Having lived with the current layout for a good 6 weeks or so now, I’ve decided that a little rearranging is in order still to allow for even more floor space.  Picture the desk pressed right up against the back wall, then pushed left a foot and a half so that the filing cabinet can go directly beside it.  I’m envisioning more of a straight line all the way across.

Furniture aside, I have an itch to paint.  This area of the basement still needs paint anyway — I’ve been painting the walls a light grey colour to match the main halls upstairs — but I’ve been thinking of possibly making the back wall a nice accent wall. 

I pose this question to you dearest blog readers:

Do you think a dark grey accent wall (ie. where the Colosseum print is hanging) would work? Even though it’s a basement?

I say dark grey because I already have the paint (leftover from our upstairs game/movie room) and I love the grey tones. So picture the back wall dark grey, the ceiling and trims white and the other surrounding walls a very light grey.

Here are some inspiration photos I found on Pinterest.

Perhaps crisp white floating shelves on the dark grey wall?

I can get 48″ long shelves from Home Depot for only $20!

..Or maybe a different type of organizational technique? Loving this:

Then there’s the possibility of getting one of these cube shelving units (Zellers has them on sale a lot) and mounting it to the wall?

So many things to think about! This will be my next project to tackle once we get home from Jamaica, so I still have some time to consider things.

What do you guys think? Dark grey wall? yay? nay?

Next week will mark 2 months since I began calorie counting with the use of the website myfitnesspal. I am literally 1lb short of a 10lb weight loss and have decided that I am just about ready to set myself free again. We leave for vacation next week and I have made the decision to stop with the calorie counting from then on and begin using the skills that I have learned to move forward. I am SO ready.

I have been strictly counting my calories for 2 months while tracking my workouts/burns for 3, and am pleased to report that I am finally comfortable and happy with my body again.

If anything, I actually find that I look stronger than ever and, most importantly - FEEL stronger than ever!  I’m so ready to forget what the scale says and just rock that bikini next week. Something that I am actually anxious to do as well! (if you need a reminder, my ‘before’ photos can be seen here)

So, what did I learn by counting calories? Why do I feel ready to stop counting?

I really can’t emphasize enough that my only big issue before beginning this journey was portion control. The main thing that I learned was that although I was eating healthy foods in the past, I was simply eating way too much for my small body.  It was a tough pill to swallow, but realistically, I did not, and DO NOT need to eat as much food as my hubby. I had a hard time cutting down my portions for the first couple of weeks, but now I know how much is really ‘enough’ for a little 5’3 body.

Portions aside, I have also learned how to make even smarter choices when it comes one of our favourites – pizza.  We LOVE pizza and I actually never realized how high the calories can climb when adding fatty, greasy pepperoni.  I mean, I always knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize it was that bad, you know?  We’ve actually had pizza twice in the past couple of weeks and subbed the pepperoni for ham. We didn’t miss it at all!  I have also learned that I don’t need to eat 3-4+ slices like Chris and that 2 really is enough for me.

Pasta has way more calories than I expected too.  I love pasta and admit that I used to make it at least once a week.  Aside from having it maybe once every 2 weeks for lunch at my mom’s, I actually haven’t made it once at home since I started this new journey! The inclusion of spaghetti squash more regularly now helps to curb that pasta craving I used to have.

Those things aside, I feel that I no longer need to track every single thing that goes into my mouth because I now have gained the knowledge of generally knowing how much I should be consuming on a given day.  I’ve learned to eat slower and wait a while after finishing a meal to let my body realize that it really is full.

Myfitnesspal has been a fantastic tool to help kick-start this journey and I will forever be thankful/grateful for it – I just no longer want it running my life.  I feel confident that I know hold the tools to go on with my life in a fit and healthy manner… and I will begin that by enjoying my upcoming vacation!! ..besides.. who wants to count calories on vacation?

If so, you’re in the right place.

After making some chili (with pumpkin) and some pea & pumpkin soup last week, I found myself left with about 1 cup of pumpkin sitting in the fridge waiting to be used up.  On Monday afternoon when Chris went next door to watch a movie, I came up with a little something on the fly.  The result was a delicious, spicey and almost chewy pumpkin oatmeal cake.. with chocolate chips of course! (I don’t think Chris would allow it any other way)

I literally made up the recipe on the spot and hoped for the best. Thankfully, it worked!  It was so good, that I had to give a nice chunk to my mom so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat the entire thing!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cake

What You Need:

• 1 C soft whole wheat flour
• 1 C oats (process 1/2 C of them into a flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 C pumpkin
• 1 egg
• 1/3 C brown sugar
• 1/3 C milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 C chocolate chips

What You Do:

- this is another of my really difficult ones!

- whisk all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, oats, baking powder, salt, spices) – set aside

- whisk all of the wet ingredients in a bowl along with the brown sugar (pumpkin, egg, sugar, vanilla, milk)

- add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk everything together until combined

- stir in your chocolate chips (or raisins!! .. I really wanted to use raisins in this recipe, but Chris thinks they’re poison. I don’t think he’d be very happy with me if I baked something new knowing he wouldn’t eat it!)

- add literally a small drop of oil to your pan and spread it around just to prevent sticking

- now spread your mixture into the pan (mine is about 9 inches in diameter) – it will be thick

- and for a little something extra, sprinkle some more chocolate chips on top

- bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30-35 minutes.  It will be done when it passes the toothpick test

Now, I’m going to mention something just because my mom brought it up.  If you’re looking for a nice soft and fluffy cake, you’re not going to get it with this recipe.  This will yield a denser cake with almost a brownie-like texture – something Chris and I both love.  If you’re ok with that, I would love it if you gave this recipe a test and let me know how it turns out!

Yay!!

The only problem?

This thing is so darn small and one entire side of it is a screen – so prone to scratches! I needed some sort of case for this sucker pronto.  I got to thinking, and immediately decided that I wasn’t going to fork out any extra money for a case so I had to do the next best thing.  My mission for the weekend, was to make my own case for my new iPod.

Yesterday afternoon, I sent Chris over to the neighbour”s house to watch a movie so that I could get to work. I also took advantage of this time to watch a movie that had been sitting on the PVR for a few weeks now..

About an hour or so later… success!

Curious as to how this came to be?  Well today is your lucky day because I photographed the entire process from start to finish.

DIY: Case for 6th Gen iPod Nano

- first off, I gathered my supplies: some cotton batting, material (scraps from some pillows), a needle, some thread and velcro stickers (thank you Dollarama!)

- lay out the cotton batting and measure the iPod. You want to cut a piece that is double the length and just a bit wider than the iPod

- now measure out/cut your fabric.  Use the batting to measure out fabric. You’ll want to lay it down, then line it up. Next you’ll want to flip it vertically (so you’re doubling the length) and then cut it about an additional 1 inch longer.

- time to get sewing!  Put the batting aside and fold your fabric in half leaving that extra inch of length loose – make sure it’s inside-out!

- sew your little heart out – just a simple stitch, it’s all you need. You just need to sew down both sides to make a pouch.

- Once you have both sides stitched closed, flip that sucker inside out and insert the coton batting

- fold it in half (again, leaving that extra inch of fabric) and sew the sides together again.

- close up the opening where you stuffed the cotton in and then tidy up the 1 inch flap by folding it over into a triangle of sorts – pretend you’re going to wrap a gift

- almost done! Time for the velcro!

- velcro stickers should be fine – so stick those suckers on!

- and there you have it!! Ta Da!

A simple, hand-sewn case for a 6th generation iPod Nano.

Total cost to me = $1 for some velcro stickers. I had everything else on hand.

Score!

Saturday

Pork Stir Fry with Udon Noodles (pork chops, mixed Japanese vegetables, udon noodles, pad thai sauce)

Sunday

Turkey Tacos (ground turkey, tortillas, salsa, greek yogurt, cheese)

Monday

Quiche (oat crust, eggs, broccoli, mushrooms, ham, cheese)

Tuesday

Chicken Fingers & Salad (Jane’s chicken fingers, spinach)

Wednesday

Greek-Style Marinated Chicken Thighs (chicken thighs, lemon, quinoa, salad)

Thursday

Leftovers (we have so many leftovers in the freezer now to use up! such a good thing!)

Friday

Omelette (eggs, cheese, ham, green onion, mushrooms)

And it just so happens that this week was packed full of them for me. I couldn’t be happier!!

First off, incase I haven’t made it clear enough on the blog yet, Chris and I are going on a vacation soon! We will be heading back to Jamaica in less than 2 weeks for our first real vacation just the 2 of us!!! (travelling with 27 others for our wedding doesn’t really count as a super romantic time – aside from the wedding of course ) Even though I didn’t really need anything clothes-wise for travelling this year, that definitely hasn’t stopped me from hunting around for some good deals!

Enter Forever 21 Canada.

It just so happens that I got an email yesterday announcing a 75% sale! I Loooooove sales! After some quick ‘shopping’ I managed to add these into my cart. The tank was $4.50 and the skirt was $5.99! Won’t they make such an awesome outfit?!

I ordered these yesterday and they arrived at my office this morning! So excited to try them on and wear them down south.

The 2nd deal of the week came from Walmart.ca of all places!

Thanks to getting a heads up from one of my beloved ‘deals’ websites – smartcanucks.ca - I was alerted to a special online clearance sale on walmart.ca where most items were selling with a $.97 shipping charge!  Again, I didn’t really need anything, but figured I would take a quick look…. just incase, you know?

After I quick scroll through their page I found myself focused on this item:

A neat little 1080P HD handheld camcorder!! Now, we definitely weren’t in the market for a camcorder, but when I saw the price we suddenly realized that this was a deal we just couldn’t pass up.

This particular camcorder is currently $199.99 on amazon.ca.

Walmart had it on clearance for $34.99!!!!!!!!!

We couldn’t say no. So I bought it right away Wednesday morning. It arrived yesterday.

I can’t wait to use this sucker while we’re ziplining through the rain forest in a few weeks!! Hopefully I’ll have some wicked movies to show you all when we get back!

Deal #3 is all thanks to the wonderful people at BzzAgent.

I have been a BzzAgent for several years now and have tested several products such as Multibionta vitamins, Scrubbing Bubbles toilet cleaner and a Philips Epilator.  Yesterday, I received a nice surprise in my inbox inviting me to the newest BzzAgent campaign which just so happens to be with Burt’s Bees!

I have been selected to test their new Sensitive Skin Facial care line and couldn’t be more excited.  Both Chris and I like to use gentle products on our faces so trying out an all-natural brand is really intriguing for us.  You’ll definitely be seeing some posts about our thoughts on this once the product arrievs!

My 4th deal of the week, is definitely the best and is thanks to Apple.

Back in December, Chris happened to come across an article which said that Apple had recalled all of their 1st gen iPod Nanos due to some sort of battery defect.  It just so happens that we each had one of the old units – and I actually used mine every single day!

Want to know what’s so great about this deal?

Apple promised to replace all of the recalled 1st gen Nano’s for FREE. 

Want to know what’s even better?

So many people had sent back their 1st gen Nano’s that they quickly ran out of refurbished units, so they were actually sending out BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW 6th gen Nanos! That is the current Nano available in store.

And you want to know what just adds as the icing on the cake?

The smallest that you can get the new 6th gen Nano is 8GB.  Our 1st gen Nanos were only 4GB!!

Well, I sent our 1st gen Nanos back to Apple on December 27.  After a LOT of patience and a quick phone call Monday morning, my new Nano arrived.

And it’s just as expected. Granted, the box only included the Nano, but I now have a brand new 6th gen 8GB Nano!  And it was FREE!!!!!!!

So you have a 1st gen Nano laying around still?? I believe the recall program is still running so check it out here – you can input the serial# to see if your unit qualifies.

Now how was that for a great week of deals!?

Happy LONG WEEKEND to any of you who are lucky enough to get Family Day on Monday like us in Ontario!!