Project Oasis at the Halfway Point

Husband is off work this week, and DuckyBoy is at his grandparents ... at Grandma's request, I might add.

So when we were casting about thinking of what to do on our vacation, the usual things came up: places like Puerto Rico (which, given the current hurricanes blowing through that region, we're really glad we didn't opt for), London (which I love), and the like.

One day, Husband called from work and said he had the perfect plan for our vacation: "Project oasis." he said.

"I'm in!" I said, loving the sound of it. "What is it?"

Brilliant mind that he is, it's rearranging, organizing, sorting, and otherwise making our apartment into the oasis-to-come-home-to that a home should be. We never really did that when we moved here; at the time, we were both kind of crazy in our own ways. He was still trying to move up the ranks at Big Bad Corporate Bank and I felt all alone dealing with baby DuckyBoy, who was starting to veer from the behaviors the baby books told me to expect, yet didn't seem delayed in any significant way.

So, here we are. And we're having a blast.

Monday we sorted and rearranged the shop/pantry, then took a boatload of stuff to the Salvation Army, bought a new smooth-tilting tripod at B&H Photo, and treated ourselves to dinner at Metrazur. For $44 you get appetizer, entree, dessert And a bottle of wine. What a deal! And everything was really good, too. Plus you're overlooking the waiting room at Grand Central Station.

I had a Groupon-type coupon from Open Table for the restaurant, which is why we were going to that particular place. I bought the coupon deal (spend $25 for $50 off your meal) because the place is a no-brainer for us: Created by Aureole chef Charlie Palmer, the menu had things I knew we'd like, excellent value price fix, fun location, on and on.

Husband says the best moment of the day was when, after fielding several questions from him-on-the-couch about what for him was a mystery restaurant (including, "Has Adam Platt reviewed it?), I finally said, "I'll lookm, but this is the last question I'm answering about Metrazur. You can come with me, or I'll go with someone else some other time."

He bust out laughing, got up and went to his computer, and he looked it up himself ... and immediately knew why I was so sure of myself. He loved that I, as he put it, stood up for myself. And we had a great laugh!

Tuesday, we tackled our bedroom. We treated ourselves to egg sandwiches and juice via delivery from the diner, then moved the 3 large Ikea wardrobes from our room to the playroom/other room/ room-to-be-named-later. Which meant dis- and re-assembling them. And we did it without a single argument, which is huge. We did realize that no design decisions were really involved, which is when feelings get involved and our tempers rise. But, still. Anything involving both of us and tools has traditionally caused at least one tiff.

Then we went to Ikea and sized our cabinets for the pantry, double-checked the pieces we want for the bedroom, and ate at The Family restaurant, mainly because we haven't been there in, oh, forever, and it's one of the reasons we live in Forest Hills. Happily, it hasn't changed much in the year or so. (I was a little worried because recently a sign appeared in the window, "Cool off with a margarita, sangria, or daquiri," which is usually a sign of desperation when a restaurant starts touting drinks completely unrelated to their cuisine.)

Today, we tackle the many boxes in the bedroom and ... [insert gasp] ... do some more planning of the office/living room before we move the myriad heavy things around. We had eggs with our leftover veal Valdostana from Da Family, and we're ready to go!

Haiku Friday: Ode to Big

Grandpa PotatoHead is going to help me with this week's haiku. We just got him yesterday at Costco ("Can you go shopping just ONCE without DB getting a new toy?" Husband lamented last night.) -- Db was the one who realized why he was at Costco -- because he's BIG!


Huge boxes and jars
Stare at us, floor to ceiling,
as we roll the aisles

Here's something we like,
we won't eat that fast enough,
let's try this sample.

Nuggets not crunchy,
but whole-wheat pasta's thumbs up,
and sweet-pepper sauce.

Who knew the samples
would expand DB's palate,
a little at least!

Want to play along on Haiku Friday? It's easy!

Just write a haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) on your blog, any theme.
Put the post url into Mister Linky here, then please leave a comment after linking.

Not a blogger? Feel free to write your haiku in the comment field. Or just tell me what you think of my haiku. Or what your weather is like. Anything!

And have a great weekend!

Haiku Friday: Hot Dogs

A hot dog poem
in honor of our weekend
cooking 100 --

Great Hot Dog Cookoff
our second year doing it,
"The Last DogBender!"

Long lean mystery
meat chopped fine inside a bun
topped with yumminess!

So tell me... what are you doing this weekend?

Weight Loss Update

On Friday I posted about Husband and I are trying to lose weight by making different food choices, in a way that's sustainable to eat going forward.

We have done Weight Watchers and Atkins and even The Zone in the past, all with some success, but the problem has been that, like so many others, the weight bounces right back. So this time, after conversations with Gregory Anne Cox and getting her free 7-day ecourse, I'm trying to do it right and change the way we eat in a sustainable way. Finding out that she loves food and doesn’t believe in depriving ourselves to lose weight really helped.
I'm learning to turn off that judgmental voice in my head that says, "Good food, bad food" and allow myself to use my intelligence to make a good choice.

Husband and I are really enjoying what we eat and, surprising to us, not missing what we’re not eating, which is lots and lots of carbs. We’ve done Atkins in the past so we knew we could live without the carbs, but this is different because we’re not trying to follow some strict regime for a period of time (or amount of weight ) -- we’re just choosing different foods for the plate. And choosing what sounds good, rather than whatever will get us through to the “next pound down.”

A few M-and-Ms don't hurt me. A piece of spinach pie, yes even with the flaky crust, won't blow it (like it would on Atkins). But you know what? I don't feel as good this morning after eating that flaky crust. Next time I may just go with the Greek salad.

If you told me I'd go to a late-night diner with my friends and NOT get a cheeseburger, or anything with fries, I'd have laughed. But I truly enjoyed the choice I made, knowing that the burger-and-fries would make me feel not-good today.

This morning I’m down a total of 7 pounds, and Husband is down 10. And the main thing we’re doing is picking different foods … it's nothing short of a miracle.

I do notice we need more sleep, though. No joke. Gregory Anne mentions sleep in her email course, and I thought, "yeah, yeah, we all need more sleep." But this is like, "I MUST GO BACK TO BED," my body is Not.Taking.No.For.An.Answer type of need for more sleep. If I don't get 8 hours I can't function. 8 and a half is better.

Seems worth the trade-off: Body feels better when I'm up; clothes fit better; little more energy (I'm still out of shape but I'm willing to run with DuckyBoy now, every time he asks, at least until I'm out of breath); in exchange I need to sleep more? Ok.