Category Archives: cold weather

Cold bagel day

Back to work again.  I worked most of a full day on NYE and just had yesterday off.  I actually forgot what day it was and got up to get a pot of coffee going when I realized that it was Wednesday and that meant Bagel Day!  It was really cold out, too.

Here is the view from the coffee shop.

snow

That thermometer reads 14 degrees (and that ain’t Celsius!), which actually was warmer than when we first got up.  This snow isn’t melting any time soon.

Bagel for breakfast and calories accounted for  :mrgreen:

bagel

Now that I am back in weight loss mode, it really takes some getting used to and really paying attention to those habits which have become less than stellar.  :nutsnacking:

I worked pretty steady to lunch and wasn’t hungry at all.  The bagel and coffee really is the most filling breakfast I eat all week, surprisingly.  I think it is the fat in the cream cheese that does it because it isn’t really that much more calorie wise than my normal breakfasts.

Anyhoo – I needed protein for lunch, so I just made up a smoothie with almond milk, pumpkin, plain whey, cinnamon and a bit o’ honey.

lunch

The clems? I am not really impressed this season with them.  Jury still out.

I bought a couple things at the mall yesterday when we ventured out on New Year’s.  Bath and Body Works was having their semi annual sale, so I stocked up!

gels

The total for these was only $18.99 with tax.  I was proclaiming my bargain skills to John and his reply was “It just shows how overpriced they regularly are”.  Good point.  That’s why I only buy them for myself on sale.  If gift purchasing, I do pay the full price because birthdays and such don’t coincide with sales a lot of times – how inconvenient!

Anyway, I digress from the other purchase I made.  I had fun with the gold polish on my nails, so I found another fun color.

mint

This is Mint Sorbet from Sally Hansen.  It seems maybe a bit more minty than this picture shows.

This is also my fleece blanket, which I was working with today – which also meant I had something else glued to me as well:

pixie

Can I tell you how hard it is to get work done around here?   Good thing I have a netbook or the cat wound’t fit.  Note the dumbbells on the floor for me to periodically do some lifting moves to take a break from work.  That works out really well, I have to say.

I had plans to make a good chicken dish for dinner, but then time got away from me while working and I was just ready to eat.  So quick cooking of the chicken (with extra for other meals).  The standard chicken and potato:

dinner

 

After all that ham we have been consuming (finally gone), it is really good to eat the chicken again  :mrgreen:

Snack tonight will be some nuts to round out the serving I was nibbling on.  No TV or internet tonight until I get my exercise and guitar practice in – so I had better hop to it!

 

 

Baby it’s cold outside!

Sometimes living here is not so fun. This was the temp outside when I got up:

That is with no wind.  At least there was no wind LOL!  Needless to say, I decided to stay home and ride the bike trainer rather than going to the gym in this weather.  I was supposed to run, but I’ll change the schedule 😀

We did have a little fun, though.  Want to see what happens when you toss a cup of boiling water into -20 degree air?

Poof!  It was so cold out it made me cough when I first went outside.  I don’t know how animals do it.

I was really ready for warm and hearty breakfast this morning!  In celebration of National Peanut Butter day, I topped my chocolate oats with some Teddy PB!

I just mixed in some cocoa powder with my banana oats for chocolately goodness.

I snuggled up under a blanket to work today.  I don’t know why the furnace even bothered to cycle on and off as it came on every couple of minutes.  Thank goodness we got those new windows this year!  Although that doesn’t really help the old lathe and plaster walls.

I needed some hot sauce for lunch today!  We had a coupon, so I got some Boca Chik’n patties.  I don’t eat these as much as I used to, but they are something different and easy to fix.

Topped with laughing cow and hot sauce!

John made lattes today, which I paired up with the last TLC bar from my Christmas stocking.

Lattes are a great way to beat the cold, don’t you think?

Dinner time gave me a chance to play with my new creation:

The light box I made this weekend for $15! No more sickly yellow nighttime pictures!  Once I get the hang of it, I will show how I did it.  I think I do need another light, though.  I actually was pretty productive on the weekend have 2 days off in a row!

Don’t forget to sign up for the Healthy Heart Weekend in February! We have a good number of people signed up already 😀

Now – I actually have to go out and brave the cold to run a couple errands.  Definitely going to be bringing some warm coffee home!

Question:  Have you ever used flannel sheets?

Cold and cruising thoughts.

If you haven’t checked out my post on how I named my blog, click here!  Thank you for your comments!  I have the best readers 😉

Bitter cold this morning.  One of those days where the stairs crack and pop on the porch  😯   I headed out to the gym for my run.  The plan was to do 5 miles, but I was not feeling it today.  I think it was likely the blood donation yesterday.  I slogged through 2 miles and had the speed at 5.5 mph.  Normally I get a first wave of tired after 1.5 miles and then after 2 I’m okay.  Today didn’t feel good.  I normally increase the speed after 2 miles, but my heartrate was 160 at 5.5 mph!  I knew something was up there and decided no speed work and no faster.  I stopped after 4 miles, choosing to listen to my body say it just needed to quit there.  Still 4 miles, though 😀

Came home freezing cold just from going from the gym to home.  Wind chills of below 0 today.  Ugh.  I made a toasty warm bowl of banana cream of wheat topped with almond butter and jam.

One thing about cream of wheat and oat bran is that they hold heat like the dickens!  John said we should insulate our house in cream of wheat, which I am sure the mice would love 🙄

Also some liquid love of cafe au lait to help warm me up:

Pixie has been a complete heat-seeking lap missile today.  She is stuck to me like glue.  I think she really likes the snuggie, too 😀

Lunch was more tuna.  We got a pick 4 pack (12 cans) of tuna at BJs.  I think I am going to be tired of tuna again pretty soon!

Using up more corporate waffles as bread.  Changed it up with strawberries at lunch, though!

Afternoon warmth:

I cut up the best pineapple today for dinner.  They must be in season or something because they were on sale and it was quite good.  I lurve fresh pineapple!  Along with an omelet mess.

I think I need to mince the broccoli if I am going to try to make omelets with it, because the omelet just falls apart.  Still tasted good, though.

I turned down an offer to go out for coffee tonight, can you believe it?  I just can’t bear the thought of going out in wind chill of -11 degrees!  You know it’s cold if I won’t go for coffee….  The weather is making us so excited for our cruise in the beginning of Feb!  Not sure if I wrote about this or not, but we are cruising to Mexico.  The best part is that the cruise leaves from New Orleans (!!!!), so we are there for a couple days before the ship leaves and we can stuff our faces with beignets.

Then the ship goes to the Yucatan and Cozumel.  This is the first vacation for John and I of more than a weekend in 3 years!  We deserve it.  I’ll be blogging on the trip, too – which will be fun.  Can you believe the cruise ship has wi-fi?  This will be our 2nd cruise.  The first was about 10 years ago, which was also to the Caribbean.  How time flies!

Question:  Have you ever cruised before?

3-day weekend and bleeping cold!

It’s so cold out!  I wanted an outside bike ride, but again, this morning it was 30 degrees when I woke up.  So, I waited until later.  I am going to put flannel sheets on the bed tonight (I am such a dork to get excited about that…).

It was definitely a morning for warm oats.  I made banana PB&J oats:

oats1015

This was with the Silver Palate oats.  This bowl kept me full from 8 until noon!  I am shocked.  I did supplement with mid morning tea:

tea1015

This is good tea.  My very favorite tea is good old fashioned Constant Comment, though!

I will spare you my boring lunch of tuna sandwich today.  I had it toasted to keep warm.  It stayed cloudy and I knew it wouldn’t get much warmer, so a bit after lunch I put on a long sleeve technical shirt, my workout jacket and a fleece jacket and headed out for a ride.  It was so cold!  Windy, too.   I just did a 9-10 mile easy pace ride.  My legs feel pretty good.  Another couple easy days and they should be fresh for the duathlon!  I had some company on the canal for my ride:

duck

There were about a dozen ducks swimming in the same direction I was going.   Coming back the wind was at my back, so it went quicker.  I did not even get the least bit sweaty on this ride.  I have to remember that I did a run last December when it was 15 degrees out, so I can do it in the mid 30s.

I was thoroughly chilled to the bone (bicycle-sicle!) when I got back and John made me a latte and I bundled back up in a sweatshirt.  I was happy to get this!  (This is my work station).

lorilatte

Last day of work for the week.  I am taking Sunday off to chillax (to quote Lynn) after my duathlon.  I am going to freeze that day!  I am more worried about the weather than the actual duathlon.  Overnight temps are supposed to be 30 degrees and a high in the mid 40s.   The duathlon starts at 9 am, so it will be around 35 by my best guestimation. I need to revamp my clothing ideas for that day and just layer up.  I think my technical turtleneck is in order.  I just worry about getting too hot with that on, since it is really hard to get off (it’s tight) I would have to wear it the whole time.

Pink item for the day!

pink1015

Ice cream is so unappealing right now LOL!  Guess that’s a good thing.

If you like pumpkin like I do, Fat Fighter TV has posted links to 10 healthy pumpkin recipes (including one of mine!).  Pumpkin butter is on my agenda.

Dinner was a happy accident.  We had a bit of ground turkey and I just sauteed it and then dumped in the rest of the steamer veggies with cheese sauce that we had leftover from the other day.  It came out yummy!  Plus, John made some jalapeno corn bread.  I am all about the warm stuff today.

din1015

Having a little problem with snacking since this afternoon, though.  Not sure if it is lack of sleep or the cold (a little from column A, a little from column B).  Dark chocolate chips and wheat thins make a great sweet/salty combo, but not in large quantities :O

Tonight is blanket time and writing time.  Feels great to be on the eve of 3 days off!

Question:  What is your favorite tea?

Winter's a comin'!

All settled in now for the day. I got up early this morning and did a 30 minute exercise dvd that had a toning (I hate that term) section afterwards. I knew it would be a while before John got up, so I had a tablespoon of reduced fat natural peanut butter before the workout. It felt very decadent, as I don’t usually eat PB by itself. Yum!

Then, after John got up and showered, we walked to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, so I got in another 30 minutes of exercise walking there and back. Briskly, I might add – it’s cold! So I had a bagel with light cream cheese. It was a blueberry bagel, and there was a bunch of blueberries in one part of the bagel – they actually fell out of the bagel. Made it tasty.

We are supposed to get some ice and yuck tonight, so we did our grocery shopping and I am now settled in for the day. I wanted soup for lunch, but have been on a roasted veggie kick, so I decided to combine the 2!

I roasted some cauliflower, a sweet potato, and some carrots. Then pureed in a blender with 2 cups of veggie broth. Topped with a dollop of Fage yogurt. So yummy and warm! And in my new bowl that I got yesterday 🙂

I also bought new veggies: Radishes, and raddichio. I am going to roast both of them, in my new obsession with roasting veggies. Will post an update after I try this.

Outside jogging is winding down.

I think I am a bit of a wuss runner. I don’t have a treadmill, so I have to run outside. I started in April, so haven’t really hit any super cold spells yet. Only got poured on once.
It’s been getting very cold around here. Yesterday it was 28 degrees when I woke up, and we had a hard freeze. Not interested in jogging! DH and I were supposed to go out today, but it rained all day and was 45 degrees. I just did an exercise DVD inside.

I have found that leaves are slippery. Especially in this cold, damp weather. That’s a little alarming to skid around. Pretty, though.

So, looks like only 1 more run this week before my next race on Saturday.
It’s tempting to think about a treadmill, but the $$ and space deter me. Guess it’s time to change up the exercise routine!

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