Not that I thought she was dead – don’t worry! 

But her spaying surgery was today, and as I mentioned in an earlier post – I was really really apprehensive about what might happen to her.   I know a lot of you fellow food bloggers have pets, and so many of you responded to my original post telling me it would be okay – and I have to thank you for that.  It made me feel alot better.  And it also made me feel less crazy because you told me you understood why I was feeling that way!  

So I just talk to the vet, and she said Lando’s doing well; she was just waking up, and that she can come home tonight at 6 – so I’ll pick her up on my way home from work!  She did recommend that we bring home some medicine to keep her calm/sedated since she is a “high energy” dog, which made me laugh.  I’m WELL aware of the energy factor.   Apparently, pugs (Lando’s a puggle) – are very likely to run and jump and over exert themselves after this surgery, so we really have to watch her.  I’ll take a picture of her with her little cone tonight and share with you guys!

On to the FOOD part of this blog!   Yesterday for lunch, I had the last of my  HH from the other day – this time, I added in spinach as well!

After lunch, I don’t know what came over me, but I started coughing and weezing, and by 5pm – I WAS SICK! All my coworkers were confused, because they saw me come in healthy and happy, and saw me leave a wheezing, coughing, sniffling mess!  I had a snack before the end of the day:

Strawberry Chobani!   This was wonderful!   It had such a great taste!  Here’s my Chobani flavor rankings to date:

1. Vanilla
2. Strawberry
3. Peach
4. Blueberry

For dinner, since I wasn’t feeling well, I had NO appetite.  I decided soup and a grilled cheese would be easy to stomach.  I had a can of the Progresso WW Italian Vegetable – my favorite!

And a sliced chicken and cheese “grilled cheese”

All together on my lovely 1960′s gold fleck-ed counter top:

I was about 1 bite in, when Mike called and asked me if I wanted a burger or ice cream since I wasn’t feeling well.  I really didn’t feel like either, but he reminded me I should really get some protein so that my body could fight whatever it was I had, and feel better – so I went with the burger.   Don’t I have the best husband ever?

I didn’t snap a picture of the burger, I was already on the couch at that point.  I ate all of it, then laid down in bed.

I felt a little better this morning – but still super scratchy in my throat!  I decided warm, simple oats would be the best breakfast.  I didn’t have any of my “staple” additions for oatmeal – so I sat there racking my brain.  All of a sudden – Roni’s Apple Pie Oatmeal popped into my head!  PERFECT!  I used my Target brand – Low Sugar “Maple Syrup Brown Sugar” instant oatmeal, applesauce, and cherries.

There’s my supplies!   You can use as little or as much apple sauce as you want – I used about 3 scoops out of that container – I prefer my oats to be thicker, I don’t like them runny, and too much applesauce thins it out.  Here’s a shot from above (pretty boring looking):

But I promise it was quite tasty!  As Roni described it – “just like a smushed up apple pie”!

For lunch, I packed another can of the Progresso WW soup because I knew I wouldn’t be hungry.  Except I THOUGHT I grabbed another “Italian Veggie” version – but in reality I grabbed “Southwestern Style Veggie” – BOO!

I managed to choke it down though!  

When some of our coworkers were going to Penn Station (OMG – it’s amazing – do you all have those??) – it was all too easy for Kristin to twist my arm into splitting a veggie sandwich – and she even offered to pay!  Here’s my half, with some delish honey mustard, and a side of fries!  (C’mon people – you CAN’T pass up their fries!)

On this lovely Santa plate!

And I just realized – I never revealed where I work!

I work for American Greetings! You know – the card company? 

I actually work for AG Interactive, so we do all the stuff on the websites!  Check us out!

www.americangreetings.com

www.bluemountain.com

www.egreetings.com (all the content is free on this site!)

www.webshots.com

www.photoworks.com

K – I’m done for now!  I’ll update tonight so you can see Lando!   Smile – IT’S THURSDAY!

Happy Hump Day! Sorry – had to say it!  At least I didn’t make it my title right?  

I have a ton of things to share with you!  I’m just gonna jump right in.  I’ve been given an award!

The SUPERIOR SCRIBBLER AWARD!

The lovely Andrea, over at bella eats [and runs] graced me with this honor!  Isn’t she the best? I love Andrea’s blog for so many reasons – and it makes perfect sense that I’d feel that way because we have  A TON of things in common!  She has absolutely adorable animals, fantastic recipes (CHECK OUT her sweet potato apple muffins with cherry crumb topping – YUM!), and her food photos are phenomenal!  The look like they belong in a classy, expensive recipe book! 

I now give you the rules.

1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Link to me for giving it to you.
3. Link the originating post here.
4. I’m rebelling on the passing on portion since it’s been going around – sorry

I know I should be calling out specific bloggers, but the problem is – THERE ARE TOO MANY FANTASTIC WOMEN OUT THERE – I don’t know if I could pick 3, or 4, or 5 favorites!  You want to know who I give the award to?  I give it to everyone one on my blogroll.  These are the ladies that I read up on everyday, whose lifestyles and recipes influence my life!  A very special thank you to you all!

Now onto the eats…

For lunch, I had my left over HH with veggies

And a plain (read – BORING!) spinach salad

All together:

For a snack – I tried my 3rd Chobani – this time BLUEBERRY!

I was definitely the most excited to try this flavor, because I love blueberries, and typically anything blueberry flavored!  This one surprised me – I think the mixture of the sweet blueberries and the tangy greek yogurt was a little “off-putting” for me.  I love greek yogurt, and I love blueberries, but I don’t think this combo went that well together.  I’m not ready to rule it out completely though, and I’m glad I have a second one at home to give it another try!  I aslo have strawberry packed in my bag for lunch today!

As my work day was winding down, I realized I had my dentist appointment, and then needed to go straight to my volleyball game, so I figured another snack was in order.  This time, I went for an orange, and a Jamfrakas bar.  Here’s Mr. Orange – posing with my 2009/2010 calendar – how CRAZY is it that it’s already time for switching calendars?!?!  Where did 2008 go?!?!

And the Jamfrakas bar

Here’s where things get interesting. Keep in mind – this is only the 2nd Jamfrakas bar I’ve tried – and I didn’t think the first one was bad.  I was halfway through the bar when I bit into something ROCK HARD. I immediately spit it out to find something that looked like a nut – so of course – being in denial that I just had something freaky/weird in my mouth, I try to bite it again, because in my head, I’m like “NOOO – come on – it’s DEFINITELY a nut” – and ALMOST BROKE MY TOOTH!   I assure you, even though it looks like some sort of nut – IT’S NOT!

I took it home to show Mike – and he thought the same thing – “It looks like a nut” – then I got out our fancy expensive knives from our wedding registry and attempted to cut it – IT DIDN’T CUT.   Now YOU TELL ME – WHAT NUT EXISTS OUT THERE – that CAN’T BE CUT WITH A KNIFE? And also – why the HELL would Larabar be using it in their products?

I’m so grossed out – and I wanted to share to see if anyone else had any “foreign objects” in their Jamfrakas. 

For dinner, I stopped at my parents because I had an extra 10 minutes between all my appointments, and they were right on the way – and stole some delicious black bean turkey chili my mom had made:

I threw in some spinach for extra veggies!

I didn’t get home for the day until 9:30 – AND I LEFT THE HOUSE AT 7:30!  Needless to say, it was a long day!

Mike and I got up and headed to the gym again around 5:45 to do some lifting.   Here’s a question for you all – Where did you get your exercise routine from?  Was it something you created yourself?   Or did you go off of a source?

Just curious!  I haven’t lifted in forever, so I kind of just wandered around today, and did a few arm exercise, and some ab exercises, but I need something more defined!

Breakfast finished off the last of my pineapple – so this is the last of pineapple oats for the week:

I added some dried cranberries from the caf (they were gross – I ended up picking them out) and some vanilla granola that I had scored when I was at the gym this morning:

This stuff was SOOO delicious!  It’s from Nature Bin – a local health food store that was doing a promotion inside the gym!  I definitely need to stop in there and check that place out!

Tired of me yet?  Told you it was going to be an updateapalooza!  I think I’m finally outta air!

Happy Wednesday!

Hola! 

I was sitting here at work and realized I never gave you all an update on the Thanksgiving Challenge after my weekend shopping trip!  I went to Aldi’s on Sunday and spent about 34.00 (I don’t have the receipt with me!) but I know I calculated my total - which puts our total to date at $86.73

So with 9 days left – we have $39.27 left!

That needs to feed me and Mike for those days, AND includes the dishes I need to bring to my in-laws Thanksgiving, and my family’s Thanksgiving!  I thought we would blow this challenge out of the water, but it looks like we will be cutting things WAY closer than I thought! It will be interesting!   :shock:

Another cool thing I wanted to update you on – Tina gave me the opportunity to be a featured guest blogger – check it out!

Last night – I decided to try and empty out the pantry by making dinner with some stuff that had been sitting there for a while.  I decided on Hamburger Helper - which made Mike all too happy!

1. I buy the BIG package – that comes with 2 actually dinners – for several reasons.  I add veggies to everything, sometimes Mike doesn’t mind, other times he does.  Hamburger Helper is one of the times he cares – so his is just all meat and cheese, mine is barely any meat, and tons of veggies
2. Going back to the “meat” thing – I HATE how much meat the HH calls for, so I always “half” the recipe.  I know Mike will eat a ton of it, so rather than just only use half the meat and put the other half away for another day, I make all the meat, and split it between two boxes – that way – there is extra food easily ready for Mike when he wants!

Here’s my bowl:

I added kidney beans, peppers, onions, and tomatoes – it was QUITE good and I have some leftovers for lunch today!

This morning – I had a repeat of my pineapple oatmeal from yesterday!

Out of all the fruit I’ve ever added to oatmeal – I think pineapple my be my favorite!  Actually – it’s definitely my favorite!  Blackberries would be a close second!  That’s it for now!  Hope you are staying warm!