One Little Thing

So, there was one little thing I forgot to mention to you guys yesterday.

*clears throat*

I HAVE FOUR CONSECUTIVE DAYS OFF! I DON’T GO TO WORK UNTIL WEDNESDAY!

*ahem* excuse me for that sudden outburst, but it had to be done.

I realize you’re all probably rolling your eyes right now – I mean how hard do I work, really? I am lucky to only be working three days a week this summer. Well, lucky and poor, but pretty damn happy, pardon my French. So, even though I’m usually plenty rested from a full weekend to go back to work on Monday, since we’re closed I don’t need to…and there’s just something special about some extra days in a row off, no?

To make a long story short…days off – especially so many – equate to lots of waffles and lots of pony  boot camp.

So, now that that mini celebration is over – where was I?

Oh, yes – Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Anyone doing/did/planning anything exciting?

I woke up bright and early and celebrated with a near carbon copy of yesterday’s peachy-fig waffles. The only difference is that today’s were topped with Teddie instead of sunflower seed butter, and honey roasted peanuts instead of cashews. And I never mentioned that yesterday’s were also topped with earth balance and ginger preserves!

A cup of Southern Pecan accompanied the deal – but I didn’t feel like making two trips just to take a picture of my breakfast 😉

I realized this morning that the last time I bought oats, I bought quick oats instead of old fashioned! Ugh, really? I am always so careful – and the whole reason I passed on the Price Chopper brand was because they didn’t have one of old fashioned that was big. My excuse is going to be that the quick oats I grabbed were right next to the old fashioned ones that I was looking at 😉

They worked fine, of course – but will my overnight oats still be good with quick instead of old fashioned?! This could potentially be a serious dilemma! heh.

Anyways. My sister, mom, and I all headed in to the barn early to beat the heat. We won’t discuss the fact that the heat didn’t actually really set in until much later in the afternoon, even though the weathermen were all saying it would be early afternoon/late morning. They’re never right, anyways.

After almost joining a parade we made it home for lunch. I started with just a sandwich – but a lovely one at that. We’ll call it a “last of” sandwich. The last of some roasted broccoli, the last of some tomato paste, the last of a roasted red pepper, the last of my seitan (not the new one I made yesterday – no worries) in addition to some feta cheese and garlic lover’s hummus.

Yes, you’ve seen this before.

No, it won’t grow old.

And dessert ensued a short while after. I love eating lunch at home so I can break it up and not eat everything at once. I had a hunk of a banana-quinoa granola bar with some Teddie and a really deliciously fantastic plum.

I love plums.

Enjoyed while observing an empty bag of Kettle chips on the table. I’ve made my mom obsessed with these ever since I had them the first time a couple of months ago. I don’t have chips a whole lot, but this brand is really good, and obviously very much mother and family approved! I don’t think she’s gone more than a week without them 😉

Anyone else get a family member hooked on a food? Would love to hear the “somewhat healthier substitutions” you guys have slipped in 😉 I think next I’ll buy some Newman O’s or Fig Newmans to replace the Oreos and Fig Newtons on the counter. That and I’ve been really curious to try those Fig Newmans, but I alone wouldn’t be able to eat a whole package.

I can’t really remember what I spent the majority of my afternoon doing, but I do remember a couple of iced coffees, trips to the dried apricot container, and peanut butter and jelly.

Teddie and almond pear jelly, actually. I’m not kidding – I have been a peanut butter and jelly fiend ever since the one I had on Thursday which helped me get backed into. Why is peanut butter and jelly so good?! Especially on toasted delicious bread?

Other goings-on included staying cool in the air conditioning and going through pictures from the barn, lounging on a neat little hammock thing my sister brought down, and playing with my furry four-legged friends.

Oh, and roasting some chickpeas and throwing together a dressing. This salad may take the cake as best of the week. Er – it’s only Sunday, so I guess it’s also the only one I’ve had this week, huh?

For the roasted chickpeas, I coated them with apricot preserves, salt, pepper, and curry powder before baking for about 45 minutes at 450*. For the dressing, I combined apricot preserves, greek yogurt, curry powder, chives, salt, pepper, and a dollop of honey and then stirred in a splash of almond milk to thin it out.

In the Bowl:

• farmer’s market lettuce
• farmer’s market snap peas
• red pepper
• radish
• two hardboiled eggs
• cashews
• dried apricot
• and the roasted chickpeas

Oh so good! I also had the last bulgur flatbread with some locally made pepper chevre.

I went on a trail ride with my mom (well, and Jiggy and Mel, of course) a short while afterwards, too. We got absolutely mobbed by the horse and deer flies, though. They are ridiculous this year. It’s just about impossible to go on a pleasant trail ride lately, which is quite a bummer 😦

Aaannd…can anyone reccommend a good food proccesor for around $50? I won this awesome lady’s CSN giveaway, and just in the knick of time! My processor is just about dead 😦 Didn’t last long – but I definitely used and abused it! I’m not expecting a miracle blender in that price range, but good enough to process dates is all I ask 🙂

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The Teddie Chronicles

Teddie and I had the paparazzi after us today! He definitely hammed it up.

But before I got on him, I made sure to inform him that this didn’t mean he could give our onlookers a real show and turn our workday into a pony rodeo 😉

Of course he was just a doll, and our ride was even better than yesterday. I’m only going to share a couple pictures – since we don’t get anyone to take them very often, I’ve got to make them last us a couple days! 😛

I’m glad we’ve got some, though – otherwise I wouldn’t have realized I’m riding with jockey stirrups. I swear, they feel normal! I’ll be dropping them a couple of holes tomorrow. I think since he’s smaller I like them on the short side, anyways, so I can keep my heel on his barrel. I haven’t been worrying about where his head is yet, obviously – and am just trying to keep light contact as his figured the bit out. He’s pretty comfortable walking with it now, but still likes to fuss with it at the trot. Still, I should be bending my arms more, and put my gosh darn heels down! I can’t wait to start riding him in my dressage saddle, though.

And I am sort of embarrased, actually – to be posting these photos where I look so…scruffy. Poor turnout is sort of a peeve of mine – but I’ve busted the zipper on my half chaps and my tall boots are too big, so I’m sort of stuck with jeans and paddock boots for the time being. And my hair is a mess. Yikes!