Friday

I am ecstatic to say that the dogs have returned to behaving nearly normally - I was able to get them into the backyard single-handedly last night, and they went readily again this morning.  One thing down.  Oh, and one of them ate a gift tag off a present under the tree - a very normal thing around our house, I'm sorry to admit.

Nothing particularly noteworthy yesterday; I succumbed to boredom eating and consumed the last of the fundraising candy yesterday afternoon, and it was very good.  Milk chocolate and almonds always tastes vaguely toffee-like to me.  We went out to eat again, but to a steak place, so the ingredients were more readily identifiable, and as a result, I'm still at 145.3 this morning.   Here's the breakdown:

• Paleo banana bread
• bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• cheese
• chocolate bar (the whole one)
• almond flour shortbread cookies
• steak
• wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and bacon bits
• iced tea

That was it.  We got back rather late, watched a bit of football (not sure why, but we seem to watch it by choice this year, regardless of who's playing), and crashed for the night.  Slept well (such a blessing!).  And here I am again today, with 8 hours ahead of me, utterly unstructured.  But no chocolate handy, so maybe I will eat a bit better.

Oh!  We checked the brine-fermenting pickles last night, and the brine has clouded up properly, so I think they are working.  I'll taste one on Saturday to see how things are going - and with luck, won't die of it.  Leaving things to sit out and sort of rot on purpose is a bit scary in this day of antisepsis.  But if they worked and taste at all good, they'll be perfect for helping Lee recolonize his gut after his antibiotics run out.  He's been eating probiotic yogurt things, and they seem to be helping a bit, but the pills are intended to win in the end.

Thursday

Yesterday was another longish workday, so I did end up eating more chocolate than I would have if I'd been busy.  Not bad, otherwise.  The dogs seem - finally! - to be settling down a bit, and we got more Christmas shopping done.

Here's the day's eating:

• Paleo banana bread
• bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• cheese
• an entire fundraising chocolate bar
• half a strawberry shake
• naked bacon cheese burger with blue cheese crumbles
• fries
• two almond-flour shortbread cookies

That was it.  145.2 this morning.

I am very happy to say that my sleep is improving - I don't think because the cold has set in outside, either.  The hot flashes have subsided again, without my having to get hormone supplements started, for which I'm grateful - not sure I really want to go there.  They may return - and they may not.  I think I'll just be glad for now that they're gone and I'm getting rested up again.

Wednesday

I realized, when the alarm went off this morning, that this was going to be one of those long weeks - it's Wednesday, and feels like we should be at Friday, already.  Two days in a row with not much to do at work, where my day's work was pretty much complete by 8:30 am.  Boredom eating prevailed yesterday - I brought cheese with me, but had chocolate and nuts as well, just to pass the time.  I hope today won't be a repeat, but it's another fairly unstructured day.

Here's yesterday's eating:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• cheese
• dark chocolate (Lindt's 85%)
• hazel nuts
• pork tenderloin
• salad with meat and cheese
• blue cheese dressing
• more tea
• almond flour shortbread cookies
• more cheese
• more chocolate
• walnuts

Nothing out of the ordinary.  I am still at 145.5 this morning, which is fine.  We had banana bread and bacon for breakfast - I figure, with six eggs in the recipe, a slice is nearly the same as eating scrambled eggs.  Okay, not quite, but I probably had an egg's worth.

The dogs are behaving slightly better, but still require more maintenance than usual.  They have until Saturday to get over it - after that, it's just me at home with them; Lee's headed to Phoenix for moving the kid back and Graduation - I'll be headed there next Wednesday night (another reason it's a long week; by contrast with next week).  I don't know how much fun it will be to handle them on my own, but I'm already figuring on fasting breakfast the three workdays - it just isn't worth the trouble to even try to eat.

Tuesday

Yesterday was just a giant bowl of suckage; our dogs have been acting beyond strange of late, deciding the back yard is off limits to them, among other things, and they hit the apex of strange yesterday morning while I was in the shower, leading to a lot of stuff like carpet cleaning that normally doesn't happen before I go to work.  Since we didn't know - still don't - what was bugging them nor how to make it stop, it left me with a sense of frustration and general blues all day.  They spent the day at the vets, being looked over to make sure it wasn't an illness.  I spent the day at work, wishing I could go home, crawl into bed, and cry a bit.  Doesn't work that way, but I did what I could by going for Mexican at dinner and finishing the chips and also the rice.  Carbs are sometimes rather comforting.  And weight-inducing - I'm at 145.5 this morning.  So be it.

Here's yesterday's eating, as I can recall it:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• cheese
• dark chocolate
• hazel nuts
• chips
• salsa
• cheese enchiladas with green chile
• spanish rice
• iced tea
• more chocolate

I think that was it.  By the time we got home, things were getting less strange.  One possible cause of the dogs' sudden venture into psychosis was a chirping unplugged smoke detector that had been sitting in the garage - I noticed the chirping just about the time they started fearing our back yard, so maybe there was a correlation.  The device has gone off to the dump, and we've found a way to force them outside that doesn't involve too much running, and they seemed a bit less freaked out this morning.  It doesn't help that it was -3, either, but that's not something we can control, short of moving to Florida.

Pork Tenderloin tonight - possibly from a recipe in Paleo Comfort Foods (maybe without the nut butter sauce, though?).  And Brussels Sprouts, sauteed or something.

Monday

It is 9 degrees outside.  Fahrenheit, that is.  Above zero.  Does that mean it could be worse?  Why yes, it could, but it's plenty bad enough, thank you very much.  We are still wandering around on layers of snow/ice from last week, because it's been too cold for that mess to melt and evaporate (the latter being the important bit).  On Friday, on the way from work to the car, I stepped on an invisible patch of ice with one foot and found myself losing my balance in very slow motion.  Probably that's a good thing, but I hit the ground, nonetheless, on my right hip.  Took an epsom salts bath or two over the weekend, but I still feel a bit stiff and achy and swollen.  I should have taken fish oil.

144.5 this morning - no idea where the pound came from, unless it is water from falling and becoming stiff.  I had a few carby foods over the weekend, I think, but not many.  Mashed potatoes and gravy (didn't eat all of them) on Friday night, cottage fries on Sunday morning, that I recall.  Here's yesterday's eating, which consisted of breakfast and snacks, really:

• Paleo banana bread (best batch yet, but it took nearly all the mixing bowls in the kitchen to get it that way)
• tea with cream
• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• cottage fries
• a bit of french onion soup (no crouton, just broth)
• a swallow of pinot noir (did I mention that this was at breakfast? - we were out to brunch with friends)
• cheese
• walnuts
• potato chips (a half-cup, all told)
  
• more of those fantabulous almond-flour shortbread cookies - maybe 3 all day
• chocolate
• strawberries

I'm thinking that was it - but I could be wrong; it was a weirdly scattered day and I don't recall it clearly.

During a shopping outing on Friday, I saw that Adidas is producing "toe" shoes, similar in design to Vibrams.  But not that minimalist, either - the bottoms are very stiff and thick.  I don't think my feet would be strong enough to take advantage of the individual toes - it would be like wearing regular tennies with toe pockets in them.  Still, it's interesting that they're becoming that mainstream - and kind of a bummer to me, because I rather like wandering around in them and having people who notice them do a double-take.  On the other hand, if they do gain better acceptance, maybe the gym will allow them in the weight room again - apparently, they're verboten there just now.  And I want to wear them for our boot camp thing next month, so things could get interesting.

I have started a jar of brine pickles in the pantry - following the instructions for fermenting vegetables on the Perfect Health Diet site.  Cucumbers cut into chunks, garlic, and dill weed, in a brine that used pickling salt.  I have no idea if it will work or not, but am hopeful that I can produce something not unlike the ones at Ted's Montana Grill, which are different from your average jar-o-pickles from the grocery store.  I couldn't get unwaxed cukes, though, so the whole thing may not work.  Should be interesting, even if it doesn't produce food.

Friday

I'm getting pretty good at sleeping through hot-flashes.  I'm fairly sure I had at least one last night, and I'm equally sure that it did not wake me up.  My first awareness of being awake at all was at 4:11 am, and I went right back to sleep from there.  A good night.  It probably didn't hurt that it was well below freezing outside; I've always found that the absolute best weather for sleeping.

We ended up eating Chinese last night, although tonight a meat loaf is in the plans.  I had stuff I didn't think would result in weight gain, but I was wrong, a bit.  143.5 this morning.  Here's the day's eating:

• scrambled eggs
• turkey bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• cheese
• 1/2 of a chocolate bar
• almonds
• hot and sour soup
• beef with broccoli (I think the sauce was cornstarch based)
• two spoonfuls of rice - probably less than 1/2 cup
• hot tea
• cheese
• walnuts
• chocolate

We had turkey bacon again this morning, so I'm guessing I'll be struggling with hunger again later today; it's just not very satiating, not nearly as much as bacon.  It is less trouble to cook, though, which is, I think, why we're having it just now.  I think if it continues, I'll have to double up on the heavy cream in my tea or something - maybe have cheese with breakfast, instead of (or in addition to) mid-morning/lunchtime-ish.  Some of yesterday's mid-day eating was sheer boredom, and I'm facing something similar today.  I will have to plan for ways to work around it, somehow.

Thursday

We did end up eating at home last night - Lee made nekkid cheese steaks, using a sirloin or ribeye or something, sliced up more like for Chinese food than steak sandwiches.  They tasted quite good - very authentic, expecially with the jar of Cheez Whiz to dollop over them.  That and a salad was dinner.

I did not have any cheese at work with me yesterday, which might have been a small mistake.  Instead, I ate almonds, peanuts, half a chocolate bar, and the last of the Godiva chocolate pearls that I had stashed - I was on a minor bender, actually.  143.0 this morning, so some of the Mexican food weight has gone away.  Here's yesterday in full:

• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• tea with cream
• the usual supplements
• salted almonds
• half a fundraising chocolate bar (dark with almonds)
• bag of peanuts
• nekkid cheese steak (steak, peppers, onions, provolone, cheez whiz
• salad with blue cheese dressing
• a square or two of dark chocolate, possibly with pomegranate stuff

I think that was it.

I have cheese with me today - probably important, because we had turkey bacon instead of the real stuff, which means the fat content of breakfast was lowered a good bit.  It's cold out, snowing, and likely to do so all day.  I'm not looking forward to the commute home, although getting to work was not as bad as it could have been (so many things aren't).

It occurs to me that the Social Living thing we signed up for, to do 3 weeks' worth of Boot Camp, starts next month.  I should probably get back to doing wall pushups and squats or something.  Soon.