Happy Day!

 Today was a happy day with clear skies and 80-degree weather. See, Kobe agrees!

We started the day with our usual walk, and I cleaned the house when we got home (gotta get in that functional fitness!).

Breakfast was a bowl of cinnamon apple raisin oatmeal with a big scoop of cashew butter. That kept me full all morning. For lunch, I ate a bowl of pinto beans and rice with a salad. 

Today's snacks included a banana, almonds, craisins, and a Jonagold apple. Dinner was a bowl of rigatoni with mushrooms and tomato sauce topped with lots of cheese. I also ate a salad. Wednesday is *candy night*, so I treated myself to a pomegranate Tootsie Roll Pop, an orange, and cup of tea. 

It was lovely outside this afternoon, and I just couldn't bear the thought of sitting in my windowless office cave. Fortunately, there was a baseball game going on, and we could always use more action shots, so I headed up to the field, camped out next to the home dugout, and got a few action shots. (Our team didn't do so well so I ended up leaving early to go get some office work done).

When I got home, Kobe and I went outside. Kobe got to play, and I got to work at my outdoor desk.

Kobe had a blast running around...

But he got a little hot so he eventually crashed in the shade.

Kobe obviously forgot our deal yesterday regarding dirty paws, because he came to the door with mud-soaked feet. 

And of course he picked the day that I had swept and mopped the floors to get icky. At least paws are easy to clean, so no harm done and my floors are still shiny!

I probably won't post tomorrow since I've got Fringe-watching plans, but Kobe and I will be back on Friday.

What to do

What to do, what to do? It's 7:30 and I'm finished at work! Guess I'll go home, wash that sink-ful of dishes, and watch Lost. Not a bad way to end a Tuesday!

After the usual early start (which included snacking on a banana) and morning walk, I did 40-minutes of strength, followed by breakfast.I was running behind, so I scrambled some eggs, topped those with some pineapple salsa, and served that with a piece of toast slathered in chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter.

Breakfast was pretty satisfying, I wasn't hungry until lunch, when I got a spicy chicken wrap from Chick-fil-A. After a busy afternoon at work, I thought it would be nice to let Kobe enjoy some playtime in the yard. I was a little worried about him getting muddy since the ground is still wet from Sunday's storm...

Mom, I promise promise promise I won't get muddy paws if you let me in the yard today!

...but he was a good dog and his paws passed inspection before coming back inside.

Spring has truly sprung in South Carolina:

Buds on the sweet gum tree.

I didn't have to cook dinner since I fixed a batch of slow cooker black bean soup before I left the house. I modified the recipe a bit because I'm out of cumin (which is a terrible thing because it's my favorite spice)!!!! Instead of the cumin, I used three packets of Sazon seasoning blend. I'm glad I experimented with some new spice because I was rewarded! The soup was so savory and yummy! I was a little concerned that the Sazon would have a lot of sodium, but it's actually pretty low in the sodium category. I also used an 8-oz. can of mild green chiles instead of the usual 4-oz.


I cooked a batch of Jiffy corn muffins to go on the side (mmmm!!!). I''m off to go wash all those dishes, call the hubby, and relax while watching Lost Actually, watching Lost isn't all that relaxing because I lie awake in bed trying to figure out WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!?!?

Until tomorrow....

Experiment

The rain and the wind and the hail gave way to sunny skies on warmer weather today. On  my way back to work after lunch, I just had to take a photo of these beautiful trees that are in the front yard of our house. I'm really going to miss seeing their blooms in the spring when I move.

Today was a LOOOOONNNGG day. It started with a 6 a.m. wake-up call, a walk with Kobe, a 28-minute run jog on the treadmill, and my favorite part of the morning: breakfast (oatmeal with raisins, chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter, an orange, and a banana which I ate before heading out to walk the dog).

After a busy morning at work, I headed home for lunch: a salad and a bowl of pinto beans and rice with a scoop of salsa verde.

I snacked on an apple up at the fields ( I had to go to a softball game and take the lacrosse team's photo), and then came home to walk the dog around the block before going back to work. After staying at work until 6:30 tonight, I was STARVING when I got home. All I wanted to do was sit on the couch and VEG OUT.

I had leftover chicken fajitas in the fridge, but fajitas are so messy, and I didn't want to risk dribbling fajita "juice" all over the furniture, so I decided to conduct an experiment: what happens when you combine all the fixins for fajitas in a 16 ounce ramekin and nuke it in the microwave?

 (grrr... my computer won't rotate the photo...)

(grrrrrrrrrr.... this photo didn't rotate either!)

The sweet potatoes didn't make it into the experiment-- I snacked on those while my dinner cooked.

You get a chicken fajita casserole!

If you're talented (ahem, like me), you'll be able to flip the ramekin onto a plate and enjoy it in all it's spicy, layered glory. (It's not pretty, but it's tasty).

Dessert was the usual orange and cup of tea. I just got finished watching Good Eats (one of my favorite shows). I've got to wrap up a couple of things for work, and then I'm off to bed since I've got a big day tomorrow!

Soaked!

It's been raining on and off all day-- and now we're under a tornado warning :-O! Yikes! Kobe and I are hunkered down in the bathroom and we're going to stay here until the storm passes-- it's really bad outside. I've got the laptop with me and have the weather pulled up-- the red part of the storm is over us now, and hopefully will get out of here soon. And EWW-Kobe just drooled on my laptop- icky icky icky!!!

ANYWAYS, I haven't done much in the way of exercise today-- though I did walk Kobe once around the block in the rain and my pants got soaking wet.

This morning Will left to go back to Michigan, so that sucked. At least I had work to keep me busy since I had to score a lacrosse game.

 I slept in until 7:10 this morning, and then let Kobe out in the yard. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and a big scoop of chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter. And of course there was a banana.

After getting some chores finished, I packed up my lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat with a Jonagold apple) and headed to work. When I got home, I snacked on some craisins and almonds. I also ate a pickle.

For dinner, I had a salad and a big bowl of pasta.

 
I ate some super Black & Gold dark chocolate for dessert with an orange and tea.

Well, we've got another 5 minutes in the bathroom until the storm passes. Guess I'll check out my Google reader. (On another note, I'm usually braver in storms, but you know this one is bad if I'm cowering in the bathroom with the puppy-I may need some more chocolate after this).

Good Day

Today's been really nice so far! Hubby and I slept in and then went for a run. When we got back I cooked up some scrambled eggs and some home fries. Yum-meee! I had a banana before heading out on our run, and then I also had an orange with breakfast.

 Golden brown=delicious!

After breakfast, we got cleaned up, stopped by the realtor's office, and made a run to the grocery store, By the time we got home, it was time to head to the field to score a lacrosse game. For lunch, I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I snacked on an apple when I got home.

We're having BBQ chicken sandwiches tonight for dinner with sweet potato fries. I've got lots of stories to write tonight, so I probably won't post again until tomorrow. Happy Saturday!

My Boys!

My apologies for not posting, but I've been a bit distracted because my hubby flew down for a visit!!! I have really missed him and am so glad he his here!

Kobe is glad that Will is home too. Here's Will wiping Kobe down after he gave him a bath. Kobe is so happy to be done with that chore (he hates baths).

Today Will walked Kobe, so I was able to do the Firm's Maximum Body Shaping DVD and yoga this morning before work. Breakfast consisted of a banana before my workout, and then a bowl of raising oatmeal with chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter and an orange.

I picked up lunch for us at Chick-fil-A: I had a chicken tender salad with honey mustard dressing and a diet lemonade. I just <3 CFA!

Since I have to work all weekend, I left work early to come home and relax (a.k.a. getting laundry done) and watch Oprah and a some Food Network. This afternoon I snacked on another orange, a pickle, and some almonds. My appetizer was a salad, and I made chicken fajitas for dinner. I ate two HUGE fajitas (but the tortillas were whole wheat so I don't feel so bad) and drank beer-you can't have Mexican food without beer (it's a fact-look it up!). I promised Will an ice cream sundae since he washed the dishes, so we headed to McDonald's after dinner.

We watched Up tonight-- it was such a cute movie!

I'm worn out (can't believe it's already 10) and will be heading to bed shortly. Tomorrow hubby and I are going for a run and I'm making a special breakfast.

Here's a short recap of yesterday:

Workout: walk with Kobe, 25 minute run

Breakfast: banana, cinnamon apple raisin oatmeal with a scoop of real peanut butter
Lunch: lentil soup and salad
Snack: apple, almonds
Dinner: Beans and rice
Drink: BEER!
Dessert: Orange and tea

A Day Behind

The weather here has been GORGEOUS the last couple of days! Kobe and I have spending some quality time outside.

Okay, two days worth of posting in one. Last night I was busy with work, and went over to a friend's house to watch New Moon. The Twilight books are much better than the movies (although I thought the writing was bad in the books, though the stories were excellent).

At any rate, yesterday started by snacking on a banana, walking with Kobe, a run, and cinnamon apple oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter.

Lunch was bean soup with a salad, and I ate leftovers stir fry with noodles and an orange. I snacked on some trail mix while we watched the movie. Snacks included some almonds, craisins, and another orange.


Today began like every other weekday: a walk with the dog. Wednesday is cleaning day, so I swept, vacuumed, mopped, and tidied up the house before eating breakfast. Breakfast was oatmeal with the chocolate flavor of Better N' Peanut Butter. Strangely enough, the chocolate flavor doesn't taste very much like chocolate, so I'm not sure I'd by this kind again-I think I'll stick with the original.I also had a cup of tea and a banana.

Lunch was leftover stir fry, an orange, and a salad. This afternoon's snacks included an apple, a small pack of pretzels, almonds, and craisins. For dinner, I ate a salad and a big bowl of pasta.

Spaghetti really hit the spot tonight!

I'm off to watch last night's episode of Lost on Hulu-- I don't know what took me so long to check out Hulu, but I'm really glad I did!

My dessert tonight will be an orange, probably a tootsie roll pop, and a cup of tea. Hopefully I'll have some time to read a chapter or two from Twenty Chickens for a Saddle.

It's a memoir of a woman who grew up in southern Africa. It's a great book for busy people-it's really a collection of stories from her childhood, so there's no complex plot line to follow.

Good night!

Yay!

No work tonight! No work tonight! I do not have to work tonight for the first time in.... Well, I can't remember the last time I didn't take my laptop home, but it will be sittin' pretty on my office desk tonight.

I'm so excited-this means I can actually chill, watch re-runs of Friends and The Office, and watch Good Eats. Perhaps I'll  get a yoga session in, cook a nice dinner, and spend some time with Kobe.

Not much to report on today- here's a quick recap of what has passed and what is to come:

Workout: walk with Kobe, express version of the Firm's Hard Core Fusion

Breakfast: raisin oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch: bean soup, salad, craisins
Snack: orange, almonds
Dinner-Veggie stir fry with noodles (I may add an egg in the mix)
Dessert-Tea and Orange

Evening workout: PM Yoga

In other good news, my hubby is coming to visit this weekend! I can't wait :-)!!!

Sunday, Sunday

Today was a busy again. After letting Kobe outside this morning and eating breakfast, I was on the go for the rest of the morning. I cleaned, washed dishes, jogged, showered and ate lunch. Then it was off to the office to get ready for today's softball doubleheader (which was played in the rain--blech!).

I finally got home around 6 p.m., headed out for a walk around the block with Kobe, where we were pestered by the neighbor's yappy Chihuahua. when we got back, I had a salad and a small bowl of soup before writing the game story for softball. After wrapping up work, I chopped up a sweet potato for some fries (and I love sweet potatoes so much I ate all the fries--there were a lot!). For dessert I had a few chocolate chips, a peanut butter cookie, an orange, and tea.

Here's a short recap of my meals except dinner:

Breakfast-blueberry oatmeal with Better N' Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch-ham and cheese on rye, salad, pickle, orange
Snacks-apple, 2 Starbursts, almonds, craisins

It's early bedtime tonight--I'm beat.

A New Day

I feel much better today- a good night's rest can work wonders. Today was absolutely gorgeous with the temperature in the mid 70s, so it was a great excuse to get outside. Kobe and I went on a 40-minute walk at Cowpen's National Battlefield in the morning. Today was a "rest" day, so the walk is about all I did (unless you count straightening up the house, washing laundry, and cleaning dishes).

Breakfast was a bowl of raisin and Better 'N Peanut Butter oatmeal with a banana. Lunch was leftover chicken and veggie curry, cous cous, salad, and an orange.

After lunch, I headed out to score a softball doubleheader, so I packed an apple and almonds to snack on.

 My Crack Blackberry doesn't take very good photos, but what a pretty day it was!

I've been craving Chick-fil-A all week, so I went to the drive-thru for dinner tonight (I gotta say, we must have the slowest CFA in America in our town-it took me 20 minutes to get a salad!).

Alas, the wait was worth it!

I hate eating off of paper/foam/plastic, so I transferred the salad to a bowl and cut up the chicken to make for easy eating. And I topped it off with croutons and honey mustard dressing, and washed it all down with a Rising Moon beer.

It was a good dinner!

I finished my work after dinner, and then contemplated dessert. Since I ate a small Dairy Queen ice cream cone and an orange last night, I didn't want ice cream. I settled on 2 peanut butter sandwich cookies and some chocolate chips with tea. The peanut butter/chocolate combination hit the spot!

Tomorrow will be another busy day-- there's lots of chores to be done (laundry, taking out the trash, dishes), and I've got to get in a run. I may go for 28 minutes straight tomorrow, we'll see how I' feel.

Since there's nothing on TV tonight, I'm watching a PBS show on DVD called "Minik: The Last Eskimo" (I know, I'm a HUGE nerd). Anyways, once the show's over I'm hitting the hay.

Just AWFUL

I knew something wasn't right this morning. I didn't sleep well last night, and then my stomach was in knots all morning-- and then I got awful news! It's not end of the world news, everything will eventually be okay, but I was devastated. Suffice to say I have been having sporadic crying episodes since 11 a.m. this morning. But I'm getting a grip and realizing "it could be worse."

At any rate, life goes on regardless of how I feel. And while my awful news had me wishing for either a) a six pack of beer, b) a pint of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream, c) a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, c) chocolate cake, or d) a bag of minature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I took stock of my feelings and realized over eating (or over drinking) would not help the situation out in the long run. So that's why, after receiving THE NEWS, I returned to the spare bedroom to complete my workout, Firm Crosstrainers Strength.

Following the workout, I ate a pretty healthy lunch. I made some curried chicken and vegetables, which I ate with some cous cous.

I also had a salad and an orange.

When I cooked the veggies for lunch, I had to have garlic, so I broke open a new bulb and found THE LARGEST CLOVE OF GARLIC, ever. This is huge-- it looks like two cloves, but I promise, it's just one.

I just finished snacking on some almonds and craisins, and I'm going to eat an early dinner (soup and salad) since I'm going with some friends to see Alice in Wonderland. And in my current mental state, I don't need to be tempted by a gargantuan box of Sno-caps.

The only thing helping my mood right now is the beautiful weather outside.

Kobe and I spent some quality time in the backyard this afternoon.

The day got off to a pretty healthy start with Kobe and I taking a short walk around the block, and getting harassed by the neighborhood dogs, including a Chihuahua. Breakfast was a big bowl of banana and raisin oatmeal with sugar and cashew butter.

I'm signing off--tomorrow will be a sort of busy day since I've got to spend all afternoon at a softball game. On the other hand, it might turn into a great excuse to go to Chick-fil-A!

Feels Like Friday!

Today feels like Friday because I don't have to go into the office tomorrow! Hooray! I can catch up on some much needed sleep. Here are the major highlights of my day:

• I've lost 5 pounds!
• Spent the afternoon outside in some lovely weather
• Spent some time outside with Kobe in the yard
• Got a great workout in (25-minute run on the treadmill)
• NO WORK TONIGHT!

It's the first time since January I haven't had to write a game story, and I am HAPPY :-)! I almost don't know what to do with myself. Actually, I'm about to go hop in the shower, and I'm definitely going to watch The Office tonight. Tomorrow will be sort of busy, I've got a few errands to run, and I may go see Alice in Wonderland.

Here's a short recap of the rest of the day:

Exercise
Morning walk with Kobe, AM yoga, afternoon run, Yoga for Relaxation

Food
Breakfast: Blueberry oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch: ham sandwich on rye with salad and a pickle

Snacks: Craisins, banana
Dinner: spinach salad, rigatoni with meat sauce

Dessert: orange, the last of the dark chocolate :-(, and tea

I'm off to relax for the rest of the evening!

It's Easy Being Green

Happy St. Patty's Day! I'm celebrating by sitting on the couch and having a chocolate Tootsie Roll Pop and a cup of tea. Yep, I'm livin' the life!

I definitely ate enough spinach today to get into the green spirit. For dinner, I had leftover bean soup that included a pretty healthy helping of spinach, along with a piece of rye toast.

For lunch, I ate some baby lettuce tossed with honey mustard dressing, a pickle, and leftover sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and garlic with eggs. It was pretty good.

Today's snacks included an apple, a small bag of pretzels, some almonds, and craisins. Breakfast was a banana and bowl of oatmeal with tea.

I didn't really workout today, but I got in a walk around campus and the usual morning walk with Kobe. I also cleaned the house this morning.

I'm off to watch a rerun of Bones, finish my dessert with an orange, and then off to bed to read.