so you can wipe off that grin, i know where you've been, it's all been a pack of lies

Today was reasonably good, but winter is definitely coming - I'm not sure it cracked forty degrees today, and it was pretty miserably cold while I took care of my only outdoor errand (unpacking v. heavy box with a shelving unit that got delivered to my front door, and which I needed to move to my garage). But for the most part I was safe inside - I got up this morning and didn't write before work, but I did journal. Then I slogged all day, with a break for some leftover shrimp at lunch. I worked until almost six, then took care of some tings around the house.

And then, rather than watching the debate, I gave myself a break and instead wrote for about forty minutes, which was a much better use of time. And I finally filled out my Colorado ballot, which was v. easy on the national races and a little trickier on the ballot initiatives since there were several pages of them.

And now, having (mostly) done my civic duty (other than dropoff), it's time for bed - goodnight!

there's a world outside every darkened door

I had a great day, but I'm now way too tired to blog. I got up early and wrote before work, then slogged incessantly. But I cleared out as soon as work was over and went to a coworker's house, where I sat on her roof and met her new puppy (which makes me still want a dog, but maybe not a puppy) and had some chardonnay and generally had a delightful time. It was a really nice evening in Denver, but we're headed for sub-freezing temps tomorrow night and snow + bitter cold this weekend, so I felt like I was making the best of the end of the season before winter sets in with a vengeance.

But now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

enterprising wise men look to the horizon

Today was a little meh - not terrible, but my energy was never quite right and I think I should go to bed asap. I did manage to write before work and it was v. promising. Then I had many meetings, got rid of the boxes I packed last night, ate some beef stew for lunch, etc.

I probably should have done a bunch of work tonight, but instead I slacked off and made garlic chili shrimp - it was pretty fast because the garlic chili paste was already made (I made this recipe a few weeks ago and the sauce results in a double batch, so it was sitting in the fridge waiting for this moment). The shrimpies were super tasty - coated in garlic that had been pureed with oil and a little paprika and turmeric, then stirfried and tossed with some shallots and a bit of jalapeño. I served it over coconut rice, and it was a v. easy, tasty, decadent little feast.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen and basically procrastinated until now. And now I'm going to send a couple of work emails and go to bed - goodnight!

oh i tried diving even though the sky was storming

I'm pretty sleepy and should probably already be in bed. Today was sort of good, sort of stressful; I woke up in time to force myself to write, and the writing was good, and so if I could have just done that for another few hours it would have been great. Instead, I had to slog (after a shower) - I had meetings straight from ten to three-thirty without any break at all, and you will note that that meant I didn't get lunch. I usually don't succumb to the temptation of ordering lunch until Thursday or Friday every week, but I pulled the trigger on my weekly poke bowl (salmon, spicy tuna, seaweed salad, avocado, cucumber, spicy mayo, many other tasty things) today, so I guess I better cook something tomorrow night to stave off further lunchtime breakdowns.

But my meetings were fine, all in all. Then I took a break to run an errand, which involved walking, which was great. I did a bit more work, had a doctor's appointment (nothing wrong except for my stupid stomach and how it chooses to take all of my stress and turn it into a ball of acid gnawing at my insides), then came home and ate some leftover beef stew. Then I spent a truly ridiculous amount of time packing four boxes to get picked up by DHL tomorrow - this has been a very stupid, very boring saga that has dragged on for a couple of weeks, but hopefully everything is correctly packaged and labeled and ready to go. I will be v. glad to get them out of my garage, and to celebrate I ordered some shelves to put in the garage, so I guess garage organizing may be a project for this weekend (although it may snow on Sunday, so maybe not).

Then, it was suddenly nine p.m., but I had to do some work for tomorrow, so I did that. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

listen all y'all, it's a sabotage

Suddenly it's late and I need to go to bed immediately. But I was v. productive today - shockingly so, considering that I usually spend Sundays indulging in the Sunday Scaries and talking on the phone. It's even more shocking because I didn't sleep well last night, and so I woke up groggy and not at all in it to win it.

However, I did manage to meditate, journal, and take care of a couple of tings this morning and make myself an omelette, so that was all a win. Then I met up with V for a virtual writing date - I messed around with the epiphany that I had about the book yesterday and validated that it really is an epiphany. It's going to require replotting the whole thing and perhaps dramatically shifting my understanding of it, but that's pretty exciting and I'm planning to tackle it in the morning before the day job sucks me in.

After V and I said our farewells, I did some laundry, ate some lunch, and took a brief nap. But then I rallied - my task for the afternoon was to blow out my sprinklers, and I actually accomplished it and am pretty sure I did it correctly, so that was v. exciting. The air compressor that my dad and I bought last year has now paid for itself in terms of not having to hire someone else to blow out the sprinklers - and I feel v. satisfied for having done it myself. Of course, it took about an hour by the time I messed around with getting it hooked up and then blowing out each zone - switching zones required going back to the garage to switch the control box, and each zone needed to be blown out with 2-3 compressor cycles of air, which meant some time spent recharging the compressor between every cycle. But it's done now, so I don't think I have to worry about flooding my basement with a broken pipe anytime soon.

After I was done with that, I talked to my parents for an hour or so while taking care of some stuff in the garden (trimming back stuff that needed trimmed, planting some iris that Barbara had given me and hoping it survives). Then I made instant pot beef stew - it takes time, but it's so so worth it, and this may be the best batch I've ever made.

And now, after having done some more adulting things this evening, I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

girl you look so pretty to me

I had a v. delightful, v. productive day. I decided to get up around when I usually do during the week, adn I spent the morning journaling, tidying up the house, cleaning my back patio, etc. Around noon, my friend Barbara came up from Colorado Springs - we wanted to squeeze in a visit before the weather turns, and I'm glad we did because winter is most certainly coming (and what isn't made unpleasant by cold is rendered challenging because of incessant wildfire smoke).

We hung out for several hours, ate takeout Indian food, talked about books and writing and life, and generally enjoyed each other's company. I also foisted a funfetti cupcake off on her, and I think I've successfully spread the freezer cupcake gospel to another new acolyte. It was great to see her, and I may have had an epiphany about my book, so we'll see.

After she left, I prepped some chicken stuffed with goat/cream cheese and wrapped in proscuitto (which I made a couple of weeks ago) and took them over to Katie's. I also took some broccoli, and we threw all of it in the oven while we enjoyed snacks outside. Katie made Dark and Stormies (Darks and Stormy? Darks and Stormies? Dark and Stormy x2?), and I brought 'baby champagne' (aka sparkling apple cider for the girls) and it was a delightful evening.

And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

it takes two to make a thing go right

Today was fairly annoying. It started with bloodwork, which meant I couldn't drink coffee as soon as I woke up. Then, as the phlebotomist was trying in vain to find a vein, she casually said that she just does this occasionally to keep her skills up, which explained why it took ten minutes and two attempts to find a vein (luckily she wasn't a digger, but I was worried for a minute). But at least I got to walk to and from the doctor's office, which was a highlight of my morning.

Then I came home, promptly made coffee, had breakfast, and slogged. I had a VP presentation that was fairly annoying (I usually slam dunk them, but this one was not a slam dunk, which made me cranky). I didn't end up getting lunch until two, so it's a good thing my breakfast was late. And I was probably destined to stay cranky if I'd kept working...

But I ducked out for a ninety-minute class/coaching session with Alyssa, which was great. Then I talked to Sara (not myself; a friend with the same name) for quite some time, and that was a delight. And then I generally relaxed, tidied up, and ordered a steak and fries from LoHi Steakbar. Fries are something I have deeply missed during the pandemic, and while these arrived slightly soggy, I reheated them in a skillet and they were still greasy and salty and therefore the best thing ever. The steak was pretty good too, and it went a long way toward restoring my mood.

But now I want to stop staring at screens, so I'm going to read (and possibly talk to [censored] to keep him awake while he drives) and go to bed. Goodnight!

hands, knees, please, tangerine, sugar, honey, sweet

It's amazing how much time I have at night if I don't cook something elaborate. Today was pretty good, overall - I got more sleep than I had been getting, and I did some tidying up around the house while drinking my first cup of coffee, which was good. I slogged most of the day, but a bunch of meetings got canceled, so it wasn't too onerous. I had time to make some poached eggs for lunch to go with some leftover potatoes/chard. And I stopped at five, looked at the weather, and realized that it might freeze tonight - so I drained the water from the main sprinkler pipe and put insulation around the backflow preventer. I was thinking I could make it another week before blowing out my sprinklers, but that may become an activity for Sunday....we shall see.

Then I ate some leftover shepherd's pie, which was much better today than it was last night. I also took a walk and listened to a podcast - it was v. chilly and getting dark and winter is definitely coming, which feels grim in a world of rapidly spiking covid cases and working from home. But tonight wasn't grim - I got a whole bunch of personal shit done, did a tiny bit of day job stuff, ate a funfetti cupcake with rainbow chip frosting (seriously, keep unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer and a can of frosting in the fridge, it's the best), and generally felt uber productive. I've been uber productive for a few days, so I wonder when the crash is coming....but I'll keep going as long as I'm able to, and then I'll eat more cupcakes to get through the unproductive days instead.

And now I want to take a break from screens before going to bed - goodnight!

welcome to this one-man show

I didn't sleep at all well last night; I tossed and turned and was mostly awake after five, which made me v. surly. I am usually a champion sleeper, so whenever I don't sleep well, I take it as an affront to my whole way of life. Of course, I still stubbornly stayed in bed until seven, which wasn't great for my morning - I had meetings starting at nine, but I eked out a few words on my story and meditated and had coffee, so it could be worse.

Then I slogged all day - nothing particularly brutal, although I ordered a poke bowl in a #treatyoself moment. I threw in the towel around five; I was supposed to go over to Kelly's, but her husband's coworker has covid, so I decided to play it safe. Instead, I made a shepherd's pie, which took forever (I should've risked covid instead...KIDDING). It was fairly tasty, but shepherd's pie is basically tater tot casserole (but with mashed potatoes instead of tots), and tater tot casserole would have been preferable. However, I made mashed potatoes in my stand mixer for the first time and they turned out great, so at least I have discovered that trick to improve my overall life.

After that, I didn't have much energy for anything else, so I mostly hung out and did nothing - but I did send some info to someone about refinancing my house, so I'll consider that a win if I pull it off. And now I think I'll go to bed and hope tonight's sleep is better - goodnight!

heat waves been faking me out

Today was a bit of a trainwreck. I had to start at nine instead of my preferred 9:30, which cut into my coffee / journal time. I had meetings pretty much all day; some of those meetings gave me a headache. I ate some leftover potatoes/chard and some freshly poached eggs for lunch, which was v. tasty, and that was pretty much the highlight of those nine hours.

Sometime in the middle of my last meeting, I heard the sound of pipes banging and assumed it was my neighbor. I was correct, but I was v. surprised to see a text from the neighbor saying that he had blown up my sprinklers. My sprinklers, not his sprinklers. So I ended my last meeting a little abruptly, went outside, and discovered my neighbor attempting to fix my backflow preventer. He'd told me over the weekend that he wanted to spread some grass seed and would text me to turn on my sprinklers when he had done so, which I said sounded great. But when he texted me this afternoon (which I didn't see), he just said he would turn them on - which was bold, since the controls are in my garage. Apparently, he thought the box by my backflow preventer was the same as his (we have a lot of other features in common, since we're each half of a duplex), and so he just turned on a valve there, and that changed the pressure in my system and shot the pressure cap on my backflow preventer way up in the air (luckily he didn't break a window).

ssssanyway I was not particularly amused, but he figured out how to fix it and I didn't have any water in my basement, so it's all good. And since he's mowed literally every time this summer, I'm not too upset. But needless to say, any thoughts I had of clean living were out the window after a crazy day at work + my sprinklers blowing up. So I had a glass of wine, talked to [censored] for nearly two hours, ate leftover steak, and generally chilled out. I also talked to Katie to tell her about our favorite small town lawyer's victory in a chicken-wing-eating contest (only a few of you will know who this is, but if you know you know).

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

but I left it way too late, are you stuck in your own ways?

It's Monday, which is never a delight in the apocalypse. However, I tried to make the best of it. I had coffee and journaled before work, which helped to set me up just a little better than otherwise. Then I slogged most of the day, with a long break around lunch to eat leftover thai food and take a walk around the neighborhood.

I took a break around 5:30 to heat up my grill, throw some brussels sprouts in the oven, and grill a ribeye. The steak turned out perfectly, which was pretty delightful (okay, I lied earlier - Mondays in the apocalypse can be a delight if there is ribeye). I also had a twice-baked potato in my freezer, which is another trick I've discovered in the apocalypse - I only have one left, so I'll have to make some new ones soon. Steak + perfectly charred brussels sprouts + twice baked potato + a glass of wine = a v. nice Monday dinner. It also fueled me to spend another three hours answering emails, which is not what I usually like to do, but it had hit the point where I felt like I needed to catch up.

Then I closed my work laptop, managed to stay off twitter, and instead read a few chapters of Padma Lakshmi's LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT WE ATE, which is fantastic so far. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

nothing hurts like your mouse

Today was good, but long and full of zooms. I woke up and had a v. leisurely morning with coffee and journaling, etc. And I made some tasty acelgas guisadas, which is basically just stewed tomatoes, onions, potatos, and chard - I make it every once in awhile as a bed for poached eggs, and it hit the spot today.

The afternoon was then consumed with a variety of catch-ups - I talked to my parents first, which was unusually early, but I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to catch up. Then I talked to Veronica; we hadn't talked in weeks, so we were v. overdue. Then, almost immediately after that I talked to Terry - we did a phone call instead of a zoom because everyone is zoomed out, and it was lovely.

Then I took a break, ate some takeout thai food, messed around, took a nap, etc. And I ended the evening with a family dinner zoom in honor of Adit's birthday; Marina was a surprise special guest. Vidya won best jhoke for a truly terribly joke about all the mink that died of covid (coatvid), which she only won because there were no other jokes. Adit and Priyanka claimed to be in a local maxima, but everything they discussed seemed pretty minima - they won 'worst problem', which was that they had a mouse staring at them and eating one of their doors through most of the call.

You can catch up on the rest of the topics with the chat transcript, which was used to catch people up as they joined late:

[in regards to Adit's birthday] Adit’s parents ordered cake
Sister ordered cupcakes
Priyanka bought flowers for the photos
They have a mouse

John bought a dinghy

Marina had to teach online bc the Colorado college students all have covid

John and Jess’s kid is still in backyard school

Bill is wearing plaid pants

The mouse is eating through the door
it’s like a zombie mouse
trying to get to them

Ritu and Bill bought a house
but they can’t get out of their lease
one road in, one road out (same road, as Bill said)

oh yeah - John’s new dinghy has a hole in it
The term 'dinghy' is a loanword from the Bengali ḍiṅgi, Urdu ḍīngī, and Hindi ḍieṁgī

They hired a professional [to get rid of the mouse]
$1000

a dingo is not a dinghy

Pls vote for coated!!! coatvid

We also discussed nap dresses and nap suits, Priyanka's problem with mopping floors, how Adit's best birthday was the one he didn't spend with any of us, Bill's parents' house sitting unattended in Georgia (if you need somewhere to break in), paddleboarding, air quality in the bay area, etc. Pretty standard, and pretty low energy if we're all being honest. But seven months into quarantine, everyone is pretty low energy, so I guess that's what you get.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight! 

you've been dreamless and sleeping for years

I was scribbling some notes in my journal, but I suddenly hit the wall and think I need to go to bed immediately. Today was nice, though; I woke up and spent time with my coffee and cookbooks, debating what delicious things to make this week. I also talked to Chandlord for awhile; neither of us are funny anymore because it's the apocalypse, but we did our best. I cleaned out my freezer and checked up on my supplies. And I ate the last of the chicken breast stuffed with cheese and wrapped in prosciutto - that recipe is super tasty, and I already wish I had more of it in my fridge.

Then I ran a couple of errands - I had to drop off a couple of returns at Nordstrom, and I had to pick up something at Crate and Barrel, so I combined those errands with a trip to the Cherry Creek Whole Foods. They didn't have any eggplant, so the eggplant parmigiana that I thought about making this week may not happen, but I'll see if the farmer's market (last of the season!) has any tomorrow. But I stocked up on some tings, and I'm pretty excited to try some new recipes this week.

Then I came home and was planning to be sloth-filled the rest of the night, but Katie called and invited me over for dinner. Before I went, I had my usual friendship renewal call with Joann, Jen, and Jane; it was more depressing than many of our pandemic calls, which is saying something, but there were some moments of extreme levity (probably seasoned with annoyance to give it its best taste).

Then I went to Katie's, where we ate a lot of Indian takeout, drank a delish rosé, and went deep on the meaning of life. And now I really really need to sleep - goodnight!

time is a valuable thing, watch it fly by as the pendulum swings

Today was okayish. Work was ridiculous this week, and while it's all fine, it was also a lot of dealing with other people's emotions, which always wears me out. So, I ducked out around two to run some errands - I had glasses sitting in Boulder that I should have picked up three weeks ago, and I needed to make a return to Nordstrom Rack (of which there is one in Boulder). It was a bit bizarre to go up there because I realized I might not have a reason to go back at all this year - it's unlikely that I'll go to the office, and there almost certainly won't be a holiday party, and I don't have any other reasons to go. Strange times, friends.

Then I made a Costco run, which I refuse to do on the weekends. I was mostly there to stock up on canned goods and other sundry supplies, but I also found a space heater / cooler / air filter that I'd had my eye on and it was deeply discounted (enough to get it under the remaining budget that I had from my company giving us money for our workspaces). So, that was exciting - I want to actually work out in my basement, but it's slightly too chilly, especially in the winter. And the smoke has been bad off and on here, so an air filter is not amiss (if I choose to have it in my bedroom or office instead).

And then, depressed that the most exciting thing about my day was finding a space heater, I came home, unloaded my bounty (actually, I meant that metaphorically; literally, I left the 18-pack of Bounty paper towels in the car), and took a nap. Then I ate leftovers, but they were so delicious that they still felt decadent - that chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in prosciutto is really fucking good, and I reheated some broccoli and made a fresh baked potato, and it was a delight.

Then I finished reading UNTAMED (also a delight), texted with some people, etc. And now I think I will go to bed, unless I start another book - goodnight!

i'll help you carry on

Nothing to report today...it was a pretty brutal slog at work, but mostly brutal for other people and not for me. It all started weird because I had to move four large boxes of stuff from my garage to my front door, remove the old labels, add new labels, and place them outside for FedEx - it was work stuff that had to end up here because the office was closed, and I'm glad to get them out of my garage (and even more glad that they got picked up rather than me having to schlepp them to a dropoff). But still, it was kind of an annoying thing to start my morning with. And then I had meetings pretty much straight through until five (although I treated myself to a poke bowl for lunch).

Promptly at five, I took a break and talked to Irish Matt for awhile - we had not talked in ages and were v. overdue. Then I baked a potato while I did some day job stuff. And then I ate that potato with leftover chicken and broccoli from yesterday. I dallied a bit on twitter, read a bit of the book I'm reading, and generally tried to decompress, but it wasn't quite possible (but all in all, life is fine and I'm not actually that stressed, just a bit fried at the moment).

And now, even though it's relatively early, I think I'll head to bed - goodnight!

when the rain washes you clean you'll know

It's Wednesday, day eleven million of the apocalypse. I woke up in time to meditate / journal before work, but then the day was a slog - I had meetings, more meetings, and a bit of a break to dump a cobb salad out of a jar from my fridge. It was all kind of a lot and I wasn't in the mood for most of it, but I managed to get through with my sanity intact.

Then I took a break and had a videoconference glass of wine with a couple of coworkers, which bled straight into making a fairly elaborate dinner - I tried a recipe for chicken breasts stuffed with cheese/bacon and wrapped in prosciutto, and they were really delicious. It basically involved pounding out the chicken, mixing some cream cheese / goat cheese / thyme / oregano / garlic and smearing it on top, sprinkling bacon on top of that, rolling the chicken, and then wrapping it in prosciutto and baking it. Super tasty, not all that difficult even if it was several steps, and perfect with some roasted broccoli and a baked potato. 100% would make again, ideally for a dinner party.

Then I watched the debate (and drank more wine), then I debriefed with Katie, and now I need to think about going to bed - goodnight!

might as well jump

No blog tonight....I got up and wrote before work, then slogged all day. I took a bit of a walk when I finished and talked to my dad while I was outside, which was nice. Then I did a v brief workout in my basement - I haven't swung kettlebells in forever, but I kind of want to get back into it. Then I prepped some cobb salads - one for tonight, and two for lunch this week. And then I rounded out the night by reading - I started Glennon Doyle's UNTAMED last night in bed, and it's jaw droppingly good, so I made some more progress tonight.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and stupid is as stupid does

Today was fine....not the best day ever, but certainly not the worst. I meditated and journaled before work, then slogged most of the day. I spent the evening tidying up, moving things around my house, eating leftover pasta (still delicious tonight!), taking care of some personal paperwork, ordering books that I will probably never get around to reading, etc.

And now, on that v. boring note, I'm going to try to read a bit before bed - goodnight!

that's a fine looking high horse

I got a decent amount done today, which is shocking...not really much writing, but in my effort to procrastinate my way around my current block, I did a bunch of other stuff instead. I woke up at a reasonable hour, did a bit of planning for the week, and did a lot of wardrobe maintenance (mostly hanging, folding, and putting things away, since my guest bed has turned into a spare closet in the absence of any foreseeable guests). I also went on a wine run to restock my supplies in advance of fall / the election / general life events - I hadn't made a wine run since June (other than the occasional bottle at the wine shop down the street) and while the situation certainly wasn't dire, I was basically out of the <$20 bottles that are good for opening and sipping throughout the week and instead had started popping the expensive bottles that were mementoes from wineries and other past lives.

So, I succumbed to my inner hoarder that now worries when I have less than two of anything, and I stocked up. Then I went to the grocery store to grab a few things (mostly produce) for meals this week. Then I came home and spent most of the afternoon talking - I had a videochat with Katrina, then a call with [censored], and then my usual Sunday night call with my parents. Everyone was in good form, and it was nice to catch up with all parties -- never long enough, of course, but I'll take what I can get.

After I hung up with my parents, I immediately cooked for a couple of hours. I made four servings of oatmeal for breakfast this week. I boiled eggs, cooked bacon, and cooked chicken breast for cobb salads (but I didn't put the salads together because I ran out of steam). I also tried a new-to-me recipe for a spicy carbonara pasta by Chrissy Teigen - I was in the mood for carbonara, especially since I was cooking bacon anyway, and this recipe was v. tasty. The spicy part wasn't a joke - it involved three tablespoons of chile garlic sauce, which is about three more tablespoons than I usually put into things. But it was super tasty and I would definitely eat it again, which is a good thing since there are leftovers.

And now I need to go to sleep and get tomorrow off on a strong writing note - goodnight!

a tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies

I'm super tired and should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I've been dozing in my living room (yay Saturday night). Today was lovely, though - I slept in, thanks in large part to my new mostly-blackout blind in my bedroom, which was an excellent investment. Then I messed around, made coffee, talked to Katie, ate some leftover pizza, and spent a few hours doing stuff in my basement. I'd been letting the stockpile get a little unruly down there, since it's pretty easy to just take groceries down there and never put them away. So I reorganized, put everything on my shelves, made a list of things I need to stock up on (I am down to one can of coconut milk, which just won't cut it in the apocalypse).

Then, I took a shower. And then I unpacked my gorgeous new kitchenaid mixer - I got it in a lovely creamy yellow, which looks great in my kitchen. I made a test run of chocolate chip chewies, which turned out perfectly - I'm really not sure why I waited this long to get one, but thanks Aunt B for the gift!

As soon as my cookies were done, I took them + a bag with ingredients for moscow mules over to Katie's house. We had a proper backyard hangout/dinner - she made roast beef, mashed potatoes, and roasted carrots, all of which were perfect, and we had moscow mules and many many chocolate chip chewies while the kids ran around and watched a movie. Chocolate chip chewies are delightful in part because you can cut whatever size you want, which often results in fun 'fooling yourself' moments in which you cut a thin sliver all the way across the pan to pretend that you didn't really have a cookie.

Eventually, though, we were all tired, so I came home and exhibited commendable restraint by freezing some of the chewies immediately rather than leaving them out to gorge on tomorrow. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!