THAT’S IT! That’s all the snow we got out of these ‘two big arctic storms.’ Noah does love the snow though. This morning we were out for an hour walking in mostly rain, and occasional snow falling. I didn’t get nearly as wet as I did last night just walking out to the car. That was some crazy rain. BTW, Jenn asked how I keep Noah so white. I don’t! You can see in the pic that Noah is not white compared to the snow. I am lucky, though, that for the most part his coat is very dirt resistant. Even when he goes to the trainer to be boarded, and is outside for several days in red dirt, it seems to fall off of him once he is home. I actually do like bathing my dogs, but not in the cold! I have a hose with a shower nozzle that is attached to hot and cold water faucets, so I can give him a bath on the back deck. And, I have a high-powered blow dryer that works pretty good too. Leftover remnants from my days as a dog groomer.
I saw these two berry bushes and thought they were so pretty. I suppose they are the same species, but I wonder why the berries are a different color and they are right next to each other. Aren’t the drops of water beautiful on them? Just like a Christmas ornament!
All the rest of the day I stayed inside trying to keep warm, and waiting for the BIG STORM to hit. I got a little cooking done–made a batch of my ‘Darn Good Spaghetti Sauce.’ Darn, that stuff IS good LOL! I ate it on a big plateful of sauteed zucchini strips, onions, and mushrooms. Yumm. I gave myself permission to have pasta, and even got it down out of the cupboard. But then I decided I actually wanted more veggies. (Don’t ask what I ate at work yesterday. It wasn’t good.) To make the zucchini strips, just use a potato peeler and keep rotating the zucchini and peeling it until you get down to the seedy center. Don’t use that part.
Oh, here’s how I actually had it–with a little shredded parmesan on top. Perfection!
I made some more banana cubes. I love getting the ‘over ripe’ bananas on sale for 20 cents a pound and making these cubes. I just mash them up with a potato masher and pour them into ice cube trays. Then when they are frozen, I store them in a ziplock bag, and they are ready to use for smoothies, recipes, or as a topping on my protein pancakes. Which I had this morning–oh yumm. I put a few (about 3 half walnuts?) chopped walnut pieces into the pancake batter in the pan, and then top the pancake with the thawed banana cubes. The bananas are so sweet this way, I don’t have to add any other sweetener.
Went out for the late afternoon walk with Noah, and noticed these Japanese Maples. The light seemed just right again. ( I actually shot these two pics on the night time setting on my camera.)
I kept looking at this group of leaves, and then I realized that the ‘star’ of the group was the lowly dogwood tree in the back. You gotta love God’s coloring book!
So, reading around the blogs today, came across a couple of long time bloggers still talking about the frustration of struggling with wanting to eat too much or not the most healthy choices. Wanting to be done with the struggle. I feel that way too. Sometimes I am afraid, especially after a day where I am just eating too much because its fun or its there or whatever. So a day like today gives me reassurance. I didn’t have to muscle through my choices. I just wanted to eat what I ate. I didn’t want to eat when I was still full from the previous meal. I didn’t have to trick myself into waiting a little longer. But still, there’s that wish that the struggle would be over. That I wouldn’t have days like yesterday. That I wouldn’t have to be afraid. I guess I think its part of the human condition. We (us weight loss ragamuffins) tend to think that we are the only ones who have these struggles. I don’t think that’s true. Its natural to wish that things were ‘other.’ I think the key is to keep working on accepting what is. For me, this Bible verse is something I have aspired to for a long time, in many areas of my life. And now I apply its wisdom to accepting the body God gave me.
I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
debby weighs in 
From start to finish, what an encouraging post! Yes, food will always be a struggle for us ragamuffins (I love that term!), but thanks for the reminder that EVERYONE has a struggle of some kind. If we knew the struggles other people have, we might find ourselves more than happy to keep and manage the struggle with food. Glad the storm wasn’t too bad – I was watching weather.com and it sounded like it could’ve been a rough one, but then they do love their dramatics, don’t they?
The Japanese maples here are putting on quite the show, too! So pretty!
I’m learning to see my efforts to maintain my weight as a gift rather than a struggle. How blessed are we to have an abundance of food choices, when so many people have little or none? It’s easy for me to forget that some days, though.
I was at a gathering of people (I didn’t know) on Saturday and one of the women, who has maybe an extra 10-15 pounds, was talking just like a long time weight loss or maintenance blogger.
Talking about how easy it is to get out of the habit of going to the gym, how easy it was to fall into the restaurant habit, how easy it is to just stop prepping foods, talking about how terrible all the stopping/starting makes her feel, mentally and physically.
She and I ate twice together (all afternoon and evening event). And our choices were really different. And at the end of the second ‘meal’, I felt perfectly fine and she felt sick to her stomach and pretty unhappy with herself.
And the interesting thing was SHE HAD PREPARED ALL THE FOOD. And there were really good choices in there, she just didn’t make them when it came to eating.
After meal #2, she was having the same inner conflict and unhappy with herself feelings at +10-15 that I have heard many other, much higher weight, bloggers write about for years and years.
It was very interesting.
And your post made me think about her immediately.
I think everyone who strives to eat healthy and lives in a culture where MOST people do not eat healthy feel this (conflict) until they flip their perspective.
This perspective to me is always “the license bureau” mental picture. When I am somewhere with a lot of people, of all walks of life, I really understand that on some level, we in weight loss blog land have this thing about striving to be what we perceive as ‘normal’. But when I am in a large crowd of people, and they represent ‘normal’ – I SOOOOOOOOOOOOO do not want to be them. For the most part they are fat, out of shape and in pretty bad health. We are the smaller percentage, even if we maintain at a higher level, because we watch what we eat and we exercise and we take care of ourselves.
But I do identify with that sad feeling. Sometimes I have it about no longer being able to do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it. Not just food, but in general.
Great post Debby – And Vicki’s comments resound with me. I think I don’t avoid overeating so much for a weight control reason, but because I feel so unpleasant when I do. Ironically, only after I was able to let go of the “I must work THIS hard or I’ll balloon” mentality that I could relax and discover how to naturally regulate. Turns out I LIKE healthy foods, and LIKE to be active – but when I forcing myself to slave at the gym or run endless miserable miles, or forego all the foods I liked…..I was actually heavier than I am now.
I tell myself I CAN eat anything, I could go and have cake and pie and ice cream, but I’m not going to choose to because it feels better to have the healthy foods in proper amounts. The end result is the same, me not eating the bad stuff, but the mental result of this “my choice” mindset vs telling myself “YOU MAY NOT eat that, Fatso!” is immense.
I also love bananas, I add them to my protein ice cream And thawed some out for cake when I ran out of applesauce last week. Turns out mashed banana works great for the same volume of applesauce in baked goods. (But you do taste it. )
Have a great day Debby,
Georgie Fear RD
Love this post! The pics are gorgeous. We have had no winter weather to speak of and its almost december. I think Thanksgiving Day is forecasted to be high of 53 low of 22 . Thats the first taste of real winter we’ve had.
I don’t think those feelings about food ever go away. Although i think we all want them to. Don’t you think ‘fit’ people have those same feelings? Perhaps they are just better at handling it. But then some people i mention a craving to tell me they have never had a craving in their life. And i’m like reeeaally???
I think we tend to live life passionately. And sometimes that just spirals out of control and we eat too much of what we love.To never have a craving…..to not close your eyes over some sinful dessert. I’d rather live passionately …..just in moderation..LOL!
The spiritual life and the maintainer life. They are metaphor for each other, but not perfectly so. In both, some days you may simply do what you know you gotta do (and somehow, mysteriously, you know what that is), and those days are blessings. Somedays you’re called to work harder than others, and those days are for learning. In any event, I think we are wise to regard both our spiritual life and our maintainer life as integral, not optional.
Somedays I am embarrassed to use the word “struggle” with regard to my weight maintenance. I have a couple of friends who stuggle with chronic pain the likes of which I only vaguely comprehend. I try to be present and supportive for both. One remains light and bouyant; the other has succumbed to depression. Both are women of faith. Is there a message? Is there Wisdom to be found? That’s a true struggle for me, my maintenance is just hard work (somedays harder than others).
The trees are just gorgeous, and I love how much you appreciate and notice all of nature’s colors. 🙂
Thanks everybody for all the GREAT thoughtful comments! I wish I could comment on each one, but am running out the door to visit my daddy. See you all tomorrow!
Glad you survived the storm! My sister in Reno was similarly prepared for a big snow that never arrived. But so much better to be prepared!! Love the pics as well. You’re Japanese maples are gorgeous (and the dogwood too!).
I still have those days where I snack too much for whatever reason and feel full. It is certainly different than the old days, where it would be lots of food and for many days in a row. The amount is different, but the inner struggle is still the same.
I just never want to feel guilty about eating, which I very rarely do, because I make the conscious choice when I do over eat (most times).
I have to say that I thought of you when I made that chili last night thinking “Debby is like me not liking beans, I bet she would like this.” LOL!
For me, Lori’s comment about snacking (or other non-optimal food choices) sums it up perfectly: “The amount is different, but the inner struggle is still the same.” I kind of wish I could go on “best choices autopilot”…maybe today will be that day, since I fixed my own breakfast, packed my own light lunch, and I still haven’t opened the pecans yet (and stuffed them into my “emergency kit,” which is sort of like Lori’s top shelf – my cube equivalent of her “out of sight, out of mind” place).
Glad the storm wasn’t as horrible as predicted for you! We had wind, rain, and hail (and were grateful for the new window in the nick of time!) but nothing too awful here, either.