House babble

Of course nothing new to report with our house. The paper had a real estate guide in it this last Friday, and both our neighbors and the paper delivery man said they saw us in it. The paper guy even came by yesterday to bring us a free copy since so we could see it! I'm hoping tons of others saw us in there too...
I scheduled an Open House for April 27th. The realtor said she didn't want us to be disappointed, so I had to push her into doing one. Sad we have another 3 months in the contract with her. Before the OH, we may do a few things around here. Yesterday we took down Sam"s bunk beds and took the full-size to the storage unit. He's still got the twin in there, and it really helped open his room up a lot! Looks so big in there now. Our bedroom is probably next. Joe has been wanting to paint over our floral wallpaper since the day we moved in, so I think we'll do it. It really should take just a weekend, not a huge room and not any other issues to address. Lastly, the front door is ugly. We would buy a new one if we were staying. I'm thinking if we painted it we could really make it look nice. I'm not one for painted doors, but if we used the red trim paint from the outside of the house it would really stand out and I think look quite nice! We already have the paint, so it would also save us money. We'll see!
That's pretty much it to report for now. Send your good karma our way!

UGH

I guess it wasn't meant to be. That house I loved already has two offers on it- it's only been on the market since last Wednesday! Oh well. Joe is going to go look at three others I liked on Friday. After that tho, we're not really going to look anymore until something actually starts happening with our house here. It's just too depressing!

OH WOW!!!

I think I may have found the house I want to live in for a long time... And if it sells before we can get it there's another I like almost as much! Here is my fave!
The house is literally a block from the lake, and it happens to be closest to the children's fishing spot! The yard is ultra deep, plenty of room for our big garden. There is a new deck (with hot tub) surrounded by a brick patio. The whole yard is fenced in and there's a sidewalk in front leading down the the lake and play area.
The kitchen is big, tho in the pics there is an island (but I doubt that stays). There is a formal dining room, living room, and a nice hearth room off the kitchen with a beautiful fireplace. The bedrooms are all upstairs and are good sized. There is even a MASTER bedroom!!! We've never really had one so having a bathroom in the room would be cool. The main floor is hardwood, but the stairs and upstairs is carpet.
The basement is so fun! There was obviously peel-and-stick tile on the floor and rather than fight with it they painted it then decoratively sqiggled it. There is a wet bar down there with stainless accents which carry over to the stairs. Off to the other side of the stairs is a small workout room with a spot built into the wall to put the TV.
Joe and Sam get to see it Friday afternoon, as well as look at the other one I liked a lot. My camera's battery was pooped, so I'll try to remember to take it Friday.
Anyone looking for a house??? HAHAHA!

Recipe and rough week!

I mentioned to Danielle that I made this great soup the other night. I took pics and here is the recipe!

Thai-style Chicken and Corn Soup

Corn cut from 3 ears

4 cups water

Chicken bouillon to make 4 cups broth

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp grated ginger

3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, very thinly sliced

1 tbsp chili and garlic sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 large handfuls cilantro, chopped

2 tsp lime zest

2 tsp lime juice

Cooked Kasmati (or basmati) rice

Bring the corn, water, bouillon, scallions, and ginger to a boil. Turn the heat down and add the chicken, chili sauce, and fish sauce. Simmer slowly about 4 minutes until the chicken is cooked thru. Take it off the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients except the rice.

Ladle soup over the rice in bowls!

See, simple, quick, and really tasty! It was light yet filling. Good stuff.

This week has been awful. I looked at three bad houses Monday, had a migraine and hit a pylon with the truck Tuesday, got another headache last night after exercising... Tomorrow is Friday, right? I am hoping the week finishes good, or it's going to be hard to get out of bed Saturday!

New camera!

We bought a new camera this week. We got our Staples Rewards check and decided we could get one for almost half-price! It's a Canon PowerShot SD750 and it'a FABULOUS!!! It's so crisp and beautiful. Sam was of course thrilled- we gave him our old one.

Here's my first post with the new cam's pics. I made our fave Olive Garden Toscana soup for dinner, so decided foccacia would go perfectly. Here's the bread, topped nicely with onions, olive oil, and Italian herbs-

Here is the link to my post/recipe for the bread- Foccacia

The best part about the new cam will be using it while househunting. The other one was so big and bulky, it was a pain to carry it around. This one fits nicely into a cellphone case, so it can clip right onto my pants!

I can't wait to take beautiful vacation pictures, and of course new home pics! Keep the good selling-our-house thoughts coming!

Off to eat dinner!

Saturday is DATE NIGHT!

Well I wasn't as perfect yesterday as I had hoped. I didn't have a salad for lunch but had a Seafood & Crab sub on wheat instead. It was fabulous and I enjoyed every bite! I even exercised when we got home- did 30 minutes! Last night we did have the gouda stuffed chicken and I wrapped each breast in proscuitto- very good but a tad salty. Next time I'll choose a less salty cheese. We had green beans instead of broccoli and Joe brought home a bottle of pinot noir... Yummmmm!
This morning for breakfast I made spelt biscuits to have with our eggs and sausage. We came home and Joe and Sam started working on Sam's pinewood derby 'car' while I did 35 minutes on the elliptical. I never got around to lunch, but really have not been hungry at all. Tonight we're having mexican, so it probably won't hurt top have missed lunch!
We went into town to recycle and after went shopping. I bought new running shoes to wear while exercising. I also got two new shirts and a pair of pants. I wanted something new to wear on our DATE tonight!
Joe and I are going out with friends Bea and Dave tonight for dinner and then maybe to their house after for cocktails. We never get to go out, so lately have been trying to plan a date night- whether it be a double date or just us. We went out two weeks ago and I would love to make this a routine! So today I bought a new pair of nice pants and a new shirt to wear tonight, Joe even bought a new shirt. Funny how the simple things make you happy in old-age, eh? HAHA!
Here's to a great Saturday night! How sad we've found a sitter we like (as does Sam) and we're going to move...

LOOOOOONG Week

Well it's done. The house is officially listed, but no sign yet. I'm personally a tad disappointed with the asking price, but that's because I think it's worth so much more with all the work we've done. Joe however is very happy with it, so I guess that evens things out. Now we wait...
My eating has been so-so this week. Tuesday was another long workday (they all are anymore). For breakfast I ate an omelet w/ ham and provolone and lunch was a grilled chicken salad from Subway. Dinner we had grilled strip steaks, roasted sweet potatoes w/ FF sour cream, and steamed snap peas. If I ate a snack, I don't remember what it was. I did try to exercise, but could only do about 15 minutes.
Wednesday we woke to 5 inches of snow and no school. I had another omelet for breakfast. I had to take Sam to the office with me, so we went out for lunch at Wheat State because they have buffet. I ate several pieces of pizza including dessert pizza. I did have a salad first tho! For dinner I made Hoisin Pork Tenderloin with rice and green beans. I also had 2 cocktails w/ pink grapefruit Crystal Light and pineapple juice mixed with vodka. For exercise I got about 10 minutes...
Thursday I ate an apple for breakfast because I was just not hungry. For lunch I ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a mini veggie patty sub, and two cookies... For dinner we had pork chops w/ cabbage and carrots. I tried a mini bag of the new salt and cracked pepper popcorn for a snack- good stuff! Tastes a bit like the fries at Applebees. I also did 12 minutes exercise. Seems my stamina has disappeared since I was sick last weekend?
Today I had a granola bar for breakfast- I'm just not hungry in the mornings anymore. I haven't had lunch yet, suppose it'll be a salad. For dinner tonight is chicken breasts topped with smoked Gouda and proscuitto along with broccoli or cauliflower. I plan to try again with the exercising tonight!
I weighed today- 195.2. Not at all bad considering I have been a bit off this week! I will have to revise my first goal of 184 by March 1st tho. Now I'm looking at 190 by March 1st. I can live with that. I also hope to be back at doing 20-30 minutes on the elliptical by next week. I am still a bit weak from last weekend, so I think a week later should be good.

Go GIANTS!!!!!

Well by last night (5pm or so) I was feeling much better so I ate. And ate. And ate... Of course, what I ate was two things of cuppa noodle, part of that baked sweet potato (it wasn't great) and a bowl of beef broth with rice. That was awesome too, so delish. I started feeling feverish later on (major chills) and even tea wouldn't work. Thank goodness for hot pads and hubbys who will get up and heat them for you! Needles to say, when I weighed this morning I was happy that I was still down- 195 even to be exact. Not as good as the original 4 pound loss, but much healthier!
Today I woke feeling very good considering how crappy (ha!) the last two days had been. I ate a little ciabatta loaf toasted and topped with two fried eggs (I said I felt better!)- really good! I didn't get a real lunch today since I was busy, so this afternoon I was awful and ate a pretzel from Subway while doing my grocery shopping. Tonight is stuffed cabbage rolls.
This morning I discovered the automated payroll system we use had 'dropped' one of our stores from the latest processing! I spent about 2 hours this morning trying to get them to understand I just needed those nine employee's checks, not a whole new run of the entire 98. Thankfully I finally got ahold of someone who had drank enough coffee to understand my dilemma. The checks are in the mail.
The realtors came this morning. They think we should leave the landing in the entry alone and not worry about tiling it. They really liked the beautiful red dining room and agreed that the color in the living room is fine. Basically, they say to leave it alone and hope for a sale. In this market, I'm taking all the good thoughts I can get! We got a decent price too, tho a bit lower than I had hoped. Joe is happy with it, but I think if this house was in town it would be a lot higher. I suppose I would never be happy with the price just thinking about all we done to this house. Now we just need to find buyers!
Pretty much it for my day. Hope tomorrow is less hectic!

UGH!

Do you know how hard it is to find time to blog when I can barely find time to exercise?
Thursday was a bad food day. For some reason I had no desire for breakfast, so I just drank my half-pot of bean and went to work. There's a new restaurant in Emporia called U.P.er's Diner. It's pasties and such. We decided to try it since Joe stayed in town for an interview he was doing later that day. The food was not great, no flavor actually. I can say the homemade fries were good tho. Then that night was scout night and Gambino's pizza night. Joe and I split a medium taco pizza (there was a time we'd have split a large!). Again, not the best for us, but so damn good!
Friday was another can't-bear-to-eat-breakfast day, tho I did eat a string cheese. I went to Topeka to go thru files (which never really happened), so I ate a roast beef salad from one of the stores. They don't have carrots or the seafood and crab up there! That has GOT to change!!!! Then for dinner we had pork and bean burritos again. Later that night I had an apple and pear 'crisp' with some CoolWhip. I did do a 20minute workout on the elliptical, a tougher one than usual.
Saturday was a bad day. I ate well, for the most part. It was my stomach that was bad. When I woke up my stomach was pretty crabby. I even had to sit a minute while making our pancakes (WG, yes). After that I was pretty much chained to a bathroom most of the day. I made paninis for lunch with roasted chicken, provolone, tomatoes, sprouts, pepperoncinis, roasted peppers. For dinner I made baked spaghetti- basically it was lasagna with spaghetti instead of lasagna noodles. For dessert I made a baked pear. By the time we went to bed I felt so sick. I was up half the night and got almost no sleep when I did get to stay in bed.
I felt crappy this morning too, but have not had anywhere near the problems of yesterday. No pukiness thank goodness! I ate some oatmeal for breakfast and tried to help clean the house. I went back to bed at 1pm and slept for an hour or so. I do feel better a bit, had some cuppa noodle when I woke up. I plan to eat a baked sweet potato for dinner if my stomach is still okay then. The one good thing about this weekend- I lost four pounds yesterday! HAHAHA, tho I really did.
Joe got the new stairs on today, wish I could have helped him. The realtors are coming tomorrow to do their appraisal of the house so we can get a better idea what they want to ask. I'm just so ready to get this over with. The selling, the moving, all of it. I like househunting, but the rest is no fun!
I'm off to make some tea.

I'm here, I'm here...

I know! Busy busy busy!

I got to go to the Topeka office last week and meet people. It's like Bizarro World where everything is so well organized! That'll never be me, that's for sure. I also had lunch with Mary, our real estate agent and someone I've known forever. She took me to a house after that and I saw the first one of many I'm sure! Nice- fully remodelled and a kitchen to kill for! I am heading back up Friday to do some work in the office, and if there's time may drive by one or two more of the houses on our list.

Weight loss is creeeeeeeping. I am now down to 197.2, so have lost a total of 6.4 pounds since December 26th. I'm still better off than I was 2 years ago- I WAS 270! I have decided to try and post here daily (I DID say TRY!) what I am eating and what my exercise is starting today. So here goes-

Breakfast- ham, shrooms, swiss omelet and coffee

Lunch- Couldn't bear the thought of a salad so I had Chinese take out- beef, chicken, shrimp w/ LOADS of veggies and I got the sauce on the side (and barely used any). I did eat a tiny bit of rice...

Dinner- pork&pintos w/ usual toppings, red wine

I'm supplying a picture of this. Those of you I share my recipes with are familiar with Sam's favorite meal- Pork and Bean Burritos. This is it. It's the perfect meal to make when you have to work all day since you use the crockpot.

And just so you know, I didn't exercise today.

Pork and Pintos- this makes several meals

3-4 pound pork sirloin roast (the cheapo boneless one), remove the netting if it has it

1 pound dry pintos, cooked and drained

1 can enchilada sauce

1 chopped onion

salt and pepper

Put the beans in the crock, top with everything else. Cook on low all day. When you get home, mash everything together with a potato masher until the beans are mostly smooshed and the meat os shredded. For our family this makes about 5 meals. It freezes very well.

We eat this on whole wheat tortillas and top them with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream- whatever! This series of meals costs me about $11 to make- for the entire batch! Talk about budget-friendly!

I am off to do just a little more work. I'll do my best to post food again tomorrow!

WoW!

So much for being able to post more again, huh? Joe didn't think my working hours would change much, but here we are two weeks into the new companies and I have doubled my hours! I'm not really complaining tho, think of the nice paychecks and such. The only really hard part is when there are new employees in Topeka and I can't enter them into the system without having to call that office and have Anne fax everything to me. Eventually that will be better after we move, tho we are keeping this office here for awhile (thank goodness!).
Joe and I have still been doing our best to eat better and workout more. He has had a hard time since he is already getting up an hour earlier to get to work and getting home an hour later usually. Still doing his best tho! I have discovered that I feel much more able to finish my programmed workout if I do it right after Sam and I get home. Not that there's a real option to do it in the morning. Either way, I am getting to where I feel I can up the level I am doing, so hope that by March or so I can do maybe the 40-45 minute ones! As is I am doing the 25 minute weightloss workout most of the time- but now without stopping in the middle! Joe found out it is easier to do longer if you are watching TV instead of just listening to the iPod or something. He watches news and listens to music, I try to find a sitcom like Friends or Sienfeld. We have also started watching The Biggest Loser. There was a marathon one day and we watched while working out and found it very motivational! This made us watch the new season premiere, and we are actually learning from it! Since Christmas he has lost 6 pounds and I have lost 5. Not huge numbers, but we have also had two or three meals that were quite unacceptable... Joe's Crab Shack is EVIL!!!
Househunting is going... Joe found our dream home last weekend- it's a real true log cabin! Gorgeous inside and out, it even has a hot tub under the deck. A bit higher priced than we were thinking, but Joe wasn't really counting on my checks being any bigger than they were so there's room there. There are a few others as well- one on the top of a hill overlooking the Flint Hills! Too bad Joe is still adamant about waiting. I think we'll have our realtor here look at the house in a week or so. It really can't hurt to list it this soon.
Better finish a few last things before I pick Sam up. If ya don't 'hear' from me for a bit you know why!

I can finally tell!!!

YAY! I can finally talk about the one thing I've been wanting to post!
Our boss bought 13 more stores this past week, bringing his total to 21. The stores he bought are in Topeka and Holton KS. The best part of all- we'll be moving when school gets out! This is something we've been waiting for for ages, so it's very exciting. The one downside is Joe is busier than ever now with more stores and not as much help as we had thought. He feels bad, like he's neglecting the other 8 stores, but that will get better eventually. For now tho, there is a lot of work to be done with these new stores- remodelling, updating, CLEANING... This means more work for me too with adding 120+ employees to a new payroll set up with more companies, doing a lot of Joe's office stuff like polling stores, and I have offered to drive to the other 8 stores to drop off/pick up paperwork. More work= bigger paycheck, but I sure miss Joe when I'm in the office. He's also getting home very late in the evening, so Sam misses him too! Once we're moved and things hopefully settle down, it will be better. For now tho rough days ahead with work, house shopping and selling, packing, etc.
Sam had his 8th birthday this past Thursday. I didn't make a cake or anything this year with all the busy-ness. Sam was also very sick the week of the holiday break. He started very pale the day after Christmas, then it went downhill after that. By the next night he had a fever over 104 and was getting very lethargic. We took him to the doc on Saturday- he said Sam had strep but we disagree. He never did a test or anything, just gave him antibiotics and sent us away. Joe and I both feel that Sam really had the flu, and also that maybe the doc is more of a jerk than we first thought! His symptoms were much more consistent with the flu virus than strep... He is still recovering and falls asleep very quickly at night. Soooo, his bday went by without much fanfare this year. He got a small Snickers cake that night along with his presents and yesterday we took him to Radio Shack and bought him an RC helicopter from his Grandpa John. He also got some books at Hastings. Then we took him to Montana Mike's for dinner where we surprised him with a Mudslide dessert. He had a friend spend the night Friday night as well.
Joe and I both gained some weight back the past few months so we bought a big present for Christmas- an elliptical! Man O Man- the first few times on that thing were rough! It has 12 preset workouts with varying resistances. I am now able to do the 20 or 25 minute programs with a stop in the middle to work on the weight machine for my arms. Lost 5 pounds the first week (along with better eating habits), so it must be working! My first goal is a loss of 20 pounds by March 1st, and I'm well on my way. Keep your fingers crossed!
That's pretty much it for now. This next weekend Dad and Suzy are coming so we can go to KC to see Sweeney Todd at the Music Hall. We're very excited! This time with no football draft to race back for we can stay and have dinner. Of course, rushing back after Spamalot wasn't too bad since my fantasy team came in second place- I lost the Super Bowl at the very end of the games on a last second touchdown. Not bad!
Happy New Year all!