Monday Randomness

Today is the day that I get things figured out for the week ahead of me. I finalize the menu plan, the grocery list(s), do the errands, and basically recover from the weekend and start a new week. It's actually one of my favorite days, as I don't usually plan anything extra, so it tends to be pretty productive. And with that intent of being productive, I don't want to spend a ton of time drafting a huge, thought-out blog post, so I leave you with randomness, which is where my brain is right now anyways...

• My shin hurts. My right one, specifically. I'm afraid I may have overdone it somewhere along the way of my 1/2 marathon training. My shins are quite temper mental--if I increase incline, distance, time, intensity, etc too quickly, they get whiny. So, I will be taking it easy on the running this week (translation: no running, just walking) which I hate to do. I mean its a good thing I still have a month, but then again, I only have a month! Please pray that my shin heals quickly, I will be.
• I made two new things yesterday: Rhubarb compote & rhubarb muffins. Both are yummy. Especially when you use the compote in the muffins, like Shauna does in her fabulous recipe here. Super yummy.
• My girls are done with school on Friday, but before that they have Fun Day today and then the youngest has  field trip tomorrow, both of which I'm helping with. I like helping with their school stuff, its one of the biggest perks of my "job". I hope they realize how lucky they are to have their Mamma at their school as much as I am!
• I started P90X today. I am borrowing the discs from my folks. I wanted something different to shake up my workouts a bit, and I love a challenge. I also love watching a workout video as opposed to trying to follow moves out of a book. I must be somewhat of a visual learner. Anyway, I'm not doing the classic program, but the lean one. It's got less of the upper body weight training and more cardio. Not that it is suppose to be any easier, I just don't need to spend three or four hours each week pumping up my arms. Today was a workout called core synergenics (or something like that) and even though it was tough, I actually enjoyed it. I'm going to just take a day at a time because I don't want to do too much and get injured (more) and not be able to run, so we'll see.
• We watched the movie, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" this weekend. The girls and Erik liked it. I thought it was a bit weird. I like more of the traditional animation, I think.
• I don't remember how I found this blog, "This Blessed Life", originally, but I am really interested in the journey she's been documenting towards "clean" eating, especially after watching "Food Inc." She's blogging about two foods each month that she's been able to replace the chemical-laden store bought kind with a homemade, chemical-free kind. It's fascinating to me and I've already found several recipes I'd love to try. That's one of the biggest benefits I've seen from going gluten-free, as well, is the amounts of processed foods bought in my house has drastically decreased and I've started to make a whole lot more things from scratch. It makes me very grateful I have the time to cook things from scratch. (Thank you God for my awesome job!)
• Kind of along the same thread as clean eating, I want to ask you, how much do you know about what you put on your face or skin? A good friend, and my Mary Kay consultant, pointed this article from the Dr. Oz show out to me, all about the hidden dangers of beauty. I will be changing a few of my beauty products for sure after reading this. It's not just about what we put in our bodies, but also about what we put on it!

Okay, that's enough rambling. I'm off to help second graders play games, as long as the rain stops! Stop, rain, stop, if just for this afternoon!