Ready to go! November 26, 2008

Yippee, Turkey Day is almost here.  Today was rather slow, but all in all felt productive and positive.  I had a little funk this evening, but snapped out of it by doing food prep.  More on that later…

I was up later than usual last night, until a little after 1.  I listed 16 Cow Parade cows on eBay (they were a reward from my old office manager), got done around 11:45, and then decided to read some Road & Track.  There was an interesting article in there about oil use, unconventional liquids, and water.  Sounds like we’re in the shitter on non-OPEC oil production, and that water supply will be one of the key problems, perhaps moreso than oil.  Check it out here: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=36&article_id=7319

Lily has totally been my alarm clock this week, coming in to say hi and wake me up around 7, and insisting I get out of bed around 8.  It is kind of good, though, because that way I get up and start my day earlier on weekends, which I like.  No where near the 5 am alarm most of you have, but early enough for me

Chris wasn’t feeling too hot again, and while he decided whether to stay home or go to work I had my oats.  Steel cut oats, pumpkin spice Silk, water, almond slivers, dried figs, cinnamon, pinch of salt=yummy.  Chris did decide to stay home, so I also made coffee and took a cup with me to work when I left.  I suppose I enjoy having coffee in the car, especially when it is cold like it has been lately.

I worked for a few hours, and nearly ate out of boredom before I was hungry.  Alas, thinking about food make me hungry, so I had my wrap around noon.  Low fat tortilla, turkey, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw, and pepper.

 I was drinking hot water with lunch b/c I was so cold!

It was hard to warm up today for various reasons, and I think the hot water helped.  Kinda weird though, just water with no tea or anything (didn’t feel like it).  And yes, I used a non-recyclable cup   I can reuse it thought I didn’t want to use my regular coffee cup, b/c even when it’s clean it still smells like coffee! 

I knew traffic would be horrible today, and I didn’t need to stay at work, so I left waaaaay early, like at 1:30.  Even then I hit some traffic, but not much–  phew.  I was already getting hungry thinking about my yogurt snack awaiting me, but when I got home I first heated up some soup for Chris and played with Lily outside.  Then I indulged in my snacky poo:  Light & Fit vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, 1/2 a nanner sliced, and cinnamon.  I forgot to take a pic before I stirred it…

After this I felt like doing something other than watching TV or reading, so I began prepping my veggies for the roasted veggie dish I’m making tomorrow.  I gathered some of the victims on my cutting board for you to see:

 ”Haha!  You’re no match for my incredibly large and sharp chef’s knife!”

…Or so I thought.  That acorn squash’s skin armor was really hard to get through!  I had no idea how tough those puppies are! Don’t know if I needed to, but I peeled the SOB, too, which involved cutting the squash into sections and peeling them individually.  Hopefully it all turns out well.  I’m just going to roast them simply with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Maybe a little balsamic or nutmeg if it seems right, but I haven’t made up my mind.

After that I sat down for a few minutes, and Lily wanted to play again, so I went to the back door.  Behold, a Sharp Shinned Hawk had caught a bird and was eating the last bits of it!  Holy moley!  Lily and I scared him when we walked up to the door, and he flew into the tree nearby, but then came back, grabbed the last of the bird, and flew off.  I went out to inspect the feathers, and I don’t know what kind of bird the hawk got.  Here’s the scene of the crime:

Wow, nothing left but feathers.  The orange on the feathers makes me think it was a Varied Thrush or Spotted Towhee   Oh well, that’s nature for you!

I was kind of in a funk after this, but not because of it I don’t think.  I was getting a little hungry and had a spinach and broc slaw salad with S&P, olive oil, and balsamic.

After this I got dinner ready, and as I prepped my chicken I realized just how natural it is for us to be a bit grossed out by handling meat, and that alone is another good reason to be a vegetarian.  I’ve never considered being one before, and I do like chicken and beef mostly, but just a thought that crossed my mind. 

Dinner was plain and simple:  sauteed chicken breast with whole wheat egg noodles.  I put Smart Balance on the noodles, cut up the chicken, and sprinkled canned parmesan & ground pepper on top.  I know, I know…canned parmesan?  Yes, I like it on pasta. 

This was a bit too much food for me, but I ate it all anyway.  I was still coming out of the funk and was just kind of eating it mindlessly for a few minutes.  Bad, bad me!  I ended up feeling full, although not too bad.  That strange confused full/hungry feeling came over me as I digested; I find it quite fascinating that for a few minutes my stomach really seemed to be telling me I was hungry, yet I knew I had eaten and was full. 

Hmm…what did I do next?  Uh, I think I cleaned up, started the dishwasher, and sat down in front of the fire to read for about an hour before Top Chef.  I read more of the Road & Track, and before I knew it 7pm rolled around and I went into the living room to watch TV.  I have DirecTV, so I get new non-local-network shows premiering at eastern time, and then repeated a few times that night usually.  It means I can watch Top Chef, Mad Men, and other good series early

Top Chef was good, quite a doosy of a kitchen they had to cook in!  I won’t say anything in case you haven’t seen it yet, other than that dessert seems to get the best of ‘em!  I’m surprised that in so many seasons the contestants haven’t learned to step outside their comfort zone and learn how to make better desserts before going on the show.

I talked with my mom and brother, and my bro asked me what I was doing tomorrow morning.  “Probably going to the gym, why?” “You should go on a walk with Dad and I in Mountain Park at 10:30, with the dogs.”  “Okay, sounds great!”  I’m excited, as I’ll get to exercise and spend some time outside with some family and the pups   My bro and his wife have a cute Bison Frisee/Havanese mix–Beaudin–and Lily loves to play with him. 

Knowing that the walk would take a few hours out of my day, I decided to prep the apples for my crisp.  I peeled, cut, and cored 10 apples and then added lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.  Woohee, I think I got enough peeling in today to reach my annual quota!

I ate a few of the apples before putting them away–they were so good!

I also mixed the dry ingredients together, so my work tomorrow should be really simple.  Yay for prep work!!   That definitely got me out of my funk, and I finally feel all warm and cozy… now I get to go climb into my cold bed.  Brrr

I can’t believe how excited I am for Thanksgiving…it is so weird.  You’d think it was Christmas and Santa was coming tonight or something.  Are you all excited and ready to cook up a storm?  What’s your favorite part of the holiday?  I LOVE the smell of the turkey and gravy, and the taste of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  [Drooling now...]

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone, and I look forward to seeing and reading about all of your yummy Turkey Day eats and fun family experiences.  Be sure to take lots of pics!

Tickle me Tuesday November 25, 2008

My post probably won’t be as interesting as my title…just sounded good.  It has been nice having this short week, and I’m getting excited to begin the Thanksgiving festivities.  I’ll be in the kitchen peeling, chopping, mixing, and baking—sounds good to me!

Chris didn’t feel so hot today from a cold or something he has, so he stayed at home with Lily.  I got up late again, desperately wanting to sleep even more, and did the usual routine to get ready.  TOTALLY forgot about the don’t-go-outside-per-the-allergy-treatment again this morning, so I’m sure the tree pollen treatment didn’t stick again.  Poo.

On the way to work I called 24 Hour Fitness to sign up for the yoga class, as the 6:30pm Tuesday class has a * next to it indicating you need to sign up in advance.  The chick at the front desk told me I had to sign up in person, and that if I did it more than 1 hour before class I had to pay $1.  Okay, so I figured I’d head to the gym early and do some cardio.  More on this topic later…

When I got to work I microwaved my oats, got my cup of coffee ready, and began the morning reading session (email, company webpage and news, market news).  I worked in a semi-dark office today, with just the lamp on in the office, and it was nice and peaceful.  I’m sure my oats enjoyed being consumed in the darkness, too–they couldn’t see me coming as well

[imagine oatmeal here]

Okay, WTF, I swear I took a pic of my oatmeal and there is nothing on my memory card… strange.  It was steel cut oats, part pumpkin spice Silk, part water, slivered almonds, and raisins.  I find that adding a touch more of water after nuking them for 2 minutes makes them the perfect consistency.  Yummy!

Plugged away on work and personal BS for awhile, and heard my officemate say she was hungry but had to wait for her husband to come by like an hour later.  I waited to eat til after she left b/c I thought it would be cruel to eat in front of her.  She left just before 1, and I enjoyed my wrap:  low fat tortilla, turkey, spinach, broc slaw, and 1/2 a wedge of Laughing Cow Light.  I forgot the balsamic, but the wrap was still plenty good.

 That’s a Varied Thrush on my wallpaper.  One of my fave birds!

Plugged away some more, and did more nutrition research.  Along the way I found out that Utz is a real snack company!  On Mad Men this season (best drama ever!), Sterling Cooper handled the Utz account and I never knew it was a real company.  I guess their products aren’t distributed here…  I was looking on caloriecount.about.com for tortillas and their tortilla chips came up, too.

Around 3 I had a really tasty snack:  Danon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, 1/2 a nanner sliced, and cinnamon.  It was heavenly!  Of course I totally choked on one bite of banana with lots of cinnamon and had a tickle in my throat for a few hours. 

  ”Eat me!”

Chris’ mom called me, and we ended up talking for like 25 minutes about random stuff, and Thanksgiving.  She’s poultry intolerant, so I wanted to figure out what kind of protein she wanted instead.  A few things she said made me nervous about our dinner; let’s just say it should be entertaining if someone says something she doesn’t like

I left work around 4, and found somewhat heavy traffic on the way home.  Boo, I hate traffic, especially lately!  Makes me not want to take the highway home, and perhaps head the back way until the fall/winter nightmare highway traffic subsides.  I don’t even want to think of what it’ll be like tomorrow as everyone flees town for their Turkey Day destinations.  I can’t wait until I live less than 18 miles from work…

I got home to find my honey had stayed in bed all day, and he didn’t eat anything!    Never a good thing… so I heated up two halves of stuffed pepper from the other night, and made sure he had everything he needed.  I got dressed for the gym and had a snack while doing so:  Clif Nectar cranberry, apricot, and almond bar.  I like the texture of these bars, and the fact that they have like 4 or 5 ingredients.  Simple=good.

I was all anxious to get to the gym and reserve my place in the yoga class, so I headed out hoping I’d get there at about 5:30.  On the way to the gym I realized I forgot a towel, but, alas, I had a $5 coupon for the pro shop from when I activated my membership!  I signed in, and then asked the guy for the yoga sign up sheet.  He acted like I was speaking Greek, and then got it, only to say “you don’t need to sign up.”  Huh?  Then why did the girl this morning say I had to?  And why is there a * next to it on the schedule?  Grrr…sort of frustrated by that, but glad I didn’t have to worry about it in the future. 

I hit the elliptical for about 35 minutes, cranking Justin Timberlake and some other tunes for a little help.  It felt good, and I was excited to head upstairs at 7:30 for yoga.  The class was great, it was warm in the room, and I had a mild sweat going the whole time.  Nothing like a little sweat to reassure you you’re working hard   Most of the poses felt more natural this time around, and the flow of things was a bit easier, too.  It was challenging, though!  We did half-moon and bird of paradise in the mix; half-moon went well, but bird felt awkward and probably didn’t look so pretty.

On the way home I stopped off to buy Thanksgiving protein for Chris’ mom, and a few more parsnips for my roasted winter veggie dish.  I thought a few people looked at me funny at the gym and the store, and when I got home I saw why—I had some mascara under my eyes and on my cheek!  When I was sweating in yoga I must have been a little hasty with the towel and smeared it.  Woops!  Mental note to check the face in the mirror before I leave the gym.

I was looking forward to reheating the last half of stuffed pepper for my dinner, but got sidetracked in a conversation with Mama.  Finally, around 8:15 I had my glorious little friend, who looks a little splayed b/c I cut and smooshed him to heat better in the micro.

  I added a spoon of low fat sour cream for shits and giggles.

Tasty dinner, and now I sit here around 10 doing my blog.  Sheesh, where did the time go!  I gotta get crackin’ on adding some things to eBay; there’s a 50% off listing promo through today, and it is nudging me to finally list some things I’ve had sitting around to sell.

Hope you had a nice Tuesday, and thanks to everyone who read my blog today!  Over 40 of you were kind enough to stop by.  Please do leave comments, feedback, suggestions, whatever… I love reading your comments

Cold and quick! November 24, 2008

Just like it sounds, the day was cold and fast.  It helps that I got out of bed late, I’m sure.  There were tons of birds and squirrels outside, and I caught 4 of them in close proximity to one another.

After getting to work I tried out my new oatmeal combo: steel cut oats, part pumpkin spice Silk, part water, slivered almonds, and dried figs.  Yum yum!  And, I was able to enjoy my whole cup of coffee before it went cold. 

I had acupuncture at noon, and had a snack of half an apple at 11:45.  No pic, sorry…rather boring anyhow, no?  My appointment went well, another allergy treatment for tree pollen, but I’m a total dope and forgot I’m not supposed to be outside for 24 hours! I totally spent time outside with Lily twice tonight.  Duh.  (It was SO cold when we got home…even with my down jacket on I still felt the hard bite of the cold.)

Anyhow, I ran into a mortgage guy I know on the way back into my office complex and we chatted for a long time.  I didn’t get to eat my wrap until about 1:45, and I was hungry!  The wrap was good–low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw, sauteed chicken, and a touch of balsamic vinegar.  It was perfect!  I also had those last two apple pieces. 

 

My office mate was craving popcorn (and has been for like two weeks ) so she popped a lonely bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Movie Theater Butter that has been sitting on the fridge for awhile.  I had a coffee filter full of it, and enjoyed it quite a bit.  I hadn’t had popcorn in a long time–thanks for the snack idea, Kristin!  (yes, my office-mate’s name is Kristin, and mine is Kersten.  Used to be worse, as my old office had me, Kristin, Kristi, another Kristin, and Chris.  Say that fast five times!)

 Woops, forgot to take a pic before eating nearly all of it!

Chris and I got the Thanksgiving details settled finally, as we weren’t sure if his parents would be able to join my family’s dinner b/c of his mom’s work schedule.   After talking with her for awhile he wanted to escape to a Mexican dinner, so we left work early enough to hit up happy hour at Si Senor.  I was going to have a cup of tortilla soup, but then these called my name:

More about those in  a sec.  I had chips and salsa first, and the salsa was extra spicy today.  I also went for a Diet Coke, and before my food arrived my stomach was hurting a bit.  I had one Taco al Carbon (double corn tortillas, chicken, pico de gallo, and a little guac put in it), and felt satiated.  My stomach was still hurting, and in fact a bit worse, but at least I didn’t feel sick.  I don’t know what it was…spicy salsa? DC?  Whatever it was, eventually it went away; yay, cause that meant I could go work out tonight.

I hit the gym and did chest, triceps, abs, and 50 minutes of cardio.  Lily was in the car, and I didn’t want her to get cold so I chickened out on the last 10 min of cardio.  When I got to the car she was fine, and she was enjoying watching everyone come and go from the gym.  She is so cute…no matter what she’s doing!  I love how she’s all wiggly and happy when I come home or get back to the car.  It makes me feel good

After cleaning up and playing with Lily, I made myself a snack.  I had the yogurt I packed for a daytime snack (Danon Light and Fit vanilla), and added in All Bran Strawberry Medley, a few almond slivers, and at the last minute, added half a b-nanner.  It was calling to me from the counter as I photographed the first edition of my snack…’eat me! you know I’m tasty!’  It sure was. 

Afterward I was still feeling a tad hungry, but didn’t eat anything else.  Then I figured out that it is my allergies, dammit.  I hate the flu-like symptoms I get with them sometimes, and the random super-hungry feelings they can cause. 

Today I did a little more calorie and weight loss research and figured I should be losing about a pound per week.  ‘Yee-haw, a frickin’ pound?’ I first asked myself (cause it sounds so slow), but then I realized that would be an annual average of 52 pounds, which is more than I need to lose and sounds significant.  So, I told myself not to get too hung up on the weight loss and to keep focusing on eating less still while working out more.  It was good motivation for the gym tonight.  The good news was I’ll be done with my weight loss in about 23-25 weeks Now if the damn scale in the ladies locker room could just be fixed… it seems like a conspiracy to have everyone weigh themselves right by the personal trainers in the open gym, which will then get them motivated to use the trainers. 

I’m going to head to bed to fully relax and get cozy…and of course, watch a little TV   I’ve been annoyed by the TV selection tonight so far, so we’ll see if there’s anything worthy of watching other than the news.  Stay warm out there, and hasta manana.