So Many Choices But Only So Much Energy and Time.

Along with many of you I have been participating in Cats 120 mile challenge this summer. It's been a lot of fun and is now very satisfying to know that many of us will complete the challenge goal and some of us are going beyond it....way to go Healthy Wives! It was fun to do this challenge because it was ongoing for 3 months and fairly simple only requiring that you do your miles and keep track of them.

I took a peek at Cats next challenge and as I read about it I thought, "Hey this looks a lot like what Audrey has going on over at Healthy Wife." It has been said that imitation is the highest form of flattering so do feel flattered Audrey. Because the challenges are similar I suppose it would be easy to participate in both of them at the same time but that's a lot of numbers to keep track of so, I think for myself, I'm just going to stick with the Healthy Wife challenge. I don't know about you, but the months from September-December are very crazy and hectic for me, I know that I will need to keep my fitness/health routine simple and doable during those months if I want it to continue to be part of my life and particularly if I want to be a HAPPY wife!

We are all blessed to have so many great choices in our lives on a daily basis and it is hard, when sometimes, we have to choose between several great options.

Vacations, Great Weather, and Vitamins

Vacations can really screw up your desire to live a healthier life. Thank goodness this trip I remembered to bring my vitamins, thanks to their convenient little packages.

The other thing I brought was my GPS watch. That way when I go on my early morning walks with my mom that I know how many miles I'm going...plus I'm trying to add in more running and I want to know how I'm doing.

The weather here in California is so wonderful. I can hardly believe I don't get blasted with heat and humidity every time I walk outside. I love not sweating when I'm sitting in the shade talking with my family. My kids are worn out from swimming all day and love that they don't have to do anything but go in the back yard to do so...they were also amazed that we went to the park. PARK is a four letter word in the summer to me.

I hope that as things are getting that little bit crazier as we wind down summer and fall right in to school that you are keep things in track.

Miss you guys! Can't wait to get everyone back on board!

When Do You Become An Athlete?

Merriam Webster defines athlete as "a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina." I've been getting in pretty good shape, but I don't think I'm an "athlete" yet. Not by a long shot. To me, athlete implies not just physical fitness, but also participation in some kind of competition. But how often, and what kind?

I was thinking about this as I was swimming laps today. I did 1/2 mile in 24 minutes. A mile, 5280 feet, is 1609.344 meters, so a 1/2 mile is about 800 meters. The women's Olympic record for 800 meters is 8:14.10. Yeah, I'm super-slow in comparison. Should I set a goal of a 12-minute half-mile? Could I be an athlete then?

What are your thoughts? What makes an athlete?

Thoughts on mirrors

Over the past two weeks, I've had the chance to look at myself in those bendy carnival mirrors several times. I have a few thoughts on these mirrors and on mirrors in general. The most obvious: those carnival mirrors distort the truth. In one, I'm Gumby-taffy long, in the other I'm short and squat like Fred Flinstone. They're funny because our image is so obviously distorted. But then again, don't all mirrors distort the truth. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." (1 Corinth 13:12) And even without the help of a mirror, we often distort the truth all on our own.

Think of the time we would save and the worry we could avoid if there were no reflective surfaces?! That said, I have at least 15 mirrors in our house, five of them full-body length (those five came with the house).

Narcissus wasted away admiring his beauty in the pond, losing his chance at love with Echo, forever.

"I have a great body and sometimes go months without looking at it in a mirror" approximate quote, Phil, Groundhog Day

In Snow White, the evil Queen's death by food poisoning all started with an unhealthy obsession with her magic mirror.

Mirrors are a great place to write your "to do" list and love notes to your kids and husband (dry erase marker); the writing obscures the image and puts into focus what matters most.

“Look in a mirror and one thing's sure; what we see is not who we are.” Richard Bach

Ms.Thunder Bumper's Challenge: Measurements

Did you think I would forget? Nope. Even in all my craziness to get ready for my next trip I haven't given up on this challenge or my favorite Healthy Wives.

So here is the challenge. For a big 20 points I want you to take your measurements. Keep them to yourselves.

For some of us the scale might not move very quickly and measurements may be the only place we see are hard work.

If you were around when we had this challenge before it's a great time to see how things are going. For those of you that didn't do it before I promise this is a great thing to do!

SO DO IT! YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT WHEN THIS CHALLENGE ENDS.

The Final Countdown

My it has been quiet the last few days on here. I guess everyone is busy with last minute vacations and plans before school starts. Speaking of school starting there are less than two weeks before school starts here. I don't know about the rest of you but this summer seemed to fly by insanely fast. So fast in fact that my 5k kind of snuck up on me. I just registered today, and not a moment too soon either since it is this Saturday!

I am feeling pretty excited and mostly prepared but I just thought I would get some advice from the experts seeing as so many of you have done some racing recently. (honestly, I haven't run in a 5K race since high school so any words of wisdom would be welcome.)

My goal for this race is to run/jog the whole thing and I feel confident that I will be able to do just that even with the hilly terrain. I have my running shoes laced up and ready to go.

Am I a Runner? I think so.

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt and Lowfat Cream Cheese Fruit Dip Whipped Topping

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt
Mmm, mmm, good. Ingredients:

32oz. tub of lowfat or fat-free vanilla yogurt.
1-1/2 cups frozen blackberries

Remember the full instructions for countertop ice cream makers? After I heated the berries in the microwave about 30 to 45 seconds, instead of pureeing them in the blender I just added them straight to the yogurt. I saved back about 1/4 cup to add to the last five minutes of processing, so there would be pieces of blackberries in the frozen yogurt. This ice cream has a slightly tangy flavor. That's the yogurt talking. Oh, and it has 82 calories per 1/2 cup if you use fat-free yogurt.

See, the kids liked it!

P.S. How could I forget?!! I made a lowfat cream cheese topping to go with it. The ingredients are:

4 Cups Light Whipped Topping (like Cool Whip)
1-1/2 Cups fat-free vanilla yogurt
1 8oz. package of fat-free cream cheese

Makes 4-1/2 Cups, 62 calories per 1/4 cup, or 31 calories for 2 tablespoons (not bad!!)

First whip the cream cheese with beaters to get it smooth and creamy. Slowly add the yogurt and blend it in to the cream cheese. Then add the whip cream and blend. The whipped topping will lose it's fluffines, so you only wind up with 4-1/2 cups of dip/topping, but it's still delicious!

The teenagers have been eating this like crazy with apple slices. Yum!

Happy Birthday Sue

Love this photo of Sue and her hubby that I swiped off of her Facebook page.

Sue, your hubbies not with you today and neither are any of us but we want to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. With your dedication to the Healthy Wife Happy Life challenge you've met some hard earned goals and can now eat that cake today without feeling a bit of guilt so enjoy every bite, you've earned it.

You are one amazing fantastic beautiful funny woman, it was a "Happy Day "when you were born and came into all our lives!

I love my gadgets!

I love kitchen gadgets. I'll buy about anything that may make my life easier or help me make yummy food that I want to add into my repertoire.

So I had a couple of recipes that I wanted to try out and did but they didn't work as well as I wanted. I needed a grill pan. There are just times you need to grill inside and of course I NEEDED IT. So I purchased this grill pan. I love it because it's cast iron but already seasoned. Clean up is pretty easy. My favorite thing to do is cut lots of vegetables lengthwise, toss with olive oil and salt and grill. Then i put my bread, I've been using a Ciabatta baguettes, on the grill to toast it, spread a little pesto on it and fill it up with the veggies! YUMMY! And I get more than my quota of veggies for the day.


My kids even loved this new favorite.

TUNA with FRUIT SALSA
Two Peaches
4 Tuna Steaks (5 to 6 ounces each)
Apricot Preserve
1/2 cup Fresh Raspberries
Cider Vinegar

Halve and pit two ripe peaches and lightly brush the peach halves and the tuna steaks with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook tuna and peaches in skillet over medium high heat for 5 minutes.
Remove peaches; set aside to cool.

Turn tuna and cook 6 to 7 additional minutes. Remove and cover to keep warm.

Coarsly chop peaches.
Heat 2 Tablespoons of Apricot Preserves for 15 seconds in the microwave.
Stir in 1 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar. Toss with chopped peaches and raspberries.

Serve with tuna.

Can be served with diagonal sliced green onions as a garnish.

Next time I make this I'll take a picture.