Why is it Monday already??

Hello family, friends and random people! How's everyone doing today? How was everyone's weekend? Although it is Monday, I am slightly cheered by the fact that it's clear and sunny today -- we've had FAR too many gray, gloomy days the last few weeks (including most weekends... except for this past one, which, thankfully, was sunny). The lack of sunlight lately has NOT been good for my mood or energy level...

The other thing that hasn't been good for my mood or energy level is the fact that I've had no TIME to bother with silly little things like "being in a good mood" or "feeling energetic." This past week, in fact, for the FIRST time since I started the Insanity program, I was unable to finish one of my weekday workouts, and I ended up altogether SKIPPING my workout yesterday. I HATE that. I was already off my schedule -- I took Friday as a "rest" day (and I use the word "rest" rather loosely, seeing as I was still up at 5:30, had to work all day, had to rush home and finish making pies for Rick's birthday dinner, and had to rush to his parents' house to COOK his birthday dinner... so there was really no "resting" involved...), but I intended to make up for it by moving my workout to Sunday (which is a "scheduled" rest day).

Unfortunately, weekends are the only time I get to catch up on all the things I really SHOULD be doing during the week. And by 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, I found myself knee-deep in laundry and dishes, fighting off a sinus headache I'd had all day. I also had hours of freelance work to tackle, and dinner to make, and daily chores to take care of before I could call it a night. Something had to fall by the wayside, and as much as I hate skipping a workout, I knew I wouldn't have been able to give it my all, anyway. Hopefully today I can jump right back into it -- I've really done pretty well with sticking to the Insanity schedule, overall. One missed workout won't negate the progress I've made...

Speaking of working out and dinner and healthy living -- I forgot to mention that my awesome Cooking Light subscription, courtesy of my awesome brother and his awesome girlfriend (what? I like the word "awesome"...), has yielded yet another excellent dish (or should I say awesome?? :)) -- a simple-to-make and yummy-to-eat chicken shawarma. Although I will probably add a bit more spice next time, as I'm all about spicy. (Speaking of which, does anyone find it bizarre when a recipe calls for "1/4 tsp. black pepper"?? A quarter teaspoon? For an entire recipe?? I use a quarter teaspoon of black pepper for about every three bites I take...) My newest issue of Cooking Light has about twenty recipes I want to try, including an entire section about pizza (and another about ice cream... I need an ice cream maker, don'tcha think? :)). Oh, so many recipes, so few meals in a day...

And backing up to the second paragraph -- like I said, Friday was Rick's birthday. Happy (blog belated) birthday, Rick!!! I made two key lime pies in honor of his birthday -- and I'd forgotten just how long it takes to make one of those things. It seems so deceptively simple, because there are so few ingredients. But I always use fresh lime juice, and I make my own graham cracker crust instead of buying one pre-made -- do you know how long it takes to squeeze half a cup of juice out of a bag of tiny key limes?? And I needed an entire CUP of juice, since I made two pies. It's a much longer process than it seems like it should be... good thing the final product is so good... :)

Well, that's about all for today -- hey, I'm just impressed that I was able to post ANYTHING today, with the way things have been going lately. Maybe I'll aim for TWO posts this week... how exciting would THAT be?? :)