Saturdays are Made for Running...and Chores.

Anyone else exhausted out there?  This was my first full week of working since Christmas break and it just seemed like the week and my to-do list were never ending.  I'm so glad I was able to get out and run several times this week, and even allowed myself a full rest day on Friday to recoup.  Then, this morning, I celebrated that week with an awesome trail run with some friends on the trails we'll be hitting next month for the first race of the year, a trail half marathon near our house, the Squirrelly Tail Twail Run.  We missed it last year and we better all be healthy and running it this year!  So we did 12 or so miles on the trails trudging through mud that sucked at your shoes, wet runoff streams and then just squishy mud and trails in general.  It was a blast!  I felt so strong the whole run and love and appreciate those runs so much.  I sometimes still feel surprised when I head out to run that I can accomplish all that I can.  Having friends to run and chat with always makes the miles go faster though.  I'm thankful for great running friends!!  And finishing a run with shoes looking like this makes you feel like you really accomplished something!

After I got home and got cleaned up, it was time to get busy running errands and getting the to-do list shortened.  First up?  Lunch.  :)  I cheated.  We went and picked up some burritos from our new go-to place that is much closer.  And, after a morning of running, those burritos were yummy!  See, while I was out sloshing around on the trails with the girls, the hubby was doing a 20 miler on the roads.  I couldn't believe he beat me back home.  He's amazing.  So, we were both pretty happy to just have some tasty food.  Then we headed out to take a movie back that we rented for the daycare's Friday movie day, Ice Age Continental Drift,  (Don't bother.  It wasn't that great.), get gas in the car and then, after five long days with no coffee, we headed to Starbucks.  Oh my, that mocha was heavenly.  I paid a little for it with some heartburn and nausea but it was so, so good.  I didn't even care.  If I can only have it once a week, I can live with that but it will be a real latte.  Well, except it's soy.  And with no whip.  But it was good.  I can reset until next week again now.  :)

So, after all that fun, it was home to do chores.  Chores.  Blech.  Fun things like picking up all of the dog poop out of the yard.  We have three big dogs...it's been 2 weeks since we cleaned the yard.  Yeah, that was fun.  And then I washed the dogs while the hubby washed the car (seems like a fair trade) and then I started in on laundry.  Never. Ending. Housework.  Seriously, when do you ever get caught up????

So, dinner time came and I wanted to do something different.  One of the hubby's favorite meals we get out is cheesy grits and I've never tried it.  I don't know why because it was super easy.  Granted, I did use quick grits because, for some reason, there was a container in the pantry.  I used 2 T butter, 2 cups raw milk, 1 cup grits, 5 oz of raw goat cheddar cheese, and a few shakes of old bay.  Brought it to a boil while I whisked it and then let it simmer for about 10 minutes.  While that was simmering, I made some sauteed kale with mushroom and onion and a few splashes of red wine vinegar.  Perfect!

Of course, there had be a dessert!  I made some red velvet cupcakes yesterday and that seemed like just the thing.  Not the healthiest, except I am super skimpy on my icing, but they were a great end to a great meal.  I followed Hershey's recipe pretty exactly to make the cupcakes and the icing was just organic cream cheese and sugar.



All in all, I think our Saturday was pretty productive and the lazy Friday night of doing nothing made it possible!  We have to allow ourselves to recover and regroup sometimes.  That was our Friday night but we sure made up for it on Saturday!

So, I wonder what we can do tomorrow...