Time to Plug in Those Lights

          This year we are keeping it simple. We go all out for Halloween, but for Christmas, on my street, simple is better. Our neighbors have officially gone crazy with the lights. We are talking in the thousands strung up. There is no way I can compete with that, so simple is better. Past years we have put up lots of lights and inflatables, but this year is a nope LOL I do not understand why everybody is going so over the top this year, but they are LOL. Driving through my neighborhood at night is a visual treat. So many pretty lights.

          We have put up a few lights. We have the bushes lit up, and we went around our landscaping with white lights, colored lights along the driveway. I put up a garage banner and snowmen porch light covers, so we look respectable, and we have little snowmen solar lights along the side of the house. Sounds like a lot, but in comparison, it is nothing LOL. I put stuff up just so we don't stick out from lack of decorations LOL if I could I would have no lights. Any moisture and it flips our circuit breaker and we lose power to part of the house. It took forever to figure out what happened and how to remedy the first time.

         I like the lights though. I want my kids to be able to have these memories they can look back on and hopefully enjoy them, perhaps even share with their future families. 

A Childhood Christmas Memory

           Okay this was a funny one to me, not so much my brother. One year my mom handed us each a present when we were teenagers. We open at the same time, and inside mine is $100 and inside his is $50 LOL My brother's face was shocked and disappointed all at once, mine was triumphant, because after all these years, I finally had proof I was her favorite child LOL she is scrambling, yelling "Wait!!! I messed up!!!" I'm laughing, my brother is trying to be thankful, my mom is scrambling through the presents, laughing so hard she can barely breathe, until she grabs two more presents and tells us to open them. Turns out we were both getting $150 cash, she had just mixed up the boxes LOL I didn't care. For those few moments, I was the favorite and got to hold it over my brother's head LOL best Christmas present ever :)

My December Bucket List

           I found a site that gave me 31 different prompts for writing in December, so I thought I would try LOL let's see how long I last.  Today is December bucket list.  Biggest one this month is survive becoming a senior citizen. Yep, I turn 55 in eight days. I am not happy about that at all. I do not feel 55 mentally, though my body is getting the idea that yeah, I am getting old. Not good. OKAY Bucket List:

Turn 55

Blog every day.

Finish up Christmas shopping.

Decorate inside of house. 

Survive my crazy work schedule.

  My bucket list sucks LOL so boring. I can't help it that I lead a drama free life.

OMG I Got the Scale to move!!!

           Amazingly I lost seven pounds last week!!!  I stuck with the keto diet, did not worry about any exercise, stepped on the scale anxiously, and low and behold I was down LOL I could not believe it. So that helped motivate me and stay strong over my work weekend, and boy was that hard!!!

          I work nights on the weekend as a nurse, so my sleep schedule and eating schedule is all wonky. I tend to snack just to stay awake. It was very challenging to do this weekend. I took baby pickles and cheese, some pork rinds, tuna packets, and a meat entre leftover to get me through. I also drank A LOT of water. OMG when I got there on Thursday night, Halloween candy was all over the nurse's desk. I wanted to grab a few pieces so badly, but instead I ate pork rinds dipped in mayo (surprisingly good). Friday night I was attacked by snack bags of chips a patient's family had given the nurses. So many flavors, the Doritos were screaming my name, but I fought back with pickles and cheese. By Saturday night I was convinced my coworkers hated me because they ordered PIZZA!!! OMG I was in Hell. Sheer willpower kept me from demolishing a slice. 

          I made it through though. I did not cheat. Came home Sunday and was very proud of myself. My son swears this will get easier. I so hope he is right. Yesterday I was good. I had a butter lettuce salad with bacon bits and parmesan cheese. For a dressing I used olive oil and rice vinegar with Ms. Dash. It was surprisingly good and only 2 net carbs for a big bowl. It is a definite repeat. For dinner my daughter and I made chicken alfredo soup. It was just some chicken breasts boiled to make the broth, then shredded up (0 carbs). I poured in a jar of alfredo sauce (2 carbs per serving), parmesan cheese (0 carbs), and a stick of butter (0 carbs). I also added some poultry seasoning. At Publix I got some miracle noodles with only 2 carbs per serving and divided it up between my daughter and me, poured the soup broth over it, and voila keto friendly chicken noodle soup.  Today I will just enjoy the broth and chicken. Tonight my daughter and I plan on having turkey burgers with lettuce buns and air fried jalapenos wrapped in bacon.

          I have been also trying to drink lots of water so I do not get keto flu. So far, so good. I am still tired a lot, so I just relax and cat nap. Once more I am not going to worry about exercise yet. I am going to give my body some time to just get used to making its own energy. I am giving myself permission to be lazy LOL. My kids are being so sweet about supporting me and letting me be lazy. I am useless during the daytime, but I tend to get a bit of energy at night when it cools off outside LOL it is way too hot to venture outdoors these days. Everyday there is an extreme heat advisory. It is best to just stay inside.

Made it To Ketosis

           It is day 4 now and I have not cheated LOL I swear yesterday I wanted to quit though. It seems so overwhelming thinking of doing this the rest of the year. My Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are filling up with Autumn recipes that are torturing me. I love Fall baking and this year it will be a no no. I did see that pumpkin is not crazy high in carbs. Perhaps I can make fake pumpkin pie LOL mix the pumpkin puree with whole cream, eggs, and my sugar free coffee syrups, then bake without a pie crust. That might work :) I need my pumpkin spice fix LOL.

          I have these test strips that tell you if you are spilling ketones into your urine, and mine was positive this morning. Gross info to share, but it was great to find out that I am in ketosis. Perhaps now I will start dropping some weight. Last night I did not want to, but I mowed my front and back yard. In Florida you mow when it is not raining and the heat is under 100 degrees LOL So, I was mowing after 7pm LOL I was only going to do the back yard, but my OCD kicked in and I did the front as well. I was WIPED OUT afterwards. Sweating so much that my daughter thought I had turned the hose onto myself, she laughed and was mind blown when I said it was just me sweating. I figured mowing would push me over edge into ketosis and I was right.

          Today is last day off before back to work this weekend. I am super nervous about the snacks at work. I will have to make sure I have stuff I can nosh on to avoid temptation. I keep trying to think about a month from now when hopefully this all pays off. Today I am going to cook me chicken breasts and cubed steaks so that I have them ready for lunches at work. I have baby pickles to snack on, I also think I am going to shred up some lettuce and make a keto dressing for a simple salad to eat while there. Oh and I need to make some deviled eggs LOL. I need to go in well prepared. 

          I have not felt like I have keto flu, which is great, I am however very tired. Thankfully my kids let me just nap during the day. Is too hot to go out anyway LOL. I try and wake up in the evening to do something with my daughter. Today my son is off work as well, so I will be able to enjoy his company too. My daughter has her weekly teen church group tonight, so she will be entertained. We won't have to go shopping LOL we have been looking at Autumn decorations the last few nights. 

          Okay, time to put eggs on to hard boil for the deviled eggs, and to continue laundry. I have my to do checklist all written up so that I stay on track. Once I cross everything off, I feel so much better and accomplished.

Keeping it Keto

          Day two of keto diet, and I am staying on track. I followed my meal plan yesterday and went to bed not feeing like a failure :)  This morning I woke up, had my coffee, which was still yummy, and then did a bunch of nothing LOL like I said, I am not going to even worry about exercise yet. 

          I read that it takes 2-4 days before getting into ketosis. I am hoping that happens soon. I have also read about the keto flu. I am hoping to avoid that. Internet sites recommend making sure I stay hydrated to help ease that side effect. So I have been trying to drink more out of my Cirkul bottle. I just went and purchased me some more cartridges. My goal is to get to drinking three bottles a day. Considering I only drink one bottle in a whole weekend, that is a big goal LOL

          My daughter has been eating the same as me LOL which helps. She thought lettuce wrapped burgers were great and loves the scrambled eggs and bacon. She is old enough (14) so that if she wants something different, she can handle making it herself. Not sure what we will have tonight. We ate the eggs and bacon late, so not really hungry. I might make the lemon mousse as a treat. That is just the heavy whipping cream blended until it is whipped cream consistency, then a box of sugar free jello mixed in. Tastes great and zero carbs.

          We just got back from shopping LOL we found lots of cute Autumn decorations in a few places. We bought lots of little pumpkins and scarecrows for the front porch. We start decorating for Fall on September 21st LOL day after my son's birthday. That is the official start of Autumn activities for us. It is our favorite time of year.   

Beginning a Keto Diet

           Here we go again, trying something new to lose weight. I am so frustrated with trying to lose weight. I am tired of feeling like a failure every night. I go to sleep saying tomorrow will be better, but then I wake up, and it all goes downhill. I get tired, so I do not move much. Or I try to eat something to wake up. Both not good options. I am fast approaching 55 years old, and I do not want to stay unhealthy. 

          I set a goal to lose 55 pounds by my 55th birthday, and instead of doing that, I gained 15 which really is making a difference. I am not moving as well as I would like. My joints hurt, my knees do not like to bend, and I am falling way too often. If I was just seeing my size and history, I would be groaning at the thought of me as a patient. That is not a pleasant thing to think about. What if I fall and can't get up? The pain combined with the embarrassment, would be devastating. 

          So, I have told my kids that I need their help. I am going to try doing a keto diet and see if that works. My son is not thrilled, but he is going to try to support me. He is worried I will be unhealthy. I am already unhealthy, I am trying to reverse that. My daughter is okay with it, she is doing her best to eat the apples and grapes I already bought before this idea popped into my brain LOL.  So far the hardest thing to give up is my morning coffee routine of creamer. I did however find a work around. I made my coffee this morning with cream (no carbs) and sugar free coffee flavoring like at a coffee shop. It tasted pretty good. I have also surfed the net a bit to see what I can have and not have. This is what I have found out:

          The important thing to get into ketosis, is to stay under 20-30 net carbs per day. Net carbs are the key. The formula for that is to take total carbs and subtract the fiber, leaving net carbs.

Yes foods are: meat, fish, eggs, cheese, oils, butter, whole cream, zucchini, cauliflower, greens, mushrooms, small tomato, celery, and cucumber.

No foods are: grains, baked goods, fruit, milk, yogurt, beans, pasta, bread, sugar, peas, corn, squash, and potatoes.

Okay foods are: nuts, seeds, avocado, and coconut.

          Since sometimes I just need something fruity, I got myself some sugar free Capri Suns. They have no carbs LOL. I also thought of sugar free jellos blended with the whipping cream to make a mousse.

          Today I plan on having bacon and eggs for breakfast. Lunch will be tuna salad on cucumbers. Dinner will be cheeseburgers with pickles and lettuce. I am not going to add in any exercise yet. Changing diet will be hard enough to focus on. Once I get hang of this, then I will add in some movement. 

Here is hoping that this goes well.