Starting finals week...Wish me luck

I have SOOO Many projects and presentations to grade!

This weekend I skipped my full kitchen day. I did just the bare necessities (dog food, post-workout smoothies, and Sunday's dinner), so I could have more time to grade.  I pulled a batch of root vegetable chili out of the freezer for one meal this week.  I also pulled out some home-made Italian sausage that will go well with a rice-lentil pilaf (that I have to prepare Weds.).  That's about as far as I got.  I spent the remainder of the day grading and getting the tree decorated (with L).  I will have more meal-prep work during the week, but I only have to go in for exams this week, so I get home early enough that I can handle it.

I'm running out of nearly everything, so it's time for a grocery store run again. I put those trips off as long as possible. Eventually, Luciana's whining about no "GOOD" food irritates me enough that I force myself to brave the horrible grocery store.  If I lived alone, I would probably endure several weeks of eating strange combinations and nearly nothing before eventually making the trip. I'm very lucky that M doesn't mind going out in public (I absolute hate going to stores, for a million reasons, but the big one being too many variables and too little control--I can't be fully prepared for every contingency, and that makes me very uncomfortable.) and volunteers happily to make little runs for produce and small incidentals. He doesn't do the full shopping, but I can get by for 3-6 weeks without going to a store, based on one large trip and several "Mark runs".

Sunday's dinner was:

• Chili-mac (made with leftover chili from baked potatoes)
• Roasted broccoli - this is one of Luce's favorite snacks/meals, and my favorite way to eat broccoli. I roasted almost three pounds of broccoli. We have none left.
• Baked tofu (pressed and marinated in spicy peanut sauce, dipped in ground walnuts/sea salt/cayenne, and baked--no recipe, but pretty easy to throw together)

M worked both Friday and Sunday at the light show. He also had to go to Madison early Sunday morning for a news interview. Because of the unseasonably warm weather, they've had phenomenal attendance at the show, which is great from a fundraising standpoint.  Unfortunately the warm weather came with rain/mist/fog and puddles, which make it really difficult to keep everything functioning at the outdoor light show.  M runs ragged flipping switches and re-wiring things due to the wetness. He's due for a little downtime, as he's been working too hard again lately--wearing himself out.

He has finally agreed to let me be his "trainer".  He won't work out with me--not even on the same floor, but he is going along with a program that I've created for him.  He already has a pretty healthy diet, simply because I prepare all three of his meals and makes sure they are extremely healthy and nutritious.  His snacks could be a little less carb. based, but that's not a huge issue. Anyway, I'm excited for him to start feeling more healthy, strong, energetic--probably in 6-8 weeks, he will feel like a new man.  I know how much better I feel and how every aspect of my life improved as a result of getting healthy and fit, and I wish everyone could experience the same!

Because of my obsessive nature, I'm compelled to learn absolutely everything about almost anything I become involved with. I could never just workout on a regular basis. I had to learn everything about the science of movement, nutrition, the muscular system, the main theories of fitness, and so many other topics.  When I started teaching, I became immersed in learning about the brain, how it learns, what inhibits learning, the history of education and all of the philosophies of ed. throughout history, etc.  I took college courses (grad & undergrad), many seminars, read dozens of books, joined websites, participated in hours of discussion and exchange of best practices.  I research, study, practice, ask questions--in short, become completely overtaken by the subject, until I feel that I've reached a level of mastery. Then I can happily practice and continue to use the concepts, or in some cases, once I've learned everything, I become bored and simply move on. I acquire far more knowledge on any given topic than is useful or practical, and I often feel guilty about it, because that's time that could be spent more productively or wisely. I try to assuage the guilt by 'reminding myself' that my hobby is the actual learning, more so the specific domain in which I'm currently dabbling, and indulging in a hobby is a healthy mental outlet.  Anyway, all this to say, it's really nice if I have the chance to help others with the ridiculous amount of  unnecessary knowledge that I've acquired in the pursuit of my learning hobby. In this case, helping my husband get fit and feel as good as I do, kind of helps justify the hundreds of hours I spent learning more than I ever need to know about health and fitness. :)

Last year was the first appearance of the surprise Shaun T tree ornaments, custom made by L. She cut the Shaun T images out of my Asylum volumes 1 and 2, and Hip Hop Abs and pasted different heads on the body to make them bobble heads that she hung on the tree. I think my T25 Gamma has been left untouched.  She dubbed our tree "The Shaun Tree."  We got the tree all done this year (without them), and she whipped out the Shaun T ornaments and put them back up. I guess they are tradition.

Lip balm

As someone who suffers from very dry skin and hair, I go through pounds of lip balm, especially in the winter.  Finding chemical-free, vegan lip balm isn't very easy, and it is typically fairly expensive, so I decided to try to make my own.  I found some recipes online to get a general idea of where to start, and then I modified until I liked the results.

I used 4 tablespoons coconut oil (virgin), 4 tablespoons soy wax (pure, no additives other than natural soy), 1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil, a few drops of Tea Tree oil, and a few drops of an essential oil (optional - I used sweet orange for a citrus-scented balm).  Melt the soy wax (I used a glass dish in the microwave, but a double boiler works too), then stir in the coconut oil to melt. Add the essential oils, pour into containers, and let set. 

For a firmer balm, use more soy wax, for softer, use less.  

I also experimented with tinting.  I used beet juice in one, but I don't think I used enough. It doesn't have a visible tint, so I need to experiment more with that.  I also used a small chunk of a vegan lipstick to tint another, and that one turned out well.  

I had some containers lying around (I don't throw nice containers away, because I can always repurpose them), and I put in boiling water to sterilize and used those.

It was incredibly inexpensive, quick, and easy, and I don't think I will ever need to purchase lip balm again. Once I use up the remaining roll-up tubes I have, I will re-use those, so I can have a batch in tubes, in addition to the little makeup pots.

If you're interested in trying it and local, let me know, and I'll give you some soy wax.  I had to purchase a ten pound bag, which is inexpensive, but more than I will need in a lifetime.

FTP

Lila and her cute tongue

We've been streaming X-Files on Netflix and watching with Luciana. We started with the first episode and have been going through sequentially (still on first season, I think), and we've been really enjoying it. We kind of break the "healthy family dinner" rules, in that we generally have three or so meals per week in front of the television.  That's the only time we have television on, and we only choose shows we like to watch as a family (unless we're doing a family movie night or something like that).  I am aware that family dinners are important and should not involve TV, but we find this works for us. We have a lot of family together time and time where we chat at length about our respective days, but none of us likes to talk while eating. I have a strong preference to read while I eat, but basically anything is better than conversation. I'm the world's slowest eater, so conversation only makes that worse.  M & I (and Dej) watched the X-Files religiously the first time around.  The show was part of our dating life, as we had a standing weekly X-Files date before we moved in together.  It's fun to watch again almost 20 years later--it's still a good show, and we are enjoying sharing it with L.  It was an important show to us back then, when one still had to schedule one's life around the good tv shows, so our Friday nights (then Sunday nights) were dedicated to a special meal (enchiladas, pizzas--only the "special" meals that everyone loved and looked forward to were good enough for X-F) and the show. It's fun to pass that history down to L and let her experience it with us.  The theme is timeless and relevant:  The truth is out there (but our skeevy government will lie, cheat, and kill to hide it).

Jasper and his cute tongue

L & I have been reading, "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, for our bedtime reading.  We're a bit more than halfway through. I haven't read this book for at least 15 years, and the last time I read it, we were so much farther from this being a reality than we are now. This book now seems closer to truth than fiction, and it's distressing to see how very close we are to such a dystopian nightmare. HT is an excellent and very important book but a fairly depressing read.  I wanted to jump to Upton Sinclair's, The Jungle, next, but we might need something a little more pleasant between the books about a dystopian future and nightmarish past. L is studying labor unions/labor issues in the early 20th century, so The Jungle would be a perfect complement to that. I may just assign that to her as independent reading rather than our bedtime reading. It's vital that she read it, but it's pretty depressing reading right before going to sleep. I have a couple of weeks to think about it and decide what's to do next.

Prior to this book, we read the very good but very long, "I Know This Much Is True", by Wally Lamb. That is such a good story--we both thoroughly enjoyed it.  I enjoy the interesting discussions we have after/while reading.

Damon's recurrent staph infection of his skin is back. I'm SO frustrated. He had the skin infection when we adopted him. He has not made it past three weeks without antibiotics since then. I give him his Cephalaxin as prescribed, completely finish the entire prescription, and everything clears up.  Within three weeks of going off the drugs, however, he ends up with another raging infection.  Always on the skin, but always different areas. I don't like him on so many antibiotics and I feel that he's had the same one enough that the staph is probably growing resistant. I have him on probiotics, which help, but I know that antibiotics mess up his digestive system, too.  Poor guy!  I'm going to start a major research project to see if I can come up with anything that will help.

Kitchen day this weekend produced dog food (which I guess will be an every weekend thing, so no need to continue to include it) and the following:

• Pizza
• Baked potatoes & chili
• Chickpea Ratatouille & quinoa
• Tempeh bacon (for tempeh, Tofurkey, tomato, and hummus wraps)
• Fudge. Delicious, fairly healthy-ish fudge.

Mark's Birthday

We've had a fairly social holiday weekend, especially considering I'm in my depressed-not-sleeping-don't-want-to-leave-the-house-mode.

Wednesday night was our annual comedy show outing to see my old college friend who started off in the same major as me and ended up being a professional comedian. I was not planning to go, as I had no sleep and wasn't in the frame of mind to talk to people or leave the house. We tried to give our tickets away, but it was very last minute (a couple hours before showtime), and nobody could make it. Mark really wanted to go, so I went ahead, and as it turns out, we had a lot of fun and laughed a ton.

Thursday was a low-key Thanksgiving celebration at my parents' house. 

Friday was Mark's birthday. I hope he enjoys being 44 more than I did. He & Russ spent the entire day watching Game of Thrones season 2 (violence & porn, yay) and drinking beer. It was his request that I deliver his birthday meal of choice: shepherd's pie with spicy cashew gravy and fruit smoothies. My parents stopped by just as I was packaging the food, so they saved me from having to leave the house.

Saturday was M's birthday dinner party, thrown by our friend Julie. She is such a good cook and hostess that when she offered to throw a party for M, I knew it would be awesome and better than anything I could come up with. I try to emulate her awesome hostessing and cooking skills and always fall short. She makes everything from scratch, and it's always delicious. She would not let anyone bring anything!

The appetizers consisted of crudités, chips, crackers, and a choice of dips. Note that the silver candle had little Happy Birthday pendants dangling, and it spins when lit. There were several really good beer options as well as wine--M enjoyed the beer, but my stomach is not happy and I can't drink at this time).

The main course was pizza. She made and pre-baked the crusts when we arrived, then we each loaded our own with the homemade sauce, lots of veggie choices, vegan cheese choices, and protein choices (pepperoni, Italian sausage, salami, and the most delicious pizza-flavored fried tofu triangles, which Marina and I kept chowing on while making the pizzas). We munched on the appetizers and pizza toppings while our pizzas baked.

Dessert was a chocolate-raspberry cake with a rum-chocolate frosting. It was fucking phenomenal, of course. In addition to the crown she got him, she also had a lotus candle on the cake. I have never seen one of these before, but when the inside center wick is lit, it starts to spin, opening the lotus flower with each of the petal candles lighting, and it plays happy birthday. It was quite a show!

After eating way too much, we moved to the living room and enjoyed good conversation in front of a warm fire. It was such a pleasant evening, and we're so grateful to have a friend like Julie. She put in a tremendous amount of work in preparation. She was also very pushy about not letting anyone clean up, and it bothered Marina and I a lot to leave knowing she still had so much work to do.

It's technically my turn to host a get together for our group at some point this month. It's always hard for me to do this following a get together at Julie's, because there's no way I can match her skill.

I did my normal Sunday refrigerator clean out/organization before starting my cooking on Sunday, and was pleased to find that we have so many leftovers (good ones, too!) that I didn't need a full meal until Friday. I will throw that together on Friday. I used yesterday's kitchen time to make a giant batch of dog food and a giant batch (6.5 pounds!) of seitan. That should last us a couple of months. I cut it into small cubes, put 1 pound per freezer bag/container and freeze. It stores very well this way and retains its texture and flavor when thawed.  I use the seitan recipe from Vegan Vengeance, but this is also from Isa and is quite similar: PPK seitan. I also made some roasted red pepper hummus and a batch of my post-workout smoothies (bananas, beets, spinach, mixed berries, coconut milk, hemp protein powder).

Charlie and Tica (Oliver in the back); Charlie is more than twice Tica's weight/size!