Meet the Shaneyfelts

Sense of Sarah: Working out When You’re Busy

Working out is not something that I enjoy, but it is something that I really enjoy the way it makes me feel.  I blogged about my weight loss journey back in 2014 (which feels like forever ago!) and so if you followed me back then, you know that working out is something I have to do to maintain my weight.

Because grad school literally takes up all of my free time (but the end is near!), I’ve had to adjust my work outs to fit my schedule.  I don’t work out as near as much as I want to, but it works for this season of life that I am in.

This is what I do now:

On Tuesdays/Thursdays I…

Wake up at 4:20 AM.
Jillian Michaels BodyShred class at gym–5:00-5:45 AM

This was taken after Rachel and I survived a brutal class one morning.

On Saturdays I have a few options…

-Go to the gym sometime that morning to complete this workout:

This was in one of my Shape magazines and I change up the weight part every now and then.  You can customize it to fit you!  I keep the 5 minute jog and running for .25miles unchanged.

-Go to the stadium to run bleachers and run laps around the track for 30-35 minutes

-Run in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods for 2-3 miles

This will change once I graduate from grad school, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices.  I don’t enjoy getting up early those two mornings during the week, but I also don’t have time after school is over because I come home and do grad school work (plus cook dinner or any other obligation I might have)–I just don’t have time in the afternoons during this time in my life.  

Hopefully this has encouraged you to find some sort of time to work out!  You may be busy, but your health never needs to be neglected!

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal (in the Crockpot!)

(My sister started her own blog yesterday and already has 2 posts up!  Go visit it and leave her a comment!)


I feel the need to start this post off with an apology for how bad the photo below is.  Since this was a new recipe, I was so excited to try it when I woke up Monday morning that I forgot to take a picture!  And then I packed it all away before I realized that I still hadn’t taken a decent photo.  So the one that I took to send to my mom will have to do.

I found this recipe in a cookbook I bought shortly after Christmas that was on sale.  I knew that Sunday night would be the perfect night to prep this recipe since I was out of school on Monday.  I’ll be honest….the first bite was a little strange (only because I’m not used to steel-cut oats), but the more I ate of it the more I loved it!

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal 
1 cup steel-cut oats (uncooked)
1-2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (I used 2 Honey Crisp)
2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce (Make sure it says Unsweetened when you buy it)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used Splenda brown sugar)
1 Tbs butter, diced
1 tsp cinnamon (I probably used a little more than that)

1. Spray your crockpot (or crockpot liner) with non-stick veggie spray.
2. Add all of the ingredients and stir.
3. Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours.
4. Enjoy!!!  (Stir in a little more milk or water if it’s too thick for you.)

This is a great breakfast for a busy morning that is both filling and healthy!

Weekend Recap!

It’s Monday morning and I’m typing this while sitting in front of the fire with the Today Show on the TV.  I love off days!  MLK day comes at the perfect time in January because it’s like you need a little short break from school even though you just had two weeks off at Christmas.  Plus, it’s cold today, so it was nice to not have to get up at 5 AM and get ready.  

Here’s a little look at what I did this weekend:

I woke up Saturday morning and finished my grad school homework for the week and submitted it.  I had already finished everything for one class and just needed to finish an assignment for my other class.  Then I headed to the gym.  (Also, Saturdays are for washing sheets.)

Janie came into town on Saturday so we had plans to meet at the local coffee shop to grab a cup (since I’m a coffee drinker and all haha) but it was closed #smalltownprobs.  So we went to McDonalds to grab a McCafe.  I wish we lived in the same town again!

Then I headed to Bridge Street to do some shopping.  My main reason for going was to go to Sephora to pick up some retinol night cream by Philosophy.  It turns out that they were out of the regular size tube and only had the large one–for $75.  Since I haven’t ever used it before, I just decided to order it and headed over to Anthropologie to check out their sale on sale.  They didn’t have anything I liked in the sale area, and I had been eyeing this dress since it came out so I got it!

Then I walked over to DSW to find some white Converse.  I’ve needed a casual shoe to wear with skinny jeans and a t-shirt or casual top.  I pretty much only own skinny jeans and I got tired of wearing moccasin flats with t-shirts.  Now I can look like all of my students haha! #foreveryoung

For supper, I headed over to my favorite grocery store to eat off of their salad bar.  Seriously, it’s so good!

Late Saturday night I turned on the fight on Showtime.  Weird fact about me:  My dad’s side loves boxing and I can remember going to family gatherings as young as elementary school age to watch a rented fight.  I even watched the fight where Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear!  Anyway, a guy from Tuscaloosa was defending his heavyweight title against a Polish guy so I watched that fight–it was a great fight!!!  Oh and he won so Tuscaloosa is filled with championship titles!  Roll Tide!

Sunday morning I went to church and then came home and changed into my regular clothes to go grocery shopping.  I’m loving these shoes!

And since Dustin had been gone since Thursday to go hunting, I was very excited when he got home Sunday afternoon!  It was getting very lonely around the house.  He also shot at a big doe and hit her, but since it was right before dark, he had a hard time tracking her through the thick stuff.  Then he couldn’t find her on Sunday after his morning hunt, so no deer for us 🙁  One more off weekend for Dustin during deer season and then I get my husband back!

My mom and stepdad cooked us steaks on Sunday night.  Look at how cute my mom is.

They were so excited to take a picture haha!

Love the height difference between Dustin and Rachel!

Our steaks were so good and my brother-in-law brought pheasant that he had killed on Saturday and it was great!  I ended Sunday night prepping a healthy cinnamon apply oatmeal recipe in the crockpot to cook overnight.  It was so good this morning that I’ll be blogging the recipe soon.

Linking up with Biana.