My First Talking Blog

Good morning, blog world!

I am currently reporting to you like this:

What am I doing? I am “typing” — hands-free! Last week, when I realized that I really couldn’t type for a while, I ordered MacSpeech Dictate, a voice activation software. I have never seen anything like this. It is amazing! Very accurate, very easy to use, and will make my recovery much faster. I am actually going on vacation starting this weekend, so that will help to. But I have so much typing to do at work that I couldn’t go  two weeks without typing.

This software is totally worth it for anyone who has wrist, arm, or nerve problems. What is also very cool about it  is  that you can make multiple profiles, so that, for example, Loren  could also use this program because it would learn to recognize his voice separately. He has a bad wrist ( I know, we are both old people) so this is great for him to! You can also find great programs for PC’s (they are actually rated even higher by most review sites).

Anyways, onto  yesterday’s  eats. After a 35 minute workout on the elliptical at the gym, I came home and made a big bowl of oats sans  pumpkin, but with banana, almond milk, and  topped  with some homemade apple butter.

I also stopped at Starbucks for my usual: a skim  awake tea latte  with one pump  of pumpkin syrup.  The oatmeal was very good-  I always feel so healthy starting my day off with oatmeal.

Lunch was packed at home, as usual. I made a turkey bologna sandwich and  packed lots of fruits and veggies to go with.

If I use half a banana at breakfast, I tried to eat the rest of it for snack that day. That way, I don’t feel that I am being wasteful, but I also don’t eat it all at once. In addition to the snacks above, I also had a small cooked chile,  given to me by a student.  I think it was stuffed with veggies and shredded chicken.  These ladies know how to cook!

I tried to be creative for dinner… eh,  it didn’t go so well. I mean,  I ate it,  but I would change a few things that I made it again. Basically, I try to make a kind of  “Mexican casserole”, layering corn tortillas, beans, and veggies. We had just bought some fresh veggies and I was trying to incorporate them into the meal-  but I think I try to incorporate too many.

For example, broccoli. Bad idea.

Here is the finished product:

I just doctored up my piece and Loren’s  with avocado, yogurt,  cheese, and hot sauce. It was actually pretty good once I took the broccoli off my plate!

For dessert, I had a mini ice cream cookie sandwich from Trader Joe’s.

Can’t believe I “typed”  that whole post while talking to my computer. You can just picture me sitting in my  kitchen, talking to my little  Mac-  that should  make you laugh!

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A Happier Me

Hello blog world!

I got to bed early last night and got loooots of sleep, so I am chipper as I sound this morning. Sleep does miracles for my mood… I had a really bad muscles spasm in my neck that built up over the weekend, so I took yesterday off from exercise and booked a massage appointment instead. I needed to get someone in there to break up the tension!

I whipped up a batch of oats for breakfast with my normal mix of banana, pumpkin, and PB- topped with some flax.

And some earl gray tea, of course.

And a clementine! I bought a huge box of these at TJ’s on Sunday and split it with my sister. Still, I have a lot to eat! They are so good, though, that I don’t mind the challenge. 🙂

I also packed lunch/ snacks for the day and took a quick shot of it before running out the door:

It included: leftover salad from Monday night’s dinner, a wrap with honey turkey and some delicious salami (!), a laughing cow cheese, a green apple, and 2 clementines. At lunchtime, I just combined the laughing cow cheese, salad, and the whole wheat tortilla & meat to make a nice, big, healthy wrap. It was awesome! Yesterday afternoon, I also had a hot chocolate and a bite of a chocolate covered strawberry. Lots of fruit!

My massage was incredible and I was so thankful (to myself 🙂 )that I had booked it. The masseuse was amazing- she went really deep into the muscles, which was exactly what I needed. And she focused the whole time on my neck/ shoulders. I am a little sore today so I will be popping some advil, for sure.

I was craving salmon all day so I picked some up on the way home- wild, of course! I made it using my favorite method of wrapping it in tin foil and putting it in the oven. I just topped it with salt, pepper, lots of lemon and lemon juice and put it in the oven at 400 for 25 minutes. Perfection!

I also roasted some fingerling potatoes in the oven for about 35 minutes at 400. I seasoned them with fresh rosemary, olive oil, S & P. They also came out really well.

On the side, I made a huge salad filled with tons of great veggies: mushrooms, sugar snap peas, cukes, carrots, lettuce, and an orange pepper. I topped it with feta, sunflower seeds, and golden raisins. SO good. I could eat this salad every day!

Loren was very impressed with the meal when he got home. 😉

I had a huge serving of salad and only a few potatoes. Everything went together really nicely!

I spent the night reading in bed. I love when we finish dinner by 8 and have a couple of hours of just peaceful time before we go to sleep. I used to watch a lot of TV, but I am trying to be more choosey about what I watch and when I watch it. Sometimes it just disrupts the natural flow of my mind quieting before bed.

I went back to the kitchen for some dessert, too!

A handful of M&M’s that are in the freezer. SO good frozen!

It was a very soothing day- and that’s probably why I slept so well last night. I need to take care of myself like this more often! 😉 I definitely woke up feeling like a happier me!

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