Having Fun and Keeping Busy

I rolled out of bed shortly after 6:00 this morning. It's 10:37 as I begin to write and my day has been fun so far. After brushing my teeth, getting dressed and checking my blood pressure, I left a few comments on others' Project 365 pictures and took my turns on the Lexulous (Scrabble) games I am playing on Facebook. There were about 10 games to play of the 15 I have going with a variety of people. Most of them are with my sister Cathy. We have 7 games on the go. I love word games.

I also have a "Slow Cooker Mediterannean Minestrone Casserole" simmering away in the crock pot for supper tonight. It's another recipe from the Women's Cookbook that Christine bought me over the Christmas holiday. Neither Ken or I cared for the Barley Risotto that I made from the cookbook on Monday so it's not one I'll make again. The biggest thing for me was the amount of basil, I think it was too much and overpowered the taste of everything else in the dish. I'm hoping this recipe is going to be a hit though. It has all sorts of superfoods in it, such as: chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrots, green beans, black pepper and oregano. I thought I had Italian Seasoning on hand but discovered I didn't so I found a recipe on the Internet and made my own from scratch. It wasn't hard - just combine equal amounts of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and rosemary.

I have thoroughly enjoyed some of the meals I've had with superfoods this week - and love knowing that I'm putting things into my body that are going to have positive results! It's been a fun week in the lunchroom at work as the few of us that are doing Superfoods 365 see what each other is eating, share food ideas and enthusiasm about getting healthier.

I weighed 206 this morning so I'm back to the ten pound loss that I achieved before Christmas! I weighed 205 yesterday but I also ate a lot yesterday. Mostly all superfoods but it was still too much. My blood pressure is good - it was 121/81 this morning. One of the things I have decided is that I really want to do is go off the triazide I'm taking. It's a water pill and I've been on it for many years. If I had to guess just how many years, I'd say probably 16 and I've heard recently that if you're on it for too long it can damage to your liver. My doctor has me on it to help keep my blood pressure in a normal range but since my b/p is good, I'm going to try to wean myself off it. I wouldn't normally do something like this without my doctor's supervision but when I was eating healthy in 2004, and my blood pressure was good, she told me I could begin to wean myself off by taking one pill every second day. That's what I'll do again this time but I'll also keep a close eye on my readings and if I think I need to continue taking the triazide everyday until I get myself a little more healthy, then I'll do so. Today is the first day I haven't taken a pill.

One of my goals this year is to declutter as much as possible. The Cerebral Palsy Association will be in the neighbourhood today to pick up donations and I managed to find 4 boxes of things around the house that I can live without. The boxes are sitting on the front deck waiting to be picked up as I write. It feels great to get rid of things I don't need and don't use!

It's been so cold this week (in the -20C's) but supposed to warm up beginning today. I'm looking forward to that. The sun is shining this morning and I have lots of energy. I feel good and next on my list is to ride my bike then take a shower.