I'm pooped!

I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted. Work was crazy last week & when I got home I was tired & I still am. This was one of those weekends that we didn't have a lot of plans but we did a lot. Make sense? Friday when I got home we went to eat at a new little place called The Purple Goose. I had BBQ Nachos which were good but overall I don't expect this place to stay in business. Couyons BBQ was there before & they were great so if they closed I can't imagine a place that just sells pub food to stay open. Anywho, afterwards we went to the LSU game. They won so that was good.

Saturday, we had errands to run. We went to Sam's, Academy to get Logan's birthday gift, Home Depot & Lowe's to price dishwashers. When we bought our house it was 2 years old & all the appliances were stainless except the dishwasher. It was black. The guy that built the house had a Viking oven & cook top so the only thing I can figure is he was trying to not spend much on the dishwasher since he'd upgraded to Viking on the other things. It's always bugged me. I like things to match. It didn't bother the other person that lives in my house & it worked so there was no need to replace it. Men really don't understand. With all the work going on in the kitchen I finally convinced Dean to upgrade it. After all, I lived with the unmatching dishwasher for almost 7 years. We ended up buying a KitchenAid from a small appliance store not far from our house. They deal mostly with builders so they have great prices. The dishwasher we bought was on sale at Lowe's & it was still $144 more than we paid. What a deal! It's so nice & quiet & pretty, shiny stainless. The inside is stainless too. I love it! Our garbage disposal broke. Well, not break as much as it started leaking so we upgraded that too. It's a Waste King & supposedly will last a really long time. It has a bigger motor than what we had so I'll really be able to grind up some stuff. It's quiet too.  We were able to take it all home Saturday & Dean started installing. Saturday evening we went to Mass & Dean went to the LSU game & I went home. My sinuses were bothering me. I got caught up on my DVR.

Sunday morning I was up bright & early at 7:00. Seriously, what's up with that? I went for a run which completed C25K! They claim that at the end of the program you'll be running a 5K in 30 mins. I've completed it twice & that hasn't been the case either time but that's ok.  I'm running about 2.5 miles. in 30 mins. My plan now is to continue to run 3 times a week. The last couple of weeks of the program the run increased by a minute everyday. I'm going to continue that until I'm running 3.1 miles.

The rest of my Sunday consisted of grocery shopping, folding laundry,  planting some plants I bought Saturday. Yes, I do think I have a sickness when it comes to plants. I really have no other place to plant anything unless I start making new beds & I think Dean would have a heart attack if I suggested such a thing. Sooo, I think I'm done for this year. I sealed the back splash. I ironed. Apparently, I iron different than a lot of people. I don't iron everyday or before I wear something. I iron a bunch of stuff at the same time. I had A LOT of ironing to do yesterday. I also treated myself to a snoball. It was HOT when I was planting those plants. 

Needless to say, I could use a day off to recuperate from my weekend.

Toodles!

Weigh In Wednesday

I've gained 1.4 since last week. This is really starting to annoy me. I only ate out once too. UGH! I was experimenting with increasing my calories to see if that's why I was staying about the same. I didn't stuff my face & I didn't eat a bunch of junk, well, except for the Cadbury eggs but they're gone now. The last 2 nights I've had a great dinner. I've been craving eggs for whatever reason. Basically, I made an omelet except it doesn't look like an omelet because I'm not a cook & have no idea how you cook the egg & put the veggies in & fold the egg over & make it pretty. Mine was more scrambled eggs with veggies mixed in topped with salsa.

I used broccoli, green onions, red, orange & yellow bell peppers, black olives, grated cheese & I topped it with salsa & avocados. YUM!! Loved it. Although, I didn't find it to be hugely filling. Of course, I'm not finding a lot of healthy food to be filling. I definitely notice that since I'm exercising so much my appetite has increased. I was hoping my stomach would shrink with the dieting/eating right/change of lifestyle. So much for that.

My work outs this week have been: C25K Sunday & Wednesday & Yoglates Mon. & Tues. I plan to go to Yoglates tomorrow too. This is my last week of C25K. Today I ran 28 mins. straight but I'm still not up to 3 miles. I'm slow. Slower than I was last time when I did it. I tried to pick up my speed a couple of weeks ago & when I finished my hip was hurting. I believe I discovered how I hurt it to begin with. I did the same exact thing the week of the 5K I ran & that was the day that my hip starting hurting. Apparently, I meant to be slow. That's ok with me. I figure eventually I'll speed up.

My kitchen project is coming along. The only thing I've done this week is let the island & drawers dry & order 2 more corbels. I got an email yesterday evening that said they're sorry but the inventory was wrong & they're sold out of the corbels & will refund my money. Figures. Today I'll put the drawers back in the island & put all the stuff back in the drawers.

Today is Administrative Professionals day. My boss always takes us out to lunch but there's a lot going on in the office so he's taking us next week. One of the other guys that we do a lot of work for always brings us a gift of dessert liquor & chocolate.

 

I think I'm going to need a lot of this while working on the kitchen project!

Toodles!

Weekend Randoms

Friday night I was digging around in my closet that I keep all my gift wrapping & craft supplies in & I found this.

What is it you ask? Dean's Christmas gift that I lost before Christmas! It's a DVD about the history of LSU football. I have no idea why I hid it where I did. I'd completely given up on finding it. I really thought that I'd thrown it away by accident.

I went to Yoglates Friday for the 4th time last week. Yay me! I was relieved (I guess) to see this 

I'd just shown the pic of the empty box the other day. Maybe the powers that be read my blog?? Doubtful. At first I was thinking it was good that it's right by my spot so if I suddenly have a heart attack it's right there but now that I think about it I'm not so sure. What if someone else has a heart attack & I'm the closest one to this thing???

When I got home Friday this was waiting for me.

It's the corbels for my island. I have 2 & I'm trying to decide if I should get 2 more. The plan was to just have them on each end of the island. We'll see.

I was planning to run Saturday but it was raining & cool. I sanded, primed & painted instead. We did go for Mexican Saturday night which  I'd been craving all week. It was really good! There was also a Lowe's trip thrown in. We should really buy stock in that company.

Sunday we got a lot done fairly early. We went to Mass, did our grocery shopping for the week, I got my run in (Week 7, day 3) & got some painting done by lunch time. For lunch I tried this. 

It's from Peas and Crayons. I made a few changes because I don't like black beans & I didn't have any plain greek yogurt. This is how mine looked.

Sorry for the blurry pic. I used black olives, an avocado, green onions, salsa & a grated cheese mixture that I had. This was so good!!! I had a large sweet potato so I didn't eat anything with it. I like sweet potatoes a lot but I'm never sure about what goes on them. The sweet part throws me off. I normally just put a little butter & eat it. This was DELISH!!! I love how the salsa & sweet potato mixed. I'll definitely have it again.

Then it was back to painting. I may have to do a few touch ups but I think for the most part the island is finished.

Toodles!

IT'S FRIDAY!!!

YAY!!!!  I'm ready for the weekend. Not that we have anything good planned. Well, except for Mexican food Saturday night! Other than that, I'll be painting. I'm almost finished with the desk/bar area. Next up is the island. Crossing my fingers that I can get it completed this weekend. Working full time isn't conducive to a kitchen painting project. Yes, I could go home everyday & work on it but I have to go to Yoglates. That's not negotiable & that means 3 days a week I don't get home until 6 & being that I go to sleep for 9:00-9:30 & I have to eat & bathe it doesn't leave a lot of time for painting. I may end up taking a couple of days off work so that I can get it all done but that's an issue too because of a new operating system we're getting at work. Lots & lots of training is scheduled which means no vacation time can be taken. I'll figure it out but it may be awhile before the kitchen is completed. It's a little annoying.

Something else that is annoying is the ridiculously expensive taste I have in EVERYTHING! Seriously, for once in my life I'd like to love something & not have it be the most expensive. I've been scouring the internet for cabinet hardware. I finally found something that I love AND it's reasonably priced & guess what? It's sold out. UGH! The search continues.

I'm going to Yoglates today for the 4th time this week. Yay me! I don't normally go on Fridays because the class is at 4:00 but I've been in the office early all week so I'm leaving early. I took this picture the other day at Yoglates.

This is the floor near "my spot". I'm not sure what is more disturbing. The fact that they have a spot for a defibrillator or the fact that it's empty???

Happy Weekend!

Toodles!

Weigh In Wednesday

Is back, I guess. I weighed this morning & I'm where I was before Easter so I guess that's good. It could be better though.  Of course it could also be worse. When we did our grocery shopping Sunday I picked these up.

It's a Mmmmmocha Trufle Bar by Skinny Cow. I just saw on their website that this is a limited edition flavor. It figures because I LOVED it! I had one last night. I have to admit that I wanted just plain chocolate but they were out so I just got this. Mocha is chocolate right?? Well, not exactly. It has a coffee taste. That's ok though since now I'm a coffee drinker. In fact, I'm thinking I need to try an iced coffee since this was so good. Years ago, my mom & I were in Barnes & Noble & they were giving samples of iced coffee & I didn't like any of them at all but I'm living proof that your taste change. My friend Vicki only drinks iced coffee. I'll have to ask her for suggestions. Do y'all drink iced coffee?? What do you like?

So far, I've been to Yoglates twice this week. I plan to go again tomorrow. I started week 7 of C25K on Sunday & I did day 2 this morning. It was a 26 minute run this morning & I did it. I knew it was going to be cooler this morning but it was cold! 54 degrees! I know that's not cold for a lot of the country but when it's been in the 80's for the last 2 months, it's cold. Trust me. I had to wear my cold weather running pants. When I started my warm up walk I was wishing I had on long sleeves. That didn't last long though. It's really windy too! I don't like wind when it's cold. I had to fix my head band thingy over my ears. The last thing I need right now is to get sick. Of course with the weather change that's likely to happen anyway. My sinuses & changes in the temp don't go well together.

I've said before that I've never been a run to music person. I decided to change that since I'm doing longer runs now. I know 26 min. isn't that long but it's long enough to get bored. My friends keep telling me how much faster the time goes with music. I only downloaded a few songs because I did it at the last minute before I ran Sunday. Here's my play list:

Anna Begins - Counting Crows: This song is sort of slow for a run but I've always loved it.

Good, In the Blood & Desperately Wanting - all Better Than Ezra: For those of you that don't know, Better Than Ezra was started at LSU. LOVE them & their music! I've seen them in concert several times. Desperately Wanting is a live version from the House of Blues in New Orleans. I like the longer versions because that much more time is passing!

Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys:  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!! This song is from way back in the day, like when I was in middle school. I specifically remember me & my mom going to New Generation to buy the cassette. They didn't sell Beastie Boys just anywhere. It wasn't explicit lyrics or anything but you couldn't get it at Walmart.  Of course, buying a cassette for a song about an alcoholic beverage for a 6th or 7th grader may be a little questionable to some but at the time I didn't even know it was a drink. Yes, I know the song talks about "tilt your head back & finish the cup". I was young & naive, what can I say! This song was also part of the mix during our "going out" days. Yes, it's true, I had a friend that was the DJ at one of the bars we frequented in our 20's & he had a mix that he played of all the songs we always requested.

Shimmer - Fuel: I've liked this song for a long time too. Before I even knew who Fuel was. Yes, I know these aren't the typical running songs but I like them.

On the Way Down - Ryan Cabrera: I have no explanation for this one. I just like it.

Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms: This one is from their album New Miserable Experience. It too is from sometime in the 90's. It's a great CD. I almost didn't put this in my play list because it's one of those songs that every time it comes on I want to sing it at the top of my lungs. I didn't want to get carried away while running.

It did make the time go faster. I need to download more songs. Any suggestions?

Toodles!

Productive!

Definitely the best way to describe this weekend. Saturday morning my plan was to begin painting the desk/bar area. I'd bought everything. Or so I thought. Turns out the roller attachment thingy we have isn't the right size for the rollers I bought. These were special foam rollers made for cabinets. I didn't have time to go to back to Lowe's & come home & start painting so I just blew it off. My parents came over & my daddy helped Dean install the faucet & do everything they had to do with the plumbing. We finally have water in the kitchen again. YAY!!! You really don't realize how much you miss something until you don't have it. Here's the faucet installed.

I meant to take a better pic & I forgot. I should've waited until dark so there wouldn't be so much light coming through. The faucet is oil rubbed bronze & it's a pull down with a sprayer. I LOVE this thing!! What I love even more is that this faucet on the Lowe's website was $500 & I bought it through Amazon for $165! The EXACT same faucet. The brand is Pfister.

Saturday afternoon I went to Emily's birthday party. Em's mom is my friend Wendy. She's 2 today. Em, not her mom. Happy Birthday Emily!! Her party was at a place that has all the bouncy things. She looked like she had a blast!

Emily wasn't much on smiling for the camera Saturday! She's so cute & petite. I was shocked that she actually let me hold her. I don't get to see her too often but she actually left her mama's arms to come to me. Looking at this pic, it's really time for some surgery. I need something done to my eyelids. They droop & I swear I have decent lashes & you can't see them. Sigh.

After the party it was off to Lowe's. I got a roller attachment thingy & bought some face plates for all the electrical outlets in the kitchen. I don't think I like the plates either. I want something to blend in & I'm having a hard time. There were some that had a stone like texture to them that I loved but they were only switch plate covers. Very frustrating. I've scoured the internet too but it's really hard to determine a color from the computer. Any advice?? I bought almond color but they I'm not sure about them.

Once I made it home I used a deglazer on the cabinets in the desk area so they'd be ready to go Sunday morning. We went to Mass & grocery shopping & then I went for a run. Day 1, week 7 of C25K! Once I got home I took my socks & shoes off & got directly in the pool. I was really hot. The pool was fairly cold at 81 degrees. I figured it was warmer than an ice bath that a lot of runners do after a run. Anywho, it cooled me off so I was ready to paint. All ready, until it was time to put the roller on the attachment thingy. Wrong attachment, it wouldn't work. UGH!!! WHY???? I decided to take a big ol chance & go to Walmart instead of Lowe's to see if they had what I needed because it's more convenient. Thankfully, I was rewarded with a basically free from aggravation trip & they had the proper equipment. Back home & I got to work. I don't have pics because I'm not finished but I don't have a whole lot left. Everything that I could paint with the roller is painted with a couple of coats including the inside of the cabinets. Next up will be the areas that are too small for the roller. Not sure when that will get done. I'm hoping for Wednesday because I plan to run that morning  so I'll go straight home from work. I would love to get the island painted next weekend. We'll see.

While I was painting some friends stopped by for a few minutes to see the new counters.

Dean's been friends with Owen & Charli's dad for years now. He's our dentist & we've gotten to be good friends with his wife since they got married. Owen will be a year old on Friday & the little chunk already weighs 29 pounds! You can't really tell in the pic but he has the prettiest curls!! When I pulled my phone out to take the picture Charli immediately starting posing. So cute!

Dean is feeling better but he's definitely not 100% yet. He went back to work today. Thanks for all of the well wishes!

Toodles!

Happy Friday!

My counters & back splash are all finished & I LOVE it! Here are a few pics.

The drawers are all back in now but that's about it. I'm going to use this time to wipe down the inside of all the cabinets before I put everything back in. I haven't put the face plates back on yet because I'm getting new ones.

This is where the cook top normally is. None of these pictures are great because of lighting issues.

This is the desk area that I'm making the bar. It's really hard to get a good picture because it's in the hall that's off the kitchen. The glass tiles were an extra thing that the tile guy did. There was extra tile so he said he'd do something in this area. I really like how it looks. My plan is to paint these cabinets this weekend. Then the hard part, all the rest of the cabinets & choosing a paint color for them. I'll post more pics once more progress is made.

In other news, poor Dean is home with pneumonia. He hasn't felt good all week & he finally went to the Doctor Wed. afternoon. After a couple of shots & some antibiotics he's feeling a little better. 

Have a good Friday & a great weekend!

Toodles!

Finally!!!

Today was the day the granite was installed. Whooopeeee!!! Here's a sneak peek.

We decided to pay the company to rip out all of the old stuff. It was soooo loud. I honestly thought at one point that they got confused & were ripping out my cabinets too!

There's dust everywhere & they were really good about cleaning up their mess. Once they left, I swept & vacuumed & there is still a layer of dust. The back splash will be done tomorrow so I'm not worrying about doing anything else to the floor until he's finished. Incidentally, you see that blue where the back splash was? At first glance I thought that was some sort of board or something that the tile was attached too. After checking it out more closely I realized that was the color the kitchen was painted originally. UGH!!! Awful! The guy that built this house was newly divorced.  He ended up remarrying his ex wife & made her get rid of her dog so she made him paint the kitchen tan. They ended up divorced a second time. I can't imagine why......

Moving on. Friday after work I went to get new shoes. I was starting to have some lower back issues & I've had my shoes for a year. Even though I didn't run for 4 months I had a lot of miles on them. They brought out several pair for me to try based on my over pronating feet. Apparently, over pronating isn't really uncommon but it's not common enough for a variety of cute shoes to be made. The first pair I tried on were these Nike's.

OMG. Are these not the ugliest shoes you've ever seen?? See the swoosh? It's a mirror. Seriously. I kept thinking "please don't let these fit good, please don't let them be comfortable". Now, I know I don't have to buy ugly shoes but for once in my life I'm going comfort over cute. Thankfully, they were too big. Way too wide. Thank God for small favors!! I also tried on a pair of Saucony that were really comfy but they were too big & that shoe doesn't come in narrow. They were black & fuchsia! I ended up with the latest version of the Brooks Adrenaline that I had before. They didn't have the narrow width in the store so they had to order them for me & I picked them up today.

There's more grey & the blue is a little darker than my old pair. I've said before I wish they were pink but right now I'm just so thankful they don't look like those Nike's! I also mentioned awhile back that I was having sock problems. I know, I have the most random issues. As I said, my foot is narrow & because of this socks don't fit correctly. I always have a bunch of extra material down by my pinky toe & when I put my shoes on a bunch of extra material bunches up around my ankle area. Really aggravating. As luck would have it, I had worn flip flops to work Friday & forgot to bring socks. Varsity has a big box full of clean socks so I grabbed a pair so I could try on shoes. Well, it must have been fate. I picked up a pair of these.

The socks are (in the words of Guiliana Rancic - LOVE HER) AMAZEBALLS! They're like gloves for your feet. They fit amazing, there is NO excess material & they have that little tab that kinda goes above the back of your shoe. The brand is Feetures! I'd never heard of them. Now of course they're not cheap. Of course not. They're $8.95 per pair. I got 2 pair so I could try them out when I actually run. I'm in love. It was Good Friday when I was there & they had Easter eggs at the register with prizes in them. My prize was 20% off a shoe purchase. YAY!!! That paid for my socks. So today when I picked up my shoes I picked up another pair of socks.

I've been to Yoglates the last 2 days & it's been delightful. No crowd & I've been able to easily get my back row spot. I did realize today that when school is back in next week, not only will it be crowded & full of skinny Kardashian sounding Sorority girls, but they'll all be tan from laying out on the beach all week. THAT is going to annoy me. In case I haven't mentioned I'm white. Pasty white. In my younger, stupider days, I spent a lot of time in the tanning bed. Yes, I know, I know. I LOVE having a tan but I have to work hard at it. None of that awesome olive skin like my brother, Logan & Lydia all have. Sigh.

So, there will be more pics tomorrow once the back splash is installed.

Toodles!

NOT feeling it!

Today is one of those days. I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I do not want to go to Yoglates today. I just keep telling myself Yoglates is like work & I have to go. Besides, if I didn't go I'd be wasting a day of a not crowded studio with no Kardashian sounding sorority girls. I can't have that! Not to mention, I seriously need to go to class to attempt to undo what I did Sunday. You know German chocolate cake & coconut cake, among other things. Also, I may have had some leftover coconut cake last night & it's possible that I ate it right out of the Rubbermaid container. It's also entirely possible that I'll be having more of it tonight. The sooner I eat it, the sooner it's out of the house right?? Maybe Dean will eat it before I get home today. If not, maybe it will be my dinner. Did I mention I'm not weighing this week?

Something else I don't want to do but I have to is finish emptying my kitchen cabinets. The granite people said I should empty them because of all of the dust that's going to get everywhere. UGH! I emptied some last night. I have wine glasses all over the bathroom vanities in the Hollywood bath. Luckily, I can just take the drawers out & stack them in one of the extra rooms. Now would've been a great time to organize the cabinets but you know, I did that at the beginning of the year. Sigh.

The good news is that I have the next 2 days off work. I'll be home laying on a sofa reading & catching up on everything I've been recording on the DVR. The even better news is that by Friday, I'll have a different kitchen! It also means the hard work will need to start. I am painting the cabinets. I have to pick colors too. I can't decide what sort of finish I want either. Semi gloss? Egg shell? Oh the decisions......

Toodles!

Easter Weekend

Saturday morning I was up early to run a few errands. I'd ordered a German Chocolate cake from Ambrosia for my brother to have yesterday. His birthday is Friday & that's his fave. Ambrosia doesn't have a very good system. There's a line to stand in to pick up an order. My pickup time was 11:00. It was 10:55 when  it was my turn. A guy went to get my cake & came back empty handed. I was told that my cake wasn't ready & that I had an 11:00 pick up time. HUH?? There were a lot of people in line behind me that had the same pick up time & there's weren't ready either. Crazy! Well, there's another line you have to stand in to pay so I got in it so at least I wouldn't just be standing around. Before I could pay they called my name & gave me my cake. Funny, it was cold. How is it that it wasn't ready but it's cold now? I said, "oh, it was ready?" & the girl said "we thought you had a strawberry cake, those are the one's that aren't ready". I took my cake, paid & left but I was annoyed.

I've mentioned before how I'm not impressed with Target. Well, they disappointed me again. Before picking up the cake we stopped by so that I could pick up some Easter treats for Logan. There wasn't a plain M&M to be had in the store. Everything was so picked over. Yes, I know it was the day before Easter. We ended up leaving & the only thing I bought was an iced green tea from the Starbuck's that's in the store. YUM! I ended up at a Super Walmart later in the day. I really hate Super Walmart but this was a somewhat pleasant experience. They had plenty of candy & I picked up some chips & some movies & then I managed to walk right up to a checkout line that was just opening & I didn't have to wait. I figure I've used up all of my Walmart luck for the next year so I need to stay away.

Once I got home Dean & I worked outside. I went for a bike ride too. It was such a pretty day. I rode 4.26 miles. Then it was home to hang out on the patio listening to the LSU game & reading. Once the game was over Dean & I went to Fuzzy's Taco Shop to eat. I had the enchilada's. They were good. We'd only been to Fuzzy's once before but I like it a lot & it's close to home.

Sunday morning we were up early to go to 7:00 Mass & then home to get ready for our families. I picked up more tulips.

 

I thought the white ones were really pretty for Easter. 

As usual we had way too much food. Everything was so good! Ham, potato salad, cole slaw, pork loin, baked beans, rolls, deviled eggs & our neighbor brought over some of his amazing Risotto. He knows how much I like it so I have leftovers! Then there was the cake. My mom's coconut was amazing as usual & the german chocolate was delish too.

The Easter bunny visited my house Saturday night & left some goodies for Logan.

Excuse the bag, but the Easter bunny that visited my house didn't have her stuff together & waited too long to get a basket. He wasn't all that interested anyway because you know, the pool was right there & he just wanted to "swim in the water"! We tried to hold him off a bit because the water was only 80 which is cold & we figured once he got in no way was he getting out for lunch.

Dean bought him a fish at Academy Saturday. It's battery operated & swims all over the pool. Logan loved it! Needless to say we weren't successful in keeping him out.

He didn't mind the temp at all! 

We had a great day hanging out with our family. I hope you did too!

Toodles!

Good Friday

It would be a little better if I wasn't sitting at my desk at work & was running around Lowe's with Dean but that's not the way it is. Speaking of Lowe's, while he was there he was going to pick up some sealer for my granite & back splash. That's a project I'll be doing. What kind of sealers do y'all use? The back splash is tumbled travertine. I was told to use something for "natural stone". That was $85 a gallon. They were out of it & they also had something that said for marble, granite, travertine. It was $28 a gallon. What's the deal? Do I need to spend the $85?

I feel better today about the whole weight loss thing than I did yesterday. I'm wearing a smaller pair of pants I bought awhile back & they fit fine. I definitely need to measure myself. I went to Yoglates yesterday & to the guy that was next to me blowing his nose on his shirt....DON'T SIT BY ME & DO THAT!!!! Ugh, so gross! I have a week stomach when it comes to nose blowing & that just totally disgusted me. Hearing someone blow their nose first thing in the morning makes me nauseous. Always has.  There's a bathroom in the studio that people go to during class all the time. On a more pleasant note, yesterday was LSU's last day of school until the 16th. Spring break is a wonderful time of year for us. Yoglates won't be crowded with super skinny sorority girls that talk like the Kardashians & traffic will be soooo much better. See, we live about 3 miles from LSU & as long as school is in session traffic is bad. Really bad.

I was up at 4:45 this morning to go for my run. I'm sure Dean wasn't overly excited about the alarm going off at that time of the morning on his day off but I told him he could take a nap this afternoon if he needed. HA! Today I started Week 6 which was (2) 9 minute runs with a 3 minute walk in between. The temperature was great & I got through it. I've been thinking it's time for new running shoes & I definitely think that's the case after this morning. My lower back is bothering me. Nothing severe but I think new shoes will help. My next run is 20 mins. straight.

My tulips are still looking pretty but they've changed positions.

I love how tulips do this! Notice that black granite tile on the island. This time next week it won't be there. WOOO HOOO!!!!

Happy Good Friday!!

Toodles!

Frustrated!

Beyond belief. Seriously. This whole diet, eating right, change eating habits thing is annoying me. For the last several weeks I've bounced around between a couple of pounds. Back & forth, back & forth & it's driving me crazy. I haven't even been eating out much. I've been doing my 3 runs a week & yoglates 3 times a week. I upped my calories & that worked for a bit, then I lowered my calories when it didn't seem to be working. Not sure what to do next. THEN Sunday is Easter! Aside from the whole Religious meaning of the day (Yes, I KNOW that's the important part of the day), it also means Holiday at my house with waaayyy too much food. It also means that my mom is making one of my favorite cakes EVER that we haven't had in a long time - coconut cake. LOOOVVVVEEEE IT! Mrs. Joyce will make her ham, Dean is doing some big slab of meat on the Primo grill thing he bought, Lydia's making baked beans & bringing bread, my mom is also making deviled eggs & potato salad cause you know, we need more food & I'm making cole slaw. Do I have a plan as to how to not eat too much? No. My plan is to eat good the next few days & then try not to completely pig out Sunday & then get back on track Monday. Why does food have to be good?? Why can't it all just be plain & bland & of no interest to us except as fuel for our bodies? My life would be much easier if that were the case.

On a happier note, my granite counters & back splash will be installed next week. YAY!!! They came Monday & used this little laser contraption & took exact measurements. Now all the fabrication work takes place. The tear out & granite will be done Wednesday & the back splash Thursday. I have to take everything out of my cabinets before Wednesday. I'm not really looking forward to that or all the dust that will be everywhere.  Oh well, it's part of it. Next up will be picking paint for the cabinets. I always have a hard time with that.

Toodles!

Some Excitement

There was some excitement at Dean's parents house Monday. This was walking around in the their front yard & driveway.

No, you're not seeing things. It really is a 6 ft. alligator. Dean's parents live in Bayou Pigeon. For those of you that watch Swamp People, Bayou Pigeon should sound familiar. It's right down the road from Bayou Sorrel (you know, where Jr. & Willie live). As the name suggests, they do live on the bayou. It's not totally surprising to see a gator walking around but it's also not the norm. The very first time Dean brought me to his parents house we had to stop so an alligator could cross the road. I swear the whole time I was thinking "There really are places in Louisiana like in The Waterboy"! Dean swears that was the first & only time he'd ever seen that happen.  Mrs Joyce & Mr Andrew's neighbor spotted Mr. Gator first. She called her daughter & told her to "do something". They called the Game Warden. Normally, Dean's dad would take care of such matters but he'd gone fishing so he missed all the fun.

The Game Warden catching the gator. He'll release it somewhere. Lucky for the gator Mr. Andrew was fishing. Otherwise, there would be either fried alligator or an alligator sauce piquante cooking.  For those of you wondering & you know you are, yes I've eaten alligator before. Surprisingly, it isn't bad. It really does taste a lot like chicken.

Toodles!

I NEED my weekend back!

I feel like I'm on a never ending merry go round. Workout, go to work, eat, sleep, start over & then have 2 really quick days of doing other stuff like grocery shopping & then back on the merry go round. It's exhausting.  Have I ever mentioned how I hate grocery shopping? It goes along with my not liking to cook & hating the whole meal planning thing. Dean & I have this conversation every Sunday morning.

 D: What are we going to eat this week? Me: I don't know. Have you thought of anything?

Sometimes he has, sometimes he hasn't. We usually work it out where each of us comes up with something & then we have leftovers. Today I'm trying out a new crock pot recipe. It's called Santa Fe Chicken. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Anywho, Friday night Dean cooked Salmon on his new Primo cooker thing. It was delicious!! We had sweet potato fries with it. Which brings me to another complaint. (Yes, I'm full of them today). I thought sweet potato fries were healthier than regular fries? Apparently not when you buy them in the frozen food section. I bought some yesterday along with regular fries & the regular fries had less calories for the same serving size. I guess I need to suck it up & make my own.Oh well.  One of my friends in the neighborhood was having a CAbi party. I'd never heard of such a thing. It's clothes & they had some cute stuff but the prices?? WOW!!! Sorry, I don't pay $100 for a capri's. EVER. $118 for a sweater? NEVER EVER. It was fun visiting with everyone though.

Saturday I did some shopping with my mom. We didn't buy much but I did finally find the nail polish I'd been wanting.

It's called Re-Freshmint. We had lunch at Applebee's & had the most delicious club sandwich ever!!! We won't talk about the calories. UGH! Eating healthy isn't much fun.

Dean & I went to the LSU Baseball game Saturday night. It was a good game. LSU won in the bottom of the 9th 2-1. They ended up sweeping Arkansas which is a total surprise. Arkansas's supposed to be really good & while LSU is ranked, they don't appear to be good.

These brightened up my grocery shopping trip yesterday morning.

I LOVE tulips! They're my fave! They had these at the Walmart Neighborhood Market for $5.50. They started opening up not long after I put them in the water. I hope they last awhile.

I stayed home from the ballgame yesterday. I needed to re-stain my rocking chairs. I finished the stain but now I have to do the varnish. I'll have pics later.  It was HOT! When I finished that project I spent the rest of the afternoon here.

The water was actually warm enough to get in! We've never been in this early in the year. Very exciting!

I read while I was in the pool. I don't trust myself not to drop my Nook so I stuck it in a Ziploc bag. Worked like a charm!

Toodles!