Stupor Bowl

Go Saints!

We didn't get hit by ANY snow whatsoever -- and that's a real letdown when you are prepared to be whited out for days on end.

Down to brass tacks. My nose weighs about 5 lbs today, I'm sure of it. But the worst of my sinus headache is gone, at last!

I tell you, it makes me want to weep in sympathy for poor PastaQueen, who has been suffering from a chronic headache for over a year now. It's an awful state to be in.

So, now that the worst of my cold/sinus thing is gone (please don't ever come back), I can go to the gym, and so I did, first thing this morning.

Note: I can tell I did the right thing by taking time off while I was fighting that nasty whatever thing, because I got verrryyy tired partway through. Not the 'boy am I out of shape' tired, but the bone-weary, 'Gosh, I feel like limp spaghetti and need to lie down right now' tired. It comes from being ill, that's all.

I did a respectable 40 minutes, then bundled up and walked a mile to the store (I seriously had on about 8 layers, plus my ski pants). That was a bad idea, only because the store was PACKED.

And inordinately packed with young men who were buying things like frozen chicken wings and hot sauce, and clearly did not know the etiquette of how to gracefully negotiate for space in crowded aisles. They were cute and all, the little 18-year-olds, but after I while I just wanted to bop them all on the head and send them home to their mommies (or dorm monitors, or whomever).

I survived and did not get arrested for assault, but arrived home even more exhausted.

However, I am pleased to report that a) I resisted all snacking in the store and b) did a quick recalculation of our menu for tonight in the store and realized I do NOT need to add goat cheese to the bruschetta appetizer I plan on serving. Bruschetta is just fine without it. What was I thinking when I chose the goat cheese bruschetta recipe over the one without it? Clearly I was not thinking of the scale. Luckily sanity hit at the store and I woke up to the fact that I was adding like 100 calories a portion to an appetizer that does not need goat cheese to be delicious.

And finally, c) I got on the scale at the gym and I have not gained any weight! That is good news for me because since I came back from Cuba I have been eating weirdly and then sick, which meant no working out.

Something was going right though, because I'm still steady at where I was right when I came back.

How I gained weight in Cuba is still a mystery though, since I did not overeat there and if anything under-ate and we walked miles every single day. And I didn't pack on 6 lbs of muscle in a week of walking, that much I know!

To further add to the confusion, since I've been back I've gotten non-stop compliments from people who've watched me shrink for the past seven months and said nothing. Suddenly the week I'm back everyone's like, 'You look great, by the way.'

Clothes that were tight before around my hips -- my largest body part -- are looser. I can actually feel that I lost inches off my hips, which is usually the hardest thing ever for me, because as Fitfunk said last week about herself on her blog (making me laugh out loud at work) I too am a pear-shaped loser, a la George Costanza.

In anycase, these are the enigmas that make life interesting. I can gain weight while existing on crappy Communist rations, and not gain weight the week I have cheese, chocolate and don't work out.

Whatevs. Go Saints!

As for menu for tonight (for friends and family), we have:

olives and bruschetta for appetizers
pistachio-crusted cod for entrees, with steamed asparagus, wild rice and possibly a carrot, yellow squash kind of melange that I may try to make last minute, with minced ginger spicing.
Dessert is a small bit of stilton cheese with some very ripe pears that we need to eat up. In case that bombs, I have some small lemon tarts with blueberries.

But here's a secret: I didn't get one for me. They're 439 calories a piece. Uh uh. Not worth it.

Did I mention I'm rooting for the Saints?