Fitness Friday

I'm really pumped — and confused — about this week's results. Seriously ... my jaw about hit the ground when I stepped on the scale this morning.
In the past week, I've lost 1.2 pounds. And without any real exercise, other than working on the house, running around taking care of my sick man, and soaking up the gorgeous weather! 
Last week I was up .4 lbs, so the real "impact" I see is .8 lbs - which is fine by me!
So here's a recap of where I cam:
Weight loss year to date: -3.2 pounds
Pounds to get highlights in hair: 8.6
Total weight loss to go: 13.6-18.6 pounds


I'm hoping this beautiful weather keeps me motivated and burning all those extra calories! 

Yummy in my tummy

Since we've been eating at home a lot more in the past six months, I've noticed that, even with menu planning, I still get in a slump. So I was super-excited when one of my Christmas presents from a great friend was The Pioneer Woman's cookbook!
J and I are both picky eaters (no onions, peppers, etc.) and I tend to focus on quick, cheap meals. Since I was able to adapt the Chicken Spaghetti recipe, it was perfect for us. 
Here's what PW says the recipe is:

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cooked Chicken
• 16 ounces Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper
• ¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
• 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

My adaptations? Delete the green pepper, onion, pimentos and cayenne pepper (only because we didn't have cayenne.) Oh and sub one of the cans of cream of mushroom for cream of chicken. 

The result was pure bliss! Thank goodness, because we'll be eating on it for awhile. This is what was left after the first eating:

We had a second meal with it last night and there's still about half left. No chicken spaghetti today since it's a Friday in Lent, but we'll have more on Saturday and Monday most likely. 

Oh, and the next time I make it, I'm only baking one square and freezing the other, so all I'll have to do is thaw it and top with cheese and bake!

Headaches

As I'm writing this, I have a splitting headache. One I've had pretty much the last 24 hours. 

It's so bad, I'm feeling nauseous. And really just want to sleep.

Ugh .... 

What a weekend

I seriously cannot believe it's already Monday ... and I have no idea where the weekend went!
Friday night we did some house cleaning and laundry. We also watched "The Box" on DVD. I'm super glad I only paid $1 to get it from Redbox. We did not like it at all. 
We went to bed pretty early on Friday because I had to work Saturday morning and leave the house around 5 a.m. Luckily it was a smooth morning and I got home by 11 (including a Walgreens trip) and J had cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven for me. He's so sweet :)
After a short nap, we went outside to play with the dogs and do some work. No photos :( But we washed Jimmy's truck and spent about an hour on his rims - ahhh! It looked awesome though. Cleaning the rims was really a one-person job so I worked in the landscaping, scooping more rock and taking it to the wash-out dip in the driveway. 
We had to cut our day short for a quick trip into town, when we also picked up pizza. Yummy! There were some good reruns on CBS that night so we just curled up on the couch.
After sleeping in on Sunday, we headed outside again. Then, we washed my car and vacuumed both vehicles. We did even more work in the landscaping. The driveway is almost level now! I had to take Jimmy to urgent care for this skin issue he's having, so we picked up BK for dinner. Not healthy, I know. But oh well. We ended the weekend curled up on the couch, watching TV. 
I really do live for the weekends ... why can't they be five days and we only work two?

Fitness Friday

I'm bummed.
Over the past week, I gained four-tenths of a pound.
It's probably because I broke my promise. I didn't start working out again on Sunday — although I felt justified from all the lifting I did while working outside. 
It was Thursday night before I did any real exercise. And I think the only reason was because I knew today was weigh-in day!
However, I'm still pretty motivated. For one, I weighed myself post-workout and was about the same weight I am today ... after drinking all that water and not on a completely empty stomach like I was this morning. I've also been told that sore muscles, which I definitely have today, typically mean you'll weigh more because sore muscles retain water, which means you have more water weight. 
Last night I did Level One of The Shred. I'm really bored with the movie by now, although it was an excellent workout. We've bought No More Trouble Zones and Biggest Loser Cardio Max, so as soon as I can get my fiance to begin working out with me again, I imagine we'll tackle one or both of those!

A fun day

An advantage of working 32 hours a week (and this week for me, working Saturdays) is that I get to have time off during the week! Sometimes I sleep and lounge around the house and clean and catch up on laundry, others I spend quality time with people. 
Yesterday, I hung out with my friend, Bel, who likes to travel. (Sometimes, I'm pretty jealous she hasn't found a job yet ...) When she asked me to go to Cape with her I agreed — with the stipulation we have Olive Garden for lunch! 
I got my usual chicken and gnocci soup with salad and breadsticks. Man oh man I love that salad. I WILL replicate the recipe someday. 
Bel had to get some things printed, so we wasted time at the mall and also went to Schnucks so I could take advantage of the big 10/$10 sale. I walked away with 16 items for $11.50 - whoot whoot! I've actually spent just under $30 on groceries this week and think I'm done :)


On another note ... BG was a very bad girl yesterday. She got out of her pen and I woke up just before 8 a.m. to hear dogs growling and her yelping. Two of the mutts next door pinned her down and I had to rescue her. I PRAY that they didn't knock her up. So, she spent the rest of the day in the garage (chewing anything in sight, of course) until Jimmy and I wired the pen shut again and stacked blocks so she can't pull anymore. She seriously freaked out when she went back in. 


I'm making chili tonight and am super excited. Earlier this week, I planned on tacos but we ended up just piling the toppings on some tortilla chips and having a huge plate of nachos instead. Seriously yummy. 


Is it Saturday yet?

Is the weekend really over?

Have you ever had a Monday when you feel like you need a weekend to recover from your weekend? 
That's how I feel today. I mean "WHEW!"
Our new phones came in on Friday so we made a quick trip to Cape to get them activated and clean up the whole Crocs mess. Lesson learned: don't order from Journeys. We got the money back and I just ordered them online. I found a 10 percent off code and got free shipping, so I actually saved Jimmy about 10 bucks. 
Saturday was a gorgeous day, so we spent some time outside. First, we played with our doggies, then we cleaned out the garage. While J finished, I went inside to bake some cupcakes for our friend's birthday (he has no one around to bake him a cake and a have a bleeding heart.) I didn't have any holders so I improvised. Here are the ones I shipped to Shaun for him and his three kiddos:

We went out for dinner then Cheers for his birthday. 

Happy 31st birthday, Shaun!!!

After sleeping in and recovering a bit on Sunday, I made a big breakfast and we came to town for some grocery shopping. Once we got home, we played with the dogs again. I hate leaving BG in a pen, but I don't want her bred this soon, so we just do our best to let her out for supervised playing. 

Please throw the decoy, Daddy!

We later walked the dogs to the ditch behind our house (Labs love the water) to see if BG is a good swimmer. We had more fun with the decoy. BG may not get to the decoy as quickly as Hank, but she's going to hold on to it too, by gosh!

Jimmy and I also took advantage of the weather by scooping up some of the lava rock in an area we're clearing it out and moving it to the dip in our driveway. Then I made him pull a couple of pretty much dead shrubs. By then, we called it a night, grilled some steak and potatoes, and curled up to watch The Amazing Race. 

All in all, it was a good weekend :) Now is it Friday yet?