Putting the laptop to work!

I wanted to find a way to use my laptop while on the treadmill. It seems TV is not interesting enough, music doesn’t keep me moving for any length of time at all, and the thing that has had me sitting on my butt for the last year really needs to help me reduce the size of that butt.

Okay, excuse the cat toys and the step stool jury rigged – but eh? EH? Pat me on the back and call me genius. :)

I’ve posted this before

Not sure where. But suffice it to say the things in this mosaic are a big reason I have trouble getting my weight under control.

It all looks so GOOD!

Unimportant things . . .

I've been tagged by Cynthia at A Shimmy In My Spirit! She's the lovely lady I won the sweet canvas wrapped print from. :)


* List Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy.
* Mention and link to the person who tagged you.
* Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along, and comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged.


I found it intriguing that it was the UNimportant things I should list. Hmm-m-m.

1) How comfy my bed feels when a tired me climbs in at night.

2) Coming home from work and seeing my lawn has been cut, knowing my neighbors might put up with me for a while longer.

3) Cheese. 'Nuff said.

4) My cats letting me sleep in on the weekend. Not that they do ...

5) Beads. I love pretty beads. Mm-m-m ... tourmaline ..

6) My soaps. Now some would argue that because I tape them and watch all the episodes on the weekend that they ARE important to me. But really? Not important. Just enjoyable mindless entertainment. And there is only one show - I'm just in the habit of saying soap(s) from when I used to watch more than one.

Now since I don't usually play by the rules (and since this is not my main blog and doesn't have a huge readership - okay - neither does my main blog!) I will just say that - anybody who reads this - please play along! And you can even follow the rules if you want to!

Got up late today . .

not my real salad :)

Not that that's unusual on the weekend. Ate peanut butter and (a little) jelly on whole wheat toast (with big sticks and stones) for breakfast with my tea. Ate some fresh cherries YUM later on and dinner had me eating a huge salad with raw broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, eggs and chicken - oh yeah - lettuce. Used low-fat ranch dressing because I am crazy about ranch dressing all of a sudden. I know it would have been healthier if I had used a vinaigrette or something, but I did enjoy the ranch.

I still need to drink more water - it's just SO boring! But I'm trying. I suppose that's what healthy food IS to me. Boring. I'm used to high fat, high flavor foods I guess. But - I'm working on eating more things that are not processed or "fast". For somebody like me who has eaten badly for damn near 50 years, this is a huge adjustment. And apparently I am moving toward a healthier lifestyle kicking and screaming all the way.

At what point will I grow up, I wonder?

Ye ask ..

. . . and ye shall receive!

THE BOOKS!!!

I finally got the books yesterday. Obviously the one to start with is the that says it's the Complete IDIOT'S Guide - to Glycemic Index Weight Loss. I mean it's a natural fit, ME - and anything that starts with Complete Idiot's Guide. Of course I thumbed through all of them, looked at the pictures, etc. But - I plan to digest (*snort* *digest*) the information slowly. At work all day long I was looking at things like - If R.25 is null, then OBR.04.1 is populated with the value in OBR.26. But if there is a value . . . ugh - it made my brain hurt. It was like Algebra or something! So my job can be intense sometimes, I do believe my eyes twirl on a regular basis.

So given my work day, when I come home I like to relax. My brain, that is. So I will start with the Idiot's guide because it has a lot of explanations and clarifications and hopefully all in idiot form. I want to understand more about what foods are just out and out good, and what foods are okay if eaten with a good food, etc. I need to understand this stuff intuitively so I can start making better food choices without thinking about it.

In the meantime I will keep eating uncomplicated sticks and stones and try to keep it together until I can get more sophisticated in my cooking. I did find a recipe online that looked good to me. Well, maybe except the peppers. And the onions. But I would try them. Okay, maybe I would have to use minced onions, butanyway, what do you think?

10-Minute Marinated Veggie Toss

Serves 6; 1/2 cup per serving

Ingredients
1 14-ounce can quartered artichoke hearts, rinsed and well drained
1/4 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/4 cup packed fresh baby spinach leaves, torn if desired
9 small black olives, halved
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium garlic clove, minced

Directions
In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Let stand for 10 minutes.

For peak flavors, serve immediately after the standing time.

Cook’s Tip: For additional nutrients and color, spoon the salad onto a bed of spinach leaves.

I DO like vinegar. :)