This Week's Weight Loss

Well friends, I lost 3.2 pounds this week. Total so far, 14.2 pounds. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

A Couple of Finds

Whenever we go to Atlanta to the Gift Mart, we always do a little antiquing along the way. My boss had picked up these 2 firkins at an antique mall. I don't think they were really old, but I have had my eye on them for a while now. Day after day, I would watch them, just sitting in the workshop gathering dust. One day I couldn't take it anymore, so I finally decided to give them a home. I painted the bottom one Sandstone and the top one Cinnamon. Both Delta Ceramcoat paints. Then I put on a coat of Briwax. I love that stuff. I want to use it on everything now! Someday, I would love to have a big stack of these...

Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche

Since I started Weight Watchers, I am searching for some really good recipes. This one came from the Weight Watchers website. I was skeptical at first, but this is really good. So I thought I would share this with my friends.

Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche

6 oz pie crust, 9-inch, refrigerated
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup(s) red onion(s), chopped
1 1/4 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 large egg(s)2 large egg white(s)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp table salt, or more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or more to taste
10 oz frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well-drained
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Press pie crust into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch, removable-bottom tart pan or a 9-inch pie pan; refrigerate until ready to use.To make filling, heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Transfer onion to a large bowl and add ricotta cheese, cheddar cheese, egg, egg whites, mustard, oregano, salt and pepper; mix well and fold in broccoli. Spoon mixture into prepared crust and level surface with a wooden spoon; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake until a knife inserted near center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving. One serving is 5 points.

Weight Watcher Update

I just wanted to drop in quickly and give you all an update on my progress at Weight Watchers. I am down 11 pounds since October 21. Man, is it going slow. I have to keep telling myself that I didn't gain this weight overnight, and it certainly won't come off overnight either. I reached my first goal of 5% weight loss. I will try to post more later. I have actually worked on some of my thrift store finds this past week!

Just Some Random Things

Well, here it has been so long since I posted, again. Things have been crazy here. Sadie's toe is continuing to improve. Thank God, finally. We have been going to the vet everyday for bandage change. Tuesday started everyother day. Hopefully when we go Saturday, we can get the darn thing off. It has been two weeks today that she had her surgery, so hopefully the stitches are ready to come out. This whole ordeal has been exhausting. We live on a hill, to get to the backyard, you have to go downstairs to our walkout basement. No stairs for Sadie. So we have to stay upstairs. I have been sleeping on the floor now for 2 weeks. Anybody else that crazy about their dog that they would do that? Please please say yes. So we also can't get the thing wet. The vet took an IV bag and made me a cover. Those IV bags are durable. We have been walking on that thing for 2 weeks now and it is still intact. Anyway, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

To add to the exhaustion, we are having open house at The Heart of Newburgh this weekend. I was so excited that Halloween was on a Saturday this year. But then when the boss said open house was November 5, 6 & 7, it hit me. YIKES, we have less than a week to take the shop from Halloween to full out Christmas. Oh talk about crazy. Yesterday was the first day of open house and so far so good. We have so much Christmas, I hope we sell it all!

Then, crazy me, decided to have a party for the workers from our Greytfest. We are always working, so we never get to bring out dogs. Hey, we have a big yard, lots of room for parking, let's have a picnic here! Everyone bring your dogs and a covered dish and we will have a blast! Well, fun times were had by all. We had 22 greyhounds (nobody has just one), one afghan hound and one irish wolfhound!

Someone was trying to get out of the gate. They all kept trying to follow whenever someone wanted to go out by the fire!

This fellow here, Bluto, was staying with us while his family went on a trip. He is one sweet boy! Ahh, he loves me! Anyway, a greyt time was had by all. It always fun to see the hounds playing together. And you would think with all those hounds, there would be lots of noise. Nope, there was hardly a peep from anyone!

On the weight-loss, I was down a little over 2 pounds this week. Kind of disappointed, but I have to be realistic and remember I didn't gain this weight in a year, this has been coming on for about 20 years now. Oh yeah, and I totally passed up decorated sugar cookies, spiced cider and pumpkin bread at the open house. Man that was hard.

Toes...continued

Oh my goodness! I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. Well my Sadie has gone backwards. We had to have the infection removed and stitched up. Thought that took care of it, but at Thursday's bandage change, the stitches had pulled out. So we were referred to Metropolitan Vet Specialists in Louisville. Sadie has been there before. She goes there for her heart issues.

After begging, I got an appointment on Friday. First, we had to check the heart. But I was totally expecting her to lose the toe. After tests on the heart, she couldn't tolerate being under anesthesia for very long. Plan B. They went in and cleaned out the wound and stitched it up again. But this time, a splint was placed on the leg, so the toes can't move. I am very thankful she didn't lose the toe. Her heart, however, isn't as good as it was in January. We are waiting on bloodwork to check her digoxin levels and see about changing her meds. Meanwhile, I am at the vet everyday again for bandage changes. A couple of weeks ago, they offered me a uniform. I may have to take them up on it!

On a personal note. I decided last week to join Weight Watchers. I have been thinking about it for a while now. My mood has been kind of foul these days, so I thought maybe if I lost some weight, I might feel better about things. I am debating about doing a follow along with my weight loss. I just don't know how I feel about putting my weight out there. I have done well this week as far as writing down what I eat and being truthful about it. Hope it pays off. Weigh in is Wednesday.

Toe Woes

It seems the toes around here are just not safe. Two weeks ago Tuesday, hubs came home at lunch to clean out the gutter (we had a major leak in the kitchen) and Sadie severly dislocated her toe while on his watch. The toe had completely folded over and was stuck in the next toe. So we were at the vet every day for bandage changes. One day she used orange vet wrap, so I decided to get festive and make a pumpkin face. So at the next bandage change, they tried to out do mine. Here is my sweet girl Sadie being a good sport.

Well, the bandage came off last Monday and we thought we were out of the woods. But Friday proved differently. She started licking the foot and upon examination, there was an infection in there. Now during all this she had been on anti-biotic, but after a day and half, she got violently ill. So we had to discontinue that treatment. After an anti-biotic injection, and keeping the bandage changed daily and keeing it dry, we thought we were out of the woods. So now we are trying a different anti-biotic and cleaning the wound 3 times a day. Keep your paws crossed that this takes care of it.

To my loyal followers, I must apologize for my lack of posting. It just seems that I am really lacking motivation to do anything these days. My dogs seem to be my only interest right now. Most of you know how much I love Halloweeen, but I just can't get into it this year. I don't have my decorating done and can't get any inspiration to do it. Things are just out of whack right now.