Coming back with a BANG. =]

So, as you (?) can see, I’ve taken a break from blogging even though I’ve sort of just started. I did it to focus on some things going on with work, a new job, and getting things together to [hopefully] start school in the fall. I’ve been away long enough though and I’m coming back with some new things, hopefully that’ll make my blog more interesting and attract more readers. I’m sort of bored with talking to myself, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

I have TWO new things that’ll be part of my blog. No, I’m I’m not going to tell you what either of them are yet, but both of them are going to be part of my daily posts, one of them for at least thirty days (hint). My mom called me this morning and one of them actually came in the mail today, the other shouldn’t be far behind. As soon as I get both of these in, I’ll be back blogging on a daily basis.

Just for an update: Even though I’ve put a pause on the blogging, I have managed to stay on track with my eats. My knee has also been been being very kind to me lately and I’ve been running more and more each time. The progress of my running will also be posted as I conquer that.

Break from the blog –

It’s been a while, huh? Well – I can’t blog from work as much, and I’ve also started a second job so that doesn’t leave me much time to do anything else. I have been staying on track though. I’ll probably be MIA for a while longer, but I’m definitely going to return as soon as I get settled with the new job and all that good stuff.

LATER.

Decisions, decisions.

I have to say… It felt great to wake up in a good mood and feeling good this morning. And, it’s 2:11 p.m. and I’m still good to do. I’m off tomorrow and Monday, so I’m sure this mood will last for a while.

I wasn’t hungry for breakfast, but I didn’t want to skip it:

“]

WW Toast in the car. =

I found it weird that I wasn’t hungry for breakfast, but still ate, and was then hungry before lunch? So, I had 1/2 a grapefruit I cup up to have with lunch and a few cubes of.. cheese.

After I was done. Sorry.

I'm going to OD on cheese, soon.

That little snack held me over WELL, I didn’t dig into my lunch ’til 1:30. That’s late for me! I recreated the same salad I had for supper last night, except this time I add PiCkLeS and had Fat Free Italian Dressing with it. I didn’t want to sprinkle it with banana pepper juice this morning because I didn’t want it to be SoGgY. GrOsS. This salad was good, even better than last night with the PiCklEs and dressing.

And, I ate it AlL.

 

Dessert? Mini Candies?

Those two little creatures were in a bowl in the kitchen at work so, I didn’t want them to be all lonely. I don’t feel guilty about having that for dessert, but they sure did make my stomach hurt. Maybe I should have only had one? Oh, well. I’ll be okay.

I blog from work and I will be out of the office ’til Tuesday, so I probably won’t be posting anything else ’til then. I’ll be reading though. Oh, and we’re having our town fair this weekend, so on Tuesday expect to see some Margaritas & such in the posting. Can’t wait.

Oh, and just to share this with you:

I talked to the Boss Man about my interest in school today. He’s so supportive and helpful. I’m honestly going to give it a go. I’ll probably have another meeting about it next week at the school where I’d start, and then register and all that good stuff. Hopefully it all works out this way. I’m kind of excited. =]

Wednesday:

Woke up feeling funky again. WTF is going on with me? Late, feeling funky, just everything going wrong. Except the knee didn’t hurt from running or any of the exercises I did. About time!!

For breakfast I had a repeat of Multi-grain Waffles with “Blackberry Syrup.” I took some blackberries and SMOOSHED them into a syrup/juice and added mixed that with a little sugar, and then I added some whole blackberries and mixed them in that. Then I poured this all over two multi-grain waffles. You won’t see me using syrup until I’m fresh out of blackberries. So…o good!!

New Favorite Bfast.

I ate that pretty quickly and had nothing to drink or anything else with it. I was hungry again before it was time for lunch. So, I had some cheese. I don’t know what’s up with me and cheese lately.

For lunch I went home with the intentions of making me a wrap with Turkey again like on Monday, well.. it wasn’t wrapped, but whatever. Who knew we were out of  Turkey? Not me! I had taken a chicken breast out to defrost that I planned on having for supper, so I ended up having that in a wrap from lunch instead. I must say – it was better than that turkey wrap would’ve been.

Whole Wheat Wrap. Grilled Chicken. Honey Mustard. Cheese. Lettuce. Banana Peppers. Pickles.

 

SO MESSSSY, but this was DELICIOUS. Sweet. Salty. Perfection.

 Delicious? Yes. Filled me up? No. So, I had some Hot & Spicy Trailmix. It’s in a 1/2cup, but I only ate about 1/4cup before I felt full.

Hot & Spicy. Mmm.

For supper… I had a salad and two pieces of grilled fish. And – I said I’d work on it – I put supper off ’til about 5:30, with no snack.

Gotta have the Ketchup.

Surprisingly good.

Salad included: Lettuce. Grape Tomatoes. 1/2 Pepperjack cheese stick (ate the other half while cooking my fish). Banana Peppers. Dressing? Oh, just the juice from the banana pepper jarrrrr. I’ve never had pepper jack or banana peppers in a salad before. This is going to be a must from now on probably. … I had a grapefruit after this. I’m addicted to it. Hey,   it’s fruit and its good for me, right?

Since I woke up with no pain from working out and running a little on Tuesday night, I decided to keep going with it and do some more. I waited ’til AI came on and hopped on the Treadmill again. I stayed on for another 25 minutes of walking/jogging at 3.5 – 4.8 and 1.5 incline. I can feel myself being able to do more and more each time I start to runjog. I planned on doing more leg exercises and maybe some upper body, but I’m not even going to lie – I just wanted to sit down and enjoy the American Idol Finale. So, that’s exactly what I did. I was so anxious to see who’d win and was definitely rooting for Kris. He’s awesome. I’m glad he came out on top. I might haveeven screamed a little when they announced his name. After AI, I bathed and ladie da, then I was hungry. I rarely eat after I bathe. Crazy? Sorry. But, I didn’t ignore the hunger because I knew I wanted to stay up and read my book and it would only get worse. So I had one of my favorite things:

Graham Cracker with NM Peanut Butter. Skim Milk.

Then I read some of my book ’til I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’m reading Breaking Dawn, the last book to the Twilight Series. I only have about seven chapters left and I just can’t wait to see how it all ends.

No Pain.

Hellllo.

There’s no one but me and one other person in the office today, and its WAY to quiet. I could fall asleep right now. This post will put that off for a couple of (yawn) minutes though.

Again yesterday I woke up feeling just.. ugh – bloated, and just ugh! On days like this I don’t do dairy for breakfast, if at all. Having milk or yogurt when I feel like that just makes me feel worse. Maybe I should consider cutting out dairy completely? I’ve thought about it before – I’ve cut back A LOT, but never completely. Anywaysss.. for breakfast I had 2 scrambled eggs with banana peppers mixed in them (so..o good) and some fruit that I had cut up Monday night.

This held me over really well. I went home for lunch, again (I’m glad my car is good on gas). I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so by the time I had to pick something, I had to pick something quick. I had Campbell’s Select Harvest – Italian Sausage with Pasta. It was … okay. This is the second soup I’ve tried of this brand. They were both … okay. The flavoring is good, but they aren’t seasoned. If that makes since to you? I’ll give another one a try soon, and maybe start to add my own seasoning in there if I get the same results. Hm. With that I had a few Kashi Fire Roast Vegetable crackers with a Laughing Cow Wedge of Swiss Cheese.

and for dessert on my way back to work: Some more of the fruit I cut up Monday night.

Strawberries. Apple. Blackberries. Grapefruit.

That was a big lunch for me. I was FULL after all of that. When I got home from work my family was having boiled crawfish for supper. Ever had it? Didn’t think so. Ha! I actually don’t eat it. There aren’t many people where I’m from that don’t eat it, but I just can’t bring myself to eat the creatures. So, I had PIZZA. No, not regular pizza. One whole wheat bagel toasted then covered with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese then heated in the microwave to melt the cheese. I’ll never have to eat regular greasy pizza again when I have a craving for it. This tasted exactly the same and served the purpose.

Dinner was quite a mixute – I had half of a cucumber on the side with some hummus. I didn’t like that together – at all. So I scraped the hummus back into the container (What? I’m almost out.;)), and threw the cucumber in the garbage  fed the cukes to the begging dog:

Garbage Disposal. Seriously.

That was the first thing I’ve ever given to the dog that he didn’t eat. Something must have been wrong with those cucumbers. He eats anything. And when I say anything, that includes plastic. No lie. Back to the food – Just the pizza didn’t feel me up, so I had a pepperjack cheese stick, and some dip they were having with the crawfish with whole wheat crackers. Oh, and I might havehad a boiled potato from the crawfish too, those are the best. DEFINITELY a Carb Overload this afternoon – I hate that.

Later, I had an apple with Naturally More Peanut Butter. I know, I eat A LOT in the afternoon, and I hate that. I get home from work at 4:15 and I usually fix supper when I get home. I hate eating that early, but eating supper when I get home is habit to me – I used to get home later. Eating so early almost always leaves me hungry again later and grabbing a snack later than I’d like. I need to work on eating a snack when I get home and waiting ’til about 6:00 or so to have my actual dinner. I’ll start working on that, pronto.

I was able to get in a little workout tonight while watching American Idol (Go Kris!).

• 25 Minutes on Treadmill: 1.5 incline @ 3.5+
  I even jogged a little and it didn’t hurt at all, and it isn’t bothering me today either. I’m so happy.
• Legs:
  

  Ha!

  This picture does no justice for the top of my legs, but oh well. I did about 15 of those for my quads , then turned over to do some for the hamstrings. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but the thing I miss most since my surgery and not working out is my quads. They used to be defined and showed without any effort from me. They’re still there, but not as much since I haven’t been able to do much. I know I probably shouldn’t have done these exercises, but oh well. I just did a few of each to make sure I didn’t over do it. Oh, and I didn’t something else I wasn’t supposed to do:

• Lunges: (Just) 5 on each leg.
• Squats: (Just) 10 with no weight.

I plan on walking/jogging again today, I need to keep it up, keep building my strength/endurance back. I’ll probably do some more of the leg exercises too because it doesn’t bother me at all today. I finally feel like I’ll be able to start doing more and that makes me HAPPY.

See you lateerrrrrrrrr.

Definitely a Monday.

Yesterday was long, boring, and I just felt icky. Definitely a true Monday. I don’t do Monday’s well – ever. For breakfast I had a bowl of Special K Cinnamon Pecan Cereal with Skim Milk and half of a Banana. I didn’t take the time to get a picture. Before lunch I also had half of a really small grapefruit, I would have never guessed it was a grapefruit. No picture of that either. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I went home for lunch and made this:

Hit the spot.

*Whole wheat wrap: Turkey. Swiss. Banana Peppers. Honey Mustard for dipping, which I didn’t really use. Kashi Fire Roast Vegetable Crackers and a few blue chips with Spicy Three Pepper Hummus. After all that spice I needed something sweet for sure. BUT, as I said I’ve been having to many sweet/desserts so I had some fruit. Fruit will be my dessert of choice for a while now. I need to stay away from sweets. I wish the whole “sweet tooth” thing was literal, because I would have yanked it out a long time ago.

Fruit of choice after lunch.

“]

Nice, eh? =

Then, I headed back to work for another three hours of nothing. Ugh. Then I went home and cooked myself some supper. I actually took the time to cook something and didn’t snack while doing so. Yay, me!

Typical.

*Grilled Chicken Breast. Green Beans. Sweet Potato Fries. A concoction for dipping: 3 tbsp Ketchup, 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tsp Hot Sauce. I found that little recipe on “Cook Yourself Thin,” (Did any of you ever watch the show on Lifetime? I LOVE IT.)I love Ketchup and I love anything spicy, so I gave it a shot. It was a winner. Tonight was also my first try at sweet potato fries. I used this recipe from Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats. The only thing changed was that I didn’t have and Veggi Seasoning (?) so I used just a regular seasoning. They came out great, the timing used is perfect. I love these and I’ll definitely be making more of these.

Oh, and the Kid in me had some Grape Kool-Aid with her dinner. Sugar-free though.

I'm no photographer.

Again, dessert was fruit. I had grapefruit a while after my dinner. That’s my favorite lately. I could probably live on just grapefruit - if I had to.

My show to watch on Mondays is … The Hills. But I went to bed at 8:00. Eight O’clock. That’s crazy for me. So, yeah, I missed it. But it felt great to get in nine hours of sleep. I’m not tired at all today. I didn’t get in a workout yesterday and I’ve been trying to do more lately. I should get something in today though.

The Weekend.

Good Morning.

This is going be to a short post. With no pictures. Sick. Going to back to bed ASAP.

Friday Dinner:
Fish in tomato sauce my daddy cooked. I skipped the rice, but had some of his smothered potatoes. Took a nap as soon as I got home from the stressful day at work, woke up to eat that, went back to bed.

Saturday:
Breakfast: Multi-grain waffle with blackberries on top. So good. Small chess square from a party my mom went to.
Did the workout I planned to do on Friday. Felt great, and my arms are sore.:)
Went shopping with the mother.
Lunch:Ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. Had a flatbread “Pizza” Thing with marinara sauce, their Honey BBQ Sauce, fajita chicken, cheese, and I want to say garlic? Oh, and a “Twisted Frozen Margarita.” Which was a reg. margarita with a little Mango flavor. Which was DISGUSTING and NOT frozen so I might have drank 1/4 of it?
Trail Mix.
Went home. Layed down. Fell asleep. I hate taking naps – I’ve just been in that mood lately.
Woke up with the noise from a text message.
Dinner: Well, breakfast – I scrambled myself two eggs with some turkey, banana peppers and swiss cheese. Had one slice of WW toast and some strawberries too. Those eggs were delicious. Definitely having that again.
Packed my clothes, went to Brooke’s with Abigail for the night.
Dinner was earlier, so I had this WW Blueberry Muffin with some milk.

Sunday:
Breakfast:Brooke cooked biscuits. I can’t be picky when I’m not at home. She was busy getting things together for a party so I didn’t want to go for something else. So, I had one biscuit.
Lunch/Dinner:Party time. I didn’t eat again ’til 4:30, so that’s why it’s my lunch and dinner. BBQ Chicken, Rice-Dressing, Potato Salad, Choc brownie. Then around 6:00 they brought out some cheese cake. So I had a piece. Went home and had some more spicy trail mix.

I’ve been having WAYYYY to many sweets and desserts lately. Ugh. I need to handle myself a little better, eh? I can do this. I can do this.

*When I go to Brooke’s, we always go to the barn where Abigail keeps her horse and the dust always gets me. Always. I have bad allergies. I’m about to scratch my eyes out and my head fees like 1,000 pounds. This sucks. Sorry for the post. I might as the pictures I have later.

Stupid weather.

The weather is FONKY here. Really fonky – the thunders-a-rolling and it wont be long ’til the rain starts. Isn’t that just lovely? Totally ruined my relaxing plans. Hmmm, I’ll manage to find another way to do it. For sure. Anyways – enough about the weather and me needed some me time. For lunch I had a sandwich I fixed this morning before I left for work and some blue chips and salsa.

Whole Wheat. Turkey. Swiss. Honey Mustard. Lettuce. Pickles. Banana Peppers.

I had a couple more chips than that, I forgot to take a picture.

And Reese’s. Seriously. I should  be thankful the weather is going to cancel my Margarita-filled afternoon. I think I ate my weight in Reese’s miniatures already today, so I should skip having a drink. Glad I thought of that. I think I will. Seriously, I had at least 6 minis. Some between breakfast and lunch, and some after lunch. I haven’t felt the need for chocolate like this in forever. This hit me earlier in the week too. It must be the stress! Yes, I’ll blame it on the stress.   I know you’re probably thinking, why the hell does she buy ‘em and keep ‘em in sight if she eats ‘em all. WELL – this is why:

The Candy Bowls.

I have this on my desk. This lovely bowl of Reese’s for the chocolate-loving men I work with. I think the only thing all of us that work here have in common is that we all have a thing for Reese’s. So, I buy it for them. But since I’m trying to do better lately, I think that might have to be my last bag, or maybe I can move so it’s not in my face when I’m having a bad day? They’ll get over it! Anyways – no more for today and no dessert tonight and I must do the workout I have planned. I promise myself.

 Well, that’s probably all for today and for the weekend. You’ll have a recap on Monday. I don’t post on weekend because I do this from work . The computer is in my room anymore, so it’s kind of hard to do it without anyone seeing. Soon enough, I’ll do it from anywhere!!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, again.

Planning Ahead.

My mind is overloaded. Bad. I’m stressed. To the point of crying for any little thing. When I feel like this, a good workout helps a lot. So, to make sure I get one in today, I wrote down what I’m going to do. So before I allow myself to drink to many margaritas and lay by the pool, I’m going to work up a good sweat and get some stress out.

Here’s everything:

• Treadmill – 20 mins. or until the knee hurts.
• Push-ups: 3 x 10
• Bicep Curls: 3 x 15
• Hammer Curls: 3 x 10
• Skull Crushes (Tri’s): 3 x 15
• Chest Flies: 3 x 15
• Bench Press: 3 x 15
• Backwards Flies: 3 x 15
• Shoulder Press: 3 x 15
• Physical Therapy Exercises for knee
• Squats w/bar: Only 15 because the Dr. said I shouldn’t do them at all.
• Calf Raises: 50 regular, 25 toes in, 25 toes out.
• Crunches: 3 x 25
• Bicycles: 3 x 25
• Reach Backs w/ball (obliques): 3 x 30

Ahhh. This should do me well. This is pretty much a standard work out I do when I need to get some strength training in and I haven’t in a while. It’s pretty basic exercises and pretty much one for every major muscle group.

TGIF, for sure.

I woke up with the WORST headache. I took some Tylenol and went back to lay in bed for about thirty minutes. This put me behind a little, but I was still able to get in a good breakfast. I’d cut up some fruit last night, so all I had to do was grab that out the fridge, and heat up the waffles.

Multi-Grain Waffles. Kiwi. Strawberries. Blackberries.

I had to tear up the waffles in bite size pieces and take this in the car with me. I think I enjoyed the fruit a little more than the waffles. This was the first time I’ve had blackberries in FOREVER. My Nannie bought a flat yesterday from someone by her work and she brought half to us. They’re delicious.

I can’t say how happy I am to know its FRIDAY, even though I’m not showing it and don’t look like I’m happy because of this headache. I’m just happy for the weekend – I need the time to relax. It’s been a stressful week for me with all this decision making going on – and I HAVEN’T MADE THE FIRST DECISION YET. HELLLLLLLLLLLP.

HOWEVER, as soon as 4:00 rolls around I’ll be out of here and laying by a pool soon enough. Might even have a margarita (or two). Oh, yeah, that sounds like a plan.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
xoxo.
Amanda.