Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Finding humor

Sometimes our exercising turns into more of a workout that is dreaded like work than the fun usually transforms the body. 

Today was another day I got to laugh at the cat as he tried to climb on the treadmill. Usually F cat knows to do this only when I'm stopped in the middle of the treadmill, or when I put the bright yellow sheet back on the track (to protect it from cat hair and . . . other cat things).  Sometimes he thinks he can get on when my feet are on the side rails as I take a small break.  Today though, today he tried to get on from the side as I was running along.  He's done this before and I always freak out for a few reasons:  

1) He doesn't know what he's doing;
2) He has long hair on his feet and I fear that it will somehow get stuck under the track/belt; and
3) I fear the day he gets flung to the back instead of just off the side a few inches.


F cat not long after we moved. .. enjoying a supervised visitation to the outdoors.
Interestingly, when The Mike is on his rollers ( you can watch a clip here in case you don't know what rollers are or why they are used) and I'm on the treadmill, then the F cat simply does laps around the treadmill and rollers (we have a stand between the two machines for storing items and for stability on starting/stopping on the Rollers). 

Sometimes F cat will sit in the chair by us, or on the stand to get occasional pets from us as we have a free moment.  Monday, as I was watching a documentary available on Netflix regarding sheep herding (in big sky country, Montana--great scenery), the F cat had a seat and stared at the television. I'm not sure if this was due to the bleating of the sheep or if he could see the odd creatures on the television.

Last Monday (3/25/13) was my first day back with the coach after a hiatus since the end of the year. I took the break for a variety of reasons, feeling a bit burned out and overwhelmed with all that happened at the end of last year. Even while being careful with what I ate, I managed to gain six pounds in those three months!  

Yesterday, I got to do a 'new' workout calisthenics that the coach prescribed. Last week was the first week and somehow it didn't seem so rough then. Perhaps because it was BRAND NEW to me? Or maybe because I wasn't doing something correctly. This time as I put the band around the ankles and side stepped across the dining room the F cat stopped eating and turned to stare at me as I slowly moved across the room and back. If cats spoke human, I think he would have said, "Have you gone crazy? That band is for playing, not stepping!"    F cat's face and body movement actually reminded me of a run I had last spring near my parents' in farmland country.  I ran past the neighbor's house and pastureland with the calves a few months old. They were chewing grass and as I ran past they gawked, turned their heads as I ran, and--what I thought was most hilarious--one's jaw dropped so much that his grass fell from his mouth!  

Last night I made a feast for dinner, it was awesome, the photo wasn't.   Bacon/spinach stuffed chicken breasts, baked (from PaleOMG page), diced sweet potato steamed, asparagus and, the part that ruined the photo: tomato rice. It was good, but the photo on the rice wasn't focusing very well ( From a mediterranean diet cookbook:  Dice an onion and clove of garlic, place in a hot pan with a tablespoon or so of fat (I used olive oil).  After three minutes, add 1 c of long grain rice. Stir occasionally x 5 minutes. Add 1 can of diced tomatoes.   Add 2 1/2 c of vegetable bouillon ( I used Kitchen Basics veg broth), and cook for twenty minutes or so.  I'm thinking I should have used the risotto rice instead of the long grain.

I also made Gluten Free on a Shoestring's buttermilk biscuits from her first cookbook. The Mike thought these were awesome, the smell was fabulous.  I didn't roll them out, so texture was slightly different. I put the dough on a piece of parchment paper and then shaped into a log, refrigerated for a bit and then I cut into slices and baked per her instructions.  
Biscuits

If you don't have this cookbook, I highly recommend it. I have about five other gluten free cookbooks and I think they're all garbage, too few recipes, too bland recipes or recipes that are just too complicated!  

I thought they were perfect for honey to top. The Mike put peanut butter on his. Then he suggests that variations to try would be cranberry/orange and maybe making them into a bread instead of biscuits.  

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