A List, not like The "A" List Just a list of stuff

I found this list on another blog. It has nothing to do with weight loss but it will allow me to mark each activity I have completed, which is thrillingly close to filling in a form.  The activities in green are ones I have done, red ones are activities I NEVER want to do, pink are ones that I don’t understand and blue are ones that I would do if the opportunity presented itself. This is a very involved blog post so please appreciate all the effort I am putting into this and recognize that I am fully aware that it only interests me. It's my blog, I'll bore you if want to. 

100 Things To Do That Make Life Exciting, Fulfilling or Better

Than the Lives of People Who Haven’t Done These Things.

Sleep under the stars – when I was young, before we had central air, we would sleep on patio furniture or on the deck when it was really hot.

Play in a band -- I, uh, I don't... I mean, no

Visit Hawaii

Watch a meteor shower – I did this the last time I went camping. It was on Mt. Washington. I returned home to the news that Elvis had died. I haven’t gone camping since out of concern for the well-being of cultural icons.

Give more than you can afford to a charity – Of course I have, “altruistic” is my middle name.

Go to Disneyland/Disneyworld

Climb a mountain – I don’t think I climbed all the way to the top of Mt. Washington but some of it, I had to see the meteor shower, and get water out of a stream, and go potty outside.

Hold a praying mantis – wha???

Sing a solo—it doesn’t say in front of an audience so I have definitely done this.

Bungee jump—no just no. See bungee cord breaking here.

Visit Paris – and watch Midnight in Paris because it is a lovely movie.

Watch a lightning storm at sea – this would involve being out on a boat at night in a storm, so no.

Teach yourself an art from scratch—I don’t really know what this means. I took up needlepointing but I went to a class so I guess that doesn’t count.

Adopt a child -- Never say never but I don't see this on the horizon but I would if needed.

Have food poisoning – Not sure why this is on the list but I have managed to pull this off. It’s not pleasant.

Walk to the top of the Statue of Liberty – I have been to the Statue of Liberty but it was not open for climbing to the top. I give myself a half point for this.

Grow your own vegetables – Yes I have. There is a garden tomato story involving Brigid that I may tell in the future to prove what a good (read: horrible) mother I am.

See the Mona Lisa in France – I don’t know where else you would see her unless they move the Louvre. I have seen the Mona Lisa, much smaller than I expected and surrounded by Japanese tourists taking pictures of it.

Sleep on an overnight train – I have slept in a couchette from Paris to the south of France and it was one of the best night’s sleep EVER. LOVED it!

Have a pillow fight – check.

Hitchhike -- I don't think so.

Take a sick day when you’re not ill – Duh.

Build a snow fort – I honestly don’t know if I have or not. Have I?

Hold a lamb – No but I’d love to and a baby pig. A piglet.

Go skinny dipping

Run a marathon – no, no I won’t do this.

Ride a gondola in Venice

See a total eclipse – I don’t know if this is a lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, eclipse of the heart, or what; but I have seen all of those things.

Watch a sunrise or sunset

Hit a home run – probably, I bet I have.

Go on a cruise – No, you’re not the boss of me. Do NOT go on a cruise, see here.

See Niagara Falls in person –

Visit the birthplace of your ancestors, as well as their burial places – I’m going to need some clarification on this one. How far back do you go for someone to be an “ancestor”?

See an Amish community

Teach yourself a new language – a new made up language or a language already in use?

Had enough money to be truly satisfied – Probably once for like an hour.

See the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person – I think they (the people who created this list) could probably leave out the “in person”. Seeing these things in a Google search wouldn’t be very worthwhile or impressive.

See Michelangelo’s David – Doesn’t say if this needs to be in person or not.

Go rock climbing -- I could do this but I doubt I will.

Sing Karaoke –  I don't think I have and you’re welcome.

See Old Faithful geyser erupt

Buy a stranger a meal at a restaurant -- this reminds me of the distress I experience when I see old men eating alone in restaurants.

Visit Africa

Walk on a beach by moonlight

Go by ambulance – Yep. Did this after elective surgery and had a horrible reaction to the anesthesia.  Tummy tucks should not be day surgery.

Have your portrait painted -- I have had my portrait pastelled.

Go deep sea fishing – see cruises

See the Sistine Chapel in person

Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

Go SCUBA diving or snorkeling – I’m not a good multi-tasking swimmer apparently because snorkeling was too difficult for me to master.

Kiss in the rain

Play in the mud – I’m guessing I have. Does gardening count?

Go to a drive in theater – my parents used to take me and my brother to the drive in in our pjs with our patchwork sleeping bags and we would lie in the way back of the station wagon for the show. That’s when we first saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Be in a movie

Visit the Great Wall of China – unless this can be a restaurant, I doubt I'm doing it.

Start a business – I got cards and letterhead made but the actual doing the business didn’t interest me as much but I did start it.

Take a martial arts class -- meh

Visit Russia – nyet

Serve at a soup kitchen

Sell Girl Scout Cookies – I was a Bluebird/Campfire girl as a child and even then I knew my limitations as a salesman. My mother had to buy my allotment of Campfire candy because I absolutely refused to sell candy door to door. My fear of rejection was quite powerful and it was to be years before I found therapy, not that I could do it to this day. I have stood outside Zupan's with my children who were selling Girl Scout cookies.

Go whale watching -- does this mean on the water or from the beach? I think we know what the water answer is.

Get flowers for no reason – I don’t know if this is receive flowers from someone else for no reason or buy flowers for no reason other than you want flowers. I think I’ve probably had both those things happen and I know I definitely buy me flowers for no reason.

Donate blood, platelets or plasma

Go sky diving – No.

Visit a Nazi concentration camp

Bounce a check – Duh

Fly in a helicopter – No!

Save a favorite childhood toy – can I save adult toys?

Visit the Lincoln Memorial

Eat caviar –

Piece a quilt – I did piece together an afghan that I knit, like a quilt afghan not the Taliban.

Stand in Times Square – much nicer now than when I first stood there in the 80s

Tour the Everglades

Be fired from a job – strangely enough, that’s only happened once

See the changing of the Guards (it's Guard but I didn’t write this) in London – as opposed to seeing the Changing of the Guard in Topeka.

Break a bone – check

Ride a speeding motorcycle -- No.

See the Grand Canyon in person

Publish a book

Visit the Vatican

Buy a brand new car

Walk in Jerusalem

Have your picture in the paper –

Read the entire Bible -- I tried this once and I made it to Leviticus (chapter 4, Jackson 5).

Visit the White House – check.

Kill and prepare an animal for eating – NO, I don’t want to wind up a vegetarian!

Have chickenpox

Save someone’s life -- I would totally do this

Sit on a jury

Meet someone famous

Join a book club

Lose a loved one -- I'm assuming this means have someone you love die, not just lose them like in a mall.

Have a baby –check

See the Alamo in person

Swim in the Great Salt Lake -- I guess I'd do this if I were with a big group of people and it would be awkward for me to refuse to do it.

Be involved in a lawsuit – I am involved in a class action suit right now!  It’s somebody against Netflix and I’m in line to get a cash settlement. My ship has come in!!!

Own a cell phone

Be stung by a bee

Read an entire book in one day

Jean Valjean

I am just like Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. This morning I went to the deli in the lobby of my building for a bagel. I ordered a sausage and egg bagel (I guess we know what happened last night). I paid for my order and moved to the waiting area by the counter and talked to my co-worker, Shayna. The woman who works at the deli came out and said some words and I thought I heard "sausage" but I couldn't make out the rest and she placed a paper wrapped food package (oooo awful word!) on the counter. No one claimed it. I walked toward the item and looked around. I asked some people who were waiting if they had heard what she said. The waiting woman said I should take it b/c she ordered after me. Reading this now, I don't really follow that line of reasoning. At any rate, I took it.

It wasn't mine. It was a croissant with egg and sausage and cheddar cheese. I ordered a whole wheat bagel with egg, sausage and swiss.I didn't technically steal it because I paid money for something just not that although it would cost the same as what I ordered. But it was not my order. So I ate it.

It's a lot like Les Miserables but you have to really want to see the parallels.

Also, the Sparking has clearly been shot to hell for today.

My friend is asking for more dieting advice which I am happy to dole out.
"So my question is, how do you stay motivated? Do you post your goals where you can see them?"

Hmmm....how do I stay motivated? I read blog posts on SparkPeople by Sparkers who have lost 25, 30, 50, 100 lbs or more. If they can do it, I can do it. Just 10%. I know it will make a difference if I keep tracking my calories and moving. Not today, of course, because I slipped and fell into sausage egg and cheese croissanwich but on other days. SparkPeople really likes the visual motivator collage thing but I haven't done that. I did take the before picture and looking at a photo of me in my underwear is plenty of motivation. I'll let you look at it, if you think it will help.

Week Three Wednesday Weigh In

Weigh in morning has come and gone. As I have done for the past couple of weeks, I showered before weigh in. I made sure I rinsed all the shampoo and conditioner from my hair, got all my mascara off (you never know where an extra microgram could come from). Completed shower, dried off, towel-dried hair for that tousled weighing in look, burped, farted, exhaled and got on the scale.

I lost 1 pound! Sparkpeople says it’s good to lose between ½ pound and two (2) pounds a week. I have lost 3 pounds since January 3, so that’s right on target! I also read an article on Spark about goal setting and to start with 10%. My goal is to lose 10% of my body weight. That’s attainable. It’s not all I want to lose but once I do that, I can reset my goals and lose another 10% and then I will be happy with my weight. Isn’t that a good idea? The loss of one pound also tells me I need to exercise more. Perhaps I will boot camp again tonight. I have also heard that Jillian Michaels has some good dvds. And she used to be heavy, who knew?! Here's a before and after for her. I haven't linked in a couple of days, I don't want to get rusty.

Not much has happened since I blogged yesterday. My boss is back from Chile so that has put a cramp in my blogging style. I have also been asked to work here at the office which is really eating up a lot of my time.  Reminder: Do not share blog link with co-workers.

I read this today and had a conniption laughing. A woman in my office asked another co-worker, "Can you hear that? What is wrong with her?" Good stuff.

Weigh In Wednesday Eve

This morning, dressed in my underwear, I asked Brigid to take a "before" picture of me. I wasn't wearing particularly revealing underwear, it just looked like a black two piece bathing suit with a fat woman in it. Brigid looked at me as though I had asked her to photograph me with a goat and something with batteries from Madam Giggles’ Whack Shack (that's a real place, but I am not linking to it here--this is a family site). I told Brigid it was for my "Before" picture, my "before I lose all the weight I'm going to lose" picture. My 12 year old daughter, with a sneer of distaste on her face said, "you're still posting a picture of yourself in underwear." Yeah, guess what smart ass? No, I'm not. The photo that she finally took will not be posted unless there is a rocking hot "After" photo to go with it. "Before" photos suck by themselves. "Before" photos are simply photographs of someone who is fat, ugly, hairy, blotchy, whatever but they are no good to anyone without really good "After" photos. But I do have the "Before" photo....it's not pretty, it's an outstanding "Before" photo.

I did a Crunch Boot Camp exercise video tonight, I thought I would try something more structured than my free form Just Dance workout. It was good. It was hard! And I did it without the weights, so after I get my hand weights this weekend, it should really kick my ass. My right shoulder hurts, not sure why. Either my form was off on my weightless workout or too much Spider solitaire.

I'm back. That sentence caused me to go play a game of Spider solitaire.

Now it's time for the reader mailbag. My good friend and devoted follower A---- writes:

Are you following the suggested meal plans, or doing your own? Same with the exercises. Do you pick a video or what?

 Thank you for writing A----! I look at Sparkpeople meal plans and recipes and then make up my own. I did a big diet grocery shopping. It helps to have a lot of spices around to add some flav. I have made two Spark recipes and they were good, even my kids liked one of them. Multi grain pasta is turning out, very unsurprisingly, to be a tough sell. As for the exercise....for one thing, anything I'm doing is better than the nothing I've been doing for months. I do some Spark videos. Cardio videos from Netflix. And of course, the Just Dance seizure workout which I sort of create myself.
I want all my readers, followers to feel free to contact me with diet/fitness/nutrition questions. I'm completely unprofessional and generally make up answers as I go along.


Serious aside....
Over the weekend I learned that a woman who I was friends with (not close friends, but friends) in high school passed on Jan. 1 from breast cancer. Sheila was a funny, smart girl and from what I could tell from her Facebook page and the page dedicated to her, she was a popular, funny woman with three daughters and devoted friends and family. I have been thinking of her for days and I can't imagine the heartbreak of having to leave your children behind. I know her faith was great and that she is in a better place and no longer in pain. The point being as always and ever....this life is short and no one knows when their number is going to come up. Losing weight isn't the most important thing in the world but if it helps me feel a little peppier and perhaps keeps me around a little longer to see how the story goes, that's good. More importantly, I hope to have a great time while I can, love my children and family and friends, I hope to be kind and helpful and funny, and do my best to not have any regrets.
Sigh.
On to Weigh In Wednesday!!!
xoxoxox

I'm Too Boring to Write Anything

I've been trying a couple of different topics, a couple of different approaches, made a list, actually did some work, all in an attempt to think of something to write here. This is my weight loss blog. I owe my domestic and international readership wit and insight regarding my weight loss adventure. 

I got nothin'. 

On Spark this morning, I really pushed myself and played enough games to earn the points that put me over the top and on to Level 5. There were no cartoon fireworks as there are if I win at Spider Solitaire. I didn't get a Sparkgoodie. Just up to Level 5 and 1500 more Sparkpoints needed to get to Level 6. 

My good Spark friend Crazywoman10, told me to take my measurements in order to have more data available to evaluate my progress. I did that yesterday. No one is going to ask me to pose naked for anything any time soon. My upper arm is 11 inches around. I don't know if that's good or not. I think my arms aren't bad. 

I need to do some strength training.

I need to stop drinking Diet Coke. That can be a goal in a month or so.

I'm going to San Francisco in a couple of weeks. Perhaps that will generate some entertaining  stories or what's the word I'm trying to think of....it's like "analogy" or "acronym", "adage", what the hell is it that means a little story? 

Anecdote! That's it. Perhaps I will have some interesting anecdotes after that trip. I used to ass out so much I always had entertaining stories. I don't do that so much anymore. Not because I have become gracious, graceful, sophisticated or more balanced. I'm just boring. Happy but boring.

It snowed yesterday! As a born and bred Oregonian, I believe it is part of my physiological make-up to flip out like a 9 year old whenever rumors of snow in the Portland metro area pop up.  At night I stare out the window, squinting to see if there’s a flake or two falling, hoping and praying for school to be closed. And typically, we get nothing. Christmas of 2008, Portland had a snowstorm that effectively shut down the city for 10 days. We had 18 inches of snow! That’s highly unusual here but it was so pretty and if we had been better prepared, like had a Christmas tree, it would have been perfect. That sort of storm has hit NW Oregon twice in my lifetime. The first time was 1968 or 69. I may vaguely remember that first storm or I’ve seen photos and heard stories so I think it’s a memory. My dad built my brother and me a little snow hill to slide down. It was just a little hill but we were only toddlers at the time.  Instead of buying a disk or sled, my parents put us (not at the same time) in the O'Connor family salad bowl and we slid down the hill in that. It is an acrylic, green tinted shallow bowl with leaves and sparkles in the acrylic. I say "is" because I still have it but now it’s in my garden planted with succulents. 

That story reminds me of an incident that took place about 10 years ago when my girls were little. One night after a bottle of chardonnay, I was looking at their Little Tykes plastic slide and thought, "that looks like fun." I climbed on the slide with youthful exuberance and apparently no center of balance at all and tipped over, me with the slide attached, tipped over.  While I was smaller then than I am now, I was firmly wedged into the slide on the floor on my side, drunk in the basement. I recall having to wrestle myself out of the slide, standing up, straightening up my person, putting the slide upright, looking around and vowing to keep this little mishap to myself. I don't do things like that anymore or we just don't have plastic slides around anymore.

Technical Difficulties

There have been some technical issues preventing my readers from having a fully satisfying blog experience here at "Something Fat Happened on the Way to 47".  I have changed the settings so that anyone can comment so please do. That includes my Russian readers! I am now up to four (4) followers. There have been some questions from my fives of readers about how to become a follower. I put the 14-year-old on it and she discovered you have to create an account with Blogspot or have a Google or Twitter account.  I, personally, would like to know what the benefits are of being a follower of my blog, other than just making Maggie happy to see how many followers she has. (Third person, really?)

As I conclude my second week of sparking, I have noticed Sparking becoming second nature to me. Due in no small part, I'm sure, to my love of playing games, taking quizzes, tracking and measuring my actions, etc. ("It's called obsessive/compulsive disorder.")

When I was a kid, I loved to get the mail although I would hide until the postman was gone because I didn't want him to think I was just waiting for the mail to come. Hell, it’s 1975, I’m 10 years old, I have plenty of stuff on my agenda.  Back in the 70's people sent and received mail: letters, postcards, written correspondence. Since there was a chance of my receiving a letter from a relative or my pen pal in Ireland, I always wanted to get to the mail first. Although, what if I hadn’t brought the mail in as soon as it was in the box? Would someone else in the household throw my mail away? What did I think would happen?  ANYWAY, even if I didn't get a letter, sometimes there were flyers in the mailbox. I loved to fill things in and I would fill in the boxes on the flyers and mail them back without my mother knowing and ultimately we would get a LOT of L'eggs pantyhose.

Sparkpeople allows me to satisfy my need to fill things in and I don't wind up with a bunch of plastic eggs lying around.  (Coincidentally L’eggs eggs were big eggs, not as big as emu eggs but I think we can agree there’s an interesting egg theme woven through this blog.) Note: I do not want to hear from anyone who has no idea what L’eggs eggs are.

So the tracking is going easily, the food changes are fine, not really bothering me. The only tough part is event/restaurant eating and going to the movies. I have made a pretty good transition to portion control and setting aside food at a restaurant to take home with me. At my company party, I asked the carving guy to cut the slice of prime rib in half! Half I tell you!

I MUST have popcorn at the movies. Movie popcorn is one of the worst foods in all of eating. I have stopped asking for the "butter flavoring" on the popcorn and in a small bucket so I can dip the popcorn in it (not really but that would be good!). The new, 2 lb. lighter Maggie either buys a small, plain popcorn or I budget my calories to go for the medium. I don't like sharing so any sharing plan needs to be discussed before purchase. If my movie partner says they don’t want any popcorn, they better damn well mean it.

My issue is exercise. I'm doing a reasonably good job but I’m pretty sure that I need to pick up the pace to be successful in my weight loss quest. My exercise consists of walking the dog, walking myself or doing Just Dance on the Wii. The dog walk is good, walking alone is brisker and more effective, the Just Dance is definitely good cardio but I look like an idiot.

I wish they had Just Dance '80s version. (There very well may be an ‘80s version but I don’t know about it and have done no research to see if it exists.) I don't know any of the songs on the Just Dance and I don't know the moves. As much as my Deney Terrio Boyfriend and mean sister try to persuade me it's not true, I am a good dancer. Or I was till they started telling me I'm not and then I became too self-conscious to get down. Last night, my daughter, Annie, was supportive of my Just Dance efforts and brought me water so I didn't faint and wrote a motivational message on the white board but even she was smirking at my attempts to dance to a Ke$ha song. (And Ke$ha, nice spelling.) No matter, I will continue my dance groove moves b/c I can tell it's a good workout. I suppose anything is a good workout if you thrash your arms around enough.

I need to be better about the Strength training. As I have mentioned, SparkPeople supplies the exercises, has video demonstrations of them and all I have to do is do the exercises. I like the exercises and I’m becoming more comfortable with the blue rolly thing. My workout includes doing pushups with my hands on the blue rolly thing, which isn’t bad because I have freakish upper body strength. It also calls for putting my knees on the blue thing, hands on the ground and rolling in and out. I like that. I know the blue thing is meant to be rolled on to release tight muscles in hips, calves, etc. I have seen people do this. When I have attempted this in the privacy of my own home, I wind up not rolling but rather draped over the blue thing with my body on the floor on either side of the blue thing and my dog standing over me smelling my face.

There has to be a better way.

Miscellany.... Miss Elenie

Before I launch this entry, I'd like to share the following with you:

"Go for a walk today, and let the colors and sounds and smells of spring feed you. Nourish yourself with the idea that the people walking past you are perfect in every way and that you are the smokin' hot reflection of the things you think, feel and believe in. Feast on the idea that the thing more important than the bulge of your belly is your belief in the goodness of others.

There are children being born with cancer, families taking cover from bombs and poor men begging for food in the street. The world needs women with the courage to love in the face of adversity.

Start with yourself."

Isn't that nice? And I know it's not spring but it will be, someday. I took that from another Sparker's Sparkpage. I love that. There is so much true misery in the world, I must always remember to be grateful for the blessings of my children and family and friends and good health, love and laughter. It's all a large flightless bird could ask for!

I promised my sister's meatloaf ("meatloaf bo beetloaf" what movie?) recipe in my last blog about all that crazy comfort food over at Sparkpeople. It might snow this weekend! I would love to be stuck inside watching the snow fall. I'd build a fire and snuggle up with a good book or a movie and a comforting glass of vegetable juice. Ahhhh....it's like a storybook. Vegetable juice warms me like a worn soft woolen blanket.

Enough daydreaming, back to business....Katie's meatloaf recipe is outstanding and it comes from epicurious.com, and they know their comfort food. They find a lot of comfort in butter and cream and meat, food that on a menu would have a little defibrillator symbol next to it instead of one of those heart healthy ones. Here's the recipe and it is lovely!

I don't know if you noticed but I learned to link things just now.  That's right, you wanna see what's playing at the Fox Tower? Here! You want to shop at the Gap? Here, just for you! Need flight info to Hawaii? Well Aloha! Link link link link link. You name it, I will link it! Knowledge is power my friends! I just gave you a potpourri of lovely links, I know you will enjoy all of them! No thanks necessary, I'm a blogger, linking is what I do....or one of the myriad tasks involved in blogging.

My boss will be back tomorrow so I may not blog as much as I'd like in the near future but he loves me so he probably wouldn't mind. He has a blog but I think mine is more interesting, more universal in its appeal, although he has 109 followers and I have 2 (two).

Friend Chicken

I meant Fried Chicken. Friend Chicken doesn't even make sense.

Wednesday Weigh In Week Two

Today is weigh-in day and I have weighed in. Does it seem like a lot longer than a week since I realized I am a large flightless bird? It does to me. That was a very long week, it seemed like it lasted 9 or 10 days as opposed to the standard 7. It was probably a week in bird weeks. I weighed myself and I'm still a large flightless bird but a large flightless bird that weighs two (2) lbs less than I did last week! 

Yay for me!!!

I have also moved on to Step 2 of my Sparking. I graduated from Step 1 a week early according to the Sparkpeople computer who (that, which?) informed me that I had earned 25 points and moved on to the next level which is all about diet and portion control. If you control your portions, they really aren't very big. That may seem elementary to my fives of readers but news to me. I recently learned that butter has 100 calories per tablespoon. 100 Calories!! What the hell? No wonder I'm so fat, I had no idea. I figured it was bad but I didn't realize it was that bad. Last night I bought "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter..... Lite". Sigh.

Sparkpeople sends out a lot of email. Some I read, "7 Comfort Foods that are Good for You." Others, I don't read, "The Winter Workout Guide" (actually I did check that one out and it tells the reader how many calories can be used up making snow angels. Living in Portland, I would end up making dirt angels which probably doesn’t use up as many calories and I probably wouldn’t look that fun or darling or festive doing it. “Oh no, who’s that chunky middle aged woman flailing on the ground?  Kids get back over here, leave her alone!”)

I was intrigued by the good news about comfort foods being good for me because I figured that macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pies, and chocolate chip cookies were not going to be a part of my diet. I eagerly clicked on the article to discover the magic behind the 7 Comfort Foods that are Good for Me. Um...ehemmmm, the title says, "Comfort Foods."

Get ready for the 7 “Comfort” Foods:

1.      yogurt with fruit
2.      fruit smoothie
3.      chicken noodle soup
4.      angel food cake
5.      oatmeal
6.      vegetable juice
7.      crockpot food

Comfort Foods? To comfort what??? Those ain’t no freakin’ comfort foods. OK, chicken noodle soup is a comfort food, it is good for one’s soul and soup is good food but that is the only item on this list that in ANY way resembles a comfort food. I don't know what to think about the crockpot food. I have crocked once and it was chicken that wound up looking like stewed brain. I gave the crockpot away and have never crocked again.

Comfort foods are warm and cheesy and buttery. They are thick and saucy, just like me!! (Hahahaha Stop it Maggie you are too, too!) Comfort foods inspire reminiscing about your childhood, cool fall days and grilled cheese sammiches and tomato soup, Campbell’s Tomato Goddam Soup! Vegetable juice doesn’t conjure up any childhood memories for me other than my dad sometimes liked V8 or Clamato with a beer on Saturday mornings. 

Comfort food is stew or meatloaf, chocolate chip cookies from scratch, mashed potatoes, my Mother’s spaghetti sauce which she always swore was no big thing but I’ve never been able to recreate it, my Mother’s minestrone soup for that matter, also incredibly good. But not my Mother’s fruit smoothie, not my Mother’s plain yogurt with berries in it. What in the name of God are the Sparker’s talking about???

I did some research of my own and found many, MANY lists of comfort foods from websites on Home Cooking, from Countryliving.com and foodnetwork.com, Wikipedia! And if it’s on Wikipedia, it’s true. All of these lists include many of the same foods. Comfort Foods, REAL Comfort Foods are things like: 

 

• Chicken Pot Pie
• Meatloaf (I will post my sister’s amazing meatloaf recipe in next post)
• Macaroni & Cheese (with real cheese and ½ and ½
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Chocolate Cake
• Chili
• Brownies
• Lasagna
• Applie Pie
• Risotto
• Fried Chicken. (Interesting aside: I work with a woman from Italy who went to Friar Tuck’s in Portland for Fried Chicken. Friar Tuck's is YUMMY fried chicken. She didn’t like it and gave it to me and I ate it, stopping short of sucking the marrow out of the bones. Here’s the interesting part, she’d never had friend chicken before! She’s in her 30s and had never had friend chicken! It seems that Italians don’t make friend chicken. Those people have a lot to learn about good food. So it wasn't an interesting aside but it was an aside.)
• Tuna casserole

 I could go on but I’m getting hungry. I’ll go eat a portion (bad word!) of fruit. How comforting.

Lastly, I entered to win a $1000 Amazon Book gift card. Fingers crossed because if I win, my friends are going to be getting book presents from me for a long time.

Lastly, lastly…it was 9:15-9:30 this morning when I realized I was walking around with my jeans completely unzipped. 

Super lastly, someday I'm going to figure out the layout of this page and have the photos match up with the appropriate posts. This will require the help of Super Trisha, the most creative person I know. And the best cook, talk about comfort food. Everything she makes is the best comfort food ever, pork wrapped pork, not kidding and I want some. See her stuff at www.abodedesign.net.