Archive | February, 2014

I Missed It

28 Feb

Here I was all psyched for the first dragon boat practice of the season, and I missed it! *gasp* Which resulted in my pouting last evening for a good chunk of time, sigh.

This stupid cold! It keeps getting worse, yesterday saw the onset of an oh-so-lovely cough but none of my other symptoms went away, how is that fair? You’d think with every new symptom you’d get rid of an existing one…at least that is how it would work in a universe run by me…buuuuut nope!

I was torn about going, I didn’t want to miss practice for soooo many reasons. The top three being (1) first practice of the season, (2) I don’t want to make a bad impression on the new coach and (3) see my team of course! But the reasons for not going were pretty strong, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t be more than an arm length away from kleenex, the cough and more, blah. 😛

I texted a friend on the team and told her I couldn’t decide and she said I should stay home, no way being on the water at night, in the cold, getting wet and paddling were going to do anything but make me sicker which was a very valid point. I decided to take her advice hence no practice.

The whole evening I kept looking at the time and thinking “right now they are warming up”,  “right now they are loading on to the boat”, “right now they are paddling and seeing what the new coach is like”…ugh, I was so jealous of all of them! I wanted to be there so badly but I couldn’t deny I would have had a hellish time because of the whole not-breathing-constantly-needing-kleenex-coughing-a-lot situation I was dealing with.

In a lame attempt to make myself feel better I made some comfort food. I cooked a batch of sticky rice in coconut milk instead of water then topped it with sliced mango. It is a Filipino dish that I really like. The coconut milk makes the rice a tiny bit sweet and the mango topping, well, do you need words to describe the yummy value of mango? Nah, course you don’t! Everyone knows mango is great! 🙂 …um, if you haven’t tried mango go grab one from the produce section of your grocery store, totally worth it!

It’s not the prettiest dish, least when I make it, but that doesn’t bother me lol

mango on coconut rice, yum!

mango on coconut rice, yum!

I gotta say, it didn’t do much to cheer me up lol Which I s’pose means the comfort food didn’t do it’s job of comforting me but my reassuring myself I will be well enough to go next week helped. 🙂

When I bought the coconut milk I decided to try the Light Coconut Milk, which I didn’t even realize existed lol it wasn’t as good as when I use the normal coconut milk, the rice wasn’t quite as sweet but, shrug, it still tasted good and if using light saved me even a teeny bit of calories and/or fat then it’s worth it…I guess 😉 lol

Advertisement

Tags: , , , , , ,

Headlamps an Stuff

27 Feb

I have been sick since Sunday and instead of getting better I appear to be getting worse, arg. It’s not a debilitating illness or anything, just a run of the mill cold but I’m smack in the middle of the symptoms and it’s annoying. Kleenex are my new best friend. *rolls eyes* I’ve been purposefully not letting it slow me down so Tuesday I went snowshoeing, Wednesday (today) I went to the gym and Thursday I will be dragon boating. A nice busy three days off from work! 🙂

I’m so psyched for Thursday, it will be our first time back on the water this season and it’s gonna rock and suck all at once lol. We won’t be on the water till about 7:15pm so it will be dark and cold and this year head lamps are mandatory. Guess who doesn’t own a head lamp? Oh yeah, that’d be me lol

I wasn’t aware until last night we were going to need them so when I was out today I did a little shopping. Silly thing cost me $45! It is a white LED light but if I am in distress I can push a button and it will flash red, interesting huh? I think I will actually get to return it though, yay! One of my teammates found some for way cheaper, only $11, so she bought a bunch and I can just buy one from her. Which means back to the store I will be going to return the head lamp but hey, a special trip to get money back? I’m cool with that!

Since I was at SportChek I also bought an Olympic Team Canada t-shirt. I know, I know, cheesy or what but, shrug, I’ve been wanting one since the collection came out and now that the Olympics are done they are on sale lol. Cheesy and cheap! 😉 The t-shirt apparently has great wicking capabilities blah blah blah, I’m sure it is great, and I did buy it wanting to wear it when exercising but let’s get real, I didn’t buy it cause it’d suck my sweat away from my body quickly, I bought it cause I like it lol 😛

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

Then I bought a toque! Ack! I’d say it was like a shopping demon came over me but I already knew I was needing to find a new toque, shrug. All but the Olympic collection toques were gone, winter gear is being phased out because spring is soon to be upon us, wOOt! So I bought an Olympic gear toque, it’s actually really nice, red and black, I didn’t buy the one that says Canada on it cause clothes that scream your country’s name are so vulgar *shudder* Unless you are a spectator at a sport your clothes should not say your country’s name, or unless it is your independence day and you are celebrating your country, then it’s ok. So yeah, toque, t-shirt and headlamp, quite the productive little shopping trip.

Not that you were wondering, but the reason I so suddenly need another toque is because I looooove my toque that I wear for snowshoeing and that means I do not want to wear it when dragon boating cause it’ll get wet with nasty water and I have no idea how to wash my snowshoeing toque. It is a hand made product, not like it has a tag inside saying how to wash it! I gotta be careful, and making sure that toque doesn’t come in to contact with the water I dragon boat in well, that’s just good ownership lol

I’ve got a couple other pieces of gear I need for dragon boating buuuuut have no money to buy them soooooo just gonna have to do without, shrug.

Hmmm, this quickly became quite the post about shopping, oops! Lemme catch you up on other stuff real quick…

– We got snow! As in lots of snow! Three days worth of non stop snow! Lovely! I was so happy while it was falling, every time I went out in it or looked outside it made me smile. Made most other people grumps but whatev. I so desperately wanted to go snowshoeing in the falling snow but was too sick for that, boo!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

– The avalanche warning was high but I like to think that makes things more interesting lol. It was so sunny you could hear the snow melting and a couple times I got pelted with snowballs that were actually chunks of snow falling off trees. 🙂 I ass-tobogganed part way down the mountain which was epic and I sooo want to do again! lol I went off trail on the way down so I could walk through some fresh snow, it’s way more fun, well, I got to a part that was super steep and no way could I climb down it, instead of going back and finding the trail again I sat down, had my knees bent, snowshoes on the ground in front of me (feet still strapped in them) and let myself slide down using the snowshoes to steer me, clear the path so my butt slid smoothly and also act as breaks when needed. Seriously, most fun ever! There was a minor issue of not being able to stop in time at this one section and becoming a tad airborne but meh, I landed on soft snow so who cares? Just made it more fun actually…I’m really hoping I get to do that again lol

– Some not so cool stuff, I keep getting sick! My immune system is really taking a beating this year, I am not impressed at its lackluster performance in the germ kicking business.

– I bought a piece of fish I have noooo idea how to cook, sigh. It is coconut encrusted, sounded interesting and was on sale. Perfect combo! I am going to (most likely) attempt to cook it tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes *worried face* I really hope I don’t food poison myself before practice, that would suck!

– I skipped Stir Fry Sunday this week cause I was too sick to want food Sunday or Monday and by Tuesday it just seemed like I was destined to not have stir fry this week. I will be back to my stir fry madness this coming weekend though, no worries!

– I discovered the deliciousness that is cherries in a cherry sauce put on top of ice cream, trust me, this is something you should try, Mmm!

– The cat got mad at me and purposefully peed on the floor right in front of his litter box to show his anger. You’d think I’d get mad, instead I realized that because I’d been sick when I’d been home the past couple days (this was on Monday) I was unconscious so I made a concentrated effort to stay home and conscious more and since then he’s been much happier. Yes I am aware he has me well trained. 😛

– Lastly, I missed three days in a row of my Squat Circuit Challenge because of being sick. Sunday and Monday I got home from work and basically crashed. Then Tuesday I forgot, which is weird, I think because I was out of the rhythm of it. So starting tomorrow I will pick up where I stopped. I hate that I inadvertently took a bit of a break in the middle but whatcha gonna do, can’t control being sick, shrug.

There we have it, my catch up of the last couple days. Food, exercise and shopping…apparently that is my life this past week lol 😛

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Buh-Bye Sochi Olympics

27 Feb

Sigh, I kinda miss the Olympics. For all that I was getting overly saturated with sports now that the Olympics are over I’m a little sad. *pout*

Sunday after work, I got home and automatically turned the tv on, it was set to the channel I had been using for the Olympics coverage but…there was no Olympics…it was the news. The news?! WTF? Not gonna lie, I was a little confused until I remembered that it was all over. Back to the real world.

I had gotten used to exercising in my living room while watching the Olympics, I had gotten used to checking my Sochi App done by CBC to keep up to date on everything, I had gotten used to caring about sports I normally never care about lol. 😛

I’ll let you in on a little secret about me, I am very un-Canadian because…brace for it…I don’t care about hockey! *ducks down* Don’t throw stuff at me, k? But for the Olympics? All over the hockey! The women’s Canadian team dominated, then the men followed suit! They made us so proud. 😀

I had to be up freakishly early for work Sunday anyways so I saw the men’s final hockey game. Sweden may not have scored but they sure as heck made the Canadian team fight for their win. I felt so bad for Sweden when Canada got that third goal, you could see their shoulders slump down as if they realized their chance at getting gold was almost nil, it was sad, shrug. Not that I believe in letting another team score a point so they feel better, but we could have gone without scoring that third to make the win less crushing…but I s’pose in the midst of a game you aren’t thinking like that. Actually, I know in the midst of a competition you don’t think like that lol my dragon boat team doesn’t care about the feelings of the people we are racing against during a race, it’s only after that we think about how the other teams might feel and are friendly to them again. This isn’t just our team though, all the teams are friendly on land, dragon boaters are a friendly bunch, even if we do yell a lot during a race! lol

There were so many high points to the Olympics but already they all seem like old news. I won’t remember the athletes names by the next Olympics, I’ll spend the first part of the next Winter Olympics trying to remember if I was cheering for this person or that person in 2014. For all that these athletes become so important to their countries during the Olympics, they quickly slip back in to daily life once it’s all over and I never hear a thing about them again…except for that Crosby guy cause he was the face of Dempster’s Bread for a while. I guess in a way it is proof of how they are just like everybody else. They have to work, they have to train, they have to go through their daily routine and how could they do that if they were constantly being in the media?

Regardless of it all being over I will hold on to the happy moments for a while yet, they still make me smile and why stop thinking about things that make you smile? Do you not want to smile? *raised eyebrow*

hockey

 

In case the words are too small on the image here is what it says:

Lovely people those Canadians. Gentle, civilized,  beautiful people.

Until you give them hockey sticks.

Why does the Canadian army even bother with guns, and tanks, and bombs and shit?

They should just give them all hockey sticks

And then say, “There you are boys, the Taliban have the puck.”

teehee, it started floating around the internet the other day and it makes me laugh, even if it does exclude the womens hockey teams.

Oh, and as a side note, the happy moments from the Olympics that I am remembering are not the medals won, though those are awesome, it’s the other stories.

– Patrick Chan apologizing for getting silver not gold. He did us proud, and yet he apologizes, not once but twice! Made me wanna give him a hug and a cookie lol

– The emotional connection I felt to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir while they performed, it was achingly beautiful.

– Pictures of all three Dufour-Lapointe sisters. Two of the three got medals but they all celebrated together.

– Charles Hamelin laying on top of a side board to reach his girlfriend to give her a kiss after his 1500m speed skate race. He did that at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics too and it’s adorable.

– The goofy pictures the figure skating team took together.

– Cross-country coach Justin Wadsworth running out to the race course and giving the Russian skier a new ski (his was broken) so he could cross the finish line with dignity.

– Gilmore Junio giving up his spot in his race so his teammate could race.

– The Jamaican bobsled team. I’m sorry but I love them no matter where they place! The level of dedication they have, mind blowing.

There are so many other moments, too many to write about here, especially considering they are floating all over the internet and have been plastered all over tvs for the past couple weeks, you probably know all the stories I know and more lol But it’s those moments, the human moments, that I will remember. Except for hockey and curling I won’t remember who won what medals, I won’t remember scores, or race times, what I will remember is seeing people represent their countries, do their best, push themselves beyond physical limits that most of us will never even get close too.

All the athletes are inspiring, and that is what I will remember most. 🙂

Tags: , , ,

Flyer Scouting

21 Feb

I never used to bother with flyers, if I lived somewhere where I got them I’d just toss em in the recycle box cause what’s the point? Going through a bunch of flyers from a bunch of different stores, trying to figure out what you are going to buy and which store you are going to buy it at…like I’m going to go to multiple stores to buy all the items I need? Nope, not likely. I’m all about convenience, if I’m in Safeway and they are selling avocados and I want avocados, I’m gonna buy them at Safeway instead of going to a different store that is selling them for a dollar cheaper. Cause no way I want to use my time store hopping.

where I find my flyers at

where I find my flyers at

Welllllll, let’s just say that has changed. I don’t always check flyers before I go shopping but lately I have been and not only that I’ve been making lists of what I am buying, at which store, and how much it says it will be in the flyer (I tend to look for the sale price on the shelf, makes the specific item I am looking for easier to find).

I shock myself every time I do it lol 😛

This evening after work I went grocery shopping and I gotta say, I get a little kick knowing that I saved money on this item or that item cause I bought it cheaper at the second store I went to rather than buying it at the first store. Weird huh? Luckily, I work right across the street from a Safeway and I pass by a Superstore on my way home so it makes it easy to go to the two stores. If only I passed a Wal-Mart Supercentre on my way home, I’d be covered for everything! lol

On weeks I shop with knowledge of what’s in the flyers I have to write a list, I always feel grown up when I am shopping with a grocery list, and yet, I don’t cook meals like a grown up, or at least I don’t think I do…

My mom can open a cupboard, glance at whatever is inside and boom! create a healthy meal. Just like that. No planning, no digging up a recipe, no googling for how to cook something, she just knows how. And has the creativity to see what various ingredients can become without freaking out and calling someone for help. I don’t know how she does it. I know every food item that is in my kitchen because I buy a lot of the same things and if I buy something not on my normal list it is because I have a recipe I am going to try or because someone has convinced me I really can cook item X. Only very recently have I tried buying items I didn’t already have a plan for and what do you know, I either ask my friend whose a chef, call my mom in a mild panic or google.

I didn’t start checking flyers because of an article I read but after I read it it made sense. This article was about how the poor and the rich shop differently. They didn’t mean which store the two demographics frequented or brands of items they purchased. What they meant were the shopping habits.

People love a good deal no matter how much money they have. Everyone feels better about buying an item they need when it is on sale cause saving any amount of money is always nice. Unfortunately, not every item is on sale every time a person goes shopping and we’ve all been in the situation where something goes on sale that we bought a week or so prior so we don’t need it now but by the time we run out and need to purchase it again it may no longer be on sale. Sucks right?

Well according to this article, if let’s say the jumbo size package of toilet paper is on sale but the smaller size isn’t, someone with money who is shopping will be all “oh hey, the jumbo pack is on sale, I’ll buy it now even though I don’t need it cause it’s a good deal and I’ll need it eventually” a person with less disposable income will think something like this “sure the jumbo pack is on sale and will last longer but I’m tight on money so I’m buying the smaller package cause it is cheaper”.

Unfortunately, the smaller package will run out sooner, which means it will have to be replaced sooner and in the long run will end up costing the consumer more. It would have been the more financially sound move to buy the larger package that is on sale buuuuut if you only have $40 to do your shopping you don’t want to spend $10 on toilet paper when you still need to buy enough food to feed you and your family for the next week or two. Is this making sense?

That article got me thinking. There are a lot of times when I buy the smaller sized item for multiple reasons, (1) there is only me and buying jumbo or large sized packages of things often doesn’t make sense (2) I live in a super small apartment and don’t have a storage space so if I stock up on something I literally have nowhere to put it and (3) I often find myself trying to stretch my money to be able to afford rent, bills and food so while the larger package might be a better deal I just can’t afford the deal.

Flyers help me find the deals and capitalize on them. Go flyers! lol. I check out the flyers online after I have a rough idea of what I need to buy. I make a list for the first store of not only items I know I need/want but items I am close to running out of that have gone on sale or items that intrigue me and are cheap enough I might be able to afford trying them. Then I do the same for the second store. Then I cross check them and see if there are any items that are on sale at both stores and which has the better deal. This helps me plan my shopping in terms of what I get where, it also helps me see where I am saving money, helps me stock up on non-perishable items and helps me be a smarter shopper in the long run. I knew I was starting to get low on toilet paper so I kept an eye out and what do you know, both stores had the same type on sale this week. If it is on sale this week it won’t be on sale next week and if I wait until next week then I’ll have to buy it no matter what, whether it’s on sale or not. So sure, I used money from this pay cheque to buy something I don’t technically need right now, I got it for cheaper than if I had waited till I needed it sooooo in the end I saved money.

Does any of this make any sense? Or are you all just going “omg it took you this long to figure this out? the rest of the world has known this for freakin ever!”

This isn’t a completely new mindset for me, but it’s the first time I have had it so solidly figured out in my head and actually plan my shopping based on it. Make fun of me if you will, I am enjoying my little bit of new knowledge, it’s making me feel a tad more grown up…now if only I could figure out how to cook like my mom! 😉

Tags: , , , , ,

Lightsaber Battle

21 Feb

Does having an epic lightsaber battle count as exercise? I feel it should…if only because that is one of the things I did Thursday evening and I want it to count as exercise lol 😛

lightsaber-duo-pack

Also, I got injured, and I’m pretty sure there is a rule out there somewhere saying if you get injured then the activity counts as exercise, or you can at least say you burned calories when performing said activity…right? Right! 😉

2014-02-21 17.01.46

When I got hit it wasn’t a “omg crap! that hurt!” it was an “oh ow, that kinda hurt” but it didn’t stop the battle. A little bit later when the lights were turned on (they had been off so the lightsabers looked cooler lol) I took a look at my knuckle and was shocked cause it was blue…blue! By the end of the evening it had become purple and swollen and this is what it looked like this evening. In person there is still some blue/purple happening but it is becoming more of the ugly bruise colour you see above. I figure at the rate the colour is changing give it one more day and it’ll be healed lol

But yeah, so back to what is important…do you think lightsaber battles can be counted as exercise? Cause I’m leaning towards yes… 😉

Tags: , , ,

The Ups and Downs Of Shopping

19 Feb

Shopping, ugh, I have such a love-hate thing going on when it comes to shopping. As a  girl I am supposed to love! love! love! shopping for pretty much everything buuuuuut I don’t. 😛

The things I love to shop for? Gear for my various sports/activities, books, shoes, jewellery, purses, techie stuff…but since I don’t have a lot of money I usually end up buying stuff for my sports/activities and shoes lol

Things I hate shopping for? Clothes.

Yes, I admit it, I am a female who hates shopping for clothes…well, unless it’s clothes to be worn when exercising, hiking, dragon boating, running, basically sports clothes. But clothes for work or general socializing? Nuh-uh, don’t like it.

I’m never happy with what I look like hence hating to shop for clothes.

For the last couple months or so I’ve been oh so amazingly unhappy with my clothes. Every time I get dressed for work or to go hang with friends I feel ugly. I don’t like how my pants fit, I don’t like how they look, they make me miserable and self-conscious and eager to return home and put on some sweats or yoga pants. My tops I’m ok with, it’s the pants that are a problem.

I was convinced it is because I am too big…huh, I’m trying to find a nice way to say this, *deep breath* I was convinced I felt this way in my pants because I was too fat for them. I wasn’t when I bought them, they fit great, so obviously if I don’t fit perfectly in them anymore it must be because I got too fat for them, right? Right. It’s depressing, and made me even less eager to shop than normal. I kept telling myself that if I am so unhappy with how I look in my clothes then stop being a dumb ass, lose the weight I so obviously gained, and fit back in to them. If I ate something I shouldn’t, then felt uncomfortable in my pants I would mentally yell at myself (cause yelling out loud to myself is just weird 😛 ) and basically tell myself my punishment for eating something bad for me was feeling so miserable in my pants. Not the healthiest way to be looking at things…

maybe this should be my new plan? ;)

maybe this should be my new plan? 😉

Couple months or so ago I bought two new pair of pants, a pair of jeans and a pair of cords. I bought them both a size up from what all my other pants are because I thought that must be what I needed, a size larger. I’ve been having trouble with both those pairs of pants though because they are too big, after about 20 minutes of wearing them they have become so loose I am constantly having to pull them up – soooo not an attractive thing to be doing. *rolls eyes* and under normal circumstance they’d be donated to a thrift store or relegated to “fat day pants”. Thing is, I don’t own enough pants to be giving any away or wearing certain ones so infrequently.

So I was confused, how could one size fit too snug and the next size up fit way too loose? Then I had a realization…except for those two pants that I bought in the larger size I hadn’t bought pants (except yoga or hiking or dragon boat pants) in three years. THREE YEARS!! I’ve been wearing the same freakin pants for years! No wonder they aren’t fitting properly anymore! They’ve been washed how many times? Worn how many times? Sat in, run in, moved around in, lived in for how long? Oh yeah, that’s right, 3 years.

That little tidbit of info made me feel not quite so bad about how my pants are fitting. Have I changed since I bought them, well yeah, sure I have. But so have the pants. They don’t hold their shape as well as they used to, over time the leg length has shrunk so it’s a good bet the rest of the way they fit has shrunk, they are old, and while I keep my clothes in as good condition as possible they are showing their age. I’d say they are due to be retired.

I decided with this paycheque I would buy myself a pair of pants, maybe two if I could find a good sale somewhere. I had almost convinced myself the shopping might be fun and not horrific since maybe I’m not the monstrous size I feel I must have become since my pants haven’t been fitting me but then reality set in lol Dragon boat season is starting early this year, a whole month earlier and I needed new water proof pants cause mine became un-water proof by the end of last season and while yes, this is a water sport so I should expect to get wet, being on the water at 7:30pm at night in February is damn cold and it’s sensible to wear water proof gear until the weather warms up. No point getting drenched and cold and being sick when you don’t have to be. I was at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, shopping for the water proof pants (which I found, and while I bought the cheapest pair they were by no means cheap, ugh) when I saw some sweet hiking pants on sale for $20. I figured I’d try them on since they were such a great deal and omg they fit beautifully! It’s amazing how good I felt about how I looked when I wore them! I didn’t feel self-conscious or ugly or fat or like I wanted to hide, I felt like I looked good. 🙂 It’s been a looooong time since I’ve felt that. Obviously I bought them. Oh, and the size? The equivalent to the size of the pants that no longer fit me. Weird.

So now I don’t have the money to replace my work/socializing pants because I bought the water proof pants and the hiking pants but the water proof ones are a necessity and the hiking pants were too good a deal to pass up, shrug. Guess I’ll have to keep battling the feelings I get in my three year old pants until I have another paycheque that has some money left over and I can go find some new clothes. If I can hold on to how I felt when trying on the hiking pants then maybe I won’t even mind going shopping for new work/social pants…maybe! 😉 lol

Tags: , , , , , ,

Stir Fry Sunday: A Gifted Sauce

18 Feb

2014-02-17 18.02.05I was talking stir fry with a friend of mine on Sunday while I was at work and sauces came up. She vocalized the crazy assumption she had made about my weekly stir fry dinners by saying something about my home made sauces. I looked at her like she was nuts and said “What? Made the sauce? Do you not realize who you’re talking too? I’m the girl who only figured out a month ago how to cook raw chicken. And who did a happy dance at figuring out how to hard boil an egg…remember??” To which she started laughing, made a “oh yeah!” face and then wondered where I get my sauces from. I told her all my sauces come from the same place, the Asian Food Aisle at the grocery store. She started laughing again. Apparently that is funny? *confused face*

Then she walks in to the fridge (I should point out she is a chef, we were in a professional kitchen so the fridge is massive, seriously, it could fit a bed), comes out with a container and says she is giving me some of what is inside. Turns out one of the other chefs had made a ginger and orange sauce that she figured would be good with stir fry.

Sauce…not from a jar…ok, I’m game! 🙂

It was quite tasty, though a tad strong, I blame that on my using too much of it lol.

So my stir fry last Sunday (I’m writing this on Tuesday, I’m such a slacker! 😛 ) was shrimp with a mixture of traditional stir fry veggies and mediterranean veggies with the ginger & orange sauce on top of brown rice. Mmm!

Using the home made sauce made me think I should look in to learning how to make my own sauces. I’ve been reading up on it a bit and apparently a good stir fry sauce is all about the spices used, that and an apparent magic touch lol I can’t afford to go buying a whole bunch of new ingredients right now but it’s something I’ll keep in mind for a future hobby…making sauces…can’t be any weirder of a hobby than whatever other people do, maybe lol 😉

Tags: , , , , ,

Chewsday Tuesday – Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Bake

18 Feb

Mmm! This sounds delish! Thanks Little Runner Girl! 🙂

Run This Mom

Apple cinnamon quinoa bake

What you need:

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 apples, peeled, diced
  • 1/4 cup raisins ( I didn’t have any, so I used a mixed berry blend)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups vanilla soy milk (can substitute regular milk)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup almonds, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 7×11-inch baking dish an 8×8 works too.  I used a 7×11 and wish that I’d done the 8×8 because then the bars would have been thicker.

In a small bowl, mix the uncooked quinoa with the spices. Pour into greased dish.

Sprinkle the apple and raisins on top of the quinoa.

In that same small bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the soy milk and maple syrup.
Pour the egg and milk mixture over the top of the fruit and quinoa.

Lightly stir to partially…

View original post 65 more words

Chatty Cathy Corner…Only I’m Not Cathy…

15 Feb

I don’t usually use my blog to talk about movies or tv shows. I have occasionally posted a link to a youtube video for a song I abso love but that’s about it.

Well, I just finished watching the movie Captain Phillips and am so blown away by it I feel I have to say something, to someone, and since my computer is within easy reach, and all of my friends are sleeping, you dear readers are the people I am going to tell. lol. So why don’t you grab a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy my random chattiness…

captain-phillips-poster

Go watch Captain Phillips. It was amazing, incredible, gripping.

Tom Hanks has a way of making you believe right from the moment he shows up on your screen that he is that character. And as Captain Phillips he humanized the Somali pirates and helped me (if only briefly) feel pity for them. This movie, while being about the first American ship being taken over by pirates in 200 years wasn’t all Pro-America-aren’t-we-great yadda yadda yadda. It was about normal people, put in a crappy situation…but that description right there, about people being in a crappy situation, describes both the Americans on the ship and the pirates who boarded them.

If you followed the news in 2009 then you already know how the movie ends, but in case you are like me and didn’t follow the news, or just forgot how it all turned out, I won’t spoil the ending by saying what happens. All I will say is I 100% recommend you (yes, you!) watch this movie, the acting alone makes it worth it, but the acting combined with the story will keep your eyes glued to your screen for the entire length of the movie, and how often does that happen? 🙂

On a completely different note, the trainer my lil sis and I worked with emailed us pictures he took of us while we performed various exercises so we would remember what they looked like. I printed them out today and stuck them on my fridge so now I have no excuse to not do them. I also printed a copy for my lil sis but doubt she’ll be happy to see that lol. All the exercises are designed to be things that can be done in a gym or at home, hence sticking the print out on my fridge where I will see it everytime I go to get food. There are a couple I can’t reeeeally do here but only because they involve my arms stretched straight above my head and my ceiling is too low for that, I could go on my knees for those, I think that’ll get me the same benefit as standing…maybe…I don’t really know…maybe I’ll just stand in the hall outside my door and hope my landlord doesn’t walk by lol

My Squat Circuit Challenge is going well, Saturday will be Day 7. So far I haven’t had any problems with my knees which is a relief. I think because instead of doing only the standard squat I am doing the 5 different squats it is somehow easier on the joints, I don’t know why I think that makes sense but in my head it does so I’m going with it lol

One Week Done!

One Week Done!

I’ve really got to decide what I am doing about this Ripped In 30 Jillian Michaels dvd challenge. Every now and then I pull out the dvd, pop it in and do the workout for Week 1. It is a good workout and weeks 2, 3 and 4 hold the promise of a real ass whooping but since I never do the first full week I’ve never bumped myself up to the next level workout. There is also a meal plan that I have yet to access online cause ya know, that’s how I roll apparently lol I should have started the Squat Circuit Challenge and the Jillian Michaels challenge on the same day then I could use the one to prompt the other buuuut I only just came up with that brilliant idea *rolls eyes* When I google results from her workout dvd there are amazing pics online, people seem to do really well following her workout dvd and meal plan so you’d think I’d be right on that but for some reason I’m not. I don’t even have an excuse for why I haven’t started the challenge, I just haven’t…sigh…

Why oh why haven't I seriously started this yet??

Why oh why haven’t I seriously started this yet??

My last bit of news is I got woken up by a phone call from the doctor today, oh joy. They got the results from my most recent x-rays and blood tests in and I yet again have to go in to talk to her about them. Ugh. I’m so done with that, can’t I just wait to see the specialist? Oh but wait, no, no I can’t cause she says I have to go in to talk about them. I’m not a big fan of doctors and all these repeated visits are irritating me. I’m not nervous this time about what she is going to say, she seemed to get all the scary words out of her system last time *rolls eyes*, I figure she’ll use the same scary words this time, or it’ll be worse (which I doubt due to my being very much aware of the pain level in my hip at every second of my day) or it will be magically better (which again, I doubt since I’m the one feeling the pain in my hip and that isn’t going anywhere). What could she possible tell me she hasn’t already? Aaaaand, I suppose by typing that I am tempting fate now aren’t I? sigh. I just want it fixed so it doesn’t cause me problems during dragon boat season which, oh yeah! That was my other news! lol

Grr! I am dragon, hear me roar!

Grr! I am dragon, hear me roar!

My team signed a new coach, yay! Who has decided we are starting our on the water training Feb 27th instead of mid to late March like we normally do. This means (1) I’m super stoked to be getting back on the water! (2) my first practice of the season is the day prior to my meeting with the hip specialist which is not the order I would have preferred that to happen in and (3) I’m gonna have to hurry and buy my new water proof pants (mine stopped being waterproof part way through last season, it was weird)

All done your tea? Good, so am I! 🙂

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

V-Day an Stuff

14 Feb

Ohhhh Valentine’s Day, sigh, the day when single girls can’t catch a break. Either people shoot looks of pity your way because you are single and *gasp* not doing anything social on this oh-so-red-infused day or they read into everything you say/do and nod sagely while calling you out on your so-called bitterness. *rolls eyes*

my surprise valentine present

my surprise valentine present

People don’t seem to understand the concept of a single female who is happy being just that, single. It’s ok for guys to be single, people don’t go around thinking they are running out of time to get married, they don’t assume a guy is bitter about being single, they don’t even seem to feel the need to reassure the guy that they’ll meet the right one soon.

But single women? Oh man the comments that I have had thrown my way, a girl needs kevlar just to survive out there lol 😛

I don’t see why my being single gives everyone around me the self-appointed right to judge every aspect of my life. Although, to be fair, I judge a lot of people I know who are in disfunctional unhappy relationships but who aren’t taking any steps to get out of them because it is more comfortable to be un-happy but know what to expect then to make a drastic change with only the hope of becoming happy…I guess really, we all judge each other, it’s just so much more apparent at certain times of the year or at certain social situations.

I, as a single woman, am not allowed to make any sarcastic comments about Valentine’s Day, I can’t make rude jokes about it, not one snarky comment can pass my lips because I will be instantly branded as bitter. Which, believe it or not, I’m not. On the reverse, I also can’t make sappy remarks about it, I can’t want to see the newest romantic comedy that is in theatre and I can’t buy any of the chocolate for myself because I will be instantly branded as someone pining for love and pitied. Which again, I’m not.

There’s no winning!

So on that note, I am without sarcasm or sappiness wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day, I hope you spent the day eating whatever you wanted, hanging out with whomever you wanted (or avoiding all those you didn’t want to see) and I hope you were legit happy for at least part of the day. 🙂

Onward to more exciting stuff!

Look what came in the mail today!

Armpocket 1-30

Armpocket i-30

*insert girly squeal here*

I’m sooooooo excited! I ordered this a while ago but it had to clear customs (it came from the states) so it took a bit longer than normal to receive. It is an arm band to hold my phone, keys and other small things while I am running. Lame to be excited? Maybe…but I don’t care, I’m excited! 😀

Every time I want to go running it is a juggling act of what goes in to which pocket and then when I am running I am constantly checking my pockets to make sure I haven’t lost anything. On top of that I usually have my phone in one hand (I use an app on there to track my distance, speed, calories burned etc) and in my other hand is my iPod so I can listen to music. I look ridiculous and never really feel comfortable when running because I am always worried about losing things. But this new toy will fix all that!

The one I bought is the i-30. I chose it because it was on sale. Yeah, really awesome research right? lol I did research it in 2013, and even went so far as to ask for it for Christmas but I didn’t get it. I figured oh well, maybe in summer I’ll buy one buuuut since I have to train for this run I signed up for (it is in May) I took a look at their site again and the one I wanted was on sale because they’d come out with a new version for 2014. Sweeeet! Since I didn’t care about the minor tweaks they made for the new version I bought the one I originally wanted but for cheap…well, cheaper. 😛

The specs:

-The fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles – which I love!

-It has a touch-through cover so I’ll be able to use my phone’s screen without taking it out of the armpocket.

-It has 3 interior storage compartments so you can carry your phone, keys, ID, energy bar etc – no more juggling things in my pocket for me!

-It is water proof.

-Ventilated straps so my arm won’t be a nasty sweaty mess under the strap when I’m running.

There are of course other things that the pamphlet and website say are awesome about it but these are the reasons I chose it. 🙂

The only thing I’m not so impressed with are the pockets inside. There are three interior storage compartments to securely hold your items, the pic shows your credit card and ID fitting nicely in to one pocket while your keys and cash go in the second and then your phone is in the third. Well…hmm…those interior pockets that are supposed to be for my plastic and keys are small, as in narrow, as in I don’t think my ID or credit card would fit in one…it’s not like American ID cards or credit cards are different sizes so I don’t know why the pockets are so narrow…I’ll be fiddling more with it tomorrow and I’ll see, maybe my stuff really will fit in there ok? Even if they don’t fit perfectly I am still happy with it. Course, I’ll be happier after I’ve gone for a run with it on my arm and I know how well it feels and if it really doesn’t slide down the arm like they claim. lol

Shoot, I had other things I wanted to write about but this is already really long…sigh, I guess I’ll have to write a separate post *rolls eyes*

Cheerio!

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries

%d bloggers like this: