Pool Time

Riverbend Apartments has 2 swimming pools...one is for anyone and the other one is for adults only (so you don't have to deal with screaming and splashing kids!). So nice!




Today I lounged in and by the adult only pool for hours. It was soooo nice. I never go to the pool! I sat on a lounge chair in the sun reading until I got really hot. Then, I floated on a raft in the pool while soaking up some more rays. I am very pale (I never lay out or go tanning) so I really needed to get a bit of color from the sun. After relaxing in the pool, I swam around a bit and really enjoyed the water and the fact that no one else was in the pool.

When I got out I settled back onto the lounge chair and listened to "Car Talk" on the little radio I brought. I love that show! You should check it out at http://www.cartalk.com/. The hosts are hilarious and are always laughing a lot which makes me laugh. I finished the afternoon by reading again. I just started reading "Hornet Flight" by Ken Follet. I love his books! I've read at least 12 of them (and they are all over 300 hundred pages each). "Pillars of the Earth" (983 pages) is one of his that you have probably heard of...now that is an epic tale! I first read it in 10th grade for extra credit. I've read it a couple of times since then because I really enjoy it.

Sweet & Sour Meatball RECIPE

This is one of my favorite meals!

Waikiki Meatballs

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2/3 c. cracker crumbs (16 saltines)
1/3 c. minced onion
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 c. milk
1 Tbsp shortening
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 can (13.5 oz) pineapple tidbits or chunks, drained (reserve syrup)
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/3 c. chopped green pepper

Mix thoroughly beef, crumbs, onion, egg, salt, ginger and milk. Shape mixture into balls. Melt shortening in large skillet; brown and cook meatballs. Remove meatballs and keep warm. Pour fat from skillet.

Mix cornstarch and sugar. Stir in reserved pineapple syrup, water, vinegar and soy sauce until smooth. Pour into skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils (about 10-15 minutes). Boil and stir 1 minute.

Add meatballs, pineapple and green pepper; heat through. Serve over rice.

Serves 4-6

Healthy Habits

Over the past few years I've been much more interested in being healthier and developing healthy habits. I've gotten many things down pat--like getting 8 hours of sleep each night, taking my daily multivitamins, drinking more water, and of course, brushing my teeth every morning and night. I'm still working on other things--like exercising at least every other day, eating healthier, reading the Bible every day, clearing the clutter out of our apartment and keeping the place clean (I really hate dusting and scrubbing the shower and toilet!).

There are a lot of reasons why I desire to be healthier, such as (1) to have more energy (2) to be able to do more active things without tiring easily (3) to have a strong heart, lungs, bones, etc (4) to look good. Another reason I desire to be healthier is so I will live a long and happy life and won't suffer due to poor health when I'm a lot older. I want to be able to still lead an active lifestyle then. I don't want to have clogged arteries or excessive weight gain because I ate fast food or junk food a lot during my lifetime. Also, I don't like going to the doctor (or taking medicine) and one way to limit my visits (and need for medication) is to develop healthy habits so there will be less of a chance that I will have to go to the doctor (or take drugs).

It's nice that I'm really determined to workout regularly because it has changed how I look at many things in life. For instance, I don't try to get a close parking spot when I go to Wal-Mart because by parking further away I get a little more exercise. And, when I heard that our friends will be moving soon, I jumped at the chance to help out because (1) I want to help them and (2) helping them move will be a good workout. I now realize that any and every movement I make burns more calories and that is a very good thing.

I must say that eating healthy has been the hardest habit to develop. I love my sweets and never gave any thought to eating anything and everything whenever I wanted before the year 2000 because I was always very skinny. It was during the summer after college that I noticed that none of my shorts fit me anymore because I had gained quite a bit of weight. That was an awful discovery! I've slowly been able to eat more veggies and less chips, cookies, foods of that nature and drink less pop. I've always been one to eat 3 meals a day because I get so hungry therefore skipping breakfast (which is a bad thing) was never an issue for me.

I've gotten even more serious about eating healthy in 2005 because I slacked off in my workouts this past fall and winter and I ate lots of holiday treats and I gained 10 freakin' pounds! You can guess what my New Year's Resolution was. I started working out 30-80 minutes a day and limiting my portion sizes and amount of sweets/junk food.

I love eating so much! I can be quite mean and very easily irritated when I'm really hungry and all I can think about is food. I am hypoglycemic so sometimes I get really weak and shaky if I haven't eaten in awhile. I've learned that it's better to eat 5 small meals a day rather than just 2 or 3 so that works perfectly with my hypoglycemic need for eating every few hours. I just have to make sure to have healthy snacks (and not high in calories) and not each too much for dinner. I've also learned that you shouldn't eat anything in the 3 hours before bed (if you're worried about weight gain).

I was pleased to hear that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn...even when just sitting still or sleeping. So, the more muscular you are, the more calories you can consume in a day (eat more food--yeah!). That's so awesome! Bring on the weight lifting!

Exercise

I have been trying to work out regularly since October 2003 (I've missed a few weeks or months here and there but overall I'm doing well). Here is a list of the many DVD/video workouts that I have collected over the years and their lengths. I look at this and my workout calendar (which shows what I've done) when I'm discouraged and then I feel better because I actually do them all...I mix it up because I like the variety, as you can see....

Tony Horton:
Power 90 Set:
Sculpt: Circuit 1-2 - 45 min
Sculpt: Circuit 3-4 - 29 min
Sweat: Cardio 1-2 - 45 min
Sweat: Cardio 3-4 - 35 min
Power Half Hour Set:
Abs - 30 min
Thighs - 30 min
Arms - 30 min
Buns - 30 min
Stretch - 30 min

Debbie Siebers:
Slim Series Set:
Mix It Up - 60 min
Firm It Up - 60 min
Tone It Up - 60 min
Cool It Off - 60 min
Tear It Up - 80 min
Shape It Up - 80 min

Mari Winsor:
Pilates - 20 min
Max Burn Pilates - 20 min
Basic Pilates - 25 min
Resistance Pilates - 25 min
Advanced Pilates - 45 min
Accelerated Pilates - 50 min

Lizbeth Garcia:
Ball Pilates - 30 min

Suzanne Deason:
Yoga Conditioning for Women - 60 min

Denise Austin:
Shrink Your Female Fat Zones - 40 min

David Essel:
Step Aerobics - 40 min

I absolutely LOVE Debbie & Tony of www.beachbody.com! They kick butt and are both good looking! Tony is funny and Debbie is so nice (she makes you work so hard but you still love her). Debbie says when she really feels it burning she just laughs to help her make it through...that's how she deals with the rough stuff....so cute.

I bought the step for step aerobics in 2000 but it came with an outdated video. It's sooo hilarious because it's sooo late 80's/early 90's so the music is funny and their hair & outfits are to laugh at...seriously, the girls have their long hair pulled up into side ponytails and are wearing those really high cut fluorescent leotards over their black spandex shorts. David Essel is so happy and enthusiastic though...seems like a good guy.

Denise Austin is really popular but I'm so glad I didn't buy any more than 1 of her DVDs because she is quite annoying. Her voice is husky like a smoker's voice and she talks nonstop the entire time! She uses a lot of unnecessary words and I'm thinking "Please just shut up and show us what to do!" Her physical workout is good...she just ruins it overall by talking too much.

Mari Winsor is the only one that doesn't do the workout with you...she has like 5 girls and 1 guy doing it while she calls out the moves. Since she works with Hollywood stars I guess she's too good to get down and get dirty on DVD now. Nah, she probably has other DVDs where she's actually doing the work. Anyway, I like it when the instructor is actually doing it with you (the others I have do it and also have students in the background doing it with them...that's helpful).

The yoga video was filmed in Hawaii with the ocean in the background so it's quite relaxing. I don't do the video much because it's not really my thing right now--I hate holding the poses for that long and I'm not very flexible.

Creatures of Habit

We certainly are creatures of habit, aren't we? The people at my work and in my apartment complex generally park in the same spots. On the rare occassion that someone deviates from the norm, things get a little crazy. It starts a whole chain reaction, haha. One day, the guys at work didn't think the receptionist was in because she parked her car a few parking spaces over and they totally didn't notice it there. They only saw that it was NOT where it usually was so they assumed that she was gone...until they saw her at her desk and even then they asked if her car was in the shop or something.

When I go out to eat, I generally go to only a few places and I usually get the same meal because that is what I was craving and what drove me to that restaurant to begin with. Very rarely do I want to take the risk of trying out a new place because I might not have a satisfying meal or enjoyable experience and might feel like I wasted my money.

Speaking of food cravings, Craig and I went to Sonic yesterday for dinner because it was right by where we were shopping and we didn't have much time before we had to be at a going away party for a friend. I really wanted a frito pie but we found out that they don't offer them any more. What the heck? It took me awhile to decide what else to eat because I was really craving a frito pie and wasn't hungry for anything else.

I ended up getting the popcorn chicken and had another food accident. Craig's hand and my hand bumped as we were both trying to throw some trash into the Sonic bag at the same time. The ketchup globs on the edge of the opened ketchup packet in my hand splattered on my new shirt and on my jeans. I was frustrated because I had already spilled on myself once that day, it was my new shirt (first time to wear it) and we weren't going home because we had to get straight to the party.

I hate it when restaurants take something off the menu that I really like. So disappointing! What's even worse is when the whole restaurant goes out of business and you had no warning so you couldn't enjoy one last meal there knowing that it was your last meal there. That happened to me with Rex's Family Restaurant. They had the best boneless bite-sized chicken ever! Seriously! I used to work there so I got to eat a lot of it and I also really enjoyed their side items. I was extremely crushed when all the Rex Restaurants in town suddenly closed years ago. I still haven't gotten over it.

Dangit!

Today I went to the Taco Bell drive thru for lunch and then parked in a shady spot near some trees down the street. I went to the drive thru rather than going inside because I was listening to a discussion on NPR (National Public Radio, for those of you who don't know). I put a napkin in my lap and made sure to take my bites while carefully holding the taco over the wrapper so as not to make a mess on me or my car.

I was doing well but then wouldn't you know it, as I was taking the very last bite of my very last taco, some sauce dripped onto my white shirt. It missed the napkin by less than an inch! I was almost there! Fortunately, I was only a mile from home so I went home to treat the stain and change my shirt before going back to work.

Vegetable Dish RECIPE

Here is my current favorite veggie dish recipe...mmm, so delicious!

Colorful Oven Vegetables

1/3 c. butter
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 c. cauliflowerets
2 c. broccoli florets
6 md carrots (or 2 c baby carrots), julienned
3 sm onions, quartered

Place butter in a shallow 3-qt baking dish; place in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes or until melted. Stir in thyme, salt & pepper. Add vegetables and toss to coat. Cover and bake for 25-30 minutes or until veggies are crisp-tender.

*I like to add 1/2 tsp rosemary as well and I sometimes use carrot chunks/slices rather than julienned pieces so then I bake for 45 minutes.

Serves 10-12

Pink!

I have always been a "plain Jane" type of girl. I love wearing simple and comfortable clothing...and almost all of my clothes are blue, green, grey or black. Well, I have done it...I have actually bought a pink shirt for myself. I never wear pink or red shirts because I am so in love with blue and green. So, here I am branching out and finally spicing things up. I got the shirt at www.jeep.com so that makes it even sweeter. I love Jeeps and I'm proud to advertise that fact. You can't see it on this picture, but inside the star on my shirt it says J41 (J is for Jeep and 41 is for 1941...the year the Jeep was born)...the shirt also has a hood attached.

Welcome

Greetings, friends and family! I have created this website so that I can share my random thoughts and feelings with you. For those of you who don't live nearby, this will be a place for you to see pictures and read about what's going on in my life...since we don't call each other every week or anything. Check back here as often as you wish as there's no telling when I will post. I'm sure you will learn more about me by reading my posts...it could be quite entertaining. Feel free to comment on any of my posts.