Category Archives: christmas ornament

The solstice, nutmeg logs, and hot 100 update!

Happy Winter solstice everyone!  Today is the first official day of winter and the shortest day of the year.  From now on, days get longer, although colder (well, it already has been pretty cold).    The busy week wraps up with Christmas on Friday and then I will take some time for reflection on how I did on my goals for the year and what I plan for next year.  How did you do?

There were  great comments on the slim hope video I posted yesterday.  Check them out and join in, if you want!

Up for some strength training today since I haven’t lifted since Wednesday!

  • Chinups:  2
  • Romanian barbell deadlift:  3 sets of 8 at 75 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Barbell bench press:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds
  • Seated lat row:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Reverse lunges with 1 dumbell on shoulder: 3 sets at 20 pounds
  • Arnold press: 3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells
  • Horizontal wood chop:  3 sets  of 8 at 50 pounds.

I was slated for planks today, but I forgot my stopwatch, which makes it hard to know how long you have been holding the plank! 🙄   See what happens pre-coffee???  Then I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

Came home to protein pancakes!

I almost would have put some of the cream cheese between them that we brought home yesterday, but it wasn’t that much of a workout today LOL!  John did that, though.

Lunch was more a waffle sammie!  We found more lowfat nutrigrain, so it’s warm sammie time for lunch.

Um, yum.  Lauging cow and 1 egg + 2 egg whites.  Ultra-juicy clementine, too!

John brought me a special latte today.  He wrote my name on the top in cursive with a little dulce de leche, although it got a little messy:

He’s so sweet! 😳 You all are probably tired of hearing me say that!

Leftovers for dinner tonight, the venison chili from yesterday.  It’s chock full of tomatoes and peppers, so I declined my usual broccoli.

I have started to cookie making tonight.  I did a WATP 2-mile walk while the cookies cooled and then frosted them.  I allowed myself 1 cookie tonight (gotta taste test, right??).  I did awesome on this batch with not nibbling on the dough or licking the frosting bowl!  I really had to concentrate not to do that.  Bowl licking and dough eating are almost second nature to me 😯   So this was a big victory.  Don’t worry, I will eat enough of these on Christmas 😀

Tonight’s cookie was nutmeg logs!

I think these could be called eggnog cookies, too – they taste like it with rum extract and a ton of fresh nutmeg.  One of my very favorite cookies!  I have been making these for several years now.

Ornament of the day:

This one came out really well.  I am getting the hang of this pattern now!

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Hot 100 update:

1. Duathlon.  DONE!!! (Oct)
2. Limit the number of eggnog lattes this year to 2 or 3.   I have had 2 so far.  Doing good.
3. Keep a redline of weight in mind to not go over during the holidays.  I am back below redline YES!!!!!!!.
4. Complete the New Rules of Lifting for Women.  DONE!!!! (Nov)

5. Enjoy time with family during the holidays.  Went to a concert with my mom last week.  Hosting Christmas dinner.


6.  Better organization of time to be productive.  Not bad.  I have been increasing my work productivity again (it happens in spurts as I get used to new doctors).

7.  Do some freelance writing.  Sort of.  I have a guest post coming up on another blog.

8.  Run at least 2 more official 5K races this year.  DONE!  Last race.

Overall doing well.  I would have liked to have seen a lower scale number, as I am about 4 pounds heavier than a year ago, but I am lower than I was this summer during triathlon training! I need to focus this week on staying strong during cookie making

What is advertising telling us?

It’s a cloudy day here today.  It’s funny knowing that these clouds are part of the system dumping snow all over NYC just 6 hours south.  Usually it’s the opposite where we get snow here and rain or nothing down there.  Hope all of you in the snow zone are safely tucked inside!

Went to a different bagel spot today.  We got irritated by the service there a few months ago and hadn’t been back, but decided to give them another try.  I had an energy bagel (which is multigrain with dates and nuts).

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Too much cream cheese!  We scrapped off a good 4 ounces of cream cheese between the 2 of us and just brought that home.  They also raised the prices on the bagels.  Service was fine, but I think we will stick with our other 2 places.

I found this link on youtube about advertising and thinness and it is a little scary:

I worry about young girls (and even grown women) who feel the need to hold themselves to ideals that are only available to 2% of the population (and that 2% also “needs” airbrushing). How do we stop the advertisers from telling us what to do and how to look? Is it as simple as not buying a product? Do we need to speak out with a unified voice directly to the companies? I don’t know the answer, but it concerns me.

What are your thoughts on this video?

Break from work was tuna salad with chips and another tart kiwi!
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I know some people eat the skin on kiwis, but the hairiness grosses me out.  I don’t like fuzzy peach skin either, so there is no way I could stomach the kiwi skin. I do like the innards, though!

Afternoon latte snack time!  With a homemade granola bar:

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I love that John cooks a lot.  It’s nice to be working and smell good things coming from the kitchen 😀  He made up some venison chili for dinner with some of the ground venison my tenant brought me.

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Almost like chili soup, but tasty.  At least sunsets will start being later soon and I can get rid of the yellow hue on my dinner pics LOL!

Ornament of the day:

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A little tuba player for John!  Do you know how hard it is to find tuba ornaments?  I think we have a ratio of 10:1 with horn and tuba on the tree :mrgreen:

One day of work down already!  Woo Hoo!  Going to do an exercise video and possibly make some cookies, but I  might hold off on that for sanity’s sake.  I can eat cookie dough like there is no tomorrow!

Stress eating and scented gifts

Check out the gingerbread cookie recipe if you haven’t already!  I didn’t put nutritional info there because it really will depend on the size of the cookie and whether you use the protein powder or not.

I took last night off from blogging and the internet in general.  Unplugging is a good thing at times!  I had half a post written, but that will go to internet recycling.  Sometimes I feel a pressure to post every night, but then I realize it’s okay not to do it!  I just really enjoy it most times.

It was soooo cold when I got up this morning.  0 degrees F.   I slept in since it’s my weekend!

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All layered up!   I love this sweater. John and I got up to put on the coffee pot and have a leisurely breakfast instead of me exercising:

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There’s a layer of blueberry sauce on the bottom, too :mrgreen:

I blew the snacking today.   I gave in to some stress eating.  Turns out we won’t be refinancing the rental property after all.  I am pretty bummed, but it was a lack of detail reading on my part.  Can’t refinance for 3 years on this house, not 2.  Sigh…..  So many phone calls later and dipping my hand into the honey roasted peanut jar while on hold and such.  It’s okay, though.  I was very upset for a little while, but it’s only  money, right?  There could be many, many worse things.  We just need to hash out a new plan.

Even after eating nuts, I still wanted lunch 😀

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Egg salad!  This is one of my favorite sandwiches.  I grew up thinking I hated egg salad, but what I really didn’t like was egg salad with pickles and soggy with too much mayo.  My egg salad is a little more on the dry side.

We got a nice gift from one of our suppliers.  Usually they send candy or nuts or chocolate or something scary, so we looked at the box with some trepidation.  Well, this was inside!  Nice scented things 😀

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Will have to see what the other companies send. Fingers crossed they are more like this one!!

Afternoon this:

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Included a little bit of this:

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Hey, it’s my weekend, right?

Ornament of the day:

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Another one I made this year.  John says it looks like a spider, but it is supposed to be a snowflake!

I will give you dinner pictures and end this post – look what happens when I take a day off = epic post!  Is anyone still here??

John’s football dinner that I was required to purchase included a side salad and we split a cheese stromboli.

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It’s basically a calzone that is rolled up instead of folded over.  I think there is less cheese this way?  Although there was still enough 😆   I am so glad John splits these things with me!

On a side note, is anyone receiving RSS emails from my blog anymore?  They stopped on the 11th and I am getting a feed error that I cannot get rid of for the life of me.  I may have to reburn my feed, I don’t know.  Can you believe I am thinking of taking some PTO just to get my blog cleaned up and organized?? 😆   Now that is a dedicated blogger!

Question: Do you fear food gifts?

Breakfast all day.

Looks like a lot of you use rewards points!  Thanks so much for all of your comments everyone!  I love logging in each morning and reading them.  🙂

Headed out to the gym today.  It turns out that one of the owners did pass away this weekend.  He was only 35.  Very sad.  The gym will be closed tomorrow and Friday.  Not sure what will happen with the gym.

I did a little treadmill walking (wearing my new athletic socks!!), then hit the weights:

  • Chin up:  2
  • Barbell squats:  3 sets of 8 at 85 pounds
  • Widegrip lat pull down:  3 sets of 8 at 60 pounds
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10
  • Static lunge:  3 sets of 10 with 25 pound plate
  • Prone Cuban snatch:  3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells.
  • Incline reverse crunch: 3 sets of 10.

After that, I did the recumbent bike.  I haven’t been on any bike at all in about a month!  Mine is now officially hung up for the season 🙁

I picked John up and we headed for the Wednesday usual!

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I know coffee is an addiction for me, but possibly bagels are as well.   Gone are the days were we would have them 4 to 5 days a week and mine would be a cinnamon sugar bagel with cappucino cream cheese (at Einsteins).  Plus sweetened coffee or a vanilla latte.  Who knows how Lori got to 250 pounds? – raise your hand!  It’s all about changes.

I hope to have the gingerbread cookie recipe posted on Thursday.  John got it for me and I just have to put it in post form. 😀

I had a deep-seated chill for most of the morning which tea and a fleece jacket couldn’t get rid of, so I wanted something that would warm me up from the inside out for lunch.  That meant oats!

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I put protein powder, pumpkin, cinnamon in it and topped with jam and almonds.  It worked and kept me nice and warm for the afternoon.  Is there nothing oats can’t do?  Of course, this lap warmer helped as well.

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She looks so irritated that I was taking her picture LOL!

So yesterday I did well on the snacking front.  I did not get in 30 minutes of cleaning, though.  However, spending time with John at the cafe was totally worth ditching the cleaning!  Today’s mini goal is going to be to get in that cleaning after I sign off from this post and to RELAX!  I can’t believe I need to schedule that in, but there you have it.  I am also super behind on my google reader.  I haven’t even opened it today 😯

Ever have one of those days where you just can’t even think of what to have for dinner?  I did one of those staring into the fridge things tonight.  John made himself eggs and sausage, which got me thinking breakfast again LOL.  I decided on a fallback standby of the waffle egg sandwich!

dinnr1216Breakfast foods for all 3 meals.  Does life get any better? :mrgreen:

Ornament of the day:

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A nutcracker (holding a french horn).  There is always a little humor with the nutcrackers for me because I went through period of playing in the pit orchestra for the annual Nutcracker performances every year and it got so I couldn’t stand the music for it anymore!  It was like a nightmare every time I heard it (and it is ubiquitous at this time of year).  As a joke, John has nutcracker music for the ringtone for me in his phone when I call call him.  I do like the music again now, though.

Don’t forget the cookbook giveaway if you haven’t entered yet!  Ends this Friday.

Off to clean and then relax!

Staying on track Monday.

Happy Monday everyone!  Or probably Tuesday by the time most of you read this 😀 Don’t forget to enter the cookbook giveaway!

Off to the gym this morning to workout.  It was really weird there today, as I overheard one of the new owners talking about pallbearers and funerals, and the other owner wasn’t there.  That got me thinking about Saturday and how the gym was not open in the morning.  I hope nothing happened, but it was pretty obvious something was wrong.

I did this:

  • Chinups:  2
  • Romanian barbell deadlift:  3 sets of 8 at 75 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Barbell bench press:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds
  • Seated lat row:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Reverse lunges with 1 dumbell on shoulder: 3 sets at 20 pounds
  • Arnold press: 3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells
  • Plank:  3 sets with 90 second holds.

I was going to then walk on the treadmill, but then a woman came in crying and hugging the owner.  I felt so uncomfortable working out in this atmosphere and it felt disrespectful, so I decided to go home.  I checked in the paper, but didn’t see anything.  I don’t know them well enough to really ask much, you know?

I made some Cream of Wheat for breakfast:

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  • 35 grams of Cream of  Wheat
  • 1 ultraripe banana mashed
  • cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon cashew butter
  • 1 tablespoon blackberry jam

Unpictured cafe au lait on the side…  So tasty.  This is a new bowl, too.  A local potter made it!  I love pottery. I burned my tongue on this, too, because I was so hungry.  I actually did not eat a snack preworkout today.

Thinking about finishing the year strong.  I know Christmas is in there, but there is no reason I can’t make an extra effort on the other days.  I am starting to get lazy. I set 2 mini goals for today.  One goal was to not snack except for my planned snack.  This is really hard for me as working at home I can go get a few chips or some nuts if I so choose at any time.  And I have gotten into the habit lately of munching.  No wonder I can’t get off the last 10 pounds!

My other goal was to have 2 vegetables at lunch and dinner today.  So – lunch was a tuna wrap with lettuce mix, served with a side of baby carrots.

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And the most tart kiwi ever!  It was almost like a lemon 😯

I drank a lot of tea today to help keep me from snacking.  It worked pretty well.  I was ready for the planned snack of a latte!

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About an hour before dinner, I got really hungry and I told myself that I could have a clementine only.  No nuts or chocolate chips or the like.  So I had one.

I had another giant salad for dinner.  This used up the last of the lettuce, so there won’t be any salads for the rest of the week!

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Lots of protein on this salad.  About 3.5 oz of chicken and an ounce of feta.  And yummy pan sauteed broccoli.  Kermit would be proud of me today 😀

Ornament of the day:

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Another horn ornament!  This has a pretty stained glass appearance to it.  I have had this one for a long time and it is one of my favorites.

Question:  Will you challenge yourself to one thing tomorrow?

Sunday snow and bagels!

Glad you all liked the granola recipe!  It’s so good and spicy.

I slept in again until 7:30!  Yippee!  Out for the usual Sunday bagel, only my mother met us there after she got out of church!

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It’s always fun to have company at bagels.  We all had a gingerbread bagel, too – triplets!

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It was looking so nice and sunny and not cold, I thought I would be able to sneak in a run outside after lunch.  Speaking of, I decided I need a dose of vitamin S to make up for the pralines yesterday:

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  • 3 big handfuls of vitamin spinach
  • 1 tablespoon Barlean’s Omega Swirl
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin
  • pumpkin pie spice and 1 cup of water

Blended up to make this:

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I deliberately did not put ice in this because I was already a little chilled and didn’t want to make it worse.

No go on the run, as it looked like this an hour later 😯

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It’s actually snowing, but you can’t see that in this picture.  This is my view while working.  Work went by quickly today.  Sundays are like that, not sure why.  I’ll take it, though!  Break of a latte with a granola bar:

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Doing really, really well on snacking today.  Yesterday, not so good.  I have to really focus now and not let the scale creep up the next few weeks.  That is just not acceptable to me.  I am going to set some mini weekly goals to do this week to keep that under control.  Something to sit and ponder on tonight.

Keeping in an extra veggie theme, I made a Flatout wrap with chicken, laughing cow, a touch of blackberry jam and salad mix.

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With a side of broccoli and a forelle pear.  I liked the blackberry jam on this wrap.  Sweet and savory, although I think it would have been excellent with maybe a sharp cheddar instead of the laughing cow.

Since I didn’t run yesterday and not today (not even walking in this weather), I decided to dust off the old DVDs and get in a good workout!

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Love the Firm.  I have not done these since probably last February?  Right before I joined the Y last year.  It was a little scary with the tree up, ornaments were a shakin’ !

Ornament of the day:

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Does this not say it all?  My name on a coffee cup.  Too bad this is thimble-sized or I would drink out of it :mrgreen:

Don’t forget to check in for the giveaway tomorrow, although I hate to say it is open only to US residents (if I were shipping it, all would be entered).

Friday Fun day!

Yay – the weekend is here!  Today went by really fast, too.

I actually slept in until 7:15 – which is pretty late for me.  I moseyed on down to the gym, where I did my workout:

  • Chin up:  2
  • Barbell squats:  3 sets of 8 at 85 pounds
  • Widegrip lat pull down:  3 sets of 8 at 70 pounds
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10
  • Static lunge:  3 sets of 10 with 25 pound plate
  • Prone Cuban snatch:  3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells.
  • Incline reverse crunch: 3 sets of 10.

Then just zoned out walking on the treadmill for 1/2 hour.  A little easier day today, since I ran yesterday.

Came home and had some oats with fresh pumpkin, protein powder and blackberry jam!

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Then sat and relaxed and chatted with John.  Sometimes I really have to make myself relax.  I always feel like I have to go, go, go.  Need to remember that down time is just as important as up time!  It’s very difficult for me to just do nothing.  Some of that is just my inner energy and some of it is spillover from working a production-based job.

I hung around the house the rest of the morning and made some more granola.  I’ll post the recipe this weekend some time.

Lunch was a wrap made with laughing cow, pear slices, and chicken.  Heated up in the X-box.  With brussel sprouts for lunch!

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I wanted a warm filling lunch, as I was headed out shopping and didn’t want to be tempted at the mall.

I was hoping that the stores wouldn’t be so crowded on a weekday, but it was pretty crowded!   Eeeek!  I could almost feel the flu germs around. 😯  I actually rocked on the shopping.  I got all of my purchasing done – so no more stores for me for the rest of the year – put your hands together everybody!

I really, really wanted a hot pretzel.  They smelled so good, but I declined.  Instead, I took a break for some sustenance:

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Caffeine and I are partners for life, forever and ever, amen.

Got home right around dinner time.  I am almost embarrassed to show my photo of dinner – can you say rut?  I know you readers have never seen so many salads on this blog than you have in the past few weeks!

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That’s tea in the mug.  It is cold and windy out and I needed something warm!  It’s an almond cookie tea that I got at Sensibiliteas a couple weeks ago.

Ornament of the day:

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This is another ornament I made this year.  The first one, actually, I think.  I used this pattern with a bit of editing (my globe is bigger than the one in the pattern).  I have been having fun doing these. 🙂

Question:  How is your holiday shopping coming along?

Stay tuned on Monday – I have a giveaway coming up!

Comfort zone challenges and big broccoli

Happy Thursday and the start of my weekend!  I managed to consume a fair amount of dark chocolate chips last night.   🙄 It was one of those evenings where I couldn’t seem to make myself stop.  So, I got up for a treadmill run today.  I ate a toasted waffle with a bit of jam on it before heading to the gym.  Then it was 5 miles!  I decided to have a little fun (??)  and push out of my comfort zone a bit.

Mile 1:  Gradual increase from 4 to 5 mph.

Mile 2: Upped to 5.5 mph.

Mile 3:  At 3.5 miles, I started increasing the speed on the treadmill by .1 after each minute, so that I was up to 6 mph by mile 4.

Mile 4:  Spent 1/2 a mile at 6 mph and then did the same trick to increase by .1 after each minute to get to 6.5 mph by mile 5.

Mile 5:  Here was my challenge.  I stayed at 6.5 for a couple minutes to get comfortable, then increased by .1 each minute to 7mph!  I stayed at 7 mph for 1 minute and then backed down to 6 mph and finished out the mile.  Then cool down.

Funny how when you go at 7 mph and back down to 6, it seems so much easier.  This made the time go by really fast, too.

Since we got cheated out of bagels yesterday (thanks mother nature!), we decided to go this morning!  I picked John up and had my multigrain.  Sure makes it feel like Wednesday to me.

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Had a hard time staying focused at work.  Ever have days like that?  Just kind of blah and knowing it’s my last work day of the week.  Plus, my sister’s elderly cat passed away today and I feel very bad for her.

Wanted something comforting for lunch, so I decided on protein pancakes.  Topped with mashed banana and a tablespoon of maple syrup.

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Sure was good….  I love nice filling lunches.  Lunch always seems to be the meal that doesn’t stick with my very long.  Not sure why that is.

John won football picks *again* this week (stupid Ravens!!! 👿  ) and he decided on Chinese.  We went to an inexpensive little takeout place that has brown rice.  What else do you do when waiting for your food?  Take pictures!

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Love the neon lighting :mrgreen:

Now this is a bowl of broccoli I could get seriously into!

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My meal was teryaki chicken.  Hello sodium bloat! It was actually a little m’eh.

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My stirfry last night was much better.  Sometimes I love eating out and other times I am very disappointed.

Ornament of the day:

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Mr Grinch! I love this ornament.  Of course, it is my favorite Christmas special, too 😀

I am so glad it is my weekend!

Question:  When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone?

Let it snow!

Woke up this morning to a nice view out the window:

Oh wait, wrong picture….

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I headed out to the gym in the snow, because schools were just delayed at the time, so I figured that the snow would end soon.  I did the following workout:

  • Chinups:  2
  • Romanian barbell deadlift:  3 sets of 8 at 75 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Barbell bench press:  3 sets of 8 at 65 pounds (hard!)
  • Seated lat row:  3 sets of 8 at 70 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Reverse lunges with 1 dumbell on shoulder: 3 sets at 20 pounds
  • Arnold press: 3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells
  • Plank:  3 sets with 90 second holds.

The planks were hard today.  I did okay with the first 2 sets, then had to touch down my knees on the 3rd.

While I was working out (and I was the only one at the gym!) the radio began listing schools closures instead of delays.  It was snowing pretty hard, so I decided to not do cardio and just go home.  Good thing, too.  We ended up with 9 inches of snow!

That meant no Wednesday bagel…booooo!!!!  Oh well.  Had a nice warm and nummy breakfast of cream of wheat cooked with a banana, cocoa powder, and topped with almond butter and a few sprinkles of dark chocolate chips.

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After doing it bit of work, it was time to shovel the driveway!  Here I am all ready to go out and shovel.

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I forgot that shoveling is not only cardio, but it is a strength workout as well.  I was already tired, too.  But, at least it is done.  We have a wimpy electric snowblower, which can’t handle the packed stuff at the end of the driveway from the plows, so that is done by hand still.

Happy days:

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Lunch time was an egg sandwich.  You all know the drill!

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This anjou pear was delightful, too!

This is one of those days where I am so thankful that I work at home and don’t have to commute in this stuff.  I need to really remember that when I get frustrated.

I had a blanket and a cat on my lap while working for extra warmth.  Plus, John made lattes!

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Ornament of the day:

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America runs on Dunkins, right?  We do get coffee from there.  In fact, DD is about 1/2 mile from my house and I pass it on one of my regular run routes.  My sister got me this ornament.  I do like donuts, but they are pretty rare for me nowadays.

Mondo stirfry for dinner!  I used 2 veggies in it!  Shredded brussel sprouts and broccoli, plus some chicken and teryaki sauce.  It made a huge plate.  Plus a kiwi.

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I am going to try to fiddle with the comments so that hopefully they will notify those who want to be.  We will see if it works!

Question:  Do you run on Dunkins?

5-miler and hello toes!

Some slick sidewalks, so I am pretty much sticking to treadmill running for now.  Last winter I just exercised at home as I did not belong to a gym.  We don’t own a treadmill, so my outdoor running was really weather and neighbor side-walk shoveling dependent.  Now with the gym, I can still keep up my running (even though the dreadmill is boring).  I did 5 miles today.  This is becoming my go-to mileage on an average day, which I am so pleased about!  I did 3 miles at a 5.5 mph pace, then 1 mile at 6 mph, 1/2 mile at 6.5 and then 1/2 mile at 6.  Sweaty, sweaty!

Came home and had my steel cut oats for breakfast that I talked about earlier today.

Then it was work, work, work.  I put my feet up for a while and noticed this:

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So many of my socks look like this, although I don’t normally end up with both at the same time with holes 🙂 . I don’t know what it is about my feet, but I go through shoes and socks like nobody’s business!

Lunch was inspired by Caitlin today:

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Toasted quinoa on greek yogurt!  My yogurt has vanilla protein powder stirred in with strawberries.    My take on the quinoa was done a bit differently than hers:

  • 1/4 cup dry quinoa
  • 2 tsp agave nectar
  • cinnamon

In a small frying pan, toast the quinoa over medium high heat until light tan.  The quinoa will start to pop as it toasts.  Stir often so it doesn’t burn!  Then add in the cinnamon and agave nectar and keep stirring until the agave is absorbed.  (It will sizzle).  Just a couple minutes. It will kind of lump up in the pan a bit.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Then use as a topping.  Full of protein and crunch!  It kind of reminds me a bit of those chewy sesame candies – anyone know what I am talking about?

Ornament of the day:

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This is a Charming Tail.  I started collecting these 5 or 6 years ago.  I don’t do too much collecting because we try to lead a somewhat clutter-free life (said as I look away from my desk….), but they are just so cute.  I haven’t bought any in a few years, though.  I have a little Squashville parade that I should take a picture of, too.

Break for a snack with my latte:

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Yum!

So, having more tenant issues.  One of them is gone now and the other one needs to find another roommate or he needs to move out as he cannot afford the place on his own.  I am letting him stay for a while to find a roommate because I don’t want to kick him out at Christmas and I can’t afford to not have someone in there.  Finding tenants at this time of year is tough. I really want to get rid of this house!   I hope to put it back on the market this spring, so if he can just hang on for a few months, that would be helpful.   Sigh….

More protein for dinner!  These clam strips are loaded with protein.

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John has been prettying up my blog a little for the holidays!  I don’t have as much time as I would like to play around with it (just posting takes a lot of time!), so I let him fiddle.

Question:  Do you collect anything?