Day 331 (March 6th)--Beans!

This new thing has been a two day event--I have been working with a taste testing agency on a new product (I can't get into specific details due to confidentiality) but I tried 16 bean side dishes in the course of two days. I do not think that will be a staple in my diet anytime soon!

-Jackie

Day 330 (March 5th)--How'd I do that?

When I went to check my bank balance this morning, it was off my $50. I went online to check my purchases and found out I wrote my electric bill out for $50 more than what it should have been. When I check the account online it shows a copy of the cancelled check. Oh well, guess next months electric bill will either be free or next to nothing!

-Jackie

Day 329 (March 4th)--Aerobically effective

I have to say that sometimes my best ideas for new things come very spur of the moment. This is one of those times.

I am a Proud owner of a Wii. My husband is a huge gamer---I am not. I do like the old school Nintendo with games like Super Mario Brothers 2 but it's not something I put my heart and soul into or look for the newest systems, etc. The Wii however, has impressed me. This afternoon I was exhausted (after starting work at 4:30AM) and napped for 3 hours. Tonight I played Wii bowling and Tennis (not the new thing) but I wondered if it counted as exercise so I consulted some studies (this is one of them) to see if the regular Wii games actually burned calories. I was pleased with the results. They actually had a guy exercise for 30 minutes a day with the Wii without making any changes to his diet or adding any additional exercise. There were results. I do plan on mixing Wii Sports in with other forms of exercise and down the road I really want a Wii fit but I was glad to do this new thing and get this information.

BTW, that is a picture of my hubby playing on the Wii. (Though he prefers his PS2)

-Jackie

Day 328 (March 3rd)--5 hour energy?

Today I tried 5 hour energy. I actually tried the decaf version in citrus because they had it for really cheap at the drugstore. It was a little potent to drink straight up like they suggested so I put it in my Carnation instant breakfast smoothie. The results? I did feel good for the first part of the day but contrary to their no crash slogan, I crashed around 12:30. I will say I drove 200 miles today to see out of town clients and listened to about 13 new messages (my clients enjoy calling me about things when they know I will be out of town). So I took it under some intense circumstances. The million dollar question is--will I use it again? Probably not! I once drank 2 smoothies with energy boosts from Jamba juice in one day. BOY did I have energy that night. It wasn't the same here!

-Jackie

Day 327 (March 2nd) Berrylicious

I am just starting to get back into scrapbooking. I used to be a huge fan. I happened to stumble across Lisa Bearnson's Blog of Creating Keepsakes magazine and she had a recipe for a berry smoothie using Carnation instant breakfast. So I tried it. Though it was delicious I still found myself hungry again after a couple of hours. I think I will just have the have the smoothie with a boiled egg to eat like I normally do.

-Jackie

Day 326 (March 1st)--Cooking with Jackie

(This is the book where the recipe came from)

I am not much of a baker. When I usually make a cake, cupcakes or cookies it comes from a mix. Not today. Today I made Peanut Butter chocolate chunk cookies using a recipe from the back of an Amish Themed book. They turned out really well and are delicious! I WILL Be doing this new thing again. For those of you who are interested: here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

3/4 c margarine

1c white sugar

1 c brown sugar

1/2 peanut butter

2 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

1 8 oz candy bar, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Beat margarine, sugars and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate pieces. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Makes 4 dozen cookies!

-Jackie

Day 325 (Feb 28th)--Indoor Sunsoaking

My dog loves to say in the sunlight and today was no exception. While I was on the computer today he decided to lay on the carpet in path of the sunlight coming in the window. I wanted to see what the big deal was so I took a spot right next to him and later my hubby joined us. I can see why he does it.....it lighted my mood and was really relaxing. Also Sunshine can be one's friend on a snowy winters day. Yes, I will do this one again. I don't have any photos of this as I need to get batteries for me camera but here is a dog soaking up the sun for a nice illustration.

-Jackie