I like the title. I have a favorite Korean place that made me a custom bowl of cabbage instead of rice on the bottom, mushroom, broccoli, red peppers and tofu stir fried and topped with avocado today. I started eating tofu again. I think the benefits outweigh the risks but need to talk to Dr. about this.

Brooks' 60th BD yesterday. Lots of Moscow mules and Dark & Stormies! Trying to decide upon our favorite drink with ginger beer. Back on track today. He wanted to go to a big waterpark (such a kid). We probably walked 7 miles. I could feel it in my legs today.

Mihani - I like to add hummus and balsamic to salads. Not mixed but "stripes" of each over the salad. Exercise is important to me not only for burning calories and toning but for the endorphin release and being able to keep moving and doing fun things.

Sorry about your accident, Carla, and glad your injuries weren't any worse than they were. How's your thumb?

Mihani, congratulations on starting your 6 week plan! We don't have McDougall products in our area.

bisky, aren't you glad you are physically fit and able to visit a water park and enjoy it? Were you at the Schlitterbahn?

Ladies, I have great news! I spoke with my manager and told her that this job was not a good fit. She completely understood and went to bat for me, checking with other managers to see if they had an opening that was a better fit. I will be working in a newly created position, less than a mile from home, with more income and less stress - what??? Feeling very blessed this evening. I'll start training next week, the clinic opens in October.

Nice job on day 3, Mihani!

Yay for autumn, indeed!!! It's cool and drizzly here and I love it. I'm refreshed and ready for day 2 of my workshop. We're going to be doing surface design and embellishment today, and a few edges/joins for fabric.

If it isn't raining too hard, I'm going to try to get a walk in during my lunch break. We were moving around yesterday but are going to be sitting a lot today.

I'm not sure which spinning project I was working on, Mihani. I finished up 2 different skeins a while back. I have some undyed merino & silk on the bobbin right now, but I haven't worked on it since I hurt my hand. I also have a dish towel project on my loom at home and the table runner at the art center that I haven't worked on since last week. I feel pressure to get that done because I'm renting that loom and I'm sure other people will want to use it soon.

We're not going to do batching this weekend because of my schedule, but are going to pick out a few recipes we can double to get through the coming week. I'm ready to make another batch of tuno-salad to go with my greens for lunch.

How is the cabbage and kale casserole? Have you made some adjustments to boost the flavors?

Carla, I hope your thumb is better today! You really did a number on it. Is your career in art?

I'm all for Fall, too! I don't feel like I've had enough summer yet (it's a short season here), but I do love Fall the best! Just hoping it sticks around for a while. We are having crisp sunny days right now. Perfect.

Mihani, thanks for the link for the Dr. M products. I'm going to be working three 12 hour shifts a week so I'm looking for ways to eat healthy and conveniently on those days. For the next four weeks I'll be working four 9 hour days while I wait for the clinic to open so the same is true now, really (the need for convenience).

It's been a hectic weekend so I just ran to the store for bagged, pre-chopped kale/cabbage salad kit. I'll keep the sliced almonds but toss the dressing. A friend dropped off a bag of produce from her garden so I'm prepping that in a few minutes. And, I just pulled a baked oatmeal out of the oven to have for breakfast this week. I'm trying to get my husband to break from his 30 year Cheerios habit and eat a better breakfast. I had to tweak the baked oatmeal quite a bit so I hope it's edible. I left out the butter, used one egg instead of two, reduced the brown sugar to 1/4 cup. I added in applesauce and a flax egg and added plant-based milk for dairy milk. It looks a bit dry, but edible.

Donna, are you feeling better?

YAY! Congratulations on the sale and letting go of stuff. I bet you feel great! You know with all my moving I get rid of a lot of stuff and most recently my childhood piano and a big cabinet that I never liked. I never miss it and feel much freer.

Mihani - I love baked tostadas. I put fat free refried beans, salsa and veggies on top too. So much you can do with them. I am going to try the sautéed kale with fajita seasonings plus a bunch of peppers and onions.

Going to go pick up Brooks during his lunch hour and swim at the 50-M pool on base today.

I don't know how much this is true but a fitness instructor said to me yesterday...if you work too hard during the hour...you use up your glycogen stores and crave carbs...if you work a little less intense you burn fat. It kinda makes sense because I lost a lot of weight doing slow long walks...verses all this swimming and biking. After the higher intensity workouts I feel starved. After this tri...I am going to cut back on intensity and increase duration with everything.

Breakfast: Ezekial toast with 1/2 small avocado, hummus, pine nuts and sesame seeds.
Lunch : Salad
Dinner: Veggie Fajitas (thank you Mihani) on baked tostadas with refried ff beans.

snacks: fruit and homemade spiced garbanzo beans

Brooks made the garbanzo beans with a 5 spice asian seasoning...I will ask him...I know he used the dried beans and soaked them first.

Always a good sign when you're going through a bunch of greens, Mihani! Nice work!

How did your swim go, Donna? That was a few days ago already, so knowing you, you've done a bunch of activities since then!

Jacquie, how is work going? I work part time as a technical writer and software tester, and play as a fiber artist I sell some of my work but I follow my creative urges and do what I enjoy. A lot of the things I do along the way to create a project are things I wouldn't want to do for a living, such as dyeing fiber or yarn. I like dyeing so that I can get the exact color or effect I'm going for, but dyeing large amounts, and repeating the same colors to sell doesn't appeal. I'm better off to make the money with my job which pays more than dyeing fiber would. Sorry, that was a long answer!

I'm planning to batch this weekend and get back on track with food. It's time to get back into my walking too. I haven't been to the park along the ocean since early summer. The exercise helps my food choices, so it's a win/win.

I've completed the first of 3 user manuals I'm working on for a client. In between that, I've been dyeing silk and doing a bit of sampling but little else fiber related. I'm feeling a little scattered with what I'm doing anyway, so maybe a bit of a break is a good idea so that I can sit back and decide what to focus on. I haven't made any progress on the weaving at the art center, partly because I have to go to the center to work on it, and partly because I'm following a pattern, so the project is missing a creative element. I need to go in once a week and get back into it.

I'm hoping to do well enough with my meals this coming week that I can start posting them here again without embarrassment!

I tried the cauliflower pizza crust. It was okay. Because I am going to be traveling so much I bought lots of frozen vegetable to roast. I hate for fresh vegetables to go to waste. I did buy greens and the cruciferous crunch mix. Rather junky but good, the black bean corn tortillas from TJ are good. I only say junky because of the flour tortilla.

My poor kitty has gone to the vet twice in 6 days. He had a bacteria and he was sick. The first time he went he was diagnosed and then I got antibiotics for him and they were HARD to administer. Very bitter tasting, and the smart brat cheeked the pill and spit it out later. So I had to push it out of his cheek a half a dozen times before he'd swallow the thing. And I had to do that twice a day for 5 days. Not fun.

Over the course of the last 10 days he's been sick 6 times. He's had 6 baths and I've had to wipe down all my floors each time too. Yesterday after he was sick again and I administered the last pill, I was concerned that the pills hadn't done anything. So we went back to the vet for the 2nd time and spent nearly the whole morning there (not a fun way to spend 3 hours). This time they confirmed the bacteria is gone, so the pills did work. They gave me something (ProGut) to get his tummy back to normal, along with some G/I food that is easier to digest.

I REALLY hope that we're done now. It's been a VERY long week....

Karrie, that does sound like a long week. I hope kitty is feeling much better now. I'm sure you don't miss administering the meds!

Mihani, I like that idea for dessert. I might make up some chia seed pudding too and throw in some of the Asian pears we have an abundance of.

More work on the manuals today, but probably not a full day. If I don't have any request changes tomorrow, I'll be doing a full day of fiber and creative work. yes! My last protein dyeing session went well and I now have some neutral colors I think I can repeat as needed. Progress.

So far this week, my food has been miles better than it has over the last few months. There's still room for improvement, but I'm pleased with the direction it's going.

Breakfast - green smoothie, coffee x2, black
Lunch - tu-no with greens in a pita
Dinner - pasta with chunky mushroom and tomato pasta sauce, walnut parm
Snacks - pears and maybe some of Mihani's frozen berry banana bliss!