Yes, I just titled my post that. Sue me. Frazzled days make it hard to be witty or creative. Apparently they can also make you appreciate the little things in life a lot more readily. After “failing at motherhood” today, I realized how thankful I am for a few things.

Naptime

There is a bright side to your child missing a morning nap after waking up at 5:40 am. And a bright side to preschool wearing out your toddler. Three hours of unadulterated bliss. No cat piano. No cries. Pure peace and quiet. Thank the sweet heavens for that.

People Who “Get” My Love of Sarcasm

For the record, I don’t truly think I fail at motherhood. I have my moments, but I trust I’m a pretty dang good mom. At the very least, Makenzie doesn’t go screaming and running in the opposite direction when she sees me. I take that as a good sign.

Leftovers

I have been the queen of leftovers this past week. Leftover lasagna for lunch on Wednesday. Leftover roasted veggie + pesto sandwich for lunch yesterday. Leftover quinoa for lunch today. Note to self: always make meals with plenty of leftovers.

Excedrin Migraine

If you read my post from earlier you know exactly why I’m thankful for that.

Chocolate in Healthy Snack Form

I had a strong chocolate craving this afternoon. Too bad I realized that we didn’t have any chocolate in it’s purest form around the house. How did I let that happen? When there’s a will, there’s a way, so I found a way to get my chocolate fix.

One container plain Greek yogurt. One teaspoon cocoa powder. A few drops of NuNaturals cocoa bean stevia. A couple handfuls of Cascadian Farms Chocolate O’s.

It may not be a huge chunk of dark chocolate, but it worked.

Speaking of NuNaturals…it’s about time I post the giveaway winners! Drumroll please…

• #96 – Amy @ Love4Living
• #5 – Sarah @ Our Journey In Life, Love, & Happiness
• #150 – reader Haley
• #87 – reader Jess

I have emailed the winners, so please check your email if you won and respond to me before Wednesday morning so I can get your shipping information to NuNaturals. Thanks!

• What is something small you appreciate today?
• What are you up to this weekend?

Evening, friends! Did you all have a delightful Tuesday? I sure did! Despite a minor snafu I will get to in a moment. First, I need to tell you all about my killer intervals session today!

This morning I headed to the gym for some upper body training. Gotta keep this body nice and strong and fit.

I did a strength endurance style workout by completing supersets coupling the same muscle group for an extra challenge. For back I did assisted pull-ups immediately followed by underhand barbell rows. Then, for chest, I did machine bench press followed by dumbbell flyes on a stability ball. I rounded it all out with a couple sets of bicep hammer curls and tricep kickbacks. Burn baby burn!

As much as my upper body workout pushed me, I really want to highlight my interval workout from the day. It started off feeling not too difficult, but boy did it build on itself quickly for a good sweat session! Low impact certainly does not mean low intensity!

Low Impact High Intensity Interval Workout

Use an elliptical, spin bike, incline walking, or cross trainer for this workout. Set the resistance or incline to a moderate, but challenging level. I used level 12 resistance on the elliptical. You want a resistance where you can pick up the pace but still feel challenged when at lower recovery speeds.

The intervals start off with one minute “work” and one minute “rest”, then the work period gets longer than the rest period to amp up the intensity. Finally, at the end, you go back to shorter intervals. It doesn’t get easier! Having shorter rest intervals doesn’t feel so friendly.

This workout keeps the impact out, but will still leave you with a good burn. Promise! And you can easily switch it up to make it work for you by choosing the equipment or altering the length of the intervals or workout. Have fun with it!

I spent my elliptical session daydreaming about pumpkin bread and carrot cake. So, I decided to do something about it this afternoon. I realized I didn’t have any pumpkin still hoarded from last year, so I headed out to the store. Just for pumpkin. With both kids. I’m telling you – I was determined.

Bwah bwah bwah. <— sad attempt to make the “disappointed” sound from cartoons

I ended up picking up pumpkin pie mix and not pumpkin! #fail

Looks like I will just have to wait for my sweet baking visions to become reality. On the bright side, the store clerks will get some amusement from Makenzie again.

I love my Santa-hat-wearing, turd-in-the-tub-dropping children.

• What is your favorite low impact workout activity?