All hail the throne October 31, 2009

Check out the new goods at the house!

That’s right, new thrones!  Toto Aquia III dual flush, to be exact.  But that heinous toilet seat has got to go.  The plumber used an off brand seat, and as you can see it hangs over the edge and isn’t quite the same white.  I’m so picky about toilet seats, not even joking.  It should look like this:

My pimp throne

Bet you love the fact that we kept the heinous vinyl underneath the throne.  The budget blew up, we threw the idea of new vinyl out, and ended up going over budget anyway   Boo.

Here’s the living room.  Yes, that’s a vintage Oreck upright in there.  Thing is a sucking beast!!!  We inherited that, and a big Eureka (behind it).  I think I may keep the Oreck.  We moved all that stuff today so the carpet can go in tomorrow. 

And the kitchen….not quite finished, but almost there.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the new stuff—sink, faucet, instant hot/cold, cooktop, and counters.

A few weeks ago I finally took my giant stash of non-curbside recyclable plastics to a local depot, Far West Fibers.  So easy to drop it off!!  They only request that you separate plastic film from rigid plastics.  Done and done!  BTW, the backseat was also crammed full.  Now I just need to take in the styrofoam…  I collect these items from our personal use and from our office; this stash had been piling since almost the beginning of the year.  Hooray for diverting crap from the landfill and recycling instead!

   

The other day Chris and I saw this while driving. Rope holding the license plate holding the bumper up with bungee cords.  Why didn’t I think of that?

 

Today we picked up a sweet new treat at Costco.  Jordan knows what I’m talking ’bout.  We’ll share next week once the place is set up.  Tomorrow we start seriously packing.  Like, get more than 8 boxes packed.  In fact, I kind of hope we only have like 8 boxes left to pack after all is said and done.  Wish me luck!

As far as food goes, here were the day’s eats:

Breakfast—Kashi Go Lean mixed with crack (Pumpkin Flax granola), raisins, cinnamon, and almond milk. 

Lunch—leftover pizza from last night: kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, parm.

Snacks—cheese samples at Costco: Bandon cheddar, Jarlsberg Swiss, Kerrygold Irish cheddar, and cambozola of some sort. 

Dinner—Grilled cheese with fries (!) 

Quite a cheesy, carby day.  Um, I guess there was a semblance of veggies in there somewhere

Squeaky wheel gets the grease April 22, 2009

I told myself to remember this blog title while at the gym, and now I can’t remember why!  Um, I’ll think on that for a minute.

Today was another rather meh day.  The weather was colder (suck!), everything was fine, and here I am at 11:30 trying to remember my non-descript day.

Breakfast was probably the most perfect oatmeal I’ve had in awhile.  I added soy protein powder to the regular mix of steel cut oats, peanut butter, almond milk, water, cinnamon, and raisins.  Creamy, but not gooey!

Chris had lunch with a colleague, so I ate on my own around 1.  Half a sando (whole wheat, peppered turkey, romaine), and the fave carrot.

The afternoon was rather non descript, but for visiting the new condo where my mom is moving this summer.  It is in a pretty place by an old quarry that was filled in with water, thus creating a small lake.  She has a nice view of it, and the area is nice, too.  I’m jealous!

For Earth Day my office buildings had a battery collection drive, and I stopped by to speak with the property manager about being a Master Recycler and hoping to help make the office buildings greener.  She was excited and I hope to speak with her soon about some of my ideas.

After getting back to work I ate my apple from yesterday, but forgot to take a pic.

Dinner was a run to Si Senor, but it wasn’t quite as good as usual.  They got Chris’ burger order wrong (brought him a chicken burger instead of beef, and with different toppings), but he was nice and said he’d eat it.  He should have been the squeaky wheel and insisted on the Mexican Deluxe Cheeseburger he ordered, but he didn’t and ended up not being as satisfied.  My tortilla soup was good, but I prefer the version I get at Fajitas b/c it isn’t as salty, and has shredded chicken rather than grilled breast.  The chips were really good tonight, though!

On the way home I almost forgot to pick up Lily at my mom’s!!!  :shocked:  How could I forget my little girl?! 

Tonight I did workout # 2 and 45 minutes on the stair mill.  There were a couple of times I felt like speaking up and being a squeaky wheel here, but I pussied out and remained silent: 1) some chick sitting in the locker room picking at her feet for at least an hour, and leaving all the, um, results on the floor.  Gag!  Clean that up, bitch! 2) Some weird guy kept going in and out of the pool area over and over and over, acting rather weird.  I almost said something to a staff person, but the dude seemed harmless enough.  Here’s where I thought of the title of this post, but still can’t remember if all of the reasons mentioned herein are why it came to mind.  Oh well…

Once home I desired some of my fave granola, and even though I’ve been avoiding sugar at night (except on nights where I drink too much wine!) I said WTF, I want it and I deserve it.  So, my snack was 1/2 cup pumpkin flax plus granola with 1/2 a banana.  Mmmm!

Well, that’s all, folks. Not a very exciting day, but hopefully you found some bits of it entertaining

More protein, please April 2, 2009

I don’t think I get enough protein for my fitness goals and activity, and today I began trying to plan in more protein without adding more calories.  I’m not sure I want to scarf down more meat, or eggs, so I figured using a protein powder and finding some healthy add-ins should work.  I searched high and low for protein powders with low calories, low sugars, and versatility.  I came up with brown rice protein powder–has anyone tried this before?  Thoughts?  What other foods do you enjoy that are protein rich/lower in cals?

Today it was really hard to get out of bed, and the day was rather blah and unmotivated.  At least Friday is nearly here!!!

The day started with me realizing I forgot to prep my oats (again), but I made them this morning in my usual manner anyhow (same proportions, nuke for 2 minutes).  They turn out a little chewier, but still good.  While eating I found out the true fate of the office “other” recycling bin that I manage–it was thrown away while I was gone, and by my least favorite person in the office.  WTF?  Whatevs.  In a few months we’re moving into a new suite and she ain’t goin’ with us!

I ate this rather late, and then snacked on some grapes while Chris ate lunch, so I had my lunch later than normal.  I like my carrot at lunchtime a lot   Lots of good nutrients!  My sando was whole wheat bread, avocado, peppered turkey, dill pickle, and romaine.  MMMM.

Later in the afternoon I tried a new-to-me Clif Nectar bar:  Cacao Dark Chocolate Walnut.  This was like a healthy brownie, and quite good.  It wasn’t as soft and sticky as the other Nectar bars, which is okay.  I’ll definitely buy this again.  I can’t stress enough how much I like these bars for their simplicity and nutrition:  great taste, 2 servings of fruit, ~1/4 of your daily fiber, about 140-170 cals each, and only 4-5 ingredients, all of which are organic and whole.  Love!

I wasn’t sure what I’d make for dinner tonight, and funnily enough Chris recommended taco salads.  I think the man needs to see someone for his Mexican food addiction!  LOL!  But, admittedly it sounded good, and I only needed to buy the meat.  I stopped at the store on the way to pick Lily up from my mom’s, and saw they had ground buffalo at the meat counter.  Sign me up!

I sauteed the meat with onion and orange bell pepp, then added in most of one of those taco seasoning packets (low sodium version), and added some romaine, olives, more orange pepp, and a touch of medium cheddar on top.  It was really good, and quite filling.  My eyes were a little bigger than  my stomach:

After playing with Lily outside and talking on the phone with my Dad (at the same time), I suited up for the gym and headed out.  I’m such a snob about the stair mills these days–I refuse to use the old ones.  I must have my custom interval settings and smooth motion on the new ones!!!  Forty-five insane minutes later I was done.  It was already nearing 10:30 so I skipped weights and went home.

Hunger wasn’t really on my mind after I cleaned up, but I had a little spoon of PB while prepping my oats.  That was the first bigger taste of the Maranatha that I’ve had alone, and I liked it even more than before!  There’s something about the smoothness and creamy taste that is really rockin’, and the multi-dimensional taste wins over “regular” brands any day.  Maranatha, if you want to send me some goodies or coupons I’d love to officially review them!  FYI, I did pick up this jar at Fred Meyer (Kroger) for only $3   Great sale!

It’s nearing midnight, so I’m outta here and hittin’ the hay.  Happy Friday to you all!  Yippee!