Working Out

It’s been a while since my last post.  I’ve been….working out.  Yep, working out.  That is so unlike me, isn’t it?  In the past I’ve been able to manage my weight through calorie counting alone.  Then babies came along and I fell into a deep state of denial about how overweight I’ve become.  Then I’d see a picture of myself and shudder.  Then I had my breast reduction surgery that was extremely necessary, whether I was overweight or not.  That decision is probably one of the most important decisions I have ever made.  I suddenly realized that I didn’t hate hot days at all.  I hated having to wear industrial strength undergarments on hot days.  What a revelation!

So, here I am with no excuses not to workout (before the surgery it was very uncomfortable to jump, jog, or move in a way that would burn calories).  I started to lose weight again by watching calories, but then I began to yo yo.  In the past couple of years I’ve noticed more body aches and pains.  I had to face the reality that I needed to start strengthening my entire body.  Last week I started the P90X workouts and on the third day I did something wrong or stupid, whatever.  I messed my neck up big time.  Not only could I not move it in any direction without pain, it also hurt to just talk.  Biting, chewing, swallowing caused extreme muscle spasms in my neck.  It was the pits.  I felt pretty useless by the weekend.

Monday came around and I felt much better so I began the workout program all over again.  Today is day 4 and I’m feeling really good.  Fish has done the program before and he’s doing it again with me now.  He told me not to look at the scale for two weeks, so I’m not sure how my progress is weight wise.  I’m eating a lot more fiber, less sugar.  I’m also still eating foods that I like because if I don’t, I won’t be able to sustain this program.

I’ll be sure to share any progress in two weeks.  I’ve been getting a lot of encouragement from Fish and from friends online.  That helps a lot.  It also helps to see my kids watching me and cheering me on during workouts, haha.

Hey Girl

You know what happens when you have horrendous neck pain that makes your brain go weird, then you add wine to that?  You start making your own Hey Girl cartoons.  This is what would happen if Ryan Gosling’s character from Drive went out on a date with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

 

Moving On

Yes, the kids are still enjoying their bento lunches.  Here is my version of a homemade lunchable.  I hate that it doesn’t have fruit in it, but every now and then I like to treat the kids with cookies instead of fruit.

There is a lot going on right now, but my neck is really bothering me, so I’m going to make this a quick one.

I started P90X on Monday.  I actually started last Friday, but I officially started a workout program (Lean) on Monday.  Yesterday, I ended up with a horribly stiff neck.  I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I was certain I had meningitis.  Except, there was not fever, vomiting, etc.  Just stiffness and every time I moved in any direction it felt like someone was karate chopping the nerves in my neck.  Bethany suggested that I start a regiment of calcium and magnesium supplements, as they are supposed to help with relief of muscle aches.  When I went to bed last night I was in agony.  It hurt for me to lay my head on my pillow.  This is about the time I started scouring the internet to confirm I was dying.

Today I’m feeling better.  Still stiff, but I’m feeling improvement.  I’m supposed to do a Yoga workout today, but Fish says that I need to not work out at all until I’m feeling better.  I don’t want to give up my workout today and I’m rationalizing that a yoga workout would loosen up the tension in my neck.  I’m going to go ahead and do it, risking a load of “I told you so” from Fish later.

Moving.  We’re doing that.  We’re working with a property management company and will be sorting through rental homes in a few month.  Next Thursday a representative from the moving company will be coming to give us an estimate on the cost of moving us.  We found a home for Fendi the turtle (actually, I think I have two home for him, need to figure that one out)  My parents were planning on traveling with us cross country, but we are going to pay for their air travel instead so they can bring out cat to us.

Most everyone at our school knows we are moving.  This has been very bittersweet.  I’ve made some great friendships in the past couple of years and there are a lot of people that I’m going to miss from school. Thank goodness for the internet.  I plan on keeping in touch with everyone.

Pickled Bear

Bento molds are fun to make pickled eggs with.

Indian Spiced Pork Stir Fry

This is one of my favorite meals.  It’s actually an adapted recipe from the ladies at Our Best Bites.  I took their Indian Spiced Pork Skewers and turned it into a stir fry.  I had a few reasons for doing so.   I never allot enough time for myself to put the ingredients on skewers.  I like that when I stir fry the ingredients together, the vegetables are coated with the tasty marinade.  Also, I don’t have to make sure the BBQ has propane in it before I start!  Fish and I always seem to be out of propane.

To make the stir fry, marinate the pork exactly as the original recipe calls for.  Then chop the onions and red bell peppers.  I like to begin frying the veggies a few minutes before I add the meat because my family prefers their veggies a little less crisp.  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick skillet.  Begin cooking the onions and peppers.  Move the veggies to the side of your skillet and then add the pork.

Finish cooking pork until no longer pink, serve over rice.

 

 

Clink

Today kicked my behind.  Nothing in particular happened or went wrong.  It just took a lot out of me.  It never stopped.  It felt like it would never end.  There were laughs, there were tears, there were moments of reflection.

Whatever the case may be, the day is over and I’m going to pop open another Michelob Amber and eat this pickled egg and watch an episode of Gilmore Girls.  No, the beer isn’t gluten free and those freakin’ cavemen didn’t have vinegar in their diets, I don’t care.  I’m even going to have some pretzels with excessive amounts of salt, because it really doesn’t matter what you eat, it’s whether or not you move your ass after your last bite.

 

Back to School

The girls had a great first day back to school.  I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of dreading today.  I knew I would have to get up early again.  I thought the girls would have a hard time going back to school.  We had just gotten through that terrible time with Sprite’s separation anxiety and I thought I might be stuck in preschool for 3 hours a day again.  Plus, there have been a bunch of other things that I’ve been needing to work through.

Last night I decided to go to bed at a decent hour so I would be prepared for today.  It made all the difference.  I woke up, did some Yoga and spent the morning getting the girls ready for school.  Clarabelle had a lot of nervous tears, but she sucked it up, and left to walk to school.  Pix was absolutely fine, she was all smiles walking with me to school and waved goodbye with a big grin on her face.  Sprite was great until I announced I was leaving after about 10 minutes, she put up a small fight but was fine and had a great day.

After dropping off Sprite, I went home and had lunch while watching The Gilmore Girls with Fish.  May the rest of the week run as smoothly!

The End

Tomorrow the kids go back to school.  This holiday was a strange one, as it lasted so much further into January than previous Winter holidays.  With the warm weather we’ve had the entire time, it felt like Summer Vacation, which was really messing with my head because when Summer hits, we are out of here.  With that in mind, I added a page of Last Hurrahs.  I have a lot more to add to it, but that is the list that was in my mind at the time.

A quick wrap up of the end of this time off.  We got desks!  Not just one desk, but two.  When we moved Clarabelle into her own room we wanted to buy her a desk.  All of the year end holidays got in the way.  Then a few weeks ago, while Fish was out with the girls and I was home wrapping Christmas gifts, they all found this desk and brought it home.

When they found the desk it was a brownish color, my dad painted it white.

Then, the other day, I took the girls to visit my parents’ and I found this desk for Fish.

Fish loves it, which totally makes up for the fact that the shoes I bought him for Christmas didn’t fit.

I’ve been cooking a lot lately.  I found out that you can prepare quinoa in the rice cooker.  This is a great discovery for me, as I always seem to ruin it on the stove top.  1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water in my rice cooker makes a perfect batch.

I whipped up a  Quinoa Taco Salad yesterday.  It’s fat free, except for the Avocado, but I’m not giving up my avocado, ha!

It has red pepper, cucumber, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, avocado and lemon juice.  Salt to taste.

I also made myself a waffle sandwich since I don’t know if I’ll ever get over to Bruxie for a meal.  Also, I read their ratings online and have heard mixed reviews, which kind of disappoints me.

I’m hoping to spend the rest of the afternoon knitting and relaxing, bracing myself for a busy week ahead.

 

Roasted Cauliflower

I love roasted cauliflower.  While I have tried many different version, with many different flavors I think my favorite version is the simple mix of olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice.  I picked up some colorful cauliflower because all the colors made me happy.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  After combining all the colors of cauliflower I had the quantity of one large head of cauliflower.  Cut the cauliflower into florets and spread out on baking tray.  Drizzle with olive oil, and salt.  Stir to coat.

Cover entire pan with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes.  Remove foil, stir.  Cook for another 10 minutes.  Continue until cauliflower is browned to your taste.

Add more salt to taste and drizzle with juice from half a lemon.

 

40 Pieces of Mail

I love mail.  Love, love, love.  When I was a kid I had 15 plus pen pals.  When these pen pals asked me of their friends could write to me also, I said YES.  Who wouldn’t want more mail?  Not me!

In October I turned 40.  In the days leading up to my birthday, I received a postcard from my dear friend, Bethany.  It gave me a chuckle and I put it up on my bulletin board in the kitchen.  I did notice the marking of “1/40″ on it and figured it was some sort of note left on post cards at the Post Office.  Then, I received a small package that contained glitter nail polish and a note to “Face My Fears” (I have a glitter phobia).  I noticed a “2/40″ marked on the outside of the package.  Hmmm, the Post Office is getting weird lately.  Oh well, I happily applied my nail polish and commenced my glitter therapy.

THEN, more mail showed up and this time there was a “3/40″ marked along with a note from Bethany “Have you figured it out yet?”

It was like that moment in the Sixth Sense where everything suddenly began to piece together and I realized, Holy Cow!!  I’m gonna get FORTY PIECES OF MAIL!!!  How cool is that????  And I did.  It was hands down one of my best birthday gifts ever.  Bethany sent me all sorts of cool notes, treats, drawings, even nature!  You can see all of the mail she sent me on her blog.

I already have all my mail packaged in a big envelope to look back on in the years to come.  Thank, my friend, for giving this ol’ geezer weeks worth of fun!

Edited to Add:  Now I realize, after reading Bethany’s post, that I received cookies before the glitter, so I guess I was munching on yummy apple pie cookies before starting glitter therapy.  See, this is how glitter messes you up, man.