Bad Blogger Award Goes To Me

OK so it is obvious that I am not a consistent blogger....or consistent anything for that matter.  I am what one would call a procrastinator and a bad one at that.  I can easily get my bum off the couch and take care of the house, kids...the usual responsibilities.  It seems though when it comes to things I am suppose to love, taking pictures, writing, living a healthy lifestyle, selling stuff on eBay I tend to let those thing pass me by.  Perhaps I should write a to do list and make these things a priority every day. 

Fall has come and is in full swing down south.  I've already done my fare share of raking and blowing leaves only for the trees to still be more that half full.  I love the arm workout I get with raking though.  Anytime I can get exercise while being outside is a wonderful thing.  Raking isn't the only exercise I'm getting these days...hello P90X!  Yes I am still doing the workout but they are not as consistent as I would like.  Yes I can make the excuse of I've been sick and so has my workout buddy.  After a while though I must stop with the lame excuses and just show up and get it done.  As Tony Horton would say, "Be Present get out of your head and just show up". 

T

This morning while reading my newspaper I came across this cool sounding recipe in American Profile .

Eggnog Spice Bundt Cake

1 (18 1/4-oz) boxed spice cake mix

1 (serving) pkg. instant vanilla or cheesecake pudding and pie filling mix

1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup light eggnog

1 egg

3 egg whites

1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans

1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans

Powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Coat a nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray.

2.  Combine cake mix, pudding mix, yogurt, oil, eggnog, egg and egg whites in a large bowl.  Mix until creamy.

3.  Stir in pecans.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack.  When cool, dust with powdered sugar.

This one sounds very yummy and very fallish.  I will have to make it without the pecans though due to allergy issues with my daughter but it should still turn out yummy.  I'll post pics as soon as I make it.

Check out this pretty flower.  My bushes in the front yard are blooming and I found this flower and ant quite cool.

Welcome Pepper

Meet the latest addition to the Tamlyn family.  This little girl is four months old and full of energy.  Want to know a neet little fact...her birthday is April 8th same as my little boy :)

I like to think them sharing a birthday is a sign that she belongs with us.  Pepper was given to us by my sister in law.  So after some debate we said yes and traveled eight hours in a car with her and brought her home...not the only reason for the trip but I won't go into that.  Potty training is going well and we have only had a couple of accidents.  She's getting really good at waiting to go outside and letting me know when she needs to go.  My cat's are settling in somewhat.  Tilk my male cat at least comes in contact with her and keeps hanging out.  Ally my female cat refuses to come downstairs...we'll work on it.  So I am happy to say that we are all settling in.  Pepper seems very happy and loves her new home and attention.

Busy Week Fun Week

So this week was kinda busy but hey aren't they all.  We enjoyed some fireworks for the fourth, good food, and plenty fun.

We also did a little eating out.  

Yesterday we took the kids to see Cars 2 and I am not sure when I've heard my daughter laugh so hard.  I personally had fun and enjoyed the second movie as much as the first.  That is a quick recap of my week now check out my cute tomatoes.

I've never been able to grow veggies but I'm in a new house and new yard and this yard has sunlight.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed here that I do not kill these cute little guys.  Perhaps we should  just call me black thumb Noelle.  This morning I made myself some Bulgur Weat  breakfast with almond butter added and a banana.

Lunch ended up being a quick pita pizza with BBQ sauce, chicken and bell pepper topped with a sprinkle of cheese.  No pic of that though it seems to be lost on the ol computer :(  Tonight I did an hour of Yoga X, there is nothing better than getting in a great stretch session.

Busy Week

Wow this week has been beyond busy.  I started with this little project.

And ended up working on the front of the house as well.

The side of the house still needs pine straw  but is just about done.  I got the old  pine straw out of the front and put down new top soil.  The husband then added a border and black mulch....much prettier.  We still have more work but it is looking better.  I wish I had something more entertaining to add but really this took a good couple of days.  Yesterday however I did make it to the local farmers market and came home with these goodies.

Not bad for nine little bucks huh!  Gotta say I love farmers markets.  There is nothing better or should I say tastier than home grown local produce.  Gonna make cucumber salad tonight with these.

Cucumber Salad
2 Cucumbers thinly sliced
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
add fresh parsley or dill if desired and let sit overnight

Rain equals shopping

So I had the best of intentions of working on a project here at the house.  This beautiful mess.

So we bought this house last August and the landscaping is less than desirable.  I live in South Carolina and am learning to work with red clay.  Red clay is slimy putty like substance that you cannot level out.  The landscaper that worked on my house didn't bother to try and level it he just dumped plants in red clay and tossed pine straw on top.  Now I have the job of digging this nasty stuff out and adding top soil, leveling the dirt, putting down landscaping fabric and buying all new pine straw.  I worked for about an hour until it started storming.  So inside the house for lunch I went.  Lunch was easy today just a peanut butter sandwich, peach yogurt and plenty of water!

Now what does one do when you are stuck in the house and it's raining...you go shopping!  So the family got in the car and we went to Earth Fare.

  Now I love this place.  I love going to a supermarket that sells mostly healthy food.  I didn't buy any fresh produce there but I did pick up a couple of goodies.  Justin's Almond Butter is a favorite of mine and with only two ingredients you can't go wrong.  I also got some Wasa flatbread and Eatsmart Naturals Tortilla Chips.  Dinner ended up being at Cheddars.  I went with Key West Chicken & Shrimp which consist of marinated grilled chicken breast topped with grilled shrimp and pineapple pico de gallo.  It wasn't the healthiest option but it did hit the spot.  After the kids go to bed it is P90X time and tonight is Kempo.  This workout is great with all the kicking and punching.  When I first did  kempo it was not fun for one reason, I am uncoordinated.  Today I feel I can kick and punch with the best of them and feel so powerful doing it.  That's the thing about getting stronger is you get more confident in your own abilities.



Waving Hello

OK new blog so lets start off with a little bit about me.  First of all I am a wife to a great guy of  eleven years.  I have two darling children that keep me busy on any given moment.  I love cats and have had my two for eleven years now.  I love to read cook books, now this does not translate into I love to cook by any means.  I would love to try and get to a place were I love to cook healthy meals with real ingredients and leave anything boxed behind.  Recently I bought a Cooking Light cookbook and told myself  I would start making at least one dish from it every week.  Well I started off with great intentions and it lasted all of two weeks and now the book is sitting in my bookshelf gathering dust.  So one of my goals with this blog is to force myself into cooking better meals and sharing with you and as a way of keeping myself in check.

I am also into physical fitness.  This past winter I started jogging here and there.  At that time my husband brought  a copy of Insanity home.  I tried it a few times and got my rear handed to me and that is being polite.  So he borrowed a work buddy's copy of P90X and talked me into doing it with him.  Now lets fast forward to week eleven of the program and I am in love with this workout.  I still have a spare tire that refuses to go away but I am so much more toned and my energy is through the roof.  As for the spare tire it is much smaller and just going to require a little more work and I am sure it would be helped if I improved my diet as well.  Now this brings me to reason number two to start a blog...keeping myself accountable for my workouts. 

I am a woman of many interest so here is a third reason to start a blog...photography.  I love taking pictures but I rarely spend the time required to get better at it.  I figured if I had a blog well then it would need pictures therefore my camera is going to need to be out at all times.  My ultimate goal with photography is to one day take classes and become professional but that will have to wait until my kids are a little older.  I don't live near family and seven and six year olds take a lot of time.

Now for my last a final reason to blog.  I want to write.  I love to read and by that I mean anything I can get my hands on.  Well since I love reading so much why not express myself by writing what interest me.  So welcome and have fun reading about my life.

This mornings breakfast was a wonderful bowl of steel cut oats with banana, agave nectar for sweetness, flax seed and cinnamon.  Not pictured is my four cups of coffee, yes I have a problem but at least its a tasty one.