working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

That sounds delicious! When we were in Arizona, I had cannoli filled French toast at breakfast one morning. While I like American buttercream (when it's actually made with butter), it has no place in cannoli. Straight ricotta can also make the texture a little funky, but a lot of people smooth it out with mascarpone. DH's bday is next month...maybe I can use this as inspiration!

Where did you have this French toast? I love cannoli filling and I am going to Phoenix in September. We usually eat at the resort for breakfast, but it definitely gets old after a few days. I can only eat so much Tex-Mex in a week and they are timid with the spices.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Where did you have this French toast? I love cannoli filling and I am going to Phoenix in September. We usually eat at the resort for breakfast, but it definitely gets old after a few days. I can only eat so much Tex-Mex in a week and they are timid with the spices.

The place was called Little O's.

Arcadia Market Menus – Little O's

littleosaz.com

There was another very highly rated breakfast spot called Vovomeena that was right next door, but Little O's menus had a few more things of interest for us.
https://www.vovomeena.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Vovomeena_Main-Menu_02.18_Update-7.pdf

This is the French toast. I guess the filling is actually underneath. Either way, it was a nice take on something pretty traditional.


We had Tex Mex for lunch when we were in Tucson. It was decent, but yeah...very little heat to it. It was still the better meal of that day. K was craving Chinese Buffet come dinnertime and I was praying we wouldn't walk away with food poisoning.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning.

I did an upper body workout, which are never my favorites. I find them boring and not big calorie burners, but necessary, I suppose.

I did my text banking training last night. I was kind of disappointed, because the trainer accidentally stopped sharing her screen about 2/3 in, so she was explaining how to do things but we could only see her. The process is a bit cumbersome, but I am going to try to figure it out myself. Failing that, I will attend another training. I kept trying to tell her I could not see her screen. The person who was monitoring the chat left early, so I was sending messages into the void. Boo.

We went out for breakfast...for my husband's birthday. That is what he wanted, not dinner or even lunch, so that is what we did. It doesn't bother me, but I think it's a little unusual to have a birthday breakfast. I'm not going to lie, I would have liked to have gone out dinner, but it's not my birthday.

 

[Lilofan]

Good morning.

I did an upper body workout, which are never my favorites. I find them boring and not big calorie burners, but necessary, I suppose.

I did my text banking training last night. I was kind of disappointed, because the trainer accidentally stopped sharing her screen about 2/3 in, so she was explaining how to do things but we could only see her. The process is a bit cumbersome, but I am going to try to figure it out myself. Failing that, I will attend another training. I kept trying to tell her I could not see her screen. The person who was monitoring the chat left early, so I was sending messages into the void. Boo.

We went out for breakfast...for my husband's birthday. That is what he wanted, not dinner or even lunch, so that is what we did. It doesn't bother me, but I think it's a little unusual to have a birthday breakfast. I'm not going to lie, I would have liked to have gone out dinner, but it's not my birthday.

I think breakfast is a great way to celebrate a birthday. Breakfast is fun with your favorite comfort foods , and it is less $$ on the final bill. Then the rest of the day can be doing other fun things if one wants.

 

[Sans Souci]

The place was called Little O's.

Arcadia Market Menus – Little O's

littleosaz.com

There was another very highly rated breakfast spot called Vovomeena that was right next door, but Little O's menus had a few more things of interest for us.
https://www.vovomeena.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Vovomeena_Main-Menu_02.18_Update-7.pdf

This is the French toast. I guess the filling is actually underneath. Either way, it was a nice take on something pretty traditional.
View attachment 772079

We had Tex Mex for lunch when we were in Tucson. It was decent, but yeah...very little heat to it. It was still the better meal of that day. K was craving Chinese Buffet come dinnertime and I was praying we wouldn't walk away with food poisoning.

Ah, ok! Little Os is part of a local brew pub down there, OHSO. They serve some of their beers where we stay and my husband really likes them. We've always said we want to go to OHSO, but we spend most days at the pool with a few drinks and neither of us wants to drive or even Uber anywhere after being in the sun all day. Alas, it looks like this is a Brunch item. I am tempted to go there instead of the resort's brunch. That Vovomeena looks really good, too. That's looks to be about 20 min away from us.

 

[Sans Souci]

I think breakfast is a great way to celebrate a birthday. Breakfast is fun with your favorite comfort foods , and it is less $$ on the final bill. Then the rest of the day can be doing other fun things if one wants.

I am not the biggest breakfast person, so I am just mildly grousing and being silly. But it's what he wanted. I am guilty of getting carry outs for my birthday and even Mother's Day, just not breakfast.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

The place was called Little O's.

Arcadia Market Menus – Little O's

littleosaz.com

There was another very highly rated breakfast spot called Vovomeena that was right next door, but Little O's menus had a few more things of interest for us.
https://www.vovomeena.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Vovomeena_Main-Menu_02.18_Update-7.pdf

This is the French toast. I guess the filling is actually underneath. Either way, it was a nice take on something pretty traditional.
View attachment 772079

We had Tex Mex for lunch when we were in Tucson. It was decent, but yeah...very little heat to it. It was still the better meal of that day. K was craving Chinese Buffet come dinnertime and I was praying we wouldn't walk away with food poisoning.

I can't say I've been to. That a4ea, but that look delicious (minus the strawberries which I can't eat. Sub some blueberries and it's perfect!)

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I am not the biggest breakfast person, so I am just mildly grousing and being silly. But it's what he wanted. I am guilty of getting carry outs for my birthday and even Mother's Day, just not breakfast.

I'm the opposite. But my mom makes amazing breakfast, so we pretty much only go out to breakfast on vacation.

Except her french toast isn't that good and I don't have the heart to tell her...

 

[Lilofan]

I am not the biggest breakfast person, so I am just mildly grousing and being silly. But it's what he wanted. I am guilty of getting carry outs for my birthday and even Mother's Day, just not breakfast.

There is a Ritz Carlton near my home. One of the restaurants in the resort serves a buffet breakfast. It doesn't have a huge amount of options but all the dishes hot and cold are made fresh daily. We like celebrating a birthday breakfast there since the resort is luxurious including the dining location. We walk off the food we had eaten after breakfast admiring what Ritz Carlton has to offer. What is nice is RC validates our parking.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Ah, ok! Little Os is part of a local brew pub down there, OHSO. They serve some of their beers where we stay and my husband really likes them. We've always said we want to go to OHSO, but we spend most days at the pool with a few drinks and neither of us wants to drive or even Uber anywhere after being in the sun all day. Alas, it looks like this is a Brunch item. I am tempted to go there instead of the resort's brunch. That Vovomeena looks really good, too. That's looks to be about 20 min away from us.

Yes! I've been getting emails from OHSO ever since our visit. It was the brunch menu. Apparently, they're sticklers with that as well. I tried ordering something off of the lunch or dinner menu and it was a flat-out no. It was sort of odd how we ended up here. There was a Snooze directly across from our meeting point for the ASU tour, but the wait was nearly 2 hours. We decided to drive to downtown Phoenix just to have a look around. We found ourselves in a cute little neighborhood with a park just off of the downtown area, which was when I started searching Google Maps for nearby brunch spots with parking. That's how I found both of these restaurants. I don't know if it will be bearable with the heat in September, but we ate outside during out visit.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I can't say I've been to. That a4ea, but that look delicious (minus the strawberries which I can't eat. Sub some blueberries and it's perfect!)

I'm sure any fruit would work. Heck, I'd be inclined to just ask for more chocolate chips. It's not really visible in the photo but there was quite a lot of chocolate in with the cannoli cream.

 

[Sans Souci]

There is a Ritz Carlton near my home. One of the restaurants in the resort serves a buffet breakfast. It doesn't have a huge amount of options but all the dishes hot and cold are made fresh daily. We like celebrating a birthday breakfast there since the resort is luxurious including the dining location. We walk off the food we had eaten after breakfast admiring what Ritz Carlton has to offer. What is nice is RC validates our parking.

That sounds really nice. I think I would go there occasionally even if it wasn't someone's birthday. If I am being honest, I like dinner over breakfast for a birthday because going out for breakfast means I need to cook dinner. However, my son is taking care of that this year and making Butter Chicken.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning.

I did a glute and leg workout this AM. It was ok, not really a sweaty workout. But every workout shouldn't be intense anyway.

I finished the cannoli cake for my husband's birthday. It looks...ok. I should have bought fresh baking powder, because my cake didn't get very lofty. I don't know why. That's never an issue for me. The frosting was a PITA, because it was made with mascarpone and powdered sugar, so it's not a stiff frosting. It's almost too loose, but I did the best I could. I topped it with mini chocolate chips and chopped pistachios Luckily, my husband is not too fussy when it comes to cakes. I am hoping it tastes ok.

Photo of Callie and her stubby tail taking a nap in the sun yesterday, because why not?

 

[Songbird76]

Theory definitely ruined me. I didn't go in thinking it was going to be easy, but I went in grossly unprepared. I was never exposed to anything remotely theory related until I stepped into that classroom. As one friend put it...it was like I was being asked to take college calculus with nothing more than an elementary school math background. Meanwhile, many around me came from music programs where they'd been receiving some level of theory since at least the beginning of high school. That's not to say that someone couldn't pick it up and thrive, but the only people I knew that were passing had several years of theory under their belts. The professor was supposedly brilliant and gifted https://danielsgodfrey.com/ ... and he probably is in many regards. It just took him a long time to realize that a third of his class was struggling. By the time he started offering tutoring, it was too late. What's funny is that Sight Singing was dubbed as the more challenging course. The differences...more personable professor that was quick to recognize when students needed help. He had his lead TA start offering tutoring pretty early on in our first semester. The ones that needed it were the same kids failing in theory. Unlike theory, we all got our grades up in sight singing as a result of the timely and well-designed tutoring.

Your Early Childhood Development class sounds like some of our Psych classes. Freshman weren't allowed into anything but basic Psych I and II. Once you got past those prerequisites, your options really opened up. Nearly every major had some writing requirements. As a music major, I would have been required to take 12 writing credits. I can't remember what it jumped to when I switched to Psych, but I had enough writing credits at graduation to have a minor in writing. We also had classes like yours that had an extra credit attached because there was a writing component in addition to the basic course coverage. Most of those had multiple tiers of prerequisites making it impossible to qualify for the class until at least junior year. Some of them also doubled as graduate level courses, so by junior year, it wasn't uncommon for me to have grad students in my classes going towards my undergrad degree. I'm hoping K takes the same mindset towards her education as you had, since she will lose her scholarship money if she doesn't maintain a certain GPA... meaning she'll be coming back to TX and going to a school she didn't like as much to finish her degree. She did get into several schools with admissions criteria like you noted. I wanted her to target them because I knew she's see some money.

I don't know if it's governed at the state or national level, but I remember that there was close attention paid to degree requirements and 4-year feasibility. It was legally mandated that degrees like architecture provide full disclosure that it is a 5-year program. I know they were routinely evaluating how long it took for the average full-time student to complete their undergraduate requirements in other areas because I recall a couple of degrees where requirements changed to ensure that 4 years was widely attainable completion window. It may have been scrutinized more heavily since we were private and the probability of legal action was a concern. When you're already paying an arm and a leg, peole are likely to lose it when you make a 4-year degree impossible to complete in 4 years. Even recently, I'd heard that a couple of the 5-year programs had changes because there was too much in the way of overnight work expectations. I had a couple of Surface Pattern Design majors that often slept in their studios (which had cots or lofts provided) because it was too much work to come home at the end of the day. I guess at least you guys got it done!

My professor was really good about helping. Our professors were required to have posted office hours where they HAD to be available to students who had questions or needed help. I think I spent half that semester going to her office hours for help. And our Aural theory professor also started pretty early with the sight singing tutoring through the TAs. She was also my Vocal Jazz director, and the first semester I auditioned for Jazz, she was brutal. "You have a great voice for Jazz, but your sight reading sucks. Come back in a year and maybe you'll stand a chance." I wasn't disappointed at all because at the time I hated jazz and was only auditioning because I HAD to to keep my scholarship. The next year, I had to audition again, because of the scholarship, but then I made it in, and I actually started to love Jazz. And that professor became one of my favorite professors. She was tough, but she was fair, and she knew her stuff. She really cared about her students succeeding. The instrumentalists really struggled with sight-singing because a lot of them couldn't match pitch at all, and they were used to just being able to press the right button and the note came out...they didn't have to work at that really. So sight singing was a challenge. Suddenly you have to think about the inverval, and accidentals, and whatnot along with rhythem, etc. I think it was really good for them to see that vocalists are good musicians too...just that we have other challenges than they do. A lot of them didn't consider vocalists musicians, because we didn't have to practice scales in different keys. The scale stays the same no matter what key it's in.

Yeah, I remember some controversy about 4-year programs taking 5 years, and that it wasn't really possible to do them in 4 years because of limits on credit hours, etc. But I don't know if they ever made laws about that. The thing is that most of the scholarships awarded are only 4 year scholarships. I had a 4 year tuition and fees scholarship, my brother and my then boyfriend both had 4 year full ride scholarships. But then you get through those 4 years and still have one year left that you then have to pay out of pocket. I was lucky that the music department decided to give me the 5th year tuition and fees. I was a good student, I had worked hard, and it would have sucked to make it so far and then not be able to continue because I couldn't afford it. I always had a job, but I needed that for room and board and basic living expenses. My brother and my boyfriend were both lucky with their scholarships....they didn't have to pay anything out of pocket until their last years and I think my brother actually made it through in 4 years. I was also lucky in my 5th year with my student teaching placement. I was able to live with my mom and not have to pay for an apartment while I did my student teaching. It turned out to be a double blessing, because that was when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and because I was living there, I was able to take care of her more and take her to doctors appointments and such. And I think it's good that I had to budget my money and such to an extent. My brother had everything paid for and was so used to it, so whenever he had a job, all his money went to fun things for himself. When he suddenly had to pay rent and buy food, etc, he basically went bankrupt because he spent his money as soon as he got it, before paying bills, because he wasn't used to having bills to pay. I had a much more realistic view of how far my money went and what I could afford. My brother is still not good with money to this day.

 

[Songbird76]

Paracetamol/acetaminophen isn't habit causing, so I don't understand why there is concern for it to be abused. Even the flavored meds still taste a bit bitter. When we were living in England, we came back for Easter one year. Someone my husband worked with asked him if he could go to Costco and bring back a large bottle of ibuprofen. Things like ibuprofen and acetaminophen are sold in blister packs and in a small number like 24 or something like that.

Who is going to get addicted to flavored penicillin? Nobody, that's who, because it's not addictive. I understand the reasoning, but kids aren't getting addicted to Tylenol and antibiotics.

I have no proof, but I suspect the reason we have so many OTC cold-flu meds is because we don't have a lot of sick time, so people dose themselves up, go to work and try to function.

Yeah, we have those same blister packs, so I always buy bottles when I'm in the US, too. It's much easier to keep in a purse or something when it's in a bottle rather than the box that gets smashed or a single strip of the blister packs that rips open with the friction.

And I agree it's stupid...no one is getting addicted to antibiotics. It's not that those things taste amazing in the US, just that they don't taste horrible, so you can get kids to take it more easily....most of them still don't LIKE it, but they know it will make them feel better, and as long as it's not nasty, it's worth it. But that's the thing here, too....they don't prescribe antibiotics in most cases. They believe the immune system needs to be allowed to work. They won't give you meds unless you've been fighting it off for ages and it's not going away. I had a sinus infection and bronchitis for 4 months while I was pregnant with E. They wouldn't give me anything for it. My doctor didn't do any sort of tests, but told me that it was viral and antibiotics wouldn't help anyway, but come back if it doesn't go away. I kept going back and telling him it wasn't going away. He'd tell me it was still viral, and send me home, but come back if it doesn't go away. After 4 months, I was EXHAUSTED. I hadn't been able to sleep for months, I was pregnant so I couldn't take most over-the-counter stuff for coughs or anything. I made another appointment, and I was SOOOOO lucky. The doctor had an intern who was studying to become a doctor, and she was the one who saw me that day. She asked me what all I had done myself and I mentioned steaming, nasal spray, honey and lemon juice, yogurt for the live cultures, etc.....I had the whole list. So she asked the doctor if she could prescribe an antibiotic to see if it would help, since it had been so long and wasn't going away on its own. He signed off on it, and a week later, I was almost completely better. It was obviously not viral. It was never going to go away without antibiotics, but that's their standard go-to answer. "I can't do anything for you. Your body has to get rid of it on its own. It's viral....it will go away by itself." Even when the kids were exposed to whooping cough and A hadn't been vaccinated yet because he was only 3 weeks old, and he was coughing so much he couldn't nurse and he had a high fever....they wouldn't give antibiotics until we just kept calling back over and over and they finally gave them to us to get us to stop calling. But since they don't prescribe them often, they don't see a need for them to have liquid forms that taste ok.

 

[Songbird76]

Do they have Flonase over the counter there? Afrin you shouldn't take long term (I think a week is pushing it; three days is what they normally tell you here) but Flonase you can take long term. It's an antihistamine, not a decongestant, but it should still help clear you up. You can also try a rinse or you can try a saline spray if they have those. Also, a warm washcloth on the sinuses can help relieve pressure.

As for the cough/sore throat, when I had COVID, I just ate honey by the spoonful. Went through an entire bottle in like a week, but it did help.

No flonase here. I did get a saline spray that I use after the regular nasal spray to moisturize my throat, and I made up some honey and lemon juice, but I am a diabetic, and honey can make your sugar level rise, so I have to be careful with that. I've also discovered that sucking on a square of chocolate until it melts coats my throat enough to reduce that tickle sensation that makes me cough. I now have sugar-free chocolate. And I also have Rhinocaps which are a little gel capsule that dissolves in hot water and has menthol in it. So you put it in a bowl of hot water and you put your face over it and breathe in the steam. Kind of like putting vicks rub on your chest, but we don't have vicks rub here. But it does open up the sinuses a bit. And I use fluimucil in the morning before I eat my breakfast to loosen up the gunk so I can get rid of it more easily. I'm a lot better than I was a week ago.

 

[Songbird76]

Good morning.

I did an upper body workout, which are never my favorites. I find them boring and not big calorie burners, but necessary, I suppose.

I did my text banking training last night. I was kind of disappointed, because the trainer accidentally stopped sharing her screen about 2/3 in, so she was explaining how to do things but we could only see her. The process is a bit cumbersome, but I am going to try to figure it out myself. Failing that, I will attend another training. I kept trying to tell her I could not see her screen. The person who was monitoring the chat left early, so I was sending messages into the void. Boo.

We went out for breakfast...for my husband's birthday. That is what he wanted, not dinner or even lunch, so that is what we did. It doesn't bother me, but I think it's a little unusual to have a birthday breakfast. I'm not going to lie, I would have liked to have gone out dinner, but it's not my birthday.

I miss going out for breakfast. That's not a thing here. Restaurants don't open until 4pm. Hotels will sometimes offer breakfast, but it's usually just a few different kinds of bread and either cheese or schmeer. Nothing like french toast, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, etc. When we're in the US, I get my breakfast fix. The only place that serves breakfast here is McDonalds, and the only options are an egg mcmuffin, or a meal consisting of an egg mcmuffin and a croissant with jam. I wish I could get french toast here!

 

[Sans Souci]

Yeah, we have those same blister packs, so I always buy bottles when I'm in the US, too. It's much easier to keep in a purse or something when it's in a bottle rather than the box that gets smashed or a single strip of the blister packs that rips open with the friction.

And I agree it's stupid...no one is getting addicted to antibiotics. It's not that those things taste amazing in the US, just that they don't taste horrible, so you can get kids to take it more easily....most of them still don't LIKE it, but they know it will make them feel better, and as long as it's not nasty, it's worth it. But that's the thing here, too....they don't prescribe antibiotics in most cases. They believe the immune system needs to be allowed to work. They won't give you meds unless you've been fighting it off for ages and it's not going away. I had a sinus infection and bronchitis for 4 months while I was pregnant with E. They wouldn't give me anything for it. My doctor didn't do any sort of tests, but told me that it was viral and antibiotics wouldn't help anyway, but come back if it doesn't go away. I kept going back and telling him it wasn't going away. He'd tell me it was still viral, and send me home, but come back if it doesn't go away. After 4 months, I was EXHAUSTED. I hadn't been able to sleep for months, I was pregnant so I couldn't take most over-the-counter stuff for coughs or anything. I made another appointment, and I was SOOOOO lucky. The doctor had an intern who was studying to become a doctor, and she was the one who saw me that day. She asked me what all I had done myself and I mentioned steaming, nasal spray, honey and lemon juice, yogurt for the live cultures, etc.....I had the whole list. So she asked the doctor if she could prescribe an antibiotic to see if it would help, since it had been so long and wasn't going away on its own. He signed off on it, and a week later, I was almost completely better. It was obviously not viral. It was never going to go away without antibiotics, but that's their standard go-to answer. "I can't do anything for you. Your body has to get rid of it on its own. It's viral....it will go away by itself." Even when the kids were exposed to whooping cough and A hadn't been vaccinated yet because he was only 3 weeks old, and he was coughing so much he couldn't nurse and he had a high fever....they wouldn't give antibiotics until we just kept calling back over and over and they finally gave them to us to get us to stop calling. But since they don't prescribe them often, they don't see a need for them to have liquid forms that taste ok.

I can understand not prescribing antibiotics for viral infections, but it's kind of cruel to wait out a bacterial infection to see if your immune system can handle it, particularly children. I read doctors are no longer prescribing antibiotics for children's ear infections, willy nilly. You're supposed to treat the pain with Tylenol and ride it out. This is because so many antibiotics are no longer effective, which is scary. It's hard to watch though, when they are babies and they can't speak or understand why their ear hurts. I remember when my son would get earaches from ear infections and it was just unconsolable crying and ear tugging all night long.

 

[Lilofan]

I miss going out for breakfast. That's not a thing here. Restaurants don't open until 4pm. Hotels will sometimes offer breakfast, but it's usually just a few different kinds of bread and either cheese or schmeer. Nothing like french toast, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, etc. When we're in the US, I get my breakfast fix. The only place that serves breakfast here is McDonalds, and the only options are an egg mcmuffin, or a meal consisting of an egg mcmuffin and a croissant with jam. I wish I could get french toast here!

When we traveled in Europe we actually lost weight doing lots of walking . Portions are not like mega sized in the USA and we didn't see as many heavy set folks like in USA.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning-

I did this body weight cardio-type workout.

Woo. I had lots of cake this weekend and I am drawing a line underneath it today. It was really good. I wasn't so sure it was going to be.

Callie has been spending more time indoors. I open the door and she walks right in. She sits down and waits for me to get her food. She has discovered the heating vent and now she lies down on it to take a nap. I was preparing dinner last night and I thought for sure she'd freak out with the noise and me walking around. No, she just kept on sleeping. She walks over to me now, too, after eating. She likes chin and head scratches. I wish I could give her a bath, her hind legs are always so wet from being incontinent. I worry about her skin always being in contact with urine. It must be awful for her in the winter and in the summer, she always has flies around her. I'm not going to lie, she is really whiffy , but I am more concerned about her skin. I am hoping her fur protects her a bit.