The One With a Little Extra Time

Did you remember to “Fall Back”?  Gotta love resetting the clock at bedtime…thanks to that, it was only 1am when I turned out the light.  :)

First…I forgot to show you my cute ghost socks!

After pumping the neighborhood’s kiddies full of candy last night, I turned out the lights and headed over to our friends Mark & Cosette’s place to raid their candy bowl visit and watch movies. 

When I pulled into the driveway I couldn’t help but snap a few photos of their Halloween decorations.  They always do such a great job!

They have a tradition of an annual Star Wars jack-o-lantern.

I brought them some Monster Cookies, Pumpkin Spice Fudge, and Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffins (recipe to come)…but pretty much spent the evening with my face in their candy bowl (mmmm…fruity Tootsie Rolls). 

Thankfully Coco is also into healthy snacks and brought us out a tray (coffin!) of veggies and dip, plus baguette, lavash and hummus. 

 

And water in a cute POM glass…

We ended up watching the first Saw movie.  It’s the only one I’ve ever seen (I think) but I’ve heard it’s still the best out of all of them.  I kinda wanna watch the rest of them now…I think they are on VOD for free right now so we shall see.

Today I was supposed to meet the Halibloggers for a Christmas craft fair, but unfortunately one of the things that aggravates my neck the most is just standing and wandering so I ended up bailing.  Argh.  Instead my day will be filled with chores and a few errands…probably for the best anyway because part of my November goal is to get my shit together and be on top of everything. 

• dust
• finish vacuuming
• laundry
• banking and budgeting
• groceries
• wrap gift – take to post office
• self-manicure
• tackle stack of magazines

Guess I’d better get moving!

The One with the Organic Cookies

I’m down to 134 posts in my Reader!  So you know what I’ve been doing for a major part of the evening.  :)  I love you guys all so much I have a hard time just skimming through!!

In addition to gluing my eyes to my laptop I also had my grrreat chiropractor appointment, a trip to WalMart for much needed new gloves and practical Winter boots (third Halifax Winter approaching…figured it was time for snow shovelling apparel), had a lovely hot shower, and made a treat for tomorrow evening’s Halibloggers GTG (ya, we’re going through withdrawals already!).

Oh, and made dinner.  :)

Fish ‘n’ Chips my style. 

Sweet Potato Fries…simply tossed with a smidge of veggie oil and sprinkled with seasoning salt.

Haddock…dredged in seasoned egg whites and flour/parmesan/cayenne…and pan-fried in a smidge of real butter.

Added the leftover maple brussel sprouts.

And homemade tartar sauce.

Afternoon snack was a chocolatey granola bar. 

Big tip from me to you: I’ve been keeping high fibre chocolate based granola bars on hand to help keep the chocolate “monster” at bay.  Today I managed to avoid the entire Halloween candy display knowing I already had a box of these in my basket.  :)

Tonight’s tea:  vanilla nut creme… nom nom nom

Served with another new treat I found at Pete’s the other day.  Late July Vanilla Bean with Green Tea Sandwich Cookies

Completely organic, no yucky stuff, made with whole grains, only 110 calories for 2 cookies.

Two big thumbs up.  Creamy and deeeelish.  Like an Oreo but so much better.  :)

I’ve yet to meet a Late July product I didn’t like love.

Tomorrow I need to work on embracing balance.  Today was healthy and controlled, but missing fruits and veggies in a major way.  I have those beautiful bits of pomegranate just sitting there waiting for me to show them some love!

The One Where I Got Off the Couch

Ya that’s right.  5:00 came and went and I was still trucking along on work stuff.  The weather got blustery and gross (I watched my neighbor’s BBQ blow over), so my walk plans went bye-bye.  I lost all my steam, ate cookies, put on my slippers, wandered aimlessly around my kitchen, and GAVE UP.

Then, after dinner and a bowl of jelly beans, I decided that flipping channels was NOT the way I was going to spend my night.  Something snapped.

At 8:00 I washed my face, changed my clothes, and stormed out the door.  45 minutes at the gym turned my night (my week!) around.  This is the feeling I’ve been looking for.  I don’t know where it’s been, but I’m glad it’s back!

• 20 minutes on the elliptical, cross country
• 3 sets: tricep pulldowns, bicep curls, shoulder presses
• 2 sets: crunches, reverse crunches, scissor crunches
• 2 minute plank!

If this doesn’t help me sleep tonight I’ll scream!!

Before I went I did have another comfort food dinner.  Leftover Chowdy Doody chicken corn chowder, with some cheesy Multigrain Tostitos.

These dangerous fancy jelly beans (ie: Jelly Belly knockoffs) made their way into my basket at Walmart last night.  Uh-oh.  This huge bag was only $3.  Danger Will Robinson, Danger.

 

I had one serving.  OK, then after the picture I had like two more servings.  The bright side is that I got a massive sugar rush that I put to use at the gym.  :)

That bag is now well buried in the pantry.

Oh, and before I forget…I totally stole Lynn’s FABULOUS idea for mint hot chocolate!  Soooo deeelish.  I brewed a cup of strong peppermint tea and mixed it with a packet of organic hot chocolate mix.  What a fantastic afternoon treat!!

People.  I’m back.  I promise.

I opened the candy corn

Gah. I bought candy corn like two weeks ago (maybe more?) because I had an idea to use it for a decoration. I should've known better. For two weeks it's been taunting from it's little plastic container, but I was good. As long as it was closed I didn't have an issue.

So why did I open it yesterday? Cuz I was cranky and bored. Bad. Bad. Bad. And grabbing by the handful didn't help. Try counting that...not easy.

But..... you know what? I felt so crappy and guilty about it, that last night I got off my ass and went to the gym. Yup, at 8:00pm I could see that my cranky mood wasn't going away on it's own so I dragged myself out the door and to the gym. By the time I got there I only had about an hour and a half to work out, but I got in a full 45+ mins of cardio and two sets of squats, lunges, crunches, etc. Felt good and I'm proud of myself.

Still ate way too much yesterday, but sure don't feel near so guilty anymore.

And now....off to the gym again for a little cardio and my full strength training routine!

And she does it again!

:) Good day here again!! I added in a couple of baked hashbrown patties (I was craving fries, but skipped McD's and came home...wooooo NSV). I earned the APs for them at the gym, so still all OP. I ended up going out shopping later than planned so decided to skip the SB iced coffee and had a serving of Junior Mints while I watched a movie tonight instead (NSV #2, as it is a huge-ass box and I only ate my one serving!).

I'm so proud!!

Today will be free of candy.

It has to be. Must cleanse system of sugar. This is a test.

I seem to have picked up my stupid cold again. I guess walking around in the rain all night can do that to ya. I woke up with yucky sinuses and a pasty, dry throat. Lovely. At least it was for a good cause! Today there will be lots of vitamins and clear liquids.

So far:
- apple juice
- coffeeeeeeeeeee
- two slices of Sweet Home Alabanana loaf
- water

Next I have planned:
- Kashi Almond & Flax Crunch (1/2 serving) with 1/2 cup vanilla Almond Breeze
- cherries
- more coffeeeeeeeeeeee
- lotsa water

Late lunch:
- salad of toms, cukes & light feta marinated in 1tbsp Newman's Italian dressing, tossed with spinach
- 1/2 ww pita
- 2 tbsp roasted garlic hummus
- more water

Late afternoon:
- either more apple juice or diet Dr. Pepper if I'm feeling better

Dinner:
- BBQ turkey dogs (x2) on multigrain bread (mustard, ketchup & relish)
- baby carrots & low fat onion dip
- water

Evening Snack: NO CANDY!
- grapes
- little cubes of light cheddar
- peppermint tea before bed

I'll also be heading off to the gym at some point...potentially this evening to keep me out of snack mode. Light to moderate cardio for one hour, plus a few squats and such.