Remember on Friday how I told you Rick Morrissey, sports writer for the Chicago Sun-Times was going to interview me on Friday about Tony’s obituary? Well, it was such an easy conversation to have – a. because I was talking about the love of my life and I could go on for days about that, and b. Rick was super easy going and laid back. Turns out he grew up in Oak Park too, although he went to the Catholic high school in town. And, ahem, he looks to be a few years older than me, so I am not sure our paths would have crossed growing up.
When I hung up the phone with him I didn’t realize we talked nearly 30 minutes it went by so fast, and I had no idea where the story was going to go, but the bottom line was Tony was the consummate and ultimate White Sox fan. Even more so than that, he hated the Chicago Cubs, and when the Sox didn’t look good after say the All-Star break, Tony would love to watch the Cubs play and make stupid mistakes and lose. The perfect day? When the White Sox won and the Chicago Cubs lost on the same day. I can’t tell you how many texts I got from Tony with just this: “It’s the Perfect Day!”
I was asked to provide photos of Tony in Sox gear. I sent several for them to choose from. I knew from the reply to my sending the photos to the editorial department that the article would be in yesterday’s print Sunday paper. I was shocked when I got home from the gym Friday night and Rick shot me the article was already up online and posted at 4:30 that same afternoon! It read well online, but I was so shocked by the print version!
The online version didn’t have the title, the subtitle, or the top part in red that said: “If you didn’t know that the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, it wasn’t due in lack of effort on Jeff’s part!” My only regret in life was the night that the Sox won the World Series, Tony was on a business trip in Cleveland and we “watched” the game over the phone and we both yelled so loud when they won! It was a magical season.
And I am thrilled that one of the several thousand “cigar” pics I’ve taken and shown to you over the years made it in an actual paper! Although I can hear Tony’s voice now saying “you couldn’t have found a picture where my face was thinner?!” It took several stops around town because I didn’t leave my house into well into the afternoon yesterday, to obtain the last 7 print copies I could get my hands on. I plan on sending them to Tony’s parents, son and sister, and will probably frame one myself using a high resolution of that photo.
I emailed Rick when I saw the online article and said “holy fuck that was awesome!” And I went on to tell him that as the tears streamed down my face, it was the first time since he died that I had a smile on my face as I was reading the article. Tears AND smiles at the same time when I am thinking of my beloved husband? Nothing better!
And I had to laugh – my friend Cassie sent me this photo – so true! Thanks for the laugh Cassie!
I had a good weekend. For the first time in weeks I had no specific plans for the weekend and it felt. . . nice. Saturday was my long cardio – 90 minutes. I wished I could have walked outside like I did last week, but um, no. With temps in the single digits and wind chills pushing –20 below, no thank you. The treadmills at my gym only go to 60 minutes and then put in in a cool down mode, so I had to reset it and finished my 90 minutes. This tied in with my participation with Lori’s Heart Healthy weekend – the 5th year I’ve participated I think!
I went at around the time I’ll be doing my Spartan run – mid afternoon. I am trying to figure out my blood sugar going in so that I don’t bottom out on the course. My blood sugar was 275 before going to the gym, and I wasn’t convinced that was going to be enough, so I ate half a chicken sandwich, so it got it up to 330 before working out. I felt fine the whole time, no signs of low blood sugar, and when I was done, it was 135 – nice! So my thought process is this: maybe take high carb granola bars on the course with me and kind of eat a little as I go so that I can keep the blood sugars high enough – from what I’ve read online, even though its only a 3 mile obstacle course, with 15 obstacles, it could take over two hours to finish. It was a good trial run and I still have plenty of time to work out any kinks. Damn sugars!
Sunday morning I felt like something sweet, which I normally gravitate towards eggs and cheese for breakfast. Except I felt like cinnamon rolls and I didn’t really plan ahead for that. Most cinnamon roll recipes require rising, or suggest making them ahead of time and letting them rise in the refrigerator the night before. Ain’t nobody got time for that! So I did a quick Pinterest search and found that Tieghan of Half Baked Harvest made a quick version – score! Although I did tweak her recipe a bit – I used regular flour vs. whole wheat; unsweetened almond milk vs. her buttermilk and I reduced the icing in half. And while hers has no yeast in it, even though there isn’t a rise time per se, I added 1 teaspoon of fast acting yeast. So each one of my mini cinnamon rolls comes in at 135 calories, 6 fat, 19 carbs, 1 fiber and 2 protein. You guys? 30 minutes from beginning to end! #winning!
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Some of my brown sugar was a bit lumpy, no worries! Although after I looked at this picture I thought – “I should have added pecans!”
My glaze was a bit thin, and I actually only used half of it, so technically these are a bit under 135 calories, but I don’t need to be nit picky about it. Um, let’s just say Hannah and Jacob loved these, because I ate one of the end pieces, and they ate the rest! Thanks for idea for this Tieghan!
And just like that, another weekend is in the books. I had my cleaning pants on yesterday. It was a “rest” day from exercising, but I was pretty busy in my kitchen all day – shocker! I deep cleaned the fridge and pantry, and after the cinnamon rolls were out, I made another smoked sausage soup for lunches this week – I bought a bag of potatoes for .88 cents last week and needed to use them up. I like this version of the German potato soup I made a couple weeks ago and I’ll post the recipe for that later this week. And, I had a taste for Deep Dish pizza, so I made that for dinner last night.
Another thing I did this week (well, since Wednesday which was my last WI)? I ditched the wine. Yep, went a whole weekend without a drop and I think my new mantra will be “only have a glass in social situations, don’t bring any home!” Because one glass while making dinner, turns into one glass with dinner, and then one glass after dinner. . . hoping that will show a difference on the scale this week, so we’ll see.
Are you prepped for the week? I am! This weeks marks Week 3 of my strength training program and I am looking forward to upping the weights this week.
and p.s. If the White Sox want me to throw out the first pitch of the season in memory of my husband, I am so okay with that!
and p.s.s. I need your votes! Voting begins for my $10,000 Recipe for Sebastiani wines – I am one of the top 8 finalists! Click here to vote – and as always, I appreciate it! (the link is up now!)
and p.s.s.s. Tony’s article went a bit viral! You can check out that article here. All this attention about him thinking the Cubs suck would have made him so happy!
Make it a great day and stay warm!
The newspaper article is SO awesome!
I was so excited when I saw the post on Instagram. I stopped what I was doing and ran to the computer to read it. I too was smiling and teary eyed because I was happy for you and sad that Tony was not here to comment. The rolls look like something my husband and daughter would devour. I’m going to try her (half baked harvest) beer bread.
it made me SMILE the most that you heard his voice in our head.
xo
What a great article for Jeff! Loved reading you speak of him with such love and enthusiasm. You are keeping his memory alive and well! 🙂
You were far overdue for some good cheer–that’s so cool that they wrote that great story! And word to adding more weight to your strength training–it’s always exciting to (for me anyway) to add on another plate for the first time.
Love the article and this post!