bunsofaluminum's journal

[bunsofaluminum]

thanks skamboots

I did ask over at Jeff's if this diet can bring on a physical cleanse, but he never answered. A few others did. well, anyway. I'm just biding my time. It'll get better.

Meanwhile, I went grocery shopping today. Started at the discount store, where they had just gotten in a load of fresh produce: grape tomatoes
3/$1, golden raspberries 2/$1, bagged salads 69c(date: 9/19!!!), zucchini 20/$1 (I bought 10), large yellow onions 2/$1, tomatoes on the vine 50c a flat, a head of red cabbage 30c, celery 99c, some spices (I love the "Hispanic Aisle" cuz things there are less expensive), little cups of grapes 4/69c, canned black beans and navy beans. Also, a few packs of nutbars for the kids' brekkies. ..I filled up the back of my van for under $50.00! Got my kids some free milk (it is over date but it is organic ... we'll see, but they aren't ready to give up milk yet)...Oh! and some more frozen Annie's Indian Samosa Wraps. Those are great for taking to work...

Then to costco: big bag of broccoli, big bag of snap peas, 2 lb of blueberries, 10 lb of red potatoes, and a big thing of mushrooms...shout out to Letha: gonna make the broccoli mushroom stir fry over rice from her blog (and throwing in some sauted zucchini to boot!) This was $24.00

And last, but not least, the local grocery: Macey's. There I spent about $50 and got two eggplants, carrots, a bag of apples, tofu both silken and firm, frozen peas, some eggs for the kids, some cereal (puffed wheat and puffed rice) for them, too two heads of cauliflower cuz I love the stuff, and a big bag of lentils, some 16 bean soup mix, split peas, and barley...again, gotta love the Hispanic Aisle. All of those dried beans were less in the "mexican" brand than Western Family brand...

It feels good to have my fridge full and restock on things. My kids are being brave, too. Tasted the split pea soup I fixed yesterday. I'm gonna feed it to them today for dinner, and I think they'll eat it up!

Food so far today:

B: rice w/agave nectar and frozen berries (way too gassy to eat much this morning)
S: a cup of grapes while running around town
L: bowl of split pea soup and a couple of ryvita crackers; small salad
S: apple, more ryvita
D: Stir fry broccoli and mushrooms over rice a la Letha http://mwlfood.wordpress.com/page/3/; big green salad w/321 dressing on it.

exercise: got groceries at three stores; swept the front room. Breathed. ha! blinked once in awhile. Oh...typing at this forum whew, what a workout!

[sksamboots]

Your right, grocery shopping does count as exercise. i'm coming over to your house for dinner, all those veggies sound yummy

[LauraA]

Hi - I hope that you are feeling better! What is the adult population that you work with? You sound like you do a wonderful job! We have a big family - 6 of our 8 children were foster children that we adopted, and since we did special needs foster care, then 5 of those 6 have disabilities. One of our daughters, who is mildly retarded with quite a few emotional issues, lives in a group home. She is 33. She loves so many of the wonderful staff members who work with her. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful job you are doing, and for doing a job that you love! Take care, LauraA

[bunsofaluminum]

yahoo!

I lost two pounds yah!

Now, how do I make that show on my ticker?

Meanwhile, I don't feel quite as achey this morning. Slept like a log last night, zonking out as soon as my head hit the pillow and waking this morning readily without any grogginess, which feels good. Still some gas, but the more I think about this, the more i think it must be a cleanse. My body is adjusting to things...

The Plan

B: oatmeal w/apple chunks; banana and blueberry bowl
L: veggie wrap in whole wheat tortilla OR Annie's Samosa Wraps from the freezer w/sliced tomatoes
D: Mediterranean Rice Sald (recipe from Fit for Life, minus the olive oil saute and no oil in the salad dressing)
Snacks: apples, bananas, maybe a piece of toast if needed/wanted.

Exercise: out with clients doing the Dominos thing up and down stairs, moderate walking, maybe a more brisk evening walk

LauraA I absolutely love my job. If it paid a living wage, things would be absolutely perfect! Most of our clients are men, in their 20's through 40's. Mostly high functioning and ambulatory, though we do have one wheelchair-bound client with severe CP who is "there"but non-verbal and is very low functioning (feeding tube, briefs, etc). Some of them live in their own places and we drop by to make sure they get their meds and give them rides to doc or grocery shopping. A few live at home still with their parents, and we provide respite care.

Most of them come to the day center where we do ADL's with them such as hygiene, menu planning, cooking skills. A few have jobs, and we are their job coaches. Some mental retardation, some autism, some just fools who need guardians or they'll get robbed blind, some head injured with impulse control issues.

most days, going to work is going to play! or, fix a meal and visit with someone while watching TV...good job It always surprises me when someone says "oh, I could never do that!"... it's the best!

do your other disabled children have group home placements? Good on YOU, for loving them up as foster parents ((HUG))

blessings, HeidiW

[LauraA]

Thanks for the reply - this is way off topic, but so interesting to me. Of the 6 that we adopted, only one is in a group home, and that is really mostly for emotional issues - probably due to lots of abuse before we got her at age 4. She is just very needy - wants to be right with a staff person all of the time. She attends a day program and works through the day program. All of our others are independent with some help from us. Our youngest has autism, lives on her own in small cottage that we own, and works full time. She drives, has pets, does really well. What you do is so wonderful, so needed, and, unfortunately not well rewarded financially. When will we all learn what is important? Take care, LauraA

[bunsofaluminum]

the independent autistic...that's way more common than we think, possibly with the more recent diagnosis of Aspberger's syndrome. I mean, haven't we all known a genius with zero social skills? Aspberger's!

so your daughter being independent is wonderful

very kewl.

blessings, Heidi

[Letha.]

Hi Heidi,
Congrats on the two pound loss. I liked your description of the shopping trip. Hope that stir fry came out good.
Letha

[LauraA]

Yes - congratulations on the loss! I'm glad that you are feeling better. Take care, LauraA

[LauraA]

the independent autistic...that's way more common than we think, possibly with the more recent diagnosis of Aspberger's syndrome. I mean, haven't we all known a genius with zero social skills? Aspberger's!

so your daughter being independent is wonderful

very kewl.

blessings, Heidi

Well, not a genius, but she does pretty well, and she is a real angel! Take care, LauraA

[bunsofaluminum]

Just got back from a meeting at church, where a variety of sweets was offered. Donuts (blch) and cookies (hmmm) but I stayed away from them.

Food today was

B: maple/brown sugar oatmeal w/blueberries on top; coffee
S: an apple
L: two samosa wraps by Annie's; a pint of grape tomatoes
D: Mediterranean Rice Salad adaptation
S: blueberries for my bedtime snack. Yum! (remember that book "Blueberries for Sal" where she eats them as she picks, and gets purple fingers? That's me!)

Exercise: job coaching my client for putting flyers on doorknobs in an apartment complex with many steps. Each building had two sides, each side had three floors, and each landing had no less than eight steps but as many as 15...IOW, up and down upwards of 30 or 35 steps, four times per building, and about 10 buildings...and i ran them whenever I could. I think that counts, eh? And it felt REALLY good, considering a few months ago, I couldn't make it up a flight of about 20 stairs in one go. Must be doing something right.

I'm going to post my minutes/miles with Garbanzo, and then hit the hay. Maybe. I'm agitated this evening. Must be the church meeting! ha!

do bluets have serotonin? hee hee

[bunsofaluminum]

good grief!

I hope this is a cleanse and will be over soon. Aches and pains are back, and the whole lethargy/grogginess thing is coming at me, too. It hurt to get out of bed this morning.

Plan:

Brekkie: hot cereal and a piece of fruit
Lunch: big green salad w/ 321 dressing; baked potato
Dinner: something warm like soup
S: fruit ? baked potato?

Exercise:

if I feel better this afternoon, I'll walk.

*sigh*

just want to go back to sleep

[sksamboots]

I know it's hard

I wanted to give up so bad, but I didn't. Keep on keepin on ! Your doing great

[bunsofaluminum]

thanks for the encouragement, boots!


one thing is for sure: when this is over, I will double think before EVER putting anything in my body again, that will re-toxify it. ugh. My joints just ache.

Extra sleep, extra water...It will pass, I'm sure

I'm not giving it up, though. I know the energy levels will be so enjoyable, once this difficult time is over. And i'm enjoying the foods so much.

more later

[bunsofaluminum]

well, I end up the day still feeling achey. It's gonna be early bed for me tonight. I HAVE GOT to get some rest. Almost called in today, but Thursdays are easy going days for me so I ended up taking a couple of gentle walks and helping my client with lunch and just visiting with other clients and staff. Not strenuous at all so it was as close to resting as I could get and still get paid... Got home with a move "The Secret Life of Bees" GOOD MOVIE!!! top notch cast including Queen Latifah, Paul Bettany, and Dakota Fanning among others...mostly rested and watched.

But I did do one thing: before going home, I went to Rita's Bakery and Tortilla Factory for fresh made corn tortillas, for making baked chips. Bought a pile of 90, thinking I'd make some chips with them and I did cut them in triangles and put some soy sauce and lime juice on them, and baked them.

Didn't bake em long enough, so they came out of the oven soft and warm and just lightly flavored, and man were they EVER good! Mrs Doodlepunk was right: these fresh made beat the store bought ones hands down. That little store will be my connection for fresh corn tortillas, and their prices on other things is quite competitive...

so, I cut 20 or so tortillas in quarters, put a little flavoring on them, and baked for-not-long-enough and was so hungry I couldn't wait for them to finish crisping, and just ate them...WOW! so delicious!

but here's where it gets really interesting: taking a page from my Fit for Life recipe book, I peeled and cut a cucumber into spears, and ate them with the tortilla triangles wrapped around them...mmm, good!

This is a good, pretty simple snack or a whole meal (as I also had two baked potatoes and some snap peas, it made dinner) I will eat this again, prolly for breakfast tomorrow!

As FFL has it, minus the mayo:

Corn Tortillas
Cucumber spears
Alfalfa sprouts or lettuce, shredded
Seasoning such as Spike or Mrs. Dash
Peel cucumbers and cut into thin spears 5-6 inches long. Heat one tortilla in hot dry skillet, turning from one side to the other until soft, not crisp. Put 2-3 cucumber spears on one edge of the tortilla, top with sprouts or lettuce. Starting near the cucumber strips, roll tightly into a burrito.

My adaptation this evening was seasoned tortilla triangles, rather than seasoned cukes, and my seasoning was just soy sauce mixed w/lime juice. I imagine the cool cucumber and the warm soft tortilla could make a very yummy snack even with no seasoning, per se.

What else did I eat today...

Brekkie: oatmeal with a sliced banana; coffee
Lunch: split pea soup, two bowls; a few grapes from a co-worker
Snack: a nut bar on my drive home from work (I was SO hungry!)
Dinner: two baked potatoes, snap peas, and corn tortilla with cucumber.

exercise: nope My body is too achey. I'm listening to it! Please, please Lord let it be a cleanse and not cellulitis or depression...PLEASE?

ooh, one other cool thing today: I watched a stealth bomber fly over, and then land at Hill Air Force Base (well, the landing strip is out of view, but I watched the approach) VERY cool. While out on one of the "gentle walks" I mentioned. I'm used to F-16's and F-17's but the Stealth is a rare sight indeed! Pretty nifty

ah, gonna hit the hay soon.

blessings to all a y'all

Heidi

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

Oh, Buns, my son would have LOVED seeing that stealth aircraft! Yesterday at the Air Zoo he was like he had gone to heaven. Everything from biplanes to the only remaining high altitude surveillance jet that looked really spooky.

My favorite meal is burritos. I just put dishes of food on the table and everyone makes them their own way. I'll have to try the cucumbers and sprouts, that sounds good!