Inspired by Virginia...

Well, revisions have been turned in which means it's time to catch up on some things around the house before the edits roll in. My men were all gone this weekend, so, after reading the post about Virginia's reading nook, I finally tackled the one thing that's been hanging over my head for months--my office. 

I needed to purge and I needed to paint. 

 This is what my office used to look like.

The shelf never did really find a purpose, so I removed it months ago, repainted it and gave it a new life in the dining room where it now proudly displays my collection of teacups.

Oops, I didn't even realize that Christmas decoration was still up there. Guess I'd best put that away.

This is what my desk looked like during revisions.

What a mess!

I used to watch a home decorating guy who said, "A cluttered space is a cluttered mind." 

Well, let me tell ya, honey. :)

Oh, and see those curtains? Gone. Not sure where I'll use them, but I think I'd rather just go with a valance. 

But tackling a job like this takes strength and stamina. So it was important I fortify myself with a hearty breakfast. You know, oatmeal has gotten a bad rap. And I can totally understand why. When I was a kid, oatmeal came out of a packet. Not the flavored kind, I hated those, but just the plain stuff, which was kind of like powdered oatmeal. Then I'd add some brown sugar and milk. That was it.

No wonder I hated the stuff.

Today I start with a third of a cup of  old-fashion style oats.

Then I add two packets of Splenda (I'll be looking into Truvia as soon as I run out. Thanks, Jan), a couple dashes of salt and some cinnamon. 

Now I could stop there and it would taste okay, but I don't want okay. I want spectacular.

So I add a few raisins. I like the golden.

And then, for a bit of texture, I'll add some flax seed or pecans.

Love me some pecans!

Add two-thirds of a cup of water, microwave for two minutes and voila!

Okay, so it still doesn't look like much, but it tastes wonderful. And the cinnamon smells so good.

Yum!

Now to get started on my office.

For me, the painting is the easy part. The purging? Not so much. I wish I were an organized person.

But I'm not. So, I put on my big girl panties and plowed headlong into the mess that was my office. I tossed, I shredded, I dusted, I wondered how in the heck some items had come to live in my office. 

But in the end, it was all worth it.

The rest of that far wall will soon have a very large white board. I'm a visual person, so I like to plot out my characters/story on a white board with lots of different colored markers. The hero is blue, the heroine is pink and it goes on from there. 

Notice that I also painted the wicker chair in the lower right corner. I did that back in the fall. Spruced that tired old garage sale find right up and added a pop of color to the room.

And I can now see the top of my desk.

I've still got a few things left to square away. Like that webcam there to the right of the monitor. My husband gave that to me for Christmas 2012 and it's still in the box. The worst part is that I asked for it! I've just been too afraid to hook it up. I need to grab one of our techie friends and hop on that.

All in all, I'm very pleased. Matter of fact, I think I'll just stay in my office. 

Because the rest of the house...well...

What a mess!

Pam Hillman's Getcha Good "Kashi Go Lean" Breakfast!

 I discovered something interesting several months ago.

Every body is different.

Yes, two words.

Every. Body.

Every body does not require the exact same amount of fiber, protein, fats, and carbohydrates as the next body. The percentages recommended by the Food and Nutrition Board are just that: recommendations, not fact.

Long story short. I have not been getting enough fiber for years. But I didn't know. Do you know how hard it is to get enough fiber? Well, let me tell you, it's not easy! Maybe it's the meat, bread, and potatoes lifestyle I've lived most of my life. Once I figured this out, I decided to do something about it.

After a very scientific search with the assistance of Mr. Google and my local Wal Mart, I perfected the following yummy tasting, healthy breakfast combination.

F1 Kashi GoLean Breakfast

3/4 cup of Fiber One Original Bran Cereal - 90 calories / 21g fiber

.25 cup of Kashi GoLean Honey, Almond, Flax Granola Cereal - 50 calories / 2g fiber

1/10 cup of dried cranberries - 39 calories / 1g fiber

1 TBSP slivered almonds - 43 calories / 2 g fiber

1/2 cup 2% milk - 61 calories / 0 g fiber

2 packs of truvia or sweetener of your choice if desired

Total Calories: 283; Carbohydates: 69g; Fat: 9g; Sodium: 246g; Protein: 11g; Fiber: 26g

Sure, the Kashi cereal adds 50 calories for only 2gs of fiber, but have you ever had Honey Bunches of Oats w/almonds? That's one of my favorite cereals, In comparison, 1 cup of HBOO w/Almonds and 2% milk has almost the exact same amount of calories as my F1 GoLean concoction, but HBOO has less than 3g of fiber!

Throughout the rest of the day, I make a conscious effort to add in some fiber-rich foods in my diet. Chicken salad with craisens, raisens, or an apple, and pecans or almonds for lunch. And, I try to keep a Kellogg's FiberPlus bar in my purse. Those things pack a whopping 9g of fiber for 120 calories. Sure, the apple has about 5 grams of fiber for 100 calories, but it's not the easiest thing to keep in your purse, you know.

Last tip. Don't increase your fiber drastically overnight. Gradually do it and drink lots of water. Water and fiber go together like peanut butter and jelly. Just sayin'

So, what does a typical day without exercise look like for me? This is what I posted on My Fitness Pal on August 1, 2012

Coffee w/Sweetleaf English Toffee sweetener - 0 calories / 0 fiber

F1 GoLean Breakfast - 283 calories / 26g fiber

16 ounces of water before noon

Lunch: Tuna or chicken salad on Nature's Own 3x the fiber Wheat bread - 300 calories / 7g fiber

16 ounces of water with lunch

Dinner: Green salad with grilled chicken - 400 calories / 5g fiber

16 ounces of water with dinner

Snacks: Chobani Greek Yogurt - 160 calories / 0g fiber

Kellogg's Blueberry Special K bar - 90 calories / 3g fiber

16 ounces of water throughout the afternoon/evening. MORE if I exercise.

Total 1233 calories, and 41g of fiber. Even though I'm not really tracking carbs, protein, fat and sodium, I was almost right on target with carbs, a little over on the fat (salad dressing and mayo), and had plenty of protein and my sodium was under my target.

Speaking of exercise. If I burn 400 calories exercising, then I get to splurge and eat some of those calories back. So, I'd add something like peanut butter and nutella, or a Skinny Cow Truffle bar. Or even that piece of leftover ice cream cake in the deep freeze.

Which reminds me. I already ate the ice cream cake, so I'm off to get rid of those extra calories....

Bio:

Award-winning author Pam Hillman writes inspirational fiction set in the turbulent times of the American West and the Gilded Age. Her second book,Claiming Mariah, releases January 2013 from Tyndale House Publishers. Claiming Mariah won the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis contest and the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart contest. She lives in Mississippi with her husband and family. www.pamhillman.com