Tag Archives: Pumpkin

Can I rest now, please?

I am so tired! I decided last night to let myself take a day off from exercise today and sleep in a little, which was kind of nice 😀

I was out late last night doing dog training and then shopping for that last minute outfit.  FYI – we don’t own a dog, just this goober:

I am helping my sister do obedience with one of her Clumber Spaniels.  I somehow volunteered myself for this…. It’s every Wednesday night.  My parents are also there with their new lab Lizzie.

I made up pumpkin custard oats for breakfast today.  I will do a step-by-step post for this on Friday.

Yum!  Worked in the morning until it was time to meet the photographer.  I have decided not to post actual photos of the shoot itself, as I don’t want the publisher to get upset.  They did not tell me not to post anything, but probably prudent not to.  Here are just a few of getting ready:

Colleen met me there to take pictures for me!  Yay!  John came as well.  2 ladies in their early 40s, can’t you tell?

The photographer, whose name is Sara, brought along a makeup artist 😯  Wasn’t expecting that.  I was freaking out that it was too much makeup:

Eeek!  I’m all worried here.

I put my foot down on the lipstick, though.  Who wears lipstick to the gym?

I had a very good time – it was fun when we got started.  Once the issue comes out, I’ll share pictures of the goings on.  Sorry!  Here I am chatting with Sara:

I’m talking to her about taking pictures.  I was drooling over her camera! Sara does a lot fitness editorials, although much swankier than my gym based on her website!  She was fun to work with and very nice.  I think she is someone I would like to hang out with if she didn’t live in NYC!

Then it was back to work.  Although I never look like this going to work:

Could I make my eyes any bigger? :mrgreen:  John was saying how strange it looked to see me so made up.  I am an au naturale girl, for the most part.

Sigh…..  Hopefully things will calm down a bit now.  Life has been topsy-turvy since the end of January! Trying to work full time on top of all this has been really hard.  I am going to have to work on Friday, which means another short weekend for me.

John was given the message to take me out to dinner because I was all tarted made up.  So we went out for a super expensive cheap pizza joint dinner:

Broccoli and cheese wheat pizza wrap.  Yay!  I got in my broccoli 😀

FYI – The 100 tips from 100 losers are up on the Dr. Oz website.  Follow these tips, people.  Advice given from those who walk the talk!  Tip #2 – gotta love it!

Routines are good and it is going to feel really good to get back into my normal.  My life has been so incredibly full lately.  I am really looking forward to just going out for some coffee with John, sitting quietly and talking this weekend.

Need to work for a while tonight, then it will be electric blanket, flannel jammies, and the olympics!  How’s that for relaxation?

Question:  How do you relax?

I am normal

Happy Monday!  Waving ‘hi’ to all the new readers – there have been a ton over the past week!

It felt really good to hit the gym today.  I did a power lifting workout!

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 2, 1 set of 1
  • Squats:  3 sets of 8 with 85# barbell

Superset:

  • Stationary lunge:  3 sets of 8 with 20# DBs
  • Lat pull down:  3 sets of 8 at 60#

Superset:

Superset:

  • Decline sit ups: 3 sets of 10 (hard!!)
  • Dumbbell pliet squat:  3 sets of 10
  • Lower back extension:  3 sets of 10 at 100#

Then I rode the stationary bike for 30 minutes.  My legs were pretty tired, so no running today.

I was pretty hungry for a filling breakfast, so I made pumpkin custard oats!

With the egg whites added, it was just like pumpkin pie with oats!  Nom, nom.

So, when I referenced the other day about how meeting all of the 100+ pound losers last week, I ended up learning something I was not expecting.  I am normal!

We all walk around with the baggage of our entire lives, and that is what colors our view of ourselves.  I cannot erase the fact that I grew up overweight or spent the majority of my adult life as an overweight person.  That is who I was and when I think of myself, that is part of the package.

It really struck me in the lobby of the hotel when we were waiting to go to the taping that you couldn’t even tell that anyone had been morbidly obese just by looking at them.  We all looked like regular anypeople.  I’m not sure what I was expecting.  Maybe because I feel like I have a neon sign above me that says I lost 100 pounds that I assume others will know that about me when they see me.  Even a perfect stranger.  How weird is that?  Even during the taping, it was so hard to look at everyone and really believe they looked like their before pictures at any time, and yet the proof was right there.  After we had gotten moved to the 2nd hotel after taping, I was in the lobby changing into boots to brave the snow.  There was a woman there who asked what we were all there for.  I explained about it, and she said I looked great and you wouldn’t know it.  That really, really made me look differently about myself.  I look normal!

Maybe now I will be able to see that for myself.

I’ll skip over lunch and the snack and present to you my hughjass salad for dinner!

Typical BBQ sauce chicken (told you I was on a kick) with feta and almonds.  I really love that combo.  You can almost see the 3 clementines I had with dinner, too, on the side.  Also note it is getting lighter near dinner time, so the lighting will be improving for pictures – yay!

I finished up work early because we were so busy today.  I ended going shopping tonight and came home empty handed.  Don’t you hate it when you have a mission for something very specific and can’t find it anywhere?  That was me.  I did, however, come home with this:

And I came home to the smell of gumbo.  John started cooking that in preparation for our Mardi Gras dinner tomorrow.  Everyone got their beads??

Question:  Do you think you see yourself as others do?

5HTP and sleep!

Another good night of sleep.  Maybe there is something to the 5HTP stuff, but more on that later….  At the gym a little early and had a great work out.  After a warm up, I hit the weights:

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 3, 1 set of 2.
  • Barbell deadlift/row combo:  3 sets of 10 at 55 pounds
  • Incline dumbbell bench press:  3 sets of 8 with 25# DBs
  • Reverse lunge with dumbbell on shoulder:  3 sets of 10 with 20# DB
  • Bent over cable row:  3 sets of 15 at 50#
  • Reverse crunches:  3 sets of 15

Ah yes, chin ups much better doing first!  While I am really slow at increasing the number, I have realized that I am actually performing them easier.  My body swings much less, which means I am using more strength rather than momentum to hoist myself up.  That’s a good thing!

Hopped on the treadmill and did a walk/run combo with 2 miles of running.  Felt pretty good!  I stayed on the treadmill for  a little longer before heading out to bagels.  With John sitting on the jury, he wasn’t able to join me, but my folks did!  Yay for family time :mrgreen:

Do you ever have those times where you just feel overwhelmed with life stuff?  Not all bad stuff, but just overwhelmed?  I am having that right now.  Seems like there is some intersecting of a lot of things all at once and I feel like I am juggling 20 balls in the air.  Again, most of it is good, but it’s still stressful.

Lunch break was some pseudo-overnight oats.  After I got back from the gym, I mixed some multigrain hot cereal with vanilla greek yogurt and let that sit in the fridge.  Mixed in some pumpkin, cinnamon, and flax seed:

Pretty good.  Very thick and chewy!  This will be made in the summer, I think.

Anyway, regarding 5-HTP, here is a little more about it. 5-HTP is short for 5-hydroxy-tryptophan.  Tryptophan is that amino acid that is supposed to help you release serotonin and get sleepy (turkey dinner, anyone??).  5-HTP is actually a precursor to serotonin and reportedly helps your body make more of it, which can allow for easier sleep.  It is supposedly plant derived, but I can’t seem to find out exactly what without having to weed through a lot of the sales pitches on websites for this stuff.  There is a lot of drivel out there (like with any supplement).  Some clinical trials have shown benefit to 5-HTP, although not as much as some websites would have you believe.  I have been taking this for the past several days (bought from Puritan’s Pride) 100 mg about 20-30 minutes before bedtime.  I have found that I have slept through the night, or if I did wake up, I fell right back asleep (from what I remember anyway).  I don’t know how much of this is due to the placebo effect or if it actually is doing something.

The added benefit to getting a good night’s sleep?  Less snacky during the daytime!  🙂  Some people report side effects of nervousness or headaches with 5HTP – so please don’t take anything I say as medical advice!

Speaking of snack…. I had a raspberry Attune bar today with my latte.

Jeez I really like these.  Good thing they are a little on the pricey side or I would eat a lot more of them.  Wonder if I could get them to sponsor me?  🙂

We bought some frozen salmon filets that have a southwestern coating on them to try for dinner.  I was pretty skeptical because most fish tastes… well, fishy to me.  I know that sounds funny, but it’s true!   Tuna tastes the most fishy, but I expect that from tuna.

I actually think I liked this!  It didn’t taste fishy at all to me.  This little filet is packed with 25 grams of protein, too.  Woo Hoo!  Roasted brussels and a pear to compliment.  Had a lot of those superfoods today.

I actually have to do more work tonight.  Vacation can’t come soon enough!

Question:  What is your favorite fish?

Fab Friday and orange super foods!

Yay!  My first day of the weekend.  I was up early, though.  Ooops.  I was at the gym before 7 a.m.!  I decided to start with some stationary bike.  We got talking about our planned 100-mile ride this summer and it got me itching for my bike.  Come on spring!

After a little warm-up biking, I hit the weights.

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 2
  • Barbell deadlift row combo:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds

Supersets:

  • 1-arm dumbbell snatch:  3 sets of 8 at 15 pounds
  • Pliet squats:  3 sets of 8 holding a 35 pound dumbbell

Supersets:

  • T-push ups:  3 sets of 3
  • Bent over dumbbell row

Then I walked on the treadmill for a while.  It was snowing this morning and I had the gym to myself all morning.  Nobody likes to work out on Friday morning.  I just chatted with one of the employees, and it was a relaxing workout.

Came home to John making pumpkin waffles, so I couldn’t turn down the orange super food pumpkin that was left!  I made pumpkin oats with cranberry sauce and toasted pecans.

I am too embarrassed to say how many cans of pumpkin I have collected to hoard.  It should last me to fall at any rate 😳

In weekend fashion, I had the TV on and ate breakfast on the couch.  Now I know why we don’t normally have the TV on in the morning – it’s a vast wasteland…..

I snapped this cute picture of Pixie.  Looks like she is telling me that John is her property!

I made the best nut butter today.  I toasted up 12 oz of pecans and put them in the food processor with 1 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 tsp of cinnamon.  The great thing about pecans is that you never have to add oil to get nut butter.  It tastes like a praline to me:

Yum!!!!  I also used some of this nut butter to make my granola bars.  I cut this recipe in half and did not use raisins or chocolate chips.  These are a good snack, I have to say.

After lunch (which included orange super food carrots!), I spent a relaxing afternoon at the library.  I brought home something like 8 books. 🙂  The library is near the cafe, so I walked over to have a skim latte:

And read one of said books:

If you are a woman thinking about getting into running, or if you already are, this is a good book to read.  It really goes into more than just the mechanics of running, but what it does for your self-esteem.  I have to say that what I have been doing with running going from C25K to much longer runs and races has done so much to build self-confidence and to allow me to not be selfconscious anymore.  I can go out in my tight trisuit and run and not worry about any loose skin, or unshaven legs (oh yeah!), or frighteningly pale upper arms, which you can probably see from space….   It doesn’t matter if a fast mile for me is several minutes slower than someone else’s, because I am doing it for me.  It doesn’t have to be running either.  I feel the same about biking and lifting!  It’s all about finding something you like and sticking with it.

If you give yourself a chance, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. Be defined by what you do, not what you weigh.

I decided on more orange superfoods for dinner and had 1/2 a sweet potato spread with laughing cow and topped with sauteed broccoli ( yes Fran – I do love my broccoli :mrgreen:  )and a piece of Canadian bacon (for protein).

Interesting combo and pretty tasty.  I think I actually prefer sweet potatoes in savory dishes.

I asked John if it was too early to get into my flannel jammies, and he said I should at least wait until after dinner, so I am off to change!  It’s snowing out and perfect blanket, jammy, video game night.  Am I age 14 or 70???

Question:  Do you eat sweet potatoes?  Savory or sweet (or both)?

Waffles and workout video

Monday and back to work for most people, although I started back yesterday.  My Broncos are done for the year…. sigh….  time to put away the fan apparel for the year (except the snuggie – too cold to put that away).  Now I need to root on my adopted team – The Saints!

Headed out to the gym this morning after a date with nut butter on it for a snack.  We got a box of those big medjool dates rather than the Dole ones we usually get.  Why did no one tell me how delicious they are??  I had no idea!

Anyhoo – here is today’s lifting workout – aka workout A:

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 2
  • Barbell deadlift row combo:  3 sets of 8 at 65 pounds

Supersets of these 2 moves:

  • 1-arm dumbbell snatch:  3 sets of 8 at 15 pounds
  • Pliet squats:  3 sets of 8 holding a 35 pound dumbbell

Alternating sets:

  • T-push ups:  3 sets of 3
  • Bent over dumbbell row

Here is a video of the T-push up.  Basically you start as a normal push up, then rotate the body so you are perpendicular to the floor and reach out the other arm to the ceiling.  1 set is a right and left push up.  These are pretty hard.  Turn down the sound button, btw…

In viewing this video, I see I need to rotate my legs more.  It’s also like the anonymous workout – I could have at least smiled for you guys or even looked at the camera! 😳

Did some cardio on the stationary bike and then came home to waffle goodness!

Used my protein pancake recipe (with 2 egg whites instead of 1 egg).  Topped with a mix of 1/4 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt and 1/4 cup of pumpkin with a dollop of cranberry sauce.

I vote this Yum+!!

Seems like most of you like Indian food.  Yay!  The nice thing about going to an Indian restaurant is that there is a huge variety of food to satisfy anybody from a vegetarian to a meat eater.  That can be tough when choosing places to eat out at with a large group.

Speaking of Indian, I had the leftover dal from yesterday made it really multicultural for lunch with a mix of Greek and Mexican!  I put the rest of the dal in a tortilla with a bit of brown rice and some feta cheese and heated it up in the microwave.

It was delicious!  I need to make more lentils to have on hand.

I did well not snacking today.  I am sitting here with my Beck cards and the one for me that says “It’s okay to be hungry.”  I have a little trouble with that, but I went from latte time to dinner without snacking.  Go me!  Okay, so it’s only 2.5 hours, but hey – gotta start somewhere!  Think I might discuss this tomorrow in a post.

John cooked up a couple burgers for dinner, which I have rarely, as you know.

This tasted so good!  I put some laughing cow cheese on top and hot sauce!  Loves me some hot sauce.  I think it is my favorite condiment.

I can’t believe there is no more Monday Night Football!  Now is the time when we start wandering around wondering what to do with ourselves LOL

Want to win some Dave’s Killer Bread? Check out Kristi’s giveaway!

Tomorrow is run day at the gym.  Trying to decide how long I want to go for…..

Question:  What is your favorite condiment?

Reindeer Run 5K and cookie time!

Up early this morning, although not that early since the race was pretty close to home.  I woke up around 6:40.  Made a delicious prerace breakfast:

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  • cream of wheat
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin
  • cinnamon
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • cranberry sauce and almond butter on top.

So good and really good race fuel.  With cafe au lait.

The temperature was about 30 or 32, and not windy, although it was cloudy.  Definitely waaaay better than the 15 degrees last year!

Here I am with my sister and niece (who did Girls on the Run):

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This is why you should always watch what you are doing.  I had no idea I was being videoed here:

Okay – ready to start any time!  I was cold!

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My goal was to shoot for 29:30.  The race started on a hill, but I moved to the edge so I could pass people.  It was good in that I happened to be in front of the clot of people, so I didn’t get slowed down by this.  I had my pace music on, and my idea was to play a 6.5 mph pace and run that 3 times for 5 minutes each to hit my goal.  It worked pretty well.  When I did the faster speed, I was passing people right and left, which was kind of fun!  The time went by so fast.  It was a flat course, other than the first hill.  On my last pace segment, I accidentally hit the wrong button on my player and ended up on Sweeney Todd, so I couldn’t go back to it.  I just tried to play the music in my head and go.  I ran really hard at the end and saw I was close to hitting my goal.  I crossed in 29:32!  I was really happy with that!

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30 degrees and soaked in sweat! 🙄  Can I tell you how much I love this jacket?  I hope it never wears out.

One thing about the Adirondack Runners – they know how to put on a spread after races.  This was 1 of *3* tables of  stuff:

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Someone whose name begins with L and ends with I managed to eat back all her race calories and more at this table!  Sooo good.  I can get helpless after working hard when I want food.

After the race and after all of us went for coffee, my mother and I went to a country art/craft show.  It was pretty neat – it was out in the country, and it was a bunch of homes that had artists and craftspeople showing their wares.  Lots of driving, but so pretty and fun.  I had some serious house jealousy!  Plus it started snowing!

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Our first real snow of the season.  Each of these places had cookies and drinks, too.  I was fueled by cookies today!  I never even had lunch, either.

Ornament of the day:

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Tuba ornaments are for John.  He is a tuba/trombone player and was at school in Colorado getting a masters in composition when I was working on my doctorate.  That’s how we met, by being put together in a graduate brass quintet! 😀

John made a whole wheat pizza that is in the oven for dinner!  Have a great night!

Chin up success!!

Thanks again for all of you offering to send me pumpkin LOL!  We have 5 4 cans left.  No worries, we find more 😀

I was just going to hit the treadmill today, but then I decided to dink around with weights.  I missed my lifting and it’s been 10 days, so that is long enough of a break!

I decided to start with a chin up.  Funny thing is, I have never actually tried one to see if I could do it.  I just did the negative ones in the NROLW book.  It was so hard to lower myself slowly that I never thought to just try pulling myself up.   🙄   So, I grabbed the bar and gave it a try.  I actually did it!  I was shocked!  I tried another one, and it was successful, but I had to swing my body and use momentum to get up there, so I won’t count that one.  Yes!! 1 chin up :mrgreen:

Then I did the following:

40 minutes on the treadmill later and it was home to lunch!  I opened one of said pumpkin cans and made some pumpkin oats with cranberry sauce!

oats1130Plus cafe au lait….. yum…..

Lots more paperwork for my refinance.  The appraisal didn’t come in quite where we wanted it on the rental property, so we have to bring some money to closing to cover costs.   I was hoping it would appraise high enough to roll those costs in. You need a 75% LTV ratio for investment properties.  That’s okay, though – the amount we will be saving in interest will  recoup that in 10 months.   I just wish they would all get on the same page, you know?  If you have a tandem group working on the application, don’t each person call me with the same questions!  😡

Lunch was protein packed with some plain FF greek yogurt, vanilla protein powder, strawberries and some of my cranapple spice granola

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This was a cold lunch, though – and it’s cold and drizzly here!  I had a chill all afternoon.

I have a sweet tooth today, so I satisfied it with some dark chocolate and Fiber Select Wheat Thins with my latte:

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I so love sweet/salty combinations.

We had dinner cooking all day in the crockpot.  I put some boneless pork chops and BBQ sauce in the crockpot and cooked on low all day.  The meat was quite good and tender.  Maybe a touch dry.

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Nothing a little extra sauce can’t take care of.  The comice pear was soo good today, too!   Some pears are really good and some aren’t, and you never know until you bite into it.

Working a little later tonight as we are just getting files back up to speed after the holiday.  Then it is watching MNF – Go Saints!!!  New Orleans is my 2nd favorite football team, cause I love N’awlins so (2 months until we are there, too!!).

This is how dedicated a kitty mom I am – do I have the cat move? No – I sit on the edge of the chair so I don’t bother her:

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John took this pic as I am writing this post!

Question:  Those of you with pets, do you hate to disturb them?

Thanksgiving Eve

Well, tomorrow is the big day!  It seems as though people are either excited about Thanksgiving or panicked about it.  Too many people letting the thought of too much food get in the way of the real spirit of sharing with friends and family.  My personal philosophy is to have a plan, but if I don’t stick to it entirely, it’s not a big deal.  One day of eating too much won’t put on 100 pounds.  If you do eat  – please enjoy it and don’t feel guilty about it!  Be kind to yourself. It’s just food.

More thanks to be had:

  • I love the US.  Yes, there are problems here, but freedom is something to be very, very thankful for.
  • I am thankful that my body has forgiven me for the way I treated it all those years!
  • I am thankful for nature and all of its beauty that I take in through my bike rides and my garden.
  • I am thankful for all of the friendships that I have made through the internet that wouldn’t have been possible before!

No workout today, just a 2 mile walk.  We were going to run the Turkey Trot 5K tomorrow, but they aren’t taking race day registration!  Plus I was thinking about how it would be $50 for us to do the run (for both of us).   So, instead I am going to hit the gym and treadmill it for 5 miles.

Now on to the eats!  It’s Wednesday, so you know what that means:

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The cafe was in the holiday spirit.  Not sure what this is, but it’s kind of cute.

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Work is soooo busy now.  I definitely will have work to do tomorrow.   I took a break for a quick lunch:

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Egg sammie.  It was supposed to be turkey, but the lunch meat smelled bad so I had to quick substitute since I had already toasted the waffles!  (Some pretty lame carrot sticks, there, too).

Last night, John went out to play poker and stopped at a mom and pop grocery store and look what he scored for me!!!

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😀 I loves my hubby.

Snack attack:

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Nestle has made a mint and dark chocolate mix 😯   You know these are up high out of reach…..  With Wheat Thins for that salty/sweet crunch!

Just to show I do eat them, I had a salad for dinner!  Cooked chicken breast with barbeque sauce, slivered almonds, and a sprinkle of feta cheese.  It was really good!

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BTW – the granola bar recipe from yesterday is here:  I added chocolate baking cocoa and instant coffee to it.

Going to hit Starbucks tonight for a little R&R after John bakes his sweet potato cheesecake.  I am really looking forward to tomorrow, even though I will be working at my sister’s house.  I can flex my hours, so I will spend a good deal with family.  My Broncos also play as well.  Hope they don’t lay a turkey 😆

Raise your hand if you think there will be food photos galore tomorrow!

Have a spectacular Thanksgiving (or regular Thursday LOL)!

Being thankful week.

Thank you for all of your input on canning/storing pumpkin!  I can’t believe that some of you have lots of pumpkin in your stores!  I think part of it is how much pumpkin gets sent to small towns in upstate NY versus other parts of the country.  My sister is on the lookout in Saratoga tonight, hope she finds some.  I appreciate the offer that some of you made for yours LOL!  Makes me sound like an addict or something. 😳

No lifting this week since I finished NROLW on Friday.  Decided on a run, but I wanted to get it done with this morning and below freezing was just too much for me, so I popped on down to the gym to dreadmill it.  I knocked out 5 miles and it felt great!  I think I am going to incorporate speedwork this winter.

Came home to a hot and warm bowl of pumpkin cream of wheat (this is our home cooked pumpkin):

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Topped with apple butter and toasted almonds.  Yum!

It seems as work will be busy for most of the week after all.  That’s a good thing, as when it is slow, I don’t get paid! That means that I likely will have enough work on Thanksgiving itself, too.  I will have to take the laptop to my sister’s to work while there.  At least I get paid extra 🙂

I have decided that over the next few days I am going to list some of the things I am thankful for this year, as it is the season!  I am thankful for:

  • My health
  • John
  • My family
  • My job, and the fact that I can work at home.
  • Where I live.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Lunch was using up some fridge stuff.  I did an open face tuna sandwich on a waffle.

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That is chocolate PB2 on the side there for that apple.

In one of my quests for being organized and productive, I have an epic fail at my desk.  Normally I don’t work at my desk (ironic, I know), but I had to plug directly into the internet instead of working wireless because my port is being funny.  Here is a picture of my desk (with latte and granola bar).

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Kind of embarrassing!  😳 And that is just one side LOL

Wrap for dinner.  It was too full and I couldn’t even wrap it fully!  Stuffed with broccoli, chicken and laughing cow cheese.  So good.

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I even color coordinate dessert!  This piece of Bliss matches my shirt!

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I just got an email from Olympus tonight and my camera is on its way back to me!  Yay!  I should have it by Thanksgiving and then I can get back to those in-your-face macro shots 😆

Question:  Do you have much time off this week?

Bagels and no more pumpkin!

Thanks for your comments on yesterday’s post.  I felt a little silly actually putting that out there, but there it is!  I’m back to my usual self today 😎

You know what Sunday morning is!  Gingerbread…

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And here is proof that I actually eat these things:

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Chomp!!  Still sticking by my Broncos – even though they stink!!

It’s quite a nice day today.  Upper 40s and sunny.  John hung up the outside lights, although they won’t get turned on until Thanksgiving.  Best to do those when the weather is nice, right?

I worked steadily all morning and was very productive.  I don’t know how busy this week will be with the holiday coming up, but hospitals don’t close.  One of my clinics will be closed, but not the 2 hospitals.  I actually am scheduled to work on Thanksgiving (because hospitals don’t close…), but it will likely be very unbusy.

Felt like some good protein for lunch, and made a smoothie:

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  • 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
  • 1 banana
  • 1 serving of chocolate PB2
  • oat fiber
  • ice cubes.

This was thick and delicious!  I don’t usually drink my lunch, but this kept me full for a long time.

I would have made a pumpkin smoothie, but stores around here are officially out.  We shopped last night and there were signs up that there would be no more pumpkin (Libby’s or OnePie brands) until fall of 2010!  I have 1 can on my shelf at home, and we have a couple of pie pumpkins to cook up.  I know you can’t freeze the canned stuff, but does anyone know if you can freeze the home cooked pumpkin?  Not sure I want to waste it LOL!  We are going to pick up more pie pumpkins this week.  Maybe we will give canning a shot. 😯

Afternoon snack with my latte:

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I finished up work very early WooHoo!!  John and I took a nice 2 mile walk for an active recovery day today before dinner.  Chilly, but that makes you walk brisk 😀

Leftovers for dinner:

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Plus a delicious kiwi.  This kiwi had a label that it is from the US.  Where do kiwis grow in the US, anyone know?  This was a little more tart than the NZ kiwis, and I quite liked it.  Num, num.

Question:  Have you ever canned anything or did your family?