Category: Daily Living

Ah, shoes and me go together! Except for bed I wear them all the time. There is a shoe store that has rows and rows and rows of shoes and I like to go through each and every row, try shoes on and walk around. Right now, me and a pair of Carlos Santanas have a thing going on but my eye is always roving so that may change. I’m a very loyal friend but loyalty ends at my shoes.

I justify my shoe habit quite well thank you very much. You see, God is concerned about soles! I need shoes I don’t just want them. See, I use shoes for occasions; there are shoes that I wear to workout, they are two pairs of New Balance light blue and dark blue and they work perfectly at the gym. My Santanas would never do at the gym. There are casual shoes like my Sketchers or church shoes like my Via Spigas. All kinds for all different things, hey I even have bowling shoes for my annual voyage to the alley. And of course there are my flip-flops!

When I was a kid I clomped around in my mom’s shoes and my grandma’s shoes. I liked wearing them but they didn’t fit. It wasn’t time for me to wear them yet and they weren’t for me in the first place. I clomped around in them pretending that they fit and believing that they made me grown up.

I wear a size 7.5 shoe. I always try them on at the store because sometimes they run a little small and I have to get an 8, other times they fit but are uncomfortable and other times, they looked better in the box than on my feet. I buy them to fit me. I am not trying to be anyone else in them. I buy the ones I like and I don’t worry about other shoes that other women pick, their style isn’t necessarily mine. I am comfortable in my own shoes and I know what is for me and what isn’t. I am getting decidedly better at weeding out those yesterday shoes and giving them to Goodwill rather than hanging onto them knowing I will never wear them again.

So, tell me great women, what things in your life have you been wearing because someone else told you it looked good but you aren’t quite convinced that you’d pick on your own? What things do you wear because it’s tradition passed on from your mom and you clomp around in it but it doesn’t fit, possibly because it was never for you? What things do you wear that are uncomfortable? What was a great fashion, YES, at the time, but is a great fashion, NO, and you just can’t seem to part with it? Have you figured out that we aren’t talking about shoes anymore? Do you have options as your life transitions from situation to situation or do you stand in the gym wearing the heels?

I don’t know where you live but where I live it’s hot, hot, hot! When the weather gets this way, I don’t want to eat. Give me some cold fruit and a salad and I am happy. However, that doesn’t quite work my husband. So, I’d thought I’d share my weekend menu with you. My hope is two-fold, one that I might encourage you and save you some time and money in the kitchen and two that you might share a recipe with me!

Last Friday, I went to the store and bought six free range chicken breasts. I came home and boiled them. The fixings were ready for the entire weekend.

The first night, I took two chicken breasts and cubed them and made chicken salad sandwiches on whole grain bread with romaine and tomatoes and watermelon slices for dessert. Everyone makes their chicken salad differently. I dice celery, add sweet pickle relish, dill weed, sliced almonds and fat free mayo to make mine.

The second night I night I shredded two more chicken breasts and made a mixed baby green chinese chicken salad with slivered almonds, crispy chow mein noodles and mandarin oranges in a sesame and ginger dressing. I made a fruit parfait with strawberries, bananas, apples, pears, grapes and fat free yogurt.

The third night I took the last two remaining chicken breasts and sliced them in cubes. I made a pasta salad, with cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, spinach, artichokes, asparagus and italian dressing. For dessert we had pound cake panini, with nutella and strawberries, grilled on a foreman grill. The kids were still hungry so they got hot dogs on the side. The panini is easy. Buy a pound cake slice it in 8 slices. Spread nutella on each slice, add strawberries and put two slices together like a sandwich. Grill it on a panini grill or any kind of indoor grill for a few minutes until the pound cake is golden brown. Viola! It’s ready to eat.

Once I cooked the chicken the only other time I turned on the stove was the third night to cook the pasta and hot dogs. It was a simple weekend of tasty good food. I didn’t heat my home excessively baking or cooking and it was relatively healthy.

So often, we think eating out is the way to go but it is sometimes faster and easier to whip something up at home. Especially when you’ve already cooked the main ingredient that you’ll need for the dishes you are going to cook ahead of time. So what do you do to stay cool and still try to eat healthy meals?