Weigh-in - June 8, 2008

On the lowcarb front:
I am down 1.8 for the week. That is not a stellar loss, but - hey - a loss is a loss. Since I was supposed to be doing Induction, I had hoped for more. As I said yesterday, I found several errors in my implementation of Induction. I think for this week I am just going to limit carbs to under 30 and then begin Induction again next week when school is out. I will have more time to concentrate on what I am doing and more time to plan out Induction menus. I want to do things exactly as Dr. Atkins wrote them so that I will have a benchmark to work from. One thing that irks me to no end is when people take liberties with Atkins and then blame Atkins when they don't lose. I do not want to be one of those people.

One thing I will not do this week is throw the whole Atkins WOE out the window. I have felt way too good this week. And this is coming from someone who is in the throws of hot flashes and the weather has been hot and we do not have air conditioning in the house. I have been pretty even tempered even while phasing off of some of my meds. Some of the foods I will be using this week are not approved for induction and they need to be used up. DH dropped a package of Dixie Diner/Dobie muffins out of the freezer and I stuck them in the fridge because we were going out the door and we were late. I have to use those up this week. I also have some yogurt that needs to be used.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I use a program called Diet Power. I love it. It keeps track of all kinds of things that I don't have time to put into spreadsheets. It also gives a projected progress line which keeps me motivated. I have tried lots of other programs, but I keep coming back to this because it is so user-friendly.

Today's menu:

Breakfast:
Mocha latte
Dixie diner/flaxmeal muffin
1 T. Smucker's natural peanut butter

Dinner:
Romaine and spinach salad
Omelette with cheese, sour cream, and salsa

Supper:
Not sure yet -

On the Flylady front:
I absolutely am chomping at bit the for school to be out. Clutter has been building since I got behind at Easter. The house is driving me nuts. The laundry room is torn up in anticipation of a new window being put in. That hasn't happened yet because of the whole well pipe leakage problem. Remember the cubby I had to clean out? Well that stuff had to go somewhere so at the moment I am suspending Flylady's zones in favor of getting rid of some of the junk I have accumulated. I found a whole box of floppy disks. Does anyone even use these anymore?

On the home front:
Today we celebrate our son Sam's birthday. He is 26 and the youngest of our four kids. Where on earth did the time go? It seems like just yesterday that I was 26. We will be celebrating at Sam and Kelli's house tonight - our family and Kelli's family. I love it when both sides of the family get together. Kelli's family is great and they love Sam. Warms the heart, it does. It's been a long year for Sam. He has been trying to build his business (he owns a collision shop and does auto body work) and he had a lot of zoning and legal hoops to jump through. On the one hand, I am glad that those hoops are there. Sam's business is on his property which is out in the country.

Farm folks have a vested interest in keeping country looking like country. Sam is a farm boy so he is heartily in favor of keeping the ever-shrinking rural areas in the hands of the family farmer. All the same, when you are young and trying to get started, it can be frustrating. Kelli's folks and all of us were at every zoning meeting cheering Sam on. My sense was that the zoning board and the planning commission were very much on board with what Sam wanted. However, as the head of the zoning board said, "it's never about the guy sitting here at the table. It's about keeping the language clear so that other's can't come in and put up a Walmart." Well, he didn't say Walmart, but you get the drift.

Now let me make one thing clear, I have no issues with Walmart. I am a capitalist. It does make me sad to see acres and acres of farmland transitioning from agriculture to urban growth, but Walmart is not the one forcing the family farmer out of business. It is other farmers - huge corporate operations that are contributing to the decline of the family farm, but I won't get into that particular rant today.

Farming used to be more than a way to earn a living. It was a lifestyle. There were trade-offs. The average farmer was not rich in the way that CEO's of large companies are, but there are other sources of wealth. There is no price you can put on the view out your kitchen window on a snowy winter morning, or the wonderful life that country kids have. I grew up in the city - a suburb of Detroit. Having that vantage point, I am extremely grateful that our kids had the opportunity to experience life as part of a farm family. I work in a school and I will tell you that I can spot a farm kid a mile away. They are just different. The work ethic is unique. I remember when Sam was on his high school wrestling team. He quit his job on a dairy farm to give his all to the team. Unfortunately he had a coach who didn't appreciate the sacrifice that Sam made. That coach could have taken Sam's strong work ethic and team loyalty and really used it to the team's advantage. But he didn't. Too bad for Sam and too bad for the team. Well, enough of that for now. I have to get ready for church and another Sunday hangin' out with the family. Does life get any better than that?

Later . . .