172.2 Making Chicken Soup

It's a little cooler out here than usual so I decided to make some chicken soup. Now that I'm on maintenance, I've started cooking again. It's not that I made some grand decision not to cook while I was in the process of losing those 80 pounds, but it was just easier to eat very simply and stay out of the kitchen.

I've come up with a great way to serve butternut squash which is healthy and low calorie in its own right, meaning without the butter I added. But anyway, I bought the fresh, already cubed squash and cooked it in the microwave with about 1/4 cup of water added, for about 15 minutes. When it was done I mashed it by hand, added butter, salt and pepper and my secret ingredient, sugar free maple syrup! It is so yummy. I took it to our Thanksgiving gathering and it was a great hit as was my pumpkin pie. Follow the recipe on the can of pumpkin, but substitute Splenda or Stevia for the sugar, egg beaters or similar product for the eggs and use fat free evaporated milk instead of the usual! Another successful contribution to Thanksgiving provided by yours truly.

Now, while we were in San Francisco is where I did a little damage mainly because we ate all of our meals at restaurants. I've learned to always ask for sugar free maple syrup, but it was a little harder to not use the regular since in the two restaurants we went to for breakfast, the real thing was served warm. But, I did the 1/2 and 1/2 trick which I've adopted when I want a little of the real and a little of the more healthy version.

We had a great time seeing relatives, and the wedding was wonderful. We stayed right on Union Square so that even if we hadn't wanted to shop, the Black Friday crowds were everywhere. For this gal from the desert lands of north Scottsdale, it was really fun and exciting to see and be a part of the crowds! But, it's great to be back home where the sun is shining and the temperatures are finally rising!

Now we have two family birthdays and then Christmas. It is a busy time of year!

192.0 Feeling Good Again!

First of all, I want to congratulate Jennifer Scott who has been so instrumental in helping me lose this weight. She is cited in this week's issue of Time Magazine that came out today. She is well known for her self hypnosis program for golfers (Own The Zone) and was quoted in an article about Tiger's return to golf as he competes in the Masters this week. I'm delighted that she's received this recognition. Her website is listed on the right.

Wow! It is so nice to feel good again. My energy is back and although my nose is still running like crazy, I'm not feeling like I am functioning underwater like I did for the past 3 weeks.

And, today I walked about two and a half miles, one of the longest walks I have done. It felt great except when we were walking up hill which was about a third of the time. My legs didn't like the long walk but my back held up just fine! As a precaution, before heading to the massage therapist, I took two extra strength Tylenol. I do that before I go to the dentist, too. It takes the edge off the impending pain.

So, I haven't lost any weight recently, but I am so grateful that I haven't gained anymore. What goes up will come down and now I am in the very patiently aware mode. Oh, I should add that the walk this morning was so beautiful. Flowers are blooming everywhere and are especially prolific due to all of the rain we've had. I think that's called the silver lining to the rain clouds that were so prevalent this winter.

207.4 Thinking Thin and Falling Down

What a crazy morning!  The scale made me so happy and I took off to walk a new walk!  After doing a familiar loop, I decided to walk on the golf course path from the ninth hole back toward our house.  It was early enough that I didn't have to worry about being conked on the head by a golf ball, which may have been better than what happened.

There is a wash between our house and the neighbor's and it leads from the golf course path to our front yard. I was so proud of myself for thinking of it as a new way to go home.  As I approached it, it did look like the plants had filled in a little since the last time I cut through there, probably about a year ago.  In my new mode of thinking of myself as a thinner person rather than a heavier gal, I really thought I could walk through it without any difficulty.  Well, it wasn't so much a width problem as a height problem complicated by stickery things growing on a tree that looked like its foliage was soft and silky.  As it  became clear that I had to bend down to go under some branches, and started to do just that, my center of gravity obviously shifted and I started to sink, like a rock!  So I grabbed onto a branch of this stickery tree. It didn't break, it just started to bend as I was sinking!  And, under me was a large cactus.  I was where the wild desert things are and didn't want to deal with anything else at that point so I was anxiously looking for snakes, etc.  I ended up sitting next to the cactus hoping no one was watching this quite funny site.   I did get myself up, not a pretty picture, and hobbled into the house feeling very silly.

Here's the good news - I could never have gotten up from that indelicate seated position a year ago when I would have had to support 30 + more pounds to do the maneuver.  And, there weren't any snakes or other critters to cause damage.

The bad news?  I will be going to the chiropractor tomorrow to get straightened out, and actually that is no big deal.  But next time, I think I will stay on the sidewalk.

208.4 Spiritual Nourishment

I have just come back from my morning walk.  Today I walked the furthest I have walked since I started in April.  I think walking those hills in Cortona helped build up my endurance.  It felt wonderful to be back on my familiar route, listening to Willie Nelson and being surrounded by the beauty of this desert landscape.  Some folks tell me that they think the desert is barren, and I can understand why they might say that.  In fact, when we first moved here, I thought it was pretty uninteresting and stark.  That impression did not last for long.  Once I became aware (that important state of mind) of the seasonal changes in the desert landscape, and developed an appreciation for the vistas that are amazing beyond belief, the desert has become a source of spiritual nourishment.  One of my favorite sites is the ranges of mountains that arise out of the desert that may include up to five distinct rows of mountains, one in front of the other.

There is a tree that I walk by everyday that I pay special attention to.  In fact, I touch one of its branches as I pass it on my daily walk.  It touches my soul in response and fills me with wonder and pleasure knowing that I share this earth with it.

My son called the other day and was singing the old hymn, "For The Beauty of The Earth".  He had been to a memorial service where it had been sung and he was joking that he was proud that he had remembered all of the words as the result of us dragging him to church as a kid most Sundays.  It's a simple hymn, but it seems to have more meaning for me than ever before.  If you're not familiar with this hymn, here are the words to the first few verses:

For the Beauty of the Earth

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For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.


Refrain

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Refrain

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

Refrain

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Refrain