Life Lessons

As I was perusing Pinterest, I saw this..

 

It really resonated with me this week. Weary, I am. Rest, I need and crave! You know how I was complaining about being so tired? Well, apparently I was getting sick. (Can I blame the time change for that, too?) Yesterday, I was barely able to drag my butt out of bed for a shower, let alone to work out! So, last night I decided I would get my fitness on! TurboFire - Fire 60, sounds like a good place, right? HOLY MOLY! I officially decided that Chalene Johnson is a former dancer (I don't know her background at all). At one point I was thinking, "I was cheerleader. Pssh... I've got this!" Wrong, Erin. You're oh so wrong.

Legs were flailing, arms were flying (waving them in the air like I just don't care) Sorry, I had to say that. :) After 40 minutes, I decided to stop. I was so tired, I simply didn't have it in me to keep up. My hair was soaking wet, which was good and I was satisfied with that! 

Life Lesson #1: I have to remind myself, rest days are just important to my health as my workout days. This is even MORE true when you are sick. 

Life Lesson #2 (totally unrelated to the above topic): Denial is never a good thing. Don't test your limits to see what you can get away with. Sounds dangerous, right? Well, I guess it was if you consider a nice warm bowl of oat goodness to be dangerous! When I was doing our grocery shopping over the weekend, my inner bargain shopper overtook my gluten free senses.

 $1.24 for old fashioned oats vs. $5 (and some change) for a bag of gluten free rolled oats

You're right, the $1.24 bag won this round. "Oats are gluten free," I told myself. "What are the chances they are contaminated," I asked myself in a deniable fashion. "Do I really need to spend $4 more for oats to be gluten free? It will be just fine." I was wrong on each and every level. The aforementioned $1.24 oats have now been bequeathed to a friend. Enough said. So, I imagine I will feast on breakfast quinoa until I have gluten free oats back in my cupboard.

 

TurboFire - Core 20

Again, I woke up late. I was just barely able to get a 20 minute workout in. But let me tell you, this workout packs a HUGE punch. You better believe if they are making a 20-30 minute workout, they will make each and every move count. "I think I can, I think I can." And I did, for the most part.

Breakfast

Chunky Monkey Peanut Buttery Oatmeal

1/2 Cup of Oatmeal, topped with the following
1 TB Peanut Butter, natural
1/2 Banana
1/2 TB 60% Cacao chips
1 TB Ground flax seed

 

 Hot, black coffee to sip on (YEAH!)

Lunch

Arbonne Chocolate Protein Shake 

Mixed with

Arbonne Fiber Boost

2TB PB2

Dinner

Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie from PB Fingers ( I have to try this sucker out!)

Snack

Arbonne Fruit Nutrition Snack Bar

 

Don't forget the Zevia giveaway! 

 

Blog Recipes

Sometimes I get in those moods where I just get on pinterest or peruse blogs for recipes. It's not necesarilly to find anything in particular, but just to see what I can conjure up. I've been fixated on Chocolate Covered Katie (her blog, not katie, herself!) for the past 30 minutes. Do you ever feel like there a bajillion recipes you want to try, but you can't get to it? That's how I'm feeling looking at her site. Maybe I should dedicate a 2-3 days a week to trying a pinterest or blog recipe. Ohhhh that sounds like a challenge! Last week, the kiddo and I tried the coffee cup chocolate cake that I found on pinterest. It was okay, but I saw that Katie has one on her site, and I'm ready! There's also an oatmeal recipe, Five-Minute Chocolate Oatmeal that I have to try. I might do that in the morning. Oh, I'm so excited! I'm a woman on a mission - a cooking mission. It's dangerous terrirtory, those cooking blogs! I'm just glad Katie and SkinnyTaste feature nutrition info. That makes it easier for me. I use the Lose It app to track my calories and nutrition, but recipes are harder. I have to get on the computer, enter the recipe, and guesstimate the portions a lot of times.

Tomorrow, I am making supper for my Dad. I told him I'd bring a soup (crockpot!) The kid isn't a huge soup fan, but if I make it really thick, then he will probably be cool with it. A potato soup sounds good, but taco soup does, too. I'll let you know what I come up with!

Oh, and the butternut squash turned out pretty good. I have pictures, but I need to adjust my recipe. I kind of winged it (which I tend to do), so maybe I'll actually follow a recipe next time. I had my squash today, on top of cottage cheese. But it's good heated or straight out of the tupperware (yes, I just said that).

This was before it went in the oven. Brown sugar, butter, and pumpkin pie spices.

 For organization and peace of mind, here are some treats and eat to try this month:

One-Minute Chocolate Cake from Chocolate Covered Katie
Lowfat Banana Nut Bread from Skinny Taste
Breakfast Cookie Dough from Chocolate Covered Katie
Baked Potato Soup from Skinny Taste
Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes from Clean Eating Chelsey
Bone Suckin Good Barbecue Tofu from Clean Eating Chelsey
Pumpkin Peanut Butter Stuffed French Toast from Peanut Butter Fingers

Some of these I may have to alter to make g-free, but I may just make them for my family. Who knows! :) Nom, nom, nom...

Piece, Love, and Peanut Butter. Huh!?

"Cute blog name. Um, did you mean 'peace'?"

I get this question, or something akin to it, often, since starting my blog. So, I figured I would break it down early, since I have left some folks scratching their heads! :)

Piece

This is a play off of "peace (love and happiness)." The puzzle piece is a symbol for autism awareness. My son is on the autism spectrum and I work a lot with autism networks and philanthropies. This was my little way of incorporating my son and that aspect of my life in to my blog. 

Love

All you need is love, right? Love, for me, is a part of my faith, family, friends, and just life in general. Its the ultimate show of endless emotion and caring.

Peanut Butter

Umm... because I love peanut butter.... and almond butter, and just all food. Honestly, I think I have a nut butter everyday. Almond butter is actually my favorite, but peanut butter had more flow. I go through a jar of almond butter a week. Is that normal?? I try to abstain from just eating it out of the jar, mostly for the fact that I won't have any left to top my oatmeal or spread on an english muffin. Priorities, right?? I love peanut butter, but since a PBJ is a staple in the kid's diet, I tend to lay off of it so he doesn't run out.