Best of Summer

Summer storms

Summer sweet corn

Summer savory

Summer sweet

 

Summer supper

Summer snack

Summer sips

Summer study

Summer story

Reading!!!

Reading is my favorite pastime.  I love books, magazines, blogs, pharmacy journals, websites, etc. etc.   Basically anything. Although I do love fiction, lately I have just not been as interested in it.  Like my grandfather, I am a schizophrenic reader – at any one time I will be in the middle of about 3-4 books. The bad thing about this is that it obviously takes longer to complete the books this way.

Here’s what is going on right now:

• So Long, Insecurity (Beth Moore) – While I’m not crazy about the title (it sounds like a self-help book), I love Beth Moore. I love the underlying message in all of her work.  So far, so good on this book.  I am about 3 chapters in and following along with the study on her website.  It is deeper than I expected.
• Radical Womanhood (Carolyn McCulley) – This is a fascinating book!  I ordered it from half.com and just got it yesterday and am already 100 pages in.  I love the way she writes.  The book is about feminism vs. God’s design and purpose for women.  I find feminism’s historical roots interesting and am shocked at how it has completely changed our culture.  I am also shocked at some of the beliefs/ideas from the early feminist leaders -- definitely some sinister aspects.  It is surprising – even with my conservative upbringing – how radical the Biblical ideas of womanhood are to me in light of our culture.
• Food Rules and In Defense of Food (Michael Pollan) – This is the same guy from Food, Inc.  I have heard lots of great reviews of his work and I liked The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

I finally finished the Experiencing God Bible study (which was great!) and am holding off on Beth Moore’s Daniel study for now.  Since it is the Lenten season, I decided to study through this book I found last year at the thrift store – A Call to Die  by David Nasser.  It is a 40-day devotional that (from what I can tell so far) explores what it means to take up our cross and follow Christ.  I am on day #2 and it is very good so far!

Hoping to get a lot of reading done today!

Fruits + Veggie Binge

I think it rained ALL DAY today.  Blah! The past few days it has been so hard to wake up, but I have had much more energy than usual during the day.  Probably because I have been exercising?  I’m not sure if it works that fast.

Speaking of exercise, my legs feel like lead  Sad, I know. But I am constantly running up and down the stairs at work and today whenever I had to climb the stairs my legs were so tired when I got to the top! After work we went to the gym and I worked out upper body ONLY – I did the sequence of upper-body weight machines, each one 3 x.  I forgot The Pink Lady (my ipod shuffle) in the car, so it was pretty blah and boring.

I was STARVING again when I got home.  Tonight was Greek Tilapia  Mahi-Mahi.  It was our first E-mealz experiment from the Weight Watchers plan.  The original recipe called for tilapia, but they didn’t have any frozen fillets at Publix and I didn’t want to buy fresh because I didn’t know when we would make it (and because of the smell).

So, we didn’t marinade it for as long as recommended (1-2 hrs), but it still turned out good.  That’s a big squirt of ketchup on top.  Should have taken the picture first. Side dishes were brussel sprouts and parsley potatoes (potatoes was an E-mealz idea, the brussel sprouts were mine).  I love parsley and I found out tonight that I love brussel sprouts after trying them for the first time.  They are so cute!  Something about the taste reminds me of asparagus. They were steamed in the microwave with Smart Balance 50/50 + Greek seasoning (which we also used for the fish marinade).  I love the Ziplock steamer bags!

Brent actually forbade me to get a Cadbury egg at the Dollar General tonight. He even kind of scolded me for even looking at them in front of the cashier. Seriously! It made me really mad!  So tonight for dessert I pretty much binged on fruit. Ha!  It was so good and pretty!  And roughly the same amount of calories as a Cadbury egg.

This was an apple, a kiwi, and a bunch of grapes.

Add my orange eaten at lunch today + the veggies at supper and I almost reached the recommended daily amount!  Woo hoo!  How often does that happen?  Actually, I don’t think it ever has.

I am spending the rest of the night reading Cold Sassy Tree and drinking sleepytime tea.  I’m ready for bed!

3 down, 5 to go! (Seems so overwhelming!  I’m already ready for a day off.)

Sleeeeepy Tuesday

Today I was off from work, but actually had to go in for 2 hours for some training.  After I came back home I was, unfortunately, very unproductive.

Highlights from today:

Paperwhites blooming (and they smell great!)

Wonderful grilled cheese with Mama’s homemade sourdough bread.

Reduced fat comfort food: Alexia onion rings with a Hebrew National reduced fat hotdogs + Brent’s chili.

And reading….currently it is Having a Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver.  Very, very good book!

Also, I found Faith Barista today (a Christian blog).  Check out these two posts:

• The Joy of “What-Is-It?”
• Your Best Days are Ahead of You

WINTER BLUES

So, as I have mentioned in earlier posts (this month) I think I definitely have the winter blues….I have been feeling blah for weeks and it is just not letting up.  The holidays + time off from work distracted me for a little while, but now I’m back to feeling blah and sleepy and unmotivated.  Tonight I was searching for information about this on the internet and I found out that I am doing everything you are not supposed to do. Ha!

For example, you are apparently supposed to keep your regular sleep schedule. However, I am sleeping anywhere from 2-4 (!)extra hours in the afternoon/evening and then going to bed (and getting up) at normal time.

Here are some other tips to beat the winter blues that I am going to incorporate into my routine:

• Exercise – I KNOW I need to do this.  The problem is when.  In the morning (~ 5 a.m.) it is still dark and really cold. By the afternoon I am starting to feel tired + hungry + by 3:30 when I get off I have had the entire day to talk myself out of it.  Plus, if I ride with Brent I have to wait until 4 pm to leave, then that makes it even later getting home.  The solution for now is morning exercise…just bundle up and DO IT. 
• Keep a regular sleep schedule – I am just going to have to fight the urge to sleep during the day.
• Supplements: fish oil + SAM-e – I am going to try both of these to see if they work.
• Diet – I have been giving in to cravings for carbohydrates and sugar (grilled cheese? onion rings?).  Apparently the body craves these things to increase serotonin in the brain.  However, while simple sugars and processed carbs may cause a temporary sugar high, they actually drain energy in the long term.  Many sources recommend complex grains + veggies and fruit for carbohydrate sources.

There are many other suggestions for beating the winter blues, such as light therapy, acupuncture, massage, and antidepressant medications, but I would rather try the natural (and less expensive) treatments first.  I will report back on how it works.  I am especially eager to try the supplements.

Links to information on winter blues:

1. Health.com
2. Cornell University Gannett Health Services
3. Do It Yourself
4. PsychCentral
5. New York Daily News
6. Huffington Post
7. WebMD

New Month!

I love the first day of a new month! It feels like a fresh start and a clean slate.


Brent's in Tennessee and I don't have to be at work until 12:30, so this morning has started quietly -- with Halloween candy, reading, writing, and generally just enjoying my extra Daylight Savings Time hour! Nice start to the day, week, and month. Right now I am using a combination of resources for devotions and Bible studies - Tabletalk (Ligonier Ministries), My Utmost for His Highest (Oswald Chambers), and Respectable Sins (Jerry Bridges) are three of my current favorites. I have also spent part of the morning catching up on blog reading, which I love.


At this time I really need to get up and get ready for work, but it is just SO HARD. See why?

Have a great day!