So of course since Hannah and Jacob moved in with me, they had to quit their jobs in the city. You see, I live in the “sticks.” Like 55 miles NW of the city of Chicago. When I lived in Oak Park, Chicago was in my backyard – now? Not so much!
So the restaurant Hannah and I wanted to go to on Saturday night that was booked solid? Well, we saw a coffee shop on the same street and Hannah took a picture of it, came home and Googled it, saw that they were hiring and submitted her resume Saturday night. On Sunday while I was on my walk, they called and asked her to come in for an interview yesterday at 11. When I didn’t hear from her for an hour, I pretty much knew she got the job. And sure enough, she did. Not only that, they hired her basically on the spot, had her fill out her HR paperwork, handed her an apron and said “do you want to stick around for a while and get a lay of the land?!”
Before she knew it, she was helping customers at the front, winging their iPad register, making drinks, etc. – all by herself without any training while the other employee was in the back making food! She’ll get her schedule later this week, but will most likely be working about 25 hours a week – best of all are the hours – 6 am to 6 pm is when this place is open. When she worked at Panera the closing side work could take hours and sometimes she wasn’t even leaving work until 2 in the morning. So proud of that girl! She took this picture when we were making dinner last night and posted it on my Instagram page with a caption that read “Bizzy in the kitchen with my new barista!” Thankfully the shot isn’t too low – I’d already taken my bra off for the evening. Tia, I am sure you understand!
I still have beef tenderloin leftover from Christmas and made a beef, egg white, baby spinach breakfast tostadas – I guess this could be considered a low carb breakfast – each tostada only has 6 grams of carbs.
The green stuff? I am calling that a tomatillo creama. I bought tomatillos over the weekend to make salsa. The recipe I found online called for a pound of tomatillos, but I bought a pound and a half, and the directions said to cook the tomatillos at 475 for 30 minutes – I should have known better – by the time the timer went off, I was left with hardly any tomatillos at all! So Hannah and I tweaked it – we added sour cream, cilantro, garlic and lime and it turned out really good.
I am starting back with my Bitesized Fitness strength routine. Although I am not doing the one that you have to pay for – just the free one. Yesterday was chest and holy cow can I feel it this morning! This set took me about 20 minutes, then I walked 1.75 miles.
On Sunday I made my refried bean soup with cilantro rice. Jacob couldn’t believe how a bowl of soup could be so filling! I added some of the tomatillo creama, and cilantro and a bit of Cabot cheese to the top of my dish. So good on a chilly day.
Work was really busy yesterday, which was nice because the day went by super fast. After today I have Wednesday and Thursday off, but have to work again on Friday. I’ll take a 3 day work week any time though!
I decided to make Asian lettuce wraps for dinner last night. Before Jacob had met Hannah, he’d never even heard of lettuce wraps. We followed this recipe, which was really good. The only thing I did was added sriracha (duh) and we used bagged broccoli slaw, zucchini and water chestnuts for our veggies.
Helen, guess what? I get to eat dinner at the dining room table! I know, shocking. That used to drive me insane that Tony and I ate in front of the t.v. every.single.night. The only time I could get him to eat at the dining room table, which is the only piece of furniture we bought brand new together, was when family came over. I also reheated the leftover potstickers from Christmas eve on the side. And you will note, in the tiny blue bowl – Hannah chopped green onions for her wraps. And she bought an icky red onion for the burrito bowls we are making tonight. I don’t know where I went wrong with that girl in her love of onions!
It’s nice having help in the kitchen to clean up after dinner too! After I did some computer work, I settled into my comfy chair with the electric blanket, and Rummy LOVES the heated blanket.
I opened up the mail before dinner and my Aunt sent me a belated Christmas gift. Just like I am my Mom’s favorite, pretty sure I am my Aunt’s favorite too! I’ve needed a new mouse pad at work too – love it!
So yesterday I zeroed out my scale, but not before jumping on it.
First off, lets disregard my half painted big toe, shall we? So basically I maintained my weight these last 49 days and that’s been a Christmas miracle with everything that’s going on in my life right now. The only thing I need to do now is get rid of the fricken Chex Mix in my house – it’s like crack to me! But I have to say, I am proud of myself for not putting 10 pounds on these last several weeks – I am an emotional eater through and through, so I have to pat myself on the back for this.
I have some link love today. First off is Nicole of Prevention RD. Her 12 week maternity leave went by with the blink of the eye and she went back to work yesterday. I love her recap of the first few months of being a Mom! Look at how fricken cute her baby is!! Those baby jeans are so cute!
And Skippy wrote a wonderful post about Tony. She and I have become very good friends off-line and I had to call her the Dad Tony died so she could hear it from me that he passed away and not on the internet. We cried together on the phone that day, but she helped me keep it together, and I will be forever grateful to her for that.
I got all my steps in yesterday too!
I have no idea if that’s my actual weight, but I don’t really care. Still working out my 2015 goals, not sure what they’ll be yet. For now, just trying to get up each day, and putting one foot in front of the other.
Winter is finally settling in – we haven’t had any measureable snow yet this year, but right now its 6 degrees but with the wind chill it feels like –6. I guess I’ll wear a coat today!
All the puzzle pieces fall together, when it’s right. I am delighted
to hear that happened. It’s a rough time for you—-maybe raw is better word. That first year is most difficult I think as you make your way thru all the holidays and special little anniversaries that you too shared.
I tried to overlay the old memories particularly of places we went with new memories. That special coffee shop we always went to—-I would go again and tell myself I was overlaying the experience with a new memory. I was not erasing the memories, but merely making the more recent ones stronger and of a positive nature. Otherwise you go here and there and think the last time I was here I was with Tony and we always did this and that. If you do that every time, then you hurt every time. It’s too new for you to actively begin that. And I will say 16 yrs later there are a couple of places I still can’t go comfortably and flat out avoid because my overlaying technique is still unsuccessful.
Big congrats to Hannah!!!
The lettuce wraps look & sound awesome! I’ll have to put some on our menu for next week!
Great job on getting all your steps!
I agree with the others, the timing on Hannah, her beau, and the “grand dogs” moving in seems to be perfect. I know it doesn’t take away the grief, but I’m sure it’s a comfort. Hannah is a go-getter! Congrats on her new job!
Congratulations, Hannah! I guess it didn’t occur to me they’d have to quit their jobs – so happy things are coming back together quickly for them.
You know I’m high fiving you for eating at the table. I need to put that back on my to do list. As you can understand sometimes it’s just easier not to fight that battle! But maybe if I present it that it’s best for ‘my’ health and well-being, I can negotiate that more often.
I think putting one foot in front of the other is great right now – remember no big changes for at least a year!
Congrats to Hannah, that’s great news.
I always have to laugh when my blog friends eat at the dinner table. I think I mentioned it before but R. and I live together for 20 years and we eat almost every dinner at the table, we are used to doing that because we both had to sit at the table for dinner at home. There are some meals that we eat on the couch but not many.
I wish you a happy new year Biz and hope there will be some sunshine for you next year and some happy moments too.
Hannah is such a go-getter – I know you are proud of her, and rightly so!
Also, Rummy is such a snuggle-bunny and so cute!
Yeah for a new job and so quickly. I am also happy for you eating at a table. My family is TV bound 🙁 I sometimes sit at the kitchen bar just because I can’t stand sitting at the TV. Yeah for a full house!!!
Congrats to Hannah!
We eat at the table most nights. The nice thing now in our new house is that we eat breakfast in the nook off the kitchen instead of me being at my computer and working while I snarfed breakfast. I told John that I would do that when we moved (and he didn’t believe me).
Take care, Biz.
Yah Hannah!!! That is fabulous! LOVE that you have dinner helpers (both to cook and cleanup) and dogs are so comforting. Perfect to have them around the house during difficult times. I want that soup! You rock for not gaining weight. I’m definitely an emotional eater too. Its such an easy outlet. <3
CONGRATS to Hannah on getting a job so close to your casa! I love that you guys are cooking together. Love it!
Way to go Hannah! I’d comment more but I’m on my phone and this isn’t fun anymore.
So many things to smile about isn’t there girlie.. And as I sit here and cry over the beauty of your post, my heart still breaks. We realized today we never sent you a pic’ of the Tony tree. Bad Skippy, bad. I will post it to FB soon, it is so pretty and makes us all smile. 🙂
I am so happy for Hannah and the new job, and that they have moved in, with the puppers. He’s a cutie. 🙂 I noticed a lot of my friends received electric blankets for Christmas and every single one has lost it to their furbabies. I get a chuckle out of that. It’s amazing that they allowed Hannah to just jump right up and start working [doesn’t surprise me, knowing her] but such awesome news about work.
So proud of you for maintaining your weight through everything. That is also wonderful, but again, not surprising, knowing you. <3 You are a healthier eater when it comes to it – and I think weight is a number, as long as you stay healthy with what you eat. You always look amazeballs, and btw – we all need a braless boob shot. giggle It's winter – and if I am not in Church, I'm not wearing one, so I can match you. giggle
I hope you have a quiet and peaceful few days off. Stay warm and hopefully snow isn't coming anytime soon. Hugs and love girlie..
Congrats to Hannah on her job – sounds like she will be amazing there!!!
So fun to set the table and sit around it to eat – my favorite!
YAY for Hannah!!!! Such a cute pup and such a cute baby! Oh wait, cute mouse pad too!! Sending warm love your way, Vat. Not that our hugs here in Vancouver are warm today….by our normal standards, it’s freakin’ cold. However, we have NOTHING to complain about.
Congrats on Hannah finding a job!!! Cute Doggie, cute mouse pad, cute toesies, cute baby!!! Oh and yummy looking breakfast tostadas, soup and lettuce wrap…..I am always drooling at the food you make….even the hot stuff!!!!
I have lost about 15 lbs in the last 3 -4 months….5 lbs in November and just 2 lbs for December. Maybe if I keep at this pace of loosing, by June, 30 lbs will have disappeared. Doctor would be VERY happy with me, right???
Guess it is baby steps for me…and I think that is what you need to take during this time of mourning….it’s okay to have down time and up times. I am sure your mom has some good advise to follow….she made it through….you will too. 🙂
Yay for the job!
And yay for eating at the table. Mike and I used to eat in front of the TV (pre-kid), and it also drove me nuts. I decided around the age of 30 to be an adult. So we:
1. Started eating at the table. Only on special occasions/ movie nights do we let the kids eat in front of the TV
2. Started doing dishes after dinner, instead of letting them sit till the morning.
It still drives me crazy that my family doesn’t eat at a table when I go home. When my mom was alive, it was terrible. They’d sit on the couch and watch TV and eat. But their kitchen has a table in it – not well laid out, very hard to sit at it. I would power through and set it though, and at least it would fit 4 people.
I agree about the eating in front of TV thing. My husband and I do every night. It’s only when I have the girls over that we eat at the table.
I’m trying to find your 10 day? detox you did a while back – the one you made up for yourself. I believe it was no sugar, no cheese, no alcohol… something of that sort. I think I just might kick off with that. 😉
I can’t find it either – but it was no wine, 2L of water each day, no cheese and limited “white” things – flour/sugar/salt, etc. Mostly lean proteins and veggies and fruit for carbs.
I need to do it again too! 😀
…and congratulations to Hannah!
Ditto – I was so happy to hear that your daughter and fiancé are with you now. I think it’s great to have people around you, rather have the house all to yourself. I think it would make Tony’s absence even more difficult if you were by yourself. I think he had a hand in it too – he’s definitely taking care of you now.
I love how things worked out and how Hannah and her fiance are living with you. It couldn’t have been a more perfect time. I bet somehow…Tony had a hand in making that happen.