A new student started in our program this week. He’s a really sweet kid and seems really bright. It did put a little stress on everyone because we didn’t really have the right amount of staff in the room–but we’re getting used to that. I went to a doTERRA Essential Oils event at a friend’s house on Tuesday–I’m usually a skeptic about those sorts of parties (like Tupperware parties), but this was different. I don’t take a lot of medications normally, but the oils do sound pretty good in comparison. Long before we had medications full of manmade chemicals, people used plants and herbs to conquer ailments, so what’s the harm in bringing that sort of knowledge and practice back? Especially when most of our food also has weird chemicals in it. It was very enlightening–I’ve not been brainwashed, I never really like taking meds anyways because of the chemicals, so this has shown me a nice (albeit a little expensive) alternative. “Hippie”-sounding rant, done. On Friday at school, we had a big fundraiser the whole population takes part in, which involves bouncing around on those big exercise balls. We all wore our cool tye-dyed shirts and the field was like a pulsating rainbow. Nick and I were going to go out to dinner Friday night, but he got called in to help his dad on the farm. I’d already had froyo with a friend (this place’s pumpkin pie flavor is AMAZING!!!) and gone for a run when he told me that, so I picked up a pizza and went to my friend’s house to watch The Heat with her and another friend and his two daughters–it was a good Friday night 🙂 Yesterday, I almost had to drive a tractor, but the rain saved me. Let me be clear–I have never driven anything but an automatic vehicle. I refuse how to even use the riding lawnmower–if I don’t know how, I don’t have to do it, right? So the tractor would be a little intimidating, even with only a straight line to go in. Could I do it? Probably. Do I feel comfortable doing it? Not really, but if my father-in-law needs my help because my brother-in-law isn’t home this weekend (OSU game), I will try.
SUNDAY–Nick & I headed home from Cleveland, but not before a fairly unhealthy breakfast at the hotel cafe (HUGE Belgian waffle was amazing!); we stopped at a rest stop on the turnpike, where we ate Sbarro’s (another unhealthy meal choice). I didn’t really eat dinner because I was full of breadsticks (from Sbarro’s), but I did have some *healthy* popcorn while I watched a movie. A terribly unhealthy day for me 😦 And I did HIIT 15, a 15-minute cardio workout. So not much of a balance there…
MONDAY–I was a little better this day–ate a “fiestada” (a Mexican pizza of sorts) from the school cafeteria (it was my favorite school lunch growing up, so I get it the few times the school I work at offers it). Dinner was pretty healthy though, a baked potato with a little cheese and salsa–this was actually a carb-loading meal idea from the spring, but it still tastes good! And I was too busy making two healthy crock pot meals for the week to workout–it took me about 3 hours to prep all the stuff and clean up the mess.
TUESDAY–Healthier food this day, but no workout at all because I was out late to a friend’s doTERRA party (it’s a brand of essential oils). But I was glad my healthy friend provided yummy healthy snacks! Usually it’s one of the last few days of the month when I don’t workout (because there are few days I don’t)
WEDNESDAY–Healthy food and a 6.04-mile run. I did Ab Ripper X right before my run and my side never hurt! Yay 😀
THURSDAY–Healthy food and P90x Chest/Shoulders/Tris (for the first time in 3 weeks!)
FRIDAY–Another unhealthy day: frozen yogurt and pizza/breadsticks (but a pretty healthy first half of the day!). I just HAD to try this froyo place’s pumpkin pie flavor–DELICIOUS!!! The pizza was purely because Nick and I had planned to go out to eat and he cancelled to help his dad farm, so I still craved something naughty 😕 Oh, but I did Ab Ripper X, ran 3.53 miles (something was just a little off and I didn’t feel good), and walked 1.08 miles. So I was very active!!
SATURDAY–Pretty good day–at well, but didn’t have a chance to really workout since Nick needed some help and I was cooking/cleaning when I was home. But even a few hours of low-impact cleaning and just being on my feet is still better than sitting on my ass all day 🙂
MOTIVATIONAL PHOTO FOR THE WEEK
Not sure this is really something I will do every week, but given I ate poorly a lot this week, I think I need to remember this:
THIS PAST WEEK’S COOKING
I made two different slow cooker recipes this past week, both of which I actually posted about! I made Chicken Fajitas and also a Chicken Pot Pie Stew. The stew isn’t as healthy as it could be, with lots of cream of chicken soup involved, but I think it would taste really good if you used some low-sodium chicken broth to replace some of it (there’s 52 oz of cream of chicken soup in the whole recipe!). There is really nothing unhealthy at all about the fajitas, unless you’re averse to those little bags of taco seasoning. So you can easily sub in your own spices and seasonings for that bit.
ON THE MENU
I’ve already made food for the week (made it yesterday). I made another batch of those chicken fajitas 🙂 And something completely new: Jambalaya (in the slow cooker). I’ve even already posted the recipe and my thoughts: home-made & healthy {slow cooker jambalaya}. We ate it for dinner last night and it was pretty darn good 😀 I never got around to that pumpkin granola last week, so I’ll whip that up sometime this week–already done cooking for the week, so why not make that?!
me...healthier 
I’m glad you had fun at the doTERRA party 🙂 and your chicken pot pie stew sounds AMAZING!
It is really tasty! I made some biscuits to eat with it–you know I love my bread 🙂 What I really liked was that it’s a whole serving of veggies in about 1.5 cups of the stew (about an eighth of the whole recipe). Yay easy way to get in veggies!!