Lyndsay Texas Ranger

Note(s) to readers: Chuck Norris can not only hear sign language, but he can strangle you with a cordless phone.

Unbelievably AWESOME kickboxing workout this morning!! Our instructor really pushed us today; I mean, they all push us every day, but she was ready to rock 'n roll this a.m. When we were all doing jumping jacks during our warm-up, the instructor asked if anyone's team won the Super Bowl last night. There must not be many Giants fans in class because there were only a couple of mumbles. I took that opportunity to give a loud shout out to THE CHICAGO BEARS!! Yeah baby :)

Oh, and another note: make sure to have a banana mixed in with your brown rice/vegan protein. It's still far superior to whey as far as how I feel afterwards, but this morning we were out of bananas and my shake was a little bitter with just ice, water and POM juice.

My lovely and talented sister-in-law, Kate, gave me a recipe for Quinoa and Black Beans which looks delicious. I plan on making it tonight; if it's as good as it looks, I'll post the recipe here later.

PS: I made some more of that lightly sweetened porridge yesterday and loaded the heck out of it this time with pecan pieces. I CANNOT overstate how good that stuff is :)

Sunday

I woke up at around 5:30 this morning with more energy than I knew what to do with. I went to 8:00 a.m. church service with my mom and the lesson was all about service to and for others:

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.


Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...'


'Truly I tell you, whatever  you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'


[Matthew 25; 32-40].


I'm reminded how important my role will be in Isla's life to show her how to care for others and just how to be a good person in general. I hope one day she will be as proud of me as I am of her every day. Have a wonderful week every one!

Delicious porridge

I just made the tastiest porridge EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD (Okay, my world anyway):

1 cup Quinoa (already cooked!)
1/3 c. rice milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 c. pecan pieces
2 tsps pure maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan; heat for around 10 minutes. ENJOY. And guess what? It's VEGAN. No way! :)

Mommy Dearest

My mom came with me this morning to FXB so she could check everything out - I'm really hoping she decides to join the next 10 week program. This morning was upper body resistance training - thanks to being sick all week, the last time I did an upper body workout was more than one week ago. I was definitely feeling it this morning.

Also, I've been wanting to move toward a more whole foods/plant based diet for some time now and after watching Forks Over Knives, I'm done procrastinating! We're making the move baby. Luke says he's on board with everything - my sister Kelly and my mom are also getting on board too. Watch the movie if you have time - watch it even if you don't have time. I already ordered plant based protein powder for my morning shakes; it's going to take a few days to get here, so this morning on my way home from the gym I stopped by HyVee to see if they had any vegan protein powder (as it is often called). Surprisingly, they did! I don't know much about the brand, but it'll do until my regular stuff gets here: MLO Brown Rice Protein. The powder is wickedly fine and mixes well into the shake, but there is more of a grainy feeling when you drink it than with regular whey protein. Get past the grainy texture because the taste is really good!

This move to plant based and away from animal based is going to be a journey - I'm so picky when it comes to certain foods, but I'm dedicated to figuring out a way to do it. My first step is to do away with all dairy products. So, I know I've recommended certain yogurts on this blog before and they're still fine - this new diet just does away with all animal based foods so the yogurt has to go too. Anyway, I'm pretty pumped that Luke is on board. It's important to have a good support system around you when you make big changes in general, but particularly when they involve diet. Have a great weekend everyone! Oh, since I was MIA all week I'm not going to give myself a "cheat day" this weekend since I didn't earn it through working out. BUMMER! 'Cause tomorrow is the Super Bowl. Oh well - the Chicago Bears aren't in it so it'll be a big YAWN for me :) Oh, if you're watching the game with any huge Tom Brady or Eli Manning fans, the first time one of them throws an incomplete pass yell "Man! He throws like a kicker!" :) That'll get people riled up.

I DID IT!

I FINALLY went to FXB this morning after a week of feeling like absolute crap. It was kickboxing today which was a tad ambitious on my part, but I was able to do everything (albeit it on a slightly lower "kick butt" level than usual). Strangely, this is the first time in my life that I worked out after going more than four days without keeping any water down - I've only been able to drink Gatorade and Powerade all week. Now I'm really jonesing for an ice cold glass of water, but I'm nervous. The last time I tried drinking water was Wednesday and that DID NOT WORK OUT...for anyone involved :)

One of my old bosses from The Firm works out now at the same time I do - thankfully, it's the one partner left at my old firm that I can stand :) So it's all good. Anyhoo, I'm drinking a protein shake sans yogurt this morning because I didn't want to tempt the tummy gods with any dairy. So far so good, although I'm so weak I've spilled shake on my tanktop twice already. What a hot mess! What's the moral of this abysmal story? If I can do it, YOU CAN DO IT!! :) Have a great day everyone - here's to feeling even better tomorrow.

Snow Helmet

In my delirium last night, that's what I asked Luke for...a snow helmet. CLEARLY, I meant knit hat. My stomach still hurt last night so I wanted to lay in the shower and let the hot water wash over me without getting my hair wet (since I washed it yesterday morning; or, as my adorable 3 year old nieces would say "last morning"). Can you appreciate the scene I am painting for you here? A delirious, naked woman laying in a shower with a Chicago Bears knit hat on. CLASSIC.

By the by, I'm feeling a lot better this morning. I'm home again from work, but I was finally able to keep down some chicken noodle soup last night around 8:00 p.m. PS, the saltine gambit did NOT work yesterday. I finally worked my way up to trying a few crackers around 3:45 following my afternoon court hearing. By 4:45 those same crackers were violently expelled. *sigh* I REALLY hope I can work out tomorrow. I've also moved all my appointments from this afternoon to tomorrow as well, so here's praying I'm back in the saddle.

The PLAGUE

*Sigh*

I've missed three mornings in a row of FXB and feel really bummed about the whole thing. In all fairness to myself, I haven't kept down any solid foods since around noon on Monday and I've lost around 7 pounds due to  some pretty fantastic projectile pyrotechnics. My husband, God bless him, keeps telling me how HOT I look. Yeah, I'm sure most people might look hot after three days of not eating anything (check out most catwalks in NY :), but he means well - he knows I feel like crap and probably look like it too.

I'm back in the office for the first time this week armed with the following (per my sister Meghan's instructions): 3 bottles of Frost Glacier Freeze Gatorade, applesauce (in case I'm feeling perky enough to eat anything later), and a big box of saltine crackers. Ugh.

Please send a shout out for me to the Big Guy that I will feel good enough to workout tomorrow morning. Also, I'm actively praying that I don't get my little lady Isla sick too. OMG she is SO beautiful. She's getting to that age where when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she's not necessarily hungry she just wants me to rock and sing her back to sleep. She did that twice last night and it was HEAVEN. I cannot overstate how much I am in love with my own daughter.

Oh, in news from the sick couch: I read an amazing book yesterday called We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Apparently it has also been made into a movie staring Tilda Swinton (I would have known that and probably already seen the movie when I lived in Chicago, but South Dakota rarely shows anything but the more mainstream flicks). Some words to sum the book up? Hmmm. DARK. DARKER. UNCOMFORTABLE maybe? BRILLIANT. It was a page turner and I read it in a day - it's around 427 pages but I'm somewhat of a fast reader (according to my husband).