DUM DUM DUM (just some exciting news)

Here it is folks. A copy of my French visa good for 1 year. Oh la la! It took 2 trips so that's why I was not in class yesterday & today (I would have gotten them all yesterday if not for the fact that they did not like the health insurance letter that I brought from Kaiser so I had to run amok, get a more precise one, and bring it in with the 3 kids today). Now that was fun - especially since once we were allowed inside the "visa" section of the French Embassy (off the 405 fwy past LAX & the 10 fwy....in the major traffic zone thank you very much) they had to be really quiet (French people do not really care for loud & boisterous kids in public). Even in the Metro everyone kinda whispers. And yeah my photo kinda looks like a mug shot. Damn.

So not really a "d" related, calorie reducing item but it's darned delightful!

Debbie

See? I can prove living & cooking simpler is healthier. This is our lunch today - we made a potato salad which is basically russet potatoes (boiled till firm/tender) in a dressing of olive oil, chopped parsley, lemon, minced garlic & green onions. Presented on a decorative bed of lettuce & adorned with cucumbers, grape tomatoes & radishes. This is the last you will see of Sophie at my house because Bob Barker called & she will soon be appearing on the Price is Right! Sorry Vanna but The Wheel of Fortune called a day too late!

Here's our fresh fruit salad (or what's left of it) - nectarines, blueberries, blackberries & raspberries. Make this (add other fruit too - grapes, apples, citrus, cut cherries, etc.) & add orange juice (fresh or from the refrigerated section but not from concentrate). Let sit for about an hour in the fridge. Your kids (and you) will LOVE IT. Sometimes my kids only drink the juice. Only good for about 1 day (best on day prepared) or fruit gets mushy. Great idea for snack or dessert. Are you feeling my simplicity here? I can hear some of you saying "Yeah Deb, you're simpleminded for sure!"

In case you were wondering "Gee Deb, what the hell is a Persian cucumber?" here they are. I keep these cut up in the fridge & my kids will eat them with a meal or as a snack. Plus they make cute adornments & are firmer/less seedy than "american" cucumber.

Deb's Food Blog for Tuesday 07/28/2009

First, does anyone have any comments on eating before or after boot camp? I don't really want to eat before hand & always heard to exercise on an empty stomach so not sure of your thoughts on this one.

My abbreviations:

Ca=calories
Fa=fat grams
Cb=carb grams
Pr=protein
Fi=fiber
Su=sugar

Snack - 1 medium banana

Breakfast - 1 cup GoLean cereal Ca=140/Fa=10/Cb=30/Pr=13/Fi=10/Su=6

Breakfast - 1 cup lofat milk Ca=130/Fa=20/Cb=16/Pr=11/Fi=0/Su=15

Lunch - 1 bowl (approx. 1 1/2 cups) of m'jhadra [not sure on content because it was homemade but consists of white rice; lentils; onion; cumin; salt]

Snack - 2 servings of Arabic Pita bread (2 full rounds)
Ca=280/Fa=0/Cb=58/Pr=5g/Fi=2/Su=0

Snack - 1 serving of hummus
Ca=70/Fa=50/Cb=3/Pr=1/Su=0

Dinner - 2 frozen taquitos (no I did not eat them frozen but they were not homemade; lost content because kids tossed the box & I was not about to do any dumpster diving)
Dinner - 2 Persian cucumbers
Dinner - 2 cups mixed fresh fruit (nectarines, raspberries, blueberries)

Snack - 2 cups (2 servings) Smart Pop 94% Fat Free Popcorn Ca=30/Fa=0*/Cb=50/Pr=8/Fi=8/Su=0?

*How can unpopped popcorn have 20 calories from fat per serving (3 tbsp unpopped) and no fat calories once popped? Where did the fat go? Does it evaporate? Did it join the socks that have disappeared from my dryer? Is it magic?

Interesting info: I took my mother-in-law yesterday to SuperIrvine to shop. Since we are cleaning out the cupboards our only intent was to buy pita, some Kiri cheese, fresh fruits & veggies. I spent like $79 & filled my fridge. Mind you I bought with the intent of feeding 6 people for about a week or so (my mother-in-law is here for at least 4 months). Now while their stuff is not organic, I figured this might help those intested in getting more bang for their buck.

I bought: 1 head of butter lettuce; 1 large bag (2+ lbs?) of spring mix salad; 5 bulbs of garlic; 2 BAGS filled with Persian cucumbers; 1 32 oz lowfat plain yogurt; 1 bag Greek style pita; 6 bags Arabic pita; 1 container of prepared hummus; 6 large nectarines; 2 boxes of blackberries (12 oz ea); 2 containers of raspberries (6 oz); 1 medium-large eggplant; 1 baggie of string beans (about 6oz); 1 baggie of okra (about 2oz); 4 bunches of green onions (4=$1); 4 bunches of parsley (4=$1); 2 bunches of basil; 1 pint of prepared cucumber salad (from their deli counter); 1 pint of mixed cucumber/feta/garbanzo bean salad (from their deli counter); 4 d'anjou pears; 4 boxes of Kiri cheese (like Laughing Cow but creamier - 6 cubes to a box - spread it on 1/2 of arabic pita & my kids have a snack or lunch); 1 container of grape tomatoes (24 oz? something like that); 1 medium canteloupe

Give or take I think the above is pretty accurate. They have screaming deals but be careful - some fruits/veggies, although put out for purchase, are not the greatest quality (like the strawberries yesterday sucked). But hey, if you go to the grocery store you cannot buy 4 bunches of green onions or parsley for $1!!! You pay more than that just for 1 bunch.

So in addition to my "d" blog I've now become your handy-dandy economic adviser

Debbie...who did not do Dallas (you KNEW I would get some snarky comment in there, didn't you?)

"D"e-cluttering the cabinets (and house) to "d"e-clutter my diet & food lifestyle

So, as promised, I started cleaning out the kitchen (regularly used food stuff was gone through months ago). First stop? Cabinet adjacent to the stove. Although I won't publish the entire list (it's 2 pages), I have picked a few items that might raise a few eyebrows, wrinkle some noses or just make you wanna smack your forehead (or me upside the head):

*Caveat ~ on items where there were multiples, I'm not sure why more than 1 would even be opened other than for the careless fact that I did not have track of what was in my cupboards & bought/used more than was necessary

*(4) jars of Tahini (of which 2 were opened)

*(2) jars of Butter Ghee - FACT Serving = 1 tsp (yes TSP) Cal 120 / Fat 120 (wow, just eat a piece of lard for god's sakes!)

*(1) can of meringue powder from 04/26/2005 (my sister & I took a cake decorating class and I never used it after that)

*(1) can/tin of powdered cultured buttermilk (honestly, why the hell did I even buy this?) but had to be from more than 12+ years ago!

*(1) 3 lb tub of Crisco All Vegetable Shortening - FACT Serving = 1 tbsp Cal 110 / Fat 110 (hey, it's better than the Butter Ghee! More bang for your buck) I never even opened it BUT the "best if used by date" was 11/22/2006 so, if this stuff is good for what, several years, you can just calculate when it was approximately purchased

*(3) jars of organic Maple Syrup (friend of mine tried to convince me to do the Master Cleanse...I lasted 1 day)

*Variety of salts (sea salt, kosher salt, table salt)

*Variety of vinegars (apple cider vinegar, distilled white vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar [3 bottles...why?])

*Orange blossom water & rose water (for Arabic cooking and upset stomachs - works great kids because when they burp, it smells like a flower!)

So what is my intention here & how does it help any of us? I think that by simplifying our lives this, in turn, helps us to simplify our lifestyles & diets. Yeah it would be great that we were all gourmet chefs that could turn out delicious, low fat, low calorie meals. And by believing in this I would get sucked into that mind set by buying cooking equipment/tools that I didn't need or ingredients that I would only use 1x, if I ever used it at all.

Then, when I would go to whip up that meal worthy of the Food Network, I would become discouraged when the food would not work out or did not taste good or just looked darned gross. Hello, Pizza Hut, how fast can you deliver?

When I lived by myself my diet was simple, easy to prepare, good tasting & healthy. Then I got married & had kids & thought I would have to be SuperMom including the chef part. But you cannot do everything and even if you can, I doubt everything comes out 100+%.

In a way this move to France provides a clean slate, which really felt good when I went to Palm Desert. The apartment will be small so there will be no room. Everything is downsized over there (fridges are considerably smaller). Many places don't even offer a microwave - you're lucky you get a stove/oven instead of a hot plate! Plus, people in Europe live a much simpler lifestyle. Eating is simpler, more relaxing. Something I haven't felt here in a long, long time.

I also went through my closet & got rid of my loose clothing that was there in case of weight gain. I gave it to the girls at work. Not only was a lot of it stuff that would be impractible for me to take or keep, I now have room in my closet to buy stuff for smaller sizes (now THAT's a nice thought).

Some things I learned in the process of this exercise: that any food that has a shelf life is scary - in calories & fat content, plus all those unmentionable or un-pronouncable ingredients; I can easily whip up a good tasting meal by using healthy perishables (meats + fresh veggies + fresh herbs) with simple condiments (olive oil, salt, pepper) instead of getting bogged down in the consumerism of cooking; that it's true what they say about keeping clothes for the "just in case"...just in case kinda happens so if you keep those "JIC" clothes guess what? You'll probably end up wearing them sooner than you think.

I feel a bit weird posting this blog - it wasn't snarky enough for me...but oh well. Tomorrow is another day (actually, my blog on my food for yesterday will be forthcoming shortly so I'm sure I can open up a can of smart a$$ soon enough)

Debbie

ACCOUNTABILITY (there's just no way to make that a "D" word)

So I was kinda blown away when I checked the blog & saw that I had not blogged for quite a while. Therefore, this blogger should be flogged.

The kids & I went to Palm Desert for our "vacation". We stayed at Marriott Shadow Ridge and I actually discovered a few things about eating habits. Average temp during the day? 110 - 120 degrees. Temp at 1am? 90+.

1. I have personally become a kitchen whore (now wait a minute before y'all start jumping up & down on this one). If there's a kitchen gadget out there I might own it. If there's some bizarre ingredient it's probably stagnant in my cupboards.

I buy tons of crap for my kitchen that it didn't dawn on me until this week that I really (a) don't need and (b) don't use.

We had a 1 bedroom villa (villa = 1 bedroom apartment). Basic necessities including blender, stove/oven, microwave, toaster, pots/pans. There was no: mixer, toaster oven, whisks, different assortment of pyrex bowls or plastic containers, bread machine, juicer, food processor, mini processor, crock pot, funky knives or more than 1 chopping knife, out of this world accessories (who really needs more than 1 set of tongs? or a strawberry huller? or egg slicer? or garlic peeler?) etc. Now some of those I might need to hang on to (mini chop & crock pot) but the rest of that? CRAP!

2. Cooking for yourself & your kids does not need to be energy depriving nor complicated. Usually I get sucked into the recipes (see OCD blog), cookbooks, etc. and then just get down right tired of the whole process.

This time? Yes I bought some ready made foods (waffles, taquitos, chicken tenders, etc) and we had tuna, turkey sandwiches, etc. But we ate either in our "villa" or with our "group" the entire time - there was no eating out, no running to the store for last minute items or ready prepped food, no fast food...zip / zilch / nada. The sides basically consisted of salad, fresh fruit and that's it. And pool side snacks were mainly fresh fruit that we all cut up, gatorade (for dehydration) and water.

So I personally feel that I have over-complicated the whole eating/cooking process.

3. Buy snacks that we all kinda like but not love. Salt & vinegar chips? Cannot be anywhere near my family - my kids can hose those puppies down like vacuums. Regular baked chips? Not their favorite but with no other choice they ate them and didn't overeat them. Same thing with a "treat" - Otter Pops are great for the heat but who can eat more than 1? Just enough to take the "dessert" edge off without anyone (including the adults) scarfing more than a single serving of ice cream.

4. Heat works wonders for the diet (side note - I don't recommend this but just a thought - it's not like I would voluntarily move to the Sahara just to lose a few pounds). We took the kids out for a stroll at The River & we got them Ben & Jerry's. First of all, even though it was so hot, I had no desire to even get an ice cream. My kids? They all chose sorbets & all 3 ended up not even finishing their servings. Instead they ate about 1/2, dumped the rest & sucked up my ice water.

So on to accountability.

Writing my food intake & counting calories in my book is great for me to see but I can always close my eyes, maybe turn the page, possibly spill some Crystal Light Fruit Punch on the journal so that it is no longer legible or just say to myself tomorrow will be better. But it always ends up with excuses. So I decided (drumroll please) to blog my food starting tomorrow (lord help me). I might even go out on a limb and post my weigh on Fridays. Yeah the weight number thing bothers me but it's not like people see me & think oh yeah, she's 170 lbs (well I used to be 165 lbs back in 97-99...boo hoo!)

Maybe this will really help me by being accountable to others - sometimes being accountable to yourself doesn't feel like much accountability. Because I can always side step my own accountability. But if someone else wants me to help them be accountable then oh yeah, I'm on board (does the idiom "Do as I say, not as I do?" sound familiar). I just hear in my head "yeah yeah yeah" and then poof - too many calories consumed.

Further accountability? I started cleaning out my cupboards. And I mean cleaning out the cupboards. Stuff I have not used or which is too complicated to use is going...going...gone. Not only because we are leaving (all final docs submitted to those ever helpful French embassy people (snicker snicker) 1 week ago) but because I feel overburdened with the loads of stuff in my cupboards. I really need to de-clutter my kitchen.

These things are dragging me down man. Like that bread machine that is in cold storage on top of my oven (where I used to stick those darned yellow pages). Or some garlic peeling machine (don't ask) that I never even used but when I bought it I thought I would be happily de-skinning garlic clove after clove (nope - I still do it the original way by hand peeling or smashing with a flat knife - takes the same amount of effort, uses no electricity & does not require any dishwashing). Another example ~ I glanced at the cabinet next to my stove which houses things like salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegars, baking powder, etc. I believe the corn starch housed there has not been touch in more than 1 year (eewwww). Probably more than 1 box each of baking soda & baking powder though not sure why. There are 3 different red wine vinegars, all have been opened & I'm pretty sure all 3 are expired. A Crisco shortening tub that I think I bought in the vincinity of when we moved into the house (hello? that was like 11+ years ago) and I think it was only used once. Since I don't use it why do I still have it? Was I concerned that the world would end and I might need (quite a bit) of Crisco shortening? Or how about the 3 different boxes of sugar substitute for coffee (Splenda, Sweet & Low or Equal) - people, I DO NOT EVEN DRINK COFFEE! There's a jar of ghee (kinda like clarified butter) that I bought when I first learned Arabic cooking that I never used again after that 1st time because it made the food look & taste greasy.

So for fun I will keep a list and also blog that - the trash on what I had (and how many) and if I can even estimate how long I've had it. Waste Mgmt will certainly be happy with us this week!

And that's it. It's scary putting this on the internet (insert spooky sound here) for all the world to see but I'm sure I'll survive (and do not quote Gloria Gaynor here - that's Lindsey's).

Debbie

FEAR

Well, I survived my 50th birhtday week! I enjoyed a major celebration at the Montage where my son is a chef, enjoying a private 10 course meal with wine pairing. I did this by working out for two hours in the morning, eating lightly during the day and eating bites of things that I didn't love. I did LOVE a few things and ate it with enjoyment. Next came 90 guests at my home for a catered party hosted by my sons. The good news about being the birthday girl is that you dont have time to eat! I did taste a few of the amazing 12 items hand passed, and celebrated with one martini!

So I am learning that fun does not have to mean over indulgence. I have also learned that when I dont write everything down I eat more. With family and friends here and all of the celebrating I was not diligent about my food journal. I see it on the scale with an increase instead of the decrease I have been enjoying. So back to the journal with diligence.

For the past many weeks I have been having butt pain. I dont mean to the kind caused by another person, I mean the kind caused by my sciatic nerve/periformus muscle. I have had my back "go out" twice in the past. If you have had this happen you know it is very painful and scary. You cant walk, talk or hardly breathe without pain. Getting on and off the toilet is a major event! So I PANIC when I feel any twinge of anything in the lower back/butt area.

Lindsey has been trying to talk sense into me about living without fear. Now mind you I am not a marathon runner or triathlete, in fact I cant run at all. So why would someone who struggles to be a walker freak out about a little pain? I wish I knew! FEAR that is it, fear of pain, fear of any injury, fear of not being able to work, fear of not being able get off the toilet! So I try to remember what Lindsey tells me, what is the worst that can happen. (well being stuck on the toilet would pretty much suck) So I am struggling to live without fear and deal with things as they come and not fear what "could" happen!

I wanted to share with you my issue with FEAR, because we all have fears, they present themselves in many ways. So as I begin live in my 50s (GOOD LORD) I am going to work on getting past my fears, in their many forms, and move forward.

I hope you are both well, face your own fears this week, and over come them!

DeeAnn

FOOD

OK so I swore to Lindsey I would start using the food journal I bought a couple of weeks ago. I was going to start on Monday, dont all new diet things start on a Monday? But oh no, she said I have to start today. FINE!!!!

So I got out the book and found a calorie counting book and so it began. The goal is to stay between 1500 and 1200 calories per day. So I start browsing the calorie book, imagine my shock when I calculate that my dinner last night exceed by entire daily calorie allowance. Did you hear me say DINNER not DAY, just one of the meals I ate yesterday! GEEZ

Perhaps there is some real reasons that I cannot loose and keep off weight other than I am a medical miracle! DAMN

Then I found an article in a magazine I was reading tonight about portion size. So here are some tips from the article. Serving sizes are as follows:

Meat the size of a mini pack of tissues
Beans the size of a tennis ball
Cheese the size of three dice or your thumb (I thought that was a taste)
Rice or pasta size to fill a cupcake wrapper
Mashed potaotes size of deck of cards
Bread roll size of round part of a light bulb
Cake size of a deck of cards
Butter size of a postage stamp (are you freakin kidding me right now?)
Potato chips size of tennis ball

Well doesn't that explain alot! When is the last time you put a postage sized dab of butter on your toast? How about three diced size pieces of cheese and stopping?

I have some serious revamping to do, and my stomach is going to think something is seriously wrong with a postage stamp of butter on my half piece of toast and egg whites in the morning!

Keep the faith ladies! Is anyone actually reading this blog?

DeeAnn

She knows me so well.............

Well, Lindsey was right - silence is not golden when it comes to me. I have had a really out of control week. Tipping point followed by a bad week! Ouch! I did not pack lunch one day this week. I did not do any POGS and I worked till the wee hours because whenever I go overseas I feel like I have to do the week's work in advance. It doesn't work well because I feel the backlog when I come back anyway. Oh well, maybe Sao Paulo will make up for the hectic week I have just had. I really, really struggle to pace myself with workload. I go full tilt and then collapse, then get up, dash again, and all fall down - I really love the rush of full tilt I guess and don't enjoy wogging through life at all. The problem is that I used to do full tilt for quite a long period, now as I hit half a century the full tilt is actually a pathetic little rush from one lampost project to the next with great huffing and puffing while I lean on something inelegantly. So, I will ponder this in my business class seat over the Atlantic where the Air France plane met it's demise recently and actually use the 12 hours to read Skinny Bitch and get turned off food for life ;) and order my mind and get perspective again.
I am still not excercising very much as the biokinetisist and the physio work with me three times a week to try and straighten my spine and build strength into my left side. Today I sat strapped into some high chair that felt like I was fighter pilot strapped into a cockpit while they tested muscles and all sorts. The right leg is 56% stronger than my left and I am told that the muscles are not firing in the correct order. Well I have known that about other parts of me but this is a revelation. I also spent another night in hospital doing neuro obs while they try to find the one brain cell I claim to have. No conclusive results leave everyone else still wondering!
Anyway, I KNOW what to do - just need to do it. I could not agree more about the writing down of food. I KNOW the secret lies therein. So, good luck to both of you as I get up off the floor and face a new week.
I will probably not post while in Brazil as our schedule is quite hairy and then I am at the Palace for three days at Sun City, so back at work on 23rd.
Healthy living!
d

Surviving Holidays

Well, we made it through the big summer holiday, the 4th of July. This holiday, like most holidays, is celebrated with food. The summer's best foods, hot dogs, hamburgers, potatoe salad, homemade ice cream, and corn on the cob.

Like most, getting through the holidays is sometimes a struggle. With the added stress of family, we often turn to food for comfort. This year my goal is to enjoy the family and the family favorite foods, but both in moderation. Often times holidays and vacations are another excuse to overeat and indulge way too much. So I approached the holiday weekend be exercising at the start of the day, and then enjoying the holiday fare in moderation.

It is nothing new for us to hear about portion sizes and how large they have become. It is another to recognize this and then correct it in our every day lives. So this month, at Lindsey's suggestion I am doing my best to measure my food. I caution you that I have found thus far the size of my palm can grow with the size of my hunger! Therefore, I have come up with the rule that a portion of protein for example, must fit INSIDE my palm, not hang over or onto the fingers.

So I continue my journey this month, proud that June was the month to conquer regular i.e. daily,exercise and July is the month to conquer the food. I continue to have the DESIRE to try the newest food fix on the market, but resist with Lindsey's help. In July I will work on portion size and moderation. I just purchased the food journal Lindsey told me about, now I just need to use it. We have all heard that writing down our food makes our weight loss more likely, so I am going to strive to do that every day. Why do we resist those tools that will help us?

Thanks Deb for the sports bra story, I now know where to buy a bullet proof bra!

Have a great week ladies, and remember every week counts!

DeeAnn

Is it bad that I'm unemployed & excited about it? Plus a blurb about sports bras & learning to "love it"

Well, that’s it. It’s over. My last day was technically Thursday 07/02/2009 although I am doing a few hours here & there to clean up some loose ends and train another paralegal. After 23 years of doing bankruptcy and 12+ years with this current attorney I voluntarily became unemployed.

So one might ask what have I been doing since then (yeah I know a whopping 4 days which was a holiday weekend). Well, I went and bought more sports bras. People, we are all seriously in the wrong business. I mean geez – the cost of good athletic apparel is staggering! Since my cups literally overfloweth I had to spend an arm & a leg for something that will let me run without hurting myself or someone else. That means I spent $65.95 (plus tax) for an Enell Sports Bra (are we allowed to post the link? I’m assuming it’s OK so here it is - http://www.enell.com/products.php?productID=1 ). Oooh & aaah all you want.

I purchased my first one through Title Nine years ago & then found that Snail’s Pace (Fountain Valley) actually carries them in stock (goodbye shipping & handling). Alas, you can only purchase them in boring black and washed out white so I am now the proud owner of white & black Enell Sports Bras. If I had known they had other colors I might have ordered those online.

If you ever wanna check it out ask me – it’s the only thing I can wear to class (you can all thank me later – not only is it safety issue but I don’t think the visual of me without the proper support would be very good eye candy!). I would recommend that if there is ever the threat of a drive-by duck behind me – I’m guessing these babies might be bullet proof (clarification – the bras people, not the contents).

We had a fun time at the Woodbridge Marathon for the 5k & I got to run with Lindsey & Andrea (Wendy & the others were up ahead). It actually helped because you certainly don’t want to woosie out while the Boot Camp Owner/Trainer is running right along with you! And if I had known Lindsey’s idea of walking was from one crosswalk to another at a measly intersection I might have mind prepped a bit. I thought (and I’m sure Andrea thought) that our “walk” might be a little bit longer. But it’s all good – we made it over the finish line & the paramedics were not necessary nor did any of us partake of the emergency oxygen which I’m sure the organizers had stashed somewhere.

So I’m signing up for the ½ Marathon in Long Beach. With our travel/moving plans currently in limbo (I believe we get to grace the French Embassy personnel with our presence some time this week) I will do the training anyway whether I will be here or not. I figure it cannot hurt. I might even be able to finagle a trip back here to run the race in October (thank god for credit card mileage!) It would certainly be a feather in my cap.

And I really want to like to run. I really really really want to love it. Except that feeling kind of goes away when I am actually running. A while ago I asked Greg when we "wogged" Irvine Regional Park & he said he focused on his foot stride & breathing. I then spoke about this a bit with Wendy during our Back Bay 6 mile trek. I use the iPod to tune out my breathing (because I think about how hard I'm breathing & that makes me more tired which makes me want to quit sooner). Wendy recommended counting (I think in 4 second increments) - 4 seconds in & 4 seconds out. It got boring quickly. I think my biggest obstacle is my brain - some of my internal rhetoric: (1) Oh lord when is this gonna be over? (2) What? I haven't even gone 1 mile? (3) What? I've got another mile to go before I'm done? (4) What in the world was I thinking? (5) My feet/legs/calves/head/lungs hurt. (6) I'm tired. (7) Huff huff huff....I can barely breathe...huff huff huff (8) This song is boring/This song is too slow/This song is too old.

So other recommendations or ideas would be welcome on combating my bad rhetoric (and a lobotomy, partial or otherwise, is out of the question).

As my official first day of “non work” I did do a few hours but I figure a few extra bucks as an independent contractor can’t hurt my pocketbook. Then I did some hard labor & moved the girls’ room around (2 full size beds + 2 full dressers (as in they were not empty but full)). But after checking my email I got the hint and know that I have been derelict in my duties of posting on the blog.

Immediately after posting this refreshing bit of insight about the troubles of sports bra shopping for those overly blessed, I will do my menu plan for the week with a grocery shopping list along with an activity roster for the hooligans (Adventure Playground on Wednesday will be the major outing of the week other than swimming – hey, in these economically challenged times, and with me no longer working, my mother’s swimming pool gives me the warm fuzzies inside!).

Does anyone have a tasty idea for zucchini? My best friend gave me a quite large homegrown zucchini (like the size of a big eggplant) so I’m looking for a delicious way to serve it up. Post your ideas which will hopefully be kid friendly.

And does anyone have any ideas about feet hurting? The bottom of my feet hurt – I thought it was my other running shoes (New Balance) so I was due for new ones & bought Brooks but it’s kind of persisting. Do I need additional support? Shoe inserts? Oily bo-hunk giving me foot massages (scratch that – guess it won’t happen).

3D Doer…Debbie