Smells Like Christmas

I have spent the better part of the past 3 hours cooking, cleaning, making shopping lists, and all around trying to get organized for the weekend. This is what the folks at Bon Appetit do to me. This little "cleanse" requires a ridiculous amount of thinking and planning, even though they pretty much spell it all out for you. I don't want to do one big shop for the week, because I know that as much as I say I am going to stick to this plan, shit comes up. So I'm plotting out three days at a time, which means going through each recipe and making a list of what I'll need through Sunday. So much for BA's handy-dandy shopping list.

But the house smells delish ... roasted beets with rosemary and thyme and some kind of squash raisin compote that is filling the house with the mouth-watering aromas of cinnamon and cloves. Smells like Christmas, but without the cookies!

A case in point of not all things going to plan: Tonight, after we enjoy our healthy snapper and chard, we will be trekking up the hill for a hilarious night of Cards Against Humanity. Is it wrong that I love that game so much!? I am bringing along the BA dessert for tonight ... how can you go wrong with Spicy Orange Hazelnut Chocolate Bark (oh, how I love BA's idea of a cleanse!! so so so much better than cabbage smoothies and plain broth)? The trouble with tonight is that I know I will indulge in my week's "allotment" of four alcoholic beverages in one night.

Oh well, it's the intention of it all, right? It's not like it's a doctor-prescribed program.

Other than that, all is well in the world ... mostly. I need to sort out stuff in my head and ratchet up my libido after the lethargy of the holidays. Gotta keep Mr. J and me happy! Of course, my idea of one way to keep me happy is to get me one of these:

Who looks an awful lot like this old guy, who I miss so much:

The first little guy, who I call Chester Part 2 (after the gorgeous fellow in the second picture), followed Mr. J into the house the other day. He explored all around, ate some canned crab, and then asked to be let out again. So polite. Today as I went out to check the mail, he followed me right inside. After another lunch of crab, he curled up on my lap and promptly fell asleep, purring away. I am in love! But he obviously belongs to someone in the 'hood, so when he loitered around the front door again, I let him out, and off he ran.

I'm thinking Chester Part 2 is one smart kitty who knows a good thing when he finds it. I wonder how many other homes he hits up during his daily wanderings!

And Now I Pay the Price

As mentioned earlier, our weekend was grand, fabulous, delicious. An absolutely lovely time was had by all.

But now my skin has seriously rebelled. Was it the pasta? The cheese? The wine? The bread? The beer? The sugary ice cream? Or just a mixture of too much gluttony for one weekend? Or is it totally unrelated to any of that? Perhaps a change in weather? Or the fact that I used different detergent while in Costa Rica (though that really wouldn't affect the skin behind my ear, would it?)?

If I knew the answer to any or all of these questions, perhaps I could stay on top of this annoying rashy condition of mine and keep it at bay. But I don't. So I fall off the wagon, go back to living my old life, live like I want to. And then I wake up with bumpy itchiness all over my torso.

And each time it comes back a little bit worse than before.

If I had decent health care, perhaps I could go to the same doctor on a monthly basis and we could try to solve the problem together. But we have lousy health care with a ridiculously high deductible. So I jump from one clinic to another when things get too bad and beg for antibiotics (me, the girl who hates drugs, especially antibiotics). And I hope that by going on these antibiotics I'm not just building up a tolerance to them so that when I can finally go to a doctor, nothing will help.

So now I'm back to cutting back on wheat and sugar and alcohol and gluten. I am not going cold turkey like last time (though I did drop 10 pounds in 2 weeks ... bonus!). But I will try to be better. If only I didn't like the eating and drinking. It would make life so much easier.

Grrrrr.

Two Posts in One Day?!

So, I often sit and ponder why I can't seem to drop these annoying 30 pounds that seem to have glommed onto me (through no fault of my own, of course) over the past 5 years. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that I do sit and ponder these things rather than getting out there and moving.)

Let me tell you about my day to see if you can help me figure this out:

First, all I had for breakfast was a watered-down smoothie--I only had a smoothie because we are pretty much out of food (I didn't make it to the grocery store yesterday), and it was watered down because our blender sucks and requires much too high of a liquid-to-solid ratio to make anything blend. But that's OK. I'm trying to be virtuous and good, and I can survive one morning on a watered-down smoothie.

Then Mr. J called from his business meeting to see if I wanted him to bring home a latte from the coffee shop. Now, a latte isn't that bad in and of itself, though I know he had it made with whole milk, because skim milk just isn't in his vocabulary. And I didn't add sugar. So that's all something. But I am trying to cut back on the caffeine. And yet after a week of herbal tea and water with lemon and honey, that latte was de.lish.ous! So I am not going to beat myself up about that.

Then, after a couple hours of work, I had to run some errands (including a much-needed grocery run). So I started off at Bed Bath and Beyond, where I had to return some stuff and then of course buy some stuff, And all this took way too long, so that I was starving by the time I was finally heading to the grocery store. And we all know that going to the grocery store on an empty stomach is bad news. (For me, this is not only because I will splurge on all the horribly bad stuff, but also because our local grocery store is a madhouse and I tend to get incredibly snarky and snappy at the people who just STOP in front of me or completely block the aisle as they analyze the contents and prices of every. damn. can on the shelf. Grrr.) Anyway, I knew this was all a very serious possibility, so I decided to stave off the snarkiness by stuffing my face with Arby's (I know ... gross). As I pulled up to the drive-through, I had every intention of just getting one measly little roast beef sandwich and maybe an unsweetened iced tea. Definitely no fries. But then I remembered about their curly fries. And then I saw roast beef with cheddar, which sounded weirdly appetizing. And then I saw the Dr Pepper, which I love, even though it leaves a really weird aftertaste in my mouth. So I totally caved and got a "roast beef" sandwich, curly fries, and a Dr Pepper. The sandwich was pathetic, and the cheddar wasn't even cheddar cheese; just some of that weird nacho cheese spread stuff (which I secretly like, but still, it's just not right). Of course I ate it all anyway. The curly fries were crisp and hot and yummy, even though I know that if I dropped one under my carseat (which I probably did) it would still be there, perfectly in tact, 5 years from now. And the Dr Pepper was ... Dr Pepper. The good news was that I was no longer hungry by the time I hit the grocery store. The bad news was that I ate at America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir.

My only redeeming grace of the day is that I spent a whopping $150 on veggies and fruit. So at least I know that in the coming days, I will be virtuous.

But wait, there's more. Tonight, I was invited to help a friend finish up her quilt (don't be impressed by me; all I did was stick in some pins and then help hold it all together while she ran it through the sewing machine; she, on the other hand, is a sewing queen). Then all the people who came to help were rewarded with an amazingly delicious dinner with appetizers, wine, yummmmmy food, AND a fabulous dessert. If I had known all this, I might have refrained from the absolutely disgusting Arby's lunch so then I wouldn't feel so bad. No, that's a lie. I knew there was going to be good food. I just didn't realize it would be so much and so good and so wonderful. Silly me. Don't get me wrong--I don't feel bad that I ate great food with wonderful new friends and lots of laughter. I do feel bad that I preceded that with my grease bomb of a lunch (which did come back to haunt me about halfway through dinner ... thank goodness for bathroom fans). And I really feel bad that I slept in this morning rather than squeezing in some kind of physical activity to relieve this haggard body of some of the pounds I keep adding on to it.

But tomorrow is another day, and now my fridge is stocked with all the makings of healthy, healthy food. And our next shin-dig isn't until next Tuesday (a whole week away), when we are having people over for our first "party" ... a Groundhog Day chili fest, where I have already found out that one of our other amazingly-good-cook friends is bringing jalapeno-cheddar-bacon cornbread. So ... where DO those pounds keep coming from??

Clean in 2010?

Holy moly, 2010?!? How did that happen. I remember when it was just a very-belated sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. And now here we are.

I haven't made any official resolutions, but after packing on 5 pounds in 10 days, I'm ready to cut out all junk for a while. Mr. J and I are somewhat committed to trying the Clean program by Alejandro Junger. I have the grocery list all set. We'll see how it goes. The hardest part is that we are just too social (oh, boo hoo, poor us). But seriously, we are surrounded by people who are fab.u.lous cooks. And while we wait for dinner to cook, we all sit around nibbling on whatever fantastic cheese or snacks while sipping (oh, OK, more like guzzling) really good wine.

So as I said, we'll see how it goes. I believe that as long as we are eating better at home, we cannot deprive ourselves when out on the town. We just need to make sure that we are eating more at home than we are at the homes of our friends. (Note: I was going to say "we can indulge" or "we can spoil ourselves," but "not depriving ourselves" sounds so much more virtuous, doesn't it?

We also have sworn and double-dog promised to get moving more. In our absence, The Dog has been getting 2 walks a day. So he's going to be giving us the puppy-dog eye treatment. Now we just have to not ignore him and get up and move, even if it's just a walk to the park so he can chase squirrels.

So, no real resolutions. More like affirmations, a la Stuart Smalley. I am good enough, I am smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!