Halloween fun

I am seriously stuck in some rut. I get so frustrated with myself and my own lack of self control. I did great all day yesterday. Then, the hubby and I had an opportunity to stop by a new local brewery. I figured I could enjoy one beer. I am still trying to focus on keeping my calories in check, but not let it get in the way of enjoying life. I ordered one beer and that was the plan. The hubby got a beer and a side of homemade chips. I wish I could say I was strong enough to refuse the chips, but I did mention they were homemade, right? I wish I could say I only had a taste of the chips, but who can eat just one chip? Gross, I totally shared the chips with the hubby. I guess that is better than wolfing down the whole plate of them.

I also wish I could say I stopped at the chips. We got home and I was feeling the buzz from my one beer. Then I felt the regret of eating chips. Somehow the only way for me to cope with eating more than I had planned was to continue to eat until I went to sleep. I am not planning a great weigh in for Friday this week, but I will weigh in. I need to be able to own up to the damages that I cause.

I am happy to say that today was a much better day health wise than yesterday. I ate reasonably AND went for a 2 mile run with a friend. My last run before my 10k! I also went for a 2 hour long walk with another friend. It was in the 70s here today, which is unheard of for Michigan in November so I really wanted to get the most out of it. I also stayed on track with my eating.

I have been a bit busy these past few days. I was planning on having little lady wear her Halloween costume from last year. It was a little big on her then and she is still a tiny little girl. I tried it on her about a month ago and it fit her for the most part. Since then though I have noticed some of her pants are awkwardly short on her. This weekend I was realizing that last year's costume may not work for her anymore and I was thinking about picking up a clearance costume for her.

On Sunday night I was looking at Pinterest before bed and saw the cutest peacock tutu ever. I thought it looked easy enough to make, but wasn't sure I would like it enough for her costume. I figured it would at least be cute for dress up if it didn't work as her costume. Monday morning we made a quick trip to the craft store and bought out supplies. I think I spent about $15 so not a bad price for a costume. I made her the tutu and it came out super cute! I also grabbed a pair of orange Halloween socks and made them into leg warmers to give her some nice bird legs. I bought a barrette and some peacock feathers as well for her to wear in her hair. She has a ruffly romper outfit that she wore for her one year photos and is perfect underneath. I just need to get her a long sleeve shirt to match under everything.

peacock tutu, hair clip and orange bird leg warmers

Deflated

Thankfully not me, but definitely my tire which I will get to in just a moment. I am feeling happy and positive again. I managed to finish yesterday with a run which made me happy, but not as happy as I usually feel after a good run. I just let little things get to me and I shouldn't. Thankfully my healthy spirit was back and I did not binge yesterday! After feeling frustrated with hubby I relaxed with some tea and the blanket I have been working on for little lady. I felt much better and relaxed before I went to bed.

Today I had a few things on the agenda and am proud of how things turned out even with a bump in the road. My best friend wanted to leave her car here when she went out of town so that it would be easier to pick up her dog after her trip. Little lady and I got ready early so she (and her boyfriend) could visit with us while they waited for their ride. We actually managed to be ready extra early and while little lady was distracted (watching tv, I know bad mom) I decided to clean my bathroom. Fridays is bathroom day and I had a lot of things to accomplish during naptime so I figured getting one of the bathrooms out of the way would be amazing. It was! Shortly afterwards my friend and her boyfriend showed up. We had some coffee and chatted and they were on their way.

I had plans to meet up with a different friend and her daughter who is about 6 months older than little lady. We usually get together every Friday for a playdate and adult chat. I needed to make a run to the post office for stamps (We are already sending out invites to our Christmas party!) so I figured I would stop their quickly and head off to my friend's. We got in the car and pulled out of the garage. The car felt weird, but I was quickly on the gravel portion of my driveway and didn't notice to much. As soon as I got on the road I could tell something was very wrong. I stopped in the middle lane for a second to assess what to do. I did not want to drive it an inch further for fear of making a bad situation worse, but I also knew I could not leave my car in the middle of a semi busy road. I pulled a U turn and went back into my driveway. I made it half way up and stopped to see what was wrong.

 

I quickly realized my plans for the day would have to change. Thankfully my friend is flexible and just packed up and headed to our house.It sucks because I got all panicky feeling like I was just in a horrible car crash. I am sure I sounded devastated when I called the husband. 

I used to be the person (hell, even last week I was the person...) that would let something like this ruin my day. I would  have cancelled my plans and been a downer with little lady and eaten my misery away during her nap. However, I know there is nothing else I can do about it until hubby gets home so I enjoyed my time with my friend. Afterwards, I finished the bathrooms, and even better accomplished a workout I was dreading!

My 10k training has 2 cross training days per week. Usually we do some walking around on Sunday or walking to the library on Monday and that counts for the shorter day (about 30 minutes of activity) but there is one longer cross training day per week. I think in the beginning it was 45 minutes, but the last 3 or 4 weeks have a 60 minute cross training day. Up until now my longer cross training has been bike rides with my friend or long walks with another friend. This week it was to cold to really take a nice long walk and I was not sure what I would do. I had decided early on today that since little lady always takes more than an hour nap there was no excuse to not start up the treadmill and kill 60 minutes. I knew it would be boring and I was ok if I split up the time but I did 60 minutes of brisk walking on the treadmill. And it didn't kill me with boredom. I did watch 2 shows. I am proud of getting that out of the way. I wanted to run a portion of it but decided to save myself for tomorrow run.

Also, I almost forgot I ran in shorts yesterday! I bought some clearance running shorts a few weeks ago. I have always thought running shorts were cute but didn't think I could wear them. I decided that for $10 I could have a pair and wear them to work out in the house and see how they feel. It felt freeing, but I definitely had the shorts riding up and felt some chaffing. Next summer, I will be outside in running shorts.

To much time in the kitchen...

But in a good way!

Ever since the hubby and I made our homemade pierogies we have been sort of toying with the idea of making our own bread. (I don't think we will do it all the time, just occasionally when we do have the time. I am not against store bought bread or anything like that. I wanted to make it just for the fun of it so when it stops being fun I will stop making it.) I wanted to make bread last week, but forgot to buy yeast when we were grocery shopping. I finally picked some up during yesterday's trip. Now let me say now that I am not an amazing cook. I did not grow up with home cooked meals and learn all sorts of tips throughout my life. I am finally picking up things here and there (and by that I mostly mean the internet). I have also finally gotten to the point that I can make up dinner every day and hubby eats it without to much complaining.

Now I don't know what went through my head but I saw a picture of homemade English muffins and became obsessed with trying to make them. I think it's just that I have been eating an English muffin with peanut butter every morning for breakfast. I made the dough during little lady's nap and messed with it until the evening when they were ready to go. I actually had fun and would think about doing it again. Thankfully, I made 26 muffins so I should be set for awhile.

I shaped the dough and let them rise.

I actually cooked them on the skillet.

They actually look like English muffins. I am so proud!

So what is next on the agenda? Here is a sneak peak of this evenings activites...

I have some bread dough rising.

I am excited to see how this bread will turn out. I have always been afraid of working with yeast so I haven't experienced with it much. Maybe my new hobby will be baking. (That could be bad for the waist line. yikes.)

On to the good stuff...I have been feeling super healthy lately. I have even been cooking actual lunches lately. Usually I just eat a salad or turkey sandwich, but I sort of burnt out on those options and wasn't sure what to do. I ate soup for a week, but never feel satisfied with just soup. Low and behold the answer to my problem was in my freezer. For some reason whenever I thought about eating healthy I would buy a pack of frozen fish fillets and plan on eating them, but never really would. Last week when I grew bored of turkey sandwiches and was panicked for lunch one day I saw my frozen tilapia just sitting there. I had bought some dill mustard and decided to grill the tilapia and make a sandwich with it and the dill mustard. I didn't have very high hopes but figured for 100 calories worth of fish and 100 calories worth of bread that it was worth a shot. I actually really enjoyed it and ate that lunch every day until I ran out of tilapia. Monday night I was searching through the freezer in preparation for Tuesday's grocery shopping and found some salmon that was still good. I wasn't sure if salmon would work in my sandwich creation (to be fair, I don't know how to pair many foods together) but figured I could at least eat it for lunches this week to save some money. Thankfully, I didn't have to try it as a sandwich because I found a salmon recipe on Budget Bytes (just found this blog and love it, I think I found the english muffins here too!) that morning and had everything to make her teriyaki salmon with sriracha mayo. When lunch time came I was actually really excited. I made some rice to go along with my salmon and couldn't believe how good it smelled while cooking. OMG it tasted amazing! I ate it today too and have one fillet left for tomorrow.

On a physical fun note I took a long walk again today with my new mom friend. Of course it started sprinkling just as I got to her house, but we toughed it out and walked for about an hour and a half. We went about 5 miles. It was fun but a bit cold with the rain. Of course it stopped raining just as we got back to her house. Tomorrow I am supposed to go on a bike ride with a friend. There is a chance for rain again so we will see. 

Closing note here, I was very happy when I stepped on the scale this morning. My fingers are crossed that I don't go overboard soon and can share my good news on Friday!