Give Me Some Carbs!

Things are crazy busy at work right now, and the kids are maniacs (what's new!). So this will be a short entry (no complaining, just be glad you're getting one! ;)

Food:
Oh my god, I am dying for a piece of bread! Not much else to say, unfortunately. Hope these cravings pass soon because (as my Hubs will surely tell you) I am kinda bitchy right now ;)

Workout:
Took a rest day today. Tomorrow I am going to do some Turbo Jam because it is fun ya'll. There is nothing wrong with shaking your booty like a moron in the comfort of your own home at 430 in the morning when no one in your family will ever see you ;)

Things I am Thankful For:
- Children's tylenol
- sugar free chocolate pudding (seriously yummy)
- The restraint to not throw my laptop through the window when an application won't work!

Semi-Weekend Round-Up

I know, I know. I really suck at keeping up with this blog. In some positive bloggy news, I was reminded by my sis's blogoversary that I have been blogging for almost 4 years now. So, while I may sometimes go months between posts, at least I am semi-consistent.


Hubs and I actually went on a date this weekend. We went to see the Country Rat Pack Tour (with Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Bird, and Richie MacDonald) at the Sky City Casino in Acoma, NM (about 1 hr west of Abq). The concert itself was great since hte music was so good (one thing I love about country is that the singers always sound the same in concert as they do on the radio); however, much like our experience at the Stephen Marley concert, New Mexico is a seriously shitty place to catch music. I think about half the people who showed up had no idea who any of the performers were; they're probably just so damn bored living in Gallup that they go to see whoever comes regardless whether they're familiar with them or not. The girl next to was texting on her cell phone through the entire concert! I don't think she looked up once. Also, no one in our section seemed to know any of the words to the songs or even to be enjoying themselves. The other big negative was that that particular casino does not allow alchohol (I know, a casino that doesn't allow alchohol, we were not ready for that!). The good thing about going to a vneue that small, though, is that we were able to get up to the stage after the concert, and Hubs got to shake Tracy Lawrence's hand (he's really the whole reason we went) and get his ticket signed. So there was an upside. Plus, like I said, the music was great!



Food:

I have decided to stick myself on the South Beach Diet for a while to try and get my eating habits under control. It really does me no good to be upping my protein if I am consuming additional carbs and fat (I have a major sweet tooth!). I can't keep griping about these last couple of pounds if I'm not making a serious, concerted effort to lose them. Wish me luck because I am already going through serious sugar withdrawal! ;)



Workout:

Today I will finish out week 4 of Chalene Xtreme. Thank god the program moves on to some new workouts, as I will be entering Phase 2, because I was getting seriously bored! One of the things I like to do with my home workouts is, once I know the routine, I will just wear my Ipod Nano and play my own music mix to make the workouts seem different (plus workout DVD music is on the whole pretty crappy). My current favorite songs to work out to are:



Untouched by the Veronicas

Shut Up and Let Me Go by the Ting Tings

I Don't Care by Fallout Boy



Do you guys have suggestions for good workout music? I'm always looking to increase my library!



Things I'm Thankful For:

- Hello Kitty Bandaids

- That avocado is not only allowed but encouraged on the SB Diet!

So Much For Posting Every Day

In my defense, I've been in CO for the last week working my butt off and getting more and more fed up with my reservist job. I don't want to get into it now, but basically my immediate supervisor has some serious mental issues (she is sensitive to the point that it doesn't matter what I say or do, she seems to take everything the wrong way). I just have way too much on my plate to deal with someone so emotionally fragile, and I am seriously contemplating looking for another reservist position. I feel bad because I really like everyone else in the unit (my squadron CC and DO are both awesome) and the unit is about to undergo a UCI (remember that horrible inspection I went through when I was in LA; it's the same thing), and I fell like I'd be abandoning the rest of my unit. But, honestly, I can't take working for this girl any more. She said she felt like I didn't respect her and, truthfully, I don't.

Okay, enough about that. Glad to be home & back with my family. Hubs & the kids came up for the weekend but didn't make it past that ;) It's hard to cram a family of five into a hotel room for a week even though we upgraded to the 1 room suite. J&A kept each other (and everyone else) awake all night by playing with each other and getting out of bed every five seconds. Finally, Hubs gave up and abandoned me to return to a house where each maniac has their own bedroom, which limits their ability to get into trouble at night, lol :)

Food:
I'm going to make baked chicken & stuffing tonight w/some broccoli. So I'll pass along one of my favorite post-workout snack recipes instead:

Post-Workout Protein Pudding
Combine pudding (as described below), 3/4 cup fruit salad, and 1/2 cup kashi go-lean or slivered almonds & raisins, or granola. Yum!

For the Pudding:
1 pkg sugar-free instant jello pudding (I usually use vanilla, but you can try all kinds of combinations w/ different flavored puddings and protein powders)
2 cups non-fat milk
1 scoop whey protein powder, any flavor

Workout:
I have completed week 3 of Chalean Xtreme as of today. I think my eating last week realy threw my body off course, as I am not seeing any real results yet (as far as body definition). However, I have a really hard time sticking to my normal diet when I am traveling, and I ended up eating out a lot, so I'm going to chalk it up to poor eating and try to get back into the swing of things. I'l let you know what I'm seeing in another couple of weeks.

I know most of you think I am totally nuts when it comes to my obsession with fitness DVDs, but if you ever decide you'd like to give one a try I would like to highly recommend anything by Ellen Barrett. Her latest releases include the Yogini workout, but she has some earlier Crunch releases which are on sale at Amazon right now (I just picked up a couple that I had on VHS but not DVD) for like $6.99 a piece. Ellen's style is very fluid & graceful, and her cuing is amazing. She blends pilates, yoga, and dance so it is really wonderful for those days when I want to rest but feel like I shouldn't. Plus I always feel long, lean and graceful when I've done one of her workouts. And, best of all, they can be done by anybody at any level. You can just increase the movement and flexibility as you become more advanced.

Things I'm Thankful For:
-That I don't have to work at one of my particular jobs. Even if I decide to stick it out for a while, it just feels good knowing that I could say "shove it" any time I want :)
-7 more days in the BiL countdown ;) We do love Drew, but it is hard having another person around!
-We are going to Mexico in March for the 1st real vacation Hubs & I have had together since we went to San Luis Obispo two years ago when I was preggo w/A.I can't remember if I've blogged about it yet, but I am sooo excited!

Insert Clever Title Here

I know, I know, my intent was to try and post daily, but I just keep running out of time! Tonight was especially busy since I had to pack for my trip to CO (and pack all the kids). The fam is coming just through Monday then heading back while I finish out the week staying with L so we can get in some quality girl time. In positive work news, I got called in to brief a visitor unexpectedly (a product I hadn't looked at since last March no less!). Apparently he was impressed because the guy requested that my coworker and I come out to his site to brief the rest of his team. I don't know if it will actually happen (the gov't desn't really like to send contractors out as their reps, at least where I work), but it was nice kudos none the less :)

Food:
When you're low on time, believe it or not Lean Cuisine makes some pretty decent meals. Their sesame chicken is pretty fucking awesome!

Workout:
I am going strong with my Chalean Xtreme program. I am finishing up week 2 tomorrow, and I plan to take my bands with me on my trip tomorrow so I can continue the program. Hopefully L forgives me my craziness, but I am determined to stick with this program and finish it out (I am notoriously bad at seeing rotations through, so I am trying to make myself accountable here!)

Things I'm Thankful For:
-That we called the gas company to find out why our bill was so high this month & when they sent out a guy to re-read the meter he told us the swamp cooler guys forgot to put the damper back on so we've apparently been heating all of Albuquerque (greatful that we caught it now before it gets even colder and greatful that this doesn't represent what our bill will look like for the rest of the winter!)
-That my BIL will be out of my house in less than 3 weeks! (he's been here since Thanksgiving & I am just ready to have my house back!)
- A cat who somehow knows it is okay to attack adults but never uses his claws or teeth on the kids (unless it is absolutely necessary ;)

Work, Work, Work

Well, the holidays are definately over for me! I am working some serious overtime to try and get my current project done and in front of the big boss man before I head out the door on Friday back up to the Springs for a week. Let's just say the editing process is causing me an awful lot of headaches right now and leave it at that! I am hoping that the family will join me this time out (L, we may have to put off our girls only get-together :( ) but we'll have to see what the response is from C's school if we try pulling her for a whole week.

Food:
No recipe today (we had leftovers), but a tip for those looking to eat cleaner: take your time. You don't have to throw out everything in your pantry and replace it with cabbage and melba toast right away ;) Take it one step at a time. Replace whole or 2% milk with 1% milk and work your way down to skim (I am so used to skim milk now that I can't stand drinking anything fattier since it tastes too thick). Also, I, like my sis MR, am not crazy about artifical sweeteners. I don't mind them in baked goods, but I just can't have them in my coffee or tea (nor do I like diet soda). So I just drink water instead (or I have Propel or flavored water as a treat). I also allow myself one cup of coffee with a tsp of real sugar in the morning.

Workout:
Thanks to my current battle with insomnia, I didn't get much sleep last night. So I didn't feel as guilty taking my rest day today and staying in bed an extra hour (I say staying in bed since I never was able to fall back asleep and thus missed my workout for nothing :(

Things I'm Thankful For:
- Baby kisses
- Siblings who, on occasion, can be coerced into kissing and making up ;)
- Cousin Y's enthusiasm for celery (which has inspired a veggie revolution among the 3-year old set in our house)

New Typical Post (I hope)

Kids:
When my niece Y was here over the holidays, she and J bonded over pretending to be kitties together. This game has now evolved into J basically crawling everywhere (a behavior A loves to mimic) and imploring me to speak to her in "kitty talk." Kitty talk really means you just have to add "meow meow" after everything you say. For example, "Mommy, I'm going to poop in my litterbox now, meow meow." Try it. See, now you've learned a new language!

Food:
I ended up having to work late today, so wonderful Hubs made dinner for us. He specializes in Italian & Buffalo Wings, so let's just say that we didn't eat as cleanly as I would have liked tonight (Hubs was happy, though!). So here's one of my favorite dishes to tide you over until I cook again:

Chopped Salad

For the salad:
1 english cucumber, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced thinly
1 bunch radishes, cut into quarters
1 avocado, diced
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 lg red onion, diced

For the dressing:
1/4 cup lime juice
1-1 1/2 tbsp thai fish sauce
1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp mirin
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar or honey
4 tbsp oil (I use canola)
2 tbsp (or to taste) Sriracha or other spicy chile sauce
salt & pepper, to taste

Whisk the ingrediants for the dressing together, chop the veggies & toss. Viola! Instant yummy :)

Workout:
I'm restarting the Chalean Xtreme system I got for X-mas since I ended up doing week 1 over a period of lmost 2 weeks thanks to the holidays (and my laziness ;) So today I did Burn Circuit 1, which is about 40 minutes of heavy lifting. The point is to lift a weight so heavy that you can only do between 10-12 reps before your muscle hits the point of exhaustion (i.e. you not only don't want to another rep, you really physically can't do another rep). I am interested to see what my results will be with this type of training. I did not log my weights today :( but I resolve to do so with the next circuit. Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I will probably do some cardio or yoga (depends on how tired I am) since I have taken it really easy the last few weeks and packed on some pounds (I gained almost 5 pounds over the holidays!)

Things I'm Thankful For:
- Parents that live close enough to cook for my children ;)
- Skype so cousins can stay in touch

Coyote Cween

My pops has been hiking in the Sandias since, well, probably just after fire was invented (I mean, he is old ;) and he has never seen a coyote except for the first time he took C out hiking with him (and after assuring her he had never seen a coyote yet, lol!). Well, today I took the kids on a nature hike (a walk, to be honest, but C insisted we call it a nature hike since we sere walking the low paths of the foothills*), and we saw another coyote! It wasn't all that close, but I did have all the kids with me and we were kind of spread out since C&J had wandered on ahead and I was meandering with A. Still, it was odd that one would venture down so low in broad daylight on a gorgeous day when there were lots of people present at the trail head. C said it must have come out just for her ;) Kind of crazy, eh?

I tried making this sweet potato-pumpkin soup recipe tonight that I got from a clean eating forum, but it wasn't exactly a hit (I wasn't crazy about it myself and probably won't make it again). So I'll spare you all the recipe for that and post the cookie recipe we made instead ;)

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup Splenda/Sugar baking mix or Stevia
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg white
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix batter well and chill in refridgerator. Once chilled, roll into balls using 2 tsp of batter per cookie and press into small rounds. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

----These are meant to be high protein cheats/snacks, but they are also high in fat. So eat sparingly and only if you are looking to build muscle ;)


*The ones that criss-cross the grassy area before you ever hit the mountains for those of you familiar with my neighborhood

Ba-Nay-Nay

In the spirit of my New Year's resolution to have the family eating better (and the feeling that since I actually have a day off, so I should use my extra time to post something!), here is the "clean eating" banana bread recipe A and I made today (the girls were off at the "cat store" picking up kitty food, which is always a treat since the owners have multiple pets that run free much to J's delight). To be truthful, I don't have any high dieting aspirations, but I have noticed that our house has become increasingly full of processed, whie-flour and sugra-laden foods. I would like us to eat as healthfully as possible with the potential for weight loss as a side benefit :) Anyway, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
3/4 cup wheat flour (sifted)
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium or 2 large)
1/4 cup non-sweetened applesauce
1/4 cup + 3 tbps Splenda/Sugar baking blend or Stevia
1/4 cup Canola oil

Directions:
Coat an 8×4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Mash bananas and set aside. In a medium bowl combine all-purpose flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl coming egg whites, banana, applesace, sugar, and oil. Once mixed well, add flour mixture all at one time to banana mixture. Stir until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Spoon mixture into pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. And, viola! Delicious banana bread that your kids do not know is good for them ;)

To be honest, this recipe is adapted from one of Tosca Reno's clean eating recipes from her blog. I believe she has a few cookbooks out as well, but I find google works just as well and doesn't cost me a penny.

ETA: The recipe is actually from JenniferM's blog. Sorry for the mix-up, but please go check out her site if you want more yummy, clean eating recipes!

Post of Many Pictures

Too exhausted to write much (guess I'm starting off the new year the same way I left the old ;) De-I has a great breakdown of all the food related stuff we did over the vacation, so I won't belabor the point. Suffice it to say, we all enjoyed a fabulous holiday with lots of family and food. Hope everyone else's were just as wonderful.

ETA: Apparently I suck at blogger because I cannot get these pictures to line up correctly. Sorry!