Menu Plan Monday - Nov 12, 2012

I haven't done a menu plan in quite a long time, and it's shown.  We've slowly been slipping into the world of stopping at the store after work to pick something up (and usually it winds up being pizza) even though we've got a freezer full of stuff.  It just happens to all be frozen because I couldn't be bothered to take something out the night before.

So here's the plan for this week.  It's nothing fancy, in fact, I think it's the complete antithesis of fancy.  But it's what I've got time for.

Monday - Chicken (roasted in the oven with seasonings), salad, pasta side dish.

Tuesday - Italian Sausage, mashed potatoes, sauteed peppers and zucchini. Don't know how I'm going to cook the sausages, since we're out of propane for the BBQ (and it's covered in snow, but that's easy to fix)

Wednesday - Beef Tacos.

Thursday - Jet's birthday dinner.  He gets to choose where we go, and since he's 8 he'll probably choose McDonalds.

Friday - Bacon wrapped steak (pre-made from Costco), baked butternut squash, salad.

Saturday - Out for dinner.  Baseball camp and then off to a friends house to watch the UFC fights.

Sunday - Not sure what I'll be in the mood to cook.  Maybe a roast with trimmings.  Could be soup and some home made french bread.

Change in vacation plans

I've totally been pouting the last two days.  Looks like my vacation plans for early next year are kaput.

I was stoked to do the Expedition Everest Challenge in Disney World May 4 2013.  I won't lie, it's 95% because I want the finishers medal and 5% because it's an obstacle course plus scavenger hunt.

It's a COMPASS!  I'm not sure how I've lived my life this long without it.

So, I convinced my sister and my husband to join me.  We were going to celebrate cinco de mayo, Jessicas birthday and watch the Jays play baseball in Tampa Bay.

I had plans.  And then work had to go and wreck it.

For about an hour on Friday I thought I could work around it.  It involved a quick jaunt from Orlando to Houston for 3 days for a work thing.  But it was do-able.  Then we noticed the big huge GeoConvention was the same week and I would have to be here for that.

So no early May vacation for me.  We'll probably go to Florida end of March instead, but that doesn't get me my medal.  Not this year anyway.

In other news, we went swimming this morning at the wave pool.  Got my leg workout jumping waves and my ab workout by shivering as soon as you got out of the water.  It was freezing!

Going to make home made pretzels, do laundry and work on my meal plan for Menu Plan Monday.

Bits and Bobs

No work out today.  After all my blathering yesterday too :)  We're in the middle of our first real snow storm of the season so we're having comfort food, looking through flyers for Christmas gifts and inviting people over to our place for x-mas eve.

I need to come up with a menu and take the 24th off.  Kind of looking forward to it.

Dinner was an eclectic combination of raw veggies, steamed broccoli, perogies (fried in bacon fat and DELICIOUS) and chicken breast topped with mozzarella cheese tomatoes and basil.  All very yummy :)

Very envious of everyone running the Wine and Dine Half Marathon at Epcot this weekend.  Perhaps next year...

What I Learned Today

Today I learned, and I already knew this, that the answer to the question "should I work out today?"  should always be Yes.

On the drive home I wondered outlaid to my husband if I should do my workout.  He was supportive in his response to my passive-aggressive attempt to blow it off, but as we walked in the door I talked myself back into the shorter version of the workout.

And I'm glad I did.

I don't feel as sluggish, I've got the nice soreness you get from a workout and I generally feel better about myself.

So.  The answer to the question is always:

Yes!  Don't even give it a second thought.

I've come a long way

I wasn't looking forward to yesterday's workout.  The cardio part was a bunch of run/walk intervals with the longest run of 9 minutes.

My gut reaction is "no way can I run that long", but it turns out that I can.  It wasn't particularily fast, but I did it.  Now I get to look forward to tomorrows workout which, in total, are 5:1 minute run/walk intervals.

15 second walk interval!? 

Not too sure about this one.

Week in Review

Yes, it’s Monday.  And it feels weird to do a week in review on a Monday, but that’s what this program does so I go with it.  Having to start the diet/fitness week today really does make you think about what you’re doing on the weekend. 

 

Very hard to hide a cheat when you only have a day or two to make up for it.

So…last week was really hard to stay on track:

-          Ate too much crap

-          Ate too much, period

-          Skipped two workouts

-          Partially logged my food intake (if at all some days)

I resolve to be better this week:

-          No more skipping workouts, I’m even doing one of the ones from last week today, since I took yesterday off as a rest day I don’t need two in a row. 

-          Cut down on the junk.  Just because it’s in my house doesn’t mean I have to Eat It All.

-          Use the Food Diary.  Write it all down.  Be honest.

Hopefully this time next week I'll have more positive things to say! 

Most Favourite Day of the Year

Daylight savings time ends!

I don't see the point of doing it at all, since we're so far north.  What do I care if the sun goes down at 10 vs 11 in the summer? Or, that it sets at 4 vs 5 in the winter? The only good part is today;  when the clocks go back, I get to sleep in and go to bed early.

I do feel bad for anyone working retail this morning, been there done that, it sucks because all these people are up early and are waiting for you to open.  And usually the people making the schedules don't take this into account.

Workout review later today...promise.

Endless Movies and TV

So hubby signed us up for Netflix today.  He has endless movies and TV at his fingertips, which I guess is okay for a while, it stops him from raiding the cheap movie bin at Wal-Mart and bringing home a bunch of junk we only watch once (or never).

I'm excited because it has a bunch of BBC TV shows that I wouldn't mind watching.

Tomorrow will be the start of my review of the Gunnar Challenge, the workout that I'm doing.  So fun, but so uh...challenging!

Day two of my promise to write everyday isn't going to well.  Last night I had a list of things to say. 

Today...not so much.

Actually, as I added the tag 'Rambling' it reminded me that I spent a great deal of time last summer reading about a fellow who walked from Land's End to John o'Groats.  I found it fascinating and something that I'd love to do when I can take extended periods of time off work.

If I didn't hate the term "bucket list" this would totally be on it.

I also loved his London Tube Walk series, mostly because I'm immediately smitten with anything to do with London and it's history.

And that reminds me that it's been far too long between trips to England. 

I need to go back.

Hello again world!

Hello Blog!

I've been neglecting you for years and I feel I should pick it up again.

I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about all of the food and travel that's been going on in the past three years.

And I'm really sorry that I haven't shared the diet that I went on (successfully, but I'll fill you in later) and the new fitness regiment I found (definitely more on that later) and the rather odd fascination I have with collecting finisher medals for 5k races (okay, I only have one...and it's plastic and plain but it makes me want to get MORE!)

So, here's a promise from me to you. Everyday during the month of November I will fill you in on stuff. It's pretty sweet, I know. Where else are you going to find that kind of deal?