Weigh in

126.6.

Really bummed about that. Only a few days left in Phase 1, and in past successful SBDs I've been down 10 or more pounds. I have not cheated the smallest lick of anything, either. Hoping if I stick with it I'll get that "whoosh" people talk about, but for now I'm really depressed. It's been a lot of cooking, chopping, stirring, frying, grilling, mixing, blending, a LOT of dish washing, a lot of will power to pass up birthday cakes and ice cream and bread and ketchup and waffles and fruit, and pretty expensive too - our grocery bill last week was $160 and that didn't even last 5 days.

Weigh cool, baby

Have not eaten my arm yet, nor the temptingly delicious can of chocolate frosting, minus only a few knifefulls used for ToddlErations' valentines cookies, that sits so smarmily on the door shelf of the fridge. MistErations and I are counting the days until our glass of red wine (7!) and I have carefully planned London Broil for the evening before because it requires one-half cup of red wine, which will then conveniently be open for the Big Night.

Five-Spice Salmon and Oven Roasted Vegetables for dinner, black cherry sugar free Jell-O for dessert. The MistEr likes that flavor, I thought it looked like liver and tasted like Dr. Pepper.

Weigh in: 126.4.

Request

If you are reading this (and are not my husband), please have a glass of wine this evening. I have been concerned that with MistErations and I being on this diet, the surplussage of wine in the world will cause a crash in the market.

The South Pee Diet

I forgot how much the South Beach Diet makes you pee. Starting on Day 1, you can forget about getting a solid night's sleep because somewhere between midnight and 3 a.m., you'll be making your sleepy (and perilous, if you have toy-dropping midgets in your house) way to the loo. Amazing to me that even a single day on the diet can change your metabolism so much - it doesn't seem all that different from what I eat in a normal day, except for the Pop Tarts, M&Ms and wine, of course. From what I know of ketosis, it can't take place so quickly, so I don't think it's that. I just wish I knew why it happens.

Other than that, we (if I can speak for the MistEr, who doesn't have publishing permissions on my blog - Hi honey!) are doing pretty well. Day 3 began with an asparagus/mozzarella/sundried tomato omelette, chef's salad for lunch and - gasp! - steak is scheduled for dinner. We are only recently red-meat eaters, and so this is our first SBD on red meat. I'm still not really crazy about it, but the chicken, fish, chicken, fish, chicken for an entire month was never easy to take so this should mix it up a bit.

Weigh in: 127.8

Miss me?

OK, so I think I got up to get a snack or something 2 and a half years ago and lost my way back to the computer. I hope it's a testament to the South Beach Diet that I'm back to extol its virtues and whine about eggs and cheese sticks for the next two weeks. MistErations and I do the 'Beach once a year, to lose about 15 pounds that slowly comes back over the course of the year and then do it all over again. I don't think that's bad! It's a ton of work to cook and prepare everything, plus ToddlErations is now 6 and eats like a little filly and the "Baby" is now 4 and can pack away his share too. The kids don't seem to mind chicken nuggets, peanut butter and jelly, and pizza for a month while we eat spinach, salads, and all kinds of ooky things they won't touch.

So, tomorrow begins Phase 1, Day 1. Guess what, it's EGGS for breakfast! I've added The South Beach Diet Cookbook to my very small diet library, and it really takes some of the monotony out of the diet. I substitute Phase-appropriate meals when needed to avoid anything that I find ooky, like shrimp, bell peppers, too many onions, (ok, they come by it honestly), and so tomorrow it's sausage-cheese-egg muffin cups instead of veggie quiche cups. Lunch is already made, since I make MistEration's lunch to go so he can take it to work, South Beach chopped salad with tuna, he takes Ricotta Creme for lunch since Jello doesn't travel well, and we have the alloted Jello in the evening instead.

Starting weight: 130. Stay tuned, I'll be back before 2010 this time.

Things I learned from someone I never met

Picking up the mail today, I noticed one envelope standing out from the rest. Rather than a bland white business-sized envelope holding my current bill - excuse me, "statement" - it was bright red and the size that would hold a greeting card. Except it appeared to be empty, light as a feather. I examined it carefully. My husband's and my name were hand-lettered over our address. No return address. A 32 cent stamp and two 3 cent stamps were adhered carefully in the corner. I turned it over. There was a shiny band across the envelope flap. It looked somehow familiar but out of place. I realized the envelope had been turned inside out and glued shut. A few years ago, I would have ripped it open and solved the mystery at once. Today, with all the suspicion surrounding the mail, I held it up to the light. There was indeed something inside, perhaps folded, as I could see two layers of printing. After much turning of the envelope and squinting, I discovered it was my car registration, together with a handwritten note. I opened the envelope carefully. No shower of ricin. I removed the contents. It was in fact my registration, together with this note:

I found this at
the library. Keep it in
your glove compartment
so you don't lose it.
You wouldn't want
to be in an accident
without it.
Sincerely,
Mary L.

I had received the registration in the mail a few weeks ago, and was at the library with the kids a few days after that. I had put it in my purse with the intent of putting it in the car. It could have slipped out, or more likely, I had let my 2 year old play with my wallet to keep him reasonably quiet while people went about their library business. Or I might have used it as a bookmark, who knows. I hadn't noticed it was missing, but I was touched by the kindness of someone who took the time to return it.

I looked again at the envelope. So thrifty, so resourceful, so environmentally conscious! I peeked inside. In large somewhat shaky block letters, the red envelope had read "DAD" before it was inverted to carry my wayward registration back home. It had been so carefully opened, and so carefully glued shut. And the stamps! How old must 32 cent stamps be? But Mary didn't throw them out, no, she was still using them, combining with the .03 centers you can buy from the machine at the post office. I love that machine, it's one of the only machines I can think of that still takes pennies! I bet Mary loves that machine too.

I looked again at the note, torn from a small yellow spiral pad, the neat handwriting, the sweet admonishment not to be so careless in the future. There are few people who would take the time to return someone's registration, and fewer still who would include a handwritten note. What would I have done? Turned it in to the library front desk, perhaps. Maybe, harried by the children, even done nothing and left there on the floor, or under the desk, or shut it back into the book. WWMD?

Mary L., I don't know you, and I am sorrowful to say I may never know you. But I thank you for the valuable lessons I learned from you today, about recycling, about saving money, about pure kindness. And, if I ever do meet you, I owe you 38 cents.

Unplugged

I read in the paper this weekend that our local basic cable was going up from $39 a month to $43. Basic cable! Now you know I am all for saving money, and even $39 a month for the crap that streams into our house via that box was bugging me. This latest increase was the last straw. I called Comcast this morning and cancelled our cable. Completely. Didn't take their offer to discount my bill by $10 for the next two months while I thought about it. (Hint for those of you continuing with cable - make a quick $20 by calling and threatening to cancel; feel free to forward 5 bucks to me for the hint.)
We didn't watch much TV anyway. MistErations and I watch Survivor when it's on, but we have found we can get CBS with rabbit ears. PreschoolErations and ToddlErations watch PBS and Nick Jr, but not without a heaping serving of guilt for me. (Plus we get a grainy, staticky version of PBS if needed. Don't worry honey, Elmo is just playing in the snow.)
NPR had a story earlier in the Spring about a study finding that for every hour of television a child watches per day, his or her likelihood of developing ADD increases by 10%. That adds up too quickly for my comfort. TurnOffYourTV.com has some excellent links to articles and information about the effects that television, and its abundant, incessant advertising, have on children.
I feel great about it. Liberated. Unplugged. So Laura Ingalls Wilder.