Well Thank Gawd That's Over!

Whew! After yesterday I wasn't sure I was ever going to recover. I felt horrible.

After stumbling around the house at six o'clock yesterday morning, I got the cat re-settled and then went back to bed until almost nine o'clock when I got up. In the midst of some more stumbling around, I got my coffee and did a few other things. A couple of hours later I laid down again and napped until three o'clock. I hate doing stuff like that because I feel like I'm sleeping my weekend away. But I did and then I woke up, showered, dressed and went out to do the shopping.

Costco was a much happier experience this week. I got into line behind three other carts. The man immediately in front of me looked around just as the person in front of him got to the belt and started laying out their stuff.

"You have just that? Go on ahead."

Wow! Make-up for last weekend's nightmare or what? I thanked him, had my cards ready to go and wham, bam, thank ya Stan, I was out and done. It was a pleasure. I didn't even think about getting gas. I'll do that Monday morning instead of making the same mistake I made last weekend.

In all, the shopping at Costco and PetSmart took me under an hour and I was home in time for the debate.

That was interesting but predictable, although I was thrilled to see Christie step up and make points. I like Christie. I like his moxie and think that he is a good, viable candidate. My dream ticket is Trump / Christie because both are strong characters, both are outspoken and no-nonsense. Trump brings the business acumen while Christie has the political acumen. I think the two of them working together could make amazing changes in this country, building jobs and creating opportunities, getting the borders under control and undoing a whole lot of the economic damage that's been done to this nation in the past fifteen years - since Bush II was sworn in January 2001

We watched that followed by some of the analysis - equally predicable - until about eight-thirty, then hubby insisted on watching 'Wonder Woman'. Oh... My... God... How stupid is that? I ignored it, playing games on my iPad instead. He didn't comment for a change. Then he wanted to watch 'Star Trek'. That, while still cartoonish, wasn't quite as bad. I was a fan when I was a kid, so I kind of watched it between computer games.

At ten o'clock we started watching Svengoolie. It's funky and silly and definitely geared toward teenagers and/or men who haven't grown up entirely because the whole schtick is just... childish. I mean, how can you take this seriously?

But it's campy harmless fun. Dumb jokes, rubber chickens, a flimsy plywood coffin and a mix of 'horror and hilarity'. I wouldn't go so far on either side of that - little hilarity (light amusement) and less horror (sometimes the movies are laughable by today's standard), but it's humorous and sometimes informative - if you happen to have a 'thing' for B movies. Last night's was Bela Lugosi in 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' from 1932. Little better than a silent film and, based on the number of stars (two), a poor adaptation of Poe's original story.

In bed at ten thirty, after half an hour of nonsense (about all I could stomach).

This morning I actually feel human. Coffee didn't hurt that, and I got my quiche made for the week.

How to take the 'joy' out of cooking? Count the calories in what you're cooking. That's what I do because I want to make sure that I know what I'm consuming and what the chances are of losing weight. I sure do need to lose weight and I'm struggling as everyone does.

One thing I've discovered, though, is that it's not just calories. It's how the foods and nutrients interact with one another. Take my quiche, for instance. Full of protein from the eggs and the chorizo sausage (which I cooked before adding it to remove more of the fat / juices), with a reasonable amount of cheese (1 C = 880 calories / eight servings). I added broccoli and ground flax seed. After adding and dividing I found there are 326 calories per serving. Which is good - but there is a lot of fat because of the cheese, so I need to cut back elsewhere. It's important to track that stuff so that I can, and I will.

The one thing I know is that, no matter what you're eating or how 'good' it is for you, it's quantity more than quality. My biggest problem is that I love to eat. I love it and have a hard time slowing down and stopping.

Of all the addictions a person can have, eating is the one you cannot do without.You don't need to smoke or drink or do drugs but you do have to eat, and that's why losing weight, controlling your habits and portion size is such a nightmare.

Traditional diets are a joke because if you 'diet' as the tradition dictates - cutting calories but not changing habit, you are just about guaranteed to rebound once you revert to your regular behavior. That, right there, is the hardest part - making the changes lifestyle changes. Particularly if you're not the only one in the household or the one doing the cooking.

That's where the rub is for me. I have twelve hours per day in which I can be reasonable and reasoned, but it's that evening meal that's the struggle because, honest to God, hubby is a fabulous cook. Not so great in other aspects, but a fabulous cook. So I'm going to try something new.

We'll see how it goes. I've tried it before and I've had some success (thirty-five pounds a few years ago - twenty-five of which haven't found me again). I just need to get back on track, make it a real habit and stick to it. It'll be a week or two before the habit kicks in and I start seeing results - good or bad - and then I'll know what I need to do.

In the meantime, though, I'm going to go finish the laundry and get some other chores around here done.

Have a wonderful Sunday - Go... I still can't decide between the Broncos and Panthers so I'll split the difference: Go the Best Team on Sunday!

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Don't Lie to Me, Okay?

Since it's around Christmas time and everyone gives and gets food and food baskets, we're all eating more than we probably should - grazing through the cookies and candy and stuff. While I graze I read. I want to know what it is that I'm eating and yesterday I came across something that was more than a little disturbing.

Here's the back of the package:

Now look closer:

Yum! Butter! Uhhhh, Not.

Nowhere in this list of ingredients does it say milk or butter or cream or anything cow related - even though the package comes with an allergen warning which declares the product contains milk:

Now to most people this isn't bothersome. To me it is. It's like GMOs to some people. I don't get up in arms about that because if you want to get really technical, hybrid plants are GMOs. Like most of the vegetables you buy at the grocery - including the "organic" veggies. Before laboratories sprang up, Luther Burbank was busily cross-pollinating plants to bring out certain qualities, like resistance to disease, or faster growing or other stuff. We're still growing and eating the strains of plants he created via cross-pollination (tomatoes being one).

Anyway. It all comes down to truth in advertising. Food labeling is taken very seriously by the FDA and this could qualify as a game changer for this company. You do not lie to the consumer when you package your product.

What's even more interesting is that I went to this company's website which is shown on the other side panel of the box, and this product isn't even listed. Which raises another red flag. Just where did this stuff come from?

According to the expiration panel on the box, these will allegedly stay fresh for another year (eww), so it's not like this is an old product. Baked goods usually keep for six months to one year and then they expire. Anything beyond that means the product probably contains plastic or something. I'm joking, really - it's just a joke! But think about it - how long can a baked product be expected to keep under ordinary circumstance?).

I work in the food industry and I spoke to our Director of Quality about this - sent her the images I have here - and she was the one who pointed out the discrepancy between the ingredients list and the allergen panel (which I had missed). This is serious stuff.

So, being me, I filed a complaint with the FDA. You don't mess with the food people eat. Not here in America, anyway. Now we'll see. Given how our complaint against the nursing home went after they nearly killed my MIL, I expect this will take months to get going, but whatever. I have the pictures.

And the "dig" at the nursing home is true. If you care, the post in which I talk about it can be found here: https://philippastories.blogspot.com/2015/06/friday.html

That complaint took more than a year before we got the report that said that they had verified our claim and said if we wanted to file suit we would have a leg on which to stand. We chose (hubby and MIL, actually) not to. It would have been too difficult for MIL to go through the process, so we declined.

Anyway. I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I will be more diligently reading the package labels of the stuff that I shove in my pie hole and if one of the primary ingredients is claimed - butter (a primary component of shortbread) - but is missing from the ingredients, I won't be scarfing that down.

Fortunately, I ate one of these things yesterday and I'm still here to complain about it, so it didn't kill me. Maybe I'm stronger? Hmmm. Nah. Probably not.

So read the panels, compare the claims to the labeling and eat well!

Best~
Philippa

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Rainy Sunday and Promise of More

It's Sunday afternoon, I'm feeling lazy and a bit sleepy, not sure what to write but doing it anyway because it's good exercise.

Except for my blog I haven't been doing any other writing these days. Instead, I'm sulking because of information I came across that will affect my future. I haven't decided what to do about it, how I'm going to deal with it, but neither of the obvious choices is palatable. Not being palatable means I'm standing still for the time being. Nothing is pressing me to make a move, so I'll stand still and consider until the time comes when I have to make a decision.

Outside it's cold (<50d) and raining. We got rain Friday and a tiny bit yesterday. Today is the first day in the promised week of rain where we've had decent quantities falling from the sky.

That's both good and bad. I want the rain to come and keep coming because I want the drought to be over. I also want it to come in moderation, a bit every day or two so we don't end up with flooding or landslides. Particularly in the areas up in Lake County that were devastated by fires this past summer.

That would be a heckuva thing. Avoid getting burned out and then have a hill slide onto your house because the fire ravaged all the vegetation holding the soil on the slope above. It's happened in Southern California often enough and there's no reason it couldn't / won't happen here. I hope it doesn't, which is why I'm torn between wanting it to rain and rain and rain and not. Ideally, we would get enough to get the vegetation started, the weeds growing and give them a chance to take root and get the brush, the manzanita and other scrub growing again. Too much to ask, I guess, because the weather dudes were saying last week that the rain will continue off and on through Christmas. A case of you can't have it both ways. Then, next month is when El Nino is supposed to take off and really get going.

Given the rain and the wind I'm seeing through the window, I am glad I got my errands done yesterday. At least I don't have to go out in it today. I even filled my tank, so I won't have to stop for gas again until next weekend.

Yesterday, while I was out, I stopped at the supermarket and picked up a tub of yogurt. I thought it was plain but it's not. It's Greek vanilla and, OMG, where has it been all my life?!? I had a tiny bit this morning and thought I had died and gone to Heaven so I had more, with some of the berry syrup I made even though it was still hot.

See, I want to have grab-and-go stuff for breakfast and lunch. When I'm running around in the morning, getting ready for work and trying to get out the door, I don't want to have to think too hard about what I'm going to eat. I almost always cook on the weekends - a big pot of something or other, or a roast or something that I can work into a week's worth of lunches.

Last weekend I made a big pot of rotini pasta, sauteed a bunch of veggies - bell peppers, onion, celery and mushrooms - seasoned them with sage and tossed it together. Really delicious and grab-and-go once I fixed up containers of it. I also baked some chicken thighs and kept them on-hand. That made it through the week although I finished the chicken today for lunch. Still, I have two more containers of the pasta for tomorrow and Tuesday.

Given the rant about my bodily feelings the other day, I've decided to add yogurt and berries to my diet. The yogurt is good in a lot of ways and so are the berries. This morning I separated most of yogurt into containers - about 1 C in each - and I boiled the bag of frozen berries into a syrup. Once the berries finish cooling, I'll add a bit of the syrup to each of the yogurt containers - just over the top. Then I'll be ready to go for the week. I'll also know how much I need to freeze because I know the syrup won't keep. I made a LOT of it, but that's good. I'll have enough for future use.

I think that with a dollop of sweet wine, a Gewurztraminer or a fruity schnapps, some after-dinner liqueur added in, it would be heavenly over ice cream. I also think it would be delicious over baked salmon or chicken breast. I'll have to get creative and find ways to use it. It shouldn't be hard. If I can figure out how to make myself feel better and lose some of that excess weight I also ranted about, I'll be a happy girl.

Even though it's raining today, I did get exercise yesterday. I went out early and got the shopping done before most anyone arrived at the stores then, because it was so nice, I did some yard work. I clipped back the neighbor's roses that lean over our fence and took a goodly swipe at the gigantic jasmine that's taken over half our yard.

The fence in the back is in such bad shape that we put lipstick on it to hold it up through the winter. Actually, it's not really lipstick. They're metal posts that hubby pounded into the ground in strategic places. Next spring we are going to have to replace the fence, so the jasmine will come all the way out. As it was, it was growing over and through the railing on our side deck - threatening to take over the pile of Hillbilly furniture that we still haven't got rid of.

Hubby's still talking about doing that, so I haven't given up hope. I think he's waiting until the new tax year so we can pick through it again and decide what can be donated and what's garbage so we can get a bit of return on our taxes at the end of 2016. Whatever. At some point none of this will matter. It will all be in the past and something new will have taken its place.

And, with that happy tone, I'm done. I am sleepy so I'm going to indulge in a nap.

I hope you have a wonderful day - lazy or not, just as you choose.

Best~
Philippa.

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Head Down & Closer to Home

I'm going to put the various hobby horses aside for the moment. Enough is enough, don't you agree?

On the home / work / immediately-before-me front, we've had a couple of days of glorious rain. The creeks are filling up, the air is cool and soft, the perennially blue sky of Northern California is covered in clouds. It makes a nice change from normal.

Two days ago Porter Creek was, to all appearances from the road, dry. None of the runnels and waterfalls I pass on my way to work were runneling or falling. This morning, Porter Creek is living up to its name. It's got a good head of water flowing through it. Not full, not the bottom being covered, but respectable. The runnels are charging down the hills and the waterfalls are filling up.

The fluff of sycamore leaves that I scuffed through last week have "melted". They're limp and lying flat on the pavement. No satisfying rustle as I walk through them anymore. Just "squish squish squish" but there's next year.

The rain and the damp make a wonderful change. I'm even getting accustomed to walking around in it - something I used to dislike. But it feels so good!

As I always do whenever possible, I left my window open last night. I went to sleep listening to the rain and woke up to the same. I love it and hope we get enough more that the drought will be alleviated (solved is too much to hope for in one winter) without landslides and flooding and the rest of it.

At work I feel like a one-armed paper hanger working on three rooms simultaneously. People coming into town for an extended period need rooms at a local hotel. I want to see if I can get a deeper discount than the corporate discount we already have for this junket so I need to speak to The Person In Charge at the local hotel.  But the person with whom I normally speak at this particular hotel is on vacation until next week, so I need to speak to the owner. The owner wasn't available yesterday afternoon. I don't have absolute confirmation this is happening, so I'm stuck and...

Next week I have our monthly management meeting that requires catering. We've been doing a lot of Italian in the past few months. Last time I did Mexican (simple stuff - burritos, rice, beans, chips and salsa) but it didn't seem to go down all that well. The first time I served that, I got rave reviews. Last time, not so much so I need to find another option.

The local Chinese restaurant has mixed reviews and I'm leaning in that direction but am not sure because not everyone likes Chinese. I have to make a decision today or tomorrow at the latest so I can place the order in time for them to order in what they need. No, it's not rocket science, but it is to serve the CEO and senior staff, so I want it to be "right".

We're working on carpeting a part of our office and want to get that done by the end of the year. That's going to be "interesting" since I only got approval to do it late in the afternoon on Tuesday of this week. I need to get a purchase order cut and all the rest of it. Time consuming but, again, not rocket science. I'm just waiting on a couple of last details from the vendor. Unfortunately, I can't finish the purchase order without the information and we can't place the order without the purchase order and...

On top of that the major project for which I was originally hired two years ago is going to pick up steam after the first of the year and I need to get that information gathered together and on track again, schedule regular team meetings, etc. Just time consuming and fiddly - nothing too difficult except the balance between what one senior staff member asked me to add to our schedule and the direction given to me by the person in charge of the project. On that I know who "wins" - I just have to implement it.

Also, after working with our Project schedule for two years, I'm seeing places where we can rearrange and streamline. I need to get that done before tomorrow so I can distribute the information. Then I need to schedule meetings with groups prior to our team meetings and refine what I come up with.

Just another day in Paradise, right? :)

But it is fun and as the dominoes fall I'll get that rush of satisfaction, so it's all good. Another case of life continuing while other things take place.

It does feel good to be paying attention to the home front instead of the world front today. I've had enough of the world front so I'll let other people worry about it for a time. Until something nasty enough to grab my attention and ire pops up again. Probably next week, knowing me.

There are other things perking in the background, as usual. Big things and little things - so it's all feeling a bit much right now. Time will pass, things will go by and the pressure will ease, but right now, confronted by it, it all seems to be too much. All I have to do though is remember to breathe, to take that next step and keep moving forward since standing still is not an option.

In a month, maybe two, the answers will be clearer and things will be calmer (I hope!). I just have to get from here to there, and I will.

In the meantime, I'll look at the clouds and listen to the rain and look up instead of down. I hope you do the same because the view ahead is so much better than the view at our feet.

Best~
Philippa

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Monday Meanderings

Five thirty in the morning and I haven't got a clue what I'm going to write.

Work today, obviously. Have to hit the shower in thirty minutes. Coffee is sitting here, down about a third and Sam is still asleep. Or at least he's not meowing at the door.

He's on his way out, I'm afraid. Eighteen years plus a few months is pretty good for a cat, so I won't fret too much when the day comes, but it's getting close, I can tell.

Lately, in the past month or so, he's started having trouble with his balance, falling over when he tries to get up after lying down, or stumbling when he walks. He never was graceful, the way people think of cats. He's always been just a tiny bit clumsy, running into things, etc.

All the signs of age are there.

He's lost his hearing in the past few months. He's gotten so finicky about his food he won't eat most of what I put down but I can't just opening can after can, hoping to find one he'll eat. Watering is together time since he won't drink out of his water bowl. It has a pump and a flow of water but he isn't interested. I keep it up - washed and filled - in his room at night in case he gets thirsty.

This morning, though, and tonight after I get home, and again before he goes to bed I'll stand at the bathroom basin and run a small stream of water into the palm of my hand. It's the surest way to get him to drink. If it's a good morning, I'll fill the bowl in which I catch the runoff more than once (yes, we save this, adding it to the drought buckets we keep in the bathtub).

It's hard, but it's part of life and he's a member of the family so I will do for him everything I can until it's obviously time. Perhaps another couple of months... I hope it's that long. Maybe longer but maybe not. We'll see. What I won't do is keep him going for me. If he's in pain, obvious pain, I will call the vet and not make him suffer because I can't bear to let go. That wouldn't be fair or right for him.

He's the last of my kitty-babies and he's my lap warmer so it's going to be hard, but we've had a great run together and he's still here, still hanging in (he's crying at the door, now - 'Mom! Mom, where are you? I'm hungry!')

There's so much else going on, I feel as if I'm flailing against a running tide. This will pass - it always does, but for the moment, just now, I feel a little overwhelmed with stuff. Family and work and writing and trying to balance and juggle it all so I feel fulfilled without going insane. Keeping up, keeping at it and managing, but once the tide turns slack again, I'll be happier.

I did get a lot done this weekend, so there's that. I made another batch of stir fry - without the chow mein. I made rice, instead. I also remembered the carrots and bamboo shoots, this time. The rice will be better for me - higher fiber. I used a whole grain wild and brown rice mix. Now, I won't have to scramble to figure out lunches this week. A side benefit of the mess I made is that the kitchen is clean. Really clean. Cleaner than I expected, actually, since I spilled oil on the floor in front of the stove...

I also spent some time editing one of my stories on Saturday, and am debating whether to serialize one of my books for this blog.

Thinking of it now, I could do 'Matters of Friendship'.

The chapters are fairly short. It's not 'distasteful' - no erotic or explicit anything. It's just a story about a recently divorced woman attracted to a married man. They're friends and...

Something to ponder since it would involve reading and editing each chapter before posting, but I'm doing that anyway as I get it ready for self-publishing (next year, probably). So, we'll see.

Whoops! Later than I should be so gotta run... Take care and have a lovely day!

Best~
Philippa

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