pocketful of randomness

So...December, we meet again.  It's like WHOA...where did the year go?  One minute 2010 began and then I blinked away a whole year....well 11 months.  I don't want to discount this month (not yet, anyway).

Injury update:  I'm not gonna lie...the first two days of my vacation in the Disney parks were ROUGH.  I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up for the remaining 6 with all the walking and standing and the jarring (some of those rides were no joke).  On day 3, my hip/leg decided to cooperate, for the most part.  It would only cause me grief when I stopped walking for a while (lunch or a show) and then tried to get back up again.  I forgot my anti-inflammatory pills at home, so Advil Liqui-gels and I became besties.  As soon as I returned home to Houston, my hip/leg just started aching something fierce.  Though I wanted to jump right back onto the elliptical, I know that rest is what I need to recover.  I'm still hanging onto the hope of being able to complete my RunGirl 13.1 on 12/12 - just as a walker instead of a runner.  I have a follow-up with my doctor next week and he will let me know YAY or NAY.  I realize I'm probably just setting myself up for further disappointment by hanging onto this hope, but...well...it's how I roll.

I *heart* Christmas music.  Did you know that about me?  I'm seriously torn right now about what to listen to while in the car - Christmas music on XM Holly 23 or my latest audio book?  Certain songs make me sad...lonely for some reason.  Other songs make me all kinds of nostalgic.  Have you ever heard of Elmo & Patsy?  They are the singers of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer".  They have some really silly songs on their album like "Percy the Puny Poinsettia" and "Grandma's Killer Fruitcake", just to name a couple.  My mom loves their songs.  I love that - she's so funny/quirky!

I've been cooking all kinds of things this week.  On Monday night, I made my butternut squash soup.  Last year, someone gave me the tip of using light cream cheese in the soup instead of cream to get that creamy texture.  It cuts out tons of fat and calories and tastes great!  The ingredients are simple - butternut squash, apple, onion, salt, peppercorn, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cream cheese.  If you want the full recipe, just let me know!  On Tuesday, I made a macaroni and cheese casserole with cauliflower (vegetarian recipe - FYI).  I got the recipe from Carrots 'n' Cake, but modified it slightly using 2% cheese in lieu of full fat, skim milk in lieu of 1%, greek yogurt in lieu of lite sour cream, double fiber bread in lieu of bread crumbs or whole grain bread, and adding garlic salt.  Tonight, I made homemade applesauce.  I peeled and chopped up 5 granny smith apples and put them in a pot.  I then added some water - not a whole lot - just enough for the apples to simmer.  Next, I added a dash of salt, some cinnamon, some nutmeg, a bit of vanilla, and 1/3 of a cup of sugar substitute.  I let it cool on the stove until it was the chunky/saucy consistency I wanted.  The house smells FANTASTIC!  I am also planning on making a killer chicken soup this week with all sorts of veggies - mushrooms, onion, celery, cabbage, yellow squash, and zucchini.  I'm also going to add great northern beans and barley to my soup for substance!

Oh...I might have done a little happy dance today during my lunch break.  Why, you ask?  Well...I went to Kroger to buy me some of my Carb Master yogurts just to discover they added 6 new flavors to their line!  There are hardly any low carb / low sugar yogurts on the market.  I think Dannon makes one and it's ridiculously expensive, only 4 oz., and comes in 2 flavors.  The Carb Master yogurt is 6 oz and tastes delicious.  I think they already had 8 or 9 flavors, so adding 6 more is HUGE!  The new flavors are vanilla chai, spiced pear, tropical fruit, raspberry yumberry, strawberry colada, and carrot cake.  So far I've only tried the carrot cake and it was DELICIOUS!  Can't wait to try the others!  I bought two of each flavor!

Okay, well this was a pocketful of randomness kind of blog.  Happy December to you, my lovelies!