Monday, December 29, 2008

Sewing!

I've almost finished my first garment! I spent a few hours sewing today.... and I was so tired by the end of it! It makes sense I guess because it takes a lot of concentration, especially since I haven't sewn for a long time. I remembered a few things from many years ago such as setting up the machine to sew. I was also pleased to discover I can still sew straight... LOL. Just a few things to do before my skirt is finished.

I just bought a new cordless upright vacuum for our apartment on ebay then discovered a 10% off voucher in my email inbox *me throwing a tantrum here* I could have saved $20....GAH! I get really annoyed at this kind of thing...LOL.

My bench workout didn't happen today. The gym is open limited hours on Sunday and I got up late. Tomorrow! Do I sound like a procrastinator or what?

In other news, I've reached the peak of my fatness. I'm actually nicknaming myself "Tubby" :-P So this week in between having some drinks for New Years I'm going to be watching my diet - good, "clean" protein, fruits and vegetables. My diet this past week has been TERRIBLE. Too little good food, too much alcohol and a few too many sweets. It's been a fun past 3 months since my competition.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Merry Christmas!


Everyone!!

Hope you all had a great Christmas, I had a nice quiet one at home. I made roast pork, garlic roasted asparagus and red onion and potato gratin. We snacked on chocolates and fruit cocktails during the day.

I received a very nice an unexpected gift from my husband. A sewing machine!! I am very excited as I've wanted to learn (or re-learn) to sew for a while now. Today I went out and bought some cheap material to practice on and a pattern and good material to make a nice simple skirt. I hope it turns out okay. I shall show you the end result :-P My aim is to make my competition suit for next year among other things! Here it is:


I just got home tonight from dinner and some drinks. We went to this place called Outback Jacks and I did the 1kg rump steak challenge. You have to eat 1kg/2.2lbs (raw weight) rump steak, potato wedges and vegetables in under 30 minutes. With the potatoes and vegetables it ends up being 1.7kg of food. I was the first girl to do it The amount of food wasn't the hard part - I started to get sick of the taste of steak. It reminded me of the time I couldn't eat my tuna during comp prep because if I ate another bite I was gonna barf. I got close to that with the steak but I managed to eat it all.

I got a t-shirt from it too and it's a nice one My friend told me to wear it at the gym as there are heaps of guys there that tried it but couldn't do it LOL. Not sure if it's something to be proud of, but I got a half price meal and a t-shirt out of it so it's a score!

Tomorrow I'm off to the gym to get my 91kg/200lb bench press. Wish me luck. All that rump steak should make me strong.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Preparations

So this weekend was spent doing a little baking and getting the last of my Christmas presents and stuff I needed for Christmas. I think the only thing I have left to do is the buy the meat and a few other goodies and we're set. I went out an bought a few bottles of spirits for Christmas cocktails, it ends up getting very expensive. I don't tend to drink spirits very much so I don't have any "supply" at home.

No training this weekend. I should have gone yesterday but I gave it a miss as I was busy running around.

I will leave you with some pics of our Christmas tree. It's so cute!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Checking In

I promise I will update this properly tomorrow. I've just been very tired these last few days. I've been getting home from work and crashing and missing out on my dinner! Poor tummy. I did train on Tuesday and Wednesday, but will update the details tomorrow.

Tonight I was busy doing my Christmas cards to family and friends overseas. Tis the season!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

How Evil Are You?



You Are 60% Evil




You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.

Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

Monday, December 1, 2008

2 Recipes

Not much is happening this week in the way of training. My deadlift meet is this weekend so I won't be training. I may get in a light upperbody workout, but nothing major.

I tried some new recipes today. First one was in preparation of Christmas - Hot Spiced Apple Cider. Even though it's sweltering here, I still like to sample the tastes of the season. In fact, most Christmas recipes aren't suited for hot weather! LOL...

Hot Spiced Apple Cider
2L apple juice
1 tsp. whole cloves
1 tsp. whole allspice
2 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks
1/4 c. lightly packed brown sugar
juice of 2 lemons

    Bring ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan. Simmer 30 to 60 minutes. Remove spices. Serve hot in mugs. It tastes even better with whipped cream and caramel sauce on top!


    Another snack I made today was Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip. I couldn't find any blue corn chips at the supermarket I went to, so I had it with baked corn chips and rice crackers instead.

    Hot Spinach And Artichoke Dip
    224 g cream cheese, softened
    60 ml mayonnaise
    25 g grated Parmesan cheese
    30 g grated Romano cheese
    1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
    1/2 tsp dried basil
    1/4 tsp garlic salt
    salt and pepper to taste
    1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
    80 g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
    30 g shredded mozzarella cheese
      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish.
      1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
      2. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.
      Yum!