Wednesday Morning Chainsaw

The Tree Man is back this morning and they are taking down the big oak tree out front (the triple), very carefully, because of the power lines.  That's G in the light colored shirt.  Almost everything in back has been chipped.  The headless trees are still standing and they may come back later to cut them into 4 foot chunks and carry them to waiting trucks.  This is getting to be quite an operation.

The rain has stopped.  Yesterday was cold and later in the day it started raining quite hard.  At the Mall, in Portland, everyone was bundled up in fleece.  June.  The Farmer's Almanac was correct.  A cold, wet June. I have seedlings to plant once all the work in the back is finished.  I don't want to get in the way.

I wore black cotton pants that I bought in August (I think) of 2007.  The year of the Diet.  They are size 14 and I remember wanting to buy the size 12 because I thought the 14 was a bit too big.  They fit just as they did in 2007.  A bit of extra room in the hip and thigh.  Not form fitting as is usually the case with cotton mixed with spandex.  I wore two half zip tops.  One red and white stripe cotton knit and the other a solid red sweatshirt.  And my red flats.  I looked "dressed".

The size 14 Eddie Bauer jeans still do not fit.  I COULD get them zipped if I tried very hard.  But I don't think I would be comfortable.  So clothes from that time period are fitting and the weight is still NOT coming off.  I had lost most of my weight from my rear end in 2007.  Which, I think, is why clothes, especially pants, don't fit now.  When the jeans fit, the blazer jacket will button.  These are my two "weight loss" indicators right now.

Yesterday we shopped.  I couldn't find anything I wanted at the Art Supply.  I did buy an Indigo Tie Dye Kit at the last minute which will dye up to 15 tee shirts.  I want to use it on my faded blue work shirts and a few stained white long sleeve tees.  I want to make dots on the top and sleeves of the tees.

At William Sonoma I got cutting board cream.  This is the same recipe as Spoon Oil.  Beeswax and food grade mineral oil.  I will be rubbing it into my cutting boards and wooden spoons.  I also got a Good Grips salad spinner to replace my old, not so good, one.

At Home Goods I bought extra hot Dijon mustard from France.  You know I love French stuff.  And I bought an All Clad pan on sale.  Same size as the last three I have purchased in the past two years.  They look larger in the store.  Now, I have to give one of them to EACH of my children.  Even though they don't want them.  Well, my son might.  He does have a small collection of All Clad.

Lunch was at Longhorn and I had a small Caesar salad and the Longhorn all beef chili.  I wasn't sure I was going to be happy with my choice.  But I was.  I asked for sour cream.  The chili was super delicious and just right in the spicy department.  Best of all it was hot.  I have been eating mostly cold foods.  Salads, tuna salad, ham and cheese roll ups and cold egg omelets.  Hot food has been in short supply.  When we got our check I asked if I could have another serving of chili  "to go".  Our server thought this was wonderfully amusing.  I have chili in the fridge.

Whole Foods and Trader Joes was next.  Whole Foods didn't have anything I could eat.  Too many carbs, so we left with very large beets (roasting in the oven right now) and two very nice fat artichokes.
We did better at Joes.  G got the mushroom rice bowls he liked so much, I got marinara sauce, olive oil. reduced salt pistachios (for G) and one sugar free chocolate bar with 1 effective gram of carbs.  If I had read the package label carefully, I would have bought a dozen bars.  Dinner was some sugar free rhubarb sauce I had in the fridge with original Cool Whip (1 carb per T).

Regular Cool Whip has a significantly lower number of carbs than the reduced Lite Cool Whip.  They lower the calories and increase the carbs.  Totally WRONG for anyone with a carb problem.  Whole milk yogurt has 10 grams of carb and the low fat or non fat has from 38 to 70 grams of carbs.  Check it out yourself.  We would all do better to eat the full fat stuff.  Less will keep you satisfied longer.  Perhaps that is why we were never hungry as kids.  We drank whole milk with every meal.

Whole Foods had no "ingredient list" for their Gelato.  And the guys in the fake chef coats assured me the stuff was FULL of sugar.  Why can't they make a no sugar/full fat gelato?  All I wanted was a sample scoop of chocolate.  I will be asking the local guys (Gelato Fiasco) if they can attempt an Atkins friendly gelato which will also be Diabetic friendly.