Glad you all are liking my renovation posts! Sometimes I worry people will find them boring.  Ladies – you can certainly do these things.  It’s very empowering.  And men that don’t do these things – same goes :D  You just have to not be afraid of getting dirty – and the worst part is that things look really bad before they get better.  Last night I was looking at the walls and the worst damage done on the other wall from removing tile and thought “Jiminy Christmas what did I do?”  LOL 

I actually am thinking of putting up some paintable wallpaper on the lower half where the tile was, which was pretty shocking to John considering my hate affair I have with wallpaper.  By the way,  I got an estimate today on what it would cost to have a refinisher come in and do the whole entire bathroom (walls, shower, tub, counter) and it was around $1800 to $2000.  Well, of course it is too late for that now for the whole room as half the tile is gone, but I know I can do this bathroom for under that including a new vanity and storage and it will look better than leaving the existing tiles. Gauntlet laid down.

When I asked John this morning how it was to take a shower in a partially demoed bathroom and his answer was “Kind of rustic”   

I pulled out my Firm DVDs.  I kind of forgot about these.  They definitely are a good workout and my muscles feel it.  Beats the pants of WATP. Today was High Def Sculpt.  Pixie decided she would try them, too.

Anyway, work started off with a bang this morning. It was great to have a Monday where there was a ton of work.  All of the clinics were open today and work piled in. Some other transcriptionists must have taken the day off? Anyway, I finished up early in the afternoon, which was awesome! 

I have been on a Greek yogurt kick lately, which is surprising because it’s so cold out.  I had the yogurt with blueberry sauce and some Kashi Simply Maize.

That’s an interesting cereal. Mostly air, really.  It’s actually a better choice to have in the house for me for cereal because if I go to Snack Town on it, the calorie damage is a lot less than with granola.

I added a bit of chocolate to my afternoon latte today.

John’s chocolate syrup and a dark chocolate hazelnut chunk.  This chunk is 80 calories and delicious!  I could eat the whole bar 😀

I tried a new salmon recipe for dinner.  This is some sockeye salmon that we got.  It was $7.99 a pound, I think. This is an 8 ounce piece for the 2 of us.

I mixed together 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of oil together.  I put some pepper on the filet and covered it with the sauce.

Then I wrapped the foil around it and baked at 425 F for 20 minutes.

It came out pretty tasty. The salmon was meatier than the other kind we usually get. I think this sauce would be best for grilling as I wanted a bit of a glaze on it. Maybe I should have broiled it for a minute or two.

Now we are hunkering down for cold, cold weather.

Martin Luther King, Jr. quote  that I love?

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

And with that I bid you good night.  I have a date with some tile.

Monday!  We had another nice night temperature wise.  It was actually quite cool this morning when I got up and that got me in the mood for pumpkin oats!  I decided to take a rest from the bike today.  I am feeling a little pressure to get in those 400 miles, although I am pretty much on schedule, so I need to stop that.  Walking is good enough for today.

My delicious oats:

Made with pumpkin and  egg whites and then topped with some crystallized ginger, toasted pecans and 2 teaspoons of honey.  It’s not fall yet, but it kind of felt like it.

While I was eating breakfast, the city gave me a new piece of artwork too look at.  My work chair points towards this window.

They put up this sign for road work happening starting on 08/27.  Guess this sign is going to be there a while blinking between 2 messages.  I don’t know if I will go crazy from that or not.  😉  Guess I can always close the blinds.  I don’t want to move out of my comfy rocker for work…

And good thing we have light blocking curtains or it might be visible from the bedroom.  🙄

Mid morning munchies.

John and I started our no land meat week.  We actually began yesterday.   Since chickens don’t fly, they really count as land meat.  Aren’t you glad not to see poultry?  I am glad for the break.  However – eggs from poultry are fair game.  Omelet for lunch with lots of hot sauce.

I am still on a mango kick, as you can see.  It looks like cheese cubes.  I love cheese, but I can’t imagine eating that many cheese cubes.

I had a good productive work day today.  That was a nice change from the way it has been.  Yay!  That’s awesome for a Monday, too.  Don’t you love when Monday’s go smoothly?  I was ahead of schedule when it was latte time.

Just cool enough inside for a hot latte.

John was also productive today.  He wasn’t so busy, so I heard him doing all kinds of cleaning and he got dinner ready.  He made baked salmon.  This was equal parts of BBQ sauce and strawberry jam mixed together for a glaze.  Then baked in the oven.

This was really good!  The recipe called for raspberry jam, but we didn’t have any, so John used my homemade strawberry instead.  I am liking salmon more the more I eat it.  I still prefer seafood, though.  One thing with salmon is that it keeps me full for a long time, fatty fish that it is.

I have tutoring tonight and I am going to have to wear a jacket.  It is cloudy and cool tonight.  I’ll leave you with this shot of a Painted Lady at my butterfly bush.  Those of you on FB already saw it, but here it is again.

There have been a bunch of these in my garden the last few days.  Apparently some years there are none and some there are a lot.  This year there are a lot! I am glad they like coming to my garden.

What a great weekend, but my poor legs!  I put them through the paces.  From Friday morning through Monday – I put 100 miles on the bike!  Doing 100 miles in a week is pretty standard for me, but I don’t usually do that all squished into 4 days with no rest.  It’s so hard to stay off the bike because I love to ride.  That much exercise also gets my appetite all out of whack.  I did take the weekend off from lifting to get some kind of break, but then I went and lifted this morning.  Yep – tired legs.  Must not over train.

I was standing and stretching (yes – I was stretching!!!) with my arms over my head.  I told John that I felt like a tree.  Strong solid base and strong branches.  I just wish I could be a little taller and be a willowy tree instead of a stocky tree, but I guess that means I can weather storms better, right?

Breakfast after I got back from the gym was oatmeal cooked with craisins and egg whites.

Pretty simple and hot.  Duh.  I had to let this set and get cool because it was already hot outside when I got back from the gym.

So hot today.  Bahhh!  I really dislike humidity.  I get puffy and squishy and hate that feeling.  Poor Pixie was feeling the heat:

We have our window AC in the upstairs bedroom, but not the downstairs yet.  We really don’t need it after we got the new windows installed, but the windows don’t help with  humidity. The air was so oppressive and still and then the skies opened up with rain.  Just in time for an iced latte, too!

After that storm, another round came through and it got really, really dark.

This is about 4:30 in the afternoon.  Really windy and rainy with a big T-storm.  Then we lost power.  That meant no internet, so no more work.   I ate some potato chips and we sort of waited to see if this was going to be a temporary outage or not.  Turns out not, so we waited until the worst of the storm blew over and cooked our dinner outside (no power = no stove).

I put some broccoli florets in the foil packet with some coconut oil and S&P. John cooked up a few sweet potato fries for himself.  Meat today was wild caught salmon with maple glaze.

It turned out pretty good!

I had to take this picture outside because it was too dark inside with no lights  😀

Power came back on after a couple of hours, so I am back on the internet working and getting this post up.  I can’t believe tomorrow is Wednesday already!

 

Wednesday and you know what that means!  We ended up driving to bagels.  It was 38 degrees and sunny, which was not what we were expecting when we went to bed last night, which was rain.  However, 38 degrees really isn’t as much fun to ride in, plus it was windy.  I grumped a little, though, as I felt like the Weather Channel cheated us a bit.    Can’t trust them at all.

My bagel.

All toasty and warm in a sunny window, too.

After we got back home, I took a 10 minute walk around the block.  I am trying to incorporate those more into my daily routine to get moving.  I have a tendency when I sit down to work (or do any project, really) and go, go, go until it is done without stopping.  I really don’t need to do this and getting out and walking a few times during the day is good for me. Plus I think it helps keep my mind fresh.

I decided to be like Roz and take some flower pictures on my little walks:

Forsythia:

Another flowering tree:

Lunch time.  I got a bit hungry and took the edge off with some nuts.

Then I made up an omelet with laughing cow and hot sauce.

Another couple walks in the afternoon (one time getting rained on).  2 miles under my belt  before I knew it!  Then it was latte time.

So, does anyone want a kitty?  Look at this:

Yes, the picture of innocence.  Not!!!

I looked at my sunflowers today, which were all leafing out quite nicely as of yesterday with 6 leaves a piece.

Someone thought they would make a good snack.  One of these eaten just down to a stem. Weeks of growing ruined in one midnight kitty attack.  Argh!  She comes with free paper balls for her toys as well – and lots of hair.  Sigh…

Okay, just kidding. I love her.

Dinner tonight was a new fish attempt for me.  This time we got Mahi Mahi.

John basted it with a little orange ginger sauce (from La Choy) and pan cooked it.  I served mine on top of sauteed veggies and some basmati rice.

Looks like a dish from a restaurant!

The verdict? I actually liked this fish the best out of all I have tried thus far.  It doesn’t have a fishy taste, which is good.  It has a firm texture, which I like better than flaky (or mushy).   I think I will eat this one again for sure.  I am doing well with my fish experiments.

My literacy learner has cancelled tonight.  He got a new job and now works nights, so we are rescheduling.  I am glad he got a job!  That means I have a free evening now.  I already walked another mile after dinner, so I have gotten in 3 miles today of walking.  I am hungry now, though.  Gotta find some snacks.  Other than just this:

 

New to me foods today – and out of my comfort zone.  First off was breakfast.  I bought some of this the other day.

I was going to get some plain chia seeds, but figured I would dip my toes in the water, so to speak.  It’s got chia seeds, hemp seeds and sesame seeds and bits of dried fruit in it.

This is a serving size – 30 grams (2 tablespoons),  130 calories.  Kind of like oats in that department.  Instructions were to add 1/4 cup of either hot or cold water and let sit for 5 minutes.  I added hot water.

Really?  Seriously? Other than the slime factor look, the bulk eater in me pouted about that serving size. I took a tiny taste.  A little slimy and crunchy at the same time.  Hmmmm…. I decided I needed to go all Lori style on them and put them in a pot with some more water and a mashed banana, then added the liquid egg whites like I do with oats.

Much bigger serving, although very lacking in the looks department.

Verdict?  Okay.  I will not be purchasing them again.  They didn’t fill me up for very long, either, which I can’t quite figure out as they should have.  I thought they would stay expanded in my tummy. Only 9 more servings to go in this bag…

Dinner was also out of my comfort zone.  I went and bought salmon fillets at the store yesterday.

Most of you know I don’t eat fish, but I keep trying periodically hoping things change because it is good for me (the fish and the trying).  I can do tuna sometimes, but I have never bought salmon and tried to cook it.

I decided to leave it to John to cook the fish!  I was nervous about dinner:

I know, it’s silly to be nervous over eating fish, but this is really, really different for me.  John cooked up the salmon in a pan with maple glaze and a ‘maple magic’ seasoning blend (local product).

The verdict? I think I liked it.  I didn’t love it, but I could see myself eating it again.  Salmon doesn’t have a strong  flavor like tuna does, and the meat was moist. John pointed out that it was a lot like eating dark meat turkey – and he is right.  I like dark meat, so I didn’t mind the texture of this.  It is one of those foods that I could get used to eating enough that I might actually come to really like it.  Does that make sense to anyone?  That happens to be fairly often if I eat a food over and over again.

So, I would say 1 for 2 on the experiments today!  Gotta keep Monday’s exciting, right?