Back to the grind.

Yesterday was my first day back at teaching. My course load is much lighter (about half) than it was last year. Unfortunately, this also means less salary, but I won't complain. Bad karma. It's better than nothing, which is what I was anticipating. Anyway, I had forgotten how dreadful 8am theory is, especially when it is preceded by a one-hour drive. But even though I was already falling asleep six minutes in to administering the Music Theory diagnostic exam to the quivering freshmen (I kept myself awake by Facebooking), I don't think I had as rough a go as the poor kid who walked in fifteen minutes late...and then proceeded to raise his hand and ask me if I had a pencil he could borrow. Oh child. Not the best first impression. But I (sort of) forgave him because he was also wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a plaid flannel shirt. He gets the hilarious Texas Cliche Character pass for now.



After teaching my classes, I then spent the next several hours doing all of the tasks that should have been taken care of by the old tenured geezer who is keeping me from being hired full-time and who was away on sick leave FOR THE FIRST TWO MONTHS last year due to knee surgery...because he is gone on sick leave again for the first two weeks of the semester (or so he says...) while recovering from neck surgery. So, just to be straight, he is likely going to miss a collective 25% of a year of work while continuing to collect his second-highest-in-the-department faculty salary, as I not only do his work for him, but also collect 10% of what he will at the end of the month. Literally. And now you know why I am bitter.



Whatev man.



And then after lunch with Schmoobs, I came home and sat at the dining room table to do some freelance writing. But then it ends up I probably caught some germy germs from the germy Freshmen and I spent the afternoon couching and feeling heavy and nauseous in bed instead. Also, I totally got my Monthly Confirmation yesterday. Wow, big day.

Back to the grind.

Yesterday was my first day back at teaching. My course load is much lighter (about half) than it was last year. Unfortunately, this also means less salary, but I won't complain. Bad karma. It's better than nothing, which is what I was anticipating. Anyway, I had forgotten how dreadful 8am theory is, especially when it is preceded by a one-hour drive. But even though I was already falling asleep six minutes in to administering the Music Theory diagnostic exam to the quivering freshmen (I kept myself awake by Facebooking), I don't think I had as rough a go as the poor kid who walked in fifteen minutes late...and then proceeded to raise his hand and ask me if I had a pencil he could borrow. Oh child. Not the best first impression. But I (sort of) forgave him because he was also wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a plaid flannel shirt. He gets the hilarious Texas Cliche Character pass for now.



After teaching my classes, I then spent the next several hours doing all of the tasks that should have been taken care of by the old tenured geezer who is keeping me from being hired full-time and who was away on sick leave FOR THE FIRST TWO MONTHS last year due to knee surgery...because he is gone on sick leave again for the first two weeks of the semester (or so he says...) while recovering from neck surgery. So, just to be straight, he is likely going to miss a collective 25% of a year of work while continuing to collect his second-highest-in-the-department faculty salary, as I not only do his work for him, but also collect 10% of what he will at the end of the month. Literally. And now you know why I am bitter.



Whatev man.



And then after lunch with Schmoobs, I came home and sat at the dining room table to do some freelance writing. But then it ends up I probably caught some germy germs from the germy Freshmen and I spent the afternoon couching and feeling heavy and nauseous in bed instead. Also, I totally got my Monthly Confirmation yesterday. Wow, big day.

Holy sheiss. Lots of photos.

I've been trying for about twelve years now to get into yoga. I start and then I get bored. I try again and I get annoyed at how mellow and cheerful the instructor on the DVD is. I try yet again and then I get hungry and go to the kitchen to eat some chips. This time I figured I could stay interested longer if I tried to follow the video on the laptop while the Food Network was playing on silent in the background. Um. That wasn't a good idea. But for some reason it's been sticking a little better these last two weeks and I'm really starting to enjoy it. The secret for me was to just read and study enough that I could catalog enough of the movements and poses in my brain and just do them on my own without an annoying DVD instructor to follow. So what if I can't do yoga without a constant stream of neurotic inner monologue buzzing away in my head? The mental clarity and spiritual enlightenment I can worry about later. Right now I just want my butt firm and high.

For my birthday, the two girlfriends I went out to dinner with were so kind and gave me flowers, a bottle of wine, a Star*ucks gift card and...a Central Market gift card! Central Market is Texass' answer to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Unfortunately, the closes one to me is an hour away, so the gift card had been sitting on our counter for weeks and weeks. But a couple of weeks ago I finally got up enough desire for tasty treats (organic, happy bacon) to make the trek over. It was SO worth it. BACON.

Happy Bacon deserves two macro shots.

Happy Bacon deserves two three macro shots.

And then last week I attempted to make the famous anti-carb secret weapon: cauliflower mashed potatoes. I steamed a head of cauliflower (chopped in smaller pieces), half an onion, several garlic cloves, a small potato (optional) and salt and pepper. Then I pureed it all up in my blender (I don't have a food processor, boo.). It was REALLY good. Since the blender is a real bitch at pureeing things without any liquid, I ended up having to put in a considerable amount of steaming liquid just to get the damn thing to puree so the consistency of my "mashed potatoes" ended up being kind of poridge-y. Flavor-wise, though? Spot on. Here it is with some parmesan encrusted scrimps and roasted veggies on the side.

When Bela decides that he wants some of BB's ice water, she has no choice but to submit and let him have his way. Sorry so dark, by the way. I keep everything shut and dark here in the afternoon so as to keep the vicious sun rays from roasting us alive.

Several nights ago, I saw that "Marley & Me" was playing on cable television, so I DVR-ed it while deciding whether I wanted to risk death by weeping-induced dehydration or not. I've heard that movie is sad. But I braved it that night and sat through the whole thing with BB by my side. I hope she had no idea what she was watching.

I took a before shot while the movie was still happy with the obvious intent of taking an after shot with me looking like a sloppy mess clutching BB to my chest. Yeah. The after shot didn't happen since I was too busy clearing the entire house out of our Kleenex supply and dabbing moisturizer under my raw eyeballs.

And then I figured I'd spend a morning taking snapshots of my summer routine. The first thing I do is stumble to the bathroom to put my eyeballs in. Bela always follows me in and headbutts me while I'm trying to fiddle with my contact lenses. You may think it's because he's being super affectionate, but it's really because that's his way of demanding his scheduled wet food breakfast.

See? As soon as he knows I'm done, he jumps off the bathroom counter and leads me to the kitchen where his wet food breakfast awaits.

And when we walk out into the living room, we are invariably met with the sight of BB already busy with all her TOYS! TOYS! TOYS! Please also note how far my conviction to bar the maximum amount of evil sunlight goes: The curtain Schmoobs put up to temporarily block our Westward facing wall of windows is about six inches too short which allowed for a considerable amount of light (i.e. atoms of pure hellfire) to come in. So naturally I disassembled a big cardboard box and blocked the rest of the opening out. The little sun area with the windows, however, is Bela's favorite relaxation area and also the location of his kitty box, so I left the rightmost cardboard panel flap slightly ajar so that he could come and go as he pleases. I am such a good kitty mommeh. But also I know that if I don't, he will eat my toes as punishment. 

Lights on.

I look to my right and see that Bela has already speedily made his way to the kitchen where he is eagerly anticipating his beloved wet food breakfast.

More excited head butting takes place as I bring out the wet food. He knows what's coming.

NOM NOM NOM.

After Bela, it's ME time. And that means coffee. Hey, did you know that if you add just the slightest dash of salt to your coffee, it will magically sop up any oily bitterness that may be in your coffee and leave it tasting smooth and nutty? It's totally true. You can put it in either before or after brewing. Especially helpful in places such as IHOP and the Wazzle Hizzle.

Then it's BB's turn! Notice the array of kibble, treats and, yes, anti-poop-eating pills we have gracing our kitchen countertop. Oh, and that bottle of Pine Sol doesn't usually sit there amongst the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but I think I had just bought it the day before and was anticipating some dining room mopping later in the day.

NOM NOM NOM. Why do dogs have a habit of taking a mouthful of food, then spitting it all out on the floor, and then eating it all up off the floor little by little? I'm sure BB's not the only doggy who does that. So weird. I thought it was just a puppy habit she would eventually grow out of, but...

Also, notice how a toy (usually a squeaky ball) is never far from reach.

At this point, while the animals are happily chomping away, I grab my cup of coffee and head to my work station: the dining room table! Now complete with cheap clearance firm throw pillow for much needed lumbar support (OLD). I placed some paper towels underneath the laptop because I don't want to scratch up the new table. And because I am too cheap to buy placemats at Target. Also, I don't know if I blogged about this before, but last semester I totally spilled a tiny bit of coffee on my laptop. An hour later the entire left-most 25% of the keyboard stopped working. WAAAH! So then Schmoobs unearthed his brand new snazzy Apple wireless keyboard that he bought and never used. I got used to having to lug around an extra piece of equipment, but it worked great. And then all of a sudden it stopped working completely. For no reason. Curses, Apple!! So then Schmoobs unearthed ANOTHER (USB) keyboard that he had bought and never used, so now that is what I have to set on top of the laptop and use in order to be able to type fully on this laptop. But, HO! Last week, just per chance, I noticed that some of the left keys have started working again! Now it's just Q, A, Z, 1 and left Tab that won't work. I'm hoping that they'll start magically working again in a couple of months.

Aaaanyway... After about working away on the computer (i.e. Facebooking, reading blogs, checking Big Brother forums, etc.) for about twenty minutes, Bela will come up to BB's food bowl and partake in some ice water. I like that those two have come up with a sharing system that they can both live with. It means I don't have to fill Bela's water dispenser with ice as well.

And then here's BB happily digesting away to my right by my feet.

 Oh, and then I completely remembered that I owned a Crockpot, so I've been on a slow-cooking bender for the last week! Here was my first attempt. Carrots...

 Turnips...

 Potatoes...

 

Onions and garlic...

 

Happy beefs plus salt, pepper and chili flakes...

And canned tomatoes!

 Oh, and then at some point I decided to add some rice to sop up all the resulting juicy goodness. CHOMP. The worst part about Crockpotting? Having to endure the hours and hours of increasingly intoxicating smells that waft through your entire home. Also, it's never a good idea to decide to start a Crockpot project at 3 in the afternoon. This means that you'll be suffering until about 1am.

 But the best part is the eating.

I also boiled some eggs and took a picture while they were cooling because I liked the colors.

Holy sheiss. Lots of photos.

I've been trying for about twelve years now to get into yoga. I start and then I get bored. I try again and I get annoyed at how mellow and cheerful the instructor on the DVD is. I try yet again and then I get hungry and go to the kitchen to eat some chips. This time I figured I could stay interested longer if I tried to follow the video on the laptop while the Food Network was playing on silent in the background. Um. That wasn't a good idea. But for some reason it's been sticking a little better these last two weeks and I'm really starting to enjoy it. The secret for me was to just read and study enough that I could catalog enough of the movements and poses in my brain and just do them on my own without an annoying DVD instructor to follow. So what if I can't do yoga without a constant stream of neurotic inner monologue buzzing away in my head? The mental clarity and spiritual enlightenment I can worry about later. Right now I just want my butt firm and high.

For my birthday, the two girlfriends I went out to dinner with were so kind and gave me flowers, a bottle of wine, a Star*ucks gift card and...a Central Market gift card! Central Market is Texass' answer to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Unfortunately, the closes one to me is an hour away, so the gift card had been sitting on our counter for weeks and weeks. But a couple of weeks ago I finally got up enough desire for tasty treats (organic, happy bacon) to make the trek over. It was SO worth it. BACON.

Happy Bacon deserves two macro shots.

Happy Bacon deserves two three macro shots.

And then last week I attempted to make the famous anti-carb secret weapon: cauliflower mashed potatoes. I steamed a head of cauliflower (chopped in smaller pieces), half an onion, several garlic cloves, a small potato (optional) and salt and pepper. Then I pureed it all up in my blender (I don't have a food processor, boo.). It was REALLY good. Since the blender is a real bitch at pureeing things without any liquid, I ended up having to put in a considerable amount of steaming liquid just to get the damn thing to puree so the consistency of my "mashed potatoes" ended up being kind of poridge-y. Flavor-wise, though? Spot on. Here it is with some parmesan encrusted scrimps and roasted veggies on the side.

When Bela decides that he wants some of BB's ice water, she has no choice but to submit and let him have his way. Sorry so dark, by the way. I keep everything shut and dark here in the afternoon so as to keep the vicious sun rays from roasting us alive.

Several nights ago, I saw that "Marley & Me" was playing on cable television, so I DVR-ed it while deciding whether I wanted to risk death by weeping-induced dehydration or not. I've heard that movie is sad. But I braved it that night and sat through the whole thing with BB by my side. I hope she had no idea what she was watching.

I took a before shot while the movie was still happy with the obvious intent of taking an after shot with me looking like a sloppy mess clutching BB to my chest. Yeah. The after shot didn't happen since I was too busy clearing the entire house out of our Kleenex supply and dabbing moisturizer under my raw eyeballs.

And then I figured I'd spend a morning taking snapshots of my summer routine. The first thing I do is stumble to the bathroom to put my eyeballs in. Bela always follows me in and headbutts me while I'm trying to fiddle with my contact lenses. You may think it's because he's being super affectionate, but it's really because that's his way of demanding his scheduled wet food breakfast.

See? As soon as he knows I'm done, he jumps off the bathroom counter and leads me to the kitchen where his wet food breakfast awaits.

And when we walk out into the living room, we are invariably met with the sight of BB already busy with all her TOYS! TOYS! TOYS! Please also note how far my conviction to bar the maximum amount of evil sunlight goes: The curtain Schmoobs put up to temporarily block our Westward facing wall of windows is about six inches too short which allowed for a considerable amount of light (i.e. atoms of pure hellfire) to come in. So naturally I disassembled a big cardboard box and blocked the rest of the opening out. The little sun area with the windows, however, is Bela's favorite relaxation area and also the location of his kitty box, so I left the rightmost cardboard panel flap slightly ajar so that he could come and go as he pleases. I am such a good kitty mommeh. But also I know that if I don't, he will eat my toes as punishment. 

Lights on.

I look to my right and see that Bela has already speedily made his way to the kitchen where he is eagerly anticipating his beloved wet food breakfast.

More excited head butting takes place as I bring out the wet food. He knows what's coming.

NOM NOM NOM.

After Bela, it's ME time. And that means coffee. Hey, did you know that if you add just the slightest dash of salt to your coffee, it will magically sop up any oily bitterness that may be in your coffee and leave it tasting smooth and nutty? It's totally true. You can put it in either before or after brewing. Especially helpful in places such as IHOP and the Wazzle Hizzle.

Then it's BB's turn! Notice the array of kibble, treats and, yes, anti-poop-eating pills we have gracing our kitchen countertop. Oh, and that bottle of Pine Sol doesn't usually sit there amongst the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but I think I had just bought it the day before and was anticipating some dining room mopping later in the day.

NOM NOM NOM. Why do dogs have a habit of taking a mouthful of food, then spitting it all out on the floor, and then eating it all up off the floor little by little? I'm sure BB's not the only doggy who does that. So weird. I thought it was just a puppy habit she would eventually grow out of, but...

Also, notice how a toy (usually a squeaky ball) is never far from reach.

At this point, while the animals are happily chomping away, I grab my cup of coffee and head to my work station: the dining room table! Now complete with cheap clearance firm throw pillow for much needed lumbar support (OLD). I placed some paper towels underneath the laptop because I don't want to scratch up the new table. And because I am too cheap to buy placemats at Target. Also, I don't know if I blogged about this before, but last semester I totally spilled a tiny bit of coffee on my laptop. An hour later the entire left-most 25% of the keyboard stopped working. WAAAH! So then Schmoobs unearthed his brand new snazzy Apple wireless keyboard that he bought and never used. I got used to having to lug around an extra piece of equipment, but it worked great. And then all of a sudden it stopped working completely. For no reason. Curses, Apple!! So then Schmoobs unearthed ANOTHER (USB) keyboard that he had bought and never used, so now that is what I have to set on top of the laptop and use in order to be able to type fully on this laptop. But, HO! Last week, just per chance, I noticed that some of the left keys have started working again! Now it's just Q, A, Z, 1 and left Tab that won't work. I'm hoping that they'll start magically working again in a couple of months.

Aaaanyway... After about working away on the computer (i.e. Facebooking, reading blogs, checking Big Brother forums, etc.) for about twenty minutes, Bela will come up to BB's food bowl and partake in some ice water. I like that those two have come up with a sharing system that they can both live with. It means I don't have to fill Bela's water dispenser with ice as well.

And then here's BB happily digesting away to my right by my feet.

 Oh, and then I completely remembered that I owned a Crockpot, so I've been on a slow-cooking bender for the last week! Here was my first attempt. Carrots...

 Turnips...

 Potatoes...

 

Onions and garlic...

 

Happy beefs plus salt, pepper and chili flakes...

And canned tomatoes!

 Oh, and then at some point I decided to add some rice to sop up all the resulting juicy goodness. CHOMP. The worst part about Crockpotting? Having to endure the hours and hours of increasingly intoxicating smells that waft through your entire home. Also, it's never a good idea to decide to start a Crockpot project at 3 in the afternoon. This means that you'll be suffering until about 1am.

 But the best part is the eating.

I also boiled some eggs and took a picture while they were cooling because I liked the colors.