Rainy days and Mondays

Hey guys, how did your weekend go? Mine was pretty quiet. We stayed home. I wouldn't have had it any other way after last week which was, as weeks go around here, pretty fast and furious.

Also it's been raining some, well, a lot. I appreciated getting to sleep in a little over the weekend after running around like a crazy woman all week. The idea of lying in bed and listening to the rain is a welcome one. Well, these days, we're getting thunder and lightning for dramatic effect.

I like the cooler days. It brings a fresh, new outlook to things, as if everything's been washed nice and clean and ready for a new start. Colors are more vivid, nature sounds clearer and today being a Monday, the sunrise was brilliant and I'm hoping it'll chase away those dreaded Monday blues.

I'm going to keep it short as I jump straight into another crazy week. I can't wait for things to get less hectic. If you have a minute, tell me what, if anything, do you like/not like about rainy days and Mondays.

My workout story and philosophy

Hey friends, things have been non-stop around here as you can tell from my somewhat sparse postings of late. I missed my workout today but in my mind, I'm picturing myself working out. Does that count? Oh, well, whatever but since we're on the topic, I thought I'd share my story of how I got started working out.

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Up till about 8, maybe 9 years ago, exercise wasn't in my genes. Six teams of horses couldn't get me to lift a finger, let alone drag myself to the gym which is a 15-minute drive away on a good day. But I'd just left my job at the time and I had some time to kill and I thought, heck, let's see if there's anything fun to do at the gym, and basically, I just never looked back.

It still brings a smile to my face when I think of my noob days when I didn't even know how to work the treadmill and had to ask for help. So embarrassing! Well, walking was fun for a while. I progressed from km to km and I was feeling like a hero by the time I could do 3 km at a stretch. I started brisk walking but never got into running. That's so not my thing.

And that's been my philosophy, pretty much. If I don't like an exercise, I won't do it. There's lots of workouts to choose from, so I figure why push myself to do something I loathe or that isn't fun? Personal trainers may not agree but that's how I roll.

Speaking of which, a gym buddy of mine signed up with a personal trainer which made me contemplate the idea. Should I? Could I? tolerate the bashing her trainer was giving her? Umm, nah, I'm not much for a strict, structured routine or for paying someone to kick my butt. I'd rather kick my own butt, thanks, it's cheaper LOL.

These days, I do a bit of everything. A bit of yoga, a bit of pilates, a bit of strength training, whatever. I get bored easily so I'm always changing up my workouts and if something looks interesting, I might just try it. I kinda like to surprise myself and keep my muscles guessing. So on any given day, I'm just doing whatever springs to mind.

I love working out, it's fun and the endorphin rush is well worth every drop of sweat. It makes me feel like a champ every. single. time. So tomorrow, I'm getting back to the grind. Fo'shizzle. It's go, go, go!! No more excuses. End of mental workout.

Okay, your turn. Do you work out or want to? What got you started? What's your workout philosophy? Would you hire a personal trainer? Can't wait to hear what you have to say.

Homemade salmon sashimi salad

Hey there guys, let's talk about me and my sashimi for a minute. My love for sashimi goes back quite a ways. It took a while though for me to get to liking it. As you can imagine, chewing on a piece of raw fish wasn't the most natural thing in the world for me LOL. Anyhoo I got past that and now I love it! but I will only eat salmon sashimi, not tuna, not white fish. Don't ask me why :)

My teens are big fans too which means we could rack up the bill pretty fast for the amount of sashimi we would need to order for a meal. So it's not like we can have this every day. The cheaper alternative is simply to make my own copycat version.

So let's get on with my take on the salmon sashimi salad that we enjoy so much.

• A heap of iceberg lettuce (as much as you like)
• A heap of cherry tomatoes, halved
• Half a carrot, finely shredded (not in the picture because I ran out)
• A box of salmon sashimi, about 8-10 slices
• One lemon
• Roasted sesame dressing

I get the salmon sashimi from my local Japanese grocery store. They come in a box, sliced and ready to eat. You should refrigerate it until you're ready to eat. I usually eat mine on the same day. I mean, it's raw and I just want to play it safe.

My local Japanese grocery store also sells roasted sesame dressing in bottles. They must go pretty fast because I can't always find them when I need them. So I tend to buy an extra bottle to keep as a spare when I see it.

Anyhoo all that's left to do is to toss the lettuce, tomatoes, shredded carrot in a big salad bowl. Top with salmon and a big old squeeze of lemon juice. Shake a generous amount of roasted sesame dressing over top. Toss everything together and you're ready to eat.

This exotic twist to a regular salad makes a really nice change for an exotic potluck when you have guests over. The slightly sweet, nutty tang of the dressing goes so well with the veggies and salmon. Best of all, we get to enjoy this at a fraction of the price we would pay at the restaurant.

Share your sashimi story. What do you think - love it, hate it, would like to try it?

Two quick stops, Carmel and Monterey

As we were leaving Gilroy the day after our visit to San Francisco, I couldn't resist making a lunch stop at Carmel. To me, it's one of the finest places for seafood, and by seafood, I mean clam chowder. The drive into town on that day in late spring was picturesque, as always...

... with quaint little shops like this lining both sides of the street. The shops are cute but I think it's the sunny tree-lined sidewalks that I'm more drawn to.

After lunch, we were hoping to take a leisurely drive down The 17-mile Drive to see the ocean. But first, we passed by lots of beautiful houses like this one and wondered if we might spot any of our favorite celebs out there. Driving through Carmel, you see flowers everywhere in all colors, it's like driving through a garden.

As it turned out, you now have to pay to enter The 17-mile Drive. I didn't know that. The last time I was there, it was still free. So we decided to skip it this time, and continued our drive to Monterey. This is the place where we always come to buy souvenirs. Seriously, how many souvenirs do we need from just Monterey alone?

And of course, no trip to Monterey would be complete without a walk down the pier to gaze out at the Pacific Ocean. I could spend hours sitting on a bench listening to the waves crash onto the rocks below and watching the gentle movement of the sea.

I wish we could've stayed longer but we had a long drive back to Fresno. Trust me to be still thinking about that clam chowder we had at that little Italian restaurant in Carmel (it's a shame I can't remember the name).

Baking soda toothpaste experiment

When you look at a bottle of baking soda, would you ever have thought of it as a toothpaste? Um, not me! I've never thought of it as anything more than a baking ingredient, the one you can't add a lot of, only a teeny tiny teaspoon or it would make your cake taste weird. Yea, that!

When I read about folks who have been using for shampooing hair, washing dishes and clothes, cleaning floors and counter tops, brushing teeth for years and a gazillion other things, I was like wow, I had no idea. So what is this magical thing that's natural, doesn't contain tons of chemicals and saves money?

In my mind, it's entirely too good to be true. A baking ingredient does all that? Only one way to find out. But I wasn't going to jump in and get all crazy, know what I mean?

I whipped out my bottle of baking soda, poured out a little and mixed it with a little water to make a paste... and voila! my own toothpaste. Well, some say to add peroxide paste but I didn't have any, so I just added water. Came time to brush my teeth before bed, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I've never tasted baking soda on its own.

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Let's just say, I was in for a shock. The taste almost mad me gag! It's salty, eww! Did you know baking soda is salty? I didn't, silly me! Why then would it even be called sodium bicarbonate if it wasn't salty? So there you go.

And the verdict? I've only used my baking soda toothpaste (which I shall affectionately call BS Toothpaste) twice so far but I'll say this, it leaves the teeth feeling squeaky clean. I shouldn't be too surprised. But I am. I read the flouride in regular toothpaste is not good for you.

That said, I'm not going to go BS right away. I still have a few tubes of regular toothpaste in stock to get through. After that, I'm not sure. I might just go BS. My kids are eager to try it, not sure they'll like it though.

I'm also eager to try using baking soda as a shampoo. Anyone else use BS for anything else other than baking?