May W.I.S.H. Goals-A Little Bit of Mayhem

[Oneanne]

Not sure about woohoos at the moment, just feeling a bit overtired from work. But I did leave early enough to go to the gym yesterday and while it was challenging, it was also refreshing for my mind. So, I guess that's a woohoo.

And on to Thankful Thursday: I am thankful that I live in a free country and get to vote in a fair election this weekend. Today the UK and the Netherlands start voting in the European Parliament, the other countries will follow over the coming days, Germany is among those who vote on Sunday. Every country gets to vote on their typical election day, I think @HappyGrape's turn is tomorrow in Ireland. I am volunteering for polling station duty and counting votes on Sunday. I did this a couple years ago for the German parliament elections as well and am really looking forward to it. The polling station I am allocated to is usually not very busy and it is nice to see democracy in action. Germany just uses paper ballots and for the EP election the ballot paper is very long, 40 different parties! So counting those three foot long papers will be a special kind of fun!

Oh how I miss going to a polling place to vote... we're all mail-in now, except that there are also ballot drop boxes scattered around, so that's what I do. With any luck there's a line up at the drop-box, so I can get at least a tiny feeling of community.

 

[Oneanne]

Digging deep for some gratitude this morning... I woke up with a sore throat and thick head, which is usually indicative of a cold coming on, dang it. I'm going to cancel going to my Sister's and plan on sticking around the house over the holiday weekend.

Oh, there's the first thing to be thankful for: I have time off already planned, so if I do end up being sick I can just chill at home and not worry. I am also thankful that I'm getting said cold now and not in a couple weeks.

I'm too am thankful that I get to go to Disney, and also enjoy planning my trips. I changed a few things around yesterday, making sure I have a long enough window for my mid-day resort (nap) breaks. How old am I, that napping while at Disney is my highest priority?

I'm thankful for ant traps. Tuesday I noticed some tiny little ants around the cat food dishes, and tracked them back to the front porch. Yesterday I went to the hardware store to see what the options were and found little traps and have put six around the door, the path to the food and around where the food is. There weren't any ants around this morning, so that's promising. We'll see what's going on tonight. Do ants sleep? Where they maybe just not up and about yet this morning?

 

[Zhoen]

I'm thankful for ant traps. Tuesday I noticed some tiny little ants around the cat food dishes, and tracked them back to the front porch. Yesterday I went to the hardware store to see what the options were and found little traps and have put six around the door, the path to the food and around where the food is. There weren't any ants around this morning, so that's promising. We'll see what's going on tonight. Do ants sleep? Where they maybe just not up and about yet this morning?

You also can try sprinkling ground cinnamon around wherever you think they are entering... supposedly they can't cross it (caustic) or smell the trails over the scent. That's what they recommend to keep ants out of beehives (where you can't use other chemicals...) (Ps- I hope you feel better soon!)

Hello, Dearies!!!

I think my biggest woohoo for the week would be that Busch Gardens is offering a free visit for veterans next month, so we are hoping to take advantage of that. Alas, I'm talking Williamsburg, not Florida, but still it's a getaway... I haven't really started planning it yet, so no details to share yet.

For thankfuls, yesterday was the annual Blue Angels performance for the Naval Academy graduation, with a practice day before that... so I am thankful that all the traffic from that is *OVER!!!* The actual graduation isn't until tomorrow, and there's stuff going on today, too, I think, but those things are 5 miles away, and quiet... the jets are so noisy... I did get to see them a little yesterday as I was running errands, though, and I can say that I am thankful to live in a place where fighter jets flying in formation right over my head are a cause for smiles, not fear...

I'm also thankful for scoopable cat litter, because... kittens...

 

[sjrec]

Happy Friday, everyone! With the nicer weather I thought I would share a dish to bring to picnics and cookouts.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/tomato-salad-with-cheese-crisps-recipe-1973515

Because heirloom tomatoes aren’t really good yet, I substitute those little multi colored grape tomatoes, cutting them in half. And while the cheese crisps are tasty, it’s just as good without them.

 

[HappyGrape]

quick post on foodie friday

Chicken fajita bowls

Pulled chicken & beans

1tbsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp mild chilli powder
1bsp dried oregano
780g skinless chicken breast fillets
1 large red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped (I used two pointy peppers as I like them better)
400g of chopped tomatoes or passata
400g tin black beans (I used burlotti and it worked great as that's what I had)

In bowl add spices and oregano. Add the chicken, season well and toss to coat.
In large pan hit 5g of oil, add chicken and cook for few minutes. Add passata and cook on low/medium for 10/15 minutes. Add beans and peppers and cook on low until the chicken is easy to shred using fork

Rice
Cook rice or choice as per instructions. I used wholegrain basmati this week and it takes about 27 minutes to cook

Salsa
chopped tomatoes
red onion
coriander (cilantro in us)
lime zest
lime
chopped jalapenos
salt & pepper


I used 1/4th of the meal, 100g cooked rice and salad size of the salsa 5g of olive oill and it made a hearty meal for 535 calories in total.

I cook this sometimes when we want beef bowls and would recommend the recipe

https://www.skinnytaste.com/barbacoa-beef/

 

[PollyannaMom]

Catching up:

My woohoo this week is actually DS's. - He had his last full day of high school yesterday!!

I'm thankful that it's finally time to plant things here (I bought three pre-started tomato plants today ) and that DH will be home today from a work trip!

No Foodie Friday entry for me. I've been slacking off this week (see "DH" and "work trip" ) and the most complex thing I did was crumble FlipSides crackers over fish and bake it.

 

[Flossbolna]

Good Morning everyone!! Has the new-looking DIS scared everyone away?

I had a stressful weekend with working on Saturday and volunteering on Sunday. I am thrilled however, that voter turnout in Germany was up over 12% in the European Parliament election compared to 5 years ago. And with stress eating is always iffy...

On to a new week! With better choices and more exercise!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Good Morning everyone!! Has the new-looking DIS scared everyone away?

No, I love it!! (And I'm usually slow to adapt to changes, but I'm really enjoying the new look and features.) - I also realized exactly how dependent I am on the DIS as part of my morning routine! I was lost without it yesterday.

Healthy-living-wise, I'm happy with my progress today. I tend to get a little lazy when DH is away for work, and eat all the salty things he's supposed to avoid. Now that he's home, I'm back on track.

 

[HappyGrape]

I love the new look too!

 

[sjrec]

 

[sjrec]

Good morning, everyone!
I like the new look of the Dis, but have to explore the new features.

It was a crazy, busy weekend-today is a good day to get back into a routine. I like how Flossbolna put it-better choices and more exercise!

 

[Flossbolna]

Did you see that there are now more choices than just to like a post? You can laugh, be sad, angry etc!!

 

[cobbler]

to the thread!

You sound a lot like me in numbers and motivation (maybe a little more ambitious, though - I'll be happy if I hit 135. )

It's a great group - very fun and encouraging - and I hope you like it!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Thanks everyone!! I had a slightly crazy week last week. Completely did not mean to just drop in say hi and ghost everyone.
I will be checking in much more frequently. In my little spare time (normally I am better at prioritizing but last week was nuts), I managed to really log my food and track my workouts with FitDay and got a new Fitbit Versa to help remind me to get the steps in. Well I am happy to report that after 1 week I am now down 1lb! Slow and steady will help me keep it off and hoping for continued improvement!

Thanks for the welcome and I will be more regular from now on!

 

[sjrec]

Well here we are on the last Tuesday of May! The month has flown by-

How did your month go for you? Did you accomplish your goals?

 

[sjrec]

I have kept to my goal weight but these last ten days have been terrible exercise wise. I have been doing a lot around the house but I could have been better about getting out to walk every day.
I can’t say I have tried too many new recipes-mostly eating grilled meat or fish and fresh vegetables. That’s probably saved me weight wise.
Tomorrow is a new day, so will put my sneakers by the front door and will get out before lunchtime!

 

[glss1/2fll]

QOTD: Hmmm. I sorta lost motivation, but just plugged along. I've logged food and kept track of steps as usual. I dropped the ball on all the little extras I had added. I'll be picking those back up this week!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Well, these were my goals:

My goals this month are to drink water, keep fruits and veggies stocked up and easily accessible, and actually use some of those recipe books I have!

I've been pretty good about the water, and definitely the fruit, but cooking...not so much. DH was away for work for a week and half, and I got really lazy.

On the bright side, I've noticed my treadmill walking is getting easier!

 

[Oneanne]

Catching up from the long weekend, during which I did next to nothing except take naps. I pretty much slept all day Friday, and had very little energy until Monday, so I may have been fighting off some sort of bug after all. Monday I started the day with a massage, which was lovely, then got a nice lunch at the local pub, finally found parking close to the neighborhood nursery (I'd driven by Fri/Sat/Sun with no luck) and enjoyed shopping for a new lavender plant for outdoors and a new house plants who's name I do not know for indoors. While I was shopping I noticed that people felt compelled to talk to me, I think the massage must have turned something on. I did get misc things done around the house, like clearing out an area in the pantry and going thru craft stuff in the little bedroom, where it still looks like a hording situation has been going on. I have six bags of stuff to take to Goodwill, so will probably drive down there tonight, to get it all out of the house.

I also did pre-vacation stuff: I re-stocked my go-bags and packed baggies with my vitamins/supplements. I remembered to get an inflatable foot soak, something I've wanted to take with me the past few trips but kept forgetting. And yesterday I even remembered to order a water bottle holder, so I can easily carry a bottle of water around with me.

As for May goals, I made progress with better nutritional choices, but continued to consume way too much sugar. I'm off my exercise goal of 930 minutes, but over all am feeling much better now than I was when May started.

 

[cobbler]

Didn't really have May goals since I just started late but I am feeling pretty good about what I have accomplished so far. Did my workout yesterday - 45 min of interval training - used 8s as my heavy and will finish this week with 8s as my heavy and bump into 10s next week.

I only have 1 week in June to do any workouts as after I am headed to Japan for 3 weeks on vacation. I am hoping the great deal of walking around and the food culture there which is a lot less processed food will help me drop some weight. I will try to check in periodically. Hoping for at least 2 more lbs down before I go (1 this week and 1 next) - but more is better! LOL!

 

[piglet1979]

I am not sure if I made any goals for May. It just has been crazy. Over all though I think I did ok. I lost at least a pound. June I should settle into my new normal for the summer. Busy but not over busy. I am not sure what the middle of June will bring with DD having surgery but I am going to guess we will have to slow things down for her which should give me time to get some work outs in.

As for the new layout of the Di Boards. I am not sure how I feel. It looks nice but I don't do well with change. It always takes me a bit of time to adjust. Right now I am just trying to find everything.