Far too much time has passed, but very little has happened

I know I haven't been blogging very much, but rest assured, fellow BFCers! I am still on the wagon. My loss is still slow, but I'm happy with that. :)

Hubs went into the hospital with a gallbladder attack (at least, that's what we think it was!), but he's better now. He'll get a test to see if it really was gallbladder and if so, he'll have it removed. I hope it was just bad eggs or something because I don't want him to have to go through surgery. Anyway, he feels fine right now.

My job is getting busier. We have one person retiring and another (probably) going somewhere, so lots of new responsibilities are being spread around to us underlings. I guess we won't be so under anymore! Since I usually blog at work, that's why I haven't blogged as much lately.

But the biggest news right now is that my sister and her family have come to visit for Christmas! They aren't staying with us (which is good because there are 6 of them and we have a tiny house!), but we have lots of plans to hang out! I missed her kids so much-- they are the CUTEST! I know lots of you are thinking, "No, that can't be true because my grandson/niece/baby is the cutest," but you are wrong. These kids are hands-down the most adorable things I've ever seen! :)

So, they were over for dinner on Sunday. I didn't realize until we sat down that the only thing we had to drink in the house was water!
I asked the kids if water was ok and they all said at once, "I want JUICE!" Luckily for them, my sister had stopped at Walmart on the way over and bought juice for them to have at the hotel. They all had juice while Hubs and I had water. I thought as my niece got a refill on her juice that I am so glad I found BFC before I had kids! There will be no juice overload in my house!

That night I made stew. I make it in the slow-cooker and I put beef and potatoes with a little water in first, then later I add veggies and spices. I used to add a little oil, but it really doesn't need it, so I don't do that anymore. Well, anyway, while we were eating, my sister exclaimed, "It's so nice to eat real food! It tastes... healthy!" And I was thinking, "Beef stew? Healthy?" What are they eating normally that makes boring old beef stew healthy?

Well, the answer came a little while later when my sister and I took the kids to see Christmas lights. We all piled in their rented mini van and lo and behold, their dad pulled out the Oreos and gave them all a couple and then left the opened package with the oldest to dole out upon demand. My sister grabbed a few for herself and we headed out. I don't know how many cookies each of the kids had, but my sister had 6.

Now, I never wanted to be the person who judges what everyone else eats, but I know this is a safe zone, right? (I'll assume you're nodding.) So, what I'm thinking is this: Why is it so hard for my sister to realize that the reason she can't lose weight is because she's eating all the time? A common practice for her is to walk into my place and ask, "Do you have any chocolate or anything yummy?" So, she'll snack while we're talking and then we'll have a meal where she has two servings and then she'll eat a crazy dessert. That's only going to make the weight creep up and up!

I know, because this is exactly how I was before BFC. Even on other programs, I never quite was able to shift my mindset. And, yes, the weight just kept creeping up and up. The way I think has definitely changed!

But here's a weird thing that's been happening to me lately (and sorry for the stream-of-consciousness style here!)-- I have been remembering very clearly how sweets tasted. I say "tasted" in the past tense because those things don't taste the same to me anymore. But lately, I can imagine how frosting would dissolve sweetly in my mouth. I know that if I licked the frosting off a cupcake it would taste like a mouthful of saccharine dirt, but I can visualize how things used to taste.

So, it's a strange kind of frustration... It's like I'm being tempted by something I wouldn't be able to enjoy even if I did have it. So weird! I don't know how to describe it. But I'm lucky that I know things don't taste the same to me anymore, so the temptation is just kind of a joke.

I'm rambling now... so, if you made it to the end of this post, congrats!

And in case I don't blog until after Christmas-- Merry Christmas and Grand Festivus!