The proverbial other shoe

Look at me, all over the shoe theme!

Today's post:  the exciting (?) conclusion of my list of 25 Things You Must Commit To Memory. 

14.  I will not work on my birthday.  Ever.  I think I got used to having the day off for it when I was in school, and then when my career took me back into education, it just stuck.  I started my new job a couple months ago and one of the first things I did was to stake out that day on the vacation calendar.

15.  I.  Love.  Sandwiches.

 "What is Joey's favorite food?"

"Sandwiches!"

Ross & Monica (David Schwimmer & Courteney Cox), Friends, "The One with the Embryos"

I love 'em.  A BLT is damn near a perfect food.  My panini press is my favorite kitchen appliance.  I'm also a big fan of creating my own combos.  Creamy peanut butter pairs surprisingly well with some weird stuff... crisp dill pickle chips; salty, smoky crumbled bacon; extra sharp cheddar cheese.  Yeah, I know:  it sounds gross and makes you wonder if I'm pregnant, but it's not and I'm not!

16.  Speaking of NOT KNOCKED UP I SWEAR, I don't have the baby fever just yet, buuuuuuut... I'm fairly certain I'm going to be a kickass mom.  I'm one of those people who genuinely enjoys being around her family and I'm excited to pass that along.  The best part (J please stop reading for a sec) is that J is the same way; his two brothers are his best friends and all three of them are fiercely protective of their little sister... so it's like I already know he'd be good at it too.  (OK J, safe to start reading again.  Thanks love!) 

17.  The reason I don't have the baby fever is that I enjoy being the combination superhero/bad influence far too much for now!  Exhibit A:  I may or may not have bought a drum set for a five year-old once.  Just saying.

They were Spider-Man drums, which made them even MORE badass.  

If a five year-old could say badass without getting scolded.

18.  I read a lot.  A LOT.  At last count I had more than 175 books.  (It was super fun to move them to the new place.)  I dated a guy in college who finally stopped going to bookstores with me because "we walk in and [my] eyes glaze over and [I] stop paying attention to [him]."  My shelves hold classics, chick lit, historical fiction, memoirs... the occasional guide to "bettering yourself"... and they're all embossed with my "from the library of" seal. 

19.  Speaking of that name embosser:  I love my middle name.  I am very particular about how it's spelled; my way is lovely and classic and the other is not.  Get it right.

20.  I almost got married once.  Like, "two weeks to the Big Day" almost.  Not going through with it was, at once, the scariest and bravest decision I've had to make in my entire life.  He's a good guy... just not the good guy for me.

21.  That little factoid is what I meant when I wrote in the first half of this list that it's nice to start fresh.  Yes, it was a big deal once upon a time, but now it's just something that happened.

22.  Runaway Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies.  *SIGH*  OK, peanut gallery, knock yourselves out.

23.  I went to an all-girls high school.  AND I LOVED IT.  We made t-shirts that said "Panther Football:  Undefeated Since 1923!!"  We didn't bother with daily make-up and ponytails were the de facto hairstyle.  More than that, though, we were immersed in an environment where women held the leadership roles.  We could ask questions without worrying what some boy would think; we were encouraged to push ourselves and stretch past the status quo.  When I got to college, not only was I incredibly well-prepared for the academics, but also, I realized that I was equipped to hold my own in any social setting... which is more than I could say for some girls, used to deferring to guys.  I know the Elms is largely responsible for my savage independent streak!

24.  Sure, it was all girls during the school day... but that didn't stop me from going to four different senior proms, at four different schools, with four different dates.  HEY-OHHHH!

25.  Live theater brings me to tears every time.  I've seen The Phantom of the Opera, RENT, Wicked, Les Miserables, The Lion King, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat... and the list of shows to see is growing as quickly as I can cross them off!

Phew.  So there you have it.  Hope you enjoyed Volume Two!

You can take the girl out of Catholic school...

Heh.  Bet that got your attention.  

Here's the thing:  I love to bake.  What's not to love, really?  It's soothing and gratifying and makes the house smell great, and you can eat it. 

The problem is that I'm not that big into eating the results.  I don't really have a sweet tooth; a pint of Ben & Jerry's will last me a month.  (Salt is another story.)  And with baking, you can't ever make just one cupcake or cookie or brownie... you end up with a whole mess of them.  Given that one of my posts last week was all about healthy eating, I should probably practice what I preach. 

But the lure of those cutie pie Cookie Monster cupcakes from earlier in the week was just too much to resist!  

So I did a little research and found an outlet for my Betty Crocker urges.  The Catholic parish I belong to here in the 'bus hosts Friday night fish fry dinners during Lent, and they're always looking for donations in the form of dessert.

ENTER RACHEL!  Check me out:

They don't look exactly like the other pic (that's right: they're cuter) but I was still pretty satisfied with how they turned out.  J wasn't complaining, that's for damn sure!  My sister Erin even said "ugh, you kind of make me want to barf, in a good way."  I could have stopped there, but I was on a roll, and I upped the ante with a batch of red velvet cupcakes too.

I drove extra carefully on the way to work this morning, so as not to disturb the trays of sugar shock in my backseat, planning on a lunch hour delivery.  

And I made it all the way to the church parking lot before it happened. 

I didn't see the pothole, and I took the turn a little too fast, and my little tank came to a stop faster than I intended... and a dozen cupcakes ended up on my car floor.  Frosting side down, natch.  I heard the smush before I saw the damage, and I shouted - no, I shrieked:

Ohhhhhhhhh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge. 

Only I didn't say fudge.  I said the word, the big one, the queen mother of dirty words, the f-dash-dash-dash word.*

And that is precisely when I realized that the church shares its parking lot with the parish school, and that it was noon recess, and that approximately ninety grade school kids were outside romping around in the sunshine.

Boy, nothing brings a game of Red Rover to a halt like a woman yelling obscenities.



*Ralphie (Peter Billingsley), A Christmas Story

Lean Cuisine can suck it.

I knew I shouldn't have gloated about my late mornings last week.

All hell broke loose at the office today... half an hour before I was due to go home.  

Of course it did.

When I finally found sanctuary at J's place, I was greeted with the homey smell of garlic bread wafting from the oven, [lowfat turkey] meatballs simmering in sauce, and a glass of pinot noir waiting for me by "my spot" on the couch.  Awesome.

Totally shameless 100% NON-guilty pleasure numero uno:  anytime J cooks dinner.

 Crisis averted!

One girl's resolution*

I've been a card-carrying member of Weight Watchers for longer than I care to admit, and yet I've still never quite made it to "Lifetime Member" status (WW code for "free").  During the holidays, with the stress of moving added onto an already-busy social season, counting calories - Points, to those of us in the know - was the last thing on my mind.

One of the first things I did after unpacking my overnight bag was to recommit to getting there "for real this time."  I make my New Year's resolutions in September, with the start of the school year, but there's no denying that something about this approach smacks of resolutionary status.

Somehow, though, this time feels different.  I don't have a major life event that I'm using as a deadline for dropping the pounds; sure, my ten-year college reunion is this summer, but I'm more or less the same size now that I was back then.

Side note:  "back then??"  That's odd.  Surely, I can't have been out of undergrad for a decade already, as I haven't aged a day!

It just... means more.  Maybe it's that I want it more now; maybe it's that I'm finally ready to see it through.  Whatever.  Time for a little more of this: 

 

and a little less of this:

So I've spent the past week resurrecting my personal weight management site.  (WOW, does that sound lame.)  It's my way of holding myself accountable and of preparing to meet my goal of eventually leading Weight Watchers meetings. It's also a way to keep it off my blog and in its own separate, distinguishable place.

So what's on it?  

My master shopping list, where I name product brands and don't just call it "reduced fat popcorn" or whatever.  Specifics!

Some bits of wisdom I've picked up through the course of my Battle of the Bulge.

A cheat sheet list of favorite easy and low-cal snacks.

And RECIPES!  A ton of them, with more to come... and all them have been tested, usually on an unsuspecting J.  Best part?  The people I've cooked for have had no idea they've been eating WW-sanctioned recipes.

Feel free to check me out over at On The Weigh.... 

*With apologies to Superchick.

Eat it, winter.

The university closed early again today.  I got sent home at 2... and I pulled into the parking lot at J's place at 4.  

They're 15 miles apart.

Much like the rest of the Midwest and the Eastern seaboard, our fair state's capital has been getting hosed with snow this year.  My life is about one log cabin and a pot of beans away from turning into Little House on the Freakin' Prairie.  (Book six, The Long Winter, is my second favorite in the series, but damn it, I don't want to BE Laura Ingalls!)

This chapter in our snow story may be the worst yet this winter, but the silver lining is that it might lead to a snow day tomorrow.  They told us to wrap up our Monday itineraries before we left... and to reschedule any Tuesday meetings or appointments... you know, just in case.  

Well, hell.  Don't dangle a carrot like that unless you mean it!

With the prospect of a snow day looming, I have to confess that the two hour drive home was complicated by a stop at the only Whole Foods in Columbus.  In my defense, though, it's walking distance from J's place, and if this keeps up and we get snowed in, we're going to need supplies!  

I went into the store, and it was snowing.  

I came out 20 minutes later (and X dollars poorer), had to scrape ice off my windows, and it was snowing.

J and I sat down to watch a marathon of Pawn Stars on The History Channel almost three hours ago, fortified with adult beverages and some bacon-cheese popcorn, and it was snowing.  

A pot of my awesome "patate del paesano" has been simmering for about two episodes.  The house smells incredible, J just poured me a second glass of shiraz... and it's still snowing.

Fingers crossed!  I'm going to invoke the third-grade prescription for getting a snow day tonight:  flushing ice cubes down the toilet and wearing my jammies backwards.  Stay tuned to see if it works!

Putting it out there

Heh.

Nah, not that kind of putting out.  (I mean, it's Valentine's Day and all, but come on.)  I mean the kind where I get all brave and resume the website I created a few years back, about fitness, health, weight loss and my Weight Watchers chronicles.

There's a lot of clean-up to be done, but I'll have some time this weekend to work on it.  Watch this space for the grand unveiling!

Have a great weekend, kids!  Hope you get something lovely for Valentine's Day!  (We had a double date at Chili's tonight... it was like being in high school all over again, and it was awesome.)