Bucket List Update

Posted on September 10, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Bucket List 2012

3rd quarter update. I didn’t do a 2nd quarter update, so this is from April to now! The updates are in BOLD!

1. ~~Reach Dukan “True Weight” of 165 – Getting SO close!~~ Met on April 23
2. ~~Reach “My True Weight” of 155~~ Met on May 8
3. Nurture relationships – DOING, Ongoing
4. ~~Fix my tummy~~ – consult April 6, Lipo May 9
5. Run 5k without stopping – I’ve done this twice in the past week! Signed up for my first 5K for June 9th in Ocala – Ran the 5K, continue to run 5k+ 5x a week
6. ~~Enjoy my job more – DOING~~ – Quit the job, last day Sept 19
7. ~~Accomplish teaching the 6 IPSG’s to the staff~~ – DONE
8. Accomplish 100% compliance on at least 4 of the IPSG’s! – This one is a toughie! I did get a 100% on Handwashing at the Guangzhou Hospital.
9. Accomplish teaching the 13 JCI Standards to the staff – First class in 2 weeks – Got through 5 of them
10. Visit the Philippines
11. Visit Singapore
12. Visit Thailand… Again
13. Continue my daily random acts of kindness, blog it – trying… Sometimes it’s just a smile or a nod – Ongoing, had 3 univ students, new to Hangzhou, over for dinner 🙂
14. Blog everyday, can be challenging if VPN goes out – I’ve posted more blogs than days of the year, so far! – I’ve missed a day here and there, but have more posts than days of the year, so I’m on track.
15. ~~Get rid of all the “stuff” I don’t need… In my storage unit AND in my flat!~~ – Gave away more than 10 bags of stuff from my storage unit when I was home in January AND threw out 6 bags of stuff. Reduced my stuff in my China flat from 9 boxes to 3 boxes! I’m barely bringing any stuff back from China!
16. Live as green as possible – Hard to do in China, but I walk EVERYWHERE! The only exception is if I am going to train station or airport. I even walk to and from my friend K’s house a couple times a week (3.57 miles each way!) Still doing this, and my housekeeper recycles the plastics.
17. Start an indoor herb garden – had some basil, lasted a few weeks, planning on container gardening when I get home in a couple of weeks.
18. Run 10k without stopping!
19. Read 100 books – I’ve read 6, on my 7th, most have been on iBooks. – On book 39!
20. Start yoga classes by March 1st – difficult in Hangzhou, doing wii yoga, took class that kicked my ass, but was fun, in Hong Kong. Will go back to studio in a month on my next visa run. I joined YOGAmazing online and download my sessions from there.
21. Take yoga at least once per week – Doing it on wii, 30 mins/3 times a week – gave wii to my driver Jerry for his daughter and to thank him for taking such good care of me while I lived here 🙂 I am doing YOGAmazing 3-5 x a week on my iPad.
22. Run at least 3 times a week – I’m running 2 days on and 1 day off, so definitely meeting this goal – running 5x a week
23.save 25% of my annual income… This will be challenging given my propensity for travel I accomplished this with my February pay and my March pay, managed about 17% through August.
24. Travel coach – Yup! I’m actually sitting on my 9th flight of the year, in coach… Although I did get a free upgrade on 2 flight segments going home in January… And I used my British Air miles to fly back to China from Miami in February… Only had to pay taxes – I haven’t paid for an upgrade. Got another free upgrade on my way back to China in June. Customer loyalty and dressing p for flights pays off!
25. Plan a 50th birthday cruise for my mates and aim to get at least 100 people to go! – Cruise planned… Not sure of the numbers – Planned, about 25 people coming
26. Get another tattoo.
27. Attend a rock concert
28. Paint 2 big canvases and complete my little canvas series – painted a medium and 3 smalls since March.
29. Surprise someone I love by giving her the series (I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog… But she’d totally guess it was her, if she did) – Did this, she was pleased 🙂
30. Start my own blog site with help from Charlotte, one of my Dukan buddies. – work in progress
31. Try not to send emails or make phones calls on the nights I take sleep medicine – So far, so good – So far, so good
32. ~~Celebrate a holiday that I don’t usually celebrate!~~ – Chinese Spring Festival, British Day, Bastille Day and Ramadan
33. ~~Figure out how to set up my wii again~~… I love the yoga and the boxing – DONE
34. ~~Take 2 backpacking trips~~ 1 down, one to go, DONE
35. ~~See more of China since I live here!~~ – been to Taizhou, Wuzhen and I’m going to Guangzhou next week! I’VE DONE A FEW NICE TOURS.
36. ~~Take an overnight train in China~~… – DONE – IT WAS HELL!
37. Open up my heart and take some chances – Yeah, not in China, this one will have to wait, unless someone amazing pops up.
38. At least 80% of my quotes of the day will be by women I respect – most of my quotes have been by women
39. ~~Send in my absentee ballot for the Presidential election~~ – going home, will vote in person!
40. Drink 1.5 liters of water per day – DOING – usually 3+ liters
41. Weigh myself every day – DOING
42. Get a minimum of a 30 minute walk in per day – DOING
43. Take my bran every single day – DOING switched to flaxseed
44. Pray and meditate for good health each day, purposefully – DOING
45. Pray for the health of those I love, purposefully – DOING
46. Continue reading john shore.com and Pastor Bob every time they post a blog… Their wisdom fills me up. – DOING
47. Don’t make excuses – I haven’t allowed myself… I’m really proud of thus far meeting this goal – DOING
48. Work on being less angry – Um, I AM working on this, still working on this
49. Just for today, I will refrain from improving anybody but myself. – DOING

Recipe – Low Carb – Roast Dinner

Posted on September 10, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Last week I met 3 Swedish students that are here in Hangzhou to study a semester at the local university. I’m an extrovert (I’m sure most of you figured THAT out by now!) and the young man in the group was wearing a Miami Dolphins cap, so of course, being the Dolfan that I am, I said hello! By the end of the conversation I had invited Jacob, Diana and Hanna to my flat for dinner on Friday. Tatiana, one of my colleagues, also joined us.

On the menu:
Roast (this one was a prime rib hunk of love!)
Spaghetti squash (that turned out to be pumpkin, lol!)
Roasted vegetables – Onions, yam (which ended up being Taro) and carrots **TARO IS *NOT* LOW CARB… just so you know.
Fresh salad

I cooked the roast for 3.5 hours in the toaster oven and it was PERFECT… I had to fight the urge to not consume it before the guests arrived! The meat fell apart with the fork. In the container with the roast I added the onions, taro and carrots.

I also put the “spaghetti” squash I cut in half, cut size down in a different pan and added the balance of the onions, taro and carrots and baked in the toaster oven (after the roast was done) for 50 minutes. This is when I realized that the “spaghetti” squash wasn’t and went to plan B 😀

Plan B was removing the flesh from the pumpkin, mashing it, adding in 4 pkts of Splenda, a Tbs of ghee and a tsp of cinnamon… OH MY GOODNESS was this yummy!

I threw the salad together and welcomed my guests… we had a lovely dinner! Here’s the pics!

After everyone left I did a quick clean up and then went for a short 3 km run around the block… perfect way to end the evening!

Hunk of prime rib love… Mmm! You should always brown each side of the meat before roasting in the oven.

Just browning this made the house smell delish!

Carrots, celery, taro and onion… perfect compliments to a roast!

Seasonings… keep it simple!

Taro in all it’s purply glory… It’s quite starchy, but has a lot of bang for it’s buck… it’s full of fiber and tastes a bit nutty.

Ready for the toaster oven!

My Un-spaghetti squash… it was yummy anyways!

Falling apart with a fork!

The veggies after I removed from the roasting pan… Nom!

Making Mashed Pumpkin

Mixed Salad… I love adding purple cabbage for color and taste!

Dinner ready for the guests!

Hanna, Tatiana, Diana and Me… Lovely dinner companions!

One of the awesome things about living abroad is the people you meet. We have choices in life. We can go about our business and walk around with our eyes averted or we can keep our eyes open and look for new friendships. I choose the latter. I have met so many amazing people from all over the world these past 4 years living abroad… treasures, every one of them and lots of stories I have of my journey, as I head back home for good in 10 days.

Do you extend yourself to strangers?

Ciao!

p.s. added a pic of my Blue Sparkly Notebook to the last post 🙂

Recipe – Low Carb – Yummy Lunch

Posted on September 7, 2012 by flamidwyfe

EGG ASPARAGUS OMLET WITH SALAMI
Quick and easy and nutritious! It’s what’s for lunch!

Serves 1
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 4 minutes

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 tsp chili paste
Couple shakes hot sauce
2 tsp Coconut oil
5 stalks asparagus
2 Tbs shaved Parmesan
* Omit the hot stuff if you want, but boy does it amp it up a bit! 🙂
**Dukaners add oat bran or flaxseed meal to egg mixture to get your fiber in.

Salami – read the label!!

Heat oil in pan on medium. Toss asparagus in. Stir. Cook 2 minutes. While asparagus cooking whip eggs in bowl. Stir chili paste into eggs, whip well add to asparagus. Covering the bottom of the pan. Put the lid on for 90 seconds.
Take lid off, shake some hot sauce on and add Parmesan on top. Cook another 30-60 seconds.
Plate the salami the the omelet & Enjoy!

Dukan – Celebration Sunday & Mountain Hike

Posted on September 3, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was Consolidation Day 114 of 500.
Today’s Weight: 145
Goal Weight: 155

Sunday is my Celebration Sunday day on Dukan. When you enter the third phase of Dukan, the Consolidation Phase, you get one celebration meal a week. You can eat whatever you want. This is in the first half of Consolidation (mine is 500 days long and the rule applies until I hit day 250). In the second half you can have 2 celebration meals a week.

I’ve chosen to remain wheat, gluten and sugar free, so my celebration meals usually include something like french fries (i’m not eating white potatoes) or lots of fruit! That was the case today.

I started the morning out with a 2 egg omelet with onion, asparagus and garlic. I then went on a 5.59 km mountain hike with my friend Tatiana. This is the trail that I try to hike every Sunday morning when I’m in Hangzhou. I have to say that during yesterday’s hike up I realized that I was really going to miss this part of living in China. Moving back to Florida (which I love more than any place in the world) won’t include mountain hiking!

Burned off breakfast and then some!

runkeeper, mountain hike, hangzhou, china

286 meter = 938 feet… not a bad climb 🙂

Tatiana

mountain hike, west lake, hangzhou, china

And I wore shorts… in public. You can see West Lake in the background. It’s a beautiful view from the top of this mountain!

And this was my reward… a fruit salad for lunch, along with a iced cafe latte with Splenda and a TON of water… like 2 liters.

I shared this delicious fruit platter with Tatiana. So fresh and cool after a long hike in the heat.

My driver Jerry met us at the restaurant and took us to the wet market. I’m going to have to go back and get pictures… I’m always so busy picking out my stuff that I don’t pull out the iPhone and take pics! The wet market has the freshest veggies, fruits, meats and live poultry and fish to choose from. I get my veggies, pork and beef there. The stands that I purchase my pork and beef from both have range free farms. The meat is butchered the day before and I can pick my cuts. Tatiana picked out a 1/2 kilo of live jumbo shrimp to make us a late afternoon snack.

We got home, I separated out all the meat and spent time reading for a while. Around 4 Tatiana simmered the shrimp with fresh ginger, sea salt and pepper corns. I made a wasabi & tamari mix and we had some yummy shrimp!!!

Didn’t have dinner, as I was stuffed. I had a couple of bites of cheese and a handful of almonds to round out my evening.

What did you do on Sunday? Were you active?

Ciao!

Dukan Diet – Pure Protein Thursday

Posted on August 31, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Thursday is alway a Pure Protein Day. This Thursday was Consolidation Day 112 🙂 Dr. Dukan recommends that followers of the program in Consolidation pick Thursday as the one day a week you have a pure protein day and for the most part, I have.
Today’s weight: 147
Goal weight: 155

Before I could eat, I had my annual physical at work. It included blood work, EKG, chest X-ray, breast thermography (instead of mammogram, no radiation), ultrasound of my liver (no longer fatty… Yay!!!), pancreas, kidneys and spleen and a look over by the TCM doc. Waiting on the blood results, but everything else was perfect! It took less than 40 minutes for everything and cost $0! How awesome is that?

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs from the shop downstairs…

Lunch: A small plate of roast beef

Afternoon Snack: A tea egg

Dinner: 1 Chicken breast, roasted in that toaster oven, with a roasted 1/2 red onion. I marinated the chicken in 1 Tbs coconut oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cumin and a dash of salt for 30 minutes in the fridge. Shook the container up and put it on the pizza pan to cook, pouring the marinade over it and the onion. Cooked in oven for 40 mins at 350 degrees F.

I then went for a 4K run and finished with about 20 minutes of stretches and yoga.

Bedtime Snack: Fat free Greek yogurt with 1 Tbs flaxseed meal and Splenda

What did you eat on Thursday?

Ciao!

Recipe – Dukan – Turkey Dinner

Posted on August 31, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So last Saturday I made a turkey dinner. I love cooking turkeys many times a year. It can be challenging, especially when living overseas. This time there was only one turkey to be found in all of Hangzhou! But we got him 🙂 He was a turkey grown locally, so very lean. Also, I don’t have an oven. I have something akin to a toaster oven. But Everyone knows I love a challenge!

Ingredients:
Turkey
Large pear – chopped in large pieces
Large green apple – chopped in large pieces
Large red onion – chopped in large pieces
6 garlic cloves – chopped in large pieces
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

First remove the innards stuck in the rear. Here in China, that includes the head! I couldn’t touch it, blech!! So I used wooden spoons and did a forcep delivery.

Then give your turkey a good bath… Inside and out. Place in pan you are going to use.
Stuff the turkey with the pear, apple, onion and garlic. The moistness and tenderness from simply using these 4 ingredients is amazing!

Generously rub olive oil all over your turkey, don’t forget between his legs and under his wings.
Generously douse with salt & pepper.
Put him breast up and in the oven.

Cook 15 minutes for every pound at 350 degrees F.

That’s IT!! Don’t put aluminum foil on his bits, leave him alone! He’ll be perfect!

Enjoy! Ciao!

Self Love Exercises – Part 7

Posted on August 29, 2012 by flamidwyfe

From the Feel Good Tribe:

7. I’ve said it before & I will say it a million more times: write a gratitude list every morning. It really is the best way to start your day. The simple act of sitting down & making a few notes on what you’re happy about builds up so much positive energy that you can’t help but do something amazing with it!

OK, so I started doing this a couple of weeks ago and it is working. Aside from the “postal” incident, I’ve had more positive days. I have also gotten more accomplished in my daily life.

Today’s Gratitude List… posted on my bathroom mirror:

I am grateful that I still have a living parent… MOM ♥ ♥ ♥

I am grateful that I am going home in 22 days!

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to travel.

I am grateful for all of the people that support me through encouragement!

I am grateful for the friends that I have met through my blog and the amazing cheering squad that I have, of people I’ve never met in person, but feel I really know!

So… that’s today’s list. I wrote it when I first got up this morning. What are you grateful for today???

Ciao!

Not on my list, but I was certainly grateful that my roast turned out far better than my turkey!

Oh my the flat smelled amazing and the roast was so tender!

Operation Feed Them Roast

Posted on August 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So I have to start this post with a story and pics from Saturday…

I cooked a turkey for friends on Saturday…

This is what happened to the oven…

The legs on the left side MELTED! About 2 hours into the turkey cooking! I hear a noise, look over and notice its lop-sided and that there is smoke. That’s because it’s doing this…

Um, that was a bed side table 😦

Anyway, today’s a new day and they don’t call me McGuyver for nothing! I’m cooking a roast for friends (it’s been in the oven for 39 minutes and smells amazing already!!!) and I needed a quick fix, so here’s the plan…
Aluminum foil to protect the wood and an Ikea tea candle holder to prop the left side up…

Here’s the roast and veggies before going into little oven…

And so far my plan is working…

Outcome tomorrow 🙂

What’s for dinner at your house tonight?
And have you had a similar dinner disaster you avoided with a little McGuyver thinking?

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 108

Posted on August 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was Consolidation Day 108 🙂

Today’s Weight: 146
Goal Weight: 155
Still lovin’ that 🙂

Back to work in Hangzhou. Kind of a frustrating day. Went to the bank to make a deposit and they wouldn’t let me because I didn’t have my passport… to make a deposit… sigh. Then I went to the post office to ship off the last 4 boxes to the States and the guy went through all my stuff to make sure it was packed well enough to not break anything and DROPS the package with my Chinese china!!!! Breathe IN, Breathe OUT… I flew off the handle… I couldn’t help it… I am not perfect, I threw a tantrum. They quickly finished me up, I apologized a million times to my driver, Jerry, who is the most patient person in the world (besides Kitty)… he smoothed things over and got me the hell out of there before, well before I got into trouble!

My granddaughter Sadie represents the 3rd generation of epic tantrum throwers 🙂
My daughter Jenni, however, was the Queen of them!

Then back to work where I managed to upset the apple cart by providing a not so glowing audit about hand washing that had the doctors doing better than the nurses. I was on a roll!

Went home and had me some dinner and felt better 🙂 I also am tutoring a Chinese midwife in Medical English and passing the NCLEX-RN exam. So we worked on that last night.

Sunday I got in a 5K run in under 40 minutes after not running for 9 days due to my bout of food poisoning, but I pushed myself and did it… which makes me feel so good 🙂 I then went up to my flat and did 30 minutes of stretching, yoga and exercise bands. I have SO much energy when I’m done running… it’s amazing!

I also got a few pictures from Rose, my personal assistant in Guangzhou from my multiple stays there this past 5 months. Here’s a couple I want to share:

Water birth training in April 2012. Guangzhou.

Grand Opening of the Water Delivery Center in Guangzhou Elizabeth Women’s Hospital – April 2012

I’ve been saying that I haven’t felt like I accomplished much in the past year. Maybe I set my expectations too high for myself… I’m a perfectionist. But when I look at these pictures I do realize that I’ve accomplished quite a bit. The hospitals keep referring to me as their International Water Birth Expert… and I’ve come to realize, I really am! I mean who better to be called that than someone who has delivered hundreds of babies in the water (all over the world, including on 4 continents!) and has taught water birth all over the world? The 5 hospitals here in China that I’ve done the water birth trainings in have collectively performed over 100 water births in the past year! I am proud of their accomplishments and that the midwives and doctors at these 5 hospitals have accepted water birth as a “normal” way for women to deliver their babies. And delighted for the women and babies who have experienced this amazing way of birthing!

Breakfast: 2 slices of bacon and 2 tea eggs
Snack: FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and flaxseed meal
Lunch: 3 ham slices with 3 slices of Pepper Jack cheddar… Mmmm!!
Dinner: Stir-fry pork with onions and asparagus (cooked in coconut oil).
Snack: Beef jerky… eeek that out a couple little pieces at a time to make it stretch (thanks, Suzanne for bringing me the 3 bags!!) ** Kira… Titters LOVES jerky!

I hope everyone is having a great week! I have 23 days until I fly home… for good… or for now… LOL
What type of exercise or movement did you do on Monday??

Ciao!

Great Way To Start the Day!

Posted on August 28, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Check out this post from the The Healthy Home Economist… It’s all about the importance of a good healthy breakfast to start the day and some very interesting stats! I’m all about stats 🙂