by Tish MacWebber | Jan 2, 2018 | Weekend Warrior
Hello Weekend Warriors! I know I am a little late posting this, but I am happily writing this for my new website location. My Blog has moved, and although I am in the process of organizing the new website, I am happy to be able to post my new stories from the new location.
OK. My weekend was busy, and I did more than just launch my new website, and close the old Blog with an invitation to join me here at the website.
Saturday started with a late breakfast out with friends. I like Skillets for breakfast. They consist of hashbrowns, grilled with onions, or deep fried, with scrambled eggs, sometimes veggies, choice of breakfast meat, and cheese. If you order one that is an Eggs Benedict style, then it will have Hollandaise sauce. I fell in love with them years ago at a Restaurant called Smitty’s. They no longer have a Smitty’s here, but there are other places that serve Skillets for breakfast.
A few weeks ago, I had breakfast with my husband at Cannon’s Cross Pub. Their Skillet pleasantly surprised me, and I quite enjoyed it. Since then I have had one at The Coffee Mill, and this past weekend, at Porter’s Diner. The last two did not impress me nearly as much as the first one.
If the onions are not cooked, it takes away from the meal. If the potatoes are fried and almost burned, it’s no good. I will not order a skillet at either of these two places again. They have other items on the menu, and I have liked other meals in both restaurants. I will not go back for a Skillet, though.
Smitty’s has a Texas Skillet that I make at home. It is like nachos on hashbrowns. I love it, and make it frequently for us as a supper, without the eggs-at his request. So there is taco meat, tomato, green onion, (eggs – I scramble them when I make it with eggs) cheese, salsa, and sour cream. It is delicious.
Saturday after we got home, we didn’t do too much. I worked on my website, and he watched tv and occupied himself on his computer. Typical night home for us, we do this a lot.
Sunday we got our candy wrappers together and cashed them in for 2 free admissions to go see a movie. We went to see Star Wars. I do not want to spoil it here, and it was good, but there were some things that didn’t seem to fit with the Saga. It was bittersweet, seeing it so close to the anniversary of the deceased Carrie Fisher, who played the iconic role of Princess Leia. It was nice to see it, but sad knowing that she is gone.
Sunday night we went to a house party to ring int he new year with friends. I had made deviled eggs, and we also brought cheese and Triscuit crackers to share. There was chili, but the chili there is always too spicy for my taste. There was a table full of food, and we ate, drank, and played Toto’s Africa almost on time to wish the Blessings of Rain to Africa (a line in the song) at exactly midnight. There was a 5-second delay. I hereby declare that it was an unintentional Broadcast Delay, like the one for Live TV. 😉 I really tried, but the whiskey caused a delay in me getting it to start on time. Yeah, that was it, the Whiskey Broadcast Delay. LOL!
I had the Gibson’s Finest Rare Canadian Whiskey ( there is an age verifier on their website…) which I mixed with both Pepsi (OK) and Sussex Golden Ginger Ale (amazing) which you can only buy here, in the Maritimes. Canada Dry is my 2nd favourite Ginger ale. I do drink Zevia Ginger ale when I am trying to be smarter with my choices, but not on New Year’s Eve.
I had also brought the bottle of Pollen Angels Scuttlebutt Mead made locally here. I brought that one to share, and a couple of my friends sampled it with me. Now I know that sounds like a lot of drinking, and I was a little wobbly after midnight. However, I have a secret weapon for surviving a night of partying. I make sure to have water, and an electrolyte drink before going to bed. That usually does the trick for me and since a hangover is basically a major case of dehydration, I have found this to be a trustworthy cure for the avoidance of a hangover. It is never good to drink in excess, of course, and you should be mindful of snacking while drinking of you are a diabetic like me.
We rang in the new year with friends, and as my husband is not as fond of drinking as I am (I am from Cape Breton, it is kind of a requirement) and also because he had to work on New Year’s Day ( I am so thankful that I didn’t have to!) he was my designated driver that got us home safely. I am also a strong advocate for planning ahead, to make sure that people travel safely. Better safe than sorry. It is too bad that people still think it is OK to drive after drinking, I don’t. If you ever wondered about it, try having a few and playing a racecar video game. Unless you are some kind of unique person, you will see why it is never good to drink and drive. On a video game, you can start over. Not in real life.
Monday was still the weekend for me as I had the holiday off. I spent the day doing laundry, running the dishwasher, and building my new website. I am happy to be able to share it with you all and look forward to watching the stats climb here like they did for the blog, on the old blog site.
How did you ring in the New Year?
#WeekendWarrior
by Tish MacWebber | Dec 29, 2017 | Trust Your Gut
The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name. If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story. The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors. I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.
This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.
Here is Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 44
I have been doing okay with my food choices this week. Not perfect, but okay. I indulged in some chocolates and now they are gone. I bought chocolate ice cream, and haven’t gotten into it yet. When I did buy it, I looked really hard at the larger sized bucket, as it was less than a $2 cost difference between the one I ended up buying, and the larger one. I am fine with treats as long as they aren’t around all of the time. If they are, I make them disappear…and reappear in places like my chin! I want to learn to stop making the magic of this type from happening. It is a time for a new magic trick. And that different kind of chocolate that I have been craving. Diamonds, darling, I am setting my sights on chocolate diamonds.
I have mentioned this to my husband but I don’t know how seriously he took my comments. I am aiming for a time about six months from now. I am going to set a goal, and if I make it by my birthday, I am going to get a reward that I can happily show off to the world. What better incentive can I make? Well, I will be needing to add to my collection once I get it started. I would rather collect diamonds than pounds, so it is a great thing to work for.
I haven’t set the goal yet. I want to be realistic. So let’s do the math. Ugh. 6 months. The average healthy weight loss goals have always been 2 pounds a week. 6 months have 4 weeks each. Multiply that by 2 pounds a week and you get 48. I am going to round it up to 50. So the goal I am setting for myself is realistic. I am undergoing a change in my day job starting next week, and I will be missing my Zumba for a while. In the winter, but I have a plan. As I am ALWAYS THINKING…
I have decided that I am going to workout at home. I know a few of the Zumba moves by heart for some of the songs. I have a step here too, for exercise so I can mix it up. I may even start a third day of exercise a week. I want to say more than 3 days a week, but I am not going to push myself so hard that I just give up. That is not the way I want to approach this change in my schedule. I want to do what I can, on my own, and then when I do get back to Zumba, I will not be so far out of shape that I have to build myself up to where I am now in my fitness level. See, ALWAYS THINKING…
In the spring, I still want a dog. If it isn’t a chocolate lab, that is OK. I will love any dog we take home. A dog means I will have to take it for walks. Walks are good for me, but I do not want to go just because of me. If I have a dog, I will need to go, because the dog will be needing this to happen. More than once a day. I live in a trailer court, and it is well kept. It is a nice place to live, and lots of people have dogs here. I would have a regular route to walk a dog on twice a day, and I think that is a fantastic goal to work towards. I know, I have written about these things before, but I am still aiming for them.
What are your goals for living a healthier lifestyule in 2018?
#TrustYourGut
by Tish MacWebber | Dec 25, 2017 | Weekend Warrior
Merry Christmas Weekend Warrior Readers! I am writing a day late as I am off today, and Christmas day just happens to be on a Monday this year. Which means New Year’s Day will also be on a Monday. That means 2 three day weekends, and 2 four day work weeks. Yahoo!
Friday night was spent shopping for coffee, and liquor. My husband wanted a bottle for Christmas, and I got him what he wanted. I also bought 2 bottles of wine (1 a week is my usual wine shopping plan) and I wanted a little something extra. I looked really hard at the Writers Tears Irish Whiskey bottles. There are three kinds, a Writers Tears Copper Pot, a Writers Tears Red Head, and a Writers Tears Cask Strength. I have tried the Copper Pot, and it was very good. I want to try the Red Head next, as the expert at the store recommended it as his favourite. When I am a Best Selling Author, maybe then I can splurge to try the Cask Strength. It is the most expensive of the trio.
I bought a new to me kind of wine. I had never heard about Cabernet Franc. I purchased two bottles, and they were $13 and $30 respectively. The less expensive bottle was enjoyed last night, and it was good. I am curious to see if the more expensive bottle is a different quality or not. I will be making a Facebook live video when I try new wines now, as something I am learning about as I try to find THE ONE. At that time, I will make my own in that same style. Roy said I wouldn’t be able to keep doing my videos and reviews if I did that. I enlightened him. I will then switch to white wine. 😉 Champagne will have to wait for me to be able to afford it. But there are always options.
This morning I decided that it would also be fun to do Facebook Live video reviews of the different coffees I try. I love coffee too, so why not? People seem to like these ideas so I will start with the one I bought on sale Friday night. Jingle Java. It sounds like fun!
Saturday we did a bit of grocery shopping after I joined some friends for a breakfast at Houlie’s. It was a ladies breakfast, and it was nice. I then joined one of the ladies for a trip to the mall. I went for the walk. She had a few things to get, and I had fun hanging out and commenting on the fun things we saw. I rarely go to the mall anymore, and it was fun to just go hang out at the mall. It is not something that I did as a teenager, like a lot of you would have done. It was an hour drive each way to go to the smaller mall of the two cities I had a choice between in Cape Breton, growing up, so it wasn’t a regular thing we were able to do.
Saturday was also the day to get groceries. In the two different stores we went to this weekend, they were sold out of turkeys. (I had to think of how to spell that one, -ies or -ys) By the time we finished, the weather had turned a little nasty. Freezing rain is not pleasant to walk or drive in.
Sunday involved a quick run out to the store for a few missed items, and that was all we did. I watched some tv and movies. I had my wine. It was a nice relaxing day.
Today is my bonus day off this week. I am going to make some veggies to go with the chicken I cooked last night, and get the kitchen back into working order. I cook, the food is great, I don’t like cleaning it up.
I dressed up and played with makeup again. You should expect a second Makeup Monday story soon. It may not be long, but it will have makeup and a pic of me in my new dress as well. 🙂 Merry Christmas, and keep on winning the weekends, folks. You make the best use of your time, and you will win them all, too!
What did you do this weekend?
#WeekendWarrior
by Tish MacWebber | Dec 21, 2017 | Trust Your Gut
The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name. If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story. The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors. I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.
This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.
Here is Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 43
43, just like me! Sometimes, when I look at the number of the story I am writing, I just have to shake my head. I am still coming up with ideas, so I am still going to keep writing. Sometimes the stories are short, and other times I ramble on a little long, but there is usually a point or a lesson, or a laugh somewhere in it, right?
This story starts with my Zodiac sign. I was born in July, and that makes my sign Cancer, the Crab. It aligns with my fascination for water. I don’t like that it is called cancer, but I didn’t name it. I just live with it, and try to navigate life with all the knowledge I can gather. I have friends that believe in many different things, and that is fine by me. I don’t necessarily believe everything I read about the sign I am under, but it is fun to read my horoscopes once in a while.
Why am I writing about this? Well, I got to thinking this week that I have that sign, and years ago when I met my husband, I told him that I had a wall. To protect me from the rest of the world. It took time to build up the trust to let him in, to where my heart is. I have no regrets, we are still very much a united front in marriage, and he is my bull. His sign is Taurus. We are a good fit for each other.
I was thinking like I ALWAYS do, and I thought that the crab has a shell, like the metaphorical wall I used to keep around myself for protection. So in a way, the two are the same. But what does the shell do for the crab?
It keeps it from getting hurt. It keeps other animals from having crab legs for lunch. The world can be cruel and harsh, and the fear of being eaten alive, either literally for the crab, or metaphorically for me, is a real fear.
I have spent a lot of time keeping things to myself, over the years. When I started the blog, I also started putting myself out there. I write about how I am feeling, what I am doing, and whatever else I happen to think up.
The protective shell, physically, for a morbidly obese person, is fat. Layers and layers of fat. It doesn’t deflect every mean word or thing that it encounters. But if you are quiet, and try to stay under the radar, by just being a blob in the corner, you can minimize the number of attacks that you could encounter by hiding within it. It is almost like jello, but not everything bounces off the surface like it would after the jello is set.
My layers of fat are set. I have had them for years. I have hidden inside them for the majority of my life. It is not healthy, but it is the comfort that I know.
I know it isn’t easy to be a morbidly obese person. I know it might surprise you that I go to Zumba twice a week, every week that I can. I know it would be easier to just not care and eat my way into an early grave.
Do you hear that? It is a teeny, tiny little version of myself that is squeaking to get out. It wants to be free and to be healthy. It wants me to do the work, and be proud of myself for every little bit of progress that I make. I went to Zumba twice this week, even though my seasonal depression (which is not officially diagnosed) is starting to kick me into hibernation mode. It is cold outside. I might fall down, again. I am almost recovered from falling a week and a half ago. I got back up. I was bruised, but not broken. I am tougher than I look. Which was pretty bad about a week ago. I don’t want to go into the land of ice and snow at all, anymore. I am scared to fall down.
I got back up. Every morning that I fight my way out of dreamland and my warm bed to face a new day is just the same thing for me. It is a struggle, but I do it, every day.
One day I won’t be able to. I used to worry about that day a lot more than I do now. I am proud of what I have done, and I am setting some goals for the upcoming year. I have started cooking healthier food again. I am trying, and then I am doing the things that I need to do.
The easy way is lazy, cowardly, and hidden under layers of morbidly obese fat. I am tired of hiding. It is time to let my inner glow have a turn at making me shine for all the world to see. I am going to work harder on myself than I ever have before, in 2018. There are things I want to accomplish before my time is done, and I am determined (stubborn) enough to fight to get them done.
#TrustYourGut
by Tish MacWebber | Dec 15, 2017 | Trust Your Gut
The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name. If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story. The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors. I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.
This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.
Here is Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 42
I got creative in the kitchen, yesterday. It has been a while. I made brown rice and added fresh mushrooms, green onion, and leftover roast beef in it. I used hoisin sauce. It was in the cupboard, so I used it. It made supper for 2 last night, and my lunch today. I have a little roast beef and green onion left for my roast beef special sandwich for lunch tomorrow. I really love roast beef, green onion, tomato, mayo and A1 sauce done up like a roast beef salad sandwich. My mom named it The Roast Beef Special, and I make it every time I cook a roast beef in the oven.
It has been a busy year for me. I have been working hard on the book, the website, the organizing, the blog, and building my business from the ground up. I have spent hours working on all of these things, but I think I forgot something along the way. Me. My health. I got lazy.
It is so much easier to be lazy and not do the work needed to live a healthier lifestyle. I have lost and gained. I am again scared to weigh myself. I am just not wanting to know the bad news. I am getting back into the practice of making better choices. I have to. My health depends on it.
I have had to work on the insulin levels again. That means I am doing better, when I start having lows it means I am needing to lower the dose. That means my body is responding to the things that I am doing right.
We are on the edge of a food-centered holiday. I am not sure how well I will do. On one hand, I can make treats and try to stick to the THM plan. It is a good way to try to plan ahead. There will be times, though when I will not be in control of the meal, and I will have to make the best choices that I can at the time. Other times I will make things that I know will be good choices to have to eat when I can. So I do have a plan. Sort of.
I also need to start making the moonshine again. Yes, you read that right. THM has a recipe for Good Girl Moonshine. GGMS as it is called, has water, apple cider vinegar, and ginger with a sweetener in it. I add Black Cherry Berry Celestial Seasonings tea to mine. I really enjoy drinking it, and it makes you run to release it if you catch my drift. I have learned that I should not drink it during the day while I am at work. I can have it after work and on the weekends, though. I bought a mason jar with a spout just for the GGMS. I think it is time for a test run. I need to start making little changes now so that I will be on track for 2018.
Have you started thinking about New Year’sResolutions yet? I have, and I will get them organized and plan things out better this year. I did a lot in 2017. What do I want to accomplish in 2018? More. I want to take everything I have done in 2017 and do it better in 2018. It is a place to start, and to build on. That is something I can do, start with little things, and push my limits and go for everything. One thing at a time, then another, and another. I have to start somewhere, and I am not going to wait. The only one that loses out if I keep putting things off is me. And the only thing I want to lose is weight. The time is now.
#TrustYourGut
