Hump Day

Haven't had a green smoothie in a while and thought I was due...I forgot how tasty these are!  I've tried several versions, but this one is by far my favorite.

Tropical Green Smoothie

1 frozen banana, sliced

1.5 C frozen fruit (I used the mango, peach, pineapple, strawberry blend)

1 C non-fat vanilla Greek yogurt

2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach

Enough water to get everything blended (I used about 1.5 C)

 

 Even Lon likes this one and he absolutely HATES pineapple (I know, crazy right?)  It does have a lot of fruit and some people might look at that as too much sugar, but I have to mow and trim the yard this morning so I need some energy (and motivation!).  Since our yard is one big slope from front to back that will be my workout today.

  Here's the latest harvest from our little tomatoes plants (which are wild and crazy now) we got as a housewarming gift.  They are super delish...especially the Sun Golds (orange cherry tomatoes). We finally have enough basil to make our own pesto, too.  Lon is the pesto pizza king and he makes his own crust!  One of our favorite meals.  Yummmmm....

  Well, I guess I need to finish this smoothie and get outside.  One of the one days we've had in a long time (and are going to have) without rain in the forecast. Where is Fall????  This humidity sucks.  Guess I'll appreciate my cooler, drier weather that much more when it gets here.  Happy Hump Day!

Rain Barrel Update

Well, here they are.  One disguised as a bunch of leaves so it doesn't stick out from it's surroundings and one as a wine barrel.  The wine barrel may get some more touch ups, but for now...they are done.  Had a lot of fun using leaves from around the yard to spray on the 'natural' barrel.  If you click the pic, you can see it more detail.  You will also see more mistakes. :)
Time to try my hand at making fig preserves...

Pics (aka Goal #3)

Here are just a few pics of random things I've taken over the past month or so.  Just to update...

Shroomy in his new home and my new succulent garden.  Still needs mulch/rocks.

Sunny day view of pond and water lily.  

First home brew I got to try and a cool Russell Wright pitcher sent to us by Paul for no other reason than he likes us, I guess.  :)  Thanks, Paul!

Shroomy in all his glory.  How cool is a mushroom gnome???

Awesome retro mushroom containers I found at a garage sale...$10 for the set!  Since I don't really use flour or sugar, I'm not sure what I'm going to put in these (craft supplies???), but I couldn't let them get away!

Three Generations (me, Dee Dee and Mom) 7/27/12.  I really like how colorful we are...hair and clothes!  :)

40 by 40 (aka Goal #2)

I have just over 8 months until my 40th birthday...what better time to get my butt (and the rest of me) back into some sort of decent shape.  Besides round, that is.  I figure that if I can get rid of 5 lbs per month (that's only 1.25 lbs per week!), then I can drop 40 pounds by my 40th birthday!  I'll be back to my Navy weight   and that was 12 years ago.  Being a nurse, I see everyday what kind of life you can get from hard living and from good living.  We recently had a woman come in who we all thought was probably in her early 60's.  She'll be 80 next month.  That is what you get by taking care of  yourself (or at least that what she told me).  And I've had patients who I thought were easily in their late 50's/early 60's and found out they were the same age as me!  They had not been taking very good care of themselves (by their own accounts and their lab results).  So, today I joined the YMCA.  They have Zumba (which I tried for the first time two weeks ago and LOVED it!), yoga, pilates and a ton of other classes (my preferred way to exercise).  Then of course, they also have machines, weights, track, pool, etc.  But mainly the classes.

By the way, I will not be losing these pounds...when you lose something you can find it again.  I'm dropping these and walking away...quickly.  :D  Blogging about it will make me more accountable, I think.  So as I'm doing Goal #1 of blogging at least once/week, I will also be updating my 40x40 progress.

Thanks, Mom for bringing us fresh blueberries, figs, avocados and tomatoes!  Fresh produce is wonderful and a great addition to my plan.

Two posts, one day.  Jennifer, pick your jaw up off the floor.  :)

(BTW, not my feet in the pic.  My toes are cuter.  Ask Lon.)