Monday

Just like that we’ve gone from “Happy Friday” to “Crazy Monday,” though my household was not so crazy this morning. Unusual my oldest daughter decided to wake up at 5:50. She walked up stairs and jumped into bed with us and proceeded to ask me to feel how soft her hands were? We for the first Monday in a long time were early to school, and we also enjoyed breakfast together. A GREAT morning for all, so as I drove to work I wondered, “Does 10 minutes make that big of a difference, or was it because Liv (My oldest) was in such a great mood?”
Look back to Saturday Morning, you’ll note exercise this weekend called for 3 mile run, weight training and then Cardio for Sunday, A neighbor had told us that one town over they were going to have a Oatmeal Festival that was a lot of fun and it had a 5k (3.2 miles) so go enjoy some Oats then run with a group of people how fun! Unfortunately smaller towns allow for no parking when a crowd arrives, which quickly made the outing frustrating! So I had woken up in plenty of time, I had found the location, I drove through the parking lots several times, listened to my dog whine and my youngest daughter ask, “Can we eat yet?” So many times that by the time I gave up arrived at home, I found myself so ruffled I got both the dogs on their leashes in 15 seconds flat grabbed clean up bags and said, “I’ll be back.” The sun felt so awesome, still enough snow out that I couldn’t start to jog until I got out onto the main road but once I started I was off. I ran for almost 2 miles before I started to cool down and let all the thoughts go away. Instead of doing the 3 miles I did 4.5, which I figure I had to walk .5 coming in and out of the neighborhood. At home I had built up my, “Only allow positive things in wall!” and found the rest of the weekend to be Fabulous including dinner at a friends house followed by a birthday party, sleeping in Sunday, cleaning house (which should be a nightmare) roller skating and another fantastic meal with my parents and a long time friend.
With the added bonus of great meals this weekend, we used some lower fat options and recipes and trust me we were fully satisfied! One example:
“Healthified” Crunchy Asian Salad – Dressing - 1/3 cup canola oil, 1/3 cup rice vinegar, 3 tablespoon sugar, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper. Salad -1 package 3oz. Ramen noodle soup mix (any flavor) 1 bag 16oz. Coleslaw mix, 8 medium green onions sliced, ½ cup sliced almonds 2oz. 1 medium red bell or green pepper, 2 seedless oranges peeled and chopped, 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh baby spinach leaves. First – large bowl, beat dressing ingredients with wire whisk until well blended. 2. Break up ramen noodles in bag before opening. Discard seasoning packet from soup package. Add noodles and all remaining salad ingredients except oranges and spinach to dressing; toss to mix well. Stir in oranges and spinach. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 8 hours. (From this months Healthy Meals by Betty Rocker)