What to blog about. . . . . .

. . . . .when there's nothing to blog about?! The week is going by pretty quickly, but I seriously haven't been doing anything, so there seems very little to make a post about. I just got back from Bible Study this morning, and I thought I'd make a quick post 'about nothing', just let you know I'm still around.

Yesterday was very windy here, I mean VERY windy - the lawn chairs ended up in the middle of the back yard at one point! They easily get swept off the patio in high winds. I spent the whole day at home and didn't talk to a soul (except Kristen in the morning) until I went to pick Kristen up at school, then it was just the usual "hi, how are you" to some of the moms there. I pottered around in the house alternating between housework and knitting and in the evening just sat and watched American Idol. It couldn't have been a more quiet day, I won't call it boring, because it wasn't. It's nice to not have to do much some days. As nice as it is though, I look forward to Friday when Jason get's home and I feel like our days will get back to normal, because honestly, sitting on your own all day and all night is 'not normal' - for me anyway.

I don't want my posts to get too boring so I'll just make them short and sweet while my week is quiet. Nuff said - bye for now!

A Quiet Week!

Jason left yesterday for Denver! He'll be there until Friday and arrives home late, around midnight. Kristen is at school and the house is very quiet! I just got back from running a couple of errands and I plan on getting some 'gift' knitting done ;-)

For some reason the house doesn't seem to get as messy when there's only one adult (meaning me!) and child in it. So, my kitchen is tidy, laundry is on, groceries are in (went this morning after dropping Kristen off at school) so I'm gonna knit for an hour and not feel guilty about it.

There's really not much else for me to blog about, so I'll make this a very small post. Hopefully I will have plenty of time later to do some blog visits.

Hope your week is getting off to a good start :-)

Recipe for. . . . .

. . . . a cozy Friday night (alone)!

Take one pair of comfortable fleecy p.j's (preferably with cute scotty dogs in pink sweaters!). . . . .

. . . . add in a roaring fire, that is so warm and toasty you just can't tear yourself away from it. . .

. . . . and sprinkle with a few good reads :-)

Yes, I'm on my own again tonight, Jason and Kristen have just left to go to his friends again. I didn't get to mention this week that Jason bought a new toy to play with - he's taken it over to his friend's house tonight. It's called Rock Band and you play it on Xbox! I played with it a little last weekend but not as much as Jason! Honestly, I'd rather be knitting. But Jason loves these games. It's a bit like Guitar Hero, but Rock Band has a set of drums and a microphone too. It's rather funny, because if you don't play too well you start losing 'fans' or you get booed off stage. And if you play well, you get better venues to play at, more fans more money etc!

So I get to have a lovely night on my own again, and THIS time I have my sushi in the fridge for dinner, and hopefully I picked a better movie to watch! I went to Blockbuster and had a hard time finding anything I fancied watching. There doesn't seem much out there right now that I'd care to see. I ended up with a romantic comedy starring Ben Stiller, called The Heartbreak Kid. Anyone seen it? And if anyone can recommend a good girlie movie that I can get out for next time let me know.

I'm off to have sushi and knit a little before I put the movie on. Hope you all enjoy your Friday night!

Library Work!

I'm off to the church library this morning to do my 2 hours. Jean, the library director won't be there but she's left me a few things to do for her on the computer, entering some data etc. That should make the time pass quickly, plus I will have my knitting with me as a stand by, should I get that done pretty quickly.

I'm making a concerted effort today to eat better. I've been doing ok lately, but this week the snack attacks have been hitting and on Tuesday night while watching American Idol I had two glasses of wine and some Cheetos! Bad, bad, bad! That's not the kind of snacking habit I want to get back in to. Today at the store I picked up some 100 calorie packs of popcorn. They are 'mini' bags you pop in the microwave. I need small bags like this because if I did a large bag I never can stop if there is a lot in the bowl. You know how it is - if you don't measure your portions, it's very easy to over-indulge in these things.

Tonight is book club, our first meeting of the year. We read Water For Elephants, and I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the discussion and seeing my book club friends, which I haven't seen since before Christmas.

Well this must be a quick post, as I have to dash to get ready and out to the church. Hope you're all enjoying your week so far - and yay, it's Friday tomorrow :-) Gotta love Friday!

Now you see it. . . . . . now you don't!

This is a picture of the large entertainment center we have had since we moved to the states nearly 10 years ago. We haven't really used it for the past five years since we bought our first big screen tv, which had a whopping 65" screen.

When we moved to Texas and built our custom home we really had no where to put this and it ended up being divided in to it's 5 parts (center unit, 2 side units, and 2 end corner units) around different parts of the house. When we moved in to this new house last year, it was all put back together, as you see it here, and was put upstairs in the game room. And since this time last year, I have been wanting to get rid of it so I could re-organize our game room and make it fully functional, with new bookshelves and a new sofa etc.

So last weekend, I finally got around to putting this 'huge thing' on Craig's List. I wasn't really after money for it, I would just be happy to put it on there for free, if someone was willing to come and take it away. But with the thought that if I said 'free' people might think there was a catch, I advertised it for $100. Within minutes the phone started ringing - long story short a lady called and asked if I would take $60 for it because they had just lost all their furniture in an apartment fire! I told her if she could pick it up the next day (Sunday), she could have it for $50!!

Long story short, I took NO money at all for this and was just thankful that the lady and her husband had taken it out of my house!

The lady called me again the next day. She wanted to thank me again for giving her the furniture. She also offered to clean my house if I needed her to! And said her husband worked on cars, so if we ever had car trouble to give them a call. Of course I didn't need her to do any of that, but I said I appreciated her kind offer. What came to mind was "Pay It Forward - help someone else" And in doing so, share the joy of 'giving to others'. Because honestly, there's no better feeling :-)

So, ideas are forming for my next project. I can begin to start thinking of paint colors for the game room and a trip to Ikea will be coming soon to buy book cases for the blank wall you see in the picture above.

Grey and Foggy Day!

Well goodness, I better make a post or you'll be all wondering where I've gone. I swear I don't know where the hours go each day but before I know it, Kristen is heading to bed and I'm trying to relax for an hour before my own early bedtime.

Yesterday seemed to go by in a blur. Kristen was off school and we didn't do much other than pop out to Walmart in the morning. I headed to the library too but then realized on the way there that it would be closed because of 'Martin Luther King Day'!

Kristen played with Connor for most of the day once we got home. They alternate between our house and his. I did a little house work and laundry and that was about it. Before I knew it, it was 5.15pm and Jason was home from work. I made quesadillas for dinner with a salad and that was another day over.

I've been to the gym this morning, then went for a few groceries. Now I'm gonna have a sandwich for lunch and do my bible study. I hope to get back in to posting regularly this week. I really need to try and post at night and just save it to draft until the next morning!

Hopefully I'll have a more interesting posts next time.

A Bright and Sunny Day!

I'm on my laptop so I can't add any pictures from here. Just wanted to jump on quickly this morning and make a post, or there will be a 3 or 4 day gap if I don't.

Jason took Kristen over to his friend's house last night. They have a 4 yr old little boy who loves to play with her and she likes to play with him too (and all his toys!). I never go with them cos it means I get a nice quiet 'me' night. If I'd known he was going I would have gotten myself some sushi for dinner but it was still cold and, wet outside and I didn't fancy the drive to the store. I just had some cheese and crackers with a glass of wine instead.

Jason had ordered the movie 'Hairspray' from Blockbuster for me and said he would watch it with me! Despite it being a musical (which he normally hates). But I told him last night that I would just watch it myself if he wasn't too bothered about seeing it, so he said yes ok. OMG!!! I am so glad I didn't make him watch it - actually I don't think he would have lasted more than 5 minutes. I had heard it was a pretty good movie! I thought it was TERRIBLE.... REALLY REALLY TERRIBLE. I ended up fast-forwarding some of the songs, they just seemed to go on forever, and none of them were very catchy! The only one I'd heard before was the last song. Most of the time during the movie all I kept thinking was "that's John Travolta - dressed as a woman!!" And he was trying to do a 'baltimorian' accent I think, which sounded ridiculous. Has anyone else seen the movie? What did you think of it?

This morning we were going to go to Kristen's school (me and Kristen) to a QUEST meeting about 'independent study'. There are two times 9.30-11.30 and 1.30-3.30. I told Kristen we'd go to the early one and get it over with, then we'd have the day free to ourselves. BUT. . . . she never comes home until late when they go to Jason's friends, they came in at midnight! And it's now 8.30am and she's still sleeping. I figured as much, so I guess we're going to the 1.30 meeting.

That's all that's on my agenda today. I've been knitting like crazy as usual so I'll be doing more of that this afternoon ;-)
Enjoy your Saturday whatever you're doing.

Busy days . . . . .

Hello! I'm still here, just had a couple of busy days and haven't had a chance to jump on here. Wednesday is going to be a day when I'm hardly in the house from now on. Bible study started last week and I went again yesterday. I LOVE Beth Moore! We are studying 'Daniel' and so far I'm loving it. There are about 90 women in this one study at church (it's the only study the church is offering right now) but we sit on smaller tables of 8, and we keep this same table for the whole 12 week study. The best part of the study for me is listening to the videos of Beth. She explains things in such an awesome way. When we come home we have 5 days of study to do on our own before our next get together at church.

Bible study is from 9.30am to 11.30am, so I just about have time to clear up breakfast things, run the dishwasher and perhaps throw a load of laundry on, then I'm out the door at 9am. Yesterday I took a detour home to the yarn store! and got home at 12.30. I made myself some lunch, put the laundry in the dryer, checked my email and did a couple of other things, then it was 2pm and time to head out to pick up Kristen. We get home about 3pm, and at 4pm we head out again to piano lesson. We are usually home at 5.20pm but last night there was a truck overturned on the road and the traffic was backed up for miles. We finally got home at 6.15!!!! And that was the day over. After Kristen went to bed I put my feet up and watched American Idol :-)

Today, I volunteered at the church library again. This time I can't do it on the same day as bible study because the lady wants to open it from 10-12 (I think I may have told you this already). So I popped over there today for 2 hours, came straight home at 12, and pottered around doing housework until it was time to go for Kristen.

I can't believe how fast the day goes by. Sometimes I feel like I've accomplished nothing, but I have to remind myself that I've gotten my little girl up for school, drove her to school, helped at the library, cleared the kitchen, vacuumed, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher. . . .AND the washer and dryer! Picked up little girl from school again, helped with homework, made dinner, fed the dog, cleared the kitchen after dinner, spent time with Kristen while she practiced the piano, read her a story at bedtime and (big sigh) am now posting on here! Seriously. . . I need to quit thinking I haven't accomplished anything!

And finally - TGIF tomorrow. What I like best about it is knowing I don't have to turn the alarm on for 6am when I go to bed ;-)

Roll on Saturday!

Just another day . . . . . .

I had to take Boo to the vet this morning for his annual exam and shots. His appointment was at 9am and we were out of there by 9.20, home by 9.30am :-)

Not much going on today, I am staying home waiting for the carpet guy to come and replace the carpet from last week (actually he just needs to put it back in place and seal the seam, not replace anything). He was supposed to come Friday but didn't turn up when he said, so I went out to run errands and of course he called while I was out - left a note on the door! He was supposed to come yesterday but when I called the Pulte guy he called them and turns out no one was in the area to call in here?!!! Good job I called or I would have stayed home again all day for nothing. That freed me up to go for groceries, so I stocked up on more salads and veggies for this week.

The scale isn't moving much when I get on it, but I can tell my pants aren't as tight so something is working. Last night I made tacos for dinner. Kristen surprisingly likes these so I did soft and hard tacos for her and Jason, and opened a can of refried beans too. I opted to not have the tacos but made myself a taco salad instead (although as an afterthought I had one crispy taco and crumbled it on top of the meat.) A picture? Why of course . . . . . . .

Looks yummy doesn't it (you should be able to enlarge if you click the picture). There's no recipe for this other than frying the ground turkey (less fat, more healthy) in a skillet and adding the taco seasoning. For my salad I put shredded lettuce on the plate added a chopped fresh tomato, put the beef on top of that, sprinkled with cheese and added a 'dollop' of sour cream. I couldn't even finish all of this, I was so full!

Hopefully I will eat well today too as I would like to see at least a pound come off by the end of the week - that's not too much to ask is it?

I have to do some tax papers for Jason, so I need to hop off here and get on with it.

Busy In The Kitchen!

Well, I see many of you would like to see pictures of the healthy meals I'm making so I thought I'd share a couple with you tonight. These are from this weekend. On Friday afternoon I popped in to the grocery store for some sushi (which I wanted for lunch, seeing as I wouldn't be needing it for dinner!) and I also wanted some spinach (I'm in the mood for my fav kind of salad, spinach and goat cheese with a raspberry and walnut dressing). What I love about our new HEB supermarket is the 'showtime stations' they have around the store.

These are like mini kitchens where you can watch the chef cook things and then buy the ingredients to take home if you like what he's making (and more often than not I LOVE what he's making). Friday was no exception, I walked out of the produce section and right around the corner (the seafood section) there was a chef there grilling salmon with the most delectable marinade - it was 'pineapple sake teriyaki marinade'. And all he was doing was brushing it on top of the salmon once it had cooked! It tasted divine, and even though Jason doesn't like fish it would of course taste just as yummy on chicken. So behold. . . . . I give you Saturday night's dinner -

Teriyaki chicken with broccoli slaw (which I sauted in a skillet with a tablespoon of sesame oil). Served with a spinach salad (with raspberry dressing and walnuts).

I did actually marinade the chicken for a few hours then just put it on the grill outside for about 10 minutes each side. Jason loved this - so I give it 5 stars. We'll be having it again one night this week.

Lately I've been watching a cooking show on food network called Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger. She makes tasty meals but cuts the fat and uses healthy ingredients too. Last week I watched as she made 'diner' food, like pancakes, burgers, onion rings etc. Here is her healthy turkey burgers. . . . (which I made for dinner tonight). What you can't see is the mozzarella and roasted red peppers that are stuffed inside. Actually the picture of the burgers cooking here doesn't look very appetizing, but they were very nice.

To serve with the burger I made a simple salad with Italian dressing.

And here's both on the plate ready to be devoured! Another thumbs up from Jason :-) Actually he said that most of what I've made so far on our 'eating healthy' kick has been very good.

So. . . . what are you having for dinner tonight?

A Fabulous Night . . . .

We had such a fun night last night :-) Jason took me HERE! I might have mentioned this place a couple of months ago when I was planning a date night for us. It's pretty pricey, so that's why back then I decided to do my own fondue and we sat out on our upstairs balcony. What's great about this place is the fun time you have cooking your main course.

For starters we had of course the cheese fondue. Jason wanted to try the cheddar fondue because we always usually get the classic swiss, with emmenthal and gruyere cheese (my favorite). I say 'always' but this is probably only the 4th time we've been to the fondue restaurant. The cheddar was yummy but I still like the stronger taste of the classic. Following that comes a salad. I had ceasar, and Jason had the house salad. He really liked the dressing on his salad and I just noticed on the Melting Pot website that you can order their dressings! I think I will call them next week to see if they sell it at their restaurant or if it's just online. Either way I will get Jason a bottle of it as a 'thank you' :-) After all I am 'nagging' him to eat healthier, so lots of salads with a bit of yummy dressing on the side will be nice.

The entree is next. We chose the 'Fondue Feast'. This included: Filet Mignon Medallion, Balsamic-Marinated Sirloin, Garlic and Herb Chicken, Citrus Pork Tenderloin, White Shrimp, Wild Mushroom Ravioli, Roasted Red Pepper Rigatoni and Fresh Vegetables! Needless to say we didn't manage to eat ALL of this (gotta save room for the chocolate!). And finally for dessert we chose the Bailey's Irish Cream Dream chocolate fondue, served with fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, toasted marshmallows, pound cake and brownies for dipping! Are you full yet?

After all that we came home and watched Spiderman 3 on dvd. What a ridiculous movie! I liked the previous two, but this one was just silly. Still we both really enjoyed the whole night together :-)

Tonight we're watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - I've heard that wasn't so good either, but I'll reserve judgment until I've seen it.

Date Night!

Kristen is going to Grandma's tonight for a sleepover, and Jason is taking me out to dinner :-) He's planned it all this time (and will even take Kristen to Grandma's, which is something I usually do) and won't even tell me where we're going! I think I might know but I could be wrong so I won't make any guesses and will just tell you where it was when I next blog.

Yesterday I had Pulte 'workmen' coming to the house all morning fixing things on our list, (from after we had the home inspection done.) Today I have one more guy to come back to put the carpet back where they had to lift it slightly to fix the loose floor board. He came yesterday, lifted up the carpet, then a different guy came to fix the floor, but the carpet guy couldn't come back yesterday so it has to be this morning. He said it would be between 10 and 11am. I hope he's on time, as I'd like to go the store at lunchtime and get some spinach and some sushi! I fancy the sushi for lunch, and I'm in the mood for a spinach salad with goat cheese and walnuts with a raspberry and walnut dressing for over the weekend.

I think I'm going to scrap my fit blog and just update on here how my 'healthy lifestyle' is progressing. From your comments I know I won't bore you all too much.

I went to the gym this morning, so that's 3 times I've been this week and I walked with Boo on Tuesday. I'm pleased with the effort I've made this week. I'm 'nagging' Jason to get more active, so he's been out twice this week to walk. We've been eating pretty good too. Last night for dinner we had beef fajitas. Mmmm, they are so good. I just get the marinated beef from HEB (grocery store) and it's simply 10 minutes on each side on the grill, then I thinly slice it. I cooked some green pepper and onions to go with it and had mine on a wholewheat tortilla. Next week I may try to take some pictures of the healthy meals I'm doing. I know you'd like to see them ;-)

Have a great Friday

Sorry for the delay. . . . . .

. . . . . I didn't mean to keep you all in suspense the whole day, but is was one of those days when I was hardly in the house! I had bible study this morning, then was only home for an hour before going out to pick Kristen up, then only home another hour (in which time I prepped dinner) before we headed back out to piano lesson.

So anyway, I guess I should have given you some kind of scale for the size of the ball... here's Kristen with the ball and as you can see it's much bigger than a fabric softener ball, and just slightly bigger than the hamster ball we had for Mr. Monkey! So can you guess now what it is?

OK, here's another clue. . . . we were rolling this thing around on the floor and shaking it (that's what Kristen was doing in the picture above). Still can't guess?


OK . . . here's the answer

It's an ICE CREAM MAKER!!!!!!!! You don't believe me? CLICK HERE! (and if that link doesn't work, go to Amazon.com and search Icecream Ball) Kristen got this from Grandma and Papa for Christmas (as well as other gifts) and we tried it for the first time the other night. In one end you put ice and rock salt, and in the other end you put the cream, sugar and vanilla. Roll it around and shake it for about 10 minutes it says, then add more ice (because of course it's melting by now from the salt added) and you also need to scrape down the sides of the cream - this part we forgot to do! Then you roll for another 10 minutes. When we were finished we had very frozen cream around the inside of the metal bowl (kind of like a thermos shape) but the inner stuff was still pretty soft. Next time we should get good results if we scrape down the sides. But as you can see from the picture, Kristen was well pleased with her efforts :-)

More 'ME' Stuff.... and a clean kitchen!

Mission accomplished! I've finished cleaning and decluttering my kitchen this morning. Here's a few photos to prove it!

There's something about cleared countertops - they look great don't they? I can't stop looking at them. Now the trick is, to keep them looking like that!

'ME' stuff - I'm enjoying using my new Olay skin care products. As well as the 'derma eye-pods' I now have the 'daily regenerating serum' and just the other day I bought the Microdermabrasion treatment. You can use this twice a week, which I will do for this week and next week perhaps, but after that I think I will go to just once a week. The eye-pods you use 3 times a week, and the serum is daily, like a moisturizer. I also have some Olay daily eye cream that I'm using, but I'm nearly out of it so I need a new bottle soon. As for the eye-pods, I can't honestly say that I see any difference around my eyes - yet? Maybe it's too early to tell. I've used the dermabrasion treatment only once so far, but I loved how it made my skin feel so soft and smooth. So far I like everything I'm using. What I need next is the night time cream, or serum. I haven't seen the serum that Darylynn mentioned but I've seen a Regenerist night cream so I might just get that. The Crest white strips, although I don't like wearing them, are working, and I can already see a difference in my teeth.

More housework on the agenda today. It's been raining, so it feels a nice cozy day to stay home, although it is very warm outside. Hopefully if it stays dry I'll be able to take Boo out for a walk later. And on a final note. . . . . . no prizes for guessing, but do know you what this is? I'll reveal all tomorrow ;-)

Busy Bee!

My mission this week is to declutter the kitchen counter tops (and keep them decluttered) and organize the kitchen cupboards. I've made a start this morning but I'm not quite finished. I think I will have accomplished this mission by tomorrow :-)

I didn't sleep much last night, don't know why, but sometimes I have those nights where I just seem to toss and turn. I was awake pretty much from 2-5am, I then started nodding off about 5.20am and remember thinking "oh no, I'm going to feel exhausted when the alarm goes off at 6!" I woke again at 5.58, so I turned off the alarm before it went off and went downstairs - and yes, I felt exhausted! I still went to the gym though, after dropping Kristen off at school, then I did a quick grocery shop stocking up on more fruit and veggies for this week. Tonight we're having spaghetti and meatballs, but I'm going to have the spaghetti squash, cos I really want to make an effort to be good. I've lost about 4lbs since the beginning of December, and my aim will be to lose at least 6lb more, then I will need to just try and maintain that weight and continue with going to the gym and walking.

Speaking of walking, I did take Boo out on Saturday afternoon and did a quick walk around the neighborhood. It was actually only 15 minutes first time around. Boo has the not-so wonderful habit of going potty about 2 minutes after we set off (EVERY SINGLE TIME!) and I end up carrying a blue bag of poop around with me - delightful.... NOT!!! So after one quick circuit I dropped him off at home (and the poop!) and went out again for another 15 minutes. It was really hot on Saturday, sun shining and nearly 80 degrees! I didn't get out yesterday because we went over to Grandma's after church, and I haven't gone today because I've been to the gym and I'm busy trying to get the kitchen cleaned. No gym tomorrow so I will try to get a half hour walk in, if it's not raining.

Not much else going on today, so I'll hop off here and get back to it!

Quickest post ever!!!

It's Sunday, and we are ALL off to church :-) It's the first Sunday of the month which means no kids church, but that's ok. I want Kristen to get used to being in big church and practicing her 'sitting still' skill (seriously, she could do this better at age 3 than she can at age 7!).

After church we are off to Grandma's house for lunch. The weather has turned really warm, a high of 78 yesterday and today, so Papa is grilling burgers :-)

And later today I will start planning my menu for next week and coming up with a plan for getting lots accomplished re: housework and organizing in the coming week.

And with that said, (I told you it was a quick post) I wish you all a blessed and wonderful SONday.

It's the weekend. . . . . . .

. . . . . . . so why am I running around like crazy tidying up the house, vacuuming and doing laundry? Although I have to laugh at Sadie's mood girl - I can't remember the last time I hung out washing to dry! Sorry Sadie, I know how you like the wind billowing through your linens, but over here we just don't do that. I remember when I first moved in with Jason in England and he laughed when he saw me hanging out washing in the little back yard we had. He actually asked "what are you doing?" I thought it was obvious what I was doing, but he couldn't understand why I would do that when a perfectly working dryer sat in the kitchen. And so after that I just kind of started using the dryer all the time - after all HE was the one paying the electric bill, not me ;-)

But anyway, I'm doing housework, and it's the weekend! Something not right with this picture. I'm obviously behind on housework and the fact that Kristen was only in school 2 days this week hasn't helped. I blame the holidays too of course. Everything goes by the wayside when Kristen is off school. Not to worry though, I shall get caught up next week and will start to get back in to a routine, I've no doubt about it.

In the meantime... I thought I'd mention a blog I just found this week, from a link on another blog, on a blog, on a blog, you know how it is once you get surfing! ..... it's called Home Sanctuary, and Rachel the host has started something for the new year called 'Sanctuary is in the small things'. Each day she is giving you one small thing to do, and I've really been enjoying reading about these, and trying to do some of them. For instance the other day her suggestion was 'reintroduce your family to fruit'! A nice reminder for me as I try to eat healthy and try to get my family to do the same. I just bought some fresh fruit and veg that day and actually bought some cherries - one of Kristen's favorites or so she tells me. So I set them out on the dinner table as suggested, and we all munched away at them with our meal :-) Anyway, I'm enjoying Rachel's site, so I thought I would just share it with you. CLICK HERE if you'd like to visit Home Sanctuary.

Have a super weekend everyone.

A Good Read!

Would you look at this..... 5 new magazines, all in one week! I can't wait to put my feet up and read them. I usually only have one magazine subscription at a time, and usually that is the 'Today's Christian Woman' magazine, which I really like. But last year sometime (when I was in to yet another 'I want to get fit' phase) I subscribed to the 'Fitness' magazine. Then just last October I got the 'Paula Deen' magazine subscription as a birthday gift from my inlaws (it was on my wish list). And just last month I agreed to the 'Simple & Delicious' subscription cos, well it looked so yummy! The Weight Watchers mag I just bought yesterday when I got the groceries in. I'm by no means following any of their programs, but I do like their magazine and it helps motivate me to eat the right things. So, now all I need is - time, so I can read them all.

I think it is the last issue for the Fitness magazine and I won't be re-newing it. To be honest I've hardly glanced at the 2 or 3 previous issues. They just seem to have the same old stuff in every issue. I wasn't really impressed with it and certainly won't miss it in the mail each month. I love the Paual Deen magazine :-) Even if I won't cook half the recipes in there I like looking at them, and reading the other articles in there. It's a real 'homey and cozy' kind of mag. One you'd love to curl up with on a rainy day, with a hot drink in your hands.

I had to run some errands this morning so I went out at 8.30am wanting to be at the store (Best Buy, where I needed to return something) for 9am. I thought I'd stop in at the Barnes & Noble book store for a few minutes first, because I thought that opened even earlier. I got to the book store at 8.45am and it didn't open til 9! I had to sit 15 minutes in the car, cos nothing else is open at that time either. I popped in there at 9 for about 15 minutes, I was looking for a specific magazine but they still didn't have it in. Then I headed over to Best Buy, only to find they didn't open til 10am! Ok, so I thought I'd pop in to Old Navy right near by until then (by this time it was 9.30) but I got to their doors and they didn't open til 10 either. I'm getting rather fed up at this point. Just before Christmas these shops were open at 9am, but then it dawned on me that their opening times were obviously for Christmas shopping and not the norm. What to do for half an hour? Linens & Things was open, as was TJ Max, so I wandered in those 2 shops just to kill 30 minutes. Then I went back to Best Buy, returned the Halo3 game book that Jason didn't need with his game, and headed home, making a detour at the library to drop off some books that were due today.

And so, here I am 11.30am already, nothing done in the house and only 2.12 hours before I have to head out again to pick up Kristen! Seriously, there isn't enough hours in some days! Next week I want to make a concerted effort to not go anywhere. Only then can I get some serious housework and organizing done.

Hope you're all having a great start to your weekend.

+++ Re: walking - I only managed 10 minutes out with Boo yesterday :-( It was just SO cold, I could hardly breath. You know when it's so cold out and you are all tense, I was like that and my chest ached! Tomorrow is forecast to be mid 70's (whooohooo, now Christmas is over I'd like warmer weather again - just not red hot yet please, but 70 would be perfect) so I will hopefully get out more over the weekend.
And white strips.... I'm sitting here with them in again - urghhhh, have I mentioned how I hate wearing these! I didn't think to take a pic of my teeth, seriously who wants to see my dull 'coffee stained' teeth! Yuck! I'm not sure I'd even be able to get a good picture anyway, but perhaps I'll try?

It Feels Like Monday!

Kristen has gone back to school today, so I headed straight to the gym after dropping her off. After the gym I went to the grocery store and bought lots of fresh food and other healthy stuff. Today feels like a Monday, so I'm gonna make a start on my new healthy eating plan. Actually 'WE' are going to make a start, because I'm bringing Jason and Kristen on board whether they like it or not :-) I'm the one that buys the groceries, so if I don't buy 'rubbish food' they can't eat 'rubbish food'!

After unpacking the groceries I made myself some breakfast. I had two eggs scrambled with a SBD (Southbeach Diet) wholegrain tortilla wrap, 6oz V8 veggie juice and a cup of coffee. Eggs really fill me up and I find I don't snack as much when I've had them for breakfast. Mind you, they aren't my favorite kind of food so I won't be eating them every morning. As well as eating healthy I want to try and get out and walk every day, even on days I've been to the gym.

I'm sitting here with those yucky white strips on my teeth (trying my hardest not to look at the clock and hope that 30 minutes passes by really quickly, while I type this and surf around!). After I've taken them off I'll clear up the kitchen then head out with the dog for a quick walk around the neighborhood. It's freezing outside but I won't let that put me off. Unless it's pouring with rain I shall try to go out every day. It's getting out the door that's the hard part. Once I'm out I know I'll enjoy walking with Boo and I'll feel great for doing it too. I shall start to blog on my 'fit blog' about my healthy lifestyle from now on and not mention it as much on here (I don't want to bore you all with in depth details of what I'm eating and such on here every day).

OK, so time I was off, only 10 more minutes of yucky strips on my teeth :-)

Cleaning!

I can't think of a witty title! I'll be cleaning up around the house today, that's about it. That and knitting :-) Jason is just about to head out to work (it's 9am) I'm waiting to get in the bathroom after him so I can get ready for the day. At 10am I have the Pulte (homebuilder) guy coming to check out the items on our house inspection list. I emailed him before Christmas and he set up an appointment for today.

Not much else on the agenda. I will hopefully be getting back in to the swing of things (gym, housework, daily chores etc) tomorrow when Kristen goes back to school. I'm kinda sad that the Christmas breaks is over for her as I do get used to having her at home each day! But we both need the consistency of a schedule in our lives that's for sure.

I will let you know how the Olay eye derma-pods work out. It recommends you only use them 3 times a week and I've only used them twice so far. I'll keep you posted on what I think.

As for the Crest whitening strips! I bought the wrong ones - there were so many different packages for these. I had in my hand ones that said just wear for 5 minutes a day which I thought was great, but for some reason I kept looking at the other packs. The ones I'd tried before I had to keep on for 15 minutes twice a day. And for some reason, the package I eventually picked up (only a 14 day supply) says I have to wear them twice a day for 30 MINUTES!!!! I hate the feel of those gooey strips on my teeth to be honest, I would rather do it for just 5 minutes a day for a longer period than 14 days. But I will have to use these now as I've already bought them.

Pulte guy should be here in half an hour, so I'm off to clear up the kitchen.
Have a great day.

P.S. I forgot to mention, my headache has gone and I feel fine today :-) No cold or flu symptoms at all!

The Quietest One Ever!!!

It's January 1st, 2008 (of course you all know the date, I just wanted to type it out for the first time this year :-)

Last night was THE quietest New Year's Eve I can ever remember - and I'm sad to say I didn't even stay up til midnight to see the new year in. That is the first time ever that I can remember being in bed before 12 on New Years Eve. I think I was probably about Kristen's age when I was first allowed to stay up til midnight, and ever since then I have been with either family or friends and celebrated New Year. For many years I watched on tv as Big Ben struck 12 and for the past 10 years or so I've watched as the Ball dropped in Times Square. Not so last night :-(

Kristen went up to bed at 8.30pm. There was really little point in her staying up so late, and I doubt she would have made it, she was asleep by 9.15. I decided to watch Bridget Jones on dvd. It's one of my favorite movies and I especially love it at this time of year. It reminds me so much of home when she goes 'up north' to see her parents, and when her and her dad are sitting on Christmas night with their paper hats on from the Christmas crackers! Jason didn't fancy watching so he went upstairs and played on the Xbox. Once the movie was over I started getting rather tired, I guess the 3 glasses of champagne had something to do with that. By 11pm I had to head upstairs and tell Jason I was going to bed. I must have gone straight to sleep but I woke up at 12.02 and heard fireworks outside. I drifted back off to sleep again and woke at 8am!

I've taken the tree down today and packed all traces of Christmas away. Now I feel tired again and my head is aching. I hate to even type this for fear it might come true.... but I think I might be coming down with something! Either that or I just have a really bad headache from my sinuses. I didn't take a Claritin yesterday but I've taken one today, so I hope my head clears soon and I pray I'm not getting something worse.

Kristen is upstairs playing with Connor, but I've told her if they get too noisy, Connor will have to go home. I just want to rest and have some peace and quiet today.

I hope you all had a nice evening last night, whatever you were doing. I think I will make some blog visits while I sit and rest on the sofa, with my laptop.