I’ve always said that my organization skills leave me once I leave my office.  At home, I never put anything back in the same place twice – it drives Tony nuts and me too – in fact I think Tony gets a kick out of something when I can’t find something because he’s like “welcome to my world!”

One thing that I am awful about is my gym bag.  I almost always leave it in the car, then realize as I am getting in the car to go to work that I need to switch out my clothes really quick, only to scramble not being able to find my workout bras (did I put them in drawer #1, #2, #3, #4 or # 5?  Or did I decide to hang them all up this time? 

So I had an idea a while back that I never followed through with.  Pre-packaging my workout clothes for the week so that there are no excuses.  I went to Walmart and bought $1 pillow cases – five of them for each day of the work week.

I labeled each one:

Then went in the basement and made five stacks of clothes for the week: socks, underwear, exercise bra, pants and shirt.

I’ll give you a clue that blue and yellow are my favorite colors.   Then packed up each of the sets of clothes in their appropriate bags, and bam, ready to go.

This way I can just keep the dirty clothes in the pillow cases, throw them in the wash and switch out the clean bag for the next week.  We’ll see how long it lasts, but it sure beats scrambling at the last minute. 

I had made more artisan bread over the weekend.  I may or may not have told you that it makes really good French toast!  My post yesterday said that my mantra this year is moderation.  So I decided to figure out how to make a healthier version of French toast.

Enter unsweetened almond milk.  I am really loving this stuff, and if you pay attention to your stores sales cycles, I can usually get this container for $1.99 – and it lasts a lot longer than regular milk.  And almond milk doesn’t give me the shits like regular milk does.  Okay, I was just paying attention to see if you were reading – ha!  (sorry Mom and my PIL!).

Almond Milk French Toast

• 2 servings, 288 caloires, 4.9 fat, 36 carbs, 2.3 fiber and 8 protein

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• 4 ounces of french or sourdough bread

Mix the egg, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together, beating the egg really well.  Soak each side of the bread for a 30 second count, going back to use up any leftover liquid.

Cook with Pam over medium heat about 4-5 minutes a side, until golden brown.  I served mine with cantaloupe, honey dew melon, blackberries and 1/4 cup of sugar free pancake syrup.  This plate comes in under 350 calories!

I was busy in my kitchen.  For gifts for my bosses this year, I enrolled them in the “Bizzy Kitchen Granola Club of the Month.”   I made three batches of what I am calling Mocha Almond granola.  I plan on posting that recipe later in the week, but I think it turned out good.  It’s more of a granola that you’d put on yogurt because I didn’t get the granola chunks I was looking for, but there’s only 1/3 cup of brown sugar to 3 cups of oats, so that may be the reason.

I know we were going to our neighbors to watch NIU play in the orange bowl.  Our neighbors both went there, their daughter goes there now.  They were serving appetizers and dinner, and since I didn’t know what that was going to be, I ended up having a cup of chicken and wild rice soup I made with our leftover Cornish hens.

I may, or may not like a lot of carrots in my soup! 

We went next door – they had cheese and crackers and breaded buffalo chicken bites.  For dinner, they had brats, potato salad and pasta salad.  Seriously in years past I would be freaking out because here it was “Day 1” and I am already getting off track.  But you know what?  It was fine!  I ate a couple cheese and crackers, 2 chicken bites, a brat, and a 1/3 cup scoop of potato salad and pasta salad and that was that. 

I didn’t fall off the wagon, I don’t have to now eat like shit for a week because of it.  It was one meal.  I have my meals planned for today, my workout bag packed, it’s all good.

I have to give my friend Jen a shout out for me finally getting this way of living.   Back in May she was so sick of counting calories, measuring things, beating herself up over eating a piece of pizza, being a slave to the scale, and the number on the scale determining how she felt for the day, weeks or months!

Guess what?  After she “gave up” she’s now lost 45 pounds since May!  For lack of a better word, she eats like a “normal” person.  Nothing is off limits.  She’s made working out fit into her busy lifestyle and doesn’t live with food guilt anymore.  So proud of you Jen!  Keep up the great work!

Alright, I am off to shower and get to work – next week is going to feel weird working 5 days in a row!  And even though it feels like Monday – happy Wednesday – make it a great day!