After all the craziness of last week, I feel good that this week has gone relatively smoothly so far. Nothing too insane. Well, besides this morning’s workout. Ha! I still don’t know how I survived it. <--- There’s that exaggeration we talked about.

Good thing I did survive, though. I had a stellar day today! Once I caught my breath this morning, I dropped Makenzie off at school and came home HANGRY and ready for some breakfast. I made myself shower first, then dug into another bowl of pumpkin oats. This time topped with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter that the lovely Janetha got me hooked on  last year.

For the record, I just bought three more cans of pumpkin. I will have pumpkin oats for breakfast for many days into the foreseeable future. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.

Count your lucky stars I’m not a food blogger. Things would get very old around here fast. Besides having another repeat breakfast of pumpkin oats, I also had a repeat lunch.

More English muffin pizzas!!! Best way to use up leftover crushed tomatoes. And you know Makenzie loves them. She told you so herself in her guest WIAW post!

Makenzie opted for apple slices again, but I was feeling a little spice. I went with half a cucumber sliced up and a couple large handfuls of baby carrots to dip in salsa. I adore salsa.

Both of those meals fueled me right through my prime work times and I knocked out a good bit of things I needed to get done. I hope this productive streak lasts!

After work time came play time. An afternoon play date with my friend Ann and her two kids – a friend for Makenzie and a friend for Braedon.

I love play dates and think it’s so important to connect with other moms. Not only does it give the kids social interaction, but it gives you the chance to “talk shop” with someone who understands. Who else would I turn to to discuss overnight potty training woes? Ann helped me feel better about giving up on trying to overnight train Makenzie. We gave it a shot, but it wasn’t worth the stress.

Don’t worry. We also have lives of our own too. We spent a lot of time chatting away about adult things…including her recent trip to Chicago to support her husband in the Chicago Marathon! It makes me want to run it. Mostly because I really, really want to go to Chicago. Maybe I should just book a trip and scratch that whole running 26.2 miles part? Either way, I loved hearing about her trip!

Thanks for the fun afternoon, Ann!

By this point dinner time quickly approached. We had planned on honoring another meat craving of Peter’s with meatloaf, but I forgot to get the ground beef out of the freezer. Oops! So I went with a baked sweet potato, more roasted green beans, and a Morningstar Farms garden veggie burger.

I stole an idea from Courtney and rubbed the sweet potato with a little bit of butter and some Garlic Gold from my Healthy Living Summit sample.

Ohhhh…what a good idea.

If I wasn’t such a cheapskate I would order some for myself in a heartbeat. But I am a cheapskate, so I just savored tonight’s dinner. Just like I plan to savor an early bed time. T minus 2 hours and counting. Later gators!

• Where do you turn to “talk shop” about things like work, motherhood, etc? I would say Peter and good friends, including you all!
• Do you ever forget key things for dinner prep like taking something out of the freezer or picking up something at the store?

I hope you all had a great day! I know some of you out there got to enjoy a three day weekend today with Columbus Day and Canadian Thanksgiving. It was just a normal ole day here in the FFF household.

Don’t worry. I didn’t mind. It actually made it feel more like a holiday for that very reason. After sickness and field trips last week, I more than happily welcomed a normal day that included preschool for this little one.

It’s so nice to have some down time in the morning…and to get the chance to play with my little man just the two of us.

I’ll tell you what – it’s tough balancing devoted time between two kids. Good thing your heart grows like the Grinch when you have them. Always enough love to go around!

I had a really great and productive day today. I managed to get quite a bit done while the kids napped, but still managed some downtime for reading.

Now I have a workout to share with you. As promised from my post earlier today on optimal workout scheduling. <--- sounds so official, which it totally isn’t

I made the most of my new workout routine and amped myself up with a good pre-workout snack of a chocolate chip brownie Larabar and a sliced apple.

That combo fuels me so well! It helped me keep my motivation pumping for a great strength training and spin class combo that’s for sure! A good workout makes it still feel like a holiday. Gets me all warm inside.

I did each color combo move as a superset to help things move continuously and quickly. I had a date with a spin bike to get to, after all.

Monday night class, as always, was a challenge. Sophie will always reign as my favorite instructor. If there’s a bright side to coming back to spin class on Monday night’s, it’s getting to take her class regularly again! I groan and smile my way through every class – an interesting phenomenon but it works.

Of course, I had to refuel as quickly as possible after that brutal combo of a workout. On tap for tonight? Mama Pea’s Peanut Noodle Bowl.

Time to go inhale a hefty sized portion and then collapse on the couch after I get the kids to bed. See you in the morning with a new Body After Baby progress post! Hugs and love!

• Did you have the day off?
• What's a positive thing about Monday to you?