I Walk In This World

It’s mating season.  Please shield (or not) your eyes from the American Toad Sex…

Poor girl.  She’s got 2 dudes on her and 1 dude waiting in the wings.  

Can anyone even tell what that is, or have I just wasted 2.3 seconds of your time with these photos?

Clue.  Girlfriend is on the right (big toad).  Dudes gettin her are on the left (and 1 is under the water wrapped around her legs).  And I do not kid when I say, these guys TRILLLLLLL their mating calls (grunts).  You can hear them from 1/4 mile away.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/alan_wolf/bufo_americanus2m.mp3/view.html

So it makes sense that Din tonight was frog legs.

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.

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I kid.  It was little kid food (sandwich and chips) with a twist of grown-up (grilled sandwich, chips, BIG salad).

At the table…

• Giant tossed green leaf and spinach salad with carrot, maters, sprouts, dried cherries, goat cheese, lf rasp walnut dressing, almonds
• fried eggwhites with peppers, onions, & mushrooms, 2 slices of Applegate Farms uncured ham, 2 slices American cheese, whole grain bread that Is Awesome = One rockin sandwhich!!!

And…

POPCHIPS!  The very kind Popchips folks sent me a fun sampler of their goodies.  I already am a BIG fan of the BBQ flava, so tonight I rolled out the salt n peppa ones.  Sorry Popchips, this flava is definitely not my fav flav.  I hate saying that, I really do.  Especially since I love the BBQ ones (which I DO).  The ones I had tonight were too peppery, in a weird fake way.  And that’s a lot for me to say b/c I love pepper.  Truly.  Ask my sister.  I hold out hope that the next flavor I try will be stunning.  And if not, at least I know I love the BBQs.

The afternoon was filled to the brim with Real Work and Blog Auction/Bake Sale bid work.  Erin.Is.Exhausted.

As I type this, the hubz is chasing Hillary around the apartment.  She’s completely gone mental and is sprinting in circles at the speed of dog light.

Lunch and afternoon snack.

On Mr. Stripey…

• leftover navy bean and sweet potato chili (sweet potatoes were local!)
• sea salt pita chips (scoops for the chili)
• banana with chunky natural PB
• carrot

Snack…

• more dried tongue (what is that again?)
• half a Chobani with Kashi Go Lean, 2 walnuts, half a dried apricot, 3 dried cherries, sprinkle of unsweetened coconut

I need to decompress after nearly a week of Auction/Bake Sale prep work and hosting for the last 2 days.  Will get it all updated and emails sent out on the morrow.

Nite!

Evening kids.

A quick lil reminder about my POM and Stonyfield Oikos yogurt coupon giveaway.  The deadline is noon tomorrow and then check back tomorrow night for the winner!

~~The GIVEAWAY~~

Given that the POM Wonderful peeps were so generous in sharing the love with me, I want to pay it forward and share the love with you! 

I am giving away 3 of these dudes PLUS 2 coupons for FREE Stonyfield Oikos yogurt.

How to play!

Step 1.  Leave me a comment about how you enjoy POM or why you’d like to win these.

Step 2.  Link back to this contest on your blog to help me spread the word!  If you don’t have a blog, email me after you leave your comment to let me know and that you still want to enter the giveaway.

Step 3 (optional).   You can add me to your blogroll for an extra entry! 

I will randomly choose the winner on Tuesday, April 7, so you have until NOON on that day to enter.

Din tonight was pure awesomeness b/c the husband made it!  I got back from the gym, and he’s tootin around the kitch with pots and pans a-going.  I was delighted!

The husbands dinner!

• whole wheat penne
• Dad’s marinara with Laura’s Lean ground beef
• green leaf lettuce with cukes, tomaters, asiago cheese, & light Caesar dressing

What a perfect meal to combat the dreariness that is today’s weather AND to make up for my stupid boring lunch.

Speaking of the gym, my quad is healing enough for my butt to lop back onto the elliptical (30mins at level 5) and do ab work (130 crunches of various assortment).

My afternoon snack of Chobani and my new blueberry granola was good.  But I’ve got to be honest for a sec.  Much though I thought I could get excited to try a new granola, I was just meh about it.  I mean, it’s granola.  It’s not exciting.  Period.  So, while this blueberry granola was tasty, there’s simply no way I’m inclined to utilize exclamation points or recommend you all run out and douse your yogurts with granola too.  It’s granola.

Am I doing something wrong, or am I just not a cool hippy chick, cuz shouldn’t I get excited about granola like any good treehugger?

That dude down there under the granola yogurt was pretty dang good.  My first cookies and cream Luna bar, and, yeah, I’ll do, I’ll whip out an exclamation point. 

!

Time to read blogs and judge what other people are eating today.

Nite!

P.S.  Zip over to Danica’s blog to enter your chance to win some supa fun Annie’s treats!

P.P.S.  Zip over to Marianne’s blog if you’d like to enter a secret ingredient recipe contest.  This week’s secret ingredient…Coconut!  She’s offering up a cool prize to the winner!

Morning (actually, Afternoon!) kids.

Sunday is here and so far it’s been a bizzy one.  Woke up around 8am, had a few snuggles with the doggy, and then up for taking care of…

• walking doggy
• taxes, review and file
• get our house budget back on track after extra $$ expenses from moving 2 months ago
• breakfast & coffee
• clean up paper mess from taxes
• empty trash
• clean bathrooms
• mop all the tile floors
• plan tonight’s crockpot cooking
• fold some laundry

I will be SO happy to get outside this evening for our hike and hawk watch.  The hawk watch is the reward for a mile hike up to a ridge line.  What happens is that local hawks are migrating Feb-April, and this ridge outcrop at the top of our hike is a primo spot for watching their migration, b/c the hawks use the air thermals along the ridge line to soar on their migration routes.  I hope to catch a few photos!

After all those chores, I just polished off this late morning/early afternoon snack.

On the coffee table…

• kiwi
• vanilla Chobani with Kashi Go Lean crunchers
• tsp of chocolate mocha hazelnut butter (um, so good)

I also took a moment to enjoy the sunnies coming through the window.  Today’s warm temps and sunshine coming into my home make Erin one happy chica.

[insert Erin doing massive list of chores here]

Brekkie today was a his + hers photo of cereal mix.

In Big Red (his)…

• Trader Joes cinnamon frosted wheat squares
• half a banana
• spoonful of dark chocolate PB crack

In Blue & White (hers)

• Nature’s Path Heritage Bites
• 1/2 cup Barbara’s PB puffins
• 1/4 cup Honey Bunches of Oats
• half banana
• spoonful of dark chocolate PB crack

What are your Sunday mornings typically like?

Time to get cleaned up and ready for the rest of the afternoon and our evening hike.

Cya lata.

Good morning all.

The sun is out and I slept a solid 7+ hours.  Today shall be good!  Again, I rushed around like a crazy woman this morning, trying to get everything done in not enough time. 

• snuggle with doggy
• walk doggy
• make coffee
• make the bed
• make healthy breakfast
• photograph breakfast
• shower, get ready
• pen the dog
• turn on iTunes for the dog to listen to while I’m at work (not kidding)
• run out the door

Breakfast was good and the first time I’ve tried this!

At the table…

• Eggwhite with peppers, onions, mushrooms with low fat cheddar on a whole wheat mini bagel

I never just cook with eggwhites b/c I feel guilty not using the yolk.  But in an affort to clean up my eating this week, I decided to ditch the yolk & the guilt.  This was good and very clean tasting.  It could have used some red pepper or hot sauce though.  To me, the more flavor the better!

I was too busy with a political meeting last night to post yesterday’s afternoon & evening eats.  I attended the launch event for my County’s Young Democrats organization.  It was well attended with a mix of young (40 and under) Democrats and elected officials.  I didn’t get home til after 8pm, so I just reheated some of this yumminess!

On the white dinnerware…

• Steamed broccoli with sea salt and drizzle of evoo
• Toasted whole grain brain bread (ew, I typed brain!) with buttah
• Trader Joes creamy vegetable soup seasoned with curry powder, and with chicken, white beans, carrots, green beans, onions, & spinach added in (so good!)

Because I haven’t been sleeping well, I crashed for 30mins on the couch when I got home from work.  I snuggled with the doggy, but shhh…don’t tell the husband.  Hillary’s not allowed on the couch. 

Afternoon snack

On Mr. Stripey…

• Vanilla Chobani greek yogurt in my pretty new blue bowl

Question.  How crazy is your morning compared to mine?  I need to cut some things out, or get up earlier (boo) to have a calmer start to the day!