Friday, March 20, 2009

Back from Vacation

Hi, this is going to be short and sweet. I'm not much in the mood to blog right now--I'll tell you why later.
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Friday night we ate at a vegan diner in Salt Lake City called Vertical. Think all the greasy roadside diner foods made vegan. EXCELLENT! We all had breakfast--daughter had biscuits and gravy; son and hubby had and avalanche (pancakes, home-fries, tofu scramble, & "sausage"), I had gravy overload (home fries w/ gravy, "sausage" & tofu scramble). I loved their "sausage"; I was only able to identify rice and caraway seeds as ingredients, but it was so good. I had leftover biscuits & gravy and "sausage" for breakfast in the hotel the next morning and we snacked on leftover pancakes going up the road. They gave us a lot of food.
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Saturday we headed down and were at the Grand Canyon Sunday Morning--we stayed there til around 1 on Monday and then headed up through Utah and hit Arches national park on Tuesday, and home on Wednesday.

Son holding at tree by the Grand Canyon (Don't worry, he wasn't close to the edge--I absolutely forbade anyone getting anywhere near the edge.)An arch outside of Arches national park. Son and I climbed to the arch.The shadow of son and me inside the arch taking a pic of our little bitty car so far below.

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We had a lot of fun. The fun ended when we got home. Yesterday, hubby got a layoff notice at work. So now we have to figure out how to cut costs etc. Not Fun.

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So anyway, I'm hanging in there, but don't feel like talking about it now. Ciao for now

Friday, March 13, 2009

Throwing a fit and getting ready for vacation

Hey all,
I have been busy so I haven't been posting much lately. We're leaving as soon as the kids get out of school for the Grand Canyon. Tonight we'll be in SLC and tomorrow in Flagstaff and then just whatever until we come home on Wednesday.
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We've got all of our bags packed--except for a few things that I just got out of they dryer that the kids will need to toss in. We've made arrangements for the fur babies--I've got a friend who takes better care of them than we do. (Although my son's cat hates her for some odd reason.) We've got the motel reservations made for the first two nights. It will be nice to get away--as long as hubby doesn't think "vaca=endless hours in the car". He sometimes gets that way.
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Anyway, now on to my fit du jour. I HATE girl scout cookies and I can't seem to stay away from them. I put them in the trailer and I was still going and getting them and munching. I have been exercising more, but was gaining weight from cookies. And it was like after eating cookies, I'd get all down on myself and then eat more than I should of other stuff--stuff I normally am fine with eating in moderation. I truly think in some cases (mine) obesity is due to an eating disorder. It's like once I start, I can't stop. Even when I feel sick.
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So anyway, this morning, hubby was telling me how nice I look (he always says that) and I fell apart about how I'm gaining weight and I can't seem to stop myself and even with the cookies out of sight, I can't get them out of mind. He didn't seem to understand so I put it in a perspective he could appreciate--he used to be a smoker. I told him it was like right after he quit smoking if he had come home every night to me smoking and I wouldn't keep the cigarettes put away. And worse yet, as if our daughter was smoking and I wouldn't do anything about getting her to quit (and even encouraged her) even though he was trying his best to get her to quit, too. And then I pointed out that he can stay totally away from cigarettes, but I can't stay totally away from food. And if the crap food is in the house, it's that much harder for me.
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I think he understood. He didn't get offended or cop an attitude (my tears probably showed him that this was not an attack on him, just an attack on myself) or anything. He just got an old grocery bag, went out to the trailer and got all of the remaining cookies, and put them in his truck. He said he'd take them to work so I wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.
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Now sometimes he does stuff like this, but does it with an attitude that makes me just want to scream. But this morning, he was being totally sweet about it. I really appreciated it. Maybe my analogy worked better than any other way I've put it. So today I've eaten well and I'm not obsessing about cookies at all.
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I intend to continue to eat well and take care of myself and my family! And I'll do it as if our lives depend upon it! Because, in all actuality, they do.
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Well, I'm getting back to work so I can be at a good spot to be gone. If I don't get to the computer on my trip (the laptop is packed), then it may not be until next weekend before I post again--I'm guessing I'll be crazy busy when I get back to work on Thursday.
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Ciao for now.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sloppy Joes on Biscuits

If last night's post seemed a little stilted, that's because it was. Sorry. Hubby came and started looking over my shoulder (I hate that) so I quit typing, minimized the screen and asked him not to. He got hot and asked what I was typing that he couldn't read. I told him that I was fine with him reading it, but my blog is kind of like my journal and I wouldn't want him to read my journal--or at least not read it over my shoulder.
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He harrumphed off. So I kept typing. I don't think he'd care about anything I typed, and,even if he did, I don't think he could find my blog to read it even if I put a shortcut to it on my desktop. So anyway, I'm blogging at lunch time today instead of with him around to avoid any of that.
Above is a pic of half a multi-grain biscuit (I had already eaten the other half when I decided to take the pic) and my sloppy joe stuff from last night. The Recipes follow:
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Multi-grain biscuits
1/2 cup flour
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup wheat
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup brown rice
2 TBSP flax seeds
coconut oil (1/2 cup-approx)
soy milk (1 1/4 cup approx)
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Put the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl. put all of the grains in the vita-mix and blend until they are flour. Put that in the bowl, add the flax seeds and stir. Cut in the coconut oil until the mixture is crumbly. Add enough soy milk to make a sticky dough (don't over mix--just with a fork until it comes together). Drop by spoon fulls onto a baking stone and cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (sorry for the imprecise measurements, I make my biscuits more by feel than by measurements.)
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TVP Sloppy Joes
1 Cup TVP granules
1 Cup water
1 tsp Better than Bullion-Veggie
1 can store brand sloppy joe sauce
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This is so easy--bring the water and bullion to a boil and take off of the heat. Stir in the TVP and let it set for a few minutes to absorb the liquid. Stir in the sauce and put back on the stove on low until it is as warm as you'd like it. (Be sure to check the ingredients of the Sloppy Joe sauce because I'm not sure they all are vegan.)
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The rest of the family wanted to save their biscuits for jelly so had their sloppy joes on bread. I had mine on a biscuit. Even hubby liked the sloppy joes! (Of course he said he likes them better with hamburger, but I expected that--he likes everything better when it can gum up his arteries.)
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So, what's going on in my life? Not a whole lot. Just work and ferry the kids to an fro. We have a school thing called "strut your stuff" tonight. Next week is Spring Break and we are going to take a 5-day vacation to the Grand Canyon. And that's about all.
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Daughter decided she was big enough for a bra this weekend. So we took her and got her one (she already had some sports bras, but she thought she was big enough for a real "cup-size" bra). She is now the proud owner of a striped "A" cup bra. It's a front hook because she couldn't seem to figure out the back hook in the dressing room. I keep having to remind her she can't be snapping and unsnapping her bra in public. Oh well, she will get it figured out. I just hope we're still a long way from the next monument of growing up female.
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Well, I guess I had better go now.
Ciao for now.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Girl Scout Cookie Sale, Chocolate Pie, Magic Bullet and more

Saturday, daughter manned a Girl Scout Cookie booth. Anyone want to buy a cookie? Daughter did well, but I'm glad the cookie sales are over.
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Both kids did well in their piano festival, too. They each got 49 out of 50 with a "Superior" rating. Daughter had some memory baubles in her piece that cost her a point, and I can't remember why son lost his point. But I was proud of them.
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Sunday, the kids and I made a "chocolate cheesecake" (I think I got the recipe off vegcooking.com). We made it for a birthday dessert since my folks were coming over. It was really soupy when I pulled it out of the oven so I was afraid we were going to have chocolate syrup in a graham cracker crust, but it firmed up as it cooled. It was really good--it would have been better if I had gotten some Soyatoo whipped topping at the store. No one could believe it was Tofu.
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Hubby went ahead and got me a Magic Bullet blender--mom had said she'd chip in. She said that they couldn't afford to get it for me right now so they'd split the cost with hubby, instead. So when they got there, mom changed her tune and said that, instead, they were going to take our family out to the tepanyaki restaurant for my birthday. I appreciate it, but I can promise that will cost more than my Magic Bullet did. Also, I am glad we weren't depending on the money they were going to chip in or we'd be SOL.
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I exercised today and Saturday but took Sunday off. I am doing well.
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And, by the way, the Magic Bullet is getting a work out. Everyone had their own smoothies last night. Kids each had a smoothie this morning. I had blended banana quinoa for breakfast and asparagus soup for lunch. And hubby and kids each had a smoothie this afternoon.
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Dinner tonight was home made multi-grain biscuits, TVP sloppy joes, and asparagus. It was pretty good. (Especially the biscuits)
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Well, that's a fast wrap up.
I think hubby wants to go to WalMart as soon as son gets done with his homework, so
Ciao for now.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Friday!

Well, another week has come and gone--almost. I'm feeling good about life right now. It has been so busy this week that I've hardly gotten a breath, but still life is good.
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I exercised again today. I'm getting better! Last week I exercised Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And this week, I have exercised Wednesday, yesterday and today. Saturday and Sunday were on the road. Saturday, every time we stopped to go to the bathroom I did jumping jacks--daughter thought it was a hoot--and then at the motel, we were on the 4th floor and I did the stairs. Sunday, at the motel, I did the stairs 4 times (round trips) and swam for 40 minutes. Then this week, I've been doing the treadmill.
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I'm also back to watching what I eat and making sure I stay vegan (who wants dead animal stuff rotting in your gut? not me!). And, I'm writing everything down.
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So last night we had the curried vegetable soup that I got off MSN.com. It was really good. In fact, I had left-overs for lunch today.
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Then, last night, after daughter got home from Girl Scouts, and all of the instruments had been practiced, and all the homework done, we had Chickpea Blondies (recipe from "have cake will travel") and Purely Decadent Dairy Free ice cream in Peanut Butter Zig-Zag flavor. Good stuff. The blondies were a bit doughy. I think I should have cooked them longer than I did. They were still really good, though; especially with ice cream.
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For my birthday, I got my dehydrator and my peelers--I've had both of them for a while now.
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This morning, I had the last piece of Blondie with my oatmeal for breakfast (yes it was the last piece--I had a piece at lunch yesterday right after I made them--to make sure they were edible, of course--then after school/work hubby and the kids each had one; and then we all had a big one for dessert last night; and there was only one piece left). I microwaved it and that cooked it enough that is was so much better than they were last night. I'll have to remember to cook them longer next time.
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Tonight, son leaves for another scout camp-out. Then daughter has trumpet lessons. Then we'll probably just have a quiet night at home. Or maybe go walk around the mall or something. Hubby doesn't like to stay home--it seems like the only things he can think of to do at home is sit on the couch, watch TV, and sleep. Sometimes that drives me nuts--I'm much more of a homebody.
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Then tomorrow, daughter is selling girl scout cookies at a booth from 11-2. Son is supposed to be home around noon-ish. We have tickets to a pancake supper from 3-8. And then we have scheduled a "family meeting"--son needs to have it for one of his scouting merit badges.
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Sunday, we are going to go out to dinner for my birthday--probably to Prasai. And then my folks are coming over. I've got to make them some sort of birthday dessert, but I don't know what, yet.
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And those are my weekend plans. Of course, the grocery store has to fit in there somewhere, too.
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Well, I ought to get back to work.
Ciao for now.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Happy Birthday to me!


I'm 41 today. So far today, I've yelled at my daughter, gotten mad at our accounting firm, done laundry, worked, and made my birthday dessert. You will notice that there is a small corner of it missing--I had to make sure it was edible. It most definitely was.
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Today is going good, otherwise. I have dinner in cooking--a curry vegetable stew that I got the recipe off MSN.com. My family is home-daughter is practicing her trumpet, son is getting ready for a scout camp out, hubby is helping him, and I'm doing this.
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I also exercised today. The pup didn't have as much fun with the treadmill as she did yesterday.
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Speaking of yesterday, last night, I made some chocolate-almond ice-cream pops. It is an adaptation off some of the recipes in Ani's Raw Food Kitchen (the almond yogurt and the vanilla ice-cream). Here's what I did:
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In the vita-mix I blended 1 cup almonds, 1/4 cup raw sugar, 1 tablespoon cocoa, and enough water to make it a milk-shake like consistency. Then I poured it into Dixie cups with Popsicle sticks and put them in the freezer.
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I had one last night--oh, so good!!!~ (it wasn't quit frozen yet so I had to eat it with a spoon instead of peeling off the paper cup and having a pop.)
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I've got to go get dinner--it should be almost ready.
Ciao for now.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Day one--a good day

Yesterday, I decided that I needed to get back on track with my health. I had been feeling crappy, I had been eating crappy, I hadn't been exercising. I was feeling bad emotionally and physically. I was cranky with my family. And the scale was starting to go back up.
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So today is day one of taking care of me again. I already feel better. Right after dropping the kids off at school, I took all of the Girl Scout cookies and put them in shopping bags and put them out in the trailer. When people want a cookie, they are more than welcome to get one--but they may only get as many as they want right then; they may NOT bring a whole box in the house. I know that will keep me from eating them. I'm basically lazy and if I have to go outside to get the cookies, I'll give it a second thought and skip them.
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I also got out a notebook to record my food intake and exercise in. I'm not counting calories, but I know that if I make myself write what I'm eating down, I'll think twice about putting crap in my mouth. I also know what appropriate portions are and am more likely to stick with them when I am writing things down.
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I did some research and found a running program (I dream about being a runner and actually enjoying it) and implemented it--day one down, only 7 weeks and 6 days left to be up to running 2 miles. Day one wasn't that hard, so if I stick to the program and don't try to move forward too fast, maybe I can do it. Day one was run 1 minute, walk 2 minutes, repeat 10 times.
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Funny story about exercising, though. The pup figured out that if she dropped her ball on the front of the treadmill, the belt would take it and shoot it off the back of the treadmill and she could go get it. The only problem was that sometimes, the ball would bounce back under the treadmill and the belt would take it up to the front of the machine where she couldn't reach it. I had to stop twice to fetch her ball from under the treadmill.
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Daughter and I had a confrontation last night. She has had an attitude about karate for the last few months. She doesn't want to do it. I have told her that I think self-defense is important and I want her to continue for now (she's a brown belt--why wouldn't she want to keep going long enough to get to black?) Her teacher has noticed her attitude and suggested she "take a break". That made me mad; she kept saying that he said it, not her. I pointed out that he only said it because her attitude in class is so poor that he needs her out of there. And I pointed out her messing around and distracting the other students. (She does that in her music lessons, too.) So after a lot of tears and me being a hard-ass. I think she is to the point that she will shape up. If she doesn't shape up, she's going to lose the fun stuff like Girl Scouts (all her troop seems to be is a craft, cookie, and play group--I can't see that she's learning any life skills).
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So, we'll see how that goes.
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Tomorrow is my birthday. 41! Old, huh? I found a Chickpea Blondie recipe from "have cake will travel"'s blog that I'm going to make. It will be better than the chocolate cake that we've had ad nauseum since last August. I already got my dehydrator and my Titan Peeler from my family. Mom wanted to split the cost of a Magic Bullet with Ron and they'd go in together to get me that. I want it, but we've spent enough money on me. If Mom wants to get me the Magic Bullet (I hinted it to her), fine. If not, then no biggie.
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Well, I had better get back to work.
Ciao for now.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Just a real Quick Re-Cap

What do you think of my new T-Shirt? Pretty cool, huh? OK, so here's the re-cap since last I blogged. Saturday we went to Boise--there was a banquet in Nampa that hubby wanted to go to. Daughter won a pellet gun, hubby won a range finder, son and I got squat--actually both kids also got a pair of gloves and some junk. We went to a Thai place and got take-out and I brought my own food to the banquet. I figured I'd get comments, but no one said a thing.
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We also went to the mall--I got the above T-shirt.
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Sunday, hubby was sick. Kids and I went down to breakfast, hubby slept. Kids and I swam in the hotel pool, hubby slept. Kids and I went in a store, hubby slept. I drove home, hubby slept. (Are you starting to see a pattern?)
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It was a bad, achy flu bug. He was home from work for the last two days but didn't bug me because he slept the whole time.
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Monday, as I said, hubby was home sleeping and I was working. Work went fairly good, right up till the end when it fell apart. Then the kids had piano and the grown-ups did grocery shopping (hubby came along cuz he said he thought if he did something he might feel better--wrong.)
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Today, son had a dentist appointment in Boise--had to get some cavities filled so I dropped daughter off at my mom's and mom took her to school and son and I hauled it up to Boise, had the appointment, and hauled it back. We were back by 1 and I started work. Fortunately we (the gals in the office and I) were able to get the stuff from yesterday cleaned up.
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Now hubby is gone to take the kids to Karate. He's finally felling better for real. And I am posting here and then going to watch Biggest Loser.
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As far as eating goes, I have been really bad lately. There is something about Girl Scout Cookies--if they are in the house I have to eat them. So starting tomorrow, I am going to start writing down everything I eat again. I'm going to do it just like I did when I was actually trying to lose weight. (And now I do have some weight to lose to get back to where I was before Christmas.)
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I have been better about exercising lately--4 out the last 7 days. I am going to start pushing myself on that, too. I DO NOT want to go back to being FAT!
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So I am making a commitment for the whole world to read and to hold me to.
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Well I had better get going.
Ciao for now.