Cooking, Dieting, and Quarntining

Toby and I weigh in every Monday morning. We do what is called the Naturally Slim diet. It worked great for me a few years ago, but I eventually gained my weight back. Sigh. And now I am trying to lose it again, but with much less success. I think that with each diet (and I've been on about every diet there is) eventually you learn to cheat or to fudge and then before long, you gain weight back. Sometimes it is because of some lifestyle change, and sometimes it is a combination of both. Example: I had lost quite a bit of weight before we went to France a few years ago. Then while in France, I ate more like a regular person, trying to stick to the diet, but not wanting to miss anything or be a dull dog at dinner (so I was cheating a bit). Of course, we walked lots while we were there. I gained a pound or two, but really didn't do badly. Then when we got home, I had the cheating part down very well, but did not continue walking so much. Then came Thanksgiving, Christmas (lifestyle), and before you know it, all the weight is back. Dang it.

With Toby home, I have been worried about the diet. We weighed in this morning and I was down a couple of pounds. Ha! Although I have been cooking for him more, I think we managed to do the diet fairly well. But then with him home, he has me riding bikes and working in the barn more. Maybe having him home will be better than I thought.

We say we are practicing for retirement. And it is not too bad. I like having him around, but it does throw me off a bit. Like, what day is it? Normally he is home all day on weekends, but when he is home all day all the time, I get confused. We are getting our together-time working better, but sometimes we struggle. I let him go to the barn to work on projects without me. Sometimes it is just too hot to go to the barn. Sometimes I need a nap :)  I did more pottery the past few days than I have done in a month. So, yeah, it is good.

On Saturday before Father's Day, my son, Bo, sent a text asking us to come over for brisket supper. Hmm, that was odd. Bo's wife is pretty serious about the corona virus and her kids. So I texted back, "Great! What about our quarantining? I thought your dad texted you." There was a long pause. Then he texted, "Didn't read Dad's text. It was hidden. You can't come over. Will send pics of the brisket." Ha! He then called to tell me why he had not read Dad's text, and we had a good laugh. Then he teased me lots about Dad being home and working me lots. I like it when Bo teases and laughs with me. He has such a silly sense of humor. Example: The other day the grandkids asked Toby if he would get goats for them to play with here on the farm. Toby said, "Goats! I thought we were going to get pigs!" Then Bo piped in, "Maybe you could get pygmy goats."

Since the kids could not celebrate Father's Day with us, I fixed Toby some waffles with whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast. Earlier this week, I had watched several videos of Pampered Chef cooking ideas. My SIL had an online Pampered Chef Party and a lady from Austin posted lots of videos with recipes  and cooking stuff. One of the recipes was to cook strawberries with a little sugar and cornstarch and lemon juice. While that was cooking, you mixed up heavy cream, flour, baking powder - like biscuit dough. Then you dropped scoops of the biscuit dough into the cooked strawberries and bake for 20 minutes. It made a cobbler type dessert. It was so easy and perfect with a scoop of ice cream. I think Toby is getting spoiled with this quarantine thing.