Unexpected Free Time!

I woke up this morning feeling like the Pillsbury dough boy with a headache. Ugh! Hate those kinds of mornings. The day turned out to be pretty good, though. A nice hot shower and a bowl of oats had me feeling almost normal again.

-1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup Old Wessex 5 Grain cereal
-1/2 mashed banana
-handful blueberries
-cinnamon

This was one of those bowls that just seemed to taste better than the last few. Maybe it was because I added the Almond Breeze this time? No matter….it was very satisfying!

I spent the morning working on tax calculations. Don’t go getting all jealous on me now! I know how fun that must sound! :) Needless to say, I was glad to get home to my treadmill at lunch. I ate a raspberry oatmeal muffin about a half hour before my run….

I ate one of these beauties as a sweet end/snack last night, too!

I have had such a desire the past few days to run outside. It’s just too darn cold still. I absolutely can not wait until it gets a warmer so I can enjoy a nice run on the trail…I’d even settle for a boring high school track at this point! All in due time, I guess. Regardless, I did have a great run! I pushed the speed up a little and felt like I could’ve run much longer than the 35 minutes I’ve got available to me. It felt effortless and when I saw my stats, I knew that it was effortless….my heart rate didn’t go over 170! I usually get it to at least 180. Time to try something harder!

Time: 36:08
Avg HR: 158
Max HR: 170
Calories Burned: 312
Distance: 3.52 miles

I brought a container of bean soup that I froze last week for lunch today.

This stuff just gets better each time I eat it! Can the flavours continue to “blend” in the freezer? Hmm…I wonder. I paired it up with some flatbread crisps. Here’s the box….

These were part of a gift basket that we received at Christmas time. They were a nice crunchy compliment to the soup. I also ate some carrots throughout the afternoon.

Crunch, crunch!

So, I've been thinking about what to do for grab bags at DS's party this Saturday. I want to stay away from snacks because there will be 2 kids there with food allergies. I was thinking of picking up Webkins for the kids in place of an actual "baggie". What do you guys think? Does anybody have any other ideas for 6-7 year olds? Girls are so easy! For DD's parties, I get the girls gift certificates to La Senza Girl. That's always a hit.

DD and I were suppose to go get hair cuts this evening, but our hair dresser is ill with a bad cold so we had to reschedule. Between that and the fact that tonight is hockey & swimming night for DS I had some free time on my hands to do other things. What did I decide to do, you ask? BAKE! I made some peanut butter sticks and gingersnaps. I found the recipes on Melissa's blog from her baking extravaganza at Christmas. The peanut butter sticks went off without a hitch if you don't count the fact that I baked them larger than what they should've been and then cut them in half when they cooled a bit. The ginger ones were a little trickier. I decided to make the "lighter" version that Melissa pulled off this past weekend, but my dough was really sticky so I decided to make them into cookies instead. The cookies ended up a bit big so I cut them in half, too. The end result was a huge platter of delicious cookies!

The only negative thing about making all these cookies is that I totally ruined my appetite and was not hungry for dinner at all. I ate 2 of the PB cookies and my fair share of gingersnap batter plus one that was actually baked. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had cookies for supper! I'm sure I'll pay for it later, though!

Well, the boys will be home shortly and soup & grilled cheese sandwiches have been requested. Once I'm done feeding them you can bet I'll be settling in to watch the Biggest Loser. Until tomorrow.....

Bye for now!!