Banner Credit


Many, many thanks to Spubba for designing and producing my title banner...so frickin' awesome!!! :D

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The dreaded time has arrived...

...now that Halloween is over, here comes the blasted xmas music. I can't fucking stand the shit. It makes my ears bleed. Over and over, everywhere you turn or SHOP, it's in your face and brain. UGH.

Anyway, this is the first year I attempted carving a pumpkin using a stencil (from the internet) and it didn't turn out too bad!

Look at that silly tit in the window...his first photo bomb! Awwww....lol

Monday, October 25, 2010

Accidental Halloween Bat (Chicken) Goulash

In using up some produce, I accidentally made what could be a great family dinner for halloween:


Sodium-free chicken broth (or water)
Two sweet potatoes, cubed
Head of purple cabbage, chopped
Carrots, sliced
Chicken (I used 10 thighs, skin on, bone in)
Mushrooms (the darker and ickier the better!)
Onions
Garlic
Seasonings of your choice (I used seasoned salt, sea salt, dry Italian seasoning mixture)

Bring all ingredients to a boil in your cauldron, then turn down to low and simmer for at least an hour.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Awesome Music: Ted Nugent

Speaking of Rock Star the movie (now I'm dying to hear some of the songs from the soundtrack!)...

Awesome Music: Alter Bridge

The singer, Myles Kennedy, was in one of my favourite movies, Rockstar. Unfortunately, they've disabled embedding, so here's the link:

Open Your Eyes Music Video

Friday, October 22, 2010

Wheeeee Fresh Food!

We got our first Wanigan delivery today! Lots of fresh fruit and veggies to consume. We got the small Wanigan box, which was $34 plus we added a bag of Gala apples to last us the two week period (the bag of apples is not in this pic).


A nice-sized pot roast has been relaxing in the crock pot all day and it smells delicious.

Edit:


Regarding my blood tests, the verdict (so far) is just that I'm low on vitamin D, which is no surprise, based on what I've read on the MDA Forum. The results haven't yet come in from the uptake and scan. I learned that there's a 5mm something-or-other cyst on my thyroid, too, which they said was "insignificant". The uptake and scan should tell us more detail about that cyst.

TGIF!!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Mmm, Acorn Squash

Yesterday at work one of my co-workers came over to comment on how good I looked since I lost some weight this year. We got to talking about how I did it and she was genuinely interested in learning more. I told her about cutting out the sugar and grains, eating REAL FOOD, etc. and she was excited to try it out.

Today she stopped by my desk, again commented on how good I looked in my new outfit (lol) and told me about what she cooked for dinner last night. She was all excited that she made pork and a whack of veggies, plus she made her own apple sauce and DIDN'T add any sugar! I was very proud of her and her excitment. See, she goes to the gym several times a week and is finding that while it is a way to let stress out, it's not helping her lose any weight. Matter of fact, I've noticed her face rounding out a bit.

Later, we ran into each other in the washroom and again she looked me up and down before mentioning how good I looked. LOL Now, she's NOT a lesbian and she just got re-married earlier this year, so I know she's not being lewd. I sent her a message on our internal chat system joking that next thing you know she'll be asking me out on a date! (hahahaha!) She got a kick out of that. :)

For the hubby and I, today was workout day after work. After working out we prepared an acorn squash to go with our dinner of leftovers. Hubby cut the thing open and I did the rest. NO brown sugar touched this squash! I took a knife and scored the meaty insides, smeared butter all over them, and sprinkled cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice on them. I felt something else might be good as a liquid, so I added a tiny bit of (real) vanilla extract as well. Into the 400F oven they went for about an hour and 15 mins. Here's what one looked like:


Mmm, mmm.

I got a call from the walk-in clinic tonight as well. They have my blood test results back and the doctor wants to see me to talk about them. I hope to make it there tomorrow after my massage therapy after work.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

And another thing...

I haven't yet mentioned that I've been getting some tests done to see if something is going on with my thyroid. In July my neck (n general) started hurting like as if I had pulled some sort of muscle or vocal cord. The way I describe it is if you were singing along to a song and try to hit a note that is too far out of your natural range - you tend to hurt something in your throat (done that before). It makes it hard to swallow, talk, and turn your head for at least a day.

In August I noticed a sort of lump on the right side of my throat. I went to the local walk-in clinic to get a doctor's opinion. He asked me some typical questions around potential hypothyroidism and I didn't really have any symptoms other than heart palpitations. He sent me for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound results came back and it was a different doctor at the walk-in this time (that's how it goes at a walk-in...you get whoever's there/available). He asked me a few more questions and said he wanted some blood tests and an uptake/scan. I haven't received the blood test results yet and I just went for the uptake/scan appointments this past Thursday and Friday.

Last night we had our best friends over for dinner and drinks, and I was drinking but didn't even catch a buzz (what a waste of rum! lol). I woke up in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat and my heart was palpitating like crazy. It was pretty discerning, but I had a pee and relocated to the other bedroom where I wouldn't keep my hunny awake and the room was much cooler.

I drifter in and out of sleep there, but at least I wasn't sweating anymore. I look forward to getting to the bottom of this issue.

I don't want to put too much onus on weight, but...

...this morning after a BM my scale read 148.7. YES!!!!

Been working on the wall push-ups and squats, so I expect to gain a bit of muscle weight...I should look into how to measure BF% someday.

For now, I'm happy with my progress so far. Since I've been recording my weigh-ins, the trend shows a loss of approx. 10 lbs over a 6-month period, so I hope to have lost 20 lbs by the end of the year. That would be sweet.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Today's Eats

- Bacon and eggs for breakfast (standard stuff; no pics)

- Yogurt

- Made some more primal cookies:


- Slow-cooked chicken with carrots, onions, mushrooms and kelp for dinner:

Mouse's Favourite Music: Canadian Rock - Turn it up!

I think this might be a great topic! More to come, but for now...

Some old...


Some new(er)...

Friday, October 8, 2010

Oh what a day.

It started off pretty normal for a vacation day; roll outta bed at around 10...get breakfast in me...but today would turn out to be a busy day!

Breakfast was leftover steak chili from Broadway Market. OMGYUM!!

We needed to put another coat of paint on the garage door but before starting that I wanted to make a quick run out to Broadway to grab some of their prepared stock. I grabbed two containers of chicken and one of beef. Can't wait to use them in something!

Painting the garage door was next up, and I tell ya, after us working together yesterday to do two coats and one today, I've had just about enough of painting! My thumb went numb from holding the plastic container holding a bit of paint and my back is a tad screwed. The next paint project will likely be the rec room in the basement, but that won't be any time soon!

Once the garage door was (finally) done, we decided to go to Albion Hills for a nice hike since the weather was so gorgeous (and we had hoped to do this sometime this week, anyway). Here are some pics of what we saw:











We really had a great time out there - aside from the odd mountain biker or jogger, it was just us and the trees. Oh, and the turkey (??!). :)

Once we got home we realized we'd forgotten about dinner (and it was kind of late to start cooking), so we whipped together a batch of coconut milk/banana/cocoa powder smoothies. Mmmm, mmmm.



(TMI side note: I just spent 10 mins in the washroom with pretty bad diarrhea. I think I just lost 5 lbs (lol) but I feel kind of funny over all. Hmmm...)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

OMG WOW YUM!

Today was an interesting day, as I had decided to FINALLY try making mock mashed potatoes out of cauliflower. The head of cauliflower was purchased a few days ago and was patiently waiting in the fridge for it's name to be called.

We had ribs gently brushed with apple butter in the crock pot and they were just about done. Then, out came the cauliflower! I tried to remember back to the instructional video I had watched via MDA, and while I remembered some of the ingredients, I decided not to get too technical and just wing it.

Both hubby and I were excited to try this recipe, as we're both HUGE fans of traditional mashed potatoes. (My step-mum even grows a small crop of potatoes specifically for me, for Thanksgiving mashed potatoes!) I separated and rinsed the florets and popped them into the microwave for 10 minutes to steam. Then, into the food processor they went (a few at a time -- it's only a 7-cup) and once they were all smashed up, in went the 1/2 cup of 14% MF sour cream, 1/2 cup melted butter, Montreal steak spice and seasoned salt. Whipped that up some more with the machine, and then it was time to taste...

We have a winner!! To hell with mashed potatoes and their empty carbs -- I'll take mashed cauliflower from now on, thanks!! :D

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tue. Oct. 5, 2010

Today was a busy day; got up at 10:30am and had to hurry to get dressed/cleaned up to go out - we were meeting my mom and sister at Mandarin for lunch. I tried to make 'better' choices at the huge buffet and I did alright. Of course I did enjoy a few small desserts, some of which were supposedly "sugar-free", though they were still sweet enough. Not sure what they used to sweeten them, but alas...

After lunch we went to my sister's house to see her new chihuahua puppy. Cute little thing!

Once we got home and relaxed for a bit we went for a walk to grab some cat food and almonds. (I had it in my mind that I'd be baking something later, trying out a primal recipe.) After the walk we went down into the basement to work out, and I completed level 1 of each the Primal Blueprint essential movements under "lift heavy things". In addition, hubby spotted me during a few bench presses. I felt really good after all that and can't wait to do it again in a couple days.

While dinner was warming up in the microwave (leftover chicken and vegetables, which was still delicious), I assembled the ingredients of Best Primal Cookies with my chosen variations. The oven was pre-heating to 350F as we started eating dinner, and after a few minutes the cookies went in. 12 minutes later we had these:



Yum! After eating 3 of them I was stuffed. I probably should've waited a little longer after finishing dinner. Whatever. :)