Coming up for air



Me, with the quintet that I coach, at my solo recital
on Feb. 25, 2011.  Photo by Tom Day.



Well, hello.  Yes, it's been a while.  I got really, really busy.  I think it's the most busy I've ever been, and definitely the most stressful couple of weeks I've lived through, at least that I can remember. 

I've been working in the shop, teaching, gigging, driving too much, and preparing for several big performances.  On top of that, things have been tense with one of my close friends, who is going through big life changes.  I shouldn't write about HIS issues on MY blog, so I'll just say that my long work days keep ending with marathon phone calls that keep me up too late, making the following day seem that much longer.

I've been wrangling my schedule and all kinds of paperwork to get this grad school audition in order.  Time is short; the deadline for paperwork is March 1st, and the audition has to be done by the 7th, but my teaching schedule makes it almost impossible to travel from Georgia to Virginia on a weekday.  Combined with the faculty schedules at the school, there were very few days that we could arrange the damn thing.  It came down to one day--this Tuesday--and even then, there are things that aren't falling into place.  I really should have an accompanist, but there's no one who can go with me to VA, and nobody in VA who was able or willing to play on such short notice.  I'll just have to do the audition unaccompanied and hope that the faculty are ok with it.  My applied faculty member, the tuba/euph professor, is fine with it; it's the other committee members who might not approve. 

Wednesday, the shit hit the fan.  I was struggling to keep my pre-recital nerves in check, irritated with my phone-calling friend who bailed on coming to hear my recital, doing laundry and packing and finding a gift for my accompanist, and THEN I got a message from the admissions assistant saying that they hadn't received any of my letters of recommendation.  I stressed about it all afternoon, calling here and there, emailing various faculty at schools from Michigan to Valdosta to Virginia, and finally figured out that it wasn't a mistake on my part.  All I could do was remind my recommenders to write the letters, tell admissions that I reminded them, and then hope that everything would be in by the first of the month.  I'm still hoping. 

So the recital went well; not perfect, but not bad, either.  I was happy enough with it.  I'm not ready to hear the recording of it yet.  My friend, Tom, came down and took some pictures and video for me, and brought me red velvet cake for afterward.  Today I drove home and gorged on pizza.  I need to do laundry again, pack up AGAIN, and tomorrow I get on the road for Virginia and the audition.  I'll play that on Tuesday, then head back to GA.  At that point I can relax, and I intend to eat macaroni and cheese, goddammit.

Speaking of mac and cheese, I haven't been eating a lot of dairy.  Last week I noticed the pressure returning in my sinuses, so I cut the dairy again until after the recital.  It worked, and despite eating the cake last night and butter on my waffle this morning--oh, and the pizza--I'm going to avoid milk products for a couple more days till the audition.  Maybe some day I'll eliminate it entirely, but for now I'm just going to monitor dairy every time I have big performances coming up.  I'm ok with that. 

What?  You want to know about the sit-ups?  I quit the sit-ups.  I really hated getting down on the hotel carpets to do them, and ...you know, a million other excuses.  I made it to about the 12th.  I've still been packing my lunch for school on Thursdays, and still losing weight.  Until this week.  I'm afraid the cake/pizza combo, along with too many soy lattes to stay awake and my stress-eat craving for Publix chicken tenders this whole last week, has put the weight loss on hold for a few days.  I'll get back to it tomorrow, no problem.

I'll also try to get back into writing entries.  I missed it.

Rose Hill

Rose Hill Cemetery - Confederate section.  Feb 6, 2011

Sorry for the time off.  Most of my days this past week have either been too boring or too exhausting to write an entry at the end.  I also haven't been falling asleep well, so I'm trying to get to bed early (so's I can lie there for longer).

I ditched practicing today and went cemeterying instead.  I have a cemetery habit.  Sometimes I take photos of graves that people have requested for genealogy websites, and sometimes I just take pictures.  Cemeteries are about the most peaceful places in civilized country.  I haven't gotten out much the last few months, because I've been busy and the weather's been bad.  Today I went to my favorites: Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon.  I also stopped by Riverside Cemetery, which is next-door to Rose Hill, to get some photo requests.  Riverside is pretty and interesting enough, but it's very organized and straightforward.  Rose Hill, on the other hand, is a mess.  It's old and crumbling, with rambling paths and overgrown crypts and beautiful views of the Ocmulgee river.  For about a year, I've been wandering and poking around Rose Hill with a camera, sometimes with a friend but most times alone.   Today was 55 and sunny, so I brought a snack and explored the Central Avenue division of the cemetery, then took a few shots of the confederate section.  I found half a dozen stones that people have requested on the Find-A-Grave website, and took a bunch of shots just for fun.



Rose Hill Cemetery
Feb 6, 2011

I've been doing sit-ups and crunches every day, usually in the evening before bed.  I settled into a general plan of trying to do more each day than I did the previous day.  For the sit-ups, that is.  For the crunches, I've been doing more, usually, sometimes staying the same and sometimes skipping a few.  Here's a rundown of the first 5 days of the month:

1st 20 situps, 20 crunches

2nd 20-21-10-10 (the last two numbers are oblique crunches on either side)

3rd 21-25-15-15

4th 23-25

5th 24-none (sue me, I was tired.)

total so far: 108 situps, 141 crunches of various types. 

Now I'm totally sick of typing the word crunches.  Oh- I lost another pound and a half this week.



Rose Hill Cemetery, Feb 6, 2011

 I haven't let dairy get back into my normal routine.  I'm still eating dairy-free ice cream every 2-3 days.  I did get an Amy's mushroom and olive pizza--they were on sale for $3.99 instead of 6.49--that had cheese on it.  It took me three days to finish it, so I didn't pig out on cheese.  Last night was probably the dairiest night so far, when I went out for Mexican and had enchiladas with cheese sauce.  I haven't suffered any physical repercussions, though I felt bloated and full on the drive home. 

I noticed something during No Dairy January that I forgot to write about here: when I got my period about 2/3 of the way through the month, I had almost no cramps.  In fact, it caught me a little by surprise because I normally get cramps about 24 hours in advance.  They aren't usually that bad, owing to the surgery I had a few years ago, but I do get them and this past month, I almost didn't.  This is the second time I'm going to refer to that surgery and then change the subject.  It's not that I don't want to talk about it, but it could be an entry by itself, so I'm going to postpone it and write a whole entry one of these days.

While wandering the bakery section at Kroger tonight, I glanced to the table where they display my favorite cookies, the buttery, rich Biscoffs.  Lo and behold, there's a new product:

It's a spread MADE FROM the cookies.  Since there wasn't a jar of it open for samples (sheesh, who would buy this stuff without tasting it first?!) I was FORCED to buy some and take it home. It's the consistency of peanut butter, with the flavor of Biscoff cookies.  The weight watchers points are slightly lower than my reduced-fat peanut butter, though it doesn't have the nutritional value that natural peanut butter has.  Still, I can't keep my spoon out of it tonight. 

. . . February?

Tuna melt and Disco fries at the Atlanta Diner on N. Druid Hills

I went grocery shopping today and felt both free and lost.  I can eat whatever I want! . . . but what do I eat?  I felt like I should celebrate the end of NDJ by eating one of the things I've missed, but I found I didn't miss them enough to eat the local versions, or enough to completely hose myself for weight watchers this week. 

After band rehearsal last night, I went out with one of my dairy minions.  I ate a tuna melt with Disco Fries, or fries with gravy and cheese.  There's ranch dressing in the photo, and I ate a tiny bit of it, but I'm not one of those people who eats ranch on everything.  I took a picture of the sandwich and fries, but once again the photo uploader isn't working.  I posted the pic on Facebook last night, I think most everyone who reads this is on my Facebook.  (If not, feel free to chime in on the comments...)

**Update February 6th - got the photo.  Obviously.**

Incidentally, I felt kinda gross last night.  I was bloated and just yucky after eating that stuff--my nose was sniffly, though it could've been the weather.  The bloat could very well have been because I ate a huge sandwich and fries, not because there happened to be cheese.  Probably a little of both.

I had to come back home last night (to put salve in Fleck's eye) instead of staying up in the city, so I didn't get to eat awesome pizza or mac and cheese today.  For dinner tonight I had one of my favorite frozen entrees: Amy's Cheese Enchiladas.  Other than that, I stuck to my now-usual peanut butter, clementines and non-dairy ice cream with fruit.  I did eat a tomato with salt and pepper at lunch--just doesn't taste the same as summer tomatoes.

While I was at the store, I picked up some things to pack my lunch for tomorrow.  I have to rehearse with my accompanist at ten, and then I'm free till my lessons start at three.  I packed a peanut butter sandwich, some clementines, a banana, apple, celery sticks with hummus, hardboiled eggs, and two camelback bottles of water.  I figured some of the fruit will last till Friday, since I have to stay overnight tomorrow. 

So I got a few suggestions about where to go with this project in February, and I decided to help out my husband, who has to get really good at sit-ups.  It's a military thing--in order to defend democracy, our troops have to have great abs.  John is perfectly healthy and he can do push-ups all day, but his new PT test requires a minimum number of sit-ups.  I was giving him a pep talk and he mentioned that it would be easier to do his sit-ups if I did them, too.  So we're doing Every Day Sit-Ups February. 

I'm not afraid to tell you that I am...well...I'm not the sitting-up type.  I'm soft.  And weak.  I don't like sit-ups or crunches--they're so awkward; what do you do with your feet, etc.  I hate the way my lower back/tailbone digs into the floor when I try to sit up.  Last night, I laid out John's old yoga mat (he took the good ones with him), stuck my toes under the edge of my recliner, and did 20 full sit ups.  Then I did 20 crunches and called it a night.  This morning I did 20 more sit-ups, 21 crunches (just felt like improving the number), and 10 oblique crunches on either side.  I'm not winning any prizes, that's for sure. 

Anyone feel like joining in?  Just do some ab work every day, and post your results or numbers here, or on the No Dairy January facebook page.