Pizza Overload

My husband and I decided to clean up our eats in a big way Jan. 1, 2008, and we've generally stayed in that pattern ever since.  We both mix it up and eat different stuff in different quantities when on vacation (like eating til we feel sick on Easter in Italy, eating dessert every day, eating pizza almost every day), but generally at home, we pretty much stick to our routine. 

My job probably has slightly more free sweets than my last job did, but it's still not overly frequent. 

One of the bigger restrictions on our healthier eating plan has been to limit pizza to once a month.  That's more my husband's limitation than mine, but he really, really loves pizza.  So generally I stick with pizza about once a month too, but I don't put the month's pizza day on my calendar the same way he does.  And sometimes I'll eat one of those Lean Cuisine pizzas for lunch, or very rarely, get pizza elsewhere besides on our monthly pizza night.

Oh, and he/we eat pizza a lot on vacation.  We love trying new pizzas (or pide, as it was called in Istanbul). 

Anyway, for October's pizza, we went out to a place in Milwaukee for lunch on hubby's bday. 

And then this past Friday night, we had a little dinner party at home and decided to do make-your-own pizzas on the grill.  The dough recipe made 8 individual pizzas, but there were only 4 of us for dinner -- we each ate one, then the guys split another one. 

That left us with 3 leftover pizzas.  Hubby tried to make one for lunch on Saturday but spilled it into the grill, so then he made another one, leaving us with a single remaining dough.

Sunday was my godson's third birthday party -- and pizza was served for lunch.  So I ate my third pizza serving for the month of October yesterday.

Then I was home Sunday night and we decided to have the last pizza for dinner, plus monster huge salads.  So I consumed pizza for a fourth time for the month.  And I thought I was in the clear.

But today is Halloween of course and my office is really, really into it, so there was pizza for lunch.  And I ate it.  FIVE PIZZA MEALS in October!  And my plan is one per month!  Oops.  No wonder I'm going into the San Antonio marathon a bit heavier than I've been the other couple years I've run it. 

As of today, the marathon is officially less than 2 weeks away.  But tonight is trick-or-treating with my godson and his sister, and tomorrow is probably leftover sweets.  But Wednesday I'll be back on track and that should give me 10 days of good eats (and no alcohol) before the race.  Better than nothing I guess! 

BTW, I decided to go as "Aurora" today -- our office theme is Disney.  Who knew Sleeping Beauty had a first name?  When did that happen?  Or does she actually have that name in the movie?  I have no recollection of it...  Anyway, I'm mostly telling people that I'm sleeping beauty, and not using the name Aurora. 

Quiet Saturday

I wanted to go run today, but it just didn't happen. Instead I made some major closet-cleaning progress, which is huge for me. I pulled out about a dozen t-shirts and one dress to donate, threw out a couple pairs of shoes. But the big accomplishment was pulling out all my sleeveless tops and moving them to the upper rack of the closet.

This is going to be insanely boring, but all I have the inclination to write about for some reason.

I should post pictures (that could make it mildly interesting) but I'm too lazy to go get my camera and go back upstairs.

Basically, if you walk in my closet, straight back is a dresser that comes up to about mid-chest height. Top drawer is mostly bras and random stuff (cassette tapes!?!, etc.), second drawer is underwear and slips, third drawer isn't very deep and it's just socks, fourth drawer is running clothes for the top half of my body but short-sleeve or sleeveless only (long sleeves are elsewhere), and the bottom drawer is shorts -- running and regular. On top of the dresser are some folded sweaters and sweatshirts.

Then the right side of the closet has two hanging racks. The lower one is all my pants and skirts. The uppper one is all my tops other than t-shirts. And at the back of that rack, near the dresser, which is basically inaccessible is a drop down hanger with all the sheets for the bed and some beach towels.

Then the left side of the closet is hanging around shoulder height. Mostly dresses toward the front, then ideally a big gap, then all t-shirts toward the back half of the closet, and my wedding dress at the very back. Then above that, way up at the ceiling (so inaccessible without stepping on something), is another hanging rack that's half-height. I have a bunch of t-shirts that I don't really wear but am keeping for one reason or another, another bunch of tops I don't really wear (some don't really fit, some are just special occasions, travel, whatever), and then the rest of the space is pants and skirts that I need to get altered, and a hanging rack that hubby keeps some stuff on.

Well, that big gap that should be there on the left side is supposed to be where I hang dry cleaning before it gets put away, and where I set out all my outfits for the week ahead. And there's a chair in the closet where ideally (though it's never happened), I'd set out my workout clothes for the week ahead.

Basically the left side of my closet was completely jammed full. For no good reason. Between being out of town two weekends ago, and then being sad for my friend and sick last weekend, I just hadn't gotten organized lately. So I put away all the clothes that were jamming up the left side. Then I realized the right side was just too tightly packed.

So I went to the top left rack and pulled out some stuff that I don't need to keep. And then I pulled from the upper right all my sleeveless tops (except a couple that are only worn as layers), and moved them to the upper left. So happy to have that done!

I should head up now and set out some outfits for the week, then I'd really be on the ball!

But now the day has mostly slipped away from me (I managed to organize my recipe book a bit). I may still try to do it, but I want to make a decent dinner and take some over to my local bestie's house for her and her husband -- I don't have a great way of helping someone with a death other than hugging and cooking.

Anyway, I love weekend days like this sometimes!

Updated: phone call from my bro just back from almost 2 weeks of Hawaiian honeymoon, so I figured I'd go upstairs and pick outfits while we were in the phone, then took some pics when we got off.

So, from outside looking straight back, upper left, lower left, lower right, upper right. Realistically, I should get rid of about 30% more at least. At least. I need nowhere near so much stuff.

Fascinating...

I don't write much about work, but I am working on a case now that is absolutely fascinating.  There has been so much exciting stuff happening in the last day or so.  The basics are that some police departments and others are seeking reimbursement for some expenses.  Well just before I started eating lunch today, I finally got documents relating to what they're asking be repaid and it completely floored me.  It presents about a million legal questions (some of which undoubtedly have no real answers because this is an obscure statute). 

I took these documents to my supervisor and basically said, can I go full-time on this case for the next month?!  I love it so much!  He laughing said of course I could b/c the numbers would justify it.  I know realistically that I can't just neglect my other cases, but this one just makes me want to start working and never stop! 

I can't help but think how different this feels from where I was a year ago.  Or 5 years ago.  Or 10 years ago.  This is my third job as a lawyer -- first a big firm, then a small firm, and now here.  And I love it so much more.  At the big firm, I got some really interesting cases, but the lifestyle as a whole was such a beat-down.  At the small firm, there was a huge sacrifice in terms of the quality of work but I had a much better lifestyle (to me, it's no coincidence that my husband didn't propose while I was still at a big firm).  And now I've found the perfect balance.  Cases I love, amazing colleagues, great hours, etc.  It was completely worth paying my dues for more than 10 years after law school to end up here. 

So with that, I think I'm done eating lunch and will dive into esoteric reimbursement statutes and maybe do some eminent domain research!

Heavy Heart

Aye, it has been a long few days, starting Friday afternoon.

We've known for some time that my local bestie's younger sister Kelly was sick. But Friday I got a message that my friend was on her way to Kelly's in Nacogdoches (not sure of the spelling, a town about 3ish hours from Dallas). And she was on her way because it was "time."

And then later on Friday, I found out that Kelly had passed away. 29 years old, leaving behind a husband and young daughter (who is her spitting image), her loving parents, and two sisters. And as I've seen, many friends, colleagues, students, etc.

I spent most of the day Saturday on the couch -- half the time crying, half the time napping. Hubby and I had finally gone to an urgent care place Saturday morning, admitting that we were both very sick. We got steroid shots in our "hips" (meaning upper @ss), and antibiotics. As of today, Wednesday, the combo appears to be working. Hubby feels much better, and I also feel better, though it's harder to tell b/c there are still so many tears, and that seems to make my head and nose and lungs feel worse.

I did my LONG run on Sunday. 22 disasterous miles. I was bummed that it went so badly and hubby said, really, you spent all day yesterday on the couch being sad and sick, were you honestly expecting a good run? He was right. I was okay through about mile 16, and I had a friend meet me for the last 6, and we slowed down a lot. We saw a guy who needed emergency medical attention. I offered my CPR skills, but there was already another doctor who'd been out running or biking and had stopped. One of my other running friends sprinted ahead to direct the fire truck that was clearly lost. After that excitement, I slowed down a lot. It was a slow jog the last 4 miles, but at least I got the 22 done.

Then I got lucky at work and managed to have a case settle out from under me, so I was in the car and headed for Nacagdoches.

They had a visitation on Monday night. Open casket, which I'm not to used to. That was hard and I really wish I hadn't seen her. I was better off keeping my last memory intact. I didn't know her very well, I was really there for my friend and her family. Monday night we all went out to a bar. Drinking, laughing, sharing memories. We went back to the hotel, I was staying with my friend, her husband, and her baby sister (Kelly was the middle of the three), and her little sister really broke down. It broke my heart. I wish so badly I could ease their pain, or better yet, have done something so they never had to deal with this in the first place. The funeral yesterday was heart-breaking. After that, we went to the cemetary, and then to a lunch at the church. Then I drove home.

One odd story from my drive home. I was in a hurry and not paying enough attention while driving too fast so I got pulled over. Thankfully, I got a warning and I was so careful the rest of the way. Anyway, on Friday, Kelly's husband's parents and Kelly's own parents all were speeding toward Nac when they got the calls that it was time. Hours apart, both sets of parents got pulled over by the same state trooper. First, it was her husband's parents. They told him what was happening, their daughter-in-law was dying. Then hours later, Kelly's parents got stopped and told the trooper they were getting to Nac as fast as they could because their daughter was dying. He said he'd already heard that story that day, that a daughter-in-law was dying in Nac. Kelly's parents asked if the last name of the family he'd stopped was X, and the trooper confirmed. The good news is, even with the stops, everyone made it. Kelly's parents, both of her sisters, her husband, her daughter, and her in-laws were all there in her final hours.

But I keep coming back to it all being so unfair. She died of lung cancer, but as a young non-smoker, it wasn't caught until it had spread to her bones (it was hip pain that finally led to the bone scan that resulted in the diagnosis just over a year ago). The priest said things about her going to heaven and not being alone, but it echoed in my heart. I believe all that for someone who's older, but at 29, who is waiting for her in heaven (you know, besides Jesus and all that)? Everyone close to her is still here. She's just too young. I'm glad she's not in pain anymore, but she's left such a hole behind her. I wonder how her husband will get by with their 4 year old daughter. Will her parents get through this? I don't want to get into the details, but my family knows all too well how hard it is to survive the loss of a child, even an adult child. Parents just aren't supposed to bury their children. Kelly's parents are strong, generous, loving people, but I hope they're able to lean on others and get through this. In some ways, having had the time to prepare, and losing their daughter to cancer, it may be easier in that there's no blame, but I just can't fathom how hard this is for them. And it made me so glad Kelly's parents had three daughters -- my bestie lost her sister, but she has another sister to lean on. And of course a husband who loves her, and lots and lots of friends (including me) who will help however we can, but I just don't know how. I told hubby I want to make some meals to take over for dinner, but I wish there was more I could do.

It's just so unfair.