Mr. Gaunt and I went on a long hilly walk today, I’m kind of hating the gym lately, too hot and stuffy. I’m loving the nice weather, and feel awful not taking advantage of it, so we have been walking a lot. Today we walked to the Post Office, the Library, and strolled through Maritime Heritage Park (which is a beautiful park that unfortunately ends up being kind of sketchy with all the homeless that hang out there). Needless to say our walk ended up being exactly three miles. So that’s nice.

I did have a little breakdown on our walk. I feel so unhappy about my weight right now. My physical fitness has to pick up, and my decadent splurges have to go down stop. I need way more veggies, and way less cheese and bread. I just know how much better I would feel minus 30 pounds. Lordy. It’s never-ending is it? I feel like my ass and stomach are larger than they have been in a while though, which is just so unpleasant. Consider me on a diet!

For dinner we had grilled chicken sausage, asparagus, and herb potatoes.

The potatoes were leftover from Mothers Day that I sliced up. Then I just cut some thyme, dill and oregano from my garden, tossed with some olive oil, pepper and salt, and baked at 425 for 15 minutes. Super yummy, and not too bad for you.

Also in super exciting news!!!! Mr. Gaunt got a promotion today! He will now be a supervisor, which is more responsibility, but also more money! Yay! We really could use more money. I also have taken up a twice a week cleaning gig at my moms wine bar via our other business, which will be bringing in a nice little monthly paycheck. I have also sold 3 paintings this month, and booked our largest wedding yet for November! Mr. Gaunt has also started a used media shop on Amazon that he is done really well at so far. You would think with all our little business adventures that we wouldn’t be nearly so poor. The funny thing is, all this money will be coming in later on, so far now we just have to keep treading water and hope for the best. HARD WORK! HARD WORK! HARD WORK!

Mr. Gaunt and I spent time the other night talking about our jobs, and how hard we are working, and our dreams. We have a philosophy that it is better to work our butts off trying to work for ourselves, and have freedom, then to just work a basic 9-5 for someone else. The saying “If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life” rings so loud for me. The passion and desire I have to build a career around my life, and not build my life around a job, will continue to fuel me through the hard times. We will make it. We will work for ourselves. We will be able to do the things we want to do. We will get everything we need.

On that note, I did ZuzkaLights ZWOW #19 video tonight. I did it the best I could, and my abs feel it. She says its to prepare me for my bikini body…yeah…uh huh. You should really do it too! It’s not to bad, and its super fast.

http://www.youtube.com/zuzkalight#p/a

I recently (well maybe a couple of months ago) took up eating oatmeal almost every morning.  I use to be a fan of instant oatmeal packets (of the fruit and cream variety…eek! Totally crappy for you) but I gave it up when I couldn’t find one that was both good for you an yummy. I tried an organic brand and thought it was AWFUL! Then for a solid 9 months I ate nothing but Greek yogurt with honey or granola.

In early spring I was sooo cold at work. I felt like I needed something both nourishing and warm to eat at my desk at 6 am. My coworker brought plain old oats every day and microwaved them with cream. It looked really good, so I started bringing a big tube of Quaker Quick Oats, and using our instant hot water dispenser to make a bowl full every morning. Then I add frozen blueberries or raspberries, or home-made raspberry jam, or honey. So good!

Now I eat it 5 days a week. Sometimes I put a little peanut butter in it, or brown sugar for dessert. I eat it at home sometimes too if I want a warm snack, but the instant hot water is way easier than boiling or microwaving it.

My mom saw this on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and we both loved it. Then Mr. Gaunt and I were with her at a garage sale and we happened upon two mismatched tires, no bike frame in sight. I remembered the trellis and snatched them up for super cheap.

I delegated the project over to Mr. Gaunt, with the challenge of completing it for less than $10. We decided right away to leave both the tire and the spokes on (seems silly to lose the cool spokes!) Mr. Gaunt tried a long piece of wood, and a few other things to put the two tires together without success. Finally he removed the inner bolts of the tire, and bought a 5′ All Thread and matching nuts. We ran the All Thread through both tires and put nuts on each side of the tires to hold them in place.

Mr. Gaunt then drove the All Thread about 28″ into the ground for stability. It still sways a little, as the All Thread is thin, but it wont tip over, because of the bottom tire being a wide base, and the deepness of the All Thread. As peas grow up it, it should actually become more stable as they weigh it evenly down.

Last Mr. Gaunt ran basic gardening string between every other spoke. He tied each length off, instead of wrapping it over and under. Then I planted Sweet Peas  at the base of each string. I’m so excited for them to grow into a giant tube of Sweet Pea Flowers!

NOTE: It’s very important to have a special helper there to inspect your work.