Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Hunkered down here in suburban MD as we await freezing temperatures to fly through over the course of the morning and afternoon. Managed to sneak off yesterday afternoon to fill up the car, pick up the last little thing I’d gotten the husband for Xmas, and hit the grocery store to get most of what we needed for the weekend and Xmas day, before today when it’s supposed to get icy (and just maybe a hint of snow in the afternoon), and this weekend when it’s supposed to stay in the 20s and below. Still will need to walk over to the local organic market for some bits and bobs, but don’t need to drive any more, which was what I was going for.

Things have been going okay here. The husband had two work trips, to New Orleans and then to New Zealand. He had fun jumping off things in Auckland (bungie jumping off a bridge, leaping off a building), and generally enjoyed everything other than long the plane ride. He’s still not completely back on east coast time, but he’s getting there. It was odd having him gone for almost two weeks; I think that might be one of the longest times we’ve spent apart since we got married.

Two more sleeps until Xmas. No family around this year because of leave situations (on their end), so it’s just the two of us. Trying to figure out what the husband should bake, and I’m leaning toward a gingerbread bundt cake. We’ll see how he feels about it when he gets up. Melting potatoes are definitely in the plan, and probably some zucchini in the air fryer, plus whatever veggies look tasty over at the organic market.

The cats have gotten incredibly spoiled by new heated cats beds we got them. And much like Susan’s experience, they love the smaller ones (even though Benjamin spills out of it), and won’t use the larger one. And they won’t use each other’s – I tried to move them around when we got the big one, and Ezri took one whiff of the one B had been sleeping in, hissed, and ran away. Ah well. But they definitely appreciate the heat, and it makes it easier for me to find them when I’m looking. I also don’t feel as guilty keeping the thermostat set lower.

Slowly closing out of triathlon related things. My membership in USAT won’t end for another two years, but I’m going to let the local DC Tri Club membership lapse next month. I joined that back in 2004, and it was a great experience, especially coaching the new triathletes, but I haven’t raced in over a decade, I have no plans to race in the near future, and I don’t do anything with the club, so it’s time to say farewell. Adjusted a bunch of social media sites to unfollow the club and triathlon related things, which then lead down a rabbit hole of unfollowing other stuff to trim down the time sucks and give the various companies headaches in trying to figure out what ads to serve me.

Hoping Congress hurries up and finishes up work on the latest mega-bill to fund the government so I can dig into that for work. I have some projects I want to do there that will involve spending some time now to make my life, and the lives of many fellow money law practitioners, easier going forward. Plus I’d also like to take the half day our head of agency gave us off today, but that won’t happen until I know we don’t have to shut down at midnight. At this point in my career I just sort of sigh, shake my head, and move along with my job, as Congress is stuck in this pattern now and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, so I just roll with it.

Switching between the medications for reflux ain’t all that fun. My body seems to want about a two week adjustment period before it evens out. Given that I’m in the third adjustment period (prescription samples, over-the-counter, now back to the prescription), it seems to be a regular thing. The first week has some unintended side effects (consistent across the three), and then it all kicks in at two weeks. Given that I’m in the middle of week one, life in ye olde gut is interesting.

At work, before we went on vacation I cleaned a large part of my office. My desk is clear for the first time in years (no piles of files/paper/books), and a good chunk of the bookshelf got cleared out and organized. The credenza behind me has the books I use most, and no more excess paper. It’s been illuminating, both in terms of my own work processes, and in terms of the reactions from my office. Everyone has commented on it. I’m loving having space to spread a project out to work on it, then put it all away when it’s done or I have to switch gears. Only drawback to date is there’s no place to hide something easily if someone comes in and they don’t need to see what I was working on (no files to flip over the paper, etc.). But I’ll take the calmer work environment.

That combined with the lack of caffeine (and hence the lack of energy spikes and lows) has, I think, meant a more even-keeled Moose at work. Gut issues aside. I had forgotten about how early I need to get to bed when not depending on a steady caffeine source during the day. Probably better on the whole, but it’s another adjustment.

Training is interesting. I’m trying more things like hill work, tempo runs, etc. this time around. Still too early to tell the effect, but I am looking forward to workouts more when they have more of a purpose, and more of a structure. Still need to lay out strength training in a more organized fashion, but I know where I’m going with that.

We’re headed off to see the boy’s family in another week, and in anticipation of the drive up, and to take care of the check engine light that popped on just before vacation, I dropped the Mini off at the shop to get it all adjusted. A couple thousand later it drove more smoothly on the way home after I picked it up this afternoon. Not exactly what I wanted to drop that amount of money on, but it’s worth keeping the car going. After driving the newer model loner car, I have to say I’m happy with my 12 year old car, so I’m glad I can keep it running well.

Life can be such an interesting experiment. After putting off seeing a specialist for ages, I finally got tired of a consistent belching that I had going on. Turns out the reflux that my mother and her father have/had was passed to me. Yay! Long story short the excess acid production was/is causing me to swallow too much air, so that’s what was/is causing the belching.

Had samples of a prescription drug, got it under control, then the samples ran out. Tried the over the counter (OTC) version, which didn’t give the same results (the samples I had were a newer form of the drug, and 4x as high a dose as the OTC stuff). So, saw the doc for a follow up today, got a prescription for the fancier stuff, and now we start the food experimentation portion of the treatment. I already know that coffee sets it off, so I gave that up a couple of weeks ago (the boy’s expression wasn’t quite one of horror when I told him I’d been off coffee for two days when I first started, but it was close – I had trained him well that coffee was the first thing I needed in the morning). Tea eased the withdrawal, but I’m mostly off that now, too. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been caffeine free – did that once before from ’00-’01, but then we had that little airplane event in the fall and I went back to regular coffee drinking.

I already know that pizza is out, as is falafel, sodas, and beer. Spicy foods seem to be a no-no as well. But the experiment will continue as I figure out what does and doesn’t work. It’s a fun process, actually, and I get to eat a lot of different things as I figure this out.

In other catching up, the anniversary trip to the shore with the boy went well. Didn’t get burned at the shore, had a good time relaxing and reading, and just catching up with each other outside the norm. We walked all over the place, which upped the numbers for both of us on the step count on our vivofits. I think it’s been fun to have those together and to have something of a competition going with them. He wins outright on pure walking, but I tend to go over when you factor in my running. And we both beat his sister regularly (got her one for xmas), which is what really counts.

I’m training now for the marine corps marathon this fall. I got in last year, developed runner’s knee, and postponed the race to this year. While not quite where I’d have liked to be in terms of a base, the training is going well. Related to that, I’m going to take a break from the tri club. There’s been a bit of drama with regard to the newbie program I’ve help run for the last decade, and I’m just not willing to put up with it at this point. I’ve never been one that enjoyed training with a large group (I like the meditative aspects of training), and I’m not really drinking at all (see the reflux discussion above) so I don’t get out and see club folks very often, and I think the club has just moved on, as have I. I’ll maintain my membership, but I don’t see myself doing a lot with them in the immediate future.

Knee is still doing well. No pain, keeping up activity levels, all seems to be good.

Saw the boy off to the airport this morning. He and a coworker are off to a conference for the first part of the week. After dropping him off I picked up a surprise for him – plants from the local garden shop to go into the two big planters on the balcony, and a pot to repot our third pothos. Hopefully he’ll enjoy the healthier looking balcony, especially since I hauled a ton of gross, dead plant bits out, too.

Otherwise it’s been a day of video games and trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to do with myself until he’s back. It’s odd how you become accustomed to having your life revolve around someone else, and when they’re not there, even temporarily, it leave you out of sorts. Did finally bother to make dinner, kept it healthy. Debated going to the store for ice cream, but am feeling too lazy for that. And I have the last of the blueberries from my parents’ garden to nosh on, anyway.

Haven’t fixed the commuting bike yet. Maybe tomorrow after work. Maybe.

I want more coffee, but I’m trapped by a cat in my lap who’s purring up a storm, and burying her head in the crook of my arm. I feel bad for the lack of attention she’s gotten, and the disruption to her routine over the past few days with visitors in the house, so I stay seated, surfing the web and occasionally scratching an ear.

I was reminded tonight of how much easier cooking can be with a well-stocked kitchen. Well-stocked with equipment, that is.

When I remember that I have it, having a garlic press is so much easier than trying to mince that stuff by hand. The immersion blender was one of the better things I’ve talked the hubby into getting “for himself”. But, in my defense, he’s the one who doesn’t like chunky marinara, so while I’m the one using it, it’s for his benefit.

The right size pots, good cutting boards and knives, all good stuff. The stove is too small (20″ – one large burner and three small ones), but I make due. At least it works, unlike the one I replaced (the original stove from the early 1960s – it was hard wired into the wall).

The marinara was fantastic. As always, it was different from any other marinara I’ve made, because I never follow a set recipe. I borrow from sauce recipes, but I no longer follow them slavishly. A teaspoon of this, a tablespoon of that. Balsamic vinegar this time, red wine that time. A touch of tomato paste or a whole 6oz can. Thankfully I made enough to freeze several batches, so we’ll enjoy this one later, too.

This was a good way of distracting myself from the shutdown insanity gripping DC. I’m in the middle of it at work, as usual, a casualty of my main legal specialty. I’ll be working all week regardless of what Congress does, but it’s stressful stuff. So a good night of creativity through cooking in a well stocked kitchen was a nice respite.

I know I’ve said it elsewhere, but I don’t think I’ve said it here: there is little better than homemade mayonnaise. And once you’ve made it at home, why would you ever buy the commercial stuff? That has to be one of the more exciting recent food discoveries. Turns into a nice salad dressing, too.

Also, as I’ve been cooking in the boy’s place I’ve realized how incredibly spoiled I am in my own kitchen, because I’ve had time to slowly build up a good collection of kitchen equipment, giving me a greater range of things that I can prep/make (like the aforementioned mayonnaise – the food processor is key there, though a blender can work, too). Another reason why I look forward to combining our households, so I can cook more for us.

My recent cookbook reading has been Paleo-based, which I’ve been enjoying. No (or minimal) dairy, which is good for lactose-intolerant me. Lots of veggies, also good. And not afraid of full-fat meals, which is a lot tastier than a lot of stuff. Not exactly ‘the two fat ladies’ level, but some good stuff. And the boy hasn’t complained about most of it, which is also a plus. He’s pickier to feed than I am, his diet is fairly bland, so finding stuff he’ll eat has been a challenge. Trying a shepherd’s pie tonight, we’ll see how that goes, though his text response to the suggestion was excited, so I’m thinking it’ll be a win.

The only really fun part has been that it avoids wheat in its entirety, which isn’t the easiest, or even the tastiest. But I have found when I avoid wheat products my digestive system seems to be quieter than not. Annoying, that, since, well, bread & noodles are delicious. But perhaps not the best for my gut. Not allergic to it, was tested on that back in November, but I definitely feel better after I haven’t eaten it for a while.

Waiting for Hurricane Sandy to hit the DC area is a mess. Haven’t seen a thing here yet, except empty grocery stores. Am very, very glad I made the boy go shopping last night rather than waiting until today – facebook and the like have been full of pictures of empty shelves.

Dragged in the boy’s chair from his balcony, and I took a few things off my own balcony yesterday before coming over to dog-sit today while the boy was at work. Past that there’s not a lot else to do but wait and see what hits tonight and whether I’ll be going to work tomorrow. Luckily I have the option of covered parking at the boy’s place, so the car should be fine when the first wind (and related tree debris) hits. It’s highly unlikely that either of our places will lose power – the boy’s school has “backups for their backups” and my place is close enough to the capitol that all the power lines are buried.

So far I’ve read two comics that were in “the pile” (of reading material waiting for attention), futzed around in the kitchen (butternut squash soup in the crock pot), walked the dog twice as much as he normally goes out, and tried not to pay attention to the work documents that I brought home in case the office is closed tomorrow (that, at least, was successful; I’ve given the taxpayers no free work today). I wish my bike and trainer were here at the boy’s, then I could’ve at least ridden for a bit. But the waiting is the worst.

Surprising the boy with a slow cooker batch of meatballs tomorrow. He’s been at a work retreat the past two nights and gets back tomorrow, and will do so to an apartment that will smell fabulous.

I’m still irritated at myself, with regard to my last post on countfour. And I’m finding it difficult to blog as well. It’s an election year in DC, I can’t really talk about work or politics (yay Hatch act!), and it seems crazier than normal (in no small matter because of the proliferation of political ads, since Virginia is in play this year). I did finally get new orthotics for running, after some drama with the PT shop (the first set was too wide/tall & had to be shaved down to fit; PT guy was clearly not happy when I brought them in for refitting, but we got it resolved). So now I can run again, and have been starting to get back to that.

We’ve put in a request for a proposal for a wedding venue. Like the place, options seem good, then it’s just picking a date. Oy. The only date we know we want/have to work around is July 6, which is next year’s Total 200 ride, which the boy has said he wants to do next year, and I’m game to ride with him.

1. I’m fat (by which I mean I’m well overweight, not that I’m fatally obese).
2. I don’t like what my body looks like, naked.
3. The state of my body and health embarrasses me.
4. Being overweight affects my self-confidence in all aspects of my life.
5. I do not have self-control over junk food.
6. My body is not forgiving, so my diet needs to be exemplary.
7. I’m an emotional eater.
8. When I don’t plan my eating, I don’t eat well.
9. I spend too much energy trying to find a perfect, total solution to these problems, rather than focusing on small, incremental changes.
10. I get angry when small setbacks occur.
11. I give in to the negative talk in my head.
12. I obsess over my flaws.
13. These things hold me back from being the person I want to be.