It's Wednesday Not Thursday

I should have posted this earlier this morning while my memory of it was a little fresher. This post is now for what I did 2 days ago. It was Wednesday and luckily I didn't have an early day. I'd gone to bed at 10:30 the night before and didn't get up until 9am. I thought I was pretty well rested.

I didn't have to keep the girls until around noon. I got up and fixed myself half an everything bagel with light cream cheese and dried dill.

I tried to get a few things done before the girls got here. I had to get a shower which I'd skipped the night before. I had a smoothie before the girls got here. I made an improvised version of a strawberry orange banana smoothie. I used the same amount of the basic ingredients (oatmeal, milk, ice) as I usually use. I didn't have enough vanilla yogurt, so I used what I had. I compensated for the lack of yogurt with a couple of teaspoons of vanilla instant pudding. For the fruit I used about 1/3 of a banana, 4 or 5 medium strawberries, and half an orange. I also added orange zest from about 1/3 of the orange peel. I dried the rest and saved it in a jar to use later. It was a very tasty smoothie. Not bad just to be using what I had. I do wish the strawberries and banana had been frozen.

Lexi and I had quesadillas for lunch. She just had a cheese quesadilla with a slice of white American and a four cheese Mexican blend. She also had a bowl of shells & meatballs.  I had shredded peppered tofurky, spinach, white American and the four cheese Mexican blend.

I made them in the toaster oven. I basically just heated them until the cheese was melted.

I had spicy Ranch dressing with mine. Lexi and I both enjoyed our quesadillas.

I spent the entire day or at least the biggest part thinking that it was Thursday. For such a well rested person, I was terribly tired by the time the girls went home. Sometimes Lexi can be quite a handful, but lately, it's been Mary who has worn me down.

I had the other half of my orange as my evening snack, a little trickier to peel with most of the skin shaved away. It was cold , juicy, and refreshing.

As my dinner I had the last of the potato salad and baked beans. I also finished off my Kalamata olives. They were very good with the beans and potato salad.

I also had a dark chocolate raspberry cream pumpkin which was very melted and very messy. I guess my kitchen cabinets stay too warm for storing chocolate.

I'm sort of confused as to how the day ended. I think somewhere along the line, I finished my book. I'm not even sure what day, but I do remember the ending wasn't one I preferred, but it wasn't bad. Parts of it I liked and even found funny, I just wish some of it had gone a different way.

Well, I'm still not caught up. I just haven't been able to get into doing more to get there, but I have gotten quite a bit done around the house. Fortunately, I'm no farther behind and yes I know it's actually Friday. Have a great night/day!!!

Change Of Plans

This morning when I got up, I had a day of cleaning and rearranging planned. I had planned to change things around a little in my living room and bedroom and get some laundry done. I had a fruit & yogurt cereal bowl with bran flakes, cheerios, life cereal, apple cinnamon chobani, half a gala apple and some extra cinnamon sprinkled on top.

I should had added a few chopped walnuts as well, but it never crossed my mind this morning. It was good just the way it was.

What I had on my mind was the pot of coffee brewing while I was having breakfast.

I got a load of laundry in the washer and starting figuring out how I would rearrange things, then I got a phone call. It was Lynda, she and Mom invited me to go along with them on a GDO. Well I thought about it and I figured I could change my plans. I don't get to go too often and there wasn't anything that I can't do another day; tomorrow if everything goes well. 

Mom and Lynda stopped for a late breakfast before picking me up, so I grabbed a snack to tide me over until later. I had TownHouse crackers and Neufchatel cheese.

I had 3 or 4 crackers spread with cream cheese....

...and the other half of my apple from breakfast

....plus a few peanut butter filled pretzels.

We went to Panera's first to pick up some bagels. I got 6 everything bagels (my favorite) and a free strawberry smoothie with ginseng that Mom had on her Panera card. It was very good. I didn't see the new cranberry orange smoothie until it was too late, dadgummit! I will have to get that one next time, if they still have it.

We went to Jo Ann's, Tuesday Morning, Michael's, Goodwill and Walmart. We also went to Salsarita's for a bite to eat. We all got the vegetarian taco salad. I had shredded lettuce, black beans, rice, grilled veggies, black olives, mild and medium salsa, jalapeno slices, shredded cheese and spicy sour cream in a shell. I had a mixture of sprite, Hawiian Punch, & light lemonade. It was mostly sprite, but a mixture is always better.

We finished up with time to spare. I had enough time to get home, have a slice of leftover cheese pizza and run out the door to Zumba. I gave Lucas part of my pizza so I wouldn't be too full to shake my booty. I hate that I won't be going on Tuesdays for a while, since Lucas has an evening class and he's my ride, but I am happy that I will still be able to go on Thursdays.

I had went with 2 lb. weights last time since we didn't have class during the holidays, but decided to go back to the 3 lb. weights tonight.  I hope my legs don't get as sore this time, but I don't think it will be a problem. I don't think. 

I had an orange after I got back and a few more peanut butter pretzels.

The wind has been howling this evening, blowing in the cold air. I was cold to the bone after I got home, but my laptop is roasting me now. I guess I will call it a night and see if I can get in a few pages of my book before going to bed. I had a good day. I'm hoping my plans for tomorrow go as well. Have a great night/day!!!

Cran Apple Orange Smoothie Recipe

This smoothie is really good, but it does have a bit more texture than some smoothies, because of the fruit. I don't mind the texture (tiny bits of apple, orange & cranberry). The flavor is delicious.

 Ingredients

1/2 c. apple chunks w/ or w/o peel (approximately 1/2 medium apple)
1/4 c. cranberry orange relish
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. milk (this might also be good w/ apple or cranberry juice)
1/4 c. old fashioned oats (you can grind oats in a coffee grinder first)
4-5 ice cubes

Directions

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth or as smooth as possible. You could also use apple sauce in place of the apple. Enjoy!!

Sampling Thanksgiving Foods

Well I've had a busy day and lots to blog about. I started off with a different breakfast for me. I've wanted to try a Thanksgiving themed breakfast, so I decided to try a Pumpkin Spice Smoothie. I've been craving something with pumpkin and I had all the ingredients for a smoothie. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but it sounded good and luckily it was.

I used to make spicy pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, but nobody I know cares too much for pumpkin pie, so my family adopted the tradition of sweet potato pie instead. Sweet potato pie is very good, but it doesn't have the spice that makes pumpkin pie so good. Sure I could add spice to the sweet potato pie, but it's just not the same.

I had a small glass of apple cider as my mid morning snack.

After breakfast and a shower, I had the girls (Lexi & Mary) for a while today. I fixed lunch for them when they got here. They had chicken nuggets, mac & cheese and little squeeze pouches of applesauce and banana.

This is my lunch. I didn't have chicken nuggets or applesauce with banana. I did have macaroni & cheese, but not the kind that comes to mind. I had Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti Marinara. It's really good.

I also had coffee and a couple of gingerbread donuts.

This evening I made my homemade rolls. I normally use muffin pans and make clover leaf rolls, but this year, I decide to put them all in round pans for mini pull apart rolls.

I baked one small pan and refrigerated the others to be baked tomorrow morning.

They turned out good and of course we had to sample them just to be sure.

I had mixed vegetables and macaroni & cheese for dinner along with a couple of the mini rolls.

I also made cranberry orange relish for tomorrow, which I also had to sample and now that I have, I'm not sure there will be any left come morning. This relish is awesome. I could sit down with a spoon and the bowl of relish and eat until there wasn't anything left, but the smell and it even smells awesome. I wish my house smelled like this relish.

I did good though. I only had a few big spoonfuls. One spoonful each on 2 more of the rolls and another spoonful by itself. It is so much better than store bought and it's so easy to make. I may never buy store bought again.

I seem to be having a combination of internet problems and technical difficulties with some of my photos from older posts, I'll have to get it fixed before I can post links. It's late and I have to be up early so I'm cutting this post short. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Thursday!!!

Healthy Sides

Breakfast yesterday was a cinnamon raisin bagel spread with light cream cheese and topped with raisins, dates, sunflower seeds and nuts. I also had half a Gala apple sliced thin, a healthy side to go with my bagel. I needed a morning pick me up yesterday. I had two cups of coffee with coconut sugar and a little powdered creamer. Since it was more than half decaf, I figured two cups would be fine.

We weren't able to go for our walk yesterday. Lucas had homework and a few other things to do. We are going to try and go today since we won't be having dinner at Mom & Lynda's.

I had leftover pizza for lunch with another healthy side of sliced hot house cucumber and a dab of spicy ranch dressing.

The pizza was a bit better after heating it straight on the rack of the toaster over. It helped to crisp it up a bit on the bottom. The cucumbers were as good as salad. I needed to used it since I'd nearly forgotten about having it and it was a quick fix.

My not so healthy afternoon treat was a Sunny D ice cream smoothie made with vanilla ice cream, ice, and orange strawberry sunny delight. I used ice to reduce the amount of ice cream I needed. It was really good, but difficult to drink as quickly as I would have liked. I kept freezing my brain.

I got in a little afternoon reading before time for dinner. Hopefully I can get my book finished up and start on "The Girl Who Played with Fire". I got it through the library and won't have long to read it. Since it's an ebook, I'm not sure I can renew once my two weeks are up.

I had another burger for dinner, a MSF grillers prime. I had spring mix salad, onion, tomato, thick pickle slices and spicy ranch on my burger with a Nature's Own sandwich round for my bun. 

I also had more cucumber slices on the side, which were better than chips or fries. I really like the sandwich rounds instead of the regular hamburger buns. I get more of the good stuff, instead of filling up on bread.

I have to admit my sandwich was a little messy, but when it's really good, I just don't mind.

After dinner there wasn't much on tv that I was interested in. I got my pictures sorted and uploaded. I still didn't get to bed early though. I started reading again. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book and it's gotten to the interesting part. I finally had to make myself stop and go to bed. It's like watching a movie and then cutting it off about 2/3 of the way through to watch later. It's not so hard in the beginning. I will hopefully be reading some more today. Happy Sunday!!

Eating For More Energy And Better Sleep

I went to bed early last night. I got up a few minutes early this morning. I didn't really sleep that well, but having tossed and turned longer, I guess helped a little.

I had yesterday's breakfast as I typed up yesterday's post. I think getting my breakfast in earlier is better. I had a tropical smoothie yesterday with pineapple, banana, and coconut. It was really good. A nice change. I haven't had one in a while.

8:00am

A little later I had a cup of coffee. I found a little decaf in the cabinet. I mixed a little regular coffee with the decaf. It was mostly decaf, so I don't think it had anything to do with my troublesome sleep. I did the peppermint mocha thing with my coffee; not as sweet as last time.

10:00am

I followed a schedule for eating yesterday. Eating early and at regular intervals. I didn't get too hungry or too full. I did feel better yesterday, like I had more energy. I didn't get the afternoon sleepies. I even got some extra cleaning done.

For lunch I had the last of my cajun crab cakes. Those things go fast around here. I had leftover pasta salad with my crab cake.

11:30am

I thought the plate looked a little skimpy, but it was plenty and I'm glad I didn't add anything to it.

 

This was my snack. I had an apple with peanut butter pretzels. I need to plan some healthy snacks. How about some suggestions? This one wasn't bad, but it was the healthiest thing I had for a snack and since I will be doing regular snacks, I will need to have some other healthy snacks.

3:00pm

 

I still getting rid of leftovers. I guess this was dinner. I had it earlier than usual. Normally I wait until after Zumba to eat, but trying to stay on the schedule, I ate a slightly lighter meal a couple of hours before hand. I had the last slice of the vegetable pizza and a bowl of Campbell's Harvest Orange Tomato soup. I ate half a can and Lucas ate the other half. It tastes just like regular tomato soup. I don't think it's as acidic. I was worried I would be tasting my food while I exercised, but I didn't.

5:00pm

 

 

The soup was thicker than regular tomato, so I think it actually goes a little farther than regular tomato. It is only offered for a limited time, so there doesn't seem to be much sense in getting attached to it. I hate when they make certain foods for a limited time. Why would you want to eat something that you may love, only to have it discontinued, so that you will possibly never be able to have it again. This was good and I would like to have it again, but I will probably not be able to find it when I go back for more. It's sort of like the pina colada jello. I liked that, but it was only for a limited time. I had it once and could never find it again.

 

My eating schedule didn't really call for exercise in the evening. It suggested exercising in the morning, but since I have no control over my Zumba class times, I had to improvise. I'm also usually starved after Zumba. This is another type of snack I need to plan for. I had a pay day candy bar (not good) while I fixed myself a better more filling snack.

8:30pm

 

I had an everything bagel with mozzarella cheese & a little garlic powder, toasted in my toaster over. It was really good, even better than with cream cheese and btw Zumba was awesome as usual. Next week we will be having class on Monday and Wednesday, just for that week.

I almost forgot to tell you about my microwave. I got a small microwave for free. It had been in stored in with some things Dale had been give. It was sorta of dirty and needed cleaned up, but it worked. I cleaned it up and had it looking good, then Dale comes in and says he'd fixed my old microwave. It was the door switch. One of the contacts had jumped out of place. He put it back together so now it works like a charm. I now have 2 microwaves. I think I will keep the smaller one for emergencies. It wasn't terrible to be without, but it sure wasn't nearly as convenient.  Now Lucas and I are off for a walk. Happy Wednesday!

Buttered Blueberry Pita Chocolate Oatmeal

So what's up with the name of this post? Is that what you were thinking? Well, as I've said before, the biggest problem I have with blogging is post titles i.e., "Name That Day". Occasionally it comes easy, but then there are some days that nothing in particular stick out. Yesterday was one of those days.

I came up with the name by using the first word in the name of the first five photos. Yes, I name my photos. It helps people find my blog. Sometimes we "Google" a word or a phrase and search images. If the phrase matches the name of my photo, it may come up in the first few pages and someone might click on it and then see a link to my blog. It's how some people end up here. How did you get here?

This was yesterdays breakfast, two blueberry muffins with a little butter. These are going faster than I assumed, but there were only 12. I suppose I will be freezing the blueberries today, since I'm afraid I won't be able to eat them all before they spoil.

 

 

I was babysitting the girls (Lexi & Mary) again yesterday. Lindsay went for here ultrasound yesterday, to see how long we have to wait for the next little one. They had estimated that she was 12 weeks with the first visit, but are now thinking just 7, so it will be a little long than first thought. It looks like we'll be getting another March baby.

Lunch was more of a snack yesterday, which is usually what I get when babysitting. Those two keep me hoppin'. Sometimes I just get a late meal, but the Lean Cuisine pita and veggie dip are quick to fix and to eat.

 

Neither of the girls were big eaters yesterday, but they weren't here too long. Lexi have a few chicken nugget with cheese and Mary had cheese toast. Lexi also had part of a blueberry muffin. Mary has gotten to where she fights sleep. She can't stay still long enough to eat, she might go to sleep instead. She runs all over practicing her walking and running (almost), trying to keep up with Lexi. I put her in the playpen for a few minute and when I looked over she was sitting up asleep in the corner, bobbing back and forth. It was funny. Lexi use to do that too. 

After the girls went home. I had a smoothie for a meal/pre-Zumba snack. It was mostly banana with a fourth of an apple thrown in, just to use it up and some chocolate for an added energy boost.

It was pretty good. I sucked it down and then got ready for Zumba.

 

Zumba didn't kick my butt yesterday, although I did get a great workout. It seemed hotter yesterday. I was super sweaty afterwards. We also have a couple of guys who've joined the class. They said they liked it and they'd be coming back. I'm telling you, Zumba is for everyone. It's just fun, but a great workout. You can't beat that. We also have one lady who brings her baby and the baby's walker. The baby scoots around her while she gets her workout. Some aren't able to do the full workout, but they come and do what they can and then leave, there aren't any rules. We're all just there to move and have fun. That's what I love about it. 

I had a salad when I got home. I used some iceberg lettuce, some tomatoes, cucumbers and banana pepper from the garden, a little purple onion and a couple of baby carrots sliced. I topped it all with some toasted chow mein noodles and light Asian toasted sesame dressing. I also had a slice of Muenster cheese (off camera) while I was fixing my salad.

 

I've been staying up too late lately, so I've gotta work on that. I was extra tire this morning. I've also got some cleaning to do. My days see so busy lately. I have to try to fit everything I want to do in. It doesn't always happen. I've been trying to get some reading done, but I haven't been that successful, just a few pages here and there. My 6 book goal before January, is going to be more difficult than I thought. Are you a big reader? Do you have to squeeze in a few pages or is it something you do quite frequently? I seem to get more reading done online. How about you?

Well gotta wrap this up. Happy Friday!!