Ughhh...

I am sick, thought at first I was just fighting a cold, now, starting to believe it might have morphed into a sinus infection. Ughhhh..... I can't taste or smell anything. Being sick sucks.

Happy Halloween!!!

It is going to be a fun sugar filled night of trick or treating! The highlight of my day will be dressing little man and taking him out tonight, he gets so excited! Until then, it will be hang out at home and cook soup. I am trying to fight off a major cold and am thinking some wonderful hot soup will help. I am taking a sausage and kale soup recipe from www.prouditaliancook.com and adding a few things that need to be used out of the frig. It should make a yummy and comforting lunch! If it is good, I will post the recipe.

Right now, I am eating what I believe is the child of a navel orange and a ruby red grapefruit. They are delicious!

Heavenly world of pumpkin

I made what started out as pumpkin chocolate bars (I added cranberries and walnuts also), but I over mixed them and was too lazy to get the 9x13 pan down, so they became cake cookie things....they are amazing, I can't stop eating them. My only problem is that they are falling apart! But the broken ones are just as yummy as the whole ones!

Also made some amazing roasted sweet potato soup (added a bit of squash and pumpkin), I have only tasted a little, waiting for dinner to have a bowl with marscapone and bacon on top!

Food, food, and more food

Still on a baking roll this week, so far I made cream cheese banana bread (amazing), more roasted chickpeas, pumpkin donut holes (from www.twopeasandtheirpod.com, so yummy!), pumpkin bread (from www.mybakingaddiction.com, oh yeah pumpkin heaven), chocolate chip bars, roasted acorn squash risotto, and roasted tomato soup (from www.smittenkitchen.com, so good on a cool day!). Hubby and I also made sausage gravy and biscuits yesterday for breakfast.... so it has been a quite a culinary couple of weeks. I have really enjoyed baking and cooking, it has been a nice stress reliever and a lot of fun getting my little angel to help. The key that I have to start doing, is not to eat everything I bake.... it is making maintaining weight a bit challenging if I eat three servings of the yummies I am baking! That is the goal for next week!

Weekly recipe update

It is Sunday, hope to watch some football later, very happy that the Hokies won yesterday!!!! I have been very culinary this week; Wednesday I made apple pie muffins (amazing) and roasted cauliflower soup (OK, but I might look for another recipe, it has too much or not enough of something), Thursday was chocolate chip cookies for my little angel's preschool, Friday I made my husband's family recipe cheesecake (absolutely amazing), and Saturday I made a pumpkin cheesecake (Paula Dean's recipe, just sinful, can't stop eating it) and roasted chickpeas (from www.whatsgabycooking.com, sooooo good). Today I will probably make the roasted chickpeas again, so I have a snack for football! It has been a good baking week!

I am not sure what I will be making next week, but I have some broccoli and cauliflower to use up, maybe try another soup. Also have some squash and mushroom, believe they will go to risotto one day for lunch, and I have some chicken breast thawing out for a good faux fried chicken recipe from http://www.thepioneerwomencooks.com . The fall weather is really hitting me, I love it, all I want to do is walk around outside and enjoy the beautiful crisp air!

Apple pie muffins!

The apple pie muffins are amazing! They made the house smell so good and the muffins themselves were just yummy! The recipe came from http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/. Highly recommended!

Hershey and food

Spent last weekend in Hershey, PA for family birthday party. Grandma is turning 80 and Grandpa is turning 85. It was fun, but family wears me out.... There is a bit of tension between some of the family, but it was really good to see everyone, because no matter what, they are family and I love them! The drive was beautiful, the trees are starting to turn and it was a gorgeous day. Had a great time spending the weekend with Hubby and little man. It was really nice to get out of town and get a change of perspective. On Saturday there is a big fleamarket outside of town, there are lots of Amish farmers and bakers and we ate ourselves silly on whoopie pies, cookies, and cake!

Work is a little frustrating this week, sometimes the politics just get to me. When it got too bad this week, I just thought about the yummy recipes I was going to try this week: roasted cauliflower soup, apple pie muffins, and maybe some chocolate cupcakes! Speaking of, time to preheat the oven!

Food, food, and more yummy food!

The past couple of weeks, hubby and I have been tossing around the idea of opening up a restaurant in the retirement stage of life, granted that is not for around 20 years, but it is best to plan early! Just some fun, nothing to serious, but we love to cook and entertain, so why not?

We have been trying different recipes out and learning to do some basic things. One of the first was fresh whipped cream and homemade caramel sauce. Amazing! The caramel sauce is so good drizzled on ice cream, brownies, pretty much anything we could fine.

Also made a wonderful roast tomato soup, homemade macaroni and cheese, and some tasty cube steak sandwiches. It has been a really good food month! I will post any recipes that are amazing!

Been awhile....

OK, it has been a couple of months since the last post. I can't believe this summer has just flown by, it is already almost October!!! I am happy that the heat is going away, I love fall!

The weight loss journey is at a stall right now. I just can't bring myself to start up WW again. So, I am trying to be mindful about what I am eating and exercising. My goal is to maintain where I am now until I am focused on losing again.

Work is work, nothing too interesting, sometimes I feel like I am back in highschool though (and I did not really like highschool). We are supposed to get a new Tower Ladder truck soon, that will be awesome to be on and play with!

Family is great, little man started preschool (can't believe it!), he loves it! Darling Husband ruptured his Achilles tendon a couple weeks ago, so it has been a very interesting and challenging couple of weeks.

That is all for this post, the next one is going to talk about the food we are trying!

May 31

OK, my first weight goal has been accomplished, 20 pounds down!!!! I am very excited! Also bought my reward books, read Kiss of Snow this morning....words cannot describe how much I loved this book. It was fantastic! Nalini Singh has created the most amazing world and her characters incredible.

Well, since the book rewards have been working pretty good for me, I am going to continue on (I still have 20 -25 pounds more to go!). I will post some more titles next week.

Blah, Blah

Ever feel like the world and the population in general woke up this morning determined to tick you off or grind your last nerve? That is the kind of day it is today. Nothing specific has happened, just irritating in general. I am going to try and limit my interactions with people, until the grumpiness has gone away. It is for the best.

Catch up

Well, it has been over a month since the last post.Busy, busy things going on, nothing too interesting, but time has just flown by. I blink and 2 weeks have gone by! At the beginning of April, I went to an awesome girls weekend in the OBX, love you ladies!!! We had a blast, danced and got crazy the first night, the next day, realized that we just can't hang like in college, so we lazed around most of the day and just talked. It was so great to spend some quality time with my besties!

No new adventures at work, I am currently going through a phase where I keep doing things not efficiently and it is starting to really piss me off. Might be time for a couple of days off. Between the deadlines for my current EMS stuff, new EMS stuff that I am doing, an Instructor 1 class, an ARFF DPO class, trying to study for an EMT Instructor test, and trying to keep track of it all, my brain has decided to check out. Hopefully things will ease up a bit in the next couple of weeks.

Weight loss is going OK, not great, but I haven't gained any back so that is good. I have readjusted my goals a bit, my goal for May 31 is now 20 pounds (instead of 25lbs), honestly, I will be thrilled to hit 20, because that means I lost 20 LBS!!!!!! My newest obsession is Jillian Michael's DVDs (I know that I am about 5 years behind that phenomena, better late than never), I rotate through Kettle bells, Yoga Meltdown, and 30 day Shred. It is awesome, and of course I am going to have to get No More Trouble Zones, and her newest Ripped. I have also read a couple of her books, some decent information. So, I am rotating those at home and at work it is all about bike, an nice quick arm weight work out, and the treadmill. I started incorporating some jogging into the treadmill routine and it feels great (my butt is super sore that night)! My next goal is the Army 10 miler in Oct. I am not looking to make any speed records, just finish and enjoy the run.

I am off to figure out when our dryer is going to get fixed, cause really, hanging the clothes to dry got old 10 days ago!

Books and Weight Loss

I have started an interesting phase in book reading, I discussed fitness memoirs and have been reading those along with my precious paranormal and urban fantasy books. It has been a lot of fun and some of the people are so amusing! Seriously Jen Lancaster would be an awesome friend!
So far, the weight loss plan is going good, I am down to my weight when I got married! Very excited! This week we are at a standstill due to trips and visiting with friends, but next week, back to the grind! I have been doing great with working out, I get at least 30 minutes most days of the week, and I feel stuff is getting easier!

It is going to be an awesome weekend, Girl's Weekend!!!

April 1

Well, it is April Fools Day, I don't know any really good jokes (just really bad ones!). I remember this day was huge when I was younger, especially in middle school, people got me a couple of times, it doesn't help that I am gullible about certain things! As I got older, I am still gullible at times, at other times, I just don't care what people are saying and just go along to get it over with. Probably a bit to much honesty at 0630, but oh well! Off to have coffee!

Workout Plan

I have worked out 2 days in a row! I am very excited about this. I have developed a plan, the next couple of weeks are going to be a warmup period, just to get my body used to actually moving again. Walking on the treadmill, doing some light weights, yoga, etc... I have several different options for home and work, so I am not set in one thing.

My only issue at work is that in the workout room, all the equipment faces a wall of mirrors. There is no TV or anything else either, so you are just going along watching yourself... I have no desire to watch myself on the treadmill, all sweaty and red faced, breathing hard, and hair sticking up like The Bride of Frankenstein, it just is not pretty. To overcome this, I pick the treadmill closest to the door, the door partially blocks the mirror, so I only see half the sweaty mess!

Good times.

Blah, blah, and more blah...

Here I am, sitting at work, wondering if 8 pm is too early to go to bed. Considering it was not a challenging day, I think 8 pm is a bit too early. I have a pile of stuff I should be doing, but completely lack the motivation. It is just one of those days that I want to do something, but I don't want that something to be anything I have to do. Ughhh.... it is a conumdrum.

Weight Loss Update

It has been awhile since I discussed the weight loss journey, I am doing pretty good. I love the new Weight Watchers Program, it is awesome to eat all the fruit and most of the veggies you want for 0 points! As of this morning, I am down 15 pounds!!! It is very exciting, I am almost down to the weight I was when I got married, that is not my final goal, but an important milestone for me!

I am also sticking to my reward plan and not reading the new books until I reach the corresponding weight. I am very proud of myself for this, I am not one known for delayed gratification (I believe it is highly overrated, I mean what good is it to be an adult, when you make yourself wait for something you want?! This presents an ongoing problem for my darling husband and gift buying, he is constantly stating that he can't buy me anything because I usually just buy it for myself when I see it. It is a flaw that I am working on!). Anyway, things are going really good. I am going to start incorporating working out into the program this week.

Speaking of food, I am off to eat a banana or something!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am actually off today, probably the first St. Patrick's Day in years and what am I going to be doing?! Not much....at least not much party-wise. I am trying to remember some previous St. Patty's celebrations, but a lot of them are a bit green tinted hazy. Oh, college... good times. Tonight, I might make some green beer for hubby and me later, to go with our corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes, but that is about it. I am attempting my first ever corned beef, so far it is easy, I put it in the slow cooker and it is doing it's thing. Hopefully it will be good! So, whatever you are doing, have a great green day!

The Bane of my Life: Cleaning

Cleaning is a necessary evil for me. I am not one of those people who clean when they are stressed (not sure if they are blessed or cursed), when I am stressed, I like to bury my head in a book. I am also not one of those people who enjoy cleaning, cannot even fathom that one. I guess it just is a never ending cycle and that really irritates me sometimes. I mean take laundry for example, it is never done, you do loads and loads of laundry, think that you are finished, and then poof, you go to bed and there is more laundry to be done the next day. Same with the dishes, unless you eat on paper plates and use disposable silverware (I have thought long and hard about switching), there is alway more dishes to be done. I can't even get away from cleaning at work, I have to clean there too. Ughhhhh....

OK, rant over, back to cleaning.

Book Reviews: Useful?

I admit that I read book reviews, even the ones with spoilers. I can't seem to help it, especially if it is a book that I am on the fence about reading. There are several authors and series that I don't usually read the reviews because no matter what, I will be buying their books or am committed to the series, a good example is Laurell K. Hamilton. A fair amount of people have not been thrilled with her latest in the Anita Blake series, but I love her work and that series and will continue to buy them until she stops writing it! But besides those few authors that I buy no matter what, I tend to read reviews. I do take a grain of salt with any review, after all it is that person's opinion and they may care about situations and stuff that I do not.

This post came about yesterday, when I was reading some reviews about a book that was on my To Be Read list and just came out. After reading the reviews, I have decided to put off on buying the book, I will probably read it eventually, but not right now. The reviews highlighted certain events in the book that I know would bother me and generally piss me off. It is a little easier for me to decide not to read this book right now, because I am not invested in the series, there have only been 2 other books. I read for enjoyment and to escape real life for awhile, I try not to read stuff that will irritate me. I am very much a comedy, adventure, romance girl, I don't tend to go for the drama or depressing stuff (I am that way with movies too).

That got me thinking what other deal breakers (with books) I have come across and realized the biggest one is cliff hanger endings. I understand the overall story arc from the series being left unresolved, but it bothers me when most of the main story is left unresolved, it is kinda like that To Be Continued 2 part TV show that seem to always end the season. What I have started doing is if I know about the ending, I wait to buy the book until the next one comes out, buy both of them, and then read them both as 1 big book.

I know that some people would say that it ruins the experience of reading the book and it is all about the journey, but it doesn't ruin anything for me, I still enjoy every minute and every page.

Anyway, that is my opinions on book reviews and how I use them. Now I am off to read!

The mess kids make and other misc stuff

I am sitting on my coach trying to find a free patch of carpet to look at and wonder how my wonderful son could possible make such a mess! He manages to pull and dump things that are almost his size or more, I just don't understand. Oh, well, he does seem to make a bigger mess when he is home with hubby by themselves, maybe it is the destructive male nature or mommy just cleans up after him more. Questions to ponder another time.

It is President's Day, holidays have kind of lost something for me, I think it is because I don't get them off of work. It does not matter what day it is, I still have to be at work. The work of firefighting and emergency services is a 24/7 job and there are no breaks. It is worth it to help people, but sometimes I miss my holidays.

I was looking in the mirror the other day and realized the gray was slowly winning across the front of my hair. I got my first gray hair at 16, so I am used to them to a certain extent. I have met my threshold and am investigating at home solutions. I would love to say that I would go to a salon every six weeks or so and get it done professionally, but that is not going to happen. I have a hard enough time getting my hair cut more than once or twice a year, I know that I will never do the upkeep for professional color. It would be easy to blame that on having kids, but I never did it before either! So, we will see how it goes, I will write about the experience!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, whether you have a significant other or not, enjoy some chocolate and celebrate that all the good chocolate will be 50% off tomorrow! I have conflicted feelings about this holiday (most of the time, it isn't even on my radar, except seeing all the candy), on one hand, it is nice and romantic with all the pretty flowers and hearts and chocolate, but I don't think you should have to wait for a holiday for romance or to be romantic. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy flowers and chocolate (chocolate happens to be one of my favorite food groups!), but ordering flowers or buying a box of chocolate is relatively easy, I feel real romance is a bit more complicated. My husband has gotten me flowers before and I love them, they let me know that he is thinking about me, but the gestures that I really love are the things that he does that I know he doesn't like, but still does them anyway for me. One great example is while on a trip to NYC, he went on the Sex and the City tour with me....  really, he went on it and sat through all 3 hours of it as part of my birthday present (I love SATC!). It was fantastic and he was such a good sport about it! So our fabulous plans for tonight consist of ordering take-out, maybe Chinese or Italian or Greek, and hanging out at home with our son. Exciting... maybe not....but it works for us!

Happy times!

I hit -8 pounds today!!!  Very excited, bundled up my little angel and went to Borders, bought Archangel's Consort and Loose Ends, finally! But, before I dove into the books, I figured I had better write a post. I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with my book goals and not buying the books until I lost my goal poundage, it seems to be working pretty good. A cookie just doesn't compare to a new book. Not sure why I didn't think of this years ago....

In other news, trying to finalize the Girl's Weekend plans, very excited, can't wait to see my ladies! Researching hotels now. We also have these e-mail threads going on, it is so great, I feel more connected to my BFFs than I have in awhile and I love it! I think everyone having a smart phone or the equivalent really helps, just jot a quick email from anywhere and boom.

Work is ... work. Haven't run any cool calls lately, which is a good thing for the general public, but kinda bored. I need to practice with the chainsaws, so that is my goal for next week. I did figure out a good way to start them, use the weight of the chainsaw to your advantage, work smarter not harder! (Honestly, no matter what, it is pretty awesome to say I am going to work and play with chainsaws!)

The darling boy is doing good, his newest thing is to say, OK, or uh-huh and nuh-huh. It is really cute, he is also doing so good on his letters! He points to signs and says the letters he sees.

Everything going good, family goal for today, get the Christmas decorations down and put away... yeah, I know, we are THOSE people, oh, well.

Off to dive into Archangel's Consort and eat my salad!

5 pounds down!

I am very excited this morning, over 5 pounds down! Yay for me! Not quite the 8 that would get me the three books that came out today, but I do get to go to Borders and buy the two 5 pound books, Killing Rocks and Mercy Blade. Maybe a latte also, been loving the sugar free vanilla nonfat ones lately!

Finally feeling better!

Finally got on some antibiotics last week, and guess what?! My face doesn't feel like it is going to explode anymore, the sinus infection is getting beat down! Yay!!!! Going to try and actually work out tomorrow, we will see how that goes.

Weight Watchers is going good, the new Points Plus Program is pretty awesome, especially because I can do it on my phone! We will find out Tues, if I get to go buy my books that come out that day, come on -8 pounds.

The Week of Sickness

I have finally had enough of being sick, was sick over Christmas, lasted a week, got better, came to work and got sick again, hopefully this sinus hell will be over this week!

On the plus side, I did finish 4 of my 'currently reading books' last week, so I can start on some more!

Also decided to take the plunge and join Weight Watchers Online, I can't handle the meetings, but the online program is pretty awesome, especially with a smart phone! They have revamped their program and I actually don't feel homicidally (not a word, but I really like it!) hungry all the time, so I have hope that this will be successful!

Another positive has been making plans for the girls weekend! Woohoo, finally get together with my ladies!

Working Out

Or maybe I should say the pain that is 30 minutes a day. Wow, just started working out again, it really hit home that I needed to go back to the gym when after playing with chainsaws for awhile the other day at work, I could barely lift my arm the next day! It was pretty eye opening. So, yesterday, I did Jillian Michaels Shred-It with Kettlebells and today was her Yoga Meltdown... I am so sore. The yoga one particularily kicked my butt. But tomorrow it will be the kettlebells again!

Finishing books

It is time again to work on finishing the 8 books that I am in the middle of reading. I have this habit of reading multiple books at once, usually it is easy to maintain, but when the number gets this high, I have to take a step back and finish several of them before starting new ones! So the new goal for this week is to finish at least 4 of the 'currently reading' books. I believe that sounds like an excellent plan and am going to start immediately!

Book Review: The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater

The Spirit Rebellion (The Legend of Eli Monpress #2) by Rachel Aaron
The Spirit Eater (The Legend of Eli Monpress #3) by Rachel Aaron

So after reading the first book, The Spirit Thief, I went out and bought #2 and #3 the next day, I had to continue the adventures of Eli and his friends! The books didn't disappoint, The Spirit Rebellion picks up right after The Spirit Thief ends and you get to see the resulting fall out. Eli, of course, ends up smelling like roses and enjoying a boost in bounty. A bit more of his past is revealed and an multi-book story arc develops more.

The overarching story arc blossoms in The Spirit Eater, which delves into Nico's past and current complications. The interactions between the main characters is more intimate (not in a romantic way) and their histories, both individually and as a group, are told. Several new characters are introduced and explored more in this book and hopefully will play a bigger role in the upcoming The Spirit War.

Throughout both books, there was a lot of fun and interesting adventures and succeeded in staying an extremely enjoyable read! Can't wait for #4 to come out!

Book Review: The Spirit Thief

The Spirit Thief (The Legend of Eli Monpress #1) by Rachel Aaron

I am a sucker for a great adventure story, especially with a not your typical main character. Eli is a thief, the greatest thief in the world. With his friends, the swordsman Josef, and the demonseed Nico, Eli is trying to up the bounty on his head, why not steal a king?!

I have been wanting to read this book for awhile, and it didn't disappoint. It was a really fun, enjoyable read. It is not a romance, and there are no sex scenes, instead it is a fantasy filled with witty dialogue, fun characters, and a fascinating world. The adventures that Eli and his friends endure are intriguing and at times laugh out loud funny. Eli is a great main character with enough mystery to keep you interested and wanting to know more. The secondary characters, Josef, Nico, Miranda, and Gin have their own issues and pasts that start to catch up to them in the middle of the current adventure. I can't wait to read the next two books in the series, The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater, I plan on going out to buy them today!

The author's website is: http://www.rachelaaron.net/, there is also sample chapters and excerpts to enjoy!

Beans

One of my newest cooking obsessions is beans. Last year at work, one of my coworkers made a pot of beans and they were fantastic! Since then, I have tried a couple of bean creations, the other day they worked out really good. Super simple, a pound of Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained, a frozen hamhock, a chopped onion, spoonful of garlic, salt and pepper, and water. Everything in the pot, covered and low and slow for a couple of hours. They turned out so good!

Weight loss goals and rewards

There are quite a few books coming out this year from my favorite authors. I decided to use these as rewards for a weight loss goal. Instead of using food as reward (kind of defeats the purpose), I have set out goals according to book release dates and will not buy the books until I reach the corresponding weight goal!

It was working out pretty good until the two weeks around Christmas. I have tweeked the goals and it works out to be about 1 pound loss per week, which I believe is completely doable! The end date as of now is May 31, the release date of Kiss of Snow (Nalini Singh) and Magic Slays (Ilona Andrews), the two books I am looking forward to the most this year. Here are the goals and corresponding books:

Jan 11:  5 pounds

            -Mercy Blade

           -Killing Rocks

Jan 25: 8 pounds

            - River Marked

            -Archangel’s Consort 

            -Loose Ends

Feb 1:  9 pounds

            - Shot Through Velvet

            -Blood Wyne

Feb 15: 11 pounds

            - Dreams of a Dark Warrior

March 1: 13 pounds

            - Late Eclipse

            -Iron Crowned

            -It Happened One Bite

March 29: 17 pounds

            - Con & Conjure

April 5: 18 pounds

            - Dark Enchantment

            -Eternal Kiss

April 26: 21 pounds

            - Tangled Threads

May 3: 22 pounds

            - Hard Bitten

May 31: 25 pounds

            -Kiss of Snow

-Magic Slays

Books, books, and more books

I have added my Shelfari "I am currently reading" list, as can be seen, I am usually in the middle of a couple of books at once. Some of these I am re-reading and whenever I finish a book, I will post a little review about it. Reading is one of my greatest pleasures and I enjoy a variety of genres!

I also added a countdown widget on the side, this one is from one of my favorite authors Nalini Singh! I will probably add more if they become available.

New Years Resolutions

I made several New Year's Resolutions this year. The first is to finally lose the baby weight (this is a joint goal with my husband also) and get back into shape, it will take hard work and perseverance, but I have faith and believe it will happen! I am also planning on doing this while expanding my cooking repertoire. It will not only help when I am running after my almost 2 year old, but also in my career, the fire service is nothing if not physically demanding.

The second is to not feel like I have to do everything all the time; at work and at home. This one will be challenging (maybe even more than the weight), but it will be well worth it. Giving myself a break and just enjoying parts of the day, even just 5 minutes, will help me be more productive in everything.

The third is to finally get together with my best girlfriends for our girl's weekend! It has been too long and we really need to have some girl time and catch up on everything that has happened in our lives the past couple of years (preferably over some wine)!

First Ever Blog

Alright, decided to take the plunge and start a blog. I know, I am about 10 + years late, but it is the right time for me. This blog will be about family, friends, motherhood, books, work, and the interesting situations with all of them. It is 2011 and we will see what kind of adventures we have!