In other news, I have had a few people ask me if I eat more than I post. In short – yes. I often snack while I’m teaching, so no picture. However, today I captured everything I ate. Here you go:

Breakfast

½ cup oats, 1 cup water, 1 egg white, 1 tbs. chia seeds, pumpkin butter, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, cinnamon

Lunch/Snacks

Orange, apple x2, minestrone soup, udi’s bread, some walnuts/dried cranberries in the yellow pouch, and 2 chocolates

2 rice cakes

Dinner

Broccoli and red peppers sautéed with peanut butter, soy sauce, water, peanuts, red pepper flakes

In the 3^rd grade world…

I went to the bathroom at the end of the day, and when I walked out, two boys from my class jumped out from around the corner and screamed HAPPY BIRTHDAY! as they jumped in the air.

I tried to be mad that they had snuck out of the room and followed me down the hallway to the teacher’s bathroom – but it was too funny, so I just laughed and we walked back to the classroom together.

When my alarm went off this morning, I rolled over, asked Meeker for his iphone, and went directly to my school district’s website to check for closures. I wasn’t expecting it, just hoping, and HOORAY, all schools in the district were closed for the day! So I rolled over and went back to sleep for two hours.

There’s really no better feeling.

When I did get out of bed, I made myself some oatmeal.

½ cup oats cooked in water, almond butter, chia seeds, Love Grown granola, and…

The magic ingredient. I got this stuff from my parents for my birthday and it is gooood.

Then I spent four hours cleaning my house. I was so happy to have the time to scrub floors, put away laundry, and clean out closets. It was the perfect snowy day activity.

Then I sat down to lunch in my nice, neat casa.

Broccoli, rice, tofu and teriyaki sauce

Then I plopped down on the couch and watched Mr. Bauer do his thing for a while – a cup of tea by my side.

(Oh, and I didn’t get out of my pajamas all day. Even while I worked out in my living room.)

Fruit Snacks…

X2

And for dinner – while my studly Meeker was shoveling our driveway – I whipped up a pot of chili.

I started with a salad.

Lettuce, cucumbers, celery, carrots

And then on to the chili.

(Yup, same bowl. Didn’t even rinse it out.)

To make the chili: ground turkey, black beans, pinto beans, 1 garlic clove, 2 cans tomatoes, 2 cans tomato sauce, ½ onion, green bell pepper, 2 cups water, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes – cooked on low heat for two hours.

I think every weekend should be three days long…I feel so much more relaxed and ready to face the work week tomorrow!

Is it snowy where you are?

What’s your favorite stay-in-the-house activity?

Breakfast

Banana, apples, mixed berries, flax seed

Then I walked to work (in the dark..ugh) and was hungry again when I got there – so I warmed up with some tea and two baby muffins.

Sarah’s pumpkin muffins – so stinkin’ yummy.

Lunch

Baked potato, chives, bacon bits, broccoli salad, green salad – we had one of our monthly staff luncheons provided by the parents. Always a mid-week treat.

Snack

From my swag bag – so much better than I was expecting! Plus I ate an apple.

Dinner

Spinach with cole slaw on top (Kalen, thanks for the cole slaw!)

Avocado sandwich – 2 slices of bread + avocado + salt + a panini press

In the 3^rd grade world…

My tattle turtle was literally overflowing today. Here is one little tattle nugget that made me smile.

A guy in a class threw a pencil.

Now, we’ve been in school for almost 11 weeks – I’m pretty sure you can be more specific than “a guy” in “a class” – especially if you want me take action against the offender.

Seems like a million years ago that I ate breakfast, but here it is.

Shredded wheat + raspberries – and I poured soy milk on after the photo. I felt very Une Vie Saine with this breakfast.

I came home again for lunch today – mostly because I was too tired to pack anything last night. Although, my lunch could have easily been thrown in my bag in a matter of seconds this morning.

I didn’t take a picture because I ate it so dang fast…teaching makes me hungry. I also had 2 mega-sized apples today…

Only one of these honeycrisps got to wear the sweater – maybe I should invest in another?

When I came home, I threw some potatoes in the oven at 450* for an hour, and then tossed together this little dinner after I took a bike ride to clear my head.

½ baked potato wit broccoli, cauliflower and daiya (ps. How do you say the name of that vegan cheese – however you pronounce it, I’m a fan)

Now I’m pretty much ready for bed…ciao friends! Hope you all have the happiest of Fridays tomorrow!

I started the good life this morning with a super smoothie.

1 cup frozen spinach, ½ cup frozen blackberries, ¼ cup POM juice, ½ banana, water

Bellatrix was curiously investigating the mix…

I was a good housewife after breakfast and I walked the dog, did the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and then had a snack and some coffee before heading to the gym.

I did a sweaty spin class this morning, and left feeling fantastic. When I got home, it was time for lunch.

I can’t stop with the salads lately. Let’s see if I can remember everything in this baby…

• lettuce
• broccoli slaw
• jicama
• ½ sweet potato
• red pepper hummus
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

I was sad when this was over, so I had another smaller salad with the exact same ingredients. Spin classes make me hungry.

I also had some of my favorite summer fruit (by the way, a lot of you are with me on the wonderfulness of watermelon, but peaches ranked pretty high up there too…I say they’re tied)

Eaten with a single chopstick.

I went to Target after lunch (got a cute dress and some new workout clothes!) then came home to start on dinner.

Baked tofu (at 450* for 30 minutes, flip halfway between), grilled broccoli and green beans, all dipped in a mix of ketchup + spicy mustard + worcestershire sauce

Yummy, edible shrubbery.

For dessert?

Chocolate cake balls. Much like fudge babies, this was a food processor product of walnuts, Medjool dates, cocoa powder, vanilla and a pinch of salt.

If you had to eat just TWO things for the rest of your life, what would they be? After today, I say broccoli and chocolate. The answer will probably change tomorrow.

½ cup oats, a couple spoonfuls of greek yogurt, sunflower seeds, a little square of chocolate waaaay in the back.

I ate this sitting at my desk while my kiddos walked in the door. It was yummy, but AS ALWAYS, it left me hungrier than before I started. Dang oatmeal. Lunch was something new.

Flatout wrap, hummus, edamame, garbanzo beans, a few more sunflower seeds.

Unfortunately, that apple in the background ended up going in the trash. It was given to me by a student who picks his nose all day, every day. I just couldn’t get that image out of my head. I’m sure I could have washed it and it would have been fine, but quite frankly, the student who gave it to me just plain grosses me out, so I opted not to eat it. Plus, it was a little mushy and there is nothing worse than a mushy apple.

Later in the afternoon, I had my fave Clif Bar.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.

After school, I actually went to the gym! An after-school-gym-workout is very unusual for me, but I ended up really enjoying myself. I started with Janetha’s 4×5 HIIT workout, and then finished up with another 3 miles. All in all, it was a little over 5 miles. I love running outside, but for a while, I didn’t think I could stick it out that long on the treadmill, however I kept thinking about Angie’s Treadmill 10 miler and that got me through it. I felt great afterwards. Plus, I saw two of my co-workers at the gym, which was really fun. (Hi Beth and Mandy!)

I came home and prepared my dinner (Meeker has to work late. Boo.)

Grilled chicken on a bowl of mashed cauliflower and broccoli – so, so good.

In the 3^rd grade world…

My students had this little “game” they played all day:

Every time I turned my back to write something on the board, the entire class would start counting down: 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It was so weird. I have no idea who started/planned it, but each time it happened, I laughed my head off. Of course, my laughter made it worse and perpetuated the silliness. Working with kids is funny.

Eeesh it was tough getting up this morning, no? Well, I guess if you didn’t have a whirlwind spring break trip like I did, it might not have been so bad. I was seriously dragging this morning, but the day was surprisingly quick and painless.

Foooood…

Oats, kabocha, pepitas, chia seeds, pumpkin flax granola, cashew butter

Salad, kabocha, peas, roasted cabbage, balsamic vinegar

Yogurt covered raisins

String cheese rolled in deli sliced ham

Green stuff: asparagus, broccoli, spinach, garlic

Tomato sauce added and scooped on top of a little bit of pasta

¼ cup peanut butter cup trail mix

In the 3^rd grade world…

A little boy walked up to me during math today and said:

Mrs. Unger, do you want to know the best part of my spring break?

I replied: “Of course! What was it?”

My uncle went to Antarctica and found a sick penguin and brought it back to me, and now I have a pet penguin!

Okay, so with lot kiddos, I would have dismissed this as a silly lie, and gone on with the day. However, a few things caused me to question the validity of this story. First, this boy’s knowledge of scientific facts far exceeds my own. He knows more about nebulas, reptiles, and our solar system than I know about cake. Secondly, he doesn’t lie. As a teacher, you know who lies and who doesn’t, and this student is factual and truthful. So I questioned him about his pet penguin for a good five minutes. He stuck to his guns. Apparently, his family bought out the salmon supply at our local grocery store. They also bought 100 cans of canned sardines for the little Antarctic bird. Finally, I straight up asked him: Are you lying to me??

He assured me he was not.

I’m very intrigued. This turned into the topic of conversation after school with my fellow teachers, and we ended up emailing his mom for confirmation because we were just so darn interested.

What do you think…could a 3^rd grade boy from Colorado really have a pet penguin??

• Handful of shredded wheat
• Peanut Butter Sauce (mix of almond milk + a spoonful of peanut butter)
• Raw trail mix
• Pepitas
• Crumbled yogurt covered pretzel

After tackling a few more chores on my to-do list, I went to lunch with a former mom in my class (Hi Tona!) – and promptly forgot my camera. Whoopsies! I had broccoli and chicken, here’s a stand in.

Source

Then I took Punky for a nice long walk in the sunshine and WIND. After returning home, I cleaned and organized for the rest of the afternoon. As I walked into the kitchen to start prepping dinner, I looked out the window and discovered a surprise blizzard was raging outside!

I had no idea it was supposed to snow today! Yuck! It is still snowing like crazy right now, and schools across the state are already shutting down. Too bad I’m already on break…hah. What a waste of a snow storm.

Dinner was a recipe out of Everyday Food – Ham and Spinach Casserole

Spinach, milk, egg, gruyère cheese, onion, garlic, ham

This was Meeker’s plate. I had a few bites of his – then moved on to my real dinner…

Roasted sweet potato and hummus. Yum city.

I’m off to snuggle under a blanket and try to stay warm as the snow continues on. I hope your first week of spring is feeling more springy! (Send some sunshine my way!)

(By the way, spinning was awesome again this morning – hardest class yet. Plus, we watched a Warren Miller film, which reminded me of my college days when I used stalk and follow Jeremy Bloom around campus.)

Backtrack to before the workout…

Bread with peanut butter and banana slices

Afterwards, I refueled with a green monster.

½ banana, lemon juice, spinach, and milk – easy and yummy. I thought I was full after this…hah, little did I know.

About 9:30, I had a hunger attack. When I say attack – I mean it. I thought I was going to pass out if I didn’t eat something (anything) soon. I hadn’t packed any snacks (lesson learned!!) so I went to the staff lounge in search of something. I ended up stuffing my face with crap – a chocolate muffin (the size of my head), about a pound of pineapple and a heart shaped neon pink cookie (Lord knows what it was made of) – I was still starving afterwards, so I drank a gallon of water, and was still famished. However, I couldn’t really do much more about it – so I just waited it out until lunchtime when I came home and filled up with fiber.

A sweet potato with black beans, yogurt and spicy mustard.

Thankfully, I felt full after inhaling this, and I stayed that way until dinnertime, which was a Rachael Ray recipe – it only took me 30 minutes! (Usually RR’s thirty minute meals take me about an hour – I’m a slow cook, I guess)

Chicken and Broccoli

I really wish that had been brown rice – but white was what we had. The other side is chicken and broccoli with some Asian flair.

All mixed up with siracha…

So dang.

Now, I am enjoying the night with Meeker, some Starbucks, and The Big Lebowski

Happy Friday.

This cheery little penguin helped me get back into the swing of things today. I’ve mentioned this before (probably a million times), but my classroom is the temperature of a meat locker, so I drink hot water all day long. I’m not a huge fan of tea, but I love holding something warm in my hands (and up to my cheek on occasion) – so I sip on hot H2O and I love it.

I actually felt very refreshed today. The alarm made me want to scream this morning, but I got over it as Jillian forced me to do squat jumps and plank-twists as the sun came up. The rest of the day went well, the kids were awfully chatty, but I honestly don’t mind “chatty” – there are worse moods when it comes to 8 year olds. I can do chatty.

I always call my class “Chatty Cathys” – and the boys hate being called Cathy. I guess I could call them “Chatty Charlies”…hmm, I think I like that!

I stayed at school way too late planning and re-arranging desks, so when I got home at 7ish, I was pretty hungry. The only possible thing I could have made for dinner was in the freezer – and I was kind of dreading it, but it came together surprisingly well and turned out to be exactly what I wanted.

Meeker cut up some chicken (because I am repulsed by raw meat) and then I seasoned it with salt, lemon pepper and garlic powder and sautéed it until slightly browned. Next, I added frozen broccoli and green beans and seasoned them similarly. Once everyone was cooked, I poured a mixture of mustard, soy sauce and water over the pan. Perfection. I ate it atop ½ cup rice and drizzled some sweet chili sauce over the top. It really hit the nail on the head.

Monday Night Football is on, but I plan to plug in some headphones to the computer and watch some Everwood…the best show. (I’m already on season three, Cait!)

Monday, check!

***

Edited to add…

I just found this piece of my mom’s cinnamon/chocolate cake in the back of the fridge. It was fantastic. That is all.