So What Wednesday

Here goes another installment...So what if...

1. There is a winter storm coming.  I drive an hour to work each way.  My school district hardly ever cancels school.  I have every intention have having a self-imposed snow day on Friday if the weatherman speaks da troof.
2. I am sitting on the couch fully dressed for the gym and am doing this instead.  I really am going to get off my ass.
3. I am way behind on laundry again. What else is new?
4. My coffee addiction has gotten out of control.  I have my own coffee maker in my office now and have found myself drinking a half a pot by lunch.  It just tastes so good and I have been so sleepy in the mornings lately.
5. I FINALLY found a new pair of black flats for work.  I wear flats nearly every day and my old ones have holes in them.  I look homeless.  I went shopping all afternoon and part of the evening on Saturday and found NOTHING that I liked.  I finally decided to be brave and ordered online.  I got them today and they FIT.  Thank GOD.  
6. It is the prime of college application deadline season and I am exhausted.  I have never filled out so many fee waivers, written so many letters of recommendation, and stuffed so many envelopes in all my life.  These kids will thank my some day, I am sure. :)
7. I FINALLY got a pair of knee high boots!!  It isn't cause my legs have slimmed down...it is because I found some with stretchy material on the back.  I kinda feel like I cheated, but they FIT.
8. I have 2 on here about shoes.  Got a problem with that? 

Carrie's Feta Dip

I cannot take any credit whatsoever for the recipe that is featured in today's post.  My sister, Carrie, brought this to our family Thanksgiving as an appetizer.  It was DELICIOUS.   I made some and added it to my menu for the week, so I decided to share.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of feta cheese.
• 3 roma tomatoes
• 1 bunch of green onions
• olive oil
• Greek salad dressing

Instructions:

• Coat the bottom of a dish with olive oil.  I used about 3 tablespoons.
• Crumble feta cheese and place in the dish.
• Seed and chop tomatoes and toss in the bowl.
• Chop green onions and toss in also.
• Drizzle about 2 Tablespoons of Greek salad dressing over the top and toss together.

It will look like this:

My lovely sister served this with slices of baguette.  It was super good that way.  However, since I am trying to stay away from flour and grains, I plan to eat this with chicken.  (I had a carb binge over Thanksgiving and I felt like complete CRAP!)  

For dinner this week, I purchased a large package of chicken breasts.  I plan to grill up some chicken and top with a serving of this dip for dinner.  I don't even things sides are necessary.  If I do pair with a side, it will be green veggies.

Nutrition Information: 

Servings: 8

Calories:  141

Fat:  12

Carbs: 4

Protein: 5

Our Little Tree

Traditionally, like many families, we put up our Christmas tree and other holiday decorations the weekend following Thanksgiving.  There is always tradition involved and memories are always created.  Something really just dawned on me this year as I was trying to hand ornaments out for the kids to place on the tree.  It occurred to me what an interesting story our tree tells.  Some people (and it is fine if you are one of these people) have this uniform theme to their tree.  Our theme is friends and family.

As I was handing out ornaments, for most of them I could pinpoint exactly who gave us the ornament or the story behind it.  Some of these people are old friends, some new, and some have passed on.  A little memory of them hangs on our tree and I find that so cool.

Here are some of the highlights...

I made this ornament in preschool in 1983.  Yes, it is missing an eye.  But a cyclops Rudolph adds that extra little bit of character, right?  Homemade ornaments are essential.  I hope to add many many of these to my tree in the coming years as Darcy and Aidan make their way through school.

Our giant M&M Ornament --  Tim and I bought this ornament during our honeymoon in Las Vegas.  We did not make a ton of souvenir purchases, but this ornament from the M&M store on the Vegas strip was one of them!  

Our second Christmas as a married couple, Tim and I decided that it was absolutely necessary that we go out and buy the DVD version of Christmas Vacation.  Best. Christmas. Movie. EVER.  But I digress... As part of the DVD package, we got this extra gift ornament.  It is tacky.  It is made of thick cardboard.  It is just plain silly, but it has become an absolute necessary part of our Christmas tree.  The tree is not finished, until the Griswold house graces the branches.

When our kitty cats were our only babies, we found it necessary for them to have their own little stockings. We had no fireplace to hang them on, so we decided to hang them on the Christmas tree instead.  I wrote their names playfully (with backwards letters and everything...) with a Sharpie.  We now have a mantle for stockings, but we have human children now.  Therefore, the stockings still have a place on the tree.  We have also purchased one for our dog, Josie.

My family never had the tradition of placing a robin in the branches of the tree, but Tim's family did.  This tree brings all our traditions together, so now this little robin gets a prime spot every year.

This ornament is one of my favorites.  It is one of the last ornaments that my late grandmother purchased for me.  This picture does not do it much justice, but it is a dainty set of sparkly, silver bells.  I always put this one at the top of the tree.  I think of her every time I look at it.

Every year, Tim and I purchase a special ornament for each of the kids.  It usually focuses on their interests during that time.  When the kids are grown and have trees of their own, I plan to give them their ornaments so that they never have an empty Christmas tree.  Last year, Darcy's obsession was Rapunzel.  

Here is one of Aidan's special ones.  It was a gift to him last year.  Very appropriate for my little karate master. 

Here is Tim and the kids decoration our little tree.  Some day we will hopefully have a living room big enough for a larger tree.  This one will do for now though.  The top side of the tree looks flattened, and I discovered that it was because there were too many ornaments there holding the branches down.  Fixed now!

I love the holidays and this type of thing is exactly the reason why.  I hope that you and yours had a blessed Thanksgiving and continue to have a beautiful holiday season -- filled with memories just like these.

Where I've Been...

I have been a sorry excuse for a blogger lately.... As in, I have not blogged...at all.

The reason?  There has been a lot of stuff going on lately.  It has been stressful.  It has been emotional.  It has been worrisome.  I really do not want to discuss these things yet, but rest be assured, I am just fine.  I just have a bad habit of shutting down when I get extremely stressed.  I was unable to think of anything to say on here...mainly because my mind was all consumed with other issues that I did not feel like discussing.

Things are better.  I am fine.  I am pushing forward.

One of the ways that I have chosen to help with stress relief is that I joined a gym!  I was a member several years back and stopped going.  The sad part is that I actually enjoyed it, but got lazy.  I have tried to get my activity in at home and it is just too hard.  I get too distracted.  I will just get into the groove of my Jillian video and will hear one or more of the following...

"Mommy! Darcy is coloring on the wall!"
"Mommy! I need to go potty!"
"Mommy!  I need a drink of water!"
"Mommy! I am scared of the fan!"
"Mommy! My blanket isn't covering my feet!"
"Mommy! I need a tissue!"
"Mommy! I wet the bed again!"

              And just when I think that my head is going to explode...she throws in the

"Mommy! I want a hug and a kiss!" (This one always makes me feel like an ass, because I walk in all pissed off and annoyed and then feel like a jerk...cause she is just asking for a hug and a kiss.  Kid is smart...)

And then, when I put my foot down and tell her no more drinks of water will be handed out this evening, I get this:

Four year old tantrums are so fun.

So, workouts had actually become stressful instead of a source to actually relieve stress.  Therefore, workouts ceased to exist in my world.  This was not acceptable.

I went in for my consultation and the nice woman took me on a tour.  I actually felt like I wanted to cry. There was so much to do and the facility is really beautiful.  The price was right.  SIGN MY FAT REAR UP!

So, I have been going regularly for the past few weeks.  I am restricted myself to the cardio machines so far because the weight machines scare me -- only because I am not sure how to use them.  I have a free appointment with a trainer soon.  I am hoping that will be the day that I can learn how to best use the weight equipment.  I also plan to use the pool soon and take advantage of spinning classes.

My first barrier when I got there was this:

It, uh, took me way too long to figure out how to use these lockers.  Did I just ask someone?  No, I had to act like I knew what I was doing.  People who know what they are doing definitely stare at the key pad with a confused look and are unsuccessful at locking the locker multiple times.  I have a flippin Master's Degree and it took me forever to figure this out.  Obviously, my Master's Degree is not in keypad locker locks. Maybe I could earn that degree online...

I have been burning lots of calories and doing really well, overall.  I love it and it has done wonders for relieving the aforementioned stress.  I feel so relaxed when it is over and I have been sleeping like a baby. One of the best decisions I have made in awhile.  

And finally, the obligatory heart rate monitor/calorie burn pic...

I promise I will never ever do a gym selfie.  Ever.  I just cannot bring myself to do it.

So, here's to a less stressed me!  :)

Dan's Coffee Run

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was down with the flu at the end of last week.  Because of this, I found myself watching a lot of daytime television.  After the Today show was over, (I was so glad when it was because I swear Hoda and Kathy Lee are a live television train wreck...lol) I stayed tuned in to the Queen Latifah Show.  I was really glad that I didn't have the energy to channel surf, because if I wouldn't have stayed tuned, I wouldn't have seen this story:

I was a sobby mess when this story was over.   After showing his story, he was awarded $10,000 by Starbucks in order to continue on with his good deeds of bringing joy to cancer patients and their families through a simple cup of coffee.  

This inspired me.  It inspired me to really think about how even the simplest thing can bring joy to someone's day.  It could be something as simple as a cup of coffee, a smile, a pat on the back, or a nice note.  I am going to make more of an effort to do small things to brighten the day of others.  Thank you, Dan, for all you have done so selflessly for others.

If you are interested in supporting Dan and his cause, visit his website!  I know I plan to.

Halloween Shenanigans

Halloween was not as fun this year.   You see, the forecast for the night was moderate to heavy rain with sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts that could be up to 50 mph.  Not exactly ideal trick or treat conditions. Soooo, Tim and I decided to be resourceful and scope out some of the indoor trick or treat opportunities. We saw that a local mall was sponsoring an indoor trick or treat at their participating stores.  We thought it would be a great idea.   We thought, "Oh, we can trick or treat at the mall!  There are a lot more stores than houses in the neighborhood!  We can even eat in the food court and have dinner while we are there!"  

Here are some samples of what we actually said once there...

Seriously would have rather turned my umbrella right side out multiple times in the wind instead of dealing with the terror that was mall trick or treating.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but the entire mall was an enormous shoulder to shoulder line to get candy from stores who were giving out crap candy.  You know, like those strawberry hard candies with the gel in them that are wrapped up to kind of look like a strawberry?  And the wrapper is always half off?  Yeah, it was like that...  and THEN you would wait forever to see that a store had run out... Hell.  It was hell.

This is how Tim felt about things.  I think he worded it quite eloquently.  ;)

After getting frustrated, we finally decided to head for the food court, which to our surprise,actually had free tables.  Before we got there, I was starting to feel sick to my stomach, but I thought maybe it was because I was hot due to the crowds.   I ate some gourmet mall food and felt worse.  It was then that I realized that home had to be the next destination.  I proceeded to bribe my children and agreed to buy them their favorite candy x 2 at the grocery store this weekend if we could just go home.  Surprisingly, they were fine with it.  

That night, I got home and felt even more sick and went straight to bed.  I woke up multiple times during the night because Darcy kept having strange issues that needed addressed -- like her feet weren't covered well enough with her blanket.  Each time I got up, I felt more sick.  Then all of a sudden, I got hit with a ton of bricks with the "Oh shit, I have got the flu" feeling.   I called in to work and spent my Friday in flu hell.

Happy Halloween!!

The bright side:

LUCKILY, we took our adorable children to a great Halloween event at the Cincinnati Zoo the weekend prior.  The kids got to dress up, visit their favorite animals, and trick or treat at treat stations around the zoo. We all had a great time.  So, they did get some other fun Halloween activities in...thankfully.  Here are some pics!

Darcy in her costume right before we left.  She is a "cupcake girl".  I have no idea what that is exactly, but she HAD to have the costume.  I had these good intentions that involved me making the kids awesome costumes this year, but it did not materialize. Oh well.  There is always next year!!

This person was walking around posing with the kids.  It was quite possibly the coolest costume I have EVER seen.  The eyes and mouth moved and everything.  I have NO CLUE how this person could see anything, but it was still awesome.

Both kids in full costume.  They had all these little areas around the zoo where kids could pose for pictures.  Very cute.  In case you can't tell, the pumpkin is carved out to look like a gorilla.

Certain times during the day, animals were given pumpkins as a treat.  We were just in time for the polar bears to get theirs.  This bear bit into this thing and carried it around in his mouth like we would an apple.  It was fun to see.

Bock Bock! Calorie-Friendly Chicken Salad

I have sucked at this better lifestyle for the past several weeks.  I have blogged on and on about needing to plan better, and while I make baby steps each week, my planning falls short.  Then, my eating is ok, but not the best it could be.   Yesterday, I got my butt in gear and did some food prep for the week.

I have a menu set up for each day including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I have decided to draw out my favorite recipes in order to renew my motivation for eating clean, real food.  Yay!

For lunch, I decided to make a clean chicken salad.  I am not the best at writing my own recipes, so I am not going to try and take credit for this entirely.  I got the idea from Jillian Michaels' Master your Metabolism Cookbook.  There really are some great recipes in there, if you have been thinking of purchasing it.

Anyway, there is a recipe in the cookbook for chicken salad.  I adapted it slightly and now I have lunch for the week.

The recipe itself calls for 1 pound of poached chicken breast.  I had a coupon for a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, so went with that instead.  I also like the flavor of this much more.  I simply took the chicken off the bone and removed the skin.  I diced it up and voila! Obviously, this means there is a little bit of dark meat incorporated in, but the salad is predominately white meat.

Next, I cut up some celery and red grapes and tossed them in.  The recipe also calls for chopped pecans.  I was a dope and forgot to buy pecans at the store yesterday morning.  Luckily, I had some sliced almonds on hand, so I threw those in instead.

Instead of using mayonnaise for dressing, this recipe calls for plain Greek yogurt.  To be honest, I just do not care for Greek yogurt.  I went with plain, organic traditional yogurt instead.   Apple cider vinegar, honey, and salt are added in to complete the dressing.

Next, stir in the dressing.  This is the salad after the dressing was mixed in.  You can serve it on your favorite whole wheat bread or just eat it on its own.  I am trying to limit my grains, so I plan to eat it on its own or maybe even make lettuce wraps with it.  Yum!

I am really excited because I am well equipped for the week food-wise.  I have a feeling it is going to be a good one!

Chicken Salad:

1 pound chicken breast, poached and cooled (I used a rotisserie chicken that I let sit out and cool.)

1 cup halved red grapes

1/3 cup chopped pecans -- almonds or walnuts work too!

1/4 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

dash of pepper

1/3 cup low fat plain yogurt (traditional or Greek)

Instructions:

1. Chop your cooled chicken and place in a bowl or container.
2. Mix in chopped celery and grape.
3. Stir yogurt, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper together in a bowl.
4. Stir into chicken mixture until evenly coated.
5. Refrigerate.

Nutrition Information (per 1/2 cup serving)

Calories: 118.6   Fat: 5.1 g   Protein:  12.9 g  Carbs: 5.6 g  Sodium:  93.8 mg