Too long without updating

Thursday night, K had to take some clients out to dinner so J and I were on our own. I came home from work and did some yoga and then we decided to try a restaurant that we had never been to before for dinner. Humdinger's has been around for a while and Sissy and John told me about it months ago. They were very fond of it and told us to try it out but to be honest, I thought the name was stupid and didn't try it just because of that. Dumb move!!!! It was awesome and cheap. They serve all kinds of grilled fish and chicken dishes with rice and fresh veggies and don't charge an arm and a leg. J ordered the grouper sandwich and I had grilled snapper with a sauteed mushroom topping with rice and marinated broccoli, all for about $22!

It was really good. I'm looking forward to going back and trying the other fish and toppings. While we waited for our food, J played around with some coins I gave him.

After dinner, we went home and watched Modern Family and chilled out. Friday morning, I took J to his dad's before heading to work and after eating this turkey bacon, cheese, hot sauce and tomato sammy.

At lunch, I spoke to the Midsouth Investigators group about some of the things our office does and what they can do to help us keep a handle on the sex offenders. They were a great group and invited me to join. I probably will. Since Bill was suppose to be doing the presentation and I did it instead, he let me leave work a little early. I grabbed K and I some lunch from Lenny's, we took a nap and then headed to the lake house. It was way too hot to leave Margo at home to stay outside so I didn't feed her any food before we left, hoping to keep her car sickness to a minimum. I don't think it helped make her feel better during the ride though.

Once we got there, we decided to lay low and unwind at the house. We grabbed some beers, ordered some pizza and put the new firepit to use.

I was able to talk K into going on a hike with me and Margo Saturday morning while the temperature was still decent. It was the beginning of a beautiful day.

Margo even took a chance to enjoy the cool waters of a creek we found during the hike.

After cleaning up, we got the boat out and hit the water. We cruised the lake for a little while until we got hungry. We stopped at Grand Harbor to pick up some eats for lunch.

I love their burgers! Supa good but huge. I actually wasn't able to finish my meal....imagine that!

I love Grand Harbor! I wish we could keep our boat there.

It is one of the nicest marinas I've ever seen but I still want to get inside the condos and take a looksie!

After lunch, we went back south of Goat Island and anchored down in some pretty calm waters and hung out the rest of the day. We went in around 4:30 so we could get ready and go to dinner at the Catfish Hotel and have plenty of time to get back to the house and set another fire. We got to the Catfish Hotel and there was an hour and fifteen minute wait. We scratched that idea but still wanted catfish so we headed to some little hole in the wall K had been to before with guys from the hunting camp. It was awesome :) The scenery was hysterical and the old man running (trying to run) the cash register was a hoot. K told me about him when him and the guys went last year. Their tab had been eighty something dollars and they paid with a hundred and the poor little old man tried to give them sixty something back. This time, our tab was thirty something and when K asked if he could break a hundred the old man said he's rather not. I thought it was so stinking funny the way he said it, I'm still laughing about it as I type. Since I didn't remember what the name of the restaurant was and it didn't have a sign, I renamed it The I'd Rather Not Restaurant. After some really good laughs and 2 full bellies, we headed back to the house and got our fire pit set up. We stayed up awfully late and had a lot of fun.

Sunday was spent lounging in the house most of the day because it was pretty cloudy and we wanted to be bums, including Taco.

We got everything cleaned up and made it home in time to pick up some ribs from Corky's and watch the Cowboys beat the Bengals in their first preseason game.

I did an elliptical/strength training session this morning and refueled with a triple berry smoothie. Right before lunch, I got word from K that he signed us up for the St. Jude half marathon.....what have I gotten myself into? For lunch, I ran by Whole Foods and grabbed and piece of Vidalia Onion Salmon:

And got a salad and some pasta to go with it:

It was so light and refreshing and good. I wasn't able to finish the salmon so I saved it for another time and still had too much to eat. I may go for a short run when I get off work today, depending on the weather. This morning, the weather guy said it was going to be 100 degrees with a heat index of 118 so we will see.

It's through! For now...

After work Monday, I went to Mom and Roy's (J had hung with them for the day). We visited and Mom cooked dinner for us. She made meat gravy, rice, pinto beans, corn, cornbread and salad. I did really well at dinner, made a small plate, didn't go back for seconds.....then Roy busted out the ice cream. I ate a tiny scoop but that got the sugar beast growling and I threw in a cinnamon doughnut on top. So much for being comfortably full. After hanging with them for a while, we went home so K could eat. I brought him some of our leftovers.

I woke up Tuesday morning still full so I waited a while for breaky. I made a cashew butter and jelly on a sandwich thin and had some strawberries and cantaloupe with it. I dropped J off at Sissy's and went to the morning session of In Service. At lunch, I picked J up from the office and took him to Mel's. He was hungry and cared nothing about my trying to eat healthy and begged for some BK so I grabbed a small cheeseburger to hold me over til I could get home and make something else. I got him dropped off realized that yummy, warm, cheesy burger ignited another beast in me. The junk food beast. K called wanting to know what was for lunch and since I was craving junk and was going to be passing a Steak and Shake, I grabbed us some burgers and fries. Great idea, not! Went back to work for a bit, went and did some back to school shopping for J, went home and did some yoga. At least I exercised, right? For dinner, K and I went to Pacific Rim and had a feast!

We ordered the ocean pyramid, the house salad with crab, some nigiri and 4 rolls.

We were stuffed but it was oh so worth it!

Wednesday was the wrap up day of Operation Predator. The day started at 4:45am with a 5:30 roll call. We had 10 arrest warrants to serve and put our hands on 6 guys. The operation was a total success but so much work. I'm glad it's through....well almost through, I still have quite a bit of paperwork to finish. I was starving around 9:30 and ran home and made me a egg/cheese/hot sauce/salsa burrito.

J came home from the May's. I did an elliptical workout and then made us a good dinner. Buffalo shrimp, corn, rutabaga fries and salad. After dinner, we watched Big Brother and some shark week.

Breaky was yogurt, peanut butter, granola and honey this morning with some strawberries and blueberries.

Veggie Overload

Vegetables were what's for lunch today and a new one to boot! When I was getting things ready this morning, I semi-planned to come home and fix me a veggie meatball sub for lunch but after the temps soared to 98 degrees, I decided that a cold salad would be a whole lot yummier, soooooo I started with a ground layer of spinach and romaine and topped it with some anaheim pepper, sweet pickles, tomato, avocado, cheddar cheese, sunflower seeds and turkey bacon with a little bit of jalapeno ranch for the icing on the cake.

Oh my dear goodness, it was heaven :) I also heated up some leftover roasted broccoli I had in the fridge and tried a new veggie. Rutabaga! I read about them in someone else's blog and decided to try them. She peels them and slices them up in the shape of french fries, then tosses them in olive oil and seasons them before roasting them in the oven. I seasoned mine with some Tony Chacheres and pepper.

They tasted really, really good! I am a total fan and suspect these will be making regular appearances from now on.

Relaxation :)

Friday after work, J, K and I headed up to the lake house. Mom, Roy, Shanena and Chris were already there. They had already eaten and we weren't starving so K and I popped a couple of beers and visited for a little while. When we started getting hungry, we ordered some pizzas from Pickwick Pizza (formerly Mr. C's). They were super yum, as usual. J had a personal BBQ and K and I had our usual, Mr. C's supreme, loaded with everything including jalapenos. Yum in my tum! We were all exhausted and went to bed pretty early, right at 10. The air conditioner downstairs wasn't working properly though and we had a semi uncomfortable sleep. J woke me up at 7:30 and we didn't stop for a long time. We took Taco out to play a little, had some breakfast and visited with the fam some more. K got up shortly after we did and headed over to the hunting land to do some clean up. Around 10:30, J and I headed to the boat with Roy, Nena and Chris. Roy bought a new tube and we put a lot of use on it. The day was beautiful, not too terribly hot and just perfect for relaxing. We stopped at Grand Harbour marina for some lunch and hit the water some more before J and I had to leave.

It was a great day on the lake but it ended sooner than we wanted. We had to get back to Memphis to pick up Leegan to spend the night. I promised J that I would take them to Putt-Putt so we got off the water around 3:00 and headed back. We picked up Leegan, had some dinner, ran by Muddy's for a cupcake and then headed to Putt-Putt. The boys had a blast and went all night long go karting and playing Putt-Putt.

We didn't get out of there until after 11:00pm and I was pooped. We got home, took showers and went straight to bed. Sunday, the boys slept until almost 10:00. Once they got up, I made blueberry pancakes and Cajun smoked sausage for them. I guess the sausage was too spicy for Leegan because he sent almost all of it back so I had that and a super sweet cantaloupe for my breaky.

After getting everything cleaned up, I set up the redneck Riviera and we spent a few hours getting some sun. playing and wasp hunting.

Look how tall the grass is.....my gosh! I guess you can't really have a redneck Riviera with a perfectly manicured lawn :)

The boys got hungry and I made them some meatball subs and I was craving something cool so I mixed up some white chocolate pudding mix with some Greek yogurt and topped it with some fresh blueberries.

Cool and refreshing.

Later in the afternoon, we dropped Leegan off and ran to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. I decided to test my luck on some peaches (the last few I've bought have been pretty tasteless) and J and I were both glad I took a chance. It was juicy and sweet and pretty much perfect. I made a late afternoon snack of cheese, crackers and a peach.

J wound up stealing half of my peach and I gobbled down almost all of the cheese and crackers before snapping a pic.

K got back from the farm right as we were leaving for church. Before leaving, I stuck some filet mignon's in the oven to slow cook while we were at church. The smelled yummy when we got home. We had a huge salad and a baked potato to go with them. We watched Big Brother while we ate and then decided it was bedtime. We were all exhausted.

I got up this morning and did 37 1/2 minutes on the elliptical. Strange time, I know! I had planned on a 35 minute workout but right as I was ending, a news story came on that I wanted to see and I figured if I was still watching TV, I could work out still.

For breakfast, I made a "fried" egg sammich on a bagelwich with avocado, tomato and a little bit of serano pepper and had a banana to go along with it.

DELISH!!!!

Lake time is almost here!

When I got home yesterday, K and I went for a bike ride. We rode to Audubon Park, cruised along the golf cart path and then booked it home when it started thundering and lightning. Right before the storm, the sky was beautiful as the sun tried it's best to keep on shining.

The ride was really good and we made great time even though a lot of the ride was on the street during rush hour.

We got home and I was starving so I had a little snack before showering and getting dinner ready.

I decided to cook some Mexican for dinner since K will hardly ever go eat it with me. I baked some tortillas and browned some ground turkey with Rotel and taco seasoning to make tostadas. Here is the 1st layer:

And the finished product after I added lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa and jalapeno ranch.

It was delish! We spent the rest of the evening watching Big Brother and a saved episode of Losing it with Jillian. I got up early this morning and did 40 minutes of yoga. After a shower, I made this new breaky and was not impressed with the 1st bite because I was expecting it to be sweeter but it grew on me. It was plain Greek yogurt, granola and cashew butter.

For the last few bites, I threw in a few chocolate chips and that really improved the taste :)

Later for a snack, I had another banana.

And then some carrots and an Anaheim pepper with some hummus.

Lunch was the leftovers from last night's tostadas. I'm rushing this post so I can get out of the office and on my way to the lake!!!!

The sun has come out....

.....on my mood! I finally feel like my old self for the first time since my oral surgery!!! I couldn't be happier about it either :) I was really starting to get worried about how bad I was feeling, both mentally and physically, which just may have been God's plan to get me back on track. I have done a whole lot more praying than usual and I like it. Prayer absolutely does make a difference. I hate that it takes a down time in my life to bring me closer to God and I am really, really, really going to work on changing that.

I went yesterday and got the stitches out of my mouth and it felt SO GOOD to have them gone and not rubbing against my lip and driving me crazy anymore. There's a small scar but nothing serious and it doesn't show unless I lift my lip up.

I got home a little earlier than usual and used that sweet time for a nap. I was on my own last night because K had a man's night at Matt's to discuss things that need to be done at the hunting camp. I relaxed all night long and only watched the TV shows that I wanted to watch :) which included catching up on my Chelsea Lately's, Big Brother and some HGTV. I had possibly the worst dinner I have ever assembled. I still get a little sick thinking about it. The last time I was at Costco, I bought a box of Feta and Sundried Tomatoe Chicken Burgers, which sounded really good at the time.....not so much! I don't know what was going on in that burger but it was so bad after the 1st few bites. At first, I thought it was going to be pretty good but after 3 or 4 bites, I thought I was going to vomick. I don't know if it was the spice mixture or the texture or what but I am getting woosie just thinking about it. I also had some mac & cheese to go along with it so needless to say I filled up on that. Barf!

I was ready to start over this morning and made myself a triple berry/yogurt/skim milk/protein powder/flaxseed smoothie.

Now I'm back on track. The fridge was running pretty low and I had to scrape for my snacks but I came up with a zucchini that I mixed with some olive oil and some Mrs. Dash fiesta lime seasoning.

A handful of ricework chips.

I decided to go to the grocery on my lunch break and was already getting hungry again before I left the office so I grabbed a few of these:

They are a new snack I decided to try and they are pretty good. I like them better than a regular almond. They did the trick on my belly and I was able to get out of the grocery store without any impulse buys. I did buy a few new things to try out that I have been reading about on other blogs so I'm looking forward to see how I like them. I also needed some lunch and grabbed one of these pizzas that I've never had before:

I didn't hold out much hope for it because I've tried some of the other Amy's frozen entrees and been less than thrilled but how bad can you mess up a pizza? I popped this bad boy in the oven as soon as I got home and YUMMY PIZZAS!!!! It was fantastic :) Score!

The flavors were great and the crust was damn good. It was a little pricey for frozen pizza but after tasting it, I didn't mind one bit and can't wait to try some more.

Getting back to normal...for now

I left work an hour early yesterday because my brain and body was fried. I can't do all those overtime hours like I use to :( I picked up J from his dad's and we headed home and hung out. It was so good to see him, it felt like I hadn't seen him in forever. We watched a little TV and played some golf in the yard for a little bit but it didn't last too long because it was so dang hot. We ordered in Pancho's for dinner and laughed a lot watching Wipe Out. Went to bed by 9:30 and I'm amazed I was able to stay up that late. I really am having a hard time adjusting to being "old"! My sleep lasted until around 4am and I tossed and turned til 5 and then got up and did 35 minutes of yoga. I haven't done yoga in so long and it was pretty challenging but it felt so good! I was I had a private instructor so I wouldn't get bored with it because I do love it so much.

I made a cheese/spinach/hot sauce breaky sammich on a bagelwich and strawberries.

It was good! But what was even better was the smiling little boy with a brand new haircut that joined me on my commute!

I took him back to his dad's so he could go to Kelly's funeral. Kelly is Jack's nephew's wife that was killed in a car wreck over the weekend. He'll be back Friday for a week and I can't wait :)

After I dropped him off, I enjoyed a few more minutes of calm before the storm because it was non-stop once I got to work. I had no idea the aftermath of our Operation Predator would be more work than the actual operation. Always learning! Here is part of what I have been working on all day:

I had no time to leave for lunch but did bring in some snacks. I brought a new snack and love love love it.

Excellent stuff. Gotta run, have an appointment to get my stitches out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!