Takin’ Care of Stuff

Heey! I’ve been a bad blogger recently………tests have really been taking up a lot of time! So sorry! I’m finishing my LAST final today, so I should be back to my normal bloggin’ self soon!

So, my mom had to go on a week-long trip to resolve some mission stuff. She’ll be back on Tuesday, so in the meantime, my sister and I are doing a lot of the stuff that she normally does. Like for example, did you know that here you have to sweep and mop every day? Well, you do. And we don’t use dishwashers or drying machines, which means that dishes are handwashed and clothes are hung out to dry. I don’t really mind doing these things, especially since I don’t really have a full workload of school. To me, being productive beats sitting around being bored! 😀 Except for when it comes to cleaning bathrooms……which is my least favorite chore!! What is your least favorite thing to do around the house? 

One thing that I do love to do is cook. I was going to make a soup last night, but the chicken broth that we had was homemade, and wasn’t edible any more, so we created a plan B. Dad ordered a steak from a restaurant up the street, and we had leftover rice, beans and pasta. I also made some biscuits to go with our meal. It was a super-simple and quick recipe, which is great because I had less than 30 minutes to whip them together! 😀

Dinner Biscuits (from Taste of Home)

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Half-and-half cream or milk, optional
• Butter and/or honey

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Combine milk and oil; pour over dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead 5-6 times. Roll out to 1/2-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on a greased baking sheet.
• Brush tops with cream if desired. Bake at 425° for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with butter and/or honey. Yield: 6 biscuits.

I actually only ended up with 5 biscuits, but they were delicious and fluffy. Plus, a quick way to round out our meal!

I’ve been loving going to my Wednesday spinning class, however yesterday the teacher couldn’t make it. I ended up spending some quality time on the treadmill…..watching CSI! haha It was the only way I could have possibly stayed on there, and I didn’t have my cardio circuit workout written down with me. Do you have any staple cardio circuits? If so, please share!!!

Well, I should get goin’ on the studying!

See ya’ tomorrow!!!!

Nutrition

Glad ya’ll liked the homemade body scrub/hair rinse!!!!! Do you make any of your own beauty products????

So, as you all know, yesterday was my meeting with a nutritionist at my gym to talk about what I can do to reach my goals.

I ended up having a really awesome chat! Basically, the nutritionist knew that I want to gain weight, and also that I have major trouble doing so. So, he looked at a typical day of eats for me, and gave me some really good ideas. I don’t know if ya’ll remember, but a while ago I had mentioned going vegetarian. Well, here we don’t always have access to good veg products (or gf either, which is why I still don’t eat completely gluten free), and as it turns out, I’m anemic, so for now, the nutritionist recommended that I eat meat at least twice a week. I pretty much already do that……I mean, meat is not something I usually crave, but if its there, I’ll eat a little. Oh, he also said that I definitely get enough veggies, because my hands are tinged orange! hahahaha I think it actually caught him a little bit off guard. Also, I need to increase the amount of fat I have in my diet, which should be easy considering the fact that my momma just opened a jar of pb….:P hahaha

All in all, I had a good meeting, and left with a little checklist of things that I’m supposed to do throughout the day to improve my nutrition and to help me gain weight!!!!!!

Yesterday, I also took my second spinning class!!!! I loooove it!!!!!!! Its hard, but definitely in a good way, and I’ve loved having the opportunity to switch it up with my cardio!!! What are some of your favorite classes at the gym?

Well, that’s about it for today……see ya’ll tomorrow!!!

Nutella is Good.

Heeey!!!  What’s up??

I have one final down and 5 to go! I basically took the easiest one yesterday because I figured that I should get it out of the way so that I wouldn’t worry about it while studying for my other, more difficult tests. It was nice to be able to check something off of the list so early in the week, though!!!! Now, all I have to do is take the other 5 finals, and then order 6 challenge exams and take them! Then, I’ll officially be done with my sophomore year of high school!!!!!!!

Now, you all know by now that I love me a good circuit style workout, so when I found this one a couple of weeks ago on Jessica’s site, I couldn’t wait to try it out. Wow!!!! It was pretty stinkin’ tough!!!!!! Which means I get to bake some of her recipes and its ok if I eat an entire batch!!! 😀 Seriously though, if you’re looking for a good strength/cardio combo workout, check this one out!!!

So, by now you’re probably wondering about the title of this post, especially since I haven’t even mentioned Nutella yet. While we were in the States, a couple of our friends lived in our apartment, and apparently  one of them bought some Nutella. I have absolutely no idea why it took me so long to try it out, given my love of both chocolate and nut butters, but last night I finally did and LOVED it!!! Now I know there are probably a TON of chemicals and sugar in this stuff, but it was AMAZING!!!! Don’t worry Dark Chocolate Dreams  or even just plain ol’ peanut butter, I haven’t forgotten you and your place in my heart has not been taken. I’m sure there is room enough for everyone!!! hahaha

new love. 😀

What is your favorite “flavored” nut butter????? Don’t make me choose between nutella or dark chocolate dreams, because I can’t!!!! I’d also love to try Mighty Maple someday soon!!!!! 😀

Well, I had better get to studyin’……

See ya’ll later!

What I Learned Yesterday

Hey!!!! Hope ya’ll are all having a good week!!!!!!

Guess what? Our coffee pot reservoir sprung a leak, so we can’t exactly make coffee the traditional way. Well, coffee pots are expensive here, so this is what we’re doing:

Step 1. Boil water

Step 2. Pour boiling water into filter w/coffee:

And there ya have it! What to do when your coffee machine is broken but you still want some coffee!! 😀

Yesterday, I went to my first ever spin class and LOVED it!!!! Made me think of this blogger and this one, too! I will say this though, it was TOUGH! hahaha I’ll definitely be taking more spin classes in the future.

Yesterday was also a day of lessons (some goofy, some not-so-goofy), so I thought that I’d share some of them with you(mostly goofy hahaha, you know me!! :D).

Lesson #1

Ignore the creepy old man at the gym who tells you to lift more weight. You’re already lifting twice the amount that he is, and plus, he’s like 70 years old.

Lesson #2

Don’t be afraid to try out new recipes. Sometimes, you’ll have flops, but others will turn out really well (homemade pasta and cashew butter!)!!!!

Lesson #3

Push yourself, but don’t overdo it. Most likely you will have the opportunity to redo whatever it is, and you don’t want to burn out completely.

Lesson #4

Eat chocolate. It helps with virtually anything. I promise. 😀

So, there ya go! I hope I haven’t scared anyone away…..hahahaha! I am who I am, I suppose, and apparently I like to make random lists!

I really can’t believe that its already Thursday!!! After Friday, I’ll only have one more week of school until I’m DONE! This entire year is just flying by!!!

I guess I had better get goin’……I do actually have school to do! 😛

See ya later!