Friday, December 29, 2017

Weight: 131.6
Macros: cals - 1,946, carbs - 208, fats - 60, protein 106, fiber 23
Veggies/Fruits (goal 8): 6
Sleep (goal 8 hours): 6.5
Exercise: None

We had another tasty dinner last night. As hubby said, "It's so much easier to cook for three than for two." Last night's menu featured boneless, skinless chicken breasts coated in honey-mustard sauce (very simple - honey + Dijon mustard) and dredged in Panko bread crumbs and pecan bits and baked. Our two side dishes were sautéed spinach (with EVOO, minced garlic, salt, pepper) and small sweet potatoes seasoned with brown sugar, cinnamon and a little butter. Yesterday's V/Fs were only 6 and the calories wound up higher than I intended. But no biggie.

Dinner was again a big hit with hubby. He still felt pretty good yesterday and last night. I'm encouraged to continue cooking real dinners for us and see if he will eat them, regardless of what he says beforehand. I sometimes think he tells me at night that he's not very hungry because he doesn't want to "make me go to the trouble of cooking." There's another topic to discuss in that room with the open door, eh?

Hubby and his daughter continue to have wonderful conversations. His daughter was 32 when hubby and her mom divorced; this week they are feeling safe enough in their love for each other and their acknowledgment of hubby's fragile health to look back and reconsider the past from new points of view. BTW, they're sharing their individual perspectives on events and relationships in ways that are loving and cleansing, not at all icky. Last night hubby told me that, while I was gone yesterday morning, he cried when his daughter described some of the challenges she's had to deal with in life but, prior to now, had only "summarized" for him. We all know about those kinds of summaries we offer up to our family members whom we get to see only annually or less frequently - not wanting to upset them or ourselves too much. But good conversations are happening now.

Today is meditation, aquarobics, more grocery shopping and cooking, a few errands, and enjoying DSD and each other. Hubby said last night if he still feels good this morning he will to go to cardio rehab. Today will be the warmest day of the week with a heat wave high of 39°F! But right now outside it's 17°F outside. Brrr!

Today's Theme: Love the ones you're with!

You posted while I was writing so I just copied and deleted mine!

Weight 116.7, calories 963.

It is freezing here: I feel like hibernating. Yesterday the high was 13 with a wind chill making it feel like -4. I did a couple of errands and froze from the car to the store. Today I am wearing my Irish sweater! It is too cold to go hiking with DH, which would be a good activity. He didn't want to try UNO yesterday because I don't think he enjoyed our parcheesi attempt the prior day. We watched TV a good part of the day, which isn't necessarily the best activity for him.

Today I have to pay bills, sign and scan documents for my financial planner and figure out DH's dental plan (he can't share my plan right now because he is over 65 but I'm not not). I had to loan DSD a substantial chunk of money to make it through the end of the year and DD is likely asking soon due to being out of work with her broken leg, so I'm going to have to figure out where I am taking that money from. I thought that DH's inheritance from his mother would have come through by now (she died in May), but they must be waiting to pay taxes? I hate doing this stuff!

Ann, it is so wonderful that DH and his daughter are talking. My DH can't have that type of conversation anymore which I know is a big loss for our children.

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday!

That is so wonderful that your DH and DSD have been able to have honest and open conversations. I'm afraid that often we (and I mean even some of my adult friends like your DSD) think that we're entitled to voice our grievances and while maybe we are, I'm afraid it's often done in a way that only leads to more hurt instead of reconciliation. It sounds like DH and DSD's conversations have been cathartic.

I wonder how I'll look back on this time with the stepkids. It seems to be going well right now, but you never know. Even though the teen years were tremendously difficult, maybe it's easier in the long run? Because already now I've been in DSD's life since she was 12. She's now 19. That's probably nearly half of her life that she remembers.

Weight: I think it said 181.8.

30 weeks today. My goal is to not go above 190, but I'm not really sure how much control I have over that/how much I'm willing to do to meet that goal. I'll tell you what I will do: I've enjoyed all the treats, but I'm starting to feel ick about them. I'll leave them lying around through January 1st. Not because of any "resolution" per se, but because we may still have visiting company between now and then. Then I'm hauling it off. Most of the food food has already been eaten/tossed or frozen for later use. Ham bone is reserved for ham and bean soup on January 1st, but anything else I'll freeze. Ah my point: get back to more normal eating, normal cooking after the New Year. This should help with weight. I also know hubby wants to get back into the gym. At this point I'll probably be limited to cardio, but even at a slow pace that's more than I'm doing now and I'm kind of looking forward to it. Mostly because I don't want to miss that time with him, it's something good I can do for myself now (and I'm sure here in 10 weeks those opportunities won't come with nearly the same frequency), and it will probably help with discomfort and labor pains.

I got off work a tad early yesterday to watch Oklahoma State's bowl game (they won!). I used the instant pot to make chicken enchilada soup. My current dilemma is finding the niche that the IP serves. It's not bad, I'm just worried it's superfluous. It made good potato soup, but I'm not sure I couldn't have done the same thing in the same amount of time on the stove. The chicken enchilada soup was good and the primary advantage to using the IP over crockpot was it's safe to use frozen chicken. But from start to fini**** took about 1 hr. Now most of that time was hands off. But so is crockpot. With crockpot I can come home and voila. Definitely still have to learn the ropes. I really like the saute function on the IP. And there's so much I can do. In my kitchen, real estate is very pricey so I'm just waiting to see if it'll earn a good spot!!

Some days you have to stop and smell the roses. We got my 24 yo DSS an "oculus" for Christmas (that virtual reality thing). Yesterday he and his sister were playing it and laughing and bonding. Ahhhhh what a good sound!!

I feel the same about the IP! I like cooking too, so I wonder if it is more of a tool for people who don't cook? I pour over recipes for it and rarely do any of them look very good. Lots of mushy and carby stuff.

Yes, this has always been my trouble with the crockpot too. It's useful, especially for those quick dinners or keeping something warm. Trouble is I already have a crockpot. That I love. Do I need two of these tools?!

Or like with roast. I typically make it on Sunday. In which case I just toss in oven (and I actually am not afraid to leave the house with the oven on so there's that advantage). And I much prefer oven roast to even crockpot roast. Hmmm.

I'm going to head over to chowhound to see what insight they have about IP. If anyone can gourmet a recipe or product, it's them

I am going to try making yogurt with it next with Fairlife milk (higher protein) and see how that goes. But that still feels more expensive than just buying yogurt.

For me the IP is a good replacement for the crockpot for people like me who never think far enough ahead of time to start something cooking early.

I got rid of my crockpot too and replaced it with the IP. No room for both!

I blushingly admit I have an Instapot. And I've never used it. Ever. One of my friends has the best-selling Instapot cookbook on Amazon Prime. And I've still never used it.

Jeez, I'm such a kitchen weenie.