Ugly Christmas Sweater??

Ohhh?.I?ve got lots to talk about today!! I?ll start with our ?ugly Christmas sweater? day at work today. Apparently I was not the only person that was unable to find something truly ugly. Not many people showed up in the dress code for the day! :( Being a good sport, I wore my ?not my style? sweater all day long. Here?s what it looked like;

Not only is it not me, but it also makes me look about 50lbs heavier than I am!!! HA! And in true tacky form, I kept the tags on and returned the damn thing to the store tonight. My bad. Hehe!

Breakfast ended up being a bit rushed because I took long than expected to get dinner in the crock pot. Silly me!
-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice
-pumpkin puree
-crunchy, natural PB
To be honest, some raisins woulda made this bowl better. Ah, well!

I partook in some sweets again today. I?ll show you the photos now because I ate the stuff in the a.m.;
Brownie cookie, shortbread cookie
Mint chocolate, peanut brittle. I only ate one bite of the brittle because I almost broke another tooth on it so it got chucked. I did have a healthy snack, too!!

Silly orange! Why you gotta be so tasty yet messy???

Gym time! I really need to get something of my chest about running?..lately I?ve been hating it! **GASP!!!** I know, right? I don?t know what?s up but the last few times I?ve had a ?scheduled? run, I?ve dreaded it. And I don?t want to dread it. To try to combat this I?ve decided to lay off running for a bit. I know that I?ll wake up one morning (soon, I think) and really have the desire to run. Then it will be ?right? to go at it again?.with enthusiasm! That being said, when I went to the gym today someone was already on our lone elliptical so I trudged over to one of the treadmills with the attitude to just do whatever. I ended up having a great, stress free work out! Here?s what I did;

35 minutes at 6.25 mph with a 0.5% incline
10 minutes at 4 mph with an 8% incline

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 169
Max Hr: 185
Calories Torched: 522
Distance: 4.4 miles

Not too shabby, eh? I was really impressed with the calories I shed because usually I burn about 470 on a 45 minute run. Seeing as I walked for 10 minutes I figured the calorie burn would be less. Goes to show what I know!! ;)

I brought a portable lunch today because we were running payrolls so I knew I?d need something hands free. I brought an Oceans tuna salad in a can which I?ve had before and enjoyed. I believe the other one I tried was an Italian salad. This one was a Spanish salad;
Here are the stats for the whole 170g can;
This was SUPER yummy! Check out all the veggie goodness packed inside;
Isn?t that colourful? There?s tuna (obv), corn, kidney beans, red pepper, onions and a dressing made up of vinegar, sunflower oil, salt, sugar, paprika, white pepper, chilli and cumin. That pretty much the ingredient list. The only 2 ?bad? items are citric acid & xanthan gum. This mix in particular would be fantastic mixed with pasta for a super fast and easy pasta salad. I bet rice would work, too! The only place I?ve been able to find these handy lunches is at Walmart, though.

I gulped back a few of these as the afternoon went on;
There?s some pumpkin pie ?creamer? in there?

As I mentioned earlier in this post, dinner tonight was courtesy of my crock pot. I was watching Rach Ray yesterday and she did up a one pot chicken dish with a sauce that I though sounded unique so I borrowed the recipe for my roast! It?s a 3 ingredient sauce to boot! Into a bowl pour a ¼ cup each molasses and grainy mustard. Stir to combine then add 1 cup of stock (I used chicken) and stir, stir, stir until it?s one happy family. Done. How easy is that? I poured it over a roast and set the crock to low. This was 8am. Around noonish I had my hubby add some potatoes and baby carrots to the pot. Here?s the finished dish with a bit of spinach, too.

I?ve had a serious baking bug in my drawers for a few days now, but I?ve been refraining from making anything because there?s already SO much stuff around this time of year. It?s really driving me nuts, though! Just a random thought!

DD and I just got back from a few stores. I bought some neat things I but I think this post has gone on long enough! I?ll show you tomorrow. Right now I have a cozy fur baby on my lap and I think I?m going to take full advantage of his heat!!

Bye for now!!