Tag Archives: bagels

Lifting move of the week and some quake shaking!

Last Wednesday I talked about how I was feeling fatigued with the workout and biking to breakfast, so today was the day try a bigger snack.  I had a protein drink with milk and protein powder to the tune of about 200 calories.  Normally I have about 110.  It was really humid this morning, too, so biking felt like swimming on my way in.  I also took a Tylenol PM last night, and it left me groggy this morning.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Deadlifts 3 sets of 8 with 65# bar Lower body
Chin ups 1 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
1-legged dead lifts 3 sets of 8 each leg with 15# DBs (30# total) Hamstrings and balance
Incline bench press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Decline sit ups 3 sets of 10 Abs
Arnold Press 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs (24# total) Shoulders
2-point dumbbell row 3 sets of 10 with 25# DBs (50# total) Back
Bench Dip 3 sets of 10 Triceps

Lifting move of the week is the Arnold Press!  This move is for your shoulders.  Named for the famous Arnold, and if you want to be cool, you can pronounce it as the Ah-nold press :mrgreen:  It’s for the front and side deltoid muscles.

Welcome back to my spare bedroom for this video:


It’s pretty much a dumbbell press with an arm rotation for that little something extra.  It took me a few tries to get coordinated at doing it, too.  You can do this on an incline bench as well, for variety.

John met me at the gym and we biked on out.  I was very sweaty for this ride from humidity.  I don’t know as I noticed the extra 90 calories or not from my preworkout drink.

Lookie at the bagels!

They were starting to run low.

I got my wheat bagel with plain cream cheese and we sat outside.

Breakfast biking was 13 miles round trip.

After a slow morning of work, I got a hankering for some eggs for lunch.   On toast with some laughing cow and hot sauce.

Why, when it is hot and humid, do I proceed to make it worse with hot sauce?  Hello brain??

Quite the interesting time this afternoon. There was an earthquake here in the early afternoon:

And we felt it at our house.  I was working and at first I thought I was getting dizzy, but then I realized the house was rocking.  You could see the mirror and pictures moving.  It lasted for a while, too.  Very strange sensation when you are not in an area prone to this!

Snack time:

Plus a latte.

I am posting early today, as we are going to my niece’s moving up ceremony today and having pizza afterwards!  Congrats to Logan for moving up to the 6th grade 😀

Added note: So far, I am still snacky on Wednesdays despite the extra calories.  Need to research more….

Stay tuned for an appropriate hot weather review/giveaway on Thursday….

Question:  Ever felt an earthquake?

Lifting Move of the Week

Glad you all like my jersey! 😀 I purchased it from here.  Woke up a little tired and puffy today.  Had a protein drink and biked to the gym:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff Legged deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Split squats 3 sets of 10 (each leg) with 35# bar Lower body
Close-grip lat pulldown 3 sets of 12 at 50# Back
Push ups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Reverse Crunches 3 sets of 12 Abs
Arnold Press 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Triceps pull down 3 sets of 12 at 30# Triceps

Strength Training Move of the Week:  Stiff-Legged Deadlift. This is one of my very favorites.  Maybe because it is easier than a regular deadlift 😛   Actually, I really like how it works the hamstrings.  With this exercise, it is important to keep the knees from being locked and hyperextended.  Did you know it is very easy for women to hyperextend their knees?  Bend from the hips and not from the waist because you want to use the legs and not the back for this. Also, you want to squeeze your butt at the top of the move, just for that little extra something.  Note how I keep my head looking up during the move.  I found that if I do not do that, then my my shoulders droop and my back rounds out.  Funny how keeping your head up keeps your shoulders back.

Link to video

(I edited out the sound today to something better than the godawful stuff at the gym.)  You can go lower down than this, too, but I find my back rounds too much when I do much lower, or I lock my knees.  My form isn’t always perfect, but I really try.  Also, this can be done with dumbbells.

John was out playing poker last night, so when he didn’t show up to meet me, I wasn’t too surprised and just texted him that I was biking my way to breakfast.   He texted me back a bit later that he was on his way via car (I was about 1/2 way to bagels at this point), so we were able to meet up.  I had a nice wheat bagel with maple walnut cream cheese:

I snarfed this down.  I think I need to eat more on Wednesdays before I leave the house.  I have a protein drink before going to the gym, but I think a strength workout plus a 14 mile bike ride needs more food.  Even though half of that ride is after breakfast.  I have noticed that every single Wednesday I am so hungry for breakfast that it sets up the rest of the day as a snacky day.  Will experiment next week with this.

I ended up just putting my bike in the car and riding home with John because I was feeling a little tired and lazy. 😳

Break from work for lunch.  More tuna.

I laughed when I noticed where I had set the other can of tuna on the shelf after I opened up the package.

Note to self – it is extremely important that you remember there is only 1 can of tuna left.  Do not eat any other cans…..

That cat food is what we call ‘kitty crack’ around here.  Pixie gets 1/4 can a day of this junk, along with her Iams weight control/hairball dry food.  She adores this stuff.

Had a slice of this apple yogurt cake that John made.  It is very good.

I finished it before I even got my latte.  Ooops.  Nibbler is out in full force today.

Cause this happened before dinner:

This was up high and I even dragged a chair out to get some.  Just being honest here.  Today has been a challenge.

I had a hankering for grilled cheese for dinner.  So, I made some using  1 oz of colby jack and 1 wedge of laughing cow.  Then I added some sun-dried tomatoes for an adult version.  I remember the old days of slathering butter on the bread and a boatload of cheese…..  Now I sprayed a little ICBINB on the bread and used Pam to grill it.

I have to say that this was really good and a much healthier version of grilled cheese. The sun-dried tomato really gave it extra flavor.  And it wasn’t greasy in my hands!

So tonight is a battle with Nibbler going on, I think.  Wish me luck.

Question:  What’s your favorite sandwich?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5PlohSHImM

Lifting move of the week and lost food.

Good old Wednesday! I was up too early again, but such is life, no? Took a protein hit and then biked to the gym.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-leg Deadlift 3 sets of 8 with 65# bar Lower body
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 12 at 45# Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 (each side) Abs
YTWL 3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs Shoulders
Standing leg press 3 sets of 6 at 50# Quads
Dumbbell chest press 3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Overhead Triceps Ext 3 sets of 15 with 20# DB Triceps
Standing calf raise 3 sets of 15 at 50# Calves

Little extra leg work today.

The lifting move of the week: The YTWL! Named for the shape your arms make when doing the exercise. Kind of like YMCA, but without the catchy tune (although you can hum it if you want). This is a great shoulder exercise because it hits all the different muscles of the shoulder. Start with a very light weight, as it is pretty difficult (and the shoulder is easy to injure).

You can do 4 repetitions of each letter.  I think a lot of women neglect their shoulders, but they really can make the difference in how your top half looks.  Nice rounded shoulder caps help with body symmetry.

John met me at the gym and we biked to our usual addiction bagel.  Nice morning to eat outside!

I was sitting too close to a barberry bush and got poked with a thorn, but it was so pretty I leaned over and took a picture:

It was kind of humid, can you tell? Such a nice morning to bike.  One thing I love about my workday starting at 10 is that I can do all this stuff in the morning like work out and bike to breakfast.

Fairly uneventful at work.  Before I knew it, time for lunch!  I actually found a can of tuna in the pantry.  I thought I had gotten rid of it all, but I guess I didn’t.  So, that was on the menu today.  Maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

Also found 1/2 a sweet potato in the fridge, which I microwaved and topped with laughing cow. Yum!

Somebody wanted some attention while I worked today, and I just cannot resist this face:

I was hungry, though – so she did have to get up after a while.  Made some cashew butter last night.  Dang I forgot how good that stuff is.  I had some on a date for a snack:

It was so good I had another with the latte:

I think the food processor might be on its last legs.  Like a lot of things in our house LOL!  Who needs to win the lottery? – raise your hand!!

John and I rounded up more leftovers to eat.  Funny how sometimes it just seems like there are a lot in the fridge at one time.  I defrosted some of the lentil/rice dish we made with the pan roasted broccoli!

Good stuff.

Going to spend some time in the garden weeding tonight.  My goal to keep the garden weed free is going well this year (of course, it is only early June).  If anyone wants black-eyed susans, please let me know.  I have a 100 volunteers growing that are in the wrong spot 😀

Happy running day to all!  Look at that, I didn’t even run today.  John ran this evening, but I already had done enough for the day.    I ate strawberries instead……

Question:  Do you ‘lose’ food in the fridge or pantry?

Bagels and longer injury update.

Thanks for the congrats on 60-mile ride yesterday!  We do take a lot of breaks, so it isn’t like we plow through our long rides all at once, as it is for enjoyment and not a race.  John also thoughtfully pointed out that it wasn’t quite a metric century, since that was about 62.5 miles.  Whatever…

My legs feel pretty good today, just a wee bit tired, so we decided on a rest day and did not bike to breakfast.  Panera Bread bound, though!  It is Sunday after all (aka bagel day).

Blueberry.  And lots of coffee.  I have been drinking water like crazy.  Ins and outs did not match yesterday and I think I woke up dehydrated.

I have mentioned bits about the injury progress as it goes, but I thought I would give you all a more detailed progress report on what has been going on.  If you are tired of reading about it, skip the next few paragraphs. :mrgreen:  For those that are new (or just missed it), I herniated a disk in my back about 6-1/2 weeks ago, which presses on my sciatic nerve.  This caused sciatica symptoms (aka agony) and put me flat out for a few days and slow progress after that.  I keep writing about the problems with my leg, but as John likes to point out, my leg actually is not injured, it is the sciatic nerve pain from the disk pressure and it just seems like it is in my leg.  Again, whatever… 🙄  It created a deep pain in my thigh and knee, plus a burning sensation at times (underneath the numbness).  Lots of fun!  This was chronic for weeks, too.  Chronic pain sucks.

Interestingly, the disk itself cannot feel pain, so my back actually felt much better after a few days, but the sciatica was the problem.  I also had numbness in my knee and into my calf.  This numbness is still present today along with accompanying weakness.  I have also made a rather alarming discovery that my thighs are now 2 different sizes.  My right thigh is a full inch bigger around than my left.  I noticed that my pants felt kind of odd with several different pairs, so I measured and found that out. You can actually see the difference, too.  Probably some atrophy of the left leg and over compensation on the right.  The problem is that the nerve compression just won’t let the muscles fire in my left leg, no matter what I do, so they are weakening.  You can’t force that either, although it is coming back slowly.  It is going to take time, if the feeling even actually completely comes back all the way, which could be a possibility.  Obviously I can bike, but the main reason for that is that both legs work together.  When walking or running, there are points of time where the body is supported by one leg at a time, and that is why running and walking have been slow to return for me and still causes some pain.

So, that is where I am at currently.  I would say 95% back at this point both physically and mentally.  It seems like this injury has consumed so much of my thoughts and feelings for the last month and a half.  If I don’t have sensation back in my knee/calf after 8 weeks, then it is time for further evaluation.  So, I have had to re-evalute my race season this year and just take it week by week.

Anyway, back to the eats!  Blackberries were on sale, so I had some with lunch with my egg sandwich.  Also restocked with hot sauce, I might add 😀

Alas, it was back to work for me today. It was quite steady and went by pretty fast.  John spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making stuff today.  He is turning into quite the chef!

Dinner time was a quick stir fry using this sauce:

4 ingredient stir fry:  Frozen broccoli florets, shrimp, coconut oil, and stir fry sauce.  How easy is that?  Not to mention tasty!

After dinner, we took a stroll to keep the legs loose.  It was quite warm today, too.  80 degrees.

One of the things John made today was a Queen Elizabeth cake as a test to see if I wanted this for my birthday in a couple weeks.  He made a half batch of it in a loaf pan to test:

It was really, really good.  Not sure if it is birthday cake material, so I have to think about that.

I also need to stay out of the rest of this.  I am challenging myself through at least Thursday to eat really clean (or the cleanest I tend to eat at any rate).  I am going to try to have as little sugar as possible other than fruit sugar.  That means no fluff, no honey, no chocolate syrup on lattes.  I will allow myself protein powder, as I need that prior to work outs.  Also, really limited bread, as in no bread or wraps or crackers.  It’s been a long time since I have done something like this, so it should be fun!

Question:  Are you challenging yourself to anything this week?

Lifting move of the week

Wednesday is lifting day and bagel day!  Woke up to drizzly skies and I felt groggy and kind of puffy.  Maybe it was the soup I had last night?  Anyway, I had a protein hit and then off to the gym.

15 minute warm up on the stationary bike.  Followed by:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Rail Squats 3 sets of 10 at body weight Lower body
Seated lat row 3 sets of 10 with 55# Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Incline Barbell press 3 sets of 12 with 45# bar Chest
Reverse Crunches 3 sets of 12 Abs
1 leg DB dead lifts 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (each leg, 30# total) Hammies and balance
Prone Cuban Snatch 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Triceps pull down 3 sets of 15 at 30# Triceps
Standing Calf raise 3 sets of 15 at body weight Calves

You may or may not have noticed that I do not always work my biceps. They get a lot of work already with the other moves, and I don’t necessarily need to isolate them anymore. My biceps are bigger in general, so I don’t focus on them.

Workout move of the week is an oldie, but goodie!  It’s the Prone Cuban Snatch (go ahead, I know you are all laughing still from the last time I talked about it).  This move is a little deceptive because the pull up is so easy that you want a heavier weight, but the upward swing is a killer, particularly in the later reps.

I love working my shoulders. I was flexing in the mirror last night LOL. John says I am body obsessed, which I am of course. I hopped on the stationary bike for another 20 minutes while waiting for John and then we headed on out for bagels! Hit up Panera again.


Asiago cheese bagel and 3 (!!!) cups of coffee. I was a jabber mouth, I’ll tell you.

Regarding the buffet last night. Some interesting comments on it.

Kimberly said: I can handle the buffet when I am in a healthy eating frame of mind.

Andra said: I avoid buffets because they really are the bottom of the barrel in terms of food quality.

Paige said: I have trained myself to believe that most buffet food is processed/frozen. I don’t want to “waste” my calories on food that isn’t both healthy and delicious!

Some really good points made here, and something that John and I talked about this morning regarding buffets and fast food.  My wise hubby said that life is too short to eat bad food.  Our tastes have changed so much that most ‘industrial’ food just doesn’t taste good anymore.  It used to.  At least I thought it did.  I used to love buffet food and restaurant food.  We used to love Chilis and Red Lobster.  Now we realize there is a huge difference in  a restaurant that makes food fresh.  The other key is the mindset.  I don’t always have success at outings, parties, gatherings, or whatever.  Maybe it is the true mindset. I will have a plan, but then fall face first into the food.  It’s weird.  Last night I had it, but it’s usually about a 50/50 success rate.

I was feeling something warm and filling for lunch, since it was cold and drizzly, so I decided on cream of wheat:

Cooked with a banana, brown rice protein powder and cinnamon.  It was good, although I have decided I don’t care for the brown rice powder in my hot cereal – it is a bit chalky.

Just another randomly boring day at work with a latte to keep me awake.  Also, before I forget – enter the Slice of Life giveway if you haven’t.  Open to anyone 😀

I decided I needed more fiber and veggies for dinner, as I was missing that from earlier.  I cooked up some lentils, then added them to my broccoli sauteed with carrot slices, 1/4 cup of rice, and 4 oz of chicken.  Drizzled with hot sauce.

This was a big plate!

I probably didn’t need to eat it all, but I did.  Not to mention the Food Should Taste Good chips I munched on while cooking.  At least I got in my fiber.  I doubt I will even need a snack tonight.

I keep forgetting how much I enjoy lentils.  Note to self, make more.

Tonight is more Tour of California!  See you all tomorrow.

Bagels and beautiful day.

Gorgeous day today!

We woke up and wiggled our legs to see how they felt after yesterday’s ride, which was pretty good.  So, in pre-coffee insanity, we decided to bike to bagels this morning.  My legs aren’t really all that sore, and my back feels pretty good.  We headed on out to Panera Bread.  8 miles there.  Funny how 8 miles seems like nothing after 45 miles LOL!  Might also have been the cereal, M&Ms, and toast I had last night, too 😳

Deliciousness ensued.

I was little more tired for the 2nd 8 miles home, but doing pretty well.   Yesterday, Jan posed a question to me in the comments:

I love riding my bike but wondered how you started to build up to such long rides? I seem to tire out quickly. The longest I have gone is 15 KM. Do you have any suggestions on how to start to build my endurance?

My best advice is strength training (okay, raise your hand if you are surprised at this answer).  Squats, lunges, dead lifts, etc.,  all work your lower body.  That will give you the power and strength to ride.  I would also suggest riding hills and doing intervals on the bike as well.  The more you do that, the stronger you will get.  Takes time, though, so be patient.  It’s just a matter of being consistent with training (at least every other day).  When I started biking, it took a long time to build up distance.  It was only last year that we started going more than 30 miles in a day.  Hope that helps?

It was back to work today.  Sigh….  It’s not all that busy today.  I am liking the ‘do.  No curling iron needed, and hardly any brush!  Mostly finger styled. Short hair is just so easy, just some shellac to keep it in place:

Lunch break included a bowl of yogurt with pumpkin and protein powder, topped with all-bran.  Hello fiber!

And a pear that looks like it went about 10 rounds with Mike Tyson after being in the bike bag yesterday.

It’s funny, even though I am working – I always feel guilty when John does work around the house on Sundays, like I should be helping LOL!  Not sure what is up with that.  Guess I should just enjoy watching him work 😉

He made lattes today:

and I also had some of that yummy cheese from yesterday:

Work today just went excruciatingly slow.  Ever have those days that just drag on?  Maybe it’s because it is the first day of the work week or that it is so nice out.

Made a quick dinner tonight of a scrambled egg wrap with laughing cow and hot sauce.  We forgot to get hot sauce yesterday when shopping and I am almost out 😯

I am going to go out now and do a little work in the garden this evening to enjoy the beautiful weather, and the Tour of California bike race is on TV!  Go Lance (or Levi)!

Since I haven’t mentioned Pixie in a while, I will leave you with a video of her actually sucking on her toes.  Cuteness abounds!

This week there will be a product review and giveaway, plus a nut butter tutorial, and the date ball recipe.  Maybe I need to take a day off of work to get all that done :mrgreen:

Strength training move of the week and bagel nosh.

Happy bagel day! Otherwise known as Wednesday. Seems like those of us who use a blog reader can get overwhelmed by the number of new posts. Isn’t it funny? Supposed to be enjoyable reading, and yet there seems to be some pressure to read everything every day.

I woke up a little late today, and I felt tired.  Maybe it was the bike ride? Don’t know.  I had a protein shake and drove to the gym because it was sprinkling out.  Warmed up on the stationary bike first.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 10 at 55# Back
Dumbbell squats 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Lower body
Chin ups 1 set of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Barbell chest press 3 sets of 10 with 55# Chest
Planks 3 sets of 1-minute holds Abs/core
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 with 30# bar Hammies/low back
Arnold press 3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Bench Dips 3 sets of 10 with body weight Triceps

Strength training move of the week is on I did on Monday.  The dumbbell pullover.  Link to video.  This exercise works your back mostly and a little bit in the chest.  You need to be on a bench for this and not the floor.  Otherwise, the weight will crash into the floor behind your head.  I tell you this from experience, and it is pretty shocking when it happens LOL!  You want to keep your ab muscles in tight with this to keep your back from arching.  Then lower the weight over your head.

The nice thing about videoing myself is that I can see corrections that I need to make in my form.  (You all are free to give me suggestions, too.) You don’t have to make the weight go so far forward over your hips.  Just to perpendicular starting position is fine.  My back also pops up a tiny bit.  It’s hard to keep it down!  I really like this exercise a lot.

John met me at the gym and we headed out to bagels.  Went to Cool Beans.  I got a blueberry bagel:

Looks a little anemic, doesn’t it?  It was very small, as was John’s, so we got a small blueberry muffin and split it.  😳

Kind of the start of an “I can’t get full day.”  I get those about every 3 days or so.  I have no problem for a few days, and then it is like my body wants a refeed day.  I have decided to go with that a little bit, as the scale is drifting downwards still.  Maybe I am onto something here.

Lots of work to be done.  We have been really busy as of late, which is a good thing, although they start cracking the whip a bit to the slackers, which means the rest of us have to hear that, too.  We all know what that is like, right?

Lunch break!  There was chicken, laughing cow, and hot sauce on 1/2 of a lavash.  I like the lavash better than the smart carb wraps for sure.

Somebody else was eating lunch, too:

Love the gold finches.  They are so cute 😀 I have the camera sitting at my chair, and I just use the zoom to get these shots.   There are times when the feeder just is full of birds, so it is easy to snap the pics.  The feeder is probably about 5 feet from my chair.

Snack time with a latte:

Then I got snacky again and had some of this while I finished up with work:

I love the sweet/salty combo…. sigh.

Ate dinner a little later than usual and felt somewhat uninspired, so I dug in the freezer for another crab cake to bake.

My hot sauce bottle is almost gone.  I think I am embarrassed about how much hot sauce I have eaten lately.  Maybe my herniated disk is asking for it?

After John and I did a little fly lady, we walked down to the ice cream shop because I was still in pursuit of food.  I got a small malt with coconut soft serve.  I think these are my other addiction now.  Good thing we walked there and back!

Served with the world’s tallest straw.

So, just like last week, now that I have had a refeed day, tomorrow will be much cleaner eats.

Question:  Do you have an obsession right now?

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Sunday to all (or Monday morning, likely).

Met my parents at Panera Bread so we could take them out for a  bagel for Mother’s Day.

Had a nice chat on this cold and blustery day!  Thanks for having me, Mom!  And thanks to my MIL for having John :mrgreen:

It looks like I have a black eye in this picture LOL!

Unfortunately, I had to work today (as per every Sunday).  At least it was busy.

I made a quick lunch of tuna salad.  Shared a pear with John today instead of eating the whole thing as usual 😀

I would have loved to take another ride today, but it is seriously cold out here.  I don’t even think it got to 50 and it is windy.  There is also a freeze warning for tonight and tomorrow night, so I have to cover up a whole bunch of plants!  Hello May – where are you??

I had a Kind bar for the first time.  They were on closeout at Hannaford for 89 cents each, so how could I pass them up?

Note how you have not seen protein or any other kind of bars on this blog since late February.  I gave them up cold turkey because I was starting to eat them like candy bars.  Not sure if this bar counts or not.  It was quite good.  I need to make my own.

With a latte:

Made with love, per John….

Been really trying to keep from snacking.  I had more than one cookie yesterday 😳   Here are the cupboards with what is currently out of reach for me:

That would be chocolate chips, peanuts, cashews, Kashi cereal, and Sun Chips.  It does work pretty well, surprisingly.

Dinner time!  Did someone say BBQ chicken salad?  Oh, it must have been me.

New birdie has come back to be on the feeder today.  This isn’t a picture I took because he flew away, but it’s a tufted titmouse.

Judy Howle Photo courtesy of NAS

I love my feeders.  They are very entertaining.

Evening sweet:

Plus some unpictured crackers.

Not much wise and wonderful to say today.  My mind is actually fairly calm for a change.  Need to bottle that.  I am hoping to have John’s maintenance post up early this week! I look forward to his answers.

Name that breed!

I took today off of work!  Yippee!  One reason was just to take a break, and the other was to do some doggy stuff.  John and I headed out for Panera Bread for breakfast.  I asked for a chocolate chip bagel, but the guy gave me a cinnamon sugar one.  I usually correct mistakes, but I actually like this bagel, so I kept it.

Then it was time for me to do Pre-novice obedience.  Remember when Storm and I graduated obedience?  Colleen asked if I wanted to do Storm at this show.  It is somewhat informal.  Since I was unable to work with him this last month (thank you, back)  I decided to go for exhibition only, which meant I could correct Storm in the ring.

It was basically walking on lead:

Figure 8s (around people):

Sit/stay:

stand for exam:

The judge telling me Storm was being very good:

First section done. Then we got a slice of pizza because I was sta-harving at this point.  Not as good as John’s from yesterday, but when you are hungry anything tastes good.

Then it was time for the group long sit and lay.  The dog has to sit for 1 minute while you are at the end of the lead.

I have my arms crossed because that is going to be Storm’s ‘stay’ command.  He did good for this, except he should be straight and looking at me instead at other things.  At least he stayed still.

Then it was lay down and stay for 3 minutes.  Long time for a dog.

Storm started getting up after about a minute, so I just had to mash him back into the ground.

Lots of other doggies at this show.  Let’s see how many of these you know.  Answers will be at the very bottom.

A) Remember what kind of dog Storm is?

B)

C)

D) This one is a tough one:

Storm did really well for me, especially since we had an extended break!  He was a very good doggy.

Got home and had another snack, because that pizza didn’t last long.  Hadn’t had enough protein for the day!  So I made 1/2 of a lavash wrap with laughing cow, apple slices, and cooked ham cooked in a pan.

Yum! We stopped at the smokehouse and stocked up on meat.  It is so worth the trip there because everything is fresh, local and inexpensive!

Then it was latte time.

I was feeling pretty snacky today.  Like bottomless pit snacky.  So, I had a pear before dinner.

Usually when it is hot I lose my appetite, but not today.  85 degrees out, can you believe it?  And we had snow on Tuesday.

Dinner time was some breaded pork that John cooked the other day.

With hot sauce.  85 out and I am eating hot sauce??

I have to say it feels great to have a day off of work!  I love not working on Sundays 😀

Think we might go shopping tonight and get some shorts for John.  His are all too big now.  Maybe I’ll get some more for me, too :mrgreen:

Here are the breeds:

A) Clumber Spaniel B) Dandy Dinmont C) Italian Greyhounds D) Cane Corso (Italian mastif)

How did you do?

Closing done!!!!!!

It happened – the closing is done!

But first, I’ll start off the morning.  Had a protein shake and headed out to the gym.  I got my first recognition from the Shape magazine article that was posted there.  One of the employees came up and said “I didn’t know that was you!”  I happened to be wearing the same shirt today that I did in the photo. Funny.  I did 15 minutes on the stationary and then lifted:

  • Chin ups from a box:  3 sets of 3
  • Stiff legged deadlift:  3 sets of 10 at 45#
  • Wide grip lat pull down: 3 sets of 12 at 40#
  • Rail squats:  3 sets of 8 with body weight
  • Bent lateral raise:  3 sets of 12 with 10# dumbbells
  • Planks:  3 sets of 30-second hold (first time back with these!)
  • Nosebreakers:  3 sets of 15 with 20# bar
  • Chest fly:  3 sets of 12 with 15# dumbbells.

Then 10 minutes of treadmill walking and a little more biking.  That was a nice workout.  I then picked up John for bagel time!  See my cool new travel mug?

I finally found one that met my trifecta of requirements:  Dishwasher safe, microwave safe, and a lid I am comfortable with.  Looks like a paper cup.  The best part? It was on sale!!

The lovely bagel, and no – I didn’t eat all that cream cheese.  Just most of it :mrgreen:

My folks joined us today, which is always nice 😀

Talked to the lawyer this morning and the closing was scheduled to happen at noon – see how happy I was to hear that??

Not much notice, though.  Good thing I have a flexie work schedule.

I grabbed piece of toast (John didn’t even eat anything)

and headed out to sign the multitude of papers.  There was a snafu in that our mortgage lender charged a prepayment fee when they weren’t supposed to, so we do need to get that cleared up, but the house is gone!!  Yay!!  I have had this house for 2.5 years.  It was supposed to be a fix and flip, but I got caught with this particular house right when the real estate issues happened with mortgages.  So, I rented it out.  I cannot believe that I am tempted to flip again, too.  I must be totally insane….. totally.

Came home and had a quick bowl of cereal:

Kelloggs Wheat Bran flakes…mmmm… fiber….    It was a ‘grab as you can’ meal day.  Then ran back to the lawyers office with proof of prepayment exclusion and deposited checks (sweet).

Good thing work was slow while I was gone.  John made us celebratory lattes and baked an individual cookie for each of us.

We bought some frozen cookie dough to support our nieces’ school – I know you all have done this 😀 . At least they are individual cookies and not a tub of dough or it would be “hello spoon and couch.”  Pretty good, I have to say.  Nothing like a warm cookie from the oven.

We are treated ourselves out to dinner tonight kind of fancy to celebrate the closing.   I decided on Indian food – yay!  We went to Saratoga to Karavelli.

:clink:

(That’s just water).

Pappadum (lentil crisps) served with a couple dips:

We started with an appetizer called Bhel Poori: Rice puffs, chopped onion, potato, chick peas, coriander leaves and tamarind.

It was so different from what we were expecting. I was thinking rice puff meant something fried, but it was like a cold salad. It was really, really good. A kind of sweet/sour sauce (tamarind) with crispy rice cereal in there. So unusual!

John ordered Lamb Rogan Josh:

Not too spicy at all.  Those are strips of ginger on top.  Yum.

I had the Malai Kofta, which were a paneer cheese rice dumpling in a nut sauce.  They were almost sweet savory, as I tasted cinnamon in them.

Flipping good.  Served with basmasti rice

I really had to control myself with the rice.  I just love white rice and with that sauce it was amazing!  But, I wanted dessert, so had to practice restraint.

I told John to look happy about the house closing:

It looks like there should be a thought bubble over his head, but I don’t know what it would say.  Maybe he is dreaming of the rice above him. LOL!

After dinner, we walked to this place:

I almost never have real ice cream (as you all know I do the frozen yogurt).  I got a kiddie size cup of Maple Blondie: Maple Ice Cream with Blonde Brownie Chunks & a Maple Caramel Swirl.

Dang this was good.  Good thing I got the kiddie size, as it was very rich.  I am satisfied, but not stuffed.

Home now in my jammies and will be getting back to work after hitting publish on this post!  Sorry I haven’t been to blogs – I have not even opened my google reader since yesterday! 😯

Question:  Do you eat Indian food?