How often are you sick? Do you have a #1 no fail cure?
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Hi guys…..I know i’ve been missing from the blog, but the truth is I haven’t been very well! I’ve been spending most of my time on the couch watching TV and drinking hot lemon water.
I tweeted about it earlier, but I just wanted to post just incase there are some readers who aren’t on twitter! I’m hoping to be back in action within the next few days.
I came home from work early today and immediately called the doctor 
Luckily my doctors office is amazing and they got me in right away as an ‘urgent patient’….hello – - H1N1 anyone??
Thankfully I appear to be swine flu free since I don’t have a fever but I do have blocked lungs and a painful chesty cough among other things! I’ve got bronchitis apparently.
I really need to take tomorrow off work but I’ve got SO MUCH going on at work right now. We have inspections coming up this week and I have a ton of work to get caught up on. What’s a girl to do???
What do you do when you’re ill?? Any natural remedies that you can recommend?
On Sunday I meant to post a photo of the fab bars that I made courtesy of Polly’s recipe.
Go here for the original recipe.
It was Polly’s birthday yesterday 
Did ya know??
The changes I made were:
- 1/4 cup flax instead of wheat germ
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
- the nuts I used were a mix of cashews and walnuts (only because this was all I had in the house)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup instead of honey (again, I didn’t have honey in the house)
- 2 tbsp of cashew butter instead of peanut butter
I made these changes because I wanted to use what I had in the house instead of going out to the shop to buy new ingredients, but I am betting if I didn’t change them at all they would have turned out really good!! I’ll make them as per the exact recipe next time!!
I’ve been trying to get in my green juice to make myself feel better.
Two peeled and chopped apples (I ate the skin, no going to waste!).
Frozen strawberries:
Loads of spinach + rice milk – two different brands (1/2 cup each):
Love the green goodness.
Served with a granola square.
Breakfast of champs (or the sick- in my case).
Well, i’m out people. I need to go and visit the couch again.
I hope you are all having a fabulous week so far!
**YOGA Challengers- I think it goes without saying that I haven’t been well enough to get in my yoga… but I REALLY hope you’ve all been carrying on with it!! Please let me know how you are doing! **
If you could go anywhere, right now – where would it be?
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I’m soooo sorry for being away since one week ago. Thank you to those who sent/left messages! The time just honestly slips away from me and unless I make it a point to always blog everyday sometimes things come up and blogging gets put on the back burner!!
It’s been a productive week though. I’ve spent a lot of time using skype to connect with my family & friends. See? That has to come before blogging ya know?! When I call people it’s not just for 10 minutes… it can last hours lol.
We had our little niece princess Emily over today. She came to hang out with us. Steve got up early so I could sleep a bit longer and when I got up she was sitting down stairs eating cheerios. The life of a two year old eh?
She had big smiles when I came downstairs!
And then she proceeded to feed her baby the cheerios. One for baby, one for Emily.
My breakfast was a little bit different! Toast with cashew butter. AH! Have you ever tried this!? I bought my first jar this past week and I am in LOVE! I may love it even more than peanut butter. I think I need to use it when I recreate the cashew cookie Larabar this week.
This plus one more slice!
The weather was horrible today. Rainy, windy – you name it.
We ended up watching 270 episodes of Peppa Pig from YouTube.
Then Emily was finally tuckered out enough to have a sleep….
While I was in the kitchen admiring my beautiful lilies that have bloomed!
I did some baking…
Did you see Polly’s post on her homemade granola bars this week?
I’ll have to post a picture tomorrow and show you the modifications that I made. I had to sub a few ingredients and make minor changes only because I wanted to use what I had in the house rather than making another shopping trip.
They turned out great though!! So easy and quick!
Steve and I just finished watching X Factor. Oh my gosh, I am ADDICTED to that show. Last week I was massively annoyed when the twins didn’t go out since they were in the bottom two and I figured that Simon would have voted them out. Well, nope – he didn’t. BUT, this week they were oddly good in a weird sort of way but I still don’t think they have it to win. I definitely think that Olly, Stacey and Joe are the ones to beat. Danial is another fav of mine. I’m so curious to find out what is going to happen tomorrow night.
I know most of the North American readers probably don’t appreciate the X-Factor talk but my fellow Uk’ers can probably relate. Do you guys watch?!?
(X- Factor is basically our version of American Idol. Simon Cowell is much nicer on this show, you’d be surprised! He has a likeable factor!).
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I’ve been looking through photos from this past summer and especially when the weather is cold and rainy like it was today I find myself wishing I could turn back time and go back here!!
Our engagement spot!
Enjoying the lake by the cottage…
Hanging out at the bay!
If you could turn back time and go anywhere, right now – where would it be?
This morning I woke up to glorious sunshine! At 7:20am I might add!! I swear I can never sleep in these days, but I didn’t mind… after deciding it was way to early to get up on a Saturday I tried to go back to sleep and Steve woke me up with a coffee around 8:30. The perfect way to wake up!
Finally once getting out of bed I made a breakfast i’ve been thinking about all week.
French toast!!! I love having these kinds of breakfasts on the weekend! I made my french toast with 1 egg, soy milk, flax and a dab of vanilla… in the pan and on to my plate. I had a small banana on the side with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some real maple syrup drizzled on top.
I ran a few errands this morning including a trip to the nail salon to see Dan:
Dan is a very happy and very flirty nail artist (or whatever you’d call him). This pic was actually taken a few weeks ago when we took my mother in law to this salon to get her nails done! He was hilarious today and made sure to ask me if I was still married. Yes, Dan – I am. He says he likes my Canadian accent. Gotta say, this guy is a sweet talker.
I also stopped off at the shop and I was going to buy some chicken noodle soup for lunch (I was craving a bit of my childhood). That idea was soon put to rest when I checked out the ingredient list and it said “chicken fat.” Um, ew? Not chicken pieces or something a little more appealing, but chicken fat? Yuck. So, needless to say I didn’t consume any chicken for lunch.
He was happy.
I had a veggie sandwich with cheese n’ pesto instead. Seriously yummy.
Do ingredient lists ever turn your stomach and make you choose something else to eat??
Once home Steve surprised me with another gift. No, not more flowers, not a card….
A JUICER!
Holy moly I am in love. This actually came from my mother in law, who told Steve to give it to me this morning when he went around to her house. It’s been used about 5 times and she said Leah will probably get more use out of it than I will. Oh yes, thank you!!!
It came with this fun book by Jason Vale.
I CANNOT WAIT to try it!!!
Do you own a juicer? What’s your favourite combination?
I am about to have a skype date with a friend from home!! I loooove skype! Check out this screen shot from a skype conv I had with my sister and nephew the other day. This is when he was talking to me and telling me about Mickey Mouse and his fun “Ween” (Halloween!).
Thank goodness for video calls. I’ve been watching this munchkin grow up over video!
Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Any big plans??
This week has been absolutely exhausting!! Getting back to work after a week off is always tough and i’ve been super tired all week. I would be lying if I said I didn’t go to bed before 10 almost each night. I don’t know how some of you night owls do it! To be honest, I love staying up late on the weekends but there is nothing better to me than getting into bed nice and early after a long day at work.
Are you a night owl or do you turn in early like me??
Thankfully tomorrow is Friday and I couldn’t be happier. Despite my lack of energy I am sure it will come back once 3:15pm hits tomorrow!! Isn’t it funny how that always happens?
Steve has won the husband of the year award twice this week. He cooked me an awesome chili last night, which we had leftovers for tonight and bought me some beautiful flowers and a card to tell me he loved me. Seriously cute or what?
Ok i’ll end the gush!!
So, I wanted to bring up something on the blog- that really has nothing to do with the rest of my post but I am curious to know how you all feel! Basically, it’s about prayer. I pray, quite a lot when I’m feeling down or I need a bit of strength or even when things are going well with me. I find that it brings me some peace inside and although I am not the most religious person out there I do find comfort in prayer. Last night when I was sitting on my bed taking some time in silence I ended the 10 minutes with a bit of prayer. This week i’ve been a bit under the weather and I just asked God to give me a bit of strength to get through this week. I do this quite often; pray I mean. I do it when I fly (because basically I fear for my life when I get on a plane) and I do it when i’m thinking about my family or friends. I don’t pray just when I need something, don’t get the wrong idea but sometimes I do feel that maybe I should be doing more. I don’t attend church on a regular basis and I haven’t read the bible from cover to cover, but I do believe in God and I try to live my life in a Christian way. I guess what I am getting at is, do you feel there are different levels of different religions? Do you feel that you are a religious person? I don’t want to start a debate or turn this into a judging competition… I am just curious on where you stand when it comes to God, religion and the like. This is a highly touchy topic for some people, but I’d just like to know. Sometimes I feel a bit self conscious because there have been people in my life who have said to me… What… you pray? Why? You don’t go to church!
Where do you stand?
More flowers
….nah.. I don’t have them but I would love to say I do!
I do try to get a good ab work out in every now and then.
I’d love to see the 6 pack shine through…
But it never seems to
Even if i’ll never have a 6 pack, i’m not too bothered. But I do like to tone them up a bit.
Each of us has a different opinion on the perfect abs.
How do you define the perfect abs?
Meaning… what are the perfect abs to you?
And a second question – literally, how do you define them – what is your ab workout like?
During the summer I did a ton of hill walking on the tredmill. I walked on incline 15% for a long time and alternated between 10-15% for a good 30 minutes most days during the week. I also did some jogging on an incline. I found this was an awesome workout, not only just cardiovascular – but it also did trimmed down my middle! Between this, running outside and lifting weights (I always keep my stomach pulled in when I lift), the combination really gave me results.
I was reading an article on msn health today about the myths about rock hard abs.
Here are the top 3 myths:
MYTH #1: High-rep workouts make your abs grow
REALITY: Your progress will plateau if you do the same exercises, regardless of reps.
You need to intensify your workouts to teach your abs to stabilize your body weight. Add either more — challenging variations of body-weight exercises, or weighted abdominal exercises once the unweighted versions become too easy.
MYTH #2: Abs workouts involve a lot of movement
REALITY: Exercises that require steadiness are best.
When you bend your spine during crunches or situps, you risk injuring it, says Stuart McGill, Ph.D., a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario. Doing those exercises isn’t the best way to target your abs anyway, because you repeatedly bend the disks in your back and aren’t forcing your abs to resist motion. That’s why McGill suggests exercises that encourage spinal alignment and stability, such as planks. Your abs do all the work to keep you stabilized and lower your risk of back injury. (If you have back pain, see a physician before starting any abs regimen. Some abs exercises can make back problems worse.)
Exercises that prevent movement are especially good for building lateral abdominal strength, which is what helps your body stay in proper form under pressure (like when you play sports or do squats and deadlifts).
MYTH #3: Rotational exercises are best for building your obliques
REALITY: Rotational exercises don’t build obliques well and can harm the spine in some cases.
Use heavy compound exercises — like squats and deadlifts — to make your obliques work harder to keep your spine aligned. For more challenge, add unbalanced moves — the single-leg lunge, for example, or a deadlift with one dumbbell. These types of exercises require your body to adjust to uneven stress while your spine is in its neutral position, which further stabilizes your core and builds your obliques (as long as you maintain proper form).
Read more of the article here!! Source.
