Day 17: Maybe Red Wine Doesn't Give Me A Headache After All

morning weigh-in: 152.0 lbs.

Could have been a lot worse after the previous day's macaroni salad-eating marathon. It was kind of a rushed morning before getting ready for church, so all I had was 

coffee, black (1 cup)

Am I lazy? Why, yes I am! We eventually got home from church and made up some lunch

egg salad sandwich on whole wheat bread (1)
coffee, black (1 cup)

See, I told you coffee was easy! It was enough to get me going though, and into the living room for a bit of reconstruction fun. Yeah, fun. Right. And then outside for a bit of yard work and

water (4, 12 oz. each)

God may have rested on the seventh day, but He wasn't living in a house like ours. Afterwards did some porch time with an old friend

Genny Light (1 can)

before lighting the grill for the start of a more traditional Sunday dinner. One like this

peppercorn pork tenderloin — yes, from Aldi (4 slabs. Hey, they were small!)
steamed potatoes
corn-on-the-cob (1 ear)
water (12 oz.)
Genny Light (1 can)

And after dinner I did something which goes against everything I've said about red wine for the last 40 years. I had a glass. But this was special; something Tracy and I picked up a couple of summers ago while on a Chautauqua County wine tour

Willow Creek Winery Chocolate Temptations (1 glass)

Look Ma! No headache (at least as I write this). And get this: it tastes like a Tootsie Roll. Can't go wrong with that! Finished off the night with an unusual snack, which just looked so forlorn sitting there in the fridge by itself

hard-boiled egg (1)

And that's no yolk!

Day 16: Thou shall eat the macaroni salad.

morning weigh-in: 151.2

Weekend weigh-ins seem to be a problem. We'll deal with the problem starting... next weekend. As for today, I kind of foresaw what was ahead for the day (not to mention I looked back to what transpired yesterday) and decided to take it easy this morning with

• coffee, black (2 cups)
• hard-boiled egg (1)

before heading out for a test-drive for an upcoming You Auto Know column. Afterwords, Tracy and I headed east on the Thruway to celebrate a church picnic with the in-laws (mine, not hers). The setting was Hamlin Beach State Park, located, oddly enough, in Hamlin (west of Rochester) along the shores of Lake Ontario. A cold lake Ontario, I might add; but that cool breeze coming off the water made for a great day weather-wise. Food-wise, it wasn't too bad, either. We brought along a pan full of peanut butter-and-jelly bars from a recipe we saw Ina Garten prepare on the Barefoot Contessa (click here for a link to the recipe). Luckily, these things aren't just for dessert, as many of the picnic-goers soon discovered — including me while I jotted down in my notebook

• peanut butter-and-jelly bar (1)

Thanks, Ina!

This was not too soon before dinner was served. And I must say, it was a great-looking spread. My plate was heaped with

• macaroni salad w/shrimp (1 huge mound)
• macaroni salad w/chicken (1 huge mound)
• macaroni salad w/ peas (1 huge mound)
• barbecued chicken (1 huge drumstick)
• hot dog, naked (1)
• peanut butter-and-jelly bar (1)

and for good measure after that was finished-off,

• peanut butter-and-jelly bar, huge (1)

Scarlett Johansson in Hitchcock

after which we headed home to watch the DVD of the movie Hitchcock, accompanied by

• you guessed it — macaroni salad w/tuna leftover from Friday night (1 huge bowl)

• corn chips w/ French onion dip

• water (2, 12 oz. each)

As the farmer said in the movie Babe, 

"That'll do, pig."

Day 15: Getting Goosed at Statler City

morning weigh-in: 150.4

I'm not sure how I gained .4 lbs. yesterday, but I'm guessing the Wavy Lays had something to do with it. Bah. Off with their heads! At least today I remembered my

Life cereal, dry (1 bowl)
water (12 oz.)

No coffee this morning. Some days I'm just not in the mood. No gum either; nor did I stop at the gym. Maybe I should have titled today's entry Jim No's Best (and before the grammar police descend down on me, no's without the apostrophe is nos, which looks like nozz, so knock it off already). When I got home for lunch, I prepared a flavor-packed bowl of macaroni-tuna salad for the evening's eat what ya brung buffet at The Old House Downtown. While the water was boiling I sat down to a light lunch of

Friendly Farms Greek yogurt, strawberry (6 oz.)
sharp cheddar slabs (4 oz.)
water (12 oz.)
hard-boiled egg (1)

If you don't already know, Friendly Farms is the house dairy brand at Aldi. It comes highly recommended. By me. To you.

Once Tracy got home from work we headed downtown to Statler City, and our weekly foray into the lobby where we hung out at the piano with a bunch of friends, and enjoyed the lobby bar's two-for-one drink specials. My glass held

Goose Island Honker's English Style Bitter Ale, pint (2 — what'd you expect?)

Eventually we made our way to The Old House Downtown, where we partook of the previously-mentioned four-foot long buffet table. My plate (plates) held

fresh ham (2 slices)
New Orleans red beans (1 bowl)
chef salad (1/4 of my plate)
mac/tuna salad (1/4 of my plate)
pineapple pie (1/4 of my plate)
sinfully-rich brownie (2 — which took the last 1/4 of my plate)
Saranac Red India Pale Ale (12 oz. bottle)

followed up by

frosted brownie (1, large)

As if that weren't enough, our friend Mary got out her ice cream maker and whipped-up a batch, which I'll have to add to my list:

Deni ice cream maker

vanilla ice cream (2-ish scoops)

It was delightfully rich and creamy, and as someone pointed out, would make a great topping for chocolate ice cream. Sure, why not!

This seemed like a good place to end the day. 

Finis.

Day 14: The Birth of a Notion

morning weigh-in: 150 lbs.

Nothing like a holiday for a bit of rest and relaxation. Not! Spent most of the daylight hours on the continuing deconstruction of the living room (with help from friend Jim Weaver). I look at it as the beginning of the rebirth of the inside front of the house — which will make it about 75 percent rebuilt since we moved in 11 years ago. Whew!

Started the morning off, after smiling as I stepped off the scale, with 

grits and eggs, soft-boiled of course and mixed in
coffee, black from the Keurig

A little morning paper, a little New York Times crossword puzzle, and we were off to the races. Dusty, dirty, sweaty — a couple of manly men if ever I saw one!

Lunch consisted of a quick

ham and swiss on a plain bagel
Yoplait key lime yogurt (6 oz.)
water (12 oz.)

Drinking was key during the day, as I'd say I drank 

ten or twelve glasses of water 

and it was still poring out of my pores faster than I could swallow it. Hopefully it all evened out in the end. After Jim left, I got to cleaning up the mess we'd made — dusty, dirty, sweaty. Mighty proud of myself. But not terribly hungry. Pretty much snacked on some

tortilla chips w/homemade guacamole
sharp cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
Wavy Lays chips (still not counting how many!)

Paul

and headed out on the porch with a

Sleeman's India Pale Ale (341 ml)

before settling in the blue room with Tracy to watch the DVD Paul, accompanied by a

Nutty Buddy

Don't you just love saying Nutty Buddy?

Day 13: Breakfast Gets Left Behind

morning weigh-in: 151 lbs.

When I said "breakfast gets left behind," I didn't mean I've decided not to bother with it, I literally left it behind at home. I really enjoyed the bowl of cereal the day before, and was quite disappointed when I realized it was back in the home office.

There was only one thing left to do (well, two if I had bothered to consider finishing-off those last couple of packages of Lance crackers — nuh-uh, not today). Luckily you don't have to drive more than 500 feet to find a Tim Horton's, no matter where you are in WNY. So, along with the usual

coffee, black (1 medium) — I also ordered an
everything bagel, plain (1)

I'd forgotten how good those things are. And hopefully I'll continue to forget, or this whole trying to lose seven-or-eight pounds thing is off. Finished work a little after noon, so I headed to the gym to (hopefully) walk-off the bagel. And then headed home to what may seem to you a late lunch, but for me it's pretty normal. I stuck my head in the fridge and scooped up  

left-over chicken pot pie 
Friendly Farms Greek yogurt, black cherry (6 oz.)
water (12 oz.)
Wavy Lays potato chips (who counts potato chips?)

These chips could become a problem. The evil people who run Tops have put them on sale this week: buy two bags, get three free. That's five bags of chips, calling out my name in harmony. We'll see how this goes.

It was another simple dinner. Polished-off the remainder of the

left-over chicken pot pie — along with
water (12 oz)
Wavy Lays potato chips (see above)

And because it's so warm, while watching the previous night's So You Think You Can Dance on the DVR, the evening treat was 

Snickers ice cream bar (12 oz.)
Genny Light beer, can (12 oz.)

(Just so you know, there was a lag time of a couple of hours betwee the ice cream and the beer.)

And then off to bed, to sleep in tomorrow. 

I hope you all enjoy your Independence Day!

Day 12: A Chicken in Every Pot. Pie.

morning weigh-in: 151 lbs.

And now for something completely different: always looking for something easy to eat while driving in the morning, and today an old friend came back to visit. Why has it been so long since I had a bowl of cereal in the morning? Easy to do, seeing that I never take milk anyway, which turns cereal into finger (or more accurately, fist) food. So we started off with

Hey Mikey!

water (12 oz.)

Life cereal (1 normal-sized bowl)

Hey, if Mikey likes it, it's good enough for me! Afterwards I had a lovely stick of

gum (1 piece)

mainly as a breath-freshener. Seeing that I drive so many miles every day, the likelihood of something happening is often on my mind. And once the paramedics have verified that I'm wearing clean underwear I don't want them saying "Yeah, but his breath smelled like yesterday's gym socks."

It was a long day on the road and at the end I was spent, so I skipped the gym and came right home for a late lunch. Which, as it turned out, nearly matched yesterday's lunch item-for-item. So let's copy-and-paste:

Yoplait yogurt, red raspberry (6 oz.)
Swiss cheese (3 oz.)
strawberries, fresh & plump, destemmed (8)
water (12 oz.)
Black Forest Fruit Snacks Juicy Burst Centers, fruit medley flavored (.9 oz)

Well, that was easy! 

Dinner was even simpler, because a.) I didn't make it, and b.) it can be summed up like this:

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Crust
water (12 oz.)

Tracy got this recipe off the internet, and if you'd like to give it a try, here's a link to the Food.com page.

The after-dinner snack consisted of

shelled walnuts (1 good-sized handful)

Say good-night, Gracie!

Day 11: Makin' Bacon

morning weigh-in: 153 lbs.

In a scheduling quirk (theirs, not mine!) I somehow ended up working today — I'm usually off on Mondays. So the day started in the car instead of at the breakfast table. And it won't be long (thank God) before I'm through with the

Lance cracker snack, Four Cheese-flavored (1 pkg. of 6)
coffee, Tim Horton's black (1 medium)

These crackers seem to be multiplying like the loaves and fishes. I think it was only an eight-pack, but every time I pop open my bag it seems like the pile's not going down. And no, I refuse to throw them out, not with all of those starving people in whatever country parents are using these days to get their kids to eat. After a trip to the gym, it was home for a semi-late lunch of

Yoplait yogurt, key lime (6 oz.)
Swiss cheese (3 oz.)
strawberries, fresh & plump, destemmed (8)
water (12 oz.)
Black Forest Fruit Snacks Juicy Burst Centers, fruit medley flavored (.9 oz)

Really. Point-nine ounces. The packaging cost more than the contents! 


Don't ask me where the rest of the afternoon went, because before I knew it dinner was on the stove. It was one of those "breakfast for dinner" nights, which are common in the Corbran Household. This time around my plate held


bacon (5 strips)
eggs, fried (2)
home fries w/onions (not enough!)
orange juice (12 oz.)

A little reading, a little dot-comming (as the kids used to call it), and it's off to bed.