Sin. Gotta love it. (Hint sarcasm)
This is where the 3 blogs come together.
I went down to Glendale, KY this past Sunday to hang out with some friends and then listen to my boss speak for an activity at their church.
I had a great breakfast (yogurt, flax seed, pb toast) and then a Clif Nectar bar before church started (I ate early as it was an hour drive). I just didn’t want to be starving by lunch. So, we went to a great Mexican place there that I had been to before – so yummy. Ordered a greasy chicken quesadilla with rice/beans and then devoured the chips and salsa (and queso). That was at 1pm.
Sat in a big chair all afternoon, reading, hanging with kiddos, and talking.
4:45pm – Texas Roadhouse – eating with pastors/friends/families before the event. I should have ordered nothing – but I wasn’t going to do that. I ordered a single chop (grilled porkchop, so good and moist), salad, and fresh veggies. 1 1/2 of their wonderful yeast rolls. By the time I got about 2 bites into the chop, I just knew I couldn’t put anymore in my mouth – no, I did. I ate all but 2 bites of the chop and 3-4 carrots. I looked at the folks around me and just knew I was going to be sick (you know that clammy feeling when you just want to throw up). We got up to leave and I just walked real slow.
By the time we made it to church I was feeling better (I think it was standing up). But, I knew that I had failed again.
I had done no exercise (I chose to sleep in rather than get up and do some yoga). I ate way too much when I wasn’t hungry. I ate out of: free food, good food, gratitude for the free food, didn’t want to stick out and not eat anything, don’t always have chips and salsa, hate leaving food on my plate.
Why do I let my body determine my actions instead of listening to the Spirit and obeying?
Two verses:
1 Cor 6.19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” I know Paul is mostly talking about sexual immorality, but same applies to eating.
Col 3.17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” I was so sick I couldn’t give thanks to God for what He had just provided for me. Nope, all I could do was recognize my sin.
Menu Week: Jan 11
Another week starts – and after everything I ate yesterday I feel like I never wanna eat again – but I already had breakfast so that didn’t last very long.
Here we go:
Smoothies for 5 days for breakfast – green ones. Can’t wait. Starting it off tomorrow morning with one with Becca.
Tonight is arthurs thin with pb and banana (unless I eat my banana early and then it will just be plain).
Tuesday is lunch with my friend Brandi – I just don’t know where yet. Should be yummy no matter what it is!
I won’t be able to get to the grocery store until tomorrow night (Tuesday), so will be doing leftover soup or Progressor Soup till then.
Heading to Bux tonight with a friend so I think I’ll just do water and maybe 1 dark chocolate graham, we’ll see how the day goes.
Recipe of the week out of a magazine is orange blueberry scones – make them for some doctoral students at my work. They should enjoy them.
W-F dinners will be egg white omelette salads with other yummy veggies or beans on them.
I will try making these chick pea burgers probably Wed night. Can’t wait to try them.
Sat and Sunday (Lord willing no 8-9 feet of snow), I’ll make my way to Chicago and Wheaton to hang out with Janel! Whoohoooo! 🙂 I’ve been praying away the snow – at least a lot of it. Good eats up there. If I go, there will be a run down of Chicago eats! If I don’t go, no, we won’t even speculate!
Enjoy! What are you making and eating this week?
Apple Barley Breakfast Cereal (2010.1)
2010 has arrived in full fashion. This year is the year of using all those recipes that I clip out of magazines – I have a TON! So, this week was something for breakfast (or I made it for breakfast).
1/2 cup barley – quick cooking
1 cup water (just follow directions on box)
1 apple (I used braeburn)
1 tsp unsalted butter
sprinkle of cinnamon
1 T lemon juice
1/8 tsp sugar
Cook barley. Saute apple in butter (chopped, I left peel on), sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and stir in lemon juice. Mix all together.
I eat mine cold with 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt on top and some cool whip. Good.
Unfortunately, not very filling which I’m surprised. But, good none the less and relatively healthy.
This recipe came from Cuisine At Home magazine. This definitely wasn’t a keeper – but one to try nonetheless. And gets me trying new grains. And I had everything on hand as well.
Interval Incline Treadmill Workout
Are you one of those people who despise the treadmill like me? Are you looking for new ways to put your coat hanger (you know, that at-home treadmill) to use? Are you wanting to improve your leg strength? Are you wanting to change up your routine? Did it snow outside this week at your house (or just is too cold) so you can’t run outside?
If any of these questions you can answer yes to, then this blog post is for you.
It snowed here 4 inches yesterday, the indoor track at the gym is about 85 degrees (can’t run in that), and I hate treadmills. This is why I love reading other peoples’ blogs!
CarrotsNCake posted a 24- minute treadmill workout on her blog yesterday, just as I was getting off my second job, so I jotted it down and it helped me plow through a treadmill workout. I lengthened it and made it my own at either end – but this is a great one:
Minutes Speed Incline
2 3.0 (warmup) 0
3 4.9 0
3 4.7 1
3 4.5 1.5
3 4.3 2
3 4.2 2.5
3 4.1 3
3 4.0 3.5
3 3.9 4.0
3 3.8 4.5
1 3.5 (cool down) 2.0
The reason this is great:
gets your heart rate up and keeps it there
sweating
kills your legs (shins, calves, quads, and hammies) – and your butt
doesn’t make 30 minutes on the treadmill boring
just over 2 miles
Birthday Eats
no wonder I have a few pounds to shed after a 2 weeks of celebrating my birthday. Look at all the yummy stuff that was put in front of me! 🙂 All was very good. But, my body doesn’t perform well after all that eats – just taught me more lessons!
Baked Ziti, garlic bread, Publix yummy desserts and ice cream (Blue Bell frozen yogurt)
Red Robin
Lynn’s Paradise Cafe
And may or may not have had any york peppermint patties or dark chocolate covered cherries that are in my house! 🙂
But, you only turn 33 once. And I’ve already dissed all those extra pounds – from the bday).
Progresso Souper You Giveaway
Welcome to the first giveaway of the New Year. And if you are like many of Americans that make “health” resolutions at the beginning of every new year, then this giveaway is for you!
Progresso is doing a contest and here is their description of it:
Celebrate the New Year and a new you with Progresso Light and 100 Calorie Soups because from January 4 through March 15th, you and your readers can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to enter the Progresso “Souper You Debut” contest for the chance to win a full makeover in New York City.
Progresso is doing a contest and here is their description of it:
Celebrate the New Year and a new you with Progresso Light and 100 Calorie Soups because from January 4 through March 15th, you and your readers can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to enter the Progresso “Souper You Debut” contest for the chance to win a full makeover in New York City.
My Blog Spark is hosting a giveaway for blog readers! Yesterday, when I got back in the office, I had a huge box waiting for me. It had 15 cans of wonderful, yummy, healthy (some vegetarian), Progresso Soups. I don’t have to buy lunches for a long time (which definitely helps out the checking account)! It also came with a beautiful blue Progresso Soup mug that had a nifty handle that fit one’s thumb perfectly (for quality gripping when you are serving up a hot bowl of soup). Also included, to help with those fitness goals, was an automatic jump rope (which counted the turns for you and other information).
So, if you would like to help out your menu planning, check book, activity calendar, anything, just leave me a message saying what your fave soup is (and if it homemade, please share a recipe, because I love soups). You could win all that was mentioned above. I’ll randomly pick a winner by Sunday night at 9pm. Thanks!
And, while you are on this blog, look over to the right and scroll down – I’ve got some yummy soups on there (I love soups year round!)
Thanks – and happy Soup-ing!
Birthday Musings
(The two pictures were of: a few days before my 32nd bday, and the bottom, yesterday).
Oh, birthdays. Here is it again. I never get concerned about the numbers getting larger, and never eat a whole bday cake to blow out the candles anymore, however, I do use this day as one for contemplation (and fun).
So, many of you say that the one thing you appreciate about me is my honesty, so here goes…
Starting with something good. Ending with something good.
1. God is so good to me. I just finished praying that as I read an email from a friend, wished in someways that my life was like hers, than very grateful that my life is the way God made it and designed for it to be at this moment.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.” – Ps 67.1
2. Solo pictures. FB does this – I promise you! (and yes, I really do love facebook). And my pride does this as well. May God crush that. I hate solo shots. I went to lunch with 2 friends today for my bday and wanted a shot of me at Red Robin. why? To see how I looked. What did I find out – I look alone. My Mom wanted a picture of me for the mantle, my brother took several, they turned out well, but there I will be in a frame by myself. For senior pictures it was ok, but gone are the days of senior pictures.
3. Our bodies age. Ladies – wouldn’t you have loved to be have been Eve (pre-fall)? I mean, come on…walking around naked for the joy of your husband without anything sagging, no gray hairs, no anything out of place, nothing sore, nothing on the mend, no wrinkles, no bags under the eyes, no chin hairs to pull out, no waxing to do. Oh, what joy that would have been. But, the fall. It happened. Eve had to eat. Now, we deal with all these things as we age. And going back to #2, I won’t ever look “prime” for my husband (if God has chosen for me one). I was reminded of that this morning as I was getting ready. In the next 10 years (if the Lord tarries), my eyesight will get worse, I’ll have more gray hair (or spend more money coloring it), will have to spend more on waxing (or become the freak woman at the fair with the beard) – (side note, woman, you all know what I’m talking about). Our bodies are not meant to last forever. This is the effect of sin on us. God has, though, redeemed our bodies and our souls. We are one. I have no clue what our bodies will look like in the afterlife, but I’m glad I won’t have to have a pair of tweezers with me – or concealer.
4. I got a card in the mail from my parents (always signed by my mother, I know): “Parents do not realize when their daughter is a child, how fleeting the moments truly are. And in the blink of an eye the little girl who did pirouettes down the hall is dancing her way through her own life. What a joy it was then, what a joy it is now, what a joy it will always be – having you for a daughter!” Yes, I teared. I wonder though – yes, I know parents are supposed to say that, but then time at home is so different than it is here, we fuss, argue, communicate wrongly, have longings and expectations that aren’t met. I want my parents to always say this of me: “Let your father and mother be glad, let her who bore you rejoice.” Prov 23.25
5. Time is so fleeting. Things are fleeting. Like today – I was so looking forward to eating Red Robin with some friends. 59 fat grams and 740 calories later (I left off bun, mayo, and only ate half of the fries with my bacon cheeseburger) it was gone. Was life any better? No. I just felt yuck for eating all of it (the fries were amazing though). This day is fleeting. Things that I make for people are fleeting, all will rot. Why do I tend to place so much emphasis on things in life. People are more important. I think back to the last few hours I was in Lakeland this time. I wanted to run over (across the pasture) to see my grandparents on our way to Orlando. Christmas Day wasn’t the best for family communication, so I wanted to at least end our time on a happy note. My granny was sitting there shelling pecans, my papa was in his chair reading the paper. I thought to myself, if something happens, I may never see my Papa alive again. To my knowledge he is not a believer (by his own testimony). I cry everytime I leave his sight, and even now as I am writing this. He is such an incredibly gracious man. He taught me to fish, drive a boat, pick grapes, clean a fish, make homemade french fries, and corned beef hash. All those are really important things – right? Not as important as knowing Jesus. The Preacher said a lot of it: “Vanity of vanities…all is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” – Ecc 1.2,3 It is all vanity.
5. Time is so fleeting. Things are fleeting. Like today – I was so looking forward to eating Red Robin with some friends. 59 fat grams and 740 calories later (I left off bun, mayo, and only ate half of the fries with my bacon cheeseburger) it was gone. Was life any better? No. I just felt yuck for eating all of it (the fries were amazing though). This day is fleeting. Things that I make for people are fleeting, all will rot. Why do I tend to place so much emphasis on things in life. People are more important. I think back to the last few hours I was in Lakeland this time. I wanted to run over (across the pasture) to see my grandparents on our way to Orlando. Christmas Day wasn’t the best for family communication, so I wanted to at least end our time on a happy note. My granny was sitting there shelling pecans, my papa was in his chair reading the paper. I thought to myself, if something happens, I may never see my Papa alive again. To my knowledge he is not a believer (by his own testimony). I cry everytime I leave his sight, and even now as I am writing this. He is such an incredibly gracious man. He taught me to fish, drive a boat, pick grapes, clean a fish, make homemade french fries, and corned beef hash. All those are really important things – right? Not as important as knowing Jesus. The Preacher said a lot of it: “Vanity of vanities…all is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” – Ecc 1.2,3 It is all vanity.
6. I finished Genesis this morning. In 4 days I’ve read from Creation to the end of Joseph’s life. I actually liked reading it in this little amount of time because you don’t forget things. I saw many similar topics in Genesis: blessing, presence, covenant, obedience, guidance. “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” Genesis 15.17 (If you don’t know the story behind that verse I chose, please ask me, it was one that makes me cry every time I read it). You know what I remember…my God is very good to me. He created me to have a relationship with him, than…when I messed it up…He pursues me to continue that relationship. (I love the book of Hosea for this very reason.) He called out to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, their mothers, he cries out to me even now. I am so thankful that I have a God who created me in His image, loves me with an everlasting covenantal love, and will never forsake me – even when I am faithless. Praise be to God for another year.
7. And just to let you know – I’m really looking forward to this year. Its going to be amazing. God is so faithful to me. He is so incredibly gracious to me. I look forward to seeing fruit bear in my life from being in His presence. And God has given me gracious and wonderful friends, for whom I am very thankful. All for God’s glory, right! “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” – James 1.17
Menu Week: Jan 4
First menu week of the new year! Happy 2010. I am excited about continuing with my menu planning. Though I don’t stick to it perfectly, it does help with the costs of food. It will also help me with eating more of a vegetarian diet and not wasting as much food. Up for more challenges during 010!
Monday: Birthday (hint: not vegetarian): Red Robin (not lowfat either). But, I only go 1-2 times a year, I enjoy it, I eat healthy the rest of the day, and I exercise. I don’t feel bad about it. Bring on my free birthday burger!
Thursday: lunch with a friend, but in order to save some money, I’ll be bringing my leftovers to enjoy.
Saturday: coffee out with a friend, or maybe dinner.
Sunday: in E-town all day so will be enjoying lunch with friends.
Here is what I am making this week: and leftovers I have:
Leftovers: Easy Ranch Can Chicken Chili (also not vegetarian, but lean chicken and mostly veggies), chopped chicken, mustard greens
What I am cooking: bran cran-apple muffins, garlicky pinto beans (from Real Simple and Carrots N Cake), sweet potato fries.
To supplement: greens, fresh cara cara oranges from the home in Lakeland, the last asian pear, oats, more veggies I can find on sale at Walmart and WF, carrots and probably some hummus I will make (must buy tahini as I had tahini explosion in my suitcase).
Love a new beginning – new sense of direction and optimism and time of detox after eating way too much for the holidays. More pictures coming this week too. My internet at home will be spotty now till the end of March, so you’ll have to bear with me – pictures may be slow in coming, but they will come – I promise!
Easy Ranch Can Chili
This is a great recipe for a cold night, busy night, for those of you who like to cook, but don’t like to cook. I altered this recipe from the Butterfly Garden Cafe cookbook (a tea room/restaurant here in Louisville). You can easily make this vegetarian by just omitting the chicken.
Needed:
a knife
a cutting board
a big pot
a spoon
a can opener
Ingredients:
spray pam (or for more fat – evoo or butter)
1 onion, chopped
1 can each: pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans. All undrained
1 can each: diced tomatoes, rotel (if you want it hotter – get hot rotel)
1 can corn, drained
2 cups cooked diced chicken
2 cups water
1 pkg each: ranch salad dressing mix, 1 red-sodium taco seasoning mix
Saute onion for 3-4 minutes. Add rest. Let cook together for about 30 minutes. Serve with your favorite taco toppings: cheese, sour cream, corn chips, tortilla chips, salsa, avocado, etc.
Makes a ton – at least 12 1-cup servings, probably more. So easy, freezable, healthy.
2010 Goals
People have asked me how I can keep up with 3 blogs. I would love to make one website with all of them like hers, but blogger is free and i will do this for the time being. Maybe I can work on investigating hosting my own website this year?
This has been a great year. I’ve done a lot of things. I ran my first 5k in March of 2009. I also ran more 5k, a 10k, a half marathon. I biked, swam, ran, walked, did a lot of yoga, jillian’s 30 day shred, bob’s yoga for weight loss, and many other things. I am pleased with how 2009 ended – being my lowest weight and losing the most weight that I remember. But, that doesn’t mean i can stop…I must keep going. Here are my 2010 goals for the health issues in my life:
1. Run 2 5ks. I will run one of them in Louisville in March. I want to beat my 35.49 time of my last 5k this past Thanksgiving. I will choose one more to run. Why aren’t I running more? That comes into money – see my goal on my Thoughts blog for more on that.
2. I want to run 2 Half Marathons. I really liked the half I ran last year in Louisville and it was quite challenging. I am thinking about these three (choosing 2 of them): Downhill at Dawn in June at Ridgecrest, VA Beach Half in September, and the Raleigh City of Oaks Half in November. Any training partner out there? Anyone wanna run one or both of them with me?
3. Keep researching. I love reading about health and nutrition. I want to post one thing a week about something I’ve read – whether in a magazine or a book or on a blog. This will keep me learning.
4. I want to lose another 5-10%. Most people don’t think I need to lose more, but I see myself naked (TMI) and I know I need to lose some more. And then maintain that forever!
5. Yoga/Pilates. This will help with stretching and being more flexible. Some folks have a problem with me doing yoga as a Believer. But, i see no problem with it. God made our bodies. When I am doing programs that call for “listening to your bodies” I quote Scripture or pray. I did a 20 minute session this morning and definitely felt stronger and better after it. I want to start my days doing this – to help wake up! My goal is to do 5 sessions a week. Any cool downloads out there that are free – I did yoga download dot com this morning and that was pretty good.
6. Toning. I love being stronger – and my jeans and skirts fit better. I want to keep doing this. Whether it is doing Jillian more, or bootcamp, or hitting the gym some at the beginning of the year, and I know running and yoga/pilates will help with that. I want stronger arms, core, and legs.
So, in three things: running, yoga/pilates, toning. Plain and simple. At least I can’t gain, right! 🙂