Starting off

So, I've got my grocery shopping done :)  Everything in my cart was fresh, except for the garbanzo beans.  Those were the only canned item I got.  I can't believe how much sodium is in those!  That's one thing that you need to watch is the nutrition labels on the canned & packaged foods.  If it has stuff in it that I can't pronounce, then I put it back.  Of course, I'm still buying groceries at my local supermarket.  I think I may see about getting food stamps (I qualify anyway just haven't gotten them) and using them to buy organic.  It's better for you anyway.  At least buying what I can't grow myself I should say.  Then freeze any excess that I grow.
I was bad this morning too.  I went for the quick fix for breakfast.  I had 2 donuts....... :(  It sounded good, and I didn't really want to make my oatmeal.  And like I said in my last post, if you have a craving, indulge it!  Granted I should have only had 1, but I didn't, and shame on me!! :(  That's the one mistake I DO NOT want to do, is be too hard on myself for indulging a little.
Well, off to put my groceries away and dig out my swim suit so I can go do some laps at the pool! :D  I love swimming!  And as a bonus, I have decided to ride my bike.  I need to get my legs stronger because I plan on biking to work and saving the gas in the car for further away places.

Happy Tuesday!! :D

It's official.....

Yup, it's official, I have realized that I am a fangirl, also known as an otaku. I guess the only thing I can do is accept and embrace it. This year of being single has let me come to this realization. And I can't be happier about it! It's great! My inner muse has been released from the chains that once bound her. I'm drawing again, I'm also writing again. I even crochet and sew more. Granted I watch a lot of anime and read TONS of manga, but I love it all! I've even started drawing up my own characters again. I also am finding that I'm getting better at drawing hands and feet. As I watch the anime, I find myself noticing how things move when animated. Same with the manga. I think it's what has helped me figure out the hands and feet.
Even my daughter is turning into a mini fangirl. It's so cute. We like most of the same anime & manga. We like different characters though. She likes to draw to and draws her fav characters. She's getting really good too, but she struggles with hands & feet as well. I guess a lot of people do. Her favorite thing to draw are chibis. Chibis are super tiny versions of characters. She fills up her drawing books so fast I have a hard keeping hee supplied with empty ones. Lol.
Well it's time for this fangirl to go to bed and dream as the other fangirls do! Hehehehehe.

It's happening again......

It's weird and I don't know why, but it's happening again.  The same thing happened last year around this time as well.  I can't eat.  I try to force myself, but I just can't do it.  I tried to eat a persimmon this morning, cut it all up and everything.  Ate a piece of it, and realized I didn't want it.  So I tried to make myself eat another one, and I couldn't do it, I had to spit it out.  I'm hungry, my stomach is rumbling at me, but yet I just can't eat.  I mean, I guess it's not a bad thing, it's not like dropping a few pounds is gonna kill me right.  I've got quite a few to spare, lol.
I guess it's just frustrating.  I'm hungry, and I know I need to eat, but for some reason, I just don't want to.  I think the frustrating part is not understanding why.  And I obviously don't know what to do about it.  I guess the plus side to this is that my grocery bills will be a little lower for awhile.  I still need to cook for my daughter though, so I'm sure I can force myself to choke something down in front of her.  I just don't want to.
Any thoughts??

And more bike riding!!

I did it!!  I finally rode my bike to work!!  Ok, I rode my bike to the max station and then from the max to work.  We just had a meeting that I had to go to.  My legs are feeling a little jelloey right now though.  It was soooo totally worth it!!  I need to get some kind of tail/head lights for my bike so I can ride in the dark if I choose to ride in the morning to work.  I would totally do it tomorrow too if I had some lights.  I have reflectors but I think I would feel safer if I had actual lights.  I didn't come the same way home though.  I wanted to drop something off at a friends house so I came the long way home.  All in all, today's ride was 8 miles!  That's my best yet!
I raised the seat on my bike too to make it easier to peddle.  Why did I have to be cursed with such long legs..... Because I have to have my seat so high, I can't touch the ground when I stop.  I'm sure that's not  how you're supposed to do it, but it's easier on my legs that way.  Once I get more strength in my legs I can lower it some more to where I can actually touch.  I really like to ride my bike to work in the mornings during the summer.  I though it would take me longer, but it actually only took me about 45 minutes to get there.  I don't think that's too bad.  And if I continue to ride every day like that, the inches are just going to keep coming off.  I can't believe how loose my pants are now!  The thighs have gotten looser too and are a little on the baggy side!  So happy!!!  I wish I had taken measurements when I started my "diet".  My scale doesn't move but I know I'm loosing weight because my clothes are getting too big.  I'm still amazed at how good I feel after riding my bike!  Even though I'm just absolutely exhausted, I feel great!  It doesn't take long for my legs to recover either.  Since Friday is payday, I think I had better put bike helmet and lights for my bike on my list of things to buy.
Oh, the only thing that sucked about today's bike ride, my back tire was hit by a car.  He wasn't paying attention to the cross walk.  He was only watching on-coming traffic and didn't look the other way before pulling out and I was already in the crosswalk.  Thankfully it was only my back tire he hit and not anything else.  I was REALLY lucky today too.  He wasn't going fast or anything, he had just started to pull out onto the street.  And I had tried to swerve away from him to otherwise he probably would have me.  I bet that guy got the shit scared out of him today and will always look both ways before pulling out into the street now.  I know it scared my!  I just can't believe he didn't stop and just kept on going!  That reminds me, I need to thank my guardian angles for watching over me and making sure I was ok today!

Of course that little incident won't stop me from riding my bike, and I'll definitely make sure I ALWAYS have my helmet on.  And on that note, I wish everyone Happy bike riding days!!!

My big bike ride!

So I did it!  I finally got out and rode my bike into town!  It was a little over 6 miles round trip!  I needed to get a new battery for my pikachu pedometer so instead of taking the car, I took my bike.  Sure it took me about 10 times longer, but it was so totally worth it!!  And so much fun!  Rocking out to my iPod.  It wasn't super hot today, but it was hot enough.  Hopefully I'll sleep good tonight!  I feel great!  I'm almost ready to go for another bike ride!  A friend is coming over shortly so I wasn't able to ride around as long as I wanted to, but that's ok.  There's always another day :)  Perhaps next week!  And I need to remember to take more water with me and some gatorade!  I got some at the store on the way home and it really hit the spot!
But, yup!  It was definately a great bike ride!  I hop munchkin hurries up and gets her legs nice and strong so we can do those kinds of rides together! :)
I love my bike so much!!

The sensation of flying

It's very rare when you get a whole day where you can feel care free, so when you only get a chance to be that care free for moments at a time, how can you not jump at them?
Today I had one of those moments.  I had forgotten how invigorating riding a bike could be.  So I thought about it and had to ask myself:  What is it about riding a bike that makes you feel so free?
Is it the sensation of the wind in your hair, or perhaps it's feeling the sun warming your skin as the air flows over your whole body.  Could it be the burning sensation in your legs as you peddle faster.  Feeling your spirit soar as you fly down the road.  Seeing every bump in the road as an obstacle trying to slow you down and laughing at it as you fly over it.
This is what it felt like today when I was riding my bike with my daughter.  Racing each other.  Stopping at hidden paths to explore what might be hiding behind those bushes.  It was an amazing time.  Even though it may have only lasted a couple hours, it was AMAZING!  I can't wait for the chance when we get to ride our bikes together again.  Riding  not to exercise or to get back into shape, but just for the pure joy of riding.
We packed a sack lunch dinner and ate our pb&js at the park along with some wonderful summer cherries.  It makes me happy to know that my daughter will always remember these days with a smile.  So when I'm gone and she misses me, she can think back on the fun we had as she rides her bike with her kids and shares a new experience with them.

So in love with life right now!!

My yummy Bento lunch!! & "diet" update!

So, my new think is making bento style lunch boxes for myself to take to work.  I'm still getting the hang of it and I don't quite go all out like some of the one's I've seen on line or in the bento cook books, but I'm still learning how to pack everything in there.  Packing your bento box is an art form all it's own!  So here are the pictures of my little bento lunch.  I use 2 bento boxes, they're pretty small, and like I said I haven't quite mastered the art of bento.
On to the pictures!!!

 Here are my 2 bento boxes.  The one has veggies and a hard boiled egg in it, the other has strawberries and apples in it.  The last thing is just a regular glass container that has cottage cheese and peaches in it.

Here's kind of a close-up of the veggie bento. I wanted to get a picture of the egg. It's so cute!!!!  It's kind of hard to see in the picture but it has a bunny face in it!  I have 2 egg molds that once you boil the egg you peel it then put it in these molds.  I put it in the fridge to cool them off.  I also spray them with a little olive oil because the first time I made them, I discovered that they were sticking to the molds and part of the egg would peel off and it wouldn't be very cute any more.  I have 2 little tinfoil cupcake papers in there to keep some of the stuff from getting soggy.  The bigger one has diced cucumber and tomato and the other one has feta cheese in it.  I mix those things with some hummus that I have.  I buy the hummus in individual containers so I don't have to measure out how much to give myself.  I'm going to try adding broccoli to the hummus mix and see how it is.  And I'll either squeeze the lemon juice onto it or add it to my water, not sure yet.  I'll decide that tomorrow.  So this is basically my breakfast.  I also eat the strawberries from the other bento which is actually only 2 strawberries cut up, and half of the apple with some peanut butter (which is also in a sepperate container in my bag).

Also included in my lunch (but not in the pic) are the odwalla bars I take with me.  I take 3.  I eat one on my way to work, I eat one on my 30 min lunch break and if I eat the last one, it's on my last 15 min break with the last half of my apple and the cottage cheese and fruit.

Here's everything before it goes into my lunch bag.  Aren't the boxes so cute!!!!  There's another one that I want to go and get that's like the deer, but it has other cutesy woodland animals on it.  It was pretty cheap, only $4.50, the other one with the cat on it was around $16.  I'm going to keep an eye out for other cute bento boxes.

Here's everything in my bag.  That little container is the peanut butter, you can't see it but the hummus is also in there.  And the little bunny thing is where I have my sea salt.  It's actually supposed to hold your rice sprinkles, but I decided to use it for my salt instead.  I don't really take rice with me right now.  So there's no point in taking rice sprinkles.  And since I can't find a tiny salt shaker to use, the bunny will be perfect!!  And it's super cute!!  So the only thing I have to remember to put in my lunch bag tomorrow are my vitamins.

This is also the stuff I've been eating on my "diet".  Surprisingly enough, it keeps my full, or satisfied for quite a while.  I eat my walnut odwalla bar on my way to work which holds me until 8 am when I take my first 15 min break.  That's when I eat the hummus, veggies, egg, strawberries, 1/2 the apple with a little peanut butter.  Then I get my 30 min lunch, and I'm not hungry, so to prevent myself from having that "starving" feeling, I eat a choco-walla odwalla bar.  Then for my last 15 min break which is usually around 1:30 I eat the last 1/2 of my apple with some peanut butter, the cottage cheese and fruit, and if I feel I need a little more, I eat my last odwalla bar which is the chocolate-peanut butter protein bar.  Each bar has roughly 200-210 calories in it, so I figure with the low calorie meals I'm eating, they should be ok.  Plus I get my chocolate fix which prevents me from craving sweets!  SUPER BONUS!!!  And at breakfast I have my water, and my vitamin cocktail.  Which is 1 multi-vitamin, 2 glucosamine, 2 fish oil, and 2-3 focus factor.  I find it actually does help me stay focused and helps me find the motivation to, well, get myself motivated to actually DO stuff.  I have also managed to keep soda out of my diet for the most part.  Yes, sometimes I do have a drink or 2, when I say sometimes, maybe once or twice a month.

I officially started my diet last week, and after weighing myself, I've lost more weight!!  So happy!!!  I had put on 5 plbs, but now I've lost it again and I'm down 2 more!!  I just have to keep going at it and allow myself to have that little splurge every now and again, but in moderation!  Which I actually find that easy to do anymore! :)  I'm still working on the dinner part of it.  I have been doing pretty good and not over eating at dinner lately too.

And also starting this week, mom and I are going to start swimming!  She's getting frustrated because she's gained weight since she's been here and I've actually lost!  I have a swimsuit that's too small for me so she's gonna use it and we're gonna either do aqua aerobics or laps.  It sounds like we're gonna do laps because I personally get more of a workout that way.  I talked her into swimming because it's going to be a lot gentler on her body! (and mine too!)  I'm hoping to do some bike riding with her as well. :)
Will keep writing about my weight loss efforts and hopefully with the new regime, mom will start loosing as well!  We just need to figure out what foods work best for her!  More fruits and veggies and less meat works great for me!  Now to get her to "listen" to what her body tells her it wants.