Week Nine - Day Four: One more day...

Let's just put this out there and get it over with. My food day sucked. There. I said it.

To say that my world has been turned upside down this past week is putting it mildly. A lot of things have gone wrong, but a lot of things have gone right

On the wrong side we have had to deal with Dad's blood pressure. It's been so high a couple of times he had to take the prescription for when his systolic is over 170. I am constantly having to fuss at him to calm down because he gets so wound up over the smallest things.

On the right side, they found a house and signed the papers today. Dad rented a storage unit thinking we were going to have to unload the truck before we found a house; they were good enough to cancel the contract and refund the money. Best of all we will start moving in tomorrow!

I feel like I have not stopped since I left last week. I feel like I will not rest until I get my home back. I am exhausted.

I know I'm whining. I can't help it. Sorry. I know this is something I have to do and I am just venting. Hope you understand. I plan to be back to my ol' self by Monday.

And now I'm going to crawl into bed and try to get some sleep. It's been a while since I really slept. That is all. I am done.

…Lin…

Week Nine - Day Three: Where do I begin?

Isn't that the opening line of the theme song from "Love Story?"

The parents got packed and moved; we all came north Monday. Tuesday we went house hunting. Tuesday night Mom is admitting she was wrong for not taking the house we found her a month ago, because now they have no place to live and it means unpacking into storage, packing back into a truck, and unpacking into a house. OMG...

Where do I begin... to tell you about the stress?

I am having to monitor Dad's blood pressure throughout the day. It is still high, but does not require additional medication. Mom is just mom, and although she is only taking one blood pressure med, she is on a fentynal patch for pain, which skews her thinking at times. 

As I have been completely off plan for a week, today I am trying to get back on track. Breakfast this morning was my Eggs Mexicana, made the regular way. 

Today I lined up three houses to look at, one of which sounded very promising. And guess what? They got the one they wanted, it is signed, sealed, and at noon tomorrow it will be delivered. It's about a mile from me, which is close enough to get there quickly but far enough away so they are not in my bubble.

After we found the house the parents were starving, so we went to lunch at Casa Carlos, their fav Mexican restaurant. They had enchiladas and all the fixin's, I had a chicken salad. It was really good! I did start snacking on chips and was not even aware of it! That's just eating out of habit, and I need to be more aware of what I'm eating.

After all the running around we did, I finally went to the grocery store and got dinner. I made a giant pot of chili. Lots and lots of meat, very little masa (maybe 2 tbsp) for thickening, and one can of beans. Mom loves beans. Me, not so much. I made it my way. ;)

So all in all, it's been a good day. A few missteps along the way, but what is important is I am getting back on track.

I am going to sign off now. Mom has gone to bed, I'm waiting to take Dad's blood pressure, and then I am going to crawl into bed and collapse. It has been one freaking busy day! It is good to be back with you and sharing my day. My love to you all!

…Lin…

Week Eight - Day Three & Four: Stress!!!

This is just going to be a quick update.Suffice it to say that the last two days have been lost "food" days. There is no "sticking to my routine," so my life is kind of turned upside down right now.

Dad came home from the hospital today. It was day 5 of his hospital stay. He is diagnosed with what they are calling "malignant hypertension." There is no cure, there is only control. Of course he thinks he's much tougher than he is, and wants to run the show, but his nurse and I reigned him in. He is on a new medication routine that is easy to follow, and that is very helpful. His blood pressure is down... for now...

Tomorrow and Saturday we will pack up the rest of the house. Sunday everything will get loaded into the moving van and Monday we are heading north.

No, not moving across country,
only across the state!

DIL Cheryl and I have found 4 different homes for them to look at. One is literally halfway between our houses, so it would be great. Mom thinks she needs to live in the Taj Mahal. I keep bringing her back to reality. At 89 years old you do not need a large house. Really, you don't.

That is my short and sweet update. Sorry it's not more enlightening, motivational, or interesting. For the next few days it will just be what it is.

In fact, now that I think about it, I might not be able to blog until I get home. They are canceling the internet tomorrow so I will not have a computer...

Thanks for listening to me whine. I will be back and the story will continue. And all will be well with the world. At least my world. I hope.

Have a beautiful night!

~Lin…

Week Eight - Day Two: The day before...

It is the day before I leave for the Inland Empire... Indio... Palm Desert... LaQuinta... Also known as Mom & Dad's house. My house is almost ready, finishing up laundry, packing, and then just load the dishwasher after I'm done doing whatever it is I have to do in the kitchen.

Today has actually been a good day for me. I'm much more relaxed than I have been. Dad will come home from the hospital tomorrow; I think I've found a place for them; I got my nails done; all the important things in life.

I could not give up my sparklie,
but I did have them shortened a bit!

Food-wise I have done quite fine. I thought I was done with the quiche yesterday but I found one more piece, so that's what I had for breakfast. Then it was off to get my nails done, checked out two properties for the parents, got home, and had lunch. Hot dogs. MMMmmm... I'm trying to clean out my fridge before I leave, but I don't think that will happen. When I return it will get a thorough cleaning.

Tonight's beer at The Happy Viking is Dogfish Head's namaste. I really dislike beer. I have yet to try one that was amazing. I can tolerate it in small doses. Captain, on the other hand, loves his beer. Why, I don't know. But that's OK because it's almost a guarantee that I will see him every Tuesday night! Hahaha!

Yes, that is selfish of me, I know.

Meeting our friends Tom and Susan, we had a great time at Happy Viking. Captain and Tom had their beer; I had my Bloody Mary; Susan had her diet Pepsi. Dinner for me was chicken strips and a salad. Captain has the Big Tony, a 1/2 lb burger with marinara, mozzarella and pesto aioli. He brought half of it home. :)

Our usual routine after HV is to buy our lotto tickets, which we did. Come on, Mega Millions Lotto! I have plans... I will share...

After that we went home, packed up Maddie and took her to Jon & Cheryl's. She loves playing with Lucy and Sophia. Imagine... a pack of Chihuahuas! Oh, how lucky they are!

As my day comes to a close I can tell you I am checked in on Southwest Airlines, packed, and ready to go. Dad is getting out of the hospital tomorrow; then we will finish packing things in the house, load up the truck on Sunday, and return home on Monday. No, Dad will not be helping. He can sit in his chair and observe, maybe give a few hints on how to pack.

Thanks for hanging with me another day. I will try to blog while I'm gone, but I don't guarantee it will be everyday.

I bid you a fond adieu.

…Lin…

Week Eight - Day One: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, it's THAT holiday, and I love it! Corned Beef & Cabbage, Irish Coffee, Guinness Beer, Jameson or Tullamore Dew Whisky, Irish Soda Bread, Shepherd's Pie... I want to partake of it all! And of course I have a bazillion things on my Pinterest St. Patrick's Day board! Feel free to peruse and enjoy!

What will you be eating?

I probably will not be partaking of any of it. I am struggling to get back and stay on track. My day always starts off just fine. As the day wears on and I have more options and temptations, it's just not as easy.

This morning my day is starting off with 2 peanut butter cookies and 2 slices of bacon. I'm off to a good start.

I guess I should try the Atkins Fat Fast to jump start everything again. It consists of five (5) 200 calorie meals a day, 75% of the calories being in fat. But you only stay on it for 4-5 days. You can choose five of the following suggested foods:

    One ounce of macadamia nuts or macadamia nut butter.
    One ounce of tuna or chicken salad w/2 teaspoons of mayonnaise served in 1/4 of an avocado.
    Two deviled eggs made with two teaspoons of mayonnaise.
    Two ounces of pâté (check label for fat content).
    Two egg yolks (hard-boiled) with one tablespoon of mayonnaise.
    Two ounces of sour cream and two tablespoons black or red caviar.
    Two and a half ounces whipped heavy cream topped with sucralose zero-calorie syrup.
    Two ounces of cream cheese or Brie.

Pâté? It's nothing but spiced and flavored liver. I'm sorry, its still liver and I hate liver in any way, shape or form. Ugh... 

What can I swap out for that? Maybe 2 thick cut slices of lean bacon? That would be 160 calories (40 calories per ounce) so I still need to find something for that extra 40 calories! But there are 7 other options to choose from, so I'm sure I will be fine.

I have a particular struggle coming up in the next few weeks. I am flying to Palm Springs on Wednesday to help my parents move, returning on Monday or Tuesday. They are coming up here to be close to me. Both are 89 years old and not in the best of health. In fact, my dad is currently in the hospital trying to get his blood pressure under control. The stress of it all has been too much for him; I could tell by the tone of his voice when I talked to him 2 days ago. 

So thru all of this I need to stay on track. It will not be easy because they have completely different lifestyles than I do when it comes to food. I cannot cook pork products or shellfish while they are staying with me. Neither one of them eat it. 

The only thing that would make this better
would be to add shrimp instead of ground beef!

They do, however, love their fudge, ice cream and popcorn! Poppa's specialty is Fantasy Fudge. It is just pure evil. So it is a quandry.

Now, on a brighter note, let me share some Irish sayings with you on this St. Patrick's Day.

Beautiful young people are acts of nature,

But beautiful old people are works of art.

There’s nothing so bad that it couldn’t be worse.

And of course we need to solve
the mystery of the Flattened Leprechaun!

OK, enough with St. Patrick's Day silliness. 

How about the rest of my day?

Today I'm overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated. I feel like I'm living in limbo until the parents are here and can move into their own place and get settled. In between stripping beds, laundry and housekeeping in general, I had the last of my quiche for lunch, followed my more cleaning.

And then I got a phone call...

Jon: "Hi, Mom! Are you home?"

Me: "Yes, I am. What's up?"

Jon: "Oh, good! Cheryl fixed you a plate for dinner. I'll be right over!"

See what I mean about temptations?

It was amazing! Although I focused on the things I can eat, I did eat some of everything. It was so good, well seasoned, and just plain yummy. 

Now I'm going to sign off. I hope you all had a very green St. Paddy's Day! I have! Until tomorrow...

…Lin…

Week Seven - Day Seven: It's Two for One!

Today you get two days in one post. :)

Let's go back to Saturday, shall we? It was a completely... well... what word shall I use... "I tried not to blow it but I did" day. Those days are so frustrating.

Breakfast was not an issue as I had sausage and cheese on my low carb muffin. Very satisfying! :)

I had errands to run and a babyshower to attend, and I knew I could pass on the cake and ice cream as there would be plenty of other yummy things to eat there. Feeling sure I would keep on track, I went about my day.

In the meantime my son-in-law Ryan asked Captain and I to surprise Megan Sunday morning and join them for her birthday breakfast at Sutter Street Grill in Folsom, so of course we agreed!

In an effort to keep her in the dark I told a few little white lies.

Little White Lie #1: I told Megan that I knew she would be tired Sunday after their little Disneyland adventure and that Captain had made other plans for us on Sunday so we would get together after I came back from Palm Springs at the end of the month.

Little White Lie #2: To continue the ruse I made brownie cupcakes Friday night, frosted them Saturday morning, and, while running errands, took them to their house, leaving them on the counter for her to find.

Little White Lie #3: I emailed her a Starbucks gift card to be delivered Sunday morning for her birthday present.

How did that work out? I will tell you in a minute.

Now on to the rest of my Saturday...

Like I said, breakfast was just fine. I finished frosting the brownies, delivered them, went shopping for the babyshower, and arrived at the party place at 1:30, right on time. I had nuts, cold cuts, cheeses, deviled eggs, and water. All very filling. It was good!

Afterwards I picked up Captain and we headed back to my house, but with a detour. We were meeting Jon & Cheryl at Rico's Pizza for dinner. Four grandkids, four adults, and three pizzas. What a get-together it was. Yes, I had 2 pieces of pizza. One all meat and one pepperoni w/extra cheese. A little bit of carbs, but not as much as I could have.

Rico's - Home of the 26" Party Pizza!
Yes, it really is 26 inches!

Cheryl says, "We're going to see Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Want to come along?" Ok, that sounded good, since it was on the way home.

She informed the kids to fill up their drink glasses because she wasn't getting any goodies at the movies. Yeah... Right... We got in the theatre, found our seats, and settled in. But where was Cheryl? At the snack bar getting popcorn.

She also grabbed 7 containers to divide it in. After portioning it all out she went back and got a refill. Needless to say, we ate popcorn thru the movie. (That was not my intent, but it happened. Oh, well...)

My day of good intentions ended up being a bit skewed. :(

It was late when we got home so we went right to bed. No more diversions for Saturday!

Now on to Sunday...

Up and out the door at 7:30, we had to be in Folsom by 8:30 and it's 57 miles. We got there at 8:27 and actually beat them!

Megan and I had been texting that morning about what she was going to do for her birthday and she thanked me for the cupcakes and Starbucks gift card.

Her: Thank u for my yummy cupcakes. Jalen is already asking for a green cupcake. LOL. And for the Starbucks gift card. Perfect!!!

Me: You are most welcome... Hope you were surprised. What you doing this morning?

Her: We r heading to breakfast now.

Me: Where is breakfast?

Her:  Sutter St. Grill.

Well, they walked in the door and it took Megan a moment to realize Mommy & Captain were there to surprise her!

Ryan and I did the high-five! We pulled off the surprise!

Now, what did I order, you ask? Corned Beef Hash and eggs over medium. The hash had a lot of bell pepper and potato chunks. I tried to avoid eating the potatoes, but I did have 1/4 piece of rye toast along with the eggs and corned beef. And coffee! Everything was really, really good, and I brought home about 2/3 of it.

The rest of my day was spent cleaning house, in anticipation of the parents' arrival mid-week. It is also part of my 40 bags in 40 days goal.

As to sticking to my plan the rest of the day, I did that, as well.  Lunch was the rest of my eggs and corned beef hash (minus as many potatoes as possible)...

...and for dinner I just had a couple slices of bacon.

Not very hungry tonight.

Now as soon as the laundry is done I am going to bed. It's been a whirlwind 2 days. I'm glad I can finally rest and relax. Tomorrow will be a better day!

Wishing you a lovely night.

…Lin…