Gloomy outside today.  It has been kind of drizzly and all that for a while now.  I have not been on my bike in a week and I miss it!  I was able to get some walking in, though.  You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting lifting routines, but I haven’t been in a while since I hurt my shoulder.  I can’t even do weighted lower body exercises because of the pulling pressure with the weights in my hands.  So, just air squats 😀 .  I am seeing a doctor this week, although I will share my self diagnosis tomorrow LOL.

I made up some oats with apple topping for breakfast.

In the candy corn bowl!  Is it kind of sad how many people tell me they think of me when they see candy corn?

The morning was busy with work and went by so fast.  I like days like that.  Lunch:

BBQ pork.

Now on to the goals for October:

1. No weight gain.  Not trying to lose this month, just not gain any in the month where we start making all kinds of good food and I start exercising less because I can’t bike as much. Like most people, this is a hard time of year for me.

2.  Finish the flooring.  This is a bit of a softball as we are pretty sure we are going to finish up. 2 rooms done and 1 to go. Then trim work.  Yay!

3.  Make and post 3 crockpot recipes.  I will post them no matter what the results LOL!

4. Eat more vegetables.  I feel like all I eat is broccoli.  Okay, really I do only eat broccoli any more.  I have gotten away from other veggies as I just haven’t felt like eating them. So, I need to do better with that.

5. Post a pink picture for every post (except the recipe posts) this month to raise awareness for breast cancer.

And now, my afternoon is complete:

You know I post that no weight gain goal for the month and I have had horrible snack cravings today.  I did nibbling while dinner was cooking. Potato chips and some granola.  Sigh…

John cooked up a cajun seasoned salmon for dinner.

What was that I was saying about broccoli?

Tonight I am going out with my mom for mother/daughter night and doing  a little relaxing!

Pink picture today? My shirt!

Don’t forget to click!

On to a new month and fully into fall now.  I love the month of October.  Not sure why.  Maybe the fall colors, cool weather, pumpkins, football… oh, and candy corn!

So, here is what I wanted to accomplish in September.

1. Lose 4 pounds.  I lost 2, which I am pretty pleased about.  I didn’t actually do that great sticking with my 1500 calorie budget. Imagine what progress I would have made if I had actually  done that LOL.  But, I didn’t whine about it, which was also a goal.

2. Do jog/walk intervals.  I have been doing these.  I ended up downloading C25K podcasts and have been following those again. I am still up in the air about how I feel about it, but then again, the run segments haven’t been long enough to cause too many issues with my leg.

3.  Get started on the laminate floors in for the downstairs!  Yep – we started these and are about halfway done. I am loving them already.  I haven’t kissed the floors yet, but I just might.

4. Read 3 books in September.  Done!

I did really well this month with those goals.  The 3 books I read in order of enjoyment.

Great Gatsby

Water for Elephants

War Brides.

The funny thing is that I picked period books almost from the same time period!  Gatsby is set in the Depression era, as is Water for Elephants. War brides was set in the late 1930s and 40s.

I reviewed the other two books here.  War Brides is basically the story of 5 women from different backgrounds and countries whose lives intertwine with the war.  The author really brought the story very much to life of what it was like liking in wartime Europe.  Kudos to her for good research.  The ending of the book seemed a bit rushed, though, which felt odd.  Overall a good read once I got into it.  It took a while for the 5 stories to come together.

Tomorrow will be October goals, one of which includes the pink picture for breast cancer awareness!  Like this:

My knockout rose.  Now click the link to help fund free breast cancer screenings for those in need. The more clicks they get, the more funding they get.  Free to you to do, so click as many times as you like!

Monthly goal time! I can’t believe summer is over already.  I love fall, but the end of August is always a bit sad.

I had a new visitor at the garden today!  I took a billion pictures and finally got the ‘money shot.’

This is a great spangled fritillary.  I ran out with my butterfly ID book to find out what this was.   I think it is wonderful how many butterflies there have been this year.  Maybe it means something good environmentally is happening.  Less pesticides, perhaps?  Or maybe it was the mild winter.  Anyway, I am just glad they stop by.

Here were my goals for August and how I did.

1.  Bike 400 miles this month.  Done!  I had to put in some “just grind it out” miles during the month when I might have wanted to do something else (like lifting), but I managed it without any super long rides. I think our longest was 58 miles this month.

I started the month at 1639 and just made it today!  That’s the total miles for the year so far.  Nice.  The final ride of the month to celebrate?  To yogurt!

This was rum cheesecake topped with coconut. Cooper’s Cave stops selling the Only 8 after this weekend.  Booo….

2.  A week with no ‘land meat’.  Done.  This wasn’t that hard, especially after I OD’ed on poultry the week before.  I do like my meat, though.

3. Paint the front porch floor.  Half way done.  One half.  Looks good!

The other half:

Lots more scraping needed to be done on this side, plus we have to fix some boards that were rotted, so it put us behind. Now we have a hole.

We should be mostly done with it by the end of the holiday weekend if I get off my duff.  Just a little bit more scraping, scrub it down, fix the boards and paint.  Easy peasy.

4. Get fully back to 90/10 eating instead of living in the 10%.  I give myself maybe a B- here (being generous).  I had some days very on and some snacky days. I probably am closer to 80/20 at best.  Definitely need work here

5. Treat my hubby to a great birthday!!  Done.  At least he seemed to enjoy it 😀

So that’s the wrap!  The month went by awful fast. I plan on enjoying the weekend – hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Bye, bye July!  This month went by fast, didn’t it?

I did not set any goals for July.  I was away at the beginning of the month and then just never bothered to give myself anything to do.  So, I was a bit of a loose canon 

I started off the month with the Becoming An Outdoorswoman weekend and tried some new things.  That was fun and I hope to do it again next year.

I finished up the Female Body Breakthrough program.  That was, what 4 months? Almost 4-1/2 months?  I definitely got stronger during that time.  I really could have been better with the eating.  For about 2 months, I was  really doing 90/10, but then I got more lax once June hit.  C’est la vie!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into lifting or already lifts and wants something to challenge themselves.  You can take it to whatever level you want.  It certainly did that for me and now I have new moves to add to my lifting regimen.

Bike mileage this month:  319 miles. I would like that to be around 400, but I there was heat this month.

Total miles for 2012 so far: 1339  

2000 at least in 2012. I think 2500 in 2012 might even be a possibility if I get a leg on, or wheel on as it were.

I also got to meet Lynn in person!  That was a big highlight of the month.  One item on bucket list crossed off.

Of course, there is the new driveway. That came a few weeks early and I am glad.  Not that I haven’t posted any pictures of it for you all to see or anything.  You know, like this one?

It’s funny, we can drive on it now, but I still feel like if I walk on it that I will sink down for whatever reason.

I’ve got some goals in mind for August, just need to choose which ones to actually commit to.

Hello insomnia!  I woke up around 1:30 a.m. and could not get back to sleep.  After laying in bed for a little over an hour, I just got up and started doing work.  May as well be productive if I can’t sleep, right?  Ugh!

I think it was because I had buttercream icing last night.  Made a cake for my dad and had leftover frosting, which you all know I love the most.

I nibbled on a few things while I worked and then decided to get my butt to the gym at 6:45.  I did get a lot of work done prior to that at least.

Lifting was a bit tiring being tired, but I still got in a good workout.  I had my post workout drink (aka protein mainline) and headed home.

Breakfast later in the morning – banana oats with PB.

Classic and good.  I worked for a while, then took a 1 hour nap before lunch.

Here was my goal assessment for May.

1. Continue with the Fit Female program.  Still going strong with the lifting part of this.  The eating not so much.  I have been about 70/30 compliant with the eating the last couple weeks.  Weekends have been my downfall.

2.  No scale weighing.  Done.  I decided that I really need some accountability, no number scale included. Clothing just doesn’t do it for me. I really felt huge all month like I was gaining a pound a day, which isn’t true, but strange.  Not that I need to weigh every day, more like once a week, but I guess that is a tool I am more comfortable with.

3.   I am going to cull some books and donate the to the Friends of the Library book sale.  We donated about 20 books!

4.  Start work on the driveway project with crack patching.  Making slow progress.  Some of that is from weather because you need rain-free days.  I have come to the realization that this will be a summer long project and not just a couple weekends. 

5.  I will try at least 2 new veggies this month.  Success!  I tried Swiss chard (fairly successful) and celery root (FAIL!!).  I will confess to purchasing taro root and when I peeled it, the smell was horrible and I just couldn’t try it.  It also felt soft, so maybe it was a bad one.

And the season tally on the bike:

Miles biked in May: 364

Total miles on the year:  682  – Woo Hoo!!

My schedule is totally out of whack today with the no sleep thingie.  Excuse my incoherence today.

A little birdie visited today while I was working.  She sat right on the window sill and peered around looking in.  This cracked me up!

I wonder what she saw?

She sat there for about 5 minutes and then flew away.  Good thing Pixie didn’t see it or her liver probably would have exploded.

I could have had 3 of these today:

Do you ever get so tired that you can’t sleep?  I hate that.  I also got really snacky from being tired, which irritated me.

I had to get on the bike and ride to the bank to clear my head.  John said I haven’t been myself today.  I guess that is what happens when you can see a 4th dimension.

Dinner was a stir fry of chicken thighs, coleslaw mix (great for stir fries!) teriyaki and  white rice.

(plus unpictured potato chips and some peanuts).

Now I have to think about some goals for June, other than getting more sleep!

It will be an early bedtime for me.  I for sure am going to let myself sleep in tomorrow.

Welcome to May!  We had a rainy start to the month.  Guess April showers will continue as May showers.

I had a funny comment at the gym today.  (Those of you on FB probably heard this one already). I was doing my usual routine and was re-racking my 30# DBs.  There was a woman there who was working with a personal trainer and I am pretty sure it was her first visit.  Anyway, she was standing by the dumbbell rack and when I put them back she says, “Well look at you, Fancy Pants”.  I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, so I kind of just laughed and went about my business.  I heard the trainer say to her, “We’ll get you there”.

I certainly don’t show off at the gym or anything like that.  Yeah, I was using 30# DBs.  So what? I earned the use of them by consistent training.  I just do my thing and leave.  I am very focused.  John said she was probably trying to be friendly, but it was more awkward than anything else.  I swear, I get the oddest remarks at the gym.

I came back and made another breakfast ‘cookie‘.  I didn’t grind up the oats in this one and I am trying to decide which texture I like better.  Once I get it figured out, I will put up a recipe page for it.

This one is topped with a mashed nana.

It was a busy day today.  I ended up picking up my dad at the car shop when he dropped off my mother’s car and then taking him back later to go get it.  I am lucky with my job that I can do this for people.  I am the ‘go-to chauffeur’ around here.  However, that does mess with my work schedule  🙂

The breakfast cookie lasted me to lunch, so yay on that.  I definitely will be keeping that one in the rotation.  If I can figure out how to make it less dense and chewy.

Lunch was:

Egg salad! I remembered to boil up some eggs last night, so lunch was easy.

It’s time = the goals for May!

1. Continue with the Fit Female program.  I will be starting the 3rd stage in about 2 weeks.  I may have to alter the days with more biking, but we shall see.

2.  No scale weighing.  Now my scale doesn’t have numbers, but it does tell me if I have lost or gained.  It sat still during April, which was a bit discouraging because of how hard I worked.  So, I don’t want to hear anything from MaryLou this month.

3.  In keeping with the cleaning theme from last month, I am going to cull some books and donate the to the Friends of the Library book sale.

4.  Start work on the driveway project with crack patching.

5.  I will try at least 2 new veggies this month.  This can either be done by cooking at home or having them out at a restaurant.  Stepping out of comfort zone!

That should be good for this month.  Note I am not putting stretching in there again LOL!

I had just returned from the second trip with my dad and John had a latte waiting for me.

Yet another vote for John for husband of the year.  I also added a pineapple slice:

Showing my thighs some blog love today.  They worked hard this morning.

I had a simple dinner tonight.  Leftover cooked chicken on top of a baked potato with laughing cow.

I put a few shakes of A1 steak sauce on it, which actually was good.  This was a satisfying dinner.

I had to work for a while after dinner, then I took a 1 mile walk and John and I are now settled down for coffee:

Starbies and WiFi.  Coffee and the internet.  It’s kind of my life in a nutshell.

Last day of April. Unbelievable!  Time just goes by so fast.  I woke up feeling a little tired this morning.  I think all my cleaning yesterday wore me out 😀

I made up breakfast of oats with egg whites cooked in layered with blueberry sauce.

Hot! I burned my tongue.  I hate that.

I worked as much as I could in the morning.  Then I was supposed to meet my literacy learner for the new meeting time of 11 am.  We meet for 2 hours and that would have gotten me home close to 1:30 and I knew I would be way too hungry, so I had a protein shake before leaving.  My usual workout shake of pumpkin, almond milk and protein powder.

(needs haircut) Bottom’s up!  We meet at McDonalds and find a quiet place, which is a half mile from my house.  It’s a nice little walk.

My learner called to tell me that he had car troubles after I got there, so we decided to cancel today and reschedule at some other time.  We have more scheduling issues…

I was able to get home and do some more work before eating part B of my lunch, which was the original plan this morning.

Yummy mango!

Last day of April  and here was my list of goals for the month.  So, how did I do?

1.  Continue with the fit female program.  Doing awesome on this. Haven’t missed a workout.  I struggle some with the eating, but overall doing well.  No scale progress. I stayed exactly the same during the month. I have not taken my measurements this month.

2. Work on hills with my bike.  I did a lot of hills, but that was more just from the riding we did to the lake and to Saratoga.  The weather was not as cooperative for weekday riding this month. Overall pleased with my month of biking.

3. Spring cleaning! I cleaned all of the windows.  I just squeaked it in, too.  I did the majority yesterday!  😳  If I hadn’t written it down as a blog goal, I wouldn’t have finished it.  They look good, though, and I am very happy about them.

4. Do more stretching.  Lame. Just lame.  I do bits of stretching here and there, but for whatever reason, this seems to be some kind of sticking point with me.

Not a bad month.

Latte time!  Drizzled with some chocolate sauce that John made yesterday.

I am all over the dried pineapple of late.  It’s sugary, but it doesn’t seem to set me off like chocolate does.  John bought coconut M&Ms and yesterday I had some of those, and then got a huge snack attack last night.  I actually went to bed full, which is pretty unusual for me.

Uneventful working until dinner time  My mother had brought over some brussel sprouts the other day.  She went on a cruise this week – her first!  So, she knew my father wouldn’t eat the brussels and brought them over to me before she left 😀

After dinner, it was nice enough to take a bike ride.

Mid to upper 50s, no wind – I will take it!  Rain was on the radar, so I left right after dinner to squeeze it in. I did an easy loop around the path:

Then through some tree-lined streets.

I actually ended up passing my dad at the end of this road. I had stopped at the stop sign and his truck drove right by me LOL!  I don’t think he saw it was me, though, or he would have stopped.  He almost never leaves the house, so it was pretty funny to actually cross paths.

Ali thought I should post my monthly bike miles, so here goes:  I did 215 miles on the bike in April, which gives me a total of 318 miles outside on the bike so far this year.  Almost all of those miles took place on weekends.  I should hit up in the 300s for May with better weather coming.

My evening snack tonight?

Ricotta and applesauce, which I will eat at 8 pm.

Question: How was your April?

New month, really the time that officially starts to feel like spring.  My garden is popping up a little more each day and I can’t wait for the tulips to bloom, even though that is a few weeks off.  My brussel sprouts are back!

Okay, the sedum.  I wonder how hard it is to grow brussel sprouts? Everything is coming up a little early in the garden, even though we have had a cold spell.

I gave the chia seeds another try (waste not, want not).  This time I just threw them in a pot with about 3/4 cup of water, brought to a boil and added 1/2 cup of pumpkin and whisked in some liquid egg whites.

Kind of like pumpkin custard.  I put a little drizzle of honey on there, but you can’t really see it.  Guess I should have just taken a photo of the bowl again.

This was decent.  Again, it did not last me very long.  After 2 hours I was sooooo hungry!  I had a morning snack of 1/2 cup of applesauce with 1/4 cup of part-skim ricotta.

I really liked this, actually.  Good to know.

Lunch break:

More of the chicken apple sausages.  Easy.

The cucumbers reminded me of my facial yesterday and I was going to rub some on my face, but then I just ate them. 

So, new month and you know what that means! Here are my April goals:

1.  Continue with the fit female program.  I am loving this so far and seeing some change in my body, even at this early stage.  Goes to show you how changing up a program can really light a fire under one’s butt. Stage 2 of the 4 stage program will begin in a week and I will post those workouts.

2. Work on hills with my bike.  April can be a little touch and go weather wise for biking, but I should be able to do a good amount of this.  I will have to see how it fits in with my lifting program and weather.  I can’t do hills on lifting days.

3. Spring cleaning! Okay, really just cleaning our windows.  We had those new windows put in a couple years ago and they are tilt in windows, so It’s time to get the outsides clean!  If I just do a 1 or 2 every other day, I will be done at the end of the month.  I think we have somewhere around 18 windows.

4. Do more stretching.  Do you ever have one of those goals that you just continually have trouble with?  Stretching is mine.  It’s not like it is that hard or takes that much time – I just don’t do it like I should.

I was trying to think of another one, but I think my eating plan goes hand in hand with #1, so I didn’t want to repeat it.

The afternoon went by pretty fast.  It was a tiring day of dictation today.  Not sure if it was because it was Monday or some of the doctors were just having difficult dictations today (perhaps both).  I needed my caffeine hit.

We bought more salmon at the store on Sunday so that was on the menu for dinner.  I am just being so adventurous! I have appointed John the Official Cooker of Salmon, so I don’t have to worry about messing it up.  He started out with it on the grill, but then the grill ran out of gas.  Don’t you love when that happens?  So we finished them off inside. John mixed a little maple syrup and soy sauce together to baste the fish.  I don’t know as I tasted either.

With my brussels.  Shredding them and  pan sauteing is really the quickest way to cook brussel sprouts.  Plus they get that little bit of crispiness on the edges that I like.

The temps were in the low 50s and I thought about going for a ride and doing a hill workout after dinner, but then the wind was like this:

I will ride in the cold, but the wind – no way.  I hate riding in the wind.  Just ask John.  I become the  Whining Queen.  Instead, I did a metabolic workout in my Fit Female book.  It’s just intervals of body weight exercises.  Sure gets the heart rate up, too!

** A note on the google reader and comment feed.  If you have not done so, unsub and resubscribe to the feed. I am hoping it is all better. I haven’t gotten any feed since  Saturday, so while I hope I didn’t just jinx it, I wanted to make sure that you do this if you are still getting feed. **

Tonight’s snack ready for later- pear and peanut flour mixed up.

Monday night already – today sure went by fast!