Category Archives: garden

What’s Blooming today

Thank you all for you comments on our renovation project!  I actually do enjoy renovations and I would still be doing them for a living if the mortgage market for investors didn’t go belly up.

Just an FYI – here is a shot showing you the proximity of the pantry to the kitchen (and our back door).

It’s so nice.  I do have to say that it still feels a little weird to …. er… use the facilities downstairs.  Now we share a bathroom with Pixie LOL

It’s Friday!  I found a youtube video of my favorite thing to sing on Fridays.  It’s very catchy :mrgreen:

I have been singing this on Fridays for years and now I found it! Enjoy!

My morning was nice and quiet… and early…  No gym today, but I sure do feel yesterday’s workout.  Barbell squats get me every time.  I lowered the weights, too.

I made up a bowl of banana custard oats topped with some coconut butter and a couple teaspoons of chocolate sauce that John made.

Very good.  Very, very good.  This bowl is 370 calories.

I got started right in with work to finish up for the holiday weekend.  It has just been really, really busy at work.  Not sure why that is, but then the company will likely over hire and it will get slower.  As happens in the transcription industry.

Lunch time was also yummy!  I chopped up half of one of John’s protein muffins and layered it with some plain greek yogurt and strawberries.

Lots of little pieces means it takes a long time to eat, which is a good thing when you tend to be a food wolfer such as myself. 😳

The garden is in that in between stage.  I keep forgetting to buy spring blooming plants.  I love perennials that have long bloom seasons, so I tend to concentrate on those, but that also means they don’t start blooming for another month.

The shady side of the house now has the lily of the valleys in with the ferns:

My clematis multi blue has a couple blooms on it.

It is pretty small right now.  I transplanted it over to this side of the house to see how it will do there.

It’s part of that new bed I dug up last fall, which is pretty barren right now.  Better get to work!

I got these at the garden center last week.  They are called Argyranthemum – new to me.  It is the Madeira one.

This plant I finally figured out what it was.  I was thinking it was trillium, but it actually is Tradescantia or Virginia spiderwort

Just a couple blooms.  These are another old fashioned flower and are all over the side of the house, almost to an annoying degree because they spread.

My Snow Queen clematis is going to explode in a couple days – check it out:

Next week will be rose and clematis day!

Even though it was warm outside, the inside of the house stayed quite cool.  Our new windows are fabulous!  We got the ones that block all UV rays, but I also found out that caused problems growing my seedlings indoors and they are all stunted.  I have 1/2 inch basil plants right now.  Ooops.  I need a grow light for next year.

The cool inside meant latte!

Actually, I can drink hot lattes even in the summer.  Maybe that is why I burn up at night?

Work is done for the weekend unless I want to do any extra to sock away for Disney in January.  Hooray weekend!  Almost went out for pizza, but we stayed home.  I cooked up a chicken sausage with the usual suspects on the side:

Trying to decide if we want to scooter for a little yogurt.  There are pop up storms in the area, so we may just stay home with this one:

Contentment – thy name is Pixie.

We are planning a 75 mile ride either Sat or Sun depending on the weather.  Should be fun!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Bagel Wednesday and tulip update

Rainy and dreary today, which meant no biking to bagels this morning. I frowned at this last remnant of snow on the north side of our garage.

Go away!

I did some treadmill walking before starting out.  The gym was totally empty when I first got there because the early young guys are on spring break and away.  That works for me!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Close Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets of 12 at 50# Back
Cable standing leg curl (link) 3 sets of 10 at 30# Hamstrings
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 12 (each side) at 20# Core
Pushups 3 sets 10 Chest
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets 12 at 140# Calves
Pliet Squat 3 sets of 10 with 35# DB Lower Body
Dumbbell Press 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 12 at 80# Low Back

The guy that hogs the cable machine was not there, so I did a couple exercises on that and lingered.  Sweet! Then I went and got John and we headed to North Country Cafe for brekkie. I had a wheat bagel.

John had a cinnamon scone which was really good!

Note:  I had to take 3 pictures of John because he was goofing around. 🙄

It was thundering out by the time we left to go home.  Good thing we didn’t try biking (I had thought about it).

I am really tired of this cold spring.  I looked at my blog last year and had some tulip blooms already.  Not this year.  Our house is cooler as well (cause we’re cheap) so my seedlings are still small.  Good thing, I guess, as they couldn’t go outside anyway!

This weekend also looks to be cool and rainy, so I made an executive decision to take off Friday afternoon and go for a long bike ride as that is the only nice day coming up.  Then I will just work Saturday morning.  I will do whatever it takes to get my fanny on the bike! :mrgreen:

Lunch:

More roasted sweet potatoes.  With tuna.  24 grams of protein, baby!  Then I read Kelly’s post about the worm she found in her fish.  I just don’t know if I can eat any more fish (except fish poppers).

John made up lattes today, per usual.  Going to need a new machine soon.  I takes as long to make the lattes as it does dinner now.

I also had a date with almond butter, not pictured, but very good.

Work was slower in the afternoon, so I got some guitar practice done.  I have been so consistent with that this whole year.  Think it was the promise to video myself that is doing that.  Plus now I can play and it sounds like something as I get better.

Dinner was quick and tasty.  I heated up chicken breast and topped with Laughing Cow and hot sauce.

The dish of blueberries is my easy blueberry sauce (done in the microwave tonight, guess that works!).  It made a tasty side dish.

After dinner, I checked out how the tulips are going:

Some sun would certainly help these move along. (I’m looking in your direction Mother Nature…)

Painting tonight and a snack to be had.  Think it will involve pumpkin!

Saying bye to the garden and Hot 100 update

It’s Friday! I was hoping to sleep in a little, but it was not to be. I headed out to the gym for the lifting:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Split Squat 3 set of 10 at 65# Lower body
Wide Grip Lat Pull Down 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Core
Alternating Side Lunges 3 sets of 15 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
YTWL 3 sets of 4 each letter with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders
Nosebreaker 3 sets of 15 at 25# Triceps
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 at 4# Low back and hammies

I lightened up the weight a bit for my lower body today as we might be doing a long bike ride tomorrow (fingers crossed with Mother Nature).
I was going to do some treadmill work after lifting, but decided to just go home and get outside later because the temps were predicted for mid to upper 50s today!

Home to brekkie and I made some Reese’s Oats.

Banana custard style with cocoa powder and topped with nut butter.  Good stuff.

This week’s Hot 100 Update:

  1. Maintain my weight. Scale stayed the same this week. Won’t lie – a little disappointed..
  2. No eggnog lattes until Thanksgiving day!  They are available now, but I have resisted.
  3. Do the duathlon and at least 1 more 5K race before the end of the year. Did the home duathlon.  5k done on October 30th
  4. Do stretching exercises 4 days a week at least.  Did 5 days!!
  5. Visit one new blog each week that is participating in the Hot 100 Challenge and cheer them on.  Did not get to as many as I would have liked.
  6. Do one no-added sugar day each week.  I did 2!!

Overall not a bad week.  I had some stresses in there and one snacky day.  I was hoping to see a bit of a loss this week, but such is life.  This week will be a little challenging as I will have extra work to do and I tend to snack during these times.

I did some work, then stopped at my folks house and dropped off a laptop for my mom to use for a bit.  I snagged a couple of these while there:

(And for those that ask, yes, that is my wedding band.)

Lunch break today –

Kind of looks like a breakfast, eh?

It was so, so nice out today that I decided I will finish up work tonight.  I wanted to spend time outside.  The garden is pretty much a shell of what it was.

I cut down a lot of the growth and pulled up the dead annuals.  Leaving up the sedum and the coneflowers as they will stay upright under the snow, plus the birdies eat the seeds.

Those mums are on their last legs.  We have been in the 20s overnight, so they are starting to wilt.  I remember when it looked like this:


John made lattes while I was working outside.

He has almond milk, since he has some lactose problems.  They look different (almond milk on the right).  He is going to try the lactose pills, as he does like his milk.

I also had some nuts.

Thinking about another 5k race possibly next weekend.  I also signed up for this one.  If any of you are looking for some motivation to run/walk a Thanksgiving 5K – Alissa is hosting a virtual run!!

Blogger 5K

Good way to burn off a little stuffing and have a sense of community with other bloggers!

We decided to walk for a slice of pizza for dinner tonight.  Too bad it gets dark so early and it wasn’t as warm, but still a nice night to head out.  It’s half a mile each way.  I had the buffalo chicken pizza:

Yum!  Could have used a lot more hot sauce, though.  2 slices and a drink for $5.  We each have a slice (they are pretty big) and John drinks the soda.  I bring my own water bottle.   Pizza – so simple and yet perfect in that simplicity, don’t you think?

I am so excited for tomorrow – we are taking the bikes back out and going on a 40-mile cupcake ride!  Hope my legs make it :mrgreen:

Now it is back to work for me for a couple hours.  Nice way to spend a Friday night, but at least I got to enjoy the nice day!

Question:  Are you a dairy person?

Laboring on Labor Day

I took a day off blogging yesterday! I didn’t have anything interesting to say, really, and I worked,so figured I would just not post. Today is also work day for me, but I get paid a little extra 😀
My gym was open today, but open later.   I, however, was up at my usual time.  So I decided to eat breakfast before my workout instead of moving everything up an hour.

Banana custard cream of wheat!  Topped with honey fluff. I promise the recipe will be posted on Tuesday.

I biked off to the gym in some chilly weather today. Full tummy, which was a little weird, too.

I went for a massive (for me) lifting session since it is the last one until after my Charity Ride (6 days!!)

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squats 3 sets of 10 at 45# Lower body
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 set of 15 with 20# DB Back
Barbell Deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 65# Lower body
Incline chest fly 3 sets of 15 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 12 Core
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Straight Arm Lat Pull Down 3 sets of 12 at 50# Back
Alternating Side Lunge 3 sets of 10 (each leg) with 15# DBs (30 total) Lower body
Good Mornings 3 sets of 12 with 35# bar Low back and hammies
Triceps kickback 3 sets of 12 with 15# DBs (30 total) Triceps
Push ups 3 sets of 10 Chest

** Note to self. Do not do push ups at the end of the workout.**

I was. wiped. out. after this workout.  I came home and had some cafe au lait, showered, and got to work!

Other people laboring on the holiday are window people.  They did not quite finish up the capping on the outside of our house, and they arrived bright and early this holiday morning to get it done!  Now that is dedication to the job, don’t you think?

Lunch time was some of my yogurt/berry/cereal mash.  I keep wondering if I will tire of this, but I never do.

The strawberries taste excellent as well.

Work ran out for a while, so I was able to do some garden work.  Removed a couple plants I decided I didn’t want anymore and figured it was a good place for my new rose bush!  (I also need to divide sedum later this fall).

This bush is going to do a late bloom, too, and I am pretty excited about that.  I can’t wait until it appears in the Friday What’s Blooming!

I have been toying with the idea of going through the Master Gardener program for the county.   I just need to make sure I have time to do the volunteer work the position requires (like being at the county fair, community gardens, schools, etc).  Not to mention sitting through the training courses.

Time for snacks!

Check this out.  The rumor is that we are going to have early fall color around here and it will be super bright.  The tree across the street has already flipped over!

No other tree is like that around here.  Isn’t that weird?

Dinner time arrived.  I have been super hungry the last couple days.  Not sure what is up with that.  Annoying, though.  I did eat an apple while waiting for dinner to cook.  I mixed up some ground turkey with minced onion and seasoning.   Then put it in muffin cups and topped with BBQ sauce.  Baked for about 30 minutes and I had little turkey muffins!

Tasty.  I wanted to go the whole meatloaf route with bread crumbs and egg, but I got going on it too late because of work.

After dinner was some coffee roasting (Guatemalan):

Now we are going to do some coffee drinking!  Hope you are having (had) a relaxing holiday!

What’s blooming and where’s my hair?

Weekend!  Yahoo!  I slept in until about 6:50 before I was unable to keep my eyes closed anymore.  It was raining when I got up, too, so I drove to the gym.  I did a warm up on the treadmill (I got it up to 3.5 mph!!!)

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell straight leg deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 55# Lower body
Dumbbell chest press 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Chin ups 1 set of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Rope Crunch 3 sets of 15 Abs
Bent dumbbell row 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs (40# total) Back
Railing squats 3 sets of 10 Legs
Front Raise 3 sets of 10 with 5# DBs (10# total) Shoulders
Skull Crushers 3 sets of 15 with 25# bar Triceps
Preacher curls 3 sets of 10 with 30# bar Biceps

This routine took about 40 minutes.  Then I came home. Going easy on the cardio today because we are going to shoot for a longer bike ride tomorrow, and I want to make sure I don’t over do it.  I decided to do breakfast in a jar today.  I see this a lot online with the nut butter jars, but we have small jars that wouldn’t work (not to mention I lick them clean).  However, I did have a jar of fluff that had maybe about 1 serving left in it!

I cooked up some cream of wheat with a couple egg whites, then made some blueberry sauce and layered them parfait-style in the jar!

Label off to see how pretty this was.  Anyone have a magic window when they were little?  I did.

Can you believe this big jar was about 230 calories?  Think I liked it? 😉

Then I was productive for the morning.  I cleaned and straightened out my closet (instead of leaving clothes on the floor).  Then per John’s request, I made some peanut butter.  This went pretty quick – it only took about 6 minutes of processing to get this butter.

I had to taste test.

It passed!

The sun came out and I puttered around in the garden a little bit.

I am waiting for some mail order plants to arrive, but I shifted around some volunteers and put more mulch down.  Not much new flowering now except these:

Trillium and

Lily of the Valley.

It’s amazing to me how fragrant these tiny flowers are!  If you cut them and put them in colored water, they will get little colored stripes in them, too.  Neat.

Lunchtime!  I roasted up some brussels to serve along side this open face egg sammie (with laughing cow.).

I almost put hot sauce on there, but didn’t 😀

So, I made an appointment to get my hair trimmed.  I started the day looking like this:

And now I look like this:

Eeeeek – I cut it off!  I decided to go shorter for the warmer weather and biking.  I think I will like it a little better when it grows out just a touch, but it’s fun!  My hair looks a different color, but it’s just the lighting.

After lattes, I took my mom to look at some flowers.  I picked up a few more for the potted containers.  I got back a little late, and just whipped up a quick stir fry for dinner.  I was hangry!

Plans for tonight are a scooter ride to get some yogurt and then maybe a movie.

Question:  Any fun weekend plans?

Winter wonderland!

It snowed wet and sloppy snow for most of the day and night yesterday.  Not much accumulation, but it was so pretty!  Off to Panera Bread with Christmas music on the radio and in the spirit for a gingerbread bagel!

bagel1206

After breakfast and grocery shopping, it was time to start my work week 🙁

However, I just had to go out an snaps some pics!

feeder2126

snow3126

snow2126

garden1206_edited

Looks a lot different than August!

walkway

Ornament of the day:

PC030022

In honor of the snow, here is this ornament! Back when we had our retail shop,  I used to have a tree up at holiday time with ornaments that people could purchase off the tree.  I loved these snowflakes, and funny things is, no one else did – so I had about 6 left over.  They made their way onto my tree!  The light is behind it, they don’t actually light up.  (Note to self, take ornament pictures during daylight hours.)

Note on the beaded ornament – I used a book called “Beaded Ornaments for the holidays” for the pattern.

Da weekend and what’s blooming!

Yay!  It’s the weekend for me!  Still got up way too early.  I just cannot sleep in, no matter what time I go to bed.  Decided against the Y, since it was really nice out this morning.  Upper 50s, a little breezy and dry.  Perfect running weather.  I decided to go on a jog this morning and do 4 miles.  Finished in 42:35  – not too bad.  I must have been going a lot faster after the first mile.  First mile clocked in at 11:15, so somewhere in there I really picked up the pace.

Came home to some oat bran with the maple banana sauce and walnuts.  So good. We got a bunch of overripe nanners at the store earlier in the week, so we have been eating them up like crazy.

p8070003

Finally got to pick blueberries with my mom!  It was such a gorgeous day.  We kept commenting on how nice it was today.  Big bucket of blueberries:

blue

About 3 pounds worth.  Yummy.  Plus the pint I probably ate while picking 😀

Then we hit the smokehouse to stock up on meat.  We were hungry by this time, so we visited the MilkHouse Cafe in Argyle.  Tiny little place, very dinerish:

cafes

Typical greasy spoon menu, although breakfast looked pretty good (too bad they weren’t serving it at that time.

cafeI decided on a grilled cheese sandwich and some clam chowder.  The chowder was excellent!

soup

More garden blooms.

sign3

This is really funny  – we carve pumpkins and then sort of compost them over the side of the porch into the garden bed.  Well – lo and behold, we now have some pumpkin vines coming up on the side of the house!  Not sure if the squirrels will eat these or if we will have pumpkins in a month or so.

pumpkin

Allysum:

allys

This is what happens after the clematis blooms die.  Don’t these remind you of truffula trees (Lorax anyone?)

clem

Walkway – all of those black-eye Susans are self-sown. I didn’t plant a single one of them near the path!  I just left them because they looked pretty.  That is the great thing about gardening, there is always a surprise every year.

walkway

John is going away tomorrow morning (after we bike to breakfast!), so I might actually get some stuff done tomorrow around the house that really needs it.

Hope you all have a great weekend planned!

What’s blooming today and Sunday eats!

Had a very active Friday and Sat – so today is rest day as usual.  For some crazy reason, John and I went jogging last night after a 15-mile bike ride earlier in the day.  I only did 2 miles (20:40) and he did 3.  My legs were kind of stiff from Friday’s strength workout plus the 18 mile ride that day.  Sort of a brick, although spaced quite a bit apart.

This morning was a bagel at Cool Beans:

bagel6

This was a white bagel, which is a rarity for me.  Topped with sunflower seeds and reduced fat cream cheese.  I chose this bagel because the wheat ones looked really small and I was super hungry.  John did get a wheat one and noticed the size difference LOL!

Here it is almost August and some of my flowers are just blooming.  This cool weather has got some of them all out of whack.  And my annuals are very stunted.  Salvia isn’t even close to blooming.

The doppelganger echinacea are in full swing.  I love this plant (so much so that I took it with me from IL when we moved a few years ago!). With pretty liatris in the background:

doppel

One of my other favorite plants is almost in full bloom.  Butterfly bush!  This starts out as a stub in the ground and is now over 5 feet tall.  I love it.  I used to have a yellow one at our old place, but couldn’t find one to replace it, so got the davidii one.

bbush

Closeup of one of the flowers.  They smell like honey, too.  Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds go nuts over these.

bbush2

Black-eyed susans have just opened this week.

bss1

Not too much exciting in the eats department today.  I have managed to not snack all day like I tend to do on Sundays (so far, at any rate).  Dinner was a chicken wrap with hummus and feta cheese.  Awesome combo!

dinner10

And more blueberries.  I can’t believe they are almost gone.  I swear there is a blue tinge to my skin today.  Gonna have to go again, because I didn’t even make any jam like I was going to!

If you watch the Today Show – check it out on Monday.  They will be doing a vacation segment on Lake George – which is where we bike to frequently.  Featured in posts like the Elvis day and early spring.  It really is a beautiful place.  The Adirondacks are venerable old mountains with a ton of history in the area.

What’s blooming and geekage

Did a short jog today for the first time since Monday.  I walked a mile and jogged a mile.  My legs feel fresh and fabulous!  Yay!  Came back for some Nutrigrain waffles and blueberries.

How  does a young,hip,modern, GenX couple eat breakfast?

comp

Okay, we are nerds….

(and John better keep his hands out of my brekkie or he is likely to lose a finger or 2!!!).

Here are the latest blooms in the garden:

Latana

Latana

Snapdragons

Snapdragons

White Swan Coneflower

White Swan Coneflower

Trillium???

Trillium???

I don’t know what this guy is.  We have them on the side of the house, and one somehow migrated to the front, and it is blooming quite late.  The other ones were done last month.  It looks like a trillium, but anyone else know for sure?

Who can name what this snack is?  One of my new favorites!

pine

Have to shop today for a birthday gift.  My BIL’s birthday was yesterday and we are having a pizza/cake gathering tonight!

Ordered my trisuit!

Trisuit news later in post!  Had a good workout today, but so incredibly sweaty.  I did some walking and jogging on the indoor track today, then NROLW:

  • Barbell squat/push press: 1 x 10 22 pounds, 2 x 10 45 pounds
  • Step ups: 2 x 10 with 30 pound dumbbells
  • Dumbbell 1 point rows: 2 x 10 with 25 pound dumbbells
  • Static lunge with rear foot elevated: 2 x 10 25 pound dumbbells
  • Pushups: 2 x 10
  • Plank: 2 x 60 second holds
  • Cable woodchop: 2 x 10 50 pounds.

My balance is getting better on the 1 point rows now.  Called John to meet me for brekkie.  Then I jogged around the outside track for about 15 minutes before I left to meet him (he was biking).  I was totally drenched in sweat by the time I finished.  The heat has hit upstate NY!

bagel2

Yum!  I noticed more flowers in bloom today in the garden when I got back home, so took some pictures:

lily2Daylilies (divisions from my parent’s house)

clemsHeliopsis clematis – this thing gets enormously tall!

speedwell

Speedwell – these look cool on breezy days.

And now the exciting news – I placed an order for my triathlon suit!

I am so excited!  This will be great because I can use it just for my general bike rides and runs.  I am a little nervous about a body hugging outfit, but it really isn’t that much worse than the picture of me in the side bar with bike shorts.  Here is a pic (wish that were me in the photo!):

trisuit

I wasn’t too thrilled about the pink (I have sworn off buying any more pink stuff!),  but this actually was the cutest one out there that was affordable to me.  And you can’t beat the price – $67.50 plus free shipping!   It’s hard to find just the shorts or a top for much less than that.  I guess it’s on sale because it isn’t a 2009 suit style?  I can’t wait for it to arrive!  I hope it fits, I fell inbetween sizes, so I upped to the large per their recommendation.  I think the worse thing would be to have a compression suit too small!  It’s only coming from NYC, so it should get here pretty fast.