No More Cats!

Happy Friday!.  I have been up putzing around the house.  I took today off from work due to my terrible cold and I'm so glad I did.  I just feel crumby.  I get up and clean and sit back down for 20 minutes, repeat. 

Actually, today hasn't been spent doing much cleaning.  First, the cat's food bowl was swarmed by ants!  EEK!  So I took an hour or so trying to take care of that.  Then I managed to sweep.  But oh then Otto decided to try and kill me by slicing up my arm "playing". 

"I'm sorry Mommy"

The next hour was spent replacing all of his nailcaps (he learned to pull them off) and then sitting in the tiny bathroom with him squirting him with the water bottle every time he tried pulling one off.  He did get one off and I had to reglue it.  UGH!  Why do we own cats???

Now, its time to tackle the kitty litter all over the living room that they trek out of their kitty box.  We even have one of those little mats to collect the litter but they leap out of their box over it because they don't like walking on it.  Ha!  Prissy little things.

Explosive Day

Literally.  Explosive.

Today, I had the privilege of being an observer for some detentions at an explosive range.  What fun!  I actually felt terrible the whole time due to my cold but who was I to pass up a once in a lifetime experience??  Tomorrow though, I will be taking the day off to rest and recoup.  Anyway, not going to say much about the day but here are some cool pictures.  They even let me set off the first charge!

(Me yelling "Fire in the Hole" Haha!)

Kaboom!  The blast was just tool cool to see and feel.  There is always the sound delay and its very weird.  Oh, and the trees aren't on fire.  They weren't bothered at all by the blasts.

This one looks all fuzzy because it was pouring outside, flash flooding.  This was the coolest blast I think!  The rain only lasted about 20 minutes or so and then it cleared right up again.

Our explosives handler also layed out a line of smokeless powder to show us how it burns.  Pretty neat!

There were some old tanks there that previous people had demolished on the range.

Overall, a very fun day!  It was really a learning experience day.  So much fun!  And now, to sip some tea and fall asleep on the couch.  Good night!

Locals Eats: Thai Basil

This week's stop as Thai Basil with some friends.  It was so hard to find!!!  It is in a shopping center that I am familiar with and we could hardly find it and here is why:

We drove around the whole place so confused.  I actually tried to scout it out on an earlier date and couldn't find it!  My friend in the car spotted it for us!  We walked in and the atmosphere was ok, felt a little cheap to me.  We sat at a table in a little secluded room by itself.  The place was a little muggy but I think that's because we are transitioning between summer and fall and they had the windows open. 

The prices seemed pretty good (about $8-$10 for lunch dishes) but when they came out they were really small.  Not that I minded because I could actually finish my lunch and not feel stuffed but our usual haunt (Rama Thai) has the same prices, same quality food, and serves at least a little bigger portions so I can get away with 2 meals out of it!

I got the pineapple curry and it was actually very good!  Everyone was really happy with the way their food tasted so that is a major plus.  We even had some Thai-newbies with us.  But seriously, lots of sauce here, little food.  Hm.  And the service was a bit weird.  She brought out the dishes one by one (I guess as they were ready in the kitchen).  We all could have easily finished eating before one of us got his food!  Odd.  So overall, not bad but not great either.  I would go to Rama Thai if you had the choice.  They are close enough that if you are going for dinner, its a good idea.  We went during lunch hour so we picked what was closest!

Thai Basil
199 New Rd #72
Linwood, New Jersey

(609) 926-9339

Hit By a Ton of Bricks

I got home last night and felt like crap.  I even stopped on the way home from school to get some cold medicine.  Do you know hard it is to find cold medicine WITHOUT pain killers in it???  (allergic).  Luckily Robitussin came to the rescue.  Feeling ok today, let's hope it doesn't get worse!

While at CVS, I had a moment of weakness.  After the shock of seeing the $5 price tag on the Reece's Peanut Butter cups (who me?  buy candy?!), I got these for $1 instead

Luckily I only eat a few and then I'm good until next year.  I'm sure my nieces will take care of the rest for me!

Also on the way home, I stopped at the same farm market again.  They are open til 8!  Wow!  The honey I bought Monday was for a friend and now that I'm sickies I figured I needed honey for me too.  I decided to get some veggies while I was there.  Spent $26 and can't wait to try some things!

 A gallon of apple cider, a white pumpkin, an eggplant, 2 acorn squash, 2 butternut squash, 4 nectarines, 4 pears, 5 peppers, okra, honey, and a big bag of sweet potatoes!  So who has some recipes for okra???  Maybe I'll just make gumbo like Rob said.  I am excited to cook this weekend though!

Today has been just crazy.  This morning, I just couldn't get into my routine.  My throat was killing me all morning too but its better now!  Anyway, I finally got myself out the door and didn't forget anything.  Breakfast was delicious:  Oat bran with bananas and pumpkin butter.  Note: Pumpkin butter is like apple butter.  I think it is just pumpkin, spices, and sugar, but I can check the ingredients later!  But seriously, this was amazing.  Also had some tea with local honey.  Yum!

Lunch was easy to pack at least in my crazy morning.  I bought some of those pre-cooked chicken strips (all natural by the way) since they were on clearance at my store.  I even froze some.  Tossed it over lettuce with a cut up pepper and dressing.  I am worried I might have a carb crash later so I might grab something after class before going home for dinner!


I've noticed in the past that I like to have carbs at lunch.  We'll see how I do today.  I might stop at DD and get a latte for the right home too.  That really kept me alert yesterday (just the act of sipping on something other than water - eating keeps me awake).

So anyway, I won't be working out tonight because of this killer cold.  Maybe do some strength training but definitely no cardio.  It all depends on how I feel when I get home.  Seriously bad timing though!  I need to get some runs in!!!

Tonight is my "short day" at school so I will be home around 5 and have some hours to clean and do homework and spend time with Rob.  This weekend is pretty free and I'm trying to keep it that way.  I had midterms next week and I will be studying my little  butt off on top of the fact that it looks like a bomb went off in my house!!!  When oh when will there be more time??

Being Accountable

I didn't take pictures of everything but here are some of the not-so-clean foods I've eaten today.

I started off with an omelet and Oats in a Jar (oatmeal in an almost-empty peanut butter jar).  It wasn't "clean" because I added chocolate chips!  Typically I don't like anything too sweet for breakfast but the idea just sounded sooo good.  And?  It was ok, I wish I had used just cocoa powder instead!  But still good :)  Also had a banana in there.

This past weekend I made banana bread.  Om nom nom!  I would like a cleaner recipe for banana bread but I did use whole wheat flour!

I tried having some coffee in my travel mug French press but I just wasn't feeling the coffee.  I only drank a little bit of it.

In our house, leftovers must be used.  We had gotten pizza on Sunday because both of us were too tired to cook (and I had to do homework so if Rob wasn't cooking...)  I decided to make it a bit healthier by adding some mushrooms before putting the slices in the toaster oven.  Came out great!  Also, this pizza place isn't greasy at all!  Yum!

I didn't have coffee this morning for 2 reasons.

• I think I'm coming down with a cold.
• I thought it was causing my afternoon tiredness.

Today, I didn't have coffee.  I just wasn't feeling it and I still had a major afternoon crash around 1:00.  So I guess I just naturally get tired in the afternoon.  Of course, it was while I was trying to drive to school so I had to figure something out to wake me up.  I figured I would pop in at Dunkin Donuts and get something hot to make my throat feel better and give me something to sip on while I drive (eating keeps me awake).

Of course, all their pumpkin items are out for the season!  But I forgot a few things:

1. To get decaf so I'll be wired til late tonight.  If I am, I'm just going to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN til I get tired!
2. All of DD's flavorings are unsweetened EXCEPT the pumpkin (and mocha)!  Ugh! 

I typically get the toasted almond and no sweetener but I forgot their pumpkin is a syrup.  So this small latte was super sweet.  At least it woke me up to get out of the car and have something to sip on.  Definitely worth it!  Next time, toasted almond decaf nonfat latte (that is a lot to remember!).

I'm waiting for class now.  Time to get some studying done!

Accountability

Accountability is exactly the reason why I'm going to start tracking again.  I know, I know, just last week I said I didn't need to because I know how to eat right.  But right now I'm in denial.  I'm not tracking and I know when I'm eating crappy but I just pretend like its ok, like I don't know that I'm way over on calories, like if no one knows then who cares.  But enough is enough!  I'm going to track my food today to try to get me back in line.  This way, there is a possibility that a friend might check up on me (on Spark People, you can share your nutrition tracker which I do).  Even if no one does, there is still that chance that someone will see "2 cups Peanut Butter Ice Cream 8 billion calories".  LoL

Seriously though, beer and ice cream have made it back into our house on too regular of a basis.  Once in a while is ok but lately its been too often.  And its starting to remind me of way before I ever joined Spark People!  Not good...

And you guys all know how my workouts are going, they aren't!  Last night, I thought all the world was against me with my workout.  First, I got a chip in my windshield!  UGH!  I got an appointment to get it fixed that afternoon after classes which meant I would be getting home an hour later than usual.  Then I got home and had at least 2 sets of visitors!  Not that I minded because one was my brother who I don't get to see often so I was happy to chat but I almost didn't have time to work out.  By the time everyone was gone, dinner was ready but Rob just kept it warm while I did a quick workout with my UFC Trainer on XBox Kinect.  So I got something in!  Not the run I wanted but it was something and my upper body is feeling it today!

On another note, I stopped by a different farm stand on the way home yesterday and it was awesome!  It is always packed and I can see why.

I wanted local honey (for allergies).  They only had one jar of the kind I wanted so I have to go back (oh gee darn) or go right to the honey farm which I also pass on my way home.  Also, I kept my purchases to a minimum because I only had $15.  Well, they take credit cards!  HA!  On Wednesday, I am going to stop in to get my produce for the week.  Love it!  I also got some Apple Butter sweetened with honey yesterday.  Can't wait to try it!

On a negative, I am starting to feel sick.  I have been fighting something for a while now.  Just a tickle in the nose or throat.  Then Rob got really sick last week.  This morning,  I woke up with a sore throat and kept sneezing.  Here it comes!  Let's hope it goes away quickly or is a mild cold or something.  I don't want to spend my first weekend free laying on the couch with the sniffles!  I have running I need to do!  And homework!  And cleaning!  Speaking of which, its time to start my day!

Have you tried eating local honey to help with allergies?

Beers and Boats Don't Go

I'm going to skip my Friday since I can make 2 other blogs out of that.  For now, I'm just going to tell you about my weekend.  Remember how I said I was going to skip rugby?  Well, I really didn't want to, so I headed over to Micheal's for an essential.  If I was going to rugby, I would need to do at least some homework while I was there.  I bought a lap desk and go to work in the car (away game).  Luckily, the one class's homework was easy and I got quite a bit done on the other class too.  It was great working in the car.  Didn't do so much working during the game though...


The town we played was a suburb of Philadelphia.  It was... interesting.  You had to look for dog poop everywhere and this one muddy spot on the field smelled like a leech field.  More on that in a minute...  Anyway, we got slaughtered for some reason but our scrums were strong I think.  We kept pushing them back in those but we still lost.  Oh well!  Let's just say it was a messy game with regards to testosterone and mud.  Someone from the other team took a swing at Rob!  He is completely non-aggressive and walked away.  Typically, most guys would get into a fight but Rob is just there to have fun so he doesn't want to have pointless fighting.  Anyway, here are pictures!

  

 If you look center left, that is Rob.  He is the "hooker" and is right in the middle of the scrum.  His shoulders get pretty beat up!

Can you see how muddy Rob is?  And this guy broke his nose and went back in later in the game!

Some people had way too much fun in the mud.  He got tackled in this and was half covered and then decided to slide through it.  Then, he realized it smelled like poo.  HA!  So everyone tried washing him off with water as well as they could.  I'm sure he was thankful for a shower!  So afterwards, we went to the home team's bar which was SCARY.  But we headed out to our sponser's bar The Bards in center city.  This is where I get in trouble.  I decided to have their delicious Irish stew and 2 Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ales.

And since we're being bad, why not walked to CapaGiro again for some gelato, right?

Worst idea ever.  We had a great time on Saturday.  Sunday was fishing trip day.  Oh, and as you can see, I didn't get my run in.  We left the house at 9AM and got home after 9PM so no go (and it was raining all day).  I figured after the boat ride on Sunday, I would run then.  HA!

We were worried that it would rain for the trip but in the morning, we all decided to take a chance and go.  Our friend Patty got us a fishing charter through her business and invited us out.  We were rushed in the morning (I never even heard Rob's alarms I was so tired) so we hit Wawa (bad idea #2).  I wasn't really feeling very well when I woke up but decided I needed to go to keep Patty company with the men (bad idea #3).  It actually ended up being perfect weather.

 Well, something wasn't going on right in my belly and I was sick as a dog the whole time!  Please don't say "you should have taken dramamine".  I NEVER have gotten sick on a boat and I've been out on my dad's boat and friends' boats MANY times.  Even went on a cruise.  I never get motion sick so this was just craziness (aka bad eating).  Ah well, it was enjoyable the times I felt ok.  But I felt bad for everyone else.  We managed to get our 4 hours in though and headed home.  The rest of the day was spent recouping.  I ate tortilla chips and drank soda (OMG I know! but I needed the sugar).  I am still iffy today.  But this leads me to my lack of run this weekend.  Over a week now without a single workout!  Tonight is the planned run but now I have to stay in Delaware later because a rock hit my windshield on the way here today.  I have an appointment with Safelite at 3:30.  UGH!  So I want to run tonight but I have homework and I haven't gotten to sit on my couch in like a month.  Couch sounds nice too...

Soooo I'm really busy.  I have to run to go do more homework.  Then class, windshield repair, then home.  I found some apartments down here that are reasonable but am waiting for a few months to get one.  With commuting, I can still work a few hours a week and I could use that extra income!

To end, pictures of my crazy cat trying to look out the window.  Otto is such a goofball.

Have a great Monday!