A Hodgepodge

Hello again friends! A lot of bloggers chose to go dark yesterday as a small gesture toward Friday's tragedy, and I followed suit. And as we all move forward, I'm still trying to find ways to understand, cope, help in some way. I can only say thank you to the teachers and staff who protected their students and were willing to risk or give their lives in an effort to save the kids. Their courage astounds me, and I certainly learned a lesson in love and sacrifice.

On a lighter note, this week is the last week of school before Winter Break. Though I think some of my students are convinced that break started this week, based on how rowdy some of my classes were today. Gotta love 'em, right?

And on a health-related note, I don't know about you, but I've been really struggling lately. I suppose it's that I'm still getting back on track after being sick, but I'm suddenly remembering how easy it is to fall out of healthy routines. We're back on track as far as meals, cooking at home, getting in all our fruits and vegetables. But as for working out--it's ridiculous! Somehow I keep adding more and more afternoon errands to my schedule, and it results in exercising late. Well, guess what happens when my workout bumps up to dinner? You guessed it! I cut it short or skip it altogether.

And then I'm grumpy, irritated, and bummed.

Like Scout when we take pictures of him. 

So today, when afternoon errands and dinner prep made me miss my afternoon workout window, I didn't let the busyness win. After letting my food digest a bit, I laced up my sneakers and hit the gym living room for a pretty solid workout. And that is the kind of habit I can feel good about, unlike the last few weeks. Yes, it was necessary to recover from being sick, but I have felt fine for several days now. No more excuses.

Before that workout, I whipped up a new-to-me recipe: tomato bisque! I've never made any kind of bisque before, but I love Lisa's recipes, and soup sounded really nice on this cold night. I followed her recipe exactly (it was SO easy!), except I doubled the recipe and cut the butter in half. I made plenty for leftovers, and I already can't wait to eat it again!

And finally, I'd like to share a bit about an awesome community/opportunity for any fellow healthy living bloggers out there. I know I've "met" several friends ("blends") through blogging, and I can't tell you how supportive and fun this community is. But if you're getting started, wanting to grow your blog, or even just looking for new blogs to read, I can't recommend HealthyLivingBlogs.com enough! The women who run this site are truly fantastic; they connect bloggers, give tons of shout outs, and provide awesome insight about blogging/healthy living.

If you're a healthy living blogger, visit the members page to join the community! Let me know if you have any questions, but you won't regret it.

This post ended up being a total hodgepodge of random topics. But I think it accurately reflects my brain at the moment, so I'm going with it.