Last week I thought I'd get a week of simple eating as I felt the afterglow from hearing the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately, I spent the week having too many nibbles between meals. Kinda hard to blame that on His Holiness. This week's resolve is the same as last week - to get back on my simple eating plan.
My sympathies to those of you in swing states who are getting deluged with presidential campaign literature. There's less than a month to go - hang in there.
Good morning! I'm back after a week in Seattle at a conference for work. I am exhausted. Why does sitting in a room listening to people talk make me so tired?
The good news is that I didn't gain any weight. The bad news is that I was already at my red line to begin with. It's okay though because DH is on a health kick again (trying to make his sixpack more visible when he's not flexing or something), so it's easier to not eat junk at home. The only problem is that his health kick involves a different sort of diet from mine, and makes it very difficult for us to eat the same food. He goes for the super-high-protein low-carb diet, which works great for him (esp. for all his weight lifting), but horribly for me.
Goal for this week: exercise four days. That should be doable.
I'm hoping that I hear something from the ticket company that I bought tickets from for the Book of Mormon. I sent an email to them and I did finally find a phone number that works and left a message. I don't know why a venue like the Pantages would contract with a company to sell tickets (or maybe it's not them but the actual show?) and not keep tabs on who gets the tickets or not. In any case, I'm still hopeful that I'll get the tickets. Otherwise we won't be able to go. There are NO days with 6 tickets available together. The matinee we are scheduled to see has 11 available--but they're scattered all over the place.
My goal today is just to make it through the day. I have a feeling that there is going to be something that comes up that will need a lot of attention.
This is one of those weeks at work that ought to be relaxing, but isn't, even though much of the company is off in Orlando, running a huge conference, and my boss is taking a week of vacation.
I have an important PowerPoint to revise and then present on Wednesday morning.
And this coming weekend, I've got to travel to Pennsylvania for a sort of family reunion dinner, which I have no interest in -- they're my mother's cousins & I have never met them. She revived their childhood relationship with emails & exchanges of cute cat photos & etc. Really, I feel I'm going there mostly to testify with my presence on my mother's behalf, to show that she successfully raised a functional (and nonfat) middle-class professional daughter.
Like Allison, I have a dread of something coming up at work that is going to be urgent and require all my attention. What should I call this feeling? Proactive anxiety?
Last April I purchased tickets to go see The Book of Mormon at the Pantages Theater. I did it online. I went to the Pantages website and clicked on Purchase Tickets. Apparently this took me to a specific seller (iconcerttickets.com) because the Pantages does not sell tickets?. I chose the area I wanted tickets and purchased them. Yesterday I got a call from "Show Tickets" and the person said that they were unable to get a hold of the seller of my tickets and there was no guarantee that I would get my tickets and I should contact my credit card company. I did, and they'll investigate and refund if possible. Anyway, I called "Show Tickets" this morning and they see my purchase info, but since they aren't the seller, they can't guarantee I'll get the tickets (I might). I asked what their relationship was. She said that groups of tickets are purchased by sellers and then sold to whomever wants the tickets. Show Tickets acts as a middleman to show orders but they don't own the tickets therefore they don't send the tickets out. Is this a legitimate business? Why would venues do this? Doesn't the venue look bad if ticket sellers don't follow through with sending the tickets?
I'm starting about Monday very down and depressed. We demolished the walls of our kitchen over the weekend and found that one whole wall is COMPLETELY dryrotted. The main support beams are so bad the contractor said that they could have collapsed at any time. I know it's good that we found this out and it can be fixed, but it's going to add $$$$ I don't have to an already pricey project.
I'm so stressed out that I didn't sleep well last night, we have cabinets all over the house and can barely get into our fridge which is stuffed in the spare bathroom.
I stress nibbled all weekend and the scale shows me up a pound this morning.
And the icing on the cake - which is stupid - but my MP3 player blew during my long run this weekend. The one I wanted is only $40 which normally I would just buy, but with all the other money I've been shelling out, spending $40 right now hurts!
So I am throwing a huge pity party for myself today.
Ah yes, the good old ticket brokers and their sophisticated software, buying up all the seats in seconds for lucrative resale.
It's because of all the theaters outsourcing ticket sales to the near-monopolist Ticket Master & if not, then to the mayhem of other smaller resale venues.
I've learned to be really, really careful about ticket-selling links and browser redirects. Last winter, when I bought "Jersey Boys" tickets for a touring production Upstate, as a gift for my mother, I saved myself some $$ shopping among several sites and resisting some automatic redirects. Sheesh! I would've been better off driving downtown to the theater itself.
I am relieved that often, in NY, I have the luxury of walking over to the Box Office and buying directly at the theater. That tends to cut out a lot of fees except the "theater fee," which usually they say is for renovating or maintaining the historic theater buildings.
I had success in catching the feral kitty (Culley) this afternoon. Grateful that I didn't have to "trick" him into going into the trap (no bait). We'd set it up last week and left it locked open and put his towel in there. So he was quite happy to go in and nap. I armed it this morning when he wasn't around and just after lunch he went in for his nap.
I have a call in to the clinic to have him fixed tomorrow. He'll sleep in our storage room tonight and tomorrow night and I'll release him on Wednesday.
I'm certain he hates me for sure now. He had been happy to have me pet him until the day I grabbed him and tried to get him into the regular carrier. Now he won't come near me. And now I've trapped him and moved him indoors! What horrors!
Last week I thought I'd get a week of simple eating as I felt the afterglow from hearing the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately, I spent the week having too many nibbles between meals. Kinda hard to blame that on His Holiness.
For me, I don't believe in the efficacy of single-occasion conversion experiences. As many times as I've closed a book or walked away from a lecture, sermon or a therapy session resolving to change my life, that one moment has never done it for me. It takes a series of such moments repeating themselves over & over before I really act on my resolutions. And then those actions are really small changes, and I have to repeat them and feel them reinforced with some degree of success -- or I get nowhere except that nice glow of good intentions. (Doesn't that feel good, though? For at least a minute? Even if it leads to nothing? Good intentions are so seductive, as if in themselves, they ought to be enough. "It's the thought that counts." No, unfortunately, it never is.)
But yeah, I always want to believe that I'm not a dumb animal, that I hear something just once and that will be enough to power me through to a new & better mode of living. Forever.
It's not. Not for me, anyway.
Change is difficult & slow & usually painful.
And it goes unrewarded for a certain length of time, too.
I am an animal who needs a lot of effort and reinforcement before the switch really turns the light on permanently in my brain.
Another semi-busy week. I feel I'm on top of things, so I'm busy but not too stressed out. BF has been out of town but gets home tonight, I think. Emma and I had a nice girls weekend including long walks and wogs on the beach, and Sunday I went with friends to see "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying". Great show! Small pat on the back for fitting in a wog with the dog yesterday between work and rehearsal. I felt so bad leaving her home so much of the day w BF out of town, so instead of doing an easy shorter walk I tried to get her (and myself) a little more high intensity exercise in the limited time I had.
If I had a dollar for every boat BF owns... ok, I'd only have $3, but he is getting another one. I told him he must sell his current sailboat before buying his new one, and though he says he will I know from experience this might not happen. He has a new business plan to do sailboat charters next year. While this could be a good idea since no one in the area is doing sailboat charters I hope he will follow through with it. He tends to get ideas and not follow through... and more boats somehow get parked in my yard, not to mention the money suck boats are. Gah. Ok. I'll stop now.
Allison, that soup recipe you posted last week sounds yummy. Maybe I'll make it this weekend. Thanks! That really stinks about the tickets. I hope you get them, but at the very least perhaps if you complain about that seller maybe the theatre/show won't use them anymore.
Jen, hang in there. Just envision your finished kitchen. What kind of music player do you use? I'm trying to get my second Ipod to hang on to life through Christmas, but will probably get a different brand next time. This is the second one to die and I can't afford (or at least, think it's silly) to replace the ipod every two years at their prices.
Jessica, 4 days of exercise is doable! Let's do it together! Maybe whatever protein DH wants, you could make yourself a carb to go with it, and a small portion of the protein while he eats a large one, and of course a veggie for you both. Make all the pieces and then just let each of you eat the pieces you want, y'know?
I step forward a little bit, then I stab myself in the foot and do something stupid. I've now exercised five of seven days three weeks in a row. Last week I had a 'perfect' week - I made my calorie goal 7 of 7 days and I made my full exercise schedule. So last night I ordered pizza at 11:30 because I was starving to death after the debate and said "I have only had 1000 calories today, it will be fine." Which of course it wasn't. Meh.
On the upside, DSS had his first quarter conference at school yesterday and is doing much better - he had to write a letter to his parents for the conference. Included my name in the address list to his mom's chagrin and said in it that he was starting to love school. We may finally have beaten this.
Allison - I'm sorry about your BOM tickets, I know that you were looking forward to it. How did the butternut squash tart you mentioned last week turn out?
Jessica - four days this week is totally doable.
Jen - well, good that you found the dry rot sooner rather than later I guess. Will it extend the reno time?
Megan - sounds like a fun weekend! And I'm snickering at BF buying another boat to clutter the yard, honestly. Sorry, I know it is a real issue and one that would likely make me crazy as well.
Saef - I've skipped our last few family reunions. Luckily my parents don't seem too bothered by that. I hope the weekend goes well for you.
Bill - I'm not in a swing state and I'm getting flooded with calls and mailers, I can't imagine being in a more critical location.
Hi Dagmar!
Ward, I like the cool mornings! I want more of them.
Time for lunch for me now I think. Then back to writing my own PPT presentation. Woo.
How did the butternut squash tart you mentioned last week turn out?
Oh, my goodness, it was wonderful! However, I think I'll do it a little different next time.
This is the recipe, from Epicurious:
Butternut Squash Tart with Fried Sage
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed (from a 17.3-ounce package)
1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water
12 1/8"-thick rounds peeled butternut squash
kosher salt
1/4 cup honey
1 thinly sliced Fresno, jalapeņo, or red Thai chile
3 tablespoons olive oil
12 fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan
black pepper
preparation
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently roll out 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed (from a 17.3-ounce package) on a lightly floured surface to a 10" square (just enough to even out). Transfer to prepared sheet.
Brush pastry with 1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water. Arrange twelve 1/8"-thick rounds peeled butternut squash (cut from squash's neck) over pastry, overlapping as needed and leaving a 1/2" border. Place another sheet of parchment paper over squash. Set another large rimmed baking sheet over the tart. (This will weigh down the pastry dough and steam the squash slices.)
Bake until bottom of pastry begins to brown and top begins to puff, about 10 minutes.
Remove top baking sheet and discard top sheet of parchment paper. Brush squash slices with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with kosher salt. Return tart, uncovered, to oven and bake until pastry is deep golden brown and cooked through, 25–30 minutes longer.
Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup honey, 1 thinly sliced Fresno, jalapeņo, or red Thai chile, and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat (add another thinly sliced chile if more heat is desired). Boil until thickened slightly and syrupy, about 6 minutes.
Line a plate with paper towels. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet until just beginning to smoke. Add 12 fresh sage leaves; fry until crisp, about 30 seconds. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
Slice tart. Arrange 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan on top; drizzle with chile-infused honey. Garnish with fried sage leaves and a few grinds of black pepper.
Changes I will do next time:
1--cook the squash in the microwave until easier to slice (very difficult to slice raw squash in very thin slices)
2--cook the puff pastry until almost done, then add the cooked squash on top and return to the oven to make it all evenly hot (the center of the puff pastry never really got "done")
3--forget the fried sage (too greasy) just sprinkle either fresh or dried on top
Maintainers Weekly Chat October 22 - October 28
How did the butternut squash tart you mentioned last week turn out?
