Fruit is Good

I know...blueberries are a superfood, blah, blah, blah... or as those of us from the Seinfeld era like to say, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah...

These pictures, I swear, are taken on my kitchen counter. Mangos, kiwi, strawberries and blueberries. The blueberries, mango and kiwi are from Sam's and the strawberries were a great deal at Robilio's. The key is actually eating the stuff before it goes bad. The very hungry teenager actually remarked that the fruit was pretty (he didn't know I'd actually photographed it for this blog), so I'll take that as a compliment.

When I saw my doctor yesterday and hinted for diet pills, he weighed me and pulled out his calculator and told me 1) I looked ok, 2) his scale was forgiving - at least 5 pounds light, and 3) I should do Weight Watchers or Curves. Since there's a Curves a mile and a half from my house, I headed straight there. I hate the whole concept of a "program" and the commitment and all that goes with that, but I think I'm going to give it a try. They have a website (which costs an extra $20/mo.) which is really quite amazing. I'll add the link. If you need a coupon code for a free 30-day trial, let me know in your comments and I'll get one for you. I think that's long enough to see if it helps. If it helps, it'll be worth it, even though it seems like a lot.

So for now, I'll be posting pictures of healthy food. I promise I will not turn into a diet blog. Oh, included in the Curves website membership is a blog. It is so lame. They have two employees blogging very occasionally (every 2 or 3 weeks). Maybe I'll start a blog there!

For now, I'll do my best - I'll try to be the tortoise - slow and steady...

Waffle Talk - Double Batch

After another waffle-less Saturday, I'm back. Sadly, I spent last Saturday at the memorial service for my dear friend. We've been friends since high school and were very close. Just when I was recovering from the shock of her death, I spent three days at the hospital with my mother, who has emphysema. I won't go into all the physical (sleeping on the sofa in the hospital room) and emotional challenges (mother didn't want to stay in the hospital and had more than one meltdown, pretty much directed at me and the pulmonologist). My sister Debbie helped out immensely with getting my dad to and from the hospital and staying with him at night - all this on top of a full time job. She also provided comic relief. I spent yesterday grocery shopping and cooking for my parents (they don't eat enough) and helping my mother figure out her medical equipment. The pictures here show what happens when I'm AWOL from home for a few days. After a couple of nights of good sleep, I think I can tackle this.

I'm cooking today. A double batch of blueberry waffles. One for my parents to freeze and just pull out and toast for breakfast this week. I'm going to make chicken spaghetti - Pioneer Woman's version. Go to her link at left, and check out her cooking section. She has the most amazing and simple recipes!

My mother is a picky eater, but she likes this (without the bell peppers).

After an extremely challenging week, I'm feeling relieved, optimistic about my mother's health (now that she's finally commited to quitting smoking) and more confident about my ability to handle extremely stressful situations.

On to the laundry and the kitchen counters and sink...

Back from Cincinnati

Pictured are Gold Star Coney Islands. They are very small hot dogs topped with chili and mounds of cheddar cheese - plus I get onions. So yummy. Cincinnati chili is different. It has cinnamon - definitely more pronounced in Gold Star than Sky Line. I bought a few cans of each and wish I'd gotten more. I also brought back a recipe for the Sky Line version, compliments of my cousin. I made it early this week and we had a blind taste test. Mine was too thick and I couldn't get my ground beek as crumbly as they do, but I was pretty happy with it. I think next time I'll use less chili powder and more cinnamon. My uncle was impressed and told me I should open my own chili parlour. I don't see that happening, but I think my chili will find a regular rotation in our meal times. You can serve it on hot dogs, or on spaghetti, with crumbled oyster crackers to soak up the thinner sauce.

We brought my mother 5 pounds of Opera Creams between my uncle and me. I ate the better part of one pound and gave the rest away because the sugar was wreaking havoc on me - I don't do well with sugar (a little hypoglycemic).

I've had a busy week since getting back Sunday. School starts next week so we should settle into a more regular routine. I think I've finished all my travels until we do the college tour thing over fall break. I need to get busy planning that. I think we'll drive up to North Carolina and Virginia and try to hit as many colleges as we can squeeze in between here and there.

For today, I think I'm headed to Archiver's - they have a special Make & Take weekend. I always love those. I should take my many vacation pictures and try to do a little scrapbooking while I'm there!