I had a good week last week.  I lost .8 pound(s) and managed to do my whole journal! Woo hoo!  No punishments for me.  Things are going pretty well, we are getting ready to leave for Florida so that is a lot of work.  While we are there we will try to make good choices without depriving ourselves.  It shouldn’t be hard once we get to our destination (staying with family) but the driving part is more difficult.  Eating out with three picky kids does not lead to the healthiest of meals! My goal is to maintain so hopefully I manage that.  Everyone, have a great week, there will not be a diet update next week but I will try to find a wifi spot so I can at least check in and let you know how we are doing.

It was a mixed week, diet wise.  Last week, I again gained 1/2 pound so I had a total gain of 1 pound.  This week I lost everything I had gained but didn’t fill out my journal.  Why did I not fill out my journal?  I know that not doing it leads to bad things.  (Which it did, I have to write 200 lines.  Not fun.  I have to do it tonight before I go to bed.  I might be up rather late! )  I absolutely hate doing the journal, I thought that maybe if I lost weight even if I didn’t fill it out, K would relent and not make me do it.  (And maybe he wouldn’t punish me for not doing it)  Of course, my reasoning was flawed, as usual, and I guess I better just start doing the journals otherwise the punishments are just going to keep getting worse and at some point K is going to start seeing it as blatant disrespect and disobedience.  I don’t really want to go there!  Big Sigh!  Have a good diet week every one, hope you do well.

It’s the fourth annual Love Our Lurkers Day.  This is the day we celebrate, and thank, all our readers that visit but don’t say hello.  We want to encourage you to delurk, even if only for today.  Say hello!  You can remain anonymous if you want, we respect that.  Without all of you it wouldn’t be worth writing this blog, so thanks so very much for taking the time to read us and other blogs out there.  We appreciate you and your comments.

According to Daisy it is recipe day for October.  I posted Caramel Apple Cake.

I am actually making it tomorrow, to take to my mom’s on Sunday, to celebrate my brother’s new marriage.  They got married in May but no one from the family could go (it was two weeks before school ended.)   Not only did I gain a sister in law but also three new nieces, a nephew, and a great nephew!  (I am not actually sure if there is a niece in law.)  Wow, that is quite an addition to the family.

To welcome them, we are having an Oktoberfest themed party. I am making pumpkin bars, German potato salad and the apple cake, my mom made black forest trifle, German chocolate cake and we are having a pig roast with baked beans,  rye bread, saurkraut and sausages too.  Oh, and lots of good beer!   There will be dancing and a bon fire and lots of good fun with my great family.  I can’t wait.  My cousin, who is 11 (yes, my cousin-my uncle is one year older than me) will be staying with us while my uncle stays at my mom’s (sibling bonding and all that).  He (the cousin) and my son (who is 12) are great pals and my guy has decided that we are kidnapping the cousin.  It should be a hoot!

Enjoy the recipe, this is a good time to make it since apples are abundant.

Caramel Apple Cake

For the apple cake,

Beat 2 eggs until frothy. Add 1 cup oil and beat, then add 2 cups sugar, beat until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon salt, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat until smooth. The batter will be very thick at this point. Stir in 3 cups chopped or grated baking apples. You can add 1 cup coconut and/or 1 cup chopped nuts if desired. Spread in a greased and floured 9×13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Make frosting while the cake is cooling.

For the caramel frosting,

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a 2 quart saucepan. Stir in 1 cup packed brown sugar.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir over low heat for 2 minutes.  Stir in 1/4 cup milk.  Return to a boil and remove from heat.  Cool to lukewarm.  Gradually stir in 2 cups powdered sugar.  Place pan of frosting in a bowl of cold water; beat until smooth and spreadable. If frosting becomes too thick beat in 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until desired consistency.

Spread frosting over cooled cake.

This cake is very rich so cut it into very small pieces.  Enjoy!

Sara at Finding Sara nominated me for an Honest Blogger Award so I am going to give it a try.  The point is to tell ten honest things about yourself and then nominate seven others to do the same.

Well,

1.  I have a college degree in history and religious studies.

2. I would rather have home made mashed potatoes and gravy than most desserts (except ice cream).

3.  I love cold gravy sandwiches.

4. I almost died in childbirth with my 7th child (but lived to have #8).

5. I am not a fan of chocolate.

6. I am not a Christian but I do believe in God.

7. I love to travel and want to visit as many countries as possible before I am too old to travel.

8. I am afraid of the dark if I am outside or somewhere unfamiliar.

9. I had a paper route when I was a child but my parents made me give it up when a drunk man followed me one Sunday morning.

10. My mom tried to give me and my sister away when I was two (this used to really bother me but I realise now that she was just trying to do what she thought was best at the time).

TMI????  Well, blame Sara then!

I nominate

Suzy from American Spanking Society

Cowgirl from Cowgirl’s Spanking Journey

Tiggs from A Spanking Good Time

Meow from Meow Learns About Life

Daisy from Daisychain

Grace from a day in the life

Paolo from Paolo in Dublin

Thanks again, Sara, for nominating me.  I enjoyed reading the ten honest things about you and look forward to reading ten honest things about each of my nominees.

Everyone already knows about my journaling troubles so it will come as no surprise then to find out that I gained about 1/2 of a pound.  The rule is no gain-ever.  So, there will a punishment.  I know it is the lack of journaling that is to blame and I really need to just buckle down and do it, especially since I really end up with double the punishment- one for not journaling and one for gaining.   I hope everyone who is trying to lose some weight has success this week!  We can do it!

Okay, it wasn’t a very good plan since it didn’t actually work!  My work schedule has been crazy so in my not so great wisdom I thought I would just fill out my journal every couple of days, basically playing catch up whenever things slowed down.  The flaw in that plan . . . in case you haven’t already guessed . . . I couldn’t remember everything to journal it when I finally decided to  do it.  Yeah, not such a great plan.  K made that abundantly clear to me this morning with various evil implements and extended corner time.  So, I have a new plan . . . I will write everything down on paper.  That way when I do get (make) time to enter it I actually have all the information I need.  My punishment wasn’t as bad as last week though since I didn’t deliberately not do it, I just didn’t think my plan all the way through.  I will do better next time, I promise!

Hiya, I hope you are all doing well!  It has been kind of crazy around here (what’s new, right?).  Last Sunday, K was running with our son in law and tripped on his shoelace.  (His middle name is not grace!)  He injured his ribs so has been in a lot of pain.  The pain has made him crabby and unable to do much of anything.  It has been a week and he is finally starting to feel a little less pain, thank goodness.  So, hopefully he is on the mend.

My work schedule has changed because of getting ready for Christmas (I work in retail and it is amazing how early the Christmas season starts!)  Now I have to start work at 5a.m. on Sundays.  That is just a bit too early for me since it means I have to get up at 4!  And, if I am working Sunday it means I am working Saturday as well which is a 7a.m. start time.  That is a pretty early weekend and very exhausting!   I don’t make as nice of dinners because I am so tired but fortunately, it is getting cooler out so crock pot meals are a viable option now.  We also have had to change the maintenance schedule since we were having it every other day and Sunday maintenance would have to happen before 4a.m. which is too early for both of us!  K has moved it to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule for now.

I weighed in on Saturday and was the same as last week.  No punishment then so that is good!  I still struggle with the journaling on the weekends but did better this week than last so I don’t think I will be in trouble.   I drank all my water every day but it looks like my weekly fiber and calcium was below goal, we’ll see what happens there.  I survived my big punishment last week for not journaling.  I was sore for a couple of days but had very little bruising.  Sometimes I need that avoid at all costs punishment to get me refocused on following the rules/goals that K has set for me.

Have a great week.  Keep in touch!

Well it’s been a long time since I checked in with everyone.  My apologies.  As ~N has been posting, it has been a rather hectic couple of months around here.  We are finally getting settled in our new place.  I had forgotten how much I hated moving.

By the way, I hate moving.

As I write this , ~N is writing lines because she failed to do her diet journal, again.  This punishment also includes spanking, corner time and some other unpleasantries.  I am being forced to be extremely hard on her in this instance, because she just can’t seem to make herself stick to this rule.  I love ~N with all my heart and want the best for her.  Past experience has shown that the intense, memorable punishments make a lasting impression on her.  Her cell phone hasn’t gone dead in months, she doesn’t lock herself out of the house anymore and she is very conscious of the safety rules that I have set.  I don’t understand what buttons this pushes in an intelligent, educated, grown woman, but I know it works.  It also brings us closer, as she can depend on me for protection and support, and I can step up and be that rock for her.

I am not naturally inclined to be mean to a woman, especially one I love, but I have come to understand that this “meanness” is really an intense expression of love.   Many readers have followed our diet progress and are aware of ~N’s amazing success.  This has changed her whole perspective of herself.  She is healthier and happier than she has been in years.  I too am healthier and happier.  I cannot let her fall back.  As she has written here before, her journal is the key to her monitoring her eating.  When she journals, she stays on top of things.  When she doesn’t, she loses focus quickly.  Right now journaling is tedious and unpleasant for her.  I have to make the alternative more unpleasant.  It can be a stretch to reach the level of discipline necessary to accomplish this.  She feels more comfortable when I do this, and I want her to have that feeling of safety.

Love, especially in this type of relationship, requires us to extend ourselves for the one we love.  I can do this, even though it can be really challenging.

~K

In nine weeks I will have been “dieting” for one year.  I put dieting in quotes because by this point it isn’t really a diet anymore.  It is a lifestyle change.  As much as I would like to think that I can reach my goal weight and go back to eating whatever I want, I know that is not reality.  The changes I have incorporated will have to be permanent if I want the weight to stay off.  It took me 24 years to gain all this weight and it is great that it will take not much more than a year to lose it.  (Even though it seems like way longer than that!)  ~K is totally committed to helping me keep the weight off through whatever means is required.

I lost 2.25 pounds this week, I have one pound to go to be back where I was before we started the moving adventure.  I know it is the journaling that does it, that has been proven over and over again.  When I stop journaling I stall or gain, as soon as I resume journaling the weight seems to melt off.  I received two daily punishments this week, one for not journaling and one for not drinking all my water.  K didn’t spank me though, I had to write lines for one and the other was very personal so we won’t discuss it.

I hope you all had a great week.  Keep up the good work on your diets!