Bacon's Blog

Naps, Books, and Soup

2008-11-23T21:31:00.017-05:00

Busy week, as usual, lol. The cute little kitten was his usual crazy self pretty much the same night he had his parts removed. In my last post I have a pic of him on a pillow, under a blanket, napping. Let's just say, as soon as he was done his nap, he was fine! Running around, playing etc. I don't think he even knows what's missing on his person! LOL!

So, my soup and bread were AMAZING last week! The bread, which I shared a bit of at work, went over really well and one of my co-workers ended up having some every day! Good thing too, it was too much for just me.

On Friday my better half made me a feast! She made pork roast in the crock pot, potatoes, yeast rolls, and cookies! With the fresh rolls we had some of the honey butter that we picked up at the farmers market awhile ago. So freakin' yummy!

It's been a weekend of catching up on sleep, that's for sure. On Friday night we both napped for about 3 hrs, got up for a couple of hours and then went back to bed. Niiiiice!

On Saturday morning I got up early-ish to go to a HUGE used book sale! Thank you to Anita at No Book Left Behind, whose love of book sales prompted me to look online to see if there were any in my area! As luck would have it, there was a HUGE one about 40 minutes away! It was the 2nd annual used book sale, organized by the branches of a city library. I heard one woman say that last year they had 30,000 books donated and that this year it was more! Crazy!

I did VERY well for myself...I spent $11.50 and got 17 books! They were 50 cents for paperback and $2 for hard cover. Here is the list of titles/authors:

The Quickie - James Patterson
Cross - James Patterson
Four Blind Mice - James Patterson
Step on a Crack - James Patterson
The Thomas Berryman Number - James Patterson
Season of the Machete - James Paterson
The Beach House - James Patterson & Peter De Jonge
The Jester - James Patterson & Andrew Cross
The Hanged Man's Song - John Sandford
Hidden Prey - John Sandford
The Devil's Code - John Sandford
The Manhattan Hunt Club - John Saul
Southern Cross - Patricia Cornwell
'O' is for Outlaw - Sue Grafton
24 Hours - Greg Iles
Wicked - Gregory Maguire

Wow, that seemed to take FOREVER to type out! LOL! As you can see, when at book sales, I tend to go for just a couple of authors to expand my collection of those particular authors. I LOVE BOOKS!

Let's see...oh, Saturday night we watched Tropic Thunder...it was ok...some funny parts, but a little long for that kind of movie. Oh, also had another 3 hour nap on Saturday afternoon! We LOVE to nap, apparently! LOL! At least I caught up on some of my sleep this weekend. It will be another busy week this week, so I'll need it!

Today (Sunday) we slept in until 10am, ran around doing groceries, etc. I picked up the fixins for my soup of the week. I couldn't decide on a new soup and wanted something relatively easy, so I went for my good old Tomato Macaroni Soup. Yummy!

I got a good shot of it steaming on the stove, yay! The next picture is of the lunches for the week, plus an extra container for one of our friends who enjoys soup. :-)

As usual, I'll have the soup with the 7 Grain Kashi crackers which I have become addicted to. They go so well with this soup. Oh, I also picked up some Liberte Coconut yogurt that sounded good and when I had a taste, I was not disappointed. Not just coconut FLAVOR, but coconut PIECES!! I'm going to add to it some Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola. I got the granola a few months ago (some coupon deal where I bought one, got one free). I keep forgetting that I have it! It's VERY tasty! (thank you to Krista's post at Krista's Kravings for reminding me that I have it!)

No post would be complete without a picture of two of the little devils. Damn cats! Quit looking so cute!

Have a great week everyone!

My Poor Baby

2008-11-18T20:23:00.017-05:00

Awwww, my poor boy looks so out of it tonight. :-( He had his little cat bits removed today and he is doing well. Just a bit disoriented and tired. I totally understand the reasoning behind getting animals spayed or neutered, but it still makes me feel bad when I look at the little guy. I'm sure he'll be back to his bad crazy self in no time.

On a brighter note, my wonderful wife-to-be made me this AMAZING supper tonight! She marinated a huge steak overnight in a yummy concoction and cooked it in the oven (too freakin cold outside to grill). We halved the big slab of meat and she also made some yummy fried taters. Let me just say, the outside edges of the steak (the bits of fat) were so.freakin.good. I, of course, had to have a variety of condiments...I love sauces of any kind. The more the merrier! I had some HP, ketchup, and 57 sauce! Mmmmmm! Delish!! She's such a great cook, I sure lucked out!

So...my Greek yogurt was VERY YUMMY this morning! I had the blueberry one (see yesterday's post) and wish that I'd grabbed at least one more when I was at Whole Foods the other day. It will probably be awhile before I go back. It's a bit too far to go, just to get Greek yogurt.

The verdict on my Pumpkin & Prune bread and my Curried Sweet Potato & Carrot soup...O...M...G! Both were incredible! I brought one of my co-workers a piece of the bread and she enjoyed it so much she's expecting another piece tomorrow, lol! We'll see...not sure if I can spare a piece. ;-)

I think it will be an early night tonight...I got up super early to catch up on some things at work after my couple of days off. I got up at 4:45am...crazy. I was surprised, I actually got up without too much effort. Yay me!

Anyway, everyone have a great evening! Two posts, two days in a row...a record for me! Don't get too used to that people!

Did Someone Say Soup?

2008-11-17T20:27:00.065-05:00

It's been a LOVELY lonnnnnnnnnnnng weekend! I took a couple of days off and it was wonderful. Did some sleeping in, some errands, and some cookin'! Busy busy! Even rented a movie (Get Smart) and played some Wii.

On Friday I went to check out the Whole Foods (one of two in Canada!). It was a bit of a drive away, but I NEEDED to check it out. I've seen it mentioned on a bunch of blogs, so I had to see it for myself. It had a bunch of yummy things, but was quite a bit more expensive than our usual stores. I've heard that the prices are a bit more reasonable in the states, so it could be just higher up here. Anyway, bought four different Larabars and a Greek yogurt!

In order of appearance, Cocoa Coffee, Cocoa Mole, Banana Bread, Cocoa Orange, and Cocoa. The last one was purchased elsewhere and is actually just a wrapper...I ate that one some time last week! It was pretty cocoa-y. Not bad, but could have used a bit more sweetness.

That's the Greek yogurt above. I've had a such a hard time finding Greek yogurt here. Hope this one is good. It's blueberry in the side compartment...I'm going to try it tomorrow for breakfast, so we'll see!

On Saturday I guess I wasn't feeling too spiffy...woke up at 8am or so, but went back to bed after about an hour and a half of checking blogs and such and slept till 2pm! That is so unlike me. Felt really drugged and out of it for the rest of the afternoon. I felt a lot better on Sunday. :-)

Played a bunch of Wii on Sunday! Played some boxing, bowling, and baseball. So much fun! I'm sore today from the boxing...it's quite the cardio workout! Speaking of workout...I went with my better half to her gym this morning and we swam in the pool...it was so nice and warm! Perfect on a chilly day! After some more errands we came home and I had some oatmeal...

I'm sure it looks a bit gross, but it was pretty good. I added some chocolate chips and some cherry craisins. I've heard through the grapevine that I seem to have a theme going for a lot of what I make...a Poop theme, if you will. I'll have you know that it was NOT intentional that this looked like poop! I swear! Also, the pictures of today's soup (further down in this post) do NOT look like poop. Ok, maybe a little... :-P

After my oatmeal settled I went to the gym! I did my usual workout and then weighed myself (since it's Monday and I always try to weigh myself on Mondays). I was 164.6 lbs. Not too shabby, since I've been slacking a bit. Can't wait to see the 150's at some point. I swear, since my better half and I have been together (almost 5 years) I've had such a hard time getting back down to my original weight (130 lbs). I don't know if it's because I'm older and it's harder to lose when you get past your 20's or what. They say the more you gain while in a relationship, the happier you must be...well, it's obvious that we're ecstatic!! :-)

Just for good measure, I'm throwing in a picture of my dummy...I mean my kitten. This is in honor of him getting his manhood taken away from him tomorrow. Poor guy. I must say though...he has the biggest ummm...nads (pardon my French) that I've ever seen on a cat (no picture of that, don't worry...no one needs to see that!)!

He has NO idea it's coming! He loves to sleep with his tail under his chin. He's too cute and he knows it.

OMG, before I forget...I received my wedding present early!! Her present was the Wii, my present is this beauty:

Let me just say...I LOVE this thing!! It's a single cup fancy dancy coffee maker. If I wasn't already taken, I would marry it! I can make a cup of any of those goodies to the left of the machine. I can make coffee, tea, cocoa...even just hot water if I so choose! Ahhh, so much coffee, so little time! :-)

Ok, on to this week's lunch!! Drum roll please!! I would just like to say...I am so very proud of myself, you have no idea. I keep wanting to call my Mom and tell her about this (she passed away in January and would also have been very proud of me and would have loved the items that I made today).

I made Curried Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup and Pumpkin & Prune Bread:

We went out to a fancy Bistro on Friday night and I had an amazing bowl of soup...I knew as soon as I tasted it that I'd have to try and make it. I found a recipe online, tweaked it a smidge, and here is the finished product! It was so freakin' good. I am SOOOO looking forward to lunch tomorrow! YUM!!

This lovely bread recipe I borrowed from Tina at Carrots 'N' Cake. I just substituted pumpkin for squash (since I wasn't able to find squash in a can). The above picture is the mixing part...before I mixed it I was wondering if there would be enough moisture, but as it blended together, the pumpkin handled the job quite nicely! The "batter" was verrrrrrry tasty. I only had a little taste, I swear!

Here is the finished product. I tried a bite and it was delicious! It will go nicely with my soup tomorrow for lunch!

Ok, enough of this blogging nonsense! I need to go dry my hair and get to bed! Have a great week everyone!

Squash, Gym, and Tags, OH MY!

2008-11-09T21:44:00.023-05:00

Started the day early for a Sunday...8am. I blame the cat...as usual! The kitten just doesn't want us sleeping if HE isn't sleeping! We really should have gotten a couple of pet rocks.

Went out and did a bit of grocery shopping this morning...it was nice to be at the store when it wasn't too busy. Got my supplies for my lunch item for the week...I made Bacon's Famous Pasta Salad! Ok, it's not famous...I actually just created it yesterday and today was the first time making it. It COULD be famous...someday! Anyway, here's a picture:

Here's what went into the bowl:

tri-colour pasta

cucumber

tomato

chick peas

feta

kalamata olives

balsamic vinegar

EVOO

I believe that's all. Tasted pretty good. Hopefully it will be yummy for lunch tomorrow! I packed a few Kashi crackers (which I LOVE with my soups) to add some crunch. This bowl may look like one or two servings, but it's actually a BIG bowl that will get me through the week. I really should have added something to the picture for scale. Oh well!

The other item I made (for supper this time) was some acorn squash. Thank you to Kath for the tutorial on how to cook it! It was pretty yummy (see picture!). I made my better half a grilled cheese sandwich (forgot to take a picture)...she wasn't wanting any part of the acorn squash, lol. I added butter and brown sugar, yum!

Oh yes, I almost forgot...I went to the gym, yay!! I had a pretty good workout! I'd been thinking of trying to run on the treadmill for a good while now, but haven't wanted to do it while many people were there. I used to run quite a bit a few years back, but then I stopped working out, etc. Anyway, in the spring of this year I did something to my knee and haven't even been able to run across the street while trying to catch a light at the crosswalk. It's been quite painful, so that's part of the reason I haven't wanted to even try running on the treadmill. Anyway, the gym was pretty dead, so I gave it a shot! The first little bit hurt, but then I was able to find a rhythm that minimized any discomfort and didn't make me look like I was all gimpy. I only ran for 5 minutes, but I was so proud of myself. The cardio part of it wasn't a problem, since I've been doing the elliptical, so I was able to pay attention to how I was running and making sure my knee didn't do anything weird. Very proud. :-)

So, I have been tagged by Krista at Krista's Kravings!! How exciting! Been a few years since I've played tag...let's see how I do!

Here are the rules:

Link back to the blog that originally tagged you
Post the rules on your blog
Tell your readers 6 random things about you
Tag 6 other blogs and link back to their sites
Leave a comment on your chosen blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged
Let your tagger know when you’ve posted your entry

Here are the "oh so exciting" random things about ME!

I have an iPhone and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!
My favourite dish in the whole world is something that my Mom used to make. It's called Macaroni and Cheese Casserole. So freakin good!
I have several favourite movies (I know this is a random list, not a favourite list...sue me! LOL!) - Office Space, Top Gun, The American President.
I have experienced -52 degrees Celsius (that is -62 F)...no one should be THAT cold!
I have driven from the top of the USA to the bottom...and would do it again...just for the Cracklins and Boudin!
When I was in elementary school, we would take an old knee high or some panty hose, stick a tennis ball in there and bounce it off of the outside of the school. We didn't have video game consoles in those days (OMG, I sound SOOOO freakin old!!).

Ok, I think I am done with the craziness that is me!

Here are my tags (sorry if you've been tagged already!):

I'm off to bed! My workout and my cooking have made me sleepy! Have a great night all!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

2008-11-08T21:58:00.010-05:00

I soooo admire all of you who blog every day! I am just so tired during the week, I just can't seem to do it. Work's been crazy and I've been working late fairly often, so by the time I get home, have some supper, organize my lunch and snacks for the next day, and have a shower, I'm super tired! I think I'm going to challenge myself to blog at least once during the week (in addition to my at least once on the weekend post).

I WENT TO THE GYM TODAY, YAY!!! I've been MIA from the gym for at least a week or two, so I'm so glad I finally went. It felt really good. :-)

At the gym (pronounced "guy-m" for those of you who enjoy the Simpsons...which are on right now, incidentally), I did:

5 minute walking warm-up on the treadmill
15 minutes on the elliptical - alternating my speed each minute between normal and fast
10 minutes walking on a 3.5 incline on the treadmill
30 minutes of weight machines and free weights

Food today included the following:

tomato, feta, mushroom omelet, a couple of bites of potatoes, and a 1.5 slices of whole wheat toast with a bit of jam
apple
almond butter
shake n' bake porkchop with herb and garlic roasted potatoes

On weekends I seem to forget to eat fruit, but today I was able to fit in most of an apple...my better half ate part of one and gave me the rest. Win win situation!

I keep forgetting to mention...I tried the Coconut Cream Pie LaraBar and I LOVED it! It was so very tasty! I'll buy that one again, for sure! I also tried the Cashew Cookie LaraBar...it was actually a bit dry for my tastes. It only had cashews and dates, so that could be why. All of the other ones that I've tried so far have had a bit more moisture to them. This is the first one that I've had with only two ingredients...the rest have had three or four. I have several more LaraBars that are sitting in the pantry that I need to try...I think the next one I'm going for has something to do with cocoa...anything with cocoa can't be all THAT bad, so I'm hopeful!

On a non-food related note...we got a Wii!!!!! YAY!!! We have Wii Play, Wii Sports, and the Wii Fit...all pretty fun! I just finished the running portion on the Wii Fit...we did the 2 person run, so we had a laughing good time doing that...passing each other AND cheating may have been involved. I wasn't the cheater...guess who it was! LOL! In all fairness, I had been sitting on the couch for about 15 minutes watching her do the other things like balance, yoga, strengthening, etc. So, I was nice and fresh when we started our "run"...so, while I was running, she was standing in place, moving the Wii remote up and down to make it THINK she was running! I know...cheater!

I seem to have quite a bit to say...I really should try to blog more often!

Ok, I've been meaning to post pictures of the damn animals...I say damn because they are all pains in the butt, but are also all damn cute...it's a love/hate relationship really. Ok, mostly love.

Ok, I really need to take the dog out, so I can come back in and sit on the couch again! Night all!

Bacon's Famous Minestrone Soup!

2008-11-02T22:20:00.018-05:00

Another week, another dollar...another 50 cents after tax, if you want to get technical. It was a busy busy busy week at work, as usual. I'm trying to blog more than just on the weekends, but that's proving easier said than done, I'm afraid. Something to work on...I'm a work in progress! :-)

We had a nice outing yesterday (if you don't count my better half little incident with the white porcelain throne. Not in the good drunken way, but in the sick, not feeling good kind of way. :-( She's been taking an anti-biotic for bronchitis and I think that's the culprit.

Anyway, we headed out to St. Jacob's Farmers' Market on Saturday morning and left there with a REALLY yummy haul!

The first picture is the whole kit and caboodle (I have NO idea where that came from...who SAYS that anymore???!).

Moving left to right...sticky buns (aka cinnamon buns), garlic bread (standing up behind the first item), garlic red pepper jelly, regular red pepper jelly, Empire apples, acorn squash, butternut squash...

...Royal Gala apples, mini red potatoes, honey butter, apple cider, beeswax tea lights.

Wow, quite the spread! Except for the vomiting, good fun was had by all! To end our Saturday, we had a NAP! I LOVE weekend naps! I slept for 3 or so hours, but I let my better half sleep for a couple of hours longer, since she wasn't feeling well. We had half of the garlic bread for supper, with some Classico Tomato and Basil pasta sauce. YUM!!!

This morning I had some of my Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal with some brown sugar and milk. Last night I put some into the crockpot (as suggested on the company's website), so it was ready for my consumption this morning. It was pretty good, as usual, but REALLY hard to clean out of the crockpot. The reason I did it in the first place was so that I could have some already made to bring to work for breakfast. I'll see tomorrow how it is warmed up in the microwave.

Today we met up for lunch with one of our friends that we hadn't seen in a good while. We headed to the Pickle Barrel and had a pretty tasty lunch. I had a chicken wrap with hummus etc. and some veggie soup. I took home the other half of the wrap to have with tomorrow's lunch.

Which brings me to tomorrow's lunch (and lunch for the rest of the week, as a matter of fact). I made...guess...just try to guess what I made. It rhymes with POOP, GOOP, BOOP, COOP, HOOP, LOOP...get it yet? You're right!!! SOUP!!!!! I'm thinking of calling this blog, "Bacon's Soup". It seems like that's ALL I make. Anyway, on to the soup...

Here is a before heat and after heat shot of my famous (first time making this) "Bacon's Minestrone Soup"!

I'm actually quite proud of myself. I looked at a couple of recipes, didn't really see anything that I totally liked, so I created my own! Here's a list of the ingredients:

diced tomatoes
white beans
orzo pasta
carrots
celery
kale
garlic
EVOO
beef broth
beef bullion cube
veggie broth
water
oregano
basil
S&P

I think that was it. I have it written down, but am just too tired to get my butt up to have a look. It made enough for the week, and then some! Oh and let me just say...I felt like a real chef when I was cutting up the kale! I don't know why, but I felt like I actually KNEW what I was doing! LOL!

Tonight for supper we had the other half of the garlic bread with the rest of the pasta sauce. So good! We'll be buying some more of that next time we go, for sure. We don't go as often as we'd like...it's about a 45 minute drive away and we always end up spending a good bit of cash. Good stuff though. Totally worth it!

I think that's about it for the weekend. It was pretty busy...didn't get in a workout...haven't really gone in awhile. I plan on going in the morning, so hopefully the extra hour of sleep will facilitate that. Anyway, have a great week everyone! I'll be enjoying my soup!

Tomato Macaroni Soup, Yum!

2008-10-26T21:11:00.011-04:00

The weekend is over and I have NO idea where it went!!! Ok, so I guess I have AN idea as to where it went, but it still went by too fast.

Friday night (after an exceptionally busy and long week at work), we went to see the movie Saw V at the theatre. We are HUGE fans of the Saw movies and highly recommend them to anyone who will listen! I think they are the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Streets of today (can you tell I grew up in the 80's??). They are full of gore and twists and don't have any zombies or ghosts or other things that make a movie seem like just a movie. Anyway, good stuff.

Yesterday was spent running errands and such. Had to buy the old ball and chain some pants and walked around the mall for a bit. I've been looking at getting one of those fancy metal water bottles. Some of them are pretty pricey. The one that I liked ($25) was silver and had a cool top on it - http://www.laken.es/index.php?s=products&a=view&ref=42.

Attempted to make almond butter on Saturday...ummm, yeah...way easier just to BUY almonds ALREADY buttered. Wow. We have a magic bullet thingy and it would grind the almonds into a meal, but not really finish the job. I read online that it could take 10 or 20 minutes, but really...who has that kind of time?? Lol, just kidding. It just kept getting stuck on the sides of the bullet, so I'd have to stop, fix it, and try again. Just not worth it for me. So, went to the Bulk Barn and got a bit of already made almond butter there.

Today felt very short. We slept in until 11am, which is usually impossible...however, after yelling at the kitten and leading him to his food several times, I just put him in his little zip up cage. I'm not sure if the back side of it was already unzipped BEFORE I put him in there, or if the kitten and his older sister worked together to unzip it, but he was able to get out! Crafty little bugger. Anyway, when he started jumping up at the doorknob, trying to get into the bedroom, it was time to get up. At least we slept until 11! Latest sleep in since before getting the crazy kitten a few months ago!

I didn't make it to the gym at all this weekend. I'm not super impressed with myself, but I'm not too upset either. I was really tired this weekend, so I'm gonna give myself a break. Tomorrow I have to go into work super early, so I will go to the gym on Tuesday.

Ohhhh, I found a new Larabar that I hadn't come across yet! It's the Jocalat Cocoa. I'm very excited to try it. I now have a good collection of Larabars...now I just need to make it to the gym in the mornings, so I can eat them!!! I only like to have them after the gym in the morning...I'm weird, I know.

So, wonderful food items eaten on Saturday:

All-Bran Strawberry Bites w/ milk

McDonald's Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap w/ Ranch

Banana and glass of soy milk for snack

Shake n' Bake chicken and potatoes

Sunday's Eats:

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal w/ 1tsp brown sugar and 1/2 cup milk (OMG, this cereal was SOOOOO good! I read about it on Krista's Kravings...it looked so yummy and since she is also in Ontario, I figured I'd be able to find it at the store!

One egg w/ a bit of ketchup (made in this really cool microwave egg thingy...so easy! 30 seconds! Can breakfast BE any faster?!!!)

Banana and glass of soy milk for snack, with a bit of almond butter chaser

Macaroni with Classico Tomato and Basil pasta sauce, with a couple of kalamata olives thrown in for good measure

I made some Tomato Macaroni Soup for the week...and then some!! It made a lot more this time than the last time I made it...don't ask...I forgot to write down the recipe that I tweaked last time, so I was just guessing at it this week. Oh well. This is a kind of soup that improves with age (like myself), so I'm hoping that by mid-week, it will be as amazing as it was the first time I made it. I'll keep you posted! Meanwhile, here's a pic and also the recipe that I posted on Spark Recipes:

Thank you to Heather at Hangry Pants for making us aware of a bunch of new bloggers (and thank you for adding my site to your list of sites to check out!)!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Chilly Weather Calls for Chili!

2008-10-23T21:22:00.009-04:00

For supper my wonderful better half made a pot of YUMMY chili! It was soooo good! We have our chili in the southern US tradition (at least the traditional way my girlfriend's family eats it)...no beans! Just ground beef, tomato juice, chili powder, minced onion, salt, and pepper (see the picture of the mostly done pot). Can't forget the soda crackers (saltines) to either dip or crumble into the chili. We always wait until it gets pretty CHILLY outside before we make the first pot of CHILI! Ok, I've had a crazy busy stupid day, so please don't mind my lame humor!

So yeah...insane day today at work. It's been wiping me out lately. I'm pretty tired tonight, so after our Thursday night shows (we watch My Name is Earl and The Office), I think I'll lay in the bath for a bit and then hit the hay. I plan on either get getting up early and going to the gym or getting up early and going into work. Either way I NEED to get up!!!

Food from the day:

Kashi GOLEAN Cereal with Skim Milk
Strawberries
Italian Wedding Soup and a Turkey Sandwich on Whole Wheat
Grapes
Chili with Crackers

Ok, back to tv and such!

A Month Today?! Say It Ain't So!

2008-10-22T22:34:00.012-04:00

Okie dokie pokie. Been a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time since I've posted. I've really got no good reason, unless you count "just didn't feel like it" as a valid reason. It's actually been a month TODAY since my last post. That is insane. I've been thinking about posting, but just hadn't gotten around to it.

My evenings (prime blogging time) have been occupied by eating supper, bathing, fixing my lunch for the next day, and checking to see if the bloggers that I follow have posted another post since I looked last (on the way home from work...can you say "addiction"?). Anyway, by the time all is said and done, it's pretty much bedtime or I can't think of anything good to blog about. I'm trying, I really am! :-)

So, since I've blogged last, I have made a few lovely meals. I made an AMAZING Tomato Macaroni Soup. I made it on a Sunday and ate it for lunches for the week. It was sooo good and it just kept getting better as the week went on. I will DEFINITELY be making that one again! This weekend, I think.

I also made some Salmon with Zucchini (http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/salmon-provencal-zucchini-ghk0208?click=recipe_sr). Wow, soooo freaking good.

My wonderful better half made me some catfish awhile back, as well. I cut up a tomato to go with it (added some EVOO and S&P to the tomato). It was so yummy!

I also made another batch of Poop Soup (see last post) since the last time I made it. It is so easy to make, it's crazy. I highly recommend it.

Ohhhhhh, I FINALLY tried LARABARS!!! I LOVE THEM!!! I tried the following so far:

Key Lime Pie
Cherry Pie
Cocoa Coconut

I usually eat about half of one at a time (usually after a trip to the gym). Tomorrow (if I go to the gym) I will try the Coconut Cream Pie. I'm very excited!

I'm not really sure if anyone is even reading my blog, so if someone IS out there, PLEASE feel free to leave a comment to at least let me know! I think that is part of the reason that I have had a hard time keeping up with this...I don't think I have any readers, so why bother. I started this blog for myself, so I guess it doesn't matter if anyone reads it, but it would be nice!

I've been doing fairly well at keeping up going to the gym. I still have a really hard time going during the week in the mornings, but I've been pretty good at going on the weekends. I usually go on Sat., Sun., and Monday morning. At least 3 workouts are better than none!

This post is getting long! I really should go to bed. I plan on going to the gym in the morning (lol, I say that EVERY night).

Food that I filled my face with today:

Kashi GOLEAN Cereal with Skim Milk
Chicken Parmigiana with Pesto Penne from East Side Mario's (leftovers from last night)
Grapes
Minute Steak with McCain Seasoned Oven Wedges

I think that was about it. Doesn't seem like a lot, but I was out of strawberries, so that was one less snack. I went to the grocery store tonight though, so I picked up a pomegranate, strawberries, and an Asian pear.

Ok, off to bed. One day closer to the weekend, yay!!

Poop Soup

2008-09-22T22:30:00.007-04:00

I went to the gym today, yay!! I'm proud of myself...I almost talked myself out of going! We had a very busy day today. I took the day off, so we could go meet the minister and see the chapel where we will be having our upcoming nuptials. Very exciting! It's a little place (seats 20-ish people), but it is cute and cozy. Perfect for us. :-) Now, if only the rings we ordered would come in!

After checking out the chapel, we went and browsed a factory outlet place and then headed to IHOP for some lunch. I had a really tasty Garden Scramble (scrambled eggs with veggies) and I had most of one pancake. It was all very yummy. Then we headed back home for me to get a haircut, go to the gym, and go to the vet's to get the kitten his last shots. He was not very happy with the shot OR the thermometer up his butt! It's all good...he's been running around like nothing happened tonight, so it must not have bothered him too much.

This evening it took FOREVER, but I finally got all of my food items ready for work tomorrow. I cut up my watermelon for the rest of the week, cut up my strawberries, and grabbed my grapes. I also made something I like to call...Poop Soup. No, it's not made of poop, but it DOES LOOK like poop. Mmmmmm, pooooop. It is a Black Bean and Salsa soup. It looks gross, but it tastes pretty good! (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Salsa-Soup/Detail.aspx)

Here is a picture:

Poop...or...soup? You decide. Almost looks like chocolate. Mmmmm, chocolate.

Anyway! On top of each serving in a bowl will be some sour cream and some green onions. I'll report tomorrow on if it was as yummy as it looks, lol.

Food for the day:

All-Bran Strawberry Bites w/ milk
Garden Scramble and one pancake from IHOP
chicken caesar salad

Wow, doesn't seem like I ate a whole lot today, but it was a few things that were high-ish in calories, so it added up.

Anyway, must head to the couch...this "vacation" day WORE ME OUT! LOL!

YAY!

2008-09-21T17:16:00.004-04:00

Been a LITTLE bit lax with my posting on here...no real excuses except for lack of motivation. Just didn't feel like it and just didn't have anything good to say. However, I HAVE done quite well with my eating, so that's a good thing! I've been successfully avoiding bad stuff and eating mostly good stuff.

Last week I made an amazing navy bean soup in the crockpot...it was sooooo good! I was very impressed with myself. Tomorrow I'm going to make a black bean soup (on the stove, not in the crockpot), so hopefully that will turn out nice.

Tonight is either going to be shake n' bake pork chops and stove top stuffing or chicken caesar salad. Either way...yum.

Food for the rest of the day:

spinach and cheddar crepe-omelet (from a really good place called Cora's) - I had the other half of what I had yesterday when we went there
a couple of strawberries
toast (one piece) with almond butter (I've been wanting to try it and it was pretty good on toast!)
raspberry smoothie

I'll probably have a snack at some point...perhaps a banana. Not sure yet.

Went to the gym yesterday AND today! YAY!!! I wasn't going to weigh myself today, but I was really curious, so I did...I have actually lost a bit! I'm down to 169.8 lbs. I was impressed, since I haven't really been getting much exercise...all I've really been doing is eating healthy. I guess it has helped. :-) Earlier in the week I went for a 40 minute walk outside before I went to work. At least it was something. My mom and I used to walk a bunch when I was younger...helped me lose weight back then, so I figured it was worth a shot now.

Ohhh, had an AMAZING nap yesterday! We laid down around 5:30pm and woke up around 9:30pm!! Ran out to grab some McDonald's (I had grilled chicken wraps) and then came home, laid around for awhile and went to bed again around 1am. Got up around 10am this morning. What a lot of sleep! It was nice.

Ok, one final thing...just wanted to add the little weight ticker, since there was a little change.

The Hacker's Diet

2008-09-13T20:57:00.008-04:00

Wow, I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged since Wednesday! I've been crazy at work, getting home late, and super freakin tired through the end of the week. Got to sleep in until 7 a.m. this morning...I know, not REALLY sleeping in. However, I DID go back to bed around 9 a.m. and finally got up again around 11.

We have done pretty much nothing today. I like doing nothing sometimes on the weekend, it's nice! It's been a crappy rainy day today and I think it's a rule to lay on the couch most of the day when it's like that outside on the weekend.

Oh, I tried my first day on the first rung of The Fitness Ladder from The Hacker's Diet. It was not too bad. It gives you a few different exercises to do and 15 minutes in which to do it. You're supposed to do each rung for a week (or four days if you are already in ok shape). As you go up the ladder, it gives you more reps of each of the exercises. On the first rung, the only real challenge was the running. You run in place, which one wouldn't think would be all that hard...the catch is that you have to lift your feet 4 to 6 inches. Picture this...chunky girl, still in PJ's (i.e. no bra), running in place, lifting her feet up as high as she thinks 4 to 6 inches is. Now, picture the looks on the two cats' faces. They were looking at me with heads cocked, like I had lost my mind! I couldn't help but laugh. I knew I looked kinda funny. Hey, gotta do what you gotta do.

Anyway, food for the day:

two grilled chicken snack wraps from McDonald's
Greek chicken and rice (boneless, skinless chicken breast, Greek salad dressing, rice)
whey gourmet protein powder with orange juice

Gym? Huh?

2008-09-10T22:58:00.007-04:00

I soooooo did not go to the gym this morning. Nope. I had ALL the alarms going off multiple times, but went back to bed anyway. I was so nice and warm and cozy...it just didn't seem right to leave the bed. I will try AGAIN tomorrow.

Ate pretty healthy today:

oatmeal
strawberries
chicken and wild rice soup
grapes
apple
meatloaf and mashed potatoes (soooooooo good!)

Watched Baby Mama tonight. It was pretty funny. I've been really busy at work this week, so I feel kind of exhausted.

Was thinking of having a snack, but I don't know what to have and I feel too tired to eat it anyway. Going to go to bed.

My Weight In Pears?

2008-09-09T22:30:00.007-04:00

My wonderful partner made pear preserves on the weekend and they turned out so yummy that she went back and bought more pears to make more pear preserves. She started out with 3 pounds of pears, which made 3 jars worth of preserves. Can anyone guess how many more pounds she bought? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

15

pounds

of

pears.

So...tonight I had a pear as one of my snacks! It was pretty good and it took me FOREVER to finish eating it! I cut it up and then had pieces in between songs...we were playing guitar hero. I can officially say that I officially SUCK! She is the master...she plays on Hard, while I barely manage on Medium! :-)

Tried...as usual...to get up for the gym this morning. Actually DIDN'T say, "I don't want to", like a little kid. Instead I thought, "yes, I'll go!". Then...I have no idea. Must have laid back down...the rest is history. So, I am trying another trick...I currently have two alarms. One beside me and one across the room. They are old cell phones, but are different models, so they have different alarm noises. The one across the room is obnoxious, so I turn it off and get back into bed (kind of annoyed). The one beside me is not horrible, but I still turn it off and go back to bed (less annoyed). Perhaps switching them may help. I am at a loss as to what else to try. I'll have to also turn on my back-up back-up alarm (number three). I'll post tomorrow with the alarm success or failure to get my butt out of bed and to the gym.

I keep staring at the last piece of pear on the plate in front of me...I am worried that I will forget that it fell on the floor and actually put it in my mouth. Probably not too bad...if we didn't have a dog and two cats. Ewwww! No matter how much you vacuum, the reminder of them is always there.

I was pretty proud of myself today in the food area of my goals:

oatmeal
strawberries
gazpacho (cold tomato, cucumber, onion, tomato juice, hot sauce, etc. soup)
big piece of bread (to go with the soup)
apple
grapes
omelet (tomato, mushrooms, cheese, egg whites)
half of a banana
pear

I'm also blogging...another good effort for the day. Now...if I could ONLY make it to the GYM!!

Been Awhile...

2008-09-08T22:16:00.008-04:00

So...yeah...haven't posted in awhile. Haven't been to the gym in awhile either. Have been eating WAY too many chips and such. Trying to get my lazy ass motivated again. I sure lose motivation quickly. It seems like as soon as I get tired, I lose the desire to exercise and/or eat healthy. All I want to do is lay on the couch...which usually leads to snacking...which usually leads to feeling worse about myself...which usually leads to me not going to the gym. A vicious cycle.

I feel like in my younger days (20's), I would be losing this weight much more easily. It really sucks. It seems like I can keep it up for a week or so and then once I see that I haven't lost anything or have even gained something, I think what the heck is the point. I can't do this for ANOTHER week and not see results! That's what the dumb brain tells me, anyway. I forget the fact that despite the tiredness from getting up early, I feel good about myself and my body feels good from the exercise.

Anyway, this morning I made myself a 8 week challenge. I used to do things, just to see if I could do them (i.e. cutting out caffeine - did that for a few years; cutting out swearing - did that for about a year; etc.). I don't know if I have it in me anymore, but I'm going to see.

This is my 8 week challenge:

start date - Sept.8; end date Nov.2
exercise at least 4 times per week
eat MOSTLY healthy
blog every day
no chips

Today was my starting date for my personal challenge. While I did not exercise, I ate healthy all day, am currently blogging, and at NO chips! A decent start, I think. I plan to go to the gym tomorrow morning. Part of my motivation seems to come from reading various blogs and forums online. When I'm feeling super unmotivated, I try to read a few threads to remind myself that it's possible to lose weight and that exercise makes a person feel good.

Food for the day:

oatmeal
strawberries
chicken and wild rice soup (made a HUGE batch in the crock pot on the weekend!)
apple
grapes
chicken fried rice
half of a banana

So...tomorrow is another day. I WILL get my lazy ass out of bed. I WILL go to the gym. I WILL eat healthy. Then, at the end of the day...I WILL blog!

Oh, the cravings!!

2008-08-31T21:29:00.004-04:00

Wow, tonight has been VERY hard not to snack! I've been wanting my ketchup chips that have been sitting in the kitchen (UNOPENED) for the last week or so. Instead I had some watermelon. Not at all the same thing, but maybe it's satisfied my tummy for a bit. I find that the more tired I am, the more I want to snack.

Went to the big city fair today...did a lot of walking and tried to eat mostly healthy. I had Extreme Pita for lunch (grilled chicken), but had some cotton candy and some Coke, so I could have been better, but I suppose I could have been much worse.

Tomorrow, when I go to the gym, I will be weighing myself...it will have been a week since I last did that, so HOPEFULLY it will be a loss. I've worked really hard this week. Went to the gym and ate mostly healthy. We'll see what happens.

Found a very cool ticker to keep track of my weight-loss!

Thank god tomorrow is a holiday! I think the only thing planned is laundry and the gym. Ok, enough of this nonsense...time to go rest my tired self on the couch.

Ribfest! Mmmmmm!

2008-08-30T20:19:00.003-04:00

It was a busy day here! Woke up early (before 9 a.m.)...thanks to the cat, the kitten, and the dog. They do NOT like to sleep in, but they will NAP all damn day long! Little bastards. Anyway, got up and had some breakfast and then headed out to get groceries and such. Came home, had some lunch, then SOMEONE (my better half) laid down for a nap.

I went to the gym! Had a really good workout. Didn't really want to go, but that's usually when I end up having the best workout. Weird. I even tried a couple of new exercises. I've been doing the same old routine for a long time, so I'm trying to incorporate something new every once and awhile. Found a really cool site that shows various exercises (www.physicalfitnet.com).

After the gym we went down to the lake, where they were having Ribfest! It was our first time going and it was pretty tasty! We shared a fresh sqeezed lemonade, a rib, brisket, and chopped pork plate, with cole slaw and beans. Good time was had by all! There were a gazillion people there, wow. Apparently it's the biggest Ribfest around.

Here's a yummy breakdown of my eats today:

All-Bran Strawberry Bites w/ milk
tomato sandwich w/ Miracle Whip
bbq chopped pork (had a few tastes of the brisket and ribs, but the pork is more my thing!); cole slaw and beans

Now it's time for showers and then we're going to lay on the couch and watch the Reno 911 movie. We enjoy the show, so hopefully the movie will be good.

Almost the Weekend!

2008-08-28T21:55:00.004-04:00

It's Thursday, which means it's almost Friday, which means it's almost the September long weekend! YAY!! So excited...nothing big planned, but after getting up early a few times this week, I'm very much looking forward to sleep!

May go to the drive-in on the weekend. It's an all-nighter, with 3 movies, so we'll see. Otherwise, just going to sleep, play, read, workout, etc.

Went to the gym this morning. I was the only one there for the first half hour. I love small gyms.

Food for the day:

oatmeal
watermelon
chicken fried rice
grapes
egg salad sandwich

Pretty good day. I think blogging is helping me stay away from snacking in the evenings. I'm so busy doing this and entering my food and excercise for the day into The Daily Plate website, I don't have TIME to snack! LOL!

Ok, off to the couch I go. Need to lay down before I pass out!

Twice? In ONE Day??

2008-08-27T22:14:00.004-04:00

Yes, I managed to go to the gym not once, but TWICE in one day! YAY! I was too sleepy to get my lazy butt out of bed yesterday morning, but got up today to go. Then, after supper, I went again with my woman. I just did a light workout, but it was nice. :-) I was very annoyed with myself yesterday for not going to the gym, so I'm very proud of myself for going this morning and then again this evening.

I had a very yummy lunch today. Wheatberry salad and a Campbell's Healthy Request soup bowl. Very good and pretty healthy. Then, for supper we had Subway. I love Subway. So good! I've been eating strawberries this week for my mid-morning snack and then grapes for my mid-afternoon snack. Tonight I cut up a watermelon, so that will be my mid-morning snack for the rest of the week. Mmmmmmmmmmm!

I know this is a short entry today, but I'm freakin' sleepy! Sometimes the early mornings kick my ass. Anyway, going to lay on the couch to watch/listen to my girl play guitar hero.

Holy Tiredness Batman

2008-08-25T20:42:00.006-04:00

Wow, I'm sleeeeeeeeeeepy today. I don't enjoy Mondays when I wake up at a normal time, but when I wake up at 4:45 a.m., I enjoy Mondays even less. Yes, I DID make it to the gym this morning...yay me!!! It was tough, but I did it, so I'm proud of myself. It was kinda iffy for a minute when the stupid/cute cat sat on my chest and started purring. She never does that, so I was all, awww, how cute! I can't possibly leave while she's being cute (and not her usual devilish self). My woman was snoring and tossing and turning, however, so luckily, that cancelled out the cute cat nonsense. :-)

I was somewhat disappointed when I weighed myself this morning. I was 172.2 lbs. Now, this COULD have something to do with the Arby's that I had last night, so who knows. All I'm sayin' is that I'd BETTER be less than 172.2 lbs next Monday. Damn scale. Oh, did I mention that this morning I checked to see how many calories I had consumed at Arby's last night? I had been all proud of myself too, cause I didn't have as many fries or onion petals as I normally do. Ready? Almost 1000 calories. Umm, yeah. Wish I would have calculated the side items BEFORE I ate them. Oh well. Live and learn.

Gonna be an early night tonight. I'm going to go to the gym in the morning again and then take Wednesday off. That way I get at least a bit of sleep during the week. Makes for a long week if I workout all 5 days of the work week. I'm not sure how I used to do that. Getting older sure messes with a girl!

Scary Movie!!

2008-08-24T22:43:00.004-04:00

Well...went to the gym again today, yay!!! Two days in a row! Can I go for three?? We'll see tomorrow...hope so!

When I weighed myself yesterday, by the time I got home, I couldn't remember if the scale said 173.8 or 172.8, so I just took the higher number...I'll never know which one it was, but what I DO know is that today I was 171.0!!! I'm thinking that I was just retaining water, but hey, I'll take what I can get! I usually don't weigh myself so often, but since I wasn't sure about yesterday, I thought I'd go ahead. Mondays are my usual weigh days, so I'll post my weight tomorrow too. Then it will go back to once a week.

I realized that I forgot to put down what I ate on here yesterday, so I'll do that now, as well as what I had today.

Saturday

All-Bran Strawberry Bites w/ milk
big salad from grocery store salad bar
beef noodle soup and piece of garlic bread from restaurant

Sunday

All-Bran Strawberry Bites w/ milk
big salad that I made at home
apple
Arby's roast beef sandwich, some fries, and some onion petals

Not too bad. Went to the gym both days, so that was good. I didn't have any chips, which has been my big weakness lately. I'll just get in chip moods and go crazy on them...eat until my tongue hurts from the salt. Once I've been working out for a few weeks again and continue to eat healthy, I know that I won't be craving the bad stuff as much. Thank god.

Ohhhh, saw the movie "Mirrors" tonight at the theatre. Pretty good! Made us jump! Didn't know what to expect with this one, so it was a pleasant surprise.

I'd better go off to bed...4:45 a.m. comes EARLY! Keep your fingers crossed that I can drag my lazy ass out of bed!

My First Blog!

2008-08-23T21:10:00.005-04:00

Big day today! Created my first blog and it's also the first day of getting back into losing weight. I HOPE I will be able to keep up with BOTH of those things.

Ok, a bit about me...much easier to put this into a post than into the "about me" section. I'm old...very old...32. Yes, I know...old. You don't have to tell me, my girlfriend tells me all the time. :-) I'm a lesbian, gaymo, queer (whatever suits your fancy) who just proposed to her almost 5 year girlfriend (now FIANCE!) on her 28th birthday a little over a week ago. The big day will be Dec.22, 2008. We can't wait! I thought it would be a good idea to get hitched on our 5 year anniversary...we're always forgetting the actual date, so if we get married on that day and have the date engraved in our rings, problem solved!

So many reasons to get back on the weight-loss wagon...feel better about myself, increase my confidence, look better, lessen the aches and pains of "old age", look cute again, feel cute again, look purdy for our wedding...many many reasons. So hard to get my tired and lazy ass out of bed in the mornings to get to the gym though. The gym is less than 5 minutes away from home, but the best time (for my schedule) is to go in the morning...the EARLY morning...BEFORE the butt crack of dawn. I try to get up at 4:40 a.m., get to the gym just after 5:00 a.m., and be done working out by just after 6:00 a.m. This allows me to go home, get ready for work, catch the train into the city, and be at my desk just before 8:00 a.m. I was very diligent for a good portion of last year, but then, of course, sh*t happens. It's been a rough year so far here...both my mom and my fiance's mom passed away earlier this year. Hard to get out of that "just don't care how much weight I'm gaining" kinda funk. At least with the upcoming nuptuals, we both have new motivation in our weight-loss goals.

So, my starting weight (today) is 173.8 lbs and my goal weight (where I was about 5 years ago - coincidence, I think not!!) is 130 lbs. Yes, I used to be 130 lbs before the love of my life and I got together...they say the more weight you gain when you are with someone, the happier you are. I must be freakin ecstatic!!! My heaviest (I think) was around 190 lbs. I've been up and down my whole life, but being 5'3", 190 lbs was a bit much for me. I knew I needed to lose weight, so we joined a gym last year and I did really well, losing about 20 lbs. Now, I've started to gain a couple of pounds back and have been trying to make it to the gym for weeks now, with no success. I think I've gone maybe once a week in the last month. Anyway, my current short to mid-term goal is to lose 15 to 20 lbs by Dec.22, 2008. I have 4 months to do this, so I know it's doable. I just have to focus and keep at it.

Today, we both went to the gym, yay!!! We plan to go tomorrow as well. This blog will help me to keep track of when I go, what I do while I'm there, and also what I eat during the day. I've been pretty good about keeping a spreadsheet of what I've been eating and the calories that I've consumed, so I'll be listing that kind of thing as well.

I hope you enjoy this blog...feel free to post some comments, thoughts, and/or words of encouragement along the way. I need all the help I can get!!