Writers Workshop Thursday: How Do You Stave Off Boredom?

Usually I eat.

Since I have been on the whole weightloss/healthier me/exercise thing I needed to find another way to keep my brain active.

I redesign the house on the Cape that we rent in my head. Crazy? Yes/no. This house is where my body stays while my soul is resting on Cape Cod. I have been staying in it since I was 8 years old. It is much loved and I have always dreamed of making it mine.

It is pretty plainly furnished, but not in a bad way. I love what is there becuase of what it is to me. I love that the bed matresses are so old that you essentially end up making a nest in them as you sleep. I love that the showerhead in the bathroom is not a low flow one and can pummel your back into massage-like bliss. I love that the sun streams into the dining area in the afternoon bathing the table in watery, relaxing rays.

It I think about the things I would change and then sometimes, change back, not wanting to ruin the feel of the place. I could never change the seagrass rugs or the little desk in the 'office' room. I would keep the Julia Child-like pegboad where all the pots and pans hang along with spatulas and measuring spoons. I would however buy new knives.

Before I know it, I have whiled away an hour, dreaming and placing and relaxing. This is an exercise that I love and one that I think I will always have.

A Green Bean Spit at Me

Seriously. I don't think it was all to happy to be in that boiling water. I bet it liked it even less when after the blanching it got thrown into a sautee pan.

I wrote a phrase today that made me think a little bit the rest of the day. "It's so great when my love of food works with me instead of against me."

Yesterday I picked up my farm share and went into 'what is this and what do I do with it' mode. Yesterday it all clicked. We had turkey burgers with green beans and almonds and a big salad. The lettuce in the salad was crazy fresh and tasted of spring. All it needed was some craisins and a little vinaigrette. I also got some rainbow chard and beets. I promptly chopped up the chard and the greens from the beats and sauteed that in olive oil and garlic and then added left over brown rice, saving it for this evening's feast.

Last night I prepared a Chicken Tikka marinade, using homemade yogurt no less. It is in the fridge waiting for the grill. I still have garlic scapes that are new to me but dying to use and a few small beats and potatoes that I want to roast so badly I don't think I'd even mind the heat of the oven in the humid weather.

Usually my love of food gets me into trouble. I like my cheese. I also like butter and a heavy handed olive oil pour. It just sees like the fresher the food, the less I have to do to it. I am grateful for the veggies every week. I am grateful for the leafy greens that are turning me into a rabbit because as soon I get used to these wonderful things, they will be gone. Replaced by tomatoes and zucchini. Bittersweet.

Where Does Time Go?

I think about this a lot. It's funny that I chose to write about this topic when I have a digital timer next to me counting down the minutes 'till I am supposed to take the rice off the heat. I think about how much time I spend doing things I don't want to do and during those times I am thinking about things I want to do. For instance, there was laundry to be folded when I got home, laundry to be started, dinner to be prepped. There is a huge list and I can't ever figure out why it is that I don't have the time to do the things I was thinking about while I was folding laundry and chopping broccoli (insert music "Choppin' brocoli-he, choppin' broccolee. She was choppin' broccoleee!" must be an SNL fan from the good times for that reference).

People tell you that you need to 'make' time. What the hell does that mean, make time? Time is just there, you have a certain amount and it continually marches on (across your face if you are a woman, yes Steel Magnolias). It seems like other people have the time to do stuff besides house stuff. What are their ingredients for 'made time'? Do they have a spouse who knows how to empty a dishwasher or fold laundry without begging? Is it one cup helpful mate, 1/2 a cup of no one is coming over this weekend let the vacuuming go, a pinch of less control freak and a dab of JUST LET GO? What are your ingredients for made time? I need to know because according to my timer, I have a few precious minutes before I have to leave this blog and make dinner.

Jeez, This Thing Needs Work

Apparently, BlogHer no longer graces my blog with their ads and that has f-ed up my layout. Probably something I should look into but considering I have neglected my blog for about 3 months, it's probably not what will happen right at this moment.

Right now, I have time to eck out a few words. I don't know if I will have time tomorrow. I am still here, I am still thinking about writing but all the "small stuff" is being so sweated over these days that it makes it difficult to type. I keep shorting out keyboards.

So Is This What People Do Instead of Watching TV?

Lost night I made mini-cupcakes...70 of them. Homemade. Homemade butter cream frosting. Four different colors.

No I did not suddenly spring a 1st grader from my loins. They are for a Lottery Yarn function this evening. When I was asked to make a dessert for this class the cover of MS Living from February sprang to mind. I mean they are mini cupcakes. How hard could that be? I'll tell you...easy. The hard part...time consuming.

You see, during my recent hibernation, I have watched just about every old episode of NCIS. For some reason it became my favorite show. This is a sign that I am depressed, I watch too much meaningless TV. (I still like the show but how many times do I need to see the "Dead Man Walking" episode, really?) I watched my Dad do it and somehow I seem to slip into the very same habits as he did when he had his bouts of depression. I think one of my lobes is technically jelly now because I have been so attached to the TV.

Anyway, when I realized how stressed I was about the time consuming nature of said cupcakes because another show was on that I wanted to see is when it hit me, I have a problem. I am missing out on way too much by plopping in front of the boob tube to watch Mark Harmon slap Michael Weatherly on the back of the head. It was then I decided to not watch any TV that night, no matter when I was finished. I took my time, playing with colors and swirling the frosting on each mini cupcake. When I was done, it all looked so cute and pretty. It was about 3 and a half hours of work but I made something tasty and pretty. It was a pretty good feeling.

I guess what I am trying to get at is, I need to lift my head up to fully move out of my March crud and into the spring. There is too much out there to do to spend my life with my head down.

Small Grrr: Warming Up the Car

This has bothered me for quite some time. I live in Southeastern PA. We are not living on the frozen tundra nor are we living in a place that even resembles one. So please tell me why if you don't have an infant or a sick child or an elderly infirm person getting into your car at 7:00am do you feel the need to 'warm up' your car?

Today it was about 40 degrees when I was out walking G-dog. Not freezing, barely cold but as I was walking by houses I saw many cars with their engines running in the driveways. I know these homes. I walk by them EVERY morning. I know they don't have elderly people or infants getting in those cars in the morning so WHY must they 'warm up' their cars EVERY DAY?

Did you know that it is illegal to have your car idling for more than 5 minutes in some states? You can be ticketed for it. Also, most car manuals will tell you NOT to do it as it does the car no good. Basically, all you are doing when you leave your car running that that is wasting gas and contributing to greenhouse gasses. I mean seriously, do these people not own coats or gloves? Is 5 minutes of cold going to kill them while the car runs as they are driving to their destination? I think not.

The next time I see this happen and it is not cold and there are no infants or elderly people in the home, I am going to leave a note on their car asking why they feel the need to do this. Maybe it will shame them into toughening up just a tiny bit.

Are You Guys New?

I think it was probably the worst thing ever said to our football team.

Yes it is that time of year again. I am playing football on Saturday for the next 8 weeks. This week, however, we were handed a defeat and an insult (not meant as one) at the same time. You see we are all (ok not all) in our mid 30's. We have creaky joints, trouble waking up on the weekends and some of us could stand to do a little more exercise. We just love to play and are not ready to give up the idea that we could win a 6th championship. However, we looked like we were playing underwater this week. Afterwards, it was all we could do to crawl to the beer cooler to refresh ourselves and say that it was 'only the first game', no big deal. It was unfortunate that at this time one of our player was talking to one of the players from the opposing team and they asked, 'Is this your first season?'

Oh the SHAME!

We have played together for about 5 years and also been playing in the league for about 10. We just happened to play against a team we had never played in the years past. What do you do when you have been shamed as such? It made me think. Is this what it has come to? Should I still be playing? I admit I was pretty shaken. Then, another team needed some girls to round out their team (ok, they are required to have 3 of us). It was in the Competitive division (we play in Recreational) so it was a bit scary but we figured what the hell.

We lost there too.

BUT!

My pass completion percentage was 80%.

Maybe I'll play a few more seasons.