Almost Time to Repack

Howdy folks!  I’m exhausted, so I’ll keep this quick.

I got a lot done around the house today – the kitchen is clean, the living room is clean, and I’m finally unpacked!  Just in time to pack again tomorrow!  At least I got my fall decorations up in a timely fashion.

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Plus I finally took a much needed shower and put on my new favorite pants.

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Old Navy had all sorts of colored cords (I bought orange and green) and they are so cute!

I was hungry and thirsty before I even left for class so I packed myself so snacks from home.  A Zevia for the car,

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and some veggie chips from Oh!Nuts.

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The chips were fantastic!  [As I write this post Adam has been finishing off most of the bag!]  I packed 2 servings – 2oz.

I planned on doing my printing at school but the intense downpour meant my commute took double the time.  I did some studying though, and made plans with Caroline for a loooong study session tomorrow.  At 8 I swung by the house and picked up Adam for a study session at our friend’s house.  The medical students worked on body parts and I finished up my notecards.

Dinner kind of never happened, but I did snack on a few items from our friend’s bowl-o-candy.

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I’ll have to eat a big breakfast tomorrow.  Put first, I have to go to bed, night!

How often do you skip dinner?  It seems like I’ve missed a bunch of meals this year, but I eat so much (crap) all the time that it’s all evened out.  If it gets too late and I know it’s time for bed I’ll skip it even if I’m hungry; I have enough trouble sleeping as it is.

Your Mom Likes Boston Cream Pie

Happy Hump Day!  This Wednesday is particularly exciting because it is not even the middle of my week; I leave for San Fransisco on Friday!  I am so excited.  This will be my first time meeting the bloggers who are going (none of my new york peeps are making it) and my very first time in California.

Breakfast was quick and easy [like your mom!]

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Yoplait Light Boston Cream Pie, a flavor that I have only ever tasted in yogurt,

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and an 18 Rabbits Nibble a Sultana granola bar.

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It was tasty, even if I did have to Google sultana.

Since not a whole lot took place here yesterday this is a lot to do today.  On the list?

  1. unpack from my last trip
  2. wash/put away 8billion dishes
  3. clean the kitchen
  4. clean the living room
  5. study for my huge test the day after I get back from SF
  6. work on the homework assignment, also due the day after I get back from SF
  7. call Budget for the umpteenth time about the money they owe us
  8. a very very needed shower: I’m still wearing the pumpkin shirt!
  9. class at 6:30-7:50

Wish me productive!

Have you ever had Boston Cream Pie?  What’s it like?

Fail

Fail # 1 – if you have big boobs and eat breakfast on the couch, you get pumpkin on yourself.

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I guess this is also fail # 2, because yes, I am wearing yesterday’s shirt.

Fail # 3 – lunch.

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Which lead us to unphotographed fail # 4, dinner – casserole.  And, erhm, 2-3 servings of chocolate chips.

Fail # 5 – not a lick of school work done all day.  I did watch old episodes of “Buffy” though! 🙂 Tomorrow!

Fail # 6 – after my intense speed walking yesterday (and a few calf raises yesterday morning) my calves hurt so bad I can only get around via lurching.

Fail # 7 – this lame post, sorry guys!

Any fails you’d like to share?

Amy’s Challenge

Just keeping you guys in the loop…..here is an e-mail I received from Amy’s Kitchen –

Dear Amy’s fans,

Amy’s Kitchen is celebrating its 22nd birthday this year. Believe it or not, after all those years in business, Amy’s has no official slogan! The closest thing the company has to a tagline is “Healthy eating for busy people.”
 
Amy’s needs a slogan! And we need your help to spread the word.  We’d love it if you could ask your readers to tell us what phrase, word, jingle, or rhyme encapsulates Amy’s Kitchen for them (in 15 words or less). The winner will receive $500 worth of Amy’s products!
 
To enter, send your readers to www.amyskitchen.com or search for “Amy’s Go Organic” on www.facebook.com. Entries must be received by February 1, 2010.  
 
We can’t wait to see what your readers come up with!

Table to Toast

Letting things go to waste is not in the spirit of the Thanksgiving Challenge, so breakfast this morning was all about the leftovers.  To use up I had – bread from my grandma’s birthday lunch, and pumpkin from the cupcakes I made.  To use it up I made…..

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French toast.  I used 2eggs and a splash of skim milk because I like it super eggy.  Topped with pumpkin, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  Delish.

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I did not make it to the gym this morning, the husband gently suggested I catch up on sleep.  We were up at 1am because he was studying for a test and it’s possible I had a mild, sleep-needing, fit; complete with incoherent rambling about my glass of water.  Apparently I was thirsty?!?

There’s lots to do around here, so I’ll see you for lunch.

What were the last leftovers you saved?

Adding to My Happy List

I discovered several new things I enjoy today.  If I had to make a “happy list” it would be a bazillion pages already but it’s always good to find new things. 

Volunteering went well, there was more for me to do than usual, which is always nice, and it was good to spend time on my feet after the car and plane trips of the past weekend.  One of the nurses gave me a piece of “Canada candy.”

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It was surprisingly good, I thought I didn’t like milk chocolate but maybe I’ve been lying to myself.

In challenge fasion, I used my lunch voucher to bring Adam home pizza for his afternoon snack.  For my snack I had two servings of Quaker Quakes Kettle Corn Rice Cakes.

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I thought I didn’t like rice cakes, but apparently I was wrong about that too!  I bought this last week because I had a coupon and was pleasantly surprised.

I was rushing out of the house and I was a little worried that I ended up looking like I was rocking my pjs.

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I think the (amazing, far nicer than anything I’ve ever owned before, handed down from my aunt this weekend) jacket salvages it don’t you?

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I was hurrying because I had a meeting with a professor at UB’s anthropology department.  She couldn’t answer all of my questions – the big one being do I want to be an RD, an anthropologist, or a turnip – but it was informative.  Afterwards she asked if I’d like to sit in on her class that afternoon (4-6).  It was amazing!  She had a guest lecturer – a previous student who now is a policewoman/csi.  She talked about evidence collection and showed all sorts of crime scene photos and generally thrilled me.  I seriously sat there for two hours with a big grin.  I don’t know which career path I’ll choose, but I do know that I find forensic/anthropology fascinating.

My Chemistry class is at 6:30 and it was all the way across the campus so I ended up having to speed walk there with my huge bag.  I was sooo thirsty by the time I got to class.  I ended up buying Lifesavers to suck on from the vending machine.

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Challenge Balance – 60cents.

When I got home I had a Zevia to drink immediately,

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and then I started on dinner.

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Oven Baked Chicken Salad from the October issue of “Family Circle” (click the recipe for the link).  There were several ways to make this recipe healthier, but due to time and budgetary restrictions I chose to follow it as is – minus onion salt which I didn’t have.  However, here are my suggestions for a healthier dish-

  1. Substitute 1 chopped, sauted real onion for onion salt.
  2. Substitute half or all of the mayo with plain Greek yogurt.
  3. Skip the “topping” bread crumbs and cheese.
  4. Add additional chopped veggies – broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber.

I ate my portion alongside some oven roasted broccoli and butternut squash; both cooked with salt, pepper, and fresh ginger.

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It was all seriously so fricking delicious!  I always forget how much I love roasted broccoli and the casserole was shockingly good.

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Mmmn.

I need to hurry to shower now, as starting my gym routine back up in the morning is pretty much a necessity.  I hope everyone else has a good night.

Where do you find recipes?  I have a long list of things that sound good on other blogs, but for the most part I get my recipes from magazines.  I am subscribed to “Cooking Light” and “Everyday with Rachael Ray,” but the healthy living magazines have a lot of great recipes too.  The ‘older’ magazines my mommy subscribes too (she sends them to me) have yummy recipes that aren’t quite as healthy, but can easily be modified like my suggestions tonight.

Gearing Up

There was no night post because I passed out promptly at 9:30 with my jeans still on!  I guess my grandmother wore me out!!  I slept in until 9 this morning (12hours!) and now I’m feeling good.

Yesterday, Adam and I were so excited to see each other.  We miss each other a ton but neither of us likes talking on the phone so we always have a lot to catch up on.  I brought him back some namesake candy from the Buckeye State and he shared one with me.

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Then we cuddled on the couch and watched tv – we were so desperate for cuddle/couch/tv time we even watched Gray’s Anatomy!  I ate a huuuuuge bowl of popcorn with melted SmartBalance Light.

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Afterwards I did my Chemistry online homework (102.2%!) and then the passing out happened.

This morning, refreshed from my Ohio trip, I am gearing up for San Fransisco this weekend.  For breakfast I ate a sample sent from SF itself!

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18 Rabbits Funky Figs and Cherries was delicious.  If everything in SF is this cool I’m going to be having 18 heart attacks a day!

Now I’m hurrying to the hospital for volunteering.  There won’t be a lunch post, because I am actually leaving volunteering early to go to another program meeting.  This one is for anthropology.  Hope everyone’s week starts off well, see you this evening!

What pets have you had, any rabbits?  We’ve had tons of cats, dogs, hamsters, 2 rabbits, and several goldfish named Fluffy.

Thanksgiving Challenge

Thanksgiving Challenge

Giving credit where it’s due, this is an idea I got from Kath last year.  The Thanksgiving Challenge is twofold – you limit your grocery spending for one month, flexing your economic muscles and you use the opportunity for reflection.  What better month (Thanksgiving) to give thanks for what we have?

The “challenge” is to limit your food budget to $100 for the month of November.  We are a two-person household, you may want to move this number depending on the size of your own family.

Here are the rules Adam and I are following –

  1. Track your food purchases for 1 month, spending no more than $100
  2. Non-food grocery items (toilet paper, shampoo, etc) do not count
  3. You start with whatever you happen to have in the fridge/pantry
  4. We are not counting booze – we don’t drink much any way but I didn’t want to restrict the husband if his friends were going out
  5. We are not factoring in free items (Thanksgiving dinner at my grandma’s, what I get at the Foodbuzz festival, etc)

Also, just fyi, there is a dinner at a fancy restaurant we have had planned for months, using my last teacher pay check, that we are still planning on going to.

Some people choose to donate the money they saved to a charity.  We are planning on volunteering at a soup kitchen Thanksgiving morning.  If nothing else, it is very cathartic to eat down your pantry and fridge and start fresh in December.

I would love it if my readers, bloggers or not, would join me in this challenge.  Are you game?