Marco, Marco,Marco

Marco is my new trainer at the gym. It's also the name of my brother-in-law. Marco is young, I mean really sweet, fresh out of innocence and just beginning his trip into the real world. The one where fat, old ladies come to him to get their abs stretched into a whole other direction. Marco says that he trains two other woman over fifty besides me, one a marathon runner and the other a mountain climber. Guess what! Marco says I'm stronger than either of them! Can you believe it?? That Marco, he's so silly!
Marco, Marco, Marco.........

Skinny Hipped Girl

The funniest thing happened recently. I made contact with a friend from grad school and she referred to me as the skinny hipped girl!I haven't thought about myself like that in many, many years. I WAS the skinny hipped girl. Where did those non-hips go? I still don't have hips but they've evolved into a whole other thing which is indescribable. Unfortunately there are no perfect words to describe a middle aged woman's lack of hips. They've just dissolved into my waist and god knows what else! So to make myself smile, the words skinny hipped girl, skirt across my mind at odd times. Those words make me think of grad school and clothes that just slipped on over those skinny hips. Really nice thoughts----glad to have had the pleasure of having those skinny hips. Who knew they would go away once you have kids? "Not I", said the skinny hipped girl.

Ma. State of Mind

Wow, a very long time has gone by and I am still me. I've gotten way off course doing all kinds of stuff. I drove to Maine this weekend to check out colleges with my daughter. I have to tell you that ME. has lots of combos of things, my personal favorite being Tex/Irish restaurant. What the heck can that taste like?? Potatoes with Salsa? I also never saw one bowl of chowder the entire weekend or a moose.Yes I looked through every swamp we went by, no moose to be found. Me. is actually a little desperate looking once you drive a way from the coast. Wraps are a new thing in Me. too. I guess it's probably one of the farthest states from Mexico so any acquisitions of Mexican food is probably a joke. Anyways I'm back in the state of Ma. and all ready to greet the little ones with a salad and a smile. I still haven't made it to the gym before school. I was just about to make the leap and daylight savings time screwed it all up. I need sun in order to get out of bed. Although I got up bright and early this morning without the help of sunshine. I couldn't wait to get the hell out of ME.

Let Us Leaf

I'm older but no wiser since I last wrote. I went to Buffalo and was reintroduced to really good bad food. In Buffalo they think nothing of putting butter on everything and then frying it. I was there for 3 days and barely ate a vegetable unless you count french fries. I had to go to "the best" restaurant in Buffalo (The Rue) to get a salad, along with shrimp and scallops wrapped in morels and artichokes. I truly thought I had forsaken that kind of eating but when fried chicken, once again with the fried chicken ,appears on the menu I just couldn't resist. It was that or the fish fry. Reubens, chicken wings, mozzerella sticks are common place on every menu along with beef on wick. I kept thinking, I've got to get out of here or I'll die soon of clogged arteries. Each time I ate I counted the number of meals I had left to eat before I left. I eventually made it out with my suitcase once again searched because I'm on some crazy list that thinks kindergarten teachers are going to take over the plane (that's a whole other story) and now I'm back to eating salads and exercising. Lettuce never looked so good!

Fried Chicken

I love fried chicken but I never eat it. I think all this dieting is getting to me. I was actually craving fried chicken the other day. I've been doing well, very few slip ups until I thought about fried chicken. I know I'm not pregnant so it's not a hormonal craving. I do know I'm getting a wee bit sick of salad though. The gym is going well. I've become totally immune to the colors which is a good sign, clothes are fitting better but the fried chicken actually got me yesterday. Driving home from work I stopped at Atkins and bought all kinds of healthy food and then decided to get Riley a pot pie at Big Y. That was my downfall. I had to walk by the chicken counter. I could smell the chicken. It had a lovely crisp outer layer that spoke to me. So I picked up a bag, put it in my cart and it was still warm from where ever they make it. Then I proceeded to buy all carbs. It was unbelievable. I got mozzerella sticks, french fries and jalepeno poppers. Unbelievable. I never, ever buy food like that. I got into the car, ate 3 pieces and threw it away. It was too addictive to be in the house for any length of time. I then ate a wonderful salad from Atkins. Boy, am I glad to have that out of my system. Literally.

The Ultimate Cookie

I've never met a cookie I didn't like. Then I came across the Ultimate Cookie. That's its real name, The Ultimate Cookie. I really, really like this cookie. I get this magazine called FOOD by Martha Stewart. Well in the last edition there was this recipe for the Ultimate Cookie (I just like saying that, The Ultimate Cookie.) So under the guise of having a family that likes cookies I made a batch. These cookies are unbelievable! They are a super hybrid cookie in the chocolate chip family. Only these cookies are far superior from any of its relatives. I really truly think you could ultimately die from these cookies. There are two and a half sticks of butter in this recipe AND regular old semi-sweet chocolate chips aren't good enough for this recipe, nope you also add chunks of chocolate into the dough. The thing that is really amazing about these cookies is that I ate oh, let's conservatively say four and I lost another pound this weekend. How the hell did that happen? That should definitely not of happened according to the law of calories and all conventional wisdom. So all I can say is try this recipe, its ultimately good for you too I guess!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I'm tired of eating healthy, eating "good foods". I'm tired of not eating. Does that make sense? Such a weighty question. I'm contemplating getting off the couch and exercising to something, anything. I've lifted weights and biked a lot lately, I need to mix it up s bit and it's raining and just plain nasty out. Too nasty for driving 2 minutes to the gym. Besides there's a lot of mirrors there. Who in their right mind wants to see themselves as they really are? The illusion of tall and thin was working just fine for a while until my jeans wouldn't fit and then the mirror started speaking up. "Hey you, yeah you in the jeans that are too tight with the blouse pulled strategically down to the magic slimming line on your hips. Just why the heck are you only looking in the bathroom mirror? You know that mirror only shows your head and neck. Walk to the bedroom mirror, ahh, see I told that mirror never lies." And that's when this whole adventure began.