New URL

Ok ya'll, I'm moving URLS so I can manage my style blog and my food blog from the same account - my new URL is http://charminglybipolar.blogspot.com/ - hope this isn' too confusing! I move around like a crazy person, I know, but a crazy person I am! :P  My new blog is called Charmingly Bipolar because I like to think that I am Charmingly Bipolar, lol, but it's the exact same content as this one. I may buy my own domain through Google, but for now, just follow the link, and you'll find me! :)

~ M

I am 100% back to Google!

After a brief visit to Wordpress, I am back to Google. For. GOOD. :)

~ M

May Be Sticking to Google?!

Ok the WordPress account kinda stinks. Google, I may have to forgive you.

~ M

Moving or Not

I'm toying with moving to WordPress. It's much slower than Google but on the upside, it's more sleek. Mmm.



Google Goo

Ah, Google! You're not letting me uploading pictures STILL? Arg!

Ok, ya'll, I'm keeping track today, and I'm going to narrate (and upload pics later!):

Lunch was a bagel thin with stone honey mustard (a first for me!), spinach, ham, and cheese. Plus a mini-bagel with sunflower butter and granola.

Snack: A tiiiiny cookie from the mall that I got off a free cookie stand. When I got home, I wanted more carbs so I had 2 mini-bagel sandwiches (same as above). Yeah, I was starving.

Dinner at 6:30: A SIAB with tons of spinach!! L actually had one too (with less spinach but still!). We decided not to go out after all!

Snack: A clementine orange, a popsicle, and a mug of tea!

Hopefully I'll get back with pics soon!

~ M

Morning Musings

My post is a little late this morning because I had to purchase more picture space from Google - apparently it's taken me only half a month to reach my free picture quota. Damn you, Google. Ah well. I've been thinking about investing in this blog, ya'll, and I'm researching hosts. So far my favs are just justhost, ipage, and FatCow (the name brings me so much joy!). I may have L help me decide which to choose (I'm thinking justhost may be the one?).

I need to make a trip to Ye Olde Grocery Store today - I'm going to try to compile a list of ALL that we'll need for the week and actually attempt to get everything. This is a first for me, ya'll. Fo' realz.

The menu?

I think I'm going to try Mexican Cornbread once more to perfect it. You see, L didn't like the jalapenos in such large chunks (I'm going to add less too). Plus I'm going to add zucchini and a maybe little shallot this time. I was inspired by Healthy Tipping Point's Southwestern Cornbread to try the zucchini thang.

I'm also going to try Angel's Pasta, a vegetarian pasta dish that I found online. L is willing to try vegetarian, which is awesome!

There's also a crockpot roast with beans in the near future too (I may do that one early on just so L can snack on it for lunch if he so desires - this makes up for the vegetarian dish, haha).

I may also attempt a sweet treat (these peanut butter cookies from Oh She Glows look simple enough for me but so delightful!), but this may depend on my mood (duh) and the food budget. Guess what? I have done minimal baking in my life - just a few cookies and pies here and there. But I'd love to be a great baker! So I think practice makes PERFECT! :)

L and I may go out to dinner tonight .... or not! I need to talk to him about it! It may or may not be in the food budget. I think I just need to hit the store first, right?

Breakfast: apple oatmeal with tons of chia (I put too many tsps in!). I also totally forgot to add cottage cheese at the end, and let's just say that I noticed when I took my first bite! Mental note: add cottage cheese a la Kath's Eats at the end. It's a subtle thing that totally makes oatmeal 10 times better!

I'll post pictures once my quota comes back!

I Heart Walks N Sparkles

My mood totally improved with a little nap today - that's the thing about my manic depression; sometimes I just have to sleep away my little 'mood spells'! L and I also took the pups for a walk after dinner, and that always makes me so happy (not to mention how much it thrills the puppers!).

Dinner was a raspberry strawberry smoothie (split with L),

And a Mexican Cornbread split with L and a little spinach salad.

I biked for about 40 minutes tonight and had two popsicles for dessert. I'm so glad that I stumbled upon them in the store - they are just perfect for me!

As my last "hurrah" before putting my credit card away to "save up" for my big purchase of the Canon Rebel, I bought myself a special headband that I've wanted for a long time. Cute, isn't it? I'm also trying to cut back on my credit card usage. I don't use it much, but I've noticed that with my eating disorder getting better, my bill has gotten a little higher. I've never been in credit card debt, and I surely don't want to go down that road, so I'm giving my card to L until I can save up for that camera! :)

We also bought Zoe a collar from Orvis last night - we bought the fuschia one (second from the left) with the white lettering. Louis has the black one, but I may eventually buy him a colorful one too. :P  These dog collars are just so wonderful; Louis had been wearing one since 2007, and I just got him a new one a year ago.

Now I'm gonna enjoy a cup of chocolate mint tea before bed! Yummy! So glad that it's Friday tomorrow - L and I can't decide if we want to eat out for dinner tomorrow or not!

~ M



Corny Afternoon

Early lunch: leftovers from last night (Mexican Cornbread).

Snack around 2:00. Yog with sunflower butter, chia seeds, granola, and some raspberry jam. I needed it! My mood is a little low this afternoon, ya'll!

Zoe got some new toys from Petsmart, and she loves them!


Hopefully this afternoon I'll see a shift in mood.

~ M

My Magic Potion

You cannot defeat me! Not as long as I have my magic potion!

Breakfast today was the same as yesterday (a la Kath Eats) ... and I. loved. it. :)  Again, my appetite was as fat as Mr. Phoenix (he got chubby from winter snacking!), and this bowl was peeerfect!

Zoe says "Zzzz!" this morning, but Louis is always wide-eyed the second I step out of bed. He's my little follower. :)

Last night I had so much energy that I biked for 30 minutes and did weights after all of the riding! I definitely could have kept biking too, but I try to set limits, especially since it was about 9:00 at night, and I had already been quite active during the day.

I'd love it if they built a machine that could physically make you feel how the general population's energy level is versus an average manic depressive in manic states and depressive states. I honestly am curious to know what the normal (although you could argue that normal is just a setting on a washing machine!) person's energy level is versus my crazy ones. And how great would it be for mental illness education? Same with a machine that would show you what schizophrenics experience and other mental illnesses. Cool, huh? :)

Have a good one!

~ M

Mexican Cornbread

Tonight I begin my baking/cooking adventures. My first recipe is an easy "oldie but goodie": Mexican Cornbread. My mom gleaned this recipe from a college roommate back in the 1970's (and the roommate got it from a childhood friend who said her mom made it for her as a child! Cool story). Totally vintage, right? But it's relatively healthy, especially if you use lean beef. I'm sure you could add other ingredients like various veggies (zucchini or tomato would be awesome!).

Ingredients:

- 1/2 lb ground beef (I do a pound) - browned

- 1 C cornmeal

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1/2 tsp. baking soda

- 2 eggs

- 1 C milk

- 1/2 C cooking oil

- 1/2 onion (I omit)

- 3 jalapenos (I use canned but you can easily omit)

- 1 can creamed corn

- 1/2 lb cheese (Velveeta works wonderfully)

Directions: Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

See? Easy peasy! I'm a novice at cooking, so if I can make this, you can too! :)

A little soy/dairy mix to drink.

We rode horses this afternoon (second time for me today!); I took most of the pictures, and my sis and L rode since I wore the wrong shoes this morning and now have awful "ankle burn" from the saddle. I didn't ride too much this afternoon but instead took some pictures.

See my cackling face peeping in the left corner? Proof I rode Phoenix today! The only pic I'm in out of about 70 that were on my camera.

L on Flashy.

Handsome boys. This is my fav pic of the day.

I'm having a raspberry popsicle now. I forgot to take a picture. I think I like raspberry, strawberry, and grape Dreyer's so far - tangerine isn't my fav.

Have a great one!

~ M

Lazy Horse

It is such a beautiful day that my sis and I went out to ride the ponies!

For lunch, I had a horse-sized appetite and ate a little more than usual! For those of you who think that horseback riding isn't a sport or doesn't do anything for your body, think again! (Especially when you have a lazy pony like mine and want him to pick up the pace and keep it going - you're using your entire body, especially your legs and bum, to constantly encourage him!!)

I had three big spoonfuls of plain jane Stonyfield vanilla yog with the rest of my wheatberry supply - probably 2 tbsp? - and a spoonful of raspberry jam. Yes, I'm on a jam kick! It tasted sooo much better in yogurt than in my oatmeal this morning! I also added a tbsp of granola and mixed it all together.

An apple. I ended up cutting 'er in half and adding a tbsp of sunflower butter to one half for a mini-boost.

And the star of the show - my good ol' ham 'n cheese with ranch/cottage cheese mix and a hearty helping of spinach. So simple but so tasty. I was craving this as I drove home!

I think we're going back out to ride a bit more after lunch because we had such a great time (and our morning ride was rather lazy ...).

Hopefully more pics will ensue!

~ M