Always learning

When I went for my first kayak session on Kauai, I was given the quickest of lessons.  The dude showed me the back of the paddle and said "these are the spines of your paddle...you don't see your own spine and you don't want to see the spine of your paddle."  If he said anything else more meaningful, I must not have heard it because of the gruesome images popping into my head.  I'm pretty sure though that it was just a haphazard demo of the paddles going into the water.  With that, he shoved me down the chute and I was off into the canal to the Hanalei.  I was so blissed out that I was actually within the weight limit to do it that I didn't care if I was doing it right or not.  When we went a few days later, he asked if we needed a lesson and I told him we rented there earlier in the week.  I should've said yes so I could glean more than the whole spine reference.  But the Mr and I plowed on and headed out.  (To see this adventure from the Mr's point of view, click here.)

This time was much more difficult because the trade winds really kicked up big time.  (They always seem to kick up the last two days of our time there.)  Well, I fought like hell against that current on the Hanalei and thought we'd get a nice break on the way back in.  I was wrong.  The winds shifted and we had it blowing at us going both ways.  Eff you mother nature!  Once the Mr was on the paddling bandwagon, I figured the most important lesson was not to see my paddle spines and I'd done it twice without incident so I was now a paddler.  After the third time taking my own out for what should've been a leisurely paddle with light winds at sunset, the next day left me so sore I could barely lift my arms.  I remember sitting here when finally reaching the bridge and while I enjoyed the sunset thinking I seriously didn't know how my arms were going to get me back to the boat launch about half a mile away.

"How the hell am I going to get back?  Maybe the Mr can tow me on his paddle board?"

I felt that surely there was an easier way than getting pissed off and digging into the water in a rage when I wanted to move at a decent pace.  I wanted the representation of what our paddles were like in pictures to actually be as peaceful as they looked.

So I headed over to YouTube to see what I was doing wrong, how to improve my experience and you know, not end up with a scathing case of tendinitis of the wrist or pop my shoulder out of socket.  I found this video and this video to be quite helpful.  Apparently the spine thing, while important, should've been the last thing I was told because he basically glazed over everything that was important.

If you don't have time to watch the videos, here are the things I am taking forward from them and a few forums run by instructors.

1) Make sure the whole blade goes into the water.  I had a habit of doing the same thing with paddle boarding and not fully getting the paddle under the water.  I know this sounds like a no brainer but sometimes when I was fully underwater with it, I felt like I was doing something wrong and I was which brings me to...

2)  Engage in full torso rotation.  Put the blade in the water close to the location of the ankles, turn as you pull back and lift the blade up just past the hips, not at the hips making sure to follow through like this on each stroke.  You should be paddling with your abs and obliques, not your shoulders.

3)  Posture should be straight up and down with the shoulders slightly ahead of the hips to stop the shoulders and upper back from becoming strained.  (Raising hand)

4)  No death grip on the paddle and relaxed shoulders.

Yeah...those seemed like important points to make for a first timer and would've been appreciated. So now I have to correct what I've been doing wrong.  I'm glad I thought to look up all of this stuff when my body was saying "look sistah, something ain't right here because you threatened to punch the Mr in the gullet if he mentioned kayaking again within 30 minutes of getting home."

I am a typically stubborn person (shocking, I know) but when it comes to taking on a new hobby/sport at my age, I don't want to do something that will potentially injure me.  I am looking forward to putting these techniques to work so I can improve and hopefully make this more enjoyable with less pain the following day.

When you don't know how to do something, do you turn to videos to help you learn a new activity, recipe, etc or just wing it and hope everything turns out okay?

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Scouting new places and a last minute calorie burner

I'm sitting here totally crapped out from my workout last night and I can't even recall what we did Saturday.  Let me ask the Mr.  We grabbed lunch and came back to the house.  The Mr wanted to go to look at a camera we're considering at Best Buy but of course they didn't have it in stock there.  I hate going there.  If they supposedly don't work off of commission then why do they feel like the equivalent of a car lot?  They stalk you at every turn.  LET ME LOOK AT MY LEISURE!

Then off to World Market.  They're having a pretty good sale on the Hawaiian stuff for the summer and if I hadn't already stocked up on the Hawaiian Sun juice, I would've bought more.  Then over to Trader Joe's and Target for groceries.  We had dinner and binge watched Celebrity Mole - Hawaii. (affiliate link)  What can I say, I miss the place.  

Woke up Sunday and made a nice brunch of an omelet, homemade hash browns, bacon, toast and a side of fruit.  I knew we'd be skipping lunch so I wanted to fuel up.  When we were out, we stopped for a small cone at DQ and you never know what you'll see in your side view mirror...

We decided to scout out some places to launch the yak/board around town.  We came across this river.

But something tells me launching from this particular spot would be gross.

We had more grocery shopping to finish up so off to a store in the city where I like to buy my cage free/no antibiotic eggs for a decent price.  I'm amazed at how clear the whites are and how much more yellow the yolks are.  That wasn't all I picked up though.  I was seduced by apricot fig chicken sausage, $4.99 ground chicken breast meat, fresh made mozzarella and maple turkey lunch meat.  I'll be using those all very soon.  I saw a sale on my Andalou Naturals night cream I've been wanting so I snatched that, put it back, snatched it, put it back and the Mr grabbed it.  

Ooh!  New Sensation by INXS is on!  "Live baby live now that the day is oh-vah!"  Oops, sorry.

So when we were done, the Mr asked what I wanted to do for a workout and I said let's go paddling.  I'd checked the radar, no rain, it was 72 degrees and 6mph winds.  So he went to work on a new video while I got dinner together.  Afterward, it was time for a sunset paddle.

We were packing up the car at 9pm!

Now I can barely lift my arms 1535 calories later.

What did you guys do this weekend?

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Post paddle weigh in

Welp, I'm down 4 lbs this week and the Mr is down 2 lbs.

We'll definitely take that.

I still have 4 more to go to get vacation weight off so I'm behind schedule as I wanted it off by this weigh in.  My body not cooperating the first two weeks we were back didn't help things.  But hopefully we'll be able to get in more paddle sessions for big burns.  We might go to the lake tomorrow to see if other yakers are out after today's big rain.  If so, then I'd say we might be good for a session or two this week after the Mr gets off work before the holiday weekend hits.  No way am I going out on a full lake!  I likes me privacy.  (<-- read in a British accent)

So, I have no idea what we're doing today.  The Mr is in the shower and I'll hop in after him and try to figure out what sounds good.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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La la la...I don't see you and what I'm reading this week

I'm a tuckered pup.  I'm still dealing with cleaning little by little upstairs.  I'm at the "worse before it gets better" stage AKA "where do I start?  How about nowhere and I shut the door and pretend it doesn't exist?"

But enough of my clutterdome, let's get to...

Ever Wondered What Myspace Tom Is Up To Now?  (Well he did quite well for himself)

Bea Arthur's House is For Sale For the First Time in 35 Years  (I'll take it!)

14 Easy Tricks That Will Revolutionize Your Next Barbecue  (I do a few of these mahself)

6 Classic HGTV Shows We Wish Would Stage a Comeback  (OMG, I watched them all but I really miss Gardening by the Yard.  That Paul James was so kooky!)

1980s Wedding Trends Are Making a Comeback  (When they bring back big hair, we're renewing our vows)

An Inside Look at the Barefoot Contessa's Barn  (I watch her every day...I swear we are Ina and Jeffrey sans the ridiculous amounts of money and fabulous home in the Hamptons)

20 Things You Never Knew About Boobs  (All hail the funbags)

Hypnotic Images of a Chinese Ghost Town Completely Taken Over by Vegetation

Time-Saving Household Cleaning Hacks  (Break out the cleaning supplies)

Family of 19-Year-Old Ignored By Doctors For ‘Googling’ Symptoms Get Apology For Her Death  (Courtesy of the Mr.  We know this first hand.  If my FIL's @sshole doctor wasn't so pompous and run the blood test I saw needed run when his relapse occurred, there was a 85% cure rate.  By the time he got around to running it, his platelets wouldn't allow treatment and all he got was an "oops, you were right."  He should've gotten his medical license pulled.  BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE!)

Group protests firing of KHS employees  (I am so upset by this!  Brandy Varvel was the person who started the Kauai Humane Society field trip program and the pet transfer program.)

8 Signs Your House Is Just Waiting to Be Robbed  (Good tips to protect your home)

These Teens Just Invented A Condom That Changes Color If You Have An STD  (I can stop weeping for the future, good on these kids for using their brains for something useful!)

What To Do When Life Doesn't Go Your Way (It's Actually a Good Thing!)  (Food for thought)

Remembering for Grampa  (Put a fork in me, I'm done)

Taylor Swift vs. Tim Cook in a Cartoon  (Courtesy of the Mr)

These 18 YouTube Channels Are All You Need To Get In Shape  (You all know we can vouch for Fitness Blender)

Photographer snuck into abandoned amusement parks to capture their decay  (So sad)

Does Yoga Have Any Real Fitness Benefits?  (Good info)

Let's Quit It with the Introvert/Extrovert Nonsense (I've gotta say I agree.  I'm tired of people using their labels as excuses)

Why Does This Retirement Home Have a Preschool Inside?  (THIS!  In every single retirement home everywhere please!)

No real plans for the weekend since it's supposed to rain the whole time.

I'm noticing a sharp drop in pageviews for Fridays.  Let me know if this is something you still care to see or not or if everyone just drops off the Earth come Friday.

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Things I'm Loving This Week

I haven't done one of these in a while so I thought I'd show you things I'm loving this week.

Sur La Table Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Skillet

My non stick skillet from them didn't last as long as I'd hoped and honestly, I want to get away from using Teflon anyway.  I use cooking spray regardless so why not lessen the crap leeching from the pan?  I got the 12" pan on sale for $65 (reg $109) and used it for the first time the other night to do a pan seared fish and it was nice and roomy.  There was a dulling that happened afterward but an overnight dose of Bar Keepers Friend (affiliate link)  and it was shiny like new.  I'm looking forward to creating a lot more stuff in this!


Free classes from Craftsy

A magazine was sharing freebie deals and I saw Craftsy was offering some free classes so I headed over there.  I forgot how much I love the idea of that site.  If you have ever wanted to take classes on anything from crafting to cooking to home decor to jewelry making, this site is for you!  The link above takes you to the freebie classes they're offering.  The Mr has been wanting to take a knife skills class forever and I was psyched to see this was one of the free classes!  We just finished it last night and have learned so much from it that I immediately put into use.  I even bought two new, better knives because mine are almost 20 years old and well...crap.  I'm looking forward to the pizza one as well.  Check it out!

Andalou Naturals (affiliate link) 

After perusing this website and freaking out about all of the chemicals in sunscreen and skin care, I vowed to try to go as natural as possible.  About the same time, I ran across a blogger that recommended Andalou that had great skin so I figured I'd see if my sensitive skin would be down with it or not.  So far so good.  It's not something I could afford to do in one fell swoop so I would look for sales at local health food stores and if they didn't have any, Amazon had the next best price.  I really love their Andalou Naturals 1000 Roses Color + Correct Sheer Nude SPF 30 (affiliate link) because not only does it give good SPF protection but it evens out my skin and the color stays on all day.  I'm still trying to find the right mix of stuff for what I want but next on my list is their night cream when my serum runs out.


Second go rounds

While our first time out may not have been recorded properly by the memory card that has now been destroyed, I wanted to right that wrong asap.  We went to another lake closer to the house as soon as the Mr got home from work.  It wasn't planned again so I gave him no choice in the matter.  Luckily we have proof!  There he is enjoying his time in the water.  The current was another bugger and I felt like I really fought it the whole time and the wind wasn't even bad.  Thankfully it was a little less sunny so I didn't look like a tomato even with sunscreen on like the day before.  He seemed to have a good time and even got some adoration from a dude who was drooling over his board upon dismount.  Something tells me we need to work for Tower with as much as we may get questions about them!  I think we're done for this week though.  My shoulders feel like they're going to fall off!  So only lower body stuff for the rest of the week.  It did give us an excuse to up dinner a bit and instead of just chili, I made the Mr's favorite from the islands...a chili rice bowl with a serving of brown rice in the bottom.  So ono and filling after 90 minutes on the water!

What are you loving this week?

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Our first time ate itself

Well, we did something we've been waiting to do since Christmas when we got our gear and we took pics of our first time out on the water and what happened?  The card f**king ate itself.  Seriously.  We looked at the pics on the way home and when it came time to grab them off the card they were ALL gone.  There was only one snippet of one with me that could be recovered and I was so angry because I'm doing this so that the Mr doesn't die paddleboarding alone.  Why couldn't HIS picture be the one to be saved instead of 3/4 of mine!?!?  In tears.  Just plain in tears because even though we can take pictures in the future, there will never be pictures of that first time.  

Please just give me a second to gather myself and I'll try to tell the story in a way that does not indicate my seething anger, the arrival of my monthly visitor and my utter FML moment that would and could only happen to us.

*ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*

I'm back.

So when the Mr first tried paddleboarding on Kauai in 2010, he was hooked.  When I tried it in 2013, I was not.  However, I did really enjoy kayaking the Hanalei.  From the moment we got back from Kauai that year, the Mr began an obsession to figure out how we could fit a massive paddleboard and massive kayak that goes up to my weight limit (300--most are 225-250) into a shoebox of a one car garage.  The amount of money invested and the amount of space it would take just were not feasible.  

Enter inflatables.

Yep, the Mr came across Tower Paddleboards and read rave reviews for them.  He was lucky enough to score a great deal on one on Black Friday getting a Tower Xplorer 14' Inflatable SUP (affiliate link) which is totally rigid when pumped up and can easily be thrown in the trunk on a whim.  $700 (reg $999)   He basically said if I didn't go with him, he'd start spending weekends at meetups because he was a paddler now.  Ahh, I see...blackmail me with taking away time on the weekend together.  Rat bastard.  :-P  I was kind of thinking kayaking would be a vacation thing but I guess he wanted to go all in.  So in the style of how I snowshoe while he skis in the winter...I bought an Advanced Elements StraitEdge Inflatable Kayak (affiliate link)  he researched that held up to 300 lbs on Black Friday through Amazon for $459 (reg $580) to kayak whilst he paddled.

I encouraged tomfoolery mid-day yesterday and he jumped on it.  We already did a pretty killer arm workout earlier in the day.  That was not smart when I knew in my mind we were doing this later. We strapped on the HRM's to record calories burned and got to pumping up the yak and board.  There were less people around than we saw over the weekend but still enough to make me nervous about getting in.  I spotted another kayaker just kind of hanging out on the grass.  I thought he was done but when a fishing boat got in the water finally, he followed them so I got to watch how he got in from that spot.  My entrance was not graceful but not as bad as it usually was when I practiced on the basement floor.  The Mr gave me a push as I bounced so I could get out into the water.  A smart person would've checked the winds before they left but I'm not smart.  

The kayak was getting lapped a bit by wind whipped waters and the current on the lake was strong because of them.  So my tweaked shoulder from strength a mere 4 hours earlier was yelping from the word go.  We were both pooped just getting everything pumped up, secured and finally getting out into the water.  Then fighting the current was just insane.  I got a longer paddle but somehow it didn't feel wide enough as my paddle would squeak against the side of the yak as I paddled.  I may move one set of my neoprene yak grips down to the bottom to see if it will help with that.  The Mr looked tired, happy, nervous and just plain unsure for the first half of our journey.  I worried that he was thinking he'd made a mistake and was afraid to tell me after the months of talk and more money invested than I care to recall.

We got into a groove and went under a bridge and down to where it opened up into a bend.  At that point we'd been paddling for an hour and my shoulder was feeling like I was going to injure it if I kept going against the wind.  The Mr agreed it was time to head back.  He took this pic of me, it's the only one that didn't eat itself.

I guess I'm glad we got something but the whole point is this is his thing so I'm so upset that he has no pics of himself on his board for the first time.  We paddled back to the dock and don't you know, some bicycler decided to ride into the parking lot and stand around to watch the fat people disembark.  I wanted to punch him as I glared at him from a distance behind my floating sunglasses .  (affiliate link) (Hey, I'm not losing my sunglasses at the bottom of a lake!)  The Mr paddled in and dragged his board onto the grass.  Then I power paddled to try to propel myself as far as I could onto the shore.  I got about 1/4 of the yak onto the shore so I just scooted up and exited with the Mr's assistance without incident.    He left with a somewhat disappointed look on his mug.  Sorry biker boy, no fat shaming on YouTube from you!  HA!

We deflated the floaties and jammed 'em in the trunk and the Mr blew them back up at home and dried them properly.  I burned 1125 calories and the Mr burned 1995.  (He used the harder pump, my pump inflates when pumping up and down so it inflated in half the time.)  When we got home, I made dinner (a recipe for the other channel that'll be live in a month but in the mean time, check out this week's recipe!)  We could feel the energy being absorbed from the food...that's when you know you've worked hard!

I want to take the kayak out a time or two again before I do an official review on it despite taking pics of it folded, deflated and pumped ahead of time.  Curse you memory card gods.  I'm going to bake that card in the oven for revenge.

But despite fighting the current, my shoulder hurting, people staring and all that jazz, I still had a good time because I was with my honey and that's what life is all about Charlie Brown.

This post is dedicated to S.B. ...a fellow yaker recovering from a successful stint in the OR yesterday.  I did my first go out on the water in honor of you once we had word you were okay.  We can't wait to get out on the water with you guys when you're recovered!

Do you do water sports?  Would you ever get inflatables to take up paddleboarding or kayaking?

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Sweet Potato Fries with Pumpkin Chipotle Ketchup

We had some jalapeno cheese hot dogs leftover from the weekend and I wanted something with a sweet heat to accompany the last dogs we were having for dinner.  I decided on this and thought I'd show y'all how I make 'em.

Now before you weird out about adding pumpkin butter to ketchup, know that it is surprisingly delicious and couple it with the chipotle hot sauce kick and it makes a dang good dippin' sauce!

I grabbed my sweet potato which started out weighing about 18 oz!

I like to have a more uniform shape to work with so I cut off the gnarley ends and got him down to 14 oz.

I put it in the microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds to soften it slightly before I cut the rest of it.  While that was cooking, I worked on the rub.  I was in the mood for a slight heat, slight sweet with a bit of smoke so I chose cumin, ancho chili powder, pumpkin pie spice and berbere seasoning.  (Cayenne can be subbed for berbere)

I didn't measure out anything but probably used about 1/2 teaspoon of each and stirred it together.

When the tater was ready, I cut it in half.

Then I sliced each half so I had three slices per side.

Then I cut them into medium cut fries.

I sprinkled the rub on top and rubbed it into the flesh of the sweet potato, flipped them over and repeated the step.

I let them sit for a few minutes to absorb the flavor and worked on the ketchup after preheating the oven to 450 degrees.

I grabbed my ketchup and the Mr's favorite...chipotle tabasco sauce.  (And to think this kid wouldn't touch anything spicy besides me for the first half of our marriage.  Thank goodness my inundation of spice finally forced his buds to cave!)

I like to use the little paper cups so I don't waste ketchup and to help with portion control.  I used just over a tablespoon of ketchup and about 6 shakes of hot sauce.

If you just wanted spicy ketchup, you could totally stop there.  But I made homemade pumpkin butter and since the Mr put it on his turkey wrap and loved it, I figured why not ketchup?  I used about a teaspoon.

I gave it a stir and covered it up to marinate in the fridge.

Generously spray a cookie sheet with canola spray or toss in olive oil if you have the calories available.  Arrange them so the smaller ones are on the outside and the thickest ones are in the middle.

After 15 minutes, time to flip them over.

In 10 more minutes, they're done!

We had quite a yummy dinner with our spicy hot dog and our sweet and spicy sweet potato fries!

Linked up with Savvy Southern Style, A Peek into My Paradise, Tater Tots and Jello, Between Naps on the Porch,

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A little road trippin' and kebobs

Good Monday morning all.

There was all kinds of madness going on this weekend in town so I decided the best way to avoid it was to get out of town.  I have this folder of bookmarked roadside attractions that I keep adding to and rarely execute.  I decided to check the weather and see what looked dry and hop in the family truckster early in the morn.

Here's where our GPS took us.

That would be Dave Grohl Alley in his hometown of Warren, Ohio!  Those are the world's largest drumsticks.

When they dedicated the alley, he showed up!

They decorate with drums like this planter and they made one into an ashtray.

Talented people will come and make art like this to put on the side of the building or on the asphalt.  Apparently on occasion you can bump into him there when he's back visiting family and comes to see what's been added.  There were a LOT of art pieces there but I don't want to give them away because you should add it as a stop on your road trip to or fro.

It was a really neat place to see.  Of course the weather was completely wrong and it rained the whole time, pretty hard at some spots.  The Mr was not pleased to be going on a wild goose chase where the destination was not revealed to him until we got there.  If the weather people had been right 8 hours prior, it should've been a completely clear day.  We had lunch and did a little shopping and headed home.

I made some huli huli chicken kebobs on the grill.  First kebobs of the season.  They were pretty dang good.  We did a circuit workout last night.  I burned almost 600 calories so that's not bad for a strength oriented workout.  I wish I could say I hit my water goal over the weekend but I don't drink water like usual when we're road tripping.  I don't want to be stopping every few miles to void da bladdah.

What did you guys get into this weekend?

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Trying to focus on the positive- weigh in

Well I'm down a pound.

I'm happy but I wish I could get over that initial feeling of disappointment given how much I cut back this week.  I have to remind myself that we had a pretty over the top high cal day followed by basically another one the following day when I made my mom her birthday dinner.  (Twice what our normal Sundays are.)  I know that my mental countdown of where I wanted to be by the end of this month is now going to be impossible because I wanted all of the vacation weight off by the end of the month and that seemed like a very reasonable goal.  Throw in an intestinal system that was completely off kilter for 2 weeks after we got back and a freak gain for no reason and that about throws a wrench into the timeline.  I'd have to lose 9 lb this week to get the vacation weight off.

Yeah.

Movin' on.

I have to take note that my body feels friggin' BEAT...UP today.  We burned a lot of extra calories and did some HARD workouts this week that put my legs through the paces.  Kettlebells always kill me for many days after.  Must remember to ice my knees afterward.  I thought about taking an active recovery day in there but I didn't and maybe next time I will.  You know how the muscles tend to hold on to water when they're repairing and my protein was low because my calories were low this week.

I did roll after every workout this week and felt better than I usually do hipwise.  I need to get in the habit of using the hard stick roller before bed to release the muscles so they don't tighten up overnight.

I'm happy to report I hit my water goal every day and made sure to take my chia sludge every day in some form.

Heading out on a road trip this morning because there is a just way too much going on in the city today to not throw the Mr into screaming jackal mode at other people's poor driving skills.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

What goals did you hit this week?

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Weather weirdness and what I'm reading this week

It's Friday all!  *virtual high five*

It's been a hot, rainy week.  Does anyone else have meteorologists that can't seem to find their butts with both hands?  Our forecasts seem to change every four hours.  I swear I think they say 50% chance of rain just to cover their asses.  

But enough about our incompetent weathermen, let's get to...

The Right and Wrong Way to Eat Chia Seeds  (I now make sure I gel up the seeds with water before I eat them.  I used to do chia shots dry with a water chaser.  No more)

5 ways to kill your oven  (Good to know and a reminder that my oven looks like hell and I should do something about that)

8 Things That Happen When You Finally Stop Drinking Diet Soda  (WOW!)

17 Stores That Let You Return Used Items for a Full Refund  (Excellent!  I can vouch that Trader Joe's will actually take back an empty box if you didn't like something.  Done it and was encouraged to by their employees!)

8 Common House Cleaning Myths  (Well, I'll be a monkey's aunt!)

10 Tips That Will Extend the Life of Your Appliances  (They're investments...keep 'em hummin'!)

This Is Why You Wake Up Completely Exhausted   (1 and 2 right here)

Smash Mouth Singer Freaks Out When Food Fest Crowd Won’t Stop Throwing Bread At Him   (Throwing anything at a performer is just plain disrespectful.  People...bread is delicious.  Free bread is downright catnip to the tastebuds.  Keep it to yourselves)

Goodbye to Trans Fats: The FDA Sets New Ban on Partially Hydrogenated Oils   (Every little bit helps!)

Extremely Drunk Groom Attempts to Remove New Wife's Garter and It Does Not Go Well  (I hope she gave that a-hole the beat down of his life.  This is NOT the way to start out a marriage and while I know my Mr wouldn't have done this, it just proves we made the right choice not having alcohol at our wedding)

Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) updates his condition   (As if I needed another reason to love that man anymore)

Airport staff take kid's lost stuffed animal on a cute adventure  (This kid will have this for the rest of his life.  A reminder there are still awesome, thoughtful people out there)

The Rock Shows How To Hit Someone’s Car, Nicely  (He can side swipe me anytime)

9 Outdated Items We Wish Would Make a Comeback  (I want the rotary phone back.  Not only does it force you to slow down but there is something zen about listening to the sound as you dial.  The longer the number, the better)

The 10 Features You Won't Find in a New Home  (I'm sorry but I still want a sunroom)

Start Dropping Pounds Today With These 100 Quick Weight-Loss Tips  (Good tweak suggestions!)

8 Bad Habits That Could Burn Your House Down  (Follow these tips please!  It still amazes me that people do not clean the lint trap after every load)

Arnold Scares Fans...for charity  (This is great!)

Help save this woman's life   (Even if you are unable to give, please share the link and help give Diane a second chance at a fully mobile life)

19 Things You Didn't Know About Chip and Joanna Gaines  (I love these two.  I love seeing a married couple interact this way and show people that you really can be married to your best friend like I am)

I'm going to get my black beans cooking today.  I've been hankering for some chili.  I know...chili in 90 degree heat but it is just so good, I cannot help myself!  I also want bean and cheese burritos and sweet corn, bean salad.  I must need either protein or fiber or both.

Do you have plans for the weekend?  What's your weather been like this week?

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Old cards, Wednesday eats and bonding

Howdy do, all!

Yesterday I made a breakfast of 1 egg, 2 white omelet with 1/2 ounce of balsamic cheddar and a banana.  (Forgot to take a pic)  I made some homemade pumpkin butter with coconut sugar.  It'll be a nice change from jelly for PB&J's and the Mr can add some to his oatmeal too.

I went through a bin in the office and found some old cards.  I'm glad I kept them, especially the ones from Grandma.  

I tried to thin the herd but I think I only got rid of about 10 cards and most from a friend who signed her ex-boyfriends name.  It was nice to see cards from our first anniversary and lists from my bridal shower and gifts from our wedding to put in our wedding time capsule.

Before I knew it, it was time for lunch.  The usual freggies and a slice of toast with peanut and pumpkin butter.  Yum!

It was time for a strength workout.  We did some torturous Fitness Blender workout that handed us our butts and then I did some foam rolling.  I've been trying to get in the habit of rolling after every workout to help my hips not feel like I'm 80 years old.  So far this week, its helped.

Then time for dinner.  Smoky BBQ chicken breast and an ear of corn with herb butter.

I love sweet corn season!

After dinner it was time to watch Spaceballs . (affiliate link)  I can (did) recite dialogue.  I think as a kid it was one of the few movies my dad and I bonded over.  Well, that, The Terminator and Real Genius.  (affiliate links) Not bad movies to bond over.  It seriously sucks we are now a society that won't allow movies like Spaceballs to be made without protests, boycotts and demands for public apologies.  If you don't like something, don't see it but leave it for the rest of us who just want to have a good laugh, dammit!

Sorry...little tangent there.

What movies did you bond over with your parents?

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Cinema time again and Tuesday eats

Yesterday morning I woke a little rickety.  The kettlebell workout we did the night before gave the lower back quite the workout.  We were also recovering from our disappointing viewing of Jurassic World.  We are both massive fans of the original and even like the third one.  We got what we thought but despite being a huge Chris Pratt fan, his performance wasn't my favorite.  Actually we didn't like any of the cast except for some dude in the control room.  The big climax literally made me laugh hysterically when I guess it was supposed to be serious.  (Kind of like when I laughed at E.T. dying as a child whilst everyone else sobbed.)  Jurassic World was okay and we appreciated the throwbacks but we definitely won't see any other sequels in the theater again.   I know we're in the minority but I'm not going to say I like a movie just to go along with the cool kids.  They really give away much of it in the trailer except the very end.  Oh well.

I am still in the throes of my disdain for oatmeal so I was disappointed to see it on the menu yesterday morning.  I decided to try to mix it up a little and I made my oatmeal with a little brown sugar and my chia sludge, let it firm up and made patties out of it in the skillet.  

I topped them with bananas and it was pretty good.  It still tasted like oatmeal so I forced it down.  Sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do.

Lunch was freggies and the entree was tuna fish lettuce cup with a pickle slice hidden under there.

Dinner was a BBQ mahi burger on a Hawaiian bun with a green bean/snap pea mix.

The mix was my recreation of what I had at the Olde Pink House in Savannah.  I steamed them a little first then tossed it in about 2 tsp of olive oil into the skillet with a slight dash of salt, fresh cracked pepper and garlic powder.  YUM!  It was my reward for a good workout which was Walk Away the Pounds burning 760 calories.

Total calories for the day, 1250 before workout.  (Remember I'm trying to make up for Sunday this week so calories are gonna be low)

We rented two movies.  Run All Night (affiliate link)  with Liam Neeson which was a really good action flick.  Pretty non-stop from about 10-15 minutes in so if you like his other action based movies, you'd like this one.  Unfinished Business (affiliate link)  with Vince Vaughn was one of those stupid comedies and we were in the right mood for it.  We laughed quite a bit but it might be a little raunchy for some.  As usual, Vince brings his "Vinciness" to the role so if you can't stand that from him, you might not like it.  But there's a family dynamic that I really liked seeing so wait for a Redbox rental.

Have you seen Jurassic World yet?  Plan to see it?

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