Taste Like Chicken, WE 3/23-24

Thanks for the start, Liz. Sorry it's been one of those weeks--AGAIN!! I hope none of us will experience any near misses today and definitely no hits. Windy and chilly are what we had on Thursday, so I hope you will have brighter days ahead. Yesterday and today have been beautiful here, with temps in the 50s. I'm glad your supervisor is nice, but it's not easy to work for someone who is not in a position he needs to be in regardless of what kind of person he is. How's the headache? I hope you relaxed a bit during the hair appointment and shopping trip. What else is on your agenda?

Becky, DOMS stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It's the stuff that doesn't come the day after a workout, but a few days later. Is the ortho in Smithville one who is just there or does he/she come out from Austin or somewhere once or twice a week? You could google the doctor's name and it would take you to some of the ratings sites so you could see what the general consensus is. However, I might take that with a grain of salt because my NP has high ratings but she just wasn't what I was looking for.

Congrats to UCF but sorry they have to face the Dookies now. I would love to see them knock Duke out. Who does your alma mater play? TN men almost blew a 15 point lead but ended up wining by a handful. The women are playing right now and I may not even watch the second half it's so bad. TX women got knocked out in the first round, so today may be my last women's game of the season. I do remember the crashed spaceship and the Daleks but don't remember Clara. I did see the episode when Amy and Rory left. It seems like all the TV providers give you a short term killer deal and then you have to decide to put up with the increase or go through the hassle of changing providers. We've made Dish work, but aren't happy about the HBO situation, which apparently will not be resolved. So we're probably going to try to find Game of Thrones on the internet when it comes back next month. We're already doing that with Jon Oliver's show.

Linda, I'm a lark but during all this political mess, we have been staying up later than normal watching Rachel Maddow and I'm feeling it. Good luck with the laundry situation. Blueberry muffins sound amazing!

How was AT&T, Chele? You probably got there early, so hopefully it wasn't too zooish. Were you able to get everything accomplished at a reasonable price?  Where else did you go while you were out and about?

Dale went to Home Depot early to pick up a load of gravel that he has used to make us a better place to get in and out of the lake for swimming. He also got a bunch of soil to replenish the area where we grow berries and is planting new blackberry plants at the moment. I listened to a couple of sessions from the weight loss seminar that were really interesting. One of them explained why it's so difficult for women to lose weight as we get older. According to the speaker, losing 10% of your body weight can lead to a need to decrease your food intake by 25%. That was very discouraging, but I guess not very surprising. I did lose 0.4 lbs this week by cutting back on nuts and increasing veggies. I also made a quart of kimchi that I hope will be ready in a couple of weeks, which was a special request from Dale. I found authentic Korean chili powder on Amazon and just mixing it up with the rest of the ingredients opened up my sinuses. The recipe called for 3 to 4 TBSP but I put in a little less than 3 and still hope it won't be too spicy.

Thanks for the start Liz.I'm sorry your work life at St Crazy is still so rough.That is just too late to get off.I'm glad your new boss is a nice person even if he is in over his head.I hope you get to at least enjoy part of your weekend without them bothering you.

Linda I always wake up before 6:00 because I tend to fall asleep by 10:00 but it would be hard for me to wake up and stay awake at 3:30.LOL on packing Bob's clothes before he tells you something needs washed at the last minute.

Kathy I'm glad you enjoyed dinner at your DM's house with her sisters.I'm not a big lover of key lime pie unless it comes from Marie Callender.Thank goodness we don't drive to Austin anymore with their delicious pies.I set up the little DVD player and charged it but I don't have many walking DVD's so I ordered one from Amazon which will arrive sometime tomorrow.I did get in a couple of walks though.

Karen When I looked on Humana's website all it showed was Seton.It didn't show any doctors listed.There is also the place I went to in Round Rock.I guess I wouldn't have to use the same one I did last year since they have several ortho surgeons there.They don't even list the NP's at the clinic I go to because it's listed under the 2 doctors names but neither of them work full time anymore and the other NP only works one day a week so my NP is the only one working full time until our Seton Medical Center gets built later in the fall but I and everyone who uses her likes her.Congrats on your weight loss.I lost around that also this week but I still eat a 100 calorie pack of dry roasted almonds.I know they are processed but I like them.I'm not looking to lose anymore weight but maintaining is even harder which is why I don't want to go through losing weight again at our age.I have really gotten to like a salad every day with either reduced sodium tuna or grilled chicken tenders.

I had forgotten to get a couple of things at HEB yesterday.Well I didn't have them on my list and we didn't have anything planned so we went to Walmart to get them and decided to get some of my steps in there.I ended up walking 35 min in there and this afternoon I drove the car up to the road gate and walked another 35 min from there so I wouldn't aggravate my knee any further.I'm not doing the recumbent bike today.

Waves to Liz and Chele.

Good Afternoon Chicks,

Chele - how is Iggy doing after his long hours this past week?  Did you do well at ATT?  We have Verizon and for the phones but I think we double up as we also have Optimum for the house phones, internet and TV.  We are sunny and supposed to be heading into the high 50s today.  I just let Wally go out back hooked to the dog cord on the deck.  Zoe's eye  is bothering her now and she still goes after her tail if the donut isn't on her.  It's been improving with the cleaning and ointment but it's a process.  I grew up eating tuna casserole although I must admit to not having it probably in a couple decades.  Will have to resurrect the old recipe and give it a try.

Linda - I am the lark, early bird always as I am up at 4:30am every morning for work.  Sleeping in for me is 6:am on the weekends which feels wonderful.  I hope you're able to get your system a bit more acclimated.  Any other symptoms with Micki other than the elevated liver enzymes?  There have been too many darn recalls on dog food this past year and it's very concerning!  I may have to go back to cooking again but for now the pups are doing well with Dave's bland/delicate diet kibble and canned.

Kathy - glad you were able to enjoy a nice dinner with DM's sisters and the family.  My DS and niece are heading to Iceland around Easter this year.  DN gets home from med school around the 25th of April which I am looking forward to.  He's been having a bit of rough time and seems more than a little stressed over his studies lately.  The weekend has been good so far with just one call last night from work.  I'm trying to relax and take it easy as the upcoming week will continue to be hectic.

Becky - how are you feeling today?  How is the pain?  For some reason my joints were miserable this morning from my shoulders through my knees.  Had to take some naproxin to ease the pain as it was just ridiculous.  I have been averaging 10K+ steps every day but most days tolerating it.  I have a follow up with the physiatrist this week coming to see what he has to say.  Do you find the recumbent bike bothers the knee?  You did quite a bit of walking yesterday so I hope no pain today.

Karen - Did Dale get the gravel and soil he wanted at Home Depot?  Hair appointment was good and I was able to pick up a few things at WF including a lipstick and blemish stick which were both 25% off.  How did the peanut butter tofu come out?  Does that continue to marinate?  How is Miss Arya doing?  How are the feets?  I would say that the reduction in eating of 25% as we age definitely didn't cheer me up but I guess facts are facts.  I just know that come Saturday each week I need the day to just decompress and rest.  The Jarrow supplement does seem to be helping but of course I left the bottle in work.  I have more coming from Amazon so that I will have it at home and work.  Did my grocery shopping this morning and took the pups for a nice walk with my neighbor across the street.  Have been doing some reading which is a nice change for me.  Have you set up your meetings for the new garden committee?  

I hope you all have a nice Sunday and get to relax and enjoy!  Ciao for now dear ladies~~

Becky, one of the things that was emphasized in the weight loss webinar is that diet is more important during weight loss but exercise becomes important for maintenance. It was also mentioned several times how much tougher maintenance is than the actual weight loss, which is something you noted. If there is a specific doctor or doctors at the facilities you are looking at, there should be some place on the website. However, if they rotate several doctors through, I guess you get who you get. When is your Seton scheduled to open? Do you think that will give you more choices so far as medical care is concerned? I don't think we ate much pie when we lived in Austin, except pizza pie, so I don't remember where they had good pies. How is the new DVD player? What kind did you get?

If Micki's liver enzymes have increased since his last blood test, it may not be just allergies. How long will you be gone? Another thing that keeps coming up in the webinar is that there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution and that 2 people can have the same weight/build and have different calorie requirement and one may need less protein and the other less fat. And, while they didn't specifically say so, I'm guess that our bodies have different requirements at different times in our lives, which is what you mentioned about migration and clothes fitting differently.

Did DM and company get off ok, Kathy? I know they will have a blast. When will they be returning? I'm watching the TN men's game right now and they had their way in the 1st half but Iowa is fighting back. Same thing happened in yesterday's game, so I hope TN will get things under control. They were up by 25 at the half but right now it's a 1 point lead. Too many turnovers and missed opportunities. They could end up like the women. Speaking of the women, it looks like the entire coaching staff may get canned.

Liz, I hope you do get into the 50s today. We are almost to 60. Poor Zoe can't catch a break. The tail is definitely a work in progress and I hope things will continue to improve. If you have freezer space, batch cooking for the pups makes things so much easier. I do a enough "puppy pilaf" and veggies for a month and put them in 2 cup glass containers in the freezer. Then I just have to saute ground turkey and bake butternut squash every 3 weeks or so and just have to mix stuff together for dinners. Breakfasts are 3 day batches of oatmeal, a week's worth of boiled eggs, and sauted ground beef. Sounds a bit more complicated than it is but it keeps me from having to cook every day. Dale got everything he needed at HD. Good finds at WF. The tofu came out well. It's a really simple recipe and bakes up in 30 minutes after a few hours marinating. Feets are improving but my 5th toe on the left foot is still somewhat frozen, which also happened on the right foot. Still limited on footwear but getting there. Arya makes progress and then backslides. Yesterday we went out to see Dale when he was unloading the truck and she acted like she had never seen him before. Haven't set up my greenhouse policy meetings yet and only have 3 committee members ID'd. I'm waiting til this week when the president is back in town to run by her the people I am thinking about asking. Enjoy your reading. Hope it's something very relaxing. The Jarrow needs to be taken to work. My pool friend said it took a month before she felt a difference.

Hope things went well yesterday, Chele. Does Iggy have a normal week this week? Got anything planned for you?

Dale ran in the mountains this morning and he said he was really slow, so I don't think he is completely recovered from last weekend. I listened to some replays from the webinar and one of them was Dr. Dean Ornish, who has a new book out that I have now downloaded and hope to read later. I also did a load of everyday laundry and when Dale got home, a load of workout clothes. I hope to plant some seeds after the game and haven't yet done my 10 minutes on the Vibe, so that will be done before the seeds.

Sorry I have been missing. It has been a busy weekend. We didn’t make it to AT&T until today. The phones are taken care of and we will have TV and internet installed next week. We will no longer have a landline. It is a good deal and the guys said next year when the rates are due to increase ontne TV to come into the store and they will get another deal for us just like Time Warner used to do. 

Yesterday we got grass seed and a Garden Weasel, cleaned up the yard from winter debris, used the Weasel and spread the seed on the bare patches. We are both sore.

Liz, I am glad you got some time to walk the dogs and talk to the neighbor. Social activities can help destress one. Sorry to hear about tne aches and pain increasing. I hope the physiatrist can help.

Becky, I am sure having the walking DVDs this summer will be a big help since it is too hot to walk outdoors.

Kathy, I am glad you enjoyed your dinner with the ladies. As mentiomed above DM maybe able to get another deal with Direct TV if she calls.

Karen, homemade kimchi sounds great. Iggy and I love it. That is a little depressing about the decreased food intake but it is what it is. I am sure Dale hasn’t made a full recovery yet. It has only been a week. Hope you got your 10 minutes on the Vibe. I am hoping to get together with a friend some time this week and I have several stops I need to make at Walmart, Meijer and Kroger. Iggy should have a regular week.