I've had a great week overall though. Busy, but great. In fact, it's made me realize that I think I need to keep myself busier like this to maintain my sanity. I feel that some weeks are so loaded with random appointments that whenever I don't have to be out of the house, I often feel like just relaxing alone. However, I realized how happy I was this week and that I need to strive for more similar days of fun activities for me.
Earlier this week, I tried out a great mom and baby yoga class at Cielo Studios, which was a fantastic opportunity to relax AND work out a bit at the same time.
The next day found me at the West Island Women's Centre, volunteering for their annual luncheon in celebration of International Women's Day. For those of you who live out this way and are not yet familiar with the WIWC, they offer a vast variety of courses to women of all ages at extremely reasonable rates. Free preschool childcare is also offered during the day while women attend classes, which makes it a fantastic way for moms to get a chance to have some precious "me time", while at the same time, working out, learning a new skill or working on self-growth (they offer everything from zumba to quilting to decluttering!). This is where I am taking the knitting class that I talked about here.
I had a lot of fun helping set things up for the luncheon, and particularly, getting a chance to preview all of the delicious food!!. One of the women (Donna) was even nice enough to give me a copy of a cookbook that the Centre produced a few years ago. So stay tuned for some recipes from there as time goes on.
As an aside, it turns out that Donna also has a blog, on books, which you can check out here. And, funny enough, the review that is posted right now is of a cookbook!
Friday led me to a long visit with an old friend who I don't see near as much of as I used to. And it was wonderful to reconnect.
I also think that the beautiful mild weather is also helping me feel more like myself, as I've been enjoying tons of long walks with the kids in the afternoons (for daily visits to see the diggers, of course).
Spring should keep me nice and stimulated, as I plan to continue my knitting course and also sign up for a cake decorating and a muscle toning class (talk about contradictory!!) at the WIWC if I can get to registration early enough. I'm also going to take aqua-stroller again, as I did with Logan when he was a baby. So I figure that between these classes and my zumba, this should keep me feeling like myself, despite the business of having two little ones.
I made today's recipe awhile back, but never found the time to post it. Still in a quest to make Logan eat more vegetables, I whipped up a double batch of these carrot muffins. I particularly like this recipe, as it has both carrot and bran, plus has only a little sugar and oil. Pure health. In one delicious muffin.
This recipe comes from Dietitians of Canada's Cook Great Food.
1 1/4 C whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 C high-fiber bran cereal (I used Bran Buds)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 C grated carrots
3/4 C buttermilk
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/2 C raisins
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, cereal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, beat eggs thoroughly; blend in carrots, buttermilk, brown sugar and vegetable oil. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Stir in raisins.
3. Spoon batter into greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling about three-quarters full. Bake in preheated 400 degree Farenheit oven for about 20 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back when lightly touched.
Makes 12 muffins.
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