What's on Your Saturday Menu, RNYers?

Good morning weekend menuers!

I hope you had a wonderful week. Oh man it is coooooold out here! Last night when we were walking out from the Christmas concert, the wind was blowing so hard that it was actually painful! All weekend should be equally cold and Sunday into Monday has snow predicted! Yasssss! I am not really a huge fan of snow, but I am in education, so I still hope for snow days like an 8 year old :) And I could really use one on Monday.

Today Grim and I are back at the old condo today. I thought we would have been about 80% done at this point, but it turns out that we are maybe only 35% done. It's because this place has such an open floor plan that doing one thing means you are pulling a thread on a sweater and if you stop somewhere, it will look weird. So now we've decided to continue and paint the ENTIRE house, including the kitchen cabinets. Oy--so back at it today.

As I mentioned, last night we went to a Christmas concert. It's a family tradition and I can honestly say that it never feels like Christmas until I have gone. I am 42 years old and I have been going for 38 years (although I think I may have missed about 3 or 4 along the way). The concert is called 9 Lessons and Carols, in case you have one near you to check out. It's the story of the birth of Jesus told in 9 stories, with very "ye olde" types of carols, interspersed. Since I grew up with this as my tradition, these are where my favorite carols come from. I joke, but honestly, if it was composed after about the 17^th century it's too modern for me. LOL. So my three favorites are ones you probably haven't heard of: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, Adam Lay Y'bounden, and Personent Hodie.  Here is a link to the choir from last night! QOTD: What is your favorite holiday song?

B: diner food -probably 2 over easy eggs and sausage

S: Sargento Balanced Break

L: Turkey Meatballs

S: 2 babybel cheese

D: ?? probably a burger out?

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Hello from really cold Maine!  Yesterday was a really LONG day!  My poor husband, he had a Dr.'s appointment at 8 which we didn't get out of until almost 10, then had to run to Walmart to pick up prescriptions and being Christmas time that place was a zoo! Then race to the other end of town for my appointment with my surgeon for 11:30, went to lunch, hung out and then my husband had another appointment at his new surgeon's office at 2, we didn't get home until almost 5...long day for him.

Well I have lost 44% of my weight in the first 3 months!  My lab's were all at mid to high range except for magnesium which I have to start taking a supplement for, other than that see you in 3 months!  He was extremely pleased and so was I!

Breakfast
Low Carb Italian Meatloaf
Kraft American Cheese Slices 2%, 0.5 Slice
Lunch
Small Tossed Salad, 0.75 cups
Chicken Tenders, 1 oz
Maple Groves Farms - Fat Free Vidalia Onion Dressing, 2 tablespoon
Dinner
Pork Tenderloin Roast, 3 oz
Steamed Brocclli
Snacks
Quest Protein Powder - Salted Caramel, 1 scoop 100
Generic - Lite and Fit Greek Yogurt, 1 container

Totals cal 593 carbs 25 pro 78

 I am exhausted already and the day hasn't even started. I have an annual Christmas party for the ladies from my church today. Usually we do it on Friday night but I decided on a Saturday morning brunch this year, we'll see how that goes over because they were mixed feelings on me changing it. I knew with being in Chicago I'm just getting back I wouldn't be ready. Last night I was decorating the Christmas tree  and all that good stuff so my back is aching and killing me today.  Up a little on the scale this morning but I think that could be 100 and drink enough fluids yesterday and be there was some chocolate making involved in the afternoon and a few that may slipped into my mouth LOL 

Wotd:  I don't know if this is my favorite Christmas Carol but it always makes me stop in my heart standstill a little is Hark the Herald Angels saying. I think I had mentioned before I realize this year that it will be 20 years since my dad passed. And he passed on Christmas and was buried three days later on his 70th birthday. And the last thing that I did because he loves Christmas carols and we brought him home from the hospital on Christmas Day because he didn't want to be in the hospital on Christmas  was saying heart the Herald Angels Sing over him. So I heard it last night as I was playing Pandora decorating the tree. Didn't cry thisyear but it still makes my heart stop and think about him and happen to find a picture of him framed while I was in and out clearing out stuff to put up the tree so I sat that out .  After the rough week with my stepmother is the specially poignant because the picture was of him at his wedding to her which actually I also realized he was the same age as I am now. That's always so weird to think about when your parents did something at that age you were in back in the day and thought they were so old. 

 b: coffee fairlife/miralx

brunch: frittata fruit and we till see... 

D: steak roasted beggie 

snacks: nuts,chai latte 

So much in this post of yours.  I understand the feeling of realizing you are the age of your parents.  Lately, I also have similar moments going the other direction when I look at my adult children (they are not really on their own yet--college aged at 18 and 22).  I look at them and remember how I felt or what I was doing or thinking at that age.  then I also look at my aging parents, ages 82 and 84, and I realize that very soon I will be their ages--who will I be then?

I love Hark the Herald Angels sing.  When we sing it in the congregational singing at church, it is really glorious, because everyone lets loose on the long "glorias" in the chorus, with their best enthusiastic singing.

Christmas must always be a little bittersweet for you with your memories of your dad. 

Regarding the decorating and Christmas party, isn't it ironic how Christmastime gets stressful?  It is supposed to be a special time of peace and connection, and in our efforts to make it special, we make it hard.  I am trying to be mindful of that this year.  My 12 year old mourned the other day that we did not have neat family traditions in our family.  I think we do!  But he compares us to everyone else and I think maybe wants all of everyone's traditions rolled up into our family.  In our time of social media, photography, and marketing, it gets hard to stay mindful and focus on the joy and love.

Good luck with your brunch!

Good morning everyone!

Yesterday was such a great day - our kiddo has a high-functioning ASD diagnosis and we did Santa pictures with his classmates at the local mall.  His teachers are absolutely fantastic and he was SO excited to meet Santa and tell him all about the bruder trucks he hopes will be under his tree this year.  This was the first time we've been able to get him to go see Santa since he was about 12 months old and didn't have a choice when we plopped him on Santa's lap. We walked around the mall afterwards and found a better jacket for him.  We live in the south but we're having a cold snap (I used to live up north so I'm chuckling at my current definition of what is cold!) and his jacket wasn't really warm enough.  My only complaint about yesterday was that last night my knees and shins were so achy as a result of all the walking  I know this is something that will improve with time but I eventually had to take some motrin to be able to sleep.

Today we are taking our son to see his first movie in a theater - he wants to see Moana so we're going to give it a try and see if we can sit still long enough!  It's a dining theater so we are able to eat lunch while watching the movie.  It's actually got some healthy options which is perfect!


QOTD: I have two favorite christmas songs.   "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" and "Dominic the donkey" - they make me smile

B: 2 hardboiled eggs, coffee with FF half-and-half

L: TBD - something from the theater menu!

D: Chicken salad - from the leftover chicken I made in my Instant Pot last night (it's official, I'm obsessed)

S: Nature Valley protein bar, string cheese

Have a great Saturday!!

That's so awesome! I regularly help my cousin out who has two sons on the spectrum, one very high functioning, the other, with low verbal skills (he might technically still be classified non verbal, but his vocabulary has exploded over the past year!) I took them to santa last year, and it was so much fun! It was at a place that sets it up for kids with sensory issues, so it was by appointment, one fam at a time, and you had 15-20 minutes, so you could take your time and get them comfy with the situation. Their mom was so excited to have a santa pic with her two boys, so I can imagine how fun it was for you!

I love the Hippopotamus song!  In our elementary school, in the annual Christmas sing, the first graders (maybe its the seconds) always do this song, and they always have little hippo masks on sticks that they lift up and down and stuff as they sing.  It is my favorite song at that performance.  Now, my youngest is in 7th grade, so no more elementary Christmas sing.  Sniff sniff.

I have never heard the donkey song.  Will look it up!

Good morning everyone! Both husband and I should get out of work a little earlier than we normally do on week nights so hoping to go to a nearby town and look at the Christmas lights! Each business covers the front side with a different color Christmas light and the whole strip down town is breath taking! Traffic can be unreal due to people coming to just look let alone Christmas shopping and parking anywhere is pretty much impossible but worth the trip over.

My favorite Christmas song is White Christmas Bing Crosby. Old but takes me back and puts me in the spirits. 

B: coffee

L: swiss burger on my George Foreman (my usual lunch on work days)

D: ham in crock pot (if I get off my lazy butt and get it started soon)

Good Morning Julia and Menu Friends!

It's c-c-cold here, too!  19 degrees!  Brrrr. 

QOTD:  I love ALL the Christmas carols and always have one of them running through my head this time of year.  But I think my favorite is probably Silent Night.  When I was maybe 5 years old my mother taught me to play Silent Night on an antique little pump organ that she had had when she was a little girl.  So it holds a special memory for me.  Funny story:  My first Christmas pageant at the church, probably preschool age, our class was to sing "Oh Little Town of Bethleham".  I told my mom on the way to the church that I didn't want to sing that song, I wanted to sing "Jesus Loves Me".  So while all the other kids were sweetly singing "Oh Little Town of Bethleham", I stood up there belting out "Jesus Loves Me" at the top of my lungs!  LOL!

I am going out for brunch with a friend of mine today for her Birthday and then we are going to a movie.  We are going to a buffet, so I will try to eat healthy.

Brunch:  Buffet at HyVee - Will pick protein forward

Dinner:  Chicken & wild rice soup

Snack:  Light n Fit Greek Yogurt

Snack:  Roast beef roll-ups with cream cheese

Exercise:  Either walking the dogs or riding the exercise bike.

Have a great day everyone!

~ Karen  

Morning weekenders,

that concert sounds amazing. For years my husband I would go to the holiday show put on by the CBC show the Vinyl Cafe. It was a variety show, with stories and music. But it hasnt happened over the past couple of years, and we are still at a loss of finding a new tradition...

qotd: I have a long list of favorites, but one that comes to mind is a specific version of I saw three ships. At my parents, it's the song we blast in the morning if anyone is still sleeping, but the rest are ready to open their stockings hahaha sleeping is for Boxing Day!

im also a big fan of Annie Lennox singing the Holly and the Ivy, and john prine's Christmas in Prison. And the pogues fairytale of New York. 

Menu:

B:protein shake, decaf coffee with baileys flavored creamer (not the real thing, but close enough)

L/D tbd, I have chicken and pork but haven't decided what we're doing today.