We're Back--a little bug eyed and big eared, but back

We made it and we had a wonderful time! We did Disneyland, California Adventure, LegoLand and Newport Beach. This is a pic of the kids after we saw the 4-D show, "It's Tough to be a Bug". They have their bug eyes on and their ears on--so cute.
.
There were a lot of people in Disneyland! I have never seen that many people there! So Sunday and Monday were a bit frustrating because of that, but the rest of the time was good.
.
In Newport, we walked out onto the pier and there were people fishing all over. The kids were really interested when one guy brought up a sand shark. So another guy showed us a sand shark he had on a rope swimming around under the Pier. It was disgusting--the rope was like through the poor shark's nose and he was just swimming around down there. It kind of made me nauseous. We did have fun at the beach, though.
.
I didn't stay vegan while gone, but did stay vegetarian. I had some items made with milk and eggs but I'm not going to beat myself up for it--overall, the world is still a better place for the choices I make. I eat the way I eat as a choice and I made the choice to change it up a bit for vacation. (I actually had planned on eating better while gone, but got frustrated at the lack of choices since we had to eat out for every meal.)
.
Saturday, lunch was at a Mexican place and there was a rolled up tortilla left over. So on Sunday, we gave the dried up old tortilla to Little Girl. She was so proud of that silly tortilla! She carried it around in her mouth all day Sunday and until it got too soggy to stay together on Monday. It was like "I got a tortilla from Disneyland!". Silly dog.
.
Well, I ought to get back to work.
Ciao for now.

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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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).
.
So, we'll see how that goes.
.
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.
.
Well, I had better get back to work.
Ciao for now.

"Meaty" pasta sauce

So for dinner last night, I made "pasta with meaty sauce". But the pasta wasn't pasta and the meat wasn't meat. Here's what I did.

.

Bake a spaghetti squash and the fork it into pasta.

.

The sauce was a little more complicated, but not overly so--here goes

.

Rehydrate 1 cup of TVP with 1 cup of veggie broth. Saute TVP, chopped onion, and chopped garlic in a little coconut oil. Throw in zucchini, red pepper, and broccoli chopped into small pieces and saute just a little longer. Add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce. Add lots of Italian seasoning along with whatever fresh herbs you have (I had parsley). Salt and pepper to taste and scoop it over the spaghetti squash.

.

It was really good. The family paired it with a hamburger. I just had lots of "pasta" and a piece of Ezekiel bread.

.

This morning, daughter was sleeping on the couch (she gets up with her daddy and then crashes on the couch until it's really time for her to get up) and the pup crawled up on her and they were sleeping nose to nose. When I took this pic, the dog woke up so they aren't nose to nose here, but they were until I got the camera.

And just so he doesn't feel left out, here's the sleepy boy, too.If I do say so myself, my kids are pretty cute!

.

So I had to go get more Girl Scout Cookies today to fill the last order daughter got. And then I bought a few boxes so that she would be at her goal. Now she just has one shift at a cookie booth and then we are done with cookies for another year (I hope).

.

I really hate these fundraisers that sell crap food.

.

On a totally unrelated note, I tried shirataki noodles today. They are made out of "yam starch" and have very few calories. I was after kelp noodles in an Asian food market and ended up getting those by mistake. They look gross--like clear worms packaged in a bag of water. But I wanted to try them so I drained and rinsed them and mixed them with left over pasta sauce for lunch. The texture was weird and I couldn't quite get over the look of them. I don't think they tasted bad, in fact, they didn't have much taste at all. I won't buy them again, but at least I can say that I have tried them.

.

Well, I guess I'm off. Tonight is going to be a busy night: Son-violin lesson, Daughter-guitar lesson, dinner, Symphony concert. Then tomorrow we are going to Boise to a banquet hubby wants to attend and we'll spend the night there. So I probably won't get back on until Monday. You all have a great weekend!

.

Ciao for now.

I'm going crazy!

OK for the last week or so, Ki-Ki, our big yellow dog, (that's her, under my desk) has been getting out of the kennel. We put her back in and hubby figures out where she gets out and patches the wire. She has been out of the yard several times and I'm afraid she's going to get run over.

.
Well today, she got out of the kennel but stayed in the yard. I can't fix fence so I've let her stay in the house and the pup is driving me bats. The pup wants to go out, but then as soon as she sees that Ki-Ki is staying in, she wants back in. Over and Over and Over again.

.

And the pup wants to play and Ki-Ki doesn't so there's been a lot of growling and trying to hide under me going on.

.

I'm going crazy! Dog out, dog in, dog out, dog in, "Little Girl back Off!", dog out, dog in, "Little Girl back Off!". So right now, Little Girl is in her kennel whining and Ki-Ki is asleep at my feet. And I'm ready to scream!
.

On a lighter note--the second Titan Peeler came in the mail today. I'm going to give it to my aunt and we're going to split the cost. I really don't need 2 of them. But I really like it. Did I say that earlier?

.

Bye again.

Friday the 13th

Hi all,

It's Friday the 13th. The kids are out of school today so after they had both gotten ready and both practiced both of their instruments and we had lunch, we took the puppy to Petsmart. She got spoiled rotten--A new squeaky, a new chewy rope, and a new T-shirt. The brown with pink trim looks really good on her--see?

.

It's actually more of a muscle shirt and on the back it says "being cute is a full time job". So true....... She loves her new toys. Her old squeaky broke and quit squeaking and her old rope was falling apart. right now she is in puppy heaven.

.

The kids are playing the Wii (as usual) and I'm blogging for a few before I get back to work.

.

Tonight, hubby and daughter are going to a father-daughter ball. Daughter is so excited. She'll be wearing her birthday dress (if I go get it out of the dryer, that is) and she picked out a black shirt for her daddy. I really think it's sweet. I remember when I was a kid and our church had a daddy-daughter dance. I got to go with my piano teacher's husband because my dad was working (yeah, just a bit of bitterness there). I am so glad hubby does stuff like this with the kids. I'll take a picture of them and post it.

.

I'm not sure what son and I will do tonight. Probably not much of anything.

.

Today's food:

coffee and pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast

PB & J on Ezekiel bread and some steamed butternut and sweet potato for lunch

1 (yes, only one) of my daughter's chocolates

.

I'm going to make a green smoothie after while (apple, almond, and spinach) and see if I can't get the kids to try it and then I'm not sure about dinner and snack yet. Hubby and daughter are going out before the dance so son and I might either just fend for ourselves or go to Pita Pit. He and I like it, but hubby and daughter don't so we never go there.

.

By the way, I like the comments. Thanks.

Ciao for now.

A better day

Hey CCV! Little Girl says thanks for the compliment on her eyes. (Now you've given her a big head--I'll probably never hear the end of it. Oh well.)
.
So yesterday went better:
.
Coffee and Almond Butter/jelly sandwich for breakfast
tofu scramble and salad for lunch
oatmeal for a snack (I was starving by 2:30)
Tofurkey sausage, broccoli, and salad for dinner
still hungry after dinner so had a banana
Salad, 3 graham crackers and 1/2 cup of soy milk for snack.
.
I am also feeling happier again. I really think it's my cycle--Monday's snack attack, Tuesday's really bad mood, Wednesday's sort of bad mood, today feeling back to myself. Yeah, I think I'm cycling.
.
This morning, daughter and I had a good old game of "Yankee Doodle". In case you don't know how to play, the first person sings "Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a (fill in the blank--the stranger, the better)". And the next person has to complete the song. Our last round was "Yankee Doodle went to town; riding on a tree stump; It didn't go very fast or far, so Yankee had to ju-ump." I'm really good at that game.
.
Yeah, I'm a weird mom. But we have fun.
.
I think we're going to have rice and beans for dinner tonight. We have leftover steamed broccoli from last night so If I make some rice and beans, we'll have a good old meal.
.
Well I've got to get to work. By the way, we are under an inversion and have been for the last week or more. Our skies are grey and our temps are cold. It's supposed to rain today--I'm hoping it does so we'll get this washed out. I always feel better when the weather at least "looks" pretty outside.
Ciao for now.

I made it to Wednesday

Puppy had a play date this morning. Well, not really. I have a friend who has a grooming shop so I took Little Girl in this morning to get her sharp puppy claws trimmed. After that ordeal (she cried like we were killing her at one point), I let her down to play with my friend's business partner's dog (did that make sense?). Anyway, this other dog is like half her size and just as much energy. She had a ball and it was so fun to watch. She may even want to get her toenails trimmed just so she can go play.

.

So yesterday continued to be bit of a sucky day. I felt bad and just worthless. I had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, sauteed veggies and a pb-agave-banana sandwich for lunch, a wedge of purple cabbage for snack, a huge salad with homemade vinaigrette and tofu scramble for dinner, and an apple before bed. I also exercised a little bit.

.

Last night, hubby was helping with dinner. I turned to put my dressing on my salad and he hadn't dished me one up--he had three bowls out, one for son, one for daughter, and one for him. He completely forgot about me. How's that for a loved one making you feel invisible?

.

I still feel a little down today, but visiting with my friend helped. I had a Almond Butter and jelly sandwich and coffee for breakfast; and salad and tofu scramble for lunch. I'll try to get a bit more exercise in today, as well.

.

I also got on the scale today. I wanted to lose a pound this last week, right? Well, I gained one instead. Between the binge on Monday and the extra snacking over the weekend, I gained. I am resolved to get those 3 pounds back off--I know three pounds is not the end of the world, but I am NOT going to have worked so hard to lose all that weight only to gain it back; and 3 pounds is the start of that road.

.

So yesterday I mentioned that I was uptight about son going camping. I talked to the scoutmaster's wife--she said that if it weren't for her hubby going, she probably wouldn't let her son go. She's a worry wart like me. But she said that she knows how her hubby is with all of the kids and knows he'll watch over them really closely. They will have suburbans up there so they can get in and get warm if needed and they will have hand/foot warmers and heaters, too. I know I have to let him go sometime. I'm just afraid that if I let go, something will happen and I won't have him or he'll be hurt.

.

Son accused me of trying to scare him out of not wanting to go. I told him that I was just a worry wart and I wasn't going to smile and pretend I was fine with it when I wasn't. I told him that if he didn't want me fussing, he should quit talking about it. I also told him that I would be fine Saturday afternoon when he walked through our door.

.

UPS came and brought daughter's B-day present today! An American Girl doll! I unpacked the box to check the contents and wanted to play with her. Alas, I can't. I put it back in the box and put it away. I can't wait to play with it after she opens, it though ;-)

.

Well, I guess I ought to go and at least pretend to do something constructive. (Yeah, that's the kind of day it is--better than yesterday, though.)

Ciao for now.

Still running like crazy

"Bat Dog...na-na na-na na-na na-na.....Bat Dog!" (anyone remember the batman theme?)
.

Hey, I'm still here. I have been so busy these last couple of weeks; it's just crazy. I thought I'd have time to write at lunch-time, like usual, but it hasn't been working out that way.

.

Part of it is usual end-of year accounting stuff, part of it is "people" issues, part of it is family issues.

.

I'll start with my weight since it is so much on my mind right now. I stayed the same last week. And since I didn't really eat or exercise well enough to lose weight and I had "brownie issues" over the weekend, I can't really complain. I am only 2 pounds over my range, so It's not a huge deal. But I do have to deal with it now before it's 5 pounds and then 10 pounds and then 130 pounds. So I am going to do better this week. I promise. One pound a week is good with me and that's what I'm shooting for.

.

I'll go back to food now. Sunday night, I made the kids eat the rest of the brownies--no more of those nasty things in the house.

.

So Monday was good. I had lunch at a Thai place with a friend--nothing like a good spicy tofu curry. And then for dinner, I made VegNews' baked macaroni and cheese. It was so good. Who'd have thought that potatoes, onion, carrots, almonds (I subbed those for the cashews), mustard, salt, and paprika (I think that was all) would make such a cheesy tasting sauce. Even hubby ate it and liked it. (Daughter didn't like it because it wasn't Kraft but she ate 2 big servings of broccoli to make up for not eating the macaroni so I was totally good with it.) We will defiantly do that recipe again.

.

Yesterday, I had oatmeal for breakfast; broccoli and left over mac & cheese for lunch; and I did a pea and potato curry for dinner. I was rather surprised that hubby said he liked that one, too. Daughter picked out the potatoes and dipped them in ketchup. Son didn't eat much, but he had been home sick with a stomach ache (puking all night Monday night/Tuesday morning) so I didn't worry about him.

.

And speaking of oatmeal, I found a cool, quick way to make it. I like the steel-cut oats but then take too long to cook and I don't like cooking them over the stove. So here is what I did (three mornings in a row now, so it can't be too bad):

.

quick Steel-cut oats

1 part steel cut oats

4 parts liquid (I use 1 part soy milk and 3 parts water)

3 dates

.

put the above in the vitamix and blend. Pour into a microwave safe bowl and nuke for 90 seconds-stirring at 30 and 60 seconds. Stir and eat!

.

The texture is different--you don't have the distinguishable oats in it, but it sure tastes yummy and it's so easy.

.

Today, I had oatmeal for breakfast, and left-over curry for lunch. I'm not sure what snack and dinner will bring--probably fruit for a snack and I don't know what for dinner.

.

Also, last night, I was reading my book (Terry Goodkind-Chainfire. I love the Sword of Truth series!) and Zedd had stew and biscuits. I got a hankering for a good baking powder biscuit and it wouldn't go away! So I made up a batch and they were so good. I hadn't made them in so long that I had to look up how hot to cook them. (I've made them so often that I just do it by feel more than by recipe, actually.)

.

Biscuits

flour

coconut oil (always used Crisco before but changed to coconut cuz it's not hydrogenated--it's solid at room temperature naturally)

salt

turbinado

soy milk

Add flour (2 cups, maybe?), a pinch of salt, approximately 1 heaped tablespoon of baking powder and 1 tablespoon of sugar to a bowl, cut in enough coconut oil to make coarse crumbles--don't over mix. Add in soy milk slowly, stirring as you go just until it comes together as a dough--DON'T OVER MIX. Shape into biscuits with your hands and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18-20 minutes.

.

These are crumbly so I usually put the fillings on top instead of trying to break it open and put fillings inside. They are so good with jelly. and good in soup. And if you like English scones, add more sugar with the flour and top by brushing with soy milk and putting sugar sprinkles on before baking. In fact, I have an "Eggnog Scone" recipe that is just about this except it has Cinnamon and eggnog--I need to make it with Cinnamon and soynog. Oh gosh. I want more biscuits!

.

The puppy has a new game--it's hilarious to watch! She gets a toy in her mouth and then bats a ball around with her paws. And she is a fetching fool. Right now, she's asleep--a good way to have her.

.

Well, I've got to go now. Back to work.

Ciao for now.

Whew, I've been away from my Blog a while

Hi! I've been away from my blog for awhile. I have just been really busy!
.
Look at my poor puppy.
She is just too active. She won't let her belly heal up so now she is in a wiener wrap and a fancy collar. Fortunately we'll try to get the stitches out on Friday, so we've only got a few more days of this.
.
Son got his braces on yesterday!


Isn't he cute? He'd hate me for saying that. His mouth was sore so he had some broth and a smoothie for dinner last night. For breakfast, he had cream of wheat. I made him mashed potatoes to take to school for lunch, but he decided he'd try the Christmas dinner they were doing. It'll have mashed potatoes.
.
Here's a picture of our yard right now. It started snowing last night and just quit a few minutes ago. We now have some sunshine, but it's only 21 degrees.

Hubby is on the couch trying to catch some ZZZ's. He has to work again tonight. He got home last night a bit after 2 am, slept until 7am, and is now catching some more sleep. I would be really grumpy if my sleep was broken into bits and pieces. I hope he's not.
.
I haven't done anything exciting with food lately, so I don't have anything to talk about there. I did get a start for Kefir from my aunt. She has hers in milk, I rinsed mine and am doing it in soy milk. It definitely imparts a yogurt-y taste to smoothies. And from what I've read, it's supposed to be really good for you.
.
We have a piano recital tonight, a violin recital and a boy scout Christmas party tomorrow night, and trumpet lesson and a girl scout Christmas party on Thursday night. Then on Friday, the kids are out for a 2-week Christmas break. Saturday and Sunday, hubby works and on Monday, we have another Christmas party.
.
It just gets so busy this time of year.
.
Well, I had better get back to doing something constructive.
Ciao for now.

Betty's Burrito Beans (and still the dog)

Last night's dinner was roasted squash (or "squishie" as we say in my household) and bean burritos. She squash was drizzled with olive oil and molasses and then baked until soft. The burritos had sauteed onions and peppers, homemade "re fried" beans, and spinach on whole wheat tortillas.

Funny story about the beans. A couple of years ago, I had a big container of dried pinto beans. Daughter got it out of the cupboard, opened it, and filled zip-lock bags with the dried beans. Then in sharpie, she wrote on the bags:

.

"Betty's Burrito Beans

(or you can try to make coffee)

$2.00"

.

She didn't know the difference between beans and coffee beans apparently. But anyway, ever since then, whenever I make re fried beans, they are called "Betty's Burrito Beans". Here's my recipe--they aren't really "re fried" at all.

.

Betty's Burrito Beans

.

1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans sorted and soaked

2 stalks celery

2 carrots

1 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 tsp salt

1/4 cup barbecue sauce

.

Boil the beans. Let them boil down until there is just enough water to cover them when they are almost done.

.

Chunk the vegetables and put in the vita-mix with just enough water so they will blend well. Blend them and then pour the mixture onto the beans and bring back to a boil.

.

When the beans with the veggies are done, put in the salt and pepper. There will still be water over the beans, this is OK. Blend with an immersion blender. Put in the barbecue sauce and stir.

.

If the beans are too runny, cook down. If they're to thick, add enough water to get them to the correct consistency.

.

And that's all there is to it. I get asked to bring my beans to family things as a bean dip or when we have tacos. Also, my family likes them really well so I know they will eat (picky little boogers, anyway).

.

Last night after dinner, when I went to feed Little Girl, I noticed that her belly was all swollen to one side of the incision. And then this morning, even though the swelling was down, when she sat up, there was one area that bulged. So I took her in to the vet as soon as they opened (had hubby take kids to school since he's off today) and found out (Whew!) that it was just inflammation and it should be fine if she takes it easy.

.

So I asked if I could just quit the medicine they had given me for her. I told them that she was like a hummingbird on speed with the meds--they laughed and told me that I should only give her the meds from now on if she really acted like she was in pain. (Hello, I don't think that dog feels any pain.) And right now, she is actually taking her usually morning nap (usual before her surgery that is).

.

Like I said above, hubby is home today and tomorrow and then will be working Saturday and Sunday. After he got home from taking the kids to school, he came over and stood over my desk and started talking. Apparently, since he is home, I am supposed to be ready to have him all over me. I told him that work time was not that time. He decided to go for a drive and see if he could find a deer (whatever, at least he's not here bugging me).

.

I'm hoping to have a busy day at work, but right now, I'm blogging while I'm waiting for a call to discuss the things I hope to be able to get done today. I'll have to wait to get started until a couple of things up at the office are done so I may or may not be busy (I'm hoping for the "may").

.

Ciao for Now.

Little Girl's recovery

We went over to the vet's office after I got the kids last night and picked Little Girl up. Poor baby felt so bad. I know it's a routine surgery that most female pets have, but I can't help but feel bad for her--I remember how much my appendectomy and cholecystectomy hurt.

.

So last night, she just wanted to be held. She yiped if she moved wrong or tried to get up or down off the chair. I even had to help her go outside to the bathroom because she couldn't get down the three steps to the yard.

.

At one point, she was shivering so I went and got the little yellow blanket and wrapped her up. This morning she was sleeping all sprawled out on her back (not very lady-like, but oh will)--see her scar?

.

Today, she can get up and down by herself, although she has yiped a couple of times. She also is wanting to play fetch, which she is not supposed to. Right now, she is chewing on her Kong (I filled it with peanut butter to keep her still and busy).

.

For dinner last night, the family wanted hamburger gravy. So while hubby made that, I made the potatoes (vegan), the steamed broccoli, and then some vegan gravy for myself. (I just melted a little vegan margarine, seasoned it, stirred in some whole-wheat flour, and then added soy milk and stirred on the stove until it got thick.) There was just enough vegan gravy for me. It was so good.

.

I had my annual physical today (it has actually been 2 years since my last). I was so pleased! The nurse went on and on about my weight loss, the doctor talked about it a lot and congratulated me on doing it the "old-fashioned" way. He told me that I am the healthiest he has ever seen me!

.

(I was a bit frustrated when the nurse asked me where I got my protein. She asked if I ate chicken even though I was vegan. Uh, no. You would think a nurse would have at least a bit of nutrition knowledge. I remember we had a course on it when I went to nursing school--apparently if you don't use it, you lose it.)
.

I did a stupid-40-year-old-woman trick last night. Since the dog couldn't get down the steps to go potty, I carried her down (hubby wouldn't do it because he wasn't dressed; hello, my stunning outfit was jammies at the time). So I carried her down the steps and started to put her down and started losing my balance. I tried to get her put down quickly without hurting her, while trying to re-gain my balance by pushing with my toes. I went over forward anyway. I got the dog down just in time to put my hand out to break my fall. I have a skinned knee, sore toes, and a bruised hand. Hubby had me in tears (laughing at myself) as he re-enacted my slow-motion fall.

.

I also made some crock-pot oatmeal last night before bed. You put steel cut oats, water, and soy milk in the crock-pot. Turn it on low just before bed and when you get up you salt it lightly, stir it a lot, and you have oatmeal! It was good. I will do that recipe again for sure. For a topping, I blended 1/2 cup of soy milk with 3 dates (my favorite sweetener) until smooth and then threw in a handful of almonds and blended just enough more to rough chop the nuts and then poured that on my oatmeal. YUM,YUM!

.

Well, that's all I have.

Ciao for now.

An Ice Cream recipe and ramblings from the weekend

Well, I made it through another weekend. Weekends just seem to wear me out! And we didn't even really do that much.
.
Friday after school, son had violin lessons then we went over to girl scouts where daughter's troop was having a dinner (chili and hot dogs--oh goody. I had an apple brought from home) and then walking over to the Christmas lights parade. We thought the troop had a float, but nooooo, they were walking the parade route giving out fliers about girl scout cookies. The leader's girl took off (after being told by her mom "you don't need to follow me") with my daughter in tow. So I walked after them--there was no way, I was letting her out of my sight in the dark in a crowd when the leader wasn't watching them. So anyway, I froze my patootie off.
.
Then, I was hungry (and apparently so was hubby) so hubby suggested we get some dinner somewhere. Can't even remember where we went, so it must not have been too memorable.
.
Saturday, we did get to sleep in for a while. Then the kids did karate their demonstration at the Festival of Trees (Son did the Bo Kata and daughter did a self-defense demonstration of her against 3 attackers). After that was the Karate Christmas luncheon at the China Buffet. Daughter was promoted to Brown Belt (she was so excited that she caught up with her brother) and son got his Bo pin.
.
Then we did some errands, went home and had a quick snack and went to see the community college music department preform Handel's Messiah. I really like that, but I don't think hubby did.
.
Sunday, we took a drive out in the desert. Hubby was looking for a deer, but not too hard. We took the puppy with us. We took a few walks and looked at a cave, and then went to Wal-Mart and came home.
.
Exciting weekend, huh?
.
Last night I got the hankering for ice cream so I made some. It was my own throw together but it was really good. I thought so anyway. Hubby complained about the texture of the nut based vanilla ice cream so this time I used soy milk as the base. He complained this time about the coconut texture--I just can't please him. I would guess he would be pleased it either had been made with a quart of heavy whipping cream--YUCK.
.
Anyway, here's the recipe--notice the exact measurements.
.
Put the following in the Vita-Mix:
.
around 3/4 cup of dates
a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut
approximately 2 tsp vanilla
enough soy milk to come up to the 3 cup mark on the blender container
.
blend it all until smooth. Taste and see if you like it. Add anything else if you want to. Pour into your ice-cream maker and crank until it's done.
.
Easy. By the way, my ice-cream maker is way cool. I got it at a yard sale and it is one that has an outer insulated plastic shell, an inner metal container with some type of liquid in between the inner and outer walls, a paddle beater, a lid, and a handle. You keep the inner container in the freezer until you have the ice cream mix made. Then you put the inner container into the outer container, pour in the mix, set the beater in, put the lid and handle on, and then start turning the handle. It take about 15 minutes (you don't have to be turning constantly, just every couple of minutes) and you have a soft-serve type ice cream. If you want it harder, then you let it get to that stage, take the beater out, replace the lid and cover it with a towel for another 15 minutes.
.
This morning was the pits. Just before he left for work, hubby stepped in dog crap in the yard and made a trail through the house--front door; through the living room, dining room, and kitchen; back through the dining room and living room; into daughter's room; and back to the living room before I noticed it. I was so MAD! I had so many dog crap spots to clean up! And he was all like "it was an accident, I didn't know I had stepped in it." I have the kids trained to check their shoes but, for some odd reason, the adult male can't seem to remember to check his. He was all put out that I got mad at him when it was an "accident" but I know he would have been mad at the kids had they done it. (If he hadn't been almost late for work, I would have made him clean it up. As it was, I wasn't going to live with it all day so I cleaned.) I would have just liked a stupid, sincere "I'm sorry" instead of excuses--"it was an accident", "I didn't know I had stepped in it"--and an attitude because I was upset.
.
I grew up with the mantra--You are responsible for your actions whether you intend them or not. I have taught it to my kids. For some reason, hubby thinks it doesn't apply to him.
.
After I got the kids off to school, I took Little Girl in--she got spayed, micro chipped, and a tooth pulled today. The vet said she came through everything fine. I'm supposed to call here in a while to check and see if she is ready to come home today or will need to stay the night. (I don't think I'd be ready to come home the same day as I had all that done.)
.
I also had a dentist appointment today. Look Ma, no cavities!
.
I don't have a clue as to what we're having for dinner tonight. I had a cabbage, apple, date, and almond smoothie for breakfast; leftover veggies (from a veggie pasta last night), a piece of bread, and some homemade hummus for lunch; a tiny bit of left over ice cream from last night for a snack; and will have an apple for another snack while I'm waiting to pick up the kids from school.
.
Whew! That's a rambling post. Oh well.
Ciao for now.

Tuesday

That's a picture of our Little Girl. While I work hard, she sleeps. I got up and went to the bathroom and on my way back I saw her so had to get out my phone and take this picture. Oh, the dog's life is a good one. (She looks a little skinny the way she is laying, but honest, she's not.)

.

Son is home sick today. He got up not feeling well and then had dry heaves so I kept him home. He puked a couple of times and then went back to bed--he's been asleep now for 3 hours. I guess he needs it.

.

Last night I made a wonderful Mango smoothie. Here's the recipe (it made 3 servings):

.

2 carrots

3 small hands full of almonds

3 cups (approx) of mango cubes (mine were frozen)

6 dates

enough water to make it all blend nice.

.

I blended it in the vita-mix and it was super yummy. So yummy, in fact, that I made a single serve size for my breakfast today.

.

I think I have a current new favorite lunch--zucchini pasta with tomato sauce. I made that again for lunch today.

.

I also tried another bread--it was the same as my whole wheat quick bread but I didn't have any wheat so I blended up some oatmeal, quinoa, and walnuts in my vita-mix and used that instead of the wheat flour. It was really good but really crumbly so I put it in a bowl with soy milk and used it as a cereal. So my lunch was that cereal and the zucchini with tomato sauce.

.

Work has been a bit slow today and I don't mind at all. I got my list together so tomorrow I can get started on some stuff to help with year-end (hopefully advance preparation will make it go smoothly).

.

When we were at Ikea in Salt Lake, I got a pack of containers (Rubbermaid-type). 17 containers for $4.99 or something. So a little while ago, I cleaned out my dry goods cupboard and put the stuff from the bulk section of the grocery store in containers and labeled them. It looks so nice not to have all of those plastic bags! I hated it when I'd get the gluten out and snag the bag and have a gluten trail from the cupboard to the counter.

.

Well son just got up. And I just got an e-mail from work so I guess I'm done. Ciao for now.

Today is going better than yesterday did. Although there have been work frustrations galore. Oh well, that's life. I can deal with work frustrations--it's family and personal frustrations that get me down.

The pup (the famous "Little Girl" for which I named this blog) starts school tonight. She's a 4 month old German Shorthair Pointer. Her name is Little Girl because my hubby is stubborn. We picked her out the day she was born and visited her once a week until she was 8 1/2 weeks old when we took her home. He kept calling her the "little girl". We kept trying to get him to come up with a real name. He was stubborn so here she is with the name of Little Girl for life.

Anyway, she starts school tonight with me as her handler. I had a really good time when I did puppy school with our 10 year old German Shepherd cross. I want the pup to be well trained--hubby wants to be able to take her out into the field and have her mind. Since the kids and I are the only ones that really work with her, I'm not sure how well she will ever mind him, but she is smart so maybe she'll figure it out. Her biggest problem is that she is a puppy--sometimes she has ADHD (or whatever you call it in hyper dogs) and has the attention span of a gnat; sometimes she gets it into her head that she needs to concentrate on something (the cat or a fly, for instance) and you can't distract her.

She does "sit" and "come" pretty well. We are still working on "down" and "off". And "heel" is just starting. She has also been about a month without an accident so I'm hoping potty training is down pat.

Let's see, to change the subject--food today:

Breakfast:

1 cup of coffee w/ soy milk

1 green smoothie

Lunch:

Seitan and spinach w/ veganaise on whole wheat

small bowl of butternut squash soup (leftovers from last night)

I'll probably have an apple for a snack when I go get the kids, we'll have the leftover soup for dinner, then who knows what for an evening snack.

We tend to eat dinner early--like about 5 or so on most nights so we all need an evening snack. We're almost out of fruit, but I do have some frozen strawberries so maybe we could do a smoothie. That would be good.

Well, back to work now,

Ciao for now.