My Hero

Can you tell I'm writing a paper? Procrastination!!! Back to writing! I will master this dance though. Yes I will.

Much ado about nothing.

Much has been happening lately, which is probably why I haven't had time to blog about it. I don't have time right now, but am of course procrastinating. I think it's been too much to catch up on in one blog though.

Most recently I spent the second of three consecutive weekends on the mainland. This weekend was supposed to be two days of work for me, then a wedding on Sunday. I started getting sick on Thursday, by the end of work on Friday was feeling pretty horrible, and by Saturday was dead on my feet. I still went to work, and got back to my in-laws and collapsed. Needless to say we didn't go to the wedding on Sunday. I was so sad not to go, as this was the wedding of a friend who was our only friend when we moved to MA and helped us so much!!

We came home Sunday night, and I worked all day today, and am now cramming to finish a giant lit review and research proposal that is due on Wednesday. Of course I'm cramming, of course I didn't get it done before now. Ug. SO wishing I had, as I'm still feeling pretty under the weather and would love nothing more than to just sleep.

This week is also, of course a full work-week, re-training entire teams, running assessments and more. Liturgy on Wednesday will hopefully be a blessed break. I also foolishly agreed to have a draft of my upcoming conference presentation to the supervising prof by Friday. Then Friday night I head back to the mainland to attend an all day workshop on Saturday!

Then, hard as it is to believe it will be Palm Sunday and Holy Week. How is that possible? Where did Lent go? But, that means that Pascha is coming soon, and one more school semester will be over, and it will only be a month until I go to the conference in Chicago.

So apparently this was just a post to whine about my schedule. Really - writing it all out here somehow soothes me. I don't know why, but it does :-).

I would just like to not be sick. That's all, then the rest will be managable.

Yummy pasta Salad

I had a number of veggies to clear out of my fridge and needed something for a late breakfast/early lunch. I also had a bit of cream cheese and mayonnaise left over from before lent which needed to be used up...So, here is the yummy pasta meal I made :-).

Orzo and Veggie Pasta Salad

Ingredients
4 oz (1 cup) dry orzo pasta
2 Cups Frozen Peas
2.5 Cups chopped red bell pepper
1 Cup chopped cucumber
1 Cup chopped celery
1/2 Cup chopped dry moraccan olives
1/3 Cup Minced red onion 1 1/2 Tbsp. Light mayonnaise
1/2 Tbsp Pesto
1/3 Cup light cream cheese
1 Tbsp (or to taste) balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp Water

Directions
Cook the orzo. About half way through cooking, add the frozen peas. Meanwhile, chop up all the other vegetables and the olives. Drain Orzo and peas and rinse with cold water in a colander until cooled. Let drain. Add Orzo and peas to vegetable mixture. Make dressing: Blend mayonnaise, cream cheese, and pesto together. Add enough balsamic vinegar and water to smooth dressing out slightly. Dressing should be the same consistency as a thick ranch or ceasar dressing. Fold dressing into pasta and veggies and enjoy!! Chick peas could or feta cheese could be added for protein.
Serving size = 1 Cup
Number of Servings: 7

Nutritional Info: Amount Per Serving ,Calories: 141.6, Total Fat: 3.6 g, Cholesterol: 2.6 mg, Sodium: 186.4 mg, Total Carbs: 23.2 g, Dietary Fiber: 4.0 g, Protein: 5.6 g

The Plan.

So, to make a long story shorter - I started my degree in January of 2007. Normally, people start the degree in September. Typically, it is structured so that you take 2 courses (6 credits) per semester. So, I was 2 courses behind the cohort who started in September 2006. The school wonderfully allowed me to start a semester late (rather than waiting till the following Sept.), and the plan was for me to catch up to the cohort if I could by taking an extra course during 2 of the semesters.

Of course, thus far, I haven't done this. It didn't sound like it would be a problem. But, I've just discovered that due to the way courses are offered, my option is either to a) catch up to my start group by taking extra courses, and actually be done a semester earlier than I'd planned, or b) essentially take an extra year to finish my degree.

So, after some deliberation, I've decided to go with option A and catch up. This is exciting, as it means I'll be done all course work and internship by the end of this year (Dec 2008), but a bit anxiety-proking as it means taking and paying for 21 credits over the next two semesters. So, the plan is, so far:
Internsip and one course during the summer.
Internship, thesis and another course in the fall semester.

Then, if I manage it I will take the spring semester next year to finish off my thesis in time to do my oral defense in May 2009. Just over 1 year from now. Wow.

So, it will be a lot of work, but I think I can put the push in for two semesters to get myself caught up and finished most everything a semester earlier than planned, and a year earlier than I would be able to if I don't take these two heavy load semesters.

So there it is. I'm excited to be at least planning my last two semesters. That being said, I should probably try to get SOMEwhere with my coursework for this semester before it ends in a few weeks. lol.

My cat plays hide-and-seek.

Yes. My cat plays hide and seek and it is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. D. Started it with her. He would hide behind a wall or around the corner, then jump out when she got close to him. Now, she does the same thing. She was just running around upstairs like a maniac, so I went up to see what all the fuss was and turns out she was just super hyper. So I decided to play a game of hide and seek (really more like peek-a-boo). It's hysterical! Now that I'm trying, I don't think I can quite explain it...ah well. Funny.

Comfort food involving Kale?

Brunch today:

Home made Polenta topped with:

About 1 1/2 cups Kale,
About 1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic
About 1 tbsp minced red onion
salt
pepper
about 1 tbsp tomato paste mixed with some water
All sauteed together until the Kale is wilted, and veggies are soft.

I put this on top of home made polenta (yes, my obsession continues).
And sprinkled some hot sauce on top.

mmmmm......

This was the first time I've used Kale. It was really good. I love the color of Kale -it's such a nice rich dark green color. Looks nice with the polenta and mushrooms :-).

Tastes good too.

I know...this is a bit weird to be eating at 10am. Ah well.

My husband.

I love how well my husband takes care of me and puts up with my baby-ness when I'm not feeling well. I'm lucky :-).

Spring in Victoria

This is a beautiful tree in our back yard. One of my favorite things about Victoria is the beautiful blossoms blooming in spring.

I'm hoping to soon post the progression of my little garden plot. Our landlords have very nicely given us permission to use a rather large raised bed. Right now it's still full of rocks, so hopefully today I'll get out there to rake out the rocks and lay down the topsoil. I know very little about gardening, but will give it a shot! I've been reading about needing to test the soil PH and possible put down lime?? I may need to visit a garden centre to find out about this.

Carrot soup and another good recipe site.

My new favorite recipe website is FatFreeVegan.com . I've been using recipes from this site for a while, but am finding it especially useful now that lent has begun, and I'm still trying to eat healthfully. It's so easy during lent to end up eating nothing but carbohydrates (bread, bread, more bread), but I think with this websites help, along with my "Everyday Vegan" cookbook and the Moosewood cookbook, I should be able to manage to eat properly.

Last night I made this AMAZING carrot soup. It is mostly a recipe I got from AllRecipes.com, but I merged it a bit with one from FatFree Vegan.com. I had SO many carrots and potatoes and onions from my most recent Spud orders, and thought soup would be a good use for them :-). What I came out with was the following:

Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 large carrots, sliced
8 new potatoes, quartered
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 Can Coconut milk
2/3 Cup water.

Directions:

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook stirring often until onion is translucent. Add carrots and potatoes, and cook for just a few minutes to allow the carrots to sweat out some of their juices.

Pour the vegetable broth into the pot, and season with ginger, curry powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until carrots are tender.

Puree soup in small batches using a food processor or blender, or if you have an immersion blender, it can be done in the soup pot.

Add one can of coconut milk and 2/3 cup water. You can reduce the coconut milk and replace with water, or eliminate it completely to reduce the fat/calories, but it's sooooo good with the coconut milk :-).

Reheat soup if necessary, and serve. Makes 12 cups, 1 cup per serving.

Nutritional Information per 1 cup: 245.6 Calories, 8.0 grams fat, 0 cholesterol, 944.2mg sodium, 40.6g carbs, 6.0 g dietary fibre, 5.0g protein, lots of required daily vitamins and minerals.

It is a super tasty soup. I also made this mock-pumpkin-maple cream cheese thing there was a recipe for on FFV, which is pretty tasty, as well as a beet-carrot cake. Unfortunately I think I put the cake in the wrong kind of pan and it didn't cook through. Also, I think my whole wheat flour may be too old or something.

Rejuvinated

D. has been working on the mainland for the last week. I had to work on the mainland Friday, then had a meeting in Van. on Friday evening, and had to work in the morning on Sat on the mainland.

Friday was a VERY long day, as I took the 7am ferry over (which means leaving home at 5:45am), worked all day till about 3pm then drove straight out to Van for a somewhat..hmm necessary but perturbing work meeting with good potential (i know...confusing). I went out for dinner with a number of colleagues after the meeting, and that was definitely rejuvenating. Being on the island it is easy to feel isolated, and I don't get many chances to connect with colleagues. It was a great dinner out.

The best part about the day was that it ended with seeing my husband! Since he had the hotel all weekend for work, we stayed at the hotel and had a COMPLETE mini-retreat. It was excellent. We literally spent the whole time (that I wasn't working) relaxing, ordered in a Massive sushi feast, which was excellent, as sushi is twice as expensive here in Vic so we rarely have the sushi feasts we used to when living on the mainland. We slept so much, had so much good, relaxing time together and even ordered room service for breakfast!! I don't think we realized how badly we needed some good quality time together until we had it. It really did feel like we were much further away than we were, and really managed (amazingly) to forget about the rest of the world for a couple of days. Now, sadly, I'm home without him - he's on the mainland for another week. But that makes me all the more thankful for a wonderful weekend with him. I love my husband :-). (At risk of an Internet version of PDA).

The Big Give

I just finished watching (I think) the first episode of "Oprah's Big Give." Okay, let me preface this with a few things.

1) Yes, I know, Oprah is making LOADS of money off of this show.
2) I know, it is mostly a brilliant marketing plan for a TV show - it combines both the "reality" TV thing, with the extreme home makover, emotional, make-you-cry-every-time "reveal" angle.
3) I AM one of "those" people who cries at the end of almost every episode of extreme home makeover,

All that said, I think, if you're going to make loads of money off of a reality show, this is the most "ethical" way to do it. Lol.
I love that in every episode, at least 3-5 people/families/groups in need will be helped. I like that it shows what can be done with detemination. That it spotlights people and causes and issues that are important. I am a sucker for this type of thing....that said, this one episode did cause me to think about what can be done. To think about all those things I want to see happen, and think about the reality of what is needed to make them happen. There are goals and dreams I have about ways I want to "give back." Strong convictions I have about certain issues...and I will keep watching. Mostly because this show, at the very least gives an insight into the strategy, management and sales skills necesary to make those types of dreams a reality.

ANYhoo....as I mentioned above, I KNOW that this show is primarily a business enterprise. It is being produced to make money. Oprah's "persona" is being used as a marketing tool to bring in more viewers, and to make even more money. But, being that there are LOADS of reality/big reveal shows out there preying on our guilt of consumption...I think that this one may be one of the more beneficial ones to watch :-).

Things that are making me smile today.

Jello's new no-sugar added refrigerator pudding. It is SOOOoooo creamy and thick and yummy, especially the butterscotch one. AND it is only 60 calories per serving!! Love it.








And, at risk of advertising for telus (don't want to do that), I love their newest commercial:

People Watching at the Gym

Wow. I don't know if I've become more observant at the gym or if people watching has gotten more interesting. The last two days I've finished up work and what not a bit later, and have wanted to exercise after dark. Not wanting to go walking/jogging alone at night I've gone to the gym at the local Rec Centre. I forgot how much I like it there....I spent about an hour and a half the first night and an hour and 15 minutes the second night and on both nights I left mostly because I needed to get other things done, but was enjoying myself enough I could have stayed quite a bit longer.

So...they have rearranged the gym, and some of the machines I use are in different locations, namely closer proximity to the weight training area. There are a few interesting characters:
- Super fit girl who works super hard and seems shy and keeps to herself
- Boysterous body builder, who makes lots of noise, asks random people to "spot" him (usually female), and obviously hits on superfit girl at least 2-3 times per hour (based on my 1.25 hour observation). Superfit girl has him on planned ignore. She clearly is irritated by him.
- Crazy, and I mean MAD tiny tiny skinny skinny man who goes so fast on the elliptical (using the handles too) that I seriously am hesitant to walk behind him while he's on the machine, as he looks like at any moment a) he will go flying off the elliptical accross the room, and hit the wall before dropping to the floor, b) he will pass out, or c) I will get hit by projectile sweat dropplets. Seriously, I'm always waiting for the gym monitors to ask him to slow down before the machine breaks. It's like nothing I've every seen before.
- A former philosophy prof of mine. This is, for those of you who have heard the story, the same prof I encountered in the pool area of this rec centre 2 or more years ago. I was swimming laps and came up for air to find myself looking at my philosophy prof, who was in a speedo, JUMPING up and down trying to get water out of his ears or something. lol.
- Amazing woman who rows like 15k on the rowing machine. I was on one next to her and had no idea how long she'd been rowing until she asked me to read her distance/calorie report for her (she is blind). I just about fell off my machine! She's really really nice too.

Anyways...I kind of like that the same people were there (many anyways) both nights and that most people know the gym staff who are really nice and walk around checking in with people and talking to them. I think as soon as I have the money I'll buy a pack of tickets or year long pass again...I really like this gym. And because it's a rec centre, the tickets or pass also give you entrance to the pool etc.

Taking up space.

Really I'm just posting a blog, because I'm getting irritated seeing the last one over and over again. Not much to report.

I'm settling in for (BOO!) two weeks by myself, as D. left today to work on the mainland for two weeks.

We had a flurry of socializing this week which was great. We had some frineds over on Thursday to visit and watch some arrested development (always fun!), Friday we used a gift card and went out for dinner at the Keg with a couple from Church, and last night we had friends visiting from up-island. We had good food and a rockin' few games of croquenot. Loved it!

I really really should be studying...I have test tomorrow and another on Tuesday and a busy week...but I'm feeling lazy and blah and having a hard time extricating myself from watching the Oscars...even though I don't think I've seen one of the nominated movies!

Who's a nerd?

For some reason, there has always been this mystique around the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Mannual. I've never seen the real thing, but have toiled for hours hunting down information on line and editing my papers and reference lists to meet it's critera.

Well, I had to buy it for a class this semester. Turns out it's only about 30.00. Hmm. I did get that "new textbook" excited feeling though (even though it's not an actual textbook), and there is something very comforting and a little bit exciting about having a copy for myself now. Sigh. Nerd-o. I know.

Growing back into myself.

I've been getting sick constantly, been tired alot, unmotivated, unhealthy. I knew what would help, I knew what would make me healthier, happier and in a better place. Getting around to making the changes I needed to was more difficult.

The first step was to go to Church regularly, and to take steps towards becoming more a part of that community. This has been challenging, as I am so often away for work. Making sure I am there every Sunday I'm healthy and here has made a big difference though.

My next step was to get healthier. I changed a number of habits including eating (all of this is still a work in progress) and have started getting more exercise on a regular basis. I'm remembering how much I enjoy this when I do it, and how much I enjoy cooking. Cooking really is realxing and such therapy for me, but along with socializing it goes out the window when I'm busy.

My wonderful mother, worried about my constantly being sick mailed me a care package including all kinds of vitamins, echinaccia, cold fx etc. I've been taking these regularly, trying to heal from the pneumonia, and prevent this looming cold!

Another big piece of the puzzle for me is that I am the ultimate extrovert, and lately, haven't been socializing at all. Partly due to scheduling, partly due to the effort involved in getting to know new people and making connections in the city I've now lived in for 5 years on and off and have yet to really put roots down in.

So, this week the social time just happened. There are a number of things we've been meaning to do, and people we've been wanting to get together and it's all fallen into place this week for some reason. Last night I had a great long walk and glass of wine with a girl friend. Tomorrow night we're having a few people over to watch a favorite series (arrested development!), hopefully, Friday we'll have dinner with a wonderful couple we don't get to spend time with often, and Saturday some friends are visiting from up-island and we'll hopefully have a great evening of making dinner together, dutch blitz and maybe even some croquenot.

My poor introverted husband may collapse before the week is up, but I know I will be energized!

As long as I can keep this cold away and manage to get all my work and studying done despite the socializing it will be a great week :-).

Sugar free brownies..mmm

Magnificent M gave me this recipe eons ago, and I hadn't tried it till yesterday. These brownies are actually really quite good. They are, technically 0 pts if you are doing WW, and only 26 calories. Granted, if you divide them into 16 servings, they are very small, but hey, at 26 calories I won't complain, I'll just eat two :-).

Ingredients
2/3 Cup Splenda
1/3 Cup cocoa
1/3 Cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 Cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 Cup low fat plain yogurt (can substitute 1/4 light or fat free sour creme, or fat free yogurt).

Directions
Beat splenda and applesauce until smooth. Mix in egg, yogurt, and vanilla.
Mix cocoa, flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and add to wet ingredients.
Mix until just blended.
Bake in an 8x8 baking pan at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Makes 16 small brownies.
Number of Servings: 16

Nutritional Info
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 26.5 Total Fat: 0.7 g Cholesterol: 13.5 mg Sodium: 37.5 mg
Total Carbs: 5.0 g Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g Protein: 1.3 g

I heart Trader Joes

A collegue of D.'s was going to the states and offered to pick us up treats from Trader Joes. So, we made her a shopping list and here's what D. brought home tonight!!

In case you can't see...there are Tamari Wasabi almonds, triple ginger snaps, multigrain pita chips, Chipolte salsa, Tuna in yellow curry sauce (I've been dreaming about this!), mini peanut butter cups, multigrain rice crackers and reduced fat cheesies!! So many of our favorites!!!! Hooray!!!

Spending time wtih a childhood friend

This is the third Saturday in a row I've watch the Padington Bear cartoon. That means this is the third Saturday in a row I've been up at 6 am for something or other. Lame. I am dreaming of next Satruday, as it's the my one weekend off and thus far unbooked. The following weekend it will be off to the mainland again for work on Friday and Sat. and a meeting Friday evening.

So, this is actually a fairly good cartoon. And, few know this now, but growing up I had (and still have somewhere) a Padington Bear doll that slept with me every night. Who, for many years I was convinced a) could hear and understand me talking, b) had feelings that would be hurt if (for example) I placed another stuffed animal in the "prized" spot on the bed; or dropped him on the floor, or packed a different stuffed animal in my suitcase when going on a trip, leaving him behind.

So, I guess, if I'm going to be up at 6am multiple Saturdays in a row, it's good to spend some time with my old friend Paddy.

Mraz amataz

So whenever my brother and I get together, he ALWAYS has some new music to play me. Despite how different we are in most areas, my brother has this uncanny ability to peg my taste in music like no one else. He always has a list of songs/artists to play me that I will "love." I always do. Jason Mraz was one of those. He played it for me one day while we were driving somewhere, and I loved it, but then forgot about it. BUT - he made me a CD of Jason Mraz's tunes for Christmas. I can't explain to you how much I love this artist. Mraz combines all the things I love about at least 5 different artists. He's phenomenal.

The video in this clip is lame (shaky), but I had to post this song (there are actually two in this clip, but the first one is the one I was looking for). The sound is the better in this one than the other clips though. So good. So so good. I've been grooving to Mr. Mraz for about 3 days straight now :-).