Thursday

I took an Advil PM last night and got a complete night's sleep.  Every so often, I just have to do that.  It's not paleo, I know, but neither is not sleeping - and the heat waves - they aren't intense enough to be flashes - keep waking me up at night.  Anyway, I opened one eye at 4:30 for the first time, and went back to sleep so quickly after that, I'm not even sure it counts as waking.  I'll take it.  Felt good.

150.2 again this morning.  Good old XXX.2.  I used to stall at a weight of this sort repeatedly during my original weight loss.  My fingers are a little swollen - even now, after driving to work.

So, here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• creole breakfast casserole, which has been getting progressively spicier over the course of the week
  
• a bag of peanuts
  
• a bag of nacho cheese doritos
  
• pork roast
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• 1/8 of a Hershey's dark chocolate with almonds bar
  
• 4 almond-flour faux-oatmeal cookies (with walnuts and craisins in them)
  

I have some of the cookies with me today, to ward off another visit to the machines. They came out great, despite a lot of liberties with the recipe (as in, I used their basic quantities of the staples and the oven stuff, and then went pretty much off the rails), and I figure that, while they are a treat, they are a known quantity, rather than the polysyllabic mess that falls out of the vending machines.  Eating real food and all that.

We did finally manage the pork roast - I made two tenderloins, and we have a lot of leftovers.  I'm foreseeing cubanos, and maybe something to eat sauteed kale with (it will be an experiment, but is supposed to be really good).

Three-day weekend coming up, and no plans that I know of.  Puttering, I would imagine.

Wednesday

Another slow week.  Elizabeth is sick, Lee is having back issues, and my commute has exceeded 2 hours per day on average.  Time fails to fly when you are not having fun, that's for sure.

150.2 again today.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• breakfast casserole
  
• the usual supplements
  
• quarter pounder with cheese, no bun
  
• fries
  
• hot and sour soup
  
• mushu chicken
  
• a fortune cookie
  
• cashews
  

The cashews were because I felt like eating something crunchy; they weren't all that good, and I need to work on not doing that so much.

Still hoping to eat the pork tenderloin.  Pretty much needs to be today or never, I think.

Tuesday

I only woke up twice last night.  Got more menopause supplements over the weekend; could that be it?  Anyway, while I'm a bit foggy from driving in (an hour and 10 minutes to get here, blecch), I think I'm better rested overall.

150.2 this morning.  A bit surprising, given what I ate yesterday, but I do think some of yesterday's weight was water, and I feel less swollen up this morning.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• Health-Bent's creole breakfast casserole
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a vending bag of peanuts
  
• strawberries and grapes
  
• potato chips (2 handfuls during the day and about a half-handful after dinner)
  
• chicken soup
  
• dark chocolate with almonds
  
• strawberry ice cream (finished off a pint container of Haagen Dasz in the freezer)
  

I was in a nosh-y mood last night - got a lot done, but eating throughout.  Not sure why. Anyway, the pork tenderloins for dinner tonight, instead of last night.  Gave them more time to defrost.

Monday

The kitchen is back to normal; now we just have to learn how to use it effectively.  But a big improvement.  And much stress removed.

Sleep is still fairly crap, though, which is annoying.  Temperature fluctuations, mostly - also Elizabeth's dog, who came dropping in (physically) at 2 am.  I let him out, Lee let him in and got him back to her room, and all was mostly well.

We have been cooking at home with a few exceptions since Monday evening last week, and I can start to tell - my thumb joints are no longer sore.  A small thing, but it's interesting how something like arthritis is so very influenced by diet.  And how even careful restaurant eating still causes it to flare up.

150.8 this morning, although on Saturday morning, I saw 149.6.  That was maybe an aberration? Hard to say.  I'm a little swollen right now, so maybe today/yesterday is the aberration.  

Here's yesterday's eating:

• bacon
  
• tea with cream
  
• no supplements
  
• cheese
  
• cashews
  
• paleo shepherd's pie (from Elana's Pantry - really good and the cauliflower crust was delish!)
  
• a tin of Godiva pearls - dark chocolate mint
  

I feel like I must have eaten more, but honestly don't recall anything else.  The thing is, I spent the entire day cooking, pretty much.  Beef stock (aka "bone broth), meatballs, the shepherd's pie, and Health-Bent's creole breakfast casserole.  We had the latter for breakfast today, and it was quite tasty. And you have to love the convenience.

Something with pork tenderloin for dinner; not sure what yet.

Friday

Got decent sleep last night.  I do keep waking up in the first couple of hours, warmed up as if it's morning, and that waking event is a little hard to get back to sleep from. But last night, it was pretty easy, and I think I only woke up once more, toward 4:40. Not bad.  So I feel pretty good today.

We got a lot of the chaos reduced last night - about half the kitchen is ours now. Feeding the animals in the morning is still an exercise in craziness - bowls in one room, food in another, utensils in a third - but it's improving, and we may be able to move them into the kitchen proper this weekend.

150.4 this morning, after drinking my first cup of tea (and after an intestinal transit, to put it delicately).  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 2 vending bags of M&Ms
  
• cheese
  
• a hamburger patty
  
• tortilla chips
  
• guacamole
  
• possibly a square of 85% Lindt's
  
• walnuts
  

The M&Ms were a huge mistake - I had a 2 hour drive to get home last night, and about a half-hour from the end, had a bona-fide episode of low blood sugar. Shakes, fuzziness, the full monty.  Yecch.

I don't know if it's delayed reaction to the pizza-crust gluten from the other day, or what, but my stomach is fairly badly messed up just now.  Manageable, but annoying.  I think it might be a good thing I'm working from home today.

Thursday

150.6.  Which is fine.  Calf muscles fasciculating, and no particular desire to eat carbs, so until that returns, I may continue to lose weight.  Slept with the aid of Advil PM last night, but had to sit out in the living room for about half an hour in order to get calm enough to sleep.  I think the remodel has got to me.  I couldn't get my brain organized enough to finish a thought or a sentence; it was just chaos.  So I went out, read a little, and then just sat there for a while.  I guess it helped.  I got calmed down enough to go to sleep, but it feels like I'm just a slight upset from it doing it again - and with the damn remodel, a slight upset has become a daily thing for us.

Yesterday, it was a falling/broken picture, due to Elizabeth's dog and a door that had been removed in order to tile the utility room.  Followed by Lee's ineptness at removing spilled grout from the cabinet door, which ended up taking a chunk of the new paint with it.  At that point, something snapped, and I was a mess a good bit of the night.

Anyway, the stress app I found online thinks I'm at low stress.  So no problem, right?

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• cheese
  
• strawberries
  
• chicken with avocado, bacon, and tomato
  
• a few potato chips
  
• a square of Lindt 85%
  
• cashews - amounting to 2 handfuls, I think
  

I'm not tired, exactly, this morning, but foggy.  Very much out of it.

Wednesday that I really wish was Thursday

This is being a long week.  Yesterday, it seemed like the day got stuck around 2 pm for a year or so, and last night was purgatorial.  Again, I'm not having hot flashes, but I can't control my body temperature at all, so with the blanket it's too hot, and without it, it's too cold.  Serious ugh.  I know that I woke up at 10:30 with it, thinking I'd slept all night (that's the heartbreaking thing; when I wake up with rising body temps, its like waking up in the morning, and very hard to get back to sleep).  I think I woke again before midnight, and at 2-something, and at 4:40ish.  Granted, Lee said it was hot to him as well, but it's killing me.

150.8 this morning.  Here's yesterday:

• scrambled eggs
  
• bacon
  
• tea with cream
  
• roast beef (out of half a sandwich)
  
• a very small bunch of grapes
  
• half a tomato slice
  
• cheese-steak meatloaf (a recipe I made up on the drive home, that was a keeper)
  
• salad with Marie's blue cheese dressing
  
• somewhere between 8-10 Godiva dark chocolate pearls
  
• a handful of cashews
  

That was it.  We went out after dinner and bought throw rugs for the kitchen, which always helps keep the snacking down (going out, not buying throw rugs, obviously).

Loving the new stove.  I sauteed the bell peppers for the meatloaf last night and was able to get them to char a little.  I have SO missed cooking with gas over the past 25 years.  Wow.  Didn't realize that was the last time I had a gas stove.  

Anyway, no idea what's for dinner tonight - but it may involve stopping at a grocery store on the way home, since I didn't break anything out to defrost.