Things That Sound Dirty Except At Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody and God Bless us Every One! I’m almost ready for it! Believe it or not that mess that surrounded our dining table  is almost completely gone, the table linens are in the dryer, the pies are done, and I just boiled and shelled all the eggs for my middle daughter to make deviled eggs later. (It’s my theory they shell easier when they’re still hot). When she gets married some day her new husband can count on two things when it comes to dinner, no three. Salad, deviled eggs and macaroni and cheese. LOL.

I received this this morning in my email and thought it was pretty cute. After reading them I doubt I’ll be able to keep from chuckling as I hear them through out the day. Enjoy=)

Things That Sound Dirty Except at Thanksgiving

“Whew, that’s one terrific spread!”
“I’m in the mood for a little dark meat.”
“Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.”
“Talk about a huge breast!”
“It’s Cool Whip time!”
“If I don’t undo my pants, I’ll burst!”
“Are you ready for seconds yet?”
“Are you going to come again next time?”
“It’s a little dry, do you still want to eat it?”
“Just wait your turn, you’ll get some!”
“Don’t play with your meat.”
“Just spread the legs open & stuff it in.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to handle all these people at once?”
“I didn’t expect everyone to come at once!”
“You still have a little bit on your chin.”
“Use a nice smooth stroke when you whip it.”
“How long will it take after you stick it in?”
“You’ll know it’s ready when it pops up.”
“Wow, I didn’t think I could handle all of that!”
“How many are coming?”
“That’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen!”
“Just lay back & take it easy…I’ll do the rest.”
“How long do I beat it before it’s ready?”
“Let’s do it in the Dining room.”

After that I would have to say I’m thankful for people with a good sense of humor. LOL

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless To All

I’m working away on my dining room mess, baking the pies, taking about 5 half hour webinars, and like everyone else in the States, getting ready for tomorrow. I thought I would post this as away for everyone to get to know each other better. If you would like to post to your blog or post in comments below w/your answers, feel free. Just copy and paste and you’re ready to go. If you post on your blog, be sure and leave a comment so we can all come read it.

Where Will You Be Spending Thanksgiving?
San Jose, CA

How many people will you be eating dinner with?
6-8

Is there a designated kids table at Thanksgiving Dinner?
Nope. Kids have gotten big enough to sit at the “adult” table

How long ago have you sat at the kids table?
Ohhhh, so many.

Are you spending Thanksgiving with the same people as last year?
 Yep, plus one new one.

Favorite Side Dish?
That’s tuff. It’s a toss between mashed potatoes and stuffing.

Baked Turkey or Fried Turkey?
Baked, but I love fried. They are so good, but not the healthiest.

Sweet Potato Pie or Pumpkin?
Homemade pumpkin from Nana’s (Libbey’s can) recipe. LOL

Rice Stuffing Or Bread Stuffing?
Bread – rice stuffing isn’t stuffing…it’s rice.

Who Will Be Cooking?
BF. Yeah!!!

Who will be Cleaning?
ME!!!!!!  Gladly if he cooks.

Are Prayers Said Before Eating?
Yes, we try. This year I have a sweet little pamphlet of table blessings and the one for Thanksgiving is really nice.

When is the last time you prayed?
Daily. I need all the help I can get!

Does Everyone say what they are thankful for?
Not typically, but I think that’s a great idea. Everyone around the table could name at least one.

What are you thankful for?

I am so grateful for so many things but most of all for family and friends, and that Jesus loves me. ( I’m not overly religious, but it’s the way I feel) 

Will There Be Just Family Or Close Friends As well?
Mostly family, but my a single friend of ours and my son’s girlfriend may join us this year.

Is There Ever Enough Food For Everyone?
Always more than enough. We’re used to cooking for a whole bar. LOL

Will Some Of The Meals Be Prepared The Day Before?
Maybe a few appetizers and the pies, but otherwise it’s all made same day.

Have you ever eaten an organic turkey?
I don’t think so. Most of the time I get frozen turkeys and although I’ve had fresh, I can’t tell the difference.

Have you ever eaten Tofurkey?
No, but we are making a tofurkey roll this year for my daughter. It comes complete with a rice stuffing. Since she doesn’t like real stuffing, maybe she’ll like this.

Will There Be Any Alcoholic Beverages Set On The Table?
Oh hell yes!

Are you going to watch Football?
The BF will have it on the kitchen while he’s cooking. I’ll probably look for Holiday shows and movies.

Do you watch the Macy’s Parade?
Some of it. I’m usually too busy w/last minute stuff

Do You Look Forward To Thanksgiving?
YES!

Favorite Past Thanksgiving Memory?
I got married and instantly had a huge family. Our first Thanksgiving I had to make the mashed potatoes FOR 30 PEOPLE and they are all big eaters! LOL Our family had always been so small. It was quite the shock.

Is Thanksgiving Your Favorite Holiday?
I don’t think it’s neccessarily my favorite. About even with Easter I think.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

Does Housework Qualify For Exercise?

Our Diningroom Table

It’s only 5 days to Thanksgiving and for me the menu plan, the cooking and the baking are the easy part. This, I’m embarrassed to say, is what our dining room table currently looks like. It is truly a “catch all”. All those little bags around the bottom? They’re full of canned goods etc. that need to find a home.

So what I’m wondering is, if I’m lifting cans one in each hand, putting them away on the shelves where I have to either stretch up or bend down, would that work for “strength training”? After being embarrassed for me and wondering how I could dare to put a picture like this on the World Wide Web, you may be laughing. I’m serious. I could make quite a workout out of this. Each can weighs approximately 1 pound, between the weight and the steps back and forth to the cupboard, I could work in cardio and strength training at the same time. Of course it’ll take me a little more time to get it done (time I’m running out of) but wouldn’t that work? I just wish I had a counter that would count the calories I burn as I do it, but we can’t have it all, can we? LOL. On top of that, there are actually a couple of small, heavy appliances on the table also. I have to put those out back to make room, so there are even more steps.

You can see now why the gym I built in the kitchen hasn’t worked out too well. That blue thing to the right is my “abdoer”. You can see it gets a lot of use here. LOL. Don’t worry. After I get it all cleaned up and have the table set, I’ll put up those pics too. Then I’m going to go post them on “Organizing Junkie’s” blog. I know she’ll appreciate them. LOL.

It’s A “Chocolate” Time of Year

Important: For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, Lean Cuisine is recalling 900,000 lbs. of their different chicken dinners. Evidently some people have found bits of hard blue plastic in their frozen dinners.  You can get more info by calling the Nestle Company at 1-800-227-6188. They probably have which ones up on their website also, if not at the Nestle site, then at the Lean Cuisine site.

Now that I’ve done my “Public Service Announcement” LOL, I’ll get on with my topic.

From a bit before Halloween, right up threw drinking shots out of chocolate “bottles” for New Year’s, there is chocolate every where! I was so happy when they came out with the results of studies showing dark chocolate was actually healthy for you. What a great excuse for dieters! What do I care that 80% of the studies were conducted by Mars, the big candy maker? A study is a study. LOL. (So if it had been bad for you, would they still let the results be known or would they just keep quiet about doing any studies at all? No conflict of interest there).

The word is out. Most people close to me know I’m trying to lose weight, so don’t buy me candy at all, but if you’re like my passive aggressive  

Ghiradelli Ribbon Gift

boyfriend who doesn’t like “fat chicks” but insists on buying me chocolate, then make it dark so I can at least be a “healthier fat chick”.

According to the studies, the dark chocolate has no added milk fat along with having healthy flavonoids (the same stuff that makes red wine healthy). I drink a lot of red wine and eat a chocolate now and then, I can’t understand why I’m not the “picture” of health.  Supposedly, altho it doesn’t have the fiber and vitamins, dark chocolate has 70% more flavonoids than apples! That’s a pretty big plus.

I keep a stash of chocolate in the bottom of my freezer. I have a bag of milk chocolate that I share with people who just want a piece of chocolate, and then I have the dark chocolate underneath. When I get hit by a chocolate craving, I just grab a piece from down below and that’s usually enough to satisfy me, so the See’s candy, etc. that floats around at Christmas and people bring to Thanksgiving, don’t really intimidate me too much anymore.

I thought this was pretty cool. According to Healthnet, there is the growing evidence that chocolate is a mood enhancer. Chocolate contains as many as 400 different compounds that promote a better mood and alleviate anxiety, which helps to explain why so many people experience cravings for it. Serotonin, endorphins and phenylethylamine are all found in chocolate and can lift the mood; it also contains the stimulants caffeine and theobromine, and the amphetamine-like compounds tyramine and phenyletylamine. So if you’re feeling a little out-of-sorts or depressed it looks like dark chocolate is the perfect answer. Didn’t we women always know that?

Just remember to enjoy it in moderation, just like everything else we dieters have to do concerning food.

A New “Challenge” For Thanksgiving

While most of us “Hefty Honeys” will be just trying to keep from gaining weight over the holidays, let alone lose some, there are recipes popping up all over the net for traditional, non-traditional, low fat, low carb dishes for Thanksgiving. Along with those are a host of tips on how to keep your appetite in control, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I myself substitute anything that calls for eggs with eggbeaters. Anything that calls for oil, I melt Country Crock in the microwave, and anything that calls for cream I use fat free canned milk or fat free half and half. It’s amazing, but these three things alone can cut hundreds of calories from the menu. This year I have a new challenge that has nothing to do with my weight.

I have to have Tofu Turkey for my newly vegetarian daughter. When she originally told me she had seen one at Trader Joe’s in the vain that we could have that instead of traditional turkey, I let her know there was “no way”. I had already gone through that with Raymond, and it turned out terrible. Everyone tried sneaking in “real food” without Marie knowing about it. She asked who Raymond was. “Everybody Loves Raymond, of course” in a tone that asks how she could not possibly know what I was talking about.

So I have agreed to have Tofu along side of our traditional turkey. I had pretty much forgotten about it until she brought it up again last nite on the phone. Looking at the recipes I found when I googled “Tofu Turkey” it’s a pretty scary option. I don’t think they know about Trader Joe’s, otherwise they wouldn’t have to do everything they do in those recipes to make some kind of form.

I myself am not a fan of Tofu. I have tried in all different kinds of chinese food, and I just don’t care for it. Supposedly you can stuff the Tofu Turkey with stuffing and all kinds of playful things. If it works out, I suppose I will have to have it for Christmas also, unless they have some form of vegetarian ham or something. This is really quite an experience finding alternatives to meat, especially when you’re a very carniverous household. LOL. Right now I don’t even know if I can buy one and freeze it until Thanksgiving, or if I buy it now and it will last just refrigerated, or if I have to wait until closer to Thanksgiving to buy, and then what if they run out? Oh my!

Over the next couple of weeks I guess I will be visiting vegetarian recipes, blogs, etc. altho the turkey and gravy are generally the only meat or meat by-products on our table. Most everything else is vegetarian by it’s nature. I will rise to the task, enjoying the new knowledge I gain, because I just have nothing else to do (and because I love my daughter so much). LOL.

The Ten Commandments of Permanent Weight Loss

I saw this on one of the message boards at SparkPeople(great free weight loss site) and had to “borrow” it. LOL. I thought it was pretty good.

1. Thou shalt honor and believe in thyself.

2. Thou shalt move thy booty. Move it and move it some more.

3. Thou shalt never go hungry again. Eat small meals and healthy snacks throughout the day.

4. Thou shalt stock the fridge with the right stuff – the fruits and vegetables of the earth, the melba toast of men who walked before us.

5. Thou shalt honestly write it down. If you bite it, you must write it.

6. Thou shalt weigh and measure thy food.

7. Thou shalt drink enough Holy Water to frighten Noah and map out all the restrooms in thy village.

8. Thou shalt not deny thyself a treat or two now and then.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s plate.

10. Thou shalt not eat out of misery, boredom, anxiety … but should they over-indulge, forgive thyself immediately.

All Is Forgiven, Move On!

I would also like to thank NanaDiaries for my new award. Now, there’s nothing on here that says it has to be “my” creativity, right? LOL. Make sure you stop by and give her a read. It’s so much fun reading her stories.

Kreativ Blogger Award

And now as is tradition, I would like to pass it on. Please visit the following as they are really “kreativ”.

                                           Between Us Girls

                                             Personally Speaking

                                           Nothing Fancy

I’m Taking Back Control

First and foremost, I would like to say a loud THANK YOU to all our Veteran’s and those serving in our Military and Reserves. May God Bless you and keep you and yours.    

Now, since attending this seminar over the weekend and having to face a few facts about myself and my procrastination, I have decided to work on those issues and take back control of my life. “I am a recoverying procrastinator.”  In that vain, I received the following in my inbox this morning and had to share.

Powerful Women’s Motto:

Live your life in 

such a way, that 

when your feet hit

the floor, Satan 

shudders and

says “Oh crap! 

She’s awake!!! 

Timing Is Everything- Setting Up For Failure

Love Pumpkin Pie

Why do I always get these bright ideas just before the holidays? We’re coming into the season of almost nothing but food and drink, and I’m ready to get serious about losing my weight. Now is that not setting myself up for failure or what? LOL.

Actually it’s that type of thinking, (about dieting around the holidays) that has probably kept me from gaining more weight than I already have. Luckily, just because I haven’t been “ideal” when it comes to my diet all year, doesn’t mean I move into the holidays head-long and with reckless abandonment. (Although it sure sounds good, doesn’t it?)

I use eggbeaters in my pies and anything else I bake during the holidays. I use fat free skimmed milk in the can for any milk I need, as the consistency is better than regular skim milk, and if anyone tells you they can tell the difference without watching you or you telling them you made the substitutions, they’re psychic or something. My mother’s the worst critic and the most “traditional” person I’ve ever known, and she’s never complained once about my pies or anything else on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Trust me, it’s not because she’s just being “nice” or “polite” because she’s not! LOL.

I haven’t found a substitute for the sugar yet, altho I was eyeing the Splenda blends. Anyone have any comment or advice on that? I also read that a lot of people substitute agave nectar? for sugar. I’m a little confused on that one also, since it’s liquid and not solid when you start out. How do you figure how much to substitute? I would appreciate any help anyone has to offer. If I could cut the sugar and start actually making my own low fat pie shells, I could really be in “hog heaven”. LOL.

The reason for this new motivation is because I attended a seminar this weekend. I had to admit I was “addicted” to procrastination. (Which explains why nothing in my house is done and I’m always going to exercise “tomorrow”). So now I am a “recovering procrastinator”. It was odd hearing someone talk about how procrastination is really a control issue, how by procrastinating you have complete control of the outcome, and what it actually does to the brain. So for now I’m trying to “kick the habit”.  Time will tell. I just thought it was because I was lazy. LOL