Snack!

I got hungry waiting for my mom and sister to get here so I had an apple. Do you ever crave something just raw and natural? I know I do! This apple hit the spot...and maybe it had enough "crunch" to satisfy me so I won't break open the chips later! Maybe...we'll see! I hope they get here soon, I'm ready to go down to the water!

Breakfast Day 2, Part Deux

What a long day yesterday...it's tough relaxing, ha! :-) We are having a ball visiting with friends, laying by the river, and boat riding. The boys are having a ball with their river-neighbor friends, fishing, swimming, and driving the Kubota all over the property. Katie has been building sand castles and swimming with Mommy. More family is expected in today so it will be more of the same!

As you saw yesterday I started off the day great! I did really good throughout the day until it got closer to dinner and then it was just a mountain of food! Smoked ham, beans, jalapeno cornbread at one place and roast beef, potatoes, carrots, and rolls at another..I think I had some of it all! Needless to say there is no picture or proof of my indulgence! lol

This morning I got out by myself for a 6.3 mile run. It was wonderful! I put my praise and worship on my iPod and felt like I had been to church when I got back. Refreshed. Grateful for what the Lord has given us and I prayed for everyone's safety on this holiday weekend.

Breakfast was the exact same as yesterday. Strawberries and cantaloupe with ff vanilla yogurt and oatmeal. Sorry for the redundancy, but being that I'm at somebody else's home, I didn't want to bring in three different loads of things just for me! (Especially when I'm not eating Mama G's cooking like everyone else!) Today is BBQ day...chicken, pork chops, and all the traditional sides. And of course more river! I hope everyone has a glorious Sunday!

Start of a Good Day!

Yay me! When I came back from my 4-mile run/walk this morning with my oldest son, Mama G has the BIGGEST breakfast fixed...biscuits, gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. looked and smelled fantastic but I made my breakfast of oats, strawberries, cantaloupe, and ff vanilla yogurt...and it also looked fantastic! I feel so good knowing I started my weekend off on the right note and I feel great after my workout and breakfast. I hope your day has also started of on the right note!

Relaxation

Yes, we are relaxing! I once again chickened out on my dinner picture...lol. But we had BBQ chicken, zucchini casarole, and corn bread. It was soooo good! If there's one thing Mama G can do it is cook! And it is delicious! I can tell you that after a weekend of this, I will be glad that I ran 46 miles this week! Hope everyone else is having as relaxing a time as I am!

The View From My Place on the Couch!

Snacktime!

LOVE these Kashi Granola bars in Honey Almond Flax!

And a delicious Jazz apple (again)!

Look Familiar?!

Sorry for the boring repeat, but the lentil soup and wrap filled me up so perfectly yesterday that I couldn't decide against it today. I did switch it up a little and there is mesquite-smoked turkey in the wrap instead of ham! Ha! I am catching up on yesterday's General Hospital before I pick up the boys from school and while I have my lunch. Have a good afternoon!

My New Favorite?

I drank one of these the other day at my mom's...I love them! Could be my new favorite refreshing drink!

Warm n Filling

A warm and filling breakfast! Steel cut oats and half a banana with almond butter...yummy!

Let The Weekend Begin!

Well my weekend officially begun last night! My in-laws came in last night for the long weekend and we met them at their new cabin. My hubby just finished putting the finishing touches on it yesterday and it is BEAUTIFUL! They hadn't seen it in a month, so they were very excited...so were we. My mil had bought a beer tap that got built into the cabinet to surprise my fil, he's a beer drinker :), so my hubby and his dad has their first icy mugs of beer as soon as they got there. It was a cute moment.

This is a pic taken inside their new "cabin." I call it a cabin because it is on the river, and it's log (our specialty). But it's beautiful and I think my hubby did an amazing job! I'll get a pic or two of the outside this weekend.

So, needless to say it was a busy evening. We didn't have the greatest dinner choices...there was fried fish, chicken strips, and chips and dip. Ugh. I did actually find a pre-made garden salad that looked like it had been made a couple days ago, so I got it hoping it wasn't all soggy and gross. It wasn't, but I got it back to the cabin and didn't have a fork! Geez! Was that a good excuse to not eat it and have the other stuff instead?? Probably not. But I did! I didn't take pics of anything because I'm still a little self-conscious about taking pictures of my food when I'm around a lot of people. That's a question...

Do you feel that "everybody's looking at me and thinking I'm weird" when you whip out your camera, or phone to take a picture of your food? Maybe not. Maybe it's just me! Or maybe it's just something you get over. But nobody except my hubby knows that I'm a writing on this blog. And he really doesn't care as long as it's not costing us money *lol*, no really that's what he asked, "Is this costing us any money?" *lol* He is too funny! Isn't that just like a man?!? But anyway...I'm not sure how to handle the "situation."

So we came back home last night because the boys had school today, and school pics, and we still needed to finish up a little payroll and office work. It's almost done now. I'm glad I got my run in uber-early this morning. 5 easy miles, just a nice easy pace...9 minute miles. My legs were thanking me for not sprinting or taking hills! As soon as I pick up the boys at 3, we will be headed to the cabin for a weekend of R&R. Sunshine and river time, here we come!

Morning Fuel

My first morning fuel! A cup of coffee with the Mocha-flavored Splenda. And the cup just kinda says it all!

Lentil Soup

Mobile Blogging

Can you tell I am trying to figure out mobile blogging? lol This may make it possible to take pics of my eats like I had originally wanted. Lunch was a cup of Progresso Lentil soup. So warm and filling, just what I was needing because I was cold! Also a smoked ham wrap on a whole wheat low-carb tortilla, with rf sharp cheddar and lettuce. And a Jazz apple...just bought these yesterday and I love them! Now Katie and I are getting ready to go into town and run errands before we pick up the boys from school!

The Biggest Little Cardinals Fans!

We are huge St. Louis Cardinals fans, as I've mentioned before! Here are my very favorite ones!

Katie's Dinner for Breakfast!

Katie wanted steak for breakfast so that's what she got!

Early To Bed...Early To Rise

I took my own advice and hit the sack a little earlier last night. I was in bed at 9pm, but my hubby and princess soon followed and proceeded to talk and carry on for a little while so it was probably 930pm before I actually fell asleep. It was ok though...I felt very rested when our oldest son woke me up at 545 this morning for me to take him to basketball practice. So, yeah the rest of the early morning went off without a hitch. I ended up walking 2 miles last night after dinner; then ran 6 miles with hills this morning. That puts my total for the week at 41.
So the checkup yesterday went ok, I guess. You know, the tech sends the ultrasound to the radiologist who reads it then sends the report to my dr. and hopefully the information will get back to me today...hopefully. They said it could be today. I think the last night I did it, it took 2 weeks...but it was Christmas/New Years last time so that could have been the delay. At any rate, I hope it doesn't take too long. The tech said it still looks like a fibroadenoma (a hormone-driven cyst, basically), but they will compare it to my scan from last time and see check the rate of growth, if any, and determine what to do from there. Could be that we do nothing...I hope that's the case. :) But we'll see what he recommends and go from there. It stresses me out a little, though. And boy did that show up in my appetite last night.
I am TOTALLY an emotional eater! Now during the day my stomach was in a knot because of the appointment...I had my usual breakfast but it went downhill from there. I got a protein shake afterwards, at the fitness place where I meet my sister and had half of my Kashi Honey Almond and Flax granola bar. Pre-dinner I had an apple and piece of string cheese. And it all went downhill from there. I had 2 pieces of leftover pizza, then started to cook dinner which was a baked ziti with whole-wheat pasta and extra lean ground sirloin, had 2 helpings of that. Then took a bath and tried to put my day out of my mind and came back out into the kitchen and the boys were whipping up homemade shakes! Oh boy, yeah so I had some lf vanilla fudge brownie ice cream then finished up what they had left of their shakes! At least their ice cream was 70 calorie vanilla! Hmmmm....two things happened here that I can see. 1) I didn't eat enough midday and was ravenous when I did start to eat. And 2) I was stress-eating! I should have went and brushed my teeth and just went to bed. But oh well, another day is here!
Today shouldn't be too complicated. It is payroll day for our employees (our weeks end on Thursdays) so I'll be doing that later, but it's pretty cut-and-dried this week...I LOVE those kind of weeks!
And my in-laws are coming home later today from a job they are doing in Kansas. My father-in-law works smokestack/chimney construction, he is a superintendent with a company that does everything from builds to repairs to tears down industrial smokestacks. While they have been gone, my hubby has put the finishing touches on their new cabin on the river about 45 minutes from our house. We own a log home company, and so they will be coming home to a beautiful new log home on the river. That is SO where we are going to be all weekend! I will post pictures when we get back! Or maybe my mobile blogger will let me...I'll try that, too. I hope everyone has a good day!

Need.More.Coffee.

OK, I think my early mornings are catching up with me! If I'm going to continue to get up pre-6am then I need to make my nights a little earlier as well. But there I was this morning, up and at 'em, making coffee, putting on workout clothes: By the way, I highly recommend putting on your workout clothes first thing in the morning. Not only does it make me want to do it, but if something does come up that I can't get right to a run, it's ok, I'm ready when I can. So took my oldest son to basketball practice at 615am and came home, chugged some coffee and chugged along on the treadmill. I know I said yesterday that I needed to shake it up a bit. So I did. A bit. I did 7 miles of speed intervals, again, but every 10 minutes I stopped and did a strength move, squats w/ dumbbells, tricep extensions, pushups, etc. So the whole workout took me well over an hour but the treadmill time was only 60 minutes. I guess I'm getting faster as the week goes on! My leg didn't twinge this morning at all, and I was sprinting at 8mph. Fastest so far since my leg started hurting. Yay! My total mileage this week so far is 33 miles. I did 12 on Sunday (my long run). I shoot for 30-40 mpw, but last week did 47, week before that 45. It really just depends on what I have time for.
So today I have to go back to dr. for another checkup. Which means, yes, more driving. Oh well, at least I can go to Kroger for dinner groceries. Yay...something different! But I have a 6-month repeat breast ultrasound today for a fibroadenoma that we are watching. Probably no big deal, but my ob-gyn wants to keep an eye on it for changes, etc. But it still means a day out an about...and I am just feeling like I need more coffee!

Responsibility

Last night was pretty uneventful around here. My oldest son came home from school with many political questions, I assumed because of the DNC coverage and such...not really, it was because one his teachers was "brow-beating" any student who dared speak up against Barack Obama. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think teachers were supposed to force their opinions, political or otherwise, on students. Now I have nothing against this teacher or Barack Obama...in fact I have not completely decided who I'm voting for. But to basically tell a room full of 7th graders what to think and how to think, I really didn't care for much. I want my son to be able to look at the facts and decide for himself which candidate he likes based on the issues. And, I hate to brag :) , my responsible son came home and wanted me to help him look on the internet for information about both candidates and where they stood on all the important issues. He said, "That way when she starts throwing information around I can join in the conversation and actually know what I'm talking about." Ah. Yes, Erica, your little boy is growing up! And very responsibly I might add. Very proud of him.
After our internet search, I made my first protein-powder smoothie. I got the Dessert powder at a fitness center on Saturday in the chocolate fudge pudding flavor. So I mixed it with the 5oz. of water and decided to blend it with some crushed ice in the attempt to make a smoothie. It was good. Not knock-your-socks-off though. And I didn't really notice that it took away my afternoon hunger pangs...you know the ones you get from about 3-4pm when you feel like you could eat just about ANYTHING! But the apple that I ate took care of me until dinner. Dinner was grilled marinated steaks that my mom gave me on Sunday because she wasn't going to get to cook them. My dad left for the wildfires in California on Sunday for 21 days, he's retired with National Forest Service and is the Security Manager for the fire camps. It's his second time out this summer. So anyway, we cooked the steaks here with some grilled sweet potatoes and zucchini, and roasted brussel sprouts. It was all very good and very filling. But not so full that I couldn't eat chocolate frozen yogurt for dessert! Yum!
After dinner I just watched tv, nothing fabulous was on, and our Cardinals were getting beat, so I waited until 9pm to watch Hillary Clinton speak at the DNC. I was so tired but my son gave me a renewed sense of responsibility so I thought I should stay awake and watch. But as soon as she was done I was out.

Yesterday & A New Normal?

Wow. What a day yesterday turned out to be! I didn't get home until 8pm, after the orthodontist appointment, the dr. check-up, and a quick Wal-Mart run...I was exhausted! I should probably also tell you that none of these things are just down the street or across town for us. They are 45 miles away! See, I TOLD you I lived in a sub-small town! All of our doctors, dentists, the closest hospital, and yes, Wal-Mart, are a 35-40 minute drive. I had to throw the 35 in there for myself; it rarely takes me longer. I have a bit of a lead-foot issue. The slowest I have driven there is when I was setting my cruise on 55 as a gas-saving experiment. I drive a Suburban so I definitely noticed a difference in miles/gallon...but that was short lived. My need for speed got the best of me! So, home at 8pm means I did not cook dinner...we ordered pizza! I tried to make myself feel a little better by ordering the whole-wheat crust (Papa John's), but 4 pieces later (Hey, I was STARVING!) I'm thinking it probaby didn't matter a whole lot! But oh well, I have to tell myself that's why I exercise...to allow myself a little leeway once in a while, and that tomorrow is A NEW DAY!

So yes, today...basically a repeat of yesterday morning. Crazy. Is this going to be my new normal?? Waking up at 545, making coffee, doing small chores, and getting my sweat on before the sun is fully up?? Maybe. Today I did 7 miles of intervals. Since I was doing speed intervals (but not too fast because I'm almost fully recovered from a mild calf-strain), I knocked a little off my time from yesterday and did the 7 miles in 63 minutes. I didn't set out to run that far today, but I got to listening to Michelle Obama on Gayle King on OprahXM and I just kept going. Tomorrow I'm going to have to shake it up some, I think. I did do 100 squats and 50 kickbacks last night as I was watching, again, Mrs. Obama speak at the DNC. What is it about her that motivates me to keep going?? Hmmmmm...I'll have to think about that one.
For breakfast I tried something new, steel cut oats. I bought them a while ago, but had never taken the time to make them. I'm actually kind of excited that I made the four servings and was able to portion out the other three for later...and now they are already ready! But I mixed it with a Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt, blueberries, and one packet of Splenda. I really like the greek yogurt. Wal-Marts in this area just recently started carrying it, and Oikos is the only brand they carry.
We are a little behind the times here where we live...no Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or any of the other wonderful grocery-shopping meccas that I read about in many other blogs. So jealous! We also just got almond-butter. Yeah. A.little.slow.here. But that's not always a bad thing. We have very little crime here. Of course with a population of 850 if someone did commit a crime, whoever did it would be the talk of the coffee shop the next morning. And yes, in a town this small, they would KNOW! I would feel very safe not locking our doors, although we do, and I remember growing up that we didn't always. Not quite Mayberry, but close. Like I said, living in a small town has it's ups and downs. I really don't know anything else, I was born and raised here. Same with my hubby, although he moved away for a brief time during elementary school. We have a beautiful spring-fed river that we hit every weekend with our families and our boat, we go to high school basketball games, and hang out with friends. Now if we really want to have some fun, we head out with a few close friends for a grown-ups weekend to St. Louis to shop, probably see a Cardinals game (our fave), and sometimes go to a club or something. As far as the downside goes, it's pretty much what I've already said-not much mainstream available (unless you're willing to drive-and we are!), the kids may not have the same opportunities that other children in city-schools have (but I feel they are safer), and the gossip mill employs more people than you can imagine! lol But all in all, it's home. And sometimes now matter how badly I want to get away or leave for a little while, it is always good to come back home. It feels good. Comfortable. And yes, sometimes as much as I hate to admit it...it feels like me.

Treadmill Girl

Happy Monday! I can actually say that this morning because it is only like, 940am, and I have gotten sooo much accomplished already! Thanks to my hubby's early morning alarm, I got up with him at [ahem] 545...yeah well that's why I have so much done already, I've been up since the butt-crack of dawn. Got up, made coffee, unloaded the dishwasher, and sat down to drink my coffee and it was only 615. I thought, I should get up and go exercise now and I will be all done before I have to take kids to school...yes! Early morning exercise is my favorite thing! I LOVE to get up and get it out of the way early. I have been known to get up at 430 in order to get a workout in before we have to leave early for something or another. That doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I feel SO good when I get it done. Accomplished.

So this morning I ran hills for 7 miles. Took about 66 minutes. Another thing you should know about me is that I'm a treadmill girl. I would love to be able to run outside more often, but there a several factors that stand in my way: 1) 3 children who aren't old enough to stay at home by themselves, 2) a hubby with a crazy schedule that includes some early mornings/late nights, 3) the scardy-cat in me (strangers, wildlife, dogs, etc.). That pretty much sums it up. The only extended non-treadmill time I've had was 2 years ago when I was training for the Kansas City 1/2 Marathon. Didn't touch a treadmill for about 2 1/2 months. It was a record. But the scheduling it took to get it done was enough to make me say that I wouldn't do it again until my children got older! So it's just me, my iPod, my treadmill, and whichever children decide to pop in to say "hey" to mom while I'm running in my home office for 30-40 miles per week. I must say that I am also addicted to the "entertainment factor" that is available with the treadmill. Besides my iPod, I also listen to Gayle King on Oprah's XM channel (she's on from 7-8am, and 1-2pm here), and I will also watch Desperate Housewives on abc.com or just put in one of my Girls Next Door DVDs (I have the collection...love it!!). I've heard many runners say that they love the peaceful, serene calmness of running in solitude; when all you hear are your feet hitting the pavement and nature all around you. To feel as one with the world. Well, personally, when all I hear is my feet hitting the pavement all I can think about is, "How much longer? Ugh. Am I almost done?? Ugh." I NEED distraction. Every once in a great while, when I do go to the park in our area to run (probably no more than once a month or so), I will turn on the Praise and Worship on my iPod and feel very close to God...but not to nature..ha!

Well after my run, I took my middle son to school with princess still in her jammies, (oldest son was taken to basketball practice by his dad, thank goodness!), came home and reheated my cup of coffee that I hadn't gotten to drink, and headed for the shower. Then was breakfast! Yay! Food!! I love food! I was thinking last night while I was trying to go to sleep what I was going to have for breakfast! I'm weird that way! So I decided on:

Oatmeal and Egg White Pancake

and

1/2 cup Mixed Berries w/

a single-serve size of Light & Fit Vanilla 0% Plus Yogurt.

I found the pancake recipe on another blog...not sure who's it was...oops! But it is so EASY! And I love easy and quick when it comes to breakfast. It also has a good amount of protein so that's another plus.

Oatmeal and Egg White Pancake

1 packet Kashi Creamy Vanilla Oatmeal

2 beaten egg whites

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Beat the egg whites and add other ingredients. Pour onto hot griddle and let cook approx. 4 minutes on the first side, and 2 or so minutes on the second side. Even good if it gets a little crispy! You can do a variety of toppings, I like mashed banana on top, maybe some almond butter, or even lite pancake syrup. Many times I just eat it plain!

So now I'm fueled up and ready to start another day. I should go take a quick peek at my kids rooms, but I'm slightly afraid to! I haven't been upstairs in a while...that's never a good sign. I'm sure their floors are covered in dirty clothes (even though there is a laundry chute right outside their doors) and their bathrooms probably need a good cleaning, especially the boys! :-S I do need to get it done, though. We have orthodontist and doctors checkups this afternoon after school. I hope you have a good start to your Monday!

First Off!

I'm sitting here trying to think of a creative way to start my first blog post...nope not really coming to me. I'm not even exactly sure which direction I'm going to take my blog in, at this point anyway. I LOVE to read other nutrition and fitness blogs, I check them every day as a matter of fact. So I thought I may do something like that...but then I started thinking about the other day when I was lolly-gagging through blog-world and was having a hard time finding blogs relating to stay-at-home moms who like the nutrition and fitness aspects as well. So maybe I will go in that direction....not really sure yet! Anyway, I am going to put this out there and see which direction it will lead me. I will say, though, that the "EEE" stands for "Erica Exercises & Eats." More about me later!