Shawn's piano recital

Shawn's annual piano recital was yesterday afternoon.  Unfortunately his first song wasn't record because he moronic father didn't push the record button hard enough and he wasn't smart enough to notice the record light wasn't lit. Here's the second and third songs though.  By the way, the first one was Beethoven's 5th.

Liver enzymes

Looks like my retest on my liver enzymes came back in the normal ranges!  I get to stay on the cholesterol medication I've been taking and continue to drink beer (when not trying to loose weight).  Come to think of it, I did just get back from opening day when I took the last blood test.  I wonder if going on a 12 hour bender could have screwed my test results.....

Mother's Day 2011

Last weekend was busy but nice.  On Saturday, we headed toward Cleveland to spend some time with my Mom for mother's day.  The weather was pretty nice so we ended sitting on the patio watching the wildlife in Mom and Ron's backyard.  Its unbelievable what you can see in such a tiny backyard.  My Mom has set up the back yard as a smorgasbord for birds.  In the couple of hours we sat there, we say woodpeckers, finches, doves, blue jays, the occasional squirrel and to much our surprise a rather large raccoon climbing down a tree from his nest.  I've been told they've had as many as 8 deer in their backyard in the early morning.  The entire backyard can't be much more than 3 feet deep by 60 feet wide.  It does however back up into a ravine and is pretty close to the Metro-park.    

For lunch, we took Mom to Michael Symon's B-Spot.  Michael Symon is one of the Food Network's Iron Chefs and is from Cleveland (born and raised).  He has several restaurant in the Cleveland area and the B-Spot is his newest concept.  The B-Spot is a high end burger bar with a great beer selection and also offers several fried bologna sandwiches.  Of course I had a burger....girth control took a little break for the day!  Although, it was the only meal I had on Saturday and some of it was tasty beer.  I had the Yo burger and washed it down with a Hopslam, an Arrogant Bastard and for desert a Bourbon Barrel Ale.  The burger was pretty good and the beer even better.  I think Mom enjoyed the lunch choice as well.

After leaving Mom and Ron's I took a trip back in time to my childhood.  We had ice cream at the Malley's chocolate shop in North Olmsted.  I remember my Grandmother taking me to Malley's the first weekend I spend with her and Grandpa (AKA old fwaz as my Dad would call him).  I remember having dinner at Arby's, going miniature golfing at the old putt-putt course at Great Northern that is no longer there and heading to Malley's for ice cream.  Malley's hasn't changed a bit except for the prices.  I had to go and have desert on the giant slower than molasses merry-go-round that graces the center of the shop.

Finally, no trip to the Cleveland area can be complete for Lisa if she doesn't hit at least two Marc's stores.  We also stopped at a close out store call Ollie's.  Ollie's is very similar to the closeout section of Marc but much larger.  Matter of fact, Ollie's website looks oddly familiar....almost like Marc's website.  I wonder if the two stores are connected in any way.  Lisa wasn't all that impressed with Ollie's but I ended up finding a few cook books and other odds and ends.  I would stop there again and probably will.

Sunday, I spent some time in the yard, preparing for the 7 yards of mulch that arrived on Monday as well as cutting the lawn.  Bev and Ted came over for dinner and I grilled Fillet Mignon, skewered grilled shrimp, cheese veggie stackers and  tossed salad.  We also discovered grape vodka!  I'm not sure how low calorie the grape flavoring is but vodka is a pretty low calorie drink as far as alcoholic beverages are concerned and the grape vodka is delicious.  Lisa will even drink it straight! Lisa also baked some pretty nice looking red velvet mini-cupcakes.  I'm sure they were delicious but I had grape vodka for desert.

Monday, I took the day off work and spread the giant mulch pile I had delivered and took our dog destroyed patio screen in for repair.  Yesterday, I disassembled the front end of my yard tractor and figured out how to adjust the valves.  I was having problems starting the thing all spring.  I found out from some research that the valves could have some maladjustment causing my problem.  Unfortunately,  the valves aren't all that easy to get to and I had to do it twice to get it right.  Stupid me couldn't read the simple directions too well and it caused me extra work.

This weekend entails a piano recital for Shawn and a trip to a gigantic beer festival with Todd and my brother for me.

Happy Mother's Day

Tulips and Red Velvet

B-Spot sign made with beer can

Artwork over the bar at B-Spot, looks like extruded motorcycle parts

Merry-Go-Round at Malley's

Katie's Ice cream Dog at Malley's

Katie's favorite place to watch television

Girth Control Recipes

Due to two requests form a couple of my favorite people,  I've decided to post some of the recipes Lisa and I've tried.  I will try to update the recipe pages as I find decent low calorie recipes that may be of interest to other.  You can find the recipes by clicking here as well as clicking the link I posted to the right.  Hope you find a couple of recipes to your liking!

I aim for low calorie and low fat recipes that allow for decent sized portions to keep us under our 1200 calorie per day goal.  We typically eat a 100 calorie bagel with 2 TBS cream cheese for breakfast and something in the neighborhood of 200-300 calories for lunch.  Typical lunch may include a can of light progresso soup and a small salad with 2 TBS low cal dressing or salsa.  Another popular lunch would be the same soup and a baked potato with Salsa or spray butter or fat free plain yogurt as a potato topping.  Some days it's a potato and small salad.

The trick for me is vegetables and almost a small salad with every meal.  Beer and liquor is a tough one to conquer for me though.  An occasional beer, glass of wine or an ounce of vodka, a squeezed lime or half lemon and soda water drink seems to be a pretty low calorie drink if you need one.  For the sweet tooth, sugar free jello seems to work for me.  We also have an ice cream place here that carries a product called Newbery which contains 8 calories per ounce and isn't too bad.  The other ice-cream substitute I've seen in the past is a product called Wow-Cow.  

Not a whole lot happening lately

Blogging is getting old or I just don't have anything new and exciting that I feel is blog worthy.  Not really too much new happening around the homestead.  Lisa and I are still steadily losing our excess weight.  I am down 22 pounds  as of this morning and Lisa is half way to her goal.  The hard part of dieting, other than the constant hunger and repressed memories of Taco Bell and Pizza delivery is finding new low calorie foods.  So far, the best meal we've prepared fairly often is a chicken cous cous with vegetable meal.  The meal is a bit higher in calories than want we like to consume but it fills you up and a portion is pretty decent size.  The recipe is relatively easy as well.  It includes 8 oz chicken breast cut up into small pieces, zucchini, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, some spices and a cup of cous cous.  I will also make the dish without the chicken and will add portabella mushrooms, broccoli or other vegetables we have laying around.

This weekend I discovered another pretty good side dish.  I basically made potato salad using low calorie or fat free "wet" components and substituted cauliflower for potatoes.  I was pleasantly surprised that even Lisa, who doesn't really care for cauliflower, liked the salad.  The dish basically had about 1/3 the calories or traditional potato salad and I would venture to say only a fraction of the fat.  The trick is how you cook the cauliflower.  Cauliflower has a distinct flavor and smell if you cook it too long but if you cook it just long enough it will take on the flavors of whatever you mix it with.   Tonight, I try my had in a lower calorie Chicken Cordon-Bleu that uses low fat ham slices and Laughing Cow Cheese Bites. We will see.  I just wish there as a low calorie chicken wing!

This week is pretty busy for me.  I have a few after work meetings and functions as well as a dentist appointment and an appointment to have my liver enzyme levels rechecked.  My enzyme levels came back slightly elevated at my doctor's appointment last month so I have to have them rechecked.  I have blood work done every 6 months to see what my cholesterol medication is doing for or to me.  Doc thinks the elevated levels were just a fluke but we will see.  I've been on the same medication for at least 15 years.....

Been working in the yard between work and rainstorms which is barely never.  I've been able to pretty much get the back yard ready for mulch but have barely even looked at the front yard yet.  I typically enjoy yard work but for some reason, I'm having a little trouble getting motivated.  I just need to get out there and finish it up!  Maybe the problem is I know that once I'm ready, I have to spend money on mulch and then the better part of an entire day breaking my back spreading it.  I'm also having an issue with the lawn tractor.  I'm pretty sure, I have it narrowed down to a starter.  I need to hunt a starter down and repair it myself since there's always a couple of month turnaround for tractor repairs this time of year.  I just don't want to spend money on a starter if it doesn't end up fixing the problem.  I'm pretty sure that a starter that over heats and starts smoking isn't normal.  At least for now, I can get the P.O.S. started by jumping it with my car.  I'm not sure how much longer that will be the case though. 

Next weekend is Shawn's piano recital (his third).  He absolutely hates practicing but any time we threaten to make him quit, he gets upset so I guess he must enjoy it to some extent.  After the recital, Todd and I are meeting up with my brother to attend the International Beer Festival.  I'm sure we're just asking for trouble with this one!

I have also added a couple of Katie's picture sessions photos.  If you want to see the three she took at the grocery store, follow the link on the left.

One other quick note.  Lisa is on this craft kick lately.  More specifically kids crafts, party crafts and packaging crafts.  She's been scouring blogs as of late looking for ideas.  Here are a couple she's used lately.  Some for Ted's birthday and others for the kids to take to school for teacher appreciation week:

Girth update

Well it has been 3 weeks and 4-1/2 days since Lisa and began operation girth control.  I am happy to report we are still on the wagon and both have lost what I consider a fair amount of weight.  I'm down a few 10th of a pound shy of 15 pounds and Lisa...well, I'm not going to announce that.  What, you think I was born yesterday?  I like how my head sits squarely on my shoulders.  First rule of living with a woman is the never and I mean never discuss weight loss, what their weight is or anything specific to the topic to anyone.  But I will say, I am proud of her for sticking with it and losing what she has lost. 

We've a few really crazy recipes like cauliflower pizza crust (not bad tasting but not even close to the texture of pizza crust).  We've also stumbled upon some pretty good ones too like a chicken cous cous dish with zucchini  that's really tasty and relatively low in calories.  

The hardest thing for me is that sweet sweet homebrew I have sitting on tap at the basement bar.  I've not had a homebrew since opening day and I am dying for one.  I may just have to partake one day this weekend and work it off on the elliptical.  We will see...

We decided, against better judgment I think, to schedule a family vacation this summer.  We ended up renting a condo in Hilton Head this year.  We've done the Myrtle Beach scene several times in the past and wanted to change it up a bit.  Hilton Head can't be anywhere as congested as MB and from what I hear, it is much more laid back and less touristy.  We also like to explore areas within an hour drive when we vacation and Savannah, Georgia is about 25 miles from where we're staying.  I've heard great things about Savannah.  Our condo is relatively close to the beach too and we have a pool directly off our first floor condo.  I'm sure it will be hotter than hell but that's the fun of summer vacations.  I'm hoping to be down a total of 40-45 pounds before we leave. 

Opening day 2011

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