.

I know that this is my bloating time of the month, and I'm prone to swings in my weight of up to five pounds, but COME ON.  It took all my fortitude to not throw the scale at the wall.  I'm just not seeing the results I want to see, and it's pissing me off. 

After the birth of my oldest, my husband and I both lost about 15 pounds in six weeks.  We did it by restricting carbohydrates two meals a day, and eating one regular meal a day.  Since we were doing it together, but he was eating lunch out almost every day, we decided that lunch would be our regular meal, and we would eat a low-carb dinner.  He ate his Chinese food, his burritos and deli sandwiches, while I mainly ate sandwiches.  And ice cream bars.  Come dinner time, all the "yummy" was off-limits.

Thus began my experiments with low-carb dinner cooking, most of which was frankly unpalatable.  Following the recipes I found, I made things like (gross) baked cabbage, weird chicken and sour cream dishes, the same list of low-carb veggies over and over and over.  It made me very uninspired and made me feel very much like I was on a diet.  These dishes were not things that I would prepare for myself willingly, but I was enjoying the weight loss that came with the lack of appetite inspired by the meals I was preparing.

I lost weight, though.  I was miserable, but I lost weight.

When I read The Fat Fallacy, it promised that I could have all the yummy foods I love, in moderation.  I indulge in some wonderful real foods, and I have taught myself to eat smaller portions.  I'm not miserable at all.

Except that I'm not losing weight, beyond a few pounds and a few inches spread over a few months.

So!  Here's a what I'm a gonna do:

Back in the swing of things

Today was the second day of the elementary school year, and I had already lost some of my enthusiasm for the return to classes.  My kids were sluggish this morning, and I found myself running behind schedule by a few minutes right from the start.

No matter.  I stood guard over the breakfast table, ensuring that the oatmeal laced with cream and butter was actually being eaten, drinking my decaffeinated coffee.  Let's just say that if you ever decide to quit caffeine once and for all, and you succeed...don't start drinking it again, and then expect that quitting (again) is going to be easy. 

After breakfast, the kids stepped into the outfits we had selected the night before, we did all of our grooming things and made it out the door with packed lunches and everything.

Thanks to your fantastic ideas, my children took sliced cheese, a small apple, some crackers, a small yogurt and a meringue cookie.  That pretty much exhausted the "fun lunch" stash from my pantry, though, so I made plans for a trip to Trader Joe's to fill in the gaps before the weekend.

Before I could shop, however, I had to actually get the kids to school.  We made it out the door for our walk to school right on time, and joined our neighborhood friends for the mile.  It is foggy here in the mornings, but the temperatures have been mild, so the walk has been painless, if a little slow.  I even brought my neuotic pooch along for the walk.