Peachy sippers and Sunday Night Blues

Well for today's edition of Peachapalooza I am going to share a couple of peach beverages:

One is a recipe for Peach Sangria, obviously you can make this up fresh however we were freezing ours into a slush to use all these peaches up now:

White Summer Sangria with basil, peaches and raspberries

(From Betty Crocker - Hey it may be September but we hit 80 this weekend!)

Ingredients:

• 1 Bottle of white Zinfandel wine
• 1 cup Amaretto
• 1 cup Peach Schnapps
• 1 cup peach puree (see this recipe here)
• 1 L diet ginger ale
• 3-4 fresh peaches, pitted and sliced into wedges
• 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
• A handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

Directions:
Mix everything well in a punch bowl or large pitcher, and then add the fruit and the basil. Chill and serve cold. (We froze it and then scooped it as a slush in a glass and poured diet Sprite or diet Vernors on it to serve, lovely Friday night treat!)

And if you need a non-alcoholic sipper idea...

Peach Limeade

5 peaches

1/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

1 cup lime juice (from approx 6-7 limes)

3 cups of water

Mint for garnish (optional)

Lime slices for garnish (optional)

Peel and slice the peaches and transfer to a blender. Add the sugar and blend until completely smooth.
In a small bowl (or measuring cup) juice the limes. Add the lime juice and water to the peach mixture. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve with a few ice cubes, mint and a lime. Pretty! (Once again we chose to freeze it and serve it slush style with diet Vernors or diet Sprite, a yummy combo, kids really liked it!)

Lastly I wanted to talk about a health and wellness topic near and dear to my heart, the Sunday night blues.

Being married to a teacher I don't know if that magnifies it so much more during the back to school season for me but my husband and I both really get Sunday night blues.  I used to think this was just a description of a feeling only I had but this is an actual condition recognized by the medical community.  Wikipedia defines the Sunday night blues is an acute condition, mostly affecting nine-to-five workers and students. This condition is characterized by anxiety about the week ahead and a sense of helplessness and depression.  It most often occurs on Sunday afternoons and evenings. It is also referred to as "school bus blues" or "Sunday night depression". WebMD sites a study where 85% of workers polled admit to struggling with sleeplessness and most often it is on Sunday nights.  In an attempt to improve my whole self, it's not just about weight loss, one of the areas I hope to improve is not only my sleep habits but change my outlook so that this issue itself is improved for the overall health of our entire family.  Here are some tips I gathered from both our MESSA newsletter and HealthyNow.com:

• Do your weekend chores early so Sunday is a fun and relaxing day (it is the day of rest after all!)
• Accentuate the positive by finding or planning something fun for Monday to look forward to whether it's coffee with a friend or catching up with coworkers
• Be mindful to enjoy and live in the present, enjoy Sunday instead of focusing on any worries of Monday
• Write a to-do list for the week so you feel organized and prepared (My husband and I are much more at ease for the week when we sit down on Sunday nights and coordinate our schedules)
• Do something enjoyable and relaxing, spend time with family, get some exercise, go for a walk outside (and of course for us the main focus of Sundays is worshipping at church)
• Recognize the Sunday Night Blues for what they are and that those feelings are relatively common, in other words you aren't alone in feeling this way!
• Finally and most importantly get some sleep, not just Sunday but all week long!

 I am totally speaking to myself.  I am notorious for staying up till 1-2 am all the time.  I can't sleep, I worry about junk, I enjoy the peace and quiet late at night and lastly I find staying up late my delusional way of avoiding something unpleasant the next day.  In other words, if I go to bed the unpleasant task will come "sooner" so I should stay up late to delay the inevitable.  Yup totally weird like that.  So lately I have been feeling very convicted that I needed to start getting healthier sleep and I have been trying desperately to get my butt in bed by 11.  I am definitely a work in progress. Having a kid starting school has caused me to be more organized at night and especially Sunday nights, to make better choices and I believe these things will work for a healthier me.  I am not in any way a psychologist or a Dr, of the tips I read these were the ones I wanted to start diligently applying and I wanted to put it on my blog because you are my main source of accountability. Now you all can ask me if I have been going to bed at a reasonable time! (Oh no, what have I gotten myself into...) Thought I would also share in case any of you ever feel this way and wanted to change your Sunday night outlook with me.  By the way, tonight we started our first week as AWANA leaders and after playing with a ton of cool kids excited to learn the word of God and coming home and having a bunch of giggles playing with my kids, getting them into bed, reading a couple of Shel Silverstein poems and Magic Tree House book I had absolutely NO Sunday night blues.  It's all about changing your outlook, it works! Hope none of you have the blues tonight and you all have a fabulous joyous Monday morning!