Cardboard box diet, week two

Hmm. Let's see if this week I can highlight my successes rather than my failures (of which there have been a few).

weigh-in: down 1.0 for the week (.8 total)

exercise completed: woohoo, successes! I did another buttload of gardening, but not only that, on Friday I wanted to go to Target and instead of driving the 3 mile round trip I got on my bike and rode. (this also helped in cutting down what I bought) I've stuck with taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator. Monday I worked out for 25 minutes of abs and legs. Tuesday and wednesday I didn't exercise unless you count making a run for my car during monsoons and flash flooding.

splurges: birthday week, I didn't do well again with this. There was my free Red Robin burger, Kobe restaurant for the family birthday celebration (worth every calorie), and Sunday I spent the afternoon in the backyard kiddie pool with the kids and most of a bottle of red wine mixed with Fresca in a solo cup. It was glorious.

success story: I got some real exercise under my belt, didn't have a single candy from my assistant's desk, and Monday through Wednesday I went completely without soda and even drank a lot of water too! (Tuesday I was fighting a weather-related migraine and had half sweet/unsweet tea for the caffeine kick)

recipes: my husband requested Taco Casserole for his birthday dinner, which I find revolting. Fritos and refried beans? Blech. So I remade it with rinsed black beans and Mission Strips, and cut my serving small with a side of avocado and it was healthier AND easier to stomach. Score! Also, I made my first eggplant dish by making this and it was delicious.

photos:




Lunch Monday, eggplant gratin, the last of the coconut ice cream, and my usual work breakfast of one slice of toast with peanut butter and honey.




Lunch Wednesday, taco casserole, and dinner Friday.

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Cut

This is my boy's beautiful hair. Mr. Mister has never had much hair, so now he's finally getting some, the hubs wants to cut it. Cut it! Why??

What do you think? I think it's still baby hair. And that one in the background? He hasn't had a decent haircut in years ... Why would I force our youngest into that?

Pantry time

This vacation I organized my pantry. I became apparent to me from the six jars of various tomato sauces, four jars of peanut butter and 1,871 boxes of carb-based sides that I need to start meal planning from what is in my house, rather than buying what's on sale and THEN meal planning. Unfortunately a lot of what's in my pantry is not particularly healthy. See the 1,871 boxes of carbs. I've resolved this by having a small portion of the pasta side with a portion of protein and a lot of veggies.




So behold dinner: Half a chicken mignon from the local meat market (I split my meat with the boys), some pasta and lots of asparagus. And one glass of wine. Man, that was good wine. Ps- Henry ate FOUR helpings of that pasta, with some chicken and asparagus mixed in.
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June Books

Untraceable - Laura Griffin I enjoyed this immensely.

The Body in the Gallery - Katherine Hall Page My first Faith Fairchild book, and it a fun quick read.

Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (reread) wasn't as well written as I remembered it, but I still adored it.

Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore I was worried I wasn't going to love this. I loved every page, even the slow beginning. Want. More.

The Body in the Ivy - Katherine Hall Page I know she was going for an homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Was None, but it came off as a rip off to me.

The Body in the Sleigh - Katherine Hall Page By this time I decided maybe four in a month was too many.

The Body in the Gazebo - Katherine Hall Page Redemption, because this one was much better.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (reread) Loved this one more than the first.

212 - Alafair Burke Loved.

The Running Dream - Wendelin Van Draanen I was looking for something to read and went perusing Elizabeth's list from last month. Yep, it was excellent, and just what I needed to kick start my workouts again.

Murder, Mayhem and Mama - Christie Craig Bubblegum but fun.

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (reread) Harder to read - I didn't enjoy it as much but I still wanted to keep going (yes I've read the series before). I don't like what she did to the series but I still like how it ends. Does that make sense?

The Long Fall - Walter Mosley Meh.

Birdman - Mo Hayder hard to get into, but well written. Now that I've gotten to know the characters I would be interested in reading more about them.

The Vow - Kim Carpenter I was not impressed.

Victoria Gardella - Colleen Gleason I would have liked this short story/novella better if I hadn't already read the whole series, but it was fun.

Battle Royale - Koushun Takami I'm going to be honest here. I dont't know if I'm going to make it through this time trying either.

Friday extra

As I type this, Hubs has gone for a drive at late o'clock to figure out who is twist-tying M80s to bottle rockets. The past two nights we've ended up with firecrackers hitting our back porch and going off next to the window. I'm all for your fireworks, but please blow up your own house. Please and thank you. Also, please stop at midnight.

I had a great birthday. Hubs surprised me with an iPad, which in this household is the equivalent of those Christmas Lexus commercials. I was not expecting it and I'm absolutely thrilled. Spencer liked the camera - it was like taking photos in front of the mirror:

I'm still working out some of the kinks in my day-to-day usage so I have no idea if this post will come out at all. **note, I don't know how to place the photos where I want them in my blog so I had to hop onto the laptop to format.

We went to Red Robin to cash in on my free birthday burger ... Which held us over through dinner so I had a glass of wine and cheese and crackers in bed for dinner: perfect.

I had planned on finishing my mulching this morning but Hubs finished it up for me last night, so I now plan on planting the plants that my MIL got me and relaxing on the front porch with some coffee. I love having time off work with no agenda.

Except laundry. Why can't laundry do itself?

HB to me, and a #cbdiet update

Yeeeeah ... So starting a diet, even one as loose as this one, was probably not the best idea for me. Holiday, birthday ... There has been lots of eating and not so much other stuff. But here goes anyhow!

Weigh-in: I'm up .2, but I think it lies.

Exercise completed: I still didn't do any formal exercise, but I kept to The stairs constantly, even going to the seventh floor a couple times. I also started doing a buttload of gardening, which is obviously burning some calories, and I mowed the lawn again yesterday (which is becoming my job, whether Hubs likes it or not).

Splurges: I splurged so many times this week. I made coconut ice cream (soooooo good) and there was cake for granny's birthday, and we went to The Pub for lunch yesterday ... Let's just say that .2 was a miracle.

Success story: my only success really was that I managed to stay away from the sweets at my assistant's desk for the most part. for the most part.

Recipes: I've got nothing, again

Photos: I'm posting this from my NEW IPAD so I don't have any idea how to input a photo to a blogpost. Will have to try again later!

So that's the scoop; we've got my birthday today and Hubs' next Wednesday, and a birthday dinner with the family in the middle ... Well, let's hope I can keep my weight steady. Toodles!

Monday already?

I spent this weekend gardening, and planting, and mulching.

I forgot the backs of my thighs existed until they screamed in pain.

But it was worth it, because here is the front so far:

My birthday is on Thursday, and I resolve that before it comes I will have finished the planting (I put about 8 more plants in tonight, and I think I'm done) and the mulching and the laundry so I can spend my mini-vacation doing absolutely nada. Or doing the back flower beds, whatever strikes my fancy.

I’m only working two days this week. We have a minor-league baseball game to go to Tuesday night and we’re celebrating mine and the Hubs’ birthday with dinner on Saturday, but otherwise we don’t have anything planned except to send the kiddos to daycare on Thursday and Friday and spend some quality time together. Love those children, but it will be nice to spend some time with my husband and not worry about naps (or not taking them) and Despicable Me and popsicles (well, maybe popsicles but it will be me eating them).

Oh, and also we had dinner and cake yesterday at my MIL’s house for Granny who turned 93 today! Happy birthday, Grandma! (Granny to my kids) PS: That cake was delicious.