Getting Healthy with Alton Brown

My life is all about....

I have become a drywall finisher.

My life is all about THIS NEW HOUSE right now.

I have a full-time (and then some) job finishing walls/ceilings.  But I have to say... it sure is looking good!

So... if you're wondering what's going on in my life.... come on over to my house blog.

An afternoon ride to the foothills of the Pryor Mountains

For my birthday, my husband & I took a drive up to the foothills of the Pryor Mountains.

The views are just beautiful!

The Pryor Mountains are to the north of our new home.  They are just a few miles away!

Vision Board

Do you have a vision board?

This is such a fun thing to do!

John Assaraf shares how it worked in his life.  John's Vision Board

Tomato, Roasted Red Pepper, and Swiss Cheese soup!

Today for lunch I made a delicious soup on my Vita Mix!

Here's the ingredients:
-2 fresh tomatoes
-few pieces of celery
-1/4 Cup or so of Roasted Red peppers
-dash of oregano & basil
-some Swiss cheese
-1 serving of Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein, vanilla

I put all the ingredients in my Vita Mix using the tamper to push everything down.  Then ran it for a few minutes until steamy hot!  Oh my gosh... so yummy... and filling... and so totally HEALTHY!

My yard sale find...

Yesterday on the other side of town there was a yard sale to benefit our High School FBLA.

There was this George Jr. Rotisserie with a bag of attachments...  I've been wanting one of these!  So I scarfed it up!

This morning twirling around in my rotisserie are 5 chicken breasts!  They smell wonderful!!!

My computer talks....

I love my MacBook!  A while ago while reading an article about Apple computers, I learned that my MacBook comes with software that allows it to talk!  It can read text to me!

So this morning while rushing to put on my socks and shoes... I highlighted some text on a website about raising chickens, hit command-z (the default on your mac) and learned about how a school teacher helped her students learn about chickens!

Very cool!  And now... off to work!

How to eat a Mango...

OK, so I joined a produce co-op called Bountiful Baskets.  Picked up my very first "basket" of fresh and delicious smelling fruit and veggies this past Saturday.

Included in my bounty... were Mangos!  Something that I never buy... didn't even know how to eat except someone mentioned that you don't eat the skin.

So I found this link: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cut_a_mango/

We have a co-op!

Bountiful Baskets has arrived in our little town! We have our own little co-op of fresh fruit and veggies!

You should have seen the wonderful cooperation among the 15 to 20 ladies who all went to work... unloading the truck... parsing out the goodies. That statement, "many hands make light work" is so true! Two pallets of fresh fruit and veggies went home to 80 families!

In our baskets went...

tomatoes

brussell spouts

romaine lettuce

baby carrots

squash

corn on the cob

melon

lime

apples

peaches

bananas

I'm sure that I've forgotten something...

All for a contribution of $15! And everything is sooo nice and fresh... and tasty!

As soon as I figure out how to get the pictures out of my phone... I'll post them!

I made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch with sliced tomato and topped with romaine lettuce... and carrots on the side! So delish!!!!

a Girl's lunch out....

Took Mom out for lunch today. We enjoyed some fried fish at our little cafe downtown.

It was nice go out with Mom and to treat her!

OK, I really like it...

I took the big leap to a smart phone a few months ago.

It was a little awkward at first... learning how to "do it." You know... all the apps... and getting my macbook ical to sync with Google calendar.

But I think that I'm finally "there" now. I mean, I really like having a smart phone and now... it's part of my life!

I got the Motorola Devour... a Droid-based phone.

Tonight I downloaded the Flixster app! We love going to the movies... that's what we do most weekends. This app is awesome!!!!

It lets you see what's playing at cinemas all around you! And shows you places to eat nearby! Very cool! We're going to get a lot of use out of this app!

Earth Day

It's Saturday...

This morning I had the opportunity to teach kids & parents about using green cleaners!

Picture this....

5800 Windex bottles lined up back to back! That's a LOT of bottles!!! And a LOT of $$

Now... Picture this GREEN solution...

1 bottle of Shaklee's Basic-H2. YUP... just one bottle of Basic-H2 gives you the cleaner power of over 5800 bottles of Windex type cleaner! Cost... under $15!

Our youth are totally into being GREEN. The world is going to change BIG TIME as they become adults!

Taxes...

Ok... everytime about this time of year... when I'm in the depths of tax preparations... I tell myself... "Next Year is going to be BETTER!"

Then, I go about my year... and forget my counsel to myself!

Well, I can honestly say that 2010 tax preparations WILL BE better! Why?

Because I'm going to have a dedicated office with files! Yes!!! Files in which to organize my stuff!

spring is on it's way

Just back from a walk with Missy (the dog that adopted us).

Saw what I think was a quail and some deer tracks.

The sun is shining brightly today~love it!

spring is on it's way

Just back from a walk with Missy (the dog that adopted us).

Saw what I think was a quail and some deer tracks.

The sun is shining brightly today~love it!

I was cleaning my bathtub when...

My journey to GREEN!

14 years ago this very month I made the big switch to green cleaners!

Bleach was my favorite cleaner! You would walk into my home and know that I had been cleaning that day! My house would reek of bleach!!!

One day I decided to clean my clawfoot bathtub. It had that ring about halfway up... and it just needed to be cleaned! So I grabbed this spraying foam stuff one night after supper... started spraying the bathtub... and... I couldn't BREATH!!!

I knew that it was time for a change in my cleaning products!!!

When my friend Alycia who had young kids like me asked me, "What do you use to clean Matthew's potty chair?" My answer... bleach!

Alycia then told me about the earth-friendly, non-toxic cleaners that she used from Shaklee! We call them green cleaners now... but back 14 years ago... green was just a color!

Well, I got rid of my bleach and foaming bathroom cleaner... and made the change to Shaklee's non-toxic... yes.. GREEN cleaning products!

I did it for me... for my family... especially for my 2 1/2 year old son!

Well, it's been 14 years now! I still love the Shaklee cleaners! They clean my windows, my floors, my fruits & veggies, my microwave, stove, all my appliances, my dishes, my bathroom, the truck... even Missy, the dog that adopted us and more!

I'm on a mission now! I want to help 100+ families do what I did! Switch to Shaklee's GET CLEAN kit!

So, if you've ever walked down the cleaner aisle at the grocery store and your eyes started tearing... or you started sneezing...

Or, if you've ever gotten headaches after cleaning... or had your breath taken away... or gotten dry cracked hands...

Take 3 minutes now!

-->Or you just want to get your house clean, really clean the GREEN way... please take 3 minutes to watch this video!

Be one of the 100+ families!

-->Then... take the next step! Order the Get Clean kit for your family! Be one of the 100+ families that switch!!!

Enter to Win!

Every month, there's a drawing! They give away $200 in Shaklee products! To enter, click here.

For examples of how I use the GET CLEAN kit, click here.

Got a question? Contact ME here!

Thank you MobileME!

I tried and tried on my own to fix my computer... but finally had to take it in.

Here's what happened... my internal hard drive died... and to make matters worse... my external backup hard drive crashed & burned AT THE SAME TIME!

On the good side...

1. My Macbook (purchased 10/06) is still covered under warranty with Apple Care until September. So I got a brand new internal hard drive... and my case was beginning to crack and that was also replaced... cost to me ZERO!

2. I have MobileME! All my business contacts, calendars, previous emails, even my recipes were backed up to my idisk somewhere on Apple's computers!

Lesson learned...

I will do a much better job utilizing my idisk to back stuff up!

I found a good blog entry about getting the most from your idisk here.

Missy goes to the vet...

Well, we've had Missy a little over 3 weeks now... guess she's a keeper! (Previous blog entry on the Missy saga... here!)

This morning she goes to the vet. Hope to find out exactly what kind of dog she is... and how old.

This week we've been working on playing ball. She's getting better at returning the ball to me now.

Yesterday as a break from working in the kitchen, I did some raking and burning weeds. It was fun to have Missy outside with me... well... that is... until my cat Katie tried to chase her away!

So NOT fair!

I am NOT happy right now... just heard back from the computer place about my beloved Macbook. Internal hard drive... fried... back up drive where all my data has been happily backing up... fried...

Good news... got a new internal hard drive installed... FREE... was covered by my Apple Care Plan. So it's like a new computer now.

Bad news... no data... photos?

Anyone have any experience with hard drive recovery companies?

Will be contemplating my fate... and lessons learned as I tape, mud, sand... CRY!

Worth considering...

I just discovered Prezi... and learned more about Twitter!

Today I attended a business luncheon with the topic of Social Media.

Wow...

I learned about Facebook Fan pages... I think that I need one of these for my business!

And then there's Twitter... tweet tweet about whatever... connect with like-minded people!

Then I learned about Prezi! Have you heard of it? It's a way cool presentation tool!

You've got to watch this Prezi about Twitter! I especially liked the 60 second video clips revealing... Why Twitter?!

PS... You can follow my tweets @tipsfromtoni..