bunsofaluminum's journal

[kirstykay]

Hi Buns!
I just caught up on your journal. Wow! It's so great to see how God provides!!! What a beautiful story. You are a woman of FAITH!!! And livin' it out! I'm so happy for your new car, and I hope you really like it.

Yea for the victory at Junk Food's house!!!!! You Rock!!!!

I like your mini-I'm starting one today Ready to get back on track, too. Keep up the great attitude and walkin' the walk! You're doing amazing!

[bunsofaluminum]

I did it again! I ate on plan. Did not heat up minestrone, however...are you kidding me? It was hot and humid yesterday, so I opened a can of refritos and ate that! ha! But I'm paying for it today. I found a brand of refritos that is "beans and salt" and they do taste good, but they give me gas more than the Rosarita brand I have been buying.

today, I'll eat the minestrone, though. It shouldn't be as oppressively hot when I get home...

and that's all I have for today. I got to get lunch together and get out the door for work. yayayaaay, Friday!

[sksamboots]

Your doing good. Keep on keepin on

[bunsofaluminum]

ha! my daughter likes minestrone She wants to start eating vegan after I get back from Boise, so we're going to put together some menus. I'm going to check out the E2 cook book, and we'll choose some of those. They aren't McDougall friendly, but they are good for the transitional phase that she will be in.

She actually ate the rest of the minestrone I heated up for myself, and then she opened another can, added tomatoes and beans, and ate half of THAT...which I just finished for brekkie.

Now, time to get out in my jungle/yard. Her b-day is coming up, and there is no way we're barbecuing out back with it the way it is. I want to get it done before the day gets hot. HOT is the word...ugh. About 16 years ago, it was STINKIN HOT, too. And I was preggers! Ice was my only craving during that pregnancy.

[luvoatmeal]

You are doing great buns - living by faith and eating well. Keep it up.
hugs,
luvoatmeal

[bunsofaluminum]

What a weekend! On Saturday morning, I worked hard in my garden for about an hour, de-junglefying things pretty well, then went yard sale-ing with some gals from church. they go on the last Sat of the month, and I always forget, but someone reminded me this time. It was fun, but I had a blast from the past BIG TIME, when we visited our first yard sale.

There was no one out in the yard when we arrived, so we just started browsing. I found some gardening tools, and picked out a pair of long bladed snippers. We all were chatting and looking at stuff, then the guy came out. I asked him how much for the snippers, and looked at some more stuff. Then I caught a conversation with someone and the homeowner, and totally recognized his accent. Middle-eastern FOR SURE, and probably Iranian, because he sounded just like a guy-friend/date I had in college, who was from Iran.

So I looked at him, and listened some more. Yup. It had to be Iran, and I was going to ask him what nationality he was, when I realized...I said "you look really familiar" and he looked at me and said "Yeah, so do you" then I said his name..."Are you Mehrdad?" ..."Yes"...

um, we knew each other in 1983 and 84... in SLC, at the UofU...what are you doing in OGDEN?...two and a half decades later?

so...that was...well, it tickled me quite a bit, and sorta freaked me out, because this is the second blast from the past in three years, with a boyfriend from before HIM, calling me out of the blue in October of 2007. That is to say, in 07, an old flame from almost 30 years ago, called me up...and...and it just is strange how this seems to happen to me. *shrug*

One of the friends i was with had to go back to his place and get something that wouldn't fit in her car with all of us, and he gave her his phone number, which she passed to me this morning at church. Maybe we'll get caught up. I'd love to find out why he had:

a saddle
trench digging tools
a handicapped child's tricycle
a half dozen cowboy hats

out for sale in his yard sale. And I'd like to meet his wife/girlfriend and any kids he might have. And just find out how his life has been, someone I never EVER thought I'd see again! hm.

Today has been the usual. Up very early, shower, time with God (mostly asking Him about this thing with old flames...you know, I have yet to meet a GIRLFRIEND from 25 years ago, eh? )...so I spent some time with the Lord and went to church, had communion, took a client home from his church, went to SLC for the chapel service which was wonderful...we spent the whole time in prayer, and it was just exactly what we needed.

And my baby turns 16 tomorrow, which means getting the house clean in the morning...no way am I doing it in the heat...and wrapping up some gifts and having them all cute and laid out for when she gets up but the backyard is presentable,and I'll get the upstairs done early tomorrow...

but for now home, showered, sleepy. bedtime soon aaaah

[bunsofaluminum]

I am a changed person. Eating this way, and educating myself about the meat industry in this land, has made me a different person than the one who walked the earth in my skin one year ago...thus:

Yesterday was my baby's 16th birthday! It was loads of fun. I made a vegan cake, which didn't rise very well, but tasted really good. it was dense and chewy and not too sweet.

While shopping for party food (we threw a barbecue, and the Birthday Girl requested brats, and I also made hamburgers)...well, I went to walmart and grabbed a few little things, (bubble stuff, and water play stuff) along with the food.

Because I have been reading and finding out about things, I know how really nasty ground beef is. It is literally scraped together from the cuts of meat that can't be presented whole on the shelf: fat, gristle, some muscle...scraps is what. Scraps from many carcasses, with varying levels of bacteria...which they treat with chlorine (or something) so the germs can't grow.

Okay so it's REALLY GROSS. And I will never buy ground beef again, nor will I ever eat a burger at a fast food place (won't eat meat, anyway, but I will taste it on a feast day BUT NOT GROUND BEEF). It's just too gross. However, to provide the grilled burgers for the party, my plan was to buy a rump roast and have the butcher grind it up. The drawback to this plan being, I would have to make a second stop at a store that provides butcher service...

Well, I was in Walmart, late in the afternoon. The kids were home and I wanted to get there. What was stopping me from just grabbing everything, including the burger, and making only one stop? There was even a packet of 12 burger patties, for $14.00... and i even picked it up. Looking at that package NAUSEATED ME. I literally felt sick to my stomach. Felt like retching. But it would save me time, and it was only this once...and I couldn't do it. I even picked it up and put it in my cart...but turned around and put it back.

Couldn't. Do. It. It literally turned my stomach and I could NOT buy the stuff.

Instead, I finished at Walmart and then went to a local store, where they have a full-service butcher. Bought a rump roast, and the lad ground it up nicely for me. It didn't make me super happy to purchase meat, but at least I knew that all the burger in the package came from one animal and wasn't a conglomeration of nasty ends, tailings, and leavings, full of bacteria and treated with...anti-bacterial hand gel or something...blch.

I did a little feast type eating, with a piece of cake and the white bread bun for my "burger". But for myself I grilled a passel of veggies and a couple of portobello caps. Made a nice enough samwich with it. Did eat some potato chips, but more veggie stix. I think I did good, and we had a terrific time blowing bubbles and getting blasted with the super soaker.

Today's plan:

B: so far, it's been snap peas and grapes
L: rice w/black beans and grape toms from my garden
D: homemade minestrone soup, maybe. Depends how hot it is.

my weight did not go down for weigh in this week, and maybe is even up a bit but I'm just gonna keep on going. I'm committed to this, and though I haven't been able to stick to 100% compliance for a few weeks, I'm sure I'll get back in diet mode some time soon. My daughter and I will be going it together, after I get back from Boise. That'll help a LOT.

sayonara!

[sksamboots]

Sounds like you did great given the situation. Keep on keepin on

[kirstykay]

Glad you had fun celebrating your youngest's 16th!!!! Sounds like you had a great time. She must feel pretty special!!

Weird blasts from the past!! Maybe you're ready to live like you're young again??!! With your future ahead of you and the possibilities endless???? Embracing all your hopes and dreams...Don't know. God does! Good idea talking to Him about it! He'll show you.

You're amazing. You inspire me every time I read your journal!

[willing2believe]

What a great way to compromise between your beliefs and your daughters wishes for her birthday.

Lisa

[proverbs31woman]

It seems as if you are learning how to enjoy your life and this plan. Don't worry about the weight. You're in it for the long haul anyway. The weight will come off. Good job!

[Anna Green]

Buns, I just wanted to tell you that while I don't believe all the things you believe I so enjoy hearing about how your faith interacts with your life. It seems real to me. You seem authentic and I like that.

[bunsofaluminum]

Okay, I'm back from Boise. I can say that I didn't eat meat or dairy, but i did have some egg replacer for brekkie one time, and some easy over eggs w/a veggie/hashbrown stir=up at another brekkie.

There was a barbecue one night, and they made me some portobello mushrooms, which I ate with salad and a baked potato.

but I also ate hummus, mixed nuts, and a piece of cake w/chocolate glaze frosting and a creamy center...

Overall, it was three days of pretty feasty food, mixed with a lot of actually pretty good choices as far as I could.

But we found a restaurant this morning that had oatmeal on the menu (IHOP does NOT have such an item boo IHOP) which was like balm from Heaven! My digestive tract NEEDED that fiber.

And I ate regular good old solid healthy food for dinner. It feels good to be back, and with many reminders why I don't generally eat out.

and I'm wiped, so...

[bunsofaluminum]

Buns, I just wanted to tell you that while I don't believe all the things you believe I so enjoy hearing about how your faith interacts with your life. It seems real to me. You seem authentic and I like that.

Hi Anna

Yes, the Lord Jesus is the most important part of my life. He has been teaching me how to draw nearer to Him in the past three years or so...it took some MAJOR shaking up, but He is faithful and makes all things in my life good. I only wish I was better at practicing what I believe. You know, it is VERY uncool for a Christian, who is commanded to love even her ENEMIES, to engage in road rage! ha!

***

Okay, it's on for real now. I was quite the little glutton over my trip to Boise, munching on sweets and salty/crispies all the way up, eating salads with creamy ranch or bleu cheese dressings, even had easy over eggs one morning for brekkie and I gained four lbs!

this puts me at 199, which I HATE...but one of the things that we were called upon to do at this seminar was to fast and pray on Mondays. Fasting does a few things. You can give the time normally used for preparation and eating of a meal, to prayer, reading, contemplation, meditation. Also, it is a discipline, bringing the body under training for self-denial. And, I have found fasting to be humbling. I can get quite full of myself and thinking I'm all that...unless I am weak and tired from no food. Then my physical weakness, brought on by foregoing fuel, becomes a metaphor for my basic inability to "be good" reminding me that I need the goodness of Jesus Christ.

Well, I can't go without food altogether, it makes my heart race and I get really weak (and this is only since starting this way of eating, which I wonder what's up with that)...well, anyway. I had been thinking about going without lunch for a season...when it came to me:

eat only lunch, since it's the middle of the day and I'm busy at work, need the energy, and wouldn't be able to break away for contemplation, reading, or prayer anyway. Give breakfast and dinner to this prayer and fasting call, which opens up the whole morning without any food distractions, and the evening can be given to other things, as well (and prayer, too)

It does feel like I need to do a cleanse, after the rather junky way I've been eating, but I think that will clear up quickly. It felt SO GOOD to eat a bowl of oatmeal yesterday morning! ha!

Also, went for a 40 min walk this morning, which was very nice. It's a cool day aaaaaah.

and that's about all. I gotta get out the door for work.

WILL check up on others' journals this afternoon

[sksamboots]

Keep on keepin on