A Helping Hand

If I were left to my own devices, I’d be in BIG trouble.

For real. Because, as you could see earlier in the week, I go through phases that sometimes lack the… uh… errr…. motivation I need to get through a routine day.

Luckily, I must have known this about myself early on and felt it necessary to surround myself with some pretty awesome peeps.

Like ones to talk me into a decent workout. I’ve been on the hunt for new things to fill my attention deficit mind, and Kelly suggested trying the pyramid push up workout she does.

Well ok.

But she totally busted me.

I do push ups like a girl.

I KNOW. Stop laughing. I can run for days and days (figuratively speaking- that is in no way accurate except for when I’ve been overcaffenaited or am cracked out on sugar), but my  upper body strength? Shameful.

So I did what she suggested and tried to man up. Sort of. I can’t go all the way down (TWSS), but I did my best. And worked my way up the ladder to 6 and back down. Kelly does up to 7. But I assume that’s because she’s bad ass and I am not. Sigh…

Then, I moved on to Kacy’s suggestion of this little ab workout she found on Pinterest.

Well ok. I can give this a try- it’s just 9 different sets of types of crunches. The abs hated and loved me for this one. I imagine repeating it again would be a solid workout in itself.

Yay for me actually doing something that isn’t cardio on my own! Because as much as I love her, sometimes I just don’t want to deal with Jillian after I get home from work.

She’s really loud, guys…

This was all in addition to the 20 minutes I threw in on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the stairmill. Because cardio and I have a serious relationship. And we prefer to only be apart from each other once or twice a week.

If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Plus, I was baking last night. The extra burn made me feel better about what has happened to my pantry over the last few trips to the grocery store:These are my baking shelves. Mine. As in, just one person- the roommate has to put her stuff like this elsewhere.

#Issues.

All that is stuff that will be used over the next few weeks.

With the exception of a reese’s peanut butter cup or two. Let’s not kid ourselves.

Luckily, with my roommate around, I made sure it’s only a few sneaks of cookie dough/finished cookies. Her just being in the room keeps me from stuffing my face with sugar like a delinquent.Whatever works, right?

More about that later, though… I have GOT to get this Friday going.

It was a rough start.

As in, I still snuck a lil’ bit o’ cookie dough/caramel/chocolate (I wasn’t messin’- this recipe was freakin’ GOOD), so sleep was hard to come by after staying up late to finish baking everything. Then, after finally getting to sleep, I woke up less than 3 hours later to a loud beep.

The power was off.

So then it was a matter of getting up, tracking down a ComEd statement (I really hate you, ComEd), calling to report it, swinging by the bathroom and going back to bed.

Instead of falling asleep, my mind was racing. How cold is it going to get in here? Is my roommate going to freeze in the basement? What if it doesn’t go back on in the estimated four hours? What if I can’t get ready for work? Why can’t I fall back asleep? What the hell am I going to eat for breakfast if I can’t even use the toaster? OMG, no coffee until I get to work?!?!?! Seriously, will I get back to sleep? I swear, I could just get up right now, but what would I do? Maybe I’ll go to the gym- this is pointless. I’m gonna go to the gym at 4:00 if this keeps up- I can shower there. What if someone steals my stuff while I’m showering at the gym? Seriously, I’m getting up if I don’t fall back asleep soon… 4:00- that’s the time I’ll go….

If I had to guess, I fell asleep at about 3:40.

At least the power DID come back on. So that’s something.

And it’s Friday. That’s another thing…

The gym still needs to happen tonight. And I’m feeling overly optimistic about it. Because I’m overcaffenaited and still possibly cracked out on sugar from last night. So according to what I said earlier, I should be able to run for days.

Stay tuned…

Short-Lived Victory

So last night was my first softball game. In how many years?

Too many to count.

But my coworker insisted they needed me. So I went.

They really didn’t. But I still got to play. And am happy to report I didn’t die of heat stroke or break my face.

I actually got a few decent hits in. Woot woot!

And, oh yeah, we won 10-1 in the 5th. So it was the shortest game of all time.

However, feelings of sweet victory were short-lived. When my power went out. For the whole night.

I promptly made my way downstairs to the couch in order to not melt in my bedroom in the attic (I’m like Cinderella!).

When we called to report the outage, the estimated time of when it would come back on was 3:30.

Thank god for semi-showering last night after the softball game (i.e. quick rinse, didn’t wash hair) because it definitely was not back on when I got up for work.

So I grabbed my flashlight and started the process as best I could sans shower. This morning was pretty overcast, so even my breakfast of a cold pancake (silly microwave and its uselessness at the moment) leftover from last weekend was enjoyed in semi-darkness. Without coffee.

Thank goodness there’s coffee and air conditioning at work, because otherwise I’d just be overheated and raging.

Happy Friday! I’m crossing my fingers the power is restored sooner than later. Because I have this little birthday of mine to celebrate. And that’s hard to do without a shower. And cold adult beverages in the refrigerator.

Laters!

Why am I watching this?

Hello friends!

Day five of the first full work week since the holidays.  Is it safe to say we’ve made it?

Thanks for letting me know I’m not *completely* crazy for my obsessive ways with General Tsao.  Sounds like quite a few of you are getting hot and heavy in the kitchen these days…

Being so wrapped up in my latest food craze, I was not able to mention my little adventure the other night when the electricity went off in my apartment. The entire building, actually.  Of course we would be the only building out of the whole complex to deal with the issue.

This has happened before in the summer (things got heated real quick), but I was a little nervous as the lights flickered and finally everything went dark right before bed. 

Plus, I was midstream in the bathroom. 

Lucky girl, let me tell ya.

I’ve dealt with heat going out in my apartment before in college.  Some of my roommates had space heaters and we made it work.  For two weeks (grrrr).

But to lose everything?  How long is it going to be like this?  How long will my apartment stay warm? These are all valid questions because I’m oblivious to how such things go. Guess I should have called Leah for such advice considering her landlords sound horrific.

Instead, I called the electric company and they gave me an estimated time of 2 hours.  This really meant nothing.  All I knew was it was cold and my heat was not working.  So I texted Mon for assurance.

Me: I just called and they said 2 hours. It won’t get that cold, right?  I have blankets…

Mon: Crimony. Well if you get too cold then come on over.  Don’t worry about waking me up, k?

Me: Ok thanks! I guess I’m going to bed now out of sheer boredom. Goodnight- I’m gonna go grab a hoodie!

Mon: Yeah right, you’re probably going to the gym.

Me: Ok, that’s actually not a bad idea if I wake up and my toes are freezing off. It’ll be warm there.

Mon: Oh holy moses. You would. That or the grocery store.

Me: Ahahaha… me and the late night crazies at Walmart!

Mon:  Ewww.  I’d have to be drunk.

Me: Well if you wait long enough, the bottle of wine in my pantry will be chilled soon…

Mon: That isn’t comforting.

Luckily, power was restored in a little over an hour. A sigh of relief. Because this was something that would not make me pleasant to deal with.

Another thing I don’t do well with?

Pistachios. (Like that transition?  Yeah, me too.)

I never ate them until maybe a year or two ago.  What’s the point?  It’s like shelled peanuts.  You have to work way too hard.  A serving is a little less than 50 pistachios.  Do you know how long it would take to actually eat that many?  Ugh.

One of the last gifts staff received and hoarded was a whole tin of them.Yep. Hoarding.  And eating daily.

To justify this, I fired up the Google.  According to Lance Armstrong’s humble little website, pistachios help decrease bad cholesterol and are rich in antioxidants. 

Hoarding justified.

However, even as one of the lower calorie nuts, they’re still a nut.  Which still means they’re somewhat high in calorie and fat content.  Eat in moderation.  And possibly share.

You know who else likes pistachios?(Source)

Well at least I know I’m in good company.

Although I bet I’m more willing to share my pistachios than she is.

Speaking of, I hung out with my neighbor Bailey last night.  We hadn’t caught up with each other since New Years, so she invited me over to do that and… wait for it…

Watch the first episode of the new season of Jersey Shore.

Yep.  Please don’t judge.  It’s the one reality show I’m semi-hooked to.  Last night was an hour-long train wreck.  For real. 

Every Thursday is spent watching and saying, “I have no idea why I am watching this”. 

But then again, I do feel pretty good about myself after the show is over.

Whatever helps me sleep at night, right?