Category Archives: monthly goals

July Wrap Up and 44 mile cupcake ride

Since today is the last day of July, it is time for the monthly wrap up of my goals, so you have to read through that before you get to cupcakes 😀

Here are my goals and how I did last month.

  • Stretching –I was supposed to stretch 3 times a week.  I give myself a C on this one.  I just forget!  I can’t believe how hard it is to remember to do stretching, because it does feel good.
  • 400 miles on my bike – Not only did I do 400 miles, but I did 505!  I was shocked.  I did not ride every single day, either.  It helped doing an 88 mile day and a 100 mile day, though.  I did ride in the rain a little (88 mile day), but I did not ride a lot when it was super hot.
  • No caffeine for a week. I did it!  It actually wasn’t that bad.  I found also that it did not have much of an effect on me other than feeling a little tired the first couple days.  This is not an experiment I will do again any time soon, though.
  • Walking 3 times during the day – I did okay with this.  Some days I just walked twice because I either forgot 😳  or it was too durn hot to go out in the afternoon.  This is something I need to stick with doing.

A decent month.  I do find that I get overly ensconced in work and forget the walking, which I really need to work on.  On the scale front – no budgie. That stops now. I’ll talk about that with a little tough love tomorrow.

Now on to the part you all are waiting for – the ride!  John was feeling pretty well and up for a long ride, so we decided to go. It was just a gorgeous day on Saturday.  A little warm, but that’s okay.  A little windy, too – not so okay, but what are you going to do, right?

Kelly asked whether we take our bikes somewhere first to ride.  The answer is no.  We start every ride from home and either go north or south.  The only time we took our bikes was for the farm tour ride a couple weeks ago.

We decided to head down to Saratoga after lunch for a cupcake ride. We rode a nice tailwind on the way down.  After 11 miles, we took a water break. I puffy heart my insulated camelbak!

Hooray for shade!  I love this side road because there is hardly any traffic and it is nice and shaded.

It is right near a state park, too.

Then we booked on down to Saratoga for another 11 miles.  It went so fast because of the tailwind.  Not to mention I was rocking out the pace making.  My legs felt awesome with 2 days rest.  I told John I was kicking ass and taking names today!  Average speed of 14.5 miles per hour on the way down.

At mile 22, we reached the Bread  Basket:

It’s a cute little place.

They sell a lot of bread (you think?)

And cupcakes.  I had a carrot cake one with a big iced coffee:

It’s so cute!

It was a gut bomb, though. Very dense carrot cake. The frosting was cream cheese frosting, but that was not overly sweet, which is a good thing.

After eating that, we crossed the street to walk around Congress Park.  They have an old carousel that you can ride:

The park has kind of a Greek and Roman theme to it.

Lots of fountains and marble.

This statue was part of a Palladian circle or something like that.  It’s supposed to be Pan.

I find him mildly creepy and I think I might have nightmares after writing this post.

There also was an abundance of cuteness:

Seems like a late clutch for ducklings, but so cute!

I just wanted to pick the up and cuddle them, but I don’t think the mother would have been too happy with that!

That let our cupcakes settle some and it was time to head back.  This was into the wind for most of the ride back.  My legs were feeling so good that I took up most of the front riding.  We stopped at mile 34 for a breather.

And some refreshment!

I was pretty hot by this point, too.  That extra work of going against the wind and being in the sun, plus warm temps.  Phew!  We then booked the rest of the way home.  Still managed a really good pace for the ride home, wind and all.  Rest days do so much for leg strength, they really do!  So take them. 😀

Sweaty lady:

No sunburn thanks to liberal slathering of sunscreen a couple of times.

Ride stats:

Total miles: 44.8

Ride time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Average speed: 14.1 mph

25.4 top speed

Calories burned: 1420

Cupcakes consumed: 1 large.

After the ride – beautiful cold seltzer water!

Don’t you just want to dive into that glass?

Question:  How was your July?

What’s Blooming and July Goals

Another new month and another set of goals!

I took a quick walk around the block this morning while coffee brewed before I came in to make breakfast.

Banana custard oats topped with peanut flour (a little runny…oops) and some strawberry jam.

It sure feels like Friday, doesn’t it?  Work was really busy, though, and I think that is because other MTs are on vacation now!

Had a nice porch lunch today.  1-minute muffin and the reddest plum ever!  It looks like a beet, don’t you think?

And now for everyone’s favorite part of the week. Here is this week’s garden blooms:

The clematis is starting now.

It is a monster that grows up the porch.  It will reach the roof of the porch by the end of the summer.

This is a pot of Black-eyed Susans waiting to go to my mother’s garden.  I pulled most of mine as they got totally out of control last year.

Allysum that is in a pot with my geraniums.

My first marigolds of the season!  I did not have marigolds last year and thought I would give them a whirl again.

These are the french marigolds that aren’t so orange.

The liatris is almost there.  I love the plant and how cool it always looks.

And day lilies!  Lots and lots of day lilies:

These are over 4 feet tall! 😯

And the butterfly weed is opening  up.

Come and get it butterflies!

I enjoyed a latte today while Pixie snored next to me.

Along with some Kashi GoLean that I was snacking on.

All enjoyed while planning my new monthly projects!

  • Stretching – Since this was one of my yearly goals and I have been quite the slacker in this department, I am going to focus on it.  3 times a week I will make sure I dedicate to a good stretching session.
  • 400 miles on my bike – I rode 362 miles on the bike in June.  I know I can cross the 400 mile mark, especially with gearing up for our 100-mile ride.
  • No caffeine for a week. Seriously? WTH am I thinking?  I will give it a try.  It doesn’t seem to affect my sleep, but I will just make sure.  John said he may take a vacation that week. :mrgreen:   I don’t know what week that will be, but I might try to get it over with early.
  • Walking 3 times during the day – Thinking more about moving during the day since it is just too hard to try to do while I am working.  I am going to do a 10 minute around-the-block walk in the mid morning, at lunch, and mid afternoon. That will give me an extra 30 minutes of exercise a day outside of what I normally do. That shouldn’t affect my productivity too much.

I won’t mention weight loss because that is ongoing, but I will update at the end of the month.

I baked up some brown rice, even though pizza was a thought to have…  And served with with sauteed broccoli and chicken sausage.

I managed to snack on cashews while dinner was cooking, too.  I am having some snack issues the last couple of days.  Sigh.

Well, I am off for a ride tonight, as I am working towards 400 miles LOL!  Better get a move on.

Question:  Any plans for the holiday weekend?

June Wrap Up and mid-year check in

Wow – the last day of June.  Sometimes it scares me how fast time goes by.  I had a busy month!  Time to see how I did on my monthly goals.

1. Enjoy turning 43! Done!

2. Go no TV for one week. We did this and it wasn’t bad at all!  TV is actually kind of an afterthought for me.  However, this wasn’t during football season, so that would have been a whole ‘nother story.

3. Operation Sleep.  I bought a sleep mask, did some HTP.  I have magnesium on the way.  Maybe making some progress?  I will have to continue with this one.

4.  I am finally really ready to progress on losing this last bit of weight that I have talked about for the last 2 years.  Sigh… it is slow going.  It is hard getting back into stringing together many losing weight days instead of how you maintain with lower days and higher days.  It is working, though.  It’s just hard to be patient.

5. Sitting less for work.  This was hard to do.  I found it is very uncomfortable to stand and type because I use a foot pedal and it keeps my hips shifted off center.  Not so sure that is good for me.  I like the ball, but I still have to sit very still, so not sure I get much out of it.  I think I am better off sitting on the ball if I am watching TV or on the internet at night when I can roll it around while sitting on it.

Now checking in on the yearly goals just for fun, since we are halfway through the year (again, where does the time go??)  It was good to go back and read my ‘to-do’ list.  I had forgotten about some of them. 😯

Fitness:

–  100 mile bike ride this year.  In progress towards

– Maybe do a half marathon/duathlon in May/Definitely a few 5K races. Nope.  Now that I am not running anymore, those goals are shot.

– Keep stretching. Needed a reminder on this.  I forgot about it!

– Lose some weight. Yeah, whatever, see above. LOL!  It’s very slow.

– More cooking and food recipes on the blog. Not sure how I am doing on this one, but I am posting recipes.

Misc:

–Work on my classical guitar this year.  I am rocking this one!  I’ve been practicing almost every single day and actually am getting better!

– Possibly install a half bath in our laundry room. Done!

– Earn more money.  Well, that happened since I went through the whole losing one job and getting a raise with the other.  That actually worked out really well, as long as nothing changes.

– Just try to be a better person in general. Work in progress

Not bad so far,  now I have a little better focus on things again.

Stay tuned tomorrow for July goals and What’s blooming!

Question:  How was your June?

June Goals and tire issue solved!

It’s Bagel Wednesday! Even though we didn’t bike there, we did still get there on 2 wheels:

I had my usual wheat bagel.

It was over toasted on one side.  Must have gotten stuck in the toaster or something.

Another hot day on tap today with storms a brewing.

Pixie says – somebody please turn on the fan!!

So the goals for June.  It’s my birthday month, so there has to be lots of fun in there!

1.  So that’s the first goal then.  Enjoy turning 43! That will happen this weekend.

2. Go no TV for one week. Starting the first full week of June.  John wanted to do this, so I am joining him. Who wants to join us for this one?  No TV.  No netflix movies on the computer either.  I can read the news on the internet. Should I made that an official challenge to anyone who wants to join?

3. Operation Sleep.  I must work on finding some way to get more sleep. I am going to get a sleep mask to start and see how that works, plus I am getting some supplements like 5HTP and magnesium.

4.  I am finally really ready to progress on losing this last bit of weight that I have talked about for the last 2 years.  Now I am ready.  Of course, it will take longer than a month, but I am going to really keep control of nibbling and eat good nutritious foods (except on long ride days LOL).

5. Sitting less for work.  As a transcriptionist, I sit very still during the day.  That is a lot of sitting! I am going to experiment this month with my work station to try to do some work standing or sitting on an exercise ball.  My goal is to work up to 3 hours of my workday in the new position.

Okay – those sound good to me!  So does lunch:

I ate this lunch on the porch today.  I got the mail hand delivered to my by the mail carrier as well since I was out there.  That is nice service 😀

After lunch, I headed to Inside Edge to see about my bike tire.  Back at the end of April, I ran over a beer bottle and got a flat.  I pulled out the chunk of glass, but what I didn’t know was that a tiny sliver was left behind.  After putting several hundred miles on the bike, that little sliver of glass worked its way through to the inside of the tire.  The shop guys turned the tire inside out and felt where the shard was coming through and pulled it out.  it was about this size – “O””.  Tiny, but razor sharp.  That was poking a hole into each tube.  Nice to know it wasn’t serious like the rim or needing a whole new tire.  I’ll be on the road again soon enough!  They didn’t charge me, either, but I did buy another tube.

Nice afternoon latte today:

Made with almond milk today.  Actually the unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  I like this stuff.

Work still amazingly busy.  I will have to work at night a bit because of taking some time to go to the bike shop today.  Love that job flexibility!

Dinner time and since it is hot, we wanted something easy.  Eggs always fit that bill.  I just scrambled them and put a laughing cow on top.

Plus french cut green beans sauteed in coconut oil.  How about that for a change up?

I got my new tube in and put the tire on my bike all by myself after dinner.  It took me a good half hour to do, too! Good skill to know.

I am going for a short solo ride tonight.  Not too far in case I have a problem, but I just want to get in a little trip 😀  Work can wait until I get back.

Question: Do you have any goals/non-goals for June?

April Wrap Up and May Goals.

First off, just a note to say that maybe a new era of peace could come.  We can always hope, right?

I woke up this morning and biked to the gym.  After a week off, it felt quite nice to go there and I was very refreshed.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff Legged Deadlift 3 sets of 12 at 55# Lower body
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 sets of 10 with 20# DB Back
Barbell Bench Press 3 sets of 1 at 55# Chest
Seated Calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 140# Calves
Rope Crunch 3 sets of 15 at 30# Core
Alternating Forward Lunges 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Lower Body
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 12 at 80# Low Back
Nosebreakers 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Triceps

Then I headed home for breakfast! Protein pancakes today just for a different shape.

Gosh I love this breakfast.  No matter if it is in waffle form or pancake form.

Okay, because of the weekend, I am going to do a mash up of the wrap up and new goals for April and May.

April Goals and how they went:

1.  I am going to shoot for some weight loss. I have to say I do not know how I did as I have not weighed myself all month.  My pants fit the same, so unlikely that I lost anything.  I am not sure when I will step on the scale again.

2. I am going to reduce as much wheat in my diet as possible. This was really hard to do.  Good thing I do not have celiac.  Sometimes I just forgot, and other times I found wheat in things after the fact.  I really did learn that eating wheat does cause cravings for me.

3.  I want to try a bit of meditation this month. Fail!!  I did not enjoy this at all, so I stopped.  I find that just having quiet time reading or weeding in my garden much more pleasing than trying to meditate.  And you know what? I am totally okay with that.

4.  I am going to work my way through recipes from Nourishing Traditions book by Sally Fallon. I did the soaked grains, crispy nuts, and I have made a sourdough starter.

5.  More biking. Yeah baby! 263 cycling miles for the month of April! Increased from 150 in March.

6.  I am going to clean up the blog some.  Kind of lame.  I worked on the recipes a bit, but we just have had a lot going on and I wasn’t able to sit down and do much with it.

So, kind of middling on the goals last month with the exception of biking.  Goals for may coming up after lunch.  Which was cheesy scrambled eggs and broccoli!

Classically simple. You are going to be seeing a lot of eggs this week, btw.  (See below).

Now time for my goals for May:

1.  Weight loss/fat loss. Continue with paying a lot of attention to what I am eating and see if I can get my pants looser, whether by pounds or body composition.  Again, I don’t know when I will step on the scale again.

2. Go vegetarian for 1 week!  In fact, it started today. You all know how I love my protein.  This will be a real challenge as I don’t eat tofu or veggie burgers or beans.  You will be seeing a lot of eggs, that’s for sure :mrgreen:

3. Finish our half bath/pantry. No matter whether it’s finished or not, it will be done by the end of May LOL!  We are very close now.  Just need the doors, to install the sink, window trim, and to caulk the tile.  I think I will wait to show anymore pictures until it is just finished.  It is making me very happy right now, though.

4. Scrub down the house.  With the remodel, everything else has gone down the tubes as far as clutter and cleanliness.  There really is not an excuse for that other than just being a little lazy.

5. Do another round of 28-day Body Shapeover.  I need to get the book out again to do so.

6.  Bring back some no-added sugar days once or twice a week. These are just good for me to do to keep focused.

So, hopefully May’s goals will be a little more fruitful than April’s! 😉

I had a latte in the afternoon with some protein powder to amp up my protein for the day.

Busted out all my work by dinner time plus a little extra, which was nice. Gotta start socking away money for Disney trip in January.

For dinner I made a recreation of a lentil/rice/caramelized onion dish the easy way.  Yesterday I had caramelized some onions to have on hand to add to dishes this week.  I also had a can of lentils. Normally I cook dry lentils, but the cans were on sale.  Into a saute pan went 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, 1/4 cup lentils, and some caramelized onions.  5 minute dinner:

This was really good, too.  You might be seeing this again during vegetarian week.

Doing some work on the reno tonight and having a pumpkin snack.  Turns out not only is today veggie day #1, but also a no-added sugar day!

Question: How was your April?

April goals

April Fool’s!  Nature gave us an April Fool today.  I woke up expecting a lot of snow, but it had just started, so I drank some protein and then went to the gym. Apparently others had the same idea because it was quite crowded (for my gym) today!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Cable Squat to Row 3 sets of 12 at 50# Full Body
Close Grip Lat Pull Down 3 sets of 15 at 40# Back
Decline Sit ups 3 sets of 10 Core
Pushups 3 sets 10 Chest
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 140# Calves
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 15 at 80# Low back
Pliet Squat 3 sets of 12 with 35# DB Lower Body
Front Raise 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs, (16# total) Shoulders

The big snowstorm turned out to be nothing. There was a tiny coating on the grass and then it all turned to rain. I cannot express how glad I am to have it be rain and not snow!

Now on to breakfast!  Friday is my grain breakfast day now.  I soaked some steel cut oats last night and cooked them with cinnamon, pumpkin, and egg whites.

Topped with the ever-present coconut butter.  One of these days I am just going to sit there with the jar and spoon and have at it.

Lunch time!  I made tuna salad and used some protein waffles as bread.  This works out nicely, I have to say.

Kind of looks like a big jack-o-lantern face.

On to the goals for the month! Yesterday recapped March.  These are the things I am going to concentrate on for April.

1.  I am going to shoot for some weight loss. I see a lot of people either recommitting or taking that final push and it sort of has rubbed off on me to want to go a bit further.  I actually am just doing this through food and exercise and I am not going to weigh myself.  I just want to see where my body goes by feel.  It may not go anywhere, who knows.

2. I am going to reduce as much wheat in my diet as possible (or as much as I am willing to).  I think I might have some sensitivity to gluten or grains, which seemed to become more apparent to me when I would do the grain-free days I have been doing.  I am going to eat 8 bagels this month (Wed and Sun), but see if I can go wheat free on all other days.  Except for cupcakes :mrgreen:

3. I am really going out of my box this month with this one.  In looking at my weakest links for a healthy life, my weak links are sleep and meditation. I want to try a bit of meditation this month. I am only going to shoot for a couple days a week just to try it out. I have not been too successful in the past with this.

4.  I am going to work my way through recipes from Nourishing Traditions book by Sally Fallon. Obviously not all of them, because it is just a month LOL!

5.  More biking. And dammit – outside this month! I did 150 miles in March, so I will be increasing that amount.  As soon as overnight lows are above freezing, it’s on!

6. Okay – one more.  I am going to clean up the blog some.  Especially the recipe section and I will put a page up with links to all my lifting videos, and maybe a little store page with AF links in them (gotta pay for hosting and all that).

We shall see what comes of these goals.  All that talk of goals made me want a snack!  2% milk latte with some chocolate crisps.

I am making this box last forever, although there are only 3 crisps left.

Pixie is ready for her piano debut as well.

What are you looking at?

She likes the piano when the lid is closed (and John isn’t playing it).  I think it is because it is high up and she can be queen and survey us peons.

Work done for the week and dinner time!  I can really work any days I want, but there is not always much work on weekends, so it is easier just to plan on M-F.  I still have that odd feeling of thinking of Fridays only being half days, but they really haven’t been in quite some time.

I cooked up a little chicken with laughing cow and a new bottle of hot sauce opened!

I marked the last bottle and I opened it November 30th, so it took me 4 months to go through a big bottle.  John doesn’t use hot sauce.  Not that I am calling him a wimp or anything…

Snack time will be the pumpkin/cream/nut mixture tonight.

I’m getting in a rut!  It’s a tasty rut, though.  Lots of work on the half bath/laundry room this weekend.  I’ll be back with progress pictures on Sunday!

Have a super weekend!

March Round Up

Wow.  The last day of March!  This month sure did go by fast.  A lot of stuff happened this month, that is for sure.  But let’s start with breakfast, shall we?

I decided to eat before exercise this morning because I just wasn’t feeling it.  So, I put on the coffee and made up protein waffles (the oatmeal version).

I am totally addicted to this combo of the blueberry sauce and coconut butter.  I think I could just eat that as dessert all by itself.

I had to laugh this morning at John.  He was reading my blog post from yesterday and said I was very sneaky with the camera because he hadn’t noticed me taking a self-portrait.  I am not sure if it is because he is really oblivious to my picture taking or just to me in general :mrgreen:   Good thing I love him.

Work had a server issue for a little while this morning, so I decided to take advantage and ride the trainer.  Funny how I was not wanting to exercise when I got up and not all that thrilled with the prospect, but once I got on  – I ended up going for 12 miles instead of the planned 8.  I was feeling really good! Maybe is was my carb fest from yesterday or just a full night of sleep for a change.

Lunch time – I made a quick bowl of plain greek yogurt with berries, 1 tsp of honey, and 2 tbsp of flax seeds.  this is a yummy combo.

Now that I have lunch out of the way, it is time for the monthly assessment.

Goals and how I did:

1.  Start ramping up the bike riding on the trainer in preparation for outdoor rides (with cupcakes!).  This means longer ride times.  I bet we will even get in a long outdoor ride this month!  Epic fail on an outdoor ride!  Stupid nature.  I did bike 150 total miles on the trainer in March, which is 33 more total miles than February.

2.  Keep working with some sugar/grain free days.  Really liking eating the fat.  I am not focusing on any weight loss this month.  I will be increasing carbs to keep up with the increase in biking miles. I ate more this month and maintained my weight.  I struggled with nighttime snacking the last few days, though.   I also did a fair number of wheat and grain-free days.  I think my stomach likes the no-wheat days.  I need to reflect more on this.

3. Start soap production again, I think.  Need to sit down and really decide if I want to do a website and all that again. Not going to happen.  I decided I didn’t want something that would just be a hobby business as I already am pretty busy doing things I want to do, let alone something I would need to do if I had more customers.

4. Keep trying new recipes.  I have been having fun with this. Yep.  This month I made Coconut Flour Bread, Coconut flour pizza crust,  a King cake for Mardi Gras, coconut flour waffles (haha, you can see my new obsession), sweet potato shepherd’s pie

5.  Work on our new 1/2 bath addition!  We are making progress on this and I am excited to get past the initial construction and get into the nitty gritty. We are rocking and rolling on this project!  Plumbing and electrical inspection passed and we are now starting drywall.  I’ll have some nice progress pictures on Sunday!

Not bad overall.  The 2 other big things this month were the semi-impulse purchase of the baby grand and my job situation.  Funny how if you look at the month overall, it just looks like I got a raise.  But the start of the month had me hired to start training with a new company.  Then being torn between 2 options, going to work in an office for a few days, and then finally ending up staying with the current job full time with a raise.  It felt very tumultuous.

Whew.  I need some coffee and some pumpkin/nut/cream snackage.

I finished up my day right on time, even with the delay in work this morning.  Yep, it’s a good life.  For dinner, I made up a salad topped with some cooked cube steak, feta cheese, a drizzle of greek dressing, and some toasted pepitas.

This was very tasty.

Looks like we may actually miss the brunt of the Nor’easter coming.  At first they were predicting 6 to 10 inches, but now it looks like much less.  I hope!  I am so done with snow.  However, there is a glimmer of hope.

My tulips are coming up!  Along with a cigarette butt.  Thanks a lot to that litterbug.  🙄

The ice cream shop down the street opened their doors window today and even though it is chilly, we celebrated with the first cone of the year!

I got a kiddie cone with eyes, even if they are a little crooked.

Peanut butter flavor. We walked home and ate these because it was pretty brisk at about 45 degrees!

I will leave you a link to read a great article about perfect health.  I am really thinking about this to get my April goals listed for tomorrow and finding out what my weakest  link is.

Question: How was your March?