No Zumba, But Productive Still

Ahh…back to real time posting!

With the weather getting cooler, I crave nice, hot, cozy breakfasts like oatmeal more and more!

I prefer to mix my oatmeal breakfasts with fruits and thought I didn’t have any since hubby and I haven’t been making it to the grocery store as much as we usually do. However, I found 3 beautiful SC apples in the fridge – I forgot I brought those back from my Farmer’s Market trip with my parents this past weekend.

I used the apples to make Apple Pie Oats.

Pre-cooking ingredients:

• 1/2 chopped, local SC apple
• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup skim milk (been adding milk instead of water for extra calcium and nutrition)
• 1/4 cup water
• sprinkle flaxseed
• sprinkle chia seed

Microwaved for 2 1/2 minutes

Post-cooking ingredients:

• extra dash milk
• light drizzle of agave (1 tsp?)
• chopped pecans
• dash cinnamon

I had to go to work extra early today so I had time to stop by the post office to pick up a package.

My Amazon.com box was here! I didn’t get a chance to open the box before work, but I had a good idea what it was.

I was hoping to work through lunch so I could leave early and swing by our house, but hubby called wanting to look at cabinets. Now, I don’t know what kind of work environment you work in, but mine is very fast-paced and pretty high-stress and very demanding of my schedule. I rarely get to take lunch – sometimes because I’m too busy, but usually because I have phone conferences from 11am-2, 3, 4, or even 5 or 6pm.

Anywho, I decided to take lunch to look at cabinets w/ hubby but would you know…we got to the cabinet shop and the place was closed with no signs for lunch! We even tried calling the shop’s phone # and it was disconnected! Needless to say I was super irritated. I was irked by the waste of time and also by the fact that I wouldn’t be able to make the zumba class I was hoping to go to after work since I ended up taking a lunch break instead of leaving “early”.

See, I’ve been working super hard on trying to choreograph some songs to show my zumba instructors, but none have come through till recently. I think I’ve finally choreographed something worthy of showing them to Shakira’s Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (hot song!) and even emailed our head instructor about possibly showing her the dance after class. I was so excited to show her! And nervous.

I did notice today that my leg seemed more tender than it was yesterday. I hear you’ll feel a workout more 2 days after a workout than the very next day. Not sure if that’s true. Anywho, either way, it was probably a good thing I didn’t make class tonight. I am hoping to go tomorrow or Friday, though!

I ended up staying late at work to make up for the time I missed at lunch and was soooo tired by the time I left. I was excited about opening my package, though.

Inside – my new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens that hubby got me for my b-day! I can’t believe I already have 4 lens for my DSLR, but hey…guess I have to start building my stash of lens if I’m going to get into freelance photography! A girl’s gotta have options!

As soon as I got home, I, of course, had to take out my new toy and play with some test photographs.

The lens shot a lot like my macro lens. Actually, a little too much like it. I was hoping for something that would take more “regular” photos instead of already being so zoomed in with no option to capture more of a scene in your lens other than backing up. Oh well…I’ll keep playing with it.

I take such random photos when I play with new camera stuff. Here’s the inside of my jacket.

After playing a bit with my new lens, hubby and I headed to see our house. The wall in the between the kitchen and formal living room is COMPLETELY gone! I have to say, I think it looks pretty darn good in there without that wall! I can’t wait to see how this project morphs and moves into its final form!

I also took a moment to plant my Bay Laurel plant. That baby should provide me all the bay leaves I’ll ever need for cooking! I hope the plant likes where I put it.

After our quick trip to the house, hubby and I headed to Lowes to research cabinets. We’re going to be adding lower cabinets under the new bar area separating our formal living room and kitchen, but we still need to buy them…yikes! I think we’re running out of time. Anywho, we had a really friendly guy helping us and we picked out some we think we like, but I still think we should shop around a bit. I don’t like accepting a first offer.

Hubby decided it would be a good idea to hit up Olive Garden whilst looking over our cabinet catalogs.

We got salad and breadsticks.

We split the Cheese Fonduta appetizer.

We also split Chicken Parmesan with Fettuccine Alfredo. I couldn’t even finish my half-portion! When are more restaurants going to start offering more reasonable portions?

As if we hadn’t done enough today, we also went to the grocery store with fresh-cut coupons in hand to stock up on some essentials – plastic bags, laundry detergent, tooth paste…you know…the fun stuff. We saved $10 with all our coupons, though, so I was pretty happy about that! We gotta save every cent now that we’re homeowners!

We did pick up some Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chunk cookies.

PS Leaving the cookies out while you pre-heat the oven = bad idea. They get all sticky and mushy and are much harder to work with.

Oh, and the cookies…not so much for hubby and I. I’m still full from my 1/4 dinner, cheese app, and salad & breadsticks! The smell of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies isn’t doing anything for me right now, which is pretty weird. Perhaps I overate more than I thought?

Anywho, these cookies are for the guys working on our house. I thought it would be nice to make them a little something and hubby thought so too. My mom has always brought treats to car repair shops, doctor offices, vet offices….anywhere she goes almost! People really like the treats and it’s nice to do small gestures that brighten peoples days just a little. I hope to keep up my mom’s random acts of kindness going forward. Hopefully the guys like their cookies tomorrow!