Football Epilogue

I'm off of work this week. The lack of structure sometimes throws my diet off kilter. Particularly if I haven't done my due diligence and stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies.  This Time around I fortunately had a lot of stuff to pick from, but wasn't feeling one thing in particular. I also have to admit I like to explore different tastes etc. This has led me down such experimental pathways as attempting a peanut butter and feta sandwich and modifying several cookie and banana bread recipes. Part of having my dad card is also attempting from scratch macaroni and cheese. This time I opted for what I consider a Junk salad. I started lunch a little later than the kids. I made them a cutting board full of summer sausage, apples, cheese, crackers, grapes, lettuce, etc.  I was also out of my standard balsamic vinaigrette dressing. So I just threw a lot of their extras into a bowl, tossed in a little bleu cheese dressing (we can't always be perfect in our diets), adde...

This summer I've been finding myself doing "fast and easy" eating. That means eating out a lot and buying a lot of convenience food (Doritos and Oreos are definite weaknesses). While quick, such choices are not healthy, nor cost effective. For example, a coffee and simple cup of oatmeal at Starbucks runs roughly $5!  A "healthy" lunch option such as Subway can run $8 to $10. Dinner can be $15. That's $30/day!  If I do that for a pay period, that's $300 during the work week! Throw weekend dating, etc. on top of that and that could be $500 JUST FOR FOOD!!!!! Surprisingly it took me a while to come to the conclusion that this wasn't healthy or sustainable. I have since decided that a little meal planning was in order. This allowed me an opportunity to take a critical look at what I've been eating and how I've been spending my money. In reality there are just a few meals that I make on a regular basis. For example, my breakfasts are either oa...

While well intended, I think such lists are non-sustainable and really just amount to dieting with the difference being that instead of learning moderation you just supplement with stuff that frankly doesn't taste very good and is kind of expensive and challenging to get ahold of so it discourages eating. Probably works rather well in the short term, but as the body adjusts and we become creatures of our own habits I might predict a pretty serious whiplash effect. My sister is trying this so we'll see...

I don't know who ever dubbed it "summer vacation". Summer is most certainly not a multi-month holiday or anything that us Americans assume much of Europe is like. In reality the "vacation" is an archaic remain of an agrarian society where kids were needed at home to help tend crops. Farming is now technologically advanced to the point that many farm kids have three months to kill. Better synonyms to describe triple-entente of June, July and August are chaotic, busy, stressful, fast paced, hot, tired, crabby, bug-laiden and "when does school start again?". That said, it's not all awful. I do enjoy the extra time with the kids. They are at good ages where they are agreeable to most things. When they're not I still have enough clout to move them along as I feel necessary. There are a lot of fun activities we've partaken in as well: fishing, bonfires, camping, basketball, pickleball, swimming, bike rides, yard projects (as I call them ...

Michael Phelps! That is all.

It's been a little while since my last post. Frankly, life, work, family, etc. has been busy. So here I am, at a localized ground-zero for doing a bit of writing and sharing in my life. One of the recent bright spots has been the installation of a new driveway at my house. The old one was well passed it's life expectancy. While it proved to be not too bad for shooting some baskets I had a slightly bigger vision of the space than merely parking cars. The driveway was nearly flat, making it a great surface for other endeavors. Racket sports, namely. The width and length of the driveway were ideal for pickleball ; a sport I fondly remember from gym class and was simpler in terms of space and equipment requirements than tennis or racquetball. Initially, I over thought it. I'd need a net and lines and gear. Today I realized that the plastic tape, originally adorning the end of my newly finished athletic surface tied to a couple of stakes made for an adequate net and the boun...