If only the day started at 10 a.m., then I would be a morning person.

I used to be a morning person. I worked in early a.m. radio as a part-time gig and I would go in super early, do the morning drive time and then head to class. Sure, it was a drag to go to bed early, but I managed.

Now, I WANT to go to bed early so I can clock more hours of sleep. It would be even better if I could crawl from bed and make it to the Pure Barre class that meets at 5:50 in the morning. It’s very difficult to go to bed before 10:3o on any given weeknight, however, because of my husband’s work schedule. I’m not sure why it is that he can go to sleep wherever and whenever for however long he wold like, but I’m going to figure that out pronto. Our kids are old enough to do for themselves and very rarely does anyone mind if Mom goes to bed “early”, so this week, my goal is to promote self-reliance in a grown-up male person so I can stop the whole responsibility train after dinner dishes are handled.

Today, I participated in a double workout sesh. First, I hit the 7:45 a.m. Pure Barre class and was pleasantly surprised when the friend who turned me on to the barre also came.

We then went to the 9:00 group workout with our trainer. Usually, the Saturday workout is not too killer and I manage to pull it off and keep it moving. Today was a little more interesting because of my jelly arms and legs thanks to Pure Barre. I was able to do my knees-to-elbows hanging from the pull-up bar, however, and that’s a first for me to knock them out like that–especially after Pure Barre.

It was good to see my friends at the gym and then head home to knock out some cleaning, organizing, and meal prep. My plans were temporarily derailed by a trip to Children’s Urgent Care with my oldest. We were concerned that her mono was making a comeback of sorts and producing a swollen/tender spleen. The doctor was able to determine that her spleen and liver were fine, but that she is experiencing costochondritis. She’s managed to aggravate the cartilage around the area of her rib cage and it is quite painful. So, she’s resting and taking an anti-inflammatory. And I’m working on dishes, laundry and meal prep once again.

I roasted about ten chicken breasts to use throughout the week. One has already fallen victim to my overwhelming desire for chicken salad. My homemade mayo, white grapes and celery made quick work of having a good lunch available. The kids at Panera. Luckily, no one was eating a bagel or mac and cheese from there, so I didn’t wrestle either child to the ground. Ahem.

Speaking of chicken, we made a great meal this week that included chicken. We based it on this recipe, but had to improvise because I forgot to buy capers, but did buy sundried tomatoes.

It helped that we had most of the ingredients on hand. It makes it easier to talk people into prepping the dish to bake when that is the case. I emailed the recipe link to everyone and my husband was the one who did the prep work while I was at the gym. What isn’t there to love about garlic, chicken, lemons, artichokes and sundried tomatoes? This was super good and we enjoyed it very much. It looked good enough to eat before we even put it into the oven–but no one would do that because no one wanted salmonella. Forty-five minutes is a small price to pay, even if we were all really hungry.

The Advocare 24-Day challenge continues for my husband and me. We’re doing pretty well. He does better than I — probably because I make sure he has everything he needs and I am here to help him remember things when he leaves the house. I’m rushing around in the morning and leave the house without things I need about 3 of 5 weekday mornings–even when I prep things the night before…it’s something I have not figured out how to do short of putting a checklist together. And, truth be told, I would either forget the list or lose it, so there’s that.

I cannot believe it is nearly the end of January. Crazy! Looking forward to the coming week and being prepared. Here’s to that!