Big, busy weekend

My sophomore college roommate came to visit yesterday, the first time we’ve seen each other since our 20th reunion 25 years ago. She lives in Chattanooga, TN, mother of 3 and grandmother of 10, and a retired nurse practitioner. Fifty years ago we sang together as freshmen in a group called The Master Key at the Baptist Student Union, and we were sorority sisters, too. We’ve stayed in touch with Christmas letters and occasional mid-year contact, but even so, we were able to pick up almost as though we talked every day, and it was wonderful. We stayed up and talked and talked last night, looking up people we remembered but weren’t quite sure about surnames. C’mon, it’s been a very long time. We were lucky to remember first names.

This morning we did two big things that were connected – for the first time in almost a year, I got in and out of a car and went to church. Carol cared for her father in his last years and he was also in a wheelchair with legs he couldn’t move. With that and her nursing background, she was the perfect person to help me navigate getting from the wheelchair to the front seat of the car. Fortunately for me, she was driving a Toyota Corollo, not an SUV, and the seat actually felt very low but at least I could get into it. Then we did it in reverse at the church giving me a chance to be in church for the first time in a year. It was wonderful and soul nourishing, and I was especially glad I was able to see Fr. Matt before he leaves Tyler for a new rectorship in Autin.

So now I know I can do it. SUV’s are probably still too tall for me to try and get into – I had enough trouble doing that when my legs were working properly. But if someone has a car instead, I think I can get into it with help. Not to mention dealing with the wheelchair, which fortunately is very lightweight. We just need to have a nice large trunk for it. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get out for some other activities soon.

I cooked for the visit, making a big pot of meat sauce in the crockpot with Italian sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and garlic, tossing in some egg noodles to cook in the sauce the last 30 minutes. We had salads from the dining room and fresh fruit with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. This morning we had my famous sour cream coffee cake with fresh fruit. Best part is that I have lots of leftovers, which will be wonderful. I really enjoy cooking and rarely do it now that I have a dining room for daily meals, so I was glad to have a reason to do it, and to have a chance to show myself that I can still do things I used to do all the time.

Checking in and Catching up

I forgot to get on the scale this morning. That sounds so small a thing to have thrown me off but it did. Almost every day since I started Noom in January 2020, I start the day by peeing and then getting on the scale. It’s gotten to just be habit, as a way to get information, instead of a judgment. But today I just forgot. I slept badly because of neck and arm pain and too many things parading through my head, and was awake before 4am. Instead of getting on the scale, I went right to the living room and started guzzling water while updating the scheduled church newsletter with something I remembered while in bed trying to sleep. And then it was 6am. After drinking 50 oz of liquid, there’s no way I’d get on the scale. But it threw me off.

It’s been a while since I checked in with my body. My right side is kind of a mess from top to bottom: neuropathy in the foot, torn MCL at the knee, sciatica, neck and arm pain. The left side has a weak hip and more sciatica, but that’s not much. Two days ago I went to the hospital for a steriod injection in my right SI joint and a right knee genicular nerve burn (neurotomy). The meds to help me relax and not remember what happens didn’t work as advertized; there was no relaxing and lots of remembering. The burn itself was a new kind of pressure/pain but if it makes the knee happier, it will be worth it.

Now that I have been fully vaccinated and am 3 weeks past my second shot, I’m starting to get out more. I ate out in a restaurant with a friend last Friday, the first time I’ve done that in a year. I got antsy from being around so many people after a year of limiting exposure, but the food was great and it was a window of normal after a very long time of isolation. This weekend I’m off to my brother’s house for a weekend, my first trip there in 9 months. As he said, it’s time to unbuckle the seatbelts and start to move around the cabin. I’m taking baby steps and we’ll see how it goes.

In other news, I bought an air fryer and have been having fun trying to figure out how to use it. Mostly so far this has been cooking frozen foods such as prepared chicken and salmon, egg rolls, or reheating leftovers. Tonight I’m trying a new air fryer recipe of marinated chicken thighs (remember, I found a whole bunch of those when I cleaned out the freezer). We’ll see. But so far I think it will be a good tool and will help me do my small-scale one-person cooking without heating up the whole oven every time.

I’m also planning additional work on the house. Two years ago it was replacing half the windows and my renovation. Last year it was replacing the other half of the windows. This year I’m hoping to replace all or most of my landscaping, swapping out a very dated set of “solid green wall hedge” style with something shorter, cleaner, and more spaced out. I’m excited about making some changes and having time to enjoy them, as well as adding value to the home. I hired someone to draw out a plan and come up with plant options that will work with me making final decisions. So many plants were killed in the long freeze in February that nurseries are having problems filling orders, so that may be a factor. But at least I have a plan.

And on the inside of the house, it’s time to get my air ducts cleaned out and the carpets cleaned. I have no idea when the ducts were cleaned last but know it’s been at least 10 years, and the cats throw up a lot trying to get rid of hairballs, so both cleanings are past due. This home ownership game is expensive.

Crockpot Mushroom Risotto

I’ve been playing with recipes for risotto and concocted something I really like based on Farah’s recipe over at Cooking Jar. I made a few changes but nothing huge – reduced butter from 4 TB to 3 TB, added a large sprig of fresh thyme, used reduced-sodium broth instead of regular, and doubled the parmesan cheese. Oh, and I steamed frozen peas to add instead of using canned. Actually, I added peas and carrots because that’s what was in the freezer, but that wasn’t planned.

Oh, and I made this in my new 4-qt Crockpot. Perfect size!
Makes 8 servings.

Calculated at MyFitnessPal

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 8 oz. portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot/ 1/4 yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 3/4 cups Arborio rice
• 4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sprig of fresh thyme
• 1 cup peas (frozen peas, steamed)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

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INSTRUCTIONS

1. Melt the butter and cook mushrooms, shallots and garlic over medium high heat for 5 minutes or until mushrooms have browned and liquid has evaporated
2. Add in rice, stirring to coat for 2 minutes
3. Spray the slow cooker with cooking spray and add rice mixture
4. Pour in broth and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add sprig of thyme.
5. Stir to combine and cook on high for 1 hour 30 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed
6. Once it’s cooked, remove thyme. Stir in peas and cheese and mix well
7. Dish and serve hot

Trying to get a grip

Emma and Ellie on the porch

I threw out food yesterday. The important part was the almost-full box of individual bags of Skinny Pop Popcorn recently purchased at Sam’s. I could have found someone to give them to, but it seemed important and symbolic to put them in the trash.

There was nothing wrong with the popcorn. I knew how to count it and enjoyed a little bit of “normal”. Except I forgot that my normal snacking was abnormal, and the popcorn led to other things like cookies or eating an English muffin for dinner because I loved the jam. Which is now completely eaten up – it was wonderful! – but I’m not buying more of it.

I looked back at my Noom food logs to see what I ate back in the beginning when I was starting and extra careful and motivated. Popcorn wasn’t anywhere in there, and I didn’t miss it. I ate lots of green grapes (which I don’t even like but they were satisfying) and individual boxes of roasted red pepper soup for snacks, and learned that if I plan and balance my meals, I didn’t really eat snacks – and didn’t miss them.

It’s also time to cook. Back in January I cooked and stocked up the freezer, partly in anticipation of pandemic shortages but also to make sure I had plenty of easy to grab food that fit Noom. I’ve actually eaten most of the prepared things and need to restock with chili, stew, meat sauce, chicken teriyaki, and soup. I can make another batch of gazpacho to eat or drink as a snack or before a meal to add veggies

So today I’m making chili in the crockpot and inventorying the freezer and pantry before making a shopping list. I need to see what I have and work out a plan for cooking as well as organizing the freezer so I can find what goes in there instead of just shoving them in the front.

Also today I’m off to the appliance store to buy a new microwave since mine conked out yesterday. It’s probably at least 12 years old so I shouldn’t be surprised, but since I use it all the time, this requires rethinking what I eat until the new one can be installed. Probably salad – sigh, I’m sick of salad – but you eat that cold.

But first, thank you all for the hugs and comments and kind words to my hard day post. They helped more than you know.

Nooming in Isolation

One of the things I’m grateful for while under COVID Stay Home orders is that I’m on Noom and have enough time under my belt for it to have become a way of life before isolation started. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, and I know it’s far easier for me than for someone with others to cook for, or who are medical professionals now working insane schedules under intense pressure.

I asked my Goal Specialist to reset me to Week 1 when I realized I was blowing off DOING article work instead of just reading. I also wished that I’d known to start taking notes and journaling at the beginning of Noom and not two months in. I now have a beautiful journal at my side, with pen attached, and take notes as I work through the articles. Blogging is also a form of journaling but I’m making notes to myself in writing as I go.

The world has changed since January and COVID-related articles are included now. The basic ones are the same, but others talk about how to maintain mental health, making yourself a priority, and readjusting goals under changed circumstances. Sometimes working on behaviors and habits are more important than getting in a big workout (not that I ever did a big workout, but other people did).

Reading articles, planning meals, and logging my food provide a structure that continues what I was doing back when things were normal. They’re not things I’ve imposed on myself because of isolation, but they do help me in an otherwise fluid time. When our office was closed and I was working from home, I got work done but during different hours than in a pre-COVID work day, and I found myself getting all snacky and reaching for things that by themselves are not a problem but are when eaten in a fog.

My goals for last week and this week are to eliminate the snacking except as planned out, and go back to what worked in my Noom early days: sitting in early morning with a bottle of water and logging what I expect to eat at all my meals and snacks BEFORE I actually eat them. That gives me huge structure and a calm. I can plan for a Healthy Choice Fudge bar or a slider basket delivered from the club when I want to work in something special. When I follow this pattern, I feel in control and I lose. Win-win!

Every two weeks I make a huge batch of chunky applesauce in the crockpot to eat as a snack or mix with yogurt or oatmeal. I bought 5 lbs of 90% fat free ground beef at Sam’s on Friday when I went to pick up prescriptions, and will be making meat sauce today (love my crockpot!), as well as two batches of taco meat for the freezer and a package of browned meat with onions for some future recipe. I also have a rotisserie chicken to pull apart with meat for salads; some of that will go to the freezer, too, joining lots of meat, veggies, and fruit.

One thing I’m having trouble with is getting in my steps. While I’m not a gym rat, I really was enjoying being more active, and I miss at least getting in all my steps. Usually at work I’d make laps around the sanctuary a few times in a morning which helped, and would go to a big box store to go up and down the aisles even if I didn’t need to buy anything. I do better holding on to a cart or a treadmill than just walking on the streets of Emerald Bay, but I’m still getting 5K+ steps most days, even with flaring sciatica. Go me. I’ll be glad to have the gym again when it’s safe to go.

I know myself and know how I’ve reacted in the past to enforced stay home time for blizzards and surgical recovery. Usually I’d be eating all day long, feeling bloated and lethargic, and disappointed with myself. This much longer COVID time is different. I’m eating healthy, tracking my food, building in movement and meditation, and providing structure without making myself crazy.

Noom works for me, with daily readings and accountability steps. And as of this morning, I’ve lost 41 lbs since January, 8 lbs since COVID became something to factor. I’ve got this.