My Week In Instagrams: March 15, 2013

Congratulations, you made it through another week! I know I'm running late with this post today, but I was at work this morning at the time I usually post. Silly work, getting in the way of fun! Anyway, this is what I've been up to this week.
Last Friday, I picked up some random bits and bobs at the grocery store. We don't go grocery shopping and come out with a cart load very often. It's usually one or two bags at a time. There are a few reasons for this, but the big one being that we find it easier to do it this way, and get stuff as we need it. We seem to have less stuff go bad this way. I picked up more groceries today, and we're probably getting more tomorrow. It seems like we buy often, but since it's so few things at a time, it still works out to a very affordable amount per month.
I've been working out on the elliptical just about every day. I don't do it for very long, but I'm working my way up. Most of the time I do about 15 minutes per session. I want to get up to at least 45 minutes I am enjoying it, which is the most important part. I haven't weighed myself in a few days, so I'm not sure if I've lost any more than the last time I checked in. I'm very happy with the way things are going. Rick and I actually went on a walk with the two dogs this afternoon, when I got home from work. It was a short one, but we're hoping to go as often as possible. Once the ground dries up some, it will be a lot easier. We walk along a trail that gets pretty yucky when it's raining/snowing. And we've been getting a bit of that lately.
On that same healthy note, this Mug root beer is in our fridge has been tempting me for a while. We picked it up before I started on the healthy lifestyle plan, and this was left over. I've only had one this week, and there are only a couple left. Hopefully I can put off drinking them for as long as possible, and use them as a treat when I reach a few goals I have.
Winston has been pretty good the last little while. His attitude has improved, and he's been more playful than usual. He likes to sleep really close to the door, or in this case right in the doorway, so he can keep an eye on the cat when it goes to eat. It's kind of hilarious, seeing Winston go from being pretty much sound asleep, to chasing the cat around.
A couple days ago, I made some pretty healthy oatmeal cookies. I used a "recipe" I found on Tumblr that was pretty simple to follow. I changed it up, and made it my own. The recipe for these is at the end of the post. I hope you enjoy it! It's super simple, even I did it, and I can't bake worth a crap. I'll definitely be making more of these. I ate them all within a couple days, so I'll have to make sure I ration them out a little better. I can't help myself when I make something delicious!
Now, to counteract all the healthy goodness of those cookies, we went to Arby's to download podcasts and OS updates. I got most of my stuff downloaded, and Rick got some of his. I ate three sandwiches and drank a Dr Pepper. I was only a couple hundred calories over for the day, and got on the elliptical that night. I finished about where I needed to be according to the app I use. For anyone else who is interested, I use MyFitnessPal. It's free, and easy to use. I can access it from my phone and iPad which is convenient.
In knitting news, I started a Hitchhiker yesterday with some yarn I won from Lanitium ex Machina many moons ago. An internet friend gifted the pattern to me on Ravely, and it brought a tear to my eye. I was so happy that she was so kind. I'm loving the pattern, and it's knitting up beautifully in this yarn. I'll post more about it, and other knitting stuff, on Monday. I have quite a bit to show, which makes me super happy.
Today, when I picked up the groceries, I saw some nice, red tomatoes, that actually smelled like tomatoes! They're from Mexico, though. I live in the tomato capital of Canada, so buying foreign tomatoes is something I do my best to avoid. I can't wait till I can buy fresh, local tomatoes, that were grown outside and not in a green house.
I hope you have a good weekend! Don't get too crazy with the St Patricks Day celebrations though. Be safe!


Here it the cookie recipe, and keep in mind the measurements are approximate.

-2 bananas, mashed
-2 heaping tablespoons smooth peanut butter
-2+ cups rolled oats
-2 tablespoons "add-ins" I used unsweetened coconut and chocolate chips, but you could also try raisins, Craisins, M&Ms, peanuts or anything else that strikes your fancy. But keep in mind, these add to the calories in each cookie.

-Heat oven to 350F
-Mix the mashed bananas and peanut butter until well combined
-Add the oatmeal, 1/2 cup at a time until the mix holds together. You might need more, I didn't measure exactly how much I used.
-Add your mix-ins of choice. Use less than you think you'll need. You don't need a lot in each cookie to get the flavour.
-Scoop onto a cookie sheet sprayed with oil. The cookies don't really spread, so make them the size you'll want. I got 15 good sized cookies out of this much, but make more or less, depending on what you prefer.
-Place in centre of preheated oven and cook for 10-20 minutes. They're done when they're more or less solid.
-Remove from oven and let cool. If you don't gobble them all up right away, I'd keep them in a covered container for
I calculated how many calories were in each cookie with MyFitnessPal, and it came out to less than 70 each. Which isn't bad, considering their size, and all the healthy stuff in there (fibre, protein, potassium etc)