#AdventuresUSA

 I know it's been a while since I dropped anything here.  A lot has happened in my life over the last few years, but that's a story for a different day.

Today, the adventures continue!  Vacation to a place I've never been before.  Did you expect anything less?

Bye for now!

...On Vacation

Wow!  I can't believe it's been over two years since I've posted here.  I need to change that.

I'm headed out on vacation tomorrow for a couple of weeks.  The hubster and I will be touring Northeastern Europe, including a visit to Russia.  I'm really psyched about that.  Stay tuned...pictures will be forthcoming.  I might even share some pictures from previous trips, like the following...

I traveled to Italy in October to celebrate my birthday.  Had a great time and saw some great sites!

Stayed tuned for more adventures!

Winter...

Today I remembered why I don't like pine trees...especially in winter!  It rained most of the night, and the temperature hovered right around the freezing mark most of the night as well.  Keep in mind that I live just outside of Houston, TX, and we don't normally get weather like this (although this has been a weird winter...just sayin'...).

This was what my yard looked like this morning.  Of course, I had to come home from work early to take these pictures since it was dark when I went to work.

 These pictures give you an idea of how much ice was on the tree when it broke.  It didn't warm up enough all day to melt the ice.  When I got home at 4-ish, it was only about 35 degrees.

Thanks to my son, and my neighbor's son, we got it all cleaned up within about an hour.

Now all I need to do is call a tree service to have the brush pile picked up and the tree trimmed up.  If you look closely at a couple of the pictures above, you can tell that I have some limbs that are still hanging and could come crashing down at any time.

We are blessed that nothing landed on the house, and the beautiful oak on the other side of the yard was not damaged.  But I still don't like pine trees!

There is a hidden benefit to this, as weird as it may seem...I did get in an EXTRA workout today, AND I got over 10,000 steps on my pedometer!

The Tomato Sauce Caper

Have you ever wondered what goes into tomato sauce?  Besides the obvious, of course!  I must say, it is labor intensive, but the end result is worth it. 

I spent last weekend making homemade tomato sauce, with the help of my best friend.  We started with…

We cored, we scored, we peeled, we chopped…

And ended up with this…

Of course, when you undertake a project such as this, one must include…

We ended up with two pots of tomatoes, as the one stock pot was not big enough to hold all of the chopped tomatoes.  And then we started to cook the sauce...added salt, pepper, sugar, tomato paste (to thicken it some)…

That's my friend who helped me make the sauce.  I love her! 

And voila!  Sauce!

 
Sunday I canned the sauce…

So at the end of the weekend, I ended up with…

A trash can of tomato parts…

And 14 pints of sauce that I can use as a base for making all sorts of yummy goodness!

And a new use for the box the canning jars come in...

This is Cooper.  Anytime there is an empty box lying around...well, you get the idea!

 
 What is your favorite recipe that uses tomato sauce? Would you ever try to make your own?

...Fluffy

And let me tell you…I don’t like it!

I have no one but myself to blame.  Let’s face it…I got lazy…

No more excuses.  I have to take responsibility for my actions.  I’ve allowed myself to eat like crap and sit around on my butt more often than is good for me.  It stops now!  

Project:  No Fluff is on! 

Actually, it stopped last weekend.  I had my son take before pictures of me, and I was really disappointed in myself when I looked at them.  

Admittedly, I look okay.  But I want to look more than okay.  I want to look fit and muscular.  I want to feel fit and healthy.  Right now I don’t look or feel that way.

Truth. I am in better shape than I have been in the past.

Truth.  I could be in even better shape.

Truth.  I am stronger than I have been in the past.

Truth.  I could be even stronger.

Truth.  I eat pretty healthy.

Truth.  I could eat healthier than I do now.

So…what can I do to move closer to my goals?  What steps should I take?  This is what I’ve come up with so far:

1.  Run 3X per week
2. Strength train 2X per week
3. Prepare my own food most days per week. 

I feel good about this past week.  I ran on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday.  I strength trained on Monday and Wednesday.  Nothing outrageous, mind you, because it’s been quite some time since I’ve strength trained regularly.  I did a full body workout on Monday, and I kept it a little on too much on the light side in order to get my muscles used to the movements.  Wednesday was a short ab/core workout, which combines different sit ups/crunches with pushups.  My triceps were so sore that it hurt to push open the doors of my office building!  And they stayed that way for a couple of days.  My food, as well, was pretty good.  I did buy breakfast and lunch a couple of days, but I tried to stick with items that were as unprocessed as possible.

This week I’m going to run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I will strength train on Tuesday and Thursday.  

I haven’t quite figured out my menu for the week, although I do have a start on it.  Sunday and Monday dinners will be grilled chicken salad and stuffed Ancho peppers with roasted tomatillo salsa, respectively.  I still need to figure out my sides for Monday, though.  Not to mention what I’m going to cook the rest of the week…

Do you have a regular health/fitness routine that you follow?

Do you plan your meals out in advance?

Feel free to share any tips/tricks that you have.  I’m always open to suggestions.