Today is Day357 of my Daily Food Diary! Eight more days to go! 💗
Today is Christmas Eve and we are already well into the holiday wins!
1) Last night we had a final evening visit with son Dan and family. Amanda and I whipped up a quick supper of comfort foods. Dan & Dan took over the kitchen to do the after supper clean up. Teamwork at its finest. 👍
2) Today we celebrate granddaughter Genevieve’s 22nd birthday! Every day that we are blessed to have our sweet Genie in our lives is a win. 🎂
3) Tonight we head over to Genie & Alec’s to enjoy their first official Christmas/birthday supper. 🎄
My Daily Food Diary roundup win is an easy one today…
Despite my Christmas baking and amazing contributions by son Dan… I have been mindful of keeping the treat consumption to a minimum so far! Moderation is today’s Daily Food Diary WIN.
Daily Food Diary:
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(1) c cheerios (147)
(1/4) c 2% milk (28)
Snacks:
(1) gin & tonic (130)
(15) Lays lightly salted chips (218)
(1) pc. Chocolate coconut dessert bar (170)
Supper:
(4) Cheemo pierogis (227)
(1/2) Oz onion chip dip (20)
(1) cabbage rolls (120)
(3) Oz Drake sausage (285)
Total consumed calories: 1347
Total used calories: 0
Total net calories: 1347
Net calorie goal: 1208– 1347 = 139 over 👎
That’s it for today. Take care and have a beautiful, loving, peace on earth/good will toward all, Merry ChristmasEve! 🎄🎇🎁
Christmas is finally starting to come together at our house. I have some Christmas baking done. We have most of the cleaning done. And we have all of the presents bought – including Genie’s Chritmas Eve/birthday present. Tonight, I will break open a bit of Christmas cheer and get them wrapped.
A bit of Christmas decor – I like to keep it subtle.
My wins for today include:
1) Feeling fine and healing nicely!
2) Sleeping well every night since the surgery.
3) Staying indoors to wash the living room floor this morning while Dan took Molly for a very frigid walk through the snow and over the ice this morning!
Molly seemed to take offense at that last win? I was sure they would both be grateful not to have to wait for me to keep up with them. 😕
My Daily Food Diary win for the day…
Getting better at planning meals to work for the day that I (and/or Dan) are facing.
Serving up a nutritious breakfast on Dan’s golf days
Including more protein on days when I am doing weight workouts or when one of us is in healing mode
Planning healthy, nutritious, but light suppers on hot summer days (avoiding those “I’m not hungry NOW but I’ll snarf down a family size bag of chips LATER” scenerios)
Being extra mindful to avoid ANY yeast, sugar, palm oil or the like if I have outings or appointments booked for the next day
Daily Food Diary – Day 353
Breakfast:
(1) c coffee (2)
(3) crumpets (240)
(2) tsp butter (69)
(1) tbsp jam (50)
Snacks:
(1) c caramel corn (170)
(1) pc Christmas cake (240)
(1/3) c mixed nuts (216)
(48) Oz water
Supper:
(1/4) tortierre (400)
(1) c mashed potatoes (113)
(1/2) c creamed corn (70)
(5) olives (38)
Total consumed calories: 1608
Total used calories: 0
Total net calories: 1608
Net calories goal: 1208 – 1608 = 400 over 👎
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 🥳💞
It’s been a while, but with holidays here (or around the corner) I thought this would be as good a time as any to check back in.
I’ve had a pretty good year and I hope the same goes for everyone out here in Jet Pack land.
To catch up… I am mostly on track with my health and wellness journey. Fitness wise, I have managed to stay consistent with my workouts – aerobics six mornings a week and light weights Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Health wise, I have been pretty decent. Despite my chronic issues with asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis, I have avoided any major flare-ups and ZERO rounds of antibiotics or oral steroids this year! I do use my three inhalers – two regularly and one as required, but they are just for maintenance and prevention purposes. Recently, I went for my COVID, extra strength flu, and pneumonia vaccines. Unless I get hit by a bus, I should be good for another year. 👍
The one area that I have struggled with has been my diet/nutrition. Last May (2023), I realized that yeast was causing my severe digestive issues that had been giving me grief for years. Avoiding yeast wasn’t too painful – except for breakfast, which APPARENTLY sets the tone for the rest of one’s day.
At first I did fairly well, eating bacon and eggs, potato cakes and the like for breakfast. That got tiresome to deal with, so I switched to fresh fruit – which was fine for a while until I realized (remembered) that I don’t much care for fresh fruit. 😧 So.. I started mixing it up with waffles (and syrup), pre-sweetened cereal, crumpets (and jam), grapefruit (with sugar) or store bought muffins (basically sugar held together with a bit of bran or a couple of blueberries).
As the weeks went by, the insidious “sugar creep” kicked in. Ultimately, I would have my sugary breakfast, followed by a sweet midmorning snack, lunch (with dessert), a sweet afternoon snack, happy hour consisting of a mixed cocktail or a can of Pepsi or root beer, supper (with desert), followed by ice cream (with butterscotch AND chocolate sauce), and finally a bedtime snack of caramel corn. It wasn’t that I would snarf down an entire cake in one sitting – I was just indulging in bits and bowls of sugar ALL DAY.
Obviously, that could and did not last. A few weeks in and feeling miserable, I reviewed my diet and realized things had to change.
I circled back to the traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon/sausages/ham and potato cakes. Pretty much salt and saturated fats!
About this time, I met with a nurse practitioner who sent me for a complete blood work up. Surprisingly, my tests came back with a few borderline issues – glucose, salt, cholesterol… My nurse practitioner set me up with a dietician. She gave me some helpful advice for getting my diet (and bloodwork) back in order.
The best advice I got for tracking cholesterol intake was to check nutritional value labels on food and choose food products with less than 15% DV saturated fat per serving. ONE sausage patty contains 26% and I occasionally (frequently) indulge in two at one sitting. 🙄
If I haven’t lost you yet, this has led me to make a commitment to getting a better handle on my diet. I decided the best way for me to do that, is to keep a food diary for the next year. AND to keep me accountable, I have decided to share said diary with anyone out there who chooses to (or inadvertently) reads my blog in 2025.
Bottom line, you should be seeing more of me in the upcoming months.
In the meantime, MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR! All the best to you and yours this holiday season and throughout 2025!
For better or worse, the Christmas of 2021 has come and gone. It was definitely nice that Dan had the day off this year. In fact we had a few days together. It was very special to have some quiet time to relax in front of the fireplace (which is conveniently placed under the television) and enjoy each other’s company.
Santa Dan was good to me as always. He was out and about for two days finding me the perfect winter boots – with is no simple task and a new elephant to join our herd.
Short enough to be easy to put on but tall enough to cover my ankles, solid enough to be safe on icy walks but light enough to drive in, warm & cozy but stylish to boot! Latest member of the herd💞
Granddaughter Genie and Alex came by on Christmas morning to drop off a Christmas bouquet and pick up their gifts from us. They stayed for a lovely visit.
Flowers from Genie & Alex
We had a good phone chat with son Dan and photos from Amanda of the kids opening their gifts. Gabby and Lucas were obviously happy with theirs. It was a bit harder to tell with Cason from his ‘butt shot’. 😂 I had a call from son Mark later in the day and my siblings and I exchanged seasonal greetings by email. Dan and I had a nice long video chat with his sister Joan.
Dan and I enjoyed a nice ham supper for Christmas Eve and a beautiful turkey supper for Christmas Day. We have officially perfected the art of making turkey stuffing. It was our best ever! In between ham and turkey and Boxing Day quesadillas, we snacked on an abundance of treats including the gourmet chocolates I picked up a few days ago. 🤢 I saved Dan from the Rose Petal one.
Annual jigsaw puzzle
That it for today. I hope you all had a nice Christmas with the perfect mix of food and family and peace and goodwill.
Take care and have a great rest of the holidays. 🎄
Every day is still a day to celebrate the season! I have gotten a few things accomplished lately and could realistically be ready for Christmas any time now.
We packaged up a few things for son Dan and family. Dan sent it out for three day delivery on Monday and Amanda let me know they got it yesterday. (Way to go Canada Post!)
I wrapped presents – without a single glass of wine 🍷. Not that I need wine to do anything, but it helps if that anything involves rolls of paper, sharp instruments, and sticky tape.
I received the last of the Christmas gifts that I had ordered for Dan and the birthday gift that I had ordered for granddaughter Genie. Dan drove me to ‘Chocolate Regina’ to pick up a small box of gourmet chocolates and we stopped by a the recently renovated restaurant at Casino Regina for lunch. The food and the restaurant were both very nice but the rest of the renovations left a lot to be desired in my mind. I am not a fan of clutter and chaos and that seems to be what they were going for.
Bernard Callebaut chocolates are amazing! Definitely not a treat we buy every day but they are Christmas worthy.
I have done a bit more cleaning up and decorating around the house. I love this little candle and these placemats that I picked up from The Dollar Store.
I also ran to Walmart to pick up a few last minute things while Dan was at work yesterday. Their Christmas displays are running a bit low but they brightened the place up by adding shelves of Valentine’s chocolates and Easter bunnies. That is not too wierd. Who buys Easter bunnies in December? 🐰
Today I am going to try to get a bit of baking done and wrap the rest of the gifts.
That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞
The title of my blog today might be a bit of an exaggeration but this Grandma is feeling rough this week and definitely not much in a mood to ‘celebrate’.
I had my hernia procedure on Tuesday morning. It was, as hospital experiences go, a great experience. Before I had time to stress about it, I was done and gone. Yay!
Then things started to slide. I left the hospital with a small patch over a tiny incision – a small patch to which I am obviously very allergic to. I also, left with prescriptions for three medications – none of which agree with me. I tossed the painkillers and anti-inflammatory. The third medication I will try to deal with for the time being. I can handle nausea and sleepiness. If I lose my breath, blood pressure or pulse, I may have to rethink this one as well.
That is it for today, folks. I am ready for a serious nap. Take care and have a great day!
One of my favourite ways to celebrate the holidays was to enjoy the music of the season – until it was not. For years the thought of Christmas carols and hymns upset me. On December 1st, the radio stations and department stores would start to ring in the season with the likes of ‘Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer’ and ‘Silent Night’ – and I would feel physically ill and emotionally scarred.
This year, I decided that I was going to celebrate this Christmas Season – no holds barred! I have been cleaning and shopping and decorating. I have watched Christmas specials, baked Christmas treats AND I have been playing hours of Christmas music. It was a bit difficult going in, but things have turned around. If I am having a good day, the music makes it better. If I am having a bad day, the music lifts my spirits as it did long ago. It’s a Christmas Miracle. 🌟
Today, I decided to share some favourite Christmas tunes. My apologies to those who cannot access North America You Tube offerings. Hopefully, you will recognize the tunes and share in some pleasant memories.
Feliz Navidad
Little Drummer Boy
The Newborn King – Bonanza Christmas Special
Old Toy Trains
Away In a Manger
Do They Know It’s Christmas
I hope that jogged some memories or at least reminded you of your own favourite Christmas Carols from over the years.
That is it for today, folks. Take care and have a great day. 💞
It has been a few years since I have done any serious Christmas shopping. We have pretty much dropped exchanging gifts between adults and have been giving cash to/for the kids. I didn’t expect to change this new normal, but I placed an order through Amazon the other day and couldn’t resist the perfect little gift set that I found for our barely three year old grandson, Cason. It arrived late yesterday, so today I am celebrating the joy of Christmas shopping. 🎁
Cason and Dad (son Dan)all dressed up for Dan and Amanda’s wedding reception this past summer.Before the official wedding reception photos…. Son Dan was in the house scrubbing an abundance of blue marker off of Cason when we arrived. Within minutes of that cleanup, Cason had poured grape pop all over his shirt and gotten a splinter in his foot.The perfect gift for a little boy with a huge yard to explore, energy to burn, and the imagination to find his way into and through all kinds of trouble!
I haven’t had so much fun shopping for a long time. I might have to get out to some brick and mortar stores around town to see what else I have been missing out on in recent years.
I hope everyone is enjoying these early days of December. Our weather is holding but there are colder temps and snow in the forecast so I had better go run the errands that I need to get done this morning.
On Wednesday evening, Evraz issued 500 layoff notices in the tubular division of their Regina pipe mill. That included every unionized worker from seniority number 500 down to 0. I think my husband Dan is around #92.
This news did not come as a shock. Evraz warned of an impending work shortage some time ago. Financially, we will manage but any extended time off will mess with Dan’s pension, so that isn’t great. But, it isn’t all bad for us, either. If Dan’s layoff is actually December 17th, we can spend the holidays together. 🌲⛄☃️🥳. We can hibernate in January. 🐻🐿️ And, I am pretty sure I can find some things on the honey-do list for Dan to work on. (That gym in the garage is not going to build itself – it hasn’t so far… 🙄)
Sadly, this news is devastating for many of Dan’s co-workers. That it has come to this, days before Christmas, makes it worse. I feel so sorry for the younger people out there – the ones with mortgages, loan payments and families to support. It doesn’t help that many of them have been off lately due to a Covid outbreak in that plant. I certainly hope for everyone’s sake that this lay-off is short term. There is not a lot of comparable employment around here – especially now.
The Evraz layoff made our news yesterday. Our politicians are running true to form. Ryan Meilli (our leader of the opposition) is taking the governing Saskatchewan Party to task for their failure to use Evraz pipe for local crown projects. Mopey Moe, our Premier, is blaming Prime Minister Trudeau for the Saskatchewan economy. And, Prime Minister Trudeau has promised to support Evraz and their employees through this difficult time. 🤔
Growing up in my family we kept to a fairly predictable schedule. (My mother was a drill Sargent in her previous life 🤣) Dinner was at 12 noon, supper was at 6 PM, laundry was done on Monday morning, and birthdays and holidays were celebrated on their appropriate dates.
When my family was young, our schedule was somewhat predictable. Meals were always at the table. Supper was 6ish, I did laundry once a week, and birthdays and holidays were celebrated on or close to appropriate dates.
Between Dan’s 24/7 shifts, kids growing up and having their own families, and various births and health crises, our schedule has become rather loosely goosey…. We eat, we do a load of laundry when one of us happens to go downstairs for whatever reason, and we celebrate birthdays and holidays.
Last night we had granddaughter Genie and her boyfriend Alex/Ben over. We enjoyed our Christmas turkey supper, topped off with a peanut butter cheesecake to celebrate Genie’s birthday (she will turn 17 on December 24th – and she doesn’t eat peanuts 🤦- I made her a mug cake and dressed it up for the occasion).
Aren’t they the cutest?I love Genie’s hair – gorgeous colour.My amazing husband who helped make supper and cleared away all of the leftovers. My less than amazing dog lurking for any flying food that Genie lost control over.
Dan is scheduled to work straight through December 22nd to 26th but we will be getting together with Genie and Alex/Ben on the 30th. But, we won’t be celebrating New Year’s 😂 – they are coming with us to son Dan’s wedding on the 31st. New Year’s will have to merge with Easter and Dan’s birthday sometime in the spring.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’s – I hope you have the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with your loved ones!🌲☃️ And for our southern neighbours – Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie 