Let It Shine

The sun is out today!!! Yay!!!  But it’s so bright against the snow it’s practically blinding!

In the midst of all the snow though, it’s given me a good excuse to finally buckle down and start transferring needed files from computer to computer…yep, I have three.  One is for work though.  I’m not that well off.

Oh, but the snow last night was crazy.  It was horizontal.

The winds were gusting at over 60mph and eventually knocked the power out when I was trying to read.  Gave me a good excuse to go to bed since it was getting late.  Not before letting Honey play with a mini snowball:

She was content just licking it.  Funny kitty.

I woke up to a serious amount of snow, where I thought it was only about 2 inches but in some spots, it was more like 4 or 5!  Madness to me!  Of course because the temps were 24 with a real feel of 8 I had to have my favorite apple, pb and cranberry oats.  It’s been 4 days since I’ve had them!

I was cracking up over the little pearls of snow around my oats…I kept wanting them to magically turn into Dip’n Dots so I could have that for breakfast instead.  No go though.

Honey thought about braving the snow but after a gust of wind shot some into her face, she was gone and back to her warm spot on my bed.

I couldn’t help but laugh at this though…I’d like to think it makes me a hardcore food blogger…hot oatmeal bowl makes awesome imprints in fresh snow.  Makes for pretty pictures!

“Honey, look at that snow you brought in.  Clean that up!”

Honey: Lick lick.

After looking outside and watching my neighbor try to get her car moved away from the gutter frozen solid, I waited until it warmed up just a bit before braving the ICE COVERED ROADS to get to the gym and grocery store (blasphemy, I ran out of tomatoes and had to get some…I know you would too).

I went to the gym and ran a sweet 5 miles with a mile walk afterwards and came home to do some arm work since…it’s been a while. It’s amazing how weak my muscles get after such little time…I could barely do two sets before I was exhausted…and Whit called so I had to take that call of course.  I miss that guy!

Anyhow, I cleaned up fast because I was starving!!!  I had one leftover soy sausage from when I made my Vegetable Sausage Sausage-less Soup and had frozen, so for protein at lunch I knew this would provide a punch!

I cooked that baby up first on the pan so it would heat through properly, then wrapped it in a FlatOut Wrap with some hummus, leftover roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts, spinach and tomatoe (many nerves were sacrificed for those suckers).

It came out absolutely perfect.  I love the spices in the sausage because they give a good kick to the meal!  I sided it with a cara cara orange (Every time I write cara cara it reminds me of the oddest falcon in that family, the crested caracara.  So big for a falcon…)

I read the afternoon away with an apple, my Jodi Picolt novel and walking back and forth to the laundry room in the cold…it was like a full on trip since I had to put my snow boots and jacket on.  Aggghhh.  Honey appreciates it for the warmth though.

I guess she doesn’t like the temperature I keep the apartment.  She’s got fur, she’ll live.

I’m on a kick for actually cooking up a meal and tonight goes to show it!  It’s simple I assure you, but is nice and tasty!  I picked this Multigrain Pilaf up the other week at TJ’s and was waiting for the right opportunity to use it.  Tonight was the night!  I liked the simple ingredients and flavors in it, along with the variety of grains!  It made for a good difference in texture while you eat!

I knew the medley wouldn’t be enough even though it does contain soybeans, so I scrambled up two eggs and added in leftover roasted veggies, lots of broccoli and some spinach.  Such a great dinner bowl!!!

Oh, and did I forget to mention that I also spent the afternoon working on a variety of my Boysenberry Oatmeal Bars?  I tried one batch with the WW and AP flour combo and the other with just PB Flour…lets just say the PB Flour makes the bars…crunchy?  Maybe I’ll just smash it up into granola…ohhhhh….

I ate one after dinner to satisfy the need for some dessert…and may have eaten another because there wasn’t enough room in the tupperware or the extra bag I had to stick them in for the freezer.  Sacrifices have to be made, right?

I’m hoping the ice won’t be as bad tomorrow so they’ll open up the freeway and I can get out to work and not be trapped in town.  Yes, I was trapped here…ok, that’s a lie, I could have taken the freeway West but really, if you’re gonna close it going East (since there were numerous crashes from the ice) I’m pretty sure it’s going to be just as bad going West.  Geez.

Alas, I need to finish up work tomorrow so fingers crossed…but I doubt it since it’s currently 23*F and supposed to get down to 18*F tonight…I have never felt anything this cold in my life and seriously, it hurts my face…

Happy Almost New Years Eve!!!  I can’t believe 2010 is almost over!