saving a recipe for yummy pancakes

http://www.onefrugalfoodie.com/2010/05/06/whole-wheat-vegan-pancakes/

passing the test

Last night I went to my karate class and tested for my Yellow Belt or "Hachi Ryu" in Japanese. It was definitely a challenge, but I am so excited about it. Motivates me to keep practicing!

accountability

Whew. That's how you spell that expression, right?

Talk about a change in eating and planning. Afraid of an oncoming heart attack and finding that our current habits are not yielding positive results, Alex and I decided it is time for a change. His family is currently trying Weight Watcher, and he brought home a POINTS counter.

After some confusing attempts to find easy recipes and calculate POINTS without actually being a member, I decided to re-visit and old friend to give some perspective: Sparkpeople.

I started a new account, put in my current height, weight, and future goals. They figured out how much I should be eating every day. I decided against the somewhat confusing pre-made meal plans, and opted for putting in my own. I also helped Alex start his own so that he can track what he eats as well. I also discovered that there is a Sparkpeople recipe site.

This is a fantastic help! Much like allrecipes.com, I can enter an ingredient, and up come recipes. The great this is that I can add it to my meal plans on my sparkpeople account, therefore creating a meal plan as I keep myself accountable with calories. I can also enter a recipe and it will figure out the nutritional information for me. I can then enter this information into my account as well.

Yesterday I started, and I ate almost 1,000 calories at breakfast alone!

Today was a much better start :)

using leftovers

I had leftover whole wheat noodles and some frozen chicken with which I had no plans. I remembered making chicken alfredo with cream of chicken soup. I still had some soup on hand, so I mixed that in with some half and half. I had a little leftover cream cheese, a can of mushrooms, and a can of peas, which all ended up in the pot. Add a little Parm cheese for good measure, and I had finished my meal. None of this was planned, but I wanted to use up some food I had in the fridge. I was yummy, cheap, and now I have some meals I hadn't originally planned on.

This meal has gluten, dairy, and is not low carb. But it's tasty and not terrible.

Sunday morning

GROCERY SHOPPING in the morning really is the most non-stressful way to go. Going at 11pm at night might rival, but the stores and much less stressful when few people are present. Granted, 24-hr Kroger is a bit more pricey with some items (like peanut butter), but I have decided that it is worth avoiding walmart and multiple store trips. Gotta keep my eyes open for the sales and coupons. Last week Tyson chicken strips were on sale AND I had coupons, so I bought a bunch. I was going to buy more with another coupon, but they are really pricy when they aren't on sale. The chicken nuggets are cheaper, so we're going to eat animal-shaped chicken sometime this week :) Relive the happy meal.

Not so low-carb or gluten-free eating as of late. It's so much easier for me to have frozen meals, or add rice to a meal. Still trying to be healthy, but sandwiches have made a comeback in our diet. And hamburger buns. And potato fries.

Last night I decided this is how to be healthy: get a job that requires movement, be busy when not at work, and bring almost not enough food for dinner while at work. This was my yesterday, and I slept much better. Not so much movement today, but I am bound and determined to still eat well and not so much.

ANTM watching this morning, and my favorite person got best picture again!!!!! and one of my least fave people went home. Good day so far.

Also half unsweet and half sweet tea from Mickey D's. Yum

return of the laptop

On Monday, there was a fly on my hotdog. Yes, I was eating a hotdog with the bun because bread makes life more interesting. Anyways, my drink was beside my plate. My laptop was on the other side of my drink. I swatted at the fly, hit the drink, and spilled Truvia-sweetened tea all over the keyboard.

My amazing husband took the battery out, grabbed a towel, and put the laptop keyboard down on the towel for three days. I was not to touch it.

Today he carefully turned it back on. It works as good as before, as far as I can tell. Thanks to my wonderful, tech-saavy husband :).

A new ball game

Apparently when you reach level 80 in World of Warcraft, there's still a million things to do, like increase your gearscore and run ICC. At this point, however, the highest level possible is 80, and I have just reached this level.

I really did not expect to get past level 7 when I first started playing this game. However, it has proved to be a fun activity for Alex and I to do together. We both enjoy it, and grow closer through our time playing :)

The Way Things Are

Since work started, my time has become precious. I have always valued my time with Alex, but it has become ever-important since working has taken some of my time away from him.

I'm glad tomorrow's Monday:

I don't work, so I get to spend even more time with Alex

We get to sleep in, which is good since neither of us has had much sleep the past couple of nights (staying up too late and getting up early for work).

I get to go to my brother's 18th birthday party.

Work has been good, though. Yesterday went by pretty fast. I have yet to find a pair of shoes that keep my feet from hurting at the end of the day. Even my old running shoes aren't so great. Oh well. The rest of it is pretty easy and I like the people.

It was also Mason's birthday party yesterday, so I got there for the tail end of it. Then Alex and I went home and went to sleep too late for getting up at 5:30 the next morning. Thus the excitement about sleeping in tomorrow :)

This morning I was PRODUCTIVE: laundry, made dinner so Alex could take it with him to work and so I could eat it after work. I put away the dishes and made break fast and washed the breakfast dishes.

Dinner was hamburgers and potato fries and green beans. I also ate some grapes and soy ice cream with choco and peanut butter chips with whipped cream and hershey's syrup. Not super healthy, but super yummy.

I've been showering at night and blow-drying my hair. This makes me sleepy :)