A Finished Book and Some Yummy Food

I woke up to the sound of a downpour this morning, and unable to fall back asleep, decided to finish my book.  I cannot recommend The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh enough.  It is a fantastic story that thoroughly kept my interest. I loved how the two stories ended up really being one.  I learned so much about flowers too!  It was a real page-turner and a "must read" in my opinion!

Any recommendations for what to read next?  I'm hoping my book club starts back up soon.  I've missed that group.  Since I was the only one reading all the books towards the end, maybe it's time to start my own group.  Who's interested???

Since I was up so early, I also had time to try out a new recipe I've been intrigued by lately...a grain free garlicky microwave muffin.  I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was.  The only change I made was to sub olive oil for the light butter.

If I can find little sneaky ways like this to still eat bread, I might be able to swing a Paleo diet after all.  I was seriously impressed.  I can't wait to play around with some variations on it.  StuftMama even turned it into a pizza crust.  I see lots of potential for this little concoction.

Here's another fun concoction I'm pretty proud about...

For lunch, I got the boys to eat zucchini using a sneaky little trick.  I shredded it and stirred it into their mac n cheese.  They devoured it as usual.  Score!

In other food news, I've been enjoying some treats from Trade Joes today and wish I would have stocked up on more of these two yummy treats.  One is not enough!

Our first outing for today was a return to story time and we kicked off 2013 with a special visit from the boys' music teacher, Miss Rabe.  It will be a tough act to follow next week.  She was a big hit!

Look at how attentive my boys are.  Love it!  Nothing like books and music to get their attention.  Thanks, Miss Rabe!

After story time, the boys and I hit up the gym so I could get some cardio in on the elliptical.  I loosely followed Tina's circuits from her Best Body Boot Camp Plan.   I had planned to just do some walking today both before and after story time but rain changed my plans and I only got the first part of that plan completed.  Thanks to a good friend, we didn't have to walk home in the rain.  Phew!

I also did a quick yoga and pilates blend workout today.  I know I keep harping about Beth Learn at Fit2Be but to me she is like a miracle worker for my poor core.  I am FINALLY seeing progress with my injured muscles and have hope that they can be healed.  I actually find the workouts to be quite relaxing so they're a nice addition to my routine.  The boys got some work done themselves while I worked on my self...

They're some serious tool users.  Watch out!

Now it's time to get some chores done while the boys nap.   I hope this rain goes away so we can get outside and play this afternoon.