I am a pretty organized person.   In some areas of my life.  Grocery lists, menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking – that’s in my wheel house. Ask me to find any document in my office, and I’ll be the first one to get it for you.

I’ve mentioned before that our basement over time just becomes a dumping ground, and the piles get bigger and bigger, so much so that I almost don’t even notice it when I am doing laundry.  I bee line to the laundry, turn around and come back upstairs.

Hannah, however, while a bit OCD, hates going into the basement – it basically makes her ill at ease just to be doing her laundry.  She doesn’t start her second semester of college until January 17, and she doesn’t work until Friday this week.  So she was on a mission!  About 8+ hours were spent getting our basement organized!

  • laundry area spotless – check!
  • cooking equipment – check!
  • Christmas decorations organized – check!
  • my photography stuff – check!
  • my closet and clothes?  double check!

She was so excited to show me her hard work.  First order of business?  To promise to keep it this way!  Second order of business?  Um, turns out all the lounge pants in this drawer are not allowed to be worn out of the house, even to get the mail.  (Um, turns out I’ve worn a few of those to the grocery store!)

I've had this dresser 20+ years!

And I actually thought that I didn’t have enough work out pants – but turns out if you have them stored in 5 different places it doesn’t seem like you have that many!

Our house was built in 1922 - very old! Love having everything in one place!! 😀

Thanks for all your help this week!

So I went to the gym this morning, and I don’t know if its because its the new year, but there were lots of people waiting for swim lanes.  I did my 10 minutes of water walking in the therapy pool, and then decided to change into my workout clothes.  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 10, and then 10 minutes on the stair master.

My favorite granola bar is Nature’s Path Cinnamon Oats – its crispy, crunchy.  I take about 5 units of insulin before working out, then 1 bar before working out, and 1 after – they cost me 5 points, but its worth it.  It’s weird, but if I have a blood sugar of 110 before working out in the morning, if I take no insulin, it jumps to 300s!  I guess you have to give yourself a shot just to kick start – it seems totally odd to me, but it works!

Once I got to work, I put together my breakfast quesadilla: 2 low carb tortillas (50 calories each), 1/4 cup refried beans, 1/4 cup egg beaters, 1/2 ounce goat cheese and a handful of baby spinach.  I Pam fried it until crispy – delicious!  7 Points Plus.

I had a pear on the side too – love all the free fruit! 😀  I happened to read Lori’s blog post that had her strength training routine – she and I are about the same age, about the same height, so I just figured “I can do that!”  Um, she’s a rock star because I did about 1/3 the amount of weight she could do – you rock Lori!  And boy am I sore today.  Especially my lower back and shoulders – I think I stimulated muscles I didn’t even know I had!

It took me 30 minutes to finish her circuit.  I have to get out of the mindset that if I don’t do cardio its not a work out, so I ended up doing a mile run on the track at the gym – 13 laps was a mile and guess what time I did. . . 11:15!  That’s the fastest mile I’ve run in a long time, and if I hadn’t had to go back to work, I think I could have done two! 😀

I made a soup recipe for my lunch, but I am not posting the recipe yet because its still a work in progress, but its close.  Spicy roasted apple and butternut squash soup with a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds – I think it needs to be thicker for a couple extra points!

And I found this pumpkin bread at my store – its delicious and hearty and a giant rectangle of a piece is 3 points.  I cut it in half to make my sammie – 1.5 ounce deli roast beef, .75 ounce Muenster cheese and jalapeno mustard – yum!  Lunch comes in at 12 Points Plus.

One of the cookbooks I own is Tyler Florence’s Ultimate.  While I won’t be buying two live lobsters to make lobster bisque anytime soon, I knew Tony would love this recipe – here is my version of his recipe:

New York Strip Steak with Brandied Mushrooms 

 
Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    6
Servings:  4 Preparation Time:  5 min
Cooking Time:  15 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy
 

Ingredients

 
  1 pound(s) New York Strip steak, raw
  1 clove(s) garlic clove(s), minced (medium)
  1 Tbsp thyme, fresh
  2 fl oz brandy
  1/4 cup(s) heavy whipping cream
  1 cup(s) mushroom(s)
  1/2 tsp table salt
  1/2 tsp Durkee Pepper, Black Ground
  1 tsp olive oil

Instructions

Sprinkle the steak with salt and pepper. Add olive oil and cook steak 8-10 minutes for medium rare. Remove from the heat and cover loosely with foil.
Bring pan back to medium-high heat. and spray with Pam spary. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, about 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Add the sprig of thyme and garlic, season with salt and pepper.
Put the mushrooms on a platter. Take the pan off the heat, add the brnady, and cook until almost evaprated. Add the cream and cook that down 2 to 3 minutes until reduced by one-half and thickened.
Return the mushrooms to the pan with whatever juices have collected on the platter and simmer for 2 more minutes. Season one last time with salt and pepper ans serve over sliced steak.

love the crust the cast iron skillet gives the steak
this picture used my flash
9 Points Plus

Stats for Tuesday:

  • 38 points (including wine) 15 flex points remaining and 37 activity points earned
  • 10 minutes water walking
  • 30 minutes elliptical
  • 10 minutes stair master
  • 30 minute strength training
  • 11:15 minute mile 😀

I have decided that there is no way I can keep up this workout schedule, so I’ve decided to make Wednesdays and Sundays my rest days.  While I like to think I have the body of a 20 year old, my 42 year old body is telling me other things!  Do you take rest days?

Make it a Great Day! 😀