What I have been up to

So, yesterday marked my first day off in 21 days straight. Want to know what I did? Slept. A lot! I pretty much woke up to feed but other then that, I was a happy camper nestled securely in my warm bed.
In the past it's been difficult for me to make it through long stretches of work without going a little batty. Around day 5 I start to get angry, resentful, short-tempered and just downright mean, so this time I really wanted to make a change in my daily habits to attempt to negate this downward spiral that I was anticipating.While the idea was somewhat inadvertent I am very happy and impressed with the results. Here's what I did. On the days that I work I have been trapped in a rather poor set of habits. I get up 2 hours before work, get ready, get to work about 30 minutes before my shift, work 10 or 12 hours, then head home and drop into bed. I get nothing done in my personal life. I don't exercise, I don't clean, I don't do ANYTHING and that is detrimental to my mental health. So my goals, the ones that I set out for myself, were as follows : Blog once a week, Photograph something once a week, Bake something new off Pinterest once a week or try something new off of the same site and accomplish something once a day. Now that may seem like a lot but let me tell you what a blessing the baking has been to me! I now get off work, swing by Albertsons for last minute ingredients, then head home to create. I turn on some classical music and set to work baking. I spend about 2 hours baking and cleaning up after ward and I have a delightful treat to show for my efforts. How great is that? I have been going to sleep so happy and waking up so refreshed knowing that I have accomplished something other than work.
Here are some of the recipes I tried recently.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Pumpkin Cookies with Buttery, Brown Sugar Frosting

Crash Hot Potatoes

Cheddar and Honey Beer Bread.

balsamic honey glazed oven roasted baby carrots

two-ingredient pumpkin cupcakes

Applesauce cake with Caramel Glaze

Magical Oreo Peanut butter Brownies.

Hershey, M&M's, and Pretzels.

Just made these for the kids at work. With reduced fat rolls, 5 chocolate chips each, and 1 tsp of peanut butter in each, its only 130 calories for this awesome treat!!!

And all of it turned out smashingly well!!

So on the days that I didn't bake, I worked on cleaning, and my DIY house projects and makeup tips and hair tips all from Pinterest too. It's been so enlightening to see that I can actually accomplish something everyday and feel so darn good about myself. I can't wait to keep going and see just how much I can do!