A little of this and that...

...to borrow a friend's blog title  = )

Brussels sprouts from the garden, washed and ready to be sliced in the food processor. I'd already done another bowl like this, only more full. Thanks to great friend, ML, for teaching me how to cook brussels sprouts in a way that's healthy AND delicious!!

After slicing they are sauteed in the cast iron skillet with a bit of olive oil and curry to taste...I used sweet curry, a touch of hot curry and a dash of cinnamon...and some salt. The first 4 batches were sauteed to the point of still being quite crisp and crunchy since they were going in the freezer for future consumption. I knew I'd be heating them up after defrosting and wanted to leave space to lose some of the crispness and still not be mushy. I'll see if my theory works and let ya know  = ) 

Here is the finished product! These are 4 cup containers...my harvest yielded five containers...four went in the freezer and one in the fridge to be eaten right away. The last batch I cooked longer...still with a crunch but not as much as the first 4 batches. And then I ate a bowl as soon as it cooled down enough!


So...there's that...now this...

I got some new Legos!!! If you click on the pic, you can enlarge it and see the detail  = )  This is just the first two things we built with the set. Yes, Petey helped...and I think he had fun too! Can you see the pony???

I've been wanting some of my own legos that would be fun to play with. For me that means: pretty colors, cute, and with step-by-step instructions! 

I LOVE the new "girl sets"! The brick colors are BEAUTIFUL and the sets are things I'm interested in building and enjoying...animals, flowers, doll houses, kitchens, etc. You know, GIRL stuff! hahaha

Petey found this set on Craigslist and the lady was local to us and did I mention it has a PONY???! It's just perfect...thanks, Babe!!

You might be thinking, "why does she want to play with legos?"  Well, aside from the fact that they're FUN, it's also relaxing and creative. And no, I didn't get these to play with little girls that come over. I got them for 3 people...me, myself, and I! Well, I'll share with Petey too...

Ok, so that's just part of what has brought me joy over the past few days. I also wanted to report to you on my weight journey. I lost another 1.6 pounds last week bringing me to 11.8 pounds total. Sure was nice to see the lower side of the 120's again  = )

Then yesterday I decided to try on a pair of my Eddie Bauer shorts that I got last summer but haven't been able to fit in. THEY FIT!!! Back in a size 6!!! Another goal met!!! I've been trying them on every couple of days since the beginning so I could gauge my progress but yesterday was the first day that I could wear them comfortably. 

Now, they weren't loose like I like but they fit and were comfortable enough for me to wear them all day without ever thinking they were tight. And NO muffin top!!

I think in another 4 pounds when I hit my goal weight, the shorts should fit how I like to wear them. And if they don't, I can concentrate on losing more fat and gaining muscle.

And now...garden work!! There's nothing like dirty, hard, tiring garden work that pays off so nicely in the end. I helped Petey install a drip watering system on the pergola and am looking forward to that helping me out over the next several months. 

He's also been putting screw hooks in to hold the sheets of metal grids that I got to replace the plastic mesh grids for the vertical supports. The plastic was a vast improvement over the strings, which was a vast improvement over the stakes but still had a number of annoying aspects to it.

I think these metal grids will be the ultimate...I love it when I finally reach the pinnacle of happiness with a certain object or idea or design! 

For example: I have had many, many sets of dishes but now that I have my Longaberger pottery, I have no desire for any more dishes! I still enjoy looking at the designs but I don't have a desire to own them. I'm perfectly content with my dream dishes!

That goes for my silverware...which is now Longaberger too! I was able to purchase the set on sale last month and I adore them!

And Merry...my new bike...or trike, I should say  = )  She's perfect! Bike-riding is a pleasure now that I don't have to constantly be worrying about falling over into traffic!

Hmmmm....what else...well, the next thing may turn out to be plastic cross-stitch sheets. Not the plastic mesh stuff...this is plastic Aida-like stuff that replaces fabric Aida. It's 14-count and comes in different colors. You can also cut out bits of it to make designs and cross-stitch around the designs.

You can't do partial stitches...at this point, those are hard for me to see anyhow so I don't really care! And I'm not sure how big of sheets it comes in...you might not be able to use it for a really big project.  

But you don't have to use a hoop with it and you can wipe it clean if your hands happen to be dirty and you didn't realize it. I just got it last night so I haven't tried it out yet so I'll have to let ya know...

Getting back on the garden path...hahaha...all that to say that I think the metal grids will turn out to be perfect and I won't have to look any longer to find something to use for my vertical supports!!

And now I need to go make our smoothies...oh ya...the Bosch mixer thingy is also an ultimate!!! I never want another blender, food processor, mixer again. I'm sure I'll wear the Bosch out someday but my plan is to replace it with another Bosch, end of story!!

A VERY Happy Day!

Why, you ask?


- I have reached a weight and size where I am comfortable enough to run in just my jog bra and running skirt without having to wear a shirt! If I have any northern readers, they're probably scratching their heads and saying, "what's the big deal about that?!"  


It's already hot in Texas for us runners/ and will only get Hotter, before we move on to HOTTEST! When running, the less clothes the better!!


- I was doing a fast mile workout this morning. 1 mile warm-up, 1 fast mile, 1 mile cool-down. I was REALLLLLLY hoping to run at least a 9:08 mile since that's the fastest mile I've run in recent times...since the beginning of the year. 


I was actually hoping for faster...would LOVE to run a sub-9 mile since I haven't run one of those for close to a year or maybe even longer. But I didn't want to expect too much, get my hopes up, then be disappointed for the rest of the day...so I told myself as long as I was sub-9:20, I would be satisfied.


8:45....YAY ME!!!!  Very surprised to have run that...and pleased...until...


I remembered the time when that was an easy-run pace  = (   And when I ran a mile at the same effort I ran this morning, my time was a 7:08 mile. And how horrible that I made the wrong choices that led to gaining back weight I'd worked so hard to lose thinking that I would never be that size again  = (


And then I zoned in on the "positive voice" and listened to all the nice, encouraging things it was saying  = )


- I had pretty much given up on getting to harvest any brussels sprouts that I'd planted last fall. The plants grew big and tall all through the winter. The little buds started forming just as it was warming up. We've been running close to 90* or above for several weeks so I figured I'd just pull the plants up.


So when I was out working in the garden today, starting to pull the plants, I discovered that there were plenty of sprouts that were eating-size! Then I started harvesting them...2 BIG bowl-fulls!!!!


And now I'm going to bed...good-night!

A Pound is a Pound is a Pound...

....or is it??? 


Well, obviously not  = )  But that's what I've been thinking about since last Friday.


We drove up to Texas A & M to watch my nephew graduate. I kept remembering holding him when he was 3 months old and soon I would be watching him walk across the stage in his Corps uniform and receive his BS in aerospace engineering!


But before the graduation...the graduation party! I was SO thankful that I joined Weight Watchers and have been going to a meeting every week. I've learned how to handle these situations.


I planned my "work" and I worked my plan! I knew there would be homemade yummy jambalaya and also hoped for white cake with buttercream frosting. I'd planned on having a small serving of jambalaya (1/2 - 2/3rds cup) and a normal sized piece of cake as long as it had my beloved buttercream. If it doesn't have that, it's not worth it to me to eat it!


I packed a cooler full of healthy fruits, veggies, some canned salmon, nuts and a small container of pretzels. I wanted to fill up on my healthy things first, then have the special things, then eat more healthy things if I was still hungry. 


It worked GREAT! I totally enjoyed my treats but was not tempted to eat more than I'd planned. The buttercream frosting cake from Sam's was just about the best I've ever had  = )   And I didn't feel guilty since I'd planned and portioned my points.


But that's what got me thinking about a pound. I was wondering if the scale would go up any and if it did, when would that be? That night, the next night, 2 nights later?


A pound is 16 oz. of weight. To gain a pound, one must consume 3500 extra calories that one does not burn off. In a day? A week? A month? 


I could drink 16 oz. of water and "gain" a pound...at least temporarily  = )  But at zero calories, it's certainly not a TRUE gain of a pound. What about black beans? If I ate 16 oz. of black beans, the scale would show one pound higher... but 16 oz. of black beans does not equal 3500 calories.


16 oz. of butter might be more than 3500 calories...does that mean I've gained 2 pounds??? hahahahaha


And how does my body treat these things as different substances to be metabolized. Well, I know how my body treats 16 oz. of water  = )


But think about 16 oz. of black beans vs. 16 oz. of buttercream frosting cake. Or a better comparison would be 3500 calories of black beans vs. 3500 calories of buttercream frosting cake...


First of all, it would be much harder and take much longer to eat 3500 calories of beans over cake. But after I've consumed them, how are they different inside my body? Is it harder to burn off the cake compared to the beans? Do the beans get stored more in my muscles and the cake goes mostly to my fat? 


I've already experienced the difference in my hunger level and energy and attitude when eating "junk" calories vs. healthy calories. I KNOW there's a very real difference! And I'm so thankful that God created our bodies to be constantly regenerating so it wasn't very long after changing my diet until my engine was running on premium vs. cheap, dirty, 10% ethanol, pinging-every- time-I-step-on-the-gas gas!


Anyhow, I don't have answers for you...just wanted to share what I've been thinking about. In a related topic, I read Scott Jurek's article in Runner's World today and that got me to thinking about how my body might run on a vegan diet compared to my mostly lacto-ovo-fisho-vegetarian diet.


If I metabolize every food substance differently, what would the results be? For Scott that meant losing more fat, feeling much better and running MUCH faster. Would the same be true for me? The book comes out on June 5th and I will definitely be reading it!


In other news, I was walking the dogs tonight and realized that the tops of my thighs were not brushing each other!!!! Now, they still did a little on my run yesterday morning, so I'm not there yet but I can see (and feel!) a definite improvement!