Healthy Monday!

I can’t think of an appropriate title for my ‘healthy Monday updates’! Anyway, another week gone by and I thought I’d post another update. I’m posting on my healthy blog too, so in order not to bore you too much with the ‘same ole healthy talk’ I might just update here every other week. . . or when the mood strikes me?

Melissa just did a wonderful post about her healthy habits for this year and how she’s doing. CLICK ON OVER to her blog to read it, I always find her posts so inspiring :-) Thanks Melissa xxx

So, after last week and barely losing a pound I decided I definitely needed to get moving more. I did a work out on my Reebok bench last Sunday, then I worked out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, alternating between the bench for toning and my ‘Walk Away the Pounds’ dvd’s for a little cardio. I haven’t done anything since Wednesday though! I also went ahead and changed my weigh in day. I was weighing on Monday but that meant if I over-indulged or had a drink or two at the weekend, I might not actually see any difference on Monday morning – the weekends have always been my downfall. I felt good about what I’d ate all week and the fact I’d worked out for 4 consecutive days that I got on the scale on Friday and was happy to see I’d lost 2lb :-)

Remember the pizza I showed you last week with the Flat Out wrap and ricotta cheese? Well I decided to do another ‘more traditional’ one today . . .

‘Turkey’ pepperoni pizza :-)

Total 5pp (2pp for wrap, 1 for pizza sauce, 1 for 10 pieces of pepperoni and 1 for tblsp parmesan). This was lunch yesterday for me. I’d like to say it was delicious, but to be honest my allergies are flaring up with the high Cedar and Mold counts and I can’t really taste that well :( It was ok and I’m sure very tasty … when you can actually taste.

So all in all, I’m still on track , getting lots of fruits and veg with my meals, drinking water (but would still like to drink more!) and feeling positive :-) How are you doing?

WIAW!

Instead of ‘What I Wore Wednesday’, I’m posting about ‘What I Ate Wednesday’ :-)  Wanting to start the week off on a healthy note, I was going to post an update on my healthy eating and share a recipe with you. . .  but as you can see I never got around to that.  That’s not to say I didn’t blog about it!  I’ve decided to keep my ‘Healthy Den’ blog, mainly just for my personal use, but it’s open to anyone who wants to read it.

I’ve been trying to post on a daily basis, showing the meals I’ve eaten that day and if I’ve exercised or not. I doubt I’ll be able to post every day, but when I can I will and if I slacken off and only post once or twice a week, well that’s still ok too.  You can read my Healthy Blog HERE

The recipe I was going to share with you today is one I saw just last week on Hungry Girl. I’ve heard of Hungry Girl, seen her books in the stores, know that she has a website (but never really used it) but then her first cooking show aired just over a week ago and I tivo’d it to check it out.  Her first show was all about pizzas – did any of you see it?  I was going to give you a link to her tv show where you can find this recipe but her site is always slow to load and this morning it won’t load at all for me!

Anyway, this is it. . .  she calls it Crispy White Pizza. I call it Ricotta Cheese pizza :-) It’s simply fat free ricotta cheese mixed with some sautéed onions, a tablespoon of low fat mozzarella and some  seasonings. Top it with sliced tomatoes then pop it in the oven. HERE'S THE LINK TO THE RECIPE. HG used a whole wheat flour tortilla as the base, but I used a ‘Flat Out Wrap’ (only 2 ww p+)

This makes a great lunch or dinner with a nice crispy green salad. The first one I made (above) was for lunch one day last week.

I liked it so much I made one the next night for a quick dinner for me (Jason and Kristen were having ‘real’, or in other words ‘greasy’ pizza). I didn’t have large tomatoes left so I used some cherry ones chopped up. Still yummy :-)

I still don’t feel like I’m dropping many pounds, but I’m eating much better, starting to exercise a little (could be a lot but it’s still just a little right now!) and in the whole scheme of things, those two are more important than what the scales say.

So, how are you doing on your healthy plan? Staying motivated? Getting moving? Let me know!

 

Denise

Meet Boo!

I’m joining in with DebbieDoo’s ‘PET PARTAAAAY!!!

I know most of you reading my blog know full well that Boo is our little Shih Tzu, but for anyone new coming over from Debbie’s – Hi, and well, Boo is our little Shih Tzu :-)

Isn’t he a cutie! He’s a really good boy (for the most part) a very fussy eater, but that’s my fault not his!

He likes to sleep like this a lot!

Every afternoon you can find him sitting here. . . waiting for Kristen’s school bus to pull up!

Then at 5pm he’s there again, waiting for ‘Daddy’ to come home!

Boo turned 5 last September. We like to spoil him and give him special treats on his birthday. Sept 28th is the actual day he was born, we brought him home from the breeder the day before Thanksgiving that year.

He actually looked like this when he was tiny. Quite a lot darker than he is now.

Well, he’s actually not dark at all now!

He’s our baby boy, and we love him!

WIWT – a practice run!

It’s actually WIWW, which is ‘What I Wore Wednesday’ for those who don’t know! Debbie posts each week what she wore (that’s where I first heard about it) and joins in with The Pleated Poppy for WIWW. I told her I should do that one day because I can’t think of what to blog about right now! Well, let me just tell you whether it’s a Wednesday, Monday, Sunday… no matter what day, right now all you would find me wearing is velvet sweat pants and a long sleeved T!  A school run and a trip to the grocery store is about all I do on a daily basis and I have to confess, I dress up for neither.

Last night was our first monthly book club meeting and I was hosting. Book club is about the only time I get a chance to dress up – isn’t that sad! And when I say dress up I mean I put my jeans on with a nice pretty top, add some jewelry and wear extra makeup.

Well, it being in my house and all, I didn’t even put jeans on, I stayed in . . . . yes my comfy velvet sweats! But I did put extra makeup on, and I styled my hair pretty and put on my cute little leopard cardi (a bargain from Kohl’s), with a little pink tank underneath. AND, I thought, “why not get out the camera and see if I can take pictures of myself”, and if I’m any good at it, well then, perhaps I might just join in one week with WIWW

Let’s just say I’m not very good at it! I’ve tried this before, and I just can’t hold that camera and get a good photo. I do have a tripod and I guess I should get it out and use it for pics like these… but, I just wanted to see how they’d turn out – so I kept on clicking.

Some were ok!

 

Some were NOT!

 

Seriously, how does one manage to hold the camera like this and not shake!

     I seriously think that cardigan makes me look fat!!! (ooh, did I just type that out loud!) 

l anyway, for want of anything better to post about, you got a post all about me ;-) It was either that or tidy cupboards!!!!!  And I doubt I’ll be joining in with WIWW any time soon :-/

Have a fabulous weekend. What are ya’ll up to?

Guess what?    I’ll be knitting!!  :-)

 

Denise

Definitely got the blahs . . .

especially when it comes to blogging :-(  Perhaps because things are slow around here, or perhaps it’s the time of year… but I just can’t seem to come up with anything to blog about. To be completely honest, I can’t even think of what to comment when I visit blogs either? Am I spending too much time on here? getting ‘burned out’?  I don’t have the answers, I just know I feel in a slump.  And I feel like my blog is taking a  turn for the ‘boring’!

I’ve been knitting alot, probably the reason I don’t have anything else to blog about! But I’m determined this year to have gifts ready for friends and family come December, so I’ve been making lists and thinking of what to knit and for who (or is that whom?).

This is one of my latest knits (a custom order for a very special friend) . . .

A ‘felted’ princess hat. Next to it is a flower stick I made to send to the recipient.

THIS is why I knit! Well it’s one of the reasons. . . see that big smile above, and the look of surprise below when ‘Princess Emily’ sees herself for the first time wearing her pretty hat :-)

I love knitting for friends and family. I’d love to sell more of my knits too, even if I don’t make that much from it, but knitting takes time, and while I’m trying to knit gifts too it’s hard to get my Etsy shop full.  The great thing is though, I LOVE TO KNIT – so whether I sell it or gift it, I win both ways :-)

Another finished knit. . . but I won’t say who it’s for ;-) 

I started this post thinking I would show you my ‘decluttered cupboards, because I had nothing else to blog about, but as you can see I got off subject a little – actually I never got on subject, LOL. Oh well, at least it’s a post. I’ll show you the cupboards next time . . . bet ya can’t wait!

Thanks for letting me show off my ‘skills’ :-)

 

Denise

Healthy Eating

No school today and the sun is shining again (it was so wet and dull last week, I forgot what a sunny day looked like). For some silly reason (because I totally forgot there’d be no school) I made an appointment to go to my ENT this morning for a check up and to get my allergy drops refilled. I had to leave the house around 9am when I’d normally still be in pj’s sipping on my second cup of coffee! Oh well, home again now and just relaxing and enjoying the day. Jason is home too, he’s playing on the computer with Kristen.

I wanted to post once a week about my healthy eating plan, it will keep me motivated ( I hope) if I share here how I’m doing. I’m happy to report I lost 2.2lb this past week. Can’t complain at that.

As you may know I am following Weight Watchers for now, and although their point system has all changed (since Nov 2010) it is still easy to follow and it means you can eat just about everything you just have to remember to watch your portions and of course ‘count your points’.

I want to try and make a new recipe from WW each week. This past week I tried their Layered Mexican Lasagna. It was made with light sour cream, diced green chilies, chicken, black beans…. here’s the link to the RECIPE It was really good and was great with a nice big salad for dinner.

Below is a picture of one of my breakfasts this week. I never used to eat breakfast when I was younger and was out working. But that all changed a couple of years ago when I wanted to start eating better. Of course the one thing they tell you, as I’m sure most of you know, is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s how we get our bodies started, we need the fuel to get going or we’ll just slump later in the day.

I’m up at 6am during the week when school is in, which is still too early for me to want breakfast, so I usually just have a cup of coffee then I eat something like this about 8am when I get back from taking Kristen to school,(low fat waffle, low fat peanut butter, scrambled egg + 1 egg white and a cup full of fresh berries).

For lunch I’ve been having a salad and some soup (made some ww veggie soup last week, fresh veg, chicken stock and canned tomatoes – simple)

Below is a shrimp salad I had the other night. I use light mayo and fat free greek yogurt and a little ketchup to make a creamy dressing for it. Really good, really filling.

As well as these kinds of meals I’ve snacked on fruit and cottage cheese or Greek yogurt and I often have a WW ice cream cone at night.

So, how are you all doing? Eaten anything good lately?

Friday!

I’ve really not known what to post about this week . . .  hence the reason only one post on Tuesday, and look at the title! Can you tell I’m feeling uninspired (when it comes to blog posts), but thanks to Melissa’s lovely post this week I have felt inspired to carry on with my decluttering and cleaning – I just don’t have any pictures to share yet!  That desk still needs clearing up but I have also started on kitchen cupboards today, so I promise I’ll take photos over the weekend and post more about it next week.

In the mean time I want to ‘show off’ my lovely award from Kara! Thank you Kara :-)

Kara is a ‘new bloggy friend of mine’, I only just met her a few weeks ago when she left the sweetest comment saying how much she loves my blog.  Some bloggers you just ‘connect’ with on the first visit…. Kara was one of those bloggers ;-) She is an Interior Designer (wish you lived closer to me!) and her work is just amazing. Check out her blog, she has been doing an awesome ‘faux’ grape feature in her kitchen this week – stunning is an understatment!

Anyway, the  rules of this awared are to:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award
2. Answer 10 questions
3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy
4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award

I’ve done a few ‘answer questions about me’ before, but these questions are different, so here goes:

1. Why did you create this blog?

I used to have a family website years ago (before blogs came along) when Kristen was a baby. I would create pages there of outings we’d had and I’d write a weekly newsletter, mainly so my family back in England could read and see what we’d been up to. I met girls online that also had family websites  - before long those friends started creating ‘blogs’ to journal what they were up to and I jumped on the band wagon and did the same. Over the years I’ve always thought of my blog still as mainly for my family and friends to see what we’re up to, but lately I think it’s been more of a place for me to meet and make new friends!

2. What kind of blogs do you follow

Well, I still follow the blogs of those friends I made many years ago, blogs that are about their every day life, but I also like to follow blogs that show off creative hobbies and crafts, and blogs about home decor etc.  A lot of those blogs I find inspiring and motivating when it comes to keeping my own home in order.

3. Favorite make-up brand

Hmm? That would be ‘none’! I don’t have a favorite, every time I need new eyeshadow or lipstick I usually will try a new brand.

4. Favorite clothing brand

Urmmm, that would be ‘Cheap’!!!

5. Indispensable Make-Up Product?

I’d have to say eye-shadow, my eyelids looks so white when I don’t have it on!!!

6. Favorite color

Pink! I always say pink, but I don’t really dress in it. I mainly like the look of it, I’m always drawn to displays with pink in it. If there was just me, I would decorate my bedroom in pink. When I buy slippers I would always pick pink… Kristen wore pink for the first year of her life (just about!)  . . you get the idea ;-)

7. Favorite perfume

I’ve worn ‘Samsara’ by Guerlain for years, but just last year I discovered I absolutely LOVE Coco Chanel Mademoiselle, I got a huge bottle of it off Jason this Christmas :) Both of these are my fav.

8. Favorite film

I have a few, they are all chic flicks: You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Bridget Jones, The Holiday (w/ Cameron Diaz),  The Proposal (w/ Sandra Bullock), Pride and Predjudice (w/ Keira Knightly and more importantly, Matthew Macfadyen!)

9. What country would you like to visit and why?

England! so I can visit my family :-) Seriously, I’ve been to Spain, Italy, France, Canada (3 times!), Scotland, Ireland and Wales . . . And despite the fact I lived in England for over 30 years, I would still love to go back there and visit all the places I didn’t get to see or just revisit the places I love.

10. Would you rather forget to put on mascara on one eye or forget blush on one side of your face?

What kind of question is this? :) I don’t wear much make up so I don’t think I’d notice if I did either one!

Now, as for rule #3! I’m not very good at that one, I never know who to chose, so I won’t ;-) It was fun answering the questions, but I’ll just leave it at that.

Have a great weekend.

Denise

Whassup!

A Mess! That’s Whassup! It’s Whassup Wednesday over at Kara’s place and I was really thinking I had nothing to blog about, but then I decided to show you ‘my mess’ ;-) Nothing like keeping it real right?

So, here it is . . .

My pantry! I can thank Melanie for getting me started on this ;-) Earlier this week she posted pictures of her pantry and other storage cupboards in her new home. You can check out her ‘pantry post’ HERE.

At first glance my pantry doesn’t look too bad (ignore the blue cloth hanging there, I’d already started cleaning when I decided I’d take pics), but my pantry is pretty small and it gets full very easily – so full infact that things start to spill over on to the little desk right next to it . . . .

Yeah, this is the REAL mess I was talking about! It just about drives me crazy!

So, yesterday I got started on trying to clear and organize it all – yet again. I cleared some space in the cupboard above the desk so I can start putting cans in there again.

It’s a work in progress. As of tonight the desk still looks like it does above! The picture below is still a ‘before’ shot too!

Hopefully by posting it here it will motivate me to get it all finished and I can post a few after pictures of it later this week.

Speaking of ‘MESS’, I have more! Remember I mentioned that I want to clear out a spare room and create a craft space for myself this year? This is what I’m dealing with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, seriously! I don’t even know where to start. I keep walking in there . . . . . and then I just walk right back out again – wouldn’t you?!!

Joining Kara for Whassup Wednesday.

Denise

A Healthy Start . . . .

I wanted to start off the week by posting about our healthy meals in the previous week. We’ve been eating really well, getting a ton of fruits and veg in to us, but ya know what? I didn’t take one single picture of the meals I prepared last week!! I shall try to do that this week so next week I can recap again on what we’ve had and if we’re still eating well (doing this might keep me motivated longer to stay on the ‘health kick’).

Last night Kristen and I did eat salmon and I grilled Jason a pork chop (cos he hates anything ‘fish’)

This wasn’t my plate from last night but from a year or so ago. I just thought I’d add it here because I have no other pics yet. Kristen loves salmon , and tilapia when I make it, so I really should try to make fish at least once a week for us. The fact that Jason doesn’t like it at all shouldn’t put me off. I can simply cook him a chicken breast.

I haven’t put my menu plan together yet, so I’m going to sit and do that now.

Kristen and I went out a couple of times last week after school and took Boo with us for a quick walk around the neighborhood. I need to get out more, get back to my daily morning walk, but as I picked up the mail this morning there was a notice pinned up ‘BEWARE’! and it went on to say there is dog on the loose in the neighborhood that is aggressive. He seems to be friendly as you approach him but that he growls and then chases you! It says to call animal control if you see him. WELL, that was enough to put me off going out there today, plus the fact it’s foggy and damp – no,the main reason is that dog!! So I shall have to put a workout dvd on later, because I must get more active. Despite eating really well this past week I’ve hardly lost half a pound – those jeans still don’t fit!! When they do, I’ll be happy again.

Have a great day, hope to do some bloggy visits later.

Cocktail of the Week!

We have a great new cocktail to share with you this week . . . and when I say ‘we’ I mean me and my BFF Cheryl :-)

It was Cheryl that found this one (recommended by a friend) and she made it for me to try just after Christmas. We had one on New Years Eve too . . . I give you

Key Lime Pie Martini!

I was waiting for Cheryl to send me the picture of ours she took, but she’s had a super busy week, so I grabbed this one off the web! I don’t know the full recipe to this (I’ll get it later from Cheryl) but we actually tried it a few ways, one combo being equal parts of Ke Ke Beach Key Lime Liqueur, vanilla vodka and 1/2 + 1/2 cream. What made this cocktail ‘over the top’ good (imo) was the graham cracker crust around the edge! Cheryl dipped our glasses in key lime juice then in to crushed crumbs. As you went to take your first sip, oh my gosh the smell of the lime and graham crackers really made you feel like you were just about to take a bite of Key Lime Pie – it was AMAZINGLY GOOD!

Here’s a recipe I found online if you’d like to try it this weekend. I’ve never heard of Ke Ke Beach Key Lime Cream Liqueur, but you should be able to find it easily at your local liquor store. Give it a try this weekend – such a fun drink. I think we’ll be having another tonight ;-)

Happy Weekend.

Denise

Some decorative changes. . .

I’m sure you’re all wondering where I am! No? Well, I know at least my sister will be wondering, it’s already midweek and I haven’t posted since Sunday! I’ve been busy the last two days taking Christmas decorations down. Yesterday I had to go deposit a check at the bank, so while I was out I took a quick trip to Kirklands to see if I could spend the Christmas money my Mam sent us :-) I haven’t been to Kirklands in months, of course I had no problem spending the money!

I was looking for another table for the hallway. Last year I bought a table from Ikea and it looked like this (below).

But then I decided to move that table, and put it here. . .

This is in the living room and to the right of this wall is the laundry room, powder room and Jason’s office.

It meant that I could put my black buffet back in the hallway. But then I had another idea just recently. I wanted a new table to create a ‘cocktail bar’. I have so many mixers and bottles of liquor now and they were all just sitting on the windowsill in the kitchen! I thought I’d try and buy something with my Mam’s money – then I thought why not use the black buffet for that purpose and put it back in the dining room where the black shelf was! SO, that’s what I did. I found this lovely table on sale in Kirklands yesterday for the hallway . . .

So as of now everything looks like this . . . .

to the right as you walk in the door you can see my new ‘cocktail/wine’ station!

I took all my bottles and glasses and arranged them neatly on here. I love it!

Bought this wine sign at Kirklands too :-)

A view of the buffet and the hallway – loving it!

The shelf holds my wine and martini glasses :-)

What’s your poison :-)

The lamp above is new too, bought that at Kirklands while I was there! And here’s a few more pics of the new table . . .

Taken from the stair case . . notice I changed out the sconces too! (see pic #1)

My Willow Tree collection gets center stage. Top and bottom!

I bought this pitcher and flowers at Kirklands too, ALL on sale, the flowers and greenery are two separate bunches, only $4 each and I intertwined them. They actually hide the socket and wires from the other side, but not from this view as you can see!

So, when are ya’ll comin over for a cocktail? ;-)

Linking to Kara at