Tuesday Tip: Reuse Dryer Sheets

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Andrea

Is this a familiar situation in your household:

You’re doing laundry and you reach for a dryer sheet to add in with the clothes that are about to get dried. The cycle ends, you pull out the sheet, use it to clear the lint from the lint trap and then toss it. Rinse, repeat with all loads that go in the dryer.

That’s how my situation was! I always used a new sheet for each load that went in the dryer. Why did I do that?

I have no idea.

I guess I just thought that a new load in the dryer meant I needed a brand new dryer sheet. I’ve come to realize that this isn’t true. Dryer sheets are reusable!

I know, I was shocked too. I sort of just had this lightbulb moment and reused a dryer sheet to see what would happen. And it worked or at least as far as I could tell it did. I now use dryer sheets a total of three times before using it to clear the lint trap and tossing in the trash.

July 20th, 2009: Leftover mashup

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Andrea

Hi guys! Last night’s sleep was less than perfect because both of my boys decided they need to party! And by party I mean Scott night-dancing in his sleep and Rocky making noises like it was New Year’s Eve. Lordy! I like quiet quiet when I’m sleeping. I could care less if it’s noon and sunshine is beaming right onto my bed as long as nothing is making any noise. I grumpily got up and started breakfast.

Coffee and oatmeal

I was very hungry this morning so there was no waiting for Scott to get up before inhaling breakfast. Blueberry oats! Standard mix:

3/4C vanilla soymilk
1/2C oats
1 mashed banana
1 scoop vanilla whey powder
1TBSP ground flax
Blueberries

Shredded coconut for mix-ins and some coffee for brain fuel. I also started a load of laundry before sitting down to see what the world has been up to. Then I showered and took Rocky out for a walk. We have been having the craziest cool weather lately and it’s been awesome! I don’t even need to have the AC on in the house.

Handmade pottery by Michael

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Andrea

Hi gang! Those of you that also read my daily eats may recognize one of those bowls over there, specifically the one on the left. That’s my oatmeal bowl that I use often!

My good friend, T, whom I’ve mentioned on the blog before, has a son who creates handmade pottery. I fell in love with this stuff the minute I first laid eyes on them. My first question to T was the price of the bowls because I wanted to purchase some ASAP! Because T is awesome he sent me some bowls just because!

These bowls are amazing! Not only are the gorgeous but they are totally functional. You can put food in them, and they are microwave and dishwasher safe.

SCORE!

Michael is T’s son and he is the one responsible for creating such fabbo pieces! He’s currently visiting with T and I was able to snag some of his time and ask a few questions.

July 19th, 2009: Tales from Sunday

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Andrea

Hey gang! Sunday wasn’t terribly exciting but I was on the move the whole day which is why there was no post. Sometimes I have to decide between blogging or spending time with Scott. And in all honesty, Scott’s going to win out every time. I know you all understand. Don’t worry, other than dinner, yesterday’s eats weren’t terribly exciting. ;)

I busted out 4 slow ass miles yesterday running a 12:30min/mile. WTF?! I ran and busted out four miles so woot woot for that but 12:30, hells no. I have to work on that and get my pace back to 10:30. Yesterday was one of those days where I was running and thought I was flying but yet I could not get my HR up at all. It stayed in the mid 150s and was not budging. I dealt with it. I was running on a Sunday morning so that alone makes me a rockstar. :p

Watermelon Salsa

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Andrea

Watermelon is by far my favorite summer time fruit. I love it! It’s very cool and refreshing and perfectly sweet. On a hot day it can nourish and rehydrate a body, what a perfect little fruit!

All I ever did with watermelon was chop it up and eat it straight. I know some like to sprinkle it with a little bit of salt but that sort of ruined the sweetness for me. All I wanted was a perfect piece of watermelon.

The first time I had watermelon salsa was a recent dinner outing with my husband. I was totally skeptical about the taste. I thought it would be weird, especially since I like my watermelon left alone. But I gave it a try and fell in love immediately. In my head I was already starting to think of ways that I could recreate this at home. The next time we went grocery shopping, I bought a huge watermelon and the first thing I did was make salsa with it.

July 18th, 2009: Catch-up

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Andrea

Hi guys! I’m putting Friday night’s eats in this post because it’s small and not too terribly exciting. While Scott I and pondered the dinner situation, we munched on a small snack.

Raisins and peanuts

Raisins and peanuts! I love this combo! I was just slightly picky but not hungry at all. Lunch filled me up very well and held me over for a long time. Yeah we did eat lunch late but I didn’t get even slightly hungry for dinner until 8pm. And we sat down to eat pushing 9pm. Since it was so late, the last thing I felt like doing was pulling out pots and pans to make something. Thank goodness for leftovers!

Pizza

Pizza! I only ate two slices though and like one bite of the third. I was content and didn’t need the third slice so I didn’t eat it. Plus there was a possibility of dessert so I was saving room.

We watched TV and sipped and munched:

Read more on July 18th, 2009: Catch-up…

July 17th, 2009: Use your noggin

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Andrea

Hi guys! I enjoyed this:

Wine

While I stayed up way too late kicking it with some Pulp Fiction. “Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face.” Just talking about it cracks me up. I have a tremendously twisted sense of humor so movies like Pulp Fiction and Fargo make me laugh. I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but I dig ‘em.

Because I got to bed so late, I was having Pulp Fiction type dreams which were just way too action packed for that time of day. I eventually dragged my butt outta bed at 8am today, took care of Rocky and did some yoga. My legs told me that running was out of the question. I did Morning Flow this morning and hated it. UGH with the backbends that early in the day. Oh well, it did get me moving and I did feel better afterwards. I prefer more leg and hip stretching in yoga not gymnastics.

July 16th, 2009: Earned

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Andrea

Y’all MT conditioning class kicked my ass this evening. I’m not even playing. Whoa it was rough! I’m currently having a bit of trouble handling stairs because the quads are rebelling. Will have to see what tomorrow brings, I might not be able to run. In all serious though I love it! Conditioning is by far one of my favorite activities! I love those kinds of work outs! Add on that today was 84 with high humidity and I was a hot mess afterwards.

You know I fully earned this Thursday Night Pizza! I made my own crust and it worked again so I will be able to share it! :woohoo:

Pizza contained:

Pizza sauce and some sundried tomato and spinach pesto mixed in
Shredded moz
Chopped artichoke
Broccoli
Red onion
Green pepper
Banana pepper
And a few pieces of chopped zucchini because I had some one hand

Scott’s side had Cholula and I had garlic chili Cholula on my side.

July 16th, 2009: Productive

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Andrea

Hi guys! I did not “hop” out of bed this morning but I didn’t lay around for a few minutes either. I got up and got moving! It was disgustingly humid this morning for my run. I was a sweating beast! I did 3.5 of the most glorious miles. I felt strong and like I was flying! Funnily enough I ran the same distance and had the same time as on Tuesday. I even had the same average and highest HR as on Tuesday yet today I burned less calories. Oh body, you are a trickster!

The highlight of my run was almost getting run over. Fun! I’m on the left side of the road running towards traffic ( I know that sounds wrong on so many levels but it’s the proper way to run) and this chick was driving right at me. I was waiting for her to scoot over so, you know, she didn’t hit me and all. It’s not like you could miss me, jeeze the sun was shining on me and you know how women’s running clothes are, they make us look like freaking rainbow sherbet sundaes. But nope, chick was headed right for me. I moved over and started running in the ditch which I do not recommend, and right before she got to me she realized I was there and swerved over. Good times!

July 15th, 2009: Quickie one

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Andrea

I started this post yesterday but didn’t have time to finish it because everything turned sort of crazy after lunch. After a week on vacation, catching up can sometimes be the hardest part! So I’ll let you read what I had then I’ll add in dinner. :)

Start:

Hi guys! I’m having a wonderful day! I had a glorious sleep and was in bed by a little bit after 10pm. I did not run this morning but decided to rest and do yoga instead. I did a 20 minute Hot Power Fusion session from Yogadownload (love this site!), poured some coffee and made oats because my stomach was empty and starving. It made a point to let me know this several times.

Oatmeal and coffee

Sadly my oats were less than stellar. Not wanting to turn into Veruca Salt, I decided that I would skip the blueberries in my oats this morning and use raspberries instead. Huge mistake. My oats were just meh. To be fair I do not think it was the raspberries fault but more a result of a still under ripe banana. The oats did the trick though and quieted my belly.