Yummy Makes The Belly Happy

A cold front came through yesterday night. We had a little rain. Windows are opened in the house. My toes are cold. It is absolutely perfect. I love a good cold day. And love a good cold rainy Saturday/Sunday when all I do is stay home in comfy clothes, in glasses, no make up, with the computer or a book and just relax. Perfect third trimester activity, don't you think?

Cold days also beg for a pot of warm soup.
Warm, hearty, coat your GI tract really well, tasty soup.
Here's a recipe I would love to share. Friend said it is some kind of weight watchers' recipe. Who knows? I know as long as you can open up cans of vegetables, you can make this soup. You just cannot screw this up. Really.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (I use extra lean ground beef)
1/2 to 1 cup onion, diced (I do not measure. I just use a whole small or medium onion)
1 can Ranch style beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 can corn
1 can Rotel (tomatoes with green chilies)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning (I use the low sodium kind)

1 packet Ranch seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste (I don't even do this)

Tortilla chips/sour cream/shredded cheese/avocado slices to top it off

(Do not get bogged down using the specified beans. Sometimes I use chili beans, sometimes I use black beans. Sometimes I only use 2 cans of beans. Sometimes I use stewed tomatoes, sometimes I use regular diced tomatoes. The beauty of this soup is.... It doesn't matter. Just go with the flow and roll with it.)

Brown your meat. Add your onions and cook until translucent.

Add taco and ranch seasoning packets. Stir together.

Add all your canned vegetables (Do not drain).

Stir well, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to low/medium and simmer at least 30minutes.

Serve with some chips/sour cream/chips on top. Or not. Or with a side of warm toasty corn bread slather in butter. Remember "butter is better."

I, personally, am on an avocado kick and this soup tastes really good with sliced avocado. Makes it creamy and good.

The picture on the bottom makes her look absolutely bored. So I went outside and played with her for a while. Then I let her out to roam the woods.

Weirdo and Lots of Goodies!

Morning was great! After sending Baby C's daddy to work, I went back eating my awesome fruit medley of strawberries, grapes, and kiwi while trolling around Pinterest. Then, Paddy Wag whined and whimpered and ran from the screened-in porch to the deck. I looked up and saw a weird-looking man walking around the backyard. Paddy Wag was tracking him. Anyway, weird man was white, in his 30s, in blue t-shirt with some white writing/print, long, disheveled hair that's not blond but not brown. Anyway, I stood by the glass door and watched him. He saw me watching. And he left.

Later, I leashed up Paddy Wag and went for a walk.
But first, we had to pass the mean, yelping weiner dogs first. They always try to sneak up behind Paddy Wag and nip her in the booty. Sleaze balls!

Here's Paddy Wag. She actually sits and waits for them to go away.

I had to carry a stick with me to scare those weiner dogs off and to prevent them from nipping Paddy's bottom.

Out on the highway.

I use a retractable leash but I keep it tight when we are walking by the roads.

I don't want Paddy to dash out and hurt herself or cause a wreck.

I also try to be very alert. If I hear an oncoming car, I would walk into the grass, turn around, and ask Paddy to sit.

We saw some spent blooms.

Paddy Wag all excited over McDonald's!

"Momma. I want breakfast!"

Honestly, it bugs me a lot to see trash littered all over the highway. Found 2 separate gloves, beer and soda cans, and just random trash!

We walked and at some point, I ran, jogged, wobbled with her for a while. I didn't have my Garmin on, but we walked for about 50 minutes. According to mapmyrun, this out and back route was 3.5 miles. We made frequent stops by the side of the road to let the big log trucks pass. But otherwise, I kept the heart rate up. I was panting just like Paddy Wag was.

I say this was a muy successful morning walk!

I decided to go to the big city/civilization to get my bestfriend her birthday present. I was going to order it but that would mean precious time waiting for shipping!  Instant gratification, anyone?

I got distracted and stopped by Baby Gap --- just because. 

Came out with these. 

I actually got 2 body suits for Baby C. 

The rest are a gift for my cousin. He and his wife are expecting their first daughter a few weeks before me.

Then, I got myself together and went into Sephora.

I went in for one thing BUT came out with 3 different things.

Seriously, who can resist buying just one item from Sephora?

I tell myself I am stocking up Christmas presents....

Yeah. Spread the cost. Stocking up.

Then, when I got back, the UPS man left me some presents.

Baby C's godmother went a little too happy shopping at Target online and bought goodies for her. 

Spoilt rotten already?  

All in all, my Monday was quite a blast! :)
How was yours?

Oh Macoroni!

I feel like I am racing against time. And since I haven't been sleeping well at night, I just wake up and take advantage of the non-sleep mode and do stuff around the house. No use tossing and turning and fighting it. For example, on Monday morning, I actually got 2 loads of laundry going before I left for work!

Also on Monday, I made this yummilicious dish. I found this cheesy sausage pasta recipe from Pinterest. The source is from this site.
I changed it up just a tad. Used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. Added mushrooms to add some vegetables. Used macaroni instead of the pasta she said to used cos' that was available in my pantry.
The result? A combination of Ooh La La! And Mama Mia!

I also went for a walk this evening with Paddy Wag. Since I am doing a little hiatus from running, a walk with Paddy is just the right thing to do. I ran a probably every now and then, playing catch with her. She did her business in the shrubs and we just walked. And mosquitoes fed on me. Perfect, right?

 

Love the black and green contrast. 

She loves being outside. 

 

Paddy Wag running toward me. 

 

She found the neighbor's dog. That dog is smaller than Paddy but is plenty mean! :( 

Long day at work today. My brain is literally fried and drained. I'm going to bed now cos I'm tired again. Will check back with y'all again soon.

Month in Review and Looking Ahead!

March crept up and I don't even know what I did for February. 

Here were my goals for February.

    On the Personal front, I think I did all right with the tattle tale, gossipy aspect. I just keep my mouth shut or act busy and remove myself from the situation.                                                                    On the "Do one thing that I won't normally do. Does the push-up challenge count?                         I definitely did well with the cook more, eat less, include more colors and drink more water, as well as the grocery budget. :) I was able to work a recipe based on what's available at the house.       As for the guest bedroom, maybe I really need a visit from a guest to kick my bottom in high gear. 

February's challenge was 400 push-ups. I did 285. A far cry from the 400, but nonetheless, 

it is 285 push-ups I most likely won't do if not for the challenge. I would love to roll this push-up challenge to next month and aim for 400 again - just to stoke my ego, you know. 

March's challenge would be 100 minutes of plank. Oh my gosh! 

I need to Youtube it to get a good idea on how to do a proper plank.   

           Check out Christine's blog for information on the challenge.  

February has me running 75 miles. It is a whole lot compared to last February. 

So while I still have a long ways to go to work on getting my monthly mileage up, I am just excited that I am keeping it in the higher range. 

Sunday, I will run my first 2012 half marathon. 

This will be half marathon #5. 

I will get to meet Christine over at Dream Big Runner (who is hosting the 100x Challenge). 

She is going to pace me and help me get a PR. 

I am excited! 

Since I usually race from October to March, I will probably take a break from racing half marathon distances and focus on ramping up mileage for my 1,000 miles for 2012 goal. 

Christine gave me a good motivation and idea - to run a 13.1 mile distance once every month just to keep all the nuts and bolts in my body moving and ready for whatever life throws at me. 

So, I am going to try and do that from now on. 

In a freaky kind of way, I also would like to log a new distance (anything beyond 13-ish miles) in the next few months.  

Since this is taper week and all, I went for a 2 hours walk with Paddy Wag. I want to say it was leisurely, but it wasn't. Paddy Wag walked me for the first 1.5 hours. Then for the remaining 30 minutes, we kinda walked together. When we got back and had to walk past the neighbor's house, their three meanie wienerdogs tried attacking Paddy Wag. They ganged up and tried to bite Paddy's bottom. I, of course, went on mama-bear mode and shoo'ed them off. But they kept yelping, and following, and yelping, and following.
Argh!!!

A Girl's Best Friend

Push-ups: Ten this morning.  Fifteen after supper.
Total for this month: 165
Push-ups left: 235

When I got home from work today, Paddy Wag and I went for a walk outside.

Her friend, we named her Lyla, joined us for a walk too.

We picked some flowers for the house.

Forget flowers.

Paddy Wag decided that digging was much more fun.

I am glad my girl is a tom-boy.

I love how Lyla is giving Paddy Wag moral support. A girl could certainly use a BFF!

I came home and put those flowers in a small milk bottle. 

Did some cleaning around the house and around Paddy's pad.
Cleaned up and cooked supper.

I bought a pack of steak yesterday for Valentine's Day.  So I cooked the remaining two steaks today. Saute some mushrooms. Green beans. And added two pineapple slices to the grill. I love grilled pineapple slices.

I have a question for you.

I am looking into buying a medicine ball and was wondering how much weight I should buy for a starter ball. Do you have a medicine ball? What do you do with it?



My Running Loves Yoga

Saturday was absolutely fantastic.
I ran not only 8 miles but 8.5 miles. And I didn't get a headache after the run (which means I drank enough fluids and didn't get dehydrated).
Knees felt good.
My bottoms are a tad tight, especially the sciatica area, the ankles are tired.

Sunday called for three easy miles.
The sciatica area acted a little funky.
I expected some kind of soreness since the weekly mileage was a lot higher.
I decided to take Monday's rest day on Sunday, and run Sunday's 3 miles on Monday.
I also helped the boyfriend at work.
While I didn't get my 3-mile in, I definitely got more than 15 minutes of move.

We had a helper, but she was loafing around.
But I got to spend a lot of time with her.

Looks like I wasn't doing much work either.
Pardon my "braces smile." It's hard to smile with those braces.

When Paddy Wag and I got home, she got on the floor and did a very nice downward dog.

What do you know?
I got INSPIRED by a dog!

I got my mat out and did almost 45 minutes of yoga.
I started with a series of dragon poses on YouTube.

And another few more by her.
My sciatica and hip area aren't as tight or as achy as it was after that.
Score!!!

Goody bag came in this morning.

There is a reason why the higher power told me to take a rest day yesterday and run today. 
Just so I can run 3 miles in my fancy Lululemon capris today.

Heck yeah!
I will be running 3 miles later today!

THE Virgin Run Along with Trash TV

This morning drive was absolutely gorgeous.

This picture just doesn't do it any justice.

It was foggy. It was quiet. It was just kinda mysterious.

I came home after work, leashed up Paddy Wag, and went for walk.

We rolled around on the ground too.

It might be my first time rolling around on the ground, directly on the grass.

 Braces and goofy face?
Million dollar picture right there!

 I love taking pictures of her. I always look at how big she has become. Last year, she was a mere puppy.

Look at Paddy Wag.
Such a photo snob.

I came home and was ready to get into the shower and clean up.
But as I walked past the guest bedroom, I saw my treadmill just standing there.

So, I laced up those shoes, got my shorts and top on, grabbed the lap top and started running.

No excuse anymore!!!!

But first, gotto get some trashy tv streamed onto the laptop.

How about some Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
(Side note: I streamed a documentary about Queen Elizabeth, but I can't hear it. And it takes quite a bit to concentrate. Nothing beats mindless rambling TV).

But I don't think I can bring myself to watch another episode of it.

I cannot stand watching kids mouthing off to their parents/step parents.

Please make some suggestions.
I need mindless TV/movies on Netflix. Something like Friends or Seinfeld would be great too.

Pardon the weird smile.

I have been smiling weird lately because of the braces.
It's like if I don't do it right, the metal parts will be poking out of my lips.
And I am so conscious that I will have a piece of spaghetti dangling off the braces.
Really. That happened.

First run. Done.
I was going to stop at 5K, but the show was still going, so I kept running.

The calories burned is a little skewed... I think.

It was a slow run because I had to walk a few times to get the tv/movie set up the way I wanted it to.

There you go. Virgin Run.
Done.
Popped.

Long run done!
Eleven miles in 2 hours 14 minutes or so.
Not bad. (More about that after my Paddy Wag update).

Paddy had her shots for nibbling on rat poison on Wednesday. Now, I have to give her two pills each day. 
And it turns out, she is having allergic reactions to those meds/shot.  So I took her back to the vet yesterday and got another shot and some doggy yogurt Bepto-like thing.  Poor baby! Sure hope she gets to feeling better soon.

Now, about the less interesting thing - my long run. 
The first six miles were done with Mr. J.  We have a usual 6 mile route and today, we ran that route in reverse. It seems longer and the hills seem hillier. It seems safer because we ran four miles in the dark on road with a wider shoulder. The last 2 or so were on a road with no shoulder and we had to occasionally hop onto the grass. I coughed many times during the run. Mr. J finally said he was able to only do 6 because he might be coming down with something.  It's fine. I was more than happy to have company for the bulk of my run this morning. So, after that 6th mile, I said bye to him, went inside the Y, had a Gu, and hopped onto the treadmill. Ten was on my mind today. I wanted a 10. But when I hit the 4th mile on the treadmill, I decided to go that extra one. Eleven.
I was happy. It wasn't a fast, speedy run. But it was a good run. The run was hard in a way, but physically, it was kinda easy. I had Food network on, so that made it easy. 
I think I am kinda ready for my half marathon at the end of this month. :)

Baby-Proofing

Baby proofing your homes applies even to puppies. 

Paddy Wag nibbled on a bar of rat poison sometime between last night and this morning.
We called the Animal Poison hotline and then took her to the vet. 

(This is Paddy Wag, enjoying having her neck scratched).

 She spent the day at the vet. Vet said she will be fine. 

We'll be doing some medicine taking for the next week. 

She is not supposed to be doing any jumping, running, or anything strenuous for a little while. 

I'm hoping the family member would move all her stuff in the porch to the storage soon.
That way, the porch will stay empty, except for some furniture, for Paddy Wag. 
It just didn't occur to me that there would be rat poison out there. 

I guess, I will be running without Paddy Wag tomorrow.

Running With Paddy

I guess I could have taken pictures of my new running route with Paddy Wag. But I was busy wrangling with her leash and busy watching her so I don't trip myself and totally forgotten about taking pictures. 

I bought Paddy Wag a new harness thing. Took my pea-sized brain a few minutes to figure out how to put it on for her. Once I got it, it was easy. Ahh... We took off, with a walk up to the neighbor's house where a little boy asked what I was doing. I was thinking, "What do you think I am doing?"  Of course, I put on my fun, kind, sweet, nurturing speech pathologist voice and told him, "I'm going for a walk with my puppy. We may even run a little."

So Paddy and I took off. She appears to be deathly scared of vehicles (great!) and will run AWAY from them, not after them. Good. But she gets into a tizzy, crazy, "oh-crap, the world is coming to an end" frenzy that I think is dangerous. We ran through some gravel road, saw a dog and it wasn't exactly friendly. But it didn't chase after us either. Paddy was just busy looking around, exploring and wondering where in the world this Chinese chick is taking her. We ran through the cemetery and before we know it, I was right outside Paddy's mommy's house (a.k.a my friend's house). I called her and asked her if she wanted to come outside and look at Paddy. She came outside with her husband and they were loving on her. We brought Paddy to see her real doggy mommy and brother. So, that was an "awwww" moment there. I wished my friend's little daughters were there to visit with Paddy. They always enjoyed videos and pictures of Paddy Wag.

We ran again to my boyfriend's office, said HI and left. It was about to get dark and Paddy and I really gotto book it. The run was 4 miles. It took over 48 minutes. I actually enjoyed the run. No, the running mojo isn't back totally yet. But it was nice to be outside for a change. I think Paddy's stubborn-ness made the run a little more tiring than needed. Tugging her and changing the leash from one hand to the other kinda tired my shoulder/arm a little. But then again, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world to have her running by my side.

So, four miles in the book. I think I have 46 miles left to run for this month!

Tally and Paddy

Adios September. Hola October.  

Daily Mile keeps me honest with  myself.

As a consolation, at least I am not running less than last month.

I don't know what is with me. The running mojo hasn't been around since the last long run.  Last week's run with my running friend helped some. But running long miles alone seems rather "hmm... bleh.... uhmmmm."

I was at the gym on Friday afternoon to run a long run (like a 9 or 10 miler.)  I didn't have enough time. I got in 4 and I quit. In fact, I was treadmill-hopping. Ran 2 on one. Ran another 2 on a second treadmill. It was hot. And teenage dudes bragging about weights and lifting and grunting make me go "ARGH!"

So I left.  (It was 4 miles total in 43:46 minutes)

I am really looking forward to November/December when I get my treadmill.  It will be on my schedule. My run. Right???

Today, I spent some quality time with my Paddy Wag. She is smart. She found the best nook in the whole wide world to lay her head.

  

Thought I'd share pictures of our new abode here. Like I say, we are rolling and grooving to 70s wood paneling in this house.

View is from kitchen to the living room area.
(Yes. We are a no-TV household, by choice).

For all of you who are also decorating mavens, tell me what I can do to brighten this room up
(we cannot paint the wood paneling).

Here is a view from the living room to the kitchen.

Pardon those boxes.

I am still working on unpacking and putting things away.

  

For October, I will run more than 44 miles.

That's it. Really.

Things I Like...

I like my 3-mile run on the treadmill today.
Pain free again. 

Felt good! 

Yay!

I just realized my last post was my 300th post. :) 

I like "3" - it's my lucky number. 

Ok ... the things that made me happy today ... 

Riding around with Paddy Wag.

 I took her to the vet to have her stitches removed. 

As much as I like driving around with her as my co-pilot/navigator,
I get "funny" about her hair/dirty paws/slobber.
So after our rides, I always vacuum my vehicle, Lysol-ed everything,
and cleaned the interior with some kind of detergent. 
Then, I'll wash the outside with some sudsy water.

So now, I have a clean vehicle.

It makes me happy driving around in a vehicle that smells like "clean." 

Watermelon makes me happy too! 

Especially when they are cold.  

I cut them with that "watermelon knife," cubed them and stored them in the fridge.

Can't wait to sink my teeth into these juicy babies. 

Lastly, I re-subscribed to Runners' World.

These came in the mail last Saturday and today.

I am not reading them. I am saving for them for my plane ride.

Catching up

It's already Thursday and I am seriously behind on my exercises this week!
I promise my intentions were good though ...
Anyway .... I better try to catch up.

Monday and Tuesday involved a lot of juggling.
Had a too-long-late-afternoon-nap.
Struggled to get Paddy Wag situated and set up.
Baking 40 cupcakes.
A case of mild depression because Paddy wasn't home when I was.

Wednesday.
I got Paddy back!

We went on a leisure 1-mile walk.
It got windy after our walk.
I decided the wind was a welcomed respite from the heat/humidity.
So I laced up those shoes and strapped on the Garmin.

 The tornado sirens went off.  

I guess that meant no running. 

Thursday a.k.a Today.

I got Paddy in my vehicle and we went running/walking.
3 miles of it.
Took too long (about 40 minutes). 

But it was great. 

We took it easy. 

Took walk breaks. 

It was just the two of us. 

Precious!