The Countdown is On

One more week of work to get through, then I’m on vacation for two weeks. Husband is on vacation as of Friday which makes me a little cranky about having to go to work all this week.

My Christmas Cactus is ready…

The Coca-Cola Train is waiting…

But for now, I guess it’s weekend recap time.

Saturday

Let’s see…Pancakes from a can…

I was not at all energetic yesterday. Not sure why, I had a good sleep, but it was hard to get moving. I puttered around a bit in the morning and then made my way out to pick up groceries. I meant to eat something before I went, but as usual I forgot.

So I came home and had a Bolthouse Perfectly Protein drink.

I think I have to stop buying these things. I love them, they taste so good, but it’s just too easy to not bother eating real food.

Did some more stuff that I can’t even remember now. Got in a quick Circuit workout. Then it was time to make dinner. I chopped all the veggies, and was waiting for Husband to come deal with the chicken. I was hungry, so I had a little snack.

Then Husband came out and poured us some Egg Nog with Rum.

Ahh! I feel better already.

This was Zappa watching Husband cut up chicken:

 

He was riveted. Frank was off sleeping somewhere, otherwise Husband would have had both cats captivated.

Since I had been feeling the exact opposite of energetic, and because there was cauliflower in the fridge needing to be used up, I went for the easy dinner again.

In the pan – chicken, cauliflower, red & yellow bell pepper, half a red onion (because it was in the fridge needing to be used up) and some extra spice.

And dinner!

Dinner entertainment:

I had forgotten that they had left out a bunch from the end of the book, and was a little disappointed all over again. But it was still a good show.

I had tea and cookie (I took two but ended up only eating one).

Which is just as well because there were quite a few handfuls of chocolate covered almonds and maybe a couple of other cookies that managed to escape the camera yesterday.

Sunday

It was a beautiful sunny day today, and warmer than yesterday (Friday and yesterday were quite cold). I didn’t feel like breakfast right away, so had a Bolthouse drink.

I eventually had more pancakes from a can (think the can is almost empty now).

I have to say, even though they are nowhere near as good as homemade, I am getting to like how easy it is to grab the can and make myself some pancakes. I could eat pancakes every day, but Husband is not quite as big a fan as I am. These do not hold up to fruit very well though – the center of the plate was mush.

I spent most of the morning on the couch reading. I’ve been reading Middlemarch and I was so close to the end I wanted to finish it.

Eventually I got up and started puttering around doing some laundry and cleaning up the kitchen.

I baked two batches of cookies; one was a new recipe I tried out for Twice Baked Shortbread and I made another batch of Super-Charge Me cookies. The Twice Baked Shortbread took some time – I mixed up the dough and then it had to sit for at least 2 hours. Which gave me plenty of time for the Super-Charge Me cookies.

I had an audience.

 

Frank was actually kind of moping and complaining and I could tell he wanted me to take him for a walk. My first instinct was “No way! There’s snow out there!” But, it’s not like I can stay inside all winter and I figured the fresh air might be good for me so I did end up taking him out after I cleaned up from my cookie making.

Someone’s got their trailer parked in our little lane and Frank kept wanting to crawl under it.

I don’t think Frank much enjoyed walking in the snow – it was slippery in spots, and sometimes the crust would give way. But, it’s not like we could get away from it.

He still managed to find a rock to sit on.

We didn’t go too far because the ground is uneven up there and I knew I’d have to carry my 17 lb cat back through the snow and I was a little worried about slipping and falling.

Of course, once I brought Frank  in I had to take Zappa out.

I don’t think he was too impressed by walking through the snow though, so we didn’t stay out long.

It was actually quite nice out – relatively speaking – and once I got out I was in no hurry to go back inside. So I thought maybe I’d go for a walk. However, the sidewalks were quite icy and I was not really comfortable with walking on the road, so I didn’t get very far. Still, I was probably outside for a half hour which gave me some fresh air and a dose of sunshine.

I came back in and tried to pick away at a few more little tasks. Then I put my shortbread in the oven and went down to the basement for some intervals on the treadmill.

When I came upstairs, I puttered in the kitchen waiting for the oven timer to go off. I finished off the little bit of Chipotle Hummus that was left in my container and decided the try the new Edamame dip that I bought at the Superstore.

Then I ended up going back for a new container of Chipotle Hummus instead. Not that the Edamame dip is bad, I think it was just too different from the Hummus which I had already been eating. I will try it again, but for today I was in the Chipotle mood.

The shortbread came out of the oven and I sprinkled on some Turbinado sugar. While it was sitting for the required 10 minutes, I continued with peeling some potatoes. When the 10 minute was up, I cut the shortbread into rectangles and put it back in the oven for 15 minutes.

I continued on with some dinner prep until the shortbread came out of the oven.

Once the cookies were done, and I had most of my dinner prep done I went and had a shower. Then I came back and made easy dinner #2 – Fritatta and Hash browns.

This is before adding cheese and putting it in the oven to finish cooking. Husband came out as everything was finishing up and I was getting ready to serve, and he said it looked pretty.

Then we cut it up.

Served with hash browns and broccoli slaw.

My favourite thing on the plate was the hash browns. On their own, potatoes are not that exciting, but something magical happens when you fry them.

For dessert I had peppermint tea and Super-Charge Me cookies.

I thought I was done at that point, but then Husband brought me Egg Nog.

Which I sipped while knitting away at a scarf with Zappa on my lap.

It was good, but I think the Egg Nog put me over the edge. Time to cut back on the treats for the next few days.

Famous last words…