1/4 cup grape nuts w honey and milk
Small Orange small apple
Salad chicken Italian dressing
Small amount of raisins and peanuts
Mango
Salad bla bla bla. Same stuff. It was yummy though!
Small portion of asparagus tiny mayo

So, bad day for me. Blew the diet with Becca’s left over chocolate cake and vanilla pudding. No exercise, either. Feel gross tonight!

tomorrow is a new day. Way to go mom!  3 pounds is great!

Today was much better for me. Started with one hour of physical therapy. Got a pretty decent low-intensity workout. I was sweating and it felt good. no pain. For lunch I had lettuce, two hard-boiled eggs, and an apple.  I drank a couple of liters of water at work, too. Oh, yeah… I caved in to the popcorn machine. But it was almost gone, so I only got about a cup or so. Whew!

For dinner we polished off the rest of the shish kabob meat and asparagus. Good stuff!

Oh, yeah… I walked for twenty minutes at 2 pm today to wake up and because my back was starting to ache a bit. So, all-in-all, a fair day, health-wise.

Post your daily log as comments to this post to help keep things organized.

Food journal

3/31
B. Less than 1/2 cup granola w milk
S. Strawberries
L. Salad chicken peppers croutons Italian dressing.
S. Trail mix raisins and peanuts
Walk 1.5 miles.
D. Chicken pork asparagus. Tiny mayo.
Water. 70 oz.

Ok, slow start for me today. No breakfast.  Lunch was a green salad with peppers and Italian dressing, a piece of grilled chicken breast, and an apple. Then… Some root beer and a couple of cookies at work. 😱

Dinner was a shish kabob with left-over chicken and pork and veggies with a side of asparagus. And, yes… A couple of teaspoons  of mayo.

So, now this reporting thing sucks!  I WILL have a successful day tomorrow! No deviations!

Oh, yeah, I didn’t exercise, either. 😔

Breakfast- fruit snacks, one shrimp

Lunch- Lettuce, shrimp, peppers, two tomatoes.

Dinner- small pot pie, lettuce, egg, pepper

Here are the basic “rules” for our diet:

• Three main meals per day
• One protein (up to 200 grams of meat, soy, egg, etc)
• One fruit (fresh fruit; try to avoid sticky, juicy sweet fruit like plums, grapes, mangoes, etc.) Berries are fine if less than 100 grams
• As much green veggies as you want
• Avoid carbohydrate and fat
• Snacking should be limited to low-fat, low-carb options
• Stevia should be used if a sweetener is wanted
• 30-60 minutes of activity (in aggregate) per day
• Drink lots of water
• Post a blog update each day to show your food intake and activity

Tell us your goals! If you don’t write it and share it, it isn’t really a goal.

Maybe Jamie can take some nice before/after portraits to help motivate us. What do you think, sweetie?

February 17, 2014

Dear friends,

This is How We Be number 133; time flies. Can’t imagine how these latter day blogs can be too interesting to most of you. We won’t be hurt if you ask to be taken off the list!

We had a wonderful holiday season. Didn’t do anything special, just enjoyed family and friends. The winter weather slowed us a bit, but we kegged up and rode it out just fine. The ice was very unusual for the DFW area and I’ve noticed that a lot of plantings died, big cacti and some roses. The yucca I planted in front didn’t make it, and the sweet crape myrtle Jamie brought from North Carolina doesn’t look like it will take root. I’m currently trying to figure out how to put in a raised bed so I can put down some decent soil. The spot gets full sun from noon on, so my choices are somewhat limited. The little Japanese Maple I’d like will not do well there.

I am still subbing in the Mansfield School District. Still happy doing it, and have just taken a long term sub assignment. They called me from one of my favorite classes and asked if I would like to work full time from March 17th for a minimum of six weeks. One of the paras is having surgery. It will probably be a stretch, but I want to do it. It is a small class with a teacher and 5 paraprofessionals for 8 students. They are all physically just fine, but have a variety of severe behavior problems. Mainly, we endeavor to teach them how to deal with their frustrations, how to handle “No.” They are 5th and 6th graders, working below grade level, most having the attention span of a gnat. Melt downs are common, often violent and always very loud. I haven’t had the training to restrain a child, so I am usually not required to haul a kid into the cool-down room. I work hard to keep them from melting down! But this class is one of the least challenging, physically and emotionally, of the classes I sub in, so it’s a good job to try long term.

Yesterday I came out into the kitchen at 8 am, and found Dave on the patio with his coffee and the newspaper. Ahhhhhh, Texas!  The days are getting longer and the wind is dying down … great weather, in the 70s. We leave the doors open and turn the heat off … just great!

The kids are all doing fine. Jason still enjoys his job; Jamie is also subbing, mostly with little kids. Susie has been accepted at Utah State University (in their old home town of Logan) with a 2 year full scholarship. She can’t wait. Becca is playing softball and has sort of cooled in her love of cheering. Seems like she enjoys the physicality of it, but cheerleaders, not so much. Susie and Becca both were in a recent performance of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Susie played Bun Ho, the Chinese mama to perfection, singing in Mandarin and getting many laughs. Becca was in the song and dance ensemble and was a surprise in a comedic bit in the last act, playing to the audience with perfect timing. Katie is in rehearsal for the spring play, just started and  I can’t remember what she is playing. A good part, she says. She is blossoming and when we see her in her choir performances, it makes me cry, she is so pretty. Xander got into making rubber band bracelets over the holidays and parlayed it into about 100 bucks that we know of. He is still getting better at archery and just started baseball practice. Basketball, this year, was a real breeze, thanks to Michael Jordan’s grandson (he must be) who played on Xander’s team and averaged 50 points every game that went to 56.  Jason and Jamie bought a barely used 2013 VW Passat, so feel they finally have some reliable wheels, but Susie’s car is still not passing go, so Grandpa’s Taxi is in use most days when Jamie works. Davey does Taxi duty without ever complaining and really helps out. Both of us feel good about it, because it connects us with the family; makes us feel a part of the clan.

Warm wishes to you and yours,

Sam and Dave

September 18, 2013

Dear friends,

We have been busy and happy the last three months. Everyone talks about the heat, but we haven’t been too inconvenienced by it. Well, a little … Dave has to get up earlier to ride with the Rusty Chain Gang. He also rides a lot with new friends Betty and Rene Hamel. Betty is a former race horse owner, little bitty gal who could have been a jockey and Rene is an ear, nose and throat guy who is still working at 78! They are a fun couple and we go to dinner with them a couple of times a month. On Tuesdays Dave drops me off on the UT Arlington campus and goes on to ride with the Hamels at some park (where they occasionally see a BOBCAT) while I take my class at the LDS Institute. Thursday and Saturdays are the other bike days.

I wonder how folks describe us….”She is a direct talking woman who went from the sawmill into gynecology and then they took pictures or something … he rode across the country with another woman and then they got back together with a long road trip.” People generally look blank when we talk about Q Photo; if we had run a kiosk at Walgreens they would get it.
So that just isn’t part of our history, as others seem to see it. Hah!

Every day when we go somewhere, anywhere, we marvel at the housing developments. There are few stand alone dwellings in north Texas. Everyone’s house is in a community, an enclave, a development or such, and they are ALL, I repeat, ALL  are made of brick. Maybe a few slats of plastic for decoration, but virtually every house we see is constructed of brick veneer. All colors, sometimes worked around big slabs of slate. And in our area, the high end properties are favoring the castle look, lots of turrets. The interior decorators advertise like it was free and the pictures will give you a whole new view of Texas, antler chandeliers and crystal, animal skin and filigree, plush and cluttered. Just amazing. Needless to say, in this part of Texas there are not many trees and a lot of clay.

The Texas Rangers finally had a couple of day games. It is generally too hot in the summer to play baseball. They also finally won a game after a 9-game slump. I have moved my loyalties from the Mariners to the Rangers but can’t get behind the Dallas Cowboys. Go Seahawks!!

I won second place in the chili cook off the church had last week. Got a big ribbon and felt real proud. I made my old adaption of Craig Clairbornes chili, Texas 2-Alarm Chili, served with sour cream and a squirt of lime.

I should have mentioned, in my description of the housing developments, everyone has a fenced back yard. I mean everyone. There are all different kinds of fences, some brick, most are wood, lots falling down. Must be something in the zoning.

Wild sunflowers are everywhere this time of year. They are small and vibrant and literally grow like weeds, filling all the fields. Natives say that just 12 years ago the area we live in was all ranch land, “When we first built our house, you could see a cow out ever window!” Now it is densely populated and still growing.

I’m back substituting in the Mansfield School District. Again, I’m just working in the special ed classes. There is a big range in the classes, all the way from severely physically and mentally disabled kinderkids to high school kids with physical handicaps and behavior problems. I have learned what I can do and what I’m not strong enough to do for many days in a row. I generally don’t do the high school classes at all, just because the kids are bigger and no matter what their disability, they are likely to need physical assistance.

The garden shops are advertising September tomatoes. Small wonder. The summer tomatoes were ready in June. July and August just cooked anything on the vine. I transplanted a couple of things and they are still struggling! I have Mexican Petunias along one side of the fence in back, and they are five feet high and thriving, as is the bamboo I planted in April. Sweet potato vine loves the heat and vinca is still blooming in a pot out front, but a lot of my experiments just went out in the garbage. I finally planted a couple of varieties of Yucca out front and they are doing fine; am hopeful for the little transplanted Crape Myrtle. It will look pretty next year. Maybe.
Love to all,

Sam and Dave

June 12, 2013

Dear Friends:

We have missed the tornadoes, or rather they missed us (two of them by not much), and we’re now into hurricane or tropical storm season. I think we are far enough inland that we don’t have to worry much. The temps are rising; our first 100 degree day is expected this week. With heat like this, thunderstorms are always possible, and they are doozies. We haven’t seen softball sized hail, but apparently we are among the few who haven’t seen it.

It’s a busy time of the year for the family. Susie, Becca and Katie are at Girl’s Camp, Xander is taking Art Camp every morning this week, Jason and Jamie are both working and they are down to one car since Susie wrecked the second car, so we taxi when we can. Jamie will drive the kids to Santa Fe later this month, to meet her mother and hand over the kids for their month-long summer visit. Jamie will go to Utah mid-July for a visit and come home with the kids the end of July. The house they have rented for the past couple of years has been sold and they will move sometime in July. The new house is beautiful and still very close to us. They will rent with an option to buy (hopefully).

I just finished reading Michener’s TEXAS. It was most interesting now that I am living here. And I swear it answered a lot of questions about why Texans are the way they are. First, when Texas was settled, it was run by the Spanish and then Mexico. Settlers had to be Catholic to own any land. Land was free, which accounted for the settlers coming here in the first place; if you farmed you were given a “Labor” (lab-bore), which was 177 acres. If you had cattle, you could get a league of land, which was about 4,500 acres. Most settlers managed to farm and ranch, to get the most land they could. Of course, in some parts of Texas, a cow/calf unit was at least 500 acres, so you had to have a LOT of land! So folks gave up their religion and their traditions to become Texans. And the belief system they developed was based a lot on land. Even when the oil boom hit, the first thing a rich oilman did when his gusher came in was go buy land and a ranch.

Texas has spent twice as many years under Spanish or Mexican rule than it has as part of the U.S. And since it was so big and Mexico didn’t rule very well, Texans began making their own rules very early in their settlement.The fierce allegiance to Texas I suspect didn’t develop until the 20th Century. Prior to that, folks had a fierce independence. Not to overlook the Alamo, but it just seems like Texans worked to develop their land, for their families,and when the oil started coming in around 1905, money managed to change some attitudes. For example, I think Texans still believe that if a fellow owns something, he ought to be able to run it. If you have enough money, you should be able to run your county, your state or maybe even the federal guv’mint!  Call it the Jerry Jones syndrome. Jerry owns the Dallas Cowboys and he has been meddling in their losing football seasons since the day he bought the team!

Every day we read the paper and find some police, or judiciary official is accused of something: theft, DUI, sexual misconduct — it’s a long list. You wonder, how did they think they could get away with something like that? Because they have gotten away with it before, or for a long time, I think.

You may have read about the high school valedictorian in Joshua, TX who was cut off at the end of his valedictorian speech. He had to turn in his proposed speech to four school officials who, after suggesting changes, approved it. He was specifically told not to talk about God. When he gave his approved speech and then went on to talk about God anyway, they didn’t drag him off the stage, but they turned his microphone off. I can’t believe there is a school in Texas that truly believes in separation of church and state; the microphone was turned off because the kid didn’t do what he was told to do!

We are enjoying Texas the same way we enjoyed almost every adventure we had on the road (with the possible exception of Rawlins, Wyoming). People are generally very open and friendly, they all love Texas; we don’t meet a lot of natives; people moved here to make more money (doesn’t seem to matter if it’s 1806 or 1006); the country is beautiful; you still have to be creative to garden.

Dave and Preston were attacked by two pit bulls on May 24th. The neighbors helped Dave get the dogs off them (something that might not have been the case in our white North Carolina neighborhood), and 911 sent two cop cars, an ambulance, a fire truck and animal control. In the middle of the melee, a guy walked up to our neighbor across the street and asked if he had seen two gray dogs. Our neighbor said yeah, they attacked an old guy (!?) and his dog across the street. When the guy kind of laughed, the neighbor said something about it being a bad deal and the guy said “F— ‘im.” Then the guy collected the dogs and a car came by and picked them up and sped off. Another neighbor got the license plate and the police tracked it down to a woman in Mansfield who says her boyfriend owns the dogs and she won’t tell them who he is or where he lives. Our address is Arlington, even though we are in the same neighborhood, so you can imagine the back and forth and buck passing going on between agencies. Animal control told us that Texas police won’t do anything unless a human is injured. Dave had a bite on his hand, but not bad enough, I guess. Preston had $800 worth of surgery that night. If police took action for torn up knees, the dogs would have been put to sleep by now. Anyway, we have an attorney on it, to make sure we at least get the vet bill reimbursed. This is the third time the same dogs have been seen running in the neighborhood. They jumped me in the garage last August, not mean, but very aggressive. I would just get one off me and the other jumped up.

And the beat goes on, dear friends. We love each other, we love our life, and we love all of you!

Sam