Short and Green

I took advantage of my temporary live-in babysitters to go for a solitary walk today of 1.5 miles. That was strange. I wasn't sure what to do with my hands! No stroller to push. No little boy's hand to hold. On second thought, not so much fun after all! So I went walking three of the last four days. I just hope that makes up for the pizza I had for dinner last night : }

The special dinner of chicken roulade is stuffed with something green. I tried looking online to see what it could be but there were many options. So I will say, stuffed with tasty green puree. I love mashed potatoes so I enjoyed the side dishes also. Lunch was a substitution of tomato meltovers. I enjoyed them but I would have liked some pesto on them like the regular lunch of pesto meltovers.

Short post but company this week.

Cleaning Shrimp

One of the many "restaurant-quality" meals in the DTG lineup. Shrimp fettuccini, broccoli and a dinner roll. Like I mentioned the last time it came up, there is a generous helping of shrimp. Not the tiny ones either. Those are medium sized. So I wanted to share a picture of the dinner.

Lunch was also generous. A very large sandwich roll with chicken salad, a citrus medley and a mushroom salad. Sorry, mushroom salad had to go. As many new items as DTG has introduced me to, I just can't do mushrooms.

On the exercise front, Saturday I didn't go walking. However, as my parents were coming into town, I got my exercise cleaning. Today, however, was a perfect walking day. Once again, we trekked to the playground and tackled The Hill (as I will now call it). I will be using my reaction to the hill to gauge my overall fitness level. Can I get up The Hill without resting? Can I start up The Hill without groaning? Does The Hill have eyes?

Screaming Knee-knees

All I need is a few more nice days and not only will I be over the plateau, I will have flown over it while enjoying the pretty flowers. This afternoon we all walked to the playground. It just happens that this playground is about a mile and a quarter away. It took about 30 minutes but we were keeping to Nicky's pace for a little bit of that. The way back, however, was where I really got a workout. At least a quarter mile of the trek was uphill. Now, it's not the uphill that gave me the workout. It was pushing over a hundred pounds of child and stroller up that hill that did it. My knees will no doubt be screaming at me tomorrow. (They can join the screaming voices in my head and have a party!)

John and I both did a substitution last night of chicken parmesan. Always a popular choice with the cheesy goodness (remember, cheese is an important food group). Lunch today was a particular favorite. Pesto chicken sandwich, spinach and chickpea salad, pineapple, and chocolate pudding. Nothing to compare to that. (Except for the chicken alfredo melt to which I am counting down, arrrrrggghhhh)

Week 6 Results - The Unfortunate Truth

I have really got to get some exercise going. I'm still losing but it's slowed down quite a bit.

Week 6 Starting Weight: 200.6
Week 6 Ending Weight: 200.2

Week 6 Weight Loss: 0.4
Total Weight Loss: 9.6

So I'm a little sad over the sluggish pace. But really, I am losing weight without feeling deprived so I really can't complain. I'm going to blame the babies. "They" say that babies add 10 pounds onto your "permanent" weight. I was 182 before the babies were born. So in my reaching-for-a-rationale mentality, my body thinks I'm at my weight.

People may think having macaroni and cheese as an entree on a diet plan is a waste of a meal. These people have never had DTG mac & cheese. You see those commercials for Pizza Hut where they served pasta to people in a restaurant? (Like those old Taster's Choice commercials. You know, I wonder how many they have to film to actually get the response they want. How many people, after eating the pasta, refuse to pay the bill since they basically falsely advertised on their menu) Anyway, to make a long story short (too late!) the mac & cheese is restaurant quality. Lunch today was grilled cheese, lentil chili and a brownie cupcake. Absolutely love this meal. To be honest, I couldn't eat the whole brownie. My system isn't used to such chocolatey gooeyness.

As far as incorporating exercise, still haven't tried anything new. We trekked to the Children's Museum (Port Discovery) today and spent a few hours there. Nicky had a grand time playing as long as I found him rooms that weren't swamped with older kids. (He's very reserved when it comes to playing with other children) I think I'm going to start tallying how many people ask "Oh, are they twins?" when we're out. Or at least, stop listening to the voices in my head come up with smart-aleck responses. The voices start screaming when the next question is "Are they yours?"

Whew!

John came home this morning after being out of town and all I can say is hooray! It's been a stressful couple of days. Nicky's been waking up every night. The babies weren't eating before bed so they were waking up also. Plus, I believe (hope) they're starting to teethe. I say hope because otherwise I have no explanation for their behavior. Last night Catie cried no matter where I put her while I was putting Nicky to bed. As any parents reading this will agree, having your child cry is mentally, physically, and emotionally draining. Once again, I must extol the benefits of having my dinner made for me.

Which gave me an idea. Going to the grocery store today for incidentals for Nicky and the cats resulted in a $100 bill. So I was wondering how much it would cost to make a week of meals myself. I doubt I'll be able to include everything without recipes (hint, hint) but I will be assuming some basic staples to already be in the kitchen, like spices and ketchup. I will also be considering the preparation time. I just need to determine how much I'm worth an hour! I think that depends entirely upon who you ask :) I will summarize my findings next week.

So dinner last night was turkey picadillo. A sweet mixture of ground turkey, rice, and beans. It comes with a side of asparagus. Not my favorite veggie but I cut it up and mixed with the turkey and it added a nice texture to it. I love the turkey burger which was lunch today. Nicky snagged my oranges again. But the burger was filling so I didn't mind. The burger is ground turkey with onions and spices with cheese and ketchup on a large sandwich roll. I've got to say that, as a bread lover, I definitely don't feel deprived.

So hopefully the house will calm down now that Daddy is home. I could use the sleep.

Cold and Hot

So I've been trying to incorporate some "formal" exercising into my day. Preliminary weekend weight measurements indicate last week was not a fluke and I appear to have hit the accursed flatland. I thought steps would be easy. I've got the equipment readily available. Up and down on the bottom step so I can keep an eye on the kids. Well, that didn't work. The stairs work fine. It's the kids that don't work. Nicky got upset because I was on the stairs but wasn't going upstairs. He thought I was going up to play with him in his room. From a 3 year old's perspective, it seems a little pointless to go up and down on one step and not get anywhere. I tried two days in a row, a couple times a day but he didn't get over getting upset. So tomorrow I may try the stepstool. That way I can stay in the living room.

On a happier note, it snowed. Happy for me because we didn't have to be anywhere. Sad for people that actually had to leave the house. Snow means I don't have to plan activities for Nicky during the day. He plays outside, comes inside, goes back outside.

Lunch was quite satisfying for a cold day. Chicken philly sub. The benefit of being at home to eat meals is that I can heat them as I like. The chicken, pepper, and onion go in a skillet to be grilled. I love the honey mustard mayo that comes with this. Just the right touch of sweetness. And once again, I express amazement at the size of the sandwich. At least 8 inches of bread. A nice hot sandwich for a chilly day.

Seafood and Cow Cud

Last night we had one of the special dinners. Seafood shells. Cheese stuffed shells (one of my favorites) but instead of marinara sauce, they are covered in an orange sauce with chunks of salmon, scallops and shrimp. I'm not sure what the sauce is but it's yummy. I would get a bite of shells and one of the seafood pieces together for a delicious combination. John said it was just alright. Weird.

Speaking of John, he wanted me to make sure to say that he's lost about 5.5 pounds in three weeks. It's three weeks for him because he went to India during the second week which eliminated whatever he lost the first week.

Oh, so the oh-so-subtle product placements on Biggest Loser are amusing, to say the least. I don't do gum (cow cud, anyone?) but I must admit to agreeing with most of the others. The frozen steamed vegetable bags are brilliant. I love the single serve bags for Nicky's meals. They have broccoli with cheese sauce that I throw some rice into for a complete meal for him in five minutes. But it's still funny watching the monotone line reading by the contestants.