Monday, April 27, 2009

Lots of walking this weekend

I got my walking in on Friday but it wasn't the video. I went to Universal studios and saw my Sister and her daughter. My niece was singing in her school choir. Then we went to Universal Studios and walked the whole park, riding rides that I had never ridden before. Universal is very different when you go with your niece and not your sons! LOL We had a lot of fun.

Saturday was a VERY early start to a day of fishing that ended rather quickly. I was up at 6:15! Not usual for me to go fishing that early but my oldest son and my hubby had tried to find crabs for 2 days to take me Permit fishing. In 2 evenings they caught 2 crabs. Well with all that work and investment, I knew I had better get up and appreciate their efforts. I was up, my bil and sil picked me up ( dh and son left at 5AM to try to find more crabs. He let me sleep. awwweeee! Love that man). We show up at the dock to meet hubby and off we go FISHIN! Well that was the plan....... On a full plane on the boat and the motor chugs and stops.??? starts up, ah just the new fuel filter, off we go, chug and stop??!! This time doesn't start back up...... We call our service guy, who just serviced the unit Friday afternoon, and he gives some suggestions.... Doesn't work..... We call our friends and they are headed out in their boat and agree to swing by and pull us back to dock. sad....

Meanwhile we are waiting for them, so some of us start to fish to help the time go by. My son zings his bait out and bam, FISH ON! I had already been fishing for 15 MIN with no bites! Unhooks the Mackerel and zings out another bait BAM! FISH ON! that boy is a fishing fiend. Our friends show up and tow us back to the dock. Our service guy is going to meet us at the dock to make sure he didn't do anything wrong.

While the guys talk motors I am walking around and this older Asian man is throwing a cast net. HE pulls in 6 mullet! I am thinking to myself "SCORE! for him" and he kicks them back in the water!! "HUH did I JUST SEE WHAT I THOUGHT I DID??? I COULDN'T HAVE. They must have been Lady fish." SO I watch him closely as he casts again. ANOTHER MULLET ( I am certain this time) and he kicks it back in the water, so I yell "sir, I would love to have the mullet you catch, if you are not keeping them, please. (always need to be polite when one is begging fish from someone Else's net! LOL )

HE says " U yike Mullet??!" I say "OH yes sir I DO!" He says " Mullet not good!" I say " Oh they taste good to me." He says "Okay, you have." So I proceed to his side of the dock, being careful to not get ran over by people launching or pulling the boats off the boat ramp. Well, just as I am half way, he has another mullet and says " It okay, I throw to you." Panic'd that he might miss and hit the water, I say " OH sir, I don't mind coming to get it. As I am saying that, the mullet goes flying in the air and lands on the ground. I am thinking "Oh good, it is on land" and I start over to the mullet. A BIG BIG bird also sees MY mullet and starts to make his way to the mullet. I yell" NNNNNNNOOOOO" and start running, excusing myself past all these boaters, who must think that this lady is out of her mind!" wlolws My SIL, Patty sees what is happening and she yells " I will get it for you! shoo bird!" and Patty rescues my Mullet. I take it to the dock and rinse it off and prep it for the boat. My secret Asian guy(hee hee his new name), is watching this all take place and says " OH, you know how to clean mullets!?" I say " yes sir! and what fish are you trying to catch?" He says " Spade fish" ( I have never eaten or heard of people eating spade fish?? so I ask him "Are they good to eat??" He quickly replies while throwing his cast net, "they better then Mullets!!" snort! To each his own.

He also catches a small blue crab, perfect size for Permit bait! I jump to it and secure the crab from the crab's back so he doesn't pinch me! My secret Asian man says " you careful!" I said " yes sir, I got him." he said too small to eat!" I said "yes but he is perfect size for bait!" and OFF my cute little Asian guy goes with his two Spade fish.....

I make it back to my dh and the boat, that is now on the trailer, and say "honey I have a crab". Hubby is very confused, "WHERE did you get a crab??" He had already put my mullet on ice and was still chuckling over me begging for fish from my little secret Asian man. LOL I said " the Asian man got it in his net and let me have it for Bait!" Well now the service guy and hubby are laughing and hubby says " ONLY my wife would be able to beg for a fish and a crab while boat motor problems are going on! I AM SO PROUD!" LOL

Well the "lower end" of the boat is DOA. IT is not our mechanics fault. Just one of those things. So he has the bottom of our boat motor that turns the propeller. We don't know how long the repair will take or what the problem is... hoping to hear from him soon and REALLY hope that it isn't costly!

My son goes fishing with our friends and does well. No Permit but he does bring home some Grouper and Snapper. :) While they are fishing, hubby and I and bil and sil go home, change clothes and go eat lunch. Then we walk Emerson Point and head to the grocery store to get some items for dinner that night. In the store we all realize that we are not feeling well.......... We all realize we got over heated and are now drinking water, feeling woozier and looking forward to getting home. Once we get home all 4 of us take a nap! LOL We felt much better after that and had a tastie fresh fish meal.

Sunday after Church we went to the beach before our friends were coming over for a fish dinner.

This morning I did my 3 mile aerobic walk with Leslie Sansone. I am not disliking it so much anymore. I am realizing it is also helping me with my rhythm and coordination!! Hubby "says isn't the physical exercise goodness!" I said " I am liking it and I really like Leslie's attitude and encouragement but I AM NOT TO GOODNESS YET! " LOL!

Okay this was really long. Sorry. Yall have a great day!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Well yesterday I had bible study and never got to do my exercises. I am learning if I don't do them first thing in the morning, I have a harder time getting them done.

When I turned on the tv this morning, my show wasn't there! the Free on demand had changed their schedule!!! I found another one of Leslie Sansome's videos though. Her videos are great. She has 1 to 5 mile walking and toning videos. It was a 3 mile walk so brisk that I COULD NOT TALK while doing it !LOL I know that is hard to believe, me not talking, but I couldn't. It was a great workout. Leslie, I KEPT UP WITH YOU TOO!" I did! I didn't say it was pretty, LOL , but I did keep up. I even maintained rhythm on a new routine!! I don't think I fussed at her today!

Today is off to a good start!

Monday, April 20, 2009

What a weekend

Well I started off my weekend on Friday night, with a date with dh since our boys had other plans. We went for bbq. Not exactly on the diet but not off the diet either. I was choosy in my order.

Saturday I had two girlfriends over and we stamped all day. I made a card set and have another card set ready to be put together and patina'd copper and brass with a vinegar/ ammonia solution.

The card sets will go in my Etsy store. The holders are not completed yet.



The patina'd metal will be embellishments for some nautical prints I am working on as well as other elements in different art work. In other words, I did a lot of them and don't have exact plans for them yet.





I love the palm trees and the flip flop( well it will be when I put it together) TO get the patina blues to punch I sprayed them with Future floor polish which furthered the chemical reaction on the copper. I love it when reactions occur like that! LOL

Sunday afternoon we took our dogs for a walk at a waterfront park, Emerson Point. We found out that our Corgi only swims with his front feet making his hind end unbalanced and swaying from side to side almost flipping him over! lol Our Bichon loved the swimming although seems tuckered out today. Then Sunday afternoon we helped dh's boys group with their fish fry. I tasted but was very good. They had fresh fried fish , gator, onion rings,hush puppies and brownies with homemade ice cream churning in the background!! YIKES! I had a couple of onion rings and a brownie bite but resisted a plate full and left as it was being served. Our boys were loaded with homework so dh and I were on our own again for dinner.

This morning I did 4 miles of my walk and tone program. I have decided that I am doing 4 miles daily now. I also realized that when I exercise, I have 2 thoughts, one is, that I am less likely to cheat on my diet because I just burned off calories, fat and cholesterol so why add to it OR 2, because I want something not on my diet and exercise lets me have it! :) If I don't exercise my resistance is down. LOL so I like my mental theories. While exercising I have all sorts of thoughts like , back straight, shoulders back, bum tucked in, rhythm Leah rhythm and WHY is she so happy! oh yeah this is recorded and I bet she did this in the afternoon not first thing in the morning.... LOL

Now off to finish my day.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

I have a confession!

Since I started this blog, I said I would post my diet and how things are going. WELL, yesterday dh brought me home a McDonald's Cheeseburger. AND I ATE EVERY BITE OF IT! I was very surprised to learn of the vitamin content of the burger! BY no means was it anywhere near my heart healthy diet but it did have 15g of Protein, 20% of daily Calcium needs, 15% of daily Iron needs, oh, and uhmmm 12g of fat. SO although I fell off the heart healthy wagon for lunch, it did meet needs of my iron and calcium. I am justifing LOL I havent had one since last September when I had one in honor of Mil birthday. That woman LOVED her happy meals! :D
I had left overs for dinner last night.

Tonight we are grilling fish and eatting greens.


I anticipate being able to start walking and toning again on Monday.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Well I haven't posted in a couple of days because I have not been able to do much for the past few days. The edge of my son's fin fell perfectly on the blood vessel on the top of my foot and caused a hematoma and I think, some bone bruising. Walking has been very limited and I have had ice on it for the last few days. I have not been able to do my walking and toning this week. I have, However, been out in the garden on a limited basis and eating healthy. We are still eating fish from the weekend.

Monday nights dinner was a salad and a Grouper Reuben. The only thing bad on it was the Thousand Island dressing but I used it very sparingly. Rye/ pumpernickel bread was a whole grain and the Grouper was cooked in some olive and grape seed oil with spices.

last night I had Grouper fingers and snapper backbone. The backbone of a fish is like the Fillet Mignon of a cow. SO SO SO GOOD. They were cooked in grape seed oil. No tartar sauce or anything like that was served with the fish. We had guacamole and broccoli as a side.

Today I am cleaning out my art room. Reorganizing it and getting it ready for company on Sat. I have gathered some more things for ETSY and hope to start uploading to my store soon.

Have a great day.

Monday, April 13, 2009

What a weekend



We had a departure from our typical Easter weekend. With everyone so busy over the last several weeks and Spring break falling before Easter weekend, we decided that it was time for some warm air and fishing. My dh's BIL and wife joined us.

It was quite a weekend! We limited out on Grouper and Snapper! Our biggest fishing haul of our fishing lives. LOL Only half was caught spearfishing. The other half was traditional hook and line fishing. My arms are still sore for reeling in those fish!! :) Now, that is a pain, I will deal with. My guys went scuba diving. The water was only 73 degrees! Too cold for my blood and my youngest son came up shivering from his first dive and said "yep, it is cold down there. I am done diving till the water gets a little warmer!" My dh and oldest son did dive 2 more times! Both were happy to be out of the water each time! duh it is 63 degrees at the bottom!

I ate great all weekend. SO proud of my self control. My only deviations were 2, 1" sq brownies and an egg with my grits for breakfast. There was 2 bags of chocolate there and the brownies were fresh and home made! The rest of the time it was fruit, green veggies and FRESH FRESH FISH! :)

Walking and toning this morning consists of less arm movements so that my arms can recooperate from all that fishing.

Dinner tonight will be , aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, more fresh fish!! :)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

A much better day!




My Lettuce is in bloom.
Happy Birthday to my friend Christine.

It is sunny and beautiful here. Eating my grits now. My joints and muscles are much better today. YAY!

Today is an on track day. Not much to add..

I AM seeing a benefit to my calcium supplement! longer, stronger finger nails! LOL but boy does the ink show on/ in and around them now!!

Exercising was uneventful, which I suppose is a good thing! a regular day! LOL

I had a raccoon steal my green beans!!! so now I have to plant more to replace the holes! not funny but kinda is! I should have tomatoes in a couple of weeks. Today I am processing 2 gallons of basil in olive oil. I will use my food processor and cut it up extra fine and then boil olive oil. drop basil in turn off stove and pour up in containers. Cant wait to see how it turns out.

Have a great one

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Cool Wednesday

The above picture was my dinner last night. My friend Christine took the picture of the "White Chili" when I made it for her and friends in March. My dh and I had this for lunch, when we were on vacation in Gatlinburg, Tn. We loved it and were determined to figure out the ingredients so we could cook it for ourselves. We added a twist, in that it is healthy. We replaced any butter or oil with Olive or grape seed oil. Olive oil tastes just a tad better. In place of any chicken skin or dark meat, we use skinless chicken breast meat. You can dice the chicken up or buy ground chicken breast.
Here is our recipe
1 pound ground skinless chicken breast
1 bag of small navy beans ( or 3 cans )
1/2 Onion
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1/4Th to 1/3rd cup of Cumin
1/2 cup fresh Cilantro minced
1/4Th cup Olive oil
The juice of 1 lime.
Salt and pepper to taste

IF you are using dried navy beans soak them the over night the night before.
When you are ready to start the chili rinse the beans and add them to your pot. add enough water to allow about 2 in above the beans. Bring that to a light boil.
While the beans are heating up, brown your chicken in a skillet. When the chicken is cooked (turns white with no pinkish color showing), add it to the pot of beans. Now add all the other ingredients. Stir. Put a lid on the top and put heat at med low to low... just so it bubbles. If you need to add some water, you can . It will need about 2 hours to simmer. Taste it and possibly add more salt and cumin until the flavors are rich in cumin and you are happy with how it tastes.

While that is cooking and getting happy make salsa.
4 tomatoes diced
1/4 sweet onion
1/3rd cup diced cilantro
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP vinegar
juice of half a lime.
dash of hot sauce
Mix all that together.

Dice up more Cilantro for garnish on top of chili and as an last minute flavoring before serving chili. Drop fresh cilantro in the pot just before serving.

Grab a bowl. Put a lg scoop of Salsa in the center of the bowl and then the chili around it. Sprinkle with cilantro. If you want you can add guacamole, sour cream and shredded cheese. (Reminder the cheese and sour cream add fat and calories ) I use fat free . ENJOY

I wanted to start off with something fun because this morning was not fun. We had a cold front come through and it flared up my fibromyalgia. So this morning my shoulders were still sore. I am doing my walking and toning routine but have to slow down on the arm part because they are sore and hurt. WELL that made me mad. LOL It is one thing to have to exercise and diet because of Cholesterol and Osteopenia..... But then to not be able to do them because my fibro is flared up, just didn't set right with me this morning. I got mad and cried while exercising cause, DOG GONE IT! it isn't supposed to be this hard and my body was working against me. I stuck it out and kept up, just minimized the arm movements. I was proud of myself for finishing. I love the way I feel from exercising, the clothes fitting a little looser is never a bad thing and my body, supposedly, ;) is better for it. BUT DANG! mornings like this make it hard to deal with. Now if exercising was more like cooking or crafting BOY WOULD I BE IN SHAPE! but alas, it is more like house work and I am JUST not very good at that either!! LOL MY dh loves me anyway! lol Give a girl a shout out if exercising doesn't come easy for you too. ;)

Have a good day

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

HA I can show this now



This is what I made with the components of the latest Mystery Double Dog Dare challenge, from www.acharmingplace.com. I was the hostess and not elligible to win but it was fun to play with the stuff and make a card out cables, resistors, buttons, tag, ball chain, 2 wooden disks and one was originally red and mica. I used all sorts of ink, paint, alcohol and walnut ink along with my shimmery mists that I make. Everyone did a great job.

Wow what a cold morning



Above are the most recent pictures of my garden. I took advantage of a cloudy breezy day and worked all day in the garden yesterday. Preparing 6 more containers and planting seeds and Seedlings. Oh I did have help too. My ds shoveled dirt for me in exchange for the fruit( mulberries, Loquats and blackberries) I am growing for him and getting his racket restrung. I have hot peppers and tomatoes along with a variety of herbs that will be ready to go in the ground soon. The hardest part of the day was toting 2 and a half gallons of boiling water to my garden area so I could sterilize the soil.

Sunday was a nice and sunny day. dh and I ended up at the beach for the afternoon. We did a few miles of beach walking. IT was nice being on the motorcycle, puttering around.

Sunday I ate a crab cake for lunch and then Salmon, sweet potato, green beans and watercress for dinner. All healthy or heart healthy foods. I do not put butter on my food and the other was cooked with a touch of olive oil, garlic and onions.

Prior to working in the garden yesterday I did my 2 mile walking workout. Dh was so cute, he had a question for me but I had started my workout so he "walked" with me while asking me the question. LOL I am a tad sore today so I may give my body a rest. Dh says that with all the lifting and raking I did I should let my muscles rest. SO I will just walk to keep my momentum going.

I ate cottage cheese and pineapple yesterday for brunch and then had wings for dinner. BUT my wings were fried in Grape seed oil and there was no butter in my wing sauce. As a side we had fresh cucumber and artichoke humus.

Today is going to be COLD! windy and cloudy. I am all done with this cold weather stuff! Florida is not meant to be cold.

I do have to admit with the added iron to my vitamins and regular B12 shots by dh and even the exercise I am feeling better, having more energy and more motivation. Just wished I liked to exercise!! LOL but its benefits are showing!

Having that 3 day migraine really threw off my crafting plans. Gotta get back in that art room and start concocting! :)

Have a great day. I got to get to cleaning house and everything I didn't do yesterday.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

It has been quite the 72 hrs!


I am alive and well! LOL I have been recovering from a 3 day hormonal caused migraine!! I have emerged from the depths of darkness, covers and ears ringing, for another month anyway! Being a woman JUST ROCKS ya know!! ha ha Although I have a variety of female issues, I would not trade this time in my life with any other past time. I am loving 40 something with my dh and sons and our life. It is an adventure and it rocks!

Anyway I am up drinking my first cup of coffee and ready (well after I drink my coffee) to attack the day. It just feels good to be vertical and able to look at the beautiful day outside. I have got to go see what shape my garden is in and make sure stupid pests and critters haven't eaten it.

On a sad note, our family cat, age 9, died in my lap Thursday afternoon. She was rescued off the highway at 4weeks of age. Some one threw her out of their car! She has cost us more than our 2 pure bred dogs! LOL She had FIV and has been sick and anemic for 6 weeks. We knew she didn't have much longer with us as of Tuesday because she was no longer eating like she should nor was she walking around. Just didn't have the strength. I am glad she was in my lap. My migraine meds allowed me to just lay there with her and pet her. My dh was very glad that it all took place in my lap. Now we have already started talking about her past antics which were bad behaviors that she would take out on me, I was her "chosen one" for bad behaviors but dh got the love from her! LOL, ie peeing in my laundry!! or the BEST, or maybe that should say WORST ever, one night she crawled into bed with Dh and I and peed RIGHT BETWEEN US WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING!!! we were woken up by this "wet feeling" eeeeeeewwwwwwww is right but now it is funny! Take care Callie. We loved ya!

Prior to my migraines I had some research on foods and iron, calcium and heart healthy foods. Here is what I found. 3.5oz of the following herbs/ spices has % of daily allowance of iron.
Thyme ground 688%, Cinnamon ground 210%, Oat & Wheat Bran 250%, Rosemary 167% . I am thinking of adding these herbs to my salads, because WOW!

Some nutritional websites
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/nutinfo.html scroll down for nutritional values of fruits,veggies and seafood.
http://www.dole5aday.com/HTML/Kids/N...n%20Chart.html
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=164
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcom.../hg72_2002.pdf
THE MOTHER LOADhttp://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcom.../hg72_2002.pdf

I am learning that Fruits although high in vitamins and fiber, only contain 2 to 4% of our daily needs of Calcium and Iron.

12 Oysters or Clams have 30 to 45% of our daily Iron needs. I LOVE BOTH 6Large Scallops have 14% of our daily needs. Calcium ranges from 8 to 10% in those mollusks.

What I find weird is the more fat free the dairy product the higher in Calcium it is??? Vitamin D is proving difficult for me to get and not go against my heart healthy diet. Egg yolks and organ meats are higher in Vitamin D and I cant have those.

Grape seed oil has no cholesterol and has a lot of the Omega acids(good for you) 40 % of your vitamin E needs . It also is a natural anti-inflammatory (which is great for my fibromyalgia) and has a lot of antioxidants. It is excellent for your skin too. You can use it as massage oil too. I fry my food in it because it is cholesterol free and has so much that is good for me.

Okay this is a really cool web site. http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-000998000000000000000.html The link takes you to the list of foods for "Optimum Health" and Basil is number 1!! it will break down any food, commercial labeled or fast food even, for you and show all of its nutritional values! very cool. This page lets you look for foods with specific vitamins and minerals. http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/nutrient-search

Well this weekend I will get house stuff caught up with and then come Monday morning it is back to the walking and toning and grits routine. I am taking my aunt to our churches Passion of Christ play this afternoon. My dh is a soldier in the play and it is a 180 degrees of his personality. Not easy to watch him mistreat and beat our Saviour, Christ.

Have a great weekend and go find some adventure in your life!