Hi everyone:

I had a day that was sort of out of the ordinary, at least for me. I did not leave the house until about 8:30 this morning. I took advantage of the later than normal work day and had breakfast at home. And not just any breakfast, I had oats in a jar.

So, you might be wondering about what the heck ‘oats in a jar’ might be…. photos can tell the story:

I made stove top oats, and realized that the Teddie peanut butter jar was just about empty. So, to get the last scraps of peanut butter, I put the oats right into the jar. It was the best.

Today’s oatmeal had:

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup skim milk

1/3 cup water

a dash of nutmeg

a splash of vanilla

a few shakes of cinnamon

It was perfection.

My lunch bag was a total joke this morning. It was sooo heavy and filled to the brim:

I was not sure how long I would be at work. I wanted plenty of options to keep me going! My colleagues were sort of laughing at my lunch bag, because it was really heavy. At 12:30 I broke into the lunch bag. My first course was the amazing salad…

In the salad: spinach, carrots, red pepper, orange pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The dressing was my own – a splash of balsamic, a bit of fresh ground pepper, a splash of olive oil and about 1/2 a teaspoon of dijon mustard.

About an hour and a half later had the best part of lunch.

Apricot preserves, Barney Butter on sour dough bread. Sooo wonderful.

Unfortunately, it was raining most of the day and it was only 45 degrees. There was no way I was going for a walk today. But work was so busy, I walked a lot of flights of stairs. I guess that will have to be good enough for exercise today!

My 4 o’clock snack was my last of the vanilla chobani with berries and granola, once again.

On nights when I know I have to work late, I know that I have to pack a lot of healthy food choices so that I have options, and don’t hit up the snack machine or the caf where the unhealthy options live. 🙂 I really liked the different choices that I packed today. The salad and yogurt were great – but the sandwich really hit the spot! I loved the versatility of my food.

Thankfully the yogurt kept me full during the de-installation at work. I was able to leave work around 7 o’clock tonight. I was sort of hungry, and I passed a couple of McDonald’s on my way home. I always think that I want to stop after a late night at work. A cheeseburger and small french fries always sound sooo god to me. Thankfully today I kept driving, and when I got home I was so excited to see that some of my Bittman pad thai was still left. I enjoyed the leftovers!

My homemade pad thai was such a better choice. I am so glad that I did not stop at McDonald’s for dinner! I would have been so upset if I had settled for fast food instead of the food I had at home, already made up. The way I got myself home without stopping was remembering that I had eggs, and veggies – I promised that I would make myself a really good omelette and that clean up wouldn’t be that bad. It was great to come home to leftovers.

I’m tired (again) and I have to read my book for a while before I fall asleep. Hope you’re all having a great night!!