Here it is Tuesday and I am writing a post about Monday. I did have to do some rearranging in my meal plan, but luckily it was already planned out for the month. Remember how I talked about that waaaaay back on my Sept 28th post?
Turns out I have a PTSO meeting tonight, that is our equivalent to PTA, ‘parent, teacher, student organization.’ Hubby has to work late so the kids are going to my moms. Which means pizza for them and no cooking for me! Which also means Taco Tuesday got moved to Monday and Monday’s dinner got kicked to the curb. I know you are asking why I didn’t just toss out Tuesday’s dinner? Monday’s dinner involved a roast I had not purchased yet and I had to make Tacos because I needed the leftover taco meat and rice for Thursday’s dinner, so you see, that is why things had to be rearranged and I didn’t just skip Tuesday’s dinner.
Fall is in the air, well almost. Mother nature is a little confused in my neck of the woods. We are waking up to crisp fall mornings but enjoying summer afternoons. This is also confusing to what we should be wearing, especially for my kids, the think it is still shorts and flip-flop season. Which is fine during the day, but not in the evening.
The reason I bring this up is because last weekend one of my cousins got married. She was having an outdoor garden wedding, which admittedly, this late in Sept in the Pacific Northwest is a real gamble. But this year has been really dry (too dry in fact) and extremely warm. The wedding was in the evening with the reception going on in to the night. So the question comes up, what to wear? The day will be warm, but it will get cold at night….
I didn’t want to wear a skirt, because I didn’t want to get cold, and because I didn’t like any of the tops that I owned. I could have gone and bought a new top, but I always have something in mind and then get super upset when I don’t find it. Plus I have this pair of super cute shoes with matching bag that my sis gave me that I wanted to wear and none of my skirts would work.
OK. Pants it is. {Don’t worry folks, there is a running side to this story 😉 }
I have lots of short pants (capris) but only two pairs of nice dress pants, one brown-ish and one black.
If I wear the brown ones I have a top to go with it and I can wear the shoes and purse.
If I wear the black ones I don’t have a top that would go with the shoes, but I could just wear a different pair of shoes.
The black pants fit. I know they fit. I wear them often.
The brown pants have not been worn in at least 4 years. The last time I tried to wear them they were too tight on my thighs and my waist gushed out over the top of the pants.
What do I do? Do I leave the brown pants in storage? Do I try them on again and get all depressed because they still don’t fit? Do I just go buy a new top to wear with my black pants and not even think about the brown pants again? What do I do? What do I do?
I pull out the bin from under my bed, unfold the brown pants. Look at them, love them all over again, sigh. Try them on.
They fit. Not only do they fit, but they fit like when I bought them.
I am going say that I have not seen a change in my body after all this running (so that 4 week thing is BS). I feel like I am the same size as when I started running almost two years ago (this month will be 2yrs).
I am not diligent in my other training habits, I don’t strength train like I should (I know I should). Some weeks I don’t get as many miles in as I would like. I don’t eat well, I don’t like food, fruits and veggies are like torture to me, just give me carbs all day long.
But there has been a change.
I didn’t start running just to lose a bunch of weight. Yes, I wanted to lose some weight, but really I just wanted to be healthier. I started run to find myself, to find my sanity. I run for me. Because I like to run. I did it so that I can take the stairs without having to pause for breath after one flight. I started to run so that I can chase my kids around the play ground, and keep up with them. I did it so I could have an hour alone every once in a while.
So while I look in the mirror and my eyes see me as the same size I was, my pants are telling me that I am changing on more than just the inside.
So remember don’t give up.
Just. Keep. Running.
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A whole month of meals. Right here. Already planned out. I don’t cook on Friday night because I usually work late and the boys end up staying at my mom’s house. I also don’t cook on Saturday because we either have leftovers, we eat out, at my mom’s or I use my creativity to cook for the kids.
I should note that my menu plans don’t include the side of vegetables we always eat. I think I would eat a salad every night if I it were my choice, preferably a Caesar salad (that would also be Ian’s choice). I try to mix it up and have the kids eat a variety of veggies, but I will admit this is the most difficult thing for me to do. I do not like vegetables, and so I find it hard to make them. We do salads, peas, corn (I know it is a starch and not really a vegetable), peas, carrots, beans, and sugar snap peas mostly. These are the easiest to keep on hand and cook or consume raw. Since they are there every night I don’t add them to the plan, I just decide, or sometimes I ask the boys. However, if we are having some kind of Italian food, I like to have Caesar salad and bread with it.
I do like to plan my side dishes when I plan my main course. I was having a hard time finding side dishes recently. I feel like everything I cook is made with cheese. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some cheese, but it might be getting old for other people in my family. So looking at the whole month at once was a nice way to spread out what I am making. There are still a lot of pasta dishes, because let’s get real, that is a main course and side all wrapped in one. I pick my most time-consuming meals for Wed or Sun evenings because those are the days I have off and theoretically have more time to cook.
There is a stretch of Oct where the boys and I will be gone and Hubs will have to fend for himself. And I gotta admit it was nice not having to plan those 4 meals.
With the relay happening on Sunday I was completely exhausted after it. I was up at 4 a.m. on Sunday and didn’t get back home till 9:30 p.m. Then I had to put the boys to bed and Sid did not want to go to sleep, and he woke up in the middle of the night. So come Monday I was absolutely exhausted, I couldn’t see straight. So while I had a menu plan there was no way I was going to write about it!
I have a number of things I am hoping to write about this week. I just need some alone time with my computer….
I Tri and Craft 