Fall back

I was thrilled beyond belief to step on the scale yesterday morning to discover that I had lost three pounds. Of course, then my mind started racing. Could it be still possible? Could I drop easily as long as I was focused like in those days of yore? We'll see. In the meantime, I thought I'd like to give thanks to the folks who made those three pounds possible -- the folks to whom I listened while walking or while dancing around in my living room. The cats really love the latter -- especially when I tell Boris that I could work in some weights by holding him while I'm dancing.

This is Jade's theme song. And while I was walking last Friday, I finally understood why. I was starting to drag until this came on my iPod playlist. Suddenly there was a little more pep in my step.

Lose It likes to differentiate between dancing and aerobic dancing. My mindset is that if you have an accelerated heart rate and your breathing is a little quicker, then it counts as aerobic.

I was feeling pretty good during this song. And near the end when Too $hort takes the lead, I found myself thinking, "Well hell. I've been down around 67th and Foothill. I used to work in the area when area when I was teaching. And I had no fear when I worked in the area." Too $hort was probably the first person to pronounce the word "bitch" as "beyotch." That's some straight out Oakland stuff.


And then the Republica kicked in. It was on then. Even if I was at the 20 minute or so mark.


How do you wrap this up? With the song that I think should be the official song for the state of California. I really don't understand why it's not already. And I mean that whole, "Shake shake it baby," section? If that doesn't get you all aerobic, then I don't know what will. The only improvement they could make is to mention Richmond. Richmond's a hell of lot tougher than Oakland. (Ignore last year's stats on the most dangerous cities in the U.S.) People in Oakland are afraid of folks from Richmond. Really. Well folks who look like me from Richmond that is. And who are willing to say things like, "Bitch please."

And wish me luck in maintaining my sanity over these next few days. My mother had her surgery today. That means that she will be needier than even. Fucking shame my well is dry. Dry to the point that I had a mini-meltdown at work on Monday. The reason why I said that I can't do whining people is because of this. I'm treading water here and whining people will just drag me down.

This is going to be fun

When I bought the lobster tails on Saturday, there were two in the package. I just figured that I would have both in the same manner as Saturday's meal. But then I started doing research. There's this lovely light alfredo sauce in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. So I combined it with some of the fettucine I had in the cabinet as well as the lobster and asparagus. I had previously thought that I'd have to avoid all pasta and dairy-based things. Silly me. I just have to be careful of portions. (Another weird thing has happened. I'm actually measuring stuff these days.) I served this with a salad of romaine, tomato and sherry vinegar -- no oil. (Salad plus pasta was approximately 570 calories.) Delicious and filling. So filling that I was barely hungry by dinnertime. So I ate extra light and once more had no problem staying within my net calories for the day thanks to extra physical activity earlier in the day.

And then I realized something. I've been dialing it in for quite some time as far as food is concerned. For the first time in quite some time, I'm actually excited about cooking. So watch out. I've got lots of ideas brewing.

Committed

The first week of calorie watching had some mixed results. Yes, I lost at least one pound -- quite possibly two -- but by Friday I was feeling rather beat up. I had been aiming for net calories of 1380 per day. And had failed every day.

Lunch has been one of my biggest challenges. The food choices near my office are less than desirable -- that is if one is trying to lose weight. I realized that means that I once more should be bringing lunch from home. But I had few options in the fridge to do this. And so by Thursday, I found myself skipping meals just to bring my calorie count down. Yeah, me the person who extols the necessity of having three meals a day.

Fortunately I had a good night's sleep Saturday night and decided to come at it all again. Because it suddenly clicked that while red meat is mostly a no-no these days, fish and shellfish were perfectly acceptable. And do you know how happy that made me? Suddenly I had endless ideas and so after my hair appointment, I headed to the store for a few items.

Saturday for lunch I had a lovely Shrimp Louie. And dinner was asparagus with lobster tail. And you know what? I didn't go over my net calories for the day. (I also burned some calories by doing some much needed housework.) For the last 24 hours I have been busy plugging recipes into Lose It to see if the calories per serving are within my guidelines. And most of them were. So most of my meat choices will be seafood with occasional chicken or turkey. (Hello. Thanksgiving.)

This has been really important because I also realize that it's going to take me about three months to lose the amount of weight I'd ideally like to. To last for that many months means that the food cannot be boring. And so now I think I really can make the commitment to finally lose the weight. And three months? Not so bad considering it took me about 2-3 years to put it on.

Now I'm off to the farmer's market. I have shopping to do so that I can start restocking the freezer with all kinds of yumminess.

Regression

... or perhaps this should be title "Non Sequitur." Because I have a lot of thoughts in my head.


First of all, let me treat you to what may be the last food photo you may see around these parts for some time -- my dinner at JFK last Thursday night. Because now I'm dealing with my depression weight. And the actual food that I consume? Boring. I have gained seven pounds since July. In July I wanted to lose weight. Every time I look in the mirror these days, I get a little depressed. Yeah, I know that in everyone else's book, I'm thin. Not in mine. Because in my current state, I would never wear a bathing suit. This realization earlier this week made me want to crawl back into bed and pull the comforter over my head. Instead I started monitoring my intake. That's the regression. Because now my net intake is down to about 1300 calories a day. Even if I sit on my ass all day. And today I know my coworkers have started questioning my sanity since my lunch for the last two days has consisted of liquids. I swear that things will get more balanced in the coming weeks once I deal with the stuff in the fridge. (And hey. I'm shooting for 1300 and not the 1100 I had thought of earlier this week.)

So now I bury myself in music and TV when I get home. I have little patience with folks who say, "You know what? This show really sucks." Well, why the hell did you watch it if you didn't like it? If you could not find one redeeming quality in it? What? You had to write about it online? Is someone paying you to do such? If not, then turn the damn channel or else shut the fuck up. Because I just have no patience for anyone who wants to whine about shit -- including their own lives. You don't like where your life is going? Then do something about it and tell me about that stuff. Otherwise? Yeah, you guessed it. Shut the fuck up.

Here's the thing. I have lost four close relatives in the last 15 months. Two of these deaths were completely unexpected. The other two? In my mind I was sure they were terminal -- including my aunt who died last summer. And here's the thing. My aunt? She was DYING. But she never showed this to the rest of us. Now I'm sorry but I think that if you're dying, you have the right to whine away. But she didn't. And now I'm subjected to folks whining about shit that is so much less. Yep. Suck it up and shut up. I don't want to hear about your trivial ass shit. If you're in doubt, start whining and if I'm not being the polite person my mama raised me to be, I will tell you that your shit is trivial and all.

And so I leave you with a favorite from my childhood. Sly has a way of making me forget all the bullshit in the world.

Lost Home Part 3

Saturday as we were approaching Yorktown, my mother announced that she was hungry. Easy enough. It was a no-brainer for me -- the Yorktown Pub. Just like Smitty's this place has been a fave of mine for years. My mother was a bit off put by all the hogs parked out front. Me? Not so much. Of course, I'm the kind who will decide that a resyaurant is OK while on a road trip if there are a large number of big rigs parked out front.

While we waited for our table, the owner chatted with us. At one point he told us that he is Greek. Not really surprising. One of the things I learned during my time in Williamsburg was that most of the restaurants around there were Greek-owned regardless of the cuisine being served.


When my crabcake sandwich arrived, I remembered why this place has always been a fave. This was after all my excitement in having a real crabcake in way too many years. And that sucker was huge. I saved half of it for dinner.

And in more happy news, it was decided today that one of my aunts will be moving into my grandmother's house so that those of us who live outside of the area -- currently three of us -- will always have a home to which we can return. Remind me to tell y'all about this aunt one day and the time that I lived with her.

Lost home Part 2

The plan for Saturday was to drive around to a few places to snap some photos. Unfortunately when I was ready to leave, my mother asked to tag along. I knew she wanted to get out and so stupid me said yes.


The first stop was Buckroe Beach. Apparently Donald Trump is now planning on putting highrises along it and turning more of it into a private beach. The community does not seem thrilled to say the least. Buckroe is a part of Phoebus -- where my grandmother's home is. Also in Phoebus is Fort Monroe. I would have gone there as well if my mother had not been tagging along. Because she wanted to walk Buckroe and we had other places to see.


Next stop was Yorktown, a place I have always loved.

After lunch there, we hit the Colonial Parkway to Williamsburg.


My favorite buildings have always been Bruton Parish,


the Governor's Palace,


and the Wren Building.

From Williamsburg, I had planned to continue on to Hopewell but around Charles City, my mother started whining. So instead of going to Hopewell, I looped back around through Providence Forge to get to Lightfoot and the Williamsburg Pottery. I was quite disappointed to find out that they no longer carry the lovely black velvet paintings.

So while I didn't get to do all that I had planned, there were definitely some highlights. But six hours is way too long to spend on the road with my mom these days.

Lost home Part 1

In this past week while preparing to attend my grandmother's funeral, a thought came to mind. It had been six years since I had last set foot in Virginia. This has been about par for over my life as it has often been a question of finding the money and/or time to visit. I had been planning to visit next year. Not now. Because it dawned on me that my main reason for visiting was to see my grandmother. This trip began to have a twofold purpose -- saying goodbye to my grandmother and to Virginia. And so I started preparing the list in my head of absolute musts if this was to be my final trip to Virginia.

One of the things I sorely miss in California is Carolina style barbecue. Whenever visiting Virginia or Georgia, I will start pestering folks immediately about my need for the stuff. It has come to be that Smitty's is my stop when in Hampton. I could drive there in my sleep.



Smitty's is a drive-up place. Just pull into one of the spaces near the building and a server exits promptly to take your order. If you are dining there, your food will appear on a tray that is fastened to the door. I got mine to go this time though.

Six years ago I ate there. And my grandmother drove with my mom's older sister riding shotgun. My grandmother had left the engine running and thankfully had engaged the emergency brake for once. Because while we waited for our food, I noticed a strange sound -- the engine revving. I think I had to tell my grandmother five times or so to take her foot off of the gas. Seems that she thought she had her foot on the brake and couldn't hear the engine. This was the day I decided that she really didn't need to drive anymore.


But this time I headed back to the house with my two sandwiches -- one for immediate consumption and one for later. So glad I bought that second one because it made a great breakfast the next day. And yes, even at breakfast, I liberally doused the sandwich with hot sauce. I'm going to need to search online for places that ship. Because I'm going to need more in my lifetime.