30 Nov '10

I got up at 4 am to turn on the heat and check the weather.  More snow overnight and the heat did not come on.  It did however come on at some point because it's warm in here now.  Anyway, I got reaqdy to go to work and left just a little after 5, not having any idea of the road conditions.  I had to drive down Pye Lane on the wrong side of the road because the tractors had been thru going to Shaw Mills but nothing had been back.  The Pateley Road wasn't bad, so I took the long way around to work.  It took me 45 minutes, including some time waiting on the MoD guards to push some little thing that was stuck in front of the base.

I called my landlady this morning and asked her if her son or husband could come down with a tractor and moosh the snow so I don't get stuck.  When I got home tonight, I discovered they'd done a great job on the parking area!  They're such nice folks!!  [That's one of the e-mails I have to send!]

Anyway, I made porridge, then had a salad with shrimp for lunch and a yogurt and raspberries this afternoon.  I stopped by the APO to post some gift cards and pick up a package from Margaret.  I got home and nuked my current favorite meal--baked chicken, stuffing and steamed veggies.  So good and so on Plan!

I have a few more e-mails to send, then it's stretches and off to bed.  Maybe I'll shoot for turning the heat up at 3 and maybe by 4:30 the bathroom will be warming up.  One can but hope...

29 Nov '10

It's a cold and snowy morning--but I've lost another lb!  31 total!  Yippee!  It's porridge time.  I really need to run some errands but there's a lot of snow out there...

I managed to get out and get my errands taken care of, then come home and do some laundry.  The roads, except for Pye Lane which runs right beside my house and my driveway, weren't bad.  I managed to get the rest of my Christmas shopping done this afternoon and get the gift cards ready to mail.  We got a bit more snow this afternoon, so hopefully I can get up early tomorrow morning and check before I have to head out.  I had some whole grain penne pasta for supper with some tomato sauce and parmesan chesse.  I'm just getting my lunches ready for the start of 6 day shifts tomorrow, then it's stretches and off to bed.  I very stupidly took a nap this afternoon, so I may have t it the Tylenol PM tonight :-(

28 Nov '10

I was very tired after that last grave, so I slept late.  Jeff and I had a booking out at the Kings Head in Masham for dinner at 6.  At 4:45 he called to say he was heading over from Harrogate; at 5, I went out to start the car and brush the snow off.  At 5:30 he called to say he couldn't get out of Harrogate!  So I called the Kings Head and made a big bowl of chili instead :-)  I'm not too bothered that it was probably 2 servings of chili, since it's all I had to eat today.  So now I'm watching TV and catching up on a few phone calls.  What else are you supposed to do on a snowy Autumn night?!  It's a blizzard out there!

27 Nov '10

I got up early for my grave and was very hungry so I had a couple of hard-boiled eggs before I went in to work.  Had porridge, the last of my Thanksgiving leftovers and a yogurt at work.  It's incredibly cold--for this time of year anyway--so I'm off to bed!  This finished off a set of 6; now I have 2 days (a day-and-half, actually) before I start 6 days on Tuesday.  It's going to be a busy break, after I have a short (I hope) nap!

26 Nov '10

Another night just like last night, but without the sliver of pecan pie :-)  It's been snowing all night, so the Birstwith hill was a bit of a challenge.  But I made it fine, which is all that counts.

25 Nov '10

I'll finish this when I get off in the morning.  I'm dropping down to 60g of oats for my porridge; recently it's seemed like too much so I'll see how a smaller amount goes.

60g of oats is definitely a more rational quantity of oats and surprisingly, I didn't notice that I was hungry any sooner.  I also had my Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, chili maple parsnips and cranberry sauce, followed awhile later by a very small sliver of my pecan pie--al it was all delish!  I had a yogurt right before I got off.

There are so many things I'm thankful for it's hard to know where to start:  I'm thankful for my family; I'm thankful for my friends; I'm thankful I have a job; I'm thankful for my health, which--all things considered--isn't too bad.

Now it's time for bed.  I'm also thankful for a warm place to sleep :-)

24 Nov '10

I just got off my 3rd of 6 grave shifts and it's snowing!!!  What is up with that!?  I had porridge and a turket dinner last night.  I also blew a circuit breaker in the snug this morning, so I'll finish this after I get up and can see what I'm doing.

Later...  I got the bulb changed after a bit of fooling around this afternoon.  I'm not real sure why I have 6 or so screw-in bulbs when all the sockets in this place are bayonet, but there you have it.  We have a little snow but not exactly an accumulation.  Snow in November--what a concept!  I'm baking a pecan pie so I can have a little sliver tonight and let the guys have the rest.

23 Nov '10

Another carbon copy sort of day.  Porridge, veggie sticks, hummus and hard-boiled eggs for lunch and chicken, potatoes and green onions for dinner.  I think I like like the stuffing/chicken combo better than the potato/chicken combo.  But that's OK because tomorrow thing switch.

It was actually warm in my house when I got home!  Fingers crossed on the heat!

22 Nov '10

WooHoo!!  30 lbs lost!  That's the first short-term goal taken care of!  WooHoo!

And--I have heat!  Life is good!

I had a bunch of errands to run  this morning before my nap for graves, so I gave brekkie a miss and headed out.  Not a great plan!  I was hungry so I made myself a roast beef sandwich for brunch.  I'll finish this entry after I get off my mid in the morning.

After I got to work, I had my usual porridge then cruddites (cucumbers, radishes and red peppers) with hummus, some yogurt and chicken with potatoes, green onions and corn.  That dish still needs a bit of work, but I'll post the recipe later this week.

The heat situation still isn't completely fixed but it's better than it was...

21 Nov '10

It's Sunday and I've broken down and decided to get a couple of electric heaters!  I started the day with my usual porridge and now I'm off running errands.  I'm an idiot and left my Id card in the library so I'm using the time to catch up my blog.  I love my netbook!

I made a trip out to Masham to make my holiday arrangements and decided to stay for Sunday dinner.  I had garlic and stilton mushrooms and roast beef.  Not really on the Plan, but late enough that I probably won't eat again, except for a few raspberries.

20 Nov '10

Well, this is a day late, mostly because it's perishingly cold in my house and I can't stand to work in the den!  So I'm up at the base library with my new toy, attempting to get caught up.

Got up saturday morning, hd a bowl of porridge and went over to Jeff's; we headed off to Greensted to see a very old church.  It was about 12:30 when we got there, so we had lunch at a pub called The Harvester; it was pretty good.  I had salmon with new potatoes and green beans, plus it came with a salad bar which is fairly unusual for over here. 

After lunch, we went over to the church.  It was really neat!  It's partly timber (the Saxon part) and part brick added in Tudor or maybe Stuart times.  It also has a wooden bell tower which was added in the late 15th/early 16th century, I think.  Pretty neat.

When we finished, we headed over to Lakenheath and Mildenhall.  I got a cover for my netbook and did a bit of commissary shopping at Lakenheath then we went to Mildenhall for Taco Bell and petro.  I had a chicken chalupa (those are so good!) and a soft taco.  after much fooling around, I did manage to get the better part of 3 liters of water.  But it's too cold in the house for stretches, so I'm a bit of a slacker there.

The heat is supposed to be fixed on Monday...

19 Nov '10

Another carbon copy day, food-wise.  The Chicken Sate stir-fry was still fabulous, even after the 4th day!

I'm almost to my first short-term goal of 30 lbs--3 lbs to go.  I'll pribably do another 30 lb goal, maybe 2.  My intermediate goal is to shop at a store in Harrogate called East.  According to their web-site, they do 'Ethnic Clothes'--whatever that means.  I love their stuff.  Right now they're showing the cutest little black dress in black velvet for the holidays.  It only goes up to an 18 (which equals a US 16), so I'm not going to buy it, but I did go to their web-site yesterday and print a picture of it so I can post it for motivation.

I got in 4 walks each day of this set, or an additional 4 miles.  I didn't count the trip in and out and I don't count the trip down to the cafeteria for my lunch salad, since I would make those trips anyway.  I only count the extras.  It's 6 graves next set and I hope to get in 5 walks a night.

I'm watching a little TV tonight, then it's stretch and bedtime.  Jeff and I are off to Greensted (about 3+ hours south) to see a 1200-year-old church, built in the style of the Norwegian stave churches.  Should be fun!

18 Nov '10

Another carbon copy day.  The Chicken and veggies with peanut sauce is spectacular!  My heat is supposedly fixed; I'll believe that come morning.  I'm tired and heading to bed real soon.

17 Nov '10

Another carbon copy day.  Yawn!  Anyway, porridge for brekkie, a salad for lunch (and I don't miss the other half package of prawns!), a yogurt and my Chicken Sate with veggies, rice and spicy peanut sauce.  Very yummy! 

I stopped by the commissary on the way home and got 2 bags of frozen raspberries, so hopefully I can add the raspberries back in.  I'm thinking they'll be good as long as I eat them while they're still frosty--we'll see.  I had my usual 3 liters of water and I made 4 extra trips up and down the hall (+ the 2 I would normally make).  Oh--and I did some push-aways (for lack of a better term) in the corner for my shoulder; 4 sets of 10.  I've been doing them for awhile but I keep forgetting to mention them.

It's time for stretches and bed.

16 Nov '10

It's cold!  And it was pretty darn foggy today--it was a good day to be at work :-)

I had the usual porridge of breakfast, followed by a salad for lunch.  Sainburys seems to have increased the size of their packages of prawns--they certainly increased the price!--so I divided a package in 2 today.  It was just right!  Then I had a yogurt right shortly before I left work.  I came home and nuked my chicken, veggies and rice with peanut sauce and it was fabulous!

I'm going to turn on the gas fire in the living room and warm up a bit before I head off for stretches and bed.  Day shift tomorrow.

15 Nov '10

Woo Hoo!!  3 more lbs, for a total of 27 lbs!!!

I'm just having my porridge--more later.

I went to Borobridge with one of my friends to look for gloves for my grandson.  While we were there, we stopped for lunch; I had a brie and bacon ciabatta, which was very tasty, if not exactly Plan food ;-)  I stopped by the butcher in Ripley and picked up chicken on the way home and made the Chicken Sate with the Spicy Peanut Sauce I made before but this time I stir-fried some veg with it for my suppers on my day shifts Tuesday-Friday.  I also had the last serving of the stew, which was very tasty.

I'm doing a load of laundry; once I get it in the dryer, I'm off to stretches and bed.

14 Nov '10

Met my niece and her friend Rachel at Bettys for brunch this morning.  I was ferociuosly hungry by the time we ate!  But it was fun; we all had the Breakfast Rostii and I had an orange juice and a new coffee, Nepal Snow River.  Very tasty!

I got some Christmas shopping done then came home and did some stuff around here.  I was cleaning out the fridge and had the couple of dill pickles in the jar.  I also had a yogurt, then my stew.  That stew is fabulous but those are 4 very small servings!

It's still very cold in here so it's about time for stretches and bed.

13 Nov '10

It's wa pretty cold today!  I got up and had my porridge, then went into town to do some shopping.  I finsihed up at the commissary and picked up some stuff for lunch.  I had a roast beef sandwich for lunch, then later a pot of yogurt.  I had another serving of my stew, which is really good, but pretty darn small.  I'm not sure I think that recipe makes 2 servings, much less 4!

The problem with the radiators/thermostat still isn't fixed, so I've mostly been hanging out in the living room where it is warm with the gas fireplace.  Stretches and bedtime soon.

12 Nov '10

Today would have been my mom's 81st birthday.

I set my clock for noon, but I didn't get up until 2:30; I was tired!  I got up, went to the butcher and the commissary, then waited for the Bone Shaker guy to set up my bike.  That's all done and now I'm waiting on my stew to cook.  It smells great, the samples I've had tasted great and I'm hungry!  This is a recipe from the Campbell's/Swanson's web-site and I'm impressed!  I didn't do the serving suggestion, but I might try to jazz it up a bit tomorrow.

Hearty Beef Stew
From: Campbell's Kitchen

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 2 hours 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Aside from its exquisite taste, the best thing about this stew is that it takes only 15 minutes of your time...next, it simply simmers on the stove-top until done.

Ingredients:

1 pound beef for stew, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 3/4 cups Swanson® Beef Stock

2 medium onions, cut into quarters

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups whole baby carrots

2 medium potatoes, cut into 2-inch pieces

  1/4 cup water

Directions:
Season the beef as desired. Coat with 1 tablespoon flour. Heat the oil in a 6-quart saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until it's well browned, stirring often. Add the garlic to the saucepot and cook and stir for 1 minute.
Stir the stock, onions, bay leaf, thyme and black pepper in the saucepot and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
Add the carrots and potatoes to the saucepot. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the beef is fork-tender and the vegetables are tender.  Remove and discard the bay leaf.
Stir the remaining flour and water in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Stir the flour mixture in the saucepot. Increase the heat to medium.  Cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with buttermilk biscuits and a mixed green salad with cherry tomatoes, sliced almonds and Ranch dressing.  For dessert serve chocolate chip cookies.

Nutrition Information

Nutritional Values per Serving
Using Swanson Beef Stock: : Calories 344, Total Fat 13g, Saturated Fat 3g, Cholesterol 49mg, Sodium 314mg, Total Carbohydrate 35g, Dietary Fiber 5g, Protein 23g, Vitamin A 171%DV, Vitamin C 23%DV, Calcium 7%DV, Iron 22%DV

11 Nov '10

Another carbon copy grave, although this time without the raspberries.  I also got in 4 more walks up and down the hall, which makes it 6 extra miles I've walked this set.  (1/4 mile round-trip x 4 trips/shift x 6 shifts)  Yay me!  And that's 6 miles on a sore knee which doesn't like all the rain we've had recently, too!  Anyway, I'm tired!  It's time for stretches and bed.

10 Nov '10

Another carbon copy grave, except Steve brought in Red Pepper Hummus and a bagette so I had 2 thin slices with the hummus.  I got in my 4 extra trips down the hall and back, a few extra exercises for my shoulder and my 3 liters of water.  I'm dragging now after the 5th grave so it's time for stretches and bed.  One more to go--and Friday afternoon they set up my bike trainer.  Yippee!

09 Nov '10

Another carbon copy night plus a small brownie.  Porridge, salad, yogurt, raspberries (they looked good at the commissary, although the taste wasn't quite there), cumin chicken with rice and veggies.  4 extra trips up and down the hall.  I'm tired.  2 straight mornings of appointments then only 6 hours of sleep.  It's time for stretches and bed.

08 Nov '10

Woo Hoo!  Another 3 lbs, for a total loss of 24 lbs!  It's a good day!  The Bone Shakers folks called (and woke me up--dammit!) and they'll be coming ut Friday afternoon to set up my trainer.  Another yippee!  So now I'm off to grave 3 of 6.

It was a very usual night, what with porridge, salad with prawns, yogurt and cumin chicken with rice and steamed veggies.  Got in my 3 liters of water, plus 4 trips down the hall and back (in addition to the trip in and out).  Now I'm home, killing time until it's time for my nail appointment at 9.  Then it's stretches and off to bed.

BTW--I forgot until I got up Tuesday afternoon, but Jeri made cookies last night (choc chip) so I had 1 and I also had a small bit of cheese on a mini oatcake.  Gotta be honest...

07 Nov '10

Just finished up the 2nd of 6 graves.  I'm beat, still 4 more to go and I have appointments this morning.  It was trying real hard to snow on the base but it's warm enough (if 35F can be warm!) that it'sw still pretty slushy.

Last night was mostly the usual suspects, food-wise.  Porridge, salad with shrimp, yogurt, strawberries, chicken, wild rice and steamed veggies.  I walked an extra 4 trips tonight so I'm doing between 1-1.25 miles.

I'm going to do some stretches, start a load of laundry and head to my first appointment.

06 Nov '10

It's the morning before 6 graves.  I had some shopping and a few errands to run before I get some sleep.  I stopped by the butcher in Ripley and picked up 6 chicken breasts for my dinners for the next 6 nights.  I'm having that with wild rice and steamed veggies.  I'm making Cumin-Rubbed Chicken Breasts which I got off the Food Network.  I doubled the rub ingredients since I'm doing 6 pieces.

Cumin Grilled Chicken Breasts
2008 Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Ingredients

Cooking spray

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (5 to 6 ounces each) pounded to 1/2-inch thickness

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Spray a grill or grill pan with cooking spray and heat to medium-high heat. Rub chicken breasts with olive oil. Combine cumin, salt and pepper and rub spice mixture evenly onto chicken breasts. Grill until grill marks have formed and chicken is cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove from heat, let rest for 5 minutes, then slice into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve over coleslaw, if desired.

Per Serving:

Calories 170; Total Fat 6 g; (Sat Fat 1.5 g, Mono Fat 3 g, Poly Fat 1 g) ; Protein 29g; Carb 0 g; Fiber 0 g; Cholesterol 80 mg; Sodium 360 mg
Excellent source of: Protein, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Phosphorus, Selenium

I'll also have my porridge, a salad for lunch with chopped prawns and a few crackers, some raspberries and a pot of yogurt.

I forgot to take my new pedometer to work with me but I still increased my walking.  In addition to the 1 trip down and back I always make, I did an additional 4 trips down and back; the first 3 of those were easy, but I'm feeling the last one :-)  Now it's time for stretches and bed!

05 Nov '10

Tsk!  Tsk!  Tsk!  This morning got off to a usual start with a bowl of porridge, then a drive down to Mildenhall for their Yuletide Bazaar, which didn't start until 2 pm today.  So we did some shopping at the BXtra and had lunch as Taco Bell.  I had a Chalupa and a Mexi-Melt plus a small Coke, which I only dramk about half of.  We went over to Lakenheath and hit the Class 6, BX and Commissary then went back to Mildenhall for the bazaar.  We prowled around that for awhile and I sampled a few things then had another chalupa for dinner.  I had about a half a mug of black coffee and I've made it thru a little over 2 liters of water.  Not a great day, but I'll do better tomorrow.

I'm going to work on the rest of liter #3, do some stretches and get some sleep.

04 Nov '10

I got up this morning and had my porridge, made a bottle of water, then headed off to Harrogate District Hospital.  I thought allowing 1/2 hour to get there and get parked would be plenty, but it just shows how wrong I can be...

I am the eternal pessimist!  I didn't have high hopes for this appointment, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I was surprised to find out the dietician was an American woman!  There were 5 other women, three of whom I didn't think were over-weight, 1 was borderline and 1 was over weight.  I think the movie Bridget Jones' Diary has a lot to answer for!  Hollywood is not going to convince me that a size 14 is fat!  No wonder women have such poor self-esteem and poor body images.  The group was a one-off thing; Harrogate NHS has no weight management program.

I didn't pay a lot of attention to what I ate for the rest of the day :-(  I had a yogurt and some raspberries, but they were pretty tasteless, so I didn't have many.  Maybe I'll try strawberries for awhile...  I had a bit of cheese and some imitation crab.  I was going to have some salmon, but I didn't feel like cooking.  I'll put that in the freezer for next week.  I'm going to make cumin-rubbed chicken for my dinners on my graves.

I'm going to watch a bit more TV, finish the last of my 3 liters of water, stretch, read a bit and go to bed.  I have to get up at 6 am tomorrow, so I need my sleep :-)

03 Nov '10

Yippee!  I'm on break!  Last day of pork chops and stuffing, too.  It was a usual sort of day, except no raspberries :-(

It's a short break (only 2 days) then 6 graves.  There's lots to do.  I have my appointment with some diet group at Harrogate Hospital; I asked to speak to a dietician months ago and this is what I got.  I'm not real big on group therapy sessions, but I'll go and check it out--I don't have to go back if I don't like it.  My plan for tomorrow is to go to my appointment, hit Sainsburys for some fruit and Mars bars (they're not for me!)get some packages mailed (including the Mars bars), straighten the dining room and kitchen and call my land lady about my radiators which aren't staying on for some strange reason.  Brrr!  Friday a friend and I are going to Mildenhall for their craft bazaar.  Busy, busy!

I'm going to watch a bit of TV, stretch and get to bed.  What an exciting life I lead...

02 Nov '10

Third of 4 day shifts--it's all downhill from here!  Another day of the same, except no raspberries (they grew beards in the fridge--don't eat the bearded strawberries or raspberries!), but I had a bite of cake instead :-(  Oh well, it was only 1 bite--and a small one to boot.

While I was eating my supper (left-over pork chop with corn stuffing), I ordered a netbook--an ASUS 1015 (blue) from amazon.com.  I'm having it shipped to one of my friends since amazon.com won't ship it to an APO.  Jerks!  As long as it arrives NLT 10 Dec, I'm not bothered.

It's stretches and bedtime.  My smooth tire has come in at Bone Shakers, so soon I should have my bike set up to ride inside.  It's dark and pouring--not my idea of cycling weather.

01 Nov '10

The start of Week 6!  I've lot another pound for a total loss of 21 lbs.  Yippee!  Not a great showing for the week, but it's in the right direction.

I had the usual porridge for brekkie, salad for lunch, raspberries and yogurt for snack and pork chop and stiffing for supper.  I actually managed to get a bit of sleep last night so today wasn't quite so awful as yesterday--plus Steve was there to make coffee.  Our favorite, Revolution Blend from Arcimbola (or some such spelling), a deli over on Kings Road.

I'm currently shopping for a netbook.  New toys!

It will be stretch and bedtime soon.  I do know how to live, don't I?