Hi! Happy Labor Day Weekend! I have had quite the interesting last few days….

  

I went to the gym on Thursday after work to run and had a big time treadmill accident 😦 Before you start laughing, it was only half my fault and apparently happens a lot more often than people realize. Or maybe people are just trying to make me feel better by sharing treadmill horror stories? If so, it’s working, keep ’em coming!

  

In a nutshell, I was waiting for a treadmill (all full of high school kids since one of our local school’s track teams practices there) and a boy jumped off the front of his and jogged away. The treadmills at my gym are all in a row so you can get on/off from either the front (a squeeze) or the back. I saw him hop off, thought “oh good, an open one!” and hopped onto it from the back. I didn’t look down (my mistake) and thus failed to notice that he hadn’t stopped the treadmill, and had instead left it running at a very high speed (his mistake). Needless to say I was immediately flung off the back of the treadmill and skinned both ankles and my knee in the process. The treadmills also back up to a wall with only about a foot of space in between wall/treadmill so once I was flung off, I basically became trapped in a sitting position between the wall and the still running treadmill until I was able to stand up. It was only for a few seconds but it managed to take a lot of skin off several areas of my back and leave some nasty treadmill burns. I would share a photo but it’s pretty yucky and no one really wants to see that. So the moral of the story is… working out is hazardous to your health!

Only kidding of course 🙂 The REAL moral of that story is always look down before you hop on a treadmill! And NEVER leave one running when you get off… SO dangerous!

  

So thanks to my new backside boo boo’s, I will not be sporting a bikini this labor day weekend. It’s a bit of a bummer but I think I’ll make the best of it by doing a little shopping! Maybe I can even find a dress to sufficiently cover my wounds for the labor day party Robert’s family is planning on Sunday 😉

Robert’s parents are planning a big outdoor celebration to thank the loyal customers of their family business. They were kind enough to allow my sister and brother-in-law and Robert and I to invite our friends so we are expecting a big turn out! I may be a little beat up but I can definitely still enjoy a good party!

Normally we would make all the food, but the numbers are just too large, so the party is going to be catered. This means no work for us but to show up and enjoy it, which is really nice!  It also means the cookie recipe I’ve been perfecting for the next get together I was asked to bring something to is unnecessary. If you are thinking, “Wait a minute, cookies are NEVER unnecessary!” you’d be right, so I think I’ll make a batch anyway and enjoy them all to myself 🙂 Between the potassium from the banana and the antioxidants from the dark chocolate they’ll probably even speed up my healing process! Right?!?

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it 🙂 (Man this post has a lot of smiley faces huh? Sorry, not sorry). If you are tasked with bringing a dessert to your labor day celebration, give these a try! There is only a hint of banana and they are oh so soft and a little chewy. Perfect.

Have a great holiday weekend and watch out for moving treadmills!!

Chocolate Chunk Banana Oat Cookies

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Butter, softened

1/3 C. Sugar

1 Egg

1 Ripe Banana, mashed

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 C. Old Fashioned Oats

1/2 C. Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/8 tsp. Baking Soda

1 C. Chopped Dark Chocolate pieces (or nuts, whatever you want to add in)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar together until combined. Add Egg, Banana and Vanilla, Continue to mix until well combined and smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda until well mixed.
3. Slowly combine wet and dry ingredients until well mixed. Gently stir in your chocolate or whatever mix-ins you have decided to use.
4. Drop by the Tablespoon full onto a greased baking sheet or use a silpat (my favorite!). Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are slightly brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack. These cookies will be soft and chewy! Enjoy!