Work and Water Guns

So yesterday I started this new job right? Inventory for a school board associated literacy program.
I check bins.
Bin after bin after bin. All with the same content.
So far it?s been just fine but 35 hours a week for 4 weeks of bin checking might begin to get a little repetitive a little fast. Luckily I work with three other pretty cool gals and we basically have full unsupervised freedom so hopefully we?ll track down some kind of music system in the school we?re working in and add a daily dance party onto our checklists. I could handle that.

Was my first day on the job. 9 am we did some discussing and orientation stuff at the main office and then headed over to the elementary school where we set up camp and starting on the good ol bin checking.

Before going I obviously had to eat some breakie so I made up a bowl of Nature?s Path Pumpkin Raisin Crunch with vanilla yogurt, mushy banana slices  and PBU. I think I dip into that stuff nearly every time I open the fridge. That?s much too often?

I?m so used to being home constantly and therefore being able to head on over to the kitchen at the first ping of hunger so the empty tummy feeling I went through before being able to eat lunch at work was slightly foreign and uncomfortable. I?m hoping and assuming my body will adjust fast to normal meal eating once again rather than snacking like ten times a day.

For lunch I quickly threw together a salad, some cottage cheese, an apple and the biggest Maple Nut Clif Bar I?ve ever seen. I swear it was twice as thick as any other Clif bar. Thus twice as good obviously. It held me over for a good long while but I was mighty hungry when I got home at dinner time.

My mom warmed up a freezer bag of premade veg +pasta and threw in some chicken breast so I ate a plate (or two) of that along with a couple hunks of fresh bread.

I then I had a bowl of Special K Red Berries?! with vanilla yogurt and PBU. My mom bought the cereal randomly for my brother. I haven?t had it in years. I mainly just wanted to have some freeze dried strawberries in my yogurt. They were good. Might be a good bulk bin buy for a yogurt mix in next time!

Let?s back track a bit now since I?ve got a couple days of back log here.

Check out my Mean Green Monster –
I used:
Half a pack of this Kaizen Chocolate Whey Protein Powder I got a sample of in the mail ages ago, along with almond milk, frozen banana, frozen blueberries and a handful of spinach.

I threw some wheat berries on top for chew.

Then I went all handymanwoman and put together this new bookshelf for extra storage in our spare bedroom. I sure felt talented.

In the process I snacked on some of these awesome roasted fava beans. Apparently they were new and a huge hit. Ever tried them? DO it.

In the aft I made myself a quick spinach zucchini rice tempeh salad with a salsified pita on the side before running out for some shopping and groceries.

I included some new grocery finds in my dinner that night.

This was not a new find (Yes, I?ve had it since the end of 2006. More like 2007. It doesn?t go bad, I swear) but I always forget about it so when I rediscovered it in the fridge I decided to use it as a marinade.

Marinade for what?

Baked tofu and this new grocery find ? fresh okra! A gliding calm inspiration for certain.
I baked the tofu and okra with a horseradish garlic+rice vinegar+garlic powder marinade. I also baked up some presliced sweet potato fries that I had got that day since the bag was on sale.

I was a little afraid of the okra at first because of that whole slime factor but it wasn?t slimy raw or baked so I was spared and it was quite good!

I also had my last bit of remaining tempeh that I PB+Jd as also per Gliding Calm method, as well as Snack Face suggestion. Mmm!

That night I was in baking mood and we had some rhubarb to use up. What better way to do that than by making the Best-ever Rhubarb Crisp?

Mad good piping hot and doused in almond milk.

Tuesday night was Canada Day celebrating since Wednesday was a holiday (aka no work for anyone) so to the bar it was. I wore red heels. They were pretty pimpin.

The  official Canada Day

I should have made my breakfast red and white. Though it does include some red sauce? and the tortilla is whiteish? No idea why this breakfast came to be but a leftover tofu wrap sounded about right. It included spinach, hummus and pasta sauce. Could have been better but it was still pretty tasty.

But uh? I?m used to breakfast being along the sweet spectrum so I had to crack out the rhubarb crisp, PBU and refrigerated banana to make my breakfast complete.

I found these Tentation apples at the grocery store. New find? I had never seen them. They are good but very sweet. Almost too sweet? Impossible?

And for coolness?s sake, this sticker I once found on a banana. It now graces the cover of my camera and my camera is now up a notch on the awesome scale.

I ate some more snacks through the day:

Then I went all adventuresome and tried something new for dinner: Polenta!
I was never able to find it before (I know you can just make it out of cornmeal but I haven?t gotten around to trying that out just yet) but when I stumbled upon a log at a gourmet food store I couldn?t pass it up.

Thus dinner was born ?> The Polenta & Vegetable Bake

My subs: no eggplant so used red pepper instead. No fresh basil. Less spinach (didn?t have that much). No light mozza so used regular. Added a bit of shredded feta as well.

Perfect polenta! I?m a fan. Great sub in when craving pasta or pizza since it works great with pasta sauce and cheese. It?s even pretty good just heated up and eaten plain. I shall be trying more of this out soon. Polenta fries anyone?

Typical Canada Day celebrations involve going down to the lake to watch the fireworks show. But the weather was crap and I?ve seen the show plenty of times. So instead a few of us went hot tubbing at a friend?s house and listened to the fireworks while gleefully avoiding the Canada Day riot crowd.

We spent way too much time drawing pictures on the deck with water guns (and pretending to be Charlie?s Angels?)

And I got scoffed at for being a wussy and only jumping into the shallow end of the pool. It was COLD! Although insanely refreshing after boiling up in the hot tub.

Who needs fireworks when you?ve got water guns?

On a final note:
Need a smile? If you haven?t already (although I?d be shocked since it?s a HUGE deal now!), check out Operation Beautiful. Visit often. I tear up a bit nearly every time I read the messages. Now that?s powerful.