What’s cookin Tuesday 2/9/10

Today, in honor of tomorrow’s snowstorm, I’m making vegetable soup. I’d wanted to buy a chicken yesterday because I’m out of homemade stock but there were no fresh chickens in the grocery store! (apparently they’re all snowed in in Maryland)

This week someone gave Long Suffering a spaghetti sauce sized jar of homemade barbecue sauce. I have never used bbq sauce on anything besides meatloaf and had no idea what to do with it. Then one night I was feeling lazy and really didn’t want to cook, so I poured a bunch over some skinless chicken breasts and baked. Not the most exciting entree but it was easy.

We had friend over for brunch this weekend so I made a baked cheesy vegetable dish (woohoo I didn’t burn the roux!) — yum!, baked french toast stuffed with blueberries and peaches (I used frozen because finding a decent fresh peach right now would be impossible) — also yummy!, and two kinds of banana bread — one plain and one with pecans. I learned that if you freeze overripe bananas and then defrost them they turn into disgusting brown mush…which works great in banana bread AND I learned that no one but me likes nutmeg in their banana bread. (I’m a it of a nutmeg nut…I love it in mashed potatoes.)

What about you? Did you have any culinary adventures this week?

Plans for the week of 2/8/10

Get snowed in. (We’re supposed to get walloped by a Nor’ Easter. )

Half marathon training officially begins today! Woo hoo! (of course I won’t be able to even to make it to the gym to get on a dreadmill on Wednesday because of the above mentioned snow)

I’ve promised my agent a completed draft of my WIP by mid-March so I’m going to be spending a lot of time working on it. Hopefully I’ll add more than I cut….

What about you? What are your plans for the week?

5 weeks done for 2010

Nothing much new to report this week.

Made some progress re: my WIP

Rec’d feedback from agent re: WIP

Ran a little farther (but slower than the week before)

Decided I LOVE blackout curtains…why did it take me so long to buy these for the bedroom?

Bought a sickly plant just because I’m going thru green withdrawl…I blame it on the damn groundhog….

Please tell you did something more interesting last week!

It’s a killer

Heart disease that is.

I know that the pink ribbons are everywhere and I’m not knocking breast cancer awareness, but why isn’t there more red out there? After all HEART DISEASE IS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER of women in the US. (Depending on who you want to believe, it’s either 1 out of 2 or 1 out of 3 women are dying because of heart disease or stroke.)

And for the record, LUNG CANCER is the deadliest cancer for women in the US despite all the breast cancer and ovarian cancer ribbons that would have you believe otherwise.

This rant/psa is brought to you today because it’s National Go Red Day. Now I’ve done my part to raise awareness regarding heart disease and women, have you?

How I See My World 2/4/10

What’s cookin’ Tuesday 2/2/10

Soup. Lots of soup.

I just finished a pot of black bean soup. (I add kidney beans to mine for a little change in texture). Pretty soon we’ll finish up a pot of vegetable soup (mostly root vegetables — parsnips, turnips, carrots, potato — a good winter soup).

Today’s lunch is fake chicken parm — made the sauce last night (I always make homemade sauce — soooo much better) — it’s got whole grain pasta, part skim ricotta, and fake chicken patties (Morningstar).

Tonight’s salad will be topped with asparagus and red pepper which I roasted last night.

What are you eating?

Any suggestions as to what kind of soup I should make next?

Plans for the week of 2/1/10

A new month!

To mark the occassion, I cut 20k from my WIP. I may very well be starting this month with less than last month. But hey, even though I may not have quantity, I’ve got quality. (at least that’s the lie I’m telling myself).

Plans for the week are to write, to run, and to finish the blanket I’m crocheting. I’m tired of looking at pink.

Four weeks done for 2010

We’re a 12th of the way thru the year already?!?!

Slow down, you move too fast.

Had a productive week.

Subbed a piece of flash fiction.

Worked on two novels. (yes, yes, I know, I “should” only be working on one at a time, but I really enjoyed working on the second)

Did my fastest mile ever.

Conquered the elliptical machine.

What did you accomplish?

A struggle vs A challenge

Tuesday morning, having not slept well the night before, I went for a run. I did a half mile warm-up walk and jogged half a mile. And then I quit because it was a struggle. Something was really off. Everything was difficult.

A couple hours I tried again. Again I quit after a mile.

There was a time when I would have been extraordinarily frustrated with myself for quitting, but I’ve learned (slowly and sometimes painfully) that pushing through when I’m struggling usually leads to injury and/or burnout. So I cut myself some slack, and reminded myself I could always try again the next day.

Wednesday I put on my sneakers and tried again. Everything I worked. I did my four miles. I even set a new personal record for my fastest mile. It was a CHALLENGE to go faster and get through the workout, but it wasn’t a struggle.

Yesterday writing was a struggle. A gnashing of teeth and rending of hair epic struggle. I was fed up with the WIP. I was never, ever, going to finish it. I was ready to just hit delete and be done with it.

(Not TOO over the top am I?)

Thankfully my dear friend C, in her gentle, wise way, reminded me that the book is not a catastrophic failure.

I took a break. I worked on my other project which always fills me with joy. It wasn’t until a few hours later that the whole struggle vs. challenge thing occurred to me. I’d been struggling with the WIP and should have just quit for the day, but instead I kept trying to push through. It didn’t work. Things just got worse and worse.

Once I allowed myself a breather, I was once again up to the challenge of working on it. I may not have set any kind of personal record with it, but I did finally make progress.

I need to figure out how to internalize the struggle vs. challenge lesson and would appreciate any tips anyone has about this issue.

How I See My World 1/27/10

Contents of the Evidence Bag