Ham and sand sandwiches
Thursday, July 1st, 2010We’ve moved! We’re no longer in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. We now live on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. It’s absolutely beautiful here. Great climate, friendly people and lots to see and do.
Mooloolaba seems to fit us perfectly. We’re living on the canal to the ocean and we’re less than 5 minutes from the dog friendly park and the mile of dogs off leash beach.
Yesterday we decided to go for a quick lunch on the beach with Charlie, our cavoodle. He loves to chase the frisbee and he loves to swim – perfect combination. So we made some sandwiches and headed to the beach.
After laying out the blanket I got our lunch out while my hubby tossed the frisbee. He sat down and we started eating and Charlie decided to go for a quick swim. He ran up to us with a great doggy smile and shook sand and water all over us — and our sandwiches.
We had a great time but I think we’ll do the eating before we do the frisbee throwing and swimming.
Today we went to the dog friendly park about 4pm just to take a break. We took the frisbee and he caught it until he was really tired — then over the rocks he went and into the river (that leads to the ocean). Thankfully we weren’t eating and there are picnic tables that the dog shakings won’t reach.
Hopefully we’ll have the house put together soon. At the moment our garage is packed to the rafters with so much crap that we can’t get the cars inside. My next job is to organize a garage sale. We have a plot of grass that’s about 3′ x 12′. It’s small enough that I could cut the grass with scissors. Everything else is landscaped garden beds covered in mulch.
Wish me luck!
In spite of the torn cartilege on my rib, I’m doing well with limiting my portion sizes because I KNOW this is the secret to taking weight off. I’m still doing yoga and I’ve started back at the gym. Charlie and I went for a nice walk yesterday too. He’s missed our daily walks because he must have sniffed every blade of grass on the side of the road.
Comfort foods reduce stress. It’s official. What we emotional eaters have known for years. Now if they could tell us how to reduce stress without eating, I’d be much happier — and thinner.
I was determined not to overeat on Thanksgiving. Ok, I know I’m in New Zealand but while you can take the woman out of America, you can’t take the America out of the woman. So I always have Thanksgiving dinner. This year WAS different for me.
For those of us who are trying mightily to lose weight, we often dread the holidays because we know from past experience how those old familiar smells will get to us. Think about walking in to your family home and smelling the freshly baked bread and pumpkin pie just out of the oven. It not only brings the sensation that you really want to eat some, it brings back memories of a happy time. Researchers will tell us that smell is one of the biggest things that can recall memories.
If you’re overweight and trying to reduce, does it sometimes feel that all you think about is food? Not just food but everything around diet and exercise? I do. It seems that when I’m really concentrating on losing weight it’s like it’s a full time job. Every waking moment is filled with anxiety if I eat too much or being hungry if I eat too little or wondering how much more exercise I’d need if I ate that muffin.
I don’t know about you, but I know why I’m fat. I eat too much. I eat the wrong foods and I don’t get enough exercise. That’s what all the experts tell us over and over again. Why? because they’re right.
I was in a forum discussion the other day and we were all talking about how much food costs now and what foods we really should have in the house all the time. We shared how much we were spending on our weekly food shop and comparing prices from area to area.