"Just shoots and ladders and this is the kiss"

American anna fantasticalsation

From nowhere to nothing

And I go way back

David Bowie. If You Can See Me. The Next Day. 2013

I haven't posted any pictures in a while, and I thought I'd throw one on here today, even though it's not holiday related. Happy Easter, to those celebrating, by the way.

The picture always makes me chuckle a little bit because it's one of those tin foil American flag stickers that you get with some materialistically small yet big mailing from any "American Made" company. I've gotten so many of these stickers over the years, I can donate them to the Military. But someone in my community had the bright idea to slap it on the bank of mailboxes. And it happens to be the bank where my unit is.

Every time I see it shine, I laugh and I shake my head... these mailboxes were re-painted several years ago, and the board members made it a point to threaten people that we aren't allowed to tape things to the sides anymore, so the paint wouldn't get ruined. Well, it didn't even last a month, as the board was using all sorts of tape and posting agenda flyers everywhere. So paint got ripped off. People started putting other information on the boxes. Now we have an American Flag. Too bad it doesn't cover the whole box. Maybe they need a different decal?

I'm been trying different protein powders over the past couple years. I don't eat breakfast, per se, as I'm never hungry in the morning. I quite literally have to wake up feeling like I've not eaten in days- kind of starving, in order to eat any type of food. That's not to say I can't have my coffee or any other liquid. I'm just not ready to eat a meal.

So in place of that, I've tried the Protein Powder with Vitamin C by Nature's Bounty Optimal Solutions, which on Amazon right now is a damn good price at $8.49. I was originally buying it at "buy one, get one" in the local retailers for $17 and change. Then the price went up to $19.79 and I begrudgingly bought them at the BOGO rate. I stopped at one point because I felt like I needed a break. It was getting too much and I wasn't as active as I was when I started taking it.

When I used it, I was mixing it with milk and ice in the blender. Sometimes coconut water. Other times I substituted frozen fruit for the ice. The vanilla is a lot less "in your face" taste of vanilla than the chocolate is. It's calm enough that you can mix it with the frozen fruit and recognize whatever fruit you put in. The chocolate was a little heavier and it made the fruit taste like you dipped it in the melted bits. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge chocolate fan to begin with, so I have a slight negative thought about it, but I even tried the more expensive (yet plant based, allegedly) decadent chocolate version, and felt the same way. It's just too much chocolate.

Soon after I stopped using this powder, I had printed a coupon for the Emergen-C Protein Powder Fuel & Superfoods mix. I had gotten the small bag at Walmart (because they made some contract with the brand to be the only carrier of the half pounder). It was pretty interesting. As the only flavor in stock was mixed berry, I thought I'd give it a shot... only because I'm using the Emergen-C vitamin C packets, so why not try something else they make? Maybe it will help keep the grossness / sickies away.

Mixed with coconut water, I found that there's a strong darker berry flavor to the Mixed Berry, and it's also a bit on the super tartly sweet side. I still made it through the bag and ended up getting another coupon. I tried the Pomegranate Mango.

The Pomegranate Mango seems to be a little thicker when blending. It's sweet tasting but doesn't feel as cavity inducing as the Mixed Berry. Again, I'm putting in coconut water.

I've also substituted the ice for Dole Fruit & Veggie Blend that is in the frozen aisle at the super market. There's something about those bags of blends, that throw off the superfood mix. I found that it tasted horrible and there was something conflicting. I couldn't wait to use up the blend bags and go back to ice.

Now I'm on Fit For Life Active Essentials Nutritional Powder because it was clearanced out at one of the big box stores I went to. I started it the other day and am finding that for a vanilla flavored powder, it's got an underlying medicinal taste to it. It tastes like a sterile vanilla. I can't wait to finish it... not throwing it out - going to bide my time with it and continue using it til its gone.

I changed job roles at work, so I'm starting to get out a little more during the day, so I figure "why not" start up these other powders again? Help get me motivated to continue to get out.*shrugs*

With all this blending stuff, I know some of the powders say you don't need to blend - just use a shaker... because they don't expect you to use ice, I guess. But I'm greedy and I want ice. So at first I was using a very outdated Black + Decker blender, of which you can't find at the moment. We have had this thing for ever. The problem with it, is it's just too damn big to leave on the counter every day. It's a work horse, but it's clunky.

Out comes the Bella mini blender. It's a single serve knock off of some of the big brand baby work horses. This thing works okay - it gets the job done, but I am finding it starts giving off a burning smell from the motor real quick, if you're trying to make sure all the ice is blended in. Plus, it can't be left unattended for more than 2 seconds - you have to hold it down and keep it held while blending. Otherwise it looses the cap and you get whatever is inside, leaking outwards. Again, it gets the job done, but it's not something where I'd be using it for every single cooking venture I need. It is small though... I give it that. In the end, it works.


I guess that's it for now. The tech I got in my last posts are still working and I'm happy about that. I've also entered myself into yet another contest. I'm signed up to win the grand prize of $250 at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Here's my referral link if anyone else is interested in trying their luck (and has a store near them).

Cheers;