Losing Fat Friday

     Well I am not sure this title is any better than last week's. What do you think?  I am sure that there are going to be weeks that the scale is not always going to be headed in the right direction and boy would that title hurt then... moving on.

     Amazingly I actually lost 1.2 pounds this week. Old habits die hard and I'm a stress eater. This week was absolute proof that this is something I am going to struggle with for a long time to truly get under control.  Monday I ate not only my allotted daily points (43) and all of the 49 extra points we get every week but also the 3 activity points I earned and beyond.... think I was stressed?  It isn't as if we can plan on when we are going to stress eat and Monday proves just that. I had scheduled a roasted veggie salad for dinner ~ very low in points.  So before I even walked through the door at Chili's half of my daily allotted points were gone between breakfast, lunch and a snack. Despite drinking most of the points that night (dang those Long Island Iced Teas will get you one way or another) I was a bit proud of how I handled the food.  We didn't take the free unlimited chips and salsa, as I knew that would just add to my being even more out of control with the food.  Even though Chili's does offer a couple of entrees under 750 calories I did NOT want salad or grilled chicken.  We started off with our favorite Appetizer, their Triple Dipper, which came with 2 sliders, 3 loaded potato skins and 8 boneless buffalo wings.  That dish, including the three dipping sauces that come with it, is over 60 Points and for those unfamiliar with Weight Watchers over 2500 calories!! I'll admit that in the past we would have that and then split an entree.  Monday was no different. We ordered the Fajitas for our entree and when it came I didn't even want it.  Michael, who wasn't drinking one for one with me as someone had to be the designated driver, could barely finish the small one he made.  The kids were certainly happy when we brought home, which was almost a complete Triple fajita dinner that they gladly consumed quite quickly despite having eaten dinner, ah to be a teenager  So despite my completely blowing the day it wasn't as bad as it could have been,
     I wouldn't recommend anyone to eat like this on a regular basis and expect to lose weight weekly.  What I do believe is that this proves even when you do have an absolutely horrible, throw the plan out the window, points who cares about points day, the week is not a total loss.  The important thing is to get back on track the next day you can and will be successful.  That's the wonderful thing I am loving about Weight Watchers~ every day is a fresh start.

     This week's food find was a personal creation.  I absolutely loved the Strawberry Poppy Seed Chicken Salad that Panera had this summer and with it being only 6 points (w/o dressing) I ate it at least twice a week. I was recently crushed to learn that it is seasonal and no longer being offered :( Their fall offering is a Roasted Turkey Harvest Salad. I have now eaten this twice and just can't embrace it.  To start off with I'm not a huge Turkey person.  I dislike turkey so much that the only day I cook one is on Thanksgiving and then it's usually the smallest I can find.  Secondly the salad is 14 points!!! HOLY SHAMBOLI!!  The reason being they've added cheese and dried fruits to this salad which are high in points.  However it was not a complete  loss as I absolutely loved the dressing they used ~ cherry balsamic vinaigrette.
     I recently learned that Target carries Panera dressings, however this flavor I couldn't find.  FYI you'll find the dressings in the refrigerated section.  Not to be dismayed I was determined to create a version of the harvest salad at home for dinner.   Thinking that this was probably no different than the raspberry vinaigrette we all love I went to the frozen food section and grabbed a small bag of frozen pitted cherries.  Once home I made my basic balsamic vinaigrette, OK it is actually Emeril's. I then added half the bag of cherries and placed it in the microwave for 5 minutes @ 50%.  I removed the dressing and smashed the cherries a bit and cooked it for another 5 minutes @ 50%.  I'm a big low and slow cooker even with my microwave.  I then placed the dressing in the blender and blended until smooth.  This yielded almost 2 cups of dressing.  Knowing we wouldn't eat it all and not sure how well it would keep I used 1 1/2 cups as a marinade on the chicken.  I prefer to cook with skinless chicken thighs and this was more than enough to cover the 6 pieces I had.  I'm proud to announce this was very successful, so much in fact the family would like it to be a weekly salad night offering (woo-hoo).
     I also wanted to mention my new fascination with froze as a whole.  Like many households I usually have some frozen fruit on hand for smoothies and other various (possibly alcoholic) drinks.  These last few weeks I've been using them regularly for my morning yogurt and granola breakfast.  Chances are many of you are shaking you heads thinking DUH where have you been and I totally agree it was a duh moment when I realized what I was missing out on.  Instead of putting the fruit in the freezer when I get home it goes straight into the fridge.  Over the next couple of mornings I get to spoon juicy, glorious berries into my bowl!  After my success with the Cherry Dressing I am considering playing with other frozen fruits and seeing what I can come up with.

   So all in all a pretty good week.  I'll admit to being a bit disappointed when my loss was 1.2 but that's only because if it had been 1.4 that would have meant I hit the 30 pound mark!!! Here's to getting another 5 pound star next week :)

Oh Panera you gave my food GPS :)

     If you've been a follower of this blog you know two things for sure.

1. I frequent Panera quite often.  
2. I am very easily entertained.

   So when the two were combined you can imagine my happiness


  In all actuality this post is about the latest in restaurant service but it really entertained me.  Over the last year or so Panera has changed the way they serve their customers.  Originally when you placed your order at the counter and were handed a pager.  You retrieved your food when your pager went off.  Then they decided to go more personal.  When you placed your order you were given a number stand to place on your table and your food was delivered to you.  You'd see the servers walking around trying to find number 5.  I would watch as people would put the numbers on chairs, the floor, one mom had put the stand in her diaper bag.  (See I really do get entertained watching people).
     Well now my food finds my via GPS.  When you place your order you get a pager that looks like the kind that used to light up.  HOWEVER this "Table Tracker" is completely different.  You are given a device, similar to the older pagers, and told to place it your table when you sit down.  This also starts a timer on your order, the idea being your food should arrived even quicker.  When the device hits the table a number on it's top becomes illuminated.  So of course when my server found my food I had to ask how he found me.  There are strips attached to the underside of each table that transmit back to the computer in the servers area.  Back in the servers area the order and table are matched up so the servers know exactly where to go.  Just to make it even better because I am a member of Panera's loyalty club when my food was delivered I was greeted by name.
    Now come on you have to admit it GPS for your food is kinda cool.  And I'll admit that in days gone by I would have had fun moving my tracker to different tables or keep lifting it up and down just to entertain myself which would have definitely annoyed the servers.
    Oh heads up~ Panera has added 3 pastas to their menu.  Today I had the tortellini and it was really good.  The sauce wasn't incredibly heavy and the fresh herbs really set it off.  A small serving is incredibly filling.  I usually get a pick two so I partnered this up with their grilled chicken salad and barely finished either!!
   I so love Panera....

Please control your child (of course mine is perfect)

  People watching is such a fun pastime.  Sometimes I wonder if this is the reason reality TV is such a hit, we just love when people "share" the real side of themselves.  My Dad would often walk the mall for the sole purpose of entertainment.

     School starts next week so of course I am cramming all sorts of appointments for the kids into this week.  We started with Meg having a long ortho- appointment followed by Patrick's wedding rehearsal all in the same area.  So to kill time in-between we went to my favorite little haven...Panera.  Both kids had their summer reading books with them; one almost done the other has such a long way to go so everyone could stay busy once done eating.  Panera at lunch time is quite the busy place which equals great stories to share LOL.

1.      I get it that a lot of people choose Panera not only because they have free Wi-Fi but they also provide electrical outlets.  Every table doesn't provide access to an outlet so as you can imagine people tend to scope those wanted seats out.  One of the primo spots is a little alcove.  It offers 4 outlets for 4 tables.  (One outlet per table is my thought)  The tables are small and I think pretty much designed for you, your food and your laptop.  So I had my plan, eat lunch, work on blog, leave Meg at Panera while I run Patrick around the corner to church, return to Panera work some more then pick-up Patrick and head home.  Looks good on paper right!  Only thing needed was a table by a precious outlet. Happy to find tables open in the alcove this morning the kids and I head over there.  Ready to set up my laptop I quickly discover that the woman sitting in the corner table is using 2 of them.  One for her laptop and one for her phone.   OK I don't need to use my laptop right away and there are people using the other plugs.  After an hour (during which she never moved or ate anything) I asked the woman if I could please use one of the outlets.  ~~You know where this is going don't you.  She actually sighed and checked her devices, thought about it for a moment and said "If you really need to use one I guess so" OH MY GUCCI Really!! First off what phone needs to charge more than an hour, and who knows how long she was there before me.  Secondly what makes your electrical needs more important than mine!!  So I didn't say any of this and very nicely asked which plug would she like me to disconnect.  Again she had to think!!  Don't you know that as soon as we left she hopped back up and plugged her phone back in!!  I've named her Narcise
2.      We all view our children through different eyes than we see others, it is a simple parenting fact (if it isn't then it is now).  I am my kids’ greatest advocate as well as their harshest critic.  I don't believe my kids are perfect ~ how boring that would be.  So keeping that in mind let me introduce you to the Carp family.  The three generations of females I met today have some serious world-view issues.  Grandma Carp was accidentally kicked by a toddler who was being carried.  The offending parent quickly apologized for the child's swinging legs. No quicker had the shamed woman left weaving in and out of chairs trying to find a table does Grandma very UNQUIETLY(yes I made that word up) say: maybe you should stop the child from swinging her legs into other people.  REALLY ~~ you're right. When that woman carried her child into Panera she was actually participating in a secret game where you get points for every person you can get your child to kick!!  However Grandma Carp's little girl is of course an angel.  Returning with drinks for the table her sweet granddaughter (maybe 3) quite boldly states I could have done that myself.  What does Momma Carp do?  Does she tell Little Carp to say thank you to Grandma?  No, she says "I'm sorry honey Grandma didn't know!" Then lunch arrives.  Since they have sat down both elder Carps have wiped the table clean.  After the server puts the three plates they then ask her to please come back and clean the table. While she is doing this the little girl proceeds to open her cup and pour her drink on the table.  Instead of jumping to help with the mess like most people would Grandma Carp proudly exclaims to the busy server "Look sweetie she's helping you!” UMMM!!  last time I checked Sprite wasn't a cleaning product.  This poor girl has to clean around the 3 females holding their plates and drinks and stop the flow of sprite.  At this point I offered some napkins to help.  During the rest of the meal the Carps kept commenting on other "misbehaved" children in Panera and how other families' kids weren't as smart, pretty or tall as their Carp.  This was in-between letting Little Carp to eat cookies and chips before her peanut butter sandwich which wasn't as good as we make at home.  And of course a planned trip to the soda fountain.
3. The final introduction I'd like to make today is to the  Dissimulo Family.  This isn't the first time I've met them.  In fact I've run into members of this extended family quite frequently. You too I am sure must have met them when you're out and about.  It is the family where everyone is texting or talking to someone on the phone while eating dinner together.  I don't get it.  What is the point of sitting down to a meal if you are not only going to ignore each other but spend that time conversing with Panera others?  I'll admit the three of us weren't constantly engaging each other while at Panera but we also weren't being ignored for someone who wasn't present. (maybe throwing around the highlighter wasn't my proudest parenting moment but I only brought one)  The rule in my house is NO phones at the table. That applies to everyone even guests.  We recently took one of the kids' friends to dinner with us.  Despite repeated requests Miss Dissimulo couldn't stop texting ~no more invites for her.  One of Meg's teachers had the best comment:  Do you really think we don't know you're texting when you keep looking at your lap and smiling?

I am sure that somewhere at some point in time my family and I have been the focus of people watching.  If we were ..... I hope we made you laugh :0)

Old Meets New

     100+ years ago village women gathered for a quilting bee....40 years ago moms had their coffee clutches.  Then it was taking Jazzercise classes together followed by going for frozen yogurt.  The new millennium brought the coffee clutch back but instead of meeting in some one's home after they get the kids to school they meet at the local Starbucks.  Well tonight I have seen it come full circle.
     When we need to kill some time on "the Island" (Fleming Island for all you not in the know lol) we drag our laptop and hang out at Panera.  Well tonight we did change our routine up a bit. After we dropped the kids off at church (woo hoo all 3) we parked our cars and took a nice 45 minute walk around Eagle Harbor.  Applause please considering I did PT today this really was an accomplishment.  After our walk I volunteered to hang out on the island while Michael went home.  Settled in at Panera I planned on spending the 2 hours playing games and reading blogs but here I am sharing these precious moments with you because this is too cool not to share....
     There is a group of a dozen + women sitting together at Panera.  They've had to pull tables together to fit them all.  So what would this varied group of women with ages ranging from what I would guess to be young 20s to 60+ be doing???? Knitting!! That's right here in the middle of  2011 a group of women are knitting.  This is where it gets even better.  I figured maybe they were from one of the communities around here or possibly one of the churches.  NO these ladies found each other on the Internet.  I kid you not.  So in my lame brain I'm trying to envision a yarn lover's version of match.com.  Couldn't you imagine those ads.. Knit one pearl two WE'LL find a new friend for you!! (Obviously advertising is not one of my fortes) 
    They met through a website called meetup.com  This website is devoted to helping people meet up with others of similar interests!! To show you how out of it I am there are 389 groups with over 40,000 members in 13 countries around the world simply devoted to knitting.  Who knew!!
So have you been to this site?  When the home page comes up it gives you multiple options...where to you live, what are you interested in?  So I decided to have some fun and found myself wanting to join more groups then I could possibly really participate in.  Granted the more rural you live the less choices you have but still I advise a gander.
    So what do you think our grandmas from the 1800's would think of this group here at Panera?  I think they'd order the Broccoli-Cheddar soup and swap out their favorite sweater patterns!

     (Secret: I may have seemed a little stalkerish as I keep staring over at their table absolutely amazed at what they're doing.... Oh how I have always wanted to learn to knit)