Green Acres: Spring has Sprung!

I grew up with a garden. My father always grew some tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and green beans. Both of my grandfathers (maternal and paternal) grew backyard gardens, too. 

I learned at a young age that horse manure was gold and if you wanted to yield a fruitful garden the more shit, the better. 

Real Food: Chicken Something

We are in the midst of our 2nd Advocare 24 Day Challenge. The first 10 days is a "cleanse" so the idea is to not eat anything processed. 

You eat whole food meals. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and complex carbohydrates.

That means eliminating particular foods (but not limited to):

It's a Lifestyle: Better than Mom's Cooking!

We went to NY this past weekend for our Niece's wedding. It was so much fun to go and enjoy family time. 

The trip was short but well worth it!

We took lots of pictures with our new #selfiestick. 

We really had a lot of fun! 

*****

Part of the requisite of visiting home is to indulge on phenomenal food. 

We spent more time in the car than we did visiting and doing stuff - but, we did eat!!

1. I had a slice of Pizza and an Eggplant Parmesan hero
2. I had Zeppoles
3. I had Rice & Beans with Steak
4. I had an Empenada
5. I had Fried Chicken Wings
6. I had a Leggios Hero
7. I had a Cinnamon & Raisin Bagel w/ Cream Cheese 
8. I had a couple hunks of Italian Bread
9. Not to mention, Subway and Zaxby's on the ride up. 

I weighed myself today...

I lost 2 lbs this week. 

Since January we drastically changed our eating habits - but going home is a treat and we definitely "treated" ourselves to some awesome food. We stuck with our #Advocare regimen while we traveled and got right back on the meal plan wagon when we got home (I did have some leftover Rice & Beans for lunch on Monday tongue emoticon ).

Green Acres: Spring is near!

Every year I put together a mental list of major purchases for things I would like to have. Sometimes I'm due for some new electronic devices. Sometimes I have plans for a large kitchen appliance. Maybe a new furniture set or TV.

One of my major purchase plans for this year was to pick up a rototiller. I would prefer to have a donkey and a plow, but given the age we live in and some of the conveniences that are available - at this point a rototiller is more practical and less time consuming.

Not to mention - WE (get it? WE!!!) only plan on tilling a maximum of 100 feet to garden - for this year <insert devilish chuckle here>.

The weather is starting to break and the growing season starts a little earlier in North Carolina than it does in New York (my Grandfather would not plant anything until just before Memorial Day). 

I plan on getting stuff in the ground by the end of April. 

But, one does not just put stuff in the ground!  Not if you're a seasoned farmer, like me!!

NOOO!!! I have to fertilize the soil. It has to be tilled a couple times and then fertilized again. Then WE till it some more!!

And when I say fertilizer... I don't mean some chemicals you buy in a bag... I mean with shit. Lots of shit! Horse shit, cow shit, llama shit... plus the compost that we've been building all winter long. In case you missed it, WE till the soil - I fertilize the soil. Aboy don't fuck with the shit. 

Yessir! We are going to have a garden of abundance this year!!

Tonight I scratched Tiller off the major purchase list. 

I went to the Tractor Supply in Rural Hall. 

Now you KNOW I live in the country if I have to go to a store in a town called Rural Hall! Oh and the 2010 census has the population of Rural Hall listed at 2,937 residents. Pretty rural considering it's only 10 minutes out of Winston Salem!

I walked around a little bit and eyed some chicks. They weren't sexed yet and my Aunt Lori told me I don't want to buy chicks that aren't sexed because I could end up with a bunch of roosters... but that's more for a later post!

So yeah, back to the Tiller... isn't she a beaut?

I'm not sure what this means - but apparently (according to the sales guy), "it's got good horses for the money!" He also told me to "put Hi-Test Petrol in it"... 

I just widened my eyes and watched his lips move to make sure I was hearing him correctly. His southern drawl was a little thick. 

Just think "Bubba". 

I have to tell you though - the fucking thing is heavy as a shitload of bricks! It wasn't so bad getting it loaded on the back of the truck because "Bubba" did most of the heavy lifting and pushing.

I was "Bubba" when I got to the house.

My hours at the gym are paying off though and I didn't drop it... and only cursed a couple times - out loud. I did get dirty... which is some bullshit because I wasn't in my "get dirty" clothes.

So, I got her off the truck and this is where she'll sit until Aboy comes home so WE can start with the flower beds!

Have a good night Yaw'll!! 

Time for me to fetch some vittles!

Journal Entry: Zumba - Aye Carumba!

Some of yous may have forgotten (or maybe yous didn't even know)... I took dance lessons with Ms. Kay and Mrs. Cousins from Kindergarten until 9th grade. My specialty was Tap Dancing and then later, I started doing Tap, Ballet and tried Toe Dancing, too.

I'm also married to a black man. That means there is a lot of pressure on me to show my rhythmic side. Every major family event (BBQ's, Reunions, etc...) includes some form of music and alcohol, which we all know = get up and dance!

My hey-day of the club scene was in the 80's. We did a lot of drinking and a lot of dancing in the 80's. I enjoyed every bit of it. We had great dance music and a bevvy of styles to choose from.

And here we are today. 

Now, I Zumba.

They offer Zumba classes at the YMCA I go to. I mostly make the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday classes because of my work schedule. It's a lot of fun and it's really helping me with my general overall body toning.

I laugh a lot. I make up my own moves when they do shit I physically can't do (remember the trick hip?). I've made some "gym friends". It's a great time. I guess you could call it the modern day club scene for middle-aged women!

******

The other night, we had a substitute instructor.

Have you ever watched the movie "Bring it on"? Basically, it's about 2 cheerleading squads. One squad has been stealing the other's routine for years and once it has been brought to the attention of the Captain that their routine was stolen, she goes out and hires a consultant to help them construct a new routine.

It's a Teeny-Bopper type movie - but, if you're bored, it's cute.

So anyways, the consultant tells them to use Spirit Fingers throughout the entire routine and SMILE!

The squad gets to Nationals and realizes this consultant has been instructing other squads with the same exact routine.

I told you that to tell you this.....

I mentioned the other night we had a substitute instructor. I swear on all things holy - she is the Consultant from Bring it On.

I am compelled throughout the entire Zumba work out to use my spirit fingers. None of her routines flow - so we all look like we're doing our own thing. She smiles and stares into space as if she's making the shit up as she goes along.

I just do a lot of this:

I'm not being mean because it is a great class in the fact there is a lot of jumping around, my heart rate stays elevated and I sweat... but I cannot for the life of me get the Spirit Fingers image out of my head!

I really wish I could have worn a body camera. Everyone at different points ended up doing what came natural. 

*****

On a serious note - if you are looking for a way to get out of the house, move your body and make new friends - find a Zumba class. You don't necessarily need rhythm - you just have to have a good sense of humor!

And my Latino/a friends and family will be proud of how I hold us down with my Merenque, Salsa, Rumba and Mambo moves!!! 

Andale, Andale! Arriba, Arriba! 

It's a Lifestyle: 60 Day Check-In

What's up Party People??

J/K! I am just so amped about how great I feel. Plus, I did my measurements this morning and it's all good in the 'hood! 

Woop! Woop!

If you've been following along with my dysfunctional life - you know that I made a few New Year's commitments. Part of the New Year, New Me determination was to lose #50poundsBy50years and I am happy to report that it is March and I am on a great path to achieve that goal.

On January 7th, I began that journey doing the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. I lost 11 pounds in 24 days. Well, today is day 60. I continued to use the Advocare products and I'm happy to report my total weight loss to date is 17 pounds.

Now, that number may not sound like much - so let me explain why.

As part of the New Year, New Me initiative, I also joined a gym. I have yo-yo dieted most of my life and over the years have not just lost weight but a lot of muscle mass as I put my body through different starvation methods to drop some pounds.

So, 17 pounds lost would probably equate to 30 pounds lost if I wasn't building all this lean muscle.

The truth is in the measuring tape. I have lost 33 inches off my body. Notably 6.5" off my waist and 4.25" off my chest. My thighs are losing their saddlebags, sag and old lady dents.

I think what is the most phenomenal change... and I'll have to give you some history before I disclose what I am witnessing...

As yous know, I claim Caucasian on the "what race do you identify with" surveys. I have been afflicted by a genetic deficiency... most specific to white women (although I have seen other races / ethnicities that suffer as well)... 

It is called "NoAssAtAll"....

Yup! I admit it - I have a pretty extensive "back".

No ass; just back.

The conversation generally goes like this:

Me: "Aboy - how does my ass look in these jeans?"
Aboy: "You mean your back?"


Yeah. Like that.

Well, guess what Exercise + Advocare = ???

ASS!!!

I texted this pic to my Cousin Kathy the other day. She didn't believe it was my ass! I had to send her the full picture for her to believe me! Even then - she thought it was a butt pad! 

This is 100+ squats a week. I started off slow, but hard work is paying off! I am lifting and separating - all over my body!

So - now you know why I've only lost 17 pounds! I'm building muscles YO!!

I am not prepared to show you my total before and after pics. I want to get a little closer to my weight loss goal before I do that. 

I have another blog post to follow on how I stay on my meal plan and motivation to work out.

In saying that, I have to wrap up this post because my Line Dancing Class & Zumba Class are starting shortly and I don't want to miss it!

Make it a great one!

It's a lifestyle: One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta

I'm all for easy. One pot easy is an even bigger win.

I found this recipe on Pinterest last week and told Aboy I was going to make it this weekend. 

I picked up the fresh ingredients after we left the gym yesterday. 

Yous know we prep the week of food the day before Aboy has to go back out - so, this seemed like a nice dinner (meatless), plus given the amount of ingredients, some extra for the rest of the week. 

It was simple, but I tweaked the recipe a little bit because Aboy is not a huge fan of peas. 

The original recipe is here 

I beat to my own drum - so this is what I did...

In the pot:

About 6 cups of water (because there was so much food in the pot)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 lb of Spaghetti (I used brown rice pasta - I think the next time I will use wheat)

8 oz container of cremini mushrooms (sliced)

2 sprigs of thyme

1 lb chopped spinach (frozen)

2 large zucchinis

Salt & Pepper and a couple shakes of Sazonador Total (which, BTW - is my new favorite seasoning)

Sauce:

Parmesan Cheese (I didn't measure this - I'm Italian... we don't measure Parmesan)

1/4 cup of heavy cream

Just like the instructions said - I threw it all into the pot - let it boil down until it had reduced to hardly any liquid. 

Then I added the cheese and cream, stirred it up - let it cook for another 2 minutes and turned off the heat. 

We took out Mahi Mahi earlier, so I baked that (with a pesto glaze) and Waa-Laa!!! Sunday Dinner!

Indoor Crafts: Loom Knit Hat & Scarf

Many of you that know me personally or if you have been following along with my blog understand that I have a need to stay busy. I multi-task for a living. It is my nature to have multiple things going on at one time.

"Idle time is the devil's play." - Mark Dayton

So, I keep busy. 

All the time. 

Something else that I have discovered about myself over the years - I have an equal Left and Right Brain. This just means that I have an analytic side and a creative side... equally. I can write technical manuals, but then I can illustrate them and add visual content. I don't know if it's a gift, genetic or learned - but, I embrace it. A lot of people are either one or the other. 

+++++

It's winter. The house usually stays pretty clean (because I'm in it all day long)... but, I need other things to do, too. 

Over the vacation - Michaels had a great sale on yarn. 

I picked up A LOT of yarn.

+++++

I am from New York. I don't talk to strangers. I was taught that from a very young age. 

I live in North Carolina. Southerners are social people. They will just spark up a conversation about the most random shit, just because. 

So, while I was in the yarn aisle (MINDING MY BUSINESS)... a native sparked up a conversation about the yarn. 

In my head, I had my own internal conversation:

"Oh boy! Here we go!... She's probably going to end up asking me what church I go to."

I nipped on the bait and my external voice participated. During the conversation, she mentioned that her church loom knits hats for cancer patients and that is why she was filling up her "buggy" (that's what southerners call a "cart") with yarn. A very noble cause, to say the least. 

Then... she asked me "What church do you go to?" 

I changed the subject back to yarn and asked her how to loom knit. 

She pointed out the looms she uses and said YouTube had a lot of videos and it was so easy to just follow along. 

I had a 50% off coupon for any regularly priced item and picked up the loom kit. 

This is my latest creation:

Pretty cool, right?

Hopefully I can crank out some more hats before summer gets here!

My new favorite toy!

Over the holidays I took a nice long vacation. 

I had high hopes and big plans on all these things I was going to get done in the yard. Mother Nature had a different plan. If it wasn't raining, it was below freezing. Needless to say, I spent almost all of my time in the house - getting acquainted with our nice comfy sofa. 

I finished up a couple of crochet projects I had started and watched almost every movie on demand that held my interest. 

I also watched a bunch of info-mercials.

I picked up a Nutribullet RX (LOVE IT!! - Different post about that, soon!).

I also put in a request to Aboy that I wanted the One Second Slicer. It's frickin awesome! It is a BOGO deal (1 for the house, 1 for the truck). It is worth every penny!

There is a slicer piece, a dicing piece and a cubing piece. Pushing it through is so easy and clean up is running over it with a bottle brush and rinsing it out. It also has a cover to store the contents.

I love it!

If you are trying to eat healthier and don't like the time and effort it takes to prepare your food - this makes it so much easier!  I cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions to top my salad - in less than 5 minutes - including the clean up! 

I cannot wait for summer to come with all the stuff from our garden. 

The plastic and blades are not flimsy and it stores nicely because all the pieces stack. 

Look what Frank (Shady) dragged in!

I'm in the midst of my morning rituals, the dogs wanted to go outside a second time. I let them out and got back to my normal routine. 

Ed started barking at the door, he was ready to come in. Weeshy was sitting there with him so I had to call Frank to come in the house. 

Frank came barreling in (as usual) and Weeshy started chasing him around the living room. He jumped on my chair and I could see something hanging out of his mouth... a very long tail!

OMG! OMG! OMG!  

Naturally, I started screaming as that is my instinctive reaction to rodents and snakes. I scared the shit out of Frank and he dropped it. It landed on the floor by my side of the sofa. Weeshy tried to grab it - so between the screams, I chased the dogs away. 

Now, Nuisance got a wiff of it and wanted to get it too.

Frank was scared shitless (from the screams), so he ran in my office. Weeshy was perched on Aboy's side of the sofa and I had to pick up Nuisance because he went into predator mode. 

First thought (after all that)... how the fuck am I supposed to get this nasty shit out of here?

Conversation with myself:

"You can pick it up with a C-Town Bag... EWWW!!!"
"Get a shovel!... Yeah, Yeah - a shovel!"

I am still holding Nuisance. Frank is still in freaked-out mode in my office and I chased Weeshy away. I walked outside to get a shovel (Nuisance under my arm), come back in the house and Weeshy has the fucking thing on my side of the sofa!  

Instincts kick in, so I start screaming again.

Weeshy got freaked out and ran.

I knocked the nasty fucker on the floor with the shovel (Nuisance is still under my arm). I then did a quick rendition of the heebie-jeebie dance. 

I put Nuisance down and scooped up the mouse, got it outside and put it in the trash (so no one else gets the temptation to bring it back inside). 

I sprayed everything within a 10 foot radius with disinfectant.

I guess after breakfast I'll put on my hazard gear and sanitize the entire living area because of the contamination!

This can't possibly be what life on a farm is supposed to be like!

An offer you can't refuse: Stacking Coupons

If you're not familiar with "stacking" - it is a great way of combining a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon to save additional money. If you take that combination and add it to a store sale... JACKPOT!!

Some grocery stores, drug store chains and big box stores offer store coupons.

A few weeks ago I went to Target and stumbled on this great deal:

Target had a sale on L'Oreal Hair Color



I had a Target coupon + a Manufacturer's coupon



The Target coupon was actually for $2 off (misprint from the Target website).

My total out of pocket was $1.99 each - plus tax.