Being an HLB for a Day

Once again on Tuesday, I did my best to try to be an HLB (Healthy Living Blogger) and I think I did much better!  I also tried my best to keep my monthly goals for August in the front of my mind.  The first goal I really wanted to work on was the Spend-Free days so I made sure I had all the essentials for breakfast including my coffee.

I am not a fan of making my own coffee most of the time.  I enjoy making it at home and sipping it from a regular mug but my travel mugs always make it taste different.  I think its the hot with the plastic.  But the iced coffee goes over just fine (when I remember to make it the night before!).  Breakfast = success.

At lunch, I had to get out of the office.  Usually I eat at my desk to save time and get out a little earlier.  Well, at around 1, I just couldn't take it any more.  I grabbed my healthy-living notebook and water and headed outside.  I sat down, prepping my HLB blog and enjoying the beautiful sun.  It was finally not too hot so I could enjoy the weather!

When I got home from work, I had been planning on doing something active with Rob but he was helping my dad clean out some brush from around the pool so I decided I would get the workout over with while they did that.  I just couldn't decide what to do.  I ended up with Jackie Warner's Xtreme Timesaver Training.  It was a good choice too!  It kept my bored mind in check and it wasn't too long and hard.  I also did 15 minute of stretching afterward. 

It is amazing how quickly you can become unflexible!  I remember being able to bend much more than I could last night.  There are a bunch of workouts in this book and 4 of which are on the DVD.  I am glad I watched the DVD because these were rather complicated.  I will probably only use the DVD but its a nice tool to have!  I would reccomend it :)

The rest of the night was spent just making dinner and playing on the computer.  I also had a beer (moderation is ok for an HLB!).  The sweat from the bottle smiled back at me!



Dinner was excellent.  I used some fresh sausage from a local market.  I always remove the skin before cooking so the fat and grease can cook off.  It still keeps its shape (but you can also turn them into sausage meatballs).  I just tossed the cut up sausage in a pan (no skin) until almost cooked.  I  have leftover pasta from the night before.  I also diced up a large fresh tomato and a zucchini and threw it in the pan for the last few minutes (drain grease first).  The tomatoes will make enough of a "sauce" for the disk.  It tastes delicious!

Sausage isn't the leanest protein obviously but it is more of a treat now and then for me and Rob.  You could use chicken or ground turkey or whatever in its place.  Anyway!  So overall, I would consider yesterday very healthy!  I ended the day in my calorie ranges but not my carbs and a little low on protein (in my range but I like to be much higher than I was).  Things to fix another day!  And one last picture I took, they just looked so cute sitting in the basket on the kitchen table!

Vibrams to the Rescue!

After my post yesterday, I decided I wanted to show you how easy it really is to make eggs in the microwave so I photo documented the process :)
Step 1.  Beat eggs with some milk

Step 2.  Add omelet toppings (for me, broccoli and mozzarella)

Step 3.  Pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Out comes a beautiful omelet!  I even flipped it over so you could see how fluffy the eggs are!

Now you have absolutely no excuse to skip breakfast!  Now, on to my day.  Its mostly pictures of food since I didn't do much all day.  I did snap this pretty picture of a flower with dew on it when walking into work in the morning.

I am sure I got a few funny looks from people in/around the building.  Haha!  Whatever!  So I started my day off with my microwave omelet and then when I got to work, I decided to go buy some coffee.  The coffee in the breakroom is TERRIBLE.  I drink coffee because I enjoy it, not for the caffeine so I'm not going to drink bad tasting coffee.  Anyway, I had a moment of weakness and got a cookie too.

I figured I would be fine because I had my foot planned out for the day.  Well, then my coworker Dave came in with a treat for everyone but "everyone" was at the lab and it was only me and him to share this wonderful treat he brought in...

That's right, a whole box of munchkins.  I had like 5 total for the day.  Bad!!!  I didn't realize it until lunch though that I was so full off donuts that I never had my oatmeal.  At least I didn't go crazy and have both!  I had PB&J for lunch but wasn't feeling it so I decided to head out for lunch for a salad.  We hit the Cheese Board again and I got this huge plate of food.

The hummus and avocado plate they called it.  It had marinated veggies on the side there too.  It was pretty good.  I have the rest for lunch today.  There are always lots of temptations at the Cheese Board though!

I had a sample of cheese when waiting in line :)  I ended up getting hungry before leaving work and ate my PB&J anyway!  I wasn't really hungry for dinner but ended up muching on various things and cleaning out the fridge.  Ended up high on calories.  Oh well!

So my foot was still hurting yesterday morning and it always goes away by mid day.  Then I got this crazy idea and jumped on the Runner's World forums.  Would running barefoot (or in my Vibram Five Fingers) help me repair my "injury"?  So if it is plantar faciitis, it is an irritated plantar fascia or something.  Basically, a ligament is annoyed with me.  And that ligament gets stronger by walking and running barefoot.  Most people rest it by getting arch support or orthotics but once you do that, it never gets stronger and you will always have problems.  Anyway, most people have been telling me RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate) but I didn't feel like it was doing anything.  It feels better when I walk around so why not move it more??  I got mixed advice from the Barefoot Running forum and made my own decision.  Right when I got home from work, I strapped them on!

I put on workout clothes but ended up in a cleaning frenzy somehow and then spent the rest of the night hanging out with my parents.  A night well spent but no workout.  I did run a few laps up and down the driveway though.  And guess what?  My foot barely hurt this morning.  This week, I would be limping until about 10 and then it would wear off.  I limped for about 20 feet and then it went away.  Did it help or heal on its own?  Who knows but I'm putting my Vibrams on again tonight!!  Yay for no foot pain!  Now I just have to figure out what to do about my 7 mile run this weekend...  Sneakers?  Vibrams for the first 1/2 mile?  Shorten the Distance?  Hm...

Mama Hens

I mentioned the other day that we had some broody hens in our hen house who were trying to hatch eggs.  This means that they sit on the eggs all day only breaking to get up for food and water.  Every time we've gone in, they've been in the laying boxes.

I find it kind of funny that you can't see any eggs under the brown hen but the black and white one has them popping out everywhere!  Well, Rob went in the hen house the other day and the white and black hen took a break to eat and he decided to peak in the box...

Minus the 2 fake decoy eggs (to teach the hens where to lay eggs), that is 20 eggs she is trying to hatch!  That means we're going to have like 20 chicks in about 2 weeks!!!  ACK!  So this weekend, Rob has got to build a new hen house and clear out the rest of the chickens.  The other hens and roosters will kill the baby chicks but the mothers won't touch them (or each other since they won't know whose is whose, lol).  Exciting stuff for the Chicken Scoop!!!

PS.  Sorry for the blurry photos.  Rob used his phone when he had the chance to get a picture!  Work with what you've got!

Vibram Review & My New Garden

This weekend was so much fun! Rob and I didn't get to see each other really all week due to me working nights. Only 2 more weeks of that! So we were excited to see each other all weekend. Saturday, we headed out for breakfast and tried a new place. It was SO CUTE! And very country style. Loved it.



Then we headed over to Historic Smithville (where we were initially going to eat and then walk around but change our minds to try the new place). Anyway, it was nice but then got a little crowded so we headed home.



The cooking shop had all different kinds of salts. So cool! Anyone use exotic salts and have cooking suggestions? I don't use salt at all but don't mind the taste really. Just cut it out to cut sodium. I think it would be fun though to use the red or black salt as a treat now and then!


After getting home, I decided to try out my Vibrams!

They were great! I ran up and down my street for a total of 1/2 mile in 5 minutes. I was speedy! I stepped on a few rocks which wasn't pleasant but not very painful either. I could really feel the slant of the road though so I ran on the shoulder more which has packed down crushed pavement. That felt great! (but that's where the rocks were, lol). I ran a bit around the yard when I finished my laps and that felt AMAZING! Totally worth the purchase right there! I think I am going to use these as my trail runners and cross trainers. Not so much for road running. I definitely had a lighter strike that with sneakers and the balls of my feel could feel it. They were slightly sore the next day but not bad! I could feel my achiles tendon more too when running. The next day, my left calf was really sore. Overall though, not major pain, just soreness. Can't wait to try them again!!!!!

Sunday, Rob and I woke up to icky weather so the bike ride we were supposed to do on Saturday but pushed off to Sunday now couldn't be done. I'm going to have a tough time at the race in July! Eek! Anyway, we did various errands like breakfast and grocery shopping. Check out my refrigerator!


All healthy deliciousness. We stopped at the local farmer's market and got strawberries. Not as good as last time but still amazing!


Isn't that one crazy looking? Haha!

We decided to do some house projects and headed to Home Depot. I was so happy to let my toes breathe in this summer air.

Rob was pouting that he wants a new lawn mower

I had a crazy idea for a garden at home so we picked up some plants

Never again!!! I never knew how much plants were! Crazy! Seedlings next year. This year, we were really busy with rugby. Well, next year, too bad because plants are expensive!
Anyway, my project involved some building so I got on my PPE! (personal protection equipment, gotta love my stylish safety glasses!)

And we got cutting and building



We had to take a break to feed the chickens and collect the eggs

Then we got to mounting! We had this blank wall on the side of the chicken coop that I decided to put planters on. We were going to buy them but after seeing that they were really expensive at Home Depot, we decided to just use scrap wood and build them ourselves! Here they are!!




I had planned on doing just herbs but then with all the space, I got some tomatoes and squash too. I'm hoping since they are up off the ground, we won't have a bunny problem and the deer don't usually go between the garages where they are either. Hopefully we'll have some veggies this year! Oh and I planted a strawberry plant too :) Can't wait to get some of those!

Anyway, we decided to head out to the field where our garden was last year. The plant that won't die is still there!!!! Last year, everything got eaten by deer or just died. Well, the stupid Kale that we planted never died, thrived like crazy, and the animals wouldn't eat it. Well, it sprouted back again!!! And it even flowered!

Then Rob started putting up onion grass, giving me little pearl onions. These should be safe to eat right? He picked me a bunch and said I could make soup. He doesn't eat onions!

There were also mushrooms but the picture didn't come out. I don't mess with those though, could be poisonous. Anyway, Rob was joking I could have a kale onion mushroom salad. LoL.

So that's it! Today is raining so i guess I don't need to water my plants! LoL. We'll see if my boxes work ok. It was fun building them :) We already have a project for next week too! I hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

First Chickie Pictures

Posted these on Spark People but since this is the Chicken Scoop...

The chickens started hatching!!!  We have 13 so far!


This is what we woke up to this morning!

My makeshift spotlight for trying to video the one that is getting close. Hehe!

Spooky wants to know whats going on out in the hallway (we keep her blocked in two rooms with a baby gate, it works ok).

Sleepy babies!

News Alert!

I heard chirping in the incubator!!!   That means the babies will start hatching soon!!!  I even saw an egg roll around a little :)  SO EXCITED!