Recent Outfit - Spring Colors!

This is what I wore yesterday. I'm in Virginia and temperatures have been up and down here. It's snowing one day and 70 degrees the next day - yesterday was a 70 degree day. I'll be so happy when Mother Nature calms down a little bit - or at least makes up her mind. 

I think this is such a pretty shade of green. I love it so much I have it in two types of cardigans - this thinner 3/4 sleeve one and a thicker long-sleeve version. I love it here paired with the flowy tunic.

Recent Outfit - Purple Gingham

See how the shirt got wrinkled during the day?

This was the outfit in the morning.

This is another outfit from this week. Notice I wore something other than blue jeans - I branched out and wore plum jeans! I added a purple gingham shirt and was going to wear it like that but added a cardigan.

Recent Outfit - Blued Out

Without a cardigan.

Added a cardigan.

This is another outfit from this week. I wear way too much blue when it's cold out because I gravitate to jeans. This pair is a lighter wash, but I was still wearing blue from top to bottom, so I added the scarf later to break up the blue a bit. The scarf also matched the boots, so it all worked out. (And yes, I do way too much shopping at Old Navy.)

Free iPhone App - Quick 4 Minute Workout

I need to exercise more. I mean a lot more. I don't really do a lot these days exercise wise. I'm at that age when I'm always tired and don't feel like doing much. When your body goes from being able to have children to not being able to have them, it can wreck havoc on your life. For me, I have absolutely zero energy, desire, or motivation to do anything. If I were independently wealthy and didn't have to work, I think I could sleep all day. As a matter of fact, I'm sure of it.

Anyway - I have a lab appointment coming up and basically have 2.5 weeks to lose 5 pounds because my doctor told me 6 months ago she wanted me down 10 pounds when I came back. Yeah - I'm only half way there (on a good day). I saw this app called the Quick 4 Minute Workout on another website and decided to download it. I haven't actually done the workout yet, but I did watch it so see what it was about.

It actually looks like a really quick workout that might do a little something. Basically, you do an exercise for 20 seconds, and rest for 10 seconds. The exercises in order are running in place, jumping jacks, jumping squats, pushups, bicycle crunches, burpees, mason twists, and mountain climbers. 

They show you how to do the next exercise during the rest period, and you exercise along with the video. Very simple.

Click here to read about and/or download it.

I'm going to do it tonight for the first time and see how it goes. Let me know if you download it.

Free Sample - U by Kotex Sample Pack

Click here for your FREE sample pack of U by Kotex products, while supplies last.

Single Serving Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Photo and recipe courtesy of No. 2 Pencil

A friend posted a link to this two-cookie recipe on FB, and I saved that link with the quickness. I haven't tried it yet, but I will as soon as I get some chocolate chips (that I would have if I hadn't eaten them one time there was no other chocolate in the house). Don't judge me, you don't know my struggle. :-)

Move some to the balcony . . .

I love quotes and have been collecting them for at least 25 years. There's something about a succinct statement that speaks to me. If I had to choose one quote that I love that I apply to my life on a daily basis, it would be this one.

Do you have a favorite quote?

When the universe speaks, listen.

This quote from Oprah is so true, and it applies to so many facets of our lives. Like Oprah, I've learned that when you don't listen to that little voice or to the universe (when things happen), unhandled little issues turn into bigger problems. Every. Single. Time. It's true whether you're talking about your health, your job, your relationship, your children, your car - just EVERYTHING.

Recent Outfit - Black & Gray

This is what I wore to work yesterday. It seems I've been in a bit of a cardigan/jeans/boots phase for the last few weeks. Sadly, a cardigan, sweater, or blazer is pretty much a requirement where I work, unless you're trying to shiver all day. Plus, a cardigan or blazer helps pull an outfit together, making it a lot more versatile.

Long Ribbed Cardigan - TJMaxx

Black Tee - Target

Gray Skinny Jeans - Old Navy

Suede Wedge Booties - Kohl's

Checkerboard Tote - Ross

The More You Know - Free Credit Reports by LAW

"Federal law requires each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to give you a free credit report every 12 months if you ask for it. They also make it easy to accomplish many credit-related tasks right from your computer."

Many people don't know it, but by federal law, everyone is entitled to one free credit report from each of the three credit reporting bureaus once per year. 

That's right - totally free - and not from some company that advertises free reports on TV. Sorta makes you wonder how they pay for those commercials if they're giving you what you can already get for free, doesn't it? It probably means their reports really aren't free.

Checkerboard Tote - Score!

So I was in Ross a couple of weeks ago picking up stuff to decorate the spare bedroom and saw a couple of handbags/totes that I just had to have. One of them was a blue/white striped Tommy Hilfiger tote, and the other one was the bag below with the black/white checkerboard pattern. 

It's just some no name bag (Chateau something) that only cost me $19.99, but it spoke to me y'all. It called out to me. It wanted to go home with me. I'm pretty sure I heard it say that, sorta like stuff talks to people in the Pier 1 commercial. So, of course I bought it.

Pumpkin Seeds

I discovered a couple of months ago that I absolutely love roasted/toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas). Believe it or not, I'd never eaten them until then. 49 years, and I'd never eaten pumpkin seeds. Crazy. I pretty much eat them every evening now. 

In my quest to make healthier food choices, I added pumpkin seeds to my diet because they kept showing up on lists of foods everyone should eat. When I first started eating them, I was mixing them with a little olive oil and adding sea salt, then toasting them in the toaster oven. Now I toast them on the stovetop.

Pumpkin seeds are a low GI food and are a source of manganese, phosphorus, copper, magnesium, zinc, protein, and iron. A 1/4 cup has about 180 calories. Do you eat pumpkin seeds?

Recent Outfit - Mustard Cardigan

This mustard cardigan, striped tee, and dark jeans combination is one of my favorite go-to outfits. Sometimes I pair it with riding boots and other times I wear flats. This mustard cardigan was a real good addition to my wardrobe.

Mustard Cardigan - Urban Outfitters
Striped Tee - Old Navy
Skinny Jeans - Old Navy

Riding Boots - Franco Sarto via TJMaxx

Decor - Word Art

When my 19 year old was a wee one, I used to scour the internet for free educational pages I could download for her. That's how I discovered printables. There are all sorts of free downloadable printables on the internet. Being the cheap frugal person that I am, free is right up my alley. Look - said 19 year old is in college at UVA - that means I'm poor.

Anyway - below are a few links to some decorating printables. All you need is a frame that fits it - any old frame will do. If it's the wrong color, you can easily solve that with a can of spray paint. 

*Tip - Don't buy cheap paint. You get what you pay for. For spray paint, I always buy Valspar that I get from Lowe's.

Links:

• Family Values Subway Art Printable from Betty Crocker Wannabe
• Family Word Art from All Things Simple
• Bathroom Printables from Over the Big Moon
• Well Done is Better Than Well Said printable from Printable Decor
• Those Who Bring Sunshine To The Lives of Others printable from Collected
• Turn a Quote into a Masterpiece from Recite This

Free App - Wunderlist

"Keep your life in sync with Wunderlist"

I love To Do Lists. 

Look, I'm old, and I need to write things down. 

I've owned an iPhone for a lot of years, and I've downloaded Lord only knows how many To Do List apps, only to delete them because they were just too complicated or had way too many features - features that I didn't need or want. Not only that, many of them were not user friendly, at all.

I discovered Wunderlist about 4 months ago, and I've since deleted all the other "list" apps from my phone. Wunderlist is perfect. In addition to the phone version, there is a web version that syncs with your phone so you can make entries from the web.

If you're looking for a simple, user-friendly list app, give Wunderlist a try - I think you'll like it.

Read about and download WunderList HERE.

Free App - PaperKarma

"Control Your Mailbox & Stop Unwanted Paper Mail Using Your Phone!"

PaperKarma is one of my favorite new apps. 

PaperKarma promises to help you quickly and easily stop unwanted mail that comes to your home. You simply take a picture of the envelope and upload it to PaperKarma from your phone and they will unsubscribe you from the company's mailing list.

PaperKarma was able to stop the weekly envelopes I received from CitiGroup, and that is pretty impressive.

Read about and download PaperKarma HERE.

Free Sample - Garnier Clean+

Photo Cropped from Wal-Mart Website

"Want better skin? Not just a better clean, better skin."

Click Here for Your Free Garnier Clean+ Sample

Free Sample - Finish Power & Free Dishwashing Powerballs

Photo Courtesy of Finish Website

"Get a sparkling clean with less harsh chemicals."

Click Here for Your FREE Finish Sample

I Ate It

Steak (grilled)

Portobello Mushrooms Sauteed w/Coconut Oil

 Onions Sauteed w/Coconut Oil

Quinoa - Black Beans (canned/rinsed) - Corn (frozen)

Recent Outfit - Minty Fresh

I fell in love with shades of mint green last spring. I think it's such a pretty color - and it's one of those colors I'm always complimented on when I wear it.

Ignore the scowl on my face and my hair all over the place - it was a very windy day and my friend and I were just trying to stay on our feet and not get blown away (yes, the wind was THAT strong).

Crew Neck Cardigan - Old Navy

Skinny Jeans - Old Navy

Striped Tee - Old Navy

Suede Wedge Booties - Kohl's

Statement Necklace - Anne Klein via TJMaxx

The More You Know - Cleaning The Crap Off Your PC

Don't look too hard at this pic - you'll probably see crumbs of some kind.

PC's are much like cars - you have to do preventative maintenance on them if you want them to work correctly and last longer.

One of the most important things you can do for your PC is to run spyware and malware scans on it. This is just as important as virus software.

I'm frugal, so I like free. It is not necessary to pay for spyware & malware software, just like it's not necessary to pay for virus software. There are free programs that are very good.

Recent Outfit - Red, White, & Blue

I took Monday off because my in-laws are in town from Ohio for the week. I'm enjoying having them visit with us for the first time in the new house. This is actually the first time they have ever stayed with us because this is the first time we've had the room. Extra bedrooms are awesome! This will be a 3-day week for me because I'm also taking Friday off. Pardon me while I do a big-girl cartwheel in celebration.

I didn't plan to take a picture of my outfit today since I just wore jeans again, but I had on my red booties and was using my new striped tote for the first time, so I decided to enlist a friend/co-worker to snap pics with my phone. It was a funky cold rainy day outside, so I was confined to the lobby of our office building. At least it wasn't the restroom.

Doing the Laundry

When I was younger, I hated doing laundry. Quite honestly, I really don't mind it anymore.

I only do laundry for the mister and I. He actually has no problem doing laundry, but I much prefer to do it myself. In his world, the dryer has one setting - high - and that can be problematic (for me).

One thing you can do to ease your laundry headache is to teach your children to do their own laundry. My daughter has been doing her own laundry since she was about 10 years old. I never made her do house chores, but she was always responsible for cleaning up after herself, keeping her bedroom and bathroom clean, and doing her laundry.

Quinoa

Here, I mixed the quinoa with black beans and rice. The quinoa are the little round semi-transparent seed-things. 

I've battled my weight for years - basically since I had my daughter almost 20 years ago. I found out about 2 years ago from an extensive blood test that my body doesn't process carbohydrates well, so my doctor recommended that I limit them. I'm doing ok with it, as long as I can resist the cookies and candy the mister brings into the house. :-(

My goal is to cut out as much processed food as I can, as well as limit my intake of added sugars. I'm eating lots of fruits and veggies, complex carbohydrates, meats, seeds, nuts, eggs, legumes, lentils, etc. I've eaten things this year that I've never eaten, let alone cooked, before.

Quinoa is one of those things. Please don't do like I did and go into the grocery store asking where the "qwi-no-ah" is, as that is not how it's pronounced. For the record, and to spare you the embarrassment, it is pronounced "keen-wah." I'll forever be grateful to the random lady in the commissary who didn't bat an eye when she said "the the keen-wah is generally on the aisle with the health or ethnic foods." She was probably dying on the inside.