Category Archives: Pumpkin

Pumpkin Carving Time!

We carved a little early this year since it was the only day we could all get together. This is always a good time and everyone seems to enjoy it – with the exception of the 12-year-old niece, who gets bored. Even my dad seems to really like it, which is a little surprising to me, but I’m glad.

I got my garden cleaned up for fall with all the annuals pulled out and lots of pumpkins:

It was kind of a rainy night, but fun nonetheless. Pumpkins ready to go!

I didn’t take any pictures of food, but we just did a finger food dinner and still managed to sit at the table with the pumpkins on it LOL!

My pattern:

Usually I do 2 pumpkins, but I am going to wait until Friday to do the second one so it is fresher.

Carving commenced:

One by one we lined them up on the stairs inside as they got finished.

You can see where we stopped removing wallpaper here LOL! Winter project…sigh...

I still wanted to see them outside, though. We put them outside under the awning over the garage so they would stay dry:

If you don’t know, an easy way to keep a pumpkin fresh if the weather is warm or you carve early is to either put vaseline around the cut parts or to keep the pumpkin in a bucket of water. I do the water thing and it works great.

Did you know today is National Cat Day? I mentioned that to John and he said every day was cat day 😀 Here is our little queen on her chaise:

She’s giving me the look here!

Today’s pink item – soap colorant! This is pink mica. Not as bad as getting glitter everywhere, but still makes a mess.

Pumpkins galore!

The weekend before Halloween and that means pumpkin carving! Of course, these will have to sit in buckets of water to keep from shriveling until Thursday, but who is to pass up a chance to get together, right?

Last minute pumpkin shopping. My mother clued us in to a sale of $3 pumpkins. I thought they would be picked over, but there were still a lot left!

We got 3 pumpkins because at $3, why wouldn’t you?

We made the pumpkin dump cake for the family since they never got to try any of the one I made for my garden club and John wanted it again.

We also had apple slices and my sister brought pumpkin bread. Plus I made a loaded baked potato dip. (My family will never starve when we get together 🙄 )This is just cooked bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and a bit of hot sauce.

My father said this may have supplanted his favorite onion dip! I figured he would enjoy this and I was right.

The mess being made!

Pixie seemed like she didn’t quite know what to do.

My planned design:

I always worry about cutting it out wrong once the pattern is transferred to the pumpkin! All turned out good, though.

My sister brought a pumpkin kit that I can’t remember the name of where you just do a design in the skin without cutting all the way through. Here is that:

After carving, the nieces got manicures and my mom put on her black widow costume, which I should have gotten a picture of 😀

All the pumpkins in a row:

John decided to do a Broncos pumpkin, which came out really good!

I have one other pumpkin to carve that I will probably do on Wednesday night.

Always a fun time getting together! Biking update – this week was slim pickings, but I did get in some riding and mileage sits at 2388 – that’s 112 miles to go!

Today’s pink item:

Pumpkins galore!

We narrowly escaped the snow for the Northeast! We were predicted for a lot of snow, but it just skirted us and we only had a dusting. Thank goodness because twice in 1 week for October would have been too much to handle. I feel for the people a little south and east of us that were pounded.

It was a more quiet weekend around here. What better thing to do than to carve pumpkins right before Halloween?

We use the Pumpkin Master patterns and bought a new booklet this year for a change.

Pumpkin carving tip: Photocopy the pattern and reduce or enlarge to the size of your pumpkin so the pattern fits.

You put the pattern on the pumpkin and poke little holes through the pattern to transfer it to the pumpkin.

Then you can open the top and clean out the guts.

Thick pumpkin!!! I am saying right here and now that pumpkins stink when you open them up. I love pumpkins, love looking at pumpkins, love eating pumpkin, but they smell when raw.

We don’t save the seeds. I remember toasting pumpkin seeds and then never really liking them. The seeds aren’t the same as the pepitas anyway. Too fibrous.

Pumpkin carving tip: After you have transferred the pattern, wipe it with cornstarch so you can see the pattern.

Then cut out the pattern, making reference to the paper pattern so you don’t cut the wrong stuff. Not that I have ever done that!

You can take a break from the carving with some homemade kettle corn, too! Use oil to pop your corn (coconut is best!). When you put the kernels in to the hot oil, add 3 tablespoons of sugar to the kernels and pop as usual. Sprinkle with salt when it is done. Voila, homemade kettle corn super easy!

Optional, but tasty!

Pumpkin carving tip: Scrape the inner wall of the pumpkin thinner behind your pattern. This will make it easier to carve and easier to see when back lit.

This one is one of my new favorite patterns, it came out so cool!

This witch is stirring a pot, but John said she looks like she is rocking out with a guitar.

John did an ad lib with his pattern and added a couple things. He made the RIP headstone and added a crescent moon. He is such a rebel!

Who says kids get all the fun on Halloween?

Snow and surprises and public speaking

Snow today and I woke up wondering if I would be able to hit the gym. It had just barely started when I woke up – score! So I slugged some protein and headed out.

Backing up to yesterday, John and I donated blood in the afternoon, so this affected my workout today, surprisingly. I did 1 mile of jogging on the treadmill for a warm up, then lifted. The gym was crowded today. Looks like some new people joined, or at least shifted their hours.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Seated Lat Row	1 sets of 12 at 40# 1 set of 10 at 55# 1 set of 8 at 60# 1 set of 6 at 70# 1 set of 4 at 75#	Back
Barbell Squats	3 sets of 8 at 75#	Lower body
Decline Situps	3 set of 10	Core
Pushups	3 sets of 10	Chest
Single-leg Deadlifts	3 sets of 10 each leg with 20# DBs (40# total)	Hammies and balance
Calf Raise	3 sets of 10 at 170#	Calves
Face Pull	3 sets of 10 at 30#	Shoulders
Lower Back Extension	3 sets of 10 at 100#	Low Back

I was feeling a little lightheaded a couple times and lowered my squat reps. The blood donation just made me tired. I know it can sap energy for 5 days afterward, but normally I don’t have too much of a problem. Today was different. So, the plan to run again after lifting was nixed so I could go home and eat. The car was covered in snow during my workout as it started coming down fast and furious. I can’t even bear to take another picture of snow. I was glad to get home. Especially to this!

The return of pumpkin oats! One thing that I really miss doing my lower carb experiment is my oats. Not that I don’t love my other breakfasts, but I uber love the oats. And what a perfect day to have them. Snowy!

I received a lovely package from Pubsgal today just because:

It contained some Kona coffee, some kale chips (kinda scared here), a microwave dehydrator tray (my brain is spinning at possibilities) and a little toy for Pixie. This was so nice it about made me cry!

Pixie tore right into that toy. I didn’t even get the tag off of it.

She will probably disembowel it shortly…

Lunch break included the last of the magic rolls. These are definitely on my make again soon list. The one thing I really like about being an omnivore without a real particular food plan or allergies is that I can try anything – low carb, low fat, vegan, vegetarian, meatitarian, gluten free, gluten filled. It’s kind of nice.

Anyway, I did a BBQ chicken sandwich with laughing cow on this last bun. I haven’t had BBQ in a couple weeks and it was tasty!

On an interesting note, yesterday not only did we donate blood, but I went to my mom’s TOPS meeting upon request to talk about my weight loss. I am not much of a public speaker, although as a former musician I am used to being in front of people, just normally not talking. I brought in some before pictures and passed them around before I told them how much weight I lost. That was fun to hear their reactions. I babbled on about the long journey it took and what I do now to keep it off. People seemed most interested when I talked about pumpkin oats. Funny, isn’t it? We all love the food.

I didn’t really want to tell people what to specifically eat, since everybody there follows their own plan and everybody is different. I hope I just got out a message to get rid of processed/fake foods, to exercise, and to not expect perfection all the time. I think if people just take those 3 things out of it, they really can change their health and attitude for the better. Public speaking – here I come!

After round 2 of shoveling – I think we are going to approach a foot of snow today 🙄 , it was time for lattes. John didn’t want one (what’s up with that?) so I had to make my own.

I paired it with a dark chocolate mint cup. I adore those things.

Work has been very slow this week, and today was really slow because not many people made it in for their appointments with the snow! This 2nd job just is not able to be full time for me. Oh well. I am assuming I won’t hear from the garden center as she was looking to fill her spot for the transplanting asap. I would have been good at that, so that is their loss, right? My resume is getting a few nibbles, so I just have to be patient.

I did work a little later to finish up what there was, so I had a rather uninspired dinner. Boca Chick’n patty.

Now I have an evening to relax, although I am really wanting to get working on the laundry room. We picked up more wood, so that is on the agenda for the weekend. I can’t wait! Dork alert!

Question: Have you ever spoken to a group about your weight loss or progress?

Lifting Move of the Week Roundup

It was a nice cool morning today. It had rained, so the air was fresh. I decided to do a run outside today. No lifting today, so I didn’t need to go to the gym. I hit the pavement for a good 3 mile run. It felt good. Once the long ride is done this weekend, I am going to do more running because I have to start training for the duathlon!

I was hungry when I got back. Pumpkin can had been opened earlier in the week, so I incorporated that into breakfast.

Pumpkin custard cream of wheat topped with crystalized ginger and burnt toasted pecans.

Conference call at work today. Sometimes I worry about my job with this company. Another reason why I took on the other one.

Lunch break was standard. I need to do some different stuff for lunches.

So, since I am not lifting anymore this week in a taper down/rest week before my big ride this weekend, there is no lifting move of the week today. However, I thought I would take a moment to link to all the videos that I have done so far in case there is one that you have missed 😀 As always, feel free to comment on my form (good or bad), as I am not a trainer or anything.

Arnold Press	Stiff-leg Deadlift	YTWL
Barbell Deadlift	Dumbbell Pull Over	Incline Chest Fly
Cable Squat to Row	Prone Cuban Snatch	Captain’s Chair
Horizontal Wood Chop	Face Pull	Barbell Chest Press
Close-Grip Lat Pull down	Nosebreaker	Upright Row
Reverse lunge with single dumbbell

Youtube was being funny tonight, so hopefully these links will work. Dang – I have done a lot of these!

Afternoon snack!

I like these bars. They are the store brand organic bars. Simple ingredients and 150 calories. Not much protein, though.

I was feeling an omelet for dinner! It came out perfect.

Filled with sauteed broccoli and feta cheese. Yum. And a bowl of fruit on the side:

I laughed at some of the comments yesterday about me putting cinnamon on the cantaloupe. I put cinnamon on pretty much anything, but not normally melons. It’s just this cantaloupe was so blah. Not sweet and pretty tasteless, which was a bummer.

John did some clothes shopping tonight with a gift certificate. The store was in Saratoga, so we headed down and decided to go out for coffee for a change 😳

This is Saratoga Coffee Traders:

Comfy and casual. Plus free wifi – so I am blogging while enjoying my latte:

They do an awesome latte here. So, so much better than Starbucks, but Starbucks is only 7 miles from home whereas this place is 15+ miles away.

And just in case you really wanted a video today, here is Pixie doing what she does best – napping! I woke her up for you.

Don’t you love how I can get my hand in her stomach and she doesn’t even care? I would do a Facebook page for her, but her status would always be sleeping. Laziest.cat.ever….

What’s blooming and bagels!

Friday! I have trouble keeping track of the days when the schedule gets a little out of order, don’t you? I had a protein drink and went to the gym at the usual time.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Straight leg deadlifts	3 sets of 10 at 65#	Lower body
Close grip lat pulldown	3 set of 12 at 50#	Back
Cable squat to row	3 sets of 15 at 50#	Full body
Dumbbell chest press	3 sets of 15 with 20# DBs (40# total)	Chest
Reverse Crunches	3 sets of 12	Core
YTWL	3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs (16# total)	Shoulders

John arrived at the gym, so we headed on out for breakfast! It was pretty warm already, I have to say. Today is more humid than the last couple of days.

Sunflower bagel and coffee!! I how I missed the bagel. This was an awesome bagel today. I was pretty hungry.

It was nice to relax and eat, since I don’t have a set work time for my 1/2 day today. 13 mile ride this morning. Trying to figure out if we will be able to bike tomorrow or if Earl will send too much wind our way. Supposed to be windy with rain possible tomorrow….

The garden had a couple surprised in it for me today. It still is looking quite good for this time of year. A little tired in spots, but still weeks of color left! As requested, here is an outside shot of the house.

Victorian style. Note the front yard? This is the only yard we have. Not kidding. There is no back yard (it is totally covered by our shop) and no real side yards (just strips). Makes for easy mowing, though 😀

Impatiens with a weed sticking in there.

Butterfly bush is going like crazy:

This bloom was at nose level:

My multi-blue clematis has a bloom on it. I saw this while watering today and was so pleased! I thought it was done.

Milkweeds.

This is a volunteer. Actually, I cut it down earlier in the summer and 4 came up in its place. Kind of like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I am leaving these up for a bit and checking for monarch eggs, since that one has been hanging around.

Red geranium.

Lunch time! I did find the heel of the bread left, so I made a PBJ sammie. Yum.

After a little more work, I decided to go out and have a little fun. Am I the only one that enjoys shopping here?

I practically lived here when I did my flip houses. Checking out curtains and paint swatches. I have the renovation itch again (as does John). Too bad I don’t have money LOL!

Since it is so close, I had to stop for a snack. I really looked hard at the pumpkin scones. Really hard, but I just couldn’t justify getting one. So I got a pumpkin muffin instead.

I don’t know if that was really a wiser choice LOL. It was pretty tasty and seemed fatty. I just love pumpkin anything.

Speaking up pumpkins – now it seems like fall!

I cannot believe that I bought another rose bush! They were on sale for $6 each, so I could not pass one up. It met all my criteria for roses: Easy care, hardy, reblooming, fragrant, and not a tea rose. I just need to find somewhere to put it. Side of the house is going to get a makeover, I think!

Dinner time included a baked crab cake and some baked fries (OreIda)!

Hot sauce was sprinkled liberally.

Need to do a little more work tonight and some chillaxin’ – like this:

Any fun plans on tap?

Comparing to others

What a refreshing morning! The humidity is gone and I actually needed a light jacket biking to the gym today. Felt so good to breathe cooler air! I decided on weights only this morning and did a good workout.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Stiff-legged deadlift	3 sets of 10 at 80#	Lower body
Dumbbell Pullover	3 sets of 10 with 25# DB	Back
Leg Press	1 set of 10 at 50# 1 set of 10 at 70# 1 set of 10 at 90# 1 set of 10 at 100#	Legs
Barbell incline chest press	3 sets of 8 at 55#	Chest
Horizontal Wood Chop	3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30# total	Abs
Front Raise	3 sets with 10 with 8# DBS (16# total)	Shoulders
Seated Calf Raise	3 sets of 10 at 110#	Calves
Nosebreakers	3 sets of 10 with 30# bar	Triceps
Biceps cable curl	3 sets of 10 at 40#	Biceps

I actually worked biceps today, how about that?? Funny side note here: I was doing the nosebreakers with the 30# bar, and I think a young guy (maybe 18) was watching me. A little bit later, he goes to do nosebreakers with the 30# bar and then had to go get a lighter one LOL! At least he didn’t try to stick it out and injure himself.

Biked home, really enjoying the non humidity and decided that I wanted the pumpkin cream cheese thing I had last week!

Delicious, although I used leftover egg whites from regular eggs instead of liquid egg whites and had some chunks in there. John is making pumpkin ice cream and used up the yolks!

Steady work at both jobs today and good dictators, so life was good. Except for the one doc who was eating while dictating and she was just smacking up her food while talking. That was really gross. Nothing like having someone chewing in your ear….

Lunch time! Egg sammie with some tomato/mozzarella laughing cow.

This had a nice seasoning to it, and definitely a stronger flavor than the chipotle one. I still added hot sauce, though.

I was thinking about that race the other day. Although I normally don’t do this, I sometimes find it very hard not to compare myself with others. I feel that people are so much better than I am at so many things. With running, they run faster, they run more, they improve faster. People who recently started running and already are faster than I am after 2 years of practice or are running really long distances. On bikes, people go so much faster than I do (okay, I probably have the mileage…). It was the same way losing weight, too. I have always been a turtle with losses. There are people who started after I did and are at goal. People who lose multiple pounds in a week, you know the drill.

I know that this is not a way to think. I know that. But those thoughts are there. Sometimes I don’t know how to get rid of those thoughts because I am not in competition with anyone and I never have thought that I was, so I don’t always understand why I even notice what others do. I really love how far I have come and the things that I can do now that I never would have been able to do 100 pounds ago and I am very proud of that. I do strive for more, however, and maybe that is where that comes from? I really can only be in competition with myself and can only compare against what I have done in the past. I don’t really have negative thoughts about myself (I don’t do negative self-talk), but sometimes I just feel…. inadequate maybe? I am not even sure that is right, but it will do.

Moving on. I decided not to have a latte today (gasp!) and instead had some dark chocolate and more blueberries for my afternoon snack. Yay!

Then I finished up work with my working buddy:

She is glad I have the netbook because that means there is more room for her in my lap!

One of my finds at the farmer’s market was patty pan squash.

These were just too cute to pass up. I decided to incorporate them into dinner. I dipped them in egg whites and crushed Uncle Sam cereal and pan fried in a little coconut oil. They were pretty tasty. Will do a GVE post on these tomorrow.

It is such a gorgeous night that I will be going out for a walk and then having an evening snack!

Question: Ever tried patty pan squash?

What’s blooming today!

Garden time post! But first, I must get to the very important thing of breakfast. It is the start of my weekend, although I had to work job #2 for about an hour. No biggie. Today was a rest day before the race on Saturday, so I was kind of lazy this morning. It was much cooler and drizzly as well, so I had a hankering for pumpkin.

This is pumpkin custard cream of wheat topped with pecans and some cream cheese with powdered sugar mixed up (yes, we can call that cream cheese frosting 😳 ). My trick when I want something really decadent on top is to have the cream of wheat instead of oats. That saves me 50 calories, so the topping can be more indulgent and I still stay within my preferred calorie range for breakfast.

Ate on the porch with some coffee! This was soooo good. I then browsed catalogs online and ordered some fall bulbs. I need to double check where all my others are planted. Good thing I take a lot of pictures of my garden.

Speaking of – here is what is really the crowning jewel of the garden. My butterfly bush.

This is 5 feet tall. I would have taken a picture of me standing by it if I wasn’t in my jammies and unshowered. I was so afraid this one got killed by frost because it had started leafing out really early with the warm spring and then the hard freeze, but it survived. It normally is more arch shaped, but I think the frost kill made it grow a little different this year.

The butterflies just love this plant. These flower cones are about 8 inches long and smell like honey.

The globe thistle also started blooming. Actually a bit late on the photo of this one. I’ll try another one this week on the other blooms.

My first successful attempt at this plant. 2 other times they never grew for me.

Another potted geranium and allysum:

The purple trillium (??) keeps blooming, too. This one wandered into my garden bed, and I think I will take it out.

One thing I like about perennials is that they come into their own all summer and fall, so there is always something new. I still have plants that won’t bloom for another month or so!

I cleared out all the volunteer black-eyes Susan’s on the left side of the path, so you can actually walk through it now. Hopefully the other plants will get sun and get bigger on that side.

Lunch time! I made more tuna/hummus on toast for lunch. I almost tried the tuna and cottage cheese, but I just couldn’t make myself do it LOL!

Delicious plum on the side. Plums are awesome right now!

I had to go out and run errands, including picking up food for Pixie (and some hairball stuff….). There was the sweetest dog at the pet supply shop today. Meet Buddy:

Is that the cutest face or what?? He only has 3 legs and is their mascot. So sweet.

I then convinced John to play hooky for a while and go out for a treat. We are buying his birthday cake from Baker’s Dream in a couple of weeks, so we went to go see what flavors they had to choose from, and had to have a little treat to go with! I had a vanilla cupcake. Perfect size.

Plus some coffee. I actually brought a jar of 1% milk with me to add to it, as Baker’s Dream only has half and half, which I just don’t like in my coffee. It coats my mouth or something, but I just don’t like it. I am not above bringing things I want when going out to eat.

It poured all afternoon. Good thing it was a rest day for me and I wasn’t planning on a bike ride or anything….

Dinner time:

Chicken curry salad – minus the bed of lettuce. It was cold enough today that a salad was unappealing to me.

The blog was down for a bit this evening. I have to say that I actually like my webhost. I use justhost.com and they knew about the problem and got back to me right away about how they were working on it. Customer service really goes a long way to stand out in a crowded arena.

I had a few extra things to eat today, some blueberries and one of these:

I’ve been very hungry, which seems to happen on my rest days. I don’t mind a few extra carbs for tomorrow’s race. Going to bed early tonight as the race starts at 8 am, and it is 15 miles away!

Question: Do you ever bring your own food out to an eatery?

What’s blooming and biking!

Happy Friday! I was up fairly early and had my pre-workout protein drink before heading out to the gym.

Why do I look worried in the picture??

I think I may be able to convince some ladies to do free weights! The Curves in the town closed, so some of those members joined my gym. There are 3 ladies in their 60s who now work out at the same time I do, and I keep talking to them about the free weights. 😀 I’ll get them over there…

I rode the stationary for 15 minutes to warm up and the lifted:

Incline dumbbell bench press: 3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total)
Rail squats: 3 sets of 8 at body weight. Getting easier.
1/2 chin ups: 3 sets of 3.
Reverse crunches: 3 sets of 10 (first time back with these)
Alternating bent over dumbbell row: 3 sets of 15 (each arm) with 15# DBs (30# total)
Cable triceps pull down: 3 sets of 15 with 30#
Arnold press: 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total)
Cable biceps curl: 3 sets of 10 at 30#

It felt good today. I notice more of a difference today with leg pain, as I am not limping much. Yay!

Been thinking about pumpkin lately, so I made pumpkin custard oats topped with toasted pecans and maple butter when I got back.

Yum! It’s the start of my weekend, although I debated working a little bit to make some extra $$ today. I will probably do that tonight after this post.

After eating breakfast, I puttered around in the garden a little bit. It’s about time to bring back the Friday What’s Blooming series. I have more tulips coming up. I planted early, mid and late tulips, so there is a nice variety.

Queen of the night. One of my faves:

I forgot the name of this one.

Purty. Flowers just make me smile 🙂

Lunch break was some greek yogurt, all bran cereal, strawberries, and honey. A classic:

Beautiful weather on tap today, so I wanted to test a longer bike ride. I decided to go to the library, which is about 6 miles each way. I snacked on a date with nuttzo before leaving.

You know, I still get calluses, even though I wear gloves when lifting and biking. There go my career aspirations of being a hand model…

The path is greening up nicely:

Feeling pretty good here!

I felt good after I got to the library. A little stiffness in my leg, but no back pain. That’s good. Progress! I sat and read at the library for a while. Ended up getting the 2nd Twilight book out, even though I am not all that impressed with the series so far. I am finding myself annoyed with it. Isn’t that weird? I also got a book on cupcakes 😳

I texted John and he agreed to meet me for a snack. I biked to Baker’s Dream, a tiny bakery, where I got a small coconut cream puff and a cup of coffee:

One of those 3-bite treats. The owner of this place is an excellent baker. I almost thought about asking her for a job LOL!

Then we biked home. I am still somewhat slower than normal. I averaged about 10 mph. I realized that what is missing is my power. That’s a nerve thing, and only time will bring it back (I hope). Successful 16 mile bike ride today, and further than I planned. That means a yogurt bike ride tomorrow is going to happen 😀

By the time we got home, it was dinner time! John grilled up some pork and I put mine on a sweet potato with laughing cow and more BBQ sauce.

Let’s have a closer look, shall we?

Yum. John and I eat our potatoes differently. He does his sweet. I do mine savory.

Other than some work, not much planned for the evening. I will be making a pumpkin pie snack later on. Have a great night!

Question: Favorite spring time flower?

A wee bit of lifting

Thank you all so much for your comments on my Shape Magazine debut! If it inspired even just one person to never give up, that would make me so happy! It really is worth all the effort.

Since I didn’t post any food or other doin’s yesterday, I thought I would let you know how the first foray back to the iron went. Mornings are the hardest time for me right now. I am not sure why, but maybe I am just super stiff after the night of basically sleeping in one position. I cannot sleep on my stomach or side yet (my 2 normal sleep positions). So, I am pretty stiff and sore in the mornings, particularly my hip. I was a little limpy at the gym, which was noticed by people (I got sternly warned not to over do it 🙂 ) There are certain moves that I cannot do currently, which include weighted squats, lunges, full dead lifts, and floor work like push ups and planks. Those hurt too much, plus I have a little weakness in my knee. No pull ups, either, as I have to jump up to the bar and drop off of it. Not chancing that yet. I am not going to risk reinjuring myself, so don’t worry about that. My body certainly does tell me, as well.

I rode the recumbent bike for 10 minutes to warm up. I was going about 7 miles an hour. This is my first cardio I have done in almost 2 weeks! It was a little sore, but not painful, so I was pretty happy. That means regular biking is not far off in the future!

The lifting:

Straight-leg deadlift: 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar
Arnold Press: 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs
YTWL: 3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs
Nosebreakers: 3 sets of 10 with 30# bar
Bent over row: 3 sets of 8 with 25# DBs
Barbell chest press: 3 sets of 10 with 55# bar

Then I did 10 more minutes on the recumbent bike. That was enough for a first try. It just felt so good to get back to it, even if it was light and somewhat limited. At 2 weeks out from the herniated disk, I think I am doing pretty well.

Now back to today! Breakfast was a fab combo of pumpkin custard oats topped with a few dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and maple cream.

Dang, that was a good bowl of oats.

I got to work early and fast today! Lots to do, so I put my head down and started busting out lines. I stopped for a babybel snack.

I am going to actually post yesterday’s lunch, because it was so good (today was yogurt and cereal combo, btw). I had seen some sweet omelets on the net, and I cannot remember the original blog this was on.

I mixed 1/2 scoop of strawberry protein powder with 2 liquid egg whites and 1 whole egg, plus some cinnamon and blended in the magic bullet. Then I cooked it like an omelet and sandwiched in a laughing cow wedge and blueberry sauce

D-licious. Who knew sweet eggs could be so good? Note to self: Spray pan with nonstick spray next time….

I finished up work early today, so I went over to the rental house and started some clean up. I am able to walk around without crutches now – yay! The closing should happen on this house on Monday, and you had better believe we are going out for a nice dinner to celebrate!

Came back to make some dinner. Everybody say ‘stir fry’!

I am liking the broccoli slaw. It’s fun and easy, plus it has some nice color. With precooked brown rice chicken and I had a 10 minute dinner. I had a kiwi, too, instead of strawberries so my dinner was color coordinated 😀

Headed out to pick up a few things for the rental house:

Hopefully the last money I ever spend on this particular property…..

My sister was also in town tonight, so we met at Starbucks!

I had a tall skim latte:

Plus a bite of oatmeal cookie. These actually are really good.

Just to show I am not the only ham in the family:

13 years of marriage, people…. At least he bakes good bread 😉

I also got a package today from the Ginger People – I won a drawing and they sent an amazing amount of stuff to me.

I am actually going to review this stuff because it is amazingly good and unusual!

Tomorrow is another lifting day and bagel time!

Question: Have you ever had a sweet egg dish?

Finding Radiance

Trying to live a fit life loving food, cycling, gardening and everything in between!

Category Archives: Pumpkin

Pumpkin Carving Time!

Pumpkins galore!

Pumpkins galore!

Snow and surprises and public speaking

Lifting Move of the Week Roundup

What’s blooming and bagels!

Comparing to others

What’s blooming today!

What’s blooming and biking!

A wee bit of lifting