A Beautiful Bride

We were privileged to attend a wedding this weekend.  Ashlyn DeAro married Isaac Favila.  We received their wedding announcement several months ago and all I could think was, "Where has the time gone?"

Les and I had just removed our sunglasses, thus the squinty eyes!

Almost a decade ago I dedicated an entire post to my girl, Ashlyn.  When Ashlyn was really little (starting at about 2 or 3) she sat with us in church a lot. When she was about 5, she spent a weekend with me and her mom asked if she could call me Aunt Kathy and that's what I've been ever since.  You can read the entire thing here, but I thought I'd re-share a couple favorites:

When she was little she had trouble saying her Rs. She was also a little confused about days. One time while getting over a cold, she told us, "Tomowo I was sick, but now I bettu."

 

We use to have a sister in our church who would always sing before she testified. One night, as she stood, Ashlyn whispered to me, "Sister Lewis is going to sing." As Sister Lewis started sing, Ash leaned back over and said, "Told ya!"

 

Ashlyn,

It's been my privilege to watch you grow and become the wonderful young lady that you are.  Your day was so sweet, funny, and special - just like you!  Praying for many wonderful years ahead for you and Isaac.

Hapalua Half Marathon

As I've been working on my health, not just my weight, but overall health and fitness, I've started enjoying running again.  Les asked if I ever thought I'd do another marathon.  The jury is still out on that, but I had been thinking about attempting a half marathon...

 

I received an email last week from the Hapalua Half Marathon.  It's known as "Hawaii's Half Marathon" and in all the time we have spent there over the past 8 years I've never been in town to run it.  This year, as with many races, it's a virtual event and will take place in the month of April.  We have a little trip planned for my birthday at the end of April, so I decided to sign up and run the race before our trip.

 

Me at the finish line of the 2014 Honolulu Marathon

I found a 12 week half marathon training plan.  When I signed up I only had 6 weeks of training to go, so I'm following the second half of the plan.  I have already run one 10 miler this year, so I feel confident that I can finish 13.1.  I haven't done any speed work in a long time, so it may be my slowest half marathon to date, but I'm excited to see how it goes!

Anyone want to join me?

My Weight Loss Journey

Near the end of 2020, while trying to find pictures for our Christmas card, I was forced to look at pictures of myself.  I faced the reality that they were not flattering!  I knew I needed to get rid of the excess pounds and I was determined to do so.  I was a faithful member of Weight Watchers for many years and had been successful.  When I saw a link for "3 Months Free" I decided to give it another try.  Here's my journey so far:

WW Green

Weight Watchers rebranded themselves at WW.  They also have three different programs you can follow.  I went through their quiz and landed on WW Green.  Why green?  It has the fewest Zero Points foods.  I tried one of their "Smart Points" programs a few years ago and it was an utter failure.  They had so many zero points foods, I didn't feel like I was tracking much.  Why didn't that work for me?  I'm the person who always balances her checkbook.  Tracking my eating feels the same way.  With so many zero points foods, I felt like someone said, "You don't have to track expenses for necessities like gas, groceries, and mortgage.  Just track for fun things like travel or new shoes or clothes."  That didn't work for me.

 

Keto, Low Carb, Mediterranean, Paleo?

Believe me, I researched every type of diet out there.  Many, actually most, will bring about weight loss.  But what happens after the weight loss?  I've always believed that any weight loss plan needs to be sustainable AFTER the weight is gone.  So if I'm not willing to cut out carbs for the long term, I'm not going to cut them out for the short term.  I also wanted to be considerate of Les, he does NOT need to lose any weight!  I'm not willing to cook two different meals for us, so I calculate the points and eat smaller portions of the SAME foods as Les. 

My January "No Bread" Experiment

For the past several years, Les and I have done "No Desserts January."  It's a great way to start the year after all the indulgences of the holidays.  Sadly, I didn't actually lose any weight.  This year I decided to cut out bread for a month to see what would happen.  (Please note: I only cut out bread, not all carbs.)  I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) as a teenager.  I've always dealt with what I call "food headaches."  It's when my blood sugar drops.  About two weeks in, I noticed one significant change - I wasn't getting a food headache mid afternoon.  Around that same time I found a fascinating article called "Is Bread to Blame for Weight Gain?"  These two sentences grabbed my attention:

We digest flour of all kinds rapidly, which can spike blood sugar and insulin levels and create a blood sugar “roller coaster” and potential for overeating. Some breads can send blood sugar soaring faster than many candy bars.

What?!?!   Faster than many candy bars?  That blew my mind!

A sugar high is all well and good, but what inevitably follows is a crash.  It's that crash that usually causes my food headaches.  Since I wasn't having bread (toast for breakfasts, sandwiches for lunch) I wasn't on the sugar roller coaster.  I have now reintroduced bread on a limited basis, but typically with dinner.  I use bread as more of an accessory than the focal point of my meal.  We typically eat a wrap for lunch using Mission Carb Balance tortillas - we actually like this a lot more than bread because you can taste what's in the wrap instead of so much bread!

 

Age and Weight Loss

I've heard for years and years that "it's harder to lose weight the older you get."  Being the record keeper that I am, I have my weight loss trends from when I did WW in the past.  I first joined in September, 1997 at the age of 33.  After 12 weeks I was down 21 pounds.  My second go round was October 2005 at the age of 41.  After 12 weeks I was down 17.8 pounds.  As of today, at the age of 56, I am down 18 pounds in 12 weeks!  That is a healthy 1.5 pounds per week.  The key is making quality food choices and getting, or staying active.  But know this - you can't outrun a bad diet!  Believe me, I've tried.

The Addition of Strength Training

I've been a runner and cyclist for many years.  With four marathons under my belt, I'm definitely an active person.  What I've neglected is strength or resistance training.  My legs have always been strong, but my arms and core were flabby.  After my horrible fall last year, I decided my core needed some work.  I determined that I would add that this year and I have been consistent with 2-3 workouts a week.  I don't work out with heavy weights, my favorite is resistance bands.  Don't worry, I will never look like a body builder!  But my arms are no longer waving back at me.

Not All Pounds Are Created Equal

I've posted about this many times, but I have to address the old, "Muscle weighs more than fat" myth.  This is not a true statement. A pound is a pound is a pound. But a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. 

 

This is what 5 pounds of muscle looks like:

 

 

This is what 5 pounds of fat looks like:

 

So while I am happy with movement on the scale, I am even happier with what the tape measure tells me.   There have been a few weeks when I was feeling leaner but the scale stayed the same.  But the way clothes are starting to fit, and the number on the tape, tell the real story.  So while I have a "goal" weight, it's not set in stone.  I'm looking forward to going on a "shopping spree" in my spare closet!

St. Patrick's Day

 

As a child going to school on St. Patrick's day always had one goal - wear green!  Anyone not wearing green was an open target for getting pinched.  As with most holidays, there is much more background than what we commonly know.  According to Wikipedia:

Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was allegedly written by Patrick himself. It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. According to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. It says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he found God. The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest.

According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelizing in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands. Patrick's efforts against the druids were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove "snakes" out of Ireland, despite the fact that snakes were not known to inhabit the region.

Tradition holds that he died on 17 March and was buried at Downpatrick. Over the following centuries, many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint.

Also, historically the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.  Perhaps because of this, drinking alcohol – particularly Irish whiskey, beer, or cider – has become an integral part of the celebrations. I'm confident that if Saint Patrick could see the celebrations of today he would be disappointed that his name is associated with this behavior.

 

History lesson aside, through the years I've posted a variety of Irish blessings and humor that I'd thought I'd re-share today: 

Remember to Forget

Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.

Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.

 

Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.

 

May the roof above us never fall in.
And may the friends gathered below it never fall out.

There are good ships, and there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships are friendships,
And may they always be.

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

 

And my favorite Irish blessing!

May those that love us, love us;
And those that don't love us, may God turn their hearts:
If He can't turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.

When Daylight Saving Time and Pi Day Collide

I've posted several times Les' theory of how time moves more swiftly as we get older.  You can read all about it here.  In a nutshell, time appears to move more quickly as we get older because a year becomes a smaller slice of our life.

 

Today is Pi Day - celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and to eat pie. 

 

Today is also the beginning of Daylight Saving Time.  Most of us had the "joy" of Springing Forward, meaning we lost an hour of sleep.  Since the slices of my time pie continue to get smaller, I'm not thrilled with losing that bite!  As one article stated, "Back then, somebody in the government thought it would be an awfully good idea to give everybody jet lag … even though jets had not even been invented yet."  While I love the later sunsets, I miss the earlier sunrises!

Five years ago I posted something from a devotional about time:

We're like the fellow on the bus who refused to tell another passenger what time it was. After being asked several times, he turned his back, and the young man went on and asked someone else. At the next stop, someone who had seen the exchange scolded the man, and this was his rationale: "If I had told that young man what time it was, we would have struck up a conversation, and I probably would have liked him. Before long, he would have gotten himself invited to supper, and my beautiful daughter would have met him. The two of them would probably fall in love, and want to get married - but I don't want my daughter marrying a man who can't afford a watch!" 

The point of the devotion was getting involved, but it struck me as funny that the man went from "what time is it?" to "May I marry your daughter?" without even knowing the fellow passenger's name!  There are so many things wrong with this man's thinking.  Perhaps the young man's watch was in the repair shop.  Perhaps he had a girlfriend, or was even married.  You can't judge a book by its cover and you certainly can't judge someone based on whether they have a watch or not!

 

 

The point of all this is simple - time is precious.  We have a limited amount of time.  Psalm 90:12 says, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."  Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible says, "Let us deeply consider our own frailty, and the shortness and uncertainty of life, that we may live for eternity, acquaint ourselves with thee and be at peace; that we may die in thy favor and live and reign with thee eternally."

I went searching for a quote to finish this post, it was written about my brother, Rod, in the school yearbook after he passed away.  "It's not the years in the life that count, but the life in the years. Rod was full of zeal for life and in the course of his life he gave us laughter, faith, and encouragement."  Rod lived a short 31 years, he would have turned 58 this month, but what he did with those 31 years was amazing.  He made the years count.

I don't want to spend time worrying about an hour that was lost due to a time change.  I want the hours I have to count.

Friday Foodie

Hi there!  I know I've been absent here at M&M.  All is well.  We haven't been sick or traveling.  I've just been uninspired.  After getting a "nudge" at church on Wednesday night, I realized I actually cooked something this week that I never blogged about.  It's a variation on Chili Colorado Burritos, but it's one of Les' favorites!

Chicken Burritos

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1- 28 oz can green enchilada sauce (mild, medium, or hot, whichever you prefer)

1- 10 1/2 oz. can cream of chicken soup
flour tortillas
shredded cheese

Cook chicken in your preferred method and shred.

Place chicken, enchilada sauce and soup in crockpot.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.   This is just to get all the flavors blended.  If you're short on time, you could easily do this on the stove for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Lay out  tortillas on a baking pan. Top tortillas with about 1/3 cup of the meat and some shredded cheese. Roll up into a burrito. Bake until lightly brown.  Les likes his a little crunchy, so I put them in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Return to oven for 2-3 minutes.

Place on plates and pour additional sauce over burritos if desired.

This is so easy and so good!  It makes at least 6 burritos, one is plenty for us, so we'll get three meals.