Ho Hum…

Finally Friday! I sure am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!

For breakfast, I ate light toast with PB (x2) and 1/2 of a banana, sliced. I also had skim milk.

I drank coffee with FF vanilla creamer while working job #1.

And snacked on a light cheese stick on my break.

For lunch, I made an egg white omelet with ham and cheese along with light waffles topped with SF syrup and Brummel & Brown. What can I say, this looked like a face to me, so I added eyes.

I also had a side of fresh raspberries. These have been spectacular. I often shop at Aldi and their produce can be a little…iffy. But I bought these at HyVee and they are just superb. I can’t believe the difference. So fresh and flavorful.

After lunch, I got started on working job #2. I worked for about an hour and decided to stop for the day. I was starting to feel sicker again…ugh.

I ate a snack of peanuts and candy corn. Not something I eat often, but it was good!

I think that not feeling well made me want to eat. I also ate some of these caramel corn puff things that hubby picked up at the apple orchard.

I finally just decided to go to bed and rest, hoping to feel better. After a couple of hours I felt less tired, but still felt like I do when I am coming down with something, even though I’ve had something for like a month now and thought I was finally on the mend again…BLAH!

But resting kept me out of the cupboards and trying to find comfort in food. Mission accomplished. Albeit, I felt like a lazy bum and it made me slightly grumpy and agitated. Sorry hubby!

For supper, we had grilled chicken, butternut squash, and a side salad with lettuce, tomato, a sprinkling of cheese and lite blue cheese dressing.

I decided to experiment by making brownies out of the box and substituting unsweetened applesauce for the oil. They were very good! Only a little under 3 points too. Not too bad!

I could definitely get by with serving those to guests for dessert. I don’t think anyone would notice!

A little too much “junk” food today. That’s what happens when I don’t feel well I guess. I’ll take note of that for next time.

Why is it that some of us think that food will make everything all better? Food really does offer comfort. Not lasting comfort, but that’s why we all bring food to people who are mourning, for example. But some of us use food as a crutch far too often. My habits have changed from what they used to be, but old habits die hard.

I’m super frustrated because I am signed up for a 5K next weekend and haven’t run in forever. Lack of motivation over the summer combined with excessive heat kept me from getting my butt out there.

And now this fall, I’ve been sick and dealing with asthma/allergies and don’t want to risk making things worse. It makes me so angry with myself. I told hubby that I’m trying to just think of the 5K as an opportunity to be active and have fun. Who cares if I can’t run all of it, or ANY of it. I could WALK it, for goodness sakes. Being ACTIVE in any way is better than just sitting on the couch doing nothing.

But I can’t help but feel like a failure…having had plans to train for this thing and haven’t done a thing. I think that’s part of what’s bothering me tonight. *sigh*

And my ears hurt. There’s pressure in my head and I keep coughing. My teeth hurt, for goodness sakes. Ok, enough complaining…things could always be worse.

I hope I can cheer up tomorrow tonight!

Staying Accountable

Today I weighed in and gained .2. Bleh. I know where I went wrong and it all occurred over the weekend. I will have a loss next week!

For breakfast, I ate Cheerios with fresh strawberries.

The traditional coffee with creamer while working job #1.

On my break, I had peach Greek yogurt with chia seeds.

I just love those things! And they are very good for you.

For lunch, I ate some of this:

This soup was VERY flavorful and didn’t taste “light” at all. I ate the soup with a side salad (lettuce, tomato, blue cheese) and Triscuits.

I finished it up with an apple and peanut butter.

What can I say, I was super hungry by lunch time!

I took a little time to just rest and relax before getting started on job #2. I love that I can do what I want, when I want with my second job. It just takes a little time management to make sure I get what I need to get done, DONE. And I do just fine. I think I work better independently, at my own pace, and setting my own rules. Who wouldn’t? lol But hey, not everyone can work that way, either! I’m not the type that needs a boss over my shoulder to be motivated to get the job done.

I knew today was one of those days that an extra cup of coffee was in order to get through the day. So I tried out my new coffee:

The beans must be roasted in an oil to flavor them. They glistened. It was a very flavorful coffee.

I drank the coffee with FF vanilla creamer.

Today’s job was to review interviews and get some quotes together.

I took a break after the first one and read a few blogs. But knew I better get back at it. I got a couple of hours of work in, accomplished what I wanted to get done and then called it quits.

I spent a bunch of time working on getting airline tickets purchased. I took way too much time looking for the best possible deal only to have hubby come home and question what I was doing. I was so frustrated! But in the end, it all worked out better than I had originally planned. But wow, that can be so frustrating sometimes.

I had to head out and take photos for job #2 and by the time that was done, I was STARVING. So we decided to grab supper out. I ate a taco and we split a small appetizer of spinach and artichoke dip and chips. I didn’t get a picture.

And then I also had a very small piece of cheesecake. No picture. Not my best last night, I’m going to blame it on feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with the whole airfare thing! But I counted the points.

That was my day! It was a long day and I didn’t get this posted last night because I was too tired by the time I got home. So here it is today! Accountability.

A Sweet Potato or a Mouse?

My day started out like this. I made coffee but forgot to add the coffee grounds. Hubby got a nice laugh out of it, so it wasn’t all for naught.

For breakfast, I made an egg sandwich on a sandwich thin with cheese and ham along with strawberries/raspberries and a glass of skim milk.

Those egg sandwiches are always delicious.

While working job #1, I sipped on round 2 of coffee. This time I made it correctly. Yesterday, someone asked what kind of creamer the white chocolate caramel latte was, here it is.

It really is super tasty. I think anything with caramel is good. I know, I know. Creamer isn’t good for you. I’ve heard it a million times. I tried to give it up once, but it’s just not something I want to live without.

I was so tired this morning, I could hardly keep my eyes open while I was working. It was terrible! And I went to bed at 8:15 last night because I was exhausted. Crazy, huh?

For lunch, I needed something quick. I heated up two Hebrew National hot dogs and ate them with light bread, PB, and ketchup with a side of potato salad.

Yes, I eat PB on my hot dogs. Try it, it’s delicious!

So I was craving those honey wheat pretzel twists dipped in caramel. I know, a very specific craving, huh? Something I haven’t even eaten in years. lol. But anyways, I didn’t have either, so I ate an apple with PB.

After lunch, I had to head out the door for an interview for job #2. It was a beautiful day and I saw beautiful scenery along the way. Here’s a quick snap shot.

I wasn’t able to stop for the really pretty trees I saw everywhere. It’s such a gorgeous time of year right now.

After that, I headed home. I got in some good work time today.

I was really needing the extra caffeine today, so I heated up more coffee. I had a nice chat with my Mom!

Then I spent some time searching airfare for a couple of trips we are hopefully taking soon! I discovered kayak.com which is the coolest thing since… Expedia.

For supper, I made tortilla pizzas with ham, Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles, onion and tomatoes.

Last time I made these I mentioned how incredible it tasted. I think the secret ingredient is the onion from our garden! Seriously. They are so flavorful!

I also made a side salad with greens, tomatoes, avocado, and crumbled blue cheese.

And for a little dessert, I had a small piece of chocolate/PB fudge that hubby picked up this past weekend. I have miraculously stayed out of this stuff! And now it’s all gone, so yay!

Tomorrow is weigh in day. Today’s weight was about the same as last week… so we will see what tomorrow brings!

I’m hoping I can get back into exercise soon. I am still on the mend and with my allergies/asthma being so terrible right now and I am trying to be careful. I definitely don’t need to get worse…which tends to happen when I overdo it.

Hubby’s coworker gave him some sweet potatoes from their garden. Check out this mysteriously mouse like sweet potato!!! It’s so gross but so cool! lol I wonder how it will taste…

Tuesday

It was back to waking up at 5 a.m. this morning. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to waking up that early.

For breakfast, I ate oatmeal with PB and a sliced banana along with skim milk.

While working job #1, I sipped on coffee with white chocolate caramel latte creamer.

Yum, that stuff was good!

For a snack, I ate Triscuits and light string cheese.

For lunch, I ate a salad with lettuce, tomato, avocado, teriyaki chicken, blue cheese crumbles and lite blue cheese dressing.

That lite blue cheese dressing is very good. I will be buying that again. I have missed my blue cheese dressing!

I also ate a Fiber One brownie.

Right after lunch, I headed out the door for job #2. I had an event to cover in a nearby town. While there, I saw this garden and thought these roses on the picket fence were pretty.

And then I decided to head over to another nearby town and check out the shops since I’m not usually in town when they’re open. They weren’t anything spectacular, but I am pretty excited about this tea I found!

I am enticed by anything that has coconut in it. This will be wonderful when the weather cools down again. It was about 80 degrees today! It actually felt pretty good though.

After the shopping, I headed back home. Here are some random scenery shots I took while just holding the camera up and snapping. I was driving, so I couldn’t focus on taking pictures.

It’s just miles and miles of golden corn and bean fields. And lots of scenes like this right now:

See all of that dust? Yes, this is why my allergies are so terrible right now.

When I arrived home, I got back to work for job #2. I worked for quite a while and got a lot done.

I was SO hungry by this time. I had to keep myself out of the kitchen so I didn’t start snacking! I read some blogs to keep myself busy.

For supper, I made an egg white omelet with cheese and Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles. I also had 2 lite waffles with Brummel & Brown and SF syrup.

I picked up these waffles yesterday. They were good.

I also had fresh strawberries and raspberries.

And I finished it up with the last of the pumpkin mousse.

Not a bad day!

A Day Off

Did you check out my post about the weekend?

I took today off of work, kind of as my birthday present to myself. I have so much vacation time that it’s ok to take days off here and there, which is really nice. I was able to sleep in a couple of hours and it felt wonderful. It was such a COLD morning. I was wearing a long sleeved tee, a sweater, and a fleece jacket around the house and I was still cold!

I love my notes from hubby:

I stepped on the scale to see that my weight was only .2 above my weigh in. But I also weighed in about 3 hours later than normal. Hopefully I didn’t do too much damage this weekend and I can have a loss on weigh in day.

I started off by getting laundry started. I sure had my job set out for me!

For breakfast, I ate a mini whole wheat bagel with pumpkin spice cream cheese, an egg, and a glass of milk. We were all out of fruit.

And then I sipped on some coffee with pumpkin spice creamer.

I got some things done around the house and scheduled some appointments.

And then I got started on some work for job #2. I guess I didn’t have the day COMPLETELY off. But Mondays is my deadline and I had to finish up some work from Friday. It didn’t take me too long.

Hubby needed me to run an errand for him in a nearby town, so I headed out to do that. I decided to grab lunch at Subway and eat it on my drive to another town to do some shopping and stop at the office.

I ate a 6” turkey and ham sub with baked BBQ Lays.

I did some shopping, but didn’t find a lot to buy. I have birthday money in my pocket and it’s burning a hole.

I did pick up this album for $5 though.

I found some things at a consignment store that I ended up getting free since I they owed me money for clothing I had sold.

I picked up some groceries for the week. I got a few fun things!

I love Chia seeds!

And blue cheese dressing.

This pineapple salsa was on sale for 99 cents. I’ll come up with some way to use it!

Locally roasted coffee beans. Yummy.

And a butter nut squash!

And before heading home I stopped at Starbucks to use this lovely thing!

You can bet I got something expensive. I got a nonfat venti iced salted caramel mocha with no whip.

I drank half and brought the rest home to hubby. Like my watch? Hubby got it for me for my birthday! LOVEEEE!!

He has good taste, huh?

Hubby and I had to go help the inlaws haul some things tonight, so we headed out there. I got my birthday gift, which included these things:

Yummy! I had a couple of the dove chocolate pieces.

Here are hubby and I in the truck.

Hubby’s parents took us out for supper. I had soup, a dinner roll, grilled chicken and fruit. I also came with a small scoop of ice cream. I didn’t get pictures of these.

However, I did snap a picture as we were driving. This is what Iowa looks like these days. Harvest time. It’s actually very pretty this time of year with all of the autumnal colors.

Today was kind of an odd day. I didn’t get all of my fruits/veggies in today. I will do better tomorrow!