What would Delia say?!

I experienced my first run in the heat today. I decided to brave it and get out of just going to the boring treadmill. I set off along the bayou at about 8am and it was already in the high 80's with humidity, I would guess, somewhere around 40%. I was very American as I drove to the bayou, saving myself 10-15 minutes run on the road. I had my heart rate monitor on as I had to stay within a certain heart rate zone, except it is far harder to control on the tarmac as such. Before I knew it, I was exceeding what I was meant to be doing and had to slow right up. Toward the end of being in the backing sun for 40 minutes, I was struggling to jog slow enough to stay within my zone as my poor body was on melt down I think! I took the hilly route, well, the slightly undulating route along the bayou. If I turn right from where I join the bayou path I go the 'hilly' route, but if I turn left it is the totally flat route. There are always lots of people out at the weekend and everyone is doing a range of things from walking, running, cycling, rollerblading and walking dogs. I had to use the water stops today (as normally on my bike I have my own water) it is fine, but very warm so not as thirst quenching as one would like in the heat.

The funniest thing was that I got back to the car absolutely dripping, downed my bottle of water I had left in the car, and then realised I was going to have to sit in my sweating clothes on the car seat - note to self: remember a towel for me and the seat!

Guess what I did when I got home - yup straight into the pool if only I didn't live with other houses looking over me, I could strip off and go skinny dipping :)

Another note for myself today was: don't leave a big dead cockroach lying around for three days before clearing up its carcass! Oh my goodness, I sucked up the dead roach with the hoover, and due to the way my $30 hoover performs, I was hit with a disgusting smell of rotting body mixed with hot hoover fumes. I nearly wretched. To add to it, the decaying body had left a brown stain on the wooden floor, of body juices I guess, so I had to clear that up too (sorry Mum you are probably having breakfast while you read this!).

I now have a home gym! My exercise ball is just like the one the trainer has been torturing me on at the gym, and the foam roller is for stretching out your muscles - and it really does work. The ball came with a free DVD that I am yet to watch! Although I haven't used them yet, blowing up the ball with the rubbishy hand pump provided was enough exercise for one day - not to mention because it kept detaching itself from the ball, which would then start deflating - arrg! While I was out and about, I also went to Walmart for all those things that you want, but don't want to pay a lot for! I think I lost myself in there for about an hour and a half (just like 24 hour Tesco's in Dundee!). I had decided to try and bake some muffins so I need everything from the flour and sugar to the lemon and poppy seeds. I was busy in the baking aisle, firstly, trying to decide on which brand of flour and trying to find a pack small enough to fit in one of my tubs, then I went looking for poppy seeds, but couldn't find them. In the end I asked a lady who was busy looking at cake mixes where she thought they might have poppy seeds. She agreed with me, that if they had them, they would be in the baking aisle, but admitted she had never looked for them. Anyway, our conversation continued, I learnt about her heart attack she had last year, and the fact she was having to cut back on fats and sodium, and that she was told that she might be gluten intolerant ... blah blah blah. She then said had I tried 'Betty Crocker' cake mixes, as she makes a really good lemon and poppy seed muffin mix! Well, I said I had never bought a cake mix before! She said she wouldn't do anything else now and the same is true for cookies. So we found the lemon and poppy seed mix - it was $1.06! There was no way on earth I was going to be able to buy all the ingredients for that. So I thought, what the hell, I will give a go. I then had to put back the flour, sugar, baking soda etc! She told me that a way to help reduce a small amount of the fat in the muffin mixture was to replace the quarter cup of vegetable oil with apple puree! I don't know if you have ever heard of this, but I certainly hadn't! So I had to go and buy a small tube of 'no added sugar' apple puree. I also saw in her trolley a cornbread mix, and I thought that looked interesting so I got that as well - I will be the ready mix queen soon! The fruits of my labour are in the photo. It was so unbelievably easy and the washing up was pretty easy as well!

However, the biggest question I can hear you asking, is how do the packet lemon and poppy seed muffins compare to the real McCoy? Well, I don't think they taste as good. They are not bad don't get me wrong but almost a bit shop tasting, although for the money they win hands down. However, in terms of taste, I think I will have to do a blind taste test to get a (unbiased) opinion!

I got the grill going tonight as I was having withdrawal symptoms, but as you can see I still need to buy myself a little charcoal shovel!

A final bit of nothing, but especially for Dad, I saw a tractor in Houston! So I tried to take a photo of it while driving except all you can see is its trailer and my wing mirror , which obscures the tractor! I tried :)